The Home — Don Courville

I asked my wife this morning, I said, what's the greatest mission fill in the world? And she thought for a minute and she says, well, I suppose the home. And I said, that's right, the home. No matter what country, we've got a mission fill in the homes.

And God has just really prompted me to share this morning on the home. And I asked last night, or even my wife told me that Mitzi made up the bulletin. And if you have your bulletin, I want you to notice how the Spirit of God puts the services together here.

And this is why Pastor Wes and myself, even though Pastor Wes has resigned his church and to come down here and work, we just feel like we're a team, we're just working. God puts the message together.

Do you see what's in the bulletin? All kinds of stuff on the home. I didn't know that was going to be put in there. But the Spirit of God had prompted me this week to preach on the home. And do you know that she put on this whole page something that I was going to share?

I mean, I didn't even have to. I was going to get it out of the Daily Bread. It's October 7th. It was so good. And I got here. Boy, doesn't that send chills down your spine to know that God is leading?

And even last week, Wes said that the very thing that I shared on was just what God had prompted him that we needed to have a message on. America needs Jesus in the home. America, and this almost makes me cry, needs Jesus in the churches.

All around this country, there are churches where people are gathering where Jesus Christ is not the Lord. And He's not preached. And that breaks my heart. This is why I've traveled around, going up to Canada.

We were up in Canada last February. And there's a movement for revival in America, but it's got to start in the home. It's not going to do any good in the churches unless we get it to the homes. Well, I'll tell you what.

I am just really impressed with God. Aren't you? And if I'll just keep my eyeballs off myself and on Jesus, everything goes great. No matter what the circumstances are, I can handle it. But if I get my eyes off of myself, then I begin to get to fretting and worrying.

I'll tell you what. Let's just take a moment and pray. And let's each of us really ask God to minister to us from His Word this morning. Alright? Father, we just again lift our hearts up to You. And we just want to do what You want.

This whole world is bent on doing what it wants to do. And even Lord, we know there are so many churches. The rapture can come. You can come back and take the Christians out. And they'll go on just like normal.

Like nothing's ever happened. And that's so sad to us. But we don't want to be condemning. And I trust, Father, You know that we don't have a condemning spirit. But we want to see You to be Lord in our lives personally, in our church, and in America.

In this world. This whole world is 23 degrees off axis because of sin. God, You need to be put back on the throne. Put this world back in the right position. And Lord, I just pray that You speak to our hearts this morning.

You're so special. You're the one that died on the cross for our sins. And if there's one here that's not saved, would You just use Your Word to speak to them? And even these testimonies. Lord, it's just thrilling to hear how some have shared how You saved him.

Terry shared and Marvin shared a little bit of how he's a liar and a cheat. And we're all like that about Christ. But we just thank You that You can save us. And if there's one here, would You just speak to their hearts this morning?

The Home as a Mission Field and the Foundation of the Nation

Holy Spirit, do what You want to through this message. I know that You've burned it into my heart to share this. And I just thank You that You'll do what You want now. In Jesus' name, Amen. Someone said quite a while back, As goes the home, so goes the nation.

Is it? And it's no wonder that our nation is slipping because the home is slipping. And lives, do you know that lives, the lives in America, these little lives around here, and they're not all here this morning, it may not be so quiet.

But these little ones, their lives are going to be built at home. Not at school. School's going to have an impact on them. But the main thing is at home. Up at Basin the other day when I was teaching, we had an interesting teacher training time.

And some of us were talking afterwards about problems in the school. And there's always a problem with discipline. And it goes back to the home. I said, you'll never get the job done here. Because it goes back to the home.

If you're having trouble with kids misbehaving. And so all you can do is the best you can there. But listen to this. The home is a mission field. The greatest in the whole world. And I guess what really sparked me this week to start thinking about that was my wife is there in there with those four walls.

And I'm taping this this morning, so if anybody wants to pass it on to somebody, we're getting it on tape. I'm getting it for her and Mitzi can't hear it. But that is a mission field for you moms. Don't surrender your mission field to anybody.

