HOW Do I Lead My Children to Brother and King JESUS, and to His Kingdom?

12/26/2000

years later (spoken in South America and transcribed here)…

Real Life Situations

Real Life situations are the pathways into the hearts of the children, as well as adults. The children need to see that because of the one sin they committed (the one you are currently talking with them about) they deserve hell and will get hell, unless Jesus washes them clean. Even if they never lie or disobey again, they still deserve hell just because of THAT one sin they just committed, and they will get hell unless they are washed by Jesus.

As situations arise where a child has disobeyed, or rebelled, or fallen short, those are the times to speak the gospel in a creative way and really let them see the blood of Jesus and the Spirit of Christ indwelling as the only solution. The blood of Jesus is the only solution for what has been, and the Spirit of Jesus is the only solution for what shall be. And if you want to lead them to that realization, then these real life situations are the way into their hearts, rather than just into their minds. Real Life situations are the roads that take you where you want to go—into the heart.

A Connection

If we want to get the children to this place of seeing that they need JESUS and that HE is the only answer, then we have to get them to the place of seeing they have MURDERED Him with their sin. The way that we get the children there (or at least hope that we have gotten them there, because you never REALLY know for sure) and the thing that you CAN do (and there are some things that we just can’t do) is make sure you help them make the connection to the fact that it is THEIR sin that has wounded and murdered this Jesus, the Son of God. There must be some connection there with Jesus being murdered by their personal sin. There must be a shame and guilt, a cutting to the heart because “this man Jesus, whom YOU crucified, has been made both Lord and Christ.” So, watch to see that some connection is made with Jesus, as a person, dying because of their personal sin, and with them being cut to the heart as a result of that.

Persistence

The second thing you want to look for as you watch and pray toward a child’s entrance into the Kingdom is Persistence. If they knock and keep on knocking, the door will be opened. Like the widow at midnight, it was because of her persistence that the judge came and opened the door. You want to see that it’s not just a flash in the pan, an emotional fancy that they could forget about later, then just go back and play. You want to see persistence because if you’re premature in that, if you don’t make them pay that price and demonstrate persistence, then you WILL be put to the test on that matter six weeks later. You’ll have that question. “Well, did they really become a Christian or not?” Because you cracked the egg open prematurely rather than letting them fight their way out, you’ll have a mystery on your hands maybe for the rest of their life. They will go in and out of things and you won’t even know if their conversion was legitimate or not because there was this premature “thing” that happened and you don’t know what it was. You don’t want to doubt it because you think you’re not supposed to second guess salvation, of course, yet you can’t legitimately have confidence in it because the fruit is just not there.

That’s the price you pay when you’re a little too goopy and emotional and too pleased with yourself for what a great child-rearing job you did since “all my children were Christians by age four.” That’s just a stinking ego trip. It’s a denominational anathema that’s just pathetic and has ruined millions of people. Because of the lack of depth of their “Bible class teachers” or parents having them “say a prayer” “repeat after me”—they don’t even know who or what they are. Or even worse, they think they do, and they’re dead wrong. This is ONE reason, of several, that the religious world is filled to the brim with leaven, in radical rebellion against the Command of God. So many that were led to think, “it is well with my soul”—never came to the REAL Jesus of Nazareth in the first place. Some, who wanted an ego trip or were simply naïve, mis-taught them. They have no FRUIT of true LIFE, yet this deception follows them around, “Oh well, you’re a Christian. You’re okay. Don’t worry about it.” All this deception has followed them their whole life because we didn’t do our job on the front end. It follows them around because we had this ego trip of what a great child-rearing job we did because all of our children were Christians at such a young age. Isn’t that sweet? They went up the aisle at age five and it was untested and unreal in most cases.

Question: Are you saying we won’t ever really KNOW??

If you’re looking somebody in the eye and you see what you think is sincerity...if you see what you think is a cutting to the heart because of the wounds they’ve brought upon Jesus, the Son of God...if you see what you think is persistence...there is still a chance, no matter how hard you test it, that you don’t see it exactly right. It’s like Simon the sorcerer. Was Philip such a fool that he would baptize someone with such ulterior motives as wanting to have power? Out of that crowd of people around Philip, there was one yo-yo that he didn’t see through. Now Peter did. Peter saw through it and that’s the difference in giftedness. Philip, according to the book of Acts, had a gift of “good news telling” where Peter was a builder, a master builder. He was an Apostle. So, Peter could see it and Philip couldn’t. Sometimes giftedness allows somebody to see through a facade when another person can’t. But as wonderful a person as Philip was, he couldn’t quite tell that there was a major problem with one of those men’s heart. It looked genuine. Luke says, “Even Simon the Sorcerer believed.” Yes, but even the demons believe and tremble. There was still a fundamental problem there. “Has satan so filled your heart” is a big thing to say to somebody that’s still wet from just getting out of the water. But Philip blew it. It was premature. It was untested. He was probably a little proud. Those guys were NOT super human characters with capes or halos floating over their heads. Philip probably was a little pleased with himself that he’d made a convert out of this big shot sorcerer and he didn’t test it. You’ve got to be willing to turn away somebody that even seems sincere, whether it’s the President or whomever. Who cares about their status as a celebrity or how “passionate” they are?

