In the sermon 'Honor and Obedience' by Mike Davenport, the speaker elaborates on the concepts of honor and obedience within the context of parenting and Christian faith. He draws parallels between road signs and biblical teachings, categorizing them as 'blue' signs for encouragement and 'mustard yellow' signs for caution. Davenport uses various scriptures, including passages from Malachi, Genesis, Hebrews, Ephesians, and Proverbs, to emphasize the importance of raising godly offspring and commanding children to follow the Lord's ways. He stresses that true obedience stems from a heart that honors, and that outward conformity is insufficient without genuine respect and love for God. The sermon also highlights the role of parents as God's appointed authorities, tasked with instructing and correcting their children in a manner that reflects God's commandments. Practical advice includes relying on scripture, forming a united parental front, distinguishing between childishness and sin, and using family worship as a tool for guidance. The ultimate goal, as illustrated by the example of John the Baptist, is to disciple children to become followers of Christ.

Jason just finished speaking about one of the means to honor and obedience and that is the use of the rod So Mike now is going to come and examine these these two really critical words But I'm so thankful and I was very thankful as a young father particularly To have this reducibility to have this simplicity that God gave to help us to understand what we were really trying to do in the whole matter. And it took the mystery out of it for us. So Mike, Why don't you come and help us understand this? Well, some of the things that Jason brought out in his message, I was like, yeah, I mentioned something along those lines and those lines. And so, I'm not going to leave those out.

I'm going to take that as the Holy Spirit laying it upon Jason's heart and upon my heart, and so you will hear some things that are repeated and that's good. That's a good thing. So, as we begin this session on honor and obedience, I would like to draw your attention to several road signs. Road signs are given to us so that the journey we are on will go well. And there are different types of road signs, and they're usually distinguished by their color.

Children, if you've never noticed this, look at the signs as your parents are driving down the road and look at the colors of the signs. The colors mean something. So first I want to draw your attention to several blue road signs. Blue signs are instructional signs that provide us information for our comfort and for our well-being. When we see a blue road sign, we often find encouragement.

Oh, there's a gas station. Oh, there's food at the next exit. Oh, there's a hospital. We find encouragement in blue signs. So, first road signs to encourage us to require honor and obedience.

Jason made mention of this passage in Malachi 2, 14b through 16. And it says, the Lord has been witnessed between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously, yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did not God make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.

Therefore, take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth." God seeks a godly offspring. Second, Genesis 18, 19, Christ here speaking of Abraham. He says, for I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him." Another encouraging road sign. God calls us in order for us to command our children after us. Number three, another passage that Jason mentioned, Hebrews 12, 7, B, and 8.

What son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all who are in grace have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. And so it's a sign of sonship. It's a sign of relationship. That's an encouraging sign.

And then a passage we'll get into shortly here, Ephesians 6, 2 and 3, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. So these I call blue road signs. They're encouraging. They're there for us to encourage us to well-being and to meet the needs that we have. But I also want to point out a few other signs, a different type of signage.

We also see a mustard yellow sign, a mustard yellow colored sign. These signs are placed in crucial areas to warn us of things we don't want to encounter. Deer crossing, nobody wants to hit a deer. Railroad crossing, nobody wants to be hit by a train. There are many signs that warn us of dangers, falling rocks as you get into the mountain areas.

Watch out for landslides. So there are warning signs. So I want to give road signs that warn us of failure, warn us of failure to require honor and obedience. 1 Samuel 2, 29-32, the Lord here speaking to Eli, why do you kick at my sacrifice and my offering which I have commanded in my dwelling place and honor your sons more than me to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people therefore the Lord God of Israel says I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever but now the Lord says far be it from me for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.

And you will see an enemy in my dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And There shall not be an old man in your house forever, but any of your men whom I do not cut off from my altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age." That's a big mustard yellow caution sign. First Kings 1, 6, we read in this passage of Adonijah's rebellion against his father, King David, and it tells us that his father David had never at any time displeased him by asking, Why have you done thus and so? So this seemed to be a pattern in David's life that sin seemed to never be dealt with, at least not consistently in the lives of his children, and his family paid the consequences. A third caution signed Proverbs 30, 17, the eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother.

The ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it. It's not a pretty picture, but It's a warning sign. And so I would ask you to keep these things in mind, these signs that God gives us throughout Scripture. These are but a few, but there are many. But if you would, turn to Ephesians 6, 1, and 2.

Ephesians 6, 1, and 2, very familiar passage, familiar words, but let's be sure that familiarity with these words don't breed contempt in our hearts. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise." And then verse 3, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. As I was preparing, I found William Gooshe's outlines on this passage most helpful. They are found in the book, Building a Godly Home, a Holy Vision for Raising Children that Scott and Joel Beeke worked on together.

And Mr. Gooshe lays out first the duty of children, the duty of children. He draws our attention to what the action is, what the action is, and that is to obey and honor. Secondly, who receives the action? Your parents.

And thirdly, how the action is to be done. How it's to be done. It's in the Lord. And so first, what the action is, what the action is, obey and honor. What does it mean to obey?

Well, this word in the original means to hearken to a command or to submit to a command. It can also be defined something similar to what Jason gave us in terms of the pilgrims. It's doing exactly what you are told to do when you are told to do it with the right heart attitude. Doing exactly what you are told to do when you are told to do it, and with the right heart attitude. As parents, we need to be very specific with our younger children regarding what our expectations are in any specific area.

They need instruction. They need to be taught. So we need to be very specific. As our children mature, they should know our expectations and should be able to respond to our commands acceptably. And our goal as parents should be that our children are instructed so well in regards to our desires that they are able to anticipate.

They're able to anticipate what we want and do it of their own accord without having to be told. Jason even mentioned earlier that being able to look at them in a specific way and they know what's expected. Or they get to a certain point where they don't have to be told, it's Tuesday, please take the garbage out. Next Tuesday, it's Tuesday, please take the garbage out. They realize this is Tuesday, Dad wants me to take the garbage out.

He's only told me for so many times. And they learn to expect it. They know what's expected of them, and they don't wait for that specific command. But this is our desire, our end goal, that we as parents would not have to tell them specifically everything, that their obedience grows out of a heart of love and a heart of desire. And that is contingent also upon the next word, honor, the word honor.

The word honor in the original is to revere or to venerate, and it can also be used in this way to fix the value of something, to fix the value of it. Malachi 1.6, God tells His people this, a son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am the father, where is my honor? He says a son honors his father. He doesn't say he's supposed to.

He says a son honors his father. He doesn't say he's supposed to. He says a son honors his father. We'll get into that in a few minutes. That is right.

That's what he's saying. I would argue that true obedience, the true harkening to a command, the true submitting to a command can only flow from a heart that honors. A heart that honors will seek to show that honor by means of obeying from the heart the one that it honors. We cannot be content with merely an outward completion of the thing requested. They did it.

They did the duty we called them to do. We have to go beyond that. If dishonor is displayed in the carrying out of that thing requested, then they haven't obeyed God. God calls them to obey and to honor. But that's what the action is, obey and honor.

Secondly, who receives the action? Who receives the action? Who receives this honor and obedience? Your parents. Children obey your parents.

Honor your father and mother. God has declared what He expects of children. He expects honor and obedience, and it is to be directed to them, to their parents. God here through Paul does not ask for a self-assessment to be made of the parents before commanding the children to obey. He doesn't draw a line in the parents, well, these parents, they're a little questionable.

No, children, if you hear these words, obey your parents. As we saw from Genesis 18, God expects parents to command their children after them. And this commanding is to be responded to by children by means of honor and obedience. It's to your parents. But then thirdly, how the action is to be done.

How is this honor and obedience to take place? Well, he says, in the Lord. The apostle Paul states something very similar to what he says here in Ephesians 6, 1, and 2 over in Colossians 3, 20. In Colossians 3, 20 he says, children, obey your parents in all things for or because this is well pleasing to the Lord. The obedience of children is to be seen in all things and is to be done in such a way as would please the Lord who has commanded it through the parents." He's not saying only do it if the Lord would ask you to do it.