Don't let demons come in and try to drag you out by different things. That is a mission field. And if God's given you children, you have the capacity to shape this world with one child. Some mother somewhere raised a Livingston, a Hudson Taylor, a Billy Graham.

Who knows Billy Graham's mother's name? And not just Ms. Graham. How many millions of souls have been touched by that one man's life? But somewhere there was a mother that washed dishes and dirty diapers and cleaned floors and folded clothes and scrubbed floors on her knees and probably washed on an old washboard and raised up a man.

Men and women are trained at home. You know there's a verse in the Bible in Mark 2, 1 that says this, when Jesus came in, I think it was Capernaum, and it says this, and it was heard that He was in the house.

Wouldn't that be a tremendous testimony that they would hear that Jesus lives in your home? No matter what your home is right now, wouldn't that be a tremendous thing? Even though sin has fractured your life in the past, even though sin has fractured your family, and there's even been divorce or whatever, that God can move back in and take the pieces and give a glow of His being in your home.

Don't live in the past. We live in the present. You know the only way you can live in the presence of Jesus is to live in the presence of Jesus right now. Are you consciously aware that He's right here?

That's been one of the greatest encouragements to me, to learn to live in His presence. Lord, what do you want? As I'm talking to somebody, as I was driving up to Batesville the other day, I said, Lord, You changed my path.

I was going south and all of a sudden I'm going north. You have something up here. I am in Your presence and I'm just watching You. Oh, I tell you it's thrilling. Does Jesus live in your home? Is He Lord of your home?

Or do you just acknowledge that He is Lord? Does He really live there? Is He Lord of your washing program, ladies? Is He Lord of your making beds? And I was thinking about this. You know, anytime we got five children, when we got married, our home was spotless.

Vicki is a very, very neat housekeeper. Very clean. And when she only had me to pick up after, she could do it. But I'll tell you, with six of us, we got her outnumbered. And there's no way, unless we decide to help out, that she can keep the place the way she likes to.

That's just the way she is. Everything was nice and neat and clean. Never any dust, never any socks on the floor, nothing. But we got her outnumbered, and we can wear them out. Children and fathers can wear out the wives, the mothers, if we're not careful.

Because they work. They work 18 hours a day. Mine's on a 24-hour call. You know, when you've got a nursing baby, you just go. They have a tremendous responsibility. And not only do they have that responsibility, but you fathers have a responsibility above them to guard them in their home.

To keep them in their home is one of your responsibilities. And then to guard them there, not let anything enter into their life to put pressure on them that they should not have. Boy, is He Lord of your home.

Genesis 3 and the Home as a Spiritual Battleground

Let me share with you some remarks concerning the home. You never know what kind of sermon I'm going to give anymore. And I don't either sometimes. But I just went through the Bible and picked out some things and just trying to put together some years of experience and wisdom.

And just to let the Spirit of God minister and show me what He wanted to. For instance, the first thing, Genesis 3, 1 through 6. You remember when Satan tempted Eve to take the fruit? Listen to this. There is the woman who exchanged her home for a piece of fruit.

All the peace and harmony of home she exchanged for a piece of fruit. Don't you women let this devil that runs around this world talk to you into getting out of your home. If you can possibly stay there, stay there.

And you fathers, don't you let your wives go out and work unless it just becomes very necessary for them to. There are movements underway right now to make it mandatory for your wives to work where it's a law, just like in Russia.

So guard it while you've got it. Let the father be the spiritual leader. See, she stepped out from under the authority and he led her. Adam did. He got us all into a lot of problems. But just to exchange what God has given to you for what He hasn't planned for you is a devastating thing.

I think it's just been encouraging to me to see God work in this fellowship to where the mothers are realizing that they need to be at home. God's been giving victory. Nell and Kathy have gone through this earlier.

And I know it is tough with the finances. It is tough. And we just had one family move away. And this will be probably the only time that you've heard me say this recently where I really rejoiced to see this family move.

Not that I wanted to see them move, but the reason they were leaving was so that she could stay at home with her babies and he had a job where he could support his family. And we in this church, the men in this church, we are working together.

