We adults may have felt a bit left
out, so I'd like us to teach you
all a song.
Jesus loves me this I know, though my
hair is white as snow, though my sight
is growing dim, still he bids me trust
in him.
Though my steps are oh so slow, with
my hand in his I'll go, on through
life let come what may, he'll be there
to lead my way.
Praise the Lord.
God is good all the time to adults
and children.
So, this session is for married couples.
There are two relationships we have.
One is as husband and wife and the
other is parents and children in our home.
And to see something of the importance of
this, I'll tell you how we've done it
in the 47 years that we've had our
churches in about 14 countries, over a hundred
or more churches.
And we've taught this, the church is like
a building.
The foundation is the perfect assurance that God
has become our father, that our sins are
forgiven, Jesus Christ is my savior.
If you don't start there, you have no
foundation.
God is my loving father and if earthly
fathers know how to give good things to
their children, how much more my heavenly father
will give me all that I need.
Not all that I want, not all that
I ask, but definitely all that I need.
That's certain.
So, I must never move away from that
foundation at any time.
We are often tempted in this evil world
to move away from that foundation.
Then the first floor is our personal walk
with God.
We have to begin there, keeping our conscience
clean all the time.
Like they say, keep short accounts with God,
no credits, immediate payment.
That means if you committed a sin, immediately
confess it, ask the Lord to forgive you.
Don't wait till the evening.
If you get a thorn in your foot,
you don't wait till the evening to pull
it out.
Pull it out immediately.
If you get a speck in your eye,
you clean it out immediately.
Why should we treat sin any differently?
It's more serious than a thorn or a
speck.
Immediately, keep a clear conscience.
That is the first floor.
You cannot build a church if you don't
start with the foundation and that first floor.
Then the second floor above that is our
family life.
You can't build a church without a family
life.
In fact, Paul tells Timothy, when you're appointing
elders in the different churches, make sure that
you look for elders who have these qualities.
He says in 1 Timothy, in chapter 3,
he says, number one, they must be a
husband of one wife.
They should not be divorced people who've got
two wives, one living somewhere else and one
they're married to.
So it must be a husband of one
wife and must be someone who knows how
to manage his own family, 1 Timothy 3,
4 well.
Family life, because keeping his children under control
with dignity, because if a man does not
know how to take care of three or
four children in his own home, how will
he take care of a church with 50,
60 people?
He can't even handle four children at home
or two children at home.
They're all wayward, disrespectful.
Such people should never be made elders.
So we followed that rule in our churches
that if a man's, we have about 150
elders in all our churches in different countries.
And if ever there's a testimony that one
man, one of the elders children are wayward,
I don't mean when they leave home and
they're on their own, but when they're at
home, speaking here about managing his own family.
So when the children are at home, if
they are not brought up with the respect
for the parents and respect for the older
people in the church, such a man is
not fit to be an elder.
So we teach in the church, we must
bring up our families in a godly way.
So to bring up our children in a
godly way.
And then, sorry, let me come to the
last.
And then on top of the family is
the third story, third floor, which is the
church, building people together in fellowship as one
body, not just as a club.
A lot of churches are clubs.
There's a little book written at the back,
a called a congregation, or a club, or
a church.
And he says there that some churches are
actually congregations.
Some are clubs and some are churches, what
is the difference?
And he takes the two arms of the
cross.
And he says, the congregation is where an
individual may have a wonderful relationship with God
in himself.
But he sits there along with maybe 30,
40, 100 others, who also have a good
vertical relationship, but no relationship with each other.
They're like people sitting in a cinema theater.
They're all interested in what's happening up in
front, maybe the singing or the preacher, but
no connection with each other.
That's not a church, that's a congregation.
Those people may come to the cinema theater
regularly, and sit there as faithful members and
pay their tithe and everything, but they have
no horizontal relationships, only the vertical arm.
I walk with God myself alone.
That's Old Testament.
The new covenant is a body.
The second thing he says is a club.
A club is only the horizontal arm.
Oh, we have a wonderful time with each
other.
Just like in a club, they play billiards
or golf, or here we come together and
sing songs and listen to a message.
We have no personal connection with God.
I mean, we slip up and sin and
all, but we have wonderful fellowship with each
other.
That's a club.
Then comes the church, which have both arms,
that each person has got a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, and they seek to love
one another as Christ loved them.
That is the church.
Read that booklet.
It's just a few pages.
So that's what we have taught.
So in the matter of bringing up children,
there's one verse in the New Testament I
would show you.
A couple of verses.
Ephesians chapter 6.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.
It's written especially to fathers.
We can get so upset with our children
when they do something wrong, or maybe we
didn't teach them to do right.
