Children—D. Rule
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General meetings, Des Moines.
May 1982.
Children's meeting Don Rule.
OK, this is time for you children, so I'll start out by thanking you all for coming, especially those of you that have come right up close. And for any of you that are a little more shy, you're most welcome to come up and join us, particularly while we're singing so.
We're glad to see one more come up with OK, which child has a song you'd like to sing? I don't know your name.
But I'll try and identify. All right, You 2 girls, 1 of you have a song you'd like to sing.
You'd like to sing a song anyway. OK, Becky, do you have a song you want to sing?
Number one, well, I think that we're not using the same song book you're used to.
51 Oh well, still not the right.
Turn to the back, turn to the Backpage. These are songs that are particularly for you. And we'll start off. I'll give her first one, okay? And then maybe you'll see some of the rest. Let's start off with the first one on the Backpage #40.
Jesus loves me as I love for your heart. Lord, how's it going?
Yeah.
And.
Singing the last verse. Sometimes boys and girls, we know these songs so well that we can sing them and our mind can be way off somewhere else. We're thinking about something entirely different from the song that we're singing. So I want to try and help us, and I want you to try and help yourself to pay good attention to the words that you're singing, especially if you're old enough to be able to read or even think about what you're singing.
00:05:03
So listen, when we sing the last verse in the chorus this time, every time we sing the word me.
I want you to point to yourself. That way you can pay better attention to the song that you're singing. OK? So every time you sing the word me as we sing this last verse, you just point right to yourself because that's what the song is for and that's what the song is about.
Jesus loves me, He won't stay close to me.
If I cross him, joy.
Will Take Me Home.
Yes, I'm on the spaghetti.
Yeah.
Recognize when we sing it that way.
Can't you how often it's talking just to you?
Just write to you when it says me. OK? Who has another song you'd like to sing, Joseph?
What number?
Number one. All right, we'll sing #1.
That's the song we finished up with last night, isn't it #1?
Almost.
100 years.
That seems like almost a sad song to me, because when it says almost, when it says almost, that means not quite enough. That means not quite, almost, but not quite. And how sad it would be if there was some boy or girl or older one here that was here last night that heard God speak to you by his word and you listened and you thought about what was said.
And you were almost ready to accept it, but not quite. Wouldn't that be terribly sad if someday you had to stand before God, and the record of your life was opened up? And there in the record of your life it said this boy and it gave your name, or this girl and it gave your name. Came to hear my invitation.
And you almost.
Accept it. But you said no in your heart. All boys and girls were here for a very special time, that God might speak to you by His word. So.
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Accept what God wants to say to you this morning is that we sang in that song, it says come. And I'd like to emphasize to you that word calm and come now.
To the Lord Jesus. OK, another song. Let's pick one from the Backpage.
41.
Around the throne of God.
Children.
For one more.
OK #14 OK, let's put it #14.
That's fine.
Have you been to Jesus for like Wednesday?
In the world.
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Are you?
A.
OK, children, let's.
Let's stop now and speak to God in prayer.
Go, boys and girls, and thinking about the responsibility of speaking to you. This morning, as I was thinking about it, I realized and thought about the fact that my job is just to deliver a message from someone else to you. I'm just to be a messenger to you or someone else. And when I started to think about that, I thought about lots of different messages that people get.
I've gotten hundreds and thousands of messages in my life, and I'm sure you may have gotten many more messages than you've ever realized how many messages that people give to you?
You know a message that I used to get very often when I was a boy. I would be out playing and it would be supper time and my mom or dad would send my sister, one of my brothers, out with a message for me. What do you think they would say suffered?
They'd come out and they would say.
Mom says or dad says I'm to come to suffer.
That was a message, wasn't it? They had come out to where I was playing to tell me that it was time to come to supper. Now, do you think it was important for me to?
Do what was said right away.
Yes, it was important. It was important right away to stop what I was doing and answer them and then do it was time to come for supper. Now I know sometimes I got messages I didn't want to hear and sometimes I enjoyed usually the message come to supper. If I was hungry I was glad to come. And then sometimes when I got home I got another message.
I was told as you have to go wash your hands and your face before you come to supper. I had to get ready in order to sit down at the dinner table. And sometimes I didn't like that message so much. I'd look at my hands and I'd say, well, they're not too bad.
