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Sons Like Jesus - The Godly Parent's Heart Cry for Their Children · Passing On The Faith

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Brothers and sisters, what is this that we're getting out of this?
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, number one, headship and shepherding involves leading.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Don't question them out.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: The head leads.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's right there on the top of the body.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: But it's more than that.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between a military captain over 300 guys and a husband.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think almost everybody in here will say, well, that makes a lot of sense.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, it does.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: What's the difference?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: The difference is that the military captain is a leader and he's leading those people.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he does.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: He shouts orders and he leads.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: But the cafe involves the covenantal idea of the head being connected to the body.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: There is a connectivity between the head and his body that is absolutely essential.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to Passing on the Faith, a podcast from generations.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Every week, we bring you a powerful moment from one of our sermons, audiobooks, webinars, or conference talks.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hand picks to help you build a strong biblical foundation for your family.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: This week's episode is a sermon from an equipping series at Reformation Church of Elizabeth entitled Sons Like Jesus: The Godly Parents' Heart Cry for Their Sons by Kevin Swanson.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Stand together this morning, and I'd like to read from Ephesians chapter 5, verses 22 down through 29.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 5, 22 through 29.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is the very word of God.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Father in heaven, we pray your blessing upon this word this day.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Father, living active, separating the bone of the morrow.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: We pray it would separate the bone of the morrow.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: We pray it would come alive in us.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: That this would transform us.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: That we would be a different people because of the powerful word of God and the concomitant work of the Holy Spirit with us, as the word is presented in Jesus' name.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Please be seated.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, as I mentioned a number of weeks ago, one of the responsibilities of the church is to equip the men and women of God to every good work.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: The word is there for that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, is there to equip us, and we want to be sure that we're discipling the nations by teaching them to observe everything Jesus has commanded.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we're supposed to be doing.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so from time to time we want to focus in on the things that would be very helpful to the people of God, the church of God.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And here we have been really focusing in on the children of the church and the responsibilities of dads and moms to bring their children up and the nurture and the admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of children here, as we've already talked about this morning, and we want to be sure that we know what the Word of God says about this.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why we're coming back to it in this series of five messages.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, last week we talked a little bit about raising daughters as beautiful pillars in the palace of the king.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're going to look at raising our sons with this vision to be these strong and nurturing plants in the garden of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I call this Sons Like Jesus, the godly parents' heart cry for their sons.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, before we get into it this morning, just a few comments on the front side.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows that there is a problem.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're always talking about problems.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: The church talks about problems, the media talks about problems, the news is all about problems.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think one of the things we have to watch out for when it comes to what the world has to give us is quick and easy solutions.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Let's put it in the microwave, it hit the minute button, and you're good to go.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: But we have to be cautious with this.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Shortcuts are always presented to us.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, Jesus was presented a shortcut.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Just worship me, I'll give you all the kingdoms.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Don't have to go through all this Gethsemane Gogotha stuff, and we'll get right to it.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus was presented a shortcut.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: We have to be very careful.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: We don't go with shortcuts.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: We see that the political world is full of shortcuts.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's one reason why there's so much confidence in Trump or Biden or whoever.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're also seeing it happen in family and church.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think the Manosphere is an example of shortcuts.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: The world wants to heal the wounds too lightly.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, that's the problem with all the counter-world views.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And all the religions of the world, whether it's Hinduism or Islam or the Muslim religion, whatever it is, they're trying to get to a solution to a problem they haven't quite defined very well.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: So they don't define the problem well.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's one of the problems.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then they bring a solution.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: The Hindus effectively say that man's problem is a physical contamination, so they've got hundreds of various forms of cleansings that happen in rivers and they do it with smoke and all the rest.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, people are looking for ways in which to solve man's problems.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: But they heal the wounds too lightly.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is the problem.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to be careful with this.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, let's be careful with judgmentalism, and I think connected to what I just said, reductionism.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that we don't reduce the thing to something superficial.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: But also this judgmentalism, where so much of what we want to do is fixate on other people's sins.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then turning our whole message into a one-pony show, banging on one hobby horse over and over again.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to be doing anything like that.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: We want to be concerned with roots versus fruits.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, our fruits are concerning, of course, but we need to be looking at fruits.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: We need to be the kind of people that say, no, no, okay, we've seen a couple of superficial issues, but I really want to get into the real issue.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: We do that with ourselves and we consider the sorts of sins that are afflicting us, and the sin we have to lay, lay, cast aside as we run the race.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: We want to consider the things that are more fundamental.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: We want to be flakes.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: None of us want to be flakes.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: We want to identify those things that very much beset us, but they have a root problem in our lives.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to be just clipping off the top of the weed, but we want to go down into the root.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then by faith in Jesus, by confession, by the power of the Spirit, and by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, we can root out those sins.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: So again, we don't want to be judgmental, we don't want to be reductionistic.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then thirdly, there's one more thing to say, and that is that it's important to identify the Zeitgeist or the spirit of the age, the problems that seem to afflict us in this particular age more than other times, perhaps, or the problems that are afflicting young men versus older men, or whatever it is.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: When we're speaking of raising our children, raising up our boys to be mighty men of God, we want to know what are the things that are infecting the church, infecting young men today.