God is good to us. Let's all stand if you would, please. We'll read just off the paper there. We'll look at Hebrews 12. And the topic of this lesson is be thankful for instructions. God is a father and his parenting discipline. And so we're going to look at some of this this morning. I've already dealt with all the stuff about child discipline. You got a copy of that. But these instructions are so important. Hebrews 12, six. I want to read that. We'll go to the Lord in prayer. It says, for whom the Lord loveth, he chastens and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Verse seven, if ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Verse eight, but if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards and not sons. In other words, when it comes to God, you're a fatherless child if you're not disciplined. Now, think about the depth of that. Boy, that runs long, wide, and deep, doesn't it? It does. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we come to you at this time, Lord, Brother Waltz already prayed that you'd grant a filling of the Holy Spirit, and Lord, I don't ask for that, I beg for that. And Father, I pray now that you would open all of our understanding. I thank you for the presence of the Holy Spirit right now. I thank you, dear heavenly Father, for your mercy and your grace. And Father, I would ask now that you would bless this to the hearers. And Father, I do ask that God that you would save souls, call men to preach, and now glorify yourself in what's done right here, right now. I ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. You may be seated. I put down here, be thankful for instruction. A lot of people have asked my wife over the years, well, how did he learn to be this or that husband, father, whatever? And she's always told people, well, the Word of God did it. The Word of God. did it. And so what we find then is the fact that in many areas the Word of God is going to give us instruction. And that instruction, if you want to know how to be a good husband, you can find it in the Word of God. If you want to know how to be a good wife, you can find it in the Word of God. If you want to know how a child should act, you can find it in the Word of God. If you want to know how a home should be run, you can find it in the Word of God. Everything that we do, regardless of whether it be work or play, we can find it all in the Word of God. We talk about, who should my friends be? Well, we can find that in the Word of God. What about my yeses and my noes? I can find that in the Word of God. And so what we find then, we need to be thankful for the instructions that God gives us. Because just think about this, God can take somebody that's never had a home, Somebody that's never known anything about a proper home. Somebody that knows nothing about being a husband, a partner, parent, anything, and instruct that person on how to be all those things. That's why conversion is so important. That's why It's so important to have Jesus Christ at the center of your life. Because when Christ is the center of your life, you're gonna have the attributes of Christ. Remember now, when the Holy Spirit moves in, he's going to interpret the word of God, and you're going to recognize it. Listen now. A lot of people say, well, that's the word of God, but they never recognize it as this is God's instruction book for us. This is God's owner's manual for life. And when we understand that, then our view of it changes totally. I've watched men that were stone cold drunks God save them, Christ move into their life, and they wind up being great parents to the children, fabulous husband to the wife, everything. Where'd they learn that from? The Word of God and the presence of the Spirit of God in their life. That is ever so important. Let's look at this. The first thing I want you to recognize under this instruction, the first part of it, Hebrews 12, verses six to 11, what you have here is this. Now, I've asked a lot of people, find me a place in the word of God where God does not example something. You find that there's so much that God examples for us. Hey, it's an example. He does it. Christ does it first. God does it first. Right? We love him because he first loved us. You see that? And so what we find then as we go through this, This first part here, God as a father disciplines his children. That's you and me. You folks that are sitting here that are saved this morning, you're his children. And as we look at these verses, let's see, let's read this now, and we'll stop at verse 11 and talk about it some. But now know this, look who he's talking to. This is God the father, dealing with his children. You see this? And so in other words, what we need to do is look at this and see how God's tends to us as his children. For whom the Lord loveth, he chastened and scourges every son whom he receiveth. So God's going to discipline his children without prejudice. Wow, you say, how's that? It says, every son whom he receiveth. And I know you women are looking at that laughing and say, see, he's gonna get on all them boys, right? But we'll talk about that later, right? Verse seven, if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits than live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But now look at this, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. God's discipline has a tremendous benefit to it. God's discipline, he doesn't discipline just to be disciplining his children. It says, but he, for our profit, When God disciplines His children, it's going to be of benefit to you, the outcome of it is, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now, here's the truth. God knows this. He put it in His book. Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Boy, we'll agree to that, won't we? But God knows that. God knows that. God knows that, that when he goes to work on his children, it's not going to be a sweet thing. It's going to be a thing of grief. It's going to be grievous to us. And so then the next word in verse 11 is nevertheless. See that? nevertheless. Afterwards, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Listen, God's discipline is always going to be to our prophet. Be thankful for this type of instruction. Because what does it teach us as parents? That if we're gonna discipline, it's got to have some profit to it. You see that? Listen, there's one thing about the Lord. He doesn't discipline without explanation. He always explains something to us. That's called the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sin and show us exactly. And we'll think, oh my goodness. Then when God goes to work on us, the Holy Spirit says, mm-hmm. You see, God's doing this. He's disciplining you. There's gonna be some, there's gonna be a benefit out of this, nevertheless, afterwards. Aren't you glad that word afterward is there? In other words, God's discipline in your life and mine is for a time. And since God examples that, that means discipline in our homes should be for a time. But then look what it says, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. In other words, doing the right thing. Unto them which are exercised, thereby, see the little word exercise? You need to underline it, mark that. Because what it says is this. It says that this discipline is gonna exercise you, it's going to work you, it's going to challenge you, it's going to do something with you. God's discipline is always for our benefit, but God's discipline is always going to be something that's going to require effort on our part. Exercise us. You see that? God has a way of making something easy for us, or God has a way of making something very hard for us. God has a way of making something where there's no challenge to it, or God has a way of challenging us with something. And so when we look at life, we must understand that God's disciplining hand is going to be something that exercises us. It's going to be a mental challenge, a challenge of the heart, challenge of the soul and spirit. We're going to find that it's not going to be a joyous time, but a grievous time. Nevertheless, afterwards, You see that? Now that's what God as a Father does. He disciplines His children. Why? Look at the fruit that God wants out of this. The peaceable fruit of what? Righteousness. God wants righteousness in our life. What does the Bible say? Without righteousness and without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And when God goes to work on us, he's going to bring about righteousness in your life. And that righteousness It says right here, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And so now you see the fruit of that. In other words, what God's going to do when he disciplines his children, when he finishes with that, your life is going to produce righteousness. You're going to do the right thing. You're going to love doing the right thing. You're going to recognize that God's disciplining hand in your life has brought you to a place where it'll yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And oh, what a wonderful place that is. The peaceable, look at that, look what it says, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness. In other words, when God brings about righteousness in our lives, there's peace. You'll have peace with yourself, peace with your conscience, peace with soul, peace of mind, peace of heart, but most of all, you'll have peace with God. Now that's how God deals with his children. You see that? All right. Now let's get to the heart of the message. Over the years, I've heard all kinds of messages about the man being the priest in the home, all right? The father is a teaching priest in the home. Now, I'm gonna get down here and we're going to talk about Eli and his sons in a minute. And we're gonna learn something very specific about this. First of all, we need to be thankful for God's instruction book. Remember now, the Bible is what? It's our ownership manual, isn't it? And that's where we need to go. We're going to start off in Deuteronomy 6, 1 to 7, and then we're going to go to 1 Samuel chapter 2 and look at some things. Because what we're going to find here, the Bible says these things are written as examples for us, right? Now, remember this. God is always faithful to his word. And so what he does, he gives us commandment because he wants us to be faithful to his word. So God looks at us and says, listen, I've given my word and I'm going to be faithful to it. Now I want you to be faithful to it. God is not a hypocrite. God does not have one standard for him and another for you. We go through the word of God, God is telling us the standard he lives by, and he wants us to strive to live according to the same standard. That's why Jesus Christ is so important to us. All of our righteousness is as of filthy rags. The Bible says all of our righteousness is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So now we find this. So what we find then is this. How is this supposed to happen within the home? Now, I'll be the first to admit that if there's