Y'all just, look. Right here. Here, y'all come over here. We're gonna see him. Come see, Leland. Right up here. Come on up here, Cameron. Look. There we go. Whoa. I'm going to move this out of your way, Mattie. There we go. Are y'all going to do it real soft? No. Wow, you do y'all five times. Jesus, okay? Are y'all ready? Y'all going to tell everybody who you follow? Now look, this is how much I believe in these sweet babies. We just learned this song last week. So y'all keep that in mind. But it's all about following Jesus. And that's our heart when we have them back there is to teach them more than anything. That's the most important thing that they can decision that they can make is to follow Jesus. as their Lord and Savior and then live for Him the rest of their life. So, look, we're gonna have fun. Are y'all ready to sing? Okay, let me get this turned on. Here we go. Raise your name. Jesus, follow you all our days. Jesus, clap my hands. Raise your name. Jesus, follow you all our days. Jesus! Left, right, left, right. We follow day and night. Hands up, hands down. Let out a shout and spin around. Yeah! Y'all got it. Come on! Let out a shout and spin around. Yeah! Good job. One more time. Y'all ready? Clap our hands. Raise your hands. Jesus, we follow you all our days. Jesus, clap our hands, praise your name. Jesus, we follow you all our days. Can you hear it? Jesus, left, right, left, right, we follow day and night. Hands up, hands down, never stop, we'll spin around. Now wherever he calls, we're gonna follow. Y'all ready? Ready? Let pride, let pride, we follow day and night. Heads up, heads down, let out a shout and spin around. Let out a shout and spin around. Good job, I'm so proud of y'all, y'all did good. All right, y'all need to have a seat back with your peers, good job. Some of them got up here and sang that having never heard it before, so I'm so proud of them. That's right. Will glory be, amen? Amen and amen. Thank y'all for helping us today. Look to and continue to celebrate following Jesus. Amen. Well, it is good to have each of you with us today. It's always a special treat for us to be able to celebrate the Lord Jesus when we can and as often as we can. And it's always a special treat to be able to celebrate with our family, and even our extended family. We have a little saying around here, some are family by blood, and some are family through the blood. But family is family, amen? So you are part of our family, and that's what we want you to know, that as a church fellowship, we are committed to your arrows and grand arrows, and it's our delight and joy to serve Enjoy life with them and to celebrate the ups and downs the ins and outs and everything that comes with it So we are glad to have you with us today we're going to keep everybody in normally the little ones make their way to the back and they get to celebrate back there and We get to work on some things in here as well. So all these mamas in here are already a little antsy this morning thinking, come on preacher, don't hang out too long with us in here today. They done got used to over the last several years of having the little ones in the back. So we're gonna jump right on in it and ask God for his help today and his blessings upon this time. of what he's got for us, amen? So if they do make a little noise, don't worry about it. If they wanna get up and run, let them run, amen? So we'll all be good, we'll all be good. So let's pray. Thank you, Jesus, for this day, for this time, for this gathering, for our families, for each other. And we just bless you in the sweet name of Jesus and we praise you and thank you for your goodness to us. You have been so kind and gracious and given us life and given us grace and given us arrows and the responsibilities to shape them and mold them. We just thank you today that you've entrusted them to us. Now we asking you to help us do what is impossible apart from you. So we're gonna thank you and ask for your presence upon this time in Jesus name, amen. All right, if you'll take your Bibles that you brought with you, if you don't have one, we probably have one on the pew nearby, you can pull up your phone if you have a phone with you, and go to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter number two. We're walking through as a church congregation right now, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we won't actually be in 2 Thessalonians this month, we're gonna transition into the book of Matthew, but once you start reading these things, you just automatically wanna keep reading them. They're brief, they're short chapters, but they're rich and good, and they're very helpful to us. And I just wanted to share a few things out of it today that I think will be a blessing of asking God and His balance for us in our journey. And we'll look at a couple things in some other places, and I may just refer to them. for time's sake, but there are a couple things that I always like to attempt to do anytime we have a family slash baby arrow dedication to talk about and to share. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 2, the second chapter, What we see beginning in the verse number one, I want you to see from the start. Now, this is obvious dealing with the family of God, but these principles you'll see are very similar and parallelly, not only the family of God, but as a family, as a dad and as a mom, as brothers and sisters that we work together in this. But he says in verse number one, for you yourselves, no brethren, there's the family word right there. Brethren, that's the family of God, that our coming to you was not in vain. It was not empty or lifeless, but even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the good news, the gospel of God in much conflict. Now for the family of God, everything centers around the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. having a good word in a difficult world. How many of y'all recognize it's a challenge to live in this world? How many in here recognize it's a challenge to rear children? It's a difficulty. Even when you have a slew of kids and you learn a few things and those little ones grow and you shape them, being a parent never ends. A lot of times you adult children are more difficult than the little children. And all God's people say it. You adult children sometimes bring a lot of drama to the table. So it never ceases. It never ends in this life. And there's a reason for that. And I'm gonna show you what I'm talking about in the scripture. So a lot of times what you wanna be cautious about, especially you young mamas with these little ones, you just think, man, if I could ever just get a day of good rest. You ever think about that? Man, if I could just get some decent sleep, if I can just have a little time where I don't hear somebody saying mama, or I don't hear somebody saying daddy, it's a nonstop all the time deal of being a parent, it never ends. It's always you always have to be on and the thing about mamas that we want to admit here today Is that mamas usually make every day a holiday for the rest of us? Are you with me? We put a major load on mama to do a lot and she does and we're ever grateful for that but he says that we came to you in much affliction and Difficulty. Well, that's life Life is gonna be hard. Life is gonna be challenging. Life is gonna be difficult. And we are told that from the very beginning. When Adam and Eve fell in the garden, God told Eve in the curse that he placed upon her and in the curse that he placed upon Adam that life was not gonna be easy from here on out. He even uses phrases like this, that in sorrow, And in pain, not only will your conception be a challenge and difficult, but the whole rearing process through life will always be a reminder that we're fallen, that we need a Redeemer, that we need a Savior. It never gets easy, but we have hope. We have hope. Amen. We have help. We have answers. That's the whole point of it being hard, that it is to move us to Jesus, to turn us to Jesus. And when we see that, here's the apostle Paul in Timothy and Silas as they are going through the challenges and the difficulties that they were going through, it says that they came in verse number three, for our exhortation, our encouragement, did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. That's just a great point for all of us, that we've got to recognize that there is error out there, there is deceit, there is falsehood, and it's rampant. So for me to do things God's way, I've gotta have a whole nother way of thinking and a whole nother way of living than what this world lives in. So I need help with that. I need truth to solidify me and to do something in me. Verse number four, but we have been approved by God, and that's something you wanna recognize. If God's given you children, he's approved you for it. And all God's people said? Amen. For the fruit of the womb is a? reward, the scripture says. And you've been entrusted with a stewardship, just like the apostle, just like servants of God have been approved to do his work in the gospel, and been entrusted to do it faithfully as a steward, mamas and daddies, you have to recognize that God has entrusted you with great care of rearing and growing these little boys and girls who entered this world warped. As beautiful and as precious as they are, they enter into this world bent, warped because of a fall. And therefore, it is part of our responsibility to help shape them and depend on God to do something in their heart in His due time and to apply His blood into their life so that He can change their nature, change their heart to be in tune with His heart. But in the meanwhile, we fight for it. We gotta labor for it. We got a toil for it. And he says, he'd been approved by God and entrusted with the gospel. And that would be applied to my life, but also Lydia was entrusted unto me. And even though Lydia is now Marcus's wife, she's still my daughter. And she's been entrusted to Marcus to provide and protect and guide and help. But I can never escape the fact that I'm still a daddy, right? I'm always be interceding and praying for them as they want to crawl on the floor and give them a hand, right? My boy. They come over here with Pawpaw when ain't nobody else here and we just let them have a good time and that's a lot of times they think they can do that when they're in here with everybody, amen? And we don't mind. We want them to enjoy being in the house of the Lord, amen? We want them to be able to not sit there and be stoic and not be able to move. Lydia's probably still got marks on her body where her mama would pinch her, sitting in that pew. Come on, ladies, y'all ever had to pinch them? How many of y'all ever been pinched? How many of y'all ever was promised a whooping at the church? More than a promise, huh? They fulfilled the promise. Well, notice what verse 5 says. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covenants. That's basically saying, look, we didn't butter you up. That's something that we've got to remember that our kids are precious to us and we love them and we need to speak life into them. but we also gotta speak truth, and sometimes both life, love, and truth has to deal with error. And you can't butter them up and flatter them that they're the best things under the sun when they've got a bent nature that wants to do their self-centeredness. You gotta teach them the right thing. And that life doesn't center around them, and therefore it doesn't center around me either, and they need to see that modeled in our lives, amen? So he says in verse six, nor did we seek glory from men, from either from you or from others when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. Didn't seek glory. That's something that's important for us to remember. It's like a bird's nest. Y'all ever pay attention to a bird's nest, how beautifully woven they are? You know, but that mama bird and that daddy bird really doesn't care what all the other birds think about them when they build in that nest. All they care about is taking care of that little one that's been born under them to make sure they're nourished and fed and taken care of. And even though they got people like me that will peek in every once in a while, me peeking in doesn't bother them doing what they're doing. They've got a responsibility to what? Provide for, meet the need and take care of that nest. So they're not doing it to please the world. They do it to be a blessing unto God, amen. and unto his people. Verse number seven, notice these phrases. This is where we go with. Paul says, but we were gentle among you just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. The word cherish means to be warm hearted, the opposite of being cold and indifferent. Paul is saying, we cherish you like a mother would cherish her babes, her little ones that she brings in close out of a warm affection and tender love to be moved by them, so as a mother would. And then if you jump down to verse number 10, notice what he says, you are witnesses in God also how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe. Verse 11, as you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children. Notice how Paul uses that picture of a mama and a daddy, a mother and a father, the roles of both, how the father is to involve himself into his children's life. The word exhort, it means to invite, to come alongside, to encourage, to bring near unto you so that you can invest your life into them and then invoke them to live a life that is worthy of the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, that's the role that we all get to play in this, in doing what God has called us to do. Now, I mentioned Genesis, but I want you to go look at it, if you would. Go to Genesis chapter number three. Genesis chapter number three. And I've got a couple of illustrations to show you and give away this morning. Look in Genesis chapter number three, and look in verse number 16. We prayed for little arrows around here, and the Lord's been blessing. He's been opening those doors, amen. Notice what happens in the fall. Now this is important for all of us to recognize. He said to the woman, to Eve, he said, notice what God will do. Now this is coming from God. I will greatly multiply your sorrow. The word greatly multiply is the same word. It's a double emphasis. Rabba, rabba, I will greatly increase your sorrow. Man, that's a tough word, isn't it? I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception and in difficulty you shall rear or bring forth or raise children for your desire shall be for your husband and your husband shall rule over you. Notice that again. Difficulty. Pain. toil, challenging. It's not gonna be, Miss Barbara, it's difficult, isn't it? Children can bring you a lot of joy, but they can also bring you a lot of heartache. Children can bring you a lot of delight, but they can also bring a lot of pain and despair. There's no guarantee that in this service this morning when we stand before you and each of these families stand here and dedicate their children to you to say that that means that these little boys and girls will always go the right way. That doesn't mean that we as a congregation won't neglect you or fail you in the future because it's always a possibility. Why? Because we're dealing with people and anytime you ever deal with people, what comes along with people? My brother said issues. We could be