Why Did Christ Exult Small Children to His Disciples?

Happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see you all. I was listening behind me, and I couldn't hear you breathing. And the reason is, is my one of my ears is sort of deaf right now. So, it really has been good in our household, by the way, in our family. When Joan, you know, tries to tell me, I can always say, I can point to my ear. So, then she understands, or doesn't understand.

You know, when I talk to her, I actually expect her to understand what I'm saying, no matter even if I talk. Because she should be able to read my mind, right? But anyway, I hope you had a wonderful feast. We did, over in Hawaii. It was millennial. It was like paradise. And I always tell people that when you keep the feast in paradise, it probably doesn't count toward the kingdom of God. You know, you don't get any extra brownie points for going over to Hawaii. But anyway, it was a wonderful feast, and God's the great planner, isn't he?

He knows how things are going to work out. You know, we pull our hair out before the feast. I'm sure that Mr. Miller did, and Beth as well, wondering how it's going to work out. And then it does. And I'm always amazed by it. I just can't believe it. When you get there, and everything starts falling into place, it's just amazing to me, every single time.

And it makes you wonder, why did you even doubt that it would work out? And then God always, again, brings it up about so that it's just wonderful. I'm happy everybody made it back safe. Well, we're here to talk about children and blessing of little children, even though we don't have any children to bless. I guess we've laid hands on about every critter that is here.

You know, every child that is here has been blessed. You know, there can be no more joyous day than the time when our children are born. I would say, every one of us, if we've had children, remember details about every birth that took place in our home of our children, and maybe even grandchildren. It's something that's embedded in our minds.

Not only do the proud parents rejoice in it, but friends and family members join in this jubilant time. And God intended it that way for mankind. Over in Psalm 127, I won't turn to these verses, but in verses 3-5 it says, Happy is the man who has a quiver full of children. He's got his arrows in his quiver. He's got a lot of children. And as I used to say, happy is the man who has a station wagon full of kids. But God gave us the blessing, brethren, of having the ability to reproduce, you know, which is a tremendous thing. God, of course, is reproducing as well to show us that he is reproducing.

He's producing something so stupendous, it's hard to believe. He's going to, in fact, create children who are going to be a part of his family, that will be born into his family. So we have the experience of learning about children and learning to recognize when your child is born, when they're hungry, when they're uncomfortable, seeing an infant, notice their hand for the first time. You know, as you ever watch a little child that discovers their hand and their eye just follows this thing. You know, and it's amazing, again, what they do is they learn about their own bodies.

They learn about shapes. They learn about colors. And seeing them go mobile by rolling over and then getting up on their knees and beginning to walk around and mom begins chasing them all over creation to try to keep them from getting into trouble. And following their first words, you're seeing things that give you tremendous joy and it pleases you. Well, in the same way, when God calls us and he begins to work with us and we begin to change and we begin to respond and we begin to walk by faith in our lives, we really begin to catch hold and lay hold of it and we understand what it's all about.

That joys God to see us do that. And he wants us to do that.

You know, God has given this tremendous opportunity, brethren, to us to share in the rearing of children for a purpose. Let's go over to Matthew chapter 18. We often turn to this passage over here. And I don't want to break with tradition here with this sermon, but it says, at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? You know, they were arguing about who was the greatest. You know, sort of the Muhammad Ali thing. Who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God? Maybe one said, I think I'm going to be over you. You know, can you imagine having these conversations and how very infatile in one sense it was for them. But they were wondering who then is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. And then Jesus called a little child and set him in the midst of them and said, surely I say to you, unless you are converted and become as a little child, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Now that must have been a shock to these disciples. These were the apostles, brethren. These were the ones who were responsible for spreading Christianity throughout the entire world. And Christ set a little child, you know, maybe the child with the, you know, I'm not going to say it, running down with the dirty ears and the tattered clothes, maybe, of that time. And he says, unless you can become like a little child, you're not even going to be there. Let alone who's going to be the greatest. Who cares who's going to be the greatest? If you're not converted, if you're not changed, you're not going to be there. I think it's fair to say the disciples were falling short, weren't they, with this? They didn't understand. And they were to learn specific traits since they were destined to be in the kingdom of God. And not only that, that they're going to be kings in the world tomorrow in the kingdom of God. Jesus himself, I'm not going to go to it, but he says that they're going to be kings ruling over the tribes of Israel. They're going to have great and high and lofty positions, but there was a lot to learn for them. The title of the sermon, split sermon here that I'm giving to you today is, Why Did Jesus Exalt Children's, Fall Children to His Disciples?

