Tape 4 - Christian Reflections from the Jewish Family

Park Meadows Church

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Let me line you out one. I'll be glad to map you out one that's really not too expensive and to go down the

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Florida Keys and just enjoy the Keys for a bit. It's better than going to Galveston, I'll assure you.

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And so if you want one, I'll map you out one too. It'll be all right. It won't matter and I'm glad you're here.

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I want to share with you a few thoughts and I'm hoping that we'll get to the point where tomorrow evening

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I have something very specific that I want to get into and so it depends on how far we get along this evening as to whether I'll be able to approach that matter or not.

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And so I want to talk to you just briefly and you know I recognize that all of the things we're talking about you already know and we haven't touched on any new ground for sure and but sometimes

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I think it's good just kind of replow and sometimes it's good to kind of bring the furrows open and see what's lurking down in there and replant, reseed, resow so that the harvest will be what it needs to be.

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And sometimes we need to just detect something here and there because none of us are perfect at least I suspect most of y 'all are not.

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And so you know there's always something to work on in life. There just is. And the beautiful thing about this is that God is a

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God of beginning again. He is a God of beginning again. So whatever difficulty we have in our life there's always a solution to it and not only is there a solution there is a better tomorrow.

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And each day we ought to be better and we ought to be more successful than we were the day before. But unless we are attempting to grow and applying ourselves in just very strong effort we're just not going to grow.

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Christian growth is not automatic. And growth in life and families is not automatic. And husband and wife getting along one another and growing together is not automatic.

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Parents getting along with their young people is not automatic. And young people along with parents it takes effort.

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It takes time. It takes strenuous effort and it takes a lot of understanding. Now I want to share a thought or two with you about the word esteem.

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Respect, esteem. And husband and wife according to Jewish law have to esteem each other regardless of their love.

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Whether they think they love one another or not if they are married they have to respect one another. They may not agree and there may be some problems.

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They may even be in quote therapy with somebody. They may be talking someone about their problems but they have to respect one another according to law.

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This is necessary. At times the reason is at times love as well as hate will lead a person to a distortion of their behavior if they aren't very careful.

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Just because we love somebody is no assurance that our behavior may not become distorted at times.

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And so it is not all that sure. And one of the things is if you ever see a husband, now

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I'm not talking about divorce necessarily, but if you ever see a husband and wife who are obviously deeply in love but they consider themselves above the obligations of mutual respect and they don't pay any attention to or even mock the customary rules of common courtesy be concerned about that relationship.

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Anytime a man says he loves his wife and he can't even open the door of the car for her I question his love.

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I question his love. Any man that lets his wife go out in a restaurant and sit under the table without holding her chair because you see you'll do that for other women.

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You do it for the secretary. You do it for the woman that comes in now the grocery store I've seen it.

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I've seen men in our church. I've seen your deacons. Yeah pastors and preachers. Yeah I've seen them.

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God forbid I have. Seen them come out of a store and you'll see them run and open that door and some little girl comes out with the groceries and here she comes and all of a sudden where's he going he's done gone and the door is coming closed here and his wife coming with two big bags and that door is about to catch her and she squeezes through and just makes it just gets through the door.

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All I gotta do I'd punch him too. All I gotta do all

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I gotta do is go in the parking lot of any church and I will find more disregards for just common courtesies.

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It isn't because we don't care. It is simply because we are caught up in something. Now what this person thinks is love might only be self -love.

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It may not be love at all. It may be self -love. It may be self -interest.

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What they think is love may be self -love and the outburst of a sensual instinct. Such love without courtesy it does this.

