Well, parents, hey, I want you to know that, man, we kind of have a lot of processes around discipleship for our kids and moving into student ministry and college ministry and that kind of thing, and commissioning them to go into their schools as a light. I know it's very representative for many of them at this point. Obviously, they're kindergartners, but the idea of them being a light in the campuses that they're going to be in for their school career is just so kind of on message with what we believe that God is calling our students to. We want you to understand we're trying to build mature disciple-making students. We want to see mission, on-mission students, just like the video that we saw.
And you know, these kids are just kind of on that pipeline. If you're partnering with Mercy Hill to disciple them in terms of your own home and your discipleship, we had a cool, I think, picture of what we want to see from our students come about 18 months ago. I'm going to show you guys a picture of a mission team that we had. 18 months ago, this is a middle. School mission team that went out to Gateway Church in Waynesville, North Carolina, which is a church that we planted.
Now, that was a few years ago, but we had about 15 people from our church go and plant Gateway Church, and the church has grown. It's doing well. It's come time. 18 months ago, when they were there, the church has come time to do a building project and to get out of a rented facility and get into more of a permanent space where they can do multiple services and that kind of thing. But they were having to raise a bunch of money to do it.
Well, these kids were on that mission trip. They got there. They heard the vision from Pastor Brody about, you know, we're going to raise this money so that we can put a building here so that we can reach more people and all that. I want to show you the next slide. These kids all got together.
Pulled up, no parents told him to do this, pulled up all the money they had left, and that's them praying over that money they're about to give to the church. For this building campaign. Last weekend, Gateway Church opened that new building. I want to show you with over 400 in attendance, 200 college students. How awesome is that from Western Carolina?
So, hey, we don't know, but you know, they gave over $400. Over 400 people came, okay? I wonder in heaven if it's like, man, it was the exact number and God honored what these kids did. My point is, man, that's the type of students we want to make, and that's the type of people we're trying to build that are growing in their maturity. And so, man, big weekend, back to school.
All the things are kicking off. Dads, we're going to keep going on this built series. I know it's hard. You know, we're just kind of hitting a bunch of issues, but I think it's really important, man, that we talk about one of those ways that we can build our life on the sand, and that is we become a tyrant in our home. And we use the God-given authority that we have to lead in the home for ourselves rather than be a blessing for our wife and our kids.
And I know not everybody here is married, okay? But we're going to talk today about not provoking our children, but instead kind of pointing them to Christ. If you have a copy of scripture, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. And that's where we're going to be today. Guys, there is no doubt scripturally, and we don't mince words about stuff like this, man.
Like, word games are absolutely not effective and helpful when you're living in a culture that is so confused as we are.
So we don't do that here, all right? We try to do very straight. This is what the scripture is calling us to. Guys, in your home, there is no higher authority.
Okay, the Lord has given you authority in your home. 1 Corinthians 11 says it like this: The head of a man is Christ, and the head of his wife. Uh is her husband. Ephesians 5:22 says it like this: Wives, submit to your husbands as unto the Lord. This is in theology called complementarianism.
What it means is this. Before God, there is absolute equality in terms of worth and value of husband and wife before the Lord. 100%. But in terms of ordering and the way that the family moves forward, There is something of an authoritative position that a father and a husband has to lead the family. It's very similar to a church, actually, okay?
When you think about it, when you think about Mercy Hill, for example. You know, there is no more worth that I carry before the Lord than anybody in the congregation. Our elders don't carry more worth before the Lord. But God has given the church an ordering for its flourishing that the elders would lead and the congregation would support and follow and be equipped for the work of the ministry, right? And so it's not a worth thing, but it is an ordering thing.
Guys, this is what we're going to get into today. Here's the big idea. Godly fathers point their kids to Christ rather than provoking them to anger. That position that God has given you of authority in the home, it can be abused or it can be used, right? It can either be something that you take on the responsibility and feel the full weight of and say, Man, yes, in my authoritative position in this home, I am going to turn all of my responsibilities, all the rights that come with being a father and a husband, and I'm going to pair them with the responsibilities of being a father and a husband.
