In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of raising dedicated and influential children who serve God. He highlights the idea that children learn more from observing their parents' actions than from being taught. The speaker encourages parents to consecrate their children to God by prioritizing the word of God in their lives. He emphasizes the power of the Bible and its ability to shape and transform lives. The speaker also emphasizes the need for discipline, obedience, and strong convictions in children, as they are set apart for service to God.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Reading in Jesus' name this morning, I know that you can't do it. I know you can't go away and come back like I do so many times. But I am continually made aware of what a blessing it is to be here because I go away and I come back. What a joy to sit together, to sing, to see everyone's faces, to know what is in your hearts, to know that we go in the same directions and there are many of us. What a blessing to my soul. Well, I bring a few greetings back with me from Africa. Of course, Brother Ross and his family, they feel very close to all of us here. They sent their greetings and also their thanksgiving for all the letters that have been sent there. I know that we were having an elders' meeting on Monday, just last Monday, and Brother Francis brought the mail to this elders' meeting. And here's a stack of mail like this for Brother Ross. I was a little jealous. It's a lot of mail. Some of that was for the young people, but much of it was from people from here and other places, writing letters of encouragement and blessings and prayers to Ross and to his family. And they send much thanksgiving back because of your tender care for them. And also I bring greetings from Brother Francis. Those were his last words to me as I left. I bring greetings to each one of you from him, and he's looking forward to being with us in just a few weeks. He'll be coming back with the young people when they do, and he'll be around for six weeks. Not necessarily here, but he'll be in the United States for six weeks. We plan to put him on the road some, visiting different churches and preaching. I plan to share on Wednesday night about my trip, but I'll just say this. I have a very good report to give, and God has answered many of your prayers. It's very evident. Oh, I would that we could grasp it deep down in our souls that we really can touch Africa from America. Any time we want to, we can do it. And I have a few illustrations to share with you about that, and I trust that they'll motivate every one of us to pray more for what is going on over there because God worked many miracles. Well, I'd also have to say the weather was kind of a shock to me when I got off the plane on Wednesday evening and walked out of the airport there and took my first breath of five below zero air. It was quite a shock. In fact, it even hurt in here, you know. I just wasn't ready for it or expecting it. I didn't know what the weather was like. I had seen on a weather map that things were colder, but I had no idea it was that cold. So I went from 95 degrees to five below zero in 24 hours. It's very warm there. Well, this morning I would like to bring a message that has been on my heart for a while. I often say it's been on the back burner. And this message has been on the back burner for some time. Oh, I would say since September when God began convicting me about the need of this message for my own life. The title of the message is Consecrating Our Children to God. The burden of the message came by a question that was given to me, I believe, in September when we were on our trip. Many questions come. Someone came up to me and asked me a very simple question. They said, how do you consecrate your children to God? That was a very simple question and I thought, oh well, no problem, I'll answer that. And I began with enthusiasm to describe what we do at our house when a child is born. And I explained to them how that it's a very earnest time and how when the child is brought forth, usually before we even cut a cord, we gather the family together and take the child and hold the child up in our hands before the Lord. And we all enter in together into a prayer for this child. And I finished telling that with enthusiasm and the person said, well, thank you. I just wondered how you do that. And they went their way and I went on answering other questions. But God was not done that year. He continued to speak to my heart. And God said to me in the quiet of my heart, that isn't how you consecrate your children to God. And I said, well, Lord, well, what is it? How do you do it? And God just began to probe me and prod into my own heart and began to remind me of the things that it really takes if you're going to have your children consecrated to God. And God began to convict me and he helped me to see that that isn't how you consecrate your children to God. Yes, that's a good beginning. Yes, it's the right thing to do. But that isn't necessarily how you consecrate your children to God. And God began to speak and show me that it's more than that, that it's much deeper than that, that it reaches much further than that if you truly consecrate your children to God. And after a couple of days of meditation upon the question, I had to bow my heart and say, yes, Lord, you're right. That isn't how you consecrate your children to God. Now, that's a good prayer that you pray when a child may be born. But that isn't how you consecrate your children to God. It's much more than that. And that message has been on my heart since September, setting on the back burner, so to speak. But the message came clear last Tuesday as I was in Africa, Tuesday just a few days ago. I flew on Tuesday night there and it was Tuesday morning and I was out on the ocean front for my last look at the ocean for another year. But I was out there and it was Tuesday morning and I was wrestling, I was struggling, like many of you parents have done when you said goodbye to one of your children and they got on that bus and they're heading to New York City and you know you're not going to see them again for five or six or seven weeks and you know that you've got to just cast them into the hands of God and trust God for them. Well, I was struggling with some of those very same things as I realized I'm leaving today and one of my sons is staying there for another five weeks and this whole thing was going on inside of my heart just like it goes on inside of your hearts, many of you. I've been here, I've stood in the back of the auditorium and I've seen some of the struggles, I've seen them on your faces, the things that go through your heart and minds as you realize my child is leaving and I don't know if they're going to come back and I'm trusting that God will take care of them but I don't know if they're going to come