Simple stuff. I want to talk to you about freestag.
Are you ready? We were just playing. We were
just playing freestag. I felt a little bit hated.
There's a lot of kids, and I was chasing them
all over the place. But I want to tell you something
about freestag. There's an interesting thing
about freestag. In order for those who are not
the person who's it to win the game, there is
something that has to happen. What is it? That's
right. You've got to unfreeze the frozen people.
Otherwise, the person who's doing the tagging
will eventually win. So if the team that's trying
not to get tagged doesn't do the tagging, the
untagging, or the unfreezing, eventually the
person who's doing the tagging wins. Now, how
does that translate into spiritual enlightenment?
We don't tell people that. Out of what? Out of
ice. Yeah. Spiritual ice. Right? Yeah. I already
said, if you don't tell people who are lost,
right? So people who don't know Jesus are trapped.
They may not think they're trapped. They're frozen.
They may not think they're frozen. Right? The
Bible says we were dead in our trespasses and
sins. So there's dead people who are walking
around thinking they're lost. And they need somebody
to come and tell them that they're frozen. Somebody
to come and tell them that they're trapped and
that they can be free. So evangelism applies.
But what I told you, it also applies inside the
church, between believers. See, out there in
the world, you can't really count on somebody
who doesn't know Jesus to care about the problems
of anybody else who doesn't know Jesus. They're
worried about their own problems. People are
making sure they have enough to eat. Making sure
their bills are paid. Making sure they get to
work on time, or at least they don't get fired
for getting to work late. Right? Maybe they're
deciding what they're going to do on Friday night
partying. That kind of thing. They're working
about all those kinds of things. And they don't
really care that much about what other people
are up to. But inside the church, Kyle, do you
need to come sit up here? Okay? Inside the church,
we should care. It says to be concerned about
your own problems, but also to be concerned about
the things of others. Right? So that plays itself
out in two ways. If somebody's hurting, we're
all hurting. If somebody's hungry in the church,
everybody should make sure they get fed. If somebody's
sick, we should all be praying for them and support
them in whatever ways we can. You can't just
go around ignoring when people inside the church
are hurting. The church has a responsibility
to make sure because you know what happens? People
get stuck. Have you ever had something bad happen
to you and you wondered how God could let that
happen? I have, multiple times. Right? Has that
ever happened to you? Holly? Has that ever happened
to you? Yeah? Sure. Sometimes it happens. And
sometimes that person who's wondering how God
could let that happen to them, he needs another
believer to come alongside and love them. Because
we are the body of Christ and God wants to love
us. He needs somebody to come alongside you and
say, hey, And it doesn't make any sense right
now, but somehow or other, God's going to turn
this out for your good. And that's what Romans
8 says. You love him, don't you? You're called
according to his purpose, don't you? Somebody
come alongside and say, God can turn this out
for your good. But also, it plays itself out
in accountability. When someone is doing something
wrong, and someone else becomes aware of it,
if you let that person go on doing something
wrong, And you don't say anything, now you should
say something in a lovely way. Don't go and shake
your finger out. You're a bad boy. You're a bad
boy. Don't go smacking your head. Liam, knock
it off, man. He's all mad at you because now
his head hurts. It's not like that. Go up to
them, listen. All right, now you're being funny,
but I'm talking. All right, so we go up to them
and we say, look, this is the time to be listening.
This is the time to be worshiping. This is not
the time to be lying. This is not the time to
be drunken. This is not the time to be mad at
somebody. This is the time to give God his proper
place. We encourage them to do the right thing.
Right? And you know what the Bible says happens
to people who are in sin? He didn't save people.
You know what it says happens? If you sin, what
happens? He who sins is slave to sin. That's
what Jesus said. He who sins is slave to sin.
But sometimes they do it just because they don't
know. And they just need somebody to come and
explain to them. Say, hey, you could do better.
You could do this instead. Try this on for a
size. Every time I do what you're doing, it doesn't
work out good for me. When I do what God wants
me to do, it works out great. Or differently,
anyway. Better. And so, you can encourage them
to do a different thing. But if you leave them
thinking that what they're doing is okay and
they're ignorant, they're just going to keep
on doing it. Because they don't know. They're
not going to suddenly know. Unless somehow they
learn. But also, sometimes people do it because
they're hurting. They're angry. They're upset.
They're depressed. They're worried. And so they
do something to try to make themselves feel better.
And for a short period of time, they do feel
better. But then they wind up with worse hurt.
Because afterwards they look back and they say,
oh, I hurt somebody. I shouldn't have done it.
I'm a Christian. Why did I do that? Right? And
they wind up hurting themselves in the process.
So they need somebody to come along to them and
say, here is a course of action. You're hurting.
I can see you're hurting. Here's something you
can do. Here's something we can do together.
And give them a good option. Sometimes we do
it because they're in there. Sometimes we do
it because they're hurting. Right? Sometimes
we do it because they were caught off guard.
They just made a mistake. Right? Somebody walked
up to hit me. And before he hit me, I decked
him in the face. He didn't hit me. But down he
went. Does that sound right? Is that the right
course of action? No, it's not really the right
thing. Better would be to defend yourself and
convince that person that they're making a bad
decision and then forgive them. You're going
to cause them harm if you don't have to. If you
have to, you have to. But you always avoid it
if you don't do it, if you don't have to. Right?
And so it's just because sometimes people are
caught off guard. Like we're all supposed to
be listening right now, right? But if your buddy's
sitting next to you and he's poking at you or
playing with you, Or if somebody around you is
laughing or dancing or goofing off, it's hard
for you to do the right thing. You're like, oh,
I want to get wrapped up in doing what they're
doing. And we start doing it without really even
thinking about it. It's not because we're bad
people. It's because that's the way things work.
Somebody walks behind you and goes, hey! Right?
You wish you had a little less caffeine. Because
you're real jumpy. You know? That's the way it
is sometimes. Sometimes we just do it. So then
we need somebody to come alongside us and show
us what's better. What would be the better response?
What would be the better choice? It's like a
priest hat. For lost people, we bring the gospel.
That's really all you can do. If you go up to
a lost person and tell them to stop lying, you're
really just chaining them up more. That's all
you're really doing. Because they know they're
lying. They already know that. And they already
know in their heart of hearts they shouldn't
do it. You tell them to stop stealing, you're
really just putting another bar in their cage.
Because they already know they shouldn't do that.
In their heart, they know. Men know. We know
what we should and what we shouldn't do. We have
conscience. They think all conscience. If a person
doesn't have a conscience, they're a sociopath
and you should help him. Call the police. Right?
Because they're going to hurt somebody because
they have no conscience. But everybody has a
conscience. It varies with person to person.
It varies. But everybody has a conscience and
knows some things that they're doing wrong. You
just won't tell them what they're doing wrong?