Pastor Wes and I, we are continually zeroing on this area for the young men in this church to be able to support their families. God may even be giving us some ideas how to help you make more money so you can have your family supplied for and you can stay home.

The woman who exchanged her home for a piece of fruit, that's sort of a sad statement, isn't it? But the devil has a philosophy around through this women's live movement that's come in years ago to get the women out of the home.

And now the women are crying and they say, we don't want to be out here. We want to be home. You need to be. Again, I'll say this to you young mothers. You seek out these older women for wisdom and counsel.

You got problems? I'm not to counsel all of your problems. The women are to counsel the women. This is a scriptural guideline and I'll show you in a few minutes. You seek out the godly women that God's raised up in the fellowship here and say, listen, how did you do it raising your children?

And she may say, well, I don't want to tell you how I did it. I want to tell you how I should have done it. You know? Amen, Catherine. Boy, you can... I don't know how come God did it, but He's put something in my mind years ago that told me to get all the wisdom I can from others' experiences.

Get all the wisdom you can from others' experiences. If you can save yourself from a stumble and a fall from somebody else's experiences, do it. Don't be so proud to seek out counsel and advice. Here's another thing.

Psalm 113 and Joyful Motherhood

Psalms 113 .3. Psalms 113 .3. I was looking over in the Psalms and I was just going to hit in the Genesis and then a couple of places in the Psalms and I'm going to go over in the Gospels a little bit and then in the Doctrines.

We're going to sort of hit the Bible in slices. But in Psalms 113 .3 The Psalms put out some very key principles for these things. And this one says, if I can get there, from the rising... It wasn't three, was it?

From the rising of the sun to the going down of the... saying the Lord's name is to be praised. That's good, but I think it was verse 9. It says, He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children.

Praise ye the Lord. May I say this to you? There is no population explosion in this world. That's a doctrine from hell. There's plenty of room. Matter of fact, the problem is that there's so many murders going on in abortion that there's almost more murders going on in this country than there is births.

And the problem begins to be a decline. It says that, He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children. Now I want you to notice, this is the joyful mother. Are you a joyful mother?

Are you? A joyful mother. I have to continually watch and guard my home because thoughts can come in when the mother is just bombarded with so many things to do. All the meals to be cooked and all the company that comes through and all the dirty clothes and stuff to work.

You can lose your joy. You get to looking at all that stuff. And that's why this is so good in this daily bread. Boy, you take this and you put it in your Bible. And once you get discouraged or something, then you take it out.

And just remember, what's your priorities? It's not going to give a hoot for all eternity whether or not your living room didn't get vacuumed as much as it needed to. And you've got those little ones running around.

This one mother, she says, Boy, I'll be glad when all the kids are gone so I can... What did she say? She said, I'll be glad when all the kids are gone so I'll have time to be a good parent. You'll wish you had them again.

Psalm 127 and Children as an Inheritance

Listen to this. Psalms 127. Just over a few chapters. Psalm 127. The whole chapter. I love it in the family. It says, Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it. Boy, unless God is working in your family, it's going to be fancy.

Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wake it but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are inheritance of the Lord.

Did you know that children are your inheritance from God? How many have not wanted their inheritance? Wow. Children are inheritance of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of thy youth.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. If he doesn't go crazy. Ah, but praise the Lord. I'll tell you, Vicki was sitting there this morning holding little John. And I looked at her and I said, how many people don't want the fifth one?

Thank the Lord and he gave them to us. What a joy he is. Sure we're not sleeping much. But who cares? There'll be some day we'll sleep. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed that they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

I am believing God to use my five heirs somewhere for his glory. Whatever they do, whether they're a professional ball player or a professional homemaker, just that they live for his glory. You children are mine.

You listen. I don't care what you do as long as you do it for God's glory. I don't expect my sons to be preachers. I wouldn't push any child into being a preacher just so that God calls them into doing it.

Don't push your children in a direction that you just want them to go. How many problems have been developed in that area? Ooh. You know the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go. And anyone who's old who will not depart from him.

