YEAR OF PATIENCE

July 2003       

Volume 32 Issue 7  No. 328

How I Preach

Mummy (1924-1981) was an elementary school teacher, and Daddy (1914-1973) was an officer in the Indian Army. Both of them were kind socializers and good conversationalists. Mummy used to speak in women’s groups and Daddy was a preacher in open-air meetings and small conventions. I used to play major roles in English and Tamil dramas in the school. I also took active part in the weekly Literature & Debate Society (LDS) classes as a student. When God saved me and filled me with His Spirit in 1962, the background I had as a young boy came in handy to share my testimony and preach short messages without stage fear. Excelling in studies as a bright student both in school and college, I never thought that God would call me to invest the best part of my life in the ministry of preaching His Word. I fall prostrate at the feet of the Almighty, who knows the end from the beginning, for ordering events in my life most appropriately.

Of the hundreds of sermons I have preached during forty years (1963-2003), I don’t consciously remember a single instance when my sermon was a flop. I have thousands of fans but I’m not carried away by what they say (Jn 5:44). I am however encouraged by the abiding fruits (Jn 15:16). With earnest and enthusiastic enquirers, I have shared now and then how I go about with this ministry of preaching. Testimonies from youngsters who have successfully tried my principles and procedures abound. In this article I have put together my manners and methods in preaching. Be edified, exhorted and encouraged!

We are commissioned to proclaim the Gospel everywhere and to everyone (Mt 28:19). We are commanded to preach the Word whether the time is favourable or not (2 Tim 4:2). This does not mean I must accept all invitations to preach. Paul and Peter are called to two different audiences (Gal 2:7,8). God has a specific "measure" and "sphere" for me (2 Cor 10:13-16). In order to stay within it, I don’t give instant reply to invitations but take some time, atleast a few days, to find out whether God really wants me to go there. I am called to be a revivalist, and not very much an evangelist. As such my ministry is mostly to believers rather than unbelievers and non-christians. Only where God sends me I will prosper. I am under orders. I don’t yield to human pressures and enticements but teach folks to accept no for an answer. Passion for preaching and lust for pulpits are two different things. A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) asserted, "I cannot recall, in any of my reading, a single instance of a prophet who applied for the job!"

My preparation starts with the birth of the inner conviction that it is God who has given me that particular preaching assignment. The preparation of the preacher is more important than the preparation of the sermon. After accepting an invitation, I give myself to weeks and months of prayer. The ministry of the Word should be bathed in the prayer closet before bringing it to the pulpit (Acts 6:4). During this season of prayer, the "burden of the Lord" comes on me (Isa 13:1; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; etc.) and the "word of the Lord" is implanted in my heart (Jer 2:1; 7:1; 11:1; etc). When I am possessed with the burden of the Lord, I think I feel like a woman in full pregnancy. When I am captivated by the Word of God, it’s like fire burning in my bones (Jer 20:9).

Sometimes the organizers themselves give me the topic or the theme. In other instances I am free to choose the subject. This makes no difference to me as far as waiting on God to hear Him is concerned. He will implant seed thoughts in my mind even during regular times of Bible meditation and prayer. At times He does it when I am half awake in bed. I have learnt from my mentors to note down the thoughts then and there in a pocket notebook or my diary. Whenever I felt too lazy to write down at once, I lost the seeds for ever because "the birds came and ate them!" (Mt 13:4).

The farmer has to now work with the seeds God has given him (2 Cor 9:10a). With the help of Concordances, Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries, I study the subject or the passage from the Scripture as thoroughly as possible. Oftentimes I do this on my knees. I gather as much informations as I can from whatever Bible study aids I have. I jot down all such collections and the inspirations I receive from God. Eventhough this is hard work, I enjoy it very much. I get excited like the one who has found hidden treasures (Psa 119:162). When I am overjoyed, I run out of my study to swing in the garden or treat me with a chocolate!

The preparation time affects my inner man deeply. It’s a time of both learning and unlearning for me. Scales fall off my eyes. Conviction grips me wherever I haven’t measured up to God’s expectations. The Word of God is a knife with two sharp edges. The first one is to cut the heart of the preacher and the other one is to operate on the hearers (Heb 4:12,13). This is how "the Word becomes flesh" in the speaker. God desires to bless me before I become a blessing to others (Gen 12:2). "Hardworking farmers must be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labour" (2 Tim 2:6).

