Let the Little Children Come: Embracing Childlike Faith

We actually put boundaries on what God can do. And this is what life does. We go through disappointments. We get cynical. We say, oh, no. God. God can't do that. I've I've tried before. I've asked before. He won't do it. And we stop living in faith. We become faithless. And here, Jesus, in this very simple way, should shake all of us. As he says, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. We are all invited to live with a childlike faith and trust in him, and that is where life is at. We need faith, and it's faith that pleases God. [01:18:24] (57 seconds)  #ChildlikeFaith

The kingdom of god belongs to such as these little children. That's a radical upside down view. Or to take Sally's language from a few weeks ago, it's the right way up thinking. But in that time, and certainly for the disciples, and I'd imagine for those around, this was a radical thought that actually the kingdom of God was for such as these. The kingdom of God was for children. Jesus is saying that children are of value and worth, that they are invited to participate and be in the kingdom of god. This is radical thinking. This is, in their view, upside down thinking. In kingdom language, right way up thinking. [00:55:14] (48 seconds)  #KingdomForKids

We make other things more attractive than Jesus. It's not always what we say. In fact, rarely is it what we say, and I'm talking to those of us who have influence and impact, parents and carers and leaders and grandparents and whoever here today who has influence over and input into children's lives. It's not what we say, but it's how we live. When we found that, you know, oh my goodness, there's, you know, reaction of a child. They'd say something or do something. So I'm in that. You know, kids will watch and they will do things. They will model behavior. They will see values worked out in behavior. [01:02:34] (43 seconds)  #ActionsNotWords

And and I need to acknowledge and say that the reality is is that we are not in control of our kids or our grandkids or the kids that we love and care for. We're not. We have to entrust them to Jesus. And I know that you have done an incredible job loving Jesus. And we have to, at some point, surrender our kids, our grandkids to Jesus. There are no guarantees every person will make their own decisions. My encouragement to you, as it is my encouragement to me as I'm walking this journey with fear and trembling as well, is to keep praying, keep loving, and keep modeling. Keep shining and showing Jesus. [01:05:33] (46 seconds)  #EntrustKidsToGod

And in the midst of this worldview, the Christians carrying this ethic that Jesus had said that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these, that children have intrinsic value and worth, they went out. And we read the stories of how they would go out into the to the dumps and the places where children would be left to die. They would call it exposure, and they would take these kids and they would babies and they would bring them back into their homes and care for them. Foolishness, crazy in the Roman view, but, ultimately, the love and the care and the value and the worth placed in these children won the day. [00:59:43] (44 seconds)  #RescueAndCare

Eli the priest understood what was going on and made the voice of God accessible to Samuel. That is our task. That is our task. So how do we help young people? How do we help children encounter Jesus? I was reading an article the other day, about the the the most effective, parts of the church or or faith, or elements of the church are the most effective in seeing faith transference or faith transmission. And the most effective group at 90% of transmit at at 90% transmission rate, if that makes sense, is the Amish. The Amish, which you would think, man, wouldn't there be heaps of rebellion? No. 90% transfer transference rate. And they have three books that sit at the heart of every home. [01:09:12] (54 seconds)  #FaithTransferAtHome

The only person who dares wake up a king at 3AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access. We're invited to come to God with a childlike, audacious, bold, courageous, innocent, naive faith. I wonder whether that's how you relate to God right now. Because if I'm honest, I don't. You know, we we grow up. We get a bit crusty and old. And other things get in, and we stop relating to God like a child. One one of the reasons is pride. I know that's for me. Oh, I've got it. I can fix it. I can sort it. There's an issue? [01:17:13] (58 seconds)  #ChildlikeBoldFaith

When someone encounters Jesus, they're changed by Jesus. Two thousand years ago, we read that, and we read it today as well. When we encounter Jesus, we're changed by Jesus. Do you believe that? And my prayer is, again, as I've been saying throughout this this series, that today that there'll be people here who encounter the love, the grace, the mercy, the kindness of Jesus in a fresh new way, the presence of Jesus because he is here by his holy spirit now. Do you believe that? He's here with us, and he takes great joy in communicating his presence to us. [00:45:47] (40 seconds)  #EncounterJesusTransforms