That's not going to do it. So if you tell them
what they can do right, they might be set free.
And if they're set free, they can stop doing
what's wrong. Jesus says, come. Follow me. You'll
know the truth. And the truth will set you free.
Now that we know the truth, we say the same thing
to others. Come, follow Jesus, and you'll know
the truth, and the truth will set you free. But
some people do it, they're just reacting, that's
all they're doing. And you might find other reasons,
but here's a fact, it doesn't matter why somebody
got tagged, if you don't unfreeze them, your
team is going to lose eventually. People have
got to be unfrozen. So we share the gospel, we
act in accountability, we encourage other believers,
we stop them when they're hurting, that way we
don't leave them frozen. Let's pray together.
Father in heaven, we do thank you that there
are people in this world yet today, in 2025,
that care about us. That we are not lone rangers
or mavericks or that one wild beast that you
see trying to fly south for the winter all by
himself. We live as part of community. And in
the church, for those of us who have accepted
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and realize
that you called us to be in the New Heights Fellowship
Baptist Church, we have a responsibility to one
another, to care about one another, to hold one
another accountable, to correct one another.
It's not just we correct the children. Lord,
I've been corrected a number of times in my life
by children. And I'm okay with them, as long
as they're right. In fact, I desperately need
it when I'm wrong and they're right. I'm so grateful
that we have people of a variety of ages, backgrounds,
cultures, capabilities, talents, spiritual giftings,
all kinds of different inside our church. And
I thank you, Lord, that if I would be frozen,
I can count on somebody to come and I'm free.
And I hope I'll always be found dependable to
step up for somebody else. And I am reminded
now most of all, Lord, that we have a responsibility
to one another to love one another. And as Jesus
loved us, and as Jesus got up from washing the
disciples' feet for the last supper, the last
meal he would ever take with them, and he got
down on his knees and he washed their feet, their
dirty, nasty feet, and he wiped their feet on
the very clothes that he was wearing, on the
towel that he was wearing. When he got up and
he said, Oh, if only you'd known what I did to
you today. For if I washed your feet, how much
more should you wash each other's feet? Lord,
help us to remember that somebody might be frozen
and that we have a responsibility to ungraze
them. Watch over us during our time of worship
and as we look at the command that came with
the promise today to the adults and as the children
look into the Bible and learn... their leaders
to the classroom. Brother Josh Mitchell and Tony
Tate, as they both have bad sinus colds as we
speak. So both of them missed the associational
prayer and fellowship time last night, which
was sad because it was pretty stinking cool.
How did we get to eat a good meal? But we prayed
together and did a little worship, and it went
a little longer than expected, but it was a blessing.
But they both missed it, and they're missing
it here tonight too. Before we get into this,
two things. So one, this worksheet is going to
go by fast. It is not one of the more intense
or difficult worksheets that I have made. It's
kind of middle of the road. It does not have,
as you can see, once you see it, a ton of blanks
or confusing things on it. So we'll get through
it pretty quickly. But before we do that, I want
to talk briefly about praise and worship. It's
very briefly. And so you may have noticed that
some people. Raise a hand during worship. They'll
raise a hand like this. Raise a hand like this.
They'll raise a hand like this. Some people raise
a hand like this. Some people raise a hand like
this. Some people raise a hand like this. There's
all this hand raising going on. You might ask
yourself, you know, what is all that? What's
all that hand raising thing that people do? So
in the book of Psalms, which is not the only
place by any means, but there is a ton of times
in the book of Psalms where we are told to praise
God. And that song we just sang right there where
it says we sing Alleluia. That's the word. word
hallelujah, actually, it can be with or without
the H, so alleluia or hallelujah is the same
word, and it means praise the Lord. And that
is one of seven words, actually, and I don't
have them all memorized, but it's one of seven
words that are used when talking about praising
the Lord. And one of those words that is used
talking about praising the Lord, you know, One
of those words means to raise your hand in praise.
In fact, there are two of them. I don't know
if there's any Hebrew word for it off the top
of my head, but I guess it was a press that we
could talk about this for a minute. So one of
those Hebrew words means praise the Lord like
this. Remember, hallowed be thy name. Right?
Heil Hitler. Heil Hitler. Hitler was fleeing.
Right? That's what they were doing. They were
praising them as gods, essentially. But anyway,
so it means praise the Lord like this. Raise
your hands and praise. Salute. So surrender.
It's a total recognition of God's glory to raise
your hand. So if you never have raised your hands
in worship, I want to be clear about something.
If you have never raised your hands in worship
like this, then you have never honored that command,
which is repeated dozens of times. So just be
aware of that. You think, well, I don't do that.
I'm too mild. We have a couple in our church.
Like, I don't sing. Well, there's very clear
commands. Maybe you don't sing when the body
is gathered. You better sing praise to God sometime
because it's commanded to do that. In fact, the
New Testament commands the church to be that.
One of the things we're supposed to be is singing
praise to our Lord. Anyway, so this is one type
of praise of the seven. Raise your hands like
that. Then there's another type of praise. Raise
your hands like this. So if you just raise one
hand like that, that's still honoring that first
type. If you raise a hand like this, you can
see the difference already, right? There's this.
This was what again? Honoring or a salute or
recognition of God's glory, right? So what do
you think this is? No, it's not really surrendering.
This is more surrendering. They're both praising
God. What am I, if I'm going, help me, Alex,
come on. You're feeling an urge, aren't you,
right now? You're like, what does he mean? He's
talking to me? Yeah, so you're receiving, you're
asking God to send. So if you're in church on
a Sunday or a Tuesday night and somebody said
something to hurt you and your heart is hurting
or you broke up with your girlfriend or your
boyfriend or your wife is talking about divorce
or you lost your job, whatever like that, you
come in here and you do this, you're saying,
God, I is God over my circumstances. I recognize
him. I honor him. He is in charge, right? Like
the key verse that we had from, oh, no, Ariana
had a devotional. And I did devotional this morning.
You can check in my devotional. You didn't saw
it. But anyway, you're saying, though I fear,
I trust you. I know you've got this. I'm honoring
you despite my circumstance, right? But if you
do this, you're saying, Lord, I need your help.
I'm praising you because you are the one who
helps. You're the one who can help, right? The
silver statues, the gold, the bronze, the wood,
they do nothing. No deal. Amen will help. No
job will help. No money will help. Nothing really
helps. It's all like self -medicating, right?
But God, I need your help. That's this phrase.
And then there's one more that I want to mention
to you. And it is actually the one that starts
hallelujah. It's halal. That one I know from
because it's the one I kind of like it because
it makes me laugh a little bit. A halal is a
hooter, a holler. It's to just yell out. It's
an ecstatic, maybe one or two or three syllables,
right? Like you could just yell hallelujah. Some
people do that. I have a trouble with that because
it's such a long thing to yell. When Amalia was
a cheerleader all the way up through high school,
they told her that after the team scored and
returned to the team, they were not allowed to
go, woo -hoo. They were never. It was against
the rules. You could never go, woo -hoo, or woo.
