From Birth to Baptism

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you’re all enjoying the weather here and everyone else around the world’s probably jealous coming off that sermon out of all the snow that we do have here at Headquarters. It’s been beautiful, but it is cold. I don’t usually start a sermon by giving you the title of the sermon, but I’m going to today because it really does frame the entire subject as we build it out over the course of this message, it’ll make more sense of what I’m talking about and why. The title of the sermon’s going to be “From Birth to Baptism.” You may think-- You can think of a lot of things. You may immediately draw the conclusion of what I wouldn’t be talking about when I say that subject.

Let me ask you a couple questions to further that point. Are you a parent? Some of you in the room can raise your hand and say, yes, you are. Are you responsible for children? You may think, “Well, that’s the same question, isn’t it? If I’m a parent, I’m responsible for children.” Are you responsible for children even if they’re not your children? What if they’re not your own? What if they’re not your kids? Not that your flesh that you raised, that you built, that your genetics run through the blood of. Are you responsible for them? Go to Proverbs, a common verse that you can talk about.

Proverbs Chapter Twenty-Two. Book of Proverbs Chapter Twenty-Two. Let me get there. Verse Six of Proverbs Twenty-Two. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he’s old, he will not depart from it.” This verse doesn’t say, train up your child. It says, train up a child. Naturally, the parents are going to be the ones most responsible for training up their children, but God inspired that to be a non-definite article. A child, not your, not a possessive. I could use myself as a personal example. When I was young, my mother was in the Church and followed God’s way of life and my father. I wanted nothing to do with it. I didn’t find it interesting. I didn’t believe in God. They just weren’t…

My stance was, as I said before, I would be agnostic at best and more likely on the atheist side of the scale when I was younger. It didn’t stop my mother and father from training me, from teaching me principles from the Bible, even if they did it sly and on the down low, where I didn’t quite understand that it was biblical. Then at a certain point in time when God said, I was ready to be called, that training came back. When I was old, twenty-five-ish, old-ish, he will not depart from it. I came back to it. I came back to that understanding. They trained me. Many of you could maybe say the same thing.

You’ve been trained from a very young age or in your teens or twenties or some point in your life, those around you helped develop you. Train is a funny word. It makes it sound like it’s a horse that you’re trying to break or a dog that needs to learn how to sit. Now, it’s developing and building. As we continue this introduction, who does the training? You partly know the answer to this. I think by the time the sermon is over, you’ll realize it’s a lot more than just the parents. They are the primary caregivers to their own children, but young people of all ages, birth to baptism, we’re talking babies to people that hit that age in nineteen, twenty, twenty-one-years-old.

Young people benefit from examples, instruction, support beyond their parents. I’m sure every young person in this room has sought counsel from someone that wasn’t a parent, because I already know what mom and dad are going to say. Surrounding those young people with others who understand this way of life makes a big difference, not just a parental responsibility or a parental duty. Not just men, women, brothers and sisters in Christ, taking care of the children, if you will. I’ll say youth sometimes. Sometimes I’ll say children. If you’re eighteen-years-old and you bristle at the idea of being called a child, in your mind hear youth, because you’re still young.

All of us are responsible because taking care and developing young people is a Christian responsibility. What’s God’s Church’s responsibility as well as parents and others in developing young people? Often, there’s three legs in the structure. In many ways you could picture it at three legs, you’ve heard it talked about before. One leg are what the Church does. All the things we’ll get into that and how you can help with that. Another leg are the parents and the third leg are everyone else. If you want to get an idea of how important the parents are, they’re one leg by itself. You’re a single parent, it’s harder to keep that table up, but primary.

The first we’ll look at is all the role of the Church. Let’s go to Isaiah Twenty-Eight. Go back to the book of Isaiah Chapter Twenty-Eight. Isaiah Twenty-Eight, we’ll start in Verse Nine. Verse Nine reads, “Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make understand doctrine. Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast for precept must be upon precept. Precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line here a little and there a little.” We as Christians receive instruction. When we’re first called, that could be the simplest of topics. You can learn and it could be a mind-blowing thing when you’re first being called.

If you’ve been in the Church for some time, you can think about, I like to call it the toggle doctrine, that in your mind was like, “Wow, that’s so different than anything I’ve ever heard before. That’s incredible.” It toggles your mind. It’s how God cracked it open. That could have been something as simple as pork is not clean. If you’ve been in the Church for a while, you look back at that and you almost smile at your old self thinking about how cute it is, that that was a big deal in your life and now you don’t even think about it. How did you get that understanding?

You picked up literature, didn’t you? You opened your Bible. You studied the booklet or the article with your Bible beside you looking up those scriptures, having it explained to you in a way that you’d never had explained before. It’s not just literature for adults. We have things for kids. It starts very, very young, intentionally so. When Mr. Pack designed these programs and some of them reflect back to worldwide, which he was a part of designing in worldwide. He has history of knowing how to develop young people. When we rewrote… Many years ago, I remember being part of that process, rewriting the children’s Bible lessons from the old YES lessons. They were designed to start kids very, very young.

Kindergarten. My little one is in Grade One. He’s gone through a year of CBLs. You can see how the program builds in layers in knowledge, layers in truth, to help those kids. Those truly are little kids, six, seven, eight-years-old, as they go up through the program, as they get older. Then as they start to mature, and we started this even before the children’s Bible lessons, was the story of the Bible series. I remember before Ethan could read and before he could talk, we were reading to him very, very young and we would read the story of the Bible. He would watch and listen and he would read the story and listen, and the pictures in it.

Thankfully we also redid that one because. If you’ve seen the old story of the Bible lessons, they are from a different time and some of those pictures in that story of the Bible are terrifying. What we have now are much friendlier versions of that, but some of those basal Wolverton photos are interesting to say the least, but the story is the same. The understanding, going through the Bible, explaining the Bible in a way that a young mind can take it in. They are being built and developed. That’s the responsibility of God’s Church. Just like when you were called or I was called, there was literature to help me come out of understanding, to help me learn what the truth was, and is.

