The Gospel in the Home: Beyond Moralism

• Church Vision and Equipping [00:45:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the church's vision as equipping people to experience Christ's freedom, emphasizing that leaders equip while the congregation does the work of ministry.
• Cultural Repentance and Family Value [00:48:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses a recent trial and societal division, calling for repentance for a culture that views children as burdens and kills the unborn, contrasting this with the biblical view of children as gifts.
• Gospel Foundation (Theology before Application) [00:51:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Paul's letter to the Ephesians begins with what God has done (theology) before instructing on how to live (application), establishing that the gospel starts with 'done' not 'do'.
• Mutual Submission and Family Ministry [00:56:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights mutual submission as the root of Christian living and argues that individual family relationships are the greatest influence Christians have on the world, surpassing public ministry.
• [Ephesians 6](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+6&version=KJV) Instructions [00:59:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor begins reading Ephesians 6:1-4, focusing on children obeying parents and fathers not provoking children to anger.
• Family as Ministry [00:58:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the family is the primary mission field and the place where the gospel is lived out, rather than just talked about.
• Obedience in the Lord [00:59:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor interprets Ephesians 6:1, emphasizing that children should obey parents 'in the Lord' to please God, not just to please parents, using Colossians 3:20 to support this.
• Discipline and Corporal Punishment [01:00:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defends spanking and the use of the 'rod' as biblical discipline, contrasting it with a lack of discipline which he claims harms the child and society.
• Honor vs. Obedience [01:12:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between obedience (for young children) and honor (for adult children), defining honor as treating parents as valuable regardless of their ability to provide.
• Gospel-Centered Parenting [01:02:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques naturalistic parenting, urging parents to raise children based on the gospel and God's design rather than humanistic or performative standards.
• Honor vs. Obedience in Adulthood [01:12:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between obedience (which expires in adulthood) and honor (which is perpetual), defining honor as treating parents as important and valuable regardless of their ability to provide.
• The Theological Basis for Honoring Parents [01:15:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the 'first commandment with a promise,' arguing it is a communal promise for societal flourishing and a practical instruction for caring for aging parents in the absence of social safety nets, rather than a guarantee of individual success.
• Paternal Responsibility in Discipline [01:18:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that fathers carry a special God-given responsibility to train and discipline children, particularly in handling rebellion, to instill a reverential fear of authority that leads to fearing God.
• Motivation for Discipline: Grace vs. Brokenness [01:23:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor warns against 'broken fathers' who provoke children out of their own past hurts, urging fathers to discipline from a heart healed by the Gospel and motivated by gratitude for Christ's grace.
• Training vs. Telling [01:26:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor concludes that practical training is superior to mere verbal instruction, criticizing 'lazy parenting' where parents yell at children for failing to do what they have been told but not taught.
• Breaking the Cycle of Trauma [01:25:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains how the gospel interrupts patterns of embarrassment, neglect, and control inherited from past hurts, replacing them with grace.
• Parenting Methodology (Training vs. Telling) [01:26:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that 'training beats telling,' criticizing lazy parenting that involves yelling without consequence, and advocating for active, inconvenient involvement to teach obedience and character.
• Divine Presence and Discipleship [01:30:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects family life to the Great Commission, emphasizing that God sends believers out with the Holy Spirit's power and presence, not as isolated tasks but as a relational journey.
• Salvation and Repentance [01:32:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues an altar call, defining obedience as believing in Jesus, confessing sins, and trusting Him as Savior, leading to transformation by the Holy Spirit.

• Sermon Illustration [00:50:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of fishing stories where people exaggerate the size of the fish to illustrate why preachers should not be trusted blindly, urging the congregation to read the Bible themselves.
• Sermon Illustration [00:47:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the recent mistrial in the news as a societal example of Satan pitting men against women and using tragedy to create division.
• Sermon Illustration [01:00:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his father's strictness, noting that in his house, dishonoring parents resulted in severe consequences ('you weren't going to live long'), and mentions his mother spanking him more.
• Sermon Illustration [01:00:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a text message from a church member about YouTube censoring his previous statement that 'spanking is of Jesus,' joking that he will talk about it 47 more times.
• Sermon Illustration [01:03:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of loving the abstract 'world' or 'humanity' being easy because they don't push your buttons, whereas loving family is hard because they follow you home and irritate you.
• Sermon Illustration [01:07:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts his mother telling him to put on a coat to avoid catching a cold, using it to illustrate that the value of obedience lies in the act of humbling oneself and following God's design, even if the specific instruction (like the cold theory) is scientifically outdated.
• Sermon Illustration [01:11:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the 'Pop-Pop Spoon' that lived on top of the refrigerator and was carried in his wife's purse, implying its use for corporal punishment.
• Sermon Illustration [01:11:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes a scene in a grocery store where a five-year-old is 'running the show' while a younger child is in a buggy, using it to illustrate the harm of a lack of discipline.
• Sermon Illustration [01:20:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his childhood as a 'strong-willed' and 'rebellious' child. He describes how his mother would say, 'I'm going to get your father,' which immediately caused him to comply because his father had a serious, authoritative presence ('dad didn't play'). He recounts his father's warning that while he might get too big to whoop, he would never get too big to shoot, instilling a 'reverential fear' in him.
• Sermon Illustration [01:17:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical account in Matthew where Jesus confronts the Pharisees who used religious tradition (committing wealth to the church) as an excuse to neglect caring for their aging parents. Jesus calls them 'snakes' and 'poisonous vipers' for twisting God's word.
• Sermon Illustration [01:26:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a brief anecdote about a woman who approached him after a previous service, admitting that she is a 'yeller' and that the pastor's teaching on lazy parenting had convicted her.
• Sermon Illustration [01:26:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares personal anecdotes about his children: a daughter who needs reminders about her room, and a son who delays chores due to distraction. He describes the 'lazy parenting' trap of yelling after asking once, and contrasts it with the 'training' approach of pausing activities to enforce obedience immediately.
• Sermon Illustration [01:27:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a conversation with a mother who admitted to being a 'yeller' and acknowledges that this behavior often trains children not to listen, creating a damaging cycle of disobedience.
• Sermon Illustration [01:30:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of God as a Father who does not send believers out alone but accompanies them with the Holy Spirit, contrasting the 'great commission' with the promise of never leaving or forsaking.

• Pastoral Charge [00:50:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor instructs the congregation to physically open their Bibles to a specific scripture passage.
• Pastoral Charge [00:46:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation to applaud the returning senior leaders (Pastor Troy and Pastor Penny) for their sabbatical and vision.
• Pastoral Charge [00:58:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to evangelize by speaking to a specific number of people (10-30) in their families, neighborhoods, and workplaces.
• Pastoral Charge [00:59:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor directs the congregation to read Ephesians 6:1-4.
• Pastoral Charge [01:15:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Honor aging parents actively and consistently.
• Pastoral Charge [01:19:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > Fathers must take active responsibility for training and disciplining their children.
• Pastoral Charge [01:25:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > Break generational cycles of broken parenting by relying on the grace and healing of the Gospel.
• Pastoral Charge [01:34:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Lift hand to accept Jesus as Savior
• Pastoral Charge [01:34:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray the sinner's prayer/commitment prayer

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:02:18] and I'm Jason and we again are so excited to have you online watching from the comfort of your home maybe you're out of town or maybe you're not whatever the case may be we're glad to have you guys here and hope you'll come visit us soon. Yeah so excited to have you watching if you're watching us you're watching one of many ways you're watching through Facebook you're watching through YouTube or freedomhouse.cc slash live which is where I am now so I'm monitoring the chat reading the chat so

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:02:50] So we had, Mary and I got the opportunity to sit in on first service, and we started a new series this month.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:02:57] It was amazing. Pastor Olin Carter brought the heat this morning.
[00:03:03] He started our new series called House Rules, where today we focus in on parents and children.
[00:03:09] So excited to see what we got for next week, but the topic today was great, so can't wait for you guys to hear.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:03:14] Yeah, Pastor Olin did a great job in kicking this series off.
[00:03:18] and uh we're like i said we get the the opportunity to sit in on first so we get a little bit of a sneak peek to be able to bring forth to you all and uh yeah it's going to be going to be a lot
[00:03:28] of fun i'm excited for you all to hear it so mallory we didn't get to hear a joke a dad joke so nauseous in the comments yep so nausea good morning good morning nausea as always man
[00:03:40] 10k in charlotte bless your heart there's no way she's usually tuning in to our first service but

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:03:47] It looks like she's got second today, which is great that we live stream both so you have the flexibility to listen whenever works best for you and your schedule.
[00:03:55] But a 10K this morning in this heat.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:03:58] 10K is crazy.
[00:04:00] I run about a mile, mile and a half, and I'm about done.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:04] Yep, me too.
[00:04:04] Not runners here.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:04:06] But she hit us with some jokes.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:07] Let's hear it.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:04:08] You ready?
[00:04:09] So the first one says, what do runners have to do to remember things?

