Pastor Steve Hopkins' sermon, titled 'Companions of Fools and the Destruction of Children,' explores the profound influence companions have on individuals, particularly children. He begins by referencing Proverbs 13:20 to emphasize the importance of choosing wise companions over foolish ones. The sermon is part of a series focusing on family dynamics and biblical teachings, following discussions on family worship. Pastor Hopkins, drawing from his personal experience of raising nine children, stresses the significance of guiding children's friendships to prevent negative influences. He cites biblical figures like Daniel and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as examples of wise companions. The sermon also warns against the dangers of bad company, referencing John Gill and Matthew Henry's interpretations of scripture. Pastor Hopkins advises parents to prioritize their children's spiritual growth and be discerning about their associations. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize Jesus as the perfect friend and to pray for the spiritual salvation of children, highlighting the need for divine intervention in their lives.

This week, Pastor Hopkins delivered his sermon on companions and how they influence our lives. Good afternoon again. Let's turn in our Bibles to the book of Proverbs, chapter 13. If you would stand with me for a very short reading of the Word of God, Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 20. Let's read together.

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Let's be seated. In our last session, we completed the Gospel of John, and so we've taken a break from verse by verse exposition of the scriptures in order to look at issues regarding the family. Last week we looked at the issue of family worship, of daily family scheduled worship and how it is commanded in Scripture, and how it's such a blessed command that we have, and how blessed families are who take that time every day to open the Scriptures together and to sing the praises of God and to pray to God together. What a blessing and what a blessedness it is to have that command in Scripture.

In the coming weeks we're going to be looking at issues regarding marriage, the roles of husbands and wives, the roles of sons and daughters, the roles of grandfathers and grandmothers. And we're just going to kind of work our way through the family, the doctrine of the family in scripture of the biblical family. Today I want to talk on something that I think is related to all of these. I want us to look at the subject of companions. After 35 years of raising children and with nine children still at home.

Before it's all over we'll have been raising children for about a half a century. And seeing that we have now this new crop of young couples coming out and babies are beginning to be heard crying in the service again, a very good thing, right? And little voices, you know, in the midst of the singing and all are beginning to be heard again. For a while there, they were just, you know, we're just, they're getting older and they're now there's not so many babies and now we've got the young couples and all, and the young babies. Just seeing that, it occurred to me that many things that we covered five years ago, ten years ago, fifteen years ago, twenty years ago, We need to review and come back and look at some of these things again.

So I pray that the Lord might be pleased to use this time for his glory, for that purpose, for the building up of his church and for the glory of his name. So our last hymn we sang was a hymn that I wish it was in every church. I wish that everyone sang Freisteyn's hymns and more than that I wish that they would take his hymns to heart. He speaks with a prophetic voice, not in the sense of predicting the future, but with a sense of conviction, of bringing things out from God's Word and things that we need to understand and applying them to our lives and really affecting the heart, I feel like. We sang the words to his hymn a moment ago, Rise my soul to watch and pray, For my sleep awaken, Be not by the evil day unaware or taken.

For the foe, well we know, oft his harvest reapeth, while the Christian sleepeth." Frestein penned those words in 1697. That's Johann Frestein. I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly, but his message is as relevant today as ever. Second verse, you can look in your hymnal again if you want to follow along. He said, watch against the devil's snares, lest asleep he find thee.

For indeed no pains he spares to deceive and blind thee. Satan's prey, after they who secure are sleeping, and no watch are keeping." All we have to do is just look at the history of the church in America in the last 50 years and witness the destruction of a secure church asleep with no watchkeeping. Freistein was a lawyer. He studied law and philosophy at the University at Leipzig, and he became a lawyer professionally. But in private, he wrote hymns, and he composed music.

But one of the things, As I said, we notice about Freistadt's hymns is that they're always warning the reader. There is this prophetic sense of warning, of warning, of warning, warning the reader, in this case the singer, to be on his guard, to be on his guard against the world and against the flesh and against the devil. It's easy to get put to sleep, isn't it? I think there's a lot of people asleep today. Yes, in the churches of America and in the West, there's a lot of people asleep.

