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Go ahead and grab a song book. Turn to song number 364. Let's all stand together for this first song, if you're able. Song number 364, Standing on the Promises. Song number 364, all together nice and strong in that first verse. Standing on the promises of Christ my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout and sing. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail. When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God I shall prevail. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, bowed to him eternally by love's strong cord. Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fall. To the Spirit's call, resting in my Savior as my all in all. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, Lord. Thank you for allowing us to come here to your church, Lord, and congregate here in fellowship with one another. And we thank you for your promises, Lord, that we're able to stand on, that we can trust in, that we have eternal life, and that we're saved. I just thank you for those souls that were saved after noon as well. And I ask that you please bless this service, Lord. I pray that you please bless this scene, that it be pleasing to your ears, Lord. And I pray that you please fill Pastor Mahieu with your spirit as he preaches your word. And fill us also in the congregation with your spirit, Lord, that we may leave here at a five. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. All right, go ahead and turn to song number 129. Song number 129, Rock of Ages. Song number 129, all together on that first verse. All together on that first verse. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements here before we see our next song, which will be number 10 near the cross. If you want to get that ready in your songbook, song number 10. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 10 30 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. You see the soul winning times in teams and the list of expecting mothers. The important reminders there at the bottom. We have the men's prayer night coming up on Friday, July 29th. That's this Friday. And that'll be at 6 30 at brother Hikes house. And so men hope to see you there. We have the soul winning marathon taking place that Saturday on the 30th in South Central. If you have any questions about that, you can see brother Ulysses Hernandez for more details. Pastor Jonathan Shelley will be preaching for us on Sunday, July 31st, which is next Sunday. He'll be with us Sunday morning, Sunday night. And of course, he's coming with his family. We're looking forward to having him. August birthday breakfast is on Sunday, August 7th. And then the ladies prayer breakfast is on Saturday, August 27th as well. And then tonight we continue the biblical home series as well as family nights. And after the service, we're going to be having the kids Olympics. And so the fellowship hall is cleared out for the kids to compete. And so parents, if you can get with brother Ulysses Hernandez about that, he's going to have all the details. He's going to be leading that up. And then we're going to have pizza tonight as well. And so if you're sticking around for a while, we'll have pizza. But the pizza will be for after the Olympics. Okay. So just want to make that very clear. You know, resist temptation until then. Just don't touch the pizza because it's only until after the Olympics are done. And then we can dig into the pizza there. All right. And then you see the regular announcements there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. And let's go ahead and take some so many numbers from this past week. Salvations from Monday up until Thursday. Salvations from Monday to Thursday. Monday to Thursday. One. Okay. Anybody else? Monday to Thursday. How about Friday and Saturday? Salvations for Friday and Saturday. One for Riverside. Three. Okay. Anybody else? How about this afternoon? Salvations for this afternoon. Brother Huyck. Two. Three. For Brother Morrie's team. Two for Brother Huyck's team. Nine for Brother Marcos's team. Great. Anybody else? Going once, twice, thrice. All right. Keep up the great work on soul winning. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Song number 10, Near the Cross. Song number 10. Song number 10, Near the Cross. All together on that first verse. Jesus came near the cross, near a precious mountain, free to all a healing stream, flows from Calvary's mountain. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, till my wretched soul shall climb, rest me on the river. Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me, there the bright and morning star sheds his dreams around me. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall climb, rest me on the river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me, help me walk from day to day with its shadows o'er me. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall climb, rest me on the river. Near the cross, I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever, till I reach the golden strand just beyond the river. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall climb, rest me on the river. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, the ushers will come forward to collect the offering. You can turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy, Chapter 4. Good evening. Tonight we're in 1 Timothy, Chapter 4. 1 Timothy, Chapter 4, and the Bible reads, Now the spirits speak of it expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with the hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer, but if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith, and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. These things command and teach, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them. For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for the people here, Lord, and we thank you for pastor. We just pray that you bless them right now, and fill them with your spirit, and I pray that we're able to receive the word that you're we're about to hear tonight, Lord, and that you just give us ears to hear, Lord, and just bless this service, every aspect of it. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, this is our series on the biblical home, and tonight I'm going to be preaching on the subject of principles for teens and young adults. Looking at 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 11, it says, These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. And essentially 1 Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy, obviously is being addressed to Paul's son in the faith by the name of Timothy. And Timothy, of course, based upon what we see in 1 and 2 Timothy, he's a young man. He's a man who's really involved in the ministry. He's under Paul's tutelage, so to speak. And Paul is essentially telling him, hey, you know, when you're doing ministry, when you're serving the Lord, you're a young person. So make sure you behave in a certain way that, you know, the church or anybody else doesn't despise you for your youth. And the implication here is that the youth can be easily despised. Okay, maybe, you know, there's certain things that they do, certain dispositions that they have, certain attitudes or ideas or behavior that they may exert that adults, you know, find cringe. And so they can despise that. And what he's telling Timothy is like, hey, make sure. He's not saying don't let no man despise that youth in the sense of, hey, don't let anybody hate on you or anything like that. You know what I mean? You're doing right. What he's telling him is saying, don't give them a reason to despise your youth. So because of that, you should be an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity. And so tonight I'm going to talk about the principles for teens and young adults. And over the last two weeks, I've gone over just different family principles. And it's not necessarily a preaching sermon. I'm just going to be giving a lot of points. Okay, just a lot of basic points. Some of them I don't have a whole lot of scripture for. It's just principles that I've learned personally from my personal life or principles that I've extracted, extrapolated from different men of God who have had successful marriages. They've had success in raising godly children. And so I'm going to give you that tonight. Let me just go right into it. I only have six points for the teens and young adults. So that's pretty good, right? I mean, we might end a little early today. Today might be that 25, 20-minute sermon that I was ragging on this morning. You never know. But you know, every time I say that though, it ends