Marriage Conference Session 4 — Deuteronomy 6

0:00 Greetings to all of you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for inviting me to come and speak yesterday, brother Ray, the elders here, and all the beloved ones, and thank you. You did a great job. I still see the banner outside on top of Westlake Bible Chapel, the board there. You did a lot of preparation and working towards that.

0:36 Praise God. Thank you for your efforts and may the Lord bless you. It's a great joy and privilege for my wife and I, Grace, to be here. And we worship the Lord at the New Life Bible Chapel in Willa Park, Chicago. By the grace of the Lord, we serve as one of the elders there.

1:07 And just to briefly touch on the Lord's working in our lives. It was in the year 1988, while Grace and I, we were working in Bahrain, that the Lord called me to serve him. In one way, the Lord had blessed us in so many different ways while we were there. And when we stepped out to serve the Lord in faith, it was generally the impression was, what are you doing? Are you crazy?

1:49 Kind of thing. And people would say you're stepping from everything into nothing. But you know, from 1988, thirty three years of now serving the Lord, I can say yes, there's been ups and downs, but it was really a stepping from nothing into the abundance of Christ. It's something to be experienced as you live your life by faith, trusting in God for his provisions, raising children here in The United States. Because we came here in December 1988.

2:52 When I say here, it means to Canada because when I surrendered my life to the Lord, I had this prayer, oh Lord, I've had only Sunday school education, give me an opportunity to study your word so that I might know how to, as we read in scripture, divide the word, expound the word accurately. And the Lord amazingly opened a door to immigrate to Canada and there to study at the Prairie Graduate School in Alberta, Canada. So they took me into the graduate school because I had a master's degree from India. And then by the amazing grace of God on completion of that program, the Lord opened a door to come to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield in Chicago on the North Side. And there the Lord enabled me to complete a doctoral program.

3:53 And from the beginning of 1999, the Lord opened a door to teach at the Moody Bible Institute. Earlier as an adjunct faculty till 2004, and two thousand and four July first onwards as faculty in the seminary graduate school. And by the grace of God from that time till now, the Lord has been using me to teach at Moody, also to be at the assembly and to help out in any and every way possible. And my wife has really stood together with me in all these years. And we have, by the grace of God, served the Lord faithfully and without looking at anything.

4:45 And the Lord has been so good, so good. We have three children, Jonathan married to Jubin. They live in Dayton, Ohio. And they have two children, Elizabeth and Michael. And then Joanne, she's married to Noble.

5:06 They live in Indianapolis. They have two boys, Jeremiah and Nathaniel. The third one is on the way. Last night she was having labor pains, so to say. We thought, what's going to happen?

5:21 Hold on Lord, let's get there. So that was that. And then we have Joshua who is in Sayre, Pennsylvania. So by the grace of God, they are walking with the Lord. Continue to keep us in prayer as we serve the Lord.

5:40 And I teach at Moody and I think we have in a semester two eight week sessions and think of different classes that you teach. About 100 individuals, young people, both ladies and guys who are all committed to serve the Lord wherever, and I consider it a great honor. To be able to teach systematic theology, church history, leadership classes, and things like that. So that as they go forth wherever the Lord takes them, they would be true to the word and they would be true to the Lord who gave the inspired word of God. Trust that you would uphold us in prayer as we continue to serve the Lord.

6:28 Okay, if you wanna ask any other questions, I'm happy to answer your questions at the end of the meeting today. Brother Ray mentioned about that this is the fourth message. But earlier in our conversation he said Sunday needs to be a message for the whole family. So now we will transition a little bit from husband and wife to talk about family. And in relation to that, there is a beautiful passage of scripture which is very precious to people in Israel as well And from that passage we can draw many wonderful principles which we can apply in our life today.

8:11 That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command thee. Thou and thy Son and thy Son's Son in all the days of thy life and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it that it may be well with thee and that you may increase mightily as the Lord God of your fathers hath promised thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD and you shall love the LORD your God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in your heart and you shall teach them diligently unto your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up and you shall bind them for a sign upon thy hand and they shall be as frontlets between Thine eyes and Thou shalt write them upon the posts of Thy house and on Thy gates.

