Why do we have Vacation Bible School?

I like that song, "I Stand in the Gospel." I hope and pray that that is how you live your life. We were singing about our hope being in Christ earlier. Our hope is in Christ and we stand in Christ. Those phrases, those songs just describe what a real Christian thinks, how a real Christian lives, really all that a real Christian is. I appreciate that song, appreciate that phrase, "I stand in the gospel." Now I think we all know, I mentioned it earlier, that it is vacation Bible school time. One of the men earlier in the week said to me, "I think vacation Bible school has invaded.

It has invaded." If you walk through the halls, you're going to notice that. If you go into our classrooms, you're going to see that vacation Bible school is in every part of our facility. I love it. I'm very, very excited. I don't know if you realize that. And I think most of you know that vacation Bible school is a very big part of our church and it has been all of the years that I have been the pastor here at Christ Life Church. I have said this many times, but vacation Bible school was a big part of our church way back when we were a very small church in the far corner of Lawrence County.

Most of you know that we used to be Nola Baptist Church before we relocated in March of 2020. Nola Baptist Church was a church that was almost closed, but God led me to Nola in 2010 and by God's grace, only by God's grace, we experienced what we call the rebirth of a church. I would encourage you, if you are a newcomer to Grace Life Church, to talk to folks like Chris and Clarissa Travis. Let them tell you about how life was at Nola Baptist Church. Talk to Keith and Teresa. They can tell you about the rebirth of our church there at Nola Baptist. Talk to Glenda. Glenda was there during those years. Talk to Tommy and Patty.

And the reason I'm mentioning these things is we need to remember where we've come from, what God's done to get us here. Now some of you know this and those of you who are here at Grace Life Church, you need to hear this, but a major part of what God used in rebirthing that old church was our commitment to children's ministry and things like vacation Bible school. I can say this with complete confidence. God rebirthed that old church and God used our solid commitment to a few vital things that are missing in so many churches today, sadly. God rebuilt that old church on the preaching of God's Word. I have said it many times.

When the Lord led me to take Nola Baptist Church, we immediately started a Sunday night service and a Wednesday night service. We were building that church on the preaching and the teaching of God's Word. God rebuilt that old church on prayer and seeking God. We were faithful to pray. We were faithful to pray sacrificially because we knew that without the working of the Holy Spirit and all that we were doing, it was just going to be activity, church activity. God rebuilt that old church on loving others, loving brothers, loving sisters, loving lost sinners.

And we demonstrated that by how we loved on anybody and everybody we could get our hands on. God rebuilt that old church on loving biblical ministry to children. We took what children we had. We started Bible classes and we started pouring into those children and God multiplied that ministry. And look, churches, as long as I'm pastor here at Grace Life Church Brookhaven, we will continue to minister to our children and any and all of the children that God brings our way. We're going to develop our children's classes more and more, better and better. We're going to make sure we have the appropriate monies that we need for children's ministry.

We're going to make sure we have the appropriate manpower and woman power. Notice I said manpower, not just woman power. We can't just put all of this on the shoulders of women. Our little boys and girls need to see men and hear men teaching them. And I'm thankful for some of you men who participate, but some of you, you need to step up. We're going to make sure that Vacation Bible School is a big part of our children's ministry and other events like that in the future. But if you look around here this morning, you're going to see that a lot of people have been working hard already.

If you look around you tonight and the rest of the week, you're going to see a lot of people working hard, both men and women, and I'm thankful. I just want to go ahead and tell you on the front end, I'm thankful for all of you ladies and all of you men who have been working and who will work. If you look at our budget, you're going to see that we set aside a certain amount of money for Vacation Bible School. But the question, why do we invest all of this time? Why do we work hard? Why do we spend the money? Why do we do VBS and everything that is associated with Vacation Bible School?

Honestly, this is a question that we should ask every year at this time, not just to justify what we do, but to look for answers in the Scriptures. So this morning I want to answer that question in two ways. First from the Scripture, of course, I'm not going to show you a Vacation Bible School in the Scripture. We did this last year at this time, so let's use our imagination here. We just finished up a study through the book of Philippians on Wednesday nights. Just imagine a Vacation Bible School at the church at Philippi. They would have had a lot of kids from those Roman soldiers who had settled there in the city.

