Well, I made it everybody. I come to you from across the courtyard, past the bounce houses from the old building, into here this morning. You guys remember that old building over there? You guys remember meeting in that old auditorium over there? See now, it's the new Kids’ Ministry auditorium, I guess. I mean, you’ve just got it nice over here. And this is a nice place to do church. And hey, I've been seeing, I mean, as we've had this new building for kids, I mean, this has been so helpful for us, as we teach them. And we're able now to welcome more kids to come to church than we've seen before. I mean, something that's been so helpful is the rooms that we used to kind of be a little crammed in, well, now we have the whole auditorium in there, where we're then, after we teach them, well, then they can kind of break up into these other rooms. And they can do small groups together; they can really talk about the lesson and what they heard. And I'm seeing so many new people come to our church, so many new families that are coming and dropping off their kids. And I'm like trying to meet all these people in like, hey, I don't know this person and this person. I mean, there are a lot of new people coming to our church, why I feel like I have to introduce myself, because you guys probably don't know who I am. So, I'm Taylor, and I'm one of the five elders here at the church. And we love teaching children the Scripture. In fact, if you don't know me, or you're just kind of checking out our church, or you've been coming for a couple of months, but you don't really know what's really going on over there, what we're teaching your kids. Well, if you can mark your calendar for March 10, this is a Sunday, after this service at one o'clock, we want to have like a welcome families’ lunch with you guys. And so, you can come and meet me. We're going to talk about all the things that we're doing over there, in case you're wondering, hey, what's going on when I'm dropping off my kids? What is this church all about? What are they saying to my kids? And I come to you this morning, and I have a question. For all the parents and all the future parents here in the room, my question is, what do you want for most for your kids? If you can pass on one thing to your children, what would that one thing be? You see, we've been reading through the book of Deuteronomy. And it talks about what we're supposed to pass on to our kids. And the thing that we want to pass down to our kids, the thing that we want our kids to have the most is we want them to have our faith. We want to pass down what we know about God, and we want to bring it and teach it to these kids. And so if you have kids, and you have children, or if you're planning on having children, if that's something that you desire to have, and God is going to bless you with that someday,y well, the idea from Deuteronomy, as we've been reading was like, well, I’ve got to take what I know about God, and I’ve got to hand it off to my children. See, I want to pass on my faith to them. And so, if you will, if you'll turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 11. We're going to spend some time here this morning and talk about what is God have planned for us. And as we do, can you please stand for the public reading of Scripture? We want to give this text our full and undivided attention. This is a very important text here in Deuteronomy. And as we've been reading, this is something that we want to talk here about all together. It says in Deuteronomy 11:18-20, it says,
“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,”
Now, that is the reading of God's Word. You guys can go ahead and have a seat. And we've been reading the book of Deuteronomy here as a church. Is anybody reading the book of Deuteronomy with us out there? Okay. That's some people reading Deuteronomy. And if you haven't been reading with us, or you're just now joining us, this is a great time for you to come and start reading with us. Because this section of Deuteronomy, chapters 1 through 11, this has been such an important section in the book. They’re really a foundational section that we want to really turn our eyes to here this morning, and think through what is God saying in this section of Scripture. Because if you've been reading with us, when we started the Law a couple of months ago, we started reading in Genesis. And we saw in Genesis, how God created the world, and how God created people. And he wanted to have a relationship with man, but man sinned against God, and because of sin would separate man from God. And so, God makes this promise to Abraham, how he's going to raise up this great nation through Abraham, and he's going to give them a land. He gives us that he wants to promise them a land a good land where they can come and they can know God, and they can be his people. And in the book of Exodus, we see that God does raise a great nation. The problem is, though, that they're slaves in Egypt. And so, God, he comes to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, and he does all these amazing miracles, and he leads his people out from the slaves, and he leads them into the wilderness. And that's where we get the book of Leviticus. And the Book of Leviticus is all about how God is now going to have his relationship with his people, hey, you guys are sinful, I'm holy, how does a sinful people have a relationship with God? So, the Book of Leviticus was written so that we can know how we can have this relationship with God. And ultimately, he was pointing us to Jesus. So then, now they're in the wilderness, and we get to the book of Numbers. And God is saying, hey, we had this big nation, we have over 600,000 men, and I'm going to send you into the promised land, this land that is good, this land that I prepared for you. And the problem is that these people, well, they don't have faith in God. And because of their faithlessness, because they don't believe in God's promises, because they're looking at the nations and thinking, oh, those guys are too big, those guys are too great. And they're not remembering who God is, not remembering how he brought them out of Egypt, Well, they forget about God, and now they have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all the faithless fathers die in the wilderness. So, then God can now bring their children as they've grown up now into the promised land. And so, as we get to the book of Deuteronomy, this has all been leading up to now, the children are adults, the children are now grown up, and God is saying, okay, here, now I'm going to send you into this land by your father's will; they were faithless. So, I'm going to send you into this land that I'm going to give you here today. And the idea here is that Moses, he's writing the log In Deuteronomy, which is the second telling. So, Moses is giving the law the second time, because these are now the children who have grown up and they need to hear this law. And so, the first 11 chapters of Deuteronomy are so pivotal. They're so important that if we miss this, as we read chapters 12 and beyond, I mean, some of these chapters that we're going to get into, here in Deuteronomy, they're hard chapters to read. And, these guys are going into the Promised Land, as we continue to read, if we don't miss this; if we miss what God is saying, here in Deuteronomy, well, then nothing else really matters. Because what he's talking about here are the pivotal, foundational things. What are we supposed to do? How do we have this relationship with God? What does God expect from us? And he says here in verse 18, that “you shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul.” Okay, so God wants them to lay up these words in their hearts. Now, what words are we talking about? Well, if you keep reading in Deuteronomy 11:22, it says, “For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do,” what is that? Well, “loving YHWH, your God, walking in his ways, holding fast to him.” Hey, you’ve got to love YHWH, your God, you’ve got to hold fast to him. If you go back to Deuteronomy 11:13. It says, “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today…” What is that? “To love YHWH, your God, and to serve him with your whole heart and with your soul.” God wants you to love him. Look what it says in Deuteronomy 11:1. “You shall therefore love YHWH, your God and keep his charge, his statutes and his rules in his commandments, always. I mean, this is only one chapter. And already we've read three different times, he's saying, hey, you need to love me. Love the Lord your God. And I love how this is put, because he's not just saying, hey, love me, because I need you to love me, love me because I'm worth loving. No, he says, love me, because I'm your God. You're my people. I've rescued you out of slavery. I'm your God. So, you need to love me with all of your heart.
And that's the question that we're here to answer this morning, as I come to you, I'm here to ask you. Do you love God with all of your heart? Or does God just have a part of your heart? Are there things in your heart that you love more than God? Are the things in your heart that you would go after more and God, Yeah, I have this good. I have like affection for God. Hey, I have good things in thoughts about God, good feelings about God. But if I really were to sit here this morning, and really evaluate what's going on in my heart, do I really love God with everything that I am? Do I love him? Look what it says in Deuteronomy 10:12-13. Let's just keep going backwards here. It says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” Hey, all the commandments of God, all of his precepts, they're good, and they're good for you.
