 going to be looking today here in Mark chapter 10 verses 13 through 16 as we pick up and continue our series in the Gospel of Mark and so I'll share this with you real briefly then we'll get into our study we I normally like the lay of foundation I'm going to give to you a thorough foundation as we go into this particular passage that deals with the blessing of infants we'll be looking at that in some detail and so what I'll do is I'll give you some information that'll help you to put this into some kind of context and and then we'll go into the verses one at a time and at the conclusion just letting you know in advance I'll be sharing a few things that I think are important for us as a church to be aware of turning in terms of contemporary issues that relate to to children you'll see that in in a few moments but beginning here in Mark chapter 10 at verse 13 reading the verse 16 Mark writes then they brought little children to him that he might touch them but the disciples rebuked those who brought them but when Jesus saw it he was greatly displeased and said to them let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom of God assuredly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it and he took them up in his arms laid his hands on them and he blessed them so during the time of the Lord Jesus Christ Jews from an very early age were taught the scriptures they were taught the scriptures because scripture is God's revelation and the community of Jews emphasized the learning of it from very very young age when we're in Israel recently our our our guide his name was Adrian Adrian was sharing with us these things he was sharing how literate the nation of Israel was during the time of Christ he shared with us that the parents had particular way of ministering to the children and things of that nature and he said it was such it cost such interest in me that when I got home and knowing the passage I was going to be sharing with you on Sunday morning I did a little bit of extra research related to the things he was saying and discovered that as he was sharing those things that that he obviously was telling us exactly the truth and and so I I'm gonna give you a little bit of what he gave to us some of you who went with us to Israel will remember this so scripture was looked at by the Jews as the revelation of God the community of Israel emphasized the learning of the Bible from a very early age and that would be an obedience to what God had said in the history or the early history of the nation you can look in the book of Joshua in chapter 1 verse 8 you see this in Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 it reads this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success so Joshua had been inspired by the Spirit to record these things to say these things and it was because in the meditation and obedience to the Word of God your life is going to be blessed he said you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success what are you to do you're to observe to do it and meditate on it so from the very early age of the nation of Israel to the time of Christ the study of the scriptures was very important the Jews knew that they were to reject the influence of the pagan world they knew that they knew that the pagan world's influence would take them away from their their love and service to God they were aware of that and so they they made a practice the community made a practice of knowing and observing God's law they did this because God had told them in his word that that was what they were to do God had called him his own special people and he had called them to be separate from all other nations the nations that rejected him in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6 you are a people holy to the Lord your God the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth in Deuteronomy 22 16 rather 18 through 19 it says the Lord has declared this day that you are his people his treasured possession as he promised and that you are to keep all his commands he has declared he has declared that he will set you in praise fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God as he promised he said you are to keep his commands he said you're coming out of all the peoples you are to be a people holy to the Lord so there to be a people holy to the Lord they come out of the peoples and they keep his commands now because of this Jewish parents to great pains to educate their children in the Bible Jewish historian Josephus who lived from 37 to 100 AD said this he wrote our chief ambition our chief ambition is for the education of our children we take most pains of all with the instruction of children and esteem the observation of the laws and the piety corresponding with them the most important affair of our whole life now that to me is amazing just to read that what is the most important thing in your children's life he says the instruction of our children the esteem of the observation of our laws the holiness of the piety corresponding with them is the most important affair of our whole life and so because of this from early childhood children were taught but they were not simply spoken to they were taught to memorize scripture as soon as a child was old enough to speak that child was taught two scriptures Deuteronomy chapter six verse four here oh Israel the Lord our God is one and Deuteronomy 33 verse four Moses commanded us a law even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob from the very beginning from the time they are small they were given scripture at the age of five they began to memorize scripture they actually would memorize this is amazing they actually began by memorizing the first five books of the bible word by word the first five books of the bible