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It produces impatience. It produces tension and the eventual breakdown of a harmonious relationship because gentlemen say what you will that wife knows you didn't open that door and about the first time she sees you do it for someone else her mind registers and she clicks it up out that little recall and that little three by five card in her brain goes it jumps up and it says

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October 5th 1986 he opened the door for so and so and he didn't open the door for me and she just registers that one in her mind that's one and then she can just give you all kinds of things like that's amazing a supermarket's a great place go to the grocery store that's a good place to see it you can watch them you know they'll be going down the all sudden they'll stop excuse me excuse me boy they'll come pushing just let them go right on through and here's his wife she's walking along and she stops and he'll hit her with a card you know wow he's not paying attention he's watching those other girls he's watching those other ladies he's making sure they have clear way boy he'll just go out of his way oh could i help you that let me get that for you and here's his wife trying to read something off the top shelf you know she can't get it but he's done loaded this other card up for this other lady now that may be a slight exaggeration but it's true the principle of it is true time and time now i know what some of you men thinking you said brother you're talking about me because i don't go in those stores i don't go in them that's another problem within itself we could discuss you know most women are afraid to ask her husband to go to the store there's no doubt what he'd come back with you know he doesn't understand all those things complete freedom of behavior as they call it between a husband and a wife is the result of self -love never love a complete freedom of behavior where either can just do whatever they want is never true love it is always self -love because a person who really loves another person isn't even concerned about the freedom of their behavior they are wanting to please that other individual they're wanting to give to that other person a person dominated by self -love grows very impatient when the needs of other people intrude upon their needs they grow impatient that's a good sign of self -love impatience they become resentful when the fulfillment of their needs imposes some inconvenience or require some effort on their part which is not rewarded with personal pleasure they just don't want to get involved in it if it doesn't give them personal pleasure i've said this before but may i repeat myself do you know that i would suspect that 85 to 90 percent of everything you and i do is geared for personal pleasure now we talk about loving and giving to one another but just check out your life and check just how many hours of your day you spend doing something for someone else most of our lives are geared for that which brings us some kind of personal pleasure and i'm not saying personal pleasure necessarily is wrong i'm just saying that many times that becomes our total motivation in our life and in our marriages and so what happens when a person gets their little needs intruded upon or they get impatient the next thing is they explode with anger they explode with anger esteem is a hidden treasure jewish people say when found it can support an entire home it is a well whose clear waters bring eternal blessings into the home respect one for another we didn't say this we didn't say agree all the time yeah you can disagree but still have respect you can have a misunderstanding and still have respect you can have respect for your children you have respect for your young people and they can have it for parents and parents certainly can have it one for another and it does not spring up spontaneously it does not automatic happen automatically happen it is a plant that you plant within your home and it requires cultivation it requires constant effort to keep the weeds of life from choking it out and keeping it very prevalent in the life and it takes constant tending to keep its roots growing so that it will take hold in their life and sort of become the habit of the home to have respect one for another so jewish people have two rules and i'll give you those two rules about esteem say every word do every deed that is a mark of respect both for the sayer and the one to whom it is said now you paraphrase that say every word do every deed that is a mark of respect both for the sayer and the one to whom it is said the doer and the recipient avoid any word any act in your home which is disrespectful to the sayer and the one to whom it is said or the doer and the recipient so that's very basic isn't it very basic everything we say to one another everything we do to one another we ought to consider the respect that is due to the person not only from the one saying it or doing it but the one who's going to be the recipient of those actions the second rule is every husband ought to think of himself as having married a princess and he ought to treat her accordingly and respect will begin to enhance that love remember that you married a queen you married the queen of your home the queen of your life and she is to be treated accordingly with respect the essence of esteem is recognition of the value of the individual esteemed that's the very essence of esteem how much value is your wife to you how much value is your teenager to you how much value is your mother and dad to you your parents to you how much value is your husband to you we never really realize the value of one to another until we lose them or we do it away don't we we do it away but is it not true that when we lose someone we love we wish to god for a thousand opportunities that were wasted and let go that we just had them again whereby we could express that true love that we really now realize is in our heart but it's too late why not do it now why not learn to do it now and incorporated in our lives at the present time so the essence of esteem is recognition of the value of the person esteemed and the mark of esteem is subordination it's extremely difficult for men this is a hard one for men to subordinate themselves to someone else but a person who wishes to show honor respect and esteem for another individual willingly subordinates himself that person we say become a servant in the heart just have a servant spirit a servant's heart be willing to expend all that you are for another person if you really respect and honor that person we will do so well but if i do that then i don't get this that self love what if i do this is it you don't worry about the cost you don't worry about the price you don't worry about as long as it's positive it's godly it's spiritual it's right you just do it because you honor them and you love them and you respect them and that is esteem and that's the mark of esteem and a husband who respects his wife will never lead her to do anything out of keeping with the esteem he wishes her to be held in and he will control his self -love in his relationship to his wife he will push himself aside as we say christ is to a chair a man is to the woman as