 Amen. So Colossians chapter one, we're going to go through the book of Colossians in the next few weeks. Colossians is a short book, it's only four chapters, but we're probably going to take several weeks to get through it. You know, I was looking at Colossians and thinking about what book to go through next, and I actually can't believe that I haven't done Colossians sooner. Because Colossians is probably one of the best studies, probably the best study on the person and work of Jesus Christ in the entire Bible in the book of Colossians. So what we're going to do is we're going to go through it in a kind of a no-stone, unturned study. As a matter of fact, tonight we're not even going to get through the introduction. So let me just, you know, show that to you this evening. But when you're reading your Bible, when you're reading your New Testament in January, don't forget that. Don't go into the, don't go into the greetings and just kind of blow through things in the Bible because, oh this is just Paul's greeting and you know he says the same thing every time. There's always things in the Bible for you. So just remember that every verse in the Bible is important. So let's look at Colossians. We'll take several weeks to get through it, but let's start in Colossians chapter one. Look at verse number one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy as our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which were at Colossae. Grace be unto you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So Colossae is in, if you would think about modern-day Turkey, if you can think about the Middle East, if you know you have Jerusalem and then you go up to the north, to the northwest, you would have Turkey and then of course if you would cross the Aegean Sea you would have Greece on the other side. Colossae is in, it's kind of a, it's not really a coastal town, but it's kind of along the coast of modern-day Turkey. This is what would be called Asia when you're, when you're reading the New Testament. But it just kind of goes to show you, if you think about the geography about it, you think about how much these guys traveled. You know you think about how much these guys traveled and they walked everywhere and they were, they were traveling around to all these churches. They were sending others to churches. We're gonna see here in a few minutes. They were receiving people from churches and you know, I mean look, this is how communication took place. You know there was no phones. You know there was no phones. There was no other way to communicate other than basically letters and witnesses is the way that they communicated with each other and knew what was happening. I mean you think about how easily we can communicate today. Don't take that for granted when you're reading the Bible. That's why there was so much traveling and going back and forth. But you know they were writing letters to each other. He was writing letters to churches. Paul here is writing a letter to the church at Colossae, but they also had witnesses as well and I'm gonna show you that here in a few verses and ultimately I'm gonna show you tonight the witness is better than a letter. The witness is better than a than a letter and and you know Brother Trevor and I actually demonstrated this this week. But many times when I'm you know we're we're everybody's remote working now so everybody's constantly they're texting or we use teams, Microsoft teams and we're doing all these chats constantly. But when you're talking about something really technical and you need to really get into detail you know many times I will say well I'm just gonna call you. And Brother Trevor did that to me this week. I was talking about him to him about something that needs to be done on the church and you know I was trying to explain to him you know this technical thing and he just calls me because it's just it's just easier at that point to just get on the phone and just talk with someone in real time. That's the difference that we see in the Bible between letters and witnesses right there okay. Is that difference between texting somebody and you know actually calling them and just talking to them on the phone. But here in Bible times this took traveling. This took traveling by foot. This took traveling by ship. You know Paul was shipwrecked several times. Look at Colossians chapter one and verse number three. Let's look at some of this communication. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you. Since we what do you see here? Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints. So Paul is not only writing to these people. He's heard something about these people. Okay he's heard from somebody about them. Don't miss that. Someone has told Paul and the people that he is with about this particular church in Colossae and the people in it. And he says since we've heard of your faith and of what and of you know the disobedience that you have. No he heard good things about this church. He heard of their faith and the love which they have to all their brothers and sisters. So these people in the church at Colossae they are very good at you know loving their brothers and sisters in the church. Look at verse number five. More detail. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. So now the people at Colossae have heard something as well which has come unto you as it is into all the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day you heard of it and knew the grace of God and truth. So these people they heard the gospel and they became fruitful since the very day they heard the gospel. This is what Paul heard of this church. Look at verse seven. Now we get even more detail. As he also learned of a pathress our dear fellow servant Paul saying he's mine he belongs to me he works with me who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. So this guy a pathress came from Paul and he ministered to this church at Colossae. Was he the one to give them the gospel? Maybe possibly we don't know but he was their minister of Christ so it's very possible that they heard the gospel through a pathress and then look at verse number eight. So a pathress went to them in verse seven and he taught them he ministered to them. He was their evangelist and whatever you want to call it and then in verse number eight he came back and he declared unto us your love and the spirit. So this is the witness right here. This is the witness in verse number four that Paul says we heard of your faith. He heard it from this guy. He heard it from their minister that Paul sent to them. Paul sent him this guy and he told them about the gospel. He told them about Paul told them about all this doctrine. They became fruitful. They became very loving towards their brothers and sisters in Christ towards the saints. That's anybody who's saved by the way. Anybody who's ever been saved ever on planet earth is a saint and it doesn't matter you know you know with some priest or some whatever it doesn't decide who's a saint you know the Lord Jesus Christ decides who's a saint but this guy Paul sent him this guy one of his team members and he went and he ministered to these people. He preached to them. They became profitable. They became fruitful. They became very loving and then he reported back to Paul and he reported back to Paul this witness of this church. Look at verse number nine. For this cause look at that. For this cause we also since the day what? Since the day we heard it. Since the day we heard this witness of you we do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Paul is praying for their growth. Paul is praying for their continued growth. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think that first of all Paul did he have an easy life? Do you think when Apaphras comes back to Paul with this witness of the church in Colossae do you think that Paul was encouraged or discouraged? So these people were very fruitful where they were. They were very loving where they were but they also encouraged Paul. I mean that's pretty valuable right there. That's fruit in itself to take a man like Paul who's probably you know a lot of his letters he literally wrote from prison and there's very encouraging towards him. But then he tells him. He's like hey listen to what Apaphras told you and then Paul encourages them keep going. Go further grow more. It shows look it shows by the way it's another thing it shows by the way the fact that they had to send a guy and then he came back and then they had to send other people and Paul how many times did Paul write letters he's like you know I'd like to come to you but I'm gonna send this guy. Yes they had a lack of men. They had a lack of people. It wasn't like hey we're sending you a pastor and he's gonna be there forever. They had a lack of people in the Bible in the Bible times just like we do today it's no different. Look at verse number 10 that you might so now Paul's he's talking about he's just praying that these people would just grow and just continue that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. So Apaphras he goes there works for Paul he visits this church he reports back he reports their commitment he reports their love for the Holy Spirit and Paul writes back he says great keep growing keep going. So tonight what I want to talk about and we're only going to get to verse 10 tonight but I want to talk about the importance of the witness of a church tonight. You know this church had a very powerful witness that Apaphras brought back to Paul. What I want to ask you tonight is what would people say about our church? What kind of witness do we have in our church? You know what would someone who visits here take away? Because guess what they're taking something away. It's not are they taking something away it's what are they taking away is the question every church has a witness. So look I mean first of all let's look at this in two different aspects tonight let's look at this you know in the church and let's look at this outside the church what is our witness as a church inside the church and then what is our witness outside the church what would people say you know the follow-up team I went through with the follow-up team you know I mean we are gonna go out there we're gonna tell people that we are different we are different we are a different church and guess what we are a different church somebody asked this soul-winning today what makes you different and one of the biggest things that people will come and if we look at inside the church people will notice that there's a bunch of kids sitting in this church right now that is the first thing that people will notice right away especially Baptist especially Baptist you forget how weird it is you forget because you've been in a church a family integrated church for so long you forget that normal Baptist churches don't have kids in the church they take the kids out so first of all we're family integrated that is a huge deal for us that's one of the things that really makes us different and you say well it's a good thing and there's a lot of great benefits from it from safety to all these different things but guess what it's very biblical turn to Nehemiah chapter 8 turn to Nehemiah chapter 8 it's extremely biblical and that's the reason that we do it because everything that we do is because of the Bible you know I mean we don't look at things and say I think maybe we should do it this way because I feel like that might be a better idea everything that we do in this church is because the Bible says it that way look at Nehemiah chapter 8 and look at verse number 5 the Bible says and Ezra opened the book in the site of all the people underline that for he was above all the people again and when he opened it all the people stood up and Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered him amen amen lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground look at verse number nine in Nehemiah which is the at Turshatha and then Ezra the priest the scribe and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people this day is holy unto the Lord your God more not nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law verse 11 says again all the people verse 12 says again all the people like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 