5:01 join in and sing this first song. It is the church triumphant singing worthy the lamb. Heaven throughout with praises ringing worthy the lamb. Let's join in the chorus and sing. We'll we'll uh can we we'll go on a 5:21 all all three all three firstes the lamb [music] 5:41 is the triumphant singing [singing and music] worthy the lamb. Heaven [singing] with praises ringing worthy [singing and music] the lamb. Thrones and bars before [singing] him 5:58 [music] bending for the street with voice ascending. Swel the chorus [singing and music] never ending [singing] worthy the [music] lamb. Join in brothers and sisters. Every kindred, [music and singing] 6:15 tongue, and nation worthy the lamb. Join [singing] to sing the great salvation [music] worthy the lamb. Now, [singing] mighty [music] thunders roaring, floods of mighty waters [singing] 6:35 pouring, cross [music] straight at his feet adoring, [singing] worthy the lamb, [music] hops and songs forever [singing and music] sounding worthy the 6:53 lamb. Mighty grace [singing and music] or sin abounding worthy lamb. By his blood he [singing] dearly bought [music] us. Oneing from the fall he sought us. Heads of glory safely [singing and music] 7:13 brought us. Worthy [music and singing] the lamb. Just the voices sing [singing and music] with less anticipation. Worthy the lamb through the [singing] veil of tribulation. 7:32 Worthy [music] the [singing] lamb. Sweet as notes excelling on the theme for ever [singing] dwelling. Still untold, though ever telling, 7:49 worthy [singing and music] the lamb. Who can sh the heart by [music] Jesus [singing] 8:06 by his presence all divine? True [music and singing] and tender pure and preious. [music] Oh [singing] bless to call him mine. All [music and singing] 8:23 that fills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me and the fairest of 10,000. [music and singing] In my blessed [music] Lord I see 8:44 love [singing] of Christ [music] so freely given. Praise [singing and music] of God beyond degree. Mercy [singing] higher [music] than the heaven, deeper [singing and music] 9:02 than the deepest sea. All [singing] that fills my soul [music] is Jesus. He is more than life to me. and [music and singing] the fairest of 9:19 10,000 in [singing and music] my blessed Lord I see brother sing what [singing] a wonderful [music] redemption never [singing] 9:35 can a mortal know how my [music and singing] sins are red like crimson can [music and singing] be wider than the snow. All [music and singing] that thrills my 9:53 soul is Jesus. He is more [music and singing] than life to me. and the [singing and music] fairest of 10,000 in [singing and music] 10:08 my precious Lord I see every [singing and music] need his hands applying every [singing] good [music] in him I see on his [singing and music] strength 10:26 divine relying he [music] is >> [singing] >> falling onto me. All [singing] that rules my soul is [music] Jesus. He is more [music and singing] than 10:43 light to me. and [music and singing] the fairest of 10,000. In my blessed [music and singing] Lord I see by [singing] the crystal flowing river 11:03 with [singing] the ransomed [music] I will sing. and [singing] forever and forever. Praise [singing] and glorify the King. All that thrills my [music and singing] 11:22 soul is Jesus. He is more [music and singing] than life to me. and [singing and music] the Pharisees 10,000 in [singing and music] my blessed Lord I see. 11:41 >> Please be seated brothers and sisters. Oh Lord my [singing] God, 11:58 when I in [music] awesome wonder consider [singing] all [music] the works thy hands have made. I see the stars. [singing and music] I hear the mighty thunder. [music and singing] 12:17 Thy part throughout the universe display this way. This [music and singing] sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How [singing and music] great thou are. 12:36 How great thou are. Then [music] sings [singing] my soul. My savior God [music] to thee. How great [singing] thou are. How great thou [music] are. [music] And [singing] when I think 13:02 that God [music] is sonaring, sent him to [singing] die, I [music] scarce can't take it in. That on [singing] the cross, my [music] burden gladly bearing, he 13:22 bled and [singing and music] died to take away my sins. Let all my heart cries out. >> Let all [music and singing] my heart cries out. My God to thee. [music] Great [singing] is thy love. 13:41 Great is [music] thy love. And all my heart [singing] cries out [music] my God to thee. Great is thy love. [music and singing] Great is thy love [music] 13:59 when Christ [singing] shall come [music] with shout of acclamation and [music] take me home. What joy [singing] shall fill my heart. There shall [music and singing] I bow 14:18 in humble [music] adoration and still proclaim my God [singing and music] how great thou learn our brothers and sisters then sings [singing] my soul my savior [singing and music] 14:37 God to thee how great [singing] thou How great [singing] thou art. Then [singing] sings my soul, 14:58 my Savior [singing] God to thee. [music] How great [singing] thou are. How great thou [singing] [music] 15:15 are. I [music] will give [singing] thanks to thee, oh [singing and music] Lord, among the people. >> [music] 15:33 >> I will [singing] sing praises to thee among [music and singing] the nations. For thy [music and singing] sinless love is great. Is great [music] 15:52 to the [singing] heavens. And [music] thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness to the cloud. [singing and music] Be exalted, [singing] oh God [music] 16:14 of the [singing] heavens. And I [singing] glory [music] over all the [music] earth. [music] Be exalted. [singing] 16:35 Oh God [music] [singing] above the heavens. [music] Let thy glory [singing and music] be over all [music] the earth. >> Be exalted. Be exalted. 16:56 [music and singing] Oh God [music and singing] above the heavens. Let thy glory. Let thy glory, [singing] Let thy glory, 17:17 [singing] [music] let thy glory [singing] be over all the earth. [singing] >> Can we stand up, brothers and sisters? bow down in our hearts and acknowledge 17:43 that he alone is worthy. His glory that we long to see [music] even this morning. His voice that we long to hear. Thou [singing] art worthy. [music] Thou [singing] 18:04 art worthy. [music] Thou art worthy, oh Lord, [music] to receive [singing] glory, gloryy, 18:22 and honor, glory [music and singing] and honor and power. [music and singing] For thou has created has [music] all [singing] things created. 18:42 Thou [singing] has created [music] all things. And for [singing and music] thy pleasure they are [music and singing] created. Thou 19:00 art worthy, [music] oh Lord. [singing] Thou art worthy. [music] Thou [singing] art worthy. Thou [music] are worthy. 19:20 Oh lamb just [music] are [singing] worthy to [music] receive glory [singing] and power at the [music] father's right 19:37 hand. For thou [singing] has redeemed us, has ransomed and [music] cleansed us by [singing] life of set [music] us free in white [singing] roar. 20:01 Kings and [music and singing] made us th are worthy. [music] Amen. Man's greatest privilege is to come into 20:45 the presence of the Lord and live in God's presence. It's greatest privilege. So let's keep our mind and hearts from distractions. Let us quieten our spirits 21:06 and minds some all the worries and cares of the world. He deserves Our 21:26 attention at most. Let's give him a right place in our own hearts. Psalm 36:5 reads, 21:52 "Your steadfast love, O Lord, is as great as all the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. Your justice is as solid as God's 22:14 mountains. Your decisions are as full of wisdom as the oceans are with water. Your concern for people. How precious is your constant love, oh 22:31 Lord. All humanity takes refuge in the shadows of your wings. You feed them with blessings from your own table. Let them drink from your own river of delight. For you are the fountain of life. Our 22:48 light is from your light. Let's concentrate on him. Let's give him all praise and thanks and glory. As we sang, then sings my soul, my savior god to thee, how great thou 23:05 art. Yes, father, you are great indeed. Praise you. Praise you. All praise and thanks and glory be to you Lord. All worship belongs to you Lord God Almighty. Thank you. Your love is great 23:22 indeed Lord. Lord it's beyond our understanding Lord. We cannot fa fathom Lord your greatness. Lord open our eyes to see you. Exalted one, humbled one. Jesus thank you. You gave yourself for 23:42 us, Lord. You loved us with an everlasting love. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you for your presence. Thank you, Lord, for your love and care and concern. Thank you, Lord. You build your church. Thank you, Lord. You saved us 23:56 from this wretched and evil world, from perverous generation. Lord, thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We make a throne of praise. Lord, be seated in our midst. Be exalted. 24:12 Lord, we pray. Lord, we ask you to help us. Lord, help us to see your glory, exalted, magnified. Lord, we have come together in hunger and thirst. Lord, pray for your servant. Give us a 24:31 word from heaven. Give us anointing, utterance, even to hear Lord. Pierce our ears and eyes so that we'll be able to see you. Bless us Lord with your presence. Strengthen us. Build us Lord as a church so that we will be a better witness. We 24:51 commit ourselves Lord in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Please be seated brothers and sisters. We look into our memory verse for last week we had a command. 25:09 Please repeat after me. 1 Thessalonians 4:3. This is the will of God that you abstain from sexual immorality. 25:28 This week we have a promise from the epistle of Philippians. Um please repeat after me. Philippians chapter 3 20. Our citizenship is in heaven. 25:48 from which we eagerly wait for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a wonderful promise. So let's repeat that. Philippians 3:20. Our citizenship is in heaven 26:08 from which we eagerly wait for the Lord Jesus Christ. So the one who waits for the Lord will cleanses himself. 1 John 3:3. Let's be uh in the spirit of 26:25 cleansing ourselves. Let's hear first we have child dedication before the main message and uh brother Charles will share the word. After that uh we'll read out the names of parents. You all can come up and uh brother Charles will be 26:43 praying for children. Uh let's be in the spirit of prayer as we hear God's word from brother Charles. Brother Charles over to you. Sometimes in the past, 27:17 brother Ian used to keep asking me to dedicate children and I used to tell him not until I become a grandpa grand grandfather. So now I have no excuse. Every parent's desire is to have 27:41 children and some are blessed with more children. Some are not blessed with children. But those who have more children have sometimes complained 28:00 and they think children are a nuisance. But think about those who do not have children. They're longing to have at least one. And you are lucky to have children. Children, it says in Psalm 127, 28:18 chapter 3. Psalm 127 chapter 3. It says children are a gift of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is a reward. 28:35 So when God blesses us with a gift of children, we know how the development of a child is. You read about that in Psalm 139. The psalmist says, "Lord, even before I was born, you knew me. 28:54 Even before I was conceived in my mother's womb, Lord, you have already mapped out my life plan when I should be born, where I should be born, and all about me, the number of days, when I 29:12 should be born, when will be my last day." All these things you have written in your book and you have knit me in my mother's womb so fearfully and wonderfully you have 29:28 created me. He says so it is not an accident. Some ch some parents say that this was this child was an accident. What do you mean by accident? There are 29:43 no accidents in God's plan. God plans everything specifically and clearly and intentionally. 29:59 And he has mapped out our plan, our life from before the time began. It says in Ephesians 1:3 that God chose us in Christ before the foundations of the world. That means even before he created 30:17 Adam and Eve, God had you in mind. God in God's mind you were conceived and in the fullness of time you and I came into this world. 30:35 And when children are born, they bring a different kind of joy to us. And it can bring I mean close the gap and the distance 30:53 between the parents if there was any before the child was born. When the child is born, parents come together and broken relationships are repaired. 31:11 And it's a different kind of joy when we have a baby at home. And uh it's a different kind of joy seeing the baby you know speak those syllables what you can call it unknown tongues 31:29 which only the parents can interpret. And uh we are happy to hear those few initial syllables that the babies keep uttering and then it is our responsibility to teach them to instruct 31:49 them to guide them and to bring them up to educate them and make them responsible citizens in society. And um we need to teach our children early in life 32:07 values, good values, especially when the child is say about 6 months or something. The child should know the difference between yes and no. You know many of us parents 32:27 we give freely out of love and sometimes out of foolish love. We give to our children vitamin Y means S. 32:44 Everything they ask we say yes and we pamper them by giving everything they ask. But at the same time we need to also teach them and give them vitamin N which is no. They should know that certain things the 33:03 parents won't give even though they throw tantrums. Like for example, if your child asks you for a blade or a knife to play with, none of us will give that because we 33:21 know that it is not good for them. They will hurt themselves. So it's good for us to teach them what is necessary and what is not necessary, what's required and what's not required. And it is 33:40 not just the responsibility of Sunday school teachers to mold your children. It's not just the responsibility of the facilitators and elders in the church because we see you 33:59 and you see us just about an hour or two in a week. Out of 168 hours in a week, we are here just 34:14 you know one hour or so. So that is just about 2% and you can't depend on us to mold your child and to bring them up in godly fear and instruction. 34:34 It's the duty of the parents. The Lord holds the parents responsible, especially the fathers. It says in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 6, Deuteronomy chapter 6 34:53 verse 6. The Lord says here and these words which I am commanding you 35:13 today shall be on your heart especially the parents. The words that I am commanding you today shall be first of all in the hearts of the parents. And 35:30 you shall teach them diligently, not once in a while, not casually, but diligently to your children, to sons, to your sons and daughters, and shall talk of them of God's word, when you sit in your house, and when you 35:50 walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. This is what God expects of parents after giving children to us. He wants us 36:05 to teach our children and speak to them when they are with us at home and when we sit down, when we are walking by the way, when we lie down, when we rise up in the morning, we should inculcate in 36:24 them the values that God has given us and told us to put in the children. And uh if we don't do that and leave the responsibility to others, teachers 36:41 and others in church, it will not help because they are I mean 98% of the time you spend with them and it is your responsibility to take care of the children. So do not ever 36:58 neglect that responsibility and if you don't do that the children will grow up unprincipled and wavered and then they will be a nuisance to you to the family to the church and to 37:18 society. So take your responsibility as parents seriously. But understand one thing, there is no perfect parent. There is no perfect marriage. There is no perfect couple 37:37 in this world. Every one of us have made mistakes and we have learned from our mistakes. And if we don't learn from our mistakes, then the children 37:54 that God has entrusted to us, they will learn our ways and they will become just like us, like they say, like father, like son. So take God's word very seriously. 38:11 And uh in Ephesians chapter 6:E4 it says especially it is the duty of the fathers. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4 the Lord commands that the 38:30 it's to the father's father's responsibility. Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. It's mainly the father's responsibility to bring up children in the discipline and 38:49 instruction of the Lord. And before that, it says in verse one onwards, children obey your parents. You need to teach. We need to teach our children first of 39:06 all our homes are the first school and the mother is the first teacher or the father and teach them to obey your parents in the Lord for this is right and honor your father and mother which 39:24 is the first commandment with a promise. Among the ten commandments, there was only one promise which was coupled with a promise. If you keep this, you will get this. What is that? 39:41 That it may go well with you and that you may live long on this earth. So, it is the father's responsibility to do that. And um every child when it is born you know is 40:04 is our offspring and carries our DNA. I mean um it'll be like us like the parents and many of the traits that they have is 40:24 from the parents and the Bible says that all children when they are born they are foolish. There is no child that is ever born 40:41 with full-fledged wisdom and uh respect and uh perfection. Every child is a 40:56 uh what to say an empty hard disk as it were to speak in today's language. So we need to fill that hard disk with godly values and what you put in is what you get out. 41:13 So if you sew in them good values and good seeds then the tree will become good and the fruit will become good. It says in Proverbs 22:15, Proverbs is a very good book for all 41:31 children, young people, and parents [snorts] to read. And I would especially recommend Brother Zach's book, which is recently released, The Way of Wisdom. 41:50 the title uh there there the uh every verse verse by verse Bible study is given. I would recommend all of you those who do not have it yet you can buy it in the book counter and 42:08 read it. It's a very good manual for life. And it says here Psalm I mean Proverbs 22:15 it says foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Did you see that? It's the Lord God 42:28 telling that in the heart of a child every child foolishness is bound up but the rod of discipline will remove it far from him. In another translation that is in good 42:44 news bible it says let me read that to you. In the good news bible it says children just naturally do silly careless things 43:03 but a good spanking will teach them how to behave. But don't you think that you know in the last 50 years or more than 50 years ago western psychologists came up with the idea that you should not you know 43:21 discipline your children small children because that will damage their self-esteem and self-worth and that is not good. you. So you must talk to them and uh have a dialogue with 43:37 them and uh many people subscribed to that and uh kept the word of God aside and started you know that physical discipline that was 43:56 or was carried on over the years centuries um came to a halt and people started listening more to psychologists than the word of God and the result you see today. How the world has turned out to be disrespectful to authority 44:16 and chaos everywhere. There is no godly value. People are becoming atheists and gross immorality and sin. And somebody said seeing today's 44:34 condition probably God has to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah because the sin of today's world is worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus 44:50 said that once, "Oh Corazin, oh Capernam, if the things that have happened in your midst had happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented." That means Sodom and Gomorrah as far as Jesus was 45:08 concerned they were better than Capernam and Kurazin because Capernam was the place where Jesus himself lived there and did very many miracles 45:23 and blessed but if we don't heed to that this word where the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go in the same chapter later when he's old he will 45:39 not depart from it and this verse even though I mean they do silly things but as good spanking will teach them how to behave but the earlier verse what we read in another translation is foolishness is bound up in every child 45:58 but a rod of correction will remove it from the child so if you Don't do that when the child is angry. You know what will be the result? The result will be in chapter 27 46:16 verse 22. They will become not corrected children, not refined children, but they will become certified fools. 46:35 You got it? Proverbs 27:22 it says when you if you fail to do this correct them and discipline them and bring them in the ways of the Lord. 46:55 If you don't do that they will grow up to be fools certified fools adults. And then it says though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain yet his foolishness will not depart from 47:13 him. So this is the outcome of children who are not disciplined. So parents don't think that your child will you know have some harm or they will 47:34 die. The Bible says go home and read book of proverbs and buy that book and read. A rod will not it will rather it will drive away the foolishness from the heart of your child rather than 47:52 make him a real fool later on when he grows up in life. then you will have headaches and the church will have problem and society will have a bad element in it. I remember 48:10 once when as a church I think we went to Kaban Park for an outing there I was talking to a couple and the father was carrying his son who was the time must have been 2 or 3 year old he 48:29 was crying for something and the father didn't give and that boy slapped the father for not giving him what he wanted. I observed that and the father did nothing about it and 48:46 this is about 25 30 year old incident and that boy grew up here and grew up to be such a shame that he brought such a shame to the parents to the church ultimately they left the church they're 49:04 not here with us this is a result of not treating your child. You know there is a saying if you don't bend a plant when it is tender 49:20 you cannot bend it when it grows big it becomes very difficult. So when they are of teachable age, if you don't inculcate in them good values, then they will grow up with something that the world gives 49:39 them and they absorb those values and grow up to be headache to everybody. Think about these three mothers in the Bible. Moses's mother, Joabed, 49:58 and uh Samuel's mother, Hannah, and Timothy's mother, Ununice. All these three when their sons were with them, I don't know how long Moses was with Joabed, maybe 5 years or 8 years, I'm not sure. And 50:22 Samuel it says after he was weaned then she took her took the baby to the temple and dedicated he must have been I don't know maximum 5 years and Timothy also even though Timothy's 50:40 mother Eunice married a Greek man she took the responsibility of putting faith into his heart and he became an apostle. And you see these three mothers, what a 50:57 fantastic job they did with their small children. And today we are blessed by what they have written and by their examples. So brothers and sisters, as our children grow up, 51:20 they will face some problems in their teens and 20s. They'll get influenced by their friends and the world, society. And sometimes they can tend to go astray 51:37 or deviate a bit. It happens in many families when the children keep growing. They want to assert themselves. They want to not to be treated like small kids. They want to show that they are 51:55 they are also big now. You don't have to treat me like a child. So that is that is a passing phase. So just make some allowance for that and they will come around. And the thing that we need to do as 52:15 parents is when they are you sense that they're going off track you can cover them with your prayers. Your prayers are like a hedge and a fence around them through which the 52:33 enemy cannot penetrate. I have listened to some messages of ex satanists and ex witches and they have told this that when Christians pray, we cannot do anything. 52:51 We cannot penetrate the circle of prayer around them. When people are praying, demons tremble. So when you father and mother pray for your sons and daughters who are going off the track, 53:09 you surround them with your prayers. It is like impenetrable fence or hedge where the enemy cannot enter. So may the Lord give us wisdom to bring up our children in the knowledge and 53:27 fear and instruction of the Lord. So I will read out the names of the parents, the fathers. Please come and stand here in the same order so that we can pray for your children. 53:46 First of all, father's only father's name I'll read Satish and D Raj with your children please come forward 54:04 and stand in the same order and Robin Phillip and Navin Kumar and Deepak Kumar Gond and AB Matthew Wis Albert Victor 54:27 Maduker Bangaramas Ashok Samadri Simhadri and Yen Pravin Kumar 54:46 Please stand in the same order. Wow. 56:16 Shame. Father, your father, we thank you and praise you that this child is a gift from you and 56:33 we pray that you will be with Shiny as she grows up. We pray that your grace will be on her and your protection will be on her. And also we pray Lord for 56:51 Jan son of D Raj that your blessing and protection will be upon him as he grows up. Then [crying] we pray for Kesia that your blessing and protection will 57:11 be upon her as she grows up. [laughter] And we also pray Lord Jesus for Jordan Prince. Jordan prince son of Naven Kumar that your blessing and protection will be upon him too. Alicia Gon 57:38 son of Deepakkumar [crying] do daughter of Deepakkumar that your hand will be upon her as she grows up. Lord Jesus, we [crying] Christine 57:58 >> Elsa Matthew. Lord Jesus, may your hand be upon her. Touch her, bless and protect her as she grows up. [crying] >> Bless Abishai also, dear Lord. Irene bless Irene also in the name of 58:22 the Lord Jesus. >> Pray for Abishai and Arouch that you will hand your hand will be upon them Lord Jesus as they grow up that you will preserve them and protect them from the 58:41 evil. We pray for Sua and Isa that your hand be upon them Lord Jesus as they grow up. Give wisdom to the 58:57 parents. We also pray for Cheryl and >> ander >> Cheryl and Olive. >> Lord bless these two girls. In the name of the Lord, we thank you for giving 59:15 them to them to the parents. May your hand be upon them as they grow up. Lord, we also we pray for Kiara and we pray for 59:37 Amaya. Lord, we pray that you will bless these two children as they grow up. May your hand of protection be upon them. Prani, 59:58 we pray for Pranuti and we pray for Eric Christopher. Lord Jesus, thank you for all these children that you have given to our brothers and sisters as gifts. We pray dear Lord that your good hand of protection will be upon each one of them 1:00:17 as they keep growing in this world. We pray and commit them into your hands that the blessing of the Lord will be upon them. The protection of the Lord will be upon them. Parents, you please put your hands upon >> put your hands upon your child and we 1:00:34 will pray. >> Fathers can fathers can lay your hands on the child. Brother Charles will pray. >> Lord, we commit all these children into your hands which are a gift from above. You have planned for each and every one 1:00:52 of them. None is an accident. Lord, we pray that you will give much grace and wisdom to the parents to bring up these children in the way of the Lord. from when they are small. Let them [crying] 1:01:09 Lord put in their heart seeds of God's word that they may grow up to be wise children unlike the children of the world that they will be protected from every harm, danger, accident, bad 1:01:28 company, evil eyes. Lord Jesus, we pray that you will preserve them and keep your angels as charge over them, over each of these children. Lord Jesus, pray that your hand will be upon them and 1:01:46 your purpose will be fulfilled in each child. Lord Jesus, give much grace and wisdom to the parents and provide for the needs of every family, Lord Jesus, and help them to be connected to you so that the parents they [clears throat] 1:02:05 may abide in you and grow and bear much fruit. and the children observing the lives of the parents, they will also long to be like them and to have a family like them. Lord Jesus, we thank 1:02:24 you and praise you once again for these families. May your blessing be upon them all through their life. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can go. 1:02:41 parents can take you a place and yeah mothers with small children can go to mother's room and brother brother Suresh please lead us in Parents, parents, you don't need to be 1:03:19 this. Parents, you don't need to be disturbed when your children make noise. Like brother Charles said, they are speaking in different tongue. So we accept it. Okay. Mothers can go to the mother's room with small children. Yeah. 1:03:52 >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, brothers and sisters, we want to say amen to that prayer for all the children. Let's join in and sing this song. It's good for us to think about God sending his son Jesus 1:04:08 who came as a little baby like all these babies came to love, heal, and forgive. And because he lives, each of us can face tomorrow and we can have a hope for these 1:04:25 children. Let's join together and sing. [music] >> God sent his son. [singing and music] His name is Jesus. 1:04:42 He came to love, [music and singing] heal, and forgive. He [music] shed [singing] his blood to by my [music] power 1:04:59 and [singing] empty grave is there to prove [music] my savior [singing] lives because he lives. [singing] I [music] can face tomorrow 1:05:15 because [music and singing] he lives. All fear is gone [singing] because [music] I know. Yes, I know. He holds [singing] the future. [music] 1:05:32 My life is worth living just because he lives. [music] How sweet to [singing] hold a [music] newborn baby 1:05:49 and feel the [singing] love and joy he [music] brings are sweeter still. [music] The calur [singing] [music] 1:06:05 this child can face uncertain days because [music and singing] he lives. Because he lives. I can [music and singing] face tomorrow 1:06:22 because he will. All fear [singing and music] is gone because I know. Yes, I know. He holds the future. [music] My life [singing] is worth the living 1:06:42 just because he [singing] lives. Yeah. 1:07:04 Brothers and sisters, continuing with our prayer for the children, what we heard from brother Charles, we want to listen to a message from brother Zach. Uh let's pay attention. Brother Zach talks about the fear of God, about 1:07:20 family life, about how to raise godly children. and we can think about the Lord's dealings in our life and ask for wisdom um to deal with our own children uh as as we listen to his word. We'll just sing 1:10:38 song [clears throat] while the while we prepare our hearts. Turn your eyes upon [music] Jesus. Turn your [singing and music] eyes upon Jesus. Look full in [singing and music] his 1:11:01 wonderful face and the [singing and music] things of earth will grow strangely dim in the [music and singing] light of his 1:11:17 glory and grace. Turn [singing] your eyes [music] to the hillside [singing] where [music] justice and mercy 1:11:36 embrace. that the [music and singing] son of God gave his life for us [music] and our [singing] me was 1:11:54 >> Turn your thoughts upon Jesus. >> Turn [singing and music] your thoughts upon Jesus. Drink deep, drink [music and singing] deep of his comforting love. 1:12:12 >> The thoughts of sin and selfish strife. And [music and singing] the thoughts of sin and of self and [singing] strife will be lost in [music] that rapture [singing] of Amen. 1:12:49 You know when you come to the last book of the Old Testament which is the book of Malachi, you can see how disappointed the Lord was with his people. They he asked questions like this. 1:13:14 Malachi 1 verse 6. A son honors his father and a servant is master. If I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my respect? They called him father and master but 1:13:35 they didn't respect him. But remember that they did not have the Holy Spirit. It's very sad if God has to say that to us today when we have the Holy Spirit. 1:13:53 And they were presenting to God [clears throat] cheap offerings. Offerings that cost them nothing. It says in verse 8, they offered the blind and the lame and the sick. You know, they knew they had to offer some 1:14:11 offering to the Lord. So they looked through their flock and if they found a blind sheep, which is a bit of a nuisance in any case, he said, "Let's offer it to the Lord." and they found a lame goat, which is a bit of a nuisance. 1:14:26 They say, "Let's offer it to God." Or if there was a sick ox, they would present it to the Lord. Verse eight, they were offering to God that which they wanted to get rid of in any any case. 1:14:44 And [clears throat] the Lord says in verse 8, if you offer that to your governor, middle of verse 8, will he be pleased with you or will he receive you kindly? It's he's saying that there are earthly 1:15:02 authorities whom you would show more respect to than to me. That's a good question for all of us to ask ourselves as to the things that we offer to the Lord and they were in the Old Testament. They didn't even have the Holy Spirit. 1:15:20 But how much more in the New Testament I believe you know all of us we give offerings to the Lord. Even a prayer when you pray it's an offering to the Lord. When you come to a church service it's an offering to the Lord. 1:15:37 When you give money it's an offering to the Lord. Anything that you do or you do a service for somebody else in the church, you help someone else or you do anything, it's a service for the Lord. The question is, [clears throat] 1:15:52 is it something we somehow okay, we want to finish that, we got to get rid of it and then move on. So often a lot of people's prayer is like that. Um, okay, I have to an obligation to pray and I okay, let me pray and then 1:16:05 move on. I got a lot of other important things to do, but I have to finish with my Bible reading. Okay, I spend five minutes and read the Bible and I ease my conscience. Then I have to pray a little and I finish with that and I move on. Now, if 1:16:20 that is the way your Christian life is, actually, you're no better than these folks either. And the Lord says, would you treat a human authority like that? Would you treat a human authority who has come to your house with the same casual attitude you have 1:16:39 towards your heavenly father? I believe it's a question that we really need to ask ourselves. And of course, God was very patient with him. [clears throat] And he even said in verse 10, I wish the priests would shut the gates and say, 1:16:57 "We don't want this type of offering. Don't bring all your third rate useless stuff which you don't need in any case in your flock. You come and get that to the Lord. And he says, I wish there were leaders in your church, priests and all 1:17:12 who would shut the gates and say, sorry, [clears throat] God is not going to accept that. And [clears throat] I believe the Lord is saying today, I wish there were preachers who would tell people the truth that you must not offer to God 1:17:26 something which is so casual and your attitude towards the Lord must be much more respectful than your attitude to some earthly authority. It's a good way to examine ourselves. If the governor of the state came to our house 1:17:43 for something with what respect would we give him and how would we treat him? I mean it's good to meditate on and think how would I treat an earthly authority who comes to my house one day anything that I give him or present to 1:17:59 him the respect I show to him and I need to ask myself do I treat almighty God with that same respect that I have for an earthly authority and if [clears throat] not the Lord says shut the gates I don't want any of your 1:18:17 offerings are you I don't want to listen to your prayers if you don't have any respect. A lot of people even their reading of the Bible is so casual. It's a oh I have to do this just to ease my conscience. Now that's okay for third rate 1:18:37 Christians who don't know the Lord or backsliden Christians who once knew the Lord but have drifted away from God. Let them which go where whichever way they like. They're probably on their way to hell. In any case, on their way to 1:18:50 hell. Let them take that casual attitude to Bible reading and everything else. I'm not bothered about them. But we are serious Christians here or we should be serious Christians. And we must treat God's word and our time with the 1:19:06 Lord with respect. Very, very important. There's a great lack of respect among God's people for him. the casual way they pray and talk to the Lord. And one other thing he goes on to say in 1:19:24 chapter 2 is in chapter 2 verse 14 and 15 Malachi 24:15 he says there's another thing I want to say about your family life. Okay. First I have spoken to you. 1:19:44 The Lord says about your attitude towards me. Now I want to talk about your family life. The Lord has been a witness. Verse 14, the Lord has been, it says in verse, let's begin at 13. There's another thing that you all do. 1:20:02 You cover the altar of the Lord with weeping and groaning because he's no longer regards your offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. Yet you say, "Why? Why doesn't the Lord accept our prayer? Because he says 1:20:21 the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. The wife of your youth means you remember the day you got married to your wife. How much you loved her and you were so excited to get married to her that day when you were a young person. 1:20:37 And now you treat her so casually and you have dealt with her treacherously even though she's supposed to be your companion, your friend. You treat your wife like your close friend and she's your wife by a covenant 1:20:54 that you made when you got married, but you treat her so casually. You think the Lord doesn't take note of that? He took note of that in the old covenant under before the day of Pentecost before the Holy Spirit came. He was treating those 1:21:13 he was treating that very seriously. How much more today our family life our relationship as husband and wife with each other is something the Lord takes note of very carefully. How do you treat your wife? How do you treat your 1:21:29 husband? And then [clears throat] he goes on to the next step and says why did he make you both one? In verse 15, what 1:21:48 did that one do? Verse 15 it says in the margin it says why did God make you both one? so that he might have a godly offspring. The world is full of husbands and wives 1:22:05 who produce offspring, children. But the difference is with God's people, he made you both one that you might have a godly offspring, not just offspring. Only Tomic and Harry can have offspring, but the difference with God's people is 1:22:23 that you must have a godly offspring. And all of you need to ask yourselves, are your children a godly offspring? And if not, why not? 1:22:42 If even one of your children is not a committed disciple of Christ, committed to Christ, whom does the Lord blame here? The Lord blames the parents, not the children. We tend to blame children. I've heard numerous Christian parents say that. Oh, 1:23:01 brother Zach, what to do? They were influenced by other friends. Now, I'll tell you why they were influenced by other friends to go the worldly way. Because I tell them, you as parents did not bring them up properly when they 1:23:12 were young in your house. You were casual. And now that they're grown up, you did not do your job in the 10, 15 years that they were with you as little children. You ignored, you didn't take your calling seriously to make those children 1:23:30 disciples of Jesus by the time they were 15 or 16 and now they grown up and gone somewhere and gone astray. And you blame their friends. It's nothing to do with their friends. has got to do with their parents who did not teach them God's 1:23:45 ways when they were young. And the sad thing is so many Christian parents, they don't shed any tears over that. If your children are going astray, I want to ask you, when was the last time you wept, wept and prayed before God for 1:24:02 them? I find so many parents are so casual about it. Yeah, they'll they'll be okay. They won't be okay. and their blood will be on your hands in the day of judgment. It's a very serious thing because it says, "I was seeking a 1:24:18 godly offspring. I was expecting godly children." That's what he says in verse 15. Take heed, verse 15, the last part. Then to your spirit, let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. In other words, 1:24:38 the way the parents relate to each other is one of the reasons why the children go astray. They see the way father [clears throat] and mother are dealing with each other and the children go astray because [snorts] they don't see a godliness in 1:24:53 the relationship of father and mother. So it's very important for parents to take that seriously. See, when I was listening to these children singing, um, I'd rather have Jesus 1:25:11 than anything in this world. I'd rather be his. It's so wonderful to hear them say it. They're what, 14, 15, 16. I hope they'll say that when they're 25 and 30. I'd rather have Jesus than 1:25:30 anything. Train up a child in the way he should go. The promise of God is when he is old, he will not depart from it. Turn with me to Proverbs. I mentioned this because we are having a children's Sunday today. So, it's important to see 1:25:49 our responsibility towards these children. And I want to tell you this dear brothers and sisters, the responsibility is not the responsibility of the church to teach your children God's ways. It is not the responsibility of this church or 1:26:04 its elders to teach children God's ways. It is your responsibility as parents. Turn with me to Proverbs in chapter 22. Proverbs 22 and verse 6. There is a promise here. 1:26:25 It's a wonderful promise. But like every other promise in the Bible, there is a condition. The promise is when your children grow up, the last part of verse six, when your children grow older, that means 1:26:41 they've left home, they're 20 years old, 22 years old, 25 years old, 30 years old. They will not depart from God's way. What a wonderful promise. If God can give me that assurance that 1:26:59 when my children are 25, 30, 40, 50, they will not depart from God's way. It's a promise. It's God's promise. It'll never break. But every promise has got a condition. It's not automatic. The condition is in the first part. 1:27:19 train up a child in the way that he should go in God's way. So if I do that part when he's a child, God's [clears throat] promises that when he grows older, I'll take care of that. It's almost like two parts of a children child's life, you 1:27:38 know. The first part is when he's at home and God says, I you you take care of that and I'll take care of him when once he leaves your home. What a wonderful comfort that is to us. All of us one day our children will leave our home and go 1:27:54 away and then we see them rarely. We don't know what all influences they have. I mean they don't have to leave home. Just the fact that they go to school, they're away from home for so many hours or they go to a college or they go to work and 1:28:11 there they are exposed to so many other influences. What a comfort it is to know that they will not depart from God's way. It's a promise and I can take hold of that promise. I took it very seriously when my children were small. I say I don't 1:28:29 know what will happen when they grow up. But God's promise is you do your part. Train up a child in the way he should go. In other words, God is my example. [clears throat] And God not only teaches us, [snorts] 1:28:49 he corrects us, he disciplines us. Whenever I don't believe it's God's perfect will that I should be, I should have physical problems and sicknesses. 1:29:08 He's a loving father. So personally, I've always asked the Lord. Anytime I have any sickness, I say, "Lord, what what's the reason? Why we allowed it? I mean, what do you what's the reason? Are you trying to teach me something? Is it a little 1:29:22 discipline? Is you gave me a little spanking for something I did? I've always sought the Lord." And the Lord showed me some little thing that I need to correct. I say, "Okay, I'll correct it." Of course, a lot of sicknesses are because we live in a 1:29:38 world which is full of sickness and evil. So I'm not saying that everything is due to some wrong in our life. But sometimes it is. I should not assume that oh I got sick because it's sort of in the air now and there's a sort of 1:29:54 problem around here that's why I got it. I've taken every little thing that happens in my life that goes wrong, whatever it is, even if it's a financial failure, I say, "Lord, is there something I have to learn? Something I have to learn? 1:30:10 Some is this a little discipline you're trying to give me? If you lose your job, say, Lord, is there something? Is it God's will that I should be struggling struggling to sort of exist on this earth to feed myself?" God is a loving father 1:30:28 and he's more loving than any earthly father. I believe that and I proved that for all these 66 years that I've known him as my father. And he's more loving than any earthly father. And if an earthly father would not 1:30:47 disregard me, I don't believe my heavenly father will disregard me. there's any time even if I've gone astray from him, I can come back to him. He will welcome me and correct me. But I I must be willing to listen. Lord, if there's something wrong that I 1:31:04 need to sit right, and what a wonderful thing it is if we can train these children who today stand up and say, "I'd rather have Jesus than anything," that 20 years from now they'll say the same thing. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. And 1:31:22 that depends on the parents how you are going to take care of these children. Some of them who are not standing here was still smaller than them who are in your home. The earlier you start correcting them, disciplining them, 1:31:37 the easier it'll be when they grow up to always to teach them to always treat older people with respect. I say that because it's disappearing in this country. 1:31:55 Young people in this country don't respect the older people. They they don't even treat older they don't even talk to them respectfully. I find there's more respect for older people in heathen countries 1:32:13 than in a so-called Christian country. I find for example in in India where there's most of the people are Hindus who worship idols but a lot of those young people children treat their parents with such tremendous 1:32:31 respect their children touch the feet of their father whenever they go away from home and they come back home they touch the feet of their father I'm not saying you should do that in fact I discourage it whenever anybody tries to do that. Hindu 1:32:47 or converted Hindus try and keep that. But the respect they have for parents is really amazing. They they will never talk to an older even not only parents but even older people disrespectfully. 1:33:05 It's always with a respectful attitude. But they'll never call an older person by the first name. always use some preface like uncle so and so, auntie so and so. There's a respect that they are taught in heathen cultures 1:33:23 but be careful in this country because that is not there generally in public. So we have to protect our children to teach them to be respectful to older people. It's it's a you know in the Old Testament there was a law that 1:33:42 you must even stand up before your older person comes. You shouldn't be sitting down. That's how he taught the Israelites to be respectful to older people. It's part of God's ways. And if we are serious about bringing up 1:33:57 our children in God's ways, then we will really follow these little little things. train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it and not only that when he's old he will be a useful vessel in God's hands that 1:34:17 is our goal that's why it's the other thing that we need to emphasize with our children is to teach them God's word in our homes our children must become really familiar with God's word by the time they are 18 years old and leave the 1:34:36 home. They must really be familiar with God's word. That is my goal with my own children. They must all be born again before they leave the home. They must all be baptized and become children of God. And uh they won't live perfect 1:34:50 lives. I mean perfection takes a long time. There'll be ups and downs in their life. But there'll be a steady progress towards perfection. And even if they do go through a period of backsliding, they'll come back because of that solid 1:35:03 foundation. And the other thing is if you have children who have gone left your home, it's important that you, you know, put a rope around them. What I mean is prayer. Prayer is like a rope you put around the children so they 1:35:19 can't escape you. Even though they are far away from you, that rope of prayer pulls them back whenever they're going in a wrong direction. They may be a thousand miles away from you and you don't know what they're where they're going, where 1:35:35 they're going astray, what they're doing and the temptations they are facing there. But if you got this rope of prayer around them with which you are pulling them, restraining them from going in wrong directions. It really is 1:35:48 true, brothers. I'm not uh sort of telling you fancy stories. It's a tremendous power in if you pray for your children, if you commit them to the Lord and you want your children to live for God. If you want your children only to get a 1:36:06 good education and make a lot of money on the earth, well, I want to say I have no message for you. Your children are doomed. They'll probably end up in hell. And you will see that when you're in heaven and grown on it for all eternity 1:36:24 to see your children in hell. It's really going to happen. A lot of Christian parents are going to be in heaven for eternity groaning because they see their children burning in hell for all eternity. You don't believe that's going to 1:36:39 happen? I believe with all my heart it's going to happen. parents who were irresponsible, didn't take up their responsibility, bring up or who were a very bad example to their children as the children grew up who were a bad 1:36:55 example in the way they behaved towards each other as husband and wife. So it's a very big responsibility and the thing is once they go beyond a certain age there's nothing nothing much you can do for them. You got to start 1:37:08 right from the time they are young. See whenever I see a the sometimes I see a tree which is all trees normally grow up straight. They grow up straight. That's the way God has intended it. But then now and then I see a tree that's crooked. 1:37:25 And it was crooked because maybe when it was a very small plant, it was growing that way for some reason. I think something pulled it down or there's some obstruction in the way. And when it was a small plant, that tree was 1:37:39 bent like that. And and you see the whole tree is crooked. Now you can't straighten it. You can't straighten that crooked tree. If you wanted to straighten it, you should have straightened it when it was a small plant. That's a parable for us. Whenever 1:37:52 you see a crooked tree somewhere, think of your children that they should not grow up like that. They should grow upright, straight, pointing straight up to heaven. That's the way all our children should be. So please take this seriously because 1:38:06 it's a very big responsibility God has committed to us. These children who are given to us they are not ours. It's one of the first things we need to recognize. You call them your children but God says they're not yours. I give 1:38:25 them to you as a responsibility to take care of. And I believe that many of us are so careful with our money. How careful you are with the money in your bank account. How often you check your bank account to see that nobody's taken anything out of that 1:38:42 account by cheating you. How careful we are with money. And yet I tell you, children are a million times more important than money. And if you're careful with your money that you don't want anybody to cheat you, you should be much more careful with 1:38:59 your children that they should be protected from all evil because the devil is there. God has allowed the devil to be there. There are many reasons. I don't understand all the reasons why God has permitted the devil to be there. But one 1:39:16 reason is so that we will cling closer to him. You know when there's danger we came closer to the Lord and I believe the presence of Satan is makes people turn to the Lord if they won't turn to the Lord any other way. 1:39:35 And when Satan disturbs your children that makes some parents turn to the Lord who will not turn to the Lord any other way. When your children have left your home and gone completely astray from the Lord, that makes you turn to the Lord. 1:39:50 Praise the Lord. You would not turn to the Lord otherwise. So God uses wward children to turn parents to the Lord. So it's amazing. But don't let that be that be the reason why you turn to the Lord. We turn to the Lord. We love him. 1:40:07 Not because we want some answer to prayer or we want I don't love the Lord because I want him to bring a to bless my children. I love the Lord because he first loved me. And even if God does nothing for me, I still love him because 1:40:20 what he's done for me. That's how it should be. So my brothers, as parents, I want to encourage you have a very close intimate walk with the Lord in your personal life. Number one. And secondly, please live 1:40:37 with deep respect for your partner. Always treat your partner with respect, husband to wife and wife to husband. And don't just lose your temper. And even if you're so weak that you cannot control 1:40:56 your temper, at least do one thing more. Apologize every single time you speak rudely or in anger. to your husband or wife every single time. If you get angry with your wife 10 times a day, ask her forgiveness 10 times a day. 1:41:14 That's the way to do it. And I tell you, you'll get victory over your anger pretty soon. I've seen husbands and wives who go on year after year after year, they call themselves Christians. They should hang their head in shame for calling 1:41:25 themselves Christians. They should say, "I'm not I'm no longer a Christian. I still get upset with my wife after so many years of calling myself a believer. I really believe such people should hang their head in shame and go and fall 1:41:36 before God and say Lord have mercy on me. What type of a Christian I am. I'm such a disgrace to your name. You know the Bible says the devil is the accuser of the brethren. It says in Revelation and chapter 12, 1:41:54 the devil is called in verse 10, the middle of verse 10, the accuser of the brothers. He doesn't accuse believers. No, unbelievers. The devil does not accuse unbelievers. It says in verse 9, he deceives unbelievers. He's the deceiver of the 1:42:12 world, but the accuser of believers. He's got two functions. The world he's deceiving, but believers he's accusing. And so, please remember, he accuses believers day and night in verse 10 to God. 1:42:30 Do you see this? The devil accusing believers. I mean, if you could get a vision into the heavenlies, the devil saying, "God, you said that fellow is your son. Look how he's behaving. Look how he's behaving towards his wife. 1:42:45 You said that girl is your daughter. Look at the way he's look at that way that lady is behaving towards her husband." The devil's accusing day and night. It says 24 hours he's waiting to find fault. If there's a he's the 1:42:58 greatest fault finder in the universe, always looking for something to find fault in. And when he points out something in you, what what can God do about it? When God has to say it's true, he claims to be my child, but the way 1:43:13 he's behaving is an absolute disgrace. I I should hang my head in shame that I bring such dishonor to the Lord's name by the way I behave and conduct myself. It's very very important, brothers and sisters. We pray that in this church 1:43:28 there'll be brothers and sisters who will bring honor to God and not give room to the devil who we I want to be one who shuts the devil's mouth that when he comes into my life he can find zero to accuse me before God and if I 1:43:44 slip up in a moment I set it right so that the devil's mouth is shut again the moment you confess something your sin is forgiven the devil's mouth is shut because it says here in verse The next verse, they overcame Satan by 1:43:58 the blood of the lamb. How did he overcome Satan? By the blood of the lamb. Okay, this this person did something wrong. And the devil's accusing him. But immediately without any delay, he confesses his sin to the Lord and say, "Lord, it's my fault. I 1:44:12 don't blame anybody else. I don't blame my husband. I don't blame my wife. I don't blame that person or any other person. I take the blame for that action of mine, for those words of mine. Forgive me." And you're cleansed. And 1:44:22 the devil's mouth is shut. determined to shut the devil's mouth every time he accuses you. You can only do that by the blood of the lamb. And you can only do that if you take the blame. You no sin of yours will be forgiven if you blame somebody else. 1:44:38 If you blame your husband or your wife, your sin will not be forgiven. And the devil's mouth is wide open and he continues to accuse you. So please see this is something really going on in the heavenlies all the time. The devil 1:44:50 accusing, accusing, accusing, accusing. God see that? See the way he's bringing up his children. His children are so rebellious and the father doesn't even do anything about it. The mother doesn't do anything about it. You see, oh sweet 1:45:03 little child. He's not a [clears throat] sweet little child. He's a rebellious child. He needs to be disciplined. He needs to be taught God's ways. That's why God gave that child to you. Take it seriously. Your responsibility there. 1:45:15 So if [clears throat] we take these things seriously, I believe we can have wonderful families in this church and we'll have a church that altogether overcomes the devil. That's God's will. Jesus said Matthew 16:18, I will build my church 1:45:33 and the gates of hell or the powers of darkness will not be able to overcome it. That's the mark of a church that Jesus built. There are many churches in the world, but not all of them are built by Jesus. The mark of the church that Jesus builds 1:45:47 is Matthew 16 and verse 18. I will build my church. The last part of that verse. And the powers of darkness will not be able to overpower it. This is the only mark of a true church that Jesus is building. All the other churches are built by men. Maybe good 1:46:05 men with a lot of Bible knowledge and great Bible scholars, but if the devil overpowers a church, that's not the church Jesus is building. And the church is made up of homes. And that's why each one of us has a responsibility that we take seriously 1:46:21 our responsibility as parents towards our children to be examples. Not just people who preach things to our children which we don't practice ourselves. You want your children to be patient. You be patient with your husband and 1:46:34 with your wife. And you you want your [clears throat] children to be humble. You be humble first and show show humility by example and not by just preaching. Jesus always said follow me. He didn't say listen to me. Listen to me. Listen 1:46:48 to me. Listen to me. Many parents tell their children listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to what I'm saying my son. Listen my daughter. Listen to me. Jesus never said listen to me. You know what he said? Follow me. That's what every 1:47:01 parent should say. Follow me my son. See how I behave with my wife. See how I behave with mommy. See how I behave with daddy. Follow me. Follow my example. Can you say that? Well, if you've not been able to say that till now, let's start 1:47:16 today so that you can grow up your children. You can tell your example. Follow my example. See how I conduct myself. See how I react when something goes wrong in the house. So many things can go wrong. Something can be broken 1:47:32 accidentally. Okay. Son, children, see how I react when somebody makes a mistake. See how I react when somebody breaks something accidentally. Do I get all upset over something? These things that have no value in eternity, I get so 1:47:47 bothered by it. And things that have more value in eternity was my relationship with the Lord. I'm not so bothered about that being broken. That's a tragedy of so many Christians. Some earthly loss or earthly thing being 1:47:57 broken, they get so upset. Their relationship with the Lord is broken. They don't get so upset. the relationship with their marriage partner is broken. They don't get so upset. That means they value these earthly things so 1:48:08 much more than the heavenly things. No wonder they never become spiritual. We have to determine in our life that Lord, no earthly thing will ever be valuable to me. My spiritual relationship with my brothers and sisters and with my wife 1:48:23 and husband, the way I bring up my children, those are a million times more important than any earthly thing. I said that to the Lord long ago. I don't care what I lose. I don't care how much money I lose. I don't care even if I made 1:48:37 mistakes and lost money or broke something accidentally and or somebody else in my home broke something accidentally. I'm not going to get upset because it has no value in eternity. We really have to wake up and ask ourselves, am I really seeing the value 1:48:54 of things from an eternal standpoint? So let's remember that. I thought of that when I heard these children singing. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. I want them to be singing that 20 years from now. And that depends a 1:49:09 lot on us parents. Let's pray. Let's bow [clears throat] our heads. Heavenly Father, please help us that we shall not let you down with the responsibility that you have given us with the precious children that you have committed to our church. 1:49:28 We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
