One of the things that came to mind as I thought about a sermon for this afternoon is just the challenges our little ones will face. We live in a world that has certainly changed so much over the last few decades, and even in just the last couple of years. And when you think about the way the Bible describes that, it tells us that we are in a battle, that we are in a spiritual war. 2 Corinthians 10 certainly describes that.

And it is a critical battle that, you know, as you think about our little ones that we certainly have to keep in mind that this isn't just any ordinary kind of thing. This is a sinister war that is going on, and it is certainly in full force against us. And if we cave to the attacks that are out there against us, it's something that can decimate our families. It can take down as we see what's happening in our nation.

We see a change in morality that has really taken our nation down. And in so many ways, we don't know which way to go. We've lost our way as a people. And so when we consider that, you know, this is a fight that is a spiritual battle. We know Ephesians 6 describes, we're not fighting flesh and blood. We are fighting spiritual wickedness, and we are fighting for the truth. We are fighting for what is moral. We are fighting for what is ethical, and we are striving to live godly principles.

And we see the casualties around us. It doesn't take too much to recognize what's been going on. The casualties are in integrity. Where is integrity today? Where is honesty today? Where is justice today? You see, these are godly principles. And so we recognize this isn't something that's just a force against our country and our culture around us. This is a battle for our family. Our families are at stake, and there is definitely a war on our little ones, a war on our children and our grandchildren.

Because day after day, they are bombarded with all these ideas that are contrary to God's way. It's everywhere in our world today with thoughts and images. It is something that surrounds us. It's on our phones, it's on our television, it is on...everywhere. It's everywhere. And we see there's no recognition for most people. But it's something that God certainly wants us to recognize. He wants us to see the battlefield that's before us, and He describes it many times throughout Scripture.

There's an apt description in Isaiah 59. If you'd like to turn there with me, I'd like to begin there this afternoon. Look at the description of the battlefield that we face, that our little ones that we ask God's blessing on today, that are facing in a way that as adults, we never face these things. Isaiah 59 is certainly a description of our culture, our world, and that battlefield that is before us. Notice what it says here.

Isaiah 59:1-3 It says, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear." There is hope. We have hope in our great and awesome God. If we trust in Him and follow Him, He is ready to save. He is ready to intervene. But we see the challenge here, verse 2, "Your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. Your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice. No one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil."

Now, the challenge is, in a way, we are here on the Sabbath to take a stand against these things, to stand for what's right, to stand for God's truth, to stand for justice and morality, to show it doesn't have to be the way Isaiah describes it. It doesn't have to be like that.

And so as adults, as teenagers, as children, we have to face these challenges and obstacles, and maybe past generations never had to deal with the things that we've had to deal with and we face today. And so God reminds us, we have to do something about it. We can't just stand idly by and watch it happen. So, as parents and as grandparents, we have to counter the assault that's being waged against our families, against our children.

We have to go on a counter-offensive in a sense and put a stop to these attacks and not allow them to take our families, to take our children. And today, we recognize that children aren't taught the difference between right and wrong. What is objective morality? You see today it's all about, well, how do you feel? What's your opinion? Well, your opinion is just as valid as the next person's opinion. And everything then becomes a shade of gray.

And so we have to be tolerant of everyone, any lifestyle, any philosophy, any opinion. And in fact, it's not even that today. It's not just being tolerant of those things. Now we have to be approving of those things because it's not just good enough to say, "Well, that's okay for you. I don't want anything to do with." No, you can't do that anymore. Today it's you have to say, "Well, whatever that immoral thing may be, that's good for them. That's a good thing. That's their choice."

And yet, when we look at the Word of God, it's not that way at all. We have to stand against these things, stand up for what's right from God's perspective. And so when we consider that, we recognize we need a sense of direction. I mean, our children getting a sense of direction today. Well, before you say no, they are. They are getting a sense of direction, but it's a wrong one. It's a wrong one.

