(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, welcome everybody to the Sunday morning service of Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Thank you so much Ben for reading the Bible passage. I would like to do something a little bit differently today that we're used to in light of like how sermons go within our church. If we can, can we have the kids come sit closer up? Can we have like Elie and them come sit up front? You guys want to sit up front? We just, I want to make sure you guys hear this. This is important. Okay. Come on up. Don't be shy. All right. So the title of this message this morning is Suffer the Children. As a mother day service usually goes, we always address mothers and their roles and the importance of our parents and the things, their sacrifices they made for our lives and the things that they done for us. And mind you, I will be speaking on behalf of mothers and our grandmothers and things like that. But I do also want us to understand that we are known in this church as a family integrated church, meaning that all of the members in our family come together to hear the word of God. And we tend to, I believe as, you know, fundamentalist Baptist Christians tend to address a demographic of people that will only hear deep doctrine. And I believe sometimes to speed up, we should slow down. Remember the story with the turtle and the rabbit, you know, the rabbit wants to sprint to the finish line and get there first. And as he sprints along the way, he stops, he's tired, he hurts his leg and all these things happen. But then the turtle just keeps a pace and he keeps moving forward and he actually wins the race. So in light of that, I want to let you kids know that this church is not just for us adults. This isn't an adult, you know, play thing. We're not here to get together and just hang out with each other only. You guys got to understand that this church is also for you. I don't want you guys to think that we are not here for you specifically. Look, I've heard it said before when it comes to sermons and preaching and messages that, you know, a good preacher, a good pastor, a good evangelist can address every single person that they're talking to. And I don't want you guys to not walk away with something. And I get that you guys are all in different ages and we have a lot of young kids and we have, you know, teenagers and different ages. But my goal is to help you guys to understand something that will help you for the future. Your mom, your dad, your grandparents, your uncles, your aunties are here to help you move forward in your Christian life. So understand Auntie Louisa and I are here for you as well. All of us in this church are to help what is considered our weakest member, but you're not weak because you're a child. I was a child one time. I know that's hard to imagine, but I was a kid at one time in my life and your mom was a kid and your dad was a kid. So understand your parents were given wisdom from their parents. And let's not preach past children. Let's not preach through children. I don't want to preach by you, through you. And none of you can understand what I'm saying. We need to make sure we have deep foundational truths that never change. And a lot of these truths, these foundational simple truths come from when we were kids that our parents left to us. So the title, remember this message is suffer the children. Now, maybe that's a term you've never heard before. It's kind of unique. We don't use that word to mean what the Bible means. The Bible means suffer to allow. So it says allow children to hear the word of God. Elsewhere in the Bible, the disciples, there were children being brought to Jesus Christ and they were upset. They were not, they're like, no, don't let the children come to Jesus. We want to be only for adults. This is for like full-grown adults to hear Jesus. But Jesus says, no, that is not what I am here for. I am here for not just the parents, but for the children as well. He says, suffer or allow the children to come unto me. And notice in the Bible where we are, if you can look down 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. Let me pause there really quick. What the Bible is trying to explain to us is that even us as adults, we are children of God as well. We're all children. We all have something in common. If we put our faith in Christ, if we believe Jesus, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. And here in Hawaii, we have lots of big family, right? You guys have nine brothers and sisters. So I come from six. And you know, big families, big Ohana is a big thing here in Hawaii. And that's a blessing from God that we have brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles, grandmas and grandpas to help us in our future of our walk of faith. But look what else it goes on to say in verse four, whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. So what Jesus is trying to tell us is that children, right? Notice the youngest brothers and sisters that you have. They can't really do much for themselves, right? All the older siblings tend to have to feed their brothers or sisters or change diapers and do these things, right? Well, here's the thing. Jesus says unless you humble yourself, which just means stay, stay pure, stay simple, it's okay to have a simple mind as well. We want to educate ourselves, we want to grow in our faith. And we want to become smart. But it's okay when you're a beginner, it's okay to start off with knowing nothing. As a matter of fact, the Bible says, it's a blessing to have a clean slate, and to grow in our faith through people who have bestowed upon us important doctrines. And it goes on to say in verse six, this is important, I want you guys to hear this, okay? But whosoever 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 depths 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. So understand this kids, Jesus Christ is trying to let you know something that is very important