back and I don't know what will happen to them while they're away and I don't know what they're going to go through. Well, all these things were going through my own heart as I realized that I'm going to leave my son in Africa and I'm going back to the United States and I wrestled with this out there on the rocks, found a place there where I could pace back and forth and I wrestled with this thing and I was praying about it and finally God helped me to get on the other side of the struggle and He began to speak to my heart and as God began to speak to my heart and remind me of what it's all about and the reasons why I've been doing all the things that I've been doing for the last 16 years in this boy's life, God began to show me afresh and knew what it was all about and why I was doing it and what the purposes were and what all the sacrifices were for and I began to realize, yes Lord, You're right. This is what it's all about and after I got through the struggle I sat down there on the rocks and just began to meditate and all of these things just started coming so I'm just going to share this morning out of some of the meditations of my own heart and the struggles of my own heart. How you consecrate your children to God and I'm sure that most of the people that are in this room this morning if you're a father and a mother that you have in some form or another you have consecrated your children to God and in the way that I described at the beginning I don't know if you lifted your child up before the Lord I don't know if you held the child in your arm I don't know if it was a special prayer that flowed out of your heart at the time of birth I don't know and all those things don't matter. The thing that matters is whether the children are truly consecrated to God whether in your heart and in my heart we have truly consecrated our children to the Lord. I'd like to begin by reading a text here in 1 Samuel chapter 1 we could have found a few different places to read but I'd like to just read here in 1 Samuel chapter 1 Now there was a certain man of Ramatham, Zophim of Mount Ephraim and his name was Elkanah the son of Jehoram the son of Elihu the son of Tohu the son of Zuf and Ephrathite and he had two wives the name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other was Peniah and Peniah had children but Hannah had no children and this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas the priests of the Lord were there and when the time was that Elkanah offered he gave to Peniah his wife and all her sons and her daughters portions but unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion for he loved Hannah but the Lord had shut up her womb and her adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb and as he did so year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord so she provoked her therefore she wept and did not eat then said Elkanah her husband to her Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons? so Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore and she vowed a vow and said O Lord of hosts if thou will indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid but will give unto thine handmaid a man child then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head and it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth now Hannah she spoke in her heart only her lips moved but her voice was not heard therefore Eli thought she had been drunken and Eli said unto her how long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee and Hannah answered and said no my Lord I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit I have drunk I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink but have poured out my soul before the Lord count not thine handmaid for a daughter of the Elah for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto then Eli answered and said go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him and she said let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight so the woman went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad and there rose up in the morning early and worshipped before the Lord and returned and came to their house to Ramah and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her wherefore it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived that she bear a son and called his name Samuel saying because I have asked him of the Lord and the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifices and his vow but Hannah went not up for she said unto her husband I will not go up until the child be weaned and then I will bring him he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever and Elkanah her husband said unto her do what seemeth thee good tarry until thou have weaned him only the Lord establish his word so the woman abode and gave her son suck until she weaned him and when she had weaned him she took him up with her with three bollocks and one ephah of flour and a bottle of wine and brought him under the house of the Lord in Shiloh and the child was young and they slew a bollock and brought the child to Eli and she said O my Lord as thy soul liveth my Lord I am the woman that stood before thee here praying unto the Lord for this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him therefore also I have lent him or returned him to the Lord as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord there I chose to read the text here in 1st Samuel because here we have one of the accounts in the scriptures where a special child was being given a child upon whom God had some special purposes for him as I pondered the life of Samuel and the struggle that Hannah went through before the child was given I had to think of all the different examples that are in the scriptures where this very same scenario was worked out I think about Abraham and Sarah they had a special child named Isaac what made him special? God had a special calling upon Isaac's life and it seems by the reading of the text that God shut up the womb of Sarah so that Abraham and Sarah could be prepared for this special child to come and God shut up the womb so that he through a miraculous miracle could bring forth a child that had a special purpose upon his life I think also of Manoah and his wife and the son was Samuel and of course we read about Elkanah and Hannah I'm sorry Manoah and his wife and the son was Samson and Elkanah and Hannah and their son was Samuel then we go to the New Testament with Zechariah and Elizabeth who also had a special child named John the Baptist now I'm not here this morning speaking about special children because I believe in the New Testament just like in so many other things in the Old Testament a tithe was the Lord in the New Testament all of it is the Lord in the Old Testament the firstborn son that opened up the womb was the Lord but in the New Testament all of the children are the