Children—J. Bilisoly
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You know, boys and girls, I want to start out with a verse, a very well known verse, a very, a very good verse in the gospel because I have a concern this morning that everyone of you boys and girls have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and know him as your own personal Savior. You know, we've been speaking a little bit about how we've been brought into the family of God and that's kind of what I have on my heart is to talk about families.
And in particular, I want to talk a little bit about service serving, you know, umm, each of us here were born into a family. And I don't know about your family, but when I was born into the family that I was born into, as I grew up, we would have little jobs to do. And I wonder if that's true in your family too. And maybe we can find out a little bit about that as we talk together. But I'm going to ask before we get started, I'm going to ask if any of you boys and girls have.
Committed a verse of Scripture to memory that you would like to share with us. I know some of you work hard on that and I don't want to disappoint you if you have been diligently working the last few days or maybe even weeks to share something with us. Did you raise your hand? OK, would you like to stand up and I'll hold this up to you and you can tell us what verse you'd like to share with us.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
ACT 1631. Thank you very much. Very nice. OK.
Believe on Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house at 1631.
Very good. All right. Who else would you like to OK.
Any of you kids like to say the verse? OK, how about down this row? All right.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Acts 1631.
Thank you. Would you like to see it? OK.
300.
I'll be safe at.
1.
All right, Thank you. How about you? Would you like to say it? OK. You want to stand up and.
Please on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved at 1631. Thank you. Very good. All right, we'll come on down.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thine house. Acts 1631. Thank you.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
1631, Thank you.
Believe in Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. Acts 1631. Alright, anybody else but you too down here?
Live on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house at 1631.
Leave on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Acts 1631.
OK. Thank you.
And 67th and Jesus Christ.
OK. Thank you.
OK.
And thou shall be safe.
Umm.
Thank you very much.
All right, did we miss anyone over here? See, we went down there. Did did I miss anyone? Any of you kids like to say verse? OK, I'm going to ask someone else that didn't say this first, umm, if they would say John 316 for me.
Because I think that's a wonderful good verse for the gospel. OK, You want to stand up and say that?
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
Tom 362, very good. Thank you.
Well, you know, boys and girls, if we were listening to those verses that were recited this morning, those two verses, John 316 and that one in Acts, the gospel message is so simple and clear, isn't it? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And then for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, I like that little poem that someone wrote about John 316. It goes like this.
00:05:22
In our King James translation, if you count the number of words in that verse, there's 25 and it says it goes like this 25 words in John 316. No greater words have ever been seen. 12 about ye a God and 12 about you. No 12 about God and 12 about me, Son in the middle who died on the tree. So if you look at that, there's 12 verses. There's the little poem says about God and then 12 about me. And then the middle word in that verse is Son. And I think that's nice because.
That's who it's all about. It's about the Lord Jesus. Well, you know, umm, there's another verse too that that verse, John 316, we might say brings before us the heart of God, His love towards us. He loved you so much that he gave his Son to die on the cross. And you know, there's a verse that we could read in, in John 13. We'll just look at it real quick, John 13 and verse one that gives us the other side of it, the love of the Lord Jesus for us.
So in John 13 and verse one it says now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And then if you want a verse that's even more personal than that, you can go to the book of Galatians. And in chapter 2 and verse 20 towards the end of that, the last part of that verse, it starts out like this, the Son of God.
Who can finish it? The Son of God who loved.
OK.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, very good. How much more personal can we get than that? Boys and girls? Can you say that honestly in your hearts? Can you say for yourself the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me? Can you make it that personal? Well, I hope that you can. Now, what I had on my heart this morning was to talk a little bit about.
Well, first of all, before we talk about serving.
I want to talk. I want to ask you a question. Why would God save you? And I, you know, we heard a little bit about this yesterday. We heard some of the reasons that that we might say that God would save us. Why would God save a boy and a girl here this morning? Why? Why would he do that? OK, let's get some ideas here.
Because God love us.
He loves us. That's a very good answer. God loves us and he wants to save us. What does he want to save us from?
From a lost eternity in hell without the Lord Jesus.
Now we heard another reason. I I jotted down a few of them. We heard one yesterday that I I enjoyed.
One of the reasons that God would save us is.
Because.
He's providing a gift to his Son, the Lord Jesus. I thought that was a nice thought that God is saving boys and girls this morning and men and women in this world because he wants to give a gift to his Son, the Lord Jesus. And you know, on a coming day, we can read in Hebrews. I'm just going to read it because I want to quote it, right?
Right in Hebrews chapter 2.
The Lord Jesus is going to, as it were.
