Love Worth Finding

Announcer: Is your child being raised to know and love the Lord? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: We have been told that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I want to say in all due respect, that is not true. It takes a family to raise a child, and it takes families to make up that village. If you don't start with families, you're not going to have much of a village to raise anybody's child with to begin with. It takes a family to raise a child, and it takes faith to make a family.

Announcer: Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the timeless teaching of pastor and author Adrian Rogers. It takes a family to raise a child, and it takes faith to make a family. The most powerful and influential people on Earth are mothers and fathers of faith.

Hebrews chapter 11 tells the prophet Moses' divine origin story, which would not have existed if not for his parents. There are four principles to learn from their indispensable faith. If you have your Bible, turn now to Hebrews chapter 11, as Adrian Rogers shares more about family faith.

Adrian Rogers: We are beginning a series of Bible messages on the family. You know that there is an all-out war on the family, and Satan is bombarding and attacking the family like never before. But it is a winnable war. We have decided that we're going to do something about this attack. We're going to counterattack with the Word of God. We're going to be putting an emphasis upon the family.

We have been told that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I want to say in all due respect, that is not true. That is not true. It takes a family to raise a child, and it takes families to make up that village. If you don't start with families, you're not going to have much of a village to raise anybody's child with to begin with. It takes a family to raise a child.

The Bible says God has set the solitary in families. The devil knows that the family is the basic unit of society. So, if he wants society to come apart, where would he start? Obviously, he would start with the family to destroy the family, and he does that by deception so that he might dominate the world. So, we're talking about the family. It takes a family to raise a child, and it takes faith to make a family.

Now, that's the reason we're starting where we are. With that in mind, I want us to read a story that you know from childhood. It's the story of Moses in the bulrushes. It's found here in Hebrews chapter 11. Let's look at it as we read the Word of God, verse 23.

"By faith, Moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents because they saw that he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith, Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith, he—that is Moses—forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured—Moses endured—as seeing Him who is invisible, that is, Almighty God."

Now, God being my help, I want to write four things upon your heart that will help you to be a mother of faith, a father of faith, a husband, a wife, a grandparent of faith, to bring up children, to bring a family up that will have children that will glorify and honor God. Are you ready for these?

I want you to listen to these four principles. By the way, we're going to be introduced, before I get into those principles, to two wonderful people. They are perhaps forgotten heroes in the Bible. One's name is Amram, and the other's Jochebed. Now, they're not famous names, but they are very, very important names because they are the mother and the father of Moses, the great Moses that led the children of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land. Amram and Jochebed—don't forget them. You'll meet them in heaven. They are found here in Hebrews chapter 11 in God's Hall of Fame, which is really a Hall of Faith, and it tells what they did.

Here are four principles we're going to learn from Amram and Jochebed. Here are four things that we're going to learn about how to bring children up by faith that are absolutely indispensable if you would have the kind of family in these days that God wants you to have. Are you ready for them?

First of all, principle number one: faith sees every child as special. Faith sees every child as special. Notice verse 23: "By faith, Moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents because they saw that he was a proper child." Some translate this: "they saw he was a special child." Others: "that he was a beautiful child." Others: "that he was a fitting child." They all mean basically the same thing—that they looked at little baby Moses and they saw that he was extraordinary.

Now, I want to say this: there's not a parent on Earth who hasn't done exactly the same thing. They said, "That baby is a special baby." Every child is a special child. Every child is the handiwork of Almighty God, and it's not just some children; it is all children that are special to God, and you have to see this by faith.

Ethel Waters, that great gospel singer and a person with such a wonderful, warm spirit, talked about herself. She was born in dire circumstances and out of wedlock and some other things. But some said, "How does that make you feel?" She said, "I'm special. God don't make no junk. God don't make no junk."

God sees every child as special, and therefore every parent should see every child as special. I can remember when our first son, Steve, was born. Joyce and I were in college. We planned to have children while we were in college, and God allowed us to do so. I can remember that night. I don't know why they often come in the middle of the night, but she gave me the elbow and she said, "Adrian, I believe it is time."

