Winning Their Hearts

I really enjoyed the ceremony of blessing of children. It's always a blessing to be blessed. They're so special. God has given them to us for a little while.

The years go by like this, and tomorrow they're not there anymore because they've grown wings and they've gone in their own little directions. And that is right, but it is a blessing.

When I thought about it, there's no place like home. So these children are in a home with their parents, grandparents helping them. Occasionally it is such a blessing because ultimately they will be God's children. We read in 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 and 2 that it says, you know, blessed children, what a blessing it is that we are called children of God. And then it says we're not quite yet like what we'll be because we'll be what we'll ultimately be when Christ comes, that He's coming and we'll see Him like He is. But we are already children of God, even though begotten, not yet born again, but we are children of God. When we think therefore at children, they are really a blessing. If you and I turn to Psalm 127 verse 3, Psalm 127 verse 3, that is, this is a short psalm, only five verses if I remember correctly.

And we're not going to read the whole psalm. It's not because it's that long because it isn't. But we just I just want to focus on the third verse, Psalm 127 verse 3. Behold, children are an heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. It is a reward to have children. It is a blessing to have children. And we have a responsibility to teach them God's way and God's principles. And one thing that I've always told my children and my wife and I, we agree on this point. One of the key things we need to do when we raise up children is to win their hearts.

And so if you're going to go and give a title to the sermon, I'll probably title it, Winning Their Hearts. We've got to win their hearts. And how do we win their hearts? By being with them, by giving them time, by walking with them, by teaching them in every walk of our lives. This is what the commandment is, as we can see in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, it says here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Brethren, this is exactly what Christ said when he was asked, you know, what is the greatest commandment? And that is quoted. You can go and read it in Mark 12 verse 29. And on words, another man asked him, what is the great commandment? And Christ said, basically, he quoted this, here, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You shall laugh, the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

So Christ answered and said, there is the first and great commandment. And then he said, and the second is like unto it, to love fellow man. And this man then said, well, you answered correctly. And then Christ said, well, you're not far from the kingdom of God. You see, Jesus Christ was quoting these very words. But let's just read a little bit further. Just read it in verse six. And these words which are command you today shall be in your heart. We got to win our children's hearts.

We got to win each other's hearts. You know, one of the most important things in Christianity, obviously God is first, but one of the most important things is for us to have right relationships, of course, of God first, but relationships with one another, brotherly love. That's what it is, godly relationships. That is what's important, relationships which are well pleasing to God. And he says, I command you today these words to be in your heart. And then look at verse seven. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You are to teach your children every moment of your life. We're teaching them continuously these ways. That's what we're told to do. We really need to teach. How? By walking with them, by talking to them, by putting them to bed, and raising up, spending time with them, walking with them. By us making or showing our children that God is our priority, we will inculcate that into their hearts. Now, obviously, one of the things children really pick up easily, and I have noticed, and my wife has noticed too, that there's been times when some of the children were raised up God's way, but they left the church when they become older.

One of the reasons quite often, it's not always that the case, but one of the reasons is, well, my parents say one thing in church, but do something else at home. And so there's this hypocrisy. Now, understand children can also be hypocrites. You know, they know how to play the game very well too, but they know how to look at parents and criticize that. So we need to be, as parents, in fact, we all need to walk the way.

We need to live it. It must be part of our life. It must not be a show off with other people. We must be honestly living the way. So walking is a way of describing. Walking with somebody is a way of describing that you spend time with them. Now, you and I can look right at the beginning in Genesis when some of God-fearing people already walked with God. Let's look at an example of Enoch.

In Genesis chapter 5 verse 22, Genesis chapter 5 verse 22, we see that Enoch, let's just read that there, Genesis 5 verse 22, says, now after he begot a Methuselah, after he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters. And in verse 24, again, it says, Enoch walked with God. And so, just like Enoch walked with God, you and I need to walk with God. How do we walk with God? With prayer and meditation and reading his word and thinking about him as we walk, as we do different things.

