And what I want to do tonight is just kind of make an argument for why we need, this is not a new argument, this is not original, an original argument with me. This is a biblical mandate, it's a biblical argument. We're gonna let Jeremiah help us understand why it's important that both family and church are intricately designed and equipped and fit for the day in which we find ourselves in. And so if you want to make way to Jeremiah chapter 5, we'll observe a few things out of chapter 5, a few things out of chapter 6, and then a familiar piece of Jeremiah out of chapter 29 that I want us to use as really kind of a framework. And what I want to do is encourage you who are here tonight Pick up that book and begin reading it if you haven't even already. Read a chapter a day. They're real short chapters. If you've looked at the book, it's designed to be short. Scott shared with me as he was writing the book, he wanted a book that would be practical, a book that would be inspirational, a book that would encourage families and strengthen churches all at the same time. I think I shared with you this morning whenever he sent me the early copy of the book. And as I was reading through the first chapter, I was convinced I wanted you to have a copy of this even before I finished the book. And I finished it within a couple of days. So if you wanted to read the whole book in one sit down, it can actually be done. You can see the size of the book is not that gigantic. It's designed with some discussion questions for you to talk about in your home. Primarily, essentially it is for moms and dads to ask questions, investigate what you're doing, how you're presenting a pathway for the children. And then why I wanted everyone in this church to have a copy of it, every household to have it, whether you have small children in the home or not, is I want you to know some helpful things that you can do to help these younger families. And there are things that you can do, other than just sit back and think, I'm so glad I'm not raising kids anymore. That's not helpful at all. And nor should you sit back and think, well, you know, if those were my kids, they would be sitting still. Because you have forgotten what it was like to have little children sitting next to you. And then, because I believe that there are two ways in which children learn. I think all of us learn this, but especially children. They learn by actively being taught, intentionally or formally being taught, and they learn a lot of passive things. In other words, things they learn just by watching and observing. And so, I think there's things that we do as a church that actually helps or hinders what these little eyes see every time we gather. They watch us sing. They listen to us sing. Whether they get the words right or not, as Albert has already testified, before he could read or write, he was singing these songs. And I think that we've heard these glorious sounds in our own church. And some of them sing with great volume, and it's a sweet thing to hear. What's that? Yeah, Sylvia. Listen, you need to come on Wednesday night sometime just to watch Sylvia. It's quite a pleasure, and of course, one of my favorite things to do is listen to Milo sing our benediction. and watching other parents and their children are watching, they're listening, they're singing. I think I shared with you several weeks ago a conversation I was having with one of our little children in the church and describing what building we were gonna be in. They know nothing about the old building and the new building. I don't know why we call it that anymore because we've been in this building for about 10 years. So anyway, it came down to this. That's the building where we sing the Amen song, which is the benediction, our doxology. So even some of our children have renamed the doxology as the Amen song. So our children are watching us, and that's good, and it's right that they do. What I wanna do is rather than just journey through life, and the children just pick up the passive, because you know what, they're gonna pick, when they're picking up the passive, they're picking up the good and the bad. They're watching, they're observing, they're absorbing it, and then they will, in turn, turn around and practice much the same way in which those that were around them did. So whether you see your duty at the gathered church as this or not, you have enormous impact on these little boys and girls as they're watching, as they're observing. And so if you had the opportunity to read the little note that I put in the book, I want you to see there's these three primary things that I'm praying for, for our church during this time. I am encouraged, I want every household to be reading this book. So those who didn't get a copy of this book, they're gonna be about, a week and a half behind us by the time we get the next shipment of books here. But I want you reading this, and I want to encourage you, I want you to read it with a willingness to be uncomfortable. I think there is benefit in reading something that convicts us, that makes us cringe a little bit, and even challenges our position on something. So I'm asking you to be willing to be uncomfortable with some of the things you're gonna read in the book. For you, and we'll look at some particulars that I'm really excited about of the things that Scott's gonna argue for. And you'll know this when you begin to read it. It's designed essentially to be a daily devotional. So it's gonna have scripture text in it. It's gonna be driven from scripture. And then in a real practical way, how do you apply this in your home? And then of course, with the different ages of the children, it gets applied in various ways differently. And then even inside of the homes that don't have children, what can you be doing while you're knowing that your church family at large is reading this together at the same time? And then I want you I want you to be reading this, obviously, honestly, as you examine your family, as we examine our church. I think it's, well, I know it's Martin Luther who argues that the work