[Gary Antion] Children are beautiful. When we had none for four years, we looked at a lot of people who had children, a lot of parents. We watched what they did with their children. We watched how they reared them, we watched how they loved them, we watched how they cared for them and we said we'd probably will never have any ourselves. Well, God blessed us. In our fifth year of marriage, we were able to have one daughter and we thought, well, you know, Hosea says when she weaned her child, then they had another one. So we thought, you know, as long as my wife's nursing, she can't get pregnant. Well, I was wrong, and we had 2 children in 15 months.

Of course, we accepted both blessings as awesome and wonderful to us, and we're glad we had two daughters even though the first one is little Joe, not Jan, and we thought it was a little Joe, kept calling… We didn't know. We didn't go and check out whether it's a boy or a girl. We called her little Joe because dads always liked to have a boy and I didn't. We didn't. But we have our girls and we love them very much. So we're glad that we have two daughters. We have two wonderful sons-in-law who look after us, help us and care about us a lot too.

So children are beautiful. We pay special attention to the ones who had children and we learned the children in our district, in our region. We learned them by their names. We knew their personalities, we knew who they were, called them by name, all over Ontario. Little babies can melt your heart. They just look you in the eye and they give you a little halfhearted smile. They're probably maybe feeling gas or something and they smile and you think they're smiling at you and you get all excited. And I've been on airplanes before and I've seen older crusty people who could barely muster a smile looking at a little child in the seat in front of them and smiling. And so they could even make crusty old people smile. And by the way, long-time servant elder means old. Okay. Just so I let you know. I appreciate the euphemism of Mr. Creech but call me what I am. All right, let's go on.

Jesus Christ's disciples were arguing or were discussing who's going to be the greatest in the Kingdom or who… they had a dispute about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom. Who's going to be the greatest? So Jesus Christ answered that in Matthew 18:1-4. Matthew 18:1-4, and He answered it with an example, an object. The object was living. So Matthew 18:1, "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'" Who's going to be the greatest? "Jesus called a little child to Him, and He set him in the midst of them." Can you imagine one of your little children going up to someone? However old you would be, four or five years old.

One of the little children, and by the way, the word for children there comes from the Greek word paidion, paidion, it is, and that means a little child, an infant or a half-grown child, boy or girl. So they're not really that old. So He took this little child, put him in the midst and He said to them in verse 3, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." In verse 4, again, He said, "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Verse 4… verse 5, "And whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me."

Now chapter 19 verse 13, we see the blessing of little children. Matthew 19:13, "Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them." “What are you paying attention these little kids for? Pay attention to the adults. Don't worry about those little kids there. They don't mean anything, right? Kids, you don't mean anything even though you're eating Doritos and nobody offered me one, but that's okay.” People pay attention to… they don't pay attention to little kids. What are you paying attention to kids for? You need to be about doing the work. And so, “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and don't forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.” So He blessed them, which is the reason we have a blessing of little children every year, to follow that example.

Mark, one more example, Mark 10:13, Mark 10:13, If you want a title for this sermon, it is "Like Little Children." Mark 10:13, here's Mark's account. "Then they brought young children," young children… and by the way, this is the same Greek word, same Greek word, paidion. "Then they brought young children to Him, that He might touch them." Remember, they could be anywhere from infant to a half-grown child, infant to half-grown child. "That He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and He said to them, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.'" And He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he will by no means enter into it."

So He taught the disciples a great lesson. He said “You've got to look to the children. You've got to learn from the children. You ought to see how they are.” Do you remember how you were as a little child? Think for a moment. How are you? By the way, I see Kit Moore here from Utah area and she and her twin sister were young girls. I don't know how old in the church in Pittsburgh when I first started attending part of the Jones clan, right? They were glad to have… they only had about seven or eight of you in the whole group, nine? So there are quite a few. Anyway, it's nice to see them here and welcome to any other guests. And by the way, hello to all of you out and in TV Land, including my wife watching on the webcast. He said, "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Are you like a little child? Can you get into your child? Can you be playful? Can you be silly sometimes? Can you relate to little kids, young kids?

I remember one lady who brought her daughter into counseling, came to counseling. She had her daughter with her and she didn't know what to do. I started talking to her daughter and we were just saying different things to her and teasing her and all that and she said, "How do you do that?" She couldn't do it. She said, "I'm not able." Some people's child has been so marred, they can't be like a child. It's very difficult because they try to be like a child that brings back bad childhood memories, but we must learn from the children. We may learn from them and what may we learn? Cause the disciples learned something. Jesus said, "Humility." What may we learn? In fact, what must we learn if we're going to be in God's Kingdom? Learn from the children.

