Family Worship Part 1

And then, study what your

Lord says about how we should go about our daily relationship with Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Great. So, I'm going to be, Brian's out this week and next week.

I'll be taking over as a musical for that. And, so that means I'm going to teach a class with the council this week and next week.

And, what I'm going to do is two -parter on daily worship. First, this week is going to be basically, of course, it's a family worship.

Next week is practical stuff, what should it look like. I think it would be cool if we had kids here to do an example session.

I don't know how that would work out. Next week, unfortunately, it didn't work out because Ken is out this week.

So, we've got some extra kids this week. But, I would like to do that next week. So, we'll see how that goes.

Let me go ahead and start off with a couple of things. First of all, we have our

Confession. Second one, the Baptist Confession. The one we have today says,

God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and in truth, as a product of the family of David, and as a secret to one by himself.

And then, our Church Covenant says, that we agree together, solemnly, that we will cultivate, provide an example of something our families bring up our children to nurture, and admonish our children, treasuring them for the service of Christ.

So, these are the things that our Confession and our Constitution slash Church Covenant say.

Any questions, so far, about family worship? Let me go ahead and ask, what is family worship?

If you haven't defined it, what is it? This is not like a trick question. It's a regular time when the

Father leads the family in worship and prayer, and keeps Christ at the forefront in the tone and tenor of the family.

Okay. And, not to be too picky about that definition, but what if there isn't a

Father? Where is the leader of the family?

Head of the household. Head of the household. Right, so, perhaps, yeah, family worship is more than that.

Families that are split across geographic regions, they don't, that family does not worship together on a regular basis.

If you have a household that's more than a single family, they might worship together, even though that's not a single family.

And, if you have a household that's only a single person, they would worship, even though they don't have, in the typical sense, a whole family to worship with.

So, family worship might be more apt than household worship. Basically, it's the idea that those who are together should be worshiping together.

Yeah, basically, it's the grace of God. And, it's sanctified hearts that are drawn together.

Two or two together. This is evident in the Lord's Prayer. When he said it says, Give us this day our daily bread.

And, the whole thing is in these second, excuse me, first persons in the world, right, where Jesus is receiving these things from our heart.

We, us, et cetera. In the Catechism, it says,

This shows that we are supposed to pray with and for others. Not just for us, but with others as well.

And, if we are together with others, we care about the Lord, naturally, we would be drawn to pray with them.

So, moreover, God has commanded the heads of households to provide for and to protect their families.

And, if this is the case, physically, how much more so, it's in true spirituality. And, require that spiritual program, for example.

Let me go ahead and read a couple of verses. 1 Timothy 3, 4 says, He must manage such households well above all that any people whose children are submissive.

So, this is just talking about the requirement for a good man. And, the same is true of 1

Timothy 3, 4, which speaks of the instance. But, the instance, each husband has one wife, managing their children in their own household as well.

God has called them to manage their household as well. And, therefore, if they're supposed to be doing this physically, that's what they're doing, basically.

The Spirit is for each of them, more so. So, this is, a lot of people have asked at this point,

Well, where is this commanded in Scripture? Where is family worship commanded in Scripture? I really like how, there's a whole church about family worship.

Some are more practical than others. If you want more of the theology behind it, big views of what to think about family worship.

There's more recent books and more practical, but there's only one book from the 1800s, by James Edward Alexander, called

Thoughts on Family Worship. And, he wrote it from the very beginning of the book. There are some duties so lengthy, that they are rather assumed than commanded in the

Word of God. And, the number of such is greater than you might suppose, on a superficial examination.

So, there are larger limits that are commanded to us, but not explicitly in Scripture. It is the case that, as you think about it more and more, you realize just how limited the number of those commands are.

So, here's an example. This is especially true of those duties, which belong to the family relation.

As for example, those of the mother to her baby. They are suggested to have a relation, with the object of frequent allusion, but are not incorporated into the law of commandments.

So, you can buy a large set of clothes, for the mother of the past semester child, or the mother who has to choose her child's diaper.

