Children—Tim Harkins
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Meaning, I would like to ask that any of the children that may be sitting back farther if they.
Are comfortable coming up into the front row. You might be able to see and hear just a little bit better, so I'd like to invite any of the of the younger ones that may be sitting back a little further to come on up to the front.
So on the hymn sheets that you have on the last page.
We have the hymns for the children and they're we only have time for a few of the hymns this morning.
So.
I'll just ask for anyone if you have a choice for one of the hymns this morning.
#44 and if I could ask my brother to help me start that.
Gypsy boy lay.
Alone at the close of the day, news of salvation we carried, said he.
Nobody ever has told it to me.
And again, tell that again.
Salvation story Repeat till man can say of the children of men.
Nobody ever knows.
It makes your life.
Say nothing to me.
I will be home.
Nobody ever does, sorry.
Salvation.
Nobody ever has told me before.
So that choice 4141. Thank you #41.
One brings them to the last World.
Right and prayers.
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Where all the exchange stands upon our hands, and all of them.
Now.
Can we just sing on the ones on the Backpage?
46 Thank You 43 Thank you Andre.
Which one?
Thank you, Evan. Did you have a choice #5?
Number could be on the back page if we could.
Which #4242 #42 Thank you.
Let's look to the Lord for his help.
And then we'll.
Say our memory versus.
Our God and Father, we thank you for this opportunity to be here.
OK, so.
There are an awful lot of you guys up here and very thankful for that.
And we're not going to have time for every single one of you to say the memory verse this morning.
On the microphone.
But after the Sunday School is over, I have a bag of goodies. And if you would like to come up after the Sunday school is over and say your memory verse for me, I'll give you a reward. And those of you that say the verse this morning here, I'll reward you for that at the same time at the end of the Sunday School. So the verse this morning is in Matthew, chapter 6.
And verse 33. And I'm going to read it first, and then I'll ask for some volunteers to say the verse for me, It says, But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 633.
Do I have any volunteers to say the verse this morning? OK, Andre, just a minute.
You want to stand up?
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all the and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mark.
Matthew 6.
3333, good job. Thank you.
Andre, can you come over this way just a little bit?
Tiki first, the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew, Matthew 633 Good job. Who else?
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Can you guys kind of scooch over this way?
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 633 Thank you.
Say he first the Kingdom of God. And all these things shall be added unto you, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 633 Good job. Thank you. Maybe one more.
OK, back in the third row. I'll come back there.
If you like to stand up.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
And his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 633 Good job. Do you like to say it?
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.
And all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 633 Thank you very much.
I know you guys all know this verse.
That's a very good verse to have memorized.
So again, at the end of the Sunday School, if you guys would like to come up and tell me the verse, I'll reward you. So I'd like to talk a little bit.
How about this verse?
And.
The lesson that I specifically have in mind actually has to do with the middle of this verse, because we've been talking about these things at this conference these past couple of days and I know a lot of the meetings that we have here.
It's difficult for the younger ones to.
Focus on what's being said necessarily. It's because some of these things include big words.
And long explanations of things. And so we're thankful that you can get what you can out of it. But this morning in we have the children's Meeting, and so it's a special opportunity for us to talk to you directly.
And so I thought we would especially talk about the middle of this verse, where it says let's seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
And his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
But before we can talk about that.
We really.
See the lesson that I have on my heart.
Is really directed to those that already know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. And we trust that every single one of you children have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
But it would be foolish of us to assume that everyone here does. And so the first thing that's on my heart.
Is to tell you the story of God's love in the gospel and make sure that everyone here is clear that they need it, that they need a savior. And then we'll move on to the lesson that I have for you.
You know, it's difficult sometimes for us to comprehend the magnitude of our sins, and sometimes it's difficult for us to.
Really understand the cost.
That those sins have.
And so I'd like to give a little illustration.
I'm going to tell a story, and this is a true story that happened.
A couple of weeks ago.
There was a mom and a dad.
And they had a new little baby.
And he was six, six months old, and they were traveling home from Seattle to Walla Walla.
And as they were driving down the road.
Headed home?
There was a vehicle in front of them that lost an ice chest in the Interstate and it bounced off the back and came down the road.
And this mom and the dad that was driving this, this car.
