Hey, welcome to One and All.

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All right, everybody, welcome.

I'm in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 1 through 9, and if you're here and you're a visitor and you're thinking, what are we doing?

We're in this parenting series, and it's because we all did it perfectly.

And if you want to know how to perfectly parent, you came to the right place because none of us here made any mistakes, and all of our children have grown up to be, what is it?

What's the old line?

All of our men are strong and all of our women are good looking, so there you go.

You're at the right place.

No, we're in the series because we recognize that parenting is very difficult.

Nobody gets it right.

Nobody's perfect, no perfect parents, no perfect children.

And this is not a place of judgment where we're smacking you on the hand saying, you know what, you were a poor parent and now you're going to pay for it.

This is a place where we want to help the next generation, get it right from the mistakes their parents made, and also to give you the challenge that this is perhaps...

One of the most important endeavors right now, especially in the West, but especially even more so in America, as you look around in our nation and who knows what's going on, we need that family structure.

We need it to be strong for the sake of our community, for the sake of our nation, for the sake of humanity, period.

So I want to start this weekend by reading from perhaps the most ancient text.

The oldest text we have, probably in existence, on parenthood, and it comes out of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6, verse 1.

These are the commands, decrees, and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children, and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you, and that you may increase greatly in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Verse 4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

So how many of you remember, and this is a few years ago, one of my favorite books of all time, and I still have a couple of copies, The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

One of my favorite, I still have it.

I mean, it's right beside the Darwin Awards.

Does anybody remember those two books?

Great books.

It was the number one selling nonfiction paperback.

It was based on interviews and experts in various fields.

So they had chapters on, for instance, how to escape quicksand.

So if you're on an African vacation and you get caught in quicksand, here's what you do to survive.

It tells you how to jump from a building into a dumpster.

Not sure why you would need to do that.

But if you are running from someone and you want to jump into the dumpster, it tells you how to do that and be safe, not to die.

It tells you even how to perform a tracheotomy on someone by using just a razor blade or a sharp knife or even a ballpoint pen.

It's sold over a million copies.

Some advice in the book is quite predictable.

How to deal with a charging bull.

I like that.

How do you deal with a charging bull?

First piece of advice, do not antagonize the bull.

Do not say, you stupid bull.

Don't do that.

Not wise.

How to survive a parachute not opening.

I like this.

First thing is to signal to the other guy.

Well, the first question that comes to my mind is, what if there is no other guy?

Two, it says hook arms.

Well, if he doesn't know that my parachute hasn't opened, I don't know how to fly over to him.

You're going at a terminal velocity, they say, of 230 kilometers per hour.

If you do manage to hook arms with a guy whose parachute is working, it tells you that when the chute opens, the shock will be severe.

You will probably dislocate both arms, but don't worry, you'll only break one of your legs, and you will survive.

Another one is how to face an angry mountain lion.

I love this.

A, run.

B, play dead.

C, open your coat to make yourself look bigger.

Or D, sing a happy gentle song.

I love that.

I'm going to sing.

Everybody knows you look bigger, right?

Which never has made any sense to me because, I mean, if I'm hungry and I see a bigger piece of meat, I'm going to think this is inviting, but evidently that works.

And then four, how to face an angry mountain lion if you're with a friend.

Now, you know the answer to that.

you don't have to outrun the mountain lion.

You just have to outrun your friend.

So we all know that.

The whole principle of the book is you don't know what kind of curves life is going to throw at you, and you never know what's lurking around the corner.

So it's best to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Now, moms and dads, when it comes to raising our children, we are now in the worst-case scenario.

Right now, right here, especially in America, especially in California.

And the reason is, is that, and don't get offended if you're teachers, just chill just a little bit, but schools are no longer our partners the way they used to be.

There is an aggressive movement in this country to eradicate Christianity and all it teaches.

At least all that is inconvenient and all of its influences from the public arena.

And the reason old guys like me, okay, struggle with this kind of thing is when we grew up, here we go, you know, when you were old, you know, it was always cold and you had to walk to school, barefoot, uphill, both ways.

I know all that.

So when I was going to school, it's amazing, you know, we started with prayer.

Bible reading, and then the Pledge of Allegiance every day at school.

Now, you think about going to a teacher today and asking the teacher if you can reinstall that.

Now, here's the thing.

I get it that we're not there anymore because I actually understand we're not a Judeo-Christian nation anymore.

We're just not.

I don't like it, but it is what it is.

We are a democracy.

Well, at least for the time being.

But...

even though I can see what's going on in culture as we go away from these values, what I never thought would happen is that there would be an attack on those values.

Apathy toward them is one thing, but to want to attack them is quite another.

God is doing that for effect.

Just on, on.

Tony, listen to what he says.

So here's the question.

Since we are in, Since we are in the worst case scenario, how are you and I going to be able to pass our faith down to our children?

How's it going to happen?

Now, I want you to remember something, parents.

The goal is not to create little Bible theologians.

It's good if they know the Bible.

I mean, the Word of God does not return void, but that's not your ultimate goal.

Neither is your ultimate goal to get them in some kind of salvation experience where they repeat some phrase and then get baptized and then go on about their life.

