Latest / The Living Waters Podcast / Ep. 281 - How to Prepare Kids for the Real World

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Ep. 281 - How to Prepare Kids for the Real World · The Living Waters Podcast

• 1:04
  Emeal Zwayne: Sexual purity Mark.
• 1:05
  Emeal Zwayne: How important is that?
• 1:05
  Emeal Zwayne: To have the hard conversations with our kids.
• 1:07
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean most parents.
• 1:08
  Emeal Zwayne: When they talk to their kids about that whole realm, they're nervous, they're anxious.
• 1:12
  Emeal Zwayne: When they even tell them about it.
• 1:14
  Emeal Zwayne: We decided, as I've shared before, to be excited about it so our kids can understand it, first and foremost, that this is beautiful.
• 1:20
  Emeal Zwayne: God designed it.
• 1:21
  Emeal Zwayne: But on the other side, some parents won't have the hard talks, asking them difficult questions.
• 1:25
  Emeal Zwayne: You know what are you looking at, what are you doing?
• 1:27
  Emeal Zwayne: And to help them.
• 1:28
  Mark Spence: Well, ray kind of alluded to it.
• 1:29
  Mark Spence: It's the rising up and it's the sitting down that there's always opportunity, always moments to be able to speak truth, specifically in this area, into our kids' lives.
• 1:38
  Mark Spence: So when a billboard comes up and you see maybe a wandering eye from your child, or a pretty girl comes walking by or a guy, whatever it may be, if something like that ends up happening, you're always conversing with them, you're always trying to get to the heart of the matter.
• 1:58
  Emeal Zwayne: Ultimate questions, friends, that's because that's what we deal with here on the Living Waters podcast and I've got the ultimate of all ultimate questions for.
• 2:08
  Ray Comfort: Ray Comfort.
• 2:10
  Emeal Zwayne: Ray, if a rooster moved to a different time zone.
• 2:15
  Ray Comfort: Oh yes.
• 2:16
  Oscar Navarro: We were talking about this the other day.
• 2:18
  Ray Comfort: It's deep philosophical questions about life.
• 2:21
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, it's life-altering.
• 2:22
  Ray Comfort: You're going to love this.
• 2:22
  Ray Comfort: This is very powerful.
• 2:23
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah.
• 2:24
  Emeal Zwayne: So, ray, if a rooster moved to a different time zone, would it croak earlier?
• 2:27
  Emeal Zwayne: Would it cock-a-doodle-doo?
• 2:29
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, that's a croak cock-a-doodle-doo Three in the morning.
• 2:32
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, I don't know what time they'd do it.
• 2:34
  Ray Comfort: Just we should try it.
• 2:35
  Ray Comfort: Stick one, blindfold it, put it on a plane, bring it to California.
• 2:38
  Ray Comfort: Why blindfold it?
• 2:50
  Emeal Zwayne: So it would know where it was going.
• 2:51
  Emeal Zwayne: Another, oh man, that would be such a fun experiment.
• 2:52
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:52
  Emeal Zwayne: But, Ray, you've stated before that roosters are illegal.
• 2:55
  Emeal Zwayne: In Bellflower no.
• 2:58
  Emeal Zwayne: Eagles are illegal.
• 2:59
  Emeal Zwayne: Sick bird Mexican eagles are illegal.
• 3:02
  Emeal Zwayne: What do you call a sick bird, Mark?
• 3:04
  Mark Spence: Well, no, isn't it like?
• 3:06
  Mark Spence: What is the difference between illegal and illicit?
• 3:08
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, you say to someone what is the difference between illegal and illicit?
• 3:09
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, you say to someone what's the difference between illegal and illicit and they spend five minutes explaining the differences.
• 3:13
  Ray Comfort: Illegal, sorry, illicit is against the law.
• 3:17
  Ray Comfort: Illegal is a sick bird.
• 3:20
  Emeal Zwayne: Ill eagle.
• 3:21
  Emeal Zwayne: I'd love to hear a sick eagle.
• 3:22
  Emeal Zwayne: The bird is ill.
• 3:24
  Oscar Navarro: I looked it up and, yes, the rooster would.
• 3:26
  Oscar Navarro: Their circadian rhythm would need to reset in order for the crow at a different time.
• 3:30
  Emeal Zwayne: You're joking.
• 3:31
  Emeal Zwayne: Wait, you're serious.
• 3:33
  Oscar Navarro: It says, as long as it does for a person like experiencing jet lag.
• 3:37
  Ray Comfort: So the rooster would get jet lag and sleep in for three hours If he came from New York.
• 3:43
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, so, ray, but why?
• 3:45
  Emeal Zwayne: What if the rooster identified as a hen in Bellflower?
• 3:48
  Emeal Zwayne: Well, it would lay eggs, wouldn't it?
• 3:51
  Mark Spence: What if it was in Alaska and the sun is up six hours, six months out of the?
• 3:56
  Emeal Zwayne: year Non-stop cock-a-doodle-doo Incessantly.
• 4:02
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, you know, I was thinking about it today.
• 4:04
  Emeal Zwayne: I wonder if different animals in different parts of the world, like, have accents and the noises they make we're getting worse.
• 4:15
  Ray Comfort: Like an indian indian indian rooster, do a mexican rooster.
• 4:24
  Emeal Zwayne: I can't no change.
• 4:25
  Emeal Zwayne: Oh, that'd be funny.
• 4:27
  Emeal Zwayne: Mooing and cock-a-doodling and different accents.
• 4:31
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, why was the chicken so funny?
• 4:34
  Emeal Zwayne: Because it wanted to cross the road?
• 4:38
  Emeal Zwayne: No, she's a real comedian.
• 4:39
  Emeal Zwayne: She's a comedian.
• 4:41
  Emeal Zwayne: What do chicken families do on the weekends?
• 4:44
  Emeal Zwayne: Lay around, they have picnics.
• 4:47
  Emeal Zwayne: What?
• 4:54
  Ray Comfort: movies do hens like oh, you get been in no chick flicks oh man, that's good.
• 4:59
  Emeal Zwayne: Favorite restaurant chick-fil-a.
• 5:01
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah.
• 5:01
  Emeal Zwayne: How do chickens wake up on time?
• 5:03
  Emeal Zwayne: Alarm clocks, what do you do?
• 5:06
  Emeal Zwayne: What do you do with a shy chicken?
• 5:10
  Emeal Zwayne: Get her to come out of her shell.
• 5:12
  Emeal Zwayne: What's a chicken's?
• 5:16
  Emeal Zwayne: These are so dumb they're funny.
• 5:18
  Emeal Zwayne: I know what's a chicken's favorite school subject Egonomics.
• 5:23
  Emeal Zwayne: Why did Mozart hate chickens?
• 5:25
  Emeal Zwayne: They loved Bach.
• 5:27
  Emeal Zwayne: All they say is Bach, bach, bach.
• 5:29
  Emeal Zwayne: That was pretty close.
• 5:30
  Emeal Zwayne: Very good, that was good.
• 5:31
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, all right, I've had my fill of chickens.
• 5:34
  Emeal Zwayne: Time for a cool, classy comment.
• 5:38
  Emeal Zwayne: This one is from Lucas Lamrock from podcast11waterscom, after hearing the start of episode 266, how to Cultivate a Diligent Life.
• 5:45
  Emeal Zwayne: At the start of episode 266, how to Cultivate a Diligent Life, I heard that Ray heats his ice cream up, and I immediately had to send an email, because EZ pronounced E-Zed in Canada couldn't believe that anyone else could possibly do that.
• 6:01
  Emeal Zwayne: Well, brothers, I'm here to tell you.
• 6:03
  Emeal Zwayne: My wife does this all the time.
• 6:05
  Emeal Zwayne: Laugh out loud.
• 6:06
  Emeal Zwayne: I have questioned her on multiple occasions of lie.
• 6:10
  Ray Comfort: And I got a text from a family that they knew.
• 6:13
  Emeal Zwayne: Well, ray, look, you guys had I don't know, you guys were mocking handwriting or whatever, and people came to my defense.
• 6:20
  Emeal Zwayne: So I'm fair, I'm fair.
• 6:21
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, we got no multiple.
• 6:24
  Ray Comfort: It's just like five seconds.
• 6:26
  Ray Comfort: It's just like five seconds, ten seconds in the microwave Takes that hardness off.
• 6:29
  Emeal Zwayne: So that's one.
• 6:29
  Emeal Zwayne: Here's another one From Eileen Nehas From podcastalumaragecom.
• 6:33
  Emeal Zwayne: Ray is the only.
• 6:35
  Emeal Zwayne: Ray is the only one that eats ice cream the right way.
• 6:39
  Emeal Zwayne: I nuke it for a few seconds too.