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:13] I love how it's a runner because she ran a 10K.
[00:04:16] Okay, what does a runner do to remember things?

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:04:20] Have to do to remember things.
[00:04:26] When I tell you this, you're like, oh, I knew that.
[00:04:29] You ready?

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:30] Can I have a hint?

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:04:33] I don't like to give up.
[00:04:34] It involves moving.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:36] Well, I assumed.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:04:37] They have to jog their memory.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:40] I was going to say something about jogging, too.
[00:04:43] I was thinking like jog it down, but that's jot it down.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:04:47] Yeah, that is completely different.
[00:04:48] All right, second one.
[00:04:50] Why couldn't the lemon finish the marathon?

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:54] Oh, my goodness.
[00:04:59] Nope.

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:05:00] It ran out of juice.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:05:02] Oh, my goodness.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:05:04] Not me with the jokes.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:05:05] Every week, we absolutely love it.
[00:05:08] Hope the 10K went amazing.
[00:05:11] Right now, during our second service, we do have our Get On Track membership class.
[00:05:15] So, it's a great way to get involved with the church, kind of figure out what we believe in, what directions we're taking for the future and then of course see what area is best that you
[00:05:26] want to serve in i know i serve in production and you do the online campus so we absolutely love it

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:05:32] yeah and we got word uh at the end of first service that freedom house 24 year anniversary tuesday i believe so tuesday 24 years so we started we started in one school moved to another
[00:05:47] school and then this place came open and we built our first campus here and we've just expanded from there so a lot of a lot of great things have happened in the past 24 years has definitely

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:05:58] been expanding the vision of our senior pastors here so very speaking of that we got people getting dunked next week exactly we have our baptisms happening on the 13th so next sunday so if you've kind of been on the fence on if you want to get baptized come on in we'll have
[00:06:16] absolutely everything you need even if you're not prepared you can make a last minute decision to get dumped by our team here we have everything you need from clothes to shoes to hair dryers

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:06:29] deodorant everything you can need yeah and I'm I'm as a guy I'm I'm weird in the sense that I don't like dry skin so lotion yeah we even got lotion we got guys lotion we got women's
[00:06:43] smelling lotions so we got it all here no excuses for you to not get baptized you have a whole

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:06:49] family here that is just ready to love on and support you whether you're here at baptisms or just here on a normal sunday we would love to meet you come introduce yourself um of course if you
[00:07:00] are in the nearby areas we have plenty of panties for you to choose from there's a whole hype train

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:07:05] too for you everybody hype you up on the way in while you're being dunked and on the way out for the photo session. Thank you guys for being here today. We hope you enjoy service. See you next

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[00:07:15] time. Why don't you guys all stand up on your feet and let's worship together. Come on, clap those hands.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:07:46] You don't have to wait, no, I'll sing it right now.
[00:07:51] He shall be, he shall be just the rock.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:08:45] I come before you humbly knowing you are good, Lord God.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:11:45] And you have good plans for us, Lord Jesus.
[00:11:50] We love you, Lord God, and we're thankful for everything that you're doing today.
[00:11:56] We're thankful for being in your house, praising and honoring you.
[00:12:01] here with believers who honor you who adore you who want to worship you we want to seek your face

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:12:12] lord god i love you lord jesus i'd find you at the lowest who thought you'd feel like i thought you

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:12:44] would a god would a god would a god would a god your hands up to the lord and tell him you are

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]
[00:18:45] my everything. My creator, my maker, my sustainer, you are my everything. Lord, we look to you today.
[00:18:59] We focus our attention on you today. We give you our worship. We thank you that you choose to inhabit the praises of your people. You are our everything. You satisfy our every need. What does
[00:19:18] mean? That means we don't need to look to anything or anyone else for that deep satisfaction that we long for within our heart. If we would just get still before you, if we would carve out time
[00:19:35] to connect with you, Lord, we would be satisfied. The only reason we're not is because we're looking to everything else to satisfy us when you're the only one who can. So Lord, thank you.
[00:19:57] for connecting with us today and letting us experience an eternal satisfaction in our relationship with you fill us to the overflow today father i pray in jesus mighty name and

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:20:17] the church said amen amen amen well go ahead and invite our leaders down to the altar we're going to open the altar for prayer here in just a moment you know we're getting ready to sing a song called
[00:20:29] run to the father. And when I think about that song, I think about little children and how when they need help or something's going on, they run to the father for help because they trust the
[00:20:42] father. But as a child also, when they've done something wrong, they isolate. They don't run to the father because they know they've done wrong and they have shame. They have guilt. And we do the exact same thing. You know, when we isolate and try to conceal what we've done, we live in
[00:21:04] this prison in our own mind. And we continually go over that in our heads of how I failed, how I have guilt, how I have shame. And we're in this prison cell and we ruminate over this day after
[00:21:18] day. But maybe there's other things in our lives, like our relationships that we haven't revealed to the father what's really going on there and we still have some freedom in our lives we're maybe in the prison yard maybe not in the cell we're in the yard so we only feel like every now and then
[00:21:37] every every week every couple weeks kind of come back to it then we stuff it down again and don't deal with it but there's other things in our lives that we've been dealing with for years
[00:21:47] addictions we haven't broken free from maybe family issues we haven't dealt with Maybe we're still at odds with our kids or a financial burden that just keeps rearing its head all the time.
[00:22:04] And we feel like we just have that, the ankle restraint on and we're pretty good.
[00:22:13] But you know, all these things, whether it's the prison cell, a yard, or an ankle restraint, it doesn't matter whatever it may be.
[00:22:20] It's still keeping you.
[00:22:21] It's a boundary keeping you from what God has for you.
[00:22:26] And the enemy would love to keep you right there.
[00:22:28] restrained, bound, stuck in your mind over and over again, just isolate.
[00:22:35] You can deal with it on your own.
[00:22:37] I know as guys, we deal with this all the time.
[00:22:39] Our pride keeps us from actually revealing the things that are actually happening in our lives.
[00:22:43] But if we will just learn to run to the Father and reveal, then He can heal.
[00:22:52] Bring it into the light.
[00:22:54] Bring it out of the darkness.
[00:22:56] So whatever it is that's going on in our lives right now, I'm just gonna ask during this next song, do you get out of your seat, you come and get prayer?
[00:23:04] This is a no judgment zone.
[00:23:06] It doesn't matter what you're going through.
[00:23:08] It doesn't matter if you're having some type of financial issue or if you're a marital issue or pornography or whatever it may be.
[00:23:18] These leaders, they wanna pray with you.
[00:23:21] They wanna invite God into your situation, your circumstance, so we can watch him move as a church family and watch you get the healing that you deserve and that God wants you to have as his child. So as we move into this next song, don't delay. The Holy Spirit right now is bringing
[00:23:40] stuff up in your mind. It's time to deal with it. It's time to bring it out in the open. So go ahead and run to the Father. Come up and get prayer with one of these leaders and watch God move in your

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:23:50] circumstance right now great are you lord and we run back to you god we will no longer be in bondage

