WEBVTT 00:00:00.580 --> 00:00:01.320 Good morning, Church. 00:00:02.290 --> 00:00:03.980 It's good to see everybody out this morning. 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:08.580 Thank you for being here and choosing to worship with us here at Alpine Bible Church. 00:00:09.560 --> 00:00:10.660 Thankful that you're here. 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:17.680 I've met many visitors this morning and thankful that you're here and chosen to give Alpine Bible a try and hope that you 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:25.020 find it a warm and welcome place to worship and that you might hear from God today. 00:00:25.020 --> 00:00:28.240 That's our goal always and first and foremost. 00:00:28.240 --> 00:00:28.660 So thank you. 00:00:30.140 --> 00:00:32.150 So we've been in a series here. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:35.060 We just started last week, the family series. 00:00:35.080 --> 00:00:37.780 I guess I should have said welcome family, right? 00:00:37.900 --> 00:00:45.040 Because our church is family and that's what God has desired for his church and for us as family. 00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:48.720 Is the marriage, the institution of the marriage for us to be unified and family. 00:00:48.740 --> 00:00:52.480 And so we're just talking about these that concept the next several weeks. 00:00:53.380 --> 00:01:00.420 And as Pastor Nathaniel touched on last week, we've laid the foundation of what the institution of marriage and the family, 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:03.740 what God's designed for that and his purpose and intention for that. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.740 And so today, we're just going to kind of get into the practicality of that, work that out. 00:01:08.360 --> 00:01:11.740 What does it mean to work towards unity within the family? 00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:16.860 And this morning, we're going to be getting into Psalm 128. 00:01:16.880 --> 00:01:21.940 So if you have your Bible with you, go ahead and turn to your Bible, to Psalm 128. 00:01:21.940 --> 00:01:23.780 But as you turn there, think about it. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:30.300 We have lots of people or means in which we can get advice on raising up a family. 00:01:30.300 --> 00:01:30.400 Right. 00:01:30.440 --> 00:01:32.320 Just a quick Google search will do that. 00:01:32.360 --> 00:01:33.480 In fact, I did that last night. 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.960 And listen to this wise advice given by Erma Bombeck. 00:01:38.960 --> 00:01:43.300 She was a columnist a few years ago, a newspaper columnist. 00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:43.900 She said this. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:45.170 It's very wise. 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:49.180 Take take a very I take a very practical view of raising children. 00:01:50.140 --> 00:01:55.320 I put a sign in each of their rooms, and that sign says, check out time is in 18 years. 00:01:56.500 --> 00:01:57.000 Right. 00:01:57.580 --> 00:01:59.080 So that's pretty good, right? 00:01:59.080 --> 00:01:59.560 No. 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:00.480 All right. 00:02:01.300 --> 00:02:02.560 And I found another one. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.800 This one isn't about raising children, per se, but I just thought it was funny I wanted to share with you. 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:08.400 Insanity is hereditary. 00:02:09.220 --> 00:02:10.250 You get it from your children. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:12.000 That's pretty good. 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:13.010 I like that one. 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.200 That gives me my excuse of why I'm insane most of the time. 00:02:16.200 --> 00:02:16.840 Right. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:18.300 But. 00:02:19.760 --> 00:02:21.420 That's all fun and games. 00:02:21.420 --> 00:02:22.140 But what? 00:02:22.440 --> 00:02:27.180 We're here, and I hope you're here this morning to find out about what Scripture says. 00:02:27.860 --> 00:02:33.200 What does the Lord say about family and building unity within the family and the importance of that? 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:36.070 And so that's what we're kind of going to dig in to this morning. 00:02:36.260 --> 00:02:43.360 And in Psalm 128, we have this psalm and the psalmist paints this picture of a family that is walking in the 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:44.730 fear of the Lord and is blessed. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:46.400 So Psalm 128 says this. 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:52.840 There it is. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:55.800 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:58.090 Who walks in his ways. 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:01.780 When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy. 00:03:02.380 --> 00:03:03.710 And it shall be well with you. 00:03:04.540 --> 00:03:09.240 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. 00:03:10.160 --> 00:03:13.880 Your children like olive plants all around your table. 00:03:14.600 --> 00:03:15.100 Behold. 00:03:15.600 --> 00:03:18.600 Thus, shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. 00:03:19.620 --> 00:03:24.440 And so we see this picture painted to us by the psalmist of this family. 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:25.960 All right. 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:33.120 And so we're just going to this morning kind of dig into this and understand this what the psalmist is trying to say, what God through his inspired 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:37.240 writer, is saying to us and what we can glean from it. 00:03:38.420 --> 00:03:40.000 And the key to this Psalm. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:47.620 And if you see in your notes, in your handouts, you'll see that the topic of fear of the Lord is mentioned quite often in Scripture. 00:03:48.540 --> 00:03:55.600 And so it's an important concept that we need to grasp and understand as we strive to glorify God in our families 00:03:55.600 --> 00:03:57.280 and understand what does it mean. 00:03:57.340 --> 00:03:58.510 And there's lots of different definitions. 00:03:58.760 --> 00:04:02.750 I'm sure if we ask everybody in this room, we're all going to come up with several different definitions. 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:09.560 But we just want to discuss like a working definition today what that means. 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:17.300 If it's key to having a blessed family to walking and there's contentment and peace and joy and the family, according 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:18.709 to the psalmist, the fear of the Lord. 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:19.540 What does that mean? 00:04:19.640 --> 00:04:20.820 That's what we're going to try to get in today. 00:04:22.280 --> 00:04:25.320 And what I first want to do is make sure we understand what it's not. 00:04:26.140 --> 00:04:26.380 All right. 00:04:26.460 --> 00:04:31.180 I have a my dad is a he was a love to hike growing up. 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:34.180 He was every weekend was going out in the mountains in Sierra Nevadas. 