Lydia probably would have been over the Vacation Bible School decorations with all of her fabrics from her fabric business. The Philippian jailer, he was saved, and maybe he was over recreation because the power of the gospel had changed his life from a hard man to a tender and compassionate man who loved kids. I speculate in my imagination that a man like a Paparidotist and his wife would have been teaching all of the Bible lessons because he was a good Bible teacher. Think about it. He served with the Apostle Paul there in Rome. Apostle Paul said he was a faithful servant of God. Think about it.

There in Philippi at their Vacation Bible School, their missions offering would have been given out of their great poverty because they were a poor people. And their missions offering would have gone to Paul who was still under house arrest. Just imagine a Vacation Bible School at the church at Ephesus. We started our study through the seven churches on Wednesday night. This past Wednesday we studied the church at Ephesus. Their Vacation Bible School probably would have been the biggest and the best because they were the most prominent church there in the region.

Their Vacation Bible School workers and teachers would have worked very, very hard because they were a very hard working church, the text tells us. Their VBS curriculum would have been solid because they could not put up with unsound teaching and unsound teachers. Their teachers and their leaders would have been the very best because they knew men like Timothy and the Apostle Paul. Something would have been strangely missing from their VBS because they had forsaken their first love, their love for the Lord. Their Vacation Bible School would have been strangely void of the Spirit of God in a unique way.

Now, I know I did this when I preached this message last year. I know I'm being a little humorous and trying to stir up our imagination. We're not going to find VBS in the scripture. I know that. And I want us to ask, why do we do VBS? And I want us to answer that question in two ways. First from the scripture and then second I want to answer that question as the pastor here, your pastor really on a very personal level. Now I mentioned this in our scripture reading. I want to read this account of parents and adults bringing the children to Jesus. I want to read this in Matthew's account and then Mark's account and then in Luke's account.

Matthew chapter 19 verses 13 to 15. Matthew chapter 19 verses 13 to 15. Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." And he, that's Jesus, laid his hands on them, that's the children, and he went away. Now let's turn over to Luke 18. We'll finish up with Mark 10 because that's where we'll be throughout the message. Luke 18 verses 15 to 17. Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

But Jesus called them to him saying, "Let the children come to me and 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. Now back to our Mark passage. I know I'm making you do Bible drill this morning. Mark chapter 10 verses 13 to 16. Gets all of these details in our minds, this one particular event. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them and the disciples rebuked them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and he 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 he blessed them laying his hands on them. Now I think that we can all see that Matthew, Mark, and Luke record the same event. Of course we can pick up on a few details from each of their accounts. That's why it's important for us to read all of these accounts. But before we get into the details, I want us to see what was happening here in this situation.

This is really big picture. We have this event where parents and adults were bringing babies and children to Jesus. Luke uses a word for infants or newborn babies. So to me, we definitely have mothers there and all that was going on here in this situation. Mark uses a general word for children. So to me, there were children there as well as babies. And in this event, Jesus had a very important two-fold purpose. He was explaining who belongs in the kingdom and then how they come into the kingdom. And Jesus was also blessing the babies. He was blessing the children.

And as I have meditated on these verses really throughout the years, I think there was a lot of commotion going on in these events. You had adults, you had parents bringing babies and bringing children to Jesus. And things get difficult when the disciples get involved. I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but it seems like a lot of times that the disciples got involved with things, they made things difficult. Mark tells us that the disciples began rebuking the parents for bringing their children to Jesus. And this was no soft rebuke because the word that Mark uses here speaks of a strong reprimand.

Jesus used a similar word when he rebuked the demons, very strong word. So this situation, this scene here, everything that's going on, really it seems very, very chaotic to me. I have said this to you before, I think it might help you. You men, I give you a challenge. You get up during the church service and you go down to the nursery and you begin to rebuke those workers in there with the nursery. After the church service is over, when those ladies start going down that hall to get their little boys and girls, you stop them and you interrupt them and you start telling them what to do with their children.

