Hello, this is Brother Denny.
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Let's pray.
God, our Father, we do bless you.
We praise you.
We praise you and we bless you in
the name of your dear Son, Jesus.
Thank you, Father, for redeeming us to God
by the precious blood of Jesus tonight.
Father, we come by the new and living
way, beseeching your blessing upon us, O God,
that we might walk in your will and
your way tonight.
God, anoint us with the Holy Ghost tonight,
the preacher and the hearer's God.
Open the eyes of our understanding, Lord, that
we may see so clearly all that you
have for us.
And, O God, I pray, slow us Americans
down, dear God, that we can love one
another, that we can love our families, that
we can raise our children and take them
on to glory with us.
Father, we trust you.
We trust the meeting into your care.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Greetings in Jesus' name.
Thank you all for praying today.
I just want to give you this report.
The enemy is angry as can be, but
he is defeated.
I won't tell you any stories, but I'll
tell you what, the enemy is upset.
So I can surely tell that he is
fighting against what is going on in this
place and the preaching of these messages.
But that's all right.
That just encourages us that we're not up
here wasting our time.
Amen.
Praise God.
This first message, I want to entitle it,
Children, a Dwelling Place for the Living God.
That's quite an awesome statement when you think
about a title like that.
There are many other aspects of a godly
home which we want to look at, but
this evening we want to ponder a bit,
Children, a Dwelling Place for the Living God.
Reading in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse
16, God says these words to us, Ye
are the temple of the living God.
As God has said, I will dwell in
them and walk in them.
I will be their God and they shall
be my people.
1 Corinthians chapter 6 says these words to
us in verse 19.
What?
Know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you, which ye have of God?
And ye are not your own, for ye
are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in
your spirit which are God's.
And then also in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5
and verse 23 we find these words, And
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
And I pray God your whole spirit and
soul and body be preserved blameless under the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tonight I want us to get a glimpse
behind the reasons why all this training is
so important.
God says of himself, I dwell in eternity.
God says of himself, Heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool.
Think about it parents.
The everlasting God has given us a child
to prepare for his dwelling place.
That is no little responsibility.
I don't know if we can grasp the
depths of those words even if we spend
hours meditating upon it as you hold a
little child in your hand and you realize
that God made this child and that God
wants you to prepare this child as a
dwelling place for the living God.
That is awesome to me.
In the beginning God made man in his
image.
He was a beautiful creation, God's crowning masterpiece
without a doubt.
Man made in God's image.
He made him a little lower than the
angels.
I place this diagram on the board this
evening to represent man as a tripartite being.
Many of you are familiar with this diagram.
I don't need to spend a lot of
time explaining it, but God made man in
the beginning a tripartite being.
He gave him a body.
The Bible says he formed man out of
the dust of the earth and then it
says that God breathed into man his very
breath and man became a living soul.
So here we have the outside border here
representing man's physical body.
This is where man can relate to the
physical world.
He sees, he hears, he touches, he works,
etc.
God also gave man a soul.
That's represented by this second area in here.
The soul is made up of the mind,
the will and the emotions.
Man's mind to think and reason with.
Man's will to choose with.
We've spoken a lot about that already.
And man's emotions, where he feels in his
heart and he loves and where he sets
his affections on.
God also made man with a spirit.
The spirit of man is the center of
man's being.
Here we have the ability to fellowship with
God.
It is here where God has chosen to
dwell.
Right in here.
In the beginning, man functioned beautifully as God
had made him.
He was a God-centered being.
His spirit was alive and filled and controlled
by God's spirit.
His soul, mind, will and emotion were in
subjection to God who ruled man in the
center of his being by his spirit.
And man's body was controlled by God through
his spirit.
He was a beautiful, God-centered, God-controlled
man in the beginning.
Awesome.
When man fell, the Bible says, he died.
God was very specific with Adam.
He told him, in the day that you
eat thereof, thou shalt surely die.
Now we know that when Adam and Eve
ate that fruit in the Garden of Eden,
after they took that bite, they were still
alive physically.
They could walk around.
They moved around in the garden.
They were still the same in their soul.
They had a mind to think with, etc.,
etc.
All of those things were there.
But something was different.
