0:07 I just discovered the other day that there are more children in this church than adults. So, I felt guilty that I've been speaking to all the adults all these years. So, I thought I'd speak to the children 0:27 today. And I hope you all also get something if you are willing to be like children. And I'll try and make it as simple as possible. So, I hope you children are going to listen. 0:45 And if you don't understand, please come and tell me after the meeting. Say, "Brother Zac, I didn't understand you." That'll teach me to be more simple next time. Thank you. Okay. Starting Matthew Gospel chapter 1:05 18. Matthew Gospel chapter 18. And if you have a Bible, it's good you children also turn to that verse. Because it's a very important verse. This is a question that 1:20 somebody asked Jesus then and everywhere among Christians, people ask this question. There the question was, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom?" And many, many Christians 1:39 wonder who is the most important person in this church. Who is the most important person in this church? You think it's the elders? That's how some people think. Oh, the elders must be the most important person. Some places I go, they think Brother Zac 1:56 is the most important person. And if any of us think like that, we're foolish. Because Jesus said it so clearly and more than once. Not only this church, who is the greatest person in heaven? Of 2:15 course, Jesus is the greatest. But next to Jesus, who is the greatest? And this is not something we all know the answer in our head. All the adults here know the answer because you heard this verse many times. But the question, my brother sister, is 2:32 do you really believe it? And if you believe it, how do you apply it in your life? And all the disciples also, you know, they there were 12 of them and some were cleverer and some were more capable and 2:50 they were wondering which of us is the leader here, which of us is the cleverest. And I'll tell you this that that thought has come to almost all older people. In your place of work, perhaps you think that am I the cleverest here? Am I the 3:05 smartest? Many, many times that temptation comes and and that we carry that over into the church and say, "Do people respect me and appreciate me?" And it's a tremendous temptation. And then Jesus called a child. 3:25 And I like to think of Jesus picking up a very, very small child. Not even one, two, or three years old, but smaller than that. Small child who cannot speak, cannot think anything clever, cannot sing, cannot share anything, doesn't know 3:44 anything about the Bible. And Jesus picks up that child and says, "I say to you truly. Now, many times Jesus would just say something, but sometimes he would say truly I say to you. Or in the King James it says verily, verily, 4:01 which means truly, truly I say to you. So, whenever he said something like that, it was like underlining something. Everything Jesus said is important. But, whenever he said truly, truly or verily, verily, he was underlining it. 4:15 This is very, very important. Now, I don't know if all Christians have taken that seriously. That the greatest person in God's There That was a question. Who's the greatest in God's kingdom? And then, instead of answering just that 4:35 question, he says, "Leave alone being the greatest in God's kingdom. That's a another question." And Jesus said, "Let me tell you about entering God's kingdom. Leave alone greatest. Greatest is another step. Entering into God's kingdom. 4:52 Now, many of us sitting here think we've already entered into God's kingdom. Well, I hope so. But, listen to this verse. Verse three. Truly I say to you. There he's underlining it. 5:08 Unless you are converted, turned around. Converted means you turn around. And become like children, and leave alone being the greatest, you will not even enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, we've heard the gospel preached to 5:29 us many times. All of us. Repent, believe in Jesus, and you come into God's kingdom. Receive Jesus as your savior, confess your sins. Have any of you ever heard the gospel like this? If you want to enter in God's kingdom, 5:50 you become like a little child. And compare yourself with a little baby. What is it that can qualify a little baby to enter in God's kingdom and cannot qualify us grown-up people? We think so much, you know, about our understanding. I must understand the 6:09 doctrine. I must understand justification by faith and I must understand victory over sin and I must understand being filled with the Holy Spirit. What does that little child know about all that? What is it that a child has which older 6:23 people don't have? That is the thing that we need to meditate on. Even some of you teenagers and 12-year-old, 11-year-old, you don't have what a little child has, but you must try to have that. And and in order to have that, it says 6:40 you must be converted. Converted means turn around. Completely different from what we were. You know, in it's used in changing currency. For