In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of vigilance and sobriety in protecting children from the negative influences of the world. He shares a powerful testimony of a teenage boy who turned his life around after his father prayed fervently for him. The preacher warns parents about the dangers of video games and the internet, stating that they can expose children to filth and warp their minds. He encourages parents to be vigilant and careful in monitoring their children's media consumption, and highlights the need to adhere to biblical principles and teachings.

If you want to join me in going to the book of Hebrews in chapter number 12, Hebrews chapter 12, this is not going to serve as a text for the entire message. In fact, it really is not a text for the message, but we are going to go from verse to verse, and in a moment you'll see what will be the thread that will tie them together. Before we begin the message tonight, I think it would be appropriate tonight, again, to tell you how much I appreciate your faithfulness to the meeting. And I'm just guessing that many of you, it really is sacrificial for you to be here with long commutes and etc. And I just want you to know, as the preacher for the week, it is a great appreciation and privilege to have you come, and I appreciate so much your faithfulness to the meeting. I'd just be interested to know, and I may ask this later in the week, but how many have been here, starting with Sunday morning, you've been here every service. Can I see your hands, please? Okay, that does not surprise me, really, that's a good indication. How many have been here, to use a King James-ism, how many have been here every service save one? That's except one. Okay, here we go. Okay, there we are. Great. Well, it's certainly a blessing, and I'm grateful for those of you who are visiting tonight as well. Listen, it's hard to believe a week moves by so quickly, but two more services, and we'll certainly trust that God will do good work tonight. I want to deal with something that I'll be just dead honest with you, it's really not easy to deal with. But let me just preface it by saying this, for almost 22 years now, God has given my wife and I, a large majority of our time each year is spent in youth evangelism and revival work. Many weeks in the year we go into a Christian school, we'll be ministering every day in chapel, and I know this may sound strange, I absolutely love preaching in chapel. It is, maybe to put it this way, God made me a little bit different. I don't know, just a normal preacher, I don't know why, do not ask me why, I love antagonistic audiences. Audiences that don't agree with me, I absolutely love it. That's why I love Christian school preaching, but anyway, you just leave that one there. There's some seriousness in what I just said, but we'll just leave that alone. And the Lord's allowed me to preach to unsaved teenagers. In fact, many of our war knights, the larger majority of the crowd is unsaved, so they're unsympathetic to the message, and it is just an absolute thrill. Don't ask me why God made me that way, other than that's, you guys are far too easy. I mean, you actually look like, many of you act like you're agreeing with me. And that doesn't fire you up, but when somebody starts frowning at you, or somebody starts showing signs they're not with you, boy, that's what gets my fire lit, gets me excited, gets me thrilled, because I love to see God take truth and turn it around. And it's such an excitement to see God do that, and only God can. But anyway, I say all that to say I work with young people, I have for 22 years. I'm certainly not an expert on teenagers, but over 22 years I have observed some things that I'm going to share with you tonight. Now, most of the time in our ministry, we work in what we might call the damage control side of things. In other words, a teenager has already made some poor choices, there's already a problem in his life, maybe even in the home, it's already in progress. And God convicts the teen, whatever, they come forward, and now we're in damage control. They've already looked at the junk, they're already hooked on the filth music, they're already bitter, they're already angry, they've already cheated multiple times. Whatever the problem might be, it's already in progress. And the visible part of our ministry often is with young people like that, and our whole burden is what we call revival counseling, is counseling them to revival, which is basically counseling them to Christ, like we talked about last night. So that's the visible part. Now, I'm sure, I'm sure, I just say this, but I'm sure, really, and I think that for all preachers, the greatest part of your ministry you never see because it's preventative. In other words, the problem hasn't started yet, and by the grace of God, the message puts up a wall. For instance, I remember hearing a lot of preaching that was preventative, and I'm sure some of these preachers who are now in heaven had no idea what a blessing they were to me. I was just a kid. For instance, I heard enough preaching when I was growing up, I knew it was stupid to drink alcohol. And I never took a drink in my life, I've never taken a drink in my life, and part of it came because as a child and as an early teenager, I heard preaching, and I know that's right, I agree with that. That's preventative. There's a lot of other preaching I've heard growing up that was preventative. I thought to myself, that's stupid. Only a stupid idiot would do that, you know, and so I made a decision about things like that, and I thank the Lord for those preachers who had no clue because I didn't walk an aisle. I didn't make a decision other than making a decision in my heart. Yeah, I agree with your preacher. I'm not going to do that, by the grace of God. Okay, so a lot of preaching ministry is preventative, but that which is visible is what we might call more damage control. The problem's already there, and now, by the grace of God, we want to see it reversed and see the person put on a track to deliverance. Okay, now, it is a result of the damage control side of ministry in the last 22 years that this message is born. This is not a message I preached 10 years ago. This is a message I feel like, okay, I've been in this now 20 years, about 2 years ago. I said, I think I now can start preaching on this particular subject because I've dealt with a lot of young people now who have manifested problems that could have been prevented. So I've entitled tonight's message, How to Raise a Rebel. Now, I don't want you to do that tonight, okay? We're kind of coming at it backwards, and I recognize it's jarring. In a certain sense, it's meant to do that. So we don't want to do what I'm going to give our How to Raise a Rebel. Obviously, we don't want to do this, but I'm doing it this way because it does jar us. It kind of takes us a little bit out of our comfort zone, and I hope tonight it will do that. Now, I'll just say one other word that might be a help in introduction here. Ten and a half years ago and before that, I was an expert on parenting. I could have told you what you were doing wrong and how to fix it. Then Stephanie Joy was born. She was born ten and a half years ago, and I joined the ranks of the rest of you parents. Lord, help! Okay. So I want you to understand I'm not coming at this as an expert. I recognize the difficulties of parenting, and I recognize in a message like this, I'm going to be dead honest with you from the start, it's going to get all of us, including me. Somewhere along the line, all of us parents are going to recognize, Yeah, I need to shore that up. Yeah, I need to work on that, myself included. None of us are perfect parents. We all are obviously working by the grace of God to see our parenting skills become more in line with Bible truth. All of us are. We understand that tonight. This message is not meant to discourage you. If you leave discouraged, then I failed, and that is certainly not my purpose. And by the end of this message, I hope you'll see that. So, you know, I know that, you know, sometimes before you parent, you just think, you know, you just think it's simpler than it is. And obviously, there's a lot of issues, and we'll try to deal with some of those as we go through. But so all that