Jesus Loves the Little Children

May 30, 2021 Preacher: Ace Davis Series: The Gospel According to Mark

Topic: Children Scripture: Mark 10:13-16

Date: Sunday May 30, 2021      Scripture: Mark 10:13-16 Title: Jesus Loves the Little Children

 

Link: Map of Israel at the time of Jesus.

 

Contents

Introduction. 1

  1. The Rebuke. 3
  2. The Response. 5

Baptism.. 6

True Meaning of “belongs to such as these”. 6

Example in Deuteronomy. 7

Example of David’s sons. 8

Age of Accountability. 8

Gospel 9

  1. The Reception. 10

 

 

Introduction

 

This morning we're going to be talking about children. It's our passage before us in Mark chapter 10, so I would encourage you to open your Bibles to Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10. We're going to be in verses 13 through 16.

 

If you're new to Faith Bible Church, what we do is we exposit The Word. That means we go line by line through the Scriptures and we've been in the book of Mark for some time now. Over a year we've just been working our way through the Gospel of Mark. As we've been going line by line this morning, we come to Mark chapter 10 and verse 13. Will you follow along as I read our passage for us this morning?

 

13 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. (Mark 10:13-16)

 

If you grew up attending Sunday school, you most likely learned the song “Jesus loves the little children.” Jesus loves the little children, and you sang these lyrics: Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

 

Where do we get that truth from? Where does that song come from? The truths that are found in that song. Where do they come from? Well, it comes from our passage here this morning in front of us. This passage right here gives us this very truth that Jesus loves the little children of the world. Now to set this scene and help us understand this passage, we need to be reminded of what's going on in the life of Christ up to this point.

 

If you remember, Jesus has left the region of Galilee, and He's made His way south and He's getting ready to go to the cross and die. He's gone from Galilee, made His way down south, and He's going to go to the Passover and He's going to become the Passover lamb as He goes to the cross to die for the sins of the world.

 

And so He's left Galilee, Galilee has rejected Him. At this point they didn't receive Him as the Messiah, and so He left and He goes down to the region of Judea -- Judea, which is where Jerusalem is, and He taught for a period of about six months there in Judea and in the region of Jerusalem. But then He went out into the region of Perea. He goes out to the region of Perea and He goes there to teach. And He's out in the region of Perea teaching. 

 

And Jesus knows at this point that He is making his way to the cross. He knows that his earthly ministry is soon going to be complete. It's going to come to an end. His end goal is the cross.

 

And then as we talked about, even with the children this morning, right, He is going to ascend. He's going to go up to heaven. He's going to leave. So what does He need to do? He needs to train His disciples to take over the ministry that Jesus has been doing for the past three years. These guys need to be trained because their job, their duty is going to be to go and spread the gospel -- to take the gospel to the world.

 

And so in the life of Christ at this point, this is His focus. This is what He's focused on. His focus at this point is on teaching the twelve about ministry. They're going to be the ones who are going to go and take the message of the gospel to the world, and so they need to be trained in ministry. That's what Jesus is doing at this point.

 

Now, if you remember from the last two weeks, Jesus is out in this region of Perea and He was confronted and tested by the Pharisees on the topic of divorce. We studied that the last two weeks.

The Pharisees come and they test Jesus. They want to know where He stands on the issue. And Jesus told them what, therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. Let no man separate.

 

Then Jesus goes alone with His disciples into this house, and He gives them further instructions about divorce. And if you remember from last week when Jesus teaches the disciples there in the house about divorce, this shocked the disciples. Right? It shocked them. They said, well then no one should get married. What God has joined together, let no man separate…if that's true -- and the only reason that you can get a divorce -- that God allows for a divorce -- is for the case of adultery. Then they said, then let no man divorce. They were shocked by this teaching.

 

Why were they shocked? Because it went completely in the face of the popular teaching of the rabbis of that day. The rabbis had taught that you could divorce your wife for any reason. If you didn't like her cooking? Divorce. You didn't like her hair? Divorce.   Any reason you wanted? You could divorce your wife. But Jesus comes in with this teaching and says only under the condition of adultery, does God ever allow for divorce again. He doesn't command divorce, but He allows for divorce to happen.

