New Jeans Dynamic Reading

[Music] Just open your Bibles if you would please to John 3. So John 3, an amazing passage. This is the first time you've ever heard it. It's a life-changing passage. And if it's the 550th time you've heard it, it's a life-changing passage. And then maybe we'll actually start in verse 1 just to get the scene here. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, so an important guy, educated guy. He knows the Old Testament of the Bible, the first half of the book you're holding in your hands is the Old Testament. And he knew it well. And the same, he came to Jesus by night, because it was not a very popular thing to do. So he thought he would do it when nobody was watching. And said unto him, "Rabbi, I'm in the teacher." We know that they're what a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles that they'll do, except God be with him. And Jesus, of course, absolutely loved flattery and said, "Yeah, you're absolutely right. I am just it and a bit." No, he didn't. Although actually, funnily enough, if you read in some of the modern translations, it actually says, "And Jesus said, "You're exactly right." So you've got to be very careful, because some of them are not translations they are interpretations. They say what someone thinks they should say. Jesus, in fact, didn't respond at all to this buttery introduction. But instead, he just says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." So he's quite blunt in his response saying, "Yeah, look, I'm not here to be praised. I'm not here to, for your kind words in the middle of the night, I'm actually here to show people a truth that unless you're born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said unto him in verse 4, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" So Nicodemus is obviously looking at this naturally, saying, "Well, how could that be possible? How could you be born again?" And verse 5, Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, truly, truly that means, I say unto you, except the man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." I don't know if your Bible, like mine, has cross references here for this same scripture. My Bible does. In verse 5, it has Mark 16, 16, "Act 238 and Titus 3 verse 5, all of which, if you're not familiar with them, and you can take a look later, Titus 3 verse 5, Acts 238, and Mark 16, 16, and the thing about the Bible, it does say that by the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the thing be established. And Jesus, he never just throws something at one time and just says, "Well, you should have picked it up the first time." Kind of like a parent teaching a child, and Titus teaches us through a bit of repetition, tries different ways around it, uses different examples, and we're going to look at a few different examples about this same concept of John 3, and we'll actually find that very similar concepts are in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In verse 6, it says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, Marvel not that I said unto you, or unto thee, you must be born again." And ye, just so you know, if you're looking in the King James Bible, which is what I've got here, which was written in the 1600s, and they had singular and porous through the word "you." You know, we just say "you" as in "you" and "you" as in "you," although some people might say "you" or "users" as "guises," but Marvel not that I say unto thee, which is singular, "you," ye must be born again, ye is the poor form, meaning everybody. So Jesus wasn't specifically just giving Nicodemus specific advice here. In verse 8, and this one is a great mystery, and we'll unlock it in a moment, it says, "The wind blows where it listseth, and now here is the sound thereof, but cannot tell where it comes and where it goes." So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. And so this verse here, I've just got a different translation for you. This is JP Green's literal translation. It's the same Greek manuscript, just being translated literally word for word, and it says there, "The Spirit breathes where he desires," which in the King James is the Spirit blows where he listseth, and you hear his voice. In fact, the word there for you hear the sound of it, the sound is pronounced, which actually means human voice, which as we'll go through this talk, it's gonna be important to know that there's a difference between a sound like a piano or a gong or tap shoes and a human voice. They're quite different, and people respond differently to those. So we'll go back, "The Spirit breathes where he desires, and you hear his voice, that you do not know from where he comes and where he goes. So is everyone having been generated from the Spirit." And so just another translation of that word that everyone that's been generated of the Spirit or born of the Spirit will have this voice that's activated there where the Spirit breathes. In verse 9, "Nicody must art and set unto him, how can these things be?" And Jesus said unto him, "Art thou a master in Israel, and verily, knowest not these things." So how come you've done all of this learning? You've essentially done the equivalent in their day of a PhD. You know, he's been through all of this schooling and education, looked into the old manuscripts, sat in the lecture halls, and listened to explanations, and looked into the old Hebrew words, and understood the history of things, and he's come out the other side, having no idea