I wanted to talk for a few minutes about child training. Child training by the grace of God in accord with the Word of God. About 20 years ago, I preached a series on child training at Burnet Bible Church. It was entitled Home Sweet Home, Child Training 101. And in that series, I was teaching things that Sandra and I were learning from God's word at that time, going through the school of hard knocks and searching the scriptures and seeking for counsel and all and we made a lot of mistakes and we still do.

Anyone who thinks that they have child training nailed, so to speak, and have become experts on the subject, well, I'd like to meet him. Because after 38 years of praying and searching the scriptures and trying to apply what we've learned from the scriptures in our household, raising 16 children over 36 years, I can tell you that we're still learning. We're still learning. We're still learning. And so, you know, it's my prayer, it's our prayer that some of what we've learned over the years, over these years of child training, might be helpful to those who are just starting off because you look around us and there's a lot of us starting off, I'm counting one, two, three, four mothers and fathers holding babies just at the back of the congregation right now.

We have a new crop of young'uns coming up. And so I hope that some of these things, it's my prayer that some of these things will be helpful to those who are just starting off. And then for those who have been child training for many years, who think they might still have something to learn, might also glean something from these things. So I just want to take a few minutes each week before the sermon and talk about child training. And this morning, what I want to talk about is how to begin.

You say, well, we've already begun. Okay, well, I just want to talk about the foundation for child training. Where do we begin? And you say, well, maybe I've already begun. Many of us have already begun.

But the place to begin, the place to start is on our knees. The place where we need to begin is alone with God, alone with your spouse and God, and crying out to God. Crying out to God for the souls of your children. Because unless God does the work, it's not going to be accomplished, it's not going to be done. The arm of the flesh will fail us, the scripture says, we dare not trust our own, as the hymn says.

So I want to encourage you, the young couples, to make it a regular practice to pray for your children in three ways. Pray for your children in private when you have your private prayer time each day, pray for your children in private. And then pray for your children as a couple with your spouse. And then pray for your children every day, every morning or every night, we do it at night, I do it at night, in their hearing. Pray for them in their hearing so that they hear your heart being poured out Before God in their presence.

They know you're praying for them and they know what you're praying about I've tried to never miss a night to pray for my children in their hearing For I guess 20 years even when they were still in the womb of their mother. I used to call it talking to them through the intercom, to them while they're in the womb, and get on the intercom. I wanted them to hear my voice praying for them while they're still in the womb. This has been the prayer that I prayed for our children. Everyone, you know, no one should have a prayer, I guess, by rote or whatever, and this isn't the Book of Common Prayer sermon.

This is what I prayed, and it became repetitive, and this was the things that were in my heart and I continue to pray them every night Father in heaven my children will recognize this very well bless so-and-so Make him or her to be a godly man or woman of the Lord Fill him with your Holy Spirit Keep him safe from the evil one in all harm. Mold him into a godly man, husband, father. Mold her into a godly woman, wife, mother. Grant him a godly spouse, oh Lord, and help them to raise up children for the glory of God. In Jesus' name, amen.

That was the prayer. That's still the prayer. It's still the prayer. Pray for your children. Pray for their early conversion.

Cry out to God that they would be saved at a young age, that God might be pleased to save their souls at a young age. Pray for their spiritual protection from the designs and the plots and the stratagems of the enemy of their souls. There's more of them today, I feel like, than there ever have been. Pray for them for not only their spiritual protection, pray for their physical protection from the wicked of this world. Children are a special target of the wicked, of the evil one, and of all those under his dominion.

They are a special target. Pray for their protection. Pray for their protection. And pray that God might be glorified in their lives, in their vocations, in their employment, in everything that they do, and dedicate them to God and his service. Cry out to God for your children.

Child training, raising children is a very serious thing. It's a very serious task. And we have to approach it with great seriousness and humility before God, crying out for grace. We need grace. If Sandra and I have said it once, we've said it a thousand times, ours is a history of grace.

Someone might say something positive concerning one of the children or the family, it's all of God's grace. If it were left up to me, I would have messed this thing up a thousand times. Ours is the history of grace. It's all, anything is owing to the grace of God. And as I said before, we've made a lot of mistakes and you will too.

That's why you need grace and that's why you need to be on your knees before God. In Matthew chapter 17, a father cried out to Jesus, Lord have mercy on my son. Lord have mercy on my son. His words just jump out off the page to me. Lord have mercy on my son.

