Whole Hearted Households — Denny Kenaston

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Joshua's Wholehearted Commitment to His Household

OK, this last session that we'll be covering on vision, the title of the message is Wholehearted Households. It was Joshua, the son of none, the servant of Moses, who said these words that are very famous.

Probably most of us in this room have them on the wall of our house somewhere. Many of us men have quoted those words many a time on a Sunday afternoon fellowship. Joshua is the one who said them the first time.

He said, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Powerful words, words of determination, words of vision, words that have inspired many a couple, many a time for thousands of years. You would think if you didn't know the context of those verses, you would think that Joshua made those statements when he was a young man.

It seems like the statement of the young man ought to make. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But in actual reality, Joshua was an old man when he said those words. Joshua was 110 years old when he said those words.

Amen. So you think, oh, wait a minute. What is this old guy saying words like that for? Those are words for me to say. I have my family to raise yet. What's he saying words like that for? He's 110 years old.

Surely he knows it's about time to pass on. Why is he saying such words? There's a reason. He's 110 years old. He's not a young man dreaming dreams and visions. He's 110 years old. It's been 70 years since God said of him, he wholly followed the Lord is God.

We look over his life and it's no question about it that that is exactly what he did. He did wholly follow the Lord is God all of his days. I like Joshua. He's one of my heroes. And I like the one sitting down there too.

He's one of my heroes. Amen. Joshua is speaking prophetically as he proclaims his intent and the intent of his whole family in these words that he says. He has passed on the zeal and love of God to the next generation.

And he's speaking prophetically and he's speaking knowing what his generations are going to do. You see, when a man said, my house in those days, he just wasn't talking about the ones that he had underneath his roof.

Joshua, when he said those words, there were four generations of his children standing there in that crowd of people when he said those words. When Joshua, at 110 years old, said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

He could say those words prophetically because he had wholly followed the Lord and he had a wholehearted household. And his children rose up after him and those after them and the next ones after them.

That's how Joshua could say such words. He was a true patriarch, wasn't he? Joshua is a good example of a wholehearted Jewish home. Spiritual Israel was totally consumed with raising their children for Jehovah.

Family-Centered Jewish Homes

Some years ago, I discovered this as I was studying for a message on the home. It thrilled me as I began to look into what Jewish home life was like to a spiritual Jew. It thrilled my heart to see the ordered life, the life that was ordered around raising children.

As I was meditating and studying these homes of spiritual Jewish Israel, it dawned on me, this is the kind of home that our Lord Jesus was raised in. This is the kind of home John the Baptist was raised in.

Probably the kind of home that John the Apostle and Peter the Apostle and the other ones was raised in. You see, it wasn't some happenstance accident that when Messiah showed up on the scene, Peter, James, John, Nathaniel, Simon, Peter's brother Philip and all those, it wasn't just an accident that all of a sudden their hearts were ripe and ready and open to receive the Messiah.

This is probably the kind of home that they had. Let's consider what those homes were like. Number one, they built their houses to be family-centered houses. The house had small rooms in it, which were bedrooms and things like that.

And there was one large family room right in the middle. In that room, they did cooking, they did sewing, they did their eating in that room. They had their devotions in that room. That room was hospitality room.

That room was family time in the evenings. That room was a place where everybody gathered to sit and talk in the middle of the day. It was their living room. We've got to change that name, you know, in our land.

Now, the living room, that's where you go and sit down. But in those days, it was the living room where everyone lived together. They built their houses that way on purpose. And we see some of that even in this area where we live.

We see men rising up and building a house. And all the while they're building it, they have things in mind. They have children in mind. They build this big house, you know, with six, seven bedrooms in it.

You think, my, what do you need all those bedrooms for? But if you have 12 or 14 children, you need a few bedrooms. They built it with some vision in mind. I noticed as I was studying the beautiful order of the Sabbath evening in a spiritual Jewish home.

On the Sabbath evening, it was an evening when the family prepared for the Sabbath. The father, he didn't prepare. On the Sabbath evening, he went away to the synagogue to hear preaching and to worship God.

