(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, we're in Joshua chapter 8 and we're just going to look again just remind you the last couple of verses of Joshua 8, Joshua 8 and verse 34 said this, that after it he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them and the title of my sermon this morning is the family integrated church, the family integrated church. I'd like to pray and then we're going to get started with a message. Father thank you for your word, thank you for Lord this church, this family integrated church that we have here Lord and all the great people we have here, the great families, the great children we have here Lord and I pray that you just help me to explain this family integrated church model and you know what it's about, why we do it and how it works and in the right way Lord in a way that people just you know understand, accept how we do things here, accept the reasons we do them and then want to you know help that to work and just be a part of what is a great church here Lord with some great people, Lord help us to just continue to be that great church and Lord help me to preach this sermon just clearly accurately boldly full of your spirit in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Okay so we have a sign on the front of our church if anyone noticed, quite a big sign on the front of our church which says that we're independent, we're fundamental, we're KJV only, we're soul winning and we're family integrated and I think most of that is pretty self-explanatory, most of it I've covered at least you know most of that is covered at least in part on our statement of faith okay so if you go on to our statement of faith on our website our statement of faith isn't just a copy and paste of you know some sort of baptist union statement of faith, no you know we have most of that covered on that. The statement for example means that we're independent of any other churches, we're independent of any other denominations, central leadership, any of that stuff, we're an independent church here okay we don't rely on pleasing the liberal women at the head of the baptist union or whatever they call themselves now, churches together, that's not what we're about unlike most so-called baptist churches in this nation, we don't try and please them so we can keep receiving that funding from the baptist union and keep getting advertised by them, no no we're independent of those jokers all right, our church is therefore financially and spiritually independent which is an important thing isn't it if we're just going to be led by the Lord and not be worried about upsetting our paymasters or something else okay and as such we answer to the Lord then and not fallible man or women and our church is therefore able to be and is a fundamental church and a proper fundamental church which isn't a dirty word it's not you know because people talk about these fundamentalists in Islam or something and people think this sounds like some sort of extremist or something, no we just hold to the fundamentals or we would say the basics of the Christian faith, we believe the basics of fundamentals, the core doctrines of the Christian faith, the creation, the trinity, the virgin birth, salvation being grace through faith alone, baptism after salvation, the other ordinance of the New Testament Church, the Lord's Supper, we just believe the key clear doctrines of Christianity okay that's what it means to be a fundamentalist church, we're KJV only, we only read and teach from the King James Bible in this church, I mean what sort of church is that, you know what that's the church that believes that God preserved his word like he said he would, yeah we believe God when he said he'd preserve his word yeah we have it in English in the King James Bible, we believe that we're not a Bible of the month club, we don't go well I'm going to try a bit of the NIV this week and then next week or next month let's go with the ESV, no we just believe the word of God is here in our King James Bibles, we've got no reason to go to so-called other versions of the Bible, we're also a soul winning church and that is exactly what it says on the tin okay we go out and we win souls because that's the Great Commission, that's what we should be, that's what we do here, we go out we don't track drop, yeah we might give tracks but the goal is to get people saved okay we're trying to get in a conversation, get people saved, we don't go out and just have kind of random apologetics evenings and times out where we're just there to debate and stand on soap boxes with idiots in in town senses and stuff, no we're out to win souls okay we're a soul winning church, we go to preach the gospel to every creature like we're told to and like I said all of those are covered in our statement of faith and I also went through them in our what we believe series which was just over a year ago now after we became an independent church I wanted to make it clear what we believe is this independent church here and we do continue to preach that stuff that continues to be preached from behind the pulpit not just myself but men behind the pulpit some of that stuff will be covered in bits and pieces in sermons and will come up at times but the last of those on our church sign isn't on our statement of faith okay a family integrated church model isn't there and it is something that we do believe obviously it is something that we do practice here and although I preach on the differences between the Sunday school and that model that family integrated church about it was about a year and a bit about 15 months ago now I last preached that it is one of those things I think we need reminding of we do have more and more new faces getting involved in our church and it's one of those topics that just needs reminding regularly and we need to be on top of it and make sure that it works for our church as well okay the title is a family integrated church and point number one today is what is a family integrated church what is a family integrated church you might see it on the sign somewhere you might wonder what it really is and what it isn't well have a look down at Joshua chapter 8 Joshua 8 where we see an example of a family integrated church service in the Old Testament okay so it's sort of a I would say a picture of a church service here it's it's an example of a family integrated church service as well look at verse 30 there in Joshua 8 verse 30 says and Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel as it is written in the book of the Lord Moses an altar of whole stones over which no man has lift up any iron and they offered their own burnt offerings unto the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings now we'd no longer use an altar okay but we now present our bodies that living sacrifice don't we holy acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service so we come and when we come instead of bringing animals and things to say we bring ourselves as that sacrifice don't we to God as we come to church on a Sunday morning and and a Sunday evening and a Wednesday evening they said in verse 32 and he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel by the way anyone think that that had errors in it because it wasn't the exact original now I bet that was a meticulous copy wasn't it a meticulous copy was still the word of God verse 33 said and all Israel and their