 Amen. All right. Happy Father's Day. First Samuel chapter 15. Let's take a look at this story in the Bible and see what we can come up with as far as application for Father's Day. I know we've looked at this story in a couple of different ways before. You know, it's a good story to demonstrate, you know, the importance of taking responsibility in your life and not passing blame on to others. I know we've looked at that in the past, but I want to look at a little bit different aspect of this story this morning, especially for Father's Day. There's a lot in this chapter, a lot of good lessons in this chapter, but look down at First Samuel chapter 15. Saul was given a command here. Saul was given a command on something that he was supposed to do from God with regard to the Amicolites. And in First Samuel chapter 15, look down at verse number three. The Bible says, now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling ox and sheep, camel and ass. So that was direction directly to King Saul, directly to the leader of the nation. Now I mean, imagine, just look at that verse, imagine that, you know, that command. That's pretty harsh. A lot of people would say that's pretty harsh command there. You know, go and smite, basically destroy everyone, not only all the people, including men, women and children, but all of the livestock, all of the animals, everything, okay? So first of all, you know, it's a command from God. So if you're reading the Bible and you read things like that, you should just be like, okay, well, you know, it must be right. But let's go ahead and look at why God gave that command, just so we can get some context this morning before we get started. So let's go to Exodus chapter 17. We can find out why, you know, God said that, well, God has a reason for everything that he does, everything that God does is just, it is right, it is correct. So we know that and, you know, we don't have to see the reasons for it, but let's go to Exodus chapter 17 and just look at what these amicalites had done in the past to deserve this judgment that God had passed upon them. Look at Exodus 17 in verse number 8. So this is, the children of Israel have just come out of Egypt. Look at verse number 8. The Bible says, then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Raphidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men and go and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said unto him and fought with Amalek. And Moses and Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, that Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone and put it under him and he sat there on. And Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until they're going down in the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. So, you know, this is a famous story in the Bible as well where Moses holds up his hands and they win the battle and he needs help holding up his hands. And Joshua, we just studied this a few weeks ago, in Joshua chapter one, Joshua was the one, he was the one down on the field that prosecuted the battle against Amalek. And they, you know, defeated them in this battle. But here's the thing, Amalek, this nation was the nation that we're talking about in 1 Samuel chapter 15. This is what they did. Okay, we get a little bit more detail about Amalek and what they did to the children of Israel after they left Egypt in Deuteronomy chapter 25. So, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25. Basically, they were the first people that attacked Israel out of Egypt. So, Israel, they were not going into the promised land at this point. They were not trying to, you know, take anyone's land or, you know, settle a land at this point. They were just attacked by the Amacolites, all right? They were attacked by these people, unprovoked. And Israel, you know, they ended up fighting this battle in a battle of defense. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 25. We get a little bit more detail in verse number 17. Deuteronomy 25, 17. And look what the Bible says. Remember what Amalek did unto thee, by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt. So here Amalek did something, how he met thee, by the way, and smote the hind most of thee. Even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou was faint and weary, and ye feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord God had given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God had given thee, for the inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, thou shalt not forget it. So this whole event in 1 Samuel chapter 15 is just, it's prophesied. God's telling you, this is what's going to happen. And this is it actually taking place. But what did they do? They were, look, they were killing the innocent people, the innocent women and the children and the weakest people of the nation of Israel. They were, you know, whatever that mean, they were ambushing them. And then Samuel gives us a little bit more detail in the end where he says, to him, as thy sword have made women childless, shall thou that mother be childless among women. So look, they were attacking, you know, unprovoked the children of Israel and they were killing the innocent people. They were, they were, they weren't attacking the nation. They were being sneaky coming up from behind, murdering people and all this kind of thing. So this is why they're being judged in 1 Samuel chapter 15. Okay, that's just to give you some context on God's harsh judgment against the Amicholites. Okay, go back to 1 Samuel chapter 15 in verse number nine. So the point I'm trying to make is, you know, the head it coming. Okay, the head it coming, it was a just punishment. And, you know, we know the head it coming because God said, do it. But, you know, that should be enough. But God even gives us in the Bible details of why they