I think I ought to be able to go. Do I have to? But always I have to. I had to be ready, and so I had to go.
And wash my hands and my face. And then I could sit down at the dinner table and I was ready. And so if I received the message and you know what happened, maybe I didn't get that message that day, but I knew it was a message. And so when I got to the dinner table.
What do you think? I was asked once in a while.
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I imagine we could get Did you wash your hands?
I have to say no. And so I could, I wasn't ready, was I? And so I had to turn around and go back to the.
Bathroom and wash my hands and then I could come back and sit down at the dinner table and I could eat. And so boys and girls. And thinking about that, I thought too, that there are other kinds of messages that we get. There are lots of other kinds of messages that we get. You know, in fact, I carry around messages all the time since I've come to this conference.
I've gotten a number of messages that I have to take care of when I get back home where I live. And in fact, sometimes I had a message to give to somebody else when I got here and they're not here. So I really am not going to be able to deliver them the message. What is this that I have in my hand?
That's right, it's a letter. That's a kind of message. A letter is one type of message.
And so I got this letter and it's addressed to me. It says Donald Rule. And when I opened up the letter, it's a message that I have. It says in here a letter, I'm not going to read the whole letter because it wouldn't be of interest to everybody here. But it says, dear brother in Christ, it's talking to me. I know because it has my name on the front. And then it's a letter to me that a man would like some information about some things he would like me to send him.
With some information or perhaps have somebody visit him where he lives. And so he tells me in this letter, the message that he has for me. Do you think he would appreciate it very much if I just took this letter and said, oh, I don't know, I'm kind of busy. I think I'm going to take this letter and I really can't do anything about it. So I'll just put it in the waste basketball. So that'd be very nice.
No, that wouldn't be very good, would it? At all. He's taking the time to sit down and write out what he wants. And I can tell from what he says that he's very sincere and he's he's very interested in the the answer to his message that I need to give him or have someone else take to him. And if I just said, oh, it's not important, I think I'll just show the letter away. Well, boys and girls, I want you to know this morning.
That God in heaven.
Also has for you today a message.
God Himself in heaven, He has a message for you today, and He wants you to listen and He wants you to respond to. He wants you to answer the message He has for you all. He's given many messages to people at many times.
And he wants us to respond or answer the message or the letter.
When He speaks to us, and so as you sit in your seat, I want you to pay careful attention so that you may listen. And when God speaks to you and your heart by His word, the Bible, you may respond to that message.
Now I want to tell you about a message, just to make sure you understand what we're talking about. I was thinking about a person in the Bible.
And you raise your hand. I don't think it'll take you anytime at all to guess who I'm talking about.
Well, if you got your hand up now, you're a little quick. But wait. Wait until you're sure you know the name. I want you to wait until you're sure you know the name of the person that had a message to give.
And we'll see what happens. All right, there was this person, and I won't tell you to begin with, whether it was a man or a woman. And they were given by God himself. God said to them, I have a message, a very important message that I want you to take for me and give to some other people. Now you be sure that you deliver this message. He knew.
This person knew.
That it was a message from God. They knew who was giving them the message, and they knew who they were to deliver the message to.
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But they didn't like the message. They didn't like that message. And so they decided, this person decided I don't like that message. I don't want to give that message. And so I'm not going to. I'm not going to.
So they started out, I'm sure it must have been walking. They started out walking, and instead of walking in, let's say, this direction where the message was to be given, because the people they were to give the message to lived in this direction. Which direction do you think they win it? That's right. They went right straight in the opposite direction. They turned right around from the direction they were supposed to go, and they started out in the opposite direction.
And it tells us that it was down, it was down, They had to go down. You know, when you go away from God.
We see that picture. It's always going down. And so they went down, down, down, until finally they couldn't go any farther because they came to a lake for a great big body of water. They couldn't go any farther. And so they were stopped there, right at the edge of the water. But, you know, I think Satan was at work because, boys and girls, he wants to help you go in the wrong direction.
And so when they got there, everything seemed to be fine because when they got to this great big body of water, they wanted to keep right on going. And what do you think was waiting on them?
Well, yes, but what it was, what else do you think was waiting there for them?
