WEBVTT 00:00:07.950 --> 00:02:37.590 For I know I'm gonna sing! So this is Acts chapter 00:02:37.590 --> 00:02:41.969 4, verse 20. The book of Acts is by its longer 00:02:41.969 --> 00:02:44.810 name known as the book of the Acts of the Apostles. 00:02:44.830 --> 00:02:47.229 And it is the early story of the young church 00:02:47.229 --> 00:02:51.030 after Jesus has lived and died and rose again 00:02:51.030 --> 00:02:53.189 and remained with them for 40 days and taught 00:02:53.189 --> 00:02:55.789 them the basics of the church and got everything 00:02:55.789 --> 00:02:57.969 started and then sent them on their way to be 00:02:57.969 --> 00:03:00.240 witnesses to all the earth. And then there is 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.840 an incident in Acts chapter 4 where Peter and 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:04.620 John are on the way to the temple to worship 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:06.900 God. And they see a man sitting there who has 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:09.680 been crippled since birth. And he begs every 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:11.599 day at the temple those who are coming into the 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:14.659 temple to worship. He begs them for any coins 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:16.840 that they will give him. And that's how he is 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:18.680 sustained and has survived ever since he was 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:21.360 old enough to do so. And Peter and John don't 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:23.840 have any money. So they look at the man sitting 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:25.419 by the side of the temple there with what they 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:27.659 call the beautiful gate. And they say to the 00:03:27.659 --> 00:03:30.680 man, Peter in particular says to the man, Silver 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:32.979 and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give 00:03:32.979 --> 00:03:36.340 unto you. Get up and walk. And lo and behold, 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:37.860 the man who had been crippled since birth gets 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:39.479 up and walks. And then he's in the temple dancing 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:41.699 around and everybody sees it. And so, of course, 00:03:41.740 --> 00:03:44.180 this stirs up quite a ruckus. And they begin 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:47.219 to talk about the name of Jesus. And the Sanhedrin 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.599 calls them in and says, What are you doing? You're 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.599 stirring up a ruckus. Causing almost a riot. 00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:54.939 Talking about this Jesus fellow, which we all 00:03:54.939 --> 00:03:58.699 know was killed. And then we've heard the rumors 00:03:58.699 --> 00:04:00.659 of his coming back to life and all that. We haven't 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:02.300 heard from him for a while now. Now you're causing 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:05.419 all this trouble. Finally, they decide to tell 00:04:05.419 --> 00:04:07.520 Peter and John not to talk about Jesus anymore. 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:10.599 So they have them beaten. They say, don't talk 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.219 about this Jesus anymore. This is Peter's reply. 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:16.779 He says, we cannot stop telling about the wonderful 00:04:16.779 --> 00:04:18.959 things we have seen and heard after they were 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.699 beaten. They go out after that day. They go home 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:24.600 to the other apostles and worshipers of the young 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.600 church. And they're all praising God and thanking 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:30.220 God that they were allowed to be beaten like 00:04:30.220 --> 00:04:33.139 Jesus was beaten. That's tough. That's tough 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:36.920 teaching to be serving Jesus and talking about 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.160 Jesus and getting beaten for doing so. I don't 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:41.740 want to do that, really. I don't want to go through 00:04:41.740 --> 00:04:44.800 that. But at the same time, I can totally resonate 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:46.959 with this verse, which says we cannot stop telling 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:49.300 about the wonderful things we have seen and heard. 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:51.040 So we're going to try to memorize it briefly. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:53.360 It's very simple. We're just going to break it 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.199 down into a couple of three pieces. And then 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:57.959 by the time you're done, you'll mostly have it. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.480 Then you've got about two weeks to finish it 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:01.740 off by the end of June. And you will have memorized 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:04.199 the memory verse for the month of June. So it 00:05:04.199 --> 00:05:07.100 starts out like this. It says we cannot stop 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:10.220 telling. And we'll just do that part together. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.790 Would you say that with me one time? We cannot 00:05:12.790 --> 00:05:15.949 stop telling. That's very easy, isn't it? And 00:05:15.949 --> 00:05:18.209 if you got only just that, you would have almost 00:05:18.209 --> 00:05:20.649 the meaning of the whole verse. And the second 00:05:20.649 --> 00:05:22.769 part is about the wonderful things. So we'll 00:05:22.769 --> 00:05:24.829 do from about to things. We'll say that together. 00:05:25.970 --> 00:05:29.250 About the wonderful things. And now all the way 00:05:29.250 --> 00:05:33.110 from the beginning, from we to things. We cannot 00:05:33.110 --> 00:05:37.050 stop telling about the wonderful things. And 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:39.350 the last part is we have seen and heard. We'll 00:05:39.350 --> 00:05:43.790 do that part separately. We have seen and heard. 00:05:44.009 --> 00:05:47.370 And the whole thing then from we to heard is. 00:05:47.750 --> 00:05:51.790 We cannot stop telling about the wonderful things 00:05:51.790 --> 00:05:55.509 we have seen and heard. Look at that reference 00:05:55.509 --> 00:05:58.550 there. It's Acts 420. I'll give you a little 00:05:58.550 --> 00:06:01.149 trick on how to remember the reference. Let's 00:06:01.149 --> 00:06:02.449 see it. We'll say it one more time. We'll take 00:06:02.449 --> 00:06:04.870 it off the screen and we'll try it from memory. 00:06:05.050 --> 00:06:08.399 Say it one more time. We cannot stop telling 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:12.360 about the wonderful things we have seen and heard. 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:17.420 And with it off the screen, it is... We cannot 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:21.759 stop telling about the wonderful things we have 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.579 seen and heard. Now here's something interesting 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:26.259 for the mathematicians in the room. I'll help 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:27.920 you remember the reference real easy. Notice 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:31.959 that right there, ax4. The word ax has exactly 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:35.149 four letters in it. A -C -T -S. four letters, 00:06:35.189 --> 00:06:38.670 A -C -T -S, four, and then see four, and then 00:06:38.670 --> 00:06:41.110 if you're counting down from four to zero by 00:06:41.110 --> 00:06:44.389 even numbers, it goes four, then two, then zero. 00:06:45.050 --> 00:06:50.350 So X has four letters in it, X, four, counting 00:06:50.350 --> 00:06:53.370 down, two, zero. So you can remember the reference, 00:06:53.410 --> 00:06:54.730 so when you get home, you want to look up the 00:06:54.730 --> 00:06:58.250 verse, and you finish off memorizing it, it's 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:00.329 X, four, two, zero, if you're counting down. 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:02.379 So that's pretty easy to remember the reference. 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:04.519 And the verse again was, we cannot stop telling 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:05.959 about the wonderful things we have seen and heard. 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:08.060 Pretty cool, huh? Alright, well that's done. 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:10.959 And we're on to one more song. Praise the Lord. 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:16.079 Is that one that I have to do the flipping around 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:19.040 in? Is it? I don't know. I changed it because 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.500 you didn't want me trying the other one. The 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:23.220 voice is not quite ready for that next song. 00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:24.980 Well, we're going to pray that I'm bringing it. 00:07:25.540 --> 00:07:29.959 I think it's got the voice back. I'll do the 00:07:29.959 --> 00:11:40.080 clicking the best I can. Father in heaven, we 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:41.980 thank you that in the midst of our trials, in 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:44.600 a difficult place, in a difficult day, in a difficult 00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:47.779 way, in a difficult place. So we have to kind 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:52.740 of explain things to them. And there are many 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:57.659 amazing stories. And, you know, God works through 00:11:57.659 --> 00:12:00.919 stories, not just in the Bible, but in your life, 00:12:00.940 --> 00:12:03.139 too. You know, we were looking at that verse. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:04.860 Tell about the wonderful things that God has 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:09.620 done. allows us to go through all kinds of situations, 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:13.899 but while he's doing that, he has a greater purpose 00:12:13.899 --> 00:12:16.259 in mind. He's got something that he wants to 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:19.279 get through to us. You know, God cares very deeply 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.960 for us, and he's always trying to get our attention. 