God wants good in your life. God wants to bless you. God wants to give good to you. Why? Because you are his people, because he loves you. And now he wants all of you he wants all of your heart. Now, why does he want all of our heart? Well, and how do I give him all my heart? And look at what it says. It says in verse 14, okay, why? Why would I give God all my heart is something I just need to go do? I mean, what is this all about? It says, “Behold, to YHWH, your God belong Heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it?” Okay. God is great. God is awesome. God is a mighty. God’s Heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool. Right? Where were you when God created the world? Right?
God doesn't need any of us. God is eternal. God is self-sustaining. God doesn't need us. He's great and awesome. He's the Lord of heaven, the heaven of heavens. He's the Lord of all the earth. See, God doesn't need us to love him. He's not saying, hey, I just need something from you guys. And if you guys would just love me, well, that would make me feel better. That would make me happy, right? A lot of times for us, we feel like, man, if people don't love us, well, that hurts. Right? I need something, I need this love from other people. God’s saying, hey, I'm God, I'm YHWH. I'm great and awesome. I don't need your love. But no, I just want to love you. I want you to love me. Liquid. It goes on to say in verse 15, yet Yawei yet the Lord set his heart to love your fathers and chose their offspring after them. See, God doesn't need our love. But God chose he said, he decided he chose to set his love on these people. These people don't deserve. You always loved. They don't deserve the love of God. I mean, as we're reading through the Law, I mean, how many times do these people lose faith? How many times do these people complain? I mean, God is not choosing them because they're choosable. God is not choosing them because they're lovable. No, God, see, he decided to set his heart on them. He decided in his goodness, he decided to love them, and bring them out from this land, this land of slavery, and he wants to dwell with them. He wants to be their God, and he wants them to be his people. You see, so as we sit here this morning, as we're coming to church, and we're saying, Yeah, I love God, do you? Do you love God with all that you have? Because God loves you with all that he has?
Go with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 2. So, he's writing here to the to the Israelites as they're coming out of slavery. But what does he have for us here this morning. Go to Ephesians chapter 2. And as Paul, he's writing to the church of Ephesus, and in the first three chapters of Ephesians, where we get a lot of great theology about God, and who God is, and what he came to do. And then the rest of the book, the last three chapters were all about, well, how do I respond to God? How do I then live for God? What are the practical steps that I take towards God. And here in Ephesians 2, Paul says something that's so important for us to hear and for us to remember. He says in Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived.” Every single person in this room, we were living “in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Hey, do you remember when you were dead in your sin? Do you remember when all you can choose was sin? Do you remember if you grew up in church, and if you learned all these things about God, and you learned how am so love God. Am I supposed to serve God? And as I want to do that, and I'm trying to do that, I'm trying to live a better life, and I'm trying to do the right things, and I'm trying to say the right things, and I'm trying to love people the right way. But it's so hard and I always fail. I'm trying to say no to sin, but what keeps happening in my life? I keep going back to sin. I keep wanting it more than God. Why does this happen? Why I want to love God, but it seems like I don't I want to follow God, but I keep going right back into sin. Do you remember when you were dead in sin? see dead people, they can't do anything. A spiritually dead person cannot choose to love God, they can't do anything good. I can't come here today and say, hey, God in my sin, here's something good for you. Hey, here's something that you should desire. I have good. God, I have good. You want my love? Well, I’ve got something that I can give to you, God, look at this good work that I have for you. Look at what I could offer you, God. See God is not impressed with anything that we can come and bring to him. See, God does not save people because they have this good work that they're coming to give to him. Hey, God, look at who I am. Hey, I’ve got something to show you. I’ve got something to give to you. God is not impressed by that. God is not saying I chose you because you're lovable. I chose you, hey, I’ve kind of got some sin. And if I kind of repent from half that sin will be then God will cover the rest. God's not like that. No, look what it says here. These are some of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture, Ephesians 2:4-5. “But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” You see God he's seen, it's because of his rich mercy. See, Paul can't even say like, oh, yeah, God's merciful. And hey, if you follow Jesus, he's very loving. And he's kind. I mean, Paul's not saying that. He's saying, God is rich in mercy. See, God has all the mercy that every single person in this room needs. God is not limited on his mercy. He's rich, he's abounding in mercy. It says that he's great in love, to the love that Jesus has for you, the love that God has for you. It is great. And as you see God high and lifted up and you realize, man, I am dead in my sin. There's nothing that I can offer to God. No, it's by grace that you have been saved. You see, do you remember what it was like to realize that? Do you remember what it was like to finally realize the reason I keep going back to sin is because I need a new heart? Because I need God to do something on me on the inside. I cannot work to do this. The reason why I keep going back over and over again to sin is because I need something to happen in here. See, God is the one who does that work. And Jesus, the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who made everything, well, he sent he was sent down on the seek-and-save mission. He died because he wanted to save you. And Jesus, when he came, he came to his own. And he preached to them, and he shared good news with them. And he had compassion as he saw the crowds come to him. And Jesus, he was healing them. And he wanted to feed them, and he wanted to love them. And what did the people do? They killed him. They hung him up on a cross. They crucified Him, they denied him. They rejected him. I mean, they hated him. See, when Jesus was up there bleeding for hours, when he was beaten to where he could barely breathe, when he was scratching his back up on that thorny cross. As he lifted himself up to breathe in his back, which is ripping against that old rugged cross. Man, he was thinking about you. See, Jesus, he died for your sin. Is that something that we've forgotten? Or is that something that's the most precious thing to us in all the world? Like, because the way that Jesus loves me, why do I love God? Because he loved me first. That's why I love God. Not because he needs me to know because he's my God, and I love him. I remember how he took me from someone who was dead in my sin, He made me alive in Christ. And because of his great love, because of his mercy, oh man, I am now a new person in Christ. I no longer run back to sin. That never satisfies me, because I have God and God satisfies me. See, this is something that we can't forget. Look at what he to keeps on saying, in Ephesians 2:6-9, God doesn't just save us. But He bestows on us, He gives us so much. In verse 6, he says, “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Hey, if you are saved today, it's not because you did something. It's not because you're lovable. It's not because God looked at you and said, wow, they're awesome. I want them. It's because God chose to save you. And he set his love on you. And the only response that makes sense, after hearing the good news of the gospel, that he would take us and that he would save us is for us to love the Lord our God with all that we are. You see, God will not settle for anything less. God loves us with all that he has. Do you love God with all that?
