Latest / Homeschool Insights - Biblical Home Education Inspiration in Under 10 Minutes! / Homeschool Families Are on the Front Lines of Spiritual Warfare - Chuck Black
Transcript
- speaker-0: Ultimately it it shows up in the destruction of relationship. ⁓ you know, Jesus Christ is is came here to show us how to have a relationship with him and how to relate to others, right? ⁓ love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and then love your neighbor as yourself. So those are the two greatest commandments and so that is where the enemy hits the hardest speaker-1: We're gonna talk about spiritual warfare and fighting for our families. And this kind of tends to be a topic that I feel like we want to avoid because it feels a little too deep, a little too scary. People say spiritual warfare and it just it feels scary. But here's the thing: the Bible talks about it. And if God's gonna speak about it through his word, then we can't avoid it, especially when it comes to our families, because the reality is we have an enemy. ⁓ and as the word says, he's come to steal, kill, and destroy. And as homeschool parents, We must remember that parenting comes before the school part, right? Home and then school. And the greatest call of parenting is to build a foundation for our kids in Christ, to stand as their protectors and their providers. And that includes this whole concept of spiritual warfare and a battle that we're in. And so, Chuck, I've heard you say that. Homeschooling families are on the front line of this spiritual warfare thing. ⁓ what do you mean by that? Can you kind of explain? Some families might not even know what what spiritual warfare, what we're talking about when we say that. And so kind of explain what that is and then what what do you mean by we're on the front line? ⁓ and why do you think so many families underestimate that? speaker-2: Yep. No, thank you, Abby. And I I'd like to just ⁓ kind of revisit what you said earlier too, if I may, that that this isn't often talked about. And it is that is very true. You don't hear a lot of a lot of sermons on this. There's not a lot of sessions on it. And yet it is absolutely ⁓ fundamental to ⁓ not even not not only having our children survive in their faith, but thrive in it. And and it's just it's just a key. And and I'll I'll just say off the top though I I'm not I'm not a super charismatic kind of guy. I'm actually very much or kind of a recluse. So ⁓ when I when I was in the in the military, the translation from being a warrior for our country and being a a warrior for Christ or an ambassador for Christ and and and ⁓ being that spiritual leader in our home, I I saw such parallels there. And so I borrow a lot of ⁓ a lot of what I teach on from my experience in ⁓ in the Air Force as a first as a combat communications officer and then later on as a as an F sixteen pilot. speaker-0: But I I Price and speaker-2: But as far as being on the front lines, ⁓ the reason I say that is because that the enemy knows that the future of the the health of the church and the future of the health of the presentation of the gospel to this lost and dying world rests on the shoulders of our next generation of the people coming up. And so homeschooling families ⁓ completely ⁓ thwarting the efforts of the enemy by bringing speaker-0: I believe that ⁓ speaker-2: their children home and teaching them daily about Christ, about the Bible, giving them a fundamental solid, strong ⁓ understanding of scripture, an understanding of spiritual speaker-0: to warfare. ⁓ and they're we're really we're really training and raising up that next generation of of bold ambassadors for Christ. ⁓ the the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendagos, if you will. And ⁓ if if he can destroy ⁓ you know the the the place where those are are are created then he destroys that next generation. And and unfortunately I'm very, very sad to say that ⁓ he seems to be winning ⁓ because ⁓ I as I as I mentioned at the conference, ⁓ it was it was I first heard this statistic from Dr. Dobson and Focus on the Family that eighty percent of young people raised in Christian evangelical homes will leave their faith never to return. And ⁓ that's that's a a sad and sorrowful statistic that we have got to we've gotta change. We've got to stop that. That eighty percent attrition is just destroying ⁓ our our future ⁓ as as a body of Christ. And so Now obviously we know who wins that ultimate battle. But in the meantime we've got we've got a lot of work to do, a lot of fights to fight, so speaker-1: Right, right. And I mean, you're right. We already know the end of the story. So we know that God wins. But when 80% of kids are walking away from the church. And I kind of want to touch on will you kind of explain what you mean by spiritual warfare? I think it's so funny that you said, you I'm not a charismatic guy, because we kind of think that this topic is really just kind of for