elders and officers and their judges stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord as well the stranger as he that was born among them half of them over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over game against Mount Ebal as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the people of Israel that's a pretty big church service isn't it I mean that's a lot of people there right he said in verse 34 and after it he read all the words of the law the blessings and cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them so it was a long service and it was a family integrated service wasn't it that the congregation included the women the little ones and the strangers that were conversant or we would say now that maybe kept company that fellowship with them basically the converts okay the converts so here in Joshua chapter 8 okay everyone is there for the service and that's what a family integrated church service is okay there's no back room here where where we just send off all the children okay there's no back there's no upstairs room where we send them there's no downstairs basement room there's no out the back hut if you've been in those churches where yeah yeah don't worry go out there through that bit over around there and get as far away as possible into that little freezing cold hut out there some of you're thinking it's pretty cold in here well don't worry you know we're trying to try not to get too hot and cozy so you fall asleep all right but some some of those churches just send them out to the hut get them as far away as possible we don't have that here where they go and do other things there's no rotor of women and and I've been in churches where it's men as well that instead of being part of the service and running an arts and crafts session round in some other room somewhere okay we don't have that there's no creche service where members of the church look after your kids for you we don't have that here and some of you are thinking why don't we have that here because that would be quite handy it might be quite handy okay the the families that were invited to be a part of the church service with mother and father baby rooms as we know we're here linked up the service to be used as required okay however the children are their parents responsibility just to make that clear the children here are their parents responsibility they're no one else's responsibility the title is a family integrated church service and point number one is a pretty easy point okay what is a family integrated church well that's what it is a church where families are encouraged to all partake in the same church service point number two why is this a family integrated church this is a longer point now why is this a family integrated church now in joshua 8 they've just won a brutal battle with ai they hanged the king on a tree then buried his body with stones soon after it's time to hear the word of god and you could understand the men there maybe think well this isn't really child's play you know we've just been battling previously we've just slaughtered burnt a village town city whatever you want to call it we've done all this stuff we we've hanged their king on a tree then we buried him with stones okay let's get their women and children out of here yeah yeah this is man's business now yeah we're the ones doing the fighting we're the ones doing the battling we're the ones going to war well what happened is straight after it was time to hear the word of god and they weren't saying look take the kids somewhere honey take them down there's a cave down there just take it down there and start drawing some stuff and just just get them away yeah they didn't say they didn't say look some of those elders get their wives to deal with it they could deal with the kids get the elders wives they don't need to be involved because we could just go ourselves then right we don't want the kids here causing us a distraction they didn't say any of that did they because that would be easier it would be easier for most people here wouldn't it it would be easier if if my wife and some others maybe just kind of we made a room somewhere maybe one of the upstairs rooms and just you know they looked after your kids then you don't have to worry about them isn't that a lot of churches so-called churches around right and i'm not saying they're not churches because of that but any version of church most versions of church also they have that sunday school model don't they you could forget all of that shushing and keeping them still and just send them far away and isn't that what the world likes to do as well in in life in general right because isn't church all about feeling good isn't it it's all about having an easy time of it it's a time to de-stress isn't that why you come to church it's just a time to de-stress isn't it so now don't people go to church to feel good well look at verse 30 it said then joshua built an altar unto the lord god of israel in mount ebel as moses the servant of the lord commanded the children of israel as it is written in the book of the law of moses verse 31 an altar of whole stones over which no man has lift up any iron and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the lord and sacrificed peace offerings no church is us coming to sacrifice ourselves to god that's really what it is first and foremost isn't it we're bringing ourselves to god we're here to give of our time to him to praise and worship and to listen to him that's why we come to church we don't come to church because it's a nice time to get rid of the kids we don't come to church because what a great time now we could just like feel good you know feel really like really enjoy the fleshly music and you know and kind of maybe pay attention a little bit if he says some nice things in the sermon pat ourselves on the back have a great time go home that's not really the goal of it yeah we should get sometimes that and i hope people enjoy coming to church a lot of people seem to enjoy coming to church right but that's not why we're here is it we're here because we're coming to sacrifice of ourselves to god to praise and worship and to listen to him and when we do that then we get blessed beyond a bit of free babysitting okay it said here in verse 32 it said and he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the lord moses which he wrote in the presence of the children of israel verse 33 says and all israel and their elders and officers and their judges stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests of levites which bear the ark of the covenant of the lord as well the stranger is he that was born among them half them over against mount gerizim and half them over against mount ebal as moses the servant of the lord had commanded before that they should bless the people of israel so the people are being blessed and that includes the women and children okay for doing what god commands his people to do they're being blessed for him and in the new testament that's attending church isn't it okay that's that's kind of one of the number one things to do isn't it as a new testament believer attend a proper church not christian themed daycare and let me tell you what happens in a legitimate new testament church verse 34 and afterward he read all the words of the law the blessings and cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law the word of god