1 Samuel chapter 3 in your Bibles, please. Let's stand together. 1 Samuel chapter 3, starting with verse number 10. 1 Samuel 3 and verse number 10. The Bible says, And the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth." Now you need to listen to what God is saying right here. "'Because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever." I want to preach to you this morning on family tragedies. Family tragedies. There's a lot of things, a lot of sad things happen. A lot of sad things can happen to an old drunkard or a family that's just engulfed in drugs and immorality, and it would be sad. But in these days when we watch tragedies happen to families that have known the ways of God, it makes it devastating. They're tragedies. And I want to preach to you a little bit about that this morning. And you pray for me and pray that God would work His truth in our hearts. Father, as we bow before You, I thank You, Lord, for the privilege of being in church today. And I thank You, Lord, for each one that's here. And I pray that You'd help us with the message this morning. And Lord, I pray and I ask Thee that Thou would empower me with the Holy Ghost of God to be able to preach And I pray that Your Word and Your truth would help us and give us warning and help us to soften our hearts and humble our hearts before Thee. And no matter what we have to do, help us to turn and do what's right. I pray if there be one here today that's lost without God, that, Lord, You would speak to their hearts and help them to be saved today, we do pray. Bless now in the preaching of God's Word. Give us a hearing ear. Give us a responsive will and heart toward Thee. And I love you and thank you for the singing this morning and for all that you've done. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You can be seated. I read a familiar text in your hearing this morning about Eli. The Bible tells us about the days of Israel. And these days are days of apathy and apostasy in Israel. And the first portion of this chapter, chapter number 3, gives us a lot of information concerning that in the first three verses. And the Bible says that the Word of the Lord was precious in those days. It was rare. And there was no open vision. The Bible says it came to pass at that time when Eli, the priest, was laid down in his place. His eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. So the Bible is telling us about a physical condition of Eli. But I believe the Spirit of God has placed it in the Word of God as a spiritual significance. The Bible says that he was laid down. What's he doing laying down when he needs to be up preaching and taking care of spiritual matters? And the Bible says his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. And that means his eyes begin to get calloused and he becomes narrowed in his vision. And he can't see things with a spiritual awareness as he should. Just like you and I today. And our eyes are waxed dim. And I was in the motel this week, and they were talking about some bad storms. So I pushed on the weather channel, and I was looking over there, and I didn't know where the weather channel was. I was flipping through all that. I mean, I was literally just taking my thumb and going through them channels, trying to find the weather channel. And as fast as I could operate my thumb, flipping through those channels, there was enough hell and wickedness flashing before my eyes just going through that. You see, we get hardened to that. We get offended that anybody mentions anything about what we're doing. That's because we have become brazen. I realize we're in mixed company, and I'm not trying to be raw and graphic. But I'm going to tell you, if there was a woman that came to my front porch and rung my doorbell, and I opened it, and she stood there in her undergarments and asked if she could come into my family, I'd slam that door shut. And I'd holler through the door, and I'd say, you need to get off my porch and off my property. But we sit, we watch that mess of another human flossing and flaunting that stuff, and we become brazen to it. We've become brazen to liquor and brazen to drugs. And I'm here to tell you the Sodomites are going to sit in our fundamental, independent Baptist churches because we started getting used to a lot of darkness a long time ago, and we're playing the violin of sympathy for those that have sinned against God, and we need some preaching in these days against that sin. Eli didn't have any business laying down and getting adjusted to the dark in his station. He needed to be up and taking care of spiritual business. Now, verse number 3 is also a help to us. And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, so the light, the light in the house of God was going out. All of that is spiritual significant. Now, what I've read to you about this morning, and I didn't read all the scripture I wanted to read because you can move over into chapter number 4, and in chapter number 4 you see a fulfillment of what God spoke to little Samuel about that He was going to do to Eli's house. And there's some severe tragedies that take place in this family. Look over in chapter 4, if you would, please, in verse number 19. And here we find that Eli's sons have been fighting in