Latest / HBCWestminster / Children Are A Heritage From The Lord • Psalm 127

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Children Are A Heritage From The Lord • Psalm 127 · HBCWestminster

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If you have your Bibles open, if you would, to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. We are going to finish
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this morning a sermon that we began last week. And I know that many of our wives were down at
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the women's retreat last week. And so I directed much of that sermon and many of the applications
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at the men in the room last week. And so let me just review quickly by asking my Highland
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brothers some quick questions. Are you planting trees? What are you doing today, which will
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provide shade for your children and grandchildren tomorrow? Highland men, are you prioritizing
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scripture memory or are you still making that same lame excuse? Are you creating a sense of
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expectancy, of excitement for the gathering of God's people in worship? Are you asking the Lord
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for his help? Are you depending upon God for your success? I concluded last Sunday very simply by
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just saying, without God, our work,
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is empty. But that is not to condemn work. We were actually designed to work, but we work as unto
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the Lord. And as we do, the Lord promises rest. We left off last week with verse two, which just
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says, for he gives to his beloved sleep. King David in a time of turmoil and pressure said in
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Psalm four and verse eight in peace, I will both lie down and sleep. And for the men in the room,
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you know, there is a difference between lying down.
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And sleeping. It is possible. And in fact, it is frequent more and more frequent. The older that I
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get that I go to bed long before I go to sleep. There are many nights where I lay awake for hours
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thinking about all of the things that I did that day or have to do tomorrow. But King David says,
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not only will I lie down, I will sleep. And then he says for you, Oh Lord, make me dwell
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in safety. The Lord gives who is beloved sleep, but there's actually another alternate
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translation of verse two, which I find interesting. The verse two could also be read. He
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gives to his beloved as they sleep. In other words, as you and I are laying in bed, the Lord is still
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at work. The Lord is still getting it done. The Lord is preparing the soil and sowing the seed
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and harvesting the fruit and then crediting all of that to our account. I am currently working on
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growing a new section of grass in my backyard. Every morning that I wake up, the grass has grown
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a little bit while I'm sleeping.
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The Lord is at work. There's a beloved Highland brother, one of our own, who is a state patrolman.
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He works the night shift while we are sleeping. He's watching out for us.
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The Lord, if you want to think of it this way, the Lord has the night shift. That's what he's
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saying in verse two. He doesn't slumber. He doesn't sleep while we sleep. He works.
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But don't forget, we were designed to work.
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Adam, after all, had a job before he had a wife. Adam worked. At the end of chapter one,
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God saw everything that he had made and behold, everything was good. Do you guys remember the
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first time the Bible says something wasn't good? It's in the next chapter, chapter two,
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where Adam is looking around and saying, none of these are for me.
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Lord, did you make one for me? Do you remember Genesis chapter two in verse 18?
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The Lord said that it is not good that man should be,
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alone. And thus marriage was instituted. And then he made Eve and God said, be fruitful and
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multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And thus families were created.
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And I know that sermons on the family are sometimes difficult for some to hear.
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There are some, even among us that did not or could not get married.
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There are some, and I know because you're my friends who did not or could not have kids.
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One of my very good friends, in fact, my oldest friend,
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friend that I've been friends with the longest is named Matt. Matt and I met when we were in
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the toddler class at church. We were two years old. In fact, I think I'd have to confirm with
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my mom. I think my parents knew his parents and they were friends. They were part of the same
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young marrieds class in the church before we were even born. I think our families were actually
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friends before we were born, but nevertheless, Matt and I were talking about this the other day.
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I think in the toddler class is when we met, we went to elementary school and junior high and
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high school together. And we were friends. And we were friends. And we were friends. And we were
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all the high school sports together. We were roommates in college. After college, I married
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Hallie. He married Kristen. They moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas. We started having kids,
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but they never could. I still see Matt twice a year. His job brings him to Denver two times a
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year. We get coffee. In fact, he was just here the weekend of the church picnic. He was here
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and we catch up and, and we're coming on 50 years old. We're all of us, all four of us turning 50
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this year. And, um, you know, I, I just said, Matt, can I ask you a question? He said,
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yeah, they tried everything. You guys, Matt and Kristen, they desperately wanted to have children
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and, uh, and they're not bitter and they're not angry, you know? And, um, I just said,
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Matt, what's it like going to church when everybody else has kids and you don't,
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what's it like? And we're close enough friends that I could ask him that question. I really
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want to know as a pastor of a church, I want to know what's it like. And he said, you know,
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honestly, Danny, we're good. We're okay. We're not angry, but he said, it's hard.
