Let's sing it together. Trust in our faith. Can everybody rise and sing it together? When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His Word, what glory He sheds on our way. While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Not a shadow can hide, not a cloud in the sky, not a smile quickly drives it away. Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a dear, can hide while we trust and obey. to trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. When His fellowships meet, we will sit at His feet, or we'll walk by His side in the way. What He sends, we will do. Where He sends, we will go. Never fear, only trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. But to trust and obey What fitting words to sing after just hearing that wonderful message from Pastor Jason's note on obedience and the joy of others. Now I have the pleasure of introducing Craig Houston, pastor of Westside Baptist Church in Remington, Washington. He's come a last minute to join us here at this conference, and it's such a blessing and privilege to have him here. We were just in his local fellowship just a few days ago doing a regional conference there, and we're so blessed by the joy and the great honor it was to sit under his teaching in his own church body. So please welcome me, Craig Houston. And I count it a great blessing to be able to come down here to Arizona and take part of this weekend regional conference of the NCFIC. And we have many things in common and a like desire, I'm sure, and I've gotten to meet several of you, for which I'm thankful. I told Scott I feel like I should move the pulpit to this side since we seem to have a good group of people over here. And they thought they were on the right side, but they're actually on the left from here. But I am the pastor of West Side Baptist Church in Bremerton, Washington. I've been serving at the church for eight years, and it's been my privilege. Before that, I was church planner for four years. And my wife and I are blessed with 10 children, and God has just been gracious to us. We have five girls and five boys and are just thankful to serve the Lord together in God's vineyard. I've been asked to speak today on the blessing of the fruit of the womb and the blessing of children. in the lives of Christian people. And it is something that I'm passionate about. It is not just because I have 10 children. I want to say from the beginning, trusting the Lord with the fruit of the womb does not necessitate or does not mean that there will necessarily be 10 children or 15 children or any children. It's a matter of really giving it over to the hands of the Lord, which is Really, I think the biblical perspective that we need to have, it is really about what the song said, trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. The message this morning is titled Blessed. through obedience, blessed through obedience. And really, the groundwork was laid in a lot of ways by the message by Pastor Jason regarding just obeying the word of God, which is really the crux of the matter. I want to begin with a passage of scripture that may be odd to you from Luke chapter number 11. Luke chapter 11, if you would turn there this morning. Jesus is just got done teaching about a house divided that it cannot stand. And there is a lot of wonderful truth there that each one of us in our families can apply as well as in our church. But in verse number 27, these words are found. It says, And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. An interesting passage of scripture in that I am standing here today to say it is a blessed thing to have children, and this woman cried out, blessed is the woman who bore Jesus Christ, and the paps that gave suck, or the breasts that Jesus nursed on, and Jesus said there's something better than that. And it's really where we come to this morning. It's really what the message that the NTFIC is about. It is about the sufficiency of scripture in all of life. It is about the word of God reigning supreme. And Jesus clarified. He said, more important even than the blessing of the blessed womb that bear me is that we would hear the word of God and keep it. This is my heart for today. Father, we thank you for the time that we have together. We pray that your spirit would anoint. This service and this conference that you would help me as I seek to just be faithful to the word of God as I preach on a subject matter that is it is definitely in the news, so to speak, amongst Christians. It's even in the secular news. The question of children and whether they are a blessing, the question of birth control, whether it is of God or of the enemy. And Lord, I know that these are not these are not easy subjects to deal with in a family, especially when we lean on our own understanding. But God, we need to be a people who lean on the word of God. And we need to say, let God be true and every man a liar. Lord, we depend upon your word. Lord, today, as I bring forth this message, I need you to fill me and to use me today. to just be a vessel to pour out the word of God. I pray that men and women would have a desire to receive. And like the Bereans, to prove that these things be so, not by the opinion of man, but by testing the scriptures, I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Blessing through obedience. Now, that title could be used in dealing with many different subject matters. Really, in everything that we seek to obey the Lord in, there is blessing because God blesses obedience. I'm not speaking of any kind of a health, wealth and prosperity blessing. I am speaking about the blessing of the God that comes in many different ways, shapes and forms. And God cares about obedience. There's a passage of scripture that really relates this in the Old Testament in 1st Samuel, chapter number 15. 1st Samuel, chapter number 15. In 1st Samuel, chapter 15. The scripture says about the Samuel's rebuke of King Saul in verse number 13. I shall start in verse number 10. Here's important. Then came the word of the Lord. This is the crux of the matter, isn't it? It matters not what man says. It matters what the word of the Lord is. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repented me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he turned back from following me and hath not performed my commandments. And by the way, he destroyed his whole household. And Samuel came to Saul in verse 13. And Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandments of the Lord. Interestingly enough, Saul had performed part of the commandments of the Lord, but not all of it. And I believe that there are many Christians who are seeking to follow the Word of God, and they are choosing to obey the Scriptures kind of like going to a buffet line, leaving some things behind and taking the things that are really enjoyable, taking the things that we really think will be easy to fulfill. But Samuel had the discernment of the Lord and knew that Saul was lying. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little, in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed? So what was God's instruction? It was to go and totally annihilate everything that belonged to the Amalekites. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? these people, the children of Israel, under the leadership of King Saul. They took up the spoil, they held it with them, and they had the reasoning that we are going to use the best, that we're going to save the best, and we're going to give it to God. And yet God was not interested because God had commanded them to destroy all of the livestock and all of the people of the Amalekites. Verse 19 says, Wherefore, then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites, but the people. But the people took the spoiled sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. This is what a lot of Christians like to do. They like to blame other people. And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and the sacrifice as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. To obey is better. You just think about that just for a minute. What was it that they were to obey? It was not the will of man. It was not the voice of Saul. They were to obey the word of the living God. They were to obey the voice of the Lord. And God said to obey is better than sacrifice. To do what I command you is better than bringing great offerings of the best sheep and the best oxen. It is better than bringing great offerings of great monies. It is better to obey. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as its iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. Now think about the analogies there. To rebel is like witchcraft, and stubbornness is like idolatry. Now, as Christian people, we would not want to be identified with witchcraft, would we? We would not want to be identified with being idolaters. And yet we think that that means if we have a sorcerer come to our household, or we join the local Wicca coven, that we are then involved in witchcraft. And God says, when you disobey my word, you are involving yourself in sin that is likened to witchcraft. Those are strong words. To obey is better. To disobey is like witchcraft. To be stubborn towards the word of the Lord, not the word of any preacher, not the word of any other Christian, but the word of the Lord is as idolatry. It is like fashioning an idol and bringing it into your home and bowing down to it every day, saying, this is what is supreme. This is what is king. And it becomes man's ideals rather than God's word. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Before we get into the subject matter at hand today, can I ask you a question? Why do we not obey the word of the Lord in regards to the family? Why do so many Christians neglect the clear teachings of Scripture? It's the fear of man. The Bible says the fear of man is a snare. Jesus said, fear not what man can do to you. All they can do is just kill you. But fear God who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Saul said, I have feared the people and obeyed their voice. He did not obey the voice of God. And Samuel in verse 26 says, And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. That is a pretty stern judgment that God has. And I would encourage you today that if we just have that in our minds, that we would understand what the word of the Lord says is true. And we are to let God be true and every man a liar. Why does it say that? Because every man is a liar in some way, shape or form. We are all going to the deceitfulness of our heart, which is desperately wicked. And God knows it. So as we get into the particular discussion today, the particular message of God's word regarding the family, God's first institution, like any other doctrine in the word of God, we need to go to the source. to find out what it's supposed to be like. Would you agree with that today? I hope you would. The Word of God is to shape our doctrine rather than our traditions determining our interpretation of the Scripture. Did you hear me? The Word of God is to shape our doctrine rather than the traditions that we hold to, whether they be of the world or of church life, shaping our understanding or interpretation of Scripture. We just take the Scripture at face value. Now, to do this, I want to just give a couple more admonitions. Several of these were mentioned, so I will rapidly go through them. In the Gospel of John, in the New Testament, this desire of God for His children to still keep His commandments is intact. In John chapter 14, in verse number 15, the Scripture says, If ye love me, Keep my commandments. What does Jesus want from His followers? Hey, it is not offerings that those things may be good. They may be right. But God's primary desire for us, Jesus' primary desire for us, is if we love Him, to follow His commandments. To keep His Word. It's pretty simple, isn't it? That's in plain English. No Greek interpretation needed. How about John 14, verse 23? It says, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." How about John chapter 15 and verse number 10? And verse number 8 says, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. The mark of a genuine believer is not the day that they wrote their name in a Bible. It's not the day that they professed Christ. It's really marked by a life of obedience. That doesn't mean that everything when you first get saved is exactly right. But spiritually they are. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And we can say amen to that and thank the Lord for it. But our life begins to show marks of obedience to the Word of God. How about 1 John? I've just finished preaching through the book of 1 John. It's my passion is preaching expositionally, which I'm not doing today. In 1 John chapter 5. And verse number one, it says, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him that beget loveth him also that is begotten of him. So if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's going to be marked by obedience to the commandments. This one specifically about loving one another. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the law of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments, listen, are not grievous. The commandments of God are not curses. The commandments of God, though our human flesh may revile against them, they are not grievous. They are helpful. They are blessed things. They are benefits to us as His children. It's like this as parents when we give a commandment to our children like this. Don't run in the road. Now, as a child, the child may say, but I want to go on the road. And they may think it's grievous at first thought until they see the car at 50 miles an hour flying by the house and they see a dog get run over. And you walk them out there near the road and say, see that? That's what would happen to you if you didn't hearken or listen to the voice of your father. Is that a grievous commandment? No, that's a loving commandment. That's God's desire to protect his children. It's God, in his love, giving instruction to those who are his followers. In 2nd Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16, it says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for instruction and righteous that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished or completely furnished unto every good work. God has given us his word to build us up, to equip us, and there is blessings that come with obedience. Now, that groundwork, I believe, has been laid this morning from the message that we just heard and the song we just sung and from these few verses. And I want to go look at now some commandments regarding the family. What is God's plan for blessing the family through obedience throughout history, throughout Scripture? What is God's plan? Well, in the scriptures, we go back to God's design. We find that in the book of Genesis. Genesis is the place of beginnings. If you need to know my position, I believe Genesis one is God's biblical record of creation. It is to be interpreted as the rest of the Bible in its normal, literal sense. I believe that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in him in six days and rested on the seventh day. And the first commandment that I find in the scriptures is the command of God to man. In Genesis chapter one, verse 26. It says, And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. That does not include your cousins. Is humor allowed here? All right. God said to mankind, I'm going to make you different. To everything else that he made, he said they're going to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. The animals got that just fine. But man has seemed to have a problem figuring it out. God made man in his own image, in his own likeness and with a special purpose to take dominion over all the rest of creation, to be the stewards of God's creation, to be the managers of all that God has given to us. He's given us the mind and the abilities to do that as well. The Bible says in verse number 27, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. This is the definition of what a family is. Please listen. I know this is something in this room that we probably don't disagree on, but in the culture we live in, it is becoming more and more up for discussion. God's original intent, God's only intent, God's purpose in defining what a family is, it is that it entails a man and a woman, a male and a female, two that are to become one and that have the ability, if God so blesses them, with the ability to procreate, though that is not the only purpose of the joys of marriage. It is distinctly one of them that marks a true family. God's design for family is for a man and for a woman to be together in holy wedlock, in matrimony. Then what did he tell the family to do? Adam had looked at all of creation. He had named all the animals and he said, there's not found to help me for him. And God made a woman and Adam was very pleased. And God said, the Bible says in verse 28, and God, say this word with me. blessed. Are you there? And God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. This was God's plan for His creation. This was God's design for the family. He created them male and female, and He gave them a blessing right off the bat. He said, be fruitful and multiply. If you weren't good at mathematics, that means to have children that will have children that will have children that will have children, and it's a multiplying effect over time. This is not a hard command to understand. Do you remember all the verses we read about God's desire for us to rather have obedience than sacrifice? He'd rather have obedience than fat of rams burning on the altars. God desires his children to be obedient, and yet we as Bible-believing Christians look to the very first book of the Bible, the very first chapter of the Bible, and find the very first command given to man, and we have a problem discerning it. And it's not that difficult. It says, and God blessed them. First of all, it was a good thing. We do not use the term blessing when we're talking about bad things. Hey, somebody gave our family a house debt free. What a curse. No, what a blessing. I mean, the fact that I look out of the room and I see the male species, the fact that God has given us such a beautiful compliment to actually like us, that was a blessing of God in the first place. Amen. That our wives would love us. and desire to be with us. But he's also given us a blessing in children. The blessing was this. Be fruitful. Fruitfulness. This is in the DNA of mankind. Please hear me. In every area of life, fruitfulness is talked about as a blessing. You look in industry. If you start a business, You don't hope sales go down. You hope sales go up. I'm just trying to get all of you, especially the men. If I can through the Scriptures get the hearts of men, I know that the families will come along by God's grace. If you own a business and you start a business, no matter what it is, you pray for fruitfulness. Is that not part of the dominion mandate? Right? Steve Jobs from Apple Computers does not stand up before his big group of people that come out for the new announcement of the next iPhone or the iPad or the MacBook Pro and say, I just want to tell you, we've only sold two apps. No, he says we've sold billions. And everybody cheers. Why? Because in the DNA of man, fruitfulness is considered a blessing. Acknowledge that in every area of life. We count fruitfulness as a blessing. You want to put it in material things? If you have a little more money, people seem to be a little temporally happy. But if they have the wrong heart for that and the use for that, it's quickly gone. But we think it's better. Right? Somebody says you want $100 bill, or do you want two $100 bills? How many of us are going to take the two $100 bills? We like fruitfulness. It's in all of life. We have churches. We hope that there are more people next Sunday than there were last Sunday. No, no. Every preacher, every group of elders says it's not really about how many people are here. That's a lie. Every Christian who desires to see people coming to know Jesus Christ should desire more people to be under the gospel. Can we just acknowledge that as a fact of life, we like fruitfulness? And yet the very first thing that God told us to be fruitful about was with children, and yet if you have over two children, or maybe two children, and you get a second option maybe, if you have two girls, and like my family that I grew up in, two girls, and then I was the option number three, I was the boy that finally came, and then everything was finished. How can we say we're done? That is what the culture says, that is what the Christian culture says, and that is not what the Bible says. You understand how contradictory we are when we think everything in life that is more, at least the things that are considered good, everything, if it's more, it's better, except for what God says very first mentioned in the scriptures. is not. That, beloved, is a compromise that is as witchcraft and idolatry. That is putting our fleshly desires above that which God desires. And for that, we need to repent. In the Scriptures, in this passage of Scripture, it says, Be fruitful. We know that. Multiply. Increase. You desire to have a family and you desire to look over your family and say, children, I pray that God will place in your hearts a desire to