2024-06-05- For Our Little Ones

The speaker is preparing to preach and asks God to speak through him. He reads a verse from Ezra about fasting and seeking God's guidance. He talks about the history of the people of Israel returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. He mentions the excitement and mixed emotions of the older and younger generations. He talks about the adversaries of the people of God and the importance of not compromising with worldly means. He mentions the work on the temple being halted and later resumed with the help of King Darius. He talks about Ezra and the people's journey to Jerusalem, noticing the different roles and the presence of children. He implies that the children may have slowed them down but emphasizes the importance of considering the needs of the little ones. I'm going to be preaching from my heart tonight. I've prepared, but I don't have what I usually do. So I just want to let God have His way tonight. And I've asked Him to do that, that when I go to God in prayer, there are some times He takes a hold of my tongue, and He gets me in a language that I'm not familiar with. I'm getting more familiar with it. But He takes hold of me, and I asked Him if He would do that tonight and that He would just flow through this vessel and speak through me. So if you would stand with me tonight, we'll read one verse out of Ezra chapter 8. Ezra chapter 8 and verse 21, Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahavah, that we might afflict ourselves before God, to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. I proclaimed a fast there at the river, that we might afflict ourselves before God, to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. Will you pray with me, Lord? I thank You so much for this Bible. Thank You for what we can gather from it and what we can use to the benefit of Your children. Thank You we reach for the lost with this Bible. We encourage the saints. We teach doctrine out of this Bible. I'm asking You tonight to fill this vessel with Your words, that I may do this the way that it ought to be done tonight, just according to Your will. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. I want to preach there, borrowing Ezra's words there towards the end of the verse, this title, For Our Little Ones. For Our Little Ones. Now I'm going to take a little history here, getting to where we are in Ezra chapter 8. The book of Ezra records a time when the children of Israel who had been taken in captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and then handed over after his grandson lost out and lost a battle and was taken over by the Persian army. Now the children of Israel are in the hands of the Persians. And there arises a king, Cyrus is his name. And one of the first things that Cyrus, the king of Persia, does is he makes a declaration. You all can go back home. It is time I'm going to let you go back to Jerusalem. I want you to rebuild the house of God. And as a matter of fact, I'm going to finance the whole deal. I'll pay for your trip. And whatever you need, you let me know. And you go back there and you rebuild that temple. And so the Bible tells us that Zerubbabel and Joshua were the two men who led a bunch of people back to Jerusalem. They got there and once they got things set up, they began to work on the foundation of the temple. And you'll find in the book of Ezra that at the point that they got, when they finally finished just the foundation for the temple, that there were men there that remembered the old temple. They were old men. But they saw the old temple. And when they saw the foundation of this new one, they wept. But there was also young people that were there. And those young people had never seen the old temple. They obviously had heard of it before. But there came to be a great excitement upon them. And the Bible says that these young men began to shout. And that the voice of the weeping mixed with the voice of the shouting. And the Bible says it became a great noise that you couldn't even tell the one from the other. But it was heard a long way off. Somebody was rejoicing because the house of God was being put in order. And it was heard a long way off. Now I'll just stop right here and I'll say it would be nice if we'd get to the place that we'd get so excited about what we're doing for God, that sometimes it can be heard a long way off. I've heard Pentecostal holiness preachers get up and moan about how quiet our congregations have become. Gospel Lightholding, this church, we've been known to be loud in the past. We've quieted down lately. We've calmed down lately. I say we take a look at the old foundation and we get to the place where we get excited about this God that we serve. And it doesn't take somebody whipping us up into a frenzy. It doesn't take a certain level of music. It doesn't take the right song. It takes the people coming in and seeing who God is. And whether there's a song or not, somebody's crying. Somebody's shouting. All rejoicing. I get to be in the house of God and serve the only Lord God Almighty. While the children of Israel were gone out of Jerusalem, being held captive in Babylon and in Persia, there came another group of people that moved into Jerusalem. So then when the Israelites came back to Jerusalem, there were already people moved in and living there. And when they began to work on the temple of God and began to rebuild that temple, these people were, the Bible says, the adversaries of the people of God. They were the enemies. And the first thing they said was, We love God too. Why don't we help you do what you're doing? That's not a whole lot different from a lot today. There are those who will say, I love that the name Jehovah just rolls off my tongue. I love to speak the name of Jesus. And we may not agree on everything. Never mind these things hanging from my ears or this chain around my neck. Never mind the entertainments that I take care of in my house. Never mind the places that I go outside of church. Let me just work together with you, and I think we can help you out here. Now, Zerubbabel and Joshua recognized who these men were. And I mean, in so many words, they said, Absolutely not! You have no business with this place. This is going to be the house of God. And we're going to do it right. And if you