(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Let's open in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here this evening, to gather in the house of God. I just ask you right now to help us put aside all distractions. I pray your Spirit will be upon me. I pray you'll bless me mightily and help me preach your word with boldness and clarity this evening. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, before we really get into the sermon, I want to give you a little bit of a background here in Genesis 6. And this is a pretty famous chapter in the Bible, and a lot of people are confused about it. There's a lot of false doctrines here associated with Genesis 6. See, the Bible says in Genesis 6 that the world became a very, very wicked place. And the Bible uses this phrase, the sons of God married the daughters of men. Now, the sons of God are people that are saved. They're believers. They're people that have put their faith in Jesus Christ. A lot of people believe this is talking about angels. But if you notice in verse number 5, it said, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. See, God is angry at man here. He's going to destroy the earth because of man, not because of angels. And you know, the reason why this is important, I mean, there's a lot of false doctrines associated with this. So we ought to know what the Bible teaches about everything. And the sons of God are very clearly believers. In John chapter 1, the Bible says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So the Bible says by believing on his name, we become a son of God. And the Bible also says in John chapter 3, when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, he says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So he's explaining to Nicodemus about being born again. Nicodemus is confused about what he's saying. He says, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? See, he's thinking of a physical birth. He doesn't understand the spiritual birth. And then Jesus says, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He makes it very clear in verse 6 what he's talking about because he says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. He's talking about a physical birth, and he's talking about a spiritual birth. Well, Nicodemus is confused about this, and he's like, how can these things be? And Jesus says to him, art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? You see, he expected Nicodemus to understand the concept of being born again. He expected Nicodemus to know from the Old Testament that sons of God are believers. And we today, we should definitely know, we have the entire Bible that makes it very clear that when you receive Jesus Christ, you're born into his family. We ought to know that it's by believing on Jesus Christ, that's how you become a child of God. You see, people were saved in the Old Testament, they had to put their faith in the true God, they had to be born again, they had to become a child of God. But see, what we see here is the sons of God. This is not talking about angels marrying women, that's ridiculous. This is talking about believers choosing to marry women because of their looks. It says that they saw that they were fair. You have believers marrying unbelievers. Now you know, you kids should listen to this because you might think one day, well, so-and-so is really attractive, so-and-so is good looking, I'm going to marry them, I can turn them to Jesus, I can make them a soul winner. That's never going to happen. You know, if you choose to marry someone due to their looks and not because they're a Christian and they're not saved, you're probably going to have a mess in your family. You're not going to be able to serve the Lord if you decide you're going to be in between like the Catholic religion and the Baptist religion. You know, whenever you see this happen, it seems like people always go to the other false religion. You know, and let me tell you something, because here's the thing, if you're willing to give in on this point of who you should marry, you're probably going to give in on everything in life. You know, you're going to give in and say, well, you know, we can just go to the Catholic church, you know, and we can give in on this and this. Forget about homeschooling, we'll do public schooling. You're going to get in on everything. Just decide today, kids, that you're going to marry someone who loves the Lord first and foremost before anything else. And so what ends up happening when you have the sons of God, believers marrying unbelievers, you see a wicked world that ends up being developed. So look down at verse number 5, the Bible says, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for repenteth me that I have made them. You know, this is actually the first reference you have to repenting in the Bible in any form here. In verses 6 and 7, let me ask you, who's repenting here? Is it man or is it God? It's God. God is repenting. You know, it's kind of funny because God repents more than anybody else in the Bible because there's a bunch of Baptists running around and people that aren't saved that are saying, well, you've got to turn from your sins to be saved, you've got to give your life to God, you've got to quit drinking, you've got to quit smoking. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds, that someone who's struggling with sin is just going to quit everything? I mean, the Bible says all you have to do is believe. It says whosoever believeth in him. And you see here that God is repenting in verses 6 and 7 because repenting just means to change your mind. This is the first reference of repenting in the Bible, and you'll see that God repents more than anybody else in the entire Bible. So God decides He's going to destroy man. This is very similar in the days of Moses later on, when God tells Moses several times, I'll destroy the earth and start over with you. I'm going to destroy all the children of Israel and start with you, Moses, and make a great nation out of you. And Moses begs and pleads for mercy on the people, and God grants him that request. This is the same thing with Noah. God decides to destroy everybody in the world, but He leaves Noah and his family. Look at verse 8. It says, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Why did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord? Why didn't God destroy Noah and his family as well? Well, look at verse number 9. The Bible reads, These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. You know, there's only two people in the Bible that mentions walking with God. The concept is in the New Testament that we need to walk with God, but Enoch and Noah are the two people mentioned by name of walking with God. And the Bible says, Noah walked with God, and it says he was a just man and perfect in his generations. This does not mean that he was sinless. It doesn't matter who you are in any time period. Everybody's a sinner. The Bible says, Let God be true, but every man a liar. The Bible says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You see, if we could get to heaven based on our actions, that's the way salvation would have been according to the book of Galatians in 321 and other places in Galatians. But Noah was a sinner just like us, but the word perfect, it means basically complete in the Bible. In our modern vernacular, we think of perfect as without sin, but in the Bible that basically means complete. Let's say, for example, you had a person who was a dedicated soul winner that didn't read their Bible. Is that person a complete Christian? They're not. I mean, it's great that they're a soul winner, but they're not reading their Bible. And there's a lot of people like that, that they go soul winning all the time, but they don't read their Bible. There's people that go soul winning and read their Bibles, but, you know, they don't have any prayer life. They're not a complete person then. They're not a complete Christian. Well, Noah had the perfect package. He was perfect, the Bible says, in his generations. He was a cut above anybody else in the world. Look down at verse number 18. The Bible reads, he says, But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee. I want you to notice when God is talking to Noah that he says thee, he says thou, he says thou, and he says thee in this verse, in verse 18. You know, a lot of people tell us that the King James Bible is confusing and hard to understand. They say, well, I just can't understand the thees and the thou's and the ye's. I'm going to teach you in like a minute, and you can read their Bible, and you won't have to worry about it. Thee and thou are singular. Ye is plural. You in the Bible is plural. You know, it's amazing that, I mean, that's pretty simple, you can tell. He's talking to Noah. But with thee will I establish my covenant. He's talking to him individually. And he says, Thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee. Why did he establish the covenant with Noah? Well, look at Genesis 7, verse 1, Genesis 7, verse 1. Once again, the Lord's talking to Noah. It says, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou, that's singular, come thou and all thy house into the ark. For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. You see, Noah's wife was not spared because she was righteous. Noah's wife was spared because Noah was righteous. It says, For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. You know, I looked this up in the NIV out of curiosity, and it's a confusing verse in the NIV. It's not clear what's being said. But those thees and the thou's, they're very helpful. It's very clearly saying, For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Noah's sons were not spared because they were righteous. They were spared because their father, Noah, was righteous. Noah's daughters-in-law, they weren't spared because they were righteous. They were spared because Noah was righteous. Now let me make this clear here. We're not talking about salvation when it's saying righteous here. You know, a lot of people have this idea that the only eight people that went to heaven that were alive during that time period were Noah and his family. But I mean, that's pretty ridiculous, because think about this. Noah was a great man of God. He obviously would have been preaching the gospel, trying to get people saved. Do you mean to tell me that he wasn't able to convert a person decade after decade after decade? Nobody ended up getting saved? I mean, there's going to be a lot more than eight people saved in this world. The vast majority of people will always reject Jesus Christ. The vast majority of people will always reject God's word. But there are going to be some that are going to believe on Jesus Christ. Not only that, if you look up at the time frame, Methuselah, the granddad of Noah, he died during the time period of the flood, the same year. Now I personally believe he probably got wiped away in the flood. It is possible he died before then. He was the oldest man that ever lived, and he died the exact year of the flood. He outlived his son Lamech by five years, which was the father of Noah. But see, either way, we need to understand this today. Just because you're saved does not mean that you're going to escape reaping what you sow in this life. We're going to pay for the sins that we commit. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 11. In Deuteronomy chapter 11, I was reading this this morning, and it says at verse number one, Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always. And know ye this day, for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God. His greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, and his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land. And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and unto their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day. And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place. And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened their mouth, and swallowed them up in their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord, which he did. He speaks to them and he says, you guys have gotten to see the great works of God. You've seen God's judgment. You've seen God's destruction. It ought to compel you to live a good life. Look at verse number two, which we just read, where he says, which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God. See, they got to see the chastisement of the Lord your God. Now we go to a church where the whole word of God is preached. We understand that, you know what, if you go and live a wicked life, you're going to pay for it in this life. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. You know, in a lot of churches, they don't preach the whole council, but we do preach the whole council here, because we don't want God's judgment on your life in this life. Yes, if you believe on Jesus, you're going to go to heaven, but if you live a sinful life, you're going to pay for it in this life. But see, Noah was different. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and his whole family was spared. Turn to Job chapter two. Job chapter two. Now I know that was a pretty long introduction, you're probably wondering, what am I preaching on? Am I preaching on the sons of God? Am I preaching on Noah? I'm preaching to a specific group of people here tonight. I believe all sermons fit for everybody, and we can all learn, but there's a lot of people in our church that love the Lord, and you know, sadly, you're married to people that aren't saved. Or there's people in this room that, you know, you love the Lord, and sadly, your spouse doesn't love the Lord. They don't like this church. They don't come to this church. There's probably people in this room that are married, and your spouse comes here. They put on the smile, and they pretend like they love the Lord, but when they go home, they're not reading the Bible. They're not praying. They're not happy about the things being preached. They're murmuring against the preaching. There's probably a lot of people in this room tonight, and I want to preach to the people that are really trying to live for the Lord, and you're fighting amongst your own household against people that aren't trying to live for the Lord. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us much about Noah's wife. I'm not saying she was a bad person, but what I am saying is the Bible's clear that she was spared because Noah was righteous. He says, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. So the first group of people I want to look at is husbands. You know, husbands, if you decide to dedicate yourself to God and get on fire for God, you can work a great work for God where God will bless your entire household, even if the rest of your family doesn't want to live for the Lord. In Job chapter 2, you're there, and let me just explain real quickly. In Job chapter 1, the devil basically comes to God, and he says, well, the only reason why Job is serving you is because you've blessed him. He has lots of money. He has everything that you have to offer. If you strike it down, then he's going to turn his back on you. And so God allows the devil to do that, and he has three different servants come to him in Job chapter 1, and he loses all of his servants, all of his cattle, all of his animals, and all of his kids die. In an instant, he finds out all of that. And in Job 1, it's amazing that he doesn't turn his back on God. He said, naked came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall return there that the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I don't think I would react like that in that situation. There's a reason why most people believe Job is one of the greatest characters who ever lived. That's pretty amazing. Now, you have to understand at the end of Job chapter 1, he's not the only one going through turmoil in his life. See, everything that happened in Job 1, it happened to his wife as well. She lost all of her kids. She lost all of her money. She lost everything as well, just like Job. Well, in Job chapter 2, we see that the devil says, well, the only reason why he didn't curse you is because you didn't touch his own skin. If you harm him, then he'll turn his back on you. Well, in Job chapter 2, look at verse number 9. Before you look at verse number 9, then the devil does curse him with boils all over his body. And you have to think at this point between him and his wife, it probably would have been easy for his wife to say, well, it must be Job's fault why all this is happening. Because all of our kids died, we lost everything, and now his flesh is the one that's cursed. I can understand why she's going through a lot at this time. I don't think she was a bad woman. And look what it says in verse number 9 in Job 2. Then said his wife unto him, dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. Job has lost everything. He's