 

Jesus says what, therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. And this teaching here is new for the disciples. This is new for these guys. It's countercultural. It goes against everything that they were taught growing up as young boys in Jewish homes.

 

Well, the disciples are about to get another lesson from Jesus. And this would be another teaching that goes against what the disciples had been taught growing up. This is going to be another shocking message for these guys. Another shocking lesson for them. And so let's take our passage and just to help us work through it, we're going to break it up into three parts here this morning.

 

1.    The Rebuke

 

The first part will call the rebuke. The rebuke. Look at verse 13.

 13 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. (Mark 10:13)

 

Now here you have “they”… notice that. They were bringing children.  Who is the “they” that they're talking about here? Well, these are the parents of these children. These fathers and mothers of these children who had come to bring their children to Jesus, so that He might bless them. Notice that it says so that He might touch them. Why would they want Jesus to touch their little children? Well, this was a common practice in Judaism. 

 

If you were a Jew, the parents would come, and they would bring their children to a distinguished rabbi in order to receive a blessing from that rabbi. That's what they wanted to do. And although Jesus has just had this encounter with the Pharisees and confronts them in front of the entire crowd there in Perea -- as He's teaching them there. There's this confrontation. There He confronts the Pharisees about their lack of understanding of the Old Testament and what Moses had written in Deuteronomy 24.

 

Although Jesus has done that with these Pharisees, notice Jesus is still popular. He's still popular with the people. They were drawn to Him. And these parents obviously see Him -- they see Jesus as a prominent rabbi. And they want their children to be touched by Jesus and receive a blessing from Him.

 

Now, what age are these children? As these parents are here and they're coming to bring their children to Jesus, what age are these children? Well, Mark here uses the Greek word paideia Paideia referring to these children, which simply means a child under the age of puberty. But Luke helps us, in his account of this very incident here, Luke helps us understand it, as Luke uses the word brephos brephos, which means a very small child, a baby, or an infant. That's who these who these parents are bringing to Jesus. Brephos would also be used of toddlers. Little toddlers.

 

Notice in verse 16 there what does Jesus do? He takes them into His arms, right? These are little kids brephos, they're little babies. These are small children from babies to toddlers. And in order for -- to help us understand why this would be a lesson --for these twelve, we must understand how these people saw children in this day.

 

In those days, children were seen as insignificant and weak members of society. Pushed away, pushed to the side. These little children couldn't work. And in a work-righteous system – works-righteous system, there was nothing that they could do to earn their salvation. Not a single thing that any of these little kids could do to earn their salvation. They couldn't contribute anything to society. Just little kids… insignificant.

 

In fact, the rabbis would come, and the rabbis would bless the children as the parents brought their children to the rabbis. They would bless the children, but the rabbis would not teach the child the Torah under the age of 12. To the rabbis it was just a waste of time. Why spend our time teaching these little children? They're insignificant. They're just members of society, that's all they are, but they don't contribute anything. Obviously there was no children’s ministry for them back then, right? That's how they saw children in these days.

 

And the disciples would have grown up with this view as well. But what's interesting is that these twelve have already had a lesson from Jesus on His view of children. This isn't the first time that we see Jesus interacting with the child. Remember back to Mark chapter 9 and verse 36, it says this

 

36 Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them (Mark 9:36)

 

He's teaching the disciples, and He uses a child as an illustration for these disciples. Jesus takes this child in His arms. Why does He do it? Because Jesus obviously thought that these guys could learn a lesson from these “insignificant members of society”, right? They needed a lesson. And He was going to use the children…this little child…as an illustration. They could learn something from this child.

 

In our passage here in Mark, chapter 10, the parents show up to the house with their children for Jesus to bless them. And what do these guys do? What did the twelve disciples do? Look at the end of verse 13. The disciples rebuked them. The disciples rebuked them. Now that word rebuke there is a strong word in the Greek, it's a strong word. And it means to denounce the action of the parents with the intentions of bringing their actions to an end. Stop it. Go away. No. You're not going to bring your children here to this house where the Messiah is.

