Children—Kevin House
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Number one, if somebody else might raise a tune for us, we'll start with singing #1 together.
Jesus Christ and clothing and Angelina Jolie's on my hands with a lot of my eyes and I don't know what we've been here now. I'll follow up on the.
Idea.
Oh, I'm good.
Anybody tell me who?
The story is about from the Bible.
Anybody know who it was that said this? You know Savannah?
It was a king.
First part is right and then we know who the king is.
Yep.
Starts with an F.
Yes, Zach. Well, I think it's either Felix or Festus, but I actually don't know the answer. Maybe somebody could help me.
But Paul was talking to him.
And he was telling him about the Lord Jesus, and this is what he said. This king said when Paul was done, he said almost. I'm persuaded to be a Christian. You think almost is good enough?
What do you think guys? Is almost good enough to almost make it to heaven? What happens if you only almost make it to heaven? What do you think, Quincy? You don't go to heaven at all. That's right. Almost means lost. OK. And that means, I'm sure you all know that means going to hell. And is hell a nice BBQ like a man I talked to where you just have a party with your friends?
Is that what hell is? No, no, it's darkness.
Blackness hits fire.
And I would not like for any of you precious children to be almost in heaven but not there. That would be very, very sad. OK, So what we'd like to talk about today is perspective. That means how you look at something. And sometimes when we look at something, we have a different way of looking at something than somebody else. OK, so.
I think we've talked about this at home a little bit, but I have.
A little girl here actually don't know where she is. She was sitting with her grandpa.
But she told me that she was big. Are you big, Levi? You're not big, but you're bigger than she is. OK, But perspective is kind of how you look at something. OK, so you might be little or you might be big, but everybody looks at something a little bit differently.
So whose perspective is the most important? What do you think, Max? Do you think your perspective is more important or my perspective is more important?
Neither, you're right. Neither one is more important because God's perspective is important and that's what we want to talk about. And if God says you're almost there.
And that's the perspective that matters. That's the view that matters, not just what I think, what you think. You guys all look very nice this morning. Maybe you have a smile, maybe you don't. But I don't know what's in your heart. But God knows exactly what's in your heart. Right, Chip? Yeah, right. All right.
So let's sing another one together, OK? Yes, Thomas.
39 All right, everybody find 39.
00:05:03
OK, and we'll sing it together.
This is a is a perspective too because there's a verse that I think my the Lord used to save my father-in-law. The verse I just read it says he that is not with me is against me. OK so this song here talks about what a friend we have in Jesus.
But if you're not safe.
You don't have a friend in Jesus because you are the enemy of God. You're against him. If you're not for him. You ever think about that? You are against God. That's kind of a sorry spot to be in. You know, maybe if we're playing a sport, we like to be on a team, right? We like to be on the team that win.
Right in the Lord Jesus, in the war against good and evil, he is going to win. I would like everyone to be on the winning side. So let's sing this together. So what a friend we have in Jesus. Perhaps someone could raise this hearing please.
We will come down for everything.
It's 2100.
And I believe I have one question so.
I'm so sorry, I don't really need anything about that.
He had 2150.
Uh-huh.
We don't take them to everything.
I'd like to ask a question I think I already know the answer to, but who here in this room likes to be happy?
Put up your hand. Anybody like to be happy? Yeah.
You know, it's a great thing to be happy, OK? Sometimes there's things that make us unhappy, right? Aaron, can you think of something what would make you unhappy?
Not listening to your father and mother, yes, generally gets you in trouble, doesn't it? And often they tell you something because they don't want you to get hurt, right? They love you. Yeah. And you know what? It's pretty hard sometimes for your dad and mom if they tell you something, trying to help you and you don't listen.
That's hard. You know, I unlike you kids, I'm a dad, you know that. Yeah. And so I have kids that I love, and I want to keep those kids safe. So sometimes I say don't touch that. And you know what? Sometimes they touch it and it was a hot pan. And what happens, Ma, you touch your hot pan.
00:10:08
You get burned. That's right. If you don't listen, then whatever it was that you were trying to be kept safe from.
It happened.
Sometimes, yeah, sometimes. One time when my little girl Abby was young, she thought she would sneak behind the fireplace, but there's only a little space. And you know what? It was hot. And she tried to get behind, but her nose touched the fireplace and she burned her nose because she was playing near something that was hot. And I tried to warn her. But sometimes, kids just.
