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[AI generated summary, TOC and tidied up sermon transcript (to be proof read)]

Key Themes and Takeaways:

Wholehearted Commitment to God

Joshua’s declaration, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," underscores intentional, familial devotion to God (Joshua 24:15).
Service must stem from love and conviction, not obligation (v. 14–15). If service feels burdensome ("evil"), reevaluate motives.

Biblical Foundations for Service

Fear of the Lord: Reverence for God is the foundation of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
Love for God: Motivated by Christ’s sacrifice (1 John 4:19), service is our "reasonable worship" (Romans 12:1).
Scripture as Guide: Reject worldly philosophies; cling to God’s Word (Ephesians 5:26; 2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Family as a Unit of Service

Husbands/Fathers: Lead spiritually (Ephesians 5:25–29), love sacrificially (like Christ), and prioritize family discipleship (Deuteronomy 6:6–7).
Wives/Mothers: Submit to and support husbands (Ephesians 5:22–24), nurture children, and model godliness (Titus 2:3–5).
Children: Obey and honor parents (Ephesians 6:1–3), using gifts for God’s glory.

Church as a Body

Every member has a role (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). No one is "useless"—even children encourage others by their presence.
Pray for leaders (Hebrews 13:17); their faithfulness impacts the entire flock.

Warning Against Compromise

Joshua gave a stark choice: serve the Lord or false gods (Joshua 24:15). Today, this includes rejecting syncretism (e.g., blending Christianity with worldly ideologies like feminism or LGBTQ+ agendas).
Modern churches often distort Christ’s deity (e.g., denying miracles or bodily resurrection)—hold fast to biblical truth.

Practical Steps

Family Devotions: Regular prayer/Bible reading strengthens unity (Joshua 24:15).
Support Ministries: Wives and children enable husbands/fathers to serve without resentment (e.g., through prayer, practical help).
Guard Against Temptation: Husbands must flee lust (1 Corinthians 6:18); wives must uphold purity.

Hope in Christ’s Return

Serve with urgency, anticipating Christ’s premillennial return (John 14:3; Revelation 20:4–6).

Closing Challenge:

Like Polycarp, who refused to deny Christ after 86 years of faithfulness, count God’s blessings and serve Him gratefully. Let families unite in devotion, ensuring the next generation continues the mission.

Application Questions:

Is my service motivated by love or duty?
How can I better lead/support my family spiritually?
Does our church uphold biblical truth amid cultural pressures?

"Choose this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15)—may our answer echo Joshua’s resolve.

1. Introduction & Scripture Reading

Joshua 24:15 as the camp’s theme verse
The call to serve the Lord as families

2. Foundations for Service

The fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10; 1:7)
Love for God as motivation (1 John 4:19)
Scripture as the only guide (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

3. Serving as a Family

Husbands/Fathers: Leadership and sacrificial love (Ephesians 5:25–29)
Wives/Mothers: Submission and spiritual support (Ephesians 5:22–24)
Children: Obedience and honoring parents (Ephesians 6:1–3)
The danger of worldly distortions (feminism, LGBTQ+ ideologies)

4. The Church as a Body

Every member’s role (1 Corinthians 12:12–27)
Praying for and supporting leaders (Hebrews 13:17)

5. Rejecting Compromise

Joshua’s ultimatum: Serve the Lord or false gods (Joshua 24:15)
Modern parallels (denial of Christ’s deity, resurrection)
The hope of Christ’s premillennial return (John 14:2–3)

6. Practical Steps for Families

Regular family devotions (Deuteronomy 6:6–7)
Encouraging children to serve (Proverbs 22:6)
Guarding against temptation (Matthew 24:24)

7. Closing Exhortation & Prayer

Polycarp’s example of faithfulness
Counting God’s blessings as motivation to serve

The Nature Of Service

Reading:

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, KJV)

We see this almost in every house, every home of believers, with some pictures or reminders, a verse that speaks this: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I pray that the moment you read this, you will be reminded of the message we went through during this camp.

We have to go back to the Bible. Again, I have to recall this so that we will not forget to go back to the Scriptures, our basis, our foundation in our service. We cannot base anything from this world, from the teachings of the modern world. We have to go back to the Bible, and we have the pattern. God has given us these standards to follow.

There must be the fear of the Lord. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10, KJV). "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7, KJV). It is the fear of God that we know what to do. And when we fear God, we go back to His Scripture, to His Bible, to His Word, in order to know what He wants us to do. That’s the right kind of fear—the fear of the Lord.

And with that, of course, we have to love Him, love Him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, that we may serve Him the best that we can. And, of course, we can only do that when we are indwelt by the Spirit of God. We can love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19, KJV). We have to acknowledge first that He has given us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This week is important because we can recall and remind ourselves of the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. And of course, we want to find a place to serve. I believe all of us have settled to serve in Bethel BPC. We're not thinking of other churches or thinking of moving to another church or thinking of serving in another church or organisation. We want to serve the Lord in this church.

You may think, "Oh, we are so many, almost every ministry is occupied, almost every ministry has its own leaders and workers. I don’t have a place to serve." There is always a place for us. God put us in this church because He has a place for you to serve, a position for you to fill, a gap for you to stand in so that, as a whole church, we can serve the Lord.

And that’s true also with our bodily system. There is no part of our body that is useless. Everything that God has designed for our body is important. That’s also true with the local church. Everyone, even the children—thank God for Noah here—is a very encouraging sight for me. It is something that can encourage us to continue.

What is truly a love from parents—you know, we are in a world today where people are even worse than the beasts of the field. The wild animals, the Bible tells us, if you rob a mother bear of her cubs, she will run after you and kill you. I remember when I grew up in a remote village, my mother used to rear chickens and hens. When they noticed hawks coming, she would always scold us and tell us to cover them with sticks. You could hear the chirps, and then the chicks would just come. They knew the danger was there, and they would hide, and the feathers of the hen would make it look like a bigger kind of animal, although it's a small hen. It shows how she takes care of the young, willing to fight, willing to die for the young.

So, these are the things we have to be reminded of. We all have parts to play. Noah here, we may say, "Oh, he cannot lift anything," but his presence is filling a gap, teaching us something. We all have a role in the church, a part to play. That’s why there is no person in the church who is useless—no one should be sitting on the bench doing nothing. Everyone has to play their role, their part.

With that, we know we also have to understand why we need to serve. We have a place, but we must be convinced that we need to serve. Because if we are not persuaded that we must serve, then there will be a haphazard, dragging way of service. It will be hard, full of murmuring, full of complaining, full of finding faults, full of false accusations, because we are not serving based on what the Scripture says—that we need to serve, because we are saved to serve.

We have to move on and continue to serve because we are persuaded that God has saved us, has even brought us into life. We were dead in trespasses and sins. Now we are made alive, quickened by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 2:1, KJV), and we can do something for the Lord, even though what we can do is nothing compared to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us.

We just heard that when we know we need to serve, there are things we have to remember. We have to serve the Lord with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12, KJV), in sincerity and in truth (Joshua 24:14, KJV). We have to understand that there is a guide. The Bible is still our guidebook, our compass, in doing the will of the Lord and following His ways. We cannot do it our own way. We cannot apply the things of the world to the church.

Of course, there are things that, well, let us be practical. You might think, "Why are we using computers and cameras in the church? Isn’t that from the world?" That is a nonsense question. But we have to think of philosophies and ideologies that are contrary to God’s Word—those that many churches today are introducing and bringing into the church, transforming, reversing, and changing the doctrines of the church.

Sadly, as we talked yesterday with Jeffrey, teaching the young people about the history of the Bible Presbyterian Church is important. It’s good to remind them. Sadly, one of the first denominations that became modernistic—some might even say atheistic in a way—was the Presbyterian Church. When they denied the five fundamentals of the faith in the early 1900s, many fundamental evangelical conservative scholars, like Min and McIntyre, left that denomination and studied Orthodox Presbyterianism. They came out of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to form the Bible Presbyterian Church because they wanted to maintain the purity of life, not just purity of doctrine.

It’s not just about purity of doctrine. The problem with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in those days was that they still went into smoking, drinking, and other things. We thank God for McIntyre and the founding pastor, the man who was used by God to start the BP movement in Asia and also in Australia, the Reverend Dr. Timothy T. We should not forget this. We don't worship them. We don't remember them as equal to the saints in the Roman Catholic Church, but we have to remember the good work they have done.

The problem is, we forget history. We forget how the Lord used them, how the Lord started this movement, and how the Lord separated us from the modernistic, liberal Presbyterian Church. Many, even in the Bible Presbyterian Church today, are moving back into that fold, going back into that cycle, and returning to the false teachings of the world. So I pray that it is good to remind yourself of the history of the BP movement, how the Lord truly took us out, just like the Israelites were moved out from Egypt, wandering, but placed in the Promised Land.

And we are commanded: you have to maintain the purity, sincerity, and truth in service. You don't have to accommodate and put back the gods of your fathers. You have to leave them out. You have to focus on God alone. For if you love the world, we know we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24, KJV). It’s either we love the one and hate the other. We have to love the Lord, our God. Our Lord, our God, is one Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4, KJV). And we have to remain in Him.

I pray that the Lord will help us to remember this so that we can continue on serving Him in the right way and serving Him reasonably. This is our reasonable worship (Romans 12:1, KJV) so that we will not conform to the image of this world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2, KJV). And how can we be transformed? What is this renewal? How do we renew our minds? We understand this morning: it is the meditation of the Word of God.

Because as soon as they depart, immediately, the whole flock will be taken. You know that, and you understand that this has happened in many churches. It is the pastor, the leader, who is under great attack. Once he falls, everything—even the whole church—will be affected. So that's why we must pray for them, remember them, ask the Lord to lead them and help them, to encourage them in the faith.

If the shepherd leads the flock into other ways, to poisonous pastures, to waters that are infected, or whatever it may be, it will affect all of you. That’s why it's important to consider following the Lord and praying for those appointed as shepherds, leaders—not only the pastor, but our deacons, elders, and others in the church.

And now here in verse 15, we are told, or Joshua tells the people. He says, "You have to serve the Lord in this way, you have to follow the Lord, there is a prescription, you have to have this purpose, there is a way you practice your service." But if it seem evil unto you, if you don’t want it, if you think this is too hard, if you think it is burdensome, if you think it is too difficult for you to serve the Lord in that way, please, don’t take away the context in verse 14.

If you don’t want that way, you're going to say, "I will continue to serve the Lord, but I will not follow what verse 14 says." Joshua says, "That is the way to practice or serve the Lord, but if you don’t want that, and it seems bad, evil, heavy, or difficult for you to serve the Lord in that way…" That’s what he means by "if it seem evil."

There is a choice. You are not forced to do it just because you are a member, and you think, "Anyway, the pastor told me to do this, so I have to do it." But without your heart, without your mind, without loving it, without the desire to serve the Lord, you just do it because, "Well, I’m assigned to do it," grumpily, dragging your feet, angry. You’re serving because you are assigned and forced to do it.

If you don’t want it, if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, if you think this will disrupt your family life, if you think this will affect your work, and you won’t be promoted because of that function or teaching in the church, and you think that your income will be affected, your holidays will be affected, your other desires in life will be affected, don’t force yourself to choose to serve the Lord.

He gives them a choice. If it seem evil, if you think it is bad, then don’t serve the Lord. Don’t just be there because you are assigned, and your name is listed. It will affect the whole church, because you are not doing it with submission to the Lord. You are not doing it with reverence to God. You are not doing it with love. You are doing it just to fulfil what has been assigned to you.

Don’t show off that you are assigned, but in your heart, you don’t like it. It will affect you. The Lord knows. You might think that people will appreciate you because you are still there, continuing to serve even though your heart is rebellious. God knows, and that will affect not only your own ministry, but the whole church.

So let us pray, "Lord, if this is the ministry you want me to serve, if this is the kind of work you want me to do, it may be hard for me. Sometimes, you know, I will be leaving my family early, I will go to church early, and they will be left behind, or they will come later. Or there will be inconveniences. I have to ask the Lord, I have to seek the Lord’s will. Because it is useless to just show off that you’re doing it, yet your heart is not in it."

"If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve." What are the choices? And now you who have the choices, Joshua also gives the choices here. The choices are clear: if you want to serve, then serve, but if you don’t want to serve the Lord, your other choices are to serve the gods of your fathers, to go back to ancestor worship or worship of Baal, or worship of those false idols, of those false gods. Idols, worship of the sun, worship of the tree, worship of stones.

If you think that is better for you, of course, it is not saying that you should do it, but he says, these are the choices. "Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell."

When he refers to the gods of the Amorites here, it refers to the gods of those people in the land: the Hivites, Hittites, Debusites, Canaanites, Girgashites, Perizzites, and all those. They had different gods. They had the god of the plain, the god of the hill, the god of the sea, the god of the forest. Each of them had gods.