You know, it's hard to fall asleep in the church. I'm not talking about physical sleep, of course, but it's hard to get comfortable and at ease and sleep in such a way where you're not awakened to spiritual danger. When you're in a situation of persecution, like we talked about a couple of weeks ago. When you're in that type of a situation, when you're in North Korea, you're not as much in danger of these kinds of things if you're a professing Christian. Everything is on the line for Christ.

Absolutely everything is on the line for Christ all the time. Well in the hymn, Rise My Soul, Freistline continues to exhort his audience in verse three and he enters upon our subject matter this morning which is companions. Friendship, companions. Watch, he says, let not the wicked world with its power defeat thee watch lest with her pomp unfurled she betray and cheat thee and then he says this watch and see lest there be faithless friends to charm thee. Faithless friends to charm thee.

Who but seek to harm thee. In our opening text we read, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." What is he saying here? In short, look at the passage, he that walks with wise men shall be wise, But a companion of fools on the other hand shall be destroyed in short those those we associate with tend to shape our character those that we associate with tend to shape our character. We're going to mainly be looking at children this morning and the raising of children, but this applies to all of us. This applies to the friends that we as older men and women, husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, the friendships that we have.

But I'm going to be dealing mainly with the aspect of children and who do you want your kids to be influenced by? Who do you want them to associate with who will tend to shape the character of your children? Next week I'm going to be looking more at friendship with the world. We'll look at things like virtual friendship and those kinds of things. Right now I want to be looking at just the companions that we choose for our children.

You'll have people that will say, you know, I've heard this, you know, well, you know, you got to let your kids choose their own friends. No, you don't. You know, let them choose their friends. Really? You better have some discernment there as far as children and who you want them to be influenced by.

John Gill exposes this passage like this. He said, when Solomon writes, he that walks with wise men shall be wise, he's saying that he who is a companion of someone or one that fears the Lord, who converses frequently with them, you know, who's walking with them in the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord, he by those means grows wiser and wiser. And when he says, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed, he's saying a companion of fools shall become like them. If your children have companions who are fools, okay, the fool is set in his heart, there is no God. There's all kinds of fools out there, right?

But that's the number one definition right there. But if you're letting them walk with the people of the world, watch out. He says, they will become like them and thus be brought to ruin and destruction and I'll tell you what I've seen it over and over and over again in the 35 years of raising children the friends that your children keep matter friendships matter they matter a lot The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church, the church of Corinth, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 to verse 33. He says, don't be deceived. Be not deceived in the King James version, evil communications corrupt good manners.

Your version might render it something like this, do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals. Guess what? That's right. Matthew Henry says, multitudes are brought to ruin by bad company. Multitudes are brought to ruin by bad company.

Don't be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. Don't be deceived. Evil communications, relationships corrupt good manners. Calvin comments here, evil communications have more effect than we might suppose.

Evil communications have more effect than we might suppose in polluting our minds and corrupting our morals. In polluting our minds and corrupting our morals. Whether it's the company your children keep or the company you keep, the company that one keeps matters. The company you keep matters. The companions we walk alongside of as we journey down life's road matter.

Can anybody just look back over their life and look at different areas of your life and you know what that was a destructive influence on my life that person Or can you look back and say, you know what, that child was a destructive influence on my child. Had a destructive influence on my child. Thank you God for delivering us from those kinds of influences. Help us God not to be unwise and let our children become the companions of fools. Help us God.

How many times have we heard the same sad story repeated, even stories like this. You know, we did our best to raise our children right. We homeschooled them. We tried to keep the ungodly influences of the world out of the house. We kept the TV out and we were in church every Sunday and every Wednesday at prayer meeting and we had family worship every morning.

But still somehow when one of our children reached his teens, we lost his heart. And I realize I'm only dealing with one aspect of that, the loss of the heart issue. Just one aspect this afternoon, and that is companions, companions, companions. Next week we're gonna be looking at the other influences, many other influences that come into the lives that we allow to slip in to our homes, our houses, that we allow to get into our children's minds. I'm holding up a telephone here, electronic device, for those who are listening by internet at a later date, which we're going to look at more next week but this this afternoon companions companions I want to dwell on companions now of course if a child grows up in a Christian home and he rejects everything he's been taught even if his parents you know we're trying to do everything right he runs into the world with arms wide open, he embraces sin, he embraces rebellion against God.