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:33:09] to the past to our mistakes what we did yesterday or what we did a few years ago it doesn't matter because all you want is our heart so god if we have nothing else to bring we give you our heart
[00:33:26] because that is all you want Lord I thank you for the mending that you are doing in the hearts of those in this room in their minds laid down that has been putting them down pushing them down
[00:33:45] a heaviness and a crushing God I thank you that you are pulling them out of the pit that they are in God because all you want is for them to just fall in your embrace and I keep hearing the
[00:33:59] word embrace and I I I feel like God wants you to know that he just wants to embrace you so fall into him no more hiding no more running away no more listening to the voice of someone that
[00:34:15] didn't create you listen to the voice of your father things that you are afraid of are afraid of Jesus. So we run to you, Jesus. We run to you, Jesus. We fall in your embrace. We fall
[00:34:34] embrace that you have given us. We receive it. We receive it. I don't think we're done worshiping.
[00:34:46] We're going to go back into all the earth. We're going to just receive that. Oh, we receive all

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:34:54] the earth sing this out our heart wow receive it lord thank you jesus freedom house what an honor

[00:36:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:36:26] to worship with you i have nothing to say but wow thank you for worshiping with us you may greet your neighbor and enjoy the rest of service hey what's up everybody welcome to freedom house my

[00:36:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:36:50] name is troy maxwell and this is my beautiful wife penny and we're your senior pastors we are

[00:36:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:36:55] one house with many rooms. We have campuses all around the Charlotte area, including our online campus. So no matter where you are joining us from, we want to welcome you. Listen, our heart

[00:37:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:37:07] is very simple. We want to help equip you to experience Christ's freedom in your everyday life. And we have a huge vision here. You'll notice that every one of our campuses, we have live teachers, live preachers. Why do we do that? Because we are a relational church. We want to
[00:37:23] connect to you. We're not a video venue. And you'll notice over in our kids area,

[00:37:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:37:28] they have the same thing. Live teachers, live preaching and worship. We do this because we know there is no junior Holy Spirit. We aren't raising up the next generation. We're raising up

[00:37:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:37:42] the now generation. And maybe you're new here at Freedom House, or you just haven't gotten connected. All you have to do, open your phone, tap that little circle on the seat back in front of you and you'll find your next best step in getting connected. That's right. We can't wait

[00:37:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:37:57] to get connected to you. Now let's take a look at what's coming up here at Freedom House.

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:38:08] Choosing to follow Jesus is a life changing decision. And baptisms is one of the first steps you can take in sharing that commitment with others. You know, baptisms is a powerful expression of faith and it's a public declaration of the new life you found in Christ. So as you
[00:38:24] go under the water it symbolizes leaving your old life behind and as you rise up out of the water it represents the new life you received through Jesus's death and resurrection during both services we'll be celebrating baptisms together and we'd love for you to be a part of it from
[00:38:40] shirts towels flip-flops and even hair dryers we'll be providing you with everything you need to feel comfortable and celebrated as you make this public declaration so all you have to do a show up and we'll take care of the rest. Just sign up and let us know you're coming. Go to
[00:38:55] freedomhouse.cc slash baptisms. We can't wait to celebrate this special moment with you.
[00:39:04] Men of Freedom House, there is something powerful about using your strength to serve others and your influence to point people towards Jesus. And that's what the Freedom House Strong Men's Mission Trip to Ghana is all about. This fall, we are inviting the men of Freedom House to step up,
[00:39:19] lead by example and invest in the lives of the young men and men around the world.
[00:39:24] It's more than a mission trip.
[00:39:26] It's an opportunity to strengthen your faith, build lasting relationships and encourage the next generation of leaders through the love of Jesus.
[00:39:34] You know, we believe mission trips are a pivotal moment in your walk with Christ.
[00:39:38] Whether this is your first mission trip or you've been on several, if you're ready to make an impact that reaches beyond yourself, we'd love for you to join us.
[00:39:46] So men, I'm going to ask you to do this.
[00:39:48] Visit freedomhouse.cc slash missions to learn more and to register for the upcoming Strongman's Mission trip to Ghana happening this fall.
[00:39:56] It is going to be life changing.

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:39:58] Hey, I'm on the grounds of one of the best golf courses in Charlotte, North Carolina, River Run Country Club, the annual home of our Freedom Academy Golf Tournament.
[00:40:12] And listen, I want to challenge you, business person.
[00:40:14] I want to challenge you to be a sponsor.
[00:40:17] We have so many different ways you can sponsor.
[00:40:19] You can be a whole sponsor.
[00:40:20] You can be a presenting sponsor.
[00:40:22] You can sponsor the food.
[00:40:24] Why?
[00:40:24] Because you get to be around some of the best business people in Charlotte, promote your business.
[00:40:30] And also, here's the best part of it.
[00:40:32] You get to help kids, help our children, the now generation, take the next step in their faith and their family and with their education.
[00:40:40] It's going to be an amazing time.
[00:40:42] Just check out that website right there, freedomacademync.cc.
[00:40:46] And let's do some golfing together.
[00:40:47] All right, come on, somebody.

[00:40:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:40:48] All right, this one is for all the young adults of Freedom House.
[00:41:02] If you are between the ages of 18 and 29, we want to invite you to Movement.
[00:41:07] Movement is our young adult community that meets every Wednesday at 7 p.m.
[00:41:11] at our central campus.
[00:41:13] We spend time worshiping together.
[00:41:15] We hear a message that is relevant to what we are walking through during the season of our lives.
[00:41:19] And then right after, we meet for life groups.
[00:41:21] Life groups are where we go deeper about the message and we study God's word and we just grow in relationship with one another.
[00:41:27] So whether you've been new to the church or you're looking for community or just searching for people to do life with, there is a place for you at Movement, and we can't wait to see you there.

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:41:37] For all this and more, download the Freedom House app or head to freedomhouse.cc slash connect.

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:41:44] Hey, Freedom House.
[00:41:46] So my name is Andrew Garrett, and I get the pleasure to serve with our youth and young adults.
[00:41:52] So if most of you all haven't already found out, there was a devastation that happened in Nepal recently.
[00:41:59] Over 1,000 lost their lives.
[00:42:02] Many more are still missing.
[00:42:04] And the entire area was just left in disarray.
[00:42:07] Now, fortunately, Freedom House has already partnered with an organization called Convoy of Hope.
[00:42:12] And they already have boots on the ground.
[00:42:15] They're giving them supplies.
[00:42:17] They're giving them hope.
[00:42:18] They're giving them a lot of stuff to help make through this challenging time.
[00:42:22] But we're going to take a video and see more about what's going on there.

[00:42:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:42:27] Lives have been upended.
[00:42:31] homes and entire communities destroyed. Families have been left with nothing, no home, no belongings, now facing the overwhelming reality of starting over after the tragic mudslide and flash flooding on August 26th. The situation on the ground is still volatile. More rain is in the forecast
[00:42:52] with the possibility of more flooding, debris flows, and landslides. But because of faithful church partners like you, we are bringing immediate relief to those affected. Together, we are meeting survivors' most pressing needs with food, blankets, sheltering supplies,
[00:43:09] and a tangible display of the love of Christ. In the midst of the devastation, God is working

[00:43:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:43:16] in Nepal. Wow. We just want to take a second and thank you guys as a church for your generosity.
[00:43:28] Because of that generosity, we were able to send over $10,000 to Convoy of Hope.
[00:43:35] This allows them to continue on just making an impact in the area.
[00:43:42] And it also just shows that by being a generous giver, you're not just impacting lives here in Charlotte.
[00:43:49] Your generosity impacts lives around the world and with it brings just the hope and love of Jesus.
[00:43:56] So if you're already giving towards the vision of Freedom House, thank you. And if you want to learn more, you can find out by going to freedomhouse.cc slash give. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you so much for the opportunity to just be in your house,
[00:44:13] to worship in your presence, and also to be able to give and have an impact for your kingdom all around the world. God, just thank you for the amazing opportunity you give us.

