You know, it's been said that if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. And this puts us into the realm of tonight, into the realm of the goals of parenting. Looking at the specifics of parenting, we talked about the perspective on parenting, and we really just looked at one particular principle last time, and that principle says that children are intended to be a blessing and a joy, not a curse, not a burden, not a trial, not a hardship, not an obstacle, any of those things. Children are a blessing. They are a wonderful, wonderful gift from the Lord, and we need to work hard to make sure that in our lives we see children in that way because that's how the Bible sees children. We need to understand that. But once we get a grip on that particular principle, we come to the second category, and that is the biblical goals of parenting. The goals of parenting. That is a really good question to think about. What are the goals of parenting? You know, if you're going to do this thing called parenting, if God has given you children to raise and to bring up and to see as a blessing and a joy, you kind of need to look to the end of the line and see what is it that I'm trying to achieve in my parenting. Well guess what? The Bible's not silent about that either. It tells us. And I want us to see tonight three of the biblical goals of parenting. Three specific things that I think the Bible's pretty clear on in regards to how we as parents should think in terms of goals for our children. Let me give them to you quickly and then these things will unfold in the principles that I want to share with you tonight. But just to put it very succinctly tonight, the three biblical goals of parenting are number one, salvation. Number two, maturity. And number three, purpose. Salvation, maturity, and purpose. We definitely want to teach our children the realities of the Christian faith. We want them to grow in their understanding and in their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ so as to become wise unto salvation. We want our children to grow in maturity In other words, we want our children to have a Christian mindset and a Christian worldview. We want our children to be skilled in the issues of life. We want to be the ones to teach our children how to have wisdom and how to process all of the different things that they are going to encounter in life so that they can be successful individuals in whatever it is that the Lord leads them to do. And then thirdly, right alongside of that is purpose. Helping them as they grow in maturity to figure out their specific purpose that God has for them in the world. So that's our three goals. Number one is salvation, number two is maturity, and number three is purpose. And this brings me to the second principle that I want to share with you in our study on parenting. And here it is, principle number two. The primary, now mark that word, the primary goal of our parenting is to guide our children in a godly direction for the purpose of producing godly offspring. Or we could even put it in simpler terms, we want saved or converted children. Whatever term you want to put in there that has to do with salvation, that's what we are looking for. That is the primary goal. Consequently, every other goal or desire that we may have for our children should be secondary and should be far less important to this primary aim. Baseball is not as important as this reality. Skipping church on Sunday is not the goal. It is not the aim. You are not going to help your child by doing things like that. Why? Because the Bible's perspective is that salvation is the number one goal of our parenting. We are to be teaching our children the truths of the Scriptures for their soul's salvation. We want a Godward direction in our home that is geared towards the heart of our children. And again, this isn't just about relaying intellectual information, although that is part of it. They need to know what the Word of God says. They need to know the Bible stories. They need to know the message of the Gospel. They need to be catechized. They need to know the questions. They need a body of doctrine in their life. That is certainly true. But we're not just simply trying to instruct the mind, although we are. We're also trying to get their heart. We're trying to cultivate in them. We're trying to bring about a Godward direction. It's a heart work that we're seeking to do in the lives of our children. Listen to some of these verses. Psalm 34, verse 11. Come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you what? I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1, 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 3, 5, 3, 8. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. See, that's where we're going with our children. Prop up, as it were. Prop up onto the Lord and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. That's certainly true of us. But you could rephrase that and say, child, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Child, don't lean on your own understanding. Child, in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Child, do not be wise in your own eyes. Child, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Child, if you do these things it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. You see, it's a teaching. It's something that we teach. It's something that we build into the lives of our children. Proverbs 4.23. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life. Proverbs 9.10. The fear, here's that word again, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Deuteronomy 6.2 and verses 4-5, that you may fear the Lord your God. You and your sons and your son's son. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Ecclesiastes 12, 1. Remember, child, your Creator in the days of your youth. Aren't those wonderful verses? What are they teaching? They're teaching us that the primary aim in our life towards our children is to show them the fear of the Lord. That's where it all starts. Why are we teaching them the fear of the Lord? Why are we teaching them to gear their heart towards God? Because ultimately we want to see the salvation of our children. Listen, this should be the attitude of the parents in the home. Joshua 24, 15. Here's Joshua speaking. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your father served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You see, as parents, that should be the message that we give to our children. We will serve the Lord. Our home is going to be a Godward home. Our home is going to go in a Godward direction. Everything in our life is going to be geared around God. 1 Samuel 1, 11. Again, this picture of a Godward direction. And she, meaning Hannah, vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son. Then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head." 1 Samuel 1.24, and when she had weaned him, she took him up with her along with a three-year-old bull, a nephew of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. The child was young. What do you see there in the life of Hannah? She took him to the house of the Lord. You know, we need to learn that lesson too as parents that we need to get our children around the people of God. You know, this is just a building. You know, we say that all the time. The church building is a rain shelter where the church comes in and meets and learns. But listen, you need to have your child at the church building. Why? Because that's where the saints come together. And we want our children to be influenced by other believers. We want our children to be in earshot of the Word of Truth. I know we have little ones sitting around here tonight, but guess what? They're picking up. They're getting a little piece here and there. They're getting some of it. Our children need to be here so that they can hear the Word of God, so that they can be influenced by the people of God. Genesis 18, 19, For I, God, have chosen him, meaning Abraham, Get this, that he may command who? His children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. Malachi 2.15, did He not make them one, talking about a marriage, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Answer, godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. What are we learning? What are we seeing from the Word of God? The goal in parenting is the salvation of our children. Again, more. Psalm 78. We looked at this passage in our introductory sermon. Talking about the gospel through the family. Verses 5-8. What did God do? He established a testimony in Jacob and He appointed a law. You remember that? He established a testimony. What does that mean? He revealed Himself. He revealed salvation. He appointed a law as the instruction manual for people to walk in, which He commanded our fathers to teach their children. Why? That the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children so that they should, number one, Set their hope in God, number two. Not forget the works of God, number three. But keep His commandments, number four. That they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation. A generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. You know, there's a generation that's come up in the church recently. For that fourth point, that's been the story. A stubborn and rebellious generation. A generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. Happens about the time kids go off to college. We don't want that. Deuteronomy 6, 20-25, when your son asks you in time to come, what's the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and all the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, listen to this now, We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders great and grievous against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes. And he brought us out from there that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always that He might preserve us alive as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us if we're careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God as He had commanded us. Can you just hear a father saying that to his son? Dad! Why are you and mom so crazy about being at church all the time? Dad, why do you just always want to read your Bible and Christian books? Why do we always do these things? Why do we have prayer around the dinner table, Dad? Dad, why? Why does Mom pray for us before bed? Why when you took us in at bed at night do you read Bible stories to us and teach us things about the Bible? Son, daughter, let me tell you. I was a slave before. He says right here, we were slaves in Egypt. And the Lord, what did He do? He brought us out. Listen, I was a slave to the kingdom of darkness, but God in His grace and in His mercy delivered me from the kingdom of darkness, brought me into the kingdom of His dear Son, and my life is completely changed. And I want you to know all about it. I want you to see that it is real. That it's the drive train of everything in my life, this God and His grace that He has given to me. You see, our children need to know Our salvation story. Doesn't matter how old they