Well, you'll have a fight and I'm not going to come help you. You're on your own. Of course, you have Jesus, he was right in the center of all that was going on here. You may have noticed that Jesus wasn't sitting there in silence. Jesus was rebuking his disciples because they were rebuking the ones who were bringing children and babies to him. And to me, this sounds a lot like an argument. This really doesn't sound like a nice calm ministry event. This sounds like chaos. You got the disciples rebuking parents and adults. You got Jesus who is rebuking his disciples. In Mark's account, the ESV says that Jesus was indignant.

And in the original, this was a very strong word which meant, which means to be angry, even irate, even outraged. So Jesus was literally angry. He was outraged at the disciples because they were keeping the adults and the children from coming to him with their babies, with their children. Simply Jesus strongly rebuked the disciples all while welcoming the parents, the adults, the children, and the babies in great love. And I think this is an interesting event that we can overlook. But there is a lot that we need to see here and we need to learn here.

And there is a lot that applies to Vacation Bible School and how we should view all children's ministry and ministries here at Grace Life Church. Now at this point in the message, I want us to examine this event and those involved a little more in detail. Again, what I have given you is big picture. Now these details will be easy for you to follow. First, notice those who brought the children. Those who brought the children. Mark's account, Mark 10, listen to verse 13. You can look at it in your copy of God's Word. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them and the disciples rebuked them.

Now there is a little more going on here than we may see in this verse. We may not relate to this in our day. There are some cultural differences here. But in their day, it was a common practice for parents to seek out a spiritual blessing for their children. It was common for parents to bring their children to respect the Jewish rabbis and teachers so that they could pronounce a blessing upon them or over them. We see this in the Old Testament. We see that fathers did this for their own children. Noah gave a blessing to his children in Genesis 9. Isaac did the very same thing in Genesis 27. Jacob did the same thing in Genesis 49.

So a father laying his hands on his children and pronouncing a blessing upon their children was a common practice in Old Testament times. And parents bringing their children to respected spiritual leaders for a blessing was common in New Testament times as well. But a question. What were the parents' motivations? What were the parents' motivations? Why were they doing these things? It is safe to say that they were seeking some type of a spiritual blessing for their children. Truthfully, the text only says they wanted Jesus to touch their children. But I believe it is safe to say they wanted more than a customary spiritual blessing.

Think about the context of all of these things. By this time in Jesus' earthly ministry, Jesus had already been healing all sorts of diseases and performing all types of miracles. He had done many, many great deeds for people. No doubt, they had seen Jesus as a loving, kind miracle worker because of the way he had healed the sick, even touching them while performing such great miracles. And this was a glaring contrast. This was completely different than what they saw in the religious leaders of their day. So I believe these parents brought their children to Jesus for a blessing and even more. But for us, what is the lesson for us in our day?

What are the things that we can learn here? First of all, we need to honestly examine what we bring our children to and to whom we take our children. And we do this all the time, whether we know it or not. A few examples. If we are into athletics, there's nothing wrong with athletics. We take our children to a coach, to a team, to be instructed in sports. We do it in soccer, we do it in basketball, softball, volleyball, football, track, cross-country. Whether it's an individual sport or a team sport, we take our children to someone or certain people to be instructed. Again, there's nothing wrong with that.

We take our children to teachers to be instructed in academics, whether it will be homeschooling or private schooling or public schooling. We are taking our children to be instructed by a teacher as well as those authors of those books. You might say, "Pastor, no one's ever instructed my child but me." Well, if you've used resources, books, no matter what they are, you have experts in those fields who are instructing your children. Now, I could go on with other examples, I know. But what I'm wanting us to see is this. In our culture and in our day, we take our children to people and in certain environments to be taught and to be instructed.

