In this sermon, William Blackburn addresses the issue of broken families and the decline of traditional values in society. He highlights the alarming statistics of divorce rates and the negative impact it has on children. Blackburn emphasizes the importance of following God's plan for the family, which includes obedience to parents and living a righteous life. He also criticizes the influence of television and media in shaping the behavior and attitudes of young people. Overall, Blackburn urges young people to be godly and lead their parents to the Lord through their actions and faith.

Welcome to From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons. Each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith, and powerful sermons from modern preachers too. This week we have William Blackburn with this message, God's Plan for the Family. One out of every two marriages end in divorce. In 1960 it was one out of ten marriages ended in divorce, in 1860 it was one out of 36. There are 30 million children in America living in a single parent home. There are two and a half million people living in marriage that would be literally hell on earth. Husbands and wives are cheating on each other with adultery, wife swapping, and all kinds of sexual sins. 10% of our population is homosexual. Child abuse is a national problem. Last year 50 million people fell victim to a beating by somebody in their own family. Parents are abusing children, children are abusing parents, young people are abusing older people. The world is in a mess. A 13-year-old teenager, by the time he's 13, has witnessed 13,000 murders on television. Children are running away from home at astronomical figures. 60% of all the drugs sold in the world are sold in the United States of America. In America, $220 million is spent every single day on illegal drugs. $65 billion, fellas, that's with a B, $65 billion is spent on drug-related law enforcement each year. One million teenagers get pregnant every year. 50% of all high school seniors get drunk once a month. 500,000 teenagers run away from home each year. Our families are in a mess. Our country is in a mess. And the Bible says it doesn't have to be that way because Jesus Christ said there are two kinds of homes. There's a man who is a wise man. He goes out and he builds his home on the rock. That is, he builds it on the Word of God. He builds it on the Lord Jesus Christ. If he will build that home on the power of God, on the Word of God, the Bible says when the wind blows and the rain falls, it will stand because it is built on the rock. But the Bible says there's another kind of house, another kind of home. It is built by a foolish man. It is built by a man and he builds his home on temporal things, on temporal values. No God, no Holy Spirit, no Word of God, and the Bible says this man is foolish because he may have a big fancy house, he may have a big job, he may think he's doing well, but because his house is built on the sand, when the rain comes, when the wind comes, the Bible says that home will fail and great will be its fall. Friend, the problem we have across America is our families are falling apart. Our homes are disintegrating before our very eyes. And I want to tell you, friends, that is not God's plan. God loves the home. Before the church, before government, before any other organization, God created the home. But there are a lot of enemies out there against the home. The devil is fighting against the home. The devil is fighting against good godly homes. And the first enemy we have of the home is alcohol. I want to tell you, dear friends, that is a tool of the devil. In the Arkansas Baptist homes, 83% of all the children that are in the Arkansas Baptist home are there because of alcohol, either in their own lives or in the lives of their family. Alcohol is destroying the world. It is a tool of the devil. Sir, don't come to me and talk about social drinking. Don't talk to me about drinking in moderation. I hate alcohol. I hate the work of the devil. And I want to tell you, friends, I will fight against it. Alcohol is the great destroyer. I have seen it destroy lives. I have been to the gospel rescue mission. I have seen men after men after men. I've seen men come through that place who had master's degrees in accounting, and they had lost their family, their friends, their home, their career because of alcohol. At the gospel rescue mission, I was there one day when a former Dallas Cowboy football player came by. He had lost it all because of alcohol. Sir, don't tell me about alcohol. I hate it. It destroys the home. It destroys the life. I will fight against it with every fiber of my being. As long as I have strength, I will fight it. If I have a fist, I will hit it. As long as I have a foot, I will kick it. I will take my teeth and bite it. When I get old and lose my teeth, I will gum it. But I will fight against alcohol. It is an enemy of the home. Another enemy of the home is divorce. We live in a day where folks think that getting married is like going steady. We go and we get together. If it doesn't work out, we have a problem, then we break up and get