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It's hard hearing messages about marriage when you're not married. It's hard hearing messages
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about kids when you have no kids. It's hard because you desperately wanted that. He said,
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it is this constant reminder, a regular reminder of the most painful experience in our lives.
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That's what it's like. You want to know what it's like? That's what it's like. And so it's hard.
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And he said, we still go. And it's, but he said, it is, it is, it is tough.
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And I know because I've spoken to many of you that hearing a message like this may be tough. I know.
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I would just remind you that the Lord loves you.
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Hallie and I know you and we love you. We eat with you and we pray with you and we are for you,
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but don't forget you who are not married that desire to be, you've got a marriage in Christ.
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Don't forget that you who have wanted kids, but could not have them, that you have a family in us.
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I'm not kidding. When I call us the Highland family, I say that all the time. You guys have
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heard me say it. I say it ad nauseum. That just means a lot. I say it a lot.
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To the point that you want to puke. That's what ad nauseum means.
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I say it a lot. We're a family. That means that even though I don't have grandkids,
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I still bear the responsibility for some people's grandkids.
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Even though you may not have biological children, nevertheless, the Lord has surrounded you with
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kids. They're everywhere in here. And I would encourage you not to be pained by that, but rather
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to lean into that instead of leaning out of it, lean into it. When we do all of those baby dedications,
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and I say to those parents, do you commit before your church family to raise your children in the
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fear and admonition of God? And they say, yes, we do. And then I look at all of you and I say,
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and do you commit to walk alongside this young couple to pray for and to volunteer and to
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support and give godly counsel and to help raise these kids in the fear and admonition of God?
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And I say, if you will commit, then say, amen. And everybody in here says, amen. And you say,
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amen, that you are in that action, taking some responsibility for those children. You have kids.
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Our kids, we are the same family. We are the same Highland family. You've got more nephews and
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nieces than you know what to do with. In fact, we average about one more new one per month.
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And the Lord is entrusting them to our care, not just to that young couple's care, but to our care
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that we have some responsibility in that. And so just like last Sunday, when there was
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plenty of women in the room, there was plenty for the women to apply, even though the sermon
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was directed at men. So also this Sunday, when there was plenty of women in the room,
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Sunday, we'll have plenty for everyone, even though it will primarily be directed at families.
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And so with that in mind, would you stand as I read God's word? Psalm 127, and we studied the
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first two verses last Sunday, but I'm going to reread those. We're just going to read the whole
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psalm together, verses one through five. The word of God says, unless the Lord builds the house,
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those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake
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in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious
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toil, for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit
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of the womb, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
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Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with
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his enemies in the gate. And Lord God, we pray that you would bless
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the faithful.
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Family of Highland Baptist Church. Lord, we look this morning to your word as our lamp.
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We lean on your Holy Spirit as our compass. Would you guide and direct our steps as you've promised
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you would in Jesus name? Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Well, last week we talked about work.
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This morning, let's talk about family. Notice again, the first two words of verse three, behold,
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children. In 1975, 50 years ago this year, 1975, an author named Edith,
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Schaefer wrote a book that had a question for its title. What is a family? That was the same year,
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1975, that my parents got married. Could very well be that my parents read that book or one like it
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as they started their family. Each chapter in her book was an answer to that question. What is a
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family? So one of the chapters was the family is the birthplace of creativity. Another one,
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a formation center for human relationships. A family is a shelter in the time of storm.
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A family is a perpetual,
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relay of truth. A family, she said, is a door with hinges so you can let some people in and a lock
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so you can keep some people out. A family, she said, is a museum of memories. I thought, well,
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that is a beautiful answer to that question. Perhaps almost too good to be true. If you were
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to just drop into the average home, if you could just be a fly on the wall and you could listen to
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how many husbands and wives interact with each other.