introduction aside, let's go ahead tonight. And we're going to go through eight ways to raise a rebel. Now, before we get into the eight ways, there's one other thing that we need to deal with, because it's absolutely important before we get into this. I recognize tonight that there are some young people out here who are in homes. And the danger is, as I go through some of these how to raise a rebel, they go, Oh, yeah, my parents blow it there. And yeah, they're not going to shore that up and et cetera. Now, let me just say a couple of things. Number one, teenager, one day you will be a parent and you will not be perfect either. Your day is coming. By the way, young people, let me just say this. The Bible says that if you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind. See, the law of sowing reaping is real simple. What you sow, you always reap in kind and in greater measure. See, so a young person is like this. If you rebel against your parents, mark this, your kids will treat you the same way and worse. See, do you think it's real cool right now to roll your eyes and treat a mom and dad like trash? Mark it, buddy. One day your kids are going to do it to you and worse. This is real cool right now. One day it won't be so cool. See, so understand when we go through this, young people, that no parent is perfect. Now, before we continue on, there's something to say about this. Because, gang, young people, don't miss this. Because it's really the window that God wants you to go out is simply this. Your parents will answer to God for their failures and you will answer to God for yours. See, no teenager out here, no teenager can say, well, you know, God, I really had to rebel because my parents did this. You know, that will not cut it before Almighty God. And I will tell you, young person, I don't care if you have the worst parents on this planet. You have no excuse for rebellion because God's grace is sufficient. And you mark it, young person, every teenager out here who is in rebellion to your parents cannot blame your parents at all. You will stand before Almighty God. There is no need for rebellion. It's just rebellion against Almighty God. See, so don't sit here tonight and say, well, you see, my parents do this, this, and this. That's why I am the way I am. No, that's not true. You are the way you are because you've chosen not to access the grace of God. You failed the grace of God, which is sufficient, and you have chosen to rebel against God when you didn't have to because God had more than enough grace to do right. So, young person, mark this tonight. I preach a message like this. The danger is you'll go out the wrong window. Don't go out the wrong window. You can blame no one for your rebellion at all. In fact, as we go throughout this message, I am going to turn at times and deal with young people tonight because as I travel the country, I see the culture in which we live is certainly putting all kinds of negative influences into our young people, and we'll deal with that as we go along. But tonight, first of all, let's go ahead and deal with Hebrews and chapter number 12, if you'd go there first. Hebrews chapter number 12, we're going to begin with our first thing, how to raise a rebel. And I realize some of you in this room are not parents. Some of you may be one day. There's a lot of things we can apply, even to your own Christian life, we'll do that. But before we get into it, I'd just be kind of interested to see where we are. How many of you, and you may raise your hand multiple times, but how many of you have children in your home who are elementary school or younger? Okay, elementary school or younger? Okay, there you are. You can raise your hand, I mean, put your hand down. How many have seventh to twelfth graders in your home? Okay, bless your hearts. Now you know what purgatory is like. Okay, you can put your hands down. And then last of all, have college age or older? Can I see your hands? Okay, college age or older? All right, out of the house. Okay, wonderful. It looks pretty even here tonight, and some of you raised your hand for all three, and that's understandable. Okay, so got that wide span of kids, I understand. Okay, now, let's go ahead and look at Hebrews chapter number 12, because we're going to find our first way to raise a rebel. Number one, if you want to raise a rebel, the Bible teaches us, be bitter. Look, if you would, please, at verse number 15. It says, after verse 14 is the main verb, 15, looking diligently. Now, notice this little word, lest. Did you see that word? It's mentioned three times. It basically gives us a downward progression that comes in this realm of bitterness. God says what all of us need to do is pursue peace with all men. God wants us to pursue unity, pursue peace, deal with problems, so that we don't get bitter. He says, now, you better pursue peace with all men, and while you're doing it, this is literally off the main verb, you need to look diligently. Why? Because there's a danger. In interpersonal problems, there is a danger. Number one, lest any man fail of the grace of God. Now, I'll just say this, folks. Nobody in this room, nobody, can become bitter until, number one, you fail the grace of God. Do you know, as long as you're accessing grace, it's impossible to become bitter? Absolutely impossible. Well, you say, okay, preacher, how do you fail God's grace, or how do you access God's grace? Well, here it is. We all know this. For by grace are you saved, you tell me, through? So we access grace by Romans 5, 2, in whom we have access into this grace wherein we stand. Okay, so we access grace. That's divine enablement. That is God's gracious giving, His strength, His power, His enablement in our life. We access God's grace by faith, by dependence, by reliance. Okay, so here's what happens. Something happens in your life. Maybe circumstances go haywire. Somebody, as we talked about Sunday morning, wrongs you. At that moment, you have a decision. You can either say, okay, Lord, that hurt, but I do believe you're going to work it together for good. And it is that expression or heart of faith that accesses God's grace. Or what many people do is they may not say it out loud, but they, oh, man, why'd that happen? That's not going to work together for good. And in doing so, it is that declaration of unbelief, like we talked about last night, reckoning a lie that then there's no grace. It fails grace. There's no help from heaven. There's no divine aid. And so there you are. And the next thing God says happens when you doubt God, when there's unbelief, when somebody hurts you, unbelief, when things go wrong in your life, you fail the grace of God. You have no divine aid. And notice the next thing that happens. Last, any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. The next thing that happens is a root of bitterness springs up and it troubles you. Mark this. Bitter people are always troubled people. Bitter people are not happy people. They are troubled people. In fact, the Bible says not only they're troubled people, they defile many. I put it this way. Hurting people hurt people. That's why you have generations of bitterness. Here's bitter kids. They grow up. They become parents. They're bitter. They never deal with their bitterness. They defile many. They provoke their kids to wrath. They hurt their kids. Their kids don't handle it right. They get bitter. They grow up. They hurt their kids, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Don't we see that in the world around us? In fact, I was, I remember I was in South Carolina. I gave an invitation. It was pretty much over. I was in the back of the room. One of the teenage girls in the school came up to me and said, Brother Van Gelderen, and she said, I've got a mother, my mother who adopted me has said to me on several occasions, I wish I'd never adopted you. Now, what do you say to a kid like that? I mean, that's, well, I'll tell you what. I told her, I said, you know, I know that hurts, and I know that's difficult, but I'll tell you, there's a God in heaven, and His grace is more than enough. And you do not have to get bitter. Because obviously, folks, the mother that adopted her was bitter, never dealt with her bitterness, and now she's doing the same thing to her daughter, and if that daughter does not