Go back to Deuteronomy and go back to chapter 6. And as Jesus was on earth, well, he talked a lot of times to the Pharisees. And what they would do is they tried to trap Jesus and had asked him these questions, and they're trying to like get him to say something or slip up. And when they asked him, hey, what's the greatest commandment? Jesus quotes here, Deuteronomy, chapter 6. This is the Shema, this means to hear, to listen this passage, right? Here's the most famous passage all the Israelites were known as all the Jewish people that would have known this; they would have known that this is the greatest commandment right here. And what is it? Deuteronomy 6:4-7. Listen, Shama, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” So, here in the Shema, God is saying, hey, you need to listen. And the thing that you need to hear all Israel that the Lord your God, well, he is one, the one God, the One True God. And so, as you read this, you really need to put your mind in the context of what's going on. Because at the time when they're going into this new land, when they're getting ready to enter into the promised land, and take down these sinful nations, what are all these nations? What do they have in common, they all serve other gods, multiple gods. And anytime that there's a god, that's something that they're bowing down to, like a statue that they're worshipping, whether it's something that we've put before God in our hearts, the thing that an idol always does is it leads us away from God and it leads us into sin. An idol, really what it was, it was an excuse to do whatever I wanted. And a lot of times in the Scripture, you see that idolatry leads to sexual immorality, it leads to child sacrifice, it leads to these horrible things that God’s saying, hey, when you go into this land, you can't be like the other nations. You can't follow after these other gods. Why? Because I'm God. I'm YHWH. I'm the one God. And I've got to have all of you.
See, as we sit here this morning, when God sees us, he either sees one hundred percent in or one hundred percent out, there's no middle ground. There's no God has half my heart, and or seventy-five percent of my heart, and God can kind of have this, but he's not going to be able to have that. That doesn't work with God. Look what it says in Deuteronomy 5, as Moses is retelling the ten commandments to the people, he says, it's in verse 6, of chapter 5. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Commandment number one, verse 7, “You shall have no other gods before me.” See, God doesn't want anything to rival with him. He doesn't want anything in your heart that's competing with his love. He doesn't want anything between you and him. No, you can't have any other gods before God. Deuteronomy 5:8 says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” So, a lot of times, when we're talking to people, we're trying to introduce them to God, and we want them to come and join us here. We want them to come to know God. A lot of times, what we start with is the love of God. Hey, God is loving, hey, do you know how much Jesus cares about you, do you know how much he loves you? The first thing that God wants us to know about him? Because remember, they don't have the writings, they don't have the Law at this point. Moses has not penned Joshua, he has not penned Genesis or Exodus or Numbers. He has not penned these books. So, this is the first time that God wrote something down. This is the first written revelation of God, when he got the ten commandments and gave them to Moses, up on the mountain. This is the first thing that God wants us to know about him. One, you can't have any other gods. Two. I'm jealous for you. I want all of you. You can't have anything else. There can be no division in your heart. I want it all. And when we think about jealousy, a lot of times that has like a negative connotation in our mind. Like we don't think jealousy is good. Like, if somebody's jealous, we're like, dude, what's your problem? Like, why are you being jealous right now? But as you think about this, I mean, as I was preparing this and thinking about it, I mean, when I started thinking that it was my kids, right? And, if I sent my son over to his friend's house, and he got to hang out there and play video games and eat pizza, and he's hanging out with them and their dad, and he's like, Oh, this is so much fun. I'm having such a good time. And so, I come and pick them up at the end of the day and his son's out there waving, and dad saying, hey, it's great to have you. We'll see you again next time. And my son just stands and looks out the window and says, Bye, dad. I love you. Like, what? How would I feel about that? What if in the car ride home, he's saying, Dad Timmy’s dad is so much cooler than you. Like Timmy’s dad man, he let us do whatever we want over there. We're playing video games for hours. We're eating all kinds of pizza. We're eating candy. Like Timmy's dad is awesome. Hey, dad, is it cool if I go live with Timmy’s Dad? Hey, Dad, you’ve got to really step up. Dad, you don't give me pizza all the time. Like, can I go? I'm going to go live with Timmy’s dad. I'm going to go pack my things and hang out with Timmy. I'm like, are you kidding me? No, you're not like… you're my son. You're not Timmy’s dad’s, son. And if your son's name is Timmy, then I'm talking to you right now. My son can't live with you guys. Okay. And you probably don't want him to either. But we didn't ask his dad about this. We just said he just wants to go there. And I'm saying no, you can't live with him. Why? Because I'm jealous for you, because I love you, because you're my son. You see, God is a Heavenly Father and his jealousy for his children is a righteous jealousy. It's good. It's pure. It's like a husband and a wife. There can't be anything that comes between that relationship. It's so intimate. It's so unique. If there's another lover? Well, God hates that. That's how it is, when he's jealous, he wants all of you. God's not going to share with anyone. He's not going to share you with anyone. He wants your whole heart. He's jealous for you.
And so, as we think about loving God with all of our heart, I mean, how do we do that? How do we love God with all of our heart? And it says this in Deuteronomy 6:6, this is the key to loving God because the idea here isn't that I'm just going to go home and work on it. Okay, I hear you. God wants all of me and I'm here to confess, yeah, this week, I'm not really living like God has all me. So how do I love God? Well, you just need to go home and muster up the strength to love God. Well, that's not what he says here in Deuteronomy 6:6, after he says, “You shall love the Lord your God,” he says this, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” Hey, how do I love God with all of my heart? I’ve got his commandments on my heart. You see, it starts with that; it starts with me. How do I love God more, I’ve got to get his commandments in me.
Put it down like this for point number one: It needs to “go from your heart.” Right? You’ve got to start on your heart. You’ve got to start on your heart. That's where it begins. It begins right here. There's a problem. And Jesus gave us this new heart, and this new heart loves God, and it wants to serve God and it's able to now obey God. And the idea here is that if I'm not loving God with all my heart, within, what do I do? I’ve got to get the commandments on my heart. So, you don't go muster up the strength to love God. No, I’ve got to be in his Word. I’ve got to get this book in me. Go with me to Psalm 119. How do we do this? How do we get God's Word into our heart? And if you think back to our text, in Deuteronomy, chapter 11, I mean, he says that you need to have this “on your doorposts” you need to put this “on your gates.” You’ve got to get the Word of God in your face all the time. So, you’ve got to get God's Word in me. Well, how do I do that? Well, it starts with reading God's Word. This is the way he decided to communicate to his people was he wrote stuff down. And I need to know God in the way I get to know God is through his Word. And so, I want to get it in my face. I want to get it on my heart. Well, how do I do that? I’ve got to be in the Word. So maybe it starts with hey, do you read the Word? Well, that's what's going to start this whole thing. I’ve got to be in the Word. Well, here's the Word. This is what I need to know. I need to get God's Word on my heart. But look at what it goes on to say in Psalm 119:9. It says, “How can a young man keep his way pure by guarding it according to your word?” Check this out with my whole heart, I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. So, some of us might need to start here this morning by saying, hey, yeah, I admit, like, I don't love God with all my heart. Like, I feel like maybe last week I did, in this week, it's been rough. I feel like I've been distracted a lot, that I haven't really been thinking about God a lot. See, maybe some listening to say that here this morning. I've never really loved God with all my heart. I've never seen my life go from dead to alive. I've never called out on the name of the Lord to be saved. If I'm really seeing what's going on in my heart, my heart is full