up being way more than that because everyone's shaking their head right now saying that's not going to happen. And so we'll see how it goes. So let's just get right into it. I'm going to give you a couple of principles. And in this sermon, I'm going to be addressing the teens and the young adults, but I'm also addressing the parents, okay? Now you think to yourself, well, you know, I'm not a parent of a teen or I don't have kids. I don't even know how this would apply to me. But it's good for you to just know this in general, okay? It's good for us to have this type of knowledge because maybe one day you will have a family. You have little ones now, but they're going to turn into teenagers. Or, you know, this is just good. These are just good principles to know in general for the people in our church. So number one, the teenage, just know this, the teenage and young adult years can be some of the most unstable years, okay? And let me just say this, okay? If you're a teenager in our church, I know being a teenager is hard, okay? And I'll be honest with you, like, if I can go back to being a teenager, I would not, okay? I'll be honest with you. I hated being a teenager. And you know what? You may not have that testimony. You might think to yourself, well, I've grown up in church and amen to that. You grow up in church. You have a Christian home. You know, you're serving the Lord. You're bearing the yoke in your youth, so to speak. But you know, that can't be said of everyone. And typically most people, they just, or teens should I say, they just despise being a teenager because it's just that transitional period. And you know, it's a period, it's a season that can be unstable. I'm not saying that it is unstable, okay? Because you may be in a home or you might have the discipline and the character to stabilize yourself in the Christian life. But just know this is that there's so many things taking place, not only in your own body, but in your surroundings that can cause you to become unstable and you can make some really bad decisions when you are a teen or a young adult, okay? Because I'm not just referring to teens. I'm also referring to young adults. And when I think of, when I say young adults, I'm referring to 20 to 25 years of age. When you start pushing above 25, you're getting older, okay? And by the way, a lot of people actually make the worst decisions in their 20s. They go into the most debt, they just do a lot of, they commit a lot of sins in their 20s. And so parents just know this, obviously, teens, they can have a bad chip on their shoulders sometimes. And maybe they have a bad disposition, but just know this, it is difficult to be a teenager in 2022. It's pretty hard, especially with all the nonsense that's going around there outside in the world and everything that's taking place. You know, they have to try to navigate through all that. And so it can be difficult. So I say that to say, you know, we need to cut them a little bit of slack, not saying be lenient with them, but just cut them a little bit of slack because it is difficult to be a teenager and a young adult in the day and age in which we live, okay? Let me read to you from Ecclesiastes chapter four. Go to Proverbs chapter number three, if you would. Proverbs chapter number three. Now, in order to help teenagers and young adults kind of push through this season of theirs, there's actually three institutions that are needed for this, okay? Let me read to you from Ecclesiastes four verse 11. It says, again, if two lie together, then they have heat. But how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against them, two shall withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Essentially, it's talking about if you have three elements that are tying you together, they're not quickly broken. It's just strength in numbers, so to speak, okay? And here's the threefold cord for teenagers and young adults. Number one is parents, okay? Parents should help teenagers and young adults navigate through their teenage and young adult years, okay? And don't have this disconnect between you and your children, okay? And again, you may not have teenagers. You might have young kids or may not have kids at all, but you should still give heed to this, okay? Because of the fact that this is important. Parents, you need to help your kids navigate through this season. The church can supplement that help as well, okay? Because if you're reinforcing biblical principles in your home, you are putting rules down, you're creating an environment that's conducive to spiritual growth for your young adult or teenager, you know, the church will only reinforce that, okay? Because we're not here to undermine your authority. We are here to reinforce the authority you've already set forth in your home, okay? And so that's one cord, the parents. The second cord is the church. The third cord is actually their personal walk with God. Because here's the thing, if you can be the best parent, she can have the best church, but if there's no walk with God, if there's no reading the Bible, if there's no prayer, if there's no personal fellowship with the Lord, you know, that kid's not gonna make it, okay? Because at the end of the day, the most essential aspect of their spiritual survival is their own walk with God. Of course, assuming that they're already saved, right? You know, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. You know, training up a child is essentially helping them to fear the Lord and to walk with God, to love the word of God, to commune with the Lord, to be a Samuel, so to speak, so that when they're older, they have their own personal conviction to walk with God. They have their own personal conviction to be in church and to serve God, et cetera. That is the three-fold cord. Look at Proverbs 3, verse 21. He says, My son, let not them depart from thine eyes, keep sound wisdom and discretion. So shall they be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid, yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. It's important that, you know, the time that you have with your kids at your home right now, you spend investing teaching them how to be wise. You need to teach them wisdom. You need to teach them prudence. You need to teach them understanding because of the fact that every parent, listen to this, every parent fears, what's going to happen when I'm out of the picture to my kids? You know, are they going to be able to make wise decisions? How are they going to survive in this type of a world? Well, the only way you can guarantee their survival is by making sure that they walk with God, that they love the Lord, and we'll get into more of that in just a bit. And so just keep in mind that the teenage and adult years can be some of the most unstable years, okay? So don't take this time lightly. You say, well, you know, they're going through this phase or whatever. That may be true, but you need to make sure that you help them navigate through that, okay? And I'll get into more specifics in just a bit. Number two, this is very important. All of it's very important, but this is the next important point. Know how much of your child's heart you possess, okay? You need to know how much of your child's heart you actually have. The prophet says in Proverbs 23, verse 26, my son, give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways, okay? Now, you know, it's important that parents, Sarah, I think they're playing with the keys there. That's my van. That's one of my, I think that's my daughter. Can we possess those keys? It's important for parents to have the hearts of their children, right? And I think every parent would want to have that, but I think sometimes even the most well-meaning parents lose sight of why they should have the hearts of their parents, or of their children, excuse me. See, the reason they should have the hearts of their children is to influence them in a godly manner. You see, we want to have the hearts of our children so they listen to us when they're older. So that when they're older, they seek us out for godly wisdom and counsel and how to serve the Lord. You want to be able to have a good amount of influence on your children when they grow up, and so therefore you need to invest in winning their hearts now throughout their teenage years and throughout their adult years so that you can continue to influence them in a great way. So possess their hearts to influence them in a godly manner. Let her be. Work at winning their hearts. How do you do that? Well, spend time with them. I know that's real practical, but that's important. Spend time with your children. You know, we don't need a segmented type