The greatest parenting goal for the Christian parent is to raise children to be missionaries for Christ. Whether this mission is around the world or in their 9-5 job down the street, Christian parents should aim to form Christ in their children so that they can take the gospel message wherever God sends them. How do Christian parents fulfill this great calling? Paul Washer explains that it is the ordinary means of grace that parents must faithfully employ in order to raise up their children as missionaries.

Make a deposit in the next generation. After all, God has designed us to be expendable in the world. That He calls us, He gives the implanted word, they become like rivers of living water that come out of us and to all those who are around us and who's closest to us, our children, they're the closest ones and our wives and So the Lord has designed society in such a way that this wonderful thing happens where the Word of God is poured out and then there's a generation to replace the generation that poured out what they had in their hearts. This is the wisdom of God. It's such a beautiful and elegant and wise plan, and we're celebrating that here in this session.

And I'm grateful that Paul Washer is going to come and give now part two of this message of helping boys and girls to become missionaries so that they too would go and They too would preach and they too would teach all things that Christ commanded So Paul, would you come and and give us what the Lord has shared with you on this matter? Thank you so much for coming. Let's welcome Paul Washington Before we start the second half I want to just review the first half for the benefit of some of you who weren't in the session that we taught, talking about raising children, boys and girls, to be missionaries. I think most of us at least would understand we're doing that in the context of the providence of God. And What I mean by that is, you cannot call your children to be missionaries.

You cannot call your children to Christ with an effectual calling. But it is a work of grace and it is a work under the sovereign decree of God. One thing I always seek to do when I'm among homeschoolers is to warn us about thinking that a certain methodology will lead to a certain result. We are always a people desperate, hanging on to the promises of God and the power of God, most of all the mercy and grace of God. And I will say this not with an intention to upset you, but If there is one thing that God hates, it's pride.

And I believe that God will lay His blessing upon a humble person, who out of a lack of knowledge, maybe even sends his child to a public school before he had laid his hand upon a proud, proud homeschooler that thinks that just because they push all the buttons correctly everything's going to come out right as though God were some kind of vending machine. We need to do our best to raise children. We need to take the wisdom from the Scriptures, wisdom from the past. We need to learn from it. We need to apply it.

But it should never pry you away from casting yourself upon the grace of God. My children's only hope is not homeschooling, it is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ. And when we talk about preparing men and women for the mission field, what we're actually saying is that we hope to form Christ in our children. And we hope that they will grow to maturity and be useful servants to Christ, no matter what they're calling.

Now here's Some of the things that I mentioned that we ought to seek to instill in our children, and first of all is a Christ-like direction. And that is seen in the heart of Christ in His great prayer in Matthew 6 where He says, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. That was the passion of Christ. That was the vision of Christ. Christ's heart beat for this.

Christ set His face Like Flint. Now men, you can teach this passage, but most importantly, men, you must reflect this passage in your own life when your wife and your children look at you. They need to see a man whose heart beats with this passion. They see in their father's face, that your greatest, and they see in your life, that your greatest passion is that God's name be separated as unique, distinct, supreme above all other names, and that He be honored as the God of gods. That you work, that His will might come, that His will might be done, that His kingdom might come into every heart and life of every nation of the world.

They need to see this in their father, a man alive unto God and dead to self and dead to the world. It's something you can't fake. It's something that all of us fail at, at times. But no, in the power of God, by the grace of God, with the word of God, you and I can make progress and we can be men that are worthy of imitation. And that's what our children need to see.

They need to see Christ-like direction and they need to follow that. They need Christ-like character. The great lack in all areas of everything in our society today, including the church, is character. Do you realize that the very foundations of society have been torn down because of the moral failure of those who identify. It has been torn down so that we cannot look at necessarily the office of president and think integrity because of all the scandals that have been there.

Or other politicians, but even worse, ministers. Often times when we go to people and we try to tell them about the Gospel, they laugh because of the circus called evangelicalism in the West, because of the moral failure of leaders. So one of the greatest things that our children need in order to be useful to God are Christ like character. And I just want to just quickly look at Matthew and I want to show you something that has been very helpful to me. Matthew Chapter five, this passage in verse 13 that says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Now, most people take this verse as the basis for some type of militant Christianity in which you parade in the streets or you declare that you're going to overcome everything in the world. My dear friend, that's not what this passage is talking about. What he's saying is there are certain characteristics to salt. If you remove those characteristics, you no longer have salt.

Even if you replace those characteristics with other good characteristics, you still do not have salt. So in order for us, as a people and our children, to be salt, giving flavor to this life, restraining corruption in this life, having a positive impact on our world. In order for them to do that, they must have the characteristics of a true disciple. They must have the character of a disciple. And then you ask yourself, where should we look for that?