But we're going to do the same thing with our children. As we look at another example, just one chapter later in Genesis 6, if you look at in verse 8, in Genesis 6, it's talking about Noah. And you can read the context in which the society was very evil. The weakness of man was great. And every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it kind of reminds you of what's happening today. And the Bible says, like in the days of Noah, it'll be today.

And really the world, you just have to watch the news, you watch people say things. It's kind of getting like that. It really is. It's bad. But look at in verse 8, it says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

And verse 9 says, this is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. So Noah pleased God because he says he found grace in the eyes of God. He pleased God. How? By how he walked, how he lived.

His conduct was one that was pleasing to God. So how can we be pleasing to God?

What does God require of us to be pleasing to him? What does God require on me? What does it require of you? Now, God does answer that to us. We find the answer in Micah chapter 6. In Micah chapter 6.

Micah chapter 6. It's one of those that takes a little while sometimes to find it, but it's there. All right, Micah chapter 6.

And in verse 6, Micah 6 verse 6, it says, With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? Does God want us to have offerings of goats and bulls and burnt offerings? Well, they had to do it, but it was pointing to the true Christ, the true sacrifice. And so it says, Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression?

Now, that is a pagan extreme, because that's what pagans do. And society today, in a sense, is kind of doing it with so many killing of little unborn children. You are basically quite often giving the firstborn, because most of the abortions are really only firstborn.

Most of it is that. So shall I give my firstborn for my transgression the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? In verse 8, Yah's answer, He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? So Yah is the answer to the question, what does God require of you and I? What is it that's pleasing to God? As we walk with Him, as we live in the way, as Christians during the time of after the Christ, at the early Christianity, they were called, they walked the way. So what does God require of you? And Yah is the answer in three steps. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. Now, there are two parts to each one of these three statements. One is justly, but it's to do justly. The other one is mercy, but it is to love mercy. And the other one is humility, humbly, but to walk humbly. So Yah, we have three important points that we need to consider in our Christian work.

Are we doing justly? In other words, are we obeying God's principles, God's laws, is the motive, the heart, the right, correct with God? Then, are we not just being merciful, but do we love mercy? Do we really love mercy? To show mercy to other people, to go over and beyond, like loving your enemies, and being merciful. And thirdly, to walk humbly.

And that is not just being humble, but to walk humbly. It's a verb, it's a requirement to actually walk that way in humility and practice it. So these are three important principles that we should keep in mind about what God wants of us. And so I want to look at these three in a little bit more depth. And I'm going to use the book of James as a parallel to get a little bit deeper into these three points. And you may have not thought of this section of James from this perspective. But let's go to James chapter 4. James chapter 4.

Now James, as you know, it brings about a situation here at the beginning of chapter 4, saying, where do wars and fights come from among you? Now let's first consider who's he talking to?

Who's he talking to about there being wars and fights among you? Now you have to read right at the beginning of James because he's writing to the 12 tribes. And basically in verse 2 he says, my brethren. And so he's talking to true Christians, converted Christians, in dispersed areas.

So he's saying that, let's put it today in today's context, he is asking why are there little fights and little arguments between brethren today? That's really what he's saying. Why do we sometimes rub our little shoulders with some one another brethren? And sometimes we have little arguments because we shouldn't. And he's basically saying there is because of our carnal minds. Think about it. It's our carnal minds. It's our, I wanted my way. The other one wants it his way or her way. And then we have these little frictions.

And it does happen. It does happen. We have to be very careful. And he says, you know, our human spirit, as it says there in verse 5, the spirit of man in man, dwells in us. We have the spirit of man in man. And it's this spirit of man in man that that is kind of this little friction, this jealousy, this selfishness. Obviously, he's not talking about God's Holy Spirit because God's Holy Spirit is not selfish. He's the spirit of love and not getting concern.

And so he says, you know, God resists the proud and gives grace to Rambal. So he brings this point of humility. Now, humility, we'll get to it in a little later, is some point very important. But what I want to focus is starting in verse 7, James chapter 4 verse 7. Therefore, submit to God. So now he's saying, we need to first and foremost submit to God.

