Commands and Promises: The First Command With a Promise

Simple stuff. I want to talk to you about freestag.

Are you ready? We were just playing. We were

just playing freestag. I felt a little bit hated.

There's a lot of kids, and I was chasing them

all over the place. But I want to tell you something

about freestag. There's an interesting thing

about freestag. In order for those who are not

the person who's it to win the game, there is

something that has to happen. What is it? That's

right. You've got to unfreeze the frozen people.

Otherwise, the person who's doing the tagging

will eventually win. So if the team that's trying

not to get tagged doesn't do the tagging, the

untagging, or the unfreezing, eventually the

person who's doing the tagging wins. Now, how

does that translate into spiritual enlightenment?

We don't tell people that. Out of what? Out of

ice. Yeah. Spiritual ice. Right? Yeah. I already

said, if you don't tell people who are lost,

right? So people who don't know Jesus are trapped.

They may not think they're trapped. They're frozen.

They may not think they're frozen. Right? The

Bible says we were dead in our trespasses and

sins. So there's dead people who are walking

around thinking they're lost. And they need somebody

to come and tell them that they're frozen. Somebody

to come and tell them that they're trapped and

that they can be free. So evangelism applies.

But what I told you, it also applies inside the

church, between believers. See, out there in

the world, you can't really count on somebody

who doesn't know Jesus to care about the problems

of anybody else who doesn't know Jesus. They're

worried about their own problems. People are

making sure they have enough to eat. Making sure

their bills are paid. Making sure they get to

work on time, or at least they don't get fired

for getting to work late. Right? Maybe they're

deciding what they're going to do on Friday night

partying. That kind of thing. They're working

about all those kinds of things. And they don't

really care that much about what other people

are up to. But inside the church, Kyle, do you

need to come sit up here? Okay? Inside the church,

we should care. It says to be concerned about

your own problems, but also to be concerned about

the things of others. Right? So that plays itself

out in two ways. If somebody's hurting, we're

all hurting. If somebody's hungry in the church,

everybody should make sure they get fed. If somebody's

sick, we should all be praying for them and support

them in whatever ways we can. You can't just

go around ignoring when people inside the church

are hurting. The church has a responsibility

to make sure because you know what happens? People

get stuck. Have you ever had something bad happen

to you and you wondered how God could let that

happen? I have, multiple times. Right? Has that

ever happened to you? Holly? Has that ever happened

to you? Yeah? Sure. Sometimes it happens. And

sometimes that person who's wondering how God

could let that happen to them, he needs another

believer to come alongside and love them. Because

we are the body of Christ and God wants to love

us. He needs somebody to come alongside you and

say, hey, And it doesn't make any sense right

now, but somehow or other, God's going to turn

this out for your good. And that's what Romans

8 says. You love him, don't you? You're called

according to his purpose, don't you? Somebody

come alongside and say, God can turn this out

for your good. But also, it plays itself out

in accountability. When someone is doing something

wrong, and someone else becomes aware of it,

if you let that person go on doing something

wrong, And you don't say anything, now you should

say something in a lovely way. Don't go and shake

your finger out. You're a bad boy. You're a bad

boy. Don't go smacking your head. Liam, knock

it off, man. He's all mad at you because now

his head hurts. It's not like that. Go up to

them, listen. All right, now you're being funny,

but I'm talking. All right, so we go up to them

and we say, look, this is the time to be listening.

This is the time to be worshiping. This is not

the time to be lying. This is not the time to

be drunken. This is not the time to be mad at

somebody. This is the time to give God his proper

place. We encourage them to do the right thing.

Right? And you know what the Bible says happens

to people who are in sin? He didn't save people.

You know what it says happens? If you sin, what

happens? He who sins is slave to sin. That's

what Jesus said. He who sins is slave to sin.

But sometimes they do it just because they don't

know. And they just need somebody to come and

explain to them. Say, hey, you could do better.

You could do this instead. Try this on for a

size. Every time I do what you're doing, it doesn't

work out good for me. When I do what God wants

me to do, it works out great. Or differently,

anyway. Better. And so, you can encourage them

to do a different thing. But if you leave them

thinking that what they're doing is okay and

they're ignorant, they're just going to keep

on doing it. Because they don't know. They're

not going to suddenly know. Unless somehow they

learn. But also, sometimes people do it because

they're hurting. They're angry. They're upset.

They're depressed. They're worried. And so they

do something to try to make themselves feel better.

And for a short period of time, they do feel

better. But then they wind up with worse hurt.

Because afterwards they look back and they say,

oh, I hurt somebody. I shouldn't have done it.

I'm a Christian. Why did I do that? Right? And

they wind up hurting themselves in the process.

So they need somebody to come along to them and

say, here is a course of action. You're hurting.

I can see you're hurting. Here's something you

can do. Here's something we can do together.

And give them a good option. Sometimes we do

it because they're in there. Sometimes we do

it because they're hurting. Right? Sometimes

we do it because they were caught off guard.

They just made a mistake. Right? Somebody walked

up to hit me. And before he hit me, I decked

him in the face. He didn't hit me. But down he

went. Does that sound right? Is that the right

course of action? No, it's not really the right

thing. Better would be to defend yourself and

convince that person that they're making a bad

decision and then forgive them. You're going

to cause them harm if you don't have to. If you

have to, you have to. But you always avoid it

if you don't do it, if you don't have to. Right?

And so it's just because sometimes people are

caught off guard. Like we're all supposed to

be listening right now, right? But if your buddy's

sitting next to you and he's poking at you or

playing with you, Or if somebody around you is

laughing or dancing or goofing off, it's hard

for you to do the right thing. You're like, oh,

I want to get wrapped up in doing what they're

doing. And we start doing it without really even

thinking about it. It's not because we're bad

people. It's because that's the way things work.

Somebody walks behind you and goes, hey! Right?

You wish you had a little less caffeine. Because

you're real jumpy. You know? That's the way it

is sometimes. Sometimes we just do it. So then

we need somebody to come alongside us and show

us what's better. What would be the better response?

What would be the better choice? It's like a

priest hat. For lost people, we bring the gospel.

That's really all you can do. If you go up to

a lost person and tell them to stop lying, you're

really just chaining them up more. That's all

you're really doing. Because they know they're

lying. They already know that. And they already

know in their heart of hearts they shouldn't

do it. You tell them to stop stealing, you're

really just putting another bar in their cage.

Because they already know they shouldn't do that.

In their heart, they know. Men know. We know

what we should and what we shouldn't do. We have

conscience. They think all conscience. If a person

doesn't have a conscience, they're a sociopath

and you should help him. Call the police. Right?

Because they're going to hurt somebody because

they have no conscience. But everybody has a

conscience. It varies with person to person.

It varies. But everybody has a conscience and

knows some things that they're doing wrong. You

just won't tell them what they're doing wrong?