example, I come from India where we have rupees, not dollars. So, if you go to India, you need to 6:58 convert your dollars into rupees. That's called conversion. Christians talk about being converted. But many many people they're not converted because if you look at at a dollar note and the rupee note, they don't look alike at 7:16 all. Completely different. The pictures are not the same. The color is not the same. The size is not the same. The value is not the same. Everything is completely different. That is conversion. There's no similarity at all. 7:33 And so if we understand conversion like that, we say I'm a converted Christian. That means there must be no similarity between what you are now and what you were before you were converted. Is that true? Many people they just go to a meeting 7:53 and say, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart." And they look just the same as before. In their inner attitude and all there's nothing much has changed. I'm not talking about externally. I'm talking about in the mind and our attitude. 8:07 Conversion is Think of the conversion of currency. That's completely different from this. And that is the type of conversion that Jesus speaks about. It's a completely different attitude. And coming to the attitude of a child. 8:26 To be converted and become like children. So, one of the things we learn from there is that how how clever you are has no value in God's kingdom. How much you can explain the Bible 8:45 has no value in God's kingdom. What What What can a little child explain the Bible? You take a little baby and it doesn't know anything about the Bible. Never read it. Can you go into God's kingdom without reading the Bible? Sure. 8:57 And so many people Do you know this printed Bible that you see here that you all of you have? After Jesus died and rose again for 1,400 or nearly 1,500 years 9:13 nobody had a printed Bible like this. Printing was not even discovered all those years. But around the end of 1,400 people discovered a printing press. 9:32 Then they printed I think the Bible was one of the first books printed in Europe. So, my question at that time was when I heard about that, was why didn't God allow man to discover printing 9:49 at least 100 years before Christ came? Because if man had discovered printing 100 years before Christ came and there were printing presses, then as soon as Jesus came, everything he said could have been printed and people could have had a Bible right 10:04 from the very beginning, the day of Pentecost, all those 120 would have had a Bible with them when they were waiting on the Lord. Wouldn't that Isn't it a good thing to have a Bible? Very good. Why didn't almighty God, who looked down from heaven and saw the 10:19 need of man, why didn't he allow printing to be discovered 100 years before Christ? Was that a mistake? No. So many people I've seen so many people who know the Bible so well, and I know they go to hell. 10:38 Many There are millions of people who know the Bible are going to go to hell. And especially those who are proud of their Bible knowledge. Is anybody sitting here who is proud that you know the Bible better than somebody else? My brother, 10:50 sister, I feel sorry for you. You're in great danger. If you can outsmart somebody else in Bible quiz or something like that, be careful. Even you children, some of you children are smarter than others. You win quizzes when you have Sunday 11:08 school competitions, be careful. There's no virtue in knowing where where a verse is. I know a lot of verses where they are. It doesn't make me qualify me for God's kingdom. It's very important to understand what is of value in God's 11:23 kingdom. It's not Bible knowledge. Do you think a child can pray better than many of us pray. Very often when we pray you be honest, we try to impress people. I know I discovered that when I became a 11:42 Christian and I started going to church. And I would pray I would always feel at the end of that prayer, I didn't pray that to you, Lord. I was praying that to impress all the people here that I was could pray well. And I'll tell you what I did. I went 11:57 home and I repented. The next Sunday I would pray and it was the same. It was the same for years. Anyway, in my case it took me many, many years to come to the place 12:16 where I could pray in public. And it was as if there was nobody there except Jesus only. Have you come there? When you pray in public? Many of us prayed in the prayer meeting right now. Did you pray to Jesus? 12:38 Did you pray as if only Jesus is there I'm talking to him? And we've been praying for years. Why is it we still don't pray to Jesus but we're conscious and people are listening to me. I'll tell you why. 12:55 Because we don't judge ourselves after we do something. I judge myself after every sermon I preach. I've been preaching for 65 years. I judge myself. Many, many times I go home 13:14 and I turn on YouTube and I listen to the entire sermon that I preached on Sunday. And I listen to my own sermon. I say, Lord, where did I do it not right? I want to do it better. I've been doing that for years. I want to do it better. 