christ is to the church totally self -sacrificing and give it all and simply jewish law says where there is esteem there will always be peace where there is respect there'll be peace because if respect is there you will never argue with that person you respect you just don't you may disagree you may have a discussion but you won't get angry and you won't argue arguments come from anger most of the time they're not discussions there is a difference between a discussion and there's a difference between having a disagreement and there is an argument an argument somebody's trying to win something and then both sides lose in an argument so what are we saying we're saying two things are necessary faithfulness and devotion faithfulness and devotion are like two great lights that illuminate and purify the body and when these lights do not shine the body is like a dark and coarse sphere and jewish law says that physical cohabitation sexual intercourse is permissible only when the hearts of a couple are united as one only when they are thinking as one only when that respect and honor is there is it possible to be blessed by god in that and it says without that union of heart without that mutual respect without that mutual honoring the act of cohabitation or the act of sexual intercourse is in no way superior to the coupling of animals just because we are human does not make it so it is no more than a mere animal doing exactly the same thing because it desecrates man's holiness it desecrates the holiness of the marriage covenant and it desecrates the holiness of god who himself sanctifies the marriage covenant if there is not honor and respect and love for that individual that we are with at that particular time the creator has designed it for a father a mother for a husband and a wife it is a natural thing for them to be more faithful to each other than anyone else on earth including their parents she is to leave her parents and cleave to her husband and yet i find wives and i find husbands who in little ways without realizing it many times without understanding what they are doing subconsciously and sometimes overtly will show more faithfulness to an organization a club a group than they will to their wife or their husband or their children i find young people are extremely guilty of showing more allegiance to some kid at school than they will their parents who gives them life young people you know it cost your parents 145 000 to get you through four years of college from birth to college are you worth 145 000 yeah baby i'm worth it yeah i know self -love tells you that you are but if you put you on a scale you're worth about 395 chemically speaking so what are we saying we're saying esteem respect is something that is necessary in a home if it is to have peace if it's to have the blessings and the glory of the lord the loyalty of a husband and wife to each other fills their life completely and there's no aspect of human life which the loyalty of a marriage does not encompass it touches everything in that life and we need to make it so and so i want to share a thought with you about being content in the situation that you find yourself in in a general sense all men pursue wealth now we say well no we don't we're christians we're not we're not in this we're not looking for money we're not looking for all men pursue wealth one degree or another all do not achieve it of those who do only a very few enjoy their wealth for most people the pursuit of riches never ceases it is a lifelong thing they are constantly searching for the riches of life and always added for money they waste their life in the pursuit of that which many times is unattainable and they never experience true joy as we know it in the scripture now we can sit in church and we talk about money doesn't satisfy and the love of money is the root of all these we can talk about all those things but let's get real honest and faithful to ourselves tonight most of us are caught up in the same rat race that everybody else is caught up in even though we criticize them we want money face it and get honest about it yeah you do and if you don't then go into your bank account just side it all over to the church and just say here put this in the building fund i don't need this stuff tell your boss you'll work for nothing now you see he said well where you gotta live and gotta live yeah and start rationalizing and just keep on carrying it out and that's exactly the way everybody else says i'm not saying money's bad what i am saying is that we are in the same rat race as most other people and we still get out of balance with it and so what happens is whenever we come to to really deal with it you'll find that even christians in that pursuit of cash in that pursuit of guilt in that pursuit of gold what they do is they turn unethical and they begin to do little things to attain that which is out here now in the pursuit of money many times husbands fathers throw away the most important thing in their home they throw away the simple pleasures of life he rises early and he returns late and cheats himself of precious hours of sleep number one now i'm not saying you can't get up early go to work and work i'm not saying you can't work overtime that's not what i'm saying at all but i find some people who are out there doing those things spinning their wheels and not going anywhere really they're making this if they do or don't the boss doesn't care he said i don't care if you work 50 hours if you work 40 hours just do the job whatever it takes it takes you 45 takes you 55 if you don't have to do but 30 next week that's fine whatever but you find a guy who thinks he's going to make a little point too so he'll go ahead and work 70 or 80 and here's the wife and kids they sitting home and then he comes in and he's got to crawl in bed and he's so tired and sleepy and he never catches up and the body begins to deteriorate and next thing you know he's got ulcers and everything else he's tense he's worried and he's fearful all the time his behavior evokes resentment intimacy and strife and nobody can get along with him because he's caught on that merry -go -round of attaining wealth attaining riches the home he builds is not one god desires in psalm 127 except the lord build a house by labor and vain that would build it if god gives money that's wonderful if god gives nine homes and eight swimming pools and four cars that's wonderful but if you and i have a motive that we're going to get it then that's wrong and god isn't building that kind of a home what kind of a house does god built psalm 128 one blessed is everyone happy is everyone delighted is everyone that fears the lord that walks in his ways the ways of god are righteousness justice happiness and well -being verse 2 of psalm 128 tells you how you achieve it when thou eatest the labor of thy hands happy shalt thou be in this world do your job and do it well you work for a man you give him the hours he requires of you to do it you do it well and god says he'll bless that he blesses honest labor yes he does but not all men achieve this wealth they desire but let me say this all men are capable of achieving true wealth according to scripture all men are there uh capable of achieving true wealth and i'm well aware that there