Welcome to the Susquehanna Valley Baptist Pulpit, preaching a life worth living, abundant life in Christ, and now the message. We're going to turn to Genesis 35 in your Bible tonight, Genesis 35. My father wanted me to be a math teacher, so I went to school and honored what he wanted. I love math anyway, but I First year I was in college, I sensed that God may be calling me to preach, but Dad was certain that he wanted me to be a math teacher, so I followed through, became a math teacher. But there were a glut of teachers at that time, so I got a job when I got out of school as a financial advisor, financial loan officer, collecting loans. and, you know, breaking legs. No, no, no, I'm just teasing, but people would get loans for dogs and stereos and cars and I'd have to repossess them and go to court and call and collect the loans and so forth. I was two weeks from having my own office. I had been an assistant and two weeks to go I got an opportunity to be an assistant pastor in the grove Pennsylvania in Clyde, Ohio and I Prayed about it fasted about it and God showed me that this was his will for to start a Christian school and so we moved and Of course, my boss wasn't too happy about that, but we moved and started a Christian school. The Christian school is still in existence today. We started a 24-hour Christian radio station at that church, still in existence today. And you can hear it when you're going across on the interstate, which is when I get to hear it. And then the Lord started burdening me in the late 80s. that he wanted me to pastor. I put out my feelers. Nobody wanted me, basically. And then I got a phone call from Brogue, and they needed a pastor. And they invited me down to Candidate, and I became the pastor there in 1990. And so I was a pastor there for 23 years. After that, I went into evangelism in 2013. So we've been traveling the whole United States for Was four years now we were here three years ago in October at the end of your stewardship campaign and that was in October in December they diagnosed me with lymphoma and And we had launched out. Now we have no visible means of support except for the offerings of the meetings and goodness of God's people. And we're out on the road. We're in Florida in the wintertime. Got to be somewhere. In a motorhome, you had to be either Florida or Texas or Arizona. Southern California. So we were in Florida and I got cancer and we couldn't come home, couldn't be around our family and it was quite a trial. Didn't have income for quite a time and your church sent us, we'll never forget it, a gift. to help us through that very difficult time. We will never forget that. I'll mention it Sunday, I'm sure, again, but we came through that, got on the other side of the cancer, and we've been out ever since. Well, we went out, we got clearance June the 2nd of 2015. And so 16, 17, we've been out over two years now. And now they have separated my cancer checkups to every six months. And if these go well, the next two, then it'll be every year. So we're very grateful to the Lord for his blessings. Thank you for your prayers and your giving. We're in Genesis 35. Genesis 35. My father worked on the railroad. all his life. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. Shirley's mom and dad both worked in factories. I worked in a factory to earn money for college and also in a laundromat and also in a grocery store carry-out. My wife worked in a grocery store and also a nursing home in preparation to work as a nurse later on So that's kind of our background but today God uses us in churches for revival pulpit fill of course, but revival special meetings family meetings and mission conferences all all over the United States and really the world and We go to the Philippines in December, we go to Australia next fall, and we're in Alaska next summer, all over the place. We leave here and go to Indiana, Texas. In the winter this year, we'll be in meetings, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona. So we're all over the place, literally. But we sold our motorhome and we're living in Dallas town. Then we we work out of there now Okay, now with that as a little bit of a background about me you get to know me a little bit better I want to challenge you on two things tonight in the two sessions and Two things that are near and dear to my heart. We're in Genesis 35 and verse 1 and And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee, when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, To all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went." Now we can have personal revival and we should and we do that by seeing the holiness of God and seeing our own sinfulness and Confessing our sin you're familiar with the verse in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 5 I'll read it then said I woe is me for I am undone Because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts and We see Him. He is holy. He is high and lifted up. And when we compare His holiness and His highness to our holiness and where we are in our sinfulness, really, then we are in position for God to stir us for revival. Revival in a church begins with individual revival. If you don't think that you need revival, then you are the very one that does. But individuals aren't the only ones that