the charismatic side of things. But but the reality is, like I said before, it's in God's word. I mean, it says very clearly we have an enemy that's come to steal, kill, and destroy. And I always think of that you could end that. our kids, right? He's come to steal, kill, and destroy our kids. And as as you said, when we see 80% walking away, it it seems like there is a very high success rate for the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy. So what kind of explain what you mean by spiritual battle? Cause often we just think, well, the world is pulling our kids and then we're at home pulling our kids back towards the Lord. But there's actually this whole there there's so much more going on. Yeah. And and so kind of describe that and explain that and use scripture to kind of to to show that because so many parents get very nervous when we start talking about this. speaker-0: Yeah, no. Yeah, very good. And and I don't think it's something we should shy away from. We we need to really embrace it because it is it is ⁓ fundamental to our our thriving and surviving this battle. Yeah. you know, spiritual warfare can take on so many different forms, but you know, it says in scripture that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, right, but against ⁓ spiritual forces and high places, thrones and that sort of thing. So it's a very real thing. Jesus talked about it, his disciples talked about it. It it's it's absolutely ⁓ a core part of what it means to be a follower in in Christ. ⁓ we it was very, very ⁓ it it was very much on on the macro level when we see Jesus and and Satan doing battle in the wilderness with the temptations and then later on at the cross. ⁓ for us it it it seems to be especially in an insulated ⁓ first world ⁓ country, it it there's a tendency to have a little bit of a buffer between us and what looks like spiritual warfare. ⁓ but it it takes on many, many forms. ⁓ and it's just as devastating, even if sometimes you can't see it, probably even more so. And I would say ultimately it it shows up in the destruction of relationship. ⁓ you know, Jesus Christ is is came here to show us how to have a relationship with him and how to relate to others, right? ⁓ love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and then love your neighbor as yourself. So those are the two greatest commandments. And so that is where the enemy hits the hardest and and and where it feels it feels ⁓ most evident for us, I believe. I know that ⁓ for marriages, for example, ⁓ if he can destroy a marriage, he destroys a family. rebellious ⁓ attitudes in children and teens. ⁓ so if he can if he can get a a child looking at the world and being rebellious against his parents or her parents, then ⁓ obviously there's tremendous devastation that can happen. All it takes is ⁓ you know, one person in a family to kind of go sideways and the impact on that family is just profound. The ripple effects are are are massive. So I've found in my personal walk and journey, ⁓ now that it's relationships where there's the greatest amount of of suffering and pain and where that that spiritual war warfare really hits home. It can actually also, you know, show up in in other ways as well. ⁓ you know, very tangible things like ⁓ You know, you're going to a conference and all of a sudden your car breaks down or the washer the washing machine is leaking all over the basement. Right. But but I don't find those as nearly as irritating or as as frustrating as I do when ⁓ relationships start to fall apart. Those are the really those are the ones that really cut to the to the heart, you know. And so I would say that's probably the best example I can I can give you is to speaker-2: Those things are all you know ⁓ speaker-0: How spiritual warfare shows up. Because, you know, like you say, it says in scripture, ⁓ in John chapter 10 that ⁓ he he the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And ⁓ that is his ultimate purpose. And that's the first thing to recognize. You need to you need to recognize what is the purpose of God. You know, Jesus said, I I come, I'm because I am the way, the truth, and the life, and contrast that with kill, steal, and destroy. Right. ⁓ that's that's who we're dealing with here, and we're in that battle in between those two massive ⁓ forces. And so ⁓ if he can kill and steal and destroy a a a marriage or a relationship with a a a a rebellious teenager, ⁓ or even, you know, with your church body with a pastor, ⁓ all of those things, ⁓ he has a way and is very, very good at deceiving and manipulating ⁓ those relationships to feel like they're falling apart. speaker-2: This episode of Homeschool Insights is brought to you by BJU Press Homeschool, CTC Math, and the Explorer Bible for Kids. Visit the show notes to learn more about these excellent resources. And for more encouragement, listen to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast at Schoolhouseroct.com.