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not going to spend much time on this this morning because we haven't really, we've already dealt with a lot of these.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows what they are.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not sure we need to spend a great deal of time on it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know the enemy, young men.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Effectively, just four things there in the notes.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Diversions.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: The world is all about diversions.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: So young men are afflicted by diversions.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, the world is all about responsibility, irresponsibility, immaturity, and insobriety.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: So casting off responsibility, pushing off maturity, and being insober or not being sober.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the sorts of things the world is dealing with constantly.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: The world is also about sexual lust.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: All that is in the world is what?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Lust of the eyes, lust of the pride, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the sorts of things that consume the world.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the world is about this sexual lust problem, and the world is also about the worship of self.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: So those four things.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think, again, we have to say very much more about this.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things for sure is that our modern systems have enabled this.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: That is, politically, socially, and every other way, the idea of pushing off responsibility, allowing for sexual lust, worship of self, uh by means of abortifacience, access to pornography, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: The world has done everything it can possibly do to enable these things for young men and to bring about a very serious destruction of the family in our modern age, as well as the destruction of sexuality.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we all know what the world has done.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: The world has enabled this in our generation, the last 15 years, uh maybe 25 years, more than in any other time in all of human history.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: So this is on steroids today.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Diversions, irresponsibility, immaturity, lack of sobriety, sexual lust, and self-worship.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that is to say, there is no fear of God before their eyes.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as I present uh this as the problem, especially something like self-worship or lust or pride or something like this, immediately every young man here and every person here is saying, we're dealing with an impossible problem of enormous proportions.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh this is overwhelming.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: This uh any young man I'm speaking to has ever come face to face with your sin problem, as in self-worship, sexual lust, whatever it is, you know that these are giants that you cannot overcome on your own.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know this for sure.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: You are convinced of it.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You have come face to face with a dragon.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: You have smelled his sulfuric breath, and you know, young man, that what we're talking about today, the kind of enemy, the monsters that we're dealing with right here today, are absolutely impossible on your own strength and ability.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is going to have to help you with this.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm trusting every Jesus-believing, God-fearing young man in this congregation this morning is saying, Amen to that.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know for a fact that there is no way that I am going to face these enemies within me and without of me, without Jesus, Jesus can fix this by faith, believing in Jesus, looking to Jesus, fixated on the cross of Jesus Christ, knowing that he died for this.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's got the victory over this.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: But to believe it, my brothers, to believe it, my brothers, do you believe it?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: You believe Jesus is a winner or a loser?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: He's a winner.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: And if you believe that Jesus is a winner, you will win in Jesus.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: You will win this conflict in the Lord Jesus Christ, for sure.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now this morning is going to be the biblical vision for our sons.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: I believe we need a vision.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Without a vision, the people perish.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: We need a vision.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: That light over yonder hill.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: As I said, we're moving in that direction.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, this is convicting for me.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: I I was not the father I should have been.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've been reminded of this this last week.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I was not a great father.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's yeah, it's hard.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I could have another run in it, this kind of thing.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: But my brothers, my sisters, this this is where we're going.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is the generational vision.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is one step at a time.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: This is the baby steps we're taking.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: We're getting a biblical vision for what biblical manhood looks like this morning.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and the question we're asking is what does God want?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: What is God's desire?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: What is God's heart?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: What is God looking for?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's not what I'm looking for.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's not going to be a series of messages this morning.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to be a very simple sort of thing because I'm encouraging you to keep the vision in front of you.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever the Bible said, what did the Bible say?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: You might even get some of these verses out in front of you.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you're raising sons or daughters, why not put the verses there in front of you?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is what we're looking for.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is what God wants.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't the burden that the world is placing on us.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we're going to put aside a lot of that.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: If the world is saying they've got to look really good and they've got to be in an exercise routine all the time, they've got to be in a soccer program, they've got to be all this, and we just got to sign up for 140 things.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, put all that aside.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: We don't need any of that to just stress us out.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: What we need is what God wants.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Let's focus on what God wants in this.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: What is it that God wants for us?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: What is it that God wants for our sons?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And as I said last week, this is the prayer, this is the burden, this is the vision, this is the blessing.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: The biblical standard and objective.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's not something that we can accomplish.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: The burden, it's the desire, it's the hard cry.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I put it.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's the best way to put it.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: That every mom and dad in here, this is the vision, this is what I want my son to look like.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: My little two-year-old, three-year-old, he's running around the house, kind of a terror, can't even keep his goldfish alive for more than two days.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: He can't get along with his brother, his sister, whatever it is.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: But where do I want my son to be?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: What is the blessing I would like to pray over my son for his life, for his future.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't make it happen.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot force this to happen.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: You can't sovereignly ordain it.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: You're not going to be regenerating and sanctifying your son's life.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: But but you put the verses in front of you.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: You keep the verses in front of your son.