appropriate the grace of God, she's going to become bitter, grow up, and she's going to provoke her kids to wrath. Somebody's got to appropriate the grace of God to stop the thing. See, so bitterness troubles the one who's bitter, and then they defile other hurting people, as I mentioned, hurt people. Now, for time, we can't develop a lot of this all the way, but let's just, before we continue on, notice what verse 16 says, because a lot of times we miss the last less. It says, Notice the little word, or. You know, I have found when young people become bitter, and really adults, but I deal more with young people, that when they become bitter, if they don't deal with that root that springs up, then it manifests itself either in moral impurity, or in their becoming a profane person. Usually it's not both, it's usually one or the other. Now, the Bible says, We all know that it's that arena of moral impurity, which begins first in the mind, and then if left unchecked, goes to action. I'm thinking of a young man in the 8th grade who had a heart for God. I remember I knew him, knew his family, I thought, this kid's going to be used to the Lord. Somewhere in his high school years, something happened, I don't know what, he got bitter, began looking at junk, defiled his mind. Before long, it resulted in action, which just totally destroyed and defiled his life. Now folks, this is the kind of thing that happens in our day. In fact, that very girl I mentioned a moment ago, later in the week came to my wife and revealed that she had stepped into the arena of moral impurity. She had already manifesting what happens when you harbor bitterness in your heart. See, lest there be any fornicator. And there may be someone out here who has perhaps begun to fill your mind with filth, looking at internet sites, magazines, whatever, you begin to be unchecked and allowing filth to come into your mind, and you can go back and the real root issue is that you've allowed that bitterness to spring up in your life. Now don't get me wrong, not every person who goes into the moral impurity arena is motivated by bitterness, but I will tell you, bitterness either leads to moral impurity or to becoming a profane person. In fact, I have never had a teenager, in all the years I've used Hebrews 12, I've never had a teenager that I've showed Hebrews 12 has said to me, Preacher, that's not true in my life. None of them have said that. You know why? Because it is true in their life. Not only does it lead to fornication, God says, secondly, or they become a profane person. A passive personality is a person who could care less about God, but a profane person and an active personality is a person who hates God. I remember one time I was preaching after I was done, a young lady came up to me extremely angry. She was angry about a verse of Scripture. She just kind of sailed into me, and I remember we had just talked two or three minutes, I looked at that young lady. I said, young lady, I said, you know what your problem is? You hate God. And she looked right at me without any hesitation, and she said, you're right. The bitterness was so overwhelmed in her heart that she had become a profane person. I remember I was dealing with a college-age young lady. Her parents were sitting right there, and she was bitter toward a spiritual leader in the past in her life, and I was trying to help her with Hebrews 12. Her parents right there were, of course, seeing it and agreeing, and I remember we came all the way through Hebrews 12. She looked at me and said, Brother Van Gelderen. She said, that's it. She said, I've been so angry at God. My friends, if you want to raise a rebel or be one yourself, just don't deal with bitterness in your heart. And you see very clearly it has terrible consequences. And there may be a young person I'm preaching to right now. You know that in your heart you've been troubled. You're not happy. Anger is right below the surface. You mark it down when a teenager is bitter. You don't have to provoke them much. They get angry at their siblings, angry at mom and dad. It's right below the surface. They are troubled. And I will tell you, mom and dad, I will tell you, teenager, the way to deal with your bitterness is go right back to the beginning, stop failing the grace of God, and start accessing it. Say, I believe that what happened here or this person who hurt me, as we talked about Sunday morning, God's big enough to work it together for good. When you want to raise a rebel, number one, be bitter. A young person, if you're out here and somebody has wronged you, somebody has done something, maybe inside the home or perhaps out, you are the loser if you do not deal with your bitterness. It has terrible consequences. So, number one, be bitter. Number two, we'll not turn to every passage for time, but number two, let's go to, don't turn for time, but we'll go in our minds here to Proverbs 28, 13, a familiar verse. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Number two, you want to raise a rebel, blame everyone else but you and your kids for their rebellion and problems. You know, covering, blame is a very subtle form of covering your sins. And I want to tell you, we Americans are phenomenal at blaming people. If you can't blame, if you can't find anything else to blame, you'll blame the president. That's just the way we are. We play the blame game. And we're really good at it. In fact, if we can't blame a human being, we'll think up some psychological disorder to blame. A few years ago, I was at a camp. The camp nurse gave me this thing off some psychology website. It said they've discovered a new disorder. It was called oppositional defiant disorder, ODD. I said, that's odd, isn't it? But anyway, oppositional defiant disorder. And I began to read some of the symptoms of ODD. It was kind of like, it said, does not listen when adults talk to him. Does not obey when told what to do. I'm thinking to myself, this is no disorder. It's as old as Adam and Eve. It's called sin. You know, friends, I'm not a psychologist, and I don't profess to be one. But I will tell you, there's a lot of kids out there. They do not need Ritalin. They need repentance. And they're never going to come clean until their parents stop blaming a disorder and call it sin. They've got an excuse. Well, I am the way I am. I kick walls and pull curtains off the rod because I've got a disorder. No, it's because you're the race of Adam. You mark it down, all three of my girls had a disorder. It's called Adam. When my little girl was born, I was convinced she was an angel. Eighteen months later, I was convinced she was demon-possessed. Some of you know what I'm talking about. You've had them, too. You know, friends, and I'll tell you, our kids are not helped when we blame their sin on something else. It's called sin. Listen, we're real subtle with it even in our Christian lives. I say this as kindly as I know how. I've alluded to this in other messages, but it needs to be said. There are some dear gentlemen in this room tonight, and you think to yourself, I'd be a good Christian if it wasn't for my wife. Do you know that is a lie out of the pit of hell? You are not a good Christian because you have made wrong decisions. Don't blame your wife. And every gentleman out here who is not the Christian you ought to be, it is not your kid's fault. It's not your wife's fault. It's not your boss's fault. It is your fault. It's me. It's me. It's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. And I'll tell you, we'll never have personal revival until we stop blaming somebody else for our problems and realize I'm the big problem that's right here. And, wife, I'll tell you, you cannot blame an unsaved husband. You cannot blame a carnal, backslidden husband for the fact you're not a good Christian. As we talked about last night, there's a provision of victory in Christ. It is not their fault. It's our fault for not accessing what God's given us. See? So we do this all the time. We blame the youth group or we blame somebody else for our kid's problems or for our problems or for whatever else. I want to tell you that you want to raise a rebel, just blame everybody else for your kid's rebellion. So they need to answer to God for their failure. We'll answer to God for ours. So let's not cover it up. God