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Hey guys, so Proverbs 22 and the verse I want to particularly focus on is verse number 6 which is Train us a child in the way we should go and when he is old he will not depart from it and the title of my sermon today is Training Children So I think this is a massive topic, such a big part of most people's lives They're not able to have children but even if not they're going to be around people that do and they're going to have the ability to guide and help and support family, friends, etc that do have children and it's such a massive task and such a massive job and the Bible has a lot to say about it as we're going to see Okay so, you know what made me think about something this, over Christmas I was looking for a present for my brother Now my brother lives a very different life to me, my brother's unsaved and he's always really hard to buy presents for and I was looking around to get my brother, now he's just got a new puppy, he's just got a little Staffordshire ulterior So I'm kind of having a little thing, one of my pet hates in life, I've had a few guys see this before, one of my pet hates is people that get dogs, they barely put a day into training them and then you see them with these dogs screaming at them You know, just swearing and everything, like the dogs should just know, the dog should understand and get so angry and they're screaming We see a lot of dogs where we live, they all come, a lot of special dogs come and not only them, a lot of just dogs and they're constantly in and out, they come into our drive and they're screaming, come in and the dogs are getting excited They clearly never train the dog, they just expect them to just be this great well trained perfect dog And with that, I thought I'm going to get him a book, I'm going to get him a book on training and Staffordshire Ulterior I thought my brother would appreciate that and he did actually, so I'm looking around, now how do I get, what dog do I get So I'm looking and suddenly, you know, because I don't have a dog, I haven't had a dog since I was little, I've had to look after people's dogs and stuff But I didn't really know when to start, so now I'm searching what books are good and it was really hard, it was really hard to go right this way So there's quite a few out there and a lot of readers and other people and dog trainers and people In the end I thought I'm going to get a book that's specifically for training Staffordshire Ulterior, so I thought that would be a good idea Well, I was thinking about that because I think it's so similar with parenting isn't it, so with parenting, we want the final authority don't we We want to know exactly what we should and shouldn't do because there's so much out there isn't there, there's so much advice, there's so much bad advice out there And there's some good advice out there as well and there are a lot of books on parenting and I don't know if any of you parents ever seen some of this stuff And some of you, maybe those of you who aren't parents either, but there's a lot of rubbish out there as well, there's a lot of liberal drivel out there Absolute nonsense and there's some good stuff as well and with the liberal stuff, so something we're seeing a lot recently is this kind of child knows best stuff I don't know if you've seen this, so it can start for young and don't get me wrong, some of the child then stuff is the wife But it goes on and on to the point where basically they treat it as if the child innately knows to do right Well that's very contrary to the Bible isn't it, well fortunately we do have a manual, we do have a book that we can trust, we have the Word of God Unlike looking for the present from my brother who didn't even know where to start and I didn't really know if that would be any good We look at some of the reviews, but as we know there's a lot of fake reviews, but no we've got the Word of God and we know that every word is written by God, inspired by God And within that Word of God, it's raising children, you know it takes a lot more than knowledge doesn't it, it takes a lot of wisdom And praise God we've got a book in the middle of that Bible called the Book of Proverbs which is full of wisdom And a lot of it, there's quite a lot of proverbs and I'm sure many of you have noticed which show us how to raise children and give us advice on how to raise children And praise God for that, so my point, my first point number one is training your children is your job, training your children is your job Okay so with the dog analogy as well, something I've noticed a lot is a lot of people, they get a dog, like I said I know quite a lot of professional dog walkers And it never seems so amazing how many people get a dog and then they're paying other people to walk their dog Now okay if you've got a dog maybe circumstances change at work, whatever, you can't walk your dog But what these guys are telling me is a lot of their clients are actually sitting at home when they come round to all their dogs So during this whole lockdown when these people work from home and I'm sure they have the ability to turn their dog out for half an hour And by the way a lot of these fresher dogs, half of their journey is driving around picking up other dogs but anyway They have the ability to turn their dog out but these people they end up sitting at home and just paying someone else to walk their dog Now that's just walking a dog, on top of that a lot of them then they start off with dog training, a lot of these dog walkers they then start learning how to train dogs So these people and I've known quite a few of these people over the years who don't train their dogs, some of them don't even walk their dogs Then they get their dogs and sorry if you're thinking I'm comparing kids to dogs but hey it fits sometimes okay And they get these dogs and then they set them off to be trained, now they set them off to be trained by these people who are professional trains Then they wonder why the dogs still don't do what they say, the dogs still don't do what they want them to do They're doing what the trainer, they're great to the trainer but they're not so good with them In the same way, in the same way, what are we doing? Number one, and there's many different ways we do this, number one is when we're sending our kids off to a school We're sending our kids off for seven hours a day to school and maybe everyone here, I don't know, maybe some people don't And here's the point, there are circumstances, I don't know everyone's situation for circumstances, there might be situations where it is impossible It needs to be impossible, it needs to be impossible for you to be sending your kids off to someone else for six, seven hours a day to train your child And then come back and wonder why they're not behaving and acting and being how you want them to be, how they work, God tells your child to be Okay, so there's a school system isn't there? However, while I'm on this point of the school system, I don't know anyone who's had their kids in school here We had our eldest two children were in school for a few years and it was absolutely horrendous, horrendous what they're coming back Not only what they were being taught, not only the people that were teaching them, not only that as well, but also what the other kids were teaching them from a young age as well And it is absolutely wicked, and I was thinking about this as well, I was thinking about an analogy for this as well So for example, back to the dog analogy, we've got, say my brother and just say you're one of these people, he's not exactly this But say you're one of those people that absolutely loves and adores, maybe they love and adore Staffordshire ball terriers, absolutely love them And a lot of people do, don't they? You love them so much that when you see a video on social media or maybe you hear of, maybe you see a video and it's talking about abortion or something else that's absolutely wicked That doesn't really faze you, but what it really does faze you is if someone hurts an animal, I mean that is like right, death time, you're calling for them to be killed, maybe their kids should be strung up as well And then people like that, say you just absolutely love this dog, you love dogs, you love animals, okay, you love Staffordshire, so you're thinking, I want to train my Staffordshire, but maybe I just don't want to do it Maybe I'm too busy, maybe I've got other things on, maybe I can't really then afford extra things in life if I do So what I'm going to do is I'm going to send it