Lord have mercy on my son. These words just jump out off the page to me. Lord have mercy on my son. He's crying out to God for his son. His son, of course, was possessed.

The King James Version says he was a lunatic. And you might say, well, my child's not a lunatic. Sometimes they act like lunatics, but he's not a lunatic. But we need to be praying, Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy on my children. Lord, have mercy on my son. Lord, have mercy on my daughter. And Jesus did. Jesus heard his prayer.

Jesus is the one you know that said ask and you'll receive seek you'll find knock and it will be open unto you. Everyone who asks it's given everyone who seeks finds everyone who knocks it's given unto them. We need to be praying to God, crying out to God to have mercy on our children. In lamentation, there's this place where Jeremiah tells parents. He's actually speaking to parents.

He tells them, arise, cry out in the night. Pour out your hearts like water before the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your young children. There was a famine that was going on. Food was scarce.

Cry out, lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, faint for hunger at the top of every street. Raising children in this present world may be a greater challenge for parents than it was for those in Jeremiah's day who only faced famine. Famine is nothing compared to some of the things we face today that are seeking to take down our children, to destroy the lives of our children. We might prefer even looking for food for our children and digging up roots to some of the things that we have to face in this life. In my next talk, I'm planning to talk about God's command of fathers to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

But before, as I said, before we can even get there, there has to be the foundation laid, and it has to be a foundation laid in prayer. And that foundation laid in prayer should be with an acknowledgement of our weakness and our total and complete reliance upon God to raise our children as he commands us to raise our children. We need to distrust our ability in and of ourselves to do what God is commanding us to do, to bring them up in the way that they need to be brought up, because we aren't even able to scratch the surface of what that command entails apart from the grace of God. We need grace. And if we need grace, we need to be on our knees, praying to God, crying out to God for grace.

We all need grace and lots of it. And so we need to lay the foundation for child training in prayer. We need God's help. We need his help. We need divine help.

We need to be going before God and saying, God, we need grace. God, this thing is over our heads, and if you haven't yet gotten to the place in your child raising where you acknowledge and admit to yourself, this is over my head, you will. This thing is too big for me. This thing is too much for me. This is too much for us, God.

We need divine help. We need insight into all the areas that we're blind as to what we should do. We need instruction from your word and we need the helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us understand your Word and apply your Word rightly as we seek to raise up the children that you've given us. Jesus said in Luke 11, 13, speaking to fathers, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father also give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? How many fathers cry out for the Holy Spirit, for the filling of the Holy Spirit, for the direction, the guidance, the help of the Holy Spirit.

God, I need your spirit. Oh God, give your spirit. You can go before God, you can say, God, I'm just relying upon the promise in your word that is written in Luke 11 where Jesus said, if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask, I'm asking God for your Holy Spirit. I need your Holy Spirit, oh God. I need the filling of your Spirit.

I can't do this without you. I can't accomplish this task without you. See how we begin not in strength but in weakness, admission of weakness and acknowledgement of weakness? That's why I say that the people that go into child training thinking they've got it all wired, they're in for a big kick, a big surprise. We need grace, we need the Spirit of God, we need help, We need divine help.

Psalm three verse four, the psalmist says, I cried to the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hell. Cry out to God, he will hear you. As parents, we have many concerns for our children Deep concerns sometimes they'll be distressing Lee deep concerns for our children Might cause us to be fearful Psalm 34 4 says I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears John Calvin once wrote that we need to distrust ourselves so as to transfer all our trust to God. Can you go before God, when you go on your knees before God to pray for your children in private as a couple, can you go before God not trusting in yourself, but transferring all of your trust to God? I recommend that every one of us transfers our complete and total trust to God.

I pray for our children in private, pray for them together as a couple, and pray for them every night in their hearing. And then enjoy them. Enjoy your children. Enjoy your children. Oh, I'll tell you what, we got lots of little grandkids right now that are in their two to three age, that's my favorite time.

People talk about the terrible twos, I call them the wonderful twos. Oh, man, they're fun. And you know what? One of these days, you're going to long for those days. You are going to look back and you're going to say, oh, if I could just have five minutes with my child, when that child was the worst he or she ever was, and the hardest and the most difficult, oh, for just five minutes to be back there in that living room, The joy of child training.

Oh, I love it, it's fun, even after 16 years. And I enjoy seeing the young couples coming up, child training, doing such a good job. Don't miss out on the joy of raising your children. Pray for them, enjoy them, even as you seek to bring glory to God in their lives and enjoy Him forever. Amen.

Thank you. Thank you.