that the Messiah is coming to show a new way forward from mankind. And I suppose it's a good example for us here, because Nicodemus is not a bad guy. I mean, it's important to paint here. This is just a natural man trying to understand the spiritual concept. And there's a wall that goes on between the Spirit and the natural. In fact, Jesus says that, in verse 6, "That which is born of a flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." So it's hard to sometimes understand these things. And that is why Jesus, he spoke in parables, and in sayings, and in stories, and using examples to try and help paint the picture, because the natural mind does not see spiritual things so clearly. I suppose that the process of being born naturally, when a baby cries, it's the first sign that they're alive. And it is, although a baby crying, if someone like Anthony is probably one that sends a shock in your heart, and wakes you three o'clock in the morning from your sleep, that very first cry is a blessing, because it's a relief that your baby is alive, and that all is well. It's a sign of life, of health, of vitality. And it's one of the things that they look for. They've got all these observations. There are people who know a lot more about this stuff for me, when the baby's born, they give them a score, to say how healthy they are. And they want to see the right color, they want to hear the right noises, they want to see the breathing, the oxygen, and all these sorts of things. It's been a couple of years, I can't quite remember all of it, but it's something like that. And, but of course, before they had all of these things, when a baby was born, they would wait to hear that cry, to know that its lungs had opened up, and that had gone from being in the water to in the air. And born there of that spirit, as the Bible talks about there, which is where you must be born of the water, born of the spirit, which we take there to be baptized. We've got a baptism tank out there, where you can go through it and be placed under the water. Only for a moment, no one holds you under there or anything, but come up the other side, and speak in a new language, as it says there in JP Green's literal translation, and we're going to say that the spirit reads where he desires and you hear his voice. You do not know where it comes and where it goes, so as everyone having been generated of the spirit. And so it is like the natural birth process there. And it's amazing that Jesus showed us this right from the beginning, right here from John 3, even before the Holy Spirit was pulled out, that he showed us what it would be like. And sometimes we take John 3, this idea of being born again, and we take it into being a baby to be baptized, and to be spirit filled. We take it in a little bit of isolation. We've got John 3, which talks about this example. We've got Acts 2, which is where it actually sort of happened. We've got Mark 16, like I mentioned earlier, where Jesus says you must be baptized. But let's have a look at some of these other gospels that talk about this. Let's go to the gospel of Luke, which is just Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, so one book further back, chapter 18. If you knew or unfamiliar with the Bible, which I don't know, if you are, then there's a list of books there, so you can sort of see where it is that you are, if you're in the wrong book, a chapter 18 of Luke 15, sorry, Luke 18. Luke 18 verse 15, we'll over try it that way. And this is here a story where Jesus actually, let me just see if we need to go further back. Now let's start in verse 15. And they brought unto him also infants, so little children that he would touch them. When his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. And Jesus said unto him, "Suffer little children to come unto me." Now he's not saying little children should suffer. What he's saying there is allow these little children to come to me. It says, "And forbid them not for such is the kingdom of God." Sorry, "For of such is the kingdom of God." So the kingdom of God is in fact made for little children. That's what Jesus is saying there. "Verily or truly, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein, which sounds a lot like what he told Nicodemus there, which is unless you go back to being a baby, born again, a water and a the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God." The same is true in Mark 10. I think it's the same sort of passage here. Just ends very slightly differently. I'll just read it for you. Mark 10 and verse 15. This is verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. So now we've got Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all telling us the same thing that the entry requirements, like when you go to the roller coaster, it says, "You must be this big to ride the roller coaster." "See how true." Making yourself as tall as possible. The kingdom of God is the other way around. It says, "You must be smaller than this to end the kingdom of God. You've got to be able to fit underneath. You've got to go back to the beginning." I suppose it's a difficult concept for us to take on board when you think about that you've done whatever you can in your life to grow up and to be responsible and to make a career and education or whatever. And I suppose that's a little bit why the Bible tells us that not many wise and not many mighty, not many noble, not many people who think themselves to be something are prepared to humble themselves and go