of a family where it's just like everyone kind of does their own thing and no one knows what's going on in the home. You know, you need to make sure you spend time with your family. And notice I said time and not things. Let me say that again. I said time, not things. Okay, you see what I mean by that? You know, sometimes parents, the easiest thing to do is to buy things instead of invest time. They buy things for their kids to express their love for them and they may be genuine and sincere about it, but let me say this, things cannot replace time, my friends. I come from a single parent home and I'm sure my father got me a lot of things growing up. But you know what? If your dad asked me what are some of the core memories you have of your father, it was the times I was able to spend with him. The core memories that are just ingrained in my mind are moments that I had with him, not things that he got me. And sometimes I have family who are just like, don't you remember when your dad got you this? And I'm just like, I don't remember that. I don't remember that at all. You know, I do remember though is when I played soccer as a little kid and he came to one of my games. I vividly remember that, seeing him there on the sidelines as I sucked at soccer. I remember that vividly. Why? Because moments and time are far more valuable than things, my friends. And you know what? If you have resources, you have the money, don't think that that is a good substitute for spending time with your kids. Make memories. And here's the thing, when it comes to teenagers and young adults, obviously it's different with little ones. Little ones, you can go to a park and they just love it or something like that. You know, I remember being a little kid and don't tell my mom I told this story, okay? But she might find out later. But she used to tell me, we're going to go to Disneyland. You know, I'm like, yes. I mean, what kid doesn't like to go to Disneyland, right? You know, back in those days especially. And it's just like, all right. And then she, you know, but Disneyland was expensive even back then. And she drove and when she did, she just drove around Disneyland. And she's like, right there, say bye to Mickey. And I'm like, bye Mickey. You say, aren't you bitter? No, because I went with my mom. Like it was just, and then we went to McDonald's. I got a happy meal and I was happy. I was a happy camper. She drove around. It's like, there's Disneyland. Say bye. I'm like, bye. I'm like, man, that was great. I guess that's Disneyland, you know? Now with little ones, you can do that. I don't think you can do that with your teens and your adults. The point that I'm trying to make here is that just understand that your time with them is far more valuable. And when they're in their 30s, when they're in their 40s, they're not going to remember a single thing that you gave them. They're going to remember the moments you were with them. So you work at winning their hearts by spending time with them, finding out what they enjoy. Finding out what your teens enjoy. Obviously, that's going to require a lot of work on your end, because teens are into weird stuff today. And I'm not saying, if they're into anime and stuff, just get into anime yourself or something. Find common ground with your teens and your young adults. Here's a big one, though, in regards to working at winning their hearts. Be genuine and don't be a hypocrite. Be a genuine parent and do not be a hypocrite. What does it mean to be genuine when you're wrong? It means when you're wrong, you just apologize. And you admit that you're wrong. Because parents have a tendency, you know, if we're not careful, because we're the parents and we're always right, right? You know, that when we're wrong, we don't want to admit that we're wrong. You understand? And teens can sniff that out really quick. And they view it as hypocrisy. So it's better for you to just admit that you're wrong or have genuine conversations with them and not be a hypocrite. Be the same person here that you are back home. Amen. Be the same mom, be the same dad that you are here, that you are at home as well. OK, because nothing will breed a rebellious, you know, child more than seeing their parent, you know, living a godly Christian life here at church. But then at home, you're just a straight hypocrite. You know what I mean? You're not exercising those principles that you were amending in the service or something, you know, or you're not, you're not carrying out those teachings. They see that right away. I mean, my five-year-old can sniff out sometimes if mom and dad are being a hypocrite. OK, and if the five-year-old can do it, the 15-year-old, the 18-year-old, the 20-year-old can definitely do it. Right. OK, I'll give you an example. OK, did I give this example about getting a ticket in Arizona? Did I give that example? Yeah. OK, yeah, I'm going to give it again. I'm going to give it again. You know, you know, Kyla's the little prophet of the home. She's like her father, OK? And so we're talking, we're on our way home from church or something, and we're talking about how when we're on our honeymoon or when mom and I were going to Arizona, that we, that dad got a ticket, you know? He's like, oh, why'd you get a ticket? I was like, oh, speeding, you know? Not speeding. And she's like, oh, you're speeding? I'm like, yeah. She's like, well, did you know better though? Or? And it wasn't like she was being a smart aleck or anything. It's just Kyla. You know Kyla, her little Kyla boys? But dad, did you know better? Yes, Kyla, I knew better. So why did you do it? It's just like, I was like, man, oh, because dad was just wasn't paying attention, Kyla, OK? He's, get off my back, Kyla, right? Sit there quietly, all right? Yeah. Look, if the four-year-old can do that, you know, the 15, 18, 20-year-old won't say it, but they'll think it. They're like, oh, OK, I see how it is. It's a double standard or whatever. And this is all under winning their hearts. Winning their hearts also takes you just being a genuine person before your kids and not being a fake. Don't be a phony. The Bible says in Romans 12, verse 9, Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Your children don't expect for you to be perfect. They just want you to be real with them, OK? And see that you're actually trying to love them and win their hearts. Letter C, do not let conflict go unresolved. This is still under making sure that you're winning their hearts. Don't let conflict go unresolved. And that's a point that I can't emphasize enough in a home when it comes to kids. Don't let conflict go unresolved. If you spank your children or if there's some sort of, I don't know, argument between you and your teen or something like that, don't just go to bed mad and don't talk to each other. Conflict needs to be resolved. There needs to be a conclusion to it. Because you don't want your kids to carry that with them and just think to themselves, man, is mom mad at me? Is my dad mad? What's going to happen? How's the relationship going to turn out? We need to make sure that we resolve that as soon as possible, OK? Next point, under winning their hearts. Don't let the pendulum swing to extreme. What I mean by that? Well, if you get saved later on in life, the natural tendency is like, well, I want all of us to start serving God. And that should be the case, amen? And sometimes parents, when they get saved, they're just, they get on fire for God, amen? And that's a good thing. But the problem is, is that, you know, they're on fire for God, but sometimes the children don't share that same fire. It's unfortunate, but it happens. But then there's other cases where like the dad gets on fire, the mom gets on fire, and everyone's just on board. And you know, and that kind of shows that they probably already had their hearts before that. You understand? So as unsaved people, they're already winning the hearts of their children. And so their children just follow them in serving the Lord. But that's not every case, OK? And I think more often than not, when someone gets saved later on in life, you know, they want to serve God, and then they struggle because maybe their family doesn't want to serve God with them. And that's a painful thing, right? And you know, they read the Bible, they learn these principles, they think to themselves, well, I'm the man of the house, I'm the one who's responsible here, or you know, dad's not around, so I'm the one responsible here. So what happens is, you allow the pendulum to swing to an extreme, and then, you know, you become more strict, you impose more rules, and with no explanation, you're not necessarily weaning them on to