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Welcome, everyone, to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you'll please find your seats and grab a songbook, and we'll turn our hymnals to song 415, Victory Through Grace. Song 415, Victory Through Grace. Sing it out nice and loud. Four-fifteen. Hear them exultingly say, Not to the strong is the battle, Not to the swift is the race, Yet to the true and the faithful, Victory is promised through grace. Conquering now and still to conquer, Who is this wonderful king? Whence are the armies which he leadeth, While of his glory they sing? He is our Lord and Redeemer, Savior and monarch divine, They are the stars that flow ever, Bright in his kingdom doth shine. Yet to the strong is the battle, Not to the swift is the race, Yet to the true and the faithful, Victory is promised through grace. Conquering now and still to conquer, Jesus, thou ruler of all. The crowns and their splendor shall fall, Yet shall the armies thou leadest, Faithful and true to the past. Finding thy mansions eternal, Rest when their warfare is past, Not to the strong is the battle, Swift is the race, Yet to the true and the faithful, Victory is promised through grace. All right, let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for our church and the opportunity to be gathered together just to sing praises to you, to learn more about your word. Just pray that you would open up our hearts to the message this morning and help us just to sing out to you from our hearts as well. We love you so much. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Our second song, 197, Singing I Go. 197, Singing I Go. 197. The trusting heart to Jesus clings, Nor any ill for both, But at the cross of Calvary sings, Praise God for lifted loads, Singing I Go, alone life's road, Praising the Lord, praising the Lord, Singing I Go, alone life's road, For Jesus has lifted my load. The passing days bring many cares, Fear not, I hear Him say, And when my fears are turned to prayers, The burdens slip away, Singing I Go, alone life's road, Praising the Lord, praising the Lord, Singing I Go, alone life's road, For Jesus has lifted my load. He tells me of my Father's love, And never slumbering I, My everlasting King above, Will all my needs apply, Singing I Go, alone life's road, Praising the Lord, praising the Lord, Singing I Go, alone life's road, For Jesus has lifted my load. When to the throne of grace I flee, I find the promise true, And all that is upholding me, Will bear my burdens too, Singing I Go, alone life's road, Praising the Lord, praising the Lord, Singing I Go, alone life's road, For Jesus has lifted my load. Good morning, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin and you don't already have one, you can lift up your hand nice and high, and one of our ushers can come by and get you a bulletin. On the front we have the Bible memory passage, Psalm 146, and we're on verse number two, and hopefully a lot of people will work on this one. We also put it into music, and so hopefully we'll sing that a few different times for the church services as well. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times, as well as our church stats. If you have any soul winning that you do throughout the week, please, as a reminder, just submit that to your soul winning captain or to your soul winning leader, so that way they can report those numbers. On the right we have the list of our expecting ladies and our prayer list. If you would like any additional prayer requests, please just submit those to our prayer list, and we'd love to add those to our bulletin. On the back we have our church reminders, and I'm going to skip those just for the moment. We have our ladies' Christmas party. It's Friday, December 2nd from 6 to 9 p.m. It's here at the church. Is that? I don't know. Time escapes me. Is that this Friday? I think that's this Friday, isn't it? So this Friday, and of course it's nurseings only, so that's a signal to all you guys to start making plans now to watch the kiddos so that your wives can come here and enjoy a nice night away. They may never want to come back, but I'm sure they will, okay? Because if you have the kids, they'll come back to them, all right? They always say they want a break, but they always want to come back to them. Also, if you'd like to participate, there's a gift exchange, I believe, that they usually do. It's like a wrapped $25 gift. Please bring that with you. Also, please RSVP to my wife. If you've done this via WhatsApp or Facebook, that's efficient. If you don't have either of those ways of communicating to her, just do it in person. But if you've already RSVP'd by either Facebook or WhatsApp, you're good. Just as an FYI, that way we can make sure to plan appropriately. So that'll be a lot of fun. Also, other upcoming events, we have the Christmas caroling December 6th, and then we have on December 10th, the Dallas Soul Winning Marathon. And so that'll be just somewhere kind of on the south, maybe southwest portion of Dallas. This is probably where we're going to head again. We went there, I want to say it was like two years ago or something like that, approximately, and it went really well. A lot of great areas over there to go soul winning, pretty receptive areas. And so it'll be nice to kind of target that portion of the DFW metroplex. I do want to make a few... Psalm 15. Again, that's Psalm 15 in your right handouts. Psalm 15. Psalm 15. Psalm 15. Psalm 15. In whose eyes a vile person is contempt, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. In whose eyes a vile person is contempt, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not, he that putteth not out his money to usury, he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not, he that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. Nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hymn? All right, if you would, while the offerings are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29, the Bible reads, he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father, but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance. The king by judgment establisheth the land, but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it. A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare, but the righteous thus sing and rejoice. The righteous considerth the cause of the poor, but the wicked regardeth not to know it. Scornful men bring a city into a snare, but wise men turn away wrath. If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest. The bloodthirsty hate the upright, but the just seek his soul. A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. If a ruler harken to lies, all his servants are wicked. The poor and the deceitful man meet together. The Lord lighteneth both their eyes. The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established forever. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth, but the righteous shall see their fall. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest, yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. A servant will not be corrected by words, for though he understand, he will not answer. Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him. He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length. An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul. He heareth cursing, and beareth it not. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Many seek the ruler's favor, but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord. An unjust man is an abomination to the just, and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church and for the sporting service. Pray that you fill the man of God with your spirit. Give him clarity of mind as he preaches his sermon with boldness, and Lord, soften hearts of the room so that we may receive the message and implement the lessons that are taught over the course of this sermon. We love you, and I pray this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. The part of the chapter I want to look at is verse 17. The Bible reads, The title of my sermon this morning is Correct Thy Son, Correct Thy Son. Now, of course, the Bible is bringing up a son, but of course this would apply to a daughter, to any child that you have. The Bible is simply emphasizing the son here, and it's saying, though, if you correct your son, he's going to give you rest. And not only that, delight under your soul. But let me tell you the opposite is true, that if you do not correct your child, if you're not constantly giving instruction and correction to your children, they will bring you no peace, no rest, and no delight. You can have a child bring shame, contempt, all kinds of evil unto you when you're not correcting them, when you're not instructing them, when you're not telling them what to do. And, of course, we have to look at this as an example that God the Father gives unto us. Keep your finger here in the Book of Proverbs. Go to Deuteronomy. Go all the way back to the Old Testament for a moment. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 8, and I want to read a few verses just there to talk about how God gives us a model to follow. And, of course, we know God is God the Father, and that's because He is a Father unto us. And since we are His children, we're the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, God is going to deal with us as sons, and the Bible says that God, because He loves us, He corrects us, He chastens us, He scourges us, as the Bible uses language to describe the actions and how God deals with us. Now, of course, God the Father doesn't implement some kind of a corporal punishment from heaven in the sense that He's not going to come down from heaven and bend you over the knee and spank you physically. But, you know, God still does the same type of actions through many different ways. It says in verse number 5, Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 5, Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore, thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to fear him. So, according to the Bible, we have an example of what we do is how God's trying to relate to us. Just as a man would chasten his son is the same way that God the Father will chasten us. And, of course, what is the essence, verse 6, to keep the commandments, right? Why is it that you discipline a child? It's so that they'll obey. It's so that they'll follow your rules. And, of course, God disciplines us so that we will follow His rules. Not only just follow His rules, walk in His ways. And notice this, to fear Him. You should be terrified of being disciplined by God the Father. And a lot of times that fear comes with the fear that comes from your father. You know, I'll be honest, my dad is a pretty meek person. But as a child, I was terrified to be disciplined by my father. And my siblings knew this as well. And he was notorious for breaking wooden paddles on my brother and sister. And so, of course, you didn't want to be disciplined by dad because you were terrified of what that meant. And, of course, you know, any kind of punishment should be uncomfortable. I'm not saying this is a recommendation, break paddles, okay? What I am saying, though, is that you didn't want to mess with dad. You were terrified of dad. I remember one of the worst days of my life was when I disobeyed real early in the morning. And my mom spanked me. And then she says, when dad gets home, you're getting spanked too. And it just ruined the whole day. It was like I couldn't enjoy because I'm just so anxious about when dad's going to come home and he's going to discipline me. And I keep playing these scenarios in my head like, maybe you'll forget. Or like, you know, I'm trying to figure out how to escape or something like that. And it just ruined the whole day. And then, of course, he gets there and I get disciplined and it's awful in the moment. But you know what? My parents did that to me because they love me. You know, my mom told me whenever we went to school, because I went to a private Christian school for a part of my life. And when we went to this school, they offered corporal discipline. So the instructors or the principal could spank you if you disobeyed. And I remember my mom and dad said like, oh, we're definitely doing that. And if you get spanked by them, you're getting spanked at home on top of that. It's like I remember as a kid, this is unjust. You know, I was like a liberal at heart or whatever, you know, I was like, no spanking. This is so bad or whatever. But you know what? That was the right decision. And it made me afraid to ever get to that point of having been punished at school and at home by the parents. Because you know what? That's that's scary. And, you know, maybe that's how some people should implement it here, where the homeschool parent is going to discipline and then you get double discipline when dad gets home. You know, because there should be a level of fear to disobey mom and dad. There should not be a well, it's not a big deal or they won't punish, you know. And as a father, one of the most important things that you can do is always provide consistent discipline. You know, if you say that you're going to discipline your children, if they break a certain rule and they break that rule, definitely discipline every single time. You know, of course, we can extend grace at periods, but you want to be clear that you extended grace, not that you forgot. Right. You could say, you know what? You got this right. I understand you were already punished and I'm deciding to forgo punishment this one time because of your attitude, because of your behavior. But make it clear to them that you gave them grace in that episode, that you didn't just forget or get lazy or you're negligent and make sure that you're always, always dealing with every single situation. Let me tell you something. Dealing with conflict is not fun. No one wants to deal with conflict. No one wants to punish their children. No one likes going through that exercise. It's not an enjoyable exercise, but you know what? It's a necessary job and someone has to do it. And you know what? The person that needs to do it in every child's life is the father. The father needs to discipline the children and he needs to deal with the situation. He needs to provide consistent punishment and your children should have a certain fear of you. Of course, I want my children to love me and we wrestle and we have fun. You know, my kids, you know, I have to discipline them a lot. I mean, it's daily. OK, folks. But you know what? After I discipline them, they still want to hang out with me. They still want to give me a hug. They still want to do things. You know, we have a great relationship because it's not only discipline. You know what? It needs to include the discipline. It needs to include the punishment. And it always needs to be clear, like here was the rule. You broke the rule. You're getting punished for breaking the rule. You know, and if you provide this consistent theme, then they start learning like, wow, if I break this rule, this is this is going to be the consequence. And so then they start realizing, like, I don't want to break that rule. When you're not consistent with punishment, when you're not making clear rules, it just it's going to be chaos because your kids won't recognize the pattern. They won't understand what's happening. They they think the punishment's crazy. You know, children that are abused are not well behaved, even though they're you know, think about this. I'm not saying to abuse your children. We're saying properly discipline them. Right. But children that are literally beaten by their parents, which is horrible, that should never happen. That's wicked. But those children, they're not well behaved. Why? Because it's not a loving, proper discipline. It's not because they clearly broke a certain rule. It's just random acts of violence of parents against children. That doesn't do anything. No, you need to have specific rules. Hey, welcome to the Bible. God gave us specific rules and then have very specific punishments for those rules. And that way your children can become better people. They can learn how to behave. They can learn how to walk in your ways and do your things. Of course, God, the father is perfect. So we can just always follow his example. But you know, it's important also that fathers are a good example under their children so that when they discipline them, their children are constantly looking at their father as a hypocrite. Constantly looking at their father as a derelict, as a junkie, as a loser, because then it's going to be even harder to respect that type of punishment. You need to be righteous. You need to set out clear rules for your family. And then on top of that, you need to punish consistently so that your children have an opportunity to be a godly young man, to be a godly young woman. You know, this is necessary and God gave us children for a reason. We need to sacrifice for our children, do the hard job that most people aren't willing to do, and we need to correct our children like God corrects us. Go to Proverbs chapter 3. Go back to Proverbs and look at Proverbs chapter number 3. There's so much instruction on this that you should realize this is really important. There is so much Bible. There's so many Proverbs. There's so many stories. There's so many examples. I can't cover all of it this morning, but let me just remind you that this is a giant topic in the Bible. It's very important to God and we are no different than the world in the sense that just because you're saved doesn't mean your children will be better than the unsaved children. The only reason your children will be better is if you implement the Bible's principles into your life. If you actually follow the word of God and you actually follow the commandments and you're not a giant hypocrite because there are so many Christians in the Bible that have terrible children. There are so many godly, saved men in the Bible that have some of the worst children that have ever existed on this planet. Why? Because they weren't implementing God's principles in their children's lives. That's why. Because the Bible is crystal clear that if you do, God's program is going to work. God's program works 100% of the time. The reason why it doesn't work is because people don't do it. That's why it doesn't work. But of course, God gives us all kinds of promises. One of those promises is train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. That's just what the Bible says. You know, even the world knows this. I heard about this. I need to research it myself. I think I heard Pastor Mejia talking about this or something. But there was some guy that sucked at chess but he wanted to prove to the world that his children could be good at chess. So he basically just arranged to have a child with some woman. I don't know if they were married or not. Just basically like, will you give me a child so I can raise it to be a chess prodigy? And basically he found a woman who was willing to agree to this