The following message is brought to you by Christ Reformed Baptist Church, Newcastle, Indiana. For additional messages and to learn more, please visit www.crbc.faith. The first format we had where we'll do, you know, a discipleship class the first Sunday, the second Sunday we'll do practical, you know, how does it apply to your life, and then the third Sunday we'll stick on church history, and then the fourth Sunday we'll look at matters that pertain to faith and family. Now you might notice that these categories of Sunday school class, they focus on some of the major institutions of society and the things that affect our lives the most. They focus on the jurisdiction or the sphere that deals with Christ and His church. And so we have the discipleship classes to help us to better fine-tune our understanding of what the Bible teaches. And then we have the practical theology and the faith and family classes because that's really to try to help us to, I guess kind of say, you know what, that the church isn't full of perfect people. No amens on that? The church isn't full of perfect people. I saw one lipped, amen. Okay, dear sister, dear sister, you got the point. That's the purpose of those classes, is to say, you know, I'm a sinner saved by grace. And since I'm a sinner saved by grace, I have a new heart, a new affection for the things of the Lord. And I'm here to hear what does the Lord say, and how can I be helped by the instructions of God's word? And guess what? I'm here with other people. And when you're in a little small church like this with other people, you can't help but get to know one another a little bit. And when you get to know a little bit each other, you kind of find out that I got to, you know, learn how to love this person. And we got to, you know, kind of meet in the middle of the road on some things we don't agree upon. And you just don't get that wonderful blessing in a big church, but you do in a little church. And it was a blessing to be reminded of that when we were down in Paoli this week talking with some other family-integrated churches, including the one that was, rather large one, that was hosting the conference down there. And one of the main heartbeats I picked up, and by the way, I'm gonna go in a lot of different directions, but we will get to honoring your parents, okay? But one of the things that kind of seemed to be a consistent heartbeat was that in the modern church in which we live in, We really haven't been afforded that opportunity to get close to one another in church. And so we don't have that blessing, as I said, to be forced to sanctify with one another and to grow with one another. And the truth is God's word. Most church experiences are, and you probably grew up in this, and I know my initial church experiences were like this, and even at the chapel, and it bothered us that we'd go to church, and we'd get done at 12, and that was church. And we knew the people in the church, but only on a very superficial surface level. We really didn't know each other. And they were talking a lot yesterday, and it's really sad that that's kind of become the normal church life and experience, because that's not what we see in the New Testament. That is not, let me say it again, what we see in the New Testament. We see people that were breaking bread with one another, of course, that is referring to gathering together for meals, and we know busyness of life and stuff, that's just not exactly reality, but at least there's a certain deeper level of walking alongside one another, sharing with one another our challenges. This is what the word tells me, that's interesting, I never thought about it like that, you know, and immediately, especially in the West, where we're so quick to put up our privacy fences, we don't like that. And I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, we are not the better for it. We are not the better for it. So the faith and family class is just an opportunity for us to remind ourselves that we need God, we need one another, and nothing's worse than fake Christianity where everybody's got big banana smiles and acting like everything's okay. And so that's hopefully what these Sunday school classes will continue to do. Maybe I'm sharing my heart as a pastor with you. Maybe I need to do a better job of fostering that with us. But nonetheless, that's the agenda. Agenda's not a bad word, as long as it's a good one. That's the agenda of the Sunny School classes in their format. So we're talking about faith and family today, issues that relate to faith and family. I want to suggest this book. How many of you have heard of this book? It's called Training Hearts and Teaching Minds, Family Devotions out of the Shorter Catechism. Guys, this is, I know you guys know that one. This is a good devotional. It really is. It is an excellent, wonderful devotional written by Star Mead alongside her pastor. And it is going through the Shorter Catechism. Just take one question, each family worship. It's a wonderful curriculum supplement to homeschooling. Absolutely phenomenal because it's teaching Biblical theology and beautiful simple language She was My mother, if I forget how many children, and she saw the need for that, and she asked her pastor's assistant to kind of work together, and she puts these beautiful, down-to-earth, homey illustrations. You guys have heard a lot of these illustrations in the pulpit. When we went through the catechism the first couple years of church here, I drew a lot from that book. That book was wonderful in helping explain the decrees of God, and you start getting into those muddy waters, and you're like, how am I gonna ever explain that as a dad or a mom? But I highly, highly, highly recommend. getting that