of wickedness. You see, some of us might need to humble ourselves here this morning and say, yeah, I don't really love God with all my heart. And I'm asking him, God, will you please save me? Will you give me this love that I don't have. And he says here for some of us that need to be renewed in our love for him. He says, with my whole heart, I seek you. Man, I want to love God with my whole heart. I need to seek God with everything that I am. So maybe I need to humble myself and confess to God, yeah, God, you don't have my whole heart. And that's how we start. We’ve got to begin with, man, I need to repent, I need to turn to the Word. See, I need to read the Word. Well, so I need to turn to it. I need to turn to… Look at what it says in Psalm 119:11, it says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” This is something that I placed in my heart. See, I don't just read the Bible and it's stored up in my heart. No, it has this idea of like, I'm memorizing it. I'm thinking about it. It's dwelling in me richly. I'm storing it up. And it says here at the end of this verse “that I might not sin against you.” Hey, how did Jesus defeat temptation in the wilderness when Satan came and he wanted to tempt Jesus? What did Jesus do? He quoted Deuteronomy. He quoted the Scripture. See, Jesus had the Word stored up on his heart, that way, when temptation came, well, he didn't turn against God. No, that Word, well, it strengthened him, and he was able to resist temptation. I mean, as believers in Christ, do we have God's word stored up on our heart to where when sin and temptation come this week, oh, I already know this is my go-to verse because I store it up. I know it, I've memorized it. I'm thinking about it. No, you can't have heart, you can't have that sin. Why? Because God has my heart. And here's the verse boom, right? Hear it's ready to go. You see, as believers in Christ, as brothers and sisters, please you’ve got to get the Word on your heart. Why? So that you wouldn't sin against God. You’ve got to memorize the Word, got to be thinking about it, you’ve got to put it in there so that it won't come out. Look what it says in Psalm 119:15. It says, “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.” See, this goes beyond me. Just kind of reading the Word and moving on with my day, I'm going to meditate on it. I'm going to think about it. I'm going to meditate on this Word, day and night, it's going to be the thing that defines my life. See, I don't know what you consider a good day or a bad day. I don't know if you had a good week this week, or a bad week this week. I don't know if you define a good week or a bad week because you had a rough time at work. Maybe there's some relational tension with your boss. Maybe you go home. And there's more relational tension there. Maybe there's a trial that your family is going through, and it's just been really hard and difficult. The thing that determines a good week and a bad week is, do you love God today with all of your heart? That is what defines a good day and a bad day. I know people that are going through very difficult circumstances. And they love God with all their heart. And that's what defines their entire day. See, we’ve got to meditate on it. We’ve got to be really considering it. We can't just read it and move on. No, I’ve got to dig for it. If I don't understand what it's saying, man, spend some time, get it in there. Think about it. I don't know about you, but when I read the word in the morning, I read it again by twelve o'clock. I needed to get in by lunchtime, right? And you’ve got that word back in me. Why? Because it's like, I'm doing these things throughout the day. And it's like me, I need to get God's word back on my heart. I’ve got to be thinking about it. Maybe I need to hit up that group chat, or with my fellowship group. I need to start reading what those guys are saying. Hey, what did they get out of the Word? And, man, it's refreshing to me. It's not just like I'm reading and moving on. No, I'm meditating on it. I'm thinking about it. Look what it says in Psalm 119:18. It says, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” And then in Psalm 119:37, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” Hey, what two great things to pray back to God? Hey, God, will you please show me wondrous things from your law? Hey, do you pray the Word when you read something that God has promised? When you read something that you know he wants you to do? Do you take that Word, and you pray that right back to God? We see men doing this in the Scriptures all the time. God said something in his Word, okay, I'm going to take that word, I'm going to go pray it back to God. See, if I'm praying the words of God, if I'm praying them back to him, don't you think it's getting stored up on my heart? Like I'm really thinking about it. Like I know it. I mean, we've been talking a lot in Romans 10 about taking this good news that we have and bringing it to other people. And as you're doing that, as you're considering it, and you think about I mean, Colossians 4:2-3, where it says, hey, you need to pray for open doors. Hey, pray for open doors, that God would open to me a door, that I can deliver the gospel in such a way as I ought to speak with boldness, and I'm speaking clearly and freely. And I'm just explaining to people the things of God. You see if I'm praying Colossians 4:2, don't you think God's going to answer that prayer? Don't you think God desires that all people would be saved? So if I'm taking the Word, and now I'm praying it to God, what's going to happen to me that week? Man, if I pray that Colossians 4:2, and I'm thinking, God, you’ve got to see people, God, I'm ready for the open door, God, I’ve got it on my heart, what's going to happen that day? I'm going to be looking for it. I'm going to be ready for it. And then if it didn't happen that day, it's like, okay, I’ve got to go back and pray again; it's going to happen today. You see, it's like, as I pray God's Word, well, I'm getting it stored up on my heart, and it's affecting the way that I live that day, because I'm expecting God to answer that prayer. I mean, look at this, this is something that maybe we need to pray to God, God, when I read your work, will you open my eyes? Will you show me wondrous things from your Law? Help me to see them turn my eyes from looking at worthless things. I mean, I know guys, here at the church that have this verse on their phone. So, every time they open up their phone, it's like, turn your eyes, I'm looking at worthless things. And it's like, okay, this is really helpful. Is the phone causing me to look at worthless things, so I'm not saying sinful things, I'm saying worthless things? See if I'm looking at on my phone, or what I'm spending my time doing at home, or during my day, if those things are not helping me glorify God, if they're not helping me love God more, if they're not helping me really grow in my desires, and my affections. If I'm not doing what God says, well, those things are worthless. And a lot of times, we have more access to worthless things on our phone than any other time in history. Like there are so many worthless things that we could be looking at on our devices. It's so easy. And my question is, when you wake up in the morning, is your reflex to grab your phone or to grab the Word? and there are so many worthless things. There are so many things that don't bring my attention to God, they don't really make me think about him and dwell on him and his precepts and how good he is. They don't lead me towards that. They just lead me towards nothing. And ultimately, are these things that are worthless? They're not bringing me closer to God. They're just kind of whatever. You see, there's things on our phones that we can look at; they're not sinful. They're just worthless. They don't bring me closer to God. Look at this one. Psalm 119:59, I love this. This is when I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies, say aren't going that way. Like I think about my ways, like I'm going to where you are God, I'm going to your testimonies. Verse 60, “I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments.” Oh, your commandments are so good, God, oh, you told me to do something, oh, I hasten, I run, I do not delay. I want to do what you say. See, I don't know when it became such a big deal for Christian people to do what God says. Like that becomes such a problem that becomes somebody, that people are like, why are you telling me to obey God's commands? It's like, well, do you love God? It's like, well, then God expects us to do what he says. Now Hey, I get it. If I'm trying to earn my way. If I'm trying to like earn grace, if I'm trying to do something to impress God, or to impress other people, yeah, we can't be all about that. That's not going to happen. There's nothing that I can do to earn my salvation. There's nothing that I can do for God. But when God tells me to do something, I want to do it. It's not burdensome to me. Why? Because I love them. Because I want him, I love him with all my heart. And when I see his commands, oh, they're good, they're righteous. And I'm storing up that Word on my heart that I might not sin against him, that I would love him.