A young mind is just an empty shell waiting to be filled, so the programs are there to do so. Then they get a little bit older, don’t they? They continue and they go from the story of the Bible to the children’s Bible lessons and then at a certain point they pick up with The Ambassador Youth Magazine. Guiding, directing, teaching, practical, helpful, useful, spiritual, and physical knowledge. Those programs, those magazines, publications, they don’t happen by accident. There’s a team that puts together things through. If you see the latest Ambassador Youth, it’s the camp issue, all the work that goes into that. As they continue, we have the Youth Bible studies. Specific topics designed to help young people, teens in that case, maybe even into their early twenties.

Young people, youth, on spiritual helpful knowledge specifically for them. Again, I’m talking about what God’s Church does for youth. Trust me. We’re going to have a lot of fun talking about what you can do too. As I said, this is three legs on that stool. All of us here, no matter what our rank or role at Headquarters, care and want to help God’s young people. That’s how this works. We’re building minds. Like we’re helping people around the world come to truth. Like how we will rule in the Kingdom of God and teach the entire world billions of people this way. It starts with learning to teach those that are of the next generation. Then, ultimately…

Before we go there, let’s go to Hebrews Chapter Five. Hebrews Five: Verse Twelve. Hebrews Five: Verse Twelve reads, “For when for the time you ought to be teachers. You have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the Oracles of God. And are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” Sometimes it’s always good to get back to the milk, even if you can handle strong meat. If you’re young, babies, if you will, need milk. “For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. For he is a babe,” or a baby, or they’re young. There’s nothing wrong with that unless you’re an adult having to go back to milk because you can’t discern righteousness.

If you’re young, you’ve got an excuse. You can take in that milk. “But strong meat belongs to them that are a full age even who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Use helps them discern both good and evil. If you’re a teenager or younger and you make mistakes, accept that you make mistakes. We have a very important in our household-- We try to teach our son that you can mess up, but you have to be truthful. You can make a mistake, but you have to fess up for the mistake. The repercussions of being untruthful go way beyond the repercussions of any mistake that’s made or disobedience.

Because truth is the fundament. It’s the base of what everything we do. Let’s go to Second Timothy. Second Timothy Chapter Three and start in Verse Fourteen. Second Timothy Three: Fourteen. “But continue you in the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing of whom you have learned them. And that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures.” What we do today is not new, brethren. It’s no different than what happened back in Timothy’s time. From a child you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Jesus Christ.

All Scriptures given for inspiration of God, profitable for doctrine, for reproof, correction, et cetera. Timothy’s mother, his grandmother, and you can imagine those in that congregation trained up Timothy to go on to do what? Become an evangelist. Because it helped teach him about salvation, righteousness. That’s why we have programs today. We don’t give meat to six-year-olds. We don’t say, “Okay, here you go, young man CBL, lesson one, volume one, grade, kindergarten. We’re going to teach you the finer elements of the Book of Revelation.” The little kid looks up and says, “Revelation?” No. We start small and simple in stories and that build, because they start on milk. Again, story of the Bible, children’s Bible lessons, you get Ambassador Youth Magazine, youth Bible studies, and then it keeps building to something that is really the culmination of what we do for youth, Ambassador Youth Camp.

We recently heard a Bible study from Dr. Viljoen, talking about this year and the goals of camp and what it means, but you may not look at camp as an adult the same way the kids look at camp who go to it. Let’s go back to Deuteronomy Sixteen. I’m going to draw a bit of a parallel. It’s tongue-in-cheek, but it’s really not. Deuteronomy Sixteen. Hear this verse, I’m not taking up an offering but turn here. Deuteronomy Sixteen: Verse Sixteen. We’re going to read this with a different context. Deuteronomy Sixteen: Sixteen. “Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the Lord in the place which he shall choose. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, Tabernacle, they shall not appear before the Lord empty.”

They are, we are commanded, to come before God three times a year, three seasons for the Holy Days, all the Holy Days, of course, but in those three seasons… You can think about Feast of Tabernacles is the easiest to picture. We are commanded to go up to a spot that God has placed His name. As adults, this is the culmination of your year. Young people too, but AYC, like the pilgrimage, if you will, that we make to go to the feast every year, that’s what it’s like for them.

If you talk to them once they’ve experienced camp, the anticipation, the excitement, the joy, the nervousness, all of the gambit of emotions they can have, is an excitement for that trip to camp. They get away from the world. They step off the difficult path because it is not easy being young in this day and age. To be surrounded with the distractions, the technology, the interactions, social media, so many things. You get hopeful when you see schools getting rid of phones or things. If time goes on and we have to have young people and I have a child that’s growing up and I think, “Wow, what would the world be like this side of the country or this side of the kingdom if he makes it to the ages of ten, or twelve, or fifteen?”

Camp is the chance to step away from those things. It’s a chance to remove the distractions, to remove the acquaintances or the ones that are not acquaintances and the kids in the school that cause trouble, the distractions. The fight to do the right thing removes the peer pressure of doing the wrong thing. Camp is a structured time so young people can get together, learn about the way of God in a manner that doesn’t make this way of life onerous. That’s something, as we talk about parents and others, we should be able to show the joy of living this way of life and that’s what we do with camp.

It’s not just sit around and study your Bible for two weeks and that’s all you do. No, it’s about making God’s way of life fun because it should be. It’s an abundant life. Go back to Daniel One. Daniel Chapter One. Camp is huge. Of all the things we do for youth, it’s the most expensive. It’s the most labor-intensive. Everything else together, even the magazines, I would easily say, do not cost or exert as much work as the youth camp. Daniel Chapter One: Verse Eight. Verse Eight reads, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” This is the account where they wanted to undermine him and Daniel and his friends said, “No, we’re not going to eat of the king’s meat.”

