A Might Expectation - Children's Ministry at Grace Life Church

Or is he worthy? Is he worthy of our songs? Let the people say he is. Is he worthy of our gospel efforts for children? He is. Thank you worship team for that. It is my joy and privilege to be here, proclaim the word this morning. Let's open up our copies of God's word back to book of Mark chapter 10. Title this message this morning is a mighty expectation. Children's ministry at Grace Live Church. You might recognize that title. Brother Chris has challenged us to have a mighty expectation in the life and work of a local church. This is years ago the first time I preached to fill in for Brother Chris.

And it was in my heart and I share this often time, probably every time I preach. I didn't want to be the associate pastor that folks dread and I had my prayer that the Lord would move his church forward with every opportunity that we had to do ministry. And that became my heart's prayer for every mission trip, every VBS, every youth trip. And we went on and on for years after many vacation Bible schools and many children's classes from our earliest days of Nola Baptist Church and we had yet to see a single child converted. This went on from our earliest days of 2010 when our kids were little and progressing till youth camp four years ago.

And I accompanied Brother Chris as we were trying a new youth camp and we went and my heart's longing was that God would move his church forward. Not that we would have conversions per se or that we would have decisions per se but that we had a mighty expectation that God's kingdom work would move forward. And so when Brother Chris began challenging us here recently it brought about my heart's desire which has been so prevalent and growing over the years. And I would just like to ask you if you're ready for VBS. Amen. Is he worthy? It's going to sound trivial and trite but is he worthy of our vacation Bible school?

Is he worthy of our efforts to play kickball and to sing songs and to do the funny, silly motions that will stay in your mind for the better part of decades? He is worthy of all of our efforts and you guys have been working very, very hard. As you know we rent this as a wedding venue. We had a wedding yesterday so VBS preparations and the posters and all the decorations has been really compressed into a 12 hour window. In a typical week heading up to VBS our ladies are throughout the halls 7, 8, 10 days before the event but we were blessed that the wedding got done early and we were able to set up.

So thank you for all your preparations and I thank you ahead of time. But tonight we will have nearly 60 children in the halls of this church. It should be our largest VBS especially on an opening night. And so it's always important for us to look into the Bible. To look at why we do what we do. Brother Chris asked me to preach from Mark chapter 10 verses 13 through 16 which is the text you will remember we preach this every year and a message like this is important to ask why we do vacation Bible school. Because we have a mighty expectation it is important to remind ourselves of this from scripture. Let's read this text again.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them. The disciples rebuked him but when Jesus saw it he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them. For to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them laying his hands on them. We sang that you are unchanging. You know our God is unchanging. In the garden Jesus prayed for all who would believe upon him. He's been praying for you ever since, believer.

And those children that he took in his hands to bless and to pray for, he had been praying for before the foundations of the earth. Amen. I'm so thankful for our worship team to sing songs of God's greatness because when we seek to bring children to Jesus we are bringing them to a great God who has been praying for them and who seeks to bless them. Our God is in the blessing business and he wants to bless children and he wants to do it through you this week. When you're having a tough day you can be encouraged that he's been blessing you before the foundations of the earth.

So every year your pastoral staff and your elders want to lay out a biblical justification for why we do VBS. You know there are some who are too spiritual for children's ministry. There are some people who even believe that age segregation or age division is unbiblical. The Bible might refer to that as being overly righteous and so it's important that we set out a biblical apologetic or a defense for what we do. But also I was thinking of my football playing days which were not things I need to talk about really. I played football, I didn't really play actually.

But I do remember they gave me a helmet and some pads and I got to play the part and I remember the halftime speeches and the coach would walk in and he would tell them and I won't do his voice it was amazing. New Orleans accent but he would say over and over we need 42 minutes of hard nose football. And I would say I probably will have 42 minutes of handing people water. But just as a coach would sort of try to encourage the players to do their dead level best. I believe the Lord would have us be encouraged to fight the good fight that is actually children's ministry and we have a mighty expectation.