Do you remember your childhood? What did you do? How were you like? I remember. I remember a lot of little things. I remember eating a thermometer. I mean biting into it cause I love the color red. So I saw this little red thermometer thing on it… yeah, you have these little ones. So I bit in and my mother came over and took that mercury out of my mouth and boy… broken glass. I remember that. I remember locking my mother outside when she went next door to get some cream or whatever, half and half, in her nightgown and she just had on a coat or bathrobe. She went next door and when she went out, I just locked the door and she came back and she said… tried to get in, she couldn't get in. Saying, "Garr, open the door." I don't know why I did it. I just, I guess, I played dumb. I didn't know what… what did I do? I don't know what to do. She was out there and it was chilly. So she does that, so she got some of the neighbors to come and the neighbors were all begging me to please open the door, would you please open the door? So I remember that.

I remember going to school at age five because my mother wanted me to go in. I was born in February, normally they would have postponed me and I would have been one of the oldest kids in the class. But she said, "Please let him go to school." So I went, but I wanted her to be there. So she came and she sat in the back of the classroom. So I wasn't scared and I kept looking back, "Is my mother's still there?" Finally, she slipped away and my heart sunk. By then I've managed to handle it okay and got through the day. And then I managed to go to school and I graduated at 17, 17 and about 3 months. So I could have gone another year to high school, probably even another… either another two years in high school and been eligible to play.

I remember playing my accordion in front of a packed gymnasium who were there to watch a band concert in between the two bands, the junior high band, the senior band. They wanted some entertainment, and since I played the accordion in this little 1,000 population town, nobody even heard of an accordion. So they said, "Would you play it?" I sat there because I was six or seven years old in front of a whole packed auditorium and played rather simple song, but I played it in front of them.

I remember those times. I remember smoking and drinking before I was seven. And I'd watch my relatives smoke and then put their… throw their cigarette down on the pavement or the sidewalk, step their foot on it and try to squash it up. But as soon as they go into the house, and it was still smoking, I'd go over to it and I would reform it and try to puff on it. I smoked more as a little kid than I smoked for the rest of my life. And the one time my brother Dave said, "Gar," my parents went across the street now was that New Year's Eve I think it was. And so they went over to New Year's Eve party, but they left us. We were right close by. I think my brother must've been about 9 or 10. No, he was probably about eight or nine and I was like five. And he said, "You want some whiskey." "Sure."

So we always love these little shot glasses, poured one. I just downed it. He must've poured about four of them, four shots of whiskey. I don't remember anything except I do remember him telling me he helped me up to bed, and when my mother came home to see how we were tucked in and everything, she said I was really laboring with breathing and she thought that I had asthma. So they were going to get ready to move to Arizona from Pennsylvania so I could recover from asthma instead I could have almost died from that many shots of whiskey as a little boy. So I smoked and drank by seven years old, more than I've ever done in the rest of my life. Never done that, had that much alcohol ever since that time.

So what can we learn from children? What memories do you have? I have good memories too, but those really stand out for me. And when I think of some of the things that I did as a little child. But what about you? And what may we learn from children when you think about little children? First of all, I've got seven points and I'm trying to go through them rapidly for you because I'm going to get you out of here by quarter after four since I was given the opportunity to speak to you a quarter after three. I'll try to do one hour worth and be finished. But point number one is humility, humility. Jesus Christ said, "Humble yourself as a little child." Humble yourself. And by the way, Mr. McClain did a great job in his sermonette. I appreciate that preparing for this Passover and these are some good points that you can think about. These are some very good points that you can think about as you prepare for Passover, as you examine yourself.

When we're little, we live in a world of thighs and knees. Do you ever notice how little kids get neck ache from looking up at you all the time? They always have to look up. One of my favorite things was getting tall enough to get myself a glass of water from the kitchen sink because before that time I had to ask somebody to give me a glass of water, but once I grew a little bit… I was so good on my tiptoes, I could actually turn the spigot on, put the glass center, get myself some water. Children are naturally humble. They're small, they're overlooked, they're sometimes insignificant and basically, they have limited ability, but because they're small, they're not often considered. “Ah, they don't know. They’re not as smart or they don't know what's going on.”

And you know the old adage, "Children are not supposed to be seen and not heard." Of course, Jesus Christ was heard, wasn't He at 12? So He obviously didn't subscribe to that particular teaching. 1 Peter 3… 1 Peter, 1 Kings 3:7, 1 Kings 3:7, and most of my Hebrew Scriptures, by the way, most of my Scriptures in the Old Testament, they use the word, it's 5288 naar, which means anyone from infancy to adolescence, naar. And most of the ones I quote to you today come from that Hebrew word. It's translated babe. It's translated boy. This Old Testament translated child, damsel, lad, servant, or young, young, or young child. So let's a take a look real quickly at 1 Kings 3:7 and see the response of Solomon when he was given a mighty task to fulfill following his footsteps of his wonderful, glorious dad, David. 1 Kings 3:7, notice what his comment was when he requested from God wisdom. Verse 7, he says, “Now, O Lord my God, You have made me made Your servant king’” him “‘instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I'm just like a little child.' He said, "I do not know how to go out or come in.'"