“He would not defile himself with a portion of the king’s meat nor with wine which he drank. Therefore he requested the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Daniel said in his mind to resist the difficult things and he was young. He was a young person and his friends put in an environment that was away from home in a foreign land and they had to maintain living God’s way of life. That’s what AYC is about. For when you get older or even when you’re in your teens or you’re asked about Christmas or birthdays, or whatever the case may be. Your any of the knowledge of understanding. The young people here get it probably more than anywhere else in the world because we’re known.

Some of the stories I hear from the teenagers in high school, of what they get asked about what we do or what we believe. You can’t imagine that people come up with it, but I guess you’re creative when you’re a teenager. From goat heads out west, to sacrifices to so many other things. You have to resist that, and that’s what camp is about, teaching you how. How to answer, how to resist, how to have the spiritual fortitude and developing the backbone to be able to say, “No, I live this way of life not because my parents do, but I live this way of life because it’s the right way to live.”

You don’t learn that without training. Like anyone, adults included, don’t become super Christians overnight. No, it takes time. It takes learning, it takes training. It takes milk that turns into meat and that will help you grow. Let’s go to Exodus Twenty-Four. Exodus Chapter Twenty-Four. A couple verses before we switch gears here. Exodus Twenty-Four, one verse. Because this is also what AYC does in its training. It’s the purpose of it, ultimately, what it can lead to. Exodus Twenty-Four: Verse Thirteen. Verse Thirteen of Exodus Twenty-Four reads, “And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua and Moses went up into the mount of God.” There’s this Joshua who is being mentored, taught, trained, developed by this senior man.

You could say being the minister, he was minister, so the helper, not a minister, but ministering. Joshua was back here helping Moses do this, helping Moses do that. Watching Moses, being taught by Moses. Like all the young people. You go to camp and you’re seeing the ministry, seeing the staff, seeing the example in the background. At some point if you’re a young person, you’ve probably gone through this. You’ve gone from that stage. Because we’ve been around long enough to have people grow up through camp, graduate to being a staffer, and then go on to being a minister. An actual minister, not just ministering. That’s the goal of camp, is to train young people to be leaders.

Because all of us are training to be leaders in the kingdom of God. It doesn’t matter which side of the line we’re talking about. Everything about Christianity, no matter what side of the line of the kingdom of God, that falls over into the next side. If you’re eighteen-years-old and you’re not baptized yet and the kingdom comes tomorrow and boom, you’re in the kingdom of God, all that training still applies. If you get old enough to be baptized and the kingdom comes, all that training still applies. From birth to baptism is what we’re talking about here, but ultimately, all of what we train and develop to do is for everything that goes beyond it.

That’s what God’s Church does. We give the products, the programs, the magazines, the literature to help young people succeed. We will do our part, but we’re only one leg of that stool. Let’s look at the other leg. Go to Matthew Chapter Five. Parents, do you know the greatest thing you can do for your young people, your kids, your children? Be an example. Nothing lights up a kid’s eyes, and not in a good way, like the smell of hypocrisy. Kids smell it a thousand miles away. Adults, often same, but young people can very easily look at someone and see that they’re not doing what they’re saying. The way to prove to them that this is all just a joke-- Because this is what it’ll do.

If you do not live this way of life. If you do not show that person that you’re trying to rear, that you believe and live this way, they will look at the Church as a joke because that’s what you’re doing. Because you’re not seeing God as the example of the person, of the being who’s behind everything you’re doing. They will see the hypocrisy and not take the way of life seriously. Why should they if the one they look up to the most doesn’t either? The best way you can teach, and I can do the same thing, it applies to all of us, is to lead by example. Lead by example.

Matthew Chapter Five: Verse Fourteen. Matthew Five: Verse Fifteen. Because this is what we are. “You are the light of the world.” Mothers, fathers, and frankly, all of us are the light of the world. “A city that is set on a hill that cannot be hid.” Our behavior, our conduct, all that we do cannot be hid. If it’s good, that’s great. If it’s bad, that’s the example we set, too. “Neither do men,” Verse Fifteen. “Light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, before youth, before kids, before children, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Young people will emulate the lights they have around them.

When you don’t know who you are and you’re still building your personality and growing and develop, you tend to love the things that your parents love. I can change my child’s preference of cars with a simple comment. I’ve noticed it before. He loves cars and engines and we’ll go down the road, “Oh, that’s a Honda Civic, dad, from 19…” Models and… Just obsessed with it. It’s like it’s data. I can pull in data. I know about cars. If I say something along the lines of, “I’m not really a fan of that car.” I will hear usually later at some point, “Daddy, I’ve been thinking, I’m not really a fan of X.” It’ll be the exact same car I brought up. Because young people are emulating because they’re absorbing that example.

We have to be the ones that they absorb the right things. A Honda Civic is perfectly fine if you’ve got one. My second car I owned was one. I wouldn’t prefer one now. I got too much stuff to put in the trunk. You need a hatchback. Go to Proverbs Chapter Twenty. If you want to get in a good conversation with someone, go up to my son and start asking about cars. What kinds he likes and why he likes them. Proverbs Chapter Twenty: Verse Seven. Verse Seven of Proverbs Twenty. “The just man walks in his integrity.” What happens because of that? “His children are blessed after him.” A just man walks with integrity. He sets the right example so his children are blessed. Why? Because they do the same thing.

We all make mistakes, but it’s the pattern of our lives that set that example. Parents, be that pattern. Demonstrate God’s way of life. Make it a joy. Don’t talk about or live or anything about God’s way of life that makes it look like a burden. “Oh, we’ve got to go to service. I’d rather just stay home.” No, don’t do that. You could be tired. You could be going through a trial or difficulty. Be open. It’s not all sunshine and roses. Life shouldn’t be. Children should learn that we have setbacks, we have trials, we have tests, and we’ve got to be strong through them, but frame them in a way that they can understand it.

