We'll sing the big first song at last On the last verse
The Lord is bleeding On his earth to victory
The maw of promised land He used his knife
His glorious name And every man shall honor me
The Lord will bring The dawn of peace is nigh
The fight is on O Christian soldier
And face to face in stern array
With armor gleaming And colors streaming
The right and loving King today
The fight is on But be not weary
Be strong and in his final grasp
With God before us His banner o'er us
We'll sing the big first song at last
Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling, come, follow me
Then we see where the good friends calling
Lead us to Thee
Lord, praise our Jesus And bring the pathway home
We will call out the steps of Jesus There, there they go
Though they lead o'er the cold, dark mountains seeking his sheep
Lord, along the simple mountains, mountains, help me know me
The Prince of Jesus That made the pathway flow
We will follow the steps of Jesus There
Sowing in the glory, sowing Jesus' kindness
Sowing in the new time and the duty
Waiting for the harvest and the time of ringing
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheep
Heart is the shepherd's voice I hear
Out in the desert, dark and clear
Calling the sheep who've gone astray
Far from the shepherd's fold away
Bring them in, bring them in
Bring them in from the fields of sin
Bring them in, bring them in
Bring the wandering ones to Jesus
Who'll go and help this shepherd, God
Help him, the wandering ones to find
Who'll bring the lost ones to the fold
Where they'll be sheltered from the cold
Bring them in, bring them in
Bring them in from the fields of sin
Bring them in, bring them in
Bring the wandering ones to Jesus
Out in the desert, hear them cry
Out of the mountains, wild and high
Heart is the Master's peace to thee
Go find thy sheep, wherever they be
Bring them in, bring them in
There is a call come to bring me
For the restless grave
Send the light, send the light
There are souls to rescue
There are souls to save
Send the light, send the light
Send the light
God bless you, gospel life, let it shine
Our story's sure
Send the light
God bless you, gospel life, let it shine
Forevermore
We have heard the Macedonian call today
Send the light, send the light
In the golden offering at the cross we lay
Send the light, send the light
Send the light
God bless you, gospel life, let it shine
Our story's sure
Send the light
God bless you, gospel life, let it shine
Forevermore
Let us pray and praise we everywhere around
Send the light, send the light
Let the Christ's light spirit everywhere be found
Send the light, send the light
Send the light
God bless you, gospel life, let it shine
Our story's sure
Send the light
God bless you, gospel life, let it shine
Forevermore
Let us not grow weary in the work of God
Send the light, send the light
Let it shine
Far away the noise, the strife of God my ear is calling
Then I know the sins of earth He said on every hand
Doubt and fear and pains of earth in vain to me are calling
None of me shall move me from you, I'll end
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky
I'm drinking at the mountain that never shall run dry
Oh yes, I'm listening on the manna from the mountain close up my poor I am dwelling into the land
Far below the storm of doubt upon the world
His name, wonderful praise of Jesus, reaching through all the walls
I am a happy partner, safe to the other ones
Thanks God, you turn us under, giving me liberty
Oh the wonderful praise of Jesus, reaches me
Wonderful praise of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea
I am a happy partner, safe to the other ones
Better than the scope of my depression and sin
Far than all my sin is safe, oh, magnified oppression
Fame of Jesus, praise Him
Wonderful praise of Jesus, reaching the most divine
High is His glory power, making me God's dear child
All eternity
And the wonderful praise of Jesus, reaches me
Wonderful praise of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea
I am a happy partner, safe to the other ones
Better than the scope of my depression, greater than all my sin and shame
Oh, magnified oppression, fame of Jesus, praise Him
Go to page 29 in the red or green hymnals at the cross
Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my sovereign die
Would He devote the sacred head for such a worm as I
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart pulled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
Was it for crimes that I have done, be crowned upon the tree
Amazing pity, praise unknown and love beyond decree
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart pulled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
Well might the Son in darkness sign
And shove His glories in
When Christ the mighty Maker died for man, the creature sin
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart pulled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
But drops of grief can never repay
The death of my hope
Here, Lord, I give myself away
Tis all that I can do
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart pulled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
Brother Joe Ritchie, can you open us with a word of prayer?
Lord, thank you for this day in this church.
We just pray for our pastor and the Holy Church.
Help us to sing out the new and just pray.
And repeat with us every day.
Amen.
The next hymn is 237, The Cleansing Wave.
If you don't know it, you'll pick it up on two, three, and four.
Oh, now I see the crimson wave
The fountain deep and wide
Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save
Points to his wounded side
The cleansing stream I see, I see
I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me
Oh, praise the Lord, it cleanseth me
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me
I see the new creation rise
I hear the speaking flood
It speaks for good, it nature dies
Sinks deep the cleansing flood
The cleansing stream I see, I see
I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me
Oh, praise the Lord, it cleanseth me
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me
I rise to walk in heaven's own light
Above the world and sin
With art made pure and garments white
And Christ enthroned within
The cleansing stream I see, I see
I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me
Oh, praise the Lord, it cleanseth me
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me
Amazing grace, tis heaven below
To feel the blood applied
And Jesus, only Jesus now
My Jesus crucified
The cleansing stream I see, I see
I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me
Oh, praise the Lord, it cleanseth me
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me
Amen. At this time, we'll have the announcements.
Alright, good morning. Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church.
Let's take our bulletins and go through the announcements.
If you need a bulletin, just slip up your hand.
One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin.
Just lift up your hand if you need one.
On the front cover, we have our verse of the week.
It says, the Lord is my strength and my shield,
my heart trusted in him and I am helped.
Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices
and with my song will I praise him.
Psalm chapter 28, verse 7, great scripture there.
On the inside page, we have our service times there.
Sunday morning, 10 30 a.m. for the preaching service.
Sunday evening service is at 3 30 p.m.
I'm going to be preaching a sermon tonight
that's going to be a rumble-only type sermon
about the bill that passed through Congress last week,
the anti-Semitism bill.
So that will be one you want to buckle your seatbelt for tonight.
I'm going to go over a lot of things.
And basically, our country was betrayed this week
and the ones that all the Christians just say,
well, you've got to vote for these guys, vote for these guys.
These guys, they literally passed a bill that's anti-free speech
after just ranting and raving for the last few years
about how there needs to be free speech on colleges, college campuses.
Now they have passed the bill.
And it's seemingly just for colleges, but that's not all it's for.
And usually that's kind of how these Trojan horses get in
and become draconian-style laws.
So I'll be preaching about that tonight.
And this morning I'll be preaching about how to win children
or winning children to the Lord.
So our praise report you can see
or the soul in today is at 1 o'clock.
Meet on location.
Brother Sean posted both spots in the WhatsApp group.
And you'll just need to get with him to see what group you're in.
You can just be here at 1 o'clock in the auditorium
and he'll tell you what group you're in
or you can just go to him after the service
and he'll let you know.
But both.
Just make sure you go to the right grouping,
the right soul winning spot for what group you're in.
And then all the other soul winning times are there to choose from as well.
If you want to get plugged in,
there's no reason why you can't get plugged into a soul winning time there.
Our praise report, you can see the salvation's,
baptism's attendance from last week.
And our home school field trip is, I said maybe moved, but I don't know.
It sounds like it's not happening.
So we're praying that it is not 50% chance of rain by Tuesday.
It is nice when it's sunny outside
and the animals all come out and things like that.
But I think we're just going to stick with that time, right?
Is that as prophesied? Okay.
So that's what's happening.
So maybe moved is not happening.
All right, so it's going to be happening Tuesday,
930 for the school, home school field trip this Tuesday.
And then May 11th, which is this coming next Saturday
at 11 a.m. here at the church building is the ladies' tea.
And we do this every year.
So you're invited if you're a lady.
You're more than welcome to come.
It's not just for Mother's Day.
It's for all ladies.
No ugly stinky boys are allowed to come.
Unless they're ugly stinking nursing children.
Or you've approved that with my wife.
So it is a ladies' event.
So anyway, if you have any questions, just see Mrs. Thompson,
my wife there in the back.
And we've got the May 24th or 25th is the Chicago Soul Winning
and Preaching event where Pastor Shelley and I are going to be preaching in Chicago there.
Well, we're actually going to be preaching in Indiana.
But the Chicago event is going to take place in Cicero.
But Friday we're going to be preaching in Gary, Soul Winning in Gary, Indiana,
which is one of the most dangerous places in the world.
But we're Soul Winners, so they'll leave us alone, I'm sure.
But anyway, Cicero is not super ghetto as far as Chicago goes,
so it should be a good Soul Winning there.
And I'm sure it's going to be a good Soul Winning wherever we go up there.
It's going to be receptive.
So Friday night though, me and Pastor Shelley will be preaching.