• 6:41
  Emeal Zwayne: John from Arizona.
• 6:43
  Emeal Zwayne: For decades my wife and I have put our ice cream in the microwave For a few seconds before eating it so smooth, creamy and delicious Sounds like an advertisement.
• 6:51
  Emeal Zwayne: Good choice, ray.
• 6:53
  Emeal Zwayne: And finally Caitlin Sebo.
• 6:55
  Emeal Zwayne: I guess you are going to have to stop telling Ray on the podcast nobody does such and such, because my friend's dad just told me that he puts his ice cream in the microwave to soften it too.
• 7:06
  Ray Comfort: So if you have a hole in your mattress, please write in.
• 7:12
  Emeal Zwayne: That I guarantee you.
• 7:13
  Emeal Zwayne: There will be no one on earth, unless those that started doing it after they heard about you.
• 7:17
  Emeal Zwayne: Ray Comfort, yeah, I still think it's insane.
• 7:21
  Mark Spence: It is insane.
• 7:21
  Mark Spence: It's the reason why I don't like frozen yogurt, because it's not frozen, it's just very cold.
• 7:26
  Ray Comfort: It's a lot to do with sensitive teeth.
• 7:28
  Ray Comfort: If you've got sensitive teeth, you can't stand cold things on your teeth.
• 7:31
  Ray Comfort: Is it the same for people?
• 7:31
  Mark Spence: who brush and floss.
• 7:33
  Ray Comfort: Brush and floss.
• 7:34
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, Ray.
• 7:35
  Ray Comfort: Try it.
• 7:35
  Emeal Zwayne: Blushing.
• 7:37
  Ray Comfort: Blushing and frosting.
• 7:40
  Emeal Zwayne: Ray, could it be you need root canals?
• 7:43
  Ray Comfort: Don't even mention root canals.
• 7:44
  Ray Comfort: Your teeth are sensitive.
• 7:45
  Ray Comfort: I'll never have a root.
• 7:46
  Ray Comfort: Next time someone says you've got to have a root canal, I say take them all out.
• 7:49
  Ray Comfort: I want my gums.
• 7:50
  Ray Comfort: I had 20 minutes of waterboarding where I couldn't breathe.
• 7:53
  Ray Comfort: The dentist had me upside down.
• 7:55
  Ray Comfort: It was just crazy and they say you okay.
• 7:59
  Mark Spence: When I go to the dentist I wear one of those breathe rights.
• 8:01
  Ray Comfort: So you can breathe through your nose when I take three Advils before I go.
• 8:07
  Emeal Zwayne: Didn't help with this thing.
• 8:08
  Emeal Zwayne: Dentists are well nice people.
• 8:10
  Emeal Zwayne: We have some dentist friends who are terrible.
• 8:13
  Ray Comfort: My dentist, is really nice.
• 8:14
  Ray Comfort: I fell asleep while he was working on my teeth.
• 8:16
  Ray Comfort: He's really good.
• 8:16
  Emeal Zwayne: Really.
• 8:17
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, but then he sent me to another guy with a root canal because he doesn't do them.
• 8:20
  Mark Spence: I heard they don't hurt anymore though root canals.
• 8:22
  Mark Spence: I heard that there's yeah dentist Say that again.
• 8:28
  Mark Spence: I'd rather have a root canal than go to the dentist.
• 8:33
  Emeal Zwayne: Can you imagine doing your own root canal?
• 8:34
  Emeal Zwayne: I don't even want to imagine it.
• 8:35
  Emeal Zwayne: I'm trying to imagine a dentist doing his own root canal.
• 8:38
  Emeal Zwayne: Oh boy, yeah, we're blessed to have them.
• 8:40
  Emeal Zwayne: Though, man, seriously, you think about back in the day.
• 8:44
  Emeal Zwayne: What'd they do in the day?
• 8:45
  Emeal Zwayne: What'd they do?
• 8:45
  Emeal Zwayne: You lose your tooth you lose your tooth.
• 8:47
  Mark Spence: Never heard of a rooster having a root canal, a rooster canal, I watched a little video the other day of a rooster doing that cock-a-doo-da-doo thing and it passed out.
• 8:57
  Ray Comfort: It passed out.
• 8:57
  Ray Comfort: I actually had that on my timeline because I thought that's good for a Christian to never give up.
• 9:03
  Emeal Zwayne: That's one of my favorite videos.
• 9:04
  Emeal Zwayne: Have you seen it, Oscar?
• 9:06
  Ray Comfort: Guys, for those who are listening, if you've never seen it on YouTube type rooster tries real hard or something like that.
• 9:11
  Ray Comfort: He just goes on and on until he passes out trying to croak, croak.
• 9:15
  Emeal Zwayne: It's really good man.
• 9:17
  Emeal Zwayne: What does a rooster do?
• 9:18
  Emeal Zwayne: Crow?
• 9:19
  Ray Comfort: Does it croak, croak?
• 9:20
  Emeal Zwayne: No, no, crow, Rooster crow.
• 9:22
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, yeah, crow.
• 9:23
  Emeal Zwayne: What does a crow?
• 9:23
  Mark Spence: do Russell Crow Russell.
• 9:25
  Emeal Zwayne: Crowe Rooster.
• 9:26
  Mark Spence: Yeah, rooster Crowe, yeah From.
• 9:28
  Emeal Zwayne: Braveheart.
• 9:28
  Emeal Zwayne: And now what?
• 9:31
  Emeal Zwayne: Mark Gladiator?
• 9:32
  Emeal Zwayne: Gladiator, what about him?
• 9:33
  Emeal Zwayne: Rooster Crowe?
• 9:34
  Emeal Zwayne: Yes, that's not the gladiator thing, that would be a cool name for an animal, rooster Crowe.
• 9:40
  Emeal Zwayne: All right, friends, and now a radically revolutionary resource.
• 9:45
  Emeal Zwayne: This podcast is brought to you by Stop Stressing and Count your Blessings, ray.
• 9:52
  Emeal Zwayne: What's the book about?
• 9:56
  Ray Comfort: How you Count your Blessings If you do that it'll stop you stressing.
• 10:01
  Emeal Zwayne: Is it a devotional Ray?
• 10:02
  Ray Comfort: Yes, it is.
• 10:03
  Ray Comfort: It's been designed to read while you're driving the LA freeway.
• 10:06
  Ray Comfort: What's your favorite chapter?
• 10:07
  Ray Comfort: Chapter 8.
• 10:07
  Ray Comfort: It doesn't have chapters.
• 10:07
  Ray Comfort: It's a designed to read while you're driving the LA freeway.
• 10:09
  Emeal Zwayne: What's your favorite chapter?
• 10:10
  Emeal Zwayne: Chapter 8.
• 10:11
  Ray Comfort: It doesn't have chapters.
• 10:12
  Ray Comfort: It's a devotional Day, 8.
• 10:14
  Ray Comfort: I think.
• 10:15
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, so give us a gist of it though, ray.
• 10:17
  Emeal Zwayne: Really.
• 10:18
  Ray Comfort: It's all about how that, if you count your blessings, is that the fall off right there?
• 10:24
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, you stopped stressing.
• 10:26
  Ray Comfort: I haven't read it, sorry.
• 10:28
  Oscar Navarro: That is so good, all off, right there.
• 10:29
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah, you stop stressing.
• 10:29
  Oscar Navarro: I haven't read it, sorry, it's just 365 pages of him saying that in different fonts, different fonts Basically.
• 10:34
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, friends, check it out.
• 10:36
  Emeal Zwayne: It's bound to be helpful, I guess.
• 10:39
  Mark Spence: I guess.
• 10:40
  Ray Comfort: Allegedly Did you wheeze.
• 10:41
  Ray Comfort: Yes, I did, he just wheezed.
• 10:43
  Ray Comfort: That was actually funny easy.
• 10:45
  Emeal Zwayne: Crazy.
• 10:45
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, and don't forget, friends, the Living Waters mug from which you can chug the Evidence Sighted Bible which may libel the cause revival.
• 10:55
  Emeal Zwayne: And don't forget, it's all at livingwaterscom.
• 10:58
  Emeal Zwayne: All right, friends, Today we are talking about how to prepare your kids for the real world.
• 11:09
  Emeal Zwayne: Guys, what a blessing to have children.
• 11:13
  Emeal Zwayne: Just kidding.
• 11:15
  Ray Comfort: They're all right.
• 11:15
  Ray Comfort: I used to be one myself.
• 11:17
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, back in the day, yeah.
• 11:19
  Emeal Zwayne: Back in the day.
• 11:20
  Emeal Zwayne: Seriously, I love seeing baby pictures of famous people.
• 11:25
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, because you can look back and do the retrospect thing right, like I mean, we're seeing them now, but their parents were imagining what are they gonna look like?