Frame it in a way that, “Oh, yes, we’re going through something,” or, “This difficulty, God is testing us so we can be part of His family.” Help them always see that big picture. They scratch their knee and you’d say, “Get up. You’re not hurt that bad. You’ve got to be strong.” We’ll talk about growling through a problem. Sometimes you’ll scratch your knee and it’ll be bleeding and hurt. Instead of crying, I’ll say, growl through it. “Okay, we’re tough.” You got to teach children to be tough, strong. Make Christianity something that’s exciting, not something that’s a burden.

Deuteronomy Six. Go back to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy Chapter Six: Verse Four. We’ll start in Verse Four of Deuteronomy Six. Verse Four. “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart, and you shall teach them diligently unto your children.” You can’t teach to your children things that aren’t in your heart, that you don’t know, you don’t understand the doctrines, the truths of God. If we don’t understand them, how can we apply this verse and teach them diligently to our children. “You shall talk of them when you sit in your house with your children, when you walk by the way with your children, when you lie down…” putting the little one to sleep, you can picture it in your mind, other ways to apply it, “…and when you rise up.”

We should be teaching all the time. The child-rearing booklet talks about the fundamental three most important aspects of being a parent that we have to do. Teach, teach, teach. The number of times I’ve thought that up in my head over and over again since having a child is you’re always teaching. They’re always learning. They’re always being developed. Teach, teach, teach. That means we have to be diligent about knowing it. It’s a big responsibility to be a parent. You are building up with God’s help and those around you, a potential God being.

Remember, we’re training up the child because they have to then at some point choose which path they’re going to go. You’re not alone. Remember, I said there was another leg of that table that was required, and it’s required, not just of parents, it’s required of all of us. Every single young person in every single congregation, in every single part of the world has more support than just the parent or parents. They have all the others in the congregation that’ll help them. Of course, the parent, again, is the primary caregiver. They are the parents of the children.

They are the ones responsible, but all of us should be able to assist them, to help them even if that requires you helping as simple as sitting with the child at dinner or explaining something you did and let them seek out counsel. It’s a terrible saying because of who came up with it, but I’ll use it anyway. It does take a village for all of us to be able to work together, to be able to support parents in building those future God beings. Go to First Corinthians, Chapter Twelve. First Corinthians Twelve. We won’t say it takes a village. Let’s say we have the village mentality that feels a little better.

First Corinthians, Chapter Twelve: Verse Twelve. First Corinthians Twelve: Twelve. “For even as the body is one and has many members, all the members being of one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit….” togetherness, “…when we are baptized into one body, whether it be Jews or Gentiles, whether it be bond or free, we have been made to drink that one spirit.” We’re all working together. “For the body is not one member, but many.” The body of Christ works together for the edification and the development of those around us. We do it with adults.

We think that we exhort one another or we help one another or encourage one another, or whatever the case may be. You’re helping your brothers and sisters in Christ. You’re also responsible for the little ones too. Christianity is the opposite of a self-development program. It’s a focus on every single other person and then build yourself up. Don’t get into their business, but you care about other people. That’s what it comes down to. The care and concern about those around you. You want to see that this or the other person in the kingdom of God alongside you.

How much more when they’re three, or thirteen, or seventeen? How much more when the parents may have two or three kids and they came into the Church and they weren’t raised in the Church and they’re trying to bring up the standards and you’re someone who’s lived this way of life for a time? How much more is it on you as the senior to help, show, demonstrate, and support them? We’re all responsible and we’re all also examples. Remember I said it’s not just the parents. If you’re an example in a congregation, they’re not going to see behind closed doors like you would with a family member.

If any of us don’t serve, don’t try to help other people, don’t do all the things in a congregation that you would do to be that example or your conversation at dinner or talking about what happened throughout the week. That is another time when you are being an example to those sitting across from you. Young or old. Especially young because they’re watching to see this, “I want to be like X.” Everyone has a role model or someone they look up to. There’s always that when you’re young, especially. It could be a sports person or anyone. Uncle, parents, it could also be someone in their congregation who has lived a life and they think, “Wow, I would like to be like him or her.”

Go to Titus Two. Titus Chapter Two: Verse Seven. Titus Two: Verse Seven. “And all things showing yourself a pattern of good works and doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, then cannot be condemned.” Again, let’s say the example we’re setting all of us. “That he is of the contrary may be a part of shame.” People don’t like people who do good when they don’t do good. Why? Because it points out that they’re not doing good to them and those around them. If you’ve ever been in a situation where you try to be the kind and Christian, you try to make peace with someone and someone is in the antagonist and there’s a group, you look like the good guy and they look like the bad guy. They don’t like it.

Ultimately it could be a little ashamed. This isn’t in Titus here. Verse Eight continues that they may condemn that on the contrary, may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Like they, I can’t find anything rotten in them. Think about Daniel. There’s nothing I can find wrong with Daniel except for whatever’s related to his God. Because of that example, let’s go back to Deuteronomy Chapter Thirty-One. Jump a little over the Bible here. Deuteronomy Chapter Thirty-One: Verse Eleven. Verse Eleven of Deuteronomy Thirty-One. “When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord, your God, and the place he shall choose, you shall read the law before all Israel in their hearing.

Gather the people together, men and women and children and the stranger that is in your gate that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord, your God, and observe to do all the words of the law. And that their children, which have not known anything,” the younger you are, you don’t know if you’re a stranger, you don’t know. “That have not known anything may hear, and they also learn to fear the Lord, your God, and live as long in the land, whether you go over the Jordan to possess it.” The more we study, the more we dig into God’s word, the more we talk about God’s way of life, parents, and others with young people, making it real, making it practical.

