We all want our children to have a heart for God. Of course, if you have a Christian home, your children probably say they love God. They seem to be “good kids”—obedient, kind, thoughtful as far as you can tell. But why is it then that many young people change so drastically for the worse after they are out of the home? I believe it is because we have not reached the heart. Jesus said, “This people honoreth Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me” (Mark 7:6). We as parents must not aim for behavior modification. Behavior modification is never the goal. Any lost person can attain behavior modification without the help of God. The goal is always to reach our child’s heart for Christ. Without reaching the heart, we are in danger of raising our children as Pharisees.
As parents and children’s workers, none of us wants to raise a Pharisee. That is why we must all be spiritual heart surgeons. Giving an aspirin to someone who has serious heart disease will not work. In the same way, no parent should be content with a superficial change of behavior. What our children need is a heart change! Has your child experienced the new birth? Has their HEART been reached for God?
In this session we will cover 12 steps to avoid an outward, shallow understanding of salvation, and ways to point our children to a passionate relationship with the living Saviour.
If you have a Bible, look at Matthew 23. Here we have the Lord’s warnings of WOE to the Pharisees. He is saying: this path may look good, but it is a path to destruction!
So let’s get started…
I. Step #1: If you want to raise a Pharisee, Major on the externals instead of internal issues. The Lord said in Matthew 23:27, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” The Pharisees were outwardly beautiful but inwardly dead! There’s nothing the Lord condemned more than hypocrisy, which is outward conformity without inward reality. We can be easily deceived by the good behavior of our children and young people because we look on the outward, but we need to learn how we can get into their heart.
The Pharisees were meticulous about the outside. They may have looked beautiful on the outside. Yet when Jesus saw the Pharisees, what he saw was very ugly. You and I wouldn’t have seen what the Lord saw. When you looked at the Pharisees outward appearance what you saw were beautiful, wonderful people. Remember that “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). These Pharisees looked awesome on the outside! Yet Christ said of them in Matthew 15:8, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”
It is very easy to major on controlling the child's behavior without using Scripture and prayer to deal with his heart. This will produce a Pharisee—everything looks good on the outside, but inwardly he is corrupt.
The Lord gives us two word pictures here in verses 25 and 27 for someone who only knows an outward, shallow view of salvation.
A. Majoring on Behavior instead of reaching the heart is like being a Good actor. Christ called the Pharisees “hypocrites” which is a word that means ‘actors’. He says in verse 25, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess”. The word “excess” has the idea of “self indulgence”. Good actors love to make the outside appearance “clean” (verse 25) and “beautiful outward” but inwardly they are still living the self-life. Self is still on the throne of their heart and rules every action. They’ll say they love God, but their heart is far from Him. We don’t want children who are only “playing the game” and “acting” their way through the Christian life. We want God to give them a radical heart change.
B. Majoring on Behavior instead of reaching the heart is like Dressing up a corpse. Jesus said a Pharisee is “like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:7). A child can have behavior that conforms to the strictest of standards, yet Christ says unless you deal with the inner man—the heart—they are still dead and ugly inside. We must connect the life of God to this child! We want to raise genuine children of God, not good actors.
C. And here is the Most Frightening Thing about majoring on behavior instead of reaching the heart. If we settle for outward conformity instead of God touching the heart—no matter how good our children look on the outside, without a changed heart verse 33 says there is no way our children will “escape the [CONDEMNATION] of hell”. As Jesus said, “Except a man—[or a child0—be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
So Step #1 is to major on behaviour while neglecting the heart. Let’s look at the next step.
II. Step #2: If you want to raise a Pharisee, instead of leading by example, never practice what you preach. Matthew 23:3, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not”.
We need to ask the question raised in James 1:22: Are you a hearer of the Word only? Or are you a doer? God saved us to shine our light for Jesus, not simply to be a very biblically educated heathen.
Jesus said, “This people honoreth Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me” (Mark 7:6). If all our children hear are empty words, and they are never backed up by a passionate commitment to Christ in our life, then we may very well raise a Pharisee.
