 Alright, first Samuel chapter 8. So tonight we're starting a new series. We're gonna start a new series. We haven't had a series for a while, so we're gonna start a new series. And the title of the series is this. It's called Defining Direction. Defining Direction. Now just a little bit of an introduction to the series. You know, we have the ability, I don't know if you know, but I think that actually people kind of misunderstand or especially with what the world teaches on this subject with children is that they're to find their own way and they're to go in whatever way that they feel like they go. But here's the actual, what the Bible actually teaches and what we're gonna talk about in this series is this. Is you have the ability, yay, the responsibility to define direction for your children as parents. And what people are doing today with daycare, to public school, to university is what they're doing is they're actually just letting other people define that direction for them. Someone is going to define direction for your kids is the bottom line. And the Bible says that you should do it and that you have the ability to do it. And you say, well, you know, my kids can just be whatever they want. The parents have the ability and the responsibility to actually define direction for their children. We're going to get very specific. Look, having the world do it is the easy path. Having the, you know, putting your kids from the hospital to daycare is the easy path. It's the easy path for you, especially at the beginning. You know, when you have, you know, kids at the beginning, it's the lucrative path. For sure. I mean, my wife, you know, has a bachelor's degree. I mean, my wife, as soon as my first child was born, my wife stopped working. And, you know, that would be, you know, very lucrative. She would make a lot of money. I'm sure if she would have kept working and had an 18, 19 year old career at this point, and we could have a lot of stuff that we don't have right now. It's the easy path. It's the lucrative path. But look, turn to 1st Timothy chapter six. The easy path is never the right one, is the problem, according to the Bible. Alright, so 1st Timothy chapter 6, look down to verse number 10. Having other people define direction for you, for your children is what we're talking about, is the easy way. It's the way that most people today are taking. 1st Timothy chapter 6, look at verse number 10. The Bible says, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have aired from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The Bible says that, you know, while that's easy right now, that the Bible says that the Christian will be pierced through by those types of decisions, that you'll be pierced through. I mean, read Proverbs about, you know, bringing your mother to shame, is what will eventually happen when you make those easy decisions now, and you let other people define that direction for you. The easy way is never the right way. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. Proverbs chapter 22, and look at verse number 6. Well-known verse, we've talked about it before. We're going to look at it a little bit different this evening. The Bible says in Proverbs 22.6, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. This is not a series about disciplining your kids. That's not what this is about. The Bible, what we're going to talk about is this part of the verse that says, in the way he should go. This series will look at preparing your children for the direction that they should go, and defining that direction, defining that direction. Let's take a look at Samuel's sons. Look at Samuel's sons from what we just read in 1 Samuel chapter 8. We see that he must have prepared for them a direction, or at least he pointed them in one. At least he pointed them in a direction, but they failed. They failed in that direction. So it takes more than just providing the direction. It takes more than just telling your kids, hey, go that way. It takes more than that. They need to be prepared to travel in said direction. That's what we're going to talk about in this series. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 8. Let's read verses 1 through 3. It came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn son was Joel, the name of his second Abaya. They were judges in Beersheba. His sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after a lucre, money, greed, and took bribes and what? Perverted judgment. Look, they turned after money. They took bribes. They were judges and they perverted, they twisted, they corrupted judgment. They failed. Samuel, for this reason, is considered the last judge. I mean, his sons aren't considered the last judge. Samuel is considered the last judge because his sons perverted judgment. This ushered in the people wanting a king. This ushered in King Saul and King Saul basically proved the Bible on what a king would be when God warned them. What Samuel warned them. So this morning, we're going to talk about the first part of this series and that is about teaching judgment. Teaching judgment. Before you can define direction for your children, they need to know, they need to be prepared to go in that direction. So we're going to talk about the first two parts of this series will be on preparing them for that direction and then the third part will be that direction itself. So the first part of the series, we're going to talk about teaching judgment. We're going to talk about teaching something called what many people today would call common sense to your children. Now the definition, the actual definition from the dictionary of common sense, it's very interesting, but it's sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or fact. So common sense is prudent judgment. So Samuel's sons did not have common sense. They did not have prudent judgment. So we're going to look at some more simple goals this evening. You know, we simple goals, simple goals to teach your children common sense. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter six. The first one is this. The first one is this. It's very simple, but it's very difficult. Why you say? And I'm going to, we'll dig into it here. The first simple goal is this. Your children need to know the Bible. You say that's easy, right? Turn to Deuteronomy chapter six. Not today it's not, unfortunately. Deuteronomy chapter six, look at verse number six. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sitteth in the house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and while I rise this up. It's a fairly simple goal. How do you accomplish it? How do you teach your children to appreciate the word of God? The first step is this. They have to know how to read first of all. I mean, that's a pretty obvious one. But look, homeschooling, and this is another reason that we preach homeschooling here and I always will. There is no other way for the Christian to teach their children today in America. I don't know what it's like in other countries, but here the only choice for a Christian that's going to do the right thing for their children is to homeschool them. And homeschooling needs to be centered around reading. Period. Your kids need to not only learn how to read, they need to learn to love to read. Period. Now, this is where it gets difficult because, and I don't want to go off on TV here, but this is another reason to not have a TV. Because if your kids are fixated on screens and TV and video games, they will never read. TV is mindless. You say they only watch good things on TV. First of all, I don't believe it. Second of all, it doesn't matter because TV is mindless. You can sit there in a coma half asleep and watch TV. You cannot sit there half asleep and read a Bible or read a book and understand what you're reading. Look, that's a skill. That's a skill. Reading a book is a skill. Reading and comprehending a book is a learned skill. And look, they will never learn it if they're in front of cartoons and video games. It's like trying to teach them to eat broccoli when they've got candy in their pocket all the time. It's just not going to work. So forget all the evil stuff that's corrupting them on TV. Just they will never learn to love to read if they're constantly in front of a screen. You have to understand that. So homeschooling, look, homeschooling parents and especially moms, this is a measuring stick for how successful you are right here. How much do your kids read? How much? If you say, you know, I never see, I never see my kids curled up in a corner when they're done with school or done with their chores or done with whatever. I never see them curled up in a corner reading a book. Something's wrong. Something's wrong. They don't love to read. That's the problem. See, they need to be self-starters in their life and they need to develop the right habits. So they need to learn and look, they will never read and learn and study the Bible if they don't like to just read. Period. They'll never do it. Turn to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, the longest chapter of the Bible, right in the center of your Bible, Psalm 119. Look at verse number 12. Now we could pick almost any verse in Psalm 119 and it would almost, it's just all about the law and all about how he loves God's law. Look at verse number 12. We'll just look at verse number 12 through just a few verses in. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. With my lips, I have declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. You see, look at verse number 15. I will meditate in thy precepts. Look, you know what he's doing? He is reading the word of God and he's comprehending what he's reading. You know, that's a skill too. You know, that's actually a skill that you're tested on. So, homeschoolers should be reading books and they should be taking, they should be giving book reports on books. They should be learning how to read a book and then tell somebody what that book said. They should be reading that book, meditating on what that book was talking about so they can think about it and write it down. You see? David here is talking, I mean, this verse 15 of Psalm 119, 15 is talking about somebody who is comprehending what he is reading. He is thinking about it and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statues. I will not forget thy word. Again, this implies that he's reading it again and again and again so he's getting better comprehension about it. Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word. Open now mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things Again, comprehension. He's comprehending what he's reading. You know, that's learned. You know that there's people that don't learn this that can read a book and they will forget the entire book in a week. I mean, if you don't, if you don't know, I mean, reading words is one thing. That's the first step but being able to comprehend what you were reading and think about it. I mean, how many times have you been reading the Bible? And maybe you're a little bit tired and you read like two or three pages and it was in your subconscious. We've all done it, right? I mean, if you want to actually read and comprehend those two or three pages, you need to recognize that you did that. You need to go back and you need to reread them. Because it's, reading is not a mindless exercise. Okay, this is learned. These are learned skills and you need to prepare your, if you, you just got to teach your kids the Bible. End of sermon. No, it's not that simple. Because guess what? Your kids are not always going to be living with you and your kids, if you tell them, hey, read the Bible for an hour and they go in their room and they don't even know how to comprehend anything. They're not going to even, it's not going to do them any good. They got to, look, they've got to be self-starters in this area. They got to learn to love to read. Now, look, the Bible is super interesting if two things, you're saved and you know how to read and comprehend things. Because the Bible is like the most interesting book ever, right? I mean, it's God's Word. So, look, it begins with developing a habit of reading, right? And that is, that takes some work to instill that in your children, all right? Find, look, find what your kids like to read. Here's what I do. I think of it as like a hopper, like a bin, right? I find what my kids like to read. Like with Ashley, it was like animal books. With Jacob now, it's these, these boxcar books or whatever that he's reading, these boxcar children books. And here's what I do. I just always keep the hopper full. If he's curled up in a corner and he's reading something at 8.30 at night and he's done with school, he's done with chores and that's what he chooses to do, what are you reading? Oh, this book, how