lost all of his money. He's lost his kids. And his wife right now pretty much hates him. She's really mad and she's emotional and everything like that. But look at his reaction in verse number 10. But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin with his lips. You see, Job had lost every single thing in his life, but you know the one thing he didn't lose? He did not lose God's blessing upon his life. Because he still stayed faithful to God through everything. He's going through the storms of life. He's going through turmoils. He's lost all of his money, all of his kids, but he keeps his integrity because he did not want to lose the blessing of God. Sometimes you can go through struggles in life, but the most important thing is having the blessing of God upon your life. The Bible says that if we follow God, he is going to take care of us. He doesn't promise us we're going to have the happiest life all the time. He doesn't promise us that everything's going to be a bed of roses when you get saved. You'll never have any problems. You'll have lots of money. You'll never have any fights. Everybody's going to love you. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that if you get saved, you're probably going to go through a lot of storms. The first sermon Jesus preached, what did they try to do to him? They tried to throw him off a cliff. If you're living for the Lord, you're not going to have everybody automatically love you. You're going to go through trials in life. Life is difficult. Salvation is easy. Living a godly life is very difficult. But see, Job decided he was not going to lose the blessing of God in his life. He had lost everything, but he would not lose God's blessing. He kept his integrity. Turn to Acts chapter 16. While you're turning to Acts chapter 16, there's another character I thought about mentioning but decided not to, but Cornelius in the book of Acts chapter 10. He was an unsaved man, and God actually answered his prayers. God actually answered the prayers of Cornelius because he feared the Lord. And he was told that Simon Peter was going to come, someone was going to come and preach him the gospel. And he gathered together people in the household so everybody could hear the word of God. You could see how he did something so everybody would end up hearing the gospel and getting saved. And that's not the only person. In Acts 16, we see this with the Philippian jailer. Look at verse number 30. The Bible says, And brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his house straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. You know, it's kind of interesting, when I go soul winning, I really try to talk to other people in the house if I see them. I'll ask, is there a brother around, is there a sister, is your wife, your husband there? And sadly, most of the time, they don't say, well, let me try to go get them. Most of the time, they're worried about embarrassment or fear, whatever the reason was. That wasn't like the Philippian jailer. I mean, he was so excited that, you know, he made sure his whole house heard this. He understood he would have gone to hell, and he wanted his house to hear the gospel message. I wish everybody was like that soul winning. I was soul winning with brother Oliver the other day, and I don't even think he knows this, because he was giving the gospel to someone right after this. But he got somebody saved, and he was talking to the guy's girlfriend, and then all of a sudden that guy went over to this other guy in the car, someone he knew, and he was trying to explain the gospel the best he could that he had just heard. He's like, man, guess what? You won't believe. All you have to do is believe. All you have to do is believe. He tried the best he could. But I like people like that, who say, man, you know, I know I'm saved. I want everybody in my house to hear this message as well. And that's what we see with a Philippian jailer. You know, it's not just husbands. Turn to, well, actually, you're in Acts 16. The same thing applies with wives as well. Husbands can live their life in a way and be so devoted to God that they can make a huge difference in their household, in training their kids, teaching them the things of God, and that God would bless that household. But it's not just men. It's women as well. In Acts chapter 16, look at verse number 1. The Bible reads, Then came he to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed, but his father was a Greek. Now the Bible says about his mom, she was a Jewess, and she believed. You know, I was going so many few days ago, and someone was very dogmatic. He's like, well, the Jews don't have to believe in Jesus to be saved. They're different than us. They automatically go to heaven. And I was like, no, the Bible says, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life. He's like, no, no, no, that doesn't apply to the Jews. They automatically get a free pass. So here the Bible is very careful to mention, not only was she a Jewess, but she believed. Because she had to believe in order to go to heaven. But the Bible says, his father was a Greek. You see, the implication from the Bible is that his mom was saved, and his dad was not saved. His mom was the one who cared about the things of God, and his dad was not the one who cared about the things of God. Welcome to 2 Timothy chapter 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1. And this is actually mentioned several times in the Bible. So I think it's definitely something God wants us to realize here. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 5, it says, When I called in remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. So Paul's telling Timothy, he's like, your grandmother Lois, she's saved. Your mother Eunice, she's saved. And also Timothy is saved as well. The Bible makes mention of this woman Eunice. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 at verse 14, the Bible reads, But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. From a child Timothy heard the Scriptures. Now some people believe that Paul led Timothy to the Lord, and some people believe he just trained him, and he got saved at a young age. But either way, Timothy's mom taught him the Scriptures at a young age. From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures. There might be women in this room today where maybe your husband's not saved, or maybe he just doesn't care about the things of God. But you can still personally teach your kids what the Bible says. You can teach them about salvation. You can teach them about the ways of God. You can teach them to live godly, and they can do something great with your life. Don't give up because your spouse doesn't want to live for the Lord. That's the worst thing you could ever do. Stay in the fight. I want to encourage you, if you're in that situation today, if you're in that situation, stay in the fight. And this should be obvious, but let me just say this. You know, if you're married, out of obligation, you should do everything you can that God's going to bless your household. Even if your spouse loves the Lord, don't rely on your spouse to read the Bible and to go soul winning and to pray. No, you read the Bible, you pray, you go soul winning, you get on fire for God. Don't just rely on your spouse to do it. You need to do it. Everybody in this room ought to be reading the Bible. Everybody in this room ought to be praying. You say, well, you know, my husband, he reads for an hour a day, so I can just not read at all. Or my wife reads for an hour a day, so I don't have to read at all. No, we all need to be reading God's Word. We all need to be trying to do everything we can to get God's blessing upon our lives and live in a godly way. And this woman, Eunice, she taught her son the ways of God. And Timothy is one of the greatest characters in the New Testament. And if it weren't for his mom, Eunice, it's extremely doubtful that that would have ever happened. But the Bible makes mention because his mom had such a great impact on him and he became a great preacher. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 25. And while you're turning to 1 Samuel 25, I'm going to tell you a really quick story. About 30 years ago, you know, there was a husband and a wife who, you know, they had three sons. And the wife kind of hoped that her husband was saved when they got married, but then it was very apparent to her after they had three sons that her husband was not saved. And so she did everything she could to pray for him every day, to try to bring him to, you know, all the Baptist churches that were around, you know, because she was a believer. She believed on Jesus Christ. And she kept praying for him and her husband just didn't want to hear it. He wasn't interested. She shared scriptures over and over and over again, just hoping it would have an impact. Well, it turned out that this guy had a coworker who was an independent fundamental Baptist. It's kind of interesting on these stories. It's always an independent fundamental Baptist that ends up getting somebody saved. And so his coworker started giving him the gospel. And he's thinking, man, I'm hearing this from my wife all the time and he keeps hearing it. He wants to reject it, but he keeps hearing it over and over and over again. So he kind of agrees to just go to this revival week service that they had. And their service was set up differently than ours. Like we don't have an altar call here, but at that service, they had an altar call, so they had him come down at the end and he talked to someone about salvation and it worked on his mind. And later on that week, he ended up believing on Jesus Christ. He ended up getting saved. And when he got saved, he dove into the things of God. He listened to tons of sermons from guys we like, like Jack Hyles, Curtis Hudson, preachers from the past. They started going to an independent Baptist church. He taught his sons the way of God. He took them out soul winning. Well, around 15 years ago, I became very close friends with his middle son, Mike Maludich, who is the one who led me to the Lord. And I probably wouldn't be up here if it weren't for a woman who had an unsaved husband that she prayed for every single day to get saved. You know, you might say, well, you know, my husband's never going to get saved. My wife's never going to get saved. They're never going to care about the things of God. My father, my daughter, my mother, whatever. They're never going to get saved. Don't ever give up on people, because, you know, with men it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. You know, I had close family members that I tried to get saved for a long time and it didn't happen in the first year or the second year or the third year or the fourth year, but after about five years it finally sunk in. Don't give up on somebody that's your family. Don't give up on your mom or your dad or your husband or your wife. Do everything you can to try to win them to the Lord. And not just try to win them to the Lord. Don't give up on them if they're saved and they don't care about the things of God. You know, there's plenty of people that were saved for a long time and they didn't care about the things of God and they ended up getting on fire for God. You know, just keep praying for that