Application: It’s not enough to have our children in 5-Day Clubs and Sunday school and to teach them carefully from the Bible. We must be a living Bible before them. Our children need to see that our heart is so passionate for Jesus Christ that it actually affects the way we live.
If we do not practice what we preach, our children will honor God with their lips, but their hearts will be far away from God.
III. Step #3: If you want to raise a Pharisee, Use Excessive control & Manipulation instead of relying on the Holy Spirit of God.Matthew 23:4, “they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers If the people did not comply with the Pharisees, they could be put out of the synagogues. The Pharisees loved to control the lives of people, but they did not want their lives to be controlled.
The Pharisee’s did not rely on the Holy Spirit to convict of “sin, righteousness, and judgment” (John 16:8). Their preferred METHOD was to use guilt and excessive control to conform behavior. God’s method is to convert the heart to change behavior.
A. Grouchy Parent Syndrome. When things are going all wrong—the kids are out of control, it’s easy to get into GPS mode? I’m not talking about the electronic Global Positioning System in your car. I’m talking about Grouchy Parent Syndrome. How do you know if you have it?
1. Instead of relying on the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to press down on their heart, you use your overbearing spirit in order to produce the desired behavior. It is easy to nag and berate a child in order to get the desired behavior. We should never threaten or put a child down! This is a burden the child cannot bear. You will get the desired behavior, but you will drive his heart away.
2. You may even start raising your voice to get desired behavior. The temptation when we don’t see the desired contrition is to threaten our children or make them fear. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict of “sin, righteousness, and judgment” (John 16:8). Instead of raising your voice, you must instead speak the truth in love to your children in a calm controlled manner. If you raise your voice, you will hinder your children from hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. We must never take the place of the Holy Spirit of God in our children’s lives. We must use the Word of God to gently convert the soul of the child.
B. Let me tell you about Grace filled parents.
1. The grace filled parent knows we are warned never to use manipulation but to nurture our children. If you use harshness and control to get desired behavior, your children will outwardly conform, but they will inwardly rebel. You will provoke them to wrath. According to Ephesians 6:4, parents, specifically fathers, are not to “provoke their children to wrath” but to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition (discipline) of the Lord”.
2. The grace filled parent believes James 1:20, “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” We should always be motivated by a God-centered love for the child, and the fruit of the Spirit. We ought never act because of being angry, annoyed, irritated or upset. What does Christ say? Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
3. The grace filled parent knows that “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). Raising a child should never mean raising your voice. As a parent, you can be effective in reaching the heart of your child only if you are in control. If you have a gentle humble attitude, your children will reflect that. Your tone of voice is heard louder than your words!
4. The grace filled parent believes I Corinthians 13:1, that “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” We’ve got to be a vessel for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit of God.
C. Let me finally say this: a godly humble spirit in the home does not mean that we do not deal with sin! In fact we must deal with sin swiftly and firmly. Our children are to obey immediately, sweetly, and completely. But anger and irritation are not fruits of the Spirit! It is absolutely essential to correct sin, but you must speak the truth in love.
We don’t need to do the work of conforming our child’s behavior—that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. We need to have an environment where the Holy Spirit reaches the heart of your child. He changes the heart, which in turn changes the behavior.
Transition: So, if you want to raise a Pharisee, don’t rely on the power of God! Don’t rely on the Spirit of God, Don’t rely on the Word of God, all you need to do is make sure they know that you’re boss. Raise your voice! Don’t let them hear the voice of God. You just pounce on them with manipulation and an overbearing spirit, and you are sure to raise a Pharisee.
IV. Step #4: If you want to raise a Pharisee, teach your children to please men instead of God. The Pharisees were people pleasers! Verse 5, “But all their works they do for to be seen of men”. The Pharisees greatest desire was to get the praise of men. Of course Jesus said in Luke 6:26, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!”
Remember that pleasing Mom and Dad is not the ultimate goal: Pleasing God is!! 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” In the most ordinary of things, we are to please God.