experiment. He just experimented with a kid and then just trained them in chess their whole life. And then they ended up becoming a prodigy and like great at chess or whatever. Why? Because he trained up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart. Now they are just awesome at chess. But you know, you can mold your children to be whoever you want to be. And of course, frankly, they are going to have their own personal desires and wishes. There is free will there, of course. We understand that. But you know, whether they are going to be godly or ungodly is mostly in the parents' hands as the Bible and the ways they are going to walk. I mean the way that they speak, their humor, their facial expressions, the way they perceive the world is so much shaped by what the parents do or don't do. By their zeal or by their lack of zeal and their apathy and just allowing other people to raise their children or to mold them or to shape them into the people that they are. You know, sometimes I wonder if the problem with apathy is just that your parents are so apathetic about everything. And of course, we want to have godly children. I think everybody in their new man says, I want godly children. Well, you are going to have to work and train your child to be a godly person. They are not automatically going to be godly. And if you have that, that is the exception. If you have a child that you are not putting that much energy into and they just seem to be doing great, praise the Lord. But at the same time, that is pretty rare if it even ever happens and you need to make sure that you are fostering that godliness and still helping them to be the max of their potential. Proverbs chapter 3, look at verse 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Notice that the Bible ties God's correction to us to love. Just like a father who loves his son will correct it, it is the same how God is modeling for us, his love for us by correcting us, by instructing us. You know, some people look at it like, oh, it is full of rules. Yeah, it is because God loves you. It is because God cares about you. It is because God wants what is best for you and so he told you what is best for you. He told you the greatest ways to live your life. And as a father, you should be one instructing your children and helping them to live the best life that they can. And if you don't, the opposite is actually true. The opposite is not always true. You know, in this parable, in this proverb, as it were, it is a direct connection. Discipline is an example of how much you love your children. Go over to Proverbs 13. Just go to Proverbs chapter 13. So notice, the Lord loveth, he correcteth, right? Whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth. So if you don't have correction, it is kind of a signal that person doesn't love you. And it says in Proverbs 13, look at verse 24. He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. Now maybe for some of you, if you actually write in your Bible, or especially if you're a man, you probably need to underline or circle this word at the very beginning of this verse. He, did you notice that word? He that spareth his rod. You know why? Because men are supposed to discipline their children. Men are supposed to spank their children. Men are supposed to apply the rod to their children. It's not like, oh, this is the woman's job. This is my wife's job. This is the man's job. And notice, the man that won't spank his child, the man that won't spank his son, hates his son. I didn't make that up. That's what the Bible said. And of course, we need men in this room that are going to discipline their children. We need men that are going to strike the fear into their children's hearts by disciplining them appropriately. And if you don't discipline them, I know something about you. You hate your child. That's what the Bible clearly says. I didn't make this up. It's right here, clear in the Bible. It says, Spareth. You know, of course, the liberals out there would try to tell you, oh, I love my child too much to discipline them. No, no, you hate them. No, they hate them. They despise their children. And you know what? It is not my wife's responsibility solely to discipline the children. In fact, I would almost argue it's more my job than it's hers when you study the Bible. I mean, this is not even saying she. It's saying he. It's saying he that spareth his rod from his son, he. I mean, it just couldn't be any clearer that the man has disciplined the church. You know, I went to faith for Baptist Church. And you want to know I had to discipline my children in the service many times. OK, now, of course, the more consistent you are at it, the less it has to happen. And it's usually the youngest one. The youngest ones in the training mode. And the youngest one is the one I'm having to constantly do. The older ones already figured it out. The older ones know when I look at them and I say, we're going to the bathroom. You do that again. They don't do it again. Why? Because we've already been to the we've already done this exercise. We went to the bathroom. We fixed it and we fixed it and we fixed it and we fixed it and we fixed it. And then eventually they're like, I don't want to get it fixed anymore. I'm going to just I'm going to listen. I'm going to obey. You know, certain parents, you can tell discipline the children. Well, because they just give the look right. And some of you that a good parent, your mom or your dad had a look. And, you know, as soon as they gave the look, you were just like, you know, I'm a saint. You know, I got my Bible and I'm good and I'm ready. But you know what? That's good parenting. You know, bad parenting is the one where the parents are begging for the children to obey and they still won't. And you know why it doesn't work? Because you can't negotiate with terrorists, folks. And children are terrorists. They're born terrorists. And you have to apply correction and help them become not a terrorist. And then eventually, you know, you can't negotiate with the terrorists. And I say that in the means like if a terrorist is bad, I can't talk to them and change their behavior. That's what that means. You understand that a terrorist cannot be reasoned with. You can't use logic. You can't use sound argumentation. You can't talk them off of the ledge. You know, they don't understand verbal commands. This is why I say children are terrorists, because little children often they're not capable yet sometimes in the early stages of you just simply saying, don't do that. No. Explaining the logic. We don't act that way. They need some reinforcement. They need the rod to help them understand, make the connection of, wow, OK, this is not something I'm supposed to do. This is not a behavior that's acceptable. This is not how I'm going to act. And of course, the man that doesn't love his son will never discipline them, will never use the rod. Now, I want to be specific here so that people don't get confused. OK, when you say like when, though? Well, look what the Bible says. Chasing in betimes. What does betimes mean? It means early. So, you know, obviously you're not going to use corporal punishment on a newborn baby. OK, they can't understand anything. Right. But as the child slowly starts to develop and gets older and older, punishment needs to start getting implemented. And of course, the punishment is going to graduate with the child. Right. But even my wife, my wife will start implementing punishment even at a very, very young age. Maybe I don't want to put the exact number in her mouth, but somewhere between three and six months. I mean, if the baby tugs at the wrong place or bites or does whatever, she might tap it and say no or tell it, you know, hey, this is inappropriate. Obviously, it's more of just getting that signal started. Right. But as they get beyond six months, you know, you can start actually implementing some level of punishment. Now, I believe that between about six months and nine months or whatever, you probably don't even have to inflict any pain whatsoever. Just the fact that you tell them no and, you know, tap them or whatever, they'll probably get the picture. Right. They'll be like, oh, I didn't like that. And they'll cry or whatever. They get it. But as they get to about nine months to 12 months, that needs to start actually being painful because otherwise you're just they're not you're not doing anything. You're just basically going to encourage their bad behavior because you're not discipline appropriate. By the time they're one to 18 months, there should already be consistent physical discipline. Past 18 months. I mean, there's no excuse. I mean, there's just no obviously this is going to graduate. You would never damage your child permanently. You would never do anything that would hurt them in any kind of permanent way. It's just inflicting a very temporary pain to accomplish. What is the right goal is to say this is inappropriate. This is bad behavior. This is wrong. And I explain that to my children even when they're little. Look, you're 18 month old actually understands a lot. They may not be able to communicate very well back, but they can understand a ton. And it's crazy because sometimes you'll be you'll shock. I shocked myself or whatever. Like I'll have a 14 month old baby or something like that. I'm like, hey, go get it over there. Just walk over there and get it. They know exactly what you're saying. It's like crazy how much they really understand. So if I'm going to discipline them, I'm going to explain to