We don't have to look any farther than Matthew 5, because this passage needs to be interpreted in its context. What is the characteristic of a true disciple who changes the world. Verse 3, Blessed are the poor in spirit. In our children we ought to seek to be creating poverty of spirit, absolute dependence upon God. Blessed are those who mourn.

We ought to be seeking to create children who are sensitive to the sin around them and sensitive to their own sin. Blessed are the meek, that is defined by Psalms 37. If you want to know what that word means, don't look it up in a dictionary. Just go to Psalms 37, because that's where this passage is coming from. It's someone who in the midst of evil men does not grow anxious, does not fret and is not envious of them, but trusts in his God and cultivates faithfulness.

That's the type of children we need to have. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Children who desire to know Christ, to be like Christ, to serve Christ. Blessed are the Merciful. Not a bunch of mean-spirited Pharisees who somehow set themselves up above the rest of the world.

No, we must have merciful children, pure in heart, without any competing loyalties is what that means. Peacemakers, bridge makers, those who want to bring reconciliation to the world, and those who are willing to be persecuted. So we need character. My wife is always telling me, You know, in the midst of my thinking, well, I need to teach them this and I need to teach them that, and they need to be academic giants, and they need to be scholars, and all these things which they can be good, my wife will always stop me. And she'll say, okay, concentrate.

Just concentrate. Why do we homeschool? That Christ might be formed in them and they become mature in their conformity to Christ. Being scholars is not principle. Being great minds is not principle.

We're not against that. We hope to teach them, but our great desire is that they belong to Christ and be conformed to the image of Christ. The next thing, our children need Christ-like knowledge. It says of Jesus in the great incarnation passage in John chapter 1, speaking of how that God became flesh and dwelt among us. It says literally that Christ, in verse 18, He exegeted God.

He exegeted the Father. And what that means is He expounded to the world who the Father is. The true knowledge of God came forth from Christ. Using Christ as the example of the greatest missionary who ever lived, He opened His mouth and He taught people about God. Now, I want us to go just for a moment, just quickly, we're in Matthew, go to the left, to Malachi, because these things are so important to this sermon.

Chapter 2, This should be our goal with our children. Chapter 2 verse 5 of Malachi. My covenant was with Him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to Him as an object of reverence, so He revered me. We want to have children that revere God. Not just children filled with knowledge, but knowledge leading to reverence.

That's why when we teach science, when we teach anything, it should lead children to worship God. We want children who worship God, who stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity for the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge. This is true missionary work.

And men should seek instruction from His mouth, for He is a messenger of the Lord of hosts. So we want to teach our children the Scriptures. Use the Scriptures. Our house and our home should be saturated with the Scriptures. Now, I want to go on from there.

Now we're starting the new material. A Christ-like dependence. Now you say, Brother Paul, don't you mean a dependence upon Christ? No, even though that's true. I mean a Christ-like dependence.

And you say, well, hold it, Christ was God. Who did He depend upon? In the incarnation, God the Son became flesh. As a man, He was completely and perfectly man, while at the same time being fully, completely and perfectly God. But in our desire many times in Evangelicalism to protect the deity of Christ, it's almost as if we deny His humanity.

I want you to know that what Jesus did on this earth, He did as a man in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why when it says that He was without sin, don't think that He was just without sin because He was God and therefore it was easy for Him. I want you to see that what he did, he did as a man in the power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore he is our example. And therefore he said he only did what he saw his father doing. Is that not true?

He was watching. He was listening. And what he did, he did dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to teach our children, and primarily by example, That their greatest need is to realize that the flesh profits nothing. But we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

We are a nation of people. We pride ourselves in our independence. We have a declaration of independence. We are independent. We boast that we need no one.

That does not function in Christianity. That's why the principal characteristic of a disciple and a saved man is that he is impoverished in his spirit. He knows that he can do nothing on his own. The workings of God's providence in the life of a believer have one primary intention, to weaken us. God constantly faces us off with situations which we cannot overcome in our own strength.

Paul was daily exposed to death. Why? So that he would depend upon his God. Look throughout the entire Old Testament. Do you not see God constantly working even in His providence to raise up enemies to come against His people that they could not defeat in order that He could defeat them and demonstrate to His people His greatness.

I've heard this story many times of a Chinese missionary who came to the States and after seeing so much going on in Western evangelicalism, this is what he said, it is absolutely amazing all that you people can accomplish without God. But it's so true. I have that in my own life. When I heard that the first time, my eyes turned into me. How much do I seek to do without God?

Listen, this endeavor that we have set upon to conquer nations in the name of Christ, it's an absolute impossibility. The conversion of one's soul is an absolute impossibility. What is man? Through Isaiah we learn that man is nothing more at his best than a nose full of breath. One nose full of breath.