Well, yes, he was there too. I'll tell you a boat. There was a boat right there. And so they got in the boat and off the boat sailed away from the direction that this man was supposed to go. And that boat sailed along for a time. And I guess this man, he thought everything was all right and taken care of. So he went down inside the boat, and there must have been places to lie down, and he lay down on.
On a bed or something.
And he went to sleep, but up top the man that was the captain of that ship was having trouble here. This man was down sleeping, and he was up.
The captain was having trouble because the ship was starting to rock. The waves were starting to come up on the ship and it was real stormy.
Oh, I see somebody whispering. Who is it?
Now you're turning the other way.
But who was the mayor? Yes, dude, Gianna, haven't you heard of Jonah? He was given a message to deliver, and yet he was told to go to a city called Nineveh. But instead of going to Nineveh, he turned around and went in the very opposite direction. He went down to the seaside place called Joppa, I think, and he got on a ship and he started out. But was God? Did God intend for Jonah to deliver his message?
Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Boys and girls, he had a message for Jonah and he intended Jonah to give that message. And I don't want to spend our time telling the whole story of Jonah.
Because we have something more important to talk about even. That's God's message to us. But what happened so that God can give Jonah a message? It got so bad, didn't it, boys and girls, that they finally took Jonah and they threw him over the side of the ship. And God provided a different transportation for Jonah, didn't he? He provided a great big fish that swallowed Jonah and took Jonah down to the bottom of the sea.
You think he was thinking pretty hard about his message.
I'm sure he was. I'm sure he was, he was thinking very, very carefully by that time about the message and he was sorry that he he didn't want to deliver it.
And he was afraid for his own life, I'm sure. And finally he said these words. He said salvation is of the Lord. He finally recognized that the Lord was the one that could deliver him. And the Lord was the one too that could deliver the people from the city he had to go deliver this sad message to. And so God used that fish to take him. And it doesn't say that I know of, but it wouldn't surprise me if he took him. That fish took him right back from the direction he came from.
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If he wasn't willing to go that way, why God could produce a fish that would turn him right around and send him back in the direction he was supposed to go. And the fish put him up on the on the land, and then he started out on his journey and he went all the way to where he was supposed to go.
And he gave his message.
It was a sad message, boys and girls, he had to tell those people.
That God was going to overthrow their city. That is, God was going to punish them.
That was the message that he had to give, and he didn't want to give that message because he knew God loved those people and that if they said they were sorry in their hearts, if they accepted the fact that they deserved to be punished and told God so that he might change his mind, he thought and be merciful to them. And God wanted to be merciful to them all the time. He didn't want to have to overthrow those people. So boys and girls, we have a solemn message from God too today to tell.
You boys know. You girls know that.
You're a Sinner, don't you?
You boys, girls and girls know that you're sinners. I know sometimes the Bible, we have good news to tell, but it's good news because there's, you might say, bad news too. Important news for us to remember first. You know this letter where I put it in my pocket? Not this one. But you know, I've received letters before. And when the letter came, as soon as it came in the mail.
And I looked at that letter, there was right around the edge of it. It was all black.
All black all around the edge of the letter, if you know what that meant. It meant it told me before I ever opened up the letter to see what was inside. The fact that it had a black border all the way around it was a notice to me that there was going to be sad news.
In that letter. But there was going to be sad news in that letter and there was. It was to tell me about someone who had died. And boys and girls, we want to tell you that God in his word says, for there is no difference. There is no difference between you and your mommy and daddy, between you and the oldest person in this room. For there is no difference for all.
Who can finish this for me?
You know, OK, you finished.
That's right, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now I want to tell you what I trust is God's message for you today.
Boys and girls, a long time ago God was thinking about you. He was thinking about you and he was thinking in his own heart and saying I love you and I want you to come and live with me. I want you to come to heaven and live with me. I want you to be here with me and the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what God thought and that's what God purposed for you boys and girls. That was His desire for you to come to heaven to live with Him.
But he couldn't write that letter to you. He couldn't give you an invitation. Just like that. God wanted you to come to heaven, but he couldn't say come. Isn't that sad?
Well, God was determined. He wanted you to come, but he couldn't just sit down as it were, and write out in His word, the Bible, a letter to you that said come because there was a problem. There was a problem when God looks down at you and me today.