I go through whatever I have gathered in prayer and study several times to form an outline and frame a structure. I am amazed at the help of the Holy Spirit I receive at this stage (Isa 34:16). My sermons are usually of five points or seven. I have some faith in Scripture numerics! For each point I give a few Bible references to teach the truth, and then a few to illustrate it with examples. The Bible is made up of both "law" and "testimony" (Isa 8:20). Belief and behaviour. Doctrine and deeds. I make it a point that what I preach must be descriptive as well as prescriptive, theologically sound and practically applicable.

I write and rewrite my sermon outlines several times. I am not economical with stationery. I have a good collection of quotebooks. I select quotations from them to spice my sermon. Eventhough my mother tongue is Tamil, from my student days my meditations and study have been with the English Bible. However, because before entering College I did my schooling in Tamil medium, my vocabulary in English is rather poor. I therefore keep a Dictionary and a Thesaurus with me when I finalise my sermon notes. I spend time in choosing words and coining them so they may be rhyming. God is artistic! When words are coined, it becomes easy for the hearers to remember the points. Wisdom and knowledge are from the Spirit of God (Isa 11:2). I use fine ballpen and good quality paper to write the notes which I will carry to the pulpit. The size of the notes folder will be slightly less than the page size of my Bible so it may fit in conveniently. For safety sake I keep a xerox copy of my notes elsewhere. We are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes!

With the sermon notes ready, as the day of preaching approaches, I intensify prayer. I go through my notes several times. I wait on the Lord with fasting to receive a new strength (Isa 40:31). The Spirit of God is already upon me, but I seek God for a fresh anointing. I subject myself to serious self-examination so I may be cleansed of all the filth in my soul and spirit. Anointing with oil is only after the application of blood (Lev 14:14-18). First it is the Lamb and then comes the Dove! God uses cleansed vessels (2 Tim 2:21). During this period I become more and more aware of my unworthiness and appreciative of God’s greatness (2 Cor 3:4-6). Tears roll down my eyes as I worship Him who has counted me faithful and put me in this ministry (1 Tim 1:12).

The eve of my preaching assignments, especially if it is a major programme, is usually days of storm. It may be physical sickness, ministerial conflicts or family problems. The blows will literally crush me. I would wonder whether I would ever make it to the programme. But in the last minute God would release a new supply of His grace in answer to the prayers of thousands of my friends who would cry unto God that I would not be intimidated by these attacks (Eph 6:19,20). No doubt the devil wanted to disturb me because I was getting ready to disturb him. However I believe that God allows such disturbances. This brokenness leads to such boldness in the pulpit that no one in the audience would ever know that I had walked through the valley of tears the previous day! (1 Cor 2:3,4). I weep in the night but walk to the pulpit with the joy of the Lord which is my strength (Neh 8:10c).

In 1997 I was invited to Chennai to preach in the 3-day missionary convention of the largest Church in South India. The first evening meeting was on a Friday. In the morning I got a catch in my hip as if it was knocked out of joint at the socket. (I felt like Jacob! Gen 32:25,31). Standing or walking was such a painful thing. Just before the meeting a senior orthopaedic surgeon tried his level best to manipulate my joints so I might be relieved. It was all in vain. Painkillers couldn’t help me either. For the first time in my preaching career, I had to sit and speak in those three meetings. Folks testified that the messages were the most powerful missionary challenge I had ever made. Interestingly and inexplicably I became perfectly normal on Monday morning! How is it for a testimony that God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness, and when I am weak, then I am strong? (2 Cor 12:9,10).

During the hours before preaching I avoid house-visiting or doing anything that would physically or mentally tire me. A nap before going to the meeting refreshes me. I don’t eat a heavy meal before preaching. Lighter the stomach better the sermon! I brush my teeth and clean my tongue so my saliva may not be sticky and my words may be clear. After this I avoid eating anything solid. I ease myself by emptying the bladder. How I suffered whenever I forgot to do it! I dress smartly but don’t wear anything I am not accustomed to or which is not suitable to the climate. David doesn’t fare well in Saul’s suit! (1 Sam 17:38,39). I want to be normal and natural on the pulpit.

