Children's Ministry

We are going to take a little break today from our study through Daniel. We are leaving shortly after the service to bring kids to camp and we will be gone all of this week and I didn’t want to open up Chapter 3 of Daniel and then leave you hanging for a couple of weeks. So I thought it would be a nice time to talk a little bit about Children’s Ministry today.

Since we are talking about children’s ministry today, I though we could start with a little bit of…

“The Wisdom of Children”

Patrick aged 10: "Never trust a dog to watch your food."

Michael aged 14: "When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don't answer him."

Joel, aged 10: "Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a cricket bat."

Andrew aged 9: "Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a minty treat."

Tara aged 11: "When your mum is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair."

Alex aged 9: "You can't hide a piece of broccoli in your milk."

Mitchell aged 12: "Don't sneeze in front of your mom when you're eating a cracker."

Justin aged 14: "Never tell your mom her diet isn’t working."…

We are going to look at a few Scriptures today but I believe that this first one will help us to get the idea of what we are going to hone in on today.

In the book of Deuteronomy, The Nation of Israel is getting ready to cross over into the Promised Land and Moses knows that his time is short and that he will not be going with them into the Promised Land. So, Moses takes some time to remind the Nation of Israel what all they have been through, how God has helped them through it and he reminds them of the Law that God has given for them to live by… But he makes a very important emphasis as he doing this…

Look at Deuteronomy 4:5-10… (Read)

Meat:

Moses was emphasizing the importance of teaching children the ways of God, because it was God Himself who told Moses to do so… God said to Moses

Deuteronomy 4:10 “... ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’”

What I want you to realize today is that, children are important. They are important to God and to the church; and should be important to you.

Matthew 18:1-5 “… the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”

Children play a major part in the future of our church and churches around the world. They our future!… And because they are so important, we have some responsibilities in regards to the children here at Pierson Bible Church.

And that is what we are going to look at today…

First of all…

Our children need to be...

1. Loved

And if we are going to truly love our children, we need to recognize how we are to love them… We are to love them…

1.1 As a Gift

Psalm 127:3 “Behold, children are a gift from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Children are a gift and a Reward… they are to be cherished and valued as such.

Yes, even the noisy, unruly ones that sometimes get you a little… worked up… they are still a gift.

They also need to be loved…

1.2 Unconditionally

That means, with no strings attached… No matter what the child does, the love remains. It is something a child can always count on. Conditional love is love that depends on performance. Conditional love is commercial, used as a reward or as part of a trade of affections. With conditional love, children have to be successful to gain the love of others. Unconditional love does not lend itself to measurement. Children who experience unconditional love feel safe and secure. Sadly (on the flip side of that), children who experience conditional love feel insecure and afraid.

Now, this does that the child can do whatever they want and get away with it, or that you are an ATM machine that they can make withdraws from on a regular basis.

Unconditional love does not mean that you give them whatever they want… but it does mean that you are willing to help them with whatever they need (emphasis on the word need). Sometimes a child needs a new pair of shoes… they may want the the $100 pair of Nike’s… but the $25 pair at Walmart will work just fine…

Secondly, our children need to be…

2. Taught

Look at Deuteronomy 6:5-9… (Read)

Moses emphasizes again the importance of teaching your children… specifically…

2.1 About God’s Word

“And these words (God’s Words)which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall (Better yet, you Must) teach them diligently to your children...”

If we do not teach our children about God and His word, then how can we ever expect them to have a relationship with Christ? We must teach them…

They need to be taught to…

2.2 Obey Authority

We live in a culture that tends to reject authority… Have you seen what has been going on the France the past couple of weeks? Looting, riots, and protests against the police force.

There is no question that there is a lack of respect for authority in our world today and I believe that it stems from a lack of training (or teaching) at home.

So many children today run the house… mom and/or dad doesn’t want to deal with them, so when a fit is thrown by the child… they give them whatever they want to get them to stop whining.

A parent tells the kid to do something and the kid responds with “no!” or “I don’t want to”… maybe this starts an argument, which ends with the parent doing themselves, whatever it was that they asked the child to do… And now the child has the mindset of, “I am in control and can do whatever I want”…

A couple of verses that we make sure our kids know…

Deuteronomy 5:16 (NKJV)

16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long…

Ephesians 6:1 NKJV

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

God has entrusted these children to our care and it is our duty to train them in the ways of righteousness. Yes, eventually they will have to make their own decision as to whether or not they are going to honor God with their lives, but our hope and prayer is, with the proper teaching from the start, they continue to honor God with the rest of their lives.