00:04:34.440 --> 00:04:39.600 And after I graduated high school, he went and moved to Colorado and he hiked all the 14,000 foot peaks. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:40.980 He just he loved to hike. 00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:43.340 And he had a hiking buddy named Don. 00:04:43.340 --> 00:04:46.240 And Don was a very educated man. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:47.520 He had a PhD. 00:04:47.520 --> 00:04:49.850 And I think a couple of he's just really smart guy. 00:04:52.430 --> 00:04:53.850 And so during these long hikes, multi day hikes and stuff, they had a lot of time to talk. 00:04:54.640 --> 00:04:56.940 And that's good man bonding and all that stuff. 00:04:57.300 --> 00:04:57.800 Right. 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.660 But they got to be able to talk just beyond the small talk. 00:05:00.760 --> 00:05:03.080 They got to talk about things that matter. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:10.260 And one of their conversations one day while they were hiking came across, this man is very educated and he's like, tells 00:05:10.260 --> 00:05:17.360 my dad, I've studied every world religion and I've examined them up and down with my 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:17.940 reason. 00:05:18.440 --> 00:05:20.700 And I have concluded that there is no God. 00:05:21.640 --> 00:05:21.980 I'm an atheist. 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:24.380 And so they had that conversation. 00:05:25.340 --> 00:05:33.780 And I think my dad would lean towards agnostic, atheist, after I came to know the Lord, I had 00:05:33.780 --> 00:05:36.220 an opportunity to share my faith with him. 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:38.640 And he pretty much shut that door pretty quickly. 00:05:38.640 --> 00:05:40.660 Didn't really want to talk about it, right. 00:05:40.760 --> 00:05:44.190 And so he was kind of leaning in that, as far as I knew, was what he projected. 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:46.830 That's what where he stood. 00:05:47.580 --> 00:05:52.810 But one day I think it was the next summer they were hiking up into the Sierra Nevadas, up above Timberline. 00:05:53.640 --> 00:05:59.340 And if you don't know what that means, that's there's a point in the elevation where the tree stopped growing. 00:06:00.080 --> 00:06:00.220 Right? 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:06.740 You get up towards the peak, there's no trees, there's no protection, there's no vegetation really, that's up above timberline. 00:06:06.760 --> 00:06:08.680 So they were hiking up above there and everything was fine. 00:06:08.700 --> 00:06:14.940 And all of a sudden this big old thunder cloud rolls in and lightning just starts going off all around them. 00:06:15.700 --> 00:06:22.880 My dad said there was so much like electricity in the air, like their hair was standing up in the back of their heads and it was crazy and there was no place 00:06:22.880 --> 00:06:23.460 for protection. 00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:29.440 And so they just they had nothing to do other than just crouch down as low as they can. 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:37.300 And they said they were just so fearful that they were shaking and they were just kind of looking at each other, just waiting for the bolt to come that was going to take them 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:37.540 out. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:39.040 Right. 00:06:39.080 --> 00:06:41.320 But my dad's story and thankfully that didn't happen. 00:06:41.320 --> 00:06:46.120 But my dad's story is that they're looking at each other, just kind of shaking, just going, wow, we might die here. 00:06:46.760 --> 00:06:52.600 My dad's friend Don says, Pat, I'm starting to rethink this atheist thing. 00:06:55.020 --> 00:07:00.860 That imminent time, that near death experience brought him to the faith. 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:03.900 The fact that I wonder if I'm wrong. 00:07:04.780 --> 00:07:05.750 What if there is a creator? 00:07:06.980 --> 00:07:12.480 What if there is an absolute moral being and who I am held accountable to? 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:13.660 Right. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:17.800 And he was on the precipice of potential death and he was driven to that point. 00:07:17.880 --> 00:07:18.880 Is that the fear of the Lord? 00:07:20.280 --> 00:07:20.860 Well, what is it? 00:07:21.320 --> 00:07:26.440 Well, what it's not is the fear of the Lord is not something that paralyzes us. 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:27.920 Okay. 00:07:27.940 --> 00:07:35.060 As believers and followers of Christ, the fear of the Lord shouldn't be something that stifles us and makes us fearful of what God's going to do and punish us 00:07:35.060 --> 00:07:36.790 and chastise us with. 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:38.800 That's not the fear of the Lord. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:46.300 Scripture speaks about and we have an example of that here in excuse me in Matthew 25 says 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:48.520 Then he who received the one talent. 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:50.120 This is the parable of the talents. 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:51.600 I'm sure many of you are familiar with this. 00:07:52.200 --> 00:07:52.930 There's three individuals. 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:54.430 The Lord comes. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:02.360 Their Lord comes and they He distributes talents to each of them and says, Now go out and increase my investment 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:02.880 here. 00:08:02.900 --> 00:08:08.130 And so the first two go out and they leverage those talents and they provide an increase for their Lord. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.080 But this last one has a different outcome. 00:08:12.400 --> 00:08:12.740 He says. 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:19.740 Then he who received the one talent came and said, Lord, I need you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering, 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:21.260 where you have not scattered seed. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:23.440 And I was afraid. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:26.760 And I went and hid your talent in the ground. 00:08:28.520 --> 00:08:29.840 Look, there you have what is yours? 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.840 And of course, his lord was not happy with him. 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:35.330 The other two got. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:35.880 Well done. 00:08:35.880 --> 00:08:36.940 My good and faithful servant. 00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:39.360 This one did not. 00:08:40.020 --> 00:08:44.400 He was judged for his disobedience and his command. 00:08:45.300 --> 00:08:46.880 But that's not the fear of the Lord. 00:08:46.880 --> 00:08:50.280 This guy was so afraid of his Lord that he shrunk down. 00:08:50.800 --> 00:08:54.620 That's not what the fear of the Lord is in Scripture of what He calls us to be. 00:08:54.620 --> 00:08:57.050 And we get a picture of what it truly is here in Jeremiah. 