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: You keep the gospel in front.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: You keep the verses, the vision, the view, the objectives, the things that God has in mind for your son and for yourself.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first off, I want to hit some of the passages very, very quickly.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: I want to summarize it very, very quickly, but realize that the Bible is not egalitarian.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Which what does that mean?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: That means the Bible does not believe that men and women are created for equal roles in life.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible sees very different roles for men and women.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: They have specific, gender-specific verses for women and gender-specific verses for men.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: The world is all about gender roles, confusion.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we talked about that last week.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Gender role confusion.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's what feminism is gender role confusion.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Transgenderism is gender confusion.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: So gender role confusion, feminism, always gives birth to transgenderism.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want to know how where did transgenderism come from?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: The early feminist philosophers of the 1830s and 40s were not just feminists, they were transgenderists.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: You understand the original philosophies, underlying feminism was always, always, always transgenderism as well.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're the kind of person saying, well, I don't really like the transgenderism very much, kind of like feminism, I'm sorry, it's a twofer.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: You always get a twofer.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: You always get gender role confusion and gender confusion.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: You get both of them.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is the philosophy of feminism, has been from the beginning, so just keep that in mind.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: But the Bible is not a book about gender confusion or gender role confusion.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible actually has verses specifically directed to raising sons and raising daughters, or emphases, focal points that apply to men and those that apply to women in terms of two things, roles and character.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you've been in this church for any more than three or four years, you know that I've probably brought anywhere between three or four messages on this, at least over the last 15 years, probably three to four messages on young men.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I've referred to this before.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not going to go over a lot of the material today.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to focus in on Ephesians 5 in just a minute.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: But again, in terms of roles, what does the Bible have for our young men?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: What is the thing that you have on your bathroom mirror for the young men, the sons you are raising in your home?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible lays out exactly the roles that you're raising your son to be.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: What are they?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Dominion taker, that's Genesis 2.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Genesis 1 as well.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Genesis 1.28.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Provider and responsible for the material well-being of the home.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy 5.8.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: If he doesn't provide for his family, for his grandmother and mother who is retired and needs some help.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: If he doesn't provide for his household, he is denied the faith worse than an unbeliever and needs to be excommunicated from the church.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: So very, very important that young men are raised with a solid perspective that this is basic for a man, and it certainly is basic for a believing man who follows Jesus.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: He absolutely must be ready to provide for the material well-being of the home.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Number three, he needs to be a defender or a protector of the home, Nehemiah 4.14.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Number four, he's a shepherd in the home.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 6, verse 4, he needs to be ready to bring his children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: He needs to be opening up the Word of God and be able to share the Word of God with his family.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then he also needs to be a resident theologian if his wife has a question.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 14, 34 and 35.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: His wife has a question about something that was said in the church.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: He needs to be the resident theologian in the home to be able to answer the question with his own wife.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: He's also the head in the home, Ephesians 5, and he is a spiritual leader leading in prayer.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy 2.8, Paul says he would that men everywhere pray with the lifting up of holy hands without wrath and without doubting.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: That is, that 15, 16, 18-year-old boy should be so ready to be the spiritual leader that when he's when he's there in a group of men and women, young men, young women, he needs to be the first to raise his hands and appeal before Almighty God concerning the needs of the people.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: So he should step out.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: He should be that who is the very first to raise his hands, the very first to be somewhat aggressive in terms of boldly entering in and praying.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Not all the women stepping in right away.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, the young men need to be the first.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: They need to be the first.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: This is the focal point of 1 Timothy 2.8.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to be a spiritual leader.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Very important for young men.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we raise our sons to be all of that by the grace of God.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the roles.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now, secondly, character traits, and these are the emphases that we find in Scripture.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we're not going to go over these in detail.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 16, 13 speaks to everybody, actually, but then it applies to young men especially.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to the way it said.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So watch, stand fast in the faith.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Quit ye like men, be strong.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: That is, be men, be strong.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Men should be strong.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: We raise our sons with strength, an inner strength, a physical strength, an emotional strength, a spiritual strength.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's very important that our men be strong.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And secondly, second character trait you find the scripture is Titus 2.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: We've been through some of this for young women.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen some of that.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: The older women teach the younger women to love their husbands, to obey, etc., etc.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: But then Titus 2 and verse 6 says one thing for young men.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: In all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works and doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech, etc.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: So two things for young men, character traits that you want to be sure you're hardwiring as best as you can by the grace of God into your young son's life, and that is to be strong and to be sober minded.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sober minded.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: That is, young men do not need to attend a laughing and feasting conference.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: They need to find a sober minded conference in which they're seriously engaging, the serious Matters in the fear of God and in faith in Christ.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: So as we're asking the question this morning, what is it that God wants?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this is what God wants.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: You may say, well, but I want to prepare my son for something specific.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Will my son be a mechanical engineer or a civil engineer?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's the thing I've been really struggling with.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what you need to do is you need to acknowledge God.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Acknowledge what God wants.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Acknowledge the heart of God.