quite a few characters. We'll go ahead and move ourselves back, but we're coming here to a father by the name of Manoah. Now, I cannot recall in my 35 or so years of being a Christian hearing a Father's Day message on this man by the name of Manoah. Now, where does Manoah fit in the historical record? What we read in Judges 13, what is the overall historical record? We are right between the time of Joshua, who led the people into the promised land, and we're just before the time where Saul became the first king over the nation of Israel. This is a period of time taken from the name of the book here, the Judges. It's a period of the Judges. It was indeed a very dark time, spiritually speaking, for the children of Israel. They had actually, when they got into the land, had conquered some, but then they failed to do completely everything that God desired them to do. So in refusing to conquer all of the promised land, just like the Lord had told them, They found the consequences that God said would come upon them and that is they were captivated by the gods of these nations and found oppression by the neighboring nations. And really the history of this time could be bluntly described as this. The very people who walked across the dry ground of the Red Sea and ate the food that God miraculously provided for them were the same people who walked away from the true God and they worshipped the gods of the Canaanites. Now, because of this, God's righteous anger was aroused and he handed them over to the neighboring countries who would come in and plunder them and oppress them. And when this oppression came upon them, what did they do? They cried out to the God for help. He would then raise up a deliverer. And then that deliverer would free the people from that oppression. And they would once again worship the true God. And if you read the book of Judges, it was a cycle. They were worshiping God, then they would get away from God. They would cry out to God. He would give them a deliverer and then would free them. And over and over through the book of Judges was this cycle. There was a lot of common judges, people that you might know, people like Gideon, people like Deborah. They became extraordinary leaders in a very dark time, but even these people had failures. Far from being perfect, their stories, really, are often a mixture of a lot of highs and lows. And no single judge is more of an enigma of all of that than the boy that was born to Manoah and his wife, Samson. But we're not going to talk about Samson today. We're actually going to talk about his father, Manoah. Who was Manoah? Well, if you look back at verse number two, it describes him as being from the tribe of Dan. Remember now there's 12 tribes in Israel. and he was in the city that is named Zorah. Now, where is Zorah? Well, if later on, or maybe if you've got a map in your Bible, and you locate where Jerusalem is, go approximately 15 miles to the west, and you'll find the city of Zorah. Manoah is living in the times that I just described to you, that is the times of the judges. And it's interesting about Manoah that the only time Manoah is mentioned in the Bible is fully in this chapter 13 and then a little bit in chapter number 14, but that's it. We don't find Manoah referenced in the New Testament like all of the other, many of the other characters. Manoah quickly appears on the Old Testament narrative and then he quickly fades away. In the overall scheme of Scripture, Manoah is not what we might consider a very important figure in Scripture. His only claim to fame, if we can put it that way, is that he was the father of Samson. But that's truly the greater part of this story. Because as we read this chapter, there's some truths we're going to bear out here that help us understand the type of example that Manoah is leaving for us today. Now, you can read through the totality of Manoah's life, and you can point out some things that you say, well, Manoah should have done better there. Manoah didn't maybe leave such a great example there. And there's a couple of things that you could point out in these couple of chapters. But may I say to all of us who are raising children, mothers, fathers today, all of us have made mistakes. All of us will make mistakes. And this is not a sermon about pointing fingers. But what we're going to do is pull out the good qualities of Manoah and look at them. Now, what's going on with Manoah in what we read here? Let's go ahead and now dive through this chapter just a little bit. Now, although he and Mrs. Manoah, if you notice in the chapter, Manoah's name is given, his first name, but her name is not given. Why? I'm not sure, but for the sake of time, we'll just call her Mrs. Manoah, all right? And for some time, these two had no children. His wife was barren. Now, we're not sure how old this couple was. We're not sure how long she had been barren. But truly, it was a dream of every Israelite woman to bear children. And so I'm sure there was some sorrow in her heart of not having any children. But being barren almost sounds like a familiar theme in Scripture, does it not? I mean, think with me for just a moment. Manoah's wife stands in a long line of barren women. I mean, we have people like Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah, Elizabeth, and they gave birth when finally it came around to some very notable and pretty amazing characters, men like Israel, Jacob, Samuel, John the Baptist. And I want to say here today, as I was studying through this, that God often comes through in the difficult times when we think everything else has failed. And God came through and gave an answer to Manoah and his wife's prayer about having a child. So it's an angel of the Lord now, as we