Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: No matter how busy you get, you men need to stop being wimps and take the headship of your homes. Humble yourself before them and become that example that Christ has called you to be and love your wife even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. You wives be in submission to your husbands as they become godly so that your children will obey in all things.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Well today we're pressing on in our study of godly motherhood and it's good to have you with us. Today Raul will urge you to guard your heart and your home against spiritual complacency.

Modeling faith and obedience for your kids is so important as they set out on their own journey with God. If you take a light view of sin, so will they. Stay with us to explore how you can nurture righteousness in your home. Here's Raul Ries in Second Timothy chapter three.

Raul Ries: In Second Timothy we have Paul the Apostle coming to the end of his life. He's given instruction now to Timothy which Timothy now is no longer a young man but he's older now and he's been in the ministry. Paul writes to him not only to exhort him but to share with him the things that are going to take place in time to come. Paul the Apostle in a few weeks would be beheaded by Nero. He would be killed and that would be the end of the life of Paul the Apostle. He wants to make sure that he's passing on these things to Timothy so that Timothy can teach these things to people in time to come.

As I look at the world today I see that the human race has come to a real danger today. Not only from international bases but socially, economically, and ecologically we see disaster all around us. I'm not a prophet of doom because I understand what God's word said to me and what God is going to do. God already has not only warned us but he's also shared with us something I think it's important that we understand. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

The only hope that this world can ever receive or have is the hope that we can put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ. Apart from him we can do nothing. As you look around at the church as Paul here writes to these people they were not only in fellowship but their commitment was not really fully to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Today as you look around the United States and you look around the world for most part today it's sad to say but we are out of touch. There are many people that are out of touch with God.

We run into many problems, especially in the problems concerning our families. Things that are going on in the world today. One of the things about being out of touch with God is a separation from God. We can also see that we have fallen prey not only to the crimes of this world but behind the crimes of this world are the forces that are working against us.

Paul the Apostle said that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness that are constantly against each one of us. We know that the problem in Los Angeles or in Chicago or San Francisco or New York City is not really with the black people or Hispanic people or white people or oriental people. The problem is sin, the nature of man. Man is greedy. Man's nature is always to take for himself. We know that behind this whole thing it is the plot of Satan trying to deceive, trying to come to steal and to kill.

The closer the approach of the coming of the Lord comes then we're going to see more of these type of things that Satan is preparing plots to deceive our nation and the world. As I look around the world and as I look at the United States of America look at the family. The family is dying. We talk about safe sex and we talk about the use of condoms, which is really not God's way. That's man's way of deception. It is sin and what we don't want to do is we don't want to call sin sin. We have different phrases that we use.

We blame it of course on society and we blame it on everybody else but really who is at fault here? I personally believe that it's the home, the parents. The parents are the ones that are at fault. I want to share with you some of the things that's on my heart because I have three sons. I want to speak to you out of my experiences and some of the things that I am concerned about. Some of the things I'm concerned about is not only the invasion of AIDS but the divorce courts are full of divorces. Nobody wants to work out their marriages anymore.

Everybody wants a new wife. Everybody wants a new husband. Everybody wants to escape reality. It's sad because there's a great separation in the family unit today. The family doesn't have time to worship any longer together. Parents are too busy working double jobs so they can have the bigger car, the bigger boat, the bigger house, more clothes. More things to take our attention off God and off our children so that we can become self-centered people. It's happening. It's already here. We need to wake up. To wake up to the reality that we are in trouble. The family is in trouble.

Our children are in trouble because of the separation of the husband and the wife. The family has been totally separated. We have no time for our husband, no time for our wife, no time for our children. We're too busy. We have no faithfulness in our marriages. The family is wasted away. Everybody's doing what is right in their own eyes. Children become confused through the parents because the parents are not fully committed to God. Parents are the worst example. They see it in the home. They don't learn it in the church, they don't learn it at work, they learn it in the home. That's where they spend most of their time.

Usually today as you look at the home the children are spending more time by themselves watching television, getting educated through TV and movies and through the rock music and through by being with their friends and being in school than with their parents because the parents are never home. Too busy. Listen to what some of the statistics say about families. 15 million American children, one quarter of the population under 18 years of age, are growing up today without fathers. The fathers don't want to take the responsibility of their children.

Among the Hebrews it was important because the moment a baby was born immediately out of the womb the mother would take the child and the first words that the child would listen to would be the voice of the mother in the ear of the baby and the first word was this, Yahweh is God. They would brainwash their children about who God was. The woman would take responsibility with the father of the child from birth. The woman would take him until age 13. At age 13 the child would be turned over to the father as the father now would begin to take the headship of leading this child into society by educating them and being an example to them until the age of 18.