I told the fathers in our church, when
your children are small and they're building something
with toys or Lego blocks or something like
that, and they really don't know how to
do it, they don't know how to look
at the pictures, and you say, okay, son,
or my girl, I'll help you make it.
And you know how children are, no, no,
dad, I can do it on my own.
And they try and try for about 10,
15 minutes or half an hour, they get
fed up and they say, they can't do
it.
Then they come to dad and say, dad,
can't do it.
What do you tell them?
Many fathers will say, I told you that.
I've told husbands and wives and parents, never
use those words in your home.
I told you that.
That's the language of the expert.
That's what destroys relationship.
When a wife tells her husband, I told
you that long ago, or a husband tells
his wife, I told you that.
It's the expert.
Or telling a child, the child just get
discouraged.
What should you say?
Say, nevermind, let's fix it.
That's a better word to say than to
say, I told you that.
And then sit down with your child and
fix that.
Or with your wife, some problem solved.
Nevermind, darling, let's fix it.
Nothing, the world's not collapsed.
We can fix that easily.
If Christ could fix the world's problems on
the cross, what is this little thing we
have in our home?
Why make a big fuss about it?
Remember this.
Please remember what you heard today.
Never say, I told you so.
Never say, why in the world did you
do that?
Or why in the world didn't you tell
me?
Somebody left a message on the phone and
your wife forgot to tell you.
Okay, we all make mistakes.
The world is not going to collapse just
because you didn't get that message that day.
Maybe you lost a little money.
That's okay.
Maybe God saw you loved money so much,
so that God allowed your wife to forget
to tell you that, so that you lose
a little money.
I'll tell you from my personal experience, number
of times when I've earnestly, I prayed earnestly
for many years, years and years and years
and years, 40, 50 years, Lord, free me
from the love of money.
Because you said you cannot love God and
money.
And I want to love God with all
my heart.
I don't want an atom of love of
money in my heart, because I will not
be able to serve you then.
And you know how God has delivered me
from it little by little, by making me
lose large sums of money.
I mean, I never starved.
He made sure that I had enough to
eat and drink and feed my children.
But it was a big loss, not some
small amount for me anyway.
It was a big loss compared to the
level of income I had and wealth I
had.
And I asked the Lord, Lord, why?
The Lord said, didn't you pray a few
weeks ago that you should be freed from
the love of money?
Well, I'm helping you.
I said, praise the Lord.
This is an answer to prayer, is it?
Great.
I thought somebody swindled me.
I thought my carelessness, I lost money.
No, God allowed it so that I can
be free from the love money.
Have you ever shouted hallelujah when you lost
a large sum of money?
I've done it.
Because it is an answer to my prayer.
We all need it, brother.
If you think you don't love money, you're
probably the one who loves money the most.
You haven't seen your need.
So you have to be careful that we
don't provoke our children to anger by the
way we speak to them.
But bring them up, it says in Ephesians
6.4, in the discipline and instruction of
the Lord.
Discipline and instruction.
Instruction from the Bible.
I remember hearing a song sung by somebody
here in the US.
That he said, in my home, it's a
song.
In my home, there were two things made
of leather.
One was the Bible and the other was
a belt.
And with the Bible and the belt, my
father brought us up.
And one was King James Version, the other
was bought in Sears.
But those two leather items really helped us
to grow up.
And he said at the end, I feel
that what our country needs, children in our
country needs is a Bible and a belt.
So that's discipline and instruction.
It's from the Bible.
Discipline and instruction, whether you use a belt
or something else.
We have to make sure that we don't,
beyond a certain age, we can't use physical
discipline.
Because it's right, I never would use physical
discipline beyond the age of 12 or something.
And even before that, only in rare occasions,
the belt.
And most of the times, my discipline for
my children was, you can't play today.
And playing cricket was a great thing in
India.
And they would have love to go and
play.
And I'd say, no, you're going to lie
down in bed while the others are playing.
And they would come and beg me, Dad,
give me a belt and let me go
and play.
That was a bigger punishment to them, to
lie down in bed and miss the game.
So the principle is that they must, something
that they love to do, we must not
permit them to do.
Because they disobeyed.
If they spoke rudely to mommy, I tell
them, I don't care what important work you're
doing.
Stop it.
Go and apologize to your mommy.
We're not going to proceed before that.
See, you're very strict with these things, your
children will grow up properly.
And then of course, teach them the word
of God.
See, we had school very early in the
morning.
And the children had to, there's no such
thing as homeschool in India those days.
And we had to send our children to
school early in the morning.
So we'd say a quick prayer and send
them off.
And then the only time we could do
it, you see, I didn't want to wake
them up at five o'clock in the
morning when they're all half sleepy and have
family prayer.
