0:07 Yeah, thank you children. I would actually like to speak today primarily to the children. And if you think you're uh too old to be a child then this message is especially for you. But before that, I'd like to just briefly mention that our book for this 0:23 month is knowing God's ways. Where it's uh I think 21 chapters, if I remember correctly. Um yeah, 21. So we'll just do the first 10 this month. If you want to skip ahead, you can. Uh and we'll finish it next month. So 2 0:39 months to read this book. Um there's a lot of difference. This is the introduction to this book. There's a lot of difference between observing God's actions, even his miracles, and understanding his ways. And unfortunately, I think that for most of 0:57 Christendom, uh they're more taken up with seeing God's actions. And you know, whenever we talk about most of Christendom, please understand it's not that we think we're better than all others. But we see the direction in which the 1:12 world is headed, the direction in which Christendom in general is headed, copying the world, and the types of things that people are taken up with, the types of things that even Christians boast about in their church meetings. 1:26 And seeing that tendency even in our own flesh, and wanting to fight that. And I think if you were to be honest with yourself, if I was to be honest with myself, if you were to pick between a church meeting where you see God do a genuine 1:44 miracle, a genuine miracle. Let's say somebody was miraculously brought back to life from the dead. Or um a really lame person was completely healed. If you were to pick between a meeting 2:02 where you see that happen and a meeting where you genuinely know more of God's ways in a secret way where nobody else knew it, but you knew God more intimately, which would you pick? Which would you pick? That's the real 2:19 question that I think we should ask ourselves. Would you really pick to know God's ways a little bit more deeply, to know the divine nature, partake of it, to know Christ more fully today than to see him do a physical miracle? 2:37 I wonder how many churches and how many Christians would honestly answer that question and say, "I would rather know God's ways." I say that as one who even as I sit here, I wonder, Lord, what would it be if I come here 2:52 Sunday after Sunday and the emphasis, as it is in this church, is a knowing God's ways more than seeing his mighty works. Does it somehow become ordinary and nothing exciting because, "Oh, I just knew a little bit more of God's ways, 3:09 that's all. I didn't see a dead man raised to life or anything like that." It's because our value systems is so upside down. The world is taken up with what is showy and flashy. And worldly Christians are taken up with what is showy and flashy, supposedly 3:27 even in God's kingdom. But true Christianity is to know his ways and understand his ways. It says that about even in the Old Testament that the people of Israel, they saw God's actions, but Moses knew his ways. Moses was more interested in was was not 3:46 as interested in whether he would drink water, but he wanted to know God. Read Exodus 33 and he says, "Show me your glory, Lord." I don't care if I don't ever drink water again, show me your glory. That's what I hear him saying. 4:00 I don't care if you never drop food from heaven or bring the quails or do another miracle. I don't care about that. I want to see you. I want to I want to see your glory. If Moses had it in the Old Testament, how much more you and I? 4:14 For whom God has put his nature within us, His Holy Spirit within us. And a lot of Christendom, sadly, is taken up with outward things, even long prayer meetings, song sessions, so-called revival. Let's be taken up with knowing God's 4:31 ways, partaking of His nature. So, um he goes on to say in his introduction, "Most Christians observe only God's external actions. They are impressed by physical miracles. They eagerly seek for healing and for material blessings. 4:48 Most of their prayers are also related to such earthly matters, in which they want to see God act on their behalf and bless them in the physical realm. This is because they are in a state of spiritual babyhood." Now, again, I think what my dad's saying in 5:03 this book is not that you have to beat yourself up because you're taken up with physical things and miracles. It's okay, but that's That means you're still a baby Christian. It's okay, to use an analogy, if if you give your child 5:22 um a $100 bill in a glittery envelope for the child to be more taken up with the envelope than the $100 bill. Right? If you give your 3-year-old or 5:38 your 2-year-old a $100 bill in a nice glittery envelope, I guarantee they're going to be more taken up with the glittery envelope. And throw away the $100 bill. Now, if your 25-year-old son is doing that, that's a problem. 5:55 If your 25-year-old son, you give him a $100 bill, he says, "Wow, what a nice envelope. Nice glittery." And they cast aside the $100 bill, you would say you've failed as a parent. You'd say that you taught you didn't you 6:06 failed to teach them a right sense of values. And that's our burden as elders in the church is that we teach in this church the right sense of values, to be taken up with the right things. Even if the rest of the world is taken 6:19 up with the flashy envelopes and the glittery covers, we want people to partake of the divine nature, to experience eternal life, to see the transformation of God of the Holy Spirit in their marriages, in their in their relationships with 6:34 their children. Children, for you to be to learn to obey your parents and to do so joyfully. That's more than that's I'm so thankful that you all say your memory verses and keep doing that. But much more important than what people 6:49 think of you in the church and whether you're a part of RLCF or anything like that, that's great. Are you experiencing the life of Christ? So, I hope this book will be useful for children as well. If these are the things that still excite us, these baby 7:04 things, then we have not seen the glory of the new covenant. One mark of those who are mature is that they are not taken up by God's external acts as much as with knowing God himself and understanding his ways. If you want to 7:20 know more about God and his ways, read this book. So, that's what we have to look forward to this these next couple of months. Uh children, before I move on also, uh anybody tell me what's a bond slave? Number of you said that the Lord that 7:37 God would pour out his Holy Spirit on bond slaves. Anybody know what a bond slave is? You can raise your hand if you think you know what it is. Yeah, we we don't really see bond slaves, thankfully, in this day and age, but a bond slave 7:52 was somebody who was sold into slavery. Today, you might have servants in some homes, but those are servants who would or should get paid for their service. You can say I'm a servant of my company. 8:09 I do a service for them and they pay me. That's a contract. So, in that sense, I'm a servant. If somebody, you know, even a gas station, they do full service they offer. Um or you you get you go to somebody and say, "Can you service my vehicle?" 8:25 They're not going to do it for free. You're you have to pay for it for you for them to service your vehicle. A bond slave was different, though. He was sold into slavery, he or she, was sold into slavery in a way that they had 8:40 no more rights. It was like property. You know, if you have a bicycle, um can your bicycle ever complain about how you treat it? You know, some of you boys, I know you like to put the little cardboard thing over there, so it makes a sound, so it 8:57 sounds like a motorcycle, uh and all that. Can the motorcycle Can the bicycle ever complain, "Hey, why are you doing that to me?" That's That's a bond slave. You can do whatever you want, you can kick it, you can throw it, you can 9:09 jump over the the the the ramp and crash it. It's a bike It has no rights. And there was a time when there were people who were treated like that. Didn't have rights. And it In the Old Testament, you read about that. Joseph, he was a bond slave. 