In this sermon, the preacher shares a personal experience of being worn out and upset due to the constant fighting and turmoil happening in the church. He witnesses a group of people who are joyful and praising God one night, but the next night they are fighting, even to the point of physical violence. The preacher reflects on the challenges and pressures faced by preachers and how it can affect their relationships and behavior. He also mentions a billboard he saw that reminded him that no matter the failures or struggles in life, God still holds us accountable to live out His love and grace towards others. The sermon concludes with a story about John Wesley and how his preaching led to the conversion of a woman, causing the judge to recognize the positive impact of their faith.

Please don't go back and forth in your Bibles, because I'm going to read a lot of scriptures to you tonight. And I don't want you to be paging, and I'm on three ahead of you, before you got back there. But you know these scriptures here. But I want you to listen here. Have you ever done that, brother? Not listen here, but hear. To every word from your soul, for the glory of God, and out of respect to God. I dare you to tonight. I dare you. Matthew 12, 25. Every kingdom, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. That is, it destroys itself. It is destroyed. Every kingdom divided, divided against itself, is brought to desolation, destruction, to a tragic end. And every city or house that is home or family, every city or house, home or family, Christ says, divided against itself, shall not stand, literally won't survive. It will have a tragic end. Now, of course, the true context of this statement is Christ's answer to the Pharisees, who were accusing him of being sent by and used by the devil. The true context of the statement is Christ's answer to the Pharisees, who were accusing him, accusing him of being sent by and used by the devil. But the graphic illustration Christ inserts here, carries a fearful warning to all of us. The graphic illustration Christ inserts here, carries a fearful warning to all of us. Every kingdom divided against itself will destroy itself. And every city or house that is family, home, divided against itself, shall not stand. It won't survive. It will have a tragic end. We read in Proverbs 15, verse 17, we read in Proverbs 15, verse 17, better is a dinner. Of herbs, that's meager vegetables, where love is. Then a stalled ox, that's the fatted calf, and hatred therewith. Better is a dinner, where there's a lowly, poorly meal served, where love is, God says. Then a stalled ox, that's a lavish meal through wealth, the fatted calf, and hatred, hatred therewith, where there's hatred. In Galatians 5, verse 15, Paul warned, if ye bite and devour one another, take heed, be careful, be careful, God says, that ye be not consumed, destroyed one of another, that you don't get destroyed by each other. This verse becomes doubly tragic, if one considers applying it to a home, to a family. And I think we must apply it, even there. This can happen when a wife is divided against her husband. This can happen when a wife is divided against her husband. A home could be destroyed, God says, by that alone. A whole home and family could be destroyed, when a wife is divided against her husband. I read this article recently, in a newspaper, forgive me, I'm not addicted to newspapers, but I do feel we need to know if the Third World War has broken out, before someone a month later tells us. Okay, so I read the front page, the headlines, I don't worry with inside mostly, I just turn to the back page to see what sports, what Christian sportsmen or teams have stooped to play sport on a Sunday, so I can pray for them. Anyway, that's basically what I read the newspaper for, but eventually some little articles catch my eyes and I read them to the congregations. Okay, so I read this article recently in a newspaper, wife makes Chinese man jump off ship. Okay, Beijing, a Chinese lorry driver jumped into the great Yangtze River, the great and treacherous Yangtze River, because he couldn't take his wife's arguing anymore. Zhou and his wife were on a ferry, the ship's crew saw the man suddenly run out of his cabin, with his hands covering his ears, shouting, but his wife ran up and continued shouting at him, the husband covering his ears, in despair jumped off the ship into the river. When the police mercifully retrieved him, he stated, I would rather be dead than to live any longer with my wife, arguing and fighting me, who's even the Chinese fighter. The Bible says, it is better to dwell in the corner of a housetop, there where the little spider is, to stay out of reach. It's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house, where can I escape? So he jumps off the ship, no escape. Proverbs 25 verse 24, it is better to dwell, to live in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house, God says. John Wesley wrote this article in his journals, on June the 9th, 1742, I rode into a town, I rode into a town today to witness the justice of peace, confronted by an angry mob, who had carried a whole wagon of new heretics, and that's what they called Wesley's convicts. He was confronted by an angry mob who had carried a whole wagon load of new heretics, but when the judge asked what they had done, deep silence washed over the accusers. Eventually, one man said, they pretend to be better than others, and they pray from morning to night. Well, the judge said, have they done nothing else? There was a silence again. An older man said, oh yes, they have converted my wife. Up till now, she's had a terrible tongue, but now she's as quiet as a lamb. For goodness sakes, the judge cried, carry them back, carry them back, let them convert all the women of the town. Well, that backfired on them. Wesley had a wonderful sense of humor in recording these things that happened. Proverbs 31 verse 30, a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Her children rise up and call her blessed from their hearts. Blessed. Her husband also, he praises her, God says. A woman that feareth the Lord. Proverbs 14 verse 1, every wise woman buildeth her house. I wish I had time to just expound on that one word here tonight throughout the rest of the scriptures. Every wise woman buildeth, an interesting word, her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. I wish I had time to go just through the whole Bible, comparing scripts to scripture, what God says actually that means. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. It is as though her mission in life is to destroy her family's happiness. And nothing will stop her. Proverbs 11 verse 29. You see, we're speaking of a woman here, but what of the man? What of the man that breaks down and destroys his own house? Well, in Proverbs 11 verse 29, God says, he that trobleth. That's an interesting word that I'd like to expound on here tonight, but we just can't do that and get through the message. He that trobleth his own house, God says, shall inherit the wind. Now, that's an interesting statement that I've made much research into in the light of the rest of the scriptures. Shall inherit devastation, shame, sorrow will be his ending in life. God says, he that trobleth his own house shall inherit the wind, or it could be the children divided against the parents that destroy the home's joy and peace or any hope of happiness and unity or survival. It could be the children. We read in 1 Samuel 2 verse 12 that the sons of Eli knew not the Lord. If your mother and father know God and serve God, it doesn't mean you do. The sons of Eli knew not the Lord. Verse 22, now Eli heard of all that his sons did, and your father will. The devil will make sure of that to wound him. Don't doubt it, everything you do, the devil will make sure your father hears to hurt him and wound him. Now, Eli heard of all that his sons did. Verse 23, and he said unto them, Why? Why do ye such things? Why do ye such things? Beloved Eli isn't the only God-fearing father to eventually look at his children in this world in shock and shame and fear and cry out in grief. Why? Why? Why do ye such things? Proverbs 11 verse, Proverbs 30 verse 11, there is a generation that curseth their father, God says, and it always speaks in the context of godly fathers. There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. I wonder if that isn't specifically speaking of this generation. When I look back on 44 years of preaching to hundreds of thousands of people, and I have been in hundreds of homes where I've seen this, that I tremble. I'm talking about God-fearing homes. There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother, but whoso curseth his father or mother, his lamp shall be put out into obscure darkness. Proverbs 20 verse 20, I've seen that. Who have I seen that? The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it. Proverbs 30 verse 17, you don't have to wait for God's judgment. When you die, it will come on you now. Swiftly, child, I fearfully witnessed this again and again. I have stood trembling as children have cursed their father and mother in a very evil way. Openly, they so defy and hate them. And I have come to tremble for those children more than the mother and father that stand there with black rings under their eyes and wrinkles and gray hairs bent and broken and weeping because of this defiance and hatred of them, through their choice, their free will, choosing to seek and to serve the devil with both hands. I have trembled for those children more than the parents. Why? Because I've been in so many homes that sometimes 20 minutes later, God struck them dead. Not once. Don't play the fool with God. You think you can? Don't play the fool with God's word, what he warns. Romans 1 verse 30, damns, damns children who are disobedient to their parents. A wicked defiant rejection of their authority and influence. God damns those children. Oh, you say I shouldn't say this to children. Brother, you're saying don't preach the word to them. God have mercy upon you the day you feel your children don't need to hear God's warnings. Cursing, be he that sheds light by his father or mother. Deuteronomy 27 verse 16, Proverbs 19 verse 26, he that wastes his father, chases away his mother, is a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach to that home. Proverbs 19 verse 13, a foolish son is the calamity of his father. Now that word in the Hebrew is the ruination, the destruction. You think God says words for nothing? You think God makes mistakes? That God plays the fool with words like we do? Brother, 60 times tried before it got into this holy book by a holy God. Every verse, read through the Bible just a hundred times and you won't find a verse that isn't God's heart. Vital for our survival and understanding of his heart and the eternal things. Be careful, be careful. A foolish son is the calamity of his father, like Eli. It wasn't the ark being taken away that he fell back and died of a heart attack. It was his son's sins. Don't doubt that, that killed that man, that destroyed that man. I've seen many men destroyed by their children's wickedness. I've seen some of the greatest preachers this world ever knew in his history walk from the pulpit of, in your country, what was esteemed the greatest pulpit in this country by the conservatives. And I've seen that man and others walk from that pulpit and go back to secular work in the factory after 40 years of preaching to the throngs and the whole world is conscious of their ministry. They walk from the pulpit because they're children. Chosen and deprived their father of the right to preach because of that. Destroy him. You destroy him. You destroy him. A foolish son is the calamity, Hebrew, the ruination and destruction of his father. God says, oh God lied. Oh God lied. Proverbs 10 verse 1, a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. God says, what does that mean? The grief, the continual grief, the Hebrew literal. A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness, the continual grief. That woman was godly. She deserved to be happy, but you made her live in continual shame and grief. You robbed her of what she should have known because you chose wickedness, child. Now beloved, when someone truly is converted to Christ, when someone truly is converted to Christ and if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new or you've never been converted to Christ. Oh God lied. If any be in Christ, even a child is known by his works. When someone truly is converted to Christ and if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things become new, but, but, but when someone truly is converted like that to Christ, God in grief warns us of the tragic possibility that their family may rise up in resentment and anger and even hatred against them if they've converted like that. God warns us in grief of the tragic possibility that their family may rise up in resentment, anger, and even hatred against them. Micah 7 verse 6, for the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies, God says, are the men of his own house. You don't know what an enemy is until you find one in your own home. You don't know how cruel, how wounded you can be in life by an enemy in the entire world. You've never tasted anything that can come a million miles from the wound and the hurt and the sorrow and the shame you