close to 10 times in these few verses it says all the people this is one of the reasons that we're a family integrated church and then they use next they use fathers of the people you know so now we know that all the people means the fathers the mothers and the children are there too look all the children were there when they read the book of the law is what I'm trying to get you to understand go back to Deuteronomy chapter 31 you say well it doesn't specifically say children but go to Deuteronomy chapter 31 Deuteronomy chapter 31 look at verse number nine Deuteronomy 31 look at verse number nine this is when Moses is about to die Moses is about to die and now Moses is giving advice to the people and look at the very specific advice that he gives and Moses in verse number nine Deuteronomy 31 verse number nine is everyone there and Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord and unto all the elders of Israel okay that's the leaders the elders and Moses commanded them saying at the end of every seven years in the solemn any solemnity of the year of release in the feast of the tabernacles when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing then he says gather the people together men and women and children and thy stranger that is within thy gates now why now look at this look at this and underline this in your Bible that they may hear that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do the words of this law and that again he says and that their children which have not known anything may what may learn may hear and learn and fear he specifically points out the children that they need to hear that they need to learn and they need to fear in that order by the way and I'll explain that to you this evening in that order as long as you live in the land where the whether so you go to over Jordan to possess it so look turn to Mark chapter 10 all this makes perfect sense but the point I'm trying to get is you need to understand that there is a reason that we have kids and we are a family integrated church and the kids are sitting in the church service it's so they can hear they can learn and they can fear right along with you and it all makes perfect sense because if you look at what Jesus says in Mark chapter 10 look what Jesus says in Mark chapter 10 look at verse 13 you've just read this the Bible says and they brought young children to him that he should touch them and his disciples rebuked those that brought him so here they brought children to Jesus and the disciples like no get the kids out of here they're like no send the kids somewhere else and his disciples you know Jesus said he's he saw it and he said he was much displeased and he said to them suffer the little children to come on to me he says allow them to come to me why and forbid them not why because they're cute and because you know they're little kids and just be nice no for such is the kingdom of God verily I sand you whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child he shall not enter there in you know what he's talking about he's talking about you need to have just this just this you just need to break down your pride as an adult and you need to just just believe on Christ like a child would but you know what that also says a little child can be saved that's what that means he's saying he's saying people need to be saved like a six or seven year old child that's what he's saying you know what that means though little children can be saved and little children will just they would just you know what they will do they'll hear they will learn and then they will fear and they'll get saved that that's what will happen look this is the main point of family integration right here but look if they're not paying attention they're not going to hear anything you know I mean I can tell when three-year-olds are listening to the sermon you know that you know there's a reason there's a reason that that I do things I put things I literally I write things into sermons you know that I put things into sermons just to see if the kids are paying attention I put jokes I put jokes in the sermon because you know what God has done for us it's really easy to make kids laugh but the thing is I put stuff into the sermon because that you know I know who's listening I know who's paying attention but you know I can also tell when kids are sleepy I can also tell when parents are sleepy when you're nodding off in church I know everyone that's nodding off in church it's very easy to see from this perspective but the point is if if church was nap time what is the point of a family integrated church that's the point I mean otherwise we would just have a nap room we would just have you know a Sunday school okay I can see you're not gonna take me seriously but I mean it worked did it not work $4 the point I'm trying to make is like your kids need to be hearing the Bible your kids need to be hearing so they can do what they can learn and then they can fear that is what Moses was getting at and guess what if somebody comes in here and sees that we're a family integrated church but you know it's just chaos and you know no one's listening anyway look it's a terrible witness when I was a when I was a Lutheran and our kids and Garrett was really small we were Lutherans we go to a Lutheran church and at Lutheran church you would sit down in the pew and then you would stand up and when you stood up you could see whatever was going on in the pew in front of you and I couldn't stand it when some other kid and some other family in front of me they just had all these toys and trucks and Cheerios everywhere in the pew in front of them because there was literally nothing I could do about that you know I'm trying to you know teach my kids to sit in church and they're in trouble I mean they're in trouble they're getting spanked if they speak up in church and they don't listen in church and they don't participate and they don't sing and all these things my kids were like corporately punished all the time for that and then they have to stand there and watch this kid play with his trucks the whole service you know it was but you know what