God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Word. The Encouraging Word This is Dr. Don Wilton teaching and preaching God's Word straight from the Scriptures and today we'll go to 1 Timothy chapter 6 for the conclusion of this message, a Christian response to sons and daughters. As we study the Word together, know that we're here for you connecting 24 hours a day at this phone number, 866-899-WORD. We'd love to pray with you, for you, and connect you with wonderful resources like you'll find on our website at www.tewonline.org. So visit the website www.tewonline.org or call us anytime at 866-899-9673.
That's 866-899-9673. The Encouraging Word And now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. He gives us a list there of pursuing after. It's a fantastic list.
Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Oh, that's so nice. How do you do? He says pursue after gentleness.
Don't make it your business, he says to young Timothy. That hot button that you've got. I'm going to serve you well, man. You can lead. You can stand up.
You can point people in the direction. You can be the best woman. You can be the best man. You can be at the top of your profession.
You can sit in the seat of leadership. You can do all of these things, but you never have to sacrifice the gentleness of the spirit of the living God. You don't ever resort to the same means of the in your face four letter world in which we live. That's what he's saying.
It's a tough word, eh? Flee from, pursue after. Number three, he says fight for. Look at verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith. Fight for it. And by the way, that that word doesn't mean, you know, I'm going to get out there and man, I'm going to fight this and I'm going to chop this and I'm going to do this and I'm going to get off of this.
And that's not what he's talking about. That word there, fight, means that you are serious about your faith. Are you serious? Are you a serious Christian? How many of us are Christian, but we're just not, we're just sloppy. We're like bowls of jello.
We just wobble around. He says, fight the good fight of faith. Be serious about it. Number four, he says hold tight.
I like this one. Hold tight. Look there in the second part of verse 12. I told you it all comes right out of the Bible. Fight the good fight of faith.
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made good your confession in the company of many witnesses. He says, hold tight to it. If you're about to get married, can I give you a little word here? Give you a big, big hint.
Big clue. Hold tight to one another. Now, what does that mean to hold tight to it? You mean in this world, you're both going to have to go, you're going to have to go to this job. She's got to go this and you got to do that.
You got to do that. And beside, can I tell you the biggest separation between the two of you? He's a he and she's a she. I'm telling you, marriage is just stupid. OK? Right? And here I am sitting looking at everybody saying, you want me to give you a really good thing to do? Hold tight to each other.
By the way, it works. As soon as you let go, as soon as you let go, well, you go do your thing. I'll do my thing. You got your world. I got my world.
You go do this. You know what happens in your marriage? You become estranged from one another. You can end up in a marriage sitting in the same house looking at each other saying, who is that man there? Who is that woman? We don't know each other.
You say it never happens in a marriage? Hello? Paul here is looking to the young man and he says, hold tight. To what? To what you confessed.
Stick with it, man. Hold it. You know, Chris, you and I were just so pumped about all these young people this weekend. Gave their lives through baptism. Our children in our children's ministries with Greg Springsteen and Martha and all the... You know, listen, coming to know Christ, hold tight, man. Brad, your kids, when they grow up, pray that they would hold tight. Don't visit your confession of faith only on a Sunday morning. Hold tight to it.
And then there's one more. He says, keep always. Well, that gets down right there in verse 14. He culminates in his word to the younger person. He says, I'm going to charge you.
You ready for this? That's what he says. Verse 14, keep this command. That little word there is like persevere. It's like keep on keeping on.
It's like, man, I can't believe I've got to do this again. Oh, yeah. But here's the difference.
Greater is he that's in you than the one that's in the world. All right. So watch this, guys. Watch this. Paul talking to a young fellow here. He tells him five things. Very simple.
Flee from, pursue after, fight for, hold tight, keep always. All right. Before we go, can I just be dad for a minute? Can I be a Christian dad? I just want to be a Christian grandfather for a minute. Here's my question. What is a Christian response to our daughters and sons?
It's like I'm preaching to the choir here because you're obviously doing this and I command you for it. I want to affirm you today. What is a Christian response? Number one, can I give you a few here?
You ready? Bless them. Bless your daughters and sons. Bless them. Verbally, positively, practically, heartfully, just bless them.
Can I just tell you something? They'll bless you back a whole lot more. Bless them. Number two, love them. Love your sons and daughters, man. You say, pastor, wait a minute. Of course, everybody loves their children.
Really? What does your love look like right now? What does it feel like?
What does it sound like? Dad? Mom? Grandparent?
Neighbor? Love them. Guys, listen, man. Love your children because of who they are, not because of what you think they should be. You'll find in your family you could have 10 children come from the same mom and dad and every one of them is different. You know they're all your children, but after a while you wonder if they are all your children. You know? Because we all have personalities, you know?
