This sermon emphasizes the importance of raising children as gifts from God, drawing parallels to the story of Moses being entrusted to his mother and the significance of nurturing children for the Lord's purposes. It highlights the impact parents have in shaping their children's faith and character, stressing the value of raising godly offspring and instilling sincere faith from a young age. The speaker encourages parents to share personal testimonies of God's faithfulness to inspire and strengthen their children's faith.

It's a little more difficult to look at them as gifts when they are three or four years old. But always remember they are a gift God has given you to your family. Think of someone who gave you a very expensive gift like a mansion or something like that. A child is like that. And a child is entrusted to you to bring up for him. I think of a little expression found in the book of Exodus. You know when Moses was a little baby, there was a law in Egypt that said all the babies must be killed. And Moses' mother didn't want to kill the child so kept him at home. But when he was getting older, she couldn't hide him anymore so put him in a basket and put him into the river Nile and prayed God would take care of him. Pharaoh's daughter, amazing answer to prayer, you know. I'm sure she prayed, God please preserve this baby. And sure enough, before the crocodiles ate up that baby, Pharaoh's daughter comes along. You read in Exodus chapter 2. And Moses' mother had stationed Miriam, her daughter, to stand there and see what's going to happen. And when she saw Pharaoh's daughter come, she went up to Pharaoh's daughter and said in verse 7, Exodus 2.7, shall I go and call a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child? And Pharaoh's daughter said sure. It's also an answer to prayer. And listen to this expression. Pharaoh's daughter said, verse 9, take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages. I thought of that in relation to Jesus telling us when you take a child, take this child and nurse it up for me. Not for yourself. See Moses' mother knew that I'm going to have this child only for a very short time. Then I'll have to hand him over to Pharaoh's daughter. In our case, we raise up a child for the Lord. Take this child and nurse him for me and one day you'll get your wages. And the wages are not in terms of money as it was here. The wages are first of all in seeing a child growing up to live for God. That's a tremendous reward. You can't equal that. I mean if your child grew up to be the president of America, that would be nothing compared to a child growing up to live for Jesus Christ. And imagine that you have the privilege as a father or mother to do that for that child. To bring up that child. To live for God. And that's the reason why he gives us children. In Malachi chapter 2, the Lord says, and this is translated in different ways in different translations. Malachi 2 verse 15. In the middle it says, what did that one do? He was seeking a godly offspring. The margin of my Bible says, why did he make you one? You and your wife. Why did he make you one? One flesh. Because he was seeking a godly offspring. Anyone can have children, but to have godly children requires, first of all, that husband and wife seek to be one. Very often children go astray. Because the husband and wife don't see the importance of being one. Now it's sadly true that in some cases, either the husband or the wife are not converted. But still, there's a blessing on our children, even if one is not converted. I want to read that to you in 1 Corinthians 7. About a woman who has an unbelieving husband. You see the Bible covers every area of life. It says in verse 13, if a woman has an unbelieving husband. And it applies the other way too. A husband who has an unbelieving wife. Verse 14 in 1 Corinthians 7. I can't understand this, but it's the word of God. It says that the unbelieving husband is sanctified or set apart through his wife. In other words, there's some way in which an unbelieving husband is protected. By the fact that his wife is a believer. There's a protection of God around that home and around the children. Just because one parent is a believer. Is a wholehearted disciple of Jesus. Is set apart. The word sanctified means set apart. And the unbelieving wife is sanctified if the husband is a believer. In both cases. Otherwise, your children would be unclean. But now they are holy means set apart. There's some blessing that comes upon the children with one parent. Being a radical wholehearted disciple of Jesus. So there's no excuse. So if that one parent decides, well I'm going to be a radical wholehearted disciple of Jesus. And I'm going to live with my husband. Or my husband says, I'm going to live with my wife. Whether she's converted or not. I'm going to live in a godly way. That will affect your children. I mean I've heard of numerous cases where one parent. I think brought up a child in a godly way. I mean think of Timothy, his mother. She was a very godly woman. But she had a husband who was a Greek. Probably a businessman who was not interested in God but only interested in money. But that mother brought up her son as a little baby. In a godly way. And he grew up to be an apostle. By the time he was around 20 years old. The apostle Paul selected him to be an apostle. I mean to be his co-worker and grew up to be an apostle. So it's amazing what one parent can do. How much more if two parents. If both are wholehearted. Can you imagine what we can do with our children. And to raise up another generation. That's going to hold on to the truths that we have proclaimed. God wants in every generation. Those who will be witnesses for him. Brothers and sisters. So that's the purpose with which God gives us children. And there's a beautiful promise in Proverbs in chapter 22. That cuts both ways. If you read it. Proverbs 22.6 Train up a child in the way he or she should go. That could be evil or good. Whichever way. You train up a child. Proverbs 22.6 In the way he should go when he is old. And here's the promise. He will not depart from it. When