Lord and in the Old Testament many many different illustrations are given like that but when we come into the New Testament we see that God's true heart is that He has each one of our children and that they be His children and that they be special and that they have special purposes for each and every one of their lives so I had to think this morning you know we can we can gain a lot of insight and understanding if we'll just look into the examples that we find here in the Old Testament of these different couples whom God gave a special child after that child had been withheld think with me about Abraham and Sarah and how they must have raised Isaac as they realized that God had something special for this child to do think with me about Manoah and his wife who even when Manoah heard from his wife that an angel had appeared unto him he said he went back to God and said Lord send the angel back again send this man again that I may be able to ask him some questions because I want to know how to raise this child that God has said that He's going to give we can look into the hearts of these parents and begin to see the earnest care that they must have had as that child was finally given and there they have the child in their own arms in their hands realizing God gave me this child Zachariah and Elizabeth are another example who had a son named John the Baptist and again a miraculous birth and again some unusual things taking place in his life the babe leaping in his mother's womb at the sound of the salutation of Mary oh this alerted Zachariah and Elizabeth that there's something very special about this child oh that God would open the eyes of our understanding and help us to realize that there's something very special about this child and by that I mean every single one of them that God gives to us there's something very special about this child we don't know what it is I don't know what it is but I believe that it's the heart of God that we develop that kind of a mentality as God gives us children one by one that we look at them and realize there's something very special about this child think about the awesome responsibility that settled down over Hannah as she realized I'm going to give this son away I'm going to take him to Shiloh and I'm going to leave him there and he's going to be he's going to be there to serve the Lord all the days of his life I wonder how she thought about him day by day while she was nursing him hmm? You suppose she read a book while she was nursing? You suppose she was doing five other things while she was nursing the child? I don't think she was I think she was holding on to that little fella and realizing hey this boy is very special and I'm going to take him and I'm going to give him away here as soon as he's weaned and that's going to be it I'll only see him once a year when I come forth to Shiloh to worship and to offer sacrifices I think she took every opportunity to build a relationship with that little fella named Samuel I wonder how they prayed over those children I wonder how Abraham prayed and Manoah prayed and Elkanah prayed and Zachariah prayed I wonder how Sarah prayed and the wife of Manoah and Hannah and Elizabeth I wonder how they prayed as they held that child in their arms realizing this child God has something special that he wants this child to do I wonder how they prayed consecrating our children to God what does it mean to consecrate? this is good for us to consider a little bit this morning there are a few different definitions in all of them I believe they all flow together to make a beautiful picture for us this morning to consecrate means to set apart for special purpose these are definitions right out of the Strong's to set apart for special purpose consecrating our children to set them apart for special purpose consecrate means to dedicate to the service and worship of God to dedicate to the service and worship of God here is another definition to give to God for His use just to give to God like Hannah did she returned him to the Lord the Lord gave Samuel and Hannah turned around and gave him back to the Lord what a beautiful picture and for us this morning it is very pertinent for each and every one of us that are parents in this room God has given us the children that He has given us let us be like Hannah and turn around and give them back to God because they belong to Him here is another one that will strike a little meditation in your heart to consecrate means to fill the hands to fill the hands the picture there is that of someone standing with his hands open like this maybe like a little child would you ask a little child would you like some jelly beans they will usually come like this won't they most of them don't come like this they will come like this but that's the picture that we get here to consecrate means to fill the hands and the picture that I get there is that of preparation something that is consecrated to God is something that is prepared before it's consecrated to God something that is given to God something that is set apart for God's use something that is set apart for the service of God is something that has been prepared before it's set apart for the service of God to fill the hands and the last one the word consecrate means to complete or to see to the end and there I'd like to speak a little bit about active vision to consecrate means to complete or to see something to the end or to have a vision or to see an end product or to see something down the road many times as we as parents as we hold our children in our hands and we lift them up before God and we say, OK God here they are they're yours you can do what you want with them that prayer it doesn't mean much if we don't see down the road away and that prayer it doesn't mean much if we don't see it under the end it just doesn't mean much I don't know if you're aware of it or not but many, many of the Protestant churches in America they have baby dedication services I mean they really do this thing up big they make a service out of it they bring the child to church they bring the child up to the front the pastor he comes up puts his hands on the child and they have a dedication of the child to God but what does that mean? what does it mean? if when the father and mother are all done and they went through the service and the prayers have all been prayed and they take their child and they go home and have a nice talk about what a wonderful service it was but from that day until the day that the child comes to the age of accountability and has a decision to make before God if the heart of the parent has not in an attitude of consecration it didn't do any good to bring the child up to the front and have the pastor pray a prayer over it that doesn't do much that isn't going to affect anything how do you consecrate your children to God? the Lord was right when he rebuked my heart and said that's