Something changed when they disobeyed God's authority.
And what I want to propose to you
is that in the center of man's being
is where man died.
In the very day that man ate that
fruit in disobedience to God, he was cut
off from God in his spirit.
And that is the way it is with
every one of us that is born into
the world.
We are born after Adam, our father, and
we are born in this world a tripart
being, but our spirit is dead to God.
It is cut off.
We cannot have fellowship with God.
We get mixed up in all kinds of
confusions because we are cut off in our
hearts from God.
Now remember the nature of saving grace and
the clear example that we gave of a
conversion at the beginning of this series.
There in Ezekiel chapter 36 where God says,
I am going to take the stony heart
out of you and I am going to
put a new heart in you.
And when I put a new heart in
you, I am going to put my spirit
in that new heart.
And that is exactly what conversion is all
about.
God gives us a new heart and then
He fills that new heart with His spirit.
That is regeneration.
Amen?
We all believe that?
That is real clear to us all.
This is the condition of unregenerate man.
This is how our children come to us,
just like I had described up there.
A spirit that is cut off from God.
This is how our children come to us.
It is very important that we understand the
depth of what that means as parents who
are called upon to raise our children.
Now consider with me the disciples.
When Jesus called the disciples to come and
follow Him, they were like this diagram before
I put the red marks in the center
of it.
They were alive, yet they were cut off
from God in their spirits.
They had not been regenerated yet.
They were still very man-centered beings.
Many of the things that you read in
the Gospels, it shocks you.
You think, how could these guys be like
this?
They have been with Jesus for three and
a half years, except that there was something
missing on the inside of them.
I would like for you just to consider
a bit this evening that when Jesus took
those disciples and began to train them, they
were very much just like our children are
when God gives them to us.
There is something wrong on the inside.
Here they came to Jesus.
They had probably been raised in one of
those good homes we talked about the other
evening, one of those good Jewish homes.
They knew the law.
They had lots of the Bible up here
in their head.
They had all kinds of things right.
They were following the commandments the best they
knew how.
The soul was in its place and all
those things.
When Jesus said to them, follow me, they
did leave their nests and they went and
followed Jesus.
All those things, the will was in its
place.
It was wanting to go after Jesus.
But yet, in spite of all the teaching,
in spite of all the example, in spite
of all the miracles that they saw Jesus
do, they were still very man-centered creatures,
weren't they?
I wonder who is going to be the
greatest around here, they said.
Can I be?
No, I want to be.
Can I be?
No, not you, me.
All the time they were very much man
-centered beings.
But when the day of Pentecost was fully
come, all of a sudden God came into
those men in the center of their being
and all of a sudden, everything fell into
place.
All their education, all their training, all their
years of schooling, all their mom and dads
taught them from the word of God, all
the examples of Jesus, all the words that
he said to them.
Boom!
All of a sudden, everything fell into place
and they were changed into another man by
the Holy Ghost.
The glory of God filled the temple and
everything else fell into its place.
When God came to dwell in them and
empower them, what a transformation, what an awesome
group of men they were after that.
Now, I don't know if you understand that,
but this is how our children come to
us, totally open, with no past.
They come to us with not a bunch
of terrible things that have happened to them,
but they come to us without being regenerated
in their inner man.
That's how each child comes to us.
The spirit is dead to God and God
is not inside of them.
But I think it's important for us parents
to recognize where God is going with our
children so that we can go the way
that God is going.
Because, you see, God's goal is to dwell
in our children someday.
What is he after?
What does he want to do with each
one of our children?
He wants to come and possess them.
He wants to come and dwell in them.
He wants to come and control them.
He wants to come and rule over every
part of them.
He wants to come and pick them up
and use them for his honor and for
his glory.
He wants a disciple that is filled with
his presence and yielded to his will and
willing to obey the promptings of his spirit.
That's what God is after.
Oh, this is very important and good for
us to know as parents.
A child comes to us, a very self
-centered being.
I'm sure we can all agree with that.
But I want you to consider this this
evening.
They come to us totally blank.
This body has not been turned loose yet.
It has not been defiled yet.
The mind, the will and the emotion, they
have not been left to themselves yet.
They are blank.