somebody else. But God's plan is one man for one woman for one lifetime. And I want to tell you, friends, when you make a commitment to that woman or you make a commitment to that man, you are committing before a holy God. I give my life for better, for worse, forever, friends. And I want to tell you, a man needs to look hard into his heart before he makes that commitment because divorce is an enemy. And also materialism. So we live in a day, buddy, if you don't have fancy clothes with name tags and fancy guys who created things to take the money out of your pocket, fancy sneakers that cost $100, we're so wrapped up in materialism, it is killing us. We have folks, friends, who their whole life is to make sure they've got the right kind of clothes. Materialism is killing the home right now. Guys go out there, they can barely buy groceries, but their kid has to have the next fancy pair of shoes that cost $100. They can't go and buy a decent pair of pants, they've got to get name brand. It is killing us. The pride of secularism and materialism. I'm telling you, you can go out there, there are a lot of homes, dear friends. There are a lot of people in homes that have cars, but they don't have compassion. They have luxury, but they don't have love. They have a lot of clothes, but they don't have a lot of Christianity. And many times when I look at home, a house, I will look at that fancy house and I'll think to myself, I wonder if there's a home inside that house, because it takes more than paint and mortar and brick to make a home. It takes God in a house to make it a home and an enemy of the home is the new morality. Now buddy, there's no such thing as a new morality. It's the old immorality just brought up to date. We live in a day where folks live in sin and they're proud of it. We have folks that think it sometimes builds character, the more sinful they are. Men take pride in their sin. They cheat on their wives, they cheat on their husbands, they drink, they smoke, they take alcohol and drugs, and they wonder why their life is a mess. Because God says this, God says, the soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. The Bible says, friend, the wages of sin is death. And we need to wake up, friend, what we need to do is to go back to the old ways. Somebody said, well, you're one of those old fashioned preachers. You want to take us back a hundred years. I want to take us back about 2000 years, buddy. I want to take us back to the time of Jesus. And we have enemies of the home. And God says, listen, the home is important. And I want to talk to you about the home. And I want to talk about the responsibility of the home. Number one, I want to talk about the men. I want to talk about the men. Men look at me, you're the key. I tell you what men, the reason we're in trouble is because of you and I, our families are in trouble because you and I have dropped the ball. You see, the Bible says the man is to be the head of the home. The Bible says in first Corinthians 11, three, but I would have, you know, that the head of every man is Christ. The head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God in Ephesians for the husband is head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church and he is the savior of the body. And listen to me, friend, you've got to be the man. You've got to be the man, the leader, the head of the house. You've got to lead your wife. You've got to point her in the right direction. You've got to be God's man. You've got to be the leader of your home. You've got to be the leader and provider of your home friend. I'm telling you men, the Bible says in first Timothy five, eight, if any man provide not for his own and especially for those of his own whole house, he has denied the faith and it's worse than an infidel friends. I want to tell you what we have men today who have given up their responsibilities. We have men who have gone out and they think their main goal in life is to work, put a big pile of money. They take no responsibility for their home. And I'm telling you the number one problem we have in America today is fatherless children. I'm telling you friends, the big problem we have today is we don't have men standing up for God. We don't have men shouldering their responsibility and say, Hey, this is my family. I'm going to lead them in the right direction. Men, you must be the head of the home. You must be the provider. The Bible says, sir, if you don't provide for your family, you're worse than an infidel. I want to tell you the greatest thing in the world is to see a man who loves his family, to see a man who will give himself for his family, who will work hard and provide for his family. There's no greater honor men than to give your life that your family can live for God. But men listen to me. The Bible says you're also to be the priest of your family. Now, man, this is where most of you have missed the boat. Most of you here tonight, you would work hard. You would provide for your family. You would, you would take care of your family financially and physically, but I, friend, the Bible says you're to be the priest of your family. Look at