Amen, and what a blessing. And yeah, we're going back on Wednesday, so please pray for us about that. We're going to leave about four in the morning. That's about what time we leave, and we'll get to the border. And now there's just one green light that you can get, amen? Either green light or red light. Used to be two. And we will appreciate your prayers for that, just to get through there just fine. It's a blessing. Our truck is a Mexican truck now. And so we're almost invisible in Mexico now. When we had those Oklahoma plates on there, I mean, we were getting stared down and everything. We'd get pulled over all the time. But now, we just drive right on by. And I just smile and I go by, you know, like that. So it's nice, amen? And God helps. But now you can't drive anymore, Mexico City. Wednesday is the only guaranteed day to drive in there, so that's why we're going in on Wednesday. So pray about that. The rain season's coming up, and that might help out with the smog, but it's really bad now. And they're trying to do what they can to get it cleaned up. And so be in prayer about that. When we go there Thursday night I'll be preaching in our mission up on the mountain and that's going to be exciting. I've been praying about that. That keeps growing. People keep getting saved there. and we're excited about getting back. Our people are excited about us getting back and God's been good. We were able to go up and we were in a missions conference. That's really the only reason we came out so early was for that missions conference. When we went through BIMI back in December of 2014, in the screening committee they have pastors that are in there and they ask the missionaries' questions, and it was kind of interesting because they're asking questions to find out if you're going to stick and stay on the mission field. And so we're, you know, and so Brother Ross filled out one of our, gave us a reference, and he says, it said in there, do you think that this family will last on the mission field or will stay on the mission field, and why? And Brother Ross said, well, for the fact that they've already been on the field for 14 years, I think they'll stay on the field, you know? And so that's a blessing, that's just by God's grace, amen? And so anyway, we were in that screening committee, and one of the pastors said, I have two questions for you. One, I forget what the question was, but I remember what the second one was. He said, can you be in my missions conference in April of 2016? I said, well, what am I going to say? No, you know, of course, amen? God worked it out. We got meetings all the way up there. We were able to present our work in four different churches, new ones. And then a fifth church, a pastor, they were on the list for them to take us on for support. And I think we're next to be supported by that church. We're trying to raise our support level. little bit there and and so So God's been good and already that one church has taken us on for support We're in the new churches that we were in and so that's a real blessing. Amen. It's an answer to prayer There's no place like home. Amen. I would say Libra is home. It's really home is bound down in Mexico I really Patty says I don't know if I could I I don't know if I could ever live here again, you know, because of the heat. The humidity is just tremendous today. But I said, you better be careful, hun. The Lord may call us back up here, you know. So, be careful when you say you can't do something, amen? Anyway, God's good, amen? God is really good. I want to give you something here. I've been working on a new message and I've wanted to be able to preach it. And the Lord just kept bringing me back to this one, and so I'm just going to obey the Lord, amen? I'm just going to do what the Lord says, because He knows why He wants something preached, amen? And really, this is a very practical message. I've preached it in Mexico. And I don't, Patty hasn't heard this message, neither have my girls heard, they haven't heard this message either yet, so it's a real blessing. They think that when we're traveling, you know, the Lord gives you a couple messages to use while you're traveling and everything, and it's not to the same congregation, but they have the messages almost memorized. And so... So I gotta throw a monkey wrench in there every now and then, amen? But in Mexico, I'm always preaching new. I think that I preach at least seven to eight times a week, and that's including soul winning meetings, teacher meetings, and institute, all that stuff. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on, and so it takes a lot, amen? And I've been working on a new one, that I put some time into it and I guess I'm not going to be able to preach it tonight because this is what the Lord wants. Five things parents need to give their children. You'd think I want to preach this right before Christmas, amen? But you'll see here that I think these would be the five things that you would, that you will enjoy, amen? And I think it'll be a real blessing. Five things parents need to give their children. The kids are going, Alright, so Genesis chapter number 25, Genesis chapter number 25, verse number 19, the Bible says here, we'll stand for the reading of God's word, actually we'll start verse number 21. Genesis 25, 21. And once you're there, just say Amen, we'll know. Okay, sounds like most of us are there. What a good group this morning, huh? That was a blessing. Man, that was a blessing just to be here this morning and good preaching. It's a blessing. Amen? Here we go. Genesis 25-21, 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. I mean, they were fighting before they were even born, so you know this is going to be something else. 