for you to get. Your parents, specifically your dad, and of course your mother as well, they're here to defend you. You know, your parents opened up their house to us to be able to help, let alone all of us, but specifically you guys, to learn to grow in your faith. And they need to be protective over you because you got to understand, we live in a weird world today. Maybe you get that or you don't. But you know, the world today is different than it was yesterday. And the world that your parents and I and others have grew up in was a lot safer. Of course, there's always been a time when there have been evil bad people trying to hurt, you know, children and things like that. But understand this, the world is getting worse out there. There are like, I don't think I need to tell you if you've seen things on the news, you know, there's lots of like riots and there's lots of craziness going on, but especially you kids need to trust in your parents to protect you, but specifically Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is making sure you kids know that if anyone would ever try to offend, hurt you in any way, God will protect you. And you need to realize that the God we serve is the creator of the universe. So if you put your trust, faith in him and beg God to keep you safe, he promises he will keep you safe and understand your parents' goal is to do that for you as well. But notice what it goes on to say, turn if you would to verse their angels do always behold the face of my father. Where is that verse? Well, basically the Bible is saying that there are angels in heaven that are looking down to protect you guys. So number one, we are not here as a adult social club. Yes, we are. You know, it has been said before, maybe you guys have heard this, that, you know, people who have dog trainers, right? Dog trainers, when their dog is acting up, they bring them to a dog trainer to help teach the dog good manners. And a lot of dog trainers understand that you're not really necessarily just training the dog. You're primarily training the owner because a lot of bad habits come from the owner. The owner has bestowed on the dog bad tendencies. So a lot of dog trainers realize, well, I got to train you how to walk your dog, how to help him out and not have anxiety and things like that. And the church is a place where parents are learning. Parents are learning to be parents. Husbands are learning to be husbands. Wise are learning to be wise, but you kids need to learn your role as children. And we've all heard this sermon preached before, right? We've all heard the famous one of the 10 commandments, right? Honor your father and mother in the Lord, for this is the first commandment with promise. God is trying to tell you kids that if you respect and look out for your parents, even when they get old, that God will make sure you live a long life in this earth. And it's important that, you know, we know that God is on our side and we want you to know that God's on your side. But like I said, any good sermon, any good preacher can address the whole congregation, not just the most sophisticated theological doctrinal position, you know, say for 20 years, knows his Bible backwards and forwards. But we also got to realize as we grow as a church, people are going to be coming from all different stages of life, and they're going to have all kinds of different teachings and things like that. And that is why we need to sometimes slow down, and then that is how we will go faster. We will get to the destination quicker if we just address some simple truths. Turn to your Bibles, if you would, to 1 John. But while you turn there, let me point out this one thing. 1 John chapter 2, if you would, turn there. Psalms 127 verse 3 reads, lo children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. This is a very popular passage that maybe you guys have heard before. We definitely as adults who have gone to churches have heard this, you know, preached time and time again. But one time I remember learning a symbolic truth from this passage that didn't really wrap my mind, and this is something I want you kids to know. You guys are the future. You guys, this is about you guys. The Bible says that the least esteemed member in the church is more necessary. What good is it if a pastor gets up, preaches the message to a bunch of people who won't listen? What good is it if, you know, adults get up and start talking about the things of God, but no one's going to apply them in their life? You kids realize that in the sight of God, you are going to pick up the mantle of Christianity and move forward for the rest of your life and then your children one day. And that's what I'm trying to get at, is that this is not just for us, this is for you. I want you guys to, you know, go home, but you already are home. When you are later on in your house, think about the things that I'm telling you. And look, I say a lot up here. I get it. A lot of stuff comes out of my mouth. But the thing is, I want you to take one thing with you. You are the future. Without you, the work of God may cease. And our parents, my parents didn't really push this on me. And we, our generation, came from after the baby boomers. And I'm not going to go into the baby boomer generation, but they made lots of mistakes. The reason why the world is crazy outside is because the baby boomers failed in their task to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and stand against evil things. In the Bible, we see lots of examples, right, of a good king doing good and then a bad king doing bad. But then the nation got right with God and they had a good king and then a bad judge and then a good judge and then the prophet. And then it's just constantly, there's this roller coaster. And we need to look at that example and realize that there's no new thing under the sun. We live in a generation where people are digressing and getting worse. The Bible talks about as we approach the end times, which is a