Why did the disciples stop the children coming to Jesus? | Mark 10:13-16

Why do the disciples stop the children coming to Jesus_ LIVESTREAM Matt: [00:00:00] Well, hello, good afternoon. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Frontline City Online. I hope you are having a good Sunday, wherever you are in the world, it's great to see you. Uh, great that you are here. Great that you can join us. Now, whether you are with us live or whether you are with us, you know, uh, joining us at some point that is not live. Do you know what I mean? Whether you are, uh, with us, uh, when, uh, when you're watching this, maybe some other time that's not live. You're welcome. It's great to have you here. Uh, great to see you. Great that you're all here now. Um, I, oh, here we got online. We've got Matt. Hey Matt. How you doing? Uh, hey, y'all, my beloved front lounges. Love it, love it, love it. Uh, who else have we got here? We've got Abby [00:01:00] Abby's back. How was the holiday? Abby? Was it good? Hope you enjoyed your time. Uh, great that you are here now. Uh, is that sounding echoy to you, by the way? Uh, if you could just let me know in the, in the comments, that would be amazing. Uh, it sounding a bit echoy to me and I don't know why, so I'm sorry about that. If there's a bit of an echo for you, maybe it is just me. I'm hoping it is just me. Let's turn all of that down and see if that helps any, right. How's your Sunday going? Write in the comments and let me know now. If this is, uh, your, oh, here we go. Look, let's put this Sharon. Sharon says Hi. And if you dunno me, my name is Matt Edmundson says they're in the corner of the screen. My name is Matt, uh, and the Sharon Edmundson on the screen, just so you know, is my beautiful wife. So, uh, hey babe. Um, it's great that everybody's here had a fab holiday. [00:02:00] Thanks, Matt. And the sound is good for me. Awesome. That's fantastic. Everybody's saying the sound is fine. Maybe it's just me. That's good. If it's just me, that is good. Now that is who I am. But on that side of the screen, you see the WhatsApp number. And that is how you get in touch with us here. Uh, let us know where you are watching the feed from. Where are you right now? Send us in. Send us in. That's really bad English. Send in to me on that WhatsApp, your photos of where you are watching the stream right now. Uh, that would be great. In fact, I know what I'm gonna do. Uh, church is live. I'm just gonna tell everybody on the WhatsApp group the church is live. If you'd like to be a member of the WhatsApp group, uh, just let us know. Um, so, oh look, we've got some people coming in with stuff already. Let me bring this onto the screen and I'll show you. Look at that. There's [00:03:00] the langstons. Uh, I'm not sure who you sat next to Martin. Um, but it doesn't look like she's impressed. Someone's like, how dare you take my photo? What is going on there? That's quite funny. Uh, good to see everybody. Good to see you, uh, enjoying the sunshine in the garden. That's great. So sending your photographs. Let us know how you are watching this and where you're watching it from. Uh, what's up in your details to that number there? I have to figure out which hand, uh, we've got Sarah. Hey, Sarah, how you doing? Great to see you. Great that you are here. Uh, and Martin says, apparently that's grandma on the screen going like this. Oh, goodness me. What can you do? What can you do other than smile? Now? Uh, this, if it's your first time here, welcome. Big welcome. Big shout out to you. Uh, this is Frontline City. We are an online church. Just to let you know, [00:04:00] we are an offshoot of, uh, Frontline, which is a church here in Liverpool Church here in Wave Tree, uh, Liverpool, England. And we are streaming from Liverpool, but we know we have people literally from all over the world watching what we're doing and it's great. Uh, so you are welcome here whether you are like sound, live or ketchup. However, I on, we and the church have ended up on your feed. Uh, I hope today that you learn more about Jesus because he is just. Awesome. And so that's the plan. That's how we get on. Uh, if you, uh, if this, if, if you don't genuinely know who I am, lemme just give you a quick intro. I head up, uh, Frontline city. So, uh, in church circles, that makes me pastor, that's the name we like to give things. Uh, but, uh, what I predominantly do, uh, for those of you who dunno, is I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a businessman. I run my own businesses here from the uk and we distribute products all over the world, which is great. So, um, I, I, I, I [00:05:00] just enjoy this. I love how Jesus interacts with life and business and church, and it all streams and works together. And it's a beautiful thing. And that's why we do what we do to make him known, because like I say, he is awesome now. I have, uh, on the past and people on the stream have on the past use language, which might not make any sense to you, especially if you are new or you're new to the Christian faith. Uh, do apologize for that. Anything you're not sure about, just write in the comments. We will try and de christianize our stream as much as is humanly possible. And I'll explain things, uh, as we go along. For example, uh, in a few minutes we're gonna have the langstons, uh, who's with there with grandma. You saw their photo. Uh, they're gonna be, uh, looking at, uh, passage from the Bible. They're gonna take us through that, which is great. And then after that, we're gonna just time of worship and I'll explain to you what's gonna happen in worship to see, you know, what's going on. It's gonna be fun, and, uh, you