Take that gift that God has given him, his Father has given him, and he's going to say in Hebrews chapter 2.
Umm, he says here if I can find it.
OK, thank you, Bob. It's, it's amazing how versus just disappear when you're looking for them. Uh, in Hebrews chapter, uh, two and verse 13, Behold, I and the children which God hath given me. Isn't that sweet? The Lord Jesus is going to take his church on display there and put us on display before the father and he's going to say, behold, I and the children that thou has given me. And in that chapter that we're reading in John, it's so sweet to me to, to just hear that.
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The language that's used as the Father and the Son are communicating and they're talking about us. Now I want to ask you a very, very important question. How do we get into this family of God? We've been talking about this family, these children, children of God that we are when we are saved, how do we get into God's family? Can someone help us? We need to be clear on this. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And thou shalt be saved and that by doing that act, we're because we become a part of God's family. That's the only way, boys and girls, that you can become a part of God's family. And he longs to have you a part of it. He loves you. Another reason that that God saves us is for his pleasure. You know, we talked a little bit about that and you can go to the Book of Revelation and we won't take the time and in chapter 4.
It tells us that for His pleasure all things were created, and including us, His creature for His glory. He saves us for His own glory and for the glory of His Son.
Now there's another reason that God saves you and I, and I want to talk a little bit more about this because that's what I have on my heart. He saves us.
So that we can have the opportunity to serve him. Isn't that nice? Now I'm going to ask you a question.
I want to know how old you have to be to be a servant of the Lord.
I see a lot of servants of the Lord in this room.
We're going to talk a little about that. How old do you have to be to be a servant?
Whoops, sorry, do you think? What's your name?
What? What's her name? Helena. Is Helena old enough to be a servant of the Lord at 3:00, or is she too young? Let's get some help.
Is she old enough? Yes. Oh, I'm so glad you said yes. OK, you're old enough. You're old enough to be a servant of the Lord. That's wonderful. So let's ask that question again. How old do we have to be to be a servant of the Lord?
You don't have to be, you just have, you don't have to be a certain age. Good, Kevin said. We don't have to be a certain age. You know, it's interesting, but there's a verse in the Bible. We, we maybe we don't think about this a lot, but I think it's in Galatians.
Umm, it it was a statement made by the apostle Paul in Galatians chapter one and verse 15. This is what Paul says he says. But when it please God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son and me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. I just wanted to point it out. Boys and girls, this statement of Paul's Paul said that it pleased God.
Who separated me from my mother's womb?
Now that was before he was even born. And I think what that is saying to us is that God had his eye on the apostle Paul even before he was born. And he said, I'm going to separate that man. I'm going to call him, I'm going to bring him into my family, and I'm going to use him as a servant.
Isn't that that nice? And if you know anything about the Apostle Paul, he wasn't always called the Apostle Paul.
He was called Saul of Tarsus, and you know what he did? He did awful things. He persecuted Christians. He blasphemed the name of of Christ. He persecuted Christians so much that he had to say of himself later.
He took the place as being the worst Sinner. He said I'm the chief of sinners, or he said of whom I am chief, referring to himself as an awful Sinner because he says I persecuted the Church of God. He felt that, and that was always a reminder to him of what he was by nature. But God, he could say God called him from the womb. What a wonderful thing. And boys and girls, I believe this morning that God has his eye on each one of you.
He not only wants you to be saved if you're not already saved. And I hope you have come to the Lord Jesus.
But he wants you to be of service to him now. We talked about families.
And things that we little jobs we have to do. Who would like to share us? Who? Who has a job to do in their family? It's your job, and you're expected to do it with a happy, cheerful smile.
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OK.
What's your job?
OK, make your bed. All right. That's a good one. How many have to make their beds?
OK, I don't want to embarrass the parents. All right? Umm, let's see who else has jobs to do, OK?
I know.
Do you have a job that you have to do in your house?
What is it?
OK.
All right, I'm not sure what that job was. All right, who else?
You have a job.
OK, I I know you're a little shy, boys and girls, and that's OK, all right? You have a job you have to do.
Chores. What kind of chores?
Like sweeping floor. Sweeping the floor. OK, All right. Good. That's a good job. What job is yours? OK. She brushes her own teeth. That's nice. All right.
Mark Fours. Oh, OK, that's a good job. And one that's not so fun. Do you like to do that?
Good, good, good.
All right, Kevin.