My heart just jumped out of my throat. It's an awful, painful thing for a man to go through all this childbirth. We were supposed to call the doctor. Dr. Valentine was his name. She said, "Adrian, call the doctor and tell him we're coming to the hospital." Well, we were living in a little house trailer. We didn't have a telephone in there. To be very honest with you, we didn't even have a bathroom in there. We had a community place where we went over to shower and shave, and there was a little community center with a telephone in it.

I went over to get in. It was the middle of the night. It was locked. Oh, I thought, maybe she's had the baby by the time I get back to the trailer. I went and opened my car trunk and got a tire tool out and jimmied a window. It's the middle of the night. So, here I am going in a window at night, and I thought I'm going to get arrested.

So, I went in the window, and I banged my shins going in, fell on the floor, ran over to the phone. It was a payphone. I had no money. I went back out over to the house, searching through everything, trying to find just one dime. Back in through the window again to call the doctor and tell him what was happening. I said, "Doctor, it is important you get here immediately."

We got down to the hospital. Little Steve was born. I remember seeing him for the first time as he was there, Joyce holding him in her arms. He had a little fleck of blood right there on his cheek, and his hair was all messed up. He was ugly—oh, all scrunched up and wrinkled up. But to me, he was pretty. He was pretty. I kissed Joyce and kissed Steve. I went home to that little trailer, got on my knees, and I prayed. I said, "God, if I never do anything good, never have any kind of so-called success in this world, I want to be a godly dad. I want to raise that child for you because he is special." I knew just looking at him that he was special.

Every child is special. They saw that he was a proper child, a beautiful child, a special child. Faith has to see this. You have to see your child as a special child. God made your child absolutely, totally, wonderfully unique.

One of my life verses is this: it's Psalm 112, verses one and two. "Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments. His seed—that literally means his children—shall be mighty upon the earth." I want to raise up mighty children.

One way to do that is just to get into the instruction book, which is the Word of God. Proverbs chapter 22 and verse six says, "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he'll not depart from it." Now, you know that the word "way" is a special word here. It doesn't just simply mean in the direction that he should go, but it means to be the kind of a child that God wants him to be, and God made him specially to be.

The idea of "way" here is the idea of a bend in a bow, like an archer's bow. That is, every child has his own particular bent. Sometimes I thought mine were also warped, but they have a particular bent, and they're different. What you have to do is to look at your child by faith and say, "This child is a special child."

Joyce and I have five children. We have a little boy in heaven, but we have four who are here on this earth—four very wonderful children. But I want to tell you that the four who are here are so very different one from another. Our first son, Stephen, as I've already told you, has a bent for music. We discovered this before he ever went to school. I taught him a little finger melody on the piano, and he's been at the piano ever since—loving music, writing music, producing music. He is an ordained minister of music. He just has that bent for music. And so, we would be very foolish to try to derail him or move him in any other direction because that's the way that he should go.

Our second son, David, he has a bent for geography and the world. When he was a little boy, he was pouring over maps and zip codes. One time when he was just a little tyke, we were talking about taking a trip to the West Coast and talking about what route we should take. David said, "Well, I'd go through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas," and he had the whole thing routed out. I didn't even know he knew those states existed, but he'd memorized them in sequence, in order. He's just been a man who's had the world on his heart, and David is a missionary. That's the way of his heart. He knows geography. He knows the world. He is a world citizen, and it's been our joy to pray for him and encourage him in that way.

Along came Gale, born in a storm. We named her Gale because of that, and we named her rightly. Gale is the one who is fiercely competitive. She has a mind like a computer. Don't ever try to outsmart her or try to get ahead of her. Gale is an entrepreneurial spirit. She's a leader. She's a counselor. She has incredible insight into the ways that things work, and it makes her a great encourager of people and a great leader of folks. That's the bent that God put in this girl. I sometimes stand in awe as I watch her and listen to how her mind works.

Then God gave us Janice. Janice is my romanticist. She's sweet and gentle. She loves music. She loves poetry. She loves mountains. She loves flowers. She loves children. She has a nurturing spirit and a very gentle spirit. Four children, but one thing about them: they all love Jesus and they all love Mom and Dad. Praise God for that. You just have to find the way that they should go, and then you encourage them in that way. Put it down big, plain, and straight: faith sees every child as a special child. They don't come in standard packages, and you better carefully read the label. Just look at them over and over and over again.