are those who've grown around today and i don't necessarily want to get into it but it doesn't bother me that much get into it that going around and they're teaching that god wants everybody prosperous if that is true the apostle paul missed the boat if that is true every one of the apostles and every one of those who follow the apostles and most of those godly christian people who live for the first 300 years of christianity missed the boat if that is true john wesley missed the boat if that is true john husk missed the boat if that's true john calvin missed the boat if that's true roger williams missed the boat if that's true you can find the leaders of every great christian movement in history including martin luther the father of protestant reformation all of mr boat if god wants everybody prosperous at all times but you see if i can convince you of that and say now god will use you to make me prosperous and he'll use somebody else to make you prosperous then you're going to pour it into me if you believe me and then you'll come up soon later you'll say well now where's mine coming from i said well god will lead them to you and i hear it all the time just had a big convention in fort worth not too long ago and they took up three million bucks by man who teaches exactly that and yet most of those people sitting out there having trouble meeting their bills you can't find that anywhere in the word of god if you keep scripture in their context it violates the principles of god nowhere does god teach such a thing and yet they take one scripture here and play with it and take them out of context and i understand that but that isn't what god tells me true well comes from that which brings joy into the heart and it's based upon the righteousness of god it's not based upon criticism it's not based upon self -righteousness it's not based upon any of those things it's based upon the righteousness of the lord and even a new couple just a young couple can begin their home starting out in the way that god wants them to go in the sense of finding true wealth because in jewish life they say the beginning of that marriage sets the course that marriage will follow all of its days and that's why there's a lot of preparation that's why there's a lot of teaching now according to our law that our jewish thinking uh the jewish mind are two paths that one can go two paths that one can follow in their marriage the first path is they can take the path that most people take which is that of eyes closed and it brings about an enslavement of body and soul enslavement physically an enslavement of soul soul to me is the seat of the mind will and emotions plays on the mind deals with the will and controls the emotions and most people deal with god and christianity based upon an emotional response not upon a spiritual response and they don't know the difference between the spiritual and the soulish the second path is they can take a path that is chosen which is chosen usually by people of wisdom and sensibility and that brings freedom of thought and freedom of deed let me explain the first choice take the first path those who choose that path simply act in imitation of their neighbors or their acquaintances the people they know they imitate what other people have done or other people do they go read a book i've shared this with you and i hear it everywhere i go people come up constantly have you read this book have you read that book have you read this book and have you read that book have you read this and everybody's writing books because there's a lot of money in books and i'm not opposed to books but dear people can you imagine what the early christians did they didn't have all those books they had the book now i'm not opposed to reading books but if you spend as much time in his bible as you do all these other books all these other courses you won't have a problem the book is the key but everybody wants a quick solution everybody wants a you know a quick fix that's kind of the generation that we live in and so it is not their own path it is not that unique direction that god wants them to take it is not that one chosen simply because it suits them and meets their particular needs it's an imitative life and it's an imitation of their neighbors and their friends and it's marked by all kinds of effort but very little pleasure of life and by pleasure of life i'm not talking pleasure of things pleasure of life all kinds of efforts just work work work work and it's a routine it's a rut that they get in and they just continually progress along that way they are too fatigued too tired too beaten down to engage themselves in creative activities when i ask people i said you have a family not in your home they say no why man i'm just too tired i just i just i just can't sit down and figure out something new to do every week too fatigued too tired too beaten down to use creative activity in their home and in their life with their families and their children with their husbands and with wives and so other and so real happiness and serenity in god is beyond them they never reach it they never attain it's just beyond them at all times they can come and rededicate their life but the price is high and it just stays a little beyond and always reaching out but never able to get that thing and it affects the children obviously those who take this path this first path find their children are denied genuine true wealth what is true wealth according to a child a car you go to most high schools and you'll find young people today driving better cars than most adults do i saw a little boy down there right there there's a high school arlington heights high school is about two blocks from my office in fort worth and uh there's a little place i whip in there once i get some coffee and a lot of kids come down there prior to school and they'll get snacks and sweets and all that stuff and chewing gum bottle going on hang around cold ranks and stuff them in there and then off they go to school and it's amazing what i see them drive up in this one kid drove up in there and he had a truck and it had everything on him i mean that pickup truck had everything on him and i got told him i said would you pay for that thing i mean what that thing cost you and here's a kid 16 years of age just got clearance to drive by himself you know he took the course and just got to where he could drive by himself as that little boy told me his dad paid 45 000 for that truck and when you saw it you could believe it it had everything i mean it had everything but a cafeteria in that thing he had to get a ladder to climb up in had those giant wheels you know you had to stand to look up and he'll try to see what's up there it was like an airplane cockpit you look in that thing and we try to convince these kids that that is really true wealth but it isn't and you know it isn't and i know it isn't but they don't know it isn't because that's what they have had around them and that's what they see but what is true wealth according to the jewish mind it is a father's loving kindness and a mother's loving concern it's that father interested in them and it's that mother's concern for them and both parents showing realistic interest and active interest in the lives of those young people and