A Blueprint for Christianity and the Home

Welcome to this week's message from the Church of Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Psalms 127.

You know, we've been looking at God's blueprint for our community and how we can be an influence in our community.

That's it's just been uh uh in fact, up until today, you we had all kind of uh uh building props up here.

And uh we've looked at Christianity and uh our end, you know, and us individually.

We've looked at Christianity and our faith, we've looked at Christianity and our church, and now today we're gonna be looking at Christianity and our home.

I am convinced Satan is winning the war on destroying the homes in America.

It's unreal.

We have now a new statistics.

I was gonna bring them, but I said, no, I'm not gonna bore you with all the statistics because I want to get to the truth.

I want to spend my time on the truth and how we keep that from happening in our homes and in our community.

But we know that there's more divorces right now in America than any other country.

God help us.

God help us.

It's amazing how Satan is destroying our homes and our kids.

It's you know, when we kick God out of the school system, hey, hey, 30 years ago, it's been downhill ever since.

We took the commandments out and put the, hey, we put the guns in.

We took the commandments and the reading of the Bible out and put the drugs in.

We put the the metal detectors in in our public school systems.

We have shootings all the time, and now it's a sad day that we can't even go to a movie without being shot at or killed.

We're in a trouble, folks.

And the answer is right here.

Solomon had the answer.

He knew it from the very beginning.

And he says in Psalms 127, Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.

Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh, but in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the breads of sorrow, for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Lo, children are a heritage, not a burden, of the Lord.

And the fruit of the womb is his reward.

As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.

Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them.

They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

It is important to remember the whole idea of a family and the home came directly from God.

Can I get an amen?

In fact, we see this throughout the scriptures.

And I could look at hundreds of scriptures, but I've chosen Psalms 127, which was authored by Solomon himself, who had such a godly father and a godly mother.

No one had a better example than Solomon.

And here in this one little five verses, we get four unbelievable great secrets on how to have a happy and a holy Christian home.

Let me repeat that.

Today we're going to look at four things that produces a happy and a holy Christian home.

Can I get an amen?

Isn't that what you want?

Absolutely.

Because listen, the first institution that God ordained was the home, not the church, not the government.

It was the home.

As goes the home, listen to me, goes the church.

And as goes the church, goes the community.

And as goes the communities, goes the state.

And as goes the state, goes our country.

So it all is based on the foundation of the home.

If we're going to be a major influence in Westover and Chelsea, we've got to have dynamic, strong Christian homes illuminating the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Going to the neighbors saying we love you.

Hey, how can I be a blessing to you?

How can I help you?

How can I pray for you?

And by the way, if you don't have a church, why don't you come visit us or find the great church and get involved so we can be a lighthouse to our community?

A light that set on a hill cannot be hid.

I have prayed for the moment I drove into Westover and Chelsea that this property, those 90 acres, would be a lighthouse to this whole region.

A lighthouse.

And so, first of all, if we let's look at the first, I'm talking about phenomenal principle that Solomon gives us.

Number one, a divinely, in order to have a happy and holy home, it's got to be a home that's founded on the Lord.

A divinely founded home.

Except the Lord.

Now watch, build the house, they labor in vain that build it.

The fundamental truth to every home is the necessity of a partnership in marriage.

Can I get an amen?

I'm glad God sent me my partner, Susan.

Amen.

I mean that.

I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't had the helpmate that I've got today.

She has been my best friend.

She's been my right arm.

Sometimes she was my left arm and both feet.

I meant she's she's been with me with every decision except buying that surpro.

That'll go down in history.

Guess what?

I didn't buy the surpro.

I'm not dumb.

Amen.

Amen, Mayor.

Maybe not all there, but I'm not dumb.

Because I knew if she's not helping me, I'm in trouble, Granny.

But anyway, here we see the fundamental truth.

In fact, the authorizer and the formalizer of the home is God.

Except the Lord build the house, they lay my vein that built it.

Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4, verses 9 through 12.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12

Those were mine and Susan's anniversary.

It's our anniversary verses, but it was our marriage.

We read these on the night that we were married on our honeymoon, and we said we would make this our covenant till death do we part.

And it says, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.

You can do more for God together than by yourself.

Amen.

And you'll see that because it takes two of you, really.

And I know a lot of you are doing it by yourself, and I'll deal with that and help you.

And we I admire you, encourage you.

But God designed a home for a husband and a wife to come together to have children and raise them up to be eras and champions for God.

That's God's design for the home.

And look what else he says.