• 11:32
  Emeal Zwayne: You know they can like, but I mean, like you don't know, hitler had parents.
• 11:38
  Emeal Zwayne: They looked at him.
• 11:39
  Oscar Navarro: It's our baby the lead singer of kiss didn't change whenever I meet somebody, whenever I meet somebody, they're like what is Ray like in real life?
• 11:50
  Oscar Navarro: I'm always like he's like a kid stuck in a kid's body, that's my line.
• 11:55
  Ray Comfort: That's easy Slade.
• 11:56
  Emeal Zwayne: You better give attribution A little boy stuck in a little boy's body.
• 11:59
  Emeal Zwayne: But yeah, you know, like Elvis, you know how did he cry.
• 12:05
  Emeal Zwayne: Oh, thank you very much, um.
• 12:13
  Emeal Zwayne: But you know, you, you think about, about all of us, right, do you think?
• 12:18
  Oscar Navarro: before you speak no I'm just, I'm just never have.
• 12:21
  Oscar Navarro: I'm stuck picturing a little baby with the hitler mustache, right actually he looked a cute little baby.
• 12:29
  Ray Comfort: If you see pictures I've seen a picture of Hitler as a baby People don't know who it is until they put the mustache on.
• 12:33
  Ray Comfort: Then they get a clue.
• 12:35
  Emeal Zwayne: Oh man, imagine, though.
• 12:37
  Emeal Zwayne: You know, you think of the characteristics, like what was Trump like?
• 12:40
  Emeal Zwayne: I think boss, baby, you know, I think Trump, but but yeah, you know, I mean we, we, we all have kids here.
• 12:48
  Emeal Zwayne: Oscar, you've got three, mark, you've got five, I've got five, ray, three, and you think of the joy of being parents, first and foremost.
• 12:57
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean, I want to talk about that for a minute before we get into.
• 12:59
  Emeal Zwayne: How do we launch our kids out and prepare them for the real world?
• 13:02
  Emeal Zwayne: But think of Psalm 127, three to five.
• 13:05
  Emeal Zwayne: Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.
• 13:08
  Emeal Zwayne: The fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
• 13:13
  Emeal Zwayne: So are the children of one's youth?
• 13:15
  Emeal Zwayne: Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
• 13:17
  Emeal Zwayne: They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with their enemies in the gate Mark.
• 13:23
  Emeal Zwayne: What a contrast this is to this modern age we're living in, where kids are seen to be such a burden that parents will murder them in the womb.
• 13:33
  Mark Spence: Well, I wasn't expecting that twist right there.
• 13:35
  Mark Spence: Yes, you know, people say you know the word abortion is not mentioned inside the Bible.
• 13:41
  Mark Spence: That's because it was so unthinkable.
• 13:43
  Mark Spence: You know, the greatest blessing upon a couple, in the Old Testament especially, would be an opening of the womb, and the greatest especially would be an opening of the womb and the greatest curse would be a closing of the womb.
• 13:53
  Mark Spence: We see that with Abraham and Sarah and Haggai Is that how you pronounce it?
• 14:00
  Mark Spence: Children are our heritage.
• 14:03
  Mark Spence: Right, there are a lot of work, but the blessing there is huge and, by God's grace, all of our kids here we talk about 5, 10, 13, 16 kids are represented here.
• 14:14
  Mark Spence: They're all walking with the Lord.
• 14:17
  Mark Spence: I had my brother call me up and we're talking and he said man, how do you get your kids to go to church?
• 14:22
  Mark Spence: It's like it's pulling teeth to get them to come to church.
• 14:26
  Mark Spence: And I go.
• 14:27
  Mark Spence: My kids all love going to church.
• 14:30
  Mark Spence: They, they absolutely love going to church and they check.
• 14:38
  Mark Spence: They're there for both services you know to to serve in one, maybe, or to go to a youth group.
• 14:40
  Mark Spence: I such a heritage, such a blessing.
• 14:42
  Mark Spence: I said this to one of my, to my oldest brother, mike.
• 14:44
  Mark Spence: I said, what the world tends to do is when the kids are young, they give the kids free reign to roam wherever they want to roam, to do whatever they want to do, and then, as they get older, they're saying that decisions, wise decisions aren't being made.
• 14:58
  Mark Spence: So then they lasso them and they try to pull them in.
• 15:01
  Mark Spence: They try to hey, don't, don't, you don't want to do that, hey, come on back.
• 15:05
  Mark Spence: But by that time it's just too late.
• 15:08
  Mark Spence: What we did when the kids were really little, really young, we tied them with a lasso, if you would, spiritually speaking, and we just held them really tight, not giving them the ability to make a lot of decisions.
• 15:18
  Mark Spence: We made all the decisions for them and then, as they begin to grow up, we begin to loosen that leash a little bit, if you would, and it got to the place where you can, for the most part, let go of that leash, because they're making the wisest decisions and letting go of that leash.
• 15:37
  Mark Spence: They didn't want to go out, they didn't want to leave, they didn't want to go out into the world and experience the things of the world.
• 15:43
  Mark Spence: They wanted to stay close by and they realized that we had their best interest in mind.
• 15:48
  Mark Spence: I mean, how torturous is it, what a terrible decision it is to give a cell phone to a 12-year-old without any oversight whatsoever.
• 15:58
  Mark Spence: That is terrible parenting, absolutely terrible parenting.
• 16:04
  Mark Spence: And then you try to pull that back in, try to rein that back in when they've already been exposed to horrific things.
• 16:10
  Mark Spence: But no, of course Christian children are such a blessing and we have to remember that it's not our job to raise Christian children, it's our job to model what a Christian is for our children and then hopefully they make those wiser decisions as they get older.
• 16:25
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, amen.
• 16:26
  Emeal Zwayne: And look, friends, we know we're talking to a broad audience.
• 16:29
  Emeal Zwayne: We know that there are some of you out there whose kids are in rebellion, they're not walking with the Lord or they've strayed.
• 16:35
  Emeal Zwayne: But then there are others of you who have young children or are not even parents yet, but you're heading in that direction.
• 16:41
  Emeal Zwayne: So we're speaking to that full spectrum.
• 16:44
  Emeal Zwayne: We don't want to discourage any of you, but we want to encourage those of you who are parents of young children, who aren't hardened yet perhaps by the world, or those that are going to be parents, to understand the sweetness of your children walking with the Lord and you bringing them up in the ways of the Lord.
• 17:00
  Emeal Zwayne: Ephesians 6, 4,.
• 17:00
  Emeal Zwayne: You fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
• 17:07
  Emeal Zwayne: And we have been blessed those of us around the table here to have watched our children walk with the Lord.
• 17:13
  Emeal Zwayne: You know, my son, luke, a few nights ago asked hey, dad, can I have my small group over to our house?
• 17:22
  Emeal Zwayne: It's like their life group, you know, at church.
• 17:25
  Emeal Zwayne: Can we have them over to the house?
• 17:26
  Emeal Zwayne: Because you know they need another place to meet this week.
• 17:29
  Emeal Zwayne: I thought what a joy, you know, instead of my son like waiting for my wife and I to go out of town so he can have a party at our house and, you know, do a bunch of wicked, sinful things, he's asking if our house can be used for the Lord.
• 17:44
  Ray Comfort: He's not ashamed of you.
• 17:46
  Emeal Zwayne: Only of his grandpa.
• 17:48
  Mark Spence: He's never said anything about me.
• 17:50
  Mark Spence: The book that helped us more than anything was Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Ted Tritt.
• 17:54
  Emeal Zwayne: Absolutely.
• 17:55
  Emeal Zwayne: We've mentioned it many times before and it's excellent.
• 17:58
  Emeal Zwayne: And so, yeah, my daughter Julia.
• 18:02
  Emeal Zwayne: She has a weekly Bible study with girls at the house.
• 18:05
  Emeal Zwayne: They use the upper room that we have, and just to see our children doing that is a joy.
• 18:13
  Emeal Zwayne: And yet we have to stop and say, look, are we sowing in our children?
• 18:16
  Emeal Zwayne: Are we pouring into them in ways that glorify the Lord?
• 18:19
  Emeal Zwayne: Ray, that was important to you at the foundation when your kids were young.
• 18:23
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, when Mark was speaking I was thinking kids learn through bruising.
• 18:26
  Ray Comfort: Through bruising you just let them go.
• 18:31
  Ray Comfort: When they get a little older they want to climb up on that shelf and they fall down.
• 18:35
  Ray Comfort: I remember watching my I don't know if he's a nephew or what, but my in-law's kid's child.
• 18:42
  Ray Comfort: I don't know what relative he was, but I remember when I was visiting their house he was like five feet up in the air crawling on things right across shelving, and that Just a little kid.