They were never allowed to do that. They always
had to yell something like, go Rangers, or good
job. They had to say some actual words. They
were not allowed to yell, woo -hoo. And you know
what the funny thing about that is? That's a
holler. That's a hooter, a holler. excitement
for what just happened. And so when God praises,
or we're praising God, and God is doing something
and you know it, it's perfectly fine to go, yeah!
Woo! I'm excited! You know, hallelujah! Although,
again, now it's kind of long for me, so I don't
need to do that. But if you'll hear me in the
front row, and I do, and so what I'm saying to
you, and I want to be really super clear, these
are commands of Scripture before you die. odds
are you're going to need to do it. Because, right,
he who loves me follows my commands. That's what
Jesus said. See, these are the commands of Scripture.
So sometime before you go to meet Jesus, you're
going to want to say, I halal. I hooted and hollered
for Jesus. I raised my hands in praise. I raised
my hands in petition. And if you just dismiss
those things, then you could get there facing
Jesus and be like, hey, there was no halal. What
happened with that? Why was there no halal? Because
he said do it. So you might just ask and say,
what happened? But if you're in worship on a
Tuesday night or Sunday night, or a Sunday night,
and you feel like there's an urging in you, and
you don't know what it is, it could be to worship
in one of those other ways. And I'd give you
three of them. I don't know all seven of them
off the top of my head. But it could be that
God's urging you to raise your hands, or to raise
your hands. or to give a little hooter holler
and just say, man, I feel when I do it, usually
I feel like overjoyed, like my heart is going
to burst from how grateful I'm feeling toward
the Lord. And that's usually when I do a hooter
holler. That's to explain my emotion. But you
might be somewhere else. And so I'm just saying,
you could be misinterpreting a signal of the
Holy Spirit if you're in worship and he's urging
you to worship in that way and you don't do it.
Then you could be like, the Bible says, don't
quell the Spirit. So don't think people are weird
when they raise their hands. There's nothing
weird about that at all. It's actually biblically
commanded to do that. Not that you have to do
it. There is an appropriate time and a not appropriate
time, right, to do it. And you figure out what
that is for you. Okay. All right. Now we're on
to the worksheet, as I said. Not a super long
worksheet today. Did anybody get this before
they walked in the room? I did not give you the
reference. Did anybody know? In the New Testament,
I told you there's a New Testament verse that
says, it quotes a command that says it is the
first command that comes with a promise. Did
anybody find it? Yes, sir. Did anybody find it?
Ready? No. That is the correct command. Did you
find the reference? Okay. It's Ephesians 6, 1
and 2. So I'm going to flip in my Bible there.
Again, there's not a ton of Bible in what we're
studying today. It's not super hard to comprehend.
It's Ephesians 6, 1 to 2. Probably you could
memorize this. In fact, we could have made that
part of the lesson today. It says in Ephesians
6, 1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord,
for this is right. Honor your father and mother,
which is the first commandment with a promise.
Okay, so that's Ephesians 6, 1 and 2. So first
of all, we're in that upper left -hand box, and
there's a word right under Ephesians there, if
you wrote it in. Did you write in Ephesians?
Okay, good. I see a lot of nodding. Ephesians
6, 1 to 2 is the top there. And then there's
a word right under there that starts with a C,
and it is? Children, right? We're going to come
back and talk about that before we're through.
And then down the right -hand side there, it
says O -Y -P. Obey your parents. Boy, that was
easy, wasn't it? Okay, nice and simple. And then
in the bottom half of that box, broken off by
a line separately because it's a separate verse,
it says, honor they father and mother. So I want
to say to you that if you were raised in a Christian
home, you probably have heard these verses. In
fact, I would submit to you that many Christian
parents have quoted these verses to their children.
And in doing so, to try to get their children
to behave or follow rules, whatever, they would
be incorrect. Got it? If a parent teaches these
verses to their children in order to try to get
their children to obey them, that would be incorrect.
Before we're done, I'm going to explain to you
why that is true. Now, it is not incorrect to
teach them to your children. You should definitely
teach them to your children. You definitely should
do that. And there is a result that you're looking
for. It is just they're not there for you to
teach your children to try to get them to behave.
So go over to the right box now. We're still
really in verse 2, but there is some confusion
here. It says, which is the first command with
a promise. So fill in that box, which is the
first command with a promise. So Ephesians 6,
1 and 2 said, children, obey your parents and
the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father
and mother, which is the first command with a
promise. And then it goes on in verse 3, it says,
so that it may turn out well for you and that
you may live long on the earth. But verse 3,
where most people take that as if it's quoting
the Old Testament, in fact, in the New American
Standard, it's all in caps as if it were a direct
quotation of the Old Testament. But as you can
probably all imagine, because I'm saying this,
it's not exactly a direct quoting of the Old
Testament. So even though Paul is definitely
referencing the fact that the verses in Exodus
do have a promise to them, he does not directly
quote the promise. In fact, he says, so that...
Honor your father and mother, which is the first
commandment with a promise. And then he says,
so that it may turn out. So which is the first
commandment with a promise is in parentheses.
So you can take that out. The sentence reads
like this. Children, obey your parents and the
Lord, for this is right. honor your father and
mother so that it may turn out well for you that
you may live long on the earth. So in other words,
he's saying, follow that command, do follow it
because this will be the results. He's not saying
follow that command, which is the first of the
commandment or first with a promise. And here
is the promise of that command. It means two
different things, right? So for example, if I
say, if you go downtown and you cross the street,
not in the crosswalk, you might get a ticket.
The law says you could get a ticket for jail.
walking if you cross somewhere other than in
a crosswalk. So if I say to you, cross in the
crosswalk. Because there is a law that says you
can get a ticket if you don't. That is different
than if I say to you cross in the crosswalk and
you will not get a ticket for jaywalking. See
the difference? There's two differences. Both
are true. Neither is a lie by any means. In fact,
they're both completely true. But it's not saying
the exact same thing. He's not saying follow
that command because you will specifically get
the promise that is associated with that command.
And here it is. That's not what he's saying.
