Praying for Our Children and VBS - Seeking the Bread of Heaven

Alright, tonight we should be continuing in Acts chapter 16. As a matter of fact, I thoroughly enjoyed on a personal level what we studied in last week's message in Acts when we saw that Paul and Silas were in prison. But I want us to turn our attention tonight to vacation Bible school and our children by looking at some verses that I teach on at least once a year. And that is Jesus teaching on prayer from Luke chapter 11. Now before we get started I want to explain why this has been on my mind, why this has been on my heart actually all week. Of course we have VBS right in front of us. That's obvious to see.

And vacation Bible school is a big part of the children's ministry here in our church. And this Sunday I will preach what I always preach to kick off vacation Bible school. That is the question, why do we do VBS? Now actually I didn't preach that message last year. I was out because of the death of my dad. But I want us to see how the teaching of Luke 11 applies to vacation Bible school. Now actually this teaching calls us to a tremendous responsibility we have here in vacation Bible school. But more important and even beyond vacation Bible school I want us to see the great need and responsibility with our children.

We have many children in our church who are old enough to savingly believe in Christ but they have not. We have many children in our church who are just not converted to Christ so that means we have many children who are lost and desperately in need of Christ. So I will relate and I will apply this teaching here in Luke 11 to vacation Bible school which is very important but more important. I will relate and apply this to our children and their great need to be converted to Christ. Now before we get into what I call the heart of the teaching I want us to read verse 1 Luke 11. And I want to make a few comments just about verse 1.

"And it came about while he," this is Jesus, "was praying in a certain place after he had finished one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray just as John,'" now this would be John the Baptist, "also taught his disciples." Now the first thing we need to see here is quite simple. We are a lot like the disciples far more than we know. We are a lot like the disciples to me in two different ways. First of all if we do not know how to pray like we see here in Luke 11 we need to be taught to pray. Every time I teach this material I am always reminded of the fact that we can have new people in the life of our church.

What I mean by new is this, they have never heard this teaching so therefore they may need to know how to pray like we see here. But then second, and this is really not in the verse, it is found all throughout the Gospels. But this is the reason that I come back to this teaching once a year. It is simple, we forget. We forget. Jesus had to constantly remind his disciples of things he had taught them thoroughly because they forgot. And we do too. So this is all about learning to pray and being reminded the truth and the facts concerning prayer that we do know and we should know.

But remember we are far more forgetful than we know and I am reminded of that each time I teach this material because it always seems that at least one person comes to me and says, "Pastor you taught that a year ago but I sure needed it today." Maybe you are the one that needs it today. But two things that we need to start off with in the verse. First of all we see that the disciples, and I am going to use this term, they were spiritually energized. They were motivated spiritually by observing Jesus in his prayer life.

The text says they knew John the Baptist was a man of prayer and they also knew Jesus was a man of prayer because they certainly saw Jesus pray. The text says that he went to a certain place. We clearly see that Jesus prayed in many places in the Gospels. We see this at his baptism in Luke 3.21. We see that he prayed during his first preaching mission in Luke 5.16. He prayed before he chose the twelve disciples in Luke 6.12-13. He prayed before he fed the five thousand in Mark 14.19 and after he fed the five thousand in Matthew 14.23. He prayed before Peter's famous confession in Luke 9.18. He prayed at the transfiguration in Luke 9.28-29.

He prayed before the cross in John 28. He prayed at the Last Supper in Matthew 26.26-27. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26 starting in verse 36. So it is safe to say that the disciples saw Jesus in prayer. Now there are two lessons right here. First, seeing the prayer life of Jesus reminds us of his humanity. We saw Jesus humanity this past Sunday, but right here this reminds us of Jesus humanity. Jesus prayed as he did because he relied on his father for strength and power and guidance. And that's hard for some to get their minds around. But then second, out of what we see here, prayer is caught as well as taught.