off to someone to get trained Which is then, send your little sweet little Staffordshire ball terrier and when people talk about their kids, you talk about that dog as if it's a child as well, you know these people that do that, you know it's, I just love dogs so much, it's, yeah my dog is just like a child, I've heard this a lot for a video Okay son, you've got this little dog, are you going to send them to the person who basically advertises that they hate Staffordshire ball terriers, they hate them, they want to change them, they want to train them out of them, they want to stop them being a Staffordshire ball terrier, would you? And you wouldn't with whatever it is, whatever your favourite, maybe it's cats, I don't know if you've ever had cats, whatever it is yet, you're not going to send them, about half the room for these cats I think, you're not going to send them off to the person that absolutely hates cats Yet in schools they hate Christians, they hate, they hate the way I've got most of them, and they do, and like I said I've had experience with this, in the so called C of E little church of England schools and by the way you're sending your child, and I'm sending you all at least to Christian schools, he said teach them some Bible, you're sending them off to be taught, to be exposed to, to recreate, to recreate full profit because however many times a month, whatever it is, that the priest, the pervert priest in address comes down to the school and they're exposed to these people and you're sending them off there and again I'm probably preaching a low one here, maybe people have thought about it, maybe people have done it, maybe people are thinking well if I have kids I don't know, it's an option between homeschooling and having lots of money, or whatever it is, and this is only one of my points, but people do it, and Christians do it, and they send their kids off and then they wonder why they come out of those schools with nothing like how the Bible says they should be, and in the same way you would have done it with an animal but people do it with their kids now it's not just the teachers, it's not just the priests at the C of E schools, it's also the other kids, when your kids are around those sorts of kids, the stuff they come back saying this child did that, this child said that, they're being told stuff, they're hearing stuff, you don't want your kids anywhere near, anywhere near, and the influences, what's the Bible say? Proverbs 1320, we're all in Proverbs, it's down to Proverbs 1320 he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed, now we want our kids walking with wise kids don't we, now don't get me wrong, I'm not a foolishness and fan of heart trouble, look at that problem in a minute, but you want your kids, at least with people that don't claim, don't want to believe that there is no God, the fool that says in his heart there is no God, why on earth can we put our kids back, and hours and hours, and I did it, and I did it for a good few years, and whilst still saying it, I'll be honest, you know, we did, I wanted to homeschool as far as I can say, but it's just it was really hard to work that out and we kept putting it off and trying to find a good time to do it, and I wish I could turn back those couple of years they were at school, especially my eldest, she was there for, she was in school for a good few years, and I can tell you some horrible stories in those few years when she was at school, now it's not just school, it's not just school, and it's also, it's also when we, unsafe family members, now I'm not saying you can't have your kids looked after, and it's good to be able to have people call them, maybe parents would go insane if they literally had no opportunity at all, but how many people will leave their kids with unsafe family and friends for hours, maybe days, maybe weekends, maybe weeks, who's meant to be training them, who's training them then, and these same people, these same people that care so much about animals and everything else, these same people that are talking about, go on about the animal world, go on about the dogs, they care so much about them, they don't care, they don't give a damn, when you start pointing out, showing them videos, for example, of Joe Biden sniffing little girls hair and the rest of it, if anyone's seen that stuff, it's absolutely horrific, think what he does, that guy's sick, well it's not Donald Trump, or these same people that don't seem to care, they'll still be watching BBC documentaries, other stuff, that places a den of iniquity, it's absolutely disgusting, the tip of the iceberg, with Jimmy Savile and the rest of it, oh, whatever, and the kids are sitting there in front of the BBC stuff, or the Disney stuff, the Disney stuff, any of you here still put your kids in front of anything made by the Walt Disney Corporation, you're nuts, it's disgusting, the little stuff they've been in there, that ain't conspiracy junk either, the little clicks, the little perverted things that they're constantly adding into it, and the wickedness of the people, the amount that's involved in that corporation, is absolutely, it is, it's filthy, that's a good word, it is filthy, and when you've got your kids in front of that stuff, your kids are being raised, your kids are being raised, they're being trained by these people, by these people, like I said, it's not just schools, it's not just schools, like I said, iPads as well, an argument might be, I'm not educated enough, I'm not educated enough to train a child, to get to the academic level I want him to get to, maybe that's an argument, maybe that's something that some mums feel, maybe some dads feel as well, okay, firstly, that means the school system failed you, if you can't train a child, then you might fail by the school system, so that's not really a very good advertisement for the system that you want to send them to, but secondly as well, what are you training your kids to do, what are we training our children to do, well the most important thing surely is to get them saved, isn't it, we're going to look at that in a second, but it's a word of God, and you can train them, you can learn to teach the kids, at the same time, if you really want it enough, and if you're incapable of doing that, then I would say really, if you think that I literally could teach a child, should you be having children, because they're your responsibility, they're not someone else's responsibility, tell me that dog, that dog is not someone else's responsibility, when it bites someone, when it ends up being an absolute reprobate dog, I can't then blame the trainers, blame the walkers, well it wasn't my fault, and they do that, they blame the schools, you see it in the media, you see the schools are failing the schools, they can't do this, they can't do that, the schools can't do that, what's the schools got to do with it, they're our responsibility, children are our responsibility, but secondly, young girls for example, what is the ultimate thing that a mum is teaching their daughters to do, it's to be a mum isn't it, it's to be a wife, to be a mum, to serve God, you're going to get to any of that at school, any of that at all, what, home economics, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the problem, what's the Point number two, training your children starts with the word of God. It starts with the word of God. Okay, Psalm 78. Turn to Psalm 78. Psalm 78, verse 1. Give ear I might bring to my law, incline your ears to the word of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will put up to dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to their generations to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done, that he established a testimony of Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children, that the generations to come might know them, even the children which should be born, we should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope to 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 up their hearts aright and whose spirit was not steadfast with God, sir. Okay, don't hide them. Don't hide them. This is it. Don't hide the word of God from your kids. I'm not hiding the word of God. My children have little Jesus storybook at home. Yeah, they understand the stories. We're strong here, aren't we? We're strong about the King James Bible and it being a word of God, and when we stand on that, it's a preserved word of God. Why is it then okay for our kids to read whoever translated it, some looking picture book with a load of biblical