• 18:51
  Ray Comfort: But as he grew up he realized there's such a thing as gravity and gravity teaches and life is like that.
• 18:56
  Ray Comfort: It teaches us through bruising.
• 18:57
  Ray Comfort: Whatever your question was, I remember it, but I'm just going to put it aside for a second.
• 19:02
  Ray Comfort: I'm actually bluffing.
• 19:03
  Ray Comfort: Christian kids often will say I don't have a good testimony because they didn't go out into the world and get into drugs and get into things that are dark to testify of the cross.
• 19:13
  Ray Comfort: But that's fallacious.
• 19:14
  Ray Comfort: Every Christian has an incredible testimony because we're not testifying in what Satan did in our lives, but what God has done.
• 19:21
  Oscar Navarro: He gave us life.
• 19:23
  Ray Comfort: he preserved us and then saved us through the cross, amen.
• 19:26
  Ray Comfort: And so every Christian has a very powerful testimony.
• 19:29
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, you know, I wouldn't have minded at all to have had a testimony like that, you know, and that how amazing to have grown up and it's stayed, you know, within the realm of the faith.
• 19:40
  Emeal Zwayne: Obviously, everyone needs to get born again at some point, but to not have gone headlong into the world and accumulated the scars that all of us here at the table have, I praise God that none of my kids have ever gone that route and that they're entering marriage and purity and they don't have all that baggage that comes with a testimony like that.
• 20:02
  Emeal Zwayne: So what we want to focus on today is how do we launch them out into the world?
• 20:10
  Emeal Zwayne: How do we, you know I mean, they're likened to arrows, you know, as we saw how do we shoot them out into the world and have them ready for the world to really be ready to take on life?
• 20:20
  Emeal Zwayne: We've dealt with raising children before on the podcast.
• 20:23
  Emeal Zwayne: We've talked about that, but I kind of would like to go into different areas today of just saying like, okay, what sorts of things can we give them to best equip them to handle the rigors of life?
• 20:34
  Mark Spence: well, first and foremost, it's the spiritual foundation.
• 20:36
  Mark Spence: Right, we talked about going to church.
• 20:38
  Mark Spence: Well, we also need to include prayer and a biblical foundation of the study of god's word, an understanding of the basics that are going to come your way.
• 20:46
  Mark Spence: So there's a spiritual foundation which would include really those three elements Bible study, prayer and church.
• 20:52
  Mark Spence: Church is so important.
• 20:53
  Mark Spence: The local church, I think, gets a bad rap in that.
• 20:57
  Mark Spence: Think, well, I can just attend church online, I listen to my pastor online, but no Scripture makes it very clear to not neglect that.
• 21:04
  Mark Spence: Hebrews 10 says let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
• 21:17
  Mark Spence: Covid has ushered in a horrific thing in that people only attend church online, and if that's the case, people need to repent.
• 21:26
  Mark Spence: But that's first and foremost, I think, when it comes to the spiritual foundation for your kids.
• 21:31
  Emeal Zwayne: That's been one of I think you're right, mark one of the biggest negatives of the whole COVID thing in terms of the after effect.
• 21:38
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, a lot of people now, they just got accustomed to that and so.
• 21:42
  Emeal Zwayne: But you know, yeah, it's not just attending church, but it's being the church and that we're teaching our children how to serve.
• 21:52
  Emeal Zwayne: That's right.
• 21:53
  Emeal Zwayne: Come early, stay late, yeah, to be a part of the body and to use the gifts that the Lord has given them, and so, yeah, so I'd love to explore these things.
• 22:02
  Emeal Zwayne: I have a list of things, but, oscar, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
• 22:06
  Oscar Navarro: Well, I'm an eager observer of this conversation, actually because my kids are a lot younger than your guys, what are the ages again?
• 22:12
  Oscar Navarro: My daughter just turned 15.
• 22:13
  Oscar Navarro: Levi will be turning 13.
• 22:16
  Oscar Navarro: And then Evie is 11.
• 22:19
  Oscar Navarro: So 11, 13, and 15.
• 22:21
  Oscar Navarro: And so we're on.
• 22:23
  Oscar Navarro: I think we're headed into that season of sending out, especially with Maddie, where she's getting to that age where, in six months now, she's going to get her driving permit and she's going to have a lot more independence, and et cetera, et cetera.
• 22:36
  Oscar Navarro: And so I I'm eager to hear cause you guys have gone before me in this area.
• 22:41
  Oscar Navarro: I will say one thing, though, that I, I, I feel like we've done.
• 22:44
  Oscar Navarro: I feel like in some way, you're preparing your kids to send them out from day one.
• 22:49
  Oscar Navarro: That's not something that happens at 15 or 16 or 17 or anything.
• 22:52
  Oscar Navarro: Rather, that happens like from the earliest ages, and one of the things I've talked about this years ago on this podcast, one of the things that we've always wanted to do is not shield our children from other narratives, but rather help them understand and analyze the narratives that they would hear, the false gospels that are out there.
• 23:16
  Oscar Navarro: And so one of the things that we've done at a very early age is we would watch a movie as a family, and one of the games that we would play is find the lie and find the lie was simply like whether we're watching Disney's Frozen, right, where you might think, well, there's no cussing, there's no sexuality, therefore it's safe.
• 23:35
  Oscar Navarro: But Frozen has false gospel narratives in it.
• 23:39
  Oscar Navarro: And so our kids were taught if you find the lie, we'd play a little game, you give them a dollar, some motivation, right, and so they'd be watching Frozen or any other movie.
• 23:47
  Oscar Navarro: To this day, my 15-year-old will be sitting there watching a show or listening to a song or whatever, and she'll go lie Because it'll say something like follow your heart, you be you.
• 23:58
  Oscar Navarro: And so the point here is that, instead of shielding our kids from only being exposed to gospel narratives, what we decided to do at a young age is have them primarily exposed to gospel narratives, but also a slow exposure to alternative narratives, with the help of interpreting those things and understanding where they go awry, so that, as they experience more independence and they hear more of these false narratives.
• 24:28
  Oscar Navarro: Because the reality is that we're a story driven world.
• 24:30
  Oscar Navarro: Our average person hears and experiences 5,000 advertisements a day.
• 24:37
  Oscar Navarro: Each of those advertisements are telling your kids a story.
• 24:42
  Oscar Navarro: Do they have the tools needed to interpret it?
• 24:47
  Oscar Navarro: What is true and what is not true?
• 24:48
  Oscar Navarro: And so I would just say, at an early age we've always tried to do that for our kids.
• 24:52
  Emeal Zwayne: That's so good.
• 24:52
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, teaching them to discern, because, again, the whole point is giving them the tools that they need with which they can function in the world, because there are so many different scenarios they're gonna run up against, right, but we know that the roots to those scenarios right, worldviews, philosophies, and so you equip them to be able to adapt to the manifestations of all those roots and to have the wherewithal to deal with them.
• 25:18
  Emeal Zwayne: And discernment is huge.
• 25:19
  Emeal Zwayne: You know you have to be able to filter what you're hearing and receiving, whether it's at school, whether it's through TV, television, people's ideas, speeches, you know, whatever.
• 25:28
  Mark Spence: When my kids entered into college, I said listen, I got one rule You're here.
• 25:33
  Mark Spence: If you start questioning what you grew up with, if you were challenged, if the professor says something that doesn't align with what you were taught growing up, just make me this commitment Come to me and share with me the things that made you go.
• 25:49
  Mark Spence: Hmm, yeah, hmm.
• 25:51
  Mark Spence: And it worked really great and I absolutely love Find the Lie.
• 25:55
  Mark Spence: I quickly threw that into ChatGPT and I said give me some ones that are along the same line.
• 26:00
  Mark Spence: And it said spy the lie, which is kind of cool, seek the leak.
• 26:06
  Oscar Navarro: Seek the leak.
• 26:07
  Mark Spence: Find the bind.
• 26:08
  Mark Spence: Spot the knot.
• 26:10
  Mark Spence: Wow, seek the leak.
• 26:15
  Mark Spence: Find the bind, uh, spot the knot.
• 26:16
  Oscar Navarro: Wow, sift the rift catch the hatch nab the blab and pick the trick.
• 26:18
  Oscar Navarro: Pick the trick.
• 26:18
  Oscar Navarro: I like that last one.
• 26:18
  Emeal Zwayne: Those are good man, I like that.
• 26:19
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, you know, one of the things that I think is important and we have touched on this one before, but it it bears repeating and that is reminding your children why they exist, because, mark, you mentioned the spiritual, but what's important is that we cultivate their hearts toward the gospel so that the soil is tilled in a way where they're ready.
• 26:40
  Emeal Zwayne: And Ted Tripp, in Shepherding a Child's Heart, talks about how our kids need to know that they were made by God and for God, that that needs to be the primary thing, and what you do is you hold up the law of God.