He's saying follow that command because it is
a command that has a promise associated. associated
to it. And in following that command, you will
actually get this. Am I making sense? Help me
if you're confused. Somebody say, explain it
again a different way. Anybody? Okay. So what
the goal here is what's in verse three. Paul
is saying that's the results that you're looking
for so that it may turn out well. for you, and
that you may live long on the earth. That's the
results you're looking for. And he says, honor
that command, which happens to be the first command
with a promise. So under where you wrote that,
which is the first command with a promise, you'll
see a big fat arrow that points to the right,
and we're going to have the reference for the
command. So does anybody know what book, there
are actually two of them, but we're looking for
one in particular, where you can find the Ten
Commandments, Exodus. You can also find them
in Deuteronomy, because Deuteronomy is a retelling.
the original writing, so Exodus, and what's the
chapter? 20. Does anybody know the verse? It's
12. Did I put it on there? I did put it on there.
Okay, yes. So yeah, there you go. All right,
so Exodus 20, verse 12. Okay, so I'm going to
flip there and read it. Now, this is more for
us to make sure we understand, because in some
sense, if this promise that we're about to read
differs, from the one that he just told us, the
result that he just told us we could receive
if we do it, then we get both, right? So if the
command comes with a promise, you follow the
command, you're going to get the promise, right?
And if the command is there and somewhere else
somebody says, follow the command and you will
get this, if both are true and they're not the
same thing, then you're going to get both. Right?
That's good. That would be what we want. So now
we want to know what does the original command
say for the promise? Because he didn't tell us
what that was. He told us what the result will
be if we follow the command, but he did not tell
us what the command was, even though most people
take it that that's what he said. Verse 12 says
this. Honor your father and your mother. Notice
what's missing. What's missing? Okay, children
is missing. What else? In the command itself.
Say it again, obey. So children is missing and
obey is missing. So it's different. There is
a difference, okay? That being said, honor your
father and your mother so that your days may
be prolonged on the land which the Lord God gives
you. What's missing from the first one? Okay,
we'll figure it out because we're going to write.
If you'll go to the bottom under where it says
commands and promises, they're on the book. If
you go to the bottom, you got a big long stretch
of blanks that goes across left to right. And
that is essentially Ephesians 6 .3 is what goes
there. And it says, are you ready? So that it
may be well with you and that you may live long
on the earth. Okay, so now I'm going to go back
to Exodus 12 and read the promise portion of
the commandment that comes with a promise, as
Paul would call it. And it is this. So that your
days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord
your God gives you. So now what is missing between
so that your days may be prolonged on the land
which the Lord your God gives you and so that
it may be well with you and that you may live
long on the earth. Yeah, so the whole being well
thing. You catch that? It's completely missing
from the original promise, which is another way
that we know that he's not just re -quoting the
promise. So it's different, isn't it? Who wrote
the book of Exodus as far as we know? We know
God inspired it, but who wrote it? Moses. Who
wrote the book of Ephesians? Paul. Who was Moses?
What's his big claim to fame? Yes, that's it.
He was the leader of God's people out of Egypt,
received the Ten Commandments. I mean, he never
got to see the Promised Land while he was alive.
That was kind of a bummer, right? He sinned against
God in the wilderness, and he also was like God
took his life. You can read about that. We'll
study it at some point. So, yeah, that kind of
sucked. But his claim to fame is he led God's
people. He told God's people what it would be
like to follow God in the Promised Land. That's
what it was really all about. And then he led
them, taught them how to be followers of God
and so on, right? Okay, so who was Paul? Yep,
he was an apostle. What's an apostle? Yeah, not
just a follower. Yep, had to have encountered
him personally. That was one of the requirements,
so they could personally testify to his ministry.
Even though Paul did not encounter him while
he was alive, he did encounter him on the road
to Damascus, which qualified him, right? So that's
good that you know that. It's pretty impressive.
So an apostle is a sent one. An apostle means
sent, which is really funny because there is
a certain verse in the Bible where it says that
everybody went except the apostles. Everybody
was sent out except the apostles when the persecution
struck Jerusalem. So that's pretty much the funniest
verse in the New Testament in my mind because
they were sent and they didn't go, but everybody
else was sent. did go, which is kind of funny
because they're the sent ones. Anyway, that's
my humor. But anyway, so the point is, he was
an apostle, so he was sent by God. And what is
his claim to fame? What did he do? What was the
big thing to do? Not wrote two -thirds of the
New Testament. He did do that. But what did he
do that was his big claim to fame? Paul. Yeah,
yeah. Break that down a little bit. He did more
than just lead the church. Say it again. He established,
he started it, right? He first persecuted, then
turned around completely and led and established
the church. So he traveled around planting churches
everywhere, local churches everywhere. And then
he would go back and teach them and he wrote
them letters and stuff so that they could follow
God like they were supposed to. So notice that
both are leaders of God's people. But for Moses,
he was a leader bringing the people out of slavery
into the promised land. Now, we speak in metaphor,
right? So we're not literal. Paul was a leader
of God's people bringing God's people out of
slavery into the promised kingdom of God, such
as it is on earth, and ultimately into heaven.
Does that make sense? So they are... two men
in almost the same role, and they give almost
the same promise, but those key things that we
just noticed show a difference. And they were,
again, The word children was missing. Obey is
missing. And being well is missing. And then
there's one thing that Paul kind of adds in or
expands, right? The end of his promise. So Moses
told them that they would do well, their days
would be prolonged, or not do well, but their
days would be prolonged in the land that God
would give them. Talk about the promised land.
Where did Paul say they would do long and have
their time prolonged? On the whole earth. So
where Moses was giving them the promised land
that God had promised, Paul is giving Christians
the whole earth. See that difference? Pretty
significant. Okay. In the big boxes in the middle,
the big boxes in the middle, we're going to have
the reference again for the command because that's
what we're studying today. So the book was? Nope.
Exodus, right? The command itself was in Exodus.
The quoting of the command is in Ephesians. Exodus.
And it's 20, 12. So the other two boxes are 20
and 12. All right. So we're going to talk briefly
about why. the differences and I think then we're
gonna it'll all come together for you I think
okay so going down the left hand side we're talking
about the command in Exodus first okay and it
says WTA it's why the word children is missing
written to you could put all yeah but really
it was written to adults right but it was for
everybody not just the adults, so that's true,
but the adults would have certainly received
it. So it was written to adults. Now, what about
the New Testament command? Before we go on, yeah,
you're right. The next thing is comes with a
promise. So if anybody wants to fill that out
now, they can. It comes with a promise. And the
Exodus command comes with a promise. That's correct.
But was the New Testament command written to
adults or was it written to children? Be careful.
It's written to adults. So why does it say children?
Because it's children of God. So actually the
children command, children goes a little deeper
than that. A child is someone, and I don't want
to get ahead of myself because I'm going to give
you this in a minute, but a child is someone
who has a specific relationship with God and
God's people. So we'll come back to that in a
second. So the next one was comes with a promise.
So the command in Exodus was written to adults,
comes with a promise. Then it says Paul urges
people to what? KTC. Tim, do you need a paper?
Keep the command. And we've talked about this
recently. So does keeping the command mean doing
what you're told? If the command says do something?
