Okay, the text for today is Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six, we'll begin at verse one. We're gonna look today at the Christian submission section, the relationship between children and parents. Part three of the series on Christian submission. Ephesians chapter six, starting at verse one. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you, fathers, Do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Have you watched the interaction of parents and children around you these days? Out in public, on the sidewalks, in the malls, in the stores? You know, it really doesn't take very brilliant people to reproduce. Times children are viewed only as a byproduct of sex. At best, maybe pets or pests. Children run wild. There's neglect on the parents' part. Parents are too preoccupied with stuff to keep an eye on little Johnny. Kid's not listening one bit. to mom's orders and commands. Parents getting impatient and cursing at their kids or hauling off and hitting them. Some homes have no peace and no quiet in them, ever. Children learn fast to disrespect mom and dad, if there is a dad. You always hear about kids getting into this or that kind of trouble. They grow up so fast into a life of crime. The world loves when children express themselves. Back in New Testament times, though, children were worse off. Roman fathers could just decide to throw a child away or have the child killed if it wasn't the right sex or wasn't a pleasing appearance or wasn't what he expected. He could just have the kid killed. Children were often looked upon as a vermin, hardly better than dogs or rats. Even Jewish families were sadly lacking in the value of their children. But when the Christian church was born, things changed. Things began to change in a dramatic way. Christians had a new outlook on children, and their place in the home society was something different. Children would be joint heirs with adults in Christ. Children were not pets. They weren't pests. They were people, living souls. Christ showed several times that he loved children. He loved them greatly while he walked on this earth. So let's look today at the third part of Christian submission. That particular submission children are to have to their parents We'll also look at the submission a parent gives to the Lord in rightly raising children. It begins with children obey your parents. We'll look at the children's part of this first. What do we mean by children? We mean young boys and young girls, kids. It's written to children that were in the church. Remember, This letter was written to people who are already saved, who are Christians, who are in the church. This has meant the children of saved parents or saved children in the church. It wasn't written outsiders, although outsiders could definitely benefit from it. Paul's letters were not merely meant for adults in the church. They were meant for everyone. There were children in the church of Ephesus. They were Christian children in particular. Now that word obey is not the same as the word submit that we saw earlier concerning a wife in her relationship to her husband. The word submit has to do with a wife lovingly and voluntarily placing herself under the headship of her husband. It's a command, however, from the Apostle Paul, but it's also an appeal to a woman to do it of herself. The word obey is much stronger. It has the idea of do what you're told, don't do what you're told not to do. It is given as a command Yes, it's given as a command from the Apostle Paul to the children, but it's also the father or mother's command to the child. There's not a place here for, well, maybe I will, maybe I won't. It's not a voluntary thing on a child. They're to do it. There's no room for volunteering here. Children must obey their parents. Parents have absolute authority over their children in the relationship of the home. Now understand, there are exceptions. Abusive parents, wicked situations are exceptions. And I'm not going to deal a whole lot with them, but I'm going to deal about the regular normal flow of things here. It says to obey your parents in the Lord. And what does this mean in context? Can be looked at a couple of different ways. In the Lord can mean that the parents are in the Lord. Children obey your parents who are in the Lord. And you can look at it that way. Christian parents, children obey your Christian parents. Or it can mean that the children are in the Lord. Children obey your parents if you children are in the Lord. Both are true. This one here has the idea of when parents are commanding what is right by the Lord. It has the idea of the parents are putting authority over the children to make sure the children do right, that they grow up right, that they learn right, that they behave right. It has the idea of parents bringing the children up rightly, and there to obey their parents while this is being done in the Lord. For this is right, it says. Ever since the beginning of the time, it has been a normal thing. Everywhere, every nation, every society, this was the design from the beginning. Baby animals follow their parents. And young children obey their parents. This is not something new. But from the beginning of time, this has been the design. Children are to obey and follow and learn from and be brought up by their parents. And young children obey their parents. This is the very nature of things. This is why people are born as children, so they can be taught and raised and disciplined and basically learn how to be adults. All ancient cultures