Heirs To The Kingdom

This morning I will be teaching a little bit of Bible as the Holy Spirit directs. Please turn your Bible with me as we read together Matt. 18:3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”. Father anoint your word and let your word profit in the things you have sent it to do and let no flesh glory in itself IJN

When God gave me this message I was wondering what God was about to do, thus I tried to do some research and by the time I finished I knew God has dealt with even me. My prayer this morning is that as He has dealt with me, He will do same in your life IJN

Jesus Christ was talking to His disciples in this passage, so it means not just unbelievers but believers. He discovered that the disciples were going in completely the wrong direction and unless they made a complete about-turn, they were going away from the Kingdom of heaven and not towards it. The 2 key word that I’m going to stress are BE CONVERTED and BECOME LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN

Many of us pretty much have the idea of being converted and repentance, but I wonder if we really understand and have applied the idea of becoming like a little child. This is not an optional thing....nor is it an unimportant thing. If we do not fulfill this part of the verse, we are assured of not being able to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Why must we become like little Children to enter the kingdom of God? The answer is simple. There are many characteristics that make Children the “model” for the kingdom of God – like the power to wonder, the power to trust, the power to forgive and forget, innocence, humility, simplicity, frankness, obedience, etc. All these things and many more are what was in the mind of Jesus when He made the statement. Today let us look at some of these great qualities that make the child the symbol of those who are citizens of the kingdom of God.

1. TRUST/DEPENDABILITY

A child is totally dependent upon his father. He has absolute trust in the father. A child knows that he doesn’t know very much and needs to trust to his wise father’s guidance.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

It is when the child starts to think that he knows more than the father that he gets himself in trouble. II Corinthians 3:4-5 “And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God”.

A child asks his father for everything that he needs. The father doesn’t begrudge the son for asking him for food....or clothes....or a warm, dry, house. The father wants his son to look to him for his needs. No father would be pleased with a son who decided to eat grass, rather than ask his father for some food. In truth, it would be an insult to the father if the son didn’t ask his father for his needs. It would also bring discredit to the father for others to think that he would not love his son enough to give him what he needed.

Matt. 6:31-32 – 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

HUMILITY

Little Children are very humble, they had nothing to be proud of, a child does not wish to push himself forward neither does he wishes for prominence. It is only as the child grows up and gets involved in a competitive world that his instinctive humility is left behind. Anyone that desire to enter the kingdom of God must be very humble. James 4: 6 says God resist the proud and gives more grace to the humble. James 4:10 says “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” Psalm 18:27 says “For You will save the humble people, But will bring down haughty looks” Psalm 149:4 says “For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation”

I quickly tell you the story of a young pastor, the first time this young man preaches a sermon in his Church the whole church was full of praises to God but after 3 years as a pastor, he felt adequately prepared, and when he was introduced to the congregation, he walked boldly to the pulpit, his head high, radiating self-confidence. But as soon as he mounted the pulpit, he stumbled reading the Scriptures and then he became confused halfway through the message. He began to panic, so he did the safest thing: He quickly ended the message, prayed, and walked dejectedly from the pulpit, his head down, his self-assurance and self confidence gone.