• 26:53
  Emeal Zwayne: You hold up God's standard so that your kids see they can't measure up from an early age Easy.
• 26:59
  Mark Spence: Do you think people's families should have like mission statements?
• 27:04
  Emeal Zwayne: Good one, mark.
• 27:05
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, do you happen to have a mission statement Posted right up in our living room, to gladly and passionately glorify God in every thought, affection, word and deed, while constantly enjoying Him as our greatest pleasure and most precious treasure.
• 27:18
  Emeal Zwayne: And it has been the foundation for our family devotions and our spiritual discussions.
• 27:24
  Emeal Zwayne: And to have heard the kids over the years say, yeah, you know this and that I just want to glorify the Lord.
• 27:29
  Emeal Zwayne: It's like ah music to my ears.
• 27:31
  Emeal Zwayne: But it started with laying that foundation.
• 27:33
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, you are made by God and for God to live for his glory and you need to live a life of obedience, and then you hold up the law.
• 27:41
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean, ray, a lot of people adults I mean you ask this on the street have no idea what the Ten Commandments are made up of.
• 27:50
  Ray Comfort: No, they don't.
• 27:52
  Ray Comfort: They haven't got a clue.
• 27:52
  Ray Comfort: That's written on their heart but they really don't know.
• 27:55
  Ray Comfort: I'd like to digress a little and talk about what I would tell this generation of kids If I was given an opportunity.
• 28:01
  Ray Comfort: I'd give them an American history lesson.
• 28:02
  Ray Comfort: I'd tell them in the 1920s, hollywood was called the Roaring Twenties for a reason.
• 28:12
  Ray Comfort: They had great influence on a generation.
• 28:13
  Ray Comfort: The Roaring Twenties.
• 28:15
  Ray Comfort: The movies were very salacious, very extremely sexual.
• 28:19
  Ray Comfort: Can't imagine it way back in the 1920s.
• 28:21
  Ray Comfort: That's what caused LR William Hayes to bring in the Hayes Code, where they leveled on Hollywood a very strict censorship no blasphemy, no nudity, no sexual anything.
• 28:32
  Ray Comfort: Every movie had to have a good theme and end positively, with the police winning.
• 28:36
  Ray Comfort: And they held that code from 1934 through to about late 1950s when Hollywood got rid of it.
• 28:44
  Ray Comfort: They wanted to get rid of it with all they're getting and they got rid of it and that released the filth that helped fuel the 1960s, the sexual revolution which led into the 70s, then into the 80s.
• 28:55
  Ray Comfort: It got progressively worse and then, with the 90s and the old frog in the in the frying pan, the moral frying pan croaking because it was happening so slowly, had to drop, be dropped.
• 29:05
  Ray Comfort: We've now had a.
• 29:05
  Ray Comfort: Nowadays, the frog has been put in a microwave and exploded it.
• 29:10
  Ray Comfort: It's absolutely destroyed.
• 29:10
  Ray Comfort: There's neither right nor wrong as far as today's concerned.
• 29:13
  Ray Comfort: So it's a tsunami of filth.
• 29:15
  Ray Comfort: It's flooded humanity.
• 29:16
  Ray Comfort: So how can one young Christian kid stand against a tsunami?
• 29:20
  Ray Comfort: Well, you can't, but God can, and the reason he can do it is because he's given us the power of the gospel, which transforms the heart.
• 29:27
  Ray Comfort: Thinking earlier on about Martin Luther King and that incredible speech, I have a dream.
• 29:31
  Ray Comfort: I've listened to it multiple times and just been thrilled with how he said, on the mountaintops and all this stuff.
• 29:38
  Ray Comfort: And I have a dream he says seven times.
• 29:40
  Ray Comfort: However, he didn't preach the gospel.
• 29:42
  Ray Comfort: Jesus wasn't mentioned even once, not Christ crucified.
• 29:45
  Ray Comfort: And if you fight racism without the gospel, you're not going to win the battle.
• 29:49
  Ray Comfort: We're still dreaming 60 years later.
• 29:51
  Ray Comfort: It's an elusive dream because we haven't gone for sin.
• 29:54
  Ray Comfort: When Jesus said come after me, I'll make you to become fishers of men, he could have said to the disciples come after me and you'll see Lazarus raised from the dead.
• 30:01
  Ray Comfort: Come after me, I'll walk on water right in front of your eyes.
• 30:04
  Ray Comfort: I'll still the storm with my voice.
• 30:06
  Ray Comfort: The weather will obey me.
• 30:11
  Ray Comfort: Blind will see, the deaf will hear.
• 30:12
  Ray Comfort: But he didn't say that.
• 30:12
  Ray Comfort: He said come unto me and I'll make you to become fishers of men.
• 30:14
  Ray Comfort: That was his priority, and the priority of Jesus is seen in his words.
• 30:18
  Ray Comfort: The son of man has come to seek and save that which is lost, and we're called to imitate Christ, be followers of Jesus, and that's what we need to instill in the hearts of our children.
• 30:27
  Ray Comfort: They're for this generation.
• 30:29
  Ray Comfort: They've got to try and stop the tsunami, and they can do it with the power of the gospel, because the weapons of warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through god for the pulling down of strongholds.
• 30:38
  Ray Comfort: So we must never forget the great commission, what we're here to do, yeah amen.
• 30:43
  Emeal Zwayne: So good ray.
• 30:43
  Emeal Zwayne: And and there's no greater representative of the great commission than one who has been a full and true partaker of it.
• 30:52
  Emeal Zwayne: And one of those ways is, again, to try to avoid false conversion by not trying to rush your kids to say a little prayer, but by schooling them with the schoolmaster, God's law.
• 31:06
  Ray Comfort: I never thought I'd change the subject from Ray.
• 31:09
  Ray Comfort: What do you think of the Ten Commandments?
• 31:11
  Emeal Zwayne: Something else.
• 31:12
  Ray Comfort: But that was on my heart, but yeah, absolutely, but they're interrelated.
• 31:14
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, deuteronomy, chapter six, says when you walk with your children, when you talk with them, hang the law between the front of their eyes.
• 31:23
  Ray Comfort: Take them through that law.
• 31:25
  Ray Comfort: Because when you're instilling the law into a four or five-year-old and teaching them the Ten Commandments and the spiritual nature of the law, that God requires truth in the inward parts and he says lust is adultery and you teach them what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, which is the Messiah, magnifying the law and making it honorable, as the prophet said, what you do is instill in them a knowledge that's going to come back to them when the hormones kick in.
• 31:48
  Ray Comfort: Wow, when they feel the power of lust and suddenly they remember the words of Jesus whoever looks upon a woman, that will act as a schoolmaster to bring them to the foot of the cross.
• 31:59
  Mark Spence: Ray, I'd like to ask you a question.
• 32:00
  Mark Spence: If you could go back in time and give advice to a young re-comfort teenager and you're like 13, 14 years old what would you do differently or what advice?
• 32:11
  Ray Comfort: would you give to a young teenager today?
• 32:12
  Ray Comfort: I would like to say get saved sooner.
• 32:14
  Ray Comfort: But no, the fact that I was lost makes me rejoice that I was found.
• 32:21
  Ray Comfort: You know, I often think without almost never, without tears in my eyes, of how lost I felt as a successful young businessman, married with a home business, lots of friends, money, and absolutely lost in darkness and not knowing why I was alive and why death was coming my way.
• 32:39
  Ray Comfort: That knowledge made me embrace the cross with both hands.
• 32:44
  Ray Comfort: Wow.
• 32:45
  Mark Spence: What would you do differently?
• 32:45
  Mark Spence: How old were you when you got saved?
• 32:47
  Mark Spence: 22.
• 32:47
  Mark Spence: 22.
• 32:48
  Mark Spence: All right.
• 32:48
  Mark Spence: So what would you do differently, knowing all that you know now?
• 32:52
  Ray Comfort: Oh, I wouldn't spend 10 years telling people give their hearts to Jesus, he'll give them peace, joy, love, fulfillment and lasting happiness.
• 32:57
  Ray Comfort: Fill the God-shaped vacuum in their heart.
• 33:00
  Ray Comfort: I preached a false gospel for 10 whole years.
• 33:03
  Ray Comfort: God made me wait for 10 years, but that had the effect as the testimony I just gave.
• 33:08
  Ray Comfort: In appreciating the cross, I now appreciate biblical evangelism, because I did it wrong and got nowhere.
• 33:14
  Ray Comfort: And worse than nowhere, I created damage through my lack of knowledge.
• 33:19
  Ray Comfort: I was like Peter, who took a sword and cut off an ear.
• 33:22
  Ray Comfort: When you use the gospel, have zeal.