them, hey, don't stand on this. Don't get on this. Don't take this toy. This isn't yours. You have to share. Don't hit. Don't bite. Don't throw. Don't scream. Don't whatever. You know, and you start teaching them, hey, this is inappropriate and we have to implement discipline. And it's funny because at our house, whenever we have a new baby, we always kind of have this cute saying. And like with Ellie's our youngest right now. So we'll be like, we never spank Ellie or whatever. And we tell the little kids this or whatever. You know, there's a time when that becomes untrue. And it was funny because we've been saying that, but we like said it recently and the kids like, that's not true. You spank her all the time. And I'm like, yeah, it's just a fun it's just a fun saying that we say, because, of course, when they're just a little baby, you know, oh, we never spank Ellie. Because because our kids will get confused and they'll like spank each other or whatever, you know, like we don't spank the baby. No, we don't we don't do that or whatever. But obviously, if you if you keep that velocity forever, Ellie will be a monster. All of my children will be monsters. Your children look because they just they're born a monster. OK, now go to Proverbs 22. Let me prove that from the Bible. You know, and you say, well, what age limit should you stop, though? Well, let me give you a verse, a whip for the horse and a bridle for the ass and a rod for the fool's back. You know, the Bible has corporal punishment for adults. That was actually supposed to be in society with corporate punishment. So, you know, when corporal punishment stops in my house, when you don't live with me. That's your option. You say I want to stop being disciplined physically by my father, then don't live with me. Don't have me pay your bills. OK, when you're not paying when I'm not paying your bills and you're not living with me, then you're free to do whatever you want. You know what? You're in my house. Hey, it's on the table, just like God. The father didn't say, hey, when you turned 18, I'm done punishing you. You know what? He's going to punish us until we go to heaven. OK, until we get out of this place. All right, out of this body. And so it's kind of that's our graduation, right? That's when my children get to graduate from that. And I believe that it's important to reinforce this with every single child. Every time they throw a fit, discipline. Every clear disobedience, discipline. Every time they talk back, discipline. And if you don't, it's because you hate your child. You despise your child. Now look at Proverbs 22 verse 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. Now, it didn't just say that they're fools. It says it's bound. What is bound? Tied up. I mean, just imagine a long cord just wrapped around your child's heart. A foolishness. Just all kinds of stupidity, all kinds of nonsense, reckless behavior. And look, it's so obvious if you have children. If you have children, you're just, you're, I'm baffled. I am baffled by how my children just disobey, are rebellious, lie. They just, they're mean. They'll hate each other. They'll just, you're just like, what's wrong with you? You know, you kind of kind of sometimes want to think like, should I ship them back? My dad would always joke. He said, well, I think the parenting rule is the you send the first two back and start over with the third. He's like, you know, they're just so awful. But it's true. It's just true that children are hard. It's just true that they have foolishness bound. But they need someone to love them enough to discipline it out of them. They need someone to love them enough to correct it out of them. And think about how much God must love us because we are the same way. We have so much issues and problems and God just keeps loving us and correcting us and disciplining us and doesn't quit on us. And, you know, we should never quit on our children. You know, it's not like, oh, now they're a teenager. I'm going to quit on them. They need just as much love and discipline at that age as well. And obviously, if you want to change your methods of discipline, you know, as they get older and decide whatever is the best appropriate punishment. But here's the here's the thing that has happened. It has to hurt. If it doesn't hurt, it's just not worthy of being called a punishment. You know, there's ways to punish teenagers and other young adults that maybe don't have to be a physical punishment. In fact, it could be the point where the physical punishment is even doing the job. It's taking away the keys. It's taking away the phone. It's taking away whatever the privilege is that they want. That's actually going to hurt them more, be more of a punishment than the physical punishment might be. Maybe it's both. I don't know. I'm just you can decide exactly what that is, but you better make sure that you're disciplining and it hurts. Because obviously with God, he disciplines us and it's not necessarily as a physical type punishment. Sometimes it's just a heart issue, right? He convicts our heart. He makes us feel ashamed, embarrassed. He could cause some kind of a detriment in our lives. Losing a job or losing a relationship or losing something or he could take things away. He could add plagues and sickness and illness unto us. He could do a lot of things to punish us. But he does that because he loves us and we should love our children enough to help them with this foolishness problem. Because notice it says, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from them. So the Bible didn't say, hey, foolishness is bound to the heart of the child. You're doomed. No, no, no. There is an option. There is one cure, the rod of correction. He didn't provide multiple cures. He didn't say, hey, your children are different. They're unique. There's another way to fix them. No, no, no, no. There's one fixing, the rod of correction. It's just the universal, just clear-cut way to improve your child's behavior is the rod of correction. And if you're not applying the rod of correction on a regular basis, is your child even becoming a better person? My kids could testify they're becoming better people every day, okay? They, why? Because they need it. And you know what? Honestly, I don't believe that my kids are special. I think that my kids are the same as everybody else's. They all need it. They all need daily help, daily correction. And of course, the rod is the instrument that the Bible clearly articulates as the way to get the foolishness out. And the Bible warns that you don't have forever with your kids. They are a ticking time bomb. You need to do it now. You need no waiting. Do it with times, early. Look at Proverbs 23, you might not even have turned the page, verse 13. Withhold not correction from the child. The Bible's clear. Don't do it. Do not forgo punishing your children. For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and notice this, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. The Bible literally ties salvation to correction from a father. You want to know why a lot of these liberals won't get saved? It's because their fathers didn't punish them when they were children. And isn't it interesting that the reprobates out here, they don't want to criticize people for punishing their children. I'm sure they probably weren't punished. That's why they're so wicked and so evil. And why is there a direct connection? Because in order to believe on Jesus Christ, you have to be afraid of hell. You have to fear hell. You have to fear punishment that could happen. When you've never been punished for anything, it's like you just can't cognitively rationalize the fear of punishment. And so they just don't fear hell. They don't fear God. They just don't connect the dots. And because of that, they're going to die and they're going to split hell wide open. And they're going to realize what hell's really like. They're going to realize what punishment's really like. And if they had a parent that loved them and showed them, hey, there is a consequence to your actions. There is a real recompense to your wickedness, to your sin, and to your evil. You know what? It starts to help you realize, like, I don't want that. You know, you say, like, why did you believe on Jesus to not go to hell? Well, did you really love him? I didn't want to go to hell. Were you sorry enough for your sin? I didn't want to go to hell. Oh, that's fire insurance. Call it whatever you want. That's what I got. I knew that if I didn't believe on Jesus Christ, I would go to hell. Just like I knew when I broke my dad's rules, he was going to spank me when I got home. I knew that if I just didn't believe on Jesus, God would send me to hell for my sins. And I didn't want to go there. And so I accepted the free gift of salvation. And you know what? I accepted it at a very young age. At five years old, I wanted to believe on Jesus and go to heaven. At five years old, I was afraid of going to hell. At five years old, I didn't want to get that punishment. You know why? Because my parents punished me when I was young. When I was one and two and three and four. And then by five, I'm like, wow, I don't want to go to hell. You know what? Some people never punish their children. There's a direct connection to those who have been punished and those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible is saying it. You know, coming to this church may not guarantee that your child is going to be saved. And honestly, you can't affect anybody's will. But if there's one