not how you consecrate your children to God the Lord was right that isn't how you do it it's so much more than that I think about the consecration of the tabernacle and the furniture there in the Old Testament when the children of Israel were were on their way from the Red Sea to the Promised Land they consecrated that tabernacle first they prepared it and all the furniture thereof and all the vessels thereof first they prepared them with much tender care but once they had prepared them they consecrated each one of them they anointed them with oil and sprinkled blood upon them and their whole attitude toward that furniture changed from that day and all the days forward of that consecration it's more than just a prayer you pray it's more than an emotional prayer that wells up inside the heart of a father or a mother at the time of the birth of a child the consecration of a child is so much more than that the whole attitude toward the child should be changed if the prayer was a prayer that had any substance any reality any commitment any vision any burden in it if those things were in there the whole attitude toward that child will be affected for many many days and months and years to come if there was truly a consecration of the child to God just like the children of Israel with the tabernacle and the furniture their attitude changed toward that furniture because that furniture had been set apart for a special purpose that's what it means to consecrate to set apart for a special service oh, I like that when we think about our children is that not what our heart is? that we set apart our children for special purposes do we do it? that's the whole point of the message it's not an act of consecration it's an attitude of consecration you cannot consecrate your children to God by praying a prayer at their birth that will not be enough there must be an attitude of consecration just like there was an attitude of consecration toward the furniture of the tabernacle toward the curtains of the tabernacle toward the vessels that were used in the tabernacle there must also be an attitude of consecration toward your children or they will not be consecrated to God no matter how wonderful your prayer was at the birth of the child no matter how much your heart was filled with emotion and your eyes filled with tears it will not matter if we have an attitude of consecration it will affect how we view them every day and for many years take my child, Lord, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee take his hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love take my child, Lord, let its will be Thine let his heart be Thy royal throne take his feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee take my child, Lord, let the treasure of his love be poured out like wine at Thy feet take his lips, Lord, and let them be filled with messages from Thee yes, Lord, take my child it is no longer mine it shall ever always only be Thine as I pondered and meditated through the song by Francis Ridley Havergale take my life and let it be I just tried to relate it to a child I thought of a father and a mother you know how it is when your children are born I know I do this and I know my wife does maybe you do too but I usually not too long after that baby is born I usually take that baby in my hands and I look at the baby you know, and I take their little hand you know, and it's so small and I touch it, you know and I check out all the fingers to see yeah, they're okay and I put my finger inside that hand and I'll get a hold of that child's foot, you know and I'll look at the foot for a little bit and see how it's formed and see its little toes and what a powerful thing it would be if fathers and mothers would see those hands and consecrate those hands to God they would look at those little feet and consecrate those feet to God that they will only go in the right places that they would be beautiful feet found on the mountain someday preaching the gospel of peace to a lost and dying world that those little fingers that are on the hands of that little baby would be used someday to reach out and bless somebody to reach out and give to somebody to work in order to help someone else that those precious little fingers would be used by God someday to mold the life of another person to bless the life of someone else oh, that the parents, the father, the mother would look at that little baby and those little bitty lips oh, often we say the words I know you do too look at the little lips, they're so small oh, that we would see if we would look further than those little bitty lips on that child and make a prayer unto God that has some shoes on it that goes on unto many, many years of dedication and consecration of our lives and the life of that child that someday we can look ahead and say yes, Lord, let those lips be filled with messages from You that a lost and dying world can find out that there is a Savior who died for their souls an attitude of consecration this is God's heart just like baptism is empty if it doesn't continue on so the consecration of our children is also empty if it doesn't have any feet to it three weeks later four months later two years later six years later ten years later if there's no feet to those prayers if there's no attitude of consecration there it is not going to have the effect that we would like it to have no matter how flowery our prayer may be no matter how our hearts may be filled with emotion at the time of the birth of a child all of those prayers all of those emotions all of those funny feelings all of those things will mean nothing if there are no feet on those prayers if there is no substance to that consecration that we made there when the child was born it's not going to mean much while we were in Africa one of the first blessings that we had in Africa was a young man about 27 years old who was one to Christ let's see, we got there I got there on Sunday night and this was Tuesday morning I believe that this young man was one to the Lord Jesus Christ and he became a disciple very quickly and he went everywhere with us he helped us when we were building on church buildings and he helped us in interpretation as we were doing evangelism in the villages but one thing that stood out to me about the young man he told us right away that he was from a certain village and that he was part of the royal family well that struck up quite a conversation we began to find out well what is the royal family well the royal family is the family of influence in the village and the royal family is the family of influence and out of the royal family or out of the family of influence the chiefs are chosen from village to village and the young man was telling us that he was part of the royal family he was part of the family of influence in his village and that he had an opportunity someday to be chosen to be the chief over his