Joshua chapter 24 verse number 15 is the theme verse for this month for our church as it relates to serving. And Joshua, in this particular text, made a choice. And the choice that he made was, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I'm preaching this thought this morning on this thought, as for me and my house. A small boy said, Father's Day is just like Mother's Day, only you don't spend as much on the gift. I thought that was pretty good. Mark Twain said, when I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant. I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to 21, I was astonished at how much the old man learned in seven years. And what he was saying was, I learned to appreciate my father as I got older. I believe that's true. Someone wrote these humorous words entitled, The World According to Dad. These are words that most dads have said maybe at one time or another to their children. This is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you. Yeah, right. Quiet, I'm watching the ball game. Don't forget to check the oil. Bring back all the change. How shall I know? Go ask your mother. I'm not made out of money. When I was your age, I walked five miles to and from school each day and it was uphill both ways. You are going and you will have fun doing this. Who's paying the bills around here anyway? If you break your leg, don't come running to me. Don't put your feet on the furniture, your mother will kill you. Get down before you kill yourself. On second thought, go ahead. Quit playing with your food. Be quiet. Can't you see I'm trying to think? Why? Because I said so. If you don't quit that, I'm going to call your mother. You better get that junk picked up before your mother comes in here. Just wait till you have kids of your own. I was not asleep. I was just resting my eyes. Maybe you've heard some of those in your home. You know, there's a wonderful thing about being a father. And God puts in a father a number of things. He puts in a father a bend towards protection. I believe that fathers have built into them this thing to protect, to protect their wives, to protect their children from harm. He builds into them a desire to provide and to make sure that the needs of his household are met. He builds into a father to shelter from harm. He builds into a father to care about his kids' needs. The Bible lists several things about fathers. Certainly fathers are given to provide protection They're given to guard. They're given to provide security. And they're given to work and provide for their family and food on the table and clothes on the back of their children and a home to live in. And the list could go on as far as the responsibilities that we have as a father. I don't really want to park on those practical things in those areas today, however. I would like to park on what God expects of a godly father. And what I will preach on today may seem spectacular in some ways, but really, on another side, it's what God expects of every dad. It's what God expects of fathers. I have two points today, but many sub-points, so it doesn't mean we're going to be done in 15 minutes. You stick with me as I preach, and you look at the scriptures that we're going to look at. In Joshua 24, verse 15, the first thing we see in this particular passage is that a father has a personal choice. He has a personal choice. He says, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua was living in a day of many choices as far as religion. There were Amorites, there were Canaanites, there were people that rejected the God that he was going to serve. He certainly had many choices that he could make as far as who he was going to serve. And Joshua made the choice that he would serve God. Joshua not only publicly stated his decision, but we believe by his example in the Scriptures that he privately lived his decision. And if there's a day in which we need fathers not only to publicly state it, but as for me, I'm going to serve the Lord, we need fathers to publicly live that decision as well, that I am going to serve the Lord. Every father this morning has many choices in life to make. Someone once said this, decisions determine our direction and our destiny. But in the life of a father, your decision not only determines your destiny and your direction as an individual, but it determines the direction and the destiny of your family in many cases. The choice of where to live. the choice of where to work, of what car to buy, of what house to move into, of how to save more money on bills. All of those decisions seem to be somewhat important decisions in our lives, but they do not compare to the greatest personal choice that every father must make, and that is the personal choice of salvation. Turn over in your Bibles to Acts chapter number 16 this morning. Acts chapter 16. In the book of Acts, there were men that gave and preached the gospel, and as a result, they were persecuted. They were sometimes whipped and beaten. Sometimes they were thrown in jail. Sometimes they were brought before the magistrates and accused of preaching a false doctrine or accused of blasphemy. In Acts chapter 16, we have two men, Paul and Silas, and they were taken to jail for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. In that particular setting in jail, something dramatic happened. An earthquake took place. And when it did, there were a number of things in this particular passage that I want you to see, beginning in verse number 26. The Bible says, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. It was a major earthquake. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here." Then he called for a light and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. In verse number 32 it says, And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house, and took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized he and all his straight way. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. He was working his job, this jailer was, or this keeper of the prison. He was doing what he was supposed to do on a daily basis. He had responsibility. I believe that he was probably a trustworthy man. He was probably a dependable person. You don't put somebody in charge as the keeper of the prison without being able to trust them. I believe that in his life he probably took care of his family. I believe that he was a family man. It talks about his house. But when the earthquake hit on that particular day, a crisis came into his life. He thought due to the earthquake that the prisoners fled, and he had lost all hope. In fact, he had lost so much hope that he was about to take his own life, the Bible says. He was ready to kill himself. He thought his employer was going to have his head. He thought, before he does that, I'll just take my own life. And at that moment, God offered him eternal hope through the message of the Gospel. The keeper came to a critical time in his life where he had to make a choice, and listen to me, the first choice that he thought of in killing himself would have a drastic effect upon his family. Can you imagine his wife and his children, maybe some of his servants in his home hearing the tragic news that dad, that husband, just took his life? It would have had a drastic effect upon his home. But he didn't make that choice, thank God, according to the Scriptures. He made another choice, though. And that choice would have a dramatic effect on his family as well. Because when he made a personal choice about Christ, he led his family down the same road to make that same personal choice for themselves. The Bible is not teaching here covenant salvation, where because a man gets saved, his house is entirely safe and all of them are going to heaven. That's not what the Bible is teaching in Acts chapter 16. What the Bible is teaching is this. Papa became the initiator of a spiritual decision for Christ and his family followed in that same choice. Could it be there's someone under the sound of my voice this morning? It may be a father, maybe a son, maybe a mother or grandmother or child and you are looking and you are thinking as you face turbulent waves in your life that there's not much hope. and you're thinking about turning to different things that the world offers that might solve that situation, that might relieve the stress in your life, that somehow might give you just a little bit of hope for a short period of time. May I say to you this morning, do yourself no harm. Don't turn to the bottle. The bottle will not solve your problems. It will not make the waves calm. Don't turn to the cancer stick. It's not going to solve your problems. Don't turn to suicide, my friend. It will solve none of your problems. You need to turn to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As the jailer, by making the personal choice of being saved, led his family to a saving knowledge of the Savior, I ask you this morning, every father under the sound of my voice, where are you leading your family? What are you leading them to? Where are you leading your children? Maybe your grandchildren this morning, your wife. Are you leading them to take drastic measures to get help? Or are you leading them towards leaving God out of their lives altogether? Are you leading them towards a casual approach towards God, towards church, towards living the Christian life? Are you leading them towards trying to solve their problems through worldly and carnal methods? How are you leading them to deal with their sin problem this morning, sir? I'll tell you how you're leading them. It's what choices you're making personally regarding the truth of the Scriptures. The truth is, every father under the sound of my voice this morning needs to make a personal choice regarding salvation. In Acts chapter 4 verse number 12, can I give you the narrow way to salvation? It says this, neither is there salvation in any other. You say, Preacher, I just cannot figure this salvation thing out. Listen to the Scriptures this morning. You cannot get salvation in any other. You can't add up a whole bunch of good works and baptism. You can't add up your religious experience or how many years you've attended church or how many times you've given to charity, my friend. There is no salvation in any of that according to the Scriptures. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." There is one way to salvation and that is through Christ. If you have never chosen Christ as Savior, you say, Preacher, I've always believed in God. That's not choosing Christ. The fact that you believe in God, I can only compare that to what the scripture says about the devils. The devils believe in God and tremble, my friend. That's not choosing Jesus Christ. Choosing Jesus Christ is where you are confronted about your sin. You're confronted with the truth that you are separated from God. There is no way for you to be brought back to God except through the cross of Jesus Christ and the person of Christ. And that's what Acts teaches us. That's what the Bible teaches us in 2 Corinthians 7, verse number 10. It says this, "...for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death." You say, what is salvation, preacher? It's when you have godly sorrow about your sin. You say, preacher, how do I know that I'm saved? Has there ever been a point in time where you've had godly sorrow about your sin and you've seen God magnify it from the Scriptures and you've said, oh no, I have no answer. I need Christ. If there's never been that time where you have had godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of, you'll never regret when you make that choice about Christ according to this to the Scriptures. But if that choice hasn't been made, my friend, then you can sit on every teeter-totter you want. You can think that you're straddling the fence. You can think that you're halfway into heaven. But according to the Scriptures, you're going to die in your sins without Jesus Christ. You need to make a personal choice about salvation. And listen to me carefully this morning. Your personal choice could affect your family members. You say, preacher, what if I put it off? You may cause your children to put it off in their lives. It's important. It's not only affecting you. It's affecting your family. It's affecting your extended family this morning. I plead with you this morning. Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. It could be the greatest Father's Day of your life. The personal choice of salvation. You say, how is that personal choice made? I believe that Romans 10 verses 9 and 10 gives us how that's made. It says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. That's prayer. That you praying and asking Christ to become your Savior. That you asking Christ to forgive you of your sins. That you praying and saying, I believe on the work of Christ. His death, burial and resurrection as the payment for my sins. Have you ever done that? I talk to many people and they say, well preacher, I pray every night. As if that is salvation. That's not salvation. Salvation is a personal choice at a moment in time about your sin and Christ as Savior. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him, that's Christ from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You say, Preacher, I believe in the death of Christ, but I don't know that I can believe He rose again. My friend, you cannot be a Christian then. The gospel is this, it's the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you cannot believe that Jesus Christ was supernaturally raised from the dead according to the scriptures, then my friend, you cannot be saved. You must believe that He's been raised from the dead and in that moment of time when you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart, at that moment God saves you. I'm thankful it's crystal clear in my mind when it took place. in my life. I can point back to as a child. I can point back to walking to an altar. I can point back to bowing my head and saying, God, I was a sinner. God, I need you. I realize your son died on the cross for my sin. God saved my soul. And when I cried out, God saved and He'll do the same for you. Is it clear in your mind this morning? If the preacher is all muddied, then you need to be saved. Simply, you need to be saved. You need to place your faith and trust and repent of your sins and turn to Christ. There's a personal choice of salvation that a person, a father must make this morning, but there's a personal choice of service as well. Turn back to your Bibles to Joshua 24. When others may have been wavering on leaving the pathway of service to God, to run to something that maybe seems easier, more popular, more attractive, more fulfilling. Joshua stayed put and he said, as for me, I am going to serve God. I don't know what everybody else is going to do around me. I cannot dictate that. I cannot make choices for everybody else around me. I can't make choices for my neighbor or my father. I cannot make choices for others that I love. I cannot make choices for co-workers. I cannot make choices for maybe even other leaders that I know. But I can make a choice for myself. And the choice that I'm going to make for myself is that I am going to serve God. Well, I used to serve the Lord, but it didn't work for me. I needed a break. I got burnt or I got hurt. As if everyone else who has served the Lord has always had smooth sailing in their life and never gotten hurt or never got burnt or never needed a break. Joshua, when he writes, experienced wilderness living. Joshua experienced tough times. Joshua experienced difficulties. Joshua faced days where it didn't look like it was all going to work out. But Joshua said this, as for me, I will serve God. I have made a personal choice regarding service. I think of Joshua when he came back with the report from Canaan. Remember Joshua and Caleb, two good spies, came back and said, we can do this. We can't do this of ourselves, but with God's help we can do this. And 10 stood up against them and said, no, we can't do this. And who did the people follow? The people of Israel followed those 10 and as a result, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and Joshua experienced that wandering. I think of what he faced in his past, but in Joshua chapter 24 and verse number 15, he still made the decision and said, but as for me, I am going to serve God. I wonder if you've made that decision of late, sir. I wonder if you have replanted your feet on that decision. I'm not asking about the decision of salvation. I believe many men have already made that decision here this morning. But I'm asking Christian men this morning, are you wavering on giving up and serving God? Or would you come back to and establish your feet in the right position and a right direction in life again and say, but as for me, I will serve God. That's my choice. Remember this, you cannot lead your family further than you are as a Christian. And the truth of the matter is a pastor or a church very rarely lead a young person past the spiritual maturity of their fathers. You can't lead your children to be tender towards God and His Word if you aren't tender towards God. You can't expect your children to go further than you have gone spiritually. Listen to me this morning. You're going to face battles with your children as they grow up. Some of you are fathers, and you're raising children. And they're going to get to a point where there's a struggle, and there's a sin, and you know about it. And this is the fact of life. This is what we face as parents. And you're praying, God, break their heart. God, soften their heart. God, help them to turn from their sin. But the truth of the matter is, fathers won't do that. And then we expect our children to do that. We