 We're going to begin at verse 37 and then we're going to read to verse 42 and we'll get into our study. Let's begin here in Luke chapter 9 at verse 37, read to verse 42 and we'll get into our study as the Lord Jesus Christ is going to minister to a little boy who is demon-possessed. Luke writes, Now it happened on the next day when they had come down from the mountain that a great multitude met him. Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out saying, Teacher, I implore you, look on my son for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth and bruising him. It departs from him with great difficulty. So I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here. And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child and gave him back to his father. And Jesus has been on a mountain top with three of his apostles, Peter, James, and John. And he has spent the evening into the night there, and this is now the next day. This is the next morning. And while they were there with him, Peter, James, and John actually had a preview of the glory of Jesus Christ. And we saw that last time we were together. There are basically two reasons that there was this preview, if you will, that took place. Two things that we can see. One, we know that they're seeing his glory, the way that they did, would be something that would benefit them in the future. To see his glory would, I believe, provide a base of experience, something they could remember and draw from in the times ahead, something that would remind them that Jesus Christ is more than just a good man, a great teacher, or a prophet. And it would be something that they would be able to look back on. And as we know, Peter and John both looked back on it and even wrote about it. And it was something they could draw from that would give them faith and strength in the future. And secondly, this is because Jesus wants all of his disciples to see his glory. That's something he actually prayed for. His desire is that we might be with him. And so when we're in heaven with him, we will see him in his glory. We can't see his glory now. We couldn't see it if we were walking with him during his incarnation. But we will in the future see his glory. And that's something that Jesus wants for all to see. John 17, verse 24, Jesus is praying there and he says, Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory. The glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. And so it's my desire that they will be with me so that as they're in heaven, as they're in perfection, they'll see the glory that I actually have. And so, one, it benefits them because they have something to draw from for the future and two, it gives to them something to look forward to in the future when they see Jesus in his full and complete glory. And so now Jesus has descended the mountain. He's left the other nine apostles behind and he's returning to where they are. And note with me here in verse 37 how it says that they came down from the mountain and a great multitude, a great multitude meets him. Now Mark gives us more insight and keep in mind that this event is actually recorded in Mark as well as Matthew's gospel also. So Mark in chapter nine gives us some insight here in verses 14 through 16 and helps us to understand what is going on. Because Mark says when they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the scribes arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him and he asked the scribes, what are you discussing with them? Now the scribes for those who may not be familiar with that word are the legal experts. They're lawyers, not in judicial in the sense of secular law. They're experts in the Jewish religious law called the law of Moses. These are the scribes. They are one of the most esteemed classes of people in the Jewish nation. They were the PhDs. They were the most literate. They were individuals that were highly esteemed and these are people that are actually beginning to question the disciples of Jesus and I want you to notice something here because Jesus sees these people who are giving his disciples a hard time. And even though this multitude of people, this large crowd of people is there and they're beginning to be drawn to Christ, Jesus immediately makes a beeline and begins to deal with these people and he asked the scribes according to Mark nine, sixteen, what are you discussing with them? He's going to get into Jesus Christ because one of the things that we know him as is the good shepherd. He speaks of himself that way in John chapter 10. I am the good shepherd and he says that the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and one of the things about a shepherd is the shepherd protects the sheep and that's what you're seeing take place right here. You're seeing Jesus Christ go to the aid of his apostles who are being put on the hot seat by these scribes concerning religious things and all and so immediately what happens is Jesus sees them and he goes and protects them. And he takes these attacks, the attacks on his sheep very personally. In Matthew chapter 18, verse six, Jesus said whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Jesus takes it personally. He does not appreciate it when those whom he loves as being treated in an improper fashion grilled and humiliated. And so he goes as a shepherd and he takes on these scribes who would be also what we would