My brother told me last year, or was it the year we went out for Mom’s funeral?  I can’t remember. But in this last year, my brother and I have probably talked about more intimate things, emotional-type things, since both of our parents are gone, than we ever have.  We have probably spent more time together since my mom’s been gone than we ever have.  I’m planning on going out to see him again.  It will probably be my last time to talk to my uncle Tom; he’s 96.  He was one of the last people to get out of Paradise when it burned.  You all remember the fire at Paradise out in California?  They made a movie about it.  Then he moved to Chico and in the last couple of months, they had to evacuate because of fires again.  He’s 96 years old, loading everything up and driving his truck out.  But in our conversation, we were just talking, and my brother told me, “You know, Bob, Dad was just so proud of you.”  And I said, “Really?”  And he said, “Yeah.”  I said, “This is the first time I ever heard of it.”  Tell your kids.  Amen?  Tell your kids.  Let them know you love them.  Let them know when they’re doing a good job.  If they’re not, instruct them, believing they want to do right and they want to do good.  You know, maybe we weren’t always as productive as teenagers as we are today.

So, this provocation aspect is so, so vital.  I’ve told the story about George Brett.  He was a baseball player, one of the best of all time.  Ted Williams was the last man in the modern era to ever hit .400 batting average for a season.  He had .406, and that showed character change, too.  Ted Williams came, saw his name wasn’t on the line up, and he asked the manager, “What’s going on?”  His batting average was exactly .400.  He said, “I’m not putting you in the game.”  He said, “If you don’t get a hit…,” he said, “You know, this is special.”  And he said, “The heck you aren’t,” or something like that.  Today, too many people would love to just sit on the bench, get the record, and go from there.  He played the game, got one or two hits more and ended up .406. 

George Brett.  I remember that season ending and watching him get the second highest batting average of all time.  His dad walks up to him at the end of that game—he could’ve reached it in that last game—and his dad’s response was, “What?  You couldn’t get two more hits?”  Fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath; amen?  So, how important it is to speak unto edifying.  Of course, there’s going to be times that we have to bring discipline and judgments to pass as it pertains to rearing our children up, but we’ve studied and seen how powerful this tongue can be.

So, as godly men, we’re told what our role is as it pertains to our wives.  We want to look at what the wives’ responsibilities are whether or not our husbands are fulfilling their roles completely, or to the best possible manner.  What am I saying?  We fulfill our role whether the others are doing theirs or not; amen?  “Well, if they would do this, then I would respond better.”  We’re not responding to their behavior; we’re responding to the lordship of Jesus.  So, when we realize that, it sets us free because our obedience—even when things don’t seem to be just to us—becomes worship.  When we can see it that way, what a joy it is in serving the Lord and allowing Him to manifest Himself in our lives.  So, we see this role that God has given us.  We see that it’s a role of subordination.