Okay. Expand on that. Okay. So more than just
what you're told. Right. So the job of keeping
the command means we do follow orders, but it
isn't about the orders. It's about what God is
saying. Then as keepers of the command, what
do we do with them? Remember Proverbs 1 from
two weeks ago on Sunday mornings, sinners entice
thou not. I think it is in the King James, right?
So you can't be enticed. It's not that you just
have the command. So if somebody is gossiping,
you don't just say, well, I'm not going to gossip.
You also have to say the command of God is not
to gossip. If somebody is going to steal. You
don't just go, they told me they were going to
steal, but I didn't have nothing to do with it,
right? You say, no, stealing is wrong. So keeping
the command means you have possession of it.
And you're, yes, living by it, but so much more.
As RJ said, you're able to relate it, to understand
it, to deliver it. It's so much more than just
being able to read it and follow it, okay? So
Paul's urging people to keep the command that
Moses wrote in Exodus 20, verse 12, for a reason.
He says, for a reason, so that, okay? The next
verse says, That C is children. So now we talk
about this for a second. Children are those being,
what do you think? Starts with a T and an L.
Anybody who understands foster children, adopted
children, understands this truth. Children are
those who are being what? Nope, not taken. Taught
and loved. That's it. A child becomes your child
when you teach them and love them, which is one
of the reasons why it's so bad when parents don't
do that with their children. There are parents
who say they love their children, but they don't
teach their children. They don't practice discipline.
They don't take the steps that are necessary
to teach right living. They don't bring Christian
teaching into it. They don't bring God's word
into it. They don't keep the commands of the
Lord. They don't teach them how to worship. They
are missing the boat, right? And so they say,
I love, I love, I love, I love. Bless you. But
they don't teach. They'll teach you basically
how to survive like that, but it's not a loving
teaching. It's a more expedient teaching, like
here's how to lie and steal and whatever. It's
not, yeah, just don't get caught. That's not
loving at all, or it's unseemly. So they say
they love them, but to teach them, they burn
them with a cigarette when they act up or put
them in the dryer. That's not loving. It doesn't
matter if it teaches or not. It's teaching them
something, but what they teach them is not good.
And so children are those being taught or loved.
That's what the word children means there in
that verse. And so Paul was writing to the church,
one of the churches that he helped to found.
And so everybody that was in that church, even
though he didn't necessarily baptize them, everybody
was in that church, he saw them as children.
Not children like immature or anything like that,
but children as in he wanted to teach them and
he wanted to love them. So now if we bring that
into present day context, if you love somebody,
even if they're your age, or they're older than
your age, right? You could be an eight -year
-old, right? So I've had a number of conversations
with Phyllis, Sherry's grandma, and she'll ask
me questions about the Bible, ask me about spiritual
things, stuff like that, and I find myself teaching.
Now, she's, in a lot of ways, way wiser than
I am, but then when it comes to certain things,
she wants to know, and I teach her. I love her.
So in that sense, she is my child, even though
she could be my great -grandma. She's old enough,
right? And so my point is, It's not about age,
culture, social background, or whatever. So what
are we talking about? We're talking about members
of the kingdom of God who are willing to know,
they're willing to be taught, they're willing
to be loved. And Paul says, I want to help you.
Let me help you, okay? So then when we go into
that New Testament verse, you see that word children.
Now, if you teach that verse to your children
as if you are teaching it to them because they
are children, right? So if I teach Kyler and
I say, Kyler, you got to obey me. The Bible says
you got to obey me. That's wrong. right? It's
not wrong that he obey me. It's right that he
obey me, but it's wrong to teach that because
that verse is not written to him because he's
a child. Because what if tomorrow at four o 'clock,
Kyle and I are having a conversation and he teaches
me something out of love. Then in that conversation,
who is the child? Me. It doesn't matter. I'm...
nine times his age or seven times his age or
whatever I am. It doesn't matter anymore. One
time back early on, we were trying to do our
list of core values for New Heights, and Arden
was in the room, and Arden was just less than
five years old. And the kids did everything with
us back then as we were trying to figure out
difficult concepts and everything, and he sat
in there, and we were parsing the words and trying
to figure out what we got down to. We had two
words that we couldn't decide which one, but
they were very similar. And he said, well, you
know, to me, as an artist, I feel like God is
saying, these two words could just go together.
They could basically be the same thing. And then
you have to keep them both because they do have
a little bit of difference to them, but basically
you just put them on the same line. He's just
less than five years old. And everybody in the
room went, that was God. God just said that.
We all knew it immediately. I didn't say it being
the pastor, right? And so he was just less than
five years old and he said it. And so what I'm
saying is humble yourself, adults, and realize,
yes, we must teach the children that they should
honor and obey their parents. But the reason
that they do that is not because we want them
to or because this command was written to them.
It is because then they will get the benefit
from it. They will get the blessing. Does that
make sense? Okay. It's a little long for me to
get the point across. But basically, you're looking
for that relationship of teaching and love. And
if it exists, then whoever's being taught and
receiving the love in the relationship is the
child that Paul's talking about. Okay. Then there
are two words in here we're going to break down.
The first one I've given you is obey. Simply
tell me what it means to obey. Simply put. Do
as you're told. Follow instructions. Good. Okay.
So he said, Paul said, honor and obey your parents.
So when your parents tell you what to do, you
do it. Now there's some problems with that. What
if your parents tell you to sin? You don't do
it. Why? Okay. You're saying that would dishonor
them. Maybe. It's kind of a gray area. Yeah,
I'll give you that. Yeah, it would be dishonoring
to God. You could actually hurt them. If they
give you a command that's a sin and you do what
they tell you to do, you could bring about punishment
of them and you need to be aware of that. Be
careful that you don't use that as an excuse
because you do have to honor and obey your parents.
So if your parents are wrong and tell you something
that's against what you think you should do,
but it's not scripturally a sin, then you still
have to do what you're told. You have to be able
to find a verse. Like mom or dad tell you to
lie, steal, murder, hold anger in your heart
towards somebody, things like that. Then that
would all be sin and you can say no. But if they
say, you know, you can't have dinner. You have
to go clean your room because I said so. And
you're like, well, that's not fair. A parent
can't deny their child dinner. That's a sin to
deny your child dinner. And so then you throw
a fit and do all these other things or whatever,
try to get your way or sneak your dinner or whatever
like that. That doesn't work because it isn't
a sin for a parent to deny their child their
dinner at a certain time. It would be a sin for
them to never let them eat, but not to say you
can't have dinner right now. So you've got to
be careful not to try to use that as an escape.
And that means ultimately you err on the side
of caution and obey everything you are told unless
you know it's a sin. Then we come to the other
word, and the other word was honor. So the word
honor. Anybody want to take a stab at the biblical
concept of honor? honoring someone or something
to do the right thing okay so that is one definition
of the word to honor somebody because you would
do what they would want you to do even though
they're not there to tell you to do it okay that
would be a very good way of honoring something
you're representing that so if dad's not around
mom's home dad's not around mom needs help We
all know that dad is the number one help for
mom, right? So dad's not there. So if I'm going
to honor dad, I got to step in. It's the only
way because I'm supposed to be his representative.