will feel when you find an enemy in your family. Christ sorrowfully acknowledged this prophecy of the New Testament dispensation from the Old Testament of Micah 7 verse 6. And Christ said in Matthew 10 verse 35, I am come to set a man, I am come to set a man at variance against his father. He didn't want this. This is because man has a free will. And Christ said this in sorrow, but Christ never hid what is truth. We hide it. We paint Christianity as some glamorous heaven on earth rubbish. In this world you shall have tribulation beginning in the home, sir. Don't deny it. We will have people really confused and giving up before they started. I am come to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, man's foes, enemies shall be they of it all now, so Christ cried, Matthew 10, 35. But wait now, wait now. We need to be very careful here, Christians, with these verses. If the reason the children rise up in anger against you is because you truly are a curse to them, since you say you saved, that is a very incomprehensible tragedy that's happened in that home. Here's a very sobering and fearful question for you tonight. I dare you to answer it, every one of you, to yourself. Are you tragically offensive as a Christian in your home? Because you're not representing the Christianity of the Bible, but a carnal, unwise, tragic interpretation. You are living to your children and wife and husband or parents. That is truly an offense to God and them in the light of the scriptures. You everything but what God says a man should be in the light of all the scriptures, but the scriptures don't matter, because your interpretation is all that matters to you, even if you send them to hell. Are you tragically offensive as a Christian in your home? Be careful, Proverbs 18 verse 19, a brother offended through your failure to be what God wants you to be, sir, not just because you have the truth. A brother offended is harder to be one than a strong city and taking one on a whole massive walled castle filled with armament. You probably will never, ever win that brother if you offend him through your foolish and unwise, aggressive, unscriptural attitude as a Christian. You must win them without compromise, yes, but always, Christian, always show them respect and patience and God's love or you sin and you will send them to hell single-handedly, because why should they want what you've got if it truly is offensive and ugly? And how can God use you if it truly is everything that God condemns in the Bible of what a Christian should be, shouldn't be? Captain Dobby, one of the greatest men of God that ever lived in this world, one of the few men I ever knew, that every church he ever walked into, the entire church stood, no matter what church it was in Africa, in southern Africa, they stood in reverence because of the way God so used this man throughout Africa and sent thousands of missionaries he trained and equipped and stood with across our continent. Captain Dobby looked at me one day and said to Keith Boy, a Christian is a gentleman. Oh, I doubt he is a Christian at all. Being saved does not give you a license to offend. You must win them, but always with respect and patience and God's love. Beloved, I want us to think very carefully about this here tonight. I want us to think very carefully about this here tonight. You say you are despairing to reach your loved ones, mother, wife, father, but are you the reason God can never reach them? Think about it, I dare you, I dare you. Are you the reason God will never reach them, cannot reach them, is unable to reach them? Are you the reason they do not want Christianity and never will? And rightfully so, for you are not reaching them, sir, God's way. If your family look upon you as their enemy because they reject Christ, that's one thing, but if it is because of your unwise, un-Christlike, unscriptural representation of Christianity, that is a tragedy to you and them. The Bible says, blessed, I like that word, I love that word, I'd rather hate the new versions. No, that's a bit cruel. The Bible says, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Hallelujah. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution at some stage, beginning in the home, if you really are real. God says, blessed are they which are persecuted, even in the home, for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which are before you. But don't rejoice. You're not blessed if you are not persecuted for righteousness sake. If you are persecuted for stupidity sake, that's a very different thing. If you are persecuted and you say, oh, it's righteous, you hide behind holy scriptures, that is total hypocrisy. And don't tell me the Holy Ghost doesn't tell you deep down in your heart, but pride makes a man drive his children and his wife through hell and to hell, without ever giving up. 1 Peter 4, Peter warns, if ye be reproached, insulted for the name of Christ, happier ye for the spirit of glory and of godlessness. But let none of you suffer as an evildoer, and in all the wicked things that come on busy bodies. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on his behalf. Are you suffering as a Christian? Or are you people suffering because of your Christianity? Let make them rise up against you and hate what you've become. And rightfully so. I want you to think of that. Oh, I hope you've answered your conscience. Oh God, what are you doing here? What on earth did you come here for, if it wasn't for God? I want to ask you, if any of you, for your mommy and daddy. Young boy, did you come here for Christ? Are you listening to his voice, or are you just here because you were forced to? For God's sake, listen. For God's sake, listen to every word when you're in God's house. There are six billion people on earth, of which what percentage actually hears God's word in their lifetime is so small. Don't you sit in God's house with the privilege of hearing the gospel and the teaching and not listen. That's sacrilege, blasphemy, and arrogance. No matter what age you are. A preacher here in your country, one of the most famous preachers in the world, I suppose. I suppose every one of you know him, dare not name him. He was sharing with me the other day of something that happened, tragically happened in this country. He was speaking at a very large conference, and of course he was housed in one of the cottages, or whatever you call them, in a very quiet sort of situation with a few privileges that the other cabins did not have all over this massive conference center. And he said, underneath him was another preacher, and his wife, also very, very known across America, who was speaking in between the meetings, but he was the main preacher, of