So how are we going to do anything to advance the cause of Christ except that God created us a poverty of spirit in which we depend upon Him. You say, Brother Paul, I totally, totally agree. Really? How much time do you spend in the Word of God and prayer? Dependent upon His wisdom because you know your own is no good.

And depending on His power and drawing from it in prayer. Proverbs 3, 5-7, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your past straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

We are a pragmatic people. I read one theologian who said this, America came to a great decision. Would it follow the theology of Jonathan Edwards or would it follow the pragmatism of Benjamin Franklin? And it chose the pragmatism of Benjamin Franklin. We are a pragmatic people.

And know this, we cannot see how pragmatic we are. We are a pragmatic people. My dear friend. You can learn to trust him. One of the greatest gifts that were given to me as a young man, and I have it on my desk, the pages are all yellow and cracked and broken, was the small autobiography of George Muller.

In which he raised up, God used him to raise up thousands of orphans in which he never made a need known. That God would feed those orphans. God would spectacularly deliver him. And he did it primarily so that the people of God would see that they could totally and completely depend upon God. That book, other than the New Testament, other than the Bible, the book is the most important book in my life.

There are three books that are of great importance to me. The Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, and the Autobiography of George Muller. And in that book I learned that the more I rely upon the arm of the flesh, the less I am going to see God's power and God's miracles. And through that book, he attempted to show people that the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament was still a miraculous delivering God. I want you to know that the God of the Bible and the God of George Mueller is still alive today.

We run our entire ministry at HeartCry in that fashion. We do not make needs known. We do not raise funds. We do none of that. I can tell you this because it's passed two Decembers ago.

On December 31st, no one knew it that HeartCry had a $150, 000 deficit. No one knew it except me, Kevin Hite, our administrator, and one board member. It's the last day of the year. We had made a risk to go into India and to take on a great deal of responsibility with men. It was beyond what we could do.

And there it was, the last day of the year, $150, 000 deficit. The administrator walks into my office in the morning and he's kind of teary-eyed. And I said, you know, what's going on? He said, Someone just sent us $40, 000. I said, praise the Lord.

And we prayed, I went back to my studies, he went back to his office, he came in a little while later, teary-eyed again, someone sent $60, 000. I said, praise the Lord, We cried, we wept, we thanked the Lord. I went back to my studies, a time of prayer in the afternoon. He came in in the afternoon, he's teary eyed, he said, someone gave a hundred thousand. I said, I know, you told us that this morning.

He said, no, another hundred thousand has come in. By the end of the day, $327, 000. You see, God did not need the full year. He did not need the last month. He did not even need the fullness of the last day.

He said, I will show you my power if you will trust. But the more you depend upon the arm of the flesh, the less you will see the power of God. And that's just all there is to it. And Your children need to see this. They need to see how God works in your family.

They need to see a praying family, a dependent family, someone who can believe God. I want to direct you for just a moment. I've said that we must depend upon the wisdom and the power of God. But I want to show you something in John chapter 15. If you go to John chapter 15, you know, we notice that these are the some of the last words that Jesus gives to His people.

And it is absolutely phenomenal how much that He mentions prayer. But I just want to point you to two verses. Chapter 15 verse 7, If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Then look at verse 16. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He will give you.

To be abiding in Christ, abiding in His Word, abiding in His love, calling upon His name to teach your children that He is dependable. That He sees every need before we even ask Him. Our children must see that. I do not pray that my sons see a strong father as much as I pray that they see a weak father made strong by his God, dependent upon the wisdom of God, dependent upon prayer, dependent on the Holy Spirit. If I could do anything, if I could communicate any truth to you, this gathering of people, is that you would constantly be crying out and believing God for greater and greater strength in the Holy Spirit.

In some of your language, the Holy Spirit is never even mentioned. It's like being one third atheist. Hear much of Christ, much of God the Father. But you need to know that the Father, Christ said the Father and Christ Himself would dwell within us, and just how? Because they're both seated on the throne.

How are they dwelling within us? It is through the Holy Spirit. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but the Bible is full of greater and greater promises. I am constantly crying out for greater and greater measures of the Holy Spirit. I know in preaching last night, walking around outside, just someone would have seen me probably thinking I was rather odd, just mumbling to myself, I need the Holy Spirit!

I need the Holy Spirit! Spurgeon would go to the pulpit crying out, I believe in the Holy Spirit! I believe in the Holy Spirit! Flesh profits nothing! I can prove this to you how distorted we are in our view of the workings of God.

Just think for a moment. I'm going to give you a name and I want you to try to picture this person in your mind. Samson. Now, what did he look like? Think, think about Samson.