00:08:57.460 --> 00:08:59.760 Jeremiah is a prophet in the Old Testament. 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:01.520 He's a parallel with Habakkuk. 00:09:01.620 --> 00:09:05.700 We just got out of a series of looking into Habakkuk, right? 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:13.040 And it's this time of judgment on the children of Israel and the Old Testament and God sending his prophets to warn that impending invasion 00:09:13.040 --> 00:09:16.500 is coming by the Chaldeans and Jeremiah is part of that. 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:24.640 But in as the story of God's redemption story has always shown us, that there's always promise of hope in the future 00:09:24.640 --> 00:09:27.080 and restoration, even in the midst of judgment. 00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:34.900 And the Prophet Jeremiah is speaking of this promised future restoration here in this passage. 00:09:35.420 --> 00:09:36.160 But look at what he says here. 00:09:39.140 --> 00:09:43.000 He says, They shall be my people and I will be their God. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:51.060 Then I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of 00:09:51.060 --> 00:09:53.140 them and their children after them. 00:09:54.060 --> 00:09:59.580 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good. 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:06.100 But I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. 00:10:08.800 --> 00:10:14.310 The fear of the Lord that is found in Scripture is a fear that will drive you to God, not away from him. 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:22.040 It is cause you to be responsible and reach out and responsible action, not breed idleness in our lives. 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:24.640 It will cause you to reach out to him and. 00:10:25.180 --> 00:10:28.460 And not pull in and be afraid in that response. 00:10:29.800 --> 00:10:35.940 Just a couple months ago, Pastor Nathaniel gave that great illustration, I think, of what the fear of the Lord looks like. 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:40.780 He said he was as a kid and on the East Coast in Florida or somewhere he was involved. 00:10:40.780 --> 00:10:45.120 It was in the middle of a hurricane and there was wind and destruction going out all about him. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:45.540 Right. 00:10:46.040 --> 00:10:49.960 But all of a sudden it became really calm and he found himself in the eye of the hurricane. 00:10:51.180 --> 00:10:54.120 And so he went out and he was just like, wow, it's completely calm, what's going on? 00:10:54.180 --> 00:10:57.640 But what he noticed was all the birds were there. 00:10:58.680 --> 00:11:05.680 All the birds knew in this hurricane, they instinctively knew not to flee or stay out into the destruction, but they knew to flee towards 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:09.620 the center, to pursue, go in towards the center. 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:11.260 And that's what the fear of the Lord is. 00:11:11.380 --> 00:11:12.820 We understand His holiness and justness. 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:19.460 And what we do is we don't flee from him, but we run to him for safety and protection. 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:21.240 And shelter. 00:11:22.760 --> 00:11:25.800 That's the fear of the Lord that is given in Scripture. 00:11:26.040 --> 00:11:34.040 And according to Psalm 128, if we desire to have a family that glorifies God and has these marks of contentment 00:11:34.140 --> 00:11:38.080 and unity and joy, we must start with this key of the fear of the Lord. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.900 So what does that mean to us today? 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:46.200 What is the fear of the Lord mean, practically speaking, to us? 00:11:49.040 --> 00:11:52.910 I as a biblical counselor, I deal with this because it's such a key aspect. 00:11:53.400 --> 00:11:56.680 And again, it mentioned the fear of the Lord is mentioned so many times in Scripture. 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:02.340 It's very key for us to understand and work with this phrase and understand what it means. 00:12:02.520 --> 00:12:10.980 And so the working definition that I have for you this morning is this To have the fear of the Lord is to have an ever increasing realization that 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:13.280 God does not just play a part within our environment. 00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:17.530 He's not just a portion or a part or on a particular day. 00:12:18.620 --> 00:12:21.160 He's not part of that, just a portion of the environments we live. 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:23.660 Rather, he is our environment. 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:26.320 In which we live. 00:12:27.900 --> 00:12:28.720 What do I mean by that? 00:12:29.060 --> 00:12:31.480 God is our environment in which we live. 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:40.480 The definition of the environment is the surroundings or conditions in which a person or people live and 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:40.940 operate. 00:12:43.160 --> 00:12:46.820 The surroundings or conditions in which a people live and operate. 00:12:48.760 --> 00:12:50.540 What is the fear of the Lord? 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:54.640 It's the ever increasing understanding that God is our environment. 00:12:55.900 --> 00:12:56.860 And where do I get this from? 00:12:57.220 --> 00:12:58.140 Well, Scripture, of course. 00:13:00.780 --> 00:13:03.680 Scripture declares that we are to do all things for the glory of God. 00:13:05.160 --> 00:13:09.400 Here in Colossians, chapter one, the Apostle Paul writes. 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:11.860 And describes for us. 00:13:13.300 --> 00:13:13.960 Our savior. 00:13:15.380 --> 00:13:22.660 God and flesh who chose to enter his creation, to come and die as a man, being 00:13:22.660 --> 00:13:29.880 100% God in our account for all who believe that we might be reconciled and saved and 00:13:29.880 --> 00:13:31.730 restored to our Creator. 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:36.840 Paul writes this An amazing passage and description of our Savior. 00:13:37.880 --> 00:13:45.340 In verse 15, he says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn, over all creation. 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:54.100 For by him, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones 00:13:54.100 --> 00:13:56.690 or dominions or principalities or powers. 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:57.620 Powers. 00:13:57.800 --> 00:14:01.580 All things were created through him and for him. 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:10.740 It's for the glory of God is what this creation is all about, and that is the environment in which us 00:14:10.740 --> 00:14:17.540 as Christ followers, must come to a better and increasing understanding of what we're about. 00:14:18.920 --> 00:14:21.600 And specifically, as we're talking today, what are our families about? 00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:29.100 Our families are a means in which we find ourselves in and the environment in which we can glorify God. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:34.520 Our families are created to glorify God, and that is what he desires us to do. 00:14:35.060 --> 00:14:36.660 John Piper has that famous saying, right. 00:14:36.660 --> 00:14:39.360 God is glorified when we are most satisfied in him. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:47.460 And so as we begin to understand the fear of the Lord, the ever increasing awareness that God is our environment, it was created for His glory. 00:14:47.860 --> 00:14:54.880 As we begin to pursue that and live that as the Psalm 128 indicates, right, we are beginning to 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:57.400 cooperate with what our original design is all about. 00:14:58.300 --> 00:15:05.440 And in that we find joy and peace and mutual respect and unity and all those things 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:07.260 because we're cooperating with the spirit. 00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:10.460 The salvation story is not just a ticket to heaven. 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:17.920 It is a beginning in which God desires to do a work within us to transform and restore our brokenness inside of 00:15:17.920 --> 00:15:23.780 ourselves and in the brokenness and restoration of relationships around us that he might be glorified in that. 00:15:25.980 --> 00:15:26.700 That's the gospel. 00:15:29.140 --> 00:15:31.160 And an amazing thing. 00:15:32.520 --> 00:15:39.160 So the fear of the Lord working definition for us to be applicable is that it's all about God and His glory. 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:47.120 And we have an A, we have a choice to live for him and for His glory 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:52.440 and to pursue those things in the fear and the ever increasing awareness of he's our reality. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.770 And as we do that, we glorify him. 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.520 And that's what God desires from us. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:07.440 So as we get back to Psalm 128, we kind of dive in what this psalm is all about. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:13.300 Psalm 128, verse three says, Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine. 00:16:15.520 --> 00:16:17.580 In the very heart of your house. 00:16:18.380 --> 00:16:22.120 Your children are like olive plants all around your table. 00:16:23.660 --> 00:16:23.800 All right. 00:16:23.880 --> 00:16:24.480 So that's kind of. 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:27.220 Different language, Right. 00:16:27.420 --> 00:16:28.280 What does he mean by that? 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:33.310 Well, the first thing I want to do before we get into the olive plants and what that entails. 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:41.980 The first thing I want to point your attention to this morning is this Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:43.860 heart of your house. 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:52.150 According to God's scripture, mothers play a vital and important role in our homes. 00:16:52.760 --> 00:16:54.820 Look at the description he's painting of the mother. 00:16:55.660 --> 00:16:57.360 The very heart of the house. 00:16:57.920 --> 00:17:00.360 The vine in which provides sustenance to the family. 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:10.460 It is so important for us to understand, and especially as men, to understand the vital role that 00:17:10.460 --> 00:17:14.220 our wives play in our family. 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:16.099 And we need to support them in that. 00:17:17.540 --> 00:17:25.000 And I must admit, as husbands and I know as our children, we 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.650 don't acknowledge you mothers and the vital role that you play. 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:29.120 Right. 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:29.700 Look at that. 00:17:30.620 --> 00:17:32.600 She provides she's the heart of the home. 00:17:32.860 --> 00:17:35.980 She provides sustenance, such a very important role. 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:36.920 And we don't acknowledge that. 00:17:37.060 --> 00:17:39.900 But I'm just here today to tell you that your father in heaven does. 00:17:41.100 --> 00:17:44.200 He understands the vital role you as mothers play. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:53.440 And as fathers, we should strive to support our mothers in that right. 00:17:53.560 --> 00:17:59.240 It's paints this picture, this scripture, along with others, paints this picture of complementarianism, right? 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:03.360 It's the idea that we are completely equal, both male and female. 00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:06.640 But God has a chosen role and function. 00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:09.020 We have different functions and roles in the family. 00:18:09.540 --> 00:18:14.080 We have other scriptures that declare that the husband should be the spiritual leader of the home. 00:18:14.820 --> 00:18:21.040 Yet we have this picture that shows that mother, the mom is the central hub, the heart of the home, and it's complementarian. 00:18:21.760 --> 00:18:26.060 It's one flesh working together to pursue God and the fear of God. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:34.180 And as we cooperate with God's description here and we see our roles and we faithfully pursue them, and as we pursue our 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:41.280 Lord, this picture of someone 28 begins to work ourselves out in our home and in 00:18:41.280 --> 00:18:42.030 our families. 00:18:43.160 --> 00:18:44.000 All right. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:51.140 And again, we notice here in the third verse that says, notice children are likened to olive plants. 00:18:52.260 --> 00:18:52.980 It's kind of weird. 00:18:52.980 --> 00:18:54.480 What does that mean? 00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:58.560 Well, it's because we're kind of disconnected from the historical writing of the time. 00:18:59.060 --> 00:19:03.660 In the biblical times, the olive plant was a very valuable asset, right? 00:19:04.020 --> 00:19:07.580 If you just look in the Bible alone, the olive plant was used for food. 00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:09.830 It was used for illumination. 00:19:10.340 --> 00:19:12.060 The oil was put in lamps. 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:20.680 It was used for consecration of religious workers, cosmetic purposes, medicinal purposes, religious ceremonies and 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:22.520 a commodity of exchange. 00:19:23.140 --> 00:19:25.440 And so too, the Old Testament reader. 00:19:27.140 --> 00:19:30.520 It was very well understood what was being said here about the olive plant. 00:19:31.080 --> 00:19:32.400 It's a very valuable asset. 00:19:34.420 --> 00:19:34.540 God. 00:19:37.600 --> 00:19:39.440 God. 00:19:40.780 --> 00:19:46.910 Holds our children as very valuable and they're very valuable assets that he's given to us. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:49.130 And so that's what the psalmist is painting here. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:53.060 We are to view our children as valuable to God. 