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Acknowledge the things that are important to God, which are the things that we've talked about here.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Evidently they're important to God.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: You could say, well, why is this the case?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have all the answers for that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: I just say, well, it's there.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: There it is in the Bible.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: So this is what God wants.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we follow God, right?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: So we give God what He wants.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: We acknowledge God.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the reasons why there's a lack of direction for young men, I believe, is because they're not really getting what God wants first.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because acknowledge God in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's essential.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: So let's do that.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're going to focus in on some core, some core items.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: I want to zero in on this very important part of vision for manhood from Ephesians 5 and verse 23, speaking again to role and the character.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: So role and character, one more time.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for the role, what we find in Ephesians 5.23 is that our sons need to be prepared for headship.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Our sons need to be prepared for headship.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 5.23.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is savior of the body.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Just a biblical word.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: For our young men who will get married.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, there's an exception for singleness, but I believe that some of the principles involved here will help the single man as well.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: So don't just turn off at this point if you've got a call to singleness.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Also, 1 Corinthians 11, 3 has one more reference to this, this headship.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: And here Paul says, I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there are two words that tie into what we're raising our sons to be.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I hope I'm not stealing thunder from my brother who's going to preach on marriage in a few weeks from now.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I do want to touch on these words because they are both biblical words that tie in directly to how we're raising our sons.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is the role that God will have for our sons.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, headship, kephilae is the Greek word for that.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, proestotes.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Proestotes, which shows up in 1 Timothy 3, verse 5, under the qualifications for eldership.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: If someone does not know how to manage his own household, sometimes rendered rule his own household, how will he take care of God's church?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now the word proestotes is a very important word.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a word to really focus in upon this morning.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: What is it?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: We know something about the headship.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get to that in a little bit, but what is this poestotes?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: What is this other word used?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the word is translated to give attention to, to be responsible for, to protect and be a guardian for, to be devoted to and to be focused on.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we read the same word in Titus 3.8.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Paul uses the same word, Titus 3.8.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: This saying is trustworthy.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: That word, careful to devote themselves, is the word proistotes.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: That is, somebody who is leading his household is somebody who, according to this word proistotes, is what?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: He is careful to devote himself to his household.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's the word.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one of the problems I have with modern words like complementarianism and patriarchism is that this is not biblical.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Patriarch is used for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and David.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, that's not in the Bible.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: But the word used for you as a dad is what?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's not complementarianism.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's not patriarchism.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Use biblical words.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Especially when we're dealing with these kind of issues.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Very important.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Here's the problem I have.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: The problem I have is this.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Not so much that they don't connect something helpful, but that they are too narrow.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: They don't allow for the big enough scope.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: They don't allow for the right emphases.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible, biblical words, if you trust the Bible, if you trust God, the Bible will present certain emphases as well as breadth of scope.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: So again, if you want to be accurate on things like this, if this is important to us in a terrible age where there are ditches all over the place today, may I suggest to all of us that we just go biblical on this one?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: We use the biblical words.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: I guess you can call yourself a Proistotesite or a Kephalite.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: That has a ring to it.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get a movement going.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm part of the Kephilites.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: Kevinite, Kevinites, ooh, that's even better.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: That was a joke.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Don't write that one down.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: But brothers and sisters, what is this that we're getting out of this?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, number one, headship and shepherding involves leading.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Don't question about it.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: The head leads.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, it's right there on the top of the body.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: But it's more than that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between a military captain over 300 guys and a husband.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think almost everybody in here will say, well, that makes a lot of sense.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, it does.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: What's the difference?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: The difference is that the military captain is a leader and he's leading those people.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he does.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: He shouts orders and he leads.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: But the cafelet involves the covenantal idea of the head being connected to the body.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: There is a connectivity between the head and his body that is absolutely essential.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's essential for family and church.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: And sadly, this covenantal view is ignored by the non-covenantal theologians that pretty much dominate evangelicalism today.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why evangelicalism is so crippled on an issue like this.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Evangelicalism is crippled on the family, it's crippled on its understanding of the church.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's lost the idea of the corporeality and the headship that occurs within the context of the covenantal family and church.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, we're all going to have to be realigned because we're coming out of at least 200 years of anti-covenantalism.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's happened in not just the Baptist churches, but the Presbyterian churches.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is America.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're about as non-covenantal as you can get.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got to get a grip on what this Catholic kind of thing really is.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the other aspect of this is stewardship.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: The man is more a steward than he is a god of his home.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: To which I think at least one person should say, Amen.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, your family belongs to God.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: The earth is the Lord's and its fullness thereof.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so what are we?
