Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Holy Cow! I Think God Saved My Son!

Parental & Pastoral Reflections on My Sons Conversion
November 13, 2002 I think God has saved my oldest son! My oldest son knows that God has given him a new heart. So based on what appears to be genuine conversion in the life of my almost seven-year-old, is there any joy that can adequately be expressed with words typed on a keyboard and printed on a sheet of paper? Yes and no. Yes, because if I write them down, they stand still and capture the essence of my heart. It is in times like these that I wish I were a real poet. Ive dabbled in it now and then, even making it to state finals in my high school days. Therefore, the answer is also no because I am not skilled enough to portray with words and language what my heart feels right now. But God knows my heart! And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray (or compose written praises of joy) as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27). THE RECENT INFLUENCES My prayer now is that He would fulfill this promise as I try to translate the groans of my present rejoicing and the groans of my former travail for his soul into words that mean something for you all. I want to share this experience with you, but I want it to truly make a difference in your hearts and minds. Let me share with you several of the influences that have paved the way in recent days for this movement of God. Our Doctrines of Grace Class First, it is no accident that we are in the middle of our Doctrines of Grace class, is it? Here I am, co-teaching this class with two other godly men, covering doctrines that humiliate the soul, expose our sin and inability, and exalt the Name of our merciful and gracious Savior. And here I am in between my exposition of John 6 with you all. Youll remember that last Sunday we covered verses 22-40. We let the Scriptures hammer home the doctrine of human inability, divine ability and divine preservation. We rested on verse 29 that believing in the Son of God is the work of God. We then perched on verse 37, seeing that Christ invites all to come to Him and promises them that He

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

will protect them, keep them, guide them, preserve them, and basically will do all but kick them out of His presence. The last half of verse 37 is what I shared with my son last week in what my wife and I refer to gospel milestones. These have usually been conversations that usually follow a time of discipline. They are times of deep conversation where the heart is exposed, brought out into the light of the Law of God. The heart of my son has been mortally wounded time and again as we discussed his behavior. Over time he came to see that his actions were disobedient not just to his parents, but to God. He came to understand with David that against You and You only I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight! (Psa. 51:4). And each time there is another small truth of the gospel planted in his little mind. That little seed has grown into what appears to be a remarkable perception of the things of the Spirit, many times growing into concepts and thoughts and truths that leave his mother and I wondering where in the world he learned it! But getting back to John 6:37, what other wonderful promise can you possibly share with a child who is in tears over their own sinful and separated condition before God? I mean, were talking about a lad who clearly understood last week about his sinfulness and wickedness. In his own terms, he saw himself stranded in a desert, and no matter which way he tried to walk, and no matter how far he walked, he just couldnt get out. What do you mean by desert, Harrison? I asked. Dad, I mean the desert of my disobedience. No matter how much I try to obey you and mom and God, I just keep disobeying and Ill just never be able to get out of this desert! he exclaimed to me in tears. Then I resurrected the seed I had planted there many times before. You cant get out of the desert by yourself can you, Harrison? What has to happen for you to get out? He replies, I have to fall down in the sand and beg God for mercy and grace, and ask Him to pick me up and take me out of the desert. There it is!!! Hes got it!!! The doctrines of grace are at work in his soul! Now at this point I landed the ship of John 6:37b on that pad that the Spirit had just prepared. I told him that Jesus promises that if he would put on his tennis shoes and run to the cross, hug the cross, picture Jesus crucified on that cross in his mind, and kiss the feet of Jesus, and treasure Jesus in his heart that Jesus would keep His promise. He would welcome Harrison and not kick him out, but protect him and preserve him instead. That promise went a long way! The Doctrines of Holiness and Law Explained and Applied All of this had been preceded by years of inconsistent but diligent application of the truths of Gods Word. From as early as he could understand we began applying truth to his heart. The first truth we applied way back at
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

