The Blessing of Children | March 30, 2025

Oh, there it is, baby.

Baby.

Let's go.

Hug.

I mean, come on.

What other child dedication

music can we get?

Right?

Nice.

Great.

You did good, man.

Thanks.

That's why you're the children's pastor.

Good job.

Well, hey, we do have some fun and

special stuff scheduled today here.

For the child dedication ceremony that

will be part of our morning together.

It's very, um, serious and important, but

it involves kids and so it sometimes gets

a little crazy, but that's just what we

do on a regular basis on a Sunday morning.

So I guess technically not that crazy, but

this morning as I was thinking about child

dedication, it was fun to listen in the

sharing time about different kids and kids

growing up and where we're at with stuff.

Like, it's just, it's

such a neat part of life.

Getting to be a parent, um, getting to

be a kid, probably pretty nice thing too.

Transitioning into adult,

not as fun sometimes.

I'll definitely admit that.

But Jesus was a huge fan of kids.

In fact, uh, the disciples kind of got

themselves in trouble when they would try

to like, Hey, don't bother the teacher.

And Jesus would be like,

whoa, just a second man.

Kids are kind of a big deal.

A real big deal.

In fact, if we look over in Matthew

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18 verses two through

four, Jesus is talking and he's

teaching, and scripture says Jesus

invited a little child to come

and stand among them as he unpacks

some deep, eternal spiritual truth.

Now, I don't know if you've ever been

in a conversation, you and your friends

or other adults you were talking to.

What usually happens when you

invite a child to come stand in the

middle of that kind of serious talk?

What was that?

Yeah, yeah, that's

pretty much how it works.

And then I started thinking, well,

this morning we're gonna do child

dedication and we're gonna talk about

some important things about kids.

And then I was like, you know what?

I wanna be like Jesus in

every way I possibly can.

So I thought, you know, the only

way to really do this is probably,

I. To invite a little child to

come and stand while we talk.

So Petra, would you come help

me this morning, do something

pretty fun and awesome?

Give a big, big round of

applause for my friend Petra.

Thanks kiddo.

Um, you and I have a

height situation, don't I?

Would you like a stool?

Wish we get you a cool stool.

Maybe I can get, uh, Jed to pop.

Oh no, we got one right there.

How about that one?

Does that one look good?

No, I'll move it for you.

You're good.

Alright, no worries.

Alright, well, Petra, the Bible

says Jesus invited a little kid to

come and let me help you up on that.

Okay.

Or climb on it is great.

Perfect.

Oh, that's pretty cool.

You like that stool?

I'm really tempted to give you a

microphone to hold, but I don't know

if I'll get in a lot of trouble.

You know what I mean?

What do you think?

Should we use it?

Like, I think we should do it.

I do too.

I mean, hey man, it's White Rock, right?

Should hear what the normal guy says.

Okay.

You think you can hold onto that

carefully and can you just speak into

there and say hi to everybody for me?

Give it a shot.

So you just say hi.

Hi.

There we go.

Perfect.

Alright.

Okay kiddo.

Now some people out there might be

thinking to themselves, wait a second.

Jesus invited a little child to

stand and I just had you sit down.

So I don't know if that's right or wrong,

but I did some checking in the Greek

and this word, this heide word in the

Greek does mean to stand, but it also

means to set before someone a child.

So we are within boundaries here,

guys, of fulfilling what Jesus did.

We're gonna set petrol right here

and she's gonna help us think

about some her little bit stuff.

Can you do that?

So, hey, um, maybe so people can

know who you are a little bit.

I don't even know if people know,

um, how long have we been friends?

I don't know.

Oh, you gotta hold that

up there real close.

They can hear you.

I don't really know.

You don't really know.

Like do you don't really know how long or

you don't really know if we're friends.

Hmm.

I think we're pretty good

friends and we've done Whoa.

Whoa, man.

You are silly.

So can you tell everybody

who you are that might help?

Who are your mom and dad?

Are they here?

Somewhere in this room Over there.

Oh, that's right.

Silly.

I'm sorry.

My bad.

Yeah.

So Dax and Jackie are your mom,

and then there's a short little

guy who hangs outta your house.

What's his name?

It's all a he to her.

Oh.

Oh.

Well I meant the other one.

There's like one, just a little.

Do you have a brother or sister?

I have brothers.

Brothers?

Yeah.

Who was the short one that

hangs out at your house?

That's a her.

Is that your mom?

Wait a second, wait a second.

Hmm.