expected children to be subject to their parents. Even today, it's a natural, normal way things go on around the world. Children obey parents. As said above, It is right. There's something right about that. It just looks right. It seems right. It is right. It's fitting and it's expected. People expect other people to keep their kids in line. Have you ever experienced that? You go someplace and the kid is a brat and the parent is, They're somewhere else. The kid's doing something over here and the parent's oblivious to the fact that the kid exists. And he's bothering you. People expect other people to keep their kids alive. I remember my grandmother telling me, don't go out there and tarmenting the neighbors. I never understood what tarmenting was. Something between tarring and cementing, I thought. I don't know. Societies everywhere were set up this way and have been all along throughout history. The idea of letting children run wild is a relatively modern thing. Let the child express himself. Really? Don't hamper her self-esteem, for goodness sakes. Don't repress the child. Who are you to tell the child he's wrong? Never tell a child he's wrong. Let the child, let the children find themselves. Never tell a child no. You'll prevent them from being creative. Never discipline your child. People say, we never spank our children. The rest of us say, yeah, we can tell. The whole idea is absurd, and only nutcases practice this when it comes to children. Because deep inside, you know you've got to do something, you know? Society tells you one thing, but deep inside, you know you've got to do something else. In my humble opinion, that is. But from the beginning, it has been accepted worldwide that children are to be obedient and subject to their parents. It's natural. It's normal. It's right. Ancient Israel was commanded to deal with disobedience. I've got to tell you something. If we had this in today's society, oh, what a different society we would have. There was a stiff penalty for juvenile delinquency. It was a death penalty. If parents tried to raise a son or daughter rightly, if parents obeyed the laws of Israel in raising their kid, if they were devout Jews, but the child will not obey his parents, that little brat was brought before the elders and an accusation was brought from his parents And they would stone him to death. Killing a child or a person by stoning them to death is not a quick, easy way to leave this world. It is extremely painful. It's a horrible death. Deuteronomy 21, 18 through 21. If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, understand father or mother here, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother, both of them, shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city, to the gate of the city, And they shall say to the elders of the city, this son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones, so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear." There's no record in the Bible of this ever happening. I'm sure it did. Now understand this wasn't for kids who goofed up, made a mistake, normal kids. This was for a child who was ingrained with rebellion. This is for the really bad ones. I'll give you that. It's for severe cases. But the nation of Israel was a holy nation. It was very important to preserve family and national ties and relationships before the Lord because they were holy to the Lord. And to put up with that type of stuff was not what God wanted. God expected the sons and daughters of Israel to obey their parents. Now in Paul's day, we look in Romans and we see where he talks about it being a sign of the times. This is what people are like in their sin. This is the condition of humanity. Remember in chapter one, Paul's talking about the strength of the gospel and the forgiveness of the gospel, but he's talking about first, or I should say also, the depravity of man apart from the Lord. Paul records this as a sign of the world in deep sin. In Romans, there's a sign of human depravity of being turned over by God to their sin. Romans 1, 28 through 32 says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness. Now listen to this list of things. Sexual immorality. wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things. Disobedient to parents is in amongst all that, okay? Undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death. Not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. So it's not even the people that do it, but the people that approve of it. It's a A very serious thing. Disobedience to parents. God expects obedience. Paul says they're deserving of death if they don't. Today, in our time, we have such a loose and wicked society. Today, children are shown as if they are much smarter than their parents. TV shows and such. Parents are depicted at the child's service. Many times kids are shown on TV with no parents at all. You never see the mom and dad. They get into trouble, they figure their way back out all by themselves without the help of mom or dad. Maybe some teacher helps. In real life, we often see children being total brats. In real life, we rarely see children receive discipline. Parents today are afraid to discipline their children. Government might come and take your kids away. Somebody might report you if you subject your child to corporal punishment. Let the school find a mark on your kid. Child has to go to the hospital, don't let the doctor find a stripe. Or you'll have knocks at the door and parents are afraid that that's coming all the time. So many professionals