The issue, of course, is not ultimately the companions, right? The issue ultimately is what? Regeneration. He didn't get born again, as Don was saying. He never was born again.

He never came to saving faith. God never did that work in that child. But we also, we also have to understand this. Yes, our children, we need to be crying out for them every day. We need to be crying out for their souls.

We need to be giving them Christ every day. We need to be giving them the gospel every day. Ultimately, we have to rely upon the Lord to do the work necessary to change their heart and their life. We know that, as Mr. Stubblefield said, it is a work of God the Spirit.

There must be a change that is worked by God or that child is going to go down the wrong road. We know families, their kids were taken down, the tool that was used in the devil's little tool bag, okay, was co-op. They go to the co-op, they make their friends in the co-op, not the same churches, not that they're homeschool families, but they're not, you know, of the same mind or whatever, and we've seen families, you know, they make all these relationships through co-op, various things like that, and then their children make these relationships that later the parents say, boy, I wish they'd never made that relationship. Oh, I wish they never met that person, that influence. So again, once again we pray with all our hearts for grace and mercy from above, understanding all our efforts will prove fruitless apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in raising our children from spiritual death to spiritual life, amen?

Because we understand that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain. They labor in vain. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Here's a little story for you. So we'll call them Dan and Cindy.

Dan and Cindy Smith. Very careful to raise their son, Jeffrey, without exposing him to all the evils that are out there and all the godlessness of modern television and movies, the worlds of music, etc. Etc. Their Christian relatives would many times complain, you know, oh he's missing out on a lot of fun, Jeffery is, but they resisted, you know, those things and they resisted the call of the relatives to let them have more access to stuff. So they did the right thing in there.

So here's a boy who, he's now eight years old. He's respectful to others, yes sir, yes ma'am. He knows how to have conversations with older people and younger people. You know, he's been raised in that type of age-integrated environment and church situation. He's polite.

He's courteous. He seems to be a happy child. He's content, you know, with what he has. And then one day when Jeffrey is about eight years old, a new family moves into the house next door, and shortly thereafter there comes a knock on the door. A little knock on the door.

There in the doorway stands another eight-year-old boy, ball and glove in hand, and he's asking if the Smith boy, can he come out and play with me? I've seen him out playing in the yard, can he come out and play with me? You know, Mrs. Smith, not wanting to seem impolite or, you know, unfriendly, as a neighbor reluctantly agrees. Okay, he can come out and play, but just for a little while.

In her mind she's thinking, just this once. Maybe who knows, maybe Jeffrey will have an effect on him. Maybe, you know, maybe he can be a Christian witness to the boy next door and he'll become a believer. You don't see any place in scripture where missionaries are sent out at the age of eight, do you? Has anybody seen that yet?

I haven't seen it, no. I've heard that argument though from many. Well, we send our kids to the public schools, you know, why? Because they're going to be little missionaries to the world. But instead of the glove, the white glove that's thrown into the mud puddle, the mud getting glovey, you know, the glove gets muddy, right?

Then one day, turns into two, two into 10, and by the time his next birthday rolls around, Jeffrey and Edward, the little boy next door, are fast friends. And the Smiths begin to notice a change in their son almost immediately. They brush it off, it's just a phase he's going through. Then one day, Jeffrey begins to press his parents on many different points. First he questions his father, why can't I watch television like my friend next door?

I've seen some really neat shows when I was over there. They're not that bad. Then the controversy over music comes. He begins to think within himself, you know, my parents are just out of touch. They're not really with it.

Like, you know, Edward's mom and dad are really cool. They're really with it. David writes in Psalm 1, 1963, I am a companion of them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts." Psalm 119 63, he said, I am a companion, I'm a companion of those that fear God and keep his commandments. That's the kind of companion that I want. I'm a friend of those who fear God and who keep his commandments.

So I'm one 1963. And this passage, friends, is the filter through which all friendships must be strained, Christian friendships. Not just those of our children, but ours as well. Does this friend fear God? Does this companion fear God?

Is this person that my child, I've allowed my child now to have this constant access to and build a relationship with, does that child fear God? Is he one who has a pattern of life that is of keeping the commandments of God? No? Then what in the world am I thinking? What am I thinking?