And it might be until midnight, but we'll be preaching.
So just kidding.
If you have any questions, if you're out on the internet and you're wondering,
how do I find out more information, just email sfbcindi at gmail.com.
And sfbcindi, someone said I made a mistake on there, but I think it's right.
Maybe Rylan fixed it.
But for hotel information or where everything's being met up at and all that stuff,
just email and you'll get all the information for that.
So June 7th through 9th is the ordination of Brother Jim Wiebe,
as Pastor Berzins will be there preaching Friday night.
And there will be a Soul Winning marathon Saturday.
The ordination will be Sunday at 1030 a.m.
The Red Hot Preaching Conference is also coming up June 20th through 23rd.
It's coming quick, so make sure you have all that poster.
I did my best on a small laptop to...
You can't really read the names, but that's the preacher lineup.
You can recognize our warped faces there as I tried to size that picture up,
but I did my best there last night.
Anyway, that's all the preachers that are going to be there,
not necessarily in the order that they preach.
All the other information is listed below.
We're family integrated, of course, so make sure that you utilize the Mother Baby Room.
Dad Baby Room for your convenience.
All the other rules and regulations are below.
The tithes and offerings that came in for last month are at the bottom of the page.
The birthdays.
We didn't get Baby Isaac's picture in the last bulletin,
and so we're putting it in this week.
If you guys want to grab one for Dema and make sure he gets a copy of this,
or a couple copies of this, I'm sure he'd like to have one.
Miss Stacy.
Just make sure you congratulate Miss Stacy and Brother Dema
for the birth of Baby Isaac.
That's a good picture of him yawning or wanting more milk, one of the two,
and he was born on 4-21-24 at 4-16 a.m.,
weighing 7 pounds and 13 ounces,
fighting out of the blue corner, baby boy, obviously.
So that's all I have for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing another song. We'll receive the offering.
The third hymn is 260. He is able to deliver the 260 in the green.
Tis the grandest theme that the world e'er sung.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is able to deliver thee.
Oh, by sin all prayers go to him for rest.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
Tis the grandest theme in the earth o'er main.
Tis the grandest theme for a mortal strain.
Tis the grandest theme till the world again.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is able to deliver thee.
Oh, by sin all prayers go to him for rest.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
Tis the grandest theme let the tidings roll.
To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul.
Look to God in faith. He will make thee whole.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
He is able to deliver thee.
Oh, by sin all prayers go to him for rest.
Our God is able to deliver thee.
At this time we'll collect the offering.
The ushers will come forward.
Brother Alex, can you bless the offering?
Dear Father God, we thank you for this day.
Father, we thank you for our church here.
We thank you for all the work that you've done for us.
We ask you to bless this offering.
We'll give them to give it.
But if it works for you, it works for your kingdom.
Thank you.
All right, open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 18.
Matthew chapter 18, if you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you.
Matthew 18.
Matthew 18, the Bible reads,
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying,
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said,
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoso shall receive one, such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
for it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck,
and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Woe unto the world because of offenses,
for it must needs be that offenses come,
but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.
Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee,
cut them off, and cast them from thee.
It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed,
rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.
It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye,
rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones,
for I say unto you that in heaven there are angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven,
for the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.
How thank ye, if a man have an hundred sheep,
and one of them be gone astray,
and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he find it, barely I say unto you,
he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven,
that one of these little ones should perish.
Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee,
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more,
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.
But if he neglect to hear the church,
let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Verily I say unto you,
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say unto you,
That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask,
it shall be done for them but my Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Then came Peter to him, and said,
Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?
Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him,
I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
which would take account of his servants.
And when he had begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents.
But forasmuch as he had not to pay,
his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children,
and all that he had, and payment to be made.
The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying,
Lord, have patience with me, I will pay thee all.
Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion,
and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants,
which owed him a hundred pence,
and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying,
Pay me that thou owest.
And his fellow servant fell down at his feet,
and besought him, saying,
Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
And he would not, but went and cast him into prison,
till he should pay the debt.
So when his fellow servants saw what was done,
they were very sorry,
and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him,
O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt,
because thou desiredst me.
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant,
even as I had pity on thee?
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors,
till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you,
if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespass.
Brother Sean, will you pray for us?
Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day.
I thank you for this opportunity to be in church today, Lord.
I pray that you bless all aspects of the services that we have today, Lord.
I pray that you would fill Pastor Thompson out with your Holy Spirit,
filled with power of wholeness and clarity of mind, Lord,
and please just give us your message.
I pray these names in Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen. Alright, the title of the sermon this morning is
Winning Children to Christ.
And let's just begin at verse number one there.
The Bible says,
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus,
saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him,
and set him in the midst of them,
and said, Verily, I say unto you,
except ye be converted and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones,
which believe in me,
it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck,
and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Woe unto the world because of offenses,
for it must needs be that offenses come,
but woe to the man by whom the offense cometh.
Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee,
cut them off and cast them from thee,
it is better for thee to enter into a life halt or maimed,
rather than having two hands or two feet
to be cast into everlasting fire.
And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out and cast it from thee,
it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye,
rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones,
for I say unto you that in heaven their angels
do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven,
for the Son of Man is come to save that which is lost.
How think ye, if a man have a hundred sheep
and one of them be gone astray,
doth he not leave the ninety and nine
and goeth into the mountains and seeketh
that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he findeth it,
verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth,
more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine,
which went not astray,
even so it is not at the will of your Father
which is in heaven,
that one of these little ones should perish.
Now, of course, a lot of these verses are very famous
and we go to some of these for various different topics,
but the context of this passage,
up to verse 15,
is speaking specifically about little children.
And I believe that it's very important for us
to obviously focus on little children getting saved.
And we have children in our midst right now.
We don't separate children from parents.
We are a family integrated church
because we believe that children
can get something out of the church service
no matter what age they are.
Moses was able to be saved later on in life
and he was, you know,
just had a little short time with his parents,
probably to the time he was weaned,
is what the Bible says.
He was nursed of his mother.
So whatever influence his parents had on him,
that affected him later on in life
and he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
So being in church can have a great effect on children
and so we don't just separate the kids
and send them to the lesser teacher.
We don't have Sunday school.
And obviously Sunday school had its time,
had its heyday, but the danger of having Sunday school
in classes is that predators just gear themselves
toward where children are.
Now whether that's in churches or the boy scouts
or whatever athletic endeavor or anything like that,
perverts and predators will try to get themselves
access to children and Christians are very trusting.
Christians are very forgiving.
And so if someone has some kind of a past like that,
for some reason, Christians are like,
oh yeah, it's in his past, he's gotten over that.
Look, once you're a predator of children,
they never get past that.
The only thing that's gonna get them past that
is a bullet in the head.
And to get, castrating them is not enough.
Sending them to prison is not enough.
The Bible is very clear.
I just read you the passage that says,
Jesus said that it's better for them to
tie a millstone about their neck
and cast themselves into the sea.
So, I mean, that's Jesus' words, not mine.
I mean, if you have a red letter edition,
is that Jesus saying that or is that me saying that?
Okay, so don't get mad at me because of the Bible.
So I'm gonna make all my points this morning
out of this text here.
And I think it's very important that we do have
a focus on children and getting them saved also.
And that we train the children in our church
to be soul winners.
And to go out, you know, when we're out,
it's kind of weird for a six foot eight guy
to walk up into a playground full of children
and start talking to them about the gospel.
And when I first started doing major soul winning,
I would do that, but, you know,
you only have to get shooed away by a parent
a couple times when it's like they make you feel like
kind of a creep or something.
I'd rather have children and teenagers
go to those kids because that doesn't seem as weird,
does it?
And so it's nice to have an army of other,
of various different ages of people
to be able to go out when we're out soul winning
and they can just go up to a child
and win them to Christ.
And you know, nobody's upset about that.
So obviously there's times when
I have won children of the Lord and I like doing that.
Children are easy to get saved.
It's a lot easier to get children saved
than it is adults.
And I'm gonna go through some of those statistics.
But my first point this morning
is that salvation occurs for everyone on a child's level.
And I get that from verse number three.
Look down at verse number three.
So point number one is salvation occurs
for everyone on a child's level.
Look at verse three, it says,
and said, verily I say unto you,
except ye be converted and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
So what's Jesus saying here?
That you have to have a childlike faith
to be saved.
And why is he saying that?
Because children believe everything that they're told.
And you know, that's why children believe
in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
when people tell them, or the Tooth Fairy or whatever.
Because you know, obviously,
and sometimes parents don't really mean to,
but they do lie to their children about stuff like that.
And children believe them.
You know, Santa's on his way or whatever.
And obviously, I don't believe that we should
lie to our children about stuff like that.
