Please take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, Chapter 1. Proverbs, Chapter 1. As you know, we've been going through somewhat of a series, I guess, on Sunday evenings on the subject of child rearing, dealing mainly with the parents, I guess, before we get into the actual practical aspects of rearing children. And I just want to encourage you, if you are in that stage of life where you are courting and anticipating marriage, that you get some good premarital counseling. You can never be over-prepared for the institution of marriage. And let me just encourage you in that way. I know when I was in church, because my father was in full-time Christian service and Brenda's dad was in full-time Christian service, We had our home pastor. He led in prayer for our service. And then we had Dr. Rice, John Rice, give the message. And then her dad actually did the vows, almost like the cooks yesterday with Chad and Stephanie. But I remember when we went in to see Dr. Rice at the Sword of the Lord, and we told him we were planning on getting married and whatnot, he gave me this book. And he signed it, and Mrs. Rice signed it. And they put their signatures in here, to Mike and Brenda, with all good wishes, God bless your home, in Jesus' name. And so Dr. Rice signed it, and then Mrs. Rice signed it. And that was our marriage counseling from Dr. John R. Rice. And so if I didn't like to read, then I probably would not have read this. But I did read this. But I find in the pastorate, as I deal with folks, that many times we're not thinking that far ahead to read what's given to us or take advantage of the material that's before us to help get our marriages off to a good start. And I can remember we go through our counseling here. We have the couples do premarital counseling and we have some of it where they meet with individuals as well as they go through a DVD program. And we will not marry someone unless they go through premarital counseling. Because this is an important aspect of life. Other than your salvation, I believe that the person you marry, that's the greatest decision that you'll ever make in life. And so when we talk about the subject of child rearing, I think it's so vital to get that bedrock foundation principle of marriage really settled in your mind and heart. And so when we bought the DVD series, I remember we took the staff through it, and then we took the deacons through it. I guess in the course of taking all the folks through the DVD series of premarital counseling, I've sat through these things many, many times. And each time I'm being reminded of things, I'm also learning new things. Maybe I just missed it. Maybe I'm just that thick-headed. I don't know. But I need that reminder, and I need to really pay attention, because you never come to the point where you know it all, and that you can't improve in your relationships. And so I want to encourage you to get all the help you can in regards to your marriage. One of the reasons why we have a men's retreat every summer is not just so that we can go fishing for two and a half days, even though that's good. At the same time, it's so that we can have men of God flown in as we do. We've got Brother Beckham and Brother Andy Wells coming this year, and they're going to be teaching us on some men's issues and things of that nature that would help us be better men. You've heard me say that men are attacked in the area of leadership and ladies many times, most of the time because of our fallen nature. Men in the area of leadership, ladies in the area of submission. And so that is a struggle that we find all throughout our lives. And so we, once again, just want to, as we go through this series, just strike the chord how important it is for we as parents to be right. In Proverbs 1, I use this as one of the text passages as we were looking at Deuteronomy 6 in a prior message. Verse 7 says this, which I believe is one of the key verses for the entire book of Proverbs, those 31 chapters. It says, "...the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." But fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. For they shall be an ornament of grace into thy head, and chains about thy neck." So bear in mind, once again, to lay that foundation of Proverbs, we know that these are the Proverbs of Solomon. Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, according to the Word of God. God gave him a special endowment of wisdom. And so he says, look, I want to pass some of that on to you, son, so pay attention to what I have to say. And notice in verse 8, and that's the emphasis I want to draw out just for tonight's message, my son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother." That word, hear, doesn't mean just to let it go in one ear and out the other. It doesn't mean just to take in noise. It doesn't mean just to sit there and give your time. It means to hear with the intent to obey. And so here's a father talking to his son, and at this stage of his life, Rehoboam is a grown man. And so Solomon is trying to prepare him for the future. And so he said, look, my son, Hear the instruction of thy Father." The word instruction, if you look at the base meaning for that, it means discipline. It means chastening. It means correction. It gives the indication in this passage of Scripture that the dad is really to be the one in charge of really setting the tone of the home and actually the boundaries of the home are set by him as well. Now that's not just an arbitrary decision or one left up to the opinion because as a man, we are to go according to the dictates of Scripture. In the