Go with me to Deuteronomy 8. Because there's this idea as we read through. And if you were reading with us, Deuteronomy 8:1-11. If you've been reading them, you keep seeing over and over again, this idea of do not forget who's been reading this and you're like, yeah, I've read, do not forget a couple of times now, right? Like God is saying to the people, hey, don't forget me. And the idea here is that I can have God's Word stored up on my heart today, but then tomorrow, I forget about it. So, you have to do this every single day. And it says here in Deuteronomy 8:11, here's a warning. He says, take care. Hey, watch out lest you forget YHWH your God, by not keeping his commandments, and his rules and statutes, “which I command you today lest when you have eaten, and are full, and have built good houses and live in them. So, you look, now you have herds and you have flocks, they're multiplying your silver and your gold, everything you have is multiplying.” Verse 14 says, “When your heart is lifted up, and you forget YHWH, your God.” see, if I have all these good things, and everything that I have in life, the money and my family is growing, and things are going well. Well, what happens? Well, I tend to forget God, like I don't need him, I have all these things. Everything that I have is multiplying. Well, then my heart, it's lifted up, and I forget about YHWH. And guess what? He's the one who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Do you remember that he led you into the great and terrifying wilderness? Do you remember the fiery serpents? Do you remember the scorpions? Do you remember how you were thirsty and God provided water from the rock? Do you remember these things? Do you remember what God has given to you? Oh, man, look how good God is to help them and to keep them verse 16. Who? Your fathers they didn't have this man. Oh, right. They didn't know about this. No, they were humbled, and they were tested. Why? For in the end, it was your good. He wanted to do good to them. And so, all these things that they went through, oh, man, these are for their good. You see God, he has good things that he's given to you. Maybe it's your spouse, or maybe it's your kids, maybe it's a good job. Or maybe it's a house that you can live in. Or maybe it's good health. Whatever the thing is, everything that is good comes from God. And we can so easily happen, as things are good. And things are going well. Well, what I start to do is I start really trusting in those things. I start thinking about those things more, and I forget about God. And then what happens? We hit rock bottom, and what do we do? Oh, God, I need you. You see, we need God every single day. We need to get God's Word on our heart every single day. We need to love God every single day. Because if not, we might forget God. And God did not give you good things, he did not give you your family so that you could love them more than him. See a lot of this what happens is God gives us these good things he provides for us. He gives us what we need. And what happens is why can't go do what God says over here because I’ve got to do what God says over here. See, these good gifts that God tends to give to us, what could happen if we're not careful is that they keep us from doing what God has told us to do. They keep us from loving him with all of our hearts because we're too busy over here loving something else. God did not give you your wife or your husband or your kids or your job or your house so that you can love that more than him. It doesn't work that way. See, God gave you those good things because he loves you. And he doesn't want you to forget. He doesn't want you to turn to those things. Look at what it goes on to say in Deuteronomy 8:17. “Beware,” Hey, watch out, take care “lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” You didn't do anything to get it. Verse 18, “You shall remember YHWH your God, for he it is who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day.” Here's the warning in verse 19. “And if you forget YHWH your God, and do not go after, and you go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today, you shall surely perish.” If you're going to go after other gods, if you're going to love something more than me, man, you're going to perish. He has so much good for us. He has so much that he wants us to know.
Go with me to Deuteronomy 4. When I read this, this was so helpful for me. Right? Well, how do I really get God's Word in me? We looked at a few of those. And when I read this in Deuteronomy, chapter 4, oh, man, this was so helpful for me to consider; this was so helpful for me to think through. It says in Deuteronomy 4:7, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” Is there any other god who's as good as God? Is there any other god who is as righteous, who is as close to us as YHWH? Man, God is so good, and he's leading these people into this promised land, and he's with them? And if you know God he's with you this day, God is near you. Like when it says in verse 8, “What great nation is there that the statutes and rules is so righteous, like God's rules that he has for you the things that he's told you to do?” Therefore, you're good, they're righteous, they're good, they're pleasant. They're sweet. Check this out. Verse 9, it says, “Only take care,” Hey, watch out and keep your soul diligently. Hey, have you ever seen someone at work? Have you ever seen someone who's like working diligently? I mean, they're working hard. They're like blood, sweat, and tears. This is saying, hey, keep your soul diligently. You need to watch out “lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, unless they depart from your heart all this day.” Okay, so I don't want to forget, I don't want to, you know, think about these other things. No, I’ve got to remember, I have to get these things on my heart. And look at what it says in the rest of the verses was so helpful for me. Here it is, “make them known to your children and your children's children.” Hey, how do I get God's Word on my heart? How do I keep from forgetting YHWH, oh, my God. Well, I teach it to other people. See who in your life is hearing you speak the things of God. This is the way that it works. When I get into the Word, and it gets on my heart, well, then out of the overflow of my heart, my mouth is going to speak and I'm going to speak to things that I'm learning about God, because I'm storing up his word in my heart, and it's a treasure to me, and it's overflowing out of my life out of my mouth into other people around me. And then what happens as I'm telling you, that as I'm speaking it, well, then what happens? Well, it gets back into my heart. It's like this circular thing that's going on. And as I get excited about what I'm reading, and I share that, and I come to fellowship group, and don't just sit there in awkwardness and silence when the person says, hey, what did you guys get out of the Word? And there's this awkward silence because no one has anything to say on their heart. No, it's like, I know, God, I love him. And I’ve got something to tell you. And as I speak it, as I share it, oh, man, it gets right back into my heart.
And we were having this conversation in my fellowship group a couple weeks ago, because we've been talking about Romans chapter 10. We talked about how we want to bring the gospel to people, and we're praying for people to get saved and getting open doors that we can share with them. And one of the guys in my group, he said, man, when I share the gospel with people, it becomes so fresh in my heart. I can if you have you ever shared the gospel with somebody where you're pouring out your heart. And it went from that moment where it was like, this is where it gets awkward, because here's the open door. Am I going to take it? And I sit out in faith? And I bring it and I start asking them questions about God, and then, all of a sudden, I'm speaking to them. And all of a sudden, there's like verses coming to my mind that I don't remember. It's like things that I've read long ago, they're just flooding out of my mouth because the Spirit is speaking through me. Have you ever had a conversation where you're just preaching the gospel, and all of a sudden, it's like, man, where are these words coming from? Well, it's coming from God right out of you, right into them. And even if they don't respond, I mean, I've had conversations with people where they turn away, sad like the rich young ruler and they do not repent and what happens to me? Man that hurts, that's sad that they don't want God. But you know, it also happens that very same moment, man, who's somebody else that I can tell. You see, I went from being in this awkward situation, am I going to speak up? Here comes the moment I'm nervous. I don't know what to say. God, speak through me, and then all sudden, who else wants to hear it? Like, you see, that's how it works. When I speak the things that are on my heart, when I share them with other people. Oh, man, it's coming right back and it's filling me up. And it says specifically here that you need to teach them to your children. Do you share things with your kids that you have on your heart? If I were to bring all the kids into this room, and I were to hand one of them out front and say, hey, what do your dad and mom love the most? Like, would they know? Well, my dad's always talking about the Bible. My dad's always trying to share with me things about Jesus. My mom's always trying to really help me understand how to have self-control and to live in a way that's pleasing to God like, well, I think my god, I think my parents, the thing that they love the most is God. Or do your parents, do your children never hear you speak anything about God? Do they just hear from you, hey, do as I say. Like when we have these precious little ones, when God has given us a family, and he's blessed us, what God wants for every single person is that he wants you if you're a parent, or you're a future parent, he wants you to share with your children. He wants you to have the word on your heart. And as it gets on my heart, what happens? It comes out to my kids. It says here to your children and your children's children. How many grandparents in the room? Man, there's a family that so near and dear to me, and the husband and the wife, they have four little children under ten. And the husband, well, he says he loves God, and he's going to church, but he's kind of living this double life. And he started to go after and pursue other women. Then he comes back to his family and says, hey, I don't want anything to do with this family anymore. Like totally shocking, totally heartbreaking. Like, where did that come from? I thought you loved God. No, I had this other love over here that's drawn me away from God, I don't even want that guy anymore. I don't even want you. I don't want my wife. I don't even want these four children anymore. Because he's running after these other things, and who steps in as mom is heartbroken. And she's thinking I have four kids under ten. How am I going to help my kids? You know, who steps up? Grandpa steps up. Grandpa says, hey, I know what it's like to raise kids, I'm going to come and raise these kids with you. Hey, I'm going to come and I'm going to show these kids who a godly man is because those children they need it. They need someone to teach them, they need a dad to teach them. They need a man to teach them the Bible all the time, over and over God is telling the people and he's talking specifically to the fathers, you need to teach your children the Word of God. See, how can you teach your kids what you don't know? How can you teach them anything? If it's not on your heart, it's got to start there. It's got to begin on your heart.