I remember when I was still in the Roman Catholic Church, we had saints. When we travelled, we prayed to Saint Jude or Saint Christopher. Saint Christopher, because he was the one who carried Christ. We prayed to him. There were also Marys, different Marys, who would help you conceive, help you pass your exams, help with marriage problems, help with sicknesses. Different saints. This is similar to the gods of the Amorites—different gods. If you have concerns in agriculture, fisheries, or any other need, you go to that god.

If you don’t want the Lord, if you don’t want to serve Him, go to those gods, he challenged them. If you think it is hard and difficult to serve the Lord, then go back to your own gods, to the gods your fathers served in the past. You have the choice.

And they put them at the back. When it came time for decision-making, people had to sign and state, "I am from an Anglican church, I am from a Methodist church, I am from a Roman Catholic church," and then those who were from the Roman Catholic Church were sent back to their church. Although they had decided to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, received Him as their Lord and Saviour, they were turned over to the apostate Church.

These churches, which don’t even believe in the God of the Bible, are the gods of these churches. And that is what is happening. Many Christian churches today are all the same. And so you can worship other gods, worship these gods, and they think that, "Oh, we have the same God." No, it's different.

We have only one God, and the God that we have, the Lord God, is one. He is the God of the Scriptures. And if He is characterised differently from what God says or what the Scripture says, what the Bible says, then He's a different God.

As many of the Protestant churches today don't believe that we have a Christ who is able to do these miracles. It's interesting that many don't believe that these miracles were done by Christ. They say these are myths added by the apostles during the days when they wrote the Scriptures in order to make Jesus as God.

So today, their teachings in the Christian churches mythologise. We have to take out the myth. And if you take out all these myths, all these miracles that are so-called done by the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have a Jesus who is just a model person—a good person, a loving person, a good teacher. He was just that man; He was not God. He is not God.

And when He resurrected, no, He was not resurrected as in bodily resurrection; He was just resurrected in the hearts and minds of people. They were just encouraged to think that, "Oh, He is with us." And you think that it's the same Jesus as you have in the Bible, and you can associate with Him?

These are the gods of the—we can say the gods of the 'ems,' the gods of other religions, the gods outside the Scriptures. And so we have to choose one, and this one is, of course, what is given to us in the Scriptures.

And we think, why do we have to think on these things? Why can't we just serve the Lord lovingly, carefully, and with compassion and gentleness to all people, welcoming them, serving them? You know, bring people to church and to know Jesus. Why so much of this—you have to think of the doctrine, whether He's God or not?

It is important. That's what the choice here is given: whether you want to serve God in the way of the Scriptures or to serve God that is outside of the Scriptures. If you don’t want the way the Scripture says it, then serve other gods. You're not forced to do it. You're not a robot to just be, you know, controlled by a pastor to do this, do that.

We have to do it from our hearts, with passion, with zeal, with conviction—that I must do it because it is for my God. It's for my Lord, who saved me, who gave Himself for me, who died for me on the cross, who shed His blood so that I can be forgiven, who gave Himself, even being smitten, scourged for me. With all the pain, excruciating, humiliated before people, because of me, I want to serve God because He has done so much for me.

And this is the God whom I will serve, not the gods of other religions, or other denominations, which say that Jesus is just an ordinary man, or He did not rise from the dead. He was just a man who encouraged people.

And we thank God that we believe in the premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may think we have different views, but He will come. He will come again to bring us with Him. That was the promise. It was mentioned this morning, "I have prepared a place for you. If I did not do it, then I would have told you. I will come and bring you unto Myself, so that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2–3, KJV)

And that's a promise. And this is the God whom we are waiting for. It is not the God who will make this world so good, so right, and soon we have a utopia, a place where everyone will be kind to one another, there will be universal peace—making this world great again.

This is not the promise that the Bible tells us. We're going down and down. The world is going to get worse and worse each day. But we have the hope of the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Because when He comes, yes, there is a great tribulation that will come, but later after that, we will be reigning on this earth for a thousand years.

That should be in our hearts and minds. That's why that would enable us to serve, to continue on doing the work of the Lord, because we have the hope of this—not only eternal life, but also life on this earth for a thousand years, reigning on this earth, and this earth will be restored back to its original form, when God created it, at the beginning, where even the lions and the lambs will lie together, and children will play with venomous creatures.

I believe there will be no venom for the snakes at that time. That would be the hope of every believer, and that will move us, causing us to serve the Lord with all our hearts.

And He says here, "If you don’t want Him, if you don’t want to serve according to what He has prescribed, if you don’t want to serve God according to the book that He has given us, then you can serve other gods. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, KJV)

For me and my house. It was not saying, "For me only." The headship of the Father, the headship of the husband must be there in the family. "Me and my house." We cannot afford to just serve the Lord and leave out my family.

There are some pastors who would say, "I'm the only one called. Don’t talk about my wife and children because they are not called. Only me." Please understand, we have a covenant-keeping God, a covenantal God, a familial God.

When God gave the grace to Noah, He brought with him the wife, three children, three sons, and their wives. We have that kind of God. When God called Abram, He brought with him Sarah. When God called all those people in the past, they were with their families.

Think, "What about Peter?" And some of those apostles—actually, they left their families behind. No, please remember, when they were under training, they may have been away from their wives and families, but you can see that when they were in the Book of Acts, they were with their own family members, the women, who we believe were their own wives, and even their children, who came to help them, assist them.

And that's how important the unity of the family should be. The headship of the husband and the submission of the wife. Yesterday, I did that. Husbands, submit to your wives. The Bible tells us that it is the wife who will submit to the husband (Ephesians 5:22, KJV). But there is also submission to one another.

I think it's good for us to go into this family plan of God, to go into Ephesians, Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Let us begin with the reading in verse 21. I will read to you from verse 21, Ephesians 5:21. Okay, maybe it belongs to a different paragraph, as you might say here, but it's again part of it.

It says, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:21, KJV) Okay? One to another. Although there is this instruction of wives, "Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22, KJV) Submission of the wife to the husband.

And this is now partially and even maybe totally erased by the feminist movement today. That's why we cannot serve as a family, because there is no real family that we can now describe as a biblical family today, because of the introduction of teachings, ideologies, and philosophies of the world, such as the feminist movement.

We have to understand, yes, we are created equal. I believe this is preached and instructed to you—we are created equal before God, men and women, we are the same. There is no salvation that is greater for men, and less for women, but we have roles. Again, we have roles. We have parts.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. Submission of the wife to the husband. The headship of the husband must be there. And you will understand later that this is what God planned, not only for the family but even for the church.

"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." (Ephesians 5:23, KJV) And if there is no submission of the wife to the husband, then how can we think of a church, which is being headed by the Lord Jesus Christ?

If the practice, if the way we do it in the basic, in the foundational level, where the wife is not submitted to the husband, it is the character and nature also of the church, not to submit to Christ. That's why it's important that we have to go back to the Bible and understand what a family is.

It is not putting the husband as a master, ruler, one who dictates everything, but we have to understand the biblical concept of what it means to submit to the husband. The wife can still say, but the final say is the husband.

And husbands also, and this is a problem with us, husbands, I myself, also, have this problem, because sometimes we are undecided. That's why we leave it to the wife to decide. We have to be biblically grounded in order to understand what must be done.

Of course, there are things that we must entrust to our wives, decisions for our children, for other things, and we can interfere with that. Then, don’t dare to go there and correct your wife about the kitchen, or else you will be coming out from the kitchen full of those, you know, ketchup or whatever—soy sauce.

We have our roles, of course, but we have to understand that the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. So let us serve God as a family, and what is a family? A family is described here: we have a wife, we have a husband, and children.

And it's also, again, one thing that is being destroyed by society today. I hope it is not illegal to say here in Australia, but I would say the LGBTQ movement is trying to cause the destruction of our family makeup, where man and man, woman and woman.

It's clear, the Scripture says, we have wives submitting themselves to the husband, the husband is the head of the wife. The husband is the man, the wife is the woman. You cannot be a lady husband or a male wife. If you go into the original language, it's very clear—this husband is male, it is masculine, and the wife is feminine.

You're going to make a feminine husband and a masculine wife? It's stipulated clearly in the Scriptures. That's why we have to maintain this kind of family, although the world will see us as some kind of old-fashioned people who will not adapt to what the world says, but we have to follow what is stated in the Scriptures.

"Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:24, KJV) Now, we know today that there are some working wives and husbands staying at home. That is not a problem. The Bible did not make some kind of rule here that, "Okay, husbands must be there at work," although we know that the wives must take care of the children.

But even though the wives are working, husbands stay at home, take care of their house and whatever chores, it is still that the husband is the head of the family. Is that because the wives are bringing in the cash flow into the family, that I become the head of the family?

The family must be husband, wife, and children. You think wives, it is hard to submit to your husbands, but we have an even bigger burden. I mean, it's not a burden for us, maybe, but it's a temptation for men. It's a weakness of men.

That's why the Bible tells this repeatedly: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25, KJV). Because this love is not an ordinary love of care and gentleness and just giving all your resources, giving help to the wife.

You see, the picture that is given here is that this is the love of Christ towards the church. And we can imagine this love of Christ towards the church during this Passion Week. We can remember how great the work of Christ was done for us.

This is the kind of love that we have to extend to our wives. This is not easy. There's something that we have to go through with suffering and agony, just like what the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the cross. And we must be ready to give this or to show this to our wives, even to the family.

Let us encourage our wives to be engaged also with spiritual things, not just to let them be left behind, for our children to do the chores at home, to cook, to prepare the house, to clean everything, but we must also build up their spiritual lives in order for them to be meeting the needs that we have as husbands.

That's a measure. It's not how we provide for them, how rich they are, or how they have all the jewelry they wanted. It is how they grow in the Lord. That's the measure of love that we have for them. That's the spiritual love that God here refers to when we truly love our wives—how they grow in the Lord, how they love the Lord.

"I'm going again to the church," and the wife will complain, "Why do you spend more time in the church? Why do you spend more time on that work or that ministry than us?" We will not complain about that.

That's why it was strange to me one day, when one brother asked me, and it really puzzled me, but later I understood. He said, "Can you help me with this problem? There is this wife who accuses her husband, that he loves the children more than her."

I mean, it seems like the wife is jealous over the children, wondering why the husband loves the children more than her. She said, "It's quite difficult," because why is it that mothers would always love to see the father, the husband, take care of the children? Why, he said, does it seem there is competition between the wife and the children?

So I said, "Brother, I don't know how to answer that question." And later, I realized that actually, that happened because the wife was a second wife and the children were, I mean, the children of the first wife. So I understand why there was some kind of competition between them.

But when we talk of service, we cannot say, and wives cannot accuse their husbands, "You give yourself more to the church than us, in the family." There is no such thing that will come from the mouth of the wife if she is growing in the Lord. She would even push the husband to do this, to do that for the Lord, if she is mature in the faith.

And the husband will know also that he will devote his life for the Lord, because the more that he's serving God, the more that he's serving the church, the more that the Lord will bless the family.

Sometimes, you know, when in our family, my children would think of me, "Okay, this father, we are always borrowing from us." I help them, provide for them, but later, I will borrow from them. But they understand. They say, "Oh, we can give it to you. No, you don't have to think of paying it back anyway. You don't always pay us."

But they are willing to help. Why? Because they know it will always be for the ministry, for the missions. They're ready to give up even their own resources, because they know that whenever I borrow from them, I ask help from them, it will always be for the work of the ministry. They are ready. They say, "No, don't think of listing how much you've borrowed anyway since you have not paid us."

But they know, they know that it is for the ministry. They know that it's for the Lord. So there is no such thing as, "Why do you do this more for the church than us? Why are you spending more time in the ministry than us?" There is no competition.

We are serving as a family, and the wives and the children are willing to say, "Go," or, "Let us do it together," or, "Let us even keep these resources. We may be going through a difficult time, but if this is for the Lord, let us do it. Let’s be willing to keep ourselves in a very low economic situation, keep ourselves just with these things because there’s work that is needed."

You don’t compete. There is no competition because it is me and my house to serve the Lord. I pray we have this in our family. We can see that the more husbands give themselves to the church, the wives are so happy, and children are also willing to give themselves, helping their fathers, helping their mothers to serve the Lord.

Now, we understand that when our children are young, it’s quite difficult for the wives to be engaged in the ministry. That's natural, because we know that they need some care in the house. You have to take care of them when they are young.

And sometimes, they are left behind, as the only ones who will take care of the children, the house, cook, everything, as if they are maids. A husband is out there working for the ministry. When he comes home, sometimes late in the evening because of Bible study, because of some ministries or counseling, please, wives, don’t expect that when they come, there’ll be murmuring, complaining.

"Why are you late? Why are you doing this?" We have to understand. We know they are serving, and we even pray for them. I mean, wives must pray for their husbands. Wives must pray for those who are involved. Children must pray for their parents.

This is serving in their family. They may not be part of that work, but if they are praying, they are serving as a family. The husband is there. Maybe the wife and the children, they are still young, they are in the family. They cannot go to the church in some ways or another, but they are serving as a family because they are supporting.