9:29 The time of of the of the Old Testament, there were bond slaves, and even in the early days of the New New Testament, there were bond slaves. And if you saw a bond slave, you wouldn't even say hello to him or her. You wouldn't even You know what I mean? 9:43 You ever think about saying hello to the coffee maker in the back? That's a bond slave. It serves coffee. It's its job. You don't ever say thank you to the coffee maker. And bond slaves were like that. They couldn't even be couldn't even 9:55 demand a thank you. That's how they were treated, like property. And God says, "I have a plan even for bond slaves." Both men and women. So, let's look at that verse, Acts chapter 2. It's a good verse for us to know. Acts 2:18 that the primary class 10:15 memorizing Acts chapter 2. I'm so glad they're doing that passage. Our prayer, dear children, for you is that you will all be filled with the Holy Spirit. And not just in a way that the world thinks of being filled with the Holy 10:27 Spirit, but it will be a genuine experience you have. You don't have to wait. Some of us For us, it was old when we were older in life. Some adults may be still waiting to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but you don't have to wait. 10:39 You don't have to even wait to be 18. You're old enough to understand what we're saying. You're old enough to understand even this sentence that I'm saying right now. You're old enough to say, "Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit." Just 10:51 pray that simple prayer. Cuz you you just go to God on his promise and say, "Lord, you said in Acts 2:18, I even memorized it." that you would even on Acts 2:18, "Even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in 11:09 those days pour forth of my spirit, and they shall prophesy." This is the promise of God. I hope every single one of you children, even if you didn't memorize this verse, at least you know that there's a promise in Acts 2:18 that says that God wants 11:27 you to prophesy. He wants to fill you with his Holy Spirit. Even if you were a bond slave, and all of you, I want to tell you, children, you are higher than a bondslave from the world's standpoint. You have privileges. You have rights. 11:40 None of your parents will treat you badly. You have good parents. And uh you can expect a sense of fairness, for example. You know, if if I don't think that's true of anybody here, but if you had a a parent that treated one of your siblings 11:55 better than you. You have a right to say, "Dad, I You You give that to that other person, or you You're not treating me fairly." Now, I know that that's not true of any of you here. All your parents treat you fairly. But, there may be some people in the 12:08 world, some children in the world whose parents treat them unfairly. They're partial to some other. Maybe they're adopted or stepchildren or foster children that are treated not equal to the the biological children. Even if you 12:24 were one of those, God says, "I want to pour out my Holy Spirit upon you." There are no foster children in God's family. There are no stepchildren in God's family. There are no We're all adopted, but we're You know, I I like to think of it like this. 12:38 That we're not It says in Ephesians 1 that we're He's adopted us, but it's it's also true biologically. We have the blood of Jesus Christ in us. That means we're biologically related to Jesus, also, now. And it says that in in Hebrews 7 that 12:54 the lineage is not a lineage of physical relationship, but that of an indestructible life. So, if you have the indestructible life in you, you're biologically related to Jesus. So, you're not only just adopted, you're made biologically related to the 13:09 Father if you have the life of God in you. So, it's a wonderful thing that God has made you his child, made you his son, made you his daughter. He wants to pour out his Holy Spirit on you. So, he wants us to prophesy. And the other 13:24 verse that the adults in the other classes memorized is from Isaiah 50. I'd like you to see that. Also, Isaiah chapter 50. How do we prophesy? You know, he says in on my bond slaves, men and women in those days I will pour out my Holy 13:44 Spirit and they shall prophesy. But before that happens, I see that there's a condition that God is looking for. And that's in Isaiah 50 verse 4, the other verse that was memorized this week. Uh the Lord God has given me the tongue 13:59 of disciple. There's that prophecy. To know how to sustain the weary one with a word. Is that the longing of your heart? Your children? Some of you very young, even 10 and up, memorized this verse. He This is the whole verse. You 14:16 memorized only part of it, but the whole verse says that God God has given me the tongue of a disciple to know how to sustain the weary one with a word. I I'm convicted by that even as I sit here. I meet weary people. Sometimes you can 14:31 look at somebody on their facing and see, man, that person's going through something really hard. They're weary, they're tired, or they're discouraged. And I I don't know what to say sometimes. I'm sure you meet people like 14:42 that, too, on the on the street. Maybe it's a a a grocery store clerk. And maybe you see that they're they're rude to you because of something that they're going through. And you see, there's a tiredness, there's a weariness. 14:54 So many people in this world have to work long shifts on their feet, perhaps, at work, and they're tired. And God allows you to run to the grocery store late at night because you forgot something for tomorrow. And the main reason he sent you there 15:07 was actually because there's a lady who's at the end of her shift who's weary. And do you go there thinking, Lord, I want the tongue of a disciple? I'm going to talk to this lady for about 2 minutes while she's checking my items 15:20 out, but I want you to give me the tongue of a disciple to sustain this lady so that when she goes home, she she knows how to reach out to you. I want you, Lord, to give me a prophetic word on my tongue. That's what prophecy 15:33 is. It's not saying thus saith the Lord in the meeting or anything like that. I tell you, most prophecy should be practiced outside the church as well. With those we meet, a prophetic word. You read the prophets of the Old 15:47 Testament, they didn't just stand in the temples, they stood on the street corners and they preached. And maybe you don't practice it like that today, but what about the grocery store clerk? Can you prophesy to her? A word that sustains the weary. This is 16:01 prophecy. So, how does that happen? In order for that to happen, at 4:00 in the afternoon, let's say, something must have happened at 7:00 in the morning. That's what the rest of that verse says. That before you, you know, say, "Lord, I 16:16 want this 4:00 in the afternoon tongue of a disciple to prophesy." He says, "Okay, what did you do at 7:00 in the morning when you woke up?" Did you immediately grab grab your phone and see oh, what happened or what's going on in social media or what's in 16:29 the news or who won the cricket match and all this stuff? Or was it like he says here in verse four, that God awakens you morning by morning and awakens your ear to listen? He says, "I want to see are you willing to listen at 7:00 in the morning?" And 16:44 you may not