Do you know that God's going to give your children an inner desire to do the thing that He wants them to do? So you ask God to give you wisdom to notice what that is. And then you work with them in that area.

You build them up in that area. You strengthen them. As you see, they have talents in some area. If they're musically talented, then don't try to get them over here pumping weights. Work with them in the area that they love to do, that they're talented to do.

But if they like to pump weights and they don't like music that much, then don't get them all bent out of shape too much. Work with them. Work with them in that area. Children are your inheritance. Well, here's something else.

Proverbs 31 and the Virtuous Woman

Proverbs 31. You ladies know about Proverbs 31, don't you? Well, I'll tell you. Proverbs 31 is so good. And what that says is every home needs a Jesus-filled mother. Every home needs a Jesus-filled mother.

I'd like to just hit on a couple of them in there. The whole thing is good. Look at verse 11. The heart of our... Verse 10. Who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies? Years before I found my wife, or my wife found me, whatever it was, but I remember the first time I saw her.

I'll never forget it. I was in music class, and I didn't like music class, so I was always watching around for something else to do. And in walked this pretty girl. Wow! And that's where I first saw her.

My grades wasn't too good in music from then on. They wasn't too good before I started. But boy, I found me a tutor real quick. Guess who she was. Boy, I used to frustrate her because I'd watch her. Boy, while she's trying to teach me music, I'd watch her.

She says, You're not paying attention! Who cares about music? Man! Who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies? The heart of her husband does safely trust in her. Boy, if a man has a woman he can trust.

You know? That's good. So that he shall have no need of spoils. She will do him good. Verse 12. And not evil all the days of her life. I can completely trust my wife. I have no fear. I've heard of some husbands that were afraid to let their wife loose with a checkbook or a credit card.

And that's sad. There's problems. Slip down. I don't have time to go all the way through there. Look at verse 27. She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. Well, let me tell you, you've got five kids, you don't have time to be idle, for sure, do you?

But, you ladies, you Tekken, you ask the Spirit of God to teach you this passage. It is really good. Now turn over to Matthew 2. Matthew 2. Matthew 2 and verse 11. Remember when Jesus was a baby? Well, He's two years old at this time.

The Mother’s Role in the Home

And the title I have for this verse is Babies Belong in the Home with the Mother. Matthew 2 .11 it says,. And when they were come into the house, remember when the wise men came seeking Jesus? It says,.

And when they came into the house, aren't you glad they didn't have to go down to the local daycare center to find the Messiah? They saw the young child with the babysitter? With Mary. If this doesn't apply to you, you learned it anyway because God may give you somebody to share it with.

And it says, The young child would marry his mother and fell down and worshiped Him. Just for the record, and it's even on tape, you get a lot of trouble saying things like this, but I don't care. Babies belong in the home with the mother, not the daycare center, not the babysitter, and not at grandma's.

They belong with the mother. Now I'm not talking about an occasional thing. That's okay. But we need to guide the young mothers. And if we're in a situation, and we see a situation, begin to ask God, Well, God, this isn't right.

I know it's not right. I'm going to ask you to give victory in this situation for this young mother, this young family. I'm going to ask you to work it so the mother can be with the children. And ask God to work.

He'll give wisdom. And He can work in power. And He can do that which we can't do to make it right. But the babies belong in the home with the mother. This is why there's a move in our country, I believe a socialistic-based move to get the kids out of the home early and into the centers.

Because they're teaching them socialism in these centers. And there's not only that. There's something even worse than that probably going on. They're teaching them occultism in these centers. Paul Harvey.

How many of you heard Paul Harvey yesterday on occultism? I can't even tell you what happens to 20 of the kids. I've known this in America with the occultism. I'm not going to say it with the little ones here.

It's so bad. But it's really related to cannibalism directly. We need to guard the home. There's something else. Matthew 19, 14. You remember when they were bringing the little ones to Jesus? I'll just hit on this one.

And the disciples said, hey, keep these little kids away from the Master. They're going to bother Him. Boy, Jesus, He'd come up right away. And He really comes smoking into the disciples and He says, you stop that right now.