While he was away, the family was very busy. They were busy taking baths, putting on their best clothes, making a nice meal, putting out the best place they had and preparing the best food they had for the Sabbath evening meal.

The table was set. Everything was in its place. The Sabbath light was burning. And all the children and mama were there waiting for dad to come home. Well, when the dad came home, he gave his Sabbath evening blessing to all the children.

He did it every week. And when he came home, when he walked through that door, all the children knew, I'm going to get a blessing. Everything's in place. The table's made. We're going to have a nice meal together.

We've got our nice clean clothes on. Everything is prepared. We're waiting for dad. And when dad gets home, I'm going to get a blessing. When that door opened up and that father walked through the door, the children lined up with expectancy.

And they looked up at their father to wait their turn for them to get a blessing from their dad. And he lined them up and reached his hands out and put his hands on their head and spoke words of blessing upon each one of them.

It was part of every Sabbath evening. The Jewish father taught his children the word of God. According to Isaiah chapter 28, it was line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.

Which, by the way, is an awesome training program when you think about it. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 1 -7, which speaks about teaching your children the word of God. We'll look at that in more depth later on.

But that portion of Scripture was believed and obeyed by every serious-minded Jewish father. They chose their occupations based on Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 1 -7. Many times when a young man was determining what is he going to do for his occupation, as he looked ahead, thought about getting married, thought about having a family, he thought about his occupation, and he would look at his options, and one of the things he would ask himself is, can I fulfill Deuteronomy chapter 6 with this job?

Oh, I don't think I will be able to. I want to take this job. I will not go in this direction. I will not take a job that will take me away from my family again and again and again for days and days and days all through the year.

I cannot do it. I cannot fulfill Deuteronomy chapter 6. I will not take this job. I'll take a lesser job. Because they believed those verses were supposed to be obeyed. Lord, help us. This father taught his children the word of God.

He broke it down in words and illustrations that they could understand. He would constantly connect the actions of their life with the commandments that were in the word of God. He would say to them, this is why we pray the way we do.

Here is a verse that tells us why we go to the synagogue. Everything they did had a reason which was backed up with the word of God. And the father's responsibility was to connect the life they were living with the word of God which they had in their possession.

Sound good? Amen. Also, in this way, the father methodically, daily, catechized his children in all the laws of God. It was his responsibility. The father taught them how to read. This was done early in life.

Very early in life. What was his motivation? Did he have college on his mind? Was he thinking, my child needs to be a good reader so that my child could read lots of books. I'm going to teach him to read early.

No, that wasn't his motivation. His motivation was simply this. I want my child to be able to read the word of God. So we will teach the child to read. That was his motivation. They all had the same learning to read curriculum.

Did you know they had a learning to read curriculum back in those days? They all had the same one. It worked beautiful. Here it is right here. The word of God. That was their learning to read curriculum.

He would sit down in the evenings with the children and begin with the Hebrew alphabet and go over it, all of its sounds, what they mean, how they should sound, how they're said. Then once they mastered the Hebrew alphabet, then into the little simple words which you find in the word of God.

It reminds me of some of the things we did with the children as they were learning how to read. And sit them down with a Bible and tell them, now you find this word every place you can in this chapter in the Bible.

And they would mark the word in the Bible. There it is. There it is again. There it is. That's what the father would do. Once they mastered those simple little words, then he moved on to bigger verses in the Bible and eventually the child could read the Jewish text of the word of God.

Father taught them to memorize Scripture long before they could read. As soon as they could understand sounds and know what words meant, the father began to teach them to memorize Scripture. They learned them by repetition.

They said them over and over again until they could quote them. Scriptures, songs, meaningful poems. He put them into their hearts and their minds because he knew that they would need it. Usually, one of the first psalms that they focused on memorizing was Psalm 119.

That would probably be the last one we would focus on. That was the first one they focused on. Amen? Amen. We'll take Psalm 100. But they took Psalm 119. The longest one. But if you ever studied Psalm 119, you know why they took Psalm 119.