Even if it is just make believe or whatever,
you're still lying to them.
So there's no such thing as Santa.
And you know, you're like,
how dare you say that in front of all these kids.
The parents in here are okay with me saying that, okay?
So don't get all upset about it.
But, you know, and if you're telling,
if you're like mad about that,
then maybe you should go to the church
that wants to lie to you, okay?
Or the pastor is okay with you lying to your children.
So anyway, salvation occurs
for everyone on a child's level.
So children believe easy is what Jesus is saying.
And we have to have a faith like a child
in order to be saved.
We don't have to have a lot.
We just have to have some.
Jesus said you have to have the faith
of a grain of mustard seed.
If you look at a mustard seed,
if you just look up a picture of it,
they're really small.
And they turn to this big, giant herb.
And we just have to have true faith.
Saving faith.
And you're like, well what does that mean?
You have to simply just believe in Jesus
with all your heart.
And just believe in him that he'll save you
because he died for you.
He took your place on the cross.
He died. He rose again the third day.
And if you put your faith in him,
he'll save you.
That's the faith that you have to have.
The Bible teaches in every place
in the whole book,
from Genesis to Revelation,
you just have to have faith to be saved.
Look at Acts chapter 16, verse 30.
Look at Acts 16, verse 30.
Of course, a lot of us know these verses.
But, you know,
this is just one simple verse
that I'm turning to here
that just very simply says it.
Acts 16, 30.
Of course, this is the Philippian jailer.
And he's about to kill himself
because he thinks all the prisoners
have escaped the prison.
And he's going to get killed for letting them escape
so he's just like, well I might as well just do it to myself
because they might take some liberties or whatever
to torture them a little bit.
Who knows? He just doesn't want to go through that.
So he's about to kill himself.
And Paul tells him, don't kill yourself.
You know, we're all still here.
And it says, and brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
So the Philippian jailer is asking,
What do I have to do to go to heaven?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved
at my house.
So, he didn't say repent of all your sins.
He didn't say make Jesus the Lord of your life.
He didn't say that, did he?
They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.
You know, and churches like our church
will get criticized
for easy believism.
And it's like,
yeah, because it's easy to be saved.
He said it's like a childlike faith
is what you have to have.
And he's just telling them,
unless you're converted
and become like one of these little children,
you're not going to make it
into the kingdom of heaven.
And so he's just explaining,
hey, you just have to believe it
easily.
And we wear easy believism
like a badge of honor
at this church.
We're not ashamed to say that.
It's hard to be saved.
It's hard to live the Christian life.
It's hard to go to church three times a week
like we do.
It's hard to get up on a Sunday morning
after you worked five or six days out of the week
and maybe it's your only day off or whatever.
It's hard to go soul winning.
It's hard to just live the Christian life
and live a holy, separated life.
Those things are hard.
But you know what's not hard?
Being saved.
Being saved is super easy.
It's as easy as eating a piece of bread.
It's as easy as taking a drink of water.
It's as easy as believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't that what it said in that verse?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.
That's how easy it is.
And the book of John is written to us
that we might believe.
You know the word repent
is not in the book of John one time.
And I think that God did that
on purpose because he knew
down through the ages
to try to take the word repent
and people would
make it say
that every time the word repent is in there
that people automatically
say of your sins after it.
And I'm going to get to that later
about that whole saying.
I'm going to address that.
So I'll come back to that.
But that's not what the Bible says
it takes to be saved.
Obviously the Bible does say to repent.
And we believe in repentance here.
But repentance unto salvation
is putting your faith in Christ.
And I'll show you that
later on here in the sermon.
But the nice thing about giving
the gospel to children is that
they get saved real easy.
And you know why they get saved real easy?
Because they believe real easy.
And so when we go out and give the gospel to people
it's their own pride.
It's their own hardness.
It's their own hard sinned life
that makes them resistant to the gospel.
It's like a film
that kind of goes over them
and it's like a coating of hardness
that continues over the years after the
sins that they commit.
They're more resistant to the gospel.
And some people
as they get older and older
the less receptive they get.
That's just the way it is.
It's just a fact.
Barna Pew Research Institute
did this
they had this
this Pew Research
Institute, they did this
survey of
people of what
age they got saved.
And this is really interesting.
43%
of people that are born again
according to this
research says that they
did that before they were 13 years old.
43%.
Almost half the people
that get saved get saved
before they're 13 years old.
That's a huge statistic.
And then think about this
that most kids
don't get saved
if they're going to get saved it's going to be between the ages
of 5 and 13.
In some cases
maybe 4, but kids
aren't getting saved at 3, 2,
1, they can't understand the gospel
at that point.
Obviously people understand
the gospel later.
You know some kids don't get it at 5 years old
obviously. Sometimes
it's later, but
that's a huge statistic though.
43%
before 13.
So I would say between the ages of 5
and 13 years old
that's the mark that you want to hit.
So parents, that's the
mark you want to hit with your kids.
But when we're out preaching the
gospel, keep those things in mind
that those are the most receptive
people you're going to run into.
And so that's why it's so important for us to have
kids that are
in our church, teens,
children that are old enough to preach
the gospel that they're going out
and reaching those children
that are out in the highways and the hedges
with us. 64%
of people get
saved before 18 years old.
Another huge statistic.
So most people
get saved before 18. 13%
between 18 and 21.
So a total of
77% by
their 21st birthday get saved.
So I got saved when I was 25
so I'm out of that. I mean that's a
rare thing. It's
obviously way more rare for anybody
over 21 to get saved.
So between 21
and up, and I don't know by other
age groups that didn't really give that statistic, but
13%
between 21 and up are the ones
that get saved after that. And of course I've gotten
people saved that are up to like
85 years old. Who's gotten somebody saved
that's 90 years old in here? Anybody?
One, two, three.
But that's rare isn't it? How about
85? Between 85
and 90. Okay.
I've gotten one. How about
between 80 and 85?
75
and 80.
70 and 75. I mean
we're just having small amounts of people
raise their hand because
it's really rare. Because most
people are already made up their mind on what
they believe and they're gonna be like
I'm not changing. And
that's unfortunate. So what
are you gonna get out of this statistic that we
reach people when they're young? And that's
important. So
you know people believe real easy
and we have to have
a childlike faith to be saved
and so that just tells you that children are easy
to get saved. Number two this morning
most children are humble
already making them
low hanging fruit.
Most children are humble already
making them low hanging
fruit. What does that mean? Well they're
low hanging fruit means that they're
already ripe and ready to be plucked
ready to be saved
really super easy.
And they're humble. Look at verse number four in our
text. It says, whosoever
therefore shall humble himself
as this little
child the same is
greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And this is also
true. The older we get the
more prideful we get.
And children are not
necessarily super prideful.
They're usually pretty humble. Pretty
easy to correct. Pretty easy
to reach. And the Bible
says in James chapter four verse six
he giveth more grace wherefore he saith
God resisted the proud
but giveth grace
unto the humble. So the more
humble you are the better
chance you have at being saved because
if you're super prideful you're
never going to get saved. If you're prideful
you have to swallow your pride
and humble yourself
as a little child
in order to be saved. And a lot
of people just are too prideful
to admit either that they're not
saved when you get to the door to talk
to them or when you're out just
you're out evangelizing
you're out in your personal evangelism
time or just out
with the church. They're too humble
I mean they're not humble enough
to admit. Like how many times have you
shared the gospel with people
and it's not
you know they agree with everything you say
but when you first got there
they had a completely
different answer than the truth.
They said you got to be a good person
all these other different things. They didn't
tell you hey I just believe in Jesus
and I believe it's everlasting.
They didn't say that. But then you get to the end
they're like oh yeah I believe everything you said
and then you say well hey
you know would you like to trust Christ as your savior
and they go oh I already did that.
It's like that's not what you said
when I first got here though. And they're like oh no
no no I was just
a little confused when you first got here.
It's like but out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh the Bible says.
You know it's what we believe in our heart
that comes out
of the mouth. So when
you ask someone hey what do you
have to do to be saved or why do you believe you're
saved and they say because I'm a good person
that's what they mean.
They think that they're a good person and
that's why they're going to heaven and then when they
change and say oh no that's what I really
meant. It's like that's pride.
That's exactly what that is.
It's pride. They will not humble themselves
like a little child and just
say you know what yeah you're right.
I wasn't saved when you first got here and I
love it when people do humble themselves because
people do. They're like you're right.
When you first got here I was wrong
and I was going to hell.
And now I want to believe on Christ and call
upon him. Number three this morning.
To receive a child
in Christ's name is to receive
Christ himself.
To receive a child
in Christ's name is to
receive Christ himself. What do I mean by that?