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're stewards.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: We don't own the family.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: God owns the family.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: So this is very important to understand the prostotes, to understand the concepts here.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now I would encourage you to go home and consider these things for the next three years because these are the kinds of things that have to sink in over a period of time.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to have to chew on them for a while.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: I know this is a radical shift in the way we look at things, but you've got to understand that God is over all.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: God owns everything.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus owns your family.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you are the steward.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: As the Father, you're the steward for Jesus.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: So the man's got to understand stewardship.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's got to understand the vertical relationship with God is first primary.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then secondarily, we have stuff going on down here.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, the man's got to realize he's a bodily member of the entity which he leads.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: Say that one more time.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: The man is a bodily member of the entity that he leads.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: He's a member of it.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is one reason why.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: A man should not be, okay, my head should not be beating on my arm.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like this.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm it's hurting already.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: I I I smacked it three or four times pretty good.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I'm a little upset right now.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: My head is a little upset about the fact that my head just beat on my arm.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now, only crazy people do things like that.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we don't we don't take our head and beat on our bodies.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: But now those who don't perceive themselves as part of the corporeal body of the family, the household, the marriage, he's gonna be beating on his arm quite a bit.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna be you're gonna see that kind of thing happening through his language and other means.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very important to think covenantally on the subject of headship.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: The awareness of these things are gonna keep the guy humble, subservient to the lordship of Jesus Christ at every point, and well connected to the oneness of the body for whom he's responsible.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, headship takes responsibility before God for the family.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna just break this down a little bit.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: It should be in your notes.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: Headship does not make excuses and does not blame others for the failure of the operation.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: The buck stops with me.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: So again, the head is not the kind of guy who runs around blaming others.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, yes, we hold each other accountable and we will hold our family accountable for their sins.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: And we will hopefully be exhortative and admonishing and doing the things we ought to be doing in the family and such.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Especially as a husband, we take responsibility for the spiritual leadership of the home.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: But the head does not run around making excuses all day and blaming others for what's going on in the operation.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: The CEO of an organization, a large corporation, if he hires a middle manager to oversee a project, and that middle manager hires 20 or 30 people, and the man comes back a year later and he says, Well, you know what?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: I just have not been able to do any of this.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, the real problem wasn't me, it's these lousy employees that I've hired.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's their fault.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: If it wasn't for these lousy employees that I hired, I would have done a pretty good job for you.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, CEO.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: What's the CEO gonna say to this guy?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hello?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: I hired you, and I'm holding you responsible.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: Headship involves responsibility.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Taking responsibility, embracing responsibility.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's also a representative headship element, as Jesus is head of the church, representative for the church.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: This implies a spiritual and moral responsibility for the sinfulness that goes on in the family.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think Job is an excellent example of this, who would sacrifice for his children, despite the fact he didn't know exactly what was going on.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: He was still concerned.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so he was sacrificing, as it were, for us, would be to confess to pray over our families for whatever is going on in the family.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: Headship attends to the needs of the family.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: Headship is very sensitive to the needs.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Headship makes decisions for the family, gives direction to the family, does not micromanage every aspect of the family life, but certainly is monitoring how we're doing in terms of achieving the goals that we have set out for the family.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: This kind of thing that leadership does.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, therefore, what's the application to this?
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're raising our sons to be heads and stewards, proestotes, caretakers, put whatever word you want on it.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is what we're aiming for, for that three-year-old, that six-year-old, that eight-year-old.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: We want to train our sons in stewardship and responsibility.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps give your son something to steward over.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is the capital that we put into these lawnmowers.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to steward these lawnmowers.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: Don't leave them out in the rain.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you're changing the oil on a regular basis and use this equipment for the family economy or some aspect.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: The son needs to be steward.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: He needs to understand what it is to steward animals, capital, whatever it must be.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hold them responsible also.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: They must be trained in responsibility at 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 years of age.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move on to character.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Talked about roles, now character.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: God has assigned it for the man to be the head of his wife, even as Christ is head of the church.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then in verse 25, we read that husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 27, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: Fathers, mothers, raise your sons for that.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Raise your sons to love just as Christ loved the church.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: To love.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's the character trait.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Seems to be focused on more than any others.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we're not ignoring the others.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked about some of the others, but I'd rather go here.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want to stick on this.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: What is love?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Love does not get angry and impatient and hateful towards the object of his love.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: Love doesn't give way to apathy, like he doesn't care.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: Devil may care attitudes towards others in the household.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Love is concerned for the success and for the betterment of those whom are loved.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Here's a simple way to put it: love cares.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: Love really cares about what's going on in other people's lives.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Love really cares about people.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that applies to your four-year-old as well as your 14-year-old, as well as a 40-year-old, to really care.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: Love goes the extra mile.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Love goes to the point of sacrifice.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know how the world does it.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know how men are by nature.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know how this works.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: The five-year-old boy grabs the toy and refuses to share it with his sister.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: The eight-year-old boy thinks of himself first.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Why does he rush to the food line after the prayer over the church potluck?
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: You hear a rumbling sound, right?
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's the little eight and nine-year-old boys running for the front of the line.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: What is it about little boys that are less likely to throw themselves into shark-infested waters to save the women and children?
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, little boys tend not to be the first to do this.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Or think about the 14-year-old boy, let his mother feed the dogs out in the snow at 9 p.m.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: on a wintry day.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: He won't take out the trash at 6 a.m.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: on a Friday morning.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Just let mom and the sisters do it.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's the 14-year-old boy.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he does by nature, of course.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Or the 16-year-old boy gives way to lust instead of love.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: And women become sex objects in the twisted fantasy world of self-worship.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Horrible.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's not love.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is not to love.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: Or the 18-year-old boy won't work the 60, 70, 80 hour weeks to prepare for his future family, to pay off a house at 28 or 29 years of age because he's too busy playing games until he's 28 or 29.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know how the world does it?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know how, I mean, this is this is the 99% that's out there all around us.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is what boys do today.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: But but love, love sacrifices, love suffers long and is kind.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: Love is not easily irritated.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: Love does not seek its own.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: Why do we focus our men on this?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why do we focus our women on submission?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's the thing that don't want to do.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's a thing that by nature they resist.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's the thing most unpopular to say things like this in a message to boys or young men.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Believe me, I've been all around the world.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: I know what it's like to be thrown out into the parking lot after messages like this.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's addressing the impossible thing that lurks in the hearts of men and women by nature.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: These are the things they don't want to do.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Every fiber of their natural being is saying no, no, no to a message like this this morning.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: They don't like these kinds of messages.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: But as I said, Jesus does, and Jesus empowers, and Jesus enables us, and Jesus forgives us and cleanses us of all this self-worship that seems to creep up into any and all of us.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: So little brothers, I'm encouraging you to love to the point of sacrifice to the goal here.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the goal is, you know, you don't sacrifice very much in your life, especially when you're early on in your life.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: You don't really know what it is to break an emotional sweat.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: Or for those nails to just start to scrape the outside of the skin just a little bit.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the idea is to break break back.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: You're just by nature, you react against some kind of nail pushing into your hand.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's not something you want to run into.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's not something you want to stay around for.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: When that nail starts to press just a little bit, it might be a little bit too cold to go out and feed the dogs at 9 p.m.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: or whatever it is.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that one thing that discomforts you.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that that nail is starting to scrape the surface of your skin and you pull back instinctively, but you know that you're to love to the point of hurt to sacrifice.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's the idea.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's the whole idea for young men.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: And for all of us as Christian husbands and fathers in the home.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: We sacrifice, and here's this is the point.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because we love.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: Dads, you don't force your son to fulfill the duty to the point of sacrifice.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: That isn't the goal.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you say, well, well, I I yelled at that son, I disciplined him, and he was out there at 10 p.m.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we kept him out there for a while, just so he would get an idea of what kind of a duty he has to fulfill as part of the army camp of my household.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's not the goal.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's not the goal.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: What's the goal?