book. Yeah, so in an age where we need to focus on getting back in the word of God and what it teaches, we need to do those type of things. Now, I wanna give an apology right here to the brethren who went on the Paoli trip. And the reason is because I'm drawing your attention and everyone else, I'm drawing your attention to turn to Proverbs 22. This is our lesson. Proverbs 22, honoring your parents. But I want to apologize to those brothers because... We already read chapter 22 in Proverbs, didn't we? And we did a little devotional, I love it, and you heard me share some thoughts, I love it, and so really what you're going to be hearing is a lot of the same stuff, but that's what you get when you hang out with your pastor through the week, because he's sharing with you things he's preparing and materials he's gathering for his lessons. So, apology up front. If any of you, by the way, if any of you have not had a really good, just gut-wrenching laugh in a long time, During the meal time, please watch, and I hope I don't embarrass you because we're real proud of you, Jacob. But please watch the video of Jacob doing the deck jump, cannonball jump, off of the, into the lake. He, it's great, it's great. You did a great job. I'm not meaning to embarrass you, but it's just a highlight of the trip. So yeah, watch that. But brothers, we went through this and as we were going through it, some things were stirring in the back of my mind and my class or my subject this Sunday is honoring thy parents. You won't get that from the cover page because this was made 11 p.m. last night. But if you look in the inside, page number three at the top, you see we're talking about honoring your parents. So I know the kids in this church at least good enough to know that they have heard an exposition of the fifth commandment, of all of the commandments, probably ever since they were knee-high until now, at least 25-50 times. They have heard pastors take them to the New Testament, and particularly in Ephesians, and apply the commandment to honor your parents. And then be encouraged with the Scriptures that it comes with a promise. And it's the only commandment that comes with a promise. I know you guys have heard that until you're blue in the face. What I want to do today for Proverbs 22 is to consider some thoughts. How does that look? How does that look? Especially for you guys who are between the ages, well, really, I was going to say 12 and 18, 12 to 21, kind of in that older teenager period years. But really, this applies to you young ones, too, under that. What are some things that maybe as moms and dads, especially dads, I'm zeroing in on you a little bit here as we're gonna get into Proverbs, because the text gets zeroed in on you, and then in Genesis it gets zeroed in on us again. We're looking at Adam. What are some things that we are doing to probably make it harder to honor us? And I think Proverbs 22 has some answers for us. So we're gonna get to honoring thy parents, but that's the front door. I'm gonna go through the back door, and we'll get up to that toward the end. All right, let's just look at, and I'll read, and we're just gonna read it straight through. Chapter 22. A good name, this is referring to a reputation of your name, your character, your person. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor, they meet together, the Lord is maker of them all. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. But humility and the fear of the Lord are riches in honor and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward. He that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. train up a child, that is to dedicate a child in the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. You hear that verse taught a lot of ways, and it's really misapplied in many ways. But really what they're saying is each individual, each child is different, and you have to train them up in a different way. It's not a one shoe fits all. The means in which you do it is, yeah, at the root level, the same stuff you're drawing from the wisdom of God's word, but each child's different. A lot of you parents are going, yep, that's true. And that's what that verse is saying. The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall fail. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor. He's charitable. Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out, yea, strife and reproach shall cease. He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend. The eye of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor. The slothful man saith, there is a lion without. I shall be slain in the streets. Making excuses why he can't do his work. The mouth of strange women is a deep pit. He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich shall surely come to want. Remember what we were saying at the introduction to today's message about being teachable. Listen to verse 17. Bow down thine ear. That's what the Lord is saying to us today. Listen closely. Bow down your ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thy heart unto my knowledge. Beautiful verse for it is pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee. They shall with all be fitted in thy lips, that thy trust may be in the Lord. I have made known to thee this day, even to thee, have not I written to thee, to you, he's speaking to you today, excellent things in counsel and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee. And then it goes into where I'm gonna actually draw my lesson from, verses 23 to 29, this wisdom about financial matters and particularly ethical and moral interactions in business, okay? Rob not the poor because he is poor, neither oppressed the afflicted in the gate, the place of business. For the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go. Lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul, be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, as the one who struck the deal, why should he take away thy bed from under thee? The lender will take even your bed when it's time to pay back. And here's the verse I want to work from this morning. Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean or that is common or simple men. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. All right, verse 28. This is what caught my attention throughout the week as I was considering my subject this morning of honoring your parents. Now, on the surface, and of course, in its immediate context, we see verse 28 is teaching us a principle of ethics in business relationships. That's the context that it's in. The inspired prophet here is writing and he's giving wisdom to his son and he's doing what a lot of us daddies do. He's teaching his son how to conduct himself out in the world of commerce a right way. Not to be shady, not to be, you know, cheating anyone. He's to do that to maintain his good reputation. That's the immediate context it's in. That's the plain meaning of it. But under the surface, there's something else in that verse. Because it's an admonition from the father to his son to not remove something that's been established. The father has previously taken great care, wisdom, with much prayer, and he has established a landmark. In the ancient Near East, the inspired prophet in his cultural surroundings in which he's in, he's no doubt referring to the aspect of marking off boundaries of their property. So he has worked and the father has negotiated with somebody and he has taken stones and he's saying from this corner to that corner to that corner, those are the landmarks that we have covenanted with one another and we've agreed belongs to our family. And so what would happen would be that sometimes, well, when you're kind of just out there in the middle of nowhere and you're tending to your sheep, maybe you get a couple of the boys and, you know, I think we can move that rock just over about 10 feet. And if each generation does that, we'll gain, you know, hundreds of acres within two or three generations. And so that was a known unethical, deceitful practice in that time, and so he's admonishing his son, don't move the landmarks. Don't do that. That's not right. That's unethical. That's immoral. Well, when we're considering landmarks, agreements, things that fathers, alongside with their wife's help and influence, have established, and they were to look at their son and say, I've established that. Don't move that. Would it be very honoring of a son or a daughter to say, you know, I know that's important to dad, but dad just don't get it. I mean, the economic times are changing. We're not getting paid as much for our wool that we're turning in. We're not getting paid as much for the crops that we're harvesting. We had a bad year this year. Gotta understand, let's just move that rock over just a little bit. That's not honoring. That's not honoring at all. And as I was thinking about this, and thinking of my own life, how many of you, I'm gonna draw some lines up here, and you tell me where do you think you're at on this? That's, in our parenting, and in our establishing, based on our growth in the Lord's word, and erecting landmarks that, you know, are founded upon His word, we establish those, right? And so you establish a landmark. I don't even know what icon to give it. I'm just going to put a duck. I'm so creative, aren't I? I used to be a graphic designer. So there's the landmark. And how many of you are here? You have the landmark. Johnny was three years old. Sarah was six years old. And God was just really growing in the zeal and the preciousness of a lot of the troops that were swerving. You set that boundary over there, and you put that landmark over there, and you're gone. And now you kind of feel like you're doing this. And then you're doing this, right? And you're, I don't know where you're at over there. That's illustration number one, right? I'm sure I'll hear from some of you brothers later about my illustrations. We'll deal with it later. How many of you are here? I'll draw them, and then I'll tell you where I feel like I'm at. You're kind of here, right? You're kind of like this. And down here. You know, there's somewhat some consistency. You know what I mean? And maybe you're just trying to figure out where you're at this morning, you know? Or how many of you guys would be this? Really, I should have started the dot down below, because that's where we all start, ain't it? How many of you feel like you've had this experience? Let me see a show of hands if you feel like you're that. I can tell you, I'm definitely not that. I definitely am not the guy who, the first little one comes along, and we're reading the Bible, and we're thinking, oh my goodness, how do we do this? I don't know how you're going to be a dad. And then you're a Christian and the Lord really reveals His truth to you. He brings regeneration to you. And perhaps your wife was first or whatever, but you're both trying to figure it out. And you're looking at the Bible and you're saying, you know what? We don't have any landmarks. The invaders are going to come in, put the fences up, board up the windows. And you start off and you just have been maintaining that for a buddy. You know, every time a little weed gets out, dad's got the roundup, and mom's got his back, and she's pumping the pumper while he's spraying. How many of us are this, are we? How many of you feel like, how many of you consider you'd be that middle example where, you know, I've set some landmarks, and