battle, and they've been slain. And the Bible tells us about Eli receives word that they've been slain, his sons have been killed, and then the ark of God has been taken. The ark of God, the very presence of God, has now landed in the hands of the enemy. And that's what's happened today. The things that belong to God, the precious things, God's people have taken it and made light of it and desecrated it out there in the world. And the world's coming to the church. And that's the reason we don't have any power in the church anymore. And so the Bible says, and his daughter-in-law, Phaneha's wife, was with child near to be delivered when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, that her father-in-law and her husband were dead. She bowed herself and travailed, and her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not. for thou hast borne a son." I want to pause right there just a minute. Now, I don't know how you read that, but here's how I take that. Here's a young woman that she knows the worth, the spiritual value of the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant. She knows the rightful position of her father-in-law, Eli. And she loves her husband. She knows her husband has indulged in sin and committed immorality at the door of the temple. She's aware of all that. And she hears about all that, that news. And when I read in this text, I feel like with all the sad news of her father-in-law and her husband and her brother-in-law, I feel like this is personal opinion. That the thing that really remorses her heart, really hits her heart with tragedy, is that she has heard that the ark of God has been taken. And it devastates her. It causes her to go in travail of pain. She was nigh to be delivered. And here she is, and she's at the point of death, and she's dying. And she gives birth to a son. A Hebrew little boy is born. And that is a trophy to a Hebrew, to have a son. And so as if to take a rug and throw it up over the tragedy, the women say, fear not. You don't need to draw your last breath. You don't need to travail so. You don't need to fold up with weakness. You've had a son. You've had a son. And I feel like, you know, please, I'm not in any form or fashion trying to say anything about me whatsoever. But I go different places to preach. And I've always had this in my heart. This is just my goal when I preach. I'm preaching for conviction. I'm preaching for conviction. I want to be able to be used of God to deal with people's hearts. And I've been amazed, I don't really say that much about it, but I've been amazed at how many preachers will say to me, they'll say to me, and I'll hear them get up in the pulpit and say, you know church, there's nothing wrong with this solemnness in the church. We need that in this day. There's nothing wrong with being encouraged, but we're away from God. And it's almost like that we have geared ourselves in our churches not to look at the prevailing situations, but to take a rug and pull it up over that, and to tell a joke in a pulpit, and get people rolling in the aisles as if to make us all feel light. I'm here to tell you I'm nothing wrong with a good clean laughter and some lightness, but I'm going to tell you something, when it comes time to preaching, it ain't time for joking. Amen? It's not time for joking. Let me tell you something, we need to preach with conviction and bring that conviction. And so I see in this text today as if they're saying, don't die, don't blow up with weakness and prevail over this matter. You've had a son. And the Bible says, the Bible says, because the ark, let's see, The Bible says, for her pains came upon her, and about the time, in verse number 20, of her death, the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not, for thou hast borne a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken And because of her father-in-law and her husband, and she said, the glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken. You know what she's saying? She's saying, before I draw my last breath, she said, I'm going to inhale one more time, and I'm going to name this little boy before I slip out into eternity. And she said, I'm naming my son Ichabod. She said, upon this generation that's being born today in Israel is a spirit of Ichabod. The glory of God is departed. Now, I'm not here this morning to pronounce a judgment that I don't necessarily know anything about, nor have the right to pronounce. But I want to tell you something. I pick up my hearing sometimes when I get around old-time men of God, and they're standing around and communing one with another, and they're talking, and I consider myself the young whooper-sniper, and I'm just standing off and listening. And as they're saying and looking at one another and saying, what's happened to the convicting power of God in our churches today? And the other one says, yes, this generation today has no fear of God upon them. How many young people do you see in our churches that will slip from their place and even get in an altar and pray over concern for their soul, or pray for a mate, or pray for the will of God? I've said this before, and I'm not trying to make a comparison, nor get you to be like somebody else. But when my wife and I were saved, or when