- Well, it is father's day and I love my family. So this is our family and to your left is lovely Lynette and then me and then Austin, our son, he's in the middle and he's getting married this summer. So Hannah, who will be with us next week, she's gonna be a part of this. So, but this was our most recent. Here, let me get this out of the way so you guys can actually see it over here. There you go. So, and then right next to Austin is Katarina and she is our oldest daughter and she is holding our first grandson. Isn't he adorable? Yep, you got it, takes after me a hundred percent. And to her left is her wonderful husband, Jake. We love him so much. And then to his left or your right is our youngest daughter, Karis. And I love my family. You know, everybody comes from a family whether you're single, adult, whether you're a kid here, you got a family. If you haven't figured that out yet we can talk to you about birds and the bees. That's another topic but you got here because of that issue, okay folks? So you've got a family, might be estranged but you have a family. It's one of the reasons why I love the book of Proverbs because Proverbs helps us understand how to live in relationship with one another. And one of those crucibles is the family. Now, today is father's day, so I wanna show you two individuals that are so influential in my life. To my right is my dad and he's holding that wonderful grandson that takes a hundred percent after me, Brayden and then Lynette's dad to the left, he's also had a huge influence in my life. And he's also holding Brayden. Today is father's day and you have a dad. Some of you it's an adopted dad, it might be a biological. Maybe, you know your dad, maybe you don't know your dad. Maybe it was a healthy experience. Maybe it was an unhealthy experience. Maybe you've got more of a spiritual father who had an influence in your life than anyone else. However, we all have one and some of you are going to be dads and many of us are. And if you wanna be a good mother or father, grandparent and respond the way God wants you to, we need wisdom. And we need this book. And there's good news because regardless of your situation that you came from, regardless of your past as a father or a grandfather, you can always start over again. There's a new path of renewal and hope and forgiveness. And so today, as we open up the book of Proverbs we're gonna talk about what it means to train up a child. It's a significant part of this book. Now, you don't need to turn to the book of Proverbs this morning because we are together collectively, because I'm gonna put up here the passages we're gonna look at. There are a number of them. I mean, there's 31 chapters in this book. And if you go through and find them all, there's just a collection of Proverbs or wise sayings and we're gonna cover them this morning. But the central verse that is found in Proverbs that some of us that are familiar with the church, we're familiar with it's this, it's Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old, he will not depart from it." Train up a child in the direction or the way that they should go. And that's what Proverbs is telling us. He's encouraging us to do that regardless of who it is. And again, it could be someone you're influencing, could be a spiritual influence that you're having in their life or that they've had in yours, or obviously with the domestic family. You know, if you are a parent or a grandparent, the few years that you have with your kids or grandkids are a life shaping opportunity. And the stakes are so high and it requires a hundred percent sacrifice. Amen, if you're a parent or grandparent, a hundred percent physically, and then you think you're out of the physical stage, then it becomes mental and physical and you're burning the candle at both ends. A hundred percent sacrifice but I will guarantee you this, it is a hundred percent worth it. You are giving your life and sacrificing to them in a number of different ways. There's a couple of key words here that we wanna unpack this morning. The first is, train up a child. That word train up means to dedicate. It means to focus, to own your attention in that direction. And I'm not sure why that switched over but we're gonna go back to that verse. "Train up a child in the way he should go." That word means to dedicate, that word means to focus. It means strategically pushing your energy in a certain direction. And then the other key phrase is in the way he should go, not the wrong path but in the way that that child should go. Actually, there's two ways to look at that. Some have said, well, this is based upon the child's personality and bent and how they were wired. You analyze it and that kind of thing. Some of you have heard that before. And I see that and I can definitely lean in that direction. But, when I look at Proverbs and the context of this book, I think it means something even more. Proverbs talks about two paths. You can take all 31 chapters, all the verses that are found in the book of Proverbs. And it can be summarized down to two paths that you can choose to take. The path of wisdom or the path of evil, the path of destruction. That's it, the whole book boils down to that concept. So when it says, train up a child in the way they should go, the way that they're talking about is the path of wisdom. That's it, that's the whole book, skillful, godly living. So as a parent, you're guiding them down this direction and it begins with this idea. It's not complicated, but it begins with dedicating your children to the Lord. That's where it all starts. So if you've never done that, and you're your child's in high school at this point, you can still do it, okay? However, we start here with a baby blessings class and then we bring parents up here with their kids. And we did