me, man, the priest, you can't count on Sunday school. You can't count on the church. You can't count on the world to lead your family to God. It is your responsibility, man. It is your responsibility to be the priest of your home, to be the leader of your home, buddy. If you don't have a family altar in your home to pray and read the Bible, you are failing your family. Man, I want to tell you, it's not your wife's responsibility to pray with your children. It is not your wife's responsibility to read the Bible to your family. Man, it is your responsibility. You are the man, you are the priest, you are God's representation. You ought to get your family together and you ought to read that Bible every single night together. You ought to pray together, teach your children how to praise God, show your kids some passion for God, and then buddy, it's your responsibility to get them in God's house. I'm telling you, friends, the Bible says that we should never neglect coming to God's house and man, on Sunday morning, you ought to bounce up out of that bed and you ought to be excited to go to God's house. You ought to be excited to go and serve God. Your children ought to see that passion in your life, and I want to tell you the sorriest thing I've ever seen in my life is for some old boy to come up to church, got his old t-shirt on, hat and shave, he drops his wife and children off to go to church and he goes back home. Sir, that's the sorriest thing a man could do. I'm telling you, men, we must be the head of our families. We must take charge of being the head of your family. Does not mean that you're bossy and ugly and disrespectful. It means we give ourselves for our family. We lay our life down for our family. We provide the leadership. We provide the resources. We provide the motivation for our family and men. The Bible says we've got to take care of our wife, and the Bible says, number one, we must love our wife. Four times the Bible commands, listen men, four times the Bible commands the man to love his wife, but the Bible never commands the wife to love her husband, did you know that? God commands, you know why God commands you to love your wife? Because God knows if a man will love his wife, and that word love is the word agape, which means to sacrifice for his wife, to put her needs ahead of his own needs. When a man loves his wife with that agape love, and a man loves God with all of his heart, and a man has a passion for God, I want to tell you, friends, a woman wants to follow a man like that. She wants to honor a man like that. You need to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, and men, you need to tell your wife you love her every single day. You don't need to be like that old boy. His wife said, well, you never tell me you love me. He said, I told you when we got married, if I change my mind, I'll let you know. You don't need to be like that. Every day, you ought to tell your wife you love her, and you ought to show her by sacrificing and giving yourself, and our Bible also says not only should you love your wife, but you should lift your wife. The Bible says husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. It does not please God when we are hard to get along with. It does not please God when we have the wrong attitude. It does not please God when we are negative on our wives. The Bible says we're to encourage our wives. We're to lift our wives up. We're to motivate our wives. We're to encourage them to be the very best they can be for God. We need to lift our wives up, friends, and not be so negative and narrow-minded. You know, we don't need to be like that old boy that when his wife wrote some checks and those checks overdrew the account and they bounced. He came home. He was fuming and fussing, and he said, I don't understand this. I don't know how God made you so beautiful and yet so cotton-picking dumb. She said, well, he made me beautiful, so you'd love me. He made me dumb, so I'd love you. Not only should you love your wife, not only should you lift your wife, but friend, you ought to lead your wife. Now, friend, I want to tell you the sad fact is that in most marriages, the wife wears the spiritual pants in that family. Men, God is sick and tired of that. He's sick and tired of it. Men, what God wants you to do is he wants you to be a real man. He wants you to put on the whole armor of God. He wants you to get out into the battle. He wants you to have a passion for him. He wants you to get your family safe and secure, to love your wife, love your children, be an example to your kids, not just tell them how to live, but to live like they ought to live. So they'll have somebody to look at. Friend, you've got to be a man for God and God is looking for some men today to stand up for him, to be the head of the house. But friends, it's more than being the boss of the house is to be God's man, to love your family with all of your heart, to set an example, to be a provider, to be a priest, to love your wife, to lift your wife, to lead your wife, and to be an example to your kids of what a godly man ought to be. And my friend, the first thing you need to do