says if you confess and forsake Him, you'll have mercy. I'm thinking right now of a gentleman. This is not in the notes. It just hit me. I believe I need to say it. I'm thinking right now of one of the biggest turnarounds I have ever seen in a teenage life. The boy's a sophomore in high school. He was sneaking stuff behind his parents' back. He's doing all the junk that's out there. And his parents knew something was wrong, and everybody else could tell it too. The light of the body is the eye. And somebody told me they saw this gentleman, the father, at an early morning prayer meeting, laid out prostrate before the Lord, crying out to God and said, God, I failed. I failed, my son. I failed as a father. I want to tell you something. It's no surprise to me that that boy in October had an absolute 180 degree turnaround, and he is a teenager I've seen rarely have I seen a teenager more on fire for God than a kid like this. And you know the amazing thing is the Christian school he attended kicked him out. He's still kicked out. In fact, I took him with me to some of our youth meetings. Almost every day of the week he won somebody to Jesus Christ. He's on fire. Kicked out of a Christian school, on fire for God. And I'm going to tell you one of the reasons why is because his parents didn't blame the youth pastor. They didn't blame the church. I'll tell you what, they got on their face before God and said, Lord, we have some failures in our life. Lord, show us what they are. We'll deal with them. And our sons made some wrong decisions too. You see, they did what the Bible says. If you confess and forsake, you'll have mercy. So, number one, be bitter. Number two, blame everyone else but you and your kids for their rebellion and problems. And number three, boy, I hate to tell you this, this one's the rough one. I'm going to warn you ahead of time. Fasten your seatbelts. In fact, you better go to this passage of Scripture so you'll believe me. Go to Romans chapter 13. Would you do that? Romans chapter 13. This one's rough. I mean, it's real rough. So, hold on. But you're going to have to see it here in black and white or you won't believe me. So, let's look at it. Romans chapter 13. Start at the very beginning. It says, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Now, many of you are familiar that the word powers is the idea of authority. For there's no power. That means no authority but of God. The powers or the authorities that be are ordained of God. Let's stop for a moment. Do you know that every authority on this planet was set up by God Almighty? This is going to shock some of you Republicans, but did you know the same, and I am one, but did you know the same God that put George W. Bush into office is the same God that put Bill Clinton into office? And the same God in 2008 maybe put somebody into office that, well, we'll get what we deserve. Now, this may shock you. You say, you've got to be kidding me. You mean my boss and all these authorities in my life, God put them there? Now, I hate to disillusion you because we have two more nights to go, but I'm going to have to disillusion you at this point. Did you know that God has set up every authority on this planet and there's not one of the authorities that God has set up that's perfect? Doesn't that shock you? God sets up people and authority who aren't perfect. Shock. Shock of shockss. And I want to tell you something, friends. God's going to use their imperfections if you'll let Him to transform you into the image of Christ. Now, let's keep reading because this is essential. We miss this so much. Okay, go on to verse number two. Whosoever therefore, based on the truths we've just covered, whosoever therefore resisteth the power or the authority, notice this, resisteth the ordinance of God. Would it make any difference, Mr. Fuzzbuster, if I told you that every speed limit in this county, speed limit sign, was personally put there by God Himself, would it make any difference in the way you drive? It's gotten quiet now. Friends, it shouldn't because in some sense He did. You see, friends, I say this and I don't know if anybody has a student in a Christian school, but would it make any difference to you if I told you the handbook for that Christian school was written in heaven? Would it make any difference in the way you viewed it? It shouldn't. Friends, I'm going to tell you this. When we resist human authorities, we are resisting God. Now, I know what verse everyone's quoting right now in your brain. Wait a second, preacher. Isn't there a verse somewhere that says we ought to obey God rather than man? We just love that verse, don't we? Don't miss this, folks. You know why we love that verse? It's not because we love obeying God. It's because we love an excuse not to obey man. It really is the truth in most cases. We just like the exception. For many of us in this room, in our entire lifetime, we will never have to obey God rather than man. Now, some will. I honestly can't think of one time I've had to obey God rather than man in my entire life. Though that day may come. But in our culture, that is really not a daily issue, is it, friends? You know what our problem is? Obeying man. Which is God's ordained authority for our lives. You see, here's what I'm afraid of. The generation of the 60s has done a wonderful job training their kids to do what they did so very well, and that is rebel. Now, as I mentioned, I work every week in Christian schools. It's quite a mission field. If I talk to a Christian school teacher and say, okay, what's your biggest challenge? Is your biggest challenge the students? Is your biggest challenge the administration? Is it fellow teachers? What's your biggest challenge? I haven't even mentioned it. What do you think they tell me without hesitation? Parents. You know why? Because parents, even Christian parents, have not learned this simple principle. Now, let me give you an illustration how I learned it real young. I was in the ninth grade. My father had started a Christian school, and he was the president. He was the founder. He was the CEO. He was the big shot. Okay, so I knew that if I had a problem, I could cut all the red tape and go to the top. And I never took advantage of that, but one day I decided to. It was my freshman year, and I had an English teacher. I do not know what it is about English teachers, but anyway, it was an English teacher. And I decided to myself, she needs to go. And I decided that I was going to do the student body a favor and help the president see that so there would be a done deal. So I sat down with my father. It was after church, and we were eating crackers and cheese. My dad loved crackers. And the more stinky the cheese, and that stuff, you know, the green stuff, you know, the mold that was still on it, that stuff he loved. And so we were sitting there. He's cutting cheese, throwing on the crackers, you know, and I'm starting to talk about this English teacher. And my dad did not show me anything. He just just like he's listening to me, and I'm telling about how the teacher blew it here and here and her problems here. I thought my dad's buying it. I mean, we're getting somewhere. So I'm getting a little more bold, a little more bold. You have to understand, my father was very mild mannered, very calm. And so he's sitting there doing the cheese and the crackers. And all of a sudden, I got my courage up. So this is great. And I said, Dad, if she tells me to do such and such, I'm not going to do it. I'll never forget. My dad just calmly looked over at me and he said, Oh, yes, you are. I thought to myself, Dad sounds like a glorious idea. I think I'll do it. The next time I went to that classroom with that teacher, you tell me, how did I treat her? I'm going to tell you how I treated her. I treated her like my dad was standing next to her. You know why? Because he was not literally. But I knew he was backing that teacher. And if I cross that teacher, it wasn't a tree. Teacher was going to get in trouble with me and my house. You did not enjoy getting in trouble. High motivation. Now, friends, I'm going to tell you something. I treated my teachers with utmost respect. You know why? Because I knew my dad backed them. I'm going to tell you something, friends. We've lost that. Some kid comes home, talks about the teacher, youth