read in this passage of scripture, who actually appears to Manoah's wife, and he reminds her of her barrenness, and he says, you're gonna have a child. And in coming to Manoah's wife, there are two very particular things that he says to her. Number one, he tells her that she will need to take the Nazarite vow. I want you to notice that in verse number three, the Nazarite vow. Now, what is a Nazarite vow? Maybe you've read that before. Maybe you don't understand much of it. Please don't confuse it with the city from where Jesus came from, Nazareth. Nazareth and Nazarite are two totally opposite things. But the Nazarite vow was taken by an individual and it was a voluntary surrender of their life to God. In fact, if you were to take time to look back at the book of Numbers, chapter number six, it gives a few features of what the Nazarite vow was all about. First of all, it was voluntary. I mean, even though the angel of the Lord came to Manoah's wife, she had to yield herself and say, you know what, I'm going to follow this. Manoah had to do the same thing. So did Samson. So it was voluntary that the Nazarite vow could be done by either a man or a woman. It had a very specific time frame. It had specific requirements. In fact, we read some of them here. A person that took the Nazirite vow had to abstain from wine or strong drink. They couldn't even eat grapes or raisins or even the seeds or the skins of those fruits. The Nazirite was not to cut his hair for the length of the vow that he or she had. He or she was not to go near a dead body because then that would make them ceremoniously unclean. If during the time a person that had a Nazirite vow, if they had a husband or a wife or a person that was very close to them that had died, then because of this vow, they could not come near the course. But then the last thing about the feature of the Nazirite vow is at the conclusion, a sacrifice was offered to the Lord. So that's the first thing the angel comes and tells this dear woman is that you're gonna have to take a Nazarite vow and Samson's gonna go ahead and have to follow through this, your son. But the second thing is that was told to Manoah's wife is that the child had a mission. And that was to deliver or to begin, if you notice, to begin to deliver Israel from their current oppressors, the Philistines. Reminds me of this fact, parents, and that is you may not be told specifically when your child is born or had been born what they're going to do for their life's calling. But I'm telling you, that is your mission is to prepare them for what God has for them. That's interesting. When Manoa, his wife, is told this news, what does she do? She goes to her husband. She says, you're not going to believe what happened. An angel of the Lord appeared unto me and told me that I'm going to have a child. And so I love Manoah's reaction. He not only believes his wife, but he now prays to God to send the messenger. And he asked this question, please God, send that messenger back and let us know how we are to raise this child. And I really think that this is where most of us who are in the process of parenting should be. In other words, the question that you and I ought to ask as parents is this. Lord, teach us what we shall do unto this child. Notice that in verse number eight. Look at that. Let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the child. Great question. The problem is that not many parents often will ask that question. Sadly, today, when children are born, more parents are concerned about formula than they are about faith. They're more concerned about diet than devotion. They're more concerned about pampers than they are about praying to God. They readily consult the pediatricians, but rarely do they go to the preachers. They never forget to study the pages of the parenting book, but they forget to study the pages of the Word of God. And sometimes those things result in tragedy because it is amazing how the children then veer away from God. But I tell you, when Monoah asked God, send the angel back, so he can teach us what to do unto the child. Manoah's request is answered. The angel appears again to Manoah's wife, and immediately Manoah's wife goes to find Manoah and brings him to her and where this guest is at. And now notice verse number 12. When Manoah is in the angel's presence, he asks a similar question. Look at this. How shall we order the child and how shall we do unto him? Verse 8, what are we to do unto the child? Verse 12, how should we order that child? What shall we do unto him? I really think that the repeating of the question brings some level of importance to every one of us, especially those that are dads today. You see, it all begins with a desire to do right. by this gift of a child that Manoah asked first off in verse 8. He prays to the Lord. And it's almost like Manoah is asking for this. Would you give us an instruction manual? Now, how many of you, when your first child was born, you said to yourself after, wow, that was amazing. The second thing you said is, where's the instruction manual? How do I raise this child? What do I do? What is the thing that I am to accomplish on behalf of this child? And I want you to know that really that's kind of Manoah's request here. Well, don't we read in chapter number 13. That God answers Manoah's request, and here's what God does. The angel comes back the second time with a copy of 50 steps to raising your children for God. And Manoah and his wife live happily ever after. No, that's not what we read in the scripture. We read that the angel does come back based upon Manoah's prayer of asking, and he repeats what he said to Manoah's wife. He repeats it to Manoah. In fact, he almost puts it this way, and he