Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: And how we need to teach our children about drugs and alcohol and sexual encounters. Yes, they're going to learn bad things in school and outside of the home, but the home is the place of refuge, the place of training, the place for young people to become educated in the ways of the Lord.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries and Diamond Bar, California. Continuing our focus on spiritual wisdom, Raul will urge you to continually seek God's guidance in your role as a parent. Raising a child is challenging and mistakes are inevitable, but the Lord can redeem every misstep. As you walk with God in genuine relationship, modeling habits of righteousness, you'll find that your actions can speak invaluable truths to your children. Today's lesson is titled Wisdom Begins in the Home. Here's Raul Ries in Proverbs chapter 1 beginning in verse 8.

Raul Ries: I know that there are some of you here that have made a lot of mistakes as parents. We don't want you to leave here condemned after the lesson. We learn by experience. Some of you have come to the Lord lately, some of you have been in the Lord a long time, but Solomon is writing in here in the book of Proverbs to his son. Literally his son is getting ready to go out into the world and Solomon wants to make sure that his child has enough wisdom and knowledge on how to make decisions in the things that he's going to encounter once he leaves home.

It's always scary to literally let your kids go once they turn 18 and they want to make their own lives and they want to go to college or they go out to get a job or they get married. And as a parent you're constantly thinking, did I do a good job with my children? Because there are so many homes today that are actually on the edge of breakup. And what happens is that a lot of times because the mother and father don't have it together, then the children do not have that role model to really get the teaching and the example in the home. So when they leave the home without the training and without the instruction, a lot of times young people go through great hell in this world.

And this is why the Proverbs are so important because Solomon had been actually taught by David his father, and Solomon also had many sons and daughters and so he writes the Proverbs to give instruction to young people. But notice that first of all in Proverbs 1, where in verse 7 he said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Now for any person that has come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, not to study the Word of God is to become a real fool because we need the knowledge of God. We need the wisdom of God.

As a matter of fact, we can't really share with our children in a godly way unless we know what God says in His Word. There's enough training going on already on television and when you send your children to school and in college, where not only the world will try to rob their minds and their hearts and to conform them to the image of this world. And this is why it's so important that before your children ever leave the home, that they already have had the basics and the foundation placed in their lives so that they can make good decisions. Otherwise it's going to cost them tremendously. It's going to hurt them and it's going to hurt you.

Some of you that have had children but your children are gone now, it's not too late to learn so you can teach your grandchildren. And those of you that are single and are not married yet, we would hope that you would pay attention to what the scriptures have to say because one day you will be a parent. Solomon says this to the parent in verse 8 and verse 9. Solomon now is instructing his children. He says, "My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother." Notice the role of the father and the mother in instructing their children. It's not only the father, but the mother has a great big role in the life of the children.

Let me say that as a mother and father come together, before they can really instruct their children, their marriage has to be solid upon the rock Jesus Christ. If your children can see an unstableness in your marriage as you constantly are arguing and fighting in front of them, and they don't see the peace of God in your home, then they too will not have the peace of God in their lives. And this children sometimes can do foolish things because maybe the parent hasn't taken the time to really spend time to let the child know that he is loved and appreciated in the home.

Children are looking for love. But if the mother and father do not love one another, then how can the parents truly give that love to their children? It's an impossibility. And usually what you find in the home is hypocrisy and acting where the father and mother play the role, but literally they hate each other. This is why divorce has become such a big deal today. People that don't get along together, I like what Dr. McGee says. He says, "Those that pray together stay together." You husbands have to take the initiative of becoming the leader of your homes. Not by force, but by love.

That is, you have to take the initiative and the role to study the Word of God so that you can become the spiritual leader of your home. In leading your wife as you pray with her and as you share the scriptures with her. And as your children begin to see how you pray together and how you take care of situations and problems, they are already being trained and instructed just by your godly example. I know that this is not always the case, but God desires that we would follow His Word. One of the reasons that so many homes are breaking up is because people are not following God's Word. They're not taking the instructions that God has given to us through the Word of God.