• 33:24
  Ray Comfort: Without knowledge, you cut off ears.
• 33:28
  Emeal Zwayne: You cause people to reject the truth because they think they've experienced it what a joy it was to be able to go to New Zealand, to Hamner and to go into that house, into that very room where your eyes were opened, I got emotional.
• 33:41
  Emeal Zwayne: It was very emotional, and then to go to the hot springs where you first used the law when you witnessed to that man Was he still there.
• 33:50
  Emeal Zwayne: He was still there.
• 33:51
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, he looked like a prune.
• 33:53
  Ray Comfort: He was so taken back by what I said.
• 33:55
  Ray Comfort: He hasn't moved he hasn't left.
• 33:57
  Ray Comfort: Still pondering, yeah.
• 33:58
  Emeal Zwayne: Wide eye.
• 33:59
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah so, yeah, that's such good stuff.
• 34:03
  Emeal Zwayne: So here's one of the things that I think we should instruct our kids in early on so that they're ready for the real world, and that is to drill in them that they must be open to correction and instruction and to kill that.
• 34:16
  Emeal Zwayne: I know spirit, right, I've talked about it, I write about it in my book where you're counseling someone and they just like, yeah, I know.
• 34:24
  Ray Comfort: I know.
• 34:24
  Emeal Zwayne: I know, I know, oh, I know what you're talking about.
• 34:27
  Oscar Navarro: I know what he's talking about.
• 34:28
  Mark Spence: I have no idea.
• 34:30
  Emeal Zwayne: Oh, Mark, the humble one.
• 34:32
  Mark Spence: Yeah, we call them sponges, right, we love finding a sponge.
• 34:36
  Mark Spence: It doesn't matter what you share with them, they're just eating up everything.
• 34:38
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah open to instruction and correction.
• 34:41
  Emeal Zwayne: You know, you think of Proverbs 12, verse 1,.
• 34:46
  Emeal Zwayne: It says whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
• 34:52
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean, that's the only appropriate time you can use that word with your kids.
• 34:55
  Emeal Zwayne: Don't be stupid, right, and that this is, I mean, that's biblical.
• 35:00
  Emeal Zwayne: If you're the kind of person that will not receive instruction, will not receive correction, you're stupid and you're headed for destruction.
• 35:07
  Ray Comfort: How are we going to deal with this in a future podcast, one called how to Cultivate a Teachable Heart?
• 35:12
  Emeal Zwayne: We did that already, didn't we?
• 35:13
  Emeal Zwayne: No, oh, we are, oh, we are.
• 35:15
  Oscar Navarro: Oh, yeah, that's right, that's coming up.
• 35:17
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, we'll talk about that more in depth, but yeah, you know that spirit that just says I want to learn.
• 35:22
  Emeal Zwayne: When someone corrects, you say thank you, Don't put up your walls and become defensive, but be ready to receive and to think, wow, this is a mercy that someone is correcting me, instructing me, because you'll have so much.
• 35:38
  Mark Spence: What if he disagrees?
• 35:39
  Mark Spence: I mean, I absolutely love that right.
• 35:39
  Mark Spence: And I immediately begin to play devil's advocate because I don't want to learn, maybe, this area.
• 35:43
  Mark Spence: But somebody's correcting you.
• 35:44
  Mark Spence: First response is thank you.
• 35:46
  Mark Spence: And then what If you disagree?
• 35:48
  Mark Spence: Where do you go from there?
• 35:50
  Mark Spence: Or if you agree, where do you go from?
• 35:51
  Emeal Zwayne: there.
• 35:51
  Emeal Zwayne: Well, it depends.
• 35:52
  Emeal Zwayne: I think, first of all, clarification is always important.
• 35:55
  Emeal Zwayne: So if they're pointing something out that you know is not accurate, because they misunderstood something you said or misheard, yeah, first you thank them, you receive it and then you may make that clarification.
• 36:07
  Emeal Zwayne: You might even make it later if you feel it's more appropriate.
• 36:09
  Emeal Zwayne: But I think more often than not, it's better for us to pause and say maybe they're right and I think I'm right, I need to chew on this.
• 36:18
  Emeal Zwayne: And that's the problem.
• 36:20
  Emeal Zwayne: We don't go and think, we process in the moment and then we just spit out whatever you like that.
• 36:28
  Emeal Zwayne: We spit out whatever pops into our mind, instead of like saying, okay, let me go think on that, pray on that, not just that, but get more counsel, more feedback, so that other people might tell me hey, the back of your head looks like this.
• 36:40
  Emeal Zwayne: Right, like I said, you can never see the back of your head with your naked eye.
• 36:43
  Emeal Zwayne: Listen to others.
• 36:45
  Oscar Navarro: That reminds me of Paul Tripp, which I know you guys already talked about.
• 36:48
  Oscar Navarro: Shepherding Child's Heart great book, ted Tripp, ted Tripp, sorry, ted Tripp, paul Tripp.
• 36:52
  Oscar Navarro: Also his brother writes a few incredible books Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands is a great one, and how People Change is another really good one.
• 37:00
  Oscar Navarro: And one of the common themes that come up in his book is he talks about our inner lawyer, and so what he says is he reminds us that all of our sins is ultimately rooted in idolatry.
• 37:12
  Oscar Navarro: And the thing about idolatry is that when people get really close to an idol, when they start questioning the things that matter most to us, that are more important than God, our inner lawyer comes out.
• 37:25
  Oscar Navarro: We get defensive, we get the I knows, we get the yes buts, we redirect, we ignore the reality that there's actually something wrong with our hearts, that we're holding onto something too tightly.
• 37:38
  Oscar Navarro: And so it's important in those moments to be self-aware.
• 37:42
  Oscar Navarro: Do I feel my inner lawyer coming out right now?
• 37:46
  Oscar Navarro: Could it be because there's something here that's true about what this person is saying about?
• 37:52
  Emeal Zwayne: me Amen, so good, and that's what it is.
• 37:54
  Emeal Zwayne: It's idolatry, and a lot of times what's interconnected to that idol Oscar, is image.
• 38:00
  Emeal Zwayne: We don't want to appear a certain way.
• 38:02
  Emeal Zwayne: We don't want people to think about us a certain way, versus.
• 38:05
  Emeal Zwayne: It doesn't matter what anyone thinks, how I'm perceived by anyone.
• 38:08
  Emeal Zwayne: God sees me, he knows me and, as Tripp has said in another place, there's nothing that can be uncovered about you that hasn't already been covered by the gospel of Christ.
• 38:15
  Emeal Zwayne: His blood has covered it, and so you know All right.
• 38:19
  Emeal Zwayne: Another thing I think and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this is drill into your kids that they have to understand that work is sacred and that they have to be hard workers in life.
• 38:32
  Mark Spence: Yeah, you know, because work came before the fall.
• 38:34
  Mark Spence: We always have to be reminded of that.
• 38:37
  Mark Spence: You know, fallen people live in a fallen world, we make fallen decisions.
• 38:41
  Mark Spence: But this working hard came before the fall.
• 38:44
  Mark Spence: It was always God's desire for us to tend the earth, to work hard, to have our minds sharpened to do whatever we need to do, to be the best that we can possibly be in the work which God has prepared for us before the foundation of the world.
• 39:01
  Mark Spence: Work hard and then rest hard.
• 39:03
  Mark Spence: Feel free to rest.
• 39:05
  Mark Spence: I often say that.
• 39:06
  Mark Spence: I learned it from Dave Ramsey that a budget is supposed to free you up to spend.
• 39:12
  Mark Spence: It's not to hold you back, it's to demonstrate where the money is at and now, with free liberty, with a clear conscience, spend the money as you laid out on paper.
• 39:22
  Mark Spence: Well, the same way, you worked hard, rest, enjoy that rest.
• 39:25
  Mark Spence: Jesus said come aside and rest a while.
• 39:28
  Mark Spence: We need to rest, but we need to work hard.
• 39:30
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, proverbs 13,.
• 39:31
  Emeal Zwayne: For the soul of the lazy man desires and has nothing but the soul the diligent will be made rich, and I think that applies spiritually and physically.
• 39:38
  Emeal Zwayne: But sadly a lot of parents don't teach their kids how to work hard from an early age.
• 39:45
  Ray Comfort: You know, it's good for parents to encourage kids to soak their souls in proverbs.
• 39:50
  Ray Comfort: Amen, read scripture daily, read the proverbs daily, because you can learn the wisdom of solomon without having to go through the pains he went through to get it.
• 39:59
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, and it can save you a lot of pain yeah, absolutely.
• 40:03
  Emeal Zwayne: The proverbs are so packed with real practical life truths that can save you a lot of pain.
• 40:10
  Ray Comfort: Well, it deals with the sexual issue head on, right at the beginning of Proverbs, right when most parents are a little nervous about, solomon can come up and step into.