are. Doesn't matter how young they are. You may even have children outside of the home. They need to know your story. They need to know the details of what God has done in your life. They need to hear it. You need to recount it for them. You need to tell them about your slavery in Egypt. And you need to tell them about how now you've been brought out of that and you've been blessed by a holy God. They need to know your story. I know my dad's story. I know my parents' story. They've told it to me several times. I know exactly about it. I know how God worked in the life of my father to bring him into covenant with himself and how that changed the trajectory of our whole family. Your children need to know that. They need to know the story when your son asks in time to come. What's the meaning of all this, Dad? You're going to be ready to tell them. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 and chapter 3 verse 14 to 15, listen to these words. Paul speaking to Timothy, I'm reminded of your sincere faith. A faith that dwells, get this now, first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And now, I am sure dwells in you as well. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. And how from..." Now here it is again. "...from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through Jesus Christ." Through faith in Jesus Christ. From a child. From childhood you knew. Man, thank God for godly grandmothers and mothers. Timothy. Doesn't say anything about his father. Maybe he was a deadbeat. Who knows? But it does say something about the grandmother and the mother. They taught this boy the truth of the Word of God. I love this, Mark 10, verse 13-16, "...and they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant, and he said to them, Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them." Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Right? Red, brown, yellow, black, and white. They're all precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. Let them come to me. we need to take our children to the Lord Jesus. Colossians chapter 2, verse 3, in Christ are hidden what? All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Everything we're teaching needs to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Mark 8, verse 36, of course, this verse of Scripture applies in so many ways to just about everybody. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What profit is it if you raise your child to become the all-star baseball player? Or he makes it to the NFL, or he becomes a pro golfer, or becomes a fancy lawyer, or some other wonderful thing in this world, and he likes the scoreboard up in this world, but he doesn't know anything of Christ. Now look, I'm not saying any of those things are wrong in and of themselves. I'm not saying that being a lawyer is bad. You know, the Lord calls people to all different walks of service and work in this world for their purpose. But my point is, as parents, we need to make sure that we're putting the emphasis on the right things. You know, certainly we teach our children about other things in life, but not at the expense of teaching our children the faith. You know, I'm amazed today at so many professing Christian fathers who take their young sons to travel baseball games and leagues. I know I've already kind of mentioned this tonight, but they take them on all these games, causing them to miss church, to miss being at the fellowship of the believers. You want me to tell you the message it's sending to that young son? I know what's important to my dad. And it ain't this place. It ain't these people. He will compromise. He will sacrifice. And the child really sees the real thing that's important to the parent. You see? And the thing that should be in the mind of that man is what does it profit a man? What will it profit my child if he gains the whole world and in the end loses his soul because I failed to hold up the gospel as the main priority for his life. You see, the goal, listen to this now. The goal for us as parents, it's not religion. It's not to make little moralists out of our children. We're not just simply trying to teach our children how to behave correctly by some external code or some external thing imposed upon them. It's not behaviorism that we're looking for. Although, sure, we teach right and wrong. But the goal is not just in the final analysis for us to have good little citizens out in the world, you know, who kind of mind their own business and everybody looks upon them and says, well, they're a pretty good person. That's not the goal. The goal is not that and the goal is not religion. The goal is what? The goal is salvation. The goal is regeneration. The goal is a new heart. The goal is a Godward direction. And listen to me, apart from all of that, you can just put the big equal sign out there and after it put loss. What should it profit a man if he were to gain the whole world and forfeit his own soul? And so this second principle we learn that the primary goal of our parenting is to guide our children in a godly direction for the purpose of producing a godly offspring. And every other goal or desire that we may have for them should be secondary and hold far less importance to this primary aim. Principle number three. In addition to the goal of raising up godly offspring, another goal of parenting should be to help our children grow up into maturity and equip them to fulfill their God-given purpose in the world and successfully send them out of the home into the world to chart their own course and live their own