book of Ephesians, it tells us that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. So a lot of times, though, in our society, we think, oh, the man's the head of the home, so he's the boss, he's the ruler. What he says goes. And really, that's not true. The man has to be submitted to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is submitted to His Father. And so it behooves us to understand that in our order. Sometimes we leave God out of the equation. We just want to be the big cheese in the house, so to speak, and crack the whip and everybody bows to us and gets us our coffee and gets us our slippers and newspaper and hands us the remote and things of that nature. But nothing could be further from the truth. The direction, as far as the spiritual direction, as well as every other direction, really ought to be in the hands of the godly leader in the home, which should be the husband. And so he says to his son, he says, listen, pay attention to the boundaries that I've established. those rules that I have set down. And of course, they're based upon biblical principle. And that's why it says here in verse 8, and forsake not the law of thy mother. That word forsake means to abandon. There is that tendency in the life of every single one of us that when we are given some boundaries, we want to push those boundaries. Because of our fallen nature, we don't like rules. We don't like people telling us what to do. So naturally, we chafe against those kinds of authority figures in our life. And so what the Father is saying here, Solomon is saying, look, pay attention to the law that's been established and said by your mother. And law means direction. This is interesting in light of the scripture I read this morning as we started the service, Proverbs 31, verses 10 and following. It talks about how the lady is the guide of the house. And so as the man goes out into the fields in this agricultural society, he would lay down the dictates according to the Word of God because you have to understand society in that day was not secular, it was religious. Everything was centered around the law of God. And so the husband, the man, the father would interpret that law as far as the dictates of his home. He would lay down some boundaries and then he would go off into the field and you would have the wife caring for the children and actually enforcing those things that the husband had laid out. It's also interesting to know that much of the discipline was not left up to the lady, the discipline was left up to the man. And so many times, as wives have said in the past, hey, you wait, to their children they'll say, you wait until daddy gets home. And a lot of children all of a sudden get very fearful when mama comes to that point. They'd write and say, mama, why don't you go ahead and take care of business? I don't want daddy to have to do it. And so here is this dad talking to his son, and he's saying, look, my son here. Now there comes a point in time in the life of a child as they grow that the only power that a father and a mother has in the life of their child is the power of influence. And so he's saying now, now, Rehoboam, you have to hear me. He says, look, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother, because they are biblically based. And you say, well, that's not what the Scripture says. Yes, it does. Because you have to understand, this was a home established under the dictates of the Word of God. The whole society was that way. And so even though it's not said in black and white in this passage, it is inferred in this passage. And so the greatest book on child rearing is the Bible. Our message entitled Child Rearing begins with parent training. We emphasize these four things. Number one, we emphasize that we ought to have a biblical attitude towards children. And we looked at the passages of scripture where we saw that children are our heritage. We'll also read Psalm 127 in just a few moments. But number two, that we should realize that all have a sin nature. Sometimes as we're rearing our children, we think our children are the angels and everyone else's children are the demons. And they all have problems because ours do no wrong. And that's one thing that we have to understand as we look at the 31 chapters of the book of Proverbs and look at the godly rearing of our homes, that our children have the same wicked nature that we do and that other and that all people have. And so we should all realize that we have a sin nature. Number three, we should realize that all have a will. We have the ability to choose. We are free moral agents. God made us with the ability to choose. He didn't want just robots and make us love Him. He wanted us to choose to love Him. And so that's a privilege that we as humans have that all the other creation does not have. And then, number four, we saw that as parents we should be devoted to God, and He should be our number one priority. Let me just say, I know that when we're talking about a subject like this, there might be that tendency, if we're not really directly involved in rearing children now, maybe that's a past issue with us. Or maybe that's one that we don't even really see on the horizon, that we might have the tendency to turn it off. But there's none of these things that I've mentioned to this point that would not apply to us personally, or apply to you personally, even if you're not, right now, rearing children. And so, Jesus Christ should be the number one priority in our life. Whether we're married or single, whether we have children, or whether we're grandparents or great-grandparents and