So, I don't know.

Do, do you know your ABCs yet?

How do they go?

Can you help me out?

A-B-C-D-E-F

G-H-I-J-K-L-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X,

Y, and Z. Nice job.

All right, adults, raise your hand if

you would've got all those on your own.

Raise your hand.

See I you did better than everybody else.

Well, I was just curious 'cause we're

gonna show some words on the screen and I

don't want you to have to read any words.

Don't worry.

But I wanted to show people that

you knew your ABCs and I needed

an excuse to show you an A, b, C

video of my kid when he was little.

Would you like to see that?

Yeah.

Have you met Jed?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Do you think Jed knows his ABCs?

Yes.

Good.

Okay.

Okay.

You just sang a really pretty ABCs song.

Jed had a different version.

He sang growing up.

Do you wanna see it?

Because I really wanna show it.

I have no good reason other than we're

talking about kids today and I want to

show you Jed's amazing A, B, C. We should

call him angry Jed, check this out.

Relax, act.

This means other videos probably aren't

gonna play, so why don't you relax.

Act like, tell you what,

I gotta change something.

Could you just cover for me a

minute and just talk to everybody?

That'll be great.

Maybe you can tell 'em a story about

Jesus or something cool like that.

Just act.

Just act like this is normal.

Go ahead.

Normal.

How?

What's your favorite color?

Pink.

Who's your favorite dance?

Ooh, don't answer that, Petra.

Okay, we'll take one more shot.

You ready?

ABCs are important.

It's how we get to words and kids are

amazing, but sometimes when you're

working with kids, they derail you or

go different directions than you expect.

This was Jed doing the ABCs as a

kid, and this is what we dealt with.

This is what we A, B, C, D.

No, how you do it by yourself.

I.

I dunno if you caught that last part.

His his closing Santa was next time.

I won't sing with you, so I don't know.

I don't know.

But a lot of fun stuff can

happen when you talk to kids.

Am I right?

Kids are pretty fun.

Do you think so?

Yeah.

More fun than moms and dads sometimes.

No.

Good answer.

Good answer.

All right, well let me tell you

what Jesus said, Petra, and then I'm

gonna have you help me 'cause some

of these people out here can barely

remember being kids, but do you

remember what it's like to be a kid?

Okay, good.

Then we'll be in good shape.

Alright, so Jesus said, truly I tell

you, unless you change and become

like little children, you will never

enter the kingdom of heaven unless you

change and become like little children.

You'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, he said whoever humbles himself

like this little child is the greatest.

In the kingdom of Heaven.

So even if moms and dads are

pretty cool, you can always

say, Hey, kids are the greatest.

Woo.

You think that's a good move?

Yeah.

I'm with you.

I'm with you.

Well, let's take these words up here,

Petra, like this little child, this

phrase, and then I'm gonna grab just

two of those words like a child,

and we're gonna flip it around and

we're gonna talk about childlike

and what it means to be childlike.

Would you say as a 5-year-old, that

you're kind of a professional kid, you'd

kind of know how to do it Pretty good?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

What, what do you do really well as a kid?

Like what's some of your best

kid skills, do you think?

I like jumping on the trampoline.

Jumping on a trampoline.

So what Jesus was saying is, unless

you jump on a trampoline, you will

never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Wait, I don't know if

he's talking about that.

Oh, you think so?

Hey, do you think in heaven we'll

be able to jump on trampolines?

No clouds?

No.

No.

Well, I don't know about

you, but I'm gonna be jumping

on a trampoline in heaven.

I'm just saying.

'cause I think it's

gonna be pretty awesome.

But when Jesus talks about

being a kid, he doesn't mean

be silly and goofy like a kid.

He means childlike faith.

And the faith of a child is a little

bit different than the faith of an old

person sometimes starting to get bored.

Good.

Okay.

I was just checking.

Whew.

All right, so let's do this,

Petra, I'm gonna put a word up

here and I want to just get your

professional kid opinion, okay?

Because when I think about

the faith of a child, I think

of a lot of different stuff.

But one thing I think

about is this word trust.

So let me ask you, and you gotta hold that

mic really close so we have it officially.

See those two people over

there, what's their names again?

Mom and dad, right?

That's them.

And then grandma's right beside them.

Wow.

Okay.

That's a quite the row.

Do you trust those people over there?

Yes you do.

Are you sure they're trustworthy?

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Dumb question.

Geez, my bad.

My bad.

So, um, what does it

mean to trust your mom?