these young people who don't have that and follow the first path to their families they grow up poor and what really matters they don't have the discipline they don't have the guidance of their parents and there is no substitute for discipline and guidance of parents in the lives of young people young people know what they want young people know what they like young people have no way of knowing what they need that's why god gives them parents they have no way of knowing what they need there are two critical ages with with with youth one is six years of age another 16 at six years of age they have every question known to man at 16 they have every answer to every problem that's just the way it is and i have all the time you know i like to get in conversations with them they'll start hitting me all as well as i said let me ask you a question have you ever been out of the state of texas well no well i mean have you ever traveled around the world no have you ever gone to canada no you have flown an airplane no you have been out on a cruise no you have been in military no well how do you get all these answers to all these things where did you get them from well that's where i think about it you know well that sounds good and they are entitled to what they think but it's an emotional intellectualism and it's not a rational intellectualism it's based upon what they feel what they feel and what you feel will fool you sometime sometime and so when these children reach maturity what do they do they immediately fall into the same vortex that their parents are in and the cycle begins to repeat itself and they will do the same thing to their children and their children will lack discipline their children will lack guidance and their children will lack that loving kindness and their children will lack that same concern and parents will say well i never could do anything with them and we'll rationalize it away but there's a second path that you and i well know about and it's a path which god ordains and is one that has freedom of deed and has freedom of thought and a person who chooses that they choose it of their own free will and they exercise their own judgment a healthy search for the permanent joys of life are in this particular path the home becomes a place of rest where the body can relax and the soul expand i think when there for a moment we are christian people and we say we love the lord but the home ought to be a place where there is peace where you can sit down for a moment in quietness and relax the soul can expand i mean you can just sit and think about god you can meditate on the lord or you can sit and think about your family and how grateful you are and the love that is in the family and you know your emotions can just kind of settle down and there is peace and most homes never slow to that pace most homes are just in a just a furor all the time it is just something all the time and when you walk in the tension almost crackles in that home oh they love one another and it's not argumentative or anything like that there is just attention how many homes you've been in people you know that love the lord and know the lord and seemingly are faithful to the lord but there's not peace in that home no one says you know your home is so peaceful they just like to come and see it just like to kind of be around that home life that fits your needs and no one else's most people live their lives based upon the expectations that other people have for them and that is extremely dangerous i live most of my christian life in that mode of trying to be what other people thought i should be or what i thought they thought i should be until i realized that was a rat race and that was a merry -go -round and then when i tried to get off of it i couldn't get off because i was afraid i'd fall if i got off the home i'm talking about or the life i'm talking about is the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor and the blessings that god bestows upon them in the manner prescribed by god and they can rest easy at night because they know they've done exactly that day what god wants them to do they labored faithfully as god desired them to do and they trust and have the confidence that god will put his blessings upon their efforts for the day and so when they lay down that night they can rest assured that god's presence is in their life and their efforts and they are content with what they have and they are not covetous of what their neighbors have and that is called the path of life the path of life you and i know that we are not to envy our neighbors their showy furniture their modest clothing their superior tastes all these usually are bought with the suffering of themselves and the children at the cost of serenity at the cost of peace at the cost of well -being at the cost of happiness in proverbs 14 verse 30 it says this envy is the rottenness of the bones and it's very easy for christians to get caught up in envy it just it just is you know i like when someone comes to visit me i have a little routine someone comes to visit me from out of town or something like that and those other that lived around fort worth you they'll know what i'm talking there is an area that is called westover hills in fort worth it has the highest per capita income of any community in the state of texas right now it is higher than highland park it's where the bass brothers live if you don't know who the bass but it's where the bass boys live they spend three million dollars a year just security for their homes he went there and there's a guy got a home for sale he's about 55 and he married a young stewardess now they're getting divorced has a home that he put two tons of marble in the second floor for her bath specially made bath two tons of important marble he put up there those houses have a dance floor that'll hold 500 people at one time it's kind of on springs a little bit it gives a little bit for relaxation 24 -hour security on some of those homes and i stopped this young couple here not too long ago from chicago and i saw the security guard and i go out there so much they got where they know me you know you drive and have their own police force you see it's right in the middle of fort worth it's a community but it is in fort worth and it's its own city and they're their own police force and you drive around i think you won't drive along 15 20 minutes you just be out there cruising around day or night and all of a sudden a police car falling behind you and while you drive around looking at everything they checking your license tag out and find out who you are and all that but they see me out there so much i guess they think i'm a janitor or something you know or a gardener or something and and so i stopped and i began to talk to him and he says oh the house is up for sale now i said you know how much does he want for it he said he's asking 13 million and there are no homes out there that i mean every home two three four and five million and it's not that it's just one we're talking about blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks it's where tandy family lived it's where mr ben hogan lives it's where those people and there are no no jew has ever been allowed to live there there's no jew ever been allowed to live in westover