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, 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, both, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red all over, like an hairy garment. And they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out. And his hand took hold of Esau on Esau's heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. And the boys grew, and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison. But Rebekah loved Jacob. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. Great day starting off, Lord. People being saved this morning. What a blessing. And the songs, the music, Lord. And the specials today, tonight. The hymns that we sang. And Lord, it's all put together because you have a message for us and you want us to be closer to you. I pray and ask that you would help us to be closer to you tonight. I pray as a result of your word, we'd be changed. There'd be something different about us leaving from this place tonight, better to serve you. We love you and thank you for your goodness. And thank you for Pastor Nichols. Thank you for this wonderful church we have. And I pray and ask that you bless tonight. In your precious name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. This this home wasn't off to a good start this home here after these boys were born and and It says here that the boys grew and he saw Was a cunning hunter a man of the field and it says here that And Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. What he was is he was a kind of a couch potato. He stayed in the house all day, and he didn't go out. He was cooking and all that, and obviously he learned how to cook, amen, and all that. And here's where the big problem was, and Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Now, this is a divided home here. There were secrets against dad, there were scandals, and there was drama in this home. And, you know, we want the best for our children. Don't get me wrong, we want the best for our children. I mean, as far as the best that we can afford, amen? And that's where we're limited. But we want the best for our kids, you know? And you hear it a lot of times, and I've heard this expression, well, I don't want my kids to go through what I went through when I was a kid. I want them to have things that I never had. And there's where the emphasis goes. But they forget about what they went through as children that maybe they're sending their children down the same path. Are you with me? And maybe giving them things that they never had whenever they were children. Let me say this. Give them these five things that I'm going to tell you tonight. Give them these five things. Today, parents are giving their children everything under the sun. Cell phones, Playstations, expensive shoes, expensive clothes, computers, TV for their own room, cars, fine dining, iPods, DSLs, all kinds of other things. Are you with me? I'm not against that. I'm not against it. What I am against, though, and what I think is very wrong, and I'm not against all those things. As a matter of fact, our girls have some of those things. And when I was young, we didn't have a lot of that stuff. We didn't have it. We were very poor. I was very poor. But I am against being ungrateful. I am against being irresponsible little snobs and having bad attitudes when they have all these things. And, I mean, taking them to McDonald's or taking them to a restaurant, they're not happy about that. It's got to be something else. Are you with me? And I preached this down in Mexico. As a matter of fact, I had to translate this for tonight to be able to preach this tonight. But I hear it all the time there that they want their kids to have things that they never had whenever they were little. And I said, that's good. I'm glad about that. I'm glad that you can do something more for them. But why don't you go to the other side and say, I don't want them to go through what I went through whenever I was a kid. Are you with me? And I think we forget about that part, and it's easier to do the materialistic part. It's easier to buy the gift, pay the money, pay the piper, are you with me? And it's over with, okay? That's easy. But what I'm going to tell you is not easy to give. And a lot of people don't give it because it's not easy to give. Are you with me? Five things that parents need to give their children. The Bible says here... Now, another thing that really bugs me is that kids think that their parents owe them all these things. Are you following me? They think that it's owed to them, and they think that they deserve it, and they have this bad attitude about that. But the Bible says, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Getting all these things is not going to make a difference in their life for the better. Are you with me? It's funny. We get the kids a computer because they are to help the grades. I mean, to help the grades. Am I doing something here? So anyway, to help the grades, we're going to get them a computer. And all they do is play video games on that thing. And the grades go down. Exactly. They get worse than what they were whenever they got it. Are you following me? The bad grade thing, or the getting the computer for the grades, was just the vehicle used to get that computer into the house. And really, it's not making any difference. As a matter of fact, the difference that it's making is getting worse. And look what it says here. I like it. It's in three of the Gospels. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? But look what it says in Luke 9.25. Look how Luke says it here in Luke 9.25. The Bible says here. Luke 9.25. The Bible says here. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? No, wait a second. I'm an 8. Here, hold on a second. I've got to get to 9. And the Bible says here, 9.25, the Bible says here, For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be cast away? I believe that in this generation, we're raising a generation of losers. Everybody gets a prize for participating. And these things that you hear over the news, through the news, and from the pulpit of the President of the United States saying how we need to be tolerant and we're intolerant, and we need to have plurality. No, we have liberty. Not plurality. This is a country with liberty. And intolerance only seems to happen when it's their side that you're trying to throw down your throat. Are you with me? And what about your intolerance to have a boy's bathroom and a girl's bathroom, and only boys go in that bathroom and girls go in that bathroom? Are you with me? Okay, I'm not trying to be political here or politically correct or anything like that But what I'm saying is we we're getting we're getting a generation that it's going to be clueless here and and this generation there almost I was just with we were just with Adam and Kim Thompson up in Austin and And Adam said, we're reaching. The mission field is here in America now. I mean, we're talking about heathens that don't understand principles in the Bible, and they do not accept truth because truth is passed off in other forms and other ways, and everybody's avoiding what is truth. And if you lose in a game, you just lose. Amen? And you lose. And so hopefully that will inspire you to try to win next time. Are you with me? And work hard and all that. And when I was poor, I was embarrassed of the car that we had. I was embarrassed. My mom asked me one day, she says, how come there's a big group of your friends that are out in front of the school, and you make me pick you up in the back? And I said, well, that's where the freshmen have to get picked up, is in the back, until you get older, and then, you know. And so when I got older, she said, I thought you'd be picked up in the front now. I said, no, on the side, on the side now. And then, you know, and so, because I was embarrassed of that car that we had. It was an old junker, amen? But it got us around, and it got us to and from, you know? And when we went out to eat, we did that once a year, I mean, when they took the kids, amen? I'm telling you, we went to Bob's Big Boy, and we were told what we were going to get before we even got into that place. And our lives were threatened before we got out of that car. I'm glad we only went out to eat one time a year because I was scared to death. You kids don't talk, you don't move, you don't do nothing unless you ask permission. And so, getting in there, I never even bothered looking at the menu. Are you with me? Now these kids, they look at the menu, they look at the price first, and then they say, ooh, I want that, whatever the highest thing is on that menu. You with me? Something went wrong somewhere. And, you know, we went to, I mean, we've been, I think we've been in Mexico too long. We went to, I mean, Patty would use this expression. She would pray down pantyhose in a Bible college. A computer. I had a computer I bought while I was in the Air Force, but it was a used one. And I had a pretty good salary in the Air Force. I mean, it was halfway decent. And I got that while I was still in the Air Force. And now we go to the, we go, you see, look in the classroom and everybody's got Macs and nice computers. I mean, not just a computer, nice ones. And they're taking their notes like this. I was writing and Patti said, honey, can you tell me, she would type my notes. She said, honey, what is this? It starts out saying something and then there's a big line that goes like that. I would look at it and I'd say, hmm, just put something there, amen, I don't know. There's some of them days like that. I don't know what they do whenever they're tired and they're doing their computer thingy, but man, I mean, these kids, they got computers. It's a different time, I understand that. I get that. But listen, I used to have these tennis shoes. They had duct tape on them because I got them from my brother. And so by the time he was done with them, they're pretty bad shape. But I got them, and I just put some duct tape around it like that to keep the thing from flapping so much. But I got to the point where I could scrape that thing on the ground like that, pick up a rock, and shoot it off like that. And just hit somebody in the back of the head, and they would say, who threw that? Who threw that? You know? And I'm just walking around like... Who threw that? You know, they're looking around. I didn't look like I threw anything, because my arms didn't move. It was all in the foot action. Amen? But that's... We're getting away from... And I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I grew up in a very, very difficult situation. And if I wanted something, I needed to work for it. My parents didn't buy my car for me. You want a car? Get a job. And so, you want a job? I'll help you get me. You know, they would take me to my job sometimes before I got a car so I could raise the money to get the car and get enough money. And then, oh, you want a car? You want to drive? That takes insurance. Better get a better job. Amen, and so that's the way I grew up But in my home life It was very difficult. I come from a broken home and my real father was really that guy is a real mess and And and then my mom remarried and my stepdad he really did bring order into our home even though he wasn't saved and But his parents were very principled, and they were disciplined. And he had, and his dad, my grandpa had, I call him my dad, and I call him my grandpa, and he had biblical principles. And watching my grandmother and my grandfather, I really picked up a lot of things from them. Five things to give your children. Give them a stable marriage. Your