course. Now, he said, that night, the first night after he preached the first meeting, round about midnight, he said, these two decided to have an argument. Unfortunately, they didn't consider anybody that could hear, or didn't realize, oblivious to it. But he said, they really had an argument. There was some pretty offensive statements being made, and he could hear because he's lying down there now. What do you do through the whole night? It's pretty hard. You've got to listen to this. And he got so upset, so unnerved, so worn out, that the next day he was worn out. Here he should be sleeping, so he can get up and prepare and preach. That's what a preacher does, but he's worn out because of what? Preachers downstairs fighting with their wives for hours. So, he looks at them, and he doesn't know quite how to speak to them. When they, hallelujah brother, we're praying for you, and singing with joy on their toes, the praises of God, you know. He looks at them. Now, the next night, they're fighting. But he said, this time it got really out of hand. It became physical. He got up. He's crying to God. They're screaming, and they even use foul language. Preacher and his wife. They were so desperate and unnerved at each other. Whatever it was going on, I don't know, but the fact is, it happened. Now, he really was unnerved, and he was wearing out. So, he said, he began to cry to God to deal with this, this hypocrisy. But there they are, people are worn out by their fighting, being driven down, dragged down by the devil who wears out the saints, and this is the devil's way to wear him out through preachers, fighting, and praising God in front of everybody. The next day, the moment the door opens, as if all's well. So, he said, as he was lying there, groaning to God at the hypocrisy of this, and the devil using this to wear him out. Suddenly, something staggering happened. God brought to his remembrance, I was a younger preacher. He went through terrible crises. He said, he suddenly remembered there was a time in his life when he had onslaughts from Satan and man to such a degree that he was worn out. And he said, it was like sorrows like sea billows rolled. You know, the one just smashes you down, and you stand up, and before you can stand, the next one's coming. He said that happened to him at one stage, and he became impatient and irritable, easily, easily irritated with his wife and children, and he landed up saying things he didn't want to, but he was in his weariness, in his despair, and he really failed God. He even remembered in one argument with his wife, he actually resorted to something he never had done before in all the years of his salvation, and never did since, but he used a foul word. And his heart sank as he remembered he had done the same, and these people are probably going through the same things he went as a younger person, a younger married man. And here he's saying, just judging them in all the hypocrisy. And then he remembered something else that grieved him even more as God brought it to his mind suddenly, that he had forgotten, how when one of his children left the home who had been a rebel, and caused him great grief, and his wife turned to his daddy as he left, the actual staying in the home through circumcision, he said, Daddy, I just want to tell you once, as I leave your home, we heard everything. We could hear everything, Daddy. That's why I became a rebel, Daddy. Against your Christianity. He said he had broken and crawled before God for a long, long time before he found peace with God and asked forgiveness, but it was like Nathan suddenly as he lay in that bed, judging and angered at those people saying to David, Thou art the man that you see now and wearing out, this is wearing you, driving you down, breaking you down. Thou art the man, David, that you condemn. Thou art the man, David. Tragic. That's tragic. One of the greatest preachers in our country's history. I can't say his name, I dare not. Revered and loved by multitudes across Africa. Don't doubt this, a greatly revered man. He was destroyed in one moment forever by his son, his eldest son. When his son was exposed to being deep evil and was jailed, it was so evil. That destroyed his father. He just couldn't preach. And he crawled into churches. He didn't walk in dignity and reverential fear shown toward him because of his walk with God. People looked at him differently now because of his son who destroyed him totally. And all respect, totally. That had been shown across Africa. What is so tragic about this man I'm speaking about? Is that he blamed himself, accused himself of being the reason his son. He blamed himself and he was a broken human, a broken mind. And have you ever seen that? He was self-destructive. He lost the grace to have liberty. A foolish son, a wicked son is the calamity, the ruination, the destruction of his father, God says. Don't doubt it. Oh, don't doubt it. Boy, most Christians would never seriously consider attending a half-night of prayer in their lifetime. Most Christians across the world have never and never will. They will never seriously consider attending a half-night of prayer in their lifetime until one of their children, through sin, brings shame on that home and destroy the parents' credibility in their lives, which I have witnessed fearfully again and again. It is tragic, beloved, when the parents regard themselves as failures because of their children's choice of the free will God gives every one of you children. No matter how godly your parents, that free will is there. You'll find it. But because of their children's choosing to live in sin, to frequent the houses of Satan and to eat the food and that which he gives at the tables and serves at his tables for people to be satisfied. Oh, it's tragic, beloved, that the parents whose children do this suddenly look upon themselves as failures. Now, I want to address the children here. I want to address the children from Christian homes where you have tragically witnessed your parents' failure in the home. I want to repeat it. I want to address the children from Christian homes where you have tragically witnessed your parents' failures. You can tragically hide behind your parents' failures and defend your failures to seek God and truth forever by blaming them for the rest of your life. But there must come a time when you need to stop and let God heal you. God is more than great enough to undo all the damage, to heal every wound caused by their failures the moment you seek him to in truth and want him to and deliver you completely from the wounds, the scars inherited from generational sin. John Emerson, Kalispell, Montana. And he rose up out of such a background that