Thank you for downloading this sermon brought to you by the Preaching Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church of Las Vegas, Nevada, Dr. David Tice. For more sermons in both audio and video format, we encourage you to visit experienceliberty.com. Also, for a word of encouragement, insight, and biblical inspiration, follow Pastor David Tice's blog at davidtice.com. So without further ado, let's open our hearts to the Word of God. There is nobody that is more important in our lives as parents than children. There is nothing that we can do that is more important for shaping the next generation than spending time raising our children for the glory of God. Years ago, my wife, she used to say this all the time to Matthew and Joshua, she would say to them, You shouldn't do that, leaders don't do that. You're not allowed to do that, leaders don't do that. You are not going to do that because leaders don't do that. One time Matthew said to my wife, he said, well what if I don't wanna be a leader? And my wife said, it's tough, that's what we're making you into. The reality is, it is our responsibility to shape boys to lead men. We have a responsibility to bring up our children to honor the Lord Jesus Christ and to represent Jesus Christ in what they do and what they say. And we need to understand that if we're gonna represent Jesus Christ, then we're going to train our boys to lead because Jesus Christ was a leader. Can you say amen to that? We need to understand it's our responsibility. In the book of Proverbs, the book of Proverbs was written specifically by the wisest king to ever live, the richest man to ever live, the wisest man to ever live, written by this wise man and the purpose of writing the book we find in the first 10 verses of Proverbs. He says, basically, I'm writing this because I want you to have wisdom so that you can lead my people. In Ecclesiastes, he mourns over the fact that he's going to die and he's going to leave all this hard work that he's put into building this kingdom to somebody and he doesn't know what that guy's gonna do with the kingdom that he puts into his hands. The fact of the matter is, we are responsible for what's going on in the next generation because we are molding that generation. So he wrote Solomon. He wrote the book of Proverbs. Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs because he knew he had a son named Rehoboam who was gonna take over his kingdom and he wanted his son to reign well. He says this in Proverbs chapter one and verse one, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. and instruction to perceive the words of understanding. That's why I'm writing this. To receive the instruction of wisdom and justice and judgment and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. He says to his son, a wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel. To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord, is the beginning of knowledge. That is, fear God so that you can gain knowledge to do that which is right. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. A fool says, hey, I don't need any more instruction. I got it all. I don't need to hear. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. For they shall be an ornament of grace under thy head and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Solomon realized it's my job to raise my son to lead this nation. We need to understand that. And so tonight, we're talking about raising boys to lead men. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you help me to communicate to your people what your word says about leading men. training young men. Help us, Father, that are fathers. Help us that are grandfathers. Help us that are uncles. Help us that are friends of those that are younger to take this responsibility seriously. I pray for every father and mother and grandfather and grandmother in here today. I pray that you'll use this to instruct our hearts. Help us to see how important it is. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. In 1966, the American Heart Association developed a ad campaign that went across the nation to encourage people not to smoke cigarettes. One of the ads that they put up was a very, very powerful ad. I want you to see that ad. Like father, like son. Like father, like son. Think about it. What a powerful statement. The things that we do impact our children. I've had a favorite poem for years that says this. There are little eyes upon you when they're watching night and day. There are little ears that quickly take in every word you say. There are little hands all eager to do everything you do and a little boy who's dreaming of the day he'll be just like you. You're the little fellow's idol. You're the wisest of the wise. In his little mind about you, no suspicions ever rise. He believes in you devoutly, holds in all you say and do. He will say and do in your way when he grows up to be just like you. There's a wide-eyed little fellow who believes you're always right. and his ears are always open and he watches day and night. You're setting an example every day in all you do for the little boy who's waiting to grow up to be just like you. Man, Samson, that is convicting. I heard that before, I think before I ever had children. And I thought, man, that puts a heavy responsibility on me as a father. That puts a heavy responsibility on parents to behave themselves and to learn what God wants us to do to raise children right. Tonight, very quickly, I'm going to give you several things that we need to do to raise our boys to a position where they can lead men. Let me give them to you. Number one, we need to pray for our boys daily. Pray for your boys daily. First John chapter five and verse 14 says, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. I really believe that God wants us to pray for our children, and we ought to pray for them every day. I remember years ago, I made a commitment before God. I got down on my knees and said, God, I don't care about anything else. I don't care what else goes well in our life. I am just praying that you'll allow me to raise my children to serve you, and then, Father, when they're out of the house, you can take me home. Now, I've changed that