Parenting Seminar 2026 - "Marriage and Family Background" by Glenn Hitchcock

All right, everybody feel free to keep eating, but in about 7

minutes or so we'll get started. I just want to go ahead and introduce Glenn

before we do. Thanks for coming out tonight for the parenting seminar. There'll be one

lesson tonight, and that lesson will be on the importance of family.

I don't think I have to say a lot about Glenn Hitchcock. He's been here

though for Equipped every year. He and his wife Mercedes, they have one daughter

and And he is a member of the Peninsula Church of Christ, where he

also serves as an elder. He's a trained social worker,

retired Air Force veteran, done a lot of good work in

the church, taught at the university level, has preached,

attended the Memphis School of Preaching, and just has a lot of life experience

and wisdom and biblical knowledge. And we're looking forward to his lesson. So keep eating

your food or finishing up your conversation, but at 7, he'll get right into his

lesson on the importance of family. And again, thanks for being here tonight.

A lot of y'all, I know, came right off work and made the time and

the investment to be here for these lessons, and we really do appreciate it.

Thanks. And so in 5 or 6 minutes, it'll be Glenn.

My name is Glenn Hitchcock. I am the husband of Mercedes Hitchcock.

The kids call me Mr. Mercedes.

I don't know why. They have a great affinity for

Miss Mercedes. And they look at me and go like, oh, okay.

We— next week we will be celebrating our 53rd wedding anniversary.

She has put up with me that,

that long. We do have one

child, so you can tell I'm no parenting expert.

But we do have a lot of children that we train, raise,

and baptized all over the world in

many places. Believe me, that doesn't qualify

me to get up here to speak to you. And the

information I have is voluminous,

a lot of information. I won't try to beat you up with all that.

As I told Hiram, I'll do the best that I can,

and it may come to a point where I will just stop and we'll just

do questions and answers. I like talking to folks, questions and answers, you know.

I do like the— I call it

the LTL question. What is it

about your child that you like best without saying

they obey me? And you have to think of something other than that.

And I'll leave that with you for a day or two, and then I'll interview

you on your answers, and then we will reveal what I think

is God's answer to that question. Things like that,

you know. Mercedes is better at that than I am,

so ask her all of the questions that I don't get to answer. But thank

you for having me. The basis of this lesson tonight is to set you

up for all of the things that I probably won't get to for the rest

of the weekend. I only have, I think, maybe a couple hours tomorrow.

I need at least one more hour, but I'm not complaining.

I met with the elders and I told them we can do it like that,

so I'm gonna try to do that. So, without further ado,

can everybody see that? If I'm in your way, I'll move over here or something

like that. I'll do this. How's that?

Well, the camera won't see me if I do that. I don't know

if I want them to see me, though. I can go over here.

I can use this, too.

I don't know.

In this seminar, I want to overview 6

major points about family.

And my emphasis here is on the Christian family. I know there are

a lot of other families and all, but I— from the standpoint of parenting

a society of children that needs help and

rigorous godly intervention,

we need a Christian family model. And this is where I'll be

coming from. And so the beginning

by God, structured by God— and

we'll look at structure also— I'm introducing you to main points

of this seminar. Whether I cover it all or not,

I can always maybe come back if I don't mess up here.

The boundaries, the parameters, uh,

involving the scriptures. The behavior, which is what a lot of folks want to

hear about— the behavior. What do I do with this kid?

It's about parenting and submission.

Submission is the key for, for this seminar,

as you'll find out in the lesson tonight.

The benefit There's a benefit,

believe it or not. Our kids one day will leave our house.

They're gonna be promoted to go someplace else and

have their own zip code where they can say, this is what my mom

would say, this is what my father would say. And they have their own kids

and all. So, and then the byproduct,

procreation. Your kids will be suitable for somebody else's

problem. Not really. They'd be suitable to marry someone

else, and they will have their own families.

It would repeat itself. It's just a recurring cycle.

And I believe this pattern is found in the Word of God.

God the protector, God the provider,

the protector. God gave us the parameters with the scriptures.

God gave parents sense enough to

submit to his will, but it's a matter of choice,

not coercion. The benefit of promotion or

graduating on into society, the byproduct

of procreation where we can be able to marry,

have children, or procreation from the standpoint

of spiritual procreation, where we teach and disciple

others to become children of God in the family of God.

That's the overview for my seminar.

