0:00:05.199,0:00:11.281 Parents, take this to heart. 0:00:11.281,0:00:13.010 Proverbs 4:20 0:00:13.010,0:00:17.469 "My son, be attentive to my words; 0:00:17.469,0:00:21.384 incline your ear to my sayings." 0:00:21.384,0:00:23.156 This means obey me. 0:00:23.156,0:00:27.506 Do what I'm telling you. 0:00:27.506,0:00:29.643 "Let them not escape from your sight. 0:00:29.643,0:00:31.261 Keep them within your heart, 0:00:31.261,0:00:34.894 for they are life to those who find them." 0:00:34.894,0:00:37.043 He's not talking to dead children here. 0:00:37.043,0:00:38.683 What does he mean by life? 0:00:38.683,0:00:40.244 He's not talking physical life. 0:00:40.244,0:00:42.219 He's talking spiritual life. 0:00:42.219,0:00:43.742 Eternal life. 0:00:43.742,0:00:46.687 He's saying, son, if you will heed 0:00:46.687,0:00:47.955 what I tell you; 0:00:47.955,0:00:49.957 if you will obey what I tell you; 0:00:49.957,0:00:51.693 if you will take these things 0:00:51.693,0:00:53.492 and apply them and keep them 0:00:53.492,0:00:54.564 within your heart, 0:00:54.564,0:00:56.427 they will be life to you. 0:00:56.427,0:01:00.044 God designed it this way, parents. 0:01:00.044,0:01:03.883 Parents, your child's good is and must be 0:01:03.883,0:01:08.018 your controlling motive. 0:01:08.018,0:01:12.975 Do we not live in the belief 0:01:12.975,0:01:16.551 that whatever might [br]become of our children, 0:01:16.551,0:01:18.824 that if they gain the whole world 0:01:18.824,0:01:20.842 and they lose their souls, 0:01:20.842,0:01:23.229 they've lost everything! 0:01:23.229,0:01:26.149 And yet, Scripture comes along 0:01:26.149,0:01:29.959 and says the path to everything 0:01:29.959,0:01:31.971 has a lot to do with parents. 0:01:31.971,0:01:34.069 Listen to this: 0:01:34.069,0:01:36.202 Proverbs 6:20 0:01:36.202,0:01:41.006 "My son, keep your father's commandment." 0:01:41.006,0:01:43.320 Now we might come along and say, 0:01:43.320,0:01:46.258 well, shouldn't he be keeping [br]the Lord's commandment? 0:01:46.258,0:01:48.735 Yeah, but you see, folks, 0:01:48.735,0:01:51.867 God is telling you to keep your children 0:01:51.867,0:01:54.174 obedient to you. 0:01:54.174,0:01:55.829 And what I'm showing you is 0:01:55.829,0:01:58.584 if your heart is after God's; 0:01:58.584,0:02:00.664 if your heart is after His truth 0:02:00.664,0:02:03.238 and His ways and His righteousness, 0:02:03.238,0:02:06.121 and you seek through your commandments, 0:02:06.121,0:02:07.381 and through your rules, 0:02:07.381,0:02:08.854 and through your discipline, 0:02:08.854,0:02:10.513 and through your instruction, 0:02:10.513,0:02:18.414 to impart to that child that. 0:02:18.414,0:02:20.766 Then what happens is, 0:02:20.766,0:02:21.913 this can be said: 0:02:21.913,0:02:24.321 "My son, keep your father's commandment, 0:02:24.321,0:02:26.485 forsake not your mother's teaching. 0:02:26.485,0:02:28.677 Bind them on your heart always. 0:02:28.677,0:02:30.196 Tie them around your neck. 0:02:30.196,0:02:32.745 When you walk, they will lead you. 0:02:32.745,0:02:35.017 When you lie down, [br]they will watch over you. 0:02:35.017,0:02:37.299 When you awake, they will talk with you. 0:02:37.299,0:02:38.504 For the commandment..." 0:02:38.504,0:02:39.424 What commandment? 0:02:39.424,0:02:42.617 The commandment of the parents. 