So they would get up at normal time,
get their books and all ready for school
and just a quick prayer with them and
off to school.
And then that evening, when we sat around
the dinner table, that's the time when I
took some little portion like daily light, a
number of verses, not a big, huge chapter,
but just a few verses.
Speak a little bit about it.
And while we are eating, talk about things
like, why don't we cheat in examinations?
How should we deal with a boy or
a girl who comes to fight with us
in school and practical things in school?
What do you find if you find that
you're very good at mathematics and there's a
child in your school who is very poor
in mathematics?
Have you ever thought of sitting down with
him and helping him to do that while
the others are playing?
Spend 15 minutes with him.
He'll love you.
Maybe you can draw him to Christ one
day.
So these are the instructions we talk about
our children when we were at home together
or when they play outside.
I remember this happened once where our children
would play outside and it's five years old
or something.
And you know, as you children are, they
play five years old, they hit one another.
And you go and ask them, you ask
my son, what happened, son?
He hit me first.
It's the usual answer is that.
And so I said, then did you hit
him back?
Yes.
But he hit me first.
Okay.
Well, I said, see, he's not a Christian.
So we can't expect him to live by
Christian principles.
You're a Christian.
You can't behave like that.
You can't hit him back.
So now we got to go to his
house and apologize to him.
And he said, Dad, will you apologize to
me?
I said, I'm not interested.
I only want to know whether you'll do
it.
So we go to his house, knock at
the door and the father opens and says,
I said, sir, my son wants to say
something to our little five-year-old.
Both are the same age.
So my son says, I'm sorry for what
I did.
And the other five-year-old magnanimously says,
thank you.
And they closed the door.
And I said, fine.
And my son said, Daddy, he never apologized
to me.
I said, never mind.
We are children of God.
I don't know where that boy is today.
But I doubt whether he's following the Lord.
His parents brought him up like that.
My children are all following the Lord.
Discipline, little things like this, not always the
belt.
Teaching them to obey, respect the elders in
the church, always speak respectfully.
We have a lot of beggars coming to
our gates in India, begging for money very
frequently, knock, knock and say, give us some
money because they're so poor.
They don't have food to eat.
They don't have and many people from inside
the house and say, get out, go away.
So I tell my children, never speak to
a beggar like that.
He's a man made in the image of
God.
The Bible says that in James, that every
person is made in the image of God.
I mean, his circumstances have made him poor.
By God's mercy, we are not in that
condition.
So if you ever spoke rudely to one
of them, I'd say, listen, you run after
him and go up to him to that
beggar and say, sorry, sir, for talking to
you like that.
Please forgive me.
That is what we must teach our children.
Respect.
It doesn't matter whether the person is a
poor, homeless person or a wealthy person.
There's no difference in God's eyes.
You teach your children the value of humanity,
respect for older people, irrespective of their position
in life.
And I tell you, your children will grow
up to respect.
I used to tell them, don't ever gang
up with students who are, you know, speaking
evil about the teachers.
No, get out of their company.
Don't air your views there and get into
a conflict with them.
Just pull out of their company and go
somewhere else.
And I'm very thankful for these little instructions
that God enabled me to give them.
Bring them up in the discipline.
The other is the instruction of the Lord.
I was very keen that before my children
left home, they should have read through the
Bible.
I gave them a living Bible, easier to
read.
Or even if they don't understand it all,
they don't understand it all.
But I knew that my children will leave
home by the time they're 18 to go
to college, like it would be with many
of your children.
And before that, they must be born again.
They must be baptized and they must have
some understanding of the page.
It's the fundamental teaching.
They should have at least read through the
New Testament and they must know the teachings
in the church.
So it's not enough to leave it to
the Sunday school to do it.
It's the parent's responsibility to bring up the
children in the ways of the Lord.
So that is the responsibility of fathers, discipline
and instruction.
And here is a promise.
Many promises in the Bible have got a
condition attached to it.
And the condition is, for example, seek first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Promise all your earthly needs will be added
to you.
And we should be living testimonies to that
at the end of our life.
I longed, you know, when I left the
Navy, people and my fellow officers in the
Navy thought I was crazy to leave such
a good job to go out into an
unknown future.
And one of the things we decided in
our churches was none of us would receive
a salary.
We would all work like the Apostle Paul,
earning our own living and supporting ourselves and
never taking a salary from any church.
And that's how I've lived for 47 years.
And that's how all my fellow 150 elders
in all our 100 churches have lived.
They don't take a salary from anyone.
They work, support themselves and lead the churches
because that's how Paul taught us.
And that's we never send reports of our
work.
None of you ever got ever got a
report from us about our work in India.