thing, like the most important thing you can do, if you care about your children's salvation, the most important thing you can do is discipline the physical. If you say, I want to give my children the best chance to be saved and escape the fires of hell, it is to physically punish them. That is what the Bible says. And it says when you withhold correction, you're messing with God. And you would not be the first Christian to raise a reprobate. You wouldn't be the first Christian to raise a bad son. You wouldn't be the first Christian to disregard this and end up having terrible, terrible children. And you know what? That terrifies me. It terrifies me to have a bad child. And you know what? It's sad. I have people coming to me crying and weeping because their children are horrible. I know people that they weep every day because of how horrible their children are, because of the destruction of their children. Their children are liberals. They hate God. They're just ruining their lives. They go to jail. They're reprobates. I mean, just all the horrible things you could think of exist. You know, a lot of those people I know were Christian and went to church. Don't think that, oh, well, it's a new IFP church. That couldn't happen to us. Oh, yes, it could. Oh, yes, it will if you don't follow God's commands. Go to Proverbs 29 and go back. Look at this promise that the Bible gives. Proverbs chapter 29. In fact, some of the greatest men in the Bible had terror. I mean, David had Absalom. David had Amnon. Let me just remind you, Amnon took advantage of his own sister. How disgusting. Amnon killed his own brother. And then he went on to take the whole kingdom from his dad, commit a bunch of perverted acts. I mean, these are this is David. Are you going to really come up to me and say, like, hey, it won't happen to me. I'm better than David. I'm better than the guy in the Bible is described as the man after God's own heart. I'm so much better than him. I mean, if it can happen to David, why do you think it wouldn't happen to you or me? Proverbs 29, look at verse 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself. Bring it his mother to shame. You know what? When you don't discipline your children and they're not well behaved, you're going to constantly be embarrassed by your children. Children are constantly embarrassing. And you know what? It is embarrassing. It's embarrassing when your kids misbehave. It's embarrassing when your kids do something wrong. It's embarrassing when they are unruly or causing issue. Go to First Samuel, chapter number three. Go to First Samuel, chapter number three. Let's look at a couple of stories in the Bible about this. And, of course, I want to bring up a story because, you know, it will help you relate this to the real world. But what I'm saying is definitely true. It's true no matter what philosophy you have. Even if you don't go to church or believe the Bible, we can see the ramifications of this in the world that we live in. But we have clear commandments. I mean, I've shown you so many clear commandments in the Bible. Not only that, we have stories in the Bible that confirm exactly what we just read. And then in the real world, we see this example playing out before our eyes. But look at this story in First Samuel, chapter three. Look at verse 10. And the Lord came and stood and called, as at other times. Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, I which both the ears of everyone that heareth it, it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end. Now let's just stop for a second. God's saying, I'm going to do something so horrible you're going to just feel awkward just hearing it. It's going to hurt hearing it. It's going to be painful just knowing that this is going to happen. And he's going to do something against Eli. Now, Eli is a man of God. Eli is a priest of the Lord. And God has used Eli to fulfill his work. So this, you know, the equivalent of someone that's in full-time Christian service. Like a pastor or like a deacon or like an evangelist. I mean, the sole winning leader. I mean, this is a guy that's doing work for God. It's not somebody that's not working for God. He's working for God. But you know what he's not been doing? Raising his children. And look at the next verse. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth. Because his sons made themselves vile. And notice this. And he restrained them not. Now let me ask a question. Did God blame Eli's wife? I didn't read that. I noticed that he brought all of the punishment on him. He brought it on the head of the household. He brought it on Samuel himself. And of course, God is going to punish one of his own children severely. What's his problem? Like, what's the big sin issue? Not disciplining his children. If this is how God feels, then I need to be terrified that I'm going to raise my children right. That I'm restraining my children. Notice that you have to restrain them. Tell them no. Stop them from doing things. When they do bad, you're correcting them. You're bringing them in. You know, when you don't do this, God may punish you and your whole house on top of it. You know, he says I'm going to punish your whole house. And here's the really scary part. Forever. If you raise terrible children, your entire family lineage might just be terrible forever. Forever. Because you've ruined all, I mean, you have no seed to then carry on the name. You've literally just ruined your entire family tree personally by not raising your children for God. By not restraining your children. By not disciplining your children. By not using the right of correction. You know, the thing that's crazy about this is it's like you do it, it's the greatest rewards ever. You don't do it. It is the worst punishments ever. This is an extreme thing. And it's very important that God's people do it. And, you know, it's not important that God's people do it on Sundays only. It's not important that God's people do it on Wednesday nights only. It's not important that God's people do this for one week. No, no, no. This is a lifestyle. This is something that needs to happen on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday, on Sunday, in church, in the parking lot, in the public, out knocking doors. Wherever you find yourself, you're implementing this policy. There's not like a safe zone. You know, they always talk about that bubble or whatever. My safe zone. My children don't have a safe zone. Because they're always with me and they're always with my wife. And you know what? It's unsafe to disobey around us. They don't have a safe zone. Okay? And there shouldn't be, oh, well, at grandma and grandpa's house, it's fine. Nope. Nope. It's not safe anywhere. It's not safe at grandma and grandpa's. It's not safe at uncle so and so's. It's not safe at your house. If I'm coming to your house, it's still not a safety zone for my children. It's not, the church is not a safety zone for them. The car is not a safety zone for them. Nowhere is a safety zone for them. They are going to be disciplined. They are going to be corrected. Why? Because you know what? I don't want to be Samuel and I don't want to have Samuel's sons who are literal reprobates. Look at chapter 2 verse 12. Chapter 2 verse 12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. If a man of God can raise sons of Belial, any of us could. And you say, how? Don't restrain your children. Don't punish them. Don't correct them. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. I could show you an example of this all over the Bible. But that one should be terrifying enough. That one should be scary enough to just say, wow, I better make sure I'm restraining my children. I'm disciplining them on a regular basis. Me as the father, I'm active in the punishment of my children. I'm not relying on my wife to do it. Now of course, you know, I'm not saying that women and mothers shouldn't discipline their children. They should. Absolutely. I'm not saying that if you didn't have a father, you know, if you were a single mother, you got to step up. You got to do the job. But you know what I am saying is then men have to do it too. Men need to be doing this. Both parties need to be active in this. Both parties should be terrified to disobey their parents. Both parents should be able to correct their children. You know, I've been around friends and I've seen other people where one parent disciplines and the other one doesn't. And I've seen it both ways. I've seen it where the mom's the only one that disciplines and the dad doesn't. And I've seen it where the dad does and the mom doesn't. That's a bad scenario. You want to have unified discipline because the children will act completely different around the parent that doesn't discipline them. And it's only when dad's around. It's only when mom's around or whatever. No, my kids need 24-7 that feeling. They need to think like, oh, man, this is scary to disobey at any time. You know, God doesn't take time off. God's not checking in and out. It's not like there's a safe zone for me from God. I can't go somewhere and hide from God. He's going to punish me at all times. You know, as loving parents, we should do the same. Hebrews chapter 12, look at verse 5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despiseth not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father's spirits and live? Notice what it's saying. When they're saying about themselves, they're saying, hey, our dad spanked us, and notice what we gave them. Reverence. You know why children don't respect their