big subject, but obviously we all understand that the Lord Jesus Christ may very well come in our lifetime. And if he does, the Bible says man will wax worse and worse. So let us, the adults, keep pretending like Jesus may not come in our lifetime and let's train up the next generation to move forward with the work of God. Because we may in our lives not see the Lord Jesus Christ come. So you guys may be that generation that is the generation of revelation and is the group of Christians that will do great work for God. And notice you didn't turn there, but it says as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, right, is an arrow, a bow and arrow, a short range weapon or a long range weapon? It's a long range weapon, right? A sword you can fight up close with someone, but a bow you can hit someone really far away. And God is trying to show us that our kids are a weapon that can fight the battles in the future. That as if you have lots of arrows in your quiver, a quiver is just where you would store your arrows. If you can shoot out a lot of bows, you're going to get a lot of damage done. And it's not to say if you have one or two or three kids, you're less effective. It's just to say that children are a blessing. And the more you have, the more you can do damage in the future if they choose. We raised you guys up into the future to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. But not only that, like I mentioned earlier, we're going to have people from all different walks of life find themselves into our church, right? And that's the next point I want to go into. Number one, we're here for you guys, okay? This is, listen up, okay? This isn't us just yapping up here and not trying to make a lot of sense. If we don't help you guys out, we are doomed to fail, period. But your mom, your dad, they're constantly trying to help you. I mean, praise the Lord that your parents were willing to open up their door to this church to help you guys. I mean, of course they're being benefited. Of course we're being benefited. But we want you guys to be benefited. Don't think, don't clock out the second the service starts. Listen, try to take something home to your life and apply it in your life, okay? But number two, you guys are the future. Next point is this, we need to help spiritual babes grow in their faith. So just like a physical kid needs to realize the importance of reading their Bible, going to church, evangelizing, preaching the gospel to your friends, Christians need to do the same. Because like I said, we are all children of God in Christ Jesus. Now that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, look, I had an older brother and I have a younger sister with me right here right now. And we are all in different stages in our lives. And I know that in my life, my older siblings gave me bad advice. And some of my younger siblings gave me good advice. But in most cases, younger siblings are less knowledgeable and older siblings are more knowledgeable. So in that sense, in our Christian life, let's apply that. If a pastor, an evangelist, a missionary, a deacon, or a spiritual leader in your life is trying to help you, realize that of course you take your parents' advice above everything. But you guys, our churches, you know, I grew up in the public school system and raise your hand if you went to public school. So most of the older people and some of the younger people went to public school. I don't know what everyone's thoughts are about public school, but let me tell you this, it's not a good thing. Public schooling has been a failure of American institution. And there's other examples that they failed in. But I will say this, especially here in Hawaii, I will say that the one thing that the public schooling system taught me is a respect my elder. We had teachers and principals and counselors and coaches that gave us wisdom and instruction. And as homeschooled children, you know, there's not a lot of parent influence or older influences that we have in our lives outside of our physical family. But that's what church is. Church is when we find friends and their parents are telling you, hey, slow down or stop running or be careful, tie your shoes, take the scissors out of your, whatever they tell you, listen, you're not, they're not telling you this to be a fuddy duddy or like a grump. They're trying to help you. And of course, you know, I remember in my life, so many older people, older, my friends, parents, and, you know, football coach or like basketball coaches and people that changed how I looked at things. And the same applies to Christianity. Look down at your Bible at first John chapter two verse 12, it reads, I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven, forgiven you for his name's sake. I run into you fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children, because you have known the father. I have written unto you fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men, because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one. And I'll leave you on this one last verse in verse 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. So notice in the beginning, this is the apostle John, Jesus Christ, the beloved at the last supper, he leans on Jesus's chest, Jesus calls him the beloved disciple, it was his favorite basically disciple. And he calls his converts little children. Now understand this, he is not their father. And I know this is kind of a weird thing to understand. Jesus says elsewhere in his ministry, call no man upon the earth your father for one is your father which is in heaven. The apostle Paul likens his work with God as giving birth to a child. So it would be symbolized that we represent mothers who preach the word of God and get a child of God born, born again, right? We've heard that saying, born again, Christians, you're born into God's family by faith in Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter four, verse nine says, my little children