[00:44:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:44:23] In Jesus' name, amen. Enjoy the rest of service. Hello, Freedom House Central Campus. You guys give God some praise today. It is so good to be here with you. My name is Olin Carter. I serve
[00:45:18] here on our teaching team. If you're new to Freedom House Church, we are an equipping church.
[00:45:23] So our vision as a church is equipping people to experience Christ's freedom in their everyday lives. We do that as a team. And so what does that mean? It means our job as leaders, as pastors
[00:45:35] here is to equip you. You're the ones that do the work of the ministry. So we're not here to do the work. We come to church to be equipped, to take this good news of Jesus out there into our families,
[00:45:46] our coworkers, our neighbors. Man, that is what it's all about. And the reason we do that, we operate as a team is because this church is built, it's never been built on one person, one personality. There's one celebrity at Freedom House Church. His name is Jesus.
[00:46:02] Come on. You're all celebrity. There's no celebrities. Jesus is the celebrity at Freedom house church. That's why we do everything as a team. And that's only possible when you have senior leaders like ours who allow other people to step into their role. They've been away. Pastor
[00:46:20] Troy, Pastor Penny been away on their sabbatical for a month. They're back. Can we give them some honor? They just give them a hand clap for that vision. I love them very much for opening their
[00:46:29] platform and their influence to let other people step into their gift. And so that's what freedom house is all about. And this whole month, man, this, this is going to be an equipping month because this series we're in, it's all about the family. I believe that's so important. But before
[00:46:43] we jump in today, I want to take just a moment. I want to greet those with us online. We have an online campus as well. And we have folks joining us right now from North Carolina, South Carolina,
[00:46:54] Vermont, Maine, New York, Virginia, Washington, Minnesota, Connecticut, Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Arizona. You guys give it up for them. We love you guys very much. You are a part of our family. So thank you for being with us this morning as well. And you know, today
[00:47:15] we're kicking off this new series. It's called House Rules. So if you're taking some notes today, how many of you know note takers go to heaven? So take some notes in church. Take some notes. But
[00:47:25] the whole series is on house rules. We're going to talk about the family, marriage, kids. My message today is going to be focused on parents and children. We're going to talk about that relationship today. But before I can talk about that, I think I want to address, I felt this burden
[00:47:42] to address what we've all been seeing in the news this week. A trial ended yesterday in mistrial. It's got the whole world at odds, like men against women. Have you ever noticed these things happen in our society at pivotal moments and Satan uses them to pit people
[00:48:00] against each other. And it's crazy to me to see people taking sides on such a tragedy. I mean, it's such a, and here's the thing. I don't think anybody ever stops to think about the culture we
[00:48:15] have become and what that does to the heart of God. You know, we get so wrapped up. It's disgusting to me when I see people use tragedies and situations to further their agenda on something,
[00:48:29] right? And man, this whole thing is just sad. It's just such a sad and tragic thing. But we've created a culture in this country in which the greatest gift that God has given us, family,
[00:48:42] children. How many parents do I have in the house today? Man, I mean, so many hands up. I mean, are there words to express how you love your kids? I mean, what a gift from God. What a blessing from
[00:48:54] the Lord. And yet somehow in a nation built on God, full of churches, we've allowed our culture to become one where children are seen as baggage, as an afterthought, as a burden where we kill the
[00:49:09] unborn. It's so sad. So before we jump in today, can we take a moment and just pray for our nation?
[00:49:16] Just repent for any part. I want to, any part I've had in allowing, uh, fostering this culture of me, me, me, of selfishness. We kill babies for nothing more than convenience in our culture.
[00:49:29] What does that do to our father's heart? God is a father. So let's just pray today. Father, we just lift up this whole situation, our nation to you. People are, they're angry, God. They're filled with rage and hatred. God, we just, we need you. And God, we just repent today for our country,
[00:49:48] for the things we've done, for what we've become, a nation that doesn't honor you. And we dishonor the greatest gifts you've given us.
[00:49:56] Oh God, we repent.
[00:49:58] God, we repent.
[00:49:59] Let it start in the house of God.
[00:50:00] Let it start with your people that we would humbly get on our face and just cry out and repent to you, God, and say, we're so sorry we've let it come to this.
[00:50:11] God, pull us back from the brink, God.
[00:50:14] Remind us, God, of who you are and the blessings you've given us.
[00:50:19] And God, let us lead the way.
[00:50:20] Let us be an example in our families.
[00:50:22] let us model the life, the light, the love of Jesus Christ. God, we ask it today in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen. Amen. Well, hey, today, today we are going to take a look
[00:50:39] at Ephesians chapter six. Go ahead and turn in your Bibles. Ephesians chapter six. Is it okay if we read the Bible in church? Hope you brought your Bible to church. Don't ever take a preacher's
[00:50:50] word for what the Bible says. Cause we're preachers, man. We, I mean, like we talk for a living, we'll stretch it, bend it. Like, you know, if we go fishing, the fish was this big, then it
[00:50:59] was this big. Then it was, you need to read behind your, your pastor in church, but open your Bibles Ephesians chapter six. But I want to set this up because Paul gives us, and you can also look
[00:51:10] Colossians chapter three, not right now, but when you get home today, that's a mirror passage about the family. And in Ephesians, Paul gives us these great instructions. He gives us instructions for husbands and wives. He gives us instructions for parents and for children. He gives us instructions
[00:51:26] for workers and for bosses and employers and things of this nature. And he gives us these instructions, but he doesn't start there. You see, before Paul tells us how to live in our homes, he spends three chapters of this letter to the Ephesians telling us what God has done for us in
[00:51:47] Christ. He says, we've been chosen. He says, we've been adopted. He says, we've been redeemed. He says, we've been forgiven. He says, we've been shown grace. We've been transformed. Man, he says, we've been seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. And so Paul, what's very interesting is if
[00:52:08] you study the Greek language for Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians one, verse three through 14 is like the longest sentence ever in the Greek because Paul for 11 verses, he just goes on and on and on
[00:52:25] and on about the goodness of God, about this marvelous grace, this plan, this mystery of salvation that God has now unveiled to us and how we've been transformed into the kingdom of light.
[00:52:39] And so Paul doesn't begin with do this. He begins with behold. And I thought, man, I would be doing you a disservice if I came in here today and I said, hey, let me give you
[00:52:55] five handy tips on how to raise your kids. Because Paul doesn't begin this letter to the Ephesians by saying, hey, let me tell you all these things you need to do. He begins by saying, before we
[00:53:10] talk about anything you need to do, behold what God has already done. Take a look. Just take a moment and think about the goodness of our God, what he's done in you, what he's done for you,
[00:53:27] what he can do through you. Look at all that God has done for you through Jesus. And the gospel is so important to know the gospel. It never starts with do. It always starts with done
[00:53:43] because the gospel is never about what we can do. It's about what Jesus has already done.
[00:53:50] And so if that is true, why is it so important how we live?
[00:53:57] Chapters four through six, Paul transitions from theology to application.
[00:54:03] He then takes what God has done and he says, because of what he has done, now live like this.
[00:54:15] This is how you're supposed to behave.
[00:54:17] Not because I say so.
[00:54:19] Not because it'll make you look good.
[00:54:21] not because it'll earn you brownie points with God, not because it'll get you into heaven, but because of what Jesus has done because of the gospel. This is how you live. This is how you treat each other. And he gives us the negative. He starts with the negative. If you
[00:54:41] read Ephesians chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, he's unpacking the theology, He goes into chapter four and he, he gives us the negative, what we're not supposed to live like.
[00:54:52] He says, put away from yourselves, all sexual immorality, greed, filthiness. He says, that's how the Gentiles live. He says, that's how you used to live. And see, when I read that, that excites me because he says, that's who you used to be. You're not that person anymore.
[00:55:17] you're not that man anymore that woman anymore you're not who you used to be so you don't have to live out of who you used to be now you're called to step in to who God has made you to be
[00:55:31] the gospel has transformed you so he says don't live like that anymore don't walk around in grave clothes you're not that person that person died next week we're going to do baptisms what is baptism, it's a symbol we can see with our own eyes, the death and the resurrection.
[00:55:51] We come up out of that water brand new. I've seen miracles happen in baptism. I've seen God move in baptism. There's something powerful when we understand that God has transformed us. That we're not that old man, that old woman anymore. But then he gives us the positive. He says,
[00:56:11] instead live like this. And what does he say? I'm summarizing it to save time today, but to summarize what Paul gives us, he says you're to live in love and unity, and it's rooted in mutual submission. Right before he gets to all the husband and wife stuff, parents and kids,
[00:56:35] He says we're to submit to one another.
[00:56:38] Mutual submission.
[00:56:39] This is the picture of the life of the believer.
[00:56:45] And this is so important.
[00:56:46] I want us to understand this today.
[00:56:48] I'm gonna park right here.
[00:56:49] Can I stop for just a second?
[00:56:51] This is so important, guys, that we understand this.
[00:56:54] I get this wrong way too much.
[00:57:00] As Christians in North, as American Christians, our culture, we get this wrong.
[00:57:06] way too much. The greatest influence Christians have on the world around us, it's not evangelistic crusades by Billy Graham. It's not packing out concerts and arenas like Forest Frank or popular worship bands and things like that. That is not the greatest influence we
[00:57:32] have as Christians and listen to me church it is not me up here preaching on a Sunday morning it's not any pastor in any church in America that is not the primary or the greatest influence that
[00:57:47] God has through his body in the world today that ain't it sometimes we look at vocational ministry pastors and leaders and authors and singers and all these people. And I wish I could make an
[00:58:03] impact like that. Listen, you make the greater impact. The greatest impact that God has on the world is through the individual relationships that you and I have starting with our family.
[00:58:23] Because if I'm in here on a Sunday morning and I'm preaching to hundreds of people, listen, the hundreds of people that are here are going to go out and talk to 10, 15, 20, 30 people this week.
[00:58:35] I mean, how many people are in your family, your extended family, your neighbors, your co-workers?
[00:58:40] You as a body are going to influence more people than I am right now on a Sunday morning. That's just a fact. And so we have to understand our family is our greatest ministry. Our family
[00:58:57] is our greatest ministry. As believers, we must stop thinking about our family as something ancillary to the gospel mission. Our family is the gospel mission. Our family is the mission field. Our family is the pulpit we preach from. Our family is where God displays the gospel
[00:59:23] in reality that's where the gospel is not just talked about it's lived out it's in our family our response to the gospel plays out first and foremost in our family so let's read the text
[00:59:40] let's read Ephesians 6 1 through 4 what does Paul tell us here in regards all month long we're going to talk about husbands wives marriage date all the things today we're going to talk about parents
[00:59:51] and children. Verse one, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. And all the parents said, you can do better than that. Parents. You said, come on now to teach them.
[01:00:04] Verse two, honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you in that you may live long in the land. Fathers do not provoke your children to
[01:00:20] anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Now I've always appreciated that part that you may live long because with my dad, if you didn't honor, you weren't going to live long. That was just a fact. You like, you learned that real quick in
[01:00:43] my house. You weren't, you weren't, you were going to dishonor. You were going to be a disalive to real quick. Like dad wasn't going to put up with nothing. Right. And my mom probably spanked me
[01:00:55] more. And let me just say this. I'm going to talk about some stuff in a minute.
[01:00:59] YouTube in the first service, I said, spanking is of Jesus. Listen to me. Somebody in our church texted me, YouTube censored me. So I'm going to talk about spanking about 47 times more in this service. Good luck YouTube. Like try to keep up because yeah, we're going to, we're going
[01:01:23] to talk about it today, but why should we honor our parents? Why? This is the question we overlook because human beings, if we have families, forget, like if we don't know Jesus, if we're not a
[01:01:36] Christian, parents naturally, most parents should love their kids, right? Like you don't have to be a Christian to love your kids. You want your kids to obey you like that. You don't, that's not spiritual, right? So what we do is we overlook the gospel part of our family. We skip right by