call wolves who are arguing with his disciples. And basically he's asking them, what are you arguing with them about? If you have a problem then why don't you bring it to me? In Psalm 18 verse two, the Bible says the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust. My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. He sees them arguing with his disciples, his disciples he goes and he interrupts them. What are you arguing with them about? Because Jesus the shepherd is the defender of those whom he loves and that's how it's working out here. And so that's what's taking place. And as Jesus is confronting them, notice what happens in verse 38, suddenly a man from the multitude cried out saying, teacher I implore you. Look on my son, for he's my only child and behold a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth and bruising him. It departs from him with great difficulty. I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. So he's saying basically this man, this father is saying show sympathy and show compassion on my son. Please restore him to health. And I want you to see this. He says to Jesus, he's my only child and the spirit will seize him and he suddenly cries out. When it says there, he suddenly cries out. It's interesting, we'll see this in a moment because I'm going to cross-reference this with another gospel, but the child is unable to speak, but he still can make sounds. And that's what's taking place. He gurgles if you will. The word cries out actually can be translated croak. And so it's like a throat that is being tightened and all he has is the ability to make the sound of a cry which would pierce the heart of a father as he hears his baby who's being seized and you can just hear this helpless cry coming from his throat. He's not even able to speak anymore. You see Mark in chapter 9 verses 17 and 18 says that the man said, teacher I brought you my son who's possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. And according to verse 39, it departs from him with great difficulty. In other words, this demon is abusing this little guy and is attempting to murder this little boy. It throws him to the ground, causing him to cry in pain. It bruises and cuts him. He begins to foam at the mouth, meaning he has convulsions and begins to choke on his own saliva. It causes his body to become rigid, possibly causing cramps in his muscles. He gnashes his teeth, causing bruising of his mouth and his gums. And Matthew in chapter 17 verse 15 says that he throws him in water to drown him or fire in order that he might burn him. So this little boy undoubtedly is carrying scars on his little body. And as this is taking place, the man is desperate, nor does verse 40, I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. You see Jesus, you were on a mountain, I didn't know where you were. So I brought my little guy to your men. But for some reason, they're incapable and have been incapable of delivering him. They've been of no help to me whatsoever. Now when all of that's taking place, I find it interesting how Jesus responds in verse 41. He answered and said, oh, faithless and perverse generation. What an interesting way to speak. This is another way of saying you're an unbelieving generation. You are not trusting God. The word perverse speaks of being twisted in understanding. You don't understand God. You've distorted his will for your life. What's interesting is he's not simply speaking to a father or a crowd. He's also addressing his own disciples. And he's bringing a word of correction. And as he does that, he says, bring your son here. Now I want to cross-reference this. Please turn with me to Mark's Gospel for a moment, Mark chapter 9. And I want to develop this with you. Mark chapter 9. And I want to show you something beginning at verse 20. And we're going to look at this for just a moment and see some application. In Mark chapter 9, beginning at verse 20, it says in Mark 9 verse 20, they brought him to him. And when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him. And he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said from childhood, literally since he was a baby. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. Now, notice verse 22 when he says, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. But if you can do anything, I want you to see Jesus' response to that. Because I think this becomes practical. Verse 23, Jesus said to him, if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes. On the one hand, the question is, or the statement is, if you can do anything, the response is if you can believe. It's not that he can't. As a Christian, as a person who's been trying to follow the Lord for a while, I can identify with this Father pretty easily, especially that phrase, if you can do anything. I can identify with that, and I think many in this room can also. Because I think that sometimes what happens with us, at least with me, is I have a lot of theoretical understanding, a lot of theoretical knowledge and sense of, well, I know enough Scripture that says nothing is impossible with God, and I know a lot of Scriptures that relate to all things working out for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. And I'm capable of administering that to other people who come to me and say they're having a difficult time with their child. Their child is not doing well at all, and