a failure in the Baptist line of people, it's this in the modern Baptist church. You go to the Jehovah's Witnesses, man, they're having classes 24-7. You go to the Catholic Church, you gotta go through all of their indoctrination system. You go to the Mormons, you gotta go through all their indoctrination system. So with a lot of those, but in the Baptist Church, it's a mass failure. Because number one is the lack of teaching in the home. And that's where things fall apart. And so, watch this. We realize that in a lot of Baptist home, they have fried preacher before they have fried chicken. And so, that doesn't help the children in the home any, does it? Nah. All right, now watch this. Let's go to this. Go to Deuteronomy chapter six. I've, the verses, we'll look at verses one to seven. I've printed off three, verses three to seven for you. And so let's look at that. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, there's the nation, that it may be well with thee, that's the benefit, that ye may increase mightily as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. That's the promise of it. In the land that floweth with milk and honey. Verse four, here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Verse five, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. That's the foundation of our relationship with God. That's it. Do you love God that much? Now verse six, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. Now listen to me. God's gonna give his word. And when God gives his word, notice this. He is just as faithful to his word as it can be. So God is going to give his word. He's going to be faithful to his word. And he's going to command these people to be faithful to his word. God don't live a double standard. So now watch this. Verse six, and these words, which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. Folks, listen to me. You shall be in thine, you need to underline that circle, that highlight that, cut it out, need it. And the very foundation, how many times have I heard people say, well, I wish she'd have taken that to heart. We say that, don't we? Oh, I wish those kids would have taken that little bit of information to heart. I wish that child would have taken it to heart. I told him not to do that, man. I wish he'd have just taken that little bit of instruction to heart, you know. Well, why do we save him? It's because there's something on the inside of us that comes from God that has put that in us. Oh, so many times I've heard people say that, lost and saved. Man, I'm gonna tell you something. You really need to take what I'm telling you to heart. I've heard parents say that to their children. I've heard man say that to man, woman say that to woman. I've heard parents say it to children and so on and so forth. Boy, you better take this to heart. Haven't you heard that a lot? Sure have, haven't you? Well, look at this. When you realize what you're looking at right here, In verse 6, Deuteronomy 6, 6, shall be in thine heart. The failure of instruction is this, is when you don't take it to heart. I've been around a lot of people, I've been in a lot of classes, and where things were taught. I never, you better take this to heart. You know these big road scrapers you see go down making roads, you know, the bulldozer be pulling it, you know, and it'll be picking up dirt. Then when they get to where they're going, that big back door will spring up, you know, and they can dump it all out and go do it again, right? Well, When I went into the military as a combat engineer, they gave classes on all the dangers of that stuff. And they showed this one guy, they told him and told him, told him, man, listen, don't you dare get close to that thing once it's empty, because if that thing springs back, it'll knock you 100 yards. And he killed him. He didn't listen, he got back there, boom. And the first thing he said, you know, if that guy would have taken the instruction to heart, he'd be alive today. You see, you and I need to take the things of God to heart. We need to know the word of God so we can take the word of God to heart. Because when it's in your heart, Then it's going to be in your mind. It's going to be in your soul. When it's in your heart, it's going to change you. It's going to be a guideline to you. It's going to have value to you. If it's not in your heart, you won't stick with it. If it's not in your heart, you won't do it. If it's not in your heart, it's nothing more than just words. You're not gonna listen to it, it's not gonna have any effect on you. If you love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, that's going to have something in you that's going to change you. I remember an old fella, that I met the guy, it was funny. And he come in and the preacher told me, he said, now, when he gets here, you're gonna see this old man, he's gonna come in, his boys will come in with him. And he said, they're gonna come in, they're not gonna sit on the second pew. He said, they're gonna come in, they're gonna sit down right on the front row. He said, watch them. And anyway, Sure enough, I was watching, they come in, front row, sit down. And he said, I double dog dare you to ask one of them why they sit on the front row. And so you know I had to after that, right? I mean, when you get a double dog dare, you got to do it. And so I asked him, and the old man said this. He said, preacher, He said, God's in my heart. And I don't wanna sit back and I don't wanna watch people sleep, talk, kids play, fidget around. He