You know, if we have faith that God and Jesus Christ are our leaders, that Jesus teaches us the right things, then we want to know, don't we? We want to know what, in fact, Jesus was trying to teach the disciples. Now, what do we need to observe children? You know, we, of course, want to know, don't we? We desire to know what it is that we have the attributes that we need to be in the kingdom. Well, what, again, do we need to observe children? We need, of course, the power, understanding to observe. All of us do that all the time anyway. I mean, even if you go down to the mall and you observe people. You observe what they do, and you make certain judgments sometimes when you look at people, and then, of course, they're not always right. So we need the power to observe. We need also, then, to be able to meditate. That's often what we do when we, you know, watch people. I think everybody watches people, but we observe, and then we meditate on what we see.

And, of course, we need, then, in order to figure things out, we need children, don't we, to see what they do, to see how they are. And God has given us, you know, that opportunity. So we need those three things. We need the power to observe. We need to be able to meditate in a logical fashion and in a godly way, and we need small children in order to understand what Jesus was saying. So what do we observe about small children? Well, I think the first obvious thing about small children and infants is that they are helpless. I mean, that is quite obvious, isn't it? And any mother, any father will do anything to take care of their offspring. So kids are totally absolutely dependent upon their parents. You know, there were two kids who were talking to each other, and one says, I'm really, really worried. And the other kid says, well, why? He says, well, my dad works 12 hours a day to give me a nice home and good food, and my mom spends the whole day cleaning and cooking for me. I'm worried sick. And the other kid says, well, what have you got to worry about? Sounds to me like you've got it made. And then the first kid says, what if they try to escape? That's certainly true, isn't it? Our children need us. You know, you hear the jokes about how you know, as parents, you decide you're going to move. And your kids keep finding you when you move, you know, because no matter where you move, they've got this power to find out where you are and to be there. But kids are totally dependent upon parents. You know, small children left alone simply could not survive. Scientists have shown that a child, an infant, that is left without affection. They have to be touched. They have to be, you know, somebody there to show affection for them for them to live. The children that are not shown affection will simply die. There's so much for test tube babies, right? So much for mass production of babies without some sort of affection that is shown to them in man's topsy-turvy scientific world where he thinks that parents are not needed, the family is not needed for children. You know, obviously, though, a child isn't aware of this dependence. Now, again, you could think of the analogies here, brethren, we are not aware of our dependence upon God. We don't comprehend how much we need God, how much He does for us that we don't even know what He does for us. Like, little children don't know, you know, what their parents do for them. You know, how many of us, of course, laugh at the idea that when our children were really small, I think probably every one of them, you know, they tied their belongings in a knapsack and, you know, tied it onto a stick and they were going to run away.

But they couldn't take care of themselves, even if they did, obviously. But we don't know how much God does for us, like our children don't know what their parents do for them. You know, King David, who probably was more capable of taking care of himself than anybody, very, very wealthy, he came to see through meditation as a young man, a very young man, as he was tending sheep. He said he knew mankind was nothing. He came to realize they were weird and nothing compared with God, and he wondered why God was even mindful of us. Why God pays any attention to us? You know, in the grand scheme of things, I'm not going to go to Psalm 8 verses 3 through 4, but David realized that man is really insignificant. You know, the great minds of this world, they think, you know, the intelligentsia of the world, think they've got it all figured out. You know, it's amazing when you go to the universities.