Again, there's nothing wrong with those things. And at this point, we need to ask ourselves, "Are we bringing our children to Jesus as we should?" Dads, moms, notice I started off with dads. Are we bringing our children to Jesus as we should? Now dads, fathers, on a personal level, are we bringing our children to Jesus through our own lives? What I mean by that is this. Do our children look at us as fathers? Do they look at us and see us walking with God, serving God, using our spiritual gifts? Do they see Christ real in our lives and our hope in Christ? Therefore, they see Jesus in us.

And are we bringing our children to Jesus purposefully in the home? Moms are you doing this? Dads are you doing this? Are you taking what God's doing in your life? Are you taking that to your children? Are you taking your children to the Word? Are you instructing them on what a Christian looks like and what God's Word says about who they are and what God expects out of their life? Are we bringing our children to Jesus in the life of the church? Sometimes folks, I'll be honest with you, sometimes parents you might be a little more faithful to ball than you are to church.

Sometimes you might be a little more faithful to school than you are to church. Now I'm for sports if you're into that. I'm for education. You go to certain places in the world, you'll realize that a lot of people don't have the opportunities we have in education. I think we should educate ourselves and educate our children. But we must ask, are we bringing our children to Jesus in the life of the church as we should? Are we letting these other things that are good crowd that out? And how do we do that? How do we do all these things? By incarnational Christian living in every area of our life.

In incarnational, meaning Christ is in us, God is working in our lives, the Word of God is in our lives. Again, our parents should see us dads and see Christ working in our life, the Word of God in our life, it should be incarnational. By seeing incarnational Christian living in our home. Our children should not see hypocrisy, they should see Christ in our home. By incarnational Christian living in our church and by taking them into God's Word in our home, in our lives, and in our church. You might say, "Pastor, you kind of mixed up the home and personal life and church, you mixed all that together." Well, it should be.

So we see those who brought the children to Jesus. And then second notice, those who blocked the children, those who blocked the children. Again verse 13, "And they were bringing children to Him," that He might touch them, "and the disciples rebuked them." We've already seen some of what the disciples were doing here. They were rebuking parents, they were rebuking adults, any and all who were bringing those children, those babies to Jesus. But if we pay a little more attention, we will see that they were doing really a lot more. First, they were rebuking, they were rebuking the adults and the parents.

And this word rebuke means to reprimand or to censure. Peter used this word when he rebuked Jesus after Jesus said He was going to the cross. Jesus used a related word when He rebuked demons and when He rebuked the storm. So here the disciples, they stepped forward. They got in the middle of all these things and they strongly reprimanded any and all who were bringing children to Jesus. But there is more. In rebuking the adults for bringing the children to Jesus, they were actually blocking the children from coming to Jesus. Do you see that?

In rebuking the adults, any who were bringing the children to Jesus, they were actually blocking the children from coming to Jesus. So the disciples were actually doing two things here. They were rebuking and blocking. Rebuking and blocking. Now question why? Why did they do this? This is a question I pondered really throughout the years that I've meditated on these verses. Why did they rebuke the parents? Why did they block the children from coming to Jesus? We really do not know. Now we can speculate. Now when we speculate on the text, we can get out on thin ice. So we have to be careful here.

But it could have been that they thought Jesus was too busy or too important to be bothered by children and babies. It could be that they did not see the children as very important. Maybe they saw the children and the babies as a nuisance. We know that there were times when the disciples saw certain people as less important or even a nuisance. When Jesus thought otherwise, I think about the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. We know her as the woman at the well. The disciples did not want to be in Samaria, much less coming into contact with the Samaritan woman. So they saw her as a nuisance. They didn't want Jesus to interact with her.

But whatever the reason, here in this situation, the disciples rebuked these parents. They blocked these children from getting to Jesus. Now for us, what do we need to learn here? How does this need to apply for us? I see it in two ways. As individuals and parents and members of Grace Life Church, we can block our children from coming to Jesus by the way we live and not just our children, but children of others who are around us. Let me give you some examples. Personal sin and hypocrisy can be at such a level in our life that we prevent our children from coming to Jesus. Let me say that again.