That's not going to do it. So if you tell them

what they can do right, they might be set free.

And if they're set free, they can stop doing

what's wrong. Jesus says, come. Follow me. You'll

know the truth. And the truth will set you free.

Now that we know the truth, we say the same thing

to others. Come, follow Jesus, and you'll know

the truth, and the truth will set you free. But

some people do it, they're just reacting, that's

all they're doing. And you might find other reasons,

but here's a fact, it doesn't matter why somebody

got tagged, if you don't unfreeze them, your

team is going to lose eventually. People have

got to be unfrozen. So we share the gospel, we

act in accountability, we encourage other believers,

we stop them when they're hurting, that way we

don't leave them frozen. Let's pray together.

Father in heaven, we do thank you that there

are people in this world yet today, in 2025,

that care about us. That we are not lone rangers

or mavericks or that one wild beast that you

see trying to fly south for the winter all by

himself. We live as part of community. And in

the church, for those of us who have accepted

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and realize

that you called us to be in the New Heights Fellowship

Baptist Church, we have a responsibility to one

another, to care about one another, to hold one

another accountable, to correct one another.

It's not just we correct the children. Lord,

I've been corrected a number of times in my life

by children. And I'm okay with them, as long

as they're right. In fact, I desperately need

it when I'm wrong and they're right. I'm so grateful

that we have people of a variety of ages, backgrounds,

cultures, capabilities, talents, spiritual giftings,

all kinds of different inside our church. And

I thank you, Lord, that if I would be frozen,

I can count on somebody to come and I'm free.

And I hope I'll always be found dependable to

step up for somebody else. And I am reminded

now most of all, Lord, that we have a responsibility

to one another to love one another. And as Jesus

loved us, and as Jesus got up from washing the

disciples' feet for the last supper, the last

meal he would ever take with them, and he got

down on his knees and he washed their feet, their

dirty, nasty feet, and he wiped their feet on

the very clothes that he was wearing, on the

towel that he was wearing. When he got up and

he said, Oh, if only you'd known what I did to

you today. For if I washed your feet, how much

more should you wash each other's feet? Lord,

help us to remember that somebody might be frozen

and that we have a responsibility to ungraze

them. Watch over us during our time of worship

and as we look at the command that came with

the promise today to the adults and as the children

look into the Bible and learn... their leaders

to the classroom. Brother Josh Mitchell and Tony

Tate, as they both have bad sinus colds as we

speak. So both of them missed the associational

prayer and fellowship time last night, which

was sad because it was pretty stinking cool.

How did we get to eat a good meal? But we prayed

together and did a little worship, and it went

a little longer than expected, but it was a blessing.

But they both missed it, and they're missing

it here tonight too. Before we get into this,

two things. So one, this worksheet is going to

go by fast. It is not one of the more intense

or difficult worksheets that I have made. It's

kind of middle of the road. It does not have,

as you can see, once you see it, a ton of blanks

or confusing things on it. So we'll get through

it pretty quickly. But before we do that, I want

to talk briefly about praise and worship. It's

very briefly. And so you may have noticed that

some people. Raise a hand during worship. They'll

raise a hand like this. Raise a hand like this.

They'll raise a hand like this. Some people raise

a hand like this. Some people raise a hand like

this. Some people raise a hand like this. There's

all this hand raising going on. You might ask

yourself, you know, what is all that? What's

all that hand raising thing that people do? So

in the book of Psalms, which is not the only

place by any means, but there is a ton of times

in the book of Psalms where we are told to praise

God. And that song we just sang right there where

it says we sing Alleluia. That's the word. word

hallelujah, actually, it can be with or without

the H, so alleluia or hallelujah is the same

word, and it means praise the Lord. And that

is one of seven words, actually, and I don't

have them all memorized, but it's one of seven

words that are used when talking about praising

the Lord. And one of those words that is used

talking about praising the Lord, you know, One

of those words means to raise your hand in praise.

In fact, there are two of them. I don't know

if there's any Hebrew word for it off the top

of my head, but I guess it was a press that we

could talk about this for a minute. So one of

those Hebrew words means praise the Lord like

this. Remember, hallowed be thy name. Right?

Heil Hitler. Heil Hitler. Hitler was fleeing.

Right? That's what they were doing. They were

praising them as gods, essentially. But anyway,

so it means praise the Lord like this. Raise

your hands and praise. Salute. So surrender.

It's a total recognition of God's glory to raise

your hand. So if you never have raised your hands

in worship, I want to be clear about something.

If you have never raised your hands in worship

like this, then you have never honored that command,

which is repeated dozens of times. So just be

aware of that. You think, well, I don't do that.

I'm too mild. We have a couple in our church.

Like, I don't sing. Well, there's very clear

commands. Maybe you don't sing when the body

is gathered. You better sing praise to God sometime

because it's commanded to do that. In fact, the

New Testament commands the church to be that.

One of the things we're supposed to be is singing

praise to our Lord. Anyway, so this is one type

of praise of the seven. Raise your hands like

that. Then there's another type of praise. Raise

your hands like this. So if you just raise one

hand like that, that's still honoring that first

type. If you raise a hand like this, you can

see the difference already, right? There's this.

This was what again? Honoring or a salute or

recognition of God's glory, right? So what do

you think this is? No, it's not really surrendering.

This is more surrendering. They're both praising

God. What am I, if I'm going, help me, Alex,

come on. You're feeling an urge, aren't you,

right now? You're like, what does he mean? He's

talking to me? Yeah, so you're receiving, you're

asking God to send. So if you're in church on

a Sunday or a Tuesday night and somebody said

something to hurt you and your heart is hurting

or you broke up with your girlfriend or your

boyfriend or your wife is talking about divorce

or you lost your job, whatever like that, you

come in here and you do this, you're saying,

God, I is God over my circumstances. I recognize

him. I honor him. He is in charge, right? Like

the key verse that we had from, oh, no, Ariana

had a devotional. And I did devotional this morning.

You can check in my devotional. You didn't saw

it. But anyway, you're saying, though I fear,

I trust you. I know you've got this. I'm honoring

you despite my circumstance, right? But if you

do this, you're saying, Lord, I need your help.

I'm praising you because you are the one who

helps. You're the one who can help, right? The

silver statues, the gold, the bronze, the wood,

they do nothing. No deal. Amen will help. No

job will help. No money will help. Nothing really

helps. It's all like self -medicating, right?

But God, I need your help. That's this phrase.

And then there's one more that I want to mention

to you. And it is actually the one that starts

hallelujah. It's halal. That one I know from

because it's the one I kind of like it because

it makes me laugh a little bit. A halal is a

hooter, a holler. It's to just yell out. It's

an ecstatic, maybe one or two or three syllables,

right? Like you could just yell hallelujah. Some

people do that. I have a trouble with that because

it's such a long thing to yell. When Amalia was

a cheerleader all the way up through high school,

they told her that after the team scored and

returned to the team, they were not allowed to

go, woo -hoo. They were never. It was against

the rules. You could never go, woo -hoo, or woo.