want to repent and change your ways, then we might be able to talk. But we're not working together with worldly means to try to build a holy house. So, them men got mad. And by this time, there was a new king. Cyrus was gone. Artaxerxes comes along and really doesn't know what's going on. These men run a letter up to that king, and they begin to complain about these people trying to build a temple in Jerusalem. Said, They get that place built, they won't pay taxes anymore. They won't honor you as a king. They're rebellious people. You don't want that. So that king says, Alright, we're shutting this thing down. And by the end of that chapter, you'll read that the work ceased on the temple. And it laid there for a long time. Years went by until another king of Persia rises up. Darius by name. And the Bible says that there were two men in the meantime, Haggai and Zechariah, who were preaching to the people and saying, This house needs to be worked on. We're spending enough time spinning our wheels just trying to live life and make life work for us. I say it's time to work on the house of God. And let's build a place where people can worship. And so they decided, Yes, we'll start working on the house of God again. And somebody rises up and says, What are you doing? You can't be doing this. So then they got the idea. Let's write a letter to King Darius. Have him search the records. Go back to King Cyrus and say, He told us not only could we do this, but He'd pay for it. The record was sought. Darius looked through the records and he said, Yep, that's exactly right. Cyrus the king said, You can build this temple. He said that we'll pay for it. So Darius told those men, Look, you go and do it. I'll supply. And I'll tell you what, I've got some things here that used to belong to you. I've got some of those old vessels that Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple. I've got some of that furniture that used to be in there. You can take it back with you. And so the Bible tells us there that Ezra was one of those, that he visited Jerusalem. He looked around and he heads back to Babylon. And he says, Folks, this is a good mission right here. Let's all go. Let's head back. And we're going to go home finally after all these years. God has given us release. He's given us the opportunity. Let's all go back. Now of all the people that were held there in captivity, there was less than 2,000 people who said we're in. And they all decided we're going back. Dumb people. It names them there in Ezra chapter 8. And they start heading back. Now from what I could tell, from Persia to Jerusalem was about 750 miles. They didn't have a plane to ride. They walked. The Bible lets us know from the time they started until the time they got there, it took them four months to get there across that journey. 2,000 people and all the things that they're carrying. And so at some point, and I read there in verse 21, actually in verse 15, I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava. And there abode we in tents three days. I viewed the people, the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. And in my text, at the river of Ahava, I proclaimed a fast. Now I look this up, and Ahava is about halfway between Persia and Jerusalem. They'd been traveling all this way, and they finally get to this river. Once they make it to the river, Ezra begins to look around. Now I'm just conjecturing here that Ezra begins to look around, and he notices we've got singers with us, and that's awesome. We've got doorkeepers that have come with us. That's their occupation. We've got priests with us. We can have church once we get there. And he began to look around, and no doubt he watched and took account of the bowls, and the basins, and the shovels, and the tables, and maybe the candlesticks that would occupy the new temple that was about to be built. And when he started looking all around, at about halfway there, he also notices we've got some little ones here. We've got some little ones around here. Maybe that's why it took them four months to travel that far. They couldn't just head on because it was kind of holding them back a little bit. But with all that they had, all the people who could sing, all the people who could preach, all the people who could tend to the business of the house of God, all the vessels that they had, Ezra said, I think we've got a problem here. We're going to get there, and I want you to look around. We've got a lot of little ones here. And I'm concerned about them. Because we're halfway there. And I know that there's people out here on this highway that they're looking. Sure, they'd like to take our candlesticks. Sure, they'd like to take our snuffers and our basins. They're gold. They'd love to have that. But somebody would like to come upon us and steal away our little ones. And so he said, I decided I was going to fast, and we would afflict ourselves before God. Literally means that we humbled ourselves before God. And we began to seek of Him a right way for us and for our little ones. And that's what I want to talk about tonight, is that which we'll do for our little ones. Here's the burden on my heart tonight. I've watched people come and go in the church. And I've watched little children come up in the church. And no one would have pointed at any one of those little children who are out in the world right now and backslid, and would have said, they'll never make it. We had full confidence that when they stood up and they clapped their hands to the songs, and when they showed up for every service, and when they learned the songs, and they listened in the preaching, and we found them in the altar, nobody thought we just might lose one of these. But on through the years, I've watched as souls have fallen off into this world. And I've got to think that maybe it's because we didn't stop right where we were, take assessment of the place that we are, look at our little ones, and begin to get a fearful feeling about them, knowing that we could lose our little ones too. I can look around our place. We've got little ones. I love these children. I love these children. And none of them would we say, I know what's going to happen to that one. No, we just assume they're going to be here all along. But what happens is these children get older. And what happens