[01:01:57] what Paul talks about the why. Well, you should obey me because yeah, I'm your dad. No, no, no, no, no. That's unscriptural. No. Why should we honor our parents? Why should we raise our kids
[01:02:13] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Why should I do these things? Because he did that thing. That's the answer. We don't ask the question. Why, why should I do this? Because he did that. Why should I be a good dad? Because he was a good savior because he's a good father
[01:02:35] because he's a perfect father because he showed me grace because he redeemed me because he saved me because see, we leave out the why. And then we wonder why God's not involved in our family,
[01:02:48] but we're doing it from a naturalistic humanistic standpoint, not from a gospel standpoint.
[01:02:55] Most Christians will never work in full-time ministry, but every one of us have parents, have spouses, have children, have coworkers. And listen to me, church love in the abstract is easy, but useless. It's useless. It's easy to love people far away. It's easy to love from a
[01:03:17] distance. Love is tested up close. Submission is lived out through disagreement. The easiest people to love are the people you don't have to live with. It's easy to love humanity. Oh, I'm going to pray for peace in the Middle East. Like I'm just going to, I'm going to pray for humanity.
[01:03:39] God loves the world.
[01:03:43] It's easy to love the world.
[01:03:46] The world ain't pushing your buttons.
[01:03:48] You can escape from the world.
[01:03:51] You can go home and like watch TV and like, you know, shut the world out.
[01:03:54] You can close your front door, but there's some people that follow you when you shut that door that you can't get rid of.
[01:04:03] Mom, mom, dad, like they follow you around.
[01:04:09] That's where this is lived out.
[01:04:13] It's harder to love your spouse when you're irritated.
[01:04:17] It's harder to honor your parents when they're difficult.
[01:04:20] It's harder to patiently train your child for the 47th time.
[01:04:26] The gospel is displayed in the relationships that are closest to us.
[01:04:35] So let's break this down.
[01:04:39] Paul gives us some very clear instruction here.
[01:04:41] Number one, if you're taking notes, remember note takers go to?
[01:04:44] That's right.
[01:04:45] children are commanded to obey. Now that obey, I mean, they probably, YouTube's probably censoring obey. Obey is like a dirty word in our culture, right? Like to obey is somehow it's oppressive and it's like, you know what I'm saying? Like we don't use that word. Like if you think outside
[01:05:09] a church, like we don't, we don't use that term very often anymore. This is addressed to children still under the authority of their parents, old enough to understand instruction, but not yet living on their own.
[01:05:24] Say, so we know who we're talking about, right?
[01:05:26] Kids, not 25-year-olds.
[01:05:29] We're talking to 12-year-olds, okay?
[01:05:33] Children are not simply commanded to obey.
[01:05:36] They are told to obey how?
[01:05:38] In the Lord.
[01:05:43] Now, see, we read right past that and we think it doesn't matter, but it's so important.
[01:05:47] and I'm going to show you why. Colossians 3 verse 20, Paul tells us exactly what he means when he says in the Lord. He's not saying that you only have to obey your parents if they're in the Lord,
[01:05:55] if they're Christian parents, that's not what he's saying. Some people try to misinterpret it.
[01:05:59] No, he tells us Colossians 3 verse 20. He says almost the exact same phrase, but instead of in the Lord, he substitute for this pleases the Lord. We're to do it as unto the Lord. And we
[01:06:14] should teach our children to obey in order to please God, not mom and dad. We don't teach our kids to please us, to do what we say, because we need you to do what we say, or you do it to make
[01:06:30] dad happy, mom happy. No, no, no. If the reason your child obeys is because mom and dad are watching, we have taught them how to perform and how to manipulate. We've taught them how to
[01:06:46] manipulate us that when they behave a certain way, we give them the goodies. You get rewarded, you get ice cream, you get to play your video game, you get to do whatever you want to do.
[01:06:55] There's no punishment, there's no yelling, there's no fussing, like you're good.
[01:07:00] Is that the point of parenting? There teach our children how to look in front of other people, to behave, to please other people. See, if they obey to please the Lord, we've taught them how
[01:07:14] to live when no one is watching, how to live with character, how to live for the Lord. All of this is to benefit the children. The parent might ask the child to do something that's not technically
[01:07:29] correct. I remember growing up, my mom all the time would say, put your coat on before you go outside. You're going to catch a cold. Well, we know now you catch cold from germs, right? Like
[01:07:39] my mom still does that to this day. You know, she's a worrier, you know, she put your coat on, it's cold outside. You know, the value is not in not catching a cold. The value is in learning
[01:07:50] obedience, humbling ourself, learning God's design in how to be grateful and walk in his design.
[01:07:59] The modern narrative that obedience is a dirty word is not biblical. Authority is a biblical value and rejecting proper authority. I want you to think about this for a moment.
[01:08:14] There is one being, one entity that before anyone else in all of the history of the universe, before anyone had sinned, before anyone had rebelled, before anyone had done anything bad, there's one person that rejected supreme, good, right authority. What was his name? Satan.
[01:08:37] His name was Satan, right? Like, was God oppressive? No. We know God is perfectly good.
[01:08:46] God had rights to be God, to have authority. He never asked anything that was wrong or too much or anything like that. There's no oppression in that. No, God was the rightful authority and wouldn't Satan say, I'm not listening to you. I should be the supreme authority. There's a spirit
[01:09:04] of rebellion and it started with the devil. Now on the flip of that, look at the attitude of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Philippians chapter two, verse five, it says, adopt the same attitude
[01:09:20] as that of Christ Jesus, who existed in the form of God, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,
[01:09:41] he humbled himself by becoming what? By what? By what? Obedient. So if Jesus was obedient, how much more should we be obedient? How much more should we be able to teach our children the right, the value of obedience? He says he was obedient unto the point of death, even death on a
[01:10:06] cross. He died for our sins. Why? How? Out of obedience to the father. That is the model that Jesus has given us. Biblical humility means willingly submitting ourselves to God and his good design. And so that is what we teach our children, that you are to obey, not because I
[01:10:29] need you to obey, but because it pleases the Lord. It is a part of his good design. God put me here as your father, as your mother, to guard you, to instruct you, to bring you up, to know God,
[01:10:42] to serve God. That is why you should obey. Now, YouTube doesn't like me to talk about spanking, but spanking is of Jesus. YouTube's going to censor the words right now. So in my home, we had a thing called a pop pop spoon. The pop pop spoon lived on top of the refrigerator.
[01:11:07] And my wife often carried Mr. Pop-Pop Spoon in her purse.
[01:11:13] Now, I will leave it to your imagination, YouTube, what the Pop-Pop Spoon was used for.
[01:11:22] But the Bible says if you spare the rod, you spoil the child.
[01:11:27] Here's the principle.
[01:11:28] Does everybody have to use corporal punishment?
[01:11:30] No, you don't have to.
[01:11:32] But what you do have to do is you have to have discipline for your children.
[01:11:36] And we've all been in the grocery store.
[01:11:38] where there's a young child in the buggy and a five-year-old is running the show.
[01:11:46] Everybody's going, oh yeah, I've seen it.
[01:11:49] That is not of God.
[01:11:51] That displeases God.
[01:11:52] It harms society.
[01:11:54] And it, listen to me, more than anything else, it harms the child.
[01:11:59] And when I see children who have no reverential fear of their father, not because of abuse, not because a father is harsh.
[01:12:08] You don't have to be harsh.
[01:12:09] God is not harsh.
[01:12:11] We're going to talk about dads here in just a second, right?
[01:12:13] Dads are not to provoke their children to anger.
[01:12:15] We're not to be abusive dads.
[01:12:17] We're to discipline in grace with love, but with firmness.
[01:12:22] And when I see children who have no reverential fear of their father, it breaks my heart because I'm like, man, there's a child who is up against it in life.
[01:12:32] Life is going to be tough for you.
[01:12:35] It's going to be tough.
[01:12:36] God put that there for a reason.
[01:12:38] There is a reason.
[01:12:40] there is a value in learning obedience. Let's keep going. Second big principle here. Obedience is important, but it has an expiration date. Honor doesn't. This is so important.
[01:12:57] Honor doesn't. Young children should honor as well. Okay. So young children should honor their parents, but this is really intended for an older, for adult children. This comes from the 10 commandments. And the 10 commandments were given when you read the context of Exodus chapter 20,
[01:13:15] it was given in the context of adults, not small children. To honor in the Jewish culture, that word, that Hebrew word, it means to treat as important, to value, to esteem.
[01:13:27] That's what it meant. To curse meant to treat as trivial or light. Adult children, we don't owe obedience, but we do owe honor. We owe honor to our parents. To dishonor and neglect our aging
[01:13:48] parents is to say that they have no value outside of what they produce or provide. That, oh, when you could pay the bills, mom and dad, when you could take care of my needs, oh, I needed you then.
[01:14:00] but now I'm grown. I'm in a new season of life. I have moved on. Listen, that is an ungodly attitude. It sends the signal that you were only valuable then, but that's not how they treated us
[01:14:15] when we were little babies and we were nothing but a crying need. We were just a burden, right?
[01:14:21] Babies can't produce. They can't provide. They can't contribute. Babies can't contribute anything to the home except joy, but they can't buy groceries. They can't work a job. What does mom and dad do? They meet our need. They meet our weakness with gentleness, with love, with grace.
[01:14:39] And then when our parents get older in life, we say, good luck. You're on your own. We live in a culture of people who ship off and outsource the needs of their aging parents. And it grieves the
[01:14:55] heart of God. What does that mean? Do I have to move my mom and dad in with me? Do I have to pay all their bills? Do I have to? Listen, there's no cookie cutter right side. You might be in a family
[01:15:06] where there's six kids and you guys divvy things up. Here's the principle here you can't miss.
[01:15:12] You got to honor them. You've got to honor them. You can't look in your mind. You can't look at your life as, well, I've moved on. I'm in this season of my life. I'm doing this. I'm having
[01:15:22] kids. I've got my career. And so I don't have to worry about them. No, your parents are still important in your life. He is saying you need to honor them. And he says, this is the first
[01:15:34] commandment with a promise. But do we understand what the promise is? It doesn't mean that every person that honors their parents will live to be 120 and be extremely successful. We know people that that hasn't happened, right? Because what if you honor your parents, but you reject God and
[01:15:52] you reject Christ, you commit horrible acts in your life. Like it's not, it's not a one size fits all promise. Many theologians believe this was a communal promise that the Jewish people in any people group or nation that they will flourish when the elderly are honored. Did you know in
[01:16:08] ancient times, the elders of the community, they were esteemed. I mean, they would bring the elders in and ask advice. I mean, they really ran the show. But a lot of times in our culture, we view
[01:16:20] it like once you pass a certain age, you have no more value to offer. You're not up with the times You don't know what's going on today.
[01:16:28] Listen, that is an ungodly attitude.
[01:16:33] See, I believe there's truth in that communal promise, but I also believe that Paul puts this here for a reason.
[01:16:39] He's talking to the Ephesian church.
[01:16:41] He's talking to Jews and Gentiles.
[01:16:44] He's being practical about our daily lives.
[01:16:47] And in their day and age, they didn't have social security.
[01:16:52] They didn't have a social safety net.
[01:16:54] And so how did aging parents who could no longer work and take care of themselves.
[01:16:58] How did they survive?
[01:16:59] By their adult children who worked.
[01:17:02] Their kids took care of them as they got older.
[01:17:06] That's what he's talking about.
[01:17:07] And Jesus talks specifically.
[01:17:09] And you wanna talk about Jesus getting angry?
[01:17:12] Read in the New Testament, read in Matthew, what Jesus says to the Pharisees who say, oh, I've committed my wealth to the church in the future.
[01:17:21] I don't have enough left to take care of mom and dad.
[01:17:24] Jesus says, you snakes.
[01:17:26] you poisonous vipers. He's like, you have twisted the word of God with your tradition. You've manipulated it. Your heart is far from God. Like Jesus gets angry with those people because that is not the heart of our father. That is not the heart of God. That doesn't mean you do everything
[01:17:46] they say, but it does mean you should consult them. It doesn't mean that they should have some, some, uh, voice into your life. It doesn't mean that you honor them, that you treat them as
[01:17:54] important. Caring for them, serving them should never be a burden. Why? Why should I live like this? Why should I do this? Because he did that. Because he did that. Because I look at the cross
[01:18:08] and I say, if God can do that for me, how much more a mother that was so good and took care of me now as she's older, can I help and try to help take care of her? I do that because of what Christ
[01:18:22] has done in me. All right, third and final point today. We're finally to the meat, the good part, the part we all came for. All right, how do we do it? How do we raise our kids, right? Fathers
[01:18:34] are commanded to bring up, not provoke. To bring up, not provoke. This is the section we've all been waiting for because we all want to know how to raise our children. Notice that children are