Children don't know what to do. They don't know sometimes and that causes them to have a sense of humility. Jeremiah 1:6 when God told him to go forth and preach, he said, "But I'm just a boy. I'm just a boy." By the way, the same word there comes from the naar. It means it from infancy to adolescence, anywhere in between. And he said, "I'm just a boy. I can't do that." So humility, I have a couple of quotes for you from this little book called Children's Letters to God. It's by compiled by Eric Marshall and Stuart Hample. So Children's Letters to God on humility. Here's what one little girl wrote, her name was Dodie. She said, "Dear God, I want to get married, but no one will do it with me." So she felt a sense of rejection, the sense of loss and the sense of humility and a sense that I'm not good enough for anybody to do that with.

So what about us? What do we learn from this? Philippians 2:3, Philippians 2:3, do we have that humble heart and attitude like children do. And we don't have to become shorter. We don't have to to make ourselves shorter. We don't have to walk with our shoulders slumped over in order to show where human humble, but humility is an attitude of mind and heart. In Philippians 2:3 talking about the mind of Christ. He says, "Be like-minded" in verse 2. By verse 3, he says, "Let nothing be done through ambition or conceit." Don't do it because… “Of course, I'm going to do this. I'm just great.” Don't do it out of that, that humble attitude. Let somebody else go first. Let them have the biggest potato. Let them have the biggest piece of pie. When you go through the line, do you… my eyes will always scan the biggest piece. It will. Just here's the biggest one, and I say to myself, "Leave it for someone else." But when I was a kid, I would have taken it. That's the biggest one. “They're offering… these are little. Here's a big one. I'm taking that one.”

Do you have humility? Do you exercise humility? "Let nothing be done through ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind." It's a mind issue. It's not how you walk. It's not where you tiptoe through. I've seen people who tiptoe and “I'm humble, now I'm tiptoeing.” Come on, walk normally because humility is a matter of the heart. It's lowliness of mind. It's how you think about yourself and others in relationship to others. Do you prefer the other person? So again, he says, "And let each esteem others better than himself.” Let him value them ahead of himself. How about you? How's your last year been? Think about humility the disciples were told to do so. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourself. Humble yourself before God, and He'll raise you up." Humble yourself. So that's number one.

Number two is openness. Children can sure be open. They can be blunt sometimes and we need to, as individuals, learn from them. Openness is good. They're not guarded, but sometimes, it's not so good. Sometimes they blurt things out and you go out on a visit. You have your children with you, "Now, be good. Don't say anything. Don't tell. Please don't say anything. Try to be good out here." But children can blurt out things. They can say things. They can tell people, "Christmas is pagan," you know, when you're in the midst of the stores, "Well, look at those pagan things." And again, you're trying to, but they're open, right? What did God say about Nathaniel, "Behold, there's an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” Because Nathaniel challenged him where he came from. Can anything good come out of Galilee? And he said, "Behold, there's an Israelite in whom there is no guile, no deceit, no slyness, no trying to pass the buck, no hidden motives. But children can be blunt sometimes, but they're not guarded in their feelings and their thoughts.

I was watching some of the children here playing, showing their little animals up here in the front and they were dancing, jumping around. They're walking through with their Fritos and eating them and enjoying their Fritos. They're unabashed. But we need to be more like them. More open, not offensive, but open where we're not closed as that person. Talk about people who play their cards close to their chest or their vest. I don't want anybody to see those. Like card game of poker, you want anybody to see their card. Do you want anybody to see your life, your feelings, your thoughts, sharing your feelings and thoughts is wonderful?

Look at little Samuel, 1 Samuel 2 talk about openness. 1 Samuel 2, this is one example I'll give and this is naar again where he talks about children, but 1 Samuel 2 and the second point on openness. Verse 11, I'm just going to skim through a couple of the highlights. As you know, Hannah wanted a child and she wasn't able to have one. She was crying and Eli said, wait, "What are you in mourning about? What are you so upset about?" She said, "Actually, I'm not upset, I'm just crying because I don't have a child." He said, "Well, you can have one then." And of course, she did have one. At verse 11, "Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest." That's verse 11. So here this little child, this little child here. Again, it means anywhere from an infant to an adolescent.

But as we know, she gave him up. She said, "After he is weaned, I will give him to the Lord." Now, I don't know how long they wean. Back then, they could wean at three years old. I've known of even kids in the modern-day walk up to their mother and open her blouse and get some milk. That's just how they do it. Three years old, they're able to walk up, teeth and everything, be careful on your mom with that, but they did. So it could have been maybe two to three years old he was. And he ministered to the Lord. She gave him to God and every year she'd come back and bring him a little coat because he grew in a year's time. When she came up to visit him, she'd bring a coat that's a little bit longer, take that one back, maybe add to it for the next time. So little Samuel was a decent little kid.