age three or four (ask my wife and shell know better!) was the doctrine of holiness and Law. We set Gods standard for his behavior perfection (Matt. 5:48) and holiness (1 Pet. 1:15-16). This way, every time he fell short, he would know he was falling short of Gods glory (Rom. 3:23) and not some parental glory manufactured out of convenience or selfishness. And each time there was failure, his attention was pointed back to Gods standard. In addition, we pointed his attention later (though without perfect parental wisdom) to the truth about hell. We didnt try to paint a pretty picture of it for him or hide it from him. The truth about hell is that those who arent perfect or holy go there when they die. And when they get there they cant ever go back. But instead God gives them a special body that can hurt and suffer forever and ever and ever. Now perfection, the Laws demands, and Gods holiness are in his mind along with the consequences. The platform was now built for the next truth. The Doctrine of Inability Explained and Applied There came a point in our walk to faith with him that he broke down in tears one day with the words, I just cant obey, no matter how hard I try! By Gods Spirit, he was continuing to get the truth of the matter locked into his mind and heart. He began to realize his failures, one after another. He began to realize what God demanded. He began to realize the consequences. But he also began to realize that there was just no way on earth he was going to be able to obey. We had taught him over and again the little phrase, Let your sore hiney teach your foolish heart to obey. The spankings applied again and again emphasized several points, not the least of which was that he had to control himself. But he put it all together one day when he made the exclamation I referred to earlier. He finally figured out that spankings come because he disobeyed, better a spanking now than Gods eternal spanking later, if he was going to stop getting spankings he must obey, all the way to the fact that he could not bring himself to obey, no matter how hard he tried. This is the doctrine of inability. We taught it to him in these words eventually: No, you cant make yourself obey because you have a heart that loves to disobey. If you want to obey God, He must give you a new heart that wants to obey. This emphasized the truth of the New Covenant in Ezekiel 36:26. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. The emphasis in the New Covenant is in the I wills of the passage, for the action that it speaks of there is something only God can do. And no matter how hard Harrison tried, he would never get that kind of a heart on his own.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

The Doctrines of Mercy and Grace Explained and Applied To get a heart like this one must beg off God for grace and mercy, as he came to phrase it. But to know what grace and mercy are, it must be evidenced for him. This we did try to be consistent and diligent at, by the grace of God. My wife and I felt that since this is the essence of the gospel that we must show him what it means every time we got an opportunity to do so. And we both feel that, again by His grace, we were consistent in this area. Harrison knew, by the age of four, what grace and mercy were. He knew their definitions: Grace = getting from God what we dont deserve; and Mercy = not getting from God what we deserve. You see, we all deserve hell, but God is patient with us and doesnt give it to us the moment following our first sin, or each sin thereafter (cf. Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). And further God is gracious, giving us more blessings that we do not deserve. What a joy to hear him say one night last week as we were praying for a little three year old who was dying of a brain disorder Dad, the only reason why we are able to sit here tonight and eat supper and be alive is because of Gods mercy and grace! Once again, the boys got it! Thanks to Gods grace we had so many opportunities to show him grace and mercy as well. How can you not with a young child whose heart is bent toward foolishness! But it got to the point in our walk toward faith with him that he knew full well when his mother and I were applying grace and mercy to his situation and condition. But getting him not to take advantage of it was another problem altogether! For even in this matter, we as believers fail regularly, do we not!

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Applied This passage is probably one of the most critical foundations for child rearing. In it Moses calls the Israelites once more to do their duty so that their children would not be guilty of doing what their parents did. This has been the chief effort in our parenting duties toward all our children. It is probably the toughest as well. This means trying to make each moment a teachable moment. And this is what also makes it an inconsistent task, at least for us. Whether it is sitting in our house or walking along the way or going to bed or getting out of bed (v. 7), it deserves God-centeredness. That is very difficult, not only for a parent to explain, but also to explain it on their level! But in the end it pays off. For example, those morning drives to school, thankfully, have been filled with God-centered talk, theological discussions, questions and answers, singing songs, hymns and spiritual songs, and exiting the car door with prayer (usually initiated by him!). Dinner times are often filled with discussion about the world and what God is doing in it, whether it regards those who are sick in our fellowship or outside our fellowship, missionaries,
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