puts it bluntly. What I told to your wife, you go ask her, and she'll tell you. And what was that? That is, that Manoah and his wife were to take on this particular vow. And I believe that in reading this passage of Scripture, here is where the crux of the matter is, here is where the lesson is. Rather than giving Samson's parents a list of what to do, The angel of the Lord exhorted them to the type of lifestyle that they ought to have. In other words, it was to be a life that was totally surrendered to God. Do you realize that's the total, that's the cultural meaning of the Nazirite vow? that when Manoah and his wife were going to give themselves unto God, they were dedicating themselves, surrendering themselves in full to God. It was a commitment to consecrate and dedicate their lives to God through a living faith embodied by a daily trust in God alone. And I want you to get this before we go on any further. Manoah and his wife desired what every one of us desire as Christians. And that is every noble Christian parent says to God, Oh God, teach me how to parent this child. And really our father's answer to our prayers is this. You surrender your life to me and you'll become the type of parent you need to be. And so today I want to just take a few moments, walk through this chapter, and see from the life of Manoah what a surrendered parent, a surrendered dad, is all about. Number one, a surrendered father is a man of prayer. A surrendered father is a man of prayer. You know, when Manoah heard he was to be a father, he sought the counsel of the Heavenly Father. Do you realize that parenting begins with God? You can go to a bookstore, go to Books a Million, go to Barnes and Nobles, choose whatever bookstore you want and go down to the self-help aisle or go down the parenting aisle and how to raise children and you'll find a myriad of books on how to raise children. But nothing can compare with going to the Word of God and seeking the heart of God on how to raise your children. Notice with me, if you will, in verse number eight, I love these words. The first few words says, then Manoah, notice this next word that is the word entreated. Then Manoah entreated the Lord. The word entreat in the Hebrew means to, and I want you to get this now, to pray towards. To pray towards. It carries with it the idea of leaning to or directing oneself to someone or something. And what Manoah was doing in entreating the Lord is he was positioning himself in such a way that he was leaning on God for whatever instruction God had for him. And he was doing this because his life was about to change. Now today, you and I can talk about prayer for all sorts of things in this life. But I want to talk to parents today and especially dads about praying for your children. This could be whether your children are at home or are all grown up. The prayer can be about how to raise our children. The prayers maybe need to be for the major decisions that are made in this life. The prayers could be for their salvation and their love for God. The prayers could be that they would follow the right influences in their life. And I want to say to you, fathers, today, oh, how your children need your prayers. Why is it that every Mother's Day I always hear about the mother's prayers, the mother's prayers? It ought to be that fathers pray for their children. earnestly seek God. So I want to encourage you to go ahead and do that. Lamentations chapter number 2 verse 13 the Bible says arise cry out in the night in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children Luke 18 verse number 1 he spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and and not to faint. I want to encourage you, dads, to pray earnestly for your children night and day, all through the day. Pray for them. This past week, I had the opportunity. It was Wednesday night. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with some parents who who were bringing their children to vacation Bible school. And I talked about prayer. In fact, I took our space theme And I shared with them, I gave them some insight about parenting. And one of the points I made was, if you recall, this statement made in 1970, I think it was, Houston, we have a problem. Well, don't be afraid as a parent to cry out to God and God is our command station, if you will, and to say to God, God, I've got a problem. I need your help. I need your help on raising my children. And so as we talked about it, I said there were three crucial things about prayer for your children. First of all, pray for them. Dads, let me ask you this. When's the last time you've earnestly prayed for your children? Number two, pray with them. Don't just pray for them. Don't just go ahead and lift them up in prayer, but pray with them. And then I want to encourage you about praying with other parents for your children. This may be whether your children are at home or grown up, but I tell you what, it is great to see mothers getting together and earnestly praying together for their children. And what a better thing it is even to see fathers gathering together and praying for their children. So what does a surrendered life look like? It is the fact that it is a The surrendered father is a man of prayer. Number two, a surrendered father is a man of faith. Go back to verse number one, if you will, and note this. Note the condition of the fellow Israelites. The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. You know, as you read through the book of Judges, I said earlier, this was the pattern that was in their life. The people fall into sin, God judges them, they then cry out to God, and God sends a deliverer, and it is that cycle all through the book of Judges. There's no doubt that a large portion of