They were never allowed to do that. They always

had to yell something like, go Rangers, or good

job. They had to say some actual words. They

were not allowed to yell, woo -hoo. And you know

what the funny thing about that is? That's a

holler. That's a hooter, a holler. excitement

for what just happened. And so when God praises,

or we're praising God, and God is doing something

and you know it, it's perfectly fine to go, yeah!

Woo! I'm excited! You know, hallelujah! Although,

again, now it's kind of long for me, so I don't

need to do that. But if you'll hear me in the

front row, and I do, and so what I'm saying to

you, and I want to be really super clear, these

are commands of Scripture before you die. odds

are you're going to need to do it. Because, right,

he who loves me follows my commands. That's what

Jesus said. See, these are the commands of Scripture.

So sometime before you go to meet Jesus, you're

going to want to say, I halal. I hooted and hollered

for Jesus. I raised my hands in praise. I raised

my hands in petition. And if you just dismiss

those things, then you could get there facing

Jesus and be like, hey, there was no halal. What

happened with that? Why was there no halal? Because

he said do it. So you might just ask and say,

what happened? But if you're in worship on a

Tuesday night or Sunday night, or a Sunday night,

and you feel like there's an urging in you, and

you don't know what it is, it could be to worship

in one of those other ways. And I'd give you

three of them. I don't know all seven of them

off the top of my head. But it could be that

God's urging you to raise your hands, or to raise

your hands. or to give a little hooter holler

and just say, man, I feel when I do it, usually

I feel like overjoyed, like my heart is going

to burst from how grateful I'm feeling toward

the Lord. And that's usually when I do a hooter

holler. That's to explain my emotion. But you

might be somewhere else. And so I'm just saying,

you could be misinterpreting a signal of the

Holy Spirit if you're in worship and he's urging

you to worship in that way and you don't do it.

Then you could be like, the Bible says, don't

quell the Spirit. So don't think people are weird

when they raise their hands. There's nothing

weird about that at all. It's actually biblically

commanded to do that. Not that you have to do

it. There is an appropriate time and a not appropriate

time, right, to do it. And you figure out what

that is for you. Okay. All right. Now we're on

to the worksheet, as I said. Not a super long

worksheet today. Did anybody get this before

they walked in the room? I did not give you the

reference. Did anybody know? In the New Testament,

I told you there's a New Testament verse that

says, it quotes a command that says it is the

first command that comes with a promise. Did

anybody find it? Yes, sir. Did anybody find it?

Ready? No. That is the correct command. Did you

find the reference? Okay. It's Ephesians 6, 1

and 2. So I'm going to flip in my Bible there.

Again, there's not a ton of Bible in what we're

studying today. It's not super hard to comprehend.

It's Ephesians 6, 1 to 2. Probably you could

memorize this. In fact, we could have made that

part of the lesson today. It says in Ephesians

6, 1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord,

for this is right. Honor your father and mother,

which is the first commandment with a promise.

Okay, so that's Ephesians 6, 1 and 2. So first

of all, we're in that upper left -hand box, and

there's a word right under Ephesians there, if

you wrote it in. Did you write in Ephesians?

Okay, good. I see a lot of nodding. Ephesians

6, 1 to 2 is the top there. And then there's

a word right under there that starts with a C,

and it is? Children, right? We're going to come

back and talk about that before we're through.

And then down the right -hand side there, it

says O -Y -P. Obey your parents. Boy, that was

easy, wasn't it? Okay, nice and simple. And then

in the bottom half of that box, broken off by

a line separately because it's a separate verse,

it says, honor they father and mother. So I want

to say to you that if you were raised in a Christian

home, you probably have heard these verses. In

fact, I would submit to you that many Christian

parents have quoted these verses to their children.

And in doing so, to try to get their children

to behave or follow rules, whatever, they would

be incorrect. Got it? If a parent teaches these

verses to their children in order to try to get

their children to obey them, that would be incorrect.

Before we're done, I'm going to explain to you

why that is true. Now, it is not incorrect to

teach them to your children. You should definitely

teach them to your children. You definitely should

do that. And there is a result that you're looking

for. It is just they're not there for you to

teach your children to try to get them to behave.

So go over to the right box now. We're still

really in verse 2, but there is some confusion

here. It says, which is the first command with

a promise. So fill in that box, which is the

first command with a promise. So Ephesians 6,

1 and 2 said, children, obey your parents and

the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father

and mother, which is the first command with a

promise. And then it goes on in verse 3, it says,

so that it may turn out well for you and that

you may live long on the earth. But verse 3,

where most people take that as if it's quoting

the Old Testament, in fact, in the New American

Standard, it's all in caps as if it were a direct

quotation of the Old Testament. But as you can

probably all imagine, because I'm saying this,

it's not exactly a direct quoting of the Old

Testament. So even though Paul is definitely

referencing the fact that the verses in Exodus

do have a promise to them, he does not directly

quote the promise. In fact, he says, so that...

Honor your father and mother, which is the first

commandment with a promise. And then he says,

so that it may turn out. So which is the first

commandment with a promise is in parentheses.

So you can take that out. The sentence reads

like this. Children, obey your parents and the

Lord, for this is right. honor your father and

mother so that it may turn out well for you that

you may live long on the earth. So in other words,

he's saying, follow that command, do follow it

because this will be the results. He's not saying

follow that command, which is the first of the

commandment or first with a promise. And here

is the promise of that command. It means two

different things, right? So for example, if I

say, if you go downtown and you cross the street,

not in the crosswalk, you might get a ticket.

The law says you could get a ticket for jail.

walking if you cross somewhere other than in

a crosswalk. So if I say to you, cross in the

crosswalk. Because there is a law that says you

can get a ticket if you don't. That is different

than if I say to you cross in the crosswalk and

you will not get a ticket for jaywalking. See

the difference? There's two differences. Both

are true. Neither is a lie by any means. In fact,

they're both completely true. But it's not saying

the exact same thing. He's not saying follow

that command because you will specifically get

the promise that is associated with that command.

And here it is. That's not what he's saying.