the children were taught to memorize word by word at the age of five they later on memorized oral tradition then later the written traditions by the age of 15 they were ready to set out on their own either in marriage or in labor our guide said you may be surprised but the apostles were much more steeped in the word of God than you may think he said the average Jewish male between the ages of 13 to 15 was ready to set on on their own life young women the women of Israel during the times of Christ and a little before the young girls would get married at the age of 13 or 14 sometimes as young as 12 when we look at movies we see movies that are portraying the birth of Christ and Mary his mother we have a tendency of thinking that that Mary was like an 18, 19, 20, 25 year old woman no she was probably 13 or 14 they were young but they had already been steeped in the word of God from the age of five they were memorized in scripture that's why the apostles when you see John and James and it says they were fishermen and they worked for their father he said you may be surprised but they were probably younger than you think they were he said they could have been 18, 19, 20, 21 years old he says you picture them some sometimes we do we picture them as kind of older people but in fact they they really more than likely weren't they were more than likely younger than we think and they were steeped in scripture a lot of times again we say well they were just humble fishermen or or a tax gatherer or or whatever political zealot but these are people who actually were steeped in scripture they memorized it from the age of five they knew traditions they knew the things that related to those things in a way that that today it really puts us to shame when you consider that because they memorized the scripture that's why Jesus could say have you not read and in saying that he didn't even have to cite unless he said Moses said but they were familiar with this they just needed to learn what it was fulfilled it was fulfilled in Messiah it was to be demonstrated through Jesus Christ and he came to give him insight to teach them in a way that they had yet to learn but they were well versed in scripture all of those men that he called would have known the word of God very well well see during the time of Christ the Pharisees the the most influential religious group of the day there were the Pharisees and the Sadducees and then they had subgroups like that Herodians and all but the various Pharisees were small in number some estimate that they had around six thousand or so that were known as Pharisees during the time of Christ and most of their activity would have been centered in Jerusalem by the temple that's why sometimes when we're reading it'll say some Pharisees traveled to see him that's because they're coming more than likely from the south though there were Pharisees up in the north where Jesus did a lot of his ministry too but the Pharisees had set up a works righteousness kind of system and so in doing so they didn't think that children were really that important not in an early age because they couldn't really with depth or a great comprehension understand the nuances of the law they they didn't have that capacity and they couldn't do good works because they were small and so they didn't give a whole lot of attention to the little ones because since they didn't know the law and and they couldn't really perform good works they would be overlooked so in ministering to these children Jesus was illustrating that salvation is actually a work of grace a grace on part of the Lord but not good works by man so these children though they were unable to comprehend or to keep the law they still have great value why is that well for many reasons including that they represented the future of the Christian faith which I call the Jesus movement a lot of times people speak of the Jesus movement as being a movement here in the United States that began in the late 60s into the early 70s but now the Jesus movement began with Jesus and so this was the beginning of Jesus movement and he wants to have the faith that is deposited in him to be transmitted through generations until he takes the church to be with him so these these were the ones these infants and these toddlers were actually being influenced and blessed by this great rabbi because they are very important for his movement to continue until he returns and and so that's what what we're seeing here in this passage now remember before we were looking at the sanctity of marriage the question had been related to divorce and all and so Jesus had spoken about divorce but now he moves into speaking concerning children and at least that's how Marcus chronologically ordered this for us so that we can see the connection between how important marriage is and how important it is when in marriage you have your children and so part of the purpose of marriage was to have children who praised and worshiped God that was part of his original intention and part of his his instructions in the first book of the Old Testament Genesis in chapter 1 verses 27 and 28 it reads God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them then God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth be fruitful he said and multiply so he begins with marriage as an institution with the command to be fruitful and multiply to have generations that follow the last book of the Old Testament is Melachi and in Melachi chapter 2 verse 15 we read has not the Lord made them one in flesh and spirit they are his and why one because he was seeking godly offspring so the purpose of marriage at least one of the purposes of marriage is to have godly offspring to communicate faith in God to future generations so the Jewish