Oh, the beauty of a newborn child.
Amen.
You ever consider before what makes a baby
so beautiful it's not just that they have
pink rosy cheeks, brothers and sisters.
The reason they look so beautiful is because
they are pure and innocent.
There's no junk in them yet.
Even though their spirit is cut off from
God and there's no way that they can
have fellowship with God, the soul and the
body has not been defiled yet.
And there shines out of that newborn baby
innocence and purity and openness.
And you look at it and say, so
beautiful.
This baby is so beautiful.
It's because God gave you a blank sheet
of paper.
Let me ask you a question.
If you take that child and put it
in the wrong environment and leave it there
and leave it to itself for five years,
what do you think is going to happen
with all of this openness that this child
has?
Put it there in the midst of anger,
lust, gluttony, televisions, evil spirits, conflict, hatred, pornography,
drugs, drinking and stealing.
And in five years, what will you have?
How ruined, how defiled, how ungodly in just
five years.
But I want you to also to consider
this.
If you take that child and you put
it in a right environment with all of
its openness in the midst of love and
kindness, purity, a beautiful church, a Bible, the
Holy Spirit filled home, a discipline and an
oversight in its life.
In five years, you will see what a
different kind of child you have, even though
nothing has changed in here yet.
We're still dealing with the soul and the
body of this child.
Nothing has changed in here.
They're only five years old.
Oh, parents, I hope that you are awake
this evening and can grasp the reality of
what we're looking at here.
What a benefit, what a heritage, what a
blessing and a favor we give to our
children when we recognize that someday God is
going to dwell inside of my child.
And everything in this child's soul and everything
of this child's body is going to be
demanded to be brought in order and under
the subjection of the living God who comes
to dwell within them.
What a favor we do our children if
we watch over this area of their life,
though their spirit is not been regenerated yet.
If we watch over this area of their
life, what a favor we do to our
children if we watch over this area called
their body and keep it from becoming defiled.
What a favor we do to our children
when the day comes, praise God, when they
yield their heart and life to God and
in he comes, regeneration takes place and the
spirit of God comes to dwell inside of
that being.
All of a sudden, everything begins to fall
in place.
But also consider this, such a heavy burden
we put upon our children if we neglect
to do that all their days, if we
let them unto themselves and their soul begins
to develop all kinds of wrong attitudes and
patterns in their body, we allow their body
to become defiled and rebellious and demanding and
all those things.
What a heavy burden we put upon them.
Yes, it's true, my dear parents, salvation will
come, the spirit of God will come and
dwell inside of that child someday.
But look at all the things they're going
to have to work through.
What a heavy burden that is for us
as parents to leave the child to themselves
and say, well, someday, someday, praise God, they're
going to get converted.
Yes, someday, praise God, they may get converted.
But when we begin to see what God
is after and we begin to seek that
which God is after, we co-labor with
God for this, to preserve the soul and
the body of this child because we know
someday, God has plans for them.
What a wonderful favor we do to those
children.
What a tremendous disfavor and a hurt and
a burden we place on them if we
neglect our responsibilities.
Verses begin to take new meaning when we
look at it this way.
A child left to himself.
Yes, a child left to himself.
What?
A child that is not regenerated.
A child that does not have God living
inside of it.
A child that cannot fellowship with God who
is left to himself.
His soul will become defiled.
His body will become defiled.
All kinds of wrong things will be in
there and all of that.
And please don't misunderstand me.
They're going to have things to work through.
But why give them a great big pile
when you can just give them a little
pile if you'll watch over their lives and
guide them a bit?
Consider with me just a little bit this
evening, the mind of a child.
Here you get a new baby.
This baby comes to you.
God gives you this child.
This child's mind is clean, fresh, empty.
It's like a blank sheet of paper.
It's like a computer with nothing on the
memory.
Amen?
Nothing, nothing, nothing on the memory.
What are we going to do with this
fresh, clean, empty, pure mind?
Will we protect it from the multitudes of
media that would fill it full of all
kinds of things that shouldn't be in there?
The TV, the radio, books and computers and
all those kind of things?
Will we protect the child from useless data
going into its mind that it really doesn't
need, that isn't going to help him for
anything?