I was saved and she got right with God in the church back in them days, back in the 70s, buddy, I'm going to tell you, it was a common sight to see young people in their teenage years and early 20s move in revival meetings and move in church services and come down to an old-fashioned altar and say to God, God, I'm cutting everything lock, stock and barrel. I'm going whole hog with you. Ain't going to be no ties between me and this world. I'm going to dedicate my life, but I can't tell you how many years It's been since I've really seen that. And them stand to their feet and testify with visible brokenness and say, I've come today to dedicate my life, no matter what He wants, for the good we have done. I'm not trying to swing a guilt trip on you today and get you to respond. I'm just telling you that there has been a baby that's been born today And its name is Ichabod, and the glory of God has departed. Amen. That's right. So here's this family. Now, I want to say this. I want to say, when we read our Bible, and you ought to always read your Bible at times. I realize there's a lot of things to study. But you need to take time to read your Bible in view of the family and see what God has to say. You go over to Genesis in chapter number two, you'll learn a lot about the unity between a man and a woman. Amen? Number one, you'll learn that God gave Eve Adam, and God gave Adam Eve. And so God had everything to do with that marital union between a man and a woman. I still believe that's the number one principle today, don't you? that God's will, listen, be involved in the coming together. Young ladies, you don't need a split-tail skirt, you don't need to be seductive nor sensual to try to lure from the flesh to get you a boyfriend or a girlfriend, amen? Just mind your business. Do like Rebecca did. Stayed right there in her daddy's house. And you know what she was doing the day that Abraham's servant showed up? She was just serving her daddy. And she was fetching water at the well. And she had no idea. She had no idea about Isaac. She had no idea that anybody was going to show up. But when she came through that gate, Man, I'm going to tell you, there was one on the other side that had already been praying, and said, God, let it happen like this. And there she was. And he related a story. And she said, come with me. I believe she had a little, some bubbles popping in her heart. She said, this is the day I've been waiting for. And tell that story to my daddy. And tell it to my brother. And he related it to them. And they looked at her and said, wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. She didn't know if Isaac had red hair, black teeth and freckles. She said, this is the will of God. And I'm going to go. Amen. She'd never seen him before. That's right. But there's some things and principles that the Bible teaches us. You go over to Ephesians 5. In Ephesians chapter number 6, the husband is to love the wife. And isn't God so wonderful? If you ever had a question about, I'm not sure how you want me to love my wife, Lord. He says, as Christ loved the church. So that tells you, you're to love your wife with a sacrificial love. A sacrificial love. And so you learn so many things. The wife is to submit to her husband. That's right. And the children are to obey their parents. Amen. That's right. And the parents are to raise those children in the fear, the admonition of the Lord, the putting in mind of God. And so you learn all this stuff about the family. You see, we have drifted so far, we have allowed other impressions and busyness and money making and having things to detour us and say, well, that's true, preacher, but my circumstances weigh upon me in this direction and I can't do that. You go over in Proverbs. You learn some things about what God says about, you go in Psalms 127, and you learn what God thinks about children. Children are a heritage unto the Lord. Amen? And you go over to Proverbs, and you learn about discipline. And you learn about love. And so the Bible teaches us somewhat about – or the Bible teaches us what God thinks about the family. God is involved in the family. When you read your Bible, you understand at the blessedness that God pronounces upon a family that lives for God. That's right. Now, I'm not trying to be silly here. I'm not trying to be silly. God brought Moses up for the purpose of delivering Israel out of Egypt. But He formed and He fashioned and He ordered that young man out of a family that feared God. That's right. That's right. And there they were over in 1 Samuel 17, facing a giant. And every time he came out and beat his chest and cursed God, all of Israel ran. But here's a toe-headed boy coming up from the back side of the desert. He brings that wagon to a screeching halt, unloads the cheeses and things that have been sent from his father's house. And about the time he unloads the last case, here comes King Kong beating his chest and cussing God. And he's watching Israel flee from him. And he walks around with it and he said, He said, is there not a cause? You see, when you spend time out there away from the influences of the world, it will affect you about the things you see. He says, is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? And they walked around