I believe that home is the primary place for the transmission and the learning of wisdom concerning what God says about life. You see, the Bible says that if you teach your children the Word of God, the Word of God never comes back void. Never. The child may go to the left or the right. He may even backslide. He may even for many, many years go away from God. But if that foundation has been inserted in his heart, that child will constantly turn back to that foundation, which is God, the Word of God. But if the child has no foundation, then who can he turn to? To the secular world and the world will consume him and eat him up and destroy his life.

I like what David said in Psalm 1:1-3. He said, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law does he meditate day and night. For he will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in due season and whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper." Solomon, one of the greatest kings that ever lived, gives instruction to his children concerning the importance of the Word of God, leading and trusting God for their personal lives.

Your children have to see that you trust God personally. Your children have to see you in the Word of God so they can be in the Word of God. Your children have to see that you're forgiving and not keeping record. Your children have to see you loving and kind and graceful in order for them to become loving and kind with others. So many times it's do what I say, but how can you say do what I say when you're really not an example? That's hypocrisy. If you're going to teach your children and you want them to do what you say, then you better be the one first of all to be living it. To be an example, otherwise you're confusing your children.

You're bringing them into rebellion. You're teaching them to lie and to cheat, to be conniving. You're teaching them to disrespect their wives if you disrespect your wife. If you don't honor your wife and you love her as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, then your children are going to follow the same example because that's what they're being taught. But if your children see you being kind and caring and loving and praying with your wife and taking time throughout your day in the morning or in the afternoon or in the evening to have family devotions, then God will honor your home. Blessings will come upon your home and your children.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-based resources to support and instruct you in a God-glorifying life. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10 AM West Coast time. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Listen to what Solomon said in Proverbs 3:1-6. He says, "My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands." You notice, if you teach your children the Word of God and they are obedient to the Word of God, the first thing is for length of days and long life and peace they will add to your life. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the table of your heart and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge God and He shall direct your paths.

The Word of God directs our paths. God holds parents responsible and accountable for the moral education and training of their children. You, me as parents, are responsible and accountable to teach our children. If you just came to the Lord and you're learning about the Lord and your children are already pretty messed up, don't worry about it. You begin to teach. You begin to do what is right and God will take care of the rest as you pray for your children. You pray for God to send someone. You pray for God to deal with them and to touch them. And God will.

In Proverbs 4:1-13, Solomon said again, "Hear my children, the instruction of a father and give attention to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine. Do not forsake my law. When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me." You see, so Solomon says even as my father David taught me, now I'm teaching you so that you can teach your children and pass it on from generation to generation to generation. And he said to me, "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commands and live. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

Do not forsake her and she will preserve you. Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom and in all your getting get understanding. Exalt her and she will promote you. She will bring you honor. When you embrace her she will place on your head an ornament of grace and a crown of glory she will deliver to you. Hear my son and receive my sayings and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in the right paths. When you walk, when you step, will not be hindered. And when you run you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction and do not let go. Keep her for she is your life."

So the father must fulfill the role of instructor by both training and example. And the mother also is a teacher in her home. The mother is to teach her child. In Proverbs 31:1-3, we see Solomon's mother Bathsheba teaching him. He uses another name here, but King Lemuel is actually Solomon. "The words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him. What my son? And what son of my womb? And what son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to those which destroy kings." Literally the mother begins to give counsel to her son concerning sexual impurity and also drunkenness.

And says, "Son, don't do these things because these things will destroy you." And how we need to teach our children about drugs and alcohol and sexual encounters. And about what's right and what's wrong and how to do business with other people. That's the responsibility not of the school board education, but we have the greatest responsibility as parents to teach our children the ways of the Lord. Yes, they're going to learn bad things in school and outside of the home, but the home is the place of refuge, the place of training, the place for young people to become educated in the ways of the Lord.