Or you trust your dad?

What are you saying when you say you trust

them, you know that they are going to tell

you what to do and then you have to do it?

No.

Yeah, that's a great answer.

They are gonna tell you what to do.

And I wanna put another word up there.

Believe, and I'm curious

if you know this or not.

Petra, do you believe your mom

and dad tell you the truth?

Yes.

Okay, good.

That's a good answer.

And when they tell you to do

something, do you think they're

doing it to ruin your day?

How?

Why are they telling you

to do stuff, do you think?

'cause they love me and they

don't want me getting hurt.

Oh, that's a great answer.

Yeah, they love you and they don't want

you getting hurt right now this doesn't

apply to you, but your brother Cassian,

do you think he trusts mom and dad?

Yes.

Yes.

Do you think he does what they say too?

Pretty good.

Oh, that is good.

Okay.

I did not expect that answer.

Okay.

What about Tyrion?

Tarian seems like he's

pretty innocent over there.

Is he doing a pretty good job as a baby?

Yes, he's got it pretty well mastered.

Okay, that's good.

Well, trusting and believing your

mom and dad is kind of a big deal.

'cause they're gonna tell you the truth

and the reason they ask us to do stuff is

actually because they love us, not because

they're just trying to ruin our lives.

Could you say this for me real quick?

Pay attention to that.

Teenagers.

Go ahead.

Jesus.

The, our mom and dads don't

want to ruin us, but they don't

wanna hurt us from our days.

They wanna keep us safe.

See, just say teenagers at the end.

Teenagers.

Teenagers.

Good.

Okay.

We got it.

Good work.

Good work, man.

I gotta be honest.

I think you listened better than

most everybody else did to that.

That was good.

That was good.

So then there's another word

I was thinking of, Petra.

The word depend, like I'll bet as a kid

you have to depend on your mom or dad.

Is that true?

What kind of stuff do you depend

on your mom and dad to do?

Like around your house or out

in the park or stuff like that?

Can you think of anything

that you depend on them for?

I like when they just sit so we can

clean up the whole house for them.

Whoa.

Yeah.

You like when they sit down and let

you guys clean up the whole house?

That is, that is really special.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

Petra, do you know child labor laws?

Are you familiar with any of those?

Probably not.

Probably not.

What a fun game.

Laundry.

Oh, you got your badge.

Thank you, Theresa.

Yeah.

Child advocacy.

That's good.

That's good.

Do you think you could come over and

show Jed what you know about this?

Cool.

Cool.

Okay.

Uh, so I was gonna ask, you know, do

mom and dad maybe make you dinner?

But it sounds like you do that yourself.

Oh no, you don't make your own dinner.

Who makes the best dinner at your house?

My dad.

Your dad.

Ooh, let's go.

Okay.

He's probably gonna give you

some extra candy for that one.

But, um, depending on mom and

dad to take care of us, that's an

important thing kids do, don't they?

And then they also kind of expect mom

and dad to keep 'em safe probably too.

Right?

Like if you go to a park or you go

somewhere with your mom or dad or

maybe even just around the house, do

your mom and dad try to keep you safe?

Mm-hmm.

How do they try to keep you safe?

Do you have any ideas kind

of stuff they try to keep you

from trying to do things bad.

They'll probably hurt you and

the, uh, or people who try to

take you and put you in prison.

Ooh, yes.

People who try to take you

and put you, there's a lot of

robbers out there and bad guys.

Yep.

Stranger danger is good.

Here at White Rock, we're all a stranger.

That's, that's the danger.

Uh, yeah.

Super good.

Super good.

So safety and security, that's

something we get from moms and dads.

How about this word, children

listen to their mom and dad.

Is that true?

Yes.

How good do you listen

to your mom and dad?

Like sometimes I like to, sometimes

you like to listen to your mom and dad.

Okay.

How about Caspian?

He's not over here yet, but does

Caspian like to listen to mom and dad?

Pretty good.

Yeah.

Oh.

Oh no.

Why are mom and dad shaking their head?

No.

No, you're just being a

good big sister right now.

Good work.

Good work.

'cause you know, one day Caspian

will watch this recording on

YouTube and be like, what?

You ratted me up.

So another word for listening to

mom and dad is this word obey.

Do you like to obey?

Mm-hmm.

Oh, all the time.

Oh, because I'm on, I meant, but.

I just want you to know

Jesus sees you even at home.

Not just right here, but,

but still a good answer.

Try to obey all the time.

You are a much better kid than I was.

I did not always obey.

Sometimes I disobeyed.

What happens when you disobey?

When you're a kid, you

will get in trouble.

Mm. And have to clean the

whole house by yourself

without your team.

Um, I'm gonna put this word up here.

Um, because I think listening and

obeying, we don't always get it perfect,

but kids at least try to obey, right?

Try to obey.

This would be another good time

just to say the word teenagers.

Just for fun.

You can say teenagers.

No.

No.

Fair enough.

Now you're a teenager

with, with applauding.

Yeah.

That made Jed very happy.

And how about this last word as

we think about childlike faith.

What about this word love?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Good.

So love.

You think kids like,

love their mom and dad?

Mm-hmm.

A lot.

How much do you think?

Um, like 1200%.

1200%. Which is a lot of love.

That is legit.

That was legit.

So this is it important, well actually

this is maybe a weird question.

Why do you love your mom and dad?

So I like when they give me

things that sometimes I'm not to.

Wow.

So you love your mom and dad

because sometimes they give you

things you're not supposed to have.

This is a safe place, Petra.

Um, what kind of things?

You know, like something, sometimes

they'll, lemme have like special treats.

Oh, special treats.

Okay.

Good.

Good clarification, Petra.

Good clarification.

Hey, how about a huge round of

applause for Petra, helping us think

a little bit about childlike faith.

Great job, kiddo.

Thank you very much, man.

There you go.

Outta the mouths of

babes and infants, right?

That's what scripture says.

Can't get a better picture than that.

Children are a gift from the Lord.

And let me just go back and

just say this of his children

and trying to follow Jesus.

Our Heavenly Father loves us, like

a father loves his children, and

we're in a child father relationship

with our Heavenly Father, and

there ought to be elements.

That doesn't mean that we're super

naive and young and and, and don't

know anything, but even where we're

at in our stage of life, we ought to

trust that our Heavenly Father has

good in store and cares about us.

And his motivation isn't

just to ruin our life.

It's actually to keep us safe,

and to protect us, and to help us.

We read God's word a lot of

times and we're like, oh,

man, taking away all the fun.

No, maybe taking away all the poison and

the danger and the misery and the pain.

That's what a good parent does, right?

We need to trust our heavenly Father,

and sometimes the devil tricks us

into trying to depend on ourselves

and be self-reliant and independent.

But the truth is, man, we need the Lord in

our life to guide, to direct, to protect.

To keep us safe and we ought to

pray over that and, and relish that.

Not, not let the devil tell us

that that's some kind of a, oh

man, you're not strong enough.

You're not, no man.

We need our heavenly father

and his protection, his safety.

And then, oh, the hardest

part of being a kid.

Obeying your mom and dad.

Right?

Petra did a great job on the stage in

front of Jesus and everyone, but let's

be honest, obeying is hard sometimes,

and sometimes we just want to be

disobedient, rebellious and do our thing.

But God calls us to be people who

listen and obey and it's almost always

in our best interest that we do.

Um, though the enemy would

tell us something otherwise.

And ultimately love.

If you don't believe kids love their

parents, you gotta hang out on Sunday

school, on a Mother's day weekend, making

cards love, love, love, love, right?

It's the big word in every card.

'cause there's a love relationship

between a child and their parent

and there ought to be one there.

And when these things are

missing, we see kids act out.

We see people struggle and

maybe there's holes in some of

our own experience growing up.

But the reality is this, that

our heavenly father loves us and

invites us into relationship.

And he says, unless you live like one

of my kids, you're just gonna miss

it 'cause you're gonna be somewhere

totally different and wandering.

But my kids come into my house and

they connect and in relationship with

me, get to experience all the good

things that I have in store for them.

Children are a gift from the Lord.

A gift, a treasure, and

sometimes it doesn't work out

physiologically to have kids.

Sometimes cool adoption things,

and sometimes things just happen

in this life that are tricky.

But man, make no mistake,

children are a gift from the Lord.

And we live in a culture that says

the opposite a lot of times, and

treats kids as well, less than ideal,

important, valuable, significant.

Um, in fact, I wanted to show you

like a ten second clip from this guy.

Uh, you may know him.

His name is Elon Musk.

I was hoping to get into a big political

fight this morning in church if we could.

No, I'm just kidding.

Uh, forget about Elon Musk in

a political sense for a minute.

And I want you just to think about Elon

Musk, the richest man in the world, the

guy who has everything that you could

ever think you want, that you could

ever think would make you happy, that

you could ever think would bring you

joy and purpose and value in this life.

This is a clip.

Uh, he talks a lot about abortion.

Here's, I cut a bunch of clips

of this together, just a couple

seconds of him saying some things.

But here what he says,

this is pretty interesting.

Um, and, and the reality is

there's, there's nothing greater

than having a kid, you know?

Um, I, I get, you know, more joy in my

life for my kids than anything else.

That it is a very natural thing, uh,

that you will love your children.

Um, so, so in fact, uh, having a child

is so we sta what will make you happier

than anything else in your life, ever.

So he's stammering a little bit.

Great delivery.

But the point is simply

this, my name is Elon Musk.

I can buy happiness, I can buy joy, I

can buy purpose, I can buy meaning in

any capacity this world has to offer.

But you know, where the greatest joy

and the greatest happiness comes from?

Following God's simple design for husbands

and wives and family, to experience the

meaning of love and joy and purpose.

What a cool thing.

You can't buy that no matter

how much money you have.

And here's a guy who has reached the

pinnacle of financial success and has

any toy and any treasure you could

imagine, and he's saying kids are

more valuable, getting to be a dad.

More joy, more happiness.

Don't miss that.

That's significant.

Children are a gift from the Lord.

Well, we're gonna move into a

time of child dedication, and

here's what we do at White Rock.

We believe in believers baptism, which

means we baptize people in water when

they're at an age where they can make

a conscious decision that they want

to be baptized in obedience to Jesus.

That's a believer's baptism.

They believe in Jesus as their savior.

So we don't practice infant baptism.

Um, there's different groups that do

that, but that's just more of a symbolic

thing because I don't know a lot of

these babies who are making conscious

decisions to follow Jesus Christ.

They're just trying to get.

To the next bottle.

And that's the thing, right?

Maybe you are too.

I get it.

But, um, that's problematic

on a lot of fronts.

Um, but we do something called child

dedication, which is an effort on

behalf of families to say, I want to

try to train up a child in the way

he should go so that when he is old

or she, they won't depart from it.

I wanna try to raise my

children to follow the Lord.

I wanna raise them in an environment

where Jesus is honored and they

have an opportunity to grow and

experience faith for themselves.

And I'm gonna dedicate myself to that task

and dedicate my children to that task.

And as a congregation, we get

a chance to stand in a covenant

relationship with that as well.

It's no small task.

Training up a child.

Fathers, don't miss this.

It's not moms, don't provoke your children

to anger, but instead bring them up.

In the discipline and instruction

of the Lord Dads, we've gotta

raise our kids to follow God

and his principles and his ways.

In fact, Deuteronomy says we're talking

about God's principles to our children.

When we sit at home, when we walk

along the road, when we lie down, when

we get up on and on and on and on.

That we are to teach and to train and

to disciple our kids and help them

learn what it means to follow Jesus.

Well, I'm gonna invite Jamie up here

'cause we have several families that

would like to do child dedication this

morning, and logistics is my specialty.

Just kidding.

Jamie is gonna come up and make

sure we have the right people in

the right places at the right times.

Yeah.

Do you want that?

I don't think so.

I might.

It depends on if I get this thing

ripped outta my ear by cute little

kids, which is pretty normal.

So what we're gonna do,

we're gonna invite, uh.

Austin and Haley, Blake and

Zane and Vivian up front.

If you guys wanna sneak up here first.

I'm only rolling up my sleeves

'cause we're getting to work here.

It's not a thing, right?

Yes.

Thank you.

Perfect.

So I thought in the interest of time for

everyone, I'm gonna read this introductory

part and then we'll walk through some

simple questions for you guys and

for each family that's gonna come up.

And then we're gonna, I'm gonna invite you

as a congregation to stand in agreement,

uh, with trying to help be the influence

for Christ for all these little turkeys.

And then we're gonna pray a prayer

blessing and we're gonna keep rotating

through all of the fun this morning.

This is why we had to have Petra come

help to set the stage with kids because

kids on the stage are pretty fun.

Hey, hey, tell Zane to quit

acting like his grandpa.

We gotta do some stuff here.

Okay?

Alright.

So to all of you families who are

dedicating your children today, this

is the introduction that I won't read

to each of you, but hear these words

as children, we're welcomed by Jesus.

So they're 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 traditions.

As parents bring their little

ones in presentation to the Lord.

We as a congregation covenant to

surround the child 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 child or children will grow

up in the nurture and admonition of

the Lord and where he or she or they.

We'll learn of Christ and his ways

and be encouraged to receive him as

Savior and Lord of their own life.

And it's important to be reminded

of parents that you are the child's

primary pastor and the greatest

influence for following Jesus

and walking in righteousness.

With all that said, Austin and

Haley, God has been gracious to you

in giving you the gift of Vivian.

Do you now present her

before God in dedication?

If so, answer.

We do.

We do.

Is it your purpose to bring up

Vivian in the ways of the Lord?

If so, answer it is.

It's And will you continue to

love each other and Vivian so that

she will experience the meaning

of trust and love and grace?

If so, answer, we will.

We'll, and Zane can be

a part of it too, bro.

Yes.

Austin and Haley, will you

endeavor to provide a Christian

home and atmosphere for Vivian?

Will you teach her in the Christian

faith and way and surround her with

Christian influences through the

church and other relationships and

encourage her to faith in Jesus Christ?

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

Alright, well congregation, I'm

gonna invite you as a sign of

Covenanting, is that a word?

Covenant relationship together to stand

and, uh, we will pray over Vivian a

prayer of blessing because while it

takes a village is a nice cliche, the

truth is it takes the whole family of

God to bring impact and influence in

the lives of these little gals and guys.

So come here, squirt.

Hey Vivian, can I see you?

Oh, how we doing?

Yeah, how are you?

There's a lot of fun stuff to grab.

I know.

Yeah.

All right, well, let's pray.

Dear Jesus, thank you so much for

Vivian, for her little heart and

the joy that she is to her family.

Thank you so much for your love for

her and Father, this day we dedicate

her to you and we ask Lord that you

would protect her and watch over her.

That you would help her as she grows

strong and as she grows in physical ways,

but also Lord, spiritually, that you would

walk with her all the days of her life,

and Lord, that she would come to a place,

all of us as her, where she would choose

you as Lord and Savior, help her mom and

dad and all of us as her church family to

shine brightly and love well, for all the

days of her life, we dedicate her to you.

In the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Good job.

You wanna just hang out for a

while because this could be fun

on stage.

And they go, yeah.

What should we do next?

I don't really wanna stop

'cause it's kind of fun.

I don't get to hold babies a lot.

Jed's very big.

He doesn't get in my arms

anymore like he should.

All right, well I'll give you back to mom.

There we go.

You may be seated congregation, but

you're gonna have more standing to do.

So we'll let you guys step down and

then at the end we're gonna have

everybody come up for a big picture.

But for right now, we'll

get you rolling on that.

Jamie, who's next?

You want Renee?

Yeah.

I didn't know if you had

your list there, sorry.

Alright.

Derek and Renee Hancock are gonna

sneak up here and bring Clinton,

he's rolling around.

Oh, there we go.

Perfect.

I told Derrick there's a customary

song that the father sings when

the first child is dedicated.

Um, and then he said, okay, so I

backed off of that pretty quick.

Pretty quick.

Let me just be honest.

Right there.

All right.

So big guy looking sharp.

Yeah.

Love it.

Alright, well you guys heard the

introduction and the groundwork for what

this call is to dedication, dedicating

ourselves to raise these little guys

and help Clinton in learning more

and more about Jesus and being in an

environment where he gets to experience

all the love that God has for him.

Well, I have some questions I

want to ask you and if you answer

'em right, we're gonna pray.

So Derrick and Renee, God

has been gracious to you in

giving you the gift of Clinton.

Do you now present Clinton

before God and dedication to him?

If so, answer.

We do.

We do.

And is it your purpose to bring up

Clinton in the ways of the Lord?

If so, answer It is.

It is.

And will you continue to love each other

and Clinton so that he will experience

the meaning of trust and love and grace?

If so, answer.

We will, we will.

Yes.

And will you endeavor to provide a

Christian home and atmosphere for Clinton?

Will you teach him in the Christian

faith and way surrounding him with

Christian influences through the chief?

So answer with God's ships and encourage

him to his own faith in Jesus Christ.

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

We'll, there you go.

All right.

Well, congregation, you know the

drill if you'd stand in agreement

with this family as we surround

Clinton and Derek and Renee.

How we doing?

Big guy.

Oh, all right.

Oh man.

This is gonna be fun, huh?

You see all those people out there,

they're pulling for you, and then

you're gonna pull on that perfect segue.

All right, well, let's pray.

Dear Jesus, thank you so much for

Clinton, for his little heart and his

life and the bright light that he is.

Thank you so much for the gift of him

to Derrick and Renee and his whole

family, his church, family, and Lord,

we pray that you would walk beside him

all the days of his life, that you would

fill his little hearts with a love for

you, that you would guide and direct

his steps as he grows big and strong,

both physically and spiritually, Lord.

And I pray that you'd help his mom

and dad to have wisdom, to know how to

love well, and to lead and to teach.

And God, I pray you'd help us as

a congregation and church family

to surround him with all the love

and encouragement and support that

he needs to come to faith in you.

So this day we dedicate Clinton

to you in the name of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

Great job.

Alright.

Anything you wanna say?

Perfect.

Okay.

Alright.

You guys can be seated.

Great job, big guy.

All right, thanks.

Showing all.

Yeah, we'll get the shellings

up here if you guys can.

This is a two for one deal.

You know, we don't always make this

special, but, uh, it was a half

price Sunday, so that's, that's good.

Alright.

All right.

Got questions for them?

Yes.

Nope.

Nope, we're good.

Well, yeah, I was gonna do

'em separate if that works.

Yeah, yeah.

We will ask the questions one time deal.

Meredith, let's just sit up here.

Yeah.

Do you wanna sit up there?

Meredith?

Here.

I'll take that thing from you.

It's not really fair that

Petro got to do it, right?

I mean, let's, let's, uh, whoops.

All right.

All right, guys.

Man, this is a good picture right here.

I just wonder how long we can be good.

It's just sort of tempting to

just see, you know, not long.

Not long.

Okay.

Okay, moving on.

Moving on.

Alright guys, so Meredith and

Reese are gonna be dedicated to

Jesus today, and I'll ask you

the questions one time for both.

How about that?

And then we'll pray over each of 'em.

That way we can blend this

into a productive time.

So guys, God has been gracious

to you in giving you the gift

of both Meredith and Reese.

And do you now present them

before God and dedication to him?

If so, answer.

We do.

We do.

And is it your purpose to bring them

both up in the ways of the Lord?

If so, answer is it's

what happened up there?

What did happen up there?

That's a great question.

Some of the guys at church built this

place, so we should have a serious talk.

Alright, Dan and Jen, will you continue

to love each other and the child God

has, uh, the children God has given

you so that they will experience the

meaning of trust and love and grace.

If so, answer, we will and will you

endeavor to provide a Christian home and

atmosphere founding them, both Meredith

and Reese, to 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 faith in Jesus Christ.

If so, answer with God's help.

We will.

God's help.

We will.

Alright, and White Rock family,

if you're up for the challenge,

this is, this is twice as much as

last time, so think it through.

But if you would stand in unison, we

wanna pray and support and love you guys.

All right, Reese, how about we start here?

'cause Meredith is doing such

a good job sitting all right.

I've always had a sweet spot for Reese.

Since I first met her.

'cause I really like Reese's cups,

and that was a really good way to go.

And there might be another,

there might be another reason

for the lineage of that name.

But nothing, nothing comes to mind.

So let's pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you so much for

Reese and for her little heart.

Thank you for her life and the gift

that she is to her mom and dad.

Lord, thank you for the opportunity to

have her in life and Lord, the opportunity

as sisters to walk and try to follow

Jesus, the opportunity as a daughter

to grow and faith in you and Jesus.

I just pray that as she grows up big

and strong, that you would speak life

and love and hope into her heart, that

you would draw her close to you, that

physically as she grows, strong Lord,

that her faith would grow strong in

you, and that she would be a bright,

shining light to the world around her.

I pray that you would guide and

direct her all the days of her life.

And help her as she grows and becomes the

young woman that you have in store for her

one day to be impactful for your kingdom.

We commit her to you and we

dedicate her to you this day.

In the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Great job.

Great job.

Whoa, super chill.

Can I hold you Meredith?

Yes.

Alright.

Last time I saw Meredith.

Seems like you were going down a

slide or something fun like that.

You know what, we can sit right here

and I can just sit right here because

that sounds more fun to stand by Mom

and dad and then I'll just do this, huh?

Alright, well let's pray for you

kiddo, and thanks for coming up and

being here today with everybody.

Dear Jesus.

Thank you so much for Meredith.

Thank you for her spunk and her spirit.

Lord, uh, you do big things.

Uh.

When you mold and shape us more

and more into your will and God,

I'm thankful for her heart and what

she brings to this world around us.