it is amazing that he is now a man of God. But you can. Don't blame your parents if you don't. 1 Peter 2 19, you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers by the precious blood of Christ. You were redeemed from their conversation. The Lord does heal. I ask every child who is embittered at their Christian parents' failures in the home. What if you had not had your parents but were raised in another home? What if you had not had your parents to be your father and mother but were raised in another home? I was in a convention in your country where a godly young boy brought his parents along. They had a RV and I was preaching and they saw come down have a little cup of tea and fellows have been meet my parents. So I did and I looked at this woman and her godly countenance and I just knew this is one incredible woman of God just by her face. You can't make that up lady and that isn't the way you dress that makes it. That's the refining of the Holy Ghost in a character that you almost tremble when you're standing with such a woman. I knew this woman was a color of above most the way she had allowed God to mold her as clay in the potter's hands in this life. And I looked at her and I said to her lady, you must surely have been saved at a God-fearing home to look the way you looked. Everyone there in the RV just put their faces down and she did too and tears welled up in their eyes. This is something that wasn't spoken of much. After a while she said, no brother Keith, I was not raised in a godly home. I was raised in a very evil home where my father was jailed for life when they found out what he was doing and putting us through and through to get money. He sold us. I just remember as a child crying in my heart, God don't let me be destroyed. One day I heard the gospel brother Keith and I fled to Christ not only to forgive my sins, which might confuse that mind, didn't even know how much I was guilty at that stage. I fled to God to heal me and in one moment he did. I didn't need therapy. I didn't need psychiatric treatment or homes mental to be broken down and somehow taken out of the horror of what I endured as a child to a teenage girl. I needed Christ's salvation from what had happened, not from hell and he did. I didn't allow it to destroy me. I sought God and he did. He took away every wound. I had no bitterness, no anger, no resentment, only pity and compassion for my father, whom I tried to win to Christ since I couldn't. I want to ask you something all again. You children, what if you had been raised in a that home, not your parents with all their failures that you now stumble over? What if you had had that? What if I was in a convention just before I came from Africa over here about eight weeks ago now and there was these tables in the dining halls of this big convention center and I had been preaching so I went down and I was greeting people around the tables at the lunch and there was one table with a whole group of youth, around about 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, that age, sitting around. So they welcomed me to sit and I looked at all these glowing faces with their Bibles all worn out as young as they are and I just loved them. And so I asked some of them, where were you saved? How did you come to Christ? Oh sir, I heard you when I was at school and you were addressing the whole school at the assembly for 40 minutes and why you didn't make an appeal but I just while I sat there reached out and cried and God saved me and I never doubted since to what you were preaching. I said that's wonderful and so encouraging to me. And then I asked the others, eventually I turned to this one girl that was sitting there, a young lady. She wasn't dressed conservatively, oh no, oh no, in any way but she had a Bible in front of her and she was sitting with these godly other young people but that didn't make me despise her and say go get dressed as you should before I speak to you. You're not allowed in the door here, you shouldn't come unless you... and then God can save you. No, no, no, I didn't say that. I just looked at this girl with love the fact she was there and it sets all the messages. I'm glad she was there. So I said to her, what about you? I've heard all this, how did you come to Christ? She said with tears welling up in her eyes and trembling. She didn't have great confidence. I didn't have a testimony like these people so mine is very different. I was raised in a very wicked home where my father had the police hounding us as we fled from towns to escape prison. He was in prison, out of prison with drugs and abuse and all the things that he brought on us as a family. We had to flee sometimes within days of arriving in a town. We had to flee because of my father's wickedness and evil practices. Well, my brothers, my sisters, everyone lay drugged, drug addicts, the smallest drinking, swearing, cursing. They were destroyed by my father and I just went through over the years. God don't let me be destroyed. And one day we came to this town that I now live in not too far from this conference and this young man who said he was saved when you preached at the school, he was over the road. He lived over the road to where my house was now where I'm now suddenly for a few days and I looked up from the garden and being out in the front door and I saw him standing there looking at me and then he walked across the road one day and he came to the gate and he said with a loud voice, what is your name? And I told him and there's only one other question I want and then I'll go. Have you been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ? Have you been saved from hell and there's no condemnation to them which in Christ? Have you received the gift of God, the gift of eternal life? Have you been saved? Have you become God's child? Have you been born again? No one's born a child of God. You must be born again, not one birth that you only became a child of your father and mother. You weren't born God's child. Have you been born again? Because except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. When? Do you know when? Have you been? I said no. I know nothing about what you're speaking about. Within a while at the gate he had led me to Christ and I truly sought God and he truly saved me. I want to ask all you children again, what if you were brought up in that home? Would you be happy? What if you were not brought up in your father and mother's house where you say you stumbled over their failures? What if I was with a woman who said her husband put his head in his hands and just sobbed and pulling his hair said I must be the worst father in the world. My children stand up and accuse me like this. She said