and said, we're up. We got our back against the wall. No man's able. This man's so tall, nine foot tall, best we got six foot forward and about 220. No telling what he weighs. And David's been out there, and he's seen God put His hand on him, kill a lion and kill a bear. And he said, hey, I'll go. I'll fight. He stands before Saul. They go out there and fight that giant. And he said, the battle is the Lord's. He doesn't tiptoe toward him. He runs to that giant. He flings that rock. God killed that giant. You know what Saul did? He said, come here, boy. He asked him a question. He said, who's your daddy? Whose son art thou? He said, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse. Why did God put that in the Word of God? Doesn't that sound like a little minor question? Why would God put that in the Word of God? Because the Bible tells us in character of what he brings out of the family. He brings delivers out of the family. Can I tell you all something? I don't know when the Lord's coming back. I'm expecting Him anytime now. But when I got saved 34 years ago, they preached the coming of the Lord a lot harder and a lot closer than we preach it today. And I felt like He was going to come then. So in effect, what I'm trying to say, it might be 30 more years or 50 more years. I don't know what it's going to be. I'm looking for Him today. So, I'm telling y'all something. I'm telling y'all. Shake my hand there, Jacob. We need to raise some deliverers up. Some deliverers. These young ladies. And these young men. These children right here. Right here in Kevin's lap. These young ladies. We need to raise up some deliverers. It's alright, honey. I'm not going to spank you. We need to raise some deliverers up, some people that are going to grow up in teenagers, young adults, that fear God and know the ways of God. Amen? That's right. Because we could use some godly homes. We could use them today, but we're going to need them 20 years from now. That's right. And so when you study your Bible, you learn a lot about what God thinks about a godly home. What about Job? I think Job was a righteous man. The Bible says he was. And what about Job? Job, when he even wondered if his sons had sinned against God, he went off and built an altar and prayed unto God. He said it might be they have sinned in their heart. And a lot of times, Sister Job's wife gets a lot of ridicule because all she ever gets known for is she comes out and sees her husband and says, curse God and die. But I want to remind you of something. The woman is identified as a weaker vessel, and it just wasn't Job's ten kids. It was hers that she gave birth to. And on the human side of this thing, I'd say that would have an effect on somebody. But Job didn't waver. You know what, and I appreciate the ladies that will live for God, but you know where we're hurting today? We don't have Job's anymore. That in the midst of devastation and trial, that he says, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And that will turn to his wife and say, you speak as a foolish woman. That wasn't marital problems. He was being a spiritual strength that that family needed. And can I tell you something? It was Job's family. It wasn't Ahab's family. It was Job's family that God put in the palm of his hand, shoved in the face of the devil and said, let me recommend this family to you. That's right. Let me recommend this man here to you. He's a God-fearing man. That's right. And so, we understand some things. Hey, I believe, what about John the Baptist? He came out of a God-fearing home, didn't he? The forerunner of Jesus Christ. But I've got one better than that for you. You know, when our Savior came, I thought about this yesterday. He's God. He's God. You know what? He could have showed up out there in the wilderness and walked up there to the temple of Jerusalem and he didn't owe any explanation to any human being whatsoever because he's a sovereign God. But do you know where he came from? He came out of a family, out of a woman and a man that feared God. That's right. And God, when you study this Bible, you'll find some principles in it that radiates that God puts His honor and blessing upon a family, listen, that knows Him and walks with Him and fears Him and wants to be, listen, a blessing and try to walk in the ways of God. It's an awful tragedy of wrecking a family. What a sad. And I don't mean to be light about a drunkard's home coming apart or a drug addict's home. But when you know a family that has had the light of God and known the ways of God in something. I got a message I preached years ago. I just found the old outline. It's a pitiful looking outline, but it's a good thought. And I preached on, watch out for the wedges that the devil drives. And as soon as I saw that, I remembered an illustration I used in that message. When I was back at the house, Daddy would burn that firewood. And I would help him split that wood. And when we'd get a load of wood in, Daddy would always split the wood, not with a hydraulic wood splitter, but with a sledgehammer and a wedge, a steel wedge. And he sharpened the edge of that wedge. And I learned something from experience about splitting that wood. When you turn a chunk of that firewood up, if you look right in the core