And even if you go to the CFC
India website, which is the Bangalore website, you'll
think that is the only one church in
India because we don't advertise there where all
our other churches are.
We do not advertise our work.
We do not beg for money.
We do not.
In fact, if you go to our financial
policy website, you'll get some amazing revelations there.
In fact, we discourage people from giving.
If you're not born again, if you're not
settled matters with others, Jesus said, go and
ask forgiveness and then come and bring your
offering.
We emphasize all that.
If you're not forgiven others, please don't put
money in the offering box.
God won't accept it.
And if you have personal needs, please take
care of your family needs.
God is a millionaire, billionaire father.
He doesn't want his poor children to starve
by giving money for his work.
So we put things like that and then
say at the end of it all, if
you still feel you want to give, give
with a cheerful heart.
Otherwise, don't give.
And there's no percentage.
And give us unto God.
God, our father is God.
We have no lack.
That is what we proclaim on our church
website.
But our children must grow up with these
values.
And what will happen?
Here is the condition.
Proverbs 22, verse 6.
Proverbs 22, 6.
Train up a child.
That is the commandment.
In the way you want him to go
or the way he should go.
Which you hear in the church.
That's your responsibility.
Parents, train up a child in the way
he should go.
And when he or she is old, God's
promise.
He will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22, 6.
Condition with a promise.
Sometimes you see an advertisement in a magazine
or on the internet.
Here is a free offer.
If you fulfill this condition, we offer you.
Come and take a free card to get
something from Chick-fil-A or something like
that.
You fulfill that condition, you can be absolutely
certain they'll mail you that card.
You think God won't keep his promise?
You train up a child in the way
he should go.
God says, I'll make sure when he's old,
he or she will not depart from it.
They may go through a little up and
down phase when they're in their early teens
and early twenties.
But by the time they come to about
30 years old, they are following the Lord.
Moses' mother did it single-handedly.
Her husband was at work as a slave,
six in the morning till nine at night.
Single-handedly, she brought up his child.
Moses, just up to the age of eight
or nine, sent him to Pharaoh's palace, the
most wicked place on the face of the
earth.
And when he was 40 years old, he
did not go astray from the way his
mother taught him.
Mother has a big responsibility because they're at
home most of the time.
So take that promise from the Lord.
And I believe God can fulfill it.
And it is God's will that all our
children become a testimony for the Lord.
And Paul wrote to Timothy, this is what
he wrote in 2nd Timothy in chapter two.
Think of a father saying this to his
son.
He says, 2nd Timothy chapter two, you, my
son, Timothy, Paul treated him like a son.
You, my son, you first of all, be
strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus.
This is the father writing to his son.
Whatever you heard from me, my son, entrust
it to others.
That means teach your children, that is the
grandchildren, what I taught you.
And they will teach the next generation, the
great-grandchildren.
Amazing.
Paul had a concern for son, grandson, great
-grandson.
That's how we must bring up our children,
to teach them to bring up their children
well.
And they must teach their children to bring
up their children well.
That's how the word of God goes from
generation to generation to generation.
But what do we see, unfortunately?
I've been in around Christendom in all denominations,
most of them in India and in many
countries.
And I'm sad to say that the children
of pastors and preachers are among the worst
examples examples in these churches.
They just take advantage of the fact my
dad's a leader and nobody's going to question
us.
It's terrible, the state of affairs.
And according to 2nd 1 Timothy 3, such
a guy is not fit to be a
pastor, he's not fit to be a leader,
he should resign.
I told the Lord that when I was
preaching, I started preaching before I was married.
And once we had children, I said, Lord,
if one of my children goes astray, I
have four sons, if one of them go
astray, I will stop preaching.
What do I have to preach?
I had four children at home, I didn't
bring them up properly.
What can I tell other people?
I can only get up and say, brothers,
pray for me, I've been a failure.
Please pray for my children.
That's all I can say, and sit down.
But very, very few Christians take that seriously.
Their children are wayward, they grow up, marry
ungodly women and men, and they think, okay,
what to do?
They're on their way to hell.
And their lifestyle is leading other people to
hell.
Well, the least you can do is fall
on your face before God and say, Lord,
have mercy on us, we've failed you.
Can you at least say that to God?
I've counseled people whose children are gone astray.
And these, unfortunately, the parents came to the
Lord at an age when the children had
already gone astray.
They were grown up and left home.
And I've told them, God always gives hope.
I said, don't give up hope.
There's hope.
If you promise one thing, do one thing
that I ask you to do.
Every day, you both of you, husband and
wife, get rid of all your quarrels with
each other, stop fighting with each other, and
settle things with God and with each other
and live in peace with each other and
kneel down and pray.
God will not listen to your prayer.
If you don't live in peace with each
other, don't even waste time praying.