These are just assumed. The more it doesn't specify, within the explicitness of the regularity, that it's going to be.

And, if you're not changing your child daily, that's going to be a problem.

If you're not nursing her daily, that's going to be a problem. So, these duties of family relationship, while very natural, in the sense that it's obvious, aren't all specifically spoken of.

So, when it comes to worshipping the Lord, as opposed to taking care of someone physically, when it comes to the spiritual tradition, rather than physical worship, there tends to be more skepticism.

And, why is that? I think it's because, there's a spiritual resistance, to think about the daily duties, that are required of her, to care for one spiritually, that just doesn't exist, for physical.

So, there are, the Bible does speak to this matter, a great deal, even if it's not, within the explicit proof -text, of self -shelter, worship of God, as a household, daily duty, etc.

And, we can see that in a lot of narratives. I'm going to walk through a lot of narratives. I thought about putting some slides, sort of side -by -side to it.

But, yeah, at any point, please raise your hand, and ask questions. We'll also look at, we'll talk about, any of the passages.

So, in Genesis 4, it says,

In the course of time, he brought forth an offering, of the fruit of the ground, and he also brought forth, the first person, of the flock, and of the flock, worshipers.

So, it speaks to Cain and Abel, bringing offerings, and the Lord rejects one, and accepts the other.

And, they appear to be doing this together. And, why is it that, that they are doing this together?

It seems that, this family is worshiping God, together. We have other passages like this.

In Genesis 18, 19, speaking of Abraham, God says, For I have chosen him, that he may command his children, and his household after him, to keep the way of the

Lord, by doing righteousness and justice, so that after the Lord, so that the Lord, may bring to Abraham, what he has promised him.

Okay, so, he chose Abraham, to command his children, and his household after him, to keep the way of the

Lord, by doing righteousness and justice. So, what does it mean, to keep the way of the Lord? God has commanded him, to worship him.

He has commanded, a private worship, that he may be, meditating on his word, that he may be praying.

And, if one was to command, his children in this, how would he command, how do you teach children, except by example?

This is, this is something called, selecting experience. It's not enough, to just say, oh you should do these things, and never, never require the

Lord, to do these things, never actually show them, how to do these things. It's, it's not how anything else, is taught to children.

You see, the Jacob worshiped the Lord, with his household. Genesis 36, bottom half of 2, verse 3 says,

Jacob said to his household, and to all who obeyed him, put away the fire, and the garments of our mother, we will purify ourselves, and we will change our garments, and then let us arise, and go into Bethel, so that I may make there, their altar.

God, who answers me each day, when he stresses us, and has me living, wherever I go. So, he calls on his people, to purify themselves, so that they can go, and he can make an altar, as they worship him.

And then, Passover is observed, by families, Acts 12, verse 3 says, Tell all the congregation, of Israel, that on the tenth day, of this month, every man shall hate what they have, according to their father's house, a lamb, or a house of household.

Right, so, yeah, Passover, Passover, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, to use in worship, to use in feasting.

It says, if you shall eat there before the Lord your God, rejoice with your household. So once again, worship before feasting is supposed to be done in the household.

And then it speaks of the firstborn of the flock that is born, Deuteronomy 15, 20.

You shall eat, you and your household, before the Lord your God. And once again, it's before God, God, speaking of worship. Year upon year, by their place, place,

Lord, will choose. Just a couple other things here. Joshua 24, 15.

This is one more popular one. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua is dictating to me that not only himself, but he has authority to command all his people to serve the

Lord, all his household to serve the Lord. And what would that look like if John, worshiping

John as he is, required people to do this religion, national religion? He would require that.

Acts 10, 2 says, speaks of smartness. He says, you should fear

God with all his household. Why is it significant to fear God with his household?

He is bringing his household into the fear of God. He is fearing God alongside with them.

This is not each of them living their independent lives fearing God independently.

This isn't fearing God together as a community. It's all sharing the same sleep with people and praying continually to God.