And so they're being taught a humanistic type of philosophy that counters the Bible, counters the truth of God's Word. And so we see the evidence of that all around us. We see the value of pride that is in our nation today, personal choice, far above and beyond personal responsibility, whatever you want to do, we see that evidence. We see popularity over reliability. We find that we choose those things that we feel we have the freedom to choose.

And we choose over the responsibility to do what should be done, not just the value of making a choice. And so we see so many that have lost their way. And we can be vulnerable to that too. We don't want to kid ourselves because, if we allow the culture and society, the world, to infiltrate our thinking, it can undermine the blessings that God wants to pour out upon us. You know, when we look at what's taught today that we can choose our gender, is that biblical? Is that godly?

We know there's parents that are raising “theybies”. Have you heard of this? It's not babies. It's “theybies” because it's not a he or a she. No, we don't want to use those personal pronouns. It's they and them and their, rather than he or she or him or her. Is that biblical? You see, I understand people don't get it. They don't recognize these things, but it just shows us how far removed we've come from Biblical truth.

We look at our nation today. We have so many states where schools now give guidance on inclusion of the transgender and non-conforming students. We don't even have to tell our parents that their children are making these choices. Well, is that biblical? Is that godly? We now face that in our curriculum today, that the SOGI curriculum is everywhere. It's all around us. It's required in Canada, the SOGI, “sexual orientation and gender identity”, as a three or four-year-old, you can choose your identity.

You can choose what you want to be. But is that flowing with the instruction that God gives us in His world? You see, I think we've gotten to this point because yesterday we decided to exclude God from our culture. And by excluding God, He's not guiding us in that same way. We don't want to follow that guidance. And so it certainly is a reminder for us that we cannot fail in our responsibility, our God-given responsibility to follow His will, to follow His Word, to be, well, as Christ described, we're to be the salt of the earth.

We're to be sprinkled among this culture, standing for what's right and holding ourselves to the standard of God because God does hold us accountable. So, are we contributing to standing for what's right, or are we contributing to the downfall? It's a question each of us as parents, we certainly need to ask, as a church, we need to ask ourselves. And is it even possible then to combat these things? How do we do that within our families?

How can we fight the system? You know, how can we make sure that our children aren't vulnerable to these attacks? And as children, we need to ask ourselves, "How can I live God's way? How can I stand for what's right?" I think it comes down to defending our family. We must defend the family. And so as parents, are we defending our families? Are you defending your family? Are we upholding God's standards?

A couple of things we should keep in mind to recognize. Are we putting things in the right priority? If we're going to defend our families, first and foremost, put first things first. What is the priority in our life? I mean, it's kind of cliché to say, "Well, put God first in your life." Yeah, we've all heard that. We should do that. We know as Christians, that's not an option, that's a requirement. We need to do that. But do we really make that happen in our families?

As we think about these little ones, as they're going to grow up and face unbelievable challenges, we certainly have been given the responsibility to teach them. And so how do they learn? How do they learn wisdom? How do they learn common sense? How do they learn God's way? Well, does it happen just naturally? Is it by osmosis? Is it just come automatically? See, I think we know that's not the case at all. They learn because they see it and they hear it over and over and over again.

And so when we consider that, we are all expected to be a shining light, a shining light to the congregation, a shining light to these little ones among us. And so as a ministry, we better be shining a light. As members, we better be shining the light, and we are illustrating God's way. And sometimes when we consider role models, we think of those types of things. We think of a minister or a teacher, a coach, other adults. But when you really get down to it, where is the primary influence for our little ones?

It's moms and dads. It's our families. It's our families. And we are told to put first things first in our families. Powerful section of Scripture in Deuteronomy 6. It certainly points this out so well. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 6:4. Here we have some key instruction when it comes to putting God first in our families. If we are to fight this battle that we've been called to, we recognize it is a spiritual battle. And our children, our families are at risk. And we have to fight and defend our families, defend off the impact of the world around us. And so God gives us the key. He gives us the key here in Deuteronomy 6 when it comes to the impact on our children, on our families. Notice what He says here.

