Ecclesiastes 12:1 Making A Mark on the Mind What does the Bible say to children? Thats a good question. We know that the Bible has a message for the lost. The message to the lost is to be saved. We also know that the Bible is filled with messages to the saved, like worship God, do right, and many others. But what does the Bible say to children? The answer is right here. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. I. The Message A. The message is directed to the young. 1. God cares about children. a. The disciples mistakenly thought Jesus was too busy to deal with children. (1) \\#Mark 10:13\\ They were rebuking the parents for bringing them. (2) But Jesus rebuked the disciples. Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. b. Jesus wanted the children to come to Him. c. In fact, He goes on to tell the disciples that the kingdom of heaven will be made up of children and those with a child- like faith. 2. If that were true then, it is no less true today. B. The message is directed at young youth. 1. The word "youth" covers a large time span. a. How young should children be reached? b. The verse gives two indications. 2. They should be reached before the evil days come. a. The evil days are the days when children have to start dealing with the consequences of their sin. b. Generally, young children are a happy, resilient lot. c. They are that way because God designed them not to comprehend sin at a young age. (1) They just comprehend need, love, and playing. (2) That is not a fault in children. That is a blessing. (3) Wouldnt childhood be miserable if you had to worry about every action you did and every word you spoke? (4) So God made children to cry one minute and laugh the next, to love without regards for how they are treated, and to trust those in their life. 3. They should be reached before they can become depressed or discouraged about life. a. The verses says to reach them before they "have no pleasure in them," in the days of their life. b. With the knowledge of sin comes the burden of sin. c. In 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15-24. (1) Suicide rate for children 10 to 14 was 1 in every 100,000. (2) For children 15 to 19, it was 7. (3) For young adults 20 to 24, it was almost 13. http:\/\/www.nimh.nih.gov\/health\/publications\/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and- prevention\/index.shtml d. It seems obvious to me that even 10 to 14 is later than what God wants. Too many have already lost the pleasure of life! C. The message is remember your Creator. 1. God wants them to know Him and to keep Him in their life. a. That is the idea behind "remember." b. To keep God in the forefront and thoughts of your mind, to be aware of Him. 2. To remember does not necessary mean to be saved. a. It could, but it does not have to. b. It just means to have a constant awareness of God. c. As a boy, we lived across from Alberta Methodist Church. From time to time, I would go there. I remember going to VBS. The teacher would take the flannel graph and teach the stories of Jesus. I soaked it in. As I grew older, the awareness of God stayed with me. That church had a prayer room that you entered from the outside. I remember going in there on several occasions (it was air conditioned), and sitting in the chair, looking at the prayer altar, looking at the picture of Jesus, and thinking thoughts of God and Jesus. I wasnt saved, but God left a mark on my mind. 3. Most children today have no remembrance, no awareness, of God. a. My generation had gospel preaching and singing on television every Sunday morning. b. There were scores of church that meet three times a week to preach about Christ (not just to dance or sing choruses to Him). c. It was not uncommon to hear the church bells calling the unchurched to worship. d. Store were closed in honor of God. e. We started every school day with devotions and prayer. f. Teachers mentioned God in connection with history and science. g. Most all of that is gone today. 4. And we wonder why are young people are the way they are? a. I read where Alabama Adventure had to go on "lock down" this week because of kids fighting and attempting to kill one another. I heard as many as five gangs had chosen that day and place for their gain initiations. b. Earlier this week, I met a beautiful young woman, maybe 16 or 17 years old. She needed a ride to the hospital to visit a dying friend. Since it would not be have been appropriate for me to take her, JoyAnna did; but I went with JoyAnna to meet her. In meeting her, we learned that at that young age, she had already been living with at least one young man. c. Young adults who have no remembrance, no awareness, of God. 5. God says to the young, REMEMBER ME. II. So what is required for this command to be carried out? A. Parents have to care about God. 1. Children are just children. a. They do not start out sitting in the drivers seat of life. b. Parents do, and they must make the right choices to help children to know who God is. 2. We understand that parents are the decision makers for their children. a. Parents make the decisions about the childrens physical life. Parents decide when their children go to bed, what they will wear, what immunization shots they will and will not receive, what they will eat, and every other decisions of a physical natureespecially in the earlier years of a childs life. b. Parents make the decisions about their childrens intellectual life. Parents decide what television programs their children will watch, what books will be in the home, what school they will attend, how much time and energy the child will invest into learning. c. Parents make the decisions about their childrens social life. Parents decide where their children will live, who their friends will be, how much time they spend with others, what privileges they will have, who and when they will date. d. The truth is that parents dictate every aspect of a childs life for years. (1) They make tens of thousands of decisions for their children on every topic of life. (2) Why should any parent be surprised to learn that they have the first, and perhaps, the most important role in introducing their children to God? 3. Why does God want children to know Him at an early age? a. The Scripture does not tell us, but I think there could be several reasons. (1) Because it is better for them. (a) As I have already alluded to, children need Christ. (b) They need Him because they are