I got his DNA. He fed me all my meals to this
point. He kept the roof over my head, you know,
all those kinds of things. So that's pretty accurate
representing. And that's also a good idea of
how we would honor God. Okay. Can you come up
with another one? Okay. The three that jumped
out at me when I initially looked at this, the
first one is to regard or treat somebody with
admiration or respect. If you're going to honor
somebody, so you give them a medal, they're honored.
You give them a salute, they're honored. They
earned their station, didn't they? A man looks
a man in the eye, that's honoring. When you shake
somebody's hand like this, the reason it's a
problem is not because you're dishonoring yourself,
although that's also true. You're showing that
you have poor self -esteem, but it's because
you're dishonoring the person that you're shaking
their hand. You won't even look them in the eye,
right? So to honor somebody is to give them their
station, and that's a big part of what this is
about. We have to recognize our parents are our
parents. You could go, my parents are terrible.
They did not do for me. They left me when I was
young. I haven't seen my mom since she was three.
Or since I was three. Couldn't be the other way.
Since I was three, I haven't seen my mom since
I was three. She didn't put her over. My grandparents
put her. My grandparents are the one I have to
honor. I can't honor my mom. She's been gone
since I was three years old. That's not how that
works. Your mom gave you birth. She gave you
breath. She gave you your bones. She gave you
DNA. Right. She did not abort you. So there she
gave you life. I mean, nobody should ever abort.
But but she didn't. Right. So you owe everything
to her right now. You don't have to follow her
example. You don't have to, you know, do bad
things because of your hurt, because your mom
wasn't around. I mean, you have to follow God's
model. But the point is, you have to honor her,
even though her only contribution was if she
was literally gone from the day. If your mom
died in childbirth for you, would you not honor
her? Of course you would. All the more, right?
So then if she bailed on you at three because
she sinned against you that one terrible time,
you're just going to say, well, I'm not going
to honor her? You don't know. None of us know
the difficulty that people go through. Don't
look at an addict or a broken person or a person
that's not providing and go, they're a dirtbag.
I don't have to give them any respect. Don't
ever do that because you don't know what's in
their heart. You don't know what they've been
through. There are people in this room right
now that are taking the time to be here to learn
God's word that have been through things that
we don't care, me included, that we don't care
to ever talk about, that we don't ever want to
relate. It's terrible. And yet we're here and
that's awesome, but that doesn't make us better
than somebody else. That makes God better. than
all of us, right? So don't disrespect people
and think I don't have to honor them because
they're wrong. So that means if you have a non
-Christian parent, again, I don't want to get
ahead of myself, but if you have a non -Christian
parent and they're treating you with disrespect
or they're bad or they don't honor God, they
don't have nothing to do with the Bible, you
still get to dishonor them or even disobey them
unless, of course, that would be sin. And the
last one that I came up with was to perform what's
due. And I think that Jesus makes that really
clear when he says, he who loves me follows my
commands. So that was getting at what RJ was
talking about. When they're not there, you still
do what's right. Because guess what? Most of
us are going to outlive our parents. Some of
us already have. Quite a few of us already have.
And so they're going to be gone. And just because
they died at 75, 80 years old or whatever, and
you're still kicking, so that doesn't mean you
can just dismiss them. That's right. Because
we're humans and we screw up. So don't honor
them by... following their mistakes, that's not
honoring at all. They wouldn't even want that
for you if they were in their right mind. Sometimes
they do. Thieves raise thieves, for example,
because they think, oh, it's cool, they're following
in my footsteps. Or vulgar people raise five
-year -olds that cuss up a storm because they
think it's funny. But then when you get older,
you realize, hey, that's not really honoring
my parents. Even though that's the way my parents
raised me, in this case, I should put that away.
Good word. Thank you, RJ. Okay, so we're going
over the right -hand side. If you didn't get
that, the whole point was you're supposed to
write some thoughts for yourself in there about
what it means. means to honor. I hope you got
something in the blanks. To give you just a kind
of a quick, in case you didn't write anything
down because you were busy listening, to treat
someone with admiration or respect is one. To
give them their due. And we had somebody say
to represent them well. Okay, so you can put
anything down there that you think, but it's
to honor. If you want to look up, there's probably
like 13 definitions in the dictionary. Okay,
we're going over to the right. Under the 2012,
there's a top blank. It says promise I wrote
in for you. Okay, and this is the first part
of the Ephesians 6 promise, the part that was
missing, if you will, in Exodus. And it's Y -W
-B -W. Anybody got it? You will be well. And
then the reference again, Ephesians 6. Okay,
so that is in Ephesians 6. It is not in Exodus
20. Now, there are a lot of other places in Exodus
where God says, if you do what you're told, you'll
do great, right? But not there. It does say,
I'll prolong your days, which is better than
having short days. Pardon me. You will be well,
Ephesians 6, all right? The next part then, this
one is the part of the promise from Exodus 20,
verse 12, and it is Y -D -W -B -P. Yep. So somebody
explain to me, with the nation of Israel in the
promised land, Why is it significant that their
days in the promised land would be prolonged?
What does that mean? It doesn't mean there's
going to be more than 24 hours in a day or that
the sun's going to stay up a little longer so
they can work longer. You're talking about days
like as in ages or decades or generations. Why
is it significant that the people of Israel would
have their time in the promised land prolonged?
Why is that significant? Okay, so you can understand
what God has given them. True. What eventually
happens to the Israelites in the promised land?
They get in the promised land, right? They do
make it in. Not the generation that got the Ten
Commandments. They don't make it in. But the
next generation makes it in. Say again? Yeah,
so they split first, and then the northern kingdom
was taken over, and a ton of people from the
northern kingdom get what? When they get taken
over, what do they do to all the people? Many,
but not all, not even most. Most of them got
carried off to other lands, taken out of the
promised land to all these other nations. They
did that because if you take the 30 ,000 healthiest
men out of a country, for example, then now the
country's struggling to survive for generations
before they could ever think about raising an
army and potentially rebelling again, right?
So that's why they did it. It's called exile.
So the people of God from Assyria were... first
were taken into exile. Then later, Judah and
Benjamin, which was left, they were captured
and they were taken into exile. So if there's
a time in the future which you're going to be
taken into exile, and let's say sometime down
the road, maybe you don't know exactly when it's
going to be, what's the only thing you're going
to do? If you know it's going to happen, what's
the only thing you can do? I'll give you an example.