The Lord is asking you as a child to do this thing by means of the authority that He's placed in the parents. This is how it is done in the Lord. Paul in this passage in Colossians 3 addresses not only children, but after Paul says, wives submit, Husbands love, children obey, fathers do not provoke, and bond servants obey. He declares in verses 23 and 24, and you, those groups that I just addressed, children being in the middle of it, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ." And so right in the middle of this group where he's addressing all of these different people in the church, He's addressing children to obey and he says do it heartily as to the Lord. Don't even do it specifically for your parents even though your parents are the ones who you are obeying, who you are honoring, but do it for the Lord for the sake of the Lord Christ, and God will bless you.

This takes the honor and obedience to another level. God who sees the heart requires this to be done in a way that is pleasing to him. Next Mr. Gouge gives the reasons for the duty. He gives reasons for the duty by pretty much taking these same things and looking at it from another perspective.

So these are the reasons. First, the position of parents. The position of parents. And he goes back to that same phrase, in the Lord. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, and fathers especially are tasked with bringing their children up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

He lays the responsibility upon dads. So parents possess a God-given position. It is a position that reflects God's position. It is a matter of His rightful place on the throne, His authority, His will. And we must stress this to our children.

We must require honor and obedience not because we have proven ourselves worthy or deserving. We must require it because he, God, has delegated his authority to parents, and our child's obedience or disobedience is ultimately obedience or disobedience toward God. As long as what we require of our children is not in a violation of his commandments that he is given, then our authority and commandments find its source in God, and our children need to understand that. God has placed us in this position. William Gooshe goes on to say that this authority that parents have should produce in the children a loving fear or a fearing love.

He says it doesn't matter which way you look at it, a loving fear or a fearing love. This is what he says, the authority of parents requires fear in children and their affection, love. So complete and so warm is parents' affection towards their children, as it would make children too bold and insolent if there were not authority mixed in to work fear, and so supreme and absolute is their authority over them, as it would make children like slaves to dread their parents if a fatherly affection were not mingled there to produce love. But both these joined together make a very good combination. Love like sugar sweetens fear, and fear like salt seasons love, and thus to join them both together makes a loving fear or a fearing love, which is the basis of children's duties.

But secondly, not only the position of parents, another reason is the fairness of the command. This is right. This is right. Paul says that it is a just thing, that it is a righteous thing for children to obey and honor their parents. This is not open for argument.

This is not open for debate. This is not dependent on your particular circumstances. It is not to be altered based upon the times that we find ourselves in. Who cares what the UN says? Who cares what the experts say?

God says this is right. This is a point that must be stressed with our children. It is right by natural law that our children obey those who have brought them forth into the world. And it is also right by biblical law that our children obey us because of the position that God has put parents in and children in. Both nature and scripture declare this to be a fair thing, a right thing.

The world will tell you otherwise. Your own children may even tell you, This is not fair, this is not right, but God has spoken. This is right, and He gives no exceptions. The third reason is this is the commandment of God. This is the commandment of God.

Paul reaches back to the Ten Commandments and says, honor your father and mother. So the first thing under this is, this is God's commandment, not yours. This is God's commandment, not yours. This is God's commandment, not yours. God saw fit to place this commandment among the other nine.

It finds itself in the Ten Commandments. Honoring your father and mother is an expression of love to God and love to parents. Christ said, I hang all of the law and the prophets on these two things, a love for God and a love for your neighbor. And so by virtue of that, obedience to this command, obedience to your parents and honoring them, is an expression of love to God and love to your parents. So we must set before our children the demands of God who created them and placed them in our care.

He placed our children in our specific care, in our homes, our individual children. We must be careful in our parenting to make it clear that any disobedience is disobedience to the command of God, not the command specifically of us as parents. It goes beyond that. Jason mentioned that earlier, that we can't be so upset that we've been embarrassed or that's upset us and we let unrighteous anger well up in our hearts. We have to see this as this is the commandment of God.

This is the commandment that they have broken. We must also be sure to place the commands of God on a higher plane than our own commands. Each of us in our own specific homes, we have the law of God, which is what it is, But then we as families, as parents, we have specific laws. That's what Solomon talks about, you know, forsake not the law of your mother. It's not specifically talking about the law of God, but it's going beyond that into the very things that make up who we are in our very families, how we take the law of God and how we break it down in our own families.