Go with me to Psalm chapter 78. Psalm chapter 78. And, and we have a real problem in the church because so many people are not teaching their children the Word. So many people are expecting that the Christian school is going to teach them the Word, or the church is going to teach them the Word. Man. I don't know if you know this, but Kids’ ministry is something that's pretty new in America. I mean, we've only had or in the world, like we've only had Kids’ Ministry, a place where kids can go to have church like for like hundred and fifty years, like it's not that old. And the way it started was that they would send like kids who don't have godly parents they would invite them is like a means for evangelism. Hey, your parents aren't teaching you, come here, and I'll teach you. And what begins to happen over time is that parents, well they see oh, we’ve got something over here for the kids. So, what does that mean? Oh, they're teaching them, I don't need to do it anymore. And this has become such a problem in churches, where we're saying, hey, we're getting God's Word on our heart. You're yeah, I'm preaching it. I'm hearing it. I'm hearing God's Word, I'm getting it on my heart. But I have nothing to say to my children about that. See, I don't know if you know this, if you've been going to church for a while. I don't know if you've ever seen this. If you've got kids, we've got this parent take home that we give out every single weekend. And you know what's on this? These are questions that you can ask your kids. And when we have them in Kids’ Ministry, I don't know if you've ever known this, but we're teaching them the same thing in kids ministry that we're teaching you here today. Hey, we're talking about loving God with all of our heart. We're talking over there about loving God with all our heart. We're talking here about Romans 10. We're talking over there with Romans 10. Why? Because as a Kid’s Ministry, as a church, we understand that the primary disciple or in these kids’ lives is you, that the church was never supposed to be the primary disciples in kids. It wasn't built that way. God doesn't look, I mean, show me the verse in the Bible, where Paul is setting up churches, and he says, hey, this is how you should function as a children's ministry. You're not going to find it. But you go to Rome, you go to Ephesians 5, talking about how you're supposed to raise your kids in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. You’ve go the entire Book of Proverbs. I mean, that's got to be where parents live. I mean, you go to the Psalms, you go to Deuteronomy, like, it's all over fathers, teach your kids. And so, as you are sitting in a room like this, and Bobby comes in, he's preaching and you're getting the Word on your heart, and you're listening, and you're like, yes, I need to do that. Oh, that's so good. Well, then you take this, and you go over and you pick up your kids. And now it's like kids, I've got something to say to you. It's all my art. So, the first question that you need to ask your kids on this list, it doesn't even ask them it asks you, parents, what stood out to you from the sermon that you can share with your kids? You might not even need the rest of the questions. It's like no, I've already got something on my heart. I'm going to go pick up little Timmy and on the way home in the car, man, we're going to talk about it. Hey, did they say this to you in the class because they said this to me. In the service and all men, this was so good for me to hear like to your kids hear that from you. Like the whole reason why we're teaching in the same thing is so that you guys can go home and you can be on the same page. If you're a part of a fellowship group on Tuesday or Wednesday night, and you've got young kids and you're dropping them off in kids ministry, we have this program called Arrows; it comes from Psalm 127. And it says in Psalm 127:4, that arrows, you’ve got to train your kids up like arrows, the hands of a mighty warrior, and you’ve got to launch them out into the world to make an impact for God. Like it's your responsibility as parents to teach your kids. And so, when they come and get chopped off, what are we teaching them out on Arrows? We're teaching them Deuteronomy. Why are we teaching them Deuteronomy? Because we're encouraging you. We're expecting we're asking, hey, please, will you read Deuteronomy with us? Will you read it with us? Will you go home and just read it to your kids? And then when they come here. See, something I would love to hear more when they get dropped off here is I already know that, my dad told me that yesterday. Like, man, I would love to hear that more often. And I might need to help them like Okay, so do you, like really know what God's saying like, okay, let's not be prideful, right? We’ve got to like, really listen, don't just think you can turn the ears off. But man, I already know that. Why? Because my dad's reading Deuteronomy. Now he's sharing with me. And then I come to church, and they're teaching me what dad just taught me. You see, we're here to partner with you. We want to be on a team as a church, we want to come alongside mom and dad and say, hey, you're reading Deuteronomy, hey, you're getting the Word on your heart, man, here we are. We want to do that with you. We want to help you. We want to assist you, want to encourage you. So, man, you’ve got to get the Word on your heart and then teach it to your kids. And this is what it says in Psalm 78. I mean, look at what it says here to the fathers. What it says here to the people. It says in Psalms chapter 78:1, he says, “Give ear,” hey, listen, “Oh my people, to my teaching incline your ears,” hey, I've got something to say. I’ve got words that are coming out of my mouth. Listen to me. He says, I will open my mouth in a parable and I will utter dark scenes from old things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us that we will not hide them from our children, we will tell them to the coming generation, the glorious deeds. What are we going to tell of our to our kids, the coming generations, we're going to tell them the glorious deeds of Yahweh, and his mind, and the wonders that he has done. He How many times do your kids this past week, how many times they hear you tell them the wondrous deeds of God? Like man, kids, do you know how good God is? And as a family, we were praying for this? And then God answered you, go tell them oh, man, that thing we were praying for, God did it? Hey, do you know how good it is? I understand if you're getting angry at your brother, man, I understand because I used to get angry too. And God gave me a heart of self-control where I can now love people. Do they hear that from you? Do you sit down and read to them these words and we want them so badly to be stored up on our kid's heart. You see, it has to start with you. You’ve got to get them on you. And as they get on you, man, I want to pass on that faith to my children.