I will definitely try to make sure we hit boundaries

and behavior tomorrow. I may not get to some of the others,

we'll see. But tonight I want to talk about marriage

and family. Marriage and family involves the

beginning. Let us make man in our own image.

And what's he talking about there? He's talking about something that's

beautiful. God caused man to have a deep sleep,

and while man slept, God operated on him. He opened his side and

he removed the rib, and from that rib,

taken from not for— taken from his side, God made woman

and placed her at his side.

God created an institution that's older than anything

else. It's called marriage and the home.

Amen. Marriage is a basic institution, a basic

commitment, a basic creation of God, ordained by God,

sustained by the love of God, directed by the Word of God,

and God did this to complete man,

and aren't you glad that he did? You don't have to say amen to that,

but I'll say amen to that. God looked at

everything he had made and said, this is good, this is

very good, because he had the basis of what

was supposed to be from that point on— the

perfect union. The perfect setup.

Home. Marriage. The family

is an institution that must stand. Why must it

stand? Well, God is its originator.

Jesus is its hope. The Holy Spirit is its moral

regulator. The Bible must be its guide.

The good of man is its goal.

And the elevation of human society is its chief end.

The elevation of society is what the Christian family was

placed here to be about. And to be about

the Father's business is what this seminar is all about. Let's get busy

because I'm— I don't have a lot of time. The biblical standard— I'm

going to Ephesians 5, and some of it I'm cutting as I go.

You can ask me— I may stop and ask questions, but I'm on my way.

So all of us on our own can

judge our wealth or poverty by the relationship that

we have with others. We are chosen to be rich through good

relationships. That includes our kids, that includes our spouses,

that includes our brethren, by the way. The spiritual

man is concerned about other individuals. Ephesians 5:21,

Ephesians 5:21

submitting to yourself— submitting yourselves one to another

in the fear of God. Now I know submit is a problem

for some people. Why is that? Why do some people have a problem with the

word submit? This is where you can answer me if you want to.

If you don't because you're busy writing, I understand.

It's what? It's— she says it's hard.

Is it hard, men, to submit to your wife? Or is it hard, ladies,

to submit to your husband? Is it hard,

men, to submit to your wives? Well, some,

some would say yeah. Let's keep going.

Here's the point: everybody, regardless of our relationship, has got to— the

relationship has got to be based on love for the Lord.

If I don't love the Lord, then I'm not going to

submit. So I must first learn, learn to submit

to who? Jesus, my husband, or my wife?

Jesus. I submit to Christ. The key to submission

is to God first. And so the

biblical standard for submission, to place oneself under by

choice, not by coercion, is to submit.

When in submission to Jesus, I'm not going to always have

my way in every situation.

That's hard for some people to understand because we

think we can control everything. And I want to get off

on this because I could preach a long time on that, but I won't.

Now, this thought links the activities of the spiritual-minded

person with his relations to other people.

If I'm not going to submit, then my

relationship to others— there are 3 kinds of relationships: an

apathetic relationship, an addictive relationship,

and a healthy relationship. Which one

you think promotes the healthy relationship?

Submission. We submit to one another.

We submit to one another because our love for the Lord, and God

will take care of things. The Christian who is right in his spiritual nature will

be most concerned about his or her relationships

that glorify God. Many folks

will say, I don't care what anybody thinks or feels, I'm going to do it

my way anyway. They fail to remember that the love— that

love is doing what is best, even if it is not

what I want. Even if it's not what I want.

The problem is many have not learned how to love.

We don't know how to love yet. Many seem to believe

that love is some kissy-touchy-feely type of thing,

and they ain't all died yet, folks. They still think that.

For a number of years, I wanted to get out of marriage counseling because everybody

kept telling me that love is some kissy-feely touch. Oh, I love him,

I just can't live without— and I'm saying to myself, please,

love doesn't necessarily involve liking something. You must

love it even though sometimes you don't like it. This is one of

the main problems in marriage, not understanding what Love is as the

Lord understands it, and that's why we're in Ephesians 5.

Much of our time is involved in making, breaking, and sustaining relationships,

but the desire to relate is one of the strongest of human desires.

So God lets us know that the quality of our relationships—

underscore quality of our relationships— is directly proportional

or commensurate with the responsible attitudes that we

bring to our relationships. What do we mean by that?

The quality of our relationship is proportional

to the responsible attitudes that we bring

to our relationships. And this is

with the Lord,

the husband, the wife, and the children.

