Well, I think that the thing that he really forgot to tell you is that he asked me to preach, and I said, I dont preach. What I said was, after some time, I could do a presentation, so thats why Im using Power Point, because this is comfortable for me. I do want to thank you so much for the opportunity to work with your children. I want you to know that not only do I count it a privilege, but all those from childrens ministry count it a privilege to work with your children. Its fun to come each week and to dig into Gods word and see what he wants us to learn together. And I want to guarantee this: Its not just for the children; its for us too. We learn a lot together, and we are grateful for that privilege. I am going to talk about transforming children into spiritual champions this morning, but what I want you to know is this: Yes, it is for children, but it is also important for all of us to know this information. Parents and grandparents, what I want you to take away, more than anything, is that we need to be diligently praying for our children. They need our prayers. There is a big world out there that has a lot of distractions for them. So, if nothing else, I want you to come away with some information where you can be praying for our children. When I came into the world, my mother was a Christian, but my father was not. As our family grew a little bit, I have a younger brother and a younger sister, my mother decided that it was going to be really important that we grew up to know and love the Lord and that as a family, we would attend church and find a church home. So we began looking for a church home, and I remember so clearly, at the age of eight, visiting North Scott Baptist Church in Pardeeville. Even to think about North Scott brings lots of good memories for me. But, at the age of eight, at North Scott Baptist, I attended a Vacation Bible School during a summertime. This wonderful lady by the name of Gladys Jenkins was the teacher that day. She shared about God and it wasnt that I didnt know about God, because I did, but on that day, she really connected with some of the questions that I had and made me see God in a very different way. At the end of that time, she asked if anyone wanted to pray the prayer of Salvation and ask Jesus into their heart. I accepted Jesus on that day into my heart, and I clearly remember the joy that came into my life on that day. In fact, I remember going to my grandparents home after that and just having that joy in my life and skipping around their yard and the joy that really did come into my life. Not too much longer after that, my father accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior as well. I remember, my memories of growing up, then, are in a Christian home where my parents did value spiritual development and taught us. They also taught us that we were a part of a church family. I know that I would not be standing here today if it werent for the spiritual nurturing that my parents gave to me and the support and love that our church family gave to us as well. A couple of months ago, I started reading a book called Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions. That is where I came up with the title. George Barna is the author of that book, and he did a really extensive survey nationwide and found some information. What I want to do is to share that information with you today, pieces of that information. I think it helps us see things in a different way. Maybe we get a little bit more comfortable right here in our church family, but I think its important for us to take a look at some things. One of the things that he said that was so important, and when I first started reading the book, my intent was, What can we do differently in childrens ministry? or How can we offer different kinds of programs so we can raise children to be spiritual champions? As I read a little bit into the book, I realized some of my motives were actually un-biblical. It isnt the churchs job to raise spiritual children. In fact, in Deuteronomy, and Im going to show you that first, Chap 6: verse 5-7, it says, 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. Its really, truly the parents responsibility and privilege to raise children and help them develop and grow spiritually. Again, I knew that as a childrens pastor. In fact, our Mission Statement is, in the Garden, to supplement the family as they lay down a spiritual foundation that nurtures spiritual growth, so a child can receive the Lord as their personal Savior in a lasting relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I knew that, and I read a little bit further, and there were some things in there, that I thought were important for us to all know. One of the first things he said was, Fewer than ten percent of all parents that attend church on a regular basis with their children, either read the Bible together, pray together as a family, other than at mealtime, or spend time together as a family serving others in some way. Its really important for us to think about that. What are parents seeing? What is it theyre missing? He went on to say that according to his research, parents basically model what was modeled for them when they were younger, or they feel that they are not capable of training their children spiritually, like the church can. He also went on to take a look at when children receive Jesus. And what found from his research, was this: The probability of children between the ages of 5 and 12 receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior is 32 percent. Between the ages of 13 and 18, it drops to 4 percent. Nineteen and over, it drops to 4 percent. Nineteen and over, it is 6 percent. I think one of those things we see with those numbers is Wow, theres this drastic difference between 32 percent and then four and six percent. And there is; thats a big difference. The