[01:18:51] commanded to obey their what? Parents, plural. So children are commanded to obey mom and dad.
[01:19:02] But Paul only addresses fathers in this section. He doesn't say mothers do not provoke your kids.
[01:19:11] He talks to the fathers. Listen, there is a God given responsibility for fathers to train and instruct their children. Why did God not talk to the moms? We don't know. We don't know. He doesn't
[01:19:25] say perhaps because most mothers do anyway. And most of the time, if there's a lack, if there's a need in the family that one of the parents is not doing the role or doing the thing that they
[01:19:37] need to do, we know oftentimes one of the biggest problems we see in our culture today is an absence of fathers. It's the lack of fathers. Listen to me. Fathers carry a special responsibility to discipline. Mom can discipline. Mom can certainly discipline, but father carries a
[01:20:00] special role. Moms can handle resistance, but rebellion calls for dad. When I grew up, listen, my mom still has the book to this day the strong-willed child by James Dobson I was a handful my mom has never drank in her life but I about drove her to drinking a few times
[01:20:21] I was a wild child man and I mean I could be rebellious I mean I could man I'm very headstrong I'm very stubborn Pastor Stephanie will tell you if I get locked in like you want to argue with me
[01:20:33] I mean I'm like yeah she's like oh lord don't let me I mean I'm hard-headed man and my mom I mean she would do the best she could. But there were times where I was so rebelled, like I'm not doing
[01:20:44] it. All my mama had to say was, I'm going to get your father. And as soon as she said, I'm going to get your, as soon as the words father, like father, I was just like, ah, I mean, it was like, yes, ma'am.
[01:20:55] The room is clean. The trash is out. What else you need me to do? Because my dad didn't play.
[01:21:02] He told me one time, he said, boy, one day when I get old, you might get too big to whoop. He said, you won't ever get too big to shoot. He was the type of man, like he could say that and you
[01:21:18] believe him. He was like, that's a good one, dad. Dad put the fear of God in you. And listen, there's value, not in abusive fathers beating them. We're not talking about that, but there's value in children having a reverential fear of their father. It doesn't even have to be physical.
[01:21:43] There's something in the voice of a man that when women stop it, stop it. And then dad says, hey, It's like when dad's had enough, the kids know.
[01:21:55] You can feel it, right?
[01:21:57] It's like there's an authority.
[01:21:59] You know why?
[01:21:59] Because God gave it to us.
[01:22:01] Because God put it there.
[01:22:04] Not to be abusive, not because it's bad, not because, no, to help the children.
[01:22:08] So the children can learn there are consequences in life.
[01:22:12] Because children who don't respect their father, they don't fear their father, they won't fear anyone else.
[01:22:17] They won't fear authority.
[01:22:19] They'll end up in prison.
[01:22:21] They won't fear police.
[01:22:21] we see videos now where kids jerking from police. I'm like, when I was a kid, like you didn't do that kind of stuff. Like, that's kind of crazy. That's how you get hurt. Like, what are you doing?
[01:22:33] But kids today, there's no fear. There's no fear. And ultimately they won't fear the Lord.
[01:22:38] They won't have any reverence for the Lord. The Bible has a title for people like that.
[01:22:44] It's called a fool. It's called a fool. Proverbs says the beginning of wisdom is what? The fear of the Lord. And that's why we've got a society run by fools, fools everywhere, because there's no fear of fathers. There's no fear of authority. There's no fear of God. Me and Pastor Troy talk
[01:23:05] about it all the time. Like I see these pastors fall and stuff and I'm like, and I'm, believe me, I try to be careful with stuff. Cause I mean, I'm not putting myself above anyone, but me and him
[01:23:12] talk about it, man, I just would never do something. I have a fear of God, like man. And, but some people just have no fear of the Lord, like no fear of consequences in their life. Now here for dads,
[01:23:25] listen to me, this is important. Broken fathers provoke. Remember Paul tells the dads, okay, children need to obey. Dad, you need to bring the discipline, but you don't provoke your children to anger. Broken fathers provoke. I got a question for you, dads, and this is a good one. It's an
[01:23:44] important one to think about when you're disciplining your children. Does your discipline come from? Where the heart, the root of your discipline, does it come from? Because he did that. Does your discipline come from? Jesus died for me. Jesus saved me. Jesus showed grace to me
[01:24:06] when I was a little punk kid, when I was, when I was doing stuff, when I was getting in trouble, when I messed up my own life, he loved me. He saved me. His strong arm got me and pulled me out.
[01:24:17] that's the God I serve so because of that love because of that grace son like is that the source of your discipline or is it from how broken people have treated you because sometimes as fathers
[01:24:35] as parents we parent out of our hurt Colossians 3 21 fathers do not provoke your children see the the similarity but listen to this he adds a little on lest they become discouraged You don't want to break your children's spirit.
[01:24:52] You don't want to beat them down.
[01:24:55] When you discipline, it's with love, it's with firmness, but it's with love, it's with grace.
[01:25:00] Insecure fathers try to live through their sons or they punish their children for what others did to them.
[01:25:09] Unhealed parents often discipline out of their own wounds.
[01:25:13] See if this sounds familiar.
[01:25:14] My dad yelled at me, so I'm going to yell at you.
[01:25:18] My parents were never successful.
[01:25:20] So I'm gonna make sure you're successful.
[01:25:23] I was embarrassed.
[01:25:25] So I'm gonna make sure you never embarrass me.
[01:25:30] I was neglected.
[01:25:31] So I'm going to control, micromanage everything you do.
[01:25:38] Hear me church, this is the good news.
[01:25:41] The gospel, it breaks that cycle.
[01:25:45] You don't have to parent out of the hurts of your past because of what he did because of what he did what I do can change what I do is different what I do is motivated is birthed from a heart full of grace and healing and love and gratitude
[01:26:06] because of what he did he gets me past what all the other people did to me healed fathers lavish their children with the same grace they have received from God. Now, finally, last point to
[01:26:25] make it very practical. And this is so important. We get this because this is how we live this out.
[01:26:28] How do we do this, right? Training beats telling. Training beats telling. Now, hear this with grace.
[01:26:39] It's intended with grace. I was talking to parents after the last service. I'm not here to beat you yep, I'm a dad. I failed more times than I can count. But lazy parents tell their children what
[01:26:51] to do and then yell at them when they don't do it. That's lazy parenting. Had a lady come up to me after last week. She said, you got me. She said, I'm a yeller. I yell a lot. And in most cases,
[01:27:05] in my experience, and I'll have data for you on this. This is my Olin's opinion.
[01:27:10] A lot of cases that can be mom. Because sometimes mom asks, hey, do this, do this. And the kids just do their own thing. And then mom gets frustrated. And then she begins to yell. And I've had friends,
[01:27:21] I've had family members like this. And I watched this play out where mom has literally trained her own children to never listen to her because she yells and yells and yells and yells and yells.
[01:27:33] And nothing happens. There's no consequence. You're training your children not to listen to you. It's damaging. Effective parents don't allow disobedience or delay. Now listen, this requires more out of the parent. You might have to get up and go spend time with your child when it's
[01:27:54] inconvenient. It's easier to allow them not to take out the trash and then yell at them later.
[01:28:00] But sometimes what we have to do is pause our show and get up and say, listen, I had to do this.
[01:28:08] My daughter is the one that like we have to be on her a little bit about her room.
[01:28:14] We'll leave it at that. I might need some prayer. My son is the one great heart. He'll go do what you want, but he'll, he'll get busy in something and he'll delay and then he'll forget and not do
[01:28:28] it. And so him growing up, sometimes it's like my wife would say, Hey Matthew, I need you to do X, Y, Z. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it didn't happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it didn't happen. So then
[01:28:42] dad has to step in. And what dad does is dad walks up the stairs. Hey son, what are we doing?
[01:28:52] We're playing a game. Click. No, we're not. Let's stand up. Come on. And it's like, oh, we're taking out the trash now. It's like, we're doing it now. We're going to do it together. Come
[01:29:06] on. You can't allow the child to disregard what you're saying. And it's easy to do. We've all done it. I've done it. My wife said, well, we've all done it. But today's the day we can commit to
[01:29:20] be better. So you know what? I'm committed to training my children to obey in the Lord. Telling might change behavior for a moment. Training develops character over time. Go clean your room is telling. Sitting with them and showing them how to clean and organize their room is
[01:29:38] training. And you might be thinking, I don't have time to do their chores for them. The truth is you don't have time not to. You don't have the luxury of giving this world free reigns into
[01:29:50] your children. You need to invest time, care, and attention into training them in the behaviors that they need to make them successful in life. Why? Not to please me, not to impress others, but as
[01:30:03] unto the Lord. Son, daughter, this is how we live. This is how we do this in our home because we love Jesus. You know why we love Jesus? Let me tell you what Jesus did for us. Jesus is everything.
[01:30:19] They see it, that you go to church, that you read your Bible, that you're praying, that you're trying your best to live this out. They see it in you. They see the passion, the love that you have for
[01:30:28] God. And that motivates a whole different climate in your home. We do all of this because of what Jesus did for us. As Christians, we become the canvas for God to paint his masterpiece. He does
[01:30:46] it through us, through our families. He doesn't just send us out. Think about this, the great commission. He doesn't say, hey, go make disciples of all nations. When you get it all done, I'll be
[01:30:58] here in heaven waiting for you. Is that how God parents us? No. He says, I'm going to send you out, but he said, go wait in Jerusalem until I send the Holy spirit, right? He says, wait, I'm going
[01:31:12] to send you power. He says, wait, I'm going to come and I'm going to live in you. I'm going to fill you up. Wait, I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to go with you, son. I'm going to go
[01:31:22] with you, daughter. I want you to go into this world and make disciples of all nations. But guess what? Every step of the way, I'm right there with you. He says, I will never leave you.
[01:31:34] I will never forsake you man that's the kind of father that we serve and that's the kind of parents he has called us to be parents that discipline that model that love out of that
[01:31:50] heart of grace because of what he did for me amen amen will you stand on your feet with me today man everything I'm talking about can be yours you can be a great parent you can be a great child
[01:32:07] son or daughter. You can make relationships right. And there's nothing too hard, too big for God. But let me tell you, it all starts, it all starts one place, a decision to give Jesus your
[01:32:19] heart. None of us here, pastors, leaders, all the people you saw up here praying, we've got amazing people in our church. Not one of us are perfect. Every one of us have failed, have fallen short,
[01:32:31] But you know what? We stand here in the grace of God, redeemed, redeemed, changed. I might not be there yet, but bless God, I've left. I'm on the trip, man. God is changing me. He's doing things
[01:32:47] in me. I can tell you it works. The Holy Spirit will transform you. He will change the way you think, the way you feel, the way you love. He makes everything better, but it starts with that decision
[01:32:58] to humble yourself in obedience to him. God, I want to, I want to obey you. I want to know you.
[01:33:04] what does he say what is obedience he says this one thing believe in my son Jesus I sent him to die for you confess your sins put your trust in him as your savior that's obedience to God that's
[01:33:16] what the Bible says because once you've done that he's inside he starts changing everything else and let me warn you when you do that when you become a Christian when you are saved born again man he
[01:33:29] starts messing around in there starts changing everything inside but let me tell you it's worth it. He loves you. He wants the best for you. But that starts with a decision right now. A decision
[01:33:42] to believe, to trust. It's relational trust in him. I want you to bow your head. Close your eyes for just a moment. If you're there, maybe God's been knocking on your heart for a while, maybe
[01:33:50] for weeks, maybe for months. Maybe you're online today. You're like, man, God's been tugging, man.
[01:33:56] He's been pulling at my heart. I've got a wake of broken relationships and I need his help. He's here. He's knocking. Will you respond to him today? I want to ask you if that's you and you
[01:34:12] want to say yes to Jesus. You want to say yes to him right now. Be bold, be bold. No one's looking around, but be bold. Do this by faith. Just lift up your hand right now to say yes to him. If you
[01:34:26] want to receive Jesus as your savior, lift up your hand and say yes to God right now. Just lift it up wherever you're sitting. Just lift it up. If you're online, there's a button there in the chat.
[01:34:36] you can click just to lift your hand digitally. We want to pray with you. We want to connect with you. Amen. Amen. Church, let's pray this together. Everyone join in. Say, Father God, thank you for
[01:34:50] being a good father. You are so faithful. You love me before I deserved it. And right now I turn to you. I give you my heart. I believe you sent your son, Jesus to die for me, for my sin. So I repent,
[01:35:13] make me better, live in my heart, change me right now. I give you everything and I am yours.
[01:35:24] I thank you for it. And I receive it right now by faith in Jesus name. Amen.