Saw the ice just coming in. He stepped on his brakes and started looking to avoid the ice chest so he wouldn't hit it with their car.
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And there was a pickup truck following them.
And the pickup truck didn't recognize the ice chest, didn't see the ice chest and he didn't see this mom and dad slowing down in their car.
And he hit the back of that little car.
At highway speed.
And it crushed the back into that car.
When there was a little boy in the back seat of that car, his name was Micah.
And he was killed in the accident.
When that truck crushed the back into that car.
And the reason I tell you this story, It's a sad story, but you know that little boy.
Is home with the Lord Jesus right now.
But the reason I tell you that story is because do you think the person that was driving the vehicle with the ice chest?
Do you think that they thought?
About the magnitude of the consequence of not tying that ice chest down.
Do you think that if it crossed their mind that if the ice chest, first of all, they probably never thought that the ice chest would come off the vehicle?
But if it did, do you think that they thought that it would cause the death of a six month old little boy, the only boy of this mom and his dad? Do you think that they thought that? I don't think they did because most people don't think about the consequences that their actions will have that far out.
And you know, children, you may think in your heart that what you have done is little compared. You haven't caused the death of a little 6 month old boy with the sins that you've done in your life. You know, Romans chapter 3 verse 23 is a well known verse and it tells us that for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, it it leaves no question that every single one of us.
Are sinners. And so we may say, well, yeah, I'm a Sinner, but I'm not as bad of a Sinner as some of those people in the prison. And I'm not. I haven't made a mistake that cost the life of a six month old little boy.
Maybe not.
But because of those sins that you have and that I have, it did cost the life.
Of a man who came into this world.
And he was the Son of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
And it says in scripture that he died for our sins according to the scriptures. And so really I tell you this story.
Because I want you to understand.
That there is a cost to your sin.
And there is.
Someone who paid the price.
To redeem you.
You know, as we quoted there in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, it says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And in Isaiah chapter 59 it says that your sins and your iniquities have separated between you and your God.
And so those sins have kept us from relationship with our God. And in prophecy it was like God and the Son were there and they said.
What a mess.
Who will go for us?
And in eternity past, the Lord Jesus said, Here am I send me.
And so in Romans chapter 6 and verse 23 it tells us that the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So the question that I want to have you guys think about this morning, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, who has paid the penalty for your sins?
If it isn't, if you haven't put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will bear the penalty of your sins. And I know it's difficult sometimes to consider the magnitude of it, but I want you to think about the fact that someone died for your sins.
And it says in Romans chapter 10.
And verse 9.
And gives us the answer of how we can put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and he's already paid for those sins if we would just put our trust in Him. That's what it says. It says that he died for our sins according to the scriptures. And it says that for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so in Romans chapter 10 and verse nine, it says that thou shalt confess with thy mouth.
00:20:25
The Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead.
Thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So I trust each and everyone of you children here.
Have already put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and he has redeemed you back into relationship with God. If not this morning, I want you to consider these things solemnly.
OK, the next.
The next thing that I'd like to talk about.
Is.
The middle part of Matthew chapter 6.
And verse 33 where it talks about.
Seeking his righteousness.
I'm going to pull something out of this bag here.
And.
I'm going to ask you guys if you can recognize what this is. Now, I know that there are those here that definitely know what this plant is, and I'm not going to ask you what this is because I know you know the answer. I'm going to see if there's anyone else here that knows the answer before.
I ask one of you guys that I know for sure knows.
OK.
They're kind of a kind of a long, stringy mess. Here we go. Let's try this one.
OK.
Going to walk in front of you and I want you guys to look at this. There's kind of some little yellow buds on here.
Now I want you to look at this and see if you can tell me what kind of a plant this is.
I'm going to give you a hint. It grows kind of like a vine across the ground.
And it's usually found in places where there isn't very much water.
You know.
I can't believe you knew it that easy, OK? She said. Goat heads, Yeah, that's one of the names for it.
So what can you tell me about this plant? Does anybody?
Have any?
Things that they can tell me about this plant.
Reverend Nathan, I mean, what is it? What can you tell me about this plant?
But let's let's What defines this plant? What would is it about it that you remember, huh?
It hurts if you touch it, OK, but what hurts when you touch it? What part of the plant hurts?