Well look at verse number five. The Bible
says and whoso shall receive
one such little child
in my name
receiveth me.
So how we treat children
is like
treating as
you know if we treat children badly
or we ignore them or we act
like they're not a great part of our church
or we ignore them out solely and act like
they're not part of the demographic that we're trying
to reach. How we
respond to children, how we treat them
is Jesus is taking it like
that's how you're treating me.
Isn't that what it's saying?
Whoso shall receive
one such a child in my name receiveth
me. So how should we receive them?
You know we should treat them like we would
want to treat Jesus.
We should reach them
and then Jesus is going to be pleased with
the fact that we do.
So when you take the time to receive a child
and treat a child
care for a child's soul
it's like you're doing it for Jesus.
That's how he takes it.
Look at Matthew chapter 25. Turn to Matthew
chapter 25 verse 37.
Matthew chapter 25
verse 37.
The Bible says, Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we
thee, and hungered, and fed
thee, or thirsty, and gave
thee drink? When saw we thee
a stranger, and took thee in, or
naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or
imprisoned, and came unto thee?
And the king shall answer, and say unto
them, Verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done
it unto me.
When we treat
fellow believers
like we
you know, in these ways where we're
caring for them, we're ministering
unto them, it's like
we've done it unto Jesus.
So, you know, children are not
lesser. Children
are important. Children in
our congregation are just as
important. They're not to be brushed
aside. They're not to be looked at
malignantly. They're not to be looked at
as lesser people in our church.
They are very important, they are very
integral, and they're a demographic
that we should care about.
They're a demographic out in the world that we should
care to. Not just the adults
kids. Kids, if you are
saved, you know how to read,
you know how to take the Bible
and explain it to people,
you can win people to Christ too.
Plain and simple.
I'll cover that a little bit more
as we go along, but
we need to understand that the way we
treat, it says,
look at what it says,
it is much as you have done it unto
the least of these my brethren.
So, maybe you do
hold the view that kids aren't as important,
but he says if you've done it unto the least
of my brethren, you've done it unto me.
So, and I don't think that,
but I'm just saying if that's how you think, well
hey kid, get out of here, you bother me or whatever,
but hey, if you do good things
unto children and treat children right,
you know, is it hard sometimes
being in a family integrated church?
Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's not
optimal. Sometimes, yeah, they cry and have to get
taken out of the room or whatever, but you know what?
I'd rather have that
than, you know,
no kids in church, and then as soon as they
get old enough to come out to big boy
church or whatever, you know,
these Baptist
churches or any church that has like these
big youth programs, you know what happens
when they turn 12 years old and have to
go to big boy church or big girl
church, they leave
and they don't come back.
When they turn 18, they leave
Christianity or they go to the
fun center that you already prepared them for.
What do I mean by that?
Well, when you're getting cookies and Kool-Aid
and singing wild and bombastic
songs, and then you come into the service
and it's hymns, psalms,
spiritual songs,
then they're like, oh, this is
boring.
Where's my iPad?
Mommy, give me my screen.
That shouldn't be the way,
hey, put that screen away during
church time. You know, when it's time
for church time, it's time for learning time.
And our kids in here,
they do pay attention. Maybe you think that
they're not, but they do take it in.
You know, there's kids, when I go visit
churches sometimes, they're drawing pictures
of me, and it doesn't look
exactly like me, but some of them look pretty
good, actually. I'm like, well, I need
to slim down, because if that's how they view me,
then I like that one.
But they
are paying attention.
And they're drawing pictures.
They're writing verses down.
They're paying attention more than you think they are.
And they're a great
demographic. We need to
make sure that we're including children
and
making them feel important also.
And kids, you know,
don't let any man despise your youth.
The Bible says that. Obviously, Paul writes
that to Timothy about a
young preacher, how people will despise
a man that's a young preacher and say,
oh, what do you know, you little whippersnapper?
I've been reading the Bible since you were
a little kid in
diapers or whatever, since you were just a
dream in your father's eye or whatever.
People will say that kind of stuff. Well, you know what?
There's no fool like an old fool, either.
So, age means
nothing. It's what you know
from the Word of God that's important.
And that's why, you know, the Bible
calls, you know, Timothy's
an elder, but yet
he's young. Why is he an elder? Because
he's an elder in the faith and knowledge of
the Bible. He's not a novice
in faith
in the practice of
knowing
the Bible and being a
spiritual elder.
So, age
doesn't always matter. And
children can know the Bible sometimes better than their
parents can. You know,
and what's sad is, you know, I used
to be in an independent
Baptist church. I was a Sunday school
superintendent at one point. I
did the bus ministry. I led
children to Christ from the
bus ministry. I preached in junior church
for years.
And I watched kids go
to the devil all the
time because
it was, like I said,
fun songs,
fun games. You know, they get a little
bit of preaching. You know, they get 15,
20 minutes of preaching, and that's
exactly how the modern fun
centers are run. You know,
it's a rock concert with purple
lights and smoke, fun
things, fun events. This church is
fun. And then you get a
15-minute TED Talk and everybody feels good
and they go home.
Instead of it being like church, where
it's not like the
world. That's
what the world does.
In here, it's the house of God.
In here, it's different. It's separate
from the world. It's holy.
And there should be a difference. Just like,
you know, God had all these things in the Old Testament that he
gave us those pictures. Hey, I
want to show you a picture between
clean and unclean.
And he wanted there to be a
difference between the way men and women dress,
between how men and women's hair are kept,
between, you know, the unclean
and clean beast, between night
and day, between, you know,
male and female, just all these different things.
Why? Because he
wants there to be a difference in things.
You know what? He wants churches to be
different than the world. He wants
Bible preaching to be different than
TED Talks and
inspirational, you
know, guys like
Tony Robbins
or something like that.
You know, and some of that stuff is helpful.
But, you know, positive
doesn't work on people.
The no spanking
thing and only doing
positive things with your children when they do
something wrong, it doesn't work.
There has to be correction. There
has to be discipline. There has to be
somebody telling you that
you're wrong. Because
if everybody's just always giving you a trophy
and, you know, I know
you were late for work every day this week, but you're such a
good boy.
I'm going to give you a reward because, you know what, you
had a hard life growing up.
No. You know, be
on time for work.
Or you're going to get fired.
You know, we need negative
reinforcement sometimes. Not just
positive. Obviously the positive
needs to come too. The tearing
down to build back up.
This is, you know, just how things are done.
Anyway, number four
this morning. A little child
can believe in Christ.
A little child can believe in Christ.
Look at verse number six.
Just the first portion there. It says
but whoso shall offend one of these
these little ones
which believe in me.
So, do little ones believe in Jesus?
That's what it says, right?
And people are like, well little kids can't believe in
Jesus. What's Jesus say though?
These little ones which believe in me.
Does he say with age?
No. But
kids learn things at different levels.
And some kids, you know, learn
quicker than others.
But the fact that I want
to point you to though is that
a little child can believe in Jesus.
A little child can be saved.
So, Jesus teaches
that children
can believe in him. And so
we must add them to the list
of those we bring the Gospel to.
We must bring
them to that list. So,
and I'll say this also. They don't
need a dumbed down version.
They're not stupid.
Kids are very smart.
And in fact, they seem
to get spiritual things a lot
easier sometimes than adults do.
Cause you'll just explain
eternal security
over and over and over to adults
and it's just like
vroom
It's like eternal life.
What does eternal life mean?
And they'll say, oh life will last forever.
But can you
lose it? Oh yeah, you can just give it away.
What?
It's a gift.
And you're like, well yeah, but you can give gifts away.
I'm re-gifting it.
The only way you can re-gift salvation
is when you give it to somebody else.
But you still have it. It's from faith
to faith. We give it to other people
by preaching the Gospel to them.
But this whole concept
of putting it on the shelf,
the shelf that doesn't exist
that's not in scripture,
the Pentecostal putting it on the shelf thing,
that doesn't exist.
So,
losing eternal life
does not make
logical sense.
It just doesn't make common sense.
It doesn't make any sense.
To say you can lose
eternal life.
What's another word for eternal life?
Everlasting life.
Means that what? Last forever.
Oh, but you can lose it.
What?
Kids understand it though.
Kids understand it real easy.
They don't need
a dumbed down version.
They can understand the Gospel just fine.
Now, I will say this.
You do need to make sure that they understand
the points. Because
everybody does this.
Everybody thinks
that
for some reason everybody just has it ingrained
that they have to do good
to be saved. Even little kids.
So you do have to make sure that they
understand that it's not
doing good things that gets
them to heaven.
For some reason, even a kid that's
not really, I mean,
what's the first thing people start teaching them?
Oh, if you're good Santa Claus will bring you good stuff.
Right?
That's why it's such a stupid thing to teach
your kids.
