Text: Deuteronomy 6:6-7-- Love the
LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when
you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
INTRODUCTION:
Mark 9:36-37--He took a little child whom he placed
among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes
one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me
does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
There are approximately 7.6 billion people living in
the world today according statistics from the World Bank. According Humanism,
an international child sponsorship organization, of that 7.6 billion people approximately
2.2 billion are children. There are approximately 330 million people living in
the United States according to the U.S.Census Bureau. Approximately 74 million of that number are
children.
So, the question again what is the state of affairs
of our children today in this messed up world. A world in which only God can
order peace and love. Today let us
consider four things that matter most concerning our children’s life and
well-being.
POINT
ONE: Abortion. What is abortion? Keeping
it simple, abortion is point blank—the killing of an unborn baby. Killing a
baby because you don’t want it is murder. Those who advocate a position on this
type of killing are called pro-choice advocates.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported in its
most recent report in 2016 that approximately 600,000 abortions took place in
the U.S. To keep it simple again, there are people who made a decision to
murder over 600,000 precious souls from the Lord in the name of pro-choice. “Thy
shalt not kill.”
Proverbs
6:16-19--There
are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes,
a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises
wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who
pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. God hates murder.
Matthew
19:14-- Jesus said, "Let the
little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these."
Even after a baby has
been born there are people who choose to destroy what God has allowed to enter
his creation—a new helpless baby. Infanticide is the intentional killing of
infants. “Now universally illegal, infanticide was a widespread practice
throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children.”
“Parental researchers have found that mothers are slightly more likely than
fathers to be commit infanticide in general.
The predators, wolves in sheep clothing, come in all
types. Many of our children are being captured and sold for forced labor or
sexual exploitation. According to a USA 2018 report, about 10,000 children a
year suffer the horrors of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States.
Take care of your children before birth and
thereafter. First Peter 5:8 says, “Be
sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking, whom he may devour.
POINT
FOUR:Training.
Why should we train?Proverbs
22:6--Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from
it.
When
we look at what has been happening around our nation this year and previous
years, it may make you wonder if those individuals, young and old, who have
been participating in the looting, rioting, burning, violence and killing have
had any child rearing at all. Their behavior is a reflection of their core values
or lack thereof. We are living in the
last days.
Second Timothy 3:1-5 says,But mark this: There will be terrible
times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Have nothing to do with such people.
Proverbs
29:17--Discipline
your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights
you desire.
Now, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and
keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it
be evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
Roosevelt McPherson, Pastor
Email: mcphersonroosevelt@gmail.com