I spent a lot of time at Northeastern State University, and there's a lot of vanity, you know, in professors, people of science, and others at universities about what they know.

What they know. I remember the one zoology professor I had when I was in college at Northeastern State, and he was talking about how that we were evolving. And here I was in my teens at this time. He was telling me, telling the class that we were losing our small fingers because the usefulness of it was evolving away. And then he pointed the hair on his arm. He was a very hairy guy. But he was losing the hair because we were evolving from apes, you know, was his idea. Well, he could be evolved from a monkey or ape, but I didn't. I wasn't evolved from that. But the world thinks they have it figured out. And it is illuminating when you go to college and you realize how much ignorance there is. Even David said that the laws of God had made him wiser than those that really should be smarter than he was. Remember when Jesus was 12 years of age, he was talking with doctors and lawyers in the temple. He was 12. He was teaching them. You know, there are some legends about Jesus Christ that, in fact, Joseph hired a tutor for Jesus. And after a while, the tutor came back to Joseph and says, he says, I have need to be taught of him.

You know, I can't teach him anything because Jesus already knew it. Of course, he had a tremendous knowledge, even at a very young age. But mankind, again, thinks he's got it all put together, that he knows everything. Over in Acts 17, you know, when Paul was on Mars Hill, you know, he walked up and down in that area, the Ariacopagus, where there were many idols that were there dedicated to all the various gods. And you know the story of how Paul pointed out to them the unknown god. But of this unknown god, down in verse 27, who was the true god of Acts 17, verse 27, it says, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, finding the true god who was the unknown god to them. And going on here, and saying that they grope for him and find him through, though he is not far from each of us, one of us. For in him we live and we move and we have our being. You and I exist because of this god, this tremendous god. And we know that god has a great deal of love for us, because going on here, notice that it says, as also some of our own poets said, for we are his offspring. We are the offspring of god, his children. Therefore, since we are the offspring of god, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like god or silver or stone, something shaped by art and by man's devising. That god is much greater. I mean, you couldn't depict god in any way, shape, or form. You couldn't depict god in the form of an idol. But god gives us our very being, brethren. You know, think about the fact, all of you sitting here and me standing up here, all of us are four minutes away from death. Four minutes.

At every moment of every day, and every week, and every month, and every year of our lives, brethren, we are four minutes away from death. And it is god that holds that slender thread of life for us. And he's the one that decides when we live and when we die.

Our lives, again, hang on a very slender thread. You know, sometimes we can see that academically but do we see it spiritually and emotionally? How slender of a thread our life is and what we are. I was thinking last night, the years that have gone by, and I know all of us do this sometimes, and we think about the years that have gone by, and I don't know, maybe emotionally a little bit, I woke up last night and realized, God, what happened the last 60 some odd years?

Where did that time go? You know, it was almost yesterday to me, and I know all of us, the older you get, you remember the past more clearly. It was only yesterday that Mr. and Mrs. Scriber and I were young people, and we were gathering for our schmuck meetings, as we call them. There were three pastors, and we put all of our names together, and we called them schmuck meetings. And I was tucked, of course, and a part of the, I was the up part, I guess. But anyway, we called them schmuck meetings, but we're all young! And how long ago was that?

A long time ago! I know, but where did the time go? Where did the time go? Well, it goes very, very quickly, doesn't it? So, you know, we need to realize, again, emotionally these things about how our lives are so short. I heard Mr. Armstrong talk about, in fact, this morning. He talked about how God was recreated Himself, as He often does, and how the only way we can be born into the family is we are changed into spirit that is everlasting spirit. And then he went back over, and he talked about how we are the clay, and God is the potter. So right now, brethren, in our feeble frame, God is using us like clay to form us and to fashion us until the time that we can be changed into spirit. And he also said, the only thing you can take out of this life is holy righteous character. And we need to keep that in mind and keep that big picture of how important it is. So David realized, he realized the brevity of life. He realized that God was dealing with man for a very awesome purpose. Paul understood it. He grasped it, and Job understood it as well.