he is old. He will not depart from it. I mean there may be a period in their teenage years when they go through a little up and down. Like a lot of young people have. Some don't. But some do. But when he's old he will not depart from it. And the great example we have. One of the great examples we have is Moses. If you turn to Hebrews in chapter 11. Hebrews 11 we read about Moses. Verse 23. When he was born. He was hidden for three months by his parents. And it was after that that he was put in a basket into the river Nile. And when he was 40 years old. He was 24. There were three decisions he made. One. He refused the honor of this world. It says he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I mean that is the greatest honor you could have in the world at that time. Egypt was the only superpower and Pharaoh was the most powerful person in the world. And to be known as his descendant. Wow. That's an honor. He refused it. He said I don't want it. What do I choose instead? Verse 25. I choose instead to endure ill treatment with God's people. And the second thing he rejected was the passing pleasures of sin. Verse 25. Here is the one verse in the Bible that says there is pleasure in sin. The Bible says that. But it is a passing pleasure. Passing pleasure of sin. He rejected it. He recognized that this pleasure there is in sin is only passing. That is a great thing to know that. And the third thing he rejected was wealth. Verse 26. He considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. Treasures of Egypt were the richest country in the world. So there were three things that Moses rejected. The honor of the world. The pleasures of sin. And the wealth of the world. You know these are the three areas all of us are tempted. Almost all temptations come in these three areas. Seeking honor, seeking wealth, and seeking pleasure in sin. And when Moses came at the age of 40, he rejected it. Now where did he learn these three things? Certainly not in Pharaoh's palace. Pharaoh's palace would have taught him all the opposite. About seeking honor and seeking wealth and seeking the pleasures of sin. But I don't know when he left his mother's home. Maybe seven or eight years old. But during those seven or eight years, his mother had done a fantastic job. Just like Timothy's mother. Here's another great Old Testament example of a mother who did such a tremendous job in teaching that child from a childhood. Listen. Don't live for the wealth of this world. Don't live for honor from people. And don't live for sin. Teach that child from a very young age not to tell lies, to respect parents, respect older people, etc., etc. And what we see in Moses is that 33 years later, he still holds on to that. What a fantastic job a mother can do. Why do I say mother? Because Moses' father was a slave. And he probably left home at 6 or 7 in the morning before his son woke up and slogging away the whole day as a slave and coming back late at night, maybe 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock by the time his son was asleep. How much did Moses' father see Moses? Almost zero. I don't know whether they got a one-day break in a week. I don't know. But he probably saw him very, very little. It was his mother that was with him all the time and instilled such values into him that he never lost when he grew up. Moses was one of the greatest men of God in the Old Testament and Timothy one of the greatest men of God in the New Testament. It was their mothers who brought him up. And it's true even today. A lot of parents who work are away from home 11 hours a day, at least 5 days of the week, 10-11 hours. And the mothers are the ones who are mostly with the children. That's why it's so important that you sisters who are mothers really seek to be godly. It says in 2 Timothy 1, it doesn't mean you have to be great Bible scholars. I mean, there are a lot of women who know the Bible so much who are not spiritual, and men also. It's not Bible knowledge that makes a person spiritual. The Pharisees had more Bible knowledge than Peter and James and John, I believe, without any doubt, but they were not spiritual. Now you can have Bible knowledge like Paul and still be spiritual, but the Pharisees are proof of people who don't have Bible knowledge, who have Bible knowledge and are not spiritual. So here it says about Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, he says in verse 5, I'm mindful of the sincere faith within you. The opposite of sincerity is hypocrisy. And what Paul is saying is, Timothy, I see a complete lack of hypocrisy in you. You're absolutely genuine. And your faith is genuine. It's not something put on to show others. It's something that's deep within what you are. The faith you claim to have outside is exactly what you have inside. That is sincere faith. Faith without hypocrisy. And he says, that first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice. So there was a faith that was transmitted again from the grandmother, I don't know what the grandfather was like, but it's the grandmother Lois transmitted it to her daughter, and her daughter transmitted it to her son Timothy. It was, what did they transmit? Not Bible knowledge. People didn't have a printed Bible at home those days, remember. It's good to teach our children the scriptures, because faith comes by the word of God. But if you just give them that Bible knowledge, it's not going to make them spiritual. It's not going to make them godly. And that's a tragedy I've seen with a lot of people who know the Bible, who can quote verses, but who don't have faith. Ultimately, the righteous shall live by faith, not by Bible knowledge. The Bible has given us to have faith. It's like we eat food in order to get strength, but if the food we eat is not going to be digested, or we throw it up, or eat food that's bad for the body, we don't become strong. So Bible knowledge is like food, it has got to be digested, it's got to become faith. Then only we become strong. So even though faith is based on knowledge of the word, it's not just by knowledge of the word. We must lead our children beyond the knowledge