Verse 18, he was also very open. "Samuel ministered," verse 18, "before the Lord, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod." So he had on his little linen covering like a dishdasha, I guess, today. But anyway, there's a little linen covering and going down to verse 21, "And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lord." So Samuel's growing up. I don't know, what do you do? What does a three-year-old do? Maybe go put a foot, maybe take some ashes, maybe clean this up, maybe carry this, maybe do some little chore to bring this to Eli since he didn't get around very much. So bring this to him or help out, whatever, but she dedicated him. But as he grew. In verse 26, "And the child Samuel grew in stature and in favor, both with the Lord and men."

Now let's go to chapter 3, verses 1 to 20. I'll read this quickly, "Then the boy Samuel," and this is about openness, right? "The boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation." Remember, they still didn't have a complete Bible. They still didn't have a complete Old Testament. I'm not even sure that Moses' writings were finished. So you had whatever they had, whatever portions there was no new revelation. There was no new words from the Lord.

“And it came to pass at that time, that Eli was lying down in his place, while his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see before, but… and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down to sleep, the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, 'Here I am!’" So here's this voice. It wasn't a still small voice. This was a real voice, came to him an audible voice and said, "Samuel, Samuel." He thought it was Eli. So he said, "Samuel," and he answered, “'Here I am!’ And then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ And he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’” He went… “You're just having a dream, bad dream.” And in verse 6, "And the Lord called yet again, and ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He said. Samuel rose up and went to Eli, and said, 'Here I am, for you did call me here. You called me.' And he answered, 'I did not call, my son; go lie down again. You're having a bad dream again.'"

Verse 7, “Now Samuel did not know the Lord,” he did not know the Lord because he's just a young boy. Nor was the Word of the Lord yet revealed to him. So he didn't know what God was doing. "And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he rose and he went to Eli, and he said, 'Here I am, for you did call me.' And then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy." Eli's sons were not doing well. Eli knew he was not a good high priest… or a priest. He knew that Samuel was there doing wonderfully. Verse 9, "Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, you must say, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.”' So Samuel went and lay down and his place." So this little boy willing to go running in and tell, "What's wrong? Eli, do you need me now?" "No, son. Go lie down." "Eli, you called me?" "No, no, I didn't call you." "Eli, you did call me a third time." "No, but if He calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.'"

"Then the Lord," verse 10, "came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel answered, ‘Speak, for Your servant hears.'" Samuel was obedient, wasn't he? Samuel listened. A lot of people don't listen. A lot of kids don't listen anymore. I'm amazed at the current trend in child-rearing, watch your children. Keep an eye. "Oh look, they did this. Oh look, they're putting mashed bananas on the drapes. Oh look, they're spilling their cereal. Look, they're putting your hands in their milk and cereal and they're rubbing it all over their face. Isn't that wonderful!” That's not wonderful. Is that what you want them to learn to do when they grow up? Well, they're feeling with oatmeal? Put it in your mouth, you'll feel it too. You'll feel it and you'll taste it. Don't have to rub it all over.

But anyway, that's what people do. But that back then, he listened. He listened right away and He said, and God says to him. Then Samuel said that as… “Then the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. I'm going to make a move here in Israel. In that day, I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. I'm going to remove Eli.’" Imagine telling this to a little boy, "For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity, which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them." In verse 14, "And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by the sacrifice of offering forever."

So verse 15, "Samuel lay down until morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision." It's about the guy he's been working for, the man who's a priest, the one he looked up to as a man of God. "Then Eli called Samuel and said, 'Samuel, my son!’ And he said, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'What is the thing that the Lord has said to you? Please do not hide it from me. For God will do to you, so and so if you don't tell me.'" So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. So again, Samuel is open. He didn't hide. He didn't try to glaze it and somehow slip it in. He told him everything. "And he said, 'It is the Lord. Let Him do whatever He wants seems good to Him.' So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord."

So here you have fine Samuel. Very open. What is this? "Eli, you called me. You sure did call me, didn't you?" "No, I didn't. Go back to bed." "Eli, you did call me." "No, I didn't call you." And then God tells him and he tells, didn't hold anything back. Didn't want to tell Eli, but when he said, "Tell me," he didn't hold anything back. So there's naar again. He didn't guard his feelings or his heart. He went ahead and spoke. That's openness. Let me read a quote about openness of little children. This is from Children's Letters to God. "Dear God, my father said kids is the best time in life. Please tell him what good is it if we never get to stay up and watch anything." That's Joe writes that.

All right. Let's look at the, let's look at one thing for us that we can learn about openness, 2 Corinthians 6:11-13. I'll read this from The Living Bible. Are we open or do we fudge and hedge when somebody asks us something? Do we beat around the bush? Do we come in from left field? Do we come in from right field? Do we come in from centerfield? Or do we come in from the dugout? Or do we come in from the pitcher's mound or from the infield? Do we deal with things right away or do we beat around the bush? Do we sometimes hold things back? Do we sometimes not give the true story to protect ourselves?