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How parents interact with their kids, how teens speak to, and then about their parents. I doubt
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you'd come away thinking that what a beautiful museum of memories. I don't know what it was
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like raising a family in 1975, but I know exactly what it's like and the difficulty that it is
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to raise a family in 2025. It's work. It's dirty. In fact, it kind of smells.
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It is a daily.
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Dying to oneself, isn't it? And then consciously choosing to live for another person.
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It's a giving away of your life. It's waking up every morning and looking in the mirror and then
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reminding yourself that today is not about you. Today's not about you. It's about somebody else.
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Now, keep in mind that all of those things that I just mentioned are actually godly qualities.
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All of them have Bible verses attached. And because we live in a largely godless
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society, very little dying to self for the sake of raising a family is happening.
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In fact, some in our culture have become so confused about the purpose of families that
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they've deceived themselves into thinking that they should start a family for their own good,
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for their own satisfaction, for their own fulfillment. They get married because it
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makes me happy. Have kids because it makes me happy. They've completely twisted it around so
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that it's backward. Because of that deception, they've completely twisted it around so that it's
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thinking. I think by every available metric, the last 50 years since that book was published
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have not been kind to families. Also in the 1970s, Newsweek published the findings of a
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poll they had conducted. 1975, same year, Newsweek said one third of American marriages ended in
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divorce. The article that they published was entitled Saving the American Family.
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They said,
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we better do something. This was 1975. We better do something because a third of American
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marriages are ending in divorce. If you fast forward 50 years, 2025, that number has risen
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to over half, over half of American marriages end in divorce. In the 1970s, 50 years ago,
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7% of American children were being raised in single parent homes. Today, 50 years later,
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that number has more than tripled.
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23%. In fact, America leads the world in single parenting. Second place isn't even close. It's
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single digits. In the 1970s, 50 years ago, 15% of babies were born to unwed parents. 15%. And at the
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time, 1975, Newsweek said, you better do something. 15% of babies were born to unwed parents. Today,
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it's 35%. More than a third of the babies born in this country are born to parents who are not
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married.
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Listen, that doesn't take into account abortions because almost universally abortions are had by
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unwed couples. Almost universally, it's almost a hundred percent of abortions are by parents who
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are not married. And so if you consider that about 25% of the babies conceived in our country every
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year are aborted, it's about a quarter. If that quarter were carried to term and then delivered,
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that number would be well north of 35%.
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And so I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone within hearing distance. If you can hear
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my voice, that Christian families, families as defined by scripture who have and share biblical
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values of those families, your families, our families are under fire. Does everybody agree
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with that? And the focus of that fire is our kids. Have you noticed that the enemy does? I'm going to
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say something that may be audacious a little bit. If you disagree with me, you can come forward and
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confront me here at the end. But, uh, I'm going to say something that may be audacious a little bit.
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Honestly, I think the focus of that fire is our kids. I don't think the enemy cares very much
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about adults because he knows that our time has passed. He knows he can wait us out. He doesn't
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care about us. He cares more about our kids. He wants the next generation. And so notice Solomon
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makes three observations specifically about children. And you guys, can I stop before we
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even get into it? It is shocking to me that this is going to be controversial.
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Man, I can't believe it. I can't believe there are people who would say, how dare you? But listen
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to Solomon. He says in verse three, the children are a gift. They're a gift. They're not an
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inconvenience to be tolerated. They're not an obstacle to be overcome. Children are not a road
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block keeping you from happiness. He says in verse three, behold, children are a heritage from the
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Lord. That word heritage is a heritage from the Lord. It's a heritage from the Lord. It's a heritage
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is the same word as inheritance. A father works to leave his children an inheritance,
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but in the actual sense, his children are the inheritance. God gives children to families as
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living assets and inheritance, which will outlive those to whom they were given. But that is not how
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children are often viewed. Isn't that true? They're a pain in the neck to be avoided.
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Do me a favor really quickly. And you're not in trouble.
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You know, I'm not asking you whatever. You don't have to say anything. Just raise your hand. Would
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you? If you're between the ages of 18 and 29, 18 and 29 year olds, Hallie, raise your hand.