even know why. God knows that tomorrow or later that same day there's a something prophetic he wants to to give you, but he's going to see first of all, are you willing to have your ear opened by him? So, I pray that all of us, if not if 17:00 that hasn't happened even this morning, that tomorrow morning onwards, soon as you wake up or you go to bed tonight, say, "Lord, I want to wake up with you wakening opening my ear. And I want to hear something from you." 17:13 And maybe nothing will happen that first day. But, you do that the second day, and then you do that the third day, and then do that the fourth day. See, a disciple is not proven in the first day. Disciple and discipline are related 17:25 words. If you want to develop a discipline, it's going to take at least 21 days, I think. They say in the world, if you do something for 21 days, it'll become a habit. So, you do that for 21 days. You wake up every morning say, "Lord, I want you to 17:37 open my ear so that I will have a tongue of a disciple." Maybe nothing will happen, or you don't know that anything's happening, but something's happening inside. God is training your ear, and he's training your tongue. And little by 17:49 little by little, suddenly you'll find your tongue is loosed. And you say one sentence to somebody, it's prophetic. And you don't even have to know. You may walk away from that grocery grocery checkout counter not knowing what happened, but that lady 18:04 went home changed. That man went home changed. That coworker of yours that you had a 2-minute conversation with went home changed. Why? Because one 3 weeks earlier, you said, "Lord, open my ear. Open and loosen my tongue." 18:19 Oh, that we will do that. A lot of people covet sitting up here and preaching or standing and preaching and wanting to share the word and all that. I tell you, there's something that's far more important for the for the ministry of this church, and 18:31 that is the tongue of a disciple that comes from the ear that's opened. May we all have that. I've been thinking, children, I want to continue to speak to you, but it's for all of us, children, young and old, that um it's so important that you receive that 18:49 you know the truth. So important that you experience the truth. It's wonderful that you're in a church where you hear the truth. You you can have fun memories together and all of that, but it's so important because the time 19:02 will come when you will have the opportunity to choose for yourself. Right now, all of you children who are living at home, you come to this church, I would say mostly, I think you like it here and there are friends here, but I'd say I'd 19:18 say mostly it's because your parents have chosen to come here. That's why you're here. And you know the truth and the kind of things that we emphasize. The way you dress, sisters, modesty, I believe a lot of that has to do with 19:32 how your daddy and mommy tell you you should dress. Uh boys, what you choose to do, what kind of conversations you choose to have with your friends in school, a big part of that has to do with what your parents tell you 19:46 how you can talk and how you can't talk. Um what you watch on the phone, what when you see a picture, a billboard, or an advertisement, or you see a girl walking by and you're sitting in next to you in your classroom, whether you choose to look at her 20:01 lustfully or not, boys, maybe to some extent there's a little bit of a conscience pricking in you that says, "You know, I shouldn't do that." My dad and mom tell me to be careful with my eyes. In the church they teach about being 20:15 careful with your eyes, but the time will come, young boys and young girls, when you you can do what you want with it. You can do what you want with your eyes. With your ears, you can listen to whatever music you want. You 20:26 can watch whatever movie you want. That time is coming. What will happen then? And our burden in this church, our burden as parents, and our burden as elders, is that when that time comes you will make the right choice. 20:40 I know you all look good now and with your memory verses and I'm not saying that to slight it in any way, but as one who grew up in a church where it might have looked a little bit different than our church meeting here, 20:54 but it was the same essential foundation that I received growing up. The same things that we emphasize here was emphasized in the church that I grew up in, but I know that that time came when I had to make that choice for myself. 21:13 And I know plen- many children in the church that I grew up in who are not walking with the Lord today. Or are taken up with another form of Christianity, a worldly form of Christianity. I'm not saying that if you leave this church and go to another 21:29 church, it has nothing to do with RLCF, honestly. But it has to do with a radical commitment to the things that we emphasize, which are in God's word. Especially in the new covenant. There are people who are children who 21:43 have grow- who have been in this church. And I see what the quality of life that they're living now, not in a judgmental way, please understand, cuz that could be me. Could be my children, I know that. But I I know I I I see children 21:57 who have grown up in this church, have heard the truths that we've emphasized. And as they've grown up older, have chosen a different path. A path that looks like dressing just like the world and talking just like the world and being taken up with the things 22:11 just like the world. And what that does is it brings a fear in my heart because I see that the children in this church, all of you are under the age of 18. You're 17 and younger. And I have a burden and I it's not just me, I want you to know. I believe I'm 22:25 speaking for all of us parents. We have a burden that when you have the opportunity to choose for yourself when you're old enough to set up your own little apartment or get um or you know, have your own job and you have 22:40 freedoms that you can choose for yourself, what will you do? Is the life that we have exemplified and the things that we have talked about worth giving up everything else in the world for? Is it worth it? Let's turn to 1 John chapter 2. 22:58 I love that John at the age of 90 had this burden. A 90-year-old man who had walked with Jesus for 3 and 1/2 years. He was related to Jesus. He was Jesus' first cousin. And he walked with Jesus. So, I assume that he played with Jesus when he was a 23:15 kid. Imagine what it must have been like for John and James, the first cousins of Jesus. They Maybe they got to play with him. Cousin vacation was with Jesus himself. And And then something got a hold of James and John's life along with the 23:30 other disciples. They followed John the Baptist and then then they followed Jesus. And it says that John, you know, John was a a really um a very sensitive person, you can say. He had a soft heart. And uh on the last day that he's spending with 23:45 Jesus, you see him leaning. He's so so in love with Jesus in a in a in a pure way, in a in a genuine way, that he just leans his head on on Jesus. It was late in the evening. They'd been walking a lot that day. He's tired and 23:59 and he he's so drawn to Jesus that he just leans his head on Jesus' shoulder. And Jesus lets him. And then you read later on that he was beaten because uh he stood up for Jesus in Acts chapter 3 and 4. 24:18 And um he Then later on he's persecuted. He's put in a prison, locked up in a prison on an island all by himself for years on the island of Patmos. And he gets a revelation of Jesus in the book of Revelation. But when he writes in 24:34 after 60-plus years of following Jesus, more than Imagine if you walked with Jesus for 60 years. You planted churches. You walked on the What's your burden? Is it some sort of deep philosophical, theological thing? No, he says, "I want 24:50 to write talk to you children." He has a burden for the children in the church. He has a burden for the young people in the church. He has a burden for the fathers in the church. You see that in 1 John 2. Let's read verse 12. 