Is that the whole plant? I mean, is it hurting my hands right now as I hold it?
It's already my hands as I hold it. The thorns. The thorns, Yeah, You know, on the bottom of this plant, if you turn it over, you see these things right here?
I'm going to, oh, make sure all of you guys have a chance to see, see that thing.
You know what the actual scientific name for this plan is?
Pretty interesting. It's called Tribulus terrestis.
And it's found the world all over. The whole world.
Anywhere where there's somewhat of an arid climate.
OK. And it actually wasn't native to North America, but someone brought it over thinking that it would be good here and I don't know why.
Because when it says tribulus.
Terrestrial. You know what that translates to? That's Latin. You know what that translates to in English?
Anybody have a guess?
It means.
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Trouble on the earth?
And the Romans actually named a weapon called a caltrops after the seed the the goat head from this plant.
Because.
Even though this is such a little thing.
It can be very painful if you get a hold of it with your hand or if you step on it with a barefoot and the way we in tri-cities.
Deal with this plant the most is that if you were to take a look at the bike tires of any kid in the tri-cities.
It would be full of the spines of the goat head thorn.
And it's very difficult to keep air in the tires of a bike in the tri-cities because of these tribulus terrestrius trouble on the earth.
And, you know, I had never even heard of these when I moved to the eastern side of Washington because we didn't have them in Western Washington.
And one day I was responding to a fire in a garage for an apartment complex that.
Had burned down many years ago and then been abandoned. And so there was a large lot out there and the the lot was completely green and there was a garage sitting in the lot that was on fire and we didn't have access into there with our fire trucks. So we had to break a hole in the fence and then take the hoses through the fence and go across the lot to the garage. And as I was pulling the hose across the lot, it tripped over a curb that I didn't see.
And I fell down with my hand and caught myself with my hand on the ground. And I hadn't paid a lot of attention to what was on the ground. It just was green. I assumed it was grass. And in a shooting pain went through my hand and I picked it up and looked in my glove. And I was wearing leather gloves and my whole glove was green because of all these goat heads that were sticking in my glove.
And that was my introduction to Tribulus terrestis, or tackweed as we call it, and.
I want to talk to you guys a little bit about this plant because it gives a very good illustration about some things that we're going to talk about this morning.
So I already told you that this plant generally grows in a place where there isn't much water.
The other thing that characterizes this plant is that.
And it takes approximately 7 years to eradicate it once it gets a colony established.
And it grows and spreads. And these seed pods that are in these thorns of goat heads, they stick to things like your feet and your bicycle tires. And then you drive somewhere with them and you scatter them in other places, and they establish new colonies and other places.
So I know Andre has had.
When they moved to their house.
There was a large patch of these out by their barn.
What did you do, Andre?
To try and get rid of these things.
Pull them out, he said. They pulled them out. Did that work really good?
No, Yeah, that doesn't it's it works eventually, but you can spray them.
And it will kill the actual plant.
But the seeds aren't affected by the spray, and so you can spray it and kill all the plants. And then somebody rides through on their bike or drives through with their car or walks through and they pick up the seed pods and they take them to another place and it just establishes a new colony.
So they're difficult to get rid of up to seven years of.
Continuously pulling them out.
And you can get rid of them.
So.
I'd like to turn to Colossians Chapter 3. It's actually where we've been reading in our reading meeting, and I want to talk to you about some of the things that we've been talking about there.
And I would like to relate them.
To these goat head thorns and how they can have an impact on our lives spiritually.
In Colossians chapter 3.
We've been noticing that in this chapter.
00:30:02
It talks about the Christian.
Being risen with Christ the new life.
And there are some things that should characterize us in the new life and some things that should not characterize us in that new life.
And So what I specifically have in my heart to speak about is in verse 8.
It says actually.
In verse seven it says in the which ye also walk sometimes when you lived in them, Speaking of the past, when you before you knew the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, but now put you also off all these things anger.
Wrath, Malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, Out of your mouth lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
So these things that we read about in verse 8, there's a there's a couple of things here. Anger.
Graph.
There's blasphemy and filthy communications out of her mouth and lying.
And you know, all of those things.
Just about have to do with our mouth and our lips and what we say. And scripture tells us that what comes out of our mouth.