So those are passages that hint at family worship. Speaking of men and women worshiping

God together with their families, that are serving God with their families. And the implication is that if one way is to serve

God is by worshiping him, then they will be worshiping God with their families. It's also a logical implication of commands that we have to have.

So for example, the Lord commands parents to teach their children how to serve the Lord. It's necessary, like I said, to teach by example.

Deuteronomy 6, 7 says, these words reflect my energy today. They shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them diligently with children and shall talk of them when you sit in a house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteronomy 11, 15 -19 says, you shall therefore have these words upon your heart, heart, and your soul.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and you shall teach them to your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them while you're sitting in your house, when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down.

Deuteronomy 22, 6 says, you should train your child in the way he should go. He is bold, but not hard for it.

Ephesians 6, the Lord's Revelation has to go through children's anger and fear. Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the

Lord. All right, so how would it help these people to be brought up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, unless they are brought in the actual practice of the fear of the

Lord, the most quintessential of these practices, which is worship, which is worship of the Lord. That is a necessary way of going about this.

Just to say to your child, you must worship the Lord. It's not actually, it shows you how to do it. Bring them out in the discipline, especially when

God has said that we are to pray with and for others. If you have multiple people in your house who are trying to serve the

Lord, and you're commanding your children to serve the Lord, the necessary invitation is that you pray with them. Worship the

Lord. Next, in speaking of marriage, you know, if you look at our confession, our confession of the spiritual purpose of marriage is,

I'm going to forget the rest of this. So you might remember there's three things that it says that marriage is a course of life.

Marriage is a mutual help of husband and wife for the increase of mankind with the religion that offspring bring, and for the preventing of ungrateful sons.

OK, so with legitimate issue, that's speaking of, you know, not children without fathers and things like that.

Marriage is important. But Malachi 2 .15 says something even more, more specific, not just legitimate offspring.

It says Godly offspring. Malachi 2 .15 says, did he not make me one with a portion which the

Spirit made me? Speaking about the body. And what was this God seeking?

Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in the Spirit, and let none of you be faithless the life of one human being.

So if marriage is a course of prayer and bringing Godly offspring, then family members, nurseries of religion, right?

Not just obeying him in some ways, but is it in particular about worship?

And so families are, if they are designed to be these nurseries of religion, as they've been called by,

I knew that sentence came from a dated phrase because it is. But as they've been called by, by people in the past, does that not mean that, doesn't that mean that they should?

Yes, yes, they absolutely should. Here's another text that speaks of the importance of praying together.

Now, this isn't going to be obvious to me, so I'm okay with you disagreeing with yourselves, but maybe you'll disagree with this one, that's okay,

I get it. I do, I do, I do, it applies. 1 Peter 3 .7 says this. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the women, women to the woman as we are vessels, since they are your servants, you will be graced by them, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

All right, so, do our work, prayers, plural, plural. Now, it would be pretty natural in the first place to resist speaking of husbands because it's likewise to do this, do these, do our prayers, they're not hindered.

So, husbands' prayers are not hindered. However, think about the immediate context of this, the reason, showing honor to the women as we are vessels, since they are your servants, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Now, if the focus is on the joiness of husband and wife, and if they're both believers, being heirs together of the grace of life, and it's talking about that unity being necessary, in order that prayers may be heard, whose prayers is it talking about?

I think it's quite likely that it's talking about husband and wife, their births together, rather than husband and wife, husband's prayers, and honor to the women.

And, you know, great quote from Calvin, Calvin says it, it sounds a lot like what the Bible says. For hence, we may observe that the only inheritance that can be incumbent on the professor of religion, in great

Christian faith, that it may not be neglected and hindered. So, that speaks to that passage.

And then, in Colossians, this one's pretty interesting.

Grab a... I didn't write this one down. I have to pull it out. Colossians 33, Colossians 2, and verse 16.

It speaks of the importance of worship. It says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, saying songs of hymns and spiritual songs.