it spoke to the church it was a witness of the church it was a witness of the culture of the church the point is all that to say this it was a Lutheran church it was wicked the whole thing was bad anyway that we all know that but the point is this by the time your kids are three four years old they should be able to sit in church they should be able to sit in church because there here's the transition right here folks the transition is the mother baby room to sit in church to hear to learn to fear that's the path right there the thing is I get it it's hard it's hard to do it's hard look if it was easy everybody would do it it's hard but here's one thing that I know is a problem with some people in this church okay routine and I think that we are we are we are not understanding the importance of routine in the lives of raising children children need and I've said this for years but homeschoolers themselves have a problem in this area homeschoolers and if you're homeschooling your kids you need to listen right now because guess what the homeschoolers need to get better at this because we are supposed to take the things that the public school is doing and we're supposed to do all those things better but this is one thing in my opinion that a lot of homeschoolers are not doing as well as the public school is because you know what the public school is really good at routine the public school is really good at you know what the school it's at the same time and it's at the same place every day you know I mean they're standing in lines at the same time in the same place every day at the public school lunch same time same place every day at the school look routine as is super important you know what it starts as babies it starts with the babies I still remember my wife and I were talking about this just yesterday when the kids were babies I would literally have to hold her in bed because I said no the baby the babies are going to bed and our kids would never sleep with us by the way ever and that was my rule because you know the mom would probably have all her babies sleeping with them all the time because you know their moms this is why you need two parents I would hold my wife in bed you make sure the baby is fed make sure the baby's changed and whatever time we decide the bedtime is you shut the door and you'll let him cry and my wife but I'm stronger than she is they must sleep in their beds why because they have to go to bed at the same time the same place every day this is why vacations were so terrible for us I don't know if we used to always joke we just got a spank the vacation out of them every time we would come back from vacation when our kids were small you just spank the vacation out of your kids why because it's just everything was just thrown up in the air the routine was gone that's why this is the importance of routine routine is a huge deal they got to go to sleep at the same time same place every day they got to wake up same time same place every day they got to eat school same time same place every day food same time same place everyday this is routine breaks same time same place every day that's how you have to do it this This is like a commonly understood thing, by the way. There is not any parental philosophy that you could find out there that would disagree with how important routine is for children growing up. Study after study after study will tell you that if you don't have a routine, you have no chance. No matter what your parental philosophy is, you have no chance if you don't have a routine. But look, these things don't happen on accident. They don't happen on accident. A solid routine creates secure children is what that will do. A child that won't obey, that throws fits all the time, you know what that is? That's an unsecured child that has no routine. And that is going to be a very difficult thing. So look, we're family integrated for a reason. We're family integrated for a reason. So these kids, they can be stable in church, and they can hear, they can learn, and they can fear. But more importantly, this is what we're pitching to people. Think about it. Think about we're pitching this. You know, we're sending men and families to people's doors, and we're just pitching, we're family integrated and all this. And here's why we're family integrated, and we're showing them these things. And look, there's a reason for it, and they need to see that reason working. So inside the church, this is the family integration inside the church is a powerful witness, okay? Inside the church. Look, the adults, we're also a witness inside this church. And we need to be friendly, and I'm gonna say, we're pretty good at this. You all are very friendly people, the adults, but we need to just be doubled down on this to make sure that we don't ever slip up on this. Because if somebody comes to visit this church, and several people don't go up to them and introduce themselves and things like that. I mean, look, you gotta be watching, wait till the personal worker's done, and then go in for the attack, right? And introduce yourself and pretend like you're friendly. But we're pretty good at this, I will say. But that's a great witness. That's a great witness. These people are leaving here, and they're talking to people about our church. And they're saying something. I don't know what they're saying, but they're saying something to many people. So what's the other witness? We're witnesses outside this church as well. Go to Matthew chapter five, look at verse number 16. Actually, I'll just read for you, Matthew five, you go to Romans 10. The Bible says, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works. And glorify your Father which is in heaven. So look, we're out there and we're showing people that we're different. We're showing people that we're good. You know, we're good, we're trying to glorify God by our actions here. What are the things that we're doing outside the church? Soul winning is the number one thing. Look, we're family integrated soul winning too. Look at Romans chapter 10. Look at Romans chapter 10. Again, look at verse 14. How then shall they call on Him? This right here, this is why your kids need to be out soul winning with you. Right here. You write this, you just put a bracket around these and say, why I need to take my kids soul winning? Verse 10 through 17. Look at the Bible. How then shall they call on Him who they've not believed? Well, yeah, duh, you have to believe on Jesus. And how shall they believe in Him of who they have not what? Who they've not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? Hear, hear, hear. 15, how shall they preach except they be sent? We are, look, we're sent. I'm sending you. We send ourselves except they be sent as it is written. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace? Our feet are shod with the gospel. We're out there. We are sent and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not obeyed the gospel. For Asiah said, Lord, who has believed our report? Verse 17 sums it up. It says, you say just, you just write on verse 17 why I need to take my kids soul winning. Verse 17, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You know what? You know what's going to happen? Parents with little kids, it's going to happen to your kids. Your kids are going to go out soul winning with you again and again and then they're going to get to be a certain age. I don't know what that age is for your kids. Maybe it's five, six, seven years old. You know what they're going to do? They're going to start talking to you. You're going to go soul winning with your kids again and again and again for years. And then you're going to be out working on a lawn mower. And your kid's going to plop down next to you. And you know what, Dad, I was thinking? You know what, Dad, I was thinking, am I going to go to heaven? That's just going to happen. And this is why I need to have the faith of a little child. Because then you just sit there and you explain. Well, you know about Jesus, right? Well, yeah, Dad, I've heard you tell about Jesus like a thousand times. Well, son, do you believe those things about Jesus? And then you can just recap the things with him. And you know what? They will believe it like that. Why? Because they've heard. And they've heard. And they've heard. And they've heard. And they've heard. Why? They've heard in church. They've heard out soul winning with you. You know what? You're getting them in the spiritual fight too. You get them in the spiritual fight. How important is that, Joshua generation? You're getting them in the spiritual fight. And guess what? You know how you teach your kids? You can sit there and you can bark at them. And you can tell them, tell them, tell them. You teach your kids by showing them. That's how you teach your kids. Five-year-olds can recognize a hypocrite. Four-year-olds can recognize a hypocrite. But you hear that witness to them. And they're going to hear. And they're going to hear. And faith comes by that hearing. So your kids need to be out. That's the first point out so many. They need to be there. But the second thing is they need to be a witness. You're like, man, this is hard. It is hard. It's hard. But look, we're pitching this to people. We're pitching this to people. We're, you know, this is when we knock on somebody's door, this is all they know of us. They don't know you. This is all they're ever going to know. They should see obedient children standing with their parents giving the gospel. That's what they should see. And look, you got to put the work in there. You got to put the work in. You know what I mean? These kids, they go out so many of their parents, they're going to get saved sooner than most. That's the first thing. There's big benefit in it for you and your children. But you know what? You're like, well, it's hard. It's hard to do. They don't behave. You know, guess what? Everybody's kids have misbehaved out soul winning. You know how many times we have spanked our kids out soul winning? I wish my kids were smaller so you could be seeing me do it. We've spanked our kids at the car. We've spanked them behind buildings. We've spanked them behind trees, whatever. It's not illegal to spank your kids. It is not against the law. People get so scared about that, but the cars will walk away. You take them there, you spank them, you come back. You know, maybe in cases where you're having problems with one of the kids, just do nothing but train them. Just watch them and then spank them. Walk with them and spank them. Go to the door with them and spank them. Just do nothing but wait to catch them and spank them. That's how you do it. But you know what that is? It's a lot of work. But you know what that also is? It's a routine. It's consistency. And this will create a secure, happy child that gets saved super early in his life or her life. This routine things, folks, I can't underestimate this because everyone has it figured out. I went and I read up on this this week on just the importance of routine in a child's life. And here's some things that everybody, I wrote down. Some people would have a list of 10 things and other people would have a list of 10, 5 things. Other people would have a list of 15 things. And I wrote down just a few things that everybody said, that every study found, that everybody agreed on. Just the things that routine will give your child. And I understand that this isn't the Bible, but look, people have observed this. You could call it science because it's been experimented and observed. Okay, look, here's some things. If you have a routine, your children will feel safe, secure, and comfortable. That's one that everybody agrees on. They will know what is happening now and what comes next. That makes sense, right? They will know why we're here, what we're doing, where we go after this. They're gonna be completely comfortable and completely happy. And here's the super important one. This is secular stuff right here. But what have we been talking about? We've been talking about hearing. We've been talking about learning. And what does that lead to? That leads to fear. I'm talking fear of God, good fear. The only good fear. But here's the last two. They will know how to do an activity or task. You know what that means? They will