no you're not. You're a good father and you're a good man. Your children don't know what I know. They don't know how close we came to starving. They don't know how you struggled to keep a roof over our head and not be thrown onto the street. They don't know how you went through, what you went through to put food on our table. As people were being thrown out in their thousands of workplace in the recession. Listen, my husband she said your children didn't know that but I did and maybe you were tired and maybe you did fail and become impatient and irritable and maybe you didn't know the circumstances exactly in the way you responded in the house. Yes, but I knew. You asked God forgiveness. I heard you and I believe God forgave you. You've asked your children forgiveness but now you've got to forgive yourself. You've got to forgive yourself my husband and any failures that those children are now stumbling over and reminding you of. God is great enough to undo the damage the moment they let him and God will wake them up with a fright one day to show them and he will what you were going through when you failed that they now accuse you of the reason they don't want God. That was quite a tragic statement but that was a statement. That was a statement brother, sister you have to come to a place that you commit the past to God. That you commit not only the future but the past to be able to have a future where if you don't cast your burden upon the Lord the past will cripple the future. Don't let the past cripple the future. I was in a vehicle driving around on the Eastern Cape tour that I've done for many years in South Africa where I speak to many many thousands over 20,000 people. Many many come to Christ of the three weeks tour that I've done year after year. There's one particular spot and this man who reigns the tour with all his workers they drove up into the city now where I've got to preach the breakfast service and the prisons and the school and a meeting in the church. Yeah so we're driving into the town and as we stop at the lights there's a big billboard an advert you know some of them are so stupid but this one said an amazing statement. This spot marks the beginning of what is left of your life. I heard how stupid but then I began to think as we were driving slowly past it. That's a good thing to say in a sermon. You see you're always busy preparing a sermon. Ah that's why when I'm there Mr Marvin and Linda's home they don't know it but I'm writing notes you know and preaching in the next town. So this spot marks the beginning into what is left of your life of your future. No matter what the devil reminds you of of the failures of your father and mother God still holds up to you if you're saved child. 1 Corinthians 13 to live it full stop no excuses to live it toward them because you don't know the financial strain the stress the moral values that are courageous of eroding across the world that they live in fear and they've been worn out and you don't know the things that they have done the best for you in spite of spite of the things you stumble over you are asked to be like what 1 Corinthians love suffereth long in his kind no matter what you think you go through you didn't go through what that lady went through and she was healed she didn't hide behind that and say I can't be here because of my daddy's sins don't let the past cripple the future toward your wife no matter what has happened in the past brother she gave you all those children do you know what that did to her and you won't have mercy on her when she in her weakness and tiredness when she makes she washes all their clothes she raises them she makes your food she makes your bed brother has it ever occurred to you she might really be that tired that she does need to be forgiven because she's the weaker vessel and God asked you not to become bitter against her and he wouldn't ask if it wasn't possible he's asking a Christian don't let the past cripple the future toward your wife don't let your past cripple the future toward your husband lady toward your children toward your parents no matter what you've witnessed of their failure don't ever do that but start now by embracing God's word toward your family beginning with 1 Corinthians 13 when God asked children to obey their parents to honor their father and mother to love their mother he's asking them what 1 Corinthians makes possible and I need to look at that for every member in the home you see 1 Corinthians 13 John Wesley said the closest you will come to know what God in the light of the rest of scriptures is asking of us is to put the word Christ there where you see charity charity means love in our language today this is what God wants the word love is agape the Greek not human love God's not asking you to love in human strength or capacity or wisdom it is the only religion you will find in the entire earth in history that isn't your maintaining a set of rules you know like the Jews put it on their wrists and their eyelids and their doors thou shalt not thou shalt not so you just don't know you won't forget no God doesn't want that he writes the law of God on your heart and you spontaneously react no matter how trying the circumstances to the degree you've yielded to God the Holy Spirit he hasn't come to destroy the law to fulfill it not the old way but through you by the Holy Spirit now this love is God's love he's asking you to let him live his life out through you that's Christianity Christ likeness is Christianity Christianity is obnoxious Christianity is offensive beginning in the home if it isn't revealing Christ holiness is Christ full stop or it's heresy you add all these things sister modesty is lovely and let's face it we grieve if someone who's saved for a long time doesn't show modesty in their dress but don't put the cart before the horse you can dress like a nun and be a devil in the home it's not the dress that makes you qualified to be a member or to take communion it's Christ likeness you see though I don't despise these things I tremble for you if you dress and think that qualifies you now to be looked upon as godly it doesn't holiness is Christ full stop or it's heresy the fruit of the spirit what is it you say love joy peace long suffering no the fruit of the spirit that is the evidence that the Holy Spirit controls you literally it's Christ the whole work of the Holy Spirit is not to speak of himself but to conform you back into the image that was lost you're predestined what not one to heaven one to hell no but to be conformed back to the image that was lost at the fall of god not by physical but the nature the divine nature seen reacting in your every word to the degree you yielded the