of reformation is a perpetual work. It's a never-ending work. We're always bringing ourselves into subjection to scripture. Scripture is the authority. The work of sanctification, And I love that sanctification is a work that happens at every age. And I think every one of us could sit here and say, you know, there were times whenever I was younger, I thought like this, I behaved like this, and now that I'm 10 years older and I see how foolish that was, I no longer do that, and I no longer say those things, or I no longer do those things or practice, or some, like even in my own life, completely repented of and said, I don't want anything to do with that, and we've done so even as a church. so individually as well as corporately, willing to always be reforming to Scripture, to the standard of Scripture, to being sanctified. Second that I want to encourage you in this is I would hope that you would consider inviting other families to read the book with us as a church. As you see one another, These are short enough chapters that there's things in them that you might see when you gather next Lord's Day or, Lord willing, even before then, you gather together and maybe there's something you can encourage somebody in, something that you're observing or noticing about them, but would you be willing to invite other people in our church body to gather more than just a Sunday morning 10.30 gathering? I think that's a significantly important gathering. But I do think that we also treat that one as though that covers all the other times we meet. And there's things that we do in these other gatherings that I think are beneficial. And so where I'm saying, would you consider inviting other families in our church to do more than just the one gathering, especially during the time while we're reading the book together. Maybe, perhaps, you would consider. We have a Sunday school hour at 9.15 on Sunday mornings, and all of our gatherings are age-integrated, so the potential in any church gathering we have, you're gonna be in a room, most likely, with people of all ages. And we chose to do that several years ago on purpose, primarily because we want our children to hear adults think, talk, pray, give defense, and give testimony of how God's moving in their lives. And there's probably one of the best opportunities that sit there for you is our Sunday morning Sunday school hour at 9.15. for your children to have, to be sitting in a room and hearing an 80-year-old man, or an 80-year-old woman, or a 30-year-old man, a single man, or a married man, or one who just lost his job, and hearing how the Lord is strengthening him, or just to be able to hear how the Word of God sits on individuals, obviously our Sunday morning gathering. I do believe, and by our own expression as a church, you charge me to provide weekly worship gatherings for the church. So it's something you want us to do, and it's something we're charged to do in scripture, that we would gather together, that we would sing, that we would pray, that we would hear the word of God, and that we would worship him together. Our Sunday evenings, obviously you're here this evening, you're aware that we have a Sunday evening gathering. It is similar to our Sunday morning gathering, but it's also quite more relaxed. And it really is driven, not more topical, but more relational or more driven with right now, here's what's going on, current event application from the influence of Scripture. And then, of course, our Wednesday night gathering, which I say is sadly today one of the most intentionally avoided gatherings of the church when the church gathers for prayer. One might even ask, well, where's the evidence that there's prayer gatherings in the New Testament? And I'll take you to the book of Acts, and we find great argument for it. When Paul arrives in Philippi, the first place he does is he goes to find out where the church gathers to pray. And he found out that it's down by the river, and that's where he met the household where the church would begin to gather and spread through the Macedonian region, and that being the home of Lydia. There, at the river, where the church gathered to pray, is where he met Lydia and her household. And so, my commitment to you in all four of those corporate gatherings that we provide as a church is that we believe they are significantly important. And we don't just do them out of tradition. We do them because we believe there is benefit to body and soul in the participation of those things. So that's my encouragement to you to consider. I'm saying here, would you consider at least attending three of the four gatherings that we have And then after I wrote that, I said, well, that's putting the bar pretty low, brother preacher. Why not say, would you consider attending all four of the four gatherings that we have? Three of them on Sunday and one of them on Wednesday. But I believe that the uniqueness of each of those, there's benefit to body and soul. And then of course, two Sundays a month, we sit down at the table and eat some food together. So there's good for the body and the soul there as well. And then thirdly, would you consider yourself as both being discipled and discipling? And here's where I say both active and passively. And here's where I would say to the church family who do not have children in your homes, is understand this, these children in this church, they notice when you're here. They notice when you're not here. They will practice the general practice of the church body. They see you here without your spouse. Don't think they don't notice that. You are doing some level of discipleship. And obviously, we all understand there are times whenever you come without your spouse Sometimes I come without Renee. Whenever I'm out of town, sometimes Renee comes without me. So they'll notice those things. But what is the general practice of the households in this church? Do households gather together or is it pretty fragmented? And don't think that that's not noticed by the children. And so my encouragement that you would, you would realize that you are discipling