That's not what your ultimate goal is.

You with me?

Your goal is not merely an intellectual decision or a worldview, although those things are important.

Your goal is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for your children.

Jesus offers something that no one else offers.

Even the psalmist knew it, David, in Psalm 73.

Yet I am always with you.

You hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

As you introduce, as you lead your children into relationship with Jesus, Jesus will do things you never thought of doing.

He'll be such a better parent than you could ever be.

Matter of fact, one of my favorite movies, a Denzel Washington movie, and it's a famous line.

I'm not sure that he coined the phrase, but I've heard it repeated numerous times.

He's about, and Denzel Washington does this very well, revenge.

That's what he does.

He's the equalizer.

So every movie is about, you're mean to these people, now I have to kill you.

And so he's loading his gun, ready to go out and exact revenge.

And there's this older couple that have grown up in the church, obviously.

And they look at Denzel Washington and they say, you know, the church teaches forgiveness.

And Denzel Washington says, forgiveness is between them and God.

It's my job to arrange the meeting.

Famous line.

Well, believe it or not, our job as parents is to arrange the meeting between God and our children.

We are God's proxies, and we're to accomplish His purposes in this world.

And a primary responsibility of every parent is to raise our children up in the faith.

And when I say the faith, I don't just mean doctrine.

I don't just mean knowing your Bible.

Those are good things.

I mean to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

You say, okay, Jeff, I got it.

What do you?

Remember what we said about Søren Kierkegaard, the famous Danish philosopher who said, I have learned to define life backwards, first determine the goal and live life accordingly.

So now that you know the goal, how are you going to get there?

You don't just drift into it.

This is the problem we have.

Remember we said that direction, not intention, determines destination.

So you might want your kids to believe in Christ and have a personal relationship with Him.

But if there's no intention, it's not going to happen.

The flow of the world is so powerful.

If you're not intentional about this, and you actually have a plan, chances are high it's not going to happen.

Okay, Pastor Jeff, what are those plans?

Well, here's what I want to do.

What is the plan?

I want to give you six non-negotiables of Christian parenting.

And I just want to tell you from the get-go, number three is the big one.

Okay, they're all important.

But number three in this culture is huge.

Here's number one.

Number one non-negotiable.

Teach them about God as early as you can.

As soon as they can understand anything, teach them about God.

Children, a psychologist, Justin Barnett, in his 2012 book, Born Believers, states this.

That children have a number of natural dispositions to believe in God as the creator and sustainer of all that is.

Now you think about it.

Week one we said, your children have a predisposition toward what?

Sin.

Children don't.

They don't come into the world wanting to do the good.

And if you think that your children are bent toward that, toward righteousness, your parenting skills are going to suffer.

And the way you approach your children is not going to work.

And that's why we learned in Ephesians that a good parent will be someone who teaches and corrects and disciplines and nurtures.

So we learned in week one that your child has a disposition to do the wrong thing.

Now we learn here that your child has a disposition toward belief in God.

The children come into the world believing in God.

And now we're told that the only way they lose that belief in God is number one, by culture who teaches them there is no God, by teaching just drills them again and again, there's no God, there's no God, or through trauma.

In other words, they experience something in their life that they have a difficult time harmonizing with the existence of God.

So your job from the get-go, and I'm keeping this as basic as we can, from the get-go is to teach them about origin, meaning, morality, and destiny.

Right from the get-go to remind them there is a God, you're here because God created you, and the meaning of your life...

It's to find your place in God's world.

You have a purpose.

And morality, right and wrong, is discovered in God's precepts, is discovered in the Scripture.

And your destiny is to return in perfect community in a place called heaven with God at the end of your life.

You say that again and again and again.

You say, Pastor Jeff, I'm not so good at saying it like you just did.

Then get John MacArthur's book called Faith to Grow On.

I don't agree with everything John MacArthur says, but I'll tell you one thing.

This is the best children's book I've ever seen.

It's theology for little kids spoken in very simple language.

The other reason the kid loses his faith or a child is because, this is important, the parents don't demonstrate what they say they believe at home.

As it relates to the endurance of your child's faith, everything, all the research we've done tells us what happens at home is far more catalytic than what happens at church.

So you can go to church and you can say what you believe, but your kids are always watching you.

They're really watching you in relation to how you respond when things don't go well.

How do you respond when there's tension between mom and dad?

How do you respond to your anger?

How do you respond when things aren't going well financially?

Do you live in fear and panic and complaint, or do you live in faith and prayer that God is large and in charge?

See, no matter what you do at church, no matter how many times you raise your hands in worship, your children are going to look at, does your life, do you live out what you say you believe?

You can't, you can't quote.

You know, Romans 8, 28, and you can't teach them, you know, everything works together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose.

And then when trials hit, you live as a pragmatic atheist, as if God does not exist.

And that's why I say, dads, are you praying with your children?

You say, no, that's mom's job.

Let me tell you something about sons and fathers.

My mother's prayers touched me.

They did.

They touched me in a deep place.

But let me tell you, when I saw my father pray, it convicted me.

It convicted me that my father believed that there was someone bigger and stronger than him that he submitted to.