With thankfulness in your hearts, God, in whatever you do in the world, do everything in the name of the

Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God for the following period through. You know, the word of Christ dwelling richly, singing together, these are hymns to worship the

Lord together. And then, what immediately follows after this, you know, is he speaking to the church through this as a church, as a congregation, as a whole?

Or, is he speaking more particularly of any union the church gathers together, whether it be together as a whole, in small groups, or in families?

Right? And what we see immediately after this is his instructions to households. He's, so keep in mind, he's paragraphed it, there should be some emphasis in brief, right?

They're all, that's all flowing together. And he's telling them, this is what you're supposed to do together. Now let me tell you how else you're supposed to act together.

Why is something to your husband, husband's health, your wife, your children, are they your parents, fathers, mothers, children, officers, are they your mentors?

These are all household commands. And so, should those household commands be so divided from the previous that the right way of applying those doesn't apply to the household?

We should each be sitting in a center in a household. We should be teaching and admonishing one another in household.

The word fresh and dwelling richly in us is in households. So, it's the implication of all these passages.

As I said, there's not one single text. But, what is the, why would one resist this idea that it is necessary to work together?

Is it really to follow the Bible and everything or is there a resistance to trying to serve the

Lord as best as we are able of reading all the implications of Scripture for us?

Right? What mothers would say, do I really have to change my childhood and live by the Bible? have to change my childhood? Do I really have to change my childhood?

It doesn't say that. Right? A lot of these duties, the existence and life are not explicitly or simply understood.

Right. Any questions? Sister? When you're talking about worship,

I know that there's like broad definitions of it and then really specific definitions. How are you using it?

I mean, some people talk about, you know, I worship the Lord in my life and others just speaking in church.

So, how would you? Right, so, yeah, everything is worshiped around, right?

It says, well, we're supposed to be living in sacrifice and so, you know, when I'm playing big league for the glory of God, that's worship.

When I'm drinking coffee, there is a sense that all of our life has to be worshiped for the glory of God.

However, there are some things that are truly set apart as holy and there is a real sacred sacrifice.

It's not, there are a lot of people who say that we need to break down sacred sacraments like the bible.

That's not the case. So, I say worship, oh, right, another good point is a lot of people are only talking about the music which is very interesting to look at.

Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, is the center of worship. The center of worship is the sacraments of Christ. You look at the reformed theology and the stories of the murder of Herod, you look at the modern modern

American evangelism and the sacraments of music and I think it's very interesting to see the relationship between those words.

But all those things are involved in the sacraments of the reading of the sacred sacraments.

You cannot practice the sacraments together as a church institution or as a church practice.

They represent the community as a church. They are administered where two or three are gathered together.

The church are working to build the means of peace and to build the means the church the church and to build the means of the church and to build of the church.

That is the purpose the church.

And that is the purpose of the church. the of the means

So, yeah, it teaches children in particular that all life should come to the glory of God.

Now, once again, I would hate for this to be so irresponsible to children that it's mismatched with certain households.

Even households without children. But, man, the impact on children is just so significant and amazing.

So, yeah, that's why I don't like it so much at all. Okay, so what would you—I like answers from people.

What do you think benefits physical immersion more or less? What kind of things would you lessen less? It keeps the

Lord prominent. Okay, it keeps the Lord prominent. In his mind, okay.

As you said, it sets the example. Right. Whoever's leading is setting a good example to those who follow along.

Yeah. Let me say in addition to setting a good example. This is something that James Ellison said that I thought was really, really well put together.

It says it's an outlet for eternal perfection. So, in other words, the father loves his children and the father cares about certain things that are going on with their family or with the church or with the world.

And most Catholicism expresses this, right? Maybe because the father is very important and just talks a lot or whatever.

But another thing is the father just seems cold and distant. And maybe that's because he actually is.

But also, what is the outlet for these things? Is he supposed to just—maybe it may be reasonable to—not reasonable, but maybe some are very likely to just have these conversations very naturally.

This gives you an outlet to tell the children and the wife in a context that requires what is important to this family.

Great, great. So, yeah, not that that shouldn't be happening elsewhere. But it just gives a really good outlet to believe this happens regardless of what particular personality of the husband lives in.