You see, probably a Jewish Arnold Schwarzenegger. Don't you see how wrong you are? If he had been that way, no one would have been trying to figure out where he got his strength. I would imagine he was probably just like some thin, sinewy, agricultural man, farmer, during that period. See, you're thinking muscles.

I don't care how big your muscles are, you can't rip up the gate of a city, Throw it on your back, carry it up a hill and slam it down. It is in our weakness that He shows His strength. That's why some of you Listen to me. One of my favorite books is Jowett and the School of Calvary. That is why to the degree that you are used of God, you will suffer.

To make you weak and to make you dependent. My little boys and my daughter were little and crying all the time and wouldn't go to sleep, and I'd be up all night like a zombie walking with them. I would oftentimes, over and over, sing to them a song by Keith Green. Oh my son, I am weak and I'm trembling, for the Lord I am always remembering. Oh what a strong shepherd holds you in his arms, He will break you and make you his own.

A broken man held together by the adhesive of the Spirit of God. A dead man brought to life by the life giving power of the Holy Spirit. An empty man filled with God. That's what the world needs to see in a missionary. Also a Christ-like faith.

One time when I was a young man, I came back from Peru and I was asked to speak at a church and they set up microphones in the aisle ways and people came to ask questions of the missionary. And I'll never forget this little redheaded boy. I will never forget him. He was as redheaded as he could be and freckles all over his face. He was just beautiful.

And he walked up to the microphone. He couldn't reach it. He's standing on his tiptoes. They had to lower the thing. And he goes, Mr.

Washer. And I said, Yep. He said, when you win everybody to Jesus in Peru, then what are you going to do?" And everybody laughed, but him and me. I said, well, when I went everybody to Christ in Peru, I guess I have to go find another place to work. He said, yeah, that's what I thought too.

Why not? Why not? I don't see anything in the Bible that tells me it can't happen. Young person, you listen to me. You let only one person limit you.

God. We have raised up men, and often times in the name of the providence of God, who are narrow-minded little men with tight spirits and tiny hearts. We need men of breath. We need men of heart. We need men and women who will believe they're God for great things.

I'm going to say something and you're going to think I'm totally contradicting the Westminster. But I think God will understand. And I believe the Westminster. I believe in the sovereignty of God, but honestly, sometimes when I'm on my knees, and I cry out, oh God, what do you want to do now? It seems in my heart that over and over I hear a singular answer, what can you believe me for?

What do you want to do? How far do you want to take this? Do you think you've outrun my ability to deliver? Do you think you've reached my greatness, you little man? Stand up, walk outside, count the stars if you can.

I know them by name. What do I want you to do? What can you believe me for? I love that kind of stuff. That's real.

That grabs you. You don't have to be Pavlov's dog. You don't have to be this passive little person. God loves The boldness of a man who reveres Him and trembles at His name and yet will fight Him for the sake of Jerusalem. They will grab a hold of the horns of the altars.

They will say, I will not let you go until you bless me. You will find no rest from me. Until you have made Jerusalem a praise. The church a beauty. I always say give me wild men.

I can always put a bit in their mouth. Give me wild men. Not foolish men. Men trained in the Spirit, trained in the Word, but dared to believe their God to do great things. To do great things.

Jesus said in John 14, 12, Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, He will do also, and greater works than these He will do, because I go to the Father, whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. There we go again. This fruitfulness is in it's it's directly related to prayer. Teach your children to pray. Teach your children to pray.

I remember several years ago, Ian was just a little rascal, but he could talk. I remember, I think he was talking when he came out of the womb, actually. But he said, Daddy, I want it to snow. He said, Well, why are you talking to me? I don't control that.

Well, what do I do? I say, well, go ask God. Separate yourself, go ask him for snow. He goes to his room, starts praying. Things went on during that afternoon.

And all of a sudden I look outside, it's a blizzard going on. Now, here's the question, why was I surprised? He asked for it, and it lasted about five minutes. He said it stopped. I said, well, what did you ask him?

I asked him if it would snow really hard. Did you talk about the length? The time you wanted it to snow? You might need to be more specific. He went back and prayed.

A few days later, we got 19 inches. I started having him praying for our finances. I had a friend come to me and he said, Paul, he goes, you know, I feel like an idiot. I feel like a fool. I just don't even know if I believe God for anything.

And I said, why? He said, my daughter said she wanted a bluebird. And then he said, I told her we'll pray for a bluebird. And then he said, the moment those words came out of my mouth, I said, what have you done? Am I going to have to go to a store now and buy a bluebird?

Because she's going to pray for a bluebird, she's not going to get a bluebird, she's not going to believe God. And I said, well, what happened? She prayed for a bluebird. A few days later, she comes in the room screaming and crying. There was a bluebird building a nest on her window sill.

