Baby dedication notes

There are lots of different religious traditions that churches do. Many of them are Biblical many are not. Today we are going to be sharing together in a baby dedication service that is simply about a mother, father and two families wanting to dedicate their little gift to God. God gave us an indescribable gift and what makes it indescribable is the package it came in, a baby. All of us who have children know that there aren’t enough words to describe what you feel and go through at the birth of your children. There is nothing mystical or magical about what we are doing here today. We are simply taking God’s greatest gifts to us our children and giving them back to Him. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 Man those verses sound so easy, train up a child and he will stay the path. Just raise them right and they will grow up right. Sounds simple, and I remember when I was a young, young youth pastor watching parents and thinking man they are doing it all right that kid is just a knuckle head. I have also sat with high school football coaches who are stressed out because parents expect them to raise their kids. That is where the idea of being a chaplain came from. I have watched in my ministry as I teach and watch kids grow but also see it all erased. Kids grow up with a set of beliefs and morals and then they cross paths with someone who has different beliefs and morals and theirs falter. Usually it is an adult who has this negative influence on children even though we blame it most on their peers. This service is more about a church and a family and friends committing to the growth of a baby than just a mom and a dad. Brandon and Katie there are people in this room who watched you grow up, people who know your personalities and who will see things in Brant and be able to warn you or share advice and encouragement with you. FOUND A VERSE OF SCRIPTURE THOUGH, THAT HAS TOUCHED MY HEART WHILE PREPARING FOR THIS MESSAGE. IF IS PROBABLY NOT AS FAMILIAR AS THOSE WE HAVE JUST READ. I DO BELIEVE, HOWEVER, THAT IT HAS GREAT APPLICATION TO PARENTS. BUT NOT ONLY PARENTS, BUT IN FACT EVERY CHRISTIAN. IT CONCERNS OUR BEHAVIOR. NOW BEFORE WE LOOK AT THIS VERSE, I WANT US TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE ALL CLEAR ON A FEW THINGS. 1. ARE CHILDREN BORN INTO THE WORLD, FULLY CAPABLE TO SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN? NO! 2. OTHER THAN INSTINCT, CAN WE SAY THAT CHILDREN ARE BORN VOID OF ANY KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING GOOD AND EVIL? YES! 3. DO CHILDREN HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO DO EVERYTHING, THAT WILL HELP THEM TO SURVIVE PHYSICALLY, EMOTIONALLY, AND SPIRITUALLY? YES! 4. WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT TO TRAIN/TEACH CHILDREN HOW TO LIVE AND TO SURVIVE? PARENTS! 5. HOW DO CHILDREN LEARN? WHAT IS ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT WE NOTICE ABOUT BABIES, BESIDE HOW CUTE THEY ARE? ISN’T IT HOW ALERT THEY ARE? Colossians 4:5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. The real root and true meaning of this verse taking the original text and language of the time is actually this. Walk wisely at all times for those who do not know any better. Wow, if we take that and plug it into a baby dedication service the meaning is life changing. Walk wisely at all times Mom, walk wisely at all times Dad because baby Brant will learn and grow and make decisions based on your actions and your decisions. I get a lot of questions about infant baptism so I want to share some history with you. First, where did infant baptism come from? It actually comes from Genesis and the beginnings of the worship of Baal. Infant baptism began as a pagan ritual as a sign of belonging to a non Christian religion. The professed conversion of Emperor Constantine in A.D. 313 was looked upon by many as a great triumph for Christianity. However, it more than likely was the greatest tragedy in church history because it resulted in the union of church and state and the establishment of a hierarchy which ultimately developed into the Roman Catholic system. When Emperor Constantine made 'Christianity' the official 'STATE RELIGION of Rome, one of the FIRST LAWS passed was the law decreeing infant baptism as the law of the land in 416 A.D. That simply meant that everybody within a certain age limit had to conform to it. When they passed that law in 416 that every baby in the Roman Empire had to be baptized at the hands of an authorized Roman priest... OR ELSE! First and foremost nothing we are about to do is going to change the eternity of baby Brant. What we are doing is letting God know that this little guy is a blessing, a gift and in return we want to offer him back to God as a gift. In doing so we want to commit as a family and church family to help Katie and Brandon raise this blessing the way God would want it. Katie and Brandon you know my commitment level to this little guy. Katie you are like family to us, and my daughters absolutely adore you. I will never forget sitting in Denny’s as you prepared me for the road life was about to take us down. I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess. Martin Luther Today we are taking this little blessing and offering him back up to God. Our greatest way of saying thank you to God for His gifts is to offer them back to Him. Now a few challenges for the family: - Do you today recognize these children as the gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God’s blessing? - Do you now dedicate your children to the Lord who gave them to you all, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to God? - Do you pledge as parents that, with God’s fatherly help, you will bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives? - Do you promise to provide, through God’s blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of your children, looking to your own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them? - Do you promise, God helping you, to make it your regular prayer that, by God’s grace, your children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey his teachings? Church: It is equally important that we as a church make these same commitments as we realize it takes a village to raise a child. I can tell you having been raised in a Christian home and attending church since birth I have had hundreds of people cross my path who were influential in my development. From greeters, to people who sat near us in church, to pastors, youth pastors, and church friends they were all equally a part of the process. Church family we are all committing to the very same things that these families are because we know the importance of positive reinforcement. Katie I know that the birth of Brant has brought pulling and tugging in every direction and you aren’t able to be here with us as often as you used to be. I want you to know that our investment in you as a mom, in Brandon as a father and most importantly in Brant has never waivered. We are here and as much a part of this ceremony as you are. We have loved on, prayed for and cared for you guys and Brant from day one and that will never change. Now a few challenges for the church: - Do you today recognize these children as the gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God’s blessing? - Do you now dedicate your children to the Lord who gave them to you all, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to God? - Do you pledge as this child’s church that, with God’s fatherly help, you will assist this family in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives? - Do you promise to provide, through God’s blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of your children, looking to your own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them? - Do you promise, God helping you, to make it your regular prayer that, by God’s grace, these children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey his teachings? - Do you pledge your assistance to these parents through prayer, fellowship and encouragement? This now concludes our ceremony, our baby Brant dedication. Here is a certificate of dedication as well as a letter from me for Brant to open when he is a teenager. Thank you so much Katie and Brandon for letting me be a part of this ceremony. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your lives and the birth and continual growth of this little guy who has been as much a blessing to my family as yours.