And that changed the trajectory of my life.

I read an article this past week.

It was the Barna report.

and the title of the article was Barna Report Prodigal Pastors Kids.

So all your life, you hear that PKs, pastors kids, are the most rebellious, right?

That's what I've heard all my life.

They're the worst, and the second worst are the MKs, the missionary kids, and in the article, it says that in actuality, less than 9% of pastors kids walk away from their faith.

So 91%.

A pastor's kids remain true to the faith.

However, research says when they do walk away, the primary reason they walk away is what their parents say at church does not match how they live at home.

Your kids are more likely to mimic how you live over and above what you say.

Proverbs 22.6, train up a child in the way he should go.

When he's old, he will not turn away from it.

And that training includes not only correction and discipline, but also living by examples.

I got to tell you, and I'm not saying my parents were perfect.

I know I wasn't the perfect parent.

And I've mentioned these before, but my father's impact on my life, huge, huge.

It goes all the way back to the envelope on the mantle of our house that said God's money.

You know, my father didn't make a lot, but when he got his paycheck, he put the 10% in an envelope and put it on the mantle, and it said God's money.

I can't tell you how many times I wanted to go to that envelope and take some of God's money.

And we begged our father, Dad, come on, we want to go to McDonald's.

No, we budgeted, we can't do it.

Well, let's borrow from God.

No, no, that's God's money.

You don't touch that.

I remember hearing my father pray around the table every night before we ate.

I remember my father, not only my mother, reading the Bible at night.

Dads, don't look to your wife to do everything.

The impact she has is powerful, but there's still an impact that only you can have in the way that you can have it.

And when I saw my mother and my father both pray, read the Bible, and live the way they did, it convinced me that my parents really do believe this stuff.

They really did.

One of the greatest examples I've given you in the past, and I know it makes some of you uncomfortable, and that's my job as a pastor, right?

I mean, it amazes me all the prophets in the Old Testament, they got stoned.

So you know, and I'm not talking about drunk, I'm talking about they came and they gave messages that were convicting, you know, so if I just give you messages that make you feel good all the time, I'm not sure I'm doing my job.

But I'll never forget my father told me when my coach said that we're going to practice on Sundays, my father said, No, you're not.

And he went to my coach with me.

And I'm the captain of the team, and I'm 16 years old at this point.

And my dad simply said, look, Jeff will always be at practice.

He will always be at games, but not when it's on Sunday, not between the times of 7 a.m.

in the morning until 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

That's the Lord's day.

We're not doing that.

And, you know, I've got to admit to you, part of the story I never told you is I went back and I said, Dad, if I don't go to practice on Sundays, I'm not going to be able to play in the games.

And here's my dad's response.

So what?

Now, you think about what's more important.

To honor God or to be an athletic superstar?

Man, right from the get-go.

But my father was calm about that.

And when I got, after he laid the foundation, make no mistake, when I was 17 and 18, he wanted me to make that decision.

He set the example and it taught me from the get-go, my father really believed, seek first the kingdom of God and then these things will be added.

And every time I use that example, somebody comes to me with legalism.

I say, oh, well, you're legalistic.

Your father was legalistic.

My goodness, really?

Just because a person stands up and says, you know, I have bent in every area.

I have pushed down the barriers in every area, but this one thing, I am going to honor God on the Lord's day with my life.

And this is going to be a non-negotiable.

That's legalism.

one day your child will be faced with all of these choices.

And I can promise you, as he gets older, he will not choose the one that's been hammered into him, but instead the one that's been demonstrated for him.

So first, teach them about God as early as possible.

And focus on how God, because you believe in God, impacts your life.

Okay, this is going to hurt.

You know, your children always go one beyond you.

They always do.

So if you're entertained by something that probably you shouldn't be entertained by, the chances are high your kids will go the next level.

You understand?

If you're not a forgiving person...

and you're gossip and slander in the home, chances are your children will be even worse.

If you can't control your anger, chances are high your children won't be able to control theirs.

But the good news is if you love and forgive, chances are high your kids will love and forgive.

If you show generosity, chances are high your kids will be generous.

If you show compassion to people who are hurting, guess what?

Chances are high your children will show compassion.

So teach them about God as early as possible too.

Teach them to listen to the voice of God.

Oh my goodness.

My mother, as long as I can remember, all the way back to a very young age, said, you are not alone.

Learn to hear God's voice.

He will guide you every step of the way.

And then she'd repeat this again and again.

Now, when I was younger, I took advantage of this.

Now you think about it.

Your parents tell you, listen to God.

And so anytime I got in trouble, God told me to do that.

Oh yeah, that's going to happen.

So on one occasion, a story that I told a lot when I first got to what was then CCV, now one and all, is there was a boy by the name of Lynn Kiker on my paper route.

So my dad also taught us very young, as soon as you can work, as soon as you can do something, take on a paper route, mow grass, do whatever you have to do to kind of start climbing up that corporate ladder.

Get out of the house, do something with your life.

And the first street over, on Fridays, as a paperboy, back then I would ride my little red rider bicycle and I would throw the papers on the front porch.

But on Friday, you had to stop because you had to go to the door and collect for the week's papers.