Prayer is caught as well as taught. Let me explain. Prayer needs to be demonstrated. Prayer needs to be modeled. Therefore it's caught. We should be teaching prayer to others by praying with them. I learned how to pray in my early years as a Christian quite a few years ago by praying with men who knew how to pray. I think you know what I mean by caught. But then second right here, the disciples were spiritually motivated. They were spiritually energized by Jesus teaching on prayer. We haven't got to that yet. The disciples knew that John and Jesus were men of prayer. So they asked their Lord to teach them how to pray, and he did.

And look, church, this is why we must revisit teaching on prayer often. As a matter of fact, I need to branch out from Luke 11, one of the verses or blocks of scripture on prayer that is on my heart, and that is Luke chapter 18. Now let's read the verses which are the heart of the message starting in verse 5. Starting in verse 5, going down to verse 13. "And he thus Jesus said to them," that's the disciples, "suppose one of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend lend me three loaves.'" That would be loaves of bread.

"For a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And from inside he shall answer and say, 'Do not bother me, the door has already been shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything, because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

Now, suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he asks for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, that would mean sinful, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Now, this is how we will divide the verses. I want to make three or four observations. First, we will see the parable that Jesus teaches, verse 5 to 8. Second, we will see the prayer that Jesus gives, verses 9 to 10.

Third, there's a principle from the teaching that he gives, in verse 11 to 13, or the first part of verse 13, and then in the last part of verse 13, last, we will see a promise is given. So, there's the parable that teaches the prayer that Jesus gives, the principle from the teaching, and then the promise. I'll go ahead and tell you, there are a lot of words that start with a P in this message. Some of you know that. So, number one, the parable. The parable. We see that in verses 5 to 8. I will not read those verses again.

Now, the parable is easy to see, and because I have taught on this parable and others before, we should know what a parable is. But I will make sure you understand. Simply, a Bible parable is an earthly story that is meant to communicate spiritual truth. A Bible parable is an earthly story that is put alongside or within spiritual truth for the purpose of illustrating and revealing spiritual truth. Let me give you an example of a parable, a cultural parable that we all know. The parable of the little boy who cried wolf.

The earthly story is of a shepherd boy who repeatedly tricks villagers by falsely claiming that a wolf is attacking his sheep. And when the wolf finally does come, no one believes him and no one helps him. Well, what is the truth in the story? Remember, a parable contains a truth. Well, the truth in the story is this. When someone lies consistently and constantly, then people will not believe them when they are telling the truth. Repeated dishonesty ruins credibility. Now, before we get into the teaching, I want us to see the context of the parable kind of explaining the parable because it's a little foreign to us. I get it.

This story consists of a Jewish home where the family was all asleep in one room. And even though this is not the norm in our day, that was very normal in their day. Most of their homes had one room and it was normal for families to sleep on a large mat in that one room and there would be a large door with some kind of a bolt for security, some kind of a lock for security. And for the father to get up and open the door meant that he would disturb the entire family because the friend came at midnight. And the man does respond and open the door. We see that clearly in the parable.

Now, if you do some reading, you'll come across some commentators who point out specifics that seem unusual in the parable. Let me address them. First, this individual seemed to have been traveling at night. That's what it really was. But scholars tell us that night travel was not strange or uncommon in their day. Honestly, people would travel at night to avoid the heat. And then second, that this friend went to another friend at such a late hour. This seems unusual, but in that culture, hospitality to strangers and travelers was the expected norm.

Even though this was an inconvenient time, the man inside would have been expected to provide a welcome and meet the needs that the man had. Scholars tell us that many times visitors would even be the guest of others in the community, maybe even the entire community. So there was a great responsibility and an expectation on the host and the man that was already asleep with his family. Now, out of these verses, I want us to see that Jesus is teaching two lessons which are centered on two words. This is out of the parable now. The two words are perspective and persistence. First, we have a lesson on perspective, verses 5 to 6.

Verses 5 to 6 are meant to teach perspective. We can change that to vision. And the perspective cannot be on the man traveling at night nor the inconvenience for the family. The perspective must be on the friend or the man in need. He had a real life need, and even though this need came at an inconvenient time, the focus, the perspective, must be on the need of the friend. So there's a lesson on perspective in prayer. Second, we have a lesson on persistence. We see that in verses 7 to 8. Verses 7 to 8 are meant to teach persistence.