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There's only one 18 and 29 year olds. There y'all are. You are Gen Z. Okay. That's your
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generation. Gen Z, 18 to 29. If you're a member of Gen Z, then can I share something with you
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about the priorities of your fellow members? I'm not saying this is reflects your priorities,
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but that's the age we're talking about. 18 to 19 year old, 18 to 29 year olds are the ones who are
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starting families, getting married, having their babies. Okay. Now keep in mind that these
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priorities or lack thereof, in my opinion, are not necessarily your fault. I think they are the
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consequence of generations of bad parenting. If it's anybody's fault, it's my fault.
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It's Gen X. It's our fault. Okay. But NBC had a poll last week, brand new numbers, September 8th,
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last week. They asked,
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a large group of Gen Zers to rank 13 options in order of priority. Here are 13 life goals.
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Would you tell us, would you just rank these number one, most important thing to number 13,
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least important thing. They split it by gender women, number one, women, Gen Z, number one,
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having a job or career they find fulfilling. Number one, number two, having enough money to
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do the things I want to do. Number three, achieving financial independence. You guys see a theme.
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Number four, emotional stability.
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Number five, six, seven, eight, nine. We're all basically the same. Number 10, 10 out of 13,
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having children, 11 being married. The only two options, which ranked lower number 12, retiring
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early number 13, fame and influence. And you say, well, maybe it's better with the men.
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One to six were exactly like you'd think. Number seven, being married. Number eight,
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having children. Now that is a huge problem because of young people of childbearing ages,
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18 to 29. That's when that happens. Put families number 10. That's an indicator. I think of a
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society in decline. It could also be an indicator of a future generation, which has trouble seeing
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beyond itself. They live for the most part.
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For themselves and do not care what happens after they're gone. Now, here's what I mean. If your top
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five priorities in life are personal fulfillment through financial success, then you will never
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understand love because love by definition is sacrifice. God created the world. Everything he
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made was good. The sky, the water, the land, the birds, the animals, fish were all good. Man was
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good. Well, God recognized that Adam needed a wife. There was no,
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no helper. It says suitable for him. He created for Adam, a helper. That word helper is a funny
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word. The closest English translation, which is a word we never use is the word help meet,
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help meet. Sometimes it's pronounced help mate, but it's not totally the same thing.
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Help meet. And you're like, what in the world is a help meet?
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A help meet is someone who could rise up alongside Adam at times, even against
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Adam as needed. God made Eve to become a strong corresponding partner, equal to Adam whom he could
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push against. It's like this. I would illustrate it this way. Do you guys remember when you were
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in elementary school, you'd go out to the playground, you'd sit back to back with one
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of your buddies. Did you ever try this? Did you ever try it on the count of three? We're going
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to stand up together, but don't use your hands. You're not allowed to touch the ground. You guys
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remember doing this and you push against each other so that you could using their force. You
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could both stand up. You could both stand up and you could push against each other. You could both
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at the same time. That's a help meet. It's somebody who can push against you, who can help you to
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rise higher than you could have on your own. That was Eve for Adam. Now, additionally, the Hebrew
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word for love is the word Ahava. The root word is Yava, meaning to give. I mean, literally the
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Hebrew word for love means to give. The only way to love is to give. I saw a woman at college
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this week wearing a t-shirt, big block letters across the shirt that said self love club. I
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thought there's no such thing. There's no such thing. That's impossible. That does not exist
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because the only way to love is to give. And the only way to give is to have someone else to give
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it to. And this is why Jesus said in John chapter 15, greater love has no man than this, than that
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he what? Lay down his life for his friends.
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Give your life away. That is love. And there are no people in our lives in greater need
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of sacrificial love than our kids. Boy, are they good at making us lay down our lives for them.
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Isn't that true? The kids are good. That's what Solomon says. So what the word of God says,
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they are an inheritance and to view them any other way is to think like the world. Isn't that true?
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A second, that leads to our second point. Solomon says that children are a reward. He continues
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the verse three, the fruit of the womb, a reward. And you say, well, reward for what?
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The children are a reward. They are divine blessings, which come as a result of embracing
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reality. Here's what I mean. The word children makes one major assumption. If you've got children,
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you must also have children. If you've got children, you must also have children. If you've got
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children, you must also have parents. And more specifically, you must have a mother and a father.
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And I am just baffled by the rebellion of our culture that would pretend like children can come
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by any other means than the union of a man and a woman, gay couples, adopting newborns,
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and then staging photos as if one of them has just given birth.
