John K. Jenkins Sr - The Importance of Raising Children to Hear and Follow God's Voice - Part 2

Heavenly Father, we pray and intercede for our co-workers, friends, family, relatives, and our neighbors who need You and a relationship with You. We come together, praying for those lives, for the unsaved, backslidden, unsure, and unchurched people. Draw them, Almighty God; open their eyes to their need for You and for the church, the family of God. We pray, Heavenly Father, that You would just draw them to Yourself, in Jesus ' name. As we come together, we also pray as we bring the word that You would anoint us to be Your mouthpiece. Father, please let us be a channel, a conduit for Your truth. Let hearts be open and receptive; open eyes to see the truth of Your word. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.

All right, you can be seated. Last week, I talked to you about the importance of raising children to hear and follow God’s voice. Today is part two. Somebody say, «Part two!» This is part two. I want to slightly modify the title to say the importance of raising both adults and children to hear and follow the voice of God. Thank you! I think there was one applause somewhere; I don’t know where it came from, but wherever you are, it’s too late. Don’t try now! Y’all are a little slow. Come on, this is slow! Y 'all used to be the really top -notch crowd. If I felt I didn’t preach well at the early service or the late service, I knew that the 10:00 crowd would always be with me. I used to feel that way. I don’t know who’s going to be the service now that’s really going to be with me, but y’all are waning on the scale of my celebrating you. Last week, let me just quickly review what we talked about. We discussed Samuel, who was a man of God and became a very significant person in the history of Israel and the family of God. He was God’s mouthpiece, a prophet, priest, and judge. In fact, he appointed and anointed the first two kings of Israel. He became God’s mouthpiece due to the way his parents raised him. What I tried to communicate last week was how important it is for parents and grandparents to participate in the vital task of raising your children to follow the voice of God. Amen! That is a very important role. In fact, Hannah, Samuel’s mother, prayed for the child before she even conceived him; she prayed for him before she even got pregnant. I want to say to all the mothers who want to be mothers, who might be mothers, or who have a future to be mothers: pray for your child, even now, even before you have children. She prayed because she was married to a man who had two wives. In those days, one of the other wives had children, but Hannah had no children. So she prayed that God would give her a male child. She told God that if He gave her a son, she would dedicate and commit that child to Him. I want you to pray for your children — the children you have and the children you are about to have. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, «Pray for the future of your children that you’re going to have.» Samuel became a mighty man of God; he walked in the ways of God and was a significant person. There were certain elements that his parents put in place that contributed to him being that way. The family worshiped together when the child was young; they regularly worshiped as a family. I believe it is important for families to worship together. They not only worshiped together but also prayed together. In chapter 1, verse 25, when the baby finally came, they brought the child to the priest and dedicated him to God. We do that every third Sunday here at our church; families bring their children. I think it’s important that you dedicate your child to God. Don 't make the mistake of waiting until your child is grown-or halfway grown-to try to get them right with God. That 's a problem that a lot of communities and families have; they wait too long to dedicate their children to God. I want to suggest that you raise your children before the Lord in the house of God as a family and pray for them. In 1 Samuel chapter 2, Hannah prayed for her child, and I want to encourage parents and grandparents to pray for your children and grandchildren. Intercede for them. I shared today and want to continue to share how my wife intercedes for my kids, and her focus on praying now is for their spouses. Yes, pray, because I see some of you don’t think that’s important. That 's okay; it’s important that you pray for God to bring the right spouse into your child 's life. You can-well, I don’t need to tell y’all- you can marry the wrong person, and it can bring hell into your life. I know y’all want to say Amen, but y’all are scared!