and experts recommend letting kids go wild and express themselves and be creative. There are entire generations where children are not even expected to obey or honor their parents. I was watching TV the other day, and a commercial came on. Parents and kids fighting over the remote for the television. And in between them is this big pair of pants. And they're struggling over who gets to wear the pants in the family. Kids are struggling. control of that television set. Mom and Dad, they're pulling at it, Mom is pulling against Dad, Dad pulling against Mom, they're both pulling against the children, and all of a sudden the little boy says, think of your children! And before you know it, the whole family's sitting in this gigantic pair of pants and all of a sudden the dog pops up there too, and even the dog's involved. You know, when I grew up, Mom or Dad said, It goes on this channel, and that's what happened. It went where parents said it went. Hi, Dave. Well, back in our day, we didn't have remotes. When you were a little kid, you wore the remote. Right. Right. But what I was getting at, what I think is so funny is they're fighting over the remote, but the parents, when they were little kids growing up, they used the TV as the parents. Well, that's the point. There's no parents in the picture here. I mean, there are biological producers of children, but they're not parenting. This is how the world views children in obedience and honor to parents. A little girl in a car, her dad on the way to school, She wants to be left off far away from where her friends are. It's okay, Dad, we can stop here. Dad says, no, I'm going to take you down here where your friends are. What, are you embarrassed about your dad? Dad, oh, Dad. And of course she is. You get the idea. Yeah, she's embarrassed about Dad. Is this about a boy, he says to her? Dad. Well, all of a sudden, he has to jam the brakes on because a car pulls across in front of him. And of course, it's an advert. Cars have stopped by themselves because dad is distracted and not paying attention. And she jumps out and she wins. And he's exasperated. He's sitting there looking like he's had one pulled over on him. You know, the kid needs a good smack on the butt, really. But to think that a child would hate other children to see her father. That she's embarrassed that father's driving her to school. But that's not what the commercial was really about. But that really does happen. That's a real situation. In today's society, we don't see parents even try to make kids obey. Too much trouble, too lazy. There's a real satanic atmosphere engulfing the world today against marriage, against obedient children, against parents who parent, against families. You destroy the home, the family structure. You destroy society. You destroy the home and the family, you destroy the church. There's a real attack going on. Sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant. Sometimes from your peers, sometimes from your relatives, sometimes from the school, sometimes from television. The devil's good at what he does. And it's progressive. It just keeps on going. and going, and pushing a little further, and a little more, a little here, a little there. Now in the later days, the latter days, it's a sign of how it will be in the end times. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self-control. I might add here, they're probably without self-control because they never learned discipline from their parents when they were kids. Brutal, despisers of good. traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. 2 Timothy 3, 1-5. This is the end times. It's been something from the beginning all the way to the end. The importance of obedience of children to parents and the problem of disobedience. has been from the beginning and will be up until the last day. From the beginning of time, God has shown that children should obey their parents. And disobedience to parents has been a problem since the beginning, too. This is extremely important to God. And it should be to those of us in the church, too. If it bothers him, it should bother us. If it pleases him, it should please us. Here, Paul continues his argument by showing that's not only natural in all societies throughout the ages, but that it is right for children to obey their parents, but it's also a commandment of God. He goes on to say, honor your father and mother. There's a quotation for the 10 commandments. Exodus 20 verse 12 honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving to you. Deuteronomy 5 16 is the second repetition of it. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. The Apostle Paul changes up the wording a little bit to make it more fitting for everybody instead of just the Jews. But note that there's a shift here. To begin with, Paul commands children to obey their parents. And it has to do with behavior, deeds, externals. It's what you do. These are outward responses. But now we're going to look at the inward heart. Honor is what a child must do in his heart. It's his attitude. There is such a thing as doing what you are told, but not out of honoring your parents in your heart. You're gonna get a reward, you're gonna get paid for it maybe. That's not honoring your mother and father. But we see here God dealing with the heart attitude. Do what you are told out of a right heart before your parents and God. Here's the fifth commandment, actually. It's not the first commandment. And it's not the first commandment that has an actual promise to it. And the commentators