in order to be God's man is you need to be born again by the spirit of God. There's some of you men here tonight, you've never had an experience with Christ. Oh, you've walked an hour and prayed a prayer, but in your heart, there's something missing. You've never been born again by the Holy Spirit. And you'd like for your family to come together. You'd like to have joy and peace. You'd like to have a passion for God, but first you've got to get God in your heart, sir. You've walked an hour, you've prayed a prayer, but you've not been born again. And tonight, God brought you here to save your soul so that you could build that house on the solid rock, man. You've got to be the head of your home. You've got to be God's man leading your family if you want your family and your home to be a success. The man is the head, but you know, the wife is the heart of the home. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 31, verse 10, it says, who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. Oh, the Bible says some wonderful thing about women. I'm telling you, women, you just don't understand the influence you have on your husband. You don't understand the influence you have on your children. I'm telling you, it really is true that behind every successful man is a good woman. That's the truth, friend. And women, you don't understand what a powerful influence you have. And the world has lied to you and deceived you to tell you that you've got to go out there. You've got to work. You've got to make money. You've got to be just like the world. You've come a long way, baby. That's a lie from the devil. What you ought to do is invest your life in your children. Invest your life supporting your husband. Let God use you. I'm telling you, there's nothing greater than being a woman in the home. There's nothing greater than molding future presidents or future preachers or state. There's nothing more important than a woman who has an influence on her children and her husband. But the Bible also says a woman can be a curse. The Bible says in Proverbs 12, 4, a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. That means, dear ladies, you may be a woman, you may have a fine family, but if Jesus Christ is not first place in your heart, you are not a blessing to your family. What we need is we need women sold out to Jesus. We need women who have a passion for God. Don't worry about that new car. Don't worry about that new home you're dreaming about. Don't worry about that fancy country club membership. What you need to understand is this. When you're out there and you're slaving for the world and working for the world and living for the world, you are substituting those material things for the very life of your children. There's nothing more important than loving God with all of your heart and molding those little children to follow after Jesus. And I want to tell you ladies, the Bible says there are a lot of great women in the Bible. Mary, the mother of Jesus, Eunice and Lois, the mother and grandmother of preacher boys. It was a woman who anointed the head of Jesus. Hey, it was a bunch of women when all the disciples got scared and ran off. It was a bunch of women that stood next to the cross. I want to tell you, friends, you give me a bunch of women who are really in love with Jesus, who are on fire for God, but you can change the world. Praise God for godly women. The Bible says something about women. The Bible says that the wife, the mother should be submissive in attitude to her husband. The Bible says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband as unto the Lord. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be unto their own husbands. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Now, I know what some of you national organization of women are thinking right now. You're saying, well, that lowers me, my standard. No, that elevates you, ladies. Listen to me. The world has lied to you and deceived you. It's no blessing for you to get out there in a man's world and do men's things. Listen to me. A few years ago, you never heard of a woman getting lung cancer. And yet today, lung cancer kills more women than breast cancer does. There are 60,000 women that die every year from lung cancer because the women have believed a lie that, hey, hey, we go out here, we put those cigarettes in our mouth, it makes us cool, it makes us charming, while the devil is killing your very body. You see, friends, you've come a long way, but you've come a long way in the wrong direction. And what we need is we need women who love Jesus, who love God. Listen, you're not below men. Just because God, what God wants is he wants a chain of command. Just like in school, you have a principal. Just like on a team, you have a captain. Just like in any organization, you have a chain of command. It's not that you're below men. It's that God has set up an organization so that your home will not be in chaos. You show me anything that has two heads and I'll show you a monster, friend. The woman must be in submission to her husband. But I want to tell you this, when a woman will love her husband and be in