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:56.580 And notice also that he says they're all of plants. 00:19:58.180 --> 00:19:59.040 They're not all of branches. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:03.940 We think of the family tree and we have one big tree and the branches are all sticking off from the main trunk. 00:20:03.980 --> 00:20:04.120 Right? 00:20:04.140 --> 00:20:05.300 And then our children are hanging off. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:09.730 But according to the psalmist here, he's showing us that they're plants of themselves. 00:20:10.040 --> 00:20:12.500 They exist in and of themselves. 00:20:13.120 --> 00:20:20.600 There's going to come a day when those plants will be planted in their own orchard and will begin to bear fruit on their own away from us. 00:20:21.740 --> 00:20:29.080 And that is the picture that God is showing us, that the end game, the end game is for our children to leave and to sprout 00:20:29.080 --> 00:20:35.100 roots in their own orchard and begin to produce fruit to the glory of God. 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:43.180 And so as we coalesce around the table, we are striving to raise up our children in the nurture and admonition of the 00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:48.920 Lord with the end game and knowing that one day they will be out on their own bearing fruit. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:51.520 I notice further. 00:20:53.470 --> 00:21:00.480 The psalmist is showing us that it's these families, these olive plants are sitting 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:02.020 around your table. 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:03.790 This text says. 00:21:04.020 --> 00:21:04.220 Right. 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:05.600 What does that paint for us? 00:21:05.820 --> 00:21:11.260 It's a picture of unity and contentment in the family. 00:21:12.380 --> 00:21:15.540 When he says your children are sitting around your table. 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:17.860 The implication is that you're there. 00:21:19.020 --> 00:21:19.800 You're at the table. 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:23.300 Your present. 00:21:23.740 --> 00:21:29.750 You're connected with your family just as the mother is the vine that provides a sustenance. 00:21:30.540 --> 00:21:31.320 So should the dead. 00:21:31.320 --> 00:21:33.700 It's a picture of unity and contentment. 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:36.300 And that's what God desires for us. 00:21:38.020 --> 00:21:39.160 We must be present. 00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:44.020 My mom made this very stark reality in my life just Friday. 00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:46.730 She helps us out on Fridays. 00:21:47.180 --> 00:21:53.300 When my wife works, she'll come home and come to our house and meet my children as they get off the school bus. 00:21:53.560 --> 00:22:00.580 And she'll kind of take care of the homework and stuff while I'm at work and she'll fix dinner and just about the time dinner is ready, I'll come home 00:22:00.580 --> 00:22:03.600 because I just kind of happens that way. 00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:04.480 I don't know. 00:22:04.520 --> 00:22:05.920 And right. 00:22:06.040 --> 00:22:09.900 So I come in Friday night and I walk into the house, Dinner's ready. 00:22:09.940 --> 00:22:16.900 And Mom's my mom's dishing out the plates and getting everybody around the table, and one of the kids grabs the plate and starts walking away. 00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:18.220 And she's like, No, no, no, no. 00:22:18.900 --> 00:22:19.440 You're a family. 00:22:20.520 --> 00:22:21.860 You need to eat as a family. 00:22:22.780 --> 00:22:25.320 I'm like, Yeah, yeah. 00:22:25.580 --> 00:22:26.670 We need to eat as a family. 00:22:26.800 --> 00:22:27.620 Spiritual leader of the home. 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:28.760 Right, Right. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:30.600 It was a good reminder for me. 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:33.780 And thinking back, I know where that comes from. 00:22:34.520 --> 00:22:37.610 Growing up, my dad never sat at the table. 00:22:38.840 --> 00:22:48.420 He never had we never had those family times that the around sitting around the dinner table exchanging, conversation 00:22:48.420 --> 00:22:50.720 and all that stuff, he was always off eating. 00:22:51.300 --> 00:22:52.280 And I know that kind of annoyed her. 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:53.740 Right. 00:22:53.820 --> 00:22:57.500 And so it was just a good reminder what it means. 00:22:57.940 --> 00:23:00.600 You need to be connected there, sitting around your table. 00:23:00.600 --> 00:23:02.940 You need to be present in your family. 00:23:04.800 --> 00:23:06.260 So why is this unity so important? 00:23:08.340 --> 00:23:11.590 Well, it's because Scripture declares it to be so. 00:23:11.820 --> 00:23:13.820 This is John chapter 17. 00:23:13.820 --> 00:23:19.460 This is our Lord and savior on the eve of his crucifixion. 00:23:19.700 --> 00:23:21.060 And he's praying to the father. 00:23:22.280 --> 00:23:29.460 And he's not only praying for the disciples, but as we enter into to verse 20 here, we see that he's praying 00:23:29.560 --> 00:23:29.940 for all believers. 00:23:31.960 --> 00:23:32.260 Right. 00:23:32.340 --> 00:23:39.380 And so we can get a glimpse of what Jesus, our Lord finds really important because he's praying to the 00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:40.860 Father on our behalf. 00:23:41.740 --> 00:23:42.740 And so what does he find important? 00:23:44.260 --> 00:23:49.320 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word. 00:23:50.300 --> 00:23:52.160 That they all may be one. 00:23:53.460 --> 00:23:57.560 As you father are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. 00:23:58.340 --> 00:24:01.340 That the world may believe that you sent me. 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:03.340 And the glory which you gave me. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:07.720 I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. 00:24:09.700 --> 00:24:14.060 And I in them and you and me that they may be made perfect in one. 00:24:15.120 --> 00:24:17.940 And that the world may know that you have sent me. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:20.140 And I've loved them as you have loved me. 00:24:21.060 --> 00:24:28.500 So what is the differentiating characteristic that Christ is praying for that will show the world that we're different, that 00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:29.720 our mark is different? 00:24:30.560 --> 00:24:31.060 It's unity. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:33.450 We may be one. 00:24:35.080 --> 00:24:38.180 And God desires our families to be one and unified. 00:24:39.540 --> 00:24:42.040 And that doesn't happen in and of itself. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:44.160 It doesn't happen in the natural state because of the fall. 00:24:44.500 --> 00:24:46.120 That doesn't happen in the church setting. 00:24:47.100 --> 00:24:48.880 God's desire for us is to be unified. 00:24:50.360 --> 00:24:51.570 But we have to work at it. 00:24:53.340 --> 00:24:53.700 Right. 00:24:53.820 --> 00:24:54.440 That's what he desires. 