Children—Stephen Rule
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You ready to sing?
Are you ready? Good.
Who? What number would you like?
#16 You can choose from anywhere. The ones on the back are the Sunday school songs, but they're all good songs. I might shorten some of them so other people get a chance to sing and somebody else better start these. I think I know the tunes, but it'll either be way too low or way too high, so somebody else will do a lot much better job starting #16.
And the proclamation of A.
Loving puppet. Also wonderful.
And surviving.
Wilma.
Good call number 11 and we'll sing the first and last stanzas of #11.
Air all in the storms of light, when the clouds are full, their wings are stride when the strong light flip and the cable string regurator boyfriend remains.
We have a curve that we cannot take off.
Some of you noticed that some things change with time, don't they? Including song sheets. We'll talk about something later on that never changes. Who else has one you'd like to sing? OK, we'll get to you. Just in a minute. Adrian, what's yours?
14 Oh good, I was going to give that out later. You saved me the trouble. And Adrian?
We'll do 14, the first and last verses, and yours is 3838. We'll do the first and last, first two and that we'll see. We'll start with 14, the first and last verse.
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When the bridegroom cometh, where your blood be white, your unwind in the Lord.
Raise your soul, be ready more than I can't bright and be washed in the blood of the land.
Are you lost in the blood on the line?
#38 the first and last verses.
One more and I'd like it to be from a girl because I don't know that they've chosen you. I'm sorry. Maybe we'll get one at the end.
That's no girl has one.
You're looking OK. We'll give you a second there.
Go ahead, you know #30 and we'll sing the first and last verse on that one too #30.
Will not take me.
To my favorite.
'Cause I want a sin of it, we think we will not take me.
In the blood and die for me.
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Enterprise will take me.
See Butterfly Lantern.
To make my friend.
How long can save me?
OK.
Who of you has a verse that you'd like to say? I won't make anybody obligated. Sometimes it's kind of a little embarrassing in front of everybody else, but you'll have the chance. We'll just would you like to stay in the microphone? OK, If I can make it work here.
Umm.
Lord of Jesus Christ.
First, on one second the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanses us from all sin. First John 1/7 Thank you.
The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sins. First John 1/7.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses his Son, cleanses us from all sin, first on one second.
The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. First John 1/7.
The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleans us from our sins. First. John 1/7.
Over here, OK.
The blood of Jesus Christ's Son cleanses from all sins. First John 1/7.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we will fellowship one with another. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. First John 1/7.
The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Verse John 1/7.
The blood of Jesus Christ, guards and his Son planted us from all sins, Blessed John 1/7.
The bloody Christ his unclean enough for all sin for 717 good. Thank you.
OK. And one person that said the whole verse, You know what I'd like to do this morning in the half hour that we have, I'd like to do something they suggested we do yesterday.
Yesterday in the afternoon, we were told we should have an outline of things. So I'd like to give you 4 important points, kind of like an outline of the whole chapter where that verse comes from. That sound like a little bit much, but we'll make them four simple things I think that are important, and I think they're important for all of us.
So we'll look at four things. If you want to turn in your Bible, we'll pretty much stay in first, John.
And the first chapter, that's where you quoted from.
And we'll start with the 1St 4 verses. But I won't read the mall here, we'll just read.
The first verse for starters, first John one, and the first verse, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life before we talk about what this first part means.
I want to help us understand from things we already understand, so I brought a picture.
And we have a bigger one at home, but I was afraid of getting it damaged, so I'll just let you see it real quick. See that picture?
Got it. See that picture? All right, And you can see it. The rest, everybody else just has to believe me. You got it there, right? We have a big one at home. We just got it about a week or two ago, and it's 2 feet tall and it's almost three feet wide of the same thing because it's something we want to be reminded of. And it has a nice verse. All things were made by Him. It says on this one, The one we got on our wall has a different verse about the Lord's love. But what did you see in that picture?
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I showed it to you really quick, didn't I?
Oh boy, you saw a boy. What else did you see in the picture?
OK boy, picking up a rock or a shell, what does he have in his hand?
A stick? What else do you see in the picture? Do you see one something in the picture?
A beach? Yeah, there is a beach in there. And there's lots of other things. Tell me one more thing you see in the picture, Adrian.
You see sand. OK, you know, and I'll give you a chance. Great sand. Do you know what those are?
Those are footprints. Yeah, that's right. Those are footprints of a bird. You know, this is a picture from something our family really enjoys doing. And I wanted to teach you just so Well, you don't need to know about our family, but I want you to think about your family. There are things about your family that are true about your family that I don't know. There's lots about your family. You know, families have special things. We have some special words in our family.