Here's why two are better than one.

What if one falls?

And boy, how many times have I fallen?

And Susan's been there to encourage me and to pick me back up.

In fact, I one of her, I don't know how many times, honey, I hadn't said it in a long time.

Well, maybe I'd die.

I don't think I've said it in a long time.

But I every once in a while I'd get so burdened and get so discouraged and so down, I'd just say, Well, I'm gonna quit.

I'm just gonna quit the ministry, Hugh.

I'm sure you've never thought about that.

Every preacher's thought about it at least.

Hey, most of them think about it every Monday morning.

Especially if they've had a bad Sunday.

What am I doing this for?

But but I'd say, quit, and you know what she'd say instead of putting her arms around, oh honey, yeah, oh, I'm so sorry.

Again, I'll pray for it.

She'd say, Well, just quit.

Just go ahead.

And then she'd turn around and she'd say, if God will let you, she always got to put the spiritual part in it.

If God will let you, well, what's God got to do with it?

This is me talking.

She said, That's your problem.

What does God think about it?

So again, we see, and then notice what he says, but not only will they lift each other up, but woe to him that is long when he falls, for he hath not another to help him up.

It's pretty simple, folks.

Two are better than one.

And then look at what he says in verse 11.

Again, if two, hey, two lie together, then they have heat, but how can one be one together?

That's the intimacy of marriage.

You you not only are you working together, you're you're co-laboring together, you're everything together, you're you're just it's one.

You look at each other and you're one.

And then verse 12, I love this.

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him.

In other words, anybody comes against you, hey, hey, anybody comes against you, two's always better than one.

And then notice what he says, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

He's saying, a husband and wife and God in the middle of relationship with Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of that home, cannot be defeated.

What a powerful introduction.

We're co-laborers with God in our homes.

And let me show you a couple of things.

Number one, first of all, God must authorize the marriage.

Except the Lord build the house that they labor in vain to build.

He's got to be the author of the marriage.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was asked about the authority of marriage, you remember his statement when he was asked about the question on marriage?

He pointed his questioners at once to the very first marriage in human history.

Turning back to the early chapters of Genesis.

Genesis chapter 12, verse 18, listen to what he said.

Genesis 12:18

He said to the scribes and Pharisees, and we see that it was God who saw that it was, notice what he said, not good.

Now watch, that man should be alone.

Not good that man should be alone, and therefore prepared a helpmate, a helper, someone to come alongside and help.

It's very similar to the word that the Lord uses in the New Testament when he said, I've got to go away, but I'm gonna send you a comforter.

I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit to comfort you.

This is a beautiful picture of the same comfort and the same help that a helpmate does to the man.

A wife comes alongside to be, hey, to help him be all that God wants him to be so that they can build a home God's way and not the world's way.

The build a home the Word's way and not the world's way.

It's so important that we understand that.

God recognized from the very beginning that marriage was a necessity, both for the consummation of human love and the creation of human life.

In other words, uh how many of you haven't, you know, you get you get something.

I hate to buy something you got to put together.

I'll pay.

Put it together, I'll pay.

I don't care.

Pay, put it together.

But what's the first thing we're supposed to do?

How many of you probably well, how many men do that?

None of them.

Well, Steve and no, that's right.

I forgot about Clay.

He's an engineer.

Oh, yeah, all the engineers.

Give me the somatics, give me the somatics.

Okay, okay.

But the two, two out of all of us.

We just start.

Well, listen, and then you wonder why, and then you know what we say?

Then we say, man, this thing's not worth anything.

You can't wait, it won't even go together.

No, because you're putting it together backwards.

Why?

We fail to read the manual.

We fail to read the instructions.

Well, what's happening?

We when, hey, these young couples get married, or older couples get married, they fail to read the instruction manual on how to build a godly home.

And except the Lord build it, they labor in vain that build it.

It won't last because you're building it on sand and not on the rock.

Jesus Christ.

And when the storms come, the sand is washed away.

And the storms will come.

They will come.

So we see how important.

And by the way, the word there for woman is Ishawa.

Isha is really the way you pronounce it.

Thank you.

You close.

Ishua.

It means woman.

Hello.

We're living in a society that, hey, our Supreme Court and our president are trying to redefine marriage.

Listen, God's word says a man and a woman.

Not a man and a man.

Amen.

Did you hear me?

That's what the book says.

It means woman 425 times.

That means woman 323 times.

So we see that he has to authorize marriage.

Notice the second thing.

God must formalize it.

Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it, referring again to the Genesis.

Notice what the Lord said as we go to Genesis chapter 2 again.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

Look at what he said.

In verse 22.

Well, actually, I know we got verse 22 up there.

Do we have verse?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.

Now you've got to realize Adam had a hard day.

Yep.

First of all, Adam had been naming all the animals that God had created from the dust of the ground.

Now I want you to understand something.

God, I mean Adam was created from the dust of the ground.

Amen.

We see that in verse 7.

The Bible says, uh, Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.

And then we know he sighted then, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed it up.

The flesh instead of thereof.

Now you know what?

Hey, the animals are created from the dust of the ground.

Adam, the man, is created from the dust of the ground.

But ladies, you are very special.

You are created from the rib.

That means we're nothing but dust balls in your prime rib.

Amen.

Can I get an amen, ladies?

Just the thought.

But then, hey, he took his rib, the clothes of the flesh, and in verse 22, and the rib with the Lord God had taken from man made he a Ishua, woman, and brought her unto the man, verse 22.

And then look at what he says in verse 23.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called, there's the word again, Ishua, woman, because she was taken out of man.

Wow.

Very, very powerful truth.

Starting in the book of Genesis, chapter 2, God created the first family, and it was a man and a woman.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

And now we're trying to redefine the word of God.

Lord, help us.

You can't do that, folks, and get away with it.

We need revival.

We need revival.

And notice what he said in Matthew chapter 19, verse 6 about this marriage.

Matthew 19:6

What therefore God had joined together, let no man put it asunder.

Wow, powerful truth.

In marriages that are formalized by God, hey, hey, if a marriage is put together by God, listen to me.

If a marriage is lived on the cornerstone by the manual of God, God's word, ladies and gentlemen, we could cut the divorce rate drastically.

Drastically.

Most couples getting married today don't even know what the Bible says about marriage.

Jesus said in Mark 3.25, if a house be divided against itself, that house can't stand.

There's no way a husband and wife can be divided and expect their house or their marriage to survive.

Can't happen.

Can't happen.

It's so important that we, as Joshua 24, 15 says, choose you this day whom we're going to serve.

For me and my house, bless God, we're going to serve God.

Joshua 24, 15.

So we see the house has to be founded by God.

A divinely founded home on God.

Number two.

A divinely fended home.

Except the Lord build the house a labor in vain, but also listen to what he says in verse 1.

Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Even the watch, the wakeful watchmen here on the walls of our cities and our homes have not prevented the evils that have threatened home life through the centuries.

In fact, listen to me, dads and moms too, together.

We are the watchmen of our homes.

We are the protector of our homes.

It does matter.

It does matter, hey, what we teach in our homes, what we live in our homes, what we watch in our homes, what we listen to in our homes.

We are influencers in our homes.

And Deuteronomy chapter 6 very vehemently tells us.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

David said this.

Listen to what David said in Psalms 34:7.

Psalms 34:7

This is awesome.

The angel of the Lord encamps around about them that fear him and deliver them.

And the angel of that verse is none other than the Christ of the New Testament.

And the secret of a guarded home is the all-prevading and the all-prevailing presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I love Psalm 16, 11.

He says, I will show thee the right path in thy presence, is the fullness of God and the pleasures forevermore.

Woo! Thou wilt show me the path of life.

In thy presence is the fullness of joy.

At the right hand, there's pleasures forevermore.

That is a promise to us that lead our homes and build our homes on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.

Your home ought to have the fullness of joy when you walk in it, not the ragings of arguments and wretchedness.

I'm convinced that home is either a heaven or a hell.

Hello.

Hello.

Amen.

It is.

Somebody asked me the other day.

No, I'm not going to say that.

I'm going to try to be sweet.

But notice, notice right here.

Hey, hey, he, Jesus Christ, is the only one that can maintain spiritual liberty.

Can I get an amen?

He's the only one.

He's the only one that can maintain marital purity.

Hello?

Amen.

Amen.

You know why I don't want to cheat on my wife?

It's because I love Christ and I love her like Christ loves the church.

Amen.

Hey, divorce has never been in our vocabulary.

Murder, maybe.

But never divorce.

No, I'm joking.

I'm joking.

No.

It's just not been an option.

It's not an option.

Spiritual liberty, marital purity, and parental authority can only come through a home that's built on and led by the Holy Spirit of Christ through Jesus Christ dwelling in our hearts.

That's it.

And the Word of God makes it plain that the presence of Christ, when He's the way we mediate, the way He mediates and the way He radiates in our homes is threefold.