Over in Job 37, if you will go over there with me, but in Job 37, let's notice this. You know, it is astounding how the puzzle of the Bible fits together, and how God has revealed it to his people that we can understand it. It is here a little, and there a little. And then the prophecy talks about how that some people try to put it together, but they fall backwards. They don't understand it. They don't grasp it because they don't have the Spirit of God. But in the book of Job here in chapter 37 here, Job, as we know in Job's account, Job maybe got a little too much on a high horse about himself. And his three friends were trying to point out to him some things that he needed to think about in the midst of all of his trials that he was going through. But here in Job 37, let's notice this, in chapter 37, verse 5, you know, here it says, God thunders marvelously with his voice. It's like when we hear the thunder along with the lightning of a storm. It's like the voice of God speaking. And the power of God, when thunder reverberates, we get the sense of the greatness of God. And it says he does great things which we cannot comprehend. And it's certainly true. God does great things which we can't even understand. We can't remotely understand. It says, for he says to the snow, fall on the earth. Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of his strength. He seals the hand of every man. Now, I want you to think about this particular point right here. You know, sometimes human beings need a time for their attention to be drawn to the important things. I think a time when that occurred for the United States was 9-11. God has the ability. He's using rain here as an example. He has the ability to get your attention if you're not willing to give your attention voluntarily. And so this country, this nation, has had Katrina. It has had, you know, the Twin Towers of New York and California is practically burning down. And what else has to happen before people stop and they listen?

So God has that power, and we should never forget it. He can get our attention. If we're not paying attention to God, believe me, things can happen in your life that will change your tomorrow so much that you will be crying out to God with tears, that He would hear you.

God has that capacity, has that ability to do that. Now, He doesn't use it capriciously. He does it for a purpose. Let's notice going on down here in Job 37 and verse 7. It says, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm in chapter 38. Yeah, I think I read verse 7 there, didn't I? of chapter 37 where we were reading. But let's notice down verse 23. As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him. He is excellence and power in judgment and abundant justice. He does not oppress, therefore men fear Him. He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart. So if somebody thinks that God had all figured out, God doesn't pay attention to man's so-called intelligence. God looks to the contrite spirit, as we see over in the book of Isaiah 66.2, and somebody that trembles at His word. He doesn't care, brethren, what you or I think. He cares what the truth is. He cares about what the truth is, as we should.

Brethren, how can we relate to such a glorious God? Well, we need to see how much we need Him.

We need to realize we are just like little children. We're dependent upon God. It makes no difference how old you are, whether you're young or you're old. We all need God.

And, you know, we need to appear before God, as we do on this Sabbath service, to hear about God.

Not just what we read about Him ourselves, but we need to hear a perspective of what the walk of faith is about, from someone who has walked the faith, who's learned maybe a few lessons in life, and themselves have been taught of God as the offspring of God.

Another thing that we observe about children, besides the fact that they're totally dependent on their parents, number two point, if you want to write down a point, is a child has no hypocrisy.

There's no hypocrisy in a little child. You know, there's an innocence in them, they're very much of an innocence. And I would call it a simplicity, a very simple kind of thinking. It's like there was a salesman that came to a house, and the salesman asked a small boy, he says, is your mother home? And the little boy said, yeah, she's home. And the boy said, as he scooted over to let the man walk past him. And the salesman rang the doorbell, and he got no response. He knocked once, then again. And still no one came to the door. And turning to the boy, the fellow said, I thought you said your mother was home. And the kid replied, she is, but this isn't where I live.