gets read and it gets preached and it's not just the fluffy bits is it it's not just the family-friendly bits that get taught and preached from behind the pulpit it's not just a bit well you know that bit's kind of suitable for kids but this bit isn't he read the blessings and the cursings he read the cursings as well he read about all those threats all those all those things where god's saying look you do this this is what's going to happen you turn away from me you forsake me you go whoring after other gods this is what's going to happen to you he read all of that as well yeah he read the blessings he read the cursings according to all that was written in the book of the law he read the whole lot he read the whole lot to those families he read the whole lot to those impressionable children he read the whole lot to those young children he read the whole lot to those older children he read the whole lot to those women that included leviticus chapter 18 we went through that the other week there's some tough stuff in leviticus that includes leviticus chapter 20 i'm not just talking about verse 13 which was probably water off a duck's back for them they were probably like yeah sure but there was some there's some tougher stuff in there as well talk about putting people to death putting witches to death all that sort of stuff they he they read through all of that they read through all of them and other hairy chapters of the law were read and hairy parts of the law now some would think because according to a lot of churches they would think that's the time when the kids needed to go down to the cave and play patter cake and not be part of the service because this is this isn't suitable for children well it said in verse 35 there was not a word not a word of all that moses commanded which joshua read not before all the congregation of israel it was not a word that he read not before all the congregation of israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them and by the way that includes a stranger too there was no skim read in the offensive parts when the stranger turned up there was no better change your sermon quickly the strangers come in the newbies come in oh uh don't worry i've got a i've got a backup about god's love here don't worry i've got a backup where i'm just going to preach the gospel for an hour go newbies come in quick get the gospel out again see if we can shoehorn it in somehow no they just he read all the words all the words they read the whole word of god to the whole congregation of god's people why why well go backwards a few pages to deuteronomy 31 so go backwards a few pages it is to deuteronomy chapter 31 where we see some of the reasons that it's so important for kids to hear the whole council of god it's important for our kids to hear the whole council of god in deuteronomy 31 moses is giving them a pep talk before entering into the promised land it says this in verse six deuteronomy 31 six he said be strong and of a good courage fear not nor be afraid of them for the lord thy god he it is that doth go with thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee and moses called unto joshua and said unto him in the sight of all israel be strong and of a good courage for thou must go with this people unto the land which the lord has sworn unto their fathers to give them and thou shalt cause them to inherit it and the lord he it is that doth go before thee he will be with thee he will not fail thee neither forsake thee fear not neither be dismayed i wrote moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests the sons of levi which bear the ark of the covenant of the lord and unto all the elders of israel and moses commanded them saying at the end of every seven years in the solemnity of the year of release in the feast of tabernacles when all israel is come to appear before the lord thy god in the place which he shall choose thou shalt read this law before all israel in the hearing gather the people together men and women and children and thy stranger that is within thy gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the lord your god and observe to do all the words of this law the children also need to learn don't they the children also need to fear god and observe to do all the words of this lord don't they children as well children need to learn that when are they going to learn that they need to learn it from early don't they need to be learning it from young learning it from early and of course look the meats drinks divers washings carnal ordinances they're done away with okay they were only until the time of reformation but god still wants us to live right doesn't he okay he still wants us to live right he said through peter you'd have to turn there in first peter 116 be ye holy for i am holy he said to be holy well oh well how can we be holy we better just read the the bits that jesus christ emphasized that the bits that he talked about no god doesn't change he's the same yes they stand forever okay it's the same holy standards that you have for the beginning yes the ordinances are done away with but you know what the moral law is still there the moral law still God still wants you to live right he still wants you to be holy how are we holy psalm 119 1 verse 172 says my tongue shall speak of thy word for all thy commandments are righteousness all his commandments are righteousness not just the ones that we fancy nowadays not just the ones that fit in with our society nowadays the whole lot is the whole lot is how are children to learn to live right if they only hear part of it how are the kids going to learn to live right if they only hear part of the law you say well they can learn at home so can everyone everyone can learn at home so we might as well just give up on on church right but when you come to the house of god our job is to teach and preach the whole council of god that's that's part of the the the reason you come to church to hear it talk to hear it preached to hear it hammered home because when we do our bible reading when we read through the bible we might skim over those bits that maybe we don't really want to hear so much your children when they do their bible reading might skim over many parts or maybe it goes in and it goes out the other way or maybe they just hear it and maybe they forget about it but when you're in church and it's being preached and it's being expanded it's being it's being put into today's language in terms of what you're doing things it applies to in your life when you're hearing it talk you're hearing it preach you're hearing it shouted at you it's a bit harder high for me isn't it and god prescribes preaching and you know what children he preaches much as the adults do children need preaching don't they verse 13 there said in that their children which have not known anything may hear and learn to fear the lord your god as long as you live in the land with he you go over jordan to possess it why is this a family integrated church one reason is so that not just the dads not just the dads and mums but so that the children also hear the whole council of god that's one of the reasons we want the children to hear the whole council of god okay but it's not just for them now okay turn to turn to psalm 78 psalm 78 we will be coming back to joshua right psalm 78 you're turning to if they get used to being in a proper church service now the kids get used to