He's saying follow that command because it is

a command that has a promise associated. associated

to it. And in following that command, you will

actually get this. Am I making sense? Help me

if you're confused. Somebody say, explain it

again a different way. Anybody? Okay. So what

the goal here is what's in verse three. Paul

is saying that's the results that you're looking

for so that it may turn out well. for you, and

that you may live long on the earth. That's the

results you're looking for. And he says, honor

that command, which happens to be the first command

with a promise. So under where you wrote that,

which is the first command with a promise, you'll

see a big fat arrow that points to the right,

and we're going to have the reference for the

command. So does anybody know what book, there

are actually two of them, but we're looking for

one in particular, where you can find the Ten

Commandments, Exodus. You can also find them

in Deuteronomy, because Deuteronomy is a retelling.

the original writing, so Exodus, and what's the

chapter? 20. Does anybody know the verse? It's

12. Did I put it on there? I did put it on there.

Okay, yes. So yeah, there you go. All right,

so Exodus 20, verse 12. Okay, so I'm going to

Exodus 20:12

flip there and read it. Now, this is more for

us to make sure we understand, because in some

sense, if this promise that we're about to read

differs, from the one that he just told us, the

result that he just told us we could receive

if we do it, then we get both, right? So if the

command comes with a promise, you follow the

command, you're going to get the promise, right?

And if the command is there and somewhere else

somebody says, follow the command and you will

get this, if both are true and they're not the

same thing, then you're going to get both. Right?

That's good. That would be what we want. So now

we want to know what does the original command

say for the promise? Because he didn't tell us

what that was. He told us what the result will

be if we follow the command, but he did not tell

us what the command was, even though most people

take it that that's what he said. Verse 12 says

this. Honor your father and your mother. Notice

what's missing. What's missing? Okay, children

is missing. What else? In the command itself.

Say it again, obey. So children is missing and

obey is missing. So it's different. There is

a difference, okay? That being said, honor your

father and your mother so that your days may

be prolonged on the land which the Lord God gives

you. What's missing from the first one? Okay,

we'll figure it out because we're going to write.

If you'll go to the bottom under where it says

commands and promises, they're on the book. If

you go to the bottom, you got a big long stretch

of blanks that goes across left to right. And

that is essentially Ephesians 6 .3 is what goes

there. And it says, are you ready? So that it

may be well with you and that you may live long

on the earth. Okay, so now I'm going to go back

to Exodus 12 and read the promise portion of

the commandment that comes with a promise, as

Paul would call it. And it is this. So that your

days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord

your God gives you. So now what is missing between

so that your days may be prolonged on the land

which the Lord your God gives you and so that

it may be well with you and that you may live

long on the earth. Yeah, so the whole being well

thing. You catch that? It's completely missing

from the original promise, which is another way

that we know that he's not just re -quoting the

promise. So it's different, isn't it? Who wrote

the book of Exodus as far as we know? We know

God inspired it, but who wrote it? Moses. Who

wrote the book of Ephesians? Paul. Who was Moses?

What's his big claim to fame? Yes, that's it.

He was the leader of God's people out of Egypt,

received the Ten Commandments. I mean, he never

got to see the Promised Land while he was alive.

That was kind of a bummer, right? He sinned against

God in the wilderness, and he also was like God

took his life. You can read about that. We'll

study it at some point. So, yeah, that kind of

sucked. But his claim to fame is he led God's

people. He told God's people what it would be

like to follow God in the Promised Land. That's

what it was really all about. And then he led

them, taught them how to be followers of God

and so on, right? Okay, so who was Paul? Yep,

he was an apostle. What's an apostle? Yeah, not

just a follower. Yep, had to have encountered

him personally. That was one of the requirements,

so they could personally testify to his ministry.

Even though Paul did not encounter him while

he was alive, he did encounter him on the road

to Damascus, which qualified him, right? So that's

good that you know that. It's pretty impressive.

So an apostle is a sent one. An apostle means

sent, which is really funny because there is

a certain verse in the Bible where it says that

everybody went except the apostles. Everybody

was sent out except the apostles when the persecution

struck Jerusalem. So that's pretty much the funniest

verse in the New Testament in my mind because

they were sent and they didn't go, but everybody

else was sent. did go, which is kind of funny

because they're the sent ones. Anyway, that's

my humor. But anyway, so the point is, he was

an apostle, so he was sent by God. And what is

his claim to fame? What did he do? What was the

big thing to do? Not wrote two -thirds of the

New Testament. He did do that. But what did he

do that was his big claim to fame? Paul. Yeah,

yeah. Break that down a little bit. He did more

than just lead the church. Say it again. He established,

he started it, right? He first persecuted, then

turned around completely and led and established

the church. So he traveled around planting churches

everywhere, local churches everywhere. And then

he would go back and teach them and he wrote

them letters and stuff so that they could follow

God like they were supposed to. So notice that

both are leaders of God's people. But for Moses,

he was a leader bringing the people out of slavery

into the promised land. Now, we speak in metaphor,

right? So we're not literal. Paul was a leader

of God's people bringing God's people out of

slavery into the promised kingdom of God, such

as it is on earth, and ultimately into heaven.

Does that make sense? So they are... two men

in almost the same role, and they give almost

the same promise, but those key things that we

just noticed show a difference. And they were,

again, The word children was missing. Obey is

missing. And being well is missing. And then

there's one thing that Paul kind of adds in or

expands, right? The end of his promise. So Moses

told them that they would do well, their days

would be prolonged, or not do well, but their

days would be prolonged in the land that God

would give them. Talk about the promised land.

Where did Paul say they would do long and have

their time prolonged? On the whole earth. So

where Moses was giving them the promised land

that God had promised, Paul is giving Christians

the whole earth. See that difference? Pretty

significant. Okay. In the big boxes in the middle,

the big boxes in the middle, we're going to have

the reference again for the command because that's

what we're studying today. So the book was? Nope.

Exodus, right? The command itself was in Exodus.

The quoting of the command is in Ephesians. Exodus.

And it's 20, 12. So the other two boxes are 20

and 12. All right. So we're going to talk briefly

about why. the differences and I think then we're

gonna it'll all come together for you I think

okay so going down the left hand side we're talking

about the command in Exodus first okay and it

says WTA it's why the word children is missing

written to you could put all yeah but really

it was written to adults right but it was for

everybody not just the adults, so that's true,

but the adults would have certainly received

it. So it was written to adults. Now, what about

the New Testament command? Before we go on, yeah,

you're right. The next thing is comes with a

promise. So if anybody wants to fill that out

now, they can. It comes with a promise. And the

Exodus command comes with a promise. That's correct.

But was the New Testament command written to

adults or was it written to children? Be careful.

It's written to adults. So why does it say children?

Because it's children of God. So actually the

children command, children goes a little deeper

than that. A child is someone, and I don't want

to get ahead of myself because I'm going to give

you this in a minute, but a child is someone

who has a specific relationship with God and

God's people. So we'll come back to that in a

second. So the next one was comes with a promise.

So the command in Exodus was written to adults,

comes with a promise. Then it says Paul urges

people to what? KTC. Tim, do you need a paper?

Keep the command. And we've talked about this

recently. So does keeping the command mean doing

what you're told? If the command says do something?