hills texas it is just an unwritten law their country club out there no jew has ever been allowed to be a member of that so what i'm saying to you is not that but what i am saying to you is you know i take these people out there and you know then all of a sudden you have to come out and you have to leave that the homes are beautiful the landscaping is just marvelous and there are one family out there that what they do is every day she changes flowers in her yard she just hasn't changed just tells the gardener i think i want roses today and so he gotta go out and plant all roses whatever it is i mean it's amazing but yet then you gotta leave and you gotta get back out on the freeway and then you come back over to where we live called shantytown where santa doesn't come and you know if you're not careful even though you've just shown someone the marvelous sights of architecture the beautiful landscaping that man has created you know you get to thinking lord now i know i didn't come to ask you about anything talk to you about anything oh lord i i'd use it for pastors and i'd use it for christian missionaries to come and to rest and relax if i had one like that big one sitting way back you know that one lord on that pink one that beautiful dome i mean if i had one i'd have one whole wing for missionaries anytime they come in town they could stay i'd have christian fellowship there all the time envy is a very subtle thing and it has varying degrees and it slips into the mind when you least expect it and because we are born again and know the lord does not mean again that we are immune to that but yet it is the rottenness of bone it causes us to be discontented it causes us to be unhappy with the situation that we know god has us in god is blessing us in it and god has control of our lives but we become discontented with god about that situation because we see something someone else has or we see someone else who seems to be blessed more than we are instead of just being content in the situation that god has placed us for the while for a while and it'll all change when jesus comes so what happens these people mortgage their body and soul for luxuries and they are not worth the price i have a statement why compete with your friends and neighbors for wealth why not let them compete with you for true happiness why not let them compete with you for the peace of mind and the joy of heart and the testimony of the lord well let me take a minute and talk about children young people it won't be as bad as you think just rest easy in jewish law jewish life jewish thinking all of all the activities that a person can do of all the activities of a father and mother can be engaged in that are worthy and commendable and are good and kind and benevolent and all those things none is more praiseworthy than the proper upbringing of a son daughter nothing is more important than making sure those children are properly raised or reared abraham in chapter 22 of genesis abraham passed many tests in his life but the most severe test that he passed was the tying the binding of his son isaac upon that altar believing that it was quite possible that god was going to take that boy's life that he was going to have to offer him for a sacrifice and abraham passed that test and because he passed that day he didn't worry about the test in the past he didn't worry about the test in the future he dealt with that test that was at hand and he passed it because of that he is the example in the scripture old and new of faith abraham believed god and it was accounted to him imputed to him put down to his account record as righteousness and anyone who follows the lord today jesus christ is called a child of abraham because we're children of faith and he is example of faith in the scripture jewish thinking is that all the practice of righteousness that a man or woman might do no matter how righteous they may be and no matter what they are engaged in is not valued near as high as the righteousness that is gained by their instilling within a young man or young woman are sons and daughters the proper way of living for god and instilling in them the way of the lord to do righteousness and justice jewish thought is this i quote from one jewish sage he says if one guides his son and daughters on the way of truth he gives life to himself and he gives life to them now in jewish life when you're born when you stay with josh the new baby that's born well if that was a jewish child they would immediately say there are two books that are opened the moment a child is born two books that are immediately thrown open when a person person comes into the world one is the book of life and one is the book of education and those books are opened immediately when a child is born children come to their teacher in jewish life to be trained so you go to public school in jewish life but you also go to hebrew school you also get under the life of a tutor you get under the control and discipline of a religious leader and so you not only learn that but you go to school learn language and you learn who you are and you learn your people and you learn how to worship you learn how to fellowship you learn how to do those things around the synagogue and so forth and so on but also babies infants are taken to what is called the hallway of the torah the torah being the word of the lord they take them down to the synagogue they don't take them in the synagogue because sometimes they're disruptive but they stand in the hallways where the law will be brought where the people who teach the law will walk and so forth and so they are brought to the hallways of the torah and they begin as soon as that child is able they teach them alice this they teach them the beginning letters of the alphabet of the hebrew alphabet they learn that very at a very early age as soon as they can understand they do not care if their first word is da da mama they don't care if it's mama daddy they want them to have their first words to be that which will lead them into the word of god that which will lead them into the torah that will lead them into the word of the lord so what do they do they believe that moses instructed the law to be an inheritance to the people of israel and of course we find that in scripture they are taught the blessings a child is of here oh israel here oh israel turn me to deuteronomy chapter six this is you know it well but this is a fascinating thing that goes on in jewish life just as the book of life is open when a child is born at the beginning of life the book of education is open to him in deuteronomy chapter six there is what is called the shema and i want you just to kind of hold that for a moment and and we'll read it together i'll flip over that with you but i don't want to read it right this moment i want to make another point or two about how jewish people look at uh at this thing the first chapter that comes up in this book the book of the baby's life is strange the first chapter in the book of life as far as jewish people are concerned is called the drawing of nourishment the drawing of nourishment so what we have we have a baby he does not strive he does not work but yet he is a person he does not labor but he's still an individual and so the first deed the first d .e