a mother's day where we dedicated those kids to the Lord. Now, it's not salvation, it's not baptism, but it is a statement whereby those parents are collectively with you in community saying, we are going to nurture the soil of that child's heart so that when God's word is planted it will bring forth fruit. That's the idea, cause ultimately you want your child to follow and serve Jesus Christ. Now, if you have a student, you've never done that before. If you're married, get together with your spouse, God, this is your child. I didn't know any of this stuff before I started this journey but I've engaged here at Rockpoint, man, this middle school, Pastor Ryan and the high school, Pastor Seth, they'd just been so awesome for us as a family. So where do I begin? Just begin by getting together with your spouse, having a brief time of prayer and saying, "Lord, they're yours. The student is yours. This middle school student, this child is yours." You can start anywhere as you begin this journey together. And prayer is obviously important and very critical when we do this. So, as we train them up in the way they should go though it also involves protection and preparation. It involves both protection and preparation. They have to be held together. And I wanted the chart that shows up in some of the materials that we offer in our family connection center, Grace Based Parenting, was put together by a friend of mine, Tim Kimmel. And I'm not gonna cover everything here. But as you look at the chart you can begin to see the balance between protection and also preparation. Protection is high when the kids are small and young, now that's pretty obvious, right? You wanna protect them from physical damage and some of the stuff that's going on in our culture today. If you need help there, we can help you. But then preparation also begins immediately and it grows as they get older. You're equipping them to make wise choices in life. I think we get the production piece, but where we need a lot of the unpacking is that preparation. What needs to happen? How do we walk down that road? And this is where Proverbs primarily focuses in chapter one verse eight and nine it says, "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck." Right away, Solomon is saying, listen to these words, he's trying to train up and guide. He wants them to respond so that they walk down the right road and Proverbs 4:12 says, "When you walk then, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you'll not stumble." So you take the advice, you follow along and then before you know it, you're beginning to walk in a way that honors the Lord. Now, I've got a little object lesson up here. It's a great metaphor, especially because it's father's day. So a lot of the stuff I'm gonna kind of lean towards the guys if you'll give me that permission to do that. But everybody knows what a good tool bag is. And so you've, you're gonna have to get the right tool. And you know what? If you have to do a project, what is the key to that project? Getting the right what? Tool, thank you very much. Okay, so you got to have a drill, hammer, all kinds of wonderful things in here. And guys, you got to have the right tool. If you are married, women, listen to me. Please listen to me, loosen up your pocketbook. Let them have what they need. You will be happier. You will rejoice at the wonder of what your husband can do because you allow them to buy the right tool. Amen, guys. All right, thank you very much. And of course get some duct tape because this is like the best thing. I dunno if 3M did this or not, but this is awesome. Okay, you gotta get the right duct tape to do it. Well, there are all kinds of resources today to help you be a godly parent, mom, dad, whatever that might be. And I wanna invite you to go by our family connection center afterwards. We've got our staff out there. There is a load of staff. If you haven't been out there to take a look at it, man, we can offer you so much help and guidance. It is your job as a parent, please hear me when I say this cause I say it with all love and respect. It is your job as a parent to raise your kid, it's not the teacher's job. It's not the youth pastor's job. It's not your daycare worker. And I gotta be honest with you. It's not, if grandma and grandpa are around, it's not grandma and grandpa either. It's your job as a single parent, as a married parent. I love my son Brayden and if I'm not careful, I'm gonna go way over this morning when I start talking about stuff. I love him and I want to help him but it is not my primary responsibility anymore. I'm to spoil him rotten, amen. That's kind of my goal. But it's your job as a church, as a set of pastoral staff, we wanna walk alongside of you and help you and provide those resources. But we wanna equip you to be the influence in their life. Now, as you access that information, there's a couple of guidelines that I think are really important to think about as you utilize the tools that God can give you. Obviously the word of God has placed into this tool bag and as you unpack it, there's a lot of practical things but there's some guidelines. And the first one is this. The legacy you leave is based on the life you live, the legacy you leave is based on the life that you live. Here's what I want you to think about. You've heard this phrase before that truth is oftentimes more caught than taught. It's both. Truth is taught and truth is caught. And here's the other simple phrase that can help out here. If you compromise, or if you are complacent with your faith as a parent or a grandparent, it will lead to compromise in the life of your kid. And if you're not careful, it will lead to contempt. If you start out with complacency or passivity as a parent, it will eventually lead to compromise in the life of your kid and