more specific and not just issues, but what? Problems, right? That's what issues are, is problems. Now, when Paul wrote to Timothy in that second letter, he reminded him that God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of what? power, a spirit of love, and of a sound mind. Now you know we talk about this a lot. He gave us power to deal with problems. He gave us love to deal with people, and He gave us a sound mind to deal with ourselves, pride. So we're gonna have to face this. Why? Because from the very beginning, God told us that life was not gonna be easy. Why? Because life is filled up with sin. And sin brings death. And death brings deception, despair, and destruction. But you know what? There was one who came and gave his life on our behalf and lived the life that we couldn't live. Amen? See, God always has a solution and in every step of why God did what he did in the fall was so that we would recognize we need God's help. we would need his help. So anytime those little ones act up, you know what that's a reminder of? God, I need your help. Anytime that husband acts up, you say, God, I need your. Anytime that wife acts up, God, I need your what? Anytime the world gets out of line and acts up, what do we need? God's help. Do we need his help right now? Is the world going mad? Matter of fact, Ecclesiastes 9 says, the hearts of men is filled with madness. These things are not surprising to us, amen. Look what he says in verse number 17 to Adam. Then to Adam he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake, and in sorrow, difficulty, toil, you shall eat of it, what? All the days of your life. life. You see conception is very similar to the fruit of the ground. There's a seed in a womb that produces life. So every aspect of the fall is going to be manifested in one a relationship between a man and a woman but also in their offspring that are always reminders. Man, we need Jesus to do this work that he's called us to do. I brought in a couple little things with you. For the Bible describes our children as arrows. Psalm 127 speaks of them as arrows being in a quiver. Well, when you make or find an arrow, the best thing you could do is find you a limb, a branch that's gonna have some sort of stability to it, and then you gotta clean it up But when you clean it up, those arrows are gonna have little knots and burrs on them. Anybody that's ever shot an arrow knows that when you shoot an arrow, you want it to be as what? Straight as possible. Straight as possible. So you gotta take it, you gotta clean it up. Now to do that, they have a process. Now different ones do different things through time. They would take an old hide like leather and they would heat that arrow or that branch up and they would work it. And they would straighten it through heat. And they would take, I brought a little candle in here just to illustrate a little heat, but they would take fire and that fire would soften it up. They would take cold water to temper it. Or they would even take a rock, Jacob, at times. Indians would take a rock and run it through a hole in a rock to straighten that arrow out. Why? Because these little ones, like Wit, and Millie, and Ike, they were all born with burrs and crooked. And it had to be worked. It had to be worked. Psalm 127, Psalm 112. You could write down Isaiah 49. Hey, buddy. Hey. Isaiah 49 talks about Jesus as being a polished shaft. One that was set apart in the quiver for a specific work of the Lord. Well, what I like to normally do is take... Stephanie makes these for me. We've got one for each little boy and girl that's going to be presented today. I take these and cut them and we leave them rough. So that when we give it to you, it's just a reminder that that precious little boy like Memphis here is still rough and unworked and needs to be smoothed out. Huh, Memphis? Now this is not yours, we got a different one for you. This is one for one of these little girls in here today. But we're gonna present the, hey, Lee, come on. We're gonna present these to you today and give you those just as a reminder. Something else that we wanted to give you today, but how many of y'all have struggled with the mail system these days? We ain't the only one, right? Well, we've been getting delays on a package that we had coming with Bibles and something else for you that we'll have to present to you another time because it keeps getting pushed back. And now that they got a storm out there with trouble, they're gonna use that no matter how you look at it, right? They're going to do it. So we don't have those to give to you today. But what I would like to do now, we got a big group in here this morning. And we've got a lot of grandparents and we're going to try to work this out the best way we can might have to just let you stay where you are. But if the Five families that we have here today to dedicate their little ones unto the Lord, and we as a church getting behind them, if y'all would come and bring your little ones up here right now, if you would. Brandon and Boo, the Thomas's, the Lenten's, the Hill's, grace. Y'all look mighty precious today. Let me squeeze right behind