13:33 I want to tell you this, my brother, sister, if you're serious about your Christian life, you will examine everything you do, even your prayer, or you shared something in the meeting, you'll go home and think about it, and say, "Lord, can I do it 13:47 better?" Some people never change. 20 years later, they are in the same spiritual level because they don't judge themselves. They don't seek to live in the presence of Jesus. That's why we can learn from a little child. 14:04 A little child is the main thing I see about a little baby lying in a cradle is he's not trying to impress anybody. We've all seen babies lying in a cradle. He's got absolutely no desire to impress anyone. And if you go and say some very nice 14:23 thing to that child, it doesn't want to become proud. Oh, there I can learn something. Unless you're converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And then he said, "What is the primary 14:42 characteristic of a child?" In verse four. Matthew 18:4, "Whoever then humbles himself as this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." So, first he spoke about entering the kingdom to be converted and become like 15:01 children. And then when you're converted, you keep on humbling yourself. That's the only thing he said. The greatest in God's kingdom is the one who's the humblest. Why is Jesus the greatest in heaven? Because he humbled himself more than 15:20 anybody else. And among all the people sitting here, including me, who is the greatest? God knows. I'll tell you. The one who has the lowest opinion about himself when he compares himself with others. 15:40 Did you hear that? Who is the greatest person in this hall today? The one who has the lowest opinion about himself or herself when he or she compares himself or herself with other people here. Do you qualify? 16:02 You feel like that? Maybe you do feel that you're inferior to some of people here who are you see them are far more spiritual than you, but do you feel like that compared to everybody here? Or do you look around at some people and 16:15 say, "That guy is so dumb. I'm better than him."? "That guy is so stupid. I'm better than him."? Uh-huh. You got a long way to go, brother and sister. We you hear some things in this pulpit that you'll never hear in any other 16:32 church. I guarantee that. And you probably already heard those who come here regularly many things that you'll never hear in any other pulpit. And if you hear a message like this, please tell me where it is. I'd like to 16:48 listen to it. I want to improve. What does it mean to humble yourself? Have you taken these words seriously? When you read God's word, you must meditate on it. Think about it. And that's one thing that uh 17:05 all of you must learn to read slowly and meditate. What does it mean to humble myself as a child? Then you think of a child in a cradle. It doesn't first of all it's got no high opinion about itself at all. It does not 17:23 compare itself with anybody. So many come people come and look at this little baby lying in a cradle maybe 1 month old and say, "Wow, what a sweet child, what a sweet smile." It It does not even affected by it. Not at all affected. 17:42 Are you affected when somebody praises you and say, "Oh brother, that's amazing what you just shared. What a wonderful truth from scripture." Or you're really smart. Or something they appreciate about what a good thing you did there. 18:01 And it goes to your head. You are not like a little child. I want to say that plainly to you. I've said that to myself first. I will not preach to you what I've not preached to myself. I'm telling you what I judge myself in. 18:14 I'm not better than you. I as I meditated on it and compared myself with child, I said, "Lord, I'm a million miles away. But I want to get there because you said that if I humble myself as a little child then I'll be of value to you." 18:31 When I say greatest in God's kingdom, I'm not thinking of some position or sitting on some throne or something that Jesus will appreciate me more. That's how I look at it. I want my savior who gave everything for me when he came to this earth to 18:45 appreciate my life. And I see from this verse that he appreciates humility more than anything else. Some of us think we are holier than others, but I want to say to you that it's humility that Jesus appreciates. 19:02 And the humility of a child. Let me tell you something else about a child. Supposing some naughty person goes and pinches that child. He'll cry. But when that same person who pinched comes tomorrow, the child will smile at them. It doesn't 19:19 even remember, "This is the one who pinched me yesterday." Can you be like that? That somebody who hurt you today badly, you see him tomorrow, and you don't even remember that he hurt you yesterday. It's wonderful to be like a child. 