TKC Dedication Notes template (1).docx

Dedication Notes What is dedication? The Dedication -------------- ### Dedication Explanation What is Dedication? Why Dedicate? As we think about dedication I want to talk not just to Sam and Lou but to us all! If you are a parent my prayer would be that you, like Sam and Lou, would re-commit y...

Dedication Notes What is dedication? The Dedication -------------- ### Dedication Explanation What is Dedication? Why Dedicate? As we think about dedication I want to talk not just to Sam and Lou but to us all! If you are a parent my prayer would be that you, like Sam and Lou, would re-commit yourself afresh to being intentionally Christian in your parenting. Whether you are a parent or not I hope you will recognise the part you can play to help parents with their difficult job and help children to grow up to know and love God and follow Jesus. We are all, young and old, role models. As Max grows up he will learn from you and copy you! I know that many of you have already taken Max into your arms and into your hearts -- will you help him grow up to know and God and follow Jesus? **The arrival of a new baby is a time of rejoicing** for any family. Max's arrival and the first few weeks of his life were a little traumatic - but it was also a time of great rejoicing and Sam and Lou want to share that thanksgiving and rejoicing with us here today. After Jesus was born Joseph and Mary, like most Jewish parents in that day, took Jesus to the temple be presented to God and the joy of Jesus' birth was shared with the people of God in the house of God. The Bible tells an amazing story of a boy called Samuel and the promise his mother, Hannah, who up to that point had been childless, made before he was born -- she promised that if God would give her a son she would give him back to God. Samuel was born and Hannah kept her promise - she gave her baby son Samuel back to God. Samuel grew up to become a great godly leader of the Israelites. The story tells us how God blessed Hannah and how she had three more sons and two daughters! Today Sam and Lou are bringing Max to God and are asking for his blessing. During this dedication we will thank God, we will make promises to God and we will ask for God's help. We do not claim that a dedication makes a child a Christian or a committed Church Member. We believe individuals become Christians through the grace of God as they respond in faith to God, accepting Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of their lives. Baptism and church membership follow this commitment of faith. Our prayer is that as Max grows up he will choose to follow Jesus as his Saviour and Lord. We will be praying that this will happen and we will be committing ourselves; parents, family and church to help bring this about. So what's Dedication? **1. Dedication means saying thank you to God** Max is a gift from God. The Bible says that all life comes from God. *"He himself gives life and breath to everything" Acts 17:25*. So your wonderful, precious child is alive because God has given him life. The Bible says: *"Children are a gift from the Lord" says Psalm 127:3*. You may not always feel that is true...but it is! So in this dedication service we give thanks to God for His goodness and the gift of Max. We want to say "Thank You God!" **2. Dedication means making God a promise** As parents our children are probably the most important thing in the world to us but our children are also important to God. I have two sons -they are both adults now and they are both here this morning so I have to be careful what I say! Many people often comment that they look like me! Now I think that is a complement but they don't seem to think so! I am sure that already many people have commented on who Max looks like. But it is also important to realise that every human being ever born was made in the image and likeness of God. Sin has marred that image and we are no longer what God intended us to be. But our power to think, love and choose make us very special in God's eyes because it is a reflection of His own nature in us. This means that your child needs special care. He or she is not simply a body to be fed or a brain to be educated. He or she is a person in their own right, with tremendous potential. Your child is a blank page on which you and many others will leave a lasting impression. They will learn habits, form opinions, make decisions and enter into relationships that may bring joy or sorrow to themselves, to others, to you and most importantly, to God. These early years of their lives will have a huge impact on the type of person your child grows up to be. The Bible tells us *"Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it." Proverbs 22:6.* For parents this is a great responsibility. So in this dedication service we are acknowledging this before God and ask for his help in bringing up our children. This morning Sam and Lou want to promise God that, with His help, they will bring Max up His way! **3. Dedication means asking God for a blessing** There was a time when the disciples tried to stop some parents from bringing their children to Jesus. Mark 10:14 says *"When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, \"Let the children come to me. Don\'t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children."