Number one, look at it.

First of all, there's the practice of prayer.

Writing to married couples, look at what Peter said.

What Christ said to Peter, and Peter wrote it in 1 Peter 3 7.

I love this verse.

Hey, couples, don't miss what this tremendous truth is about to tell us.

Writing to married couples, Peter warns the husband.

Look at what he says in 1 Peter 3 7.

To give honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel.

Now notice what he says.

That your prayers be not hindered.

That your prayers be not hindered.

Why, hey, his primary intention is to underscore the husband-wife relationship.

He makes it very clear that if our relationship as husband and wife is not right with each other, and the only way it can be right with each other when individually our relationship's right with the Lord.

But when that happens, there is a beautiful chemistry.

And what happens when you are in one, two, uh, you and your husband are together, ladies, and husbands, you and your wife are together, it fits the what?

Matthew 18 principle, where two or three are gathered together and shall agree, it shall be done.

You're on praying ground when you're filled with the Spirit in one accord, and when you're praying for your family.

God answers.

It's powerful.

Maybe the reason we're not having our prayers answered is because our relationship with our spouses aren't right.

You ever thought about that?

That's not what I said.

That's what the book says.

Let's read it again.

Heirs together the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered.

If there's not an honor and unity, if there's not a loving, the husband loving the wife like Christ loves the church, and the wife's loving her husband and being in submission to her husband like she's supposed to be.

If we're not doing what God's manual says we're to do, we're not on praying ground.

Hello.

Man, what a oh me.

That'd be a good time to say oh me.

But that's it.

That's what it says, the practice of prayer.

I love what Jesus said.

Matthew 26, 41.

He says, remember, we're the watchman.

I want you to look at the verses that have the word what.

Watch and pray.

Notice what he said.

Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

It's hard to pray together regularly.

It's hard.

It's work.

You gotta, you gotta, hey, you gotta set aside time to pray together.

Look at what he said in Colossians 4 2.

Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.

Look at what he said in Ephesians 6 18.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.

Watch.

And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, especially those of your own house.

In other words, persevere, don't give up.

Hey, when your child goes wayward, don't give up.

Get on praying ground, stay on praying ground, and be like the prodigal father.

Hey, the prodigal son was gone.

He got it every morning, went to the porch, looking down the road, saying, Today my son's coming home.

And one day he did, and he looked, and there it came.

Don't give up.

But you gotta be on praying ground.

You gotta be on praying ground.

Powerful, powerful.

I love it.

I love it.

We gotta be the watchman.

The watchman.

Do you pray at mealtimes?

You know, used to, when I was growing up in every restaurant, you could see people before they would bow their heads and pray.

Now you do that, you're the rarity.

We just quit praying and being thankful.

I don't, I make sure I pray, and sometimes I I just pray the gospel.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for dying on Calvary.

And can't you imagine people looking around and saying, What does that got to do with the food?

It's got everything to do with the food.

Amen.

It's got everything to do with the food.

Hey, hey, because I'm saved and blessed, I'm able to eat this food.

I'm able to pay for this food.

Thank you, Lord, for Calvary.

Amen.

Just praying always.

So powerful.

So powerful.

There was a I've read so many good illustrations, but my granddaddy used to say a family that prays together stays together.

And boy, that is so, so true.

Now listen to Barner's recent statistics on the home where a husband and wife that supposedly claim to be Christians, less than 1% pray together.

That is shocking.

That is shocking.

When is the last time you and your wife, the guys, prayed together?

And just thank God for each other, but then prayed for the needs of your own family or your friends, your relatives.

And it's regular.

Lord help us.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray.

And seek my face in turn for their wicked ways.

Then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7.14.

It starts with praying.

But you gotta be on praying ground.

Second way you do that, that you mediate and radiate Christ in your home, the practice of praying together, but also the practice of reading of the Bible.

Look at what he says in Colossians 3.16.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

And all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, make it melody in your heart.

Now, this is why, listen to me, parents, I've you got the opportunity to, I meant, all the time growing up, the greatest thing we did at Open Door Baptist Church was start an awana program.

Approve Workmen are not ashamed, 2 Timothy 2.15.

That's where it's taken from.

I'm telling you, we ended up having 150, 200 kids on a Wednesday night, and their parents involved with them, and they were memorizing scripture, doing Bible stories together, doing the games together.

And we're starting this in a in a less than a month.

We're starting a water program.

We're gonna have the water circle under the pavilion.