Parent— Christian parenthood is telling good news to our

children in the presence of God. That means we

have to have a healthy relationship with them, and that relationship

is based on our love for

the Lord. Some folks say, no, it's my love for my child.

No, it's your love for the Lord first. Somebody say,

well, it's my love for my wife. I'll do anything for The

Lord still comes first.

So if you want folks to get along with you, what do you have to

be? It's up on the board.

I just want to see if y'all alive. You have to be what?

You have to be responsible. You have to be responsible.

If you want folks to love you, be responsible.

If you want your wife to respect you, husbands, be responsible.

If you want your husband to respect you, wives, Be responsible.

Your personal quotient of responsibility will determine how well people will

relate and accept you.

This is in the context of the family too. A Christian is not

only transformed individually but is transformed toward others.

He must learn to treat others right. The Golden Rule.

Christianity is not natural in response. It turns the other cheek

instead of retaliating. It's not natural.

We turn the other cheek. That's not natural. When I was

in Memphis, Tennessee as a student in the Memphis School of Preaching, I'd gone to

Ohio to preach, and back

then we didn't— we had these things

called recap tires. Anybody remember those?

Recap tires. Well, my cap came off.

I took it back to the place where I bought the tire, and he said,

you didn't buy that from me. I said, yes, I did, sir.

And before I could say anything else, he used a word that I won't say.

It starts with an N, and he pointed a Colt .45 right in the middle

of my face, and he says, it's time for you to leave.

And my good brother, Denny Landon, was with me,

and I just froze. Because I

was trying to decide how fast I could leave or how fast

I could take the gun out of his hand.

But I thought about something else.

I thought about my example as a Christian.

And I listened to the voice of Brother Landon

when he said, Glenn, let's go.

And I left. But my natural response

was to want to retaliate,

and I'm here today because I didn't retaliate. I think my wife's happy

about that. Let's move on.

Christianity therefore governs my relationship. If the gospel is governing the

way I treat my spouse, if it is governing the way I treat my child,

Parents and others, there is a sacrifice

involved. Yes, sometimes I have to give up things

in order to sustain my relationship.

Listen, if you don't want to take this tire back, you can have it.

I don't need it. I want my life. That's more important.

But even more so, This is in

commensurate with a great mystery of Ephesians 5:31-32.

Ephesians 5:31–32

Will someone read that for me right quick? I, I'm sorry, I want

to get through this, but I don't want to neglect, neglect reading the scriptures.

Ephesians 5:31-32, nice and loud for me.

Ephesians 5:31–32

So this is the mystery. Our responsibility to

Christ and the church parallels our responsibilities

to family. Here it is: all of us submit because

of love for the Lord. We talked about that. Families submit

to one another because of love for the Lord. The— what the husband submits to

the wife because of love for the Lord. The wife

submits to the husband because of her love for the Lord.

Members submit to elders because of their love for the Lord. I,

as an elder in the Lord's church, you know, we,

we elder because of

our love for the Lord. You submit to the eldership because of your

love for the Lord, not because we've got a gun

on you, we're trying to force you to do something.

This mystery teaches us that submission

is a choice that's not— that is not top-down

but bottom-up. Based on the Scriptures,

we learn how to submit to one another.

And you may say, well, there's got to be more to

it than that. Well, there is. In this great mystery, 3 things

are involved. Number one, leaving.

Separating, cleaving, sticking,

oneness. Marriage— marriage is about separating

from mom and dad,

establishing your own place or domicile,

sticking to your husband,

and sticking to your husband domestically, sexually, and spiritually.

Singleness, oneness. It's okay to come back

home to mom and dad. You're gonna need them. We live in a world where

the extended family, grandparents, are so important in helping us to

raise our kids. We couldn't do it without them. You may think you can,

and maybe you can, I don't know, but I thank God for grandparents.

Amen. Many of us are in the process of

leaving Cleveland and won this, but we haven't completed

that process. Well, what's the problem?

Many make vows, but often what we really mean is,

I stay as long as the rent is paid or

the mortgage is paid, the lights are on, food is available, and he's not

acting like a fool. That's about it.

We don't remember for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, till death

do us part. We don't— that— they take that out nowadays.

And when they do that, we're forgetting sticking,

separating, and singleness.

Marriage involves leaving, cleaving, and oneness. Am I going too fast?