25:06 I am writing and now imagine if if you could I hope for a moment you can just picture John the Apostle sitting here the age of 90. You know, they say when John was old I was that Timothy? I forget, but they used to Yeah, I think it was John. He 25:18 was so old he couldn't even walk. So, they'd bring a chair and they'd carry him in the chair to the meeting. And they'd sit the chair in front and he would sit there and speak. He was so old he couldn't even walk. And he would speak from there. 25:31 Imagine this frail, quiet voice. It's not like Peter, brash Peter. This is quiet voice. And they didn't have microphones back then. So, you had to listen very carefully. So, I imagine there was a pin drop silence. We've got to hear what 25:44 this 90-year-old man He actually saw Jesus, put his head on Jesus' shoulder. What do you think this man would have to say? And he looks at the children. Well, first let's read verse 18. Children, it is the last hour. 26:01 1 John 2 verse 18. Children, it's the last hour. Jesus is coming soon. So, go back and read verse 12. And he says, "I'm writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake." I want to ask you children, can John 26:19 if John the Apostle was to sit here and by the prophetic utterance of God say, "I'm looking to you children and I know your sins have been forgiven." You know, John says that not to the adults, but to the children. Children, 26:33 I'm writing to you because your sins have been forgiven. Children, I want you to know if there are any sins in your life today, it's the last hour. Don't wait. It's almost time for Jesus to come. Almost time for Jesus to come. 26:47 Your sins can be forgiven, too. And And John and Holy Spirit can say, "Children, your sins are forgiven. That's why I'm writing to you." Wonderful. He says it again in verse um um 13. 27:12 The end of verse 13, "I've written to you children because you know the Father." Is that possible, children? You hear about knowing the Father. It's not Yes, it's for us adults, but think, children, if you can start at this age of godly John the Apostle at 27:30 the age of 90, he's got discernment. He says in later on, "Discern the spirits." So, he's somebody who can discern. He can look at a child and know what's really in the heart of that child. I believe John could know it. Imagine if a 27:41 godly man like John the Apostle was to come and look at one of you little boys, little girls and say, "I know your sins are forgiven. I know you know the Father." Can't fool John. You may be able to fool a lot of the other immature, 27:54 undiscerning people, even some of the undiscerning elders. You may even be able to fool your parents if they're not discerning. But think if there was a discerning man and a real, genuine apostle of God who's in touch with the 28:04 Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit says, "That little boy, his sins are forgiven. He knows the Father." That little girl, her sins are forgiven. She knows the Father. What a testimony! Think, children, if you can set this as 28:17 you go, "Lord, I want you to be able to say this of me. My sins are forgiven. I know the Father." Then he says, "I'm writing to you young people." The middle of verse 13. "I'm writing to to you young people because you've overcome the evil one." 28:36 Think about it. If John the Apostle was to sit here and say, "Young man, I know what you've been battling this last week and I see you're overcoming." He saw it. John wasn't there watching what your eyes were watching on your 28:49 phone or the computer, but he knew through the witness of the Holy Spirit. Young people, I know you. I see that you're battling. And even if you've fallen, dear young people, want you to know that the that the voice that what Jesus would say 29:04 to you is just keep fighting. Have you gotten up today? Then you've overcome. Okay, you fell last week. That's great, but are you Did you get up? Are you STANDING TODAY? YOU'VE OVERCOME then because it's not how many times you fell 29:19 or how many times you failed. It's It's how many times you got up. Are you standing today? Then you've overcome the evil one by the power of Jesus. Young people, John is writing to you. The Holy Spirit's writing to you through John. 29:35 I'm writing to you young people because you've overcome the evil one. He says it again verse 14, I've written to you young men because you are strong. Young people, and the word of God abides in you, and you've overcome the evil one. 29:51 Dear young people, I hope you'll take this to heart. That the Holy Spirit wants to be able to bear witness of you. That you are strong. The word of God abides in you. Means you're The word of God has gone into your heart, into your 30:05 spirit. And you've overcome the evil one. And lest we think us adults are off the hook, he says, I'm writing to you parents or fathers, he says, in verse 13, because you know him who has been from the beginning. Is that true, parents? 30:21 Not I know the doctrine. I'm a member of ILCF. I know him who has been from the beginning. And this is the one that he repeats again in verse 14, I'm writing to you parents, fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning. Take 30:35 that to heart. Lord, I I I heard what you said to the children. I heard what you said to the young people. Now, Lord, let it be so that I know you who have been from the beginning. And then he goes on to say, "Why is this 30:49 so important? I'm writing to you you you you're overcoming, you know him who has been from the beginning, your sins are forgiven." All these things, why? Because I want you to know you should not love the world, verse 15. 31:04 If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. It's a very simple test. And that's what I was saying earlier, that the time will come when this verse, 1 John 2:15, will be proven in your life or not. If the love of the world is in you, 31:24 then you know that the love of the Father is not in you. If you love the world. And that's what I see. Like I said, there's a lot of young people who grow up in godly churches, children who grow up hearing the truth, and the love they love the world today. 31:38 They want to be like the world. They want to dress like the world. They want to talk like the world. They want to post on social media just like the world. They want to act like the world. They're interested in the things of this 31:46 world. And God forbid that any of you children sitting in this church, it was just a cover. You just didn't have the opportunity. The love of the world was there in you all along. You love the world. And when you saw your friends at school 32:03 doing this and being able to do that and talking like that and behaving like that and having girlfriends and having boyfriends and and all this stuff and a careless attitude towards sin and speaking disrespectfully to their 32:13 parents and to adults and to their teachers, deep down you wanted to do the same thing because you had you loved the world. And our prayer is that you will not love the world. Now, while you're at home, we will restrict certain things. We We won't let 32:33 you just have freedom on the phone to do whatever you want. We won't let you just sit on a laptop in a in the room with a locked door and get on whatever website you want. We'll We won't We'll be careful whose house you go over to 32:46 so that you're not misbehaving. We'll