And I want to pour out for this home in order to see this wife and kids discipled and presented to the Lord. That's why God has given you that authority. That's why God has given you that freedom to lead in the home. You know, many times we're reading this book right now. Many of our men read it this summer.
It's talking about just manhood and biblical manhood and that kind of thing. And one of the definitions that comes up is like, you know, a difference in a boy and a man is the difference. A boy wants the rights of being a man without the responsibilities. A man says, Man, I understand there are rights that come with being a godly husband and father. I'm going to pair that with all of the responsibilities.
So that I can fulfill them because that's why God has given me these rights. It's the difference between a boy and a man. It is a funny way to think about it, all right? I don't know if any of you guys ever saw the movie Avengers Infinity War, okay? If you've seen all those movies, you know, you know all the characters, they're just so pervasive in our culture.
So, in that movie, the Guardians of the Galaxy go and find Thor, who is just floating in space. And then this conversation happens. It was really funny, all right? This guy, Quill, they bring him in the spaceship, and Quill looks at Thor, and Thor's just laying there on the table. He's like passed out or whatever.
And he says, How did this dude live in space with no suit or anything like that? And this other character named Drax looks at him and says, This is not a dude. You're a dude. This is a man. He says, This is a beautiful muscular man, okay?
And it's a funny kind of way to think about it. A dude wants the rights. A man wants the rights and the responsibilities because he understands that they go together. And many times, guys. Messing that up and getting that out of order is what provokes our children to anger.
We can lord over them. We can be a tyrant. We can abuse the freedom that God has given us. We can take all of those things that are the rights that come with being a husband and a father and pour them out on ourselves and become very self-centered. You know, what we want to do is say this: hey, guys, with the authority that God has given you in the home, what are we doing with it?
Like, how are we pouring out? Like, how are the people in our lives growing because of that freedom and authority that God has given us to lead? Ephesians chapter 6. Let's talk about children and obedience. Then we're going to talk about fathers and provoking appointing.
And then we're going to try to water the whole thing with the gospel and grace. And that's going to be our time together. All right. Here we go. Children, obey your parents in the Lord.
That's important.
Okay. We're in instruction of the Lord. For this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Now, this is important, guys.
Okay, fathers. I want to spend a few minutes talking about a child's responsibility to you.
So that you will remember the place of vulnerability that they are in.
Okay, it's important for us to understand. Like, man, when we're behaving toward them, they don't have a recourse in a lot of ways, right? Like, they've been instructed by God to obey us, which puts us in a position to be very, I think, in a good way, fearful of the Lord in the way that we would parent them.
So, let's talk about their obedience.
Now, the first thing we got to say is this. And this is crazy that I got to say this, okay? But on our campuses, you guys know this is true. We live in a very upside-down kind of culture and world.
So, we got to just hit this head on. Parents have authority over their children for their good. That is the biblical ordering of authority in the home: parents are over children. Children are called to obey.
Now, this is subversive in our culture, it's always being undermined and eroded.
So, your kid might get a mental health exam at school that you didn't know about, and on that document might be a bunch of subversive questions undermining the authority of parents. There are places where you can have an abortion without telling your parents, but you can't get a driver's license without telling your parents. Right, like gender identity might be something that a teacher and a guidance counselor decide: well, that's not something that we're going to talk to the parents about because really they have become the authority and they sort of know exactly what to do in this situation, right? And I just think about doctors, you know, a doctor's office. I'm giving you little examples of how parental authority can be eroded.
I'm talking about a 10, 11, 12-year-old kid, and the doctor's like, Well, hey, we need the parents to leave the room so we can talk to them. No, you can't. No, no, I can tell you the answer to that right now, right? Why is that? Why are we living in a culture that wants to turn these things upside down?
Because it is the way of the enemy. All right, all of the things that I'm mentioning have a word for them. You ready for the word? Demonic. That's the word.