children by the way you practice your church attendance or your participation when the church has gathered, for that matter. They'll notice if you've checked out. They'll notice if you're busy on your phone. They'll notice if you're busy with great distractions. Those are the passive things that they're noticing. You're not intending to teach them that church is boring and you'd rather be anywhere else but here, but be careful. they're watching, they're observing, they're noticing these things about you as well. So I'm pleased to labor with a church body that wants to infiltrate the culture that we live in with the gospel. And so that's what I want us to do, just take a couple of observations out of Jeremiah and make a few statements see the richness of what Jeremiah is noticing in his day and the benefit that it would be for us in our day in both home and church. So, first of all, let's notice this in Jeremiah chapter 5. This will be helpful because we've been in the book of Isaiah on Sunday mornings for so long. Isaiah is prophesying before captivity and Jeremiah is prophesying while in captivity. And so there's a lot of things that correlate between Isaiah and Jeremiah. Jeremiah will be almost as though you're hearing him say, do you remember when Isaiah said this? Do you remember when Isaiah said you would be in a land other than your own? Do you remember why Isaiah said you would be there? And then later, when we get to that more familiar piece in Jeremiah 29, we'll hear Jeremiah say, almost as though he's bringing Isaiah up even again. You remember when Isaiah said, when you're there, you ought to build houses and plant gardens and get married and have children, if the Lord would bless your household with children, and be good for the government, be a benefit for them? Well, Jeremiah will say that's what you ought to do. And he'll send a letter from Jerusalem to the exiles in Babylon with those exact instructions. So in coming off of the idea that we are instructing and discipling both passively and actively, and this is happening in our homes. So notice this when we read in Jeremiah, things that get said in the household about church has great impact upon your children. If you talk about church being boring, they will eventually look at church as being boring. If you think, if you go home and you complain about somebody doing something at church, guess what? It won't take long that your children will think it's okay to complain about others in the church body. So what Scott Brown is gonna make an argument for through the 20 chapters here is that you would look at yourself really as a tour guide of the glory of God. If parents would view themselves as tour guides through the journey of looking to the Almighty God. I don't know if you've ever been on a tour guide with someone, but we live out here in the West, and I don't know how often you go to Yellowstone, or if you've ever been there, if you've ever been on any formal tours or excavations through the park, You know, there's a lot of difference in some guy who's leading a tour, who's ready to be done with the tour, and someone who could keep you there all day long, and captivate you with enthusiasm and excitement about the next geyser you're about to watch, or about the next mud pit that you're gonna see. I mean, they can get really excited about a mud pit, or they can take on how I feel about it and say, well, here's another mud pit. It won't be long, and that's how you look at mud pits. In no way am I trying to compare the glory of God to a mud pit in Yellowstone, but I do think that there's valid benefit for us to see the way you talk about God, the way you talk about the church, it will influence these children eventually in how they think and view the church. It has great potential to do so anyway. Jeremiah chapter five. We'll just read a little bit here. I'll just start in verse one. The question here sits on us. Why did the Israelites have to go to exile? Listen how Jeremiah says, roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note. and seek in her open squares if you can find a man. If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her. Although they say, as the Lord lives, surely they swear falsely. O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, but they did not weaken. but have consumed them, or you have consumed them, but they refuse to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock, and they have refused to repent. Let's stop there and make a couple of observations and then move along. You see, there's something that Jeremiah is wanting us to see. From this vantage point in 2021, Jeremiah say, go ahead and go among the people who bear the name of God, and look and see, is there anyone there who really loves God? Is there anybody here who is taken and captivated by the splendor and the glory of God? Well, listen, I think that would be among one of the great tragedies of any church, that the children would notice no one here really seeks after God. Really, they're just here for some kind of a fancy reason, some kind of a romantic idea. But really, they're not pursuing the glory of God. Well, he says further, then I said there are only the poor. They are foolish, for they have not known the way of the Lord or the ordinances of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord and the ordinances of their the ordinance of their God. But they, too, with one accord, have broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Therefore, a lion from the forest will slay them. A wolf from the deserts will destroy them. A leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out to them will be torn in pieces because their transgressions are many and their apostasies are numerous. Is this an indictment about your family? Is this an indictment about your church? That there is no fear of God in your household. There is no fear of God at the church house. And so consequently, any beast can come along and devour you with some false philosophy or some foreign aberrant theology. This is the condition of the people into why they would eventually