And I think a message like this is vital for three reasons. I think we need to look back with praise to God. We need to look out with excitement for the 50 plus children, 54 kids signed up and registered. And we also need to look ahead with a mighty expectation. So I will begin by calling us to look back with exaltation or praise. I'm going to ask Brother Mack to show a picture on the screen. Now I can date this picture by the age of my children. So you'll notice that my 8 year old son is on my daughter's lap and she's already mad at me for showing this picture I can tell. Annie is also mad but Maggie is probably furious at me.

But there's a very spiritual reason for this picture. Now you'll notice this is not VBS but they have Easter baskets. So if I did the math, camp is 8 year old now, that would have put him at 5 months old. So Annie who is now married is holding a child above her is Maggie holding another little children another child. We see Amelia and Amory right there in the front. We see Alec and the parents are already doing the math. I remember every single one of these children. If I don't remember a name necessarily, I remember their parents, I remember going to their house to minister to them, to pray for them.

I remember playing recreation across the street of Nolabab's church in a field. We cut that grass and I was in charge of recreation before Dylan and Matt showed up and I could delegate that responsibility. Probably for 10 years I was the recreation guy. Lots of stories, lots of tears. Not all of these children were reached. Some are in the world today. I text through Messenger, one of these young men who is not living for the Lord. But his messages were of kindness and well-wishing.

It's as if he were to say, "Brother Keith, I still love you." And it's as if I would have told him, "And I love you." And when we look back at these pictures and these stories, we're looking more than a trip down memory lane. As you know, Nolabab's church nearly closed in 2010 when Brother Chris took it as an interim. And he challenged a group of 10 to 12 people to strive to become a true church. Chris and Clarissa Travis were in that meeting. And last week I took the youth to youth camp and Chris Travis was a chaperone and we talked the entire way there, five and a half hours, all about what God had done at Nolabab's church.

We were amazed at what he's doing now. That the young children in these pictures are now married or they're in college or they're working and some are in the world but some are living for Jesus. And isn't that the beauty of the gospel that we don't have to figure the results out? The God who is unchanging is in charge and that's His business. All we have to do is hold these children in our arms and to love them and strive to bring them to Jesus. And it's important to note that Vacation Bible School and all of our children's ministries played a critical role in church revitalization.

See those days when we were sweating and playing games, we thought it was just in this moment but God had a bigger picture. I can still think of the kickball games that we would play or the dodgeball game which was my go to. And I can turn around in my mind and I can look at that building and I can say although the building has changed and the kids are grown up, in just a few short hours we will do the same work because God is unchanging. He has always been in the business of blessing children. It was never about Vacation Bible School, just as it is not about Vacation Bible School this evening. It's about God moving His church forward.

We have a mighty expectation. In those early days we had four commitments which God used to rebuild. Preaching the word, prayer, loving others, and biblical children's ministry. I think our older young people can attest, now young adults, they can attest to the effectiveness of that, that the Lord somehow in His mysterious way ministered to them through people, through making the sandwich, making snacks, through arts and crafts. So as I move on from the introduction, I want us to think about why we don't do VBS. The first teaching point this morning, let's look at why we don't do Vacation Bible School.

We don't do VBS just because everyone else does it. It's got to be more than that. You know we are in the Bible Belt in the south. I was at the pool with camp earlier this week and I ran into a person who brings his kids to our VBS and not a member of our church, but he joked that his kids go to all of the churches and all of their VBS. It is almost like parents have a buffet of all the churches in town. And we will see lots of children who have already, you can ask them in your group when they cycle through, how many of you have already been to a VBS? The majority of those kids have already been to one and they're going to a few more.