Okay. Expand on that. Okay. So more than just

what you're told. Right. So the job of keeping

the command means we do follow orders, but it

isn't about the orders. It's about what God is

saying. Then as keepers of the command, what

do we do with them? Remember Proverbs 1 from

two weeks ago on Sunday mornings, sinners entice

thou not. I think it is in the King James, right?

So you can't be enticed. It's not that you just

have the command. So if somebody is gossiping,

you don't just say, well, I'm not going to gossip.

You also have to say the command of God is not

to gossip. If somebody is going to steal. You

don't just go, they told me they were going to

steal, but I didn't have nothing to do with it,

right? You say, no, stealing is wrong. So keeping

the command means you have possession of it.

And you're, yes, living by it, but so much more.

As RJ said, you're able to relate it, to understand

it, to deliver it. It's so much more than just

being able to read it and follow it, okay? So

Paul's urging people to keep the command that

Moses wrote in Exodus 20, verse 12, for a reason.

Exodus 20:12

He says, for a reason, so that, okay? The next

verse says, That C is children. So now we talk

about this for a second. Children are those being,

what do you think? Starts with a T and an L.

Anybody who understands foster children, adopted

children, understands this truth. Children are

those who are being what? Nope, not taken. Taught

and loved. That's it. A child becomes your child

when you teach them and love them, which is one

of the reasons why it's so bad when parents don't

do that with their children. There are parents

who say they love their children, but they don't

teach their children. They don't practice discipline.

They don't take the steps that are necessary

to teach right living. They don't bring Christian

teaching into it. They don't bring God's word

into it. They don't keep the commands of the

Lord. They don't teach them how to worship. They

are missing the boat, right? And so they say,

I love, I love, I love, I love. Bless you. But

they don't teach. They'll teach you basically

how to survive like that, but it's not a loving

teaching. It's a more expedient teaching, like

here's how to lie and steal and whatever. It's

not, yeah, just don't get caught. That's not

loving at all, or it's unseemly. So they say

they love them, but to teach them, they burn

them with a cigarette when they act up or put

them in the dryer. That's not loving. It doesn't

matter if it teaches or not. It's teaching them

something, but what they teach them is not good.

And so children are those being taught or loved.

That's what the word children means there in

that verse. And so Paul was writing to the church,

one of the churches that he helped to found.

And so everybody that was in that church, even

though he didn't necessarily baptize them, everybody

was in that church, he saw them as children.

Not children like immature or anything like that,

but children as in he wanted to teach them and

he wanted to love them. So now if we bring that

into present day context, if you love somebody,

even if they're your age, or they're older than

your age, right? You could be an eight -year

-old, right? So I've had a number of conversations

with Phyllis, Sherry's grandma, and she'll ask

me questions about the Bible, ask me about spiritual

things, stuff like that, and I find myself teaching.

Now, she's, in a lot of ways, way wiser than

I am, but then when it comes to certain things,

she wants to know, and I teach her. I love her.

So in that sense, she is my child, even though

she could be my great -grandma. She's old enough,

right? And so my point is, It's not about age,

culture, social background, or whatever. So what

are we talking about? We're talking about members

of the kingdom of God who are willing to know,

they're willing to be taught, they're willing

to be loved. And Paul says, I want to help you.

Let me help you, okay? So then when we go into

that New Testament verse, you see that word children.

Now, if you teach that verse to your children

as if you are teaching it to them because they

are children, right? So if I teach Kyler and

I say, Kyler, you got to obey me. The Bible says

you got to obey me. That's wrong. right? It's

not wrong that he obey me. It's right that he

obey me, but it's wrong to teach that because

that verse is not written to him because he's

a child. Because what if tomorrow at four o 'clock,

Kyle and I are having a conversation and he teaches

me something out of love. Then in that conversation,

who is the child? Me. It doesn't matter. I'm...

nine times his age or seven times his age or

whatever I am. It doesn't matter anymore. One

time back early on, we were trying to do our

list of core values for New Heights, and Arden

was in the room, and Arden was just less than

five years old. And the kids did everything with

us back then as we were trying to figure out

difficult concepts and everything, and he sat

in there, and we were parsing the words and trying

to figure out what we got down to. We had two

words that we couldn't decide which one, but

they were very similar. And he said, well, you

know, to me, as an artist, I feel like God is

saying, these two words could just go together.

They could basically be the same thing. And then

you have to keep them both because they do have

a little bit of difference to them, but basically

you just put them on the same line. He's just

less than five years old. And everybody in the

room went, that was God. God just said that.

We all knew it immediately. I didn't say it being

the pastor, right? And so he was just less than

five years old and he said it. And so what I'm

saying is humble yourself, adults, and realize,

yes, we must teach the children that they should

honor and obey their parents. But the reason

that they do that is not because we want them

to or because this command was written to them.

It is because then they will get the benefit

from it. They will get the blessing. Does that

make sense? Okay. It's a little long for me to

get the point across. But basically, you're looking

for that relationship of teaching and love. And

if it exists, then whoever's being taught and

receiving the love in the relationship is the

child that Paul's talking about. Okay. Then there

are two words in here we're going to break down.

The first one I've given you is obey. Simply

tell me what it means to obey. Simply put. Do

as you're told. Follow instructions. Good. Okay.

So he said, Paul said, honor and obey your parents.

So when your parents tell you what to do, you

do it. Now there's some problems with that. What

if your parents tell you to sin? You don't do

it. Why? Okay. You're saying that would dishonor

them. Maybe. It's kind of a gray area. Yeah,

I'll give you that. Yeah, it would be dishonoring

to God. You could actually hurt them. If they

give you a command that's a sin and you do what

they tell you to do, you could bring about punishment

of them and you need to be aware of that. Be

careful that you don't use that as an excuse

because you do have to honor and obey your parents.

So if your parents are wrong and tell you something

that's against what you think you should do,

but it's not scripturally a sin, then you still

have to do what you're told. You have to be able

to find a verse. Like mom or dad tell you to

lie, steal, murder, hold anger in your heart

towards somebody, things like that. Then that

would all be sin and you can say no. But if they

say, you know, you can't have dinner. You have

to go clean your room because I said so. And

you're like, well, that's not fair. A parent

can't deny their child dinner. That's a sin to

deny your child dinner. And so then you throw

a fit and do all these other things or whatever,

try to get your way or sneak your dinner or whatever

like that. That doesn't work because it isn't

a sin for a parent to deny their child their

dinner at a certain time. It would be a sin for

them to never let them eat, but not to say you

can't have dinner right now. So you've got to

be careful not to try to use that as an escape.

And that means ultimately you err on the side

of caution and obey everything you are told unless

you know it's a sin. Then we come to the other

word, and the other word was honor. So the word

honor. Anybody want to take a stab at the biblical

concept of honor? honoring someone or something

to do the right thing okay so that is one definition

of the word to honor somebody because you would

do what they would want you to do even though

they're not there to tell you to do it okay that

would be a very good way of honoring something

you're representing that so if dad's not around

mom's home dad's not around mom needs help We

all know that dad is the number one help for

mom, right? So dad's not there. So if I'm going

to honor dad, I got to step in. It's the only

way because I'm supposed to be his representative.