Shows what's actually in our heart.
And I would like you guys to consider for a few moments that these things that we're talking about, anger and filthy communications.
Saying naughty things.
And lying. They're like these goat heads.
And if these thorns we allow these thorns to come into our life?
They will continue to grow. It says that that these things lead to more ungodliness.
And that's exactly what happens with this if I were to take some of these skeletons and go put them out.
Next to the school and the parking lot out here and plant them and no one were to to do anything about it. And the Lord were to leave us here until next year. The whole parking lot would probably be full of them by next year because they expand rapidly.
And so when it says that we're to put off, it's like you're to take them out by the root.
These things anger.
Filthy communications in line.
Because they have an impact not only on our life, but on other people's, you know?
If I had a patch of these tack weeds.
Out in front of my house, next to my driveway.
And I didn't take care of them and I didn't pull them out.
First of all, they would be a problem for me because every time I went out there to get the mail or something like that, I'd end up with them in my shoes and then I'd track them into the house and they would have, they'd have a lot of difficulties with that.
But you know what else would happen?
When Toledo and Andre.
Came over to visit the Marina and they pulled their car up in front of our driveway and they got out. What would happen? Does anybody know?
What would happen?
That car would get thorns in the tires. Yeah, they'd get thorns in their tires and in their feet.
You'll know what happened. They'd go back to their house.
And those things would come off of their feet and off of their tires, and the next thing you know, they would have a patch of tack weed at their house.
Kind of solemn, isn't it, To think that there are things that we can do and things that we can allow in our lives that will actually have.
A bad influence or a bad impact on other people?
That isn't what we want, is it?
So there's another thing.
That's really interesting about these plants. Tribulus terrestis, trouble on the earth. You know what they say.
Is actually the best way to eradicate these plants.
00:35:06
Anybody have any idea?
I actually was pretty amazed when I heard this because I didn't think that this would work at all.
But some scientists that were that studied these things actually said if you need to get rid of tackweed, this is how you do it. Does anybody have any ideas?
Anybody.
Spray this stuff. OK, we can spray it. But we talked about that, right? And it took seven years approximately to get rid of it if you spray it or if you pull it out, like Andre said. So that's neither one of those answers are what I'm looking for.
Water it. OK, that's a good. That's a good point because at the very beginning I talked about that this stuff generally grows in places where there is not very much water.
Which leads me to.
Talk on the point that a lot of these things that we're talking about in verse 8. Anger and filthy communications and line.
Do those things generally take place when we're spending time reading the word of God and doing things like that, where we're walking with the Lord is do we generally see these kind of things in a Christians life when they're going on for the Lord and they're continuously reading their Bible? You know, the the Scriptures are talked about as being.
Water. They're they're a type that's typified as being water, the washing of water by the word.
Well, we don't usually see these things in the lives of Christians that are reading their Bible, and they're going on for the Lord, And so that's a good way to prevent them from ever being established in the first place.
OK is to make sure that we walk in a path with the Lord where we are.
Continuously, daily, in the Word of God, providing spiritual water for our lives because that will keep these things from ever being established.
But what if they're already there?
How do we get rid of them?
Does anybody else? I know there's a lot of people here that know a lot more about this plant than I do. Does anybody here, even some of the older ones, have any ideas about what they might know about how to get rid of?
OK. Can you speak up?
Burnham.
OK, the problem with the burning, that's a great idea. But the problem with burning them is, first of all, they don't provide a lot of fuel, so they don't burn very well. And then also those little thorns, they're not affected by the fire. And so you might again just like sprain, you might get rid of the the plants themselves, but those seeds will still remain.
Anybody else have any idea about how you might get rid of these plants?
Well, I would have never guessed, so I'm just going to give you the answer. You know how you get rid of them.
You plant something favorable that's competitive with them.
And it will come in and it will actually get rid of this plant by overwhelming it. Isn't that interesting?
So what we had in Colossians chapter 3.
In verse 12 it says, Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye and above all these things put on charity or divine love, which is the bond of perfectness. And so remember in verse eight it said put off or uproot, take out.
These things.
But in verse 12 it says put on therefore a plan, these things. And it gives us a list of things that have a lot more to do with what we would see in the life of a Christian, doesn't it? It talks about kindness, humbleness, meekness, long-suffering, forgiving one another.