lost, and they need Him to give their life meaning, purpose, and direction. (2) However, it could be that children are about the only ones who can chose to Christ out of love. (a) Most of chose to love Christ out of necessity. (b) I chose to love and trust Jesus out of necessity. (c) I was condemned by my sin, convicted by the Holy Spirit. (d) I saw myself as a doomed sinner going to hell. (e) Certainly, we all are, but children, those who have not seen the evil day come yet, can turn to Christ simply because they hear of Christs love for them! b. How refreshing it must be to God to have someone come to Him just because they love Him! 4. Without doubt, the greatest influence on childrenespecially children whose evil day has not yet comeare the parents. a. These are not days which can be wasted in selfish, lazy pleasure. b. Once God gives a child, a parent has a limited number of days and opportunities to get their child to Christ. c. With the passing of each day, you lose more influence over your child and the world and devil starts gaining more. d. One day, you will realize that your most influential days are behind you. 5. Oh, mom and dad, show your children who God is. a. Show them that you love Him. b. Show them the importance of trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior before the evil days come. B. Churches and Christians have to care about God. 1. While parents have the primary role in teaching children about God, churches and Christians have a strong secondary role. a. Parents, especially fathers, are charged by God to rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Eph 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. b. However, churches have a command from God to teach, win, and baptize every lost soul. Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 2. The church is commanded to be involved in evangelism of all ages. 3. Why would God have an overlap in the affairs of the home and the affairs of the church? a. Because evangelism is the purpose of the church. (1) The reason the church exists is to serve Christ and Christs heart centers on winning the lost. (a) Jesus described His own purpose in coming. Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (b) When we are as concerned for others as Christ was for us, we are the closest mortal man can become to being like Christ. (2) The churchs outreach ministry is not optional. (a) For the older, we do one-on-one witnessing, door-to- door visitation, revivals, camps. and special events. (b) For the children, we operate bus ministries, childrens church, Sunday school, VBS, Christian schools and daycares. (3) The church has no option doing these kinds of works and in sharing Christ through them. (a) That is what VBS is all about. (b) It is not an issue of costs, conveniences, or accomplishments. (c) It is about doing what God created the church to do. b. Because parents are not always successful. (1) We all know that parenting is a difficult job. Who among us could not use a little help, especially in this most important of all tasks? (2) So God has created the church and overlapped our responsibilities with that of the parents. (3) Should the parents need help in winning their child to Christ, or should they miss the mark altogether, the church should be so involved in the lives of the communities and individuals, that they may offer that child a second chance. c. Because every soul is eternal. (1) Whether we speak of adults of children, the soul is eternal. (2) A childs soul does not become eternal when it turns a certain age. (3) The born again must step to the front of the bus and do its part in making sure everyone has the knowledge of Jesus Christ. C. Children have to care about God. 1. The responsibility to teach a child about God is not just the parents and the saved. a. I mentioned that children are born sitting in the drivers seat. (1) Thats true. (2) However, most every day from the time they can walk, they are moving closer and closer to being in the drivers seat. b. Godly parents take their children to church. c. Godly churches expose them to Christ. d. As some point, the child must make the choice to get serious about God. 2. It is my belief that God gives us children with minds that are blank. a. Like a computer, we load them with an operating system, the basic truths necessary to function. b. However, of late, I have been considering the fact that while a childs mind is blank, his\/her spirit is not. (1) All parents know that children are different. (2) They can be born twins, exposed to the same parents and conditions in life, but be as a different as daylight and dark. (3) Why? Because every child has a unique spirit. (4) You can call it a childs nature or temperament, but it is their God-given spirit. c. In studying our world and our people, I am wondering if the spirit of our children is not changing, hardening. (1) I do not know that this is the case. (2) It just seems like people are so different today. (3) Even a lot of church kids have so little regard for their soul. (4) It seems like everyone is just wants the world and its toys. 3. Children, your parents and I can tell you the truth, but you have to believe it and obey it. a. You have to take the things of God seriously. b. You need to take the matter of salvation seriously. c. You need to take the matter of baptism seriously. d. You need to take reading your Bible seriously. e. You need to take being at church seriously. f. You need to take prayer seriously. g. You need to take the issue of obedience seriously. h. You need to take the issue of serving your God seriously. 4. No one can make these decisions for you. You must make them for yourself. God wants to be in the minds of our young people, even if He is not in their hearts. The world may have limited our opportunity, but that simply means that as the church, we must intensify our efforts. This week is one of those opportunities. Pray and give of yourself that this church might be successful in accomplishing its mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ecclesiastes 12:1 Making A Mark on the Mind What does the Bible say to children? Thats a good question. We know that the Bible has a message for the lost. The message to the lost is to be saved. We also know that the Bible is filled with messages to the saved, like worship God, … Continue reading “Ecclesiastes 12:1 – Making A Mark on the Mind – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}