Now I'm not saying that God is just this vending machine who does all these things. These are exceptional works of His providence. But the point I'm trying to make is you have not because you ask not. If the Charismatics have a sin, it's this, they believe God for promises He never made. But I don't know if that's any worse than us who don't believe the promises He has made.

And then write it all down to the misunderstanding of sovereignty. Oh, my dear friend, his eyes go to and fro. Young person, his eyes go to and fro. I love to talk to young people and I say, apart from Jesus, there's never been a man on this planet who gave his heart wholly and completely to Christ. Or a woman.

Seek to be the first. Seek to be the first. Young person, listen to me. I have many regrets in my life. I have never regretted giving anything for Christ.

I have never regretted believing anything from Christ, but I do regret all the things I have kept back from him and I do regret all my doubts. Mark 9, 23, and Jesus said to him, if you can, I just I read it with that kind of emphasis? Jesus said to him, if you can. All things are possible to him who believes. This is what I love about this man.

Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, I do believe, help my unbelief. So we need to be dependent and we need to have a Christ like faith, but here's something else that I want to put before you that I think is the most important. Look in Ephesians for a moment, chapter five, and it's a passage dealing with husbands and wives, but I want you to look at this. And I think it is very important. In Ephesians, chapter five.

Twenty five. Husband loves your Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word." Now, this is a very difficult passage, this last phrase, washing of water with the word. It teaches us, in a sense, how to disciple our wives, but it is also in the wider application how to disciple our children. My dear friend, this passage is not saying, preach to your wife an hour a day. Read her the Law.

Get her grounded in the Word. Now getting her grounded in the Word is found in another place. What is this passage really talking about? It's in the context of the Gospel. Wash your wife in the Gospel.

In the Gospel. Not teach her just principles of submission. Not just preach to her certain propositional truths. Not just tell her certain things that are laws by which she ought to guide her life. No, he's saying, wash her in the Word.

Wash her in the Gospel. Gospelize her. Wash her in the Gospel. Now how is that different? It's different in this way.

I am to set before my wife in word and deed a greater and greater revelation of the Gospel. I am to seek with propositional truth and the Bible to paint a bigger and bigger and more glorious and more glorious picture of what God has done for us in Christ through the Gospel, so that my wife becomes consumed, driven by this glorious Gospel of grace. And then, I'm to act it out in front of her. I'm to show her what the gospel, Christ's gospel means to Christ's church by showing her the gospel of graciousness and kindness and all these things wrapped up in the Gospel. Now, with our children, here's what I want you to realize.

Propositional truth is so important. Doctrine is so important. Principles of morality, the book of Proverbs, My boys and I, I've made a commitment that we will study through the book of Proverbs until the day they leave my home. But what our children need is a picture of the beauty of Christ and His Gospel. That they're not driven by ethics.

That they're not driven by morality. That they're not driven by some Victorian standard of living that they want to propagate throughout the land. They're not driven by the right thing to do. They are caught up in this glorious, wonderful thing called the Gospel. And they're like the Apostle Paul.

He said the love of Christ constrains me. It wasn't His love for Christ, but the manifestation of Christ's love through the Gospel that drove Paul. And we want our children to be driven by what God has done for them in Christ. This is the most powerful thing. Which means that in our home, and we're going to talk about this in a little while, It is more than just truth.

Now, truth must be there, truth is foundation, but it's more than truth. It's life. It's life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The beauty of Jesus, the beauty of his gospel, the joy that comes from that.

I do not want my house just to be some cog and wheel training ground to produce piety. With rules and systems and. All that sort of thing. But an expression of the life, of the Spirit of the living God flowing out from our innermost being, flowing out from our innermost being, I want them to see all that God is, all that Jesus has done for them, all the grace of that, and to be propelled with joy into even hell itself if necessary for the sake of the Gospel. Now, Here's the question.

I've talked about a lot of glorious things, but how? I mean, what do we actually do? I can assure you, I'm sure that there are much better people than myself to tell you what to do. What are the practical measures to be taken? But I will tell you the things that govern my life and my home with regard to my children.

First of all, a very important passage for me is Galatians 4 19. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you in the ESV, my children, my little children, for whom I am again in anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. What is the greatest purpose that we have with regard to our children? You know, there are many missionaries who are lost and without Christ. Our greatest intention is that they know Jesus Christ, that they are regenerated, that they are justified, that they become Christian.

Now, something that I want you to see here, this is an inner work. It is a spiritual and supernatural work. It is a gospel work. It is. Now some women may be very angry with me for assuming that I have knowledge of this, but it is like childbirth.

The Bible says so. The pain, the anguish, the writhing, until Christ is formed in our children. And to have maybe at one moment we're discipling our children and there seems to be signs of conversion and we rejoice in that, only a few months later to have that joy taken away from us because we see the very opposite becoming a pattern. And so we go once again to begin to pray and to labor that Christ would be formed in them. Now how do we do that?