And there was this mean boy, Len Kiker, who always just would torture.

He was about three or four years older, a lot bigger than I was.

At least that's how I remember it.

and he would just torture, throw things at me, call me, names threaten me.

And, you know, every week I was nervous about walking up to that door not knowing what was going to happen.

And I got so tired of that, so I went and asked my older brother, who was three or four years older than I was and a state championship wrestler, to follow me to the house.

I said, hey, would you go with me and take care of this kid because he's bigger than I am and I don't know what to do.

So with renewed courage, because my brother was standing over here behind the light pole, as I walked up onto the front porch, and I heard the Spirit of God.

I heard the Spirit of God say to me, smack him and run.

And it's as clear as a bell.

So in the name of Jesus, I just popped him as hard as I could, and it felt so good.

And I ran away, and my brother Tim, when he started chasing me, came out and intercepted him, and he got both of mine's boys, double barrel.

Man, I felt good.

I felt so good.

When I got home, my dad heard what had happened.

And my dad came to me and said, hey, you know, I heard your brother tells me that you just hit him as hard as you could and you ran, which those of you who know me aren't surprised by that.

But he said, well, son, why did you feel the need to do that?

I said, God told me.

my dad took out his Bible and read this.

You've heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

And my father taught me very early on, the word of God is ultimate authority in your life.

If you hear something that is contrary to God's spoken word, then you've not heard from God.

Man, the conviction.

Dad, you have to be right about everything.

I cannot tell you what that's done for me in seasons of my life to remember both my mother and my father saying, that if I will stop and pause when I'm faced with tough decisions, or even when I'm in pain or when I'm in a situation where I'm between a rock and a hard place, if you will stop and listen for the voice of God, he will always guide you.

Even in the midst of the most terrible situations, the three and a half years, even in the midst of that anxiety, I still never felt lost or directionless or hopeless.

I knew God was with me.

Now, why is that important today?

Because this generation is in peril.

The new JAMA network, this is a network that studies mental illness, anxiety, depression, all those among teens.

And they came out with a study in 2020 that said 70% of teens experience anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts to a significant degree.

70%?

70?

It says there's been a 30% increase in the suicide rate in America.

30?

I mean, that's epidemic.

And the article says the reason is they are looking for something to identify with that would give them meaning and significance.

But God is no longer an option because we've moved him out.

But yet God is the only thing that is eternal.

He's the only thing that never changes.

So they attach their lives to something else, a boy, a girl, a clan, a tribe.

And when that falls apart, they have nowhere to turn.

So now more than ever you see dating suicides where a young man and a young girl will break up and one will take their own life.

You see betrayal suicides where friends are friends and then a friend starts to abuse them over social media.

You see even bully suicides where someone doesn't know how to handle the conflict in their lives.

Alternatively the article says, that belief in God significantly decreases anxiety, depression, and suicide thoughts, but it doesn't stop there.

It says, however, a relationship with God almost annihilates it.

So belief in God does one thing, but a relationship with God almost annihilates suicide, anxiety, depression.

And the reason is because the kid knows he's not alone or she's not alone.

And she's been taught or he's been taught that God has a way of working everything together for good.

David talks to himself in Psalm 42 when he says, Why, my soul, are you so downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will praise him, my Savior and my God.

Can I tell you, parents, that God is speaking to your child long before you think he is.

don't underestimate God's willingness to speak to your children.

If you encourage them to listen for his voice, you should be praying every night that Jesus give your children a revelation of himself, that they could start to notice him, see him, experience him in a very young age.

I love it when we bring the kids out for worship because a couple of them are like this.

Now they didn't learn that here.

Something's going on in the home.

Somebody's teaching those kids that God is real, worship his will, and when they come out, they can connect with him.

Listen, one of the most important questions you can ask your children at an early age is Lord, show me what you want me to do with my life.

Now be ready for some funny answers when you ask them, what do you think God wants you to do?

But if the reason you do that is when you do that, this is how they start developing a relationship with God as they talk to God, ask God and look for his leading.

And once the relationship is in place, you look for opportunities not to make decisions for them, but to ask them as they grow older, what do you think God wants you to do?

You know, WWJD, what would Jesus do?

So when I had a tough decision to make, my mother would usually say, well, what makes you happy?

Then my father would wait and even say, Jeff, it's not about your happiness.

What do you think God wants you to do here?

One, teach them about God as early as possible.

Two, teach them to listen to the voice of God.

And now we've arrived.

Teach them, to guard their hearts.

Psalm 423, Proverbs, sorry, 423.

Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.

Now, this is a little bit heavy here.

Please stay with me.

Engage.

You and I are emotional creatures, and that is never going to change.

We feel, but feelings do not necessarily represent reality, right?

I may feel depressed for no reason at all.

I may feel anxious, paranoia, even fear for no reason at all.

I mean, psychologists try to tell us that we have such a strong chemical makeup, you know, what you eat in the morning can determine how you feel in the afternoon, but it doesn't necessarily represent reality.

Think about it.

How many times have you, you get addicted to a news app and suddenly you find yourself just irritated all the time because you keep listening to bad news.