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:25.600 The problem is, we as Americans are pretty busy, 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:28.080 and we've got lots of things filling our heads, 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:32.559 and sometimes we kind of miss what God wants 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:39.690 to do. I just want you to look at the story of 00:12:39.690 --> 00:12:42.470 your own life and the stories, there's many stories. 00:12:42.549 --> 00:12:44.309 Each one of us could sit down. If I sat down 00:12:44.309 --> 00:12:46.149 with any one of you, you could probably tell 00:12:46.149 --> 00:12:49.190 me 30 stories from your life. Different things 00:12:49.190 --> 00:12:52.029 that have happened, different situations. And 00:12:52.029 --> 00:12:54.889 in some of those stories, we can find out how 00:12:54.889 --> 00:12:57.590 God is at work. So that's why we look at the 00:12:57.590 --> 00:13:00.870 stories of the Bible. So I'm going to pray real 00:13:00.870 --> 00:13:03.509 quick and then let's take a look at this short, 00:13:03.590 --> 00:13:08.580 this is a pretty short one. Lord, We come before 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:11.600 you and we bow down before you. We don't always 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.559 understand what's going on in our lives. And 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:15.779 so we have to come to you and ask, Lord, show 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:19.220 us what's happening. And Lord, we also thank 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:22.440 you that you have many stories in your word. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.779 And we ask that if there's any part of this story 00:13:25.779 --> 00:13:30.419 that is relevant to our lives, that you would 00:13:30.419 --> 00:13:34.120 show it to us. That we might leave here a little 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:37.950 bit different than when we came. And I thank 00:13:37.950 --> 00:13:40.590 you, Lord, for the many stories that you have 00:13:40.590 --> 00:13:44.409 used to change my life. And I ask that you would 00:13:44.409 --> 00:13:48.409 be at work right here today, right now. We pray 00:13:48.409 --> 00:13:53.590 these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so 00:13:53.590 --> 00:13:57.690 this first little part is just sort of an introduction. 00:13:57.750 --> 00:14:01.070 So we're going to actually start right here in 00:14:01.070 --> 00:14:08.559 the picture. were bringing their little children 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:13.059 to Jesus to have him touch them and bless them. 00:14:14.220 --> 00:14:20.799 And Jesus' closest followers told the parents 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:24.019 not to bother him, but Jesus said to his followers, 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:30.700 let the little children come to me and do not 00:14:30.700 --> 00:14:37.840 stop them. For the kingdom of God, belongs to 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:43.519 those who are like little children. Jesus said, 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:46.899 I tell you the truth, anyone who does not receive 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:52.559 the kingdom of God like a child will never enter 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:00.679 it. Well, that's interesting. Then, a little 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:04.389 bit later, Jesus called His 12 closest followers 00:15:04.389 --> 00:15:07.889 together and He told them this. He said, we are 00:15:07.889 --> 00:15:11.769 going on a journey. We're going to go to the 00:15:11.769 --> 00:15:16.750 city of Jerusalem. And when we arrive there, 00:15:16.870 --> 00:15:21.730 everything that the prophets said about me will 00:15:21.730 --> 00:15:26.549 come true. I will be handed over to the soldiers. 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:33.820 I will be mocked. treated shamefully and spit 00:15:33.820 --> 00:15:44.759 upon. I will be whipped and killed, but on the 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:52.279 third day, I will rise again. Now Jesus' followers 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:56.480 heard His words, but they did not understand 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:01.610 at all what He was saying. And so they began 00:16:01.610 --> 00:16:03.570 their journey, and as they traveled along, they 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:09.269 came to a nearby town. And there, sitting beside 00:16:09.269 --> 00:16:14.830 the road, was a blind beggar. And when he heard 00:16:14.830 --> 00:16:16.769 the commotion of the people traveling on the 00:16:16.769 --> 00:16:19.929 road, he asked someone what was happening. And 00:16:19.929 --> 00:16:25.210 they said, Jesus is passing by. When the blind 00:16:25.210 --> 00:16:31.840 man heard this, he started shouting loudly. Jesus, 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:37.340 descendant of David, have mercy on me. The people 00:16:37.340 --> 00:16:39.519 who were ahead of Jesus tried to quiet him down. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:43.480 But he shouted even louder, Jesus, descendant 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:50.500 of David, have mercy on me. Well, Jesus heard 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:53.600 him, and he ordered that the man be brought to 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:59.279 him. And when the man was brought to him, he 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:04.819 said, What do you want me to do for you? And 00:17:04.819 --> 00:17:11.740 the blind man said, I want to see. Jesus said, 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:18.619 Alright, you can see. Your faith has healed you. 00:17:20.180 --> 00:17:25.039 And immediately, the man was able to see, and 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:29.950 he followed Jesus, praising God. Everyone who 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:35.990 saw this praised God as well. This is a story 00:17:35.990 --> 00:17:41.869 from God's Word. Alright, so this is kind of 00:17:41.869 --> 00:17:44.789 like three little stories wrapped up into one. 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:48.930 And the stories are maybe somehow connected. 00:17:51.309 --> 00:17:55.589 But the first story is about the parents bringing 00:17:55.589 --> 00:17:59.150 the children to Jesus. The second story is about 00:17:59.150 --> 00:18:02.130 this journey, and Jesus tells his followers ahead 00:18:02.130 --> 00:18:05.289 of time what's going to happen. And then the 00:18:05.289 --> 00:18:10.609 third story is about this blind man. So this 00:18:10.609 --> 00:18:13.630 isn't going to be like preaching like you hear 00:18:13.630 --> 00:18:16.089 in a church. I'm going to ask you, is that you 00:18:16.089 --> 00:18:24.069 got to go? No. No? Okay. So as you look at the 00:18:24.069 --> 00:18:28.740 story, what do you like about the story? Which 00:18:28.740 --> 00:18:40.180 part of this do you like? So when I ask a question, 00:18:40.220 --> 00:18:42.920 that means you guys need to do a little work. 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:45.859 So you like the part about the children, the 00:18:45.859 --> 00:18:48.559 trip, or the blind man? What do you like about 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:53.619 the story? I like the part where the blind man 00:18:53.619 --> 00:18:57.490 gets to see my mother. Amen. Where the blind 00:18:57.490 --> 00:19:00.829 man gets to see. Because of his faith. Because 00:19:00.829 --> 00:19:03.670 of his faith. That's pretty powerful, isn't it? 00:19:03.869 --> 00:19:11.150 It's huge. Now, you mentioned that he has faith, 00:19:11.230 --> 00:19:13.269 and Jesus mentioned that he has faith. Where 00:19:13.269 --> 00:19:16.369 do you see the blind man's faith in that story? 00:19:21.089 --> 00:19:24.130 Jesus asks him what he wants. He can say all 00:19:24.130 --> 00:19:26.160 kinds of things, but he goes right. For the heart 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:30.799 of the matter, it has to be so he can see. Which 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:33.400 is, by the way, a huge miracle. I mean, doctors 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:35.779 today, if you're blind, there's not much they 00:19:35.779 --> 00:19:39.660 can do to help you to see. Yeah. I mean, that's 00:19:39.660 --> 00:19:42.960 a big request. So you're right. He asks for a 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:47.700 big thing. That was my thought. That was my right. 00:19:47.859 --> 00:19:50.299 That was your right. Okay, well, you can take 00:19:50.299 --> 00:19:52.119 these stories home and think about them. I got 00:19:52.119 --> 00:19:58.400 it. All right. Glad you came today. So where 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:16.559 else do you see this failure? He won't keep quiet, 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:20.839 will he? They keep trying to quiet him down. 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:24.359 No, he says, Jesus, descendant of David, have 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:28.619 mercy on me. Why does he keep calling out for 00:20:28.619 --> 00:20:34.539 Jesus? He knew. He knew enough about Jesus and 00:20:34.539 --> 00:20:40.579 his past of what he had done because it had traveled 00:20:40.579 --> 00:20:45.960 throughout. That's what he knew. He heard stories 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:48.359 about this guy Jesus that could heal people. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:52.779 Now if you were sick and you heard about some 00:20:52.779 --> 00:20:55.079 miraculous healer, wouldn't you do whatever you 00:20:55.079 --> 00:21:04.539 could do to get there? I know I would. So this 00:21:04.539 --> 00:21:08.220 guy is determined. And he can't see, so he can't 00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:10.779 get up and walk to where Jesus is. All he can 00:21:10.779 --> 00:21:14.000 do is make a noise. Jesus, descendant of David. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.859 When he says descendant of David, what does that 00:21:16.859 --> 00:21:22.539 tell us about his faith? That's an interesting 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:29.180 thing to say. See, the Jewish people were waiting 00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:33.180 for a promised Savior, and that Savior was going 00:21:33.180 --> 00:21:35.380 to come from a certain family. It was going to 00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:38.119 come from the family of a great king named David. 