They’re praying, they’re encouraging their father, their mother to do it. Parents are also encouraging the young people to do this. And let this be the service of the family. It's not one man’s show or the husband's show; it is for all to do this for the sake of Christ.

That’s why it’s repeated here, in verses from 28 onward, even to chapter 6: "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church" (Ephesians 5:28–29, KJV).

So you see, the comparison is with the Lord towards the church. He’s not speaking of material things. He’s not speaking of jewels or whatever treasures that we give to the wife. It is spiritual: "Even as the Lord the church."

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh" (Ephesians 5:31, KJV). This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" (Ephesians 6:1, KJV).

Sometimes, children think that they’re wiser than their parents. And of course, you are. You know, you know much about these things, and I open the computer and I don’t know how to manipulate it or do these things.

My son will come and says, "Ayo, you boomers." Boomers, yeah, okay, you may call me some other, but please help me. I don't know this. You know many things. Even children, they know, you know, even young children, three years old, they know how to use their handphones and many things that we don't know, they can do it.

And they know much, you know more, but please understand the Bible still says, "Obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right" (Ephesians 6:1, KJV). It is not changed. We don't have a Bible that says, "Parents, obey your children in the Lord."

Sometimes we do. Parents, we obey our children rather than them obeying us. So let this remind our children. Yes, you know more. You are wiser, you can do more, you can do many things. Use this for the Lord. Don't use this to mock your parents.

"Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise" (Ephesians 6:2, KJV). By the way, when my son will call me this, he will just say, "Okay, Boomers," still call me Boomers. But of course, he will help, he will be there, he will always be helping me.

He does all things in the ministry—live streaming and correcting, and all these things, I thank the Lord for him. So for our children, let us give ourselves unto the Lord. Don't let the world use you in ways that will take you out from the service of God.

You have many talents, yes. Give it to the Lord. Serve him. Young people, you can do much, yes, if you can do much, do it for the Lord. Don't do it for the world. I pray, thank God that Joshua is there, Joshua Na, who is now studying God's word.

We pray that the Lord... I mean, parents, please don't pray that, "Oh, please, Lord, don't call my son. Don't call my daughter." That's a terrible way to pray, being a pastor. I know how our pastors suffer. I don't want him to be like that.

Please, parents, pray that our children will be called. I mean, that's my prayer for my children. That's my prayer, that the Lord will call them to serve the Lord. There is no other job. There is no other profession. There is no other work on earth that is more noble than bringing souls to Christ.

I mean, we can all do that, but to be in the full-time ministry, of course, we trust that it's the Lord who calls, but we can pray. Please, there are parents who don't want their children to come to serve the Lord.

Let us pray, that if there are opportunities, if this is God's will... Of course, if it is God's will, don't force your children to go to full-time so that we will be seen as good parents. No, of course not. It will end up in them leaving the ministry after a while or leaving the Bible college after a while.

We cannot force them. It is God's call, but we have to pray. You know, when we see in the Book of Psalms or in the Book of Proverbs, where we know that we have to discipline, nurture our children in the admonition of the Lord, we have to pray that they will follow the Lord.

They will follow what God will ask them to do, that we will not... Of course, there are some parents who don't want because, you know, you don't have money in being a pastor. You cannot take care of us after, and if you are old, you know, pastors don't have much.

How can we go for vacation? How can we have medication for our ailments? You have to be a doctor, you have to be somebody, you have to be a lawyer, you have to be an accountant. Good, if that is the call of God for them, they can still serve the Lord.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that if you are serving the Lord when you are in a full-time ministry, that's very wrong. You cannot just say you are in the ministry, and that is the kind of service.

You can be of service to the Lord in any way, be it a doctor, a lawyer, and still serving the Lord. But if the Lord would want our children to serve Him fully as full-time ministers, please don't discourage them. Even pray for them.

Ask the Lord, "Lord, if this child of mine, is—" Usually, the case of parents, you know, will say, "Oh, you are talented, you have this skill, you know much. Okay, you go to AI—I mean, IT course, or you are good at this, math, or whatever. Okay, be an accountant."

"Oh, this child is nothing, is all rubbish. Okay, go to the Bible college." It's always a decision of parents. All those who can do, who can understand as if they are foolish children, "Okay, you better go to the Bible college."

Those talented, those skillful, "Okay, you get a degree." That is not giving our best for the Lord. You know, when we give our best for the Lord, it's the best that we can offer. Of course, again, it depends on God's call.

You don't have to force your children to go just because you desire for a child to become a pastor, one who is serving the Lord in teaching children. It depends on the call. But please understand that we as parents must lead, must not discourage our children to serve the Lord.

There's a reason why they are in Bible College, not really interested to serve the Lord. So I pray that more and more will devote their lives to the Lord, serving as a family, serving as one in the Lord.

You cannot serve the Lord if you are disobedient to your parents. You are so good and kind in the church, you appear very lovely and caring to many children, but when you go back to your house, you are so rebellious to your parents. That is useless.

You are just showing off that you are such a kind man in the church, and then after that, when you go back, you don't even greet your parents, you don't even submit to your parents, you even shout against your parents, you don't even tell your parents, you even curse them, and then when you appear in the church, you appear like angels and saints.

Please don't do that. That is not serving the Lord as a family. We are serving the Lord as a family. You submit to your parents. Of course, there are those whose parents are not Christians. But we have to respect them. We have to submit to them.

We have to still give our reverence, our respect, honouring them. Of course, if they disagree with the scripture, then we don't have to follow them, but tell them in the right way.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15, KJV). And it can be done also by the children: "As for me and my house, my father, my mother..." And for those who are not yet in the Lord, they will see in you, you are serving the Lord, or you are serving the church, and they will see how big the change that I see now in my daughter, in my son, that before it was this, but now because he's in the church, he started the Word of God, he is this kind of child.

And they will ask, "What is that church? What is the teaching of your church, that you have changed?" And that's the way you bring them to the Lord. So these are things that we have to consider as a family.

Husbands, we have to be strong, as leaders of our family. Sometimes we are wishy-washy. We are afraid. We're scared to lead. This is the role that God has given us. We have to do it. Of course, with the guidance of the Scriptures, the Bible is our guide.

Wives, you may be wiser than your husbands. We have a family, I know about a family before where the wife, she said, "I may be a lawyer, I may be a doctor," and the husband was just an ordinary worker, a construction worker, but there was much respect for the wife.

I know that this is a family that follows the biblical pattern. And so for the wives, submit to your husbands, in everything, and husbands, love, let us love our wives. It is a temptation today of the world to lure husbands away from their wives because of the internet, pornography, and other things.

Let us be careful. When you have heard of one example of a minister who once served, I respect him so much. In fact, I listened to his series of messages on expository preaching. I'm talking about Steve Lawson, you see, a lecturer in Master's Seminary, he reformed, preacher, good in expository preaching.

But later, because of, you know, there was this relationship with another woman. He's already 70 years old, I think, but still became a victim of this enticement, seduction of the world.

I found out that even one student who was also attending his lectures in the Philippines, he realised that when he goes to these places, he was alone. I thank God when an invitation came that I can come to speak, Pastor or the letter was that you can also bring your wife.

So I must bring my wife. I know I'm weak. I cannot trust myself. I know I have the Lord, I know, I have God, I know God will protect me, but I know who I am. That's why I have to bring my wife. I told her, "You must always be with me. You know this man, you cannot just... you know, just trust, I cannot just trust myself. I trust in God, but the world is so seductive, the world is leading people away from the family."

Because the service is to be done by the family, and if the husband is taken away or led away by these evil deeds, then it's all destroyed. So I pray, wives, submitting to the husband is important. Husbands loving our wives is important.

We must trust the Lord, but we must also help one another in keeping our vows, our all to the Lord. Because in these days, we are in the last days where Matthew says, "If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matthew 24:24, KJV)

And we know it is impossible, but if it were possible, that's how deceptive, how seductive, the temptations today are. But in the last days, even the elect, if it were possible, can be deceived. That's how these temptations come to us, and so we pray that the Lord will preserve the family in order for us to serve the Lord.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, KJV) Don't just take yourself—I'm the one called, I'm the one serving. I don't care about my family. I don't care about my wife and children.

Let us all together come, because it is what God designed for us. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." For young people, bring your family. Involve your family. Let them know what you are doing. Don't just be seen in the church as serving and you don't even subject yourself to your parents.

Husbands must be careful, and be careful of our ministers, because we know times are difficult. Wives must support their husbands so that husbands will be encouraged to continue to have faith in God.

I know, let's continue on, learning the word of God and be instructed. And I pray, as Joshua says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, KJV) If you don't want that way, if it is evil for you, if it's bad for you, if you don't want that kind of service, leave it.

But for me, and not only for me, but my house, including my family, my wife and children, we will serve the Lord. And let it be our conviction today—my family, me, and my family will serve the Lord.

I will serve the Lord. I will bring my wife, though maybe physically, because they are busy, but they are supportive of me. They are praying with me. And one thing that we have to do, as we close this message, is this important, really, that we have, especially for those with young children, to have regular family devotion.

This is one thing that is lacking in many families today. And this is where the headship, the leadership of the husband, can be seen when we lead the family devotion, worship. It can only be done in five minutes, fifteen minutes. It depends on how busy you are.

Of course, you'd have to take care of other things, but you must have a time with the family where your children will not only hear the words from the pastor and the elders, but they will hear from their own father the word of God.

So I had to go through some buses, but we had to do it. Before I left, they were still sleepy, but we had to do our devotion. We had to sing a hymn. We had to read the RPG. Don't force them to read the adult RPG—they have the children's RPG, or whatever materials from the church that your pastor recommends.

That is a family devotion, family coming together. If you're going to do it daily, then do it. Somehow, twice, thrice a week, there must be some time that you come together, pray together, and read the Bible.

Husbands, fathers may not be able to expound because you may not have much training and you are still new to the scriptures. You can just read the devotions. It's not for you to stand up and give a sermon, but they will hear it from your own mouth. "My father, my dad, read this to me."

Although we cannot gather physically, today, we can have video calls. We come together to pray every Wednesday night. We have to pray for one another. They are still under our care. They are already in their twenties, almost thirties.

I’m praying that somehow the Lord will give them partners, but still, they are under me, and I have to pray with them, to pray for the ministry, because they are part of the family. We must serve the Lord.

Thank God that there are young couples here. I pray you will start. If you have not started, I know some of you—many of you, in fact, maybe all of you—are doing this. We have to continue on, to have this family devotion, a prayer time, reading of the scriptures, just a portion of it in order for them to hear.

I know it is hard, especially for when they come to this age. One time, my son—okay, again, my son—but one time, he got addicted to some games. I think it was when he was almost in his early teens, to Minecraft or whatever.

So I struggled with him, and we had a regular Bible study. It was hard. Purposely, when I sat down and read the Bible to him, he would close his eyes and try to really discourage me, but I still had to do it. Repeatedly, every fortnight, in order for him to be reminded.

I thank God that he recovered from that problem. They will discourage us, but let’s continue to nurture, admonish, and bring up our children to know and follow the Lord. Especially in these days, with the internet and all these gadgets, it is really hard to attract or to get the attention of young people.

But we have to do it. We have to continue doing it, because we want to serve the Lord as a family. How can we say, "Serving the Lord as a family," and only the father or only the mother is serving, and the children are all the way far off? Is that serving as a family?

Let us pray for one another. Let us pray for our children, for we must accept and acknowledge that some of us, of course, many of us here are still young. Some of us are now in our fifties and sixties.

We don't have much time left to live another thirty or forty years on this Earth. What will happen to our church and to the work of missions and evangelism if our own children are not even in the church or not even knowing the word of God, or not interested in serving the Lord?

In fact, don't see us as a family as a model one. No, we are far from it. We have struggles, we have problems, but we have to do it for the Lord, because He has done so much for us—such a great sacrifice He has made for us.

Why can’t we offer a little bit of that sacrifice for the few years we have on Earth when He has reserved for us a place for eternity, where we shall rejoice together with Him? If that is what gives us the hope and trust that we have in eternal life, why can’t we give a little bit of that?

Let me close this with an example of an apostolic, let me say, apostolic father, because he was already not an apostle—a Polycarp. Polycarp, when he was tried and he was there, put on a pole to be burnt, one person was there asking him, "If you want to recant, you will be burnt. I am bringing the fire now. I will put it on, and you will die. Please recant."

It’s just for eighty and six years the Lord has been so faithful to me. He has never wronged me. He has not done anything against me. How can I deny my Lord and my Saviour?

He did not answer you, He did not help you, He did not give you, He did not provide for you. List them, and then try to list also how many times He has been so good to you, kind to you, loving to you.

As a Christian, don’t count your salvation—just the things that you deserve, you receive from the Lord. And count and compare. And use that as your basis. I mean, we have the scriptures, of course, but think and understand why we need to serve the Lord as a family.