Deuteronomy 6:4 It says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength."

So, as a congregation, as a parent, we have to do these things. First things first, priority one, God's got to come first in our life, and there has to be evidence that we do these things. He says here, "These words which I command you shall be in your heart." This is who we are. It's not just what we believe, but it's who we are. It's our identity. It's how we act, it's how we live, it's how we think that has to be evidenced. And then by extension, it reaches out to our family. And so He says in verse 7 then.

Deuteronomy 6:7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children."

But parents, if it's not in our heart, how can we pass that on? If we don't understand and if we're not living that way, how can we possibly pass them on? And so priority one has to be in place first, then we teach our children. And specifically, we're told how, how do we do this?

Deuteronomy 6:7-9 Well, it says, "Talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. And they shall be frontlets between your eyes." So, no matter where you look, God's way is right there. It says, "Write them on the doorpost of your house, when you're in your home, when you're going out of your home, you can't get around the fact that you are living God's way, and it should be on your gate as well."

And so we're told, "Teach them diligently." That teaching diligently is actually just one Hebrew word. It's just one word, two words in English. But it literally means to sharpen, like you were to wet a sword or a knife. Like you hone it. And so you make it extremely sharp. You sharpen it. You teach it diligently. It's not just that you have a knife or a sword. That's not going to help you if it's dull. And so you've got to hone that thing. And so teaching diligently shows that concept of honing them in God's way, shining as God's people, instilling it in our children by living it and breathing it over and over, reciting and impressing and repeating it. Repetitive, best form of emphasis, right? And so we do that in our families.

And so when we consider what this text is really getting to, we recognize this is something that doesn't come automatically. It's not something that just happens naturally, loving God, putting His way into practice. We're told it has to be taught. And where? Where's the primary place? The family. The family is the God-given place to teach God's obedience, to teach God's way, to show His love. And so parents, this is our responsibility. We've been given this responsibility by God and we've got to take that to heart. And it also tells us as children, as children, we have a responsibility, we're supposed to learn. So, parents teach, children learn. And oftentimes we've heard examples of that. There was one example, as an illustration to this, that I had read a little bit about. Someone had basically said that children are kind of like a blank slate when they come into this world.

You have these innocent little babies that all of life is before them. Almost maybe like a flash drive we might think of it today. You buy a flash drive at the store, it's empty, but you can fill that thing up with all kinds of information that it will hold. And children are ready. They are ready for input. They're clean and they're fresh. Christ use them as an amazing example of purity in that sense. And so how are we going to then give this input and guidance to our children?

Can be a scary thing as well. You know, Lennon said, "Give me a child until he's seven and he'll be mine forever." Yeah, not in a good way is what he was talking about. He could mold them in his way. And so we've heard the proverbs that teach us those things, you know, as the twig is bent, so the child grows, so grows the tree. And so it is certainly like that. And so here we see in Deuteronomy that God is saying spiritual values must be learned in the family.

And so I think it begs the question, what's your home like? What's it like to live in your home? Is it a place where God is honored? Is it a place where God is worshiped? Is it a place where godly values are upheld? Can we truly say our home is a godly home? Certainly, we're shown here in Deuteronomy, it's something that's an everyday pursuit, something we have to go after and pursue every single day. That is something that's going to take initiative.

It's something that means we're going to have to be intentional because it's not going to automatically happen. Moms and dads, it doesn't happen. It's going to take endurance. It's going to take dedication. And no matter how much progress we make toward the goal of building a godly home, there's still a little better that we can do. We can even do more. And so in a sense, being a godly home, being godly people isn't so much a destination as it is a direction moving toward God and becoming more Christ-like.

That's the ultimate direction. And so the amazing part, we have that choice every day, every day in our homes, we can make that choice and decide, are we moving more toward God's likeness? Is that our direction? What direction is our home moving towards? I mean, we know. We know how much children pick things up and how amazing is that whole concept of how they learn and how quickly they pick things up from their environment.