prayer a little bit, because I've got the last one going away and I'd like to just enjoy my wife for the next few years. But the fact is, we need to pray. Do you pray for your boys every day? Do they hear you pray? Do they hear you pray? I remember the story of Sumner Wimp. Sumner Wimp told this story, he said, when I was at home one day, and that's years ago when they first started developing stereophonic sound, and then they got quadraphonic sound, and they got these great big earmuffs that they called earphones, and you could put them on and you could plug them into your record player. He said he was laying on his, he was laying, he would go home, he would get those earphones, put them on his head, then he would lay down before God and he would allow the music to be in his head and he'd be singing to the Lord, just on his face, just singing to the Lord. And as he was doing that, he said one day, his daughter came walking in. His daughter Janet walked in, and they had several friends, she had several friends with her, and she said they walked in and there was dad, worshiping the Lord and praying, just sprawled out. And one of them tapped him, And so he took the earphones off and he heard his daughter say, don't mind him, he does this all the time. And then they just walked through the den and walked over his body. That's the way it should be. Your kid should say, don't mind him. Oh, dad does that all the time. He's always praying for me. He's always praying for me. Let me ask you a question. How often do your children say, hey, would you pray for me? How often you say, why is that important? Because if they're asking you to about a specific thing, then it means they know you're gonna pray for them. When my children ask me to pray for something, I pray for it right then. I say, let me pray. Why? Because I want my children to hear me pray. I want them to hear me pray for them. Your children need you to pray for them. Pray for them by name. Pray for his spouse. Pray for his wife. I just love the fact, I love every one of the people my kids are married to. I just love Brianna, she's an answer to prayer. I love Heather, she's an answer to prayer. I love John, he's an answer to prayer. I love even Neil, I love him. He's an answer to prayer. God has given me, and now Hope is about to marry Joshua, and I tell him all the time when I talk to him on the phone, he's an answer to prayer. You need to pray for them. Pray for God's direction for their life. I pray that God will protect my children, that he'll bless my children, and that he'll keep them pure. That's what I pray for them on a regular basis, and that they'll serve him. You need to pray daily. Number two, you need to spend time with them so they care what you think. Spend time with them so they care what you think. You see, they don't care, people don't care what you know until they know that you care. They need to know that you love them and that you want to be with them and that you're special to them and then they will care what you think. In Deuteronomy chapter six, the Bible says this, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently, now listen to this, teach them diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house. and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Now what does that indicate? That indicates he's spending the day with his kids. When you get up in the morning, when you're walking around, and when you're working together, when you're going, when you sit down to eat, and when you go to bed, you're talking to your children. You're spending time with your children. That means this, in our busy culture, that means you need to take a day off, not to spend with the guys, you need to take a day off to spend with your boys. You need to take some time and spend it with your boys. You need to spend some time just doing things with them. You need to find out what they like. You need to, when you travel, you take them with you. My wife and I made a commitment years and years ago that if we went, the kids were going with us. That was just the way it was gonna be. That we were gonna spend time with our children as we had them at home. The fact of the matter is, your kids know if you wanna be with them, and they know whether they're a burden or whether they're a blessing. by the time, they can tell by the time you spend with them. Number one, you need to pray with them every day. Number two, you need to spend time with them so they care what you think. Number three, you need to, we're talking about raising boys to lead men, you need to dress them like men. You need to dress them like men. Boys need to look like men. We need this whole cross-dressing thing, this transgender thing, this whole homosexual thing is something we can lead into and we need to stay away from. Remember this, no matter what popular culture says, homosexuality is an abomination to God. God hates it. The Bible says this in Deuteronomy 22, 5, the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man, neither shall a man wear that which should put on a woman's garment, for all that do, now listen, this is God's word, all that do are an abomination unto the Lord. God wants your boys to look like men. God wants your boys to look like men. Throughout the time my children were growing up, there were all sorts of different fads that came in. I can remember one particular pants fad that came in, and it was just, I just thought, the guys would take their pants back, I don't remember, it was the 80s or 90s or sometime, back in the ancient days. They would take their pants on the cuff and they would roll them all up, then they would twist them around their ankles and so they looked like balloon pants going down. The guys did it and the girls did it and it just looked very effeminate to me. He said, was it? I don't know, it looked like that to me. And so I said to Matt, you're not gonna wear your pants that way. And he said, why? So I went through a long explanation with him. I said, let me explain something to you. Back in the 1960s, the social engineers were trying to demasculinize men. They were trying to make, they developed a unisex movement so that guys and girls would be less and less different and all of that just began to grow