I try to be in the meeting from the very start. Only then I can catch the wavelength of the audience and join the people in worship before preaching to them. I am not a cine actor to enter the scene in the middle. I strictly tell the organizers not to kill the people with long preliminaries and lengthy introductions. The worship or song leaders must not give me a tired congregation! People must be left with some mental energy to receive a meaty message! I wet my throat before getting up to preach. I request the volunteers to keep a cup of warm water on the podium. Many times they forget to do it and that makes me carry with me my own flask of water!

I ensure that the pulpit height gives me a comfortable reading distance so I can stand erect. I wait till the audio man sets the mike properly lest there are interruptions after I begin to speak. I request the photographers and the videographers not to stand right in front of me but move to the sides. I hate the glare of powerful flashlights which heat up my body.

Before I utter the first word in the pulpit, I whisper a prayer within myself: "O God, help me to glorify You today!" I remember what George Verwer the Founder Director of Operation Mobilisation once said: "If a preacher has two aims, he has one too many!" I usually begin with a word of greeting. If it is a missionary convention I greet the audience in the Name of the Lord of the "Harvest." If it is a holiness conference, the greeting will be in the Name of the Lord who is "Holy, Holy and Holy!" If it is a meeting on spiritual warfare, the greeting is in the Name of the Lord of "Hosts!" I thus relate to the theme of the programme in the first sentence itself. In the introduction of the sermon I briefly explain to the audience what I was going to speak on. A proper orientation raises the level of expectation.

A word of appreciation to the organizers will be in place. I tell the people to keep their Bibles open to turn to the references I would make. They must show the verses to those who sit by if the latter have not brought their Bibles. I insist that every literate man and woman should bring the Bible from the next day. I ask how a student could go to school without textbooks. Do Christians come to spiritual meetings just to watch a performance?

I keep the dial of my wristwatch on the palm side so I can note the time without the knowledge of the audience! I try to equidistribute the time to all my points of the sermon, but I often fail. I spend too much time for point number one and too little for the last one. I preach with a triple conviction and consciousness: I am a servant of God; I stand on the authority of the Word of God; I speak with the power of the Spirit of God. I have learnt this from Jesus. When He spoke with such a conviction, "the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him!" (Lk 4:17-20).

The Word of God is FIRE! I preach it with a burning sense of urgency that crackles with a spirit of seriousness (Jer 5:14; 20:9). The Word of God is a HAMMER! I preach it bangingly and overwhelmingly (Jer 23:29). The Word of God is a SWORD! I preach it boldly and forthrightly (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12). The Word of God is a MIRROR! I preach it prophetically and clearly (Js 1:22,23). The Word of God is a SEED! I preach it with tears and expectation (Lk 8:11; Psa 126:6). The Word of God is DEW! I preach it tenderly with compassion (Dt 32:2; Eph 5:26). The Word of God is MILK! I preach it without adulteration and serve it liberally (1 Pet 2:2). The Word of God is SPIRIT! I preach it enthusiastically pouring myself into the sermon (Jn 6:63). The Word of God is HONEY! I preach it pleasantly, avoiding unedifying words (Psa 119:103). The Word of God is a LAMP! I preach it revealingly and relevantly (Psa 119:105).

I stick to my sermon notes as closely as I can. At the same time I remain flexible to respond to spot inspirations from the Spirit of God. It is the same Holy Spirit who anointed me in the prayer closet and assisted me in the study room during sermon preparation. The spot inspirations will be about 25% and it’s a thrilling experience to receive them. I use humour but very cautiously lest the seriousness is lost. I illustrate the truths through stories, personal experiences and other examples. Illustrations are simply windows to a sermon. They are used only to explain hard truths. Too many illustrations will leave too little time for the exposition of the written Word of God. In my sermons I don’t spend more than 10% of the time for telling stories and sharing experiences. I am not an entertainer or an exhibitor but a spiritual edifier and a Scriptural exponent. I am not on the pulpit to impress people but to implant in their hearts eternal truths and impart to them divine graces. Repetition is Biblical and beneficial (Phil 3:1).