said, I wanna sit right up front where there's nothing between me and God. He said, the second thing is this. He said, see these boys I got? He said, now, they do have a little pride in them. And he said, they're proud enough that they don't want nobody behind them seeing them sleeping. Their head nodding and everything else. He said, I can set them on the front row and they'll stay awake. I said, the other thing is this. He said, because when they fall asleep, I'd have to knock them out the chair and that'd really embarrass them. And I looked at this one guy, his son was three times bigger than he was. I said, when he knocked you out that chair, he said, If he had to use another chair to do it, he'd do it. So anyway, I got tickled at it. But he said one thing. He said, it's in my heart. It's in my heart. He said, it's in my heart. He said, I don't want anything between me and God. So I told him one day, we're moving up front. Where you want to sit, third row, second row? He said, we're gonna walk and sit right there. He said, if you spit, you're gonna spit on us. I said, why? He said, because I don't want nothing between me and God. What a statement, huh? Look at this. Shall, in verse six, shall be in thine heart. You see that? Let me ask you a question for those of you folks here, then those that'll hear it over the media. Is it in your heart to read the word of God? Is it in your heart to fellowship with God? Listen, if it's in your heart, you're not gonna be able to hide it. If it's in your heart, guess what? Everybody around you will know it. If it's not, everybody will know that too. Verse seven. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. How are the children supposed to know unless they're taught in the home? The home does more to destroy sermon and Sunday school lesson than anything. But the other side of that, the home does more for that child. when the sermon and lesson is confirmed by the parents in the home. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. Now listen, be thankful for instruction because God the Father is instructing the parents to teach the children. But notice what he said in verse six. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in my heart. Now look at the very first thing he commands them. Look at this now. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. The very next thing he does, he's commanding the parents to teach these words to the children. When God commands it, that removes option. There's no option there, is there? None whatsoever. And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house. Listen, how many homes actually sit down and have a good conversation about God? One out of a thousand maybe. Talk about everything under the sun but that. Those people we worked with behind the Iron Curtain years ago, that was the focal point of the evening. Period. That was the focal point. They were gonna sit down, No water, no coffee, no food, nothing. They were going to sit down and they were going to have a conversation about God. They were going to talk about the power of prayer. They were going to talk about the necessity of faith. They were going to talk about the value of the word of God. They were going to talk about God. And those children learned that. They listened, now listen to me. One of the things that they talked about, when thou sittest in thine house, you know what the greatest thing is? Is those parents gave those children testimony after testimony after testimony after testimony of how God had fed them, warmed them, protected them, and cared for them when they were sick. Amen. Testimony after testimony. how God had fed them, everything you can think of. And so the children were raised upon a diet, a spiritual diet of what God had done for their parents and them. And when they'll walk us by the way, boy, How many times have you taken a walk with somebody and you talked about everything, but you sure didn't talk about God? And when they'll lie us down, when they'll rise us up. You see, when it's in your heart, you're not gonna have a problem teaching and talking about God. When it's in your heart, it shall be in your heart. God knows that. If it's in your heart, you're not gonna have a problem teaching and talking about God and Christ. You're not gonna have a problem talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for you. He's the Savior. If it's in your heart, You're not going to have a problem with that. If it's not in your heart, you'll come up with all of those excuses. Well, I'm too busy. I'm too tired. Our home is so busy, we don't have time for that. But if it's in your heart, you'll say, guess what? I've got a priority, and that can wait. You get it? All right. Now watch this. Let's look at a man that failed tremendously. Let's look at this man that failed tremendously and then we'll conclude with the reality of what God says about it. Now Eli was a priest, but Eli had raised these boys. Now 1 Samuel 2, 12, look at this. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial and they knew not the Lord. Okay, Eli knew that. So how in the world did this man who was a priest raise two boys that were sons of Belial? Because the priest was supposed to raise a heritage of priests. Watch this now. So we see the first statement here. is we're looking at a failed family. Now, in 1 Samuel 2, 17, wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. What happened? Well, now get this. Eli had installed those two boys as priests. And when people would come up to offer the offering, well, them boys would demand the fat and stuff. It should have been burned, should have been given to the Lord, but they took it. And so now you got these two boys in the priesthood and they have no respect whatsoever for God. None for God's commandments, none for God's sacrifices, nothing. So we realize then that because of them, it said for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. The men that brought the offering got to the place where they hated to bring it, why? Because of how Eli's sons acted when you read the whole story. Rather than him being a priest to his home, he wasn't. Rather than him being a priest to Israel, he wasn't. All right, now 1 Samuel chapter two, 22 to 25. Now, Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he said unto them, why do ye such things? Great question, Eli. Why do ye such things? There's been 10,000 parents ask that question to their children in there. Oh, thousands and thousands and thousands of parents have asked that question. Why, son, daughter, why do you do this? Why do you do this? Well, they do that because it started in the home. That's why they do that. The discipline of the home. Were there any testimonies of God in the home? Was God and Christ exalted in the home? Was, in Eli's case, did he tell them boys, boys, I'm gonna tell you something now. If you do this, God's gonna do this. You know something, if he'd have done that, we're gonna get to that in a minute too. Listen. This one lady I know, boy, she was constantly telling her little kids from the time that kid was sucking on the bottle. I mean, she'd walk by and tell them, now listen, you get crossed up with God, you're gonna be in terrible trouble. And that boy was raised up, he said, if there's anybody I feared in the universe, it was God. And I'd say it was God. He said, yeah. And he said, my dad got a hold of me one day and said, listen, when I finish with you, you're going to be afraid of me. But when I finished telling you something of grave importance, you'll be afraid of God. And that's what he did. And watch this now. Why do ye such things? Eli, why'd you ask that question? Why would Eli ask the question? He should know why they do that. Because he failed. Now watch this. For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Now watch what he says. Have you ever talked to somebody and it was too late? Too late. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. You make the Lord's people to transgress. Oh my goodness. Just think about this. Because Eli failed as a father, he had these sons that affected the nation. You cause, boys, you cause the Lord's people to transgress. You never know the depth of your failure, do you? You never know the depths of your failure, even though it shows up in your children. That's why we need to be thankful for godly instruction. That's why we not only need to look at God's instructions, but we need to take it to heart. Why? Because, like the Bible said, lest the root of bitterness spring up and thereby many be defiled. You know, I've heard young people say, well, that's me. That's me. What I do is not gonna bother nobody else, you wanna bet? Nothing's ever alone. It always reaches out to somebody else. It always spreads. You see, watch this now. And so he said, I hear you make the Lord's people to transgress. Verse 25, if one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. Wow. Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father. You know something? Sometimes it's just too late. You can talk till you're blue in the face and they're not gonna listen. You can talk and beg and they're not gonna listen. Nope, not at all. Too late. That's what it says in Proverbs. Discipline the boy while there's hope. That's what it says. While there's hope. In other words, if you don't do it, there's going to be a time when there's no hope. And so we look at this, we need to be thankful for God's instructions because God can instruct us in the most important things in our life. And what's that? That's our home. Our home carries. Boy, where's, think of the memories. Think of the thoughts. I mean, man, there's sad times and glad times, isn't there? Boy, there's times to laugh together and cry together. But there's one thing through all of that that we need to pay close attention to. And that's this one little thing called memories. Memories. Relationships are fragile. And boy, people can bury those memories for years. And then at one point in time or another, the devil comes along and cracks the glass and the memories fall out. And you know what usually happens? The memories that fall out of that are usually bad memories. One man said, isn't it amazing how the human mind can deteriorate to the point where the only thing they see, rather than seeing the glad, they see the mad and the sad. A man that I knew, his dad was dying of leukemia. He had been a drunk for years, scoundrel, mean. If he whipped the kids, he'd done it with an extension cord. He's a scoundrel. But God saved him 10 years before he died. And with a radical salvation, God saved him. And the last 10 years of his life, that man preached and begged. Man, he preached to drunks and cry over them and carry on. God just saved him, washed him clean, turned him upside down and backwards. And he come down with leukemia and the doctors got the family together and said, now listen, when death comes, his fever will shoot up real high and his mind will probably go back. to where it used to be, so I just want you to know that. He's liable to