What are they learning day to day? I think that's an important question to ask. What are we teaching today? What are we illustrating today? Kids ever mimic the things that adults do? Yeah, all the time. All the time, whether you like it or not, they mimic. Yeah, sometimes they're listening to mommy and daddy when they least expect it. And sometimes it can even be embarrassing. It can be embarrassing.

I heard a story about a little boy, mom and dad had invited the pastor over for dinner after services. And the little boy came up to the pastor and said, "I'm going to give you some money." And the pastor was kind of surprised. He said, "Well, okay, thanks, but why do you want to do that?" And the little boy said, "Well, my daddy said, you're the poorest preacher we've ever had." So, a reminder, yeah. Do they pick things up? Yeah, when you least expect it, they're expressed.

Do we realize parents what we're teaching our children? Okay, in our homes, our homes are supposed to be godly homes, but what are we teaching them when we're in traffic? What are we teaching them with our off-handed comments? What are we teaching them in our disagreements, mom and dad? What are we teaching them as they're watching us and taking these things in as we're shopping at the store or we're frustrated at that stoplight? What are they learning?

Are they learning, "Wow, mom and dad have put God first. Mom and dad are demonstrating that God is always on their mind, God is always there"? You see, when we recognize that, we realize we're teaching them in every circumstance, and we have to put first things first. If we don't, how well can the rest of the instruction go? I ran across an interesting illustration of this in the area of South Dakota. They found a stone that was discovered back in 1887.

It was called the Thoen Stone, the Thoen Stone for the people who discovered it. And it was a sandstone marker that a man named Ezra Kind had inscripted. He had scratched out a message on the stone. And it was an interesting one because it meant that gold had been discovered in South Dakota 40 years before Custer had come in 1874. So, this was kind of a new discovery, reason being this stone inscribed that very fact that they had discovered gold in 1833.

And so Ezra Kind scribbled something pretty amazing on this stone that kind of applies to our thinking, you know, through the sermon today. You know what the stone said, what he inscripted on this stone? It said, "Came to these hills in 1833 seven of us." Then it went on, and he scribed on this sandstone, "All killed by Indians but me. Our ponies all got by the Indians. I've lost my gun, nothing to eat. Indians hunting me."

Do you know what else he scribbled on that stone? "Got all the gold we could carry." What good was it? "Got all the gold we could carry but all my friends are dead." And evidently, he died as well. And as I heard that story, wow, unless you put first things first, what else matters? Nothing else matters. And so when we put this in a spiritual perspective, God certainly wants us to put first things first.

And as parents, showing God is our number one, teaching our children that very fact, training up a child in the way he should go, you know, as a proverb says, "When he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 is certainly a reminder of that. And so it certainly reminds us of the fact that whose responsibility is it? Is it the church's responsibility? I mean, some would like to put that responsibility on God's church. Is it the minister's responsibility? Is it a church program that will save our kids?

No. No, it's not. It's not. And as we think about this, it's the parent's responsibility. Now, of course, the church has to support that. We back that up and programs aren't bad. Those are good things. But why don't some stay with the church? Why don't we retain our youth? Some would blame the church for that. Wait a second, not according to Scripture.

Scripture is saying, parents, if your children are growing up in a household where you are not demonstrating God's way, you're not living God's way, they come to church and they hear, well, this is the way it should be. This is supposed to be God's way. Then they come home and they see division in the household, they see arguments, they see ungodly lifestyle live before them. What do you think they're going to do? They're going to stick around because they don't see it modeled at home.

And so what's modeled at home has to match what they're learning at church as well. Proverbs 1:8 certainly is a reminder of that very fact. Proverbs 1 reminds us putting first things first in our families. As parents, we have to model godly behavior. God has to be in our heart. His Word has to be hidden in our heart. So, out of the abundance of our heart, our mouth speaks, our actions are illustrated. And Proverbs 1:8 certainly tells us, even as children, this should be our perspective.

