Thank you for listening to this message from LifeHouse Church.
Good morning, good morning, LifeHouse.
Is there somebody?
Give them a high five.
Tell them it's good to be in the house.
It's good to be in the house this morning.
It is good to be in the house.
Thank you.
Have my voice back.
Yeah, if you're with us online at East Shore or here, it's just good to be in God's presence,
feel His presence, sing and worship the Lord and break into His word.
Can I just do something since I'm up here and I got the mic, can I just do something
this morning?
I want to give a plug for life groups.
One of the big things that we really believe in here is community.
We believe that somebody grows individually, exponentially faster if they're discipling
together and following Jesus together.
So if you've not been in a life group or you've kind of stepped away from life group, I really
am asking you to consider getting involved in a life group.
There's lots of different life groups.
I'm doing one this year, this semester I should say, about the Holy Spirit.
If you're interested in that, I'm going to give a shameless plug for mine, right?
If you're interested in learning more about Holy Spirit, who He is and what the Bible
has to say about that and in the New Testament, and maybe you got questions about things like
the baptism of the Holy Spirit or speaking in tongues.
There's a host of things that you see in the New Testament you might have questions about.
I'd love for you to come into that group.
We're going to explore, we're going to dive into the word and talk.
So those are great.
That's my shameless plug for my group, but there are many groups that are going on that
you can get involved in.
Please do that.
Talk to somebody that's in a group.
They'll tell you it's beneficial.
You don't have to take my word for it.
Ask somebody else.
Amen?
It's true.
Anybody?
Those of you in the group say amen.
Amen.
All right.
Awesome.
That was a good amen.
Well, it is good to have you.
Now, listen, I'm going to start off this message with a question.
Have you ever been accused of being childish?
How many of you have been accused of being childish in the last year?
All right.
Good.
How many in the last month?
How many this morning?
All right.
Good.
All right.
Yeah.
If you've been accused of being childish, you're probably going to love this message.
All right.
And if you haven't been accused of being childish, you might want to by the end of the message.
But listen, just so you get this in your spirit, just so you get this in your heart, turn to
somebody this morning and tell them we're going to talk childish today.
We're going to talk childish.
Come on.
Let's get this in your spirit.
We're going to talk childish.
I'm going to pray before we read God's word.
We're going into Mark chapter 10, verse 13.
So if you bow your heads, Lord, we thank you for this day.
God, thank you for each one that's in the house.
God, it's outside of the house.
And Lord God, I pray that your word would go into our hearts, minds, shift us, change
us, Lord.
God, sometimes even deliver us from ourselves.
And Lord, God, help us and guide us, direct us, Lord, that we might walk out the kingdom
on earth.
And Lord, your will on earth.
And we give you praise and glory in Jesus name.
Amen.
Mark chapter 10, verse 13 is where we're going.
If you brought your Bible, you can turn there.
If not, you can take a look at the screens.
They're going to put it up there for you.
It says this, then they brought little children to him.
Now I'm going to stop just right there for a second because you need to know who the
day and who the hymn is in this first part of this scripture here.
And they brought, that's the parents, brought children to him, which is Jesus.
Okay.
Got to get that picture in your mind.
Then they brought little children to him that he might touch them.
But the disciples rebuke those who brought them.
But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased and said to them, let the little children
come to me and do not forbid them for such is the kingdom of God.
Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a child will
by no means enter it.
And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them and he blessed them.
Only a few verses, but there's this scene that unfolds where Jesus and his disciples
and some parents and some children are all coming together.
And I want you to get the picture in your mind because Jesus is out ministering.
Jesus is out doing what Jesus does.
He's preaching the kingdom.
He's preaching the word.
He's healing people.
He's delivering people from evil spirits.
He's doing all the things he does in ministry.
And all of a sudden, all these parents start to bring their children to Jesus.
And what they want to happen is they want to bring their child to Jesus so Jesus will
lay his hands on them and bless them.
They want their child blessed by Jesus.
And these parents, they know that Jesus has power.
They know he can heal.
They know that this quite possibly could be the Messiah.
He's at least a prophet in their eyes and they want their children.
How many know any good parent wants their children to be blessed, right?
Any good parent wants to have their child blessed and somebody to speak over them, particularly
the son of God to speak over their lives.
And as you get the picture in your mind, I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, you know,
this probably look like the mall a little bit at Christmas time, right?