2 Corinthians 6:11, Living Bible, “Oh, my dear Corinthian friends! I have told you all my feelings. I love you with all my heart." All right. "Any coldness still between us is not because of the lack of love on my part, but because your love is too small and does not reach out to me and draw me in. I am talking to you now as if you are truly my own children, open your hearts to us and return our love." Are we so guarded as people, as individuals, that we don't share our feelings and thoughts openly? With people, we trust of course. No, you're not going to go telling everybody all over the place everything about yourself, but when you're talking to people, are you open? Are you approachable or not? Little children are. We need to work on ourselves and not be so guarded and so holding things in, to be like Nathaniel and that's found in John 1:47 about Nathaniel. I'm not going to read it.

Number three, the third lesson we can learn from children is to be simple and teachable. Not a simpleton, but simple and teachable. Do we drink in? Are we ready to learn? Are you simplistic or complicated? 1 Peter 2:2, it's interesting that the word here, the Greek word is 1025 and it's brefos, B-R-E-F-O-S, and it means a babe or an infant. Notice 1 Peter 2:2 brefos means an infant, a little kid. 1 Peter 2:2, "He says, talking about “laying aside all malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking," verse 2 "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." Like a newborn baby, brefos. Wants to  nurse. It’s hungry and they want some food.

Our older daughter, Jan, my wife's milk apparently was not potent enough for her. So we measured her to see if she got… it wasn't potent enough and she cried and cried and cried. And finally, we talked to the doctors, said, "Well, supplement it." And so we did. At that time, we supplemented with cow's milk. Now you have all these formulas. But anyway, and cow's milk is not always the greatest thing, but it was raw cow's milk and we supplemented it. She took a whole 8-ounce bottle and sucked it down. She was so hungry and after she did that, she was calm. After we burped her, she was calm and lie down and peaceful. She wasn't getting enough. But boy did she down that whole 8 ounces of milk.

Are we that way? Are we that simple? Do we have that kind of desire to learn? Notice in Ephesians 4:14, now there's a downside to being simple. If you don't think about what you're doing, you can be gullible. You don't want to be simple and gullible. That isn't what we're talking about. Ephesians 4:14, "That we should no longer be children," and this is 3516, it actually means childish or infants. It's a different word. It's nepios, nepios, N-E-P-I-O S, in the Greek. "And we should be no longer children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive."

So you don't want to be so simple that you don't ask questions. You don't want to be so simple that you swallow everything. I remember Mr. Armstrong describing Ambassador what he wanted from people who came to Ambassador. He didn't want a hole in the head of the student with a funnel and professors just dumping knowledge in. He wanted them to think. I’ll ten times want a person who's loyal because they think things through than somebody who blindly follows. But you have to be simple to absorb God's way of life.

2 Corinthians 1:12, 2 Corinthians 1:12, this is about us. Are you? Are you simple or are you complicated? Are you teachable? Are you resistant? 2 Corinthians 1:12, here's the admonition the apostle Paul writes. He says, "For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity." Don't take something that's simple, make it complicated, and then uncomplicate it. And everybody says, "Wow, how great." Well, why didn't you just tell them as a simple part to start with? Why do you have to complicate it only to uncomplicate it? Does that make you look better? The whole idea is to give it simply to give, to make it where people can take it and understand it.

And by the way, who does He say understands the Word of God? Matthew 11:25, “babes.” That's that same word, nepios. It's hidden from the prudent and wise of the world but is revealed to babes, little children. Why? Because it's simple. God doesn't want you to be complicated. His way of life is not complicated. A lot of people like to complicate things. They can't believe what the Scriptures say.

So how was Noah? Sorry, not Noah. How was Jonah three days and three nights in the… ? “How's Jonah like Christ?” Because Matthew tells, says, be like Jonah, you know, because Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. So Christ will be three. “Now I wonder what the comparison is?” Duh. Didn't he just say three days and three nights and three? "How was he like Him? Let's go figure out.” Let's make this complicated. It's not complicated. It's not complicated. It's about how much time he spent. But people want a complicate it because that's that. He's got to make this complicated. You can't do it simply, God wanted to bring us simple knowledge and truth.

2 Corinthians 11:3 says, "Don't be gullible." 2 Corinthians 11:3 real quickly, "But I fear, that someone, as the serpent… somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." So that's about us. Don't let yourself be swayed. We are an obedient people and that's great, but don't just follow people. Hook, line and sinker unless they, you know, it's the truth. And God wants it, puts it all on our shoulders. The Church doesn't live your life for you. You have to decide, you have to walk in it, and the church is there to mediate when there's issues that are hard to understand. The Church is there to help. But otherwise, the Church just said, "Hey, you know what? You got to listen. You've got to look. You've got to check.” And the word of truth, the word of life is there for you and me."

