No Greater Joy! March 4, 2009

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

We started off in small groups discussing when we accepted Jesus.

We made observations from Romans 10:9-17:

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Then we saw Lindsey's baptism testimony video from when she was barely six years old.

1. Pray for your child's salvation. Never stop praying, be patient.
2. Prepare yourself to lead them to Christ. Know your own testimony and know the steps from God's Word.
3. Be patient as you continually provide spiritual nuture in age appropriate ways about God and His love, Jesus, sin, repentance, faith and eternal life; even before they accept Christ. Chrisitan attitudes, actions and truths need to be taught to the child before the child is saved. You create the environment; the Holy Spirit convicts and reveals the love and way of God.
4. Deal gently and with understanding when you see that their desire for salvation is an effort to please peers, to please you, to get praise, to join others in baptism, or to get out of trouble.
5. As age appropriate, let your child read scriptures aloud that deal with salvation. Ask them what the Word is telling them. Lead them in explaining the main points of accepting Christ in their own words.
6. Lead them in praying to accept Jesus, but let put it in thier own words. Also, have them follow up with a brief prayer of thanksgiving to God for their salvation.

We had the groups come up with a plan to present the gosple to a child.

We also watched "The Gospel for Kids" video from http://www.essentials.tv/site/c.bqLKI1OKKtF/b.486373/apps/s/content.asp?ct=617785

We handed out Plan of Salvation bookmarks with a simple Roman Road gospel presentation: Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23 and 10:9.

Remember:

• Salvation is a point in time and it is a life long process.
• Nuture and encourge them to trust God. They will need to trust Him for salvation and daily living.
• Repentance and faith are not one time acts but ongoing attitudes of the heart toward sin.We may lead them to Jesus, but it is the Holy Spirit who brings conviction and reveals to them their need for Jesus.
• Don't get ahead of the Holy Spirit, by coaxing your child into making an empty profession of faith. There is no set age a child should receive Christ.
• Don't get in the way of the Holy Spirit when He does start spontaneously working in your child's life.

We ended with a resource to use with your child after they accept Jesus: I'm a Christian Now! It comes in a version for younger children and one for older children. Both can be obtained from our Children's Pastor, Tommy Hendricks.