Christianity and the principles of the Bible, and then they begin to resist that. So now they're in church because they're kind of forced to be in church, and not because they necessarily want to be in church. You understand? You say, so what do I do? Well, you know, sometimes you got to let people catch up. You know, husbands, you got to let your wives catch up, right? Wives, you know, husbands, if your wife's ahead of you spiritually, you need to catch up. You need a lapper. You need to be, I'm not going to give any points for that. You just need to be on the ball, learning more Bible, taking the spiritual range. You're the man of the house. That's what you should do, okay? But you know, if you have teenagers, young adults, you need to wean them on to the things of God and not just allow the pendulum to swing so fast that the teenagers just kind of resent being in church. You understand? You know, it should be a joy to serve the Lord together, and it can be a joy. It can be a delight, but you got to do it the right way. You understand? And ease them onto it. Wean them onto it and not just allow that pendulum to swing to an extreme and then you got a bigger problem on your hands. They don't really want to be in church, okay? You know, they're not ready for the meat of the word. They're just drinking milk and you're pounding the meat like it's crazy, like you've never eaten before and then you're forcing the meat down their throat, but they're not ready for that yet. And again, they should obey you. Absolutely. They should obey you. They should do what they're told. But folks, we want to use wisdom. And wisdom says, yes, they should obey me, but I want them to desire to obey me though. Okay. So don't let the pendulum swing too extreme. We're talking about winning your children's hearts. Letter E, be aware, be aware, excuse me, be aware of what possesses your children's hearts already. Now this is a harsh truth for a lot of parents because they may not even know this, but if you have young adults and young teenagers, something probably already has their hearts and it's probably not you. It may not be you. So you have to take inventory of their hearts and know who has my child's heart. Is it a girl? Is it a guy? Is it, you know, I don't know, social media? Is it a job? What is it that has their hearts? Because you need to be aware of that because the person who has the heart can direct the heart where it's going to go. You understand? That's why it's important that we have their hearts as parents because we're trying to direct their hearts and where they should go. That's how God's ordained it. You understand? But if someone else has their heart, if they're in love with, you know, Rico Suave, does Rico Suave even exist anymore? What does Damian call that snack or whatever? If she's in love with the snack and vice versa or whatever, I don't know what they call them now, you know, then you got a problem on your hands. You don't have influence. You understand? So you got to be aware of what is gripping your children's hearts in order to, you got to know what you're working with, okay? And here's an illustration that my father-in-law gave many years ago. He's called it the funnel illustration. And essentially the way it works is that, you know, when you're raising children, you know, you think of a funnel, it's more narrow at the bottom and then it widens up at the top. And what he would explain is that when you're raising children, you want to be like a funnel in a sense of you're more strict with your children when they're very little. And the more strict you are with your children when they're little, the more lenient you could become as they grow older because as they grow older, they're more motivated to just follow you because you're a good leader. Now we want them to obey us because that's what they're supposed to do. But I'd rather have a child that obeys me at a desire to want to obey me rather than just being forced to obey me. So he would say, you know, be strict with them when they're little, win their hearts when they're little. And as they grow older, you can create a funnel where it's like, you don't necessarily have to force them. They kind of come to you already. And you say, well, is that even possible? Well, I've seen it with parents who have executed this type of principle. And it is true. It's there. I've seen parents succeed in this area where they practice that funnel principle. And as the children grow older, they look to their parents for guidance. They love their parents and they still allow their parents to influence them. Okay. And so that's important. So when your children's hearts, when your teenager's hearts and again, if you came into the Christian life later, you got some catching up to do obviously, right? You know, we all got some catching up to do if we came into the Christian life later, but it doesn't mean that it's impossible. You can still do it. You just got to work twice as hard to get the job done. Okay. All right. Next one. So number one, or excuse me, number one is the teenage and young adult years can be some of the most unstable years. Just know that. Number two, know how much of your children's hearts you have, you possess. Number three, don't baby your boys. Do not baby your boys. We're talking about teenagers and young adults. Okay. And this is important to know. This is important to learn. Let me read to you from judges. Chapter eight, verse 19. It says, and he said, they were my brethren, even the sons of my mother as the Lord liveth. If he had saved them alive, I will not slay you. And he sent him to Jethur, his firstborn up and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword for he feared because he was yet a youth. Okay. And so, you know, this is Jethur's problem because obviously he didn't train his son in such a way to man up when the time came to slay the enemy. Now, let me give you a couple of points under this. Okay. You say, why do we have to talk about that? Well, you know, because of the fact that we want to raise men and we want to raise men who can handle stress, want to raise men who can solve problems. Hey, you want to raise men who can lead a home. You know what? Leading a home is not easy. It's actually very difficult. Okay. Leading a wife and children and, you know, serving God together and taking care of business in that matter, you know, it's not the easiest thing to do. Getting a wife to follow you is not an easy thing to do. You know, you're trying to get the opposite sex to follow you and, you know, first of all, to marry you. First of all, to like you. Okay. Secondly, you know, even after the honeymoon is over to still like you and follow you. I mean, think about it. Okay. Even years after to still follow you. I mean, this is a full-time job, my friends. And then you start having children and you want the children to follow you too. This is a difficult task and you can't have boys. You can't send a boy to do a man's job. You cannot send a boy to do a man's job. Do not raise boys, raise men. Don't baby your boys. Okay. Let me give you a couple points under that. Number one, you don't always have to bail them out. What do I mean by that? You know, your sons are going to run into problems. Big problems to them, small problems to you. Later on, big problems to them, big problems to you. But they don't always need you to bail them out for it. Sometimes they need to learn how to struggle. Here's a simple way of saying it. They don't always need a Band-Aid. You know, I tell my wife, Bruce doesn't always need a Band-Aid. When, you know, growing up, scraping my knee and, you know, getting cut was like a badge of honor. We don't always need, you know, I enjoyed, you know, when I got stitches on my face, when I cut, when I split my eyebrow wide open, I kind of like walking around, having, you know, showing off my stitches. Oh, what, this? That kind of thing, you know? You know, you enjoy scraping your knees. And I tell my wife, you know, they don't always need a Band-Aid. Sometimes it's okay to just, he needs to learn. When he gets hurt, he gets up, he wipes it off, and he keeps playing, and he stops crying, and he just mans up a little bit. Okay. And obviously my son, he's five years old or whatever. I'm not trying to say, he's not preparing to be a husband right now, you understand? But I'm just preparing. The principle is still there that they don't always need a Band-Aid. You don't always need to bail them out when they go through a struggle. And folks, if your son is constantly coming to you to fix his problem, there's a problem. Bigger than his problem. And that is that you're babying him too much. Okay. Sons should not, you