Do something without listening to their parents, right. So that would be something that's right, Aaron, that makes you unhappy when you don't listen. That's right. But I would like to talk about something that.
Makes you happy.
And can make you happy all of the time. OK. Who likes to be left out? Does anybody like to be left out? There's a group of boys or girls, maybe you would like to play with them. And they say, no, we're not gonna let you play with us. Does anybody really like to be that person that gets left out? No, no. We all like to be included.
But sometimes people are mean.
Has that ever happened to you, Thomas? People are mean to you. Sometimes people are mean.
But in this song, we're just singing, there's a friend that we can have that is always with us. And if everyone is being mean to you, this friend, the Lord Jesus, he will never, never be mean to you. He's always going to be there if you want to talk about something, if you have a problem. And you know what?
You exist for His pleasure.
Did you know that the reason you are here?
Is because God wanted to have relationship with you? Did you know that? That he cares about you, Sandy? The God who created the whole world cares about you. Do you think Mr. Trudeau cares about you, Tegan? Mr. Trudeau is the Prime Minister. Do you think he cares about you yourself or do you think he just kind of cares about everyone kind of?
Yeah, so he's an important man, but he's ruling over, you know, more than.
35 million people, He can't know everyone, He can't care about you. But the Lord Jesus, he cares about each one of us. And you know what the happiest times in my life are when I'm enjoying his friendship, when I'm in communion with him. That is when I am the happiness. And it might be at a time when the things that are happening to me are really sad.
Sometimes I get hurt and you know what? I can go to the Lord and because He's my friend, I can tell Him about it and how it's hurting me, how I'm struggling and He cares and He comforts me in a way that nobody else can.
Do you know this friend or are you his enemy? Are you against him or do you know him?
So important to know the Lord.
OK, children.
And it's not just for people who are older like me.
When I was your age.
One day I knelt down beside my bed and I asked the Lord Jesus to wash my sins away because I knew that I had done things that were wrong in His sights. Anybody here feel guilty about your sins inside? When you go to bed at night, you lie down. Maybe you feel scared when the lights turn out because you know you have sinned. You don't have to be like that. You don't have to be scared.
You can know the Lord, that's why he came, so that we would know that God loves us.
That's why Jesus gave his life.
And also to take care of our sins, because those sins are what are going to take us to hell, right? Things that we have done that are wrong.
So perhaps we should pray at this point because I don't want to talk too much before I ask Lord to help me. OK, so let's close our eyes and be quiet and just ask the Lord to help us. For God and our Father, just thank you so much for sending and only begotten Son into this world. Thank you for how he lived perfectly.
Thank you for how He gave his life, the sinners like all of us in the room, everyone in the whole world.
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Could have salvation through his precious blood. Father just need thy help this morning to be able to connect with each of these precious children and none of them have to go to eternal separation from myself. Just ask it now in Jesus precious name, Amen.
Alright, I would like to tell a story here.
I told this story at home, but since I told this story the story has changed a little bit. Anybody know what these are?
What do you think, girls?
You know what this is?
It's paper and there's some numbers on it.
In designing a house. Very good. MRSA. OK, so you can look at that house picture, OK, And you look at the garage, because I was building this garage on my house, OK, You look at that and you try and see if this little triangle is in the center of the roof or the center of the building. OK, You can look at it and then pass it on. OK, We'll give one to this side, OK. Because I was building this subject of perspective that I'd like to talk about how we think about something.
OK, this this subject came before me because.
I was working on my house and something happened while I was working on my house that brought this to my attention. OK, we'll look at it and pass it on, OK? See if that little peak is in the center of the roof or not, OK?
All right, So I had my roof built. OK. When you look at the picture, you'd be able to see, OK, And I decided on the front of my house to build this little peak to match the other part of the house on the garage. OK. So I went up there and I very, very carefully measured how long the roof was.
Very, very carefully. I made a mark right in the middle.
I got a chalk line out. I made a very straight line relative to the edge of the roof.
And then I built this little peak on the roof, OK? And I got it right in the middle. And, you know, I was very pleased with this roof. I thought, you know what? This is solid. It's level. It's Plumb. Everything about it is just great. OK. But you know what? Somebody came to visit me, a brother in my local assembly who has helped with my garage.
And he dropped off some materials, says Uncle Ken. Some of you know him.