characters with long flowing locks and dresses and everything else? It's bizarre. And like I said to you before, you start to get an image from a child upwards, and we've all had it, of Jesus being a long-haired, effeminate guy, you know, a hippie, dress, et cetera, because it starts with young, and they're brainwashing from young. It's not the Jesus of the Bible. I have never once seen a kid's storybook with Jesus with eyes a flaming fire and white hair and the only picture we really see of his image in Revelation. You don't see it. So from the beginning, they're getting brainwashed there. If it weren't because they're learning, it's not because they're pretty picture, sure, happy pretty picture book, but be discerning about that, by the way, because so many books are trying to brainwash and trying to condition your children one way or another, and there's nothing new under the sun. That's been from the beginning, and we might see it on the TV now. It's been going on with books ever since there were books being written. But the kids are being conditioned by the world, and you need to be really careful what they're reading. Oh, it's a book. It's okay. No, it's not okay. And you get that. We've had to have been so many books that family and friends have given us, especially I think all has been from unsaved family and friends. They're just gone straight away because the junk in us, the stuff that the kids end up reading and learning about. But it has to be with the Word of God, doesn't it? So here in Psalm 78, it talks about trying the praises of the Lord. You've got to show them. And here's another thing. You could just leave these kids to read the Bible, and that's good. They should be reading the Bible. They should be able to do it themselves, but we need to be showing them as well. We need to be teaching our children, teaching our children the Word of God and obviously teaching them correct doctrine as well because they're going to get it from all angles, especially as they get older. You need to ground them in the Word of God. His strength, his wonderful works, show them God is. Show them God is. It's not just going through the plan of salvation with your kids every week. There's so much of the Bible we need to be showing our children. Now, Psalm 78 says that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God that keeps them honest. Set their hope in God that they might get saved. They might put their hope in God, their salvation. That's the first thing, isn't it? The most important thing is get our children saved. Get your children saved. And when they're old enough to understand, get them saved. But that's by showing them about God, showing them, and we're going to see something else that helps with that as well. And in Psalm 7 as well, and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments. So we want to get them saved, but then we want them to know who God is and what he does and keep his commandments. Because, yeah, great, you've got your kids saved, but they're just another one of these worldly Christians. We haven't achieved anything there. But train them up in the way they should go. When he is old, he will not depart from it. We want them to stay in the Word of God and keep his commandments and to be the sort of Christian that we want them to be. Verse 8, it says, And might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation. I don't know how many of you are stubborn and rebellious, but I know what I was like and I don't want my kids to grow up like I was like and like I can still be like. And praise God that the Word of God will just help you change so much after salvation, after salvation. But for my kids, I don't want them to go through what I went through and, you know, I don't want them to have anything like the life that I had before I saved. And we should be the same there. And you know what, get them saved. That's not it's our goal what they're saved. It's teaching them the commandments. Okay, turn to Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6. Deuteronomy 6. And from verse 4, Deuteronomy 6 verse 4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and walkest by thy way, and when thou liest down, and when thou wisest up, and thou shalt find them through a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. Okay, so verse 7 here is talking about the words. So the conversation we have with our kids should be about the Word of God. I'm not saying every conversation has to be about the Word of God, but it should be regular. We should be talking about the things of God, talking about things you've learnt, talking about the stories in the Bible, talking about God to your children, and not just on a Sunday. And that needs to be a big part of the training of your children. We want them to grow up to not be like their fathers were, because everyone here pretty much I think is safe, probably in adulthood, maybe most people here. And we don't want them to go through that. We want to talk about those words. Verse 8 and 9, he's talking about keeping them in view. Okay, so that script around the house is good for that, isn't it? I don't know about you guys. When you have scripts around the house, how often do you really focus on that? How many Bibles are around the house? I mean, how blessed are we to be able to fire Bibles? It's so cheeky, you can have Bibles if you want to from here as well. Have Bibles is a different place. How handy is this conversation? We can get a bit lazy, can't we? You might be sitting somewhere and the Bible's all the way upstairs. And I know we haven't got our phones as well, but sometimes you just don't have too much effort to go into your Bible and something you want to think, oh, look at it. Bibles are around the house. We have Bibles in every room and it's so handy to just have a Bible, to be able to go through things with your children. Okay, and like I said, Bibles, Bibles not kids' story, but it's not, like I said as well, worldly books think about that a lot as well. Worldly books, books about the Bible, all that stuff, just get rid of that. I'm not saying you can't have books that aren't Bibles in the house, but be kids, be really careful what they're reading. What we find as well with our kids, and we're particular about what they read, they can read something that's pretty clean, like a little house and a prairie, something that you can't really find too much thought with, but when they get into a book, 100% they behave as material, unless it's the book. It does. Whether it's because they just really want to do their chores because they just want to get back to their books or whatever else, limit the reading time with all this stuff because it's not things of God. All these books, and they might be about godly principles or anything else, it's not the Word of God. And for me, oh great, it's a book, we have unsaved families, but how amazing, your kids read books. No, it's not. They're not staring at the TV or anything else. The Word of God needs to be what they read most, and that needs to be what they read most, known as legal with books all day. Because then again, you're not training your children. Books, the authors are training your children. Okay, so number one, train your children is your job. Number two, train your children starts with the Word of God. Number three, training your children needs both the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So, Ephesians chapter six, guys, Ephesians chapter six. Okay, verse number one. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children for wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So, just a quick point, I'm focusing on parents a lot here, but children, there are some commandments for you. You don't have the excuse of, well, I wasn't trained that well, or, well, they didn't do this, they didn't do that bit. The Bible says, obey your parents in the Lord. There's no reason but to say it, but this is right. So, it's right to obey your parents. So, children, there's some instructions there for you as well, but parents here, it says here that we shouldn't, you fathers, provoke not your children for wrath. So, how do we provoke our children for wrath? If you just quickly look at Colossians three. Similar here, Colossians three, 20. So, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is well with thee, to go to the Lord. Verse 21, fathers, provoke not your children for anger, lest they be discouraged. So, if we're promoting them for anger, if we're promoting them for wrath, we can discourage them. Now, how do you provoke your children for anger and wrath? Well, when you're being inconsistent with them, when they're getting punished for something one day, they're not the other, then you're punishing them again for that. That can get them angry. They're getting confused. They're not really going where they need to go. Lives, they need to have boundaries. We get this wrong sometimes. All of this is stuff that we should all be, as parents, looking at, constantly working on. So, whenever we have a problem with thinking, we're not really dealing with this right, or whatever else, with one of our kids, myself and my wife, the first thing we want to do is look at what the word of God says, and go over these verses again. It's a good thing to do, because God gives us lots of advice here, but it's just to provoke them for wrath. So, another thing is, I find, and we're going to talk about punishment in a minute, but I find that when a child is in the middle of a tantrum, and they're really going crazy, for me, I like to do the punishment after that, because he's cut a water off the duck's back at that point, and a lot of times it just provokes them to want more anger, but sometimes I try and let them calm down, and then when they're calm, try and deal with the punishing then. Obviously, if they're literally smashing the place up, they shouldn't be doing that anyway, but if they were, then you have to do something. But a lot of the time, we sometimes see it as an angry situation, and then we just make him more angry. Try and do the punishment calmly, and we'll talk about that in a second. Favouritism can provoke more anger and wrath, aren't it? Favouritism. And we see examples of that throughout scripture, where favouritism can be a big problem. Should we show favouritism to your children? You shouldn't be anyway, because we're commanded to love our children, aren't we? And we should love our children, and that's something we do, regardless of whether one's behaving better than the other. Favouritism can't, because we don't want our children discouraged. You don't want them discouraged, you want them in the Lord, in the word of God. Now, nurture and admonition. Nurture. Now, the dictionary definition is that which promotes growth, education, and instruction. And nurture, it makes me think of a more loving form of training, doesn't it? It does with me, nurture. And how can we promote growth, education, and instruction? Well, like I say, I'm loving them. I'm showing love to children. When they feel love, they do so much better. Because we can go one of two ways. We can go the world's way, which is, oh, well, I'm so loving because I don't punish my child, which is absolute nonsense. I'm so loving, I just couldn't tell them off, or couldn't do this, or let them smack their bottom. Or you can go the other way, where you're just trying to be this disciplined area the whole time, chasing them. There's a lot of correction, but you're not showing that love, that nurture as well. Remember, we're training them, we're teaching them. So, something that I take for the word of God, which I find helps, and we don't always do enough of, because you've kind of got to be careful, because you can get expensive reward schemes as well. We work off reward schemes. God works with us with rewards, doesn't he? We know we're earning rewards in heaven. In fact, we're talking about that later, because we're close to being three. But we work off that, and our children work great off that as well, when they know they're earning some sort of award. As well as the chastisement. Look for rewards as well, it's a biblical concept. Reward schemes are a good way of nurturing them as well, and it can show your love for them, obeying and doing the right thing through reward schemes. Now, what about admonition? Ammonition is described as gentle reproof, counselling against a fault, instruction in duties, caution, direction. To admonish is to warn or notify of a fault, to reprove with mildness. Okay, now, that's a little bit different, like I said, to the thrashing for every time they put a foot wrong. It's gentle reproof, it's counselling against a fault, it's instruction in duties, caution, direction. Look at Proverbs 29. Look at Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29, verse 21. He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a charge, for having become his son at length. Now, let's talk about delicately here. And we should be in tune, and we should be trying to work out what our kids need and what makes them tick and everything else. It's not just, do as I say, that's it, thrashing, they've got it wrong. And like I say, there is a time for punishment, but we need to also, we need to be gently reproving. Reproving with mildness, caution, direction, warning of a fault. You can't reprove your children without going straight to the harsh discipline. That is possible, that is something we're told to do, to nurture and admonish, to actually talk to your children, explain what the problem is. Right, that's it, they need to know, they need to understand. Okay, how do we admonish them? How do we admonish? Like I said, I think calm discipline, calm discipline is really important, a rule that some might try and go by is that if I'm not calm, if I'm angry about something, it's not the time to discipline yet. Have a look at Proverbs 23. Chapter 13. Proverbs 3, chapter 13. Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Okay, so, withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Now look at verse 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, thou shalt deliver his soul from hell. So straight away then, you see the punishment, the punishment of teaching that there are consequences for behaviour and actions is a part of salvation, isn't it? You need to know there's consequences for your behaviour, to know that you need a saviour. So it's not that, oh, you're going to keep, it's not that they can still go to hell once they're saved, because this is talked about even before salvation, they need to understand there are consequences, they need to understand there's punishment. Thou shalt be with the rod, thou shalt deliver his soul from hell. Now we also see here that the rod of correction is something that you beat or strike with. Now we have a different, when we think of beating now, we think about beating someone to a pulp, but that's what it's all about. It's all about striking here. And the rod of correction is something you use to strike. Okay, Proverbs 22, have a look at Proverbs 22 verse 15. The Bible says, foolishness is found in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. And kids do do foolish things, don't they? And they do, we all do foolish things, but kids especially do foolish things. And they need to understand, like back to that dog, how do they get trained? They get trained with treats and they get trained with discipline. And again, people get upset if you hit a dog. Well, if you're not teaching your dog, and for me, they do need to strike exactly the same. They need to know, there needs to be something that shows that they shouldn't do that. And kids learn quickly. Kids learn quickly from smack bums, don't they? Young kids, they start to learn, wait a second, I shouldn't do that. And if you're not doing that, it doesn't work. It doesn't work, all this shoving them on naughty spots, and mama, sitting down and explaining to a two-year-old where they went wrong, or the emotional blackmail that I've seen parents use. Mum is very upset when you do that. It's so ridiculous, isn't it? And the world's trying to tell us, look at how the world's kids are ending up. The more they're doing that. And they're the kids who are at school. And they need correction that will trigger in their mind, that will remind them why they shouldn't do that, why they shouldn't do that. And I don't care how many super nannies, of which half of them don't even have kids, how many of these mums of one, and I've met some mums of one, I'm sure they've learned some stuff with mums of one, but how many of them are trying to tell people who've got three, four, five, six kids how to punish their children, how to deal, it's just ridiculous. These shows are so set up as well, aren't they? Imagine how much footage they cut out of those, by the way. But anyway, they need correction, they'll remember. Repurcussions stop you making mistakes. They weren't repercussions. We would all be doing a lot worse things, but without God, we'd all be doing a lot worse. We're wicked. And without the repercussions in the world, without the repercussions of people