need revival. Let me shift gears. We also get into ruts in our family. Is that not true? We get into ruts. And so we started taking each other for granted. We let up on the discipline, let up on the direction and leadership in our home and determination to make sure our home is right with God. And in our culture today, it's pretty easy to do that. Dads get sloppy in leading sometimes. And what they allow in their home, they get sloppy. My son said, you know, you raised me and you raised Heidi. When Marsha came along, the baby, why, she gets away with stuff that we never got away with. And I didn't realize that. We become sloppy, we become lax in what we allow. Moms get sloppy in keeping their homes and children get sloppy in their obedience and their attitude and their words. And everyone gets sloppy in how they talk to each other. We're going to deal a little bit more with that tomorrow. So tonight I want us to examine our need for family revival. family revival. Ask yourself as I challenge you, Lord are you talking to me about our family? Bring it on home to yourself. Let's bow for prayer and then we'll begin. your kind Heavenly Father thank you for these men worked all day had activities all day whatever in their life and yet they're here tonight because there's a hunger in their heart Oh God to hear from heaven to hear from your word and from your spirit and I pray Lord they'll not be disappointed that you will speak And Lord, we're leaning on you. It's not what I say, it's what you say. And I pray that you will anoint me with power and bless ears to hear and receive what thus saith the Lord tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Strengthen our families, oh Lord. First, now, as a math teacher, I think in terms of 1, 2, and 3, whenever I preach or teach, you're going to hear 1, 2, and 3. If you take notes, you should be able to follow the points. Alright, number 1, who God commands. Who is it that God commands? In Genesis 35 and verse 1, it's the husband. The husband is the one whom God deals with. It says, and God said unto Jacob, unto Jacob, God didn't command Rachel or Leah for the household. He didn't give the direction to Rachel or Leah. He gave the direction, clearly, to Jacob for the house. And being a husband and a father are serious responsibilities because gentlemen, as we go, so goes our family. And so we need to be right with God and walking with God. And it'll be tough for them to be right with God if we aren't right with God. We're making it really tough on them if we are not right with God. Revival for your family can't be complete unless you are revived. You as a husband. You as a leader. And so, if you're not married, you as a child in the home, you must be revived too. Don't wait on your wife to lead. You lead. You show a tender heart. You show a tenderness to God, a yieldedness to God, an openness to God that He can speak to you about whatever He wants to and you'll obey Him. The husband is supposed to have an ear that's tuned to the heavenly father and gets his orders from headquarters, from above in heaven. That's what Jacob did. Men, we are not to be directed by the whims and the complaints of our family, our wife, our children. That's not how we get direction. Now, we listen to them and we care about what they have to say. Yes, we do. But that's not where we get our direction. It's painfully obvious when men aren't walking with God. Boy, it's just a sad thing to see. They're just going along to get along. And instead of leaving their homes, and when you aren't leading, and you aren't willing to lead, then you open the door for your life to lead. That's where she gets the opening to lead when you don't lead. Even your children will see that and take opportunities to lead in your home. And so gentlemen, can you identify, as you think about your family tonight, can you identify the need for revival in your family? Think about your family members now. Can you see a need for revival? Do you see it in their eyes? Do you see it in their devotional life or their lack of it or their talk? of what they talk about. Are they talking about more about worldly things or are they talking more about godly things and ministry things and like that? Can you see it in their attitude? And can you see your own need for revival? Where is our discernment as the spiritual head for our home? We ought to see when our family needs revival. each one of us. Secondly, what are you going to do about it? God is calling on you, sir, to seek his face for yourself, for your whole family. Now, I want to launch from that point. We know that a prophet speaks to people on behalf of God. Isn't that right? A prophet speaks to people on behalf of God. A priest speaks to God on behalf of people. That's the difference between a prophet and a priest. When was the last time that you cried out to God for each of your family members as a priest? When was it? I don't mean that you worried about them. I don't mean that you talked about the serious need that you see to your wife about them. No. When was the last time you actually called their name and concentrated on them in prayer for spiritual needs? When was that? I get up every morning and before I do anything I'm crying out to God on behalf of my family members. What is it that God has given you, think