• 40:18
  Ray Comfort: Oh, I love it.
• 40:20
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, but man, hard work, it's so important and that ties into the next thing that we need to teach them, I think, and that's understanding how money works.
• 40:30
  Emeal Zwayne: You know, starting at an early age, with that it grows on trees or under them, as I discovered back in the day.
• 40:38
  Ray Comfort: It's not made of paper.
• 40:39
  Ray Comfort: You know that Money's not made of paper.
• 40:41
  Oscar Navarro: No, it's cotton.
• 40:42
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, that's why it's so durable, but living, teaching them about money.
• 40:47
  Emeal Zwayne: Oscar's looking at me like thomas but teaching them that, um yeah, that to live within their means, teaching them to the folly of debt right ray, I mean, that's been a big thing for you to.
• 41:02
  Ray Comfort: Oh, yeah, the word mortgage means death grip.
• 41:04
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, and it's good.
• 41:05
  Ray Comfort: Before you go to a mortgage, you just memorize what the word means death grip.
• 41:08
  Ray Comfort: You really want to do this, and it's so sad that so many a mortgage.
• 41:09
  Ray Comfort: You just memorize what the word means death grip.
• 41:10
  Ray Comfort: You really want to do this, and it's so sad that so many young people can't get a house nowadays because it's out of their reach.
• 41:16
  Ray Comfort: But yeah, it's so important don't get in debt.
• 41:18
  Ray Comfort: That's what we noticed about American society.
• 41:20
  Ray Comfort: Everything's in debt, everything's a credit card and not facing the music.
• 41:25
  Emeal Zwayne: The music's going to come and Oscar, you were in the financial world before you came on with Living Waters and you do find that, don't you Like with kids, that they're not taught how to handle money.
• 41:36
  Emeal Zwayne: The second they get any significant amount of it, they blow it on silly things.
• 41:41
  Emeal Zwayne: They're not taught to save for the future.
• 41:43
  Emeal Zwayne: And I think it's important to say that this is a spiritual element, because we're called to provide for our own.
• 41:48
  Emeal Zwayne: In fact, if we don't, we're worse than an infidel.
• 41:51
  Emeal Zwayne: Scripture says we've denied the faith.
• 41:52
  Emeal Zwayne: So it's right to be independent, because if you're not meeting your own family's needs, someone else is.
• 41:57
  Emeal Zwayne: It's always going to be someone doing it, and we're responsible.
• 42:01
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah, it's so good, and the reality is that this is a struggle around all generations, all levels of income.
• 42:12
  Oscar Navarro: We worked with legacy families, and so at one point I was part of an organization where we had three point something billion dollars in assets.
• 42:16
  Oscar Navarro: The average net worth of the client that we were working with was they had liquid assets of $2 million or more, and these kinds of families would also have these kids come up.
• 42:27
  Oscar Navarro: They would go through Harvard, they would get out of college, they would go into the workplace and they would have no idea on how to spend or manage their money.
• 42:36
  Oscar Navarro: And so this is a problem, of course, of cross all um, uh, all areas of finances, um, and it's crazy to me that, even in our educational experience, I can remember taking a trigonometry class and and that was the point I always loved math, but when I hit trig, I was like this is the most ridiculous, useless information.
• 42:56
  Oscar Navarro: I will never put this to use.
• 42:58
  Oscar Navarro: And the reality is that schools will teach our kids trigonometry, but before they teach them how to manage a checking book or invest their money.
• 43:07
  Oscar Navarro: And listen, it is really easy.
• 43:10
  Oscar Navarro: It does not take rocket science.
• 43:13
  Oscar Navarro: And you mentioned Ramsey.
• 43:16
  Oscar Navarro: What's his first name?
• 43:16
  Oscar Navarro: Dave, dave Ramsey.
• 43:18
  Oscar Navarro: I've never gone through any of his coursework, but I know he's got a lot of stuff and some of it's available for free online.
• 43:24
  Oscar Navarro: It's really easy to learn how to manage a checkbook and save, to look at it as buckets your kids when they get an allowance, or our kids when they go and walk neighborhood dogs.
• 43:35
  Oscar Navarro: We teach them okay, you're going to take that and 10% of it we're going to give, and how much would you like to save?
• 43:42
  Oscar Navarro: We give them agency.
• 43:44
  Oscar Navarro: So they'll say I want to save 30 to 40% of it.
• 43:47
  Oscar Navarro: Okay, here's your piggy bank that goes here, and here's your money.
• 43:50
  Oscar Navarro: When you want to buy a soda, a new shirt, whatever you want, that's yours to spend.
• 43:55
  Oscar Navarro: So at a very early age you teach them about money management.
• 43:59
  Oscar Navarro: It's really easy.
• 44:00
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, it was such a joy for me, Oscar, a few years ago, to bring my boys over to your house, because I know this was your world, and for you to instruct them on how to invest in stocks and how to promote that.
• 44:10
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, and man, they're doing really well there.
• 44:13
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean, there's been faithfulness in that regard.
• 44:15
  Emeal Zwayne: But it's that instruction that's key.
• 44:18
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean, when my kids were young, I did this thing with them where I gave them a certain area of responsibility and we decided it would be kind of like employment to train them for the world.
• 44:28
  Emeal Zwayne: And so I gave them a certain amount of money they would get if they did the job that they're supposed to do.
• 44:33
  Emeal Zwayne: Then, if they did better than they were supposed to do, I'd give them a tip.
• 44:37
  Emeal Zwayne: If they did less than they were supposed to do, I would decrease it by X amount depending on how bad the job was.
• 44:42
  Emeal Zwayne: And if they didn't do a good job for X amount of weeks, they'd get fired.
• 44:45
  Emeal Zwayne: But they would remain slaves because they still have to do the work, but they got no pay.
• 44:50
  Emeal Zwayne: So the day came when I had to fire one of my sons and he was devastated.
• 44:55
  Emeal Zwayne: He was in tears but I said look, okay, but now if you show a change for X amount of weeks, you get your job back.
• 45:03
  Emeal Zwayne: And man, he turned it around and I remember the day that he went from a slave to a paid man again and I mean he was being.
• 45:13
  Emeal Zwayne: I said, son, how does it feel to no longer be a slave?
• 45:16
  Emeal Zwayne: He was a bond servant, bought his freedom and he was glowing and he went into the work world.
• 45:21
  Emeal Zwayne: After he became an adult, he was promoted and one day we were talking and he reiterated.
• 45:25
  Emeal Zwayne: He said yeah, it was those days that trained me, that prepared me for that which son, so I can make fun of him.
• 45:34
  Emeal Zwayne: Zlabooksy, zlabooksy.
• 45:36
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, so that's good.
• 45:37
  Emeal Zwayne: Sexual purity Mark.
• 45:38
  Emeal Zwayne: How important is that?
• 45:39
  Emeal Zwayne: To have the hard conversations with our kids.
• 45:41
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean most parents.
• 45:42
  Emeal Zwayne: When they talk to their kids about that whole realm, they're nervous, they're anxious.
• 45:46
  Emeal Zwayne: Oh, when they even tell them about it, we decided, as I've shared before, to be excited about it so our kids can understand it, first and foremost, that this is beautiful.
• 45:53
  Emeal Zwayne: God designed it.
• 45:54
  Emeal Zwayne: But on the other side, some parents won't have the hard talks, asking them difficult questions what are you looking at?
• 45:59
  Emeal Zwayne: What are you doing?
• 46:00
  Mark Spence: and to help them, Well, ray kind of alluded to it.
• 46:03
  Mark Spence: It's the rising up and it's the sitting down that there's always opportunity, always moments to be able to speak truth, specifically in this area, into our kids' lives.
• 46:11
  Mark Spence: So when a billboard comes up and you see maybe a wandering eye from your child, or a pretty girl comes walking by or a guy, whatever it may be, if something like that ends up happening, you're always conversing with them, You're always trying to get to the heart of the matter.
• 46:26
  Mark Spence: So I know we're running out of time, but I think for me it's really doing those things.
• 46:31
  Mark Spence: But also, you need to do a search onto their phones.
• 46:32
  Mark Spence: You know, if you're entrusting them with a phone, you can't entrust them to always make the right, the best decision.
• 46:37
  Mark Spence: Then there's some really good apps out there as well, from Covenant Eyes and things like that.
• 46:41
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, I hear there's a really good book coming out on the subject.
• 46:44
  Emeal Zwayne: What's?
• 46:44
  Mark Spence: it called.
• 46:45
  Mark Spence: I can't think of anything.
• 46:45
  Mark Spence: What's it?
• 46:46
  Emeal Zwayne: called yeah, Fight Like a man, a bold biblical battle plan for personal purity.