village well I wasn't really impressed about all that but the young man and I got to kicking this thing around one evening up at Wawasi after the sun went down we were all sitting around the one light that we have up there because there is no electric we were all sitting around and we were discussing this matter and the chief of Wawasi had just been there to visit us and he went his way and we were talking about this royal family and I told the young man I said bless God by the grace of God every sinner who gets born again by the Spirit of God can raise a royal family and it's so a royal family is a family of influence a royal family is a family that has influence in the community where they live and anybody can do that by the grace of God we can have a royal family a family of influence in the community where we live so how do you do this? how do you consecrate your children to God? how do you give them to God? how do you set them apart for service? how do you dedicate them for special purposes of God? how do you do that? well there are a few ways that I'd like to share with you this morning and the first one is probably the most important but I'll spend the least amount of time on it and the reason why is because we spend a lot of time on it around here but it is probably the most important one the first way that you can consecrate your children to God that is to set them apart for service of God and the worship of God the first thing that you need to do and the only way it will ever happen right is that your own life is consecrated to God you cannot set apart your children for service for God if your life is not set apart there's no way that it will happen that song must be the attitude of your own heart that song must be the expression of your own heart or it will not happen I don't care how many dreams you may have I don't care how many desires you may have I don't care how many books you may read I don't care how many sermons you may listen to if in your heart you are not sold out to God yourself you are going to have a hard time raising consecrated children it can't happen oh, the scripture is so clear that the fruit of a spirit-filled life the fruit of a consecrated life are dedicated children children who rise up and love God and serve God with all of their heart you can find it in many places in the scripture it is the fruit of a consecrated life it is the fruit of a spirit-filled life I tell you, brothers and sisters if our children are going to be consecrated to God we must be also because they will catch ten times more than you teach them and what they catch if they catch a heart that is on fire for God if they catch a burden for the souls of men if they catch a vision for a lost humanity if they catch a vision of the kingdom of God if they catch those things because they are lived out in reality in our own hearts and lives they will make it they will make it oh, I bless my heart as I was meditating upon this message to think about William Booth again he had eight children and his eight children they caught something from their dad and their mom they caught something now he taught them, I know and mama taught them and I know that so and they had much training but there is one thing that I know they caught they caught the fire of their father and mother's love for the Lord Jesus Christ they caught it and all eight of those children did damage to Satan's kingdom in their lifetime I tell you it was a royal family the Booth family was a royal family and those children did damage to Satan's kingdom and they scattered themselves all around the world to do it it was a royal family a family of influence but I tell you why it was a family of influence because there was a father and a mother who loved God with all their heart and soul and mind and strength it was a father and a mother there who were sold out to Jesus Christ nothing else mattered to them it didn't matter in their way they were going to serve God they were going to love God they were going to follow the Lord they were going to obey His word they were going to reach out for the lowest and the most down and outers that they could find and preach the gospel to them and those eight children they picked that up they caught it because more is caught than is taught we all know it so the bible is clear one of the fruits of a spirit filled life is dedicated children children of influence children doing damage to Satan's kingdom children who speak with the enemies in the gates as it says in Psalms how else can we do this? consecrate our children to God we can do that by sanctifying them by setting them apart by the word of God I don't know of a better way for you to set apart your children than to make the word of God very important in their lives I don't know how to say this in a different way than I've ever said it before so I'll just say it in the same way that I've said it before there's nothing more important than this in the training program of your home that you turn that you turn the children's heart toward the word of God and you take the word of God and you put it in those children's hearts and they be like Timothy who from a child he has known the holy scriptures that were able to make him wise unto salvation and I tell you it's the same for our children let them from a child know the holy scriptures the word of God it's powerful oh as many times I get burdened as I realize how easy it is to push the most important things out of the way and go on about our day and our business and all of these things that need to be done when that which is most important the word of God being put into the hearts of the children it's pushed aside it's pushed aside and we all know how it is we know how many days we're too busy to do it we all know how it is I cannot emphasize it enough I look back on my own life as a young Christian the Bible was so important I mean it was a priority it's something that we read every free moment that we had it was something that we spent our time meditating upon it was something that we memorized while we were at work it was something that we read while we were standing in the bank line it was something that we brought along with us when we went to the barber shop it was something that we memorized while we were sitting at a red light it was the Bible and it's the word of God and it's most to be important in our hearts and lives and as I look back over my life and realize what a profound effect that kind of emphasis had and I realize how many times now in my life now I'm almost 45 years old and I find my life so filled with so many opportunities and so many times I find that word which was hidden in my heart all those years ago it just keeps coming up and it keeps coming up and many times it's there to guide me and many times it's there to keep me and temptations come my way and it's there to protect me it's the word of God and I think