And in about 11 days, I will board an airplane along with other folks from Grace Life and we're going to go to Canada and we are going to help another partner church conduct a VBS in Canada. They don't have a VBS on every corner. It is not a part of Bible Belt religiosity. In fact, there's a lot of hostility to Christ. So what we think is normal and comfortable is actually, I'm afraid, something that numbs us to the gospel. We can see it as something that everybody does. It's just part, we remember going to VBS as kids. And if we're not careful, we will be lulled into a religious malaise, asleep, and we'll go through the motions.

And that's not why we do VBS. We do VBS the same reason why we sing songs and worship and preach the gospel and have our fall fellowship and our hayride because we want to love the community with the gospel. The second reason why we do not do VBS, it's not because God needs us to do it. You know that God has called us into fellowship and work with him, not because he needs us or needs our efforts. But it is incredibly liberating when we minister to children, not because God is depending on us, but because God has been blessed through calling us. Do you realize that when you love children, you're blessing the Lord? He loves that.

When we see the picture in Mark 13, moms and dads taking their kids, handing them over to Jesus, him touching them. I have this image of Jesus holding a little child and smiling and you this week get to be the hands and feet that hold children and allow Christ to touch them through you. And you can do that through recreation. You can do that through singing, through the motions. A lot of it is just damage control. Amen. It's keeping children from being at flight risk, running around and holding them. But we are trying to love lovingly. Take a child and gaze at Christ, that Christ would capture their imagination and their attention.

Just a few thoughts before we move on. Ephesians 2.10 has become my life verse. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And I believe the key to you laboring for the Lord successfully at VBS this week is this, and I would challenge you. Whatever activity you're doing, do it as if the Lord has predestined to you for it before the foundations of the earth. I think, ladies, if you're going to make a sandwich for children, I think the sandwich will be a whole lot better and enjoyable to make for you if you realize before the foundations of the earth.

God wanted me to make this precious child a sandwich. If you're playing kickball, instead of just going through the motions, you play kickball as if the Lord has determined from forever ago that you would play kickball with that child. Because otherwise it just becomes part of something that we do because everyone does it. Our task this week, VBS worker and volunteer, is that you work hard and work with joy because God indeed has called you. He did predestined you forever ago to love children. And we have a mighty expectation that the Lord is going to use this. So the second teaching point this morning, we looked at why we don't do VBS.

Let's look at why we do Vacation Bible School. The first reason is because we have a story to tell. Amen. We have a story to tell children and this is the gospel. We will strive to answer six questions of the gospel very quickly. I was a reporter for a very short time. I actually worked for a newspaper for about four months. Before that I was the sports editor for my high school newspaper. And obviously I'm very athletic so they let me write about it. But every reporter is asked to ask individuals six questions. Who what when where why and how. So let's look at the who of the gospel. Who are the gospel is Jesus.

These children were brought to Jesus. He is the who of the gospel. What is the what of the gospel or the action of the gospel. This is Jesus touching children. Dear friend you have not received the gospel if you've never been touched by Christ. Remember Abram before he became Abraham. He wrestled with a man that was Christ. And at the end of the all night wrestling match Christ touched him and he was changed. The action or the what of the gospel is Christ touching children. It's our hope and expectation that this week Jesus is going to touch a child who will never be the same. What about the when of the gospel. When is a child come to Christ.

You notice that these children were brought to Christ by their father. You received the gospel when your father God brought you to Christ. Right Jesus said it no man comes to me unless the father draws him and it is our prayer that young children this week will experience the when of the gospel as you are singing the gospel to them as you're sharing a lesson to them. The Holy Spirit will take their hearts and will convict them of their sin. What is the the where of the gospel. Notice that the children were brought into the hands of Christ. You are saved when Jesus takes you in his hands and blesses you and touches you and changes you.

What about the the why of the gospel. Why was Jesus blessing these children. Because he wanted to. Why we bring children to Jesus. He wants to bless them. He didn't need us. He loves to bless his children. And what about the how how does a child come to Christ. How do we come to Christ. Well we come like a child. We come with nothing to offer. We come helpless. We come dependent upon him. And we have VBS. And the reason we do VBS is because we have a story to tell. You might recognize this song that we sing. I have sung it to all of my children. I sing it to your children. It is one of my favorite songs.