father? Because they didn't discipline them. You want your children to respect you? Discipline them. You know, it's like, oh, if I discipline them, they'll lose respect for me. It's the opposite. By not disciplining them, you'll lose their respect. By actually being a disciplinarian, people will respect you. That doesn't mean they always like you. You know, and as a pastor, sometimes you have to preach sermons that people don't like or don't want to hear, or you have to say things that are uncomfortable. And maybe that causes people to have a temporary dissatisfaction with me. But you know what? I guarantee people will respect me if I'm willing to say what needs to be said. You know, the person that won't say what needs to be said, nobody loses respect for that person. You know, if your manager or your boss is just allowing people to just do all kinds of trash work and just do weird things, you start losing respect for that manager or that boss. You're like, he's not going to do anything. He's just a softie. He's just a coward. And you know what? This can happen in a family unit where the children start recognizing, dad's a pansy. Dad's a coward. Dad isn't going to discipline me. And they just keep pushing the limit. Let's see how far I can push dad. Let's see what I can do. You know what? I want my kids to know, there is no way I can do anything. Dad's going to be on me. You know, dad's going to discipline me. You know, and that's going to, then they're going to have what? Respect for me. Because they're going to be like, well, dad's going to deal with that situation. Dad's not going to just let that go. Dad's not just a softie. Dad is going to make sure that he's a force to be reckoned with when you break his rules. And you know what? God made you stronger than your children for a reason. Man strength. Dad strength. Okay. Use it. Right. My children, you know, I can pick them up and toss them around if I need to. You know, they're, they're, they're puny. They're children. You know? And if you're such a manly man, then why don't you discipline your children? It says in verse number 10, Now, this verse is kind of negative in the sense that he's trying to say, like, parents just correct you just for their own benefit. You know? But God does it for our benefit. But don't let this escape you. You know why you're not having pleasure? Because you're not correcting them. Because notice what they said. They get pleasure because they're disciplining their children. Now, of course, they're not getting the pleasure out of the discipline itself. What they're getting the pleasure out of is the fact that the children are obeying and then they're getting pleasure. Right? But when you're not disciplining your children, you're going to constantly have no pleasure in your children. Your children are going to be a burden only. They're going to be frustrating only. They're going to just always eat at you. And, of course, here's the thing. Even when you punish them, it's not like they're not a burden. It's not like you're going to be, not be disappointed in them at times. But you're going to also get pleasure, too. You reap pleasure with that. Whereas when you don't discipline them, there's never pleasure. There's not going to be that satisfaction. There's not going to be that joy. Of course, you all get that at the beginning because they're newborn and it's all great. But it starts getting worse and worse and worse. The less that you discipline your children and the older they get, the less pleasure you're going to get. And it's going to get to a point where it's just a grief every day. Just frustrating all the time. It says in verse 11, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. You know what, your children? The children in this room should be terrified of being disciplined. It doesn't say it's fun. You know, don't be the parent that spanks their child and then it's just like they didn't even cry. Or like me. I made this mistake once. And it was only once. My mom spanked me one time and I looked at her and I said, that didn't hurt. That was very foolish. Very, very foolish. Because then she she definitely made it hurt. And then she's like, and dad's going to really make it hurt when you get home. You know, if you kids get lucky and it didn't hurt, don't say anything. OK. Like, oh, you're right. I won't do it. You know, don't ever be like, that didn't hurt. I got it. I'm good. You know, and there there was a few times where, you know, you're you're not sure where to go, right? You're testing it. They're getting a little older. They're 18 months or two. They're two months or two years. I'm sorry. You're not sure where it's at. But when you just spank their kid and they just kind of look at you, you're like, didn't work. Upping the ante. You know what? If they're not changing their behavior, if it's not something that, you know, caused them to be upset about it. You know, that's that's an issue. Now, of course, from a practical perspective, let me give you a tip. I personally think you should always try to discipline your children in private to the best of your ability. Obviously, if it has to happen, it has to happen. But I'm just saying the best is to always do it in private. And, you know, I always try, if I can, to get my child to recover fully before I leave. Right. You know, we discipline. They calm down. Now they're good. Now we reenter the world. Right. So it just it's not like just, hey, I just spank my kid. He's screaming like a banch. Let's bring him back into public world or whatever. It's like, let's just get that all fixed and patched up and we're good. And then we'll go back. Now, some of my kids, after I discipline them, I can literally make them joke and smile instantly afterwards. And I'll just do that. And then we'll move on. Other of my children, I, I can't do that. Their personality is different. OK. But I can at least get them calm and I'll just bring them back. Right. But I want to make sure to just help them to not be as embarrassed as they need to be. You know, it can be a private thing or whatever, but it needs to always happen. You know, it's like you're coming with me. Right. And then you come back and it just is what it is. This will help you around other people. You know, even family, because sometimes family members may not agree with you philosophically. I've had personal family members attacking me on this issue. OK. But you know what? I'm not going to let them intimidate me to stop disassembling my children. I'll just go in private, deal with it, and then we'll re-enter. And, you know, they don't have to see the ugliness of whatever it is. All right. But let me make it clear. No chastening for the present seems to be joyous. It's not a joyous time. It's grievous. Pastor Shelley taking his children to be disciplined is a grievous experience. OK. And you know what? Your children should have the exact same testimony as grievous when dad has to deal with me. You know what? God is a terrifying figure in your children's lives. He should be loving, kind, and nurturing, but also terrifying. Go to Ephesians 6. Because that's really just God. Did you not know that? Isn't God? He's loving. He's kind. But isn't He a terrible God, as the Bible describes Him? Meaning He strikes terror into the hearts of men. To see God would just terrify you. To know if God was going to fight against you would be just a scary endeavor, as the Bible describes it. And that should be as it is with our Father. That our Father, He's the greatest person to be on your team. He's the worst person to be not on your team. He's the best person to be excited for you, and He's the worst person to have to deal with you. Right? And that's the kind of relationship that we should have. Ephesians 6, verse 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Now, even though you children have heard me say y'all are terrible monsters, that is no excuse. You better behave. The Bible says children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Not all children are the same. Some children are better than others. You be the best child. You be the best sibling. You be the one that's always doing right. You know, praise God that I didn't have a rebellious streak when I was little. And I remember my mom would always say, you know, hey, I appreciate you're not like your brother and sister, and that you always try to obey. Now, here's the honest truth. I wasn't a perfect kid, okay? And most of the stuff I got away with is when they weren't looking. But, admittedly, I wasn't just trying to rebel. I wasn't just trying to be the bad kid or anything like that. You know, I tried to obey my parents. Of course, in school I made fun of the teachers. But other than that, I mean, I was a pretty good kid, you know, for the most part. And, you know, I don't look back at my past and think like, oh, man, I should have lived it up a little more. I should have been more rebellious. No. You should try to be the best kid. You know, there used to be this thing in school. It was like where you're trying to be the teacher's pet. Anybody know what I'm talking about? The teacher's pet. And people would be made fun of. Like, oh, you always do what the teacher said and whatever. You know what? But that's not a bad thing. You know what? You should be the teacher's pet at your home school class. You know, where you're always trying to please mom and then putting the apple on the desk and you're folding your laundry without being told. You're making your bed without being told. You're cleaning up at your brother