martyrs, and broken friendships at school or home that day. All of this, of course, is in between the many admonishments to stay in their seats (the baby excepted, of course!), eat their vegetables, and drink all their milk! For me personally, this has meant a slow but sure movement of my mind away from a task-oriented mentality, which wants to see results after each and every task, to a lifetime oriented mentality, which continues to cultivate my garden no matter what happens in it each day. Travail in Prayer Applied Another truth we applied was the promise of prayer. Im sitting here now, oddly enough, looking at the dry erase board in my office where the first prayer promise he ever memorized is written in my sons first grade handwriting PRAY tO mE and I will antser you. This is the latter half of Jeremiah 29:12. Dont you just love those half-verses! They contain a storehouse of truth. No wonder the Puritans and even pastors like Spurgeon were able to wring so much sweet comfort from halves of verses, because theres so much in them! But listen also to the promise of verse 13: You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart. And then in verse 14: I will be found by you, declares the Lord These were my promises! I travailed, wrestled, agonized, groaned and suffered in prayer for hours on end, from the moment the child was first born, for his soul to be regenerated and conformed to Christs image. Jacob wrestled with God and wouldnt let go until he had the blessing (Gen. 32:24-32). I urge you to wrestle with God till He blesses you with your hearts desire. We prayed and we believe God answered us. We sought Him with all our hearts and we believe we found Him, as well as our son. I remember countless nights on end rising from bed with the heaviness of the burden of my childrens conversion on my heart, and going into their rooms and trembling in prayer for their souls that God would save them. He is a promise-keeping God. I now I have been encouraged to keep on praying and to do it more faithfully for the other three children. The Prayers of the Saints When Harrison came up and told us the news around 10 pm Sunday night, we were delighted to hear the next morning from his teacher, with whom I had conferenced on this very issue last Friday, that she had been praying for just him all weekend long. Travailing herself in tears and wrestling in prayer for his little soul, she remarked to him on Monday morning, weeping with joy, that she had never had a prayer answered this quickly! Combine that with another lady in our church who said that they had prayed for Harrisons conversion over the weekend. Couple with that the prayers of his Kids Club teacher who with tears last Wednesday night shared that he sensed
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

in Harrison and in a few other children the dangers of Satans attempts to win them over. Then throw in the grandparents own wrestling in prayer over recent weeks, months and years. God hears the prayer of saints! Keep praying for your children and for others children! Good Literature and Movies For me the good literature that helped shore up my thinking on this issue of child salvation was good old fashion Puritan literature on the subject. They were masters at presenting the Christ of Scripture to both parents and children. They were masters at overcoming objections to coming to Christ, such as the one suggested by my son last week. Daddy, all those people I saw in the Jesus movie were sitting around Jesus and He was loving them. But I cant be with them because Im so disobedient and sinful. I was ready for that one. Having just read John Bunyans treatise on John 6:37, Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ (vol. 1 of his works), I responded that Jesus loves sinners, and that the more sin and disobedience there is the more merciful He will be. What comfort that brought to the disparaging heart of this little boy! Several other resources that were as helpful were Dennis Gundersons book entitled, Your Childs Profession of Faith. How Children Come to Faith in Christ was a series of radio interviews on Family Life Today featuring Jim Elliff. This continued to clear up misconceptions and formulate solid biblical foundations regarding how to lead our children to Christ. His handy little brochure entitled Childhood Conversion was also beneficial. Another that I have not yet finished, but one that has made my heart even more tender toward my son was Charles Spurgeons work entitled Come Ye Children, an online resource in which he gives thoughts on reaching children with the gospel and training them early in the things of God. Finally, there is Matthew Henrys sermon on Let the Little Children Come, a fantastic resource on how to keep Christ in the view of children, presenting some of the most practical things Ive ever read. We sought diligently amid the influx of superhero movies, Veggie tales, Adventures in Odyssey, Last Chance Detectives, Bibleman and other kid favorites to introduce more solid, Bible-saturated movies that depicted both the life of Christ and a theology of coming to Christ. In the Campus Crusade movie Jesus and Dangerous Journey videos we found a happy medium. The Jesus movie is taken word for word straight from the gospel of Luke, in the NIV. He has seen this many times. But as we were readying ourselves for church this past Sunday morning, the boys were watching the scene were Jesus was telling the story of the Good Samaritan. A little girl was sitting at his feet, and he questioned her as to who the neighbor was. She answered correctly and was then lifted by Christ into his lap where he held her close and kissed her. I glanced over at Harrison and his eyes were glistening
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