cuss you and fight you and do everything. His mind will go back to what it was. This boy said, his mama spoke up and said, not him. Why? Why not him? Mama said, because that man God truly saved that man. He's a totally different man. He's got a new nature, new mind, new heart, new soul, everything. The doc said, yeah, I've heard that before. But he said when his dad was dying, his dad said, son, boy, wasn't that a great revival over there? When so-and-so got saved. Son, didn't they have some great singing over there at that place? Son, he died talking about all the good memories. Amen. Watch this now. Verse 25, the red, notwithstanding. In other words, regardless of what he said, they weren't going to hear it. They hearkened not to the voice of their father. What? A tragic thing that is. How many heartbroken fathers have I been around in my lifetime? Boy, when the son or the daughter, the kids just were not going to hearken. That means to hear and do. They were just not going to listen. Man, they've chosen their way of life and they don't care what dad says. Not gonna listen, don't care what mama said, they ain't gonna listen. But look what God says here, because the Lord would slay them. Wow. Verse 29. First Samuel 2, 29, wherefore, Kiki, now this is God coming back. He's gonna talk to Eli. Now watch this. Wherefore, Kiki, at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honors thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the cheapest of all the offerings of Israel, my people. God comes back and says, look at this, you've honored your sons above me. Why was his sons even put in office? According to the law, he should have taken them boys to the gate and had them stoned to death. But instead he put them in the priesthood. You see, a lot of things wrong here. Guess what? The man of God was not the man of God, was he? The man of God had no convictions. The man of God had no honor of God. The man of God had no godly standards. The man of God had some godly information, but that's where it stopped. And so it is in a lot of homes. They got all kinds of godly information. But do they ever teach it in the home? Talk it in the home? Talk it when they walk it? What happens? Honors thy sons above me. Well, you know that's not gonna go well, huh? See, God, we ought to be thankful for instructions. We ought to learn from somebody else's mistakes, shouldn't we? All right, watch this now. 1 Samuel 2, 34 and 35. And this shall be a sign unto thee that shall come upon thy two sons on Hophni and Phinehas, and one day they shall die, both of them." Guess what? God is now doing what Eli should have done. Eli, the Bible says, listen, the commandment was this. He should have taken them boys down to the gate of the city and said, these two boys are drunkards. They're not gonna listen to me and mama. They're not gonna obey God. And what's the Bible say? And the minute the gate will stone them to death. That's what should have happened, but that's not what happened. Instead, he chose to side with his boys, enable them in their sin, protect them from the consequences of it, thinking God was going to let them get away with it. Ladies and gentlemen, you're a fool if you think God's gonna let you get away with it. God's not gonna let the parents get away with it and God's not gonna let the children get away with it. Wow. So now God is going to do what Eli should have had done a long time ago. But now here's what I wanna get to. In verse 35, look at this now. We're talking about being thankful for instructions, and that's what we've got here. A little bit of family instruction. Verse 35. God says, I will raise me up a faithful priest. Now, I want to show you what a faithful priest looks like. Very important. God doesn't just put something out and then never finish it. God don't give us black and white pictures. He'll put that thing in color for us. Now watch this. Let me show you what a faithful priest looks like. If you're gonna be a priest in the home like you're supposed to be, this is what you'll look like. I'm gonna raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind. See that? That's what a faithful priest in the home will do. He's going to be, look at this now, He's going to do according to that which is in God's heart and in God's mind. You see that? Can you imagine the children saying, well, what's your dad do? My dad's going to do what's in God's heart and God's mind. That's what my dad's going to do. What's your mom going to do? She's going to support dad in that. She's going to help dad make sure that dad does that. She's going to help dad make sure that God's in his heart and in his mind. And that's how our home's going to be run. According to those two things. Look at this now. And I will raise me up a faithful priest. That's what every home needs. That's what every church needs. That's what every human needs. A faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart, the heart of God, in my mind, the mind of God. Now look what he says. Look at this. Look at this. And I will build him a sure house. See that? I'm gonna, God says I'll build him a sure house. You know what that means? That means it's a safe house. It's a protected house. It's a godly house. It's a godly home. He's gonna build him a sure house. It's gonna be stable. It's going to be reliable. It's going to be respectable. It's going to have everything that God wants in it. God said if he'll do this, If he'll do after what's in my heart and in my mind, I'm gonna build him a sure house. That's