the people in Israel had fallen into sin, as verse number one talks about. But I think we need to be reminded that in every generation there is a remnant who follows and loves God. And while most of Israel was going away from God, I dare say that there was some, like Manoah and his wife, who said, you know what, we're not following the crowd. We're following God. We're going to love God. We're going to obey God. And to love God and to follow God in a corrupt society takes a lot of faith. Takes a lot of faith. And I want to encourage you here today in regards to your particular life. We're living in a, if this is an understatement, we are living in a very corrupt society. We're living in a society, whether you look at the political realm, whether you look at our major cities and all the things that are going on, and we can become very discouraged and distraught about all the things that are going on. But it's going to take, if you're going to live above the fray, it is going to take a life of faith. Why faith? Because it takes faith to believe that God's way is the best way. Why faith? Because it takes faith that this is the right way. Let's face it, Christianity has always been in the minority. And we're always tempted to think this, that the majority is always right. I'm here to tell you, the majority is not always right. And it's important to follow God. Why faith? Because it takes faith to say no to yourself and to say yes to God. It takes faith to apply godly principles and be the person that God wants you to be. This type of faith, in this type of culture, needs to be seen in the fathers of our children if our children are going to have any success. Let's apply it today, fathers. Fathers, I want you to listen for just a moment. What is faith all about? Well, faith is this. It is a belief in what God says, but not just a mere belief of a recognition, but it is an obedience to what I believe. That's true faith. Faith shows it out, not just in the mind, not just in the heart, but in the actions. Therefore, faith is knowing and doing God's word. Some of you today who are fathers need to make some commitments of faith. How so? Well, some of you need to say this. I believe that the people of God ought to attend the house of God. Therefore, I will faithfully lead my family in that way. Some of you as parents need to say today, as fathers, I believe it is important to have a personal, vibrant and dynamic relationship with the living God. Therefore, I will have regular times of Bible reading and prayer. Maybe you need to say today, I believe that God gave me to be the position of the greatest authority in my child's life. Therefore, I will invest in him or her with my time and influence. Dads, I don't know what commitments you need to make. Those are three good ones to start. But I want to encourage you this today. It is imperative that you begin to make some faith commitments to God in order to help your children. So what does a surrendered father look like? First of all, he's a man of prayer. Secondly, he's a man of faith. But thirdly, he is a man of worship. Take a look at verse number 19, if you would, please. So Manoah took a kid, that's a young calf here, with a meat offering, offered it upon a rock under the Lord, And the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. I wish I had time today to talk about this name of secret and what this angel did wondrously. I believe that this is what we call a Christophany, an appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because if you look later on in the book of Isaiah, one of the names given of God is the name of wonderful, the idea that is given here. So something beautiful for you to study out. But I want to just talk about this offering. that Manoah is giving here unto God. Manoah is offering a kid, a young lamb, as well as a meat offering. Now, the meat offering is the only offering that had nothing to do with animal flesh. If you look back, in fact, if you're having a hard time sleeping at night, go back to the book of Leviticus, all right? And it will probably help you go to sleep. But in Leviticus chapter number two, It talks about the meat offering there. And the meat offering consisted of fine flour. It had oil and frankincense with it, and salt, and it was put together and it was offered. Now, what is the symbolism of these two offerings that are together? This particular offering of the kid and this particular offering of the meat offering? Well, the burnt offering, that is, of the animal, It symbolized the dedication of the offerer to God, wholly giving himself. Think about it. That lamb has given of its life. It's an offering given unto God. And so the symbol is this, that the man or the woman that is offering that is saying, God, I'm all yours. I'm dedicating my life to you. And when the meat offering, which is done in conjunction with this, the meat offering symbolizes the dedication here of the fruit of the labors. That means every part of my life, every aspect of my whole life, God, it is given to you. So in its fullest sense, this offering that Manoah gave was this, God, I'm giving everything to you. And can I say to you today that as we talk about this idea that a surrendered father is a man of worship, this is what worship is all about. We have this connotation in our minds about worship. How many have said, and we use it, but we talk about this being a worship service And we think to ourselves about music and praise and maybe the idea of a worship team and all that type of stuff. But I want to tell you something. Worship is more than just music. Do me a favor. Hold your place here in the book of Judges. And I want you to go back to the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, chapter 