It’s one of the things we try to do with Bible studies. We tell the men who are speaking, make it practical for youth. It shouldn’t be the heavy spiritual meat. It shouldn’t be problem because this isn’t. These aren’t children’s Bible lessons. These are teenagers getting ready and moving toward baptism, but it should be applicable to be practical in their lives of what they’re going through. Taking the law of God and making it real in a way that they can apply it. Then they learn it, and then they live it, and they learn to fear God because ultimately the fear and the reverence of God comes from seeing him in your life, what he does, how he changes things, how he saves, protects, guides, and directs us.

We get that by learning it by being that example. You can see the whole congregation was told to teach in that account. Everyone. Teach it to everyone. Not everyone is a minister. Not everyone stands behind the lectern on a Sabbath and give sermons or sermonettes. There’s a lot of time when we spend together. Let’s go back to Titus, back to Chapter Two of Titus. You may not have thought-- If you don’t have children, or your children are grown, or they’re out of the house, or they’re not in the Church, you may, in your mind, think, “Oh, I’ve done my child-rearing.” No, sorry. Like so much of Christianity, you can’t just stop one element, and this is a huge element. Titus chapter two, verse three. The older you are, if you have adult children, you’re hoary-headed. You’re in your fifties or sixties or seventies or older. Verse three, “The aged women likewise.” Older, more mature, aged. Doesn’t that sound so much better. If you go to someone, “Wow, you’re quite the old woman,” that would not be well-received.

Say an old man, too, you’re not going to go, “Well, you’re quite the aged woman.” Okay, that wouldn’t work either so don’t do either of those two, but we’ll just let the Bible be the Bible here. “The aged women likewise...,” I was talking about the men earlier, we don’t have to read both, but you’ll see with this, “...that they may be in behavior that becomes holiness. The example. Not false accusers, not given too much wine. Teachers of good things. The women, it’s important that they may teach the young women to be sober.”

This isn’t the parents. This is the aged women, and, by all accounts, what you’re thinking about with an aged woman is someone who has kids who have grown up and they’re probably grandparents by this point, so this is not teaching their five-year-old or their twelve-year-old or their fifteen-year-old. “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.” So that teaching doesn’t stop when those young people get baptized and married and have kids. No. As the older women, you are teaching them how to develop their children, teaching them how to teach their children.

This cycle never stops. I could have easily called this sermon, not “Birth to Baptism,” but “Birth to Burial,” because our cycle never stops having to teach those younger than us, to help build them up to be able to live this way of life. “Love their children.” Verse five, “To be discrete, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their husbands that the Word of God may not be blasphemed.” And further up in that account, we just read the same thing about young men and with aged men. We are instructed to teach, to develop, to support parents in helping them build young people.

Excuse me. Go back to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter four. I’m going to apply this one in a slightly different way as well, Ecclesiastes chapter four. Starting verse nine of chapter four, “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.” Couples. This is why we often interpret it... but it never says “husband and wife” here. “For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe unto him that is alone when he falls for he has not another to help him up. And, again, if two lie together, then they have heat. How can one be warm alone?”

That makes it look more like a husband and wife, but if you’re camping and it’s cold, that pillow wall may not be as thick. If you’ve ever been a young man and you had to share a bed with another young man and you’ve slept over at someone’s house, you probably know of the pillow wall. You create a wall of pillows because, as young men, the last thing you ever want... or any aged man, is the flesh of one’s arm to come in contact with the flesh of another, so you create that...

Has nothing to do with this message, so back to verse twelve of Ecclesiastes four, “And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” You could apply that to a husband and wife and children, or you could just simply apply that as human beings. When people stand back-to-back three, four, fivefold cord, you’re stronger. You’re more resilient. You get through more difficult situations. We have to be that unified in God’s Church.

It doesn’t matter, parents, children, aged, hoary heads, all of us have to be bound that effectively. We’re over here, so go back to Proverbs. Proverbs twenty-seven, probably just back a few pages for you. Proverbs twenty-seven and verse seventeen. This is something we have to do, and we could do it every Sabbath. Proverbs twenty-seven verse seventeen, “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Do you engage with younger people at Sabbath services? Do you engage with them when you sit down for a potluck, have a conversation, ask what they’re doing? Young people, do you answer back? It’s just as important. You can’t learn unless you engage the others.

And we often tell, “Go out, go sit with the older people to have a conversation...,” teaching a younger child, “...focus on their eyes.” We say, “Okay, now you’re speaking to an adult, you have to have laser eyes. Your eyes are lasering to their eyes and that’s what you’re focused on.” But young, if you’re a teenager, are you doing it with the older? But older, are you going out of your way to engage the younger? Ask about their lives, know the details going on.

You may find they have similarities of what they’re interested in as you. You may be able to give advice, and, young people, you may be able to get advice from someone who has had a similar career path, life experiences, ways to make you better, but we have to be proactive and do it. We have to involve young people in parts of the congregation, setup and teardown. If they have talents with audio and video or any of those things that allow them to be part of the group.

I don’t care if it’s a congregation of a hundred or five, use everyone. Obviously, you’re going to bring common sense. You don’t take a ten-year-old or a five-year-old and have them move tables, but can they help wipe them down? Sure. Could they help take a plate away? Yes. As they get older, should they be involved? Of course.

Work with your minister. Ask him. And the ministry tries to do this. We do this here at Headquarters. We have young people helping with the setup, helping with teardown. Some of them are vacuuming the hall, because it’s everyone that should be involved, supporting and developing and building each other. And if you’re aged, remember your single parents or other parents that need your support.

If you’ve got a child… if you’ve seen a single parent with a bunch of kids, I don’t care how good they are... and we have some wonderful parents in the Church that have larger families, single parents, but the kids are well behaved. That doesn’t mean it’s easy for them, so help them, support them, and then we just get better and better and better.