00:24:54.640 --> 00:25:01.740 And what is this unity look like in the reality and the practical playing out of this unified? 00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:03.360 We know that God desires for it. 00:25:03.540 --> 00:25:04.640 Christ is praying it for us. 00:25:05.080 --> 00:25:05.820 What does it look like? 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.860 Well, the apostle Paul kind of gives us a picture of what that looks like. 00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:12.520 Here in Colossians, chapter three says. 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:19.800 But above all, these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection and let the peace 00:25:19.800 --> 00:25:24.060 of God rule in your hearts to which you are also called. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:24.680 Here we are again. 00:25:25.900 --> 00:25:28.760 You were also called in one body and be thankful. 00:25:30.220 --> 00:25:31.140 Now, notice this. 00:25:31.660 --> 00:25:39.300 He's describing, I think, this picture of God being our environment and the increasing 00:25:39.300 --> 00:25:43.530 reality in our own lives of understanding that that's true. 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:44.800 God is our environment. 00:25:46.540 --> 00:25:53.940 So he says, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms 00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:58.980 and hymns and spiritual songs, Singing with Grace in your hearts to the Lord. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:06.240 In verse 17 says, And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. 00:26:07.860 --> 00:26:10.560 Giving thanks to God, the Father through him. 00:26:10.940 --> 00:26:18.020 So I hope you can see what Paul's stressing is that we must see the pursuit 00:26:18.020 --> 00:26:19.940 of God's glory in our family. 00:26:20.600 --> 00:26:21.820 He's talking with the church. 00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:25.820 But if you'll read on in verse 18, he immediately goes in to the roles of the family members. 00:26:26.980 --> 00:26:27.100 Right. 00:26:28.080 --> 00:26:35.240 And so it's this unity is supposed to be shown in love and giving of forgiving one another 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:42.280 and putting on meekness as the scriptures passages before verse 14 talk about that is what Unity looks 00:26:42.280 --> 00:26:42.580 like. 00:26:44.230 --> 00:26:44.780 But. 00:26:45.940 --> 00:26:47.200 That's the hardest part, right? 00:26:47.780 --> 00:26:50.440 We're given this example of perfect unity. 00:26:52.320 --> 00:26:56.560 But we all know if we're honest, that's not reality in our lives. 00:26:57.700 --> 00:27:00.540 We had this video start at the beginning of my sermon. 00:27:01.380 --> 00:27:01.580 Right. 00:27:01.800 --> 00:27:02.360 Picture perfect. 00:27:03.340 --> 00:27:10.640 All these beautiful families and we can all get gussied up and look real good and we can pose and have that perfect picture taken of our family. 00:27:11.600 --> 00:27:14.540 But in reality, we're all in process, are we not? 00:27:15.900 --> 00:27:23.060 And so as I move on to these next slides, I just want to reaffirm and make sure you understand that 00:27:23.120 --> 00:27:30.180 this transformation process, that the restoration of the gospel is the source in which we tap into, in which we live 00:27:30.180 --> 00:27:35.640 in the fear of the Lord, in which our hearts are transformed and which our bodies or our families are transformed. 00:27:36.980 --> 00:27:43.750 It's this wonderful news of grace, unmerited favor extended to us. 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:45.740 By our Father through Jesus Christ. 00:27:47.020 --> 00:27:54.060 Unmerited salvation is not gained by our merit, but is a gift given to us by God. 00:27:55.240 --> 00:28:03.740 The hardest thing for Legalists like me, is to then understand that transformation and into 00:28:03.740 --> 00:28:10.880 towards the holiness and all those things are not done in my own power, but continue on in the enabling grace 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:14.220 that God bestows to His believers. 00:28:14.460 --> 00:28:16.960 It's transformation from the inside out. 00:28:17.120 --> 00:28:24.320 And so as I share this list of things that we need to do, there are ideas that might encourage you as we close 00:28:24.320 --> 00:28:30.100 today that I might encourage you to work towards unity and build bonds in your family. 00:28:30.620 --> 00:28:35.620 Understand, it's through the power of grace given to us. 00:28:36.560 --> 00:28:38.440 And it's not doing these things. 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:41.140 I don't want you to be beat down and say, I got to do better. 00:28:41.340 --> 00:28:42.240 I got to know. 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:42.890 Turn to the Lord. 00:28:43.100 --> 00:28:50.280 Remember the key, the fear of the Lord ever increasing reality that God is not only an environment, but He's given us means in 00:28:50.280 --> 00:28:57.380 which we can overcome the old self and be renewed in the new creature of Christ as declared in the 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:57.780 Scripture. 00:28:59.560 --> 00:29:00.820 So what does it look like? 00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:02.640 Building bonds. 00:29:03.520 --> 00:29:07.720 The first and most important, I think, is working on communication. 00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:09.520 Healthy communication. 00:29:09.520 --> 00:29:09.620 Okay. 00:29:12.800 --> 00:29:16.220 Ephesians Chapter four says this Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. 00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:23.880 But what is good and necessary for edification that it may impart grace to the hearers and 00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:31.040 that crazy if we had that just as like a banner in the middle of our home, like that's what we stood for, that no 00:29:31.040 --> 00:29:32.660 word would be used to tear down. 00:29:33.820 --> 00:29:37.100 But every word that comes out of our mouth is used to build up and to edify. 00:29:38.520 --> 00:29:43.590 That we are not to use our words to slay people because they have hurt us and hurt them in return and retaliate. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.480 But we use them to speak grace to them. 00:29:48.220 --> 00:29:51.860 That's what God desires from our words as Christ's followers and in the family. 00:29:52.580 --> 00:29:54.860 And if we play that in the middle of our home. 00:29:56.520 --> 00:30:01.040 I know my family for sure would be drastically different. 00:30:01.340 --> 00:30:04.560 And so I'm asking by God's grace, that will be more evident. 00:30:05.380 --> 00:30:07.720 An ever increasing reality in my home and my family. 00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:11.840 And so other things getting beyond small talk. 00:30:12.980 --> 00:30:14.880 Again, alluding to the fact that you need to be present. 00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:21.560 We need to talk about more than just the weather and the food and what they ate at the cafeteria that day. 00:30:22.540 --> 00:30:25.140 But what's going on in their hearts? 00:30:25.900 --> 00:30:26.690 What's their troubles? 00:30:27.740 --> 00:30:28.190 What's those things? 