know, a five-year-old, a six-year-old, maybe a seven-year-old, should come to his mom and, you know, come to mom for help and cry or whatever. But as they get a little older, they need to man up a little bit. I know that's a hard truth, but young men, you need to man up. You need to man up and stop going to mom, stop going to dad. Sometimes you just need to deal with the problem yourself because that's what life is filled with. It's filled with problems. And God's given you a brain. He's made you a man to be able to solve that problem. Okay. You don't always need someone to bail you out. And look, let me just say this, okay? Along with that point, that will carry over into their marriage. It's going to carry over into their marriage. You say, what do you mean? Well, if junior, there's no juniors in here, right? Oh, there is a junior. All right. If Maury, okay, constantly needs his mom to bail him out when he was younger. He's constantly, I'm just going to use Maury because he's the easy scapegoat, okay? And you thought sitting in the second row was going to help you. Let's say, let's say Maury, okay? You know, as growing up, he's just his mom. He's constantly going to his mom to bail him out, constantly going to his mom for help or whatever. And she's constantly bailing him out, constantly helping him, constantly putting the band-aid. Well, he's going to grow up and yeah, he's going to get married. Okay? But if he doesn't learn how to man up, if he doesn't learn how to deal with problems, you know what's going to happen is that every time he has a problem with Angela, you know what he's going to do? He's going to call mom. Mom, Angela won't listen to me. Maury doesn't have this issue, okay? Okay, I just said junior. He said it, so we're just going to use him as an example, okay? Maury's a great husband, but I'm saying like, you know, let's say that were the case, you know what he's going to do? He's going to start calling mom later on during the marriage. Anytime there's a problem, it's just like, oh, I'm going to call mom instead. Understand? And that's not manly, my friends. That's not leadership. That's not biblically order. That's not biblical order. You know, a guy should not have to call his mom to fix all the problems that's going on in the marriage. And in fact, the mother-in-law should know nothing about any marriage problems. Let me just put that out there. You know, coming from the wife or coming from the husband, keep the in-laws out of it. That's the nunya ministry right there. None of your business. You say what? You guys are your own family unit. You should be able to solve problems yourself. And in fact, as a husband, you should be able to solve the problem. If you're having issues with your marriage, go fix it. Amen. You're man enough to marry. You're man enough to get this woman to follow you. You're man enough to have children. You're man enough to provide for them. Then guess what? You're man enough to fix the problem too. And it's just like, well, you know, yeah, but she's not listening to me. That's your fault then. Fix it. You do something about it. Don't get your mom involved because you know what's going to happen? You're going to get your mom involved. Okay. But then you and your wife are going to kiss and make up, but your mom's still going to be mad at her daughter-in-law. And there's going to be problems between the in-laws and mom's always going to be, and then mom's always going to feel, oh, he's messing with my baby. You leave my baby alone. That's embarrassing, folks. My wife and I, we've had some issues throughout the years as we've been married, just like any other couple has. But you know, my mom knows nothing about it. My name is my dad. Why? Because it's none of their business. How's everything going? Great. Fantastic. Couldn't have been better. You sure everything's good? Yep. Everything's hunky-dory. You know? You say, are you lying? No, I just fix it. And then it is going hunky-dory. But that's not going to happen if when they're teenagers and young adults, you're just constantly bailing them out, because now they see you're like a safety net. And so, you know, you need to make sure that you're not always bailing them out. And look, obviously there's times, us as parents, we need to help our children. I'm not saying they're falling off a cliff, like, oh, figure it out, man. I was like, can't bail you out, you know, man up. Don't hit the rocks down there too hard, you know? Obviously there's times when we have to help them. But there's other times when we have to teach them how to struggle. You know what the problem is with a lot of teenagers and a lot of young adults? They have no idea how to struggle. That's why they're so sensitive. They don't know how to struggle. Next point. Don't let them quit. Don't let them quit. If it gets hard, if it gets tough, don't let that be a reason why they quit. Teach them how to persevere. Teach them how to endure. Here's the next point. Teach them not to be easily offended. That's an important point. Because you're not going to be around, mom, when some of the worst ills of this world come into your son's life. And you know what? You're not going to be around forever and guess what? He's not going to be able to call you one day. He needs to develop thick skin and deal with problems and not be offended every time he gets offended. Okay. Talk about not babying your boy. You know, sometimes our kids, they'll, you know, oh, so and so did this to me. It's just like, you don't always have to whine about that. We tell them. Don't always whine about it. You don't have to write on your siblings all the time. You know, you need to just ignore them, move on, and teach them not to be easily offended. And I don't know if you noticed, but this world is getting worse and worse and worse. So the world that our children are going to inherit is worse than what we have today. So you better make sure that you teach them how not to be offended. Now don't let that pendulum swing so far. You're just mean to your children or something like that. Quit being a weenie. You know, it's just like, obviously in a loving way, you got to teach them just to have thick skin so they're just not constantly offended. They're not feeble-minded. We don't want our children to become feeble-minded and feeble-minded adults. Okay. Especially as Christians. Folks, we're just, I mean, these principles apply to the unsaved. We need to apply this doubly as a Christian. Because as Christians, offenses are going to come. Persecutions will come. Afflictions will come. Tribulations will come. And you know what? You're not going to be there to pick up the phone, to help Junior, to help Maury, you know, to help Junior through that tribulation. So you got to teach him how to just man up and suck it up and deal with it. Okay. So don't let them quit. Teach them not to be easily offended. Encourage and cultivate manliness. Encourage and cultivate manliness. Now, how do you do that? Well, luckily, you know, if the father is absent or even if he's not absent. Okay. Dads, if you're there in his life, there's nothing wrong with helping him to cultivate manliness here at the church by allowing him to be around godly men, influencing him in a proper manner, in a godly manner. You know, children need not only the example of their parents, but you know, they learn from other examples as well. Letter E, help them to be physically active. That's important. Let them go outside and play. Let them run. Let them ride their bikes. Let them wrestle. Let them be outside as long as possible. And look, I come from the best generation ever. It's called the 90s. And you know what? Every teenager nowadays and young adult, they love the 90s. I live the 90s though. I was there during the 90s and you know what? I remember, you know, playing hide-and-go-seek and tag and playing football on asphalt and doing all these things. You know, I remember being outside. This is before the internet really became prevalent. Obviously it was there during that time, but not everyone had it the way people have it today. Today is just like every single form of communication is done through the internet, right? You have Instagram and Facebook. Well, most teenagers don't even have Facebook. Instagram, yes. Snapchat. You have, what else? TikTok. You have Discord. I'll get on Discord later. That's a sermon for another time. I ain't done with you suckas. I'm pointing at the camera. But you know, you have all these forms of communication and you know, people don't know how to talk to each other anymore. They don't know how to run outside and play and just be active. Teach your children how to do that. And that requires, mom, you