together. Now, today, You can't tell the difference between guys' clothes and men's clothes, or guys' clothes and girls' clothes, and you need to. And I said, I think this whole pants, there's this thing where these girls are wearing these pants and the guy's wearing, everything's looking the same. I said, I think it's all part of the unisex movement. I said, and I don't want you wearing those, because I think they look feminine. And I said, do you understand that? He said, no. I said, are you gonna wear your pants that way? He said, no. I said, why? He said, because you're the father and I'm the son and I'm supposed to obey you even if I don't understand. I said, you just want a point. The fact of the matter is, God wants men to look like men and he wants women to look like women. And there is a distinct difference and you need to teach your boys to dress like men. And you ladies, don't think it's so cute, but it's so cute to do this. I can remember times As my grandchildren were growing up, so I can remember a time that my daughters thought it was real cute to dress up Jonathan and put some hair, some pretty little curls in his hair and Joshua saw it and just about went through the roof and got him away from faith, hope, and charity. because it wasn't gonna be that way. And that may be something that is funny to laugh about for a few moments, but the sad thing is our culture has gone that way. Teach your boys to dress like men. Teach them instant obedience, that's very important. Colossians chapter three and verse 20 says, children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Doing what is right, doing what you're told when you're told to do it with the right heart attitude is what God wants us to do. You need to teach your children instant obedience. No, it's not, oh come on, how come I can't, how come I have to do it? Don't let that go on. Don't let whining go on. When you tell your children to do something, make sure they do it. Teach them instant obedience. I'm telling you, I don't have time to give the illustration tonight, but I really believe that Matthew's alive today. because he was taught instant obedience. The truth of the matter is, there are critical times when you're going to, throughout life, say to your kid, don't do that, and if they're not taught to obey instantly, they could do some major damage. My best friend going to college was a guy named Chuck Frazier. Chuck Frazier was five years old. His dad was just a big guy. His dad would say to him, now look, son, they lived on a very busy street. And his dad would say to him, son, now, I don't want you to play ball out in the front yard, because the ball might run out in the street. And if it runs out in the street, you're going to chase it, and you're going to get hit by a car. But he never enforced that. He just said to his son, don't do it. Over and over again, he'd said to his son, to Chuck, he said, Chuck, don't play ball out here, because it's going to go out in the street. If it goes out in the street, don't chase it out in the street. But because his dad didn't reinforce his instruction with discipline, Chuck just played and played and played out on the front yard, playing with his ball one day. And as he's playing with his ball out front, contrary to what his dad told, his ball ran, or got away from him, went out in the street. The last thing that Chuck remembers his dad saying was this, was yelling at him, Chuck, I told you! And that was it. See what happened is this ball ran out in the street and Chuck ran out to get it. A truck came down the road. His dad saw the truck coming down the road, ran and grabbed Chuck, threw him out of the way, and the truck instantly killed Chuck's dad. Instant obedience is something we need to train into our children. We need to teach people to do what is right when they're told to do it and to have the right heart attitude about it. I love it when Neil says to Lincoln, Lincoln, now you stop that right now. And be happy about it. I love that fake smile, but at least it's there. The point is, you need to teach your children instant obedience. Number five, you need to discipline your children properly. Now, I don't have time to talk about proper discipline tonight, but Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 4 says, And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. The word nurture means chastisement and discipline. It is wrong, it is absolutely wrong for a person to abuse a child. I really believe with my whole heart that God has created a wonderful place that's padded very well, that if you bend a child over, it's just suited for proper discipline. The Bible tells us if we spare the rod, we hate our child. The Bible tells us that if we spank them properly without anger, that we will guide their lives. God's Word is very clear about proper discipline. And we need to, if we're going to raise children right, we need to teach them that there is a, there's absolute, absolute consequences for doing what is wrong. Today we live in a culture filled with people who do not understand There are consequences. The first time you do something wrong, there's gonna be consequences. We need to teach that to our boys. Why do we have such crazy things going on in our culture today? Because dad and mom said, no, it's okay. We've said silly things like this. Well, it didn't hurt me when I was a boy. Yeah, it did. That's why you wound up the way you are. It did hurt you. But the fact of the matter is, God tells us there's certain things they need to learn to do, and if they don't do them, they need to get corrected. And you need to learn how to discipline properly. And so the Bible tells us we're to discipline our children, and we need to do that. Number six, teach him to respect authority. In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 17, the Bible says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Now I want you to know, in their lives, there will be good authorities and there will be bad authorities. There was a particular lady when Matthew was very, very young, who felt it was her job to make sure that the pastor's kid was always in line. that that kid needed, and that kid really needed to be taken care of. He wasn't gonna get any kind of