they can say, I just don't know what to do, and I, as a minister, as a pastor, I can say, well, you need to trust the Lord. God do anything, and my response could be just what Jesus is saying, if you can believe all things are possible. But you see, one of the things that I love about the Christian faith is it's not theoretical, it's very practical, it's something that we all, as believers, have to experience to some level ourselves or else it's just going to remain just a head faith or a said faith, and what I want is I want a living faith, I want a faith that is capable of saying, I know my God is able to deliver. I know that He's able. And this is what the Lord is going to bring to this man right here. You see, the guy is speaking to him, undoubtedly has heard that Jesus Christ is capable of casting out demons because Jesus has already been going about in the north doing that. This is not something new. This is something Jesus has already been doing, and so undoubtedly he had brought his little guy to Jesus. Jesus obviously not being there, so he brought him to the nine. The nine are incapable of doing anything, and I get him frustrated. The result is not a great deliverance where the Lord is moving in a mighty way. The result is an argument because here comes some scribe saying, what are you trying to do? You don't have the power to do that. You haven't, you failed. And so rather than something happening that gives glory to God, you end up with a big argument at the base of the hill, and now Jesus comes down. What are you arguing with my disciples about? And there's a man who's just waiting patiently because he still has his son who's still demon possessed, and he brings them to the Lord, and he says, listen, this little guy of mine, you know, he goes rigid, he's been scarred for being thrown into fire, a demon takes him, and he foams at the mouth, he can't speak. I brought him to your disciples in the event that perhaps they could do something, they could do nothing. Well, can you do something? And Jesus' response is, all things are possible if you can believe. The answer is yes, of course I can. And then I want you to see something here, because when Jesus said in verse 23, if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. I love the response of the Father in verse 24. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Now that's an honest response. I am very, very drawn by honest people. As we're looking at this passage, what do we see about him? Well, one, I see him as a father who is desperate. This is a man who hasn't had a moment's peace for some time. His only child is suicidal, driven by a demon to sometimes attempt to drown him, and sometimes to burn him alive. And because he knows that his son is capable of doing that at any given moment, this father is not going to rest. As a father, when my children were small, I would have my eyes on them constantly, constantly, like all of you who are parents. And my babies would toddle away. I was right next to them. I would steer them back. I knew that at any given moment they could wander off, and it might be the last time I see them. And I knew that. I was aware of that. And as a grandfather, I'm the same way with my grandson. I have this hovering kind of thing going on. I mean, even though he's four years old, and he's getting big and heavy, and I still carry him around wherever I go, because I just am that way. If he's standing near a curb, I move him away from the curb. If he's standing next to a table with an edge, I stand in front of the table, or I put my hand on the table. In the event that he falls, he's going to hit my hand and not the edge. That's just the way I am. I've been that way all along. But what would happen if I had a kid who was suicidal, that at any given moment, whether it is early in the morning, at midnight, at any given moment, he might throw himself into the lake. He may throw himself into the fire. I haven't arrested. I'm not going to arrest. How can I arrest? And that's where this father is. He has frazzled. He's got to watch him constantly. And not only that, but this father sees children the same age as his own, running and playing and laughing. And there's got to be something inside. There's got to be something inside of this man when he sees his little guy. And he watches these babies over here playing. And he doesn't know whether his little guy is going to jump in the water or try and burn himself again. This guy is desperate. Not only is he desperate, but he's also hopeless. That's why he said to Jesus, if you can do anything. In other words, basically I've given up. You're my last hope. And finally, like I mentioned a moment ago, he's honest. He doesn't pretend he has faith. He's at the end of his rope. And that's why I appreciate at least he's being honest to God. If you can do anything have compassion on us and help us is an honest prayer. And being at the end of his rope is actually the best place he can be because Psalm 2911 says the Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. So I'm gonna ask you for strength, Lord. I'm at the end of my rope. And what is Jesus' response? Well, Jesus forces him to deal with his lack of faith. That's why he says if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately his response is, I do. I have a faith, but it's not the things that I am most certain about. It's the things that I have