things have went pretty good, but then we feel like we've lost sight of our landmark. We haven't been out that side of the pasture in a while, You know, some weeds have grown up, and nobody even knows what the landmark is anymore. I have not even told the kids there's a landmark over there. Right? And then you say, you know what, come on son, I'm going to take you out in the back of the pasture way back where, Dad? You know, the deep dark woods where we never go. And you go back there, and what's this, Dad? Well, son, this was the landmark I set up when you were four years old, and it's real important. Let me tell you why. You know, we chop all the wood down from it, and we knock it down, and we put the weed killer on it. The son even helps. He gets his axe, and he helps you put it down, so he knows it's there. But then you don't go back over there again for another four years. Oh yeah, dad, I remember that was back there. Is it still there? Yeah, it's still there, son. That's kind of where most of us are, right? The top one would be like, that's the parent saying, I'm so lost, I don't even know what landmarks are anymore. I don't think any of us are there. I mean, we know what the Bible says and what the landmarks are and stuff. The whole point I'm getting at here is to you, teenage... I'm speaking to the teenagers primarily on this admonition of honoring your parents because we have a lot of teenagers here this morning who have been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn your Bibles to Ephesians 5.21. And when we are baptized, it is unto repentance in faith, the Gospel of Matthew tells us. We are still Baptists. We do not believe that baptism is a sign and seal of something that's promised in the future. We believe that it's something that designates a working of the heart that's already happened, right? Actually, I get all mixed up sometimes in this big Bible up here. I brought my personal Bible because I'm, as you can tell, I'm going off the top of my head today. Ephesians 5.21. Tying this into the Christian young adults here and Christian children. The apostle Paul, the inspired apostle, is about to give instructions of how to relate to one another in different spheres of society. Domestically at home, and then between masters and slaves, between the marital relationship, husbands and wives. But before he even gives or gets started into how do you work out these relationships with one another, He says to them, submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God. So he can't even begin to tell wives what is the right way to be a wife to your husband, and husband, what's the right way to be to your wife, a husband, and children, how to relate to your parents, and parents, how to relate, unless you're not first walking and submitting to the fear of God. So, When I'm saying what I'm saying, I'm making a very huge assumption that you're still owning your Christian faith. That you're still owning the declaration that you made publicly to the church And first of all, to your mother and father, but then to the church, to the world before the eyes of God. And you're saying, I still confess the Lord Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. And that I am a new creature. I didn't say perfect creature, but a new one. And you're saying, I want to walk in the fear of the Lord. I'm assuming you're still there. I hope you are. I hope you are. I mean, we all get in the ditches sometimes, and that's certainly true. And going back to what I said earlier, just because you come to a, you know, a church like this where, you know, we have certain distinctives that we all agree, that doesn't mean it's perfect. You know, being all aged together here in the Sunday school class time and church works time doesn't mean we're kind of all together. But I'm assuming Those of you teenagers who have been baptized, you're still there. You're still holding on to Jesus. Jesus is holding on to you by His grace. And you're claiming Him with all of your sanctified ability to do so. And I'm coming back to you and I'm saying, Are you honoring your father in the landmarks that he has erected based upon the word of God? Or are you constantly seeking a way to chip away at it? Ask yourselves. There's an admonition there in the text to not remove the landmarks. Guys, listen. We've been learning about Satan, the person in the work of Satan, and last week, you know, the world and the nature and the mechanics of temptation. Everything in this world is working to remove mom and dad's landmarks. They have an entire world system constantly grinding. We went to Spring Mill State Park, beautiful park in the state of Indiana. If you guys have ever been, you've got to go. They have a functioning grindstone in the mill. It's humongous. I don't know how many tons it weighs, but it's humongous. And it's grinding that mill. They bring in the corn. It's got the hard outer shell. And what do they got to do? They got to pound it, pound it, and pound it until it's almost dust. That's the pressure. That's the stress. that a loving, caring, God-fearing father who has diligently, up until this point, maintained some landmarks, gathered some weeds. That's what he feels. And in the word of God, not just here, the prophet Jeremiah says too, walk in the old paths. If you are attempting to chip away instead of coming behind dad and saying, you know, dad, I probably would have built the landmark with two stones on the bottom because, man, that would have made it a lot stronger. You know what your dad would say? Oh, son, that's a good idea, buddy. What else would you do? Or are you constantly murmuring and complaining and saying, you know, dad, You know, what's a good Bible name? Joseph, Joe over there. He knows