being in a proper church service they're less likely to end up compromising at happy clappy adult sunday school church when they're older aren't they so if they get used to normal church now they're less likely to seek those happy days those happy memories of when they were like clapping along you know in the back room somewhere along to some you know catchy slightly doctriny tune if you're lucky no they they get used to just being in church don't they and get used to being in church they're more likely to then be in church when they're older because there's a lot of churches which are probably a watered down version of a normal church's sunday school that are probably a softer version of a sunday school where they just clap along to some empty songs some empty tunes they get a tiny sermonette with a lot of you know visual stimulation to really keep them excited and then that's the end of it well look at psalm 78 and verse one it's masculine asaph it says in verse one give ear oh my people to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth i will open my mouth in a parable i will utter dark sayings of old which we have which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us we will not hide them from their children showing to the generation to come the praises of the lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he had done don't hide the parables and the dark sayings from the children show them the beauty of the word his strength his wonderful works that's what he's saying right verse five said for he established a testimony in jacob and appointed a law in israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children that the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children so the people have all cared about their onward line okay they cared about their children's children and their children etc that's something i think that's that's gone a lot with people nowadays right a lot of people it's like they couldn't give a damn what's going to happen to their grandchildren their great-grandchildren or anything else but people used to care about that a lot my line is important right that's how people used to see it in the bible we see that a lot they really care about what's going to happen to their line after them and how we train our children what they get used to whether they're likely to be some people doesn't matter at least they're safe no no we want our children serving don't we want our children to grow up to want to be in church and want to raise their kids to be in church well the knock-on effect of that of getting it right kids raised right to go and open their mouths boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel that's what we want don't we it said in verse seven that they might set their hope in god and not forget the works of god but keep his commandments and might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation a generation that set not their heart to right and whose spirit was not steadfast with god and that's all of those fun club church members now isn't it there are two bogged down by the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches they're not steadfast they're not doing the things of god yeah they might go to fun club on a sunday pat themselves on the back after us and that's about as far as the christian life goes it seems with so many out there that's not what we're raising our children for is it that's not our goal yeah we might fail yeah we might not get it right but that's not our goal is it he said the children of ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle so they had the ability they had the gospel they had the word of god they had the other weaponry didn't they they could have gone on to fight for god what happened verse 10 they kept not the covenant of god and refused to walk in his law and forgot his works and his wonders that he had showed them they didn't have a good enough ground in the things of god they let sin bog them down they forgot what he's revealed to them and fast forward to nowadays and they just didn't have enough bible did they that's what we see nowadays we see people look i've been to churches where you're looking at people and you're talking to people i remember a church was that many years ago and there were some saved people some of the elderly people they were saved and they were just doing nothing now and the kids weren't raised the things of god they they weren't they weren't doing the things of god anymore it was becoming more of just a fun club christianity too many renditions of father abraham and not enough thus saith the lord when they were grown up that's what it was if you're wondering it's like father abraham has many sons i used to take her kids to sunday schools right but you know you know though it's actually quite a good that's actually quite a doctrinally accurate song as well yeah but too much of that and not enough thus saith the lord yeah look that stuff's all right for a time and that stuff do that stuff at home with your kids make it fun make it enjoyable remind them stuff through song but there wasn't enough thus saith the lord was there too many cartoon images of mini boats with smiling giraffe necks poking out the top of them and and not enough genesis 613 and god said unto noah the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold i will destroy them with the earth too much fun and frolics and not enough what was the real message of the flood wickedness and destruction by god too many coloring books with a long hair jesus in a dress that's what it's that's what's out there isn't it i mean my kids getting rebuked for for saying are you sure jesus looked like this in one of their sunday schools and they'll go he did wear a dress and they were like trying to convince them that he wore a dress too many coloring books of jesus in a dress you know not enough of verses like revelation 616 where the people left on earth said to the mountains the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sit on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb not enough of that is there going on i don't think they're preaching like that in them sunday schools you might hear a few more tears if they did at some of those schools look jesus loves them yeah jesus loves everyone right jesus love love jesus loves the world right jesus loves us jesus loves his children he died for us yeah he died for our kids he's there for them in life but he but not painting pictures of him isn't what makes you turn back in battle okay i just didn't paint enough pictures of jesus that's why i've turned back in the battle that's why i've given up it's not what makes you refuse to walk in his law okay it's not what makes you forget his wonders and his works no deuteronomy 31 12 we don't have to turn back there but it said gather the people together men and women and children and our strangers that is within our gates that they may hear that they may learn and fear the lord your god and observe to do all the words of this law that's what he wants right so it's for them to hear all those words for them to get used to hearing all of those words setting habits for life proverbs 22 6 says train up a child away should go when he's old he will not depart from it that's our goal isn't it we're trying to train them up in the way they should go yeah there's many elements of that them just sitting in church doesn't mean they're