Celebrating Family and Faith | December 28, 2025

whew.

It's gonna be a loud splash

section over here today.

Huh?

I love that.

Love that.

You know, I don't know if you guys have

been enjoying the Christmas season, like

new parents, or parents of little kids.

Like I'm in this stage where I have

high schoolers now and college students.

Which means Jamie and I get up Christmas

morning and we drink coffee and we cook

and we stare at each other, wondering

if our kids care that it's Christmas.

And Jed comes down about 10

30 and he's mad that he didn't

sleep till noon on Christmas.

You know?

And you're like, these are the glory days.

Parents.

Wait, just wait.

Right?

Those 3:00 AM mornings, right?

No, no more, no more.

Dax, you still look tired, bro.

Makes me happy.

Well, Jocelyn, thanks for

referencing these candles.

We've talked over this Christmas

season about the idea of hope, right?

That God gives us this crazy awesome

hope through Jesus, and that he is the

prince of peace who came to make peace

between us and God with the wrath of sin

that hung over us, his crazy love for us.

And last Sunday, the kids really helped

us, uh, get into the Christmas spirit with

what can only be described as a joyful

presentation of screeching microphones.

Also with some songs and a

little bit of Jesus mixed in.

It was beautiful and everybody

worked really hard on that.

So thanks for being a part of last

Sunday's celebration together.

It was really special.

Um, and you know, kids, kids

are just a big deal, man.

Jesus loves kids.

I, one of my favorite passages is where.

The disciples, you know, they're sitting

around while Jesus is talking to, you

know, the important people, the adults

and some kids are trying to get close

and they're kind of sneaking in and,

and you know, kids probably interrupted.

They're probably jibber jabbering.

They're probably pushing their

friend to see and what Jesus was

doing, and, and the disciples are

like, Hey, leave the teacher alone.

Don't bother Jesus.

And Jesus scripture says,

rebuked his disciples.

That's a cool word, right?

He didn't say, come on guys, quit

acting like knuckleheaded adults.

He's like, knock it off.

What is wrong with you guys?

Right?

These kids, man, let 'em, let

'em get 'em over here, man.

Unless we become like little

children, we're not gonna

enter the kingdom of heaven.

That's what he taught us, right?

Like faith, like a child, and

the innocence of a child and the

image of kids and what that means

for us as followers of Jesus and.

We call God our Heavenly Father

because we're his children.

And what a cool picture that is for us.

So kids matter to Jesus.

And if you ever become one of those

old church people who get angry

about the kids, I just want you to

know, uh, I have a spot for you in

Sunday's school to come volunteer

where we can work that out of you.

Right?

Because there is nothing cooler

than getting to hang out with

kids and talk about Jesus.

Well, I have a verse I wanna share with

you this morning as I reflect on kids

a little bit, and it's this, speaking

of joy, man, I have no greater joy.

John says, then to hear that my

children are walking in the truth.

And I was reflecting on this a

little bit as we were gonna have

a time of baby dedication today.

I was reflecting a little bit on

like Jamie and I and our parenting

mission and purpose years ago.

We talked vision and purpose and why are.

Doing what we're doing and, and what

is our mission and, and our vision and

our purpose, you know, as parents and

really latched on to this idea that

my children are walking in the truth.

And I've said this to my kids a

million times, man, I don't care

what they do with their life.

I don't care.

Sorry, I got choked up.

I haven't been singing a lot, but

the last, like Christmas Eve today,

I was like, I'm gonna belt this

out and now I can't hardly talk.

So sorry about that.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I don't.

Um, but I don't care if my

kids are good at sports.

I don't care if they're

brilliant academically.

I don't care if they're

making lots of money.

I just don't care about any of that stuff.

I care about that they're walking

in the truth, that they're walking

in relationship with Jesus Christ.

If my kids will have a relationship with

Jesus Christ and they will follow him.

So much better than any advice dad's got.

Trust me, right?

Following Jesus.

That is all I want for my kids.

That they will be faithful followers

of Jesus Christ, who walk in the truth.

'cause here's the cool part, right?

Seek first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness and all the other stuff.

He'll take care of that, right?

But you chase all the other stuff

instead, man, we're chasing sports.

We're chasing money, we're chasing

fame, we're chasing all kinds of stuff,

and we end up empty in the end and

stuff just falls through our fingers.