of the Bible to faith. So how in the world, in a time like Timothy's and Moses, when there was no printed Bible, there were no printed Bibles until about 600 years ago. So in that time where there's no printed Bible, how do you impart faith? Well, I can imagine, in some difficult situation, that Timothy's mother faced, and Timothy saw it, she said, hey, let's pray, let's trust our father to take care of us in this complicated, difficult situation to solve this problem. And Timothy saw the result of that. Or some other situation where maybe Timothy was sick, and mom said, let's, okay, Timothy, I'm going to pray for you in the name of Jesus, lay hands on you. And Timothy was healed. So the different situations God brings us into, where our children learn something, faith. So thank God for all those trying, difficult situations. For example, if the disciples had gone across a lake, where there was no storm, they would never have seen God's power. And though we would like to go through life without any storms, the end result will be we'll never see God's power working on our behalf. I would rather go through a lake with a terrific storm and see Jesus stilling the storm. I like to go to a wedding where they run out of food, and Jesus solves that problem. Or a huge crowd of 5,000 and not enough food, and Jesus solves that problem. See, all the miracles where Jesus was trying to show them one thing, God can solve every problem. Just trust me. To me, that's the main message of the miracles. And that, the application for us today is whatever problem you face in your life, God can solve it. You've got a father in heaven who is a loving father, who loves you, who is in heaven, who is sovereign, and can solve that problem. So our children must get that faith from us as parents. And that's why we must tell them about incidents in our life where we approved. You know, I have, for the last number of years, encouraged Christian families to write brief paragraphs whenever they experience some miracle in their life. Nowadays, with a computer, you've just got to open a folder and don't make it too long, just a brief paragraph on so-and-so date, this thing happened, and we didn't know what to do. And this is the way God solved our problem. It could be you're stuck in the road or sickness or some other situation, you lost your job or anything. And how you prayed together and God did it and solved the problem. And if you have 20 years of that record like that, one day when your children are 20 years old, just print it out and give it to them. It will be almost like a second Bible that proves to them that the God that lived in Bible's time is just the same today. We have to tell our children things that will inspire their faith. They read and study so many things in school, good, but none of that is going to inspire faith in them. It's these little incidents. It's not enough for them to read incidents in the Bible. We have to say to them in our lifetime, we have seen God work in us and say, man, I would encourage all of you to do that. So when we think of these little children, these little babies, we are dedicating, we pray that the parents will have wisdom to bring them up in this way. Okay, we'll pray for them. Can you all come up here? Then we'll pray for you one by one. All the parents whose babies are being dedicated, you can come forward, you can stand here, and then I'll pray for you one by one. Come. You can hold it. What's the name? This is Corey. He's happy to be in the chair. Lord Jesus, we dedicate Corey to you in Jesus' name. Please bless her, give her wisdom, and she grows up. Early in life she'll be born again. Protect her from harm, danger, sickness. And we pray that you'll give wisdom to parents to bring Corey up in the fear of God. We dedicate Corey to you in Jesus' name. Amen. What's the name? Adriana. Adriana. Adriana. You want to see her? That's it. She must see you, right? Lord, we dedicate Adriana to you in Jesus' name. Let your hand be upon her that early in life she'll be born again. And protect her from all harm and sickness and dangers and accidents. Give wisdom to the parents, Lord, to bring her up in the fear of God. Dedicate her to you in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. Hello. Rohan. Rohan, boy. Hello. He's certainly happy to see me. Lord, we dedicate Rohan to you in Jesus' name. Let your hand be upon him early in life. He'll be born again. Protect him, Lord, from all sickness and dangers and accidents. No harm. And pray that you'll help him to be a child of God, be a blessing in the home and in the church. And we pray you'll give wisdom to the parents to bring him up in the fear of God. In Jesus' name we dedicate him to you. Amen. I know this one. Say hello. This is Noah. It's an indication that we're in the last days. Lord, we dedicate Noah to you in Jesus' name. Let your hand be upon him and he'll be born again early in life. Pray that he'll grow to love you and be a blessing in the home and in the church. Protect him from all harm and sickness and dangers and accidents. Give wisdom to the parents to bring him up in the fear of God. We dedicate Noah to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. There's only his way of shaking hands. Don't worry. Joseph. Joseph. Hello. Hi. Come a little closer. Lord, we dedicate Joseph to you in Jesus' name. Let your hand be upon him and he'll be born again early in life. Protect him from all harm and sickness and dangers and accidents. Lord, we pray that he'll grow up to be a blessing in the home and in the church. Give wisdom to the parents to bring him up in the fear of God. That as a born again child of God he'll glorify you. We commit him to you and dedicate him to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Aidan, yeah. Hello. Lord, we dedicate Aidan to you in Jesus' name. We pray early in life he'll be born again. We pray you'll protect him from harm and sickness and dangers and accidents. And give wisdom to the parents to bring him up in the fear of God, Lord. We pray that he'll be a blessing in the home and in the church. We dedicate Aidan to you in Jesus' name. Amen.