other thing I think we can see there is, God has created children in such a unique and special way, that they are really sensitive and receptive to Jesus. I think those numbers reflect that as well. Then he went on to talk about a world view, and for our purpose today, a world view is really how we see and interpret the world around us; what we believe to be true and what we base that truth on. What he said was this: By the age of 13, children have established their world view. Theyve established how they see the world, how they interpret the world, what they believe to be true, and what they base that truth on. He went on to say , It wont change much after that, but the reason that it wont change much after the age of 13 is because very few teens or adults ever cross paths with another person that has such a drastically different world view than they do, that challenges what they believe to be true. I want you to keep that in mind as we talk a little bit more. So by the age of 13, childrens spiritual identity is pretty much set in place. I was curious what our children were thinking too. The group of children I meet with on Wednesday night are between the ages of 8 and 12. I was interested in what was going on in their thoughts. I asked them two questions: First How many of them believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior? And how many of them are going to live for Jesus the rest of their lives? All of them said yes to both of those. They believed in Jesus, and they were committed to living for Jesus for the rest of their lives. But, I wanted to know why. What did they base that response on? I want to share some of those responses with you. Some responses were as follows: Because I asked Him into my life, and I dont think I could live without Him. Because I know Jesus loves me and died for my sins. Im going to go to church, read all the Bible, pray, listen to Christian music and just do all God stuff. I know because I already started to say stuff about Jesus to my friends, and I wont stop there. Because Im a strong believer, and I think I can do it. Because I really believe in Him, and I want to do things for Him. Because I pray and ask Him to help me everyday. I will live for Jesus and keep believing in Him. I also wanted to know where the children thought they learned the most about God. So I asked them that, and the response was this: 63% said they learned the most about God from the church. Twenty-seven percent said they learned the most about God from other places. Nine percent said they learned the most about God from home. I guess we are going to ask ourselves this question, What does all that mean? I think it means this: It means, again, that God has created children in such a special, unique way that they are receptive to Him, and they are sensitive to His leading. Its up to us, not just parents and grandparents, but all of us, to support them and to reach them at a very, very young age. What I want to do is to share some scriptures with you that will help us see how precious children are to God. So if you want to go ahead and grab the Bibles in front of you. Children are so special to God that He considers them to be a gift. I bet there are some days that the behavior of your children makes you question that gift, but children are a gift from God. That gift reminds us of His love for us and His desire to be in a relationship with us. So, children are so precious to God that he considers them to be a gift. Were going to look at Deuteronomy 7-13. It says this: He will love you, and bless you, and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land, your grain, new wine and oil, the calves of your herds, and lambs of your flocks, in the land He swore to your forefathers to give to you. The verse starts out with He will love you, and bless you, and increase your numbers. God loves us so much that children are a gift that reflects his love. Im sure that all of us have received gifts at some time, and sometimes gifts have special meaning to us, and sometimes theyre just gifts. When my grandmother went to California, during the time I was in high school, shortly after my grandfather passed away. When she came back, she brought for me a yellow sweater vest, and I loved that yellow sweater vest. I wore it and I tried to figure out how many different outfits I could make out of that yellow sweater vest. Well, yellow sweater vests dont stay in style very long. I had to put it in a box, but I still have that yellow sweater vest. To me (you know what), it reminds me so much of that love my grandmother had for me, that while she was in California, she would buy something special for me. And, that special relationship that I had with her, and she is no longer with us, but it still reminds me of that special relationship that I did have with her. Children are like that yellow sweater vest. Theyre a precious gift that reminds us about how much God loves us and the special relationship that he wants to have with us. Children are so special to God that he has created them in a very, very special way. Lets look at Matthew 18: 1-4. Well start out with Verse 1, and Verse 1 says this: At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven? That was a pretty bold statement or question for the disciples to ask. I know they were not expecting the answer that Jesus would go on to give them. Lets look at Verse 2: He called the little child and had him stand among them. Dont you just think that Jesus said, Not only am I going to say this to you, but Im going to have you see it as well. And he brought this little child to stand with all these adults, so they could get a clear message about what he was going to say. Verse 3 says this: And he said, I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like these little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. We need to become like little