Somebody Loves You

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Well, it is great to have you with us today for our continuing focus on the blessings and responsibilities of Christian fatherhood. Today, Raul will encourage you to consider the influential role you have in guiding your children to God. When you're transparent with them as you walk with the Lord in obedience and integrity, they will learn from your example. Today, we'll look at the life of the Old Testament family man, Job. Here is Raul Ries in Job chapter 1, verse 1 with the lesson, A Father's Integrity.

Raul Ries: The Lord gave me my message out of the first five verses. Listen to what he says. He says, there was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, and one who really feared God and hated evil. And he had seven sons, three daughters, and they were born unto him. And also his possessions were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. And a very large household, so that this man was the greatest in all the land of the East.

And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each of his own appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And so it was when the days of feasting had run their course that Job would send and set apart them. And he would rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned or maybe even cursed God in their hearts. And thus did Job regularly.

Let me say to you that the book of Job was written before even the Pentateuch was given. Actually, Job goes way back to the book of Genesis. Before the Levitical law was given to us concerning sacrifices, we see the heart of a man here that is willing to have integrity in his heart, not only to God, but to his family and to those around him.

You notice that in Job chapter 1, in verse 1, he talks about Job's integrity. He says there was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright and one who feared God and hated evil. First of all, you have to deal with your relationship with Jesus Christ. Who do you believe in? Have you accepted Christ in your life to take the full responsibility that the Bible gives to each one of us as males in our society? To take the roll ship or to take the headship of our homes?

Like Paul the Apostle said in Ephesians, to love our wives even as Christ loved the church, and to love our children and to watch over our children and disciplining them in the ways of the Lord. It's so important that as a father, first of all, I need to be a teacher to my children. I need to teach my children. That is a responsibility that every one of you fathers including myself have here.

I know that many of us have failed in that side of the story. You've made a mess of your life. You find that your children are not only rebellious, but some of them have even gone and done other things that you never thought they would do. And maybe it is the fact that they did not see the example in the home. They saw you verbally abusing your wife, so now they're verbal abusers, or maybe physical abusers.

Maybe they watched you as you were cursing and you lost your temper. No self-control. We have to be so careful in teaching our children. Put it this way. Can your children see Jesus Christ in you? Or have we become like Moses where our children are looking at us and they're looking at a model that is not representing what the Bible speaks about? Are we misrepresenting God to our children and to our wife?

Even as Moses was told to go out and speak to the rock and Moses became angry and he took the staff and he began to beat the rock and the water came forth. Moses was not able to go into the promised land because he misrepresented God as an angry God when God was never angry with the people. When your children see you, do they see a God that is always angry and abusive against them? God help us that our children should be sent away from Christ because we're not living to the standards God has given to us. Being vicious against our children.

Listen to Deuteronomy 6:7 as Moses speaks to the people of God. He says, you shall teach your children diligently. You shall teach them the word of God. And you shall talk of them when you sit down in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You fathers need to be the ones that are teaching the Bible in your homes. You're to lead your family in a devotional time. You're to pray with your wife and you're to pray with your children. This is something that is lacking today in the church of Jesus Christ.

Most of our complaints in counseling is of wives coming in and saying, my husband is not the spiritual head of his home. Men, we gotta wake up. God gave you the responsibility to teach your children. God gave you the responsibility to love your wife, for better for worse. Those were not just words you made, those were words that God heard and witnesses around you heard what you made, that commitment.

God help us to understand that we need to be teaching our children not our philosophies, but we need to be teaching them God's philosophy in his word. This was the life of Job. Job was very concerned about his family, but first of all, he was concerned with his relationship to Jesus Christ or to God first. You see, you'll never get it together with your wife or your children or anybody else until you get it right with God first. That's the priority.

And if you really as a man have blown it in your home, you can this morning repent and start all over again and God will honor your commitment to him. It's never too late with God. Never too late with God. Yes, maybe you've stained your name in your family. God can take care of that in a period of time. You're going to reap the consequences, but men, get right with the Lord. That's what he desires.

Secondly, not only are we to be teaching our children, but we are to be training our children when they leave our homes. God has given you your children as an investment, the best investment in the whole wide world. They're an investment to you from God. You see, that is the greatest investment, more than your retirement, more than your bank accounts, more than anything you ever possess. God's children to you, the Bible says they're a gift from the Lord to you.

God has given them to you to train them up in the ways of the Lord and our desire as parents should be that the number one thing is that those people, those little children that God has given to us, that they would know God. That's the most important thing. Proverbs 22:6, Solomon said this, train up a child in the way that he should go or she should go, and when he gets old, he will never depart from the way. That's important. God's promise.