In all my preaching I endeavour to be balanced. I speak about the love of God as well as His wrath, the Word of God as well as His power, the fruit of the Spirit as well as His gifts, Bible meditation as well as prayer, sanctification as well as service, the local church as well as frontier missions, and so on. I am analytical without turning critical. I oppose false doctrines tooth and nail (2 Tim 4:2,3). This I do objectively without becoming subjective. I come against traditions which are contrary to the Scriptures (Mk 7:13). I am committed to serve God’s people with His "whole" counsel (Acts 20:27). In order to do these things effectively with God’s approval, I go through Genesis to Revelation as frequently as I can in my study (Mt 13:52).

There are certain things I do NOT do while preaching—

• I do not preach what people "want" but what they "need" (Isa 30:10). I don’t desire to become popular. I do not prepare ground for the next invitation.

• I do not take the microphone in my hand like professional singers. I leave it on the stand so both my hands would be free to turn the pages of the open Bible. I resist the temptation to become theatrical.

• I do not close my eyes but look at the audience. If I need to close my eyes for better concentration in speaking, the people may also need to close their eyes for better concentration in listening! It will then be a modern version of "blind leading the blind!"

• I do not ask someone in the audience or the dais to read the Scripture references. I read the references myself so that everyone can hear clearly and understand where I lay the stress. When I myself see the passage in the Bible, it checks me from going out of context. The marginal notes I have made in my Bible during personal meditations also will supply me additional thoughts.

• I do not speak in tongues from the pulpit. This is clearly forbidden in the Scriptures (1 Cor 14:18,19). I remember to have shouted in tongues on the pulpit twentyfive years ago. "When I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Cor 13:11).

• I do not imitate other preachers. I do not want to lose the originality God has blessed me with. Let me be me! I want to learn from the manner of life and ministry of the other servants of God, but I will not copy their style.

• I do not preach for money even if it is for ministry. I do teach giving but my aim is to make Christians good stewards, rather than to promote a programme or an organisation. This gives me freedom to preach the truth without adulteration (2 Cor 2:17).

• I do not come down to people’s level but try to raise them to higher standards. I hate sermons of watery milk and milky water. Both Jesus and Paul were known for hard sayings (Jn 6:60; 2 Pet 3:15,16). But that’s meat! (Heb 5:12-14).

• I do not keep shouting all the time. There’s a time to raise the voice and a time to speak softly. If there’s no modulation, people will be strained.

• I do not tolerate indiscipline of any sort on the dais or in the pew. Folks must be taught to be reverential in the presence of God which is manifest when His Word is preached (Isa 66:1,2).

I usually finish my sermon with a prayer of commitment. I then recommend to the people any literature they can read to supplement what all I said. I request the organizers not to make big announcements or play loud music after the sermon but close the meeting quickly with a benediction so people can disperse quietly thinking on what they have heard. Because I have already offered a collective prayer for the entire audience, I do not exhaust myself further by praying for individuals. I learnt this from T. L. Osborn (1923- ), a legendary healing evangelist of our time.

After preaching I drink plenty of water to cool down my system. Brother Nataraja Mudaliar (1930-1982) the famous piano-accordion evangelist from South Africa advised me to do this in 1969 when I was a student preacher. In spite of this I suffered from renal colic twice. This is a speakers’ disease, perhaps! I have a shower and then supper if it’s evening (Eccl 9:7). I go for a stroll in order to rejoice in the Lord for using me as His mouthpiece. Returning home, I add up to my notes whatever spot inspiration I received while preaching. I also note down the date and place so I may not repeat the same talk in the same town! Lying on bed I rewind to find out if I had spoken anything that was not right or touched God’s glory. Another cleansing in Emmanuel’s stream and then off to sleep!

This article is not a teaching on "How to Preach" but a testimony about "How I Preach." Swallow the flesh and spit out the bone! 

Youth Page

If you have failed...

Duke Jeyaraj

The results are out. And you are down and out. The reason? You’ve failed. Flunked. Your friends who’ve passed with flying colours call you up to ask how much you’ve scored. And you turn sour. Or it is possible that you failed to make it to the Medical college by just one mark. Or that Engineering seat in a coveted college by a whisker. How do you deal with such a predicament? Such heart-breaking pain? Here are some Bible-baked steps you might want to consider:

If it is true that you have tried hard and if it is true that you have done your best, then— please listen — do not condemn yourself. Swim away from thoughts of suicide! If Jesus is the "author of life," who are you to take it away? (Acts 3:15). After having failed in our exams why should we fail in our faith also (by committing suicide)? Jesus has already prayed that we must not! (Lk 22:32).