Throughout the Bible it talks about the father teaching the children the word of God. Becoming the spiritual head of the home. Praying, reading, fellowshipping with the wife and the children and spending time in communication. Not when you sit down to eat, which was a time of fellowship, having the TV on and the stereo on. There's no communication. Everybody's being lost in their own selves. That's why we have problems. We don't know how to communicate to our children. We have no time for them. We have a big problem.

I remember living in the sixties, growing up in the sixties. Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, programs that were directed towards the family. Not today. Cable TV does not help any. Hollywood does not help any. All the things that we're getting into our television and movies and through the radio is only rebellion and the breaking up of the family unit. Separation unto ungodliness and not holiness as God says. We talk about violence. We have violence all over the country. For example, did you know that teenage violence is a bigger problem today than it was in the past? 88 percent said yes.

Horrible crimes are being committed today. For example, you see in the past 30 years the number of suicides among Americans from 15 years of age to 24 years of age has risen more than 300 percent. Think of that. 300 percent. We somehow have to get back to the position where parents see their major priority in their children. About 5,000 Americans in the age group kill themselves each year. Suicide has surpassed disease as the third leading cause of death in young people in America.

The statistics of the other social trends such as the rise of dual career couples who work ahead of their children have led the president of National Conference of Catholic Bishops to one conclusion. This is what they said: there is a general family breakdown in America. The family is breaking down. It's becoming history. At the age of 16 years old a child already has seen 200,000 acts of violence on television. You wonder why we have problems? It's our home.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for a wide range of family-centered Bible-rich resources. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk every Tuesday at 10 AM West Coast time on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel. Let's continue now with more from Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Listen to what Paul says. In Second Timothy chapter three he speaks about the prediction he gives here is about faithfulness in the last days. These are 19 characteristics you can find in your Bible that speak about these people that are being affected by these lifestyles. Notice how he begins chapter three verse one: But know this, brothers, that in the last days hard times will come. Right off the bat Paul says it's not in my time, it's going to be in your time. In the last days there is going to be hard times. Times will become difficult for parents, for children, for the government, for the city. Too many people.

It's important that we understand and the reason is the characteristics that these people carry within their own lives. There are 19 characteristics established by Paul the Apostle here through the inspiration and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Paul the Apostle before he dies. Listen to what he says: For men will become lovers of themselves. We see that already today. Turn on your television. Everything has to do with self. Everything is self-centered. Me, I. That's all there is today.

Paul warns us through the Holy Spirit that in the last days men will become lovers of themselves. They don't care about anybody else. Nobody else. Only self. Secondly, they're going to become lovers of money, covetous. They work for that extra boat, for that extra house or clothes or whatever it is and they sacrifice their children on the altar to have more. Just like the Old Testament, the Hebrews would sacrifice their children to Molech in this god that was put into the fire and they would bring their babies to Molech and they would barbecue their children on there just because they wanted to worship the god of pleasure.

It's sad how many kids today that are growing up are literally the effect of parents that have never loved their children or taken care of their children and this is the result that we see today. That's what we have. You can't help it in a society that's forgotten about God. Homes that don't even pray and they don't even have time together in family devotions. What do you expect? Expect your children to get into drugs. Expect your children to get pregnant. Expect your children to get venereal diseases because you haven't educated them. The best education you can give them is not about AIDS, the best education is about God.

That's the greatest education. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter six, that's what God said to Moses. Make sure that your children get the word of God on the walls. He says in the kitchen, in the living room, when they're standing up, when they're sitting down, when they're lying down. Make sure you give to them the word of God. It's heavy. We have failed to do that because we're too busy with self.

We've become braggarts. These people become braggarts. They start bragging about everything or boastful, Paul says here. Then the next is proud, arrogant. They start getting haughty. They really think they're something. Then they become abusive and that word abusive is the word blasphemer towards other people. They're aggressive against other people. Blasphemer is not only of God but of people. Then check that out in the sixth qualification or characteristic is that they will become disobedient to their parents because there's no training in the home.

When there's no godly training and no godly models in the home you're going to have disobedient children. No discipline. The Bible says in Proverbs a young man left to himself becomes a fool. Becomes stupid. Then we wonder why we're struggling as families and we're having so many problems with our children. Not only disobedient to their parents he says they're going to become ungrateful. They'll never thank you for anything.

The Proverb says there's a generation that will say give me, give me like the leech and they're never thankful. We're here, my friends. We're here today. A generation that will become so evil that children will even rise up and kill their parents, the scripture says. Heavy stuff. We're living in those days as we have been infected by Hollywood and all the garbage of the world. They're not only ungrateful, they'll never give thanks but also they're unholy. They live their lives in the flesh, not in the spirit.