But it’s not just in our Sabbath services, or when you’re talking, or when you’re interacting. Brethren, going back to that first leg, you can support what God’s Church does in ways, too. Not just helping in developing a young person in a congregation, but by supporting the programs that we produce, and the most direct way to do that is AYC. You’re not writing articles for a magazine. No. You’re not giving youth Bible studies. But you may think, “But I’m not a camper,” but you could be a volunteer. You could be volunteering to help at camp. You could be in the kitchen or... so many things to do.

There’s an opportunity to volunteer at camp, and it’s released, or being released, or once it opens up for recommendation, ask to help. If you’re available, what’s the worst that could happen? “No, we don’t need your help. We have so many volunteers this year, we’re turning some down.” In light of this sermon, I hope that I hear from Church administration that we have way too many volunteers this year, we had to turn a bunch of them down, because it’s our job. More important than what pays your 9:00 to 5:00.

Some of you can’t. You have a job. You can’t get out for two weeks. Of course, that’s understandable, but be a volunteer. Volunteer to help young people. Volunteer to support camp for us to be able to have a program that develops kids. And, this year, we are so excited about... we got camp, we’re bringing it closer back to Headquarters so the kids can come and have a Headquarters’ day and see everything that happens here so we can make what God’s way of life is more real.

That there are IT people and there are writers and graphics people, and there’s accountants there. There are jobs that you can have that are in God’s work. And we have kids that were campers and staff who work here today, so we want to make that real and get them excited. And we’re also focusing on getting as many kids from around the world to be able to get here to Ohio, to this camp.

In years past, because of COVID, we had to spread that out a little bit more with South Africa, but this year, we’re going to push, as hard as we possibly can, to get kids from around the world because, one, it’s good for them to come from Namibia or South Africa or Australia, or the Philippines, but it’s also good for the kids here to be able to see, “Wow it’s not normal to have electricity twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. It’s not normal to have the privilege and the benefits, especially in countries like America, where you walk into a grocery store and have three hundred kinds of peanut butter.”

Even in affluent nations. It’s not like it is here in Canada. It’s not even the same. I remember talking with someone who moved here not too long ago, one of the things that really struck her was the variety of products in the grocery store. And she grew up in Southern Ontario, so it’s not like it’s out in the boonies. You come here and the affluence is amazing in America, but you could also get used to it because if you’ve been raised in it, it’s normal. So, it’s good for them to see other parts of the world, but, brethren, we cannot do that without you.

Volunteering and fundraising. Fundraising is so important to camp. There are many initiatives you’ve heard about. The announcement bulletin is talking about them. Think about the kids beyond your congregation. If you start to raise money for AYC and that camper and your congregation now suddenly can afford to go to camp, they got transportation, they can afford the camp fee, don’t let that cause you to slow down because every dollar you earn in fundraising that’s going to AYC, you’re sending another kid to camp.

And it’s not cheap to come from Australia, or the UK, or South Africa. They’re doing their part trying to fundraise, locally, in their spots, but you and I... and we’re in nations of the West where there is a lot more money than some of these other countries, it’s on us. We should blow away our goals for fundraising for these kids. We should blow away the need or concern of us having to think, “Okay we can’t afford this child, or we can’t afford this one because of that flight or the cost.” No, make it so that’s not an issue.

We will do our part, but you have to fundraise hard and deep and then continue after all of your kids in your congregation are going to AYC, then think about the ones in the congregations next to you or across the world. Pay attention to the announcement bulletin. Every dollar makes a difference. Make a difference for young people. That’s what you can do, especially if you can’t volunteer. So, support the programs. So, there’s a little bit of time left here. We’re going to go through and now that we’ve seen these three legs, we can make a difference, and the Bible shows several examples of that happening.

Go to First Samuel. Excuse me, just getting over a cold. First Samuel chapter one, and we’ll spot through here. Here’s someone being an example. I could call this “Success Through God or Good or Godly Parents.” First Samuel chapter seventeen. So, Hannah comes, she’s crying. It’s really difficult, she’s in tears. It’s so much so she’s almost babbling, and Eli thinks, “Okay, what’s going on with this woman?”

Verse seventeen jumping down, it says, “And then Eli answered and said...,” after she explains herself, and she just said, “I just wish I could have a child,” and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel will grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” Verse twenty-eight or twenty-seven, “For this child, I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him.” She said if she got a child, she would give him to Samuel, give him to the temple, but just give her, bless her with a child.

“And, therefore, I have lent him to the Lord,” as he was born later. Verse twenty-eight, “As long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord and worship there.” She gave up Samuel to go to be in the temple. She was the example, she obeyed God. She wanted to do the right thing. Let’s look at another one here, go back to the New Testament. We saw this earlier but recount it again. First Timothy, or second Timothy, excuse me. Chapter one of Second Timothy. Chapter one, verse two. We’ll start in verse two, “To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jumping down to verse five, “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you...,” We’re talking about Timothy, he was a young man, grew up, “...which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois.”

So, where did Timothy’s unfeigned love, his faith come from? From his grandmother, grandmother Lois, “...and your mother Eunice.” So, the grandmother taught his mother to have unfeigned faith, who then taught Timothy. Good parenting makes a difference. In this instance, generations of good parenting. Let’s go to chapter three. Over a page, probably chapter three and verse fourteen of Second Timothy. Still in Second Timothy, chapter three, verse fourteen, “But continue in the things you have learned and been assured of, knowing of whom you learned them.”

It has a little bit of a different tone. Of course, we need to obey the government of God and the truth, but in the context of Timothy here, don’t forget who you learned that unfeigned love from, Timothy, as being told to him as an adult in this case. Young man, but an adult. “Remember from whom you learned them. That from a child, you have learned...,” we read this before, “...the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.”