Personal sin, hypocrisy can be at such a level in your life that you prevent your children from coming to Jesus and you can prevent other people's children from coming to Jesus. Secret sins can block children from coming to Jesus. I've heard stories. I've heard stories of people who describe parents who had secret sins in their home and they were hypocritical in their Christian walk. It caused them to be cynical. It caused them to be bitter and it caused them to turn their nose up at the things of God. These things are all related, but casual and carnal Christianity can block children from coming to Jesus.

Look folks, if you have a casual view towards Christianity and the things of God, well your children are going to do the same thing. Whether you know it or not, many times what we do in our homes, our children turn around and do those very same things, but do it in excess. And if you're casual in your Christianity and in your commitment to the church, it very well could be that your children do the very same thing that you do, but times 10. External Christianity can prevent children from coming to Jesus. What I mean is this.

External Christianity that is overburdened by rules and legalism, that can cause children to never want to come to Jesus. And look, let me show you something folks. Excessive rules in legalism, it never brings life. And what happens is when you fill your home up and in your life with those things, it causes your children to be exasperated. They don't want Christ. They don't want the church. Why? Because they see Christ and the church is nothing but rules, rules, legalism, legalism, and usually they run the other way. And I can sit down and describe circumstances and name names, although I won't do that.

Another thing that I think can cause our children to not come to Jesus as they should. A terrible commitment to the work of the church. You might say, "Pastor, you really think so?" Look folks, if you want to find the very center of God's activity in the world today, you find it in a local church. If you want to know where God's working, you find it in a local church. Now God might work at the FCA at the high school. God might work in another particular parachurch organization, but God is primarily concerned about the work of the local church.

And if you have an inconsistent commitment to the work of the local church, then what you're doing is you're telling your children, "Well, the church isn't that important. Work is more important. Your hobby is more important. The church isn't important, and therefore they'll think that Christ isn't important." We have studied thoroughly Christian marriage and the role and the responsibilities of the Christian wife and husband in marriage. Of course, no husband and no wife and no home is perfect. We know that, but we must see that we can fail at a level where that failure prevents our children from coming to Jesus.

Our sin in the home, our dysfunction in our marriage, our sin and our dysfunction in the home and in the marriage can actually become a barrier for our children coming to Jesus. Look moms and dads, in my opinion, if children do not see a close, loving relationship in the home with their parents, that can be an extremely big barrier to your children. If your children see fussing and fighting and contention and bitterness and animosity, that creates all sorts of confusion.

And the Christ that you present to them seems like a contradiction because what they do, whether they know it or not, you say that Christ is the hope of your marriage and in your home and in your life, but yet what do you present? You don't present a loving home life. You don't present a loving relationship with your spouse. They see fussing and fighting and contention and bitterness and animosity. Also, children can be blocked from coming to Jesus because of certain things that go on in church life. There are some churches that they don't want to spend any money or devote any resources towards children.

I know of churches that devote all of their energies towards adults and old people. Children are ignored. They're ignored. You might say, "Pastor, aren't you kind of stretching things?" Listen, you show me a church that does not designate money and properties and energies towards children, and I'll show you a church that really does not put an emphasis on children at all. And in that church, you're not going to see God working the lives of those children. Some churches fuss and fight, full of hypocrites. And look, if you have a church that fuss and fight and is full of hypocrites, the children will be blocked from coming to Jesus.

I have seen teenagers literally say, "If that's what church life is all about, I don't want it." I've seen children and teenagers leave business meetings with great looks of confusion and hurt on their faces. Why? Because they see fights and hypocrites. So we see those who are blocked, they block the children from coming to Jesus. You could add to that. You could add to that, I know. Then third, the one who blessed the children. We see this in verses 14 to 16. Let's look at those verses. Verses 14 to 16. "But when Jesus saw it," well, he sees what the disciples were doing, "he was indignant and he said to them, 'Let the children come to me.

Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the children of God. Only I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child, shall not enter it.' And he took them into his arms and he blessed them, laying his hands on them." Now we have touched on this blessing, son, but actually there is a lot more going on here than maybe we realize. First we see that Jesus rebuked the disciples. And we have seen that this was a very firm rebuke. Now I know that this can be hard for some to accept, but Jesus was angry. He was outraged at how the disciples were blocking the children from coming to him.