many more do you have? This may, he's always got those types of books to read because I want him to just get better and better and better and better at reading and comprehending books and liking reading. Because pretty soon, he's going to start delving into and understanding more and more and more of the Bible and he needs to start becoming a self-starter in that area himself. Okay? Now look, this leads into them reading and studying the Bible as they get older. Okay? And reading in their life will help them understand the world around them as well and that's the second point I want to make. Turn to Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. So they need to know their Bible and that's a complex task of teaching them the love of reading as a homeschooling parent. You need to be able to push reading and look, if you got TVs and video games and look, the computer screen is no better. If you're on YouTube all day or everybody sits in front of their phone all evening long, it's the same thing. Don't replace, you know, TV with your phone in front of your face all the time. I mean, it's the same thing. Turn to Proverbs chapter one. Look at verse number five. They need to get knowledge of the world which will also, look, this reading is the engine that drives all these things. Okay? Look, a wise man will hear, look, because I mean, you can't believe anything that's being, I mean, you got to read books on stuff. You can't believe what people are telling you today. It's, don't even get me started on that. That's a whole other thing. A wise man will hear. Proverbs one, five. A wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise countless. I'm talking about general basic education, how the world works. History, math, English, grammar, these types of things, these things need to be a basis for a child. Look, this in conjunction with their biblical knowledge gives them the tools that they need to apply common sense. All right? We talked about it before the sermon. We talked about this very thing we were talking before church started this evening and basically what you have is you have this, all this worldly knowledge that you learn and you read about and you figure out and you read. The Bible is your lens to look at that knowledge and it's, it's that simple. So you learn about the world and then you look at it through the lens of the Bible and it tells you what the truth is. Okay? So first of all you have biblical knowledge that the kids need to know. They need to know knowledge of the world and then they put those two things together and you have the world through the Bible's lens is what you have. All right? Now that's not enough. That's not enough. You say there's more? Yes, there's more. The third thing is applying that to their life. Applying that to situations in their way. They have to know and understand the world around them. They have to know what the Bible says and then they have to apply it to their life. Practical application is what this is called. Okay? Now look, I have had many examples of the need for practical. I mean I have said for years and years and years that going to college and getting an engineering degree does not make you an engineer. I have seen PhDs who have been in school for eight years, nine years, 10 years that have doctor behind their name. I have seen them get out of school and into the world, into the work world and destroy millions of dollars worth of things. Because they don't have that practical, they have all that knowledge. They have all that that worldly knowledge but they don't have the ability to apply it to the world. They don't have that practical application and in their case they usually have a lot of pride so they think they know everything and that's why they ruin things. Okay? Look, they need to know the Bible, they need to know how the world works but they need to get experience seeing people apply common sense. See? They need to see people using this common sense in life and that's where you come in, parents. They need to see their parents applying the Bible daily in their lives. Look, I'm reminded this as my younger children grow up and I go through some of the same things that I went through with, you know, with my older son, I'm going through with my younger son now. Look, I'm reminded of this. You take for granted the things that need to be taught, you know, and I'm just remembering and it's like, oh yeah, you know what needs to be taught? Everything. You know, with Jacob we're out, we're working and we're doing this and what's that tool called? What's that tool do? What's, I mean, all this needs to be taught. These are all gaps that need to be filled. I mean, this is just a secular example but my point is, is that having parents that apply, I mean every situation needs to be taught. I mean, it's a daunting task. You take for granted the things that need to be taught but they'll see you deal with situations and look, it all needs to be taught. It all needs to be taught in the application. That's why the application, that's why you need to live a daily biblical life, especially if you're a parent. I mean, if you don't live a daily biblical life, you can just go ahead and damage yourself if you're, you know, you don't have kids but if you have kids, there's more on the line. There's more people watching you, there's more on the line here. So you have to live this daily biblical life and it has to be on purpose and they need to see you exercising these things. You know, a good example is, you know, going to church. I mean, a simple one, right? I mean, if you don't go to church, your kids will never go. I mean, that's, they just won't think, they won't grow up even though they have the Bible knowledge and they have the world knowledge and they can look at and they can see that, you know, the Bible, your example of demonstrating that church just isn't that important will override that knowledge. They won't get that practical application that they need but if, look, the practical application is the final, it's the final nail in the coffin. Basically, they know the Bible knowledge, says go to church, they know that they need to go to church from what they see in the world and all these different things and, look, then they see their parents, you know, putting that emphasis on going to church, period. That's how it works. Then they're like, yes, everything fits. It's, you got it. It's