When you see wives encouraging over husbands in terms of leading in the home, when you see kids over parents, when you see the state. Taking over for parents. Samuel Moyne is a professor of law at Harvard University in history. This is kind of crazy. He's got this idea that kids should be represented in the voting block.
I thought, well, that's interesting. How do you propose that they do it?
Well, kids can't vote.
So he says we should give the youngest block of legal voters proxy votes for all the kids in the country.
Now, let's think about this. The podcaster that was interviewing him was like, well, if you're trying to look out for the kids' interests, because that's the whole point of them having a vote, right?
So, because things are being put in law that affect them, and you want them to be sort of represented, shouldn't the parents be the ones that cast the vote for the kids? I'm going to give you his direct quote. Because there is a divergence of interest between parents and children, that's why the parents can't be trusted with the votes. And I think it's likelier that young people, not people who are raising families, Will have the best insight into the interests of children. Think about what he is saying.
All right?
Now, this is the big part that I want you to hear. You can just kind of hear how slippery this is and how demonic it is, in my opinion. Part of our goal is trying to make sure that children aren't the hostages of their parents. When you see a culture that is constantly trying to reverse authority, man, you understand that the enemy is at work. And so, what we have to do in the church is say, No, we want to model a godly parental authority and responding of obedience from children, all right?
And so, that's what we want to get into here.
Now, the second part of this is honoring, not just obeying. Kids are called to honor. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Obedience is sort of the duty, honor the disposition.
Obedience is the action.
Okay, honor is the heart posture. And kids are called to have this posture toward their parents. When their parents are instructing them in the Lord, they are called to obey them. Even when their parents are not instructing them in the Lord, we're still called to honor them the best that we can.
Now, that looks really different in a lot of situations.
Some of you guys at our campuses, college students, high school students, man, some of y'all didn't grow up in a godly home.
Some of you right now are living in a home that is ungodly. I just want to say this to you: if that is a situation that you are in, the church body recognizes that is very hard. If you are trying to walk with Jesus and you're living in an environment where your parents are not instructing you in the Lord because they're not walking with Jesus, that is just tough. And it should, I hope that what it does is it puts a compassion on the part of the church that's around you to want to bring you in in greater and greater ways. And I hope that it leads you to want to pour yourself out and have great relationships within the church family because the church is a family, but that is very hard.
But what the Bible is saying here, children and students and people that are still under authority of their parents, all right, is that when your parents are instructing you in the Lord, we are called to obey them. Right, if they're if they and and even even we're like, Well, I don't like that, I don't want that. Hey, you never really grow out of that because there's things that me I don't want to do that my heavenly father's calling me to do. That sometimes I'm like, Man, I don't like that, I don't want this, I wish it was a different way. Right, it's an honor and obedience issue, and I just want to ask you: maybe you're struggling today with obeying your parents, maybe there's a language thing, maybe it's dating unbelievers, maybe it's complaining.
Maybe it's something silly, your room clean. Maybe it's a screen time battle, okay, that just constantly never ends. I don't know what it is, maybe, in your life, but I would say, hey, I want you to think about this. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:3 that the command is one that comes with a promise.
So look at verse 3 again, that it may go well with you. And that you may live long in the land. What is he saying? He's telling kids, think about the Old Testament, when you go into the promised land. If you will obey your parents' instruction in the Lord, that is going to go well in your life.
Like, I'm not saying people don't die. I'm not saying divorce doesn't happen. I'm not saying bad things don't happen. But generally speaking, If your parents are godly people and they're trying, listening to them is going to take you way further. Many times we don't wanna listen to them because we think they're holding out on us and actually they're instructing us in the Lord's way, which is going to cause flourishing in our life in greater and greater ways.
Many times we don't see it like that. I pray that we would. You know, I've told this story before. I try to tell it kind of rhythmically, so we sort of, it's a good one just to kind of anchor in our mind, but. When I was at 21 years old, Anna and I, I just got married, and we were on a mission trip in Montana, and I got put over the block party.