19:38 Meditate on this, brother sister. I'm not telling you anything that you could not have discovered yourself from this one verse, if you had little meditated on it. I'm telling you children also how to read the Bible. When you read about it, 19:53 think about it. Why can't you think about a little child lying in a cradle and see what all is going on through that child's mind? Do you think that child is lying there and saying, "Oh, what a clever person I am?" Or how good-looking I am, and how many 20:07 people are coming and admiring me? These are the thoughts that go through the mind of older people. They never, never go through the mind of that little child. And I say, "Lord, I want to be like that. I want to get there. I won't get 20:20 there overnight because I've developed so many bad habits through the years, like all grown-up people. But I want to work towards getting to that place where whatever people think about me doesn't make any difference to me, and whatever 20:33 people hurt me, I don't think about it tomorrow that he did that to me yesterday, or he said that about me yesterday, or last year, or to be completely free from it. It'll take time. But this is what it means to work out 20:47 your salvation. Okay, let's turn to that verse. I'll come back here to this, but I want to read that verse in Children, are you listening? Here is a good verse, Philippians chapter 2, and verse 12, the last part. 21:06 work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Salvation means to be saved from something. Okay? What do I have to be saved from? I have to be saved from all the high 21:25 thoughts I have about myself compared to that little child. That little child has zero high thoughts about itself. It doesn't think it's smarter than others. It doesn't think it's more good-looking than others. It doesn't 21:37 think it's more spiritual than others. It doesn't think anything about itself comparing to others. A child does not compare itself with anybody else. And that's one of the primary marks of a humble person. And we have so much of that from 21:56 childhood. We have developed a habit of comparing ourselves with others. We are taught to compete in the school and compete in the sports field. And always the thought, I've done better than that person. I did better than that 22:08 person. I'm better than that other person. I can do better than him. Even in preaching, there are preachers who get up and preach and say, "I preach better than that person." Okay. He hasn't become a child yet. The spirit of comparison is there all 22:24 the time in us. And it hinders our spiritual growth. And if you look at your life and you ask yourself, "Why don't I get to know the Lord a little better? Why don't I hear the voice of the Lord more clearly in my spirit?" Maybe the 22:39 answer is here. Then those who are humble hear the voice very clearly. And you don't hear it clearly. And you know, you come to situation, you know, what what you want the Lord to tell you what to do. And you pray and pray and 22:53 nothing you don't hear anything. Yeah, you haven't spent your years trying to become like a little child. And all of a sudden, you come to a place of need and you can't hear the Lord's voice. He speaks to little babies. He speaks to 23:04 little children. So, work out your salvation with fear and trembling is a very good verse. I followed it for many years to work out my salvation. Sometimes people try to work out other people's salvation. You're like this and you're like this 23:20 and you're like that and tell other people. Finish with that. The Lord can take care of them. You work out your own salvation. Say, "Lord, I see so many things wrong in me. Why do I have to go around telling other people how they should be? Help me to 23:34 work out my own salvation. Salvation means to be saved from something that is I should not be. I'm too proud. I'm too much like a grown-up person instead of a little like a little child. Lord, help me to work out my salvation 23:49 and with fear and trembling. Fear and trembling means it's not easy. It's not just something I just think about. I have to say, "Lord, I might miss out on this completely and this is the most important thing I need to do before I leave this earth." 24:09 Okay. Verse five. Matthew 18, verse five. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. You who are adults, do you receive little children? Do you smile at little children? 