A Tale of Two Houses

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. In the Book of Acts, chapter 5, Book of Acts, chapter 5, I want to talk to you tonight about the tale or the story, the tale of two houses, the story of two houses. I'll read to you just one verse of scripture, and we'll look to other portions of scripture through the message.

Acts, chapter 5, and verse 42. And you know, by the way, Bob, as the Lord was moving here tonight, one of these nights, the Holy Spirit is going to move, and the worship that started is not going to stop. And we're not going to stop it.

We're just going to let it go and let the Holy Spirit have his way. And I was going to say to you tonight, Bob, if the Holy Spirit continues to move, you know, we'll even set aside the ministry of the Word if the Lord should so lead us on that occasion. We consider the Word very, very important.

But if the Holy Spirit wants to move down and sweep among us, we're going to let him have his way in our meeting. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Acts, chapter 5, verse 42. It says, and daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. And daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you tonight for the sense of your presence in our midst. We thank you for the hunger in God's people to worship you in spirit and in truth.

And Lord, I pray that you would continue to have your way. May we continue to be open to you. Lord, may our minds be brought into subjection tonight.

And may you speak to us through the Word. Lord, bring it down to us where we live and where we are to live. And teach us how to apply these truths to our daily lives.

Anoint our ears, anoint our hearts, and move, Lord, through the ministry of the Word and at the altar service and in our communion service. In Jesus' name, amen. One of the great truths that came out of the Holy Ghost revival in the book of Acts is the tale of two houses, or the story of two houses.

Here in Acts 5.42, it gives us the essence of what a Holy Ghost revival is or what it accomplishes. Here is what happens as a result of the preaching of the cross and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in this verse. And daily in the temple and in every house.

In the temple, in the church, as well as in every house, they cease not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. True repentance, a true revival, is the tale of two houses. Really three.

First of all, when revival breaks out, there is a desire to gather daily, or at least as much as possible, to gather in the temple, to gather in the house of the Lord, to hear the word of the Lord, to hear the preaching, to receive the teaching. But secondly, there is also a desire daily to see Christ taught and preached and lived out in every house, the house of the saint as well as the house of the sinner. And so really it's a tale of three houses, but primarily we're talking about the house of God and the house of the child of God.

A revival that takes place in the temple or in the house of worship or sanctuary, whatever you want to call it, but is not carried out of here and is not carried home is not a true revival. And if the Lord is taught and preached in your home, there will be also the effect of it in our coming together in our place of corporate worship. There is no church revival without a house or a home revival.

And there is no home revival without a church revival. And there is no house and church revival without it affecting every house, the house of the saint as well as the house of the sinner. Now, there are some examples of this throughout the scripture relative to this tale of two houses.

For example, during the revival of the remnant or the restoration of the remnant under the ministry of Haggai, this truth is seen. Now, we make reference quite frequently here to the remnant. And we say that we are a part of the remnant.

Brother Bob spoke Sunday morning about the remnant. And the historical context for this is when the children of Israel were permitted to leave Babylon and to go back to their homeland and there to reestablish themselves in their own land and reestablish their worship. But during the ministry of the prophet Haggai, when the remnant returned, they concentrated, first of all, on their own houses.

And they neglected the most important thing, the house of God. And the prophet spoke to them. And this is what he said.

He said, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house or my house lies desolate? And the prophet rebuked them. And he said, loosen up. He said, consider your ways.

He said, your priorities are out of order. You're looking out for your own comforts, your own self-interest. But what about God's interest? And he said to them, go to the mountain.

Go up to the mountain and bring wood and rebuild the temple, rebuild the altar, reinstitute the sacrifices, the worship within the temple. He said, then I will be pleased and I will be glorified, says the Lord. And the Lord told them, as well as he says to us, that we can never be successful.

We can never please him until his house is put first. Everything we do, the Lord says, will fail if we neglect his house and our relationship to it. For example, he said to them, he said, if you do not put my house first and you build your own kingdom and you look after your own interest, he said, when you bring home your wages, he said, I'll blow them away.

They'll go right through. You'll go through. And I've seen that many times.

I've seen people go through a lot of money. They just, they can never keep any money. They never can get ahead.