Okay, and I don't know if you guys even know what a block party is, but it's like they got all these generators and face painting, and you know, we're doing these big blow-up things on this Indian reservation in Montana, and having families come out and doing ministry, and it's this huge thing. In some kind of way, I got put in charge of the whole thing, which was not a great idea, okay? It was like it was just a chaos, and there's a million things going on, and it was just nuts. Every five seconds, I felt like something would go wrong. The generator would blow a fuse, and now all of a sudden, the big bounce house thing is just collapsing.
Oh, we're just grabbing these little Indian kids and just trying to throw them out, all right, because it's just about to suffocate them. And they're getting the face painting and the stuff's not, and they gotta get in the water. And every time I run by, The snow-cone machine, these two sweet little old ladies from my church are sitting there and they grab me and they're like, the snow-con machine is not working. I'm like, okay, I get it. I'm shaking it.
I'm trying to, I'm not, you know, not like an expert here. I'm trying to figure this thing out. And so anyway, we'd get it going again. And finally, I had a minute to myself and I said, I'm gonna watch and see what they're doing because I couldn't figure out what was going on. And these two sweet little old ladies, all right, they are finding the biggest block of ice.
I'm talking about big as your head, okay? And they're just jamming it in the machine.
Now, this is not an industrial level snow cone machine. This is like Mr. Happy Snow Cole Machine, okay, from Kmart. And they're just like jamming the thing in there. I go running over there.
I'm like, hey, stop, stop, you know. And, um, At this point, I'm trying to. It's like, dude, this thing is jammed, and these little kids are so cute, and they're waiting for their snow cone. And I'm like, all right, I got two options here. Number one, I can go in there, heat some water up, and pour it on here and try to melt all this stuff, and then we'll get it going again.
That's gonna take a long time. Or, number two, I can reach my hand down in there. And I can pull out the piece of ice, right? And so I'm sitting there, and these kids want their snow. I'm like, all right, we gotta get this thing going.
So I decide I'm gonna reach down and grab it.
So I'm about to reach out and grab it.
Now I made them unplug it because I'm not an idiot.
Okay. And so I go down, I go down, I hit that ice. I'm telling y'all that thing had one more revolution in it and it just cut my whole fingernail off, just like that. Serving Cherry Snow Cones at this point, okay, it was really bad. Anna fainted, literally, okay, she fainted.
It was crazy.
Now, the reason I've told that story at Mercy Hill and will continue to do so is because. As my hand is going down into the snow cone machine, right before it goes in. I see the little sign. What do you think it said? Do not put fingers inside snow coal machine.
And I did it anyway.
Now, here's the question that I have for you: how ridiculous would we think? That the CEO of Mr. Happy Snow Cole Machine has a you know, label on there that says don't put your hands in there. Because he is holding out on us. Right?
Of course, he knows if you put your fingers in there, it's the greatest feeling you're ever going to have. I mean, it's puppies and rainbows, and it's just so great. And it's like, man, no, that's not. It's just like, hey, that's going to hurt. And so there's a rule.
And so, children, I want you to understand, and adults, when we are struggling with obedience, that in many ways, it really comes down to that. Us trying to figure out what is the best thing for me. Do I trust God and his rules? Or would I think, no, this is going to be better for me?
Now, the reason I spend a lot of time on that in a father's sermon, we're gonna get into the father's now, is I've gotta have us all remember the position these kids are in. They have been told, number one, to obey you. Number two, that you are going to instruct them in the Lord, obey them in the Lord.
Okay. And now we realize that is such a position of vulnerability. to be called by God to answer to your parents in obedience. I'm going to tell you, that should put our parents, that should put us in a different heart posture. Like when we realize what they've been called to do.
It should really put us in a different posture.
So, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline. and instruction of the Lord. It's all the way back to our intro here, okay? If we don't remember what they have been called to do. we can very easily run over them.
And not really think about how hard it can be for them to be in a position that is under authority from us. And, guys, many of us have at times, listen, I'm talking to myself before anybody else, but many of us at times have become, we can become that tyrant who sort of lords with a heavy hand. and provokes them to anger. It's leaning into the rights. Without talking about and leaning into the responsibilities.