[01:35:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:35:34] Amen. Let's give God some praise. If you made the decision today, you raised your hand or for the first time with us, we want to definitely make sure that you stop by Guest Central. We have
[01:35:47] free gifts we'd love to get in your hands. And let me tell you the next step. If you've never been baptized before, if you've never made up a public profession of the faith that you put in
[01:35:57] Jesus, next week is your opportunity. We're having a baptism service. It's going to be amazing. We're going to celebrate all the lives that have been changed. You know, there's nothing cooler as a father than when your child says, that's my dad, or that's my mom. They're proud of who you are
[01:36:15] in their lives. They want to show you off. They want you to come in to school and be there for career day or whatever it is, because that's my dad. Well, you know what baptism is? That's my dad.
[01:36:27] that's what it is it's you showing off look what God's done in my life how cool is this I'm changed because that's my dad that's what baptism is so I'm going to invite you show off
[01:36:44] next week show who your dad really is make it a public profession of faith let it be known the outward change that's happening and started on the inside of you that's what baptism is so
[01:36:59] Go to freedomhouse.cc slash baptism and sign up.
[01:37:02] If you happen to forget, we would love for you to register.
[01:37:05] But if you happen to forget, we're still going to have clothes for you, towels for you, hair dryers for you, everything you need, all right?
[01:37:12] So come prepared next week.
[01:37:13] It's going to be an amazing service.