9:55 I would love to read to verse 17 and also talk about that briefly, but we'll see where we are in terms of time. Let's take a moment to pray. Gracious God, our loving heavenly Father, we thank you for a most precious time of worship remembering our dear Lord and our Savior, the Lord Jesus, the great love of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son and the enablement of the Spirit of God that helped us even as we worshipped You in spirit and in truth. And now as we sit under the sound of Your precious Word, we pray that You would speak through me, Your words would go forth and according to Your promise it would accomplish the purposes whereunto You send it. May it never return void which is Your promise.

11:04 O Lord, may You be exalted and glorified and we pray that all of us can go from this place today, blessed by You, instructed by You. I stand in the shadow of Your cross confessing my nothingness, my inability to proclaim your word. Pray that your Holy Spirit would have his way and we pray that you would bless your people today. Thank you for having heard our prayer, for we ask these things giving thee thanks in the most blessed and worthy name of our Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

12:01 So in verses one, two and three, we find Moses telling the children of Israel about how their lives can be blessed. And as you know, when you look at the book of Deuteronomy, by the very title itself, Deutero, that means second, no mas, law. That means the second giving of the law. It was already given earlier in Sinai and in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but then you know the generation that came out of Egypt, age 20 and above, they all perished in the wilderness. Now the new generation, they were about to enter into the land of Canaan and before that of course as you know Moses died and here we find Moses giving them the law so that when they enter into the land that the Lord promised them they were to live in this way.

13:18 And if they would live in that way, then as we read here that your days will be prolonged, verse two. And then we read in verse three, that it may be well with Thee and that you may increase mightily. And while this is true in relation to the children of Israel, for us also it is very very important because what is mentioned here is about us living in the light of God's Word and living in obedience to God's Word. And when we live in obedience to God's Word how in our lives also our lives may be prolonged and that it will be well with us as we live out our lives and that we may increase not only in numbers but also in our spiritual life and walk with the Lord. That brings us to verse four and if you go to Israel and you will find people from the Jewish background, this is the Shema.

17:10 And then we move on in verse five, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. Earlier today we were talking from first John chapter four and there we mentioned about the fact that God is love. But when we read there, there is not that we loved God but that God first loved us and then gave Himself for us. Any love that we show is out of the love that God has given to us, shown to us, it is a reciprocation of the love that we have already been showered by God. So this is true of Israel, isn't it?

18:13 When you read about how the Red Sea was parted and how God was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, how the Lord provided manna and how the Lord provided quail and how the Lord gave them victory over their enemies. Every day for forty years in the morning when they woke up, they saw the grace of God in the provision of manna that they could eat till they entered the land and they sowed and reaped, manna continued on. What a gracious God, what a wonderful God, what a loving God and yet of course we find that they were very hard hearted and we find all the discipline that the Lord had to bring in their lives and therefore having experienced the love of God in so many different ways love, provision, mercies, they are called on to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. And the Lord repeats this in the New Testament. So it's not that this is only for them, it's for us too.

19:40 But in the New Testament we find that the Lord adds, you know, with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might, under all thy mind. Well as part of the soul, the mind is included because the soul includes the mind, it includes the heart of the will and the emotions. But I think in the time of Christ, just like Christ has often done, He either intensifies or broadens the commands that you see in Old Testament and only Christ has the authority and the right to do that and he adds the line and with all your mind, just in case people are just thinking about the heart, you know, but want the mind to be involved, engaged in others, in other things. So in other words God wants us, our whole being wants us to love Him with our whole being. I hope all of you will keep that in mind.

21:46 If I don't get oxygen for a few minutes, next morning I am, what shall I say? What's the word? Vegetable. Gone. I may somehow revive.

21:59 There's this natural thing that God has put in us that when the oxygen level is low we'll wake up. But you see, to wake up with sanity of mind as you grow older, that's God. You've got to realize that and we realize that as we grow older. No wonder it is written that it is in Him, Acts of the Apostles, that we live and move and have our being. We may not recognize that, we may not acknowledge that but it's only as we draw closer to the Lord and we begin to see how much God is holding our lives together then we begin to say wow, I didn't know this when I was young.

22:47 I did all these many things disregarding God or not giving him any recognition, but now I know. I'm just saying in Romans chapter two and verse four it says, the goodness of God leads to repentance. The Lord brought us to faith by His goodness. The Lord continues to lead us by His goodness and by His love. The Lord provides so many things every day, that which we need and in the days when we did not know Him, we did not acknowledge Him and even after that, how it takes us such a long time to understand the depths of God's mercy and how He holds us in His hand even when we reject Him, even when we disregard Him, even when we do not acknowledge Him.