They just never, financially or any other way, they never can get ahead. They may make good money or adequate money or enough, but they never get ahead because they put other interests before God's interest. And he said, because of my house, which lies desolate while each of you runs to his own house and to his own self-indulgence.

Jesus also demonstrated the importance of the house of God in relationship to the house of his servants. In Mark 11, 15, Jesus went into the temple and he cast out the money changers. And it says in verse 17, and he taught saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called of all nations, a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Now Jesus never neglected the temple. He always identified himself with it. Jesus was never anti-church, but he was anti-hypocrisy and he denounced the people for the fact that there was no relationship between what took place outside in their religious observation and what took place inside their own hearts as well as inside their own homes.

In other words, Jesus taught this, that if it's Jesus on the inside, ought to be also Jesus on the outside. And Jesus in the temple ought to be Jesus in the home. Another illustration is the story in Luke, the eighth chapter a story, a familiar story of when Jesus encountered the demonic of Gadara full of legions of demons.

And in the story, Jesus cast out the legions, cast out the devils. And we see this man in his changed state. We see him in his delivered state.

And the Bible says there he sat at the feet of Jesus. He was clothed and he was in his right mind and he was totally delivered. And then he had a reaction that is so typical of many that I have seen who have had a marvelous healing, a marvelous deliverance, a marvelous breaking away of sinful habits.

They get saved and immediately they wanna go into orbit. Immediately they wanna go into the ministry. Immediately they wanna run and leave everything and go out and enter into the ministry, be a street preacher, be an evangelist, go to Bible school or whatever.

And this is what happened to this man. It says, now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him. He might be with Jesus.

In other words, I can just picture it. He said, Lord, let me go with you on your campaigns and I'll be your front man. I'll be the guy that testifies and I'll get up there and I'll tell them about what you've done in my life and what a blessing I could be to you.

Let me go with you. But Jesus said, no. And Jesus established a principle here and he did it in other places as well.

When the man said, I wanna be with you, but Jesus sent him away, he sent him away. And he said, return to thine own house first. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to go into the ministry, not that there's anything wrong with wanting to go out and spread the news as to what the Lord has done, but he said, return to thine own house first and show your home and show your own people the great things that God has done.

And there's a principle here. Jesus wants home religion as well as church religion. Let me say that again.

And I think it deserves a larger amen. Jesus wants house religion as well as church religion. Amen.

If we do not have a testimony in the house where we live, how can we have God's blessing on the house where we worship and where we were delivered? In Luke 19, there's another story. If Jesus is moving along with crowds surrounding him as usual, and he looks up into a tree and he spots a short little yuppie hiding in a tree because he's small and he can't see Jesus. And Jesus looked up into the tree to this Upper West Side yuppie.

And when Jesus came to the place under the tree, he looked up and he saw this man and he said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must abide in thy house. Now that's unusual because Jesus didn't often go into people's homes. He healed them on the spot.

He had so many that he had to minister to. But think of it that Jesus took the time to go to this man's house. In verse nine, chapter 19, it says, and Jesus said unto him, when he got into the house, and Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation, come to this house.

Now it came to the man, but it also came to the house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. Now why did Jesus go to the house? I tell you why he went to the house. Because in the house, the man had an office.

And in the office, the man had some records that he was keeping. And he was a tax collector. And he was cheating people out of their taxes.

And as soon as Jesus crossed, entered the door of the man's house, immediately conviction gripped him and he became conscious that in his house and under his pillow was some of the monies that he had stuffed in the mattress or down in a jar somewhere that did not belong to him. And he got convicted of it right away. And this is what he said, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

And if I have taken anything from any man of false accusation, I will restore him fourfold. Now I wanna tell you that's some conversion. Jesus took the man home in order to get to the heart of the man's sin.

Zacchaeus had a heart salvation and a home salvation and a pocketbook salvation. Paul and the epistles taught the same principle that allegiance belongs first to God's house and second to our own house. Paul writes to Timothy.

And though he's talking primarily about pastors, yet I believe it applies to every Christian. And he says this one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Now with this in mind, let me share with you some truths, four important truths relative to the home where we live in relationship to the church where we worship.