in the world, it would be even worse. Without government, without police, without the rest of it, can you imagine? You think the kids are just gonna, oh, even though the Bible says, well, she's found a hard child, I want it here, but I'll just be able to talk them around. No, the Bible says what we need to do. Look at Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19, verse 29. Judgments are prepared for scholars and stripes for the back of fools. Okay, there's a nice area on the back which is purpose built for getting a smack. It saves injury, it's got some have more padding than others, but they all have some padding there, and it's built for it. And if you're not smacking the child of a bottom, then, well, we're gonna see what the Bible says about that in a minute. Now, are you allowed to smack your children's bottoms? Because there's a lot out there, isn't there, now, in this country? Is it legal? Are we allowed to, because our all-lays government, you know, our all-lays state, seems to know more than we do, and more than God knows, apparently, about how to raise a child. Well, in Scotland, they have apparently made it legal. I haven't looked into that clearly yet. I didn't have time, but we're moving house, something I did want to look into, but I'd be interested in exactly what the law is. There's something I've noticed, when I looked into it for this country, put a picture out in this country, because there's a lot of misinformation about this. Let me read you a quick bit about this. So this is the government's word, okay? Under discipline, it is unlawful for a parent or carer to smash a child. Unlawful, yeah? Except where this amounts to reasonable punishment. Some people try to say it's unlawful, it's illegal. No, no, there's reasonable punishment, so let's see where that is. There are strict guidelines covering the use of reasonable punishment. It cannot be possible to rely on a defensive use, severe physical punishment on your child, which amounts to wounding, actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm on child cruelty. I'm sure no one here has any intention of wounding their child, causing severe physical punishment, resulting in wounding, actual bodily harm. I'll show you what that is in a minute, grievous bodily harm on child cruelty. But what is actual bodily harm? This is what is unlawful. The difference between common assault and AVH is the severity of the harm caused. Common assault, they try and bunch this in. Common assault is not unlawful if it's reasonable punishment currently in this country. Okay, it's AVH, causing AVH, which says here, loss or breaking of tooth or teeth. No way should you be doing that to your children. Temporary loss of sense of function, a loss of consciousness, again. Anyone even thinks about that, and they're way out of line, way out of God's will there. Extensive or multiple bruising. Don't get that from a smack on the bottom. A broken nose. Minor fractures. Minor but not merely superficial cuts that are probably going to require medical treatment like stitches. Again, no one's doing anything like that, I'm sure, and if you are, you need to get it right. Psychiatric injury, which is more than emotions like fear or distress. By the way, they need to fear a punishment. They're not fearing a punishment, you've got the wrong punishment. Okay, a parent can be charged with criminal offence if they harm their child under the following circumstances. An offence under sections 18 and 20, offence against persons act, wounding and causing grievous bodily harm. An offence under section 47 of that act, assault and Asian in actual bodily harm. An offence under section 1, children and young persons act, 9, 13, cruelty to persons under 16. The cruelty is, that's not smacking your bottom, that's, you know, extreme stuff, which they're talking about being cruelty. So, that's the law there. You're perfectly within your rights to smack your children's bottoms in this country, it's got nothing to do with age. It's reasonable punishment, and the word of God says it's reasonable punishment, and it is reasonable punishment. And have a look at Proverbs 13 and 24, and you know what, they really try, they try and word it in a way that it sounds like that leaving a mark on a child's bottom from a spat is ABH, it's not ABH, it's extensive bruising or swelling. Okay, Proverbs 13 and 24 says, He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him shaseth him betimes. So the Bible says if you don't physically chastise your children if you hate them, you hate your child. Why is that? That sounds extreme. Why do you hate your child if you don't slap their bottoms? If you don't, it says if you spareth his rod. We've seen that a rod is a rod of correction to beat, to strike with. Why? Why do you hate your child if you don't? Because you love either the recognition of the world, you love the easy life without anyone questioning whether you do that, you love not having to deal with the tantrum that comes afterwards sometimes, you love all that more than your child. Because the Bible says you need to punish your children. And if you love all that stuff, you love being able to say, I just love my child too much, but they don't lie. You're a liar. You don't love your child too much. You don't love them enough to punish them. You don't love them enough to give them tough love. It's what they need. We love our children. Everyone here, I see the way they all are. They love their children. We all love our children. And because we love them is why we want them to be as great as they can be. And yes, that includes nurture. Yes, that is gentle reproof. But like I said with that, part of that admonition is not that you have to give them an almighty thrashing that they'll never forget. No, but they need a punishment. They need a punishment that we make them not want to do that to say again. Because without it, if you left a child, if you just left them on... You know what's a really, really realistic, worldly book? Anyone ever read The Lord of the Flies when they were at school? We used to have to do this, so I'm going to get hold of them, most of you here. You've read it. You're one of the younger ones. OK, The Lord of the Flies is basically about a group of kids who... And it's not a true life story, but it's just so realistic. They get left on a desert island, like from a plane crash or something. And they're just on a desert island. They've done some remakes and some horrendous Hollywood movies and this sort of thing. But before that, there was a book by a guy called William Golding. And these kids are left on an island, and slowly but surely it just descends into... They're basically like animals by the end. And it's murderous, and they're young kids, and mob rule, and they start making an idol out of it. And all this crazy stuff. Yeah, yeah, I'm right there. It's the wildest I've ever read in probably about 20 years or so. Yeah, you know what? You leave a kid to his own devices, it's going to be a problem, isn't it? OK, so we punish them because we love them. And we love our children. It should be done lovingly. It's not like saying you have to be cuddling them while you're smacking their bottoms. But afterwards, there should be. There should be forgiveness. You've got to move on. The vast punishment schemes of the Bible are to be able to move on quickly. It's not for this long drawn-out thing that's in the world now. People can't even remember what they did by the time they were in court and getting punished for it. It's quick punishment. Quick punishment, forgive, move on. Give your kids a cuddle. Don't bear grudges. If you've done the punishment, it's time to move on. OK, the hatred that he's talking about here, it doesn't have to be permanent. I'm not saying anyone here or anyone who's listened or whatever else, right, well, that's it, they clearly hate their child forever. It's not the extreme that the world calls it. You're commanded to love, and we're commanded not to hate. So just don't do it. Don't hate them. Do what's said to them. Show them love. Show them what they need. Now, it says here, well, the first one's got to hate somebody. See the love of him. Chasing of him betimes. What's betimes? Betimes is in time or before it's late. OK, we need to be punishing our children in time. And that means straight after the offence, or like I said, when they're calm enough to get the punishment, but not a day later, two days later, our mum's saying, wait till your father gets home. No, they need to be disciplining as well. But in the same way, before it's too late, there's a point where that child's going to get older where it's really hard to train them. How hard? We all know, don't we? Train a child and stuff. It's so much easier. And there's a point where it gets harder and harder to train people. You try and train a 78-year-old, and I'm not saying we should be trying to smack our kids when we're 90 or something, but I'm saying there is a point, isn't there? Where is that point where it starts getting harder? Well, I would say as they grow up into adults, you could have trouble. And obviously, once they're at your house, your training gets minimal then, doesn't it? And you might still get a chance, obviously, to help your kids a bit. So, betimes, before it's too late. Right, Titus 2. Verse 4. Talking about, in fact, verse 3. The aged women like they may be in behaviour as become of holiness, not force accusers, not giving too much wine, teach the good thing. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. And like I said, part of that loving your child is chasing them. There's other parts of that as well, loving them, wanting the best for them. Again, it might sound silly, telling a mother to love their child. There's a lot of selfishness in the world, a lot of people where it's about them. It's what about me, our children, we're having children, our children are there for us to love, for us to raise, for us to make the best we can. Okay, are we going to listen to the word of God then? And that's about not just about chastising, that's about training them up, that's about all the things I've said so far, where we've seen what the word of God says about that, or the world's wisdom. And the world's wisdom, which loves children so much, that in so many countries now they're trying to make it, and I think the EU is becoming a problem as well, to make it illegal to punish your child with any sort of physical punishment. The world that seems to think it's perfectly okay to murder unborn children. Perfectly fine, but they love children, so they know what's best, the state knows what's best for your child. Well, look at Job 3, because they're unborn infants, and if anyone's unsure about that, then just read through the Bible ones. And there's other passages we could go to, for the sake of time we won't. For me, this is just serious one. Job chapter 3, verse 16. When the Lord said, because of the daughters of, sorry, Job chapter 3, verse 16, it says, As a hidden and timely birth I have not been, as infants which never saw light. They're described as infants in the Bible, that's a child, that's not a fetus, election of self, whatever the world tries to call it. And the world, the world that people want to trust, the worldly people, they all support it. I rarely, rarely meet someone who's not a Bible-believing Christian. By the way, I've met a lot of so-called Christians that seem to support abortion, come out with these nonsense, like women's rights, or what they call their body, their life, all this sort of rubbish. It is disgusting, isn't it? Absolutely disgusting. When a nation encourages women to murder their children, and the way they do it, and I'm not going to go into that because there's lots of young kids here, but it is absolutely horrific what they do to these poor children. And are we going to trust that? Are we going to trust the world, trust our government, who is responsible for who knows how many hundreds of thousands of children murdered? Or are we going to trust God? God, if you turn to Hebrews 12, let's see how God thinks that we should be punished as children. We should be raised, let's see what the love of God is. Hebrews 12, verse 5. If you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son despise not now the chastening of the Lord, nor faith, and thou art rebuked of it. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If he endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteth not? But if he be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. For moreover, we have had fathers of our flesh which correcteth us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father and Spirit to live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he threw out profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. This is our loving God telling us that a loving Father chastises the Son. Now, just a point here. When it says about, in verse 10, talking about your own father, for they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, because for their own good, and we're going to see that in a second, for their own pleasure, because yeah, when you punish your children, it should benefit you as well. We'll see that in a second as well. But regardless, here we're seeing the Lord God saying that who he loves, he chasteth. And if you're not getting chastened, then they're you bastards. You know, you're basically illegitimate, because they don't care enough, they don't love enough to chasten you, to punish you as the Bible says they should. That's a loving God. Turn to Proverbs 19 again. So back to Proverbs, there's so much in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 19, verse 18 says, Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare but his pride. So again, there is that point where it's too late, where it's too late. You need to chasten your son while there is hope, while you've got that chance to correct them and make them into the child you want them to be. And we all, we all, I don't know how you all raise, but we all probably have a lot of things about ourselves. You would only pray that if only there had been maybe punished out of us when we were young. And we don't want that for our kids. We want our kids to be right with God, to be how God wants them to be, to live how God wants them to be. OK, number one was training your children is your job. Number two, training your children starts with the Word of God. Number three, training your children needs both the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And number four, training your children is a serious responsibility. It's a big responsibility. Look at Proverbs 29, verse 15, Proverbs 29, 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left himself bringeth his mother to shame. OK, the rod and reproof, OK, like I said, reproof is instruction, is guiding someone. So it's not just a box and there you go. You should be also explaining to them, gently encouraging them how to get things right, where they went wrong. OK, they give wisdom. We want wise children, don't we? We want them to be wise adults, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. OK, what's this left to himself? Well, first he left without punishment, left without reproof, left to it. Now, I don't know if you guys have noticed, when you have, especially when you're homeschooling, or when you have days off and you have weekend days, if you leave your children without any guidance, any direction for that day, maybe start going to bed for a bit, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. For us, the punishment always goes right downhill. They need structure, they need something. I'm not saying you have to guide every bit of their playtime, but they need it. They can't be left to themself. And in the same way, we can all do this. In many ways, we can do this. We can all probably do this at church sometimes. It's like we're at church, it's a safe place. Kids are left to themselves. What happens when kids are left to themselves? Well, we really have to put in certain rules and stuff for you guys, because when you're left to yourselves, what do we end up with? We end up with playing games where they've got each other in headlocks, dragging each other around the church with all this equipment everywhere. People in the church probably don't want their child bunnying into the back of them or whatever else. Maybe they're grabbing things, maybe they're pressing things on speakers, on canines when they're here, whatever else. A child left to himself brings his mother to shame. I'm not saying you have to fight for many years, a second or everything. You should know where your kids are, you should know what they're doing. And in the same way I would say that, we get all these lovely little stories where the kids are playing off in the field somewhere over, doing what they want and everything else. Yeah, they have to have some amount. They do have to, with time, be given a bit of freedom, sure. As they get older, that will become more and more. You have to be guided and be wise about that. But if you're literally just letting your children, hours