life with their own family under the direction and will of God. Now I know that's a lengthy principle, and it's got a lot of little parts to it, but it's all very true. So again, when I began, I gave you three words that we began with. We talked about salvation, we talked about maturity, and we talked about purpose. So ultimately, number one, the ultimate goal, the primary goal is the salvation of our children. But then number two, a lesser goal, but nevertheless important and part of our parenting responsibility is to help our children grow up into maturity. We want to see growth in the life of our children. Yes, spiritual growth, but also just growth in normal activity of life. You know, when our children come into the world, They are deficient in the things that they need to be able to be successful in this world. For example, your children don't come into the world automatically with people skills, right? That's something that has to be taught. Your children have to know how to interact with people. They're deficient in regards to that. And we have to come alongside and help them grow up into maturity in all of these different areas of life. Spiritual growth, but then also just life principles, money, people, leadership, All these things are going to be doing in the world. We've got to help fill in the gaps. Listen to this. In Luke chapter number 2, verse 52, think of the life of Jesus. And again, Jesus was fully God, but he was also what? Fully man. He was a human. And the Bible tells us in Luke 2, 52, and Jesus increased in wisdom, number one. And number two, in stature. Number three, favor with God. And four, with man. See, you have to teach your children to grow in wisdom. You have to teach your children to grow in areas of their life that's going to make them a person of influence or we could say stature. We have to teach, as we've already been mentioning, a Godward direction and salvation so that they grow up and that they are affected by the grace of God. They brought into favor with Almighty God. But listen, when your relationship with God changes and you get into favor with God, what's the next thing that begins to happen in your life? You start getting in favor with men. You know? Your relationships, the way that you interact with people. What's the one command that if we had to summarize the Christian life with one command, what is it? Love! Love God and love who? Other people. Go back to the Ten Commandments. The first half is dealing with our relationship to God. The second half with our relationship to people. And so our children, they come into the world and they're deficient in these things. And so what is it that we as parents do? We have to go to work to eliminate these deficiencies. We have to help them grow in wisdom, life skills, life purpose, all of those things. Life behaviors, stature, influence, favor with God, favor with man. Luke 640. A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like what? Like his teacher. And in the home, who's the teacher? The parents. So as a general rule, as a general principle, and of course it doesn't always, you know, this isn't always this way. It's a general principle, but typically children become a lot like their parents. You know, they take on some of the attributes and some of the characteristics and, you know, you just stop and think about all the different issues of life and your children are going to learn from you about those things. And so we want to influence our children in a way. And so we really need to turn the pointer back around and ask ourselves, well, How is my life as a teacher? Have I grown up in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and in favor with men? Have I kind of covered all the bases in life in regards to basic life skills so that I know how to teach my children? You know, mothers, do you teach your children how to cook and how to set the table and how to live in the home and take care of their husband and their children that they're going to have? Are you teaching them how to be godly ladies? Are you teaching them how to dress and how to groom themselves? This is all part of it. It's all part of parenting. That's what it means to grow them up in wisdom and in stature. Favor with God and favor with men. So we teach our children, number one, the main goal. The goal that we're aiming for, number one, is for their salvation. So we're teaching, we're teaching, we're teaching. We're planting the seeds of the gospel. We're working hard in their lives, instructing the heart, dealing with the heart, pointing them towards the Lord Jesus Christ. But then secondly, we work, as we do with our children, to raise them up. Listen, let me just say it this way. We do not want to raise fools. We want to raise people, children, who are skillful in life. Maturity, growth. So that's our second goal. And then our third goal, number three. Number three. Our third goal is that we would raise up our children to have purpose in this world. Now, let me back up just a little bit and talk about this before we look at purpose more fully. You have to understand that as Christians, Trying to raise up our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord and pushing them and pointing them towards salvation. Part of that growth and part of that maturity which is going to affect their purpose is our ability to give our children a Christian worldview. Right? So when you're raising your children up in growth and maturity, as they're going to fulfill their purpose in the world, whatever their job, whatever their work is going to be, you want them to view that work and everything that they do through a Christian worldview lens. So, a huge part of our teaching and of our instructing our children is for us to give our children what we would say Christian education. Now, listen to this passage of Scripture. 