00:21:40.259 --> 00:21:43.779 And so when he's yelling out, Jesus, descendant 00:21:43.779 --> 00:21:48.859 of David, and David lived about a thousand years 00:21:48.859 --> 00:21:53.450 before Jesus. So they've been waiting a long 00:21:53.450 --> 00:21:56.390 time for this promised Savior to come. And this 00:21:56.390 --> 00:21:58.890 guy, by shouting out, Jesus, descendant of David, 00:21:58.990 --> 00:22:03.089 he is saying, Jesus, I believe you are the one 00:22:03.089 --> 00:22:07.869 that was promised a thousand years ago. I believe 00:22:07.869 --> 00:22:12.589 you're Him. I believe you're the promised Messiah. 00:22:12.910 --> 00:22:19.450 He's declaring his faith in a loud voice. It's 00:22:19.450 --> 00:22:25.549 pretty amazing. He's saying, Jesus, you're the 00:22:25.549 --> 00:22:27.950 one we've been waiting for. Come and help me. 00:22:29.109 --> 00:22:31.430 So yeah, this guy's faith is all over the place. 00:22:31.450 --> 00:22:34.430 I think that's a huge observation. How about 00:22:34.430 --> 00:22:36.130 you ladies? What do you like about the story? 00:22:40.630 --> 00:22:44.630 Does anybody like the part about the children? 00:22:46.150 --> 00:22:54.299 What do you like about that? What does that tell 00:22:54.299 --> 00:23:00.980 you about Jesus? His disciples were saying, you 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:03.099 know, don't bother Jesus. Don't bring your little 00:23:03.099 --> 00:23:05.400 kids over here. He's got more important things 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:13.779 to do. He's an important teacher. So who did 00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:17.359 Jesus care about? Jesus cares about everybody. 00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:24.349 Yes. Jesus cared about even little kids. Most 00:23:24.349 --> 00:23:26.670 people just sort of tune them out. They're doing 00:23:26.670 --> 00:23:28.490 their thing. They're making a noise. They're 00:23:28.490 --> 00:23:30.630 running around. They're getting into things. 00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:34.769 How old is he? He's probably into everything, 00:23:34.890 --> 00:23:41.789 right? So a lot of people think, oh, kids are 00:23:41.789 --> 00:23:48.589 just a nuisance. But Jesus said, what did Jesus 00:23:48.589 --> 00:23:53.589 say? He said, Let the little children come to 00:23:53.589 --> 00:24:00.170 me and do not stop them. Because the kingdom 00:24:00.170 --> 00:24:05.829 of God belongs to those who are like little children. 00:24:12.609 --> 00:24:16.930 What makes a child a child and an adult an adult? 00:24:17.049 --> 00:24:18.829 What's the difference between a kid and an adult? 00:24:19.250 --> 00:24:27.279 Other than size. Time? Like been alive longer? 00:24:28.539 --> 00:24:30.579 Okay, they've been alive longer. Yeah, that's 00:24:30.579 --> 00:24:40.299 a good one. What makes a... Adults teach, children 00:24:40.299 --> 00:24:44.700 learn. Yeah, that's a good one. So if you're 00:24:44.700 --> 00:24:46.480 going to be like a child, you've got to be willing 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:52.420 to learn, right? And children typically love 00:24:52.420 --> 00:24:57.259 everything. However, they're taught not to love. 00:24:58.099 --> 00:25:00.400 They're taught the prejudices. They're taught 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:04.160 the hatred. Children are innocent. They're born 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:06.420 innocent. They're born full of love, and that's 00:25:06.420 --> 00:25:12.880 what they do. Well, they are... You know, children... 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:18.480 I'm not sure all children... I'm not sure children 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:20.759 are born innocent, because what's the first word... 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:23.900 that a child learns? Well, maybe after mama and 00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:28.039 dada, what's the next word they learn? No! They 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:31.140 don't just say no, they say no! You ever seen 00:25:31.140 --> 00:25:34.319 a kid that had that look on their face? And then 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:39.140 the next word they learn is mine! So, no and 00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:44.759 mine. But in the sense that they don't fully 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:47.160 understand right and wrong, they're not trying 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:55.380 to be bad, they're just... They have kind of 00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:58.180 a wide -eyed innocence. They listen to things. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:07.180 They learn. What else makes a child... A child 00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:11.700 is dependent, right? You tell your 7 -year -old, 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:14.759 hey, it's time to go out. You're 7 years old 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:19.539 now. It's time to go out and get your own apartment. 