The Santa Claus line.
How many of you ever seen the Santa Claus line, right?
All the parents are there with their kids and Santa Claus is sitting up there.
And I think it probably looked just a little bit like that.
These parents are lined up with their kids.
Maybe they're jockeying for position to get in there first so they don't got to stand
for three hours.
Right.
And how am I know that Santa always has some helpers, right?
He has some elves, people dressed up, I mean, elves dressed up, you know, and they're helping
out.
And I'm thinking that's kind of the disciples, right?
Jesus is there.
The disciples are there.
See, the disciples are angry little elves.
All right.
They not only didn't want the kids to, you know, to be they didn't want the kids around
at all.
They didn't want them lined up and quiet.
They didn't want them there at all.
And matter of fact, they're chasing them away.
You know, they're shushing them off.
They're saying like, hey, get him out of here.
This is an adult meeting.
This is for for adults, right?
Where Jesus is ministering.
This is serious business.
And Jesus kind of gets aggravated and he's not aggravated at the kids.
He's annoyed with his disciples.
He says, let him come to me.
I want to bless them.
And in the middle of all this confusion and in the middle of this is taking place, he
said he says something that we need to get a hold of.
His disciples should have got a hold of it.
The parents should have heard it.
And we need to hear it today.
He says, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means
enter it.
That's serious business.
All right.
When you look at that, you got to be thinking, what does that mean?
Because this is serious.
I want to know about you, but I want to know.
I want to know because I want to enter the kingdom of God.
I want to know because I don't want to miss it.
I want to know what it is to come into the kingdom like a child, because I don't want
to miss Jesus, I don't want to miss the kingdom of God, I don't want to miss the blessings,
I don't want to miss the inheritance.
I don't want to miss any of it.
This is a heaven or hell thing.
Cuz if you miss the kingdom of God, guess what kingdom you're in?
There's only two.
Right?
It is it's a heaven and hell thing.
This is a big deal.
This is life and death kind of stuff.
This is not just a minor skirmish between Jesus
and some parents and children and his disciples.
What did he mean?
By whoever does not receive the kingdom of God
as a little child will by no means enter it.
Does that, you know, as you think about it,
does that mean that we need some spiritual parents, right?
Does that mean that we need a spiritual father
or a spiritual mother that will help us get to Jesus?
Well, that's a good thing, I can tell you that,
if you have that, right?
Does it mean that?
Does it mean that I should have childlike faith?
How many ever heard that, right?
I gotta have childlike faith.
You gotta have the faith of a child, right?
Is it a blind kind of faith?
Is it childish in my actions?
Most of you got that covered,
you self-admitted that this morning, right?
Is it childish in my actions, right?
Is it being kind of kiddish in some way?
How exactly do I be like,
how exactly do I become like a child
so that I can get into the kingdom of God?
Because if I don't, I miss it.
I miss the kingdom, I miss Jesus,
I miss the inheritance, I miss the blessing,
I miss it all.
How do I get into the kingdom like a child?
Turn to the person beside you, see if they got the answer.
Ask them, how do I get into the kingdom like a child?
Are they staring at you blindly?
Come on, how do I get into the kingdom?
Well, I think the key to understanding this passage
is twofold, I think you gotta understand a child
and you gotta understand the word of God.
You gotta understand how a child functions, right?
And then you gotta understand the word of God.
You gotta have good theology.
You gotta make sure the scripture backs up scripture.
You gotta make sure it lines up, right?
You gotta understand a child
and you gotta understand the word of God.
Because when Jesus said,
"'Surely I say to you, whoever does not receive
"'the kingdom of God as a little child
"'will by no means enter it.'"
Jesus was not saying that to be,
he was not saying you should be childish.
He was not saying that you're supposed to be immature.
He wasn't saying that you're supposed to be oblivious
to the world around you.
How many know little kids are innocent,
they're wonderful, but they're completely oblivious, right?
To what's happening around them.
They're just worried about their own little world, right?
Jesus wasn't saying you just need to stay
like a child in every way.
Jesus said something in that scripture.
And if you look close, he said the one thing,
the one way that you need to act like a child
is you need to receive the kingdom like a child.
It says it right into verse.
Receive the kingdom like a child.
He said, whoever does not receive, say receive.
The kingdom of God as a little child
will by no means enter it.
It's about reception of the kingdom.