Will we protect the child from the foolish
data that could go into its mind, worldly
data and even filthy data?
What kind of words will enter into this
little child's mind as it grows up in
the home?
You know, some parents foolishly think that a
little one-year-old, they can say anything
they want when a little one-year-old's
around.
It's okay to have a fight with your
wife or carry on and fuss against your
husband.
It's just a one-year-old.
They can't understand what you're saying anyway.
That is a foolish mistake, my friend.
All those words are going into that computer.
What kind of words will enter into the
mind of that child in the home that
it grows up into?
Look at it on the positive side.
What good words and thoughts will enter in
there?
Bible?
How much Bible?
Bible stories, holy books, sermons, holy discussions around
the table, theology on the Sunday afternoon, 7
,300 family devotions if you have one a
day, six days a week for 20 years.
All those things are going into this mind.
Do you suppose that's going to have an
effect upon that child?
You can be sure it will.
That's one of the reasons why all of
our days, all of our children started listening
to the Bible on cassette when they took
their naps and went to bed from before
they were one years old, before they could
decipher all the words and what they meant.
There they were laying in their crib, listening
to the Word of God.
Do you know how many times they've been
through the Word of God on the Bible
on cassette?
By the time they get to be 16
years old?
My, it must be 20, 25 times.
Do you suppose that's going to affect this
child, how it lives?
I believe it is.
Consider this this evening.
You know Fanny Crosby, that dear lady that
wrote all those songs?
I understand Fanny Crosby, she didn't get regenerated
until she was around 21, 22 years old.
But that little lady, she lost her eyesight
when she was two or three years old
and her dear grandma said, I will be
Fanny's eyes.
And that grandma sat beside that little girl
and went over the Word of God with
her and that little girl memorized chapters, scores
of chapters from the Word of God.
I mean, long before she ever got regenerated
in the center of her being, she probably
had a couple hundred chapters in the Word
of God hidden away in her mind.
But, when the Holy Ghost came into the
center of that dear lady's being, when the
Word of God and the Spirit of God
met together inside of Fanny Crosby, she started
cranking out hymns, two or three thousand of
them.
I mean, she became a hymn making machine.
That's a beautiful example of what I'm talking
about.
What a blessing!
What a favor grandma did for Fanny to
do that to her.
Yes, sure enough, she needed to get converted,
but bless God, I'm sure she was much
happier to have all this filled up with
the Word of God on the day of
her salvation than to have it filled with
a bunch of junk.
That's what we're talking about.
What about the will?
We've been speaking about the will.
That's part of our soul.
Mind, will and emotions.
Well, I don't have to say a whole
lot.
That's pretty clear to us.
We had a whole sermon on that, but
I would just like to pull it back
in here this evening so we're just kind
of pulling back the veil a little bit
and looking at the reasons why God just
said, raise your children in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord.
This is the reason why God has said
it, because God wants to use that child
someday and God wants us to preserve that
child so that he can use it someday,
even though they need to get born again.
We do them such a great favor.
If while we filled their mind with the
Word of God, we have also been working
on their will.
Give up your will.
The parents should be saying this, not thy
will, my child, but mine be done, because
the day will come when that child will
have to say, not my will, O Lord,
but thine be done.
Oh, what a favor you do that child.
If that child learns to bow their will
and give it over to their parents and
give it over to others, whoever may be
over them, giving them some direction, what a
favor you do for that child, because someday
God's going to come and dwell in them.
And guess what?
He needs a willing vessel.
Now, I'm not sure if I can prove
this, but it seems to me in all
my studies of home histories that most of
these home histories that I've been studying, you
know, where generations go forth like this, most
of them were about this principle right here.
Their parents watched over their mind, their will
and their emotions.
Then one day the Spirit of God came
and look out.
I mean, think about John Wesley.
He didn't get converted till he was 35
years old.
But man, when he got converted, I mean,
when the Spirit of God came inside of
that man with all the training that Mama
gave him and all the training that Daddy
gave him and all the other disciplines that
the Methodist little class had there in the
school when the Holy Ghost came in.
Look out.
Here comes John Wesley.
And he turned the world upside down.
Bless God.
That's what we're talking about.