of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you. This is the apostle Paul telling the Galatians that you guys are like my kids. And he calls Timothy his son in the faith. And this passage of the Bible addresses children, young adults and fathers or spiritually older people in their lives. And he addressed each people twice. So for us as more mature Christians, let us remember the importance of bestowing wisdom on the next generation. Yes, we will go on to deep doctrines. Yes, we will teach hard truths. Yes, we will preach hard messages that everyone needs to hear. But let's not neglect or forget children. What there's 52 weeks in a year, right? Can't we provide kids with three to five services a year that are directed specifically towards them? Remember when I was a kid or you were a kid, if you wanted to talk to a kid, right? Sometimes it wasn't always best to look down at them when you're talking. Sometimes you needed to get on a knee and see them at eye level. So they realize you're not talking down to them, but you're talking to them. And obviously it's important that God created a system to where as you grow up, you physically get bigger. But I remember in my lives that the people, my mother and others who got down and spoke to me directly, I listened. I'm like, okay. And that's what I'm trying to do to you guys right now. I'm trying to get down and humble myself, slow down a little bit and let you know, we're not just here for your parents. We're here for you guys as well. You're as if not more important to us because we want you to see the severity of what is the Bible teaches unto whom much is given like salvation, like a church like this, like family of mother and father that loves you, like uncles and aunties that look out for you unto whom much is given of him should much be required. We are required and expected to do more for God if we've been bestowed on these things. So we get it, David, suffer the children, allow them to come. They're the future. We're here for them. We're going to get people saved. They're going to grow in their faith. We're going to move forward in the work of Christ. But not only that, you turn, if you would, to Hebrews chapter five. I'm going to read from 1st Peter 1 22. Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible sea, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever for all. And that's such a famous passage. We, we quote that passage a lot. It's just talking about being born again by the word of God. The word of God is our instrument in life to help guide us into all truth and understanding. But it goes on to read in verse 24 for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass wither is the flower thereof fall at the way, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now we have chapter divisions in the Bible, right? We just went from, and you're not there, but I had you turn to Hebrews five. I'm just letting you know that 1st Peter chapter one goes into 1st Peter chapter two, right? But obviously they didn't have like chapter divisions in their epistles. So this goes right into 1st Peter chapter two verse one. So we understand being born again by the word of God, right? Wherefore lying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. That's such another famous passage that we use from the pulpit. And we preach that we are growing in our faith through the milk or the simple truths of the Bible. But notice it said in verse one, wherefore lying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envies and all evil speakings. That tells me that if we as Christians are backbiting each other, speaking ill will towards our brothers, having malice, having guile, having envies, then we would be considered children in the sight of God. Look, children fight, right? We've had arguments. We've had, you know, I'm looking back into my past. And it's funny that my sisters here, like how many fights and bickering moments we've had as kids and things that aren't worth getting fighting over, but we did, you know, I want the last of the dinner or I want to shower first or whatever. I mean, living in Hawaii with six kids wasn't easy. You know, I had to sleep in the living room for like most of my life on the ground. And I'm sure, you know, some of you guys have to as well. And it's just, you know, I have a saying, and I actually learned this from my oldest sibling. She says, I love how much I hate my siblings, but I hate how much I love them. So obviously there's always war in the house. The more kids you have, the more war you're going to have. Mothers, I apologize for the refereeing you have to do, but you signed up for it. And that's part of motherhood. You have to, you know, put out fires. You have to educate your kids, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but there is going to be beef. And, you know, just realize that, you know, when us as fully grown Christians are fighting and envying and arguing about stupid things, we are basically acting like children. And we don't want to, in the sight of God, be seen as immature. We want to grow in our faith. We want to keep moving forward. And it says with the sincere milk of the word, but look down at your Bible, if you would, at Hebrews chapter five, let me get there myself. It says in Hebrews five, this is another famous passage that we read time and time again. It says in verse nine. And being made perfect, he became the offer of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God and high priests after the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong drink. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. For he is a babe, but strong meat belongeth unto them that are of full age. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So for us as mature Christians realize that unto whom much is given of him should much be required. We are held to that same higher standard. And once again, we read this so much times to call out the Jewish people because they were supposed to be the ones who are preaching unto the Gentiles and showing them the gospel around the world. They failed. This is the epistle to the Hebrews. And he's saying, you need to be the ones teaching these things. Yet the Apostle Paul, which mind you, I understand he was of Benjamin and Hebrew stock, but he was realizing the importance of going out to the rest of the world and preaching the gospel. And it's clearly teaching us that if we don't slow down, we're just going to stumble. Sometimes to get to the end, to get to the point of perfection, to get to the point of getting most done for God, we need to slow down. There's another principle in the Bible that it teaches that you can take an ax and smack at a tree all day long, and it will cut. It'll cut and it will cut the tree down, but you're having a blunt instrument, right? And it's not sharp. The Bible teaches that sometimes we need to stop, slow down, sharpen the blade, and you will be using less physical effort to get the tree cut down because the ax is doing most of the work. It's the tool. And you know, there's going to be another sermon coming soon to a theater near you about how we are tools. We are tools as Christians. God wants to use us to get his work done. So this is why we push the fundamentals. And I'm going to turn you to Isaiah chapter 28. Turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 28. But while you turn there, I want to give a shout out to a person in my life who really helped influence my life and changed a lot of who I am as a person today. And his name is Ed Phillips. I hope to God that Ed Phillips, if you ever get the chance to see this message, that I want you to know the importance and the things that you've done in my life. Ed Phillips was my basketball coach. And when we moved to the island of Kauai and we moved to a place in Kapaa called Popo Hale, you know, we're new in the neighborhood and I'm walking around just trying to find friends and, you know, see who the neighborhood kids are. And I see these kids playing basketball down the road and I go and play basketball with them. Right. But this is the funny thing about the story because at that time I knew zero to nothing about basketball other than you get this ball in that hoop. That's the goal. Right. And I'm going around and I start playing with my two friends, Elijah and Uriah Phillips. And as we're playing basketball, their dad was the basketball coach and he was a very strict fundamental teacher. We all know that basketball coach, I don't know if you've seen the movie Coach Carter, or like they're very old school. This, my coach is very old school. And I don't know what the difference between double dribbling or traveling or, you know, or three second rule in the paint. There's all kinds of basketball rules that you got to apply when you start playing the game, but I don't know these rules. So they're having grace with me. They're just like, okay, just run around with the ball and see what you can do. But what happened was on one of the plays, the ball starts launching out into the outbound out of bounds. Right. And as it's launching out of bounds, there's a grass patch right there. And I run over to grab the ball to save it. And I grab it. And just the way the angle was, I was not going to make it back inside of the line inside the court. So I grabbed it and I did a front flip and on my flip, I threw it under me and I landed and I turned around and I thought like, once again, that's not allowed. Like you can't do that. They all stopped. And they're like, what the heck was that, dude? Like my coach realized at that moment, he's like, this kid was willing to do whatever it took to get that ball in bounds. So he asked me that time if I'd be willing to join his basketball team, their son's basketball team. And he taught me the fundamentals of basketball. He taught me the importance of bending your knees when you dribble, dribble low. And once again, I'm going to go a little bit into basketball. If you've never played basketball, just tune out for a second or listen up. You'll get a truth out of this no matter what. And in basketball, there are so many like fancy plays and fancy things you can do. But for instance, if you're going to be passing the ball around, bounce pass, baby, bounce pass. You know, if, if we did not bounce pass, we would get taken out of the game a lot of the times, unless it like got to a point. But like, that's what I'm trying to say. Bending your knees, you know, standing a certain way, bounce passes, layups. If you could dunk, he said, don't dunk, take the shirt thing and lay up. If you were a good shot, which his son was a really good shooter, backboard. I know you can make a switch, use the backboard because it's a sure thing. You will make the shot. And like, obviously, like I said, throughout our time learning basketball, we're trying to see what we can get away with, you know, no-look pass or like, you know, not going for a switch instead of a backboard. And if you made the switch or you made the no-look pass and he saw it, like you'd better hope that like you got the point or you didn't get intercepted. Cause he's like, you're out, you're done. And in our lives, you know, our parents are trying to teach us, we are known in this church as independent fundamental Baptists. Let's slow down fundamentals for crying out loud. I could teach you about the intricacies of, you know, the end times of eschatology theology with the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. And I could teach you things that are deep spiritual symbolisms in the Bible, but let's just slow down a little bit. Let's just realize the milk of the word. I need milk. I mean, I don't need milk to survive, but I love milk. Who here loves milk? I know you love milk. I think I virtually drink a glass of milk every single night. Do I need it? No, I like it. But what I'm trying to say is babies need milk without milk. They will die the way there's God has designed a baby. Their