00:26:20.299 --> 00:26:25.200 Start paying the rent. He can't do that. He can't 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:31.160 do that. So Jesus is saying, if we want to come 00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:34.380 to God and receive the kingdom of God, we've 00:26:34.380 --> 00:26:41.480 got to be like a child. There's nobody that comes 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:44.420 to God and has it all together and says, God, 00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:51.799 you owe me the kingdom of heaven. All of us. 00:26:52.839 --> 00:26:57.799 When I get up in the morning, I praise God that 00:26:57.799 --> 00:27:02.140 He saved me from my sins. And I need that every 00:27:02.140 --> 00:27:08.640 single day. I don't have it all together. I'm 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:12.680 not some great, wise, wonderful person. If God 00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:15.279 didn't have mercy on me, I wouldn't last ten 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:29.119 minutes. Think about that story in the middle. 00:27:31.339 --> 00:27:34.220 Why is Jesus telling His followers about all 00:27:34.220 --> 00:27:48.140 this stuff that's going to happen? We're going 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:51.460 to Jerusalem. Everything the prophets said about 00:27:51.460 --> 00:27:53.920 me is going to come true. I'm going to be arrested 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:56.559 and handed over to the soldiers. I'm going to 00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:00.630 be mocked. treated shamefully and spit upon. 00:28:00.789 --> 00:28:02.470 I'm going to be whipped. I'm going to be killed. 00:28:02.589 --> 00:28:05.829 And on the third day, I am going to rise again. 00:28:10.589 --> 00:28:24.089 Why is He telling them all this? I think He told 00:28:24.089 --> 00:28:28.529 them because... He needed to build our faith. 00:28:29.890 --> 00:28:32.150 So by him knowing what was going to happen in 00:28:32.150 --> 00:28:36.170 the future and revealing it to his disciples, 00:28:36.269 --> 00:28:41.569 they would have kind of like a sense of entrustment 00:28:41.569 --> 00:28:46.490 in him. When they see it actually happen, they're 00:28:46.490 --> 00:28:49.670 going to know he's the real deal. This is the 00:28:49.670 --> 00:28:53.529 plan. Is there anything that surprises you about 00:28:53.529 --> 00:29:04.799 that? I mean, if you knew ahead of time that 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:08.500 if you went to a certain place, all this stuff 00:29:08.500 --> 00:29:12.779 was going to happen to you, would you change 00:29:12.779 --> 00:29:23.180 your destination? So what is this? Tell us about 00:29:23.180 --> 00:29:30.619 Jesus. truly unselfish in His love and His devotion 00:29:30.619 --> 00:29:37.799 for us. He wasn't shocked when He ended up on 00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:40.839 the cross. It wasn't a surprise. It wasn't a 00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:45.200 terrible accident. He knew exactly and precisely 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:49.619 what would happen. He knew that His death had 00:29:49.619 --> 00:29:55.740 to be a sacrifice for our sins. There wasn't 00:29:55.740 --> 00:30:01.160 any other way it could have been done. He knew 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:03.279 it. God had shown him what was going to happen. 00:30:05.079 --> 00:30:07.180 And he said, this is what's going to happen and 00:30:07.180 --> 00:30:08.940 we're going through with it. We're going ahead. 00:30:09.059 --> 00:30:11.160 We're moving toward Jerusalem. It's not going 00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:13.160 to be pretty. It's not going to be fun. See, 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:15.200 they didn't understand because up to this point, 00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:17.220 Jesus had been pretty popular among the people. 00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:19.619 He'd been doing all these healings and he'd done 00:30:19.619 --> 00:30:23.019 all these good things. And so, you know, it seemed 00:30:23.019 --> 00:30:26.500 like Jesus' popularity was quite high among the 00:30:26.500 --> 00:30:28.680 crowds of people. Of course, the religious leaders 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:36.700 didn't like him. But the people loved him. You 00:30:36.700 --> 00:30:38.559 know, you can see at the end of the story, everybody 00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:42.279 is praising Jesus for the miracle that was done. 00:30:44.220 --> 00:30:49.400 They were praising God, and Jesus is God. But 00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:53.059 his disciples are like, what are you talking 00:30:53.059 --> 00:30:55.299 about, Jesus? Things are going well. What do 00:30:55.299 --> 00:30:59.299 you mean you're going to be arrested and beaten? 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:02.579 Killed. That doesn't make any sense. That didn't 00:31:02.579 --> 00:31:07.579 make any sense to them. But Jesus is telling 00:31:07.579 --> 00:31:10.619 them ahead of time, this is the plan. This is 00:31:10.619 --> 00:31:19.779 why I've come. All the stuff that He tells them 00:31:19.779 --> 00:31:21.880 that is going to happen to Him, what's the last 00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:23.859 thing He says will happen? It's going to rise 00:31:23.859 --> 00:31:36.180 again. Why is that important? Why do you think 00:31:36.180 --> 00:31:38.299 that's important? It's important they were 90. 