person. If they see how dedicated you are, maybe they'll get on fire for God as well. In 1 Samuel chapter 25, look down at verse number 25. And this is the story of Nabal, Abigail, and David, where Abigail was married to a very evil man, but basically David gets so angry about what happens, he's planning to just wipe the whole place out, but look at what it says in verse number 25. He says, So Abigail comes, she's pleading with David here, and drop down to verse number 32. Look at what David says. Basically, David's saying he was going to wipe them out. And if it weren't for this woman coming in to save her entire household, basically, except for her husband who's going to end up dying a short time later in the story, they would have all been wiped out. You know, don't think women that you can't get involved in the things of God. And you might not realize this if you're at this church, but there are a lot of independent fundamental Baptist churches where basically they make the women sit on the sidelines. They don't want the women involved in soul winning. Hey, we want the women involved in soul winning here at this church. We want the women, we want the men, we want the kids, we want everybody to get involved in the things of God. We believe women can do a great thing for God at this church. There's a lot of IFP churches that do not believe that, but you know, women can do something great for God as well. Turn to Daniel chapter one, Daniel chapter one. While you're turning to Daniel chapter one, I'm going to read a kind of a famous verse in first Corinthians seven, verse 16, when he's talking about how the Bible speaks against divorce. And he says in verse number 16, for what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife. See, the Bible speaks against divorce because it says you can end up getting your spouse saved. You can give up on your spouse. In Daniel chapter one, so we looked at husbands first, that husbands can live their life in a way where God will bless that household. They can do something great for God. We looked at wives as well. But you know, I want to apply this to everybody here. I want to apply this to kids in this room. I want all the kids in here right now to pay attention, you know, pay attention to me closer than you do during PE class. Pay attention to the words that I have. Look at Daniel chapter one, at verse number one, the Bible reads, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiachim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, onto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiachim, king of Judah, into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God. And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king's seed and of the princes, children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning and knowledge and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace and whom they might teach the learning in the tongue of the Chaldeans. Drop down to verse number eight, the Bible reads, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. So you see here this person, Daniel, who's being instructed by people above him, by older people, that he should disobey the commandments of God, that he should go against what God says. But I love what it says in verse number eight, it says, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat. You know, I hope everyone who's here loves the Lord. I hope you want to live for the Lord. But you know, there might be kids here today who want to live for the Lord more than your parents. And you know what, if you're in that situation, kids, pray for your parents that they'll get more on fire for God. And you know what, all the kids in this room, you ought to be reading the Bible for yourselves as well. Before I moved out here, I was in West Virginia, and I got the chance to preach at junior church at our church for about a year. And I got to preach to the young kids. And before I got there, it was kind of more of a silly thing, they had goofy songs and everything like that. You have a short 10-minute sermon. And so when I got a chance to preach there, I decided I'm going to preach 45-minute sermons. I'm going to preach against alcohol, I'm going to preach against being a drunk. I'm going to preach the things of the Bible. And 90% of the kids absolutely loved it. It was completely different than what they heard, but they absolutely loved it. Now the way that churches work like this when you have a junior church, many of the kids that go there, their parents don't come to church. And sadly, many of those parents, they don't care that much about their kids. They really just want a babysitter to watch them on Sunday mornings so they can go out and do something. They don't really care about their kids, they don't care about the things of God. But you know, I had kids in that class that they listened to every single word. They went home, they read the Bible for themselves, they were interested in the Word of God. They purposed in their heart that even though their parents don't care about the things of God, they were going to care about the things of God. We had many kids there who asked us to go and talk to their parents and say, can you give them the Gospel? We're praying for them. We want them to get saved. And kids, if you're in this room, you ought to be reading the Bible, you ought to love the Lord for yourself. One of my favorite students from that class, I can't remember if he turned 9 or 10 now, but he just finished reading the Bible for himself. Cover to cover, he read the Bible for himself. And I'll tell you what, I played Bible trivia with that kid and you know what, it's kind of scary because he knows the Bible pretty well. I'm afraid I'm going to miss one and he's going to get it right. But let me tell you something, kids at a young age, you ought to be reading the Bible every single day for yourself. Every single day you ought to dig in to the Bible. Many people in this room, we didn't get saved at a young age. We didn't grow up independent fundamental Baptists. I grew up, I was not an independent fundamental Baptist. I used to listen to rock music, I used to do all these things of the world, things that aren't of God, and sadly that stuff, when it goes in your mind, it's hard to get it out. It sticks in your head. You kids can do something greater for God than most of these adults because you have your entire life ahead of you if you would just purpose in your heart to read the Bible every day. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, and let me just read one more verse for the kids here in Colossians 3.20. You're turning to Ephesians 4, but the Bible reads in Colossians 3.20, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Unless your parents tell you to do something that is a sin, you need to obey your parents in all things. We live in a day where people just completely disrespect their parents. It's sad because it wasn't like that when I grew up, at least not in West Virginia, I don't know about here, but it wasn't like that when I grew up. I remember playing on sports teams growing up, and I remember having a healthy fear of the people that were there and just being really respectful. I've coached three soccer teams through my life, and I just noticed a change in the kids where I didn't enjoy coaching soccer teams anymore when I was in West Virginia because they would just mouth off to me. They would just be disrespectful. They were like that to their parents as well. To me, that was crazy because growing up, if I was mouthing off to my parents, then I would have had a pretty big punishment. Kids, you need to obey your parents in all things, like the Bible says, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. If you want to please the Lord, people that are living in their parents' house, you need to obey their rules, like the Bible says. We looked first at husbands. We looked at wives. We looked at kids. I want to cover just the last group of people, but I also want to cover people that maybe you're not a child. Maybe you live off on your own. You're at a house by yourself. You don't have parents there. You don't have a husband or a wife. You're living a single life right now. This is what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 16. The Bible says redeeming the time because the days are evil. You know, I lived as a single person for a long time, and honestly, when you live as a single person, it's easy to kind of sit around and waste all of your time and do nothing and just like watch YouTube or TV or whatever you're doing, just waste your time. The Bible tells us to redeem the time. You need to make sure that you're using your time wisely because there's a lot of people here that are married or maybe you have a lot of kids, and they would love to have an hour to read the Bible, but they don't have an hour to read the Bible. They don't have that time because they have kids running around. They don't have as much time to focus on the things of God. When you're young, when you're off on your own, you might have more time to focus on the things of God. Instead of just saying, well, I just want to be married and do this and this, why don't you use the time you have now wisely? Be devoted. Don't sit around wasting your time because if you sit around wasting your time, you know, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. So that's the last group of people I would say that if you're living alone, make sure that you're doing everything you can. You should be able to make sure that God is going to bless your house because you're the only one. You don't have anybody else dragging you down, you ought to be reading the Bible and loving the Lord. Just three things I want to mention to you in conclusion. You might say this if you're a husband or your wife. You might say, you know what, I read five chapters a day. I pray for 10 minutes a day. My spouse ought to be reading five chapters a day and praying for 10 minutes a day. If you think your spouse ought to be reading five chapters a day and you're reading five, why don't you cover the difference? Instead of reading five, why don't you read 10? Instead of just spending 10 minutes in prayer, why don't you double it? Why don't you make up the difference for your spouse not holding up their end of the bargain? You know, it is possible that people in here that love the Lord could end up backsliding and their other spouse that wasn't loving the Lord before could be the one keeping the blessing on that household. All of us are going to go through dry spells. All of us are going to have time periods, days or weeks where we're kind of backsliding on God. Everybody needs to do everything they can to get God's blessing in their life. And the last thing I'll say is this, that everybody in this room though, even if the rest of your family never gets on fire for God, you just have to make a decision that you're going to stay devoted to the things of God no matter what anyone else does. Do everything you can, just stay in this word and do everything to keep God's blessing in your household. Let's close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us this evening to gather in the house of God. I just ask you to bless this message, I pray we'll apply this to our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.