And on Wednesday night, it's gonna be you parents and your kids coming together, memorizing scriptures together from, I'm talking about from four years old through sixth grade or fifth grade, and learning the scriptures together and take your little book at home and in the morning or night, right before they go to bed, go through the little wana verses with them and the Bible story with them and pray with them.

You'll do that every night, and they come back the next week and they get points for that.

And then guess what?

According to the points they win, they get a vest, they get badges, and then they get points, and then they get to go to the wana store for their hard work.

It's gonna be awesome.

If, hey, if you care about your family, you'll set time aside from six, I think it's gonna either be six or six thirty for an hour for two hours from six to eight, or maybe an hour and forty-five minutes, every Wednesday, and you and your family, it'll be a time for y'all to spend about 15 minutes a day with the little wanna books and prayer time, getting a family together to learn the word and to pray together.

And that is exactly how you build a house God's way.

Can I get an Amen?

We're doing it for you.

To help us do what we're proud of preaching, except the Lord build the house of labor and made the building.

Matthew 22, 29 says, You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

If you don't know the scriptures, hey, hey, how can you pray effectively?

If you don't know the scriptures, you don't have the sword of the word of God.

If you don't know the scriptures, you don't have faith.

If you don't know the scriptures, you don't have the shoes, hey, the stand that he's talking about, all the bodily armor in Ephesians 6.

If you don't know the word, you'll not know how God wants you to build your home.

That is so important.

The reading of the word of God, the whole scripture is given by the inspiration of God and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, or the husband, or that the wife can come together and maturing together.

That's what the word perfect there means, so that they can teach their children.

Deuteronomy chapter 6 says, teach them diligently.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Put them on the doorpost.

Hang them around the neck, put them on your arm.

Teach them diligently.

I'm telling you, the one thing I can honestly give credit for one thing.

My kids, uh they're all in full-time service.

They're happily married, uh, two of them are happily married, both of their husbands, and but but but both of my girls and even my son.

What I know was the most effective thing I did.

It wasn't my preaching, they'd go to sleep on my preaching.

That tells you how what they thought about my preaching.

No, but you know what it was?

Hey, it was that one a time, those book times that we did the books together and family devotions, and they learned the scriptures.

They never re Isaiah 50, well, I'm about to have a spell.

Isaiah 55, 11, they never return void, but they accomplish where God sends it.

We're fixing to we're fixing to wage war with Satan on our families and our community.

And bless God, we're gonna win.

Amen.

We're gonna win.

We're gonna win.

Now, hey, I can lead the horse to the trough, but I can't make you drink.

But I can put the trough there.

That's my job.

I can bring the meat to the table.

That's my job.

But you've got to eat it.

Amen.

You gotta eat it.

Wow, man, that's good.

That's good preaching, preacher.

Where there is no Holy Spirit, there's no love, there's no charity.

The sanctifying, stabilizing, and the sweetening.

Hey, presence of Christ can be known only through the God-ordained means, the practice of prayer, the reading of the uh Bible, and the third thing, the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5.18, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

Woo! Be filled with the Spirit.

You know what that really means?

We we just preached on this about a month ago, if you remember.

It literally means to allow the Word of God, Colossians 3.16, remember, Colossians 3.16, Ephesians 5.18, we saw the results of both the evidences of being having the word of God filled you, and then the evidence of the Spirit of God in Ephesians 5 through Ephesians 6, 1 through 4, the evidence of the Spirit filling you, and the evidence of the Word filling you were identical.

Identical.

So to be filled with the Spirit means that we allow the Word of God, we take in the Word of God, and we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us the Word of God and control our lives by the Word of God.

That's what it means to be filled with the Spirit of God.

So, how can you be filled with the Spirit of God if you're not in the Word of God?

Can't do it.

Can't do it, folks.

You can't be filled if you're not in the book.

That's why it's so important every day to spend some time in the book.

And can you imagine?

It will revolutionize your whole family if you spend 15 or 20 minutes with them in that little wana book list.

It'll it'll change your life, change your family.

I guarantee it.

It did ours.

And then the third thing, verse 2 in Psalms 127.

Not only do we have a divinely founded and fended home, but number three, we have a divinely furnished home.

It is vain for you to raise up early, excuse me, to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bed of SARS.

For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Now that, when you just read that, it's kind of hard to understand, but once you really study the context and understand what Solomon's talking about in relationship to the home, what he's saying is we'll work, we'll get up early, we'll go to bed late, working, trying to make a lot of money, trying to buy all this stuff, trying to, you know, we just trying to be successful.