of that wood, and if you can find the tiniest little crack in the core of that wood, and put the edge of that wedge right there, and tap it and set it and rear back and pop it, Because that little hairline crack shows me one thing, that there's a weakness that's already started. Can I tell you something? I don't know how good the devil is about splitting wood, but he's real good about splitting Christian homes. And you know what he looks for? He looks for a little tiny crack somewhere. A little crack in your relationship, a little crack in respect you show towards each other. That's right. A little split in disrespect coming out of your children. A little crack in love and devotion toward materialism. That's all it is. It can look in a hole like it's pretty good, but he's looking around at the core of that thing, and he just looks at a little hairline crack. He's going to put the edge of that wedge right there. And when you've got your head turned, when you've got your back turned, He's going to tap that hammer and wear it back and hit it with the blow. It seems like, that's why I say it's just like, man, it was last week we had such a good walk in relationship, and now it just seems like everything's coming apart. As much respect as I have for the family called Jacob and Rebecca, I'm sorry, Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Esau, as much respect as I have for that family. Look at me just a minute. They had some cracks in the house. Yeah. You read about their family and they had some relationship problems. They did. They had some differences in the family. And one of them had to do with Isaac. Isaac's appeal went toward Esau. And all of this is a spiritual application here. When daddy's appeal goes toward the flesh that feeds his appetite. Amen? Everybody else in the family starts losing respect for dad. Mama feels like she's got to work behind the scenes in a spirit of deception. And those two boys are raised up in a family. Hey, you don't have to put differences on a billboard for your kids to see that. They know what's in the house. That's right. So we saw the reflection of a son that sold his birthright, died and went to hell. Jacob realized the value in the birthright. Mom and Dad were in connivance with each other. And so when you go through the Bible, you find out these little key thoughts about understanding the tragedies and the blessedness in families. Now I want to ask a question and give you a few thoughts, and I'm done preaching. What causes tragedies? in the family. Number one is broken commitments. Broken commitments. My wife and I were out for a little while yesterday. We saw one young man somewhere. My wife said, did you see that young man that just walked by? And I said, no, I didn't. She told me who it was. She said, you know they've been divorced. I said, yeah, that's sad. She said he's holding hands with another little girl. I said, well, they'll probably remarry. Everybody else is. Then I had to run by the post office and saw another young man. In fact, he saw me. He was out riding his bicycle. Well, I guess he was probably in his forties. So I went in and got the church mail and stepped out. And that man, I hadn't seen him in a while. I didn't recognize him. When I walked out the door, he said, Hey, preacher. And I looked at him. I knew who he was. I knew his situation. So I just tried to make light talk. Hey, good to see you. Out riding that bicycle. In a minute, he hung his head. He said, Preacher, you know we're divorced. I said, yeah. And I could see the broke heart. He said, Preacher, I want you to know I'm ashamed to say that. I said, I'm sorry, son. I said, life's full of a lot of hurts. And we could go on and on, but I want to tell you something. We've got a serious problem in our nation. That problem's affected in our churches. And I want to tell you something. I want to tell you one of the tragedies of families' broken commitments. When you got married, you made a commitment to each other. And you know what happens for a lot of moms and dads? They get full of selfishness and envy and jealousy and self-centeredness. And they scratch and claw, maybe not with fingernails, but they'll do it with the words. And their spirit's cold and icy toward each other. And finally, that progresses to a point where it leads to a divorce. And here's usually the conclusion. Well, preacher, our atmosphere at home is just like hell on earth, and we don't think this is healthy for the kids. And so we know it's not right, but we come to the conclusion that the best thing for the kids is for us to separate. Wrong. You can't even see the picture, friend. You know what the best thing is to do? Sir, for you to take her by the hand, and both of you while her in this altar right here, and all that nitpicking, self-centeredness, envy, and jealousy, and scratching, and cold resentments, get her all settled at the foot of the cross. That's what needs to be gotten fixed. But you know one of our problems today? Children have gotten married. They may be 25-year-old children, they may be 40-year-old children, but children have gotten married and they've never developed enough to walk with God and get their matters settled in an old-fashioned altar and go on. You don't have a choice of walking