First of all, the Lord wants to save our homes. He wants to save our households. If you'll read throughout the scripture, you'll notice how often Jesus uses the term or the scriptures uses the term household, household, household.

Probably one of the most famous verses of all is Acts 16 31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house, hallelujah. Oh, what a blessed truth. Oh, what a blessed promise and thy house.

Now salvation is an individual and personal decision. That's true. There can be no salvation apart from personal repentance and each of us choosing this day whom we'll serve.

But at the same time, the Bible makes it clear that when parents or a parent accepts Christ, that there is through their conversion a mighty influence over the household. Joshua said it this way. He said, choose you this day whom you will serve.

That's the individuality of our choice of our decision. But then he goes on and he says, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. On the night of the Passover, the Lord said, the blood shall be to you for a token upon the house where you are.

Now, parents, your children must choose for themselves, of course. But when you are also trusting in the blood and when they see you at the house of God worshiping, when they see you living it out in your home, when they see you observing communion and you trusting in the blood, what a mighty influence that has over their lives. And if they choose not to accept the Lord, they have no excuse because you have lived the example before them.

Now, if you've gotten saved only recently, if you're a parent or parents and you've gotten saved recently in life, or later in life, and your children were raised in an ungodly home, then, of course, you have no more opportunity to nurture them in the Lord. You've lost that opportunity. But at the same time, it's still not too late for you to be an example from far off and to believe for the salvation of your household, that no matter where your children go, I'll never forget, I sat in my mother's living room.

We were talking about, she said, you know, you boys don't talk to me much about what goes on in the ministry. But she looked at me with a little twinkle in her eye and she said, but I want you to know something. She said, I control both of you.

And she meant on my knees interceding before the Lord. And my friends, it doesn't matter how far your children may have gone or strayed from the Lord, you still have a mighty influence with God, hallelujah. And salvation is promised to you and it's promised to households as well, hallelujah.

And I wanna tell you, if there's anything that God's ever given me faith for, there's some people have faith in one area and maybe weak in another. If there's anything God's given me faith for, and that is to believe for the salvation of households, hallelujah. And that promise, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

And those words, and thy house, hallelujah. May the Holy Spirit birth it in your heart today. Acts 7, one, God said to Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark.

For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Noah is a type of Christ and he's also the type of a righteous head of a saved family, a family saved by virtue of their association with him. And the principle in Noah is this, that the house of every believer connected to Christ is a house of both privilege and responsibility.

A saved house is potentially a Noah's ark for everyone in it. Again, our children must choose to enter the ark, but what a wonderful opportunity is afforded to them. If you are the Noah, you are the type of Noah leading them to the ark of safety.

Now, some people say, well, you know, you can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink. Of course, that's true. But any horse has enough sense when he gets to clean water, fresh water, he's gonna drink.

And if you lead your children in the ways of righteousness, they will most naturally want to taste and see that the Lord is good. Now, secondly, not only does God want to save our house, but God wants you to rule your house. First, he wants us to save our household and second, he wants us to rule our household.

Turn with me, if you will, to Genesis chapter 18. Genesis chapter 18. And I tell you, every time I read this, every time I see this, oh, it moves me.

It moves me. To me, it's an awesome truth. Relative to Abraham, we see a connection between God's dealing with Abraham and how Abraham ruled his own household.

I'm reading this, all my scriptures tonight, are from the King James. Genesis 18 at verse 17, and the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Now listen, God said he was not gonna hold back his revelation, he was not gonna hold back his divine will, he was gonna let Abraham know his secrets. And I wanna tell you, I don't know about you, but I like the Lord to let me in and know what's going on.

I like the Lord to let me know what he's doing. I like to hear his voice. He said, should I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.

He says, for I know him. For I know him. And how did he know him? In this regard, in this context, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Look at that, my friend, the relationship between divine revelation and knowing God's will and ruling your own household properly. You see, when God looks for a man to whom he can reveal his secrets and through which he can accomplish his purpose, he looks first to a man's conduct in his home or a woman's conduct in his home and how well he rules his own children and rules himself, and how he is in right relationship to the people that he lives with. I don't know about you, but that both blesses me and convicts me.