nation knew the value of their children and overwhelmingly still do and they recognize that children are a gift given to them from God well we do too but sometimes we will we wish that we could re-gift them to somebody else but the children were known to be a blessing in Psalm 127 verse 3 behold children are a heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb is a reward and they knew that they knew that God gave to them children they knew they had a responsibility to communicate the faith of God to the future generations and they recognize the value now these people who are bringing these children obviously love their children they're bringing them to Christ now during this time Jewish parents would desire their children to be blessed by a great rabbi and it was common for them to bring their infants to be blessed on their first birthday normally they would be brought to the local synagogue or to a very prominent rabbi well in this case they brought their infants to Jesus that he might bless them now that gives us insight into something about Jesus's personality it shows us that he cared for children and it shows us that they cared for him so that reveals something to us it reveals that he wasn't a grumpy stuffy joyless religious person you know because sometimes old men you know people like myself I looked at as the people who stand on the porch and yell at kids get off my lawn you know that guy Jesus wasn't that at all it's been said that he was somebody who radiated joy and love and and peace and kindness and and it was something that was very attractive there was a commentator by the name of George McDonald and he said I believe I do not believe in a man's Christianity if children are never to be found playing around his house and so Jesus was likable lovable he had this this this sense of kindness and welcoming spirit and the children would feel very comfortable with him we already saw in chapter nine how that Jesus had taken a little child in in his arms as he was teaching well this gives us a picture of his gentle kindness and and the loving way in which he carried himself so with that in mind Mark is telling us that children are being brought to Jesus now earlier this kind of thing had been brought to our attention in Matthew 19 verse 13 Matthew had said little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray so they're seeking a blessing from the Lord Mark 9 13 says they brought little children to him now I want to look at this for just a moment Mark uses a word for children that can speak of an infant but it also includes a young child that's the Greek word that Mark chose to use that communicates to us that it's from infancy to young childhood but Luke 18 verse 15 uses a different word the word he chose to use under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit speaks of an infant it speaks of a child in arms so that reveals something important to us these fathers these mother siblings these friends they had faith in Christ and they wanted these children to know God they wanted these children to be part of his kingdom they had been blessed by him and they desired their babies to be blessed also and so it helps us to understand look if we have been blessed by God we should desire our children to be blessed by our God also I think one of the things that is a failure in the movement that I was saved in again I mentioned the the Jesus movement as it's referred to by church historians and all from the times of the late 60s till the very early 70s if there's one thing that my generation of Jesus freaks failed to do many failed to take the faith that they claimed to have and to give it to the children many did many failed to communicate the faith of Christ to their babies and that's one of the things that we had been commanded to do that I think we have failed at we need to bring our children those of us who have parents our parents are those of us who have grandchildren also we have a responsibility I'll share with you about that in a moment but we have that responsibility to bring them to faith in Christ like I was sharing earlier how Josephus said the most important thing to a Jewish person is is to to educate them in the ways of God and and I think sometimes we have forgotten that you say our kids can't bring themselves to the Lord these kids certainly couldn't they they were too young to do so they needed someone who loved them and cared about them to bring them to Jesus it's like what it says in Ephesians 6 verse 4 where Paul said it like this he said fathers do not provoke your children to wrath instead bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord fathers that's my responsibility now as these these people are bringing these children infants and even toddlers and all young children as they're bringing them to Christ what is it that the apostles do well notice how it says in verse 13 it says they rebuked those who brought them that word rebuked means to to forbid or reprimand it speaks of admonishing so they're they're rebuking them for bringing these children so we need to be very careful not to think unkindly unkindly of the disciples we need to take this response in some context Jesus has been teaching them that he's on his way to Jerusalem he's been telling them that he's going to die he's on his way to the cross he knew it and so did they his disciples are trying to free him from disturbances that they think are unneeded at that moment and so rebuking the people and doing so they thought they were freeing him from distractions yes Jesus knew he's about to die yet he still took time to minister and he took time to hold them in his arms to smile upon them to bless them but his men wanted to protect his time and his energy they're not sure about what's taking