Simplistic. I'll read you a comment about simple, very simple comment, "Dear God, I am adopted. Is that as good as being real?" said Paul. He could be simplistic. "I'm adopted, but is that as good as being real?” So again, children can be very simplistic and that's good. They like stories repeated to them again and again. My little grandchildren, my granddaughters, when I would sit, they'd sit on my lap and I tell them stories that I made up. Good stories about how they could usually about how living, how to live right and live decently and little acts that they would do, whether it's taking a bath or whether it was listening to your parents the first time or whatever. And I tell them those stories, don't be fearful. Minnie and the mouse, I told them different stories. And I would sit there, as soon as I finished the story, "Tell me it again." After the story, "Tell me yet again. Read it again." Children love to learn. We also need the love to learn.

The scripture in 2 Timothy 3:15 where he talks about Timothy from a child “you've known the Holy Scriptures.” You know what that Greek word is? It's brefos. You know what it means from an infant, from a babe, from a young child. You have known the Scriptures. So the parents were busy teaching their children about God, teaching your children good things about God, making them love God, making them love the people in the Bible, love Samuel and love these different ones and love Esau and Jacob who learned to get along, finally. Love the fact that they hugged each other after years of revenge in their hearts. Teach them, teach them about things. They want to absorb and they want to learn. And we also need to be to be taught. And Deuteronomy 6:6-7, he talks about train your children.

Okay, let's go to number four. Number four is forgiving and loving, forgiving, and loving. Here's one about forgiving. I don't have a quote from the book on a Children's Letters to God, but here's the one on forgiving. "Dear God, I know it says turn the other cheek, but what if your sister hits you in the eye? Love, Teresa." So you could turn the cheek but not the eye. So what about us? Are we forgiving? 1 Corinthians 14:20, 1 Corinthians 14:20 the apostle Paul speaks this, writes this, very short, "Brethren, do not be children…” The word for children is that normal one. It's about little children, young children's 3813 which I gave you before. It has to do with paidion and that's a little child, a little child, a little a child, a young person.

He said in chapter 14 and verse 20, "Brethren, be not children in understanding.” Don't be like a little child. “However, in malice be babes,” and the word there for babe is different. And it talks about being more like an infant, a nepios. “Do not be children when it comes to understanding; but in malice,” when you want to try to exercise some revenge, “be babes.” He says, “but in understanding, be mature.” So again, babes can be forgiving. My daughter would come home and say, "Pascalina," Portuguese girl, I guess, "Pascalina did this and I hate her." "Jan, you shouldn't really hate." The next day she came home, "Pascalina and I walked home together. We want to trade cards or whatever." She wanted to play with each other's doll. I said, "I thought you hated Pascalina?" "Well that was yesterday."

So children get over things quickly. Children can forgive you sometimes when maybe you made a mistake and punished them for something they didn't deserve. Yet, they still come back and hug you and kiss you and a little child that looks you in the eye and says, "I love you, daddy," warms your heart. Children can be lovable. In fact, Hosea 11:1, skipping a few of the scriptures I have. Hosea 11:1 is this statement by God to Hosea and by the word, by the way, this is again naar the usual word for used in the Old Testament for children or child. But notice what he says. Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was a child, I loved him… When Israel was a child, I loved him.” Children are lovable. Children show love to you. That's why it's so easy to love them. They're loving individuals, especially at that age. When they get older, a little more complicated.

But Colossians 3:13-14, we find instruction for us. Colossians 3:13-14 about being forgiving and loving. Colossians 3:13, "Bearing with one another, forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must do also." Verse 14, "But above all things put on love, which is the bond of perfection." So for us, he says, we need to be loving, loving, outgoing concern for others. Thinking about the other person as much or more than you think about yourself. That's what love is. So be forgiving and be loving. And remember that little child looking at you saying, "I love you, daddy." Do you love them? Do you love your fellow brethren? They're not a little child, but do you love them too?

Lesson number five we can learn is to be a dreamer. And that doesn't mean DACA, but to be a dreamer, children are dreamers. They can say, "I have a horse in my backyard." And you say, "Well you live in an apartment. How could you have a horse in your bed?" Because children have magical thinking and that's okay. You don't condemn them for it. Just say, "Oh you do well, where do you put them? How do you feed it? How do you take care of it? And what's its name?" It’s because they're dreaming, they're thinking. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a cowboy or a truck driver. I got to be both, similar almost. I lived in Texas for six years. I had my cowboy hat and my six-shooter, I had my boots, I had my shirt, my western jeans, boot cut jeans. I was a cowboy for six years and I've driven enough miles to qualify to be a trucker in my ministry. So I've got to do that. But I wanted to be a truck driver.