And if you have no children, the principle still applies. How well do you rule yourself? How well do you rule your own home, your own time, your own finances, every aspect of your life? How do you get along with the people that you work with? I remember I went out, first time I went out to a Bible college. We were gonna recruit workers to come in to work in the city, and they were all excited about coming to the city, and they were also a little nervous or excited about being interviewed too.

And I remember college students, Christian college, the first question I asked every one of them, of course, I couldn't get a good answer out of them, but I was just establishing a principle. First question I asked all of them, I said, how do you get along with your roommate? How well do you get along with your roommate? You know, they looked at me, and of course, you know, if they didn't get along with a roommate, they weren't gonna tell me, most of them weren't gonna tell me lousy. I don't know.

They all gave me, I guess, the best answer that they could, but I wanted it to be established that their qualifications for coming to work in the city had a relationship to how well they were living out their own lives. Out of all the qualifications God might have selected in choosing the father of a nation, doesn't it make sense that God would see first if Abraham is running and ruling his own house first? You see, you can't rule in the ministry. You can't work in the ministry, whether it be in a limelight or whether it be in a pastoral sense, whether it be publicly or privately or behind the scenes or in any capacity.

The Lord said, you can't, you're not qualified unless you can take care of your most immediate responsibilities. How well are you ruling your house? How well are you ruling yourself in relationship to the people that you're living with? And the Bible says that a man who knows how to command his house is a man who God can trust. That's what God said of Abraham.

Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? What a privilege to have the Lord share his secrets with you. Oh, to have that kind of confidence from the Lord. Psalms 93 and five says, thy testimonies are very sure.

Holiness belongeth thy house, O Lord, forever. And you see, when we pattern our house after his house, if holiness characterizes our house as well as it does God's house, then he says his testimonies will be revealed to us. You see, God looks upon a man's house as part of himself.

Let there be no difference between how God requires his house ruled and how we rule our own house. God sees the two houses as one. Proverbs 11, 21 says, he that troubles his own household shall inherit the wind.

But the house of the upright shall stand. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Now, thirdly, God wants to bless your house.

Go with me, if you will, to Exodus chapter 10. Exodus chapter 10. And we see here that Moses refuses to allow the house of Israel to be divided by the enemy.

You see, Pharaoh tells Moses and Aaron that they can go, they can leave Egypt, they can go out and they can worship in the wilderness. But he asked him this question, chapter 10 in verse eight. He said, go serve the Lord your God, but who are they that shall go? In verse nine, and Moses said, listen to what he said, here's the principle.

He said, we will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. You see, Moses was leading the people out to worship the Lord. He was leading them as it were to a meeting place with God just as when we come here to the house of the Lord.

You see, it's here that we hold a feast to the Lord. And you see, Moses has no idea of seeking one thing for himself or for the older generation and another thing for the children. He said, if we go out of Egypt, we are going out with our children.

And the question is tonight to you, if you've come out of Egypt, mother or father or parent, whoever, have you also come out with your young? Have you brought your young people out with you? You see, God can never fully bless a church until we go forward pursuing righteousness and taking our children and our teenagers and our young people with us, hallelujah. You know, we have a burden in this church to work with young people and people have been saying to us, when are we gonna start a youth program, a youth ministry? Well, I wanna announce to you folks, it's very soon. It's very short.

It's coming very soon. I don't know when and I don't know who, but I know it's very shortly. Brother David and I were talking about it this week and said, Lord, it's time, we're waiting.

We're just waiting for the Lord to supply a leader for us because we believe that if we're gonna go out, we're gonna take our young with us, hallelujah. That's why we've got the children up there right now. And that's why God, when God calls you out, he calls you to take your children with you, hallelujah.

How sad it is to see the older generation going to Canaan and the children remaining in Egypt. And that's exactly the way it is in many churches. That's the way it is in many homes.

What a shame to see in the church, the parents having their faith unto the Lord while they leave their little ones behind in the hands of Satan. Because many parents lack the moral courage to rule their own house as well as I've seen many churches lack the moral courage to rule their children. And so they devise programs to appease them or copycat the world or whatever.

