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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Welcome to faith ward Baptist church. Take your seats. We will get started. Let's find a seat and grab your imnal. Turn to page 260. He is on the floor. He is on the floor. He is on the floor. He is on the floor. He is on the floor. He is on the floor. He is on the floor. And on page 260 he is able to deliver the song 260 . The grandest into the ages from his grandest immortal tongue is the grandest He is the grandest theme that the world bears. Our God is able to deliver me. He is able to deliver me. He is able to deliver me. Though my sin on press go to Him for rest. Our God is able to deliver me. He is the grandest theme in the earth for me. Tis the grandest theme for a mortal stream. Tis the grandest theme for the world again. Our God is able to deliver me. He is able to deliver me. He is able to deliver me. Though my sin on press go to Him for rest. Our God is able to deliver me. Tis the grandest theme that the tidings roll to the guilty heart to the sinful soul. Look to God in faith, He will make me whole. Our God is able to deliver me. He is able to deliver me. He is able to deliver me. Though my sin on press go to Him for rest. Our God is able to deliver me. Amen. Thank you for this opportunity to come to church. Please just fill the pastor with your spirit and help us to be identified by the sermon this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Turn to our next song, song 258. Song 258. Song 258. Singing Jesus, will we sing Now this word of grace to all Who the heavenly God believe All will linger on the floor Again. Christ, receive The sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive the sinful man. Come and He will make you rest. Just and for His word is plain. He will take The sinful man. Christ, receive The sinful man. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive The sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive the sinful man. Now my heart will tempt me not Here before the law I stand. He will bless me from all spots. Satisfy His last command. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive The sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive the sinful man. Christ, receive the sinful man. Even me with all my sin Purge from every spot I sing. And within I enter in. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive the sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive the sinful man. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service times. Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week we'll be in 2 Chronicles chapter number 17. We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvation and baptisms. We've got a bunch of birth announcements here. Congratulations to the Brock family on baby Melody Marigold, born Saturday, August 17th at 12.24 a.m. 8 pounds, 20.5 ounces. Congratulations to the Anderson family. Baby Dietrich Johannes, born Saturday, August 17th at 1.09 a.m. 8 pounds, 1 ounce measuring 20.5 inches. So if I look a little bit older and wiser this morning it's because I'm a grandpa now. And then below that, congratulations to the Fide family on baby Liam Christopher, born Saturday, August 17th at 6.21. Wow, these are all August 17th. Was it a full moon that day or what? 9 pounds, 14 ounces. Alright, so here's the big baby award. 9 pounds, 14 ounces 22.5 inches long. So speak to Mrs. Amanda Wright or Mrs. Sarah Ventura for meal train details if you want to help out with meals for those families. And then on the back, all ladies and teen girls are invited to a baby shower in honor of Olivia Stiles. That is next Sunday, so one week from today at 2 o'clock right here. A catered lunch will be served but side dishes are appreciated. Please RSVP with Mrs. Jenny Akinosho. Nurselings only are preferred. And I believe that's about it for announcements. Oh no, sorry, we have this other thing. The soul winning trip to Bryce. Six soul winners had four salvations. There's a Navajo soul winning trip coming up this weekend. It's an overnighter Friday and Saturday trip. Speak with brother Raymond Cooper for more details on that. And with that let's sing our next song. Alright, is that your hymnal? You should find Psalm 67. Psalm 67, please raise your hand if you don't have one. Psalm 67 God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us that thy way may be known upon earth. Thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shall judge the people who righteously and govern the nations upon earth. The nations upon earth see the law. Let the people praise thee O God. Let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Then shall the earth yield her in grace and God even her own. God shall bless us. God shall bless us in all the ends of the earth. Shall hear him. Let the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Amen. Let's do one more song in your song book. Song 257. Look and Live, song 257. 257. I've a message from the Lord. Hallelujah. The message unto you I'll give. It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Look and live my brother live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. I've a message full of love. Hallelujah. A message oh my friend for you. It is a message from above. Hallelujah. Jesus said and I know it's true. Look and live my brother live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Life is offered unto you. Hallelujah. Eternal life and soul shall have. If you'll only look to him. Hallelujah. Look to Jesus who alone can save. Look and live my brother live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. I will tell you now I came. Hallelujah to Jesus when he made me whole. Was believing on his name. Hallelujah. I trusted and he saved my soul. Look and live my brother live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Amen. Alright this time we'll pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around let's turn our Bibles to Mark chapter 10. The gospel of Mark chapter number 10 as we always do we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Fall along silently with brother Dan as he reads Mark chapter 10 starting in verse number 1. In Mark chapter 10 the Bible reads For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife. And they twain shall be one flesh, so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. And in the house of his disciples ask them again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them. And his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, and put his hands upon them, and blessed them. And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good master, what shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good, but one that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy mother and father. And he answered and said unto them, Master, all these have I observed for my youth. But Jesus, beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were astonished at his word. But Jesus answered again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them, said, With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible. Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake, and the gospels. But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last, and the last first. And they were in the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them, and they were amazed, and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them things that should happen unto him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink of the cup, that I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with, shall ye be baptized. But to sit on my right hand, and on my left hand, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise the lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging, and when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith have made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Dear Heavenly Father and Lord, please fill Pastor Anderson with the Holy Spirit, so that he may preach boldly from the King James Bible, so that we your children can receive the message and reply to our lives. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Getting Children Saved. Getting Children Saved. The Bible reads there in Mark chapter 10, verse 13, they bring young children to him that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. And this verse 15 is the key verse here. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. And so we see from this passage that if anyone is going to be saved, they have to become like a little child. The Bible says elsewhere, except you be converted and become as little children, you'll not enter into the kingdom of God. Now here's the thing, children don't have to become like children to be saved, because they just are children. And so they have a mentality that makes it very likely for them to get saved, and it makes it much easier for them to be saved. You see, those of us who've been out there for a long time preaching the gospel to the lost and doing soul winning, we know that in general, all things being equal, the older someone is, the less likely they are to get saved. And that the younger people are, the more likely they are to be saved. It's funny, I was preaching the gospel to some people recently that were just very atheistic and very ungodly people, and I mentioned the fact that the younger someone is, the easier it is for them to get saved, and that children are more likely to get saved. And this person said, oh that's just because they're stupid, they're just young, they just don't know anything. But no, it's that as the person who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ gets older, professing themselves to be wise, they become fools. It's not that they're actually too smart for the Bible, or too smart for God, or too smart for salvation through Christ, it's that they think they are. Because they get deluded in their own mind. Not only that, people as they get older can often just become disillusioned, jaded, they can maybe have bad experiences with churches, or religion, or something like that. Or they can just be indoctrinated in false doctrines and false ideologies. But yet, young children are more pure in their thinking, and they're more pure in their heart, and it's obviously growing up in this world and living life that corrupts them. You know, it's sort of like this, I was thinking about how pretty much every little child is physically fit. You know, if you think about it, if you look at like a one-year-old, or two-year-old, or three-year-old, you see them do things, and they're very limber, and they're very strong for their age, and think about how kids are just running around, just running around, running around. And then you get a little older, it's like you don't even have the energy to even run a short distance, but kids just run, and run, and run. It's like they start out that way, and then as they get older, bad habits, bad eating, sitting around, cause them to get out of shape. But you know, they don't start out that way. Well, think about it the same way spiritually. You know, children start out, and they're more wholesome, and more pure, and then as they get older, they get more and more corrupted. And so all of these reasons, and many more, are why it is easiest to get saved as a child. It's easier to get saved as a teenager than as a young adult. It's easier to get saved as a young adult than in your 30s or 40s. And that's why Jesus says in verse 15, If you stop and think about a little child, they fully rely on their parents for everything. You know, they don't have to worry about paying bills. They're not up at night stressing about financial problems, or health problems, or social problems. They're not thinking about politics. They just trust their parents to just put breakfast on the table, put lunch on the table, pay the bills, and whatever. And they might have their own piggy bank with their own money in it, but at the end of the day, that's not going to pay the bills. That's not going to buy dinner. That's just for little knick-knacks. And at the end of the day, they rely on their parents for everything. The little child that just reaches up and says, Mama, Mama, you know, wants to be picked up, and fed, and cared for. They need their parents for everything. And if you think about it, salvation is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. It's putting all of your faith and trust in what Jesus Christ already did for you on the cross. His death, burial, and resurrection. And it's easy for a child to exercise that kind of trust because they're exercising that kind of trust every day for everything. Whereas the adult who does everything for themselves might not necessarily be willing to rely on someone else. You know, they're going to do it themselves. They're going to get to heaven themselves. No, they've got to become like little children. They've got to be converted and become as little children to enter into the kingdom of God where they're fully trusting what Christ has done to get them to heaven, and not trusting in their own works, their own efforts, and so forth. And so, this verse makes a lot of sense in that context. Mark, chapter 10, verse 15, Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. You're not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven by working for it yourself and earning it and figuring it out yourself. No, it's by relying on Christ, trusting in Jesus Christ, putting all your faith in him to save you. So it's funny, there's a false teacher out there named John MacArthur, and I don't even hesitate to call him a false teacher. And don't even begin to try to defend this guy to me because he is literally one of the worst false prophets of our generation. In fact, and I'm not the only one who thinks that, you know, famous pastor Jack Hiles who passed away a couple decades ago, he said that John MacArthur was the worst pastor in America. And in fact, the pastor that won my parents to the Lord, Dr. Roland Rasmussen at Canoga Park, you know, he exposed John MacArthur as a false prophet back in the 80s. Okay, this guy just teaches the most blatant open form of just works-based salvation, just a hardcore works salvation. I remember being a teenager and being in a Christian bookstore and picking up a book called The Gospel According to the Apostles by John MacArthur, and it was just a blatant, just in-your-face works-based salvation. You might have heard this term before, lordship salvation, and it's the idea that, well, in order to be saved, you have to make Jesus the Lord of your life. That is, you're doing what he tells you to do or you're willing to obey what he tells you to do. He's your master. He's your Lord. So if you're not doing works and keeping the commandments, well, then he's not the Lord of your life and blah, blah, blah. This doctrine is literally invented or not invented because obviously this garbage has always been around, but that term lordship salvation was originally coined about John MacArthur. Okay, so he's the guy who popularized that style where it's labeled with that term lordship salvation. This guy is a horrible false prophet. I don't know, did he die or does he have one foot in the grave? Did he ever, is he in hell yet or not? Okay, but the point is, this guy is one of the worst false prophets in America. Don't even begin to defend this guy to me because he's preaching a false gospel, and the Bible says if anybody preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed! Okay, and that's a gospel that mixes in works and keeping of the commandments with salvation. Let me read a quote for you from John MacArthur. Here's the quote. Now let me say this, and I don't want you to panic when I say it. Saving faith is an adult issue. Saving faith is an adult experience. Salvation is an adult experience. Am I saying that a child cannot be saved? I'm saying that salvation is a conscious turning from sin to follow Christ. I mean, look, that's works. You turn from sin, sounds like a lot of work. Following Christ, that's work too. It's a conscious turning from sin to follow Christ and an understanding of something of the sinfulness of sin, its consequences, and something of who Jesus Christ is that he has provided and that I'm committing my life to him. At what point can a child understand that? I tell parents that salvation is an adult decision. There is no illustration in scripture of childhood salvation. There is none. He says a little later, there's no such thing as a childhood conversion. So basically what he's saying is, I'm not saying that children can't be saved, but salvation is an adult experience. So I guess the child can be saved if they're like an adult. They have an adult mentality. If they can think like an adult or understand like an adult. So basically it's literally the opposite of what Christ taught. Christ is telling adults that they need to become as children to be saved. John MacArthur is saying that children have to become as adults in order to be saved. Why? Because if you believe that salvation is turning from your life of sin and now you're going to start living for Jesus and doing works and keeping commandments, well then of course that's going to seem more like an adult decision or an adult experience. But if you believe that salvation is by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ, that's super easy for a child to do, to just believe in Jesus. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. And so those who believe in a works-based salvation, they're constantly thinking that children aren't really getting saved and all the children in their churches have to get re-saved as adults. And you'll be in these churches where these kids grow up in a Christian home. Maybe it's even the pastor's kids or just key church members' kids. And then they're getting re-saved when they're 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 because they're just so confused about salvation. Now look, obviously some people may end up getting saved later. I get it that you can grow up in church and maybe not get saved until you're older. But something's wrong when the church is just filled with everybody getting saved as an adult. Get saved as a child! Now look, again, if you're a teenager or you're a young adult and you're not saved, then yeah, you need to get saved. But it's not because you are needing to turn from some sinful life that you're living. If you're not saved, it's because you didn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you did believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're already saved. And you don't need to get re-saved as an adult. And so I'm going to go through just some practical things this morning about getting children saved. Because first and foremost we want to make sure that we get our own children saved, right? That's the most important thing. And then also we want to get other children saved out there in this world because, again, children are the easiest people to get saved. So we want to get as many children saved as we possibly can. Now look, what do I mean by children getting saved? I personally got saved when I was six years old. Okay? And I was confident that I was saved. I'm confident now that I was saved at six years old. Some people might think that that's too young. There's no way you understood. Well, actually I did understand. You know, I understood I was a sinner, that I was going to hell. I understood that Jesus died for my sins and I prayed and asked Jesus to save me and I knew that it was through no works of my own but through His grace that I was saved and that I was saved forever. And, you know, I remember obviously I grew up in church. I grew up hearing the preaching from the pulpit, teaching in Sunday school, and my mom is the one who actually went through the plan of salvation with me when I was six years old and I prayed and asked Jesus to save me. My little sister got saved like the next day and she was only four years old. Now I've never really heard of or seen examples of anyone getting saved before four years old. You know, so that's probably again everybody's different. Children mature and develop at different rates but in my opinion four is probably like the lower limit that I've seen. Like I think Pastor Jimenez might have been four or five when he got saved. Like I said, my little sister was four when she got saved. I was six when I got saved. You know, a lot of kids are getting saved when they're around that age whether it's four or five, six, seven, eight. You know, when they're growing up in a Christian home and they're just around the Bible and around church and they're learning about these things very young and you say, well I just don't think that's possible. Look, the gospel's not complicated. It really isn't. Obviously they have to be old enough to understand what sin is and who Jesus is and what it means to be saved, but it really isn't that complicated to just put all your trust in Jesus and zero trust in yourself. I mean it's pretty simple, right? But people with a complicated gospel, yeah you have to be an adult to figure it out apparently. So the first point I want to make is that number one, it's easier for children to get saved than adults. So we should not hesitate to think about children getting saved or wanting children to get saved. Number two, when you're getting children saved make sure that you use the Bible, right? Because the Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Look if you would at 2 Timothy chapter number three. 2 Timothy chapter number three. Use the Bible, right? And some people will think, oh well children are too young to understand the Bible so I'm just going to sort of explain it in my own words or I'm going to get a little children's picture book about the Bible. You know, use the word of God itself and if there's something in the Bible that's difficult then explain it. If there's a word they don't know, teach them the meaning of that word. But use the actual scripture because the scripture is what has the power of God, right? Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. The Bible says in the book of Acts he shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. The Bible says receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. The Bible talks about how the sower sows the word, right? Over and over again it's the word of God that saves. Look at 2 Timothy chapter three verse 15. It says and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Right? Salvation is through faith in Christ Jesus and the way that you become wise unto that is through the scriptures and so you want to know the scriptures from a child so that you can be saved. The younger the better. But number three I would say is when you're preaching the gospel to children don't dumb down or sugar coat or change the message of the gospel. Give them the actual unadulterated gospel. You know, obviously, yeah, there's an age where they're too young to understand it. If you try to explain the gospel to a two or three year old they're probably not going to understand it. Maybe even four or five year olds aren't old enough to understand it. It's going to depend on the child and their maturity level but, you know, once a child's old enough to understand the gospel you give them the gospel and you don't change it or somehow dumb it down or maybe, you know, maybe Jesus doesn't quite die on the cross or something or, you know, he's not necessarily being beaten or something. No, my friend, give them the truth. Tell them the true story. And one area in which sometimes people will dumb down the gospel for children or change the gospel to children is they'll say, well, we don't want to mention hell to children because we don't want to scare them or worry them or whatever. But in reality, you know, I remember getting saved as a six year old boy and the reason I got saved at age six is because I didn't want to go to hell. And I knew what hell was. I understood the concept and I didn't want to go there. I wanted to go to heaven. And so that's why I got saved. I think that's a great reason to get saved. Well, you should just get saved because you just love Jesus so much. It's like, well, you know that too, but I really just didn't want to go to hell, okay? It's called being saved, not called being in love. It's called being, it's called being saved. I mean that means saved means you're saved from something bad. You know? So we're talking about salvation, okay? And so we don't want to dumb that down. Now listen to this. This is from an article about how to lead children to Christ and this is out of a fundamental Baptist church that's watered down and lame. And here's what it said. Point two, sin must be punished for the wages of sin is dead. This is an article about how to lead children to the Lord. It says this, explain hell, but refrain from using frightening offensive descriptions of punishment and hell. Offensive to who? Like who decided? Well, excuse me, that's offensive. Wait, did you just say that it's fire? Because I find that brimstone is offensive unto me. Smoke? Really? Because I'm offended right now. He says, refrain from using frightening offensive descriptions of punishment and hell. These are children after all. Instead, focus on the worst part about hell. Now stop and think about how illogical that is. Don't say anything frightening or scary to them. Instead, focus on the worst part. You know, it's a contradiction, isn't it? We don't want to scare them, so we're only going to talk about the worst part. Stop and think about it. He says, instead, focus on the worst part about hell, being separated from God and from everyone else who has been saved from that awful place. Now first of all, not only is that not the worst part about hell, that's not even a part about hell, because you're not separated from hell in God, or separated from God in hell. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. Because in fact, the Bible says in Revelation chapter 14 that they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. I don't know, last time I checked, the Lamb is Jesus, and last time I checked, Jesus is God. And the Bible explicitly flat out says they will be tormented in the presence of the Lamb. They will be tormented in the presence of Jesus Christ. The smoke of their torment, I'm sorry, this is going to be offensive, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night. Okay? But then it's like, well, no, no, no. Don't tell them about the fire, the smoke, the brimstone. Tell them about the worst part that they're going to be separated from God. Here's the thing about that. Little children who are unsaved little children, they've never even met God, so they're probably not that horrified by being separated from God when they've never even been connected to God in the first place. Okay? And, you know, imagine going out and telling unsaved people, well, you need to get saved, otherwise you're going to be separated from God. They're just going to think like, well, I, you know, I don't even like God anyway. I don't even, I'm not even religious. I don't even care. But, you know, when they realize that there's a punishment for sin, a place of fire and torment, well, then that's something that they don't want to do. Okay? And so this is absurd, this thing of saying, well, don't give them offensive descriptions. Any description in the Bible is not offensive. If the word of God offends you, you have a problem. And you say, yeah, but they're little children. So a four, five, six, seven year old child, you know, can't hear about hell, but yet, I guarantee you, probably these same kids have been exposed to death and violence and things in other ways, even just from watching cartoons or something. Okay? Give me a break. What in the world? God is not going to damage them to hear what the word of God has to say about hell. Okay? The fear of the Lord is above to the wise to depart from hell beneath. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. And so, you know, be very afraid. Well, you don't want to scare people with hell. Actually, I kind of do. You know, because I don't want them to go there. And if they have no fear of God, if they have no fear of punishment, if they have no fear of the wrath of God, then what's the point? If it's just like, well, you're going to be separated from God, they're going to be like, well, I don't even know who that even is. Never even met him. But he says, you know, focus on, you know, the worst part, which is that hell is separation from God. First of all, they're tormented in the presence of the Lamb. Number two, Psalm 139 says, if I, if I ascend into heaven, God's there. And if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. I mean, we could go through scripture after scripture after scripture. God is omnipresent. It is a stream of fire and brimstone out of the Lord's mouth that kindles hell in the book of Isaiah. Okay. And so here's the thing about that is that hell is a place that is under God's power and under God's control. It's not the devil's domain or something. You know, the devil's never even been to hell. He's literally never even been there. Okay. He will in the end times, of course, be cast into hell for all eternity, but he's not going to be down there ruling and reigning. He's going to be punished there. He's going to be tormented there. The person who's ruling and reigning over hell is God. He has all power in heaven, earth, under the earth. He is the all powerful, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God. And so this idea of hell being separation from God is a false doctrine that's out there for preachers who want to tone down the message. They don't want to be one of those hell, fire, and damnation kind of preachers. So then they just kind of soften it up of oh, you're going to be separated from God for all eternity, you know. And that's so much worse than being on fire. Okay. Well, let's light you on fire and let's separate you from God and see which one is worse. You know what I'm saying? Think about it. I mean, would you rather be lit on fire in the presence of God or just kind of chilling and you're not in the presence of God? Nobody wants to be on fire, folks. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, if you would. So number 1, we said number 1, it's easier for children to get saved than adults, so we want children to get saved as soon as possible. The best time to get your kids saved is when they're kids. Don't wait till they're a teenager or an adult to try to get them saved. You want to get them saved as a kid because that's the easiest time to get saved. Because if they get older, they're going to have to have that childlike faith anyway. So it's easier to have childlike faith when you're childlike. When you're a child. But number 2, use the Bible. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God from a child you've known the Holy Scriptures. Number 3, don't water down the message. Give them the straight dope and tell them the whole thing and don't cut out parts about hell or parts about Jesus dying on the cross or something. These are intrinsic parts of the story and they need to be given the whole uncensored truth. Number 4, preach the gospel to them repeatedly. Preach the gospel to them repeatedly, right? Most people are not necessarily going to get saved the first time they hear the gospel. They need to hear it repeatedly. Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 5. It says, Notice, one plants, one waters, God gave the increase. And the idea here is that sometimes when you're preaching the gospel you're just planting a seed, right? It might be the first time that anyone's heard the gospel and so it's new to them and they need some time to think about it, to digest it. So don't be frustrated if you preach the gospel to someone and they don't get saved because you've planted the seed. Don't get frustrated if somebody's already heard the gospel. You preach to them again and they still don't get saved. You've watered that seed. Now, the reason why we're able to go out and knock doors and win people to Christ in one shot is because of the fact that usually we're not the first person that is talking to that person. We're not typically walking up to somebody's door, knocking on the door, and they've never heard of Jesus and they don't know anything about the Bible. They don't know anything about Christianity and we just take them from square one all the way to getting saved. That's not typically what's going on. We'll typically knock on someone's door and they already have knowledge about Jesus, about the Bible. They're just not saved. They don't understand how to be saved. They don't understand that salvation's by faith or maybe they've just thought about it vaguely but they've never made that decision to actually trust Christ as their savior. Whatever the case may be, other people have already planted the seed. They've already watered the seed and we are reaping that seed right there. We're reaping that result but sometimes we're the one doing the planting or the watering and so don't be frustrated if you go out soul-lending and no one gets saved. You did not waste your time because if you went out and preached the gospel, you've accomplished something. And you don't know if five years later that person's going to get saved. You have no idea. You just be faithful, preach the gospel. So applying this to our children, you know, with our children they might need the seed to be planted, watered, and then they might get saved later on. So preach them the gospel repeatedly. Not just one time but explain to them the gospel at various stages and at various times as they're growing up. And by the way, if they seem to understand the gospel and you pray with them and then maybe later you're not sure if they understood the gospel and you pray with them again, don't