back to being a baby and recognizing that there's a better way, there's a new way, there's an entry requirement here. Now let's turn to Matthew now. Matthew 18 and I'll show you that in all four gospels it tells us we've got to go back to being a baby again. Verse 1, "At the same time came the disciple unto Jesus saying, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'" They always had really interesting questions to ask about very important stuff. And Jesus called a little child unto him in the Greek properly that is an infant, so really a baby and set him in the midst of them. Verse 3, "And said verily, this is how he tends to start all of these passages, truly, I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." And verse 5, "And who so shall receive one such little child in my name, receive with me?" And I suppose when you look at these scriptures, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we often look at them about, I suppose, the attitude of a small child and there are some great things I've got to say about the attitudes of little children, also some not-so-great things, but let's just take the good things for a minute. Small children, they trust unwaveringly. They're reliant on the help of their caregivers, whether that's their parents or grandparents, whether they are insatiable about making their requests known. Until that request is satisfied, they will not let up. And so I suppose we do usually think about these passages where it says, "You must become a little child." I think, "Yeah, you've got to be the one who's just tug-tugging on Jesus' coat to get what you want." But let's consider the parallel here to John 3 where it says, "We've got to go back to the beginning, be born of the water, born of the Spirit." It says, "In those passages we've read that of infants or of little children is the kingdom of God, and verily, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter in or shall in no wise enter therein. And here we've read there, except you be converted and become as little children or infants, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." So it's the same sort of language being used, you know, we've got to be converted, transformed, back to becoming babies again. We'll just leave the gospels there for a moment and go back to the Old Testament, so if you wouldn't mind turning with me to Psalms, please, and Psalm 127. This is a good one to remind yourself when the kids have had you up late at night and verse 2, not so much this verse, but the next one, and verse 2, it says, "It is vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late and to eat the bread of sorrows. For so he giveeth his beloved sleep talking there about the Lord, he'd actually given us beloved sleep. But in verse 3 it says, "Low children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward." And verse 4 it says, "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of thy youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them." And so it is a good reminder, I suppose, that your children, they're the heritage of the Lord, they're the thing that repels you forward in time and forward into the next generation. They're a great blessing, they're a great enjoyment. Maybe one for grandparents here, just turn with me quickly to Proverbs 17. This is a good one for grandparents, because obviously in this day and age, and probably all throughout history, there's been a lot of grandparents looking after grandkids. Proverbs 17 and verse 6 it says, "Childrens children or grandkids are the crown of old man and the glory of children are their fathers." And so it is a delight, I suppose, for grandparents to see their grandkids, and it's all the fun and little of the responsibility sometimes. I mean, not saying that's for everybody. Grandparents take a lot of responsibility, but that's the idea. And I heard one person say, "If I knew grandkids would be this much, they would have had them first." But yeah, children, children, the crown of old men. And so we're starting to build a picture here that children are, in fact, an enjoyable thing as much as they are a lot of work, and they take a lot of time and a lot of resources. They are a lot of fun as well. And particularly that moment when you first see your little baby and you hold them and you hear their cry and you see them, it's a moment of immense joy. You can't really describe it. Some things are better felt than tell, as they say. And you can't really describe it with words, but it is a moment of joy, of pride, of happiness, of excitement, of heritage. It's a great word there, isn't it? It's recognizing that this is a part of you that's going to propel forward into the future as well and go from that day on. And one of the principal reasons to have children is to enjoy them is that you can have a lot of fun. I'll just quote for you. Maybe you can turn to first desolonians, but I'll quote for you because I've got a lot of scripture here. So just for time, I'm going to quote some of them, but you can take my notes afterwards or you can take scribble along if you're doing that to take the note and read them yourself, but in Hebrews 12 verse 2, it says Jesus and carrying on later in the verse, it says, "Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame." And so you think about what Jesus went through, whether you've studied these things or not, whether you've read the Bible or not, whether you grew up in this fellowship or not, probably most of us have a fairly