23:55 Thank God you are seated here are those who have come to know Him and increasing in your knowledge of Him. And you know, the more you know, the more we need to realize, oh God, considering that You loved me from eternity past, You love me today and You will love me forever. What can I do in order that I can express my gratitude to you? Beloved, as we worship the Lord, isn't that what we do? Yes, isn't that what we say in Romans chapter 12 where we see to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.

24:43 All that we have, all that we are, O God we place before you in humble recognition, gratitude for your love. So when God asks us to love Him with all our soul, heart, strength, mind, it's only a small thing the Lord is asking. It's not that God is placing a heavy burden upon us and asking us to do something that which He Himself has not done for us. I hope that remains in our hearts. And then verse six, And these words which I command thee this day shall be in your heart.

25:29 You know in these from verse five through verse 17, Scripture is referred to in nine different times and often the reference is them, statutes, testimonies, things like that. As much as yes, you love God, when we come to verse six it says these words. Why? The Lord said, if you love Me, keep My commands. So one way in which we can express our love to Him is by obeying Him, which is what verse six tells us.

26:10 And these words which I command thee this day shall be in your heart. It's not just that, you know why heart? The things of this world enter into our minds through the various stimuli or the senses, eyes, ears, taste, smell, touch. It enters our senses and then what? After some time, it goes down into our hearts.

26:55 That's why we have to even believe with our hearts unto salvation because when we have God's Word in our heart, remember scripture says, the Lord says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and also out of the abundance of the heart we do things, actions. So in other words when it's written here verse six, shall be in thy heart, it's also saying hey live it out, don't just keep it in your heart, obey God's Word, which is what we find. So I take this as verse four and five in relation to everybody and now when it comes to verse six, because later on we are told about what the parents are to do in relation to the children, so in verse six I look at it as something that is very clearly mentioned in relation to those who are parents, husbands and wives, those who are to get married. And sometimes you may say, oh man, you know my children have grown up and what am I to do? And know, Lord willing, perhaps you have grandchildren.

28:21 And then we will come to that in a moment but here we find that this should be God's Word in your heart. And therefore when we think of verse six that is written in relation to parents, it tells us of the significance of living out God's Word in the family, living out God's Word in relationship to one another. There were many things we mentioned yesterday accepting one another 100 as God's gift in your life. We mentioned yesterday about the necessity for prayer. I'm not saying this in order to say we are perfect parents But one day my daughter was sharing her testimony.

29:22 She said something which has impacted her greatly was when she would wake up, let's say on a Saturday in the morning, 10:00 whenever wake up and comes down, she sees mom on her knees in prayer, in tears, in the presence of the Lord. That image, that picture of prayer, she's now 35, never left her. Beloved, what we as parents do in the context of the home, like we said yesterday, it's like wet cement. It causes a deep impression in the hearts of our children. They carry that into their lives and what a huge responsibility.

30:21 Yes, we need to get married, that's wonderful, but remember as we get married that we also think about these responsibilities in terms of living out God's Word in family. When I speak at weddings I often say, make Jesus Christ the Lord of your marriage. Yes, there was a day when you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior but today on the day of your marriage, before you even come together, kneel down in the presence of the Lord and say, Lord we want you to be the Lord of our marriage. We commit our marriage to You. We are unable to do anything in our own strength or ability.

31:21 You lead us, You help us, You strengthen us and both of us will live in obedience to Your Word. That is acknowledging the Lordship of the Lord in your marriage. Living in obedience and living out God's Word in life. Yesterday we mentioned about, you know the world would talk fiftyfifty relationship. That means what?

31:53 I'll do 50%, you do the other 50%. Okay, if you do what you're supposed to do then I'll do my part. The Bible doesn't say anything like that. The Bible says irrespective of and it's for both husband and wife, irrespective of what the other person is doing, I will do 100% what God's Word tells me to do. Both in relation to the husband and wife and you have plenty of Scripture to refer to that and you know that, I don't need to repeat that.