If Mercedes comes into this marriage as Mercedes Dawson— that's

her maiden name— I have a problem because

she hasn't left home yet. What is she doing?

She's still sticking home.

I want to stay home. I, you know, I, I love you, I want to

marry you, but I want, I want to stay with mom and dad. Well,

you can't have it both ways. Something's got to go.

You have to leave home and cleave to your husband.

Don't cleave to your parents and your husband. Doesn't say

that. Respect them, but there's a line of demarcation

that God says You need to leave.

When God told Abraham and Sarah to leave Ur of the Chaldees,

they didn't bring Haran with them. They left. Can you

imagine that conversation? Abraham comes to Sarah and says, Sarah, we're leaving.

For what? God told us to. Where are we going? I don't know, but we're

leaving. You think Sarah submitted to that?

Yeah. Why? Because Abraham submitted to God,

and she loved Abraham, and Abraham communicated to her the fact that he

loves her, and she trusted him, and by faith they went.

They don't do that today like they used to back then.

But if she comes in that marriage as

Mercedes Dawson instead of Mercedes Hitchcock, I've got a problem.

Y'all quiet on that one. How can you have 2 people who

are diametrically opposed to each other, like oil and vinegar or oil and water,

and they get married because of a view that opposites attract?

Ridiculous. Romance and

reality are as far apart as day and night. A lot of us got

caught up in romance and we didn't see the reality of what we were doing.

Until it was too late to do anything about it.

I was kind of like that, but thank God I had a wife that knew

something about the Scriptures and was able to be patient and work with this old

windbag. Many make the most important

decisions of their lives when we are ill-equipped to make them because

we're still sticking. We're not leaving,

we're not cleaving.

So I advocate— and this is— boy, if my young people were here,

I sit them down and I show them this. I advocate long courtships.

Now, as a disclaimer, Brother Hiram,

I want y'all to know this: I

met and married my wife in 41 days.

It would have been 11 except I had to go back to the base for

a month. Okay, don't tell the kids that.

Can you wake up and see her hair in rollers?

Can you stand the smell of his breath in the morning? Can you

listen to her snore at night? Can you eat her food? Can you live with

this person until you die? You think about that

before you said I do? No, Brother Glenn,

we were in love. Well, you— some may have

been in love, but I was in lust. I married a beautiful

pair of legs, and I thought, we gonna make this work, baby.

You are about to do the most profound thing that 2 people can do,

and that's trying to live together in the same house for the rest of your

life. And many of us don't think about this.

We leave the world, we are united together, our covenant relationship

with Jesus Christ, and Soul— body, soul, and spirit.

These 2 people are intertwined, they are mingled together, and a

threefold cord is not easily broken. What do we mean by that?

The problem of marriages are with people who will not leave,

cleave, and they never had the oneness. They just move

in and become roommates, and marriages

are breaking apart because of this. And families with

small children are confused by it, and children

want answers. So the problem surfaces— is

it working? So the problem surfaces as people refuse to submit because

of respect and love for the Lord.

Our relationships therefore are built on service. How you carry

this out? The Bible says, but not

so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be

as your younger— as the younger, and he

who governs as he who serves. For who

is greater, he who sits at the table or he who serves?

Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet the Lord

says, I am among you as the one who— what?

Serves. Here's the point: husbands,

wives, grandparents, children,

single parents, blended families, all families,

everyone who's a child of God— relationships

are built on service. As we love the Lord and are being responsible.

When one has respect for Jesus, he has a whole new insight

into the nature of his or her relationship. He surrenders his

ego-centered desire for dominance in the relationship and accepts

the role of one who serves. Ooh, time's flying.

Why? One reason, out of respect and

love God's Son,

Jesus Christ. So selfishness ends where

service begins. When we have respect

for him, we can submit ourselves.

Let me stop there for a moment. Any questions?

I love you. What does it mean to submit?

See how people stayed married or submit or sit Subjected

to one another. It often occurs in the New Testament. It does not mean

seeking dominance. In 1 Corinthians 16:16, the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 16:16

were called to submit themselves to believers with a record of service like Stephanas.

1 Peter 5:5, young men are told to submit unto the older.

1 Peter 5:5

They are to recognize their superior experience and wisdom

when they act as competent examples. They are to serve

or submit unto their experience, to place themselves under them for

the experience, because of their experience.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.