1 Corinthians 10, verses 3-6. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Let me say it to you this way. When your child goes out into the world to fulfill their purpose, their purpose should be about them doing what I just read. That you are literally raising up children who are going to be soldiers in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so no matter what they do, whether they're a street sweeper or if they're a fancy lawyer somewhere, That they're using wherever God has stationed them to fulfill their purpose, to fulfill their life's calling, that at the base of that, this right here is what's going on. That in their influence, in their circle of influence, in their sphere of all the people that they run around with, what is it that they're doing? They're understanding that their purpose, where God has planted them, is to destroy strongholds. It's for the purpose of bringing into captivity all of the worldly ideas and ways of thinking that are contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, just stop and think about it. You're going to run into a lot of people outside of these walls that you're never going to run into here. Right? You just think about your circle of influence. You think about the people that you run into. Most of the work is on the battlefield outside of the church. This is where saints come to be encouraged and to be built up and to be led in the truth of the Word of God. It's when we go outside of these walls that we're putting on our Christian armor, that we're grabbing our sword, that we're going to battle. And what are we doing in that battle? We're understanding that there is a spiritual battle that is taking place, that we are waging a warfare against that battle. We have spiritual weapons. We're destroying strongholds. We're knocking down all of these ideas that are against Christ, bringing them into captivity. All of these things that are against the knowledge of the one true God. And we are trying to punish all of the disobedience that's out there. against God. So part of your raising your children into their growth and into their maturity and into fulfilling their purpose is that you have to give them a Christian worldview that causes them to think like a Christian. In other words, they have to understand the gospel so well that they know how to apply the gospel to every area of their life so that they can be the kind of soldier that they need to be. I like how Votie Bauckham spoke about it with his children as he raised them up and it was time to shoot them out of the home. He said, you know, I'm training them. I'm getting them ready for battle. Then I'm going to open up the silos and let the missiles get ready to be sent out into the world to do some damage in this world. I like that. Right? You got them inside. You're sharpening them. You're getting them all ready because one day you're going to open them up and you're going to shoot them out in the world. And when they're out there in the world and they're going to be fulfilling their purpose, this right here is what they have to do. This is what we want. We want Christian soldiers, children who become soldiers in the army of the Lord, who are going to serve the Lord no matter where they're at, no matter what their purpose is. So we have to give our children a Christian education. Now listen, let me just say to you today, I know this is a touchy subject and a lot of people will hear this, maybe not so much here tonight, but some who will hear it maybe on recording later on and might take offense to this, but I'm going to say it anyway because I'm so convicted about this. This goal of what we're speaking about, I'm not going to say it's impossible, but you need to mark it down that it is going to be nearly impossible if you do not homeschool your children. Which is all there is to it. And here's why. In days past, I know that public school has done good for a lot of people. Days gone by, there were a lot of Christian people there. They were allowed to teach the Bible, allowed to do a lot of wonderful things. I mean, in the founding of our nation, it started out, you know, that there was primarily schooling was done at home. And even when school began in the public arena, there was a lot of Christian people that fought that battle, that didn't want that to happen, because they believed that it should take place in the home. But even when it did happen, you know, there were a lot of good intentions behind a lot of that, a lot of godly teachers, a lot of things that would not even be close to being allowed today, that still instilled a Christian, a Bible worldview. That's something, I mean, you can't do that today in public school. I mean, you just can't do it. You have all these groups and everybody that's against it. Teachers can't talk about God. They can't talk about the Bible. They cannot instruct children that 2 plus 2 is 4, but 2 plus 2 is 4 for the glory of God. You understand what I'm saying? Why is 2 plus 2 equal 4? For the glory of God, the correct answer. Because there are certain laws that govern 2 plus 2 equaling 4 every time. And if there's laws that govern that, that means that there is a lawgiver that set those laws out there. But our public schools today won't let you talk about that lawgiver. So a huge piece