go round and round about why that is. I don't understand it myself, and I don't need to for the purpose of this instruction. So I'm not going to tell you, because I don't know. But I am gonna tell you, the idea we are supposed to get is that this is a commandment from God. God sees this as important enough to include in the 10 commandments. This is what God demanded of the people who would be his covenant people, Israel. Again, it says, which is the first commandment with a promise. Again, the main idea here is there is a promise included in this commandment. A blessing to those who obey this commandment. It says that it may be well with you. Generally, those who obey their parents as children tend to live a life that's a whole lot more trouble free than those who grew up as rebels. There's no guarantee that you won't be sick or poor. Good people will be sick. Obedient children may be children that are poor. You do not expect that everything will be gumdrops and rainbows for somebody who's obedient to his parents. It's not what we're being promised here. We generally don't find men and women who are obedient to their parents as children, you generally don't find them in jail. But there is a form of curse that rests on a rebellious person. Look to those who are in jail. You'll find many were rebellious to their own parents when they were children. There are many blessings from God to the obedient. I believe this speaks very much in a spiritual direction. A certain approval from God in your life. But I also believe there are present day material and personal blessings as well. It says, and you may live long on the earth. Again, I don't believe this verse guarantees that you'll live a life a hundred years long. I'm not thinking that's what this is talking about here. We do see good people, people who are so honoring and loving of their parents and they die from cancer early in life. Good godly children are often killed by terrorists. Good godly children grow up and are often persecuted to death. in an early time. Accidents happen. Car accident. Fishing accident. You drown or something like that. But this talks of the safety and security and the wisdom of one that obeys his parents as a child. There is a certain tool or quality built into a person who grows up obedient to parents and honoring parents. He's not involved in gangs, not involved with drugs or drunkenness. He's not out robbing places. He's not fighting the cops and refusing to stay down when the cop says so. He's learned obedience to authority. He's not messing around with the neighbor's wife. Generally, he's not doing things that could lead to a sudden and premature death from his evil actions. He's probably not tempted to commit suicide. He's probably not getting into fights and such. From his upbringing and his obedience to his parents, he probably has gained much wisdom as to how to live life rightly. before others, before the authorities, before God. Listen, I grew up in a generation where it was cool to disobey one's parents. You're not really going to do what they tell you, are you? Kids in my old neighborhood did drugs and drank. They would sneak out of the house at night and go gallivanting. There's a word for it. There was sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Our generation rarely ever obeyed our parents. Understand our parents. You're looking at one. Such disrespect. And most parents put up with it, too. But a huge percentage of my old neighborhood friends are now dead. Maybe 90% of the young men from my old neighborhood are dead and have been for a very long time, and I'm only 54. Drugs, took out a couple of them. Drinking took out some more. Suicide, horrible accidents, They did not live long on the earth. Many of them were done life before it really even began. My best friend did drugs and died from it when they were only 16 years old. There were others who obeyed their parents in whatever small manner. and most of them live today. There's something to that. A famous comedian once said to one of his kids when they were being a brat in a sitcom show, your mother and I brought you into this world and we can take you back out. Now, I laughed at that. It was funny. But you know, God can pretty much say the same thing to his creation, too. A bad kid grows up to be a bad adult. And there come a time when God decides to take you out. Perhaps God would have blessed him and given him a long life, had he been honoring and obedient to his parents when he was younger. And let's not forget the death penalty for children who are impossible. Let's also forget honoring parents is a lifelong thing before the Lord. Honoring parents is different than obeying parents. Because when you're married and you're grown up, you're not obeying your parents anymore. Now you've become parents and now your children are obeying you, but you never to their dying day are relieved from honoring your parents. Are they good parents? Are they wicked parents? There's a certain amount of honor a child, by commandment of the Lord, must give to a parent. They may be wrong, but you better be right. You throw your mother or father into the nursing home just to be rid of them. I have a mother-in-law that's in a nursing home, but we couldn't take care of her. But I'll tell you what, we're there with her. We honor her even still, keeping the promise to my father-in-law. She's provided for. She's not neglected. Things have not always been good between me and my parents, particularly since I became born-again Christian. But I'm there, visiting. I