What am I thinking? Two things that I've seen that have stolen away the hearts of children in Christian homeschool families more than any others, okay? Bad companions and this I'm holding up a phone again this right here this Access to the world through this device which we get to you next week this week companions Companions What in the world am I thinking? He that walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. I am a friend of all those that fear you, God, and who keep your commandments.

A companion of fools shall be destroyed. Like-minded friends, the sons and daughters of like-minded fathers and mothers are a positive and reinforcing Force in the lives of our children. You know that? It's one thing at a young age. We started to say you know what we're just there's just some things we're not going to do We we want to we wanted to be with the children to be around those who are of like mind.

And we said, you know, if we're in a church, back when this church was founded, I remember in 1996, As we're going along into the 2000s, we start to wonder, maybe we're a real small church, maybe we should try some of the other churches around or whatever, and we kinda look around and go, wow, you can't do this, You can't do this. No, we just need to stay the course here. We need to have like-minded children because you know what happens when your children are raised in a church where the worldview is different? Maybe they say, oh, all that secular music, all the movies, whatever, just whatever you want, all those influences, they get into the lives of the peers. And the same age peers become more like the family than the family itself.

The heart is taken away really, really quickly. We were saying, you know, children need to be in a situation where they're going to have, they're not gonna feel like freaks by the clothes they wear because of the music they listen to, because of the movies they watch. We don't want them to, you know, what if you grow up and you just feel you're in a church and you grow up and you feel like you're the, because I'm, we're the family, we're really kind of more modest, and we don't listen to that, we don't do this, but everybody else does. Your kids grow up feeling like they're just silly, you know. So we say, you know, we need to be in a church, we need to have a church where they don't feel that way, but where they look out in the world and they go, wow, that's really crazy stuff.

And you know what else? Team sports, when we were younger, kids, you know everybody wants a tee ball, it was a tee ball. All the way up until Micah was six years old, he was going to tee ball. He said, you know what? Micah, we're not gonna do this anymore.

We're not doing it. You know, not gonna get to play tee ball? No, not gonna get to play. You know, I'm not gonna get a trophy. We'll get you a trophy.

We'll get you a trophy. He just, he wanted to play T-boy when he gets his trophy, right? He said, no, we're not doing this anymore. Why? Because what we were seeing was this.

The team pulls away from the family. Becomes like a little family. Coach is kinda like a dad. See it? See it?

And so we just pulled him away and said, well what are we gonna do? Because we don't wanna curse the darkness and not light a candle. So we said, well, why don't we invite families over for family sports? We'll have family sports day. We started doing that long, long, long time ago.

Long time ago. You know, let's have families over. Okay, let's have all families over. Everybody, the full strategical play, the young ones, the older ones, you know, dads and moms, everybody together, and start more and more. And it kind of grew, you know.

And then there was all of a sudden the backfield has got nets and I don't know, what all kinds of stuff there for playing sports together with with families of like-minded sons and daughters. I don't know what everybody else thinks about that but I see it as being having been very very beneficial. Parents if you're gonna curse the darkness light a candle. Whenever you pull something away, put something that's good in its place. You say, hey, you can't watch this.

Well, what can I watch? You can watch this. And if you need a list, by the way, dads, you need a list of good things to watch, there's not a lot of them out there, but I've got a list. I've compiled it over 35 years. Put something good in its place when you take something out.

When you pull something out, put something good in its place. Good books, good movies, good whatever it happens to be. Put those in the place. Like I said, we have young couples that are growing up. You're going to have to make decisions on how you're going to do it.

You got to look at your families, look at the families before you, your grandparents, whatever. You have to look at the world around you, look at what's happening in churches, and you have to say, how are we going to do this? How are we going to do it for our family? Where have we seen failures and where can we improve? That's what you're gonna have to do.

And of course you're gonna be wanting to look at the scriptures to find out what those things are. But bad friends, what did we say? We always said no friends are better than bad friends. Please write that down. No friends are better than bad friends.

You say well what? No friends? No friends? Yes, I guarantee you no friends are better than bad friends. In fact if You are the only friend that your child has, your mother, your father is the only friend that they have.

