Embracing Childlike Qualities in God's Kingdom

1) "There's something so mesmerizing about watching a toddler experience the world. If you've ever been around a toddler, they ask the question why a lot. They're super curious, and a toddler will be so excited about the little things of life. You can let a toddler go outside and they are mesmerized by everything. Everything is just wow. I mean the garbage truck when it's coming down the street. There's some kids I know that'll be so excited to know that the garbage truck is coming out and they want to see it go or they'll go outside and they'll see like a little bug and they'll just want to play with the bug or a leaf and they'll play with the little leaf. There's something that is so wonderful to kids that I think as we get older we kind of lose that you guys. We kind of lose the wonder of life and if you're not careful losing that wonder of life will actually cause you to lose the wonder of God." [06:22] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "But if we're honest, I think we become too familiar with a God that we barely know. And we're just like, oh yeah, of course. Like, you know, this is just, you know, my ordinary regular life. No. Every day, listen to me, listen to me, every day should be an extraordinary day. Because the Spirit of God is living on the inside of you. There's ways that he's wanting to move in your life. There's ways that he's wanting to move through your life. And what if we woke up every morning with that same kind of a wonder as a toddler going, what's gonna happen in my day today? When I go outside, what person am I gonna run into? When I go to work, what's gonna happen? But if we go into life wondering about the amazing ways that might be happening for me, we're gonna go in paying attention to every detail." [09:54] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "There's something so amazing about a toddler. They will believe anything you tell them, which as adults, be nice. Don't mislead them. Don't tell them crazy lies because that's how they lose their trust in adults is we lie to them, especially, you know, come around December. We, man, we're like, I know everyone has their opinions about the, how you celebrate Christmas, but I am not a fan of lying to our kids and saying, Hey, if, if, if my kids are going to believe somebody is going to bring them gifts, I'm going to, I'm going to make them know that it's dad bringing the gifts, not some person that doesn't exist. All right, I'll just leave it there, park there, because I got little ones in the room." [13:24] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "And I believe the call of God is to get back, not necessarily to a trust of people, but get back to a trust of God. That he can use people in powerful ways that are not perfect people. And if we can move it, a friend of mine in Vegas, he called this being baby simple. And I don't know if you, it's kind of a weird term, like being baby simple, but it's coming back to a place of simplicity where you don't overthink it. Any classic overthinkers in the room? Online, come on, put your hand up online. Give a little, in the chat, you can say like, that's me. We have a problem as adults. We overthink situations. And you can overthink the simplest situation to where you talk yourself out of doing anything. You can do anything. You can do anything about it. Have you ever been there? I call it the paralysis of analysis." [14:53] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Another way we can say dependency is the word humility. Write that down. Dependency and humility. Dependency, if you've ever been around a toddler, they're not embarrassed to ask for help. I would argue... that in most cases, they know that they need help, especially getting the food off the top shelf that they can't reach. They need an adult to help them get that food. So a little one is not embarrassed to ask for help. But I think something happens as we get older that maybe we get embarrassed to ask other people for some help. And maybe we even let that bleed into our faith and we stop asking God for help." [19:50] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "And I think maybe sometimes we hide in our shame because we're afraid that people are going to reject us. I think Adam and Eve hid from God because they were afraid of rejection. And I want you to know that Atmosphere Church is a safe place for you. And just as God would never reject you in your stuff, we will never reject you in your stuff. And sometimes the most powerful thing that you can say is, I've never told anybody in my life this, and we're going to. I love you, and we're going to pray for you, and we're going to see to it that you walk in your healing. It's interesting that scripture says if we confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive us. But when we confess our sins to one another, as it says in James chapter five, that we are healed." [24:04] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "There's a running theme in this series about unshakable kingdom because, listen, forgiveness is heaven's business, church. Come on. You've got to be forgiving. And have you ever watched a toddler go through a little problem with a friend? They get mad. I mean, toddlers can get mad. And by the way, the call of Scripture is to be childlike, not childish. Can I just say that? So God is not telling us to go through temper tantrums around. But there is something like a toddler can be so mad at you. I hate you. I hate you. Man, that's hard. That hurts as a parent, doesn't it? But then 20 minutes later, they're cuddling with you on the couch. Wee me a stowie." [28:01] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "And here's what I know about the kingdom of heaven. It's full of joy. And here's what I also have learned. Joy is not an emotion. It's not an emotion. It's not an emotion. It's not you feel as much as it's an attitude that you choose to choose joy and kids little toddlers they can have some hardship but they are gonna find something to play with and they're gonna have a good time I was reading a study this week that I found so fascinating it's from the Journal of Hospital Medicine it stated that children laugh on average 400 times a day they know how to laugh and I will tell you it's one of the sweetest sounds on the planet to hear a child laugh do you know how many times an adult laughs on average per day 15 times some of you you got to get your laugh back you got to get your laugh back let me give you a scripture Proverbs 17 verse 24 being cheerful keeps you healthy it is a slow death to be gloomy all the time who's that for this morning who is spongebob grumpy pants in here" [31:27] (77 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)