so on. So all these things apply. When it comes to child rearing, we are inundated with counsel and advice as the proper methodology. And this is where parents get into a lot of trouble with the rearing of their children. I have in my library several thousand books, and I would venture to say that if we were to take account, I would imagine close to a thousand of those deal with the subject of the home and child rearing. And even though there may be some who are very similar as far as their methodology is concerned, there are big differences or gaps in the way people handle children and different issues of life. And so we have to be careful, though, that we are not looking for all the methods, but that we really spend our time, first of all, learning the biblical principles. And you lay that biblical principle or foundation, and then you build your methodology on top of that. The problem is, in many modern day movements, is that they'll get a methodology, they'll work off of an emotional aspect, and then they'll try to find, they'll go to the Scripture to find credence to what they're doing. And so they don't allow the Word of God to speak and then to build on that. They then take their suppositions and try to find Scripture for it. And that's why you have a lot of confusion today. You see, one of the principles that's being undermined today is the principle of marriage, one man, one woman for life. You see, because we're looking at the emotion of the moment, because we may be looking at the societal implications of certain unions, then what happens is we then come to the Word of God and we try to find credence for that particular union. And so we'll discount some passages that seem to speak against it, and they'll be looking for some of those that may seem to put their stamp of approval upon it. And that's why many times we come up with a wrong conclusion. And what we do is we go to the Word of God and we allow the Word of God to establish the dictate or the principle for us and then we build from there. That's why marriage should be left alone as the Bible has dictated. It's one man, one woman committed for life. And so that's not up for debate. No matter how we might be able to picture people, no matter how nice and precious and sweet the stories are, and no matter how the heart strings are strung, at the same time, we know that it's one man, one woman for life. Amen? And so that is what we have to be careful of in child rearing. It's interesting when you get into child rearing that you don't see a lot of methodology here. You see principles. You see truth. Because all of us are different. Our backgrounds are different. Our personalities are different. We come from different cultures. And the Bible is cross-cultural. We also find that, hey, because some are involved in maybe a certain trade, maybe there's a farmer and his time is different, his work is different, factory workers, they work differently. And so if we try to do the same methodology of child rearing that maybe we have a farmer do and maybe a factory worker, we're going to have confusion. We're going to have frustration. And God doesn't want us frustrated. So He gives us a principle that can apply to every area of life, to every situation of life. Now, I'm not saying that it doesn't help us to look how other people have put methodology to work. That principle to work, and they've come up and said, hey, this is something you need to consider. But it's one thing for me to get up here and preach a truth, a command, a principle. It's another thing to give my opinion. So in other words, you know, there's a lot of opinion on how to potty train a baby. You say, oh, pastor, you know, what are you going this way? I'm giving an example, okay? Illustration. You know, the Bible doesn't address potty training. It doesn't handle the subject of bedwetting. Okay? You say, well, you know, I've been looking for that for a long time. When you're young and when you're old, amen? But at the same time, it doesn't handle that. Okay? So we have to be careful that when we go to somebody and we say, oh, I've tried this method out, and you know what? He says works. And so what he says works in that area, so we swallow everything else that he says that works. We need to stick with the principle. And what happens a lot of times in our churches is we'll look at one family that has enacted this method, and we try that method and it doesn't work, and so we throw our hands up and say, it's no use, I'm no good, I can't handle it, they've got their act together, there must be something wrong with me. And we're looking at a method. We've forgotten the principle. And so we as Christian parents need to stick with the principle. and ask God for wisdom in the application of that knowledge. That's why it says in James chapter 1 verse 5 that covers every area of life. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth all men liberally and upbraideth not. So in your particular situation, with your background and all the other that goes with it. As you ask God to apply and give you the wisdom to apply the knowledge that the Word of God gives you, then He'll give that to you. And He'll give you more than enough. Amen? I trust you understand that. Marriage is one of those issues as well as others. Psalm 127. Let's go there. Just a few pages up in your Bible if you're at Proverbs 1. The Bible here says, and I'll get right into the reading here, it says, Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. 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. Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. 