place and they have attention in their hearts and these people are bringing Christ these children and they see it as an intrusion they see it as inconvenience now it may be a reflection of their being influenced by the attitudes of the Pharisees but the response to this reveals that they once again are misunderstanding Jesus's nature you see in caring for these kids he's going to leave an indelible mark on the heart of the parents they're going to remember bringing their children to this great rabbi who blessed them and it also is leaving an indelible mark in the heart of the babies and this is the the future that he's really he's really securing because these children some of the toddlers may very well remember how this great rabbi Jesus had had prayed for them and blessed them and most certainly the the parents will understand that and that would be something that would motivate them provoke them in their future to remind the children of what Jesus had done but his men are displeased his men are upset so how does Jesus respond to what his men are doing well verse 14 it says when Jesus saw it he was greatly displeased and he said to them let the little children come to me do not forbid them for of such as the kingdom of God let them come to me well it says that he was displeased that word displeased speaks of anger outrage or indignation it's a strong word he grew indignant over the behavior of the disciples he became angry because he loved children and he loved those who were bringing these kids to him he didn't get angry notice with me he didn't get angry with the people he got angry with his men their reaction was closed in the door on his opportunity to minister to the people and these men still didn't understand that that Jesus had come to bless them now recently Jesus had used a child as a living illustration he had taken a small child in his arms and and that should have revealed something to them about Jesus at his ministry it showed them that Jesus was the kind of man who cared for kids and that children cared for him and that's why in verse 14 he says let the little children come to me and do not forbid them don't hinder children from coming to me why well for of such is the kingdom of God of such is the kingdom of God what is it about children we've already looked at this a bit before in chapter nine I'll remind you of a couple things what is it about children that characterizes the person who follows Christ what is required for a person to become a follower of Christ Jesus said for of such is the kingdom of God well one children are dependent and helpless they're unable to bring themselves to Jesus these children didn't come to him on their own somebody brought these children to him that underscores the importance of the transmission of faith to the next generation there's a a fellow by the name of Robbie Robbie Low and he was writing for a magazine called touchstone touchstone magazine and he wrote an article the truth about men and the church the truth about men and the church touchstone magazine Robbie Low he said if a father does not go to church no matter how faithful his wife's devotion only one child in 50 will become a regular worshiper if a father does go regularly regardless of the practice of the mother between two thirds and three quarters of their children will become churchgoers regular as well as irregular if a father goes only irregularly to church regardless of his wife's devotion between a half and two thirds of their offspring will find themselves coming to church regularly or occasionally the influence of the father is that great mama can be the greatest saint most loving most devoted mama could be the greatest prayer warrior mama can do the devotions mama can go to church regularly mama can serve but the kids aren't necessarily looking at mama the kids are looking at the father the kids are looking to see what dad's faith is all about how how god has moved in their father's life and i'll tell you i came from a generation i think the generation continues to exist in this generation that is that that men thought it was the responsibility and duty of the wife to go to church but for the man he stayed home to mow the lawn drink a beer and watch a game that's what i was raised in that's how a lot of us in my generation and i think that generation continues to this day of at all where the father thinks that the responsibility of the children's faith really is hinging on the wife when in fact that's not practically true that's scripturally not true and and robbie low points that out he says no if the father is devoted the children have a tendency of following following their father and the father's devotion so valuing our children is revealed by our emphasis of faith in in their lives it's the parents responsibility to bring them up in the ways of the lord i have told my kids i've said this before i'll repeat it very briefly to you now some of you have heard me say this more than once but it's true my children will when they were young and even to this day it's my birthday or it's christmas some occasion or they actually open their wallet to give me something it's at least once a year um but they'll ask them to say dad what do you want what do you want for christmas what do you want for your birthday they do it all the time every year at least what do you want i always have said the same thing i've never said anything different i'm i'm telling you the truth when i say this i'll say this i'll see you know what i want when there were little i would say what is what do i want what do you want daddy i want you to follow the lord i want you to follow the lord what do you want dad i want you to know jesus i've said that since they were infants since they were able to ask what do you want