marriage. Give your kids a stable marriage to follow. You never have a perfect marriage. None of us are. And I'm no authority on this, okay? I'm not. But God is, amen? God is an authority on this. And this, I mean, I like Brother Nichols before, but when he showed me this and he told me this, I really like Brother Nichols after this. Matthew chapter number 19, look what it says here. And this right here, I mean, Brother Nichols won my heart over with this one. Matthew chapter number 19 and verse number 4. We'll start right there. The Bible says here, And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother," and notice it didn't say father and father or mother and mother. It says father and mother, and, "...shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh." What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." We were sitting in Dr. Vineyard's office. I know he remembers this. He doesn't forget anything, Brother Nichols. But we were sitting in Brother Vineyard's office, and it was just before we got married. Those of you that were there for our wedding in Oklahoma City, Brother Nichols asked me, he said, that while I'm quoting this verse, you can kiss Patty that whole time. I'm like, no sweat. That's good, amen? We're in. Brother Nichols hooked me up, amen? I had a good excuse. That was going to be our very first kiss. And I think he drug his feet saying this because he said there, during this time, I'm supposed to be kissing Patty. And that's exactly, I followed orders, amen? And so it says here, therefore God hath joined together Let not man put us under, amen? And I kissed her the whole time. I might have even just left it a little bit after that, but we got in trouble after that kiss because the preacher made some new rules after that about the kiss at weddings, amen? So, but... Oh, well. Yeah, I think he's against married people kissing, amen? I don't know. But, hey, let me say this to you. Give your kids a stable marriage. They get embarrassed when they see you kiss. Let them see you kissing. Amen? You know, smooching and stuff like that, you know? And let them see that. Let them enjoy that. Yeah, I know they get embarrassed about it and everything like that. But our children need to know and feel that mom and dad are first husband and wife. They need to know that. They need to feel that. They need to understand that. And then, when it comes to problems, because they're going to come into the home. The devil is always fighting, our flesh is always fighting, and the world wants to fight with us, alright? So, we're going to have problems because we are sinners. There's no perfect marriage on earth. because we're sinners. Actually, we're from two different planets, amen? And my wife has not figured out which planet I'm from, amen? But, resolve problems together and without killing each other. I don't know how much simpler you can put it. Resolve problems together and because they're going to come up. You're going to have conflicts. But I remember growing up that those conflicts lasted weeks and months. Are you with me? And they lasted years. That was horrible. You talk about making your life unstable. I was very unstable. I had issues. And I felt that tension, that pressure also as a kid. You see, my blood father, he would, after he got put in jail, he would get out of jail, he'd get kicked out of the house, the police would come over and get him. I mean, there was a lot of fallout from all this stuff going on. And then he'd come back, and he'd be good for a while. Then, you know, we'd get the phone call, come pick up this guy, he's out in my front yard throwing up and everything, he's a drunk, he's a mess, tried to kill us several times. I mean, it's just a real mess. You see, you've got to resolve the problems together. And don't let it stretch out over a long period of time. Get it taken care of. And the kids need to know, hey, there's not going to be a perfect marriage. But look, mum and dad got it resolved. And that gives them hope. Are you with me? And another thing too, right thinking, husband and wife. We need to know our place as husband and wife. and we have to have the right thinking. Philippians, if you would please, Philippians chapter number 4 and verse number 6. The Bible says here, Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen and made do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Most conflicts are because of wrong thinking. Are you following me? And, you know, I'm not just talking in the marriage. I mean about a lot of areas where there's relationships. 1 Corinthians chapter number 13, the Bible says here. Now, when I was, you know, still, I was dating Patty and I was still learning things about the Bible and I thought that word charity was a very interesting word. But I didn't understand that it was, at that time, I didn't understand that it means, it's love, it's unconditional love, it's just pure love. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity endeth not. Charity vaulteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth. Bearing all things, believing all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. That's what we need to have, governing our marriage, our relationships, our home. That's what needs to govern our home, amen? And give, okay, number two, give this to your kids. Give them a stable marriage, and then give them Bible-principled training in the home. Bible principle training. It's just practical. Amen? And let me say this about love. Love is not based on the lovability of the person receiving the love. Are you with me? Because some people are easier to love than others. And some people are hard to love at certain times. And they're easy to love at certain times. But that doesn't mean that we change our love towards that person. Are