only religion on earth is to the degree you yielded to god to that degree you reveal the standard of the new testament Christ the whole standard of the new testament Christ full stop holiness Christ full stop the fruit of the spirit is Christ nothing else matters in Christianity because if it does and it's not that you'll send people to hell beginning with your family and that is attainable to the degree you yielded to god and everyone in your home knows to what degree you yielded to god now not by how you're dressed not by bringing them to church every sunday no 1 corinthians 13 sir is not love that is attainable through a human standard it's god's love agape he's not asking you bring them up your children don't break their spirit but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the lord what does that mean let god bring them up through you yield that he he brings him up through you christ living through you that is christianity anything else if that isn't first and foremost is the most offensive religion on earth to god and man beginning with your children or your wife what is love the love god says he can live out through you you want to experience it until you have god god's love controlling you love suffereth long not out there with wicked people in the workplace no in the home that's where it begins love suffereth long where you really might go through things and is kind are you are you children are you answer god do you know anything of this answer god oh how dare you carry a bible if you don't care and get offended at being asked if you know anything of the vital reality of christianity love is not racist and easily provoked beareth all things endureth all things do you you see it isn't only your enemy out there that god speaking about love your enemy bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you do you do you love your enemy your son this enemy god speaking about your wife your husband who still hates god because this is how you reach them one peter three when he says likewise he wise what does that mean like christ otherwise there's no standard the whole chapter comes before one peter three like jesus who leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who did no sin find his mother when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he he threatened not but committed himself to likewise he was like jesus otherwise don't think it's anything in the bible it's like christ or there's nothing there's no standard in the bible that isn't saying like jesus run from anyone who says anything else is christ like this was christianity likewise he was be in subjection to your own husband how was he like jesus was who didn't start fighting back why likewise he was being subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives by the life of the wives that's what god wants you when your godless husband god says if you do what i say be like jesus who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered and i suppose i must stop is that right are you there is anybody left oh yes you haven't moved well let me finish quickly will you give me that right okay because you will never hear this again in your life i say that with grief there's a young man called doug i don't know his surname he lives in a town called rhinelander wisconsin fine boy full of love gentleness always one of the few people that ever put his arms around me i don't know other preachers get hugs you know no one wants to hug this old man i don't know it's a sermon i preach that they walk past me like this or otherwise you know but anyway he put his arms around me so this boy's love itself he is so gentle so tender so sweet so gracious and he loves god with all his heart there's no doubt about it he comes after every sermon i've ever preached that i remember him being in oh tears this was from god for me he's the first oh he loves the lord now this boy got married to some braynard girl david braynard didn't have a wife he died remember he jonathan edwards's daughter but they didn't get married so his brother david braynard's brother had children so the descendants of david braynard's brother are mostly in wisconsin uh rhinelander wisconsin now this girl one of the braynard descendants married this boy doug whatever his surname is i wish i had this written that down but anyway good boy and uh she said something remarkable she said that when people were talking about how loving he is and what you know he's all the time since we married he is gentle and tender and caring and forgiving and patient and there's nothing but love all the time she says he says no he's going to turn or whatever happens whatever i do just love and gentleness so i thought that was wonderful what a testimony for a wife to give to her husband so he's married about a year now but anyway this godly woman mrs kondoski sarin kondoski she was sitting with jenny and jenny was saying isn't that a lovely testimony and jenny said mrs kondoski said he has six brothers all are married now and every single brother is the same every wife says the same about all the brothers from his family are exactly the same and let me tell you something why their father was like that to their mother every single boy is the same as their father was that overwhelms people it is so amazing to just see every reaction no matter what's going through the father that's why they're like they are my son roy has married a girl called jerusalem you can't forget that now i was with her grandpa mr willard okay they're baptists they're not mennonites but there i was in their home while roy was courting this girl who loves god oh she loves god they now married missionaries in africa roy and jerusalem but i was there in the home of her granddaddy when roy was courting and hoping her parents might say yes you know nonetheless romance and all mr willard now says brother keith we raised our daughter that is jerusalem's mother in a home where we didn't teach her to fight or argue or complain and her mother was exactly the same in the home she raised jerusalem jerusalem was never taught to complain or fight to argue moan and our little jerusalem i believe will be the same toward roy i have no doubt of it and i believe that's what a missionary needs he doesn't need a fighting wife a complaint no not on the mission field all hell comes against you anyway the last thing a missionary needs to survive till he dies to die climbing is a wife that complains yes you we trust you will find the same in jerusalem it's a killed 1644 as the mother so is her daughter god says vice versa the same goes for the father's influence upon his sons i was in palestine texas the other day in a man's name mike klein godly man oh in all the