But man, if we are locked into chasing

Jesus Christ with everything we got,

and as parents, if we raise our kids

to follow Jesus and to make this the

priority of what we're about, man, it

changes all eternity for my kids and for

everybody that they come in contact with.

For your kids, man, that's the deal.

This season we look at the manger

and we think about Christmas.

We're in that weird Sunday

kind of in between, right?

But it's still okay to remember

these two people, Mary and Joseph.

Right.

And I, I think it's fascinating 'cause

there's the, the big is this, the

word hubba hubba Baloo hu hullabaloo.

Oh man, that's a ridiculous word.

There's a whole lot going

on at the manger, right?

We got angels and shepherds

and we got all kinds of stuff

happening and it's all amazing.

And then all of a sudden the lights

go out and Mary and Joseph are

tasked with raising the son of God.

I will never forget the birth

of Josiah, our first kid.

And, uh, I remember we had a cool

relationship with our nurse, right?

Like, she was really cool.

She was great.

She was like our, our little

guardian angel, you know, for those

48, 72 hours, whatever it was.

But I will never forget the moment.

Do you remember this, Jamie?

When I pulled the car up and they

wheeled you out in that little

chair and you had this baby and they

were like, they were gonna send us.

Two idiot kids home with

this living baby, right?

And I remember like, Hey, any chance,

like you want to come with us?

We got room in the car, we invited

the nurse home, like we gave her

our address and our phone number.

And we're like, when you're off work, if

you wanna stop by, we'd love to see you.

Right?

Like, that was terror, right?

Like, and if you've been a new

parent, you understand that.

You're like, no, no way.

I break things all the time.

I can't hardly get my

lawn mowed gently, right?

Like, how am I gonna keep this kid alive?

Like it's crazy.

But I can never just get my mind around

this reality for Mion Joseph, that when

their lights faded and the shepherds

left and everything chilled, to sit

there and realize, whoa, we've been

tasked with raising the son of God.

But listen, parents, I want you to

catch this 'cause this is important.

You and I, while not being tasked with

raising Jesus Christ, the son of God,

you and I have absolutely been tasked.

With raising sons and daughters of God.

That's what scripture teaches us, right?

John says to us, see what great love

The fathers lavished on us that we

should be called children of God.

And that is what we are.

Now, people can choose to live as children

of the devil for sure, but God came

that everyone would have opportunity

to know him, to walk in relationship

with him, to be his son or daughter.

And I think sometimes parents, we forget

that we've been tasked by God with

the responsibility to raise not our

kids, but his sons and his daughters.

And a lot of parents make a big mistake

of saying, I'm trying to raise good kids.

It's a horrible mission statement, guys.

We wanna raise good young adults

and contributors to society who

will follow Christ and be disciples

of his raising good kids stops.

Right, but raising people, men

and women who will follow Jesus,

that's a vision and that's a

picture of what we're called to do.

And you and I have been entrusted

with that and that is terrifying.

But we're entrusted so that our children

might walk in the truth, know their

heavenly father and walk with him.

Well, today we are gonna

do something special.

We're gonna have a time of baby dedication

kind of mixed into some things I'm

sharing, and I'm gonna start with this.

I got some stools back there guys.

You gonna bring those up?

I'm gonna invite Andrew

and Gray to sneak up here.

If you wanna bring the kids now you can.

But I guess we're never

settled that exactly.

I dunno if you guys know this about

my friend Andrew, but sometimes if

you give Andrew a microphone, there's

just a lot in his heart, right?

And I love that about Andrew.

So we're gonna share just

a little bit together.

Thanks guys.

Bad choice on my part.

So

Andrew, why does Gray look like she's

hearing about this for the first time?

My friend?

Okay.

Okay.

Just making sure.

Just making sure.

It's another one of those red lights.

Tim, I don't know, how are you Gray?

I'm sorry, gray.

This was just for what we're about to do.

Sanders's fault for.

I just wanna excuse

that buddy just in case.

Yeah, not yet.

Not yet.

Oh.

Well you guys have been a

part of some of this exciting

journey with Andrew and Gray.

Um, been through some fun, not so fun.

All kinds of moments in between,

um, but as we talked about today,

but, and this just, we don't usually

do this, this is like a two for

one deal today, just so we know.