eventually to contempt. Evaluate your life right now in what you're communicating to your kids. How do you spend your time? How do you spend your energy? What kind of words do you use in the home? How do you display love and affection to them? Where do you spend the bulk of your time and energy? If all you do is spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on sports, what value are you communicating to them when they hardly walked through the door of a church? When they never see you talk about your faith? When they never processed that with you? You see my point, how you spend your energy, your time, your resources, how you evaluate your life is so important. And when you look at the life you're living in front of them, what values are you communicating? That's the key to this whole component. You know, kids can pick up real quick whether or not Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life. They know, they understand. So do your kids understand that you have a daily time with the Lord? Do you talk to them about that? When they walk down to the dinner table in the morning or they walk into the room in which you have your daily time with the Lord, do they see an open Bible? You know what that communicates to them? Mom and dad were here earlier this morning and they were spending time with God. They were getting their morning briefing before they started out. When they see you go to church, when they see you give of your resources, when you encourage them to go to or you encourage them to be engaged in middle school or high school, even to make sacrifices in some cases because sports will rule your life. Okay, I'll use that as an example. What are you communicating by that value? You're saying that there's some more important things that need to take place in your life. See your goal as a parent is not to raise your kids to buy into the American dream. And if all they see is that the American dream and having a great job and getting good academics and being great with sports. Those are great things. Those are wonderful things but they've gotta be held in balance. But if that's all they see, then the American dream becomes their God and they never see mom and dad making sacrifices for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you as a couple can get down and start processing that. And I think one of the most important things for a mom and dad, especially a dad, is for your kids to know that you've surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. That's where it just makes so much sense. Kids can smell hypocrisy. They really can, they can see it. They want authenticity. They don't want perfection. They want to see your relationship with the Lord and how that authentically plays out in life. Even in the midst of trials and difficulties in life, when you're stretched. Now you share some of those things in appropriate ways. I get that. But here's the reason why. There's another Proverbs that speaks right into this. Proverbs 14:26 says, "In the fear of the Lord," or as I live my life pleasing him and following him and seeking to obey him. "One has strong confidence," because I trust in him. But notice this next phrase, "And his children will have a refuge." How do you think they pick that up? Because truth was taught and caught. You processed that with them. You got down on your knees and they saw you praying. They knew the trials and the struggles. You come to the dinner table at night and you didn't say a word. Why is that? If your kids are old enough, I'd encourage you to process some of that with them. Help them understand how you're really drawing on the Lord because of something that might've happened in your life. They're beginning to see how that plays itself out so that when they go to school and they're experiencing a click, they know how to respond to that. When they've been bullied, they know how to respond. When they've been treated in a way, they know how to forgive. They know how to reach out to someone and love them even though it's not part of their group. You see how that plays itself out and they begin to apply it to life itself. And when you are engaged at that level, you're also understanding that deep relationships help you navigate deep waters in life. You want that relational connection. And as you begin to live out your faith, as you begin to walk them through that legacy that you're living in your own life, you are engaging in a relationship. And if not, then this equation becomes true that rules without a relationship equals rebellion. So you spend time with them. They begin to see your heart. They begin to understand how you are living out your faith. And then, because it's not a guarantee and we'll come back to this in a second, that every child is gonna follow and serve Jesus Christ. It's just not a guarantee. But, when you've got that deep relationship, you've communicated that you love them, when they're ready to make that phone call home, they will. And that's what you want. That's the encouragement. And you know, the other one is point, your influence is greater than you can possibly imagine as a parent. And dads, this is where I wanna focus on you. It's absolutely enormous. You know, when I look at the statistics that are out there today and I'll try and get it at least correct with the first one. And so women please understand how much you mean to your family. That's why we have mother's day, but today is father's day. But I wanna give you a stat that doesn't lie. When mom chooses to follow Jesus Christ, the family follows and it's around the 70% mark. Do you know what happens when a father decides to follow Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, the family follows over 90%. That's a silent, wow. 90% of families follow a father when they decide to live their life for