But how will they know what that looks like or what they are supposed to do, if they are not taught? We must teach them about God’s word and to obey authority.

Moving on… Our children need to be…

3. Protected

This point is so important today. There is so much garbage that can infect the minds of our children today that they need to be protected. I don’t mean that we should lock them in padded rooms and isolate them completely, but we do need to be diligent in protecting them from the evil that could bring them spiritual injury.

John gives us a list of things that we need to be protecting our children from…

1 John 2:16 NASB95

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Our children need to be protected from…

3.1 The Lust of the Flesh

God has given us bodies that we are to take care of. And our bodies have certain desires. These desires in and of themselves are not evil or sinful.

We hunger, we thirst, we get tired and desire rest, we desire an intimate relationship with someone… There is nothing wrong with these desires…

But when we allow the lust of the flesh to take control, that is when we run into the problems of sin. Eating when you are hungry is ok, but gluttony is a sin. Drinking when you are thirsty is fine, but drunkeness is a sin, getting a good nights sleep is great, but laziness is a sin, having an intimate relationship with your spouse is a wonderful gift from God, but having that type of relationship outside the vows of marriage is a sin.

We have to teach and protect our children from the Lust of the flesh… and…

3.2 The Lust of the Eyes

Warren Wiersbe says “The lust of the flesh appeals to the lower appetites of the old nature, tempting us to indulge them in sinful ways. The lust of the eyes, however, operates in a more refined way. In view here are pleasures that gratify the sight and the mind–sophisticated and intellectual pleasures.”

Back in the days of the apostle John, the Greeks and Romans lived for entertainments and activities that excited the eyes.

As adults Melissa and I know the dangers of a screen… so we limit and monitor what we allow our kids to watch, we monitor what they listen to. Unfortunately, we cannot block it all, maybe it is a billboard along the road, or another kid showed them something on their phone, maybe it is a commercial during a show they are watching… whatever the case is, we talk to them about it, we warn them and let them know that there are sinful things that are in the world that we are trying to protect them from.

And then there is…

3.3 The Pride of Life

The Greek word for “pride” was used to describe a person who was trying to impress people by bragging about his importance.

It is amazing the things people do just to make an impression. They will sacrifice honesty and integrity in return for recognition and a feeling of importance.

We have to protect our children from taking on that kind of thinking. It’s ok to be different, it’s ok to not be the coolest kid in class, it’s ok to not have the latest gadgets or smartphone… clothes from goodwill are ok!

Don’t let them get caught up in the pride of life.

Let Mark 9:42 serve as a warning… “42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.”

Lastly this morning… Our Children need to be…

4. Lead

Children cannot navigate on their own… they need to be lead…

4.1 By Our Example

One of the best ways to protect our children is by instilling within them a set of values that they obtain from the example that we set before them.

You want to protect our children from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life… then make sure you are protected and not giving in to those things as well.

Lastly this morning… we need to lead our children

4.2 To Jesus

In Matthew 19:14 “Jesus said… do not hinder the little children from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Our main goal for our children needs to be bringing them to a saving knowledge of Christ. It is the shared responsibility of the parents and the church body to remove any obstacles and to lead children to Jesus.

Although parents are primarily responsible for providing biblical training, it is the responsibility of us as the church to provide support, additional training, and the necessary resources for both the children and parents.

I pray that we will continue to be a church that loves, teaches, protects and leads our children, in a way that would bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

End Recording

Next Slide (You are doing a great job!)

I want y’all to know that you are doing a great job! We have invested a lot of resources into our children’s ministries these past few years and I am confident that it is an investment that will not come back as void.

A major investment that we are making is happening this week as 10 of our kids are headed to Pleasant Valley Bible Camp. They have worked hard to earn their way to camp, by memorizing Bible verses, memorizing the 10 commandments, Attending Sunday School, and making Posters (which you probably saw on display in the foyer last month.

Some of the kids even worked for some of you here today in order to earn a little spending money, for while they are at camp, as well.