1 00:00:05,199 --> 00:00:11,281 Parents, take this to heart. 2 00:00:11,281 --> 00:00:13,010 Proverbs 4:20 3 00:00:13,010 --> 00:00:17,469 "My son, be attentive to my words; 4 00:00:17,469 --> 00:00:21,384 incline your ear to my sayings." 5 00:00:21,384 --> 00:00:23,156 This means obey me. 6 00:00:23,156 --> 00:00:27,506 Do what I'm telling you. 7 00:00:27,506 --> 00:00:29,643 "Let them not escape from your sight. 8 00:00:29,643 --> 00:00:31,261 Keep them within your heart, 9 00:00:31,261 --> 00:00:34,894 for they are life to those who find them." 10 00:00:34,894 --> 00:00:37,043 He's not talking to dead children here. 11 00:00:37,043 --> 00:00:38,683 What does he mean by life? 12 00:00:38,683 --> 00:00:40,244 He's not talking physical life. 13 00:00:40,244 --> 00:00:42,219 He's talking spiritual life. 14 00:00:42,219 --> 00:00:43,742 Eternal life. 15 00:00:43,742 --> 00:00:46,687 He's saying, son, if you will heed 16 00:00:46,687 --> 00:00:47,955 what I tell you; 17 00:00:47,955 --> 00:00:49,957 if you will obey what I tell you; 18 00:00:49,957 --> 00:00:51,693 if you will take these things 19 00:00:51,693 --> 00:00:53,492 and apply them and keep them 20 00:00:53,492 --> 00:00:54,564 within your heart, 21 00:00:54,564 --> 00:00:56,427 they will be life to you. 22 00:00:56,427 --> 00:01:00,044 God designed it this way, parents. 23 00:01:00,044 --> 00:01:03,883 Parents, your child's good is and must be 24 00:01:03,883 --> 00:01:08,018 your controlling motive. 25 00:01:08,018 --> 00:01:12,975 Do we not live in the belief 26 00:01:12,975 --> 00:01:16,551 that whatever might become of our children, 27 00:01:16,551 --> 00:01:18,824 that if they gain the whole world 28 00:01:18,824 --> 00:01:20,842 and they lose their souls, 29 00:01:20,842 --> 00:01:23,229 they've lost everything! 30 00:01:23,229 --> 00:01:26,149 And yet, Scripture comes along 31 00:01:26,149 --> 00:01:29,959 and says the path to everything 32 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:31,971 has a lot to do with parents. 33 00:01:31,971 --> 00:01:34,069 Listen to this: 34 00:01:34,069 --> 00:01:36,202 Proverbs 6:20 35 00:01:36,202 --> 00:01:41,006 "My son, keep your father's commandment." 36 00:01:41,006 --> 00:01:43,320 Now we might come along and say, 37 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:46,258 well, shouldn't he be keeping the Lord's commandment? 38 00:01:46,258 --> 00:01:48,735 Yeah, but you see, folks, 39 00:01:48,735 --> 00:01:51,867 God is telling you to keep your children 40 00:01:51,867 --> 00:01:54,174 obedient to you. 41 00:01:54,174 --> 00:01:55,829 And what I'm showing you is 42 00:01:55,829 --> 00:01:58,584 if your heart is after God's; 43 00:01:58,584 --> 00:02:00,664 if your heart is after His truth 44 00:02:00,664 --> 00:02:03,238 and His ways and His righteousness, 45 00:02:03,238 --> 00:02:06,121 and you seek through your commandments, 46 00:02:06,121 --> 00:02:07,381 and through your rules, 47 00:02:07,381 --> 00:02:08,854 and through your discipline, 48 00:02:08,854 --> 00:02:10,513 and through your instruction, 49 00:02:10,513 --> 00:02:18,414 to impart to that child that. 50 00:02:18,414 --> 00:02:20,766 Then what happens is, 51 00:02:20,766 --> 00:02:21,913 this can be said: 52 00:02:21,913 --> 00:02:24,321 "My son, keep your father's commandment, 53 00:02:24,321 --> 00:02:26,485 forsake not your mother's teaching. 54 00:02:26,485 --> 00:02:28,677 Bind them on your heart always. 55 00:02:28,677 --> 00:02:30,196 Tie them around your neck. 56 00:02:30,196 --> 00:02:32,745 When you walk, they will lead you. 57 00:02:32,745 --> 00:02:35,017 When you lie down, they will watch over you. 58 00:02:35,017 --> 00:02:37,299 When you awake, they will talk with you. 59 00:02:37,299 --> 00:02:38,504 For the commandment..." 60 00:02:38,504 --> 00:02:39,424 What commandment? 61 00:02:39,424 --> 00:02:42,617 The commandment of the parents. 