And you know what? He was standing there looking up at the garage. You kind of had this look on his face.
You know what I thought? Uh oh.
Uncle Ken knows a lot about building, and he's looking at it like there's something wrong. Now this is bad. I thought, what could I do wrong? I measured it. I was very careful. I got it right in the middle. OK, But you know what? If you look at that plan, who can tell me what's the peak right in the middle?
No, it was a little bit off to the side, wasn't it?
Yeah, you already saw it. That's right.
OK, that peak was not right in the middle, but I thought and I was sure that what I was doing was right. I was sure. I measured, I looked at it. I used my level.
But you know what? I was wrong.
OK, in our lives, we can be so sure, so sure that we're OK. But you know what? I didn't follow the plan. Who has the plan there?
You see it, Phil has it here. OK, so in that plan, the peak is just a little bit off centered. It's centered on the garage doors, on the space in between. And I was off by 9 inches. And you know what? It looked wrong. So you know what I had to do.
Brought something along here because.
Who knows what this tool is right here You can tell me what do you think this is a saw? Yeah. OK now.
What do you think, Wesley? Do you think this is a saw that's really precise or kind of more for rough stuff? What do you think it is for rough stuff? You watch that blade go out OK, and it's cutting OK. And this saw I had to take and cut all those nails that I had pounded in so carefully, and I had to move.
I had to move that peak.
Over 9 inches.
OK.
Now my perspective, the way I was looking at it up on the roof was wrong.
00:20:04
And it made me think about how you look at life because I had to make a change and I had to get my saw out and I had to cut along all of those nails, cut it all out.
And if you haven't accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior yet, you're in the same situation as me. I thought I was doing it right. I was so careful, but I was wrong.
I was wrong.
You know, that reminded me of the story in the Word of God.
There was a man that was hanging on a cross beside the Lord Jesus.
And he had a change of perspective because he was wrong too. He was a thief.
And he was being put to death because of what he had done. OK, now where did I set my Bible? Down here. There we go.
OK, so let's read some verses about this man, because this man had the change that I would like to talk about this morning, Luke chapter 23. OK, and we'll read a few verses here about this man who had a change of very important change of perspective, OK. And and one of the other Gospels, it says about this thief.
That he cast the same in his teeth. So he was insulting the Lord Jesus even though they were all hanging on the cross. He was saying, oh, you uh, I don't know what he was saying, but something negative vote the Lord Jesus even though they were both hanging on the cross. OK, but this man, the Lord worked in his heart. He had a change of perspective. We'll read it together. The loop 23 verse 39 and one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying.
If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuke him, saying, that's not thou, fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation. We indeed justly, for we received the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus.
Lord, Remember Me when thou cometh into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee.
Today shall tell be with me in Paradise. And it was about the 6th hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried, with a loud voice he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
What I wanted to talk about was this.
Thief. Anybody here ever stole anything?
Maybe there was a candy and you weren't really sure if you should have it. Instead of asking your parents, you just looked around, see if anybody was looking and then you took it and you ate it. That stealing isn't it should ask and make sure it's OK first.
So what if you or I were hanging on that cross because we were a thief?
And the Lord Jesus is hanging right beside us. Imagine.
This man was so close to the Lord Jesus himself.
And you know what? He was insulting him. They were both dying at the same time, and he was insulting the Lord Jesus. Incredible to think what our hearts are capable of.
But you know what? He had a change in his heart. He had a change in perspective. He went from.
Excuse me? He went from insulting the Lord to asking him to remember him.
And you know, those words there are so precious to me.
The Lord's answer to him. Let's see if he didn't know a lot about the word of God.
But he asked the Lord to remember him.
Did the Lord Jesus say, well, you're going to have to get down and do a lot of things first?
No, no, he accepted him just like he was.
You have to grow up before the Lord will accept you. What do you think, Simon? No, we accept you as a child. He accepted me when I was a child. What the Lord Jesus said today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Now, we talked before about being left out, right? Nobody likes to be left out. What do you think, Victor? Do you like to be left out or you like to be with your friends? Like to be with your friends? And we don't like to be left out. That's right.
00:25:09
And the Lord Jesus told this thief that he was going to get to be with him. Now, I'd like you just to stop for a second and think about that. If you were on that cross like that thief, you're going to die. Which thief are you? Are you the thief that's going to be with the Lord Jesus?