 

They wanted to stop these parents from bringing their children to Jesus, and so they rebuke them. They shooed them away. They pushed them away. Get away from Jesus. He doesn't have time for you and your children. Get out of here. These guys acted like bodyguards to the president keep people away. These guys are acting like bodyguards for Jesus to keep these parents and their children away from Jesus. And they thought they were doing something noble.

 

They think that they're going to protect Jesus because they think that Jesus doesn't have the time for little ones. Jesus doesn't have the time for your children or your little babies. Get out of here. Go on.

 

Notice also that this is not the first time that these guys have pushed people away from Jesus. If you remember the Syrophoenician woman back in Mark chapter 7. Listen to Matthew's account of that incident.

 

22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” (Matthew 15:22-23)

 

This woman comes to Jesus distressed, longing for Jesus to heal her daughter because she's demon-possessed. And what did the disciples do? Get her out of here. Send her away. She's annoying. Keeps calling out. She keeps begging for you, Jesus. Get rid of her. Get her out of here. Jesus, you don't have time for her. We got other stuff we gotta do. Send her away.

 

What does Jesus end up doing for this woman? He heals her daughter, right? He heals her daughter.

Back in Mark chapter 9 in verse 38 we see the disciples there who tried to stop a man from casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It's as if these guys think that their little group is it. And everyone else just needs to stay away.

 

What does Jesus say in Mark chapter 9 and verse 39? He says, do not hinder him. Don't hinder this man who is casting out demons in my name. That's what these disciples thought they were doing. We're gonna be bodyguards for Jesus and we're gonna keep the masses away. We're gonna keep the people away. We're not gonna let anyone hinder Him. These guys were pushing people away from Jesus and at this point they still don't get it. They don't get it. They need a lesson. They don't understand the compassion of Jesus. They don't understand the heart of Jesus for people and now, especially for little children. So, these guys need a lesson from Jesus.

 

Remember, Jesus is not going to be around much longer. And these guys are the ones who are going to go out to the world to spread the gospel. These guys are the ones who are going to take the heart of Christ out into the world. They don't get it. So Jesus needs to teach them a lesson. So how does Jesus respond to these disciples rebuke?

 

2.    The Response

Point #2, we'll see the response. The response.

 

Look at verse 14.

But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant… (Mark 10:14)

 

Stop right there. Jesus was indignant. It's a very strong word that is used there. One commentator says this about this word “It is a term of strong emotion and denotes his pained, angry reaction to what was going on.” Jesus was not happy at all with His disciples. He wasn't happy with their rebuke. These guys are rebuking these parents of these children and pushing these little babies away, and Jesus is angry.

He's indignant.

 

Jesus wasn't always the kind, gentle teddy bear that a lot of people make Him out to be. Right? He's indignant. He's angry. And He's angry at these disciples because they were stopping these babies, these children from coming to Him.   What does Jesus say to His disciples? He says,

“Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:14)

 

Notice Jesus here gives two commands. There are two commands that Jesus gives here. It's a double command that Jesus says to these guys.

  1. First, he says permit the children to come to Me. That is, allow these children to come to Me. Let the children in let them come. I want to see the children. Children were always welcome in the presence of Jesus. He has a special place in His heart for children. He loves children. And He desires for children to always have access to Him. Society saw them as insignificant people of society who had zero social status. But Jesus saw them as important. These children were important. They're special to Him. So Jesus says, let the children come to Me. Let them come.

 

  1. The second command that He gives is do not hinder them. First, let them come and second, do not hinder them. That is, don't stand in their way. Don't stand in the way of children coming to Me. The disciples were stopping them from coming to Jesus by rebuking their parents and telling the parents to leave and get out of here. Jesus doesn't have time for you. Jesus says don't hinder them. Let them come.

 

Jesus here is saying don't ever put up a wall or a stumbling block before these little ones. Don't ever do it. You let them come. Don't ever push children away. Why? Notice what He says. He continues on for the Kingdom of God, belongs to such as these.