This is easier to see than the lesson on perspective, and we need to understand that this word persistence is very important. The English Standard Version reads impudence. The New American I'm reading from tonight says persistence. This word can also be translated accurately as boldness or shamelessness. You know me, I'm going to quote the Amplified sooner or later. It reads, "Yet because of a shameless persistence and insistence." And all of those translations are accurate. This word speaks of an urgency. This word speaks of a relentlessness, an insistence, a persistence. I like the Amplified. Again, shameless, persistence, and insistence.

So this is a lesson on persistence in prayer. So here in these verses, we have this earthly story that is infused with two lessons on prayer. This is all about having perspective in prayer, and this is all about having persistence in prayer. I've used this example before, but really you can't find one any better. Some of you know the Old Testament, so you'll get this. In Genesis 18 starting in verse 22, we see that Abraham had perspective, vision in prayer, and persistence in prayer in his intercession for Sodom, but who was the object of his prayer? His nephew Lot. He had a friend, Lot, who was in need, his nephew.

And we know he had this kind of perspective because that turned into persistence in prayer. He just wouldn't let God go. So he illustrates this teaching perfectly. Now, a question or two here now, and we need the Lord to reveal this to us. It's one thing for me to ask the question. It's another thing for the Lord to answer it in your mind and in your heart. We could call that Holy Spirit conviction. Do we truly see the needs that are around us? Do we really see the many different needs in our brothers and sisters that God has brought into our church? Now, I'm speaking Christian to Christian now. Do we really see the needs that are around us?

Do we really see the many different needs in our brothers and sisters that God has brought into our lives? Many times on Wednesday nights, those personal needs are shared. In small groups, many times those needs are shared. Do we see the great needs of the lost around us? Now, I'm getting to where I want to go. Do we see the needs of the lost, specifically our children and teenagers? Do we even recognize that we have lost children, lost teenagers in our midst? And do we see, remember now, perspective? Do we see our children and teenagers as unchristian or lost and on their way to hell and deserving hell?

You may say, "Pastor, are you saying my children who are unconverted are deserving of hell?" Yes. All sinners, all men are deserving of hell. Well, what about this persistence now, all right? What about this persistence? What about this persistence in prayer? Do we see those needs and then forget? Do we remember those needs in prayer and then we just kind of pray for a little while and then forget? Do we see these needs when someone preaches on prayer? Do we see these needs when there is a crisis? Do we see the needs and then we forget? I really think we need the Lord to do a work with these two words.

Perspective, that's even seeing the needs. And then persistence. You can't have persistence when it comes to a particular need if you don't have the perspective. Next, number two, the prayer. I do want us to look back at verse 9 and 10, the prayer. "And I say to you," notice he's transitioning from the parable, "ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be open to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, it shall be opened." Here Jesus moves away from the parable and we will see that he did not teach on what to pray but on how to pray. Notice that?

He did not teach on what to pray but on how to pray. And in teaching how to pray, Jesus gives four lessons on prayer here. And these are seen in some words here that I want us to write down, four words. Position, progression, perpetual and promise. I told you this was going to be a lot of words that start with P. First the lesson on position. This is not clearly spelled out but it's most definitely there. But in the original, this word ask here is often used of an inferior asking of a superior. Of course we know that the one asking is man and the one being asked or approached is God.

So the lesson here is only a proper position in prayer and the proper position in prayer is that of submission and humility you see. Here Jesus gives his disciples a short series of commands. They are right there, three words, ask, seek and knock. Jesus even repeats them in the verse. And we need to see that these are not suggestions or soft commands. All three words are imperative verbs which tells us quite a lot. If you know your English, you know what I'm getting at. First that Jesus was commanding his disciples to boldly and even aggressively come to God.

And second, these words ask, seek and knock become increasingly more bold and intense. This tells us that Jesus was commanding his disciples to become progressively and increasingly more bold in their approach to God. Now let me pause here. You could say, "Well, Pastor Chris, you just said we're to come in submission and humbly, not having the wrong attitude in the approach. But is this contradictory to come bold?" No. This tells us that Jesus was commanding his disciples to come progressively and increasingly more bold in their approach.