Some kids might want to be different than that. They might want to be teachers. They might want to be wives or mothers or husbands or they might want to be an accountant or they might want to be an astronaut, whatever. It's okay for them to dream. Don't smash their dreams, let them dream. You know who had dreams? There was a young man whose name he was 17 he was still child until he gets 18, but Joseph had dreams. Genesis 37, Joseph had dreams. Some of them are good dreams and some of them got him into trouble, but he had dreams. He was also open because he would tell his brothers about it. But Genesis chapter seven 37 and notice verse 2, this is the genealogy of Jacob. Okay?

Yeah "This is the genealogy of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers.” And it goes on to talk about the lad. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all of his children because he was the son of his old age.” He also was the son of his favorite wife. “Also, he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.” Now Joseph dreamed a dream and you know that dream got him into trouble. But he had a dream. He dreamed a dream. I'm saying God was probably in that dream, not always is God in our dreams, but God was in this one, but he nonetheless dreamed. "And he said, 'Please hear this dream.’" He went to his brothers and they hated him even more because he told his dream. He said, “There we were, binding sheaves in the field. And behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and indeed your sheaves all stood around and bowed down to mine. So you paid attention, you gave honor to my sheaf.”

And then you go on and he talks about the other dream he had about the sun, moon, and stars. In verse 10, "So he told his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, 'What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?’ And his brothers envied him, and his father kept the matter in mind." So Joseph had dreams, children dream. We also need the dream. We also need to have dreams. Here's a boy who had a dream. He said, "Dear God, I want to be an inventor, but I don't know what to invent, Carl.” I want to dream. I want to be this, but I don't know what to invent.

All right, so look at Hebrews 11:13, Hebrews 11:13-16. Do you dream? There were people who dream they weren't children and that dream was a good dream. Hebrews 11:13, "These all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland." That homeland wasn't there, they were dreaming. "And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." But they saw that city. Do you see that city? Do you look? Is the Kingdom of God on your mind and heart a lot? Why are you going to Passover? Because you want to be counted in the number that God decides to have help Him in the Kingdom of God.

You want Him, you want to be there. 1 Corinthians 13:11, 1 Corinthians 13:11. Here's a babe, a child. This is 3516, nepios, this little child, 1 Corinthians 13:11. Here's what Paul says. "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I dreamed as a child too, I understood as a child, and I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." So as we grow older, and this one has two in there, 3813, the little children. And the last one, “when I became a child, I put… when I became older, I put away childish things,” and that's the word nepios. So I have two different words in there. The one is a young child, the one is a little less than a child, more like a baby. So what about us? What about us? Do we think about God's Kingdom? Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God." Do we dream about that? Do we think about that?

Number six, point number six, enthusiasm, enthusiasm. Children are… their motors running all the time. That's why thoughtful parents make sure their kids have some activities to keep them active and involved. Not just sitting there playing video games, but keeping them active and involved. That's really important. You know two of them, and I'll just share with you. One is Josiah, how old we did that whole show, right? That whole presentation Mrs. Myers and others helped direct that. But 2 Kings 22:1-2, 2 Kings 22:1-2, "Josiah was eight years old when he became a king, and he reign thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord."

And you could read all the things he did. I mean, he made phenomenal changes during his time as a child. He was able to do that because of his enthusiasm. And what about Jesus Christ, who came up at age 12 with His family to keep the Passover and when they were going back home they figured He was with His cousins back in part of the wagon train or whatever. And then they looked for Him “Wonder where Jesus is, we haven't seen Him all day.” And they looked, He was not there. Then they said, “Where is He.” They've inquired about all the family members and all the rest.

They went back to Jerusalem and where was He according to Luke 2:45-52 what was He doing? He was there… half-grown, by the way, is number 3513, which talks about Him being a child. They looked for the child. He was 12 sitting in the temple asking questions that those men stumping doctors of the law and His mom said, "Why have you done this to me?" He said, "Didn't you know I must be about my Father's business?" He was actively involved. Are we active and involved as Christians? To the extent we can be, health wise and otherwise, are we actively involved? Are we actively thinking about others and caring? I do have one on enthusiasm. It may or may not be a good one. Well, yeah, it's a good one. "Dear God, I made 25 cents selling lemonade at 2 cents a cup. I will give you some of it on Sunday, Chris." So he's actively out there selling lemonade so he can give some of it back to God.

Let's look at enthusiasm. Of course, the Scripture talks about us being “whatever our hand finds to do, do it with our might.” And Luke 10:27, Jesus Christ said we should “love the Lord our God with all our heart and all of our might." Love the Lord our God not half-heartedly, but all in, actively serving God in our prayers. How should they be? Fervent prayers, fervent prayers.