you with me? Because we all have bad days. We all have been in that valley. We've been down there. We've been up there on the mountaintop, in the middle, all over. But love shouldn't change because of where that person is today. Amen? That shouldn't change. And if they're in the valley or they're really upset or something like that and all that, we're supposed to love that person no matter what. And you know, Jesus made that example for us. He's put the example for us. He loves us even if we're up on the mountain, in a valley, falling off the cliff, or whatever it is. He still loves us. Okay, let's give your kids Bible principle training, Proverbs chapter number 6. Look what it says here. Very interesting. Proverbs chapter number 6. This is something that I found that was very interesting. And Proverbs chapter number 6. We'll start with verse number 20. My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. And when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp." Now remember, my son, keep thy father's commandments. You see, the dad is the lamp in the home. He's that lamp, okay? And for the commandment is a lamp. And the law is light. Now look who has the law here. Forsake not the law of thy mother. You see, she's the light. And there's one thing that will not happen with the lamp. There will not be any light unless there's oil in that lamp. And that's the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, Grieve not the Spirit. And when we grieve the Holy Spirit, it runs the barrel low, or the lamp low, and there's not going to be any light coming out of that thing. And if you've noticed, the closer you get to the Lord, and I know it is for my case, the closer I get to the Lord, the better relationship I have in my home with everybody. Not just my wife. My dog, I always have a good relationship with him. Amen? I could be mad, it doesn't matter, and he's just there. Buster, he's a good boy. Amen? Brother Nichols, he knows Buster too, amen? But when we're closer to the Lord, you see, spirit-filled, that's how we're supposed to be. And that's how you keep the lamp lit. And it's a two-person, there's two people, the mother and the father. You see, that's husband and wife. And when there's something wrong with the lamp, there's not going to be much light. And when there's something wrong with the oil, there's not going to be any light. Are you with me? And if the lamp is working, there's oil there, and there's no light, we got problems. It's supposed to be working all together. And you know what? When the lamp is working, then you can properly train. Are you with me? We can properly train and do right. In the military, they taught us how to do something. They showed us how to do it. What they did was they helped us to do that thing, like dig a foxhole. They would tell you how a foxhole is supposed to have properly been done. They would use all these technical terms in digging a foxhole. But there's a lot more to just a foxhole there. You have to put camouflage around this thing. You have to have a certain amount of dirt. All these things go into building a foxhole. It's not just digging a hole in the ground. They didn't teach you like that. They didn't tell you. They taught you what you're supposed to do. They helped you do it. And then they put you to the task by yourself. And if you didn't get it done the way you were taught to do it, the way you were helped to do it, then you would be doing push-ups all night long. Are you with me? Or you would be running with your rucksack all around the camp or whatever it is, amen, and you would never forget how to do that job. Are you with me? Because they're going to put you back to the task again to see if you went through the remedial training very well or not. And then, once you get it done and you do it right, they say, fill it in. You fill that thing in. And then they say, do it again. But don't do it right there. That dirt's soft. No, no, no, no. We gotta go down here where it's hard dirt again. You start where it's... What? Okay. And you didn't say, what? You know. One time we were in basic training over here. And you know, you gotta take your cover off when you go in the door. Right as soon as you step in the threshold of that door, your cover comes off. And when you go back out, right as you're going through the threshold, your cover comes back on. What's your cover? That's your hat, okay? So, I have to talk in civilian terms sometimes. So anyway, this guy just comes walking in, he's got his cover on. Just walking in the chow hall. And, I mean, five T.I.s saw that guy at one time. I mean, they all caught that guy. And, I mean, they're... And, I mean, if you are halfway intelligent, you will not go anywhere past that threshold with that cover on just from watching that guy lose everything he had. Amen? I mean... So, that's right. That's right, and he's going to be cleaning your dishes for you and everything else. But you learn. And that's how we're supposed to teach our kids, amen? Not like the T.I.' 