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:35.460 And so sometimes we have to actively just shut the iPhone off and the TV off and be 00:30:35.460 --> 00:30:38.920 present for our families that we can get beyond the small talk. 00:30:39.060 --> 00:30:41.460 May we have a thing at our house? 00:30:41.840 --> 00:30:42.240 We do. 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:44.020 A lot of times at the dinner table. 00:30:44.080 --> 00:30:45.120 We call it the highs and lows. 00:30:45.900 --> 00:30:52.980 And we go around the table and we tell each other everyone gets to tell us the high of their day and the low that they 00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:54.080 experienced that day. 00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:59.720 But that's a great provides and a great insight into the hearts of our children, what they're struggling with. 00:31:00.500 --> 00:31:06.940 And so we're getting trying to get beyond the small talk when we do that and we're trying to get real and authentic and what's going on. 00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:14.500 And that builds bonds in the family, avoiding overtalk Again, words are used 00:31:14.500 --> 00:31:16.520 to build up and edify, not to tear down. 00:31:17.760 --> 00:31:21.960 We can't dominate the conversation and be talking and what I say goes. 00:31:22.100 --> 00:31:24.100 That's not the picture that's painted for us. 00:31:24.840 --> 00:31:27.160 We need to become good listeners. 00:31:28.260 --> 00:31:31.740 James Chapter 119 says, Be quick to hear and slow to speak. 00:31:33.020 --> 00:31:34.620 Right to have healthy communication. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:36.220 We need to learn to listen. 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:44.900 I've been guilty of that, where my daughter is talking to me, but I'm checking out my Facebook page at the same time by listening. 00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:51.580 She sees that what's more important in her eyes, my Facebook or her? 00:31:52.060 --> 00:31:52.900 What's going on in her life. 00:31:53.500 --> 00:31:59.180 We must learn to be good listeners and working to build trust with one another. 00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:04.390 So important, we're getting in to the teenage years and in our household of our children are. 00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:06.100 And honestly, we're scared to death. 00:32:07.300 --> 00:32:07.740 Right. 00:32:08.800 --> 00:32:10.260 It's a new chapter for us. 00:32:11.500 --> 00:32:18.460 But what we're trying to do is develop this bond and relationship of trust with one another. 00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:22.960 And so our discipline no longer is you've violated the rule. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:24.320 Therefore, here's your consequence. 00:32:24.980 --> 00:32:29.300 We're trying to we understand that eventually they're going to be out of our house. 00:32:30.620 --> 00:32:35.510 And as they grow, the goal is to give them more and more trust and more and more freedom. 00:32:35.520 --> 00:32:35.960 They want freedom. 00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:37.440 Do they not? 00:32:38.560 --> 00:32:38.800 Right. 00:32:39.700 --> 00:32:40.840 But they're their own plants. 00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:44.360 And so as they progressively get older, we need to give them more freedom. 00:32:45.560 --> 00:32:52.480 But what we're trying to establish now is that the freedom only comes when we have a trusting relationship with one another. 00:32:53.240 --> 00:32:59.210 And so when you are dishonest with us, it means that we have a trust issue now. 00:32:59.980 --> 00:33:01.170 And I know you want freedom. 00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:05.420 And if you really want freedom, you need to have a trusting relationship with your parents. 00:33:05.740 --> 00:33:07.780 We need to know what's going on with you and vice versa. 00:33:08.800 --> 00:33:10.260 And so they see the bigger picture now. 00:33:11.320 --> 00:33:11.700 All right. 00:33:12.360 --> 00:33:17.740 If I'm in this trusting relationship with my parents, that's when the freedoms will come. 00:33:19.100 --> 00:33:21.480 We must work on building trust with one another. 00:33:23.020 --> 00:33:27.920 It'd be nice just to be able to keep them protected for the rest of their lives. 00:33:27.940 --> 00:33:28.280 That'd be great. 00:33:28.500 --> 00:33:31.430 But that's not what God is calling us to do as parents. 00:33:33.320 --> 00:33:34.480 And that's just a few other ones. 00:33:34.600 --> 00:33:38.300 Building bonds, building family unity with Christ at the center. 00:33:38.540 --> 00:33:43.560 So important for us as Christ followers to understand it's about the glory of God. 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:47.400 And with that, the case, Christ should be at the center of all things. 00:33:47.800 --> 00:33:51.760 Commitment to Christ should bring the family not only to Christ but to each other. 00:33:51.800 --> 00:33:52.780 And that's the amazing thing. 00:33:52.800 --> 00:34:01.160 I've seen it work in my own family and other families that I've counseled as we all in the family pursue a unified path 00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:06.600 to try to worship God and keep him at the center and then working on that vertical relationship. 00:34:07.300 --> 00:34:12.040 The horizontal relationships between us just are so much easier. 00:34:12.739 --> 00:34:14.620 Because Christ is being pursued. 00:34:15.139 --> 00:34:16.520 Christ is our environment in that. 00:34:17.820 --> 00:34:22.230 And so the bickering and all those things, yes, they're still there, but Christ must be at the center. 00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:29.560 And so as you begin to that, you build a bond with Christ as we pursue him, but we also build a bond with one another as we're walking together in 00:34:29.659 --> 00:34:33.360 pursuit of him worshiping God as a family and your home as well as in church. 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:38.239 What are you doing to put Christ at the center? 00:34:39.639 --> 00:34:45.199 Is it just church or are there other times in which worship the worshiping of God is happening? 00:34:46.260 --> 00:34:48.040 Making the Bible not your feelings. 00:34:48.040 --> 00:34:54.070 The standard for personal and family living right so much easier when everyone's playing under the same rule book. 00:34:55.560 --> 00:35:02.620 And everyone is putting themselves under the authority of Scripture and the authority of our Creator as a means in 00:35:02.620 --> 00:35:09.640 which we can know how we're supposed to live and treat one another, praying regularly for every member of your 00:35:09.640 --> 00:35:12.100 family and your family as a whole. 00:35:12.780 --> 00:35:17.000 These are all ways in which you can build unity within your family. 00:35:17.020 --> 00:35:24.600 I have many more, and at the end of the last slide here, you're going to be able to see email address, Alpine Bible counseling at gmail.com 00:35:24.600 --> 00:35:31.140 if you desire more resources as far as building unity and bonds, feel free to reach out to me. 00:35:31.140 --> 00:35:34.900 If you see me here after the service or at the email, send me an email. 00:35:34.900 --> 00:35:36.830 I'll be more than happy to give those to you. 00:35:38.120 --> 00:35:42.780 But just in closing, let's remember the key passage in Psalm 128. 