submission to her husband, she can make him the kind of man that she wants him to be. You know why? Because men are born with something in their heart. They want to be a hero. And what men want more than anything else is for their wives to love them and admire them and respect them. And when men are out there and they've got a wife behind them, cheering them on and loving them and encouraging them, I want to tell you, women, you can have an impact on that man that will turn his life around. In fact, the Bible says you can win a lost husband to Christ just by your very attitude at home. Oh, the Bible says you're also to be scripture in nature. You know what the Bible tells you to do, ladies? The Bible tells for the older ladies to teach the younger ladies. That's why we have so many divorces. Young ladies don't know how to live. Young ladies don't know how to love their husband. They don't know how to be chaste and pure and moral. They don't know how to live God alive because we're not teaching the young ladies. But ladies, that's your responsibility. If you've got daughters, you need to teach them how to love Jesus with all their heart. And then the Bible says you're to be good, just good. First Peter 3 says, likewise, you wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word, they also may be without the word won by the conversation of the words of the wives. You know how you win your husband to Jesus, ladies? Well, first of all, you don't go home and slap him over the head with your Bible. And you don't go home and whine and cry because he's not going to church. You want to win your husband to Jesus? What you need to do is number one, you go home and be the best wife you can be. You go home and you put yourself under his authority and you honor him with your life. And when he gives you bitterness, you give him sweetness. I'll tell you what, it'll bring the greatest conviction you can ever think in a man's heart. When a man acts like he's sorry so and so and is ugly to his wife and his wife doesn't give back the same as she gives back sweetly, I want to tell you, man, that breaks his heart. That brings conviction. He can't stand that. I'm telling you, I've seen it happen many times. I preached a revival in Greenwood, Arkansas a few years ago, gave an invitation. Man, a guy came off the back row. He was crying, man. It was a mess. He was crying so hard. He was bouncing off both sides of the pew. He came down. I was thinking to myself, man, that must be good preaching. And he came down here, got saved. I found out it didn't have anything to do with preaching at all. What had happened is his wife had claimed him for the Lord. She had got six other Christian ladies. They came every day to the church and they cried out and called his name to God. I want to tell you that old boy didn't stand a chance. They prayed him in the kingdom of God. I have a good friend, Mike Corley. Mike Corley was an infidel. Good old boy. You know the kind. Buy him a case of beer every weekend, go home and drink it. Just a good old boy. But he didn't know Jesus. His wife was a Christian. She wanted her husband to be saved. My wife used to go over there. He used to make Mike so mad. He said every time she'd come over, I'd get on such great conviction. I couldn't stand it. He'd take a six pack and go hide in the garage. So he wouldn't have to be around her. But my wife and his wife began to pray for all my and his wife. You know what she did? She started writing scriptures on little pieces of paper. Out of the Bible scriptures for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God's eternal life. Oh, if we confess with our mouth, the Lord Jesus, believe in our heart that God has raised him from dead. We shall be safe or whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The soul that says it shall surely die. Everywhere he went, he'd open up his old liquor cabinet. There'd be a verse of scripture stuck on that liquor bottle. He'd go, he'd open up that refrigerator. There'd be a subscription on that old beer. He'd go to the bathroom to shave. There'd be some scripture stuck on them everywhere he turned. And I'm telling you, I knew him for five years. He never said, he never said more than two or three words to me in those four or five years. But one night I was at church. Somebody tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around. He grabbed me in a big bear hug, started hugging me. He said, man, I love you. I love you. I love you. I said, what happened? He said, I got saved. I got saved. And I'm saying, ladies, you can change the world. Don't let the world change you. You see, the men need to be the head because that's how God made them. That's why you have arguments in your family because you're trying to take over your husband's position. And in his heart, God, he knows he ought to be the head of that family. But men, you got to be the head of that family. You've got to take responsibility. Not just the boss and give orders, but you've got to be the provider. You've got to be the priest. You've got to love your wife, lift your wife, lead your wife. And I believe with all my heart, men, if you'll