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: The goal is far more miraculous, it's far more supernatural than any of that.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's for that boy to volunteer to it.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's for that boy to so love his mother, to so love his sisters, that he sacrifices because he's motivated by love.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's not motivated by duty, he's not motivated by discipline.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: He's motivated by love.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_01: Fundamentally, it's love that's pressing through in his life.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is the prayer, this is the burden, this is the vision, this is the objective, this is the miracle, this is the thing we want for every one of our sons.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody say amen to that.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a dad or a mom, amen to that.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: Love to the point of inconvenience, giving up of yourself.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's a willingness to do the dirtiest work for love.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sake.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: Get your hand down there into the sewer pipe.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: You do it.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: Looking at this pile of.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: We have a dog.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: We like to refer to her as easygoing.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: We have an easy-going dog in the house.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you know what I mean.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we came upon this.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: My wife and I were walking through the downstairs, and there it was, and she took some um paper towel and threw it over it snowing to walk in it and make a mess.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um I walked past that three or four times.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good job for Brenda.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: She loves to clean up stuff.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, God just convicted me at that moment.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, you get down there, you go get the soap, and you you get down on your knees and you work that yourself.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying it's just little stuff like this.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: That was like a week ago.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_01: I probably missed it the last three times, but I did it once.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's a breakthrough, it's happening.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: Are you with me here?
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: What does love do?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's these little moments, boys, it's these little moments where you're sitting and looking at that thing, right?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: Husbands, just like me, right?
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: There are husbands here.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: You look at that thing, you say it's the dirtiest work, I'll do it.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's the most sacrificial work, I'll do it for love's sake.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's the most dangerous work, the riskiest work, where somebody's liable to get hurt.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: You do it for love's sake.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's the mentality is this this is the mentality of boys.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about 14-year-old boys right now, 16, 18, whatever, wherever you guys are.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to you.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: You ask yourself on any given day, okay, we're walking into this day.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: What is the most dangerous, riskiest, dirtiest thing that this household is going to have to do today?
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: You see, you've got to have a forward mentality about these kinds of things, otherwise, you're not gonna do it.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: I really think it's a mindset that wants to love, it's a mindset that wants to step out.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be dangerous.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want my my mom climbing, you know, six feet on a ladder to hack off a branch to better fireproof the house.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm climbing up on that thing, and I'm gonna go ahead and whack off those branches myself because if somebody's gonna get killed, I'll get killed.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that's the simple thing as it applies to just the day-to-day activities within the home.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is what it is.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: Not many of us are gonna be crucified.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: But anything else?
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else?
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: Raise your sons.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: To be willing to step out.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, the the the most difficult, most dangerous thing you're gonna do in the home is spiritual.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's a spiritual home.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody's gonna have to step out and pray this morning.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: Dad's away, mom's all by herself, with six or seven kids, the oldest son, I'm not pointing at you right now.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever happens to be there, a son.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: 16, 18, 20 years of age.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: Why not you pray over her?
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: Why not you step out?
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you do the hardest thing you can do today?