So this is a lesson on progression in prayer and a lesson on being progressively and increasingly more bold in prayer while staying humble in that position in prayer. The third lesson, a lesson on perpetual prayer. These commands ask, seek and knock. They're in the present tense. They're present tense commands, which means that Jesus was commanding his disciples to keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking. If you write in their Bible, you can kind of write out there, "Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking," because that's what he's saying. It's in the present tense. So this is a lesson on perpetual prayer as well.

Fourth, the promise, verse 10. Here we see that an all-inclusive promise, Jesus was teaching his disciples that all who ask, seek and knock, the door will be open. This was and is an obvious promise to prayer, an obvious promise to answer prayer. Of course, the everyone are those who know Christ. Jesus was not teaching some kind of a universalism in prayer that anybody can come to him in prayer like this. So this is a lesson on God's promise to answer prayer. So here we have Jesus teaching from the parable. Jesus tells his disciples exactly how they should pray, and he starts off with posture. This is not what to pray, but how.

He says, "Keep on asking very humbly, keep on seeking very humbly, keep on knocking very humbly." Oh, but keep on asking boldly, keep on seeking boldly, keep on knocking boldly, and with an increasing boldness. So notice, this is with great humility and submission, but great boldness and persistence, even a shamelessness. Now, in application, we must see that having a proper perspective, notice a proper perspective in prayer is proven by engaging in persistent prayer. You can't have persistent prayer without perspective.

But this is fleshed out by progressively asking, seeking, and then knocking, and a keep on keeping on in prayer, a keep on keeping on by asking, seeking, and knocking. See how it's all tying together? Some rhetorical questions. How are we at this kind of prayer and prayer life for ourselves in our serious needs? How are we at this kind of prayer and prayer life for the needs of our brothers and sisters that God has brought into our lives? Remember now, we have been living the Christian life around each other for years. We know a lot about one another as we should.

We know some of the deepest, hardest struggles that some of our brothers and sisters are going through. How are we at this kind of prayer and prayer life for the needs of the brothers and sisters right next to us? Remember, we have a friend who has come at midnight, and they have a legitimate need. But here's where I'm trying to get to. How are we at this kind of prayer and prayer life for the lost around us? Even our children, our little boys and girls that we know that run around the halls of our church, our children, your children, our children, do we pray like this for their salvation? Or do we just kind of assume that it'll just happen?

I think that if we are passive and we just assume it's going to happen, we get into a ditch. We're wrong. I think we should be boldly, progressively, actively praying like we see here, like we see here. Now, let's look at verse 10 again, and let's look back at the promise. Verse 10, "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be open." Now, isn't that a clear promise? Do you see it? The door will be open. Now, look, church, I do believe certain doors are not open because we do not pray like we see here.

Now, I don't understand how all this messes together with God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. That's a great mystery there. Look at the promise. It's a clear promise. It's certain. I don't understand how it all comes together, but I do believe certain doors are not open because we do not pray like we see here. In my study this week, I ran across some Spurgeon material on prayer, and it blessed me. Maybe this will bless you. He said, and I'm quoting, "If the Lord had not been willing to give, he would not have set you to praying." Let me pause there. Is this teaching in Luke 11 supposed to set us to prayer and to praying?

Again, he said, "If the Lord had not been willing to give, he would not have set you to praying." And the point is this. He is explaining that the desire to pray itself is evidence of God's sovereign intention to bless. Now, I don't want to act like God is in heaven on His throne, and we can just pull His chain. No. What Spurgeon is pointing out here is this. If God has called us to pray and set us to pray, He desires to bless. This is evidence that God desires to work. Now, look at how all this is building and unfolding. We see the position in prayer. We see the progression in prayer. We see perpetual prayer, and now we see a promise.