And loving one another and loving one another not because.
The person is doing something that deserves our love, but because we've made a distinct choice to love them.
And if we plant those things in our life?
It will get rid.
Of the things that we talked about in verse 8.
00:40:03
Just like if you were to go out into a place that had these.
And you were to plant some nice flowers.
And you would have water those flowers.
In a very short period of time you wouldn't find.
Tribulus terrestis there anymore because they would be overtaken.
By the positive things, those good plants.
So.
And kind of summarize the lesson this morning.
We talked about.
First of all.
The fact that these things don't have anything to do for someone that doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, because scripture tells us that it's impossible.
To please God by our own righteousness that says that all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. There's not one thing that we can do to please God in and of ourselves. But if we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, He gives us a new nature that desires to please Him.
And the desire of our hearts when we have that new nature, is we want to do things in obedience to His Word, and we want to be found walking in righteousness before Him.
And so.
I want you guys to just remember that not only do these things in verse eight that we talked about the anger, the wrath.
Malice, blasphemies, filthy communications and lying. Not only do those things have an effect on our life, but they can affect those that we come into contact with, because they can come through our weed patch, if you put it that way. And they can pick up those weeds and they can take them off and have a weed patch established in their own life. And once those weed patches are established, they're very difficult to get rid of.
So first, we would like to see none of those weed patches ever be established.
By continuously being in the Word of God.
And walking in a manner that's consistent with our position as Christians and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then if they do get established, we would like you to recognize them early because if you have a little plant in your driveway.
You can go do what Andre talked about.
But there is a little plant in your driveway. You can go out there and you can pull up that little plant. As long as you're careful and make sure that none of those seed pods fall off and are left in your driveway, you can pull up that plant and you can take it and put it in the garbage can and it will be taken off and you won't see an establishment of a patch of weeds in that place.
And so, children as you, if you see these things start to become established in your life, recognize them early and take care of them. Go to the Lord and ask Him to help you root them up and throw them away. Because not only will they affect you and grow into a greater weed patch, but they'll affect the others that you come into contact with. And then plant those good things that we read in verse 12.
Bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering for burying one another and forgiving one another.
And above all, these things put on charity her divine love, which is the bond of perfectness. And if you plant those things in your life, that will prevent these things from being established.
And it will take them over and replace them with these things that really do characterize those of us that know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. They characterize the Lord Jesus himself.
I'd like to read a couple of verses just in closing.
The first one is in Ephesians chapter 4.
It says in verse 15. This is a direct contrast with what we had there in verse nine of Colossians 3 But speaking the truth and love may grow up unto him in all things.
The head even Christ and turn back a chapter to Chapter 3.
In verse 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that he being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breath and length in depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
00:45:02
So that takes us back to our memory verse.
That said, seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
And we talked about.
The importance of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and then we talked about in our lesson and His righteousness.
But then what we just finished reading about is the result of it, and all these things shall be added unto you.
You know there is a very blessed result for walking and righteousness before the Lord Jesus Christ.
The result is peace and joy and love. And we can enter into in a fuller measure the things that the Lord Jesus has done for us, and we can come into a better understanding of who he is. And that's.
Of tremendous value.
Well, I hope you guys will think about these things.
And I hope we don't let any of these weed patches become established in our hearts because, you know, we might be able to hide them there.
If I had a weed patch like this in my corral, I may not, and I do, and I've been struggling to get rid of it. But now I know how to get rid of it, I know that I can plant some things in there that will eradicate it.
But not everybody knows that I have one of these weed patches in my corral. Because sometimes we can hide things from each other. But you know what? We can't hide them from God. And God tells us that those things that come from our lips.
Show us and show others what are in our heart. And so you may be able to hide this for a while, the weed patch in your heart, but I guarantee you that it will come out in what you say and you'll end up.
Casting some of those thorns and it will be recognized. So think about these things, children.
And let's make sure that we first of all spend a lot of time when the word of God daily.
So that we're well watering.
Spiritual life, so that these things never become established.
And let's make sure that we fill up those places with the things that we read about.
In verse 12 of Colossians 3, the kindness, the forgiveness and the Divine love.
Let's just commend ourselves to the Lord.