i want you to follow jesus christ see i can afford my own gifts not only that when they were young i paid for my own gifts they weren't out there working they weren't out there mowing the lawn as toddlers you know i can do this no no i was giving money to them through my wife who's very generous with my money so it's true from the very beginning i know a lot of you fathers probably are pretty similar if not the same what do you want what do i want i want you to be honest i want you to be virtuous i want you to be good i want you to be a good father or a good mother what do i want i want you to follow god i want you to follow jesus christ i want you to go to heaven because see it won't be heaven for me if you're not there with me i want you to know jesus christ what do i want i don't need your gifts you want to buy me something you can't afford what i'd really want buy me a buy me a buy me a cobra 1967 427 475 horsepower buy me that you can't then love the lord come on you can't afford what i'd want but you can have what i'd want you can have faith in christ that's what i want and that is not something just that i say that's what the jews knew and that's what the church was taught fathers raise your children to know god that's what paul said don't exasperate them bring them up in the knowledge and nurturement of jesus christ that's what you to do why because fathers have that tremendous impact and impact that even mama is wonderful and unbelievable as she is even mama doesn't have the impact a father does so love the lord and care for your children is what we're to do and we're to train them up proverbs 22 verse 6 says train up a child in the way he should go when he's old he will not depart from it train up a child that word train is a word that speaks of provoking it was a word that was used to describe what a midwife a hebrew midwife would do when a child parted the womb and the hebrew midwife would get date honey and when the baby had parted the womb she would put the date honey on the lips of the newborn infant and it would provoke the sucking reflex so that the baby would nurse so the hebrew midwife would provoke them and that word provoke train up a child provoke a child is what we're to do we're supposed to give to them a taste for the things of god as newborn babies we want them to desire the pure milk of the word that they may grow thereby and so it's our responsibility to do that we provoke them we're to encourage our children to desire the milk of the word of god in the jewish home the mother would minister to her infant while she was nursing the mother would pray she would sing songs she would quote simple bible verses to the baby as she nursed and loved her her little one and she she'd do this as the baby was was small and growing but when the child began to speak the father took over the training of the child and that's when the father began to teach the child prayers and and and scripture and and and basic doctrine that's when that started taking place and what that was intended to do and and church we need understand this it's it's so needed today is this this pouring into them the word of god the memorization of scripture and and being that example to them produced in those jewish children a worldview that that was able to discern and distinguish what was from god and and what wasn't that's why god said don't learn the ways of the pagans surrounding you you're to be a unique people called out you're to be a light in a dark place don't intermarry with them don't go into their culture don't be like them because you have been called to be kings and priests in my kingdom that's what children are supposed to understand themselves to be that comes through us in proverbs 4 verses 11 through 13 i have taught you in the way of wisdom i have led you in right paths when you walk your steps will not be hindered when you run you will not stumble take firm hold of instruction do not let go keep her she is your life that's what we are to teach our way of life is to get to be given to the children and our way of life is the pattern that will help to establish our children's way of life so what are they to do they're to be cared for in this way secondly we know things of the small children small children trust they trust their father they trust their mother they trust and as believers we trust our father you see they they believe that what their father or their mother tells them is true they actually trust them to tell them the truth in psalm 31 verse 1 in you oh lord i put my trust let me never be ashamed deliver me in your righteousness i trust you i will trust in you i trust you you keep your word whether it's for blessing or whether it's for chastising you keep your word i use when my son david was small he had done something he shouldn't have done and i and i said to him son i really should chastise you for this i should i should chasing you not beat him and punish him with an angry spirit but but i should give you discipline for this or you should get a you know the board of education should be applied to the seat of understanding in this case but i said i'm going to teach you something son i'm going to teach you grace you should be receiving judgment but i'm going to give you grace because god gives me grace i'm giving you grace he did it again i said no it's time for judgment do it once not twice and so another thing a third thing about small children is they respond to love you know those of us who have children those of us who i'm at that point where i bless god because he's given me grandchildren um there's just something about that we have our grand babies and and we love them all of our grand babies we we love them and i've had the joy and privilege and blessing of having my grand babies around