Yes, you're the authority. What are you doing with that authority? You could say it like this: Fathers, the passage talks about their obedience before it talks about our instruction. And if we will remember that. I think it puts us on good footing.
To try very hard to instruct and discipline them rather than provoking them.
Now, this is what it says. Let's just talk about it. All right, there's two sides of this thing: one, don't provoke, the other, discipline and instruct.
Okay, so let's talk about not provoking. The Bible says don't provoke, it doesn't tell us how to not provoke or what is provoking behavior, it just doesn't say it. It just says don't provoke them.
Alright, to anger. It's kind of like the idea of exasperate. You know, just they want to throw their hands up. They're in a position where they can't do anything, and it's just like this kind of feeling that drives them to anger. I'm gonna give you a couple of examples, but these are just kind of examples that I've seen pastoring in parenting.
We are called to just simply, hey, don't provoke them to anger. I think there's some ways that we provoke them to anger. We provoke them to anger, number one, I think by failing to remember that they are a kid sometimes. Right? I don't know about you guys.
I think maybe one of the dumbest things I've ever said in my life, and I probably, it's not even been that long ago. I'll look at one of my kids and say, you're acting just like a kid. How dumb is that? I mean, just think about that for a minute. And I'll be like, I'll say it in a mean way, like, you're acting like a kid, you know?
And it's like, they are a kid.
So failing to remember that they're not mature. Which means you're popping so fast through your logic, and it's like, yeah, that's fine. They're gonna be able to do that too when they're 30. But they're not doing that right now, and instead we're provoking. We're provoking, right?
I think about another example.
Sometimes I think we provoke because, dads, we want to shirk the responsibility to just get straight to discipline, man. And instead of disciplining a child, instead of just going ahead with it, whatever the consequence is, instead of that, we just want to nag and bellyache and complain. And really and yell. And why are we doing that?
Well, we're doing that because we're shirking a responsibility that we have to discipline.
Now, you know, people talk about disciplining a child. The Bible is so clear, especially with kids. You know, people say, well, the Bible says, you know, spare the rod, spoil the child. No, it don't. The Bible says you spare the rods, you hate your kid.
I'm going to read it to you. Proverbs 13:24. Whoever spares the rod hates his son. That's just straight from the book, y'all. But he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
My point is this. If we shirk our responsibility to move into discipline, we will replace that with provoking. Kids aren't built to be provoked for hours and hours and hours. It seems like maybe they're meant to just be like, hey, we're going to handle that as a discipline issue, you know, like right now. I think those are ways that we kind of provoke kids.
There's a billion ways that we can provoke them. Do you think our children can't understand the difference when we react to them out of our embarrassment or inconvenience versus their formation? Think about this. You know, one of the reasons that we provoke them many times is because we're getting onto them actually out of a heart that is for our reputation. You got to ask yourself this question.
I know I do. Do we want a child's obedience for their formation? or for our reputation. They can feel the difference in those two things.
Now we could go on and on and on. The second thing that we're called to do is to discipline and instruct them in godliness, to train them.
Now, this is not just to hit a baseball, make the grade, get tough, get a job. We're called to train them in the faith. This is your, Dad. This is your primary role in the home.
Now, your goal with your whole life is to glorify God in everything that you do. All right, that's it, man. We are here for Him. When it comes to marriage and family, You are called to present your wife and these kids as mature as you possibly can.
Now, you can't choose what they do. You can't choose the decisions that they're gonna make early in life and late in life in a lot of ways. And we're not on the hook for that.
Some of you have kids that have walked away from the faith. That is so hard, man, that you are not alone in that. It happens so much. Right, we're praying they'll come back. You're not on the hook for those decisions that they're making, but we are on the hook for the environment that we're putting the kids in.
And are we raising them in a discipleship type of way? You know, I think about this in our life. Like, my son is just now homeschooled, just for his middle school years. And it's funny because I say I'm the principal, the gym coach, and the economics instructor, okay, for homeschool. There's a thing where it's like I'm sort of in this authority position.