's, okay? But what I'm saying is, you teach, you tell them what you want, you help them do it the first time so that they know how to do it and what you expect, and then you put them to the task. And if they don't do it like they were taught to do it or they were shown to do it, then show them again and then let them try it or give them push-ups, amen, or something like that. Always works. Proverbs 4, 13, look what it says here. Proverbs 4, 13, the Bible says here, take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her, for she is thy life. You know that kids that have principled biblical training do much more in life? They do so much better when they have structure in the home, in this area of training. It's a real blessing. to see the teenagers very involved at Liberty. I think it's always been like that. To me, I've always known that. And I've always observed that. And, you know, that's the next generation coming up. And they're the ones who's going to take this mantle. We've been in churches where it's just all old people. And there's nobody to take it. And once those people die off, that's it. Are you with me? All. There are no swings at these churches. There's no swing set. When you pull up to a church and you don't see a swing set... Uh-oh. It makes me nervous. I told Brother Abraham, when we were working there, we were trying to get our church going and getting people saved and all that, I said, let's put in a real nice swing set. That way the parents will have to drag their kids crying off this property. Because they'll want to stay. Because if them kids want to stay, guess who gets to stay too? Mom and Dad. So we'll preach to them for a while, amen? So hey, that's a blessing. Listen, they're our next generation. We need to do this right as far as training. Training equals structure. Structure equals security. I remember one time I was changing The brakes on my... I had a 77 Matador. That was my first car. And I'm telling you, that thing was a headache. Headache, headache. All the time. It would just turn off while we're driving down the road. I'm driving down there, it'd just turn off. And it had power steering, so when it turned off, well, you know... Try to turn, get that thing off to the side, and then... And where I'm from, it's all ditches, so if you get too far off the side... Then you gotta get someone to pull you out of that thing, okay? Out of the ditch. Well, it was cold. It was January, February, something like that. It was snow-covered. And I hate the cold. You can't do anything in the cold. I mean, your fingers, you can't feel them out there. So I'm out there. I got these scissor jacks out there, and I got the thing up. I got the tire off of there, had the tire over there. And I'm sitting up underneath that thing, and I'm trying to get the... cranking on the bolts to try to get them to come up to where the pads go there and the caliper and all that. And my dad walks out of the house, he walks out and he goes back to the shed. On his way out, he just said, it'd be a good idea to put that tire underneath that disc, you know, your wheel there. And I thought, eh. You know how you think. Well, when you're a dumb teenager. So, I'm sitting there, and a thought came to me. You know, he's pretty right about stuff. Maybe I should move that over here. I'll wait till he gets in there so he won't see me doing it, right? So, he got in there, closed the door. I got that thing, I put it up under there. I got set back down, just like this. And all of a sudden, boom! The car fell right down on it. Had I not done that, it would have cut my legs off. So my dad peeks out the door. He said, aren't you glad you put that over there? How did you see me do that? That guy could see through walls. Take fast hold of instruction. And you know what? It brings on security in your life. Listen, make them do things, and part of this biblical training, principle training, make them do things they don't want to do. Are you with me? Broccoli. I went, nuggets. Nuggets. It drives me crazy. Our people, they make a meal for their kids, for their family. And then the kid wants something else. And they make a separate meal for that kid. I said, don't do that. Make them eat what you're eating. Make them... They say, the look that they give me. Well, don't worry about that. And then, if you say, spank them, just turn that kid over and warm up his rear end for a little bit. You know, oh, my little angel. Yeah, your little fallen angel, amen. Look what says over here, Proverbs 29, Proverbs chapter number 29. The Bible says here in Proverbs chapter number 29, in verse number 15, the Bible says here, in verse 29, 15, the Bible says here, the rod and reproof give wisdom. Imagine that. But a child left to himself brings his mother to shame. If you just let that kid do whatever he wants, he's going to bring that mom to shame. You just keep letting him have his way, letting him have his way, letting him have his way. One day you'll visit him in the penitentiary. Or her. Or she's going to end up in a very bad home situation. You just let them keep on doing what they want to do. You gotta have boundaries. We have to have boundaries for our families, for our kids. And, you know, sometimes, you know, I hear this a lot, and I've heard it in the States, too. Oh, you wouldn't dare spank that cute little thing. Oh, yeah. Because it's not cute when they're doing the same thing and they're 30 years old. And if you don't get that out of them, it's gonna stay there. And look what it says here, Proverbs chapter number 13 and verse number 24. Proverbs 13, 24, the Bible says here, He that spareth his rod hateth his son. You know, those people that are against spanking, you know, they're the ones that abuse their children the most because they get it up to here, up to here, up to here, up to here. It just keeps building and building and building because they don't want to spank them. And then they unleash the wrath. And that's when kids get hurt. That's when they're scared. They don't, you know, they don't know what to think. But if it's structured with love, discipline them. You know, they get to a certain point and all that and they, you know, sometimes just taking something away from them sometimes is punishment. Good enough. It doesn't always have to be a spanking. There you go. Take the computer away. Amen? Change the password. What? Isn't that interesting? Amen? You know, you don't have to take the iPod away from them. Take the charger away from them. They're gonna only be on that thing very briefly because that battery is getting