Sherry, over three years ago, the doctor told
her that eventually she was going to have to
have surgery on her back. She was in pain. She
gets shots for the pain. And we thought, well,
the doctor said it's a pretty extreme surgery,
so you're going to have to have it someday. But
my suggestion to you is you do all of these things
in order to prevent it. Not prevent, because
it's going to happen for sure. But you're right,
delay. That's what you're thinking. Delay it,
right? So to prolong the days in between, which
is what they were... So if they would have honored
and obeyed their parents, the length of time
between when they went into the Promised Land
and the time they were exiled would have been
stretched out more and more and more. But boy,
you see them not doing that. They do not do that.
They do not honor or obey their parents. They
do not treat God with respect. They do not represent
God well. And it gets worse and worse. It spirals
out of control until... If it was my kids, I'd
have been resisting the temptation to just choke
them out so bad. And God doesn't choke them out.
He does kill the nation, essentially. Then he
takes them into exile. I mean, it got so bad
that under the reign of Manasseh, he and his
wife were having a festival the one night. Manasseh?
Ahab. I think it's Manasseh. It's either Manasseh
or Ahab. And they wanted to light the city streets,
so they put up poles all the way down the streets,
and they put the high priests from the temple
on the poles. They impaled them on the poles,
soaked them in tar, and lit them to light the
streets. The high priests. All the priests. And
so the point is, that's how bad it got. It got
terrible bad, right? And all the priests were
in hiding from Jezebel the queen during Ahab's
day. It was terrible. And so God had to bring
that to a close. They began to burn their firstborn
children in the fire like the worshippers of
Molech were doing. that were in that land when
God said their sin has to come to fullness and
destroy them. And then God brought his, finally,
435 years later, God brought his people out of
Egypt because their sin had become fullness because
they were burning their children in the fire.
And by the time God wipes out Israel and puts
them into exile, Israelites were burning their
firstborn children in the fire to the false god,
Molech. That's how bad it was. That's terrible.
So the point is, they should have honored God
and prolonged the days before the exile. And,
you know, some did probably and some didn't.
Okay, Paul. Paul reads the promise, this is the
next set, Paul reads the promise as pertaining,
can anybody finish it? The next word is always
to, almost always to after pertaining, as pertaining
to, I'm going to take a stab at it, all the earth.
Say again. Yeah, it did pertain to the Israelites
in Exodus. Now he's not talking about the promised
land, Paul, he's talking about all the earth.
So now he's reading that same promise as pertaining
to all the earth. But he did add in, didn't he?
He added in obedience. Before it was just honor
in Exodus. Now he added in obedience and he said,
in honoring, obeying, God will make it well with
you and prolong your days in all the earth. All
right. So it says Christians need Christian parents.
Is there a teenager in the room that could give
a little amen to that? My goodness. It's really
hard to be a Christian teenager without Christian
parents. Super hard. It's fluctuating. It goes
up and down. Some days it's a lot easier. Some
days it's a lot harder. But it's challenging
because think about it. Let's say you had Muslim
parents. Anybody know anybody that has a Muslim
family? How well would that go if the Muslim
teenager turned to Christianity? Not well at
all. They'd be like disowned, right? A friend
of mine, Bergen Kaner, who was the youngest ever
dean at Liberty and now teaches at a... college
in Texas and taught at Camp UCAN until a few
years ago. But he hasn't been able to travel
because of his health, so he hasn't in the last
few years. But anyway, he was Muslim, raised
Muslim. And as a teenager, he went to a Christian
church and got saved. And his family kicked him
out. He became an orphan. They had nothing to
do with him after that. And then not only that,
but as he rose in the Christian world, he received
around 10 death threats a month. Because as he
became more prominent in teaching about Jesus
and everything, the Muslim faith kept telling
him, we're going to kill you. Shut up. going
to kill you. Shut up. Stop talking about you
used to be Muslim and now you're Christian. You're
winning all these people to Jesus. And he wrote
a book about how to win people from Islam to
Christianity. And one night he was on his drive
home from work and his wife called him and said,
there's a car sitting outside. And he got off
the phone with her and somebody called and said,
we just had a death threat. They're going to
blow up your house. And the police are going
to pick up your wife and kid right now. I mean,
that's it. So if you want to live for Jesus,
you need people over top of you who are living
for Jesus. And if you don't have that, it's hard.
Because what do you do when they tell you to
do something? And it's a sin. You can't obey.
But now there's a huge rift between you and your
parents. You could be seriously punished, right?
Or whatever. Christians need Christian parents.
But, right under that, but the command is written.
to those who want to follow Christ and do well.
So let's see. Is there anybody in this room who
wants to follow Christ and do well? Yeah, that's
all of us, right? I mean, that should be. I mean,
I want to follow Jesus. If you're a Christian,
you want to follow Jesus, and you want to do
well, don't you? And we know that there's the
possibility of persecution. There's the possibility
of trials and tribulations. Jesus says, in this
world you will have trouble, but fear not, for
I have overcome the world. So things will get
difficult. But if you want to follow Christ and
do well, what do you do? Yes, sir. Okay, yeah,
repent. and turn to God, and then as per this
command, if you have repented and turned to God,
how do you have to relate to your parents? Honor
and obey, right? And if you honor and obey, you
have a promise to do well, right? And to live
long, essentially, and to have a place on the
earth. But also notice that it's not only your
biological parents, it's now also your Christian
parents in the sense that those who teach and
love you. So now your youth leader, if you have
a relationship, Haley, if you believe in your
heart that RJ loves you as a sister in Christ,
and he's trying to teach you, then you have a
responsibility to... honor and obey him. Now,
your first responsibility is to your actual parents,
your mom and dad, right? So if you had a conflict
between them and him, you would honor them. But
if they tell you to sin, you would not. You're
responsible for your choice, right? And with
this kind of freedom, with this kind of authority
to make the decision, then you now have to learn
from the word. You have to listen to the Holy
Spirit. You have to discern what's right and
do what's right. And when all else fails, honor
and obey. Your parents. Your Christian parents
and your God -given parents. Okay? I'm going
to finish this out. So, we said, the command
is written to those who want to follow Christ
and do well. Notice that God is giving us a place.
God is giving us a place. We all know if you're
saved, you're going to heaven. Jesus said, I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to
prepare a place for you, I will come again and
I will take you to be there with me, right? That's
John 14. We all know that Jesus is preparing
a place there for us. This is not talking about
there. This is talking about here. You have a
place here. You have a place in the church, in
community, in the kingdom of God, doing the things
that God has called you to. And if you get in
that place and honor and obey your parents, what
will happen? You will do well. and your days
will be prolonged. That's the math of it. That's
how it works out. You have a place. There are
people who run on ahead of God. I've done that
a couple times in my life. It doesn't go real
well. It didn't go well at all for me, unless
you count the fact that I eventually learned
what God was trying to tell me, which was good.
But you don't want to get outside your place,
the place that God is preparing for you. God
wants people to do well. Does anybody doubt that?
