Make Your Children Disciples - Zac Poonen

there are so many married couples around the world who do not have children and they strive and strive and pray and many of them spend without exaggeration many lakhs of rupees just to have one child so you can see that I'm talking about worldly people even worldly people value having children but the problem with them is to bring them up you see you don't need wisdom to have a child you need tremendous wisdom to bring up that child and that is the distinction between Christians and non-christians all can have children but if you are a true disciple of Jesus Christ and if you have seen the glory of being a disciple see a lot of people are disciples sort of reluctantly you know like arranged marriage and love marriage I think a lot of Christians about an arranged marriage with Jesus Christ somehow okay we agreed to it cuz the guy's a rich person so we'll marry him they're never going to be happy but those who truly love one another and did not care for wealth or attraction and attractiveness or anything like that that marriage is gonna be happy even if you love a person up to you after it was arranged the point is do you feel yours is an arranged marriage with Jesus Christ somebody told you well he's a very rich person he was telling it like telling a young girl's a very rich person very handsome good-looking you can do a lot of things for you and you marry no love I'm absolutely convinced that a lot of Christians are man married to Christ like that and that is why their whole life is so disappointing frustrating because sometimes they don't get what they want from their husband and if you have really seen the value of being a disciple of Jesus you will have a tremendous longing that your children should also be disciples and if you don't have that longing I say yours is an arranged marriage with Christ it's not a love marriage and that's why the children also grow up that way if you feel that you're you know for example people are educated many of you are educated college degrees put jobs what are you long for your children you don't want your children to be carpenters and plumbers why not why do you send them to college because you have seen the benefit yourself there are poor people in the slums who never went to college themselves who send their children to college we've seen the value of it why is it Christians who claim to be disciples do not seriously make their children disciples he staggers to dress modestly from the beginning teach them to respect their parents and respect older people and speak respectfully to older people from day one teach them that getting a lot of degrees and getting money is not the main thing in life it's secondary it's good useful but secondary that love Jesus is the most important thing I will tell you the reason is the parents are not absolutely convinced that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is the greatest thing and on this earth and so if you have a child and you're convinced that good food education are very important but to be a disciple of Jesus Christ to know the Word of God is not important you will not encourage your children I'll tell you I am amazed to see the number of parents in CFC who have been members here for a long time who don't read the Bible regularly who watch internet in television more than they read the Bible you know who's watching that your children don't come to the elders 18 years later and say oh brother please pray for my child they're going astray start now those of neglected it now well you can only repent and pray those who are dedicating your children now start now make that child a disciple of Jesus Christ by all means give it good food give it good education I did that for my children but for me number one was for the first words in the Bible are in the beginning God I remember my a few years ago one of my grown-up children was already got children of his own telling me dad I can never forget whenever I got up in the morning from bed as a little child and came into the sitting room I saw you sitting there with the Bible every day I cannot forget it it's not a sermon that you preached it's not that you told me to read the Bible I saw it you know you can tell your children so many things but what they see they will never forget what goes in through our eyes makes a much deeper impression than what we hear through the years please remember that when bringing up children your children learn much more by what they see than by what they hear if you if you can believe that one simple lesson which any doctor will tell you he'll be very careful more careful about what they see in you than what they hear we can give them Sunday school teaching and I know I'll tell you honestly I never believed that my children are gonna grow up to love the Lord in Sunday School Sunday school is for unbelievers children Sunday school is for those godless parents who don't teach their children at home unfortunately there are people like that so we have to have Sunday School Sunday school is not necessary for god-fearing parents who are teaching their children at home my children used to come to CFC Sunday school would I did not believe they had wonderful teachers but I did not believe that Sunday school will lead them to follow Jesus I would lead them to follow Jesus at home Sunday School come half an hour a week how much can they have be help there here here here here here one week they are seeing me and my wife please remember that my brothers and sisters I say that because I have a responsibility to lead you and to your children to a godly life so that when Christ comes back we have no regrets please remember just one thing what they see they will remember 100 times more than what they hear you see that yourself what you watch on television you remember more than what you hear on a radio you can hear on a radio about floods but you see it on TV and say wow you remember it and that's why pornography is so dangerous you hear about it it's not dangerous but when you see it it destroys you in the same way when we see something good that has an impression on our life which is lasts for years so that's what my main advice to parents who are bringing their children today and all parents here please please let your children see the glory of being a disciple of Jesus Christ in your life and that you'll have a great longing to bring up each one of your children not the majority of them but all of them there's a song we don't sing it here in this church but it's a song called will the circle be unbroken in the sweet by and by beautiful song see here on earth father and mother and children are all holding hands in a circle however many children you have whether you have one child or five or six you hold hands and then as everybody's there now the question is when we get up to glory will there be a gap in that circle somebody missing don't be satisfied please listen don't be satisfied that people in the church think your children are born again aha you think that's going to have any value before the Lord my testimony is good why all these people in the church think my children are born again that's fit for the trash can or to be satisfied ah my children took baptism fit for the trash if they are not disciples their baptism is worthless I never asked my children to be baptized believe me I didn't want a repetition they got baptized I wanted them will be disciples that's why all of them got baptized when they were 17 years old then they came and asked me dad I want to be baptized I said sure I wasn't pushing them come on get baptized get Blatter's go now he was useless if they don't if they are not really decided to dice into something so I'm saying that to warn parents don't be satisfied with external rituals of leading your children into in CFC make them disciples in their heart who love Jesus and will love the Word of God and who come to the grantee in the beginning you have they have to be under law all children have to be under law you cannot bring them under grace in the beginning it's under law you have to do this you have to do they don't feel like coming to church you tell them you are coming to church whether you like it or not you have to force them to read the Bible in the beginning but the aim is gradually that you don't have to ask them they want to read it on their own they want to come to the meetings on their own then you have done a good work and they love God's people and they want to be more with God's people than with their worldly friends all of your parents particularly those who are seniors some who imagine they are seniors and CFC I want to ask you a question ask yourself one question all of you right now you're grown-up teenage children and those in their twenties would they rather be with the CFC brothers and sisters or with their friends in the world you answer that question to yourself and you'll have a very good idea of what your children value and that is because I'll tell you the reason I have seen through many years and I'm this is a warning for young appearance you have sat at home criticize the brothers and sisters when your children were small yeah we have a bunch of imperfect people here if you want to criticize you can find many things wrong in them you criticize this person that person you gossip about this person that person at the dining table and when they say something bad about someone you add to that and say yeah you're right what is the end result of all that have you gained anything when will you wake up from that foolishness when my chill grew up we did not have perfect young brothers and sisters in CFC but I never criticize them at home the result was when my children became 1314 years old and there was nobody 13 14 years old in our church they made friends with the 25 26 year old young people who were not perfect but whom I never criticized and those 25 26 year old young people helped my 13 14 year old boys they would always be with them I'm very thankful for that so let me tell you whatever the faults you may see in some brothers since it stirs here these brothers and sisters are 10 times better than the worldly friends that your children have teach them to value them it'll go well with your children and don't start when they are 25 years old start when they are 1 year old very very important we are going into evil days and I can only warn you it's the same warning I give to my children concerning their grandchildren exactly the same because I want another second generation to grow up for the Lord and if you love Jesus you'll want all of your children to be disciples of Jesus so let us pray

Channel: CFC India

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Keywords: zac poonen cfc Christian Fellowship Church Church Fellowship Christian Zac Poonen, Sermons, CFC

Id: aFv6YrtkPZg

Length: 14min 36sec (876 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 11 2017