How do we labor? We do so primarily, foundationally, through the Word of God. Fathers, fathers. I said something a while ago and I'm going to say it again. A lot of us fathers claim to be homeschooling dads, when all we are are men married to homeschooling moms.

We need to be very, very careful. We can take a title upon ourselves that's not true. The principal teacher of the Word of God in my house and your house must be me and you. Gentlemen, you must be teaching your wife and your children the Word of God. Even an exceptional pastor cannot take your place in this matter.

We have command after command, Deuteronomy 6, 4-9, so many passages that are speaking directly to fathers. New Testament principle carried over in Ephesians, we know it to be true. And if someone comes to me and they go, Man, let's say some biker dude gets saved. Alright, He's got tattoos all over him. He's never been trained in anything.

He can barely read. And he comes to me and he says, man, I can barely read the New Testament. How am I going to sit down, teach my kids something? I mean, I just got converted. I go, sir, do you know what kind of power is going to be displayed when your children see you sit down with them with a Bible and explaining that Christ has changed your life and that you don't know a whole lot, but you're going to read the Bible together and you're going to start somewhere.

That is more powerful than the great all the greatest sermons of the greatest preachers throughout the ages. But I don't let him stay there. I'm not going to say, And that's all you're going to do. No, I say rise up. You get in that word, though the life of your children depends on it, because it does.

Gentlemen, is it not true that if someone came to most men, men who say they can't know the Scriptures, but if their boss came to them and said, I'm going to give you another job here at this factory with less hours and you're gonna make triple pay, the only thing you have to do is memorize this manual. I guarantee you'll memorize that manual. For the love of money, you'll memorize that manual. For the love of toys, you'll Memorize that manual. It's not a question of can.

You must. You must rise up. You must begin to... And God will bless you. God will give you great insight.

God will help you if you will do that. Go to your minister. Go to your pastor and ask him to begin to teach you how to do it, and if he can, not find another church. But you must take your place, gentlemen. The Father, the head of the home, shows that his greatest and most important task is to share the Word of God with his children.

Now, Deuteronomy 6, just quickly, I want to show you something very, very important. Deuteronomy 6, you know the passage. You know verse 6, these words that I am commanding you today shall be in your heart, you shall teach them diligently. You know the passage. But now let me explain something to you.

The teaching here of all the Law and all the principles and all the wisdom is not the goal. The teaching is not the goal. Then what is the goal? Verse 4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. We teach the Scriptures not just so they will understand a certain ethic.

We teach the Scriptures primarily to reveal Jesus Christ, to reveal His glory, to reveal the glory of God, that our children, by the help of the Spirit of God, might learn to appreciate that and fall in love with that. But another thing that is absolutely necessary is a father who loves the Lord. Do you know how powerful it is when a little child gets up at 2 in the morning because he's thirsty or has to go to the bathroom and walks by the father's study or walks by the living room and sees a dim light and sees a father on his knees worshiping his God. You see, you can't fake this stuff. They've got to see it in you, gentlemen.

And it's such a privilege. I feel like much of what I do seems so fake. It seems so artificial. My life has become a life of cameras and photographs and all kinds of things and conferences and everything else. And I sit there and think to myself, these people don't know who I really am.

They think more of me than I am. How do they know I'm just not being a fake? Where can I prove the sincerity of my faith? I'm no longer on the mission field. I'm no longer in harm's way.

How can I show that all this stuff is really real in my life? And I'll tell you how. In the midst of my wife and my children. In the midst of them. That's where I show that I really love the Lord my God with all my heart, and that's why I show that I do not.

2 Timothy, look at that passage that's so important. Chapter 3 of 2 Timothy. Verse 15, "...and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. What's the main purpose of Scripture? Jesus said it in the book of John.

You search these Scriptures thinking that you have life in them, they point to Me. They point to me. It's the same way. The purpose of giving Scripture to our children is that they might know Jesus, that they might know Jesus, and then all Scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training and righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Now, let me say some things about this that are so very important.

I am sort of a perfectionist. And so when my children were born, when Ian was first born, and the others came along, I was constantly looking. You know, the perfect catechism, the perfect book, the perfect study material, the perfect help aid. And all those things, you know, they're good. But I would just become conflicted because I'd see a hole here and a hole here and wonder, well, is this giving my son enough of this or enough of this?

And one day in prayer, the thought just came into my mind. I know it's going to sound amazing. This is the thought. There's only one perfect book. So if you want to give them something in which you can be assured there's not going to be any holes in it or nothing missing, you can give them that one book.