about this, that is eternal? What do you have that's eternal? Well, you have Christ, right? You have the Bible. The Bible's eternal. And you have the souls in your family. Well, they're eternal. They're going to be eternally in heaven or hell and they're also going to be, if they're saved, they're going to be blessed of God or they're going to be under a curse. And who is it that intercedes for them, pray tell, if it's not you? Who's calling their name out in prayer if it's not you? You need to be interceding for your family member. Now, each one of them. Three years ago I told Shirley, we have Two of our children have children and you know the Hardeckers. How many of you know the Hardeckers? Missionaries the Philippines. Okay, some of you new people since they've been here and So WT is WT and Joe are their children WT was a terror mean he was full of rambunctious and everything else and Hard time corralling him to get him up to obey and I could see that brilliant But a hard time to get him to obey and I knew what it was. He need to be saved. I Told my wife I said honey. We need to set aside a time every week to fast and pray for WT. I We began seeking the Lord. We sought the Lord for weeks for him and Every day we prayed for him, but every week we would fast to two meals each in Seeking for God to save his soul We got the word he went to vacation Bible school and They gave the plan of salvation and he raised his hand He wanted to be saved and somebody took him aside and he prayed to receive Christ and he came and told Papa I received Christ as my Savior and he was so excited about that and Papa was excited too because it was an answer to a specific prayer That we have made in his behalf Are you praying for your grandchildren? if you have them. Are you interceding to God for your children? If they're saved, are you interceding for other spiritual decisions that they're coming up on? Are you praying, maybe some are backslidden, you're praying for them to come back and praying intensely the fervent prayer of a righteous man of Baileth Munch. And so this is our responsibility. You as a father, whether your children are grown or not, are the priest of your home. Cry out to God as a priest for your children. God deals with every father. And then Jacob didn't get the idea from his family to make a trip and build an altar. That didn't come from his family. And to clean up his household? No, they didn't say dad. I think we ought to do this this came from God from spending time with God rather He got alone with God had happened several times in my life We had Situations in our life where things went haywire the first one that's noteworthy is my wife had a personality change. We were sailing along in the ministry and all of a sudden my outgoing vivacious wife just turned timid and backward. She would go out the stores and call me and she's Frantic having panic attacks and so forth. She was going through change. I'm sure and So I didn't know what to do with her. I Went upstairs. We had a two-story house 13 rooms and an old old house 100 years old and we I went upstairs in one of the rooms and I just got alone with God closed the door and locked it they were all downstairs three kids and Shirley and I said, God, I have got to know what you want me to do with this woman. I love her, but she's not herself. What can I do? What's wrong with Shirley? And he gave me four directives before I left there. I don't know how long I prayed. It was probably 15 minutes, maybe 20. But I left there were four directives that when I went down and I told her I said honey I've been with the Lord and these are the four things I got in my prayer time with the Lord and it gave her hope We did all four of those things. I think one of the chapters in Clouds of adversity is about that I know that that book deals with the problem that she had in her life at that time and I think that it she goes through that and But anyway, four things, and God used those four things and brought her out. How would I know to do those four things? I knew when I prayed because I didn't know. But God does know. See, God knows everything. We just don't tap in like we should. Too many times we're too slow to go to the Lord. It's like, you know, I got a situation. I know the Lord's not really He's not conversant with this problem. He's conversant with every problem He knows exactly what all of our our family members need and so we can go to him in prayer our 14 year old boy Started drifting he was student of the year quarterback on the JV football team. We had a flag football team in Christian school. He was a point guard on the JV basketball team. He was getting really good grades. Everybody liked him. He was popular. He came out of that with a big head. He told me later, he said, I asked myself, where do I have to go? I've already achieved it all. I'm 14. I've conquered all the earth. Anyway, so Because of that he became Had a malay it went into a malaise Spiritually and I picked up on it. I went to the Lord. I said Lord, you know, there's something wrong with Chris I don't understand that but there's something wrong with Chris. Will you show me what to do? We're going to God on behalf of those in our family You know God will show us he showed me exactly what to do And that week, we took Chris to a Christian