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Have you seen that stuff? Pretending like that is the type of union, which God blesses is both
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ridiculous and blasphemous. I've been in full-time pastoral ministry for 23 years. I've been doing
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this job two and a half decades. When I began discipling and teaching youth full-time 2002,
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there were plenty of questions in 2002 about gender roles,
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but there was no question at all about gender identity. The terms transgender,
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cisgender, and non-binary hadn't even been conceived yet. Those are brand new words.
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In fact, there was a landmark case in the early 2010s
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that sentenced a man to prison for entering and using a woman's restroom when women were present.
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Today, we're talking less than 15 years later, there are large swaths of people in our country
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who claim that there are no such things as men and women.
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Gender itself, they claim, is a social construct which must be dismantled. Reality itself
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is under attack. Several years ago, my family was visiting a mall on the south side of Denver. We
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were walking through the food court. My wife, Hallie, said she needed to stop at the restroom.
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She went in. I waited just outside that entrance to the women's restroom with all of the other
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husbands and boyfriends. A man approached, kind of dressed like a woman. Not a lot of effort was
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made, but he was clearly a man.
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Wearing makeup. And he walked up to the entrance of the women's restroom as if it were totally
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normal, intending to use the women's restroom where my wife was. And these guys' wives and
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girlfriends were. I didn't know what to do. I had to make a decision. I had two seconds. This guy
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walking up like you're, you're hanging a left instead of a right. Like, well, I didn't know
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what to do. I was not prepared for it. I, as gently and compassionately and as non-combatively,
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non-aggressively as I could, I,
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I, I just, I mean, honestly, all I did was just kind of slide over
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in front of the entrance to the women's restroom. And he stopped and we stood kind of face to face.
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And I said, Hey, where are you going? He said, going to use the restroom. Sounded just like that.
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Going to use the restroom. And I said, Hey, listen, are you using this restroom? And he said,
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yeah. And I said, I'm just going to ask you just respectfully to wait until all of our wives and
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wives are done. When they come out, you can go in there and use restroom if you want, or you can use
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that restroom right now. It's no problem. You can go that one right now. Wait a couple of minutes
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until all of our ladies are out. And then you can use this one if you want. Now, as I was saying
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that, I said it just like that. As I was saying that all of the other husbands and boyfriends
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kind of lined up next to me, they had a lot more colorful language for him than I used letting him
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know very clearly that he'd been warned. Now, let me ask you, I don't know. Was that the right thing
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to do? Was that the right way to handle it? I don't know, but I know I had to draw a line in the
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sand. I wasn't going to let the dude in there. My wife was in there. Let me ask you who are old
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enough to remember before that was a thing. What in the world? What in the world? Like I said,
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how is this controversial at all? Could you ever have imagined that this is where we would be?
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This is the world that we would be raising our children and grandchildren in. I mean,
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we live in a time when men can,
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can be NFL cheerleaders. And I don't mean the men who have always been cheerleaders. That's not
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who I'm talking about. The manliest, strongest, toughest kid I ever taught in high school
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was named Tommy. Tommy was the catcher on my baseball team that I coached. He worked at a
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ranch on the outskirts of town. Eventually he became a professional cowboy and farrier. That
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means ranches will hire him to come and shoe all of their horses. That's what he does now. He was
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a stud, just a manly.
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kid around. He comes to me in his senior year and he says, Hey coach, guess what? What's up,
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Tommy? He said, I'm joining the cheerleading squad. I was like, what? Why? He said, well,
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they asked, they asked you to be on the cheerleading squad. He said, yeah. Why?
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And he said, they need a guy who's strong enough to pick up and throw those girls.
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Nobody else is strong enough. Now that was not a commentary on the side of the road.
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It was a commentary on the size of our girls. They were appropriately sized. It was a commentary
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on the size of our guys. On average, we had a small group of guys at the high school. He was
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the only 17 year old kid who could pick up a girl, lift her over his head. I said, you said, yes. He
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said, yeah. Why? He said, coach, there's 15 girls on that squad. He said it just like that. There
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will be one guy, me. I have every intention of asking one of them out. Now, I don't know if he
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already had his eye on Jamie.