We've got to be careful that we don't place our commands in these things that are so important and not have an importance on what God has commanded. And we have to make sure that even those things that we put in place in our families, that even those things, that it's a reflection of an obedience to the command, to the position that God's put us in, and the commands that we've given to honor and to obey even in these areas. Any command we give must flow out of authority that we have from God. So when we give the command, we as parents need to understand this command should be flowing out from that very authority. And if the command and authority then are flowing from God, then so should the response to the breaking of that commandment.

We must reflect a godly response. If we say, well, this is the authority of God and we can't now respond in a godless way, We have to hearken back to what we heard the last hour. And Jason said, if we're not tying this back to God, the use of the rod, we're failing. We're not using it correctly. So we have to see that our authority comes from God, that our children's obedience is commanded by God, and any breaking of that must be handled in a God-honoring way.

So It's the commandment of God. That's a reason. Under that, I said this is God's commandment, not yours, but also under this, these are God's children and not yours. Ultimately, these are placed in your home. We read that children are a heritage from the Lord.

They are a reward from His hand. He is the giver and His expectations of parents is the crafting of arrows, shaping of arrows, so as to be sent out of our homes in such a manner that they hit the target that God has intended for them. He's placed them in our hands so that we may send them out for His glory. Going back to the Malachi 2 passage, why has God brought man and woman together, a husband and a wife together? He seeks a godly seed.

This is what he wants. We are not free to do parenting the way we want to do it, or the way that our parents did it, or the way the Egyptians and the Babylonians do it, the way the experts tell us. This is God's command, not ours. These are God's children. These are souls set under our care.

And then fourth, the promise of reward. The promise of the reward. He says that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth oh the goodness the kindness the mercy of God that he gives our children incentives to obey. God didn't have to. He is God.

He could simply say, obey, honor. God is so merciful and kind and good to our children that He gives them a promise. He says this is the first commandment with promise. And we as parents should not hesitate to use these promises as incentives for our children. God does.

God uses these incentives. We should use these incentives. And I believe this to be a dual promise, promise to children to encourage, to encourage their obedience and their honor, but I think it's a promise for parents to demand that honor and obedience. Parents don't just think you can ignore this and all will go well. This is my promise to also urge you to demand this honor and obedience, not just to encourage them to do it, but encourage you to demand it.

Knowing and being convinced of the reality of this promise of God, we should love our children and express that love in the use of instruction and correction. What does Solomon say? He says, If you don't use the rod, you hate your son because there's a promise, and you refusing to demand that honor, to demand that obedience means you could care less if it goes well with your children. You could care less if they're blessed in this life." That's why he says it's a sign of hatred, not a sign of love. So that's pretty much the underlying theological aspects of dealing with this obedience and this honor.

Now, in the last half, what I want to do is kind of take a shotgun approach, practical helps. And we'll get through as many of these as we can in the remaining time. Practical help. First, God's Word is sufficient. God's Word is sufficient.

It directs us how we should train our children. Now, does it answer all the specific questions? What time should my six-year-old go to bed?" And questions even about the use of the right. It's not going to answer everything specifically. And God's given us wisdom among men.

He's given us helpful books. We're going to be providing a couple of those books for you, use them wisely as far as they are biblical in their instruction. But after you have read all the good books, Don't forget your Bibles. Don't ignore what God has provided for the rearing of our children. If we are to be good parents, We must be people of the Word.

If you want to parent your children well, study the Word of God. It's a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. And it's not just a light and a lamp for several different pathways that we need to take. It's a light and a lamp for every path that God calls us to. Walk in that light.

Walk in that light. Spend much time in the book of Proverbs. Spend much time, you personally as parents, but spend much time in there with your children instructing them. Another one, another practical help, rely on the work of the Spirit of God. Rely on the work of the Spirit of God.

After you have gone back to the Word, don't forget to fall down on your faces before God and to ask wisdom. All the right parenting in the world can't save our kids. It can't make them what they need to be. At the end of the best parenting and at the end of the best honor and obedience from our children Stands a Savior to save us from our sins. Rely on the work of the Spirit of God.