with tears, for the first time having seen this over a dozen times, mind you. I questioned his tears and he responded, Dad, I just want to be like that little girl in Jesus lap, but I know Im not. Get good movies like these and watch the Spirit use His inspired word audio-visual style to impress His truths on your childrens hearts. Again, it is only by the accompanying sovereign work of the Spirit that this will happen, but we at least wanted the truth available in any form we could get our hands on. So the Jesus movie was a means of grace! Then there was Dangerous Journey, which is the story of Pilgrim turned Christian in Pilgrims Progress, part one. You can purchase this in book form in our bookstore, but the video is simply the book put on video with sound and narration. Out of it all, my son described last week to me that he had a burden on his back. When I questioned him on the meaning of this burden, he replied that he was talking about what Christian had on his back. Getting him to clarify his remark, he explained with palms lifted upward and that teary-eyed Dad why dont you get it yet? look on his face, that the burden was all his sin and disobedience and he felt it weighing down on him breaking his heart. Resting in Gods Sabbath Thats when I encouraged him to put on his tennis shoes and run to the cross. I gave him another promise of Jesus, probably the one most precious to me, from Matthew 11:25-30. The famous Come to Me passage contains the promises of verses 28-30. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS . For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. What else would a kid want to know than this promise that Jesus will take away that heavy burden of sin and give him rest? This is precisely the point we tried to emphasize, albeit inconsistently, on the Lords Day. Each day I awakened the boys it was with the gleeful exclamation: Wake up boys! Its the Lords Day! Its the Day of Rest! I have taught them that the Lords Day is a day when we pray for the rest God gives us from sin in our new heart. It is a day that pictures what heaven will be like when there is rest from sin and disobedience and spankings. This is the meaning behind the Sabbath. The entire day is a picture of Gods rest in salvation through Jesus Christ and our subsequent glorification in heaven forever. Now, my son in his walk to faith did not speak this of in any way. But as his dad and pastor I really believe that this was one of those unspoken influences that reminded him, once a week, that there is rest in God from sin.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

THE ANXIETY
OF A

PASTOR

When he ascended those stairs last Sunday night to tell me his good news, it rocked my pastoral, theological, adult-infected world. Now I want to tell you how his conversion impacted my spirituo-physiology. In short, anxiety gripped my heart. My wife rejoiced outwardly. I did inwardly. But I was more anxious than anything. Why? Because all of my theology was called into account at that moment in time. What God did in those forty-five minutes of discussion with Harrison re-converted my own heart, so to speak. I Began Questioning My Previous Pastoral Practice First, my pastoral practice in the past was called into account. After all, this was not just another church members child. This was my son! It wasnt as easy as doing what I did before patting the child on the head, saying how wonderful that was, and then turning and telling the adult that Id pray for them and wed wait together to see if it was true or not. One side of me was saying HORRENDOUS! to that kind of a response now. The other side of me informed me that theologically this is true you do know a tree by its fruits, and we would have to wait and see. Childlike Faith Became More Childlike Second, the antibiotic of childlike faith shocked me out of my adult(erized?) infection. I felt for the first time that I had perhaps made gospel harder than really is, it seems. Remember all those child passages? The Holy Spirit made sure I did that night. Matthew 18:1-6. At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Well, here was a little child acting as he was. So consider (1) that if I did not receive my son I was in danger of not receiving Christ, and (2) if I did anything to make my son stumble onto a life of works righteousness instead of grace and mercy then I had better go ahead and jump into the Grand River with cement boots!

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Matthew 19:13-15. Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. After laying His hands on them, He departed from there. If my son says that Jesus laid His hand on his soul and welcomed him then who am I to question it? Will I be among those who hinders my son from coming to Jesus with remarks like, Well, thats wonderful sonny, lets just wait and see if its for real? Mark 9:36-37. Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me. Will I not receive my son who said he came to me that night in the name of Christ? NO! Not to receive him is not to receive my Lord! Mark 10:13-16. And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all. And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. I must permit my child to come to Christ. I must not hinder him in any way. The kingdom of God belongs to him now!