If you're fighting and quarreling, go and do
something else.
But if you have settled matters and kneel
down and pray five minutes a day, that's
all I'm asking you.
I said, you both of you, pray everything
settled between both of you and pray specifically
for each child by name, the one who's
gone astray and say, Lord, acknowledge your fault.
Lord, I'm sorry.
We failed you.
We did not take these things seriously.
We didn't hear about it, but we don't
blame them.
We had the Bible with us.
You know, whenever people say, we didn't hear
that in our church, I say, can you
read English?
Do you have a Bible?
Why are you blaming the pastor?
You got a Bible at home, you didn't
read it.
Why in the world are you blaming somebody
else?
Did you get your children educated?
Did you teach them ABC and multiplication and
division?
You taught them all that and you did
not teach them the most important thing in
life.
Fall before your face.
Never mind.
There's still hope.
Fall before your face, before God, five minutes
every day and say, Lord, we have failed.
Forgive us.
We did not know.
And I give them a promise.
And the promise for all those who have
failed is Acts 17 and verse 30.
It's my favorite verse for all those who
made a mess of their life.
Because God, Jesus came for sinners.
He did not come for the righteous.
He did not come for those who live
perfect lives.
Jesus came for those who made a mess
of their life.
Did you hear that?
When he said, I have come to call
sinners to repentance, not the righteous.
I'm saying Jesus did not come to call
the righteous.
He came to call sinners to repentance.
The Pharisees, self-righteous people, he never went
for them.
Here is the promise in the last part
of Acts 17, 30.
Sorry, the full verse, Acts 17, 30.
God has now overlooked, ignored, forgiven the times
of your ignorance.
But now he's telling you to repent.
Can you do that?
God says your times of ignorance I overlook.
I forgive.
I blot out.
Don't think about it.
Don't waste your time mourning over it.
You've confessed it to me.
I've forgiven.
I've overlooked it.
Now look towards the future and repent.
Repent means I turn around and try to
do it better now.
Not just say I'm sorry.
Contact your children, I tell them.
Show them some love.
Don't preach to them.
Just love them.
Draw them to yourself.
And through you, you can draw them slowly
to Christ.
If you pray for them, it's like I
say throwing a, you know, out in Texas,
I think they have lassos.
Put a lasso around and catch a cattle
or something.
I've only heard about it.
And then they pull it in.
I say prayer is like a lasso you
put around that guy's neck and he's got
it.
He'll run a little because there's a slack
in the rope and they'll go for some
time while you're praying.
But one day they'll come to the end
of it.
They can't go anymore.
And then you just pull them in.
And they'll come right in.
I say you take me at my word
and tell me if it doesn't work.
But you may have to pray for a
few years before you see it.
But God will answer your prayer.
He is overlooking the times of your ignorance.
But he says now repent.
But if you're too lazy to spend even
five minutes a day in prayer for that,
or if you're too stubborn to ask forgiveness
from each other, then forget it.
Your children will go to hell and perhaps
you may go there too.
So you don't want that.
See when we have family get togethers, I
have four sons and 17 grandchildren.
So we parents and children, once a year
we come together for a family get together
like we did earlier this month.
So 27 of us stand in a circle
holding hands.
And I say, okay, we're going to sing
a song now.
Just two lines.
Will the circle, this is a circle.
Father, mother, children, grandchildren, husband, father, grandfather,
grandmother.
This is a circle.
It's an unbroken circle.
All of us love each other.
All of us love the Lord.
And I say there's a song which says
will the circle be unbroken in the sweet
by and by.
There's a better home awaiting beyond the sky.
The meaning is one day when the Lord
comes and when we meet up there, there
should be no gaps in the circle.
In this circle, all of us should still
be holding hands up there in heaven.
Every time we come together, we sing that.
Bring up your children.
And if you have grandchildren, encourage them also
in this way.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are living in
evil days.
The devil is working full time to attack
the church.
And in relation to the last days, you
know what God says?
Listen to this.
The book of Malachi.
Malachi was the last prophet in Israel before
John the Baptist.
John the Baptist came in to assure the
new covenant, preparing for it.
And Malachi, God was fed up with Israel.
He was given up on Israel.
And he's going to start with the church
from Matthew onwards.
But look at the last two words of
Malachi which speaks of the final judgment.
One day I'm going to send Elijah the
prophet before the great and terrible day of
the Lord.
That means someone is going to come with
the spirit of Elijah the prophet in the
last days.
And I believe that is the church.
The New Testament church is the Elijah of
the last days with a prophetic message and
will come before the final judgment day of
the Lord.
And what will this Elijah do?
What will this New Testament church do in
preparation for the coming of the Lord?