0:02:42.617,0:02:43.922 "...is a lamp 0:02:43.922,0:02:46.509 and the teaching a light, 0:02:46.509,0:02:49.504 and the reproofs of discipline 0:02:49.504,0:02:51.889 are the way of life." 0:02:51.889,0:02:54.397 When you instruct and [br]discipline that child 0:02:54.397,0:02:58.159 you are setting them on the way of life. 0:02:58.159,0:02:59.782 That's what Scripture teaches. 0:02:59.782,0:03:01.911 Brethren, we are people who God has called 0:03:01.911,0:03:03.993 to live by faith. 0:03:03.993,0:03:06.189 And this is one of the [br]things He's called you 0:03:06.189,0:03:07.740 to live by faith in. 0:03:07.740,0:03:10.048 That you raise your children 0:03:10.048,0:03:13.801 in this kind of discipline and instruction 0:03:13.801,0:03:16.530 of the Lord. 0:03:16.530,0:03:18.486 Proverbs 19:18 0:03:18.486,0:03:20.733 "Discipline your son 0:03:20.733,0:03:22.195 while there's hope. 0:03:22.195,0:03:26.246 Do not set your heart [br]on putting him to death." 0:03:26.246,0:03:28.991 You know what Scripture's implying? 0:03:28.991,0:03:30.868 Guess what? 0:03:30.868,0:03:33.351 All these people, disobedient to parent - 0:03:33.351,0:03:35.537 they're people that don't acknowledge God. 0:03:35.537,0:03:39.455 That is the path of death. 0:03:39.455,0:03:42.695 He's saying if you don't discipline; 0:03:42.695,0:03:44.809 if you don't raise your children 0:03:44.809,0:03:49.246 in the discipline and [br]instruction of the Lord - 0:03:49.246,0:03:52.156 if there's no discipline, [br]if there's no rod, 0:03:52.156,0:03:53.365 if there's no correction 0:03:53.365,0:03:56.008 and instruction and rebuke, 0:03:56.008,0:03:57.857 if there's no bringing your children 0:03:57.857,0:04:00.880 into submission, 0:04:00.880,0:04:03.984 you're killing your children. 0:04:03.984,0:04:07.128 One of the proverbs says you hate them. 0:04:07.128,0:04:09.140 And you can say, well, no I don't. 0:04:09.140,0:04:11.902 I love them. That's why [br]I don't spank them. 0:04:11.902,0:04:14.094 Listen, God says you hate them. 0:04:14.094,0:04:15.612 Because what you're doing is 0:04:15.612,0:04:19.195 you're allowing that [br]child to go his own way. 0:04:19.195,0:04:22.715 Children that go their own way die. 0:04:22.715,0:04:26.553 Children that a parent - 0:04:26.553,0:04:28.131 a Christian parent - 0:04:28.131,0:04:31.430 will seek to say, 0:04:31.430,0:04:34.469 as for me and my house, [br]we're going to serve the Lord. 0:04:34.469,0:04:36.416 God said when He was looking at 0:04:36.416,0:04:41.021 going down and destroying [br]Sodom and Gomorrah, 0:04:41.021,0:04:45.838 He said this: "I have chosen Abraham 0:04:45.838,0:04:47.600 that he may command his children 0:04:47.600,0:04:49.229 and his household after him 0:04:49.229,0:04:52.563 to keep the way of the Lord." 0:04:52.563,0:04:56.376 You have Joshua saying, 0:04:56.376,0:04:58.782 "As for me and my house, 0:04:58.782,0:05:01.254 we're going to serve the Lord." 0:05:01.254,0:05:03.309 You have fathers who are saying 0:05:03.309,0:05:06.274 my children are going this way. 0:05:06.274,0:05:10.468 (incomplete thought) 0:05:10.468,0:05:12.579 The world out there can say 0:05:12.579,0:05:16.339 parents shouldn't force their [br]religion on their children. 0:05:16.339,0:05:18.309 That's not what God says. 0:05:18.309,0:05:20.349 God says you take those children 0:05:20.349,0:05:21.438 under your arm, 0:05:21.438,0:05:22.897 and you say, child, 0:05:22.897,0:05:26.082 as for you and me, we're going this way. 0:05:26.082,0:05:28.078 And you take them with you.