Proverbs 1:8  "My son, hear the instruction of your father." So, teens, young adults, kids, hear the instruction of your father. “Don't forsake the law of your mother. There'll be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck.”

So, when we're demonstrating God's way, this is the result. It says what you learn from your parents, you'll bring honor and respect. It'll bring honor and respect. It'll be like carrying around a gold medal. And so we can do these things.

God says by the power of His spirit, it's possible. We can be the ones that stand for God and we can help our families to serve God's purpose. And so we can stand strong. We can do these things. And so the challenge is we're pulled in so many different directions these days. We certainly know that the deceiver would love to take us off track because we've all got so much to do. There's so many things to accomplish. Work pulls us one direction, other responsibilities pull us another direction.

And oftentimes we might think of our life of all these different responsibilities we have, kind of like a big chest of drawers. You know, you've got a big chest and there's all these different drawers. And here's my father's drawer and here's my husband drawer, and here's my work drawer. Here's my church drawer. We've got all these various responsibilities that we strive to fulfill. And somehow I think we oftentimes put God in a drawer.

But that can't be the case. You know, when you think about that, it all works together. God is not just looking for a drawer in our life. That's just not the way it is. He's not just looking for, maybe I could be the top drawer in our life. That's not the case either. God's got to be the cabinet. God's got to be the cabinet, He doesn't deserve a position. He can't just have a place. He's got to have first place. He's got to be priority one. And there's such a difference that it makes such a huge difference.

And so where is God? God can't just be a Sabbath thing or a Friday night thing with our families. It's an ongoing everyday experience. And if it's not, then we've got to defend our family and take back our family from these influences around us. The Apostle Paul said it in a powerful way in Colossians 1. Colossians 1, as Paul writes to God's people in Colossi, he identifies us. They were under attack from many different fronts, much the same like us.

And it's interesting, as he begins this letter, I think of seek first the kingdom. Matthew 6:33 is on his mind as he writes to the Colossians because he encourages them with priority one. Not that God is a place, but He is first place. That God is not just a drawer in our life, but He is the cabinet in our life. That we're not just running around picking up all the gold, but we're doing first things first.

Colossians 1:10 "Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen in all might according to His glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy."

Those are pretty interesting descriptors there, aren't they? Do you notice those descriptive words, "Walking worthy of the Lord"? If we're going to walk worthy, please Him some of the time? Well, he says, "Fully pleasing Him. Well, bearing fruit once in a while? Well, he says, "Being fruitful in every good work, every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God. Then in verse 11, what does he say?

Colossians 1:11 Strengthen occasionally during our spiritual exercises once...? No, he says, "Strengthen with all might." And then he says, "All patience, long-suffering, and joy."

And so he's given us our marching orders to defend the faith, to defend our family.

Colossians 1:13 He says, "He's delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love."

And we've got to stay there. We've got to stay in His dwelling. And so God has to be priority number one. And that's why I spent a lot of time with number one. So, where is God? Where is God in our family? I think as we consider that, how do we defend our family? God's got to be priority one. We also have to recognize the fact it's time for family. It's time for family.

I don't mean that just as a castoff kind of. No, we've got to spend time with our family. And we know what life is like. It takes that time away from us. And we have to do it physically with our family, spending time, spiritually as well. Here we have an opportunity today to have a social and get to know each other better and draw near to each other. Yeah, that's time for our spiritual family. And God emphasizes this so many times, how important family is because we know ultimately God is creating a spiritual family.

Is family important to God? Absolutely. He's creating a huge spiritual family. He tells us spiritual values are taught at home. And in order for that to happen, you got to take the time. You got to make the time. And the challenge is our time gets stolen all too often, doesn't it? And we get farther and farther away from our families. If you want to turn with me back to Deuteronomy 6 for a moment. Look at verse 17.