what every home really needs. Every home needs a faithful priest. We've talked much, I've heard it preached much about the man of the house being the priest of his home. And then I've talked much about individual people. You gotta be a priest unto yourself. You need to look at that and say, that's what I'm going to do. That's what I'm going to be. I'm going to, I'm going to be looking at this and that which is in God's heart and God's mind. That's what I'm going to do. Now watch what he says, and I will build him a sure house. Listen, when God puts your house together, you're going to have a home, not just a house with people living in it. You're going to have an actual home. You get it? Now watch this, and he shall walk before my anointed forever. There's something about that little word, ever. But I want you to see something. Do you know? Now look at the relationship God is going to have with that home. And he shall walk before mine anointed forever. There's going to be a relationship between that faithful priest and God forever. So when God instructs us, he brings it down to this. He says, well, Eli, you're no good. You're not a faithful priest. You were not a faithful priest in your home. When you read this, you know what? When you look at the details of it, it says, and the mad God sent a man. God sent a man of God to Eli. I thought Eli was supposed to be a man of God. Now listen. When the man of God gets messed up with God, God does not talk to him directly. You look back here. Eli was the man of God, but God sent a man of God to him. David used to, boy, had a relationship with God till he got messed up with Bathsheba, then what, he sent Nathan to him. There's a principle in this. And it's ever so important. We need to be thankful for the instructions. Why? Because when we look at the detail of the instructions, there's something here that we all want, but few have. And here's what it is. I will build him a sure house. That's what he should want. That's what his wife and children do want. And it's possible. You see that? And so I look at this and it takes me right back up to that one little statement. Shall be in thine heart. Deuteronomy 6, 6. Shall be in thine heart. Listen. If it's not in your heart, you're not gonna do it. That's all there is to it. If you've never been challenged to it, you'll never do it. Is it in your heart? I'm gonna close with this. My wife's reading this book. A little paperback. It's called Victorious Christians. Is that what it is? That's the title of it. We've had it in our home for a long time, long time. But it gives the testimony of these people. It's a book of testimonies. It talks about Fannie Crosby and others and how they memorized the word of God. Her and I had a discussion the other day and she said, did you ever notice something about these type of people? These people, now listen to me. She said, did you ever notice there's one thing that stands out with all of these people? And over the years, I've seen it in the hearts of the people we've known that went to prison for the faith and everything. There's one thing that stands out all the time. It is their love for the Word of God. Just like in the Sunday school class this morning, we talked about why they're gonna be persecuted. Why? Because they're witness for Jesus and the Word of God. The one thing you find in those people, all through that book, it's always the same thing. They always have this desire, this love, this heartfelt. They have something in their heart for the word of God. Now let me ask you a question. Is there anything in your heart like that? I'm not talking about, you might say, yeah, well, let me ask you a question. How much of it do you read each day? There's a lot of people who say, oh, I believe the word of God, but I bet you they don't read one verse a day. They're lucky if they read two. And they feel like they're a great success if they by accident read three. And that's every third day. But these people had a relationship with the word of God. Do you have that type? Is this shall be in thine heart? Is that you? You see, God gives us instructions on how to be a, now listen to me. God gives us instructions on how to be a successful husband. a successful wife, to have a successful family. But God also gives us instructions on how to be a successful Christian, live or die. Amen. That's what it does. Those instructions, if you've got it in your heart, you'll die for it. Amen. If it's not in your heart, You won't. Why would you die for something that you don't even read? You see? Be thankful for the instructions that God gives us. You know why? Listen, and here's where I close. God's instruction always directs us and leads us to success. Always. Without failure. Every time. You got it? Right. So listen. Sitting right there. What are you going to do with this one called Christ? What are you going to do with the commandments of God? Even the Father says, believe on my Son. What are you going to do with this one called Christ? Ever so important. It's decision time in the house of God. Everybody here needs to make a decision. Not tomorrow. No, we need to make a decision right now what we're going to do. You know why? Because you don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, do you? May these words, may the Holy Spirit take these words and stir your soul and put them in your heart. Because if they're there, you'll find out. He, he, he, he will build you a sure house. Let's all stand, if you would, please, as we go to the Lord in prayer.