going to go on to serve god but it's part of it isn't it learning how to be in church learning what church is about learning to sit through preaching learning to to reverend praise and worship all of those things they're more likely going to do that in the future aren't they but it's for their own safety too turn to first peter five first peter chapter five contrary to popular belief guess whose responsibility a child is contrary to popular belief out there contrary to our world's belief whose responsibility is our children did you know it's not actually the school teacher's responsibility your child they don't have more responsibility than you i don't know about you but when we first uh many years ago we had our eldest children at school and i mean they would treat you like you were kind of almost like an annoyance and they were teaching you how you needed to parent your children everything else like they knew best about your child that's kind of that that's the sort of culture we're in nowadays isn't it that the school like those parents you know lucky the school teachers there to parent them did you know that the doctors not responsible for your children yeah they like to act like they know best like they know it all now even though doctors throughout history have rarely known it all and they've never known it all they've often got many made many big errors but apparently they know it all now and they know exactly what you should have shouldn't do with your children and they're responsible for your children aren't they well it's not actually any agents of the state they're not really responsible for your kids god doesn't decide yeah yeah you know our the government would love you to think that they're responsible for your kids but they're not you're responsible for your children parents are responsible for their own children and parents out there okay you need to realize that your children are potential targets potential targets okay now you don't have to go crazy with this okay some people go too far with this but it's got to be worth being sober isn't it being vigilant because first peter five eight to nine we're commanded to be sober be vigilant because you adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour whom resists steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions accomplishing your brethren that are in the world so basically the devil and all his children those sons of belial those children of the devil those reprobates out there are predators and predators look for the weak they look for the lame and guess what else they look for the young that's who predators go for the young they're easy targets because they're sick individuals and that's who they go for and it's not just the devil it's not just some devils it's everyone that's of the devil and there's a lot of them out there aren't there because evil minister jesus shall work wax worse and worse deceiving being deceived there's more and more of them out there and and you know what that affliction he said whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that same afflictions are accomplishing your brethren that are in the world that is so commonplace in the world it's scary isn't it it really is this is really commonplace in the world my wife just came back from seeing her family she saw some family members yesterday who and and just the stories coming out the stuff she's hearing coming from their schools or it is scary how rife this is becoming this sort of thing it's horrendous it's everywhere schools not you know neighbors family men just all this stuff going on it's horrific yet so many people are just act as if it's just impossible there's no such thing and he said the same afflictions are accomplishing your brethren that are in the world and that's that's a big problem in the world right now is it vigilant to be sending your kids off with people that you don't really know is that vigilant to just send your kids off i don't know who they are i don't know who what they're doing i don't know you know but hopefully they're all right they go to church should be fine even around and sometimes even around other kids unsupervised do you know that that's that's a common that's a common affliction in the world by the way other kids other children abuse from other children sometimes older children sometimes not right right unsupervised kids a child left to himself brings his mother to shame yet how many people just they just can't get their head around this at all they do and and again you don't have to go too far with this some people it's like someone said hi to my kid they must be some sort of weird i know but you know what you need to know where your kids are what they're doing don't you you need to you need to be vigilant and you need to be sober because there's predators around that's what the bible's telling us and this stuff sadly is rife in churches because you know who predators are often attracted to those that are over trusting and christians are often over trusting aren't we because we want to trust people because we want to think the best because we want to see the best in people so we over trust and that's an easy target for these sorts of people and this stuff is rife in churches sadly okay so you don't have to go overboard with this but look we we do in our church we have our eyes open to this sort of thing but kids are definitely safest with their parents aren't they yeah they're safest through their parents and that's not to mention by the way also keeping them safe from false doctrine as well i mean what's even been taught in half these sunday schools you don't even know because most of the time you're not in there look i've been guilty of this i've had my kids in sunday schools before and then they've come out and i'm trying to ask them what they got taught and they're trying to remember and we're trying to get to the bottom of what they are and what they're not being taught and i was over trusting of that i you know i was well just hope for the best of that and so often you don't have the choice i've been at churches where they're trying to wrestle the kids off you to drag them off to sunday school to be indoctrinated with false doctrine and you're borderline fighting for your kids there okay it's rough out you know that's that's the reality isn't it who's been at churches where they try and grab your kids and take them off you and say yeah we've got a few hands up right they want to get those kids away they get them off get them out of that service ruining that service let's get them down in the basement we're like who knows who teaching them who knows what i mean what on earth right but turn to matthew 14 turn to matthew chapter 14 we want to keep them safe for false doctrine and if you're in a church and you're listening to what's being preached if there's something that you don't agree because they're your responsibility you don't agree with what i'm teaching or preaching you're welcome to do that yeah i'm i don't think that i know it all you don't agree with it go home and talk to your kids say well yeah i know he applied it like that but i don't necessarily now of course be careful now if you just want to pick on every single thing you can find something you know to pick on then you're going to probably start to create an issue with your kids in church and they're going to maybe not respect and preach so much but when it's