It's about how you receive the kingdom of God
and you receive Christ and you receive the Holy Spirit.
It's how you embrace the kingdom.
And I wanna give you a couple pictures
of what I'm trying to say here, some word pictures.
If you've ever watched a football game
and even if you've never really watched a football game,
you're gonna understand this.
It's not deep football knowledge of any kind.
But in the football, there's a quarterback, right,
who throws the ball and then there's a receiver
who's out there running to catch the ball, right?
Pretty simple concept.
And the guy that's out there running,
they call him a receiver.
He's gonna receive it, right?
And what does the receiver do when he runs out
to get the ball?
The quarterback winds up, he throws the ball,
the receiver doesn't run out there like this, right?
He's got his arms out.
He's ready to catch that thing.
He's ready to receive.
He's got his arms open wide.
He's ready to catch the ball.
Sometimes they're running with their arms
just out like this, right?
Ball's thrown over them, they're just running
for everything they got.
And what happens when he catches that ball, right?
When he catches that ball, he pulls that thing in
and he tucks that thing in tight
and he clamps that down, you know why?
Because the other team's trying to strip the ball
out of his arm.
He'll hang onto that thing for everything he's worth.
He'll wrap it up with two arms, right?
It's how he receives it.
It's how he pulls it in.
It's about reception of the kingdom.
It's about how you're pulling it in.
It really is.
If somebody hands you a baby, you receive a baby
different than you receive anything else, right?
If I hand you a baby or hand you a frying pan,
how many notes can be a little different, right?
Especially if it's hot, frying pan's out here, whatever.
But too hot, you just drop it.
You don't do that with a baby, right?
When you get a baby, you receive the baby.
You pull the baby in, right?
You walk with the baby.
You make sure nothing bumps into the baby.
Right, if you're walking on the ice
and you slip on the ice, do you drop the baby
and put out your hands?
No.
You sacrifice yourself.
You wrap that baby up and take the hit, right?
It's about how you receive.
It's about how you receive the kingdom of God.
How does a child receive somebody they love?
Come on.
We got kids everywhere around here.
How do they do it?
Open arms, right?
Wide open, they'll run towards you.
If they're receiving you or you're receiving them
and there's love there, they'll run 100 mile an hour
and just jump into your arms and latch onto you, right?
If they're standing on the countertop, whoop, whoop, whoop,
they'll run, right, dive right off the end.
Catch me, right?
They'll do it off a table.
They're all in, there's nothing reserved.
That's how they receive.
But if they don't wanna receive you,
how's it all work out?
Yeah, that's exactly right.
They'll run the other way, right?
Yesterday, I went to pick up my niece's daughter,
Cora, she's less than a year old,
and she was in the stroller and I unstrapped her
and she looked at me and how many of you
ever seen the stranger danger look with kids?
The stranger, she screamed bloody murder, okay?
I was like, I'm outta here.
All right, I'm not touching this kid, right?
It's rare you get a courtesy hug from a child, right?
You know, unless a parent makes them,
come on, go over there and I want you
to hug crusty Uncle Joe.
You know, they're doing that kind of thing, right?
Come on, if they love you,
if they wanna receive you,
they'll run straight off of the table.
They'll wrap you up, they'll hug you.
You can't even bribe a little kid.
You can have a stack of $1,000 bills
and you say, kid, that's all yours,
have you hugged me?
They don't care, right?
They're not, no.
I'm not hugging you, right?
I ain't doing it, I'm not doing it today.
Not gonna happen, right?
They won't.
Some of you violated a stack of $1,000 bills,
you'd hug a grizzly bear, right?
Come on, but a child won't.
A child won't.
A child will run over hot coals to get to their parents,
to get to their mom, to get to their dad, right?
They will bite, kick, claw, scream,
whatever they gotta do, right?
They'll run under anything or over top of anything
just so they can receive mom or receive dad
if they love him, right?
Jesus was telling his disciples,
the way into the kingdom of God
is that you gotta receive me like that.
It's gotta look like that.
You want heaven, you want the kingdom,
you want Jesus Christ in your life,
you gotta wrap it up, man.
You gotta run towards him.
You gotta be able to,
you gotta look like a little kid, right?
Just running, arms flopping.
You gotta, and I know some of you
aren't gonna do that physically,
but I'm telling you in your heart and in your spirit,
you gotta run, kicking, you gotta kick, scream,
do whatever you gotta do to get to Jesus.