be afraid to pray with them repeatedly. Don't be afraid to pray with them You know, you prayed with them six months ago and now you're explaining it to them again and then you pray with them again. You say, I don't know man, this is going to be confusing to them. Not really because the gospel is real simple. You're saved by believing in Jesus Christ. Okay? And here's the thing. I as a kid got saved when I was six years old, but as I got a little bit older, sometimes I wondered hey, did I really understand everything perfectly when I was six? And looking back, I did understand what I needed to understand, but I'm just like just to be safe, I'm just going to do it again. You know, so I prayed a few, obviously you only need to do it once. You get saved one time. But you know what? Do you think that when I prayed again, God's like whoa, what are you doing? You know, there's only one per customer. You know, I was just trying to cover my bases. And at the end of the day, it's the faith in my heart that saved me. So if I prayed again a second time, third time, fourth time just to be safe, no harm, no foul. You know, you'd rather pray one too many times than one too few times. Okay? And the bottom line is, again, you only need to ask for salvation one time, but you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you've got to call upon him by faith. Otherwise you're just saying words. You know, it's just prayer is meaningless. It's the faith in your heart that actually makes that prayer mean something. Okay? Ask Jesus Christ to save you. And so don't be afraid to pray with them repeatedly. You know, I've heard people say this sometimes, and this is another one of those quotes that just kind of blows my mind, and shows that people are mixed up about salvation. I heard this many times. You know, it's really hard for children to grow up in a Christian home not to doubt their salvation. Because you know, they didn't have this dramatically changed life. And so then, you know, it makes them doubt their salvation. But again, this is stupid because you know what? People have dramatically changed lives without getting saved. It's called Alcoholics Anonymous. Right? People can turn over a new leaf and have a dramatically changed life. That doesn't mean you're saved. But again, if you have this doctrine that says, oh, well, being saved is all about doing works and keeping commandments and following the law of God and following Jesus Christ, if you have that kind of a works-based salvation, and if you have this repent of your sins salvation where it's like, well, you know, salvation's all about turning from a life of sin, well, what kind of a life of sin was I living at age six? Stop and think about it, you know, six years old. Let me tell you something. I had a dramatically changed life. You know, the things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. You know, like, I'm just like, like, what was I doing? I mean, I had to get off the drugs. I had to get off the booze. I had to get off the gambling, you know, all this stuff. But here's the thing. Growing up in a Christian home is wonderful. Getting saved as a six-year-old boy is great. It doesn't make me doubt my salvation because God never said have a dramatically changed life and thou shalt be saved. He said believe in Jesus, and I believe in Jesus. I'm saved because I believe in Jesus, because Jesus paid it all. Like, why would it confuse me that I didn't go live some simple life? I remember literally, and you can't even make this stuff up, and for some of you that haven't really been in a church other than Faithful Word or you're not really familiar with this, you might even just find some of these things hard to believe. But I'm telling you, it's out there. I can remember sitting in a youth group with a teenager and the teacher asking the class, would you rather grow up in a Christian home and be saved, or would you rather have been saved out of a life of sin so that you could have this really awesome testimony? Testimony to share with other people about how you came out of some wicked life of sin. I was the only kid in the class who said I would rather just be raised in a Christian home and never go into the sewer of sin and never go into the depths of Satan and whatever. I said, well, I'd rather grow up in the Christian home because then I, you know, I've already learned a bunch of Bible by the time I'm an adult, and he's like, oh, this was at a really liberal church, by the way, and they're just like, oh, you know, Christianity's not just knowing a bunch of facts and blah, blah, blah. You know, you're not going to believe this, but studying the Bible, it kind of is about knowing a bunch of facts and, you know, kind of knowing where things are in the Bible, knowing what the Bible says, knowing the facts about Christ and the Gospel and about, you know, Old Testament stories and, you know, yeah, it actually kind of is, you know. How would you like me to get up and preach and say, well, you know, I might get my facts wrong, but, you know, I mean, I love Jesus, okay? I'm pretty sure you want me to have my facts together. Well, you know where I got a lot of these facts was growing up in a Christian home and from a child knowing the Holy Scriptures. So I'm not up here like Mohammed or something where I think that Miriam, Moses' sister, is the same Miriam that's Jesus' mother. I know those are two different people, you know, that lived 1500 years apart. But they thought that it was superior to have lived some wicked sinful life so they could have some testimony. Folks, that is not what the, the Gospel's not a testimony about how you quit drinking and you quit taking drugs and you quit being a rock star or whatever. No one cares, okay? You know what? The Gospel is, it's about Jesus. Why don't we lift him up so that he can draw all men unto him? And how about we talk about the death, burial, and resurrection? You know, I, I, frankly, when I go door to door so any, I'm not going around just giving my life story to people. I'm just not. I'm preaching Jesus. We preach Christ crucified. I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's what the Gospel's about. Not like, oh man, you should have seen how bad I was, man. And all the fornication and the drugs and the, you know, it's like, what? But this is how people think. And it doesn't make any sense. Let me tell you something. Getting saved as a kid is the best thing that can happen to you. It's not confusing to grow up as a Christian. It's not confusing that, oh, I prayed five times so I don't know which one took. Who cares? You know, we, you know, we go on the Navajo reservation and there are people on the Navajo reservation who don't know what their birthday is, like much older people. I think it was, it was your, what was it, great grandmother who was either 89 or 91 or something. It was like, and they didn't know which, they said, we know she was born on December 26th because it was the day after Christmas. And they said, I said, how old is she? And they said, she's either 89 or 92. We know it's one of those. But we don't know which one. She's not 90. She's not 91. She's either 89 or 92. You say, how can that be? Because it's a different culture. So they don't, you know, they didn't celebrate, they apparently didn't celebrate birthdays the way that we did back a long time ago with the Navos. They must have had a different culture. Maybe they're not reckoning years the same way or whatever. But for whatever reason, there are people on the Navajo reservation who don't know their birthday and don't know what year they were born. You know, much older generation. But does that make me even think for one second, you know, I'm not sure if you actually were born. Because if you can't point to a time and a place and a date, I'm wondering if you're even born. Now, the reason that we know that she's born is because we're looking at her. That's the evidence she's born. Here's the thing. You want to know the evidence that I'm saved is that I believe in Jesus Christ. So, you know, whether I know exactly whether it was when I was, you know, I do know that was when I was six. But let's say I'm wrong just for sake of argument. Let's say I'm wrong and I actually didn't get saved till I was seven. Does it really matter? It means nothing. Right? Or what if, what if I think you got saved when you were eighteen but you're like, nah, I think it was actually when I was sixteen. Does it really even matter? The only thing that matters