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He sees a problem if we haven't put our trust in the Lord Jesus, and that problem is that there is a separation between ourselves and God, what is it that comes between us?
And God.
What is it that can keep us? What is it that God saw when he looked down from heaven and said, I want you to come to heaven to be with me?
But there's a person.
It's called sin.
Called sin. Boys and girls, if you have ever done one thing wrong in your life, one thing that displeased God, God says you're a Sinner and he can't have you with your sins in heaven. He can't have you with your sins in heaven.
But he wanted you to come anywhere. He wanted you to come anyways. You know, all of us are here today because the people that live here.
In Des Moines and surrounding areas have given us an invitation to be here. They have written us a letter just like the letter I have in my pocket. And the letter said come, we invite you to come. We want you to come.
But in order to write that letter, they had to sit down very carefully and think about it, and they had to ask God what He wanted them to do, and then they had to start making preparations. This microphone in my hand here didn't just walk up here and put itself here, did it?
Someone had to put it here. And so all the preparations in this room and getting arrangements for the food and even getting this room for us to have and lots and lots of work, sending out the invitations and so on to invite us to come and making arrangements for motels for us and to stay at our homes. All those preparations had to come into it. And now boys and girls, God has made preparation and he said I want you to come.
To be with me.
But because of your sins, you can't come. You can't come with your sins. But boys and girls, there was one person in heaven with God.
Who was there, you might say, speaking with God about his desire to have you in heaven?
It was God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said.
I will go and make things ready for you to come. The Lord Jesus said. I'll go and make things ready so that all may come to heaven. And boys and girls, the Lord Jesus came down to make things ready. How did he do it? He told his disciples, those that followed him.
He said I go to prepare a place for you. He said I'm going and I'm going to make a place in heaven for you.
And it would cost him a lot. It cost him a lot to make a place for us in heaven.
It required the Lord to use us to go to the cross, and there they lifted him up on the cross, and there the Lord Jesus died, didn't he? And when the Lord Jesus died, and while he was on that cross, boys and girls, God took my sins and put them on the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus suffered there for my sins.
And he shed his precious blood, and that precious blood God says, cleanse from all sin. And so now God can look down from heaven and he can invite. And he did. He invited me. He said to me, come.
Come, in fact, it tells us, and I'll just turn to it. In Luke's gospel, I think it's the 14th chapter, it says come for all things are now ready. That's Luke 14, verse 70.
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Come, for all things are now ready, boys and girls, the Lord Jesus has prepared for you at the cross.
A place in heaven. And he now says to you, Come.
For all things are now ready.
Have you come?
You ask yourself that question right now.
Everyone of you, ask yourself that question. Have I come to the Lord Jesus?
Now that doesn't mean walking up to heaven. No, it doesn't mean that. But have you ever said in your heart, Lord Jesus?
I come.
Have you ever told the Lord Jesus that you come to Him? He invites you to come. He says come unto me and he wants you to come.
And he says, when mommy? Well, I'll say it this way.
Sometimes I say at our house.
Come to suffer.
Sometimes I get this response.
Just a second.
I don't suppose that happens to take care of that.
To come to supper and the response sometimes is just a second.
And sometimes I feel in my heart I have to say something to feel like saying, well, OK, but it's too late because the invitation is to come now. Come now, boys and girls, God's invitation for you to come is right now.
Right now he doesn't say come this afternoon, come tonight, come tomorrow. But God's invitation for you to come is right now. And God wants you to say in your heart, I come. I'm a Sinner. I know I'm a Sinner.
But I come right now.
You know there was a man in the Bible.
It said some wonderful words, wonderful words, he said. Lord.
Have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy on me. But you know, boys and girls, those were wonderful words, but he said them.
Too late. It was too late when he said that. He said Lord have mercy on me, but he said it too late. You know why it was too late? Because those words were said by a man after he died.
After he died, you can't come to the Lord Jesus.
After you die, you can't say when you may die. So God says right now I want you to come. Come now, come on to me. Will you not answer God's invitation to you this morning? God from heaven, He's looking down right now, boys and girls, upon us in this room, and he wants you to come.
And He wants you to come right now in your heart. And I'm going to stop now and pray. And as we pray.
Won't you come to the Lord Jesus? Won't you say Lord Jesus, I come, I cross Lord Jesus as my savior. Let's pray.