I got his DNA. He fed me all my meals to this

point. He kept the roof over my head, you know,

all those kinds of things. So that's pretty accurate

representing. And that's also a good idea of

how we would honor God. Okay. Can you come up

with another one? Okay. The three that jumped

out at me when I initially looked at this, the

first one is to regard or treat somebody with

admiration or respect. If you're going to honor

somebody, so you give them a medal, they're honored.

You give them a salute, they're honored. They

earned their station, didn't they? A man looks

a man in the eye, that's honoring. When you shake

somebody's hand like this, the reason it's a

problem is not because you're dishonoring yourself,

although that's also true. You're showing that

you have poor self -esteem, but it's because

you're dishonoring the person that you're shaking

their hand. You won't even look them in the eye,

right? So to honor somebody is to give them their

station, and that's a big part of what this is

about. We have to recognize our parents are our

parents. You could go, my parents are terrible.

They did not do for me. They left me when I was

young. I haven't seen my mom since she was three.

Or since I was three. Couldn't be the other way.

Since I was three, I haven't seen my mom since

I was three. She didn't put her over. My grandparents

put her. My grandparents are the one I have to

honor. I can't honor my mom. She's been gone

since I was three years old. That's not how that

works. Your mom gave you birth. She gave you

breath. She gave you your bones. She gave you

DNA. Right. She did not abort you. So there she

gave you life. I mean, nobody should ever abort.

But but she didn't. Right. So you owe everything

to her right now. You don't have to follow her

example. You don't have to, you know, do bad

things because of your hurt, because your mom

wasn't around. I mean, you have to follow God's

model. But the point is, you have to honor her,

even though her only contribution was if she

was literally gone from the day. If your mom

died in childbirth for you, would you not honor

her? Of course you would. All the more, right?

So then if she bailed on you at three because

she sinned against you that one terrible time,

you're just going to say, well, I'm not going

to honor her? You don't know. None of us know

the difficulty that people go through. Don't

look at an addict or a broken person or a person

that's not providing and go, they're a dirtbag.

I don't have to give them any respect. Don't

ever do that because you don't know what's in

their heart. You don't know what they've been

through. There are people in this room right

now that are taking the time to be here to learn

God's word that have been through things that

we don't care, me included, that we don't care

to ever talk about, that we don't ever want to

relate. It's terrible. And yet we're here and

that's awesome, but that doesn't make us better

than somebody else. That makes God better. than

all of us, right? So don't disrespect people

and think I don't have to honor them because

they're wrong. So that means if you have a non

-Christian parent, again, I don't want to get

ahead of myself, but if you have a non -Christian

parent and they're treating you with disrespect

or they're bad or they don't honor God, they

don't have nothing to do with the Bible, you

still get to dishonor them or even disobey them

unless, of course, that would be sin. And the

last one that I came up with was to perform what's

due. And I think that Jesus makes that really

clear when he says, he who loves me follows my

commands. So that was getting at what RJ was

talking about. When they're not there, you still

do what's right. Because guess what? Most of

us are going to outlive our parents. Some of

us already have. Quite a few of us already have.

And so they're going to be gone. And just because

they died at 75, 80 years old or whatever, and

you're still kicking, so that doesn't mean you

can just dismiss them. That's right. Because

we're humans and we screw up. So don't honor

them by... following their mistakes, that's not

honoring at all. They wouldn't even want that

for you if they were in their right mind. Sometimes

they do. Thieves raise thieves, for example,

because they think, oh, it's cool, they're following

in my footsteps. Or vulgar people raise five

-year -olds that cuss up a storm because they

think it's funny. But then when you get older,

you realize, hey, that's not really honoring

my parents. Even though that's the way my parents

raised me, in this case, I should put that away.

Good word. Thank you, RJ. Okay, so we're going

over the right -hand side. If you didn't get

that, the whole point was you're supposed to

write some thoughts for yourself in there about

what it means. means to honor. I hope you got

something in the blanks. To give you just a kind

of a quick, in case you didn't write anything

down because you were busy listening, to treat

someone with admiration or respect is one. To

give them their due. And we had somebody say

to represent them well. Okay, so you can put

anything down there that you think, but it's

to honor. If you want to look up, there's probably

like 13 definitions in the dictionary. Okay,

we're going over to the right. Under the 2012,

there's a top blank. It says promise I wrote

in for you. Okay, and this is the first part

of the Ephesians 6 promise, the part that was

missing, if you will, in Exodus. And it's Y -W

-B -W. Anybody got it? You will be well. And

then the reference again, Ephesians 6. Okay,

so that is in Ephesians 6. It is not in Exodus

20. Now, there are a lot of other places in Exodus

where God says, if you do what you're told, you'll

do great, right? But not there. It does say,

I'll prolong your days, which is better than

having short days. Pardon me. You will be well,

Ephesians 6, all right? The next part then, this

one is the part of the promise from Exodus 20,

Exodus 20:12

verse 12, and it is Y -D -W -B -P. Yep. So somebody

explain to me, with the nation of Israel in the

promised land, Why is it significant that their

days in the promised land would be prolonged?

What does that mean? It doesn't mean there's

going to be more than 24 hours in a day or that

the sun's going to stay up a little longer so

they can work longer. You're talking about days

like as in ages or decades or generations. Why

is it significant that the people of Israel would

have their time in the promised land prolonged?

Why is that significant? Okay, so you can understand

what God has given them. True. What eventually

happens to the Israelites in the promised land?

They get in the promised land, right? They do

make it in. Not the generation that got the Ten

Commandments. They don't make it in. But the

next generation makes it in. Say again? Yeah,

so they split first, and then the northern kingdom

was taken over, and a ton of people from the

northern kingdom get what? When they get taken

over, what do they do to all the people? Many,

but not all, not even most. Most of them got

carried off to other lands, taken out of the

promised land to all these other nations. They

did that because if you take the 30 ,000 healthiest

men out of a country, for example, then now the

country's struggling to survive for generations

before they could ever think about raising an

army and potentially rebelling again, right?

So that's why they did it. It's called exile.

So the people of God from Assyria were... first

were taken into exile. Then later, Judah and

Benjamin, which was left, they were captured

and they were taken into exile. So if there's

a time in the future which you're going to be

taken into exile, and let's say sometime down

the road, maybe you don't know exactly when it's

going to be, what's the only thing you're going

to do? If you know it's going to happen, what's

the only thing you can do? I'll give you an example.

