There is an interesting description of Jesus made by the Jews who
were in the temple and heard Him teach. John 7 :15 says, "The Jews
therefore were marveling, saying, `How has this man become
learned, having never been educated?'"

Jesus' reply to this question is most significant for those who
are hometraining their children. He says,

My teaching is not
Mine, but His who sent Me. If any man is willing to do His will,
he shall know of the teaching whether it is of God, or whether I
speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own
glory, but he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He
is true and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Did not Moses
give you the law, and yet none of you carries out the law? Why do
you seek to kill Me" (John 7 :16-19)

The first thing hometraining parents must learn from this
scripture is the concept that being an "educated" person and being
a "learned" person is not the same thing. The society and our
culture have confused the two, and we must understand the
difference. If we want ourselves and our children to be like
Jesus, we must train ourselves and them in the same kind of
training which He mastered and has proven to be the best.

In Greek the word educated (3129) is "manthano" meaning
to learn . The word learned (3609a) is
"oida"
meaning to have seen or to have perceived . It comes
from a word (3708) meaning to see, to perceive, to attend to. This
information doesn't help much until we look into the New Testament
to see what other men were described as being educated.

There are only two references to educated men in the New
Testatment, and they are about Moses and Paul. However, the word
used to describe Moses and Paul is not the same Greek Word. It is
"paideu" (3811) meaning to train children, to chasten, to
correct

MOSES

Acts 7 :19-39 gives a clear, concise account of the life of Moses.
He had parents who chose to disobey the laws of the state because
it would have meant death to God's purposes. Their obedience to
the law of God to be parents who nurture and protect life rather
than to obey the Pharoah's laws to commit murder earns them a spot
in the faith chapter (Hebrews 11 :23). There we discover they
possessed a fear of God and were not snared by a fear of man.

Moses stayed in the care of his parents until he was weaned
(Exodus 2 :9-10). Amram and Jochebed must have imparted much to
Moses in that short time because he never forgot he was an
Israelite. We again see a true and living faith that was passed
down from one generation to the next. However, Acts 7 :22 tells us
Moses was educated in all the learning of Egypt, and he was a man
of power in words and deeds." Thus Moses was exposed to two
conflicting world views. One world view was polytheistic and
false; the other world view was monotheistic and true. When
did Moses get set free from his educational dilemna?

Exodus 4 :10-12 gives the best answer. When Moses encountered the
living God, the pride of his Egyptian education falls into the
dust. Moses says this about himself, "Please Lord, I have
never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since
Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow
of tongue." In the presence of the living God man's carnal
abilities and fleshly strength fail. Moses experienced,
perceived, or saw the living God, and it changed his life.
Thus
he too is described in the faith chapter of Hebrews this way,

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the
son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to endure
ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing
pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the
reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

Moses had to forsake the teaching of the world to embrace the true
teaching given to him by God. Even though Moses rejected God's
purpose for him as "sole" spokesman to Israel and relied on Aaron
to pass on many of God's statements, in this next passage we can
see God's method of learning. God Himself says, "Now then go, and
I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to
say." This is the secret of learning that Jesus understood.
Remember His words in John 7 :16, "My teaching is not Mine, but His
who sent Me."

If hometraining parents wish their children to be true leaders,
they must help them hear the voice of the Lord for themselves.
This must be the major goal in hometraining. If we only wish our
children to excel in the world system, like Moses, they may have
to spend 40 years in the wilderness unlearning all the error of
humanistic thinking to have their minds renewed to God's ways.

As we have already learned, Jesus wasn't exposed to the world
system as
Moses was. He lived at home for thirty years before he began His
ministry. He Himself tells us what He was taught. In John 7 :19
He says, "Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you
carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?" Jesus didn't
just learn what the law said. He obeyed what the Ten Commandments
told Him to do. He understood the first commandment was the most
important of all, but He also perceived the foundation
stone that enabled Him to obey.

Many Christians just read the Ten Commandments and attempt to
keep them never understanding what enables a person to walk in
obedience. The foundational principle in obedience is hearing the
voice of God. In Deuteronomy 6 :3 we read, "O Israel, you should
listen..." Hometraining parents must be very careful that the
sound of our own voices does not drown out or contradict that
still small voice that speaks inside every human heart.