had it coming for us. Okay, look at verse number nine in 1 Samuel chapter 15. Now we'll get to the point I'm trying to make this morning. But Saul, and the people spared ag-egg, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good. And they would not utterly destroy them. But everything that was vile and refute, they just, they destroyed utterly. So, first of all, a little side note here. First of all, this gives you an idea of what God's standards are in your life. Okay, this is just a little mini sermon in the sermon. Okay, Saul went and he went and he fought against the Amicholites. And he killed everybody, except one person, except the king. He killed, just imagine that. He killed the men, the women, and the children, just like God said to do. But he spared the king, and he spared some of the livestock. I mean, this gives you, and God was, you know, the Bible calls it rebellion, in 1 Samuel chapter 15. So that is God's standards. God's standards is, you know, full compliance, folks. Okay, so just think about that in your life, different areas of your life. God's standards are full compliance. Because Saul, I mean, he went 95, 98, 99% of the way here, you know, but it wasn't good enough, and God called it, and Samuel called it rebellion. Saul didn't listen, looked down at verse 14, 1 Samuel 15, and verse number 14. And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleeding of sheep in mine ears, and the blowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amicholites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen. To sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. So what happened here was, first of all, Saul didn't take responsibility, and we've talked about that in the past. Okay, but what actually happened here was Saul listened to and pandered to the will of the people. Go to verse 32. Saul had direction from God, and instead he pandered to the will of these people. Look at Samuel in verse 32. What does Samuel do here? After Samuel, you know, rebukes Saul and talks to Saul about, you know, how he has not done, what he's supposed to do, and this is considered rebellion against God, and rebellion is as witchcraft. That's how bad, you know, we're belling against what God wants you to do is. Then said Samuel, what's Saul knew? The worst thing of it is Saul knew what God wanted him to do. Saul knew, Saul willingly went against what God wanted him to do, you know, and pandered towards the will of the people that he was supposed to be leading. Look at verse 32. And then said Samuel, bring ye hither to me, Agag, the king of the Amicholites, and Agag came into him delicately. And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past. I mean, the battle's over. That's what he's saying. The battle's over, you know, they've taken me captive. He's like, surely, like, they would have killed me already, you know, the anger's gone, everybody's been, they've been in the, all the leaders have been talking in this back room. He's like, everything's gonna be fine, is what he says. And Samuel said, as thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel, here's the pastor of the people, folks. Here's the pastor of the people. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord and Gilgall. He took his own sword and chopped him into pieces. So, the point I'm trying to make is, who carried out God's will here? Who carried out God's will? It wasn't Saul. Saul listened to the people and Samuel listened to God. That's what happened in this story. Saul pandered to what the people wanted and he ignored. He ignored God's commands. Maybe, look, maybe the people wanted to keep the value. Maybe they were like, oh, you know, we're all, we all raised livestock and we came this long way and, and, you know, maybe the people had some pretty good arguments. Maybe they were just like, you know what, we're poor and, you know, our things haven't been going well. And look at all these, these beautiful cattle and these beautiful sheep and all these, these, you know, they kept the best of them. And it's just such a shame to waste all this. And maybe Saul was like, yeah, you know, it is a shame. And, and I, and I love the people. And, you know, the, and, and then he gave into them. And then he spared the king. Maybe he didn't have the stomach for it. Maybe Saul identified with King Agag. He's like, you know, I'm the king. He's the king. Maybe, you know, he sympathized with him in some way. Obviously he sympathized with him in some way. He didn't, you know, maybe he didn't personally remember what the amicolites did to the children of Israel. And then Samuel comes along and not only does he rebukes all, but he finishes the job that God wanted done. So what I'm trying to get at from, for this morning is this, from a leadership perspective, Saul did not lead, he followed. Saul did not lead, he followed. He pandered to the will of someone else besides God. Look, when you go along with what somebody else wants, you are following them. That's the definition of being a follower. Look, there's many times there's nothing wrong with being a follower. You go to work and your boss tells you to do something and you do it, you are following him. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem is, is that Saul, as Romans 13 would say, was not following the higher powers. He was given a command. Look, if he wasn't given a command by God, if God just said, hey, go and win this battle and do it, you know, make your own decisions, then there's nothing wrong here. But the problem is that God gave him a specific command of something to do and he followed somebody else. When God had anointed him to be the leader. Now, do you see where I'm going? God had anointed Saul to be the leader. So on Father's Day, let's talk about spiritual leadership. Turn back to Joshua chapter four. On purpose, didn't bring this up on Wednesday night. I skipped this part. Maybe some of you were thinking, why did he not mention that? Now you know. In Joshua chapter four, there was a statement that was made twice about making these monuments and they just crossed the Red Sea after this great miracle had happened and they made two monuments. They made one in the midst of the river and then all the men of the tribes, they carried these 12 stones and they made another monument in Gilgal. And twice, Joshua says this. He says in verse number six of Joshua chapter four. He says that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying, what mean ye by these stones? Look down at verse number 21. And he's baked unto the children of Israel saying, when your children should ask who? Again, their fathers in time to come saying, what mean ye these stones? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The point I'm trying to make is that the children, it is the responsibility of the fathers to tell the children about this event, about these monuments, about these markers that were placed. And we know about all the markers that you should have in your life from Wednesday night, but it is the job of, it is the ultimate responsibility of the father to make sure that everybody understands what those markers are. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Look at verse number three. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse number three. The Bible says, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. So look, the Bible is clear on the man, on the father being the spiritual leader for the family. The Bible is clear on that. On Mother's Day, I preached on how women are the weaker vessel, but they are not to be weak. But they're weaker than the man. They're the weaker vessel. But the Bible is clear that the man is the head of the woman, is the head of the family. Spiritual and otherwise. And what leadership means, first of all, as we saw Wednesday night in Joshua chapter four, is that there's gonna need to be some hard lines drawn. There's gonna need to be some hard lines drawn. Some hard decisions are gonna need to be made. Maybe you know that people want this certain thing and you know that you've been told and you've been commanded that you're the leader and you're to do this, that means that you have to hold those hard lines. Sometimes, look, dads, sometimes the people may not want what the leader prescribes. That is going to happen. You say, if that never happens to me, well then you're not leading, you're following. That's why it doesn't happen to you. Sometimes the people that you are leading and other people may not like what the leader prescribes. Leading means following through, period. Samuel led in first Samuel chapter 15, Saul followed. Look, men today are too weak. I'll just come out and say it. Men today are too weak, they're too soft, they're not willing to follow through on what needs to be done, especially Christian men. I mean, think of this man. Turn to first Samuel chapter 13. Here's another man in the Bible. I mean, this is a man that made mistakes, but he's, you know, it's also a man that the Bible says, God says, it says twice or maybe more than twice, but twice that I know for sure that he's a man after God's own heart. But with David, David was multi-dimensional. He had two sides, he was very spiritual. David was very spiritual. I mean, he wrote, I mean, he wrote, you know, most of the book of Psalms, David did. Turn to first Samuel chapter 13. Look at verse 14. Saul actually lost the kingdom a couple of chapters before and he was just kind of sealing it in stone in first Samuel chapter 15, but the Bible says in first Samuel chapter 13 verse 14, it says, but now that kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart and the Lord commanded him to be captain over his people because thou hast not kept which the Lord commanded thee. Turn to first Samuel chapter 17. Look, David, David was super spiritual. The Bible says that throughout his life he sought God's heart. I mean, but he was also very tough. He was also a very tough person. In first Samuel chapter 15 or 17, I'm sorry, look at verse 51, the Bible says, this is right after David, you know, fights go lieth. David wasn't even really famous at this point. Therefore, David ran and stood up upon the Philistine. This is after he's already knocked him down with the stone and supposedly killed him, but he took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Turn to first Samuel chapter 18, one chapter over. I mean, how's that for a Sunday school lesson? You know, you don't see that in the Sunday school lessons. That's why Sunday school was garbage, by the way, because it turns the Bible into a cartoon. The Bible is not a cartoon. The Bible is about serious people in serious situations, and it's teaching us all these lessons from the word of God. And look, it's not, it's very graphic in some points, just like first Samuel chapter 17. David cut off Goliath's head. In first Samuel chapter 18, look at verse 25, and Saul said, David wanted to marry Saul's daughter. Thus shall you say to David, the king desired not any dowry, but 104 skins of the Philistines to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. So he's telling him, hey, you have to go out and kill 100 Philistines if you wanna marry my daughter, but he's really just trying to get David killed. What does David do? He goes, and he told him this word is, please, David, well to be the king's son-in-law, and the days were not expired. Look, David heard that, and he didn't say, oh man, that's dangerous. David heard that, and he went out, and he killed 200 Philistines. Wherefore, David arose and went, and he and his men, and slew of the Philistines 200 men. I mean, look, he went above and beyond. David was fearless. David was a fearless warrior, and he