a good example and we know from the Old Testament, from the entire Bible, that, look, things don't get better from generation to generation. They get worse so we need to instill these things. Think about handling unethical situations. I mean, just think about, you know, Samuel's example here. Samuel's sons, you know, greed, bribes, perverting judgment. You know, I remember I saw and was dealing with someone when I was younger, I was working for someone who was making a lot of money in an unethical way and I remember that my dad was always against it. Not because it was a lot of money, but because of where it came from and how it was, how it was obtained. And look, that made a lasting impression onto me because as a child, I'm just like, wow, look at all that success. And, but I saw that that practical application and that made an impression. So look, they need guidance through life's tests like this. You know, it's especially important for boys as they, you know, what I'm experiencing now, it's a great thing that boys stick around the house for a couple more years after they start working in this world because look, there's complex things that come up. And number one, it's nice to see how they respond to see how you did. You know what I'm saying? But the second thing is, is that you get to guide them through these more complex situations for the last few times before they're married and on their own. It's a nice, it's a nice model. It works very well. So I mean, well, let's look at some areas of things that, due to Samuel's sons being into, you know, greed and all this kind of stuff, turn to Proverbs chapter 13. I mean, here's some areas that Samuel's sons stumbled in and these areas of common sense are actually lost today as well. We can see how this could happen. Turn to Proverbs 13 and look at verse number 11. The Bible says, wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall increase. This is dishonest gain. Proverbs 28, look at verse number 20. The Bible says, a faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. So be careful, ambitious man. What kind of practical, you know, example you are, you are portraying to your children, your kids are watching, your kids are watching. Don't teach them that money is the goal and it doesn't matter how you get it. I mean, they may learn, you know, here's the thing. Do you think Samuel taught his kids to be greedy? Do you think, I mean, look at what we know of Samuel. Look at, I mean, he was a good judge. Do you think Samuel taught his kids to take bribes? Do you think Samuel taught his kids to love money? No, he didn't. But here's the thing, they learn that on their own. They learn that on their own. He, you may learn, they may learn that without you teaching them the opposite. You see what I'm saying? If you don't stop it, if you don't put a stop gap there, they'll just, they may, somebody else may teach them. If there's a, if there's a hole, somebody's going to fill it if you don't. That's the bottom line. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 22. Look, that's what the world is teaching. What these, what these boys learned, what these boys did, that's what the world is teaching today, that's what the world was teaching then. That's what they learned it. Samuel didn't have to teach him. All he had to do was not teach him the opposite, and the world got to them. It's that simple. Look at Ezekiel chapter 22. Look at verse number 29. The Bible says, the people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy. Yay, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. Look, this is flat-out dishonest gain, robbing other people. You know, I remember an example that my wife told me about, that she went to some amusement park. I don't know, I don't think it was anything that you all have probably ever heard of, but they went to some amusement park when they were kids, and there was a situation where her parents were there with them, and you know they didn't have a lot of money when my wife was growing up, and there was a situation where if if they just would have said that one of the girls was a little year younger, they could have saved, you know, some money. And she remembers that her mom, you know, and dad would not do that. Think, now just think about this for a second. Think about this for a second. You know how many years ago that was? I mean, that is a defining moment in my wife's life. You need to think about this when you make decisions and when you're living your daily life, because the opposite can be just as true. If your kids, especially as your kids, so here you are, you're teaching your kids to read, they love to read, they're going to start reading the Bible, they're going to start understanding what the Bible says, they're going to get saved, they're going to understand what the Bible says, they're going to get, they're going to get from milk to meat, and they're going to just become these, you know, pretty mature Christians by the time they're teenagers probably, and then they're going to see you rounding corners, and they're going to notice. And those will be the defining moments that they will never forget in their life. Now, I mean, think about that, that's that's interesting. You know, that's sobering to think about that. So look, in conclusion this evening, practical application is an important part of becoming good at anything. Okay, book learning is one thing, Bible reading is one thing, the Christian must learn to apply the Bible to the things that he will face in his life. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter six. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter six. Deuteronomy chapter six, look at verse number seven, and now shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when they'll sit us in the house, when they'll walk us by the way, and when they'll lie us down, and when they'll rise us up. Look, as your kids get older, the lessons that they need to learn need to become more complex. I can think of many situations over the last several years where somebody that we knew or somebody, you know, some situation that was known to everyone in the family where I took my family aside, we sat down, and I explained to them, hey, here's what's wrong with this situation. In light of the bible, here's why this situation should not have gone that way. These are teachable moments. Look, sometimes that someone was me. Don't be this parent, by the way. This is another sermon in itself, but don't be this parent that never would admit any kind of fault. Don't be this parent that will never, you know, turn to your kids and your wife and say, you know what, I didn't handle that right. I'm sorry. I should have handled it this way. That's a teachable moment too, on a number of different levels. That's a teachable moment showing that, look, I mean, you're going to make decisions. We talked about that this morning. You're going to make decisions. Newsflash, not every decision is going to be correct. You know, I've often said that there's many cases in life where no decision is worse than, you know, no, that any decision is better than no decision. But guess what? There's going to be decisions that you make as a leader, as the head of your household that will be wrong. Where the other decision may have been better. You may be you, you get in the flesh and do something or say something that you shouldn't have. Look, don't be this guy. Don't be this guy that never admits fault. Nobody is a perfect leader. All right, because look, here's what'll happen to you as your kids get older and please take this from somebody who's got some older children at this point. You're going to end up with children that know the Bible. You're going to end up with children that know, you know, have some knowledge of the world and they know what the Bible says and they know what you should have done in that situation. And they see that you didn't and they know that you're wrong. And then they'll learn that you're somebody who just digs your heels in and is prideful and won't admit fault. And it's no good. You don't want that. All right. Look, just, just let go of a bad idea as soon as you know it's a bad idea. That's my philosophy. Be the first person to throw yourself under the bus. Nobody else can do it. All right. But look, back to what I was saying. You need to sit down. You need to talk about things. And by the way, as your children get older and you know, if you have young children, this might be a ways off. But as your children get over, this is a lot of fun, actually. I mean, there's just a few nights ago, there's conversations. I mean, we sat down, talked, I mean, I'm just like, I can't believe that this is the kind of conversations I'm having with my little kids, but they're not little. Right? But because they just grow up, they mature. They will learn from you. They will watch you. And it gets enjoyable. It gets enjoyable. So conclusion on common sense. You have to define. Look, we're talking about defining direction. Right? Everybody out in the world today will say, oh, that's just common sense. This is just common sense. Look, you have to define what common sense is for your kids. You have to teach them to get that common sense by reading about, you know, education, educating themselves, by reading the Bible, by understanding the world through the lens of the Bible that they love to read, that you have taught them to love to read. That is what common sense is to your children. You define it for them. How many, do you think that if we would go ask somebody on the street what common sense is today? That they would even mention the Bible? How many people have you heard that lately say, you know, not lately, but in just the last few years, especially old timers? Kids today got no common sense. Nobody's got any common sense anymore. There's upcoming generation, there's no common sense. Well, it's because there's no Bible anywhere anymore. That's why. So we have to define that for them. So when somebody asks your kids what's common sense, they'll say, you know, it's the, it's the world through the lens of the Bible. That's what they'll say, common sense is. And then they get to see you for 18, 19, 20, 22 years, whatever it is, apply common sense in your life on a daily basis. And guess what? You're going to have somebody who's pretty good at practicing common sense. And that covers everything. That protects them from sin, that makes sure that they'll find a good spouse, that makes sure that they'll get into a decent church and that when they do have a family that they'll teach common sense to their kids. Turn to Proverbs 29. And all you have to do to fail is this. All you have to do to fail is this. Proverbs 29, 15. Proverbs 29, 15. The Bible says the rod and reproof shall give wisdom, or the rod and reproof give wisdom, not what we're talking about tonight, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. I bet you that's what Samuel's mistake was. Because Samuel was a pretty decent man of God. And by the way, you can look in not to, you know, the previous generation and generation before that in the last 20, 30, 40 years, and you could see a lot of great men of God who had children that brought their mother to shame. And it wasn't because they weren't great men of God, but the child was left to himself is what happened. And then, you know, the world will come in and take over is what will happen. And that's what happened to Samuel's sons. So, it has to be something that you are actively on the offense. You can't play defense to win this one because you'll lose. Anybody that tries to play a game when just playing defense only loses. You have to be on the offense here. You have to be filling in those holes, filling in those gaps. You got to teach everything. You got to teach everything and take proactive action. Because if you leave them to themselves, you lose. That's the bottom line. You don't just get common sense. It comes from very specific knowledge of the world through the lens of the Bible, which takes a lot of preparation to get those things to them. And once they have that, that knowledge of the world, that lens of the Bible, and that practical application from you, they will have common sense. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this church. We thank you for this day we had today, Lord. We thank you for just allowing us to be here and to gather and to read and study your word, Lord, and to just fellowship and go soul-winning today and be able to share the Gospel with the people that we share the Gospel with today, Lord. We ask that you just protect and keep safe everyone in this church, Lord, and bring us all back for church on Wednesday. I mean, you just continue to bless the work of this ministry. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.