And while the parents are going forward, the children are far behind. But my friend, we're gonna believe that in this church, we don't need programs or fancy programs that the same spirit that's moving at these altars among the adults is gonna move among our young people as well. We're gonna bring our children with us, hallelujah.

If there's any principle I was raised on, that's one of the principles that I was raised on. Moses would not permit the little ones to remain in Egypt. He reasoned, how can we taste the manna of the wilderness while our children feed upon the husk, the onions, the leeks and the garlic of Egypt? In other words, everything that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

And then there's Jacob. Let me give you an example of Jacob. Jacob found God's blessing because he followed the same principle.

God told Jacob to go to Bethel and build an altar. And Bethel means house of God. And going to Bethel is a sign of a spiritual renewal, spiritual awakening of seeking the Lord.

And not only did Jacob go there, but listen to who went with him. Genesis, look at Genesis chapter 35. You've got Genesis open.

Turn to verse, to chapter 35 of Genesis. Verses two, beginning of verse two. Then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him, put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments and let us arise and go to Bethel.

And I will make thee an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand. He never thought, Jacob never thought of separating or disconnecting himself and his going back to Bethel without his family going with him.

And the result was in verse five. And they journeyed, they journeyed, the whole household, they journeyed to Bethel and the terror of God was upon the cities that were around about them. And they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob, hallelujah.

His whole family was protected because he had a family altar. He had a family altar. He put away the strange gods.

Not only did he himself, but for the whole family, he put away all the strange gods out of the family. All right, one more important truth. If we don't rule our houses, God cannot bless our houses and God will judge your house.

The story of the prophet Eli is a solemn warning to us of the judgment of God if you don't rule your house. If you don't rule your house properly. Eli ministered one way, this is first Samuel.

In first Samuel chapter one, Eli ministered one way in the house of God, but another way at home. For example, in chapter one, we find Eli in the house of the Lord and there Hannah came and prayed in the temple in a manner that Eli thought that she was drunk. In chapter one in verse 13, and Eli said to her, how long will thou be drunk? Put away wine from thee.

Now what happened was Hannah was so caught up in seeking the Lord. She was so burdened that she was moving her lips, but she wasn't saying anything. She wasn't making any sound.

And so Eli mistakenly at first, he thinks that she's drunk. And of course he was wrong. And she was merely pouring out her soul to the Lord earnestly praying for a child.

And as soon as he recognized his mistake, he told her, he said, go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou has asked of him. But the point is that when he thought that there was a sin in the house of God, Eli had the courage to move out and to deal with it. But unfortunately it was another story at home.

Eli ruled the house of God with courage while neglecting to rule and discipline his own sons. In Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter two, Eli's sons committed a grievous sin. They demanded the priest's servants who were burning the sacrifice to give it to them to eat before the sacrifice had been fully given unto the Lord.

And this is what they said in 1 Samuel 2 16, give it to me now. And if not, I'll take it by force. And you see, according to the old Testament law to take the flesh of a sacrificial animal and roast it before it had been offered as a thank offering to God was a crime equivalent to robbery of God.

And it is referred to in 1 Samuel as the worst crime that the sons of Eli could commit. And the action showed their total disrespect for the things of God. Now go to 1 Samuel 4. We have to just look at these very quickly because in 1 Samuel 4 is the account of the end of Eli's life.

End of his life, the end of his sons. The Philistines had captured the ark of God, which was always a sign of God's blessing among God's people. In chapter four, verse 10, it says, and the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten and they fled every man into his tent.

And there was a very great slaughter for there fell of Israel 30,000 footmen among whom were the two sons of Eli. Meanwhile, Eli is back in his tent waiting for the results, the outcome of the battle. He's an old man.

He's 90, what, he's 98 years old. His eyes are dim and he's fat. And a messenger gives Eli the report of the fall of Israel in verse 18.

And it came to pass that when the messenger made mention of the ark of God that had fallen into the enemy's hands, that Eli fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck broke and he died for he was old man and heavy. But you see, Eli did not die because he was old and fat. His fatness was only one area indicating a lack of self-discipline.

His worst weakness is that he did not rule his own house and his own sons. And God brought judgment upon him and Israel also because of that failure. Look at 1 Samuel now, chapter three.