Application: In the Word of God, human success is not the goal; pleasing God is the goal! How do you spell success in parenting? S-A-L-V-A-T-I-O-N! If your child experiences the new birth and lives a life hungering and thirsting after God, you have succeeded.
(1) Some parents raise their children as a museum piece for you to show off to the world. “Look at how successful my child is in the world” is the attitude. My friends, our children are not our own. They are on loan from God. They don’t need to succeed in the world to succeed in God’s eyes. They are sinners that you ought to pray will be saved by grace.
(2) Some parents see success as their child getting a degree from a good school or getting a job with a high income. Actually some of those things if they are pursued in place of God is spiritual failure. Success is not bad if it is in the will and plan of God. But if my child is poor and in ordinary job and loves God fervently, then I am a success. The goal is not to please men, but to please God!
Application: Our children are not going to stand before our friends and neighbors on judgment day to see if they were a success. They are going to stand before God.
V. Step #5: If you want to raise a Pharisee, focus on personalities instead of the Person of Jesus Christ. Look at verses 6-10. Pharisees “love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ”.
The Pharisees would not look to Christ. Instead they looked to all their doctors and teachers.
A Christian is not a follower of a man or a movement, but of Christ. God uses people, and for that we are all profoundly humbled. But let us not exalt the hammer! Let’s exalt the Architect! You and I are just hammers. Our children need to see us not exalting each other. We are just pieces of clay in the Master’s hand!
To be a Christian is not to be a man follower, but to be a Christ follower. It is to have Christ living in you—to have Him as your Master. It is not “doing what the pastor says” or even “doing what mom and dad say”. Children should obey authority, but ultimately to be a Christian is to have ONE Master, Jesus Christ as the ruler of your heart. As verse 8 says, “one is your Master, even Christ”. We must get our eyes off of man and get our eyes on Christ. If you put your eyes on men, you will soon be disappointed. If you have your children esteem men, they too will be disappointed. It’s not about me! It’s not about you! It’s about Christ! It’s about Him!
Signing a doctrinal statement does not make a child a Christian. We are to have correct doctrine, but Christ must dwell in the heart by faith! Agreeing to good doctrine does not transform you. “The devils also believe and tremble” (James 2:19).
We ought to always have correct doctrine, that’s something to contend for, but having correct doctrine does not make you a Christian. To be a Christian is to have Christ living in you, to have a new birth, raised from the dead, and to have be a new creation in Christ Jesus. It is not outward conformity. It is a total heart change that desires submission to Christ. Understand what it is to enter the Kingdom. Jesus said, “except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Understand that the entire goal for the life of a child is to have a broken moldable heart for God.
VI. Step #6: If you want to raise a Pharisee, create an environment of pride instead of humility in the home. The Pharisees really did think they were the next best think to sliced bread. They sincerely believed they had it all together. Rule number one for the Pharisees was: never admit fault. They had proud, hard hearts. Look at verses 11-12. Jesus rebuked the proud Pharisees and said: “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
The answer to almost every spiritual problem your child has answered by Peter in 1 Peter 5:5, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble!” Or as David said in Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
The greatest example a child can have is that of a humble mother and father who know they are sinners worthy of the God’s eternal punishment. The kind of broken home that God loves is to have a mother and father with a broken heart. Do you have a broken heart for your children? Are you gentle with them? Are you serving them up the Gospel or do you think they are there to serve you? Take the TIME to serve your children. Spend time with them. They should know you intimately.
A. Serve them through prayer. Pray for them. Gather them around you each night and pray for them by name. Then let them pray and listen to their spiritual heartbeat. If your children see you on fire with a broken, fervent, joyous prayer life, they will want to pray!
B. Serve them through humble confession when you sin.
1. Confess your sins before your children. If they see you really want to change in your life they will want to change.
2. When they sin, don’t act as if you are holier than thou. You tell them, Daddy and mommy are sinners too. That’s why we all need Jesus.