Oh, if you're good and you go to sleep
early, you know, the tooth fairy will bring
you money under your, you know, he'll
leave money under your pillow or whatever. Just go to sleep.
You know, so we can drink wine tonight
or whatever.
We can bust out the franza.
You know,
don't lie to your kids because
that could make them
not believe later on.
Well, they lied to me about Santa Claus.
What else are we being lied to about?
It's really detrimental to lie.
Well, I guess it's just an innocent little lie.
There's nothing innocent about lying.
It's one of the Ten Commandments.
I should not bear false witness.
They're like, well, yeah, but that's telling
a lie about somebody.
Yeah, but
it's a lie, isn't it?
So, lying is a sin.
So, don't give
a dumbed down version to them. You can just explain
it to them. You might have to take it a little
bit slow in some parts.
You just have to make sure that they understand.
And I always say this,
make sure that they tell you what they believe.
When you're wrapping everything up
and you're going through the final questions,
this is so important that you
say, what do you believe it takes to
go to heaven? Because they're going to
answer the questions on a test
at school.
Everybody's done this at school.
You know what the teacher wants for
the answer.
And even if you don't agree with them, you're going to put the right
answer just so you pass the test, right?
Even if you think they're wrong.
This is what happens out solely. This is why
you get false conversions.
Because you're not asking
them what they believe.
Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
In most cases,
I mean, when I've done this, and I do it every time
now, but when you do this,
they're going to say
all the right answers, and then
you can literally just right after that say,
so what do you believe it takes to go to heaven?
They'll go, I'll just be a good person, get baptized.
Like, what?
What?
What are you talking about?
And then it's just like, they just didn't get it.
They didn't believe. Why?
Because they just don't.
I don't know why.
But kids can get it.
I don't dumb it down.
I've seen where preachers get up and say, you know,
you have to explain it to them in your own words and all this other stuff.
No, you don't.
You just have to explain the verses.
You just have to explain the concepts.
It's not hard to get the concept to sin.
It's not hard to get the concept to hell.
It's not hard to get the concept to believe.
They believe real easy. Jesus said that.
It's not hard to
give the concept of a gift.
It's not hard to give the concept
of belief and
eternal security and
you know, asking somebody
for something. Calling upon
the name of the Lord.
Number five this morning, to oppose
or stop children from getting
saved is a wicked
abominable sin.
To stop or
oppose children from getting saved
is a wicked and abominable
sin. Look at Matthew chapter
18 verse 6 again.
We'll read the whole verse. It says,
But whoso, so it's like
anybody, right, shall offend
one of these little ones
which, believe in me,
it were better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck
and that he were drowned in the
depth of the sea. Again, here's
Jesus saying, you offend
one of these little children that believe
in me because, let's
just face it, children are easy targets
for predators. Children are easy
targets for people to manipulate.
And that's why
you know, you have all the abuse
that's going on in this world and it's
probably running rampant in the United States right
now. In fact, I know it is.
Where perverts are
allowed to adopt children.
And they're like, oh,
it's okay. They're normal.
They're just like us. They didn't
used to be able to adopt, these perverts didn't used to be
able to adopt children. And now
they are, and now, you know,
who knows what they're allowing them to do.
Because they have the backing
of the government.
And they're shutting Christians down from being able
to adopt children.
And you know, a real Christian adopting
a child is the best case scenario for somebody.
But they're stopping
them because, oh, we won't
acknowledge trans people.
Or we won't acknowledge the
sodomites. Or we think it's
wicked. And then they're
going to say, we can't adopt them
because we would teach them that.
Well how about turning them into
some kind of a freak
or eunuch or whatever it is that they're
turning them into. They're literally taking
those kids, brainwashing them into believing
all this LGBT garbage
and then turning them
chopping off their body parts
and telling them that there's something else.
But that's okay.
You know, they can't buy a gun until
they're 21 years old. They can't buy
a pack of cigarettes in the state of Washington
until they're 21 years old. They can't
go to a rated R movie until
they're 17 years old. There's lots
of things that they can't do. They can't go to a
bar and have a drink until they're 21 years old.
But you know what they can do?
They can chop off their body parts
and take puberty blockers
and change what they are supposedly.
They can go
behind their parents' back and get birth
control. They can go to
the doctor and tell them that they want
to have hormone replacement therapy
against their parents' will
and that's okay.
What kind of sick
and twisted world are we living in?
It's the fox guarding the hen
house. This is what's happening
and Jesus said, hey, you offend
one of these little ones that believe
in me. Here's what it would be better than.
It'd be better for you
to have a millstone
hanged about your neck
and drowned in the depths of the sea.
And just let me just explain this
you know, just give you a mental picture. I
like to give this mental picture
for people. You know, when you dive
too fast in the water
it makes your head hurt, doesn't it?
And if you're a diver
you have to go at a
certain rate to go down into the water.
You know what happens if you go too fast
down in the water? You end up
you get the bends and you get put into a hyperbaric
chamber for a certain amount of days
because you can dive
from getting the bends. It's called the bends or whatever.
Well,
if you go and
a rock's pulling you down as fast as you can
and you're alive when you're being pulled down
your head's going to explode.
That's what's going to happen.
Well, Jesus was just only nice.
Jesus didn't judge anybody. Well, it sounds like
He's judging right here, doesn't it?
Maybe you haven't read the book of Revelation, but Jesus
does judge. He's going to judge the whole
world in righteousness.
When He comes back with all of His
saints with Him, we're going to watch
as He kills the whole army of the
beast.
As they just basically explode
and turn into a big river
of blood.
You're like, that's pretty graphic, Pastor Thompson.
It's the Bible.
Is there anything in the Bible that we're not supposed to
read about or know about in here?
No. Is it gruesome? Yeah.
But,
the point is, is that we run into people
all the time out there, and we're just about
to get them saved, and some
do-gooder
comes up and tries to interrupt us
while we're preaching the gospel. You think that that's
on accident? And some of them
are their own parents.
Parents.
A lot of them are these homo parents.
And, you know, we're about to get their
kids saved, and they're like,
and they just come and freak out, and
jump. Who's been interrupted from
getting someone saved by a parent
or a psycho out soloing?
Look at all the hands in here.
You know what Jesus
said? It's better for them that a millstone
were hanging about their neck.
And hopefully those, you know, we just pray
that those kids end up, you know, praying
when we leave, or whatever.
You know, sometimes we just say, well hey,
just make sure that you ask Jesus
to save you, or whatever. We just try to wrap it up
with them real quick.
Now, turn to Genesis chapter 18.
Genesis chapter 18.
What do we call
people
that
molest children?
What do they have to register as?
What do they call?
A sex offender.
That's what they're called, right?
But whosoever
offend, shall offend
one of these little children.
Obviously, there's different forms
of offense. You can offend them by
teaching them things that, you know,
oh, the Bible's not true, or
Christianity's false. I mean, but
this is, you know, in context, this is talking about
children that actually do believe in him.
But there's also
kids that could have had a chance
to believe in him, but they ruin
that too.
And some of these children go the other way
because of what these perverts
do to them. Like,
you know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah?
When the whole city
comes out,
young and old,
children and adults,
why are the children
doing that? Because
these bunch of groomers and freaks
have already turned them
into sodomites.
And you're like, well, how does that happen?
Because they've offended
them to the point where they've turned against God
and become
the most horrible thing.
They've turned from
the offended to the offenders.
That's how they recruit.
They can't reproduce, so they
recruit to their cause.
This is what you see going on today. That's why
you're like, well, trans
kids didn't used to exist. Well, yeah.
Until they started letting them adopt and do
drag queen story hours at the libraries and all the
schools. I mean, for what purpose
would a drag queen need
to go and do
sexual dances in front of children?
Just explain that to me.
How that's not perverted.
Anybody that went to, you know,
I went to public school,
that would have been, I mean,
I lived in a small town, too, in elementary school.
They would have been strung up and hung
by the nearest tree doing that
in the town I lived in.
In the 1980s.
It's true.
You know, I saw a guy
wearing a sweatshirt the other day,
well, it wasn't the other day, it was about a month ago,
but it said, try that in
our town.
And it's just like, he's probably from a country
town, right?
But, I mean, they probably can try it
in a country town now. It used to be
the communication didn't, it used to be as easy
as it is now. They'd be
arrested fast for taking the law
into their own hands, obviously, but
I'm just saying, you know.
So, look at Genesis chapter 18.
Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?
Well, look what it says.
And the Lord said, because the cry
of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great.
When Abel was killed,
what did God say about
Tekane? He's like, where's your brother?
And he said,
am I my brother's keeper?
He said, his blood
cries out to me from the ground.
Like, his blood
cries out to me. So, God said
because of the cry
of Sodom and Gomorrah is great.