Jesus Christ. That is the influence. You're not gonna hear a lot of that in our culture today, but that's what God's word teaches. Our kids are watching. They're learning. And I don't wanna over complicate this. If you are a man and you're here this morning, you have three responsibilities. Everything else flows out of this. The book of Proverbs flows out of this. You can take all of these resources, this wonderful drill and hammer and duct tape and all this stuff that we give you. Three things, I'll boil it down. I'll make it really simple. Love Jesus. As a man, love Jesus. If you're married, love your wife. Number three, if you got kids, love your kids. And that means you're gonna disciple and train them. It really boils down to those three things. Love Jesus, it'll transform your life. Love your wife if you're married and love your kids. Everything else flows out of that. I can summarize it, pull it down, put it under one of those three easy categories for you to live your life. And your influence is absolutely monumental. And I don't want you to leave here as a grandfather or a father today without understanding that this is your day. And I want you to know how much your kids and your grandkids need you because your influence is absolutely astronomical. I mean, one of the things we zeroed in when we were parents and they just offer this up as an example I've got regrets way over here that's a huge list. We all have those things we do different cause we're not perfect. But I'll tell you one of the things that we wanted to try and get right, was we wanted to transfer our faith to our kids so they may get their own. And then they understand what they believe and why they believe it. Why, because we're sending them into a generation that we will never see. And I know from a dad who didn't have a godly father, how much influence really matters in life. And then another day guiding principle is use discipline to remove immaturity and sin and develop true greatness. Proverbs speaks into this one and we have to as well, you know, the path of ruin takes absolutely no effort whatsoever but it's the path to greatness that takes work. So you wanna train up a child in the way they should go, that takes work. It doesn't say train them up in the way they wanna go. It doesn't say train them up in another way, the way they should go, if you want them to go down the path of destruction you don't have to do anything, just throw food on the table and let them go. It's gonna happen naturally. And the reason is because they've got sin in their heart and so do you and so do I. Proverbs 22:15 says, "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child," that's that sin nature, that bent that they have. "But the rod of discipline drives it far from him." Folly simply means refusal to make good moral choices. That's exactly what that means. And as a parent, you got to work with that. You know, it, young parents they're just wonderful. They bring this beautiful baby home and or they just adopted it, it's by biological means. However, it happens, they bring it home and they think they've given birth to this wonderful, beautiful child but I'll tell you what, it doesn't take long for them to understand they just gave birth or adopted a sinner. And that's when you, guys you look at your wife and say, "They take after your family." I mean, it's just there. And we all know it. And it's why we can kind of laugh about it and to train up a child means, you move them in a different direction. And I want you to notice this verse. It's really interesting. It says, "Discipline your son, for there is hope," and daughters too. "But discipline your son, for there is hope. Do not set your heart on putting him to death." Now, most Proverbs are, he thought that was really funny. Most Proverbs are suggestions, in Hebrew this is an imperative. It's kind of unique in the book. So discipline needs to come. Okay, we'll talk about it in a second. Why, because there's a path to ruin in their life. They're gonna suffer the consequences of sin. They're gonna be unhappy. And quite frankly, you're gonna put them at the mercy of their own flesh if you don't move them in this direction. Now discipline can mean two different things. Discipline can mean good, healthy habits. It's like practicing an instrument or athletics. You got to put some time and energy. They understand endurance. And when they do, there's some positive things that happen. Proverbs 3:23 says, "Then you will walk on your way securely and your foot will not stumble." You're training them. You're helping them to do the things even though they don't really wanna do but there's a great reward. You know, you forgive the kid that just said something to you at school, you reach out to one who's just been bullied. You know, you're learning how to care and love a variety of different individuals. As you give them that training, they grow and they learn how not to give into their feelings, make decisions based on facts and truth. But sometimes though that immaturity and that sin needs to be corrected. And that's where these next two verses come in. And again, it's just a sampling throughout the book. Proverbs 13:24 says, "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." The most unloving thing you can do is not correct a child that's going down the wrong path because they're gonna throw their life away. Next one, Proverbs 29:15, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother." Now in Proverbs 29:15, we begin to unpack this concept of what the rod and reproof talk about. First, reproof is verbal correction, get that's when they've done something wrong and you tell them and you wanna correct them and move them in the right direction. And that's really important. That is something that needs to happen. However, it also says