 

Now imagine the shock on the disciples face as Jesus tells them this, imagine that. They were shocked about the teaching on divorce, now they get a lesson on children, and they're shocked again. The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these? What did these disciples grown up in?  In a religious system that's all about works—works-righteousness -- if you want to get into heaven if you want to go be with God, you must do good works. It's all about good works. That's the whole Jewish system. That's Judaism. That's what they taught. Legalists. All about good works.

 

But Jesus is here talking about someone who can't do good works…these children, who are not able to “earn” their salvation. Their whole system was about being good enough. Being good enough to enter into heaven, but Jesus is turning their whole world upside down. He's turning it upside down.

 

“You mean the Kingdom of God belongs to these small, insignificant members of society? Is that what you're telling us, Jesus?” It's exactly what I'm telling you. The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

 

Baptism

Now some will see this response here by Jesus, and they'll say that that's why we need to baptize babies. You see that?...  the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. They're in the Kingdom of God. But neither Mark, Matthew or Luke give us any hint or indication that this means that we should baptize babies. In fact, we shouldn't. We shouldn't baptize babies. Many people today have been baptized as infants and now they have a false sense of security of salvation because they were baptized as infants.

They're banking on their infant baptism, instead of recognizing that salvation is by grace through faith alone. That's how one is saved. Nowhere in Scripture are we ever, ever, told to baptize babies.  And that's not what Jesus is teaching here.

 

True Meaning of “belongs to such as these”

So, what does Jesus mean by saying for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these? Does this mean that these babies are saved? Does this mean that these babies have received the gift of salvation?

 

No. That's not what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is not saying that they have received the gift of salvation. When He talks about the Kingdom of God, He's talking about the sphere of salvation. The sphere of salvation. Now what does that mean then for babies who die? Miscarriages, aborted babies, sudden infant death syndrome? What about those babies? Where do they go? Heaven. Instantly to heaven.

That's where babies go.

 

The Kingdom of God belongs to those babies. They go instantly to heaven. Did they receive Christ as their savior? Did they repent of their sin and put their trust in Christ alone? No. No they didn't.

 

But that's the whole point, right? That's the whole point that Jesus is conveying to these disciples. Salvation is truly a grace of God. It's all a grace of God. No one can earn it.

 

You want an illustration of how no one can earn it? You see these little babies right here. Not one of them has ever done a good work to earn salvation and guess what happens when these little babies die, do you know where they go? To heaven. The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. That's the whole point. Salvation is a grace of God. It is something that you cannot earn. You can't earn it. God's gift of salvation does not depend upon you. It doesn't depend upon you.

 

Listen to Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (Eph 1:4)

 

  • Did you have anything to do with God's choosing of you? Nothing. No, you didn't. You had nothing to do with God's choosing of you.
  • Did you earn God's favor by doing something to be saved? Nope. You haven't done a single thing in order to earn salvation. No one has. And neither do babies. But the Kingdom of God belongs to these babies.

 

Listen to Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8-9:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9)

 

No one can stand before God and say “God, look what I did in order to earn my way here.” You can't do it. Because we're all sinners and we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us has. It's all by God's grace. Salvation is by God's grace. And these babies here that Jesus is talking about are at an age where they don't have personal accountability.

 

Jeremiah says that they are innocent. There are innocent children. There are those who, when they die, are a part of the Kingdom of God. How? By God's grace. And by His grace alone.

 

Now, does that mean that they aren't sinners? Have you ever been around a toddler? They're sinners, right? We know that. Of course they're sinners. Of course, these little babies are sinners.  David says “in sin did my mother conceive me.”  (Psalm 51:5) But God, out of his mercy and grace, what does He do? He saves sinners, right? That's what God does. He's the savior of sinners.

 

But these here are infants. These are children. Who die not understanding good or evil. Which we would say are “before the age of accountability.” Those who die then go to heaven. Those who don't understand good or evil. 

 

Example in Deuteronomy

Listen to Deuteronomy 1:39.

Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it. (Deut 1:39)

 

What's he talking about there? The promised land? And what is he saying there? Those little ones who have no knowledge of good or evil? Those little babies, those little infants, who are before the age of accountability, those little ones -- they will enter into the promised land. These are little ones who have no knowledge of good or evil, and those little ones, when they die, they go straight to heaven. How do we know?

 

Example of David’s sons

 

Remember David? David and Bathsheba. David and Bathsheba. What happened? What were the consequences of the sin of David and Bathsheba? What did God do? When Bathsheba had the son because of an adulterous relationship between David and Bathsheba, she gets pregnant. She has a son, and what's the result then of that? What are the consequences of their sin? God said your little baby is going to die. It's gonna die. 2 Samuel chapter 12. Listen to what David says. Listen to what David says there, he said,

 

“While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ (2 Sam 12:22)

 

He fasted and wept while that child was alive because he was begging for God to save his child, to save his little son.  God, please keep him alive. And he fasted and wept. But his son died. Listen to what he says in verse 23,

 

“But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Sam 12:23)

 

 

You see that? What is David saying there? David knows where he's going when he dies. David knows he's going to heaven when he dies, and he says I will go to him. I am going to see him again. I don't need to weep anymore. I don't need to fast anymore because I know where my son is and I'm going to go and see him again, in heaven. Because that's where he is. David knew he's going to see that little baby again.

 

What about when his son Absalom, died? Who was accountable for his sin? When his son, Absalom, died, what did David do? He wept, and he cried. And he said, oh. Absalom oh Absalom oh Absalom oh Absolom.  2 Sam 18:33

 

Why does he weep? Why does he cry? Because he knows he will never see his son again. He knew the wickedness of his son. He knew he would never see Absalom again.

 

Age of Accountability

Jesus is saying here in Mark chapter 10 that the Kingdom of God belongs to babies who have not reached the age of accountability, which is different for every child. A lot of people ask what's the age of accountability? Is it 12? It's different for every child. We don't know what that is. But at some point they're responsible then for their sin. They understand good and evil. They realize and recognize that they are sinners. And they're then held accountable for their sin at that point.  

 

So Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God belongs to babies who have not reached the age of accountability. But Jesus is also saying that the Kingdom of God belongs to all those who have faith, just like a child. A total dependence and total trust in Christ.

 

Which is why Jesus goes on in verse 15. Look what he says there in verse 15.

 

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” (Mark 10:15)

 

Gospel

Notice that. Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.  Do you wanna get into the Kingdom of God? Do you want to spend eternity in heaven?

 

What Jesus is saying here is that you must become like a child. You must humble yourself. You must recognize that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. You must recognize that you cannot enter into heaven by your own works. It's impossible. You can't do it. You're a sinner. Every one of us are sinners.  We can't enter into heaven by our own good works. We must come and fall at the feet of Jesus and beg for forgiveness and mercy from Him. We must put our trust in Jesus Christ alone, and have that faith like a child who trusts, who is totally dependent, right?

 

That's your children. It's our children. Totally dependent upon mom and dad, as little children. That's the popular phrase in our house right now. Hey, mom. Hey mom, they even say it to me because they around mom all the time. Hey mom, I mean dad. Totally dependent. They're totally dependent. And they don't ask, hey, mom or hey Dad, you know, how are we gonna pay the bills this week? You know, I was thinking I got a plan, you know? They don't do that, why? Because they are totally dependent and they trust that mom and dad are going to take care of them.

 

And that's the kind of trust that you and I need to have in Christ. That childlike faith. And those that come to Christ with that childlike faith, totally dependent upon Him for salvation. Jesus says the Kingdom of God is theirs.

 

Have you trusted in Christ this morning? Have you trusted in Him as your Lord and savior? He calls you today to come to Him -- to turn from your sin -- and put your trust in Him --  in Jesus Christ who died on a cross for your sins, and who rose again on the third day to offer you eternal life. Trust in Him. Put your trust in Him this morning. It's a childlike faith that will get you to heaven. Because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

 

Some of you are here this morning as believers. And you're going through things in your life that are hard, that are difficult, that are struggles. You know what Jesus says to you? Trust Me. Trust Me. Come to Him with a childlike faith and total dependence upon Him and trust and know that He is with you through it all. He cares for you. And He wants you to trust Him.