I don't know about you, but I have been convicted quite a lot this week, and I've taught on this for years. Honestly, I can take my old New American Standard Bible here, and I can preach this entire message without notes. I have the outline in my Bible. I've preached it for years. But I found myself this week realizing I needed the reminder probably more than you. Next, number three, the principle, verses 11 to 13. There's a shift here. Now, suppose one of you fathers-- I have many fathers in the room-- is asked by a son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

Or if he asks for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Now, here we see Jesus being a storyteller again, but notice that Jesus gives another parable in the form of two questions. It's another parable. You may not realize it. But we need to see something about this parable. This is not a continuation of the previous parable, but it does have one thing in common with the previous parable-- food. Food.

And just like before, these were ordinary things, common things that the disciples, any who were listening, would have been familiar with. So this parable would have made perfect sense to the disciples, although there is a part of this parable in the two questions that's a little absurd. It's a little bit on the crazy side. Now, the three observations I want us to make here, this will lead us to the principle. First, the language changes. That's easy. Starting in verse 11, this is a new parable. We see a shift from a friend notice to a father, and not just any father, ultimately.

But then second, the second observation, these bizarre examples, the hypothetical example that Jesus is presenting here is really unimaginable. And this would have really gotten the attention of those disciples just like it does us, if we pay attention. Now, think about it. We know that some of the disciples were married. The Scriptures say that Peter was married, so it would be natural to assume that he had children. So they would have seen this as very strange because no parent, no parent, would give their child a snake or a scorpion if they ask for fish or bread or an egg. It's kind of obvious.

So these are kind of some bizarre, strange examples. So first, the language changes. Second, the bizarre examples. Third, we need to see there's a style of argument here. You may not see it unless you do some study. But within this hypothetical situation, there is this style of argument or reasoning that was very common among teachers in the day. Often teachers would reason from the lesser to the greater so as to make a point, and that is what we have here. This argument starts with sinful parents who would never give their children a snake when they needed bread.

Obviously, even sinful parents will provide or would provide the needs of their children. And within the argument, we see two questions. Basically, Jesus was saying something like this to his disciples. I'm putting it in my words. Even though you were sinful parents, will you not meet the needs of your children when they ask? You see it? Jesus is saying something like this. Even though you were sinful people and sinful parents, will you not meet the needs of your children who ask? It's kind of plain to see. So here we see a principle talk. Even sinful parents provide for the needs of their children.

And we must see that this principle really is not meant to be applied to earthly parents but to God. So this is the principle. If a sinful earthly father lovingly meets the needs of his children, how much more will a loving, perfect, heavenly father meet the needs of his people? You see the principle? If a sinful, imperfect, earthly father lovingly meets the needs of his children, well how much more will a loving, heavenly father meet the needs of his people going from the lesser to the greater to make the point and illustrate the principle?

And for us we must see that if we are born-again believers now, God is our heavenly father and he certainly knows how to meet our needs. This is strictly to Christians, not cultural Christians, born-again Christians who know God. A rhetorical question that demands an answer is this. What are the spiritual needs in your life and in the lives of your brothers and sisters around you? Let me restate that. What are the spiritual needs in your life and what are the spiritual needs in brothers and sisters around you? And look, some of us have very deep and very burdensome needs. So what responsibilities do we have with those needs?

We have friends who are in need of bread. And what are the spiritual needs of the lost children and teenagers in the church? They need to come to Christ. They need God to open up their hearts like he did for Lydia in Acts 16. Remember that wonderful story? So what should we be doing here? We should be carrying them to the throne of our loving heavenly father. We should be going to our loving, kind, and good and gracious heavenly father, bringing those needs, the lost children, to him. Simply God has brought us friends in the form of little boys and girls who are precious. And those friends have come at midnight and they need bread.

So what are we going to do? Another question. If we really, really, even if it takes years, ask, seek, and knock for the souls of our children, how do you think God will react? Well, I don't have a direct line. I can't answer that question. But I have to believe the promise. Now I want to say something before I move on. Let's not wait until they have graduated from high school and they become lost adults living in sin before we pray like this. See, we can commit the sin of just being passive, believing it will just work out.