It may or may not do that naturally. This is an outlet for eternal perfection. Any other?

Oh, yes. It gives them a worldview.

Establishes a worldview before they get it somewhere else. Right, right.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, but they're going to learn a lot about a lot of things from the world.

One thing I'll add here is there are a lot of important topics that come up that might not come up as naturally just in J -State life.

I really do think parents should teach their kids about sex very early on, especially in a world that's so endangered.

You know, at an age of three or older. And this will come up frequently in the

Bible if you're actually reading the Bible. You know, they'll ask, what are these different words? What does it mean to be a

Bible writer, et cetera, et cetera. Right? And you can explain at an age of three or older. It's not something you should be doing.

And then your experience first, rather than having friends at school, or if you have any more suggestions on how to go about that, feel free to ask.

And it's not a piece of paper, so I don't want you to know. You can explain it at an age of three or older. Or any of the benefits.

Yeah, I'll say for myself, I think this would be helpful for people.

I was confused as a kid on sexual education. And I didn't know what was going on.

And it would have been a whole lot better if my parents had told me about it. You know, given me just a little hint of what stuff was in it earlier.

And it was only after this that my parents realized they didn't need to teach me.

I didn't have to bring it up because of it. But it was only because of such a traumatic experience where they felt they needed to educate me well.

And how to think about it. So yeah, it prepares your kids for a lot that you don't even know that they're going to be facing.

You don't even know how soon they're going to be facing this stuff. Anything else?

Well, we have a teenage boy. So for us, we try to do our family worship at night after we finish all our duties.

And it kind of brings a good time to bring up topics like asking him, like, how was your day?

Or, like, what can we pray for you about? And then it just brings us closer together and wraps up the day in prayer.

Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, so that's one side of praying. Those who pray for one another cannot love one another.

It is something similar. If you're just living your own lives, you come to your sleep in the same house, and you go back to your own lives again, it's not necessarily the only way to have love.

And maybe you're building love in other ways. But praying for one another is the primary way to build love to one another.

So, yeah, if you're not building that love in the primary way that you're supposed to build love, that's not great.

Yeah, there's an intellectual benefit for people as well, not just the children, but even the adults.

Fear of the Lord is a game of wisdom. So this is true in the very simple sense that if you fear the

Lord, He will also walk in His way as we do as we pray. That kind of moral wisdom. But in addition, just as Dale mentioned, the more you're surrounded and watched over by the

Lord, the more you're more likely to be thinking intellectually about how God has called us to think about the broken world.

And there's a lot of challenging things in Scripture that require some serious thought. You know, what does this mean?

How does that apply to this area of life? How do these two passages of Scripture correspond to each other?

It's a good intellectual activity. You know,

I don't mean that to dumb down family worship or to just have these secular sides, but it really is one of the ways that God is keeping us on His charge.

It's time to clarify and also for questions to come up. I was thinking last week, because we usually have dinner conversation, and we've been speaking about the

Nazarene Church, believing you could lose your salvation. And my son asked, where is that in the

Bible? And we're able to go through passages in Hebrew and other places. So it's a time to clarify and to edify.

Right, right. The passages aren't supposed to be used to lose your salvation, right?

Right, right. Yeah. Also, here's a big one for visitors.

So if you're reading James Alexander's book, he goes through all the lists of groups that benefit.

Like each chapter has different group benefits. Parents benefit. I think he has a mother and father in possibly two different chapters.

The children benefit. The neighbors benefit. Guests in the house benefit.

Servants in the house benefit. The church benefits. And he goes through all the benefits that each group has.

I wouldn't recommend that book to anyone. So visitors, whether they be believing or unbelieving, they will be exposed to the

Word. And it's a great way for those conversations to come up, to try to really stretch out some ways to get into the dinner conversation or whatever.

And it's a great place to be. It's a great way to get the influence on just guests in your home. And then, again, as I said, these are the church benefits, right?

So many churches have that. Not that Copeland starts a youth program or anything like that.