It is filled with the zeal and love and commitment to follow the word of God, learn the word of God, and obey the word of God. And besides that, every one of those little portions follows the Hebrew alphabet right down the line.

They taught them Psalm 119. Oh, we need to follow this wholehearted example in our own children's lives. Our children also have quick minds. They can learn very fast. They can learn faster than we think they can.

They can learn much more than we think they can learn. We need to stretch our minds in these things, brothers and sisters. They can memorize chapters and chapters of the Bible before they can even read.

We need to follow this example and catechize our children. We are the Sunday school teacher, brothers and sisters. We are the Sunday school teacher. We need to be the ones that sit them down and make the Bible practical and apply it to their everyday life.

We are the ones that should interpret the Bible to our children in the world that they live in. The world changes with every generation. And it's the Father's responsibility to take the word of God and apply that book to the world that we live in.

See, 50 years ago, they didn't have computer games where people killed each other and splattered blood all over the screen. They didn't have those things 50 years ago, but we have them now. Somebody needs to pick up the Bible and find a reason why that's hellish.

Because it is. Many, many people get uneasy about standards and rules in the church, but many fathers are not willing. They are not willing to make the sacrifice that is needed to put these principles in the hearts of their own children.

It's not the church's job to make the rules to keep your children in line. It is your responsibility to take the word of God and break it down and in zeal and enthusiasm, put it in your children. That's our responsibility as fathers.

We need to be the ones that sit down and take the Bible and open it up and tell our children, this is why we pray the way we do. This is why you see people raising their hands on Sunday morning. This is why the sisters have a covering on their head.

This is why we do this. This is why we do that. We're the ones that are supposed to do that. What a shock to me it is so many times when you meet religious people in this county where we are, and you ask some of them, why do you do that?

Well, I don't know. Why do you have this covering on your head? Oh, well, Mom did. Mom did. That's a poor excuse for putting one on your head. Mom did.

Because the word of God says so. That's the answer.

Gendered Education and Household Responsibilities

Back to the Jewish father. The boys, they went to school. When they turned eight years old, they went away for formal schooling. The girls, they had school at home. They learned from their mother. There was book learning.

They had studies they had to do. But most of the focus was on preparing those young ladies to be able to keep a home for some godly young man someday. That's what they did. And the boys, they went off to school during the day.

Some people may react to this, you know, and say, hey, that's not right. The girls didn't get the opportunity to have an education, and I don't believe in that. I think girls need to have an education.

No problem with that. However, this clearly shows a clear division of labor and responsibility which is being lost in our land. It's being lost. I mean, it's so lost now that ladies will say to their husbands, you do the dishes.

You take care of the children for two years. I'm going to work. Awesome thoughts. Back to the boys. Who do you suppose they got to train these boys that they sent off to school when they were eight years old?

No reflection on young teachers here, but they didn't go looking for a 19 or 20 year old boy or a young lady who wanted a job teaching. They would not put their children underneath a young one like that.

God bless you, teachers. Nothing against any of you. But we're just looking at the example of these men. They found the most spiritual rabbi that they could find, and he was the one who trained those boys at school.

Why? Because they were raising up leaders for the nation of Israel. That's why. And that's no little thing. May God lift up our sights and raise our eyes that we can see higher than where we see. Why am I saying all of this?

What does it mean to us? Spiritual Israel raised their children on purpose. That's what I gleaned as I studied this Jewish home. It was very clear. These people were serious about raising children. They did many things on purpose.

They had verses to direct them. They had visions to inspire them. And they did it with their whole heart. And we need to follow their example. We have more available to us than what they had. Surely we can follow their example.

We ought to be able to pass it up. Because the Holy Ghost has been given at pentecost unto us and to our children. We need to follow their example and reap some of the powerful results that we looked at here yesterday.

Homes Prepared for God's Chosen Servants

Remember what I said earlier here about the home life of the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist. Consider that for a minute. When the Father in Heaven was searching for a home for one of His chosen vessels, what kind of a home do you think He was looking for?