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But he did ask her out. They got married. They bought a small ranch in Texas where they live now
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raising their three kids. You've never met Tommy before, right? None of you have any idea what he
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looks like, but if you're younger than prep, if you're a guy younger than maybe 35, you might
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have seen his picture before. This is kind of a funny thing, but a guy approached Tommy in the
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mall. One time, Tommy was just walking through. He dressed like he always did. He was a cowboy.
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It's what he dressed like. He's walking through the mall.
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This guy approaches him. He says, I'm a photographer. I'm working on a project where
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I need an album cover with a guy that looks like you. Would you mind coming? And I want to take
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your picture. I'll pay you in cash. I dress how I need you to dress. Would you mind if I take your
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picture? And he said, yeah, no problem. So some of you may have seen his picture before. That is
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Tommy. There he is. When I'm saying men can be your cheerleaders, that's not the type of man.
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I'm talking about. That's not what I'm talking about. You guys know what I'm talking about?
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That's Tommy. He was a cheerleader his senior year of high school. I'm talking about
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the men who are pretending to be women can be cheerleaders on national television.
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Do you see that shame on the NFL shame on any television network, which airs them shame on them?
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It's not okay.
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Okay. Children, the scripture say are a reward to those who recognize the reality that marriage is
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good and the reality that male and female, he created them. The assumption, which is made in
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verse three. I mean, it's, it's so assumed in verse three that Solomon doesn't even say it.
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He just says, I'm assuming that the reward of children are being issued to the fruit of the
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marriage covenant, the reward of a godly marriage.
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And I know that we live in a time which has not only deemed children and inconvenience,
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but has also deemed marriage itself an unnecessary inconvenience.
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Scripture say that a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife
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and the two will become one flesh. In other words, and I got this from HB Charles. I liked it. He said
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the roots of marriage should be planted before the fruits of children are born. Every single child is
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precious in an image bearer. Amen. Every single one, regardless of the circumstances of their
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conception.
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Isn't that right? Every single child should be held dear, should be raised in the fear and
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admonition of God, regardless of how he or she was conceived. Let us not pretend like priorities
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don't sometimes get mixed up and that mistakes get made and that God and his grace sometimes
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still blesses us. Even in those mistakes, it is a blessing, not a curse. I say this with humility,
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recognizing that every family is broken in at least some way. Every,
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every single family is dysfunctional. It's funny to me when people will come and say,
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Pastor Danny, I come from a dysfunctional family. You're like, there's no such thing, but
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a dysfunctional family. Isn't that true? Hallie and I had been dating for about six months.
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We decided, you know what? We're pretty close to making a decision on whether we're going to end
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up together. We better have that talk where we air the family laundry. Remember that talk?
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She comes to me after six months. We might end up together. I was like, it's a little fast for me,
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but okay. She said, there are some things you need to know.
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And I said, you know what? We might end up together. There are some things you need to know.
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Yeah. We bring in weird expectations and issues and baggage. We all have that.
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And let's be clear about the design of God. Every child should be raised by a loving married
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father and mother, but that's not always how it works out.
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And maybe you're thinking, well, what if we've already, we've already done it wrong?
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What if we've already blown it?
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Can I just give you some really just humble advice? Confess, confess, ask forgiveness of God
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and of anyone else you may have hurt and then resolve that starting today, you're going to do
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it right. This is the grace of God. This is grace. This is the gospel. Yeah. Let's start over.
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Isn't that the gospel? Let's start over. It's all right. Let's start over. God extends grace
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toward those who need it. And so if you're living in that situation now,
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don't despair.
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And there's hope. There's a clean start starting today. You know, I've done weddings in the church
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lobby. Kids come and they say, kids to me, they're adults. You're like, are you going to marry my
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fifth grader? No, I'm not. They're adults. They come and they say, you know what, Pastor Dan,
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we're already living together. What do we do? We're committed to each other, but we've not
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gotten married. Get married. When, when, when should we do that? You can do it right now.
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Go get your nicest dress.
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Go iron a shirt, call all of your family and tell them to meet me here in the church lobby.
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We'll get it done. Yeah, there's no problem. Commit before the Lord and before your family,
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make your vows. We must not apologize for the biblical conviction that children are raised
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ideally by a loving married mother and father. And even if we've done it wrong, we've also got
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to resolve that starting today, we're going to do it right. Notice third and finally Solomon calls
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children a weapon.