something that's important to you go no you know i know you said that but we don't agree with that fine do it respectfully go back and explain to your kids you can't do that if they're shoved in a sunday school summer you don't know what's being told what's being told to them what's being preached well in matthew 14 okay the question is why is this a family integrated church it's that they hear the word of god they get used to real church it's safe for them and most important because it's biblical a family integrated church for me is biblical in matthew 14 okay is a famous miracle of feeding thousands with five loaves and two fishes well he's healing them first okay which is a picture of spiritual healing obviously we see a lot of physical healing in the bible and we do a lot of spiritual healing in a church okay that's one of the things we do when we preach the word of god in church is we're trying to spiritually heal people right on verse 19 in matthew 14 says and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes and look he up to heaven he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled and they took up the fragments that remained 12 baskets full now often people are going he fed five thousand people with two fishes and five loaves didn't he well let's have a look verse 21 and they that had eaten were about five thousand men beside women and children no it wasn't just five thousand it's more like multiple times that multiple five thousand men besides the women and children but they were all there together weren't they and as well as being the same in the in the next similar food miracle in the following chapter he does the same again again it's same it's women and children there as well we we don't see any example of the children be exclude being excluded from any of these example type church services any of these pictures of church services any of these gathering together of an assembly of a congregation you just don't see that you don't see the kids being excluded oh well we better teach the kids separately get them out of there you just don't see that in the word of god in fact when they tried to prevent the young children coming to him you have to turn a bit in mark 10 14 it says but when jesus saw it when they tried to stop him he was much displeased and said unto them suffer the little children are coming to me and forbid them not from such as the kingdom of god he got angry when when you try and stop kids coming to the word of god to hear the word of god it's being preached behind the pulpit in this church you oh get rid of them and get them coloring in downstairs you're you're you're forbidding them from coming to the lord like i said i've been to churches where you almost have to have a row about it they don't want your kids anywhere near the service do you think jesus is happy or unhappy about that bob says he's displeased he's displeased some of those new testament letters i remember covering this last time okay written to the afision and the colossian church they're written to the church and they directly address the children children obey your parents for all things in all things so this is right children obey your pain he's he's he's addressing the children not saying parents tell your children to do this when you talk to them after the service no the letters are written to the church they're part of the church they're as much a part of a proper church as anyone else i remember i had someone and it was innocently asked years ago do you count the children in your attendance register i was like oh we sure do of course we do they're part of the church kids are part of the church they're listening to preach they're listening to the word of god preached they're singing along to the hymns it better be no but they are they're part of the service they're part of the church and they're as much apart as anyone else in the church aren't they go back to joshua chapter eight the title is a family integrated church point number one what is a family integrated church well it's a church where families are encouraged to all partake in the same church service point number two is why is this a family integrated church they hear the word of god they get used to real church it's safer for them and it's biblical and it's biblical point number three how does it work being a family integrated church so how does it work being a family integrated church because that's a big question for a lot of people and it is a big problem for many sorts of churches as well how can this even work look at joshua eight in verse 34 834 said and after it he read all the words of the law the blessings and cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law now sometimes the law is referring to the ten commandments which is a sort of summary okay a condensed version of the whole law however here he talks of the blessings and cursings and all that is written in the book of the law it then said in verse 35 there was not a word of all that moses commanded which joshua read not the whole lot okay before all the congregation of israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversing among them now either that was a very long bible reading okay you might sometimes when we when we open up a chapter and it's a long bible reading thinking oh this is going to be a long one i mean that was all that moses commanded okay or maybe it was a series i don't know how they did this okay maybe they had a few breaks but you can imagine that some of those younger children might have found this a bit hard don't you think so oh well no it's okay because that was back in israel the children much better behaved then look kids are kids right okay they were probably sitting there thinking okay when is this this is going on a bit some of those younger children especially right i don't know what they did to make it work okay i don't know but we have some ways that help the family integrated church to work in this church and we have some rules that that should make it work if everyone follows the rules okay first corinthians 14 40 says let all things be done decently and in order and let me just tell you that if this was a free for all if we just had family integrated outside when kids come in and then there was just no example no rules no way of of of kind of trying to encourage people to make it work believe me this this it would be a nightmare no one would really listen be able to hear the word of god they wouldn't there'd be so many distractions in the service it would end up being more of a problem and we might be better off to make the sunday school if that became the case no we have some rules okay and the idea of the rules that they help to make it work now the the the rules that we have here were initially by our planting pastor by pastor thompson who came up with this list i've adapted a couple of them but i i've kept pretty much all of them okay because they really do work they do help they've come from from many years of having a family integrated church so they're things that work but just to make it clear as i go through this i don't don't anyone here start going bright red and thinking oh but i haven't done this i mean that's not the idea okay if you weren't aware of this and just learn from it and and but we need to make it work okay because a family integrated church is a great thing if it works well it can be a problem if it doesn't okay so here are