That don't exist in the dictionary. They mean something in our family. But I I went through the list of these special words and I couldn't find one that wouldn't be embarrassing. So you don't get to hear them. But there is one special word that I I laughed harder than I've ever laughed in my life about this one special word. And it is a real word. How many of you in the room we were reading a book by John Bunyan as a family. And I burst out laughing and I laughed and I laughed and I laughed.
When I read this one word, how many of you know what the word guardilou means?
How many? Raise your hand in the room. This includes all of you adults. Do you know what the word gardilou means? OK, now I know somebody with a smartphone will probably look it up in the next 5 seconds. But that word has a special meaning in our family, at least to some of us. And you don't know what it is. So you you don't even know what the word is unless you're looking it up in the last few seconds. That has a special meaning. And you would have to be part of the family to know what that word means. Any of you and your family have a special?
Word or two. You don't have to say what it is, but raise your hand if you think in your family there's a word or two that gives you that nobody else outside your family would know.
OK, I would. Can I ask you what it is? Or is that, uh, I'm not telling what our words mean so you don't have to say.
OK, there you go. There's a word that was special, the Highland family. Do you have one? You want to say what it is? No. OK, that's fine. I understand that completely. All right. And we have a special names too. There are names. There's names in our family that in fact, I have a little notebook, it's smaller than this. And on one page of it I have over 35 names that we've called our son.
Over 35 Now, how many of you have a name that's not written down on your birth certificate that your parents use for you?
OK, how many in the room get called something by a family member? That's nice. That's not written on your birth certificate.
Just, well, no, not just about it. I'm surprised. Wow. There's lots of families just a little different than ours, I guess. You know, my birth certificate has a name on it and it tells who my parents. I made a photocopy. It tells who my parents are and how old they were when I was born. I didn't know that was on there.
And it even tells I didn't know this. I suspect my parents don't know or forgot. Do you know when I was born?
What time?
549 PMI didn't know that until I made a copy. You know there are things that are special to your family.
That just make it a little a little nicer to be part of that family. You know, this picture, there's animal tracks and there's just all kinds of memories that come back. And so we got a big one with a different verse to put it on the wall in our room to remind ourselves of it. And how many of you can hear in this picture? Can you hear the seagulls?
Paul says yes. Can I know the rest of you here? The seagulls?
I can hear the seagulls when I look at this picture. Can you feel what the temperature is like? You know, whether it's hot or cold when you look at the picture?
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You could start to guess he's got a coat on. It was a little bit chilly and it's kind of a misty morning, but to know all about it, I'd have to sit down and tell you. And that's not worth our time, is it? But the start of this chapter, what does God want you to know about?
In fact, it says which we have heard. I can look at that picture and I can hear something he's saying which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes.
Which our hands have handled.
How many of you have shaken my hand?
OK, some of you. How many of you have never shaken my hand? I'm sorry. Ahead of time. No, I haven't been friendly. There's some of you. I've never. But this one person was writing about somebody that they had touched. In fact, how many of you have snuggled up next to me and put your head on my chest?
Oh yeah.
There are two legitimate hands that I can see, maybe four in the hand the person writing.
Doing this had put his head on the chest of the person he was writing about. Who was he writing about?
Who is he writing about? Jonathan.
So Lord Jesus, he was writing about the Lord Jesus and he said here's a person and I've touched him.
He's not just a spirit up in heaven that people talk about. I've touched him.
And I want you to know about him because his life is so special and you're going to share it too. And you need to know special things about this family. You know, you don't need to know about my family. You don't need to know what State Park that is and what state it's in and what kind of birds I was hearing and all. That's not important. But you do need to know about this family because I hope that all of you belong to that family. What family are we talking about?
For family.
In the verses in first John, I mean what family is that talking about in the first few verses?
A little bit extra help.
OK, talking about God's family and there's a special life that everybody in that family shares, and it was shown in the Lord Jesus. You know, if you want to know more about that life, what that family is all about, you have to open up this book because it says in verse four and these things right we unto you, that your joy may be full.
Can you see a photograph of the Lord Jesus? How many of you think that you could open up a Bible that was big enough and you'd find a photograph of him in there?
How many think I'm being silly when I say that? You think I'm being silly? Yeah, you can't. But you know what? I showed you a photo. But God gave us words, and in those words he tells us just a little bit of what we need to know. No, that your joy may be full. I've told you everything you need to know to enjoy the Lord Jesus. That's the first part of our chapter. Now the second part of our chapter.