Don't you ever keep back the kids from coming to Me. You let them come to Me. It's going to be a hot judgment day when moms and dads that are believers stand before the Lord God Almighty and they have to give an account of how they raised their children.

And suppose the Lord asks them, well, you were supposed to bring them to Me. How did you strive to bring them to Me? Did you set an example in your own personal prayer life to bring them to Me in prayer?

Did you set an example in your own memorizing and meditating and reading of the Word to bring them to Me? Because see, we bring them to Jesus by our example. Did you bring them to Me? Bring your children to Jesus.

Guarding What Shapes Children

Let's go on to something else. Luke 2 .40 It says that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. Do you remember that? I think we need to be careful what we let our kids grow on. Do you know that your children will grow up to be a garbage can if you feed them garbage?

If we let them watch and read stuff? All the spiritual that we put in will be negated by the negative that they get at home. And it confuses them. So we be careful. Just like in your home. Do you have on your shelf the Bible?

And over on another part of your shelf a book that is not very good at all? Do you see the contrast? Do you have in one part of your house a picture that is a nice godly picture? Maybe some scene that really promotes an attitude of admiration to the Lord and praise for His beauty or something.

But then in another part of the home, you've got a picture that is questionable in nature. The kids grow on what they see. Or do you come to church on Sunday and play hymns, but then when you go home, do you have some country western or rock type stuff?

You see, you're going to confuse them. They can't grow the way Jesus did. Listen to the way He grew. It said in Luke 2 .40, He grew and waxed strong in spirit. You see, we can dampen their spirits and fill them with wisdom and the grace of God upon Him.

We have to be careful. Within the home, there are these things. Now let me share these other things. In Luke 10 .38, you remember the story about Martha and Mary? Jesus came? Let me read you this just so you understand.

It says, It came to pass as they went, they entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received her into her house. You see, you have a great ministry in your home not only of entertaining your children, but entertaining guests and meeting the needs of your guests.

Now listen to this. She received Jesus into her house and she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. But Martha, whose house did Jesus come into? Martha's house was cumbered about much serving.

Can I say this to you? Be sensitive to what He gives you to do in your home. There's a time to serve and there's a time to sit. There's a time to serve and there's a time to sit. And there's always many things to do.

So be sensitive to when the Spirit of God is saying, Forget it! Go turn the fire off in the stove. Go turn off the washing machine. Go turn off your iron. You shouldn't be trying to do so many things at one time anyway.

Go take your phone off the hook and just come into the bedroom and put a blanket over you and let the kids do what they want but spend some time with me. Just five minutes even. Forget it. Forget the world.

That's the way Susanna Wesley would do it. She'd put an apron over her head and her kids learned when mom had the apron over her head, she was with God. There's a time to serve and there's a time to sit.

Your children will learn your priorities by watching you in your home. They'll learn. The last part of this, I want to get into the areas of character and attitudes. They learn what Jesus is in you when your stove boils over or when the plumbing gets all plugged up and dad comes in and he finds the plumbing is all plugged up.

Some kid stuck three diapers down the commode. They learn what the character of Jesus is like by watching your reaction. Oh, this is the way we do it when we have a problem. We get down on the floor, we kick our feet, we pound our fist into the wall.

That's the way daddy does it. Here's the way mommy does it when she burns the potatoes. She says, here, your dad can eat it. See, they're watching. These little are, wow. But as they watch, here's Mary running around the kitchen or Martha running around the kitchen.

Suppose there were some little ones there. We don't know if there was. They've been watching. Here's one and they're sitting at the feet of Jesus. There's one in here about going crazy in the kitchen.

The Fruit of the Spirit in the Home

Which one's going to impress them the most? The one that does the will of God. Here's something else. In Galatians 5, 22 and 23, I'll just mention on that. Is the character of Christ in your life, in your home?

Love, joy, peace, long-suffering? These are good checks. Love. This is a type of love, a type of childbirth love. Sacrificing. Where you almost die to give birth to a baby. Well, Jesus died to give us life.