I want you to apply that over. Think about the discipline and instruction that comes from just their godliness in their life. Dads, you're sort of the principal. You know, you're sort of that figure. Where you are putting them in these environments.
How are we doing with that? The media's version of a man is Homer Simpson. I want you to think about it. Sloppy, bad decisions, can't be trusted, always wrong. Needs to be saved from embarrassment from his wife, who is always much wiser.
That's the picture that we get from the media. That's not the picture that we get from the Bible. The Bible picture is meant we are trying to grow in. to this image of something that is worthy of respect. And it's something that is growing in your own life, and something that is growing those people that are all around you.
And so we just have to ask the question, like, how are we doing?
Now, that's one of the things we have to remember: the best analogy I can give you for a child is their wet concrete, man. That's what it is. Every day, every week, it's getting a little bit more set up. A little bit more setup. But right now, they're wet concrete, so what are we doing?
What is the family discipleship rhythm? Man, do we have a discipleship kind of plan? Are we doing some kind of devotion in the home? Are we getting the word into them? You know, is it criticism all day long, or are we trying to instill confidence into who they are?
Are we remembering to tell them the storyline of the Bible, not just the stories of the Bible? Are we thinking about our year and saying, hey, rhythmically, like, for example, I have a blog coming out this week that you guys can get on: three ways to disciple your kids this fall that is unique to the fall. Things happen to fall, schedules get set, all this kind of stuff. Let's take advantage of those things.
So, y'all, it's as long as I mean, I could give you instruction as long as the day is, but the reality is that we have to have the heart posture of: okay, wait a minute, provoking? No, pointing to Christ. And if I'm pointing to Christ, then I come around, partner with the church, age-based ministries here, parent resources pages, family devotion. I'm going to take this stuff seriously. And I'm gonna do this for my kids in my home.
All right, here's the application point: point your kids to Christ. Point your kids to Christ.
Now, how do we do that? Because every one of us, and I'm not doing a beat-down dad sermon, okay? Every one of us is like, hey, we're going to see some things that we want to do better.
Now how do we get motivated to do them better? I'm going to tell you how you get motivated. Always, Dad, you got to think about how God has fathered you. We will do unto them as he has done unto us. And that's where we start.
I could stand up here and rant and rave and say, don't ever yell at your kids and make sure you're discipling them and be a better dad. And we would all just walk out, like head down, but saying, Yeah, you know, like I need to do that. Maybe I'd get motivated. And that motivation would last until about Tuesday. We need something that's going to last a lot longer than that.
And the way that we really get the heart posture to say, man, I don't want to provoke them anymore. I want to point them to Christ. Like, that's what I want. I want it, not just because he's telling me to do that, but because if that's what he's telling me, I trust it and I want that. The way that we get that into our heart is by thinking about what God has done for us.
It always comes back to that. Dads, how many times have we specifically in fatherhood blown up, sin with words, pointed everywhere but to Christ, didn't train and instruct that sin on our part, and for that sin, we don't deserve to live long in the land. Think about the passage that we read today. All right?
Obey your parents, you live long in the land. You and I haven't obeyed our parent. Fathers, we haven't obeyed God perfectly. We don't deserve to live long in the land. Of course, in the New Testament, it's not talking about the promised land, it's talking about heaven.
You and I don't deserve that. But God has been so gracious to us in sending Jesus Christ. We sinned, we're out. Jesus entered, obeyed every command that God ever gave him. Yet he didn't receive the blessing of living long in the land.
Instead, he was cut off in death on the cross so that you and I could have that blessing.
So that you and I can be joined with him in his resurrection. Man, that's the thing. Jesus didn't get to skip over the death part, instead, he went all the way into it. In order that you and I would be sprung from the penalty of all of our sin. And this is what the Bible tells us.
That is how we are trained to train them. You say, what do you mean? Titus 2 says it like this, all right? It says, For the grace of God. For the grace of God has appeared, brings salvation for all people.