the rod, those are two different things. Now the rod is the road of discipline. Now let me say this. It is hard to read the book of Proverbs and not come to the conclusion that children should never, never, never never, never, never, never, never, never, never be spanked. That is not politically correct in our world today. So I've said it, you cannot read the book and come away with that conclusion, however it has to be done appropriately and some of those kinds of things but I want you to understand that the rod of discipline is symbolic for punishment in some way. Now there's a variety of things that are available to you that's why you got a toolkit here. It could be a timeout. It could be taking away their phone. You know, maybe they need to be grounded for a year. I don't know what they did. Okay, but there's a variety of things that are here. Now, I'm not here to tell you how to do that. That's where we can help you. You need to get together as a husband and wife, single parent with other dads, with other moms and talk about it and pray what's appropriate for that child based on their personality and who they are are, and how they're wired. So we'll leave that, but it has to happen because every child needs coaching. Every child needs reward and punishment. And that's why this bag is so, so important. And we'll walk that journey with you as you seek to do it what's best. Why, because you're after the child's heart, you're not after behavior modification, you're after their heart, you wanna choose the right method so that the soil of their heart is ready for the word of God to be planted and bring out fruit. And that's gonna be different for every child, every circumstance, every situation, and it's why you have to be on your needs in prayer. Now, when I work in my garden, when we work in our yard, I have to tell you, we have, I don't know. I think when the earth was created they put all the rocks and tree limbs in my backyard. And every time we dig, you know, Lynette was out in the garden the other day, she was digging, she it roots and we got roots everywhere. We got rocks everywhere. And in order to bring forth fruit in our backyard and in our garden, we got to get the rocks out of there. We got to get the tree roots out of there and it takes work and effort. It's a great metaphor for parenting. You are given the task to dedicate, focus and move that child in the right direction. And it's gonna take work to dig the rocks out, the rocks of sin, because sin is pervasive. It's like tree roots. It goes everywhere. And as you utilize the resources that God has given to you, as you talk together as families, you can pull those things out and then you wanna nurture the soil so that it's ready to receive the truth. And that happens by the life you live, by those deep relationships, by engaging in their life and passing off their faith and guiding them so that they begin to understand and what it means to live a life that follows Jesus Christ. And then eventually, yes, you launch them. You'll launch them into a world because then you're role changes. You're more of a coach and more of a friend as you walk with them down life. And some of you know, because you've been there. Well, to train up a child in the way he should go also involves resting in what you've done. There's a point where you have to come to peace. And this is really important on today. Rest in the reward of your investment. Not every child follows the path of wisdom. Let's look back at Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go. And even when he is old, he will not depart from it." Some of you have read that verse. And some of you know, you've got children who walked away from Jesus Christ and might be there right now. And you're saying, I don't know how to, I don't know what to do with that. I don't know how to reconcile that. Let me help you understand something first. This is a wise saying, it is not a promise and an absolute, you've got to keep that in mind. Most of the Proverbs are wise sayings, they're not absolutes. And the reason is because as I've told you, there's folly in every person and every individual has to make a choice. That's why Proverbs 13:1, you have to hold this in balance. "A wise son or daughter hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke." Does not hear it and walk down that road. That's where the struggle comes in. You do your job, but at some point you've got to come to rest with what you have done. And as a parent, as a dad, since today's father's day, rest in what you've done, you weren't perfect. Hey, I'm the first one to admit I wasn't perfect. There's things I would do totally different now. We all are there, okay. Don't and stop beating yourself up. You can start a new today and God can renew that and you can begin to move in a positive direction. There's hope, that's what I love about a relationship with Jesus Christ. The transformation begins today, regardless of your past, regardless of what you have been given. Don't go back and beat yourself up. Nobody's perfect. And dads, I wanna encourage you today. In some cases you weren't taught how to be a good dad. You never understood what that was. You were placed on the launching pad. The fuse was lit and you are off and you don't know what to do. We can help you. We've got a ton of resources available for you. We will connect you into our men's ministry and everything that Steve was talking about there. Pastor Kevin works with adults on a regular basis both marriage and men's ministries along with Steve. And they will help you, guide you. Go to our family resource connection area. We will help and guide you along that path. We'll get that established in your home. We'll put you in a community. We'll tie you into resolute ministries which is with Vince Miller. And you will begin