Verse 17 is such a reminder of an important principle when it comes to this because we know those phrases that oftentimes come up, "Well, I have an absentee father." Well, what does that mean? Well, they're not around. And when there aren't parents around, what happens? Well, what would happen according to God if our parents don't do what they're supposed to do? If they're not around doing their responsibilities, what's the result going to be?

Well, I heard an example of this was in bowling. Anyone like bowling? Yeah, I hate bowling myself. I'm no good at it. There was somebody that said one time, "I can bowl a 300 every time." Well, that's a perfect game. Strike every single time. It's like, what? How is that possible? Definitely. Well, maybe if they put those bumpers up and it diverted the ball right to the center and I could knock them, maybe that would do it.

No, but they said, instead of being back 60 feet, if I just get 5 feet away, I can bowl a strike every single time. Yeah, that's cheating though, isn't it? But here's the point. The farther I get away, the worse my score. So, if I get back at 60 feet, there's no way I'm going to get a perfect game. Error increases with distance. The farther you get away, the easier it is to mess things up. Same thing is true for family, isn't it? The farther remove mom and dad are from their family, the better the chance for error.

And so, yeah, today is Satan's world. He's on the throne of this world right now. He's the god of this age, and he would love to mess up family that we can't even identify where the family is these days it seems. And most of us, he's done a great job of getting us out of the house. Most families need two incomes to keep their family floating above water financially. And so that takes us out of the home.

Well, how do you spend the right kind of time with your family? I mean, sometimes you've heard, "Well, I can't be there all the time, but I spend quality time with my family, with my kids." "Well, I can't have a quantity of time. So, it's a quality of time." And I think we got to be a little careful with that, don't we? I think when you look at what Deuteronomy says, it kind of refutes that idea that, well, quality time is good enough. You don't want to think that way. Look at Deuteronomy 6:17. He says this a second time.

Deuteronomy 6:17-18 "You shall diligently keep them. You sharpen them in your minds. You keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, the statutes, which He commanded you." And then it says, "You shall do what's right and good in the side of the Lord that it may be well with you, that you may go in and possess the good land, which the Lord swore for to your Fathers."

Of course, to us, that's the ultimate promise land, the kingdom of God. Emphasizing once again, priority one, what should be first? God's got to come first in our lives, no doubt. But it's interesting, then He also says to cast out all your enemies.

Deuteronomy 6:19 "All your enemies from before you as the Lord has spoken."

We face enemies. They're not Canaanites, they're not Philistines. But boy, do we face spiritual enemies out there today, things that would take us away from our families. But if we bow down to that pressure and we separate and we increase that distance between families and our family members, there's going to be error. Our family will be more easily attacked. And it tells us here.

Deuteronomy 6:20 "When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What's the meaning of these testimonies, the statutes, the judgements, which the Lord your God commanded you?"

Well, when can you answer that? When you're there. Can you ever predict when that question might come up? I don't know. Can you predict a teachable moment? I think that's pretty hard to predict. If you're not around when that situation comes up, where are they going to turn for the answer? They're going to look to you. And so I think as you look through Deuteronomy 6, it tells us we've got to make it our goal to spend a quantity of quality time as much as we possibly can.

That has to be at the forefront of our minds so that when these things come up, we are there. We're demonstrating them on a daily basis. You know, hour by hour, we're demonstrating God's way, we're teaching them. And then when those times come up, we're there. We are there for those moments when the questions come up. And those are wonderful opportunities that we have.

And so I think God is really telling us, "Don't let the error increase with distance. Shorten that up and stay close. Stay close in our family," which also means as a people, collectively, as a congregation, we have that responsibility to spend a quantity of quality time and take advantage of every opportunity to be together. Because we know there's going to be a lot more pressure coming. There's going to be tribulation. It's already on the horizon.

Are we going to be able to be together so that when these challenges come, we're a family and nothing's going to separate us? And we can have these times to stay together because we've done it before. We can count on each other because we have that experience and we can be together. And so I think it points to this fact that this quantity of quality time will bring us together, especially when it's a quantity of, again, quality of spiritual time together.