killed Goliath. He was a fearless leader, but look, he was very compassionate and merciful as well. You will find that throughout David's life, where many men were like, let's just take vengeance on these people, and he's like, no, no vengeance. He's like, we're gonna have mercy. David was a fierce warrior. He was tough, but he was compassionate and merciful as well. It's a great combination, and he was never unwilling to do what needed to be done for fear of anyone. I'm not saying he always did the right thing. We know there's some stories about David that aren't flattering. Turn to Acts chapter 13. And that's why the Bible, even in the New Testament, looking back on David's life in Acts 13, verse 22, the Bible says, and when he had removed him and raised up onto them David to be their king, to whom also he gave their testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. And by the way, this shows you, David was a man after God's own heart, and we saw, look, God's will will require, as in the case with Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 15, God's will, God's heart, what God wants will require a man to carry it out. God's will, that's how God works. God wants men to carry out his will. And you men, fathers, are to carry out God's will for the leadership position that you have been put in for your family. And look, I would think that every man here knows, you know, as you're in this church, what the right decisions to make in most cases are. I would hope so. I would hope so. I would hope that, you know, as you are going through your life and leading your families, that in most cases, I know you men know the Bible. I know you men read the Bible, study the Bible. But look, there may be times when those decisions are not popular amongst the people, both the people that you are leading and other people. If you just pander to the people, either one of those groups, you are following and not leading. Draw lines in your life. Draw lines in your family's life and hold to them. That is your job. You must have standards for your family. I think you men know what's right and what's not right. How to raise children. Maybe your children and your wife themselves will not always want to stand out. Maybe the people in your own family will not want to be so peculiar, as the Bible says, in the Old Testament and the New Testament. As you separate and draw those lines, look, maybe they won't want those markers to stand out so clear and out in the open. But if you pander to that, you're following, not leading. Especially, look, especially if you've gotten things right later in life, look, I'm one of those people. If you've gotten things right later in life, you know, you might have some difficulty here. Look, I believe, and I hope that you've gotten this idea and this culture from me, I believe in listening to your wife. I believe in, you know, the collaborative relationship between a husband and a wife. It's a beautiful thing. I believe in the value, in the value of, because a lot of times, you know, Christians that believe what the Bible says about the family, a lot of people will paint them in this corner that say, oh, you want your wife to stay home, barefoot and pregnant and all this. Look, I believe in the value of a mother. I believe in the value of a wife. And I hope that you get that from the preaching that I do here, because I believe that that mother is that core of the family. I mean, I believe that success in the family rides on the mother. You know, I believe in all that. You know, it's kind of like I was thinking about this idea and it's kind of like, you know, safety at work. If you ever have safety meetings at work, you all have different types of jobs. I know a lot of you are working in construction. But let me tell you something. As a leader in the workplace, one thing I will not compromise is safety. I will compromise safety for speed of getting the job done. I will compromise safety for making more money on a job. I will compromise, and look, I will compromise over deadlines. If there's something that is not safe, deadlines mean nothing to me. And look, you might make people upset, especially at first when you make those types of decisions. But look, what everyone will begin to understand is that you care about their overall well-being. And that, look, I'm not tossing anybody that I work with, you know, to the wolves or putting them in an unsafe situation for money. I mean, that's crazy. Well, people will do that. Look, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, that's what everybody, that's what a lot of Christians are doing, though. They're tossing their families to the wayside. They're tossing their families to the side. And many times, it is for money. They're tossing their standards away. Look, set up your markers in your family. Set up your points. And then, look, collaborate. Listen, talk with your wife. Be caring and be sensitive. But at the end of the day, you must hold the line. That is the difference. People say, you know, we just wanna keep a few sheep. No, you have to hold the line at the end of the day. These are the markers. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter two. So you set up the markers and you collaborate and you listen to your wife and all this. But at the end of the day, we hold to these markers. That's it. That's leadership. And at the end of the day, the people in your family will realize that the things that you do are for their safety. And for that, they will respect you. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter two. Look at verse number one. This is great advice to a spiritual leader, Timothy. Therefore thou, or thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. What Paul is telling is telling Timothy some things here. The first thing he's telling him is, you know, be strong. He's saying be strong. He's like, look, you know, people are always gonna wanna go in the direction that you're telling them to go. It's that simple. But that cannot change your direction. You need to be strong. If it does, look, if it does change your direction, once again, you are following them. They're leading you. If you have set standards in your home and those standards are optional, you're following, not leading. That's what I'm trying to get at here. And look, and that means you're not strong. You're not being strong. But it's difficult, you say. Look at verse number three. Verse number three. Look what the Bible says, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Look, you're like, it's difficult though. People don't always wanna go in the direction that I'm telling them to go. But here's the thing, endure hardness. If it was easy, everybody would do it. You ever heard that? I mean, endure hardness. You know, look, men today, I mean, again, they're too soft. Think of the men of the Bible. If Joshua would walk in here today, he would laugh at all of us. You think of the men in the Bible and the things that they did to carry out what God's will. These men, David and Joshua, were carrying out God's will at all costs. That's what they were doing. And then in verse number two, he tells them, pick faithful men to teach. Because you know what? That's what the kids need. That's what your wife needs. Look, your wife, let me tell you something. Dads, husbands, your wife wants a leader. Some days you're like, I don't think she wants to be a, your wife wants a leader. I'm telling you that, blanket statement. She wants a leader. At the end of the day, when people know that you're making the hard decisions and you won't back off those hard decisions for their safety, that's when they'll begin to have faith in you. And that's the irony. That's the irony, folks. That's the irony is that pandering to the people, well actually, it's ironic. I've seen it many times in the business world. Pandering to the people, the boss that gets the job, he's just like, he just gives everyone a raise and he's just trying to give everybody everything so they like him. Pandering to the people, it never works. It will get you nowhere with the people. Maybe in the short term, you think it will, but it doesn't work. The boss that comes on board and has no spine, it might work in the short term, but he's probably gonna get somebody killed. In some situations, people need to be led in the right direction. They need to be protected. And that takes hardness. That takes hardness. Following is not a leading philosophy. So man, you know, you go to church here, which means that you know what God's commanded you to do. As Saul knew, you must lead and you must defend that to the end. Like the standards you take are not always many times not gonna be popular with the people because another thing I was thinking about yesterday, I talked to my wife about this, it's not really our beliefs that people have a hard time with. I'm sure you know people in your life that have a hard time with how you lead your families and maybe even where you go to church. But you know, the funny thing is it's not really our beliefs that people have a problem with. You know what people have a problem with? It's our beliefs in action that people have a problem with. You know, it's us acting on our beliefs. You know like, taking stands against homosexuality. That's belief in action. I mean, literally we're a whole month in this nation. You know what I mean? When is biblically married and working on my marriage and raising godly children? When is that month in the United States of America? When is that month? I mean, look, turn to Romans chapter one. Look at shocking how backwards things are. I mean, we're literally pandering to evil in this country. That's where it's at. You think you need to take some stands? Dads? You think you need to have some belief in action in your life? Dads, look at Romans chapter one. Look at verse number 28. Let's see what we're celebrating in June. What are we celebrating as a nation? Even when they did not like to retain god and their knowledge, god gave them over to a reprobate mind, a rejected mind, to do those things which are not convenient. Hopefully you've got not convenient underlined as equals unnatural in your Bible. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiteers, haters of God, despiteful, proud. It's funny how the Bible's true always. Boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God that they would commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Turn to Isaiah chapter five. I mean, we're literally celebrating Satan. I mean, that's what we're doing. By the way, if you haven't noticed the connection between homosexuals and devil worship, like just straight up Satan worship, you're not paying attention. We go to Walmart and at this certain Walmart there's this homosexual woman that has these big earrings all the time. It's all black, everything. And these big pentagram earrings, they're that big. And it's always right in your face all the time. And I'm just like, look, I know where corporate America is going. Corporate America is afraid of its own shadow. But I mean, we're literally allowing just open devil worship. I mean, what in the world? How is that okay? How is that okay to allow someone to go into the, look, if I went into the workplace and I just started spewing the Bible and just preaching to everyone, look, I'd be out of there. Yeah, you got open satanic worship in a workplace. What in the world? Isaiah, look, it's no surprise though, okay? It's no surprise. That's one thing about being a Bible-believing Christian. You don't have to be surprised about anything. But back, you know, you think you need some lines. You think you need to educate your children. Look at Isaiah chapter five and verse number 20. This is what's happening. I mean, Isaiah, I mean, Isaiah wasn't written yesterday. Isaiah wasn't written in 1982, folks. This is just more of the same. God's looking down on this, but look, what we can do is we can get a gauge on where we're at. Because as nations haven't changed as they fall in the same way, guess what? God hasn't changed either. So look at Isaiah chapter five and verse number 20. The Bible says, woe unto them that call evil good and good evil. Look, people would call us evil for believing the Bible. That's where we're at today. That's where we're at. Look, that's why our rights to come to church and our rights, that's why they're important. Because I mean, I want to be able to read the Bible and soul in out in the open as long as possible. But look, a day's coming where that's not going to be possible. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil. And put darkness for light and light for darkness and put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink. Withjustify the wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Boy, that's exactly what's happening. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness and their blossom shall go up as dust because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the holy one of Israel. That's what's coming to us. I mean, it doesn't take me, it doesn't give me great pleasure to think about that coming to us because we're gonna get hit with the, there's gonna be collateral damage, unfortunately. So I mean, what can we do? I mean, what can we do? I mean, what we can do is we can go and we can get as many people saved as possible. That's what we can do. That's what we can do. We can go and get as many people saved and hopefully get people into church so they can learn the Bible and what the Bible has for their families so they can protect their children and their families from this satanic influence that everyone's heading in. We can convince people to accept Christ and get into a church and be part of a church that actually does something. That's what we can do. And that's what we're doing here. But look, these are all things. These are all things that people will not like. And it's verse number three of 2 Timothy chapter two says, we have a responsibility to teach our children the truth. When we see all this world going in this direction and teaching all this, they have to be out of public school. There is no choice. Because all of this unnatural everything is being taught in public school. Look, I've not been there for many years. I've heard stories from some of you though. It's worse than you could ever think. These kids today have no chance if they're in the public school system, you gotta get them out. That's why we push homeschooling here. And guess what? A homeschooled family needs leadership. A homeschooled family needs structure. A homeschooled family needs to be part of a church. And a homeschooled family needs a father that's gonna lead that family. Look, there's gonna be some growing pains as you set standards and as you hold to those standards. You know, there's gonna be, as far as the other people outside your family, there's gonna be some uncomfortable conversations. I've had all these conversations. But here's the thing, who cares? That's why God gave the leadership role to the man. Because look, women are just, they're not, they're less tuned for confrontation. They're less tuned. There's gonna be some confrontation, guys. If you're doing your job and you're leading your family, you are going to have to confront people. Maybe even within the walls of your own house at times. Look, it's the same philosophy with the matters of the church. It's the same philosophy. Your family in many ways is the same biblical philosophy on the matters of this church. Look, if there's a problem in this church with one person, I'll talk to the person in a nice way. If there's an overall issue in the church, I'll probably preach on it. But look, here's the point. At the end of the day, I will take care of it. I mean, that surprises some people. But at the end of the day, it must be done. Because guess what? I'm accountable to God for what happens here. When I say a couple of weeks ago, I don't care what you think. It's not because I don't like you, or I'm not, or I'm a meanie head, or whatever. It's that I'm accountable to God, not to you. How stupid would it be of me? I would basically be Saul. How stupid of it would be of me to pander to what the people want, and not what God wants? I mean, that's the problem with churches today. That's how Christianity got where it is today. It's because no man would stand up and lead according to God's will. That's it, there it is, right there. But your family is the same way. Everything depends on leadership. It rises and falls on your leadership. This, look, I want you to think about this today. I want you to think about the markers that you've set in your family. I want you to think about, am I holding to those markers? I want you to think about, have I structured my family? And am I holding that structure? Basically, I want you to just think about, am I leading my family this morning? And if you're not, make some adjustments and start. In that, that's gonna take some strength. It's gonna take not always doing what everybody wants, everyone to like them. I get it. I want everyone to like me. I don't like it when people don't like me. But, oh well. Who likes that? I mean, who likes it when somebody doesn't like them? You know, but what that is is really your flesh, right? It's really your flesh when you care about what other people think of you. That's your flesh. It takes hardness and enduring that hardness to lead your family. And make sure you're doing it. Think about that. Happy Father's Day. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.