Then we look up one day and they've graduated from high school and they've moved on in life and they've graduated from all that we've taught them because they're unconverted. Look, church, when teenagers graduate from high school and they leave our homes, they go to college or go to the workforce, and they go the way of the world and they go off into the world and they don't come back. It's not because they left God or got away from God. First John says they go out from us because they never were of us. We believe in the perseverance of the saints. That means that Christians persevere in the faith, not that they're perfect. No.

So they can come to faith in Christ, go to college and live for the Lord, and they can go into the workforce and live for the Lord. I have seen people do that, graduate from high school and live for God. So let's not wait until they've graduated from high school and they become lost adults living in sin and were heartbroken before we start praying like this. And next, the promise, the ultimate promise, verse 13. Look at the verse again. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit?" I'm focusing on the last part, the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

Now to me, verse 13 is the climax of the entire teaching, especially the end of the verse. To me, we should see it like this. Jesus has been teaching His disciples how to pray since they ask Him how to teach them. And what He has been teaching all along has been very, very important. It is. But all of His teaching was leading right up to this point. Now think with me here. I want us to see how verses 11 to 13 all fit together. We need to see that this promise in verse 13 is connected to the principle we have just seen in verses 11 to 12.

The parable in verses 11 to 12 illustrate the promise we are about to see, and this promise has this principle as its foundation. I will come back. Let me explain. So in leading up to the promise, the end of verse 13, I want us to see a few details here. First, the comparison. Again, this is the argument of moving from the lesser to the greater. Jesus says, "If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give?" So we see the comparison. And notice what Jesus is doing here. He is highlighting the character of God.

He is highlighting the heart and the love and the character of God for His people and their needs. Second, the transition. Jesus transitions from talking about earthly fathers to God. But notice that He says, "Your heavenly Father." He speaks straight to His disciples, and He speaks of their Father who is in heaven. So we see a transition from earthly fathers to God the Father. And notice what Jesus is highlighting here. He is highlighting their relationship to God. He was their God. He was their Father. Notice He uses personal pronouns. Then third, the ultimate promise.

At the end of verse 13, here Jesus concludes this teaching on prayer by promising that their Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Notice that He, the Holy Spirit, is the promise. You see that? You may need to stare at the verse. The Holy Spirit is the promise. And notice what Jesus is saying here. The Holy Spirit is the gift and the giver. Let that statement sink in, and I'm going to unpack it. The Holy Spirit is the gift and the giver. He, the Holy Spirit, meets the needs of the Father's people. He comes and He is the gift, and He is the giver of the gift that is needed. He is the giver of the gift that is needed.

He is the gift given. Again, I've got to unpack this for you, so follow me. First, for the believer. For those who need comfort, the Holy Spirit is the comforter. Acts 9, 31. For those who need power, the Holy Spirit gives power. Acts 8, 31. For those who need help, He is the helper, John 14, 26. For those who are speaking, seeking truth, He gives the spirit of truth, John 16, 13. For those who are seeking the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, He gives and He produces those things in the life of the believer, Galatians 5, 22, 23.

Simply, He now, the Holy Spirit, He is the source of everything in the believer's life, Ephesians 3, 20. So, it is the Holy Spirit that we seek in all those things. Think about all that I've unpacked that the Holy Spirit is and gives and does. If we have all of that in our lives, we'll be living a very victorious Christian life as a believer. But second, for the lost, notice how this applies. They cannot pray for themselves, but we can. The only prayer from a lost person that the Lord hears is a prayer of repentance. They cannot pray for themselves, but we can, and we should pray for them. And what do the lost need? The Holy Spirit.

Because the Holy Spirit convicts sinners, making them aware of their sin, John 6, 18. The lost sinner can only enter the kingdom if they are born again, and the lost sinner is born again. How? By the power and the work of the Holy Spirit, John 3, 5, 8. The lost sinner comes to understand and have a knowledge of God through the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2, 11 to 12, and it is through a work of the Holy Spirit that the lost are baptized with the Spirit of God and placed into the body of Christ. That's the church, 1 Corinthians 3, 17.