apart from each other. You've got made a commitment. That commitment was God, and until death do you part. And if there's a problem, get the problem fixed. That's right. You get the problem fixed. Broken commitments. Broken. Now, I might have preached on this before, but this is a significant thought here. You read about Noah, you'll read about Noah's wife. You read about Abraham, you read about Sarah, and you read about these different men of God through the Bible, but you read about Eli, and you can't find a word mentioned about his wife. You will about him, and you will about his two sons, and you will about his daughter-in-law, but I've got a question for you. Where's his wife at? Where's his wife? And what that is spiritually significant of is misplaced parents. I understand it's 2009. I understand the pressures of the economy. But I'm here to tell you, if you'll read that Bible, God has designed for that woman to be the queen, Q-U, queen of the house. Her place is at the house. That's right. We've got children raising themselves now. We've got this good mental conclusion about how to keep up with kids is by the cell phone. Dummy. Cell phone? Do you understand that some pervert out there can take a vile picture and get the number of your child and send that thing to them on that phone? One look at that mess and they're destroyed in their mind. That's right. I told my wife that I used to get along without a phone. I had a phone one time, and I kept losing it. I lost that thing twice. Once was out fishing in the lake, and I lost that phone. I said, I'm not getting it no more. But everybody was trying to get in touch with me and this, that and the other, so I got me a phone. I told my wife one time, I said, do you remember the days when if you had to make a phone call, you was out traveling, you pulled off to the side of the road, found the gas station, pulled 50 cents out and put it in the pay phone and called back to the house? Do you all remember that? Some of you kids are looking at me funny, but it used to be that way. That's right. And it seemed like to me we made it just fine. But they've got all kind of cell phones now. We give them to our kids. And I'm here to tell you something, friend. A lot of this has developed because we've got some misplaced parents. That's right. And they're misplacing their morals and mama's dressing like the husband. Amen. I went up and took y'all preachers applications up there at the jail the other day. Three women working behind the window. at the jailhouse. And so I tried to talk real nice, polite, but there was one, and I'm not barking at Redhead, I'm just describing the woman. The woman was Redhead. And it didn't matter what I said. She's like Sergeant Carter to me. So I just, you know, whatever. And I walked out the door and I thought, woman, I thought this, you know, I thought, why don't you go home and change somebody's diaper? I was too close to the jail cell to say it publicly. But it does something to a man. And it's wrong. We've got Miss Blake, where is Eli's wife? Where is she at? Is she out running around, shopping, gawking and everything? Is she in some kind of corporation somewhere, sniffing at some man's aftershave? Where is she at? Could be the story of Eli's home could have been different with them two boys had she been at the house. Amen? Broken commitments. Broken. Misplaced parents. Obligations before the Lord. David broke his commitments with his wife. He broke his commitments to Israel. He broke his commitments in the battle with the kings. He got to strutting a little bit and thinking he was high on the hog. He didn't have to go to battle. He got to walking around. When you get idle, friend, you've got problems. He knew what time of day it was, and he knew what possibly he might see if he went up to the rooftop. And he gazed and saw another man's wife bathing herself, and he lusted, and he fell to sin, and he murdered Uriah. And listen, I'm going to tell you all the havoc, the Absalom, and all his sons, and Solomon, and all the judgment that came upon his house, it's because he broke a commitment. Number two, family tragedies are caused by sinful corruption. The Bible says in chapter 3 of 1 Samuel, in verse number 13, the Bible says, For I have told him, this is the Lord talking to Samuel about Eli. He says, For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth. Let's stop right there. Do you know any iniquity in your house? What do you you feel like God's giving you a multiple choice? We feel like God's coming down here and says, you've got you've got this and you can do this about it and you've taken in this and you can do that about or you we feel like God puts at the very bottom, none of the above. And that's the way we live our lives. Yes, it's all of the above. When you know something's wrong at home, you know your behavior, your actions are wrong, you're responsible to God to take care of it. Chapter 35 in Genesis, you don't need to turn there, but God told Jacob, God saw Jacob, He saw his house. He said to Jacob, He said, Jacob, we're going to have to go back to Bethel and renew some things and take care of some things. that was established. And literally, when God said that to Jacob, Jacob's house was a mess. It was nasty with