some rules that we have here okay number one parents should be should to be training children at home to sit through services and the best time is at family devotional time okay so that's a good time to be the training is really done at home okay so we're trying to train them at home if you're constantly chastising and bringing back like that just becomes a distraction itself doesn't it so train them at home if they're not ready to sit in the services they're not ready to sit in the services right okay but that should be done at home and and that's a good reason to have a family devotional time as well so a time when you're reading the bible teaching the bible to your family for me after dinner is a good time to try and have a family dinner teach the bible that's a good time to train your children as well to get them used to being able to sit still when the word of god's being being read and taught number two use the baby rooms for the purpose of training children to sit quietly during the church services so when you're in those baby rooms it shouldn't then become a you know kids doing laps of the baby room you know smashing the place up and screaming shouting they're meant to be being trained in that baby room as well okay so you do your training at home you do your training in the baby room rather than it's like free for all now we're in the baby room it's okay because hopefully you won't be able to hear what about the other and then you'll have moms that don't want to go in the baby room because the baby room's turned into a sort of you know some sort of party or worse in there right number three parents should not train children or calm down their children during church services please use the baby room okay so if you're constantly having to tell your kid and and argue and and and punish and whatever else during the service well they just need to be in the baby room and just to make it clear on that look i've got some there are some guideline ages that that are here but really it's individual and it's not a slight it's not like oh you you must be a terrible parent because your child's not ready to sit the service their kids are different with it you know i've said many times your kid might not be so great at sitting at a service but they might be great in a hundred other ways okay it's just it's not a competition we're just trying to we want it to work and you have to follow these rules for it to work okay number four in a transitional phase where you're teaching children to sit through service please minimize distractions so there is going to be a phase where you're like i think they're ready and then and it's like please minimize the distractions the problem with distractions okay no we're not like the like i said churches i've been to where someone breathes and everyone's turning around and like oh i can't believe they didn't send them off to the sunday school okay we're not like that but on the flip side if a kid's causing distractions and it's stopping people here the way they go what if that was a verse they really need to hear what is that was a point they really need to hear and because because you didn't want to use the baby room for whatever reason or because you didn't you know you you didn't really want to respect the rules that person's missed something that could have really helped them at that point in their life something else okay so it is important parents should promptly and quickly remove children from service as soon as they make distracting noises when they're screaming in the service people aren't listening to the preaching because they're distracted and back to that point i just made okay so that's important isn't it right to get that right and look it's not no no we're not going i can't believe it your kid had a touch yeah kids have tensions but they should be having it in the service okay so if kids are kicking off just take them out right parents with babies are young children who are more likely to need calming down okay so if you've got a child that's going to need that more should sit near the baby room so you can take them out quickly okay and if if you if you come in you're like i've got nowhere just talk to one of the ushers say i wouldn't mind being near the baby room and they'll happily move people around for you okay if you're coming out of the mother baby room more than two to three times per service your child may not be ready to sit through the entire service so if that's the case just stay in the baby room look i know it's not ideal i know in the baby room at least it's still part of the service you're still listening to the service you're still part of it but look if you if you're coming in and out that causes a distraction as well doesn't it right don't expect a naught to two-year-old to sit through an entire service don't place unrealistic expectations on yourself or your children it's unrealistic to think they're going to be in subjection in every way shape or form okay and that's a good reminder for everyone because people get pressured by this they feel some sort of social pressure that my kids should be ready then they're getting angrier with their kid who's just being a kid look you know what it's not going to be easy for a young child to just sit for a service like this okay that's just you know it's not you know what it's not easy for a lot of the adults to a lot of adults couldn't sit through the service don't expect your kids to necessarily be able to and don't be so angry with them if they don't don't place those unrealistic expectations use the baby rooms you've got another one upstairs as well do what you need to do right number nine begin to actively train a three-year-old to transition for the baby room in the sunday evening service so that's a good benchmark but like i said many children are different okay if that three-year-old might not be ready yet well don't stress about it okay no one's going oh how old's your cut child right that's it yeah just just do what needs doing right number 10 children that are four to five again a good good kind of guidelines should be expected to sit quietly through the services unless there's a legitimate medical reason why they can't okay but again there are kids that just aren't ready yet for whatever reason if they're not ready then use the baby rooms yeah it is appropriate for children one to two to play quietly in the baby room you should not allow children of any age to scream or yell loudly in these rooms for long periods of time however look they're going to have the odd kickoff tantrum but you've got to deal with it right if they're just screaming shouting throwing things kick then it's going to affect the other mums who then can't really hear the preach because mums we want the mums and those children hearing the preacher as well just from the baby room right don't allow your uh don't allow your child to scream through the entire service and obviously applying to the baby room okay you need to you need to get on top of that new families to the family integrated model should be given some time to adapt okay so look there are people not everyone's kind of had their kids born you know whilst being part of a church like this okay so suggestion for for those of you with you know who who are trying to get used to this bring things for children to quietly do during the church service quiet toys are good not the not the like press the button