The last days, John the Baptist.
John the Baptist came in the spirit of
Elijah for the first coming of the Lord.
The New Testament church is Elijah that's preparing
people for the second coming of the Lord.
That's you and me.
What are we supposed to do?
We are to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children in these days.
That's what I'm trying to do.
Turn the hearts of parents to their children,
not children to their parents.
No.
The parents are the ones who are to
set an example.
Turn the hearts of the parents because in
the last days the devil is going to
attack families.
That's what the meaning of that verse is.
The devil is going to attack families and
you got to turn the hearts of fathers
to their children and then the charts of
the children will turn to their fathers.
Otherwise I will come and smite the land
with a curse.
The last words of the Old Testament.
The last word of the Old Testament is
curse.
And the last warning in the Old Testament
is to families and it has to begin
with fathers.
Take the responsibility.
As I said, even if you've made mistakes
in the past, there is forgiveness with God
that he may be feared.
If you read that verse in Psalm 130,
there is forgiveness with God that we may
fear him.
So let's accept that forgiveness.
So bringing up children is very very important
and I would say one of the main
things like everything we read in the New
Testament.
You remember Jesus said, follow me.
He didn't say listen to me.
He did say that but the word that
came most frequently from his lips were follow
me.
More than believe in me, follow me.
And Paul the apostle dared to take up
those words and said in 1 Corinthians in
chapter 11 and verse 1, be followers of
me as I follow Christ.
There are only two people in the entire
Bible who said follow me.
Not Moses, not Elijah, not even John the
Baptist.
Jesus, first of all, not just believe in
me, follow me.
And the second was the apostle Paul.
Follow me as I follow Christ.
Is it right for a servant of God
to say follow me as I follow Christ?
Absolutely.
I believe that's my calling.
Follow me as I follow Christ.
We should be able to say that.
Come and examine my bank account books and
examine, come any day, surprise me by a
visit in my home and come and live
with me one or two days and see
how I live or anytime, surprise me anywhere,
anytime.
Follow me as I follow Christ.
I'm not perfect but I'm seeking to follow
Christ.
That's what all of us should be able
to say.
Follow me as I follow Christ.
It's like climbing a mountain.
Mount Everest is 30,000 feet approximately.
Jesus has already reached the top.
He's finished the race.
He was tempted like us.
Every step he overcame temptation and reached the
top.
He finished his course and in the snow
we see his footsteps in the snow and
Paul looks at those footsteps and puts his
feet in those footsteps to follow Christ.
I mean he's way below maybe a thousand
feet or something.
It's 30,000 feet.
He's got a long way to go.
He says I'm not perfect.
I'm pressing on but I forget what ground
I've covered.
I'm pressing on towards perfection.
That's what he said and now we are
still further down.
Paul is at a thousand feet.
Maybe some of us are at a hundred
feet or 200 feet but we see Paul's
footsteps in the snow as well.
So that's what I mean by I follow
Paul as he followed Christ and my footsteps
are there in the snow.
I must tell people behind me follow me
as I'm following Paul and Christ.
It's a perfectly scriptural advice to give to
others if you are seeking to follow in
the footsteps of Jesus.
That should be what parents say.
Most parents are saying hey listen son don't
follow me.
Follow what the bible says.
No wonder they go astray.
We are to lead by example and if
you are not leading by example then woe
unto you because your hands the blood of
your children is in your hands.
It's worse than murdering them sending them to
hell.
I'll tell you this it is worse than
murdering your children to raise children and to
send them to hell.
Terrible and what a lot of children of
believing parents have gone to hell and in
hell like that rich man crying out for
a drop of water they say dad why
in the world didn't you show us these
things and teach us how important they were.
Mom you were with us every day at
home why didn't you tell us you yourself
found your way to heaven and you left
us to go to hell.
Don't let that ever be said of any
of our children.
Spend five minutes a day if your children
are going astray and live at peace with
your husband and wife as husband and wife.
You know when once a young couple just
got married I didn't know who they were
but a lot of people know me in
India they just got married and came to
my door when they just knocked there and
said brother Zach we just got married yesterday
we're catching a train in a few minutes
can you give us some quick advice for
marriage.
I said sure be quick to ask forgiveness
from each other and be quick to forgive
one another to all your life okay go
catch your train you'll be all right.
Be quick to ask forgiveness and be quick
to forgive.
You'll need that for the next 50 years.
Each other don't wait till the end of
the day like I often say don't wait
till the end of the day to pull
out a thorn from your foot or a
speck from your eye even if you're doing
the most important work if there's a speck
in your eye you will leave that work
and go and wash it off.
If there's a thorn in your foot you'll
pull it out.
No work is more important than pulling out
that thorn from your foot you know it'll
get infected.