at a time, they're just in the back garden, you don't know what they're doing. So often they're bringing you to shame. So often they're up to no good. This is about the heart of a child, there's so much stuff they can get at with. You'd be amazed, even in a room, even if they're in a padded room, because a padded room, without anything in it, what a child will still get up to on his own. I mean, if he's not trying to do cartwheels into the wall head first, it's just what they do. You can't be leading them to it. Now, why is it bringing his mother to shame? Why the mother? Because it's the mother who is the primary raiser trainer of the child. It's not bringing their teacher at school, or not bringing their grandparent or their favourite aunt or whatever it is. It's bringing their mother to shame, because it's the mother that should be training their child. She's the everyday teacher. And the truth is, the first person's reflection on it is the mother. That's why if you love your wife's husband, you'd be helping them and guiding them and supporting them in training up your child. But you don't want them both to shame. It is obviously a reflection on you ultimately there as well. It does bring their mother to shame. Now, the world would try and say, no, it's got nothing to do with the mother. It's actually ADHD. Have you heard of this one? Autism defines disorder. Anyone heard of that one? We've got a family member who apparently has oppositional defiant disorder. That basically means... They weren't doing as I told you. Oh, yeah, no, it's a condition. Poor kid. Just got to feel so good. Better give him some more cookies. You know, because they just can't help it. They just can't help it. Give him a pack of Haribo, that sort of behaviour. No, oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, you name it, all this worldly rubbish that has no physical testing could prove any of that. There is no physical test that proves one of these social conditions. It's just another word for sin. And for bad parenting. And that's what it is. It's rubbish. Now, don't get me wrong. I understand there are some real things. There are some real problems and there are some physical things. And there are kids that do need to be handled differently and there are problems. But a lot of what the world puts out there, a lot of stuff called psychiatry, no, firstly, look at what you feed your children, for starters. Because look at the ingredients on the stuff. He just shoved their kids off. And we're touching ourselves. Talk about this before. Oh, yeah, but just give them packets of a long list of chemicals. Oh, yeah, just have it. All these desserts, all this junk, just so much junk. McDonald's, all this stuff. Like, I can't work out. We're going to McDonald's and their little jollies comes back and, you know, tearing his little sister apart or whatever it is. It's been a three-hour tantrum. I just can't work it out while I'm putting the packet of Haribo or whatever it is in the bin. That's a good start. Think about that. Think about how you're parenting them. Think about whether you're doing it the biblical way. Go back to the word of God first. Give it a chance as well. Have some patience. Then, then review. Don't go to the worldly doctor, who's just going, oh, do they do this? Oh, what, the naughty? Oh, they don't do what they're told? Oh, condition. Me, that is a drug that happens to make someone else a load of money. It's ridiculous. But Christians do this. The world over. And like I said, there are, yes, I know there are real things. There are real problems. But all of those kind of worldly, just, just, tradition, Dave, ridiculous. Okay. In the same way, what do we give back to the dog world? It's a breed. It's a breed of dog. Yeah, no, no. Well, it's not my fault. It's just, you know, I've got one of these, whatever pit-ball it is. It's just so aggressive. Funny, that. How everyone that has a dog that ends up attacking kids, they all look the same. They're all the same way. They're all some little scumbag who's got a dog to make themselves look tough, to make themselves look hardy, whatever it is. Don't train them. The only train they do give me is trying to encourage them to be tough, smiley, growly. Oh, it's a dog breed. It's a dog breed. It's not really nothing to do with me. And in the same way with the kids, train your child up. It's your responsibility. You're ultimately responsible. Exodus 21. Turn to Exodus 21. Why is it a serious responsibility? In Exodus chapter 21, verse 17. And he that purses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. Now, just in case any of our stalkers are watching this, we're not saying that we're going to be putting our children to death. Okay? But we do believe that a righteous government, we do believe that if a government did things how God wanted them to be done, that we wouldn't even be in a situation where many children would need to be put to death. And we would have a much different society if it was done how God wants it done. Amen. We'll be coming for many a day when things will be back to how God wants things done. Amen. But until that day, sadly, we are under the laws of this land and I'm not saying we would want to be put to our children to death, but we don't want our children to be cursing us. Why not? Because when they're cursing us, that's showing a lack of respect for authority. And really, they know that we are ordained by God to be their parents, to be their leaders in life. And if they're cursing us, they're going to be cursing God, aren't they, as well, when things don't go their way. And that is wicked cursing God. It's wicked cursing your parents' children. So if you're cursing your parents even in your mind, in your heart, under your breath, it is wicked. And the Bible is strong here with what happens to children behaving like that. And we've just gone so far this society to the point where it's just, what? You're actually killing poor children because they're a bad egg? Well, yeah, because you know what? They will affect however many other people in their life when they're not. Again, we're not calling for that to be done here. But a righteous government, if we still had things being run God's way, then it would be very rare for that to happen. And when it did happen, it would be needed. And it's important. It is important because look at the society we have now. Okay, with that, have a look at Deuteronomy 21. Deuteronomy 21, verse 18. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city and unto the gates of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard, and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die. So shalt thou put evil away from among you, and all Israel shall fear and fear. So the punishment is for them to hear and fear, isn't it? It's for the greater good there. But what it's saying here is that the rebellion of a child affects so many people around them. Our responsibility is not just to our kids, it's not just to their siblings as well, because it does affect them. But it's to the whole church, for a start, because when our kids are fed up it's affecting the other kids as well, and they start copying that behaviour. Maybe at church, maybe at home as well, maybe in other places. It's affecting other people that they're in contact with. It's a big deal. It's a big deal how you raise your children affects many people. It's a serious responsibility. And for your kids, to the point where God said they should die, because we've done such a bad job raising them. That is terrible, isn't it? That is terrible if you get to that point. Now here, what's it about being a flatter than a drunkard? And I'm thinking about this. I'm thinking, firstly, have a look at 1 Samuel 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel 15, verse 23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness as an iniquity of idolatry, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and he hath also rejected thee for being king. So keep your finger in there. Maybe rebellion, maybe rebellion is, maybe not maybe, it does, rebellion can lead to drinking, rebellion does lead to drinking, I think it's a rebellious, especially in a nation where you're told not to even look at alcoholic, fomenting wine, rebellion is going to lead you to drinking, drinking mixtures to alter your mind, you can see that link maybe, because really when you're drinking and you're seeking alcohol, you're just trying to alter your mind. You can see an analogy, a comparison there with maybe witchcraft. Stubbornness, stubbornness where you