no experience in that I'm concerned with. So help my unbelief. That word unbelief is a Greek word that means faithlessness. It's a lack of faith. It's a weakness of faith. It speaks of being unfaithful. I believe the right things, but I have yet to really trust you in all things. I need your help. So, you may not have a demon-possessed child, you just think he is. He acts like he is, little monster. And sometimes you might even be saying, God, I wish you were demon-possessed. I could cast the thing out of you. But it's your human nature that's killing me. It's not the demon. I think one of the most important things that we can learn from this, obviously besides the thing Jesus is capable of doing, anything he is supernatural, that demon has no power over him and Jesus can deliver a demon-possessed little guy. I mean, that's obvious, that's what the passage is saying, but what's the application? I might have a kid who's a prodigal, a child who has been raised right, a child who's been brought to church, dedicated from the time they were little, they were dedicated to the Lord. They were in Sunday school, from the time they were in the nursery. And they went on into all the grade levels, now they're 17, now they're 18, beyond that. Then they're starting to thumb their nose at me and the house rules and my faith in God and they're starting to treat me like an intellectual hillbilly. Maybe they're a freshman or a sophomore in college, freshman and sophomores are always the most brilliant people in the block, you know that. They know more than the professors. And they go in and they learn a little bit this and a little bit of that and tie it in with their worldview that's been already kind of messed up. And before you know it, they look at me as being kind of like an ignorant hillbilly who really doesn't have a grip on life and know what's really going on out there. Cause I'm a fool for believing in God, I'm a fool for believing in the Bible, I'm a fool for believing in prayer and they may even get to the point where they say something like, you know, keep your faith to yourself, I appreciate that you have it. I'm not knocking you for having it, I think it's a great thing for you, it's not for me. You know, God has been good to you, you wanna believe that, that's fine, Dad, I'm not gonna argue with you about it, it's cool. But you know what, I want a taste of life and I have a different way of thinking than you do. I'm not you, I'm gonna go out and see what life is all about and all I'm asking you to do is support me as I do so and you look at that kid and you kinda think, should I kill him? And you say, no, that's probably, I'll go to jail, probably not a good witness if I do that, but you want to, you want to, but you can't. And they begin doing stupid things. They begin to drink, spend their money on wisely, hang around with the wrong group, make bad decisions, charge your little cards up and they get caught up in the world and man, it just tears you up, you got a prodigal. And so you pray, but your prayers are like this, man, if you can do anything, help me. Have you ever been there? If you can do anything. Well, that's what Jesus is speaking about right now in this word here, what do you mean if I can? Of course I can, I can do abundantly above all you can ask or think, what are you telling me? You don't think I have the capacity to get a snotty nose kid and turn him around? I got you, I can get your son. I believe that, by the way, I do believe that. Train up a child in the way he should go. And when he's old, he'll not depart from it. I believe in pouring into your children all the faith and love and all the training you can because you're creating a conscience and the conscience will have a voice and the voice will be either mom or dad or both. And they're making a stupid decision in the back of their, you know, their head. They're gonna be hearing, don't do that. I taught you different. They'll hear that, there's no doubt about that. Well, they may drink and drink and drink until they numb themselves, but when they wake up, the voice is still there and it's still calling out to them. God has a way of ministering to our children even when we're thinking nothing can be done. What I have had to do as a father is I have had to say two things. One, I have, and we were talking just yesterday with my men, I have staff meetings on Tuesdays and several of the men that I have on staff I meet with and I was talking to him a little bit about this subject yesterday and I said there have been times, you know, in the past and thank God it's now years ago in the past and I thank the Lord for that. But I'm willing to do it today if necessary, by the way, but when I have been in my room and my house and it's just me and God, and I have raised my voice loudly, not at my Lord and my savior, Jesus Christ, to be honest with you, but I have raised my voice and I have yelled out at the top of my lungs. You can't have him. You can't have him, Satan. You cannot have my child. He belongs to Jesus Christ. He belongs to Jesus and you can't have him. And I have wrestled and I have prayed and I have poured my heart out when my children haven't been doing well and I have always come back to that. You cannot have them. Jesus Christ owns them. He will recover them and I have seen that with my children. God has a way of doing abundantly above all we can ask or think. I