Now, Where your children are concerned, they are growing up in a world, oh my goodness, they're being bombarded from every side all the time.

They're being told they're ugly or unworthy or insignificant.

And if you're told that enough, you start to feel ugly and unworthy and insignificant.

But does that match with reality?

Not at all.

But we got to teach our children from a very young age to bring their feelings.

And this is my concern because we're all about feelings.

Tell me how you feel, sweetheart.

Tell me that's all well and good, but you've got to teach them to take those feelings and bring them under the authority of God's word.

Now you think about a couple of situations here.

Man, this is so interesting.

You look at the Old Testament.

You got Jonah.

Jonah is outraged because the people of Nineveh repented.

Don't you love that?

God says, go preach.

He did.

And then he's mad.

He's mad because they repented.

And God comes to him and says, do you have a right to be angry?

In other words, why do you feel the way you do?

And should you really feel this way?

Yeah, God, because I knew you were kind and merciful and would forgive them if they repented.

That's what he said.

And God said, what has brought you here?

Think about the way you feel, and now think about what is true.

Same thing happened.

Think about the prodigal son.

When the prodigal son returned to the father's house, the elder brother did what?

He was angry because there was a big party for his younger brother.

And what does the father do?

He says, look, why are you feeling angry?

Do you think this anger is appropriate?

Why are you jealous?

Why should you be?

1 Kings 19, Elijah.

God has given him all kinds of victory.

And now Jezebel once again is chasing him and Elijah wants to die.

So he says, God, just kill me right now.

And God comes to Elijah and says, why are you here?

Should you be feeling the way that you're doing?

What is the truth that really matters?

Am I not large and in charge?

Have I not demonstrated my faithfulness in the past?

Will I not deliver you in the future?

Do I not work everything together for good?

Why are you moping around?

Here's the point.

We got to train our children to pay attention to their hearts.

Is everything okay?

How was your heart today?

Did anybody hurt your feelings today?

Are you mad at anybody?

Are you worried about anything?

But if you stop there, when your children are smaller, you'll create these little emotional roller coasters whose happiness and soul health will be based on how they feel.

In today's world, their feelings are going to wreak havoc.

because they're bombarded constantly with conflicting messages.

A major part of parenthood, if you're going to raise faith, is to help your children understand that their emotions and feelings, although they're important, don't belittle them, but they do not always represent reality.

And teach them to take what they're hearing at school, in the media, wherever, and the emotions and the feelings that they have, and drag them to what you know to be objectively true.

Remind them you are a Christian.

culture must subject to scripture or be subjected to scripture, not vice versa.

Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

Teach your children, I'm going to follow that guy, the guy that died for me on the cross and the guy that rose from the dead and the guy that has given me eternal life.

I'm going to follow him.

So culture tells me this, and it conflicts with this, I'm going to follow Jesus.

Oswald Chambers, and this is good for those of you who aren't children, because for some of you, the reason you live on an emotional roller coaster is you as an adult have never learned this.

Okay, Oswald Chambers, unless we train our emotions, they will lead us around by the nose and we will be captives to every passing impulse or reaction.

But once faith is trained to control the emotions and knows how to lean resolutely against weakness of character, another entryway of doubt is sealed shut forever.

much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature.

You got to take the emotions that you have and experience and lead them to what is objectively true.

And the way you teach your children to guard their hearts is by equipping their minds with truth.

Now I'm going to hammer this just a little longer because I got to approach it from different angles.

Do you remember the name Ted Kaczynski?

He was who?

Unabomber.

1978 to 1992, he mailed or hand-delivered sophisticated bombs that killed three Americans and injured 24 others.

He actually threatened and was planning to blow up an airline.

The FBI hired 150 full-time investigators.

I see that we're still at...

They found nothing.

They couldn't catch him.

Do you remember how they finally caught him?

His brother turned him in.

His brother began reading about the possible profile of what the Unabomber may be like, and he began to believe, this is my brother Ted.

Now, imagine the emotions.

Okay, the emotions are stirring.

All these people are dying.

If I don't turn my brother in, there's going to be more death.

And yet, if I turn my brother in, he's probably going to die.

Think about the tension, think about the emotion.

But in the end, truth claps the hand of freedom and led it to triumph.

You're going to have all kinds of feelings in your children in today's world, through the iPhone, through the iPad, through the move through, they're going to be bombarded feelings all over the place.

You've got to give them something that is foundation to take all those feelings and subject them to what we know is true.

Let's go back to what we read in the beginning.

These commands I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.

Now, what's he saying?

This is a reference to what we call the phylacteries.

The phylacteries were little boxes that you tied around your wrist and your head.

And in those little boxes were passages of scriptures.

to remind you of who you are and how you are to live.

Okay?

So if you think about it, in the book of Revelation, you have the mark of the beast.

And if you read carefully, you'll notice that this mark is here and here.

And in my personal opinion, as I've shared before, since Revelation is apocalyptic literature, it's simply trying to tell you there are two different groups of people in the world.

Those who think and act the ways of God and those who think and act the ways of the evil one.

So you're either marked by the spirit of God, symbolize how you think and what you do, or you're marked by the spirit of the evil one, the prince of the power of the air.