When you submit to your husband, you submit as if your husband—

I know you can't believe this— is the Lord. Your love for

the Lord, your love for your husband should mirror one another.

Husband is the head of the wife. He must also read verse 24,

because sometimes We get a little arrogant there.

Not any kind of head like some old praying rooster, but a submissive

head because of our love for the Lord. And that's so important.

You know, I wish I had more time to talk about that because back

in the '80s when we were working in family

abuse, violent shelters and stuff like that, we had the kids program

and then we were dealing with some of the the victims

of spousal abuse. I was one of 3 guys that was there.

My wife was there with me as well and all, but a

lot of this macho man stuff came in and I was trying to deal with

it from the scriptures. And of course, a lot of these fellas, they don't know

anything about the Bible. All they know is what they brought to the relationship,

and the baggage they unpacked was just atrocious, you know. But If

folks can learn submission and learn the

love for Christ, they won't be so

arrogant. So what is involved in headship?

And I had to learn this. I don't

speak as a professional on this one, but as head of

the family, there is a path to happiness. Amen.

There are happy families in this world among

brothers and sisters in Christ because of proper

headship. And again, as I said before, I say

it again, all ought to submit ourselves unto the

Lord. Ephesians 5:21. The husband

Ephesians 5:21

is the initiator. What is the— what does initiator mean? When you

initiate something. He's a starter.

When I crewed bombers and tankers in the Air Force,

we had to initiate engine start off an alert pad with a cartridge

starter. And it

was the initiator of all the action. When that klaxon go off and we're

running for an alert call, I call number 4 engine

start, and that cartridge will fire off.

And that bomber or that tanker will fire up and we're ready to roll in

less than a minute's time. Why? Because that cartridge

starter was the initiator of

all the action that will follow thereafter.

Husbands, you are the initiator of love in

the house. Look at Ephesians 5:23. Someone else read that

Ephesians 5:23

for me. Ephesians 5:23.

Ephesians 5:23

For the

husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the

church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Thank you.

He is the initiator.

He is the head of the house. He is the initiator

of love. Whose responsibility is it to remember the

anniversary? His or hers?

Be honest. Hers?

All right, now be scriptural. His.

Not hers, his. What about birthdays?

Be scriptural. No, be honest.

Mom's, right? Mom remembers everything.

And I look at Mercedes, and she's good at remembering stuff.

Most women are historical. They can pull up anything,

and I appreciate it. But you know,

I'm the initiator. If I'm called on the carpet, or if

I'm audited by God for what I've done in the relationship,

I'm the initiator. I've got to be able to say, honey,

Tell me what I can tell the Lord. No, I'm gonna

say, Lord, this is what I

did because I love you and I love my wife and

I love my family. Now I'm not saying all you guys run out there and

try to get a pad to remember all the birthdays and stuff like that,

you know, however you have it in your house, but you need to work on

remembering. You're the initiator of love in the house and When

children don't understand this concept, they can act

out. And when you push your

wife over to take care of their acting out because you're not initiating much of

anything, guess what's gonna happen to the kids? Nah,

you already know. Let me move on. You're looking at me funny. If you want

love to come to you, husband, you have to initiate it out.

It's not a matter of your wife having to prove anything to you first as

head of the house. You are the initiator.

What's involved in headship? When you initiate,

the wife will respond if she loves the Lord.

If she is not— if not because she is

the head of the house, but she is to be

in submission to her husband in everything because

she loves the Lord.

What he sends over in initiation, she can send

back. It's a choice for her. She can either

send it back or not send it back. Ladies, if you love the Lord,

what will you do? You'll send it back.

Now, this doesn't mean if he doesn't send it over, she's not supposed

to do right. When you are married, you must act married. You can't

have the excuse, he hasn't done anything for me lately.

If your husband is going to be a proper head, he will initiate,

because this is what Christ did for the church.

Remember, submission is out of love and respect for Christ.

What did he do as the initiator? He gave himself for

the church. He loved it,

maintained it. It was spot-free,

wrinkle-free, totally dependent on Christ,

carefree, and altogether holy because

of his submission to the Father to sacrifice himself

for a cause that was greater than all of us.

So wives, before you beat me up, let me,

let me do this. Wait a

The wife submits herself out of love for Christ.

He submits as he accepts his responsibility to be head of the

wife in the spirit of Christ.