00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:46.319 It swings back to the faith. Hang on. Hang on. 00:31:48.619 --> 00:31:55.700 Friday's here, but Sunday's coming. God will 00:31:55.700 --> 00:32:00.079 not be defeated. Jesus was not defeated even 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:07.109 by death. Nothing that we do, nothing that happens 00:32:07.109 --> 00:32:10.849 in our lives, nothing that seems overwhelming 00:32:10.849 --> 00:32:28.630 to us can defeat God. Is there any relationship 00:32:28.630 --> 00:32:31.109 between the story about the children and the 00:32:31.109 --> 00:32:50.619 story about the blind man? The blind man comes 00:32:50.619 --> 00:32:55.660 innocent and trusting in a way. He's just taking 00:32:55.660 --> 00:32:59.160 God at the word. Jesus is the descendant of David. 00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:01.839 Jesus is going to heal him. He's coming like 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:04.920 a child. He is kind of like that little kid beside 00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:09.039 the road. He can't do anything for himself. Jesus, 00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:16.619 descendant of David, have mercy on me. Ironically, 00:33:16.680 --> 00:33:20.569 he's the one that can see. He's the one that 00:33:20.569 --> 00:33:22.849 knows who Jesus is in the whole thing. The disciples 00:33:22.849 --> 00:33:27.009 aren't getting it. I mean, they understand some 00:33:27.009 --> 00:33:34.549 things about Jesus, but the blind man is the 00:33:34.549 --> 00:33:39.769 one that gets it. And then he comes to know Jesus 00:33:39.769 --> 00:33:43.130 in a new way. I mean, even his expectations are 00:33:43.130 --> 00:33:49.220 exceeded here. He gets complete healing. But 00:33:49.220 --> 00:33:58.160 what does he do after the healing? He rejoices. 00:33:58.859 --> 00:34:06.839 He says he followed Jesus, praising God. He got, 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:15.699 he received his sight, and he received the kingdom 00:34:15.699 --> 00:34:19.239 of God like a little child. He's following. Now 00:34:19.239 --> 00:34:21.639 he's following the king. If there's a kingdom 00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:24.320 of God, there has to be a king, right? And that 00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:30.400 king is Jesus. And now he's following the king. 00:34:31.579 --> 00:34:36.119 His life is completely changed. He's gone from 00:34:36.119 --> 00:34:40.320 dismal, I got nothing, I'm a blind man, whatever 00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:43.360 little pennies people drop my way, that's all 00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:47.469 I get for the day. And now he's following the 00:34:47.469 --> 00:35:01.510 king of the universe. Wow. When I was about 15 00:35:01.510 --> 00:35:05.670 years old, I had a real change. I had grown up 00:35:05.670 --> 00:35:07.449 in a Christian family. I'd heard all these stories. 00:35:07.510 --> 00:35:11.090 I knew all about Jesus. But something happened 00:35:11.090 --> 00:35:20.119 when I... I turned about 15. And I didn't want 00:35:20.119 --> 00:35:22.019 to just accept it because my parents had told 00:35:22.019 --> 00:35:25.579 me I wanted to really know for sure if God was 00:35:25.579 --> 00:35:29.239 real. And I looked at the Bible and I said, you 00:35:29.239 --> 00:35:31.300 know, in the Bible, God speaks to people all 00:35:31.300 --> 00:35:33.539 the time. He's always talking to people. He's 00:35:33.539 --> 00:35:35.840 doing things in their lives. He's very active. 00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:41.219 And He doesn't change. God is God. If He's real, 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:46.360 Could I begin to know Him? Could I begin to actually 00:35:46.360 --> 00:35:50.119 hear His voice? Could I begin to follow Him and 00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:52.840 understand what that means? And then I began 00:35:52.840 --> 00:35:54.960 to think, well, what could be more important 00:35:54.960 --> 00:35:58.860 than that? I mean, I could go to college and 00:35:58.860 --> 00:36:01.239 have a career, and I could become a very famous 00:36:01.239 --> 00:36:05.139 person, I could become a celebrity, but that 00:36:05.139 --> 00:36:07.719 would be nothing compared to actually knowing 00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:13.869 the God who created everything. You can give 00:36:13.869 --> 00:36:17.809 me the whole world, all the fame and the power 00:36:17.809 --> 00:36:20.829 and the money and everything in the world, and 00:36:20.829 --> 00:36:23.210 you give it all to me, and if I had a choice 00:36:23.210 --> 00:36:28.710 with all that stuff or actually knowing God and 00:36:28.710 --> 00:36:31.010 knowing Him forever, which would I choose? And 00:36:31.010 --> 00:36:32.929 I'm like, well, that's a no -brainer. If I could 00:36:32.929 --> 00:36:36.949 actually know God, then He can do anything with 00:36:36.949 --> 00:36:45.079 my life. for the first time, talk to God like 00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:47.340 He was a real person and say, Lord, if you're 00:36:47.340 --> 00:36:50.380 there, show me that you're real. And I'll tell 00:36:50.380 --> 00:36:51.639 you, one of the first things that happened, maybe 00:36:51.639 --> 00:36:53.840 about a year later, I was about 16, just got 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:58.260 my driver's license. And I grew up in the Boston 00:36:58.260 --> 00:37:01.139 area, a lot of curvy roads and crazy drivers 00:37:01.139 --> 00:37:04.039 and nutty stuff going on. Got to always be paying 00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:06.139 attention. And one day I was driving through 00:37:06.139 --> 00:37:09.079 my town and it was around a curve. There was 00:37:09.079 --> 00:37:13.340 a service station on the right. And I was kind 00:37:13.340 --> 00:37:15.059 of distracted looking at something over on the 00:37:15.059 --> 00:37:17.860 left. I wasn't really paying attention. And all 00:37:17.860 --> 00:37:24.019 of a sudden, I started involuntarily to swerve 00:37:24.019 --> 00:37:27.059 to the left into the wrong side of the road. 00:37:27.739 --> 00:37:31.099 It's like somebody grabbed my wheel and swerved 00:37:31.099 --> 00:37:32.860 over to the left. And as I turned to look to 00:37:32.860 --> 00:37:36.440 the right, I saw a car was coming flying out 00:37:36.440 --> 00:37:38.519 of the service station right at the side of my 00:37:38.519 --> 00:37:41.980 car. And all of a sudden, I'm just 16 years old. 