of the education is being missed because teachers can't teach anymore that 2 plus 2 is 4 for the glory of God. And if you leave out for the glory of God, well guess what? You've just missed the entire purpose by which you were created. You following me? Public school is not going to give children a Christian education. And now let me say this, and this will get me in a lot of hot water. A lot of Christian schools will not give their children a Christian education. Now, I'll say that in some regards, in some respects, that Christian schools are better than public schools. I'm a product of a Christian school. But listen, I can tell you a lot of times even in Christian school, Christian school get a lot of the worst public school students because parents think that the Christian school is going to reform their rotten kid. And then they just throw a rotten kid in a bunch with other kids and it makes it a mess. So I'm a huge advocate of being a homeschooler and I hope that other parents will see the reality about homeschooling and the goodness that it can do. Because if you're homeschooling your children, guess what? You're taking the responsibility to teach 2 plus 2 is 4 for the glory of God. You're teaching everything that you're teaching for the purpose of creating that Christian worldview so that your children, when they are sent out of the home, what are they doing? They're doing what we just read in this text. That they have the mindset and the ability to destroy strongholds. That they, through their training, through their Navy SEAL training, as it were, from the Christian perspective, can go out there and they can get the job done. There's a lot of power in that. We need to see it that way, guys. We need to understand that we are soldiers in the army of the Lord. And let me put it to you this way. Again, just on homeschooling, I hope one day that our church is full of homeschool families. Let me say it to you this way. When the antithesis to the Christian worldview becomes the norm, something has to change. When our public school leaders don't even understand the anatomy of a boy and a girl, when they're confused about it, You have massive trouble, massive problems, massive problems. When the antithesis to the Christian worldview becomes the norm, then it is time for Christian parents to say, something's got to change. I'll tell you a story. I think I've told you this before, but it wasn't long ago. I think I might have heard this on Al Mohler's radio program called The Briefing, or I read an article. I don't remember exactly where I heard it. I'm thinking it's from Al Mohler. He was telling the story of this Christian family. And they had been in church their whole life. You know, the parents from when they were young and then they had children, brought their children, bringing their children up in church faithfully there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. I mean, the ideal picture of a Christian family being faithful to church. And I think the oldest child in that family was, I think, 10 or 11 years old. And the father, in conversation, began speaking about some things in the culture that were anti-Christian. And here is this son, who's 11 years old, who responds to his dad. He says, Dad, that's hate speech. And of course, the father wasn't being a hater, you know, of sinful people and ways. He wasn't hating them. He was just showing, like many Christians do, expressing the burden of his heart that something is wrong. And he heard his son, who he's trying to raise up with a Christian worldview, who has taken on in his mindset the antithesis to what the father wanted to instill in that child. And the father and the mother, led by the Holy Spirit and with great wisdom, in that moment said, we're done with public school. We're gonna homeschool our children. Listen, if you have children and you raise them up in a home and they become Christians, If they can't even add 2 plus 2 after the time they get out of the house and they're a believer, they're in far better shape than somebody who comes out of public school and who can think like Einstein. Do you understand what I'm saying? What value is it if a man would gain the whole world and lose his own soul? And what do Christian parents think? I mean, are we foolish? Do we think that by sending our children to church two or three or four hours in a week, if you're really faithful, is going to get the job done when you're sending them out there to the antithesis eight hours a day? You dream. You dream. That's not living in reality. Now I know I'm harping on this a lot. I want you to understand though, we need to teach our children. We only have them for a few years. We need to take the responsibility upon ourselves to teach our children. And we just live today in a wicked culture and a wicked society. And it's gonna be, everything they learn is gonna be in complete contradiction to the things that are important to you. This is reality. I know that's offensive to a lot of people, but it's time that we wake up and smell the coffee, right? I mean, this is just the way that it is. We teach our children the goal. Our goal is to teach them to make them wise unto salvation, to teach them growth, maturity, learning to become soldiers of Christ, so that they go out into the world and fulfill their purpose in the world, which is point number three, to fulfill their purpose. You don't just need to teach your children to grow up and go out of the house and get a good job and pay the bills. That's not the goal. The goal is to teach your children purpose in the world. That they were brought into this world because God has something very special and important for them to accomplish in the world. God wants them to light up the scoreboard for the kingdom, as it were. Genesis 2, 24. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 48, 15-16. And he blessed Joseph and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys. and in them let my name be carried on in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." Here you see the picture of a father blessing his children because he knows they're going to go out and he wants to see the propagation of that which he has entered into. This covenant with God, this wonderful reality. Let them carry it on. The name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. That's what we're doing. We're back to square one. The purpose in raising our children, that they would be saved, they'd grow into maturity, and then they would go fulfill their purpose. Psalm 127 verses 3-5, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Now get this, Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gates. What is the purpose of an arrow? The purpose of an arrow is that it would be shot. And so the picture that you see with this analogy in Psalm 127 is that as parents, remember the first principle, children are a blessing and a joy. Have a bunch of them. I mean, fill your house. Just have a ton of them. I love it when you see parents with seven or eight kids. That's awesome. It's wonderful. That's a man with full quiver. So we fill our quiver with them for the purpose of what? You don't just leave the arrow in the quiver. The purpose is to pull the arrow out of the quiver that you've sharpened, that you've straightened, that you put a good broadhead on it, right? That's going to do some damage. You open up the silo or you pull the bow and what do you do? You give it a good shot so it goes out there and lacerates the darkness. That's the idea. Put a little fire on that broadhead when you send it out. Galatians 4, 1-2, An heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. Get this now. But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. You see, we're guardians and we're managers for a little while of our children, but there's coming a date. When? What? when we've pointed them in a godly direction, where we've helped them grow in maturity, skilled in life, skilled in the Word of God, they have a Christian worldview, they're ready to go, and what do we do? The date set where they would be sent out now to do what they're called to do. Ecclesiastes 9.10. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Purpose, you see? Purpose. Again, If you aim at nothing, what's going to be the reality? You're going to hit it every single time. We need to understand the biblical goals of parenting. And what are they? Salvation, maturity, and purpose. Salvation, maturity, and purpose. These are the things that we have learned. We have seen the biblical perspective. on parenting and what was the principle. Children are intended to be a blessing and a joy, not a curse, a burden, a trial, an obstacle, or a hardship. And now we've understood the goals of biblical parenting. Salvation, maturity, and purpose. Two principles there. The primary goal of our parenting is to guide our children in a godly direction for the purpose of producing a godly offspring. Every other goal or desire that we may have for them should be secondary and hold far less importance to this primary aim. And then another principle, in addition to the goal of raising up godly offspring, another goal of parenting should be to help our children grow up into maturity and equip them to fulfill their God-given purpose in the world and successfully send them out of the home into the world to chart their own course and live their own life with their own family under the direction and will of God. I hope that's helpful. So how do we do this? If these are the goals, how do we achieve the goals? And that brings us next time to the biblical methods of parenting. Look, God answers all the questions. He gives you the perspective, how to see it. He shows you the goal, and then He tells you what to do to achieve the goal, and we'll look at that next time. Father, thank you tonight for your word and Lord, I know there's been some hard things that have said tonight in regards to parenting and Father, I just pray that it would land softly on our hearts, Lord, that we would receive it, that we would think about it, Lord, that we would meditate on it, Lord. Father, we just want to honor you in our homes. Lord, we look at your word and we see the goals. We see what it is that you intend for our children. And Father, so many times Christian families undercut those things because they don't see it. They don't see the goals. They don't understand what it is that you're seeking out of our homes. And Father, I pray that this is serving as a corrective to that. And Lord, as we're Maybe thinking a little bit different about how we thought parenting should go. Lord, that you're replacing it with the right ways of thinking. You're tearing down old ways of thinking and replacing it with new. Lord, you're tearing down strongholds and things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, you're bringing in captivity. All of these things to be conformed to the mind of Christ, to the desires of Christ, what He would have for our lives. Lord, give us grace in regards to the parenting process. Teach us, instruct us, help us to honor you in all that we do. In Christ's precious name we pray. Amen.