do that, I think your wife will find it much easier to come under your authority. She'll find it much easier to have the word of God in her heart. She'll find it much easier to mold and shape those kids. Men, it's up to me and you. We are the key to the whole thing. If we'll get our lives with God, right with God, everything else will fall into place. And the kids, you know what your responsibility is? The dad is the head. The mom is the heart. You're the hub. Everything revolves around the kids. Amen. Man, you know what the Bible says? The Bible says kids are a blessing from the Lord. You know that they're a blessing from the Lord. Hey, but they don't even belong to you, sir. They belong to God. God's just loaned them to you. You know what God's expecting out of you? God's expecting you to mold them and shape them, not like the world, but shape them like Jesus Christ. But young people, God has given you some directions about the home. God has told young people what they must do if they want their home to be a success. Number one, the Bible says, honor your father and mother. Ephesians 6, 2, 3 says, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. God says, listen, you want to have a good life? You want to have a productive life? You want to live a long life? Honor your father and your mother. You say, my father doesn't deserve honor. The Bible doesn't say that, friend. The Bible doesn't say, honor your father and mother if they deserve it. It says, honor them because they are your father and your mother. I will tell you, friends, that's what kids need to know today. You cannot serve God, young man. You cannot be God's man, teenage friend. You cannot have the blessings of God if you are in disobedience to your parents. You must honor your parents. How, if your parents are lost, how can you win your parents to Jesus if you are disobeying God? You see, how you win your parents to Jesus is you need to live like Jesus tells you to live. You need to honor your mother and your father. That means you need to help them around the house. That means you need to thank them for all they provide for you. You need to do good for them and love them. You need to honor your parents and then you need to obey your parents. The Bible says in Colossians 3, 20, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Listen to me, friend. You won't hear this kind of stuff in the music today or on television. The Bible says, hey, everybody do your own thing. I was watching one of these crazy shows one day. I can't remember what the name of it was, Sally Jessie Raphael or something like that. Had all these teenagers on there, boy. And the subject matter was these teenagers thought they had been so mistreated by their parents. Here's an old boy, he's about 14 years old. And he said, you know, I just don't like people telling me what to do. I just don't like telling me what to do. I think I'm going to join the Marine Corps so I can be my own boss. We have these guys, they say, I don't listen. That's because the world has lied to young people. Listen, your responsibility as a young person is to honor your parents. It's to honor your parents, do good for your parents, be respectful to your parents. Don't you dare let one of your friends talk bad about your mom and dad. You fight that boy. Don't you let anybody talk bad about your parents. You love your parents and honor your parents and stand up for your dad. Your mom almost gave her life giving you birth. You ought to praise her name and you ought to do what she tells you to do. You see friends, that is what we're here for, to obey God. But I want to tell you parents in order for our kids to do right, what you've got to do is you've got to be an example for them. And I don't mean talk it, buddy. I mean walk it. You see, we've got too many guys giving orders, not enough guys being an example. You want your boy to grow up to be a godly man, you better be a godly man. You want your young girl to grow up with good morals, you better have good morals. If you want your child to know, listen, you know why so many girls marry the wrong kind of guy? Because their dad has not given them a good example of the right kind of guy. You see, your daughter's going to marry somebody just like you. That's pretty scary, isn't it fellas? Your daughter's going to marry somebody just like you. You better make sure that the you that you're showing her is a good one. She's going to marry an old boy just like you and so you better get a passion for God. You better love God. You better be fearless for God. You need to memorize that scripture. You need to go out and win people to Christ. You need to point her toward God and God's house. So when she marries an old boy, he'll be just like that. You need to be an example and you need to learn to discipline your kids. My friend, I'll tell you something. The big mistake we have today is there are a lot of dads that think they want to be their child's best friend. That's nonsense. Your child can get his own best friend. What he needs is a daddy. He needs a father. He needs a man to stand up and point an example. Don't try to be your child's best