But he was not outraged and angry like we would be because he was not in sin in any way. Second, we see that Jesus received the children. In verse 14, Jesus says, "Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them." One important detail is found in the construction of this word "hinder." It's in the present tense. It's a present tense verb which speaks to a continuous action. So this means the disciples were to continue to allow them to bring the children to Jesus. Now this is a little bit of my imagination here, I know. And I can be speculating here, I know. But in my mind I see this big group of parents, this big group of adults.

We have children and we have babies. And the children keep coming, they keep coming. I think it's safe to say that the disciples go from blocking the children to bringing the children and they keep coming. They keep coming until they were all at the feet of Jesus. So Jesus rebuked his disciples and he received the children. But after Jesus sets things straight, he begins to teach. And actually the teaching is the climax of these events. Look back at verse 15 and 16. "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them into his arms and he blessed them laying his hands on them.

Now let's make sure we see what Jesus is doing here. First Jesus was using the children as a teaching analogy for salvation. He starts off by asserting himself. That's what this phrase "truly I say to you" was all about. Jesus was asserting himself so as to say something of great importance. And look at what he is saying in verse 15. "One must receive the kingdom like a child, otherwise they shall not enter." And listen to verse 15 in the Amplified. It reads, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." Now we need to ask what this means.

If Jesus was in his teaching and illustrated what salvation looks like here, we need to get this. Let me start off by saying what this doesn't mean. This does not speak of some kind of an innocence. No person, no child is innocent of sin. Also this does not mean that only children will be in the kingdom. This is rather simple. Simply Jesus was saying for one, no matter who they are, to enter the kingdom they must come with childlike characteristics. For one to receive the kingdom they must come with a childlike disposition. For one to enter the kingdom they must come totally dependent, totally trusting.

They must be completely submissive and humble. Another way to put it is to turn it around. For one to enter the kingdom they must not be prideful. They must not be self sufficient. They must not be holding on to sin and self and their religious efforts, you see? And it is not like these childlike characteristics make someone a Christian know like some kind of a magic formula or magic ingredients. These characteristics are centered on Christ Jesus or directed at Christ Jesus. So Jesus was and is illustrating how someone comes into the kingdom.

He was and is illustrating man's salvation or what it looks like when someone comes to saving faith in Christ. Now my question for you here before I continue is this. Has this happened in your life? Was there a point in time when you had childlike characteristics? Childlike characteristics? You were not prideful. You died to your self sufficiency. You died to holding on to your sin. You laid self aside, even your religious efforts aside. And you had these childlike characteristics whereby you trusted Christ, you believed in Christ, you hoped in Christ. Has that happened to you?

No matter if you're a child or a teenager or an adult, when you come to faith in Christ, you come just like we see here. Has that happened to you? Second, Jesus actually blesses the children. The text says that he actually took the children into his arms. And this phrase means to wrap one's hands and arms around someone and to hold them close just like you would do with a baby or a small child that you love. And then he laid his hands on them and he blessed them continuously.

Remember Jesus said, "Let the children come and do not hinder them until they are all blessed." And I believe he did this until all the children that were there on that day had been blessed. And he touched them all. Now at this point we need to ask what this blessing was. The language tells us this was a strong blessing, a fervent blessing. It is safe to say that Jesus would have been praying for them. He would have been asking for God's blessing on them. He would have been giving them assurance that he was the Messiah of God. And this would have been done with great intensity, great seriousness, and great love.

Let me speak to you about intensity, seriousness, and love. If you come on a Wednesday night, and if you don't come on Wednesday night, you're missing a blessing. Now I know some of you are providentially hindered. If you don't come on Wednesday night, you're missing a blessing. We study God's Word on Wednesday nights as adults. But one of the things we do is with great intensity, seriousness, and love, we commit our children to the Lord. We do. We pray over them every week. We pray over those who are teaching them on Sunday night and Wednesday night. We're doing this intentionally on Wednesday night.