be taken into captivity and suffer in such a way. Verse 7, why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken me and sworn by those who are not gods when I have fed them to the full. They committed adultery and trooped and tromped. I put an M where there is no M. They tromped on the harlot's house and they were well fed, lusty horses each one naying after his neighbor's wife, shall I punish these people, declares the Lord. And on a nation, which as this shall I not avenge myself, go up to the vine, rose and destroy. Do not execute, but do not execute the complete destruction. Strip away their branches, for they are not the Lord's. for the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dwelt very treacherously with me, declares the Lord. They have lied about the Lord and have said, not he. Misfortune will not come to us, for we will not see sword or famine. The prophets are as wind, and the word is not in them. Thus, it will be done to them. So there's a lot of things to observe here. I'll do my best to just be quick in the observation. Do you realize that, and I think this is true of every era of the church, that the enemy would love to completely distract you from the glory of God? He's doing so in your homes, and when he does so in our homes, he does so at the church. It won't take long that if the family is completely given into the adulterated worship of God and given it to every other God who comes along or to everything that fancies their attention and captures them, it won't take long that they will demand their church give them the same thing they are hungry for in their homes. Is this perhaps not the condition of the Western church today? It certainly was the condition of the congregation of God here. And then there is judgment that is brought upon them because of their love for the things of this world. And listen how close to home this comes. Therefore, this is verse 14, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth fire, and this people would, and it will consume them, Behold, I am bringing a nation against them from afar. Jeremiah is saying Babylon is on the march. They are coming. They will take us off. For behold, I'm bringing a nation against you from afar. O house of Israel, declares the Lord. It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. Their quiver is like an open grave. All of them are mighty men. They will devour your harvest and your food. Notice what they're going to do to your children. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They will devour your flocks and your herds. They will devour your vines and your fig trees. They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust. The enemy has got his sights on your children. And if you do not see this now, oh may God have mercy. and may He save them in spite of us. It is the kind of day we are in, and it is the kind of day, arguably, that the church has always been in. She must not let down her guard. Let me move you over to the sixth chapter of Jeremiah, make mention of a few things here, and then let's get to the 29th chapter and make some conclusions here. Look at chapter six, verse one. Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin. Now it's the enemy, he is here. And he's saying, flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin. From the midst of Jerusalem, now blow a trumpet in Tekoa and raise a signal over Beth-Hecharim. For evil looks down from the north and a great destruction. The comely and the dainty one, the daughter of Zion, remember that's Jerusalem, that's the temple herself, daughter of Zion, I will cut off. Shepherds and their flocks will come to her and will pitch their tents around her. They will pasture each in his place. Prepare war against her. Arise and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day declines and the shadows of the evening lengthen. Arise and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces. For thus says the Lord of hosts, cut down her trees and cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished in whose midst there is only oppression. As a well keeps its waters fresh, So she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her. Sickness and wounds are ever before me. Be warned, O Jerusalem, or I shall be alienated from you and make you a desolation, a land not inhabited." There's so many warnings here. Do you recall what we know about what's going on in the city of Jerusalem during the days of the captivity? They were going to the temple. They were attending to their commands. They were doing what God commanded them to do in that sense. But as we've learned mostly from Isaiah, who's living in the days that lead to the captivity, They are at the same time practicing the wickedness of the world. They are fully engaged and not giving a care in the world of the kind of influence that the current age will have upon their own children. Rather than families and rather than the priest putting the glory of God in front of them, they've really reduced God in his spectacular glory down to look around the city now and notice that we've allowed this God and that God, we've built this temple for your convenience and we've allowed that temple for those who are among us who worship this God and we go there and we offer sacrifices there because it seems culturally pleasant for us to get along with those who don't believe the same way as we do. And then eventually what has happened Perhaps more unintentionally than intentionally is that you have a nation who's raised a generation of children who more love the dead gods than love the living God. So consequently, they're in condition now to be at the place where God would raise up the people to come and to remove them, to remind them of the glory of God. Well, a few more thoughts out of Jeremiah chapter six, verse nine. Thus says the Lord, they will thoroughly glean as the vine, the remnant of Israel, pass your hand again like a grape gatherer over the branches. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, your ears are closed and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them They have no delight in it. But I am full of the wrath of the Lord, I am weary with holding it in. Pour it out on the children in the street and on the gathering of young men together. For both husband and wife shall be taken, the aged and the very old. Their houses shall be turned over to others and their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, declares the Lord. Or from the least of them, even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain. And from the prophet, even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. Did you did you hear that? From the prophet to the priest. So even the church, even the congregation of God has been overcome by the culture. Not only is the household given in, but the house of God has given in. Verse 14, they have healed the brokenness of my people superficially, saying, peace, peace, but there is no peace. Were they ashamed because of the abomination that they have done? They were not even ashamed at all. They did not even know how to blush, therefore they will fall among those who fall. At the time that I punish them, they shall be cast down, says the Lord. Verse 16, thus says the Lord. Here's where I want you to take an honest evaluation with me as a church and as households. Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it. And I sent watchmen over you saying, listen, to the sound of the trumpet, but they said, we will not listen. Therefore, hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, that I am among them. Hear, O earth, behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their planes, because they have not listened to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it also. For what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, and the sweet cane from the distant land, your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me." That's telling you they were still doing everything they thought would please God. And God's telling them, they bring no pleasure to me. Therefore, thus says the Lord, verse 21, behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people, and they will stumble against them. Fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend will perish. Well, there's so much. So much we could learn as we look at our own current day. Go with me to the 29th chapter. So no longer is Babylon about to take them into captivity. No longer are they at the city gates. They are now They now have taken up residence in Babylon. Jeremiah is still in the ruined city of Jerusalem. Everything that Jeremiah sees is ruined, ruined, ruined. That which was at one time a thriving place of the glory of God is nothing more than rubble and ruin. And so Jeremiah sends word to the exiles. He says in the 29th chapter, Verse one. Now, these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah, the prophet, sent to from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exiles. You should understand it to the families, to the households, to the heads of the houses, the elders of the exile that sent it to the priests and to the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This is the letter King Jehoiachin, Jeconah, and the queen mother, the count officials, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem. The craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. Verse three, the letter was sent by the hand of Elish, the son of Shefen, the Gamera, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon saying, so this went through a lot of hands. This is what it says, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. So don't miss who the acting agent in all of this is. For God's own glory and for their very good, God sends them into exile. build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat from the produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream, for they prophesy falsely to you in my name, I have not sent them, declares the Lord. For thus says the Lord, when 70 years have been complete for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you to bring you back to this place. Well, someday I'll have to preach through Jeremiah to bring everything out of this that I want to do. But I want to encourage you today. to learn from this real historic season of time of God's people. Learn the things to avoid and learn the things to do whenever God is merciful and lets you see the hardship and the hard day that you're in. Live differently. Live all together differently than the world. I want to I want to recapture this part of our past. More like what Jeremiah is arguing for in chapter five and six. Go to the ancient paths and see. What are the good things from the past that we need to really pick back up? And listen, there are plenty of things of our past that we need to leave in the dirt. But what about the ancient path that was to our benefit? The benefit of a people who are going to live as a counter-culture people cannot assume they can do that in an hour and 15 minutes every week. When you have nearly seven full days of total attack against you from the culture, You cannot assume that an hour and a half of time on a day where most of the rest of the culture is sleeping in is the day that you're gonna say, I'm devoting that time to the Lord. I'm saying in the day like this, you're going to need much more influence from the holy things of God than you think. Your children are going to need more influence from the holy things of God than from the worldly things that are so easily entrap them and snare them. I wanna help you train your children to look forward to gatherings of this church. I know some will say, well, you can help a lot, preacher, if you'd just be shorter. Well, I don't disagree with you. so long as we're not cutting the value and the benefit of the Word of God. I want adults without children in their homes to miss the children when they're not here. I want us to consider a major counter-cultural shift as a church. The growing trend among churches is Nobody's gonna give your church more than an hour and a half, so just give them an hour and a half. And be pleased that they'll give you an