VII. Step #7: If you want to raise a Pharisee, make the Ten Commandments merely rules to live by instead of a mirror to show their corruption and need for Christ. It was said of the Pharisees in verse 13, “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” The parallel passage in Luke 11:52 tells us how the Pharisees blocked the way to heaven. “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.”
The ‘key of knowledge” is referring to the Law. The Pharisees thought the Law was given as rules to keep. The Pharisees were trying to keep the Law to get into heaven—instead of allowing the Law to be the “Schoolmaster” that shows us how sinful we are and lead us to our need of Christ (Galatians 3:24)! The Law was not given to justify man. It was given to give us knowledge of our sin.
The Pharisees were trying to keep the Law to get into heaven—instead of allowing the Law to be the School master that shows us how sinful we are and lead us to our need of Christ! The Law was not given to justify man. It was given to give us knowledge of our sin.
Romans 3:19-20, says that the Law was given “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
God’s Law, the 10 Commandments does not merit us favor in God’s sight—it measures our corruption in God’s sight!
Application: We need to use the Ten Commandments to show our children their wretchedness. They need to come to Christ. The Law shows us that there is none good. We are constantly sinning
We need to hold up the 10 commandments as a mirror to show our children just how corrupt they are and how much they need Christ. They need to see themselves as lost sinners before they can be saved.
Luke 5:31-32, “And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole [WELL] need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
VIII.Step #8: If you want to raise a Pharisee, Don’t be transparent about your struggles with sin, instead use Spiritual Smokescreens.The Lord says in Matthew 23:14, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.” A pretence is a show. In other words, the Pharisees were not transparent people. They did not let people know their struggles but instead covered them up with spiritual smokescreens.
Are you able to teach something to the children at church or in a 5-Day club, but not willing to live it out at home? Then you are making a pretense. You don’t intend to live it out.
A. Let’s look at the Problem. The Pharisaical parent has everything in order on the outside. They seem spiritual to people at church and in the grocery store. But nobody sees the real you. Except your kids see the real you. And God sees the real you. If you think adding more spiritual activities to cover all your warts at home, you might be on your way to raising a Pharisee. Spiritual smoke screens need to be taken away, and your children need to see you dealing with sins and struggles honestly.
You may have an anger problem. Sunday morning comes along and you are having a time trying to get everyone to church on time. And you might lose it. Admit it. Your family already knows it. They need to hear it from you. The worst thing you can do is not say anything, and then act all spiritual at church.
You may have an over-commitment problem. Your family already knows it because they never see you. Admit to your wife and children that you need to say NO to others so that you can say YES to them. Again, the worst thing you can do is not say anything about your stuggles, and then act all spiritual around others.
We can have all the right standards in front of others. But if who you are at church is not the same person you are at home and at work, then you are using a spiritual smokescreen.
Ø Can you laugh at what God hates on television? Do we say “Amen” against fleshly living at church and then go home and watch it on the TV?
Ø Do you act differently at church than at home? Do you speak to your children differently at church than at home?
These are just a few ways we can “make a pretense”. We all struggle, that’s for sure. But we ought never to make a show of spirituality with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and then act a different way with our family.
We need to deal with this because if you don’t, when your child grows up he may very likely go the opposite direction of Christ.
B. What’s the solution?
1. Transparency. Our kids need to see us transparent about areas of struggle against sin. They need to see us confessing our sins to one another as Christians. They need to hear us praying that God would change us. They need to see us applying the Word to areas of struggle in our lives. They need to see us repenting having the joy that follows.
2. Time and work. Instead of making a pretense and then living for yourself at home, take that time with your kids and invest time on your knees and in the Word. That’s going to take a real investment on your part.
3. Begin simply. Take a walk with your family and ask spiritual questions. Take ten minutes and open the Bible after a meal time. Start applying the
Word of God to your life and to your children’s life. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll all begin to live a transparent life.
IX. Step #9: If you want to raise a Pharisee, Substitute outward standards for Spirituality. We see this in Matthew 23:23 , “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
What does Christ say? Standards of holiness are good, but you left the most important part out! To jump to the outward Christian disciplines without dealing with the heart is nothing more than behavior modification.