That's simplicity. You know, you ask a question to get an answer, right? No hypocrisy, nothing to hide. It reminded me of the time I heard about the, you know, long time ago that was, I think, was Dr. Meredith. Rod Meredith was at home, and one of the children went to answer the phone, or answer the front door. And they were asking for, I think, Dr. Meredith. And the child says, well, he's back here. And so they led the person through the house, and Dr. Meredith was taking a shower. You know, again, simplicity that little kids have. And they are that way.

You know, the worst thing to do is to tell a four or five-year-old a secret. Have you ever tried to do that in your family? Now, don't tell anybody. You know, someone once said there is a telegraph, there's a telephone, and then there's a tell-a-woman. But I think there's also a tell-a-child.

It will be repeated, and repeated, and repeated. You know, Joan and I learned, years ago, that you simply do not tell secrets to children. They have nothing to hide. It's important, certainly, to keep certain things secret. There are some things you don't want the whole church to know about or the whole world to know about. But really, as God's people, we should have nothing to hide. You know, we really should not. We should be open people, honest, sincere. That's the way we should be. You know, all of us have been hypocritical at one time or another in our lives, and we may even sometimes might not even realize it. You remember the story. I won't go to it, but as an example over in the book of Galatians.

If you'll write down the scripture, it's Galatians 2, verses 11 through 13.

But Peter had gone up and remember he was visiting with the Gentiles. And when certain ones came from Jerusalem, among the Jews, they came. Well, Peter removed himself from the Gentiles because it wasn't lawful, according to some of those who were legalists among the Jews, to be with Gentiles. And so Peter played the hypocrite, and he withdrew, you know, from the Gentiles. So as not to be, again, looked down upon. And in that account, Paul rebuked him before everybody. And so Peter had to learn a lesson that day about hypocrisy. We have to be careful again about not being hypocritical because God's people, brethren, are not hypocritical. Now, we are people that present ourselves straightforward and honest to other people. But Peter was wrong, and he changed. He realized he was wrong. Now, it's kind of interesting that it was God that opened the way to the Gentiles through Peter.

And he set this bad example for people that, you know, should not have been perpetuated in the church. And so, you know, we, as God's people, again, need to be true and blue in terms of what we do. But when Peter saw he was wrong, he changed, brethren. Will we see, if we see we're hypocritical about something, will we change? Will we make a turnabout in our lives? Well, God would want us to. You know, Paul told Titus, "'Under the pure, all things are pure, but under them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.'" God's people should be pure, true and to the core. You know, from the inside, we are the same on the outside. And we don't carry our religion, in other words, on the outside, from the teeth out, it is from the heart out. All the way out, brethren. Let's notice over in James, chapter 1. James, chapter 1. James, chapter 1. All of us are here, and we are the weak of the world.

But obviously, some are, well, better off than others. You know, some have been blessed mightily in their lives. Maybe even some might be classified as well to do. I think all of us are well to do, though, compared to the places I've been in Africa and other places. But notice here, James, chapter 1, verse 9. He says, Let the lowly brother, whoever that person would be, glory in his exultation, but the rich in his humiliation. The fact that God has called us, even if we are poor and brought into the church, God says, glory in your exultation. If God has called us and we're well to do, though, on the other hand, here, you know what James is saying, that we should, in fact, as God's people strive to understand that God expects us to have a certain humility about what ourselves, to, in fact, be rich in humiliation. And this is because, as a flower of the field, he will pass away. The fact of the matter doesn't matter whether you're rich or whether you're poor. We're all going to perish. The years speed away so rapidly. And it says, For no sooner has the sun risen with the burning heat that it withers the grass, its flower falls, and the beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. There's a lot of people in this world that are tremendously wealthy. What is it? Jeff Bezos is worth 126 billion dollars.

Now, he could take his all to McDonald's, don't you think?

But in the end, he dies like everybody else. He might have a gold coffin, but he dies like everybody else. That breath ceases.