Now, I mentioned a little earlier, I am kind of giving going to give you a parallel between Micah chapter 6 and James, starting here chapter 4 verse 7. The first point was seek to do justly.

And I'm drawing a parallel to submitting to God. Because if you and I submit to God, that means we are going to obey God. And if we are going to be obeying God, we're going to do what is just and right, because that's what God wants us to do. So what do we need to do as we submit to God? We've got to resist any wrong thought, any wrong ideas, any wrong ways that we may have. And with a carnal mind, we do have them. Even Paul mentioned in Romans 7, you know, there's this law in my members that causes me to sin, to have the wrong thoughts or the wrong things that I have to keep tabs on it and work and change. And he said, but I don't want to do that. But these intentions keep coming back, and I have to push them away all the time. And then Paul says there at the end of Romans 7, he says, who will deliver me from this? And he says, thank God through Christ, he'll deliver me. So we have to do justly. We have to resist any wrong intent, and therefore we need to persevere to the end in overcoming. And that's why it says in verse 7 or James chapter 4, therefore submit to God, resist the devil. You see, our carnal mind is inclined to do wrong things. And then on top of it, we have Satan's vibes, the prince of the power of the air, trying to get our thoughts and our minds going in the wrong direction. And so we have to resist that. We have to put those thoughts away time and time again, and he will flee from you. And so in verse 8, at the beginning, he says, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. So to submit to God, we need to be closer to God. So when we walk with God, we need to be close to him. We need to be asking him to help us with his spirit, to be more like him, to have our thoughts, our words that come out, to be kind and loving and soft and gentle, to be godly, to be more like God. We need to, and then he says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Because we have this human tendency to go wrong. Wrong thoughts, wrong things of the heart, the well, I want this and that. And we have to be careful, particularly when we deal with those close to us, and then either in our families or in our spiritual family, because that's where the rubber meets the road. That's where we interact every day, and we could have wrong, say wrong things unintentionally. So we have to purify our hearts. We have to cleanse our hands so that we're not double-minded, so that our mind is focused on God's ways. So that's what we need to do. And how do you do that? How do I do that? Well, you and I know it's through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and Christian fellowship. It is very important, godly Christian fellowship, because this program of prayer, Bible study, meditation, and iron sharpening iron, right? You know the problem. Iron sharpens iron. In other words, when we have godly Christian fellowship, we can uplift one another.

Doesn't that remind you of Hebrews chapter 10?

Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10, just one or two pages behind in your Bible, from where you are at the moment. In Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 24, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. We really need to remember to consider, to think of one another. For instance, Mr. Burke mentioned a few prayer questions. Some of us are going through difficult trials and pressures, and we have to consider them. We have to be praying for them. We have to maybe occasionally visit them or write cards, as you so lovingly are doing, and people are appreciating, as it was mentioned, that somebody replied and appreciated the cards that we wrote to them. So these are good deeds. So that's why I say, consider one another to stir up love and good works. These are the good works, giving out time. Maybe you're somebody struggling. Give them a meal, or if you can't go and give a meal, organize one of these companies that provide a meal. You found them or whatever it is. You give like a card and you get a meal delivered to these people. So you can do that. So it's good works.

And then he continues in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. So when we have an opportunity of being together, obviously the Sabbath is one such opportunity. God's early days is another opportunity. But there may be other opportunities of being together. And if you are far away from one another, just give people a phone call. Give them a call. Talk to them. Give them an encouragement. So the assembling of ourselves together, don't forsake it. Because some do today. Oh, I'm just too busy. Oh, yes, we are. We're just too busy. But maybe that's the problem. That's the problem. And we need to look at our priorities and exhorting one another.

And so much more as you see the day approaching. So much more as the days are getting near and near to Christ's coming. Brethren, Christ's coming is soon around the corner. It's easy today for a lot of people, and I've heard a few people say, oh, well, this has happened for so many years, and maybe they're still quite a few years. Brethren, I don't think they are too many years. I really don't think so.