22. Genesis, chapter number 22. While music and singing and praise and all that may be a part of worship, that's not the totality of worship. Notice the first mention of worship in the book of Genesis. Now, I'm going to come to the verse where it mentions it, but beginning at verse number one, remember God came to Abraham. Abraham had waited for 25 years for a child. Finally, a child is born to he and his wife, Sarah. And what does God do in Genesis 22? Abraham, I want you to offer your child as a sacrifice unto me. Now, how many of us would have said, I've waited too long for this. I'm not yielding myself in this way. I'm not giving my child. This is of my flesh. And I want this. But we don't read in these verses about Abraham fighting, arguing with God. We just see that he gets down the next morning, gathers his servant, gets all the things together, gets Isaac together, and begins to make the trip. And when on the third day, verse number four, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, and notice Genesis 22, verse five, and Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and what? Worship. Are you kidding me? Worship? God's asking you to give your child up and you call that worship? That's because we don't understand what worship is all about. Worship is my dedication to God. We think to ourselves, oh, if I come into church and I clap my hands and I sing out loud and I get all excited, oh, I worship God. But I want to tell you what's going to make your worship effective when you come into the house of God is what you do at your own home, how you spend time in the word of God and seeking God's face and prayer. And when you prepare yourself before you get to the house of God, when you walk into the house of God, you then will be prepared to worship God. But worship is all about your dedication. And so when Manoah offers that offering unto God, he's literally saying, God, I know you didn't give me a manual. I know you didn't give me instructions on how to do this, but I'm all yours and I'm willing to be the type of father. And my dear wife is willing to be the type of mother that she needs to be for this child. Can I ask you, fathers, do you have that dedication to God? Are you willing to be the type of man that God wants you to be in order to raise your child? Conclusion here today, we've seen the angel appearing to Manoah and his wife, informed them that she would have a son, told them what the mission would be, and then advised them about how to live. And I think the bottom line in all of this is that if you and I are going to raise children for God, and for the purpose that God intended, then I believe that you and I, fathers, mothers, need to surrender our lives and dedicate ourselves to God. You need to be people of prayer. You need to be people of faith. You need to be people of worship. Now you say to yourself, I know when I've said the word surrender, you start cringing a little bit and you go, oh preacher, please don't use that word. Well, none of you are going to take the Nazarite vow today. At least I haven't met anybody in my 35 years of being a Christian says I took the Nazarite vow. No, but I want to tell you something. The Nazarite vow, while it was something that was done in the Old Testament to the Israelites, there is something that corresponds to that in the New Testament, and it is found in Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Would you turn there, please? The book of Romans. Chapter number 12 and verse 1. Notice what the Bible says here, Romans chapter 12, verse number 1. Paul is saying here, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, now notice this, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. Now all through the Old Testament what did we have? Sacrifices put on the altar. Those sacrifices were killed and they were laying on the altar. God's not looking for you to go ahead and take your life. God doesn't want a dead sacrifice from you. God wants a living sacrifice. He wants whatever time frame you have left in this life. He wants it to be his and his alone, not yours. That's what surrender is all about. But do you realize the only way that that surrender will come about and you'll become gods and totally yielded to Him is you've got to do what Paul begged or beseeched of you. You must present yourself. It's you. A preacher can get up here and kick and scream and yell and get red-faced and tell you what the Word of God says. A friend can go ahead and challenge you, people around you can pray for you, but the final decision is all up to you. You must yield yourself to God and present yourself a living sacrifice. Oh my, as soon as the word surrender is mentioned, many get nervous because I think we don't understand the biblical concept of surrender to God. But as Romans talks about, it's offering ourself to Jesus Christ, laying our sword on the ground, saying no to ourself and accepting whatever God has in mind for us. And I really believe that the word surrender is often a hard pill to swallow is because. We have a hard time accepting what God's will may lead us to do. There may be things in our life that we don't want to give up. It might be that we're afraid that God might ask us to do something that we're holding on to. And I would dare say that as we think about this, all of us need to take a long, hard look at the one in Scripture who surrendered the most in this world, Jesus Christ. Take a good, hard look at Jesus kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane as the blood came down His face and His head and the agony rolled over Him and listened to His prayer in that garden. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. I mean, from a human standpoint, where Jesus being 100% God, 100% man, here He is crying out and saying, if it's possible, would you let this pass from me? But what does He say? Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Look at that in the cross, the garden. And when you look at Jesus kneeling in the garden, then you'll understand what total surrender is all about. God may make it seem harder as you surrender, but I want to tell you something. In the end, it will be a whole lot better. Because Jesus had to go through the cross, absolutely. He was buried, but then He rose again, and He ascended to heaven, and He's with God, His Father, forevermore. And your surrender right now, you may look at it, you may look at only the first few steps, and you go, oh, that's hard to do. I can't do that. But I'm telling you, you make those steps. It may be bumpy along the way. It may be hard for the first few moments of your life. But I'm telling you, at the end, it will be a whole lot better. I came across an illustration recently, which I think will help you understand this aspect of surrender with it being bumpy at first, but being better in the end. It was the early 1900s, and there were two Englishmen who decided that they wanted to build an automobile that would not break down. Now, that sure seemed impossible, but they did their best efforts to put something together. The first thing that they did after assembling their vehicles together is they developed what they called the bumping machine. It was a machine on which they would place a car, and it would kind of be like driving that car on a railroad track at 60 miles per hour, hitting every railroad tie. bumping that car, bumping it. And as the machine would break down the parts of the car, these two gentlemen would then devise and design parts that would withstand the strain of that bumping machine. After years and efforts, years and years of effort, they built the finest automobile in the world. Who were these two men that designed these vehicles? Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Their automobile, the Rolls-Royce, came out of bumps and bruises and breakings and shakings. Do you realize it's just like that for us as Christians? If you open yourself up to the will of God, if you open yourself up to the times that God will come and visit you and ask you to give something up in your life, If you'll endure through that, then I want to tell you that through the rough times, that in the end, you'll become what God desires you to be. Manoah surrendered himself to God, and so should we. I close with this. It's very fitting that when you read the book of Numbers, chapter number 6, one of the last requirements of a Nazirite vow was this. that that person, at the conclusion, was to go ahead and offer an offering unto the Lord, showing their dedication. Today, I'm asking for fathers to dedicate their lives to God. You know, it's wonderful on Mother's Day when mothers dedicate themselves to the Lord. And mothers commit themselves to the work of being who God wants them to be so they can raise your children. But I'm telling you, if you're a dad and you've got children at home, or maybe you're influencing your grandchildren here today, you need to afresh and anew dedicate yourself to God. And say, God, I'm all yours. Father, I pray that you'd help us in this time. Pray that you'd guide us and use us, Lord, in a very special way. Bless the invitation time. I pray, Lord, that you speak to hearts. And I ask it in Jesus' precious name and for his sake. While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, you're here today and you say, Preacher, I've heard what you've had to say. I'm a father. And you know, even though this is Father's Day, this is not out of the reach of mothers. This is not out of the reach of grandfathers and grandmothers. But I want to just encourage you today to yield yourself to God. And so I'm specifically talking to fathers, but mothers, you can raise your hand on this. How many would say today, you know, preacher, I'm a father, I'm a grandfather, and I've got some influence on my children or grandchildren. And by God's grace, I'm yielding myself again today to God, I'm dedicating my life to him. I want to be the type of father that my children and my grandchildren need. How many across the auditorium would lift their hand up and say, preacher, you pray for me today. I'm yielding myself to God. God bless you. God bless you. Amen. I want to encourage you today. We're going to stand in just a moment. And I want you to encourage you, because every offering that was made in the Old Testament was a public offering. Now, I'm not going to ask you to come and stand in front of everybody and give a public testimony, but I'd like to encourage you to come to these stairs in the front, or the front rows, and to make this, as it were, an old-fashioned altar. And for you to present yourself to God in prayer, and to say, Oh God, I don't know how all this works, I really don't know what I'm doing, but I'm yielding myself to You. Would you do that today? fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, all across this auditorium, may it be that we would have people dedicated wholeheartedly to the Lord. Let's stand to our feet together quietly, please. Heads are about, eyes are closed. I'm going to pray, and then we'll begin our invitation. I'm going to encourage for those of you who want to surrender your life to the Lord, dedicate your life to the Lord, to come. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for the work that you're already doing. And Lord, pray that you'd work in these next few moments that there would be many dads, many parents, grandparents who would come and say, I'm yielding myself to God. In Jesus' name we pray this. Amen.