We've got some twins that

we're gonna dedicate.

Normally it's just, you know,

one per customer, but we work

something out special today.

Um, so Andrew, I know you want

a chance to share just a little

bit about what God's done and.

And, uh, all that good stuff, man.

So I think what I'm gonna do is just

say, what do you wanna say this morning?

And then we'll see where we go.

How about that?

Well, yesterday Andy called

me and he said, uh, Hey buddy.

Uh, how talkative do you feel tomorrow?

I said, well, uh, you know how it is.

Hand me the mic and I'll roll.

And, uh, it's funny.

Last year at the, uh, marriage retreat,

everybody wrote, you know, nice things

about people, uh, on photos of each

couple and me and Grace's photo,

there was about three different people

that put great speaker talks a lot.

So, um, we love that about you, man.

We do, we do today, uh, today

I've been counting down the days.

For this day, uh, since the babies

were were born, um, me and my wife, we

started coming here a little over three

years ago, and you guys embraced us.

You, we became, you know, family here.

We consider this church our home.

Um, we, you know, the first two

years of our marriage was exciting.

A lot of traveling, um, a

lot of fun things we did.

Um, just enjoying being married

and, and, and loving life.

Um, but there was one thing missing.

Uh, we really wanted a family.

Um,

she said we still need to

continue to travel too.

Um,

we really wanted a family though.

Um, and around the time when we

started coming here was when we were

really, really trying to have children.

Um, and it just, things

were just not happening.

And I shared a lot.

The first time I think I shared was

at that very first men's retreat I

went to, uh, with the church here.

Um, and I shared about some of the

fertility struggles that we were having.

Um, and everyone prayed over me and, and,

you know, uh, gave us hope and support,

um, in that, from that point on, I mean,

it was a two and a half year journey.

Um, until we actually had the babies.

Um, so, and it was, and

it was an easy journey.

It was not an easy journey at all.

Oh, it was.

Um, but I wanna share our story because

I think it's a story of hope and faith,

of, and just, you know, not giving

up, uh, on your dreams, especially,

you know, when it's your family.

Um, um, I will get emotional quite

a bit up here, so just bear with me.

Um, so back in

December of 2023, uh, we started

the fertility treatment process

and in March of 2024, we did

our first IVF, uh, treatment.

It worked.

Um, we went to Panama to do that just

because of the, she had a connection

with the doctor there through her family.

Um, and it, it was a good situation.

We were able to financially save

quite a bit of money since here

in the US IVF is and I'll be nice.

It's very crazy to, and expensive, and

to me it seems kind of like a scam, but,

uh, IVF is a beautiful thing for parents

that are struggling with fertility.

So it did, it worked.

And, um, you know, we were very

excited, uh, felt so blessed.

And then in June of, uh, of that year.

We were on a short little vacation

in Tennessee, and, um, we got a call

that my mom was in the hospital,

um, and she was in the ICU.

And so we rushed back for my mom.

And that was kind of a god thing

because when we got back to

Indianapolis, gray had a miscarriage.

Um, and all the medications, all the

preparation, all the travel, all the

money, just everything we had sacrificed.

Um, we k we kind of felt

like it was all gone.

You know, we, we were at

a point of desperation.

Um, we did a lot of praying and we

had an unbelievable amount of support.

From people in this church.

Um, a lot of people specifically that

were mentors to me, um, and gray, um,

just so much support and throughout

that whole process, you know, we

shared with everybody along the way.

Uh, I did a lot of standing up

and sharing about, you know, how

things were going with us and, and

you know, how we were progressing

through the fertility treatments.

Um, and with her immigration status

being what it was, and it was her

green card was coming up for renewal.

We had to make a quick decision.

Um, and we had to pretty much turn

right around and do the IVF again.

Um, and it is a.

Long, arduous process.

A lot of shots, a lot of

pills, months of preparation.

Um, we get there and, uh,

we go through the IVF.

There were some, some struggles

when we initially got there,

uh, to have the procedure.

Uh, we thought that it

wasn't gonna be possible.

Um, and God found a way.

God found a way.

And a couple weeks later

we find out we're pregnant.

In fact, before we found out we were

pregnant, I spoke with Preor on the phone.