In all the world, that's better than a bad friend, mark my words. And of course we want to establish that relationship with them as best we can, right? So we have that kind of relationship with them. And the same thing, and I'm gonna go way off track here, but you know there's that passage from Malachi. What does it say in Malachi about husbands and the wife of your youth?

She is the wife of your covenant and your what? Companion. Companion. She is the wife of your covenant and your what? Companion companion.

She is the wife of your covenant and she is your companion Cultivate that relationship cultivate the relationship between your husband and you your wife and you Cultivate that relationship be companions be the best friend. Okay no friends are better than bad friends. Turn with me to Daniel chapter 2, 17. Second chapter of Daniel Chapter 2 verse 17. Here we read that the prophet Daniel has three companions.

All right, here's some biblical companions from scripture. Here's some good companions from scripture. Here's some guys. These are the guys you want to be the companions of your of your of your children these are who Daniel chooses to be his Best friends it says that Daniel went to the hat to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah Michelle and Azariah his companions And who are these companions of Daniel? Hananiah, Mishael, and Asariah, but none other than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right, by their Hebrew names.

This is that Daniel, listen to me, This is that Daniel who would rather be ripped apart by lions, eaten by hungry lions than disobey God's command to pray. And these are the companions he's chosen. Companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He's a companion of three young men who would rather be burned alive than to fall on their faces before a graven image. These are the kind of friends you want for your kids.

I'd rather be thrown to hungry lions than break God's command. Sorry, I'm not doing that. I'd rather be burned alive than to break God's command. That's the kind of friend you want for your kids, and that's the kind of friend your child needs to be to others. Accompanying our children keep does matter.

It does matter. Companions who choose rather to quote suffer reproach with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." End quote. When Daniel was ordered not to pray to any save the king, he didn't bat an eye. He went straight to his prayers, as was his custom, without even the slightest hint of any contemplation of the matter. Right?

When Daniel's companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are commanded to fall down before the grave in image of Nebuchadnezzar, they said, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer you in this matter. We don't have to take any time. We don't need any time to deliberate on this. We don't need to go meet with counsel or anything. If it's God's will, he can and he will deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King, but if not, that is, if it is not God's will to deliver us, then be it known to the O King that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up, period.

End of story. That's the kind of companions you want for your kids. These are the kind of companions and close faithful friends we need to be in the company of our children that our children need to be. Let's do, let's look at one more passage before we close here to turn with me to, in your Bible, to 2 Chronicles, Chapter 10. Here you all know this account, so I won't read it all, but just look at this account again.

Here we have the account of the young king Rehoboam. How many remember Rehoboam? And the disaster of Rehoboam. Losing his father's kingdom, Solomon's kingdom, his father, and how he lost that. He's son of Solomon.

He lost his kingdom in a single day. The people you remember had petitioned the king, King Rehoboam, for leniency. Can you be a little more lenient, you know, maybe than your dad was? The young King Rehoboam says, return in three days and I'll get counsel from the elders and from some of my companions and I'll get back with you. What does he do?

What does he do? He gets the counsel of the older men, the wise men, and he gets the counsel of the companions, his companions, and he goes with the advice of his companions. Mark my words, that's what happens again and again and again. Notice in verse 10, the way these peers, these companions are described, they're described as the young men that were brought up with him. The young men that were brought up with him.

The company our children keep matters. These are the guys that were brought up with him and look at the advice they give him. Yeah, they spoke unto him, and I shall answer the people that speak unto thee, saying, thy Father made our yoke heavy, but makethou it somewhat lighter for us, thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins." Wow, that's kind of coarse. That's only good advice. Ray of Boom was hanging out with guys his own age.

I'm going to get into a little bit more of that next week, but he's hanging out with guys his own age. When your kids, please listen to me, when your children want to get away from the family and they want to go and do things with people their own age, if that's where the joy of their heart is, that's what gets them excited. That's where they just, I just can't wait for that next time to get out of the house and get off with my friends that are my own age. Watch out. I just want to go be with my friends.

You just don't want to be with your family. Ray Obon was hanging out with the guys. And by the way, what begins in the household with children, transfers to the household when they're married. Guaranteed. Guaranteed.