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. Here we see that the Lord is the builder of our homes. Once again, making Him the number one priority in our homes. The second thing I see here is that the natural outgrowth of marriage are children. If someone's not ready to have children, they're not ready to get married. And I hear a lot of this, well, you know, we want to put off having children until, you know, we know each other. You better know each other before you get married. And so the natural outgrowth of marriage are children. And you see that all throughout Scripture. The children are not ours, but God's. Notice what it says here in Psalm 127. The low children are heritages of the Lord. And the fruit of the womb is His reward, that heritage that's passed down. Amen? So we as parents, the children are not ours. They're God's. We are simply stewards, or what we would call in today's vernacular, managers. A manager does not own his company. He manages that company for the owner. And he operates the company based upon the dictates and the wishes of the owner. If he doesn't, then he's a poor manager and he may not keep his job very long. However, that's not the way it works in our homes. We are either a good steward or a poor steward. One of the things, one of the great examples is the example of Joseph, how here was a man in captivity and he was a steward in Potiphar's house. And he handled the affairs of Potiphar as if they were his own, but they were actually Potiphar's. And the Scripture says that Potiphar didn't even know all the lands and all the money he had. But it was increasing in value and scope because Joseph was a wise steward. And you and I are stewards of the property that God entrusts to us. And that property is our children. It's very, very sobering, isn't it? Someone has said the greatest thing a mom and dad can do for their children is to love each other. I did not say lust each other. I'm sad to say that's what many of the relationships that's perpetrated and shown for us as an example that's given us in society, on the net, in Hollywood and that nature, we see that it's just a matter of lust. It's the fleshly fulfillment of the desires of the flesh rather than honoring the Lord Jesus Christ with our lives. And so love is a commitment. It's not a feeling. I've been really hammering this in my Sunday school class, and we've been going through the book, The Ministry of Marriage by Jim Benny. And he rings that bell as well as any good Bible preacher and counselor will do. Marriage is a commitment. It's not a feeling. Just because you don't feel like it, you should still honor your commitment, your vow, your word. If someone is not willing to commit themselves, first of all to parental authority, and next to biblical pastoral authority, they will not be committed to someone else. Anytime you put a rebel in the mix, you have disaster or danger written all over it. And we need to heed this warning. And many have gone into destruction because they set this biblical principle aside. Now, I want to just hammer one thing today. Just take one truth and just nail it as far as our homes are concerned and rearing our children. And number one has to do with atmosphere. That's all I want to deal with tonight is atmosphere. Number one under the word atmosphere is you should make the Word of God central to your home. Stay with me. It seems rather redundant, but it's needful. Let's go to Joshua 1. Joshua 1, verse 8. If you also write down the passage of Scripture we have used in the past, Deuteronomy 6, verses 4-9, make the Word of God central. You see, the world has one idea of success, and God has another. And by the way, God's Word is true. Verse 8 says, This book of the Law And so specifically speaking about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, this book of the Law, but in a broader sense with the completed canon of Scripture, talking about Genesis to Revelation. He says, "...shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate." That means to ruminate, that means to dwell on, that means to think on. It says, "...therein day and night." That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. And there's a critical phrase there. That thou mayest observe. So what you're doing is you're meditating, not just for meditation's sake. Not just to clear your head and bring your blood pressure down. You meditate so that you can observe to do according to all that is written therein. It says, For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Whether the stock market is going up or down, whether you've been given a pink slip or whether you're working overtime, it does not matter. You can make your way what? Prosperous and have good success as you give yourself to knowing and living the Word of God in your life. And that's critical in establishing the atmosphere, the right kind of atmosphere in your home. Number two under atmosphere. When a couple learns they are expecting, it would be good to make the determination that you as a family will serve the Lord. Now this ought to already be done in premarital counseling. This actually ought to be done way before then. But let me just say, it ought to be something that before you get married that you and your wife or wife or husband have that already nailed down that no matter what, you're going to serve God. Joshua chapter 24, go to the last chapter here of Joshua. Verse 14, Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth, I understand these are Joshua's last days and his last words, and so he's given some important truth here. He says, And put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And it would seem evil unto you to serve the Lord. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And I guess that's probably one of the most common phrases of the Word of God that we find at homes. You might walk into the door and it says, God bless this house. But many times you'll find someone who will have this phrase, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That helps you create an atmosphere, a godly atmosphere in your home, having Scripture posted. having some pictures with the Word of God in there. Maybe as you take the three-by-five cards wherever you work, you can have a three-by-five card there, or you can have a nice picture made, or you can do your whatever you do. I'm getting way in over my head here. But you understand what I'm trying to say is you're having reminders or prompters of the Word of God in your home. But he goes on to say here, he says, and the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord and to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land. Therefore will we also serve the Lord, for He is our God. And Joshua said unto the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt and consume you. After that, He hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you, the Lord, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them with statutes and an ordinance in Shechem. So here we see that they made a determination to serve the Lord. You need to start with a determination to serve the Lord. Number three. when we talk about atmosphere. Babies can be influenced by noise, stress, and other factors in the womb. Any mother who has carried a baby knows this to be true. Any dad who has had the privilege and opportunity of feeling that baby still in the womb as it kicks I know sometimes, you know, we have eight children and sometimes they can actually feel the warmth of my hand and kick against it. Already kicking at me. Isn't that true, guys? I mean, you know it to be true. I know sometimes, you know, a door will slam or there'll be a loud noise and there'll be a reaction of the baby in the womb. That baby is being influenced by the noise going on around it. And it's not even born yet. Let's look at some Scripture. Take your Bibles and go to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. In verse 41, the Scripture says, And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe, that would be John the Baptist, leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. So it's interesting that the babe heard the voice of Mary and the baby reacted to that voice in the womb of Elizabeth. Take your Bibles and go to Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25. Verse 19, and these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Paddan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. So, you know, a lot of people feel like, oh, I'm 25 years old and I'm not married yet. I'm an old maid or I'm an old man. Hey, this guy was 40 years old. Just making a point. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord was entreated of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together within her, and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb, and the first came out red all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau." And then of course we see that Jacob was born. It's interesting that when I was looking at this, a lot of times we don't say Esau and Jacob, we always say Jacob and Esau, don't we? And it's interesting, we just do that naturally, without really even thinking about it, and yet the scripture says, the elder shall serve the younger. But normally when we're recalling children and so on, we give the elder the preference. Just in passing there. But the point I'm trying to make here about setting the atmosphere in the home is we need to understand that we are influenced by our surroundings. Do you realize the world has that down? You know, they'll try to set an atmosphere in a restaurant. If you go to a nice restaurant, They'll try to dim the lights, especially if it's known as a romantic place. They'll dim the lights, maybe have some candles, and they'll play some nice piano kind of music or classical music in the background, trying to set the atmosphere, or what we would say is the tone. There are some colors they tell you not to put in certain rooms because those are aggressive colors. If you notice nowadays, those who are in power positions, a lot of times they're told, you'll see politicians do this. They have gone to where they'll wear the darker, maybe blue suits, with maybe a pastel blue tie, a light colored blue tie, because blue is a calming color. It really settles down that position of authority, whereas red has the tendency to be an aggressive color. And so they will actually have handlers during the politicians' campaigns that tells them how to dress, what to put on and what not to wear at certain occasions because of the effect that it might have. You talk to an attorney who is used to dealing with juries and they will actually have consultants come in and they will actually teach their clients the proper attire to wear so that they can influence the jury in a positive manner. So atmosphere does matter. And so we need to understand that atmosphere matters in our homes. Let's not be ignorant of this. Why do the children of this world have to be wiser than us? They don't have to be, but many times the Scripture says they are. We're always playing catch-up. And so we need to pay attention to the atmosphere that we establish. Number four I see here. Number three was babies can be influenced by noise, stress, and