Jochebed and Amram must have heard the voice of God telling them
not to murder their son. The Ten Commandments were not law to
them; the Ten Commandments had not been given yet. Moses had not
yet floated on the top of the Nile, been rescued, nurtured,
educated in Egypt, murdered an Egyptian, wandered, married,
shepherded, fathered, encountered the Lord in the burning bush,
challenged Pharoah, parted the Red Sea, and smashed the first
written Ten Commandments at the base of Mt. Sinai. Thus the
obedience of Moses' parents to God to defy the king's edict proves
the voice of God was alive in their hearts; they heard His voice
and obeyed it.

Hometraining parents must understand that training our children to
hear the voice of the Lord is the most important part of the
learning process. If we can't impart this to them,
then nothing we impart will be of eternal value.

As we have previously seen, Joseph and Mary also obeyed the voice
of God, and this they were able to impart to Jesus. He was a
learned man not an educated man. He was
able
to perceive, and understand circumstances, people and
situations from a different perspective. He often said of
Himself, "...I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these
things as the Father taught Me." "..,for I always do the things
that are pleasing to Him." (John 8 :28,29; John 5 :30).

Jesus made it very clear that to be related to Him required one
thing. He says in Luke 8 :21, "My mother and My brothers are these
who hear the word of God and do it."

Why is hearing the voice of God so important?

Hearing the voice of God is the only way to successfully obey
the will of the Father in
this life. Faith comes by hearing the voice of God not by reading
it with our own natural eyes. There is no spiritual strength to
obey the written word of God if we do not also have the voice of
the Lord speaking to us in our inner man. It is the voice of the
Lord that causes us to have a reverential fear of the Lord that
makes us want to obey Him. Deuteronomy
10 :12,13
says this about the fear of the Lord

what does the Lord
your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk
in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's
commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for
your good?

Abraham knew the voice of the Lord, Moses recognized it and so did
Joshua. Not one person in the Hebrews chapter of faith
accomplished the will of God without hearing the Lord personally
speak to them. Hearing the voice of the Lord is the first
prerequisite to obedience.

Hearing the voice of the Lord is also a prerequisite to the
resurrection. John 5 :25-29 says,

Truly, truly, I say to
you,
an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live. For just as the
Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to
have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute
judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this;
for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall
hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good
deeds, to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil
deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

An hour is coming when all of humanity from Adam down to the last
human being will hear the voice of God. When that occurs, time is
no more, and eternity becomes a reality for the whole corporate
human race. However, only those who heard the voice of Jesus on
earth and obeyed that voice will go on in the purposes of God - a
resurrection of life. Those who refused to hear the voice of God
or who heard Him speaking and refused to obey Him will encounter a
resurrrection of judgment. Helping our children and one another
to hear the voice of God is not a mystical, weird, supernatural
cultic religion. We have no alternative. Hearing the voice of
God and obeying Him determines our destiny in this life and in the
one to come.

PAUL

Paul is also mentioned as one who was educated In
Acts 22 :3 Paul says of himself,

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus
of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel,
strictly according to the law of our father, being zealous for
God, just as you all are today."

However, in Philippians
3 :2-3 Paul gives a detailed Christian perspective on the
accomplishments and achievements he made apart from the Spirit's
guidance and direction. He says,

Beware of the dogs, beware of
the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the
true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in
Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself
might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a
cirumcised the
eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a
persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the
Law, found blameless.

This scripture makes it very clear that just an intellectual,
mental understanding of the written word of God is not the key to
success by God's standards. Paul then describes the contrast to
his old life style; in other words, the basic truth from God's
perspective.

What is it that God wants to see in a human life?

Philippians 3 :7-16 says,

But whatever things were gain to me,
those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More
than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing
value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I
may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a
righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on
the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed
to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from
the dead. Not that I have already obtained it, or have already
become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of
that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren,
I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one
thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to
what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as
are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a
different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let
us keep living by that same standard to which we have
attained.

These words do not describe a life that is educated
How did Paul become a learned man rather than an
educated man?

Acts 9 :3-6 describes what caused the change in Paul. It says,

And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching
Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and
he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, `Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' And he said, `Who are Thou
Lord?' And He said, `I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but
rise, and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you must
do.'

Paul had a living encounter with the risen Lord. Just like Moses
he heard the voice of God, received commands direct from Jesus and
had the spiritual strength necessary to obey. His physical,
natural strength was dealt a death blow, and Paul became a changed
man, a new creation. It is out of this encounter with the Living
Christ, the sound of His voice that put a fear of God into Paul
that kept him an obedient son of God for his entire earthly life.
Paul knew the voice of his God, and it was that voice that he
obeyed.