Thirdly, I believe Jason mentioned this as well, seek to form and maintain a united front. Seek to form and maintain a united front. And I have failed at this far too often. Dads and moms need to be on the same page in regards to expectations, boundaries, and punishment. This uniting takes a tremendous amount of communication and therefore requires lots of time spent together.

Men, our labor in this world often leads to a lack of awareness of struggles. So as we think about this united front, remember that most of us that aren't blessed with being able to work from our homes. And even when we do work from our homes, there's usually an amount of isolation because if there's not, well, I'll speak for me, I can't concentrate but so much. So this isolation makes us so that we're not in tune with the struggles often that are happening in our children's lives that our wives are aware of. And this lack of awareness can quickly become disengagement.

I don't know what's going on. How can I respond to that when I don't know all the ins and the outs and who did what? A lot of times because we're not there to experience this, we disengage. And what does that disengagement do? It further separates the unity between mom and dad, and the kids know it, they see it, they sense it, and mom senses it too.

Our wife sensed that. And so we need to seek to form and maintain the united front in these areas. Next practical help. It is all about relationship. It is all about relationship.

You know, I think this is one of the books we're giving out is Ted Tripp's book, Shepherding a Child's Heart. The title tells you that. It's a relationship. Shepherding a Child's heart. Hey, every parent in this room is different.

We were raised differently. We come from various backgrounds. We've experienced different things. We're at different stages in our sanctification. And every child in this room is different, not just between families.

Our children are different even within our own family. Each one's susceptibility to certain sins is different. They have different strengths, different weaknesses, different propensities, different emotional makeup, and different tolerances. So there will be most likely some things that carry through like a common thread through every relationship with our child. There will be things of commonality that run through our parenting.

But yet at the same time there will be differences that manifest themselves in how we deal with each particular one. And it's about relationships. It's about knowing our children, each one of them individually. We must shepherd our children. So it's not just an assembly line.

An assembly line, the person stands there and they take these two screws and put it in and it goes on. They had nothing to do with what happened before and they're having nothing to do with what happened afterwards. We can't do that with our children. It's a relationship, and we have to shepherd each one. Next, learn to distinguish between childishness and sin.

Learn to distinguish between childishness and sin. Jason talked about the episode of the gallon of milk spilling on the floor, and he mentioned the fact that, you know, sometimes there may have been some sin involved. Maybe we specifically told them how they had to handle it and what they had to do, and there were specifics given that weren't. But we do need to understand the differences between those two. This will not only require us to know our children, but it will also require some work and discernment on our part.

So we should not punish specifically because of childishness, because of something that just happens because of their weakness, or because of their growth. You know, their arms are growing longer and they reach out for that cup and that cup is now a hundredth of a centimeter closer than it used to be because the arm is longer and it's reaching it faster and boom there it goes. Teenagers can do that often and so that's not sin they're not willfully knocking it over So we have to understand these things. And usually the window, the eyes are the windows to the soul. You can look at your children and know a lot of times where it's coming from, what's the intention, And you can read it.

So we should seek to instruct our children so that they move from childishness to maturity. So I'm not saying that our 14-year-old, 17-year-old, you know, childishness is okay. No, we seek to mature our children and to bring them along. As was said of Christ, so our children should be growing in wisdom and in favor with God and man just as they grow in stature." So we instruct them so that they move from childishness to maturity. Next, remember pity.

Remember pity or compassion if you would rather. And Jason again talked earlier about how women are more likely to run to mercy quickly and men are usually more stern and of course he also said that every single parent every single mom doesn't fit that and every single dad doesn't fit that there's a lot that make it up but God himself says in Psalm 103 13 and 14, as a father pities his children so the Lord pities those who fear him for he knows our frame he remembers that we are dust and so he's looking at this in giving a direction that fathers, pity your children, and this is expected that we should pity them. We should have compassion on them. And fathers, we should remember first that our children received their sin nature from us. Do we struggle with their sin and how it manifests itself?

We have to remember that we are the ones that passed along that sin nature to them. They got that from us. But remember also the frames of your children, their age, whether they had that nap yesterday, whether they were up last night. Remember their well-being. Are they sick?

Are they not feeling well? Understand the impact that the weakness of their flesh brings to the table when they are grappling with the demands of the moment. Obviously, we can use this as an excuse to not apply the rod. We can say, oh, that's just, I'm going to have pity on them. And you know, Jason mentioned that There are times when we do show grace.