32:30 And we mentioned yesterday too that in the Bible there are no husband's rights or wife's rights. It is really roles and responsibilities that the Lord has given to us And we need to carry out those responsibilities in such a way that our life is a testimony, yes, in the assembly, in the community in which we live among those who have not yet known the Lord, they see this family, this couple live out their lives and they will say wow, we want to emulate them and to live out our lives like them. And if you ask them, so what's the secret, how is it possible? That's because Jesus Christ is the Lord of our marriage, of our family. Let's move on.

34:25 Now may I ask you, at what age do you start teaching doctrine to children? At what age? Do you have a Bible verse? At what age? You remember the word doctrine.

34:43 At what age do you start teaching doctrine to our children? I'll give you a Bible verse, okay. Here we are, it's written in relation to Israel but it's worth noting what is written here in Isaiah 28 and verse nine. Isaiah 20 eight:nine and 10, let me read that for you. Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?

35:20 You know what it says? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast. How should it be taught? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. Them that are weaned from the mother's breast.

35:43 Why is that so important? It is from our parents that they get to hear God's Word. Sometimes we wait till they come to Sunday School. Sunday School is good and we are trying to do the best we can. The teachers I really appreciate their hard work.

36:05 But even before that, at home, as the children are weaned from the mother's breast, Yes, you're a little, dare a little to keep on talking, you know, about God to them. So the first, they need to hear from the parents. You know why? As they grow up become five six years old they go to school and then they hear from the world, from teachers, sometimes some are godly others are ungodly and then you will have all kinds of influences but beloved let me tell you if you put in God's Word from the time that they are drawn from their mother's breast you find that it's deep within them and it will come out because remember Scripture says, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. If we were to put God's Word into them at the right time by the grace of God, you will see that it will come to help them and the Holy Spirit will bring such Bible verses to memory.

37:18 Yes, there can be times when children can go astray. Remember, I'm talking about Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son, isn't it? He wrote a book titled, you know what, Rebel Without a Cause. So the parents did well, but you know, we find that yes, it is possible that for some time they can go astray. But you know if we have done what we could do when we should, when we could have done it, yes, sometimes we have to let them go into the hands of God and wait just like the father in the prodigal son waiting before God and by the grace of God, God would bring them back.

38:24 So here, formal teaching. You know when you do formal teaching or next we come to informal teaching, but in relation to that I just want to look at another verse together. You know in Psalm 78, if you read verses three to verse six, there it will talk about how we are to pass on our faith to the next generation. Beloved, in this world they may think I can pass on my good name, family name or money or education, many things like that. Perhaps the greatest thing that you can pass on to the next generation, you know what that is?

39:16 Your faith in the Lord. And how are we to do that? Which is what we find here. Okay, so if you read verse three, you talk about verse three and then verse four and five, you see two generations there. Then we come to verse six, the generation to come, that's the third generation, might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children.

39:46 That's four generations. What should you say? It tells us what needs to be said. You know, you tell the generations to come what? The praises of the Lord.

39:59 Verse four, His strength and His wonderful works that He hath done. So parents, grandparents, I may probably grandchildren come to your house or you go there. There are many things we can talk about, we can play with them, all of that but in the midst of that what we read here, tell them about the praises of the Lord of His mighty works and you children who are here when you go to your parents or grandparents home, maybe it's wonderful to ask, tell us what are some amazing things God has done in your life. Tell us, we want to hear those stories. When we go to our grandchildren, that's what they want to hear, grandma, grandpa, tell us stories, stories of your life, of the amazing works of God in the lives of each one of us.

41:04 And you know when we read the second half of verse seven it says what? This is informal teaching and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. This is not saying whenever you get an opportunity push God's Word down their throat. That's not what it says. You know what it means?

41:29 You will get many teachable moments and in those teachable moments you tell them about the Lord. What's a teachable moment? You tell, oh son, daughter, don't go there, you'll fall down, you'll get bruised or whatever it is and then they do it, you know what happens? That's a teachable moment. Very often we say things but it looks like it goes through one year and goes out the other year.

42:05 For years I used to do family Bible study where children were all growing up and then I mentioned about our youngest son Joshua. Very often he'll come and sit for Bible, family altar and just sit there and half eyes closed, as if he was going to sleep. Here's how I would say, okay, I'm going to share something from Scripture, but you know what, I'm going to ask you questions. And although he looked as if he was not paying attention, but when I asked questions he would answer them. It's not always scripture.