What happened to Paul is not a new approach for God's dealings
with humanity. God has always wanted a people who would hear His
voice, and experience the true fear of the Lord which would cause
such a dramatic change in them that they would obey Him and Him
only. God's perfect will is that parents will experience this
true fear of the Lord to such an extent that they can pass that on
to their children. This Israel failed to do. Deuternonomy
4 :10-13 says,

Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul
diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen,
and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life;
but
make them known to your sons and your grandsons. Remember the day
you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to
me, "Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words
so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth,
and that they may teach their children.

Hometraining parents must not be deceived by the lure of the
world's ways. We must see that an education is not God's goal for
hometraining. Certain skills are necessary to be able to
communicate effectively and to provide one's livelihood. (Paul
knew how to make tents.) However, if we parents don't train our
children to hear the voice of God, they will become religious
hypocrits who do not fulfill God's purposes for them. If they
don't love to hear Jesus speaking to them, they will wander into
the love of the world that will make them an enemy of God. (James
4 :4,5) If they don't learn to obey the voice of Jesus, they will
obey the voice of man.

In John 10 :16 Jesus says, "And I have other sheep, which are not
of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My
voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd."

A hireling is one who hasn't heard the voice of God for himself
and thus is not able to impart that desire to others. A hireling
is one whose fear of the wolf is stronger than his fear of the
Lord. A hireling is one who is not a true shepherd because he has
not learned to deny himself and thus cannot embrace a cross-life.
A hireling is one who is concerned more for himself than for the
sheep. A hireling is one who flees and is not able to stand firm.
A hireling is one who scatters rather than one who surrounds and
protects. A hireling saves his own life rather than trusts solely
in the Lord. A hireling is one who draws others to himself rather
than to Christ, and thus those ones eventually scatter, get lost,
are confused and are unprotected.

Hometraining parents can be hirelings if we don't have a true
conversion experience like Paul and Moses. We must know that we
have seen the risen Christ; we must know the sound of His voice
and obey Him and Him only. In John 10 :3-5 Jesus says,

To him
the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls
his
own sheep by name, and leads them out. When he puts forth all his
own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they
know his voice. And a stranger they simply will not follow, but
will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of
strangers.

Harmony and unity of purpose only come when the risen Lord is seen
and obeyed by each member of the family. What a responsibility
hometraining parents have to see to it first of all that the whole
family is truly learned and not snared by the
education of the world.

Hometraining parents must continually experience the discipline of
the Lord. Hebrews 12 is the best textbook on the Lord's
discipline. May we have the grace and humility to receive our
Lord's discipline and training from His hand and provide our
children with a home environment where they too can be taught by
the Lord Himself. If we do not, we will train our children to
worship a false god and like Aaron, we ourselves will have led
them into idol worship. However, if we allow the Lord to have His
proper place in our lives and in our home, we will be able to pass
the Living Truth to the next generation.

******************************************************************

(1) Remember this month's meeting will be held at 2 pm at
YWAM
1 Kent Road
Surrey Hills, Vic

(2) The Cogger's have asked us to please use the side door to the
chapel so we won't disturb the activities at the YWAM base.

(3) There has been a small interest among a few of Diane's
friends to share a Bible study on "The Joy of Our Calling" which
is an indepth workshop/course on the Biblical Calling of Women.
Course I has seven separate lessons, and each lesson takes
approximately 2-4 hours. The length of the lesson varies
depending upon the discussion which emerges from the group. The
purpose of the course is to equip women with the proper
foundation:
to know who they are in Christ and to be able to share effectively
with other women in the church and in the world who are caught in
the spirit of the world and the web of deceit known as feminism.
If you are interested, the first lesson will begin on :

June 15 at 1 pm at Gabrielle and Chris Symons
18 Stirling Road
Croydon

** A few of us mums got together for a "Spalding" afternoon. For
those of you who are using the Spalding method of teaching
phonics, we do have an outline available to help you get started
and/or to stay on target. If you wish a copy, please let us know.
All we ask is help with the cost of postage and printing @ $.60. If anyone
who is using Spalding needs help, please let us know.

*** We were so happy to have a surprise visit from Ian and Rosanne
Trevaskis. They have had an inspection and all went well!! PTL