and sister without being told. You help your brother and sister tie their shoes. You don't tie them together, okay? You're being sweet to your brothers and sisters. You're looking out for mom and dad. You're helping them remind them, hey, do we need to take coats with us? And they're like, yeah. You know, hey, do we need to grab this? Yeah. Hey, do you want me to carry that? Yeah. Hey, you boys, you want to become men? Start opening the door. Hold the door for your mom and dad. Hold the door for everyone. You know, my dad taught me at a young age to open the door for my mom and to open my door for my dates. You know, this is some good dating advice, okay? You men, you go on a date, open the door for your female every single chance you get. Just show her how strong you are. You know, I can open that door. Yeah, right? You got to pay attention to the sign if it says pull, pull, push, push, okay? But other than that, you know, you be the man and cater to those women around there. You know, you children need to obey and become adults. You can become an adult at a young age by obeying, being obedient. And you say, I don't like this term, Ambassador Shelley, because my parents are going to start disciplining me more. Well, here's your cure. Start obeying better. You can prevent a lot of spankings by obeying. But you know what? I hope, I hope that your parents are hearing, like, I need to discipline you every time that you're bad, though. So maybe you'll decide to start being good. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment of promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. You say, I feel like I'm disciplined all the time. Okay, well, obey your parents better. Be a better child. Verse 4, and ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Now, this is an important verse to balance a little bit of what we said. You know, being a father is not only discipline. It's not only correction. You need a healthy balance of both. And you have to be doing both at all times. You need to be spending time with your kids, laughing, playing games with them, talking to them, engaging with them, being sweet to them, holding them, giving them kisses, telling them that you love them. But then you also need to be disciplining them at the same time. You need to be also making clear that you will not tolerate disobedience and rebellion whatsoever. And you want to have this healthy balance and bring them up in nurture and admonition in the Lord, because this is how God is. God is constantly bestowing unto us grace and mercy and kindness and favor and blessing when we don't deserve it. But, you know, he's also a disciplinarian at the same time. And so if we want to give our children the best picture of God, we need to be modeling both. Now, for sake of time, I don't know if I want to turn you really anywhere else. Go to Revelation, chapter 3. You know, the qualifications of a bishop, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that you have to be ruling your house well. You know, just to give you a sample, the Bible says, one that ruleeth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For a man know not to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? You know, of course, pastors, being the example to everyone, need to have well-behaved children. It's not appropriate to not do that because for a pastor, the pastor has to exercise church discipline at times. How is someone going to exercise church discipline when they can't even exercise discipline in their own home? You know, that's kind of counterintuitive. It doesn't really make sense. That's why it's necessary that a man have gone through that phase of his life to some degree before he even become a pastor. You wouldn't want someone to be a pastor and they never even disciplined a single person in their life, but now they have to exercise control and power of a church and the authority of a pastor? You know, that person should have already been exercising a lot of good control and discipline in his own family's life. And, of course, that's what the verse is talking about. It's not saying that they're all saved. It's not saying that they're all, you know, adults or anything like that. It's just saying that as a pastor, you should be able to discipline your children and they respond to discipline. You know, if they can't behave themselves at times, you know, you're not doing it right. And, of course, it's not like, oh, well, I'm not going to be a pastor. No, no. The pastor is the example for every person. Every man is supposed to be like this. Every man is supposed to be ruling his house well. Every man is supposed to have his children in its objection with all gravity. Of course, it's just you would never pick somebody that can't even do that to then become a pastor. That just doesn't even make any sense. You know, it should be someone that's doing this well. Revelation 3, look at verse 19, the Bible says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. You know, we need to have the same love and affection towards our children that God has towards us. And, of course, God loves us and because of his love, he chastens us and we should be zealous. But, you know, our world is being destroyed because of this. And one area to really highlight, and it's not like skin color has anything to do with it, but if you look at the black community in America, they are committing more crimes than any other demographic. And it's not because of their skin color. You want to know one of the major reasons it's happening is because they don't have a father in the home disciplining them. Just to give you some statistics, there's about 18 million children in America who are living without a father in the home. Now, that is approximately 25% of all children in America. 25% of all children in America are certainly not being disciplined by their father in the home because they don't even have a father in the home. You know, you children that think that your life's hard by coming to Steadfast Baptist Church, you need to get over yourself because some children don't even have a father. They have no dad. They have no one bringing home the bacon. They have no one lovingly disciplining them. They have no one to teach them anything or to buy them anything or to take them out or to go on birthdays or any of this other stuff. You know what? That is sad. And you know what? You didn't choose which parents to have. You should be thankful that God gave you a father that's going to take you to church, that's going to love you, that's going to discipline you because so many children are not. In fact, the country with the highest percentage of children in single-parent households, according to Pew Research in 2019, the country with the number one single-parent household in the world is the United States of America. They always want to talk about how we're number one. I guess we're number one in having just children being raised in a single-parent household. You want to know why America is turning into crap? It's because we don't have parents raising children anymore. It's because it's under assault. It's under attack. And of course, if you want to denigrate a society, start there. Start getting dads out of the household. You know, the communist manifesto and all these communist ideals, they have a very specific plan. They always bring in feminism and then they destroy marriages through whoredom and then at that point, it's just the sky's the limit what you can do to the society because they're all just brain-dead zombies just chasing the next dopamine high. Okay? But you know why you get a real dopamine high? You drink a lot of milk and you breastfeed. Okay? I was reading this this morning, you know, how women naturally release a lot of dopamine and you say, what's dopamine? It's the greatest sensation your body can have. You know, you get this sensation from taking illicit drugs. You get this from drinking milk and breastfeeding. Okay? And shopping. But don't tell anyone that one, all right? It's like shopping, the smell of chocolate chip cookies in the oven, milk, okay? The reason why men get married and, you know, basically illicit drugs. Well, let's get rid of the illicit drugs and let's implement all the other things. And you know, you can actually have a happy, healthy life. You know, another thing that's going to drive a lot of happiness is disciplining your children because they're going to be pleasant to be around and they're going to give you all kinds of joy. You know why these feminists are not happy? They don't have any children. They certainly aren't breastfeeding at all. They're not drinking the milk because they have weird ideologies or whatever. They're not eating any red meat. They're not making chocolate chip cookies for anybody. So their life is just so sad and depressing they have to take SSRI. You know, they have to just take all these drugs to fake being happy. You know what? God already gave us the prescription to be happy. He didn't have to tell us about drugs. He just told us what to do and then all those other things work themselves out. You're like, I'm so depressed all the time. Well, you know, start implementing some of God's policies in your life. You know, we know we need more men in the household. According to another statistic, it says of black families, 25% of children that are birthed out of wedlock are from black families. I'm sorry, this is in 1965. In 1965, a child born out of wedlock, 25% of the time in the black community. But in 1991, that changed to 68% of black children were born