I invite you to see the sad scenario of your flop in the exams, God’s way. Who said that 40 was pass and 39 marks was fail? It was man. The Education Board, correct? How does God view things? Hit the rewind button on the Parable of the Talents that Jesus narrated and you will get to know. The one who is given ten talents is rewarded for getting another ten. The one who had just one talent was taken to task for not bringing any. The point Jesus was making was this:
You’ve got to do your best with what’s is given you and that is what will count on the Big Day of Judgment! Suppose, if the fellow who was given five brought in just four, according to Jesus he would not have been "good and faithful." Let’s switch back to the talk about examinations and marks. If you have had the God-given IQ to score a steepling 90% but scored hey-that-is-more-than-enough 70% because of your laziness, God will tell you that you have not been "faithful." The world may go bananas over such students, but God will not be impressed. Not one bit. Absolutely! According to His plumbline you have "failed." On the other hand if you had the Heaven-endowed capacity to score just 35% and you burned the midnight oil to make a 39%, all of Heaven will stand to give you a thunderous applause! Celestial cheers will certainly await you! If the academic world and your parents brand you as a failure in such a case, take it in your stride. What God thinks about you only finally counts (Gal 1:10). You have not failed in God’s eyes! (I have borrowed this brilliant thought from Aunty Lilian Stanley.)

2. Do not be casual hereafter!

If you’ve goofed up in your exams, take a good look at what you had done in the academic year that has just gone by. And analyse how you have passed the time. Ask yourself these questions (it does not matter  if they make you sit on pins and needles): Have I been casual in my approach to studies? Have I taken things too lightly? Have I been over-confident? Tried to crack and consume the entire syllabi the night before the exam and hoped that God would give me a photographic memory? Merely glanced through the worked-out problems/numericals a few times out instead of solving them step-by-step time and again?

A Bible story comes to my mind at this juncture. The story of the tiny town Ai defeated the mighty Israelites who had just soundly beated Jericho "and all its mighty warriors" (Josh 6:2). The spies who returned from inspecting the miniature city of Ai cockily had said, "It’s a small town, and it won’t take more than two or three thousand of us to destroy it. There’s no need for all of us to go there" (Josh 7:3). That presumptuous attitude was the reason for the prompt defeat. May I humbly suggest that it is quite possible that the reason for your failure in your entrance exams or school final is your
over-confident attitude? God allows defeats in our lives to teach us lessons which we will not learn otherwise (Check out Lev 26:17 & Dt 28:25). You know it.

Or check if you have copied in your exams—an ungodly thing to do for which we can have no excuse whatsoever — in a desperate attempt to pass. But when the results came your heart skipped a beat— you had miserably failed. Gamaliel told those who were working overtime to oppose the followers of Jesus not to break into sweat. His logic was this: that which is not of God will automatically fail (Acts 5:38). Any of our efforts outside the will of God to ‘somehow pass’ is bound to ultimately fail too. Even if you have passed after having copied, that doesn’t make it right, buddy. Repent and ask God to cleanse you. Never do it again.

Drape yourself with a dogged determination to work hard as you get ready to take your exams again. "Hard work never killed anybody," our School Principal often told us. And I found it to be true when I put in those late nights of hard work to pass my calculus paper! "Nothing is so common as unsuccessful men with talent. They lack only determinination," wrote Charles Swindoll. He was right. The next time you have a crack in the same set of exams you have flunked, cut away all the unnecessary and excessive TV-watching, internet-browsing and music-listening. Concentrate. It will show in your results if you do. Surely!

3. Do not be close-minded!

Just because you did not make the grade in the Medical College, you need not blindly conclude that you should stay at home and take a shot at the Medical entrances the next year out. You don’t have to jump to such close-minded options! The world we live in is big. The options available before the students are diverse. If it is true that God’s got variant life-plans for each of us, then it is definitely not possible that all of us should necessarily end up as medical doctors. Or engineers. God’s plan for Jeremiah wasn’t the same as His plan for Ezekiel. Or God would not swap His plan for Paul with what He had worked out for Peter. Oh yes! God chose Jeremiah to prophecy to the people of Judah left behind in Judah after the Babylonians invaded them, while God had Ezekiel prophecy to the people of Judah who were carried away into exile in Babylon—did you know? (Read Jeremiah 29:11). Paul was to preach to the non-Jews while Peter was to go after the Jews in God’s scheme of things.