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. Training us. You and I you want to know the difference between provoking them to anger and pointing them to Christ? Pointing them to Christ involves an incredibly healthy dose of, man, everything God did for me is the model of what I'm trying to do for them. Right, they have sinned.
You know why? Because, dads, look, without that, you know why we're going to provoke them to anger? Because we're going to turn into eye for an eye, man, tooth for a tooth. You made me feel bad, I'm going to make you feel bad. You made your mom feel bad.
I'm going to make you feel bad. You had a bad day, you gave me a bad day. I'm going to give you a bad day. That's what we'll turn into. And it turns into provoking and provoking when instead, what the Bible's calling us to do is to point them to Christ.
The way that we're going to do that. Is by training them in a grace-filled, gospel-saturated home, that's going to be pointing them to Christ. God has trained me that way, and now we have the opportunity to train them in that way. All right?
So here's the deal. I want to close the sermon. I want to call us to some repentance. Wants to think about some things. Guys, I want to end on a positive note here.
I want you to understand the blessing that this is. Dads, fathers, and ladies, I want y'all to just listen in from the side here, okay? I'm going to tell you, and you guys know this if you've operated at it, if you get a taste of it. When you begin to operate. Rights and responsibilities.
When it ceases to become about you. and you begin to pour your life out in small ways and in big ways. wife and kids and you become provider, protector. There is a joy in that. That comes from, it's an echo of heaven.
It's just like, man, you were put here to do this God's way. And when you start doing it, there is a joy. In that, and you touch it in different areas. You're not doing it right all the time, I know, but when you touch it, there is such a joy there. And when she recognizes it.
and respects it. Oh my. Such a joy there. Like I think about um I I walked in the other day. And Anna was getting Faith Ann ready in the morning for their day.
Okay, she's got her little swimmy thing on, and Anna doesn't know I'm there. I'm walking in. And Anna is singing to Faith Ann. And this is the song she's singing. You ready?
Daddy's gotta work, work, work, work.
So we can swim, swim, swim, swim. And I laughed about it, and then I was on a cloud nine the whole day. It was like, you're right, babe. I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna make this climb today, I'm gonna do hard things today.
So that I could provide a place. where we can raise these kids in the admonition of the Lord. And right now, summertime, that looks like y'all going swimming is what it looks like today. You know, obviously don't always look like that, but that's what it looked like that day. And it's like, man, cloud nine, why?
It's like for a moment, you've kind of stepped in. to rights and responsibilities. You've provided, you've done that thing that God has called you to do. And man, I'm just telling you, there is a joy that is there. And I want to call you today.
We're going to do prayer time. I'm going to ask wives, bring your husband down, pray over them. It's going to be a great time. And yes, there needs to be repentance. I know that.
But there's also just like a longing. Of like, God, I want to step into that in more and more ways. Any of those responsibilities. and appoint them to Christ. Guys, I do this every year.
at back to school weekend. I'm gonna do it again, okay, as we close. Wet concrete.
Some of you guys have a child that has just been born. You have approximately 936 weeks. with that child until it's time for them to move on. Everyone represents a week. What are we doing with them?
By the time they get into kindergarten, a third of that's gone. By the time they get into sixth grade, half of it's gone. By the time you get into ninth grade, you're down to 200 weeks. That wet concrete is getting set more and more and more. I'm in this boat now.
I got one going a senior year this week. I got less than 52 weeks. And dad, I want to say that as a way to say, man, I'm not trying to just provoke emotion. I'm just trying to get us to think like Man, God has called us not to provoke them to anger, but to point them to Christ. And when we do in a God-honoring way, it will be our joy.
We'll step into what God has for us. All right. So let's go after that. Let's pray. Father.
We come before you. We ask right now. Lord, that you would move in incredible ways. Right now, God, let us make some commitments. Let us repent.
Let us have moments of family healing. Let our wives pray over their husband. for his leadership. His decision-making Lord, I just pray we'd have a strong, powerful moment interacting with you in Christ's name. Amen.