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:45.079 I'm just a new driver. This car looks like it's 00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:48.320 going to hit me. But fortunately, nobody was 00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:51.460 coming on the other traffic the other way. I 00:37:51.460 --> 00:37:54.099 swerved over to the other side, and the whole 00:37:54.099 --> 00:37:57.679 accident was averted. I just about got T -boned. 00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:01.800 And I'm just a 16 -year -old kid. You can imagine, 00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:06.699 my heart's going... I'm not used to driving, 00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:12.039 and I almost got hit. But the weird thing about 00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:17.539 it was I didn't swerve. And I heard the Lord 00:38:17.539 --> 00:38:21.539 say to me, did you see that? I was watching over 00:38:21.539 --> 00:38:26.820 you. And this has been right during that time 00:38:26.820 --> 00:38:28.679 I was asking the Lord to show me if he was real. 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:31.860 The first thing I remember was that God helped 00:38:31.860 --> 00:38:34.099 me in that situation. I've actually had other 00:38:34.099 --> 00:38:36.800 traffic accidents and God didn't. swerve my car. 00:38:37.099 --> 00:38:40.460 God doesn't always miraculously get you out of 00:38:40.460 --> 00:38:45.500 every scrape. But, in that case, He said, did 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:49.900 you notice? Were you looking? That wasn't you. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:53.679 You don't have reactions that fast. You're just 00:38:53.679 --> 00:39:03.159 a new driver. I think God wants us to actually 00:39:03.159 --> 00:39:11.349 know Him. and go through life in a kind of a 00:39:11.349 --> 00:39:13.769 constant conversation with Him. That may sound 00:39:13.769 --> 00:39:16.409 wacky, it may sound bizarre, but I think it's 00:39:16.409 --> 00:39:19.949 supposed to be normal. I think that's the way 00:39:19.949 --> 00:39:22.949 life should be. We've got a Creator. He calls 00:39:22.949 --> 00:39:25.170 Himself our Heavenly Father. We're His children. 00:39:25.289 --> 00:39:26.750 We're supposed to come to Him like children. 00:39:29.429 --> 00:39:34.280 I think He wants to hang out with us. Every minute 00:39:34.280 --> 00:39:39.360 of every day. Kind of guide us along the path. 00:39:39.460 --> 00:39:41.159 And if we're children and we're willing to listen, 00:39:41.280 --> 00:39:48.679 I think that is what the kingdom of God is all 00:39:48.679 --> 00:39:51.760 about in the world. Looking to the king, listening 00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:54.800 to his voice, being willing to do whatever he 00:39:54.800 --> 00:40:07.530 says, and know him. Interesting little story 00:40:07.530 --> 00:40:14.050 here, huh? Well, that's what I've got today. 00:40:14.730 --> 00:40:19.869 And I thank you for participating and listening. 00:40:20.769 --> 00:40:25.309 So let's pray. And I want to pray specifically 00:40:25.309 --> 00:40:29.670 for you that God might open your eyes. Maybe. 00:40:30.820 --> 00:40:33.820 Maybe even give you that initial curiosity that 00:40:33.820 --> 00:40:36.139 I had at age 15. Hey, if there really is a God, 00:40:36.260 --> 00:40:44.760 is He out there? Do you have any Father? I want 00:40:44.760 --> 00:40:52.019 to thank you that you are our King, but also 00:40:52.019 --> 00:40:58.780 our Father. You call yourself Father. And I know 00:40:58.780 --> 00:41:01.860 that sometimes our earthly fathers haven't always 00:41:01.860 --> 00:41:05.019 treated us right. But, Lord, You are a good, 00:41:05.079 --> 00:41:11.000 loving Father. And You're watching over us. And 00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:15.739 I ask, Lord, that maybe today You might spark 00:41:15.739 --> 00:41:21.079 something by these stories. Maybe we could be 00:41:21.079 --> 00:41:24.719 like that blind guy sitting beside the road saying, 00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:32.159 Jesus, Senate of David, have mercy on me. Would 00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:36.659 you talk with me today? Would you show me the 00:41:36.659 --> 00:41:44.019 right way to go? Lord Jesus, I thank you that 00:41:44.019 --> 00:41:52.380 you are calling to us. That you want us to know 00:41:52.380 --> 00:42:01.900 you. To live a life with you. Thank You for this 00:42:01.900 --> 00:42:03.579 story, Lord, and we pray that You would allow 00:42:03.579 --> 00:42:10.719 us to think about it all day. And we pray these 00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:13.199 things in Jesus' name. Amen.