It’s talking about faith. The context, the detail, the subject matter, if you will, didn’t change. He’s saying, “Timothy, remember your mom. Remember your grandmother. That’s who you learned them from.” And that teaching, that upbringing went on to make Timothy who he was and who he became. You don’t think, young people, that you could stand behind a lectern and give a sermon? Don’t be so sure. You wouldn’t be the first. You wouldn’t be the first to be raised by, potentially, generations that head in that direction.

Let’s go to... we’ve looked at this account before, but let’s see it from the other side. Let’s go to First Samuel chapter three. Back to First Samuel. First Samuel chapter three. If you remember, Samuel was given up to the temple. He was sent there. That’s what he had to do. His mother let go because she just wanted to be able to give up a child. She set an example. She went through, obeyed the vow she made to God, but suddenly it required someone else to take over, didn’t it?

First Samuel chapter three and verse ten, “And the Lord came and stood and called, as at other times, ‘Samuel, Samuel.’ Then Samuel answered, ‘Speak for your servant hears’.” So, this is, okay, think in terms of, what went on in his life that he got to the point... because remember, he was given as a child and had to work under Eli, who developed him and groomed him and the others in the temple to train and teach him.

So, it was others who taught Samuel to be able to hear God, to see God. I’m sure his mother came to visit. It wasn’t like he was shunned, so there was that example. And he grew up knowing his mother obeyed God even from birth and from the time that he came out. Can you imagine being a parent, saying, “I’m going to give my child up because it’s the vow I made to God because God blessed me”?

Verse nineteen, “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and did none of His words fall to the ground...,” he heard all the things that God said, “...and all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.” While Hannah dedicated Samuel to God, Eli, the high priest, he would’ve taught him all that happened in the Tabernacle.

He would’ve helped him recognize how to hear God, how to see God, how to obey him. That would be a success story of someone other than a parent helping. We have time for another one of these. Let’s go to Esther. We don’t go there very often. The Book of Esther chapter two. Esther chapter two, and we’ll just read one verse. Verse seven, “And he brought up Hadassah, which, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.” He took her in because the parents died. This uncle said, “You know what? I’m not the parents. I’m blood. I’m someone to support.”

If that wouldn’t have happened, would she have grown into who she became? Would she become in her role later in life? Think of all she did to help save Israel. Her parents died, but her uncle helped her become who she grew to be. It’s not just parents. Again, they are the primary caregivers, of course, but all of us are responsible in creating these success stories for young people. All of us have to help them build and develop into what they can become. You could look at the account of Ruth, think of all... And she wasn’t young, she was a younger person.

She’d looked up to someone older, but that example that went through with her and then what that became over time. You go account after account after account in the Bible of parents or those around them helping young people develop into who they could become. It’s important. We are the ones that have to work together to allow someone, from the time they’re born, learning the simple things of life to the moment they get ready for baptism.

Let’s go to Proverbs chapter eleven.

Proverbs eleven. Young people, this is important for you. We’re going to change gears and we’re going to hear a little bit of your responsibility, but Proverbs chapter eleven. There’s a reason why God does this, not because he wants those around us to meddle in parenting. God’s not saying, “Oh, then this person should meddle in the parenting of others,” or, “That person should do this,” and getting in each other’s business. No, that’s not why God’s doing it. God says, “Let’s support each other because of this. “

Proverbs chapter eleven, verse fourteen, “Where there is no counsel, the people fail....,” when we go at it alone, we will fail. Parenting is too big, too important, “...but in the multitude of counselors...,” not just one, “counselors,” “...there is safety.” “Purpose is established,” it says, elsewhere. Young people benefit by having a multitude of counselors or influences in their lives. As parents, you’re going to be that primary influencer, and you should be. We should be that example as parents, but all of us have a responsibility to help young people get to the point in their lives that they say, “Yes, I want to be baptized.”

So, you’ve been off the hook for most of the sermon, young people. You’ve got a responsibility, too, besides taking what your parents say or listening to adults, or being able to have to apply the lessons you learn. You don’t live in a bubble, so you will be exercised in living this way of life, but in some cases, you’re doing it because you’re under the roof of your parents and, “In my house, my rules, and we obey God in this household. And if you want to live in this household, you’ll obey God, too.”

Could be that, but the more we make Christianity real for our children, the more Proverbs twenty-two... remember, “Train up a child, and when he’s old, he’ll go to it.” It doesn’t mean they’re going to hit nineteen years old and they’re going to get baptized. You can’t force a child to be baptized. One last thing for parents. You can’t force it. Can you desire it? Can you build the excitement in them? Can you do everything you can do to show them this way of life?

And even if you do it perfectly, they may not get baptized. They may grow up and live on their own and live their way of life, but you know what you did? You train them, and when they get old, they don’t forget the things that their parents taught them. I didn’t forget the things my parents taught me, and that caught up with me as I got older and thought, “Oh. Oh, yes, and there was that, and then there was that.” And then there’s that you have children, you will think, “Oh, wow.”

As you get older, there’s this inconvenient truth that happens in your life. Your parents are more right than you realize they ever were. It’s uncomfortable when you’re younger and becomes more comfortable as you age, but your parents were more right than you realize. So, young people, you’ve gotten up to that point. Let’s say you’ve obeyed God. You’re reaching a certain age. You’re nineteen, you’re twenty, you’re twenty-one, somewhere in that age range. We have an article that says, “Now that you’re twenty,” which talks about, “Okay, you’ve got to make a decision and move forward with your life,” and baptism and whatnot.

You have to choose it. You have to look at Christianity, look at your parents, look at the examples around you, look at the people who chose to walk this way of life. Not just your parents, look at all of those that surround you in a congregation or that you see at the feast, that example, that are a mentor, that have given you advice, that have helped you, that have supported you. They chose this way of life, and you have to choose it, too. You can’t be forced to be baptized.