That's the next part. Does anybody doubt that
God wants you to do well? I think God loves us.
If God loves us, he wants us to do well, right?
Chris, do you want to see your daughters do well?
Absolutely. Tim, you want to see Tyson do well?
Tim's not even your son. You want to see him
do well, don't you? Absolutely. So God wants
us to do well. And that's why Paul says, children,
please do this. Honor and obey your parents,
which to honor your parents is also the first
command that comes with a promise. But if you
do so, honor and obey your parents, you will
do well and be prolonged in the place that God
has given you, which in our case is the whole
earth. And then the last one, of course, is honor
and obey your parents. If you will notice, over
to the left -hand side, you'll see a little box
cross thing. It's got a question mark in the
bottom. And that's all we've got left to do.
Did everybody got everything else? Bless you.
Two lines of oath. So that's the definition of
honor. And so you can write anything in there
for your definition of honor. There's actually
four lines there for the definition of honor.
What are you assuming? On the right -hand side.
Okay, so it goes, Christians need Christian parents,
but the command is written to those who want
to follow Christ and do well, and that God is
giving us a place, and God wants people to do
well, and then honor and obey your parents. Got
it now? Oh, it was an A. Where you said God was
giving us an A. That was an A. Oh, yeah, cut
off because it wasn't going below the line, that's
all. Mine says God is giving us a place. And
then God wants people to do well. Okay, that's
fine too. Mine has a P. This one has a B. This
one has a P. So whatever. Okay, now we're looking
at the empty cross over the left -hand side.
So first look closely at the cross and see what
you see inside it. What's inside it? What do
you see? Above that. You see nothing? Look closer.
Yep, honor thy father and thy mother. It is on
purpose. You can fill it in. It's there. Yep.
Uh -oh. Okay. And above that, you'll see a big
fat V. I didn't see it. Yeah. And what's the
big fat V? Does anybody know what the big fat
V is? Why is there a big fat V there? Oh, I thought
it was a heart. It's a V. Oh, that's a V. Yep.
Why is it a V? That's a heart. No, it's a V.
Okay, so why is there a V there? Natalie? Why
is there a V there? No, it's not for victory.
It's actually a number. It's a five because it's
the fifth of the Ten Commandments. So what you'll
see, actually, if you look at the paper on an
overview, maybe hold up to the light, I don't
know if that works very well or not, you can
see that the Ten Commandments are on the page
behind everything that we've been doing. And
it so happens that the fifth commandment, capital
V for five, honor thy father and mother. Okay,
it's there. Thou shalt have no other gods before
me is up just inside the brown box. Roman numeral
three just above comes with a promise. Thou shalt
not take the Lord's name in vain. They're all
there. Anyway, let's focus in so we can be done.
All right, so you got a Roman numeral five. Honor
thy father and thy mother. And that's all it
says. Honor thy father and thy mother. Now, does
anybody have a problem with... The Ten Commandments
being printed all over the world with honor thy
father and mother and the Roman numeral five,
and that's all that's there. Anybody got any
problems with that? I do. That's very true. But
isn't there something missing? Yeah, the promise
is missing. The Ten Commandments, it does not
say in verse 12. Honor thy father and thy mother.
It says, Honor thy father and thy mother so that
your days may be prolonged on the land which
the Lord your God gives you. The reason is included.
None of the other Ten Commandments have a reason
included. But Moses saw fit to include a reason
there. Wait, Moses did? Who gave the Ten Commandments?
God did. God saw fit to say, Honor your father
and mother. so that your days may be prolonged
on the land which the Lord your God gave you.
And I submit to you that people have been leaving
it out, which is really a shame. You know why?
Because everybody in the world likes transactional
spirituality. That's what sorcery is. If I pray
to God, he'll give me what I ask for. If I pray
a little harder, he'll give me bigger stuff.
If I fast for a while, I'll be more holy. If
I study my Bible an extra hour every single day,
by the end of the year, I'll be the best Christian.
If I go to church every single Sunday, God will
make sure I can always pay my bills. It's all
transactional. And none of it's really true,
at least not in the sense that we're saying that,
right? But here is God saying, do this, get this.
And so what do we do? We print the Ten Commandments
a billion times and leave off the you'll get
this. Even now they're arguing about whether
the Ten Commandments can be shown, and it's less
so now, it was a lot a couple years ago, in courthouses
all over the world. But if you go look at most
of the courthouses, they'll have a fanciful version
of the Ten Commandments that leaves off the promise.
Some of them, the ones that are true to history,
sit down please, the ones that are true to history
have the promise and it should because it's God's
word and we don't cut stuff off of God's word.
Right? Okay. That was a little bit of a personal
knife right there. But now you know. You know
how to have access to that promise from God and
if God says you can do it transactionally, if
you can just honor and obey your parents just
so that you'll get stuff, you'll do well and
have long days in all the earth, then he said
it's okay to do it just for that reason. So do
it for just that reason. That's okay. All right,
here we go. It's going to go fast. The first
command with a promise is found in what book
of the Bible? Haley. That's correct. That was
so awesome. I wish I had it on video. I mean,
yeah, if you get a bruise from it, you should
probably be allowed to keep it. Okay. Paul added,
essentially, a result to if we keep the command,
we will receive this promise. And it is WBW.
What is it, Hannah? Will be well. Will be well.
That's correct. Coming over. At this point now,
they're just going to duck because the throws
are accurate, so we're just going to duck. Okay.
Okay, trick question. Pay attention. Which of
the two, Exodus 20 or Ephesians 6, were written
specifically to minor children? Jason? Neither.
That is correct. The trick question has been
answered correctly. These are accurate throws,
man. I'm doing a good job up here. Okay. Through
encouraging us to follow this command, God is
seeking to give us this. What is it, Alex? A
place, that's correct. These guys were hot today.
It was a perfect throw until all the defense.
One fell on the floor. Don't be snagging other
people's candy. Okay. These two commands are
often found actually in marriage vows. And now
understanding what it means to be a child in
this context, it makes a lot of sense. What are
they? These two commands. Go ahead. Honor and
obey is correct. Very good, sir. Now that makes
a lot of sense, but it makes a lot of sense for
a husband to honor and obey his wife just as
much as it does for a wife to honor and obey
her husband, right? Because they can both be
children. In fact, I find myself, I think sometimes
I'm better at being a child than my wife is.
Sometimes I'm stuck in childhood. All right,
here we go. These two qualifiers make a person
a child per these verses. If they are what and
what? I'm going to give it to Jason. All right,
Alex, give me one. Yep, give me the other one,
Jason. That's right. I'll let you split it since
you guys are both ready. All right, here we go.
Okay. Okay. Tell me the two men that wrote these
two passages of Scripture. Caleb was the first
hand I saw. Moses and Paul. Correct.