clear understanding that Jesus did not go through something easy. He didn't go through the easy way. And yeah, it says here that in that moment, he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. And what was that joy? It was the heritage of the Lord. It was the children of God and in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, again for time we'll just pull out a few of the verses from this passage. Verse 13, it says, "For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when ye, which is all of you, when ye receive the Word of God, which ye heard of us, ye receive it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God, which effectively works also in you that believe." And so just a quick letter here to the church just saying, "I'm so grateful that when we preach to you, you receive it as the Word of God." In verse 19, "For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing?" are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus that is coming for you, our glory and our joy. And what a great thing it is to be able to look around a room and just say what a joyful thing it is. So many people have gone back to being little babies have received the word of God as it is in truth. But they've taken it on board to the saving of their soul. And imagine that would have been a very powerful feeling there for Paul knowing the different places he traveled, the people he'd met, the things that he'd seen, the things that he'd endured to get the gospel to go out all through the Mediterranean areas. And then to see and recognize that this church was continuing to flourish and that wasn't just one person, there wasn't just three people, there wasn't just five people that there was an active and thriving church here filled with people who would receive the word of God. Oh, this is a good one. John 16, something that the ladies will know a lot more about than the guys. But in John 16 verse 21, it says here, a woman when she is in travail or labor, has sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more, the anguish or the pain for the joy that a man is born into the world. And that maybe you'll have to, if you're ignorant like me, maybe you'll have to ask a woman, is that true? You know, is it that the pain is gone when you hold the baby in your arms? Yeah, it is. Yeah. There you go. So for all of the pain and agony sometimes going for hours, sometimes going for days, that when that joy comes that all of the pain is forgotten. And I suppose just building the picture here that it is a joyful thing to be a child and it's a joyful thing for God to see us as little children. He delights to see us in that way. He delights to deliver us from this world. Yeah, okay, let's turn to 2nd Samuel, just briefly, 2nd Samuel 12, quick verse here, similar sort of thing about babies being born. 2nd Samuel back in the Old Testament before Kings and Proverbs. There's a whole backstory here, but again for time we're just going to pick up the poignant points, skip the backstory. And verse, sorry, chapter 12, 2nd Samuel 12, and verse 24, it says there, and David comforted Bathsheba his wife and went in under her and lay with her and she bear a son and called his name Solomon. It says there and the Lord loved him. The Lord actually saw and loved his baby Solomon. Not just loved him, but actually gave him a nickname. I'm not sure how many characters in the Bible are like this, but the Lord specifically had a nickname for Solomon. Let's have a look, verse 25, and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet and called his name Jedi Dyer, which means beloved of Jehovah because of the Lord. It's a great name, isn't it? And so the Lord loved Solomon here from the moment he was born and it echoes, I suppose, to me the way that a natural parrot you feel when you're holding your baby in your arms. You know, you've never met them before and yet you love them. You know, you're willing to do anything, to sacrifice anything, to make sure that they can thrive and continue on and to protect them in their helpless state. And God went and sent Nathan there to change Solomon's name to the love of God, Jedi Dyer, and I suppose for us when we've been born again of the water and of the spirit like we started off in John 3, God actually gives us a new name and a new identity and that theme who's strongly through the new testament that we've been given a new name, a new identity that we are now beloved of God in his sight. It's a parallel there for the irrational love that parents feel when the whole of the baby in their arms. Maybe just a paraphrase, a few other quotes in the new testament for you in Romans 814. We read that we are sons and heirs of God. You know, we're not strangers, we're not pilgrims, we're not followers. I mean, we are all those things, but to God we are his sons and his heirs. Second Corinthians 5, 17 to 19, it says there that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2, 15, it says we are the sons of God. Galatians 4, verse 7 explains how that we started off as servants, but we got promoted and made into sons. In fact, that's a good one to look at as well to recognize that you can be in someone's house without being part of their family and for some of us we've been lucky enough to be places where even though you're not related, they treat you like family and for us that's what God has done. He called us into his house and said let's I'm not going to call you a servant, I'm going to call you a son because servants once they finish their duties, they go, but the sons they stay forever. And they're engrafted into the family. Let's turn to 1 Peter and there's a couple of verses here so you can let me see. Yeah, maybe maybe you stick a page marker in 1 Peter when we get there, because we've got a few scriptures to go through there. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 23, it says here being born again, oh sorry, I've skipped ahead. Verse 2, apologies, we'll come to verse 23 a moment. But verse 2 it says elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit. So through being made holy and pure through the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ grace be unto you and peace be multiplied. Verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy have forgotten us again to a lively hope. So forgotten us again with a lively hope there, I've got an alternative translation there which is born again with the expectation of life. How good is that? You know, we've been given a hope and that hope is for life and the prerequisite for that hope was being born again. I think that's just such a great scripture. 1 Peter 1 verse 3, born again with the hope of life and if you speak to people you recognize that there isn't a lot of hope in this world, let alone hope for life. The carries on there by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In verse 4 2 an inheritance incorruptible and under file that fades not away reserved in heaven for you. And verse 23, being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which lives and abides forever and this is what Nicodemus was saying about how can you be born again? Do you have to go to a whole process again? Do you have to go back into your mother's womb if you're born naturally? But of course there it's not about that. It's about being born of incorruptible seed in verse 24 for all flesh is as grass and as we know on the golf course the grass it grows up if it grows too tall and there isn't enough rain it dries it withers it dies and that's why I'd say it's saying here is like our corruptible seed it grows up it has it has flowers so on and then as the seasons come to a conclusion and fulfillment the grass dies away for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof full of the way. Verse 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So David in his great lamenting Psalm he says this that he was he was born he was conceived in sin and shaped in an equity and I suppose that is that does speak to the corruptible nature of our flesh that our body is inherently corruptible in fact it's corrupting as we and put the longer this talk goes on as it sits corrupting as we go but the second birth is incorruptible and once born again we have the word of God living inside of us which doesn't pass away it doesn't fade it doesn't tarnish it doesn't get sick it doesn't have an off day another great verse chapter 2 verse 2 as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby if so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious and I suppose when it comes to the milk, when we talk about that, obviously babies, they solely rely on milk for the first portion of their life on the outside. In fact, I think it's someone get us a little onesie for our baby that said, just got out from doing nine months on the inside or something like it. But yeah, for their first little patch on the outside, they're relying solely on milk, they're for every nutrient. But of course, it doesn't stay that way. You don't have a 15-year-old that still has a little bottle of milk sucking away. And that's it. Eventually, the baby progresses on and moves on. And so there is this idea there that as we were born again and brought back to that state of being babies that we do start off there with the most basic things and just understanding. And that's why if you're the conversations that the pastors and leaders have with new people that's around getting back to the next meeting, it's around opening your Bible in between the meetings. It's around having some prayer. It's around being in fellowship. It's around sharing testimonies and listening to other people because these are the basics that help us help establish us and help us to get grounded. But of course, those same things continue on throughout our life in the Lord, don't they? Whether we've been in the Lord 50 years, I know there's quite a few people in this room that have been in the Lord baptized in spirit field for more than 50 years. And yet, they're still here today. You know, they haven't said, "Oh, well done 50 years and there's 50 times 52." That must be at least, that's over 100 meetings. My mouth isn't the best, but I think that's over 100. So they didn't say, "Oh, well, I've been to over 100 meetings. I'll sit this one out." But they're still here today and praise the Lord for that because they haven't moved the way from the basics that have kept them grounded and rooted in the Lord. Babies, they grow up. They start with making rudimentary sounds and I actually learnt this only about an hour before the meeting, just looking through a little book on speech and language. The part of your throat that makes the sounds is actually undescended in a baby, so they can't speak. And that helps them from stopping choking. And it's around three to five months that that starts to descend where they can start to make more sounds. But that does obviously increase the risk that a baby then breathes in milk, for example. So babies to start