You know, there's people
being offended here, there's children being
offended, there's adults being offended,
and it says because their sin
is very grievous. And you know
what their sin, you know, their sin
might have been bad hospitality,
it might have been, you know,
idleness and fullness of bread.
Those are the characteristics that led
up to what they did,
but God didn't
destroy a whole city,
men, women, and children because they weren't
hospitable, okay?
That's not why.
He killed them and destroyed them
with fire because they were a bunch of
freaks. They were trying to rape
two angels that looked
like men. That's why.
And that's the
spin that they're putting on it now.
Oh, that wasn't, I mean, that's just
every answer that's what you're gonna get.
But that's not
what the Bible teaches.
It says that they were going after
strange flesh.
Strange
is a synonym for queer.
Isn't it? So
look, our world
is sick today. We gotta reach
children before these groomers do.
And so it's
important for us every time to just
get out there and hey, if there's kids out
there playing in a playground,
you know, we need some kids
and some teens in here to go out there
and get them saved.
And ladies, it's probably not
as, you know, I just
get nervous just walking up to a big group
of kids. Well, especially one kid at a
time. It's like, what are you doing talking
to my kid? You know, people
will freak out about that. It's like, well, what are you doing letting your kid just
roam around
by himself outside? I mean,
you're lucky it's just a church person
that just cares about them and wants to get them
saved, not some predator that you just
allow your kid to just go out and be out of your sight
all the time. I mean, we live in a
crazy world to be just letting your kid
just be out of your sight.
It's strange.
So, you know,
when we were at the Massa
Conference many years ago,
I told this story about
the Hart family.
And basically these two lesbians
that lived in Woodland, Washington,
and one of them actually worked at the
Coles here in town,
and they had these five children
that they adopted.
They
were taking pictures of them
on Facebook, and they were the perfect
family. They were showing up at all these
festivals and, you know, giving away
free hugs. One of the kids
took this picture, a famous picture
of him hugging a Portland police officer
during the Occupy protest.
And
basically,
they'd already been accused of
abusing children, you know, beating their
children too hard
when they were in Minnesota.
So they left Minnesota, came to
Washington State. And then
I was
my family friends that lived
across the street from them, the DeKalb
family, they
one night at two o'clock in the morning, one of the
kids jumped out of the window of a
second story house
that they lived in, ran over
there, said, help me, help me, they're
starving us, you know, we
can't, you know, we don't
have anything to eat, and then they
came and got her, and then like, not
too long after, I mean, they called CPS, you can hear
the CPS call,
or the police call, but there's a recorded
line where they record the call.
CPS came,
put a notice on their door, but they
took all five kids
in this supposed perfect family
that they were beating
and starving these kids
that they adopted
drugged
them all,
didn't put seat belts on
them, took the family dog, drove them off
a cliff in California and killed all of them.
These two lesbians.
And it's like,
why not just kill yourself
and leave the kids
alone? You know why? Because
they're offenders of children.
This is what they are.
But see, they want to portray
like they're just normal, but they're not normal,
folks. I don't care what
Hollywood and what the news pumps into your
brain every single week, they're not
normal, this is what
they really are.
Offenders of children.
These horrible,
wicked people, they look nice
and shiny on the outside, they
love these kids, you know, they're all for
Black Lives Matter, and
let's make the world a better place, and all their
murals and their Bob Marley songs,
and them playing.
These kids are emaciated in some of these
pictures because they're literally starving
them to death. And beating
them with belts, beating them
with all kinds of devices, who knows what.
I mean, if you're so hungry,
that you jump out of a second story window at
two o'clock in the morning to try to escape,
it must be pretty bad.
And then instead of getting caught, they just
murder all the children, they didn't even find
two of the bodies.
Five kids
killed for what reason?
Because some people just want to hurt
children, that's why. And they
would rather kill them than let them
just survive and live their lives
and they didn't
want to go to prison for what they did.
And they probably would have just got a slap on the wrist
in reality. But who
knows just how bad the horror story really
was. I guess we'll never know.
But you know who does know?
God knows. And God's
going to appropriately punish those people.
And I hope that
most of those kids are pretty young and innocent,
I hope that they're all in heaven today.
I hope that
and obviously I believe that
kids go to heaven that are
innocent, but they were varying
in age. But they
offended those children and
what people like that should do, they should
just kill themselves and not kill
the children. They even
killed the dog.
Like what did the dog do?
But I'd rather have them kill
a hundred dogs than five children.
These perverts are turning
children into eunuchs, they're
turning them into queers and trannies,
there's furries being introduced
to our schools, and you know I preach about
that a couple years ago and they're like
yeah he's just lying and saying that
they have these
litter boxes at school. Look, they are
starting to do that stuff.
They're allowing
these kids to dress
up like animals
and pretend to be
and let around on leashes
and stuff.
Everybody else has to abide by the dress code except for them.
Take your kids out of public
school if you haven't been in public school. Just
FYI there.
But here's God's warning.
Look at verse 10, it says, I know this took a
dark turn but we're gonna get back on track
here in a minute. Verse 10 says
take heed
that you despise not one of these little
ones.
For I say unto you that in
heaven their angels
do always behold the face of my
Father which is in heaven.
So this is like
a warning, isn't it?
Their angels, so do they have
angels? Yeah. So
do people have guardian angels or guardian
angels a real thing? Yeah. That's what it sounds
like to me. These little ones
have angels that behold the face
of their Father. And you know what God
when the angels are saying
look what they're doing to these little children that believe in you.
Do you think that's gonna make God angry?
It absolutely is gonna make God
angry. So
let that be a warning to these freaks
that would hurt
God's children, little
children that are saved or little children
that could be saved. You know
they have retribution coming
from God himself.
And look, God is love.
God is a loving God. God
wants the whole world to be saved, but you know
what? He also is a God of judgment
and people forget that. There's a
time to love and there's a time to hate
and you know what? God does not love people
that are perverts that hurt
children. He's gonna destroy
them forever and ever.
And look, you know
you gotta take the good with the bad, you gotta take
the whole truth of the Bible.
You can't just pick out the sweetness
and light that you want.
God is also, I mean the book of Revelation
is probably the harshest book in the whole Bible
and it's the last book.
God loves
and he also
does hate sometimes. So
let's look at number six
and get back on
the positive parts of this sermon.
So verse number six, I mean
point number six, do not under
value little children. Do not under
value little children. Look at verse 10.
Again it says
take heed that you despise not
one of these little ones.
So the little ones
that people are so quick
to brush aside, they do have
a lot of pull with God, don't they?
They have a lot of pull
with God, cause look what it says,
it says for the son of man is
come to save that which is lost.
I mean
I quote this verse a lot
but what's it in context to?
It's in context to little children, isn't it?
But obviously he's come to
save everybody that's lost, but
he specifically is saying
it about little children.
So we should not
despise the little ones.
Don't under value
them because they're of great value
to God, he came to save
that which is lost.
Look at Luke chapter 15
verse 7. Luke chapter 15
verse 7.
This is kind of
a parallel passage
here.
I remember when I got saved
the guy that got me saved
quoted
the last scripture I'm gonna read
to you here, but look at Luke 15
7 it says, I say unto
you that likewise joy
shall be in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth
more than over
ninety and nine just persons
which need no repentance.
Either what woman
having ten pieces of silver
if she lose one piece
doth not light a candle
and sweep the house and
seek diligently till she find it.
So he's just basically
giving us this story like
if you lose one piece
if you lose money
you look for it, right?
This is what God's liking it to.
If there's one child that can be saved
it's important. And we should
diligently search out
these children that need
to be saved. And it says
in verse 9, and when she
found it she calleth her friends
and her neighbors together saying rejoice
with me for I have found the peace
which I had lost.
It's nice when you thought you lost money
or some item of great
importance to you and then you're like oh man
I'm so glad. You know it's usually
my wife that I say these things to
it's like oh I found that thing I was looking for
because usually when I say I lost something
my wife starts tearing everything apart trying to look for it too.
And you know there's great
joy when I remember where I
put something. But
we can't find. So I'm sure
everybody has those experiences.
But look at verse 10 it says
likewise I say unto you
there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth.
And that verse was
quoted to me when I got saved
and I'll never forget that
because I just thought
wow there's people
and the angels are actually
like kind of throwing a party
or they're rejoicing
there's great joy in heaven
over just one person that gets saved.
Just one person.
And so if every
soul is precious to us
and what's the context? It's children.
You know so one child
that gets saved it's like
obviously we go so
much that it's hard to share all the great stories
we have. But you know
I know Miss Bobby just recently
you know she's always
like going up to kids and getting them saved.
And I think that's great. I know a lot of other people do here too.