I pray the Lord will help us and guide us, and use our families here to even promote the Lord Jesus Christ, even to glorify His name. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer:

*"All glorious, merciful, gracious Father in heaven, thank Thee for Thy mercy and grace upon us, people who have done wrong, evil, wicked, even before Thee. We have received so much from Thee, but we have failed Thee, but Thou art our God, who is gentle, merciful, compassionate, that Thou hast brought us again, even when Thou chastise us, Thou art so gentle to whisper and to us how much Thou lovest us, and Thou hast continued to care for us.

And even for our families, O Lord, we pray that Thou wilt help us to understand how we need to serve Thee as a family, how we need, as fathers, to love our wives, our children and wives to submit, love their husbands, children to submit and honour their parents, that we may be seen as worthy servants of Thine.

So, Father, be with us, continue to bless this church, continue to be with this church, especially for the leaders of this church. And to everyone who are here, thank Thee for how Thou hast given us this privilege to come together, and the presence of one another is an encouragement.

So we pray, Lord, that Thou wilt bring more people, even into the church, but let it be also that those who are here will give themselves to serve in whatever opportunities, privileges that Thou hast for each one of them.

Thank Thee, Lord, for Thy mercy and grace upon us. We pray and we ask all this with thanksgiving in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."*

以下是严格按字面直译的简体中文版本（圣经引用采用和合本）：

"若是你们以事奉耶和华为不好，今日就可以选择所要事奉的：是你们列祖在大河那边所事奉的神呢？是你们所住这地亚摩利人的神呢？至于我和我家，我们必定事奉耶和华。"（约书亚记24:15，和合本）

我们看到这节经文几乎在每个信徒家中，以图画或提醒的形式出现："至于我和我家，我们必定事奉耶和华"。我祷告当你们读到这节经文时，会想起这次营会中我们分享的信息。

我们必须回到圣经。再次强调，我们必须记住以圣经为根基，这是我们事奉的基础。我们不能以世界的教导或现代思潮为依据，必须回归圣经，遵循上帝赐予的标准模式。

必须有对耶和华的敬畏。"敬畏耶和华是智慧的开端"（箴言9:10，和合本）。"敬畏耶和华是知识的开端"（箴言1:7，和合本）。正是对上帝的敬畏使我们明白当行的路。当我们敬畏上帝时，就会回到祂的圣经，祂的话语，为要明白祂要我们做的事。这才是正确的敬畏——对耶和华的敬畏。

当然，有了这个基础，我们必须爱祂，尽心、尽性、尽意、尽力爱祂，好使我们能尽己所能事奉祂。而唯有被上帝的灵充满时，我们才能做到这一点。我们爱祂，因为祂先爱我们（约翰一书4:19，和合本）。我们必须首先承认祂已将祂的儿子，主耶稣基督赐给我们。

这一周很重要，因为我们可以回想并提醒自己主耶稣基督为我们救恩所做的大工。当然，我们都想找到事奉的岗位。我相信我们所有人都已决定在伯特利圣经长老会事奉。我们不考虑其他教会，不考虑转去其他教会，也不考虑在其他教会或机构事奉。我们要在这间教会事奉主。

你可能会想："哦，我们人这么多，几乎每个事工都有人负责了，几乎每个事工都有自己的领袖和同工。我没有事奉的岗位。"但总有我们的位置。上帝把我们放在这间教会，是因为祂为你预备了事奉的岗位，要你去填补的位置，要你站立的空缺，好让我们作为整体教会一同事奉主。

这也适用于我们的身体系统。身体没有一个部分是没用的。上帝设计的每个身体部位都很重要。地方教会也是如此。每个人，甚至孩子们——感谢神这里有诺亚——这景象让我很受鼓舞。这能激励我们继续前行。

什么是父母真正的爱——你们知道，我们今日所处的世界，人甚至比田野的走兽更不如。圣经告诉我们，若有人夺走母熊的幼崽，牠会追赶你，杀死你。我记得在一个偏远村庄长大时，我母亲常养小鸡和母鸡。当发现老鹰飞来时，她总会责备我们，叫我们用树枝遮盖它们。你能听到叽叽喳喳的声音，然后小鸡们就会跑过来。它们知道危险临近，就会躲藏，母鸡的羽毛会让牠看起来像更大的动物，虽然牠只是只小母鸡。这显明牠如何保护幼崽，愿意为幼崽争战甚至牺牲。

而我们所在的世界，许多人甚至抛弃自己的婴孩，不照顾自己的孩子。这景象让我很受鼓舞。感谢神让我有机会见证父母这样的爱。

所以，这些都是我们需要被提醒的。我们都有自己的角色。这里的诺亚，我们或许会说："哦，他什么都拿不动"，但他的存在正填补了一个空缺，教导我们一些事。我们在教会中都有自己的角色，要尽自己的本分。因此教会中没有无用之人——没有人应该坐在长椅上无所事事。每个人都当尽自己的本分。

由此，我们知道也必须明白为何需要事奉。我们有岗位，但必须确信我们需要事奉。因为若没有被说服必须事奉，事奉就会变得敷衍拖拉。会很艰难，充满抱怨、发牢骚、挑剔、妄加指责，因为我们不是基于圣经所说的去事奉——我们需要事奉，因为我们蒙救赎就是为了事奉。

有许多人只是为了事奉而事奉，让自己的名字被列出来。我认识一个人离开教会，就是因为她参与事奉，但周报上没有写她是其中一员。她非常生气就离开了教会。这样的事奉不是我们的目的或理由。不是为了我们的名字被列为某项事工的负责人或主席。

我们必须继续前行，持续事奉，因为确信上帝拯救了我们，甚至赐给我们生命。我们本死在过犯罪恶中。如今被上帝的灵苏醒（以弗所书2:1，和合本），就能为主做些事，尽管我们能做的与主耶稣基督为我们所做的相比微不足道。

我们刚听到，当我们知道需要事奉时，有些事必须记住。我们要存敬畏战兢的心事奉主（腓立比书2:12，和合本），用诚实和真心（约书亚记24:14，和合本）。必须明白我们有指南。圣经仍是我们的指南针，引导我们行主的旨意，跟随祂的道路。不能按自己的方式，不能将世俗的事物带入教会。

当然，有些事，嗯，实际一点。你可能会想："为什么我们在教会使用电脑和摄像机？那不是来自世界吗？"这是个无意义的问题。但我们必须思考那些违背上帝话语的哲学和意识形态——许多当代教会正在引入并带入教会的，改变、颠倒教会教义的那些。

可悲的是，正如我们昨天和杰弗里谈到的，教导年轻人圣经长老会的历史很重要。提醒他们很必要。可悲的是，最早成为现代主义——某种程度上甚至可说是无神论——的宗派之一就是长老会。当他们在20世纪初否认信仰的五项基要真理时，许多基要派福音派保守学者，如闵和麦金太尔，离开了那个宗派，研究正统长老会。他们脱离正统长老会成立了圣经长老会，因为他们想保持生活的纯洁，不仅是教义的纯洁。

不仅是教义的纯洁。当时正统长老会的问题在于他们仍然吸烟、喝酒等。我们感谢神赐下麦金太尔和创始牧师，那位被神用来在亚洲和澳大利亚发起圣经长老会运动的提摩太·T博士。我们不应忘记这点。我们不崇拜他们。我们不把他们看作与罗马天主教圣徒同等，但必须记住他们所做的美事。

问题是，我们忘记了历史。忘记了主如何使用他们，主如何发起这运动，主如何将我们从现代主义、自由派长老会中分别出来。如今，即使在圣经长老会中，也有许多人回到那个阵营，回到那个循环，重返世界的假教导。所以我祷告，提醒你们圣经长老会运动的历史是有益的，主如何真实地将我们带出来，就像以色列人从埃及出来，经过旷野，进入应许之地。

我们被命令：必须在事奉中保持纯洁、真诚和真理。不必妥协，重新接纳你们祖先的神。必须弃绝它们，单单专注于神。因为若爱世界，我们知道不能事奉两个主（马太福音6:24，和合本）。要么爱这个恨那个。我们必须爱主我们的神。我们的主，我们的神，是独一的主（申命记6:4，和合本）。我们必须住在祂里面。

我祷告主帮助我们记住这点，好叫我们能继续以正确的方式事奉祂，合理地事奉祂。这是我们理所当然的事奉（罗马书12:1，和合本），使我们不效法这个世界，而是心意更新而变化（罗马书12:2，和合本）。如何被改变？这更新是什么？如何更新心意？我们今天早上明白了：就是默想神的话语。

感谢神，你们教会继续通过多种途径、多种方式教导神的话语。YPG、关怀小组、圣经学习、DHW、主日崇拜，以及仍以神的话语为中心的祷告会。这些都是我们必须持守的，也必须祷告，特别是为牧师和领袖们祷告，使他们继续跟随主的道路。

因为他们一旦偏离，整个羊群立刻会被带走。你们知道，也明白这已在许多教会发生。牧师、领袖是主要攻击目标。一旦他跌倒，一切——甚至整个教会——都会受影响。所以我们必须为他们祷告，记念他们，求主引导、帮助他们，在信心中鼓励他们。

牧师常被置于中心，成为许多人攻击的目标，甚至包括自己教会的成员。就像他们在射箭场，不断被许多成员瞄准。这不应当。我们应当爱神安置在我们教会中的领袖、副牧者们，使我们受感动、被鼓励继续跟随主。

若牧者将羊群引向其他道路，到有毒的草场，被污染的水源，或其他地方，会影响你们所有人。所以必须考虑跟随主，为那些被任命为牧者、领袖的人祷告——不仅是牧师，还有执事、长老和教会其他领袖。

现在这里第15节告诉我们，或约书亚对百姓说。他说："你们必须这样事奉主，必须跟随主，有规定，必须有这目的，有事奉的实践方式。"但若你们认为事奉主不好，若不愿意，若觉得太难，若觉得是重担，若觉得以那种方式事奉主太困难，请不要忽略第14节的上下文。

若不要那种方式，你会说："我会继续事奉主，但不会按第14节说的做。"约书亚说："那是实践或事奉主的方式，但若你不愿意，觉得事奉主那种方式不好、邪恶、沉重或困难..."这就是他说的"若你们以为不好"的意思。

你们有选择。不要只因为你是成员，觉得"反正牧师叫我做这个，所以我必须做"就勉强去做。若心里不愿意，心思不认同，没有爱主的心，只是因"我被分配做这事"而敷衍拖拉、满心不情愿地去做。你事奉只是因为被分配、被强迫去做。

圣经告诉我们，你们有选择。若不符合你的心意，若你不确信应该那样事奉，就不必勉强自己。你不喜欢那种事奉方式。不想要那种事奉。"若你们以为不好。"这里的"不好"指对你不利、麻烦、灾难性、危险的事。你可能认为那会分散你对信仰或生活的注意力。

若不愿意，若你们以为事奉主不好，若认为这会打乱家庭生活，影响工作，使你不能因教会的事工或教导得到晋升，认为收入会受影响，假期会受影响，生活中其他愿望会受影响，就不要勉强选择事奉主。

神给他们选择。若以为不好，若觉得是坏事，就不要事奉主。不要只因为被分配、名字被列出来就留在那里。这会影响整个教会，因为你没有顺服主，没有敬畏神，没有爱心，只是完成任务。

请停止。若不想做，就不要做。对教会无益，对会众无益，当别人看到你敷衍拖拉、抱怨、发牢骚时，也无法鼓励人。为何要继续在那个领域事奉？你有选择。我不是挑战你停止离开，但这是约书亚希望他们明白的：若不愿意，就不要做。很简单。

不要炫耀你被分配了岗位，心里却不喜欢。这会影响到你。主知道。你可能以为人们会因你继续事奉而欣赏你，即使你心里叛逆。神知道，这不仅影响你的事奉，也影响整个教会。

所以让我们祷告："主啊，若是你要我事奉的岗位，若是你要我做的工作，可能对我很难。有时，你知道，我必须提早离开家，提早去教会，家人会被留下，或他们晚些才来。或会有不便。我必须求问主，寻求主的旨意。因为只是炫耀你在做事，心却不在其中，是没有用的。"

"若是你们以事奉耶和华为不好，今日就可以选择所要事奉的。"有什么选择？现在你们有选择，约书亚也在此给出选择。选择很明确：若要事奉，就事奉；若不想事奉主，其他选择是事奉你们祖先的神，回去拜祖先或巴力，或那些假神偶像。拜日、拜树、拜石头。

若认为那对你们更好，当然不是说你们应该那样做，但他说，这些是选择。"今日就可以选择所要事奉的：是你们列祖在大河那边所事奉的神呢？是你们所住这地亚摩利人的神呢？"