• 46:51
  Emeal Zwayne: I don't know if it's going to be out by the time the podcast airs, but look for it friends, it's on Amazon right now Not for sale, but I saw they've posted.
• 46:58
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah.
• 46:58
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah, somebody posted something, you're right.
• 47:03
  Oscar Navarro: So you can go and read about the book.
• 47:05
  Emeal Zwayne: Go pre-buy it right now.
• 47:06
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, real quick, ray, we'll go a couple minutes over.
• 47:10
  Emeal Zwayne: These are important Teaching them to keep their word.
• 47:15
  Ray Comfort: Oh, so important.
• 47:16
  Ray Comfort: I ended up in India because I believe that I should keep my word, that's right.
• 47:22
  Ray Comfort: Ray Someone.
• 47:23
  Ray Comfort: Once we were in Dallas or somewhere.
• 47:25
  Emeal Zwayne: Was that in Dallas?
• 47:26
  Emeal Zwayne: As a ministry leader, someone?
• 47:26
  Oscar Navarro: said would you come to?
• 47:27
  Ray Comfort: India, and I said yeah, yeah.
• 47:29
  Ray Comfort: And then I thought what did I just say?
• 47:32
  Ray Comfort: And then an invite came and I thought no, 36 hours on a plane.
• 47:36
  Emeal Zwayne: We almost died on the roads.
• 47:37
  Emeal Zwayne: Forget the plane.
• 47:38
  Ray Comfort: Oh, screaming I was more terrified than I've ever been in a car.
• 47:42
  Ray Comfort: They're maniacs.
• 47:43
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, it was crazy.
• 47:44
  Ray Comfort: So, yeah, so important.
• 47:45
  Ray Comfort: Psalm 15, he swears to his own hurt, as it says in the King James swears to his own hurt the.
• 47:55
  Ray Comfort: Living Bible says he'll keep his word, even if it hurts him to do so.
• 47:56
  Ray Comfort: So if you say something, make sure you do it.
• 47:57
  Ray Comfort: If you say I'm going to do this, just do it.
• 47:58
  Emeal Zwayne: Amen, yeah, huge, because it's going to affect the rest of their lives.
• 48:02
  Emeal Zwayne: It's a part of their character, you know, doing all the things.
• 48:04
  Emeal Zwayne: I mean this generation is so just inconsistent and flaky.
• 48:09
  Emeal Zwayne: They say, yeah, I'll be here.
• 48:11
  Emeal Zwayne: They don't show up on time.
• 48:12
  Emeal Zwayne: They come 20, 30 minutes later.
• 48:13
  Emeal Zwayne: They don't even apologize.
• 48:14
  Emeal Zwayne: It's just kind of like that's just how it is.
• 48:17
  Emeal Zwayne: So, teaching them early on what you say you do and that teaches them to be careful not to make commitments.
• 48:23
  Oscar Navarro: You know, what I've seen some people in this generation do is that they'll show up on time, leave their stuff and then leave the room for like five minutes.
• 48:32
  Emeal Zwayne: Oscar's generation.
• 48:33
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, that's what they do.
• 48:34
  Emeal Zwayne: Nice try, oscar.
• 48:37
  Emeal Zwayne: We don't have time, but this is the rest of my list.
• 48:39
  Emeal Zwayne: Teach them to be good listeners.
• 48:40
  Emeal Zwayne: That's key to really key into what people are saying.
• 48:44
  Emeal Zwayne: Would you hurry up?
• 48:46
  Emeal Zwayne: Teach them the value of impartiality and respect.
• 48:51
  Emeal Zwayne: Teach them to ask questions and not make accusations.
• 48:54
  Emeal Zwayne: We've talked about that before.
• 48:56
  Emeal Zwayne: Teach them to be willing to learn important things they don't enjoy.
• 48:59
  Emeal Zwayne: That's huge.
• 49:01
  Emeal Zwayne: You know, those things that that just are irksome to you, that are technical or or mechanical or domestic.
• 49:08
  Oscar Navarro: Last words, yeah.
• 49:11
  Emeal Zwayne: Last words we can all relate to that but push yourself to learn things that you don't necessarily like because they're important.
• 49:15
  Emeal Zwayne: They'll be, tools that'll help you in life.
• 49:17
  Emeal Zwayne: Teach them how to just not just apologize, but elaborate on their error when they're confronted and to ask for forgiveness.
• 49:25
  Emeal Zwayne: That will go in such a long way in healing relationships and things like that.
• 49:30
  Emeal Zwayne: And teach them to be humble and meek.
• 49:31
  Emeal Zwayne: Humility and meekness are key.
• 49:35
  Oscar Navarro: Could I hit something real quickly?
• 49:36
  Oscar Navarro: I know you mentioned we're running out of time, but I think it's really at the top of the hour.
• 49:42
  Oscar Navarro: You mentioned they are like arrows in the hands of a warrior.
• 49:45
  Oscar Navarro: I think it's important to key back on that verse because oftentimes Christian parents will treat their kids like sanctifying trophies rather than arrows.
• 49:58
  Oscar Navarro: What I mean by that is that if your kids are saved in walking with the Lord, there can be, if you're not careful, this unintentional pride as though that's the trophy to prove that you were that spiritual parent who did all of the right things.
• 50:13
  Oscar Navarro: And look at them.
• 50:13
  Oscar Navarro: And the opposite is true.
• 50:15
  Oscar Navarro: If your kids aren't walking with the Lord, there can be the shame of like man.
• 50:20
  Oscar Navarro: It reveals how lacking I was as a parent.
• 50:23
  Oscar Navarro: Or when you hear about someone else not walking with the Lord their kid your judgment goes there what did they not do that I did do?
• 50:31
  Oscar Navarro: Well, if they only raised their kids, if they made the educational decisions, the church decisions, then their kids would be walking like our kids.
• 50:38
  Oscar Navarro: And it's so important to remember especially Psalm 127, verses one through five, the first few verses leading into the arrows, because the first few verses are the key to remember the whole thing.
• 50:48
  Oscar Navarro: And it goes like this unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
• 50:56
  Oscar Navarro: Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
• 51:00
  Oscar Navarro: It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for he gives to his people, to his beloved sleep.
• 51:11
  Oscar Navarro: Behold, children are heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the room of reward, like arrows in the hands of a warrior, the children of one's youth.
• 51:20
  Oscar Navarro: And so, in context that quiver of arrows, is God raising them up, god sovereignly bringing you a saving faith, and God sending them out for his purpose, to do his work.
• 51:36
  Oscar Navarro: And I just think, as parents, we need to humbly recognize that even if we do all things right, salvation is in the Lord's hands.
• 51:42
  Oscar Navarro: And even if we do all things wrong, salvation is in the Lord's hands.
• 51:46
  Emeal Zwayne: Amen.
• 51:47
  Emeal Zwayne: Very important, oscar.
• 51:48
  Emeal Zwayne: I'm glad that you brought that up and it's good to end there.
• 51:51
  Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, to say, look, salvation is of the Lord, and Ted Tripp talks about it.
• 51:55
  Emeal Zwayne: In Shepherding a Child's Heart, you have what are called shaping influences, which is what we're responsible for.
• 52:00
  Emeal Zwayne: We are to provide the atmosphere where our kids can blossom in the gospel and in truth.
• 52:07
  Emeal Zwayne: But, yeah, there's that Godward orientation.
• 52:10
  Emeal Zwayne: Then he says and it's where they yield to the Lord and what God does in their heart.
• 52:15
  Emeal Zwayne: And so be encouraged, those of you that have kids that have strayed don't lose heart.
• 52:19
  Emeal Zwayne: Continue to pray, continue to cry out to God.
• 52:21
  Emeal Zwayne: As long as they have breath, there's hope.
• 52:22
  Emeal Zwayne: Even if things didn't go well in their upbringing, even if you may be able to look back and say I made some errors, god is able.
• 52:28
  Emeal Zwayne: So repent if you've blown it to them, even if they're older and the things that you made mistakes, and reconcile on that and then just love them with truth and have hope in the Lord.
• 52:39
  Emeal Zwayne: All right, friends, that about wraps it up.
• 52:42
  Emeal Zwayne: Don't forget, count your blessings and stop stressing the Living Waters mug and the Evidence Study Bible at livingwaterscom.
• 52:48
  Emeal Zwayne: Write to us at podcast at livingwaterscom.
• 52:50
  Emeal Zwayne: Don't forget to like and share and get involved on the platform where you listen.
• 52:56
  Emeal Zwayne: Still one of the top podcasts in the world.
• 52:57
  Emeal Zwayne: Thank you for making that happen.
• 53:00
  Emeal Zwayne: We'll see you next time here on the Living Waters Podcast Ooh good Ray when we have no idea what we're doing.