[01:37:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]
[01:37:14] And we have something to celebrate on Tuesday.
[01:37:18] This coming Tuesday, it is Freedom House's 24th birthday.

[01:37:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:37:22] Come on.

[01:37:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]
[01:37:23] 24 years as a church.
[01:37:25] I remember when we were at University Meadows which was just right down the road and then even over at Stony Creek Elementary and that's all Freedom House was and we started off in the cafetorium and the kids were just on the other side of the wall so everything the kids do you
[01:37:41] could hear in the service and we've grown to four campuses and continuing to grow so just you know tell the pastors thank you this week reach out to them on social media just say thank you for 24
[01:37:54] faithful years. It's amazing what God has done in this house, in the people's lives, in the family's lives, in the community and around the world through Freedom House. So Freedom House, thank you so much. There is a voter registration table just outside. If you are not registered or
[01:38:10] if you've moved recently or something's changed, please stop by there and update that so when the time comes, you can vote. Thank you. Have a great week. We'll see you next week.

[01:41:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:41:51] So, all we know, all you know, my life is all for you, not by me, I've got a girl to love.

[01:42:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:42:53] Thank you.
[01:44:32] I want to know where the heroes of the faith want strings to go.
[01:44:45] And from that place, I'll join the song.
[01:44:49] Sing holy, holy, holy, it's the Lord.

[01:44:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:44:52] One day I will be.

[01:44:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:44:54] It's powerful glory.

[01:45:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:45:33] God brings a family for me.
[01:45:36] And they're already singing holy.
[01:45:40] Singing holy, holy, holy, it's the Lord.
[01:45:43] And the hour of fire