going out with them, amen? And being active with them. Help them to be physically active. Make sure they spend sufficient time with their father. If their father is not around, then godly male influence is in the church. Listen to this. Teach them to lead their younger siblings or be examples to their older ones. It's important that you teach the oldest to make sure that they understand that they're influencing their younger siblings. Teach them leadership even at a young age. What's the point that I'm trying to make here? The point that I'm trying to make is don't baby your boys. Make sure you help them to cultivate manliness, godliness, christlikeness. Help them to deal with problems. Help them not to be offended. Help them to persevere. And I know that every, you know, mothers have the intention to just constantly protect their children. And that's perfectly fine, but you need to balance that and recognize that if you really want to protect your children, you teach them these principles in order to protect, to continue to protect them even while you're gone. Next one. Teach your girls to be keepers at home. And this is biblical, folks. Teach your daughters to be keepers at home. Teach them to be home girls. Not those kind of home girls either. They should learn how to cook. They should learn how to clean. They should learn how to make pancakes. As Pastor Pazarski said. They should learn the administration of a home. They should learn how to take care of children. Now, let me say this is that they shouldn't be the ones who are bearing the bulk of the load, though, at home. These are things that they should learn at home, but not to the point where they're the only ones doing this. Okay, because then that can cause resentment as well. If, you know, the mom's like, well, let them do whatever. I'm not gonna do anything. They need, the home should be a center of learning for them to do these things. Okay, so cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, the administration of the home. Don't pamper your daughters. Now, what I mean by that? Well, you know, obviously, our daughters are precious and we're a little more rough with our sons than with our daughters, but we should raise up hard-working, yet delicate young women. Let me say that again. Raise up hard-working, yet delicate young women. Of course, we have the example in Proverbs 31, the Proverbs 31 woman. And just because they're women doesn't mean they can't work hard. They should still have a work ethic at home. Not waking up at 12 in the afternoon, 11 in the morning or whatever, 1 p.m., and just getting up and just starting the day. They should be up at a reasonable time in the morning, amen, taking care of certain responsibilities in the home. Okay, and so don't pamper your daughters. Raise them up to be hard-working, yet delicate women, not gossipers or busybodies. Now, you know, again, it's actually easier for women to be busybodies and gossipers in 2022 because of social media. They don't have to go from house to house. They just could go from social media posts to social media posts. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5, 13, and with all they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. Let me just say this. I can give a rip what people say today. Oh, that's just old, ancient stuff. You know, that's a different culture. It's called a Christian culture. So just because it's rent 2,000 years ago, doesn't mean it's not relevant today. It's God's word. This is what God commanded. You know, the Bible doesn't say, oh, you know, this is just for Paul's day, this is for Christ's day, but now let them just be feminists or whatever. Folks, this still applies today. So you know what God's will is for every woman? And the news could put this on, write an article about this. It's to get married, bear children, and guide the house. That's God's will. And it's the greatest calling for a woman. It's the greatest calling. For some are already turned aside after Satan. Talk about these feminists out there. All right, let me read this. I don't know who wrote this. It might have been, this could have been written by a fundamental Baptist. Or it could have been written by just an unsafe person, but they're like Balaam, where like they just spoke the right thing, you know what I mean? But this is called Surefire Ways to Equip Your Daughter to Be a Future of the Church. To be a future homewrecker. It's a long list, I'm gonna read it all. So here are surefire ways to equip your daughter to be a future homewrecker. Yes, you heard right. Point number one, do everything for her so she can enjoy being a kid. Next point, don't require any real responsibility from her, even if she is capable. Next one, be sure she knows the academics are her highest priority and that practical homemaking skills are menial and for the lower class folks. This is if you wanna create a homewrecker. I know I'm gonna be stepping on some toes. I know I'm gonna be stepping on some manicure pedicure toes tonight. Next point, indulge her every whim without requiring any investment from her. Shield her from disappointments and hardships. Give her her own room, her own space, complete with ways to tune out the family, such as unlimited iPads, iPhones, texting computers. Don't allow her to earn or manage any money, just make sure she has plenty of it. Just give her that magic card. It's pretty good, eh, man? I'm not even halfway through. I'm sure the live stream section is having a blast right now. Never put her in situations where she has to get creative and resourceful, just give her what she wants so she can have a happy childhood. It's called making a spoiled little brat. Do not correct her lack of character because you may hurt her feelings and she may not like you. Just let her be free and to herself. Don't ever require her to do acts of service for other people unless she is getting extra credit for a school subject or a club, of course, because she may need that for a scholarship. Push her to establish a career because she should never depend on a man for anything. I want to spend some time on that. Be sure she chooses friends that are shallow and enjoy wasting time like she does. This is good. Encourage her to focus on her outer beauty. Keep her nails done. Man, I didn't even know this part was here, actually. This is good, this is good. Encourage her to focus on, by the way, there's nothing wrong with getting your nails done, okay? Encourage her to focus on her outer beauty. Keep her nails done and keep her clothes in the latest fashions because that is very important to her self-esteem. You obviously understand that that's not true. What's important to her self-esteem? Her father and her mother praising her and teaching her that she's valuable because of her character, because of her godliness, not because of what she wears, okay? Let her believe her beauty and charm will keep a husband happy once she has snagged him. Dang. By the way, the Bible says beauty is vain. And you know, obviously, you know, men are naturally attracted, when they want to marry a woman, they think, this is a beautiful woman, I want to marry her. But you know, as the relationship grows, I don't know if you know this, but both of us, both husband and wife, grow old and wrinkles start to develop and gray hairs start coming in and weight begins to develop as well. That's why the Bible says beauty is vain. Because we're not always going to be handsome or beautiful, those things fade away. Allow her to talk about her friends, gossip. Better yet, you be sure to tear down your family and friends in front of her so she knows how to do it right. Wow. Should I keep going or what? Should I finish this list or what? Should I just print out a copy of this and just give it to everyone in the church? As a parent, you need to make sure your world revolves around her so that she will be sure to grow up and insist her husband's world will revolve around her and cave to her every whim. You're like, well, isn't that the way it works? No. My wife is my help meat, my friends. I can't believe you just called her that. I call her Sarah. But it's understood she's my help meat. You know, my wife's world revolves around me. Like, what? Yes. Her purpose in life, listen to this, is to help me be successful in serving God. Yes, you heard right. I don't care who that offends or how people take that. That is what the Bible teaches, my friends. Her desire is towards her husband. Right. Her job as my wife is to take care of the things of the world that she may please her husband. You know, I know that's not what they teach out there. It's just like, oh, no, you know, find a man that you're you're