outside of marriage. So it went from 25% in 1965 all the way to 68%. It's called hip hop. It's called just degeneracy in our culture. Now, a little bit further in the future, in 2011, it was 72%. Almost three quarters of all children in a black family are being born without some father or some mother in their relationship. In fact, it says that it's like 70% now, okay? There's a reason why, if you look at America's prisons today, if you are Hispanic, there is a 1.9% chance you will go to jail and be in jail right now. So if they're Hispanic, you have a 1.9%. If you're white, there's a 0.7%. If you're black, there's a 4.8%. It's almost seven times higher. Now, of course, they say, oh, systemic racism. No, no, no, it's having no father in the home. No, it's having no one discipline the children. I mean, they're seven times more likely to be in prison. It's like, oh, I wonder why. The Bible already told us why. Don't let the world lie to you and say, oh, it's because of racism. It's because of white people. Well, if it's because of white people, then it's because of the Jews. But you know what? It's certainly not because of white people that black people are just shooting each other and going to jail for selling drugs. You know why they're doing that is because they didn't have a father at home spanking them. So they didn't have a father at home to love them enough to keep them out of the streets. But they didn't have a father providing for them and taking care of them and loving them. It has nothing to do with skin color, folks. That's meaningless. God doesn't even care about that. I think black people are taller and stronger, so they have an advantage. Why would they want to then give that away by just abandoning their children and destroying their children and ruining their children? That's because, frankly speaking, the black churches are not very good. And there are not very many of them anymore. And they're more focused on being black and BLM than they are preaching the Bible. I drive to Houston a lot, and down there, there's this Friendship West Baptist Church, and it's got a giant BLM banner hanging outside of it. You know what we don't have? We don't have a WLM banner hanging out here. We don't have a WLM banner. In fact, I've never seen a church be like WLM. Because they don't really care. But then why is it that there are all these black churches that care so much about just being black? It's because they're not focused on the Bible and the Word of God, and they're not emphasizing fathers being in the home. Oh, well, we're oppressed because of white people. Let's go riot. And then they're in jail more. And they're like, let's sing a song that says, F the police, you know? And it's like, I wonder why they're constantly getting shot by police officers. Because they resist. And they talk about how cool it is to shoot them and beat them up. And they glorify videos of people mocking police officers and flipping police officers off. You know, there are police officers that are literally black. What about them? Do you hate them too? You know, our society is destroying itself for a lack of knowledge, and it's because they don't have this knowledge. The Word of God, the Bible. We need men to correct their sons. And nothing will fix it apart from that. Democrat policies, Republican policies, women governors, all this stuff, that's not going to fix any of their problems. Giving more money to these communities isn't going to fix their problems. More black churches isn't going to fix their problems. We need more King James Bible. And we need people to read the Proverbs, and we need to just tell men to raise their children. You know what? We need to be a good example. We need to have the greatest children, not just for our benefit, but for the world's benefit to look and say, I want my children to be like those children. Instead of being like, wow, I would never want five of that. I would never want seven of that. You want them to say, I want ten of that. That's a good testimony. And you know what? It encourages people to want to hear what the Bible has to say. There was a protester that one time emailed us, a few months ago, and they said, I was protesting with these other protesters, and they're just a bunch of liars. Everything they say about y'all is not true. All I see is happy families going into church, and everything you guys believe is on your website. And it was like, I think y'all should have the right to say whatever you want. Even though I strongly disagree, and I don't like the message, I still believe that you should be able to do that. And frankly, y'all look really happy, and I'm sorry that I protested with y'all or whatever. And it's like, how did that happen? Because they were like, oh, wow, they're way different. Oh, wow, they're actually respectful. Oh, wow, they actually look good. And of course, we want to keep that testimony going. We want people to say those things about us. I don't ever ask for it, but for whatever reason, I had a lot of people compliment me or my friends when we go out eating, like, wow, your children are really well-behaved. And you know what? Frankly speaking, me and my wife are thinking like, pfft. You know, I don't know what you're thinking. But you know what? I'm glad that that's happening. It's not like I'm so special or anything like that. I'm just trying to say that people can notice that and encourage them to want to be. They're like, hey, what church do you go to? I want to know about your church then, and I want to know what faith you have, and I want to know what you're doing because people want well-behaved children. And a lot of grandparents, they're like, man, my grandchildren are rough. I hear that all the time. Usually it's followed up with that comment. It's like, hey, your children are really well. We have some grandchildren. Wow, they're wild. Wow, they have to have a screen at the dinner table to even just kind of behave or whatever. And it's like, you know, that's not allowed at my house. You know, we're not watching TV so we can get through the meal. You know what, use the rod of correction to get through the meal. Sometimes you have to implement that, but sometimes we have a quiet dinner. If the kids aren't behaving well, it's like, you're not allowed to talk. He's like, I want to go to private dinner. Okay, here's a, you're not allowed to talk. You're like, well, my kids would never obey that. The rod of correction will help you with that. And then you and your wife can have a pleasant conversation while the kids observe what it's like to have a pleasant conversation. Okay, you know, and I'm not saying that's every time, but what I am saying is this. It can be done. It can happen. Children can sit through a five hour long sermon or however long it is I preach for. You know, they can and they can pay attention and they can like it. My kids love church. Your kids love church. And, you know, frankly speaking, this is the right path. Don't go the way of the world. Don't give up hope on your children. And don't be the guy that hates your kids. Spank your kids. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the word of God. Thank you for giving us clear instruction on this issue. Thank you for entrusting us with so many children in this room. We're so blessed to have so many great little boys and little girls. And I pray that we would never take them for granted. That we wouldn't look down upon the opportunity that's been bestowed on us. But rather we'd look at the great privilege and honor we have to raise some of God's children. I pray that we would take extra diligent care with our children. We would make sure to implement the rod of correction because we love our children. And I pray that you would come alongside of us as we try to raise godly children. That you would help us. You'd give us grace. That you would touch our children's hearts. That you would give us wisdom and discretion. And that you would help us to raise some of the most God-fearing and zealous Christians to ever live in this universe. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, for our final song we'll go to 410. Faith is the Victory. 410, Faith is the Victory. Song 410. And camped along the hills of mighty Christian soldiers rise And press the battle there the night shall veil the glowing skies Against the foe it bails below let all our strength be hurled Faith is the Victory we know that overcomes the world Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory A glorious victory that overcomes the world His banner over us is love We tread the road the saints above with shouts of triumph drawn By faith they like a whirlwind's breath swept on o'er every field The faith by which they conquered death is still our shining shield Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory A glorious victory that overcomes the world On every hand the foe we find drawn up in dread array Let tents of ease be left behind and onward to the frame Salvation's helmet on each head with truthful gird about The earth shall tremble need your tread and echo with our shout Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory A glorious victory that overcomes the world To Him that overcomes the foe Before the angels He shall know His name confessed in Him Then onward from the hills of mine our hearts will love a flame We'll vanquish all the hosts of night in Jesus' conquering name Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory A glorious victory that overcomes the world Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed.