0:22 Only two We can say things that Jesus said we should do. In the churches Meaningful rituals. One is baptism and the Lord's table, both of which have meaning related to our dying with Jesus Christ 0:41 on the cross. Dedicating children is not compulsory. There's no law. If you don't You can do it on your own at home. Dedicate your child to God. But the reason we do it publicly is because Jesus was dedicated as a baby. So that's 1:00 a good example to follow like we follow his example in baptism. He broke bread. We follow there. So we also follow the example here as you read in Luke chapter 2 and verse 21. 22 rather. And when the days of their purification 1:18 was over, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. For it is written in the law of the Lord every firstborn male Luke 2:23 that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Many commands in the Old Testament were 1:41 partial. But they are fully fulfilled in the New Testament. The reason why God told the Israelites, your firstborn son must be dedicated to me was because when the Israelites were in Egypt 2:00 the angel of death went through and killed all the firstborn children sons firstborn sons in the whole land. But the firstborn sons of Israel were not killed because they put the blood on the door. So the Lord said to them, they should 2:16 have been killed. But they were saved by the blood. So you must dedicate them to me. So that was the law. But that was only for the firstborn son. Now for us in the new covenant, all our children, there's no difference between 2:35 male and female now in the new covenant. In the old covenant, the man was more important than the woman as you see right through the Old Testament. But in the new covenant, they are equally important to God and our Baby boys and baby girls are equally 2:49 important. And we don't present the first only, we present all of them to the Lord. So just like in the old covenant, they had one day that was holy. The Sabbath. Saturday. Now all days are holy for us. 3:05 In the old covenant, 10% of their income belonged to God and 90% belonged to themselves. But in the new covenant, 100% belongs to God. And we use it as God tells us to use it. We don't recognize anything as ours. 3:21 So all our children belong to the Lord. And God gives them to us to bring them up in a godly way so that another generation also will continue to be witnesses for him on 3:40 the earth. And then they will be witnesses to their next generation. And so the Lord's purpose is that generation after generation after generation right from the time the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost right up until 3:55 the time Jesus returned in all these 2,000 years if Christians had followed that teaching in every generation, there'd be godly people holding up the light of God, being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. 4:09 But as you know, 99% of Christians fail. They don't care for the word of God. They live only for money and honor and earthly things. God's purposes are not fulfilled. But the Bible speaks about a remnant. A remnant means a small number. 4:27 Do you know out of 600,000 men who came out of Egypt only two entered the land of Canaan, Joshua and Caleb. And I think among 600,000 Christians on the earth there may be two who are really serious 4:46 that God must be first in everything in my life. And I'm going to honor God in every area of my life. I'm going to honor God in my family. I'm going to honor God in my work. I'm going to honor God in my thought life, my speech. And there's no 4:59 department of my life that God will not be honored. I think it's about two out of 600,000. I mean so many Christians, but I find very few who are really serious about their Christian life. The same way with bringing up children. 5:14 Out of 600,000 children born to Christians, maybe two are brought up in a really godly way to grow up to be wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. And the failure lies 100% with the parents. Cuz the Bible says train up a child in 5:29 the way he should go. And when he's old, he will not depart from it. God's word cannot be broken. He will not depart from it means he will not depart from it. She will not depart from it. So if a child departs from it you can't say God failed. Can't say his 5:46 promise failed. You have to say maybe parents did not bring them up in a proper way. And to me one of the greatest examples of that, one of the finest examples, we read one example in the New Testament, one in the Old Testament. 6:00 One is Moses and the other is Timothy. The mother In both cases, the mother. Not the father. The reason is even though it's the father who disciplines the children and that's important. It's the mother who spends most of the 6:14 time with the child at home. Unfortunately these days so many mothers are working. I believe it's unfortunate that children are neglected. But I mean right up until about 100 years ago, almost from the beginning of history 6:33 mothers were at home. It's all different now in the last 40, 50 years. But from the beginning of time and in every nation, mothers were at home. And they worked like in Proverbs 31 we read, they worked at home. And they cared for their children. 6:50 And Moses' mother is an outstanding example of that. You read in Hebrews in chapter 11. You know, Hebrews chapter 11 is a great chapter of people who split the Red Sea pulled down the walls of Jericho. Like 7:07 Samson shut the mouths of lions. Raised the dead like Elijah. And in the midst of the list of these fantastic miracles you read about a woman. A set of parents. But I think especially the woman 7:23 who brought up a child in a godly way. Now to bring up a child in a godly way, can you put it in the same category as raising the dead and splitting the Red Sea? I say yes. God has put it there. Cuz you read that chapter sometime, 7:38 Hebrews 11. It's fantastic miracles. Tremendous miracles which people are astounded by. But nobody thinks of the fact that you brought up a godly child as something to be astounded by. But it is in an evil world. It says 7:54 about Moses in verse 23, Hebrews 11 23. By faith Moses. Now it's not talking about the faith of Moses here. It's talking about the faith of his parents and especially his mother. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden by his parents. 8:14 So it's the parents who took that decision. And they saw he was a beautiful child. And I just want to tell you that every child is a beautiful child. If you can see God's purpose for that child that is given to you, whether it's a boy or a girl, every 8:27 child is a beautiful child. Don't ever look at some child and say this is not a beautiful child. That's a lie of the devil. And they were not afraid of the king's edict. And now what I want you to see is this. If you know the Old Testament story 8:42 uh for those of you don't don't know it. The king of Egypt was so afraid that the Israelites were were slaves there were increasing in number by hundreds of thousands. That he was afraid that they would one day start a riot 9:00 kill the Egyptians and take over the country. So he passed a law, Pharaoh that every male child should be killed. So that there will not be any riot in Egypt and the Israelites would not take over the country. 9:19 And so that's what all the Israelite uh many of the Israelite mothers did. Of course, some of the house some of the midwives would not kill them. But God hearing did not kill all the children. But Moses' mother, when this 9:33 baby was born she and her husband had faith. We got somehow God has got a plan for this child. It's wonderful when you have a baby born in your home to say God's got a plan for this child. We must do everything to protect it from harm 9:49 from the devil. In that case from Pharaoh, today from the devil. And so they kept the child at home. But as it grew up, you can't keep it at home too long. The Egyptian soldiers will come checking every house to see if any babies are 10:02 there. So, they put it in a basket and put it into the river. Nile was full of crocodiles and all that. And they trusted God to protect him. And Moses' mother's, I'm sorry, Moses' sister, older sister, maybe 10 12 years 10:16 old and there he was hiding in the bushes to see what would happen to this baby in the basket. And sure enough, by the leading of God, because of the faith of that woman, the mother, amazing what God does when a woman when a mother has faith, 10:31 the right person comes along, Pharaoh's daughter, who's got a kind heart. She sees this child and says, "Oh, this must be one of the Hebrews' children which my father, the Pharaoh, told to kill." So, she picked it up. And 10:45 Moses' sister, wise little girl, is instructed by her mother, "Go and tell her if they want a nurse to look after the child." Of course, she ran up to Pharaoh's daughter and said, "I can get one of the Hebrew nurses to look after the child." 10:59 She said, "Sure." And she went and called her mother. And the mother came. She didn't know it was the mother. Pharaoh's daughter said, "You look after this child. And when he's grown up, bring him to the palace because I don't want the hassle of 11:15 looking after the child when it's a little baby or not to take care of it. I can't take care of it myself." So, Moses' mother did that. And they kept Moses at home. And at a certain age, they brought him to Pharaoh. Now, it doesn't say in the 11:31 Bible how old Moses was when he was brought to Pharaoh's palace. Okay, let's assume that even if he was at home for uh for 10 years or 7 years or 10 years, let's say maximum 10 years, then he had to take 11:48 the child to Pharaoh's palace. Okay, now picture this child for 10 years at home and and 30 years in the most wicked place on the face of the earth with immorality, loads of money, 12:06 and power and position and all that from the age of 10. Think of your child. Say your little boy or little girl whom you have at home for 10 years and so on. And at the age of 10, you send that child out to the most wicked, worldly, 12:22 corrupt, sinful, wealthy place on earth. And I'm not talking about America. I'm talking about the palace of Pharaoh. And 30 years he grows up there 12:40 with no not a single godly person in that whole palace. And at the age of 40, look at the decisions he takes. Number one, "I will not be called the son of 12:58 Pharaoh's daughter." Verse 24. "I don't want the honor of this world." Okay, second, verse 25, "I don't want the passing pleasures of sin, of sex and all that." 13:17 Third, verse 26, "I don't want the riches, the treasures of Egypt." So, after 30 years in this wicked surroundings where there's plenty of money, plenty of honor, plenty of sex and pleasure, he rejected all three. 13:36 "I don't want the passing pleasure of sin." He knew there is pleasure in sin. It's one of the verses in the Bible which says there's pleasure in sin, but it's a passing pleasure. I don't want it. "All this wealth that I see in Egypt, I 13:49 don't want it. And uh I don't want the honor of this big title, the Pharaoh's daughter's son. What should I choose instead? I will choose to stand, verse 25, with the people of God. And I will choose, verse 26, the reproach 14:08 of the Messiah who's going to come cuz the Israelites believed the Messiah, Christ, would come. Isn't it amazing that a 10-year-old boy goes into the most wicked place on earth and at the age of 40 turns out take such important decisions 14:26 in relation to honor, money, and pleasure of the world? There's only one reason for it. His mother drilled into his mind by the time he was 10, the values that he should have. 14:45 And that teaches us in those days when there was no Bible, no church, no fellowship, how a child could grow up if a mother had done her job faithfully and not played the fool during those 10 years. No, she couldn't afford to play 15:03 the fool. Every day was important because at the age of 10, she'd go. Imagine if you you knew that your at the age of 10, your child is going to go out of your house. How would it be? If most of you at the age of 18, they go 15:17 to college. I know all of my boys went to college when they were 18. You have them at home for a certain period. That's it. And you have your children at home for a certain period. And if you don't make use of every one 15:28 of those days, later on you'll see you'll suffer the consequences of it. So, it's an amazing I I really admire this lady. Why do I say the mother? Because they were all slaves in Egypt in those days, the Israelites. So, I can imagine the father went for 15:45 work at 6:00 in the morning. They really treated those slaves badly. And if you came late, they'd really trouble you in some way. So, 6:00 6:00 in the morning, he'd have a quick breakfast at home and rush off to work and probably come home at 9:00 at night. 16:01 Slaves worked the whole day. I don't even know whether they had a day off. Maybe they gave them a half a day off on some day of the week, I don't know. My point is he hardly ever saw his baby, Moses, except when he was asleep. 16:17 The father hardly ever saw him. Maybe if they had a half day off in the week, he'd spend a little time with his son, but all the time that boy was with the mother. And that mother was such a godly woman put so many values into this child's 16:35 head that he didn't forget 30 years later. That's quite a lesson for us parents. Today we have father and mother. Why should your child choose the riches of the world 16:54 or the honor of the world or the pleasures of sin when he's old? When this child with a mother who had no Bible at home, no church fellowship, nothing, all she had was God and her faith which she wanted to impart to that child. 17:13 It's a tremendous challenge to me. And to every mother sitting here, there's absolutely no excuse for your child follow the ways of the world. Absolutely none. We have 100 times more than this Moses' mother had. The other example is in the New 17:32 Testament, it's Timothy. You read about Timothy in 1 Timothy 2 Timothy chapter 1. Paul says about him, uh Maybe before that, I should just show you an introduction to Acts chapter 16. 17:51 In Acts of the Apostles chapter 16, when Paul was traveling around in I just want to tell you something about Paul's team. Paul had a team of workers. He was very very strict about who he got onto his team. 18:08 I mean, if you got onto Paul's team, he was like the highest honor that you could think of in Christian circles to be one of Paul's team. He was very selective. He was one man who was on his team called John Mark, 18:28 who after one trip got a little found that it's too tough and he went away. Paul said, "I'll never take him back onto my team again." He was so strict. He would not have any half-hearted compromises on his team. And Paul was a person with great 18:43 discernment about who he selected. And we read here that there was this disciple in Acts 16:1 called Timothy. And we're told something about his background. This He was mother was a Jewish woman who was a who had become a believer, 19:00 but she married a Greek. Now, that means that she disobeyed God's word when she was a young girl because the Jews were not allowed to marry the non-Jewish people. In the before they be they were not Christians then. They were just Jews and 19:17 they were not allowed to marry non-Jewish people. If you married a non-Jewish, you were cut off from God's people. So, she must have been a backslidden Jew. A backslidden Jewish young girl who went and married a Greek man who probably was 19:31 a businessman, not interested in spiritual things, just making money. You know, like some women, their husbands are only interested in money and this world and this poor woman is maybe was backslidden when she married him. 19:45 And now she's come to the Lord and she's got a child. And I have a feeling that when she saw this child and saw the worldliness around, she must have gone to the Lord and said, "Lord, forgive me for my backsliding that I had slipped up when I was a young 20:01 girl, but I want to make up for that by bringing up this little boy in a godly way." And I reckon that he must have been 19 or 20 years old. And Paul took him, verse three, with him and said, "I want you to be part of my 20:16 team." Can you imagine? This strict Paul who could discern people and see people through and through selecting a young man who was 19 or 20 years old. You know, like God selected David when 20:36 he was 19 or 20 years old. And God selected Joseph when he was 17 years old. Selected Samuel when he was a little boy. And God selected Jeremiah when he was a little boy. There are a lot of cases in history of God selecting small 20:50 before they're 20 years old, and God's laid hold of them. It's really amazing. And so, the fact that God Paul could select this young man tells me something about his mother. Something like most mother that she had brought him up so well 21:08 even with a Greek worldly father. Imagine if you're a godly woman and your husband is thoroughly worldly, only interested in the things of the world, and you have a child and you bring up that child in such a good godly way that the Apostle 21:21 Paul says, "You should be on my team." Oh, you got to take your hats off to that mother. She must have been a fantastic mother. None of us have any excuses. They didn't have a Bible in those days either. I mean, the Old Testament was there in 21:36 the synagogue. Parchments were very expensive. You didn't have one in your home. And there she was. And what did she impart to the child? It was not just knowledge. Very often today, parents impart knowledge to their children, which is 21:52 good, Bible knowledge. But here we read in Second Timothy. Now we go to Second Timothy chapter one, and Paul says in verse five, "I am mindful Second Timothy 1:5 of the sincere faith which was first in your grandmother Lois 22:11 and your mother Eunice." So, the grandmother was a God-fearing woman. And tried to bring up her daughter in a good way, but somehow she ended up marrying a Greek man. And but anyway, she repented, and so she Eunice, the daughter, got faith as well. 22:28 But the point is it is a sincere faith which was in the Timothy's mother, Eunice, which he passed on to Timothy. Not knowledge. He says, "I've seen the faith, Timothy, that was in your mother." 22:47 And what does that mean? How did Timothy get faith? He says, "I'm sure you got the faith inside you which was first in your mother's heart, and now it's in you." Now, how do you put faith into your child's heart? Bible knowledge we can put into their mind. If 23:01 they're clever and intelligent, just like you teach them mathematics or history or science, you can put the facts of the Bible into the mind of a clever child. But how do you put faith into a child's heart? That's much more 23:15 difficult. And the important thing that, you know, it's good to teach our children the Bible and all that, but to put faith into their heart is much more important. And that is by, you know, when you read the Bible, uh you know, for example, if you tell 23:31 them a story of Jesus going through the storm and calming it. I mean, that's great to see to tell them the miracle that Jesus stilled the storm. But to relate that to practical daily life and say to your child, "See, we can also face difficulties like that. 23:51 Small things, big things. Some little problem may come in your school when you're studying with other children. Or some other bigger problem in the house if there's not enough money or we have to vacate our house and find 24:03 another one. Or so many problems can come in life or you get a sickness suddenly that's unexpected. It's like a storm." Timothy's mother would have said, "What should we do, Timothy? Trust God. Remember how Jesus stilled the storm? 24:19 You remember in all the gospels, there was never a storm which he could not stop. So, let's trust him." And then they would pray over that problem they faced. And little Timothy learned from a very young age, three or four years old, 24:34 that when there's a problem or a storm, I must pray. And then something else happens in some other situation, some sickness or some other problem or anything. "Timothy, let's pray." And then pray, and then see how God wonderfully solves that problem. 24:51 So, we should not pray, "Lord, take us through life without any problems." Whenever I see a person who's gone through life without any problems, I can tell you a person got zero faith. He doesn't need faith. He's got enough 25:07 resources in his bank and with his friends to take care of all his needs. Why does he need God? He doesn't need God at all cuz he has no problems. But some other person who's faced all types of difficult problems and trusted 25:20 God through them, they have something that's solid inside them that lasts for eternity. And they can communicate something to their children. So, it's not the only the children of rich people who have no earthly needs or problems. 25:36 Very often, many of them don't grow up to be godly. They're just normal Christians who just sit in a church and ease their conscience that they're born again, as they call it. Useless to God and useless to man. We should not want any one of our 25:51 children to grow up useless to God and useless to man. Not even one. If you have 10 children, all 10 must be profitable to God and profitable to man. And the way to train them up is teach them to trust God in the trials of 26:11 life. And so, if you have trials when your children are small, praise God. Praise God. Say, "There's a challenge. There's a storm that's come into our home. And we're going to trust Jesus to still it." And little child grows up like even if 26:27 it's a small little thing. Uh so, son, did you lose your pen somewhere? Let's pray to Jesus. I mean, a pen costs hardly anything. But to teach that child to pray, "Lord Jesus, please help me. I lost my pen somewhere. Can I find it?" 26:39 Or Mommy says, "I lost my misplaced my keys. Timothy, can you help me to pray?" And you pray and ask Jesus help me to find my keys. Not the most important thing in the world, but to teach our children to pray for every little thing and big thing. 26:55 Not just when the house is on fire, but small little And little by little by little, faith came into Timothy's heart. And that is the thing that Paul, discerning man that he was, could say, "Hey, here's a young man. He's not just Bible knowledge he has. 27:12 He's got faith. That's the kind of man I want in my team." I think I would have considered it a tremendous honor if God had selected me or any of my children to be in Paul's team. That's how Timothy's mother felt. I She let him go. "Okay, I'm on Paul's 27:30 team. Great. That's what I brought you up for all your life. That's what I longed for you. Not that you should become a millionaire, but that you should be a servant of God on Paul's team." So, she longed for that. She didn't 27:42 wasn't there in no way in any hesitation in her heart because it's what she wanted that my child should grow up to be a witness for Christ on earth. And so, I want to say to you, dear brothers and sisters, you know, we say you're part of the New Covenant 27:56 Christian Fellowship. In the New Covenant, for a person New Covenant Christian, Christ is everything. Not just first, Christ is everything. The whole circle is Christ. There's no little segment of that circle for something for him. 28:13 And that is the way we must bring up our children also. So, remember the responsibility is very much upon our parents and especially on the mothers to bring up every child God has given you in a godly way, and God will help you in 28:27 that. Definitely. He is there to help us in our weakness. So, let's trust him.