Don't allow you to get into mindset that the Lord's delay is coming. You look at what's happening in the world. Look at some specifics. Some of the specifics that are happening in the world never happened before. This is really—we are very near, very near, I think. Things really exploding, and then it says, sudden destruction. Then it'll be very quick. So let us not think that we've got a lot of time. But this is something that is happening. When you read the eye in verse 24 and 25, you see that we need to cultivate. We need to stir up love. How? By purifying our hands, by stopping sinning, and doing what? By having time with brethren, being close to God, and being spending time with brethren. It is interesting, brethren, that quite often we stop reading verse 25 right there. But we should also include verse 26, because at the beginning of verse 26 of Hebrews chapter 10 says, fall. It's a word that ties in to the previous statement, fall. Because. Because what? Because if we're not considering one another towards love.

And remember what the Christ said was the greatest commandment, love towards God, and love and the second great commandment is love towards man. Fall. If we are not considering one another towards love, then we're breaking the greatest commandment, which is, when we break the commandment, is sin. And therefore he says, fall if we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, and you know the rest. And so it is important to tie verse 26 to the previous verses. It is important to consider that. So going back to James, we read James just a few pages ahead, chapter 4. We read verse 7 and 8. And I connected that to Micah, where it says, to do justly.

In other words, we need to be obeying God by submitting to him, by resisting the devil, by drawing nearer to God through prayer, Bible study, Christian fellowship, and purify our hearts.

But then what is the next point? The next point is in verse 9. It says, lament and mourn and weep.

What does it mean to lament and mourn and weep? Well, when we look at ourselves, for one, we really can lament and mourn and weep, because we need to repent. We need to change. We need to be very, very different.

We need to be completely different people. Look at Job. Job, you know the story of Job. Job had everything, and then you know the story.

Satan came before God and said, God said, Where have you been? I've been going around, to do and fro. Everything's cool. Everything's fine. And then God brought up the subject. He says, Have you considered Job? And you know the story. Satan says, Yeah, well, you've protected him. And then God says, All right, take a little bit of the hedge away. And a lot of things went wrong with him. You know, the cattle and the camels and the sand. His own children died. And even his wife said, I'll give it up. And he said, No, I mean, we receive good things from God. And why shouldn't we receive bad as well? And then the days go by. We don't know how long. And then Satan casually comes there, whatever it is. There's a time when these angelic beings come towards God.

And maybe give account or whatever it is. And then God asks Satan, Well, if you look at Job, you know, you told me this. And look at that. He's still faithful. And then he says, Yeah, but touch his flesh. So God allowed him to touch his flesh, but says, Don't take his life. And you know the story. And then his three friends came. And basically, his three friends said, Job, if something is going wrong with you, it's because you've said, you know, if something is wrong with you, you've said, come, come clean and declare what you've done. And Job says, Look, I haven't done nothing. I've done nothing wrong. And you know the story God said, even later says, Job doesn't say as far as that that he was saying anything wrong. So, but, but Job, as you read the story, Job was kind of saying, God, you're not fair, because let's reason with God, you know, you're not fair, because, you know, I better not have him been born, but you're not fair, you're not giving me a fair deal.

And then God shows him that his mind, his thinking, his way of thinking is much lower than God's.

And, and then when he came to realize and see what God is, let's look at that in Job chapter 42. Job chapter 42. That's right at the end of the story. Job 42, in verse 5 and 6, it says, I have heard of you by the earring of the ear, but now my eye sees, my eye sees you. In other words, yeah, I knew about you, but now that you made it clear to me of what you've done, it's now, I can see that I can't, I just, my mind does not reach the capability of your wisdom, your understanding, you know what you're doing. And this is, can be, I think, a thing that sometimes may cross our minds, particularly when we go through really tough situations in our lives. I've heard of some people come to me and says, yeah, but this has happened to me, and this has happened to me, and now I've got nothing, you know, and God is not intervening, and all these trials have happened. God is not fair. Do I have to go on like this, to the resurrection? In a sense, it's the type of questions that Job was asking, and Job had to come to realize that, and that's what we all have to come to realize, we need to trust God and to have faith that He knows what He's doing. And now we have, some of us, have enormous trials. Some of us have unbelievable trials, and I understand that because of that, some are depressed and have great anxiety and things like that. We do have, and sometimes we don't understand, and we ask questions, why God? Why? And I don't have the answers. We don't have the answers, because my mind and your mind is far lower than God's mind. God in His greater wisdom is going to make it right. I don't know how, but He is going to make it right, and you and I have to trust God and believe in God that He will make it right. But He eyes Job saying in verse 6, Now I see you, I understand that you are so much more powerful than I am, therefore I abhor myself in repenting dust and ashes. So Job realized, and which the same thing that you and I are coming to that come to the same realization, that we are nothing. We are just a piece of junk. We are nothing. We are nothing. We only are by God's mercy. And therefore, there is one thing that you and I need.