limit what you can do with your friends because we are we care about you. But what are we after ultimately, dear children? We want you to not have the love of the world. We want you to see in us first of all, 32:59 and parents, let me speak to us first of all. If our children If you were to ask if I if If God was to come privately to our children, you know, you you hear about child investigators. Privately, they have conversations with 33:12 the parents. What's dad really like? And they do that away from the parents if there's an abuse situation and things like that. Child Protective Services will often interview the children privately. Now, if the Holy Spirit was to come privately 33:25 and ask a child, "What's dad really like? Does he love the world? What's mom really like? Does she love the world? I mean, you see them. You child, you see what your dad talks about and what he's excites him and what you 33:39 know, you see what how much he's on his phone or what he what he spends his time doing. Does he really love the world?" It's convicting, isn't it, children? Uh parents? If if God was to ask my children, "What does Santosh really love? Does he 33:54 love the world?" Okay, the times of ignorance God overlooks, but now he commands men everywhere to repent. Say, "Lord, I want my children to be absolutely certain. Not Oh, I heard dad talking about the love of the world. 34:10 No, he actually doesn't love the world. Because the other day he got a little bit of a bonus at work and he was like, "Yeah, okay, it's a little bit more money, but it's the world. It's going to be taken away from me at some point. 34:20 It's passing away." More in I'm more interested in the things of heaven. I'm more excited about gathering together with the saints than with some other party that we got invited to where there's nice food and games. Or somebody gave me free tickets to 34:38 watch the basketball game playoffs. No, I'm more interested in meeting with God's people. There's nothing wrong with doing things in the world that are exciting. First Timothy 6 makes it clear God has given us all things freely to 34:50 enjoy. Enjoy them by all means, but what do you love? Now, how do we free ourselves from the love of this world? You can say, "Well, Lord, I don't want to love the world. I don't want to love the world." You could try and I can tell you now yourself you 35:02 will fail. But how do we free ourselves from the love of the world? We're told in that verse that it's by having the love of the Father. The proof that I don't love the world is the proof that I have the love of the Father is that I don't love the world. 35:18 So, the lack of love for the world, not loving the world. Children, please listen. I want to try to explain this in as simple a term as possible so that you understand it and then hopefully us adults will get it, too. I 35:31 I I know that I have the love of the Father in me, the love of God in me by the fact that I don't have the love of the world. But if you're busy trying to not love the world, "Oh, I don't want to love the world. I don't want to love the world." 35:44 That's going around it backwards. You're trying to not love the world. But instead, if the love of the Father was in you, if you had the love of the Father in you, what would happen as a result of that is you lose interest in the things of this 35:58 world. Because the love of the Father has so filled your heart that there's no room for love of this world. And I want to tell you that if there's even a little bit of the love of the world in you, it's because that's a little bit of the 36:12 lack of the love of God, the love of the Father in you. So then, children, you should ask me, "Well, how do I have the love of the Father?" I'm glad you asked. Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. So, children, if you if you are if you want to write down 36:27 these verses, you can. We were in 1 John chapter 2 verse 15. And it says in the if you read those later verses, what is the love of the world? The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life. Essentially, everything you see in the 36:41 world can be summarized in those three things. Lust of the eyes, that is wanting things. I want a nicer car. I want a nicer house. I want a better job. What I see, I want. Lust of the flesh, that is especially sexual lust. Desire 36:55 for pleasure. And that can be true for girls as well. That you want pleasure. You want that it will feel good. People drink alcohol for that reason. They take drugs for that reason. They're addicted to sexual habits for that 37:06 reason. All of those things, that's the lust of the flesh. And the boastful pride of life is saying, I am better than somebody else. I want to show off that I'm a little bit better. And you can bring that into the church, 37:17 even. I want to show that I memorized my verse better than everybody else, or I'm good at this. I can do this better. I can alwa- You know, what about what is the boastful pride of life? Always to win. Now, I hope that you'll keep trying to 37:29 win, but if you don't win, it's okay. And if you find that when you lose in the game, you're so discouraged and you're angry and you're upset and you're in a bad mood for the rest of the day, you probably have the boastful pride of 37:41 life. And it's the world. And you see that your friends act like that when they lose. But you want to be different, children. Especially boys, it's probably in you, and maybe some of some of you girls as well. I want to tell you, this is 37:53 something that I struggled for many years, and I still find it crops up. The boastful pride of life. I must win. And I yes, I'm sure you will all feel disappointed if you lose, but that's why as most of the children will tell you, 38:05 most of our games end in a tie. Nobody has the boastful pride of life because our games tend to end in a tie. That's why I like ties so much. But Romans 5:5, it says that the how is it that the love of God is poured out within our hearts? 38:25 Hope does not disappoint, verse five. Because the love of God, the love of the Father has been poured out within our I like the King James I think it says shed abroad. That means it's overflowing. It's like a you know, sometimes you see these 38:38 hydrants that are broken. Somebody car runs into the fire hydrant and underneath that is a water under a lot of pressure. And if that hydrant is broken, this water is released. And you see it flying up into the air with such 38:53 pressure. Think about the love of God like that. How? Through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So where does it start children? At a young age ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. That's what it comes down to ultimately. Say, Lord, I 39:08 want the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I want it to be like a cup that's empty. I want you to pour out your Holy Spirit within me that it's overflowing and there's such power of the Holy Spirit within me and it's not just me coming to 39:21 the prayer meeting say, Lord, please fill me with the Holy Spirit because that's what my dad and mom told me to pray. No, Lord, I want to ultimately I don't want to love the world. I see that when I when my friends are doing these 39:32 other things, I want to do what they want to do as well. I want to be like the world. Will you change my heart, Lord? Children, is that the cry of your heart? Lord, I don't want to be like that because I tell you the time will come 39:44 when there won't be dad and mom around to tell you you can't hang out with those friends. You can't go to that movie. You can't you know, listen to this music or whatever. The time will come when dad and mom won't be around and then what? 39:56 If you if you've cried