Thirdly, we need to provide for our children. You need to be the provider of your home and you need to provide for all of your children's needs physically, emotionally, and spiritually and financially. That's what the Bible teaches. The Bible says that a man that doesn't like to work, he's worse than an infidel. The Bible says that the man is to be the sole provider of the home. Now, if your wife works, hey, that's between you and her. But your main concern and responsibility is to be the main provider of the home, to take care of your home and the needs of your home.

And that is by giving your life to Jesus Christ as Christ opens those doors and gives the wisdom and the knowledge. And as now you continue to move on with the Lord, God will direct your path as you're seeking him on how to provide for your family. God desires that of each one of us here. As a matter of fact, Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 12:14, he says, for the children are not to lay up for the parents, but the parents are to lay up for the children. The children shouldn't be taking care of the parents, the parents should be taking care of the children. That's important.

And so it's important that as you come to be a parent, as a father, you need to take the responsibility of providing for the child's needs physically, emotionally, materially, and most important, spiritually speaking. Training a child in the way that he or she should go.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. As you look for ways to lead your family in faith, we'd like to support you with our many Bible-based resources. Visit us anytime at somebodylovesyou.com. Raul's six-part Father's series is available on CD and flash drive. We'll tell you how you can get a copy of that in just a few moments. But first, let's get back to more of today's study, A Father's Integrity.

Raul Ries: Fourth point, by nurturing your children. Listen to what Paul says in chapter 6 of Ephesians 4. He says, and you fathers, do not provoke your children unto wrath, but bring them up in the training and in the admonition of the Lord. That's your responsibility. That is, as parents, I need to teach and to instruct my child with God's word in building him up, not tearing him down. Not making him angry, but to encourage him.

And when you discipline him, you discipline him in the Lord the way God says to do it. Not by yelling and screaming and pushing and fighting, but the Bible says you take him and you set him down by the word of God and if he needs the rod of correction to instruct the seat of understanding, you use it. One thing I have found out is you don't want to use your hand or your feet or an instrument. Why? Because if you constantly are hitting your children with your hand, your hands were made for caressing, for actually stroking, not for hitting.

God says and he gives you the Proverbs to instruct you how you are to correct your child when you discipline him, when you spank him. There's nothing wrong with spanking. Spanking is needed. Correcting the child so that he won't be deceived.

And then fifthly, listen carefully. We need to take, this is important, to take control of our homes. Don't let Satan take control of your home. Maybe this morning you've come and your home is a disaster. Yelling, screaming, fighting, turmoil like you can't believe. What you need to do as a father, the first thing is you need to stop yelling and screaming and doing what you're doing and get on your knees with your whole family and begin the day by prayer. Humbling yourself before God and asking him to forgive you for not taking the headship of your home.

Allow your children to see you when you cry and tears and when you're broken. They need to be broken too. You need to be that example even as Christ is our example. God desires even like Job that we would become spiritual fathers to our children. We need to represent God correctly, not incorrectly. Your children need to feel secure with you in your family.

Go back to Job. Let me show you something. In chapter 1, verse 1, we see that introduction that Job gives to us, which we see the man. His name means hostile, Job. The land of Uz, I don't know where it is. I looked it up all over my encyclopedias. Nobody is really sure so I will not tell you where it is. Some people say it's in Saudi Arabia. I don't know.

But I know one thing, that Job was a real person. He was a man. And secondly, his integrity that he had. Notice his character that he possessed in his own life in verse 1. The half verse there. And that man was blameless and upright and one who feared God and shunned evil. Notice what it says. What does he mean when he talks about Job being blameless?

Listen, it signifies that with a whole heart disposed towards God and what is good, and also well-disposed towards mankind. Today, he would be considered or described as a man with his head screwed on right, or a man that had it all together. A man of integrity. A man that could not be blamed for anything.

A man upright, and that's the next word that he uses. A man that is upright. That is, it implies the moral integrity in its social orientation. What people are seeing in your life at the workplace and in your own neighborhoods, wherever you are. This is in relation dealing with us as fellow men. He was straightforward and honest in business and just in character. And his family saw that. God help us to be like Job.

And then thirdly, he feared the Lord. That is, he had a reverential fear that drew him to worship God and service for God in his life. He was a man committed to God. A man that knew that God was real and that one day God would judge him. One day, fathers, we're going to have to stand before God and give an account of our lives.