Christians have holy fruit coming out of their life, but following a set of rules does not make your child a Christian. No amount of good behaviour will ever justify your child. All the good standards in the world will not balance out one of your child’s sins. That is why we want to do all we can to bring our children into an encounter with the Living God!
Application: Sometimes we might forget that being a Christian is not checking off a list!
o Daily Bible reading ... checks.
o Prayed for others ... check.
o Thanked God for something ... check.
o Prayed before my meals ... check.
o Listened to Christian music ... check.
You should have habits of godliness in your life. So should your children. But having these habits of godliness does not make a person a Christian.
Application: Some parents believe if their children have the right amount of verses memorized, says the sinner’s prayer, dress the right way, and are baptized, then their child must be a Christian! Listen, lots of “good children” and lots of “good people” will populate the Lake of Fire (Matthew 7:21). None of us are good. Even our righteousnesses are as “filthy rags”. We are saved by grace through faith, not of works!
We must be looking for Christ be formed in our children, not simply religious standards.
X. Step #10: If you want to raise a Pharisee, have a critical spirit instead of building people up. Look at verse 24: “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” It’s so easy to strain at a gnat. Pharisees become judgmental and critical of the smallest issues. It’s so easy to have our eyes on others instead of God. It’s easy to measure others by our own manufactured guide to spirituality. Be careful if you don’t see how big your own struggles against sin are. Sometimes find it easy to criticize others while we fail to see the glaring sin in our own life.
It is so easy to criticize others isn’t it? The Pharisee says in Matthew 7:4 Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye”. But Christ says, “and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Do you have fault-finding, critical spirit? Remember your children are watching.
What is the right response?
A. Look at your own sins. Get the beam out of your eye. Say with David in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” If you look at all the struggles against sin in your own life, you’ll be way too busy to criticize others.
B. Show love to others who offend you. 1 Peter 4:8 “charity shall cover the multitude of sins”. John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Love covers sin with love and forgiveness, but Pharisees critical and complain. Instead of a self righteous spirit, genuine Christian parents don’t judge others, instead they have compassion on them. Remember complaining is NOT a fruit of the Spirit.
XI. Step #11: If you want to raise a Pharisee, teach them to feed their flesh instead of feeding on Christ. We read in Matthew 23:25, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”
As parents, it is easy to give our children a hefty diet of things they don’t need. In case you didn’t know, hundreds of generations have raised children without video games, television, the internet, and cell phones. I know that is hard to believe. These things are not wrong, but they can be used as a pacifier for children and young people, and these things can take massive amounts of time from children and teach them to be self-indulgent.
The temptation is to think that going to church or doing spiritual things makes up for all the hours and hours of wasted time. Actually, it is as Jesus said, “cleaning the outside of the cup” but inwardly, we are teaching our children to excess—self indulgence.
We’ve got to deal with our children’s hearts. Your child may be involved in spiritual activity and going to church. Someone once said, “Going to church does not make us a Christian any more than going to MacDonald’s makes us a hamburger!” As parents need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for giving our children an appetite for Christ. How?
It’s easy to set a child in front of the television, but it is a very dangerous and it will not satisfy their soul. Instead teach them to feed on Christ. How?
o First set the example for them. Are you feeding on Christ? Are you getting satisfied with Christ and His Word or with other things? Do your children see you wasting time or feeding on Christ? You need to set the example.
o Second, feed them Christ. The way a child gets an appetite for Christ is by you feeding Christ to them. “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Psalm 34:8). Tell them how great a Saviour we have. Have daily times with your children, not just reading the Word but asking questions and probing their heart and praying and listening to them pray.
Listen, if you want to raise a Pharisee, teach them to feed their flesh instead of feeding on Christ.
And finally…
XII. Step #12: Finally, if you want to raise a Pharisee, don’t give time to your children—just leave the winning of their hearts to someone else. This is not directly in the passage, but it must be said. If you don’t do the work that is necessary for God to change your child’s heart, he may remain unchanged.