know, hopefully we all meet God throughout the whole thing. So, [00:06:00] uh, let's bring on, uh, what have we got in the notices? It's the kids bit. Oh yes. Check this out. Run Viti, uh, did that. No. Okay, let's not do that. Uh, let's try that one. I dunno why any of these video clips aren't working right now. Um, okay, so why is that not working? Just outta curiosity. I've no idea. Anyway, let's not be discouraged by what is working and what is not working on the technical side of things here. Kids. As always, if you are a kid watching this streaming, you would like to join in. We have on the website a little color and end sheet, which you can download. If you haven't done so already, you can grab that. Just head on over to the website, which is here underneath my name, Frontline City. Go to the livestream page and down, click the download link and you can get that. Um. [00:07:00] And you can color that in. And what I want you to do, right, what I want you to do kids, is I want you to send me to that number right there. I want you to send me your finished coloring in sheets. I want to see them, right? So you can send 'em to me by the end of the service. Uh, you can send 'em to me throughout the week and we will show them on the stream. But send me your coloring in. I'd love to see them and we'll show them to everybody, which would be great. So, uh, do, do that. As I've said already, uh, if you've not picked this up in the comments, people are gonna be active in the comments. Do like comments, share, share us out on Facebook. Give us a shout out. Let us know that you're watching. Give us a wave, give us a thumbs up. Give us, you know, the little love part things. I dunno why I do that. That's like. Well be, uh, I'm well above the age range that does that, I think. I dunno. Um, but uh, uh, yeah, give us a shout out right in the comments. Uh, it's great to see people interact and to throw stuff in there. Uh, when people say [00:08:00] hello, uh, what's Matt put here? Lemme just see, uh, who is Jesus? If you Don dunno, maybe you could try Alpha. Okay, let's put that on the broadcast. That's a good segue, Matt. Thank you very much. Into the next notice. We are running an online alpha course, so if you would like to know more about the Christian faith, um, if you would know, like to know more about sort of life and meaning and how Christianity and all that sort of stuff fits into it. We run this thing called an Alpha course and it is done online and it is every Friday night, I wanna say. Um. And you can come along and join in with that. We watch a video, which is like 20 some minutes long. Uh, and we meet up on Zoom and we have a little bit of conversation now talking of Zoom at the end of this live stream. We will also be on Zoom and uh, you can come and join us on Zoom, which will be great to meet you. If you'd like to come and join us. Let us, uh, know who you are. A few people get together on Zoom at the end of livestream. We'll just catch up and we have, uh, a time of [00:09:00] Prayer. So, uh, it'd be great to meet you if you wanna do that. You are ancient. Matt Edmundson. Yeah, thanks Matt. Appreciate that. Let's take that off quick. Let's take it off. Okay. So, uh, so yeah, so that's all that's going on. Now will this one actually work? Let's run this one. See what happens. Oh yes, that one worked. Thank goodness something is working around here. Uh, so between Sundays, for those of you who don't know, uh, which I'm assuming is most of you actually, because we get hundreds of people who watch these videos over the weeks who we don't actually know who they are, which is great and [00:10:00] it's great that you're here. We love having you here. Do continue to keep joining us what we do, um, because church is more than just an hour's. Sort of live stream on a Sunday, even less than that really. Um, that's not what church is. This is just part of it, right? This is all part of it. Uh, and you, uh, what we do is we release stuff throughout the week, sort of these, uh, we call them, be sort of between Sundays Jesus focused conversations, if you like. And, uh, we do that during the week. So you are more than welcome to subscribe to that content and again, get involved in that. We put it out on YouTube and we also put it out on Facebook. And if you wanna know more, again, check out the website 'cause all the links are on the website. Um, and so this week I shot the between Sunday, uh, video in the park with Zoe, which you know, was funny. Let me tell you. We had a good laugh doing that, which was great. So, uh, what's this? Love this video, Matt. Oh, good. Uh, your groovy graphics. Ha ha ha. [00:11:00] We're playing, we're having fun, which is great. Matt's like, we love the techno music as always. Absolutely. 'cause what's there not to love about this? I do like this clip of music. I'm not convinced it's churchy, but you know, it's fun. Anyway, uh, what can I say? What can I say right now? Mona sent in a photograph, uh, of my, lemme take that out there. There we go. There's, uh, Josh and Zoe watching the live stream. Uh, I'm not sure if Zoe is trying to stab Josh in the head with the pencil there. Um, and uh, Josh is obviously drinking a cup of coffee. Uh, and I'm not sure what the patent is. May looks maybe like a dog pour or something. I don't know. Uh, but there's, there's folks watching the stream. Always good to see. Okay, now let's run and hopefully in the spirit of things working, this will actually work. And this is this week, catchup. [00:12:00] Josh: Hello, welcome to Catch Up. It's that part of the stream where we get to see what other members of the community have been up to during the week. If we have never