children. What are children like? Theyre trusting and theyre sincere. They just desire to take everything in, and they want so much to be cared for and valued. And thats what Jesus said we need to be like too. We need to trust Him and be sincere about our belief in Him and desire to take in everything we can about Jesus and be loved and valued by Jesus. Lets end with Verse 4: Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Gods standard is that we be like a child. Children are so precious to God that He has created them in a very special way. There is woman who was getting ready to be a gardener for the first time. For us, a gardener means a teacher, in childrens ministry. She was a little bit nervous, and her preschooler picked up on that. She said to her mother, God wouldnt ask us to do something that we werent good at. And arent those the words that children would say when they are so precious to God that theyre created in a very, very special way. Lets look at another scripture. Children are so special to God that He desires to spend time with them. Lets look at Mark 10: 13-16. Verse 13 says, People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God, like a child, will never enter it. And He took the children in His arms, put his hands on them, and He blessed them. Cant you just picture Jesus? Hes sitting there and Hes heard the woes and the troubles of the adults all day long. And then, He sees the children, and He says to them, There you are children. Ive been waiting for you all day. Ive been looking forward to this time that I can spend just with you. Youre so refreshing from the troubles of adults. He scoops them up in his arms, and He hugs them. He probably laughs with them. I can picture Jesus doing that. They are so precious to God. A couple weeks ago, I had a chance to talk to the children about how important it is to not misuse Gods name and how it hurts Him when we do that. A week later, a little gal brought back a story. She said, I was out on the playground, and a classmate used Gods name wrong, and I told him that it hurts God when he does that. Well, the classmate just shrugged it off, and then she said to him, You know what? The only reason that you dont know how much it hurts God is because you dont God. And, arent those the words of a child so precious to God that He desires to spend time with them. Children are so precious to God that He gave specific ideas on training and instructions for them. We started out by talking about the verse in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 to impress on your children how important Gods commandments are-what we need to know about God. Lets look at Ephesians 6:4. 6:4 says, Fathers do not exasperate your children in God. Bring them up in the training and the instruction of the Lord. The battlefield is really in homes, isnt it? The hearts of the souls of the minds of children are on the frontline, and Satan knows this: If he can reach children, he can change the course or the direction for an entire generation. God wants so much for us to grasp this, to understand that all of us together, whether its through prayer or contact with children, or the children that God has given to us as gifts, we need to train them to know and to love the Lord. Lets go on and talk a little bit about what we do with this information, but more importantly, how can we train children, or transfer children, into spiritual champions? Again, spiritual champions are children who know what they believe in, why they believe in it, reflect Biblical principles, or Biblical perspectives, and love God and love others as well. Were going to talk about transforming children into spiritual champions using the four Ps. The first P is this: PURPOSE: Children need to understand their purpose. They need to know why God created them and what theyre doing here. We need to help them with that. Sometimes I think that we can make that a little bit more complicated than it is, but Luke 10:27 gives us a good idea of what God says is the purpose. It reads this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Weve heard that before this morning, havent we? God wants children to know that their purpose it to love Him and to love others as well. How can we do that? How can we help children know what their purpose is? We can do that by helping them know God intimately through prayers, Bible study, and reflecting and applying some of the lessons that we learn through life. One example that we could use with that would be, possibly, movies. Children love to watch videos of different kinds. I dont know about you, but sometimes its pretty discouraging to see what is available to children. Sometimes they bring on those cute animated stories, and theyre rated PG. So, it is important that we evaluate those things. Thats a real life application that children can make in their homes. Thats just one example. Lets go ahead and go on. Were going to talk about the second P. The second P is PERSPECTIVE: Children really need to understand and be able to develop their perspective. Again, what they believe to be true and what they base that truth on. From early on, children are taking in all kinds of information, trying to figure out the world around them, placing it in categories so it makes sense to them. As Ive already stated, what Barnes research shows us is that by the age of 13, pretty much their spiritual identity is in place. Theyve developed their spiritual direction or their Biblical perspective. Again, we can see how important it is for us to reach children at a very young age. How can we do that? How can we help children develop a Biblical perspective? We can help them by really reading, knowing, and applying Gods word and by lovingly motivating them to be obedient to God. An example that we might think of there, with perspective is, first, memorization. Thats a challenge for all