idolatry. It was nasty. And I admired Jacob. He got God's Word, and he went to the house, and he didn't have to just walk around and say, oh, what's my wife going to think? What's my kids going to think? You know, how am I going to do this? Maybe I can take them to the Smokies, and then on the way home, I can kind of ease it into them. He just went to them, and he said, look, God's talked to me. I'm not right with him. I've got to go back to Bethel. We're all going to go as a family. And he said, you need to clean up. You need to change your garments. Put away your idols from you. That's all there was to it. That's the way it should be. That's right. Is it any wonder, and I'm not trying to preach you out of the altar, I appreciate your altar attendance. Why do we come and never act upon it? Why do we come and never act on it? Is there music in your house it shouldn't be? Is there influences in your home that's affecting your family it shouldn't be? You know, come in, and you say, well, I go to Meadow Park Baptist Church, and Ron Jones is my pastor, and you know, he's got a little bit pit bull in him, and so I guess we got to act like this and dress like this, and it's just a misery. And you go down there at the mall, and you see that vulgarity and that wickedness and the influence, and some of you girls are gawking at it, wishing you could put it on. You want to look like that in your heart, and God knows that. And I didn't have that wrote down, but God wanted me to say it. You want that. You wish, you get to the place in your heart, you just wish that, how come I just can't have a drive-in, drive-out religion and just kind of do this when I want to feel like it and just live like all these other apostates out here and go to an easy-believerism church, listen, where you can just live like hell on earth and say you're going to heaven, but there's no such thing as that. That's right. And the reason we don't have enough Jacob in us men to do what's right is because we don't want to do right. The problem's not the wife. The problem's not the kids. We don't want to do what's right. We don't want to do what's right. What causes family tragedies? Sinful corruption. I studied this message. My mind went back to my first church I pastored. It's up in the mountains. I need you to go find that church and recommend every one of your preachers there. So I was trying to help my deacons see some things. I felt like I was trying to approach it right, but I don't know how it is everywhere, but in the mountains of North Carolina, Baptist churches, and tobacco are two very common links. So I had some deacons smoking, two out of four. And so I took my time studying the scripture. I thought, you know, I just don't want to go in there and say, I didn't want to go in there and say, look, I'm embarrassed to have meetings and y'all out there sucking cigarettes out there. I didn't want to approach it like that. I studied my Bible. I called for a meeting. I went through that thing. I typed out sheets. I gave Bible references. I helped them understand. And I had a deacon that come to me. He was a good man. I really felt like he was good. Had a good family. Smoking cigarettes. He come to me and he said, he said, Pastor, I'm going to resign as a deacon. I said, you're resigning because of what I addressed about smoking cigarettes. He said, that's right. He said, I smoke. He said, I want to smoke. I don't see nothing wrong with smoking. He said, I'm not going to comply to what you're teaching. He said, so I need to step down. I said, well, I appreciate you stepping down. But I said, you're turning the wrong way. I said, what you need to do is you need to get your heart right with God and get rid of that stuff. I said, that's hurting your testimony. He resigned the other positions he was doing. He sat for a little while and yet you ever seen him just kind of sit and you know they've got a green light to go and leave in their mind. And I knew he had that and he left. And I let him stay gone two weeks. He missed church and I went to see him unexpectedly late on a Sunday night. Knocked at the door and he'd come. Shirt off, necklace, short shorts, kids running around immoral. And he opened the door and his face was purple. You see, the way you want to go is already down in your heart. And what we need before you lose your family and you've got tragedies with your children, you need to address the situation that's in your heart that lingers in your heart. That's right. Ladies, you need to be at the place where the joy of your heart is to please your husband, to worship God, to honor His precious name, and to want to raise your kids right. You need to get in your place where you don't grumble about rolling out the biscuit dough. and just wanting to drive through Taco Bell and fling a bag of dog food up on the kitchen table and say, here, I'm tired of cooking. We need a spirit of want to. When you get that way, you've got a crack in the core of your wood and it needs to be fixed. And I promise you, you hear this preacher, the devil's got a sharp wedge and he's going to put the point of it in your crack one day. And he can do it in a moment's notice with the left hand, put that wedge here and the right hand pound it, and it'll splinter overnight. And