maximum security prisons where all these godly prisoners have come to christ with tattered bibles but in their old prison clothes but mike klein's son was home a missionary boy at the time that i was in the home and so i was praying aloud and preaching you know and suddenly he walked out and then he died of fright i thought i was alone and he nearly died of fright hearing this man preaching away to what nobody but that's how you prepare you see especially with the scriptures upon scriptures upon that i had to do quoting in one of these in in atlanta it was just about 200 verses of the scriptures i had to memorize and sharpen myself in that convention but here he sits with me now and gives me a cup of tea that's intelligent to do to an englishman and he said to me about his father i said what a godly home you come from what a godly man and godly woman your mother and father i've been blessed by their lives the boy looked at me and he said sir i never ever heard my father once raise his voice to my mother in my entire life i never ever once saw him be angry or impatient with her i never once and none of the children can remember one occasion no matter what they were going through that my daddy ever failed christ towards my mother and so this is even more remarkable it seems he grows in his love to my mother even more than when we were children revealing that love just like more and more tenderness and it's unbearable i sat with my father he said and i said to him daddy i'm pursuing to be married now and i need to ask you something daddy i have been in many preachers homes and they don't live where daddy lived toward their lives i need to ask you daddy what is the secret what did you do with your life as a christian that you could live that toward our mother he said my father's eyes just well with tears and he didn't know what to say to me after a while he said my boy all i can think of is over the years my capacity to love god to love christ has got more and more it doesn't just stay the same as you devour yourself in the scriptures and go through life and as my capacity to love god grew i found automatically i loved your mother more in every aspect of my approach and dealings with her that's about all i can honestly answer as to why it grows this is god's way to bring every relation in your home to salvation and to want to follow you remember ruth and naomi she looked at her mother-in-law and she said these words as she looked at her mother-in-law's life thy god shall be my god will your daughter-in-law say that because of your life our lives must create a thirst for god or we are not right with god if they reject yes and your heart will know ephesians 4 26 be angry and sin not that's a bit of a contradiction but it's there so you better just think about it okay what does god mean be angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon your wrath god asks neither give place to the devil in your anger don't let it become sin deal with it don't let the devil get a stronghold you see a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself that's a staggering verse proverbs 22 verse 3 a prudent person foresees what is coming and he takes precautions to prevent it a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hide of themselves proverbs 22 in every christian marriage there arises circumstances that can create great misunderstanding confusions and even wounds i want to repeat that in every christian marriage or you lie if you say that's not true there arises circumstances that can create great misunderstandings confusions and deep wounds but throughout our lives beloved when these circumstances arise and they will when they arise and prevail our mental and spiritual survival is to flee to our hiding place thou art my hiding place proverbs 32 verse 7 it's not a permanent geographical spot or cave it is a discipline of getting alone with god swiftly to survive the fires and to emerge like daniel's three friends unburned no matter what comes or no matter how severe the trials or testings or circumstances where we always will become conscious that underneath are the everlasting arms no matter what you're facing deuteronomy 33 verse 22 that he will bear you on eagle wings no matter what you're going through exodus 19 that you are indeed in the hollow of his hands safe isaiah 44 verse 12 in the hollow of his hands oh brother sister write this on the door of your heart here tonight or you commit sacrilege to god and your family when these circumstances arrived arise swiftly seek to get alone with jesus for only then we will found our spiritual emotional mental immune system is fortified in an incomprehensible way i'm going to repeat that write this on the doors of your heart for god's sake and for your family's sake when these circumstances arise and they will in every single home you're not in heaven brother in heaven you won't face any problems but you will in your home you will have to really find grace or wounds will come if you don't and that is only obtainable to the degree you're yielded totally to god and truth and when these circumstances arrive arise swiftly seek to go to god before you react and you can i've proven it over 44 years i have proven it sorry in 35 years of marriage and i cry out to you to prove it also only they're alone with jesus and you can get alone with jesus before you react our spiritual and emotional and mental immune system is fortified in an incomprehensible way to all those of you who have up to now let the past cripple the future towards your family towards your wife your husband your children your father your mother this spot tonight marks the beginning of the rest of your life let me shock every one of you now if this spot does not mark the beginning of the rest of your life by taking this to your heart and soul and applying it and making it the rest of your life from tonight if it doesn't start tonight heaven help your family because you're never going to do anything about it through pride can we stand please heaven help your family if it doesn't start now the whole message and you have the grace to start it now whether you're a child a husband a father a mother it's your choice to put them through hell through your life or to go through hell on earth a taste of it if it doesn't start tonight you're not going to start it i guarantee you so be careful what you do with this sermon father take this message write it on our hearts even on children because they're going to need it any minute now and please lord give us grace to live it no matter what it costs to humble ourselves to embrace god's word now and to live it and to seek god for the grace to live it from tonight in jesus christ's name amen