Or whether you're the absolute poorest person that ever lived, you die the same way.

And the reward comes from God. Of course, remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Let's go to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Romans 1. I'm kind of trying to cut this back as we go along here. But in Romans 1, verse 18, let's notice this.

It says, Romans 1, verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God has been confessed in them, for God has shown it to them. See the wise intelligence there? God has revealed it to them. There have been times when they could have had an aha moment and said, hey, there is a God.

There is a God back of all this, behind all this. But again, man simply will not listen. And it says, because what may be known of God has manifested them, for God has shown it to them. Verse 20, For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power, and God has, so that they are without excuse. There's no excuse if people don't believe in God.

You know, the fool has said, there is no God. I remember when Jonathan was taking physics up there in the University of San Francisco State University. He said he had not one of his friends that believed in God. And he told me the reason. He said, because their parents are educators, and they don't believe in God. So, you know, his friends didn't believe in God. And Jonathan was always trying to convert them. He was always trying to teach them. And they seemed to respect him. He knew about the Proverbs, and he would be able to quote them the Proverbs, and they saw the wisdom of it. I don't know that any of them ever believed in God. He had some very, very good friends, though, that were there. And at least his example served as a witness to them. On down here, let's notice here in verse 32, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things that are deserving of death, talking about the lifestyle that comes when you reject God, you know, of course, homosexuality and other, you know, lifestyles that are very unrighteous, moral kind of lifestyle, that a person of God's character would live, that they live contrary to God's righteousness.

It says, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

Well, brethren, hopefully we're different. You know, they know what they believe is false, but they continue perpetrating the lie. Hypocrisy leads to all manner of wicked behavior.

A third point, if you're writing these points down, is small children are not filled with vanity. It's like the old saying, what you see is what you get.

Now, what you see is what you get. You know, a lot of people live with that kind of mentality, which is not wrong, as long as what you see is righteousness. If what you're seeing is a right example. You know, kids are so innocent, they're not embarrassed how they act when they're excited. And they're enthused. They will smile with their toothless grins and jump up and down with joy. You know, what does an adult do if they've got maybe a missing tooth? They usually cover up their face, don't they? Why? Vanity. Kids don't think about that at all.

I remember when I was a little boy, I was losing my teeth. I remember looking in the mirror and, you know, I was, how you pull these teeth out. And I wondered if they would ever come back. Then I was saying goodbye to them forever. Hopefully, you know, our parents can explain to our children what is going to happen. And eventually my parents did tell us that. But I suspect when you have nine kids, you say it nine times. You forget who you told it to. I think that was mainly my problem at that particular time. But we don't, again, have that same enthusiasm. We lose the enthusiasm. Sometimes when we're teaching men about, you know, being public speakers, we have to teach them about, look, you've got to be enthused. Show that enthusiasm to the congregation. Don't be afraid to show emotions. Because, brother, that's necessary, you know, for a public speaker. And, of course, it's necessary for all of us to not stifle the enthusiasm, especially, you know, for the Kingdom of God. I wrote in the letter I wrote to you about how that we should receive the Kingdom of God like a little child. Well, how does a little child receive Disneyland? Do you receive the Kingdom like that? Because I think the Kingdom of God is going to be better than Disneyland, don't you think? You know, I remember when Joseph was an infant, and Stephen and Melanie had brought Joseph up to Northern California, and we decided to take him over to Muir Woods, Muir Forest. How many of you have been over there, by the way? Just a few of you. But these are massive trees, just like King's Canyon trees. But little Joseph was so small, he had one of these Papoose-type things that Melanie had him in. And as soon as we walked in and we saw these towering trees, Joseph just, I mean, he just went, you know, ballistic. Maybe that's not a good word, but just to an excitement with joy. I never have seen a little kid get so overjoyed with being in an area just to see trees. And at the time, I thought, why can't we be that way?