where our land, the mark is. We don't need that anymore, dad. I could use those rocks somewhere else. That's just totally unnecessary. We need to take it down. What's honoring to your father? What's honoring to you? Are you trying to remove landmarks that dad has established in the home? As he established them perfectly, no, maybe he used a weak PSI concrete initially, and it's leaning a little bit. But the mortar that he put into it is stuff that he got out of God's word. He didn't just make it up in thin air. He goes to God's Word and he reads it and he says, wow, yeah, boy, that could really cause some danger, that thing over there. We're gonna have to put a landmark there. Hey, don't go past that landmark. That's dangerous over there, son. That's dangerous. A lot of briars and thorns over there. You stay on this side of the landmark. Don't go past the landmark. Are you trying to remove the landmark? Then you have to ask this question, where do you get the authority in God's Word to be the arbitrator of what are the landmarks and what are not. Well, Pastor Doug, kids, I know I'm not the most popular guy, but I'm used to it. Well, Pastor Doug, you see, Dad's landmarks when I was 10, well, I kind of needed to know where those things were at. But in my epistemology and my growing of acquiring knowledge and applying knowledge, I have wisdom. I've gotten to the point to where, you know, I really don't need dad's landmarks. I'm at the point to where I can navigate my own way. And so dad's landmarks all together are useless for me, really. Wow, you've come off that divine hill up there on the mountain and you're just, you know, somebody important. Why don't I just step down and you can come up here and teach us all? That's not what we see in scriptures, young ones, you know that. You know that. We're gonna see it in Genesis later on this morning. Adam, who was endowed with infinite knowledge. I shouldn't say infinite, it was limited, but you get the point. Far superior than yours or mine, He still need a Heavenly Father to come and apply some wisdom to him when he was wrong. Me and you are the same way. Stop it. Stop it this morning of removing the landmarks that your Father has erected in your homes. Honor them. Help Him. Pray for Him. Dads, I was having a conversation this week down at the conference. By the way, it was a wonderful conference. I love it when I go to those conferences. I don't get to a lot of those kind of family-oriented conferences, but when I do, I was telling someone, I think it was Jessica last night, I'm so blessed because I see men who are at the dot, brothers. They're at the dot, and they're like, oh my goodness, Christianity's for real. It's messy. And I've been walking in the mud too much. I need to get out of the mud. You know, I love it. It's so real. It's so genuine. It's people who are trying to just walk in the truths of what it means to be a Christian. and there were guys down there I connected a lot with Indiana but you know one heartbeat when you get they they broke us up into prayer groups most of us were like 10 people in a prayer group and there were seven or eight different prayer groups and in our prayer group and I picked it up later The main heartbeat, I'm speaking to you fathers now, the fathers are included in this verse, and you guys can chastise me later, I know I'm stretching the verse a little bit here, but you know what I'm saying is rooted down deep in all the principles we hear in God's Word. You know that to be true, young ones. I'm not getting up here and giving you a one hour exegeting of the text. But you search the Scriptures and you prove me wrong, anything that I've said, prove me wrong. But I'm aiming at the fathers here because the heartbeat we heard in those prayer times was this. I am not setting up landmarks. I'm not taking the time. I'm not maintaining them. I mean, guys crying and weeping out. That's nothing short of a beautiful revival. A beautiful revival. The Holy Spirit revealing to them what it means to be a shepherd. We went through Ezekiel 34. Brother Brown walked us down through it. It was so precious and all of us were being reminded, oh my goodness, I need to go back to shepherd school again. And that's what we do. That's what we do in the church. That's what we're doing right now. We're doing what? Shepherd school here. We're doing what? Pasture management school. Young ones, we're laying out again where the fence lines are and how you will graze in the good pastures. Don't kick against the pricks, young ones. The Lord God, especially those of you who claim the crown of Christ over your life, honor your Father, help Him, support Him, get engaged with Him. Dads, you are provoking your children to anger We were just over there at Ephesians. Ephesians 6, chapter 6, I believe verse 4. You're provoking them to anger if you are neglecting the landmarks. If you haven't even established them and notified them to the family, but yet you're reacting to breaches of the landmark, and the kids are like, whoa, I didn't even know you felt like that, dad. Where'd this come from? You're gonna provoke your children to anger. But, You're the shepherd, brothers. Shame on us if we're not shepherding, leading. We're reformed folks. We believe in the sovereignty of God, but God calls us to have the rod. You heard it in the text, what it's sometimes used for. Don't worry, kids, I'm not going to go there. But He had the rod, and He's leading, and He's using it, and He's not fearful if the sheep Don't like the pasture. He's going to take them where they need to go. And the sheep, what? Need to follow the shepherd. You're going to provoke them to anger if you don't let them know where the lines are and they're going up and they're