of us, but memorizing verses that we, for our children, want them to store in their hearts to take with them and will remember and use for a lifetime. We want to start that early with them, so memorization is a good one for perspective. The next P is PROVISION: Provision means this: Children more than anything need to know that theyre loved, theyre cared for, and theyre valued. Through Barnas research, he found that if children really feel that theyre a significant human being, theyre really going to take more ownership of their spiritual development. What does that mean? It means that were going to see children if its modeled for them and they understand it, read the Bible on their own when they get to an age where they can do that, or pray on their own. So again, theyll take more ownership of their spiritual development. Again, how can we provide for children? Well, we want to provide for them by letting them know in a very tangible way that theyre loved, theyre cared for, and theyre valued. I think valued is a really important word in this piece. That is, again, children need to understand that they have some significance. An example we might use there is) around the home. Children could be given a task thats age-appropriate for them to do to contribute to the role of the family. The last P is PERFORMANCE: Performance means this: Children need to know that their spiritual development is NOT something that happens on a Sunday morning or even a devotional time at night. What they need to understand is that their spiritual development is life-long, and its moment to moment. Its something we live every single second of our lives. We could go on and talk about a lot of different things in there, but really what children need here is to be able to participate and do some kind of performance or act in a way that shows other people that they care about other people. One way they could do that is helping out a grandparent, maybe, or a neighbor. Theres lots of other ways children can help. Ive been so pleased with our children on Wednesday nights. The third Wednesday of the month, I go and pick up children from the House of Mercy, and Brenda and I have talked to the children about how important it is to make them feel welcomed in a place that feels like an okay place to be. We cant make them do that, but we have been so proud of them because they have done that. We call them our guests, and as our guests are here, we can see children going and sitting by our guests and initiating conversation with them. Can I go get you a snack? and really reaching out to them in a very tangible way. We are so pleased with what the children are doing. I think children do that a little bit better than we do many times. I want to be able to share a lot more about the 4 Ps with you, and Ill come back to that in a little bit as far as what I want to do with that. I just want to leave you with a couple thoughts. The first is this: If youre parents, it feels overwhelming. Thats true, because it is overwhelming. The other thing is this: If you have children that are over the age of 13, I dont want you to feel like its hopeless. This is the reason: Remember that Barna said the only reason that the world view doesnt change after the age of 13 is because they dont cross paths with anybody who challenges what they believe in a very, very real way. So we can challenge those teens and adults and make them really reflect on their world view that theyve developed. The other thing is this: Those numbers that I gave you, thats just Barnas research, isnt it? Those are what we see around us, but thats not Gods research at all. Thats not what God desires, and, in fact, in Second Peter, he tells us this: He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to parish, but everyone to come to repent Him. God doesnt want a 32 percent; He wants a 100 percent, but we can rest assured in this: We CAN reach children, and we can reach others for Him. What we need to do more than anything is to be willing. We need to be diligent about our own spiritual growth. With that, we need to invest in children and the life of those around us. Sometimes, again, what we can know is this: God will work. He will work sometimes through us, but sometimes Hell just work in spite of us. What I want to do is to let you know about something thats coming up in childrens ministry. This is really for those of you that do have children in the Garden, but we have a special, what were going to call a newsletter, but its called Growing in the Garden. What it will do is be able to give you an opportunity to take some information that the children learn on Sunday morning and reinforce that throughout the week. Because I cant talk about it now, there just isnt time, I set aside some time this week for you to meet together in the multi-purpose room, April 5 or April 9-Tuesday night or Saturday morning. Were going to meet together. I want to share that resource with you and some other resources. If you have some questions, we can talk about those as well. I want to thank you so much for the opportunity to come and share with you. Then well come back and share some songs with you. At that time, our children can come forward come up along the sides. If you have children in this preschool group that is coming up, what were going to do is- theyre going to end today. What I want to do is-youll just come up here and check them out with us after their song is done. Thank you. Pastor Jeff: The truths that weve learned today help them to apply to us and just to live them; that as parents, grandparents, we will be more determined than ever to, not only to model, but to teach your values and your truths to our children. Thank you for the ministry that we have here, for Jonanne, for Brenda, for all the teachers, Gardeners, we ask You to bless them. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!