stomachs can only digest the enzymes that are found in the milk. And now throughout time, as they grow, they can get harder food and harder food. And then eventually they don't need the milk. The same thing applies with Christianity. You know, just getting the simple truths of you, me, all of us are sinners. God created the heaven and the earth and all these other fundamental teachings that I can go into. And it is okay to stop and address them from time to time. But you kids, we don't believe in segregating the church. We are all here together. A lot of the times when churches do that, he'll take the kids to a Sunday school service and they give them a simple truth. They have them painting, you know, Noah's Ark and the animals, and they're doing like other things that may be helping them or may not be helping them. But at the same time, it can be easy for me to get up here and preach like super deep truths. And then it goes right over your head. I'd rather every now and again, just address you kids and let you know, I'm here for you. I'm here for your parents. I'm here for my loved ones. I'm here for the Lord Jesus Christ, but I'm also here for you. So we get it, David. We need to slow down to speed up. We get it, David. We want to make sure that kids, you get the importance that you're the future. You're to move forward. When we see brothers and sisters get saved, let's invest in them. Let's slow down to speed up. But not only that, oh, that's where I had you turn. Isaiah 28. Notice what it says in verse nine. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged. And this is all the fruit that take away. Nope. I'm in the wrong verse. 28 verse nine. Okay. Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, for without, for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest. And this is the refreshing you yet they would not hear. So back to what I was saying, notice for us that are older, we get, we've heard this, we got like, you've heard this preach time and time again, but yet it's still going to help us. And what I want you kids to realize is that you in your time in life, this is a very important time in your life. Your childhood only comes once and the world out there is trying to grow you up too quickly. They're trying to push their agenda. They're trying to, you know, make you think like, ah, being a kid is a bad thing. You don't want to be a kid. You want to be adult. You want freedom and you want to do whatever you want. And that's okay. The Bible teaches that whatever stage in life we are in, we need to learn therewith to be content. And I was a kid once, like I mentioned earlier, but let me tell you this. I really understood the importance of my childhood that it only came once. And unfortunately, I'm not going to go deep into it, but I lost a lot of my childhood just because I had to work. I had to provide for myself and that's just kind of the way it is. But if you as a child are able to be cared for and provided for stay pure, stay simple, stay soft, enjoy it, enjoy it. Because a lot of kids are like, oh, I can't wait to be an adult, but a lot of adults tend to look back and say, I can't, I wish I could be a kid, but we need to learn contentment as well. I'm happy to be in the age I'm in. I'm 30, I'm turning 31. I still feel young, so don't call me old. I got some grades, but I'm still young. But notice it says in verse nine, then that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here little and there little. Eventually you do need to grow. Eventually you need to mature. Eventually you need to slowly digest here a little, there a little, one at a time. And in the process back to that slowing down thing, I'm going to keep pushing this. You're the future. So you want to get to the end, slow down. You'll get there. Trust me on that. I'm not even big on marathon running physically. I think marathon running is, is not good, but when it comes to spiritually, yes, marathon running is what we're trying to push. I'm a sprinter. I like to, you know, back to basketball. I like to run short distances really fast. But when it comes to Christianity, we're playing the long game, especially if you honor your father and mother in the Lord, that thou mayest live long upon the earth. You could do a lot for God in a short period of time and then you're done, or you can do a little for a long period of time. And you'll actually get more done for God in that sense. But it has to be line upon line, here a little, and there a little, precept upon precept. So don't try to grow up too fast. Don't try to take it all in at once. Strive, try to become wiser, try to become better. The Bible says that a child is known by his doings just because you are a kid, just because you don't have a lot of responsibilities when it comes to paying bills or feeding your family and things like that does not mean the things that you're taught today will not follow you for the future. So a child is known by their doings. Your parents and people aren't going to look back in their lives and be like, oh man, my son was so good at playing games. They're going to be like, man, my son was so good at mowing the lawn. What you did is what mattered. My daughter, she was so good at like playing princess and being a sweet little thing. You know, they're going to be like, my daughter was so good at helping around the house and helping us all out. And that's what I'm trying to help you to understand. You're the future without you. Like we believe that if we don't go out and preach the gospel, right? If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. We are as Christians, ambassadors in Christ's stead. An ambassador is someone who represents a country. We represent the kingdom of heaven and our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to open our mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. And if your dad or your parents go out soul winning and take you with them, see, listen, understand how important that really is. Realize