We need mercy. Don't we? We need mercy. You read also, for instance, David in Psalms, he says, Who will abide in your tabernacle? It's also Psalm 15. It's a very nice Psalm that you can read it as well. But the point I'm emphasizing here is, I am nothing. We are nothing. We are just a piece of rubbish. We have done things wrong. Yes, we need to do justly, but we need God's mercy. But Christ tells us, you know, the Lord's Prayer or the model prayer, as I like to refer to it, forgive us our debts as we forgive those that have debts against us. So what basically we're saying is, God, forgive us, be merciful to us, just like I or we are merciful.

Now, this is a great point for us to meditate.

Are we merciful? Because if we're not merciful, how can you and I expect God to be merciful to us?

Because that's what the model prayer says, forgive me as I forgive the others.

So am I forgiving others? Now, how do I forgive others? By being merciful.

So by extension, what it means is that you and I need to love mercy.

Because mercy triumphs over judgment. And so you and I need to love mercy. Do we really love mercy? Now, remember Micah 6, verse 8, said to do justly and to love mercy.

So in a way, yeah, in James chapter 4, let's go back to James chapter 4. In James chapter 4, verse 9, it says, lament and mourn and weep. In other words, repent.

But this act of repentance needs to be in faith that God will forgive us. And for God to forgive us, we have to love mercy. Because if we are loving mercy, and if we are forgiving others, the instruction as we see the prayer says, forgive us as we forgive others. So we have to love mercy. And so that ties in with Micah.

Do we, are we able to forgive?

Now, there are times when there are specific situations that come to our lives that make it very difficult to forgive. I know there is. And an example we read that, for instance, in Romans chapter 12. So let's quickly look at Romans chapter 12.

In Romans chapter 12, we see a situation in which Paul is saying, don't show any hypocrisy in love. That's in verse 9. And then in verse 10, being affectionate to one another. But then in verse 12, verse 17 says, repay no one evil for evil.

In other words, be merciful. Don't, just because they did it to me, therefore, now I owe them one, and therefore I've got to do the same thing to them, that's not what it is.

It's then it says, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Now, we know that's what it says. Sometimes it's not possible to live peaceably with all men. But that doesn't mean that you're going to be vengeful on them. You do your best, but they may not want to reconcile with you. But you've done your best, your part, towards reconciliation. You forgive. We have to forgive. So, beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I'll repay. In other words, leave it in God's hands to sort it out. We have to trust God to sort it out. And then a little later in verse 21 says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And so that goes back to the point that we need to love mercy. Because if we love mercy, we will not want to avenge ourselves. You know, that's the principle that Christ mentioned in the Seminole Mount. Remember the Seminole Mount? The Seminole Mount is very important. Let's look at the Seminole Mount in verse 38. I will come to the Seminole Mount a little later again. But at this moment, I just want to look at Matthew chapter 5 verse 38. And it says, so you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.

You know, whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek to him also. Now, it is interesting, I heard a minister mention to me, which is a point I have not thought of, the right cheek. So if you use your right hand, which is normally your right hand is the strong hand, right? If you use the right hand to slap somebody, you're going to slap the left cheek, not the right cheek. So for you to slap the right cheek, it's probably a back hand, which is not a strong. So there is an interesting point that I haven't thought of. But the point about it that I want to emphasize is, yeah, you know, don't have revenge. Don't have that vengeance. Don't throw it back. And that's why it says at the end of that chapter in verse 48, Matthew 5, verse 48, Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

You see, part of perfection is loving mercy. Do we love mercy?