This was like literally two days

after they had had, did, did the,

uh, IVF Preor said, you know, God's

telling me it's gonna be twins.

And I said.

I laughed and, and he said, what?

You don't believe me?

And I said, no, I believe you.

I believe you.

Uh, but you know, he, he,

he, he felt that, and he said

that, and, and he was right.

Um, it, it is just so hard to

believe that those two beautiful

angels, uh, are with us today.

Um,

I've been looking forward to this

day dedicating them to the Lord, um,

so that they can be raised and in a

way that I was raised by my parents.

You know, I, I always as

a child, never felt alone.

'cause I always felt

like Jesus was with me.

And that's because my

parents raised me that way.

And I want to raise, and she wants

to raise our children that way.

Um.

But we, we really struggled.

We really struggled, uh, in the

last two years have been ups and

downs like nobody can imagine.

Um, and not just with the fertility

thing, you know, there were, there

were some, not consequences, but

we had to sacrifice a lot mm-hmm.

To, to have these two beautiful babies.

And, and I just wanna say Andrew, as

getting to be kind of an observer in

that rollercoaster ride, I wasn't on

the rollercoaster with you, thankfully.

It was fun to watch you guys, but

the reality of that was your faith.

I mean, I, I just wanna say publicly,

like so many conversations about

faith in those two years, um.

And watching you guys keep trusting the

Lord and keep trying to hold onto him,

even when it looked the bleakest and it

looked the hardest, or looked the darkest.

And, uh, that's a beautiful picture

of, I mean, it makes the dawn and

the, the light so much brighter having

walked through that darkness and not

giving up and not quit and not throwing

up your hands and said, I'm done.

You know?

Uh, and I just wanna affirm that in both

of you guys, you guys walked in faith and,

and, and maybe just to speak to this a

second, um, yeah, I didn't say something I

didn't say about our little fun adventure.

Like, I thought we'd have like

tons of kids, you know, like raise

a bunch, like that whole full

quiver of arrows kind of vibe.

Right.

You know, and we had Josiah and we're

off and running and then, you know, Jamie

almost died in a few different crazy

things with some miscarriages we had

and then live or not live, uh, having

to do an emergency C-section and get the

whole little baby cheer, you know, who's.

Like my, what, 18-year-old daughter in

heaven right now, hanging out, right?

Like imagine Josh, 18-year-old,

my daughter, your youth group.

Whoa.

But I mean, God's goodness

and his faithfulness.

And then, and then the Lord gave us Jed,

who made up for the whole quiver, right?

We just shove him in

that whole thing, right?

And, uh, all good, but, but

we don't control everything.

We don't, we don't always, things don't

always play out like we anticipate.

Um, and yet when you're able to

just trust the Lord, seek first his

kingdom, his righteousness, right?

And just do your best to be faithful, like

what he does is so much more beautiful

than what you could ever create of your

own controlling or your own manipulating

of circumstances and situations.

You know, uh, your two cute little squirts

that, uh, are a ton of fun and we're gonna

get to dedicate here in a few minutes.

Like, what a beautiful gift from the Lord.

And had you played it all out

different ways or try to manipulate

a million different things, who

knows where it really ends up.

God's God is good in what he's

accomplishing as we trust in Him.

Everything we went through

was for a purpose, a reason.

You, I'm sure everybody's

heard this saying, you know,

you wanna make God laugh.

Tell him your plans.

I I

None of this was our plans.

Yeah.

And I think, I don't think, I know it

was God preparing us for our future.

Um, God allowed us to go

through those struggles.

God allowed us to, you know, feel

that the pain that we felt, um,

because he was building us up for

something big, bigger, and better.

Um, and, you know, we remained

hopeful all the way up, you know, uh.

Until her water broke.

Really.

I mean, even after that, we were still

believing, you know, God has this, because

when Gray at the house, when Gray's

water broke, it actually went water.

It was a lot of blood.

Um, I'm not trying to get graphic, but

she lost a ton of blood in our house.

We had to call the ambulance.

The ambulance came.

I couldn't ride with her.

I had to jump in the car and drive.

Um, she, the babies were not moving

and her belly, um, it was a very

traumatic, traumatic, uh, delivery.

Um, and I just remember driving

to the hospital, flying, probably

going 110 miles an hour trying to

catch up with the ambulance even.

And I still couldn't.

But that whole time I was just praying,

Lord, Lord, please, please, please,

you know, lay your hands on, on gray.

And the babies and the doctors.

And when I walked in that hospital room,

I didn't know what to expect.

And I turned that corner and I

could hear the machines beeping

and I could hear their heart rates,

could hear their hearts beeping.

I thought that they could be dead.

Um, I thought something

could be wrong with gray.

But they were all healthy.

She was laying there smiling.

The nurses were so, so, uh, just

they, the care they gave us.

I mean, everything that we went

through and, and I know, I know.

Giving birth and having kids.

Everybody has their own, you know, story.

And, but what I want to share with you

guys, I guess the main thing is that, you

know, keep hope, um, keep hope, um, and

keep your faith, you know, 'cause you may

be struggling now, but it's temporary.

Mm-hmm.

It's not long term.

Uh, you know, if you stay strong,

keep your faith, God will reward you.

Um, I do not feel personally

like I deserve these babies.

I was a bad kid.

Let's just be real.

I was a bad kid.

I made a lot of bad decisions

and I felt like that was God.

I, I felt like I was being punished.

Um.

I felt like I was being punished for

some of the things that I had done

for some of the decisions I had made.

Uh, you know, times in my life

when I wasn't, you know, as strong

in my relationship with God and

I felt like I was being punished

and that wasn't the case at all.

God was just setting us

up for a better situation.

And now we have this beautiful

family that I'm so grateful

for and my birthday's tomorrow.

Christmas was several days ago, but

today, this is the real gift for me and

my wife of this season, is to be able to

dedicate our two beautiful babies to God

into this life of living, you know, by

God's rules and, and, and living on faith.

Um, and we will not lose hope.

Yeah.

We will continue to be hopeful

because the struggles do not end.

Um, in fact, with with twins, it

doesn't get easier with twins.

In fact, they multiply.

So, um, you know, we still have

our, our, our, our struggles.

But these babies, they just, they,

they've, they've changed our life

and, and I can't express and she

cannot express how grateful and

thankful we are for this church.

All the prayers, all the

gifts, all the cards,

all the love and support, not only

from the church, from my family,

from my friends, um, her whole

family that's watching on YouTube

right now, all over the world.

Um.

And my grandmothers and uncles and

aunts that are watching in other states,

you know, it, it means so much to us

that we have the support we have mm-hmm.

From our family and the church and

our own family and friends at home.

Um, this place is special.

This place is special.

And uh, I feel like this church had a

lot to do with where we are right now.

And I'm just so grateful.

Um, yeah.

It's an honor to walk this journey

with you guys and come to this

day where we get to dedicate

your kids to the Lord with you.

That's a, that's a special thing

for us as your church family.

'cause we've been on this three

year journey with you too, you know,

watching and praying and hoping

and, and, uh, it's a special thing

to, to celebrate with you guys what

God has done in the gift of kids.

So I think we better just do this thing,

but unless Gray, you wanna say something?

Yeah.

No, eh, I know my mom watching online

night we talking about the hope.

Keep hope we No,

that's beautiful.

We were gonna use some translation,

but thankfully there's ai

Google Translate, right?

So, uh, that's special stuff to all

of Gray's family that's watching.

It's been a fun journey to be a

part of this with you guys and we

love you guys and we're excited for

you and your whole extended family.

'cause every time you get to visit, it's

gonna be a party at your house, right?

It's great stuff.

Well, Jamie, if you'd

come join me up here.

We're going to, uh, move into this

dedication ceremony and then I

have a few kind of closing thoughts

I wanna share with all of us.

And if you wanna go grab your

kids, they're kind of the

main, main stars of this scene.

So

we will stand over here.

That way you guys can, we'll trade

you spots and that way everybody

can, from your family can see,

Hey Jamie, we got work to do.

Interesting.

Oh yeah.

Whatever you need there.

We got stools.

Hey.

There you go.

There you go.

All right, let's get everybody up.

Centered a little bit here.

Oh, that's kind of pretty, huh?

That's a good look.

We'll stay right there.

Let's just move this stuff.

And

how are you guys?

Yeah, pretty fun, huh?

It's pretty fun.

Big time.

Yeah.

All right.

Sorry, I get distracted pretty easily too.

Um, wow.