met before, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Josh Edmundson. I am a student in waiting, I guess would be an appropriate term here in Liverpool, and I'm a core member of the team of Frontline City. So I thought it would be kind of fun to kick this off by showing you what I've been up to over the past week. It's a pretty big project. It's taken a lot of work. I'm pretty proud of it. Let me show you. I have successfully managed to clone myself. As cool as that is, I think it's high time. We went and saw what other members of the community have been up to this week. So future me Cue the videos. Abby: Hey guys. So this week I've been on holiday in Whitley Bay near [00:13:00] Newcastle, and I'm currently at the top, this gorgeous lighthouse. Just look at that view. Zoe: Look. Yeah. So this week, well, like this past month I've been reading my books. That's pretty much it. So this week I've been reading my Alex Ryder books and I'm almost, I'm almost at the end of the last one, which is very exciting. And some guy just jumped out of a plane, but he's unconscious and dad has just made me stop and go for a walk. So, you know. Fun. Thanks. Dad. Want me Matt: cartwheel? Zoe: Oh, I can't do a cartwheel, but I'll try. Matt: Let's have a go. See what happens. Zoe: Yeah. I think I pulled something. [00:14:00] Oh, how good was it? That Matt: that was awesome. Thanks. Okay. I, I generally dunno what to say about that. So, uh, catch, make sure you send to Josh, or you know, this number here, this WhatsApp number, uh, you can send in your Catchup video. So what we want from you is just a video, just a quick video. Uh, and you can make it as interesting or as nuts as you like. Uh, just what you're getting up to. Just something that's interesting. So, Abby was in the lighthouse with this beautiful scenery. Zoe was in the park trying to learn how to cartwheel. You know, take it as it comes. And Josh has figured out how to clone himself, which is just fantastic. Uh, and so whatever your talent is, whatever you are learning this week, just catch up. We'd love to see those videos. Uh, and do send them to Josh. He would appreciate it. 'cause he spends quite a bit of time chasing people, uh, for that content. So do send that in. It'll be great. Uh, and send it to us by, I think probably [00:15:00] Friday is when we need it. Um, now speaking of Friday, I think earlier I said that Alpha is on Friday, but in fact it is on Wednesday. Sharon has corrected me. So if you wanna do Alpha, it's on Wednesday. I dunno why I said Friday. Uh, I knew when I said it, it was wrong. So it's good that I've got the right, uh, the right answer there. So yes, so send in your videos, uh, and uh, let's just have a bit of fun with those. 'cause they're great, aren't they? And kids listen up. I, your challenge this week is to send me a video or send Josh a video of you doing cartwheels. Okay. I wanna see your best cartwheel. Is it better than Zoe's cartwheel, yes or no? That's the question. Okay. That's the challenge. Send those in so we can have a look at them. Right. Do your cartwheels. Uh, and so thanks for doing that, Josh. That was great. Appreciate that. Now. We have as a church, been working through the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of [00:16:00] Mark is a wonderful, wonderful book. It's one of the four gospels which chronicle the life of Jesus. And it's actually the, I think it's the shortest one as well, uh, which may be another reason why we chose it. But no, no, no. Um, it, it's a great, uh, it's a great account of the story of Jesus' life. And we've been going through that and we've been learning about Jesus. And last week, um, we did some teaching on divorce and remarriage and singleness and marriage, that whole thing, that whole passage. There was this passage in Mark chapter 10 where Jesus talks about it, and we did it last week. But if you, uh, if you caught last week's livestream, you'll also know that we promised some extended teaching on the topic because it's very difficult to cover, I think more than just a few. Bits of what Jesus was trying to get to in like a 20 minute, um, well, I think 20, 25 minute sort of conversation on a live stream. So we did an hour's worth of teaching. [00:17:00] Yes, an hour. Can you believe it? Um, and, uh, it's, it's good even if I do say so myself. Um, and so yeah, have a go. Uh, have a look. It's on YouTube and again, you can follow the links from the website to that. If you are interested in the teaching, this extended teaching on marriage, on divorce, on remarriage, what's that all about? Just can you get divorced? Can you get remarried as a Christian, um, and singleness and what it means to be single. Jesus covered it all in this sort of passage, and so do check that out. That's on YouTube now. We are moving on this week, uh, in Mark's gospel. We are on the next section, uh, and it's quite a fascinating, uh, interaction between Jesus the disciples and some families with kids. And so we put in the summary, um, that, you know, we asked the question, why did the disciples stop the kids coming to Jesus, which is what's gonna happen in this story? And [00:18:00] so we thought, well, Martin and Sarah thought, you know what? The best thing to do here is to ask a kid expert some questions about this, to kind of interview an expert in this field, which we have spared no expense in doing because Abby Langston. Is gonna be sharing some thoughts with us. Can you believe it? I'm super excited and I, I encourage you to pay attention because they are gonna bring the scripture alive in a way that's certainly not been done on this live stream before. So, uh, without further ado, let's