Listen to what Deuteronomy 4:9-10 said as Moses writes. He says, "Only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself lest you forget the things your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and to your grandchildren. Especially concerning the day that you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb and when the Lord said to me, 'Gather the people unto me and I will let them hear my words that they may learn to fear the Lord and to fear me all of the days that they live on this earth, that they may teach them also to their children.'" And then Deuteronomy 5:16 says, "Children, honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land in which the Lord, the Lord God is giving to you."

Now here in Proverbs 1, Solomon exhorts the father and mother and says, "My son," verse 8, "My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother. For they will be graceful ornaments to your head and chains around your neck." And then he steps in the next verse and then he says, "Now this is what God commands." Here is now where the situation where the child now is getting ready to spread his wings, or he's getting his own apartment and he's moving in with friends. And the mother and father here are giving him the final counsel to say, "Now don't forget what we've taught you."

You can't force them once they leave the home to continue to read the Bible, even to go to church. But I'll tell you what, as life gets tough, there's a way that life has its means to draw us back to God. Seriously. With infirmity and sicknesses and trials and temptations and even tragedy. And I've seen so many young people come back into the church after they went out and got beat up by the world. Because the world has nothing to give to you. Nothing at all. As a matter of fact, all the world will do is give to you bad influence. Listen to what Solomon said, verse 10. "My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

If they say to you, 'Hey, come with us. Let us lie in wait and shed blood.'" Sounds like our newspapers today. "Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up alive into hell and notice in whole like those who go down into the pit. We shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil." That is, they're actually asking this young person to get into mischief like robbing and stealing and even murder. Notice the influence of the evil ones. "Cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse." Hey, whatever we take, we divide it evenly.

"My son, do not walk in the way with them." Notice the father's advice immediately. Get away from them. But God has so much to teach us, so much to share with us so that we can learn to be good citizens in this world. To have a good heart even as mother and father and son and daughter. "My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path. For their feet," here it is, "runs to evil and they make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, but they lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain and it takes away the life of its owners."

Even though he's talking about violence and all these things, he still speaks about covetousness in the life of those that are evil, trying to actually draw away your children to themselves, trying to steal their hearts and to get them into mischief and to get them in trouble with the law and eventually destroying their lives. Think of how many young people today are in jail because of the influence that they got not only from their friends, but being at the wrong time at the right place and yet they're innocent, but they didn't listen to their parents.

Guest (Male): We all know that parenting is a tough job. And as believers, the task is even more ambitious as we strive to instill faith and biblical understanding into our kids. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's message was titled Wisdom Begins in the Home. If you'd like to get an unedited version, we'll be glad to send a copy to you for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165. We'd also like to offer you Raul's four-part series simply titled Wisdom. It's available on either CD or thumb drive.

This study will show you how to tune out the noise of the world and listen for the Lord as you develop a habit of daily time in the Word of God. You'll also discover the blessings that come from seeking and surrendering to God's leading. Contact us today to purchase Raul's wisdom series for a gift of $18 for the CD set or just $10 for the USB. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. That's 800-634-9165. Or you can write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

We encourage you to take advantage of all of our free resources and tell your friends and family how they can connect with us as well. Download our app to keep God's Word at your fingertips. You'll find livestreamed Bible teaching, an easy Bible reading plan to help guide your personal devotion time, and much more. Raul is also happy to answer your Bible questions. You can email him at pastorraul@somebodylovesyou.com. Thank you for your partnership. Your generous donations help us keep sharing God's Word and every contribution is tax-deductible. Be sure and join us back here again next time. We're always blessed to grow with you in wisdom and faith as we study the Word of God together. Now with the closing thought, here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: May God help us as young people and as parents to take God's counsel within our own lives. That we would listen faithfully to train our children with instruction and by example. To build the foundation for righteous living as we practice what God says in His Word. As we commit everything to the Lord by teaching our children, by training them, by providing for them, by nurturing them, by controlling our children, by disciplining them, and by loving them most important. As we love them and we correct them and we discipline them in the Lord, then that child, even though he may go to the left, he may go to the right, because of the instruction that has been placed in his heart and mind, that child will come back to the Lord.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.