What a special thing to get to

do together and what a special

season to get to do it in.

And

we got Charlotte and Clementine and they

are, you guys do, you guys are like pros.

Have you done this before?

No.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay, man.

Alright, well let's move into this

time of child dedication as we dedicate

Charlotte and we dedicate Clementine

to the Lord with their family.

Yeah.

As children, we're welcomed

by Jesus, so they are welcome

as part of this congregation.

As a new member of a family in this body,

they're an integral part of this church.

They're recipients of its blessings

and mission and experience.

Its fellowship, and maybe unfortunately

it's traditions as well as parents

bring their little ones in.

Presentation to the Lord.

We covenant as a congregation to

surround the children and their family

with the support of the people of God.

In this dedication today, parents publicly

commit themselves to provide a home in

which their children will grow up in the

nurture and admonition of the Lord and

where they will learn of Christ and his

ways and be encouraged to receive him

as their own personal Lord and Savior.

Her parents are the child's primary

pastor and greatest influence

for good and righteousness.

Proverbs 22, 6 says, train a child in

the way she should go, and when she

is old, she will not depart from it.

Well, Andrew and Gray, God has

been gracious to you in giving

you these precious gifts.

Yeah, that is really distracting, huh?

That's a really good smile you got going.

I like that.

Do you now present your children

before God in dedication to him?

If so, answer.

We do.

We do.

We do.

Okay.

Is it your purpose to bring up Clementine

and Charlotte in the ways of the Lord?

If so, answer It is.

It is 100.

Percent.

Well that that's an add on.

I like that.

That's good.

Will the two of you continue to

love each other as the chi, as these

children God has given you, so that

they will experience the meaning of

faith and hope and trust and grace

and everything else Jesus offers?

If so, answer, we will.

We'll.

We'll and will you endeavor to

provide a Christian home and

atmosphere for each of your children?

Will you teach them in the Christian faith

and way surrounding them with Christian

influences through the church and other

relationships and encourage them to their

own individual faith in Jesus Christ?

If so, answer With God's help, we will.

With God's help, we will.

Very good.

Alright, and congregation, I'm gonna

invite you symbolically to stand.

As a covenant with Andrew and Gray, and

our commitment to support and to love and

to encourage on this amazing journey of

faith with Charlotte and with Clementine.

And you might as well, you know what?

You could probably be seated if you want

to now, otherwise you're not able to

see all these little guys in the back.

But we see all that.

You see those guys all standing

with you in affirmation.

Alright, very good.

You, you may be seated.

And now let's, let's start.

What do you think?

Do you wanna go first, Charlotte?

All right, Charlotte.

Here we go, kiddo.

All right, how are you?

I got you on the wrong side

with this microphone, huh?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Actually I don't need that.

We're just gonna pray and dedicate

this little squirt to Jesus.

This is really like one of my favorite

things we get to do around here.

You know what I mean?

All the moms always hog the babies.

Do you notice that all the, all

the grandmas out there, they're

like, oh, let me hold her.

Let me, you know, but like I can make

this last for a good half hour here.

Sure.

Alright, well Charlotte, this day

we dedicate you to God that all

the efforts of mom and dad and your

church family will lead you to your

own relationship with Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you

so much for Charlotte.

Thank you for her love that she brings

into her home with her mom and dad.

Thank you for the sister Lord, that

she is gonna be in big, amazing ways.

Thank you for her little heart, God.

And we pray that you would guide and

direct her all the days of her life, that

you would protect her, that you would

surround her with your spirit and with

your love, and that you would draw her.

Deeper and deeper into a amazing

relationship with her love

or loving Heavenly Father.

This day.

God, we dedicate her to you.

In the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

All right, I'll give you back to Mom.

Oh, great job.

Great.

Great grip, huh?

All right, I'm here, Clementine.

How are you?

Squirt.

All right.

How are ya?

Yeah, those glasses look fun.

Huh?

Grab them.

Not good.

Precious little squirt.

I'm tell you, we should

get another one of these.

You know what I mean?

No.

Okay, so not, definitely not.

Alright.

Give it a year, Annie.

Okay?

Yeah.

Clementine.

You're a precious little lady.

Isn't that.

Yeah, well, God has big plans for both

of you girls and for your mom and dad,

and it's a privilege for us to get to

pray and dedicate you to Jesus today.