talk on the phone. I pray for them. I don't curse them. I don't dishonor them. It's a lifelong thing, understand, and there's a curse and a penalty for a person who will dishonor his parents, even as a grown man. God deals sternly with people who will dishonor their parents. Let's not forget honoring parents is a lifelong thing before the Lord. One who dishonors his parents or curses them is also a death penalty. In Exodus 21-17, he who curses his father and mother shall surely be put to death. So many times in these lessons I mention how we learned Christ. What can we say about Christ? How did we learn Christ in this subject? Luke 2, 51 through 52 says, he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. We're talking about Jesus. But his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. This is the blessing one gets when one is obedient to one's parents, particularly to godly parents. You increase in wisdom and stature. You increase in front of God and men. with favor. This is how we learn Christ, people. He was obedient to his mom and foster dad. Okay, parents, number two. New fathers. This instruction is for both fathers and mothers. It's not just for fathers. Some versions say parents. The father is head of the household, is accountable, most of all. Understand that. That's why the word fathers is used there. He's to make sure things are being done. But I want to tell you something. That father wants to make sure that that child is obeying his mother when he's not home. He better not dishonor his mother. Father's the seed to it. Paul now turns to those who will make this happen, children being obedient. Do not provoke your children to wrath, he tells the parents. Provoke is the word that's used in most of the translations I looked at, along with the word irritate or exasperate, to make bitter, to stir up anger, Do not provoke your children to wrath. It's a word used in most translations, the idea of extreme anger. There are times when a parent can become a real problem to a child. Times when they are inconsistent with discipline or instruction. It happens when a parent can fly off the handle when only a small mistake was made. Making a big thing out of a small thing. Last week you didn't spank me for this. This week you do. Parents push a child to excel, but way beyond reason. Abusive and evil hearted language. False accusations. Favoring one child over another. unfair or wrong discipline, beating and abusing, demanding children do things that are wrong or evil. You know it and they know it. Commanding children to do what's against the law. This is long and exhaustive. And children are human. Understand that. We're talking about humans here, not pets. They can lose heart. Their spirits can be broken. They can decide to just give up. Perhaps rebellion could happen. They come to a point where a child will not listen anymore, not trust parents anymore. Hatred for parents. Kill the parents? The word used above is wrath. Understand it's the same word of God when he damns sinful souls. wrath. Parents can do so much to revoke a kid. And really, children do break so easily. You can really damage a child if you continuously do things that exasperate them. There may be no peace in your home. They may gain mental problems. Dad, Do you really want to destroy your son or daughter? Mom, do you really want your child to hate you? If you are such that you are provoking your children to wrath, you're setting fire to your own house. You'll have no peace. You'll have no rest. You'll miss the blessing of godly, loving, obedient, honoring children, and it will be your fault. How much of this do we see today? Kids hate their parents. Perhaps some of this is a result of parents who provoke their children to rat. Albert Barnes says, it is the duty of children to obey the parent, but it is the duty of a parent to exhibit such a character and to maintain such a government that it would be proper for the child to obey, to commend nothing that is unreasonable or improper, but to train up a as children in the ways of virtue and pure religion. Well said. It says, but bring them up to raise children, to cause them to grow. It's a hands-on thing. It's not automatic. You are involved in this. Your job is to grow children up to be adults. So much talk today of let them be children. Complaints about growing up too soon. The world worships childhood and youth. Remember Never Never Land with Peter Pan? Never grow up. Forever young, the song says. But childhood is a preparation ground for what one will be. most of their lives as an adult. Parents are to be involved in actively molding children into adults. The Apostle says, bring them up, not hold them down. There's a right way and a wrong way to do it. The world wants parents to teach their kids all kinds of junk. And most of the time, sending them to public school will really help. exponentially in doing that. This is one thing I really love about homeschooling, by the way. Parents can filter out almost all of that garbage by homeschooling children. But Satan wants your child to be ruined, spoiled, and prepared for a life of sin and worldliness and foolishness. And he does it all the time. Maybe you are one who feels that TV can be a babysitter for you. Just sit the kid down, go about your business. Working a second job, are you? Two parents working? No time for junior? Busy life, busy schedule, no time, rush time. Oh, the kid gets the picture. Distracted parenting is dangerous. This sounds bad, yeah? Well, a parent does this just as actively as