me a lot and and and i love them to pieces and they know it they know it it'd been kind of good if i could could have skipped the kids and had the grand kids but it didn't work that way so i love my grand babies and they love me my my grandson josei i just got a car and and i wrote something about congratulations he's 18 he'll be 19 pretty soon and so i i wrote and said something and his mother my daughter karin wrote and she said daddy she says he loves you he loves you i think he loves you more than he loves me as it should be and so you know but they're easy to love and they respond to it you know i have my my olivia and my norard too of my young babies and and my my olivia will say to to marie and me she says god bless you god keep you i love you god keep you god bless you you know where she got that she got that from her dad you know where her dad got that he got that from us because whenever i would drop joseph joseph off his her father when i would drop joseph off for school because every every morning we they didn't walk to school every morning we drove them to school they didn't like it when they were seniors in high school but we did it anyway no we would take them to school as their kids and and when they climbed out of the car i always put my hand on them or prayed for him father in jesus name keep my children may they remember who they are but especially may they remember who you are today and who they represent i pray that every day and they climb out of the car and as they climbed out of the car i said god bless you and god keep you safe when they go to bed at night god bless you may god keep you safe every day of their life and guess what my olivia is saying to me now pop i love you god bless you god keep you safe those are the things that you impart to your children blessings to them and and and they love being held and they love being kissed and and hugged and all of that and and they they will hold on to you in in deuteronomy 13 verse 4 you shall walk after the lord your god fear him keep his commandments obey his voice and you shall serve him and cling to him hold fast and tightly to him my children did that also my grandchildren one of my grandchildren has a lot of love for me and and marie would want to hold her grandchild and and i'd be holding the baby and she would reach to take the baby and so she could hold i might as well tell you it's joesia so she could hold joesia and i would i would i would release i'd you know take the baby he wouldn't let go of me he would put his arms tightly around my neck and choke me and she'd get like i'm your grammy i love you and i go he's mine you know it but they cling to you and and and i cling to the lord i hold him like my joesia held me i you know when times are tough and times are rough and and i and you know in in prayer i i have found myself to cling well that's what the scripture says serve him cling to him children respond to love and they cling to the one who loves them a fourth thing is small children believe that their father can do anything there's nothing that he cannot do in Jeremiah 32 17 oh lord God behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm there's nothing too hard for you they believe that and we ought to believe that with our father too and and another thing a fifth thing is small children are quick to receive a gift and they sure are children are open to receiving something without working for it and they too now some adults are close to receiving gifts because they don't trust the one who's giving but not so with small children a gift from anybody is just fine and so to be saved we receive the gift that has been offered to us eternal life through jesus christ in roman 6 23 the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord and finally children imitate their parents they learn to live as their parents live what we are very often develops a foundation of who they become they're immersed in our world and they watch how we respond to life and they imitate us in Philippians 4 verse 9 it says the things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the god of peace will be with you so the way you you teach them you instruct them you live before them they watch you they watch you that's why someone so long ago said to a husband he said husband do your children a favor love their mother why because the way daddy treats and loves mom is going to be a pattern for a young woman who's saying i want someone like dad or as a young man watching father love mama and they do watch you i'm going to love my woman the way my father loves my mom i told my son david a while back it's been over a year now i i mentioned this once before but i was talking to my son david he was over the house and i was talking to david and as i was talking to him i said you know your mom and i are not really openly we're not openly you know you know people who like to make out make out out in front of everybody like come on you know we're not that you know people on the beach come on don't you know don't do that i don't like that i don't like that i don't like that so i'm telling david i say your mom and i we're not real like openly affectionate he says yes you are dad and i'm looking at him i said no we're not yes you are dad i said what are you talking about son he says look at you right now i was sitting on the couch marie was sitting a little distance from me and her foot was on the couch and my foot was touching her foot he says dad you're always holding feet and i said you know what i never realized that he said oh no no no you're very very affectionate to mom you just do it in a way you think other people can't see and that's true but he's watched that they watch those things if you're a parent they watch that your grandparent they