is there are deceivers that are out there. And they're constantly casting a net. And if they don't catch them one time, they don't give up. I mean, a good fisherman doesn't throw his net out to draw it in and say, well, I guess that's a bust. He goes throwing it out again. And those deceivers are casting that same net over and over again. Today, these children sit in our congregation. Today, these children are under our authority. But every day they are aging. They're getting older. And they're beginning to make decisions for themselves. And that net becomes closer and closer to them. And I'm just wondering how close that net is going to get to gospel-like holiness church. And I'm concerned tonight for our little ones. There are snares that are being set just waiting. Just waiting. And brothers and sisters, we're responsible for these children right now. And there's things that I believe that we can do. As I said, I'm going to fast. And I'm going to humble myself. And I'm going to make an effort to seek a right way for me. Because I know if I'm in the right way, then I can bring them along in the right way. I'm going to have to make up in my mind, I can't lose these children. I've got a regret in my life. It happened a few years ago. I was walking, heading out down the aisle to leave the church. I saw a young man and he was on the back pew. His arms were folded, his legs stretched out, his legs crossed at the ankle. Looked bored out of his mind. And I'd been paying attention to this young man. And I thought about him. And I thought in my heart, maybe I should just go sit down next to him. And say, it looks like you're not all that interested anymore. Is there something that I can do to help? I didn't say anything to him. Didn't say it then. Didn't say it later. That man tonight is out in this world, lost and back slid against God. I wrote him a letter. It's been a couple years ago, I guess it was. And I wrote him a letter. And I told him that very story. I apologized to him. I wish I'd have stopped and said something to you at that point. But you know what? We just think everything's going to be just fine. These kids are going to grow up and they're going to be the next deacons. They're going to be the next evangelists. They're going to be the next pastors. They're going to be the next singers and the witnesses and the musicians in the church. But far too many times I've watched them, Brother Ron, as they slip out the door. And I've got to think that I wasn't paying close enough attention to where they were. And we've got to do something right now while they're small enough to capture them. The man, the poet Solomon, he said to his son, My son, give me thine heart. And if we can have the hearts of our children, we can lead them in the right way. If we'll walk in the right way. Jesus told the parable, He said, The kingdom of heaven is like to a man who sowed good seed. But while men slept, His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. There are seeds being sowed right now. They're not even waiting. There are seeds being sown and they're looking to come up. You know when they're sowing them? When we're not paying attention. When we're not all that concerned. When we're thinking these kids are going to be just fine. Everything will be all right. You remember Elimelech and his wife Naomi. At some point they decided they were getting up and going to Moab. And when they got to Moab, Naomi got to come back home. Elimelech died there and their two boys died there. David Wilkerson wrote a book and one of the things that he said in his book was, Moab is the place that young men go to die. And you may not take them there, but if you let them wander over into Moab. If you're allowing them to go out there and just toy around with the idolaters. If you're allowing them to spend time, they're learning things and they just might die in Moab. We can't afford to let that happen. When Manoah's wife came to her husband, she had just had a heavenly visitor. And that angel came to her and said, you barren, you haven't been able to have children, but you're going to have a son. And this is how you're going to do things. She got so excited, she ran and told her husband. Her husband looked and he wanted, I want to talk to him. I want to talk to him. I've got to know something from this man. And when he finally got to that angel again, he said this, how shall we order the child? And how shall we do unto him? Manoah was intent. I don't want to lose this boy. I don't want something to happen bad to him. I want to know, how should I do this? Brothers and sisters, that's where we ought to be right now. Let me read to you Matthew 18. It's going to start out sounding familiar. Matthew 18, verse 12. How think ye, Jesus speaking, if a man having a hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine and go up into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it barely, I say unto you, he rejoiceth more over that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. But listen to the next verse. Even so, I'll go after the lost. I'll leave the ninety and the nine. But even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Will God go looking for them if they backslide? He certainly will. But even so, it would be better if we could keep them. I'd rather them be among the ninety and nine that He leaves behind to go after somebody else than to be that lost sheep wandering out there in danger, in Moab, ready to die. We're going to have to do what we know to do, okay? And I want to say this, you can't be somebody different outside the church than you are inside the church. Because if the preacher gets up and he hits on YouTube, and your children know you go home laughing at the latest YouTube video, and you scroll up to the next one, cracking up, would you look at this right here? But I just heard mommy say. I just heard daddy say amen. And I'm on board. And I'm all with that. You know what we're teaching our children when we do such things? We're telling them it's one thing to be right in church, and it's okay to be wrong outside of church. So brothers and sisters, we're going to have to shape up. We're going to have to watch what's going on. And we're going to have to teach our children right. Ezra said I've got to find the right way for me first. And then I've got to