Why can't we be awed by the wonder of it all? It is something to think about, brethren. We stifle ourselves, don't we? We stifle ourselves.

And because we've got the vanity, we begin to think about what other people might think of what we are thinking or doing. So we see, brethren, the kingdom of God like a little child. You went to the feast. You celebrated the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Rejoice! Be happy! Be thankful!

And when it's time to go again, you have the same old joy.

You're always ready to rejoice about God's way of life. You know, Jesus Christ warned us, he warned the disciples, look, I'm sending you out in the midst of wolves.

What did he mean? What did he mean? He was talking about, of course, Satan's influence on the world and the way the world was, and the dog-eat-dog world that we live in.

But maybe in what Jesus was saying, he was saying, make sure you don't become like the world that you're going into.

This doggy-dog-wolf kind of world out there, Jesus was telling his disciples, I don't want you to be like that. You've got to keep your focus. You've got to keep your eye focused on the kingdom of God. And God's values and God's way of life. God wants us, brethren, to be like children. And children are sweet. You know, they're lovable. Yeah, I know sometimes they can be onry. They can do things that can irritate parents from time to time. But generally, they are lovable. They are gentle. They're peace-loving. They don't understand someone being unfair.

You know, we ought to be, brethren, a people who refuse, refuse, brethren, to think the worst, even in this perverse generation that we live in. The good days are ahead. The tremendous days. This world cannot understand. When we start going through 9-11 events, and I think we're going to go through them in this country, brethren, let us keep an attitude of being positive.

Whatever is good, whatever is pure, whatever is positive, think on those things, as Philippians talks about. Negletism warps our minds. Brethren, defend the doors of your mind and maintain a sense of innocence and expressiveness, of enthusiasm for God's way of life. Point number four. Again, if you're writing these down, kids have the special power of mimicking other people. But especially their parents, right? How many have ever been really a little boy or girl, and you see in them a bad habit, and you trace down where they learned it, and they learned it from you?

Because they have the power to mimic, good or bad.

We learned that about children. They're easily teachable. You know, they will pare back to you what you have taught them.

There was a four-year-old boy, and his father went to the beach.

And there was a dead seagull lying on the sand. And the little boy asked his father, Dad, what happened to the birdie? And his dad told him, Son, the bird died and went to heaven. And then the little boy asked, and God threw him back down?

So, you know, they pare back what you taught them, basically, what the little boy said was logical, right?

You know, if he went to heaven, why is he here?

So kids have that special power of mimicking what you say, and they're easily teachable. You know, small children have a love affair with life. Every day is a welcomed adventure. You know, we get up in the morning, and we don't greet the morning like a child does. They are like I refer to as a bucky beaver in the morning. Pop their head up, and they're ready to go. You and I, we have a different approach to the day than they may have. You know, every clot, every rock, every stick, every tiny creature is deserving of their valuable time. You know, we have in our backyard, we have lizards. You know, and when Shawn's boys were over at the house, they were chasing these lizards all over the backyard. I mean, it was like a man, you know, here you had three little boys trying to chase down one little innocent, you know, lizard. And these things are really tiny, very tiny, but they couldn't catch the lizard. Occasionally they would, but, you know, it was of such interest to them. Every meal is an adventure. Okay, remember when Stephen was a little baby, he would sit in the high chair, and he'd eat his food, and every time Joan would serve in food, he would go, and so anything he ate, it was, and we get the point where we laughed at that every time, you know, we would feed him. So sometimes you feed him something just to hear him say, but every meal is an adventure. Everywhere they go is the classroom. We try to answer their questions, and they're eager to drink in all that comes our way. And we can easily observe in small children that they are teachable, and they are trusting, and they have a special power again to mimic us. You know, how many times do little children, you know, dad or mom puts their hands out, and kids jump from a ledge to the arms of their children? Because they trust their father and their mother are going to catch them. Now, if you ever drop them, of course, they learn they can't trust you, but we always do catch them. What causes us, brethren, to begin to doubt God?