这里提到的亚摩利人的神，指那地居民的神：赫人、希未人、比利洗人、迦南人、革迦撒人、耶布斯人等的神。他们有不同神明：平原之神、山神、海神、森林之神。各有所拜之神。

我记得还在天主教会时，我们有圣徒。旅行时，会向圣犹达或圣基道霍祈祷。圣基道霍，因为他曾背负基督。我们向他祈祷。还有不同的马利亚，能帮助怀孕、考试通过、解决婚姻问题、医治疾病。不同的圣徒。这与亚摩利人的神类似——不同的神。若有农业、渔业或其他需求，就去找对应的神。

若不要主，不愿事奉祂，就去事奉那些神，他挑战他们。若觉得事奉主太难，就回去事奉你们祖先的神。你们有选择。

这正是现今许多基督教会在公开实践的。我相信你们有些人仍认同葛培理的作法。是的，他过去做过许多好事。开始时是优秀的传道人，但后来，当他骄傲、被媒体追捧后，就开始聚集所有宗派，不仅是新教，还包括天主教等。

他们被安排在后面。决志时，人们要签字说明"我来自圣公会，我来自卫理公会，我来自天主教会"，然后那些来自天主教会的被送回他们的教会。尽管他们已决定跟随主耶稣基督，接受祂为主和救主，却被交还给背道的教会。

这些不信仰圣经中神的教会，就是这些教会的神明。这正是现今发生的。许多基督教会都这样。所以你们可以拜别的神，拜这些神明，他们以为"哦，我们信的是同一位神"。不，不一样。

我们只有一位神，我们所信的耶和华是独一的。祂是圣经中的神。若祂的特征与神所说的、圣经所记载的不同，那就是另一位神。

现今许多新教教会不相信我们所信的基督能行这些神迹。有趣的是，许多人不相信基督行了这些神迹。他们说这些是使徒在编写圣经时为神化耶稣而添加的神话。所以今天，他们在基督教会中的教导将神话化。我们必须除去神话。若除去这些所谓耶稣所行神迹的神话，剩下的耶稣只是个模范人物——好人、有爱心的人、好老师。祂只是那个人；祂不是神。祂不是神。

祂复活时，不是身体复活；只是在人们心中意念里复活。他们只是被鼓励去想"哦，祂与我们同在"。你以为这和你在圣经中认识的耶稣是同一位，你能与祂相交吗？

这些是所谓"ems"的神，其他宗教的神，圣经之外的神。所以我们必须选择，而这选择当然是圣经给我们的。

我们想，为何要考虑这些？为何不能只是有爱心、谨慎、带着怜悯温柔地事奉主，欢迎人、服侍人？你知道，带人来教会认识耶稣。为何要这么多——你必须思考教义，祂是不是神？

这很重要。这就是此处给出的选择：按圣经的方式事奉神，还是按圣经之外的方式事奉神。若不要圣经说的方式，就去事奉别的神。你不被勉强。你不是机器人，被牧师控制做这做那。

我们必须发自内心，带着热情、热忱和信念去做——我必须做，因为是为我的神。为我的主，祂拯救我，为我舍己，为我在十字架上死，为我流血使罪得赦免，祂被击打、受鞭伤。忍受所有痛苦，极度痛苦，在人前受羞辱，都是为了我，我要事奉神，因为祂为我做了这么多。

这是我要事奉的神，不是其他宗教或宗派的神，那些说耶稣只是普通人，没有从死里复活的神。祂只是个鼓励人的人。

我们感谢神相信主耶稣基督前千禧年再来。我们或许有不同观点，但祂必再来。祂要再来接我们同去。这是祂的应许。今早提到："我去原是为你们预备地方。我若去为你们预备了地方，就必再来接你们到我那里去；我在哪里，叫你们也在那里。"（约翰福音14:2-3，和合本）

这是应许。这是我们等候的神。不是要使这世界变得美好、公义，很快出现乌托邦，人人彼此友善，世界和平——让世界再次伟大。这不是圣经的应许。世界会每况愈下，一天比一天败坏。但我们有主耶稣基督再来的盼望。因为祂再来时，是的，会有大灾难，但之后，我们要在地上作王一千年。

这应存在我们心里。正因如此，我们能事奉，继续做主工，因为我们有此盼望——不仅是永生，还有在地上活一千年，在地上作王，这地将恢复神创造之初的样子，狮子和羔羊同卧，孩童与毒蛇玩耍。

我相信那时蛇不再有毒。这是每个信徒的盼望，会推动我们尽心竭力事奉主。

祂在此说："若你们不想要祂，不愿按祂规定的方式事奉，不愿按祂赐下的书事奉神，就可以去事奉别的神。至于我和我家，我们必定事奉耶和华。"（约书亚记24:15，和合本）

"我和我家"。不是说"仅我一人"。父亲、丈夫的领导地位必须在家庭中。"我和我家。"不能只我一人事奉主而忽略家人。

有些牧师会说："只有我被呼召。别谈我妻子孩子，他们没被呼召。只有我。"请明白，我们有一位守约的神，家庭性的神。神赐恩给挪亚时，带上了他的妻子、三个儿子和儿媳。我们的神是这样的。神呼召亚伯兰时，带上了撒拉。神呼召过去所有人时，他们都是与家人一起。

想想"彼得呢？"有些使徒——实际上，他们离开了家人。不，请记住，受训期间，他们可能暂时离开妻儿，但使徒行传中可见，他们与家人——我们相信是他们的妻子，甚至儿女——在一起，帮助他们、协助他们。

家庭合一非常重要。丈夫的领导地位和妻子的顺服。昨天我讲到，丈夫要顺服妻子。圣经说妻子要顺服丈夫（以弗所书5:22，和合本）。但也有彼此顺服。

我认为我们需要深入神对家庭的计划，查考以弗所书。从第21节开始："又当存敬畏基督的心，彼此顺服。"（以弗所书5:21，和合本）虽然接下来教导妻子："你们作妻子的，当顺服自己的丈夫，如同顺服主。"（以弗所书5:22，和合本）妻子顺服丈夫。

现今女权运动部分甚至完全抹杀了这点。所以我们无法以家庭为单位事奉，因为按圣经描述的真实家庭已不存在，因世界教导、意识形态和哲学的引入，如女权运动。

必须明白，是的，我们是平等的。我相信你们被教导过——在神面前男女平等，我们一样。男人的救恩不比女人大，但我们各有角色。是的，角色。本分。

妻子要顺服自己的丈夫。妻子顺服丈夫。丈夫的领导地位必须存在。你们稍后会明白，这是神的计划，不仅为家庭，也为教会。"因为丈夫是妻子的头，如同基督是教会的头。"（以弗所书5:23，和合本）若妻子不顺服丈夫，我们怎能想象由主耶稣基督领导的教会？

若在基础层面，妻子不顺服丈夫，教会也会不顺服基督。所以必须回归圣经，明白家庭的意义。不是让丈夫做主人、统治者，发号施令，而要明白圣经中顺服丈夫的概念。妻子可以发表意见，但最终决定权在丈夫。

丈夫也有问题，我自己也有，有时犹豫不决。所以让妻子决定。我们必须基于圣经明白当做的事。当然，有些事可托付妻子决定，如孩子的事等，我们可以干预。但别去纠正妻子厨房的事，否则会被泼酱油。

我们各有角色，但必须明白丈夫是妻子的头，如同基督是教会的头。要以家庭为单位事奉神，家庭是什么？这里描述的家庭是：妻子、丈夫和孩子。

现今社会正在破坏这点。在澳洲说LGBTQ运动不违法吧？这运动破坏家庭结构，男男、女女结合。圣经清楚说，妻子顺服丈夫，丈夫是妻子的头。丈夫是男人，妻子是女人。不能有女性丈夫或男性妻子。原文很清楚——丈夫是阳性，妻子是阴性。

要创造女性丈夫和男性妻子？圣经明确规定。所以必须持守这样的家庭，尽管世界视我们为守旧、不与时俱进的人，但我们必须遵循圣经。

"教会怎样顺服基督，妻子也要怎样凡事顺服丈夫。"（以弗所书5:24，和合本）现今有工作的妻子和顾家的丈夫。这没问题。圣经没说"丈夫必须工作"，虽然我们知道妻子要照顾孩子。

即使妻子工作，丈夫持家、做家务，丈夫仍是家庭的头。难道因妻子赚钱养家，我就成头了？家庭必须是丈夫、妻子和孩子。

妻子觉得顺服丈夫很难，但丈夫担子更重。不是负担，是试探。男人有软弱。所以圣经反复说："你们作丈夫的，要爱你们的妻子，正如基督爱教会，为教会舍己。"（以弗所书5:25，和合本）因为这爱不是普通的关爱温柔，不是给资源、帮助妻子。

这里描绘的是基督对教会的爱。受难周期间，我们能体会基督为我们成就的大工。这是我们要向妻子彰显的爱。不容易。要经历痛苦煎熬，像基督在十字架上受的苦。我们必须准备好向妻子、向家庭展现这种爱。

"你们作丈夫的，要爱你们的妻子，正如基督爱教会，为教会舍己。要用水借着道把教会洗净，成为圣洁，可以献给自己，作个荣耀的教会，毫无玷污、皱纹等类的病。"（以弗所书5:25-27，和合本）要鼓励妻子参与属灵的事，不只做家务、做饭、打扫，也要建立她们的属灵生命，满足我们作为丈夫的需要。

一位牧师说："真正爱妻子的衡量标准是看她们从结婚至今对主耶稣基督的认识有多少成长。妻子比结婚时更爱主吗？属灵生命有成长吗？还是远离教会、不读经、不跟随神了？"这是标准。不是我们提供多少物质、珠宝，而是她们在主里的成长。这才是爱妻子的标准，是神所指属灵的爱。

当妻子也爱主、愿事奉主时，就能帮助丈夫，共同参与。孩子看到家庭合一，不是争吵。"我又要去教会了"，妻子不会抱怨："为什么花那么多时间在教会？为什么花那么多时间在那事工上？"不会这样。

有位弟兄问我一个问题让我困惑："有位妻子抱怨丈夫爱孩子胜过爱她。"母亲通常乐见父亲照顾孩子，为什么这位妻子嫉妒孩子？后来我明白，因为她是第二任妻子，孩子是前妻的。所以有竞争。

但在事奉上，妻子不能指责丈夫："你给教会的比给家庭的多。"成熟的妻子不会这样说，反而会推动丈夫为主做工。丈夫知道，越事奉神、教会，神越赐福家庭。

我的孩子常说："爸爸总是向我们借钱。"我供养他们，但也向他们借钱。他们乐意帮助，知道是为事工、宣教。即使经济困难，也愿为事工奉献。"不用记帐，反正你很少还。"但他们知道是为事工，为主。所以不会有"为什么给教会比给家庭多"的竞争。

全家一起事奉，妻子孩子支持说："去吧"，"我们一起做"，"即使经济紧张，也要为主做"。没有竞争，因为"我和我家必定事奉主"。愿我们家庭如此。丈夫越投身教会，妻子越喜乐，孩子也愿参与，帮助父母事奉主。

孩子年幼时，妻子参与事工较难。这很自然，因为要照顾孩子。有时丈夫外出事奉，妻子独自照顾孩子、做饭，像女佣。丈夫参加查经、辅导回来晚了，妻子不该抱怨："为什么这么晚？"要理解他们在事奉。妻子要为丈夫祷告，孩子为父母祷告。这是家庭的事奉。可能不直接参与，但祷告就是在事奉。

丈夫在外，妻儿年幼在家，不能去教会，但通过祷告支持，就是在以家庭为单位事奉。父母鼓励年轻人参与。不是丈夫的个人秀，是全家人为基督而做。

"丈夫也当照样爱妻子，如同爱自己的身子。爱妻子便是爱自己了。从来没有人恨恶自己的身子，总是保养顾惜，正像基督待教会一样。"（以弗所书5:28-29，和合本）这比较是基督与教会的关系。不是物质、珠宝，而是属灵的："正如基督待教会"。

"因我们是祂身上的肢体。为这个缘故，人要离开父母，与妻子连合，二人成为一体。"（以弗所书5:31，和合本）这是极大的奥秘，但我是指着基督和教会说的。

然而你们各人都当爱妻子，如同爱自己一样；妻子也当敬重她的丈夫。"你们作儿女的，要在主里听从父母，这是理所当然的。"（以弗所书6:1，和合本）有时孩子自以为比父母聪明。当然，你们懂科技，我连电脑都不会用。

我儿子说："老爸，你们这些老古董。"但会帮我操作直播等技术事工。孩子啊，将才能献给主，不要被世界利用。约书亚在读神学院，我们该祷告儿女被主呼召，不是祷告"求主不要呼召我的孩子"。带人归主是最崇高的呼召。

全职事奉是神的呼召，但不要强迫孩子。医生、律师等职业也能事奉主。但若主要儿女全职事奉，不要拦阻。FEBC现在没有新加坡人，只有两位澳洲人。许多人读神学院是为逃避本国问题，不是真心要事奉。