We just spend endless hours trying to get sometimes what we want, how we want it, keep it all.

We just spend endless hours on things that really do not amount to anything in reference to building a home.

What we're doing is spending our time being successful in the world's eyes instead of being successful in God's eyes.

Hello, amen.

That our top priority is to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

You start putting God first, praying with your family, having devotions with your family, being faithful to church with your family, hey, getting in small groups, you learning and growing, getting accountability.

And hey, you start being like Christ.

Guess what?

They'll start being like Christ.

Young man was sentenced to 15 years.

And the the uh the uh judge asked me, he said, son, he was a he was a young teenager.

Well, not a young teenager, but a young man, I'm sorry.

He was 23, I think.

And you know what he said?

He said, Yes, Your Honor, I'd like to say something.

First of all, I'd say, Your Honor, I'm not mad at you.

You gave me exactly what I deserved.

I'm not mad with the policemen.

They did their job to get to arrest me.

I'm not mad at the uh at uh the court system or the jurors that found me guilty.

But you're Your Honor, let me tell you what I would like to say.

My mom and dad are here.

I would like to say, I hold, I, I, and he looked right at them and he said, Mom and dad, I wished one thing I have against you guys, I wished you would have brought me up in a Christian hole.

Wow.

That's pretty str that's pretty stiff, isn't it?

That's pretty strong, isn't it?

I wished you'd have told me about Jesus.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, first thing he said out of his mouth, I need to go talk to the little lady that taught me about Jesus.

Garfield, when he was elected president, he said, I gotta go tell my godly praying mother I'm thankful.

Wow.

Wow.

Let me let me read to you the designer's home.

I found this.

I was gonna copy it for you, but I just didn't get to do it.

But the here's a designer for designer for a home.

Rosemary, you're like this.

You like to do you do, you're a designer.

Preparation.

Preparation for the home.

Watch this.

Invite the Lord Jesus Christ to lay the cornerstone.

Excavate.

Excavate for foundation by removing all doubt, fear, and selfishness.

Oh, that's good.

Construction.

Erect a strong framework of faith supported by sturdy beams of deep devotion.

Lay stout flooring for sympathetic understanding.

Uh lay the floor with generosity, insulate it with enthusiasm, plaster with a sense of humor, shingle the roof with protective kindness, and apply siding composed of high hope and great expectation.

Fill the cracks and crevices with pleasant memories and a little family jokes.

Build in permanent fixtures of honesty, integrity, provide doorways wide enough for the heavy-hearted and the merry-hearted to enter, plan plenty of windows to emit sunshine for the joy of living, carefully weather strips all open, uh carefully weather strip all openings with appreciation, equip with plumbing adequate for daily cleansing of the spirit, install heating apparatuses guaranteed to maintain a steady glow of friendly warmth, illuminate with shining radiance of smiles and tears and ventilate, hey, with an unlimited supply of patients, adore the walls and adorn the walls with cheerful courtesy and pave the doorway with hospitality.

Man, what house?

Who wouldn't want that house?

Well, guess what?

You can have it.

If you allow the Lord to build it, you can have it.

You can have it.

This divinely home should be a place of holy allurement.

You know what that means?

People ought to want to come home.

Can I get an amen?

It ought to be a sanctuary from the chaotic outside.

It ought to be, hey, a harbor for the storms of life.

It ought to be a sweet perfume from the that penetrates the soul.

Hey, it ought to be a place where strife and wretchedness is not there.

It ought to be a place where you enjoy, look forward to getting off work and going home, knowing for the joy of the Lord's there.

If the joy of the Lord was there, we may not be going to bars when they get off and doing other stuff instead of going home.

It ought to be a haven.

It ought to be a haven.

Number two, it ought to be a place, hey, hey, happy contentment at home.

Hebrews 13, 4 and 5, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

The test of a happy home is that it does not have, hey, to depend on material comforts for true contentment.

Whatever the circumstances, where Jesus is, heaven's there.

Can I get an amen?

It's not how big your house is, it's how holy your house is.

Hello.

I'm gonna repeat that.

It's not how big your house is.

Hey, it's how holy your house is.

I remember when Susan and I didn't, I mean, she had to save up three months when we first got married, and I was pastoring open door Baptist Church, just started.

She had to save up three months to buy some curtains, and the curtains he was gonna buy were at Walmart.

I'm not joking, that's not one of those walk in the snow five miles.