get the langstons on as they share the next part in our journey through Mark's gospel. And then I'll be back at the end. So, uh, let's get going. Sarah: Hi there. Hello. Hello, I'm Abigail. This is Mommy. And this is Daddy. Today we're going to be reading [00:19:00] Mark 10, verse 13, and we have a video to show you. Music: Watch that Now Sarah: some people brought their small children to Jesus. So he could touch them, but the followers told the people to stop bringing their children to him. Go away. Jesus is busy. When Jesus saw this, he was displeased. I am displeased. He said to them, let the little children come to me. Don't stop them. The [00:20:00] kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these little children. I tell you the truth. You must accept the kingdom of God. As a little child accepts things or you'll never enter it. Then Jesus took the little children in his arms, he put his hands on them and blessed them. Martin: So that was the story that we are looking at today, and we've come today to the library to have a little chat to Abigail, um, to think about the passage and what it is that we can learn from that. [00:21:00] So, Abigail, why do you think the disciples stop the children coming to Jesus? Sarah: I think they stopped him because they thought he didn't want to do with the children and that they, he disciple thought children wouldn't that important and he was to everyone and he didn't have time for the children. Of course. Yeah. I think the disciples thought they're just gonna get in the way, slightly naughty, maybe slightly dirty, sticky little children. Why would Jesus want to have anything to do with them? But who did Jesus think was important? Because you said you thought the disciples thought the children were kind of unimportant and they didn't really matter. Who does Jesus think is important? Sarah: I think he thinks that [00:22:00] all the children are important, and so the adult still be part. Even though the adults are just so, it doesn't matter how old you are or what kind of job you have, what about queen? Is Queen more important? You, no. Are the little children important too? Does Jesus kind of turn everything a bit back to front and do the opposite sometimes of what we might think is the right thing to do, or because we might think that the, somebody empowers really important or someone with an important job or lots of money the like the queen. Whereas actually Jesus says Sarah: to Littlefield, he says, um, he says, come, doesn't he? He says.[00:23:00] Yeah. So not only did you let them come, you didn't just let them come, but stand off at a safe distance. You let them come, didn't he? And sit down like in locked? Yeah. No social distancing. There was no social distancing. Then he said, come and come and sit on my knee. Kind of come and curl up on my lap, not just come from a safe distance. Now why were the children being brought forward? Can you remember what it says in the verse? Sarah: I think it says that parents wanted them to be blessed. Yeah, it says that's right, that people were bringing little children to Jesus. They wanted to place his hands on them to bless them. Now, what does it mean? It's a bit of a tricky question. We were talking about this earlier. What does it mean Sarah: to be blessed? I think it means.[00:24:00] Quite hard, isn't it? We use the words a lot and we kind of say, bless you or, or bless you. That is a bit tricky. Or Bless you and nee, Sarah: but what does it does? It is kind all day. Think that you, they think that you're special as everyone else and that you like. Yeah. Now sometimes when is we trying to work out what something means? We can then go and look for what else the Bible says about lesson so. Do you think you could find Deuteronomy 28 in your Bible? Deuteronomy is in the Old Testament. [00:25:00] Can we find it? Oh, look at that. Well done. Do you think you could read out some of it Sarah: for us? Keep reading and then daddy will take one. You must completely obey the Lord your God, and you must carefully follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the Lord your God will make you greater than many other nation on earth. Obey the Lord your God. Then all the, all these blessings will come and stay with you. You must be. Blessed in the city. You'll be blessed in the country. Your children will be blessed. Your crops will be blessed. Your cattle will be blessed. Your calves [00:26:00] will be your calves and your sheep. Your sheep with lambs. Your basket and your kitchen will be blessed. You'll be blessed when you come in and when you go out, the Lord will come, will let you. The Lord will let you defeat the enemies that come to fight you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will run from you in seven in seven directions. Lord, your God will bless you. Bless everything you do. He'll bless the He is giving you. The Lord will make you his holy people as His promises. You must obey his command. You must do [00:27:00] everything He wants you. Then everyone on Earth will see that you are the Lord's people. They'll be afraid of you. The Lord will make you rich. You'll have many children. Your cattle will have many calves. Your land will have many good crops. It's the land that the Lord promises. Your ancestors will give you, Martin: should we pause there? Because the list continues going on, doesn't it? And it says there's blessing and blessing and blessing and it goes on it up Sarah: until 14, Martin: it goes 14 more verses. And so there's Sarah: up, Martin: oh, it goes up to verse 14, but there's, there's blessings, there's blessing in literally every single area of life. It says you're blessed in the