Also, keep in mind that you can corrupt the whole thing by OVER-TESTING it too. When you interrogate, and twist, and turn, and struggle, you can potentially ruin the beauty of something if you go too far along those lines. There comes a time that you just can’t shred it and put it under the microscope any more without destroying it. You should test all those things, but be careful not to over-test and scrutinize.

Question: You will be able to tell down the road, right??

Yes, although if you remember the five different kinds of people that we talked about (the five chairs) then you remember that things may appear to be different than they actually are. Some people look good and it’s real. Other people look bad and it’s real. Some people look good and it’s not real. You’d like to be able to know, but as John said, “their going out proved they never were among.” This would mean that there was a period of time where you really couldn’t quite tell. Jude talked about those that sit at your love feasts without the slightest qualm, but their destiny is outer darkness and they are twice sons of hell. But they sat at the love feasts, so there at least was a period of time when, like Jannes and Jambres, their folly was not quite evident yet, but later it became evident to all. They had a form of godliness, but, because it was powerless, the folly eventually became evident. But there was a transition period where you wanted to give them a chance. You wanted to hope that they were just weak, yet redeemed, rather than the fake one on the other side. However, eventually you may find out it’s not real in them, so it breaks your heart and, hopefully, not too many people are hurt in the meantime.

If you aren’t certain of what all is going on inside of your children you can always tell them...“I’ll watch and pray with you.” If the child, or anyone, is serious, they’ll be coming back to you. “Can you help me get in touch with others who can help me? I’ve got to find someone who will help me.” If they’re serious, they’ll be willing to call someone in another country to help them if you can’t or won’t. Give them things to read, from the Scriptures and elsewhere. Ask them to tell you what it meant to them. If the Holy Spirit is doing something inside of a truly open heart, then you’ll know it by the Surprises in their responses. It won’t be “Oh, I forgot to read that. Sorry. I’ll do it now.” Nor will it be, “Ummmm. I’m not sure what it means, really. Ummmm.” (And then they give you a superficial “book report” about the WORDS they read.) If the Holy Spirit is involved in a translation from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of the beloved Son...there will be ample evidence in the Surprising answers they give and the DEPTH of how they are revealing their insight into their own hearts and need for Him.

Here’s how it works, as it did on the first day the men came to Christ in the New Covenant Experience: “They were CUT TO THE HEART, and said: Men and brothers, WHAT MUST WE DO??!!” CUT TO THE HEART!! “What I do, I HATE!” is the experience of anyone wrestling with GOD, rather than just learning concepts. As Paul said in a letter to the new converts from Thessalonica that the following would be proof of a valid encounter with God: “We KNOW this is for real in you because we saw Power and Deep conviction. NOT JUST WORDS tumbling around in your heads, or emotional upheaval in your flesh, or jealousy of peers’ conversions, or an attempt to push a button and please parents or others—but we saw a response to the Voice of Heaven and His Good News in POWER, and DEEP CONVICTION!” POWER. DEEP CONVICTION.

And The Fruit?

“You turned to God, and away from your sin, to serve the true and Living God!” Look for that! WAIT for that!!! Pray fervently for the REAL thing—Jesus descending upon them, bringing them into the “Valley of Decision” and on to TRUE WASHING AND CONVERSION, in the Highest miraculous sense! No more “futility of thinking” and “darkened understanding.” No more self-life dominated thinking, and moods, and days, and weeks—unaware of the living, Risen Jesus except for in some shallow, token sense!

If it’s not the REAL thing, the COUNTERFEIT will forever be a plague to them, and an illusion that will KEEP them from the Real thing—the REAL PERSON of Jesus! Please don’t let your ego, or your own shallowness (imparted to you by the religious world that loses, by their admission, 75%+ of their children to the world, and loses 60% of their marriages to the enemy) cause you to cheat your children of an ENCOUNTER with the LIVING GOD, after TRULY seeing their own hearts for what they are. This is SO important!!

In an era of such bad fruit in the religious world, much can be traced back to this whole topic. Most “groups” or “denominations” would GLADLY welcome the “rich young ruler,” and never see through Ananias and Sapphira to show them the door or a casket, or have the courage to deal with Simon the sorcerer. So much bad fruit has come from “missing it” on the front end with what a Biblical conversion to Jesus and a Biblical definition of “Faith in Christ” really is. It’s time now to turn things around, in keeping with the Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, and watch Him build HIS Church. Then and ONLY then will we see the “gates of hell” no longer prevailing. It is an exciting thought, and even more exciting to watch and participate in!