That's not one of those stories.

It's a true story.

And I was thinking about, and we've talked about this.

We we were just as happy then as we are now.

You know what I've learned about stuff?

You can have all the stuff you want, but that doesn't produce happiness.

Amen.

It's not stuff, it's a relationship with Jesus Christ and a relationship with each other.

And then number three, it ought to be a healthy refreshment to come home.

Look at what he says.

He giveth his beloved sleep.

Psalms 127, verse 2.

Psalms 127:2

To sleep in the will of God is to know something of the spiritual, mental, and physical refreshment that God can only bring to the home.

Home is a place where you ought to enjoy the restfulness of being understood.

Hello?

You need to hear this.

I wrote this to me.

A home ought to be a place that you can, hey, enjoy the restfulness of being understood.

You know what?

Most of us have arguments because we don't understand each other.

And the reason we don't understand each other, we don't take time to listen.

Oh man! That's me.

Or sometimes we already know what we want and what we're gonna say, so we don't listen, and we already got our answer before we even listen.

Hello?

Oh, oh boy, boy, though y'all smiling is gone to frowning.

Hey, I'm preaching to me.

I'm not picking on you, I'm preaching to me.

Don't say amen, honey.

Home is the place where you ought.

She loves it when I preach on the home.

Because I get a lot sweeter.

I do.

I know.

I have well I it's hard.

Y'all think y'all got it tough.

Y'all, I know y'all think that I beat beat on your toes sometimes and all that.

What if you I have to live with this all week?

I get it every morning for four hours.

And I I I I get here on Sunday, I gotta have some relief.

It has whooped me all week.

But it's a good whooping.

Can I get an amen?

It's a purging, it's a purifying.

Lord, I am not doing that.

Forgive me.

Oh Lord, forgive me.

Boy, that's a tough one, Lord.

I'm sorry.

And he'll say, I know you sorry, but let's change.

I'm good at saying I'm sorry, it's just changing sometimes.

Can I get an amen?

Oh me?

Hello.

You okay out there?

Okay.

And it also ought to be a place not only the restfulness of being understood, but it ought to be a peacefulness of being undisturbed.

You don't have to disagree about everything.

Amen.

You don't really don't.

What does it matter?

What does it really matter?

I mean, if it doesn't really have consequences that are major, you don't have to just disagree about everything.

Why?

That's a big and then let's finish it.

That's tough.

Is your home a healthy refreshment?

Is it a happy place of happy contentment?

Is it an allurement?

Does your husband or wife want to come home?

They can't wait to come home?

Because of your sweetness and your love and your compassion and your caring and your coming together?

Whew.

Boy, we'd all like to come home to that, wouldn't we?

And I you're laughing because you're you're you You're hurting right now.

I know what you men are thinking, I'm gonna kill the preacher when I cause I know what I'm getting when I get home.

Well, you're gonna have to catch me.

Number four, the last thing.

Boy, this is so good.

A divinely founded home, a divinely fended home, a divinely furnished home, and then lastly, a divinely favored home.

Woo! Lo, children are heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Now, watch this.

God's greatest favor upon any home is, number one, the desirability of parenthood.

Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

The fundamental fact that God's purpose in married life is to favor the home with the gift of children.

From these verses before us, we see, look, the children are sent to reward the home.

For the fruit of the womb is his reward.

What is more rewarding?

We just had our grandkids for a week.

And there was nothing more rewarding than playing with Braden in Brooklyn, but in the mornings to hear him get up and pit or pat in there, crack that little door and come in there and say, Hey Poppy, or hey, poppy, nah, nah.

And nothing more rewarding and playing with them and going with me and nothing more rewarding.

And here, and let me tell you what blesses your heart.

We'd get ready to eat our meals, and we'd always sit down together and breed and say, I'll pray.

Five years old, I'll pray, Poppy.

And he'd say, Thank you, Jesus.

You know, he'd thank you for the food.

Thank you for Poppy, Mama, Dad.

I said, Yes.

That's where it starts.

Right there.

They're sent for rewards.

They're music to our ears, their little faces, their feet, their voices.

They're just blessings.

But notice what else?

They're also rejoice the home.

Look at what he says.

Speaking of the little children, Solomon says, Happy is the man that has this quiver full of them.

When asked what his conception of heaven would be, listen to what Dr.

F.

B.

Myers, a great theologian, replied, a playground of little children.

A playground of little children.

Look at what Zechariah chapter 8, verse 5 says.