special treatment, he wasn't gonna be treated any different than anyone else, and she just watched him to make sure that he was in line. And she would tell us how important it was that he was out of line every week. And Matthew said, I don't want to go back to that class. Now, at that point, you know what I wanted to do? I wanted to take that lady and spank her. I thought she was unfair. You probably have never felt like this towards any authority. I thought she wasn't treating him right and that she had a particular prejudice against him. You know what we told him? We told him, son, God put you in that class. God put you under that authority and God has you there. You need to learn to obey her. You need to learn to listen to what she says because she's the authority that God has placed in your life. Listen, you're gonna be under people that you don't like. A cop is gonna pull you over someday and he's gonna have an attitude. You might get into the Marines. Jim Cook, a Marine, former Marine told me, I guess you're never a former Marine, but Jim Cook told me, he said, I got so sick and tired of my mom and dad telling me what to do, I decided to join the Marines. Join the Marines, you'll have a drill instructor, he won't have the right attitude. You need to learn to submit to authority, whether they're right or they're wrong. Now you don't do something that is wrong, but God has authority in your life, and you need to teach your boys to submit to authority. Don't protect your boys from the mean old teacher, or the mean old principal, or the sweet, nice pastor. Don't protect them from the authority coming and correcting them because what you're teaching them is that they're always right and the authority's wrong. And that is absolutely the wrong thing to teach him. Teach him to respect authority. Tell him, number seven, how strong he is. brag on how big and strong and muscular he is. When he comes to bring you something, let him know, oh, look at that, you picked that up, you did that. Brag on his masculinity. In 1 Kings chapter two and verses one and two, the Bible says, now, the days of David drew nigh that he should die. And he charged Solomon, his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. Listen to what he says to his son. Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man. Brag on his masculinity, brag on his accomplishments, what he has accomplished, what he is doing. Let him see that there's a difference between the way you compliment him and the way you compliment his sisters. There is a difference. Build in him a satisfaction with his masculinity. Number eight, teach him to treat his mother and his sister with respect. teach him how important it is that his mother needs to know that he cares about her. First Peter chapter three says, likewise, you husbands dwell with them, that is your wives, according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. It's important that boys understand that they're supposed to treat women with respect. Boys can be crude around each other, and they are. but they need to learn not to be crude around young ladies, that they're to teach young ladies to be, they're to allow young ladies to be young ladies and treat them like young ladies. Now, I want you to know in our culture today, we have a real problem with that. And we'll talk about training young ladies to be confident and godly young ladies next week. But tonight, let's focus on guys. Boys can wrestle with each other, but you're not supposed to be wrestling with girls. Boys should not do certain things around young ladies that they may do around young men. They need to understand that there's a difference. I can remember when Anna was pregnant with Josh, and Matthew was just about two years old. Joshua was about to be born and I had taught my wife how to drive a stick shift. She didn't have a license and so I thought, man, if there's an emergency and she has to get to the hospital and I'm not there, she better have a car that she can drive. So we went out, we got a driver's permit and then I taught her, I was teaching her how to drive. That's always, let me give you some advice, husbands. Don't ever teach your wife how to drive. It's not good for the marriage. But I did. We taught how to drive, and she put up with me. And she learned how to drive a stick shift, because that's what we had. We had a Datsun B210, and she learned how to drive with that. Well, the problem was this. That car that she learned how to drive in did not have power brakes, and it did not have power steering. And it was a stick shift. So you drive it totally different than you do an automatic with power brakes and power steering. In power steering, you vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. You have to actually drive. You had to have to drive the car that we had. So just right before she was supposed to take her test, Now she's like eight months pregnant. She's like out to here. She, it was time for her, she had to make an appointment to take her driver's test. We made the appointment and our car broke down. Which meant now my wife had to drive, had to drive my mother's 1964 Malibu Supersport. With power steering, power brakes, and a great little old car, but she'd never driven it before. And so, so she, we went down, she had the test, it was all set, and Matthew said to me, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy okay, because Mommy is nervous. I said, no, Mommy may not be okay. I thought she's gonna flunk this test for sure. So we went down and we got, we went down to the driver's bureau and she went in to take the test and she's sitting there and the guy said, well I'm going to take her for the test. And so he gets in the car with her and she gets behind the car, she gets behind the wheel and they take off. We immediately went over to the flower shop. and got a rose bud, because I figured this is not gonna be good when she comes back. He got a rose, I got him a rose in his hand, and a note that said, I love you, Mommy. And he, Mommy came back, and Mommy got out of the car, and tears came down her eyes, and he walked up, and he just comforted her by giving her that rose, and so she just loved him up. And I said, well, what happened? She said, well, I passed