We’re not going to say, “Okay, you’re twenty years old, get in your swimsuit and we’re going to just hold you underwater and we’re going to force God’s spirit into you.” No, that’s not how it works. You are making a covenant between you and God. Would your parents be disappointed if you chose not? Of course, because they’ve lived their life and chose this way of life because they’ve lived a life knowing this is the right way to live. So, if they see you making a mistake, just like any mistake you’d make in your life, would they be discouraged?

Are they going to try to convince you or are they going to work with you and help you see what...? Yes, of course. They’re your parents. They want you to make the right decisions, but you have to make the ultimate call. You’ve got to make that ultimate decision yourself. You have to understand what repentance means. What giving up and saying, “You know, I need God in my life. I need that direction. I need His assistance, I need His guidance, His blessings, and all the things that He would give me to do so I can be ready, and I can walk with confidence to resist the things in the world that I will be running into.”

Because, again, don’t think in terms of time. Never let timing change how you’re thinking about living your life. No. If you’re young and you’re eighteen, nineteen, you’re planning college, you’re thinking of a family, none of that changes with Christ’s return. If you’re nineteen years old, guess what? You’re going to live in the kingdom. Do you think that changes of getting older and becoming educated...? I mean, the conditions do, but you still have to, again, choose to live this way of life.

You have to understand what baptism means, going into detail about that commitment because you’ve seen people that are hypocritical, who get up and walk away, who say they believe something and then poo-poo it later. No, you are making that decision yourself. You must grasp the basic doctrines of God. You must grasp what repentance is. You must commit to this way of life. And it’s not a way of life that’s difficult because you’ve been living your whole life learning about Christianity.

Is it easy to be a Christian? No, because we’re walking a different path. Is it onerous to be a Christian? Absolutely not. God says we’re given an abundant life. We’re blessed with people who care and love us. You will never find a group that cares about you more than those that surround you each and every Sabbath, nowhere in the world. I don’t care who you meet, who you run into, whatever group or sports team or friends, no one will care about you like those that are around you each and every Sabbath, but you’re kind of taking my word for it, aren’t you?

So sometimes people go out and think, “No, I’m not ready to be baptized,” and they make the decision and learn the hard way. And learn that it can be a difficult path without God. Without His blessings, His protection, His guidance. And as good parents, we shouldn’t rub their noses in it, but we should remind them why you chose to live this way of life.

Why you decided that, “No, I’m not... I’m taking a different path.” And remember, we trained up a child so when they’re older, they’ll return to it. Acts chapter two. Some basics here. Acts chapter two. Just one verse, we’ll read verse thirty-eight. Acts two, thirty-eight, “Then Peter said unto them, ‘Repent and be baptized you, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’.”

Young people, prospective members, too, you have God’s spirit working with you.

I don’t care if you’re two or twenty and are getting ready for baptism. God’s spirit can help you, can direct you, to guide you, but you can’t do the things that converted individuals can do with God’s spirit in their mind, receiving the Holy Spirit, interfacing with the spirit in man. You cannot put out the thoughts that God’s spirit allows us to put out when we actually are baptized.

There’s a difference between power around you and power in you. If you don’t believe me, go into a room with electricity. You have power all around you. Take a fork, stick it in a light socket, you will have power in you. That’s very different. God’s spirit in you is very different than God’s spirit, having it around you. It can help you, but you can’t truly change until that spirit opens your heart and allows you to do so.

Romans chapter fifteen, I’ll start to come to a close here. Chapter fourteen, excuse me. Romans fourteen and verse five. Just one verse. Romans fourteen and verse five, “One man esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Brethren, we can persuade you, but those convinced against their will are of the same opinion, still.

You are choosing to walk this way of life. When you say, “I want to be baptized,” your parents are excited, of course. I remember when God called me, my mother was so floored. I was not the one God was going to call. There was no chance on it. I was not interested. It blew her mind. She was so excited. So, your parents will be excited, but you need to be persuaded by the Word of God, by the counsel of others, by your minister. All of the things that come together, but especially in your own mind. You’re making the decision.

You’re saying, “Yes, I have seen the example. I have lived... I have been the top of that three-legged stool for years now, and I want to be one of the legs of it. I want to support the work. I want to be the one that helps kids get to camp. I want to be the one that does all of the aspects of Christianity to help the next generation,” but, again, you have to choose it.

Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two, verse twelve. Philippians two-twelve, “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that works both in you to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

God can give you both the will, the desire to do good, and then the power to be able to do it, but we all have to work out our own because baptism, again, it is a personal commitment and choice between you and your creator. It’s a personal choice. It’s not a family tradition. As you get older, that choice will face you. As you hit twenty, you may have the minister say, “What do you plan to do with your life?” But that’s not when your journey to baptism started. It started because you had many guides for your entire life, helping guide you to the right path.

You could think of the people around you like a compass. It’s not necessarily they can force you any path. Parents can make you do certain things in their house, of course. Rob a bank and go to jail, but think of those people around you, they’re like the arrow and a compass. They’re just helping you point in the right direction, know where to go. You have to be the one that goes on the hike, the journey, the path, the steps, but they’ll help you.

Brethren, God’s entrusted all of us to support His youth. Not just parents, but every baptized and unbaptized, and every member because it is a Christian responsibility to help build the next generation. Proverbs twenty-two as we saw again, I don’t need to go back there, says, “Train up a child in the way he should go.”

We all have seen, I think, at this point, we’re all responsible for that. Every single one of us help train those children up. It requires the entire Church to work behind it. Both in your congregation and volunteering and your financial support to help camp, all of those things come together to allow us to build up that next generation, so be an example.

Be someone that inspires those around you. Be someone that the young people around you can look up to. Be a light to the next generation and support them from birth to baptism.