To Whom Does Your Child Belong?

Our associate pastor, Pastor Ryan Crawford, brought our Sunday morning message: "Giving Your Children Back to God."

We stood for opening prayer and the reading of God's word.

The scripture reading was taken from I Samuel 1:27-28/Genesis 22:1-13

In all that we do as Christians, we make commitments to serve God in so many ways. However, there is an area that many of us have developed a blind spot in our obedience to God. It is one that has caused our society to have children that do not know God as well as they should. That is partly due to the fact that we have stopped dedicating our children back to God. The question is, "Who owns you? Who owns your children?" Is it the world? Is it your government that has gone about raising them?

1 Samuel 1:27-28 talks about Hannah, the prophet Samuel's mother. Up until this time, she had been barren and heartbroken. But after she went to the Lord and prayed for this child, she weaned him and dedicated Samuel to the service of the Lord for his lifetime.

Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when God fulfilled His promise to them that they would have children of their own. God had also promised Abraham that He would make a mighty nation through the bloodline of Isaac, but in Genesis 22 God orders Abraham to sacrifice his son to Him. Abraham obeyed in total faith in God's supreme power that He would still keep His promise to Abraham. God halted Abraham's hand and showed him a ram that was to be used in Isaac's stead. God wanted to see that Abraham would be faithful and obedient to God in all that he did. If Abraham had refused to obey or had been reluctant in obeying God, Isaac would have not been blessed with the family that he had. Nor would he have been as fruitful as he was. Nor would the lineage of Christ have flowed from him.

1) It's a confirmation of your love for God. When you are willing to dedicate your child(ren) to the Lord, you are showing God that you love Him more than your child. Your child is the most prized possession you have, but he/she does not take God's place. Matthew 10:37 says, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Only when our love for God supersedes our love for our family will God bless our family. By dedicating your family and yourself to God, it becomes a confirmation of your love to God.

2) It's a clarification of ownership on who owns their child. Our children are a heritage of God. Psalms 127:3 says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." What a blessing it is that we have this opportunity to raise these gifts from the Lord. They really do not belong to us but are given into our keeping to raise them up right. It is our duty and privilege to raise and treat God's children right. We need to be careful about the way we treat God's property. It is not the state's, or the daycare's, the government's or grandparents' responsibility. It is ours. It is Mom and Dad's responsibility.

3) It is a commitment to raise our children for God's glory. It is our obligation to raise up our children in the way of the Lord. We are to nurture, admonish and instruct our children in the Lord. Ephesians 6:4, "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." So, what does this mean when we dedicate our children to the Lord? It means we are to be Godly parents. We teach them in every aspect of our lives to raise the child knowing God. We are to be Godly parents. We teach them out of the Bible; we teach them about Christ's salvation. We are to take them to church; even as they get older, they need to be with you in the pew learning about Christ. Too often, people say that they don't want to force church on their kids too soon or too much for fear of turning them off of Christ. How are they ever going to know Christ if we never provide Him in abundance? We are to love that child as a precious gift. We are to pray for that child every day. We are to make our homes a holy place in which to raise our children. We are to live righteously in front of them and behind them. Joshua 24:15 says, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

4) It's a claiming of God's plan/a promise. God blesses those who have faith to take Him at His word and obey. God provided a lamb to be the perfect sacrifice. As you obey God with your life and as you give your child, are you raising and nurturing that child to receive God? Proverbs 22:6: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Let go of that child spiritually unto the Lord. Promise to raise that child. God will always give back; He will give back in abundance.

Please come join us for church. We have two services. The Early Morning service is at 8:30 a.m. with Sunday School immediately afterwards. The Mid-Morning Service will start at 11 a.m.

Please check out our FBCP Teen Group Facebook page.

Friday night, Bible Study will start at 6:30 p.m.

This Saturday, July 16, we will have our BackYard Bible Club for kids from noon until 2 p.m. The nursing home ministry will be at Golden Living Center in Anderson from 2:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Kids for Christ is now happening during Wednesday night service. We are studying the Armor of God.

You can hear a rebroadcast of one of our pastors' services on KURM radio, 100.3 on the FM dial, at 8:30 Sunday mornings. Or listen to our pastors' services on our website at www.firstbaptistchurchpineville.com/Sermons.html.

If you have no church home of your own, we would love for you to join us in ours (off the northeast corner of Pineville square, just behind U.S. Bank). No friendlier, down-home church can be found anywhere in the four-state area.

Religion on 07/14/2016