down. They got the power mode on, the brightness down, everything to save that battery. But it's only gonna last a certain amount of time. Amen. Listen. One time I got in trouble at school if you can imagine that amen And I was gonna get a whack. I mean they were gonna give me the Board of Education and But the the the policy was we call your parents before we before we give you the whack Which is fair But my mom worked all night And this was in the morning, right after you just get to sleep, you know. I started off real early that morning. And so I was in the principal's office. They called my mom. And the principal, Mr. Knight, he said, it's funny how you remember certain names. And he said, oh, Mrs. Sutmeyer, yes, I have your son here. And he was acting up in class. And we are going to discipline him with a paddle, by paddling him. And he held that phone away from his ear. It was one of them old, you know, you had the dial like that. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Went back, and some kids are looking at me like, what's that? Well, so he held the phone out like that, and I could hear my mom, whatever you give him, he's getting double when he gets home. I was more afraid of that than getting that whack right there. So, and then to look at, I was, oh, you know, I'm, Like this. And then I look at the principal and he's smiling. This is cruel and unusual punishment. He hung up the phone. He's smiling at me. And so, he let it rip. Man. But you know what? It helped me out. It helped me. I was a dumb, confused kid. Just needed some straightening out. But a time out in the corner was not going to straighten me out. It was moments like that. That's when I learned angled trajectories. When they explained that in combat training, I already knew everything about it. There's no way you, you know, if an airplane or somebody is driving, a vehicle is driving, you don't shoot at that vehicle, you shoot at an angled trajectory because that vehicle's gonna run right into your line of fire. Well, I already knew all about that before. Whenever they were explaining that, there was no way I was gonna miss out on that one. I knew it. And if they ask any questions, I would have told them how it really works. My dad, I did something, and my dad was very upset with me, and I did not want him to get a hold of me. I was in high school, and I did not want him to get a hold of me. He probably would have killed me, amen. But he probably should have anyway. But anyway, so I ran, and I'm running, and I'm thinking, yes, he just stopped, and he took off his shoe. and he whipped that shoe like this, and I was way over here, and I thought, ah, he's throwing it over there. Pow! Man, he got me. How did he do that? Angled trajectory. He went through the class many years before I did, amen? Man. But you know what? It helped me. I didn't like it at the moment, but it helped me. That's something that you can give your kids, amen? Biblical training. Biblical training. Now, the shoe, I don't know how biblical that is, amen? Moses took his shoes off, amen? Joshua took off one shoe and he left one shoe on. It didn't say that he threw it, but... But, the discipline part. You want to run from me? I'm not going to catch you. I was in track. You know, I was a football player. There's no way my dad's going to catch me. And then angled trajectory comes into the picture, and it's all over with. Faithfulness and involvement to church, number three. Give them faithfulness and involvement in church. Every time the church doors are open, be there. There were two ladies in our church. I was trying to recruit workers for our bus route and try to get, you know, workers. And so I asked my pastor, I said, can I ask these two ladies to work on my bus route? He said, yeah, go for it. And so we already had a few workers on the bus route. And so I said, can I ask them? And he said, yes, that's fine. So I said, would you all be interested in working on my bus route? Now, these two ladies had broken. One didn't have a broken home. The other one, her husband was in jail because he tried to kill her. Imagine that. And what them kids were going through, they were wild kids. She did not have a stable home, and the other lady, she did not have a stable home either. One, her name was Tanya, or Tana Carter, and the other one was Tracy Pelkey. So anyway, I said, you know what, how about you helping out on my bus route, and you help other families and let God take care of your family. And they thought, what? I said, yeah, come on out and you help with getting families to come to church and let God get your families in church and get your husband saved. Well, that started, Tracy got involved, she got out there, brought the kids. And I mean, I took the boys with me, and I needed two ladies so that they could deal with girls that were on the route and stuff like that. And plus, they could go together, both of them. They became best friends. And guess what? Both of their husbands ended up getting saved. Harry got saved. I mean, when he got saved, he got saved. And he kept dodging me on Thursday nights. I'd go and visit him. One time I showed up on a Tuesday night, and he opened the door, and he's like, oh. So I was sitting on his couch. He was sitting across from me. And he said, oh, Brother Nick, I'll never forget that look you gave me. I said, I don't know what look it was, but I'm glad you got saved. Amen? Harry and his wife, they just became very faithful. Tracy and her husband, he got out of jail, they got their things right, and I mean, they all got involved in the ministry with their families. And you know what? That really helped out their families. And that's a blessing. And they're still serving the Lord today with their families. Harry's daughter, she plays basketball for