won't lead our children past where we are at, men. There must be a tenderness towards God. There must be a decision that says, but as for me, I'm going to serve God. You can't lead your children towards service, towards God, if you're not willing to sacrifice and to serve. If you're backslidden this morning, listen to me carefully, fathers, if you're backslidden, you're leading your family in that direction. If your spirit is off, you're leading your family towards having a wrong spirit. If you're apathetic towards God and His word, your children are apt to follow that direction in life. Your role is so important this morning, your choices have to be right. If you're bitter this morning, expect your family to harbor bitterness. Expect your children to be defiled by it. If you're without Christ this morning and headed to hell, my friend, it could be that you'll lead your entire family there by your choice. If you're here today and church is a matter of convenience, expect your children to have a Christianity that is based upon convenience. You say, preacher, you're preaching and you're preaching hard. I am preaching hard this morning because fathers, there's a lot at stake in our lives. If you're unfaithful to your mate, can I ask you this question this morning? Do you think your decision is going to have absolutely no effect on your children and your mate? You see, you're the leader. God established you as the leader of your home. you are leading people, people that are close to you, people that love you, you are leading them in a direction. The trouble our young people are having both in the church and out of the church today is due in a large part to fathers who have deserted and abandoned Christ in their lives. Fathers who are living spiritually bankrupt. Joshua's personal choice was a million-dollar statement. But as for me, I will serve the Lord. He set the course. As the leader, he set the direction clear for his home. He didn't drag his feet on spiritual steps. He wasn't sitting there waiting for God to pound him five times over the head in order for him to take one step spiritually. Joshua said, God, you're going to lead our home. And God, if you're going to lead our home, that means that you're going to lead me. And you're going to lead me and I'm going to follow you. Joshua made a decision. He didn't sit and wait for someone to beg him to get involved. He stepped out. Today we are in need of fathers who are willing to step out spiritually. And he did that because it was in his heart. Turn over in your Bibles to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 6. It says in verse number one, now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it, that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all of his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy son's son, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it. Drop down to verse number five. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children." Fathers, you cannot pass it down unless you have it in your heart. You get it in your heart and then you pass it down. He made a personal choice. The second point of the message is he had a passionate commitment. He said, as for me, I will serve the Lord. And he said this, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Many good men have had the same desire that Joshua had. I want you to hear me closely, fathers, this morning. Many good men have had the same desire that Joshua had. Many have had the same vision for their children and family. but have given into pitfalls that hinder and stop this truth from becoming a reality. A passionate commitment for your family to serve God means that you must avoid some pitfalls and you must apply some principles. I want to give them to you this morning. I want to give you three pitfalls to avoid. Number one, avoid being provocative. avoid being provocative. The Bible says in Ephesians 6, and you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. In Colossians 3.21 it says again, fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. We do this in a number of different ways. I want to give you some practical ways that we provoke wrath in our children. Because there's a very clear command you can hurt your children from serving God. You can provoke them to wrath. One of the ways we do it is hurtful comparisons. That is when we compare them to other siblings. When we compare them to other children in the church. When we compare them and make them feel like they don't match up against somebody else. Isaac and Rebecca had this problem. You want to talk about a family that was a mess? Study Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Esau. You want to talk about two boys that had anger towards each other? Look at Jacob and Esau, my friends. And it came because a father, and by extension a mother, provoked their children to wrath. Favoritism by parents generally leads to favoritism among the children themselves. They pick up the practice from their parents. When you compare your child to someone else, you are going to provoke wrath in them. And the Scripture says don't do that. There's another way that we do it, and that's hollow threats. Hollow threats. If you do that one more time, that's only the seventh time that you've said it. It doesn't mean anything. but you never follow through with what you say. Your word then becomes nothing. And then when you finally do follow through, they never know when you're going to follow through. And as a result, it stirs up wrath in your children because of your inconsistency. Listen to me carefully this morning, especially young fathers. If you say something and you give a warning and it happens one time, follow through with what you said. Don't make hollow and empty threats. There's another way that we bring up or provoke children to wrath. It's harmful words. Be careful speaking words where your children feel unwanted. Don't make your