The one thing that I want my kids to know the one thing my mission in life, I have five kids, I'm pretty crazy in California. My goal in life is to have five gospel conversations. See, we need parents to be passing on what they know to their children, it's expected that dad would teach them. If we're not doing this, we are failing as parents. This is what God is telling us to do. And it's becoming like, hey, I just need to have fun with my kids. And I just need to make sure that they're growing. And if they're doing well in school, that I keep them alive, like I just want to have a good time with them. No, if you're not teaching the Word, then we're missing the point. But when he goes on to say, verse 5, he says he “has established his testimony and Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them.” So, why am I teaching them? Because I want them to know them. I want them to be on their heart, that the children, even the children yet unborn, arise and tell them to their children. So that why would we do this so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God? Why do I want to tell my kids these things? Because I want them to set their hope in God; I want them to know him. And if you're expecting Mr. Johnny or Mr. Sack to tell your kids, we're missing the point they need to hear it from you. They don't just need to hear it from you, they need to see it in your life. Look at what it says in verse 8. check out this rebuke. And it says what should we say? Hey, what are we going to tell them? Hey, you were telling all these glorious deeds, but check this out. It says that they “should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation.” What? It's like they're here telling their kids about YHWH. But they shouldn't; the kids should not be like their dads. See, I don't know what kind of dad you had. I don't know if your dad taught you the word. I don't know if your dad wasn't there. I don't know. But God is saying to you as a dad, man., would you be able to say to your kids, you have to look them in the eye and say follow me because I'm following Christ. See, if you can't say that. Then you're like one of these dads, your dad, who is like, hey, kids, maybe listen to what they're saying, but man, don't be like them. See, we’ve got to tell our kids and the reason why kids are leaving church at such an alarming rate, the reason why people that are growing up in church, and they're hearing lessons, they're doing these songs, and they're learning, they're getting information in their mind, but they're not getting it onto their heart. The reason why they grew up to leave the church is because their parents are being hypocrites, because there's so much hypocrisy in the church. So, people don't want to come to church anymore, because there are so many hypocrites at church, because you say one thing and you come here, and you sing songs, but you go home, you don't live it out. There are three junior high kids this week that said, I don't want to be a Christian because my parents go to church. And when I see them at home, it is so different. See, it's not real to them. They may be hearing their parents say things, they may be saying, hey, let's go to church. Man, they're not living it out. They don't have God's Word on their heart. This is such a major problem. And as our kids are growing, I think into fourth grade, and fifth grade, and sixth grade, especially seventh grade and eighth grade math. Are we growing with them? Are we still treating them like they are children? Like they're just these little ones that can't understand anything? Am I growing with my kids? Do I have things that are on my heart? When Matt comes up here and says, hey, we want to teach them out the love of God, because there's so much sin going on at their school? I mean, do I think about my kids at school and how much sin they're involved in? I mean, my son, something that's been so a new, love that I have at my house is I love going to the grocery store to pick up something for my wife. I just love going to the store now and getting that bottle of ketchup or that thing of mayonnaise. Why? I’m sorry for saying mayonnaise. I know that kind of sounds weird. And people don't like that word. But I go to the store, and why do I like going to store? Well, because I say hey, son, join me. And it's like the other day we were I told him hey, come on with me. And here. Here's a little gospel of John, what you're going to do is you're going to read chapter 2 verses 1 through 13. And what is that chapter all about? It's all about Jesus turning water into wine, something that many of us have heard. Like, do you know how amazing that is? Like it's showing us that Jesus is God that he's the creator that he turned what a miracle that he could turn water into wine. I mean, this is the first time it says that his disciples believed in him. And as we're talking and I'm sharing this moment, with my son, I'm insane. Do you know why that's so amazing? Do you know how hard, how difficult that would be to turn water into wine? That's not something that just happens? You see Jesus, he is God. You see, as I'm sharing this, as we're talking about it, as he's reading it to me, he says, Dad, there's this kid at my school and he says, all is God. And I'm like, Well, you didn't take say that this morning when you got home from school, and I said, Hey, what happened at school? You said nothing, right? Some kid at school is telling you all this God. Like, let's talk about that. Is that what it's saying here? Hey, why would we say Jesus is God? Why? Why? What did he do? He rose from the dead, man. He proved it. See, now I'm having this real conversation. We're just talking about this thing. And this thing that wasn't provoked. It wasn't me like ripping forward to say we're just reading the Bible. We're just talking about it. All of a sudden, we're having a real conversation in the car and you start saying, Yeah, I'm going to go tell him that Jesus is God every time I say that daddy gets really angry at me. And like, okay, well, let's think about that. Does that mean that we should just keep going back to him and saying, hey, Jesus is God, Jesus is God because we know he's going to get angry? What does it look like to love this guy? Does he know that you're a really nice kid? Or does he think that like, you guys aren't even friends? Well, we're not really friends. Okay, well, what can we do to befriend him? Does he ever wear Pokeyman? Can we buy him something? What team did he root for in the Superbowl? Did he have a hat? Like what could we do? Like how could you show him that you're a loving kid like that you that you want to reach out to a level of kind of see God? He doesn't just say, hey, come and love me and I’ll love you back? He says, no, I'm going to go love you. Hey, can we go love this guy? What would that look like? So now we're talking about real things. We're talking about real things that we could really share with our kids. These moments are all around us. These moments, if we're looking for them, if we're praying for them, if we’ve got the word on our heart, man, Deuteronomy, it says, you’ve got to be talking about this when you lie down. When you rise. When you're in the house. When you're out of the house. Like all of the time, it's time to talk about the Word. We're going to turn our eyes from looking at worthless things, you're spending too much time on the iPad or on the YouTube or on the on the TV, and man, we’ve got to talk to our kids, we’ve got to teach them these glorious deeds of Yahweh. And when your kids follow you, are they going to find faith? Are they going to find hypocrisy? It's such an issue in the church. Look at what it goes on to say in verse 14, it says how often this rebel, they rebelled against me. “They rebelled against God in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert.” They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel. You see, these people they kept sinning against God, were to ultimately chat. Same chapter, verse 70 says that God chose David his servant. Is he now the Messiah, he's an income through David's life and because he's people the rebellion against God, but then Look, here comes my servant David. Why? Because David has a heart that's after me. David loves me.