Now that doesn't mean that you shouldn't catechize. That doesn't mean that all these other things aren't important. They're very good and helpful. But I'm going to give them this book with nothing in between this book. I don't want them to develop the idea that in order to understand this book they've got to have another book.

I want them to love books. I want to appreciate the great theologies and histories of the church. But I want them to be someone who goes to the book. And so this is what we do in the washer household. I sit here, Ian sits there, and Evan sits there, if we're at the table.

If we're on the couch, I sit here, Ian gets in trouble for laying down on the couch, and Evan is on the great big bean bag. Right now we're in Proverbs, because we will go through Proverbs like that until they leave my home. That's why at 11 they're already trying to marry and leave the home. And right now we're also going through Luke because I'm going to have them looking at Christ. I'm going to have them in the epistles.

I'm going to have them because it's primarily about Christ. But I'm going to stick with Proverbs because children need wisdom. So let's say we're in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 1. We're starting all over again. Again, Dad?

Yes, again. Ian, Proverbs 1, 1, read. He reads it. I explain it. Any questions?

Question here, question there. OK, is everybody pretty much understand what that's saying? Yep. OK. Evan, Proverbs chapter one, verse 2.

He reads it, explain it, da-da-da-da, we have questions. Okay, Ian, your turn. 3, da-da-da. Luke, chapter 2, verse 1. Okay, Ian, your turn.

Reads it, explains it, we talk about it. Okay, Evan, next verse. And we just go through Scripture. Just go through Scripture. And we've had some wonderful times.

Here's another thing about scripture. Notice this. If you're going to raise up children to serve God, look at what verse 16 says, profitable for teaching. I want to write a book on why you should why you should never corporately punish, corporately punish your child, Why you should never spank your child. You're like freaking out right now, aren't you?

I'll tell you why. For the same reason that some men never invest anything in their daughter. And then when their daughter is 16 and goes on her first date, they stand there with a shotgun at the door and boast about being a good dad. Some people should never discipline their children because they haven't done the other things necessary. What are those other things necessary?

Before someone is disciplined in the church, in the sense that they are put out of the church, you know that there are all kinds of steps prior to that. Even teaching the Word of God from the pulpit is one aspect of discipline. So there's all these steps before a person is ever removed from a fellowship. Many, many steps. It's the same way.

Before a child is disciplined, what must happen? You must Teach that child. You must teach that child. You want to jump straight to discipline. I can remember in my own family, the only time we ever talked about right and wrong was when I was getting spanked or beat.

There was no teaching. If you are going to discipline a child, you better teach a child, and if you teach a child, there will be a lot less discipline going on. And then you use the Scriptures to teach, then you use the Scriptures for reproof. You reprove them, you show them they're wrong with the Scriptures. Why is it wrong, Dad?

Because I said it's wrong. No, that doesn't wash. It shouldn't. Now Dad has authority. But here's the question.

This is what I try to do. When I'm teaching the Word of God, I don't look like I'm the unique authority that's handing down the law to my children. I do it kind of like this. I stand there as a mediator, there's my children, and there's the Lord. And I go, children, did you hear what He just said to both of us?

You teach your children the authority is based upon God. When they are reproved, you use God's Word. Why is it wrong, Dad? Because it says right here it's wrong. And God's speaking this to you and to me.

We are both accountable to this. And then the Word of God also corrects children. Use it to correct them. The Word means to set them back right again. When something has fallen over, a man, a military man, has tripped over and the other soldiers come and pick him back up.

You correct him. Okay, I just showed you that's wrong, but I'm going to show you now this is the way to do it. This is the right way. It's in one sense in Ephesians, it's the putting off and the putting on. I'm going to show you what's wrong with the Word, I'm going to show you how to do it right with the Word.

And then there's training. There's training. You want to have missionaries, you need to train them. If you were to say, Brother Paul, teach me how to shoot a longbow. I could write it up in a book, but you would not shoot a longbow very well.

I need to train you on how to shoot a long bow. Now what does that mean? I'm going to take you out there, I'm going to put a long bow in your hand, I'm going to show you where to put your fingers, I'm going to pull back your arm, I'm going to show you the muscles that need to be tight in the center of your back, I'm going to show you how your hand needs to brush your face when it comes off that string. I am going to train you. So many people are teaching their children, but they're not training their children.

Let me give you an example. We moved into a house out in the woods and my son comes in the door while I'm studying and slams the door. And I said, Ian, don't slam the door. Oh, I'm sorry, dad, I'm sorry, won't do it again. He goes in his room, gets a sword or a knife or a gun or something, comes out, all excited, runs out the door, slam!

I jump up, but before I get any further, wisdom stops me. There wasn't rebellion in his face. He was not going against his father. He was a child excited about being in a new house where there's a lot of woods. He wasn't in rebellion.