But so many churches have that as a substitute for, again, like worship, right? Because the kids aren't being actually treated by the parents, but we've got to do something for all these like rascally kids that are running around.

And so that's, yeah, the health of the church is attended to in that way.

We really should be doing it to the families. Like the families should be building each other up. They should be the ones to start building the church up.

And a lot of times that doesn't happen. How should it happen? Family worship. It's just a very, very natural way of having it happen.

Now, what about the harms of using black and white? What are some of the things that you think that make black and white?

Let me go ahead and throw in the preface to our confession. So the preface to our confession says this all along.

And I don't know how that is. Some of this is hard to understand. I just know it's not great enough for you to solve. So I'll break this down into seven sentences.

And verily, there is one spring because of its age and privilege in which I am dead, which we cannot but touch upon, and earnestly urge you to address it.

And that is the neglect of the worship of black families. I lose dignity and challenge you to comment on them as they are missing.

So if you thought black family worship was just something that existed in our neighborhood, it existed back even in the 17th century.

They were also of us as we began to combine family worship with them. And it has a sprays and craws of all gay and gay -religious men and women.

People ask, you can find hundreds of articles, why are so many people when they go to college not going to church?

Well, here's the answer. It's not why is religion a bad thing. It's children are being brought up in the admonition of the

Lord. And yeah, is this not really true?

If you just think about how many opportunities are bought over 365 days, over 18 years, just how many opportunities there are that seem to be off balance that are missed to just pass down to my family.

Now, I think the easy part at this point is talking about my own upbringing. So I was, we do family devotions that included, not necessarily reading scripture, but reading a devotion about scripture, like something printed, and then singing, singing and praying.

And unfortunately, my dad's schedule was very chaotic. He used to be a very traveling traveler.

So sometimes he was working nights and sleeping through the day. Sometimes, I mean, I wouldn't see him necessarily.

You know, it could be like three days at a time before I'd see him. So we would start family devotions and stop them after a few months.

Sometimes my mom would be leading them. It was pretty inconsistent throughout my life.

It was not the majority of my life where this was happening. But boy, what I did receive, it did let me know what the priorities were.

And it's incredible to think that that was just a very percentage -wise.

What percentage of my life had family worship was probably only 3 % or 5 % or so.

So it really wasn't much, but it stuck with me. And it really, I really do think it was one of the things that I knew

I'd be able to empty. You know, you never know. And so, boy, how much more would that be the case if you would multiply that by 20?

You know, it just really has a lot of power. All right, let me read you this.

May not the gross ignorance and instability of many men, with the profanities of others, be justly charged upon their parents and masters, with not treachery among them, in the way wherein they ought to walk when they were young, but have been collected like the fruits of insoluble hands, which the

Lord hath laid upon them, so as to have a kind of sense of justice to each, if it necessarily be pleasing to God.

And instruct them that their tenured years be seasoned with the knowledge of the true truth of God, as we know them in the

Scriptures, and also by their own admission of prayer and other duties of worship in their families, together with the real example of the loose conversation.

Conversation here is not talking about the way you talk. It's talking about the way you live, the things to use the word conversation, the way you play, like having a very young one first, and your ability to make someone acquainted with a day, a bad day, like, you know, if you live in a big farm, you come in here and you're to this, it'll smell, you just get used to those as a bad day.

So, and you're there first, and then in the tent, all pie, pie, lunch, and lunch.

So, again, isn't it the case that heads of households, those who elected to lead children in this way, that they put it on your end.

You're getting used to this loose conversation, this loose way of life, or you're getting used to a lack of honor, or a lack of respect.

We know this is not an excuse of one, this is a really disinterested opinion. All right, so it's still, you know, a child is up in whatever context.

They act irrelatively. It does not discuse excuses. A certain ego will fall heavily upon those who have thus been given the occasion to die on the ground.

And they will die in their sins, and they will indeed die in their sins, but will not let the empire of those under whose care they were at work, who yet committed nothing done, to go on without warning.