about that and then I realize how important it is when we as parents we have our children and they're small and God gives them to us small and God lets them grow up slowly they're not like other animals in creation that God made they grow up slowly and I believe the reason why God wants them to grow up slowly is because He wants them to be trained and He wants them to have the word of God in their hearts and that takes time but I think about what a favor we do our children if we emphasize the word of God and the Bible is held up high in their hearts and minds and not just held up there but we stimulate them and we motivate them and we do our part to put the word of God in their heart and we give them opportunities and we set time for them to memorize the word of God and to study the Bible on their own and on and on and on I could go people don't memorize the Bible if they don't take time to memorize the Bible that's profound isn't it but it's true and we all know it's true in our own lives well the children won't memorize the Bible either if you don't help them to take time to memorize the Bible they won't do it they'll find something else to do comes to my mind girls home down in Texas where they work with the hard ones the tough girls the drug addicts the alcoholic girls the prostitute girls off the street what do they make them do they must read their Bibles an hour every day they must memorize the Bible an hour a day they must go to devotions or chapel every day and they're sitting here they hear the Bible being preached to them every day they must listen to the Bible on cassette every day Bible, Bible, Bible, Bible why? why is that so important? because the Bible will change your life and the Bible will change the lives of your children also I just want to encourage you one of the ways that you can set apart your children for God's purposes and God's service is by the Word of God that you put it in their heart that their little hearts and minds are full of the Bible that they think Bible that they sing Bible that they talk Bible that they play Bible that because it's in there it comes out all the time you may think that sounds a little bit foolish but it'll all work out when they get to be 15 or 16 years old it'll make a lot more sense to you brainwash them with the Bible I don't know of a faster way to get a clean brain than that fathers and mothers by the grace of God become teachers and preachers and expounders of God's Word if I could just say a little bit here I know that it's the will of God for every one of you fathers and mothers to become preachers and teachers of the Word of God I know that it's God's will and I know that there's grace for you to do it and I know that many of you you cower away from it I know that many of you you feel insecure in doing it and you hold yourself back because of it and many times when you need that extra push that says we're going to sit down and we're going to preach the Bible to our children this morning but you back away from it and you allow other things to come in the way and probably the biggest hindrance is you don't feel confident in what you're doing so you easily let it slip away and another day goes by and the children didn't hear Papa, open up the Bible and preach and teach to them but it's not the will of God that it be so I don't know anybody I don't know anybody who learned overnight how to preach and teach the Bible I don't know anybody who learned overnight how to take the Bible and expound it and break it down and make it come alive and make it real I don't know anybody who learned that overnight the ones who know how to do it are the ones who did it over and over and over and over again I just want to encourage you fathers and you mothers also to become expounders of God's Word to your children Bible in the morning Bible at the table Bible at devotions Bible at nap time Bible in the evening Bible at play time Bible at church time Bible The Bible is the Word of God It's quick It's powerful It's sharper than a two engine sword It's like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces That's this book I thought about it last night as I was walking around here praying How powerful the Word of God is I was meditating upon this verse up here And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul I thought about that I was meditating upon that verse That verse is pregnant with life There's a lot of power in those words It just can go on and on and on and on And God has given us a great big book full of words like that that are pregnant with life and they're pregnant with understanding and they're pregnant with wisdom and they're pregnant with direction and they're pregnant with protection for our children If you want to set apart your children for God's service and God's purposes fill their hearts and their minds with the Word of God They'll be caught They won't know what else to do Another way that we can set apart and sanctify our children for God's service is by training them with purpose Just like a royal family We could go back to the royal family in Africa Those children in that royal family they are trained with special purpose Those boys they are told when they are young You are part of the royal family There is something special that you are going to have to do someday You cannot do what the others are doing You cannot go where the others are going You cannot think the way the others are thinking You are part of the royal family Someday, you may be the chief of this village Someday, you may be a parachief over 20 villages You are part of the royal family And the fathers they train those sons with special purpose They don't just let them grow up like a weed It's in the mind of the father We can do the same if we will have a vision of God's purposes and God's work for our children I don't know if you believe it or not but I believe it God is no respecter of persons I believe every child that is in this room God has a special purpose for every single one of them And by that I don't mean a dairy farmer or a plumber I don't mean that I mean something higher than that I mean something that is brooding in the heart of God I mean something that is planned by God before the foundation of the world God has a special purpose for every child that is in this room You may say, now wait a minute That's kind of extreme Is it? There are 3 billion souls on this earth who have not heard about Jesus Christ yet We only have 100 children here That's a whole lot of special purpose If you ask me Why are we here? Why did God leave us here? Why did God give us children? I believe He gave us children that those children might rise up and do damage to Satan's kingdom and build the kingdom of God and bring many sons around the throne of the Lamb to worship the Lamb and adore the Lamb for all eternity That's what we're here for Special purposes The royal family They train