Because as Deuteronomy is pointing out, this other aspect of defending our family means our home has to be a spiritual one. Yes, put priority one first in place. God's got to be number one. We can defend our family certainly by spending time together, but that also means then that time together has to be in a spiritual household. The church is the house of God. We're supposed to be housing the spirit of God individually and collectively as well.

So, how much more then should our family and our home be a spiritual home? And I think in that way, it's causing us to rethink the definition of what is spiritual. What is spiritual? You know, what do you think of when you think of a spiritual home? Anything particularly come to mind? Well, maybe some of it is family gets together. It's Friday night, the Sabbath is beginning and we're going to sit down. We've had a wonderful meal, the television's off, our Bibles are open. We're having a discussion about God's way.

Yeah, certainly, life would be so much better if you could spend that extra time, not only on the Sabbath, but every day in a spiritual activity like that. That'd be great. That would be wonderful. But we don't want to limit it to that, do we? I don't think that's what Deuteronomy is telling. Yes, that's important. No doubt we have a responsibility to instruct our families in God's way. Absolutely. But I think there's another aspect to making our home a spiritual place, is making sure we don't divide ourselves.

Don't divide our lives into a secular aspect and a sacred aspect. You know, we have a godly aspect and one that's just all the rest of our activities that we have to go through. Yeah, we have to diligently teach them, but what about living them? What about putting them into place? What about being that example? You know, we sit down and we have a family Bible study. We talk about all these wonderful attributes that we are to have, what the fruit of the spirit is.

Wow, we get it all down. We've memorized Galatians 5. That's wonderful. That's a very good thing. But then we walk away and we're whining and we're complaining and we're grumbling with each other. And as parents, we're demonstrating impatience. What? We're not living that spiritual home. And so when we think about demonstrating the things that our children see, not just talking the talk, but walking that walk so that they're learning these things and they're learning God's way, but they're also recognizing it demonstrated.

They're seeing an object lesson before their eyes every single day. They see a mom and dad expressing love and care and concern to each other. They're learning how to handle difficulties in a proper way, in a godly way. You see, God's called us to model Christ-like behavior. And so it's not just about teaching godly values, but it's about living godly values. So, are we exhibiting those things in our family so that we are patient when it's easy to be impatient?

Are we caring when we get frustrated and irritated with people? Can we model those types of things and put spiritual behavior on display? You see, that's what God's called us to do. And in a way, we've got to learn to lip sync. Everybody knows about lip-syncing? Yeah, that's right. You know, you know the words to the song, and you mouth those words all along with it. You match the lips with the song that's being sung or sometimes the words that are being spoken.

Yeah, you are right there with it. The better you do it, the more it looks like that's exactly what they're saying or singing. The reason I bring that up is that not only our lips, but our lives have to be synchronized. Lip syncing is synchronization. They have to be in sync. Not just the words that we say or the concepts that we're teaching as spiritual ones, but our lives have to be in sync with the words that we're saying. The things that we're professing has to be together.

And so when we consider that, what we say and how we live have to be totally in sync. That's what we're called to do. That's how we model a spiritual home. And so as we do those things, that means we're going to be able to demonstrate these things. Because all around us, it's demonstrated the wrong way. We see in society today, our world today, people going around all backwards. It's all in reverse.

And I was reminded about this just the other day, was trying to mow my lawn and my mower was doing a terrible job. I finally flipped it over and realized that I must have hit a bunch of rocks along the way or didn't care what I was running over. And that blade needed to be sharpened, but I couldn't do it because the gas is all leaking out as I'm tipping the mower upside down. So, I was like, I got to take that blade off.