Some of us are up this way and some are down that way. Just love them. Love them for who they are.
Number three, Christian response is a Christian. Nurture them. Nurture them. By the way, that word nurture is a great word, isn't it? You know what the word nurture means? It means to care and encourage growth in them. That's what the word nurture means. It means to care for them and to encourage growth in them. And it's not just physical growth. It's spiritual, maturational growth. It's the growth of life. Nurture them.
Make it your business. That's a Christian response. Bless them. Love them. Nurture them. Here's another one, number four, protect them. Protect them. You'll notice I haven't put an age group on this. That word protect means be the Christian mom or dad that never stops watching out for them.
And by the way, I promise you this. Your kids will grow up very quickly. Some of you got little ones. They grow up very quickly, man. I know you hear that all the time, how they grow up quickly. I'm just sorry, but it's true.
It happens. They do. They grow up real quickly, man. Don't ever stop protecting them, no matter how big they are. Protect them.
That means to defend them. The younger they are, it takes on the age appropriateness. You know, little children don't have a microphone.
Have you noticed that? That they can speak for protection. They've all evidently got a microphone.
Some of them never seem to stop talking into the microphone, right? You want to bless your whole family? Get them a drum set for Christmas.
You been there, done that? Defend them. And if they're young enough, you got to speak for them. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word, and we'll be back with the rest of his message in just a moment, focusing our whole lives about how to move from a social agenda to a godly one, whether it's as a parent or a child. But we also want you to help rearrange your agenda with regard to God's Word.
We believe there's nothing more important than spending time in the Bible itself, not just messages about the Bible, but the Bible itself. And we have a wonderful tool that will help you do that called The Daily Encouraging Word Devotional. You can sign up for it on our website at www.tewonline.org. You may be like my bride who likes to have a physical copy. You can order one absolutely free on our website at www.tewonline.org, or you can be like me and get it e-mail-a-phonically from our pastor.
It's available just by signing up at www.tewonline.org. Choose The Daily Encouraging Word Devotional, and I assure you that it'll be straight to Scripture and it'll be a blessing. Now let's dive back into today's great Bible teaching from Dr. Don Wilton. Don't let the world ride roughshod over you in your responsibility. Let the world carry on like they're just going to dictate what our kids are going to learn and what they're not and whether they're going to do this and whether... Listen, protect your children. Number five, guide them.
That's a big one here. Christian response, guide them. The word guidance carries with it really two tributaries of the same river, right? On the one hand to guide means you lead them. You lead them. So are you leading your daughters and sons? Can I give you a litmus test of whether or not you're leading them?
Can you define exactly how that looks right now? The second part of it is to guide. If you're talking about... The second part is to teach, I mean. If you're talking about guiding, the word guide, you put the big word guide up here. See that, guide them.
You can put two tributaries down there in the understanding of that. The one side is to lead, the other side is to teach. They're kind of part of the same framework, but if you say, listen, God has called me to guide my sons and daughters, it means that you are running a parallel track. You are both leading them and you're teaching them because you're leading them. So what are you teaching your kids right now on a daily basis? How are you leading them? What does your conduct look like?
I always feel like I'm picking on the guys, but I always do. How do you speak to their mother? Excuse me? In front of your children.
Are you embarrassed right now? God is speaking to you. You can change that. You can change. This is the beauty of it. You can turn.
I'm just telling you. You say, pick on that and say, man, I don't talk to my wife right. I snap back at her and I use this kind of that. You want me to tell you how to fix that?
Says me, genius. When you get home today or as soon as you can, you walk up to her and you say, sweetheart, I want to tell you I'm so sorry for the way I've spoken to you. And say whatever you need to say, please forgive me. Now, I don't know any particular individual thing. It's not a matter of, oh, you're forgiven. Let's just go off on another cruise together. But I'm just telling you something. If you do it as unto the Lord, you watch your wife's heart turn.
But get this. You watch how your children take note of the change. Just because of your conversation. Many a woman is abused. Not in all the other ways that we fly flags.
They're abused just by the tongue, by tone of voice. And when your children are watching, do you know how many children who grow up watching their fathers drink themselves through a standstill and become alcoholics? They themselves end up doing the same thing.
And you, sir, taught them. What is he saying here? What is a Christian response to daughters and sons? This is not fair weather.
This is not hidey-ho. Let's just walk around and sing, you know, some pretty little song together. This is reality. This is the road of life. What is a Christian response to daughters and sons? Bless them, love them, nurture them, protect them, guide them, which means both lead them and teach them. Number six, listen to them. Listen to your sons and daughters.