(1) We must take the TIME to reach our children’s heart! Our children need RADICAL SURGERY on the heart, not "quick fixes" so that they won’t embarrass or annoy you. They need the NEW BIRTH. Get to the heart issues in your child. Don't settle for superficial change of behavior by your child. Ask God to change their heart. We need to spend our time wisely with our children instead of letting them dry up spiritually.
The best thing you can do is to gather your children around you on your knees and plead with them to trust in God, and then on your knees worship God at His throne.
(2) We must take TIME to APPLY and IMPRESS God’s Word into our children’s hearts. It is very easy to major on controlling the child's behavior without using Scripture and prayer to deal with his heart. Apply the Word of God at every opportunity. Peter says we are “Being born again…by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase”. It’s hard work!
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Listen, if there is one thing I can leave you with in this lesson, is to introduce a real love saturated walk with God to your children, to your wife. It will radically change you. It will change your world. It will make the world bright when everyone else sees that it is dull.
Conclusion: We can’t treat our children any way we want. Once a living breathing Christianity is gone from the picture, we are raising Christianized heathens. No one wants to raise a Pharisee. Remember our children are a stewardship. We will be held accountable for every action in regard to them. We cannot treat them based on whims, but with tender care and love, just as we would treat Christ. We need to bring them to Christ, not simply reform their behavior.
I hope the goal of your home is that Mother and Father and child will all worship God and serve others from the heart! By God’s grace let’s have a God-focused, God-saturated atmosphere in our home, and let’s all aim at the hearts of our children!
[1] Note: several of the spiritual applications for children below were adapted from Carey Hardy’s presentation on the same subject at the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Church in Sun Valley, California.
I was profoundly moved this the weekend of November 1st by a man who would go into a literal valley of death and preach the Gospel to a bunch of spiritually dead and almost physically dead people. On a very special Lord’s Day a few weeks ago (November 1, 2008), I got to spend the entire day with a pastor, a native from the country of Haiti by the name of Lucian Saul. Haiti has a population of nine million people. Pastor Lucian has absolutely nothing. The whole island has been destroyed by hurricane after hurricane. Any land that they had is unusable. All they have now is mountainous rock. They hardly have clothes. They hardly have food. There is a 96% unemployment rate. And yet Bro. Lucian is there preaching the Gospel, giving the Word of God. He is seeing God work in many churches that he is establishing. He is training over two hundred men every year in the Bible Institute. Hundreds and hundreds of children come to him in his day school, and he clothes them with a uniform. People from the states send him enough funds to purchase uniforms from the Dominican Republic (not far from them). What he said to me was “I’d rather build children than repair men.” He’s able to get meals of beans and rice and cornmeal for these children every day. And the children never complain about eating the same thing each day. Lucian is there giving the Word of God out to every creature. He’s seeing them spiritually raised from the dead and coming to know Christ. Lucian Saul is the son of a witch doctor. An American missionary went over there and gave him the Word of God. Voodoo witch doctors call demons down to work on their behalf. Now when Lucian gives the Gospel to the people of Haiti the witch doctors have no power. The demons have no power to hurt Lucian. The Word changed Lucian’s heart when he was ten years old. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believes. Now instead of coming back to the comparative paradise of the United States and staying here like most Haitian people would, he has returned over and over again to that sort of hell on earth called Haiti. He is driven to go back there, and so is his twenty year old son Royden. Now why would a twenty year old want to go back to such a horrible place? He says that when you step off the plane you smell poverty, and it stinks! It just stinks. There’s no electricity, no running water, nothing. Why would he go back to an island of nine million people and live that way? Because the Gospel is the power of God to everyone that believes. Lucian was the son of a witch doctor. Now he’s a child of God! He knows Christ. And he is giving the Word of God to many who have been caught up in voodoo all their lives. And God is calling them in their hearts through the Word of God to come to Christ. Dead, dry bones are now living (Ezekiel 37)! The Gospel is the power of God to those who believe.