know what's expected of them. They will know how to do what you're asking them to do. Because it's the same thing every time. And they know the consequences when they get outside of that. They'll just know how to do it. And then the third one is super interesting. That this came up over and over and over again. But they will engage in learning. Well, I guess the Bible had it first. But the secular people, they even figure out things when they see what works and what doesn't. But that's why the Bible, that's why Moses said, they hear, they learn, and they fear. How are you gonna teach them school if they can't learn? By the way, you see what I mean? This is super important that they have a routine at home. So look, look folks, there's a method. There's a method to the madness. There's a method to the madness. And the last thing is, the last thing with kids out soul-winning is that your kids and the kids that go soul-winning with their parents and they do it right and they're obedient and they listen and they're quiet and they know what's going on. They're engaging in learning. You're teaching them while you're doing it. Here's another thing about them. They will realize that it's not about them all the time. They will realize that everything in my life is not just about me. Look, that's super important that your kids learn that. That's why you shouldn't just give your kids a bunch of toys in church or out soul-winning or wherever. Because look, then you're telling them, yeah, yeah, I want you to do this, but it's all about you, here. It's not about them. It's not about them. Out soul-winning, it's about other people and the kids need to learn that. They need to learn that it's about other people. So kids need to be out soul-winning with you because they're gonna hear out there. They're gonna learn out there and that's gonna teach them to fear out there. And then there's all these just peripheral benefits. Like they're gonna get saved. Like they're gonna go to heaven. I mean, they're gonna get saved. They're gonna learn to not be selfish. In their lives. But look, all these things, it pours into the homeschool group. It pours into field trips. It pours into any outside activities that we have as a church. We're renting out a facility here for the next, I could see us doing this every month. It looks like I'm not gonna give it away. But look, we're gonna go to this facility as a church. And guess what? We're a witness there. We're a witness. Kids, when you go to this church, you're a witness. When you go to church activities and homeschool groups, you're a witness for the church. People should come out of that situation that work there or that do service there or give those tours. And they should come to church here and they should say, you know what? I want kids like that. They should come out of this church and say, I want friends like that. I want a family like that. They should come out. They should come out. They should leave confused. Being like, what in the world are those people doing different than everybody else? And they should be maybe not confused, but curious and intrigued. Being just like, look at those results. But folks, it's not going to happen on accident. And just let me encourage you because look, we have all been through this. Anybody who has raised small children has been through this. We have all had troubles with our kids out soul winning. We have all had troubles with our kids in church. We have all been embarrassed. I've been embarrassed so many times by my kids. I can't even tell you how many times. But it's hard work. It's hard work raising kids right. That's why people don't do it. That's why people don't do it because it's easier to put them in Sunday school. It's easier just to not take them soul winning. It's easier. But I got news for you. I got news for you. It gets harder. It gets harder. You're like, what? Like what? I thought I'd get through the three, four, five, six year old and then it's easier. It gets harder. I'm gonna show you why. If you can't get this right now. Here's the thing. Right now, right now it's obey. That's what it is. With your two year old and your three year old and your one year old or one and a half year old, your five year old, it's obey. Why? Obey because this stick, that's why. That's what it is. You're not dealing with their heart. You're dealing with their bottom. You're dealing with the fact they don't want to spanking. You're dealing with the fact that they just need to obey. Look, but if you can't get this right, your leadership will not stand a chance. You know why? What are the three words that we were talking about? They need to hear, they need to learn, and they need to fear. You know, hearing and learning. You know what that takes? That just takes obedience. That's it. Fearing, now you have their heart involved. And in order to get to fear, you have to get through the other two. If you can't get through here and learn, you will never get their heart. And their heart will start to turn against these things. And then, look, it is super important that you get this right. It is super important because the heart is what you are after with your kids. You are after their heart, but first they need to hear and learn. And then they will fear. You don't wanna be dealing with a 10 year old who's got heart problems. An 11 year old, an eight year old that's got heart problems. You say, when does the heart come in? How many news stories have you seen about kids that do terrible things at a young age like eight or nine? You better figure it out. You better figure it out by that point because when that heart starts to turn, you're in trouble. Because they're not gonna hear then. They're not gonna learn then. The heart is already turning because they didn't hear and they didn't learn. That's the problem. But guess what? They start listening in church. They start going out soul winning. They start just hearing the word of God, learning the word of God. Their heart will grow right. Their heart will grow right. And then you know what? Because guess what? And people might disagree with this, but I don't spank my 12 year old. When my daughter