Clean up. OK Umm, I think OK, we'll get get one more here. Take out the trash. OK, Take out the trash. Good. I have. I do that still. I was going to say the same thing. OK, well, you know what boys and girls, what's what's interesting to me is, is that most of you gave us some different job that you have. We didn't hear a lot of the same jobs. That's good because there's a lot of jobs to do in a household. Well, you know.
I was struck as we got to this conference here, that how many servants of the Lord there were that I have been.
Noticing and I'm going to just give you a little account here, We walked into this hotel, uh, let's see, this would have been Friday afternoon and there was a servant of the Lord there that met us. He was sitting at a table and he gave us some helpful information. And uh, I'm not going to say who these servants names are because I don't think they would want me to. Umm, but anyway, I asked this servant how long he had been there and he said he had been there since, I believe, if I remember right, he said he had been there since 8:30 in the morning.
So I thought wow, here it was. It was like 3 something in the afternoon and the servant had been there since 8:30. I thought wow isn't that nice? Umm OK so then we went to the the meeting room here in Shadow Hills for supper and there was a servant. This servant was a lady and she was very helpful and she told us where we might sit. Umm everything was done orderly and nicely and I thought wow.
That is nice. There was another servant there. He was an older servant of the Lord, and he was carrying chairs and setting them up and helping direct the removal of the tables to get ready for the meeting. There was a lot of service going on. There was a lot of servants that were back in the kitchen area working busily back there, preparing good food for us to eat after a long journey. It was wonderful to have.
All these servants helping us and then, umm, you know, we, we came to meeting yesterday and there was a servant that was making announcements very nicely. You know, they each had their job. There's another servant that was making this equipment work and, uh, work. Well, it's just wonderful. There were, the meetings began and there were servants that spoke up and, uh, shared with us something the Lord had laid on their heart.
You know, it was beautiful. You know, I thought of that. It's like we're a big family here and everything is, is working smoothly. Uh, each servant is doing their part. And I thought we could illustrate this very simply, children with a few tools that I bring along when we take a trip, I always throw a few tools in the car and uh, you know, they're all a little different. They all do different things and, uh, so I just brought them here.
I'll just, uh, lay them out a minute.
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OK, I have an assortment of tools here. Now let me ask you this. What do you think would happen if I went up to this servant that is operating all this equipment? I said, you know, I think I could do a little better job. Just just let me do this.
Umm, and I'll tell you a little secret. I don't know anything about this equipment. So what do you think might happen if he's was a little bit shocked, but you know, he's, he's nice. So he kind of moved over and, and, uh, let me do that. What do you think might happen?
You might ruin the equipment. Probably. I probably would ruin the equipment and our ears too.
My support is making mess up what he's done. Yes, it would be a disaster It it would be like like this boys and girls. I have an old pair of glasses here and there's some little screws and Brock, I was wondering if maybe you could help me here. I'm going to just give these to you to hold and one of these screws is a little loose right there. You see them little tiny screws. So I'm going to give you a tool to fix that for me.
All right.
You think you could fix that with that tool I gave you?
Gonna have a hard time, aren't you? He's not gonna be able to fix tighten that little screw with this. So let me give him something else. Maybe he needs something smaller.
Is that going to work for you to tighten up for me? That little screw right there, can you tighten that up?
You're not gonna be able to do it with that tool, are you? Alright.
Maybe these will do it.
I think that'll work.
No, he still looks a little skeptical.
I think I could just keep handing him tools and it's not going to help. I need to give him the right tool. And I'm not going to really make you do this, but this is a little tiny screwdriver with a very, very small head on it. And it actually fits because I've used it before. And with this tool I can tighten that little screw in these glasses.
Something else right here, We'll get a girl to help us. Would you like to help us? I've got some wire here and let's say I need a little piece of that wire, so I'll give you a tool to.
To do that, we'll use this one again. Can you cut me off a little piece of wire with this? No, not going to work. OK.
How about these little vice grips?
I think you could do that with these.
Maybe after a long enough time if you twisted it back and forth, but you know, there's a tool here, boys and girls, that it's beautiful for that. It's got a little cutting knife in it and a little cutting area. So I'm going to let you, umm, I'll hold this. You just slip in, slip in there and just cut a little piece off clear in.
But just light it clear and OK, now do it. See, see how easy that was? She had the right tool and that little piece of wire just snipped right off. Well, my point is, boys and girls, is that we heard yesterday that God has given each one of us something to do. He's given us, each one of us something to do. And maybe it's a little hard to to understand what that is, but we found out from some of your answers that we don't have to be any age to be a servant of the Lord.