They don't have any love in their lives. They're heartless. That's how the gangs and all these criminals and these serial killers come about. Without any love for anybody but themselves. Unforgiving or trucebreakers. They break covenants. They're slanderers. That's the word used for Satan, a false accuser. They accuse you even though you're not guilty. They're people without self-control. They're powerless. They don't have the spirit of God. They're brutal. They're untame like wild animals. You saw that at the riots. Sad.

That's only the testing of the water. Watch what's going to come next. Without love, unforgiveness, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, untame like animals. Not lovers of good. They promote evil. They love evil. They don't promote good stuff. Paul says not only lovers of that which is good but also they become treacherous or betrayers or traitors of their parents and their friends and their families.

They become rash or reckless in their lives. Then they're conceited. They lift up in pride. They become lovers of pleasure. Notice that: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. You see their heart is not towards God. Their heart is towards pleasure. Everything's pleasure. They have no time for God. Then he says also having a form of godliness but they deny it by its power. From such people turn away. Don't have nothing to do with them.

Notice what Paul says. These are the things that we're facing today. People that are without rule. They have no government in their life. No order in their life. I think about how far we've come along and how bad it's gotten. We know that because as Christians we don't have to lose hope. We have to keep our hope in Jesus Christ. I'm afraid sometimes that the church of Jesus Christ has gone to sleep. We've gone to sleep.

We really don't believe that the Lord is coming. We begin to be like them. We begin to not only backslide, we get cold towards God and instead of really understanding the truth of God we have no knowledge to the truth and we become foolish in what we do. We forget that whatever a man soweth that shall he reap. Even though God forgives me for my sins I still have to reap the consequences of my sin. Every one of us.

The consequences are there. People are sorry that they burned down LA but the consequences are there. Tax dollars are going to pay for those things. In Second Chronicles 7:14: If my people which are called by my name shall repent or humble themselves and pray and fast and seek my face then I, God, will hear from heaven and I will heal my people and heal their land. But you as God's people need to be right with God so God can answer our prayer. Forget about the heathen, I'm talking about the Christian today.

Those of us that are compromising in our walk with Jesus Christ and our kids are seeing it and our kids are being mixed up, confused. They see the father in the home verbally yelling, abusing the mother or even physically abusing the mother and abusing the children. Then you come to church and you play the role of the hypocrite. That's not good. God will hold you accountable.

Especially if you draw your children away from God he'll hold you accountable. You have a great responsibility. I have a great responsibility to my home and to my children. To bring them up in the ways of the Lord, the scripture says. No matter how busy you get you men need to stop being wimps and take the headship of your homes and be the leader of your home and pray with your wife and pray with your children.

Humble yourself before them and become that example that Christ has called you to be and love your wife even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. You wives be in submission to your husbands as they become godly so that your children will obey in all things. You have to set the pace. You have to set the example. Then God will do the rest. We need to come to that place in our own lives to realize who Jesus Christ is and what he is doing.

Guest (Male): If you've allowed sinful habits to creep into your home we hope today's message has been an assurance for you that God sees every repentant heart and he can help you set a stronger spiritual example for your children. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was titled "A Warning To The Family". If you'd like to get an unedited version we'll be happy to send one to you for a donation of five dollars or more. Our phone number is 800-634-9165.

As you think about the changes you might need to make we'd also like to tell you about Raul's six-part study for moms. It's a series that's available on both CD and USB with every message providing more insight into how you can establish a firm foundation of faith for your kids. You'll also get a challenge to commit more time to your own relationship with God allowing him to fill you with wisdom and understanding in your role as a parent. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's six-lesson mother's series. We'll send you the CD set for 20 dollars or the flash drive for 12 dollars. That's 800-634-9165. Or you can order by writing to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765.

Your partnership is so crucial to this ministry. Because of you we're able to reach more and more people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Join us next time for more encouragement from this series for mothers. You'll see that you can have an eternal impact on the hearts of your children as you protect them from worldly influences and stand for them daily in prayer. Now with a final thought here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: Check this out about these people what he says in verse six about them. He says: For of this sort are those who creep into the household and make captive of gullible women loaded down with sins and they lead away by various desires of the flesh, always learning but they never are able to come to the knowledge of the truth. These are people in church. People that sit and they hear but they don't do. They don't hear. They're not obedient. They become callous. They become hard. They're just going through the motions and they have no emotion in their life for God.

How we need to repent. How we need to come back to God's heart and how we need to repent and do our first works all over again. It's never too late because of God's love and God's grace it's never too late. You can start today brand new. Right now you can start. But that's if you humble yourself before God. God loves us and God cares for us and that's why he speaks to us because he wants his people to become a people of God. That's what he desires.