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Pocket Paper ______________________ Message by Robert J. Morgan, Senior Pastor Celebrating the Grand Opening of the Children’s The Donelson Fellowship 3210 McGavock Pike 615/871-4769 www.donelson.org His Kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation. Daniel 4:3 (NIV) His mercy extends to those who fear Him, From generation to generation. Luke Tell your children about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation. Joel 1:3 (NLT) Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture Will praise You forever, From generation to generation We will recount Your praise. Psalm 79:13 (NIV) *** Last year in
That night, the grace of Jesus Christ reached across the
mighty gulf betwixt heaven and earth, and the journey of Jesus became real in
a child’s heart—and Calvin Miller has been talking and writing
about it ever since. As I read
the stories of Christians who have ministered to their generation and shaped
the ages, I find that very many of them made decisions for the Lord in
childhood. Well,
that got me thinking about how Jesus Himself ministered to children, and as I
prepared for this message today, I worked through the four Gospels to see how
Jesus of Nazareth interacted with youngsters. The Gospels only give us
representative moments in His ministry.
John tells us that He did many other things that couldn’t be
recorded for lack of space. In
fact, John said that if everything that He did had been written down, there
wouldn’t be enough books in the world to contain the record of it. But even in these four Gospels, I
found nine separate occasions when Jesus ministered exclusively to children. He loved children: He loved working
with children, and He rebuked the disciples when they tried to keep the
children from approaching Him and bothering Him. But there’s one passage that is
the premier text in all the Bible as it relates to children’s ministry,
and that’s what I’d like to show you today. It’s in the Gospel of Matthew,
chapter 18. I’m going to
read this passage and make some comments about it along the way; then I want
to tell you what that passage has to do with the events we’re
celebrating today. Let’s
begin with Matthew 18, verse 1: At that time the disciples came
to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?” Our
Lord’s disciples had been bickering among themselves ever since the
events recorded in the previous chapter on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
they were nursing offended pride and hurt feelings and jealousy. In response… (Jesus) called a little child
and had him stand among them. I
wonder who that little boy was?
His name isn’t given, but I think he must have felt very close
to Jesus at that moment—our Lord would have made sure of that. I suppose that Jesus gave him a warm
smile or tussled his hair or gave him a hug and made him feel pretty
important. After all, he was
about to become a living object lesson to us and the subject of sermons for
the next 2000 years. I’m
quite sure this boy must have grown up to become a preacher; and I suppose
that many years later when he was old and feeble he would still sometimes
tell visitors of that moment in his childhood when he had suddenly become a
spontaneous sermon illustration for our Lord Jesus Christ. “Well, it
happened when I was very young, and I don’t remember every detail; but
I remember the day He smiled at me and the wink He gave me and the way He put
his big hands around me and held me beside Him while He talked.” Well, what did Jesus say? I tell you the truth, unless
you change and become like the little children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. Therefore,
whoever humblers himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. In
other words, to become a Christian and to have eternal life, you have to come
to Jesus with the humility and simplicity of that little boy standing beside
our Lord. Pride has kept many
people from heaven. Pride has
taken many people to hell. I
wonder if there’s someone here today and your pride is keeping you from
Jesus Christ. Now,
while He was at it, Jesus wanted to say something about bringing children to
Himself, and so in verse 5 He shifted His comments to the subject of
children’s ministry. And whoever welcomes a little
child like this in My name welcomes Me.
We can
welcome children into the kingdom in our Lord’s name. There’s a famous story about D.
L. Moody as it relates to this.
Moody began his ministry as a children’s worker in “Two and a half!” he
replied. The person was perplexed. “Two and a half?” said the
man. “Oh, you mean two adults
and one child!” “No,” said
Moody. “Two children and
one adult. The children have
their whole lives to live for the Lord, whereas the adult’s life is
half over.” Well, the job of The Donelson
Fellowship is to welcome children to Jesus in His Name. But there’s a warning connected
with it. Jesus went on to say: But if anyone causes one of
these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to
have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths
of the sea. Little
children can be welcomed into the kingdom. We can lead little children to
Christ. But it’s also
possible to keep children from coming to Christ and to stand in their way and
to give them a bad example and to create an environment in which they’ll
not develop spiritually or have a spiritual foundation to their lives. And it’d be better for someone
to be executed by drowning than to hinder the spiritual life and growth of a
child. Now if I said something
that severe, I’d be written up in the newspapers; but this is Jesus
speaking and He means every word of it. And
so, as He’s going on to say, we have to watch the way we live. We have to watch the kind of
television shows and the kinds of movies and the kinds of websites we
frequent. We have to make sure
our own lives are pure for the sake of our children. Woe to the world because of the
things that cause people to sin!
Such things must come, but woe to the (person) through whom they
come! If your hand or foot causes
you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life
maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into
eternal fire. And if your eye
causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life
with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. Our
Lord is speaking metaphorically—He doesn’t advocate
self-mutilation—but He is using strong language to get His point
across. Don’t let your eyes
look at things, or your hands to touch things, or your feet go places that
will be a spiritual hindrance to your children or to any child. If you’re not living for Jesus,
how do you expect your children to?