The young man who can't wait to get away and go things with his buddies. I don't care what it is. You know when I was young and had children, young children, you know it was the guys, the guys wanted to go out and play golf. Okay? They were going off and doing stuff with the guys before they were married.

He just transferred. We're all going to go play golf with the buddies on Saturday, or whenever I got time off, or whatever. You don't want to do something with your family? What's wrong? We grew up in a household where that was a thing.

I'm going to go off and do things with my friends. I want to go do things with my friends. And then transfers. He gets married. He goes and leaves his wife to go do things with his friends.

He has kids. He goes and leaves his family. He goes to do things with his friends. That started in the house when he was younger. I just want to get off and get away from my family and go do some stuff with my friends.

I'm telling you these are destructive things. I've always tried since the children were young, bring families in. Let's do things as families. Is it actually across the board? No, and I don't know where all the lines are perfectly drawn okay I just know the destruction that I've seen of families where this happens do you want to do things with them you're the people in your family should be your closest companions this year closest companions and confidants and friends in any rate Ray a bomb he's hanging out with the guys his own age.

He should have been sitting at the feet of the elders. He should have been sitting at the feet of the elders. He's hanging out with guys his own age. These are the guys he's raised with, these are the guys he's going out doing his stuff with. They've got more influence on him than the older wise men that he's been exposed to, that his father exposed him to.

And when it comes time to seek counsel, where does he go? He goes to the youth. Yeah, I know Dad said this, but you know, my friend said this, or whoever the older person is. He that walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. And as we close, we can't end a message like this without looking at the perfect friend, right, scripture?

The perfect friend, Jesus. Back when we were in John chapter 15, we read where Jesus calls his disciples up to him and he says, for the first time he calls them friends. You remember that when we were going through John 15? This would have been probably a year and a half ago. He said, you're my friends, if you do whatever I command you.

From henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant doesn't know what his Lord does, but I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known it to you. Now I'm calling you friends. Is Christ your friend? Is he your friend?

We have to end on the perfect friend. This is the friend who sticks closer than a brother, right? This is the friend who lays down his life so that you can live. This is your Redeemer, your Savior, your King, your Prophet, your High Priest. Is He your friend?

Is He your friend? I asked the children, the family this past week, can you look up into heaven? Just go off by yourself some time and just look up. Take some time, get away from everything, just look up. Jesus, I love you.

Strange feeling comes upon you when you do that if you don't really love them. You don't really love them and you know it. Is he your friend? You love him? You love him?

Let's pray. Father, we are grateful for your word. Oh Lord, I don't know what you've done with this today, but I pray and hope and desire, God, that you were glorified in this time and that there was benefit to the church Lord I so pray for Lord the the families of the church of God that our our children would not be let astray that are we would not lose the hearts of our sons and daughters. Oh God, we cry out for all the children of the church, Lord. You know, you hear my prayer as I cry out for every child in this church by name for their salvation, Lord.

And for every man, woman in this congregation as well, Lord, we would see every person in this church regenerated. I know, Lord, that's a tall order, but we pray for it. We cry out to you for it, oh God. I cry out to you for it, oh God. We want you to be glorified.

We want you to be glorified in the lives of the members of this church, every member of this church, every future member of the church. We want to see all the children saved, God. We want to see those, Lord, who are older who think they're saved and maybe never knew you, that they would be raised one day from death to life and realize, I never knew them, but I do now. I know them. I know them now.

Lord, we just cry out to you for a work. I don't know if you've done a work today. I don't know, Lord. But God, I know I join with all the parents in this room when we pray, oh Lord, please don't let our children go astray. We cry out to you, God.

Please don't let our children go astray. Let them all be saved, oh God. Let every one of them bring forth the fruits of eternal life. Let every one of them, God, show forth the praises, Lord, in their life, God, of one who has been regenerated, has been saved. Lord, we want our children to be saved.

We want them to be saved. We want them to serve you, God. And we want to be the kind of examples we should be. And we want to raise them in the way that they need to be raised. And we want to remove the influences that shouldn't be there.

We want to give them Christ, and we want to give them the gospel every day. And we're relying on you to do the work that needs to be done. Oh God, please save their souls. Save their souls. Every one of them.

For we do ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.