city, you're blessed in the country. You're blessed as you come in, blessed as you go out blessed. Even, even your bread making is blessed. The, the bowl that you [00:28:00] make your bread in, it says the, your livestock, if you have livestock, your blessed it. God will bless every aspect. And it's, it's an it, it's a, a slightly tricky concept sometimes to think about. What does it mean in scripture when it talks about us being blessed? So what, what do, from reading that little bit, Abigail, Zoe: what do you think it means to be blessed? Sarah: I think it means that God thinks everything special and that it'll be like on his power so he can do the good things to it. Martin: Yeah, that's, to be honest, that's a really good explanation because it's a tricky concept to get our head round, isn't it? And it's like God is saying, I'm gonna do the good stuff. I'm gonna do the good stuff for all of the, [00:29:00] all the things you're involved with. I'm gonna do good stuff on it. And how do, do you remember as we were reading that, um, as we were reading in Mark, how it was Zoe: that Jesus was doing that, Sarah: what did he do to the child when he wanted to bless him? Martin: Should we, should we have a look at it? Let's go back into, should we go back to Mark? Let's go back into the, the biting mark. Here we go. Have a look at it. On here again. Sarah: It says, took then he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on them to bless them. Martin: And that's in scripture. We see that again and again. That when, um, we are giving a blessing, sometimes it will talk about the laying on of hands. You might have heard that in the, uh, you might have seen it in the Bible. You might have heard about it. This, this idea of a slightly odd phrase of laying on of hands, but all it means is physically putting your hand on someone. [00:30:00] Sarah: Putting Martin: hand on them. That's the verse there, isn't it? And it says it talk and there's something, um, Sarah: there is something quite, uh, deep, quite Martin: powerful. About physically putting your hands on something. There is something of anointing and blessing that goes with that and, and the blessing. Do you remember when we were reading The Little Bit at the beginning in Deuteronomy, it, those blessings were, uh, the, the context there is Moses, he's speaking a blessing over the people. He's saying if you do all the things that God has asked you to do, you'll be blessed as you come in and you'll be blessed as you go. But he's stood at the front. He will have been stood there and he will have been speaking to them, and he will speak over them. He'll say, Zoe: you'll be blessed. Yeah. [00:31:00] Do you think that as we speak, we can speak a blessing over people? Sarah: Yes. Do you think that if we've been blessed, what should we do then for other people? We've got that blessing from Jesus, from God. What can we then do with it? We Sarah: can bless other people. We can bless other people. There's another verse in the Bible which says, blessed to be a blessing. So how, Sarah: what would that might look like? What could we do? We could say, and we could, we could tell them that they're blessed because she love them. Yeah. So sometimes it's about doing something, doing something practical, being nice to them, like helping your sister, saying kind things to your friend. But [00:32:00] sometimes it's like you just said, it's actually telling them that you are blessed them because God loves them and it might be praying for them. Yeah. And it might be that you lay hands on them. And pray for them because do you think that it matters whether you are a child or an adult who can do better prayers? Doesn't matter, does it? No. So you can pray for other people just as well as mommy or daddy could pray for other people. Sarah: So that's cool, isn't it? Have you ever done that before? Yeah. Where did you do that? Remember? Was it a sole survivor and you went with daddy and you prayed for some people, didn't you? Yeah. Do you remember what we were praying? No. Martin: Did, [00:33:00] did we? Did we have a little moment and ask God what God was saying for the, the young lady that we were praying for? Did you have a little picture for her? Yeah, Zoe: a pretty little bird, Martin: wasn't it? Do you remember what God was saying to her? Sarah: That she was praying? Yeah. Martin: Like the little bird. And so, and when, and when we prayed for her, we, do you remember? We prayed a blessing over her. We prayed that she would know that not just in her head, but in her heart, that God loved her and thought she was beautiful. Zoe: Yeah. Cool. So we've looked at the fact that actually the children are important. That God kind of turns everything topsy-turvy and least important, become the most important, and that even the children are important. And then we've also looked at what it means to be blessed. And then the other bit [00:34:00] in this verse, it says, anyone who will not receive God's kingdom, like a little child, will never enter it. He said God's kingdom belongs to people like them. So Sarah: what do you think Abigail is important to know about God? What are some of the things that you understand about God and about being a Christian? Sarah: Being blessed Doesn't necessarily mean have to be blessed by, yes. You can pass it onto other people. What are are some of the kind of, Zoe: what's the [00:35:00] most important thing that we know about God? Sarah: That it says in the Bible? Us. So what do we, we know that God loves us. Yeah. And do we always get things right? No. No. You can get it wrong last time and you get it right. Yeah. Which is so we sometimes we get things wrong, don't we? Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes it's just hard to do it. Sometimes it's hard to do the right thing. That is right. What does like climbing a tree? Yeah. We done a lot of tree climbing this in the holidays, and sometimes it's a bit tricky, but then you persevere and you get there. Don't you remember going? So we know that God loves us. We know that sometimes we make mistakes. But what does God do when we mess up? When we make mistakes? [00:36:00] Sarah: Forgive. He does, doesn't he? He forgives us. That's, and how do we know that? What did God do with his Sarah: son? Jesus. That's right. Jesus died to forgive our sins. And then what do we need to do that we know that sometimes we get things wrong, but that God will forgive us. So what do we then need to Sarah: try and do? We need to, to the person or say sorry to whoever did it or what we did? Yes. When you say sorry. And then do we need to try and live? Yeah. So to try and live differently of not doing that. So to turn ourselves [00:37:00] around and try and stop making those mistakes. And try and think about what, like being trustworthy. Music: Yeah. And trying to do live how God would want us to live. Like being trustworthy because God would want us to be trustworthy, wouldn't he? So they're kind of some of the fundamental things, those key things in the Bible that we need to know that God loves us, that we sometimes mess up and make mistakes and get it wrong. And I think we've all made a mistakes. Have you ever made a mistake, daddy? Martin: I've made lots of mistakes. Yeah. And sometimes I get things wrong too. And then we ask God to forgive us and he forgives us. He sent his son to die for us so that his son died in our place to wash away all of those sins. And then we need to try and live differently to live for God like he wants us to live. And [00:38:00] really, it's not that complicated. They are the key things. That's right. That God wants us to know first of all, that we are loved and that we are forgiven, and then that we can live differently. And I think in this verse where it says, don't keep them away, God's kingdom belongs to people like these, like the little children is because God's saying it doesn't have to be that complicated. Don't worry about kind of all those deep theological discussions about whose brother was who and about all of complicated theological things that people might sit and discuss and chew over for ages. And we can get caught up maybe on the language on what did that word mean? And go back to the Hebrew and the Greek. Those things are all good and it is useful to explore and to learn. But actually what God's saying I think in this verse is actually, let's understand the [00:39:00] basics. Let's grasp the basics. Let's be more like Abigail who can understand those concepts of God loves me. Sometimes I mess up, sometimes I have to ask for forgiveness and then try and live differently. And so I think one of the take homes from this is though, actually let's get those basics right. There's, understand those fundamentals and not get caught up in perhaps some kind of clever theological, um, discussion. So I think as we hand back over to Matt, our question we'll be. Is there any areas where we need to be more childlike? Well, we just need to know and kind of yeah, solidify those basics, um, that God loves us. Martin: And, and just [00:40:00] to remember, is there anywhere in our lives where we have, we've stopped being childlike in the sense of forgetting that God loves us and it is finished. The issue of forgiveness in terms of sin is done, God has forgiven us, and is there anywhere where we are still trying out of our own sense of self effort to try and make it right, rather than just accepting that God has done it, that it is Zoe: finished. Martin: So thank you so much, Abigail. We'll leave our little time in the library here. Um, and during the week, this week there'll be a few little, um, uh, the between Sunday, uh, videos where we're gonna unpack some more of this. So maybe you can join us with some of those little five minute bite sized clips, um, [00:41:00] uh, in the week. But it's lovely to see you back over to Matt for now. Sarah: Bye. Matt: Okay, well, wasn't that fantastic? Uh, thank you Abigail Langston, that was great. It was great to hear your answers to those questions. I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed the fact that you corrected your dad halfway through. That was fun. Um, but yeah, it was great. Well done. Loved it. Thanks. Uh, Langstons, I loved Abby. Uh, when you were praying for the, the lady, you had a picture, uh, of a robin, which is what happens sometimes. We, uh, as Christians, we obviously like to pray and we pray for people. And, um, and what happened then, Abby, when she was praying to someone, had a picture, uh, which she thought was from God of a robin. And um, and that's just sometimes how God communicates. And so I love that. I love that God spoke through a, a [00:42:00] young child to an elderly lady or an elderly, a lady who was older, let's put it that way. I dunno how old she was. Uh, but God spoke through a child who was younger to an older lady to remind her that she was actually beautiful and loved. And there is something very, very special about that. I mean. That is just a beautiful thing. Do you know what I mean? And, uh, it's, it's lovely. And so I love the fact that God doesn't exclude children. You know, uh, we kind of sometimes tolerate children or we'll, kind of like, uh, you know, we sometimes kind of wish we were kids again. Some, some of us have never grown up. Uh, some of us just wanna regress back to being kids. Uh, but you know