Let me show you two quick examples of this. Turn with me real quick to a couple pages over the book of Proverbs. Just a couple of examples of dads and parents passing on to their kids. And the impact of that could have. Look at what it says in Proverbs, look at the book of Proverbs chapter 4. This is the wisest man Solomon who ever lived his father was David and it says here in Proverbs 4:1, he says, “Listen, hear, hear my son, a father's instruction,” hey, be attentive, “that you may gain insight. For I give you good precepts that you would not forsake my teaching.” When I was a son, when I was a boy, he has of my father as tender, and the only the only one in the sight of my mother, this is what he taught me. This is what grandpa said to me, said, let your heart hold fast to my words, keep my commandments and live. And we talk to our kids like that, like man, if you would just listen to me if you just follow Christ when you would live. This is how you live life right here. If you flip your page over and you go to verse 20. Now here's Solomon not just expressing what his father said to him, but now he's saying, “My son, be attentive to my words, incline your ear to my sayings, let them not escape from your sight. Keep them with all of your heart, for they will give you life.” And we need more dads talking to our kids like this like, man, here's life. Let me show it to you. One more. Go over to the book of 2 Timothy. Second Timothy did not grow up with dad that was teaching him the Word but he did have a mom and he had a grandma on what happens a lot today is that dad is not teaching their kids the Word. So, mom has to step up and do it. And here in 2 Timothy, he reminds Timothy in chapter 3, verse 13, he's talking about how people are going to go on from being evil and postures and you saying, they're going to go on from bad to worse. We don't want to be like them, he says. And then verse 14, he says, “But as for you, Timothy, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it.” Well, where was that? That was mom and grandma. Verse 15. “And how from childhood, you were acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Hey, what sacred writings do they have at this time? They didn't have the New Testament, they didn't have the writings of Paul. No, what they had was the Law. They had the prophets, and they had the Writings, they had Deuteronomy and they're saying, then when you were acquainted from childhood, when you were just a little kid, those writings that you have, man, they're showing you Jesus, they're able to make you wise for salvation. See, Timothy, once he saw Jesus, he responded to Jesus, he knew Jesus. Why? Because his mom and his grandma well, they were faithful to teach him.
So put it down like this for point number two: It needs to go from your heart to their ears, you need to “Share until they Shema,” you need to share until they hear. There are too many parents that are saying, Hey, I tried that. It's awkward. I got Jr Ayers. This conversation is weird. I got kids growing up, it's hard to have a conversation with them. Man, you need to die trying. You need to share until they hear you, need to share until they listen. And we shouldn't be shying away from this conversation especially as they're getting older into junior high in high school. Too many parents are turning away from that conversation. That's a conversation that needs to be had. Man, do I pray for my kids, do I love them. I don't really want to teach them do I love God so much with my heart? Man, it's overflowing out of my mouth into my children and in my family. And there are parents here at this church who are doing this. I mean, you might be sitting right next to one of them. I mean, one of them might have handed you a bulletin at the door. We've got dads in the room, we’ve got people that are saying man, I'm passing on what I know to my kids, it's on my heart. And I'm teaching them. And what does that look like? Is it like I'm sitting in the house and the Shekinah glory of God falls upon me and the clouds part? My kids are sitting at my feet and are just saying, teach me Father. Like, is that how it works? I've never had that. No, it's just that the Word is on my heart and I'm sharing with them night and day. And now we open the Bible and sometimes it doesn't go super well. Or sometimes it's just like we read it. We talk about it, we move on. But do they know daily this is what my love is and I'm teaching them diligently? Men, some dads are doing this and they've got junior high kids that are coming up to them and they're saying, hey, here's my phone. Here's what I was sitting on, like junior high kids coming up to the confessing sin not because they were told to or because they said look at the phone. It's like no, here's what I've been doing. Dad, they're confessing sin. Why? Because they're in the Word. We had a dad at this church, and for a long time and when their son came, I was like, buckle up teachers because this kid is rough. Like here's like a little kinder girl. They're coming into class. And it's like this dude is like coming for you physically, teachers watch out. You know, don't forget about what happened last week, like, here he comes.
And we love seeing this kid because every time we saw this kid, we knew that mom and dad were bringing them in church. And what did this kid need most of all? He needed mom and dad to love God. And as their parents came, they sat into the teaching, something started to happen where they confess their sins, and they repented. And they were filled with God's love, and they knew God and they were reading the Word and they were desiring not just to note themselves, no, they're passing it on to their kid. And over time, what we saw was this child who went from such a difficult little kid who was having such a hard time in our classroom, he went from that to being the sweetest boy in our church. Like, he would come up to me and be like, how can I help? Can I be the little helper today? Can I hand that out? Like, dude, what happened to this kid? His parents happened to him. And they were teaching him the Word. That kid is now in junior high, and he professed faith in Jesus Christ a couple of years ago. Like, it's amazing to see that when I, as a parent, get the Word in me, and now I go to share it with other people, man, it has this reviving effect on my family. And so, as we think about our kids, and we consider, man, how am I going to do this? How am I going to keep at this? Do I just need to muster that up? Let's finish off the day with John 15. Please turn there in your Bible. John, chapter 15. This is where I need to live. This is every day of my life. It's got to come right here from John chapter 15. Starting in verse 4, this is Jesus speaking. And he says, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides” or remains; the word here to stay if you stay in me, he does that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. And parents, you can't do anything good apart from Christ and says apart from me, you can do nothing in verse 6. “If anyone does not abide” or stay “in me, he's thrown away like a branch and the branch withers. And the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire to be burned. Verse 7, “If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” And I’ve got to remain I’ve got to stay. This has got to be where my life is right here in God's word. And as I'm staying in God's word, and I can ask God to do whatever I wish, and he will do it. Why? Because now I got God's Word in me, I know who he is. I know what he wants. And I'm asking God to do what he wants. And as I do that, if I'm asking God to do what he wants, and I believe he's going to do it, am I praying for my kids? Do I know that God wants to save them? Okay, God, do it. I'm praying this I'm staying in his Word. And I just want to encourage everybody in this room, whether you have children or not, this is how you live life. You stay in Christ.
Let us pray here all together. Father, we are just so cool. We are so thankful for the great love which you have shown us. God, we're so grateful for how Jesus laid aside his glory, how he came down on a seek-and-save mission, kind of how Jesus came to die for sinners like us. We're so grateful that he died for our unbelief, that he died, because we weren't going to be perfect parents, because we weren't going to love you with our whole heart. And Jesus came in, he died for our sins. Father, we're so thankful for his love for us. And Father, I just pray that this morning, that you would put again on our hearts, that you would refresh our hearts, that you would show us how much you love us. God how good the Gospel is that Jesus would suffer in torment and die on a cross because we have sinned against him. Now he came down to save us from our sins. Oh Father, put that good news on our hearts this morning. God, we pray that we would love you with our whole heart, that we would get your words on our heart. That would not become burdensome to us father, but it'd become the sweet commands of your law, your good precepts, that they are good for me, they're righteous, Father. We pray that we would store them up on our heart, that when temptation comes, we're able to say no, because we have your words on our heart. Father, I pray that as your words are on our heart, that they would spill out into our relationships, got to think would build people up here at the church, they'd build up our fellowship group, that they would build up people that are having a difficult time. If they build up people that are going through a great trial. God, please use our words to help people to remember you’ve got to use the words that are on our heart, your words God to bring people the good news of the gospel. God help us not to forget how good YHWH is and help us to share that with people. God, please help us to share that with our children. God, our kids need you. They need to know how good Jesus is. They need to know that he is the one thing in life that they need. Father, they need our fathers. They need us to tell them. Father, I pray that the Word would get on our heart for the sake of our children, and that they would grow up and they wouldn't think they're Christians because they go to church they wouldn't think that they're Christians because they know information. They wouldn't think that they're Christians because they've been told all their life how good they are got that they would think that they're Christians because they know you and they put their hope in you because they understand who Jesus is and that he's the only one who can rescue them. Father pleased to open our children's eyes. God, there are so many kids over there they need you. Can't we please show them. God, save our little ones. Raise up another generation, God, a generation that loves you with our whole heart. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.