This is in the spirit of Christ as he accepted the responsibility of

being head of the church. He gave himself for it. If you

want to be the head, you must be the head in the way of

Christ. Christ has given man headship,

but he has also given the criteria of that headship.

What is the criteria? You must do it in the spirit of

Christ, not in the spirit of the way you were

brought up, not in the spirit of what the fellow said down

at the— on the job. If you treat her

the way I treat my church, I gave my

all. You send that over to her, and if you have

a submissive wife, guess what she'll do?

She'll send it back over to you.

Y'all do this or something, you know, let me know you're alive out there.

Okay?

Why doesn't the wife submit? Not because

your husband has more sense than you.

He does not have more sense than you. You may be better

educated, you may have gone to a better school, but that's nothing.

When you married him in the Spirit of the Lord, you accepted him as being

head of the house. Even if you are President

of the United States— well, I'm gonna leave that alone—

president of something, when you walk in in that house,

guess what? He's your head because

you love the Lord. Not because

he's smarter than you. Not because he's better

than you. As a matter of fact,

the Christian wife submits to her husband and she therefore allows

him to fulfill his God-given responsibility as head.

See, I'm trying to set this up for the rest of the seminar, 'cause when

you understand submission, All the rest of this will flow for

you. I hope anyway. Better smile

when I say that. Many have lost the ability to submit

and be subordinate. Woman is intellectually man's

equal. She is socially his superior.

Morally, she's more susceptible. Religiously, she's probably more

devotional. She is man's companion, And still

she is his subordinate.

But she is not yours by ownership,

but by what? By relationship.

Because of her relationship to Christ,

because of your relationship to Christ,

and God's scriptures are set before us as the

parameters for the operation of our marriage and our family, to govern ourselves and

our children, I'm going to submit to the Scriptures

out of love for Christ and

my love for you as my spouse.

And it may not seem natural for me to do, but I'm gonna do it

because I have the mind of Christ and

in the spirit of Christ,

even if it involves sacrifice. I'm not talking about

a recap tire now. I'm talking about giving up a career, maybe.

To be a loving mother, a loving parent. I'm talking about pushing

away from the world and being transformed by the renewing of my

mind that I might be a living sacrifice for

my family.

It's not that my husband owns me, as a

wife one time told me, he thinks he owns me.

You know, you're not Tarzan and she's not Jane.

She doesn't come with a saddle for you to ride her and all that.

You don't own her. You don't own your children. That's another story

for tomorrow, but we have our children

by relationship, not by ownership. America doesn't

understand that. And when we don't understand

that, we do horrible things to our children. 3 horrible things

that we do— I'm off the subject, I'm coming back because I gotta quit.

3 horrible things that we do to our children, all starts

with an A: abortion,

abandonment, and abuse.

Why? Because we don't know how to submit,

we don't know how to sacrifice, and We don't

know the scriptures, and we are farming

out that responsibility to other people, including the church.

And if the church don't do it, it's the elders' fault.

If the church don't do it, it's the preacher's fault,

or the Bible class teacher's fault.

Do you not know that the primary responsibility for disciple-making

for our children are parents?

Not elders. Not the church.

Okay, you're looking at me funny. Let me move on.

Why subordination? We'll do more of that tomorrow. Ladies, you are

man's subordinate. Not because I said so, but because

your husband says so. Not because God says so. Why?

1 Corinthians 11:7, woman is in the glory of man, she is

1 Corinthians 11:7

his glory. Man is incomplete, probably, without a woman.

I know you're gonna argue with me on that, but see me later.

Thy desire should be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

God made them equal. God gave them dominion over all.

God did not place one above— one above the other.

They were equal. No scripture that shows anything other than seniority.

Adam was first made, then Eve.

Eve took the lead. Adam didn't take it. Eve took the lead.

She did what God told her not to do because Satan said, if you

eat this, you will be just like God.

Eve was fooled and she took the lead. She usurped. She took

what God— what didn't belong to her. And God forever took the lead from the

woman and gave the lead to the man.

When did this difference begin? God took the lead and gave it to the man

because Eve took the lead and sinned. It is not, therefore, punishment.

Superior took the lead from the inferior

and gave it to her equal. Why does the woman obey the man?

To prove to God.

Not to her husband, to prove to God, not her

children, to prove to God

that she can submit to him.