out for the baptism of the Holy Spirit within you and God has filled you with His Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit has shed abroad His love in your heart and the love of the Father fills you so much 40:08 that you don't have room for the love of this world anymore. I want to tell you children I'm on this journey myself. I don't want any even a little bit of the love of the world. I see it coming. It's a battle you'll have to fight all 40:21 your life. That even when you're 20, 30, 40, 50, 60. I mean, you ask an 80-year-old person, 90-year-old person, the temptation to love the world is still there. And how shall we be free from that? How shall we resist that temptation? It's 40:38 not by gritting our teeth and saying, "Oh, I guess I shouldn't love the world." Let the love of the Father fill your heart through the Holy Spirit. So, cry out from a young age for the fullness of the Holy Spirit within you. 40:52 Let's turn to Matthew chapter 5. There are two things that um I've been thinking about recently. And again, children, I want you to think about this as well cuz if you get it, I think us adults will get it. Why is it that people are not filled 41:09 with the Holy Spirit? See, ultimately, we don't want to have the love of the world because the love of the Father is within us. Kind of working our way backwards, right? We don't want to love the world because the love of the Father 41:20 ultimately the love of the Father is the most important thing. Because guess what? In heaven, there's not going to be a world to love. All we'll have is the love of the Father. We'll have the love of the Father because we see him and we're in 41:31 his presence. That's ultimately the pinnacle, the love of the Father in us. But the manifestation of that while we're here on this earth is that we don't love the world because the love of the Father is within us. And like I was 41:43 saying, that comes through the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Remember I started this this message by saying, "What would you choose? To see a dead man, children, what would you rather choose? To see 41:53 somebody dead brought back to life or to have a little bit more of the love of the Father in you?" I hope you'll choose that. A little bit more of the love of the Father. I heard a message, you can say that inspired me, or I heard I sang a song 42:06 that that God spoke to me and said, "Lord, I want more of your love. Fill my heart with your compassion, Lord." If if you sang that song, you would say, "Lord, I want that and the love of the Father in my heart." Okay. So, what comes then for the for the God 42:22 to fill us with His Holy Spirit? I see two things I want you to see in Matthew 5 verse 4 and verse 6. I believe you know that know these verses already. But, these are two things as I've seen a lack of the fullness of the Holy Spirit 42:34 in my life and I've seen some even this week. A lack of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in my life, which results in a lack of complete love for the Father, which results in a little bit of the love for the world. That's how I see it and I see that 42:47 immediately. I don't say, "Ah, okay, at least I'm not that bad." No, even 0.1% of the love of the world is a serious thing for me. Because it means that I don't love the Father. That means that the fullness of the Holy Spirit was not there. Why was 43:01 it not there? And the Lord showed me two things as I've been meditating on it. And that is, first of all, there's a lack of mourning. There's a lot of talk about rejoicing in Christendom. And oh, yes, there's there's rejoicing in the presence of the 43:17 Lord, there's fullness of joy. But, long before the rejoicing comes a mourning. When you see a little bit of the love of the world, dear family, dear children, is there a grieving within you? Say, "Lord, I'm not like you. I'm not 43:33 Christ-like. I see in my attitude towards my wife, I see in my attitude towards my children, I see in my attitude towards the world or something. I'm not like you and there's a mourning." Is there a mourning, adults, in your 43:46 life? Is Is your life characterized by a secret mourning over un-Christ-likeness in your life? If there isn't, I want to tell you, you will never be filled with the Holy Spirit. You won't be filled with the love of God and you will have the love of this world 44:01 in you. Your children might overtake you. Our children might overtake us because they take it seriously. But, is there a mourning? Is it Matthew 5:4, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be filled with strength." 44:14 That's what the word comforted means. They will You know what to me the the the key to that word comforted is the word fort. Is there a fort in your life? Is there a fort around your heart, around your mind, around your eyes, 44:31 around your ears, around your tongue? Is there a fort around it? So that your tongue can't just slip out and do say some word like that. Why? There's a fort protecting it. Your eyes just can't look at that and lust. Why? There's a fort protecting it. 44:47 Your ears can't listen to that gossip easily. Why? There's a fort protecting it. How do you get that fort? Through mourning. You mourn over it when you fall into sin. Is there a mourning in your life? Say, "Lord, I I I I hate this. Please, I 45:02 don't want to be like that. I don't want to use my tongue like that." Or even a thought. When a little thought, a bitter thought, an angry thought, or a resentful thought, or an unforgiving thought towards somebody. Is there a fort around your mind? 45:19 Those who mourn shall have this fort around them. Verse 6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst." These are the two things the Lord's been reminding me and showing me why there's a lack of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in areas in my life. 45:34 Because I don't mourn enough over my my sin and my un-Christ-likeness, and I don't hunger and thirst enough for it. Because I'm I ate a meal. I had my coffee. I slept well. Life's pretty good. Therefore, there's no hungering and 45:50 thirsting. And I tell you, my dear brothers and sisters, I believe that the greatest danger we face in a first-world country like the United States is that there's a lack of a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Cuz we're not in need. 46:03 I tell you the poor people in the third world countries, their lack of physical things, necessities, will cause them to be hungry and thirsty for God. They'll grope for him. Say, "Lord, I I can't see or I don't have food. I'm 46:19 going to grope for you." And they'll come in touch with God. Remember that verse in Acts 17 says, "You will grope for God." Who are the ones who grope for God? The ones who are not who are hungry and thirsty. They don't have things on this 46:30 earth that can satisfy them. That's where the groping. Where are you, Lord? Perhaps what it will take then is fasting. Fasting for a day or fasting for a meal. Deny yourself. The food's there, but will you take take some time to deny yourself that 46:47 food because you you say, "Lord, I see a love of the world in me. That means there's a lack of the love of you in my heart. That means I'm not filled with the Holy Spirit. And that means that I'm not hungry and thirsting for you, for 46:57 righteousness." So, Lord, I want to hunger and thirst. And he will say, "Okay, skip a meal. Skip three meals." Children, before you do that, check with your parents. You may need to eat. Maybe for you the hungry and thirsting comes from eating. 