And you represent what he thinks and what he does.

And so with us and our children, we're supposed to do what?

Notice the scripture says, these laws are to be on your heart.

Now you and I separate the mind and the heart, but the Bible doesn't.

The mind and the heart are the same thing because the mind controls how the heart feels.

This is the beauty of it.

Once truth is known and taken in, it will actually start to impact your emotions.

2 Timothy 1.7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So we're not supposed to be afraid.

Instead, when fear comes, because it will, we do what we employ a sound mind that tells us what?

God is large and in charge and he will have his way.

The ancient sages said this, let me quote, this says, whoever has Teflon, that's the phylacteries, on his head and arm, Tzitzi on his garment, which were the knots at the end of a garment representing the first five books of Moses, and Mezuzah, which are scriptures on his door, may be presumed not to sin, for he has many reminders, and these are the angels, or messengers is a better translation, that save him from sinning.

As it is said, the angel or messenger of the Lord camps around those who revere him and rescues them.

Now, it's not saying that there are perfect people.

It's simply saying, show me somebody that's living a righteous life, and I'll show you somebody that has what?

The law of God on their hearts and in their minds.

And remember what we said about the precepts of God anyway.

They're based on design.

God knows how you best live, so he gives you precepts.

And if you live within these parameters, everything will go well with you.

Here we go again, back to the passage.

Hear Israel and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you, that you may increase greatly in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors promised you.

So if you're a parent, you understand that what you want for your children much more than physical health or wealth is emotional health.

shalom peace on the inside.

You want them to be not happy in the sense of pleasurable satisfaction.

You want them to be content and joyful.

You want that joy to be central so that no matter what happens around them, they can go out into the world and face it effectively, productively.

And that comes by the word of God.

The condition of our children's heart is above all things because their emotional health determines their relational health and ultimately their behavior and performance.

But if you Google what impacts a child's emotional health, they will tell you school, their peers, success and failure.

But to the Christ follower who's trying to raise faith, we teach our children that God takes all disadvantages and turns them into an advantage and uses them for His glory.

So here's the application.

If I were a parent today and my children were small, I would have the word of God plastered everywhere.

on the door of my house, on their door, on the walls of their room.

And I would have scriptures like these.

Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4.19, and my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

I would have Jeremiah 29 everywhere, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.

then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

In Romans 8, 28, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Deuteronomy 31, the Lord himself goes before you, will be with you.

He will never leave you or forsake you.

Do not be afraid.

Do not be discouraged.

And then trust in the Lord.

Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, submit to him and he will make straight your paths.

Man, I would put that everywhere.

And I would make sure my children, even when they become teenagers and they don't talk to you anymore, which is why it's important to have a dog when you have teenagers, because at least when you come home, somebody will be happy to see you.

And so even when they're teenagers, when they're not talking to you, they still see the words written on their hearts.

Now, just a quick word.

I got to do a quick word.

I'm not going to read the passage because I'm time.

I need to make sure I get to this final point.

One of the warnings that God gave the children of Israel is that because I'm sending you into a land flowing with milk and honey, you're going to have the temptation to forget me because you're going to be what I call distracted by your affluence.

So when everything's going well and you have everything you need, we tend to forget God.

Now, when our world is falling apart and the rug has been pulled out from under us, we tend to pray to God.

So God says, I'm giving you all this because I love you, but the tendency, the temptation you're going to have is to forget me and to be distracted by other things.

Your children live in a world that provides more distractions than any other generation.

any other generation.

I'm your pastor.

I love you.

Nobody's perfect.

But can I give you a word about entertainment?

I know that you're aware that groups like Disney and Pixar, even Sesame Street now, for crying out loud, is nothing sacred.

Big Bird, come on.

All of these are in cahoots to indoctrinate our children with the latest belief system in a secular, humanistic world.

Of course Disney and Pixar, of course they're going to push same-sex attraction and marriage.

Of course they're going to push the transgender ideology.

Of course they're going to go the route of culture.

And you should not be surprised.

Because in the past, yes, you would call Disney family-friendly, but that's only because in those days it had bought into a Judeo-Christian worldview.

It does not buy into that worldview anymore.

We are no longer the home team.

We're the away team.

Okay?

So Jasmine Holmes writes about this.

She says, Disney's agenda may or may not come as a shock to us, but it should come as a timely reminder that we cannot relegate the work of teaching our children to Disney or Pixar, to Dora or Sesame Street.

We can no more blindly sit them in front of the television to watch cartoons.

The world is not our home, and this culture is not our ally, and our level of vigilance should reflect that.

Do you trust Disney with your kids?

So if somebody's going to teach your kids, either you or Disney or Pixar, I want it to be me.

Teach them about God as early as possible.

Teach them to listen to the voice of God.

Teach them to guard their hearts for it quickly.

Teach them to pray.

Okay, let me give you something.

This is something that I learned experience.

Teach them as soon as they can understand the Lord's prayer and teach them about the Lord's prayer.

So what I did with Delaney and Sion, Delaney, I'm going to teach you.

We're going to say this prayer together every night, but I want you to know what it means.

Our Father, God is your Father, who art in heaven.