There are times when we show compassion. This is what Matthew Henry says about this passage, how unlike are those to God who take every occasion to chide and never know when to cease. What would become of us if God should deal so with us? The Scripture says a great deal of the mercy of God, and we all have experienced it. The Father pities His children that are weak in knowledge and teaches them, pities them when they are forward and bears with them, pities them when they are sick and comforts them, pities them when they are villainy and helps them to rise, pities them when they have offended and upon their submission forgives them, pities them when wronged and rights them.

Thus the Lord pities those that fear him. See why he pities. He considers the frailty of our bodies and the folly of our souls. How little we can do, how little we can bear, in all which his compassion appears. So remember pity.

Next, don't aim for outward conformity. Don't aim for outward conformity. And I should add that word alone. As family integrated homeschoolers, most of us, we are possibly in a greater way more susceptible to the satisfaction of outward conformity. Expectations are high.

We have high expectations for our children. And so we can quickly move into a manner of accepting outward conformity. To that I simply say, Don't sacrifice the souls of your children on the altar of admiration and commendation. Don't sacrifice the souls of your children on the altar of admiration and commendation to be looked at well, to be thought of well, to be spoken of well, and to take that and to limit us to just dealing with outward conformity alone. Seek to engage the heart, to win the heart, to keep the heart, to guard and guide the heart of all your children.

Judge it as God does, as in the Lord. Next, beware of manipulation. Beware of manipulation. This is somewhat the question that Melinda was asking earlier. I think what happens a lot of times is our children learn to manipulate and it it doesn't take long for children even the youngest to learn our weaknesses, our failures, our tipping points, and our tolerances.

They learn how far they can push, they learn where they better back off, they learn what buttons they can push to get a desired response. By means of either words or actions, your child can seek to gain that control of any given situation. And I recommend to you, we didn't have this today, but Lou Priolo's book on the heart of anger, he has two whole chapters on control and manipulation. Lou Priolo, You're welcome to come up and take a look afterwards, but he has two whole chapters on control and manipulation. And the thing is, as many times we as parents don't see it.

We're seeking to be reasonable, we're seeking to answer, we're seeking to justify sometimes when there's not a specific need for justification and our children can know how to do this. And he talks about the different means and the methods that they use and how we should respond according to God's Word. So be aware of manipulation. Along those same lines, don't give up the next practical help. Don't give up in the midst of a battle.

Don't give up in the midst of battle. Sometimes the strong will of a child can test your fortitude and your strength. It keeps on and on and on. And you get to a point, as was said earlier, that you feel like this is not working. God's way doesn't seem to be working.

You may have to go deal with a sin over and over and over and over again until God finally gives you victory. I've seen it happen and you see it often in stronger-willed children. Do not grow weary in well-doing. Press on. Press on.

Next, Jason mentioned this as well, but use times of correction for instruction also. Use times of correction when you have to get the rod out. Use those times for instruction also. Hey, the very reason that you're having to use the rod is they didn't receive the instruction to begin with, all right? And so we just don't just deal with here's your sin and here's the consequence.

We do have to do that because they have refused instruction. That's why we're here. But the fact that they refused it means we need to give it to them again. This is a time to seek to reveal the nature of the heart that led to the sin. It's not just, we're going to squash that sin.

If it comes up again, we're going to squash that sin. If it comes up again we're going to squash that sin. We're dealing with hearts. That sin comes from this evil heart and this is an opportunity for us to reveal that to our children. This is a time for prayer to God with our children, that God would intervene, that He would reveal the sin in only the way that He can.

I mean, they might acknowledge it but to see it for what it is is a sin towards a holy God? We need prayer to God to do that for our children and to grant repentance and saving grace and to heal relationships. That's sin. See that's that's something that we must help our children to understand that sin divides. It causes breakdowns in relationships between siblings, between this child and the parent, between this child and God.

And that's what Satan wants. He wants the breaking of the relationship. Think about the Garden of Eden, the bite of the fruit and what happened. There went Adam and Eve. They heard God's voice.

Boom! They were gone. Hiding. It breaks relationships. Not only did they hide from God, but Adam said, your fault, you gave her to me.