 

Hudson Taylor, the pioneer missionary to China, scribbled this note as he neared the end of his life. He said, this.

I am so weak that I cannot work. I cannot read my Bible. I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a child, and trust.

 

That's the kind of faith that God calls us to have. To trust in Him. Why was Hudson Taylor able to do that? Because he had that childlike faith. And so, that's the rebuke and the response.

 

3.    The Reception

Quickly. Let's look at our third and final point, #3 The Reception.  Look at verse 16:

16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. (Mark 10:16)

 

Jesus received these children into His arms. These little babies. These little toddlers, He rebukes the disciples. He tells them to let the children come to Me, and so the parents begin to come into the house and they're bringing their little ones to Jesus, and Jesus takes them into his arms, and He began blessing them one by one as He embraced them.

 

These disciples needed to learn a lesson. And they were learning a lesson that day. So one commentator says “Each repetition of the action of blessing these children was a rebuke to the attitude of the disciples. As Jesus took these children in and blessed them. At the same time, he's rebuking his own disciples, saying do not ever hinder the children from coming to me.” 

 

Because Jesus says I love children. I have a heart for children. I care for children. None of these children were an outcast to Jesus. They may have been to society, but not to our loving Savior. He loves children.

He cared for children. He blessed these little ones. And He showed His tender love for these children as they were brought to him one by one.

 

What is our responsibility when it comes to children? As parents. As grandparents, aunts, and uncles cousins. As a church. We are called to evangelize them.  To evangelize our children and to point them to Christ. That's our duty. That's our responsibility.

 

As a church, our responsibility is to point our kids -- every single one of those upstairs in Sunday school -- to point them to Christ. That's our responsibility. That's why I'm so thankful for all of those who serve in children's ministry. Because I know that that's what they do, week in and week out. Every week they are pointing our children to Christ. And it's because of people like you that our children, that my children know about Christ. It's not because their dad is a pastor, trust me. I'm not a perfect dad. I don't teach them The Word as often as I should. But I know where they learn The Word. At church, when they come to Faith Bible Church, faithful Sunday School teachers, who love our children, pour into them the Word of God. And I know that they're learning because we ask them on the way home on Sunday mornings. Would you learn today? And they always have an answer.

 

They're learning the Word of God. And our job as a church is to continue to point these children to Christ, to love them, to care for them, because that's the heart of Christ. And that's why you and I are able to sing this song that all of us in here probably have memorized Jesus loves the little children. Let's pray.

 

Father, thank You for Your heart for children. We thank You for the blessing of children. What a joy and a delight that they are to our lives. Lord, we know that they are not perfect. We know that they are sinners. They are sinners, just like we are all sinners. Lord, we thank You for Your saving grace. For Your grace that saves sinners like us, and even sinners like little babies, in whom You bring to heaven to be with You. It's all by Your grace. It's nothing that any of us have earned. It's nothing that any of us deserve. It's all by Your grace. Father, I pray that You would give us a heart for children, to love them, to care for them, to point them to Christ. God, I thank You for those in whom You have given the desire to pour into the hearts of our children, to teach them Your Word, to take Your Word and plant it deep in their hearts. Father we know the impact that it is having upon their lives. Because we know that Your Word does not return void, but it always accomplishes that for which it was sent for. And we know that it is accomplishing Your will in their lives, and we thank You for that. I pray that You would help us as parents and grandparents to love children, to care for them.  Lord, that we would have the heart of Christ as we point them to Him. Father, we pray that You would save every child in our church. We pray that You would draw them to yourself at an early age that they would repent of their sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ, and that at a young age they will follow after You. We thank You for our time here this morning in Your Word, and how it impacts our hearts and speaks to us. We give You praise and glory in Christ name. Amen.

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