And when we are personally engaging the lost, sharing the gospel, it is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to evangelize. We see that in Acts 1, 8. Simply the lost around us need the person and the work of the Spirit. They don't need a better life. They don't need to turn over a new leaf. So in all our needs for the Christian and the non-Christian, we pray for the Holy Spirit to come and work. He is the gift we need, and He is the giver of the gift that we need. And sometimes we don't even know what each other need. We just know they need the Spirit to come, and the Spirit will do what only the Spirit can do because He knows because He's God.

Has any of that made sense to you? So here we see the promise of the Holy Spirit and the promise of the person of the Spirit. And in this we see the character of our Heavenly Father. If we, being sinful fathers, give to our children what they need, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the person and the work of the Spirit to those who ask? And for us and all the needs we have in our lives, we simply need a work of the Spirit. This tells us that if we need comfort and help, we pray for the Holy Spirit to come and work.

If He comes and manifests Himself in us and to us, He will bring comfort, He'll bring help, according to Acts 9.31, John 14.26. It's the same with all of our needs. Maybe we just need to get a list of all that the Holy Spirit does for believers and just pray over that. And it's the same for our brothers and sisters that God's put in our lives. We should be praying those things for us and for them. Just think of what God the Holy Spirit would do in us as believers now if we're all praying like this collectively for each other and for ourselves. But oh, I've got to come back to our lost children. They need a work of the Spirit.

They need a work of the Holy Spirit to come and do what only the Holy Spirit of God can do. The Holy Spirit of God convicts sinners, making them aware of their sin. John 16.8. It's the Holy Spirit that breaks a little boy and a little girl down, the adult down, and reveals to them their utter sinfulness, that they've sinned against the Holy God. The lost sinner needs to be born again by the power and the work of the Spirit, according to John 3.5-8.

And it is the Holy Spirit that makes a ten-year-old boy cry out, "Lord, I've got to have you because I'm a lost sinner." It is only the Holy Spirit of God that can birth someone, child or adult, into the kingdom. And how did this relate to our children? If they are lost, that's the only thing they need. Of course, we clothe them, we educate them, we teach them, we teach them manners, we teach them how to come in church and sing, and we teach them the Bible, we teach them what Christianity is, and we emulate it in front of them. But again, what do they need if they're lost? They don't need to make a decision or pray some kind of a prayer.

They don't need to grow up Christian. You can't raise Christians. You can raise a garden. But you can't raise Christians. They don't need to somehow inherit their parents' faith. You can inherit material goods from your parents. But you can't inherit a faith. Our lost children need the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, the birthing work of the Holy Spirit, so that they're born into the kingdom of God. If it's when they're eight or ten or twelve or eighteen or sixteen, that's God's business.

Now I want to close real quickly by giving us the thought of the message, coming back to the reason, and then I'm going to show you how this relates to Sunday. This is all about praying for our children in Vacation Bible School, seeking the bread of heaven. See? Praying for our children in Vacation Bible School. We need the bread of heaven for our lost children. Maybe we make a list of all of our little boys and girls. I'm talking about ours. We need the little boys and girls and parents. Every so often, Travis Crotble will tell me that he's burdened for his children.

Maybe we begin to pray for Travis as he shares the gospel with his kids, and then pray for his kids. Maybe we make a list of all of our children, all of our little boys and girls and their parents. And then maybe we encourage each other as parents as we witness to our children and the gospel in front of them. But notice how this applies to VBS. We need heavenly bread for Vacation Bible School. Patty's going to be teaching the lesson. Unless God the Holy Spirit helps her, she cannot impart truth. There's going to be truth taught through the music. There's going to be taught illustrated through the crafts.

There's truth everywhere, Bible verses everywhere. Unless God the Holy Spirit enables us to do this, it's just going to be activities. Let's pray for our children. Let's pray for visiting parents. There are no such things as coincidences, folks. People walk into the door for a reason. So this is all about praying for our children in VBS, seeking the bread of heaven. And then Sunday morning, we're going to ask the same question we always ask, and we're going to answer it, "Why do we do VBS?" And you'll see how it all ties together. It's all been tied together in my mind and my study all week for me.