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Spiritual leadership.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Raise your sons to sacrificial love.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, raise your sons to steward, to care for, to watch over, to lead, to nourish and cherish in love.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: Especially in the context of family and church.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: Raise your sons to cherish your family, to cherish mom, to cherish his sisters.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: Raise your sons to cherish the church.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: To nourish and cherish the church, not to mock at the church, not to criticize the church, not to despise it and talk about all the bad things that people have done in the church and to act like it's a totally hopeless situation.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: No, no.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's the wrong way to look at a church.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's not nourishing, cherishing.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, please don't do that.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: Nourish and cherish the church and the family and young men who don't get married for a while.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: You better be out there nourishing and cherishing the church.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_01: At the very least, absolutely.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: To value the things that are valued by God.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_01: The family belongs to God.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: The church belongs to God.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: God cares for it.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_01: You care for it.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're the steward.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: There are folks who could care less about their families, their churches, young men who don't steward their time well or their resources, they don't take care of the things that have been given them to steward.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: They don't put away their tools.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_01: They don't finish the job.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: Pull the tools all back in the toolbox, bring it back into the garage.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: Just simple things like this.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: Stewarding, taking care of the animals, looking after little sisters, being careful not to spend money on frivolous things.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_01: Watching out for the well-being of the flock.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_01: Monitoring the progress of the flock.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_01: Feeding the flock, whatever the flock needs.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: So there must be with our young boys an increased sensitivity to the needs of others.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: That is, they need to understand what the needs are.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: They need to have kind of needs antennas.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: They're needs.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thinking kind of ahead.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: Mom's doing the salad, she hasn't brought the salad dressings out yet.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'll grab the three salad dressings, we'll put them out there.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: Just one step ahead, thinking in terms of what needs to happen next.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: Watching out for the needs of the family.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: A real desire and follow-through to meet those needs, whether it be physical, spiritual, or emotional.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: Tell you what, I mean, I can remember long walks with my older sister on Sunday afternoons.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, today's her birthday, and she she told me she remembers the same thing.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_01: And just being able to minister and pray with and encourage and edify my sister, she was like a year or two older than me.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: But uh but we still remember that to this day.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just those walks on a Sunday afternoon.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: What can you do with your sister?
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe she's an older sister, maybe she's a younger sister.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: But can you be nurturing her and looking out for her emotional and spiritual well-being?
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: Could you be doing those sorts of things right now?
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and then let me end the message on this.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, raise your sons to sacrificial love, raise them to steward well, and then thirdly, raise them to be like Jesus.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because remember, verse 25, we're to love even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to nourish and cherish as Jesus nourishes and cherishes his church.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 25 and 29 of our passage.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_01: So let me just meditate for a moment, encourage you to meditate for a moment on Jesus.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: To be like Jesus.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I believe you need a full orb picture of Jesus.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's been these kind of these narrow views of Jesus in certain narrow contexts and such.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think the wider view is what we need.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: We need a multitudinous view of what Jesus was and is still to this day for us.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: So Jesus, let's behold Jesus for a moment.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, responsibility, absolutely, obedience, stewardship, addressing needs, taking care of the big problems, to the point of personal sacrifice, selfless love.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_01: Selfless love.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the quintessential example of courage.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_01: He is courageous.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: He set his face like a flint.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's what the Bible says.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: Old Testament as well as New Testament.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: Luke refers to his face set like a flint to suffer and to die, to meet the devil's uh attacks head on and take on the greatest enemies of the human souls.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: He's in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood, fulfilling his Father's will, fully knowing everything he's to suffer, a premonition of what he's up against, what he's facing.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: And yet he follows through in courage.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is obedient, he's bowing to the Father's will.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: The most powerful motive that works in Jesus at this very moment, we know, from John 14, is his love.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_01: He loves the Father.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: He says, the ruler of this world has nothing on me, nothing on me, because I love the Father.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so he says, let us go from here.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: Let's walk into it.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's walk into the most difficult challenge that could ever happen, motivated by love, as he goes on through it.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then he cries out at one point, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: But nevertheless, Father, not my will but thine be done.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_01: And he would drink it all the way down to the very dregs.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: Drank the cup to the dregs, because the Father put it in front of them and said, You drink it.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: And out of sheer love for the Father, not just a duty, love for the Father, he follows through.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, an example of love for God, courage.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: So be like that.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: Submit to God.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: Bow your knee to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, Jesus is compassionate.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is loving.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's concerned for others.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's all over the place looking for where he could step in.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_01: He's always having compassion in the multitudes.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_01: If there's somebody who's got a blind uh loss of sight, he's there to heal the guy's blindness.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: If there's somebody with leprosy, he's on the leprosy.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: He's raising somebody from the dead.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_01: Never met somebody who died where he didn't raise them from the dead right there and dead.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to rush in and solve the problem.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_01: He had compassion.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: He was concerned for people in serious uh trouble wherever he went.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_01: He even healed people as he was being crucified, as he was nailed to the cross, suffering unbelievable agony, as he bore the wrath of God, as he was conquering the greatest enemies of the human soul, sin, death, death, the devil, and everything else.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_01: He stops the action.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: He looks down on his mother and he says, John, take care of her.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_01: Woman, behold your son.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, concerned for the tiny issues with individual persons, even in the midst of the great cosmic conflicts.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, always concerned, compassionate, looking out for his household, looking out for his mother, looking out for those who are in need.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is redeeming.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's always redeeming.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's redemptive.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't look at his situation and says, that woman's hopeless.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: Seven demons.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_01: No hope for her.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: She's bedraggled.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_01: She is controlled by these demons.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: She is one of the most miserable-looking creatures ever in the history of the world.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Hope for her, cast out the seven demons.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_01: Mary Magdalene is uh returned to her right mind and follows Jesus.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we see this with Jesus, always compassionate, always redemptive, healing, raising the dead, bringing the cripples back to life.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus has a perspective of redemption, always the perspective of redemptiveness.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: Be like Jesus.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: In whatever situation you're in, be like that.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_01: They raise your sons to be like that.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus speaks to the woman at the well.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: Six, seven husbands.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: Basically a prostitute.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: He was right there giving her living water.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_01: No problem.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's interesting, a brother told me a number of years ago, he sat next to an X-rated film actress on a flight out of Denver into LA.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_01: What would Jesus?