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.d. the first deed that that child commits in life according to jewish thought is the drawing of nourishment from his mother his food no longer comes to him of himself he has to actively draw nourishment from the mother in order to live so what would be the name given to the first chapter in the book of education very simply it is called the chapter of overflowing love the chapter of overflowing love who teaches the first chapter of that again it is the mother isn't it interesting when a baby is born the dad has to stand out look through a window that mother is able to already begin loving caring for that child and so this is where they come with this a child's education is begun by the mother and the mother who bore that child is the first to educate that child and the first lesson she teaches him from herself is love she teaches that child love and one would be sadly mistaken if they believe that a little baby doesn't know love and they have ways of letting you know when they don't think they get in love too i mean you know if you ever seen a baby i mean you know those little things they're only about six seven pounds and they will scream louder listen i've heard cheerleaders that don't go strong as these things i mean they can cut it loose and they'll go you know they'll throw that hand up you stick your finger down there they'll grab hold that thing they'll break your finger i mean that's you can't pull it out no kids on you it's just like three or four days over they'll hold it satan's already working they're saying mine give me mine mind we hang those little things over you take those little toys away from them they'll scream kick they run in my mind i don't know what's going on in their brain but i know that mother deals with them and jewish people believe that is the secret of education that mother expressing that love to her children and in all the world of jewish thought no love is greater than a mother's love for her children in all of jewish thought that is the greatest love ever expressed and when that baby emerges into a world as a new person an individual unto himself but yet as a person he's still weak frail lacks so many things it is time according to the jewish mind as soon as that baby is born to start the upbringing and education to start educating that child the moment they are born so there's no introduction in the book of education except that of love the mother is constantly turning to teacher she is becoming teacher all the time from mother to teacher mother teacher at all moments of her life with her children and she gives all the wealth that is in her heart and soul to her child her noblest dreams she dreams for that child her thoughts during the day and during the night are given to that child her trembling and all the intensity of her yearning is for her son or her daughter and it's that ocean of love in whose water that infant is immersed at all times in the presence of that mother that purifies that child every hour to prepare that child for future life impurity it is not the father it is the mother that has that child immersed in that love the dad loves but it's that mother that keeps immersed in that love moment by moment by moment by moment and after that mother's wrapped up all the goodness of the earth and giving it to her child she is never satisfied because she desires for her child be he boy or girl to have a light of the throne of glory because to a religious