62 00:02:42,617 --> 00:02:43,922 "...is a lamp 63 00:02:43,922 --> 00:02:46,509 and the teaching a light, 64 00:02:46,509 --> 00:02:49,504 and the reproofs of discipline 65 00:02:49,504 --> 00:02:51,889 are the way of life." 66 00:02:51,889 --> 00:02:54,397 When you instruct and discipline that child 67 00:02:54,397 --> 00:02:58,159 you are setting them on the way of life. 68 00:02:58,159 --> 00:02:59,782 That's what Scripture teaches. 69 00:02:59,782 --> 00:03:01,911 Brethren, we are people who God has called 70 00:03:01,911 --> 00:03:03,993 to live by faith. 71 00:03:03,993 --> 00:03:06,189 And this is one of the things He's called you 72 00:03:06,189 --> 00:03:07,740 to live by faith in. 73 00:03:07,740 --> 00:03:10,048 That you raise your children 74 00:03:10,048 --> 00:03:13,801 in this kind of discipline and instruction 75 00:03:13,801 --> 00:03:16,530 of the Lord. 76 00:03:16,530 --> 00:03:18,486 Proverbs 19:18 77 00:03:18,486 --> 00:03:20,733 "Discipline your son 78 00:03:20,733 --> 00:03:22,195 while there's hope. 79 00:03:22,195 --> 00:03:26,246 Do not set your heart on putting him to death." 80 00:03:26,246 --> 00:03:28,991 You know what Scripture's implying? 81 00:03:28,991 --> 00:03:30,868 Guess what? 82 00:03:30,868 --> 00:03:33,351 All these people, disobedient to parent - 83 00:03:33,351 --> 00:03:35,537 they're people that don't acknowledge God. 84 00:03:35,537 --> 00:03:39,455 That is the path of death. 85 00:03:39,455 --> 00:03:42,695 He's saying if you don't discipline; 86 00:03:42,695 --> 00:03:44,809 if you don't raise your children 87 00:03:44,809 --> 00:03:49,246 in the discipline and instruction of the Lord - 88 00:03:49,246 --> 00:03:52,156 if there's no discipline, if there's no rod, 89 00:03:52,156 --> 00:03:53,365 if there's no correction 90 00:03:53,365 --> 00:03:56,008 and instruction and rebuke, 91 00:03:56,008 --> 00:03:57,857 if there's no bringing your children 92 00:03:57,857 --> 00:04:00,880 into submission, 93 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,984 you're killing your children. 94 00:04:03,984 --> 00:04:07,128 One of the proverbs says you hate them. 95 00:04:07,128 --> 00:04:09,140 And you can say, well, no I don't. 96 00:04:09,140 --> 00:04:11,902 I love them. That's why I don't spank them. 97 00:04:11,902 --> 00:04:14,094 Listen, God says you hate them. 98 00:04:14,094 --> 00:04:15,612 Because what you're doing is 99 00:04:15,612 --> 00:04:19,195 you're allowing that child to go his own way. 100 00:04:19,195 --> 00:04:22,715 Children that go their own way die. 101 00:04:22,715 --> 00:04:26,553 Children that a parent - 102 00:04:26,553 --> 00:04:28,131 a Christian parent - 103 00:04:28,131 --> 00:04:31,430 will seek to say, 104 00:04:31,430 --> 00:04:34,469 as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. 105 00:04:34,469 --> 00:04:36,416 God said when He was looking at 106 00:04:36,416 --> 00:04:41,021 going down and destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, 107 00:04:41,021 --> 00:04:45,838 He said this: "I have chosen Abraham 108 00:04:45,838 --> 00:04:47,600 that he may command his children 109 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,229 and his household after him 110 00:04:49,229 --> 00:04:52,563 to keep the way of the Lord." 111 00:04:52,563 --> 00:04:56,376 You have Joshua saying, 112 00:04:56,376 --> 00:04:58,782 "As for me and my house, 113 00:04:58,782 --> 00:05:01,254 we're going to serve the Lord." 114 00:05:01,254 --> 00:05:03,309 You have fathers who are saying 115 00:05:03,309 --> 00:05:06,274 my children are going this way. 116 00:05:06,274 --> 00:05:10,468 (incomplete thought) 117 00:05:10,468 --> 00:05:12,579 The world out there can say 118 00:05:12,579 --> 00:05:16,339 parents shouldn't force their religion on their children. 119 00:05:16,339 --> 00:05:18,309 That's not what God says. 120 00:05:18,309 --> 00:05:20,349 God says you take those children 121 00:05:20,349 --> 00:05:21,438 under your arm, 122 00:05:21,438 --> 00:05:22,897 and you say, child, 123 00:05:22,897 --> 00:05:26,082 as for you and me, we're going this way. 124 00:05:26,082 --> 00:05:28,078 And you take them with you.