director, whatever, somebody at church. And the parent doesn't even investigate it, you know, shows their frustration, goes roaring into it, assuming that the kid is telling the truth. Has it ever occurred to you that little Johnny might be twisting the truth to favor his side of the problem? Oh, not little Johnny. Shock of shocks. He that answereth a matter before he hearth it, it is folly and shame unto him. You hear me. If your kid comes home and talks about some problem, you blow up, you take the kid's side, go running in there, and you don't ask questions. And you just assume without, you know, he that answer, you answer the matter before you've heard it, before you've answered questions. You know what God says? You're being a fool. That's awful strong language. Well, it's not my strong language. It's folly and shame. So, number three, you want to raise a rebel? Do not support God-ordained authorities. And I will tell you, part of God-ordained authorities is one of them that we forget. It says in the book of Hebrews chapter 13, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. Who do you think God's talking about? He is talking about the spiritual leadership in local churches. Now, I'm going to, can I meddle just for a moment? You have to understand, this is going to be fun for me to do this. I am absolutely 100% behind homeschooling. My kids homeschool, and we absolutely love it. But I'm going to tell you what I am finding in my own house and what I am finding in other homeschoolers, and that is, if you're not careful, I have seen some dear people who homeschool. You know what the danger is? Your kids look at you as the only authorities, and so when they go out to other God-ordained authorities, they don't want to obey them because they're so used to just you telling them what to do. So what happens is, if you're not careful, you go out and there's other God-ordained authorities in their life, they don't want to obey them because they're not used to them like they're used to you. And if you're not careful, you know what you'll do? You'll undermine your own authority. If you don't stand with the God-ordained authorities. You say, well preacher, what if the God-ordained authority really blows it? There's a way to handle it, and there's a way not to handle it. I'm thinking of a young man who preaches at the Wilds Christian Camp. His father is a pastor of a well-owned church out in the Midwest. He told me, he said, I'm preaching on rebellion here at the camp. And he said, you know, he said several times as I was growing up, he said, I think a teacher or coach or whatever didn't do right. And I went to my dad, he said, my dad always stood by the teacher or coach. He said, ten years later, I found that my dad, I had no clue he did this, went behind the back and solved the problem. He said, I had no clue, but he went behind the back, solved the problem. Folks, there's a way to handle it, there's a way not to handle it. See, so God is very clearly teaching us that, that there are God-ordained authorities in our lives and in our kids' lives. And you know what, many times, mom and dad, if you don't submit to God-ordained authorities, you teach your kids not to. It's like the, it's like the father driving down the road saying, okay, son, watch for the cops, man, we got to get there fast. Don't be shocked when your kid rebels against you because you taught them how to do it. And here's what a lot of dear women, dear women, I recognize the difficulty in some homes of submitting to your husband. I will tell you, this is what many dear women do. They are saying by their actions to their kids, kids, I want you to submit to me just like I don't submit to your father. Do you think that makes sense? And there are many dear women, perhaps even this auditorium, that model to your kids rebellion by the way you treat your husband. Now, my friend, he may be a jerk with a capital J, but that is no excuse for rebelling. I know this is not easy to say because I know the atmosphere of the culture in which we live. We don't like submission, period. We want to be all right, we'll do our own thing. But you know, we all know God works through God-ordained authorities. And it is so important for parents if they're going to bolster their own authority to back God-ordained authorities. And by the way, when problems can't come up, it is sent from heaven a wonderful opportunity for you to show your kids how to solve problems correctly. They're not obstacles, they're stumbling blocks, they're stepping stones. So you want to raise a rebel, don't support God-ordained authorities. And if you have undermined, and listen folks, you can undermine a God-ordained authority with just no words, just disgust. Your kid comes home, says such and such about it, and you guess, and the kid knows, mom and dad are with me, I got them in my hip pocket, they agree with me. You know what you've just done? You've undermined that authority. Many times God or many times even spiritual authorities. And one of the great tragedies of undermining spiritual authorities is one day you're going to need that spiritual authority. You know, in many cases I'm convinced, here some tragedy comes in, the kid really blows it, goes out, you know, gets drunk, whatever, parents are all broken up, and they rush the kid to the assistant pastor or the youth pastor or the pastor, they rush the kid in, and they're all broken up and say so-and-so got drunk, we got a huge spiritual problem, and you know what? Maybe two or three years before, or maybe a year or so before, they suddenly undermine that God-ordained authority, and I want to tell you something, friend, it's just like they took out a shotgun and blew that spiritual authority away, and here they need that spiritual authority, and they've already undermined Him in the eyes of their kids. So don't support God-ordained authorities. As I mentioned, God includes in that your God-ordained authorities here in the local assembly. God says submit yourselves, obey them that have the rule over you. They watch for your souls as they that much give account. You know, it's a sobering thing. I am not a pastor. And I don't, I obviously, I'm not one that will one day have to give an account for a flock, but I tell you, for those that are in the ministry as pastors and assistant pastors, it must be a sobering thing to realize that you will give an account or they will give an account for all of you out here. You know, my dad recognized that one day he was going to have to give an account to the people that God had sent him. It's a sobering thing, folks. So God helps us out with that. And by the way, if you're out here thinking, okay, who told this preacher? Who told him about me? I can honestly say no one said a word to me. I'm just going to give you the words of old Oliver Green. If the phones ring and answer it, I'm just dialing the number. I have no clue what I'm talking. Okay, I'm having a good time. Are you? Okay, you can see why this is not a fun message to preach. Well, we better move on. It was getting awful quiet here on number three. Okay, I wasn't hearing amen. I was hearing oh me. But anyway, number one, be bitter. Number two, blame. Number three, don't support God-ordained authorities. That's so important. Again, if I could preach the whole message on it, I would. It's so stirring to me. I see so often this one principle violated and its awful consequences, especially with local church authority. Huge. Okay, number four, put sports above the Lord. Matthew 633, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. A few years ago, I'm up from Wisconsin. I grew up in Chicago, so I'm not a Wisconsin fan at all. I'm at Chicago Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox. That's big. And if it's Chicago, I'm for it. I'm not much Milwaukee anything. The Badgers are okay in college football, but that's about it. But I heard the story of a couple, some folks, who got tickets for a Monday night football game in Lambeau Field to see the Green Bay Packers play football. Well, after they got the tickets, they found out their local church was having a missions conference. Folks, I want to ask you a question. What would you do? What if you got Monday night tickets to go see the Atlanta Falcons play down here, and you found out your church had