A haphazard one? No, I don't think so. I think the Father knew what He was doing when He selected Mary, when He selected Joseph. I think He knew what He was doing when He selected Elizabeth and Zachariah to be the ones who would raise two very precious chosen vessels for God and for His kingdom.

I think He knew what He was doing. I believe those two men grew up in homes somewhat like what I just described. Think of these words of John's parents. It says in Luke 1, they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord blameless.

I wonder what kind of home they had if they were walking in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord blameless. That means all these verses that we have all over the walls and in the back there, they were walking in all of those blameless.

God knew where to put John the Baptist, didn't He? By the way, He still knows where to put John the Baptist. He still knows where to put John the Baptist. Remember all those pictures that we've been looking at already?

Those arrows, those olive plants, those mature plants, those polished cornerstones, all those illustrations that we've been looking at. Spiritual Israel lived off of those pictures. That was the fuel that flamed their fires.

Those very pictures, these visions, was the fuel that produced the Jewish home just like where we looked at. Filled with vision, methods, and actions. Spiritual Israel took the visions and the methods and produced the action that raised up godly children for Yahweh.

May God help us to do the same thing. The question is, are we willing to pay that kind of price? You see, we live in America.

You know how America is.

There is a price tag on a beautiful home like this. It is well worth the price. But the question is whether we're willing to pay the price. That is the question. Older folks often testify with tears after they've sat through a series of meetings like this.

They will stand with tears and say, Oh, if I would have only heard these words when I was starting out with my home! I've had a few young couples come up to me already this week. Just married. Maybe have one little baby.

Or maybe one in the womb. I tell you what, they are so ripe and so broken and so open to listen to every word that is being said. You know why? There's something very earnest about how they're looking at their family and their home life.

It would be good for all of us to learn from those young couples that have a little one in the womb. And from those old couples who would stand and say with tears running down their face, Oh, I wish I could have heard these words when I was raising my children.

I would have taken heed to them and saved myself lots of heartaches. And I would have saved my children.

From wreck and from ruin.

Consecrating the Household to God

Well, are willing to pay the price. Who then is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord, so that the grace of God may flow through them to change their priorities and make the changes so that godly children can be trained to walk with God with all of their heart?

Up till now, not many are willing to do that. And I praise God it's changing. But you know, through the years, I've noticed this. There's lots of people who get excited about the home tapes. But there's not very many people who take the whole thing seriously.

There's not very many people. I can always tell.

When somebody took it seriously. You walk into their house, it's clear in 20 minutes. How will we do?

What will we do? Who then is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord in such a way? How many homes do you know where the children are all out for the Lord, burning with zeal? Praise God! I know many now.

But oh, how many more God wants it to be! Like I said yesterday, it is the will of God. It is the heart of God that it be that way in every one of our homes. Who then is willing to pay the price? The church should be full of gray heads who have raised a generation of soldiers that are out on the fields, here and abroad, building a kingdom for the Lord Jesus Christ.

The church should be full of gray heads who have done that. You know, when I thought about it, as I was meditating upon these facts, we owe the next generation of parents an example that they can look at and follow just like that.

Some of us that are getting older, we owe the next generation that kind of an example. Let's look at another wholehearted household. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 16. The house of Stephanas. Here we have the testimony of a wholehearted household in one sentence.

God didn't need to write five or six pages about this house. One sentence said it all! That's what I like about God's Word. He can take one little sentence and it is so packed with meaning you could spend three hours on one sentence.

That's the way God's Word is. The testimony of the house of Stephanas. Let us read it in verse 15 of chapter 16. I beseech you, brethren, ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the work of the ministry.

I beseech you, brethren, that ye submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth. Now it seems to me that Stephanas was an elder in the church at Corinth. But Paul says some amazing words about this household here.

They were the first converts in that area. There's not a whole lot said, but what is said is powerful. They entered in to the gospel with joy and enthusiasm, and the family caught the fire. It's very clear.

This family, they're one of my models. I follow the example and the model of this family, and it's a special family to me because of that word, addict. It's a strong word. I know what it means. I used to be addicted to drugs and alcohol.