That's what Jesus was telling the disciples, right?
We got all kind of little running around here.
We got all kind of little reminders
of what Jesus was saying.
And just to drive it home,
this enormous truth that Jesus was trying to convey
to his disciples,
you only need to read the next few verses, right?
We said we're gonna take a look at children,
we're gonna look, right?
We're gonna do good Bible theology.
We're gonna put scripture against scripture.
You only gotta look just a little further,
a couple more verses down,
you start to see what he's talking about.
Because Mark 10, 17 says this,
now as he, Jesus, was going out on the road,
one came running, knelt before him,
and asked him, good teacher, what shall I do
that I might inherit eternal life?
So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?
No one is good but one, that is God.
You know the commandments, do not commit adultery,
do not murder, do not steal,
do not bear false witness, do not defraud,
honor your father and your mother.
And he answered and said to him,
teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.
Then Jesus looking at him, loved him,
and said to him, one thing you lack,
go your way, sell whatever you have,
and give it to the poor,
and take up the cross and follow me.
But he was sad at his word and went away,
sorrowful for he had great possessions.
This is a rich guy.
This is a guy who's got some stuff.
And he comes running up to Jesus,
just like a child, running up to Jesus,
falls on his knees, right?
And says, Jesus, how do I inherit eternal life?
How do I get into the kingdom?
How do I receive the kingdom?
And he says, what do I gotta do?
What do I gotta do to get eternal life?
To be in the kingdom, to be a part of your crew,
whatever you wanna call it.
He humbly falls to the ground,
just like a little kid might do.
And when Jesus says it first,
it's complete music through his ears.
Because he says, do you know the commandments?
And Jesus starts commanding,
he starts actually quoting some of the Ten Commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not murder,
do not steal, do not bear false witness,
he starts naming some of the commandments.
And inside this guy's getting a little giddy.
He's like, man, I grew up in the church, right?
I've been going to synagogue.
I'm Jewish, I know the Torah, right?
And I've been following this stuff since I've been a kid.
My parents were on the right side of the tracks,
they went to church, they raised me right,
I've been living right, I wasn't like those sinners.
He's getting all giddy inside, right?
He's just saying, oh man, I'm in, I'm in, right?
Then Jesus says something to him
that he's not expecting at all.
He says, go your way, sell whatever you have
and give it to the poor,
and you'll have treasure in heaven.
And come take up the cross and follow me.
Ooh.
Suddenly, he gets off the ground.
He dusts himself off, right?
His position has changed, his posture has changed, right?
And he sadly turns away and walks away.
And walks away from Jesus, he walks away.
The word of God says it, but he was sad at this word.
Part of him wanted it, and then he went away sorrowful
for he had great possessions.
A child, they will abandon anything and everything
to get to their parents.
To the one that they want to receive and they want received
by, they will drop anything and everything.
They will leave it on the ground,
they will leave it behind them,
they put no value on it whatsoever, not one bit.
They throw it down, they never look back,
they bite, they kick, they scream, they claw,
and they run to the one that will receive them.
But not this rich man.
He was the one thing.
One thing, right?
The one thing can keep us from Jesus in the kingdom.
The one thing can keep us from there.
The one thing that I refuse to walk away from,
to follow Jesus, right?
The one thing that makes me stand up, dust myself off,
right, and head the other way.
The one thing that keeps me from taking up the cross,
right, following Jesus and doing what God called me to do.
The one thing can do that.
For this guy, in this particular scene, it was his stuff.
It was his possessions.
Whatever those possessions are, he doesn't really tell us,
he just says he has great possessions.
Whatever that is, it was his bank account, I don't know,
maybe he just had a warehouse or a barn full of stuff,
whatever it was, he wasn't willing to sell it.
He was not willing to let it go.
There was no way he was gonna do that, right?
And it was the one thing that kept him.
And it can be all kinds of things.
It can be our stuff, right?
It could be success, it could be the lack of success,
it could be a relationship could be the one thing
or the lack of a relationship, it could be possessions,
it could be pleasure, it could be a position in something,
right, it can be the one thing.
It could be something that's the lust of our eyes,
something that we see, that we're not willing to let go.
It could be something that's the lust of our flesh,
something that we desire and we're not willing to let go,
right, or it can be just straight up pride in something.