He's closer than the air that you breathe.

I will be his name.

He's holy, and he wants us to be holy.

Your kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God wants us to act down here like they act up there.

Give us this day our daily bread.

God, take care of our needs.

Pray to God that he takes care of the things that we need.

And then I finished by saying, and forgive us our debts.

I teach them about forgiveness and pray that we not be led into temptation so that when we face temptation, we will always come out victorious.

And then I'll give them examples.

Now, if you do the Lord's prayer every night for year after year, and then they get to the point where they can repeat it, that same message that you taught them is getting into them night after night after night.

Teach them about God as early as possible.

Teach them to listen to the voice of God.

Teach them to guard their hearts.

Teach them to pray.

keep them engaged in church.

Now, if your kids don't want to go to church, you may need to find a new one.

I said may.

I said may.

It might be true.

And I say that because there's a wider audience listening to this, not just you.

Second, you have to understand if your church attendance is sporadic, they're not going to want to go because it will seem optional to them.

Do you understand that?

So whatever you do, they go the next level.

So if you come three or four times a year, chances are high they'll come once or twice a year.

If you come once a month, chances are they'll go once every two months.

I mean, it'll seem optional.

And the sad thing about that is, and like I said before, while they're under your roof, I firmly believe they go to church.

It's not an option.

Can I ask you a question?

Do you give them the option to go to school or not?

Well, why not?

School more important than church, is it?

No.

You say, well, I want them to have a faith.

They're okay, okay.

Let them have a faith of their own.

But this family goes to church.

This family goes to church.

And if you don't have a commitment and it's not a non-negotiable and it's kind of like sporadic, you should not expect your kids to be involved in a place of worship.

And the sad thing about that is there should be an honoring of the Sabbath in all of our lives.

It also takes a village to raise a child.

A community is where they can come behind you, come beside you and go in front of you and without judgment, assist you and help you.

But one of the primary reasons I say this often is because I think most of us fail to understand that worship is the place we often meet God.

You know, I know we're heavy on preaching, church.

I know that.

And I know I tend to go long.

And I also know on the weekends, I am amazed at how many people walk out after the sermon as if the worship time is unimportant.

I am amazed because that's the time where you're connecting cerebrally now.

Worship was designed to connect with God.

And man, even for your kids, what kind of example is it to them?

Okay, sermon's over, let's jet.

Can I tell you something?

You can tell, like I said a few years ago, I don't really care anymore if you get mad at me.

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

I mean, but the truth is, why doesn't it communicate to your kid?

I mean, it tells them worship's not important.

Can I tell you, it also, one of the hardest things about coming from the South to the West Coast, and I've shared this a few times, is I hate the fact that sometimes pastors are like rock stars.

I hate that.

I'm serious.

You know why?

Because I have this fear that my reward is here.

And I've said before, what sacrifice do I really make?

And so when people walk out, and so many walk out, I feel like I'm just an entertainment guy.

We got the entertainment from that funny guy.

Let's go now.

You're not here for me, man.

You're here for God.

And you're here to worship God.

The number one reason that you should attend church is in Hebrews 10, 24.

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Not giving up meeting together is somewhere in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Now, please don't put words in my mouth and say, Pastor Jeff's illegal as if you don't go to church every Sunday, you go to hell.

I'm simply saying, what is the non-negotiable in your life?

What is important to you?

Whatever's important to you will be important to your children.

You set the tone.

please don't reduce church to listening to a podcast.

It's so much more than that.

It's community.

It's worshiping with others.

It's praying with others.

It's being involved in each other's lives.

It's Acts 2.

It's Acts 4.

It's devoting yourself to prayer and the apostles'teaching, to breaking of bread.

And God did many wonderful signs in their presence.

Okay, and finally, finally, whatever you do, temper all of this.

teach them about the cross.

You say, well, you said number three is the most important.

Okay, I just did that to get your attention.

Number three, number three is crucial.

Obviously, in all of this, you got to teach your kids about grace and mercy when they fail and how Jesus paid the ultimate price because he loves them and wants us to have relationship with the Father.

Teach them that Jesus is greater than their sin.

Teach them Jesus is greater than your sin, but he loves you and his precepts are for your protection.

So follow him.

Okay, here's what I want to do.

I'm going to ask all...we're going to do this on all campuses, all right?

I'm going to say a prayer, a short one, and then I'm going to ask on all campuses, young moms and dads, and you don't have to be young, but I'm assuming you are if you have kids.

I mean, I guess you could have a kid after 50, but...

Maybe we need to have a praise and worship for a miracle, maybe.

I'm going to ask you if you would have the courage to come up here, and we're going to gather you here, and we're going to have a pastoral prayer over your life.

And because it takes a village to raise a child, everybody out there is going to be raising their hands towards you.

And we're going to assume, just like in the Old Testament, when God placed an anointing on the prophets, I'm not a prophet, on the prophets and the teachers, that the spirit of the living God came down.

I'm asking God simply in this moment to hear our prayer and to give you a special blessing because parenthood is stinking hard.

and nobody gets it perfectly right, and nothing in this series is meant to make you feel horrible.

It's simply meant to teach the next generation of some non-negotiables.