It seems to me that those children who
are preserved and watched over like what we're
saying when the Holy Ghost comes, they hit
the ground running and they do something for
God.
We must train them to give up and
yield their will.
That's what we must be doing.
Number three, let's look at the emotions now,
mind, will and emotion, right?
Emotions.
That's our affections.
Our feelings.
That is the affections and the feelings of
the child.
Remember, training the palate.
This is where the emotions come in.
That place of affection within the child.
God wants us to train their affections in
the right direction.
You know, I thought about it the other
day, you know, a little boy, lots of
times.
And I know we did this.
We had little boys.
We would get a little Bible for our
two year old boy.
We usually take the shot because otherwise, you
know what will happen to it when they're
two.
But you take the shot, but you give
them their little Bible.
And here they go to church.
Man, they're holding on to that Bible.
They're so excited about it.
They're not going to give it to anybody
else.
Hey, he doesn't know what's in that thing.
He hasn't opened any of it up.
He hasn't read one word in it yet.
But somehow he's excited about it.
Why is he excited about that little Bible?
Because everybody else in the house is excited
about their Bible.
And now he has one just like everybody
else has.
Do you know what those parents are doing?
Training the emotions of that little boy.
That's what they're doing.
That's what God wants us to do.
Train the emotions and the affections of our
children in a right path.
Because someday God's going to say, OK, my
son, give me my heart.
When God comes in, God will be able
to do something with that vessel whose affections
are already so many of them leaning in
the direction that God will want them to
go.
What a favor you do your child if
you train the emotions of that child to
love the right things.
Now, it's true when God comes to dwell
inside of them, the Holy Ghost's inspiration will
cause them to love the Bible like they
never dreamed that they could ever love the
Bible.
However, they can still love the Bible the
way they do until they get filled with
the Holy Ghost.
It's OK.
That's training the affection of the child.
By the way, that's one of the reasons
why I'm very concerned about extreme emotions.
You see, if a child learns the emotion
of anger, that is an extreme emotion.
That's something they're going to have to deal
with when the Holy Ghost comes.
But what a blessing if you can raise
a child and watch over it in such
a way that it never even knows what
that fitful rage and anger is all about.
Did you know that a child could grow
up without ever having a fit of rage
and anger?
Sure, they're going to get frustrated.
Sure, they're going to be upset at times.
But I'm talking about this explosion of rage
and anger.
They never, ever need to know what it
is.
When a child comes to us, their emotions
are totally blank.
What are you going to put on there?
I mean, what are you going to add
in there?
Oh, let's see.
We want them to love this.
We want them to love the Bible.
We want them to love to go to
church.
We want them to love God's people.
We want to love Grandma and Grandpa.
We want to love Papa and Mama.
These are the things we want them to
love.
Then, when the Holy Ghost comes, they'll really
love all those things then.
We watch over the thrill level of our
children for this very reason.
What thrills your child is not a little
thing.
That's in the area of emotions again.
And I'll say more about that in the
next message.
Brothers and sisters, this is the whole purpose
for teaching and training.
You fill the mind with the right things.
You guide the will to choose the right.
You encourage the emotions to be excited about
the right things.
You build godly character in them.
Every time you design a project which instills
godly character in that child, you further their
Christian life in the future.
That's what you do.
What a favor you do for them.
Now, let's look at the body that's also
in there.
The child comes to you.
Their body is also pure.
It hasn't been defiled yet in the sense
of having some defiling experience.
We do them such a great favor if
we teach them how to bring their body
into subjection.
If we teach them when the alarm goes
off, that they on their own say, OK,
body, get up.
It's time to get out of bed.
There are some in this room, even this
evening.
You still have a hard time getting out
of bed when the alarm goes off.
What a favor you do your child.
If a child learns that it can control
its appetite and it doesn't have to overeat
every time it sits down at the table.
If a child learns that it's OK to
have a sweet every now and then, but
we're not going to live on sweets all
the time.
Every one of those patterns is a wrong
pattern that is being trained into a child
or a right pattern that they have to
live with the rest of their life.
What a favor we do them if we
give some training to this area, that they
learn moderation, that they learn to deny their
body and tell their body, no, not now.