We're not willing to even get down on our knees
in front of them, it can be the one thing, it only takes one thing to stop you from pursuing
the kingdom of God, it only takes one thing to keep you from, come on say it, one thing,
one thing, it only takes one thing to keep you from receiving the kingdom of God as a
child, Jesus even comments on it, in Mark 10 23 says,
when Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard is it for those who have riches to
enter the kingdom of God?
And the disciples were astonished at his words, but Jesus answered again and said to them,
children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God?
This one thing, this God's one thing was riches, he cared for, he trusted in riches, he wasn't
turning that trust over to Jesus, he trusted in the riches, remember when I said a child
will run right off a table, he'll run right off a countertop, he or she, they'll bail
right off, why do they do that?
Because they trust the person that's on the other end, there's this deep abiding trust
and they will leap, they will hop, they'll jump off a cliff to get in your arms, and
I can tell you today, the complete confidence, your one thing needs to be Jesus, forget everything
else, the one thing you need, the one thing you can have complete confidence in, the one
thing that will take you from here to there, and I'm talking from the beginning to all
of eternity, what is Jesus Christ?
Everything else could fail you, everything else could leave you down, come on, and this
guy, there was no way, he wasn't doing it, he said I'm not leaving this one thing, you
can have complete confidence in Jesus Christ and he will never fail you, the trust, trust
to run off, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not
on your own understanding in all your ways to acknowledge him and he will direct your
path, it's all in, it's all in, if you look at the word of God, it's always all in, everywhere
you go, and God's word is like all in, all in, all in, can't have the one thing, all
in, all in, it's everywhere you go, Pastor Rick preached about it last week, we've got
to have supreme confidence in Jesus Christ, you're going to have supreme confidence in
someone or something, it needs to be Jesus, if you're going to jump off the cliff, man,
only do that with Jesus by the way, don't do that with anybody else, somebody else tell
me jump off a cliff, I'm like no, you go first, I'm not doing that, only Jesus, if we're going
to do it like a child, we've got to drop it all behind us, counter to his rags, for this
guy in this scene, he wanted to follow Jesus, he would have never been in that place, he
would have never ran up to Jesus and fell down on his knees and said Jesus how do I
get eternal, there was something, there was a desire in him to follow Jesus, he wanted
the kingdom, he wanted to follow Christ, it's why he got so sad, but the one thing kept
him, the one thing held him back, can I give you another scripture just to go along those
lines, Matthew 10 39 says this, he who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his
life for my sake will find it, he who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his
life for my sake, he who puts his premier trust in me ahead of trusting all others and
everything else, and 40 goes on, he who receives you receives me and he who receives me receives
him who sent me, come on, you hear about the receiving part here, right, he who receives
a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward and he who receives a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward and whoever gives
one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, surely I
say to you he shall by no means lose his reward, receive him, trust him, turn it over to him,
don't let the one thing get in the way, whatever that is, don't let it get in the way, this
rich man who knelt before Jesus, he was a fool, he was a fool, he traded rags for riches,
what he had was rags in comparison to what God has, it's rags, anything we possess, anything
I have is rags in comparison to Jesus, it's rags, it's nothing, don't trade it, don't
put it in front of them, right, there's not one thing in your life that is worth trading
for the kingdom of God and for Jesus Christ, I'm gonna bring us all home and move towards
the closing, I said move towards, I didn't say I was closing yet, all right, towards
the closing in Mark chapter 10 verse 25 and it says this, it was easier for a camel to
go through the Ivan needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, this is Jesus
he continues talking, and they were greatly astonished saying among themselves who then
can be saved, but Jesus looked at them and said with men it's impossible, it's impossible
but with God for all things, for with God all things are possible, then Peter began
to say to them see we've left all and followed you, so Jesus answered, I love how Peter just
goes up, hey Jesus we left all and followed you, right, sticks puts his hand up, right,
so Jesus answered and said as shortly as I say to you there is no one who has left house,
that's things, right, or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wives or children,
that's people, or lands, more stuff, for my sake and the gospels who shall not receive
a hundredfold now and this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children
and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life, but many who are first
will be last and the last will be first, wow, why did I read that, because anything you
give up for Jesus, anything you lay on the ground to get to him, he'll make it more than
worth it in the future, okay, he'll make it more than worth it in the future, there's