revival meeting or missions conference? You say, preacher, what would you do? Honestly, if you gave me Monday night tickets to see the Chicago Bears play the Green Bay Packers, which is a great rivalry up in our area, I mean, that's the game. Either Lambeau or Soldier, it doesn't matter. They're about the same distance apart. But if you gave me tickets to go see that Monday night football game, and I found out my church had a missions conference, I'm going to tell you I would not have to think about it five seconds. You say, preacher, where would you be? I guarantee you I'd be at the missions conference. You know why? Because I want my three girls to know that what goes on in the mission field is far more important than what goes on in the soldier field. Again, I have girls who don't have boys. If I had boys, they wouldn't be playing Little League on Wednesday night. You know why? I want them to know that what's going on in prayer meeting on Wednesday night is far more important than whatever will go on anywhere. I'm not against sports, folks. I love sports. But I will tell you, it will never be even close to as important as God is. I remember when I was on my honeymoon, we got married on a Friday night, and it was Sunday morning. We were down in Florida, and my wife and I walked to a local church. We'd never been there before, and the pastor sees us walking in and says, you guys must be on a honeymoon. How did he figure that? I don't know. But anyway, maybe it was a fact I was smooching with my wife. I don't know, but he couldn't. I'm just teasing. But anyway, so we came in there, and he was shocked. And the whole night, in fact, until he did this, it didn't even occur to me. It was kind of like, you guys are on your honeymoon, you're in church. Do you know it had never occurred to me not to be in church? See? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you. And let me just simply say, when it comes to seeking these things, it is so important, the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our obedience is absolutely essential. The letter kills, but the Spirit does give life. That's another message in and of itself, but I throw it in at that moment to perhaps answer some questions. Because I've seen people be, you know, they seem to seek first the kingdom of the Lord, but they do it in a flesh-dependent way, and it kills, but the Spirit gives life. So our obedience ought to be a Spirit-dependent, God-dependent obedience. So number four, put sports above the Lord. In fact, it doesn't just be sports, it could be anything, hobbies. Put hunting above the Lord. Well, no amens on that one, okay. You can put anything above the Lord, and it's a problem. Okay, so be bitter, blame everyone else, don't support God-ordained authority, put sports above the Lord. Number five, we're going to have to move quickly here, don't be vigilant on media choices. You want to raise a rebel? Don't be vigilant on media choices. Matthew 24, 12 says, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. God gives us a principle here from the last days, and that is the more sin abounds in a person's life, the more their love for God and love for souls and love for the things of God gets colder and colder and colder. You've seen it, I've seen it. But you can mark it down. I'm thinking right now of a gentleman in my home church. When I first came to my home church in the year 2000, this man was burdened. He was a Sunday school teacher. He was burdened for souls. He burdened for a son that seemed to have a streak of whirlwind sin and had little concern for the Lord. He was burdened about those things, but something happened. And you could see his love for God and his love for souls got dimmer and dimmer. And I remember after two or three years, I said, You know, how's your son doing? Oh, he's doing fine. And he was doing a whole lot worse. And finally, they drifted off. You don't see him anymore. What happened? Somewhere along the line, iniquity began to abound. And their love for God and love for the things of God got colder and colder and colder. All of us have seen people who had a heart for God, who were growing, who were vibrant, and there was a U-turn, something happened. Iniquity began to abound. And their love for God, love for souls, love for the cause of Christ got colder and colder and colder. Mark it down. It always comes from abounding sin. I remember one time, I was at a Christian camp out in Colorado. A boy came forward. He was probably 6'3", 220 pounds. He was sobbing. I asked him, What's the problem? He said, Internet. I knew the kid, and I knew that his father was a professor at a well-known Christian college, of which I will not name. I asked him a question. I have asked many teenagers this question, who come from Christian homes. I said, Do your home. Does your home. You have Internet. But I said, Do you have a filter? And you tell me 95% of the time what kids answer me. And the answer is, No. Isn't that tragic? I want to tell you, when I read the statistics of what the Internet is doing, at 8 years old, most kids have seen filth. And I want to tell you, you mark my words, 20 years from now, this culture is in huge trouble. Because there's something that happens when a young person gets exposed to that kind of garbage and junk. At a young age, the younger they get exposed to it, the more it warps them. And I will tell you, parents, what God is saying is, Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. I want to tell you, the devil wants to destroy your kids. And I will tell you, Mom and Daddy, don't mandate vigilance. You ought to be careful about the Internet. Obviously, the Internet is here to stay. We recognize that. But there are ways that we aren't sober and vigilant against our adversary, the devil. And I want to tell you something, it mandates vigilance on the DVDs. Vigilant on all the junk, all the media outlets that are out there. It mandates vigilance. Hardly a week goes by in my Christian school work, when I do not have a young man come forward and say, Preacher, having trouble with my thoughts. That is always my key, start digging. There's always thoughts. You mark it down, there's always a source. They sometimes don't want to tell you, you start digging, you dig long enough, sooner or later they're going to confess what the dirty source is going to be. See? Be sober, be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, walketh about. And friends, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And I could tell you story after story after story of young people who made poor choices and got in places their parents should never let them be there. You know, when I was growing up in the first grade in Chicago, Illinois, I went to the Chicago City Schools. That was before homeschooling, before Christian schools. We all went to the public schools. Some of you remember those days. Great. I remember my first grade companions talking about a fort that was built out in the railroad yards that was plastered with pornography. That was 1966. I never went to that fort. I'm going to tell you why. My parents had a rule. You could not go anywhere but two blocks from the house. And I'm going to tell you something, friends. That rule probably saved my brain. You know, I was at a Christian camp, 800 kids. Speaker gets up and said, Hey, how many of you kids have a TV in your bedroom? Over 50% of the kids raised their hand. Well, he said, Hey, preacher, I trust my kid. I want to tell you something, friends. I don't trust me. You know what? I've got, you know what C.H. Spurgeon said? He said, A very hell of corruption lies within the heart of the best saints. And I want to tell you something, friends. It's true. And there's not a man or woman in this room that's not capable of doing the most vile, wicked things that this planet has to offer. If you think you stand, God says, Take heed, buddy. You're in trouble. And I want to tell you, it blows my mind when parents will trust their kids with media outlets today that are absolute filth and then wonder when something happens. The video games. You know, it was amazing. A year ago, Grand Theft Auto, which is a huge video game, it was exposed the fact that in the video game they had little secret compartments that led to pornography. And it was a huge outroar. Do you know which