And by the way, no matter how big they are, let them talk to you and listen. And sometimes it involves a discipline because you come home and you've been at work and you've got all these pressures on you and maybe things are not so good and your son, your daughter, and I'm not putting an age group. All they want to do is just share something with you.
Listen. Just go to a restaurant today and watch how parents are not listening. You can go to the average restaurant, see a whole family come and sit around a table and mom and dad have got their infernal cell phone out and there they sit and say not one word. And I'm telling you something I saw last week when I went to eat somewhere by myself because I had to find my own food everywhere.
I was down in Panama City just a couple of days, packed out, went for a walk down the beach, just family time, people having the best time. Almost every second chair with an adult, the adults were sitting on the beach. And here's the little kid with a bucket and spade saying, Look, Daddy, look, oh, and then pour some more sand. Yeah, I think I'll move the sand over here like we need more sand over there.
Look, Daddy, and there's a big old moron himself. Huh? Yeah, huh? Okay, yeah. And there's mom, Facebook.
I've just got to find out what JoEllen had to say about killing Suzanne because her husband checked this out. The kids just, have we watched ourselves, folks? Have we watched ourselves? I'm guilty. I've got to really, I mean, I've got to discipline myself. I don't even have Facebook, but I've got Instagram. Listen to them.
It's a discipline. Just two more quick ones. Can I do this? Number seven, celebrate with them. Celebrate them.
By the way, can I give you a guarantee with sons and daughters? Every day is a cause to celebrate. Do you know that children and then older children, tweenagers, teenagers, they graduate from something every day. Go figure it out. Everything's a graduation.
I mean, it's just fun. It's like, what's next? You can turn a slice of pizza into a graduation. Now, broccoli, not so much, but celebrate with them, man. Get a couple of wows into your solar system with your kids. Wow, man, wonderful.
Can I do that with you? Celebrate them, and I'll close with this, okay? Pray for them. It's a Christian response. Pray for your daughters and sons, man. Prayer changes things, guys. God answers prayer.
He tells us to come to him. Talk to the Lord about them, and then tell them. You know, from time to time, when you send those texts like I do with my kids, they're all grown up, I say, you know what? I'm praying for you. You know what sometimes is good? Actually write a little prayer on a text. Lord, would you bless my daughter today? Now, you don't have to overcook the chicken here, you know? And are you going to get a few of, oh, man, dad, you know, mom?
I know that never happens in your house, but you know what? I'm willing to take a few of those because my God is so great. Boy, do I need him, and do I want him to be all over my daughters and sons or what?
He does it. Trusting God with our children, trusting God with our life. Have you trusted God with your salvation? You've been listening and taking in this great Bible teaching from Dr. Don Wilton, but now, as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?
I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you, and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you've prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.
This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey.
Perhaps you prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Jesus or rededicate your life to Christ? If so, we would love to put free resources in your hands Dr. Don Wilton wants you to have. You can call us right now at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673, and we'd love to put these resources in your hands and help you grow in your faith, grow in the next steps. We're convinced that God's encouraging word is something that will help you develop a powerful relationship with Jesus that will never be broken. We also have wonderful resources on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.
Great resources like this. Right now you may be driving in your car or sitting in the comforts of your own home. Perhaps you may be at work or listening to us in a prison cell. Wherever you are, I have an encouraging word for you today, and that word is God is in control. He is sovereign over the universe. His plan for your life remains intact, and He has not changed.
He is right there with you. This month, with your gift of support to the encouraging word, you will receive two powerful resources from Dr. Wilton, a Wonderful Hope message available on CD or DVD in the life-changing DVD movie, Risen. Both of these resources will empower you to stand strong in your faith and convictions in these not-so-normal days. Call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 and request Wonderful Hope in the bonus DVD movie, Risen, today. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener-supported ministry.
Thank you for listening today. That's just one of many resources available on our website at www.tewonline.org. And while you're there, discover more about who this ministry is. Dr. Don Wilton, the pastor of Dr. Billy Graham for over 25 years as he wrapped up his ministry and his life on this earth. He's also a part of the ECFA, Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability. And so if you consider giving to this ministry, you can know it'll be used wisely to lift up the name of Jesus. You also might want to know that right now we're in the middle of a remarkable matching challenge, raising literally $300,000, and that will trigger a $200,000 gift to the ministry. And combined, that will allow us to double the amount of people that will hear and see and be exposed to this Bible-based teaching every single day. If you're interested in getting involved, again, now is the time to give. Now between now and the end of the year, just visit our website, www.tewonline.org.