That's the first thing I want you to understand. Look at your child and say, "God, help me to understand the way that he should go, the way that she should go." Faith sees every child as a special child. Got that?

Then let's move to the second point. Faith sees every child as a special child, and faith sees every conflict as a spiritual conflict. Faith sees every conflict as spiritual.

Now, look in verse 23 again. The Bible says by faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months. Well, why did they hide him? Well, it's very obvious. The king had commanded that the little boy babies be killed. Exodus chapter one, verse 22: "And Pharaoh charged all the people, saying, 'Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river.'" Now, they worshiped the Nile River, so this was making the little boy babies a sacrifice to the Nile River. "Take the little boy babies when they're born and cast them into the river."

Well, was this a conflict between Israel and Egypt? No. Was this a conflict between the parents of Moses and Pharaoh? No. What this was, was a conflict between the gods of Egypt and Almighty God. What this literally was, was a conflict between light and dark. What this was, was a spiritual conflict.

Now, you have to understand that in raising children. Folks, it takes more than wit and wisdom and nutrition and good intentions and your talents. You are in a spiritual battle when you're raising children. Did you know that? That's the reason that it takes faith. That's the reason it takes faith.

For the Bible says in Ephesians chapter six and verse 12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places." You see, the battle here was a battle against spiritual and demonic forces, and you're up against that as parents today. Now, if you don't see the battle as spiritual, what you're going to use is intelligence and good intentions rather than faith. But if you see the battle as spiritual, you're going to use faith as your major weapon.

The Bible says it was by faith that they were not afraid of the king's commandment. Now, without faith, they should have been afraid. I mean, they're disenfranchised, helpless slaves, little unknowns—Amram and Jochebed. They had every reason to be afraid if the battle was a physical, material battle. But faith sees every conflict as spiritual.

If you don't see that, folks, I'm going to tell you you're going to strike out as parents. Those were treacherous days in which they lived, and these are treacherous days in which we live. As a matter of fact, the Bible says in the last days perilous times shall come, Second Timothy chapter two and verse one. These are perilous times. Let me tell you what you're facing. If you're a parent or a grandparent, what you're facing: you're facing liberalism in religion. There's nothing more damning, debilitating, stultifying than liberalism in religion because we have today churches that use the same religious language that we use, but they don't mean what the Bible means. They use our words and their dictionary, and that is very, very dangerous.

Now, I don't know of anything that would be more harmful or hurtful to your child than to have your child in a liberal, Bible-doubting church. You just need to get away from those churches; they're dangerous, they're empty, they are futile. Now, take those children and realize that liberalism in religion is a very dangerous thing.

Then that is compounded by humanism in education. Now, what is humanism? Humanism is a system of thought that honors man rather than God. Man is the center and the circumference and the sum total of everything. It sounds so good because humanism—who could be against humanism? It sounds so much like humanitarianism. But it is really atheism that is disguised; they call it humanism.

The chief building block of humanism is evolution. Our children have been taught that they are an accident, not an incident; that they just happened, that they came up out of some primordial ooze. Because of that, there is no fixed standard of right and wrong. You say, "Well, now wait a minute, Pastor. Aren't you an educated man? Are you telling me that you fly in the face of science and you don't believe in evolution?" Friend, I reject evolution totally, 100 percent, period. I do not believe in that monkey mythology. It is not based on fact, regardless of what they will tell you. It is a theory; it is the next best guess of a mind that will not accept the Word of God that, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

But now, watch it. The chief building block in humanism is evolution. Built upon evolution is sex education. What are our children being taught? If you let all the air out of it, I'm going to cut through the rhetoric: they're being taught how to have sexual intercourse without catching a disease or getting pregnant. That's what it's about. Just let all the air out of it; that's blunt, but that's what it is.

They are not taught that there is a fixed standard of right and wrong. They are not clearly taught abstinence according to the fixed standard of God that says flee fornication and that speaks of adultery as an incredible crime against themselves and against God. It can do nothing but damage unless it comes with a fixed moral base.

The kids are facing, friend—let me tell you—they're facing liberalism in religion, they're facing humanism in education, and then they're facing hedonism in society. Hedonism in society. We live in a sex-saturated, alcohol-soaked society. Your children are looked upon as fodder for the liquor dealers, the beer barons, and all of these. It is an incredible thing, but I have to admit that they are winning the battle.