touching the electric fence all the time because you never trained them or you never showed them, right? Wow, this guy's really unfair, cruel almost. That's how you provoke them to anger. Dads, don't shepherd in fear. Shepherd in obedience to the Word. Don't shepherd in the fear of your own flesh. I know myself, sometimes I question myself more than I'm thinking what other people are questioning. And I gotta come back to God's Word. I got a plant, I got a water, I got a prune. I got a plant, I got a water, I got a prune. I got a plant, I got a water, a prune. And guess what? We believe in the sovereignty of God. Dads, let's do our part. Moms, oh, we need your help. I'm not turning this into a marriage lesson, but we need your help. We need your help so much, but let's do our part and let God do his part. Let's consistently do our part, and God will do his part. One of the preachers down there was talking about how much we lack faith in praying for, you know, maybe you're up on that line and you're down at the low spot, right? And you're like, I don't know. I've been maintaining the landmarks. You know, I mean, they just kick it against them, trying to climb over them all the time. I just don't know what to do. Have faith. Keep the faith. Are you praying that God, he was saying, will give you a fish, and you think that he's just gonna keep giving you stones? He will give you a fish. But are you asking? Are you really, truly pouring out your heart and asking? Are you being consistent? Do those things. Make the landmarks clear, and by God's grace, they will stand. Your children will finally see, that's the wisdom in that landmark. And you know what, perhaps, It may take young Johnny or Sarah having their own young ones, and sometimes this is the case, and they have to establish their own landmarks, and they'll say, you know what, how did dad build that landmark? And dad will be sitting back going, I'm glad he finally got it. But God will do his part in his timing. Dads be the shepherds, establish the landmarks. Young ones, honor your father and his landmarks. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do come before you this morning, and we are so thankful to you. You show us, you teach us, you bless us in the examples of the kind, merciful, and consistent pursuing a shepherd. Lord God, we confess to you that we are in so many realms of our relationships, specifically this morning, the parent and child relationship realm. Lord, we're so weak. Lord, we're not submitting to you in the fear of what your word says properly. We asked you for you to forgive us. God, we corporately are confessing to you this morning, Lord, that really the grossness, the lasciviousness of our sins, of taking this precious manna you have given us and have not diligently sought you. Oh God, forgive us and we accept your forgiveness, Father. Oh God, thank you in Christ that you have forgiven us. Help us to walk now as your forgiven sons and daughters. Help us to walk in the light of your renewing love and your mercy. Oh, the power of the renewed mind. God, we ask that you would enable us and equip us even more to go out and Perhaps tear down the briars and the vines and the weeds that have grown up. Come back to the centrality of your word, anew and afresh, and remind us of why that landmark is even there. Perhaps, Father, as we transition as families and in our relationships with children, from being younger to older, there's new landmarks that gotta be established. Help give the mothers and the fathers the wisdom to discern from your word the proper landmarks that need to be erected. These parents, oh God, are fighting against anything that wants to even establish a landmark. You know the context in which we live. And I pray, oh God, you would give us strength Help us to get our trowels out. Help us to keep the sword sharp. And labor in the work of love. In the work of love. Father, I particularly pray for my brethren this morning. God, that you would help us to discern the time that it takes to do these things. Even the best of us. Lord, begin to neglect the maintaining of the landmarks. We are busy people. We have a busy life. I'd be the first one to admit it. But oh God, whatever we have to do, we must do it. These years, these times are precious and we will not ever get them back. Give us, I pray oh God, clear sight and clear vision as the shepherds in the little vineyard and pasture you've given us. Help us oh God. to erect and maintain biblical landmarks. Bless the hearts, I pray, Father, of our children. Bless the hearts of these young adults amongst us. Oh, give them the discernment, God, to understand what's at the foundation of those landmarks. Help them to appreciate and honor them, oh Lord. I fully understand. I'm not speaking as if I was never their age. I fully understand the struggles and the temptations they wrestled with as born-again believers in Christ with their flesh. But I call upon you, O God, O Spirit of God, Guard their hearts, lead their minds, not according to their emotions, not according to the assessments of how good their parents are doing. God, lead them according to the black and white truths of your word. Give them a thirst, oh God, for your wills as revealed in scripture. Help these people, I pray, Father. Help me and my family, oh God. Oh, Father, I never want to be guilty of what Paul talks about of the blind trying to lead the blind or being a hypocrite. Father, I ask you to help me and Jessica as well do these same things. Help us to maintain guard and protect and lead. Give us consistency, a will and a desire, Father, to keep our hands to the plow of what we know to be true. Bless your church, Father. Help us to grow. in truth and in love. In Jesus' name, Amen.