And when I focused in on that word, after God opened my eyes to the reality of what a home could be like and I saw that word, I said, God, I know what that word means! And that word means exactly what we understand it to mean.

It means they were hooked. They couldn't help themselves. Just like Paul said, I can't help myself. The love of Christ constrains me. It drags me around after souls. I'm just a slave to the Spirit of God, Paul says.

Well, that's the way it was with the house of Stephanus. They were addicted. They were hooked. Very interesting, the word know. Paul says there, you know the house of Stephanus. That word know is a powerful little word.

It's an experiential word. What Paul was saying by that is, you know that you know that you know by the way that you have seen them live. You know the house of Stephanus. You've seen it. Paul wasn't just telling them they're addicted.

He was saying, you know this whole household is addicted to the work of the ministry of the saints. Hallelujah! What an example for every one of us to follow. Amen? A bunch of children that are so hooked on serving others that they can't help themselves.

They have to do it the next day in order to get a fix again. Bless God, that's the right kind of fix. You can get hooked on that all you want. And by the way, it is addictive too, bless God. If you've never had the joy of leading a soul to Jesus Christ, you don't know what addiction is yet.

Here we have a husband and wife who so loved the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole family was affected by it. They allowed themselves to get so hooked on serving the saints at Corinth that they couldn't help themselves, but serve and serve and serve.

That the testimony of the church was clear. Everybody knew that whole house is sold out to God. Wholehearted families affect the next generation, brothers and sisters. You know, as Brother Willie's family was sharing with us this morning, all those words of faith and all of that, you know, I thought about it.

According to the promises of the Word of God, my family is secure.

Because I love God with my whole heart. My family is secure. You study it in the Bible. It's that way.

It's not an accident. That whole thing passes on from one generation to the next. All I have to do is keep the fire burning in my own soul. But I do need to keep my fire burning in my own heart, amen?

If I start cooling off, they start cooling off. Unless they're old enough to stand on their own two feet, then sometimes they pull up next to Dad and say, Dad, let's go. Let's get it. Praise God for that.

My son Daniel has done that to me a couple of times and I'm grateful for it. Hallelujah. This is a model family to us, brothers and sisters. Ten years from now, what will they say? Can they say that about your family?

Will they say that about your family in ten years? That whole house is hooked on God and hooked on ministering to people. They're an example. They're a model family to every one of us. Let's look at the wholehearted house of the elders.

Household Qualifications for Church Elders

The wholehearted house of the elders. We know in 1 Timothy and also in Titus, we know very clearly that God gives qualifications for leadership in the church. And there are many things that God says in there, but have you ever noticed that most of the time when God is speaking about the qualities of character that an elder should have, God uses one word.

He should be temperance. He should not be this. He should not be this. He should be this. Using one word. But when God gets to the home, and this is the Spirit of God, when the Spirit of God got to the home, He breathed out whole sentences to make it very clear in the church what kind of elders you need to ordain.

Basically, if you want to understand what God was saying in there, you look at this man's household. Is it a wholehearted household? If it is, then you know that man has been living right behind closed doors.

Ordain him. That's what God says. Oh my! Wouldn't that change things in all the many pulpits in the United States today if all of a sudden God sat every minister down and examined his heart and found that the family was wanting and the children were rebellious and they were fighting with Dad behind closed doors and God said to all those ministers, you go take a seat and let somebody else get up and preach until you get your house in order.

I wonder how many pulpits would be empty after that session with God. Wholehearted households of the elders. A man's family is the greatest revelation of who he really is. You know what they say? Character is who you are when nobody is looking.

May I say, character is who you are when the door is shut and nobody else is around but your family. That's who you really are. See, with our families, we don't put on a show for them because we get used to them.

They're there all the time. Our families are the greatest revelation of who we really are. That's why God says His house must be in order. A house that is in order has a man who has been living for God behind closed doors.