She said, not my fault. Serpent told me it was good. Breaking down the relationship. So use this time for instruction. Take time to apply scripture, which again goes back to the fact that we need to know the Word of God.

What scripture do we need to apply to this particular area? If you don't have it, there are several good books that you can buy, Reformation Heritage books or wherever you buy your books, that usually has a list from Proverbs that says you want to deal with anger you can go to these verses and proverbs you want to deal with the contentious spirit these verses with lying these verses it can be a help but know the Word of God and apply it this is a time to walk back through the scenario and to discuss what response would please God. This is what you did. What would please God? What was the right thing?

We don't want to just sit there and wrong, wrong, wrong, but this is right. This is what obedience and honor looks like. If you were to do this, engage them. Make them think of what the right response would have been. Use this for instruction.

Next, use family worship as a tool for discipling your children. Use family worship as a tool for discipling your children for Sunday worship. For Sunday worship. Hey, this is a great time and a place for instructing in the areas of eye contact. I mean, it's a laid-back thing, right?

I mean your children aren't bothering anybody else and you just want to get through this time but this is a great time for discipling especially the youngest of children to sit still. Maybe the smallest of babies, you hold their hands together in your hand, you grasp it so that they're sitting still, they're made to sit still. If they talk, just maybe tap them on their get their attention on their mouth. These are small steps and what happens? Children learn by repetition.

Well, once a week on Sunday morning is not much repetition. It's not going to help our children, but in family worship to teach them to learn eye contact, to sit still, to be quiet, to listen and to be able to respond and to give their attention and grow in that area, and it will help you in the worship service of God. Next, be careful of taking the path of least resistance. Be careful of taking the path of least resistance. Some scenarios of family life give rise to pride, conflict, strife, and selfishness.

And yes, there are times, there are occasions when wisdom dictates the taking of that path of least resistance. We don't want to do that, but we can get into a mode of that where we're trying to dodge every possible, oh, we don't want to do that because that might cause them to sin, and oh, this, you know. Be careful of taking that path of least resistance. We often do take this path, and in doing so we rob ourselves and our children an opportunity for our child to be confronted with the nature of their own heart and with the saving grace of Christ. Sometimes God just wants us to go right through it and He'll expose different things.

And that can be good when our children's sins are exposed. Because what does it do? It gives us an opportunity to talk about the nature of their heart and to point them to Christ afresh. Along those same lines, another practical help, establish means to encourage teamwork and an attitude of submitting to one another. Establish means to encourage teamwork and an attitude of submitting to one another.

We need to be deliberate, very deliberate about engaging our children in activities that will confront their own personal sins – selfishness, pride, and anger, among other things – But also that will encourage development of good character traits, selflessness, diligence, love, patience, like-mindedness. This will be a blessing to any future spouse and a blessing to the children that God would give. It would be a blessing to their fellow employees and to other church members. So deliberately engage your children in those things that require them to put sin to death and to encourage good character traits. And I leave you with this, my time is gone.

Last practical help, disciple like John the Baptist. Disciple like John the Baptist. Disciple like John the Baptist. John had disciples, but they did not remain his disciples. He discipled his disciples for one end, one goal.

And in John 1, 35-37 it says again the next day, John stood with two of his disciples and looking at Jesus as he walked he said, Behold the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard John speak and they followed Jesus. How do you like that? Behold the Lamb of God. Where'd he go?

No, he had one goal, to make disciples of Jesus Christ. John was content to let them go. Is that what you are doing, dear parent, in requiring this obedience, in requiring this honor? Are you seeking to make disciples for Jesus Christ? Not disciples for you, but to say like John to each of your children, Behold the Lamb of God.

Behold the Lamb of God. May God give us grace to disciple our children like John the Baptist discipled his disciples. May God give us grace to be deliberate parents, very deliberate. And as you go your way, you make your way through some of the historical books of the Bible, see how God brought Israel along very deliberately in everything that he did. May God give us grace to be deliberate as well.

Let's pray. Oh Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for not leaving us without your word. Lord, help us to obey it in all things and to better know how to require of our children that obedience and honor that you are due as their God. We pray in Jesus name, amen.