what has been given unto you. Cause how many of your friends, parents take you, them out, their kids to go out and preach the gospel to the lost? Probably not too many. None of my friends, parents took them out to preach the gospel, but nevertheless, we're in a different situation. I, you know, realize that we, you, I hope you guys realize that this is a different kind of church. This isn't a game. We're not playing games. We're trying to help each other. We're trying to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ, because if we're not sincere, we will never grow. And if, if we go out and preach the gospel and you guys are watching that, share it with your friends, share it with the neighborhood kids, share it with people that you know, that want to hear. And as you learn and you get precept upon precept line upon line, you'll be more equipped to be able to share the gospel with your friends. And, you know, back to those kids, I was talking about the Phillips kids, right? This is kind of a side note, but I do think it's important because I didn't know about creation science evangelism until I was like 22 or 23 years old or how I was like 24 or something. I'd always believed that the big bang theory was what science was. And it's not like they're giving me the option of creation science in school. I didn't even heard of creation science. I was called a Christian and I'm like, okay, wait, how does this work? God created the world in six days, but we're millions and billions of years old. So something's that adding up here, right? Nevertheless, those friends of mine that I was telling you about the Phillips kids, I think they were Catholic, if I remember correctly, or they're a very like, you know, Protestant type of Christianity. And I remember as a kid that we were talking about macro evolution and, you know, evolution from a monkey into a man with the world things. And I'm trying to explain it. Like it's a fact. I'm like, Oh yeah. Like we came from monkeys and the monkey came from an amoeba or whatever. And they were laughing at me. They're like, you stupid idiot. You think we came from monkeys? Like, what do you, what do you mean? Like, I don't have a tail. What are you talking about? We came from monkeys. And this is kind of a side note, but I do think it's important to address in the sermon. I'm not against bullying. There I said it, I'm not against bullying. Now there's a type of bullying I'm against, but I think bullying can be good. In that situation, I was bullied. I was made fun of because I believed in evolution and these Christian kids are laughing at me, making fun of me for thinking that because I never stopped and critically think or thought and was like, is evolution true? Is the big bang theory right? Now, obviously if a kid is beating up on a smaller kid, that is wrong. And you know, of course, like when it comes to self-defense, we need to, as you know, look, I was a kid here too. We got into fights. Okay. We're not trying to fight, but we need to know how to defend ourselves. And especially if you see a friend and I was known as this in my school that I would tend to fight other kids' battles. Not because I wanted to, but because they were being bullied, they were being picked on, they were getting, you know, they're just holy kids growing up in Hawaii and I would defend them. I'm like, you know what? Like that kid's not going to fight for himself. So I will fight for him. And that's a good Christian attribute to defend the weak and defend ourselves and defend our friends and family. But like I said, that's kind of a side note of like bullying and maybe I'll preach a full length sermon on that one time, but you know, when it comes to preaching the gospel of the law, I'm not saying make fun of your friends who don't believe the gospel. No, I'm telling you that they're taught weird things that you I'm sure understand what the schooling system is teaching. And, you know, let alone other weird perverse things that I'm not going to go into here, but they're teaching all kinds of weird, twisted, sick things out there. And this is why Jesus says, if one of these people would offend one of these little ones, it were better for him than a mill store or hung about his neck and cast into the sea. He wasn't saying that kiddingly. Jesus says, if someone would offend, hurt, perverse, or mess with the child in their head or physically, he said it were better that that person died. So understand that the Lord we serve, the Lord Jesus Christ is defensive towards you, children specifically, and we are the same way. We want you guys to know that we are here for you. So what's the conclusion of the matter? Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs 31. While you turn to Proverbs 31, I'm going to read from Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29 verse 15 says, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Proverbs 22 verse six says, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The first verse I mentioned, right? The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. We're here celebrating Mother's Day, right? So when your mom spanks you, understand she spanks you because she loves you. And if you are left to your own devices, how many of you right now would have ice cream for breakfast? Tell me if you like ice cream. No one likes ice cream. I guess I'm the only one who likes ice cream. Well, if you guys were left to your own devices, you would eat whatever you wanted. How many of you guys like cake? Cake? No, no cake. Okay. Well, I guess nothing is sweet sounding to you. I'm trying to think of something that would help. What? Cookies? Anyone like cookies? Would you eat cookies for breakfast? Of course you would. They make a cereal called cookie crisp, and they want to give it to kids, but your parents are not going to give you cookies for breakfast. Why? Because it's not healthy. It's not good for you. And it's okay to have a sweet every now and again. It's okay to have dessert, but