47:12 What you should eat. Eat your vegetables. That's that's fasting for us, children. But seriously though, you, each of us, must stand and answer to God ultimately. And rather than simply looking at that and saying, "Oh, I I love the world. I I 47:31 I don't have the love of the Father." Instead of that, say, "Lord, there's a lack of a hungering and thirsting in my life." So, yeah, before I move on before I close, I wanted to share something also for the children. It should only take about 10 47:45 minutes or so. I was in London recently and I spoke again primarily to the children hoping that in that um uh in speaking to the children, even the adults would understand and I I spoke about letting God get the most out of your 48:03 life. Letting God get the most out of your life. Children, I think you have the opportunity to start at a young age to let God get the most out of your life. For us adults, it's it's a different thing because we're adults, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 48:21 80s, 90s even. But you can still get God get the most out of your life at whatever age you are. But think, children, if you can start now, you're 8 years old, 6 years old. You're old enough to understand what I'm saying and you're paying attention. 48:34 You're 6 years old, let's say. Say, "Lord, I want you to get the most out of my life. I want to give it to you today." I remember hearing the testimony of a young of an older lady who had served God as a missionary for many years. I heard her testimony myself 48:49 live in Bangalore years ago. And she said she I believe she was 5 years old, 5 or 6 years old, maybe even younger. When she was sitting in a meeting and she heard somebody say something about giving yourself to the Lord fully and 49:01 she said, "Okay, I'm going to give myself to the Lord fully." By the time I met her, I think she was in her 80s. And she'd given her life to the Lord at the age of 5 or 6 and God had used her. She didn't you know, I don't think 49:15 there's any biography written about her, but we're going to hear about it in heaven. And she was such a godly woman, saintly woman. You sat and talked to her, the joy of Christ was on her face and her speech. There was graciousness in her 49:26 speech. And you know, all of us have different personalities, but all I'm trying to say, children, is that you, too. And the greatest example of that is Jesus. At the age of 3 months, 6 months, 9 months. And yes, he was like you and he 49:41 had to also learn. But from the earliest age, he gave the most to his father. And he says, "Now, follow me." Jesus says, "Follow me." So you children at a young age can say, "Lord, I want you to get the maximum out of my life." 49:58 I tell you, what a RLCF will be 100,000 10,000 times better if you children can all of you decide at young age at your age, whatever age you are, "Lord, I want you to get the maximum out of my life." I don't want even to take 1 minute for myself again. 50:15 And adults, if we can take that to heart, what a difference this next the rest of this year will be if today we decide, "Lord, I want to give you the maximum out of 2023, maximum. No more just sitting on the pity pot, bad moods, 50:29 angry, fighting with the in the home, uh arguing, complaining. No no more of that, Lord. I want you to get the maximum out of my life." That'll be greater than 100 dead people raised to life. So, what I told them was I used the a 50:44 pencil as an example, and I thought I would just share that with you children so you can remember it. How are you going to let God get the most out of your life? I used a pencil as an example. Some characteristics from a pencil. So, 50:55 children, I want you to pay a special attention as I'm speaking primarily to you. A pencil is helpless without a hand holding it. See, if I drop this pencil, it just drops. It doesn't have any strength on its own. Even a plant, you can say, 51:12 or an ant, or a spider, or a little bug, has some ability on its own to do something. But a pencil has zero ability to do anything on its own. A pencil is helpless without the hand holding it. And remember that, children. Unless God is 51:30 the one who's filled you, like I talked about, unless your hand is placed completely in the hand of God, your life is useless. Doesn't matter what you can do, doesn't matter if you finished first in class, you can dunk the basketball, 51:40 you can score a goal from the halfway line. None of that matters if God is not the one holding you, you're good for nothing. There's a wonderful hymn I sing I love to sing Jesus, lover of my soul. We sing it. Maybe we can sing it later. 51:56 There's a a few lines in there that's go like this, "Other refuge have I none." Think about a pencil saying to the hand, "I don't have any refuge except you, hand. The only place I want to be is in you, hand." The pencil doesn't want to be over here, 52:09 doesn't want to be in the showcase, doesn't want to be in front of anybody else. It just says, "Hand, I want to be in you. That's it." "Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on thee." "All my trust on thee is stayed." 52:25 "All my help from thee I bring." "Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing." "Thou, oh Christ, art all I want." "More than all in thee I find." You know, I thought about it like this, the pencil's goal is, "Where's my hand?" 52:44 "Where's the hand that's supposed to be holding me?" You know, this pencil sitting there, it doesn't think, "Oh, look at me. I'm so beautiful and I could write so many wonderful things." The one thing that occupies and preoccupies the 52:55 mind of this pencil is, "Where is my hand?" The hand that is supposed to be holding me. And think family, think children, if throughout our day it says, "Lord, I Where are you in this situation? You're the hand that's wanting to hold me. I just found 53:10 out this news or my child just fell and got hurt or my child is sick or I don't know what's going to happen with my children's future and and all this, where are you, hand?" A pencil is useless unless it's without the hand holding it. The second thing I 53:26 see in a pencil is that a pencil is useful only if it's been sharpened. You get this This pencil has a very sharp point. That's why if I was to write with it, you could see very clearly. Have you ever tried to write with a blunt pencil? 53:40 You can't hardly make out. What does it say? It's blunt. And the reason so many people are use are not useful to God, they're not clear messengers of Jesus Christ is because they haven't allowed God to sharpen them. And children, God will use your times 53:56 when you're at home especially, when you have to obey Daddy and Mommy and it's the last thing you want to do. It takes everything within you to obey them. What's God trying to do? He's trying to sharpen you. When you want to do something else or 54:10 if your parents ask you to do something or not do something and you ask them, "Well, why, Dad?" and Mom and Dad and Mom say, "Well, because I love you." And that's it. You don't have to understand why. God's trying to sharpen you. 54:24 All of us adults can testify it's that during those times when we're perplexed, we don't hear we don't know why God is doing things a certain way in our life and we're not sure. He He's allowing something to happen and I if it were up 54:37 to me, I would I would have a much different better plan. God is sharpening you. God is sharpening you because he wants to write a clear letter in your with you. There's a poem I'll read. It's It's It's It's It's a beautiful poem, but listen 54:54 to it even if you don't understand it. See if you can understand the words. When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part when he yearns with all his heart to 55:13 create so great and bold a man that all the world should be amazed, watch God's methods, watch his ways. How he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects. Think about this pencil going into a 55:32 sharpener. Have you ever thought about what would would be like if somebody put your head into a pencil sharpener and the blades are spinning you around? That's what you do to a pencil. You without thinking about it, you just stick it in there and 55:46 and it comes out sharp. It's not pleasant for the pencil. It's very unpleasant. And think about the circumstances God is taking you through frustrations, disappointments, things that you wish would be different. You hoped it would work out this way, it 56:01 worked out differently. God is sharpening. Parents, when you see God doing that in your children, maybe they didn't come first. They They failed in something or they they wanted something else and they it didn't happen. What's God doing in their lives? 