24:32 Or you so big that you only think of smiling at adults? Let's change our habit from today. In the beginning, it may look a bit artificial, but if you make a deliberate effort and say, "Lord, 24:50 I want to value little children. I don't want to value only the grown-up people in this church. I want to value every single person. And it says if you receive a child, you receive me. We all would like to have Jesus 25:14 come into our home. If Jesus came could knock at the door of our house and say, "Can I come in?" How thrilled we would be that Jesus came to my house. And Jesus says, "You want me to come to my your house? If you receive one child 25:33 in the name of Jesus, you're receiving me." Do you believe that? Do you believe that you're actually receiving Jesus when you receive a child? Even your own children, when you value them, 25:52 say, "Lord, this is Jesus I've received in my home today." I want to be like that more more and more. I don't believe I've got there. I've been trying for years. I haven't got there yet, but I want to 26:10 be I want to value young people. I want to value children. I don't want to despise anyone in the church. Okay, let's go to the next verse in verse six. And here's a warning. If you cause one of these little ones 26:30 who believe in me, and all the little ones I do believe, I mean the innocent little child who just helplessly trusts in Jesus and includes everyone. And if you cause that little one to stumble, that means you do something 26:48 that makes that little child go astray. Could be a dad yelling at the mom. The child listens to dad angry with his mom. 27:08 Or mom arguing with dad about something. A little child This little child little child can't understand what's happening. You stumbled it. You know what Jesus said you should do? He did not say take a stone. 27:29 He did not say take You know, a millstone is those heavy stones on which they grind wheat into powder. They're massive heavy things. I can't even lift it. And he said, "Make sure it's a heavy one." Verse six. 27:48 Get a heavy millstone. Tied round your neck. And go and jump in the sea. The nearest lake or sea that you can find. Why? 28:04 Because you stumbled one. Verse six. One little child. You stumbled. By the way you acted. By the way you behaved. Now I'm speaking to the adults. 28:25 And be drowned. He said, "It is better Better means that's the best thing you can do." So, what I learned from that is it's pretty serious to stumble a little child by my 28:43 behavior. Or the way you talk to a little child. Sometimes parents talk to their little child in such a rude, arrogant way. I have I have power over you because I'm your dad. I can talk to you as I like. Uh-huh. 29:01 Are you a Christian or a heathen? So often parents stumble their little children. And no wonder those children 29:19 go away from the Lord and have no interest in Jesus Christ. You know, I've heard parents say, "What to do, brother? My children are going astray. Uh-huh." Whose fault is that? "Oh, they're influenced by their friends in the 29:37 world." No, no, no, no, no. From childhood they saw how you and you and your wife behaved at home. They saw it and they watched it and they they accumulated it for years and years in their mind and they you they saw you talking like Chris talking 29:53 like Christians and going to church and they grew up knowing knowing that it's all rubbish there's going to church because I see how they behave at home. Makes no difference. And they go astray. This is church is just a formality, you 30:08 know, just go there and sit there for a little while, listen to a sermon, go away. It doesn't have to change your life. And the children have seen that growing up and they go astray. I'm not saying this to condemn anybody. 30:22 But it's good to judge yourself. And those of you who still have small children, thank God you can listen to it now before your children have grown up and seen enough in your home to lead them astray. We can't do anything about the past. 30:42 So many times all of us, including me, we wish we could live the I live our life again from a certain stage. You can't do it. Many married people say, "I wish I could go back to that first day my child was born and if I'd heard all these things and I 31:00 would try and live relive my life so I'd be a good example to them." You can't do it. But we can do something from today. The Lord doesn't torment us by saying, "This is how you should have behaved 10 years ago." What's use 31:16 tormenting? I can't do anything about it. You know that verse in the Bible that says, "Today is the day of salvation." That's a great word in Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians. Today is the day of salvation. So, God doesn't torment us with the past and 31:33 says, "You heard this truth. Perhaps you never took it seriously." I'm sure you've read this verse many, many, many times in the scriptures that whoever humbles himself like a little child is the greatest in God's kingdom. 31:50 And to be like a little child to come to him. But maybe you have never taken it seriously, but I hope you will take it seriously today, dear brothers and sisters. They said, "This is what it means to be of value to God." 32:03 Not talking about some position. You know this idea that God's going to give us a reward when we get up to heaven. And I'm going to crown in my head and I'm going to walk around with this crown. You really believe that? 32:16 You think I'm going to go around with the crown on my head to show you what a big crown I got? I have no such idea. What you see in Revelation is everybody who has a crown throws it at the feet of Jesus. Anybody who keeps a crown on his head in 32:30 heaven is a proud man. There's not going to be any crown on any of our heads, I'll tell you