North India’s Christian colleges look for applications from Christian students. Who knows? You—a believer from South India or the North East—may be God’s Moses or a Daniel or an Esther—in your campus. A vast majority of the 12,600 colleges in India, especially the ones in the North, do not have a campus Bible study group as yet. Esther, a Jew, went to Persia to join its National Institute of Fashion Technology! (Es 2:12). Moses joined ranks with the Egyptian University! (Acts 7:22). God gave Daniel and his pals who studied in the far-from-home Babylonian University "knowledge and skill in both books and life" (Dan 1:17). I studied in Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad when I could have settled down to study in Vellore my hometown or closeby Chennai itself. And like Daniel and his pals I too learnt "both books and life." My burden for bringing Christ and His Word to today’s trendy youth was born in that needy campus in the heart of North India. If I just sat and sulked when I failed to get into a college with my preferred branch of Engineering— Chemical Engineering—just think what I would have missed!

Listen—We have got a God who has never once failed. In anything (1 Chr 28:20). And you can bet that He will carry us through the tumultous times such as plus two exam failures and preferred-course entrance  exam flops!

From your example, they will learn to pray. From your example, they will learn to read and love the Bible. The Christian home is an abode where the family dwells together in love and harmony, each delighting in the company of the others, seeking the good of all. Such a place cannot be maintained without the Bible, prayer, and planning together. Therefore children must learn to love in the home before they can love Christ. Above all, you are to make it your constant prayer and effort to lead the children to know and love Christ so that when they come to the age of proper understanding, they will choose of their own will to confess Christ as their Saviour, to obey Him, and give themselves in loyal and loving service as members of the Body of Christ.

If the children do not absorb the beautiful sense of God during the first critical period of their lives, they will usually find the sense of God dimmed when they are grown. Be an example of Christian living before your children. The reason Timothy was commended for his "unfeigned faith" was that it dwelt first in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (2 Tim 1:5).

If we cause our children to know the Scripture and teach the crucified life, and then let them go contrary to the light which they received, we help them become hardened sinners. "A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother" (Prov 10:1). God told His people, "These words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up" (Dt 6:6,7).

The Christian home is a sphere where love rules, where proper discipline is maintained. "He who spares his rod hates his son; but he who loves him chastens him promptly" (Prov 13:24).

The best place for your children to become acquainted with God is right in the home. That is the most natural place. It is also the most effective place for them to learn. The Bible is the foundation for the Christian family, and if it is to serve such an important place, we must be familiar with and understand it. We must plan our daily living around it.

In a child’s spiritual development he has three responses to God: first as Creator, as someone behind all of life; next, as the Heavenly Father, full of love and companionship; and lastly, as the Righteous One, who approves right conduct and disapproves wrong conduct.

The Church is also an important element in teaching the children about God. The child who has grown up faithfully attending the services of the Church, fortified by religious training in the home, can face all of life with strength and assurance. The spiritual influence of these two great allies, the home and the Church, offers the child a favourable chance of growing a soul-shaping and a destiny-determining understanding faith in God.

The home should be a place where each lives for the other and all live for God. Family talk reveals much about us parents, about our character, our goals and attitudes. We may try to hide some motives and attitudes. But unguarded moments reveal what is in the heart. Children are keen analysts. What is in our hearts comes out in our talk; so to improve family conversation as parents we must have pure hearts and minds. We need Jesus Christ to give us good hearts, proper attitudes and personalities which will produce proper conversations. These produce lasting personalities for our children.

Explain to the children that character really counts. Honesty is one of the aspects of noble character. "Provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Rom 12:17). A noble offspring is no accident, it reflects the concern, efforts, and application of earnest parents. The final test of child-rearing is the kind of character we help them to develop. Character means "moral vigour involving self-control, will power and mastery of habits."