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Jew heaven is the life beyond is an important factor in her life and she greatly beloves her

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God she greatly beloves her child and she wants to share the two together and so she has a lullaby and here's the lullaby that in every religious

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Jewish home you'll hear this lullaby given to a child that's just been born behind the crib of my gentle child there stands a kid white and clean the kid will go to ply commerce and my son will run to study

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Torah will all word of God run my son run hard and enter the house of your teacher again and again search and seek only in the

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Torah for her wealth is better than all commodities and on it goes now when a child is born its parents immediately consecrated to a life of Torah to a life of studying

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God's word to a life of understanding God's word and before that infant ever understands what he hears before he ever gives any indication that he's really understanding what is going on around him from the very earliest hours of his life his ears are habituated his ears or her ears become accustomed to hearing hear

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O Israel hear O Israel hear O Israel hear O Israel and that is the Shema and it is the most famous saying in all

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Judaism and you find that in Deuteronomy 6 verse 4 and 5 the

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Shema is simply verse 4 hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord Shema O Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad hear

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O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one and thou shalt love the Lord thy

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God with all thine heart with all thy soul and with all thy might and so what happens well it is customary wherever Jews live that when that baby is born that school children come to the house where that child is every single day for the first seven days of its life for the first seven days that child is home school children come and they stand around that little child and they read aloud or they recite aloud

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Deuteronomy 6 verses 4 and 5 the Shema hear O Israel the

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Lord our God the Lord is one and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart mind soul and what they say is hear

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O little Israel hear O little Israel your school children around a little baby saying hear