have children and a family and to see the multiplication of the family name and the family's purpose in bringing glory and honor to the Lord, to extend, to replenish. The word replenish means fill. I've had some get into a discussion or debate and say, This is just for the first time because there was no children on the face of the planet. That is not what the word means. And then to subdue it. Why do we have families? Because God has given us a dominion mandate. God has given us a purpose in life to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and to allow all these other things that God would choose to bless us to be given unto us. This blessing, this command was given in Genesis one. But was it the only time it was given? Well, no, it was given another time in Genesis chapter number nine. We find this and this is understandable. It seems appropriate for those that want to dismiss these passages of scripture. Here's another opportunity where they can say, well, Noah and his family were the only ones left. So, of course, they had to be fruitful and multiply. This is just about filling up that which is empty. The Bible says in Genesis chapter number 9 and verse number 1, and God blessed Noah. Can you just hear those words? God blessed Noah. Put your name in there. God blessed Craig. God did this. And his sons. It's a multi-generational vision. And said unto them, be fruitful. and multiply, and replenish the earth. Again, moving down to verse number 7, it says, And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply, and bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. And verse number 18, it says, And the sons of Noah that went forth out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan. And these are the three sons of Noah. And of them was the whole earth overspread. Well, that's creation we want to excuse. That's the blood. There's a reason for repopulation. Do you have any other examples? A matter of fact, I have several. They're found all in the word of God. In Genesis chapter 13, we find Abram's blessing. I have news for you. There were people on the earth during Abram's day. There was lots of people on the earth during Abram's day. And what did God say to Abram in Genesis chapter 13? And verse number 14, And the Lord said unto Abram, after that lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place wherein thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. Seed in the Bible is talking about offspring. It's talking about the blessing of children. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. That, beloved, is a lot. Now, that was not in one generation. All of you ladies can take a deep breath. That was through multiple generations, but it started with the first generation being obedient and saying, Lord, we are yours. Our bodies are yours. The womb is yours. Arise, walk through the land and the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar to the Lord. Something about Abram that is a beautiful thing is that he led his family well. In Genesis chapter number 18 and verse number 19 it says, For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. God does not just want us to have children, this is another message, but he wants us to raise them for the glory of God. Amen. It's not just about multiplication. It's not just about having children. It is about bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I want you to go back to Genesis chapter 13 with me. And I want to bring something up. I've heard many people tell me their reasons for not wanting to have children. And they will say things like, do you not see the culture we live in? I want to spare them from the culture that we live in. There is just wickedness that abounds. The divorce rate is severely high. Homosexuality pervades the land. It is just a wicked and abominable place to be. And I don't feel like it's right to bring up children anymore in this culture. Can I ask you a question? Do you remember where Lot went? Do you remember what the days of Lot and Abraham were like? Do you remember Sodom and Gomorrah? And it was in those days that Abraham was given the command, be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, let thy seed be, or thy seed will be, it's a covenant, it's a promise, thy seed will be as the dust of the ground. This was not when everything was perfect. We have this idea that everything 100 years ago, 200 years ago or 2000 years ago was perfect. I have news for you. Since the fall in the garden, this world was desperately wicked because mankind was on the face of the planet. And from the beginning, it was God's plan for God's people to be different, to be a people who obeyed the word of the Lord and who walked in the fear of the Lord and desired to keep His commandments and to raise up a godly seed in the midst of a perverse generation. There has never been a time, except for when Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the garden, when it was easy to raise a family for God. But it's always been right. Genesis chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15. And verse number 4. Again, I want you to see The illustration that is used and behold, here's the key. The word of the Lord came unto him saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. It's not going to be the steward, alright? And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward the heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. And think about going far out into the desert, away from the city, and looking up into the heavens and seeing the heavens declare the glory of God, seeing the stars there, and having God say, this is the word of the Lord. Your seed will be greater than the stars that are in the heavens. I will bless you abundantly. It's a picture of God's bounty and blessing on Abraham. In Genesis chapter 17, Again, Abram and his wife Sarah, they had tried to do it their own way. God was not pleased with that. And God said unto Abraham, in verse number 15, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name, or shall her name be. And I will bless her. And I will bless her. Ladies, in the culture we live in, women do not have natural affection. It grieves my heart when you talk to a woman who's so focused on her career, who's so focused on her success and her pleasure, that when you talk of children, you say, oh, they're not for me. How unnatural is that? And I will bless her and give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her and she shall be a mother of many nations. Kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee. You know what his heart's cry was? Hey, my plan, God's going to bless. Ishmael's going to be the guy. Was that what God was saying? No. And God said, Sarah, thy wife shall bear thee a son. Indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac. And I will I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. The blessing of the Lord for Sarah was to trust God with her womb, desiring children for all of her life and being given a child, one child in her old age. She is not less faithful, less trusting than the woman who has 15. She's trusting the Lord. She's seeking