儿女要听从父母，即使比父母聪明。"要在主里听从父母"（以弗所书6:1，和合本）没有改变。不能因为在教会表现好，在家却顶撞父母。非基督徒父母也要敬重。

"我和我家必定事奉主"。全家一起事奉。非信徒看到儿女因信主后的改变，会问："这是什么教会？"从而归主。

丈夫要刚强领导家庭。我认识一位律师妻子尊重做建筑工的丈夫，这才是符合圣经的家庭。丈夫要警惕网络色情。有位我敬重的解经家因婚外情跌倒。所以我外出讲道总要带妻子，因知道自己软弱。

女权运动和LGBTQ破坏家庭。妻子要顺服，丈夫要爱妻子如基督爱教会。在末后的日子，假基督、假先知要迷惑选民（马太福音24:24，和合本），所以更要警醒。

"我和我家必定事奉主"不是一个人的事。全家一起事奉。建立家庭祭坛，每天15分钟读经祷告。即使孩子抗拒也要坚持。我孩子曾沉迷游戏，我坚持每周带他查经，后来他戒掉了。在数码时代吸引孩子不容易，但必须坚持。

我们年长的时日无多，若下一代不事奉主，教会和宣教事工怎么办？不要比较哪个家庭更虔诚。我们都不完美，但主要我们全家事奉。想想主为我们受的苦，我们岂不能为祂摆上？

波利卡普86岁时被绑在火刑柱上，官员说："只要否认基督，就放了你。"他回答："八十六年来主从未亏待我，我怎能亵渎我的救主？"让我们数算主恩，列出神的信实，就能明白为何要全家事奉。

结束祷告： "荣耀、满有怜悯恩典的天父，感谢你施恩给我们这些本该被定罪的人。我们领受如此之多，却屡次失败，但你总是温柔地呼唤，以慈爱待我们。求主帮助我们全家事奉，丈夫爱妻子，妻子顺服丈夫，儿女孝敬父母。保守教会领袖，使教会增长。奉主耶稣基督的名求，阿们。"

We will continue on with the next message, and that will be on the verse that is the theme verse for this camp, and that is Joshua 24:15. Let us open our Bibles to Joshua 24:15. Let's read this verse together.

Reading — "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, KJV)

We see this almost in every house, every home of believers, with some pictures or reminders, a verse that speaks this: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I pray that the moment you read this, you will be reminded of the message we went through during this camp. We have to go back to the Bible. Again, I have to recall this so that we will not forget to go back to the Scriptures, our basis, our foundation in our service. We cannot base anything from this world, from the teachings of the modern world. We have to go back to the Bible, and we have the pattern. God has given us these standards to follow.

There must be the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It is the fear of God that we know what to do. And when we fear God, we go back to His Scripture, to His Bible, to His Word, in order to know what He wants us to do. That's the right kind of fear—the fear of the Lord. And with that, of course, we have to love Him, love Him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, that we may serve Him the best that we can. And, of course, we can only do that when we are indwelt by the Spirit of God. We can love Him because He first loved us. We have to acknowledge first that He has given us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You may think, "Oh, we are so many, almost every ministry is occupied, almost every ministry has its own leaders and workers. I don’t have a place to serve." There is always a place for us. God put us in this church because He has a place for you to serve, a position for you to fill, a gap for you to stand in so that, as a whole church, we can serve the Lord. And that’s true also with our bodily system. There is no part of our body that is useless. Everything that God has designed for our body is important. That’s also true with the local church. Everyone, even the children—thank God for Noah here—is a very encouraging sight for me. It is something that can encourage us to continue.

What is truly a love from parents— you know, we are in a world today where people are even worse than the beasts of the field. The wild animals, the Bible tells us, if you rob a mother bear of her cubs, she will run after you and kill you. I remember when I grew up in a remote village, my mother used to rear chickens and hens. When they noticed hawks coming, she would always scold us and tell us to cover them with sticks. You could hear the chirps, and then the chicks would just come. They knew the danger was there, and they would hide, and the feathers of the hen would make it look like a bigger kind of animal, although it's a small hen. It shows how she takes care of the young, willing to fight, willing to die for the young.

We are in a world where so many are even abandoning their infants and not even caring for their own children. It's an encouragement to me. I'm greatly encouraged by this sight. Thank God for this opportunity to witness such love from parents. So, these are the things we have to be reminded of. We all have parts to play. Noah here, we may say, "Oh, he cannot lift anything," but his presence is filling a gap, teaching us something. We all have a role in the church, a part to play. That’s why there is no person in the church who is useless—no one should be sitting on the bench doing nothing. Everyone has to play their role, their part.

There are many who are serving just for the sake of serving, letting their names be listed. I know of a person who left the church because she was serving, and then her name was not written in the weekly bulletin that she was part of it. She was so angry that she left the church. In that case, we know that’s not the purpose or reason why we serve. It’s not for our names to be listed as the chairman or the one who is in charge of this. We have to move on and continue to serve because we are persuaded that God has saved us, has even brought us into life. We were dead in trespasses and sins. Now we are made alive, quickened by the Spirit of God, and we can do something for the Lord, even though what we can do is nothing compared to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us.

We just heard that when we know we need to serve, there are things we have to remember. We have to serve the Lord with fear and trembling, in sincerity and in truth. We have to understand that there is a guide. The Bible is still our guidebook, our compass, in doing the will of the Lord and following His ways. We cannot do it our own way. We cannot apply the things of the world to the church. Of course, there are things that, well, let us be practical. You might think, "Why are we using computers and cameras in the church? Isn’t that from the world?" That is a nonsense question. But we have to think of philosophies and ideologies that are contrary to God’s Word—those that many churches today are introducing and bringing into the church, transforming, reversing, and changing the doctrines of the church.

It’s not just about purity of doctrine. The problem with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in those days was that they still went into smoking, drinking, and other things. We thank God for McIntyre and the founding pastor, the man who was used by God to start the BP movement in Asia and also in Australia, the Reverend Dr. Timothy T. We should not forget this. We don’t worship them. We don’t remember them as equal to the saints in the Roman Catholic Church, but we have to remember the good work they have done.

And we are commanded: you have to maintain the purity, sincerity, and truth in service. You don’t have to accommodate and put back the gods of your fathers. You have to leave them out. You have to focus on God alone. For if you love the world, we know we cannot serve two masters. It’s either we love the one and hate the other. We have to love the Lord, our God. Our Lord, our God, is one Lord. And we have to remain in Him. I pray that the Lord will help us to remember this so that we can continue on serving Him in the right way and serving Him reasonably. This is our reasonable worship so that we will not conform to the image of this world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And how can we be transformed? What is this renewal? How do we renew our minds? We understand this morning: it is the meditation of the Word of God.

We thank God that your church here continues to teach the Word of God in many avenues, in many ways. The YPG, your care group, your Bible studies, you have DHW, you have your worship service, and you have your prayer meetings that are still centred on the Word of God. These are things that we must maintain, and we must pray, especially for our pastor, for our leaders, that they will continue to follow the ways of the Lord. Because as soon as they depart, immediately, the whole flock will be taken. You know that, and you understand that this has happened in many churches. It is the pastor, the leader, who is under great attack. Once he falls, everything—even the whole church—will be affected. So that's why we must pray for them, remember them, ask the Lord to lead them and help them, to encourage them in the faith.

It is always the case that pastors are put at the centre and used as targets by many people, even members of their own church. It's like they are in the archery field, constantly targeted by many members. This should not be the case. We should love the leaders, the under-shepherds, that God has placed in our church, so that we can be moved and encouraged to continue following the Lord. If the shepherd leads the flock into other ways, to poisonous pastures, to waters that are infected, or whatever it may be, it will affect all of you. That’s why it's important to consider following the Lord and praying for those appointed as shepherds, leaders—not only the pastor, but our deacons, elders, and others in the church.

And now here in verse 15, we are told, or Joshua tells the people. He says, “You have to serve the Lord in this way, you have to follow the Lord, there is a prescription, you have to have this purpose, there is a way you practice your service.” But if it seem evil unto you, if you don’t want it, if you think this is too hard, if you think it is burdensome, if you think it is too difficult for you to serve the Lord in that way, please, don’t take away the context in verse 14. If you don’t want that way, you're going to say, “I will continue to serve the Lord, but I will not follow what verse 14 says.”

Joshua says, “That is the way to practice or serve the Lord, but if you don’t want that, and it seems bad, evil, heavy, or difficult for you to serve the Lord in that way…” That’s what he means by "if it seem evil." There is a choice. You are not forced to do it just because you are a member, and you think, “Anyway, the pastor told me to do this, so I have to do it.” But without your heart, without your mind, without loving it, without the desire to serve the Lord, you just do it because, “Well, I’m assigned to do it,” grumpily, dragging your feet, angry. You’re serving because you are assigned and forced to do it.

The Bible tells us you have a choice. You don’t have to force yourself if it is not according to your heart, if you are not convinced that you are to serve in that way. You don’t like the way of service. You don’t want that kind of service. If it seem evil unto you. And the word “evil” here means something bad for you, troublesome for you, disastrous for you, dangerous for you. You may think that it is distracting to your faith or to your life. If you don’t want it, if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, if you think this will disrupt your family life, if you think this will affect your work, and you won’t be promoted because of that function or teaching in the church, and you think that your income will be affected, your holidays will be affected, your other desires in life will be affected, don’t force yourself to choose to serve the Lord. He gives them a choice. If it seem evil, if you think it is bad, then don’t serve the Lord. Don’t just be there because you are assigned, and your name is listed. It will affect the whole church, because you are not doing it with submission to the Lord. You are not doing it with reverence to God. You are not doing it with love. You are doing it just to fulfil what has been assigned to you.

Please, stop. Don’t do it if you think it is something you don’t want to do. It will not help the church. It will not help the congregation. It will not encourage others when people see you dragging your feet, complaining, murmuring. Why continue serving in that area? You have the choice. I don’t challenge you to stop and leave, but this is what Joshua desired for them to know: if you don’t want it, don’t do it. It’s simple. Don’t show off that you are assigned, but in your heart, you don’t like it. It will affect you. The Lord knows. You might think that people will appreciate you because you are still there, continuing to serve even though your heart is rebellious. God knows, and that will affect not only your own ministry, but the whole church.

So let us pray, “Lord, if this is the ministry you want me to serve, if this is the kind of work you want me to do, it may be hard for me. Sometimes, you know, I will be leaving my family early, I will go to church early, and they will be left behind, or they will come later. Or there will be inconveniences. I have to ask the Lord, I have to seek the Lord’s will. Because it is useless to just show off that you’re doing it, yet your heart is not in it.”

"If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve." What are the choices? And now you who have the choices, Joshua also gives the choices here. The choices are clear: if you want to serve, then serve, but if you don’t want to serve the Lord, your other choices are to serve the gods of your fathers, to go back to ancestor worship or worship of Baal, or worship of those false idols, of those false gods. Idols, worship of the sun, worship of the tree, worship of stones. If you think that is better for you, of course, it is not saying that you should do it, but he says, these are the choices.

“Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell.” When he refers to the gods of the Amorites here, it refers to the gods of those people in the land: the Hivites, Hittites, Debusites, Canaanites, Girgashites, Perizzites, and all those. They had different gods. They had the god of the plain, the god of the hill, the god of the sea, the god of the forest. Each of them had gods.

And this is what is happening openly now and even practised by many Christian churches. I believe some of you may still be in favour of what Billy Graham did. Yes, he did many good things in the past. He started well as a good preacher, but later, when he was puffed up and the media promoted him, he started gathering all denominations, not only the Protestant denominations, but even the Roman Catholics and others. And they put them at the back. When it came time for decision-making, people had to sign and state, “I am from an Anglican church, I am from a Methodist church, I am from a Roman Catholic church,” and then those who were from the Roman Catholic Church were sent back to their church. Although they had decided to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, received Him as their Lord and Saviour, they were turned over to the apostate Church. These churches, which don’t even believe in the God of the Bible, are the gods of these churches. And that is what is happening.