Good character is not a gift. It is an achievement. It doesn’t come suddenly with young adulthood. Character gradually develops. In fact, it begins at infancy. It is determined by the quality of living which the child experiences during his early years. As parents we recognize that inner weaknesses of character—lying, compromises, prejudices, cowardice, folly—are the real enemies of our children, and ours too. We want to help our children build a beautiful house of character. God sees the unseen, as well as the seen, so we must look well to the materials and specifications we supply our children for building this house of character. We cannot grow strength of character for them, but we can strongly influence the direction of their growth. Conscience forms early in the child’s life. He can be taught at this early age that he has an obligation to perform, and to follow his conscience.

Character is caught as well as taught. In respect to moral knowledge, children resemble their parents more than their friends. Children are natural imitators. They imitate what they see in the lives of others. Helping our children to develop sturdy character traits is a serious task. Children are the most wholesome part of the race, the sweetest, for they are freshest from the hand of God.

Childhood is a period of innocence, of wholesomeness. It is a period of openness, complete frankness, sweetness, of pureness, without mental reservation. It is a period of forgiving and forgetting, of love and trust, a teachable age. Jesus respected this period. He said that unless an adult becomes as a little child, he cannot enter the Kingdom. God has loaned our children to us. He expects those early years to be learning years, a preparation for the future. The glory of our handiwork lies not in ourselves, but in our children.

Discipline also teaches a child respect for authority. In a study of several hundred adults, it was found that disciplined ones had happier memories of their childhood days than did the undisciplined ones. Obedience is not a natural part of human nature. It is learned, usually, through the difficult and undesirable consequences that come from disobedience. Even Christ learned obedience through the things which He suffered. Effective discipline teaches obedience. Obedience produces happiness. Everybody must learn to submit to authority sooner or later. They must learn self-discipline. This essential self-discipline is rooted in and learned through parental discipline. Discipline in the home should be based upon fairness, frankness, firmness, and fondness. Before children will adopt parents’ standards they must see them demonstrated in the home, in both words and deeds.

In country after country, they are proving that wrong ideas, strongly held, can prevail over right ideas weakly held. So if we have the right ideas, let us proclaim them with faith and fire and courage until we see once more, beyond the deterioration of our time, the mighty vision of the Christian faith, and the whole earth full of the glory of God.

Encourage your children to read the Bible every day (Psa 119:9). Teach your children to give priority to spiritual things (1 Tim 4:8). Insist on an attitude of respect toward older people (1 Pet 5:5). Hold up the ideal of purity before your children (1 Tim 5:22). Teach your children to have respect for the law of the country (Rom 13:1).

Usually we think of discipline as something done to a youngster because of what he has done to somebody else. But really, discipline means restraining the child’s wrong conduct, and guiding him into right conduct, thus training him to live effectively in our society. Discipline also means the process by which one learns to live by the rules of life.

We ask, "Will discipline create unhappiness?" The immediate answer is "No." The disciplined child is the happiest child. But that does mean discipline plus much love and understanding. Love grows in the child in response to the constant affection of the parent who understands him. Most psychologists feel that the foundation for the emotional development of the individual is laid in the first year of life.

Wise and loving parents do not grant all the wishes of their children, because some would be harmful to them. But when children ask for things that are according to the parents’ will, they receive, because those requests would bless and help their children. Love dictates which requests of the children the parents grant.

Jesus said in Luke 23:28, "Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and your children." There is very little weeping for the lost in this day in which we live. Jesus’ burden for the lost was almost unbearable. Matthew 26:36,37 records the sorrow and heaviness He bore in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jeremiah, too, caught a glimpse of the need of his people: "Oh, that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night" (Jer 9:1). Let us not be weighed in the balances and found wanting but waiting on our faces before God in prevailing prayer and intercession, weeping for our children.

I believe that we parents will need to answer God on how we raised our children. If God were to talk to us face to face, I believe He would say, Did you teach your child about Me and My words? And so the child learns about God. He learns God’s ideals; he learns what is right, true and good by what parents are and what they do. Everything we do, or leave undone, is visual aid teaching. This is your child, an individual, not a small adult, pliable in your hands. Accept your children, understand them for who they are. God has loaned them to us for a few short years; don’t fail them.

From the Finance Coordinator...

God is Faithful!