Sunday February 7 Communion message

I teach a curriculum that I wrote myself called Men of Character. In it I talk about a lot of things, but one of the main points is that we are failing young men. Every generation gets a little bit worse in the way they treat each other, in the way they treat and objectify women and in the things that are important. We watch as young men are sexually promiscuous and they are almost rewarded for it by their peers and by their elders. Boys being boys we say. Then, we watch each generation as they create an obsession with successs which is painted as being rich, powerful and or athletic and talented. What we DO NOT do is teach them how to be men. WE don’t take the time to teach them about the importance of respect. Respect for one another, respect for others, respect for the person they date and marry. Harrell and Harrell has a commercial on the radio right now talking about how little ones watch our moves. They talk about texting and driving with kids in the car and about wearing your seat belt when kids are in the car because they will eventually copy those behaviors. Every good parent in the world wants things to be better for their kids then they were for them. They also want their kids to be better at the things that they do than they were. Well, here is the flip side parents, your kids want that too. They want to do what you do and do it better. They want to out do you, and odds are they will. The things you do wrong they will do even worse, the things that you make important and do well they will do much better. Leadership, everyone wants to be a leader but what our teens don’t realize is that most every leader is actually a follower. Leaders aren’t popular and cool, leaders are people who do what is write no matter what. They do what their gut and their morals say they should regardless of who or what the circumstances are that are surrounding them. In kindergarten PJ went to staggered start. Basically, this meant that she went to school with about 4 other classmates. Well that day the teacher let her lead the lines because she knew her way around. Tara worked at the school so PJ already knew where everything was. When they returned for the first day with the full class the teacher assigned a line leader. As they walked to lunch she looked up and PJ was up front leading the way. Well, the teacher asked her to let the young man she assigned lead and she said No. PJ, it's his day to lead I want him up front. I cannot do that Ms Johnson, my dad told me I had to be a leader so I have to be up front. This sadly is the picture of leadership our young people are carrying around, being up front and in charge, being pushy and overpowering people. Next, and finally this is so big and this is so where we are killing our next generation. Community. I am going to tell you this, if you want to have a strong relationship with Jeff Gatlin you better sit down with him on occasion and talk. I borderline demand it. WE need to grab a bite to eat and hang out, we need to crash at my office, or here at the church, or on your front porch and talk because that is community. Facebook is not community. Twitter, KIK, Instagram, snap chat are not community. Sitting and talking and interacting are community. But think about this with me, babies come into this world completely innocent. Their eyes are opened and they are taking in everything they come across. We use words like cute, cuddly, adorable, and innocent but something happens. Their environment changes and they are slowly exposed to more and more. Eventually they are no longer surrounded by people who love them. They are surrounded by people in competition with them for attention and for progress. People who instead of building them up and telling them they love them, they are beautiful and they are the best are calling them names, pointing out their weaknesses and hurting them regularly. Community, it is where America is most failing this generation and we have to do something about it. Today we are going to take Communion, the Lords Supper regardless of what you call it you are sitting down and focusing on what is important in this world. As Christians what is important in this world is that God loves us, continues to love us and had a plan from day one to prove that love to us. What is important is that we bring ourselves back to a place where we have to be very real with ourselves and the people around us. I remember as a kid eating breakfast and dinner with my family. Breakfast was at the table. Dinner was sometimes at the table sometimes in the living room. Regardless of where it was it was a time to be genuine and real. If one person wasn’t it was awkward(I am an only child) Today my schedule will not permit me to eat at home every night, but we do our best to eat together as often as possible. And when we do we are forced to think about what is important on the family side of things. Community. I long for community in my life, if you know me you know I hate relationships based on texting and even phone calls for that matter. Communion is a time when we as a church family are sat down together. Focused on what God has done for us, What Jesus accomplished for us. It is also a time for making sure we are on track where God wants us to be and a time to become more thankful for God’s grace than ever. Go wash up my parents would tell me, clean up for dinner I would hear from the back door to the hosue. I would come in from outside playing run into the bathroom and wash my hands. Without fail I would sit down and be told to try again. Sometimes two or three times I would be told to try again. This happened all the time. Why? Because I just washed my hands, not the back of my hands or my arms or elbows. Communion is a time for community, a time where we sit completely transparent in front of God’s table and remember all that Jesus did for us. But, if we do it correctly it will remind us of all the places we need to clean up so that we can sit transparently in front of a God who knows everything about us. 1 Corinthians 11:26 Luke 22:19-21 So here we are, I am going to pray and during this prayer I would encourage you to do the same thing. Pray that God will help you to focus on the elements, the imagery of them, and pray that He will help to prepare your mind and heart and clean up all the places where you have sinned and fallen short.