doing it the right way. Parent, if you are involved in neglecting your child and his upbringing, you are still actively involved, but in his destruction and failure. How then are we supposed to do it? Paul goes on to say in the training. Again, this is active, not passive. This has the idea of teaching and exercising. Has the idea of discipline. Some versions have the word nurture or chastening or discipline. It's a strong word. Has the idea of being more than a casual observer of it all. Getting tough when necessary. It's a mission. Life is serious. The enemy is fierce. Kids on a training ground called childhood, it's a battleground. It's where things are settled for most people's lives. Actively doing things with a view towards godly adulthood. Training. Military training, like in the Marines. You're going to make a Marine out of you. Well, childhood's like boot camp. That's where things get started. It says in training and admonition, training has to do with the act of doing of things physically, Admonition has to do with the words that you use or the ideas that you put across. It has the idea that you speak to the child in teaching her to rebuke, to correct, to encourage, to warn or instruct. It's giving advice. Seriously, after all that, one version actually uses the word advice here. Seems like quite an understatement, but it's true. Advice is there as well. There is the idea of being very serious and very grave about it all. These instructions are to be a matter of life and death. Picture it that way. Yes, Mike? I don't want to interrupt you, but I'm thinking of that verse. I think it's in the Old Testament. Raise or train up a child in the way they should go when they get old and do not depart from it. So it has a long-range effect, what you're saying, for a good, positive, You're right. These instructions are a matter of life and death. This isn't playtime for children. It's a continuous and constant thing throughout the childhood. You have to be on constant watch. You only get a short time at this. You might think 18 years is a long time, but man, I'll tell you, that goes fast, really fast. Make it count. Redeem the time, as we were talking about before. Redeem the time that you have with them. Make it count. How? Training and admonition of the Lord. Use the word of God. Teach them the ways of the Lord. Show them how to live life. Show them how to live the Christian life. And tell them why. Train them up in the way that they should go. Base all things taught on what God says about it. It's one thing for you to say to your child, do this, don't do that, because I said so. How many times have we heard that one growing up? It's another thing to tell them, look, you should be doing this. Don't do that because God says so. Raise your children as to the Lord. This does not happen automatically. Make it your mission to raise these children to honor Jesus. Make it your mission to train them up to know Him and about Him. Give them no excuse for any disobedience before Him. It is His command to you. It is of Him that you are to do this. Raise them understanding that it is God working through you. It's a godly child raising. It's a godly education that you give your child. It's a godly training. It's of the Lord, not just of you or of man or of the world. It's of God. OK, some closing thoughts. When children are brought up to be obedient to parents, They are better prepared to be obedient and law abiding citizens. When children are brought up to be obedient to parents, they are better prepared to obey God, the ultimate father. It's important to any good society that the family structure be solid. It's also the aim of Satan to destroy the family. For if the family crumbles, so does society. It's very important the family be properly formed and operated within the church, because strong families are what the Lord wants, and they make the church strong too. Parents, you cooperate with God when you raise your children in the nurtured admonition of the Lord. You are his agents. Children, your parents should take the place of God in your home. You obey them as you would God because they are his stewards over you. Children, there are blessings from God on children that obey their parents, blessings that last a lifetime and for eternity as well. Not every parent is a good or godly parent. You must determine to obey God first, but in the general and normal way of life, parents do not usually command children to do evil. In the case that this should happen, it's right to do what God says, but you must never dishonor your parents. Not every child that is raised rightly by Christian parents will become saved, understand that. But the parents have given that child the tools and the knowledge that he needs. And if the Holy Spirit should decide to use those in the salvation of your son or daughter, you've prepared them. You'll bring to mind the things you taught them. Any questions or comments or anything? Let's close in prayer then. Father, we thank you again for your word. We thank you, Lord, that you care about how we raise Children. Thank you, Father, that you bless Children who are obedient to their parents. We pray, Father, that you would make it more and more apparent to parents to Children for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Father, we ask that you would raise many godly children from godly parents, that you would save many, that you would populate this earth with stark contrast to what the world is used to seeing. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.