Zechariah 8:5

Zachariah describes the street of the holy city heaven of being full of boys and girls playing.

Now that's heaven.

Wow.

And then I close with the last thing the responsibility of heaven of parenthood.

As errors, look at verse 4, are in the hand of the mighty man, so are the children of the youth.

It is significant that errors are likened to children.

Now watch.

Don't miss this.

The flight, the direction, and the effect of an error depends on.

I studied this.

I was studying the construction of an error.

Watch what I found.

The flight, the direction, and the effect of an error depend on the way the error is.

Watch.

One, produced.

The texture of the error, whether it's fiberglass or wood.

Secondly, how it's polished.

Third, how it's pointed.

And fourthly, how it's poised.

The tragedy is that so many errors leave our homes today dipped in poison.

Not godliness.

God help us.

We need revival, folks.

Revival has to be our home.

Excel the Lord build the house.

I labor in vain.

Moms and dads, let me help you here.

Your children know if you're the real thing or not.

You can say You can say you're the real thing, but they know at home what you really are.

And then let me talk to the dad.

Or fathers without a wife.

We're praying for you.

You still need to be the influencer.

You must be the influencer.

Let me talk to you ladies that don't have a husband.

You're raising your children.

God bless you.

You still the principle applies.

You gotta be that influencer.

Oh, the godly mothers for today.

Do you realize the last thing Jesus, one of the last words on the cross, Jesus was concerned about was his mother?

He said, Woman, behold thy son.

He told the beloved John to take care of his mother.

Listen, we've got to change America.

And the only way we can change America is through the home.

It's a lost entity.

I understand that.

We've lost the battle.

But bless God, here in Westover, in Chelsea, we God has given us this property.

There's still room for work in the city.

A song on the video.

We can take, we've got, we've got the average age of young couples coming in this area.

I'll blow your mind.

It's 33.

33.

With two kids and two animals.

That's the demographics.

Seriously.

We've got an opportunity to shape this community.

Hey, to make it godly.

And the way we do that is godly homes.

Can I get an amen?

Now, moms and dads, listen to me.

That means responsibility.

You gotta you gotta put God first in your life.

Hey, you gotta let them know that, hey, hey, God's more important to you than anything else.

Hey, it's more important to you than your job, it's more important to you than your sports, it's more important to you than anything else.

God's first.

That's the right era.

You can't produce a right era if you're not in the right era.

Or if you don't know what the right era consists of.

Amen.

I'm excited.

We've got the opportunity.

I was talking to another preacher just recently.

I said, I see that God is sending so many people to this area.

Do you realize this is one of the fastest growing areas you will tell us?

Right in the state of Alabama.

Right here, right here.

We're right in the middle of it.

And they're all young couples.

We got a chance to make a difference.

That Christian day camp started, you're gonna have a place to bring your kids for if you're working all day, so they'll be taught the word.

Here's what we're gonna, we're gonna teach them the word.

We're gonna teach them godly uh uh uh games, we're gonna teach them upward football and all that, but we're also gonna tutor them.

We're gonna have the best of every Christian.

It's all gonna be about, hey, we're gonna teach them the right history, the B-I-B-L-E.

That's hey, that's what God's challenged us as leaders to do.

This is our community.

That's what the mayor of Westover wants.

We're gonna do it by God's grace.

Can I get an amen?

Will you help us?

Will you help us?

Will you be a part of a life-changing community?

How would you like your legacy to be?

I was a part of watching God radically change Westover until thank God for our Christian schools.

Our homeschoolers, God bless you.

We're here to come alongside and help you.

Because I'm telling you, in the public school, we've got to start.

If we don't start taking a stand getting into public schools, Satan's gonna take them over.

He's almost there now.

Isn't it sad that we pay taxes to a public school system and we can't even pray?

God help us.

They hadn't asked me to pray.

They better, hey, I hope they do.

But they're not gonna tell me I can't pray in Jesus' name.

Or or well, I'll say maybe they wrong.

I hope they don't say that.

I just don't hope they ask me to pray.

I may not pray but one time, but bless God, they gonna get the gospel.

Amen.

And I don't got, I don't do stuff if I can't preach the gospel.

I don't, I just don't do it.

I love you this morning.

Is your home?

Here's the gospel.

Hey, here's the invitation.

Is your home a haven?

A heaven?

Or is it a hell?

There's no in-between.

Either you exalt him or you don't.

Jesus said, either you're what?

For me or against me.

Can I challenge you today to make your home a haven?

A heaven.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.