1 Samuel chapter three. Verses 11 to 13. And the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle.

In that day, I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I began, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not.

Oh, it says, listen to it and let your ears tingle. You see, no matter what the personal character of the servant of God may be, it doesn't matter what gifts you might have in the house of God. Yet, if you do not raise and rule your own house properly and in holiness, God will hold you accountable and you will reap what you sow, my friend.

Eli should have restrained his sons. It was Eli's calling to fulfill his obligation not only in the house of God, but most assuredly in his own house as well. And the same power that operated in the house of God, he should have seen that would give him strength and power to rule his own house as well.

You see, Eli made a difference between the church and the home. He ruled one way at church and another way at home. And thus, his terrible end was to break his neck and to fall dead, but he should have broken his heart first of all before God because he did not restrain his sons.

And God allowed this to happen. God said, look, I'm gonna make this a visible demonstration to all of Israel. If your ears are gonna tingle when you hear this, this judgment came because a prophet didn't rule his own house.

God, help us. Oh, God, help us. God, help us.

How many a parent has fallen into the air of Eli? God, help us to understand this principle that he wants us to treat our house and rule our house in the same manner as he rules this house. You've heard David say it here. We've said it here.

We're gonna have discipline in the house of God. We're gonna have order in the house of God. We're gonna rule the house of God here.

Well, my friend, the same way that we set the example here, may you do it at home as well. How can a man or woman of God have one testimony at church and among the people of God and a different or lesser one at home? Listen to me. I care what you think of me as a pastor.

All of us care what our testimony is before you and how we live it out before you. We're very well aware of that. And we're not afraid of that responsibility.

Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. You know, this whole teaching, don't look at man, don't look at man is not entirely true because the Bible says, yeah, we do. We're not to trust in man.

We're not to put our faith in man, but the Bible says we're to have a testimony one before the other. And I'm concerned about that as a pastor in this church. But I wanna tell you something else.

I care even more what my wife and what my children think about me. When I get home, you see, I'm not Pastor Don anymore. I'm father at home.

And you know, our family happens to have very open communication. And if their father's out of order, they tell their father. And I tell them as well.

And I wanna tell you, there's the worst thing that I could think of that could happen to me besides me turning my back upon the Lord. The worst thing that I think could ever happen to me that I would lose the respect of my children. That my children would say to me or to someone else or behind my back that my father is not a man of God or he's one thing in the pulpit, he's one thing in the church, he's something different at home.

I wouldn't wanna be in the middle, I couldn't live if I didn't have the respect of those that I live with. First Timothy 5.8 has been a scripture that has always been like a flaming arrow to me. And I close with this.

It said, if any man provide not for his own and specifically for those of his own household. Now, it's talking here primarily about physical provision, but I believe we can also apply it spiritually as well. In fact, there's a lot of parents who've tried that.

They've done everything physically, economically for their kids, but they still haven't provided for them spiritually. But Paul writes and he said, and if any provide not for his own and specifically for those in his own house, he hath denied, listen to that, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. Oh Lord, help me not to be classified as an infidel.

Oh God, I want to be as Jacob. I want to go to Bethel and I want to bring my children with me and I'll not be satisfied until all of them are in. And if I have, if they're backslidden or they're struggling in their faith because they see something in my life that is not like Christ, I want to say to every dad tonight, I want to say to every mother, I want to say to every parent, or if you're a saved member of the household, only a saved member of the household, I want to tell you God not only holds you responsible for your own salvation, but he holds you responsible for the influence for good or bad that you have over your children.

And you think about laying certain things down in your life. Not only must you lay them down because God wants you to lay them down, because you have your own responsibility before God, but think of the influence that you have over children. And if you're here tonight and you're a dad and you've got a temper, or you're a mother that has poor, very poor communication skills with your children, or you've got other things in your life, I don't know what it is, I don't want to mention them, lest we just zero in on those and neglect what the Holy Spirit might speak to you.

I pray tonight that you would say, oh God, let me lay it down so that my children can be brought into the fold as well. Hallelujah. The tale of two houses, the tale of two houses.

It's not only this house, my friend, but it's a house where you live and God holds you responsible. Shall we bow in a word of prayer?