to learn that process of what it means to live this kind of life that our kids wanna follow and, because of your investment as a dad. Look at this, I just love this verse. Proverbs 17:6 says, "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory," which here it means beauty. The shining beauty, "Glory of children is their fathers." You know what he's saying here? Dads, when you choose to walk this path, you're investing in the life of your kids. And there's a beauty and a weight that holds them, an anchor in their life. And that reflects back on the wonderful investment that you've made in their life. And then they're gonna become a mom and dad and then they're gonna become a mom and dad. And it goes from generation to generation to generation. Why, because there's a wise investment of what you have done. And not only that, there's a responsibility as parents and grandparents but we're all kids of a mom and especially a dad. That's why I love this one. Proverbs 23:25. "Let your father and mother be glad. Let her who bore you rejoice." And notice there's no stipulations here. Whether they deserved it or not. It says here to honor them. "Let your father and your mother be glad. Let her who bore you rejoice." Whether you agreed with them, whether you didn't. So let me give you three things to walk out of here with today. First off, I want you to thank the Lord for your dad or you can with mom, but today's father's day. I want you to thank the Lord for your dad. Maybe you knew him, maybe you didn't, maybe it was estranged, maybe you're thanking the Lord for your spiritual father because you can't remember that relationship. Something happened there. Whatever it might be, but thank the Lord for them. And then if you can, find a way to thank them. Maybe it's by a letter, maybe it's by phone call. Maybe they're alive, maybe they're not. There's something first off, they gave you a life. They allowed you to live in this world so that you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And even though it was a poor example, you now have a loving heavenly father who wants to restore you and renew you and help you start down a different road. And maybe all of that has brought you to a point to where you finally came to the end of yourself and you gave your life to Jesus Christ. You see, I came from that situation. Some of you know, the story, my father hated his dad. He used those words, shocked, I didn't hear that before and then he told me. So some of you know that story, but you know what? Jesus changed his life and he can change yours too. And the way that he thanked him, he went back and loved them and eventually, he led my grandfather to the Lord. So there's opportunities there for you to step into that zone and look at what can happen and how you can thank them and embrace them. And the realization that the reason why they probably weren't a very good dad is because they didn't have a good dad and they didn't have a good dad and they didn't have a good dad. And the fact is, guys, you came to Christ and guess what happened? That broke the faulty fathering chain in your life. And now Jesus can change that. You've got a heavenly father who will guide you. Now, second, if you have parents who follow and serve Jesus Christ, pattern your life after them. And they weren't perfect, mine weren't, okay. You got to list the stuff they should have done different. We all have that. And they're gonna, and your kids are gonna do that about you too, but you know what? That's the wonderful about the Christian life. We don't have to be perfect because Jesus was, and he can change us and transform us and move in our hearts and move in our lives. Pattern your life, figure out those things that worked well and then add to it. And then third, if there are hurts, I want you to spend some time this week forgiving them by name and let's watch and see what dad does in your heart. What your heavenly father will do in your heart and in your life. And here's how we're gonna end this today. As the worship team comes out, I want all the fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers, okay, I want you all to stand right now. Now, if you are around them and you know, your spouse or your kids, whatever it is, I want you to physically touch your dad or your husband. And for those of you that aren't around somebody just find somebody you can point your hand towards. Cause what we're gonna do is we're gonna commission these guys as we leave this place because of the influence they have in life, in culture and our world. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers that are in this room. Lord, we thank you for the fact that they bear your image as the God of the universe. And I pray for them that they would find their identity in you and in you alone, not in the American dream, not in the profession, not in their gifts, not in their abilities, but they would find their identity in you and you alone. And father at the center of their life would be you Lord Jesus and Lord as they leave this place and have enormous influence in our world and in those they touch in the lives that follow them and in particularly, in their marriage and in their homes, Lord, I ask that you would bless them that they would live like the Lord Jesus Christ and you would use them in powerful ways to transfer the faith that is inside of them to the next generation. Give them wisdom, give them community, give them hope. And Lord, may you give them encouragement that you love them. And you're sending them out on mission to communicate the message of Christ to reflect their heavenly father. Thank you for the grace you've given them, may they live their lives. May they treat others with the grace and the truth that you provided for each of them. We bless them today. It's in Christ's name. Amen.