You know what causes us to begin to doubt God? Trials. When we have trials, we begin to doubt God. Let me explain what I'm saying. When we don't get the intervention we think we need right away, we doubt God. Whether it's health or whether it's financial, no matter what it is, we feel like we fall flat of our faces. If we face severe trials, we can lose trust in God and that teachable attitude that we have. As long as we're trusting the God, we can be teachable. We'll listen to what God has to say, like a little child. We'll listen to their parents.

Job is a classic example for us in trials.

Over in Job, let's notice over in Job chapter 2, and I'm going to wrap this up here very shortly, but in Job, we all know the story of Job and how he was assaulted on every side. He lost everything he had, and things happen in heaven where we know that Satan was able to go and talk to God and talk about how upright. God talked about how upright Job was.

Job basically challenged him. Look, if you took everything away from Job, he would curse you. He would be against you, God, and God allowed that. He allowed the devil to strike Job, but he took everything away. His houses, his wealth, and his children, the children he loved.

But over here in chapter 2 of the book of Job, you know, here Satan comes again, verse 1, and to present himself before the eternal. And the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? And so Satan answered, I'm just going up and down in the earth, walking about. He could have said, trying to see where the trouble could be caused. He could have said that to him because that's what he was doing. And then the eternal said to Satan, verse 3, have you considered my servant Job, even after you took everything away from Job? Look at him. Looked away as a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil. And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without cause. And so Satan answered the eternal and said, skin for skin, yes, all the man has, he will give for his life. You know the story about how that Satan smoked Job with boils, horrible boils. And Job had to sit in a pile of ashes with a piece of pottery and he scraped the boils. And it was the most miserable, I'm sure, kind of thing a human being could go through. There are many lessons for us to learn in it. But on down here, verse 9, things were so bad for Job. Then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. Because it wasn't easy for Job's wife either to see this spectacle that was unveiling before her eyes. But he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. This is a man, rather than walking in faith, laying hold on faith, believing God no matter what he felt, no matter what he experienced, no matter what he saw in his life. And, brethren, I submit to you that's what we're going to have to be, to be in the kingdom of God, to be trusting God. But Job lost everything, but in the end, God blessed him beyond what he had before. That's the story of the book of Job. But, brethren, are we willing to jump into the arms of our loving Father? Do we still trust Him?

Or have our trials made us afraid to put ourselves in the hands of God?

Do you believe your spiritual daddy will take care of you, that He's there? He will never let you down, and will always be there when you really need Him. He will never leave you or forsake you.

You know, you may lose trust if you think you've given up too much in your life. I think we've had people that that has happened as well. They think that they've given too much. And be like the one talent man who bears it because he feared he might lose that one talent. And in the end, he loses everything. Are we going to be that person? I pray not. God's promise, brethren, is that He will bless us now and in the future. In fact, His promise is He will bless us greatly now and in the future. If we continue to have those teachable and trusting attitudes, and, brethren, if we can mimic the righteous character that is the only character we're going to take out of this physical life. It is indeed, brethren, a walk of faith. So, brethren, these four things we need, we absolutely need, these four things. We need, number one, to realize we're dependent upon God. Number two, that we should not be hypocritical. Number three, that we should not be filled with vanity. And number four, that we need to have the power to mimic and to remain trusted and teachable. That, like the clay in the hands of the potter, be molded by God. Come down, brethren, from the high horse of adulthood and learn keys needed and necessary for the King of God. And lest we become changed, and lest we become as little children, we will know what wise, as the Bible says, enter the kingdom of God. This is why Christ exalted little children before His disciples, so that they could attain their full destiny. And, brethren, we hopefully will learn the lessons, know that were necessary for us to learn, so that we can be kings and priests in the world of Aral, in a rule with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, whoever therefore shall humble themselves, as this little child the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.