hour and a half. I'm saying I'm not satisfied to give minimum here. I think we're living in a day where our children and our adults, all of the church body, need the maximum amount of influence. We don't know what the day holds for us. I shared with you on Wednesday night as we were praying about the brothers in Canada, the brothers in California, the brothers in North Idaho. The day we live in is radically different than the day most of you grew up. How will we ever expect our children to stand for the truth if we really don't treat the truth as that one thing that will sustain us. We've been eating off the dessert table for too long, and the dessert table will not sustain longstanding nutrition. I know as sad as that news is to hear, it is the truth. I wanna encourage more intentional active training of ourselves and of our children. And I want us to realize the danger of unintended consequences that come from our passive apathy. Whether the children attend more than just a Sunday morning gathering or not, if they were to show up on a Sunday evening, what would they think of your household? What would they think of those who gather at, or what do those in your household think of God, if this is what they would see if they came? What would they do there? How would they endure? How would they interpret it? Then how would they practice that in their own lives? We need both active and passive training of the holy things of God. So, we pose the question, are you training your child in the way that they will go. That is what the proverb says, train up a child in the way they should go. And when they're old, they will not depart from it. So what have you been training your children to do so that when they're old, they won't depart from that method or that path of training that you've had them on? Do you realize what way they are currently going? It's like aiming arrows. And we know this is a piece of scripture that speaks about the children really are like an archer. The parent's duty is really to raise up a child to be shot out of the home. And how are you gonna shoot them? Are you just gonna open up the door someday and kick them out? You're 18, culture says, good luck, so good luck. Or are we gonna intentionally fire them toward a target? that will set them up to seek the face of God. It doesn't guarantee that they will, by the way. But are you intentionally training up these children as good, to be archers themselves? In whatever culture they grow up in, that they too will train up their children in the way they should go and seek the face of God. So what are you Or are you treating, are you thinking of your children as arrows, like that allegory or that analogy is? The duty here is that you would send them out of your homes. The tragedy is that most in the current world think that that's the goal of raising children, is that you somehow get them through childhood alive, and then you send them out, you've done your duty. Well, the Christian's duty It's far more than that. That is to raise up sons and daughters with skills and with thinking and with abilities to go and counter the culture that they live in. You know what the Western Church has largely done with this? You really cannot say that the Western Church is a counterculture to anything. The Western Church is really an alternative culture. Which, by the way, stands in the way of nobody. Counterculture speaks righteousness into the unrighteous culture and stands in the gap. Stands in the way. Do we really think that what we've equipped our children to do, that we've equipped them to stand in the way of any unrighteousness? Or have we really equipped them to be swept away by the unrighteousness? and to advance it even further. And of course you know this, and this isn't to be a downer of all things, but even if you do everything right, the way, you may still aim that arrow and it may not even come close to a target that you were aiming at at all. But don't be discouraged. Your duty is still the same. But I'm convinced this happens best. We aim them and we hit the target best when we're praying parents, we're a praying church. We're intending to bless the children with joy in the Lord, rather than burden them with religious shackles. So what I want you to do in the coming days is that book. is to to to to let you know the intention here in each of these chapters is to give you practical things you can do to help your children to be filled with joy at the church house. And so you perhaps you've already looked at the chapter titles. This is one of the first things I do with every book I read. And if you don't believe me, just ask Renee, because I read them out loud to her. And that's the title of every chapter of the book. I don't think we've gotten to every chapter in this book yet. Oh, Renee's telling me, yes, you did. So, good. I'm glad. I'd hate to be behind the game here. So, the things that this book is going to cover that Scott Brown wants to do is give some practical, real-life, rubber-meeting-the-road kind of practices and principles that you can teach your children at your home and behave like an enthusiastic tour guide of the glories of God. He's gonna talk about this. This is the first chapter. He's gonna bring it up tour guides of everlasting joy He's gonna just hit hit home and say mom and dad the way you're talking about God is critical Listen every adult in this room the way you're talking about God the way you're treating the holy things of God. It says everything about your your tour guide skills Are you ready to go home? Are you looking at your watch saying, I'm ready for this crowd to go home, or are you so enthusiastic about this that you just want them to see every aspect of the glory of God? The second chapter is entitled The Golden Opportunity, meaning literally taking up and understanding what Matthew Henry argues for, that the home is really a small, tiny church, and that there ought to be teaching and praying and singing happening in the home. It's a glorious opportunity. Chapter three, the church needs strong families. Oh my goodness, that is perhaps the most