turned 12, we don't spank our kids when they got to that age. I know some people do and that's fine, whatever. But here's the thing. You gotta have their heart at that point. Because you know what you do at that point? You start appealing to their heart. Yeah, they still do things wrong. But you appeal to their heart. Yes, there's still punishment. It's just not that punishment. There's still punishment. There's still reprisals. And there's still things like that. But you have a heart to deal with at that point. And you have a heart that you can appeal to. Because they heard and they listened and they fear. They're still kids. They still do dumb stuff. They're still teenagers. They still do things. But you can appeal to the heart. There's still punishment. Don't get me wrong. But you can appeal to the heart at that point. You gotta have their heart, folks. You wonder why everybody's like, oh, 90% of kids are leaving church. It's because their heart's not there. It's because their heart was never there. And they grew up and they're just like, forget this, there's all this stuff out here. What am I doing? Their heart's not there. So if you're having trouble, look. You gotta have an action plan here. Parents. You guys gotta have an action plan. You gotta focus on these kids. And you gotta focus on the areas that you're having trouble. You gotta start micromanaging the areas where you're having trouble. Spend time only training. You gotta attack this thing on purpose. You gotta catch them doing what you don't want them doing and you gotta take care of it. Correct them, spank them. Don't warn them. Quit the warnings. They'll have to obey. Quit the warnings. Quit the reasoning. There's no reasoning. You do it. You obey or spanked. Look, the worst thing you could do. Look, like I said, we've all been embarrassed by our kids. All of us. The worst thing you could do is make excuses for them though. Excuses will ruin your children. Excuses will ruin their children. And they're stupid anyway. Because if they're tired and they're hungry or whatever, that's all your fault anyway. Don't, look, don't make excuses for them. Just do, look, take the embarrassment. We've all been embarrassed. Our kids, I mean Heidi and I, we were talking for the last two nights about all the things our kids have done to embarrass us. When they were smaller and like last week. I'm just kidding, poor kids. But look, you gotta quit making excuses for them. You gotta focus on these things and you gotta correct going forward. Just forget about what they've done. Just correct it going forward. And here's the last thing. Here's the last thing. I'm gonna talk about this a little bit on Sunday morning. But the last thing is this. If you need help, ask. I mean, what am I here for if not to help you? What is my wife here for if not to help you? And I'm gonna talk about the difference between the advice of a brother and sister and the advice of a pastor on Sunday morning. And I'm gonna talk to you. Look, I don't wanna preach that sermon right now but the advice that you will get from a brother and sister in Christ and the advice that you will get from a pastor could be the difference between you ruining your life or not. In my short time in the ministry, I've seen that. Sunday morning. We'll get to that one. But the point I'm trying to make folks is just if you need help, just ask. We're here to help you. We're here to help you and we'll help you. People will know us by what they see on the streets and what they see visiting here. Family integration, it means the same thing as homeschooling. It means more responsibility. It's harder. We have to be on a higher level here because of this. Just as Colossi had a witness to Paul, every single visitor that comes here will, whether it's from locally or from other churches, we will have a reputation as a church. I'm just telling you that right now. We probably already do. We will have a reputation as a church as people come here to visit and then they go back to wherever they came from. They will tell everybody about our church. And they will tell how long it takes to get a first impression of a church, like one time visiting, that's it. I don't know if you guys know this about me, but I like order. I like order. My first visit to Verity, when we visited in 2016, the first service one time. I was just like, this guy runs a tight ship. Like, I think it was the first five minutes of the church service. Just seeing how everything was just organized and managed and run. Look, that doesn't happen on accident. I mean, that is not an accident, but the point I'm trying to make is just one time is all it takes. That impression, I literally moved there. That impression. People get the impression the first time. So, the family integrated church, it's a powerful witness. It may be our most powerful thing that we have as far as a witness to people from the outside coming in. In the world that we live in right now, I'm telling you. In the world that we live in right now, with what other churches look like, with what other churches do, this may be the most powerful thing that they will see when they come here. And it's a huge selling point, it's a huge responsibility though, because witness is a powerful thing. We need to administer it properly. And guess what? There's tons of benefit. I mean, it's biblical. It's biblical, meaning it's gonna work for you. It's gonna work for you. But it would also make us a poor witness if we didn't do it right. So, it's just one more example of like you just do things the Bible way and everything works out. If we said we were a family-integrated church and then we just didn't administer that right and we just let chaos happen here and I just was like, whatever, I never wanna have to preach a sermon like this. You know, I don't wanna be a meanie head or whatever. You know what that would mean? That would mean that this church is all talk is what it would mean. And we're not. We're walking the walk here. It's a powerful witness what we have to give forward. And we will have some sort of reputation. So just remember that. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.