that. Because there won't be any proud people in heaven. I've thought about this matter of reward. What is the reward I'm going to 32:46 get when I get to heaven? Is it some just like the earthly rewards where I get exalted over the others? I came first in the class. I won the I came first in the race. And I stand up there on some victory stand. There's no victory stands in 33:02 heaven, by the way. Because the first will be last in heaven. And the last will be first. It's going to be a complete reversal of earth's values that we don't even understand what heaven is going to be like. What is the reward that you're seeking 33:21 for when you go to heaven? I want to ask all of you, dear brothers, have you thought about it? I've thought about it very much. What is it Jesus said, "I'm going to a place where there many mansions and golden streets and all that." 33:34 And I've said to the Lord many, many times as I've understood it more. Lord, I don't want any mansion. What will I do with the 14-bedroom mansion? What will I do with it in heaven? I say, "You can have it. I don't want anybody else I don't want to keep it." 33:51 To me, the only reward that I want when I get to heaven is Lord, I want to be close to you. That's all. I don't want any crown on my head. I don't want any mansion. I don't want any public appreciation. This is what Zach 34:08 did. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want I'm not interested. Give me the privilege of being close to you. And to get closer and closer to know you better and better while I'm in heaven. That's my greatest longing. I know 34:24 there'll be millions of people there. And there'll be millions of people who are more spiritual than me who are also wanting to be close to Jesus. So, it's not a physical closeness. It will be not possible. How can millions of people be all 34:37 crowding around Jesus in physical? No, but there's going to be something wonderful in heaven that I'll be able to be close to the Lord even if he's standing a thousand miles away from me. Close to Jesus and really be able to commune with him even 34:52 though I'm not able to stand in front of him all the time because there'll be so many millions of people there. It's wonderful. So, let me read further. He talks all about people who stumble 35:10 little children by their behavior. It's better they drown in the sea. And then he said in verse seven, "Woe unto the world because of the stumbling blocks." There will be stumbling blocks. No matter even if this sermon is 35:27 preached in every church in the world, some people will still be stumbling blocks. There will always It is inevitable means it will always be there. In every place, no matter how many sermons they hear, they will still stumble little children. 35:46 And many of you who hear me today, I tell you you will go and stumble little children even after today. Cuz you don't take it seriously. He's inevitable means it's unavoidable. Inevitable. It will take place. No 36:04 matter what you preach, there will still be stumbling blocks. But woe unto that person who's a stumbling block. Who stumbles little children. I hope all of you adults will take that one word seriously. That if you stumble a little child even 36:22 here in this church by something you do or something you say or in your home. Or some child anywhere. You should take it seriously. Lord, I deserve to have a big millstone around my neck and go and drown in the sea 36:41 because of the way I just behaved right now. Boy, you really need to repent. Think of the numerous times we have failed the Lord in past years. What is true spirituality? To know the Bible well, to pray well, to be appreciated in the church. Those are the 36:58 things we value. We can sing well. Oh, oh. You can play some instrument. Wow. Oh, that qualifies you for heaven, right? Garbage. I don't know if Jesus could play any instrument at all. You'd be much better than Jesus playing 37:15 some instrument that you play so well. These are not the things that have value in God's kingdom. Use it by all means. We use it on Earth. Preaching. Some of us think we can preach better than Jesus. There's no value. 37:36 The only thing of value is to be like a little child whose mind is so absolutely free from judging others, completely free from keeping an offense, completely free from comparison of itself with others, having no grudge or bitterness, and 37:52 complete innocence. This is what we should strive for. And if you feel guilty, it's good. Then you'll work out your salvation from today. I've read this passage and felt con- guilty many times, but I don't condemn myself because I say, "Lord, 38:11 I believe you can help me. I want I want to take it seriously in my life. And if there's anything in my life that I need to do seriously to come to this place. I'm going to take it seriously. If my hand is offending me, it says verse 8, cut it 38:29 off. If your foot is offending, cut it off. Cut it off and throw it away. It's better to be crippled verse 8 and lame than to have two hands and two feet and to be