JESUS SAID: "TRULY I SAY UNTO YOU, EXCEPT YOU BE CONVERTED, AND BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN, YOU SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN......BUT WHO SO SHALL OFFEND ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES WHICH BELIEVE IN ME, IT WERE BETTER FOR HIM THAT A MILLSTONE WERE HANGED ABOUT HIS NECK, AND THAT HE WERE DROWNED IN THE DEPTH OF THE SEA...." (MATT. 18:3-6).
THIS IS A TWO PART TEACHING.
THE FIRST IS THE ATTITUDE AND MIND-SET YOU MUST HAVE TO BE IN GOD'S KINGDOM. YOU HAVE TO BECOME AS CHILDREN IN MANY WAYS. ONE VERY IMPORTANT WAY IS READING THE BIBLE. A CHILD CAN READ THE STRAIGHTFORWARD CLEAR AND PLAIN PASSAGES OF THE BILE, AND HAVE NO TROUBLE.
WHEN I WAS 7 YEARS OF AGE IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL [FIRST HALF HOUR OF THE DAY WAS BIBLE READING], I CAN REMEMBER LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY - WE WERE GIVEN A BIBLE AND TOLD TO OPEN TO THE FIRST PAGE; THE TEACHER READ GENESIS ONE. NOW I KNEW WHAT "EVENING" WAS - KNEW WHAT "MORNING" WAS - I KNEW WHAT "DAY" WAS. IT WAS SO EASY TO UNDERSTAND..... GOD DID WHAT HE DID ON THESE 7 DAYS, AS 7 DAYS...... 7 LITERAL 24 HOUR DAYS.....AND I BELIEVED IT!
I ALSO BELIEVED HOW GOD CREATED MAN AND WOMAN.....PRETTY DARN SIMPLE TO READ IT AND BELIEVE IT. WHEN I WAS ABOUT 10 OR 11, I HEARD THIS EVOLUTION STUFF AND I JUST LAUGHED AT IT.
WHEN I WAS 12 OR 13 READING THE GOSPELS AND FIRST CHAPTER OF ACTS, I COULD SEE THAT JESUS [AND THE ANGELS OF ACTS ONE] SAID HE WOULD RETURN...... AND I BELIEVED IT!
YET THE LOCAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL CHURCH I WAS ATTENDING, DID NOT TEACH THE RETURN OF CHRIST. I WELL REMEMBER SAYING TO A FRIEND IN CHURCH, "JESUS IS GOING TO RETURN, THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO" AND THIS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER LOOKED OVER AT ME WITH THIS SHOCKED LOOK ON HIS FACE.
AS A KID IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL WE HAD TO MEMORIZE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS AS IN EXODUS 20 - LONG VERSION. ABOUT THE AGE OF 11 IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL THIS ONE KID SAID, AS THE CALSS WAS BEGINNING, "SUNDAY IS NOT THE 7TH DAY OF THE WEEK, MY DAD TOLD ME." I WAS STUNNED BY HIS STATEMENT AND SAID, "THAT CONNOT BE SO, FOR THE 4TH COMMANDMENT TELLS US TO KEEP HOLY THE 7TH DAY." I WELL REMEMBER THE STUNNED LOOKED ON OUR SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER'S FACE, AND HE QUICKLY CHANGED THE SUBJECT. I JUST WENT ON BELIEVING THIS KID'S DAD WAS IN TOTAL ERROR.
IT IS THINGS LIKE THIS THAT JESUS WAS GETTING AT WHEN, HE SAID YOU HAD TO BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
THE SECOND PART: THE ESTABLISHED CHRISTIAN MUST BE VERY CAREFUL IN CONDUCTING HIM/HER SELF WHEN WITH NEW CHRISTIANS. THEY ARE BABES IN CHRIST. THEY MAY HAVE MANY THINGS TO GROW-INTO, COME TO UNDERSTAND.
THE MORE MATURE CHRISTIAN MUST BE PATIENT, KIND, EVEN SLOW TO REACT IN SOME SITUATIONS.
PROBABLY THE CLEAREST WAY TO DESCRIBE HOW A MORE MATURE CHRISTIAN IS TO ACT TOWARDS NEW CHRISTIANS, IS, DO NOT BE LIKE A BULL IN A CHINA STORE!
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, VERY IMPORTANT, TO GOD. SO IMPORTANT THAT JESUS GAVE A PRETTY UPFRONT, LAY THE CARDS ON THE TABLE, EXAMPLE - IF YOU ARE NOT PATIENT, CIRCUMSPECT, TOWARDS NEW CHRISTIANS, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR YOU TO HAVE A STONE ABOUT YOUR NECK AND DROWNED IN THE SEA.
SO FOR BOTH PARTS OF JESUS' TEACHING HERE, TAKE THEM VERY SERIOUSLY!
Keith Hunt
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