Children

[0:00] A Pastor's Reflections Children Exodus 10.9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast unto the Lord.

[0:19] Luke 18.16-17 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer, little children, to come unto me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of God.

[0:31] Truly I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. 1 Corinthians 13.11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child.

[0:44] I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. God's heart for children is displayed all throughout his word.

[0:58] God knows the potential of each child, and he also knows the adult that the child will become. However, in spite of his foreknowledge, God never separates out good kids from bad kids.

[1:11] He doesn't just have love and compassion for the kids that he knows will turn out okay, and then rejects those who won't. No. God's heart is that all children would be given the opportunity to come unto him.

[1:26] Children are unique in the way that they process and receive information. Children are still in the formative years of life, and as such, they are more open to receiving that which will help them grow into a fully mature person.

[1:41] It is to the full-grown adult that a growing child looks as an example for what the end result should be. Unfortunately, the world does not see this uniqueness as a blessing to nurture and protect, but as a weakness to exploit and use to its own end.

[2:00] The world is not a safe place for children because the world despises that which comes so easily to a child. Faith For children, faith comes very easily.

[2:13] They will believe what they are told because they have not yet learned to be untrusting. A child desires to know, to believe, and to trust. It is very important, therefore, to ensure that who a child knows, what they believe, and where they place their trust is a source of truth.

[2:33] God will hold accountable those who place any barrier between a child and the truth himself. Matthew 18.6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

[2:55] We are to mirror the trusting and receiving nature of a child in our reception of the truth of the kingdom of God. We are to desire to know, to believe, and to trust in what God's word tells us regarding our need for him.

[3:11] And his love for us. However, just as a child grows into an adult, God desires our childlike faith to mature into a solid and steady trust in our heavenly Father.

[3:24] We are to grow up through God's word so that we might have deeper and a more mature understanding of the love of Christ. Ephesians 4.15 But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ.

[3:45] Receive as a child. Live as a man. Grow up. 1 Corinthians 16.13 Watch you.

[3:55] Stand fast in the faith. Behave you like men. Be strong. Father, thank you that as a child of God I can call you Father. Thank you for that trusting, childlike faith that receives your word and believes what it says.

[4:11] As your child, help me mature through your love and your word. Use me as one mature in the faith to then pass your word on to your children. Amen.

[4:23] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.