is whether you're saved. And the evidence that you're saved is because you're believing on Jesus and everyone who believes in Jesus is saved. Because whosoever believe in the name should not perish but have eternal life. And just as the presence of a person on this earth is proof that they were born, you know, whether we know the birthday or not, whether or not you know the day or the time or the place when you got saved, the fact that you believe on Christ is the proof that you are saved. Now obviously there is a time and there has to be a time where you put your faith and trust in Christ and call upon the name of the Lord. I'm not saying there doesn't need to be a time. There needed to be a time when that woman was born as well. But knowing the exact time isn't that relevant. So I don't think it's confusing for a child to pray with them repeatedly and for them to just think, well, I prayed a bunch of times and, you know, I know I must have meant it one of those times or understood it one of those times because here I am and I know I'm saved and I know I'm going to heaven. You know, or hey, I think I might have got saved that other time, but you know what, just to be safe, I'm just going to do it right now just to be safe. Who cares? Get it done. Do it again. And then once you've done it and you're sure about it, move on. But I don't think there's anything confusing about that because we're not emphasizing the wrong thing. Emphasizing the wrong thing is emphasizing, you know, a certain time or place or something as opposed to just emphasizing total trust and faith in Christ as your savior. That's the emphasis. Number five, take your children out soul winning with you. What a great way for them to hear the gospel over and over again. Taking them out soul winning with you, they get to hear you give the gospel to other people. They get to hear other soul winners give the gospel to other people. And by going out soul winning and listening, they're hearing the word of God. They're hearing the gospel and they're also hearing the stupid things that come out of people's mouths that aren't saved. You know, they're here, and I think that helps them to see the contrast between what the gospel is and what it's not. They see you knock on someone's door and say, hey, do you know for sure if you were to die today you go to heaven? Oh yeah, yeah. How do you know that? Well, you know, I've rescued a lot of animals. I'm a good person. I, you know, I keep all the commandments. And they're saying everything except Jesus. Jesus isn't even in the answer. Okay. And it's easy for a child to look at that. And sometimes I'll be out soul winning with one of my kids somebody will just give the wildest answer. I'll just kind of look at my kids and there's just kind of an unspoken thing like, wow. Like, are you listening to this? Like, just the weirdest, goofiest, silliest answers. And, you know, so I think taking kids out soul winning is a great way to ensure that they get saved because they're going to get the gospel. They're hearing it over and over again. And along those same lines, point number six, constantly expose them to the word of God. Look at Deuteronomy chapter six. Constantly expose them to the word of God because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so if they're growing up in a home where the Bible's being read, the Bible's being quoted, if you're taking them to church and they're hearing the Bible, this is all going to help them get saved. This is all taking them down that path toward getting saved. It says in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. Notice the Bible says these words are in your heart and you will teach them diligently to your children. You're going to talk about them when you're walking down the road, talk about them when you're sitting down to eat, talk about them in the morning, talk about them at night. Hey, preach the word of God to your children. And by the way, just to get off of children for one moment, if I give the gospel to someone and the person doesn't get saved, and let's say it's someone that I have a relationship with like as say a coworker, a neighbor, friend, whatever. Let's say it's someone that I see over and over again, relative or whatever. If I give a person the gospel and they don't get saved, you know, I want to somehow water that seed or I want to somehow still expose them to the word of God, I'm not necessarily just going to keep giving them the plan of salvation over and over again because I've already given them the plan of salvation, I've already given them the gospel. You know, sometimes I'll just quote to them other scriptures that are just relevant to other situations. I'll just tell them other Bible stories and just kind of bring up, hey, I was reading something interesting in the Bible, this and that, and just expose them to other things in the Bible because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And it can't hurt to just hear the Bible for an unsaved person to water that seed, even if it's not explicitly about the gospel. Just talk about the Bible. And the Bible says that in our homes we should just be talking about the Bible. Not only because we want our children to be saved, although that's the most important thing, we don't want them to just be saved. We also want them to know the rest of the Bible. We want them to know how to live their lives. We want them to grow up and not just be saved, but also to serve Christ and to love the Lord with all their heart and soul and might. And so we want to make sure that we're constantly talking about the Bible with our children. Turn to Proverbs 23. Proverbs chapter 23. Quick review. Number one, it's easier for children to get saved than adults. Number two, use the Bible. Number three, don't water down or sugar coat the message. Preach them the whole gospel. Number four, preach them the gospel repeatedly. Number five, take them out soul-willing with you so they can hear the gospel that way. Number six, constantly expose them to the word of God. And number seven, and this is the last point on winning your children to the Lord, and then I'm going to talk briefly about getting other children out in the world saved, but number seven, discipline your children. You say, wait a minute, what does this have to do with children getting saved? Well, look what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 23 verse 13. It says, Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, this is saying that the child who is disciplined is more likely to get saved than the child who is not disciplined. Because if beating him with the rod delivers his soul from hell, how do you get delivered from hell? You get delivered from hell by getting saved. Okay, so it sounds like being disciplined is part of the path toward getting saved. Now, why would that be? Why would there be a connection between being disciplined and getting saved? Well, here's the thing. Getting saved, again, the word saved implies that there's a danger. It implies that there's a punishment that you're being saved from. There's a disaster or a horrible fate that you're being saved from. The child who is disciplined by their parents who represent the Father in heaven, they understand that they don't just sin with impunity. They understand that you don't just do whatever and get away with it and there are no consequences. If you're growing up in a home where you just do whatever and you get away with it and there are never any consequences, then why would you then think that God up in heaven is going to have consequences when you break his commandments? Right? But here's the deal. We break God's commandments, we're sinners, and therefore we're condemned to hell unless we get salvation, which gets us out of that punishment, right? By believing in Jesus, Jesus took our punishment for us and so by believing in Christ, we actually escape that punishment. But if you're growing up in a home where there are no punishments, well, then you're not going to grow up thinking, well, I need to escape this punishment. I need to be saved. I need to escape the wrath of God because you're going to think God doesn't have any wrath because you've never seen any kind of punishment or wrath from your parents. Because your parents are just doing this unconditional love, attachment, parenting, whatever, and just letting you get away with murder and then you think God's the same way. You're going to think God's up in heaven, just, oh, that's okay. He's just sort of like Santa Claus and he knows if you've been naughty or nice and kind of just going to give you a present anyway. Wrong. God's a consuming fire. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God's a God of wrath and justice and holiness and so if you have these namby-pamby parents who just let you do anything and don't discipline you, well then you're going to think that God's up in heaven and that anything goes. Well, that's not the way it works, my friend. And that's why if you withhold correction from the child, then the Bible is implying here that that could cause him to die and go to hell because you did not show him that there are consequences for his actions. And let me just be frank with you. Kids that grow up without getting spanked typically end up being monsters. Spoiled brats, wicked people, ungodly people. And you know what's funny? Is if you just Google it like, hey, should I spank my children? It's just all these articles. Science once again proves that spanking doesn't work. Spanking is so harmful and the American Psychological Association and the American blah blah blah. You know what? But what's funny is that everybody that you like got spanked. Isn't that kind of funny how that works? And you know what's kind of funny, too, is that I wonder how do these studies that just show you spanking is harmful, you know, how are they measuring success? Are they measuring it by how many of them got saved? Is the American whatever association sitting there and saying like, well, look these kids are, you know, they're not Christians. They're a lesbian. No, that's not even on their radar. Right? So to them, some atheistic lesbian is a big success to them because she has a Ph.D. in whatever, you know, gender studies. You know? I mean, look, hey, she needs to do some post-doctoral work because I think she still doesn't understand gender. See, the reason I don't need a Ph.D. in gender studies is because I already learned it in kindergarten and I got it. These people, they have to keep going because they get, they're confused. The bachelors, they're still confused. They got to go for the masters because they're still confused about gender. Right? I mean, I could write my thesis right now for a gender studies Ph.D. I could write it on a 3x5 card. I don't know if the university is going to accept it, but it'll probably be more correct than the other gender studies Ph.D. theses that are being, or feces I should say, that are being put out there. And so the bottom line is, you know, how does the world measure success? How does the world measure success? Right? Because to me, successful parenting is number one that my children get saved. Like, that's the most important thing to me. And then I want them to be productive members of society, right? I want them to be out working and taking care of themselves and not blaming other people for why they are a failure. But that they would grow up and take responsibility and work and be productive members of society. And you know what? I want them to go to church. And I want them to be married and faithful to their spouse. And having children. Right? Is this what these people are measuring when they talk about the success or failure of spanking? Plus, these idiots who are making these studies should have their scientific credentials stripped from them anyway because they should have it explained to them that just because things are correlated, that doesn't mean that there's causation there. That's like Science 101. Because, of course, they're going to say, oh, poverty is linked to spanking. Yeah, blessed are the poor. Woe unto you, rich! That's what Jesus said. Have not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he had promised them that love him? Of course, more rich people aren't spanking their kids because rich, prideful, arrogant people don't care what the Bible says. And they know better. They know better and they say, oh, we're not going to spank our kids because we're enlightened. We're past that. Whereas more poor people tend to go to church. So they're going to be more likely to follow the Bible and spank their kids. Spanking isn't making them poor. Being poor is making you spank! Everybody understand what I'm saying? They spank because they're poor. They ain't poor because they got spanked. Okay? I mean, if you only get one thing from the sermon, that's it right there. In fact, that is my thesis. Okay? I'll defend it at any time. But you see what I mean? There's always going to be these bogus science studies where people just want to just be against God and against the Bible. And I wonder how many kids the people who are writing these studies even have. And, you know, this little worship your child and treat him like a little Lord Fauntleroy, carry him around on your shoulders like you're some kind of an Indian elephant or something. You know, maybe those kind of parenting methods work when you have like one kid or two kids. Hey, I have twelve kids. Right? You think we're doing attachment parenting? Nah, man. They're getting spanked if they disobey. And you know what? They're going to heaven. Now here's the thing. That being said, I will say this, and I've got to hurry because I'm out of time. I will say this, and obviously people have free will. I don't think you can make your kids get saved. And this is a scary thought, but I do think that you could do everything right as a parent and have a child that's not saved. Because at the end of the day, I'm not a Calvinist. I'm not a Presbyterian. You don't see us up here doing this with our kids and everything. You know, at the end of the day, we believe that salvation is a decision and that we have free will and that a two silver will may come. But that being said, although salvation is a personal choice that needs to be made by each individual, at the same time we can do a lot to lead people to Christ and to pull them out of the fire, as the Bible says. So I strongly believe that we can do a lot to pull people out of the fire. And so obviously, I think a little common sense would tell you that even though salvation is a personal choice, the child who's growing up in a Muslim home and the child who's growing up in an Evangelical Christian home do not have the same chance of getting saved. They both have a chance, but obviously the child who's growing up in an Evangelical Christian home has way more chance of getting saved than the one who's growing up as a Hindu or a Buddhist or an atheist. That being said, even if you have two children that are both growing up in a Baptist home, well, if they're growing up in a Baptist home where they're being taken out soul-winning, preached the Gospel repeatedly, surrounded by the Bible and the things of God, lovingly disciplined by their parents, then obviously they're going to be more likely to get saved than growing up in John MacArthur's church, being told that salvation's hard and it's for adults and it's all about turning from your sins. Or in a home where the parents are Christians but they ignore what the Bible says and don't use corporal punishment on their children. So what I'm talking about today is doing everything you can to increase the chances of your kids getting saved, to lead them to Christ, to do what you can to make it easy for them to get saved, to point them toward Christ. And I do think that in that case the vast majority of the time your kids are going to be saved. Let me give you an example. You know, I am saved and all three of my siblings are saved. All four of us are saved. Is that just a coincidence? That just, out of all the people in this world, because we know broad's the way that leads to destruction, many there be which go in there at, straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. But isn't it interesting that me and my three siblings are all saved. Why? How'd that happen? Obviously it has something to do with my parents. Obviously it has something to do with what churches we went to. So this isn't just a thing of just, we just throw up our hands and say, well the kids are either elect or they aren't. That's not what we're saying. What we're saying is that we can do a lot to get them saved, but at the end of the day it is a personal decision that they have to make. And I'm a strong believer in that free will, otherwise if you think about it, you know Noah could have just made sure that all his kids got saved and they could have just made sure that all their kids, you know at some point something went wrong