Many Christian churches today are all the same. And so you can worship other gods, worship these gods, and they think that, "Oh, we have the same God." No, it's different. We have only one God, and the God that we have, the Lord God, is one. He is the God of the Scriptures. And if He is characterised differently from what God says or what the Scripture says, what the Bible says, then He's a different God. As many of the Protestant churches today don't believe that we have a Christ who is able to do these miracles. It's interesting that many don't believe that these miracles were done by Christ. They say these are myths added by the apostles during the days when they wrote the Scriptures in order to make Jesus as God. So today, their teachings in the Christian churches mythologise. We have to take out the myth. And if you take out all these myths, all these miracles that are so-called done by the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have a Jesus who is just a model person—a good person, a loving person, a good teacher. He was just that man; He was not God. He is not God. And when He resurrected, no, He was not resurrected as in bodily resurrection; He was just resurrected in the hearts and minds of people. They were just encouraged to think that, "Oh, He is with us." And you think that it's the same Jesus as you have in the Bible, and you can associate with Him? These are the gods of the— we can say the gods of the 'ems,' the gods of other religions, the gods outside the Scriptures. And so we have to choose one, and this one is, of course, what is given to us in the Scriptures. And we think, why do we have to think on these things? Why can't we just serve the Lord lovingly, carefully, and with compassion and gentleness to all people, welcoming them, serving them? You know, bring people to church and to know Jesus. Why so much of this— you have to think of the doctrine, whether He's God or not? It is important. That's what the choice here is given: whether you want to serve God in the way of the Scriptures or to serve God that is outside of the Scriptures. If you don't want the way the Scripture says it, then serve other gods. You're not forced to do it. You're not a robot to just be, you know, controlled by a pastor to do this, do that. We have to do it from our hearts, with passion, with zeal, with conviction—that I must do it because it is for my God. It's for my Lord, who saved me, who gave Himself for me, who died for me on the cross, who shed His blood so that I can be forgiven, who gave Himself, even being smitten, scourged for me. With all the pain, excruciating, humiliated before people, because of me, I want to serve God because He has done so much for me. And this is the God whom I will serve, not the gods of other religions, or other denominations, which say that Jesus is just an ordinary man, or He did not rise from the dead. He was just a man who encouraged people. And we thank God that we believe in the premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may think we have different views, but He will come. He will come again to bring us with Him. That was the promise. It was mentioned this morning, "I have prepared a place for you. If I did not do it, then I would have told you. I will come and bring you unto Myself, so that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2–3) And that's a promise. And this is the God whom we are waiting for. It is not the God who will make this world so good, so right, and soon we have a utopia, a place where everyone will be kind to one another, there will be universal peace—making this world great again. This is not the promise that the Bible tells us. We're going down and down. The world is going to get worse and worse each day. But we have the hope of the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Because when He comes, yes, there is a great tribulation that will come, but later after that, we will be reigning on this earth for a thousand years. That should be in our hearts and minds. That's why that would enable us to serve, to continue on doing the work of the Lord, because we have the hope of this—not only eternal life, but also life on this earth for a thousand years, reigning on this earth, and this earth will be restored back to its original form, when God created it, at the beginning, where even the lions and the lambs will lie together, and children will play with venomous creatures. I believe there will be no venom for the snakes at that time. That would be the hope of every believer, and that will move us, causing us to serve the Lord with all our hearts. And He says here, "If you don't want Him, if you don't want to serve according to what He has prescribed, if you don't want to serve God according to the book that He has given us, then you can serve other gods. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15) For me and my house. It was not saying, "For me only." The headship of the Father, the headship of the husband must be there in the family. "Me and my house." We cannot afford to just serve the Lord and leave out my family. There are some pastors who would say, "I'm the only one called. Don't talk about my wife and children because they are not called. Only me." Please understand, we have a covenant-keeping God, a covenantal God, a familial God. When God gave the grace to Noah, He brought with him the wife, three children, three sons, and their wives. We have that kind of God. When God called Abram, He brought with him Sarah. When God called all those people in the past, they were with their families. Think, "What about Peter?" And some of those apostles—actually, they left their families behind. No, please remember, when they were under training, they may have been away from their wives and families, but you can see that when they were in the Book of Acts, they were with their own family members, the women, who we believe were their own wives, and even their children, who came to help them, assist them. And that's how important the unity of the family should be. The headship of the husband and the submission of the wife. Yesterday, I did that. Husbands, submit to your wives. The Bible tells us that it is the wife who will submit to the husband. (Ephesians 5:22) But there is also submission to one another. I think it's good for us to go into this family plan of God, to go into Ephesians, Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Let us begin with the reading in verse 21. I will read to you from verse 21, Ephesians 5:21. Okay, maybe it belongs to a different paragraph, as you might say here, but it's again part of it. It says, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:21) Okay? One to another. Although there is this instruction of wives, "Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22) Submission of the wife to the husband. And this is now partially and even maybe totally erased by the feminist movement today. That's why we cannot serve as a family, because there is no real family that we can now describe as a biblical family today, because of the introduction of teachings, ideologies, and philosophies of the world, such as the feminist movement. We have to understand, yes, we are created equal. I believe this is preached and instructed to you—we are created equal before God, men and women, we are the same. There is no salvation that is greater for men, and less for women, but we have roles. Again, we have roles. We have parts. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. Submission of the wife to the husband. The headship of the husband must be there. And you will understand later that this is what God planned, not only for the family but even for the church. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." (Ephesians 5:23) And if there is no submission of the wife to the husband, then how can we think of a church, which is being headed by the Lord Jesus Christ? If the practice, if the way we do it in the basic, in the foundational level, where the wife is not submitted to the husband, it is the character and nature also of the church, not to submit to Christ. That's why it's important that we have to go back to the Bible and understand what a family is. It is not putting the husband as a master, ruler, one who dictates everything, but we have to understand the biblical concept of what it means to submit to the husband. The wife can still say, but the final say is the husband. And husbands also, and this is a problem with us, husbands, I myself, also, have this problem, because sometimes we are undecided. That's why we leave it to the wife to decide. We have to be biblically grounded in order to understand what must be done. Of course, there are things that we must entrust to our wives, decisions for our children, for other things, and we can interfere with that. Then, don't dare to go there and correct your wife about the kitchen, or else you will be coming out from the kitchen full of those, you know, ketchup or whatever—soy sauce. We have our roles, of course, but we have to understand that the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. So let us serve God as a family, and what is a family? A family is described here: we have a wife, we have a husband, and children. And it's also, again, one thing that is being destroyed by society today. I hope it is not illegal to say here in Australia, but I would say the LGBTQ movement is trying to cause the destruction of our family makeup, where man and man, woman and woman. It's clear, the Scripture says, we have wives submitting themselves to the husband, the husband is the head of the wife. The husband is the man, the wife is the woman. You cannot be a lady husband or a male wife. If you go into the original language, it's very clear—this husband is male, it is masculine, and the wife is feminine. You're going to make a feminine husband and a masculine wife? It's stipulated clearly in the Scriptures. That's why we have to maintain this kind of family, although the world will see us as some kind of old-fashioned people who will not adapt to what the world says, but we have to follow what is stated in the Scriptures. "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:24) Now, we know today that there are some working wives and husbands staying at home. That is not a problem. The Bible did not make some kind of rule here that, "Okay, husbands must be there at work," although we know that the wives must take care of the children.

You think wives, it is hard to submit to your husbands, but we have an even bigger burden. I mean, it's not a burden for us, maybe, but it's a temptation for men. It's a weakness of men. That's why the Bible tells this repeatedly: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25).

Because this love is not an ordinary love of care and gentleness and just giving all your resources, giving help to the wife. You see, the picture that is given here is that this is the love of Christ towards the church. And we can imagine this love of Christ towards the church during this Passion Week. We can remember how great the work of Christ was done for us. This is the kind of love that we have to extend to our wives. This is not easy. There's something that we have to go through with suffering and agony, just like what the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the cross. And we must be ready to give this or to show this to our wives, even to the family.

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27). Let us encourage our wives to be engaged also with spiritual things, not just to let them be left behind, for our children to do the chores at home, to cook, to prepare the house, to clean everything, but we must also build up their spiritual lives in order for them to be meeting the needs that we have as husbands.

I heard of a pastor who said, "The measure by which we truly love our wives is when we try to determine how equipped they are, how they have known the Lord Jesus Christ since we got married until now. Is our wife loving the Lord more than when we got married? Is our wife growing in her spiritual life compared to the time when we got married? Or are they drifting away from the church, from reading the Bible, or from following God?" That's a measure. It's not how we provide for them, how rich they are, or how they have all the jewelry they wanted. It is how they grow in the Lord. That's the measure of love that we have for them. That's the spiritual love that God here refers to when we truly love our wives—how they grow in the Lord, how they love the Lord.

Because when our wives also love the Lord and want to serve the Lord, they can help the husband, go here, do this, do that. We can help, and that will show that it is the whole family. Children will see that. It is not that there is quarrelling. "I'm going again to the church," and the wife will complain, "Why do you spend more time in the church? Why do you spend more time on that work or that ministry than us?" We will not complain about that.

That's why it was strange to me one day, when one brother asked me, and it really puzzled me, but later I understood. He said, "Can you help me with this problem? There is this wife who accuses her husband, that he loves the children more than her." I mean, it seems like the wife is jealous over the children, wondering why the husband loves the children more than her. She said, "It's quite difficult," because why is it that mothers would always love to see the father, the husband, take care of the children? Why, he said, does it seem there is competition between the wife and the children?

So I said, "Brother, I don't know how to answer that question." And later, I realized that actually, that happened because the wife was a second wife and the children were, I mean, the children of the first wife. So I understand why there was some kind of competition between them. But when we talk of service, we cannot say, and wives cannot accuse their husbands, "You give yourself more to the church than us, in the family." There is no such thing that will come from the mouth of the wife if she is growing in the Lord. She would even push the husband to do this, to do that for the Lord, if she is mature in the faith.

And the husband will know also that he will devote his life for the Lord, because the more that he's serving God, the more that he's serving the church, the more that the Lord will bless the family. Sometimes, you know, when in our family, my children would think of me, "Okay, this father, we are always borrowing from us." I help them, provide for them, but later, I will borrow from them. But they understand. They say, "Oh, we can give it to you. No, you don't have to think of paying it back anyway. You don't always pay us." But they are willing to help. Why? Because they know it will always be for the ministry, for the missions. They're ready to give up even their own resources, because they know that whenever I borrow from them, I ask help from them, it will always be for the work of the ministry. They are ready. They say, "No, don't think of listing how much you've borrowed anyway since you have not paid us."

But they know, they know that it is for the ministry. They know that it's for the Lord. So there is no such thing as, "Why do you do this more for the church than us? Why are you spending more time in the ministry than us?" There is no competition. We are serving as a family, and the wives and the children are willing to say, "Go," or, "Let us do it together," or, "Let us even keep these resources. We may be going through a difficult time, but if this is for the Lord, let us do it. Let’s be willing to keep ourselves in a very low economic situation, keep ourselves just with these things because there’s work that is needed." You don’t compete. There is no competition because it is me and my house to serve the Lord. I pray we have this in our family.

We can see that the more husbands give themselves to the church, the wives are so happy, and children are also willing to give themselves, helping their fathers, helping their mothers to serve the Lord. Now, we understand that when our children are young, it’s quite difficult for the wives to be engaged in the ministry. That's natural, because we know that they need some care in the house. You have to take care of them when they are young. And sometimes, they are left behind, as the only ones who will take care of the children, the house, cook, everything, as if they are maids. A husband is out there working for the ministry. When he comes home, sometimes late in the evening because of Bible study, because of some ministries or counseling, please, wives, don’t expect that when they come, there’ll be murmuring, complaining. "Why are you late? Why are you doing this?" We have to understand. We know they are serving, and we even pray for them. I mean, wives must pray for their husbands. Wives must pray for those who are involved. Children must pray for their parents. This is serving in their family. They may not be part of that work, but if they are praying, they are serving as a family.

The husband is there. Maybe the wife and the children, they are still young, they are in the family. They cannot go to the church in some ways or another, but they are serving as a family because they are supporting. They’re praying, they’re encouraging their father, their mother to do it. Parents are also encouraging the young people to do this. And let this be the service of the family. It's not one man’s show or the husband's show; it is for all to do this for the sake of Christ.

That’s why it’s repeated here, in verses from 28 onward, even to chapter 6: "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church" (Ephesians 5:28-29). So you see, the comparison is with the Lord towards the church. He’s not speaking of material things. He’s not speaking of jewels or whatever treasures that we give to the wife. It is spiritual: "Even as the Lord the church." For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh" (Ephesians 5:31). This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" (Ephesians 6:1). Sometimes, children think that they’re wiser than their parents. And of course, you are. You know, you know much about these things, and I open the computer and I don’t know how to manipulate it or do these things.

My son will come and says, "Ayo, you boomers." Boomers, yeah, okay, you may call me some other, but please help me. I don't know this. You know many things. Even children, they know, you know, even young children, three years old, they know how to use their handphones and many things that we don't know, they can do it. And they know much, you know more, but please understand the Bible still says, Obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right (Ephesians 6:1). It is not changed. We don't have a Bible that says, "Parents, obey your children in the Lord." Sometimes we do. Parents, we obey our children rather than them obeying us. So let this remind our children. Yes, you know more. You are wiser, you can do more, you can do many things. Use this for the Lord. Don't use this to mock your parents. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise (Ephesians 6:2).

By the way, when my son will call me this, he will just say, "Okay, Boomers," still call me Boomers. But of course, he will help, he will be there, he will always be helping me. He does all things in the ministry—live streaming and correcting, and all these things, I thank the Lord for him. So for our children, let us give ourselves unto the Lord. Don't let the world use you in ways that will take you out from the service of God. You have many talents, yes. Give it to the Lord. Serve him. Young people, you can do much, yes, if you can do much, do it for the Lord. Don't do it for the world.