understated statement that you'll read in this book. Churches need strong families. Chapter four is entitled Love the Church. Talk about her the way you would want your children to talk about the bride of Christ. show them the treasures, that it's joined and knit together. God has purposefully put you in a church family, knit you together with people of all kinds of backgrounds and circumstances and situations. Chapter seven is the significance of face-to-face relationships. It's interesting that Scott Brown was writing this book before the COVID pandemic broke out, And then it didn't come out in the published form until Saturday. So it's been nearly a full year in preparation. And he's arguing for the very thing that the modern church in the Western context has basically thrown aside and thought little about. The value of face-to-face gatherings, relationships. Young children having face-to-face relationships with senior adults. I don't think you can under-appreciate how valuable that is. And the older adults, do not grow weary of these little feet. He talks about the day of rest, a reminder of what the Sabbath is, what a day of rest is intended to do. create delight, not angst, not frustration. It's a day to be filled with joy in the Lord. Delightful celebration. I mean, if we talked about the coming Lord's Day as a delightful encounter, what might our children, I mean, we talk about the other, you know when your children are excited about going somewhere because they've heard you talk about it being so delightful. What if we, not making things up about the church, But what if we first of all saw the church for what it was and then we spoke about it for what it is? Well, my phone keeps going to sleep. Perhaps you are too. How to deal with the significance and the importance of keeping children in the worship service. Here he'll begin to give some advice and some counsel to you parents who have especially young children. Chapter 12 will deal with distracted children. You'll notice in this congregation, especially on a Sunday morning, there are some children that handle sitting really well. And there are some that handle it not so well. There'll be some real practical suggestions from Scott Brown about how to deal with that. how to help train your children to sit still. And the value and the benefit that that is, and it for even being a joy for them to do so. Chapter 13 is talking about the fellowship and the gladness and the sincerity of the heart. We're not just going to pretend. We're going to be authentic and real. Chapter 14 is titled Joyful Singing. I think it was back in November And I really began to feel a great desire to want to encourage and instruct more singing in our homes. And, you know, we sit down, John and Mark and I sit down twice a week, short moments on Wednesday and a little bit longer on Sunday evenings. And I tell you, the singing in this room has gone from hmm to here, especially noting the songs we're singing every week. They're joyful singing. And I think that that's contagious. I think that's a great blessing and a benefit whenever there is contagious, joyful singing taking place at the church house during the gatherings. Not superficial, not made up, not staged. Authentic, joyful singing. Chapter 15 is more of just that, teaching your children to sing. Chapter 16, listening to sermons. Listen, when I read that chapter, I thought, those are great suggestions. I wanna implement them whenever I listen to a sermon. There's some great things to do. And to help your children learn and listen to the sermons. And of course, that's gonna have a lot to do with their age and their comprehension. But things you can do to help them desire to hear the sermon, applying the sermons, how to talk about the sermon when you get home, how you talk about living this out throughout the week. Maybe on Monday night, someone at the dinner table brings up something the preacher said that was beneficial. You know your preacher sometimes says dumb things. But those things that are of the theologically rich matters, and just talk about it some more. That does nothing more than enrich the appetite or wet the appetite for more learning. Chapter 18, he deals with prayer meetings. I was so pleased that he included this chapter in this book. Because you know, on our Wednesday night prayer meetings, sometimes you gotta look at some of these parents and think, oh my goodness, These parents would be far, I'm sure they would be much more rested if they stayed home than brought their children to the prayer meeting on a Wednesday night. There's some real practical reasons why we need your children in our prayer meetings. This is one of the things we noted eight years ago, nine years ago when we decided to drop all of our age segregation. So we realized not a child, we haven't trained a child in this church to listen or to pray with a seasoned follower of Christ. They do not know. They've never seen or heard someone who's suffering with cancer pray before. They've never heard a mom weep over their wayward child's condition. They've never heard a church cry out to God for a pouring out of the Spirit of God upon their city. What a great tragedy That generation would not witness or notice that kind of fervent and effectual prayers of the church. Chapter 19, we talk about the ordinances, the Lord's Supper. Why do we do the Lord's Supper every time we gather on a Sunday morning? The ordinance of baptism. What do they teach and what are they pictures of? And then the final chapter is at the gates of everlasting joy. remind us about the duty of a parent of being a tour guide of the majesties of God. Hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus' name On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand In darkness hides his lovely face, rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ's solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. He shall come with trumpet sound, O let there in Him be boundless, In His righteousness alone, For us to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand, I heard those young voices.