somewhere. First of all, something went wrong somewhere, you know, the first time with Adam and Eve and then, you know, they pushed a big reset button with the flood and something went wrong again. And if God reset it again and it was just your family, you guys would still screw it up somehow. That's just the true story. Last thing I want to briefly touch on is door-to-door soul winning, right? So we go out and do door-to-door soul winning, you know, what about winning children to the Lord out there in this world? Now obviously, look, if you have friends and relatives and they're okay with you talking to their children about the Gospel, yeah, you know, make sure that your nephews and your cousins and your friends, kids and everything, you know, you can always talk to them about the Gospel as well. But, you know, when you're out door-to-door soul winning, obviously this can sometimes be inappropriate because let's say you knock on the door and a five-year-old comes to the door, an eight-year-old comes to the door, a ten-year-old comes to the door, it's not always necessarily appropriate to sit there and be giving the Gospel to that child at the door. Okay? Because, especially because we're living in a weird society where there's all kinds of danger and weirdos out there and, you know, I don't want some adult coming up and talking to my eight, nine, ten-year-old, I don't know what their intentions are, you can't really blame other people for feeling the same way, it just makes sense. And so, you know, if I knock on a door, I'm just telling you what I do, if I knock on a door and a child answers the door, I just say, are your mom and dad home? And I just go straight to the parents, and if the parents aren't home, I just give them the invite and say, hey, give them this when they get back. You say, why not just preach them the Gospel right there? Well, then what happens is you start preaching them the Gospel, then the parents will come home while you're preaching them the Gospel, and then the parents, now you're losing an opportunity to reach those parents, you're making them mad, you're offending them, you know, you're causing all kinds of problems, and you're not really doing unto others because you don't really want people talking to your kids like that and whatever. And so, obviously, I can see both sides of it, but I have always had that policy where if it's kids, I just give them the invite and move on, and I try to talk to their parents. Now, here's that being said, there are opportunities outdoors or soul-winning when you can win children of the Lord, and I've won lots of children of the Lord out soul-winning, and the way that that typically works is something along the lines of you can get the parents saved, and then after the parents get saved, you can sometimes say, hey, is it alright if I explain this to your son as well? Like, I just explained it to you, can I explain it to your daughter? Can I explain it to your son? And then you'll be able to explain it to them right then and there, the parents are there, they know what you're saying to them, they know what it's about, and that's a great way to do it. Other times, there are situations where kids are playing outside and I will just ask the parents this question, I've done this a bunch of times and it worked, I would ask the parents if I could preach them the gospel, they're not interested, I'll say, okay, well, is it alright if I tell the children a Bible story? You know, I know you're not interested, but could I tell the children a Bible story? And a lot of times parents will just be like, sure, yeah, tell the kids a Bible story. So then I tell them a Bible story, and the story's about Jesus dying on the cross for their sins and everything, and it ends up being a story that leads into the gospel or segues into the gospel. So that's a method that I've used many times to get children saved and things like that. You know, I'll be out soul winning sometimes, and let's say they're a group of like older kids or teenagers or something and they're all playing at a park or something, you know, I'm typically comfortable gathering a group of teens and older children in a group, sitting them down and preaching them the gospel, and usually that's, you know, when you're in a public place, that's a little different than being at someone's door and a little kid comes to the door. You know, being out at a park or something and approaching teenagers, and by the way, if I knock the door and they're 14, 15, 16 years old and they seem mature, then I'll preach the gospel to them if they're old enough. You gotta use a judgment call, and I think I use common sense when it comes to that, but that, you know, I will say this, and also, another thing I want to say is that this sermon is not a sermon about how to win someone to Christ, because I've done whole sermons about how to win someone to Christ, how to do soul winning. Obviously, this is like a supplement to those sermons. I'm not going through the nuts and bolts of how to get kids saved. This is a sermon just about the philosophy of getting kids saved, okay? And so when you're out soul winning and you have the opportunity to give the gospel to kids, that's great, because they're so receptive, but you just want to be careful that you're not offending people and making people mad for no reason by getting into weird situations. You want to keep it always on the up and up and not upset people, because parents do have the right to protect their kids, obviously. Now, I know that a lot of people in our church have also been doing soul winning on, like, video chat-type platforms, where they'll go on these video chat platforms, and they're talking to people from all over the world, and from some of the people that I talked to, they were witnessing to children on there. And here's the thing, you know, that's great, because obviously kids are really receptive, and so if you can preach the gospel to kids on the video chat, well then, great. But here's the funny thing about that, is that, like, you know, I would never in a million years just want my kids to just be, like, on some video chatting platform, just talking to strangers, literally just going through and just talking to random strangers on video chat. It's crazy to let your kids do it. But here's the thing, if parents are putting their kids on there, and letting them do this, and giving them unfettered access to the internet, well, you know what, they might as well be talking to you, giving them the gospel. You know, because, hey, at least you're preaching something good to them, and who knows what kind of weirdos are on, and I'm sure there are a lot of weirdos on these video chatting platforms. And so do not give your kids unfettered access to the internet, folks. But if other people are giving their kids unfettered access to the internet, they could do a lot worse than running into some soul winner, you know, from Faithful Word Baptist, giving them the gospel. And so, obviously, when you give kids the gospel, you gotta be thorough. Sometimes they don't even know what sin is, sometimes they're young, they don't even know things that we maybe take for granted, use a lot of illustrations, you know, usually it ends up taking maybe twice as long as it would with an adult sometimes, because you're having to kind of break things down and use a lot of illustrations and parables and things. And again, this sermon's not exhaustive, because obviously it's a supplement to other sermons just about how to give the gospel in general. And frankly, the only real way to learn how to give the gospel and go soul winning is really just to go out and do it as a silent partner. You come along, you tag along, and you watch it done in action. Let's pray, let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Please help us to do the best job that we possibly can to get the gospel to our children. Lord, we want, of course, our children to be saved. We know that you want our children to be saved. Lord, help us to do everything we can to lead them to Christ. And also, Lord, please give us opportunities to lead the children of this world to Christ outside these four walls. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Jesus is very near. Pass your care on Jesus today. Leave your worry and fear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Double soul, the Savior can see every heartache and tear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Jesus is very near. Jesus is very near.