What about asking forgiveness from your wife or
husband because you accidentally hopefully accidentally sometimes deliberately
spoke a rude word.
We slip up like it says turn to
the book of James says in James chapter
3 verse 2 we all stumble in many
ways James includes himself we all stumble in
many ways but if a man does not
stumble in what he speaks he's a perfect
man.
I told you in our church the pulpit
we have a word saying let us press
on to perfection and the area where we
need to press on to perfection as husband
and wife primarily is our speech.
It is speech that brought a distance between
Adam and Eve.
Disobedience to God brought a distance between them
and God but then when Adam pointed to
his wife and told God she's the one
who made me sin it brought a distance
between them.
So easy to blame one another if we
are careful with our tongue that's amazing he's
a perfect man.
Have you seen this verse in the book
of Proverbs there are many wonderful verses here's
a verse that tells us how Adam lost
the garden of Eden how you can restore
the garden of Eden in your home.
Have you heard of that?
Have you ever heard a message on how
to bring the garden of Eden into your
home again?
The central thing in the garden of Eden
was the tree of life and here it
says in Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 4
a soothing tongue or a healing tongue is
a tree of life.
The tree of life the garden of Eden
right there in your home a healing tongue
a tongue that's words that bring healing is
the tree of life today.
That's why it begins in the first verse
with saying a gentle answer turns away anger.
After you hear the message in the church
that we must overcome anger one day your
wife is terribly angry with you and you
keep your mouth shut you're not an overcomer.
You're probably saying like the pharisee Lord I
thank you that I'm not like my wife
I thank you that I did not lose
my temper and your wife half an hour
later goes before God and says Lord I'm
sorry and like the publican she goes justified
whereas you with yourself righteous I thank you
that I'm not like my wife.
I learned in CFC to control my tongue.
You are the pharisee so don't think by
controlling your tongue and keeping quiet you become
spiritual.
You know what is more difficult than controlling
your tongue?
To give a gentle reply.
Try that next time when your wife is
really upset controlling your tongue is easy little
determination little yoga and you control your tongue
but to give a gentle answer use the
word darling or some affectionate word read the
song of Solomon a lot of tips there
how to talk to your wife or husband.
I mean it I preached on it to
married couples to read the song of Solomon
read it to each other sometimes you do
the husband does the bride groom's part and
the wife does the bride's part I'll tell
you you will be excited when you read
it to each other you can fall in
love with each other all over again a
gentle answer is more difficult than to keep
quiet it says a gentle answer turns away
wrong so there is where we can be
an example to our children they see us
all the bible instruction you give them is
not what stays in their mind they saw
how daddy and mommy behaved in the home
and they saw whether their home was a
heaven or a hell and you know I've
seen with children they learn things very quickly
in the matter of discipline for example when
should we start teaching children discipline even not
physical discipline with words I tried to figure
out in the last 50 60 years of
ministry when does a child understand the word
no and I've discovered when it's one year
old is the first word in English he
learns because I've seen it I saw a
little child one year old in a house
going up to climb the staircase the father
knew the child will fall and from behind
from about 10 feet behind the child is
facing the other way he said no one
word that's all the child stopped he didn't
climb the next day I saw the child
going near the staircase and looking around to
see if anybody was watching it has a
terrific memory for the word no I learned
something about child psychology that day children understand
the word no even at the age one
I'm not telling stories it's the absolute truth
which I saw with my own eyes and
when I saw it years ago I saw
oh boy children understand the word no at
the age one and not if it is
said oh darling don't do that not like
that no must be spoken firmly then only
they understand it those are two different languages
no darling they won't understand anything but if
you say no they get it so we
have to be firm so we want our
children to grow up in the right way
and so parents must be an example in
that our children must say well yeah we
saw daddy and mommy a bit upset with
each other but then we saw them asking
forgiveness boy can you imagine the effect that
it'll have on your children when they see
daddy apologizing to mommy in a world which
says dad is the boss they'll never forget
it all their life it may turn them
to the lord say boy there's something real
about the religion of dad and mom because
it's not her seen in the world the
world says stand on your rights never apologize
even if you do it do it in
a sort of a roundabout way where it
doesn't mean anything immediate apology that's what I
always recommend to married couples in our church
don't wait don't wait till the end of
the day end of the day is for
half-hearted backslidden Christians you know it says
in Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4 there are two
types of Christians here read carefully Ephesians 4
one is for the half-hearted Christian verse
26 the half-hearted one be angry but
don't sin don't let the sun set on
your anger that means before you go to
bed please ask forgiveness set it right the
sunset was the time people went to bed
in those days when there was no electricity