So Clementine today, we dedicate

you to God that all the efforts of

mom and dad and your church family,

and all the surrounding friends and

family that are part of your life

will help lead you in faith and into

your own relationship with Jesus.

'cause He loves you so much.

Lord Jesus.

Thank you for this precious little girl.

Thank you for the love that she brings.

Thank you for the opportunity, Lord

to be a part of her amazing family

that you've built and put together.

And God we pray over Clementine

that you would guide and direct

her all the days of her life.

That you would blaze the trail before

her, that you would watch over her

coming and going, and every step,

Lord, that you would lead her in

paths of righteousness and draw her to

you, protect her and watch over her.

And God that you would be a

constant present comfort and hope,

and encouragement in her life.

All the days on this earth that you

give her to shine bright for you.

Jesus, we dedicate her to you.

In the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

We should hang out more like this, huh?

I don't think I wanna

give you back to Dad.

This is kind of fun.

Okay.

Yeah.

I gotta see that.

Look.

Maybe it's time, dad.

All right.

Well, you guys can stand right here

for one moment, and I want to just

say a couple little closing thoughts.

Baby dedication.

This special ceremony, it is about

dedicating our children to the Lord,

but really at its heart, it's also about

parents being dedicated to the task

of raising God's sons and daughters.

And scripture tells us in Deuteronomy

six, six through seven, something really

important and it's addressed to the

leaders of the households dads, but it

applies to moms and everybody in between.

These commandments that I give you

today are to be upon your heart.

Impress them on your children.

Impress them.

That doesn't mean press them.

It means draw them into a desire to know

and to learn and to grow, share, and

love, and encouragement, and hope these

principles and commandments of the Lord.

You're supposed to talk about

'em when you sit at home.

I know most of us are busy on our

phones, or we're texting, or we're

playing video games, or we're

watching tv, but we're supposed to

be talking about the commandments

of the Lord when we're at our homes.

Oh, and also when we walk along the

road, when we're in transport, when

we're going places, so home or not home.

We're also supposed to, when we lie

down and when we get up, talk with

our children, impress upon them

the, the direction, the wisdom,

the instruction of the Lord.

It's kind of clear, right?

If you're at home or if you're not,

if you're laying down or if you're

not, there's really nothing left

to like be the area where we just

avoid talking, avoid impressing,

avoid teaching and instructing.

Train up a child in the way

she should go, and when she's

old, she won't depart from it.

This is a challenge, Andrew and Gray

that I wanna share with you, but church

family, I want to share it with you as

parents and I wanna share it with you

as surrogate moms and dads and aunts and

uncles and cousins, because the family

of God is not designed to be isolated.

People watching a show, it's family,

which means we're all part and we're all

invested together so that our children

can walk and the truth and know who

Jesus is and experience all the amazing

adventures that God has in store for them.

So amazing.

Yeah.

Amen.

Huh?

You guys done no more talking for me.

I got it.

Well, let's pray and we'll

get y'all outta here.

You guys have been very patient

on this holiday, mid Christmas,

new Year's morning, Lord Jesus.

Thank you.

For loving us.

Thank you for inviting us to be sons and

daughters in your kingdom adopting us

and loving us, and drawing us to you.

God, thank you for the gift

of getting to be a parent.

We live in a society that really

knocks it and says it's a hindrance,

but God, there is no greater gift.

Nothing more meaningful and

purposeful than getting to experience

being a dad or being a mom.

In this world that you've created, you're

a heavenly Father, the Heavenly Father,

and you entrust parenting to us, tasked

with raising your sons and daughters.

God, I pray over Andrew and Gray that you

would bless them, that you would guide and

you would direct them, that you would give

them strength and encouragement, and hope

and comfort, support, wisdom, discernment

in every area as they walk in life with

these little precious daughters of theirs.

And God, I pray, to help us as a

congregation to come alongside them,

offering support and encouragement

and guidance and help as well.

And God, I pray over all of us, all of

our families, all the children you've

entrusted to us, all the relationships

that you've put us in, may we be a light

that shines brightly, giving hope and

encouragement and sharing your love.

Thank you for this morning.

Thank you for this special time together.

And God, I pray you'd help us

to walk in amazing love towards

others in the week ahead.

In Jesus' name, amen.