Oklahoma Sooners. She's one of the starters for the Sooners. And she's a faithful member in church. You know, God is good. But you see, it comes from being faithful in involvement, forsaking not the assembling of ourselves. Do everything you can to be at church every time the doors are open, because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Because we're going to hear things from this pulpit that's going to make a little difference. We're going to hear something to help me out, to help my marriage, to help my family. You're going to hear it from this pulpit. Give kids impartial love in the home. Some kids are easier to love than others, amen? But love them the same. You just gotta love them the same. Give them the same kind of things. Amen? And treat them the same. What Jacob should have done, or what Isaac should have done, is taken Jacob with him to go hunting. Him and Esau. And what Rebecca should have done is taken Esau and brought him in the house and brought him in the tent and showed him how to cook some basic things maybe. That was a big interest there. They should not have been so partial. One loved the other one. The other one, okay, these are my favorites. We're playing favorites here. It's all that. You ruin a home like that. Give your kids an impartial love where it doesn't matter. It's the same love across the board, all of them together. And you can give your kids this. The last thing is this. Give your kids compliments and encouragement. Always encourage. You see, the Bible says in Mark 7, 21. Look what the Bible says over here. Mark 7, 21. The Bible says here. Give them. The Bible says here, Mark 7, 21. The Bible says here. It says here. Let me see here. Mark 7. Let me see here, 21. Okay. And that which cometh out of the man that defileth the man, for from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man." You see, being negative all the time is not going to help. It's going to defile. You know, you're going to have positive and negative in the house. You have to have that. There's going to be positive. There's going to be conflicts there. But did you know that a battery for a car, if it only has the positive post, it ain't going to crank? If it has just the negative post, it ain't going to crank. You have to have both. You have to have both. You have to have discipline there. You have to have a balance of both, negative and positive. Not always on the negative side. You have to have positive and negative. And for that to work, always encourage character. When you're talking, I'm talking about complimenting, encouraging your kids. Encourage character. You know, truth, integrity, hard work, diligence. Your son or your daughter, maybe your grandkids, they may come home with a C, but you know they worked very hard for that C. Compliment the hard work. Are you with me? Maybe they didn't get an A, but you know that they worked very hard to get that C. Hey, a C is good for now. We can work on getting that A later on. But if they worked hard, compliment the hard work that they did there. Encourage them in that. And see, they noticed that you saw their hard work that they put into that. And this is free. Because a lot of people, they will say, oh, well, I just can't. I just don't feel like I'm credible or have the authority to tell my children this. Sometimes parents don't think they have credible authority to tell their kids to do something or not do something because the parents messed up or made a mistake in that very area. For example, let me just say this. So when you touched fire and you got burnt, don't you dare say anything to your kids about fire. That's the logic in that. It just seems like you cannot talk about Mexicans unless you're a Mexican. You are not an authority on Mexicans, are you with me? Unless you are a Mexican. And now you can say something. Or you're a champion of Mexican causes or something like that. That's the political wind blowing today. Are you with me? And I tell them, well, I live in Mexico. OK. Well, listen, you can't treat your kids like that. If you've learned some lessons and you've made some mistakes, don't let them make the same mistakes. And don't let them try to accuse you and say, well, you did it. You smoked. You did this. You did that. You know what? Yeah, I did. I messed up. And you know what? I've got a lot of scars because of it. And I'm not going to let you go down that road. End of discussion. That's it. Oh, OK. Are you with me? Don't let them try to pull the wool over your eyes and all that. I mean, dating, touching, kissing, stealing, drinking, all those kind of things. Well, you can't say anything because you did it. Yes, I can. I'm suffering for some of the things that came out of that. And I don't want you to go through the same thing. And you know what? You're never going to find a perfect family anywhere. In Mexico, it's like this. People don't want people to know that they've got problems in their home. But they don't know how to get it fixed. They don't know how to settle it. Mom is living in another room in the house for months. because they can't get it settled, they can't get it fixed. And they're afraid to say anything because, well, you know, but every home, no home is perfect. We're all going to have issues. But if you're going to give your kids something, give them this. Give them these things. Give them a stable marriage. Give them, give your kids Bible principle training. Give them faithfulness and involvement in church. Give your kids impartial love. And then give your kids compliments and encouragement. Those are five major things that you can give your kids this Christmas. But I would start before Christmas on this stuff. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your goodness and your blessings. I pray that you would help us