their children with purpose Let us do the same Let us think in our minds My children God wants my children to do damage to Satan's kingdom God wants my children to build the kingdom of God upon this earth God wants my children to win the souls of lost humanity God wants my children to be active in these kind of things When that thing begins to settle down over your heart then things like this start coming immediately to mind They must know the Bible If they're going to do that kind of stuff they must know the Bible They need to know how to sing They need to know how to pray They must be disciplined They must be obedient There are many things they need to learn There are many things that I don't want them to do They're called for special purpose We'll not have them fighting No They can't be doing that It won't be good for them They're called for special purpose Whining? Oh, we can't have them whining Children that are called for special purpose It's not good for them to grow up whining to get whatever they want That's not good for them These are children called with a special purpose in mind by God They can't be children that are obedient on the third call They must be obedient on the first call They're children called for special purpose Do you see what I'm saying? It begins to develop a mentality in your mind Just like a king does with his son It develops a mentality in the mind Oh no, that won't work They must learn to eat their food all gone They can't be filled with foolishness No, no, not these children Because God has a special purpose for them We can't let all that be in them Because God has something that he wants them to do They must be obedient They must be disciplined They must be trained They must know what they believe They must have convictions They must be strong They must have a vision They must have a burden for souls They must have a fire burning in their soul They must be consecrated to God They must come to that place in their life where they sell out to Jesus Christ They must, they simply must Because they've been set apart for service, for God Do you see the mentality? Another way that we can help them with this is by prayer The effectual, fervent prayer for the children of a righteous man and a righteous woman availeth much The effectual, fervent prayer for the children of a righteous man and a righteous woman availeth much They must be prayed for These children have been set aside They've been set apart for service, for God There that God has something special that he wants them to do No, I don't know what it is We don't need to know what it is God came to Manoah and said Your son, you're going to have a son and your son is going to help deliver the children of Israel out of the hands of the Philistine Well, God may not have come to you and told you that your son or your daughter is going to do some special thing but God doesn't need to come to you and tell you that He's already told us that in His Word He doesn't need to tell you any specifics He only needs to tell you It's very important I've got something special that I want to do with your child with that boy, with that girl with that baby that you're carrying I've got something special that I want them to do And may we rise up like Manoah did and say, oh angel how shall we order the child? What special thing shall we do? I don't want to make any mistakes If this child is going to be used by God to deliver the children of Israel out of the hands of the Philistines I don't want to make any mistakes Tell me what I'm supposed to do That ought to be our heart Prayer Prayer for them continually I wonder how much Abraham and Sarah prayed for Isaac I wonder how much Elkina and Hannah prayed for Samuel I wonder how much Zachariah and Elizabeth prayed for John the Baptist I wonder how much they prayed Because see, they knew They knew This child God is going to use this child to do some damage to Satan's kingdom I wonder how much they prayed Because see, they knew You don't know And I don't know But we don't need to know All we need to know is this A child that is consecrated to God A child that totally sells its life out to Jesus Christ That child who's been filled with the Word of God That child who has the purposes of God in its life That child who sells out to Jesus for a lost and dying humanity That child who gets filled with the Holy Ghost is going to do damage to Satan's kingdom You can count on that You can count on it It will happen That's all we need to know And know this That all the potential All the potential is there As God gives children to us One by one All the potential is there But that child must be set apart for special service Prayer How much do they pray? Have a little picture at my house called Prayer Warfare I saw it somewhere and ever since I saw it I said I will find one of those somewhere I think I saw it at the Farber's house I believe that's where I saw it Mark Farber's house It's a picture It's a very simple picture of a boy I think it's a boy and he's laying in bed and he's sleeping he's got a little teddy bear under his arm and then there's a father kneeling beside the bed and he's got his hands down on top of his son and he's praying But if you look a little bit closer at the window behind you you can see in the background of the window two other beings One is a white angel with his hands up like this and the other is a black angel with his hands up like this and the one is driving the other away as the father prays over his child and it's called Spiritual Warfare When I saw that picture I thought, Lord, that is true That is exactly right That devil would love to destroy my children But I can pray That's something that I can do I don't know what God wants them to do But I can pray Effectual, fervent prayers Brokenhearted prayers Prayers of earnestness Prayers of earnest desire Prayers of vision That's something that I can do And I can do it every day And I can do it continually Throughout the day In the beginning of the day In the middle of the day At the end of the day When I'm all by myself I can pray Earnest, effectual, fervent prayers Why? Because this child has been set apart for special work that God wants him to do What kind of prayers should you pray? Well, as I meditated upon that a little I thought to myself, you know Pray the prayers that you would pray if your son or daughter went astray Pray those! Pray like that! Go ask the father Go ask the mother Who has a son or a daughter Who went astray Go ask them how you should pray Let them show you They will teach you very well How to pray for your children You know how they pray Oh, they pray They weep They plead with God They never grow weary of it They pray in the morning They pray in the evening They pray in the middle of the day They pray while they're in their bed They pray in the middle of the night When they wake up And they can't sleep anymore They pray! Brothers