42:47 Some days I would say, this is how we experience God's grace today. They'll share what happened that day in which God worked in a special way to work out some details in their life or our lives. These are teachable moments. And you know after he went from school, high school and on to college in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to study there, There were two things that we did. First, he went to some Christian club there and he wanted to participate there and he said, Dad, there are some christian leaders there and I'm listening to them teaching God's word.

43:37 Looks like I know more than them and for the first time I said, Thank you Lord, All those years of teaching God's Word, you get what I mean? And when he looked as if he's not hearing, listening and then all of a sudden he says, I know the Bible more than them who are teaching me. Beloved, you keep doing your part faithfully. It will bear its fruit in the days to come. And you know for those, I shared some things I was doing as a faculty member with other faculty members.

44:15 Some of you are here, young people, you may be going away. When you go to Florida it's like going to a party school, isn't it? Now you are in your fair and shackles and now I am free. This is university, I can do what I want. So I said, Joshua, we used to have prayer every day and I know you're going, but every night I'll call you at 10:30 Chicago time for prayer.

44:45 10:30 would be 11:30 there, Chicago time and Eastern time. He said, why dad, I can pray on my own. My reply was very lovingly, Joshua, if I'm paying your fees, I'm calling you. He said okay, let's see. That's all.

45:15 So he went. So I called the first night, 10:30, his time 11:30. So by the time he was supposed to come from the library and be in his room so we could pray together. I want to say it took only ten days of being faithful on my side. After that, if I'm late by few minutes, he'll call me.

45:42 He's now 30. On most nights we still have prayer together over the phone. After some time, it is like them having a shield of protection as their parents pray with them. I urge all of you, I shared this with our faculty members, this is what we do and they started doing that. I hope you will do that and you young people who are here will ask dad, mom, pray for me.

47:03 His life changed so much that people began to call him Good Sam. And here was I, Christian for so long, my Christianity is hid and nobody knows, but him such a dramatic change. And then one day I went to his house. It was in the morning and the idea was let the two of us go to school from his house. I want to say this to all the young people sitting here.

47:33 It had such a deep impact on my life and you know as he was about to go from home, he went and stood before his mom. His father was a salesperson and he would go doing sales and would come back once in fifteen days, for a few days, things like that. He went and stood before his mom. His mom placed her hand upon his forehead and prayed for him. And it is after that he went to school.

48:10 What a dramatic change and that touched my heart. I said, that's not happened in my house. So I thought from that time when I have my own family, you get what I mean, that's what I will do, not send my children out of the home without prayer and also to pray with them as now that they are gone out of the home to call them and to pray with them. I hope if your children are still with you at home, young people go and stand before your children or before your parents say bless me before I go out into the world, bless me. Parental blessing is a great blessing.

48:51 It is something that God has placed in the fathers and in the absence of the father, the mother. You read Hebrews chapter 11, there you will read about how Isaac blessed and how Abraham blessed. We will move on. So this is informal teaching and you know when you sit by the house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up, you know what that means? It is saying you have to spend time with them.

49:28 Otherwise you cannot do those things. Young people spell love, the four letter word, with another four letter word, which I already told you, it is time. I hope it is as you spend time with the younger generation that you'll be able to share about God, about how great God is and the mighty working of God in your life so that your faith is transferred to the next generation, which is what God wants us to do. Remember yesterday Malachi chapter two verse 14, 15, 16, it said God is looking for a Godly seed. That means what?

50:19 That we raise Godly children as parents on our side, we do our responsibility to bring them up in the ways of God. And let's look at verse eight, And you shall bind them for a sign upon Thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between Thy eyes. This is personal testimony. That's what it's talking about. You know what?

50:42 And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand. So when you look at Orthodox Jewish people they will have what? An amulet, isn't it? Which is tied on their hand and inside that amulet, you will have Bible verse written in Arabic. So in other words, what were doing was they were doing it literally.

51:09 This is what the Lord said, you follow the letter but not the spirit of the law. So what does it really mean? Binding God's Word on your heart. It really means, I know I could take time to ask you and then it could take long time. It really means that whatever you do with your hand, do it in the light of God's Word.