We can start right away. And I, I'm sure that that brother that said that he's given us each a job to do or each a work to do. I'm sure he was including you children too. Did you realize that you boys and girls, you know, not like I said, most of us here are being served at this conference by many servants. You know, we're sitting where my wife and I are sitting. There's a whole row of servants. And you know how I know that they're servants? Well, a little before the meeting ends.
They all get up and they leave.
And they file out and, you know, I know why they're going out. They're going out because they're getting ready to service. Isn't that nice? And you know, there's so many things that you boys and girls can do. We're going to just talk real briefly here. We're going to, I'm going to ask you to give me some examples in Scripture of those boys and girls that were servants. OK, I'm going to start out with one and I'll give you an idea.
OK, I'm thinking of a little girl that was a maid to a Great War captains wife and his name was Naaman. And this little girl, it says she waited on Naaman's wife so she was a servant. We don't know how old she was, it doesn't tell us what was her name.
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Oh, oh, what was her name?
I see some puzzled looks. This is kind of a tricky question.
What was her name?
Well, OK.
Kevin.
Did we know the name?
Do we know the name? Good question. We did not. We're not told. OK, who can think of some others? And, and there's a reason I want to mention that we're not told what that little girl's name was. OK, Who else can think of somebody in Scripture? I'm I'm thinking primarily of, of young servants because we're talking to children. This is children's meeting and we're talking to children. And I want to get from Scripture a few other examples of servants. We have this little girl.
Now we need another one.
Samuel. Oh good. OK, he he mentioned one that I'm going to mention Samuel. We're going to talk a little bit about him in a minute, but I'm thinking of few others. Let's see if we can get some more. Think hard. The little boy who gave Jesus lunch. Very good. And what was his name? The little boy that gave his lunch.
5 loaves and two fishes.
What was his name?
Aha, OK, very good. I'm glad that your kids know these answers. Again, another one little servant, but it's we're not told his name.
He was, he was just a little lad that one of the disciples named Andrew had found. He had a little lunch and apparently he was willing to share it because the Lord took that little lunch and he multiplied that food to feed about probably about seven times the number in this room.
5000 people, Just imagine. OK, who can think of another example in scripture of a servant? We're talking about serving the Lord, God's family.
Baby Moses, OK, that's a good one. Baby Moses. He served in the courts of Pharaoh, didn't he, for a good part of his life. I'm thinking of another one, and I'll give you a hint.
This boy had an uncle who we know as the Apostle Paul.
Who can tell me just a little something about the story so I know you know what I'm thinking about?
He overheard the 40 men making the plot to kill Paul.
That's right. OK, let me ask, what was his name?
What was that little boy's name?
That heard that plot to kill the apostle Paul I don't know if it says his name you're right we don't know OK that was 3 examples of a girl and two boys young boys he's called a lad so he was pretty young they were servants of the Lord but we don't know what their names are now I just want to make this point boys and girls that when we're given these accounts in scripture about.
People like this, these little boys, these little girls that serve the Lord and we're not given their names. I think the Spirit of God has a reason for doing that.
And I would just like to suggest this very simple thought that.
I think the Spirit of God would like it if you and I would put our names in there. OK, now maybe we're not going to be called to do the exact same thing, but what I mean is we too can be a servant and we too have a job that we can do. But remember, remember, we need to be content with what the Lord gives us to do. I'm going to tell you a story.
About that a little later. But just like, you know, these tools, these tools are very useful, but they're only useful for certain things, OK. And you and I, the Lord has fitted us for a purpose. He fitted the Apostle Paul for a purpose. He fitted that little boy with his lunch for a specific time in that little boy's life when he was going to need that lunch. He fitted that little girl that was captive. She was captured, kidnapped, you might say, and taken to the land of Syria, a foreign country.
And the Lord was watching over her, and he used that little girl for blessing in the land of Syria. Well, he wants to use you and I. The question is, are we willing? Are we willing to be used for the Lord? You know, there's a verse in Second Timothy, chapter 2 That talks about being a vessel. And a vessel is something that can be very useful.
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And Paul says to Timothy that if he would purge himself from those things that were dishonouring to the Lord.
He says in verse 21, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified a need for the master's use and prepared unto every good work. Boys and girls, the Lord has something for you to do He's he's going to fit you for that. And he wants us to be content. And when we're all working together in this family, you know, this is a big family here in this conference and we have lots of needs and I've seen many servants here working Hardy.
Heartily and and diligently. And that is so wonderful to see that they want us to be comfortable, they want us to be happy and they want us to be cared for. And I think it's beautiful when we see that blending together. That's how it should be. It should be that way in our homes. It should be that way in the assembly. It should be that way in our lives, shouldn't it? These little vessels. Now let's look real briefly because we're running out of time.