So, you know, being the expert repair man I am, I got out, you know, that socket kit and got that wrench going and I was cranking on that lawnmower blade, and it wouldn't come off. It wouldn't come off for anything. It's like, "What is this righty tidy, lefty loosey? Yeah, yeah, I got it." Just yanking on that thing and it wouldn't move. It would not move. Fortunately, there's Google and you can google some of these things. And you know what it says, "More than likely, your lawnmower blade has a reverse thread."

It's backwards. So, what am I doing? I'm yanking and pushing and I'm tightening the blade. I'm making it worse. I'm putting all this effort into something that needed to be accomplished but I'm making it worse. Till I finally realize, "Okay, we can go the other way and flip the wrench the other direction and start cranking on the lug nut in the right way." I think that's oftentimes our frustration, is that, yeah, we're trying hard. We're active. We're doing but things don't get better.

Sometimes it gets harder, it gets more stressful, it gets more difficult. And life sometimes seems to tighten up around us. But I think when you consider this reverse thread, that's our calling. We're called to live life in reverse from the rest of the world. They're living life and struggling through difficulties and don't have a concept of what God's will and His way is.

Well, as we do, we've got to make sure we're turning the wrench in the right direction. You know, the world's going to tell you, "Hey, get all the gold you can get. Pick up everything you can get." And you know, like that expedition, they lost their life. Yeah. But God says give. "Give and it will be given to you." You know, life says the powerful, the strong, they're the ones that are going to survive. But God's way says, "Hey, the meek are going to inherit the earth."

And so when you think in reverse, the demonstration of what the world lives and their priorities have to be so different from us. Somebody hurts you, you make sure you get even. You pour it onto them. You make sure you get your revenge. But God says, "Uh-oh, it's a reverse thread. You know, turn the other cheek. Do good to those who mistreat you." And so oftentimes we have to step back and maybe we don't have to google it, open your Bible, take a look at what it says.

It says, "Hey, wait, are you turning the wrench the right direction? Are you living life in the right direction or striving to live the opposite way?" The book of Hebrews says a little bit about that in Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12:5. It's a powerful section of Scripture here as it talks about putting our faith into action, putting that faith into action and running the race that God has called us to the kind of people we're supposed to be as God's people, as parents, grandparents, even as young adults, teens, children.

Certainly, this calls that to mind in the perspective of how we are called and what we're supposed to be doing as we live our life. Hebrews 12:5. I'm going to read this from the message translation so it may be a little bit different from your New King James or your King James.

Hebrews 12:5-8 It says, "Have you forgotten how good parents treat children? Have you forgotten how good parents treat children and that God regards you as His children?" So, here's a godly example before our eyes. “My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline. Don't be crushed by it either. If the child He loves, He disciplines, that child He embraces and He also corrects. God is educating you. That's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. The trouble that you're in isn't punishment. It's training, the normal experience for children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so that we can truly live? So that we can truly live."

And ultimately, that's our goal. The reverse thread of this world wants us to ignore God, wants us to ignore our parents, but God reminds us how important family is. And our spiritual father is so critical in all of this. And so we honor the position of father and mother in our households because it's a God-given responsibility.

And we recognize the fact that we have to teach our children. We teach our children to love God, to love His way. Not just God's law, but we teach God's bounty. We teach God's care. We teach God's concern. We help our children to build a relationship with God. And so we teach our children faith. And so parents, we have to defend our families. It's time for us to be the godly parents we've been called to be.

To accept that responsibility to live God's way and be sure that we are guiding our families and that we have parent-centered families. Because God is a parent-centered God that we will worship and serve Him for all eternity. And so don't wait. Don't wait. Difficult times are ahead and it's going to become more difficult and more challenging. And there will be trials and temptations that will come our way, but we've been given direction.

And we can use this time that God has given us as a springboard to even more thoroughly put first things first and make God number one in our life. And we can take this tremendous responsibility and opportunity that God's given us to choose to live the best for our families using the time God's given us wisely. And we can make the decision. We can make the choice to have our home be a spiritual home. And I believe as we instill these principles into our lives, that we most certainly will defend our families.