senator was most worked up about it and was just absolutely infuriated about the fact that these things were on this video game? Do you know what was? Hillary Clinton. I tell you, when Hillary Clinton is bent out of shape about some pornographic game that has secret compartments of pornography on it, I want to tell you something. There's a problem. There's a huge problem. I wouldn't touch Grand Theft Auto if you put a gun to my head. Number one, I'm not interested in learning how to steal cars on some video game. The Bible says, Thou shalt not steal. It's in the Ten Commandments. You might want to check it out. I'm not interested in some video game that talks about, teaches kids how to break into cars. And I'll tell you, we've got all these video games out here. I had a lady come to me and said, Preacher, you better start preaching on video games. She said, I got my kid a baseball one. I thought it was safe. She said, just be careful. I threw it in and I began to play it. She said it was trash. I think a lot of parents have no clue what's going on with their kids' video games. And I will tell you, you better be sober, be vigilant, because you've got an adversary. He's called the devil, and if he can, he wants to get your kids and put filth on their brains. Vigilance is on the order, friends. I do not know how to emphasize, and again, not a week goes by when I'm in Christian school work that I am not dealing with young men who have exposed themselves. Thunk! And I will tell you, it would be funnier if a mom or dad recognized, we've got a war out here, and we better be careful. There are certain Christian camps. My home church does this. They have certain things that come in, magazines that come in. Even World magazine, which is a Christian magazine. And you know what they'll do? The lady secretaries will take all that stuff, and they'll put stickers over anything that's inappropriate. You know what? I think that's good. That's not a bad idea to do in your home. A few years ago, we got Time magazine free because of some leftover airline miles. You know what we had to do? We had to cancel the subscription. I'm not against getting news. I'm just telling, I am against provocation, the wrong thinking. If you're going to get Time, then plaster it full of stickers. Have your wife do that before you look at it. You say, that's real strange. But I'll tell you what, friends. You cannot be too safe in the wicked world in which we live. When it comes to sensuality through the eye gate, it is a major provocation. So, want to raise a rebel? Do not be vigilant on media choices. Let's continue on. Number six, be a hypocrite. Proverbs 20, verse 7. The just man walketh in his integrity. His children are blessed after him. That was Proverbs 20 and verse 7. We embroidered that for my father. You know, I'm glad that verse does not say, the just man walks in his perfection. That'd leave me out. Leave you out too. I cannot be a man of perfection, but I tell you this. All of us in this room can be men and women of integrity. You know what integrity is? It's just being honest. It's like at the men's prayer breakfast at my home church years ago. A man leans over, a pack of cigarettes falls out of his pocket. He turns to the other startled men. He said, oh, somebody frame me. I'm thinking, you can do better than that. You know, wouldn't it have been far better for that gentleman to look at those men and say, well, men, now you know. Would you pray for me? Don't you think that would have been a whole lot better? You know, I'm not perfect. You're not either. Walking in the light is, 1 John chapter 1. It's just pulling off the mask and being who we are. You know, one of the great things that this addiction, faith-based addictions program has done at my home church is not for the addicts outside the church. It's for God's people in the church. It's taught them how to be honest about their needs. And as they've gotten honest about their irritations or their frustrations or their need to grow, you know what they've done? Because God gives grace, you tell me, to the honest. Humanity is simply honesty. There was a lady who told my wife this story. It's a true story. There's a little boy on an airplane. He's 4 years old. Guy next to him leans over and says, son, how old are you? He said, well, on the airplane I'm 5. But he said, when I get off the airplane, I'm going to be 4. See, he's got to be 5 to be on an airplane. So he walks off the airplane. His grandparents are waiting for him. And they said, now, son, grandson, we're going to go down here to this theme park or something like that. And he said, now, if you're 3 or under, you get in free. So when you get there, tell them you're 3. And one day he was 3, 4, and 5. And we wonder what's happened to integrity. Integrity, folks, is just being honest. You're not a perfect parent. I'm not either. And I will tell you, I thank the Lord. I have seen my mom and dad who are now with the Lord. I've both seen them walk an aisle. You say, well, preacher, my kids would think less of me if I walked an aisle. I can guarantee you they would not think less of you. Every time my parents walked to the aisle, I said, what are they doing walking the aisle? They're honest people. And I will tell you, one of the best things sometimes you can do is just to be dead honest with your kids or dead honest with your spouse and say, I was wrong. Would you forgive me? It's called integrity. And I say this, sir, I don't know what it is about us guys, but we men have a hard time apologizing, don't we? And I want to tell you, every husband out here, this is not fun to hear, but please mark it down. I want to tell every husband out here, if you have not apologized to your wife in the last month, you either need to write a book that will sell a million or you need to get right with Almighty God. I'll be honest with you, I can't go a week without apologizing to my wife. Sometimes I have to apologize every other day or so. I'm just being honest with you. It's not fun, never will be, but I'll tell you, it's completely necessary if we're going to restore fellowship one with another. I don't know why it is the women seem to be far more inclined to apologize than we men. You know, a man every day is somebody who said I was wrong. And I will tell you, I don't like apologies. I apologize for this. I'm sorry. Those are weak. You know what a good apology is? It was wrong. It was wicked. It was not right. Will you forgive me? There is something cleansing about those words. All they're painful, but they cleanse. We've got to stop the weak apologies, get down to the real business because it was wrong and it was wicked. OK, you want to don't be a hypocrite, be a man or a woman of integrity. You mark this. If you're honest and you're a man or woman of integrity, God promises you will bless your kids. You won't blast them. You'll bless them. Just be who you are. Be honest about your problems, your struggles, your need of victory. You'll bless them. Number seven. The Bible says in Ephesians six and verse four and G fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up on the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Now, the word nurture has the idea of the positive side. That's the positive reinforcement. That's the encouragement. That's that's that giving them vision admonition. Well, that's the negative. That's the discipline side. So what God is simply saying is fathers don't provoke your kids to wrath. Bring them up in the positive. That's the unconditional love that positive reinforcement. And then the negative, the discipline. Bring them up on both of those things and you won't provoke them to wrath. No, don't miss this. Do you know what provokes kids to wrath? Homes that attempt to have unconditional love, but they have no discipline. Everything's lovey dovey, but there's no restraint. There's no discipline that provokes a kid to wrath. He wants parameters. What else provokes a kid to wrath is like I mentioned the other night when you run it like a Marines barrack. There is no unconditional love, but everything's run down the line and there's a lot of discipline and no love. Either imbalance provokes kids to wrath. By the way, young people, if you're out here and say, well, that's why that's why rebel. You know, as I've mentioned just a moment