camp. And at the camp, after the camp was over, he told me, Dad, I was hard-hearted. Man, I can't believe how fast you can become hard-hearted. And he said, but I was. He said, that preacher preached. And he's a good preacher. And he said, he preached. And on Monday, and I didn't move. Tuesday he preached and I was resolved, I'm okay and I wouldn't let him get to me. And Wednesday I was like that too. And then Thursday, I couldn't hold it back anymore. And he said, I went forward and rededicated my life to the Lord and got myself right with God. I was scared. I was so hard that I was scared at 14 years old. And so I rejoiced. But I had to be in contact with God to even see it in his eyes and then pray. And I didn't catch everything. I'm not telling you I was perfect. I'm saying, gentlemen, we're priests. And we need to be about the business of going to the Heavenly Father on behalf of our homes. Our daughter drifted away from God. And she ran away from home. Now, she was 22 years old. Shirley and I cried our hearts out. We fasted and prayed and God gave me an idea She had moved and so I had the idea that if I wrote a letter I could send it to her old address and the the post office might forward it because I didn't know where she was So I wrote the letter and sure enough. I got to her didn't hear anything I wrote the second letter the Lord prompted me and when I wrote the second letter she came I had invited her to the We always had family meal after morning service at church. And so I said, you're invited to come to church. We want you to come back to church, because she resigned her membership and everything. And she didn't come to church. But she came to the family meal, and we had a wonderful time. I said, honey, in two weeks, it's Mother's Day. I don't know if you can or not, but it'd be a great thing if you could come to church that day and be at the family meal, or at least be at the family meal again. And she said, I'll try to make it, Dad. She came morning service. And then she came to the family meal. She said, Dad, I think I'm going to go to night church, too. I said, oh, that'd be wonderful. And at night church, she was at the altar, repenting and getting things right with God. We've never been apart from each other. I mean she got married. She's she's in northern, Pennsylvania But I mean as far as she texts and we talked and we love each other And but that was a terrible time in our life But God showed us what to do and God will show us what to do if we ask him we have to intercede for our family My daughter or my son became smitten on a redhead in our youth group and couldn't blame him for that part of it, but he was 17 years old and I Begged God to do something about it surely, and I saw something in her that wasn't right You pick up a little bit right you have a little discernment, right? We picked up that she wasn't all all what she was cracked up to be My son was totally oblivious to it. He missed it He thought she was just the greatest thing. And so Shirley and I began to fast and pray and ask God to break this thing. It wasn't 10 days. And she broke up with him. I thought, well, I didn't expect that, but I'll take it. And she broke up with him. It wasn't a month, month and a half later that she went over to a married man's house probably 20 miles south of us, not part of our church, and broke up his family and moved in with a married man. And that's how close it can happen in our families. Boy, we've got to be alert, don't we, gentlemen? I just look back on that day and say, glory to God that God prompted us and God answered our prayer and preserved our son. Again, he was in the fourth year of college. He actually went six years, but in the fourth year a dead seminary Called my son up in Wisconsin and said listen We want to fly you in all expenses paid trip To see our seminary and of course they wanted to sign him up for that seminary well that seminary doesn't even believe the King James Bible and But it was a free trip. They were stroking his ego and along with four or five of his friends And so I got wind of it And I told Shirley I said we're right back to where we were. It's fasting and prayer time We haven't raised our son this far to go to some dead seminary and get messed up, right? and so we fasted and prayed and I called him a couple of weeks later and asked him, I said, how'd your trip go to the seminary? And he said, that funny thing happened. He said, they had to cancel that trip entirely. Nobody got to go. I said, I know. He said, what do you mean you know? I said, I didn't know any of the particulars of it, but I know that when we pray, God answers prayer. God was going to protect you your daddy mom were seeking God to block that thing and he said well God surely blocked it and Now he's our pastor down in brogue. So We rejoice that he is but he wouldn't have been if he went to that seminary We have to be in touch it with God gentlemen. I don't know about you but I didn't take pains to raise our children for Christ and to let them make some foolish decision and go a wrong way. I mean, it's going to be a sermon I preach two legs and a piece of veneer. I'm going to go kicking and screaming. for my kids I'm not I don't plan to leave one behind not one of my children well we've got a black sheep every family has