They're in here with us in our assembly time. They're seeing. They're learning how to sit in what we would call big church. And what are we doing? With great intensity, seriousness, and love, we're taking them to Jesus. Now for us, what do we need to learn right here? Of course we need to understand this illustration on salvation, which shows us how one enters into the kingdom, any and all who come into the kingdom. We come to Christ with a childlike disposition, trusting Christ, depending on Christ, submitting to Christ, believing in Christ completely. And if you need to come to Christ today, would you come with that childlike disposition?

Would you come, depending on Christ, totally? Sing to Christ totally, believing in Christ savingly, completely. But we must see that we are to bring our children to Jesus so that He will touch them and bless them. Of course, we know that Jesus is not sitting here physically today. I know that. Today we bring our children to Jesus spiritually so that through the work and the power of the Holy Spirit of God that Jesus may touch our children and bless them. And look church, we are to be His agents. We are His physical representation. We are His conduit for this work. God has entrusted this work to us here at Grace Life Church.

And we do this individually and we do this together. And we bring all of our children to Jesus and it is all of us who touch them physically and spiritually. We do this through prayer. We do this in our interaction with them. We do this in teaching them God's Word. We do this in anything and all that we do here in the life of our church. We do this also through evangelizing our children. We share truth. We share the truth with them about their sin. We share the truth with them about Christ. We share with them the fact that they need to be converted. They need to be born again. And we do this with love.

We do this with the love that Christ Jesus has put within us. You know there needs to be certain things that are self-evident in us. I've used this illustration before. I know my wife has an uncle that is 6'8". I met him one time. When he walked into the door he did not have to say, "Hey by the way I'm 6'8". He was evident, self-evident. Years ago I went to church with a certain individual. He was a doctor by profession. I'm not against doctors. Very very religious. But I'll be honest with you, he was probably one of the most prideful men that I ever met. Everybody in the church said it. And what I'm showing you is this.

Certain things are self-evident. You don't have to wave a flag and say, "By the way I'm 6'8". And what I'm showing you is this. It should be self-evident. It should be evident to all adults and children that we are loving them with the love of Christ and a love that God has put within us. We do this in the life of our church each week. Every time we come. We do this on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday nights. We do this in Vacation Bible School. So we see the ones who bless the children. We see the one who bless the children and the ones who are to bless the children.

Now as I wrap up this message, I said that I would answer this question, "Why we do Vacation Bible School?" Of course we know that the church at Philippi and Ephesus did not have Vacation Bible School. I was reminded of this fact yesterday. We had a men's work day. We did some work on the back of the church and some other things. But my auntie called from Scotland. And she was in the company of one of the young men in the life of the church there at Scotland. His name is Jeevie. He's a young man going into the ministry. I got to spend some time with Jeevie and his wife Pat last year when I was there.

And I had the phone and it was on FaceTime, so I walked across the street and I turned it around where Jeevie could see our church building. We got to talk about that. And I told him we were getting ready for Vacation Bible School. He said, "What's that?" I explained quickly what Vacation Bible School is. A lot of churches don't do Vacation Bible School. In many ways this is cultural. Now what am I trying to share with you? Simply we have Vacation Bible School. Others may not. That's okay. We have Vacation Bible School so as to bring our children to Jesus. We want Jesus to touch our children and to bless our children.

Ultimately, we want Jesus to do a great work in the lives of our children. We want salvation for our children. We want the Word of God to be planted down deep in their hearts and in their minds. We want God to mark them out for kingdom service all of the days of our lives. Folks, if God were to work in your 10-year-old this week and to call him or her to missions work around the world, would you accept that? How would you deal with that, Mom? Dad? We want God to do these things and we should expect God to use us in all of these things. Now for me as your pastor, this will be rather short.

Vacation Bible School is very important to me because I love our church. I love our children. I love your children. I love the children that God will bring us and I love them with the love that God has put in me. I believe in this work wholeheartedly. I believe that God's led us to this work and I believe in you, you who are doing the work, you who are doing the work. So let's love them these children and these babies. Let's love them their parents as Jesus did, not like the disciples. And let's see what God does. Let's pray.