friend. Your child needs parents. He needs somebody to show him how to live, to be an example. Somebody to set guidelines and restrictions and somebody to point the right way. He's got plenty of people he can have for friends. He'll be a friend after he grows up and becomes a man and looks back on your life to say that you showed him the right way. You discipline that child and you point out the right direction. And then you need to love your children. You need to love your children. Daddy, you need to hug that boy. You need to show that boy it's all right for a man to hug his son. You need to love that girl. You know what? If you don't love that daughter and if you don't hug that daughter and if you don't give that daughter some affection at home, she'll find somebody who will, buddy. You need to love that daughter and show her that her dad is a man she can look to for strength. Her dad is a man she can count on. I tell you what, when my daughter was dating, those old boys would show up at my front doorstep. Man, I'd walk to the door. I'd say, what do you want? They'd say, we want to, I'm here for Brittany. Brittany who, son? I'd thank him. I'd say, if you pencil neck thing, what are you doing coming in my daughter? I'd set him down and I'd say, listen to me, son. I want to tell you something. I love my daughter more than life itself. I'm entrusting something to you that's more valuable than my car or my home. And I want to tell you if you ever harm her or hurt her or damage her, I'll come after you. I'm telling you, friends, you need to put the fear of God in those old boys when they come and date your daughter. Now think about it. You're letting, you're letting somebody come over and date the most valuable thing in your life. You need to lay down the law of how it's going to be. You know why young men don't know how to treat young women? It's because of what they learn as they learn on television and television teaches you the quickest thing you do is try to get her in bed as quick as you can. You teach that boy, you set him down. You know, don't come to my house, son. Be honking that horn outside. My daughter's not going to run out there. You come inside. You sit down. You know what you do? You sit down. You talk to my wife and I, we want to find out where you are with Jesus. Amen. You talk to me. My daughter used to say, oh, daddy, please. You just embarrassed me so bad. I said, honey, that's my job. That's my job. I'm just saying that God has a plan for the family. Young friend, many of you over here, your mom and dad aren't even saved. It's time we want them to the Lord. And the way we went into the Lord is we got to be godly young people. It's great to come to church and lift our hands and praise God. That's wonderful. I praise God for you, but we've got to take it outside the church. We've got to take it home. Amen. We've got to go home and we've got to be God's young people in front of our parents. That means we've got to have a godly heart. That means to honor our mom and dad, even though they do us wrong. You think, even though they may not be Christians, even though you may think they don't deserve honor, you honor them because Jesus said to honor them. He said, it'll give you a good life and a long life. If you honor your parents and obey your parents, you know why? Because they are looking out for your best. If you'll never have anybody in your life that loves you like your parents loved you. And ladies, I want to encourage you to live for God. If there's any way possible to get your finances straightened out, so you can live on your husband's salary alone, you need to do it. And you need to get home with those children and raise them in the admonition of the Lord. And man, it all comes back to you. We can preach and we can run around and we can say all these things about women and children, but I want to tell you what, the ball is in our court, man. It's our responsibility. The home's in a mess because we have not done our job. We have not done our job. We have not done our job. And it is time for men to get serious about serving God. Number one, men, you need to get saved and you need to get saved tonight. And then you need to get a passion for God. You need to read your Bible and love Jesus with all of your heart because you can't love your family until you love Jesus. Then you need to lead your family and guide your family, provide for your family, love your wife, lift your wife, lead your wife. And ladies, if you get a man like that, I promise you, you'll have a heart to follow him and follow his leadership and be the kind of wife that he wants you to be. You say you need that because your family is on the verge of collapse right now. You don't know how shaky the ground is under your home right now. You don't know how close you are to losing your children or losing your home right now. You don't know how wicked the world is and how many arrows the devil is shooting at your home. If you could see right now the danger your home was in, you'd run to Jesus, you'd run and beg him to save you. You'd beg him to provide for your family. Friend, I want to tell you, the devil