and then we sometimes have to hide them off because they always seem to come out somehow yeah okay but um no snacks things that make a bad mess so don't do the old classic church classic is just feed them up for the service and it's oh well those kids were so quiet how wonderful and then when they get up and leave it's just like a deluge of squashed in food into the seats and floor and stuff like that okay so not not by food okay number 14 parents should not be holding long conversations in the mother baby room or sitting on their phones don't come to church to take a nap okay set the example to the other parents and children if you're sending a bad example the children will follow so that's a good reminder isn't it if you tell them something but you don't follow it then they'll feel why should i do it if you don't so obviously if you're telling your kids you need to be quiet and everything else while you're gassing with the mum in the baby room well that's not going to be a good example to be setting is it number 15 children after sitting through a long service should be allowed to play without being reckless or rambunctious oh i like reading that word each time because i need to use it more in vocabulary in my daily vocabulary uh so um okay so after the service okay you know we because we can and we can be like this like sit still do it are they really gonna they've just sat still for an hour and a half or something you know they've just listened to me for an hour sometimes more yeah they probably need to let off a bit of steam we just but we need to keep an eye on it because number 16 is train your children not to run in the church and with young children it's hard they're gonna do it we need to be on them so you know if if we're all telling our kids not to because it's hard if one is and then the others aren't just let's not have them running why do we not want them running in the church because they cause someone injury calls themselves injury because someone walks out of somewhere and the kid runs into them and they buckle that's not what we want going on okay so we need to remind our kids not to run in the church dad's number 17 help the mums and give them a chance to sit through the services now and then allow your wife to list some of the preaching to your wives need to hear the preaching too so that's up to you if you want or don't want to do that but i think that's a good idea okay to to try and give them a chance as well we do have a dad baby room as well be part of the service and part of the after service we should all be singing together singing time and preaching time is the time to be in the service not chatting having coffee so we're kind of going off a little bit family integrated stuff here but it's it's a good reminder okay okay so 10 30 when the service starts is when the service starts yeah if you're kind of making coffees and teas and stuff i don't think that's well it's not a good idea it's not a good thing to be doing number 19 be on time if you don't show up for work late every single time why should you show up for church late every single time it is a distraction to some people that's true if you're late to church all the time what's that saying to god and also to the ushers who are having to get up stop their singing interrupt the prayer whatever it is whatever time you come in and let you into the church so look all it means is just getting up earlier and leaving earlier when the service starts we should be ready to engage in the service don't wait until the song service starts to get your coffee don't wait until the song service starts to use the toilet 10 minutes early you should be letting your kids go to the bathroom as well that's something we need to remember as parents we're going to get the kids to the toilet before and then hopefully it won't just be a conveyor belt in and out of the toilet and that was our 20 rules to make a family integrated church service work hopefully you know if you're sitting there going i couldn't remember that one let me know i'll happily tell you them again give me a shout but because we want it to work don't we if if it if it ends up being a problem if the service doesn't work if it ends up with just kids you know kind of doing cartwheels down the aisle and doing laps during the service and screaming and shouting and kicking off and everything else then it gets the point where people are like i need to go and find a church where it's not family integrated but if we do it right then we end up with with it being a success and we keep the kids safe we keep them in church listening to the word of god being preached getting used to these things for life but also it doesn't detract from everyone else and from the rest of of god's people in the house of god as well joshua 835 said there was not a word of all that moses commanded which joshua read not before all the congregation of israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them so that's only possible if everyone tries to make it work if we all try to make it work then it will be possible the title is the family integrated church number one what is a family integrated church it's a church where families are encouraged to all partake in the same church service and it's a time of being together then with your family as well isn't it because for some you know you you maybe you have to work on a saturday maybe you have other things you have things on maybe some days you're one day off and then when you're sending your kids off somewhere and you're barely seeing them for the day well it's not really much of a time with your family is it but being part of the church together being part of the service together being here together does help with that so it's a church where families are encouraged to all partake in the same church service which should help strengthen families together as well and they're hearing the same teaching together number two why is this a family integrated church because they hear the word of god they get used to real church it's safer and it's biblical and number three how does it work being a family integrated church pretty simple by following the laws okay um on that we're going to finish it away father thank you for your word thank you for um lord the the families in this church lord thank you for the great kids here help us to to um to just you know between us between us as families as as church members to just help these kids to to go on to want to serve you lord as they grow up to go on to be strong christians to go on to carry that torch you know as some of us you know start to get older and and you know and go on to to be with you lord for for eternity help help our kids to just be able to to to keep this church strong to keep this church thriving and help us to to help them to do that by being a you know a church which is welcoming which is which is the right environment for kids help us to keep them safe lord but also help us to keep this church functioning properly at the same time as well and for it not to detract from the preach from the teach from the word of god from the hymns lord help us get the balance right in this church help everyone here to to help that to happen help us also lord to uh to have a great soul winning time now this afternoon uh to get many people saved and then to to return for the evening um series on proverbs as well lord in Jesus name we pray all of this amen