What do I have in this box?
You don't know nothing. Good guess you know that's not right though. There's something in this box, you know, but it's in darkness.
There is maybe a little bit of light sneaking in the top.
How many of you think you could peek in and tell everybody else what's in the box?
All right, you want to peek in and tell everybody else what's in the box.
You can't see, there's an opening, but there's no light inside. It's dark in there. And you know what? This whole world was in darkness. They didn't really know what the Lord Jesus was like, but God sent His Son so that you could know him. And when God turned on the lights, read verse five, it says this sent is a message that we have heard of him. And declare unto you that God is light.
And in him is no darkness at all. How many of you are glad that God is light?
Good. If you know why you're raising your hand, that's a wonderful thing.
But I wanna show you what's in this box, and this belongs to me. This is some of my clothing.
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And I'm going to show you a little bit of my clothing. First. I need to tell you that on Thursday I was walking along a.
Stream bed and kind of hopping back and forth. Part of the stream was frozen and part of it wasn't. So you had to walk real carefully as I went along the stream bed and I was wearing this clothing that day. What do you think I've got in the box?
Should we bring it out? And do you think you know, OK, what is it?
Maybe some wet clothes. Yeah, they might still be just a little bit wet. I'll show you what's in the box.
Now you ask yourself ahead of time, would your mom like these gloves? OK, ready. You ask, if you showed these to your mom, would she like them?
OK, here we go.
There we go. Can you see them? Do you think your mom would like those?
What do you suppose?
Is wrong with those.
They're dirty, they're wrinkled up, Yeah. And if you got a little closer, you'd find some more things wrong with them.
But thankfully it's been a little while. I want to show you something.
This sock is kind of like most of you. It's got a couple little.
Isn't that cleaner than this one?
Yeah, that's cleaner. And you know why? Because I think most of you, if not all of you have a mom or your dad, dad that comes along and they see something like that and they go, oh, I don't like that, and they get rid of it.
Or they help train it so that other people can't see it. And I see another one, a little one over here. And I see another little one over there. And I see another little one over there. And before too long, if Mom and Dad are real careful, it starts to look a little bit better. Anyway. Maybe they throw this one through the wash.
Now, does this sock look better than the other one? Yeah, it says it look good. Not really, but it looks better, doesn't it? And you know, if you're just comparing these two socks and you have to put one on.
How many want the one in my right hand? If you had to wear one, OK, how many would prefer the one on my left hand?
We brought these out into the light too, didn't we?
You only see outside, don't you?
You only see the outside of these socks, it's not really in the light yet.
Because you can only see the outside. What do you think I'm really getting at, Jonathan?
You can't see the inside of people, and I can't see the inside of people. I can only see what comes out. And if your mom and dad are real diligent, maybe not a whole lot will come out that shows from the inside. But I want to tell you a real, real short little story. This is about a Doctor Muir, who's his name, and he went to a family and she had a little boy, and maybe he hadn't met that little boy before. So she wanted to show off her little boy to this doctor.
I guess he'd been there a little bit. And she said, who do you think he's like? How many of you have seen a new baby and your mom or your dad or somebody else's? Oh, they have their dad's eyes and their mom's hair and oh, I think I see in their dimples their uncle.
How many of you have heard something like that? Yeah, it's it's pretty common. They probably said it about you too, when you were born. You know what this doctor said? Who do you think he's like? The doctor answered. I think he's like Adam.
I think he was talking about you. No, he was talking about that man who sinned in the garden, who's the father of all of us, and he has a life and a nature that's kind of rotten. You want to see what's inside the socks?
You sure? OK, I'll show you what's inside the socks. If I take this sock and I turn it inside out so that the light gets to the inside, I can't even get it apart because there's various bits and pieces of junk in there. You know what? It's kind of kind of a mess on the inside, isn't it?
Still look good now? No, because when the light shines on the inside, the God's light, it turns on a light and it shines inside and outside and it shows a big mess. And you know the other socks the same way. I think you already knew that. I don't need to open it out, so we'll save a little bit of time. The other socks just as bad, it's just as messy on the inside. And you know what? We all share that messy.
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Nature on the inside now.
How many of you are glad that God is light?
Oh, good. I'm still getting just about as many hands. That's a good thing. You know why I'm glad that God is light? It's the next part. But to get to the next part, I want to illustrate something. We'll talk about the verse that you quoted, the next part, the third part. But before I do, I want to illustrate it this way. You all have to tell me what this stuff is good for, so you each get one. You can. It's not very much. You can keep it.