But you know
those children that get saved are special
like she had I think
one that the mom came
and interrupted or something like that.
And then she came back the next week
and because she was right about to pray with her
and then she was just
kind of distraught over the fact that
she didn't end up knowing
whether she was going to get saved or not. And then the next
week the same little girl came
up to her ran up to her and said
do you remember me? She's like of course I remember you.
And then she said I want to get saved.
And she ended up calling upon the name of the Lord
and getting saved. And
I think it was by a school
that we were up by Kelso.
And so these types of things happen all
the time. I'm sure there's lots of great stories
about these types of things.
I mean some of the greatest
soul winning days I've ever had
are when I won multiple children
to Christ at the same time.
And you know I look back
on those times and I think man that was a great day.
Like at the time I just didn't realize
how special
those types of moments in
soul winning are. Because I haven't had
days like that
in a long time where I have multiple children
getting saved at the same time. But I've had
multiple times where multiple children get saved.
But it's been a long time.
But you know sometimes you can
just ask like if they're all playing in the yard.
The last time I got like a big group of kids
saved I just asked the grandpa.
He's like
I'm grandpa. There's like
eight or nine kids but six of them paid
attention. I kept you know
I just kept
I just made sure all of them were paying
attention. All of them were answering their questions
right. You know and
all of them trusted Christ.
It was like a big day. It was the most people I ever got saved in one day
was ten. I was doing it all day.
That's a video
game number but when you're
going all day
and you happen to get six at the very end of the day
it's not that big
of a stretch or whatever. But
you know those are the times that I really
were like man I love that day
because of those kids I got
saved. And they're just so
easy to get kids saved.
It's just a joy. But God
you know the Bible
says that there's joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repents us. So
you know we shouldn't despise them.
We shouldn't undervalue them. Because
in heaven there's great value just over
one person that gets saved.
Number seven we need to actively
seek to win little
children to Christ. Obviously a lot of these are overlapping
but look at verse 12 in
our text. Go back to Matthew 18
verse number 12 the Bible says
How think ye
if a man have an hundred
sheep and one of
them be gone astray
doth he not leave the ninety and nine
and goeth into the mountains and seeketh
that which is gone astray
and if so be that he findeth it
verily I say unto you
he rejoiceth more
of that sheep than of the
ninety and nine which went not
astray. Now flip over to
chapter 19 verse 13
it says
then
were brought unto him
little children
that
he should put his hands upon
them and pray
and the disciples rebuke them.
So see and this is the
attitude that we don't want to have.
Where little kids are coming up
or little kids are in our church and we're just like
hey get out of here kid. Like you got
no business here. That should never
be our attitude and
what does it say? And the disciples
rebuke them but what does Jesus do?
But Jesus said suffer
or allow little
children. Allow them
suffer them
and forbid them not to come
unto me. We shouldn't
ever
stop little children from
getting saved. We shouldn't stop little children
from seeking out the things of God
and we need to actively
like he says in
we're seeking those
that are gone astray. We're rejoicing
we're going after that one little sheep
we should suffer the little children
we allow them to come unto Jesus
for such is the kingdom
of heaven. There's going to be a lot
of kids that are saved
there's a lot of children in
heaven right now. There's a lot of
children that are saved. I mean just think about the children that were
never born.
They're all in heaven.
Every single last one of them.
Every baby that dies
early. Every child
that dies early. They're in
heaven right now.
You know despite what the Catholics
think that they had to be baptized
or something. No that's not true.
Despite what Ruckman taught
that until they
breathe their first breath
I mean you can get an abortion because
you know if they don't take their first breath or whatever
it's like that's ridiculous.
They're in heaven.
So and then it says Jesus
laid his hands on them
and departed then. So
you know there's I think in a parallel passage
like Jesus rebukes his disciples
for actually doing that.
He rebukes them for rebuking
the children.
He suffered them. He said allow
them to come unto me. So we
you know if we're supposed to actively
seek them and allow them to come unto Christ
we should be actively seeking
to win them to Christ.
Number eight. God's will
is not that any little children
should perish. God's will
is not that any
little children should perish. Look at verse 14
back in our text. Verse 14 back in our text.
The Bible says in verse 14
even so it is not
the will of your father
which is in heaven that one
of these little ones
should perish. So
checkmate Calvinist
it's not
the will of your father
which is in heaven that any of these
little ones should perish.
Not any of them.
And in fact it's not God's
will that any person
on the planet should perish.
But like specifically in this
passage here he's saying
God doesn't want any little ones to perish.
He wants all of them to be saved.
So you know if He
doesn't want, if His will is that they shouldn't
perish then again
that's why we need to be seeking them.
That's why they need to be part of the demographic that we
target to get saved.
And the fact that they're just easy
and they're
to get saved and they're not prideful
they're very humble. But look at second Peter
chapter three verse nine.
Second Peter chapter three verse nine.
I told you I'd get back to the repentance thing
I'm going to in just a minute here.
The Bible says
second Peter three nine.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise
about coming back right?
As some men count slackness
but is long suffering
to us word.
Not willing that any
should perish but that all
should come to repentance.
And people will be like
you see the Bible says
you know about repentance.
Did it say repentance of sins?
Is that what it said?
Did it say that you know it's not the will
of your father in heaven
that one of these little ones should perish
but that they should all
repent of their sins?
You know because little kids have so many big sins
that they've committed.
Stealing the cookies out of the cookie jar.
Telling their parents no.
Hiding their stuff under their bed instead of
in the room. They just are really wicked sinners
at this age.
No they're not.
They can still get saved right?
Better to get saved early than later on in life
after you've made a lot of mistakes.
So
and let me just say this.
Nobody believes in sin.
They're like what do you mean pastor?
Well when we ask people
what do you believe it takes to go
to heaven?
Does anybody say well I believe in sin.
I believe you gotta sin.
Nobody says that.
Right? Nobody says
I believe in sin.
They say
I gotta be a good person.
They say I gotta keep the commandments.
They say
the golden rule
or repent of your sins or make Jesus the
Lord of your life or whatever it is
you know I'm a school teacher. I was a school teacher for 30 years.
I served in the military.
And it's like I'm going to heaven because
you know I rescue dogs.
I'm a rescue puppy person.
I've heard that one.
But nobody answers that you
believe you have to sin to go to heaven.
Do they?
And you're like well what do you mean pastor?
Well
because
to say you have to repent of your sins
to go to heaven would mean
that you have that you believe in
sin as your world view
and that's taking you to
heaven already. Because repent means
a change of mind.
Right? So
what does make sense?
Well if you believe
in Buddhism you change your mind
and you believe in Christianity.
You believe
you're a Muslim and you
change your mind and you put your faith in
Jesus. That makes sense.
You know you're an atheist. You don't believe in God at
all and you believe in Jesus now.
That makes sense.
But I believe
in sin. Now I'm going to
turn from sin and believe in Jesus. That doesn't make sense.
See which one's not in the right category.
Nobody believes
in sin. So to say
well you have to turn from sin
to Jesus.
That doesn't make sense. That's not a belief
system. Repentance
is putting your faith
you know true Bible repentance
and salvation is what
turn to Acts 19.
Because people say well Jesus preached repentance.
I agree with you.
John preached repentance
you know in the wilderness.
Saying you should repent.
I agree with you still.
But what is the repentance that they
preached? Because
repentance is one of those words that you just
have to get the context
of what it's saying.
You can't just say well what are they
repenting of? Because God didn't
want to send the children of Israel through
the land of the Philistines
lest they see war
and repent and go back to Egypt.
It wasn't that they
lest they see war and they
repent of their sins and go back to Egypt.
That's not what it means. It means that they don't want
none of the Philistines because they had giants
and all these other things. He didn't want them to get afraid
and turn back.
So look at Acts 19
verse 3. It says
actually look at verse 2
it says, he said unto them have you received the
Holy Ghost since you believed?
And they said unto him we have not so much
as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said unto them
unto what then were you baptized?
And they said unto John's baptism.
Then said Paul, John
verily or truly baptized
with the baptism of repentance
saying unto the people
that they should believe on him
believe on
him which should come after him
that is on Christ Jesus.
So what's the baptism that John
preached?
Did it say that they should repent of all their
sins? Is that what it says?
No, that they should believe on him that should come after
him that is on Christ Jesus.
That's the repentance that John preached.
That's what the Bible says folks.
And you can just put of your sins
at the end of it if you want to.
But that's not what the Bible teaches.
Just quit automatically
putting of sins at the end
of repentance because you know what? God repents
more than anybody else in the Bible.
And guess what? He doesn't have any sins.
And you're
turned from sins to the Savior
nobody believes in sins.
Everybody knows that they
have them but nobody has that as
their world view.
Turned from sins to the Savior.