what, the childlike view and approach to life, the simplicity, uh, is wonderful, isn't it? And, and they talk about that in the video and it's great. Um, not to ho over complicate it. Uh, and I just loved all the analogies. Uh, I love the idea of climbing a [00:43:00] tree. Uh, and you know how it's hard and for a kid, this is, you know, the, the real world issues. How do we climb this tree? Uh, and as adults we can learn from that, right? How complicated, how unnecessarily complicated have we made things? So well done. That was fantastic. So. Um, and I love the question, uh, the question at the end there was, where do you need to be more childlike? It's a fantastic question to sort of ponder in life, isn't it? Where do I need to be more childlike, not childish. Big difference, especially men, the sunup. We're not talking about being childish, we're talking about being childlike. Uh, and where do you need to be more childlike? So what we're gonna do now is we are going to go into a time of worship. And the way we do this is, uh, instead of we play a song, uh, it's kind of got, we put the words on the screen with a sort of an abstract background and you can [00:44:00] join in as much or as little as you like. Some people like to sing, some people just like to sit there and close their eyes and just let the music minister to them. Uh. Whatever works for you. Uh, this is just a place where we just sit, let God minister to us, maybe sing along, think about what, uh, Abby was talking about, think about the question, where do I need to be more childlike? And think about the question, where am I today? Am I living my best life? Do I need to think about these ideas of, uh, God's forgiveness and, and, and, and living a life that God has for me and living for him and doing all those cool things? Uh, and the song that John and Anna Grace have put together for us, uh, thanks again. Uh, guys is, uh, called Worthy of it All, and this is a fascinating song, right? It's, um, it's such a beautiful song, uh, and it's kind of set. In the throne room, right? And the Bible talks a lot about [00:45:00] heaven and what happens around the throne room of God. Uh, and it uses a lot of imagery, and some of that comes through in this song. And one of the things that happens is it talks about the, the, uh, the saints and the elders and people taking off their crowns and throwing them down or putting them down at Jesus's feet. Uh, and you read that, and if you, if you are, if you're new to the Christian faith, you'd look and go, well, what, what does that mean? Right? And the reason I find it fascinating, the reason why it's in the song is the crown, as you know, signifies royalty. You are a king or a queen if you've got a crown on, right? Uh, and but in the presence of God, when Jesus is stood in front of you, it doesn't. Matter. It doesn't matter about what's in your head or what's not in your head. It doesn't matter about what you have or what you don't have. Uh, because what in effect the elders are doing is they're saying, they're taking that off and going this, all this achievement, all this wealth, all this status, all this royalty, all the stuff that you have given me, [00:46:00] all that life has bought or not bought, I am putting this at your feet. Um, in other words, I'm offering this to you. This is not important to me. You are way more important to me than anything I've achieved or attained. Uh, and it goes on to say, because he's worthy. He's worthy of that. He's worthy of, uh, worship. And you know what, as Christians, we have found this out right? We have nothing really to give him, uh, that measures up to what he has given us. And because of that, we have this, I dunno about you, but I kind of have this attitude of just gratitude. That sounds a bit tweed, isn't it? Uh, I'm just super grateful. You know, and I, I, I just, I listen to this song and I let it's minister to me, and I'm just in awe at the wonder and awesomeness of Jesus. And so what can I give him? What can I offer him? Um, well, I can give him an offer in my crown or my life or everything that is to do with me. Uh, and it goes on in the song to talk about [00:47:00] letting incense arise. Um, and it's a little refrain in the song. And the Bible tells us that when we pray and when we worship, and as we live our lives before God, in a way that is honoring to God, it sort of rises. Like as incense before the Lord. And it's like, it's this beautiful, pleasing aroma before God. And so when we're talking about let incense arise, this is what we're, this is what the song's talking about. May our lives be honoring to you night and day, day and night let incense arise. We want to honor you Jesus, day and night. So if this is new to you, uh, if this is kind of fascinating to you, uh, then just listen, okay. It is totally safe. Um, uh, it's totally fine. Just listen and let the, the words and the music minister to you if it's safe. Can I encourage you to maybe close your eyes and just think and picture what is going on in this throne room of God as John and Anna Grace, uh, minister to us. So let's bring [00:48:00] the worship on and I'll be back at the end. Music: The[00:49:00] throne, see you, the things.[00:50:00] And. The loving[00:51:00] things you. Night and day, night and[00:52:00] day and day, day.