And when she submits to him, everything else falls into place,

that she can obey God. It's not because she's less than her husband,

not because she's inferior. That's what makes

it punishment in the eyes of some folks. But she

is his equal. If you could not submit to your,

to your superior, submit therefore to your equal.

This is the why of subordination and submission.

Questions?

I still love you. In each relationship,

therefore, everyone is to submit. There's no shortcut

to a quality relationship. It can be quality only when God,

who originates it, dominates it. Wives, submit to your own

husbands as is fitting to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not

be bitter towards them. Children, obey your parents in all things,

for this is well pleasing to the Lord. The basis of

submission and the Christian family,

they go together. They help to weather the storms and the

problems of life. Life has 3 major problems: guilt, grief, and the grave.

Jesus is the answer to all 3 of those problems. It originates

with submission. It is maintained by the Scriptures.

And folks, we have these great resources available

to us who are children of God tonight to deal

with whatever problems or concerns or behavior that confronts our family.

Everyone therefore is to submit. God will dominate our marriages when we

return to a healthy respect and love for God and each other.

Husbands earn the headship in the marriage when he respects

and loves his own wife as being his own body.

He must be willing to sacrifice for his family. Christ earned the

headship when he gave himself.

Again, submission is a choice.

She doesn't have to submit. She's right.

You don't have to submit. It's a choice.

Do you love the Lord? Are you willing to do what

God tells you to do, even if it involves sacrifice?

And it will take some sacrifice. My great-grandmother

was 110 years old. I have a lot of her quotes.

One of them, she said, if you're going to get to the promised land,

baby, you're going to have to go through some wilderness.

When it comes to our marriages, we're going to have to make some sacrifices

for the success of our kids and

our wives and ourselves.

What questions do you have? Ooh, look at that, right on time.

Oh, do I have 15 more minutes? Oh, what questions do

you have? Anything you want

to add?

How does this relate to our children?

You think our children can buy into the concept of submission?

You said no? For some of them, it may be too late.

It's never too late though if we do what? 2 things.

We demonstrate it ourselves and we work on

transferring it to our children.

Disciple— you're the primary disciple maker. You're the primary

demonstrator of submission in

your family. Fathers and mothers, your children

have a chance. They're smart. They're intelligent.

They're gifts from God.

God doesn't give you a gift but that you can't unwrap

it. It may take you a while to figure them out,

but sooner or later,

you'll figure it out.

No other questions?

Boy, I must have really done something wrong tonight, man. Usually I get questions from

you guys. Really?

When you're more awake? I appreciate you taking the time and

making the sacrifice to come out tonight. I'll try and be a little

bit more succinct tomorrow, but I appreciate you being here.

I want to close with a prayer now, if I might. Would you pray with

me? Our great God and Father in heaven,

we do beseech thee on behalf of all of the parents in the world

to help us to learn the value

of loving thee and submitting to thee.

In helping our children and our marriages,

that we may demonstrate to the world our

ultimate love in glorifying thee as

our number one priority in our lives.

Help this good congregation, Father, and all the families that are here to

continue to excel in what they do for each other

and for their children and for generations yet

unborn, that we might preach the gospel to them

in thy presence, that they can replicate that to

their children. And when the day

comes and eternity is

before us and we stand

before thee in judgment, Father,

Help us to hear your voice. Well done,

thy good and faithful parent and servant.

Enter ye into the joy of my

kingdom. Protect us as we

dismiss, Father. Bring us back tomorrow if at all possible,

Father, and give us a spirit where we can invite

others to come and be a part of this effort. In Jesus'

mighty name, amen. Thank you very much.

Just say a quick thing about tomorrow. Thanks, thanks to Glenn for the

lesson tonight. And tomorrow we'll start at 9 o'clock, and there'll be 3 lessons,

one at 9, one at 10, and one at 11, on the stages of parenting

at 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock different kids with different approaches to

discipline, and then the blessings of parenting at 11,

and there'll be a take-home lunch provided. So thank you for being here tonight.

Look forward to seeing everybody tomorrow. Appreciate what Glenn said tonight.

Hopefully this sets the foundation for what we're gonna hear the rest of the weekend,

especially the part about people in our lives are not ours by ownership,

by relationship. And a lot of what he said about submission in the marriage

will no doubt bleed over into what we hope for our children and in

our other relationships throughout our lives. So thanks for being being here. We start at

9 o'clock tomorrow and looking forward to seeing everybody back that can make it.

Appreciate it.