I pray, thank God that Joshua is there, Joshua Na, who is now studying God's word. We pray that the Lord... I mean, parents, please don't pray that, "Oh, please, Lord, don't call my son. Don't call my daughter." That's a terrible way to pray, being a pastor. I know how our pastors suffer. I don't want him to be like that. Please, parents, pray that our children will be called. I mean, that's my prayer for my children. That's my prayer, that the Lord will call them to serve the Lord. There is no other job. There is no other profession. There is no other work on earth that is more noble than bringing souls to Christ. I mean, we can all do that, but to be in the full-time ministry, of course, we trust that it's the Lord who calls, but we can pray. Please, there are parents who don't want their children to come to serve the Lord. Let us pray, that if there are opportunities, if this is God's will... Of course, if it is God's will, don't force your children to go to full-time so that we will be seen as good parents. No, of course not. It will end up in them leaving the ministry after a while or leaving the Bible college after a while. We cannot force them. It is God's call, but we have to pray.

You know, when we see in the Book of Psalms or in the Book of Proverbs, where we know that we have to discipline, nurture our children in the admonition of the Lord, we have to pray that they will follow the Lord. They will follow what God will ask them to do, that we will not... Of course, there are some parents who don't want because, you know, you don't have money in being a pastor. You cannot take care of us after, and if you are old, you know, pastors don't have much. How can we go for vacation? How can we have medication for our ailments? You have to be a doctor, you have to be somebody, you have to be a lawyer, you have to be an accountant. Good, if that is the call of God for them, they can still serve the Lord. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that if you are serving the Lord when you are in a full-time ministry, that's very wrong. You cannot just say you are in the ministry, and that is the kind of service. You can be of service to the Lord in any way, be it a doctor, a lawyer, and still serving the Lord. But if the Lord would want our children to serve Him fully as full-time ministers, please don't discourage them. Even pray for them. Ask the Lord, "Lord, if this child of mine, is—" Usually, the case of parents, you know, will say, "Oh, you are talented, you have this skill, you know much. Okay, you go to AI—I mean, IT course, or you are good at this, math, or whatever. Okay, be an accountant." "Oh, this child is nothing, is all rubbish. Okay, go to the Bible college." It's always a decision of parents. All those who can do, who can understand as if they are foolish children, "Okay, you better go to the Bible college." Those talented, those skillful, "Okay, you get a degree." That is not giving our best for the Lord. You know, when we give our best for the Lord, it's the best that we can offer. Of course, again, it depends on God's call. You don't have to force your children to go just because you desire for a child to become a pastor, one who is serving the Lord in teaching children. It depends on the call. But please understand that we as parents must lead, must not discourage our children to serve the Lord.

That's why the reason why many... I mean, in FEBC today, there are zero Singaporeans. Thank God for two Australians. And many are coming just because somehow, just because they want to escape war or problems in their own country. There's a reason why they are in Bible College, not really interested to serve the Lord. So I pray that more and more will devote their lives to the Lord, serving as a family, serving as one in the Lord.

So children, obey your parents, submit yourselves to them, even though you are already in the university, even though you know more than your parents, as you think, please still consider God has assigned your parents to lead you, to guide you, submit to your parents. You cannot serve the Lord if you are disobedient to your parents. You are so good and kind in the church, you appear very lovely and caring to many children, but when you go back to your house, you are so rebellious to your parents. That is useless. You are just showing off that you are such a kind man in the church, and then after that, when you go back, you don't even greet your parents, you don't even submit to your parents, you even shout against your parents, you don't even tell your parents, you even curse them, and then when you appear in the church, you appear like angels and saints. Please don't do that. That is not serving the Lord as a family. We are serving the Lord as a family. You submit to your parents. Of course, there are those whose parents are not Christians. But we have to respect them. We have to submit to them. We have to still give our reverence, our respect, honouring them. Of course, if they disagree with the scripture, then we don't have to follow them, but tell them in the right way. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). And it can be done also by the children: As for me and my house, my father, my mother... And for those who are not yet in the Lord, they will see in you, you are serving the Lord, or you are serving the church, and they will see how big the change that I see now in my daughter, in my son, that before it was this, but now because he's in the church, he started the Word of God, he is this kind of child. And they will ask, "What is that church? What is the teaching of your church, that you have changed?" And that's the way you bring them to the Lord.

So these are things that we have to consider as a family. Husbands, we have to be strong, as leaders of our family. Sometimes we are wishy-washy. We are afraid. We're scared to lead. This is the role that God has given us. We have to do it. Of course, with the guidance of the Scriptures, the Bible is our guide. Wives, you may be wiser than your husbands. We have a family, I know about a family before where the wife, she said, "I may be a lawyer, I may be a doctor," and the husband was just an ordinary worker, a construction worker, but there was much respect for the wife. I know that this is a family that follows the biblical pattern. And so for the wives, submit to your husbands, in everything, and husbands, love, let us love our wives.

It is a temptation today of the world to lure husbands away from their wives because of the internet, pornography, and other things. Let us be careful. When you have heard of one example of a minister who once served, I respect him so much. In fact, I listened to his series of messages on expository preaching. I'm talking about Steve Lawson, you see, a lecturer in Master's Seminary, he reformed, preacher, good in expository preaching. But later, because of, you know, there was this relationship with another woman. He's already 70 years old, I think, but still became a victim of this enticement, seduction of the world. I found out that even one student who was also attending his lectures in the Philippines, he realised that when he goes to these places, he was alone. I thank God when an invitation came that I can come to speak, Pastor or the letter was that you can also bring your wife. So I must bring my wife. I know I'm weak. I cannot trust myself. I know I have the Lord, I know, I have God, I know God will protect me, but I know who I am. That's why I have to bring my wife. I told her, "You must always be with me. You know this man, you cannot just... you know, just trust, I cannot just trust myself. I trust in God, but the world is so seductive, the world is leading people away from the family." Because the service is to be done by the family, and if the husband is taken away or led away by these evil deeds, then it's all destroyed.

So I pray, wives, submitting to the husband is important. Husbands loving our wives is important. We must trust the Lord, but we must also help one another in keeping our vows, our all to the Lord. Because in these days, we are in the last days where Matthew says, "If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matthew 24:24 KJV) And we know it is impossible, but if it were possible, that's how deceptive, how seductive, the temptations today are. But in the last days, even the elect, if it were possible, can be deceived. That's how these temptations come to us, and so we pray that the Lord will preserve the family in order for us to serve the Lord.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15 KJV) Don't just take yourself—I'm the one called, I'm the one serving. I don't care about my family. I don't care about my wife and children. Let us all together come, because it is what God designed for us. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For young people, bring your family. Involve your family. Let them know what you are doing. Don't just be seen in the church as serving and you don't even subject yourself to your parents. Husbands must be careful, and be careful of our ministers, because we know times are difficult. Wives must support their husbands so that husbands will be encouraged to continue to have faith in God.

So I pray this will be in the mindset and hearts of every believer. We have to understand this, we have to go back to the scriptures. We don't have enough time to go through the whole scripture to do this, but I trust and I believe it is being taught to you by Pastor. I know, let's continue on, learning the word of God and be instructed. And I pray, as Joshua says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15 KJV) If you don't want that way, if it is evil for you, if it's bad for you, if you don't want that kind of service, leave it. But for me, and not only for me, but my house, including my family, my wife and children, we will serve the Lord.

And let it be our conviction today—my family, me, and my family will serve the Lord. I will serve the Lord. I will bring my wife, though maybe physically, because they are busy, but they are supportive of me. They are praying with me.

And one thing that we have to do, as we close this message, is this important, really, that we have, especially for those with young children, to have regular family devotion. This is one thing that is lacking in many families today. And this is where the headship, the leadership of the husband, can be seen when we lead the family devotion, worship. It can only be done in five minutes, fifteen minutes. It depends on how busy you are. Of course, you'd have to take care of other things, but you must have a time with the family where your children will not only hear the words from the pastor and the elders, but they will hear from their own father the word of God.

And I thank God for this conviction. It's not me—I'm not that sincere also in those days—but I was just trying to encourage my children to be in devotion. I have told you that when we were in Pandan, I had to travel around 45 minutes to FEBC in those days, there were no MRT or train systems as much as we have today. So I had to go through some buses, but we had to do it. Before I left, they were still sleepy, but we had to do our devotion. We had to sing a hymn. We had to read the RPG. Don't force them to read the adult RPG—they have the children's RPG, or whatever materials from the church that your pastor recommends. That is a family devotion, family coming together.

If you're going to do it daily, then do it. Somehow, twice, thrice a week, there must be some time that you come together, pray together, and read the Bible. Husbands, fathers may not be able to expound because you may not have much training and you are still new to the scriptures. You can just read the devotions. It's not for you to stand up and give a sermon, but they will hear it from your own mouth. "My father, my dad, read this to me."

And we have to come together. In fact, even today, it’s not to boast, but I thank the Lord that even though they are already adults—twenty-plus years old—we still gather around every Wednesday to pray for one another. Although we cannot gather physically, today, we can have video calls. We come together to pray every Wednesday night. We have to pray for one another. They are still under our care. They are already in their twenties, almost thirties. I’m praying that somehow the Lord will give them partners, but still, they are under me, and I have to pray with them, to pray for the ministry, because they are part of the family. We must serve the Lord.

One time, my son—okay, again, my son—but one time, he got addicted to some games. I think it was when he was almost in his early teens, to Minecraft or whatever. So I struggled with him, and we had a regular Bible study. It was hard. Purposely, when I sat down and read the Bible to him, he would close his eyes and try to really discourage me, but I still had to do it. Repeatedly, every fortnight, in order for him to be reminded. I thank God that he recovered from that problem.

They will discourage us, but let’s continue to nurture, admonish, and bring up our children to know and follow the Lord. Especially in these days, with the internet and all these gadgets, it is really hard to attract or to get the attention of young people. But we have to do it. We have to continue doing it, because we want to serve the Lord as a family.

How can we say, "Serving the Lord as a family," and only the father or only the mother is serving, and the children are all the way far off? Is that serving as a family? Let us pray for one another. Let us pray for our children, for we must accept and acknowledge that some of us, of course, many of us here are still young. Some of us are now in our fifties and sixties. We don't have much time left to live another thirty or forty years on this Earth. What will happen to our church and to the work of missions and evangelism if our own children are not even in the church or not even knowing the word of God, or not interested in serving the Lord?

Let us pray, and let it be that we all together, as one body in Christ, should not be judging one another, saying, "Oh, my family is better than yours," or "My family is more devoted than yours." No, we will encourage one another. In fact, don't see us as a family as a model one. No, we are far from it. We have struggles, we have problems, but we have to do it for the Lord, because He has done so much for us—such a great sacrifice He has made for us. Why can’t we offer a little bit of that sacrifice for the few years we have on Earth when He has reserved for us a place for eternity, where we shall rejoice together with Him?

If that is what gives us the hope and trust that we have in eternal life, why can’t we give a little bit of that?

It’s just for eighty and six years the Lord has been so faithful to me. He has never wronged me. He has not done anything against me. How can I deny my Lord and my Saviour?

If we recall our lives from the beginning, can you enumerate or can you list even one, or two, or even five times that the Lord failed you? I would challenge you. List, just make a list of those times that the Lord failed you. He did not answer you, He did not help you, He did not give you, He did not provide for you. List them, and then try to list also how many times He has been so good to you, kind to you, loving to you.

I pray the Lord will help us and guide us, and use our families here to even promote the Lord Jesus Christ, even to glorify His name. Let us pray.

All glorious, merciful, gracious Father in heaven,

Thank Thee for Thy mercy and grace upon us,

People who have done wrong, evil, wicked, even before Thee.

We have received so much from Thee, but we have failed Thee,

but Thou art our God, who is gentle, merciful, compassionate,

that Thou hast brought us again, even when Thou chastise us,

Thou art so gentle to whisper and to us how much Thou lovest us,

and Thou hast continued to care for us.

And even for our families, O Lord, we pray that Thou wilt help us

to understand how we need to serve Thee as a family,

how we need, as fathers, to love our wives,

our children and wives to submit, love their husbands,

children to submit and honour their parents,

that we may be seen as worthy servants of Thine.

So, Father, be with us, continue to bless this church,

continue to be with this church, especially for the leaders of this church.

And to everyone who are here, thank Thee for how Thou hast given us this privilege

to come together, and the presence of one another is an encouragement.

So we pray, Lord, that Thou wilt bring more people, even into the church,

but let it be also that those who are here will give themselves to serve

in whatever opportunities, privileges that Thou hast for each one of them.

Thank Thee, Lord, for Thy mercy and grace upon us.

We pray and we ask all this with thanksgiving in the blessed name

of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.*

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Key Themes and Takeaways:

Closing Challenge:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Nature Of Service