[00:53:00] You the. Matt: Okay. What a fantastic song. So, uh, I [00:54:00] hope you enjoyed that. I hope, um, uh, you. In Christian terms, we would say felt the presence of God. We hope that God ministered to you during that song. There is just something quite lovely and quite powerful about, uh, just saying, Jesus, you all worthy. And just going along with that song now, we put the worship songs on YouTube. We have a YouTube playlist where you can listen to the worship songs that the guys have done, uh, over and over again, uh, in your own time. So do check that out. Um, and yeah, who knows, maybe we'll have an iTunes playlist at some point in the future. Not that I have a clue on how you do that, but we, you know, we might look into it, uh, so you can check out more worship songs to you. So let me close by asking you this question. Where are you today? Um, are you living your best life? And I'll love the story, uh, the story, the, the challenge from the langstons to make sure we get the basics [00:55:00] right. Okay, now, I dunno who you are. I dunno where your life is. I dunno what's going on. And I'm hoping that actually all is pretty good and reasonable. Um, and you, you know, I'm hoping, I'm hoping you're enjoying life. Uh, but quite often I find, you know, I find people who are a lot like me who go, you know what? I think I've got it all together. Um, because that's what adults do, right? I'm supposed to have it all together. I'm supposed to know what it is that I'm doing. Uh, it's what the people around me expect. It's what adults do. Welcome to the adult world. The, you know, you've got all these responsibilities and you are supposed to have it together, but inside, you know, it is simply not true. You don't have it together and. It doesn't matter what you try and fill it with, whether it's success in the business world, you know, and trying to build, uh, that arena, whether it's family, whether it's, um, partying, whether it's, um, uh, being an academic, you know, whether it's sex, whether it doesn't matter [00:56:00] what it is. You know, we try and fill that with something. And it's only really when we just get back to basics and we go, you know what? I am made in the image of God. And it's only when I allow that to take root in me and go, God, I've tried it my way. I've tried to get all this together. I am, life is outta control and I need you. And so, uh, wherever you are today, I'm asking you this question where, you know, are you living your best life? And my belief is you can only really do that, uh, when you walk in tandem, uh, in the purposes of God with Jesus, you know. Doing what Jesus does and you kind of following along and listening to him. Uh, and uh, so I would encourage you to do that. And one of the things that you can do, um, to help you on your journey wherever you are at in your journey, is just connect with us and stay in touch. We would love to hear from you, get involved in the live [00:57:00] streams, listen to the between Sunday sessions, write to us, WhatsApp us, email us, let us know what's going on. Thanks all of you guys who do email in, uh, and email all your questions. It's great to connect with so many people. Uh, so where do we need to be more childlike? What Sharon said here. I like the image of the children coming into Jesus. I think they had an uncomplicated relationship with him. They knew Jesus loved them and they just wanted to be with him. That's fantastic, isn't it? That's such a great summary. They had an uncom, uncom, I can't even say the word. They had an uncomplicated relationship with him. Uh, and so where are you at? Where are you at with your relationship with God? Um, lemme take that off. Uh, is it that sort of childlike, uncomplicated relationship, or have you just added a bunch of noise and complexity that really doesn't really need to be there? Um, you know, as, uh, as the langstons were talking and we're asking the questions, [00:58:00] where can you be more childlike? Do you know? One of the things that I love about kids is they don't color in between the lines. Um, they just don't, they just do their own thing. In fact, let me show you Abby's, um. Picture here, which she sent as the sermon was going on. So this was her coloring in, uh, today and look just free flowing in her artwork, which was fantastic. And it's only as we get older, we kind of go, well, I've got a color in the lines and I, I need to balance my color palettes and I need to do this and I need to do that. Um, because, you know, we know better don't we as adults, but as kids it's just kinda like, no, I'm just gonna, and I wonder where we just need to stop clearing in, in the lines and take that risk, um, and just crack on with it. So, thanks, Abby. That was a great picture. I loved the, we are blessed, uh, drawing that you had done. Uh, I loved all the zigzags and all the circles and all the colors as usual. You have done a fantastic job with that. Thank you so much for sending that in. [00:59:00] Okay, we are on the hour. Fantastic. So, as I said, if this is your first time here, I hope you've enjoyed the service. I hope you've, uh, met with God and I, I hope you've learned more about Jesus and how awesome he is. Do stay connected with us. It's always great to connect with folks. Uh, subscribe to whatever's going on, but just get in touch. Drop us a WhatsApp or comment in the Facebook comments. We would love to hear from you. Uh, we will be back again next week, next Sunday at 4:00 PM where the beautiful, uh, and exceptionally gifted Abby Sharples is gonna be sharing with. There's no pressure there, Abby. Um, but I am totally looking forward to it. So we've got Abby next week, as far as I know. Um, and I'll be back, uh, just to, you know, host the meeting and just let Abby do her thing. So we will see you next week if we don't see you Wednesday nights. At Alpha and the in between, uh, in the, between Sunday sessions in the meantime. So, uh, God bless you. Have a fantastic week wherever you are, uh, and we will [01:00:00] see you next week. Goodbye for now.