Sherry, over three years ago, the doctor told

her that eventually she was going to have to

have surgery on her back. She was in pain. She

gets shots for the pain. And we thought, well,

the doctor said it's a pretty extreme surgery,

so you're going to have to have it someday. But

my suggestion to you is you do all of these things

in order to prevent it. Not prevent, because

it's going to happen for sure. But you're right,

delay. That's what you're thinking. Delay it,

right? So to prolong the days in between, which

is what they were... So if they would have honored

and obeyed their parents, the length of time

between when they went into the Promised Land

and the time they were exiled would have been

stretched out more and more and more. But boy,

you see them not doing that. They do not do that.

They do not honor or obey their parents. They

do not treat God with respect. They do not represent

God well. And it gets worse and worse. It spirals

out of control until... If it was my kids, I'd

have been resisting the temptation to just choke

them out so bad. And God doesn't choke them out.

He does kill the nation, essentially. Then he

takes them into exile. I mean, it got so bad

that under the reign of Manasseh, he and his

wife were having a festival the one night. Manasseh?

Ahab. I think it's Manasseh. It's either Manasseh

or Ahab. And they wanted to light the city streets,

so they put up poles all the way down the streets,

and they put the high priests from the temple

on the poles. They impaled them on the poles,

soaked them in tar, and lit them to light the

streets. The high priests. All the priests. And

so the point is, that's how bad it got. It got

terrible bad, right? And all the priests were

in hiding from Jezebel the queen during Ahab's

day. It was terrible. And so God had to bring

that to a close. They began to burn their firstborn

children in the fire like the worshippers of

Molech were doing. that were in that land when

God said their sin has to come to fullness and

destroy them. And then God brought his, finally,

435 years later, God brought his people out of

Egypt because their sin had become fullness because

they were burning their children in the fire.

And by the time God wipes out Israel and puts

them into exile, Israelites were burning their

firstborn children in the fire to the false god,

Molech. That's how bad it was. That's terrible.

So the point is, they should have honored God

and prolonged the days before the exile. And,

you know, some did probably and some didn't.

Okay, Paul. Paul reads the promise, this is the

next set, Paul reads the promise as pertaining,

can anybody finish it? The next word is always

to, almost always to after pertaining, as pertaining

to, I'm going to take a stab at it, all the earth.

Say again. Yeah, it did pertain to the Israelites

in Exodus. Now he's not talking about the promised

land, Paul, he's talking about all the earth.

So now he's reading that same promise as pertaining

to all the earth. But he did add in, didn't he?

He added in obedience. Before it was just honor

in Exodus. Now he added in obedience and he said,

in honoring, obeying, God will make it well with

you and prolong your days in all the earth. All

right. So it says Christians need Christian parents.

Is there a teenager in the room that could give

a little amen to that? My goodness. It's really

hard to be a Christian teenager without Christian

parents. Super hard. It's fluctuating. It goes

up and down. Some days it's a lot easier. Some

days it's a lot harder. But it's challenging

because think about it. Let's say you had Muslim

parents. Anybody know anybody that has a Muslim

family? How well would that go if the Muslim

teenager turned to Christianity? Not well at

all. They'd be like disowned, right? A friend

of mine, Bergen Kaner, who was the youngest ever

dean at Liberty and now teaches at a... college

in Texas and taught at Camp UCAN until a few

years ago. But he hasn't been able to travel

because of his health, so he hasn't in the last

few years. But anyway, he was Muslim, raised

Muslim. And as a teenager, he went to a Christian

church and got saved. And his family kicked him

out. He became an orphan. They had nothing to

do with him after that. And then not only that,

but as he rose in the Christian world, he received

around 10 death threats a month. Because as he

became more prominent in teaching about Jesus

and everything, the Muslim faith kept telling

him, we're going to kill you. Shut up. going

to kill you. Shut up. Stop talking about you

used to be Muslim and now you're Christian. You're

winning all these people to Jesus. And he wrote

a book about how to win people from Islam to

Christianity. And one night he was on his drive

home from work and his wife called him and said,

there's a car sitting outside. And he got off

the phone with her and somebody called and said,

we just had a death threat. They're going to

blow up your house. And the police are going

to pick up your wife and kid right now. I mean,

that's it. So if you want to live for Jesus,

you need people over top of you who are living

for Jesus. And if you don't have that, it's hard.

Because what do you do when they tell you to

do something? And it's a sin. You can't obey.

But now there's a huge rift between you and your

parents. You could be seriously punished, right?

Or whatever. Christians need Christian parents.

But, right under that, but the command is written.

to those who want to follow Christ and do well.

So let's see. Is there anybody in this room who

wants to follow Christ and do well? Yeah, that's

all of us, right? I mean, that should be. I mean,

I want to follow Jesus. If you're a Christian,

you want to follow Jesus, and you want to do

well, don't you? And we know that there's the

possibility of persecution. There's the possibility

of trials and tribulations. Jesus says, in this

world you will have trouble, but fear not, for

I have overcome the world. So things will get

difficult. But if you want to follow Christ and

do well, what do you do? Yes, sir. Okay, yeah,

repent. and turn to God, and then as per this

command, if you have repented and turned to God,

how do you have to relate to your parents? Honor

and obey, right? And if you honor and obey, you

have a promise to do well, right? And to live

long, essentially, and to have a place on the

earth. But also notice that it's not only your

biological parents, it's now also your Christian

parents in the sense that those who teach and

love you. So now your youth leader, if you have

a relationship, Haley, if you believe in your

heart that RJ loves you as a sister in Christ,

and he's trying to teach you, then you have a

responsibility to... honor and obey him. Now,

your first responsibility is to your actual parents,

your mom and dad, right? So if you had a conflict

between them and him, you would honor them. But

if they tell you to sin, you would not. You're

responsible for your choice, right? And with

this kind of freedom, with this kind of authority

to make the decision, then you now have to learn

from the word. You have to listen to the Holy

Spirit. You have to discern what's right and

do what's right. And when all else fails, honor

and obey. Your parents. Your Christian parents

and your God -given parents. Okay? I'm going

to finish this out. So, we said, the command

is written to those who want to follow Christ

and do well. Notice that God is giving us a place.

God is giving us a place. We all know if you're

saved, you're going to heaven. Jesus said, I

go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to

prepare a place for you, I will come again and

I will take you to be there with me, right? That's

John 14. We all know that Jesus is preparing

a place there for us. This is not talking about

there. This is talking about here. You have a

place here. You have a place in the church, in

community, in the kingdom of God, doing the things

that God has called you to. And if you get in

that place and honor and obey your parents, what

will happen? You will do well. and your days

will be prolonged. That's the math of it. That's

how it works out. You have a place. There are

people who run on ahead of God. I've done that

a couple times in my life. It doesn't go real

well. It didn't go well at all for me, unless

you count the fact that I eventually learned

what God was trying to tell me, which was good.

But you don't want to get outside your place,

the place that God is preparing for you. God

wants people to do well. Does anybody doubt that?