You know, some people may react and say,
I have a problem with you having a
five year old fast.
Well, guess what?
When the Holy Ghost comes, that fasting stuff
is going to take on some powerful meaning
in that child's life.
But now that child is learning to discipline
his body.
My body is not going to rule me.
Amen.
A child can learn that their body is
not going to rule them.
How beautiful for the child whose body and
soul has been guided, disciplined and motivated in
right paths.
It is easy to see what will happen
when they come to a saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ.
Can you see, my dear parents, that you
give them such a head start if you
will be careful how you guide and direct
the child, even though, you know, someday they
will need to get born again.
You give them such a head start.
Salvation is a sanctified relationship between man and
the God who saved him, washed him and
dwells within him.
When God comes to live in a child
who has been watched over and cared for,
the battle is short lived.
Amen.
Because the child has been taught to yield
and the child's mind is full of the
word of God and their emotions have been
set on so many right things.
The battle is short lived until that child
comes and brings his heart and life totally
under the guidance and the direction of the
spirit of God, which every one of us
know is the will of God for every
one of them.
And every one of us know how many
struggles we have in our lives because we
didn't get that kind of oversight.
I mean, yes, bless God, an old hippie
like me can get born again.
But I'll tell you what, a lot of
tough road.
Oh yeah, we make it.
But you won't see me running as fast
as my children will run.
Amen.
We do them such a favor if we
watch over those things in their life after
our children are converted.
Is that it then?
Is our job done?
No, it isn't, because we still see where
God is going.
And once God comes to dwell in the
center of man's being, then God, by his
spirit, will be on a sanctification program.
And he's going to bring everything of the
body and everything of the soul into complete
subjection.
And as that happens, he can use that
child.
So our child gets converted.
We just join right in with God and
we keep on going.
What do we do?
We nurture and care and pray and disciple
our young person into a solid disciple of
Jesus Christ who can walk with God, live
with a clear conscience.
And you can tell they are beginning to
listen to the voice of God and do
what God says without Papa telling them to
do it.
That is the goal.
That's where we're going.
Someone gave me this just this evening.
They put it in my hand, has a
beautiful picture of an innocent little child on
the front of it.
And here's what it says.
If a child lives with criticism, he learns
to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns
to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns
to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns
to feel guilty.
But if a child lives with tolerance, he
learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns
confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns
to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns
justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns
to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns
to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns to find love everywhere in the
world.
I don't know who wrote that, but you
know, that is a beautiful description of how
it should be in our homes.
Here comes this sweet little, beautiful, innocent child,
bright and open and as bright and open
as a new spring day.
If we bring that child into the right
kind of an environment and we begin to
nurture that child and we are very careful
to watch over what goes in to the
mind and how the will responds and what
the emotions love and what the body does
and doesn't do.
That child has got such a head start.
If we'll do that, I want to encourage
your parents to watch over your children.
You know, many a child has been defiled
on a Sunday afternoon in a bedroom upstairs
while mom and dad were downstairs having a
little fellowship over the Bible.
Some other child encouraged them.
Why don't we try this?
Why don't we do this?
And the body was defiled.
That doesn't need to ever happen.
It never needs to happen.
But it requires us parents to be alert,
to be awake, to be watching, to be
guiding, to take the oversight of our children,
to recognize that everything that goes in is
going to affect that child.
Everything that goes in, every experience they go
through is going to have an effect on
them.
Now, we can't stop everything, but we can
surely do our part and watch over their
lives and put the right things in there.
And I tell you, brothers and sisters, this
is the inside story of everything that I've
been saying all week long, because God wants
to come and dwell in your child.
Let's stand for prayer.
God, our Father, oh, Lord, we thank you
for every sweet little innocent child you put
in our hands.
Father God, some of us, it's all done,
but some of us, we're just getting started
and some of us are in the middle
of this whole process.
But all of us can learn from this
lesson.
Oh, God, the lesson that we have here
before us tonight.
God, we want to be faithful to the
charge that you've given to us as you
give us your sons and daughters to raise
for you.
Oh, Lord, I pray that your wisdom be
in our hearts as we guide our children
in Jesus Christ's name.
Amen.