believe that and when the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking here, he said, basically, what are you saying? If you can believe, all things are possible. You don't think that I can deliver your son? Of course I can. When the man cries out, I believe, help my unbelief, the Lord meets him in a beautiful and powerful way. You see, Jeremiah 32, 27 says, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Nahum 1, 7 says, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who trust in him. And so the wisest thing a person can do, if you'd like, please turn back to Luke, is to bring the boy to Jesus. I want you to see what happens in verse 41. In Luke chapter nine, Jesus answered and said, oh, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? That word bear with you mean, how long will I put up with you? Bring your son here. Bring your son to me is what he is saying because as he brings the son to Jesus, Jesus delivers him and gives the son back to that father. When you bring your child to the Lord, he gives him back to you better. And as this has taken place here, verse 42, as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him, then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child and gave him back to his father. Bring him here to me. That's what we do, by the way, in this fellowship in our prayers. That's what we do when we have our monthly prayer for protocols. We're just doing what Jesus said. Matthew chapter 17, verse 17, Jesus simply says, bring him here to me. And that's what we do. We bring our children to the Lord in prayer. We bring him to him and we say, Lord, you said that children are a gift and we see that as being true. So Lord, seeing that this is a gift, would you do something? Would you heal this child that you gave to us? And Lord, if there's anything in my life that is causing this child to rebel against you, reveal that to me so that I might repent and if necessary, ask forgiveness and do the right thing by him. And so he says, bring him to me. Now, the result, notice verse 43, they were all amazed at the majesty of God. But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, he said to his disciples, let these words sink down into your ears for the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, but they didn't understand this saying. It was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it. They were afraid to ask him about this saying. So the multitude is filled with amazement at this mighty deliverance, but Jesus is not looking at their response. He's looking past that and he's looking towards the cross. He wants to minister to his disciples and wants to give to them insight into what the kingdom of God is like. So he tells them in verse 44, let these words sink down into your ears. I'm about to be delivered. So once again, he's preparing his disciples. They could be caught up with all of the incredible, amazed response of this multitude and all, and he doesn't want their attention to be drawn there. You see, the thought of him being betrayed and dying is simply something they don't want to hear. And so when Jesus says to them, let these words sink down into your ears. While some things require intense concentration, some things require a willing obedience. But he's saying that which concerns my sufferings and death are of utmost importance. This you must definitely understand. Now, as he's speaking to them, I want you to notice in verse 45, it says they don't understand this saying. They don't understand that he's gonna be delivered. He's already preparing them for that. He's gonna be delivered. He's ultimately gonna be crucified, died and buried. Then he's gonna be raised from the dead, but they don't understand this saying. It's hidden from them. They didn't perceive it. And they're afraid to ask him about the same. And so there are various reasons for this. One is they're afraid to ask. But also, according to Matthew 17, 23, the disciples, when they hear this, are filled with grief. And then we just saw a moment ago, it was concealed or hidden from them, so they're not grasping it. With all of that, they've got fear and they don't want to ask. But, as you look at this, they're sorrow and fear, though understandable is really an expression of unbelief. And that's what Jesus has been dealing with. If you take notes, John 14, 28 and 29, you heard me say I'm going away and I'm coming back to you. If you loved me, you'd be glad that I'm going to the Father for the Father's greater than I. I've told you now before it happens so that when it does happen, you'll believe. Now, though they're sorrowing and though they have grief in their heart that is causing them to have a difficult time, it's really unbelief. And Jesus is trying to point them out to something that's very important. If you loved me, you'd rejoice because I'm going to go back to the Father. Incidentally, on a personal note with this, this scripture here really spoke to my heart. When my Father went home to be with the Lord, I was going through the Bible and the Word of God always brings healing. He sent His Word and He heals them. And so I was reading the Word of God and Jesus, when He said that, if you loved me, you'd rejoice because I said unto you, I go into the Father. And that's when the Lord began to heal my heart. You know, instead of me just agonizing constantly and I did, I went through some very