cast to eternal fi- fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it 38:41 out. If your tongue uh that's the one. If your tongue causes you to stumble and causes little children to stumble, it's better not to have a tongue. And he goes on to say, be careful verse 10 38:59 that you don't despise these little ones. Don't look down on any little child in this church. However awkward they may be, there's another thing I have found in 39:16 among people in the church, you know. There's an evaluation on our mind of some are very clever and not so clever. Some are very rich and not so rich. There's no such evaluation in a child's mind. When I'm like a child, a rich person and 39:34 the poorest beggar are exactly the same before me. The cleverest person and the absolute dumbest person are the same before me. I will not think about it, oh that guy is dumb. No child thinks like that, you know. When you think of somebody and you say, 39:51 oh that guy is so dumb. Uh-huh. Brother, let me give you a little bit of advice. Be converted and become a like little child who does not think like that. Yet there can be so much of that. You know how there's racism in so many 40:09 churches where they look down on people on on who are on of another race and think they are inferior. They're going to get a lot of surprises when you get to heaven. Some of these superior races, they won't even be there. 40:25 If you think you belong to one of the superior races, and it's not just in America, there's plenty of it in India, too. Plenty of it. I've seen it. People who they call it caste there. Not race, but caste. Upper caste, lower 40:40 caste. It's the same old thing, just like racism. Caste-ism, that's what they're talking about over there. This tendency in man to think that I'm better than that other person. Because I belong to this community, or because I belong to this race, or 40:56 because I belong to this caste, or because I got a little educated, because I studied in this particular college. Aha. One prestigious college, or because this is my profession. And I believe that this is the reason 41:15 why the church suffers. Because so many brothers who could have been tremendously useful in the church are absolutely useless. Because they have not walked the way of humility. They have not Therefore, God is not able to anoint them 41:32 and use them mightily to build the body of Christ. So, dear brothers, think about it. The Son of Man has come verse 11 to save that which was lost. And if you can say, "Lord, I'm lost. I'm a big man, and I'm lost in being a 41:50 big person. Please save me." And when you think of the love one sheep, verse 12, that has gone astray, that's you. That's me. Gone astray. How did it go astray in this context? What is he talking about? A sheep who suddenly thought, "I'm a 42:06 very important person." There were 99 others who are just like little children. But this one sheep who thought, "I'm a very important person." That's the one that's gone astray. But the Lord wants to save you. 42:22 Let's bow our heads in prayer. I hope I don't believe I can ever complete this message. You'll have to ask the Holy Spirit to complete that message for you when you go home. 42:42 What I have preached is a completely is a incomplete message. I confess it. It's incomplete. I don't think I've ever preached a more incomplete message as I did today. I knew before I came here that I didn't I wouldn't know what how to say it 43:00 because it's such an important message and I'm incapable of saying it. Ask the Lord to complete the message to you when you go home and say, "Lord, help me to learn this most important lesson in my life because this is how Jesus was." 43:20 We've all said we want to be like him. Well, this is what it means to be like him. To be rooted and grounded in low thoughts about ourselves all the time. Not in occasional spurts of low thoughts and the rest of the time having high 43:36 thoughts. But to be rooted and grounded in perpetual low thoughts about ourselves in relation to others and to value others as more important than ourselves. When we do that, you'll be a real blessing in this church and this church 43:53 will get stronger and stronger and stronger. It's got nothing to do with gift, nothing to do with ability, nothing to do with music, nothing to do with any of these things. It's to got to do with whether we can humble ourselves like little 44:07 children. Everyone here. And then the Holy Spirit will be able to move more freely. We will know what it is to be perpetually filled with the Holy Spirit. And rivers of living water will flow through us. Heavenly Father, we pray that you will 44:22 please take these feeble words and make it clear to us what you want to make clear. What is the burden of your heart today? I don't believe I've been able to express it clearly enough, but I pray that your Holy Spirit will take it home to 44:38 every heart in whatever way everyone needs to hear it, Lord, and help me also to hear it more clearly. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