So, the fear of the Lord has to be there. But then fourthly, listen carefully. To turn away from all evil, which means what? That there was an aversion to all evil in his life, in his thoughts and in his conduct. In his thoughts and in his conduct. He wasn't into pornography. He wasn't lusting after other women. But he watched what he did.

He was very careful and he put actually a guard over his eyes. He's the one that brings about putting a guard over your eyes. It's important that we are men of integrity whether we're in the home or out of the home. When our wives are not there, our children are not there, we need to be men of integrity, those that fear God and are turning away from all evil. God desires that from each one of our lives.

Third point, in verse 2, we see the man's family. He has a big family. He's been blessed by the Lord. And seven sons and three daughters were born unto him. Listen, in Psalm 127, verse 5, he says this, "Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them."

It's exciting to have children, to have daughters and sons. My three sons are the most blessing in my life. I can't even thank God enough for my three boys. Just incredible. I never had girls. God knew why, but I had all boys. I don't know anything about girls, but I know a lot about boys. It's incredible how God works within our lives. And Job was blessed.

Not only with a family, but with possessions. He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 donkeys. Notice donkeys that God had given to him. And then watch this, in verse 4 and 5, we see now his relationship to God, which is the most important thing. Above all the things that God has given to him, we see first of all, his children's activities in verse 4. Look what it says.

And his sons would go and feast in the houses each on his appointed day and would send and invite their three sisters to come and eat and drink with them. They were constantly in fellowship not only with themselves, but with God. Hey, who was the example? Job. In the next verse you will see. They watched their daddy when he got up in the morning and he prayed. They watched their daddy when it came time of meal to pray and thank God for the food and the blessings he given to them. A house and a roof over their house over their heads.

It's important that we come to that place as spiritual leaders so that our children will learn by example watching what we're doing. Look what it says in verse 5, his commitment to God. "And so it was when the days of feasting had run their course that Job would send and set apart them. And he would rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all, all his daughters and sons. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. And Job did this regularly."

Notice that here he takes upon himself the place of a priest in the home and makes intercession and makes sacrifices to his God, which were sacrifices before the Levitical law of consecration. That is what this burnt offerings all about. It's of consecration of my life and my family to you, O God. Job was a man of integrity in what he did.

I see four things in the life of Job that we can apply to our lives this morning. Number one, Job is faithful to God in his worship first of all. God knows Job and Job knows God. His priorities are right on. Secondly, Job is teaching by example his children how to worship God. How to worship God. Fathers, you need to teach your children how to worship God as you come into the presence of God and you worship God yourself.

And then thirdly, Job is aware of God by making atonement for his family constantly. He was concerned with the problems and the sins that his daughters and his sons were committing, and at that time, he was the one to go before God and ask God, "God, if there's anything wrong with my kids, please, I want to give you this sacrifice for them." That's a beautiful picture of a priest coming before the presence of God.

And then fourthly, Job waited, not only upon God, but Job wanted to be in fellowship with God and with his family. Notice the desire of Job's life this morning. May God this morning give to us fathers the vision like Job. Not only to take the responsibility, but to take charge of our families by loving them and bringing them to the altar.

And giving and pouring of ourselves to them, not only in our time, but with our lives so that one day they can rise up and call us blessed. That's the key.

Guest (Male): We hope Job's faithfulness to his family has been an inspiration for you to lead by example as the spiritual head of your home. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was titled, A Father's Integrity. For an unedited version with much more teaching, just call us at 800-634-9165 and for a donation of five dollars or more, we'll send one to you.

Now to further support you in pointing your kids to the Lord and guiding them in his ways, we'd like to tell you about Raul's six-part series for fathers. Available on either CD or thumb drive, this resource emphasizes that the key to grounding your family in righteousness is to prioritize your own daily time with the Lord. You'll also see that consistency is the key to your spiritual credibility.

To purchase Raul's six-lesson Father series, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD collection for nineteen dollars or the flash drive for just ten dollars. The phone number once again is 800-634-9165 or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

Never before has it been so easy to get Raul's teaching to take with you. Whether you're a daily commuter or you're in the home environment, the Somebody Loves You Radio podcast is a great way to listen to these teaching programs on your schedule. It's also a convenient way to hear a particular series from beginning to end. Check out the podcast when you go to Spotify or iTunes or the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel.

Thanks again for the blessing of your generous partnership. Every contribution you make is tax-deductible. Thanks again for including us in your day today. Be sure and join us next time as we quiet our hearts and minds before the Lord and contemplate more life-shaping truth from the Lord Jesus.