children, fathers, feel like they are in the way. Or if they weren't around, you could just get things done quicker and that you don't need them. My friend, that is not what your children need to hear. Those are words that cut down into the inner soul of a child. Don't become so driving of your child to where they can never please you. There ought to be times where your children have the fulfillment and the joy of being able to please their father, of you being able as a father to talk to them and say, Hey, daughter, I really appreciate what you did here. Thanks for your help in this area." Harmful words. Obviously, we as parents want to stretch and push our children to be the greatest that they can be as Christians and in other areas, but constant expectations to where they fall short all the time is not healthy for your relationship with your children. Make it so that there's times that they can please you and you can show that appreciation. You can show that commendation. You can compliment them. You can appreciate them. Be careful of harmful words. Be careful of hypocritical living. Provoke wrath in your kids when you have expectations of them that you cannot follow and fulfill yourself. Trust me, I sit in that office back there and I counsel. Sometimes I counsel with young people. When I counsel with young people, many times out of their mouth comes, but dad's expecting this or mom's expecting this of me, but they have this in their life. And it's an inconsistency and it stirs up wrath and resentment towards parents. Listen to me carefully this morning. Provoke not, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Beware of hypocritical living. Let me ask you this question this morning, fathers. What can your kids point to in your life that's an inconsistency? How many days do they know that you have your devotions? But you expect them to have it every day. Wait a second. Wait a second. If you're going to have an expectation, you better be living it yourself. you better be living it yourself. Heeded discipline. When you discipline in anger, you provoke your children to wrath. Discipline comes from a heart of love. That's proved out in Hebrews chapter 12. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. When you discipline, your discipline in your home ought to be for your child's profit, not for you as a parent. Here's what the scripture says. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. Speaking of people on earth. But He, that's God, for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. I want to address some things that I see from time to time in discipline of children. Discipline ought not to be a time where you explode as a father. It ought not to be a time where you explode. It is a time where you teach. It's a time where you make the lines clear again. It's a time where there's punishment involved for somebody that's crossed the line in your home, but you don't have to explode to do that. In fact, the matter is, if you would deal with things on the first time, when they come, you wouldn't explode. But rather, we threaten and threaten and threaten and things get so big and we get so frustrated and angry and we didn't get it done the first time like we should have gotten it done the first time. And as a result, we go into discipline with anger and we go into it with frustration and we take it out on our kids. And my friend, it's going to kill your relationship with your children. It's going to provoke them with anger towards you. When you discipline out of embarrassment because of what your child did in front of others, it usually is out of how your child made you look when we discipline out of anger. But when you discipline biblically out of love, it has the end goal of holiness. You're trying to bring your child along in those areas. Being provocative, number two, being passive is another pitfall that fathers come into, step into. Passive fathers, listen to me, are fathers uninvolved. They leave their children to themselves. And by the way, when you do that, according to the Scriptures, your children bring you shame. According to the Scriptures, a child left to himself bringeth his mother shame. Dads, can I remind you of something this morning? You only have one shot with your kids. You only got one investment. You can't go back and redo it. We can't take back years that are gone. We have one shot. You'll have opportunities in life to get different and better cars. in different and better homes, and move up ladders in the world. But you only have one shot with your kids. Passive fathers are interested in a change of behavior, but don't address the issues of the heart. They're interested in quick fixes. Passive fathers put much energy into their work and hobbies, but little effort into being the spiritual leader of their home. And then listen to me, passive fathers blame everyone and everything else but themselves for their children. That's what passive fathers do. There's always another place to point the spotlight at. Passive fathers resort to phrases like it's just a phase. He'll grow out of it. Brethren, hear me and hear me clear. People don't grow out of heart problems. If there's a heart problem, a heart problem has to be addressed as a heart problem. That's just what teenagers do. She'll mature. All kids are this way. There's not really anything we can do to change that. They have to be able to make decisions for themselves. And what dad and mom are saying when they say those phrases is, I have the right to pull my hands off. Wrong. That's passive parents. These and other statements we make give ourselves permission to disengage as parents. And that is what our culture is breathing towards us. And we're buying the lie 100%. What is going to happen will happen. This is not the example of Joshua. Joshua had a passionate commitment, and his passionate commitment was this, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I