the blessing of the Lord. And she's willing to receive them even when it's in the unacceptable time for a woman to have a child. Now, I realize that there's not many 90-year-olds that are having children these days. But how often do we hear a woman in her mid to late 30s say, I'm just kind of past the time of childbearing. It's kind of unacceptable. I'm 40. Rather than just saying, you know what? I welcome the children that God would give. What about Abraham? Remember it said he believed the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Do you believe the Lord today? Do you believe God's word? Do you believe that his word is true? What about God's plan for the family in times of difficulty? We are in an economic crisis. Arizona is on the top of the list. Their second, I believe, to California, maybe their third, with the amount of houses that have been defaulted on. Things are difficult. Times are hard. Jobs are being lost. So you know what? We just we just feel like we shouldn't have any children. Ask God if that was his plan for the children of Israel when they were in bondage in Egypt. In the book of Exodus, in chapter number one, In Exodus chapter number one, we know the children of Israel were in Egypt. They were enslaved in Egypt, but they became slaves after Joseph's death. In verse number six, it says, And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them. Now, this was before there was bondage. But Joseph died and all of his generation and the people of Egypt forgot the blessing that Joseph brought to their nation. So their nation now was not under the blessing of God. And what was God's plan when the world around them, when the nation around them said, let's get rid of the children? Did they follow that? Now, we live in a nation that once welcomed children, that once considered families and a heritage as a godly thing. If you look at the original founding fathers, you'd find many of them were family dynasties. It was great blessing of the children's children and the leadership and the blessings they could pass down to them. Here after Joseph had died and all of his brothers and all that generation, and the Egyptians forgot the deliverance that Joseph had brought to them as a people, now they don't like the Jews. It says, And now there rose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them. That's the wisdom of man. lest they multiply and come to pass that when their fall without any war, they join also into our enemies and fight against us. And so get them up out of the land. Their plan was this. We've got to eradicate the believers. By the way, that is, as we will see, part of the founding roots of Planned Parenthood. Margaret Sanger's original intent was to eradicate the world of Christians and Jews and black people. Those are her words recorded in her own documents. them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities of Pithon and Ramesses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew and they were grieved because of the children of Israel. Would to God that would be the world's perspective. Would to God that would be America's perspective of Christians. I know that doesn't sound very good, but they would they would say they keep increasing. We're trying to snuff them out and they keep growing as a people. The Egyptians made their children of Israel to serve with rigor. They made them their lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar and brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. Then they tried to eradicate with getting the midwives to slaughter the Jews' children. And the midwives feared God, and they saved the men's children. It says in verse number 18, And the king of Egypt called the midwives and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men child alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Before they come to them, they've already delivered their babies. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mightily. When was this? Was this good times? Was this at the founding of a new Christian nation? No, this was in bondage. This was with taskmasters, with whips. This was with cruel masters. And yet God was going to deliver his people by the blessing of obedience to the trusting the Lord with the fruit of the womb. The blessing of obedience is found in the scriptures all over the place. In Genesis chapter 24, a verse you may be familiar with. Have you gone to a wedding lately and heard this kind of a greeting? In Genesis chapter 24 and verse 58, the scripture says this, And they called Rebekah and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? Speaking of Isaac, and she said, I will go. By the way, there's a good model of courtship. It wasn't an absolute arranged marriage without any desire for the daughter's perspective or her desires in the situation. She had a say in it. And they sent away Rebecca, their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. Now listen to this. Have you been to a wedding recently? I think I've done four or five weddings in the last six months. It was a busy season at our church. Have you heard this lately? And they blessed Rebecca, this is her family, and said unto her, thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands, of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. And Rebekah arose and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels and followed the man, and the servant took Rebekah and went his way. It was not, hey, be healthy, wealthy, and wise. That was not the toast at this wedding. The toast at this wedding was from her own family. Be thou the mother of hundreds of thousands of millions of children. Be blessed with the fruit of the womb. This was God's desire. You know what Rebecca didn't do? She didn't say, Are you kidding me? I want 2.5 children. She wanted to fulfill that blessing. She was honored. And she went in obedience. And her trust in the Lord. She had two children. Jacob and Esau. There is a message out there, and I believe in the blessing of the fruit of the womb. But there is a mistake out there that's, I believe, doing damage to the true understanding of trusting the Lord with your family planning. And that is a belief that if you have more, you're automatically more spiritual. If you're in the 10 and up club, you're God's fave. What if you trust the Lord and your quiver is not as full as you would like it? Maybe it's been left with less by natural birth so that you could fill it with children through adoption. And have the heart of God. Be a father to the fatherless. It's about trusting God. It's about His Word. Ultimately, I don't want to be known as the big family guy. I want to be known as the trust the Bible guy. That's what all of us should desire to be known as the people of the book. Like in Nehemiah's day, when they came into the street, they didn't say, bring the great orchard. They said, bring the book. We want to hear from the word of God. We need to hear from the word of God. And I hope this morning that your heart is desired to hear from the word of God and a desire to trust and obey what it says, even if it makes you very uncomfortable, even if like Saul, you