No, more like turned from whatever
stupid thing you believe in and
believe in Christ. That's repentance.
So this idiotic belief that you must
repent of your sins
to go to heaven, it doesn't make sense.
Because those things
don't, you know, wolf,
coyote, hound dog,
banana, which one doesn't go
with the other ones? Banana,
right?
Buddha,
you know, Buddha,
Muhammad, Joseph
Smith, sin.
Which one doesn't go with the other ones?
I mean they're all sinners of course,
wicked ones, but which one doesn't
go with the other ones? Sin doesn't go with the other ones.
And so
you know, you have to turn from
whatever belief system you have
and believe in the true belief system
which is Christianity, the
Lord Jesus Christ. So
hopefully that makes sense.
And so
the easiest time to win
people to Christ is when they are little
children, right? Number nine,
we need
children and teens in our church to help
us reach them.
Go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 2, I'm almost
done. Acts chapter 2,
I'm going to read Joel chapter 2 verse 28,
there's a prophecy about
in the last days after
Jesus, you know,
when the Holy Spirit's poured out,
but Joel chapter 2 verse 28 says
it shall come to pass afterward
that I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your old men
shall dream dreams, your young men
shall see visions and also
upon the servants and upon the handmaids
in those day will I pour out
my spirit. And
the coming true
of this prophecy is found
in Acts chapter 2. Peter
preaches this sermon and then
he explains that
this is not these people being drunk
but this is something that was
prophesied in the Bible where all
these people from different
places, different tongues, different nations
are preaching in
their language and the other people
are receiving it in the language
that they know. Acts chapter 2
verse 16 says, but this is that
which is spoken by the prophet
Joel and it shall come to pass
in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy
and your young men shall
see visions and your old men
shall dream dreams.
And all my servants and all my handmaidens
I will pour out in those days
of my spirit and they shall
prophesy. So what do you have
here? You have a demographic of different
ages, people of different
ages. So handmaidens are generally
younger women
that are not married yet
and so it's talking about young men
old men, all these different people
but it's talking about prophesying. So what's
taking place in Acts chapter 2?
You're having people going around
and they're prophesying
they're preaching the gospel
so preaching doesn't always
mean that you're standing behind a pulpit
and it doesn't always mean that you're preaching about the
future or predicting the future
prophecy or prophesying
just means preaching
that's what it means and it just
depends on what kind of preaching it is but this type of
preaching that's happening in Acts chapter 2
is talking about preaching the gospel
Isn't that the context of the story here?
And it says
I will show wonders in the heaven and signs
of the earth beneath
blood and fire and
vapor of smoke. The sun shall be
turned into darkness and the moon to blood before
the great notable day of the Lord come
and shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
So children, teens
you are important to the mission
of reaching the children
and teens that we run out into
the soul winning because the Bible says
that the Spirit of God is
poured out unto you also
and according to these verses
these people here
are getting people saved so why can't you
do the same thing? You can do the same thing
You absolutely should be doing the same
it shouldn't be just the adults
in the church doing the soul winning
Now I will say this, it's important
that you're doing a good job
while you're doing it. Don't just
go out there willy-nilly just because you're
zealous and not
do it the correct way
you should before you're ready to
launch out. You know obviously you can
you can get better at things
and not be 100%
perfect. I'm not saying you have to be 100% perfect
I'm just saying you should be able to
articulate all the points and be
able to explain the verses
to people before you're ready to be
on your own preaching the
gospel. So
Acts chapter 21, turn to Acts chapter 21
it says
and the next day
we that were of Paul's company departed
and came unto Caesarea
and we entered into the house of Philip
the evangelist
so what does Philip do? He evangelizes people
which was one of the seven and abode with him
and the same man had four daughters
virgins which did
prophesy. So what does this tell you
that Philip had you know daughters
were probably between the ages of
10 and 18
you know four daughters maybe 12
to 18 I don't know
that were what did what prophesy
now women are not supposed to get
up and preach in the church behind
the pulpit so what kind of prophesying are they doing
well he's an evangelist so what kind of prophesying do
you think they're doing? They're preaching
so these young
daughters of his are out
doing the same thing they're out doing what
dad has taught them to do
and they're probably doing it because they love
the Lord too and they want to preach. So there
you have some examples of
young women
doing it so it's not just for men to do
it's also for women. Young ladies
young girls so
you know there's no
reason why you can't get out and do the same thing
last point we need to do
more evangelistic things to reach
children so
I'm not sure what the answer is obviously I'm not having
a VBS here or something
like that but you know
maybe I just maybe we just need to be
more focused when we're out there and
mindful maybe it's just a good reminder
to not pass
by children necessarily
and you know
for us to
have a focus on teaching the
children in this church that are old enough to
preach the gospel or the teens
to light a fire under them
to make sure that they want to get out and preach the gospel
too and you know it
shouldn't just you know I took my kids
sowing my kids all go sowing
you know they all know how to win
someone to Christ you know
if you have to drag your kids along drag them along
but teach them how to go sowing
and Mark 5 35 it says
cause Jesus you know he obviously
allowed the little children to come but he also
you know he would minister to other people
he raised a girl
from the dead and people laughed
at that right and you know he's like
hey she's not dead she's sleeping
and they all laughed him to scorn
but before that they were
wailing and crying
and upset look at Mark
5 35 or just listen
while I read it and we'll be done here
it says while he at spake
there came from the ruler
of the synagogues house certain which
said thy daughter is dead why troubles
thou the master
any further as soon as
Jesus had heard the word that was spoken
he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue
be not afraid only believe
and he suffered no man to follow him save Peter
and James and John the brother
of James and he cometh to the house of the
ruler of the synagogue and saith the
tumult and then that wept
and wailed greatly
you know there's a lot of people
that are weeping and wailing
over children that they lose
and they don't know whether that child
went to heaven or not
and that's why it's so important for us to reach them
cause there are children that die and go to hell
you know once they know
once they're accountable for their sins they will go
to hell if they know
you know if they know enough
they will die and go to hell
look what it says in verse 39
and when he was come in he saith unto
them why maketh this a do
and weep the damsel's not dead but sleepeth
and they laughed him to scorn
but when he had put them all out
he taketh the father and the mother
out of the damsel
and them that were with him and entereth in
where the damsel was lying and he took the
damsel by the hand and said unto
her talitha kumai
which is being interpreted
damsel I say unto
thee arise
and straightway the damsel arose
and walked for
she was of the age of twelve
years and they were astonished
with great astonishment
you see Jesus did care
about the little children
he cared about the twelve year olds
he cared about teens he cared about everyone
and you know there's a lot
of people that
wish that someone talked to their twelve year old
you know we can't raise children
from the dead like Jesus did and there's
twelve year olds all over this world right
now that you know they're
without Christ
and you know we can
the only way we're going to bring them back from the dead
is by preaching the gospel to them so that they'll be
saved and they're a demographic
that we should care about they're a demographic
in this church we should care about
and we should focus
on getting children
the gospel cause God loves the little
children God loves the teenagers
he wants us to include them in our
soloing program and so let's
have a mind as a church to make this happen
save children and teens
in this church pitch in and do your part
we need you as a part of the workforce
and parents let's make sure
your kids really are ready to
preach the gospel that they understand
how to read through the presentation
let's train them up and
let's make sure that we have this
focus on winning
children to Christ let's pray Lord we thank you so much
for
the little children Lord and
we can see just through
these scriptures this morning
that you do care
about the little children you care about the teenagers
you care about those in between
and Lord we pray that you just help us
to have a focus on children
Lord that we'd love them and Lord that you'd
help us to be wise as we deal
with them but Lord help us
to reach these children before
the world is able to reach them
and that we would get them saved
and that we would make it a priority
in Jesus name we pray, Amen
tell me the old old story of unseen things above
of Jesus and his glory
of Jesus and his love
tell me the story simply as to a little child
for I am weak and weary
and helpless and defiled
tell me the old old story
of Jesus and his love
tell me the story slowly
that I may take it in
that wonderful redemption
of Jesus for sin
tell me the story of him
for I forget so soon
the early dew of morning
has passed all he had new
tell me the old old story
of Jesus and his love
tell me the story softly with earnest tones and grave
remember I'm the sinner
whom Jesus came to save
tell me the story always
you would really be
in any time of drop or bow
a comforter to me
tell me the old old story
of Jesus and his love
tell me the same old story
when you have cause to fear
that this world's empty glory
is costing me to near
yes, and when that world's glory
is dawning on my soul
tell me the old old story
Christ Jesus speaks the whole
tell me the old old story
of Jesus and his love
Amen. Brother Eli, would you close us in a word of prayer?
Thank you so much for the sermon that we've heard, Lord.
I pray that we would prepare our children.