======================================================================== RAISING GODLY CHRISTIAN CHILDREN by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of viewing children as gifts from the Lord and understanding the responsibility parents have in raising them to be like arrows in the hands of a warrior, trained to fight against the devil. The speaker highlights the need to teach children to follow Jesus from a young age, to be kind and helpful to others, and to ultimately become disciples of Jesus Christ, passing on the faith from generation to generation through prayer and guidance. Topics: "Children as Gifts", "Raising Disciples" Scripture References: Psalm 127:3, Psalm 127:4, Psalm 127:5, Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4, Mark 10:14, Matthew 19:14, Deuteronomy 6:6, 2 Timothy 3:15, Luke 18:16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of viewing children as gifts from the Lord and understanding the responsibility parents have in raising them to be like arrows in the hands of a warrior, trained to fight against the devil. The speaker highlights the need to teach children to follow Jesus from a young age, to be kind and helpful to others, and to ultimately become disciples of Jesus Christ, passing on the faith from generation to generation through prayer and guidance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, we are going to pray for two children now. Many of us have children. Many of us have children and we want to just think about our responsibility as parents. Because it is a big treasure God has given us. And there is a purpose with which God gives us children. Turn to Psalm 127. Psalm 127, verse 3. Children are a gift of the Lord. Why did God give you this gift? That is important to understand. That is a well known verse. Children are a gift of the Lord and if I ask any parent here, is your child a gift from the Lord, they say yes. Because there are other parents who don't have children. Yes, they are married and they have no children. So your children are a gift. But it also says here, the children are like, verse 4, like the arrows in the hand of a warrior. That many people don't know. In the olden days, they used to fight with bows and arrows. Enemies come, they get their arrows ready. Pull the string and fire the arrow. So it says your children are like these arrows. And you will have them in your home for 18-20 years. 25 years maybe. In all those years, you must keep pulling the string of the bow. And make this arrow go really fast. Not here or there or anywhere in the direction of the enemy. And then one day they leave the home. Maybe they get married. Or they go away to work. You release them. And they must go fight the devil for the rest of their life. That's the enemy for which we must train our children to fight. Such a man, verse 5, will never be ashamed. If you got one child, two children, five children. You must train them like arrows. That means train them to fight the devil from childhood. To fight against all the evil habits in the human race. Or train them from childhood to behave like Jesus Christ. See, when my children were going to school, I used to tell them like this. See, Jesus also one day was 10-11 years old and going to school. He had to study in a school like everybody else. How do you think Jesus behaved in the school? Did he rebel against the teachers and make fun of the teachers behind their back? No. And you also must not join all the other students and argue with the teacher and make fun of the teacher. And I said, if Jesus went to school, which type of friends will he choose? See, in a class if there are 30-40 children, you can't be friends with everybody. All our children have some special friends. Jesus also had some special friends. Who did he choose to be friendly with? Do you think he looked around and said, who is the rich child, I'll make friends with him. No, because then I can get some sweets or chocolates from him. No, Jesus never made friends like that. He never joined with other friends who had bad habits. He would look for some child who is weak. Maybe some lame child who is walking with his legs crossed. Or some other child who is stuttering and stammering when they speak. Or some child who is very poor in arithmetic or studies. Jesus would be friends with them. You can help them. I told my children, when you go to school, be like Jesus. Try and make friends with such children. So that you can help them. From childhood, if you try to become like Jesus, one day when you grow up, you can become like Jesus and preach like Jesus also. But when you are 10 years old, you can't preach. You can be a school boy like Jesus was. And be good to others and help others. So all of us can teach our children. They may not come first in the class, but they can learn to behave nicely to other children. So just like Jesus fought against the devil, your children can also go and fight against the devil. Remember, children are the gift of the Lord. But you have to make them an arrow to fight against Satan. Teach them the right ways to follow Jesus from childhood. It's a wonderful thing that God gives us children. Because we want every generation to produce disciples of Jesus Christ. Generation after generation, there must be disciples of Jesus in the church. We were all little babies once. And my parents prayed for me. When I was two months old, one servant of God took me. His name was Brother Bucksing. He took me in his arms. 1939 And he laid his hands on me. And he prayed, Father, help him to grow up to be your servant. My father did not understand that. But later on, when I decided to serve, then my father understood. Pray for your children. Pray, all fathers must lay their hands on their children. Father and mother, Lord, please bring up our children to be disciples of Jesus. I've done that for all my four children. Even now they are grown up, I lay hands on them and pray for them. That's a great thing to bless your children like that. You are the head of the home, you must do that for your children. It's a big responsibility. It's more important to pray for your children than all the other things you do for them. Don't worry if you can't get new clothes for your children. I remember when we were first married, we were poor. We could not always buy new clothes for our children. They would wear what their older brothers were wearing. That was okay. I said, that's not important. But our children must follow Jesus. So pray for your children. It's a great responsibility that we have. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/z22xLvXcm4A.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/raising-godly-christian-children/ ========================================================================