like, it's more important. Your parents are trying to give you food that's healthy and it'll grow you up and be strong and it'll help you out on the long road. But that's a representation of God to us as children of God, because when your parents spank you for doing something bad or wrong, that's picturing God spanking us for us doing something wrong. Look, did you kids know that I do wrong things? Did you kids know that I make mistakes? I know I maybe seem like I got everything going and together, but it's, I'm not perfect. Okay. And I make mistakes. And I believe that in my life I've received chastisement from God. God has corrected me. The word chastisement just means to be spanked. And, you know, the Bible teaches that, you know, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth or daughter for that matter. And a scourging is a whip. I doubt your parents whip you with a whip, but even if they did, you should realize that that's a symbol of God's love to us. And, you know, when it comes to child rearing, that's another message we'll go into, but it's just simply that, you know, train up a child in the way he should go. When he is old, he will not depart from it. My mother has given me truths. Coach Ed Phillips gave me truths. My stepdad, James, James Briar gave me truths. My martial arts teacher, Pete Gallardo gave me truths that followed with me for the rest of my life. That really helped me. They trained me up in things that really helped form and fashion who I am today. But notice in Proverbs, let me get there myself. Proverbs 31. Once again, I'm going to popular passages. I'm going to passages that are what are considered milk of the word. Nevertheless, it's a milk. If you've read it 50 times, if you've only read it once, I mean, I'm sorry. Yeah. It's only milk. If you read it 50 times, if I read it once, it's still kind of like hard to understand and digest, but notice what it says in Proverbs 31 verse one, the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that is what mother taught him, what my son and what the son of my womb and what the son of my vows. Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroy us Kings. It is not for Kings old Lemuel. It is not for Kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of a heavy heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty. Remember his misery no more. Open thy mouth for the dumb and the cost of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy. You guys hear me getting sterned up here, right? You hear your parents getting stern sometimes. And obviously when we do wrong, we need to be corrected. And that is a attribute that this church really is separate from the rest of the other churches around that we don't want your lives to be destroyed. So when your parents, when a preacher tells you stay away from alcohol, you guys got to realize how important that is. This is the prophecy of Lemuel's mother to him saying, stay away from it. The Bible elsewhere says, don't even look at it. We wouldn't be yelling this in your ear unless it was important. The world is going to tell you there's nothing wrong with this. Don't worry about it. Your parents are just being overly cautious. No, don't listen to them. Listen to your mother. Do not even think about getting involved in this sin. And I tell you this because I have made mistakes in my life in light of drinking. And I wish someone grabbed me and shook me and told me not to do this. No one did this for me. And I want you to know once again, yes, I will slow down. Yes, I will calm down a little bit, get lowly and explain things to you, but I will also tell you the truth. Why? Because we love you. Why? Because we want what's best for you. And it goes on to talk about the concept of a virtuous woman. You know, little girls want to make sure that you realize the importance of this chapter of the Bible. Read it, read it again, memorize it, memorize it. And men, look, little boys, we have lots of other sermons that apply to you that you can apply in your life. But, you know, when it comes to a virtuous woman, you girls can really meditate on these words. And I'm not going to go into the whole entire chapter for sake of time, but what are we talking about? You guys suffering the children, allowing the children to grow in their faith, physically, physical biological children that are in front of us, spiritually, babes in Christ that we get saved and bring them to the church that they grow in their faith. They're the future. You're the future. And let's remember that unto whom much is given of him should much be required. And I will take it upon myself to slow down every now and again to help you guys. And if you ever have questions, of course, address your parents, but Auntie Louisa and I are approachable. We want you guys to feel that you could come to us. And I understand that, like, we've been gone for a little bit, but we're here for you. And, you know, we just want you guys to grow in your faith, move forward the task of Christianity, honor your father and mother. I know this is a unique Mother's Day sermon because usually mothers get a lot of pampering today, a lot of like, you know, motherly advice. And I think this is a good advice because if you kids can make life easier on your mother, it's going to help her out. It's going to help you out in the long haul. And if we just slow down, then we will speed up and we'll move forward with the things of God. Let's bow our head and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you so much for allowing us to gather together. Thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunties and ladies in our lives that have, you know, helped us be influenced in lots of ways. Please be there for the us for the rest of the day that we continue to move forward and that all the mothers and ladies have a relaxing time and that they just can take it easy. We love and praise you in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the name we pray. Amen.