Where are the best advertisements that your kids watch? The beer advertisements. I mean, give the devil his due; they're good, aren't they? And they're winning the battle. What do they support? Where are these commercials found? Well, they're found in sports events, the Super Bowl, they're found in college playoff games and all of this. And the kids are being told to drink it; everybody drinks it. You say, "But oh, we're going to teach them to drink in moderation." Come up close because I want to tell you something: that's the way every drinker begins. That's the way everybody begins. Nobody ever starts to drink to be a drunkard. They all begin that they're going to drink in moderation or whatever. They think it's a harmless thing.

The Japanese have a proverb: first the man takes a drink, then the drink takes the drink, and then the drink takes the man. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, whosoever's deceived thereby's not wise.

I tell you what you ought to do, parents: get the alcohol out of your house—beverage alcohol, all of it, totally, period. Out. Out.

Number two, you stay up when your kids go out and be awake when they come home. It's better for you to lose your sleep than lose your child. When that big old boy comes in, get up real close and give him a hug so you can smell his breath. That's right.

Number three, let him see that you have a home. We're going to talk about family fun, but you don't have to get drunk in order to have a good time. Let him see the joy of the Lord in your house, in your heart, in your home.

So, what I'm saying is they're facing this, this hedonism in society. It's the same thing, everything in the movies, in the films, in the situational comedies. They're all based primarily upon this—the breaking of God's commandments and laughing about it. That's the danger of a situational comedy that these kids watch. Well, you say, "Well, that's their way; we get entertained by that." Many of you using the television as a babysitter.

Now, if living next door to you there happened to be a man and a woman who are not married and they're in the house next door and they are cohabitating and having an illicit affair, when you go off shopping, would you say, "Now Johnny, I want you get a soapbox, and I want you to stand on that soapbox and look in the window and watch those people and see what they're doing. I want you to be entertained; this is the way I'm going to babysit you"? Well, you'd say, "Of course I wouldn't do that." Well, you're letting them watch something like that right in the television, right in the living room.

You see, these are what the kids are facing. They are facing liberalism in religion, they're facing humanism in education, they're facing hedonism in society. They're up against it. Now, if I did not know the Lord, I would be absolutely petrified to raise children in this world in which we live.

But there is a way. There is a way. Notice, the Bible says they were not afraid. Faith sees every conflict as spiritual. If you think that you're going to outwit this world, you're wrong. You're in a spiritual battle, and therefore you have to have faith.

Announcer: Indeed, we are in a spiritual battle every day, and the only way to win is through faith. Are you looking to get grounded and dig deeper in your walk with Christ? The "Grow Your Faith" page at our website is a great starting point. This page has plenty of resources inspired by Pastor Rogers' messages to help you truly cultivate a stronger connection with God. So go to LWF.org/radio and click the tab that says "Grow Your Faith" today. Whether you're just beginning or you're seeking to move forward, go to the website and click the "Grow Your Faith" tab to discover how you can flourish and live out God's purpose for your life.

Well, are you raising children by faith, recognizing your spiritual conflict? Remember, raising children is a spiritual battle. Our only hope is a solid faith in Jesus Christ.

This program's been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a nonprofit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters like you. If you'd like to give a gift today, call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD. You can also connect with us online by going to LWF.org/radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

Thank you for studying in God's Word with us today, and join us next time for Part II of "Family Faith," right here on Love Worth Finding.

We love this note of encouragement from one of our Spanish-speaking listeners, which reads when translated: "God bless you. The messages that are spread here have been of great blessing and edification every time I can hear them on the radio." Well, at Love Worth Finding ministries, our mission continues to be to share the profound truth of the gospel so simply anyone, anywhere, can understand.

And when you donate to the ministry this month, we want to send you a copy of *His Story*. *His Story* shares the largest pieces of the Bible story from start to finish in a simple and clear way. This insightful resource is sure to give hope and straightforward truth that will help any Christian grow and mature in Christ. If you'd like a copy of this resource, call us with a gift at 1-877-LOVE-GOD, or give online at LWF.org/radio. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.