think of all of the men and the things that they're going to say. And you have the fear of men. If you trust God, you believe God's word. Genesis chapter 49, Joseph says this about Joseph, verse 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. They didn't like him. But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors. Under the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. God's blessings are good, not bad. How about in the New Testament? Jesus uses for his church. He uses for his church the illustration of a groom and a bride. And he says to the church, Go forth, preach the gospel to every creature. Go forth and bring forth abundantly. Does he not use illustration after illustration of a fruitful vine, fruit that remains, right? Taking the seed of the gospel, spreading it everywhere. And He uses the illustration of a groom and a bride, Jesus Christ being the groom, His church being the bride, manifesting in local bodies of believers. And He gives to them a command to obey. He gives to them a command to be fruitful. And it's an illustration that if we follow the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation, we already understand. We already get the picture. God's plan for His church is that they would be fruitful. We don't think about having less people come to know Jesus. We don't send out missionaries so that fewer people come into the kingdom. No, we go so that more would be added to the kingdom of God as we obey His command to go everywhere preaching the gospel. And beloved, there is not a Bible-believing Christian who does not agree with that. And yet, when it comes to what the illustration is in a husband and a wife, they go back and they see the illustration throughout the Old Testament and they reject it when it comes to their family, but they apply it when it comes to the New Testament church. We do not have the privilege to do that. We must walk in obedience to the word of the Lord. In John chapter 15, verse number 1, it says, I am the vine, my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. He wants fruitfulness. Verse 8 says, Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. God is into blessing his church with fruitfulness. So why do we not have fruitfulness in New Testament churches? We can use excuses and say, well, people don't like that, you know, that we're, you know, conservative. We actually believe the Bible. We're not just a church having fun and a lot of hype. Beloved, that means you will stop trusting in the power of the word of God. God says, if you go forth weeping, burying precious seed, you shall doubtless come again with a joyous thing, bringing your sheaves with you. But it goes back to trusting the Lord. We need to preach the gospel to every creature. We need to go and make disciples because churches are supposed to multiply. This church here has multiplied already. More churches have been started and hopefully those churches will multiply. And we all say, yes, church planting in the world of Christianity is hot. People don't want to become senior pastors. We don't use that term. I'm just using the terminology of the culture. People are wanting to be church planners. We're supposed to be reproducing! Reproducing! How do we get that illustration? Where do we get that from? From the picture that God uses for His church. A husband and a wife. What do they do? They have children. As God blesses them. In God's timing. But with obedience to fulfill all that He's called us to do. This is God's plan to be fruitful and multiply. What is the power of the family seed? What's the strength in that? Today people talk about the family as being a drain, being a strain, being a financial burden. That's because we're raising them like the world wants us to raise them. Instead of raising them to be helpful and beneficial and kingdom workers and producers even in our homes. I'm not talking about opening factories and having child labor. I'm talking about in your family, in the industry of your home, being producing members of that. There is power in the family seed. There is power in building a legacy of a family. So where do you find that? Well, there's many different illustrations used in the scriptures. One that's familiar. And usually when you hear a message preached about this subject, they go to this verse first. And I spared that, even though it's one of my favorite texts in the book of Psalms 127. It says, Accept the Lord, build the house. They labor in vain that build it. That means we've got to trust the Lord with our family. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. This means have a family, trust God, and stop worrying. Work hard, seek God. Seek to obey Him in everything, but stop fretting and worrying. Stop taking things into your own hands. Just allow God to build the house, and that does not excuse you from working and being diligent to obey the rest of Scripture. Doesn't allow you to be lazy to say, God's building it. No, it takes you to obey all that Scripture says regarding this subject. It says, lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. An heritage of the Lord. And the fruit of the womb is his reward. Not a drain. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. And happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. That means they're going to rise in places of leadership and influence as God would see fit if they're raised for the right purposes. They're like arrows in the hand of a mighty man. But I love reading in First Second Samuel and First Second Chronicles about David and his mighty men. Mighty men have to have weapons. And God's weapon of choice for the Christian family is a child that's fashioned into an arrow that will hit the mark for Jesus one day. But they're counted as blessings. They're for an offensive attack. I just went to Windsor Castle on my way back from Africa, and there, all over the top of the castle, there is the places where the archers would shoot from. And it's longer in the back where they shoot from. It was really neat to see that. And from the front, it gets narrower. But from the back, it's wider so they can get a good target range and shoot the arrows out. And the archers were just the most deadly type of weapon to be used, obviously replaced by guns. But the beauty of them was you didn't have to get down with the sword and clang and, you know, have somebody whacking your head off. You could be behind the high tower, the strong fortress and shooting out at the enemy. Our children are meant to be raised, to be shot out for the kingdom work. They have a purpose. I'm not raising my children to first and foremost be lawyers or doctors or plumbers. I'm raising them first to be kingdom workers. I'm raising them first to be instruments of God's righteousness. I'm raising them to be used for the battle that we're in, in whatever field God would have them to go into. I want them to be sharp arrows for the sake of the glory of God. What about Psalm 128? In Psalm 128, it says, Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord, that walketh in his ways, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Here's a reference for the wives. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. Thy children, like olive plants, round about thy table. You understand the blessing of this picture? There's olive plants around about my table. There's vines outside of the house. This is a sign of prosperity. If you know anything about Israel or the land there, olive oil is very important. It's a rich resource. Vines show rich blessings. And a wife who bears children as God would give them to her is like a fruitful vine by the side of that house. And her children are like olive plants, round about by a table. They just keep going. Thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. He will be blessed that feareth the Lord. What does God say? Fear God and what? Keep My commandments. See how this is all tied just simply to trusting and obeying the Lord. The power of seed. There's so many passages of scripture that I want to share with you. Obed-Edom. God wanted to bless him. You know where he's found in 1 Chronicles 20, 1 Chronicles 26, just in a list of names. And this is one name pops up and God blessed him with eight sons. eight sons. Are you kidding me? That would be the cry of most men today. And it was God's reward for faithfulness. How about Job? He was the greatest man on all of the earth. That's what God said about him in the book of Job and chapter number one. And it says about Job that he had seven sons and three daughters. And it was called a blessing. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and the man was perfect, means complete, upright, one that feared God. See the tie-in there? And eschewed evil. He kept God's commandment and he fled from evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. And all of them God and His sovereignty took away. And Job said, the Lord has given, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. What had God given him? Children, lands, herds, flocks. God gave them to Job, and Job acknowledged, all I have done is seek to fear God and keep his commandment. All the blessings I have, they're from him. And included in that was children. At the end of his life, everything was restored double. And with his children, did he get 20 children? No, he got 10. I believe that there are spiritual reasons for that. Children were the only thing that he lost that had the potential to live for eternity. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning, for he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 she-asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. At the latter end of his life, and he didn't say, wait, wait, we're getting to the stage of the emptiness. Don't ruin it now with more children. Hold on, we've made it this far. We're just about to the place where we can't do this anymore. And he was blessed by his sons and daughters. And after this, Job lived in 140 years and saw his sons and his son's sons, even four generations. So Job died being old and full of days. Do you realize the power of the seed that God can give? These are the heroes of the faith. These are the people that we talk about, and yet we ignore the simple, clear teachings that these were blessings from God and included in that was children. But Satan has attacked God's plan for the family. What God designed, Satan attacks. Satan's attack on the family began in the garden when he came and Satan said in Genesis chapter 3 to Eve, yea, half God said. Do you understand? From the beginning, Satan's attack was to question what? It wasn't the word of man. It wasn't the opinion of Adam. It was the word of the living God. And the division came between the husband and the wife from the midst of the garden. And they both fell into grievous sin that that death has passed upon every man. Satan has seduced. And when we doubt and disobey God's word, and do what is written, what we want in our own eyes, we will face the same consequences over and over again. We're people of the book. And unless we ignore the clear teachings, we're going to believe what it says. There has been battles in Christianity in the last 50 years. There's been battles over the Bible, over its inerrancy, now over its sufficiency, that it is not only perfect and complete, but it is totally sufficient for all of life to give us the guidance that we need. There's been battles by people who say, we believe the Bible, we love Jesus, but we don't believe in biblical headship of the man in the home. We don't take the position of that the husband is the head of the wife. We believe that was culturally, you know, a season, but now we're different. We've evolved from there. Oh, really? But people who want to go back to the Bible have said, no, we need to, we need to regain the vision for husbands to lovingly lead their families like Christ loves and leads the church and wives who will go under and submission to their husband's leadership. We need biblical elders, biblical pastors who are men in the church. We need to have a love for the church. All of these things, Satan has attacked by eroding people's confidence in the scriptures. Yea, hath God said. Yea, hath God said. You mean in this scientific age you really believe in Genesis 1 creation? I do. Because God's word says it. Beloved, these things I know many of you in this room say, hey, I checked off on every one of those. I'm in agreement. What about the family? I would say that there's more to back up God's plan and blessing for the family than there is many doctrines we stand resolutely on in the scriptures. Yet we turn a blind eye. Why? Because of Satan's attack and his deceptive work in our lives. Satan's attack not only comes from doubting the Word of God, but it comes from the world. And in the system that we live in, it is a humanistic system totally, completely. The influences of Rousseau, the influences of John Dewey, the influences of wicked leaders like Margaret Sanger, who was given the Humanist of the Year Award, whose now her influence in Planned Parenthood is around the globe. Just coming from Africa, Planned Parenthood is everywhere! In villages, in towns, in Africa! Why? Because it's just fulfilling her desire to eradicate one of the peoples she despised. And it's wicked. Margaret Sanger's plan was not only for abortion, but she was also early promoter of birth control the pill, things of that nature. Those were her dreams. Those were her visions that would come to pass, and people have made them come to pass. And Satan is behind it all. When we accept Margaret Sanger's plan, she said, of contraceptive, contraception, sterilization and abortion, we change and fight for the enemy. When we bite into that, I don't know many Christians who are pro-abortion, do you? But how many of them are pro sterilization? How many of them are pro birth control? How many of them are pro the pill? My heart's been grieved even in recent leaders reading from leaders, people that I love and respect. People who stand for biblical truth. And yet when it comes to the family, even reading in one book by one of my favorite authors, John MacArthur, and his staff in relation to birth control, even saying there's no evidence that the pill has abortification