have to do whatever it takes, but we are going to serve God. I am going to make sure we stay on track. I'm going to do everything within my power to make sure that this happens. Passive fathers ignore all battles and let the mother deal with those things. Listen to me, fathers, this morning. Listen to me. Go after your children's hearts in prayer. Fill your own heart with scripture so that you have something to give to them. Look to take a practical truth home from church and be able to talk with your children about it. Talk with your children about how God used it in your life. Plan to implement that truth in your family. Write down verses that you can review with them. Talk with your children. Prepare them for the next years ahead. Teach them about friends. Show them how to take the high road in their life. Brethren, we need some fathers today that aren't passive. but that are involved. Show them how to take the high road. Teach them how to defend the doctrinal statement of their church. Live before them how to treat a woman. Deal sternly, yet under control with sin and flaws in their character. Correct them when they're wrong. Godly fathers don't let little ones argue or pitch a fit or say no to a command. Godly fathers are persistent and determined to make the boundary lines clear in home. Eli was not an active father. He's a passive father. He did not restrain his own children. You know, being an involved father takes diligence. It takes courage. It takes being able to bear under the load of the family. It might mean less free time. It might mean less hobby time. It might mean less money. But listen to me carefully, you could give me all the money in the world, and all the hobbies, and the nicest car, and the nicest home, but if I don't have my kids serving God, I have lost way too much. Excusing sin is often the role of a passive father. We've often become pros at making excuses for our children's deceit and for their rebellion against authority and for their laziness and sloppiness and lack of discipline and their rotten attitudes. Fathers, at some time, we have to take time to address with our own children the issues of the heart. And my friend, that doesn't mean straighten up. It takes more time than that to deal with heart issues. We usually excuse sin in our children's lives because we have excused it. in our lives. Our children don't know how to deal with sin because they don't see daddy ever deal with sin. They never see daddy at an altar. They never hear daddy apologize. They never hear their father confess sin to God in prayer. They never hear instruction from their father on the steps to take after you've sinned. I dare say that we are raising a generation of Christian young people that do not know how to keep a clear account with God. And the reason is, we don't have fathers that know how to keep a clear account with God. They don't know how to say when they're wrong. We excuse sin, we enable self. That's what happened with Eli. Eli enabled Hophni and Phinehas. By excusing their sin, he just enabled them. He enabled them to go all out in that direction. We are in need of some fathers who have a passionate commitment to say, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We have fathers, we have children today that are wandering aimlessly without goals or wasting many hours on unproductive, empty habits, letting their summers just coast by without doing anything that's productive. Why is it, preacher? Because we have fathers that are passive. We have fathers that are not involved. We're raising a generation of young people that get what they want. They watch what they want. They play what they want. They get what they want. They go where they want to go to. They hook up with who they want to hook up to. They listen to what they want to listen to. And some of them have never heard the word, No, we're not doing that. No, you're not going there. No, you're not watching that. There has to be a determination. There has to be some grit about fathers that says, no, we're not doing that. We are doing this. We will serve the Lord. The Christian life is about sacrifice. It's about selflessness. It's about saying no to my will and yes to God's will. This is the life that produces Christian joy. It's an unrealistic view of life to get what you want all the time. Them parents go to school officials and bosses and authorities and complain because their child is not getting what he wants. And tries to twist the arm of the authority at the time to take the side of their child as though the child is right in what he wants and what he thinks his rights are. Brethren, our mind is warped. Our mind is warped. Try that in real life. Try that and go into your boss. This is what I want. I think you ought to give me what I want. See how often that works. We're passive. We're provocative at times. We're polluted. Having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin. Beguiling unstable souls in heart that they have exercised with covetous practices. Cursed children. Fathers, you realize you can curse your children. By the way, this is an Old Testament referring to the second and third generation. This is New Testament, 2 Peter 2, verse number 14. You have wandering eyes. Your children are gonna be cursed. That's what the Scripture says. The pollution in your life is gonna pass down to your children. The perverseness and pollution in your heart is gonna be handed down. I'm saying all this to men that I love, men that I pray for, the fathers of our church. I'm saying this maybe to some guest fathers this morning. I'm saying it because I love you and I love your family and I love your children and I want God's best for you. But we need to have a revival of fathers that have made a personal choice about salvation, that have made a personal choice about service, and that have a passionate commitment that says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.