deep, deep sorrow. The Lord said, listen, if you really loved your Father, you'd be rejoicing because He's with me. You'd be rejoicing instead of always grieving and sorrowing. And that brought healing to my life when I realized that. And secondly, as I've told you a thousand times, you know, if I could bring my Father back, I wouldn't because He'd be mad. You want to come back here? Bring me back to, you know, are you kidding me? Please, I'm in heaven. Why do you bring me back to this place? It's fly infested and it's hot. No, but there's a sense of just Him wanting them to know, listen, there's something beyond what I'm doing right now and that is I'm gonna bring you into heaven. Now, as all of this has taken place, verse 46, a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. Can you imagine that? Jesus is saying I'm gonna die and yet the biggest thing that they have is who's gonna be the greatest? So Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and said them by him and said to them, whoever receives this little child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all will be great. Now, instead of discussing who's the greatest in the kingdom, they should be discussing the fact that Jesus is gonna be betrayed and killed. But their human nature, being what it is, causes them to desire places of honor in the kingdom of God. And they want this place of honor and I believe that what they are actually doing in their disputation is exercising selfish ambition. It seems that they wanna establish a pecking order, just like the world has a pecking order. But that's not what believers are to be striving for and Philippians chapter two verses three and four, Paul said, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. You see, the thing is, there's something within us that the desires greatness and attention, we vie for it, we hunger for it, we'll do almost anything for it and sometimes it's embarrassing how insecure and how desirous we are for somebody to notice us. I was sharing with one of my secretaries recently, how that when I was 15 years old, 16 years old, I was at, in high school, we were having to swim. I've never been much of a swimmer so I was just kind of like in the pool, just hanging onto the side and the coach was there in our section, we were there in the shallow end and there was a freshman, 14 year old, who was on the high dive and as he was standing on the high dive there, he started to yell across the pool to our coach and he was yelling out, coach, you know, coach, look at me, I'm gonna jump, look at me, I'm gonna jump. Now, when you're, you got a pool full of high school guys and you got a 14 year old kid standing on the edge of a diving board, what do you think we started doing when this kid's saying, look at me? Well, all of the guys in the pool started yelling at the coach, no, coach, look at me, look at, and we, oh, and anyway, so we just mocked this poor kid, I mean, we were just, oh, look at me, coach, and then we jump out of the water, oh, look at me, and we were just, we were really mean, you know, the guys are that way, women, I don't know about you women, well, we men, we're that way, now you gotta be kidding me, and so the kid jumps into the water and the coach looks at him, but I've never forgotten that, obviously, and it was a long time ago, and I've never forgotten that, and I came to realize over time how desperately we need to be noticed. We desperately need attention, and some people will even use a position of ministry to be noticed. We want someone to know our name. It's been said the most beautiful sound in anybody's ear is the sound of his own name on somebody else's lips. We like to be known, we like to be the one who walks into that group of people and they turn around and greet us and smile at us, hi, how are you, we want that desperately, we want to be the important person, maybe not the most important, but important enough to be at least remembered. In ministry, that'll destroy a church in a heartbeat. Selfish ambition and the need to be noticed will destroy a work of God in a heartbeat, because it is selfish, and when his disciples are trying to establish a pecking order of greatness in the kingdom of God in ignoring the fact that Jesus is teaching them that he's about to die in order to give them the kingdom as a gift so that they can take this message and draw people to a saving knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. When he sees this taking place, he has to stop it, he has to deal with them. So what does he do? Well, notice what he does. In verse 47, Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and said him, buy him and said to them, whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Now, according to Mark 9, verse 36, the Bible tells us there that Jesus took the child in his arms and he held him gently. And so, he takes this little child, that little child is a toddler, and he sets the baby next to him. He's probably about three years old, maybe four. He's just a little guy. And Jesus has this little fella, there places him next to him, puts him in his arms and begins to hold him. And as he's holding this baby, whether he's seated or not, I don't know, but as he has this child in his arms, he begins to draw attention to the baby. And he's teaching them a tremendous lesson. He's saying, listen, greatness is measured by humility, innocence, trust and dependence. Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Entrance into the kingdom demands us to have the qualities of a child. That's what he's saying. There's no other way to enter into the kingdom of God but as a child. And as he's saying this to him, he's saying, look at this little guy's not vying for anything, he's just here. He's in my arms and he's enjoying fellowship with me. And that's how it is. You know, I love it when my grandson is in my arms and I'm not kidding when I say that. I'm serious. I mean, he comes into my office every day. And when he comes in, the world stops. I could be studying, I can be on the phone. The minute he walks in, the world stops. That's the truth. You know, hang up the phone. I get up from behind the screen and what can I do for you? And just today, I do it all the time. He had three shots today. So he came in with sad face. I mean, he walk in with a sad face, forget it, man. I'll buy you something. What do you want? He comes walking in and he's showing me his little band-aids. He had two shots on this arm and one shot on that. The two shots here didn't hurt. This one really hurt. And so, you know what I do? I say, ah, grow up. You know, no, I didn't say that. Shut up, you little brat. No, I didn't say that. No, I go and I sit down in a little chair that I have and I put them on my lap and I put my arms around him and I hold them to my chest and I love him and I kiss him and I talk to him and I'm an evil grandpa. But if I'm an evil grandfather, and I am, because my nature, God's still working on me, if I could love him up like that, well, God does that to me too. And he had peace because he's in my arms. And Jesus is just making it very clear. Listen, fellas, you wanna be some big thing, huh? You wanna be real important in the kingdom of God, don't you? You want people to think, oh, here he comes. Let me jump into his shadow so I may be healed. You wanna have attention, don't you? You're willing to take these men and shove your way into the front, just like the world, aren't you? Well, let me tell you something about the kingdom of God. It's people by innocence, humility, dependence, trust, faith, that's the kind of people you need to be. You see this baby here in my arms? The only thing he's enjoying right now in life is just being held by me. Don't you understand that? Don't you understand that in ministry, the most important thing is just being close to Jesus Christ? In life, the most important thing is just loving him? Don't you understand that yet? Small children have qualities that we all should have. Small children are trusting. You know, if you make a promise to a small child, they don't forget it. They expect you to keep your promise. They do, they don't forget it. Small children are very forgiving. They have short memories. And daddy could be mean, or mama can be mean, and feel bad about raising your voice or maybe spanking them inappropriately. And you walk in and you say, I'm so sorry, I lost my temper. And the first thing a small child will do is they'll say, it's okay, that's okay. I remember that very well when my kids were small, I spanked my little David once, once, but I spanked him in this one time. And I was angry when I spanked him, and I walked into the room and I said, papa, I'll call all my children papa or mama. I said, papa, I am so sorry. I was mad and I shouldn't have been mad at you, baby. That's okay, daddy. I said, no, it's not, it's never okay. To be mean. I still cry, and look at that. I just remembered it, but they forgive. They do, babies forgive quickly, they do. They're loving, they are simple. They don't require long answers. Your kid says, daddy, where did I come from? And you go and know the talk. I don't wanna tell them the talk yet. So you do the best that you can. He said, well, son, this is the way it is. You take 15 minutes, and the kid looks at you and says, that's not what I was asking. My friend Billy's from Los Angeles. I was just wondering where am I from? Children are, that's a stupid joke when I like it. Children are dependent because they rely on a caretaker completely. And something else about children, they receive gifts very easily. Have you noticed that? You offer them something that they want, and man, it's theirs. And that's how we enter into the kingdom, because God offers us eternal life. And as a child, you enter in by receiving that gift. And so greatness in the kingdom of God comes through humility, not through striving to be something, but by being just innocent and dependent on God. And he has a way of placing you in the position that best suits his needs and your gifts that he gave to you. And so Jesus is trying to teach his disciples something that we're still trying to learn 2000 years later, and that is greatness isn't something that is measured the way the world measures it. In the kingdom of heaven, it's really the opposite. The world has an upside down pyramid, a pyramid rather where everything on the bottom is the peon, and then the very top is the president of the company, the CEO. The kingdom of God is an upside down pyramid because the greatest in the kingdom is a servant. And so Jesus is trying to teach his disciples the key to greatness is innocence and dependence, trust and love and arresting in the arms of your savior who will deliver you and carry you wherever he wants you to go. May we learn that lesson today.