attributes. Beloved, just because doctors may disagree, even the pharmacy companies will tell you it creates a hostile environment in the womb. Christians ought not, if the line is here, Even if they weren't opposed to birth control, should they be walking that close to the line knowing that it may cause an abortion? The sad part is in the very next chapter, it may not even a chapter to defend against biogenics. The verses that were used were God opens and closes the womb, we need to leave it to God. There's somebody who's so faithful to the text of Scripture. And I love It's something that I say that is an influence that has come not from God's word. That's an influence that comes from from the influence of the world. Similar statements have been made by other Christian leaders. Birth control, if you haven't noticed, is in the news. Whether it's John Piper and his quotes, Mark Driscoll and his quotes. Doug Wilson and his quote, you can follow and find them everywhere. And many of them say, hey, family is a blessing, but you know, we just need to have an ability just to regulate and choose. I think that that puts us in contradiction to the word of God. And I believe we're to let God be true and every man a liar. Why has Margaret Sanger gained so much influence? because Satan is seeking to deceive those in the world. Here's a quote by Sanger. Birth control appeals to the advanced radical because it is calculated to undermine the authority of the Christian churches. I look forward to seeing humanity free someday of the tyranny of Christianity, no less capitalism. Contrast that with the words of Jesus Christ. What did he see as such a desperate time in the age to come? In the book of Luke, in chapter number 23, in the gospel of Luke, in chapter 23, the scripture says this, in verse 26, there was a great company that followed Jesus. People, women, which also bewailed and lamented him. This is when Jesus was going to Calvary. But Jesus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bear, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Now, I know that there could be discussions on prophetic nature and things of this sort, but the opinion of Jesus is still true. When we get to the generation where Jesus says, when the people say the barren womb is blessed, when your breasts have never given suck to a small child, Those are the blessed times. Watch out. Those are not blessed times. Those are terrible times. Satan's attack on the family comes from the flesh. And I should be done. It comes from the flesh. Christian men and women want to do what's right in their own eyes. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 is the verse that impacted my wife, Emily, and I many years ago after the birth of our second child. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 have to do with children. Well, the Bible says in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways. Acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. People look at our family and often say, have you heard about family planning? Of course. We have five boys and five girls. What better family planning can you have than that? But we have been consumed with lovers of pleasure. We've become lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. We've given up children for new boats, new toys, new camp trailers, new jet skis. empty nests. And I don't think God's pleased. God's given us things to enjoy, and I'm not against enjoying them, but not at the expense of rebelling against his clear teachings regarding the blessing of children. We have promoted birth control. We have defrauded our wives. We have withheld the blessing from God. And God's not pleased. So many scriptures. Rachel said, give me children, else I die. And there has been a desire to give children. But I've met many wives. Their husband and them have come and talked to my wife and I. And the husband doesn't want children. And the wife's heart is, give me children, else I die. How dare we? How dare we defraud the wife of our youth? How dare you defraud the husband of your youth from the children that God may bring forth? We need to restore the biblical family. You may say, you know what? I'm here today and I have unknowingly followed the deception of Satan. I've been duped by the world. I've followed in line, lost step. Or I've just been plain selfish, pleasing my own flesh. I've been filled with materialism, a desire for more stuff, convenience and recreation. What should you do? Same thing we should always do. Repent. Do as Joshua said. Hey, if you want to serve the idols on the other side of the flood, Do it. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Be like Caleb, who said, I wholly followed the Lord. Have courage, like Joshua in Joshua 1.8, who had courage to stand against the enemy, to stand against all odds, and to say, I'm going to obey the Word of God. And then he said, you shall have good success. We need men that will follow Malachi 4 and Luke 1, the call to turn our hearts towards our children. And we need to trust God. We need to trust Him more than we trust ourselves. We need to trust God with our family planning more than we trust The positions, more than we trust the pop culture, we need to trust in the Lord our God. God wants to bless you. He does it through obeying his word. God wants to bless your family. He does it through obeying God's word. God wants to bless your churches. And he'll do that through obeying God's word. And God ultimately, beloved, he ultimately wants to bring blessing to himself. to glorify himself, and he does that through his children walking in obedience. Father, I thank you for this attentive group today. I pray that you would bless each and every family. The Lord. There are none of us worthy to stand behind this pulpit. And to declare the wonderful words of life. In our own flesh and you by your spirit, Empower and strengthen. And I pray that you would do so during the rest of this conference with every speaker. And I pray that you would touch the hearts of men and women, and they would just see the clear teaching of Scripture, that God has a desire to bless families who trust Him. To bless them in many ways. And one of them that cannot be refuted in Scriptures is with children. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Greg, thank you so much. How many of you have ever heard a message totally dedicated to this subject in a session like this? No one. Really? Maybe. You know, I haven't either. So, anyway, thank you so much, Greg, for doing that. I appreciate that very much. Okay, so it's lunchtime, and we'll be back at 1.30, and there'll be three messages left. You'll come back and you'll hear a message from me on how to build a God-centered family. Then Peter Bradrick, right after that, is going to come and give a message on what is biblical youth ministry. And he's going to show you a trailer to a film that we're making. He's working on it right now. Not on the trailer, but on the film. And then after that, I'll be giving a final message on common infections in family-integrated churches. So have a great live stream. We'll see you back. No, that's the past.