notice that they really do and they use that as a model for how affection is shown how respect is shown they watch those things the way that you live and so obviously it is mine as a parent it's you who are parents it's our responsibility to bring our children to jesus we can think it's the responsibility of the church to instill faith in our kids but but it's not it's a parent's responsibility as a pastor the best i can do is give a prepared message and feed you as as in a spiritual way my studies are intended to help to clarify what you have read throughout the week and my teaching isn't going to sustain you any more than one meal is sufficient for your needs and that's why personal reading of the word of god is so important as parents we can do devotions with the family nightly by just opening the scriptures and having them sit down with us and and just read a portion that's what we did when they were small we would read them a portion of scripture i'd have the kids sit in front of me and and you know and the minute i i would just open the bible like this the minute i opened it they would get quiet because i taught them that when the word of god is being taught you are quiet i taught them that and i'd let them talking and and you know fret and everything because seeing and he's sitting too close to me she's looking at me those things happen and i tell marie leave the kids alone but you know they would do that and but the minute i open the bible the minute i open the bible they got quiet because i had taught them this is god's word you do not interrupt the reading and teaching of the word of god you do not do that this is god's word that's how i would quiet my kids i would open the bible boom they're quiet i would read them even then when they were tiny and small i'd read them two three scriptures and i'd say it's always the same study jesus loves you he wants to save you and we can love each other it's always basically that even in the word every time i gave him the word i'd say do you see what happened with jesus yes you know what he did this anyway because he loves you and we love you and we need to serve him every devotion always came down to loving and serving god always and no you don't have to be a theologian to encourage your children to love and serve jesus christ and and that's what we would do and so the best i can do as a pastor is encourage and supplement what you're doing on a daily basis and so we need to live in such a way that our words will line up with the way that we live what we read what we watch what we listen to where we go what we do how we treat others how we fellowship how we pray how we share our faith how we love the word of god how we give how we serve that becomes the norm that our children grow grow up in they do what we do not what we say they should do there's a a group that named casting crowns who many years ago had a song called slow fade and uh in one of the lines said be careful little feet where you go for it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow and i i know that for a fact many years ago my son joseph couldn't have been more than four or five years old at the time and i've shared this before but we lived in uh in ontario and i had torn out all the lawn in our backyard i was going to recede it it started to rain and so i hadn't receded the lawn yet and and i had stepped out of the back door and i was walking across the backyard and i heard the door slam so that meant somebody's walking out following me but i wasn't really aware of who it was i just was walking and i heard the the door close and then i heard this this grunting sound this and i thought what's that and i turn around and it's my son joseph and and he's taken these long steps he's exaggerated steps and i said so what are you doing and he said i'm following in your footsteps dad i'll never forget that and the spirit has a way of speaking to my heart through things like that and he says so be careful where you go because wherever you go these little feet will follow be careful where you go daddy be careful where you go one of my sons the other one obviously david one time said to me daddy when i'm when i'm big i want to be just like you and i said no you don't what you want to be is better than me every father should want their children to be better than they are i want you to be better than me not me better than me that's how i'm raising you i want you to be better than me so what we do is we bring our children to jesus we we read them bible stories we we pray with them we love them we teach them about god we invest our time in them we do all of that and we need to remember that our time with our children is is ultimately very short you you blink and and and before you know it they're out the door you it feels like just a moment it does some of you who are older know what i mean when when when they're young you think are you ever gonna leave and then when they do you say are you ever gonna come back are you ever gonna see me spend time with me i miss you it's true it's true and you blink and you blink it happens so we invest in our children so in considering this passage what we get is a glimpse of the love of god for children and it's obvious he desires to save them and protect them from harm and so i'm going to make a quick comment at this point here that i think is necessary i think it's a a comment that's appropriate concerning the value of children in general obviously as we've built this passage you've seen that jesus values children even said that to be like you need to be like one to enter his kingdom he values children well when i returned from israel i was told of a california assembly bill that was being considered it is california bill ab 2223 it was sponsored by an assembly