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:45.180 Thus, shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord? 00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:49.420 What does that mean to you? 00:35:50.940 --> 00:35:52.290 An ever increasing reality. 00:35:52.560 --> 00:35:59.920 It should mean or hopefully it will mean an ever increasing reality that God is our environment and our environment exists to glorify Him. 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:06.500 You know, my dad, like I said, he wasn't very religious. 00:36:06.500 --> 00:36:10.140 And honestly, growing up, he had a really hard time expressing his feelings. 00:36:10.160 --> 00:36:14.680 I know he loved us, but we couldn't get beyond the small talk. 00:36:16.760 --> 00:36:18.580 He was he was there in other ways. 00:36:18.660 --> 00:36:19.730 He was there at every football game. 00:36:20.240 --> 00:36:23.620 Didn't miss a one or all three of us boys and all those things. 00:36:23.800 --> 00:36:27.020 But we, we crave that. 00:36:27.020 --> 00:36:30.470 I remember craving that as a child to have a deeper relationship. 00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:33.340 You know, the birds and the bees conversation never happened. 00:36:33.680 --> 00:36:40.920 Those other things that a child needs never really happened with my father. 00:36:42.240 --> 00:36:46.590 And about a year and a half ago, we lost him to cancer. 00:36:48.410 --> 00:36:48.660 And. 00:36:51.300 --> 00:36:58.460 It was a very sad time, but there was also a blessing mixed in the midst because when he found out he got sick, 00:36:58.460 --> 00:37:04.560 he became radically transformed in his views of his creator. 00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:10.610 He knew for a fact that he had an imminent date with his creator. 00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:13.950 And that changed him drastically. 00:37:14.020 --> 00:37:21.280 He was in the hospital in Houston and he got up and went down to the chapel and he asked for a Bible. 00:37:21.820 --> 00:37:25.290 He's never picked up a Bible from his own accord in his life. 00:37:25.460 --> 00:37:25.560 Right. 00:37:26.120 --> 00:37:27.640 And the Gideons gave him this one. 00:37:27.640 --> 00:37:28.660 My mom gave this to me. 00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:31.160 The Gideons had these for them. 00:37:31.620 --> 00:37:32.780 And they're in the chapel in the hospital. 00:37:33.740 --> 00:37:34.280 Thank God for the Gideons. 00:37:35.820 --> 00:37:38.460 But my dad picked us up and he began to read. 00:37:39.480 --> 00:37:40.960 He began to seek after God. 00:37:41.980 --> 00:37:49.260 He began to understand that he was created and he was going to be held accountable. 00:37:49.300 --> 00:37:50.230 And he began to pursue him. 00:37:50.380 --> 00:37:56.440 And so what I see in that is a gracious gift given to my father of the fear of the Lord. 00:37:57.980 --> 00:38:01.780 He was not cowering or didn't get hardened towards God. 00:38:02.660 --> 00:38:08.040 Begin to pursue God and begin to seek him and begin to desire to understand him. 00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:11.380 And I'm so grateful for that. 00:38:13.280 --> 00:38:16.440 And I hope he found him. 00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:17.400 I hope the Lord found him. 00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:20.040 And I and I have confidence that he has. 00:38:21.460 --> 00:38:28.560 And you know that the last couple of weeks, just before he died, we thought it was going to be like 00:38:28.560 --> 00:38:29.200 the next day. 00:38:29.200 --> 00:38:30.370 So my mom called, said this time. 00:38:30.520 --> 00:38:37.610 And so we just had this very sweet time where we flew in because we thought he was just had hours, if not days. 00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:41.900 But when we came, he rebounded. 00:38:42.080 --> 00:38:49.120 He, God gave him that this gracious time where he was he was better 00:38:49.120 --> 00:38:49.800 for a little bit. 00:38:49.980 --> 00:38:53.780 You know, his kids were here and the next thing you know, he's waking me up. 00:38:53.780 --> 00:38:54.900 He's like, let's go for a walk. 00:38:55.080 --> 00:38:55.180 Right. 00:38:55.260 --> 00:38:57.100 My dad, the hiker, he wanted to hike. 00:38:58.220 --> 00:39:01.660 And it was just the sweetest thing because it was there was no extended family. 00:39:01.740 --> 00:39:07.940 It was just us five again, just my brothers and my mom and my dad. 00:39:08.080 --> 00:39:14.720 And it was some of the sweetest time because of this transformation that has happened. 00:39:15.220 --> 00:39:17.180 He knew he his time was limited. 00:39:17.180 --> 00:39:20.160 He wanted to spend that time with his kids and his wife. 00:39:20.980 --> 00:39:22.760 He didn't want to talk about the weather anymore. 00:39:24.240 --> 00:39:27.580 Conversations during those next few days were much more meaningful. 00:39:29.740 --> 00:39:30.800 Nothing was left unsaid. 00:39:32.360 --> 00:39:33.400 And I'm so grateful for that. 00:39:34.720 --> 00:39:37.320 Dad ate at the table with us and we had dinner. 00:39:40.340 --> 00:39:46.040 Probably the most precious thing is we were just in the living room and he just stopped and he said, Let's pray. 00:39:46.180 --> 00:39:47.400 He led us in family prayer. 00:39:48.480 --> 00:39:49.260 It's never happened. 00:39:50.300 --> 00:39:57.990 And I'm convinced it was a gracious gift to the fear of the Lord given to my father by God, the Father. 00:39:58.420 --> 00:40:05.660 And to be honest, there's a part of me that wonders what life would have been like if that was the 00:40:06.720 --> 00:40:09.760 norm instead of just that short, precious time. 00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:12.830 What would be different if we had that opportunity? 00:40:13.120 --> 00:40:16.560 And I can't go there for long because that's not the reality. 00:40:17.120 --> 00:40:24.460 I'm thankful for those that precious time that we had and we were able to be that family unit that I know my brothers always longed 00:40:24.500 --> 00:40:26.920 for and I long for that short amount of time. 00:40:27.360 --> 00:40:28.460 But I can't dwell there. 00:40:28.520 --> 00:40:30.640 What I can do is take that as a lesson. 00:40:32.180 --> 00:40:32.860 I have children now. 00:40:38.640 --> 00:40:44.000 I have been given the responsibility to be the Father. 00:40:44.080 --> 00:40:47.530 God has called me to be to them, to be their. 00:40:49.460 --> 00:40:49.920 To be present. 00:40:52.520 --> 00:40:57.600 And the reality that, my God, my dad was able to get that precious gift and we had that time. 00:40:58.300 --> 00:40:59.950 That was a gracious gift given to my father. 00:40:59.980 --> 00:41:03.660 But the reality is none of us here today are guaranteed tomorrow. 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:09.900 And so if God gives me the grace to live another day, what am I going to do? 00:41:11.660 --> 00:41:12.620 What am I going to live for? 00:41:14.840 --> 00:41:22.160 Am I going to live in the ever increasing reality that God is in our environment and He desires me to glorify Him in 00:41:22.160 --> 00:41:25.900 the ways I treat my family and raise them up and lead them. 00:41:26.630 --> 00:41:33.720 Mom, if you're here today, God desires that you would glorify him by being the heart of the family and the 00:41:33.720 --> 00:41:38.040 sustenance in which the hub in which the family unit runs most days. 00:41:40.360 --> 00:41:41.180 Glorify him in that.