Matthew Pt. 72- Let The Children Come

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

So here we are in Matthew 19. The first thing we covered last

week is Jesus of course was talking about divorce and now or

he was talking, he was talking about marriage primarily.

Others were were talking about divorce and we saw that Jesus

was emphasizing marriage. But now we continue, we're in

verse 13, we're we're going to cover a whopping 3 verses with

our sermon today. Then they were brought to him

that he might lay his hands on them and pray.

The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, let the

little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such

belongs the Kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them

and went away. God, I pray you would bring

revelation and light. I pray that you would move in

power as this Word comes forth. I pray that it would be deeply

received. We commit to obedience before

the Word is breached because we love you and we want what's best

from you. And in our lives.

God help us to be humble and childlike in our own faith that

we wouldn't be defensive, but that we would be joyfully

receptive to the transformation that you offer through Your

Word. If there's any surgery that

you're going to do in us through this message, we just receive it

with gladness. Remove infection and strengthen

us as a body. Lord above it all, I pray that

you would strengthen our children.

I pray that you would bring our children into Your very

presence. I pray that they would know you,

that they would see you, that they would encounter you so that

nothing could pull them or change them, so that you would

rescue them in such a mighty way that they would recognize that

the Lord has done it. That they would love you for

themselves, that they would cherish you for themselves and

they they would enjoy you for themselves.

Not because it's their family culture, although family

cultures are good, not because it's the the the culture of the

the country that they live in, although that is a blessing to

them, but all for themselves because they know you.

Reveal yourself God and save our children.

Bring them into your presence in Jesus name, Amen.

So this scene follows with the children coming to Jesus.

Remember we're he's, he's moving towards the cross, he's moving

towards Jerusalem. We're in the last few months of

his life, and now this scene is following after Jesus is

teaching on marriage. And that's not a coincidence.

One of the reasons Jesus is so big on marriage is because Jesus

loves children. Strong marriages create stable

homes, and stable homes are where children are most easily

going to encounter the love and the presence of God.

So children matter deeply to Jesus and a time and a place

where kids didn't matter at all. In Jewish culture, childhood was

just seen as an insignificant part of life.

So yeah, once you become an adult, your life will have

meaning and purpose to it. But now you're just a kid, so

children were not prioritized. But this is pretty wild because

just in chapter 18, remember the disciples were arguing who's the

greatest among us? Jesus brings a little child.

This wasn't long ago. This is probably within the past

30 days that Jesus brought a little child.

He said this is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, a toddler

most likely this is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

So already they've forgotten that lesson and Jesus is

ministering. Jesus is working and parents are

saying I'd love for him to pray for my child.

I'd love for him to bless my child, which is a good thing to

do. Natalie and I have done that.

There have been men of God over the years who we've just like as

they've come and minister different places and we've

greeted them and just talked with them after a service over a

meal. We just said, hey, would you,

would you just pray for them and bless our children?

Not because that as Jesus, not that we don't pray for and bless

our own children all the time, and yet still we sense the

presence of the Lord in a way that we just, we just would want

to see what the Lord might say through the man of God.

We're not putting pressure, we're not elevating man with any

kind of I've lost the word popular is not the word famous.

No, no Christian fame or anything like that, but just

recognizing the gift of God. And so that's, that's what's

happening here. Now, of course, in this case,

these parents are very wise. These parents are doing it

right. This is Jesus himself.

So they're pressing in that the disciples go, hey, hey, don't

bother the master with, with kids.

Don't bother the master with, with little children.

He doesn't have time. He's doing important work.

What, what's the important work? Ministering to adults, of

course, because adults are what really matters.

Well, that's not true at all. People are what matter to God.

Little people, people who live in their mommy's wombs, matter

to God. People who have been born matter

to God. All people matter to God.

Really old people matter to God. People who are dying and will be

gone soon, they matter deeply to God.

Everybody is precious and matters to the Lord.

It's man who puts rankings on people's power, on people's

value, on people's position. The man who says, well this is

more valuable, 1 might be more useful than the other.

Is an adult more useful than a child?

Well, sure, an adult is typically going to be more

useful than a child is, but the Lord said we that hasn't

indicated anything to do with their value values.

A different conversation. Jesus values and loves little

children, but the disciples still haven't learned this

lesson yet. So the Holy Spirit even recorded

he he impressed upon Matthew, Mark and Luke to record this

moment. So that repetition is rare.

And the Gospels, when we see a thing repeated over and over,

that's on purpose, that's intentional by the Lord.

So again in Matthew 18, he says unless you turn and become like

children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.

And now just one chapter later, they're pushing actual children

away. It's a reminder that even the

most well meaning Christians, apostles included, can sometimes

be dead wrong. That should comfort you.

That should encourage you. Sometimes even the most sincere

and faithful Christians, even your pastor, sincere and

faithful man of God can be dead wrong.

There's things where it's like, I think he was dead wrong on

that. And I'm and maybe I was.

It's entirely possible. You know what?

The the 12 Apostles of the Lamb could get it dead wrong on

something. A lesson they had supposedly

just learned, and now they botch it completely.

Does this mean that they're all cat?

That they should all be castaway?

No, not at all. No, they're still going to go do

the mighty work that we read about through the book of Acts

and through throughout church history.

Still useful. This is good news for you,

right? Have you ever been dead wrong,

or am I the only one? You're so sincere and you're So

you got such conviction. No, to get these kids out of

here. We got important.

What you do? Hey, you idiots.

No. Bring the children.

Let the children come to me. And then Jesus lays his hands on

all of them. That's good news.

We're in good company. You can be dead wrong.

Others have been dead wrong before.

You could be confused. They could have been confused.

You can unintentionally mislead or even deliberately work to

keep others out of the presence of God, which is what the

disciples were doing here. They probably weren't doing it

with that full intention, but still, it's a scary thing.

That means you may have been hurt or hindered by other

sincere Christians in the past. I already know that you have.

You know why? Because if you spent any time

around Christians, you spent time around humans, people who

have flesh, although they have been made new in Christ, they

could still air, they could still make a big mistake.

They could, they could be faithful in a million ways and

they could sin against you. So that's probably happened to

you. Maybe it was their rudeness,

maybe it was their pride. Jesus still wants you.

Jesus still says let him come, let her come to me.

So don't allow somebody else to be your barrier to the presence

of the Lord. You may have been the one who

hindered someone else from coming to Jesus.

If you know of who, and if you know of when, that's something

that you should make right. That's something that you should

reach out and go. I thought of something.

The Lord brought this to my remembrance.

And this might seem weird. This might seem like a long time

ago and maybe it means a lot to you.

Maybe it means nothing to you, but here it is.

I am genuinely sorry for insert thing here.

That's humbling, isn't it? Welcome to Christianity, welcome

to that cross that you're going to keep getting on every single

day, that you're going to keep following Jesus.

But what a healing that might bring, what a deliverance that

might bring, what a blockage that might free up in somebodies

life. What a gift that could be.

Don't let anyone or anything come between you and God's

presence. Be a pursuer.

We don't have a record of how hard did the parents pursue.

We just have the record of the disciples and they're kind of

being the gatekeepers. Oh, the Lord doesn't want to

like that. Lord doesn't want to like that.

We see that again. Well, Bartimaeus, whenever he's

crying out, there's a couple blind men, they're crying out

for Jesus and everybody's going to shut up, shut up, shut up.

Leave the master alone and he's just moving through the area.

Son of son of David, have mercy on me, Have mercy on me.

Everybody's going to shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut

up. But he just persists all the

more. A blind man following may be

stumbling, but hungry and will not listen to anybody.

That's the right attitude. And Jesus said, bring him to me.

And of course, the whole crowd changes their tune and they go,

the masters calling you, come, come, He's inviting you.

All the gatekeepers suddenly like, Oh yeah, I've learned that

Jesus actually cares about everybody.

So I'm going to make this as practical as I can today.

I want to help parents know what does it look like to bring your

children into the presence of God?

First of all, you need to know that you should and this will

apply to parents. For those of you who aren't yet

parents, this will be a sermon to remember.

And for those of you who have children that are grown or

grandchildren at this point, you're still going to know how

to pray because I'm going to give you that's the biggest

powerful unlock from this sermon is how to pray for the children

that you love. But it is a responsibility of

parents to bring their children into the presence of God.

You are sent by God to testify to your children about the love

of God. Your attention, your tone, your

affection, your time, your sacrifice, and your prayers all

tell your children something about God.

Fathers in particular are commanded to raise their

children. In Ephesians were were commanded

to raise our children in the fear and the admonition of the

Lord, or the training and the instruction of the Lord, or the

discipline and the adoration of the Lord.

This is a command specifically given to fathers.

Why? Because fathers are to image the

Father God. Bad news for us.

We do that imperfectly all the time.

Good news for us, when we do it well, we get to represent to our

children what does it really look like.

That was the Lord's intention. Just like our marriages don't

perfectly unfortunately show Christ in the church, fathers to

their children don't perfectly reveal the heart of the Father.

And yet we are supposed to significantly reveal the heart

of the Father. Some of you had awesome dads.

I had an awesome dad. So that's an easy lesson for me

to absorb. And I just go, Yep, I get it.

That's a straight line connection.

Some of you had terrible dads and that's a difficult

connection to make. And still the Lord can reveal

himself to you and overcome that.

So nothing is insurmountable for the Lord and all things can be

resurrected by our God who specializes in raising things

from the dead. And still it's an important,

it's an important lesson for us to remember.

Parents should ask themselves this question, is my fathering

or is my mothering A hindrance or a highway to my child coming

to Jesus? Is my fathering, is my

mothering, is my walk with the Lord?

Is it a hindrance to my kids? Or is it a highway if I just

paved the road in front of them and just made it so obvious, or

have I put a bunch of obstacles in their way?

Getting your kids into the presence of God is the most

powerful thing that you can do for them, because if they get

into His presence, they will also get His principles.

But the scary thing is that if a child only has the principles of

God, the principles of God don't always lead someone into the

presence of God. When I'm talking about the

principles versus the presence, this idea I have, I'm thinking

about Moses. Think about what God did with

Moses. God drew Moses first to the

burning Bush. Moses in the wilderness for 40

years, he's just taking care of sheep, and God draws him to the

burning Bush. And then later he gets Moses the

10 commandments. The presence comes before the

principal. If God can get you to the

burning Bush, his principles will follow.

But the reverse isn't always true.

The Pharisees have all the principles of God.

They know the rules, they know the Word, they know theology.

They are theologians, and everybody's impressed with that.

That is a problem. The being a theologian is not a

problem, but being impressed with that alone is a problem.

Fruit should be the thing that we're after.

And fruit can only come out of the presence of God, because

apart from him you can do nothing.

Apart from Him you can know a bunch of something.

You can know a lot apart from him, but apart from him you can

do nothing. So you see this in people's

lives. You see lots of knowledge, man.

They know something. Yeah.

But what do they do? Do they do anything?

That's the ultimate test of am I connected to Jesus?

Because if I'm connected to Jesus, fruit has to show up.

And if I'm not connected to Jesus, fruit can't show up.

I can't manifest it. I can fake it temporarily, but

you know who I can't fake it in front of?

My kids, because they live with me and they see it day in and

day out, day in and day out. I can fake it in front of you.

Maybe, maybe I can put on a Sunday morning smile and do what

I have to do. I've been around church culture

a long time, so I know the things to say.

I know the things to do. I know how to act bless you and

bless you, and I know I know how to go through the motions.

That's a dangerous and scary place to be because you're so

comfortable. It's so familiar.

That's why I prayed the way I prayed before service.

Lord, I know how to go through a church service.

I know how to preach a decent sermon, say Amen, OK, thank you,

a decent sermon, I can preach my way out of a wet paper bag.

Can we agree on that? A wet paper, if it's wet, I can

certainly get out, no doubt. But you get so comfortable, you

get so used to things. It's so familiar.

Instead of being like Moses, like we prayed earlier, God said

go on into the promised land. Moses says I will not go unless

your presence goes with us. But God said you go ahead, I'm

not going to go. I'm sick of the people.

And he wants Moses to intercede. This is a test.

He wants Moses to intercede on behalf of the people.

He wants him to have the heart of God.

And Moses says I won't even go. I'm not going, just kill me.

I'm not going without your presence.

I won't go. And the Lord goes, I like that.

And the Lord did like that. That's the kind of prayer we

want to have. That's the kind of perspective

we have to take because our kids can see and know and taste the

difference. If we get into God's presence,

we will always end up at the principles.

But if we start with the principles, we will not always

necessarily end up in the presence.

As we've said many times, the Pharisees have the principles,

but they don't recognize the presence when He's staring them

in the face. How many people grew up in homes

where the principles of God were taught, but then they walked

away because they didn't ever have the presence of God?

There wasn't. There wasn't real affection.

There wasn't real devotion. It was just, I know the rules.

I know the things to say. Or maybe there was, and maybe

they were just wildly imperfect or wildly immature.

Or maybe there just wasn't growth for a long time.

Some of you were in households like that.

You're like, yeah, that's what I heard.

That's what I saw. It was like the principles were

there. We're kind of like, sprinkle

Jesus on top of everything that we do, but not really.

If we live that way, then there's a consequence.

We end up living as a nation that's been blessed because it

has prioritized the principles of God.

But without the love for God, we end up with a country that

really isn't devoted to him. So Christian principles, I want

to make clear biblical principles will bless your life.

So if I could, if I could meet somebody on the street and I

wanted to help them, the most important thing I want to do for

them is get them the gospel. That way they would be made a

new creation and now they can live a new life with a new

identity. But still, biblical principles

will bless their lives if they understand sowing and reaping,

if they understand generosity and the Lord's financial

provision, if they understand why monogamy is objectively

significantly better, and if they would keep their vows to

their spouse all the days of their lives.

Like there's a million biblical principles, we could say live

this way, live this way, live this way to the degree the

degree to which any human being lives out the principles of God

is the degree to which they experience the Kingdom of heaven

in their lives. So there's that's why you know

non believers, that's why you know, Mormons and Jehovah's

Witnesses and you go, there's some of the best folks in the

world. There's some great folks and

you're like, they got good morals.

It seems like yes, they do. That's what biblical principles

do. Biblical principles will bless

your life, but biblical principles all by themselves

applied on top of a life don't save a sinful heart.

Only the blood in the name of Jesus does that.

Only faith in the name and the blood and knowing who he really

is, we have to be talking about the same Jesus.

Because unfortunately, Mormons would sit along this and go,

yes, the name and the blood of Jesus ago.

We're defining that name quite differently.

And you have some very different conclusions about where he came

from. And no, he was not the spirit

brother of Satan. And so again, like, that's a

different Jesus entirely, right? I could say I love Natalie and

they go, yeah, I love Natalie too.

And I go, no, no, no, no, we're talking about you.

You think you know somebody, but there's a different somebody.

So who we understand Jesus to be is who Jesus reveals himself to

be, and that matters. Back to the point here about

prioritization of principles. Principles are good.

I want you to embrace the principles of God.

I want you to embrace the principles of Scripture, but

they can never be a substitute without without having a real

love for God, you end up with what I call country music

Christianity. Country music Christianity

doesn't mean you necessarily listen to country music.

So if you don't listen to country music, you're not free

from this possibility. Country music, Christianity,

though, I make reference to there's a lot of country songs

that because it's a clever songwriting tool to to put a

juxtaposition with two things. So oftentimes country music will

do like a drinking on Saturday night, church on Sunday morning

kind of thing, because it's like a clever songwriting tool

because like, oh, see how we did that?

And then tip your hat to the man upstairs on Sunday morning.

And then coming in a little hungover and it and it's all

good because because he understands me and we have an

understanding. It's unbiblical, but it sounds

right to good old boys in the Bible belt because, you know, I

mean, you know, put a little money in the plate at church and

you know, Lord, you know, we're going to do we go do we gotta do

right here, you know, tip your hat to the man upstairs and it's

country music. Christianity.

It's ignorance. It's where the principles of

God. That guy probably went to Sunday

school. That musician, that band, that

song, they went to Sunday school.

Grandmama might still be praying.

Grandma's Bible might be worn out, but his isn't.

Grandmama's Bible is hanging on by a thread.

Grandmama's bedside is worn out where her knees have worn

grooves in the floor. Grandmama's got heart faith and

is pursuing the Lord. But country music, Christianity,

boy, over here is going like, well, you know, America is a

Christian nation, so we're all kind of Christian, right?

No, my friend, I mean, you've got a lot of Christian

principles in your life, which is a blessing to you, but you

can't confuse the blessing of God with the very presence of

God. You can't confuse the principles

of God with actually loving and following Jesus for yourself.

I don't know where it got lost. I don't know how we lost the

presents from grandma to to daddy and Mama to you, but let's

restore it now with clarity, with love and devotion.

That is the requirement. That is the expectation to love

the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,

and to love your neighbor as yourself.

That's the greatest command, not to acknowledge the Lord your God

when it's convenient. But to love him with everything

that you have and everything that you've got.

So as a parent, your example of submission to Jesus, your

example of genuine love for Jesus, let me say that again.

Your example of submission to Jesus, your example of genuine

love for Jesus, you should not shove anything off there.

Genuine love for Jesus, your example of fear of God is the

best gift you will ever give your children.

And if you don't give them that gift, no other gift you ever

provide for them could possibly replace it.

Well, we said a lot for their college.

Congratulations. Well, you know, we left them

bucoos of money when we died. That's a blessing.

And we left it to our grandchildren as well.

That's a blessing. But it's still nothing compared

to the spiritual heritage that they need.

A father and mother who hosts the presence of God in their

home through their living faith is the most important thing they

could ever do for their kids. And it can't be faked because

they live with you. They see you all the time.

If I lack love for God, but I teach my children His

principles, they've got this confusion, there's this

hypocrisy. I'm injecting their hearts with

the dead thing, so they're going to be inoculated to the living

thing. I see that happen a lot with

country music, Christianity. I see that happen a lot with

Christian culture. Christianity.

People have been, they've gotten around enough of the dead thing.

They've gotten around enough dead Christianity, which is an

oxymoronic phrase to say they've gotten around enough dead

Christianity that they're like, yeah, I'm familiar with it.

Yep, Yep. Seen it, heard it, got 3

T-shirts. Thanks.

I'm good. Like, I'm not sure that you are

because do you love him? Yeah.

I mean, I prayed to prayer. Pastor Bob said it.

I did the thing Sunday 45 years ago.

Trust me, homie, I'm good. And I got baptized and all the

stuff. So.

So you really love Jesus then, right?

Yeah. Awesome.

Well, let's talk about that. Well, that's it's kind of weird

for me. That's kind of a weird thing to

say. Like you love him with all your

heart, soul, mind and strength, but you don't want to have any

fellowship around that. That's what we end up with.

We end up with this confusion. We end up with this, yeah, I

know some principles and I know not to follow that religion.

I know not to follow that false cult and that Christian

variation cult. And I know not to do this and do

that and do the other. But I'm still not actually

pursuing the Lord. That's what I think this

creates. People get inoculated with the

dead thing and then the the living thing doesn't have the

power that it should in their lives.

If you give your children the example of real love for God, no

failure of yours though will ever disqualify it and you will

fail. So parents, you're not the end

all be all God is. And that's good news.

That's comforting. So pastor, this is a heavyweight

indeed it is. Welcome to parenting and welcome

to Christianity at the same time.

It's not yours alone to carry. You're you're called to walk out

what you can, where you are in this moment, in this day.

But hosting the presence of God in your home through worship,

through repentance, through joy, through faith is the single most

important work you'll do as a parent.

You will fail. You'll be too strict, and then

you'll be too soft, and then you'll be too tired, and then

you'll be too busy, and then you'll be too selfish.

All those things are realities, good news.

There's blood. They can cover all of it.

There's redemption. They can rescue everybody, but

you can move forward in power and you must.

So how do we do this practically?

How do we do this? Simply?

How do we do this? Clearly, I'm going to share

three ways with you as parents that we need to prioritize

bringing our children into the presence of Jesus.

Number one is in the motions of life.

Deuteronomy 6 tells us to teach them as they walk along the

road, as you lie down, as you rise up.

When are we supposed to do family worship?

All the time, All the time. You could do family worship at a

a set scheduled time if you wanted to.

But any family who would do that, I would say make sure that

that wasn't the only spiritual content in your household for

the day. So if it was, then again, we're

still showing our kids how to compartmentalize.

It's God time. I know people who grew up with

it. This is this is the time, this

is the thing. And still they were inoculated

because it was just like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're getting through it. It wasn't lived joyfully.

It wasn't the, IT wasn't bubbling up out of Dad, it

wasn't bubbling up out of Mom, but it was, hey, this is what we

do because this is what good Christian folks do and this and

we're good, decent American Christian folks.

Well, what's true, what's right, what's applicable, what's wise?

We're not really going to get into all the details of that.

We're just going to make sure we did the things.

So all along the way, when you walk along the road, when you

lie down, when you rise up. So when that means when you're

talking to men, there's spiritual conversations.

That means when you're going to 711, there's spiritual

conversations. That means all the time as he's

moving in your life, man, Pastor, this sounds so hard.

It only sounds hard if you're not really walking with him.

That's when it sounds really hard.

That's who this is a really hard message to hear because it's not

your walk with him isn't bubbling up out of you.

And it feels like, how in the world am I going to remember to

do all of these things? But for the person who's

actually walking and dwelling with the Lord, there is no

remembering. You know, it's like, how do I

remember Natalie all day? I love the girl.

She's my favorite person. I don't have to be like, oh,

yeah, how how do I, how do I deal with my wife today?

But in the same way, when you're in fellowship with the Lord, his

framework, his, his principles are guiding your life because

you've been in his presence. Now his principles are guiding

that interaction that you just had and his principles are

guiding the way that you're thinking and the way that you're

praying and, and he's shaping your whole life.

So for that person, this is an easy thing.

All I'm telling you to do is say the quiet thing out loud.

Now the thing that you were already thinking or the thing

you were already praying as they're in the back seat, let

them hear that. Let them know.

And if they're old enough, you begin to instruct them.

And by the way, they're old enough, you should always be

instructing, always be teaching. Hey, did you at their level, at

the three-year old level, at the four year old level, at the one

year old level? I told you last week I was

praying for and preaching the gospel to our babies when they

were in Natalie's womb and they were being blessed and cared for

even then. And we were praying that the

Lord would fill them with the Holy Ghost.

He filled John the Baptist with the Holy Ghost while he was

still in his mama's womb. Why wouldn't he fill my babies

with the Holy Ghost while they're still in their mother's

womb? So this is our prayer.

This is our expectation. God, they need your presence.

But all along the way, talk about the Lord in the car.

Why? Because you're thinking about

Him and Saints, I don't mean to imply that your every single

waking thought is always only on the Lord.

So if you've heard that burden, that's not a burden I'm putting

on you. I'm just saying.

But isn't it a frequent 1? Isn't he a frequent one?

Aren't his principles and his ways?

Like if your life is truly his and you're submitted on the

altar of Jesus, then then yeah, everything I'm doing belongs to

Him. That's why this isn't a heavy

burden. I'm just saying, say it out loud

is why you pray with your kids. You thank God throughout the

day. You invite them to help you when

you're blessing others. You pray whenever there's a

need. You're reading and discussing

Scripture together. You're telling them what the

Lord is teaching you. You're confessing your sins.

So let me tell you as somebody who has never had the

consistent, this is our family Christian time, I've always done

it on the fly. That's all I've ever known.

I used to feel guilty. I used to feel bad.

I'm like, I'm not a good father, I'm not a good husband, I'm not

a good Christian leader because we don't have like, all right,

it's 730. Everybody huddle up, living room

Bibles, Jesus. And I always thought like, man,

I thought if I was a better Christian, if I was more mature,

if I was more disciplined, we would have that.

And then I finally just realized like we always have that we

always have that. That's at the breakfast table.

Hey, what were you reading the word this morning, buddy?

How is this that what you thinking?

Oh, man, that's good. Let's pray this.

And it's just and there it goes and there it flows and it's

another conversation and it's on the back deck and it's here and

it's there and it's it's in the hot tub and it's, it's wherever

it's where we are because it's just real.

If it's real to you, it will be real through you.

So it all through the motions of life.

Tell them what the Lord is teaching you confess your sins.

That's a big one. Confess your sins you want to

you want to gain credibility in your household.

You you might think, oh then I should never confess sins.

Just the opposite just the opposite.

Then they're going to think I'm wrong.

You are wrong. That's the point.

They already know you're wrong. You just haven't acknowledged it

yet. This is the moment now to

actually let everybody know that you're not a psycho, but that

you're actually humble. And you're saying Jesus is the

hero in this household. I am so sorry.

Would you please forgive me? And they see that humility and

they see, man, we're serious about this Christianity stuff to

the degree that it to the to the degree that it crushes our own

egos. Daddy crushes his own ego.

Mommy crushes his own ego, her own ego.

Don't make the things of God private.

They are deeply personal, but they are shareable.

And you need to show your kids that God is your life.

Well, that's not really kind of my thing.

Well, it has to be as a parent that changes.

I mean, it's like saying like, oh, you know, waking up in the

middle of the night, It's not really my thing.

Like welcome to parenting a newborn.

Like you don't get to say that like, oh, we kind of like our

thing is like sleeping through the night.

It's kind of like a big like my personality.

That's just the way the Lord built me.

Like, yeah, I know. But parenting like there's,

there's an exception here now, so you don't get to flow in the

way that you want to flow all the time because through God's

beautiful gift of children, you will be sanctified as is part of

his intention, not his only intention.

And yes, you will crucify your flesh and you will serve them.

So it's not, it's not normal for me to kind of talk about my

faith. I'm real personal.

I'm real private with all that. Well, I understand that it's

personal, but you can't keep it all super private.

Your kids need to know, they need to know how to walk with

the Lord. They need to hear about it.

They need to hear about daddy's walk.

They need to hear about mama's walk so that they can see that

this looks like something this sounds like something to

Michael. It's just not my personality.

Again, you have to you have to level up and grow in this area

in some way somehow. It's not my personality.

You've heard the type A and type B personality.

Type A super structured, really detail oriented type B.

Where's the party? Like that's, that's me.

I'm, I'm a type B personality. But as I continue to grow into

manhood over the years, I realized, you know what, Joe

Michael, you are a type B. It's a, it's a true statement.

And still you have to be an adult.

You have to be a man. You have to develop disciplines.

You have to develop systems. You know, well, that's not

really. Well then you know what, then

it's going to be a heavier load for you than it is for somebody

else. You know, some people eat stuff,

eat that stuff for breakfast. I'm sure like some of you

probably get more done before 8:00 AM than I get done all day.

Some of my Type A brothers and sisters and you're just rocking

and rolling and crushing it. Joe Michael's over here like I'm

still trying to wake up, but still, what did I have to do?

Well, I, I, I don't get to use that excuse forever.

Well, I put the Lord made me this way and still you have to

function in life. So in the same way.

Well, I'm not, I don't really talk a lot about my faith and my

walk with the Lord. You have to if you have kids,

they need to hear about it. They need to see prayer.

They need to hear what you're learning, what you're thinking,

how you're growing. They need to see your humility.

Yeah, I don't. I don't feel like I have a lot

to say. That's fine, too.

They need to see that because you know what?

They don't have a lot to say either.

They don't know what to think about it.

They don't know how to process it.

They think they're stupid Christians.

They think they're wimpy Christians.

They don't know. Am I the only one who's being

attacked this way? And then they hear Daddy or Mama

share something, and they're like, oh, my goodness.

And instead of Daddy and Mama having the final answer, they

say we don't know what to do. So guess what we're about to do.

We're going to pray. And then they get to see the

Lord move. So it's this pattern of humility

in a Christian household where it's like daddy and Mama gets

dumped. Daddy and Mama talk about it to

the degree that it's appropriate with the kids, depending on what

it is age appropriate, depending on what The thing is.

But spiritual things kids need to hear about, man, I grew up

here in mom and dad process spiritual conversations.

So like they get to, they get to mature even if they're not

talking, even if they're just in the back seat.

But they're getting here, daddy and Mama talking and they're

they're, they're connecting dots and maybe they seem like they're

not listening, but they are. They're learning, they're

processing, and they're seeing. This is what healthy marriage

looks like too. We discuss the things of the

Lord together. That was the first thing we the

first practical way we do it is in the motions of life.

The second way we practically do it is in the church.

Sunday worship should be an immovable, fruitful tree.

It is a wonderful gift to gather with God's people.

Sunday worship is a priority of all priorities.

A fruitful tree. When you go to cut the grass in

your yard and you come across a big tree, do you plow over it?

You don't. You go around it.

Everything in the yard has to be built around this tree because

this tree is not moving. This tree is here to stay.

This tree has roots that go down 306090 feet in all directions

into the ground. This tree is the thing that we

build around. You can build a tree house in

the tree, but we're not cutting down the tree.

We're not stump grinding the tree.

We're not going out. We're going to ignore the tree.

This is what Sunday worship is supposed to be.

This is an important and basic Christian obedience.

It is not an ornament to your faith.

It is not a luxury. It is not an exception.

It's a spiritual need for Christian obedience.

If it's raining, we go to church.

If it's beautiful weather, guess what?

We go to church. If we don't feel like it, we go

to church. If it's Father's Day, we go to

church. If it's someone's birthday, we

go to church. It's a sports tournament, we go

to church. If it's National Sleep In and

Eat Ice Cream Day, we will violate National Sleep In and

Eat Ice Cream Day, we'll go to church.

You can have ice cream afterwards if you like.

Why do we do all this? Because we want to be dogmatic.

No, no, this is super basic stuff.

Not to earn favor with God, but because He has already poured

His favor on us and we want to be in His presence and in His

manifest presence with His people.

This is a priority staple that I cannot overstate.

And as a pastor, when you share these things, you're always

worried that your flock is going to be offended.

And at the same time, how much would I have to hate you to not

tell you about one of the most powerful, simple staples of the

Christian walk? So I do pound the pulpit on

church attendance, on how I feel a little uncomfortable.

We'll settle that for yourself. But it is so, so fundamental.

There's one of the things I talk about with my clients there.

There's different sales, as we talked about it in the coaching

I do for husbands and fathers. And there's one of these sales,

one of these really practical things that I say is like, if

you're only going to do 1, do this one.

And it's a weekly family meeting because it's just so

overpowered. Like you fight so far out of

your weight class with just this one weekly family meeting.

The value that it brings to shape a family culture, the

value that it brings to change the dynamic in a household, it's

just a superpower. It's just like so, so, so simple

to say, hey, if you do nothing else, start leading a weekly

family meeting and it'll be like an incredible superpower for

your family culture to the same thing to a new believer that

what do I do now? Like, well, here's the most

obvious superpower state law could give you like be in the

church faithfully with the body of believers hearing the word of

God preach and get in that fellowship.

Like do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Like why? Well, because that's the thing

that's going to guarantee and secure all the other things that

you need to keep building. Shouldn't they read their Bible?

Should they pray? Yes, yes, yes, and a million

more things. And also this is the power

station in a sense that's going to continue to keep them trained

and equipped and built up and loved and secured.

And so we just prioritize this and it's just obvious.

If the boys had had a jiu jitsu tournament today, guess where

they would have been we'd have been here.

Oh, sorry, boys, We'll we'll find another one that's on a

different day of the week. Oh, they're all moving to

Sundays. Oh well, they're dumb.

Bummer. That's this.

I would have loved to go to those tournaments, but it's not

happening and it's not like let's vote about it.

Let's think about it. Should we start to shift our

family culture around jiu jitsu? No Jiu jitsu doesn't save them

from their sins. Jiu jitsu doesn't heal their

bodies. Jiu jitsu isn't going to provide

for their futures, but the Lord will and the Lord does.

So in the church. This is an important thing for

us to continue to do. And also notice in verse 15,

we're back in chapter 19 here. And he laid his hands on them

and then they went away. He laid his hands on them.

It doesn't say Jesus healed them.

He didn't preach to them. He just touched them.

The laying on of hands is an important biblical ministry.

Laying on of hands can't happen through a podcast, it can't

happen through a live stream, and it can't happen through

Voxer. All throughout Scripture we see

the laying on of hands. This is how we ordain pastors in

the body of Christ. Yet we put our hand.

Why? Why are are we the superpower?

No. And yet still we walk out our

obedience to the Lord in this way.

Physical presence matters. A handshake, a hug, a hand on

the shoulder. These things carry the weight of

heaven in a way that we can recognize even though we might

not be able to measure them. Can you?

Can you measure it? No, I don't think I can measure

it. Can you prove it?

I don't think I have to. I think it's self-evident.

We already recognize these things.

We can sense these things. We can feel these things.

They matter. What's the third way that we can

lead our kids Practically, simply and clearly.

The first was in the motions of life.

The second was in the church. The third is in prayer.

And this is where all the work really is done because even

through those other two, prayer was included.

Prayer is included in the motions of life.

Prayers included in the church. But prayer?

Pray for your children regularly and pray for your children

expectantly. Don't pray.

Fingers crossed. Prayers for your kids.

Pray heartfelt prayers that put pressure on God Almighty to move

and to come through for your children.

Pray a prayer of faith that goes.

If that doesn't get happened, then everybody's, then that

prayer will be exposed. Good.

Now you know you're praying with some edge.

Now you know you're praying in a way that the Lord has to do

something or that prayer was officially not answered.

But don't pray vague prayers for your children.

Don't pray bland prayers for your children.

Pray specific prayers for your children precisely that they

would get in the Lord's presence and that the Lord's presence

would get in them. Because that's the key.

That was the key for Little John Michael.

By the time the world got to me with its philosophies and its

ideas, it was too late for me. Why?

Because Mom and Dad had drilled in principles and said, no, no,

that's not the correct apologetic response to that

worldview. I didn't get any of that.

Mom and Dad did like 0.0 worldview apologetics training

for us growing up. But you know what I got?

I grew up in the presence of God.

So by the time I'm running into all these other things, I'm

going, I don't have an answer for that.

But it's too late for me because I've already seen him and walked

with him and know him. I don't have an answer to that

question, that question, that question, that question, or that

question. Curious about some of it, but

I'm in knock. I'm protected from that.

I'm covered from that. I'm insulated from that in the

presence of God. Oh, sounds like you're a little

sheep. Perfect.

That's exactly right. Almost sounds like I'm childlike

in my faith, doesn't it? Almost sounds like the thing

that persuaded and won me over was the power of the gospel

itself. Instead of having all the right

answers to all the things that we think are going to make a

difference for people. That's what made the difference

for me. That's what kept me safe even

when I was backsliding, even when I was turning from the

Lord, The thing that kept gripping me was his actual

presence. It was not guilty Christianity.

I did not feel guilty Christianity.

I did feel guilt and I did feel conviction for my sin, but I was

not drawn back to the Lord by I'm bad.

The Bible Belt Christians wouldn't approve of me.

I was drawn back to the Lord because he was in me already and

I was still being drawn. So I remember being on my way to

go to parties to get drunk with my friends, praying in tongues,

saying God help me escape my stupid flesh.

And then I know I go to the youth group and repent with

genuine I, I put it in air quotes I shouldn't have.

Then I repent because I'm genuinely sorry.

What is that? That's immaturity, that's

weakness. That's like lack of

discipleship. That's also too much freedom.

There's a, there's multiple factors that were going on

there, but what, what had gripped me, what had got me the

presence of God, the Lord wrecked me with himself in the

best way possible and that made all the difference.

That's what you should pray for your children.

Pray that the Lord would grip them and that he wouldn't turn

them loose. Not just that they would be nice

boys and nice girls. Don't pray that for your kids.

Pray that they would be dangerous weapons, that they

would be arrows that you fire out into the face of your enemy.

And you do have one and he wants to destroy your kids and your

grandkids and beyond. Pray for their hearts to be

soft. Pray against the lives of the

enemy that target their identity.

Pray that they would see the goodness and the glory of Jesus.

And we're going to start closing.

Bring that music up. Some Mama and them can know to

bring the littles back in. Actually, you might need to let

them know. Chan, just walk in there.

Pray for their future spouses. Pray for their calling on their

lives. Pray for their protection.

Pray for their obedience. This is for your kids that are

born. This is for your kids that

aren't yet born. Pray that you would parent with

wisdom, with clarity, and with tenderness.

Do not underestimate what God is doing.

When you cry out for your children, when you intercede,

you're going to places that they might not be going for

themselves in the Spirit. You're clearing the path in the

Spirit. You might not always know what

to say to your child, but you can always say their name in the

throne room of heaven. You can always lift them up

again. You can always say, Lord,

they're yours. You can always devote them

again, Dedicate them again, and that's a gift and a blessing to

a parent's heart. To know that it's not all on me.

Oh, I think of all the mistakes I've made.

Some of your kids are grown and you go, oh, if I could go back

if and wish and all those other things we have today and we

still have a living God. So as long as our children are

living and breathing, then the living God can still grip their

hearts and still rescue them. It is not too late.

This is this is a message that should bring you hope.

This should bring you conviction.

This should bring you joy and excitement to go.

My God is on the move. My God is moving in my kids

lives. How do you know?

Because I'm praying and I know there's warfare taking place.

Well, I've been praying for a long time and I haven't seen

anything yet. Don't stop praying.

Do not give up. Do not stop praying.

Daniel prayed and prayed and prayed 21 days.

An Angel said I was held up. The Prince of Persia.

That is some weird stuff. You ever read your Bible and

think it's weird or just me? OK, so he's been praying, he

says, but I was sent as soon as you began to pray.

But if Daniel had prayed, I guess it's not coming.

How does all that work? I don't know.

It's not my jurisdiction. My responsibility is to keep

praying. Your responsibility is to keep

praying. Prince of Persia, the angels,

the Lord, that's his jurisdiction.

But what am I supposed to do? There's our little blessings.

We're supposed to keep praying, keep praying, keep expecting.

If you want your child to know Jesus, then you go deeper into

his presence. If you want them to believe the

gospel, then you live like it's true.

If you want them to walk with Jesus, then walk with him in

front of them. And to the children, I give you

this charge to the young men, to the young women, to the boys and

to the girls. Obey your father and mother in

the Lord. Honor them.

This is the command that comes with a promise.

Do not wait for your parents to be perfect.

They will never be perfect. They have never been perfect.

But Jesus is calling you right now.

Little ones, boys and girls, eyeballs on me.

Little ones, eyeballs on me. Boys, girls, young men, young

women, everyone who can anyway. I know that's not a reason for

all of them. Jesus loves you, your daddy

loves you, your mommy loves you. I love you, God loves you.

He cares about you, He thinks about you.

You should follow Jesus. You should love and follow

Jesus. Not even if daddy and mommy stop

following Jesus, They never will.

But even if they did, you should love and follow Jesus no matter

what, because Jesus is worthy. And in this church you have no

excuse. You've heard the gospel.

You've heard me plead with you. I'm sure your parents have

pleaded with you. Love and follow the Lord.

You have nothing else to do. You have nothing better to do.

It's for this purpose that you were created.

So come to him, trust him, and obey him.

What we're going to do now is moms and dads are going to pray

over their kids. So if your kids are with you,

gather them tight to you. And we're actually going to sing

as we as we pray together. So there's one more song we're

going to do as we close.