just he's going to submit to everything you tell him to do, and he's going to encourage in your career and help you be successful. Wrong. Wicked. Unbiblical. Not in the Bible. Stupid. Lame. Don't listen to that garbage. Let me read that again. As a parent, you need to make sure your world revolves around her so that she will be sure to grow up and insist her husband's world will revolve around her and cave to her every whim. Teach her to have a critical spirit of everything and everyone. Here's the next one. Complain. Complain a lot. So she will be a pro by the time she has her own home. Oh, man. I'm like blushing here, you know, just reading this. Here's another one. What's the title of this article? Surefire ways to equip your daughter to be a future home wrecker. Just in case you forgot. Nag your husband so she will never give her husband a moment's peace. Second guess and disrespect your husband, but be sure to justify it so it seems righteous. This is key to being a home wrecker and sabotaging a marriage. Allow your daughter to always have an opinion on everything and to always have the last word. Oh, and this one is the last one. OK, and then we can move on from this. OK, I think the pizza is here. I think he's about to come to the door right now. Brother, brother got me. You want to go out there real quick? Yeah, it's here. All right, here's the last one. And this one is so very important in all capital letters. This one is so very important. Teacher not to be content at home. Make sure that you have somewhere to go every day. It may be lessons, clubs, teams, shopping, anything that will keep her away from home. And this, my friends, is how you create a future home wrecker. Pretty good, right? All right, next point. Talk about the teens and the young adults. OK, number four, or I don't know what number this is. We'll say number four. Be mature, but enjoy your youth. Teens, be mature, grow up, learn maturity, learn wisdom. But you know what? Enjoy your youth though. Enjoy being a teenager. You can grow up and still have fun. And let me say this. You know, I want to get ahead of myself, but just because you're a teenager doesn't mean you have to start dating. Maybe you just want to have fun being a Christian, serving the Lord, enjoying your your extracurricular activities or something like that, and just walking with God and loving your parents and loving the brothers and sisters in Christ at the church. You just enjoy your time as a young person, because let me just say this. This is the last time you're going to be able to do that. So be mature, of course. Be respectful, have wisdom. But you know what? Enjoy your youth. Still have fun as a young person. OK, single moms, accept strong, godly male influence. Teach a work ethic. Learn to be a hard worker. Here's another one. Here's it under that. Don't compare your kids to one another or to anyone else in the church. OK, if someone in the church is more advanced, if someone in the church is children more advanced to your children, don't focus on that. Don't compare your kids to them. OK, and don't compare your kids amongst your own kids. Yeah, my so-and-so is just so great, but I don't know. He must have had his dad's jeans or something like it. You know, everyone grows at a different rate. Everyone learns at a different pace. Don't compare them. Just know everyone has different strengths, different weaknesses, and you want to praise them for their strengths and help them work on their weaknesses. But don't compare your kids and don't allow your spouse to compare your kids to other kids in the church either. We got to work on this because so-and-so, they're able to already do this. Don't don't do that. Be content with your children. Teach your children and you know, don't allow that to even seep into the minds of your children either, because they can they can see when you're comparing them with other kids, OK? And you know what, parents, if someone in your church, if someone in our church compares that for you, you stop them right there. You stop them and say, Yeah, but you know, my child has a lot of strengths, though, and my wife's doing a terrific job with my kids and you know, everyone works at their own pace and they all got strengths and all got weaknesses. And so I'm really proud of my kids. So don't compare your kids one to another or anyone else in the church. Next one, have a vision for your future. Have a vision for your kids. Moms, you need to think ahead. Dads, you need to think ahead of where do you want to see your kids in 20 years? And, you know, create an atmosphere in your home that will essentially get them to that point to the best of your abilities. OK, have a vision for your family. Have a vision for your future. Have a vision for your daughters. Have a vision for your sons. Make serving God a joy, not a grief. Recognize we get to serve God together. Lead by example and help your children through the dating process. OK, now here's my next point. OK, we're almost done. I guess this isn't going to be a short sermon, sorry. You guys know me too well. OK, parents don't accept bad dating advice. And let me just say this, the parent has the child's best interest in mind. Just remember that. And you know what? Their word is law. Understand that? It's OK to encourage the parents and encourage the kids, but just understand this. The parent's word is law and we are not to usurp their desire and their goals for their kids. That's their God given right to do. Never usurp a parent's authority. Don't feel peer pressure to allow your child to start dating just because everyone else feels that they should. OK, like, well, everyone thinks that they should start dating and stuff, so why don't we just let him start dating? Yeah, but you know what? They're not mom and they're not dad. Right. So when if people are peer pressure, you just say you know what? That's the end of the discussion because I don't want them to start dating right now. And that's plain and simple. Now let me give you an opinion that's not very popular and probably no one's going to listen to me in this regard, but it's OK because I have the pulpit right now and I can say it, but I don't believe teens should date. I know that's not popular. I know people don't like to hear that, but I'm going to say it and until the cows come home and let me just let you know they're never going to come home. You say why? Why, pastor? Why? Why shouldn't they start dating? Well, let me explain to you why. OK, and in parents and people who are already older, who are married or whatever, they have a tendency to forget what it's like to date. OK, so what do you mean? When teenagers begin dating, the relationship becomes their main focus. And teenagers have a real hard time focusing on anything else. It's just like they, it's like their IQ just drops. They're just like, they're just, I mean, they're just in love. And well, they're not in love. They're just getting to know each other. They're in love. Give me that nonsense. I was a teen one time too. I know how this is. And this works for every teenager. So if you allow teenagers to start dating, just know this. You're creating a monster that will be very difficult to separate. That's just how it is. OK, and I know that's not a popular opinion, but it's fact. The relationship becomes their main focus and they have a hard time focusing on, number one, other relationships as far as, you know, parents, brothers and sisters, you know, relationships in the church, but just kind of everything goes out the window. Like they're reading the Bible and all they see is their, their future wife or future husband. They're just like, that's all they can think about. That's all they can think about. OK. You know, it's just like, they think about that person 24 seven. And don't give me that. No, I focus on other things. No, you think about that person 24 seven. Don't give me that. That's exactly how it is. OK. And look, that is a natural response when you're in a relationship. That's how God wants it to be, which leads into my next point. Dating should be with the purpose of getting married. Dating should be with the purpose of getting married, not just dating for the sake of dating or whatever. You know, you should date with the purpose of getting married because all relationships, they have to culminate to something. And God created relationships in such a way that you just, it's like a triangle. You're just like, you love each other more and more and more. And once you start peaking, parents, once they start peaking, we need to strongly consider marriage. Because if not, there could be sin involved. There could be emotional damage. Emotional damage could be