But I also sing it in big church as kids refer to it. The gospel song. Every God in love. Became perfect man to bear my blame. On the cross he took my sin. And by his death I live. So we do VBS first because we have a story to tell but also because we are commanded to go. Surely you've read the Great Commission in Matthew 28 19 and 20. So therefore make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age. And you know you can do this in an age appropriate way.

In fact age appropriate gospel presentation is the heart of VBS and it's the heart of children's ministry. But we also do VBS because Jesus modeled it. Jesus modeled children's ministry. He brought children. He welcomed children. He blessed children. He loved children. I keep going back in my mind that Jesus smiling. With the very children he created. Connected to that we do VBS because Jesus loves children. We sang this as children. Right? Jesus loves me. This I know. Word about Jesus loves the little children all the little children of the world. We believe these songs are biblical and true. He blessed them. He laid hands on them.

And I don't believe he did it because he had to. And also we do VBS because children model how we come to Christ. Jesus used children to teach his disciples the gospel. And more specifically he did this to teach them the how of the gospel. We read it this morning Mark 10 15. Truly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. So the third teaching point this morning is how we do VBS. How do we do it? We simply bring children to Christ. Let's read this again. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them and the disciples rebuked them. Let's look at a little bit of context here.

Parents were bringing infants and children to Jesus. This was not uncommon. In fact typically parents would bring children to rabbis to have rabbis pray and bless them. Similar to things that we might see in local churches. Luke emphasizes in his account that these children were infants. So from Luke's account brand new babies brought to Jesus. Mark uses the term that is more general for children. So this would tell us that children were not just infants but they were of all ages. And Jesus uses this as a teaching moment. He's not only blessing children but he's teaching about gospel receptivity.

Gospel receptivity is a lesson about how we need to come to Christ and we come to him daily. At youth camp last week and on a weekly basis actually as I teach the young people I enjoy hearing about the activities your young teenagers are involved in. Do you know that we bring as parents our children to experts, coaches, physicians, teachers and we're doing this that these individuals will bless them with certain knowledge and guidance. I love hearing about how our youth enjoy their work. Some of them have jobs. They are runners. They are tennis players. They're involved in dancing and tumbling, archery and they're involved in school.

They don't like talking about that as much. But why do we as parents bring them to experts so that they would be benefited by it? They would be blessed by it. We love them. And such is the way that children are brought to Christ. If we're coming to church because we have to, we may not be bringing them to Jesus. If we are bringing our children to church as if the words of Scripture as it is sung and taught, these are the words of life. God forgive us if we do a better job of bringing our kids to coaches than bringing our children to Christ. Now let me say that again.

God forgive us if we do a better job of bringing our children to coaches than we do at bringing our children to Christ. And see, I think we bring our children to Christ, not just from church, but we do this while we are going along the ways. Deuteronomy 6 tells us. Are we bringing our children to Christ at home in our daily life through church involvement? And yes, in activities. We spend time with our children in activities because we are hoping that they would see Christ the way we see Him. Just a few questions for you parents. Are you personally bringing your children to Jesus through your example?

Are you prioritizing the ministries of the church that strive to bring your child to Christ? Do your kids see you studying the Bible? Your kids see you sharing the Gospel? Do your kids see you in prayer? Are you intentional in God's Word at home? But also have questions for the lost. See, I'm afraid some of you in the sound of my voice don't know what it means to come to Christ in childlike faith. See children come to Christ the way a child would run to his father when he's scared. Or the way he would run to his mom when he has skinned his knee and he's hurt. Some of you might have come to church, but you've never come to Christ like a child.

This message is for you as well. If you come to Christ feeling the weight of your sin, feeling that you need the who of the Gospel, that you need Christ. And unfortunately, we have the disciples in this text at one of the worst moments in their public ministry with Jesus. See, they actually were hindering children. If you look at verse 13 in the second half of this in Chapter 10, "And the disciples rebuked them." That means they rebuked the parents, but they by default were becoming an obstacle and a hurdle to children. The disciples, Scripture tells us, used a harsh rebuke. You can imagine a loud voice by rebuking the adults.

They were actually blocking the children and being a hindrance. Jesus was indignant. And do you know that, dear friends, as a warning, Jesus will be angry with us if we are a hindrance to children. We will face our Lord at the judgment and we will give an account to how we treated that which is most precious to him. What are some people doing today that blocks children from Christ? What about distraction? Have you become distracted with your work, dads, moms? Hypocrisy. Is there something different in your walk than your talk? What about sin? These disciples were in sin. Jesus doesn't get angry unless we're in sin.

Do you realize that it is our sin that provokes righteous anger of God and Jesus is angry at his disciples they've sinned? In fact, we would say they were miles away from the heart of God on this issue. They were not on the Mount of Transfiguration here. They were not in the garden with Christ unless they were asleep. And we ourselves, parents, can find ourselves in sin that easily entangles. And it is these sins, seasons of a bad attitude, of bitterness, of anger, not forgiving someone that can block our children. What about indifference? Have you become indifferent to the things of God because of worldliness? What about lethargy?

Have you fallen asleep? Our young people this last week heard wonderful messages entitled, "Wake up." The theme was staying awake, being ready for the return of Christ. But it is easy to be lulled to sleep and go through the motions of religious activity. And without knowing it, we become a stumbling block to our children. Do you know that a thriving pulpit ministry is the engine of VBS? I mean it. For us to have a mighty expectation, and if we have a mighty expectation, it is because our pastor is faithfully preaching the Word and we are striving to become expository listeners. We are listening with intent and with effort.

And we're taking these lessons home. And we have seen the Lord do this work. In conclusion, it's important that we bring up home life discipleship, as Brother Chris has challenged us with. But home life discipleship is the key. Your pastoral staff wants you to know that we want to do more here. Brother Chris and I talk and we dream and we pray, just as we have prayed for years, that the Lord would enable us to add more ministries and bring more children to Christ to be blessed. We're seeking God's heart in these things. How might we move the kingdom of God forward through additional church ministries? So why do we do VBS?

What is our mighty expectation for children's ministry? It is simply this. VBS matters. It's a big deal. I don't know that I would have articulated it quite this way, but as a kid going to VBS, at some point I kind of thought it was like miniature ministry. I don't remember the godliest people I know. It seemed as though, you know, growing up as a kid, they weren't really involved in VBS. It seemed something that was really sort of just kind of something that we did. It wasn't as if the full attention of the word of God as it's being birthed in our hearts is concentrated, putting all of our efforts and all of our thoughts into this.

Is it going to be just miniature ministry for you or will you have a mighty expectation? You know, unbeliever this morning, if you're unconverted, you know all believers receive the gospel the same way, like a child. Believer you remember when you came to Christ for the first time in his arms, gazing at his face and he touched you. If you've never been touched with the gospel, you've never come to faith, saving faith in Christ. I will repeat the gospel song that I said earlier. The message is it is not complicated. It is simple. It just cost you everything. That a holy God in love became Christ, the perfect man to bear my blame.

And on the cross, he took my sin and by his death I live. Have you come to Christ this morning that way? Or did you go through a Baptist, a Baptist, a baptismal waters with your own effort in your own self sufficiency? See children have no self sufficiency and they were the perfect tool for grown ups to learn their need and even some very, very religious and godly disciples. So may we learn what the Lord has for us this week at VBS. One challenge to our Canada team, this has been on my heart, you're going to Canada to do VBS. Let's not treat this week as a warm up. Every child who comes through the door is the most important child. Amen?

And let's not look past and as if we're just going to tune up to take our show on the road. God loves all the children of the world, those in Mississippi and Canada. Let's close in prayer and our praise team will lead us in a closing song.