y'all. Ain't this a good looking bunch? Who's taking pictures? Y'all take a picture while I'm up here with them, amen? All right. All right, boys. Now, if I give this to you, are you going to tear it up? I think I'm going to give it to mama. How about that? That'll work? I know they can. Here you go. You want to hold on that there? All right. There you go. All right. Leland? Isaac? He said, I'm going to let mama hold it, huh? Billy? Here's one for you. I'll let daddy hold that. Or you want to hold it, Matty Walker? All right. Memphis. Also, we have a little poem about shaping those arrows. And I just want to give each one of you one of these. It goes, Shaping Your Polished Shaft. God has polished shafts today, though set apart, I must say. They've endured plenty of tests, different from all the rest. Arrows given to the flame, cooled and shaped for the right name. Blemishes and knots worked out, flying straight without a doubt. Having no fear, one sure shot, Taught from a child their grace lot, Placed in his quiver a slot field, Satisfied in God's will. Many never live as such, Equipped with the Master's touch, Shape your arrow with God's plan, May y'all be Weston's biggest fan. So I've got one for Weston, and Hudson, and Lakin, and Cameron, yes. All right, Leland, and Isaac. Memphis, one for you. Millie, one for you. And Mr. Whit, one for you. Now ain't that a good looking bunch up here, amen? I tell you what. What a good looking bunch. I'm gonna pray over y'all, and we as a church congregation wanna say, number one, we love you. We love you. We are, aren't we? Y'all are a delight to us. We are delighted that God has entrusted y'all to us. And we make a commitment to you today, which we've already made this commitment. You are part of us and we're part of you and we're committed to you. And we'll go through the hard things with you. We'll go through the great things with you, the fun things, the tragic things, and the triumphal things. We're committed to you for life. And all God's people said? Amen. We're committed to you. We are. So let's pray, and then we'll let y'all sit down, and I want to give something to the grandmas as well, okay? So let's pray. Father, we come before you in the sweet name of Jesus. And I pray over each family here today that Lord you would take them and you'll use them. You'll bless them. You'll continue to make them fruitful and multiply. That you will expand them and use them to have influence where you plan them. Thank you for bringing them to us. Thank you for what they mean to us. We thank you for the work that we've been given to do. and we just pray your favor upon it, your help in it, and we're gonna praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Y'all may be seated. Okay. Come on, bud. All right. Now, this is what I like to do is that I brought some, we've got some roses in here that we want to give to the grandmas and the great grandmas. We've got great grandmas in here today, amen? Grandmas and great grandmas, we got any great greats? They're all great great, right? Yeah, well look, we've already said navigate life's tough. And then navigating life with kids and grandkids is not always the easiest thing in the world either. It's really not. And sometimes you can involve yourself in your grown children and their family's lives too much. You can get too involved in their life and create some issues. And sometimes you can take your hands off and not do enough. Now we want to be proactive, but we want to have a balance. Learn to say when it's needed and when it's not, knowing that we don't have to get in their business. If they want us in their business, they can invite us, but we don't have to get into it unless we're invited for it. But one thing we never neglect is that we're always praying for them, amen? We're always praying for them. Now, I brought a rose in here for you. And This rose is dying. Why is this rose dying? It's been cut from its life source. The scriptures teach us we're to abide in Jesus, stay connected to him. So one of the keys as grandparents is interceding for our arrows and grand arrows that they stay connected to Jesus. because they get disconnected to him. They're no longer providing safe passage for the fruit of the vine to flow through their life. They're not displaying or bearing the fruit of the Lord in their life. And they are being used by the enemy to fuel his fires. So we intercede for them. We stand in the gap to intercede. But like roses, now some of these roses have thorns on them. Not all of them do. It's hard to find roses that you buy that don't have thorns on them. But Brother Shannon brought some last week to me that he's grown to Stephanie. These little ones right here, and I want to tell you they'll get you. These hadn't been prepared for the public. They got thorns on them like all roses do. So that means if you grab this thing, you got to grab it delicately. And the same principle as grandparents, we handle these things carefully, delicately, and give them to Jesus. Always there to help, always there to invest, always there to involve ourself as needed, and ask God for his help, amen? So I'm just gonna give you this today as just a simple reminder to keep praying for them, for they need his life flowing in them, and that we wanna be cautious in what we do for the glory of God and his kingdom, amen? Amen. So all you grandmothers that are in here today, would you stand with me? That has somebody being dedicated today, family. Here you go, pretty lady. Denise, thank you, yeah. Miss Sue, yeah. It's got a thorn on it, I see it. This one does too. You gotta be careful with Tony, right? This one's got thorns on it. Oh, it's clean. Oh, some thorns. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Who else we got? Slide in there, there you go. What would we do without our mamas and grandmas? There you go. Did I get everybody? We didn't miss anybody, did we? Okay. Carolyn said we missed her. You could be seated, you could be seated. Well, to God be the glory, amen. To Him be the glory. Well, look, we've got food in the back. We want you to stay with us today if you can. We understand if you can't. And we would love for you to break bread with us around the table. We love our table time around here. There ought to be some good eats back there and ought to have plenty of it. And if they don't, I'll give up mine for you. If you'll just stay and hang out with us. Matter of fact, I'd rather just fellowship with you around the table anyway, amen. So, but it is a treat, it is a treat to have you with us today. And we're gonna pray in a moment. And I wouldn't leave here today though, if you didn't know who Jesus, that you belong to him, that you're his, amen. That you're his, that you're his. You wanna be part of the family. You may not be physically blood related, but you can be blood related, amen. family in the kingdom of God living for His glory. So, grandpas, we love you. We thank you. Continue to labor. Continue to involve those little ones in your life. Continue to invest in them. Continue to inspire them. Show them a way. Show them how to do things. Teach them. There's too many today. Too many of us don't know how to do stuff. because grandma and grandpa ain't taught us some things. So we need you to teach these little ones how to do the simple things of life, amen? Because you never know those little simple things in the coming days may be the very thing that's going to help them survive in this world, amen? The simple things. So let's continue to do it. It is good to have each one of you with us today. And I'm going to ask if we can, if you don't mind, I'm going to pray over Miss Trish, won't you come on up here today? We're going to pray over her. She just got diagnosed with cancer and is going through some treatment and going to go through some treatment. And we want to close this out in a way that we can just lay hands on her and pray over her. Amen? and ask God for his help today. And then we ask God for his blessing upon the fellowship time. And we will conclude in here and we just enjoy ourselves together, amen. Anybody have anything before we go? The kids did great, didn't they? They did great, praise the Lord. You know, it wasn't until about what, three or four years ago that For the life of Briggs Chapel, the kids always stayed in here with us somewhere. Then we got to growing and getting many, and they said, well, look, we probably ought to go help them in a way that they're not gonna get from Brother Mick. We gotta go teach them some things, amen? So they started taking them back and working on them from there. Tell us Memphis. He's praying, amen. All right, well, y'all pray with me. Father, we come before you right now and we just lay hands on Miss Tricia Hill and ask you, Lord, to do a work of healing and mending and wholeness in her life, in her journey. We know she means so much to her family and us and we just ask your favor and your blessings. There's others in here right now that are going through difficulty. Their bodies are failing on them. Their minds are not what they used to be. Lord, they don't have the strength that they once had, and we're asking you to just allow us to continue to put one foot in front of the other, take short, slow steps in these days that we live in, and that we would fix our eyes upon you, that Lord, you would teach us how to love, that you would teach us how to live. that you would teach us how to learn in everyday life, and that you would teach us how to look for your blessed hope and glorious appearance. So Lord, we know that this body is gonna perish, and we've got everlasting consolation in you. But in the meantime, we're asking for strength in her body, and Lord, for a work in her soul, in her spirit, in her mind, that you'll continue to renew her day by day, transform her, and use her as a vessel of your mercy to proclaim your goodness abroad. So thank you. Thank you for life today. Thank you for grace. Thank you for time in this sanctuary, and thank you for time around the table. We ask your blessings upon the fellowship, upon the food, upon the time together, and that you would use it for your glory. For it's in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Love you. Yes, yes, yes. Well, to God be the glory. Let's go eat. Amen.