56:15 He's sharpening them. The little success or failure here is not as important as God's purpose. How he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects. How he hammers him and hurts him and with mighty blows converts him 56:33 into trial shapes of clay which only God understands. While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands. Listen to that carefully. This You're like a pencil and you feel like your heart is tortured. 56:50 While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands, you would think finally God would have mercy. Have you ever prayed said, "Lord, why? Why me? Will you make it stop?" I have. I look back now and I'm glad God didn't 57:07 make it stop. Because I was still blunt. I remember times I think I've shared this that at times I felt like I was a rag doll in God's hand and he was just beating my head onto the ground just non-stop. I felt like that. It wasn't 57:20 true. But God was sharpening. God doesn't want to just use you and dis- dispose of you. He has a purpose. And if you feel like that, if you feel like your tortured heart is crying and you're lifting up beseeching hands saying, "Lord, why?" 57:34 He's sharpening you. There's a purpose that is coming. How he bends but never breaks. See, God knows exactly how far he can bend you and sharpen you. He knows when's the right time. How he bends but never breaks when his good he 57:51 undertakes. How he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose fuses him. By every act induces him to try his splendor out. God knows what he's about. God knows what he's about. Says in Isaiah 53:10, "It pleased the 58:10 Lord to crush him." You know that verse? Isaiah 53. Let's look at it very quickly. Isaiah 53 verse 10. It's speaking about Jesus. Now, if you think, "Well, Lord, I'm the first one that's suffering like this." No, you're not. 1 Corinthians 13:10-13 58:26 says that no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. And God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted more than you're able to bear, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape. So, people 58:40 have gone through this and most importantly, Jesus has gone through that. He went through much more sharpening than you have ever gone through. And here it says in verse 10 of Isaiah 53, the Lord, that is the Father, was 58:51 pleased to crush Jesus, putting him to grief. You meditate on that phrase sometime. Putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering and then he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will 59:10 prosper in his hand. Do you want the good pleasure of the Lord to prosper in your hand? Let Write that phrase down and look at it sometime. Lord, I want your good pleasure to prosper in my hand. In your hand, sorry. I want your good 59:25 pleasure to prosper in your hand, you do it. God will do it. Another thing about a pencil is every pencil has what on the end of it? Some child tell me. An eraser. Every pencil has an eraser at the end of it to set right the things 59:42 that have you've done wrong. I know you've all already done a lot of wrong things, children. But God's given you an eraser and that is the blood of Jesus Christ and a conscience to set right the things that you've done wrong. There are things 59:55 you've done wrong, maybe you fought with your sibling, you told a lie. Set it right today. God's given it to you. You can set it right. To erase that. Once it's erased, it's gone completely. It's erased. It's not covered over, it's erased. 1:00:08 God's given you eraser. Keep a clear conscience. You can have that today. Children, if there's something you've done wrong and you and God reminds you of it right now or sometime later, set it right. Go go to your sibling, go to 1:00:19 your parents, set it right. Whoever it is that you've harmed. Another thing about the pencil is it's what's inside the pencil that matters. It doesn't matter if the outside looks ugly, scarred, broken, whatever. It's inside, the 1:00:34 graphite inside it that matters. So, don't worry about what gifts or talents you have, what you look like. You look in the mirror, don't look at the face cuz that's what the world will tell you to look at. It's okay. Make sure you're 1:00:45 presentable, but don't be vain about whether you think you're good looking. Don't be Don't complain about whether you think you're not good looking enough. It's what's inside. That's the only thing that will matter. At the end, we will all have a 1:00:58 resurrected body. We'll all look like Jesus, those who are conformed into his image, and it's what's inside that matters. That's the most important thing. The next time you stand in front of the mirror, children, say, "Lord Jesus, I'm looking at my 1:01:10 mirror and I can see what my face looks like, but will you show me what's inside?" And you know how he'll do that? It says that the word of God is like a mirror. If you read the Bible, what will happen little by little is God 1:01:22 show you what the inside of your life looks like and that's much more important than what the outside of your life looks like. Lastly, what happens when you write with a pencil? Does it get longer or shorter? Yes. The more God uses you, the smaller 1:01:40 you'll become. How do you know that God is using you? Are you better, bigger, more well known, more famous, more important? Then you're a different You're not God's not using you. But you know that God is using you is that the more he uses you, you get less 1:01:57 and less and less. You're more humble. You're more broken. You think less of yourself. Cuz God's writing and the more he writes and think what delight. You know, if you say God, I you can write with me but make sure I get bigger, he 1:02:08 says, "No, I can't use you then." But are you willing to you let me use you and you I write and write and it gets shorter and then he puts you in the in the sharpener, you get even shorter and then you write some more, it gets 1:02:20 shorter, put you in the sharpener, it gets even shorter and what happens at the end of my life? I'll tell you. I've set it as a goal. The end of my life, there'll be nothing left. God will have used every little bit of the graphite that is in me. 1:02:34 The world is trying to die old. God, I want to die empty. I want to die with nothing left. I say, "Lord, I I give my life to you." Remember that poem that C. T. Studd wrote? Only one life, it'll soon be past. Only what Christ does through me will last 1:02:49 and when my life um that last line says uh when I see you at when the end of my life, how happy I'll I be if the lamp of my life had has been burned out for thee. What a What a goal to set for our children. Children, you can start now. 1:03:07 You can say, "Lord, here's my pencil. It's still pretty big cuz I've got a whole life ahead of me. I want it to be so that at the end of my life, it's all written, completely written, completely burned out for you." I'm