the thing. I'm serious. That can be a thing. And you know, God created relationships in such a way that they just, they long for one another, they love each other. It's just like, well, I'm just going to separate them. And I'm telling them not to date and that'll fix it. That'll make it worse. That'll make it way worse. You say, why? Because absence makes the heart grow fonder. Because then they're going to think about them even more because they can't have them at that moment. You understand? So if you're not ready for that, then don't let them date. Right. And young man, young lady, have the maturity to know that maybe you're not ready to date. Amen. Okay. Now let me say this, this only applies if your teen isn't already dating. Because if they are, this goes in one ear out the other, because they're already attached at the hip, you're done. But you know what should be discussed though, parents? Let me say this, is marriage should be discussed if your teens are already dating and if you already see that they're getting so close and becoming so mushy and gushy and in love, you know, you got to be able to see those things and say, okay, we need to start. And you say, well, I don't really like to get involved. You're the parent. You have to get involved. What do you mean? What are you talking about? Can't just like let them, are you guys figure it out? You need to kind of help navigate through that whole thing. Okay. And marriage does need to be talked about. And if they're not ready to get married, then yeah, maybe a break needs to be established because you might be causing your children to potentially be put in a situation where they're tempted to sin. Oh, you guys are so legalistic over there. What do you mean? Hello? What are you talking about? This is even prevalent amongst the unsaved. That's just how it always works, my friends. And so if you want to avoid fornication, you want to avoid sin, you want to avoid creating emotional damage in the hearts of your kids, you know, you need to make sure you kind of help them navigate through that whole situation. Until they get married. Okay. And so dating should be with the purpose of getting married. I believe that 100%. Now look, if you, you know, your son or your daughter, they're 18, you feel like they're mature and they meet someone or whatever, and you approve, then disregard that, obviously. You know, if you feel like they're ready for that, I mean, who knows? Bruce might grow up and he might be 18, going on 25, going on 30, because of maturity, he might meet someone, and it's just like the, the planets align perfectly and the constellations are all, you know, perfectly aligned, it just works out. But in general, this is the principle that I would live by, which is, they shouldn't be dating because, you know, the teenage years should be given to just loving their parents and just serving God, winning souls, learning the Bible. Okay. And look, once teenagers start dating, it's just like, there's this gray matter develops in the head, or it's just like, they don't listen to anything you say, they're just like, what? They don't know what's going on, because they're in that stage. Okay. All right. I'll move on, guys. I'll move on. All right. Here's the next point. Be patient with your kids. It's a transitional time for them when they're teenagers. Okay. They're going through a lot of changes. There's a bunch of hormones changing, you know, their voice is cracking and, you know, they're just, they're developing, and so, teenagers have a tendency to be very self-conscious, so you got to be patient with them during this time. Praise their strengths and work on their weaknesses. Fathers, tell your daughters that they're beautiful. Remind them that they're beautiful. Remind them that you love them, because if not, they're going to look for that somewhere else. And so, and wives, you know, tell your sons that they're handsome. Tell them that they're strong. Praise them. They need that from their parents. Because then he's going to be looking for some girl out there who will tell them. Okay. Here's my last point. Ah, good time. Here's my last point. Just remember this. The goal is to raise godly kids, not just good kids. The goal is to raise godly kids, not just good kids. A lot of people out there just want some, I just want good kids. We don't want just good kids. We want godly kids. Because good kids can still be kids that don't necessarily love the Lord. Maybe they have honest jobs. Maybe they're honest people, and they're not, they don't drink, they don't smoke, they don't run with them to do, but they're not necessarily serving the Lord. We should want to raise children who are godly, who, yeah, obviously don't do those things, but they're also winning people to Christ. They're faithful in church. They are people who, we don't despise their youth. They're an example of the believers. You know, they are honest. They love their parents. I love seeing more when teenagers and children just love their parents, when they're just enamored with their parents. I think that's an awesome thing. I love seeing teenagers and children praise their parents. That's how it should be, my friends. Speak highly of their parents. And so parents, make sure you make the goal to raise godly children. It's not like, well, I just want them to just have a good job. That's great. But more important than that, they love the Lord with all their hearts, and mind, and strength. Most important is that they love the Bible. Most important is that they love the Lord Jesus Christ. More important is that they love church. More important is they become disciples of the Lord. It's more important. Okay, because folks, if they have that godliness factor down, no matter what problem comes in the future, they'll be able to handle it if their loyalty is towards the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's my sermon for the young people in our church. You know, I hope I didn't offend you. My intention is not to offend you. I love every person in our church. I love the teenagers and the young adults in our church, and I want them to be successful. I want them to prosper. I want them to have godly marriages. I want them to meet godly people. You know, I want them to succeed in life. And, you know, I'm going to do, we're going to do our part as a church. But parents, you need to make sure you keep your end of the bargain as well, and put in the effort, and don't just expect for your kids to just turn out. It just becomes, they come to our church. You need to put in, you need to put in the bulk of the work. Okay. And so let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the young people in our church. So thank you for the families, Lord. I pray, God, that you bless them and help them, Lord, in their endeavor to raise godly children. Of course, I don't have teenagers. I have all little ones right now, but thankfully I've had examples in my life of people who have raised godly teenagers, who are now currently serving the Lord. Help me, help us, Lord, to endeavor to do so, and apply these principles that we would raise a godly seed, not just a good seed, but a godly one. And bless all there is after the service, Lord, the fellowship, the kids' Olympics, the food, and all there is. Lord, we love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please tune your songbooks to song number one. Song number one. That's our last song here. Jesus, I my cross have taken. Song number one. All together nice and strong in that first verse. Jesus, I my cross have taken. All to leave and follow thee. Destined to despise forsaken. Thou from hence my all shall be. Perish every fond ambition. All I've sought and hoped and known. Yet how rich is my condition. God and heaven are still my own. Let the world despise and leave me. They have left my savior too. Human hearts and looks deceive me. Thou art not like men untrue. And while thou shalt smile upon me. God of wisdom, love, and might. Holes may hate and friends may shun me. Show thy face and all its pride. Man may trouble and distress me. Twill but drive me to thy breast. Life with trials hard may press me. Heaven will bring me sweeter rest. Oat is not in grief to harm me. While thy love is love to me. Oat were not in joy to charm me. Over that joy unmixed with thee. Thee on from grace to glory. Armed by faith and winged by prayer. Heaven's eternal days before thee. God's own hand shall guide me there. Soon shall close thy earthly mission. Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days. Hope shall change to glad provision. Faith to sign and prayer to praise. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed. You are dismissed.