what you might consider a black sheep doesn't matter they have a soul before God and so we intercede for that one that one just one the shepherd goes out and goes after that one sheep and you as a father need to go after that one sheep with your prayers and intercession and fastings. If your children turn out right, they'll take your diligence in God's grace. Three lessons so far. We will never have family revival without personal revival. And fathers have to take the lead by getting along with the Lord. Fathers have to get their orders and leadings from God while they're in the Bible and alone with God in prayer And I think that's pretty well says it all why we don't have more leadings Sometimes our Bible reading is anemic at best Sometimes our prayer life is just a little talk with Jesus For a minute or two It's not the intercessory praying that Jesus did on the mountain. It's not the intercessory prayer that we learn about in the scriptures. And gentlemen, we have to get back to that. And you know what? God would answer if we would. God's got an ear to hear. He commanded us, told us to pray. If we'll pray, He'll hear from heaven and heal our land. We pray for our country. But we pray for our family. God would hear. And we need to get back to that old-fashioned life of prayer. But we get into ruts. Jacob got into ruts. And he let things get sloppy in his home. And we do the same things sometimes. We're so intent on making a living and supporting our families and doing our church ministries that we substitute all of that for leadership in our homes, in our families. We substitute giving our family a house, giving them a vehicle and clothing and food and things in place of giving them spiritual instruction and walking very close to God ourselves. We feel that we fulfilled our job as a Christian parent after all main thing is just have kids and After that, you know, it'll all work out. Oh, it's a lot more than that Follow me When was the last time you had? Are you listening? family devotions Or what we call family alder When was the last time you had that I? Deuteronomy 6-7 still in the book. Oh, I believe that's Old Testament. That's worse than not being King James. We're King James people. Deuteronomy 6-7, And thou shalt teach them diligently, he's talking to the fathers, unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, when thou risest up, And that's not an option that you can take or leave. This is not a smorgasbord. Well, take some of that. I don't want any of that. No, this is command. This is what we're supposed to be doing as fathers. Neither is it a law that Christ did away with in the New Testament. It's still a command of God to Christian fathers. and we cannot abdicate our responsibility to do this training for our children. In Deuteronomy 22 and verse 7, go there please. One of the thrills of my life occurred in August of 2014, right before I came here, last time. My son shared with me what he was teaching his three children in their family devotions, most of them are teenagers. In the same week that my son-in-law sent me an audio of how he was training his two boys in family devotions. And he actually sent us a tape of what he was doing with his two boys in family devotions. Or in other words, our children are carrying on the training that we gave them. They are modeling what they saw us do. Now I have a question for you gentlemen. Will your sons and daughters know how to train your grandchildren? in the ways of God from your example of how you train them. If you're a young father, boy, you've got time. You've got time to get this thing corrected. If you haven't been having family devotions, you can get hot on the stick and get this thing done with your children. Because who's going to train your grandchildren if you don't train your children how to train children? So you train your children. We have a book, 32 Family Devotions. And in it, it has an outline for every day for 32 days. The idea is four days a week, eight weeks. And in it, you have a song that goes along with the topic and the scriptures. and a manner that we ought to teach our children manners. There's a manner for each day of the 32 days. Teach them manners. There are discussion questions if the children that you have are junior age or teenagers. so you have questions to ask about the scripture that you're reading and There's there's more to it than that, but it's all outlined 32 family devotions to get you jump-started in having family devotions I think your pastor got a bunch of those books. You can talk to him about it But Deuteronomy 22 and verse 6 says train up a child in the way he should go and And when he is old, he will not depart from it. Remember, there's no promise here for the parent who refuses to train his children. No promise if you don't train. The only opportunity you have for your children not to turn is if you train. There has to be training going on. Christian school, youth group, all good things. Sunday school. Absolutely, that's good. We have a master's club in our church All of those good, but none of them replaced the father Training his children and after all you don't want them to replace you you want to take the opportunity to train your children This is a blessing that God afforded us. And it's something that you can pass down to