and sisters Pray like that! Pray like you lost them already! Because Satan is out after them And he would like to have them He surely would I believe this matter is very important And I believe that we fail in this area many times There ought to be such a burden on your heart For your children That you could easily go and pray for 30 minutes And have the time go away quickly For all the burdens And all the dreams And all the desires And all the things that you see And all the needs And all the things that you're guiding them in That you could easily go away and pray And 30 minutes would fly by like it was nothing Pray for them continually Effectual, fervent prayers Earnest prayers Weep! Like it says, I think, in Lamentation Arise! Cry out in the night! Lift up thy voice! Pour out thy heart before God For thy children For thy sons and thy daughters God wants to use them God has something that He wants them to do Brothers and sisters Let's not settle To just have children That are sitting around us Who get married And have more children Let's not settle for that That isn't what God has in mind He has so much more in mind than that Pray for them Pray that God's purposes would be in them Pray that God will pour out His Spirit upon them He promises that He will in Isaiah 44 I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed And thy blessing upon thine offspring God promises it Pray that God will pour His blessings upon them Pray that God will make them mighty upon the earth And that means influential Pray that they would be holy Pray that they would be set apart And kept that way Because they have special purposes And I don't know what they are And lastly Watch over them carefully Watch over them carefully Just like the vessels In the house of the Lord Those were special vessels They had been sanctified They had been set apart They were to be used in the service of God No other way What would happen What do you think the priest would do If somebody came walking into the temple And went into the room where the vessels were kept The vessels that had that oil poured on them The vessels that had that blood sprinkled on them The vessels that were set apart For service What do you think the priest would have done If somebody would have walked in there and said Hey, I think I need a drink Here, give me one of these cups I want to get me a drink What do you think the priest would have done? I'm sorry sir, you don't use vessels Just to get a drink These are special vessels We watch over them They belong to God They've been set apart for God You'll watch over them carefully When the books come into the house You'll look at every book With a discerning eye What kind of book is this? Now, wait a minute Do I want these children Who've been set apart For service, for God Do I want them to read that book? Let me look at that book No, no, I don't think so Sorry, you can't read that one Let me see that tape Bring that tape here Let me see what you're listening to Do I want this child listening to this tape Seeing they are set apart For service, for God No, this tape won't do Sorry You'll watch over them carefully Their books Their tapes Their activities The choices they make What they do with their time Their trucks Their vehicles Their clothes You'll watch over them carefully Because they're set apart God has something special that He wants them to do I don't know what it is And you don't know what it is But we don't need to know what it is, do we? Watch over them like a king Watches over his son How does a king watch over his son? He's always thinking He's the next king If he's not the king He'll be a prince In the land All the days of his life I can't let him go there He's a prince I can't let her go there She's a princess I can't let him read that He's going to be a king I can't let him read that Son, you can't read that I don't want you going there Don't you know you're going to be a king? God has something special for you to do Take my child, Lord And let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee Take his hands And let them move At the impulse of Thy love Take my child, Lord Let its will be Thine Let his heart Be Thy royal throne Take his feet, Lord And let them be swift and beautiful For Thee Take my child, Lord Let the treasures of his love Be poured out like wine at Thy feet Take his lips, Lord And let them be filled with messages for Thee Yes, Lord, take my child It is no longer mine It shall ever, always, only Be Thine Consecrating our children to God Is something we do every day, isn't it? If we're truly consecrating them to God It's something that we do every day And it's something that they will sense And feel the effects of Every day I wonder what God wants to do With the 100 children that are in this room I wonder what God wants to do You see, I guess one of the greatest burdens of this message It comes from going to Africa And watching young men and young ladies Just Watching God just reach down and touch them And pick them up And use them And prosper them And God use them to build His kingdom And God uses them to do damage to Satan's kingdom And as I watch it happening Year by year as I go And I take a group over there And I watch God work in their lives I think to myself, Lord We have got to do this right It's very important There's much work to be done We don't want to raise a farmer God forbid We don't want to raise just a plumber We want to raise servants of the living God May God give us all the grace to do that It's quite a commitment When you begin to think about it Day in and day out Hour in and hour out Day in and day out For years and years and years It's quite a commitment But it's one that God has laid upon us May God give us grace to do it Shall we kneel together in prayer? Our Heavenly Father this morning God we We come to you in Jesus name Father we We bring the children before you Lord There were many of them sitting up here this morning The young ones We bring them before you this morning Lord Not knowing what you want to do with them But God we bring them to you And yes Father we say Take them Use them Take their hands Take their feet Take their lips Take their eyes Their ears Their hearts Their wills Lord We want you to take every part of them Father we ask you this morning That you give us the grace and the wisdom Give us the motivation Give us the inspiration Give us the vision dear God To carry this task out For all the many years that it will take For Father we know there is no Special miracle In a dedication prayer If there is no working out of that prayer God I pray this morning I pray that you help each of us as fathers and mothers To push the reset button in our lives Life gets busy Many voices holler our way Oh God Help us this morning to push the reset button And to realize again What an awesome responsibility we have To raise our children I pray in Jesus precious name Amen