so before going to bed ask forgiveness but
for the whole-hearted believer for the whole
-hearted one it's verse 31 let all anger
be put away from you immediately so you
can either live in verse 26 and get
oh I've got permission till sunset uh-huh
you classify yourself among the half-hearted sure
why not join the whole hearted in verse
31 and put it away immediately and be
kind to one another and forgive each other
how should we forgive verse 32 just as
God forgave you and then this wonderful word
in chapter 5 verse 1 again ignore the
chapter divisions as I always teach be imitators
of God in what in forgiveness see the
context just as God forgive you forgive each
other be an imitator of God beloved children
what a wonderful thing to imitate God in
this one quality he has you know I've
sometimes pictured what God what is God doing
in heaven huh all the time 24 hours
a day I'll tell you what listen from
some corner of the earth somebody says Lord
please forgive me forgiven by the time another
fellow from another Lord please forgive me forgiven
somebody from there Lord forgive me forgiven all
the time in 60 seconds he's already forgiven
about a 500 people forgiven forgiven forgiven forgive
I see because so many people are asking
for forgiveness Christians and others crying out to
God and I say Lord this is how
you are day and night without any rest
forgiven forgiven forgiven forgiven through the Holy Spirit
I say Lord make me like you make
me like you not only to my wife
or to your husband but to the brothers
in our church to the sisters in our
church we're all fallen people we make mistakes
we all make mistakes be merciful forgive forgive
forgive you can be like God in this
area you can be an imitator of God
you know by the way this is the
only place in the whole Bible where we
are told to be imitator of God we're
told many times to imitate Christ be imitator
of God the who who only one place
in forgiving others I've been majoring on this
subject for the last six months the Lord's
burdened me I seek to understand the burden
of the Lord whenever I speak and over
the last six months as I've spoken to
thousands of my own fellow believers through zoom
in India and other countries I've been emphasizing
forgiveness and I've been wondering because I've taught
it occasionally in the past but not with
such consistency almost in every message in the
last six months as you've heard me even
now in the last two days and I
say Lord does that mean that your coming
is near and that's why you're burdening me
to get your people ready in this one
area which is fundamental to them meeting with
you in the final day dear brothers and
sisters we are all fallen creatures forgive one
another be merciful to one another may God
bless you all and may you have wonderful
families families that glorify Christ like a light
shining in the darkness may our homes be
like that then our churches will consist of
homes like that and each of us has
a responsibility may God help us let us
pray heavenly father we pray that you
will give us grace to remember all that
we have heard and to follow you the
footsteps of Jesus who freely forgave even when
they nailed him to the cross father help
us to be like that because very often
when people hurt us they don't know what
they're doing they are ignorant they're foolish so
we know we can legitimately pray like Jesus
said father forgive them for they do not
know what they're doing help us to follow
in Jesus footsteps here in our homes that
we can be examples to our children and
give us godly families in all the places
represented here in this room today we pray
in Jesus name amen we're going to have
a few minutes of praying for some children
now this is not a it's not a
command in the bible that you have to
pray for children so it doesn't matter if
you didn't pray for your children you can
dedicate your children at home perfectly in order
but we practice it in our churches because
of a number of reasons as i said
not a command but a good practice which
you need not follow if you don't feel
like it and you'll not disobey any command
if you don't do it but we see
in luke chapter 2 that Jesus was dedicated
in the temple Mary brought Jesus Mary and
Joseph brought Jesus and and we felt it
is a good thing because it says in
the psalms children are a gift of the
lord you seen that verse and turn to
the psalms psalm 127 verse
3 psalm 127 verse 3 children are a
gift of the lord you believe that not
a reward it says there a fruit of
a womb is a reward also but a
gift what do you do when somebody gives
you a gift any decent person will say
thank you thank you very much what if
it's a million dollars oh wow thank you
brother what if it's a child worth more
than a million it all depends on how
you value your child come to the lord
and say thank you you know there are
many barren mothers all over the world but
i say you are not barren you got
a child be thankful it's a gift from
the lord say thank you and pray that
god will give you wisdom dedicate that child
to the lord and say lord i want
this to grow up for you like hannah
dedicated samuel say i want this samuel to
live for you and samuel grew up to
be a prophet you never know what will
happen when you dedicate your child to the
lord timothy's mother dedicated him to the lord
and he grew up to be such an
excellent apostle like paul finally so it's wonderful
when we do that and it says here
further that our children must be like arrows
in the hand of a warrior you know
over a period of time you sharpen those
arrows so one day the lord can take
your son or your daughter and fire that
arrow at the devil and destroy the devil's
word your son your daughter must be like
arrows from the youth you have to shape
them sharpen them so that one day in
the lord's hand they can be fired at
the devil not at other human beings