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: He said he was a little bit like, I don't know exactly how to interact with this.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: How would Jesus react to her?
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: He'd give her living water.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he'd do.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_01: Be like Jesus.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_01: You do that.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_01: Don't lust.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: Love.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: Be compassionate.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_01: You see the difference?
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: Be like that.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_01: Raise your sons like that.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's relentlessly honest.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: He's truthful, always opposing hypocrisy and fakiness, staring down the most deceptive, treacherous, powerful earthly religious political systems.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: He's in the Pharisees' house for dinner.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: They're watching him closely.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_01: Behold, there was a certain man before him who had dropsy.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, he doesn't.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's correcting them.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's tearing down their facades.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not the best conversation opener when you're invited to a Pharisee's house.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_01: But he did it anyway.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_01: Be like that.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: Be honest.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: Be upfront.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: Be transparent about yourself, about others, about everything going on in the home.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_01: We cannot live by lies in the home.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: We must have the courage and the concern for people's souls to speak the truth and let the chips fall.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus taught his disciples with straightforward admonitions, rebukes, warnings, exhortations.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_01: He loved the rich young ruler.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: He agopied the man, but then gave him the most difficult, the hardest admonition he could possibly give him.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: Repent of your covetousness, sell all your goods, give all the proceeds to the poor.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: Come follow me.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus combines a love, an amazing love, an incredible courage, and a very intense and really infinite wisdom in a remarkable way.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: Bring that together.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: Courage, love, and wisdom.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: Three legs on the stool.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: Bring that together in the context of the home as you raise your sons.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_01: He extended mercy to divorcees while condemning divorce.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: He remonstrated with his followers who called him Lord but refused to do the things he commanded them to do.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_01: Looking straight in the eyes of Peter as he denied him on the most excruciatingly trying day of his life.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: Then he went ahead and he died for Peter and three days later said, Peter, effectively, I accept you.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: I forgive you.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: Peace, brother.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: Peace, brother.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_01: So be like that.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_01: Teach your sons to be like Jesus.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus prayed for his church.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: He prays for his church.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_01: He intercedes for his church.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_01: He pleads the merits of his blood for his church.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_01: He washed his disciples' feet.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_01: While retaining the title master, he's still master.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: And he made that point.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: He made that point.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: Very important.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_01: People often miss that.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_01: But he's willing to do the dirty work.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's looking out for a need, and he filled it.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_01: The driving force, of course, was need and a desire to fulfill those needs.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_01: And he told him, You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of master Jesus is.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_01: He guards his church as a good shepherd.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_01: Not one of them is lost.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: He desires to be with his church.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: He likes being with his church.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_01: He calls each of us by name.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_01: He never runs away from the threats, but defends his sheep from wolves and bad influences.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus walks among the candlesticks.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_01: His churches.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's very intense, but really intimately interested in the state of his church.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_01: He is bought into, literally bought into this body, the church.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's extremely bought into his church.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_01: He commends his church and he corrects his church.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_01: But most importantly, Jesus so loved us he laid down his life for the sheep for us.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, in conclusion, walk as Jesus walked.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_01: Men, I'm looking mainly at men this morning, but all of us.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_01: Be like Jesus and raise your sons to be like Jesus.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ, our elder brother, our friend, our Lord, our master, and our savior.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just raise our sons to be like him.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_01: Our Father in heaven, oh God, we hear about Jesus.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_01: We love to hear about Jesus.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we want to be like him.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh God, we would love like him.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_01: We would understand his love better.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_01: We would lead like him.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_01: We would serve like him.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_01: We would continue to follow him day by day.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray that this morning everything I've said about Jesus would be attractive to everybody here.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_01: That everybody would say, I like him.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love him.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_01: I want to follow him.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_01: And raise my son to follow him too.
• 1:03:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh God, we pray your spirit to work in us through these words.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_01: Just words.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_01: But Father, do the miracle, do the big thing.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_01: Raise the dead.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_01: Give eyesight to the blind, Jesus.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_01: Give us ears to hear.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_01: And give us a life that could live this out.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's the miracle of it.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_01: God, please, we pray for all of us.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_01: But now, especially now for our sons, every one of these sons raised in this church.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: I pray, I pray, I pray this blessing on them now.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just take a moment for just one moment.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to ask the dads to put your hands on your son.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a dad or a mom and you've got a son next to you, I'm going to ask mom's dad to put a hand on your sons.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_01: And let's pray a blessing on the sons in this congregation.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_01: We don't normally do this, I know, but let's just take a moment and pray a blessing.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_01: This blessing on every son in this congregation.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_01: Our Father, oh God, you've given us these as a gift.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_01: Such a gift.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: God, I pray for these sons to be these wonderful, strong plants in the greenhouse of Jesus.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that you would bless these parents to raise these sons to be like Jesus, to love like Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to be a faithful head and steward.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_01: In the household of God, yes, as stewards, but also in their own families in the years to come.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_01: God, it would be a wonderful blessing if you would just pour this out upon every young man in this congregation.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_01: This has been a production of the Generations Media Network.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_01: For more information, go to generations.org/slash media.