Or you're gonna be the thief that was against him.
What about you?
I know for myself if I was, if I was dying there.
If I was dying there.
I would be pretty happy that I was gonna be with the Lord Jesus because.
Otherwise I'd be going to hell.
And I've had the privilege of getting to know the Lord Jesus, of learning to trust him a little bit. I still have a lot to learn, but I've got to know that he is a very, very special friend to be with, the best person that I've ever interacted with, the Lord Jesus.
And the joy that I have with him is wonderful.
How about you?
Is it just things that your parents talk about that they know the Lord? What about you kids? Do you know what God has said to you? That He loves you yourself?
And he wants to interact with you every day.
We had in our reading meeting about being in prayer all the time is to be able to talk to him whenever all the time. He always has ears to hear.
Hi, it's so special.
But do you know him yourself? You know this man has such an important change of perspective. OK, so important.
I'd like to talk about another man here if we have time. Yes, we do. Another one who had a change of perspective. OK. And that's I just read there this morning in my own reading. I wasn't sure exactly what I would talk about, kind of like Mark.
But let's turn to where I was reading this morning, Matthew chapter 17.
Because there's another man here who had a change of perspective.
OK, because some things are more important to us than others.
Hey, and this man with Peter we're going to read in Matthew 17. After six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James and John his brother bringeth him up into a high mountain apart. So how many people were there there?
Who can help us?
What do you think? 84 That's right. OK, Peter, James and John and Jesus.
And he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. So how many do we have now?
We had four.
We have 6. Thank you Dakota, we have 6 now. OK so Moses and Elias appeared there too #4 Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt let us make here 3 tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, one for Elias. So he thought, hey, you know we can help here. This is something that we the disciples can do. We'll make 3 special buildings.
There are three special men here. They're important. So we'll make one for Moses, one for Jesus, and one for Elias, it seems. Seems like a nice idea Peter had, right? He was trying to honor these important men.
While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Hear Yem.
Was it right to make 3 tabernacles? Was there any man that could be placed on the same plane as the Lord Jesus? What do you think Toby?
Was there any man that could be placed on the same level as the Lord Jesus?
No, not even close. There's no other savior. There's no other friend. There's no other guide. There's nobody like the Lord Jesus.
When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore of great or very afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only.
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You know, Peter, he had to have a change in his perspective about what was important.
And all of you kids, all of the adults here, we have things that we think are important, OK? Moses was an important man. He wrote some of the word of God.
And maybe there's somebody who you think that is very important, Maybe you look up to them, you respect them. It's good to respect people. But no one, no one can have this place that belongs only to the Lord Jesus.
And the disciples, perhaps they were so used to Him they didn't realize he was the Son of God. He is the Son of God, and they needed to give him that place that was his. How about us?
What determines our values?
What determines what's right and wrong?
What determines what's important to us?
So what the Lord Jesus has said.
Or is someone else, whoever they might be, it doesn't matter. Somebody else's word have a higher ranking than his. You know, if I had a mirror here, OK, and I carried around a mirror, would you see Zach?
Would you see Isaac if this is the mirror? Who would you see if this is a mirror?
You would see yourself OK. What about you, Francis? Is this Amir? Who would you see?
You see yourself OK, perhaps we looked in the mirror this morning.
When you look in the mirror, you see the person.
That is gonna cause you the most trouble in your life.
You know that.
I am the person that has defiled myself the most in my life.
I can point at somebody else and I could say, well, it was their fault. That's what Adam did right in the garden. He said it was Eve's fault. She gave it to me. And ultimately he blamed God because he said you gave me the woman.
And we can point at other people, but we have to be responsible for ourselves.
And the flesh that's in US is gonna give us ideas about what's important.
But that flesh has to give way so that the Lord Jesus can be the one who decides what's important. And the sooner you guys learn that, the sooner you do, the less trouble you're gonna have in your life.
If you let the Lord Jesus be the one that guides you, if you've had that change of perspective to have him as your own Savior.
You need to have him as your Lord too, the one who decides what you do, how you live, why you do what you do. Not just because other people do it, but because the Lord Jesus has said it.
And you know who's gonna be a happy person?
The happy person is gonna be the one who listens to the word of God.
And enjoys knowing allergies.
Maybe they're not gonna have as exciting of a time.
As far as some of the things other people might do that are exciting.