show that to the children. Our little ones. I want to do what it's going to take to save our little ones. As I prayed for this, and I went through naming our children, I can't imagine Molly Taylor being lost. It's unimaginable to every one of us. But every day she gets older. Every birthday passes. She's going to reach a time when the decisions aren't all daddy and mommy's. When I look at these other little ones that I love and you're so precious to me, and I think you've got decisions to make. And we're going to have to help them make those decisions. We're going to have to prepare them. Now, here's what I want to say. Some places will say, I know what we need to do. Youth activities. That's what we'll do. We'll set up a volleyball game. We'll have a dinner. We'll keep them busy. We'll be doing this and that. I'm all for it. I'm all for the activities. But that is no substitute to showing them the right way. I'm glad that our children are going to youth camp this year. They're going to hear wonderful things when they're there. I pray that they experience wonderful things while they're at the youth camp. Youth camp is not the answer for our children. It's one week out of the year. Every other week, they're right here with us. Every other week, they're right home with you. And they're learning things as we go. What are they learning? I was talking just the other day. I shared a story. I grew up in church. Somebody else telling me about how they were in church. And when they found out that the people in the church weren't perfect, they blew their mind. Did mine too. I grew up having confidence. And when I saw somebody I had confidence in acting all out of order, I didn't get it. I didn't get it. I mean, I knew I wasn't measuring up. But when I watched someone I had confidence in not measuring up... Brothers, that's why our business meetings need to be civil. They need to be unified. We need to be kind to one another. We don't have that problem here. But I sure would like to cut it off. I've been in business meetings. My son's been in a business meeting as a young man. And I was embarrassed and had to go home and say this is not how it's supposed to be. I don't want somebody leading my son, my daughter astray. When I talk about our little ones, I'm not just talking about Molly, Lincoln and Juddy and Aria. I'm getting on up into Callie and Haley. Robbie, I'm talking to you too. Landon, I love you, but I know the devil has plans for you. And it worries me. Jameson, I love your fire. I love your preparation and your praying. But I know the devil's after you. And it may offend you to be called one of the little ones. I look at my daughter, Lily, and I think that somebody's out there sowing seeds right now. Doubt. Unbelief. Lust of the flesh. Lust of the eyes. The pride of life to suck them away from us. I'm saying tonight, we're going to have to step up if our little ones are going to grow into big ones and they're going to make it. Sister Kelsen, there's going to come a day you're going to move out of your dad's and your mom's house. And there's going to come a time when there might be a discussion between you and your husband and it might go like this. Well, I don't see it that way. What about you? I see what you're saying. I don't think it's all that important either. Now I'm just going to tell you, you may think that day will never come, but it's happened to people that I've watched my whole life. So this has got to be a work for our little ones. We have got to consider the possibility that we're raising children that will die lost. Somebody might say, oh, I'm just going to believe my faith. God's going to take care of it all. That's awesome. Ezra, he sought God. What am I going to do? I'm going to seek a right way. I'm going to walk in that right way. Those children are going to see me walk in that right way. When times get tough and when people talk about me, I'm going to stay in the right way. When things are going haywire, they're going to see a stable man of God. They're going to see a stable mommy and a daddy. Brothers and sisters, we're going to have to get to the place where we're teaching our children one way or the other. Dads, you're teaching your children how to be husbands. Moms, you're teaching your daughters how to be wives. Your reaction to your husband, your reaction to your wife tells those children all they need to know. And they might think, well, that's not how it is in church. I guess it's okay to do things differently outside of church. Here's my heart tonight. I don't even know how to end this. I think we need to get concerned about our little ones. I don't want you to go lost, Robbie. But you're going to have decisions to make. I'm going to help you make those decisions. Landon, you're coming up on a time. Things are going to be offered outside of the view of mom and dad that you may not be able to do right away, but there's going to come a day you can. You'll make those decisions. I want to be a guy who stands here and says, I'm going to help you out of those situations. I'm going to pray you out of those situations. Would you come on, Brother Austin? Would you stand with me? Lord, I thank You for the opportunity to bring the Word of God to the church tonight. I thank You for the example that we have in Ezra and in all the Scriptures. Lord, I don't want our children to be lost. So I'm asking You tonight, if You would simply move on us. Find us afflicting ourselves if that's what it takes. Fasting if that's what it takes. Lord, until we find a right way for us and for our little ones, they've got to be taught right. They've got to be given good examples. So I pray tonight, help us in this altar and help us every day from here on out to realize our children are susceptible. Our children truly are vulnerable. And we're going to have to do something about that. Show us what to do, I ask, in the name of Jesus. Would you all just come and find a place and talk to God? I don't know if I got this out the way that it should have been. But I hope that you got the message. Our children are vulnerable. Our bylaws aren't going to keep them. Our worship style will not keep them. We're going to have to walk them in a right way. We're going to have to repent when we're wrong. Oh, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Lord, help us.