*\ It goes on to say that He took them up in His arms and blessed them. God loves children, they are precious to Him, and because of that we can come to him this morning and ask him to bless baby Max and his family. I think: - It is right to say "thank you" to God - It is sensible to say "God help us, God bless us!" - It is a statement of humility and submission to say "God -- your will be done, your ways are best, all that I have is yours." I have talked with Sam and Lou about this service. They have carefully decided what they want to promise God this morning. I am sure that we as family, friends and church want to support them and do all we can to help them be good parents to Max and so after they have made some promises before God and us I would like to ask you if you too are able to make a promise before God and us. ### Dedication - Promises & Prayers ***Parents Promises -- Sam & Lou*** *(Sam Lou & Max are invited to come to the front of the church)* Do you recognize Max as a gift from God and do you give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing? *We do* Do you make a covenant to be parents with patience; to recognize that your desire to shape this gift of God, with your inherent strengths and weaknesses, is a loving act that requires time, prayer, and God to produce in your child what He and you hope for? *We do* Do you now dedicate your child to the Lord who gave him to you, surrendering all claims upon his life in the hope that he will belong wholly to God? *We do* ***\ *** ***Family & Friends Promises*** *(Invite everyone to stand)* Will you, as members of Max's family and friends help Sam & Lou as they bring up Max, and will you promise to surround him with all that is good and true? *With God's help, we will.* ***Church Promises*** Do you, the members and friends of this church, promise that there will always be a place for children here and that you will play your part in bringing children to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour? *With God's help, we will.* *(Invite everyone to sit)* ***Overseers Prayers*** *Harry and Ken will pray for Max the family and the church (Jean is in Uganda, Jim is away).* ***Prayer of Dedication - Brian*** *(Brian takes Max in his arms and prays a prayer like this)* Loving God, we thank you for the gift of Max and now pray for his protection and flourishing. We live in a difficult and dangerous world and we ask that you will keep him safe from harm. We pray for Sam and Lou and ask for your help in the care and nurture of Max. We pray he might know your love through their love, discover your guidance through their guidance and come to trust in you and become a disciple of Jesus. This we ask in the name of our saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. We Need Help! ------------- Life is marvellous, incredible.....but fragile, uncertain, unknown, difficult...... a baby is born a Mother's life is spared...... What do we do now? It makes you realise we need help! As parents, as human beings. This morning Lou & Sam have acknowledged that.....but ### We All Need God -- loving heavenly father - We were made to live in relationship with God. The world promotes Independence - God says we were made to live in Him. And experience his help as we......live and move and have our being.... - Follow the makers instructions -- e.g. operating instructions. Self help, advice...only one makers instructions ### We All Need Other People -- parents, family, friends, brothers and sisters..... - Children need parents -- families are under attack - - Not good to be alone - Family, Church, Community (he sets the lonely in families) - We need good examples -- people to learn from, to imitate,...... ### We need to play our part - others need us - We are all examples - for good or bad (living letters), children lean by watching by listening by copying (young people copy, adults copy) -- Paul said "imitate me as I imitate Christ" - We can build up or destroy - Whatever we sow we will reap, what are we passing on? Reproduce after our own kind You don't need to stumble through life -- you do need a Saviour. A Saviour who promised to never leave us or forsake us who wants to guide us to help us. Will you play your part to help others know God and live His way? Parenting is tricky! Life is tricky! -- it is meant to be lived in relationship with God and with others, it is meant to be lived in accord with the makers instructions. Our sin (wrong doing, selfishness)breaks relationships -- between one another and primarily with God but because of Jesus' death and resurrection our sins can be forgiven and we can be become children of God -- part of God's family. Sam & Lou have today asked afresh for God's help and have promised to bring Max up in God's ways -- what about us? Will you live life 'doing it your way' or 'doing it God's way'? *King George 6^th^ in his 1939 Christmas Address after the outbreak of WW2 quoted from a poem entitled **God Knows** by Minnie Louise Haskins Quoted by (given him by princess Elisabeth)* *And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And he replied: "Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way." So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night........* We don't know the future....we need not face it alone!