once it starts cracking, you know that old firewood, once it starts cracking, you can't get out there and say, oh, I didn't mean, and push it back together. It's a preventative maintenance. Number three, and I've got to quit, family tragedies are caused by willful compromise. Look back at verse number 13. I didn't finish reading it on purpose. The Bible says, For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. Willful compromise. You know what's wrong. You know what's wrong. But you don't want to preach and preach on it because it has to do with your family. That's right. It's alright when he preaches and it's across the aisle. But when it gets to your house, when it's your kids, I'm trying to help some of you moms and dads. You get welled up on the inside when I preach on disciplining your children. You think your pastors Jumping around looking in your kitchen window. I don't go to anybody's kitchen window to look, but I'm here to tell you something. I know what I'm talking about. I'm not trying to act like a big shot. I tell you, I'm not trying to be smart when I tell you, you better keep an eye on your children. I'm telling you for your own good and for your kids own good. Some of y'all don't know this, but there's been times after this service, I've had to walk back here to check on some things. And I turned around and seen somebody's little girl or little boy back there, following me back there. And there's nobody else around. And I stopped dead in my track and I called him by name. I said, you go back in the auditorium, turn around and go right back in there. And you may think I've got a problem with my conscience, but I don't like the way that looks. And I'm not going to have it. I'm not going to have you coming back there. I just had a situation happen to me up there this week, and I went straight to the daddy. And I said, look, I'm back there changing. I came out, and your little girl's here. And here's what she was doing. And she asked me for a drink of water. And what made me go straight to him is because one of his men walked back there about the time I sat her down. I thought, oh. I'm trying to tell you something. You let your kids run wild like a bunch of Comanches. And I'm not saying they have to sit still, listen with a big family Bible and look like they're on the chain gang. But I'm here to tell you, as a parent, you've got a responsibility. Where they're at, what they're doing, how they're responding to other children and other parents and disciplining them. Spanking them! And listen, we need a good Holy Ghost, revival, some dads, and a get right with Tom, and want to be a daddy, and want to be a man of God. You don't have to be a preacher to be a man of God! You ought to want to be a man of God. You ought to get your Bible and study it and read it through this Bible and say, Lord, I want to know how to be a better man of God. That's right. Set a good image. Everything you do. Your work ethics. Everything you do. How you appear. Amen. It's saying a message to other people. I want to tell you something. If there's icicles in the house, it's your responsibility to see to it. What's wrong? What do we got to do here? What do we need to sit down and talk about? Amen. Relationships between children and parents. If there's cockiness, cockiness to me sounds like crookedness. And I know a tree limb that'll straighten out crooked ways. Amen. That's right. Just old fashioned preaching about the family. But it's just right. I want to tell you something. The Christian home, the godly home, was the strength of our nation. You hear me, hear me well. I guess I sound like I'm trying to close on a dark cloud. But our country is spiraling down the devil's drain. And I'm going to tell you where it started. The number one shot was fired, was fired at the home. And it's been a fatal wound hit the home and we're losing a nation. We've lost the nation. If you don't need to do it for my sake, next time you're out at Walmart, take a look at the young girls walking up and down the aisles. And I don't mean that in the sense of a lustful way, I'm just saying it's vulgar. It's wicked. The spirit of heathenism has fallen upon this younger generation. and a pronouncement of Ichabod, the glory of God. I have to pardon. This is not a message about you don't have any hope to see your children get saved. That's not what I'm preaching about. As long as there's a God in heaven, we're still in an age of grace and preaching is still going on. They're still drawing power of God. Praise God. Just keep on praying. Just keep on living. But you're going to have to do right. Children develop their opinions about God from mom and dad. If you're unstable, they think God's unstable. If there's division in relationship between husband and wife, they think there's no place where you can find peace and love and security. They develop everything about what they need to do. I wonder why We don't see in children and young people respond for God and get saved. Is it because they've summed things up by what they see in their home? Is it? I don't know. Tragedy. Tragedy. Family tragedies. It's sad. Let's stand together our heads bowed, eyes closed. Maybe the Lord spoke to your heart about something this morning. You need to come pray.