Yea, yea, lead them into the path of destruction. So, and in my reference, that was a scriptural reference there.

Yeah, Ezekiel. Yeah, Ezekiel 3, right? And I did that later, because Ezekiel, he killed him. It's said multiple times, but yeah,

Ezekiel 3. That, that, um, that everyone thought maybe I could do it. If I say to the wicked, you shall die, and you give him no warning, or speak to warn the wicked, in order to save his life.

That way the person shall die, but his blood I will not require at your hands. So, so, there is, on one hand, you know, anyone who actively conserves all, does not, uh, yeah, they would have to bear their own sin.

At the same time, those who have not warned, as they have been called to, those who are, who are, who are on the path of wickedness, uh, blood will not be required at their hands.

There is a consequence, and what does that mean for a believer who has been sanctified by Christ, and has been guaranteed pardon?

I, I don't know exactly what that would look like for a human being, not before God. The Bible says similar things with pastors, you know, in any area, this applies to a very big deal, a very, uh, a lot of reasons to, um, to be hesitant to become a pastor, right?

Because, uh, blood will be required at your hands for any instance where you fail to warn someone in a way you want to warn them, the scripture says.

But yeah, this is, this is not the case for any man. Uh, and not the diligence of the

Christian to respect the discharge of his duties to his pastor. The rise of the judgment against him is never the end of those who is guilty of such sin.

Uh, and that's a, that's a heavy one too. This idea that, a lot of people would say, well, you know,

I don't, we don't do a lot of gathering worship, but, um, we're better off than most Christians of our era. And this is saying, you're not going to be, you're not going to be, uh, standing just with people of your era.

You're going to be standing side by side with those of us, Christians of every era. And will not those of the past who have, you know, taken this more seriously, be just by example.

you know, by faith, it will be in the word of my God. And I am concerned that this, as the

FTC, and whether we are here, constructed or aren't, for the sake of this house and household, by this he consumed the world, and became the bearer of the righteousness that comes by faith.

You know, so Noah, Noah, condemned the world by his righteousness. Noah, Noah, in, in comparing the righteousness to those in the name of God and the others, because that's what, that's what brought the flood, not the flood of the left coming and coming, but, but the way he refers to the left and what the phrase is, is his righteousness contrasts with everyone's forgiveness.

And so we, you know, we are called to, we are called, called that art, uh, the art of grace, of course, in the first year, but, but we are called to, to, so, so, uh, yeah, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

There's just so much to talk about. So much family has been gone through all of that. And also, it's a good testimony to the world.

That's another great, excellent testimony to the world. They see what, you know, how serious we are about it.

Basically, God really is a God worth serving, if we consider

Him to be a God worth serving. I know a lot of people are

Christians, or believe in the Lord, but have not read the Bible. And so, you know, others see that, and they think,

OK, well, the Bible's not really that important, right? Maybe it's just three parts of it, or it's a page in a page, or something like that.

I had a working group, I had an intern, who was talking to me about the third state.

And he said, oh, the Christians don't actually read the whole Bible, right? They just use it as a reference, right? It's three parts of it.

So no one actually has read the whole Bible. You know, I do, so that was very encouraging. And he was very serious about this.

And on top of that, I was able to tell him, you know, I forget what the number was at the time, but right now, it's freaking out in my mind.

You know, that's not, yeah, don't get me into boasting, or anything like that, but how good is it to be able to, you know, like, in confidence, find children who are spiritual, out loud, at least the ones that were, you know, three and a half times over.

It's a great, great source of peace, and confidence, you know, the earth is at peace.

Any questions? Any other thoughts on this? Harm's on his leg, like, any questions?

And like I said, that's who we're going to go into. What should we actually look at?

Well, I guess we can, in five minutes or so, be like, we should use that.

All right, we'll have a great conversation. Darren, thank you for your work, and giving us such an opportunity.

We ask you to bless us as we let the word dwell richly in us, among us.

You know, we do this in every meeting when we gather together, whether it be congregations at all, whether it be small groups, or whether it be big families.