Im Standing on the Promises of God! How does all this translate out? It translates out from the last phrase in Mark 10:16. If I dont receive the kingdom of God like a child I wont enter it at all. Harrison is a child and received the kingdom like a child. Therefore, my receipt of the kingdom was called into account by his receipt. Whose do you suppose was the more biblical? Who do you suppose had a more biblical understanding that night? In short, what Im after here is a simple return to a simple belief in the profound promises of Jesus. Thats all that belief is, short and simple. It is holding on to what Jesus promised. Listen to what Louisa Stead wrote many years ago. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, Just to rest upon His promise, just to know Thus saith the Lord. O how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust His cleansing blood, Just in simple faith to plunge me neath the healing, cleansing flood. Yes, tis sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease,
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Just from Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace. Im so glad I learned to trust Him, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend; And I know that I He is with me, will be with me to the end. Jesus! Jesus! How I trust Him! How Ive proved Him oer and oer. Jesus! Jesus! Precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more. Thats it! If He promised to forgive if Harrison came, then Harrison is forgiven. If He promised to welcome my sons coming, then He had to have kept that promise. If He promised to give my son rest from his weary, short life of disobedience, then his rest has come. Christ promised it. My soon took Him upon on it. What more is there than this?! To add more to it is to do just what Christ does not want us to do. He does not want us to add more works on top of it all. He simply wants us to come in simple child-like faith and grab hold of those promises, with a childs mind, and hang on to them always. The always is where Im afraid I went wrong. The Distinguishing Mark of the Spirit: Assurance Thus, God used my sons conversion to reconvert my own thinking about the gospel and salvation. Sure there is fruit yet to be born. But the first fruits of regeneration were already there. The coming to Christ itself is a fruit. The tears, based on my experience and wisdom, were true tears of repentance. The understanding was biblical through and through. And more than all of this, there was something he had never had before despite all the times he had prayed similar prayers the boy had assurance that night! He knew for sure that Jesus had given him a new heart. Now you tell me, according to Romans 8:15-16, what happened to him. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba! Father! The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God That word Abba is Aramaic for the childs word Dada. My little boy came to Jesus like a child, called Him Dada in his almost seven year old little mind and words. And now it appeared as if the Spirit Himself testified with Harrisons soul that he was then a child of God. In theology and in your witnessing ventures, know that this is the single most important feature of a persons regeneration, for it is something that cannot be truly and genuinely communicated from one person to another. No matter how much I may have tried to convince my son he was saved (which I never did) I would not have been as successful as the Spirit Himself testifying to my son of his new heart.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? What do we do now? There is truth to the statement that well just have to wait and see. If the seed of regeneration has genuinely been planted then according to Gods Word I myself must believe the promise that God will complete what He started in my son (Phil. 1:6). But perhaps the most puzzling question is how to give it definition. You see, if we just have a wait and see attitude to his conversion then there is never any real definition to what has happened. I find that there is concrete definition to every conversion experience in the NT. There was never a wait and see attitude there. Granted, the accounts we see are all of adults coming to faith in Christ. But what are we to do with those accounts where a household believed? Were there no children in those households? (cf. Acts 11:14; 16:15, 31, 33, 34; 18:8; 1 Cor. 1:16). With this in mind, what was my biblical option in this matter? It was no different than the biblical option the NT church had believe what the person says, rejoice with them, and treat them like members of the household of God. I see three facets in a biblical response to my sons claim to conversion. Joy and Rejoicing! First, there must be joy and rejoicing! What do the angels do? In Luke 15:10 Jesus Himself said, In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Thats an awesome promise! And what angels would these be than those described in Matthew 18:10? See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. Then complete the context of the passage in verse 11: For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. Hallelujah! What about us humans? What are we to do. Well, my wife and I considered the context of the Philippian jailers conversion, one that my mind seems to go back to again and again. In Acts 16:34 we read that after he and his household were converted, he brought [Paul and Silas] into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed God with his whole household. In Acts 8:39, the Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing after he had believed. So if the angels rejoice, and if households rejoice, then why shouldnt we rejoice with our son and share the joy that was so evident on his face from his heart that night? Open the Flood Gates! Second, the task at hand is to treat him like a member of Christs family now. This means discipleship now! I called one friend of mine down in
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Georgia this past Monday and his exclamation was Open the flood-gates! If the seed is planted then it can only grow with much rain and sunshine. When I asked my son the night following his conversion experience how he might water and sunshine his new heart, he said by obeying! Again, my adultinfected brain was concerned with teaching (which was okay) rather than learning too. What was that James said in chapter 1? Something about letting everyone be quick to listen and slow to speak. I was quick to speak that night. I corrected his theology by telling him that the Bible and prayer were how he waters and sunshines his new heart. I then proceeded to read from James 1:21 that it is important to strip off all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness and in the same humility in which he came to Christ, he must receive the word implanted, which is able to save his soul. I then glance down at the context and there was his answer all along. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers (v. 22). Whos teaching who here? Nevertheless, I did emphasize with him the necessities of prayer and Gods Word as the means of keeping the sinful old ways away and putting on the new ways of Jesus Christ. All in all, there can be no end to the discipleship process now. He is like a fresh ball of clay just dropped in my lap by God! I now have the privilege of shaping his little mind and heart for Christ, for the church, and for the world. Its no holds barred now. With the same gentleness with which I applied the balm of the gospel to his suffering conscience, I continue to apply the mercy and grace of Christ in obedience and conformity to His image to my sons life. Nothing has changed. The same mercy and grace he needed to get from Christ at conversion is the same mercy and grace he needs every day now. I just have to teach him how to live and think that way. I know, I know. Its a long haul, because his poor old dad still has a tough time living and thinking this way. But it is a joyous journey nonetheless. Make War on Sin! Finally, as a member of Gods kingdom now I aim to teach him that a boy saved by Christ is a boy at war with Satan. This means two things. First it means helping him drink deeply of the soul-satisfying riches of Jesus Christ. Second, it means helping him make war on the sin in his life. Both of these aims happen through God-centered, Bible-saturated eating, drinking and breathing. Helping him to keep his eyes fixed on Christ (Heb. 12:2) means helping him say Jesus-centered in his thinking, speaking, and playing. Helping him to kill the sin in his life means continuing to stuff Bible into his little mind in an effort that he might not sin against God (Psa. 119:11).