your children so that your grandchildren one day will be trained in the scriptures. You don't know if they'll get in the right church, but you do know if you train them how that they at least have the tools to be able to do it one day. So you train them. Jacob, and by the way, this is not your wife's responsibility. Well, I think we ought to have family devotions. Honey, would you do that? The command wasn't given to her. It was given to the man. And so you're the leader. You're the priest of your home. And we ought to be revived to restart our family altars. I'd love to share with your pastor. I'd love to have him share with me in two or three weeks. After you have shared with him, maybe your devotions got family devotions got a little stale and You charged them back up and we're doing them again pastor. We're doing them again And then I call your pastor and he says man, we've got this guy's started his family devotion This guy started his family devotions. We've got this one who's charted Just started all over again, and he's got his going I'd love to hear about some men that who took the bull by the horn and said, I'm going to take that challenge. I'm training my children for Christ, and I'm going to get busy at it. Jacob had overcome two huge trials in his life. He left his father-in-law, Laban. That was tough to leave. He'd been there for 20 years. But he left there and struck out on his own. The other thing was he had to face Esau. And the last time he saw Esau, Esau was trying to kill him. And so he went through this trauma of renewal of that relationship, but it had gone very well. It was a peaceful reunion. In Genesis 33 and verse 18, he moved to Shalem where he bought property, set up a house there. And do you know what we hear from parents when their teenagers are doing carnal things? I'll let you in on the pastorate just a little bit here. They're just going through a phase, pastor. Or they make other excuses. It's not that bad. They're good children. Or they say, she's a good girl. He's a good boy, trying to convince me. They're just going through a rise, a phase in their life, and they're trying to get a rise out of you as a pastor and just seeing how you'll react. Well, so the parent, in our situation, wouldn't do anything. We had two or three families like this. And they wouldn't do anything when they were confronted with what their children were doing. And some of it, I want you to know, was very nasty. It was wicked stuff. But today now, their children are out of school, not in their home anymore. Oh, by the way, out of church. That shouldn't be a rocket science to figure that out. The boy wants nothing to do with church. The girl moved in with a druggie. Another boy moved in with a sodomite. One mother left the church. So the husband, he didn't want to leave the church. He was one of our auditors and ushers and worked in the church, was a faithful man in the church. He didn't want to leave. But he said, what do I do? I can't get her to stay here. She'd been there all her life. and left the church. And so he followed her. And once he did that, that's the end of his leadership. I would not recommend he did that. When you make excuses for your children, gentlemen, you've already lost them. Don't make excuses for them. Don't wait for serious problems of sin to attack your children or your wife or yourself get along with God find out what God wants to do in your family and If God had done that if Jacob had done that earlier, maybe none of this would have happened to his family Maybe God would have led him to make them not to make the move to Shalom, but his daughter then got raped his two sons killed a whole bunch of people Got a big mess on his hands Listen, I think it's interesting. It's not in this message. It's interesting Jacob Did not realize that Rachel had stolen Laban's idols Remember that He didn't even know it. He was oblivious Laban came chasing after them to get his idols back. He said we don't have your idols and You go search wherever you want. We don't have them. But Rachel did have them. And she sat and hid them and it never came out. But now when he's building the altar, when he's getting back where he says, where God says, arise, go build an altar. And then God says, put away the idols out of your home. Why? Just a few minutes he found out that she did have the idols. And they got rid of them. Funny thing, if he'd have been walking with God as closely as he was in this passage earlier, none of that would have happened. I think we cause a lot of our problems when we as husbands are not walking with God as closely as we should be. Things slip into our home that shouldn't be there. And we're the gate. We're the ones who allow it to happen. because of our sloppy walk with God. My challenge, there's a lot more, I've got four, I've got five more pages of notes. I'm gonna stop right there in this session. This is my challenge. You need to start family devotions. Start training again. And number two, do you need to start your intercessory prayer afresh and anew on behalf of your children and your wife? because you are the priest of your hope. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to contact us, please write us at P.O. Box 126-541-Harrisburg, PA 17112 and visit our website at www.sbbcpa.org. Until next time,