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This is interesting. A weapon, which means that we're at war. Look at verse four, like the arrows
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in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth blesses the man who fills his quiver with
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them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate and light of the
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heaviness of this week's news. You may be coming this morning discouraged. I know that some of you
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are. I have,
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only rarely been confronted with the reality of spiritual warfare. Like we were confronted with
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this week, just the devastating headlines one after the next, after the next. And honestly,
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it caused, I was this close to despair Wednesday afternoon. I didn't know what to do. The people
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were calling me. What do I do? And I'm like, I don't know. Despair. I don't know. It's out of
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control. I don't know. I was this close. I thought, Lord, what, what are we supposed to do?
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What are we supposed to do in the face of such a God hating culture? What are we supposed to do
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against murderers? I mean, seminary doesn't prepare you for that. What are we supposed to
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do against a vitriolic society? Which may be even worse than murder. You're like, what's worse than
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murder? You know, what's worse than murder? Applauding murder. Sick. I don't understand.
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That is perverse. It is a sickness.
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How should a Christian respond when confronted with the types of evil that we witnessed this
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week? A senseless murder on a train. That one hit me hard. A young lady who could have been
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any one of our daughters simply going home from work. What'd she do? She did nothing.
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A hate-filled assassin, killing a young patriot, husband and father, a God-fearing
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Christ-worshipping 31-year-old.
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I was like, this is senseless. And then people applauding it. And not one or two. I mean,
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it's seemingly thousands and thousands saying this is good. Oh my word. Another school shooting.
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What do we do when we come face to face with shocking wickedness? Number one,
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these are reminders, friends, that we are indeed at war. To neglect the reality of spiritual warfare
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is foolish.
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I'll tell you, Ephesians 6 was being thrown around a lot in a bunch of different text groups.
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And we do not battle against flesh and blood. This is a spiritual battle.
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It's we've got to gird up our spiritual loins, prepare ourselves, our own souls, and the souls
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of our families to rise up against it. Maybe another answer. This is one of many things we
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could do. According to Solomon, we're at war. What are the weapons that we have?
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Our kids. Our own kids start by raising children in love, respect, and the fear and admonition of God.
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You know, murderers are godless. They are godless. They go on these killing sprees.
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And then often, as was the case again this last Wednesday, they kill themselves thinking they
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will somehow avoid justice. But friends, we know the truth. They couldn't be more wrong.
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When they breathe their last on this earth and their souls awakened before the judgment throne
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of God, I am telling you, I have never been there to witness it, but there is immediate regret.
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I should have stayed. It would have been better for me to spend the rest of my days sitting in
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a federal penitentiary. I could have delayed divine wrath. It would have been better.
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In that moment, they finally recognized not only the existence of God, but the magnitude of God.
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And you know what? I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you.
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We know what we can do as parents to prepare our children to go to war.
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Teach them about the magnitude of God from their youth.
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Love them and train them and educate them and show them the way that they should go.
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And then when they're adults, they will be fired from our homes as arrows are fired by a skilled
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archer. They will fly straight. They will fly true. And you say, well,
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how do I do this? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
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do that starting this afternoon. Is there anything just very practical? And here it is. Here's some
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just practical advice for the young parents in the room. Maybe for those young couples who don't
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have kids yet, or haven't even gotten engaged yet to just your ears can just tune in for just a
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minute. Here's some very simple, practical parenting advice. You ready? Number one, don't wait to teach
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your children the truth. Don't wait. You may wait to teach them the truth, but I am telling you the
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enemy isn't waiting to teach them lies. He's not waiting. The enemy wants their young eyes to see
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men dressed as women. And when your kids see that there, I mean, I'm telling you, their little brains
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are going to short circuit. They'll be confused. And then they're going to look at you because if
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you're looking at that as normal, you're teaching them to look at that as normal. He wants them to
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see men dressed as women dancing around on football sidelines. That's what he wants.
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The enemy wants them to assume that cross-dressing is normal.
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He wants them to assume that every worldview is normal. It doesn't matter what people think,
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what people believe that every God forsaken philosophy is equally valid.