He needed to be trained. Ian, come back here. What were you supposed to do? Oh, I'm sorry. I slammed the door.

Yes, you did. So I want you to go in and out of the door four times. I don't want to hear a noise. And I'm going to sit there and watch you. Now I've got sermons to prepare.

Sit there and watch you. So he does it. OK, you learn. Yeah, I learn. I go sit down.

Five minutes later, he comes in, slams the door. The moment he slams the door, he goes, ah, I'm sorry. I go, I know you are. I said, no, go back there and do that eight times. The kid could break into your house now and you'd never know it.

Someone tells me that, you know, you train your children, But you also train them. You train them in hardship. You train them in all sorts of things. Everything you're doing is preparing them. You can't just teach them to be strong.

You've got to help them put them in situations where they have to be strong. So thunderstorm breaking out. The boys are a little bit afraid. This is when they're younger. They're no longer afraid now.

OK, but when they were young and I wanted to jump out of bed and run over there and my wife grabbed me by the neck. Turn my head around. You should meet my wife. She goes, we're raising men in this family who trust in their God when they're afraid their dad won't always be there. Now go to sleep.

Now, of course, if they were in danger, my wife would go over there. She's not heartless. But the whole point is we're training men. I went to preach in Brazil. I had to go in the favela, the very dangerous barrios, I mean drug dealers, everything else.

What do I do? My boys have got to go with me. They've got to see this. They've got to see it. When I go street preaching, and they see me and they're sitting there, and it's not like here.

Everybody's not applauding. They're all booing and laughing and making fun. It's good for my boys, they're being trained. They're seeing their dad being mocked. To train them.

So we need to also train our children to prepare them to teach, to train. Let me share something else with you. There is a sense in which homeschooling has been kind of new. I know it's been going on for some years, but it's sort of new. And there has been some mistakes made.

I think all of us recognize that. One of them is this. You take a boy out of grade school and high school where there's a pecking order, where he's playing football, where some bully is going to beat him up after class. Now all that I don't like and I wouldn't subject my child to it, but it does do one thing, it will make you tough or dead. But now we take young men and they're basically home schooled by their mom.

They're not getting bloody noses, they have no calluses on their hands. I'm not sure they have the stuff it takes to go down to Amazon. Now, I want someone to write a book, How to Homeschool Children without Living on a Forty Acre Farm in Kansas. Because the great question is, how do we get calluses on our boys' hands, how do we toughen them up physically, mentally and everything, when you don't live on a farm and they're not playing football at the high school and they're not wrestling or getting info, what do you do? And I have discovered that there are certain things I must do as a dad.

If I have a chance, I'm going to work them. I'm going to work them hard. But I'm also, you know, right now, we live in a place we're renting because we haven't been able to find a place in two years and it's a small little place in the suburbs. What do I do? They're lifting weights.

They're doing karate. They're fighting me. They're doing all kinds of stuff. Why? Because I know as a father, I've got to give them this.

They can't just be boys who are raised by their mom. They've got to have some metal to them. So you've got to, And young men, I want you to realize something. If you've not been raised this way, you need to think not just about spiritual toughness, but mental toughness, and get some physical toughness to you. I hate to tell you this, young guys, but I heard a group of homeschool girls talking one time, and they kept using this term, jellybean and jellyfish.

And I was like, what are they talking about? Jellyfish flavored jellybeans? I didn't know what they were talking about. You know what they were talking about? Homeschool guys.

See, they were like jellyfish. I don't know what else to say. Preparing for missions. This is where we'll just bring it to an end. Because I'm so sorry, there's so much that I wanted to say and I jumped all around trying to say everything and maybe not saying much.

But get them in the Word. They might know Christ. Teach them the fullness of God's Word. But also realize, We are sending our children, whether they go to the mission field or not, our nation, our world, is not going to change dramatically. It already has.

And it is we are sending them this next generation. I heard an FBI guy being interviewed a while back and someone was asking him about the violence of the late 90s. He said, what can you say about the violence of the late 90s? He said, one day if this country keeps going, we're going to look back on that error as the golden age of morality. We are sending our children into a spiritually dangerous place, a physically dangerous place, and we need to train them in every facet that they will be prepared to take these things head on.

Fathers, fathers, fathers, you're the key. You're the key, fathers. You are the key. You're going to have to make serious decisions regarding what type of children you want to raise and how you are going to have to make sacrifices to raise them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Washer, for that challenging and encouraging message. I want you to, before we do anything else, we're all gathered here. Just please remain seated for a few moments. On your seats when you came in, you should have seen a form, I doubt you can see it from here, but it's an evaluation form that were put on most people's seats.

I'm going to ask that before we do anything else, please just take a moment to fill that out for us. We'll take three or four minutes to do that and then I'll return and lead us in a song. Thank you.