woman out of oakland by the name of buffy wicks and so according to the official senate analysis of the legislation prepared by state senate legislative director allison meriles the bill removes criminal liability from mothers in relation to all pregnancy outcomes including the death of a newborn for any reason during the period following birth the analysis reads the bill could be interpreted to immunize a pregnant person from all criminal penalties for all pregnancy outcomes including the death of a newborn for any reason during the perinatal period after birth the national center on health statistics defines the perinatal period as between 28 weeks of gestation and seven days after birth but that definition can extend up to 28 days after the child is born susan arnell vice president of legal affairs for the right to life league told the committee during the debate a mother her boyfriend or for that matter the babysitter can starve or beat or shake a three-week-old baby to death and no one can investigate because under the bill it is a perinatal death the sacramental be reported that a state legislative analysis confirmed pro-life advocates concerns about the bill saying that it could be interpreted to allow infanticide to allow the killing of babies the bill passed the assembly health committee in an 11 to 3 vote late tuesday night but we can still make our voices heard i contacted my assemblyman and i registered my rejection of the bill and i asked him to do the same you can google ab 22 23 and you can find sites that can help you respond i encourage you to do so this is infanticide this is the murder of babies and it's something we the church cannot tolerate it's something we have to stand in opposition to and i encourage you all to do that in the name of humanity but mostly in the name of jesus christ we need to stand in opposition this is this this is not just an outrage this is where we've gotten in the old testament there was a god called molek and the children of israel were forbidden by god to make child sacrifices to molek we have it to this day it's just called freedom of choice that's what it's called today i'll be careful because i'm angry about this because i have beautiful grand babies and one of my babies was born a month early a month early and in some some of the laws already on the books that baby could have been aborted in her eighth month she could have been aborted legally that baby was born healthy obviously needing care because she was a month premature but i play with that baby every day her name's olivia every day and she's the winner says god bless you god keep you safe i love you that baby could have been put to death legally in the womb we got to wake up to these things the church has got to make our voices heard this is wrong and we will not stand for it we will make our voices heard i'm telling you i'm telling you i had somebody somebody called up and was chastising me to one of our secretaries why isn't the pastor saying anything should have said something on easter well i didn't know i was gone i was in israel when i came home i found out and so i'm saying it now i'm saying it now contact your assembly person i contacted mine you can google ab 2223 you can find sites that will help you to respond and i encourage you to do so i contacted my assemblyman and i registered my rejection of the bill and i asked him to do the same i encourage you to do the same in verse 16 it says this will close he took them up in his arms laid his hands on them and he blessed them this is how children are to be treated we love them we love them we hold them and we bless them by the way that's why we have baby dedication you witnessed it today we ask god's blessing on babies because that's what we're to do and i want these babies to be raised in the knowledge and love of god so that as we continue in life these children can be carrying the banner for the gospel and that people like me one day we're gonna we're gonna you know lord's gonna take us home you know i'm closer to heaven now than i've ever been every day i'm alive is one step closer to him one day and i'm aware of that i'm aware of that but i don't want to i don't want to leave earth without leaving a legacy and the legacy is going to be followers of jesus christ that's the legacy i want i don't care if people say oh he had a nice car i lived in an ice home or he had nice shoes for them he had a love for god that he gave to other people especially to his children what is the deepest desire of my heart i'll close with this so my children to know jesus christ and for my grand babies to know jesus christ the greatest desire it doesn't matter what car i drive doesn't matter what house i live in it doesn't matter how well know i'm know what i am how big this church is the thing that matters to me the most and you can you can i say this before the lord is that my kids know jesus christ that's the most important thing in my life that my wife and my children and my grandchildren come to heaven with me yes i want them to know him but i want them to be with me forever and the way that happens is if you pay attention to life and pour into them what matters and what matters is that they love the lord what matters is that they know jesus i don't care if they become a corporate president i don't care if they're a multi-millionaire i don't care about any of that that's garbage that all perishes but the one thing that doesn't is their soul and they can spend the eternity with jesus christ and that's the most important thing that is that is understand that the disciples watched jesus took these children into his arms and he prayed for them and that's a lesson all true followers of jesus must learn value what he values lord we ask that you would work with