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And so heed the warning of Colossians two in verse eight, which says, see to it that no one
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takes you captive. Again, it's wartime wording. See to it that no one takes you captive by hollow
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and deceptive philosophy, which depends upon human tradition and not upon the principles of Christ.
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The normalizing of,
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of sin is the strategy of the enemy. And so we've got to be vigilant
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because our own souls and the souls of our families are at stake. That's number one,
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teach them the truth from an early age. But a second, don't be afraid to parent by conviction.
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If the Lord has impressed something upon your heart, then do it. You young parents,
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don't be afraid to parent different than everyone else. And don't apologize for it.
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Even different than other people in the church. It's okay. If the Lord is impressing upon your
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heart to do something different, do it.
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Okay.
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Because the Lord has made you the parent of that one or two or three,
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not the parent of the neighbor kids. Maybe that's what your kids need. He's putting that
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conviction on you. So for instance, here's my just very practical example. When Hallie and I
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were first married, we didn't even know if we were going to have kids yet, but I said,
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you know, if we ever have kids, I don't know how many we'll have. And I don't know what genders
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they'll be, but I do. I feel this really strong compulsion to tell you that I want them all to
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share a bedroom. Now I did not know that we were going to have three boys and no girls. I didn't
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know that.
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We had three boys and no girls. And I remember being a young boy. And I remember that privacy
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is the worst gift you can give to your sons. It's the worst one. So I told her, I said, Hey,
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we're sticking them all in one room. They're all going to share a room. We had all boys.
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Like we had one single bed there and a bunk bed in one small room. And you know, what's weird.
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We've got other rooms available, but I just shoved them all into one room. And there were
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some times that they complained like, dad, why do I, why can't I sleep over there? What's the big
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deal? You know, why do I have to sleep over there? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't
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share a room. You know, it's crowded and it smells and whatever, you know, I got what I want
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to go have my own room. Now you're not going to have your own room. And in fact, if you ask again,
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I'm taking your door away. Door doesn't belong to you. It's my door. I'm letting you use it,
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but complain again. It's gone. It's easy. All right, dad. Fine. You know, we'll share a room.
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I'm telling you the friendships that the Lord forged between our boys. And I, you know, I told
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them practice, practice having roommates. You're going to have roommates.
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You know, nobody gets their own room, right? Practice having a roommate. It's good for you.
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Privacy is awful for you. No, you don't get your own bed. You don't get your own door. You don't
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know you're going to share, right? Parent by conviction. It's a simple, silly little thing.
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Here's another one. Thanksgiving several years ago, I had this big glass fish bowl thing.
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And as people were coming in and we have all kinds of people to Thanksgiving,
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many of you have been to my house for Thanksgiving. Tons of people, 40 people,
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50 people. I have this big bowl. And as people were coming in, I said, Hey, we're glad you're
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here. Put your cell phone in the bowl. I take the phone out like, what? Yeah, I'm going to keep all
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the cell phones today. Dropping all these phones in. It was a whole, I mean, you remember this big
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old bowl of cell phones at the end of the night, we spent the whole day without phones. It was
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awesome. The end of the night, I said, I'm going to draw one at random. Whoever's phone I draw out
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of the bowl gets a hundred dollar gift card. You guys, a hundred bucks is a small price to pay
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for a day.
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With 40 people and a bunch of kids and no phones, little silly things. If you have a conviction
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about how your house should run, then man lean into it. I believe that comes from the Lord.
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He's given you wisdom to parent your own kids. Well, and I really debated whether to use this
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last quote, because honestly, I hate the thought that it might sound opportunistic.
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Now, please understand though, that this is meant to honor him, not in any way to seize upon
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nor to trivialize his death. But you want to know what type of man Charlie Kirk,
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was six weeks ago, July 27, six weeks, July 27, 2025, Charlie Kirk tweeted this. And I quote,
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get married, have kids, stop partying into oblivion, leave a legacy, be courageous.
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Happy Sunday. God bless all the parents out there. And Lord, we thank you that even in the midst of
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troubling times, Lord, we know that you have equipped us for the task. You have given us
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your word. You have given us the Holy Spirit. You've given us the family of God, and you have
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given us conviction to stand for what is right. And Lord, what a joy it is to know that we are
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not standing alone. Lord, we love you and are thankful for the family of Highland Baptist
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Church. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen, church.