the test. I said, you passed? She said, yes. She said, I've never driven a car like that. You push on the brakes and you'd stop. He almost hit his head against the thing and it was terrible. She said, I kept trying to shift gears and it didn't shift gears and I didn't know what to do. I said, well, how did you pass the test? He said, lady, I'm not gonna be responsible for you being in an emergency and not being able to get, I'm passing you just because you're pregnant. So my wife's driving today because she took her driver's test pregnant. The point is, I tried my best as my sons were growing up to say, look, honor your mom, love your mom, understand that ladies are different than men, and show them respect. My boys would act like boys when they were not around, and they would do things and make noises. Let me just say it that way, that they weren't allowed to make in front of their sisters and their, and I'm not sure I was totally successful at that, but teach him to respect his mother and his sister. You know what'll happen? He'll respect his wife when he gets to be an adult. Teach him number nine, to fulfill his obligations. Make sure that he learns to work. Ecclesiastes says this, when thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it. For he that hath no pleasure in fools. God thinks you're a fool if you make a promise and you don't keep that promise. Isn't that amazing? Now listen to that. God thinks you're a fool. And what God thinks is pretty good, God says you're a fool if you make a promise and you don't keep it. Pay that which thou vowed. Better it is that thou should not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. We made sure that our children had opportunities to work. We taught them to work early. We wanted to make sure that they made commitments and they fulfilled those commitments. And there were times as our boys were growing up that they said, Dad, I don't wanna do this anymore. No, you made a commitment to do this. You're going to fulfill the commitment. I can remember a time where Matthew was working for a particular organization and when we went to see him, They were just being very, very hard on him at that organization, and it was deliberate. In fact, we found out later on, the director of that organization said to us, you know what, we did everything we could to cause, to see if he would quit, and he didn't quit. I wanted to shoot the guy when he told me that. I thought, what business have you doing that? But it built character. He refused to quit. He just kept on going. I just want you to understand, you need to build that. Just because things get tough, it doesn't mean you quit. Listen, it's gonna help when you marry, when your son marries, to stay faithful. Because marriage isn't always easy. It isn't, it just, that's reality. and people give up on the vows that they've made, they stand before God, they stand before their peers, and they make a commitment to God to be with this woman for the rest of their life, and then because it gets difficult, they wanna quit. Look, teach them to fulfill their commitments. Number 10, give him opportunities to lead. give him opportunities to lean. In Proverbs 22 in verse six, the Bible says, train up a child in the way he should go. When he's old, he'll not depart from it. Both Matt and Josh were given opportunities to lean. Particularly Matt, we sent him to West Branch Camp during the summer, where he worked first as a ranch hand, and then later on, he began to work as a counselor and learned how to lead by being in positions where he was leading. He had opportunities to learn to lead. Joshua, when he was 16 years old, worked as the youth director. Our youth director moved, went to college, and so we needed somebody to fill the gaps. We had a volunteer, but he couldn't do all of the running around, he couldn't do all of the visiting, so actually him and Jose Miano became co-youth directors, they would go on teenage soul winning visitations and they built our youth department. Why did you do that? Why'd you put that responsibility on them? Because you need to give your sons opportunities to lead. If we're going to build them into leaders, they need an opportunity. Well what if they fail, that's good. That's good. If they fail, they learn how to wipe themselves up, get back up, and find the thing they do well. Teach them, give them opportunities to lead. Number 11, do man things with them. Do man things with them. You say, what do you mean by that? Again, remember the Bible says, train up a child in the way he should go. When he's old, he'll not depart from it. Do man things with them. Don't buy them dolls. Buy them G.I. Joes. At Christmas time, we used to play Army. We used to get the G.I. Joe's stuff, all the different G.I. Joe's. They had hovercrafts, they had really cool, all the stuff I wanted when I was a kid, I got from my kids. And isn't it great to be a dad? Because you can play with toys and nobody, isn't he a good dad? No, he's playing. He's doing what he wanted to do. So we would get, we'd get all the G.I. Joes and we would line them up on the, we'd get the good guys, the cobra guys, and the bad guys, and then we would just have wars on the stairwells. And we would get, we would take rubber band guns and shoot, boom, boom, boom, and just do that kind of stuff. You say, you let your kids play with guns? Yes, I did. Fake guns, rubber band guns, we just had a great time. Go to ball games with them. We hiked the canyon together, hiked Grand Canyon together. Do things with them, buy them boys toys. Buy them boy toys, buy them cars, buy them balls, buy them things that boys do to make them into men and let them see that. Don't let them carry around a doll baby and say, I wanna be a mommy. That's not cute, that's dumb. You can quote me on that. Teach your boys to want to do men things. Number 12, watch boy movies with them. Watch boy movies with them, race car movies, superhero movies. By the way, be careful, be careful, because there's some junky junk out there. Action movies. Make sure you use something like TV Guardian or Clearplay or VidAngel. VidAngel is a good thing. You can get it on like a Roku player and you can actually watch streamed movies that are edited. It's really a really