Verse 10 continues: See that you do not look down
on one of these little ones. Don’t
underestimate these children.
Don’t underestimate the influence you can have on them. Don’t underestimate how much
Jesus loves them. For I tell you that their
angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven. And
with that verse, Jesus seems to indicate that children are so precious to the
Lord that they have angels looking over them. The book of Hebrews tells us that all
angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation. And
now, Jesus is going to end His remarks with one of His famous parables. He told this parable in other places
and in other ways, but notice the spin He gives it here: What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one
of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go
to look for the one that wandered off?
And if He finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one
sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven
is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. Our job is to be seeking the
lost. The other week when we
returned from our fall staff retreat, I realized I’d left my laptop
computer at The Lord said that we’re to be out seeking the lost, like a shepherd looking for lost sheep. But in this version of our Lord’s story—the Matthew 18 version—the Lord was seeking the lambs, the little ones. This is a passage and a parable having to do with child evangelism. That’s why we believe that children can receive Christ as Savior. When Back in 1993, we did a survey here at The Donelson Fellowship, asking our members how old they were when they confessed Christ as Savior. We haven’t done this survey since then, so my statistics are rather dated, but I want to give them to you anyway. · 10% were saved at five years of age or less · 50% were converted between the ages of six and ten · 20% came to Christ between the ages of 11 and 15 · 20% were saved at age 16 or later. Eighty percent were saved before they were sixteen years old. When I was about 16 or 17, I was a Christian; but I wasn’t dedicated to Christ or walking with the Lord as I should. And one Sunday afternoon at my Aunt Louise’s house I was twisting the knob on her big living room radio, and I heard a man preaching about being filled with the Holy Spirit. I listened attentively, and that awakened a thirst in me and began the series of events that led me to commit myself to the Lord Jesus. That man was Leighton Ford, and he was the brother-in-law of evangelist Billy Graham. He was preaching on the Hour of Decision. I’ve always appreciated Leighton Ford for that; but only recently did I read about how he came to Christ himself. Leighton grew up in He was five years old in 1936 when he went with his mother
to the Canadian Keswick Conference on the shores of I don’t know if Miss Thomas lived long enough to realize that in winning that one boy, she was winning thousands of others who would come to Christ under his ministry. But I know that many years later, Leighton Ford had a big impact on my own life; and so I want to say, thank you, Miss Thomas, for welcoming a little child into the kingdom in 1936 in Jesus’ Name. I want to end by reading to you from an old poem I found among the clippings in my files as I prepared today’s message. Good morning, children,
I’m Mrs. Poole, Your teacher here in
Sunday School. Now put away your toys and
games And let me try to say your
names. Andrew, Sarah, Peter, Sue, Todd and Kasha, Mary Lou, Emily, Aiden, and
who’s there Hiding underneath the
chair? Tobias Jones—come
join us dear, I have a place for you
right here. Let’s bow our heads
before we start We’ll ask the Lord
to touch your heart. Both eyes, Tobias! “Now, Lord, begin To help us learn of
you. Amen.” Today’s lesson is
Noah’s ship That made a forty-day-long
trip It was full of animals two
by two A busting, busy floating
zoo. For forty days and—Tobias,
please! I don’t know how he
caught the fleas! *** Good morning, all you
tweener kids I’m your new
teacher, Malcolm Skids Today our lesson is Adam
and Eve, And how the serpent did
deceive The two first humans of
the race, But God is still a God of
grace… Tobias, please, I really
don’t care If they had fig-leaf
underwear. *** Now it’s time for
teenage camp, I know the weather’s
cold and damp, But try to be on your best
behavior; We’re here to learn
about our Savior. A week at camp with only
one rebel Who tosses food across the
table and causes stress and
strain all day And leaves the camp in
disarray. I’m sure
you’ve guessed who caused the groans-- None other than Tobias
Jones. *** Imagine then our great
surprise, When Toby Jones before our
eyes Came forward at the
invitation And gave Himself in
dedication To Jesus Christ who rose
again, To save us all from mortal
sin. But it’s not as
amazing as might appear For at his church from
year to year Tobias had some women and
men Who prayed for him again
and again, And worked with love and
one accord To bring Tobias to the
Lord. *** Good morning, kids, How do
you do? I’m here to spend
the year with you. In Sunday School
we’ll learn and say Our Bible verses every
day. We’ll learn the
Bible through and through For Jesus has a plan for
you. I’ll be your teacher
all year long, To help you know
what’s right from wrong. So let’s begin;
I’m glad you’ve came. What’s that? You want to know my name? Tobias Jones, but
that’s hard to say So you can call me Toby J. (From a clipping in my file and reworked to bring it
up to date.) Copyright StatementWe grant permission for any edition of The Pocket Paper to be photocopied for use in a local congregation or classroom, provided no more than 1,000 copies are made, the material is distributed free, and the copies include the notice: "Copyright (year) The Donelson Fellowship."For any other use, advance permission must be obtained from The Donelson Fellowship church office.Other messages are available from our website. Just click on the Pocket Papers link on our home page for a list of available messages. |
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