And if you walk in the Spirit, you're going to have an exciting life too, because the things the Lord does and accomplishes are far greater than what you can do in your own flesh.
You wanna have exciting?
Walk with the Lord and you will have truly exciting.
Because his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and his ways are higher than our ways.
And if you guys?
Could realize the lesson of changing that perspective OK.
Let your own thoughts go. Let the Lord Jesus have control in your life.
Let him be in charge, OK? I had to get up on that roof and I had to cut those nails.
I had to let the plan that I had direct me, not just my own idea.
00:35:00
Each of you kids, every day.
Has that decision, if you've accepted the Lord, to let Him be Lord. If you haven't, you need to start right at the very beginning. Accept Him as your own Savior and just let Him lead. You're gonna have a happy life. You're gonna be challenges. Your faith will be tried, but you'll have the joy of His presence. He had to be with Him. You won't be left out.
That's a wonderful thing and I'll be left out to be with him.
Well, that's what I had to speak about this morning. Maybe we have time to sing another one.
Before we close up.
Dakota. Which one?
You say it louder.
#37.
Perhaps another would raise a tune #37.
So it's hard to expect you to get your information together and I don't know how to continue.
Oh my God, Oh my God. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Radiation.
I thought of one more story I'd like to tell.
Now it's about a little creature with a mouse.
And this little mouse made the wrong decision and I'll tell you about it.
Maybe 10 years ago I was having a bonfire, a big bonfire.
And sometimes when the fire burns down a little bit, you have to pull some branches out around the edges and throw them in.
So I was doing this, doing my work, throwing the wood in the fire, and I pulled one branch out that was on the edge.
And there was a mouse on the branch.
I don't know how he had survived being close to the fire, but somehow he must have had a home in the brush pile. He didn't want to leave his home, that's where he felt safe. And so I pulled that stick out and the mouse ran towards me a little bit.
And I thought, oh, I probably shouldn't throw it in the fire with a mouse on it. That wouldn't be very kind to him. But you know what that mouse said? He looked at me.
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And then he ran up that branch and he jumped right into the fire.
You know what?
I could have saved him.
He could have just run down. I would have let him go. I don't really like mice, but I would think it would be kind of mean to throw him in the fire. He could have come to me and been saved. But you know what? He decided? He decided. I'm not going to trust that man. I'm going to take my chances to jump.
And when he took his chances.
We landed right in the fire and he died almost right away. He had a chance to be saved. And you guys.
This morning have a chance to be saved too. But you know what you have to trust in the Lord Jesus as your Savior. You have to trust him. That mouse, he thought, you know what, I'm not going to trust him. And so he went in the fire and that was quite a lesson for me and you kids are the same as that mess either you can trust in the Savior of the Lord Jesus.
Where you're gonna land up in the fire, that would be terrible.
Here we're saying in this song, the Gospel of Thy Grace, my stubborn heart has won any of you guys here ever be stubborn. Somebody tries to help you learn something, and you're not gonna change your mind. You're gonna stick with what I'm doing. Maybe you arch your back.
You know, this week I was trying to get my little boy Ezra to do something.
And even though he's not even one year old, he arched his back and he fought me for probably half an hour. He was stubborn. Even though he's so small, he didn't want to give in. He wanted his own way and he was going to fight me.
Sometimes we can be that stubborn God is trying to get you to accept the Savior, but you could be like little Edgar and just no, don't want anyone to be like that. You want to be soft towards God, to listen to him. Don't fight him except the Lord Jesus.
He wants you to and he loves you well.
I hope our little thoughts on perspective can help. If you don't yet know the Lord, you need to know Him in your life if there's something else that has a higher level than Him.
That's governing how you do things, why you do things you need to, like Moses and Elias.
Did it disappear? Let's look at the allergies. Let him be the one that leads you and guides you. Not just for adults. It's not just for young people. It's just for children. You can let him lead you, You know that.
A great privilege.
What do you think about telling the other kids at school? Go to Lord how you know him.
I got to do that when I was in kindergarten. I got to talk to the other kids and tell them how I knew the Lord.
What about you?
We could serve the Lord when we're children. Do you know Him?
A great privilege. Well, let's pray and if any of you have any questions, you talk to your daddy or your mommy. Not accepting the Lord, somebody else, don't neglect it. Don't be like the little mouse that didn't trust and ran away, OK? And trust the Lord. Let's pray.