And joy. You know what joy is characterized by to me? Hospitality. We love people. My wife is a real entertainer. And I'm not talking about a movie star type, but people there, entertaining. And she does it joyfully.

She gives joyfully. Hospitality is characterized by joy. Peace is characterized by sharing. Long-suffering is characterized by bearing. Ask God to teach you these things. These are not anything. These are just things I'm writing down this morning as I've gone through.

Gentleness is characterized by compassion. And goodness. Through the Spirit is goodness. You know, Jesus never did anything bad. Faith. You know, faith is nothing but positive living. It's the opposite of negative criticalness.

Meekness is the very opposite of pride. Temperance, that's control. In the home. If these things were in your life and in your home, you'd have all that God wants you to have. Now, if God says all I want you to do is have these eight things in your home, do you think you can handle it?

Biblical Guidance for Mothers and Older Women

Well, you can if you just do one thing and that's just yield your home and your heart to Jesus and let Him lead you moment by moment. These things will be there. Let me close down on these comments. 1 Timothy 5 .14 Just so you know that I'm not pulling some things out of the air.

1 Timothy 5 .14 says this. And this is a reference to young widows. Young widow mothers. But Paul had the characteristic or the principle here is of the home. Because he's talking about these young widows that lost their husbands.

I don't know how they lost them, whatever. But he says, what are we supposed to do? He says, I will therefore in 1 Timothy 5 .14 that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

And if that was the characteristic for young widows, that's the characteristic also for just young women. And then also another passage. Titus 2 .1 Do you remember? This is God speaking. Titus 2 .1 But speak thou of the things which become sound doctrine that the aged men be sober.

I'm not talking about drunkenness. Not that type of stuff. I'm talking about being very serious minded, brave, temperate. That's the control. Sound in faith, charity and patience. The aged women, you older women, have this responsibility in this church, in this body.

I as a pastor just point out to you what God has given to you for you to do. The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers. You know, I cringed one time when a mother came to me and she accused me of false doctrine.

Now, that was okay if I was wrong, but I don't think I was wrong. We'd had a situation in the church and she'd come up to me and she said she couldn't keep her children in the church if I was teaching false doctrine.

Well, she didn't even know what was going on. She didn't know that you shouldn't accuse an elder, a pastor like that without two or three witnesses. And I just cringed because I knew what God does. And He did it.

Man, He did it. Did her family ever get it? Her children got it. She got it. As He judged her. It says that they're not to be accusers, not false accusers. She accused me falsely and I let God take care of it.

There was some lies spread about me and God took care of everybody. They destroyed the church. They destroyed the church. It's closed down. But God took care of each one of them. And it just broke my heart.

Not accusers. Not given to much wine. Teachers of good things that they may teach the young woman to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. This is the older woman. I teach the young woman how to do this.

To be discreet. Chaste. Keepers at home. Good. Obedient to their own husbands. That the Word of God be not blasphemed. Do you know that if we do not have our homes operated the way God wants, God's Word will be blasphemed if we name the name of Christ, but yet we follow the ways of the world.

We are blasphemed in the name of God. We have a responsibility before God to dig into the Word of God and say, God, what do You want in my home? I think I'd like to have Pastor Wes take a Sunday here sometime here in the future and just share how God has led him to lead his home.

Devotional lives. Homeschooling. Or whatever. Just to share in this area. To give an example. And maybe some others. Maybe we can just have a whole Sunday of sharing some good things that God has shown us.

What are you doing for your devotional life for your children? For your family? What are you doing for the devotional life of your children after they are gone from your home? What can you do for them?

Making Jesus Lord in the Home

We've got a lot of different areas that we can cover. But homemaking is a full-time job. Let me close down here and just say this. Does Jesus live in your home? Is He Lord? Or is He just an extra closet added on?

You know how you add on a roof? Is He Lord? Let me close with these six or seven questions. Does your priorities say He's Lord? Does your priorities say He's Lord? What time did you get up this morning?

Did you have time for Jesus in prayer? I probably went to bed at 10 .30 last night and I said, Lord, I need some time with You in the morning. Would You get me up whatever time You want me to get up to spend time with You?