Okay, let's look at the last one, number seven. So enthusiasm is number six. Number seven is believing. Children are believing. They trust you. I remember jumping off the side of the swimming pool. My dad said, "I'll catch you." I remember sitting… having him teach me how to float, which I never did learn very much. I wasn't a good learner. My bottom was always heavier than the rest of me and I would always sink. But anyhow, he would put his arms under me. "I won't let you go under," and I absolutely trusted him. Sometimes he'd let his hands go down a little bit to see if I was floating on my own, but I always knew his hands would be there. I was believing and I trusted, are we?

Remember Samuel… or I'm sorry, David. In the Book of Samuel, the word there is naar. Again, that's the usual word for anywhere from an infant to an adolescent. When David went to fight Goliath, Saul spoke to him, 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 17:31. Make sure I've got chapter 17 yes, verse 31. There is no 2 Samuel 17 verse… 2 Samuel, no wonder. 1 Samuel 17:33, "Saul said to David, ‘You're not able to go up against this Philistine to fight with him; you are but a youth." That's a word, “You're just a youth.” And he said, "For you are but a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth. You're just a boy. You're just a young boy. You can't beat him." And David was, what? About 16 he wasn't old enough to be considered as one of the family members.

Matthew 18:6, Matthew 18:6, this Greek word is a little bit different when He talks about little ones and Jesus Christ talked about little ones who believe, whether you're talking spiritually or do you talk physically cause little children can believe. I remember my brother asking his son when he was going to be going on a trip. He said, "Please pray for me. Please pray for me on this trip." Sometimes when I've gone on a trip, I'll ask my daughters when we were in Canada, "Please remember to pray for me." When you do that with your children, you're teaching them, you trust them and their belief that my older daughter, anytime she had a cold at night or felt flu-ish or whatever, she's like, "Dad, can you anoint me?" So I would anoint her, next morning she was fine. And really, I felt her head, she was hot. The next day, she was fine. Little children can believe and to be like little children and be believing.

In Matthew 18:6 said, "Whosoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me," and the word there is mikron. In the Greek, it means little. You know like something that’s microbe. It’s a little smaller. These little ones, “whoever causes them to be offended… one of these little ones who believe.” You and I, Mark 11:24 my last scripture, in this section, Mark 11:24 on being believing, Jesus Christ said this. He said, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive them, and you will have them.” Belief, we need to trust God and have our belief and say how many times and I don't trust God. How many times did I pray something? I don't really believe it but I say it do I believe. Of course the one time a man said, "I believe, but help my unbelief." Help me to believe.

All right. Those seven points, but I'm going to play a song for you right now. If you just listen, I'll stay here and I'll finish the sermon. It's called "Like Little Children." It's by Mike Hale and I have a young ambassador. He did it, wrote the song, he sang the song and he did it for… he gave me permission to have play it for you. So Mike Hale, "Like Little Children." Just listen.

[Mike Hale] “Close your eyes and remember,
Little house you bought and called your own.
Then with his parent's pride,
A little child arrived.
Isn't that what made your house a home?

Then as the years went by,
You watch him as he grew.
And often, you would think back for a while.
You would see your little boy reflects so much of you,
And remember what it's like to be a child.

If only we could become like little children,
And learn the special way that they show love for you and me.
Then all of the grownups in this old troubled world
Just might live a little longer,
With their faith a little stronger.
And smile just like they're little boys and girls.

So many times we're just too busy
With problems that we cannot understand.
While neighbors will not speak
Or say hello along the street,
The children walk together hand in hand.

So let's look now to the children
And maybe they can help us to recall
The child-like simple ways we knew yesterday.
It's something we can learn from their homes.

If only we could become like little children,
And learn the special way that they show love for you and me.
Then all of the grownups in this old troubled world.
Just might live a little longer,
With their faith a little stronger.
And smile just like they're little boys and girls.

If only we could become like little children,
And learn the special way that they show love for you and me.
Then all of the grownups in this old troubled world.
Just might live a little longer,
With their faith a just little bit stronger.
And smile just like they're little boys and girls.”

[Gary Antion] Saul was chosen by God to be the first king of Israel, but he was chosen. It was set of solve that he was handsome, choice, taller than anybody in the whole land, and yet when he was chosen, he said, "I come from this little tribe of Benjamin, the least of the tribes. Why would you want to pick me? Why me?" And God made him king. A few years later, 1 Samuel 15:17, after he had stepped into the priest's office, after he had sacrificed, after he had lied, didn't do what God asked him to do, after he blamed the Israelites. Verse 17, God sent Samuel to Saul to say, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not made head of the tribes of Israel?… When you were little in your own eyes.”

If we can follow these seven points, humility, openness, teachableness, forgiveness, loving, dreaming, enthusiasm, and believing, if we could put those into our lives and any others you can think of from watching little children, we can inculcate those childlike traits, we will be made rulers and leaders in the coming Kingdom of God. I wish you all a wonderful Passover coming up and Unleavened Bread at season of change for all of us. Godspeed till we see you again.