At Samuel. So if you do have a Bible and you want to follow along, I'm just going to touch on a couple of things very briefly.
We're told in First Samuel chapter one.
That Umm Hannah is speaking to Eli and she says in verse 27 for this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I have asked of him. Therefore have I also lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there. Well, I I think of Samuel here. It says he worship the Lord. He was just a young boy, but still you know he worshiped and I think that's a beautiful.
Umm, little touch that we learn of him is the beginning, you might say, of his career that he worshipped the Lord, the beginning of his service, service for the Lord. And then it says in verse 11 of the next chapter, umm, the middle part of the verse. And the child Speaking of Samuel did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. And so now we see him ministering to the Lord. He's progressing. See, that's what happens, boys and girls.
If we're faithful in what the Lord gives us to do, it might be a very menial thing. The Lord might entrust more to us, not that we seek that, but that's what happens often is the Lord entrusts more to us. And then we have, umm, a little later in the same chapter in verse 18 that it says Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod there. It doesn't say that he ministered before Eli, but before the Lord.
So he's progressing, isn't he in his soul? And the Lord is using him, preparing him to be used as a vessel. And then, umm, a little bit later in that chapter, in verse, uh, 21, at the end of the chapter, I mean at the end of the verse, it says in this child, Samuel grew before the Lord. He grew before the Lord. And then we have that beautiful verse that I passed over in verse 19. His mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year.
Doesn't that touch our hearts? Hear this little child not only grew in a spiritual way, but he was also growing naturally. We like to see our children grow, don't we? And so he would outgrow his coat, and his mother would bring him a new coat from year to year. And then in verse 26 it says the child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. And we could read further if we were good to go on.
Umm to like the the 19th verse of the third chapter, it says again that and Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and did let none of his words fall to the ground. Umm then the word of the Lord in chapter 4 verse one of Samuel and the word of Samuel came to all Israel or should uh read and what Samuel said happened to Israel. So the Lord used this man and then we know as he got older and older, he became a mighty prophet.
But he started out worshipping the Lord and ministering to the Lord, and you know, boys and girls.
When you do something for your parents or you just do a kind little act, maybe even at this conference, you can do a kind little act. You can do it for the Lord, and the Lord appreciates that. It's service to him. Well, I told you, I was going to tell you a story real quickly about a man that wasn't so faithful and it cost him a job that he really wanted. There was a president by the name of William McKinley, one of our presidents of the United States.
00:35:19
And he was seeking to put somebody in a very high up position as being an ambassador in a foreign country. To represent him and to represent the United States was a very important job. And President McKinley knew that it would take somebody with a very, very gifted ability to fulfill this ambassadorship. So he had all these people that wanted that job, and he kind of narrowed it all down to two men.
And he could not decide which one of those two men to choose. They both were well qualified. And he just didn't know. So then as he was pondering this dilemma, he remembered something that had happened a number of years before, when he was riding on a Street car. And he was still he was a congressman. He wasn't the president at that time. And the bus had gotten very full. And he took the last seat. And at the next stop, an elderly lady got on and she had a heavy basket full of clothes.
And she was jostling around, trying to keep her balance as the streetcar moved on. And she walked up and down, and no one offered her a seat. And he noticed, he remembered in particular, that she stopped at this one spot in the aisle right next to a man that was a fellow congressman that he worked with. And he said he knew that the man had seen her with her heavy basket. And he had a newspaper in his hand. And he kind of pulled it up so it looked like.
He didn't see the woman. Well, Mr. McKinley himself got up and offered, took her basket of clothes and gave her his seat. And he remembered that story. And one of those men that he was deciding to choose was the man that did not get up and give his seat to that woman. And so he chose the other man. So that man wasn't faithful and that which is least. And so he lost that opportunity to serve his president. Well, that's a feeble story, but.
Anyway, boys and girls, my point is, may we each have some little thing, Just do what we do heartily as unto the Lord and the Lord.
Appreciates that and values that. Well, let's just close with I just borrowed a book from the BTP stand. It's a pretty well known little song to us and it goes along with what we're saying here. We'll just sing.
The first 2 verses. The first verse goes like this.
Umm, in the house and out of doors, scrubbing pots and sweeping floors.
Washing, ironing, mending to, these are things that I can do. And then the next verse in the house and out of doors, chopping wood and doing chores, pounding nails or driving screws. These are things that I can do. I'll do it all for Jesus as the course. So let's just sing those first two stanzas of that little hymn.