I think there's people in the room that could tell us, oops, sorry about that. Tell us.
MMM, when they were boys and girls.
What this stuff was good for?
I gave everybody a regular US quarter. What's this good for? What's it do?
OK, help me out. What's it good for? What can you do with that? You can spend it, you can buy things. These are good to buy things and what can you buy with 1/4?
Not much.
You're absolutely right, not much is the correct answer.
Can you buy something?
Yeah, not much snacks at your school. You can get some snacks at your school for 1/4. There's a few. Wow, your school must subsidized. I don't think Paul's school is like that.
How many of you in the room can remember when this would buy a whole gallon of gas? All right, there's. Well, look at all those hands. Wow. You know, when you go to a gas station, none of you have had to buy the gas, I'm sure. But when you go to the gas station, you know those big numbers.
Out in front. Have you ever had your mom heard your mom or dad comment on them? Yeah. Are they this small? No. This would be, this would say a zero and then a period and then A2 and A5 on the big sign, do you think?
You've ever seen a sign like that in front of a gas station not advertising a gallon of gas in your time, Not since any of you have been born. You know this bias thing. But what it buys changes. And one of you is right, It doesn't buy much. It's not worth much, but it buys things. That's what it's for. Yeah, that was that way back when you could get a gallon of gas for 1/4. And it's still true, still buys things. It just doesn't buy as much, does it?
Yeah, it could.
What do these things?
Do.
What do these things do?
What are they good for?
Umm 2.
Good. Yeah, power stuff. I have it here powering a flashlight.
How many of you have picked up a flashlight with some of these in it and used it? Maybe not this kind of OK, all of you, just about not most of you. Anyway I can get this back on. We'll see. Important part about this was the batteries in it. I want to see if it's still OK. There we go. You think there's still some light in here? I hope so. I think there is.
Yeah, it's a little bit of light. Is that a really bright light? No. Yeah, If we turned off the lights, that would be a big help. But it's not super bright. It used to be brighter, but these batteries have been in here a while. What happens to these batteries? They power things, but they die out.
And one more thing, this one, what are these good for writing? This got returned to me on somebody wanted to take notes near me on Friday during the meeting and they started to write and they got about two words in and they returned this and said don't you have another one?
What's wrong with it?
It's out of ink, you know, this writes and these batteries, they give energy to things and this money you buy stuff with, but it all loses its value and it gets used up or it's worth less. Now let's go back to that verse and it says the blood of Jesus Christ his or God's Son cleanseth us from all sin. What does the blood of Jesus Christ do?
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What does the blood of Jesus Christ do?
Cleanses us from all sin.
Was it worth more when your dad was born than it's worth now?
How many agree with Anna?
Maybe you didn't hear, she said. No. It wasn't worth more when her dad was born than when she was born.
Has it lost maybe just a little bit of its power because it's already been used to cleanse?
Most people in this room, I hope all is it may be worth a little bit less now.
No, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. It's worth just as much to God today. It was. It was the day when Jesus shed it on the cross. He cried. It is finished and he shed his blood and out came that blood and water. That blood is worth just as much to God today as it was then. How many of you have a toy that maybe you got for a birthday or is a gift?
That you really enjoyed it was special.
OK, good. Just about everybody. How many of you is it worth just as much today to you as it was then?
Oh wow, a couple.
I think if you went back through and you asked your dad or your mom or your older brother or older sister.
And said those Legos you used to have, do you play with them as much anymore as you used to? Do you enjoy them like you used to? Do you think your dad would say, oh, yeah.
Woody.
Really.
OK.
Maybe we'll ask in another five years, because most things that people have just.
They don't satisfy the way they used to.
They're just not as good. But the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin, and it's worth just as much to God as the day that Christ shed it. How about for me? Or for let's suppose you asked your dad. OK, I'll pick on you, Adrian, because you had your hand up a moment ago. If you asked your dad when I was born, did you appreciate the blood of the Lord Jesus as much as you do now? What do you think he'd say?
You're not sure?
Not sure.
OK Oh, if you were to ask your dad, Dad, when I was born, did you appreciate the blood of Christ as much as you do now? What do you think he'd say?
Yeah, exactly the same amount.
Do you think I should ask him? Let let's ask him and find out.
Is that OK, John? He says no, you appreciate it more or less more. The value to God is the same. But you know what? When you have the things of God, when you have the life that's in his family, you begin to enjoy more. You know, when I was your age, I wouldn't have said I was glad that the light showed everything. But the fact that God knows all of my sins and he put the mall under the blood of Christ, I'm a lot more appreciative of that now than I was then.