satisfy the flesh, you do what you want to do, it's like, I'll just do what I want to do, I'm too stubborn to listen to what someone else is telling me. Maybe that leads to things such as idolising food, idolatry of other things, you're too stubborn to do as you're told, too stubborn to listen to God, too stubborn to listen to your parents, and too stubborn to listen to health reasons and other reasons why you shouldn't be a button. Anyway, something I was thinking about there, but regardless, when your child gets to that point, God's law was that they were killed before they influenced others, and that's the important thing to think about, you don't want your child to be that one, and God's looking down thinking if that was back in Old Testament Israel, and maybe if that's in the coming millennium, your child would be dead now, and that is not what you want, it's a serious responsibility. So number one, training your children is your job. Number two, training your children starts with the word of God. Number three, training your children needs both the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Number four, training your children is a serious responsibility. Number five, training your children also benefits you. So back to the book of Proverbs, and this is my last point. Proverbs 29 and verse 17, Proverbs 29 and 17, Proverbs 29 and 17, Okay, so if you put the work in early, it pays in the long run, and that's the same with so many things in life, I could give you a hundred analogies, but I think you all get the point, don't you? When you put the work in, when you do things right from the beginning, and you can see that in many things, think about that with building and stuff like that, when you do it right from the start. I want top corners, put the work in early. Proverbs 29 and 17 there, it says, correct us and he shall give the rest, he shall give the light unto thyself. If you correct it, you'll give the rest, you'll give the light unto your soul. You want to be delighted in your children, they're a blessing, aren't they? Okay, Proverbs 23, Proverbs 23, and verse 24, Proverbs 23 and 24, The father of the wise shall greatly rejoice, and he that forgetteth the wise shall have joy of it. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that barely shall rejoice. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. Okay, so firstly, rejoicing sounds good, doesn't it? We want to be rejoicing in our children, because it can be hard work. We don't have to paint it as just, it's just always such a merry old time raising children, just all grinning and skipping through the daisies and children just telling you how much they love you all day every day. That's not really nice, is it? There's some hard times raising children, but at the end, when you weigh it all up, you wouldn't change it for the world. And you can get so much joy for them if you do it right. Verse 26 there, Proverbs 23, 26, My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. Don't forget that you're a role model to your children as well, so there's one thing you do and everything the Bible says in your child raising, your child training, yeah, well, I do this bit, I do that bit, but you're just so openly sinful and behaving in ways that God doesn't want you to behave. Well, they're going to observe your ways, and children so often copy the sins of their fathers and their mothers, don't they? So we have a big responsibility, men and women here, to be a good example to your children in all that you do and to be that example, because you can trade them up, you can smack their bottoms, you can give them the love they need, you can do everything that the Bible says to do, you can get the Bible in front of them every day, you can teach them, you can do all this stuff, but if you're just repeatedly committing, just repeatedly in sin, out of the spirit, your children are going to pick up and they're going to learn that, and really the best, most, let's be honest, the way people learn best is by copying and mimicking, don't they? Showing something in their copy. Okay, last thing, this is Psalm 127. Psalm 127. Okay, let's read the Psalm, Psalm 127. Except the Lord build the house, they laid it in vain to build it, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain you youth to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows, for so you giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them, they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the game. The first one there, except the Lord build the house, they laid it in vain to build it, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. The house has to center around Jesus and his way. It comes from God. You've got to build it through God, through the word of God, through all the principles in the Bible. It is empty. It's never going to last. Okay, so do it God's way. Verse 2, it says here, it is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows, for so you giveth his beloved sleep. Okay, if it's without God's word, if you're not doing it in God's way, it's pointless. All of that stuff is pointless. It's not with God there, it's a waste of time. It has to be God's way. It has to center around God's way. Verse 3, no children are inherited from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. They're an inheritance from God. They're a reward, and that's how we should treat them. They are a reward. They are amazing. When you get it right, children, what a blessing. How much enjoyment, how much pleasure do you get from your children? You can't compare. You can't compare. Yeah, there's hard times. You're actually stressful. It can be tiring, and it can be tough, for sure. We don't have to, you know, paint, you know, like I said, whatever the word is for it, we don't have to paint this pretty picture that it's just always perfect. But, but, they are such a blessing if you get things right with them. Okay, verse 4, as the arrows are in the hand of the mighty man, so are children of the youth. They give us strength and confidence as well, children. They really do. I've talked about this before, and we saw it with our qualifications for a pastor, and they sure do. They're making you more confident, and having lots of children does. It gives you that to live. Verse 5, half the year's a man, and having his quibble full of them, they shall not be ashamed, they shall speak of the enemies in the gate. So multiple children should make you happy, and mothers and fathers here, you know, it can be hard because we're in a world which is constantly trying to tell us that they're a burden, they're a hindrance, they're expensive. You know, you should see that, we thought with four kids, we were getting a lot of comments, with five kids, and that's nothing like some people, obviously we don't, you know, it's hard to answer, is it 11, 10, 11? There are people with a lot more than that, but in the world, especially in this country, it's just bizarre. It's bizarre, it's weird. They love disparaging comments all the time, like, it must be some sort of problem, it must be a problem, it must be a problem that you, you're going to laugh at all of this sort of stuff, but no, we should be happy with them. We should be pleased if we have children, and for those of you that don't have kids, if you don't want to have children, enjoy them, love them, enjoy all the many pros you get from a child, and there's some hard times, but we shouldn't be embarrassed, we should be bolder because of them, we should, oh, I know, we've got four kids, five kids, six kids, whatever it is, maybe we're going to be more and more, but we should be bold about that, which is, yeah, eight men, eight men I've got, I've got as many kids as God is blessing me with. Amazing. So yeah, that number five was training your children also benefits you, and what a blessing they are, and especially if we train them God's way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your blessing, for that blessing us with children, thank you for your word, thank you for showing us how we should raise you, thank you for giving us instruction in an area that we all needed so much, it's such a responsibility, please help us to appreciate that, but help us to do things your way, do things our way, forget to put away all the ridiculous worldly wisdom and all the nonsense that we're hearing, put our faith in your way, put our patience in that as well, we know that things don't change overnight, but help us to do things your way, help us to love our kids, raise them, raise them right, Jesus name right. Amen.