other factors. Number four, I would encourage each family to do an atmosphere check in their homes. I would encourage each family to do an atmosphere check in their homes. You might start with a house dedication. I've made mention of this. I can remember when we were in Thailand and I had the privilege of preaching through four interpreters. Boy, that was something. By the time you speak here and they go and say whatever they say, and say whatever they say, and say whatever they say, and say whatever they say, come back to me, I'm saying, now what was I saying? You know, I don't know what I was saying. You lose your train of thought. But at the same time, it was interesting that service, We saw three people trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. And I'll never forget that the lady on her own said, now that I've trusted Christ as Savior, will you preachers come and dedicate my house to God? And the reason she said that is because she had dedicated her house to her other gods. But now she had repudiated that. She had repented of her sin. Taken Jesus Christ as personal Savior and says, now I want Him to rule in my home. And so we went right up the mountainside, sat down on the floor, visited a bit, and then we prayed over that house. Dedicating that house to God. That's not being goofy. That's being godly. So we might check the atmosphere of our home. Under that also, you might need to do some spring cleaning. In other words, get rid of those things that will set the wrong tone for your home. Take your Bibles and go to 1 Samuel if you would. 1 Samuel, still in the Old Testament. 1 Samuel is before 2 Samuel. Just thought I'd help you a little bit. You won't have to go to the table of contents that way. 1 Samuel chapter 16. And you might want to start with your music. Music is one of the most powerful influencers known to mankind. I know Frank Garlock has that series of messages that it's called the language of music. And we know that music speaks even without lyrics. The world understands that. And that's another area where we need to quit playing dumb on. I mean, there's just something about the songs that we sang tonight in our favorites time. That blesses my heart. I can walk in feeling a little bit melancholy, and by the time we get through singing, then I'm right tuned up and charged up and ready to go. That's the power of music. We see this here, and I think it behooves us to maybe do a little bit of a check in our automobiles, do a little bit of a check in our homes. What kind of music are we listening to? What kind of music do we have in the CDs and the DVDs and on the TV? What are we listening to? What are we allowing to influence and set the tone or atmosphere of our minds? But notice it says, let's drop down in 1 Samuel 16. Let's go down to verse 14. Verse 14. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our Lord now command thy servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp. And it shall come to pass when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. There's the healing property of music. It says, And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that is cunning and plain, and a mighty, valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. That wasn't David saying, hey, this is who I am. This is others noticing who he was. Wow. And he says, can people say, you know what, I can't really explain that guy, but the Lord's with him. The Lord's with him. Can they say that of you and me? The Lord's with him. And he says this, Wherefore, Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, verse 19, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. And Jesse took an ass laden with bread and a bottle of wine and a kid and sent them by David his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul and stood before him, and he loved him greatly. And he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp and played with his hand So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. This is why the ungodly music of this world is so rotten to have in our cars and in our homes and in our churches. Why would we want the evil spirit's music in here? We want music that will drive the evil spirits away. And we see the power of music. And so, you ought to maybe do a spring cleaning that has to deal with the subject of, hey, the right kind of music in your home, setting the right atmosphere. Folks, if music in a restaurant can set an atmosphere, the music in your home can too. The music in your car can too. And so it behooves us not to be ignorant, and that could be a great place to start as you start to rear your children for God. Or maybe even begin to turn the spiritual tide of your home. Maybe you say, well, my kids are teenagers, or they're this, or they're that, or boy, I wish I'd have heard this ten years ago, and so on. Well, do it now. Begin to say, I mean, David was a grown boy at this time. Grown boy, grown man. He was a grown man at this time. Saul was a king. And we see here where he came was Saul's armor bearer. He plays music. And so it works for adults too. So you may want to start with your music. Set in the right atmosphere. And then I mentioned this in Sunday school, but I mention it again here tonight because it fits with the atmosphere. And that is to be kind one to another. In Ephesians 4. This will be the last passage of Scripture. Ephesians 4, verse 29, Great counsel and advice setting the right atmosphere in your home. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace into the hearers. Now you say, Pastor, that's Paul talking to a church. Well, wouldn't that apply in your home, too? Wouldn't that apply in business, too? Why does God have to give you all the various avenues or platforms on which to practice His truth? He's given us an example, and this ought to filter through every area of our life. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth. But build people up. Don't tear people down. And when you're talking about in your home, the same thing. Don't call each other dummy, stupid, idiot, that kind of thing. Boy, you're a brick short of a full load. The light's on. No one's at home. Get a grip, son. You know, that kind of stuff. Hey, build people up. And then it says, and grieve not, or don't pain, don't hurt, don't offend the Holy Spirit of God. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed into the day of redemption. I like that. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Be kind. Set a kind atmosphere in your home. Be nice in your home. Amen? As a little one is being introduced into a home, there are a lot of changes taking place in your lives. You know, I found that when we got married, you know, I was in Bible college. I was single there going to Tennessee Temple. Came back to Murfreesboro. We got married. Then we moved to Hammond. And I was in Bible school. I was working full time. And our schedules were just every which way. I would go to school from 8 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon. And then come home and be at work about 2, 33 o'clock in the afternoon. Worked until about 11, 12 o'clock. Before our first child was born, Laura was born, what we did is I'd come in at midnight and say, let's go down around the clock and get something to eat. And we'd just go and get something to eat. But when the children came, our lives started changing. And Brennan would say, well we can't, the baby just fell asleep. Well, I'm hungry. I want to eat. You know what I mean? Guys, please help me out here. You know what I mean? I'm hungry. She can sleep. Let's go get something to eat. We take her with us. Come on now. But you know what I'm saying? You know, your whole schedule begins to change. There are a lot of considerations. For some couples, there's a lot of complications that take place. There's a lot of changes, amen? So you need to understand that, that there's going to be some added pressure as you go through the different avenues or stages of life. And so physically, too, when a lady gives birth, there are a lot of chemical changes taking place in the body. I'm not a doctor. By the same token, you need to pay attention to that kind of thing and be understanding and be kind one to another as those changes are taking place. And that's why you have those general principles of Scripture that says, in honor, preferring one another. We know emotionally you need to support each other with those kinds of schedule changes. And socially, you'll find that, hey, when you when you were single, you had all your single buddies and everybody was great. And then all of a sudden, you sort of locked into one. And then what happened to all your friends? Friends didn't like hanging around you because you're always, you know, googly-eyeing at the other person and who wants to be with them now, you know, kind of thing. And so you find that socially there are some things taken away. Babies come and, hey, the ones that don't have children, they don't want to be around a crying and screaming baby. And you've got to get up and feed the baby umpteen times in the day anyway. We can't even sit down for a meal now and that kind of stuff. And on and on we go. A lot of change is taking place. Spiritually, I know that a lot of times the responsibility falls on our shoulders and we begin to see just how important life is and also our responsibility before God with this precious eternal soul that God has given us. And so there's a lot of changes and you need to make sure that you are making those atmospheric changes in your home to set the tone for godly living. Amen? That's what I wanted to hit tonight. There's a lot that could be said as we move through this series, but I just want you to think about the atmosphere of your home. Is it an oasis? Is it a place of rest? Is it a place where people want to be? Your atmosphere. Maybe you need to do some spring cleaning. Maybe you need to pitch out some of those CDs. Maybe you need to buy some good ones for a change. Maybe you need to quit trying to walk that ragged edge and just say, you know what? We're going to set the best atmosphere we can. Amen? Let's all stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, please. Set the right atmosphere, the Christian atmosphere in your home. During the invitation time, many decisions are being made just about every service. Sometimes they deal directly with the message at hand. Sometimes God speaks in another way. All we ask you to do at this invitation time is to obey God. You do what God tells you to do, and you're going to be alright. And so maybe there's an area of your life that He's spoken to that I did not address, but God spoke to you. Let me encourage you. To obey God. If you're here tonight without Jesus Christ, you're not sure of where you'll spend eternity, get that matter settled. And Christian, what's the atmosphere in your car? Would you be embarrassed if someone started listening to your music? What's the atmosphere in your home? What if you were You had someone that was that proverbial fly on the wall that was seeing and hearing things that were going on in your home. What's the atmosphere of your home? Maybe when you think about rearing your children, that might be a place to start.