Mark it down. The one produces the other. Where you find a house that is in order, I guarantee you, you can find a man who's been living right behind closed doors. Our family gives us a way. That's a bit of a sobering thought at times, but our family gives us a way.

You cannot hide the true facts, dear brothers. Sometimes parents think they can, but time gives them a way. The chickens always come home to roost and the true reality of how it really was behind the doors comes out.

Our family gives us a way. If father and mother are sober, the children will be sober. If father and mother are critical, the children will be critical. If father and mother are full of foolishness, the children will also be full of foolishness.

A man's family speaks volumes about his private everyday life. That's why God put those qualifications there for an elder. Because a man's family speaks volumes about his private everyday life. Now that can be very painful at times, but it also can be very, very exciting.

Amen? Amen. It can be very exciting. I realize that there's some pretty heavy things that we're saying here, but we are beginning to move beyond the inspiration and into the practical. We need to face our needs.

The Cost of Busyness in Family Life

There are some changes that need to take place even with us who have gathered here with a wholehearted desire to have a godly home. There needs to be some changes made. We need to be serious about our homes.

Many, many of our homes are going the way of most American homes nowhere. Nowhere. Few are willing to pay the price and turn their hearts and their homes around. We are too busy to raise godly children which will hit the mark someday.

We're too busy for that. That doesn't make sense to me. Too busy for that? But that's the way it is. The priorities are different, aren't they? Too busy making money. Too busy building a big business.

Too busy pursuing the American dream. Or maybe we're just too busy in the rat race of American society, you know? You know the rat race of American society? Do you know what it is? Do you know why they call it a rat?

You put a rat in a little cage, you know? And they put a little wheel in that little cage with the rat. And the rat gets up on that wheel and it goes, and it goes, and it goes, and he runs, and he runs, and he runs!

And then he finally jumps off of there and pants for a while. But once he rests, he gets right back in the wheel and he runs, and he runs, and he runs, and he runs! That's the rat race! And I'll tell you what, even this county is pretty guilty of it, you know?

We are so busy running to all the good things that you can do around here, we don't have time to walk with God! Many of us! And they're not evil things, they're good things. But they're not the best. See, the good is often the enemy of the best.

When you get right down to the reality of things, the good is often the enemy of the best. Nobody gets drug off to the bar around here. No, we just run over here, and run over there, and go to this, and go to that.

Go to bed at eleven o 'clock, get up at six, get a quick fifteen minute bite from God, and go off to work! And our families are showing it. That's for the home congregation here. In business, we say, and it's true, you get what you pay for.

Amen? Well, brothers and sisters with the family, it is also true. You get exactly what you pay for. Consider these words in light of your precious children here. Now, this is an application, but it's a good application.

Very good application. See, it's time. What we need is time. That's our problem. We need time. Listen to this application. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6. But I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly.

And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Did you get that? That verse can be applied to every one of our homes also. How much more is this whole thing true with your family? You get what you pay for.

If you're just going to pay a couple dollars, then you'll just get a little bit of an investment. Problem is, with the family, you don't see for twenty years. That's the problem. See, if you'd see in two months, we would shake ourselves and change our priorities.

But we don't. You know, you get on the rat race. You get on the wheel. You go, you go, you go. All of a sudden, five years went by. Ten years went by. All this time went by. All of a sudden, those little children are now young people.

And all of a sudden, you see them parting from you. Their hearts moving away from you. Their convictions are not like you and all that stuff. And then you realize, oh, oh, oh, something went wrong here.

Something went wrong. Too late, my friend. Too late. Sure, you can turn them around. Sure, you can make some adjustments. But, oh, you missportage. Make the investment, dear brothers and sisters. Raising children is no sideline issue with God, nor is it a sideline issue with me.

Outside of the ministry, guiding my home and raising my children is the most challenging, maturing, self-denying, time-consuming thing that I do. It's not a part-time job. It's not. It's not a sideline issue.

It's not something that you just fit in here and there and then you're off about all your other things. Well, you may say, it's not fair. My mom and dad failed. My parents failed. I'm sitting here. I'm hearing all that you're saying.