ago, you can read the Bible. And I will tell you when you go to the book of Leviticus and you disrespect parents at all. I'm going to tell you, young person, you mark this down. God has strong words about it. You might be out here and mom and you may maybe your mom and dad let you get away with being disrespectful. Maybe they're a little weak on the discipline side and they let you get away with disrespect. I will tell you, go tonight and read Exodus chapter 21 verses 15 and 17. And it tells you that if you curse your mom or dad, it says, let them die the death. In the Old Testament, if a kid cursed his parents, he was executed. Well, you say, hey, preacher, I've never cussed my parents out. The word curse in the Old Testament, you look it up. It means far more than cuss out. It means literally to be light or to be slight. And anytime you are light toward your parents or you slight them and you do not treat them with proper respect, you are cursing them. And in the Old Testament, you would have been executed. You mark this kids who rolled their eyes at their parents in the Old Testament were executed. Kids who talked back to their parents in the Old Testament were executed. Kids who mouthed off, who yelled back at their parents were executed. Kids who slammed the door and walked out of their parents presence were executed. I guarantee you that probably there are young people in this room who every day you live do something that in the Old Testament would have got you executed. And, you know, we kind of say, no big deal. Everybody does it. You know, that'd be like if I went to some guy I went to high school with, found out he was on death row for multiple murders. I sit down with him. I said, buddy, what's going on? How did you become? Oh, just got this little problem. You know, I get this urge. I got to knock somebody off. No big deal. You think, come on, this is crazy. Murder is a big deal. And you know what God's saying? Listen, friends. He's saying anything in the Old Testament that would have got you executed. It's a big deal. And I will tell you, you'll never 1 John 1 9 confess. That means agree with God until, teenagers, you get on your knees and say, it doesn't matter what mom and dad do or don't do. The problem is I've treated them like dirt, and I've got a huge problem with Almighty God. Lord, forgive me. 1 John 1 9. Lord, I've done something worthy of death. You know what? He'll forgive you. But as long as you say, no big deal. Everybody's doing it. He will not forgive you. He'll only forgive you when you recognize it's big stuff. It's serious. Lord, it's wrong. And it does not matter, young people, if your parents are strict or not strict, and you're treating them like dirt. You're being rebellious. And maybe you don't do it out loud, but you do it in your heart. It's a huge problem. There are young people, all in this room tonight, that need to come and kneel before Almighty God. And say, Lord, I've treated my parents with disrespect. Lord, it's wrong. Forgive me. Back to mom and dad. What God is simply saying here, there needs to be an unconditional love. At the same time, there needs to be strong discipline. There's so much imbalance. We've been spooked by Spock in this permissive age. We've lost the discipline side, and then other homes have lost the love side. God says, no, they've both got to be there. And I'll tell you, one of the things I remember about my father is the positive reinforcement. He was constantly saying, son, I believe God's hands on your life. I believe God's going to use you. I believe you're gifted better than I am. I believe you'll have a greater ministry than I've ever had. And I will tell you something, mom and dad, do not miss this. I was just stupid and dumb enough to believe every word. And I will tell you, your kids are dumb enough they'll believe it too. So, by both sides. The nurture, that's the positive. The admonition, that's the negative. Otherwise, an imbalance provokes your kids to wrath. Kids, God's grace is sufficient. You have no excuse. If you are provoked to disrespect, it's a huge deal on your side as well as we mentioned a moment ago. And that brings me to the final point. And I appreciate so much your patience. We've gone longer than I ever intended to. You've been such a good audience, it's almost a problem because you listen so well. But here is the final point. You say, okay, Preacher, we've gone down through these seven. Yeah, blown this one, blown this one, blown this one. You say, you know, I'm discouraged. What about it? Okay, don't miss the last one. Here it is, number eight. You want to raise a rebel. Be a stranger to grace. Friends, I'm just going to be dead honest with you. It doesn't matter who you are in this room. All of us, in our parenting skills, we need God. You know, grace is a gift, friends. It's supernatural aid. And I don't know about you. When I got into parenting, you know what I learned? I need God. You know why? Because I mess up. I miss this or I miss this. You know what? It takes discipline to discipline. And I've learned this about kids. They show you a lot about your own need. And inconsistent people in discipline are people who do not have discipline. I've got a little theory, just a theory. We're so full of self. God has designed different things to pull off of those layers of self. The first thing he designed is called marriage. You get married and God starts yanking off layers of self. Then if that's not enough, God starts sending kids. And they start yanking off the next layers of self. I've got a theory. I cannot prove it. But the more kids you have, the more self God knew you need to get rid of. See, I only got three. Some of you folks are in big trouble. But anyway. I can't prove that one from the Bible, but it makes good preaching, doesn't it? Okay? Amen. Okay, so. Okay, we'll leave that one alone. We've left a lot of things alone. But you know, friends, just mark it down. It doesn't matter who you are, all of us in this room. I don't know about you, but I need God. I've got to get on my knees and say, Lord. My little girl, Lord, working her heart. And, Lord, there's a need over here. And, Lord, I see some problems over here. And, Lord, I need to be more consistent here. And, you know, friends, it's like this. Obviously, hear a message like this. We need to embrace the truth. We need to say, okay, God, you've confronted me. There needs to be changes. There's grace. You can enable me to do it. Friends, that's the whole idea is embracing truth and saying, God, I need your grace. I need your enablement. I'll believe you. I'll embrace the truth. I'll take your word for what it is and take out a step of obedience depending upon you to enable me. I can do, you tell me, all things through. Which? That's the idea. I need grace. I need Christ. I need strength. Friends, you want to raise a rebel trying to do it without God. Without me, you can do? I want to tell you something, friends. Don't miss this. Sometimes we get caught up so much with the methodology, we leave God out of it. I am all for courtship and finding a mate that way. But you mark it down. There is some people who try to find a mate using a methodology without faith. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. And I'll tell you, that's why some crash and burn are in disaster because they try to do it depending upon a methodology instead of depending upon God. That's why I call it faith-based mate finding. Same principles. But it is emphasizing the need to depend, to trust, to believe God, to trust Him, to bring and to work and to protect and all of those things. Same thing, faith-based parenting. Lord, I need you every day. Because I'm weak and you're strong. Without you, I can't do anything. But with you, I can do all things. Through Christ, who strengthens me. I'm going to embrace your truth and depend upon your grace. Oh, see it, friends, how to raise a rebel. Be bitter. Blame everyone else but you and your kids for the rebellion problems. Don't support God-ordained authorities. Put sports above the Lord. Don't be vigilant on immediate choices. Be a hypocrite. Ephesians 6, 4, have an imbalance when it comes to unconditional love and strong discipline. Number eight, be a stranger to grace. Simple truths of how to raise a rebel. May we, by God's grace, do the opposite.