a cost to following Jesus, I don't come pretending that there's not a cost with following Christ,
right, the word of God says we should count the cost, you're going to lay some things
down, you're going to put some things down beside you, behind you, in front of you, you're
going to drop it, if you're going to follow Jesus you're going to get to the kingdom,
right, and you're going to receive it like a child, you're going to have to put some
things down, you're going to have to lay it down, there's a cost, but it is nothing, it
is rags, there is exponential, say exponential, come on, there is exponential reward in the
future and the word of God says in this particular scripture, we don't have time to unfold all
that but it says in this scripture that some of that's going to happen now in this life,
right, some of it's when you're in this kingdom right now, but some of it's going to be over
here in the next life, some of it's on this side of heaven where God's going to bless
you beyond measure and some of it's going to be on that side of heaven and I can tell
you this, the word of God talks about good success, there's success in this life, you
can say well I know lots of evil people who are successful, absolutely, but it is not
good success, there's a big difference between success and good success, good success has
God's blessing on it, good success has God's hand on it, good success has God's peace on
it, good success will cause growth in your life and I'm telling you, I know plenty of
people that have by the world's terms success and they have nothing but turmoil, they have
nothing but frustration, they have division, they have all these things and they're going
to ultimately lose it all and have nothing in the future, less than, they'll have the
kingdom of darkness, hell, amen, oh man like a child, don't let the one thing get you,
I'm going to ask you to stand this morning, I told you I was getting towards closing,
I know Pastor Eric's coming at the East Shore campus and if you're listening online, honestly
you need to get somewhere where you can pray, you need to get somewhere where you can pray,
I want you just in your mind to picture a child running, some of you have experienced
this in your own families just running to you, arms wide open, that's what Jesus is
looking for, that's what Jesus wants, every day we get up, every morning we get up in
the morning, he wants that childlike approach for the kingdom, for eternal life, for him,
he wants us to chase him down like that and here's something you need to know, all the
enemy wants to do, listen the enemy is probably not going to come and just totally try to
take you out at once because you'll recognize that, but what the enemy will do is he'll
put the one thing in the way and he'll get you just lukewarm, he doesn't want you hot
chasing after God, he doesn't want you dropping stuff and running to Jesus, he wants you just
lukewarm, you know why, do you know what follows lukewarm coffee, 10 minutes later what is
it, it's cold, it's nasty, that's what he wants, he's okay with you hitting lukewarm
because he knows if you stay lukewarm you're not going to chase God, you're not going to
chase after Jesus, that's not going to be your single focus, you'll get everything,
he'll get the one thing in the way and he's perfectly fine just letting you hit lukewarm
because the enemy has been around a long time and he knows if you stay lukewarm long enough
you'll slide right over into cold and you'll walk, you'll dust yourself off and you'll
walk, amen, and he'll keep you from the kingdom and you'll trade rags for riches, he really
will, I'm going to ask you to bow your heads, I want you to picture it in your mind, picture
it in your mind this morning, I want you, I don't want you to picture a kid, I want
you to picture yourself, if you had to picture yourself in the scripture would you be running
after Jesus like a child runs after a parent, are you kicking and screaming and scratching
and clawing to get to whatever God has for you and what God wants to do in your life
and what God is speaking to you, are you just letting the one thing get in the way, listen
the devil doesn't want you kicking and clawing and screaming and approaching the kingdom
like a child because he can't stop that, he has no power over that, he's got to get out
of the way when you get like that, all of hell cannot hold you back when you get like
that, so he does everything in his power to keep you from there, distractions, stress,
problems, issues, Father we come to you right now in the matchless name of Jesus Christ
and God I pray for a stirring in our spirit this morning, God I pray that desire begins
to stir in our hearts, God I pray God that we set resolve and God we make our minds up
that no matter what the enemy throws at us, no matter what he continues to pelt us with
that it is not going to be the one thing that gets in the way, God I pray right now God
for a stirring in our souls that the Holy Spirit would begin to stir within us and God
that we would come to the place of resolve where we are going to chase God, we are going
to go down swinging, man here's the thing church we are not going to go down, so Lord
I pray God that you help us, stir us on our spirits God till we cannot stand still, God
till we move forward in you, God till we chase you with everything that is within us, God
this is not about us, this is about you and your kingdom, and Lord I want your kingdom,
I want to know it, I want to experience it and I do not want to trade rags for riches
in you, God make me like a child, in this one aspect make us like a child, in Jesus
name, amen.
Amen.