You know, sometimes we may exercise mercy to others, and then we may be criticized by saying, you are being too soft. And yeah, maybe we are too soft sometimes.

But as one minister once told me, and I remember that all the time, he said, George, I'd rather err on the side of mercy. You know, I'd rather err on the side of mercy. And that goes with the point of loving mercy, because mercy triumphs over judgment.

And so it is a very important point as we ask the question, what does God require of me and of you to do justice? Yes, to look at ourselves and ask God to help us through His Spirit, to be closer to Him and to walk with Him. But whatever we do, let us love mercy. You know, look at ourselves. Yes, we lament. We need to repent. But you know, forgot to forgive us. We need to forgive others first. So we need to love mercy.

And continuing in James chapter 4, let's now read verse 10. In verse 10 it says, "...humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." Humble yourselves in the sight of God. In other words, we need to walk humbly.

What does God require of us? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. So, indirectly, Yah is a parallel to Micah chapter 6. And we need to walk humbly.

If you considered Christ's mind, there's no beautiful Scripture. And you probably know which one it is that I'm going to refer to. And that's in Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through verse 11. So let's go to Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through 11. It says, "...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." What was this mindset? What was this feeling, approach towards others, there was in Christ Jesus that needs to be in you and I. And he answers it in verse 6. Who, being in the form of God, he was of the same kind of being as God the Father is. He was of the form of God. He did not consider robbery to be equal with God. Let me put it in modern language. He did not consider it to be identity theft to be equal with God.

So he was of the same form as God. Now we know, and I believe, that the Father always has been and is greater than Christ, because Christ says, my Father is greater than me. I do believe that.

But the point is, he was in the form of God. He was of the God kind.

And therefore it was not robbery for him to be equal with God, like you and I.

And the president of whatever nation, we equal. In other words, we flesh and blood. We of the humankind, we're all equal, granted. Some have greater or lesser authority than others. But we all as human beings are equal.

Right? So God and Christ were equal of the same kind. Just like we are the humankind, they were of the God kind. So he says, but he made himself, verse 7, of no reputation.

In first place he made himself. Now granted, the two talked about it, and he agreed to do it. But he did it of himself. He was not forced to do. This is a mindset of Christ that it is one thing that maybe we don't fully understand. Now imagine that you being, putting yourself in crushed feet, that you being of the God kind, that you're going to give up being of the God kind and become of the humankind. It's just unbelievable. Maybe a simple analogy is like saying, I am going to give up being a human being, and I'm going to be an ant. I mean, it's ridiculous. It can't be that. So I'm not implying anything else, but I'm just showing I am giving up this type of being to just be a human being.

And he says, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man, being a human being.

And then he says, in verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man. So now he was as a man. Now he humbled himself even more and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. How did he humble himself even more? I'll give you an example. Let's say you're the general of the U.S. Army, or all the U.S. military, right? And if you talk to other people, they know who you are. You've got your new form, your medals, your stripes, whatever it is, you are the general. So everybody comes to you, and yes sir, and they respect you, and all that. So it's kind of a position of honor. But imagine that general. You don't know his face, but comes to you, and you see him at the swimming pool, and he's got his swimming trunks, and maybe he's barefooted, and he's got no uniform. You want knowing from a bottle of soap, and you'll treat him like just any other human being, right? Christ being the being through whom the Father created everything, the Father created everything through Christ. So Christ was the one that created under the authority of the Father. So Christ being the one that created us, he's like this general, this top-notch person right there, and he comes to us as a human being in what we call in civilian clothes. You wouldn't even know who he was, and when people say, well you are that, he says, no, don't tell anybody. I'm incognito. You know, like what they have those programs like, they got this, the owner of a company comes out, and then he dresses up so they don't know, he's the owner of the company. I can't remember the name of that, but you know, he's incognito, and then you really see what people are, and with that, that's what he meant. He humbled himself.