51:38 Yes, don't do whatever we please and this is good for the younger generation too because as you live out your life, yes God's Word on my hand, my actions will be righteous, will be those that please God and then what? Binded those frontlets between your eyes here here here here so they will have an amulet here you know and the Bible was there following the letter of the law but what does it really mean? Ah this is how it be applied to us whatever enters your mind let it be filtered in the light of God's Word. So when we look at sights, pornography, many other things that goes on in this world, we need to filter that in the light of God's Word because I heard the statement some time ago, if you do not control what enters your mind then what enters your mind will control you. If you do not control what enters your mind then what enters your mind will control you and therefore you need to filter those things in the light of God's Word.

52:55 If this is not in keeping with God's Word you need to say throw it out. This is how the Lord overcame temptation, remember Matthew chapter four and Luke chapter four. What did the Lord do? Satan brought temptation to him, he filtered it in the light of God's Word and rejected it and therefore Christ did not sin and of course like my brother said earlier, He could not sin because He was God also. There's a lot to say about that.

54:16 Post is where you enter into the house, the main door and there you will write scripture verses. Once upon a time in houses we used to have bible verses, now we have beautiful art. I like art, but I like scripture verses better. I remember growing up as a young person with my dad called home to be with the Lord, as I walked into the house the bible verse which said, My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. What think ye of Christ?

55:00 He is altogether lovely. All those verses are deep within me because every time I walked into the house you had those Bible verses. What do we have in our house? But this has got another meaning here. You know what the meaning is?

55:18 And you shall write it upon the post of your house. Again just like you have filters between your eyes, you also have God's Word on the post means what? Do not bring anything into your house unless it is filtered in the light of God's Word. And that's why parents have such a responsibility about what enters the home whether it's hard copy or digital copy, very important. And it's not only for parents, even for children as well.

55:59 You know, as they grow up, what are the things that you would bring, allow to pass through the doorpost of your house? And then the final point here, and on thy gates, having God's word on the gate, you know. Now here in America, very seldom you have gates unless of course you are in a gated community, exclusive where you have a gate. Back in India and in other countries this is very very common. Having God's word on the gate means what?

56:34 Our testimony in the community. Testimony in the community. Ah, the people in the community knows, here's a Godly family, here's a family that loves the Lord. You know it is our great grandfather, they were the first to come from a nominal Christian background to the brethren assemblies. To, let's put it better, born again faith in the Lord Jesus.

57:09 Some of them got thrown out of their houses because they listened to the missionary who preached the gospel to them rather than following the traditions that their parents followed by going to a nominal Christian church. They walked out of their homes just with the Bible that the missionary gave and the clothes on their backs. Now some generations later when we see God's blessings in our lives, we look back and say that's the generation that sacrificed so much that would walk hours to go to an assembly in order to worship the Lord starting at 10:00. And would be there the whole day and then they would go back home. And you know in that earlier generation, even when I used to go there, my grandpa would get up there at 05:30 in the morning, he would get up and sing aloud.

58:09 All around there would be people, of course there are Christian homes, but also Hindu people. And when he sings around and then after that there is scripture reading and prayer, We children barely get up, everybody gets up. My dad, mom gets up, we get up, we go and sit there, family prayer. But you know what's the testimony in the community? The Matthews says they are in prayer in the morning.

58:38 This is their prayer time. I say that because having God's Word at the gates, we may not have a gate now, but how are we known in the community in which we live? Not only within church, but wherever God has placed you. He has a Godly family, a family that knows the Lord. My time is gone, but I'm glad I stopped by reading verse nine, I could have gone on to verse 17.

59:08 There you will see three things that scripture says how the next generation they are to do and not do. I'll just touch on that in a minute and maybe two minutes and then close. I'll just read it for you. Three things you should not do. Verse 12 Then beware that you forget the Lord.

59:41 Secondly, ye shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people which are round about you. Thirdly, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. And three things that are mentioned there as to what we ought to do verse 13, you shall fear the Lord thy God and worship Him and swear by His name. And then we find again verse 17, You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and His testimonies and His statues which He have commanded thee. And here's the third thing, and you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee.

60:27 You know why that is important that I mentioned earlier also that nine times in these verses from verse five to verse 17, 18 verses, nine times the Scripture is referenced in different ways. Beloved, we are living in a time when those who believe in God's Word, who hold high God's Word, we can be mocked in society, in the world in which we live. It's going to be tough. I don't know if you know, there's something called progressive Christianity, we were talking about that, where they are talking about the Bible with a view to reject it, you know what they're saying, it's racist. Today anything you say is racist, it's out and they are bringing that up.

62:14 God bless.