And I pray, Lord, that as she grows more

and more to become a faithful follower

of you and love you with her whole

heart, that you would use her in huge

ways to impact the world around her.

Thank you so much for the gift that

she is as a big sister and a daughter.

And Lord I pray that uh, you would

bless her as she grows both physically

and spiritually into the young lady

that you have destined her to be.

Help mom and dad for both of

the adventures here that they

get with their daughters.

Lord, help them and guide and

direct their steps and help us as

a church to love this family well.

And thanks so much for the

privilege of doing life with them.

We commit Meredith to you

and dedication this day.

In the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Great job, kiddo.

Gimme five.

Nice job.

All right, you guys may be seated.

Thanks so much.

And sorry.

Yeah, Alan's,

Petra.

I feel like I've seen you

recently somewhere else.

No, it was right here.

Okay.

It's good to have all four

of you here together today.

Yeah.

How are you?

Big guy?

Yep.

That's the cook right there.

That's dad.

And we heard all about that.

Yeah.

I'm sorry.

I get distracted by these kids.

All right.

Well, Caspian is joining in spirit.

I. And supervised next door.

That's what I understand.

Okay.

Okay, we're, we're gonna

hedge our bets here.

Okay.

Alright.

Well Dax and Jackie, they

say the third time's a charm.

So I'm hoping this time, this time,

well, such a gift to be able to

do this three times with you guys.

So Dax and Jackie, God has been gracious

to you in giving you the gift of Tyrion.

Do you now present him

before God in dedication?

If so, answer.

We do.

We do.

And is it your purpose to bring

ion up in the ways of the Lord?

If so, answer It is.

It is.

And will you continue to love each other

anion so that he will experience the

meaning of trust and love and grace?

If so, answer.

We will, we will.

And will you endeavor to provide a

Christian home and atmosphere for Tyrion?

Will you teach him?

In the Christian faith in ways

surrounding him with Christian

influences through the church and

other relationships to encourage him

to his own faith in Jesus Christ.

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

With God's help, we Alright,

gonna, it comes a shock, but

white rock, if you would, stand

in unison and covenant together

with Dax and Jackie, their family.

And we're going to pray over tarian and

excited about what God has in store.

Come here, big guy.

Hey, can I hold you?

Oh, all right.

Got so much more hair than me, man.

Totally not fair.

Totally not fair.

Alright, well, let's pray.

Dear Jesus, thank you for tearing

for his little life, his heart, for

the gift that he is to his family,

to his mom and dad, and what an

awesome opportunity to get to do life.

With a big sister and a big brother.

And Lord, I pray that you would help

him as he grows big and strong in

spirit and physically, Lord, that you

would just mold and shape his life to

reflect your glory, that you'd guide and

direct him and help him to be all that

uh, you destined his life to be about.

And Lord, I pray that he would walk

faithfully with you and that he would

know you as His Lord and Savior.

I pray, Lord, that you would help his

mom and dad guide and direct them with

wisdom, discernment, and I pray, Lord,

you'd help his big sister and big Brother

too in that process and help us as a

church to love well and surround him with

the support and encouragement he needs.

Lord, we thank you for tearing

and the gift that he is and we

dedicate him this day to you.

In the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Great job, man.

Same thing.

I'm just noticing he has the same look

as dad has when I'm talking to him.

You just kinda, all right.

Congratulations you guys.

Are we done?

I'm, I think we're done.

Alright, well, hey, while you're still

standing, I think a standing ovation's

appropriate for all of these families and

uh, well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Jackie,

I meant to say, as the families who

just did dedication, make their way to

the platform so we can get a picture

with everybody and send them off.

Unless, unless everybody

just bailed already.

That happens too.

Come on up, guys, and we'll

spread out across this platform.

It is a awesome thing to get to

raise our children for the Lord

and get to experience all the joy.

I don't know how you feel about Elon

Musk, but I think he kind of crushed it.

There is no greater joy than getting

to be a mom or dad and to raise this

incredible gift of kids for him.

So super excited about that.

Let's pray and we'll wrap up here.

Lord Jesus, thank you for

all of these families.

Thank you for the design of family

that gives us love and joy and purpose.

Thank you so much for the gift of

getting to be your children and

being loved by our Heavenly Father.

Lord, I pray for amazing days and

tremendous impact in all eternity

because of these little squirts up here

on the platform and their families.

And God, I pray that you would

walk with us this week, bring

us strength and encouragement.

Thanks so much for your love.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Have a great day, white Rock.

Make sure you come greet these people.