He didn't come as a human being with the stripes and the things, he says, hey, I'm the creator God.

No, he came there without, as a human being, without any credentials, as incognito. And therefore, when he spoke the truth, they killed him. Well, he needed to do that, to be our savior, but he did it voluntarily. He humbled himself. And this is the mind of Christ. He came from this level. He came down to this level, and from this level, he even came down as incognito. It just shows the mind of Christ, of giving up everything in this physical life.

That is walking humbly. That is walking humbly.

You know, and I mentioned I'll come back to the Seminole on the Mount. Now, I want to come back to the Seminole on the Mount, which is in chapter 5 of Matthew, Matthew chapter 5. And the Seminole on the Mount starts with the Beatitudes, right? Starts with the Beatitudes. And the first Beatitude that it talks about is in verse 3, Matthew 5 verse 3. It says, blessed are the poor in spirit. It was blessed are the humble. Humility. You know, I usually think about these Beatitudes like a deck of cards. If you've ever played one of these games, that you put a card like this, another card like this, and you put another one on top, and it kind of then, it's kind of balancing. And then on top of it, you put another deck of cards, another one here, another one here, another one here, like this. Now it's balancing. And now you put another one on top, and you're not right. Do you know what it is? You kind of build this thing up. And now let me ask you, if you take the bottom one out, what happens to all the others at the top? Crush. You see, this deck of cards, the bottom one, is humility. The second one is mourning, which again, I drew the analogy, which is repentance.

And then the third one, he's meekness, which is mean teachable, which is moldable, which is somebody that in God's hands, he's willing to be changed, to be molded, to be like in the master potter's hands. And so you need to be humble, and you need to be repentant, to be teachable. And then, once you teachable, you hunger and thirst for God's laws. That's what it's the next one. You hunger and thirst for God's laws. And when you hunger and thirst for God's laws, you realize what's the next one? That you need to be merciful so that you receive mercy. Can you see it's like building up a deck of cards. You take the bottom one out, humility, and everything else crashes down. And the last one at the top of this pillar is being a peacemaker. You can't be a peacemaker. I'm not talking about a peace lover. I'm talking about a peacemaker. You can't be a peacemaker unless you are humble, and you've got all the other characteristics building up to it.

So when we say we need to walk humbly, we need to think about Christ, what is done for us.

And then, in our year that we need to imitate Christ, yes, that's what it is.

When people say, oh well, I have such a big trial, yes we do. And I'm not discounting some of our trials that we have. They could be health trials, could be financial trials, could be deaths in a family, could be relatives that disowned us, could be whatever it could be. But whatever the trials are, we need to trust in God that He knows what He's doing, and if He's allowing it, it all will work out for the best sometime in the future. Yes, it could be only in the kingdom, but we have to have that trust in God that is the best for the provides. We need to trust that. So, if we summarize those three points of Malachi 6, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly, that's what God requires from us.

Isn't that what Christ told the Pharisees in Matthew 23, 23, when He said, you bunch of hypocrites, you tithe and you do all these things, which you should do, I'm not saying you shouldn't do, but you forgot the weightier matters of the law. Justice, mercy, and faith.

You and I need to do justly. We need to love mercy and to need to walk humbly in faith, in trust, that God will make it right at the end. And so, brethren, when we go back to our lovely little children, and we need to walk with them, but it's not just our children, it's all of us. We need to walk with one another. And therefore, we need to win people's hearts.

We need to win our children's hearts. Isn't that our mission? Read the last two verses of the Old Testament. Do you know what they say? Malachi chapter 4. Let's go there. Malachi chapter 4.

The last two verses, it says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Brethren, that is our job to be like Elijah, to tell the world, this is the true God, and this is the gospel of the kingdom as a witness. That's the true God. He's going to come. He's going to come and rule. That is our job. But, he says, our job amongst ourselves also is to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

Brethren, our job is to walk with God by walking justly in mercy and in faith.