That's the next part. Does anybody doubt that

God wants you to do well? I think God loves us.

If God loves us, he wants us to do well, right?

Chris, do you want to see your daughters do well?

Absolutely. Tim, you want to see Tyson do well?

Tim's not even your son. You want to see him

do well, don't you? Absolutely. So God wants

us to do well. And that's why Paul says, children,

please do this. Honor and obey your parents,

which to honor your parents is also the first

command that comes with a promise. But if you

do so, honor and obey your parents, you will

do well and be prolonged in the place that God

has given you, which in our case is the whole

earth. And then the last one, of course, is honor

and obey your parents. If you will notice, over

to the left -hand side, you'll see a little box

cross thing. It's got a question mark in the

bottom. And that's all we've got left to do.

Did everybody got everything else? Bless you.

Two lines of oath. So that's the definition of

honor. And so you can write anything in there

for your definition of honor. There's actually

four lines there for the definition of honor.

What are you assuming? On the right -hand side.

Okay, so it goes, Christians need Christian parents,

but the command is written to those who want

to follow Christ and do well, and that God is

giving us a place, and God wants people to do

well, and then honor and obey your parents. Got

it now? Oh, it was an A. Where you said God was

giving us an A. That was an A. Oh, yeah, cut

off because it wasn't going below the line, that's

all. Mine says God is giving us a place. And

then God wants people to do well. Okay, that's

fine too. Mine has a P. This one has a B. This

one has a P. So whatever. Okay, now we're looking

at the empty cross over the left -hand side.

So first look closely at the cross and see what

you see inside it. What's inside it? What do

you see? Above that. You see nothing? Look closer.

Yep, honor thy father and thy mother. It is on

purpose. You can fill it in. It's there. Yep.

Uh -oh. Okay. And above that, you'll see a big

fat V. I didn't see it. Yeah. And what's the

big fat V? Does anybody know what the big fat

V is? Why is there a big fat V there? Oh, I thought

it was a heart. It's a V. Oh, that's a V. Yep.

Why is it a V? That's a heart. No, it's a V.

Okay, so why is there a V there? Natalie? Why

is there a V there? No, it's not for victory.

It's actually a number. It's a five because it's

the fifth of the Ten Commandments. So what you'll

see, actually, if you look at the paper on an

overview, maybe hold up to the light, I don't

know if that works very well or not, you can

see that the Ten Commandments are on the page

behind everything that we've been doing. And

it so happens that the fifth commandment, capital

V for five, honor thy father and mother. Okay,

it's there. Thou shalt have no other gods before

me is up just inside the brown box. Roman numeral

three just above comes with a promise. Thou shalt

not take the Lord's name in vain. They're all

there. Anyway, let's focus in so we can be done.

All right, so you got a Roman numeral five. Honor

thy father and thy mother. And that's all it

says. Honor thy father and thy mother. Now, does

anybody have a problem with... The Ten Commandments

being printed all over the world with honor thy

father and mother and the Roman numeral five,

and that's all that's there. Anybody got any

problems with that? I do. That's very true. But

isn't there something missing? Yeah, the promise

is missing. The Ten Commandments, it does not

say in verse 12. Honor thy father and thy mother.

It says, Honor thy father and thy mother so that

your days may be prolonged on the land which

the Lord your God gives you. The reason is included.

None of the other Ten Commandments have a reason

included. But Moses saw fit to include a reason

there. Wait, Moses did? Who gave the Ten Commandments?

God did. God saw fit to say, Honor your father

and mother. so that your days may be prolonged

on the land which the Lord your God gave you.

And I submit to you that people have been leaving

it out, which is really a shame. You know why?

Because everybody in the world likes transactional

spirituality. That's what sorcery is. If I pray

to God, he'll give me what I ask for. If I pray

a little harder, he'll give me bigger stuff.

If I fast for a while, I'll be more holy. If

I study my Bible an extra hour every single day,

by the end of the year, I'll be the best Christian.

If I go to church every single Sunday, God will

make sure I can always pay my bills. It's all

transactional. And none of it's really true,

at least not in the sense that we're saying that,

right? But here is God saying, do this, get this.

And so what do we do? We print the Ten Commandments

a billion times and leave off the you'll get

this. Even now they're arguing about whether

the Ten Commandments can be shown, and it's less

so now, it was a lot a couple years ago, in courthouses

all over the world. But if you go look at most

of the courthouses, they'll have a fanciful version

of the Ten Commandments that leaves off the promise.

Some of them, the ones that are true to history,

sit down please, the ones that are true to history

have the promise and it should because it's God's

word and we don't cut stuff off of God's word.

Right? Okay. That was a little bit of a personal

knife right there. But now you know. You know

how to have access to that promise from God and

if God says you can do it transactionally, if

you can just honor and obey your parents just

so that you'll get stuff, you'll do well and

have long days in all the earth, then he said

it's okay to do it just for that reason. So do

it for just that reason. That's okay. All right,

here we go. It's going to go fast. The first

command with a promise is found in what book

of the Bible? Haley. That's correct. That was

so awesome. I wish I had it on video. I mean,

yeah, if you get a bruise from it, you should

probably be allowed to keep it. Okay. Paul added,

essentially, a result to if we keep the command,

we will receive this promise. And it is WBW.

What is it, Hannah? Will be well. Will be well.

That's correct. Coming over. At this point now,

they're just going to duck because the throws

are accurate, so we're just going to duck. Okay.

Okay, trick question. Pay attention. Which of

the two, Exodus 20 or Ephesians 6, were written

specifically to minor children? Jason? Neither.

That is correct. The trick question has been

answered correctly. These are accurate throws,

man. I'm doing a good job up here. Okay. Through

encouraging us to follow this command, God is

seeking to give us this. What is it, Alex? A

place, that's correct. These guys were hot today.

It was a perfect throw until all the defense.

One fell on the floor. Don't be snagging other

people's candy. Okay. These two commands are

often found actually in marriage vows. And now

understanding what it means to be a child in

this context, it makes a lot of sense. What are

they? These two commands. Go ahead. Honor and

obey is correct. Very good, sir. Now that makes

a lot of sense, but it makes a lot of sense for

a husband to honor and obey his wife just as

much as it does for a wife to honor and obey

her husband, right? Because they can both be

children. In fact, I find myself, I think sometimes

I'm better at being a child than my wife is.

Sometimes I'm stuck in childhood. All right,

here we go. These two qualifiers make a person

a child per these verses. If they are what and

what? I'm going to give it to Jason. All right,

Alex, give me one. Yep, give me the other one,

Jason. That's right. I'll let you split it since

you guys are both ready. All right, here we go.

Okay. Okay. Tell me the two men that wrote these

two passages of Scripture. Caleb was the first

hand I saw. Moses and Paul. Correct.