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

CONCLUSION In conclusion, I trust that some have benefited in sharing with me my joy. I realize that I go out on a limb with most since we are indeed talking about an almost seven-year-old child. There is much yet to happen and to see in his life. But if the first step is taken I have every faith in my God that God will move his little legs to make the next steps. Like Harrison I must exercise my childlike faith in the simple promises of Jesus to do what He said He would do. But like Christ I must continually exercise encouragement and discipline (Eph. 6:4) if he is to stay on the right path and glorify the Lord. Persevering in the faith is a community project and it starts at home. If I let him go his own way, he will fall away. That much is true from Scripture. Instead I must be about the one anothers of Scripture now, for my new sheep. I must take care of my son lest there happen to crop up in my son an evil, unbelieving heart, perhaps resulting in a falling away from the living God (Heb. 3:12). How do I do this? Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called Today, let any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (v. 13). In the end, the truth about my sons conversion, his partaking of Christ, will be made evident if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end (v. 14). Also, what I do not desire for my son by sharing my joy with you is to see him put in the spotlight. The only magnifying glass on him now is the Lords, and Hes gracious to share it with my wife and I every now and then! The truth ofit all is that hes still a kid. He still likes to dress up like superheros and throw things around the backyard. He still likes to dress up like a motorcycle policeman and ride around the neighborhood and arrest other children. He still loves to be silly at the dinner table, and wrestle with me afterwards. He likes Star Wars, Spiderman, and the Grinch That Stole Christmas. And yet, though we believe he has a new heart, he still has a body prone and inclined toward disobedience. Is this any different with any other adult? We all are maturing at our own levels. And praise God my son gets to start earlier than I did. Amen?! Pray for your children. God answers prayer. Encourage your children, they are listening. Teach them the truth on their level, they can get it. Let them develop their own lingo and vocabulary about the gospel, it will come. Dont teach them form, as in a sinners prayer, nor formula, which leads to mere intellectual assent with no real change of heart. Do teach them Gods Law. Tell them about hell. Lead them to recognize their inability. And demonstrate grace and mercy their whole lives in your households. You cant lay a thick enough nor solid enough foundation for the Holy Spirit to work upon. But trust in Him to accompany your foundation building in His own good time.

Adult Bible Study Hour Community Church

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Grace