If you try to do these as best you can, I'm convinced it makes a huge impact on your children, and one day they will want to come back home to you and hopefully back home to the Father.

Father, I thank you and praise you for laying this series on our hearts.

I pray for those...

who feel like, well, you know, this message is not relevant to me.

I pray that they would remember something.

And that is that we too are often led around by our emotions and we do not allow the word of God to penetrate our hearts so deeply that joy becomes centralized.

That we tend to focus much more on what we don't have, whether it be money, maybe some of us are lonely.

Maybe some of us, our lives didn't turn out the way we hoped they would.

Maybe we've had great loss.

And those are real, so real.

But we serve a God who comes to us in our loneliness, who comes to us in our poverty, who comes to us in the deepest times of deepest needs of our hearts.

And we're told that...

he meets all of our needs in Christ Jesus.

And that relationship sustains us while we wait for the inheritance for the sons and daughters of God.

I pray our eyes will be open and our joy would be made complete in Christ and that we would teach that foundational truth to the generations that will come.

In Christ's name, everybody said.

All right, everybody stand on all campuses, every campus, West Coe, Upland, San Dimas, everybody stand.

I'm going to encourage you, if you're a young mother, young father, come on down the front.

Right now, we love you.

Come on down.

Do not be shy.

You're about to get a prayer from the people who love you, who do not judge you, who knows that it's tough, who know that it's difficult.

We want to be on your side.

Come on.

Come on, West Coe.

Make your way down the front.

Upland, come on.

Don't be shy.

Don't be shy, open West Coast.

parenthood is, wow, hard, stinking hard, isn't it?

Isn't it?

It's hard.

But we're on your side.

We are for you.

We are not here to tell you you're messing up and you better get it right.

We're here to tell you we know it's hard and we want the spirit of God to give you energy and wisdom and power.

And we're gonna pray a special prayer for your kids too, even though they're not here right now, we're gonna pray for them as well, okay?

So everybody in the room.

stretch your hands toward the front.

Upland, stretch your heads.

Wesco, stretch those hands.

All of our moms and dads, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ and by His power, we pray that You would release Your divine energy on all of these souls, on these moms and dads.

And as we feel overwhelmed, we pray that you would give us the peace that you are always with our children as they sleep, as they're in school, wherever they are, you are always with them.

Matthew 18, we were reminded that the angels themselves watch over our children.

And so, Father, We pray for the safety of every boy and girl.

We pray for the emotional stability of every boy and girl.

We pray that the lies of the world would not penetrate their little minds and their thinking, but instead the truth of God would be so overwhelming, it would overpower any lie of the enemy.

We pray against those things that come from another place in the name of Jesus and by his power.

and we pray for wisdom primarily, for wisdom for moms and dads when they're put in situations they don't know what to do, that somehow the Holy Spirit of God would speak the right word at the right time and the right place.

and they would be able to respond in a way that would bring spiritual vitality and wealth to the little boy, the little girl.

Father, for those parents who are here who have teenagers, we pray a special prayer for them.

We pray for patience.

We pray that they would not give up.

We pray that they would know this is a season, a volatile season, but still, God, you are with them.

We pray that you would orchestrate and fashion events in the lives of our teenagers as they walk away from you, that you would cause something to happen in their lives that would wake them up, open their eyes, and bring them home.

We pray that you'd protect them from the thoughts of the evil one, the prince of the power of the air.

For those children who have gone off now and they're in university and they're hearing things that are not only false, but are aggressive.

toward the truths of Scripture, I pray that the Spirit again would remind them of all they've seen and heard through your word, through their parents, and would give them that stability to withstand the darts of the evil one.

In all these things, at Wesco and Upland, at San Dimas, in all these things, we pray in Christ's name for the success of our children.

health, and prosperity, spiritually speaking, and that they would move out into their world effectively, productively, and they would change the world.

We pray this prayer right now together as a congregation of people.

over all our children, praising you for what you have done and will do.

In Christ's name, everybody said, amen.

Thank you, parents.

Thank you, parents.

Way to go, parents.

We love you.

Come on now, let's celebrate.

Let's worship.

Let's worship God.

Here we go.

We hope you were blessed with today's message.

If you want to know more of what it's like to follow Jesus or want to make that decision, I want to encourage you to go to oneandall.church.com so that way you can get more information on what that looks like.

Hey, here at One and All, we have so many resources for you to just consistently be in your word or spend time with Jesus.

One of those things is our daily devotions.

It's a simple podcast that is three to five minutes long where we hear...

From different people on staff at One and All, just go through a devotion and have time for you to reflect.

You can hear those either on Spotify or Apple Music, or you can see them on our One and All app.

I want to encourage you to do so.

And we have a podcast called Conversations, which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

If you haven't subscribed, please do so, as you'll have more content, just the sermons.

You'll have our Conversations podcast, where I get to sit down.

with Pastor Jeff or whoever is speaking on the weekend to dive deeper into the message.

Well, these are resources for you, and we hope that they encourage you on your walk with Jesus.

Thank you for being part of our one and all family.

We hope you enjoyed today's message, and we'll end as we always do with one hope, one life in Christ.