10.18.2009 Baby Dedication

10.18.2009 Grace Summit Baby Dedication from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

THe Bishop, Blough, Coffman, Eaton, Jaster, Jundi families dedicated their children to the Lord today.

Here is the message Mike Marette gave before the dedication:
Lord, thank You for the babies that will be dedicated and the parents that will dedicate themselves to raising their children to be pleasing to You. Thank You that You are the king – and are here with us.

Psalm 127: 3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; The fruit of the womb is a reward.

This is a solemn and joyful day – as the parents bring their children to dedicate them to the Lord.
As God has given children – they are a gift – however- whatever we at times may think – we need to understand and accept with gratitude God has given them to us. It is not a guarantee in life – all dream of growing up and getting married and having children – but it is not a guarantee – and if God has blessed you with children – they are a gift and to be received with gratitude. You must have humility – God is giving you these creatures of His that belong to Him and He is giving them to you for a short time – kind of ‘on loan’ in this time on earth – there will be a time where God will ask you to give those children back to Him. This will come in different ways. There is a passage in 1 Samuel
Hannah was a woman unable to have children -
1 Sam. 1: 10 and she, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she made a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy maidservant and remember me, and not forget Thy maidservant, but wilt give Thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head."

She has the baby, Samuel, and brings him back –
1 Sam. 1: 26 And she said, "Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. 27 “For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. 28 "So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord." And he worshiped the Lord there.

That is what is happening today – the parents are coming – God has given them children and they are being dedicated to God.
They are not leaving them here at the church – like Hannah did (laughter)

Eph. 6: 4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

We call this a baby dedication – but we should call it a parent dedication – because the parents are being dedicated to raising their children in a way that is pleasing to God.

Final words before bringing the children up. For the rest of us here – raising kids is a tough job – and we have a responsibility as families and a congregation to help.