Because, you know, I think when I was your age, I didn't know that socks could be turned inside out and how ugly they were on the inside, and I didn't know how ugly things were inside. And now that I know a little bit more.
I'm glad the Lord Jesus knew all about that.
Those are three things we've talked about so far and we have just a couple of minutes talked about the family and knowing the Lord Jesus and the life that he has.
And bringing everything to the light and what the blood does. We've got one more. The last part, or one little piece at the end of the chapter. Got another picture? This one hangs in my office. Do you know who those people are?
OK. Do you agree? All right, there's my family. This picture hangs in my office. And I want to show you something about the picture. You know, if you were to take that other picture, there's no glass in front of it. It was just temporary until we got our complete picture. But I want to try something. I didn't try this ahead of time, so I hope it works. And you'll have to pardon.
I'll put a little bit of water in here and.
And get my fingers wet, see if that'll do it.
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Umm, I've got a little of this stuff with my wet fingers. I'm gonna. Oh. Oh, yeah. OK, that's working now quite as well as I like, but it's starting to work. And what do you suppose I'm doing? This picture. Am I making it better? No. Am I making it worse? What am I doing to it?
Spreading chocolate on it. Yeah, I'm marking it up. I'm making it worse.
Alright, Hmm.
Maybe I didn't anticipate all that I should have here, but I've got some socks available.
And I think they have to go through the wash anyway.
So if I look at this, did I make the picture better or worse?
Worse, I messed it up a little bit, didn't I?
Did I mess it up? Yeah. Can you see that face quite as easily as before? No. You know, when we're believers, when we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, when we're washed with the blood, sometimes we do things that we shouldn't.
Does that make it easier to enjoy God the Father or?
That makes it harder, doesn't it? It gets in the way, it messes things up.
Did I destroy that picture?
I made it worse, didn't I? I sure did. I clouded it up. I made it hard to see. In fact, if I kept piling on more and more and more, it might get so bad that you'd say, Are you sure there are three people in that family? Because I only see two, right? I get hard to even see what the picture is about.
Why didn't I really mess up the photograph that's in there? You want to take another close look?
Yeah, there's glass on top. There's glass on top.
I sure made it our deceit, didn't I? I messed it up. How many of you raise your hand if you think your mom?
Would be happy to hang a picture like that on our wall all the way it is right now.
What would your mom do if she saw a picture on the wall like that?
Oh, OK. Go ahead, Jonathan.
So you take it down and what would she do with it?
Probably get a new frame.
There might be an easier way.
Is there an easier way cleaning it? Yeah, I have a little bit of water here and I have a brand new clean handkerchief and I hope it does the trick here. I'll just put a little bit of water on the water and we'll clean that up and see if it doesn't look a little bit better.
OK.
Does that look better?
Does that look better, you think? Yeah, a lot better. Has cleaned up. And you know what?
That same person, that same one who says the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin. You know, sometimes we do things that are wrong and God wants us to. I'll read the verse. We're out of time. I'll read the verse. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, you know we have a forgiving God.
If you know Him as your Savior, but you've sinned, He wants you to confess. It's not good to hang a picture like that on your wall.
It's not good to live as though people couldn't look at you and see the Lord Jesus. I'm gonna finish with this story. There's a little boy and he knew the Lord is his Savior. He had a family life, that eternal life, and it was in him. And he was walking down the street and he was singing. You know what song he was singing?
Umm, I did a minute ago. It was a song about the blood and it was umm, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. Help me with the first part of it. There is a fountain filled with blood. He was singing, There's a fountain filled with blood and he passed a policeman and the policeman knew the Lord as his savior too. So the policeman started to sing and when they were done, the policeman said, do you know the Lord is your savior? And he said, I sure do. A few days later that policeman was in the same area and somebody came up to him and he said.
Do you know that song you were singing a day or two ago? You were singing with a little boy while I was standing with a woman and she heard you.
00:45:07
And when she heard you, she realized she was a Sinner that needed to be cleansed with that same blood, and she got saved. You know, for each one of us, what comes out is what's inside. If we're enjoying the Lord, it comes out. I don't know if that boy, the policeman got told. I don't know if that boy knows to this day, but he's going to find out someday. And he's going to find out that you heard about it. And maybe he'll find out that you thought about it and spoke up for the Lord Jesus when others were around. Let's let God's family life show in each one of us today.