is alive and well and he's after you and your home. Dr. Truett of First Baptist Church in Dallas, several years ago, told the story. A man came after preaching a sermon on the home. He said, pastor, I'm just broken. I want you to pray with me about my son. I want my teenage boy to get saved. The next day, Dr. Truett saw the teenage boy. He was all aglow. He came to pastor. He said, pastor, I got saved last night. Dr. Truett said, well, tell me about it. He said, well, I was out partying with my friends. I came home late. I expected my dad to meet me at the front door, to be angry and to curse me and to be bitter against me. He said, but when I got home, even though I was late, my dad wasn't there. And so I went to my bedroom and I went past my daddy's bedroom and I heard my dad in there on his knees and he was praying for me to get saved. He said, I never heard my daddy pray for me before. And he said, preacher, I went in and knelt beside my daddy and I got saved. But we need some daddies. You know why we need daddies? You know why we need daddies? To really sell out for God. You know why you need to be born again? A few years ago, I was in Eldorado, Arkansas preaching a revival. I told the teenagers this story a few weeks ago, but I was there doing a revival and I heard the most remarkable story. There's a man in Eldorado, Arkansas, a very affluent man, a very successful man. He owns an insurance agency. He's a young man in his mid forties. He's made a lot of money. He's very respected in the community in all the right clubs, all the right activities. He's in the country club. Everybody looks up and admires him. There was even talk that he might run for political office. He had a big house, three or $400,000. And he had everything the world says it takes to be happy. He was an athlete. He ran these marathons in shape, man. It seemed like he had everything going for him. He had a 16-year-old daughter that he loved more than anything else in the world. When I was down in Eldorado, she turned 16 on Thursday and her daddy, who loved her, bought her a brand new car, a red sports car. The next day on Friday, she went down and took her driver's test and got her license. On Saturday, she was out showing everybody her new car, riding around with her best friend. As kids do, she was driving at a rate that was higher than she should have been driving. She left the road and crashed, and she was killed on impact. Her best friend, who was riding in the passenger seat, was paralyzed. I was there two years ago. She's still in a wheelchair. And that daddy was so crushed and so defeated by the death of his daughter that he was unable to go on working. He took disability in early retirement. He sold his insurance agency. He was totally defeated. He couldn't even go on living hardly. It was all he could do just to get through the day. He'd always been an athlete. He'd take his lunch break at the job and he'd go to the local high school and they'd see him every day running around the track, staying in shape. After his daughter was killed, though the reports around town were, he would go out there many times to run around the track. And when he'd get on the far side where the stands were, he would just disappear. And many times friends would find him over behind the stands. He would be lying face down in the grass crying about that little girl. Oh, he still has his $300,000, $400,000 house. He's still got a million dollars in the bank. He's still respected in the community. But I'm here to tell you, he would give that house up and he would give that money away. And he would give away his reputation. And he would take a job at the 7-Eleven at midnight if he could just have that girl back. And there's coming a day, there's coming a day when you will stand before God and your family will drop into a devil's hell because you have not lived for God. And you will look at God and you'll say, God, I'll do anything if I could just have my family back. But it'll be too late. You see, if you're gonna turn it around, you need to do it now, sir. And it starts by being born again. Some of you here tonight, you know all about Jesus. But you don't know him personally. Oh, you go to the youth activities, you go to the programs, you've read your Bible, you know all the stuff. But you don't have Jesus in your heart. You know how you entail? You don't have a passion for God. Have you ever won anybody to the Lord? Do you live for God when nobody else is watching? Do you have a righteousness about your life? Do you know for sure that if you were to die tonight, that you'd go to heaven? Because if you don't know that, you need to know that. And in a few moments, you're going to have the greatest opportunity you will ever have to come and give your life to Christ, to be born again, to start building that home on that solid rock foundation. You've been listening to the From the Pulpit and Classic Sermon series. This week, you heard William Blackburn. With this message, God's plan for the family. Tune in next week to hear Hans Waldvogel talk about ye shall be as God's was not Christ's ambition. On From the Pulpit and Classic Sermons.