good thing. It costs nothing. It costs a dollar per movie. It's like going and renting it at like the Redbox thing, but it's just right there on your movie and you set this filter at what you want and you can actually watch action movies with your kids. I can remember, you have to be careful when you have boys and girls in the house. that you're not, you're not, you're balancing that thing out. I remember one time I came home and we were going to watch a movie and Hope was the youngest. I mean, she's like, she's like eight years old, nine years old. And we're going to come home and we're going to watch an action movie. And she said, can we watch like Anne of Green Gables? And I said, oh no, we're gonna watch them, whatever the action movie was. And she said, she sat on my recliner and she said, blood and guts, blood and guts. Why does it always have to be blood and guts? And I realized maybe I was doing the wrong thing. but watch boy things with them, let them be boys. That means when it comes to girls, you gotta watch those things like Anne of Green Gables, and you gotta learn to like it. Have godly role models for them. The Bible says this, the disciple is not above his master, but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. Look, put role models in front of them. We just made sure that our kids were around preachers and we talked big time about preachers. I can remember one time Jim Cook was coming into town, an evangelist friend of ours, and I said, hey, you guys wanna go out and meet Jim Cook? He's on the other side of town, but we can go out and have breakfast with him. Oh, yeah. So we went out and we had breakfast, me and Jim Cook and Matt and Josh, and they just sat there and listened to us talk about preacher stuff. But man, they thought Jim Cook was the greatest thing in the world. They thought Bill Rice was the greatest thing in the world. They thought Dave Young was wonderful. Man, he was a hero. We didn't just have preachers, though. We had sports figures. If there was a Christian sports figure out there, someone like back then, there was Dave Dravecki. who was the pitcher for the Dodgers who lost his arm, but he had an outstanding Christian testimony. There was some guy in the Chicago Bears, who was that? Mike Singletary. I actually bought him a book about Mike Singletary because I wanted him to just look up to these guys. Politicians, I met Dan Quayle, got Dan Quayle to sign a book to Matt and Josh. I still own the book because they can't decide who gets it. But people who are well known, let them have heroes that are godly heroes. from all different backgrounds. Number 14, have good boy friends. Make sure you know who their friends are. Listen, Proverbs says this. Listen to this verse, I think it'll be up on the screen. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise. You need to understand this, guys, listen to this. He that walks with wise men will be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. You have the right to pick your children's friends. Don't let them guilt you. Why do you have to pick my friends? Because you're not smart enough to pick your own friends, that's why. You're gonna pick somebody who wants to go out and do something stupid and you're not gonna do that. I'm picking your friends and I'm gonna be your best friend whether you like it or not. That's the deal. They need to have positive peer pressure. They need to have, you need to have their friends in your house. Your house should be the place where they're hanging out. That way you can watch their friends. You can listen to their friends. Don't allow sleepovers. Don't let them sleep over their house and don't let them sleep over your house because you can't stay awake all night. It's amazing what kids will talk about when you start nodding off on the couch. Be very, very careful about that. Their friends will really, really affect them. I'll talk about adult supervision in just a minute, but the truth of the matter is, your kids are, I can remember sitting in our office, or sitting in my living room, and I'm having a conversation with Matthew, and Josh, and my wife, and two of his friends. And one of his friends, and we're talking about the fact, I think Matthew's about 15 or 16, we're talking about the fact that Matthew's gonna go to Pensacola Christian College. And the friend said, you're picking the college that he's going to go to? I said, well, of course. He said, you mean he doesn't have the freedom? He doesn't have the freedom? That makes you sound like the master prisoner maker. I mean, you're the guy in charge of the jail. He doesn't have the freedom to pick the college he's going to? And I said, oh no, no, no, no, no, you misunderstand. He can pick any college he wants to go to, but I'm only paying for Pensacola Christian College. Now I said that, but the truth of the matter is, Matthew and Joshua, worked their way through Pensacola Christian College. You say, why did you do that? I wanted to, number one, have them pay for it so they would appreciate it. Number two, I was broke and couldn't afford myself. So, make sure they have good friends, because their friends are gonna influence their attitude towards you. Compliment their character, not their talent. compliment their character, not their talent. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 19, this is what God said about Abraham. He said, for I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Wow. God bragged about Abraham's character. He said, look, this guy's gonna raise his kids right. This guy's gonna teach them to do right. He didn't say, oh, I just, oh, Abraham, you're such a great guy. You just, look at how strong you are, and look how well you build tents, and man, you got a lot of camels. He didn't, he wasn't that. He talked about his character. Tell your children how you're so pleased with the fact that they treat their mom so well and they listen so good and they obeyed and oh man, you got a good grade because you listened and you learned. Compliment their character. Number 16, teach him to defend himself and his sisters. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, the Bible says David said, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? He's about to go out and defend Israel and kill a giant. He said, I've got a cause. David didn't just walk around saying, hey, any giants around here I can kill? David wasn't out there being arrogant. David was defending the name of his God, and David was defending the people of God. They need to always be kind. They need to always be gracious. But if somebody is picking on them or their sisters, then they need to learn and know that they should stand up against evil. They need to learn so that they'll protect their own wife and children, when their own wife and children, and listen mom, When dad says, hey, he needs to learn, don't say, no, not my baby, not my sweetheart. No, you need to let him. Now, I'm telling you, my home, my wife, my wife said, my kids, I want my boys to defend themselves. I want them to be gracious, but I want them to defend themselves. I wasn't always at the house. I remember one time I came home, and I'm listening to the conversation, I realized Joshua had socked somebody that day. I said, what happened? My wife said, well, he came home, and he was crying. And I'll get this story wrong, and my wife will tell me later on, this is really what happened, David, you messed it up. But it went something like this. Joshua was down the street with a couple of boys, and the boys were picking on him, and so he just came home. And he said, I didn't fight back, and my wife said to him, listen, you need to always be gracious and you always need to be nice, but if somebody's trying to hurt you, you have a right to hurt them. And so Joshua did. And that's the best I'll tell the story, because my wife is gonna tell me exactly how this actually happened later on. The fact of the matter is that children, boys especially, need to understand that's part of being a man, is taking care of those that we're responsible for. Number 17, this is amazing, 17 points. Keep him under parental or adult supervision. I'm telling you, people make huge mistakes in thinking, well, there are around four or five other teenagers and they all love Jesus. No, they don't. No, no, yeah, they're Christians, yeah, but they haven't grown to that place where they're doing what they're doing because they love Jesus. You know what they love? They love their friends saying, hey, yeah, that's cool, yeah, go ahead, do it, do it, do it. That's what they like. You need to understand, your children need parental control. Listen, elephants, elephants. Big, dumb elephants don't let their kids, when they're little, out from underneath their supervision. An adult elephant has to come to be a full-grown elephant before he separates from his mom. That's a fact. I don't care what Dumbo says. It's a reality. The fact is God gave you children and they're not up until they're 20 years old. Your son needs your supervision. My son Matthew said to me one day, he said when he was about 15 years old, he said, Dad, I don't ever get to do anything. I said, son, you get to do all sorts of things. We go to Disneyland, we take trips across country, we get to see things, we do all sorts of fun things. He said, yeah, but that's with you. And then he said this. I can remember we were standing under a light pole right down the street from our house and he said, he said, Dad, I thought, I always thought that teenage years are supposed to be the greatest years of your life. That's when you're supposed to go out and sow your wild oats. And then you, I said, sow your what? You are really under control now. He said, that's when you're supposed to sow your wild oats and then the rest of your life you look back at your teenage years and you say, that's the best years of my life. I said, Matt, that's where the world's got it wrong. And I looked at him eyeball to eyeball and I said, here's the deal. I said, do you have fun in our family? Yeah, we have fun. I said, the guys I grew up with, they went out and sowed their wild oats. And I decided I wasn't gonna do that, because I wanted to have a good family and a good relationship. I said, my friends went out and sowed their wild oats, and then they got to be 20 years old, and then they started to straighten up a little. A few of them, some of them died. I said, But I said, here's what I did for those seven years. I just tried to do what God wanted me to do. I tried to stay out of trouble. I got in trouble, but God protected me. I said, then I got to be 21 years old. I got married to your mom. And you know what? We're spending the rest of our life having a good time. I don't look back at my teenage years and say, oh, that was the best years of my life. I went through those years and I disciplined my life. And now I'm having a great 50 year run. and you're in the middle of it. We're having a good time. I said it's a whole lot better to have 50 years of fun than to spend 50 years looking back and saying, boy, I wish I was a teenager again. You need to teach that to your kids. Keep him under parental control. You can trust him, but don't trust his flesh. He's got the same flesh that you have. He's got the same desires you have. group date until college. My kids never dated. They went to, we would have a Valentine banquet here and they got to go to the Valentine banquet. Or some church social, they got to go to a church social with somebody else. But they weren't allowed to be in love with anybody. They were allowed to say, well, I never heard, I never thought girls ever said, boy, that guy's gorgeous. And when my first, my girls said one time, I'm driving down the road and I heard one of my girls say, oh wow, yeah, he's gorgeous. I thought, what? Where did that come from? Girls say that about guys? I thought, my girls are saying that about guys? I said, okay, here's the deal. You can look at them and you can think they're beautiful or you can think they're handsome or whatever it is, but there's no love anything until you get to Bible college and you're ready to graduate. You say, man, you really did that? Yeah, we did that. Trust him, but don't trust his flesh. Let him group date till college, and then in college, make sure it's at least a double date. Understand this, the flesh at that age is tempted, and you are there to help them. Number 18, only allow him to be taught by those who have the same values as you. One of my relatives said this, they said, I'm gonna give Matthew his first beer. Matthew's never had his first beer, I don't think. Because I guarded my children. We'll talk about this after church. The disciple is not above his master. Again, everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. Look, make sure that there is a Christian and there are wholesome people that are teaching your kids. And then number 19, talk to him like he's a man. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I, need to talk to my sons as they're getting older, I need to talk to them like men. Even when they're young, I need to say, men don't do that, men don't do this, men do this, men do this. Let them know that they're men, that they're gonna be a man. I had a lady named Maggie who told me one time, I was walking with my head down, she said, David, put your head up, don't walk with your head down. You're a man, God made you a man, be proud of that. Put your shoulders back, walk like a man. The lady made a real impact on my life. I didn't have a father to tell me that. She told me that and changed the way I handled myself. Teach your son to talk to him like a man. No baby talk, no whining. Talk to him man to man and then give him jobs to do. Teach him to work for what he has. In 2 Thessalonians, the Bible says, for even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any man would not work, neither should he eat. If he wants toys, let him buy the toys. If he wants a car, let him work for the car. when he's going to college, let him earn his way through college. That doesn't mean you can't help him and you can't be a, don't be a tightwad. You want them to be able to learn at college and not working 40 hours a week, but let them work. and earn their way. Give him jobs to do and teach him to work for what he has. God wants us to raise our boys to not just be men but to lead men. And if you'll take these principles it will help you raise them to be like Jesus. Let's pray. Father help us to Take seriously this responsibility that you've given to us. Father, I pray for every man that's here. I pray for every woman that's here, every mom and dad, every grandma and grandpa. Father, help us to understand that this is the crux of what we do. We need to train leaders. Father, help us to take it seriously. Father, if there's someone here that's not saved, I pray for their salvation. I pray you'll work, but this evening, right now, I pray you'll work in the hearts of parents, moms and dads, and grandmas and grandpas, even uncles and aunts. Help us to determine that this is our responsibility. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I would like you to think about what I've just talked about. Really, seriously think about it. The next generation is in your hands. Somebody said years ago, the hands that rule the world are the hands that rock the cradle. The fact of the matter is, you and I have a great opportunity to shape and mold the next generation, because the next generation is in our hands. And we need to take that responsibility seriously. If you have a little boy in your home, would you say, God help me? If you have a little girl in your home, would you say, God help me? Listen, you need to be the right type of wife, you need to be the right type of father, you need to be the right type of husband, you need to be the right type of mother, because your actions impact those young lives that are in your home. It is not the government's responsibility to raise your children. It's not the church's responsibility to raise your children. It's not the school's responsibility to raise your children. That responsibility is given totally and completely to you. And you need to face that responsibility. Say, God help me to take what I've learned tonight and live it. I would encourage you tonight during this invitation time to just make some commitments to be the man, to be the woman that God wants you to be. Because it doesn't matter who you are, there are little eyes upon you. And they are watching night and day. And there are little ears that quickly take in every word you say. There are little hands that are willing to do, waiting to do everything you do. There are little people who are looking to grow up to be just like you. Would you just ask God to help you to be the husband, the father, the wife, the mother, the uncle, the aunt, the grandma, the grandpa that God wants you to be. There's nothing more serious than this responsibility. Would you ask God to work in your life tonight? Maybe you're hearing, and in fact, I'd like to know this. If you've trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you know you're going to heaven because you've asked Jesus to save you, would you slip up your hand as a testimony of that? Thank you, you can put your hands down. Maybe you're hearing it say, preacher, I don't know I'm going to heaven. I know I've not talked a lot about that, but tonight you'd say, Preacher, I don't know for sure I'm going to heaven. I would like to know that, but I don't. By an uplifted hand, you'd say, Preacher, pray for me. I would like to know I'm going to heaven, but I don't. Pray for me. Anybody like that, I'd like to pray for you. Anybody at all? Okay. And Christian, would you just take time right now and say, Lord, ask God to bring to your mind little ones that look up to you. anywhere from your own children to your grandchildren to those in Sunday school that look up to you, would you just say to the Lord, would you take time right now and just say, Lord, help me. Help me to be the example that you want me to be. Would you do that? Let's stand together as we pray. Father, I pray that you'd help us to be what you want us to be as men and women because we have this great, awesome privilege and responsibility. Help us to be the husbands and fathers and friends and fatherly examples you want us to be. Use this invitation time for your glory in Jesus name. We hope that message was an encouragement to your heart. Now, for weekly updates and for information about Liberty Baptist Church, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook at LBC of Las Vegas. Well, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening. Until next time, God bless.