with, they're protected from that and they can only make rudimentary sounds. But as that progresses, almost without trying, babies will learn to speak. We actually don't do babies that many favors because usually we speak to babies in baby language. And that's not the most appropriate, like you wouldn't do that if you were trying to, I don't know, learn Japanese or something. You went to Japanese class and they spoke to you like you were a brand new baby, the Goo Goo Gaga, and stuff you'd be walking around Tokyo. And so like a baby, it doesn't actually help, but babies nonetheless, they pick that language up and they apply these rules to it and they learn and they grow. And they figure out grammar, they figure out language, they figure out dialects. It will come as absolutely no surprise to any parents here, but babies learn the word no before they learn the word yes. And then they love most babies, no matter whether they're Siberian, North American from the Andes in Peru, from Australia, no matter where they're from, they generally all go through a period of gone, all gone. They, yeah, the most languages in the world, babies learn no before yes and so on. Me and mine, but eventually they get past that and they learn more words, they learn to string them together and have more complex communications. They go from unable to hold up their head, a brand new baby, you have to hold them in a way that supports their head because their head is so heavy and their neck is so weak. But eventually they get stronger. And all of you are holding your own heads up. Nobody's sitting behind you, holding your head up for you. So we've all been through these things where they were a member or not and Harvey's just going through losing his first tooth this last week and we were talking to him about it and I said, do you know what, Mum and Dad, we both lost all of our teeth and I don't really remember the pain. You know, maybe it was painful at the time, but we've carried on, we've got new teeth and we've moved on and so even without really noticing your child develops and grows over time. From milk to solids and chewing and to appreciating more complex foods and eventually children even learn how to cook allegedly and make their own meals, you hope. First John chapter two, please. So I suppose there's this development over time. First John chapter two, verse 13, I probably could have just quoted this one for time. But I suppose just here in verse 13, it says, I write unto you, fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children because you have known the father and I suppose there's different stages in life and there's different times that you can be both naturally and I suppose they're spiritually as well and wherever you are, there's a role for you there whether you're a little child, whether you're a grownup, whether you're a more senior person there, there is a role, there is a purpose, there is a plan. In fact, one of the great stories in the Bible there is about, in fact, I'm not gonna get into it because I'm gonna end up miscoating it but that's all right, we'll move on with that one. But in nature, there's different animals that develop at different rates. Like no one's ever heard of a fly who hasn't left home. You know, the fly is just sort of hatched, they just get on with whatever they, I don't know what a fly is doing, buzz around, I guess, and annoy me. But the simpler the animal, the less choose the leaves they need and the more complex the animal, the more the longer that they require, nurturing careful. Humans actually take the longest of any creature to bring their kids up as a self-dependent in nature, elephants and orangutans, they're reasonably close so they're closest, we've got, they spend around six years actively nursing and schooling their young and infants. They put, they still interact with them until they're about 14 to 16 years of age, at which point most of the teenage elephants and orangutans don't want to speak to their parents anymore 'cause they just got an iPhone. But yeah, obviously, you know, as a parent, you'd be happy to see, or although it probably comes with mixed feelings, your child growing up and becoming more independent and making decisions and so on. And from wiki pdf, so you know it's true. I've got here a quote for you about parenting. It says parenting or child-rearing in humans is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, financial and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. This goes far beyond anything found in other animals, including not only the provision of food, shelter and protection from threats such as predators, but a prolonged period of support during which the child learns whatever is needed to successfully live in human society. And so it's not just about a cat teaching a kitten, or this is how you hunt a mouse, cool out the door, good luck. You've got to teach your child everything that they need to know to live and be successful. And humans are a level above anything that we see in nature. We know what a parallel comes close really. But of course, God takes it the step further, doesn't he? You know, for our entire life, he regards us as his children and he supports us and cares for us no matter what. He looks after our every need. I better wrap it up. I think I've only got, maybe we'll wrap it up in a minute or two. Turn back to Sam's 103 if you would please. But children don't always get it right. And there's no parent out there with a 20 year old or a 25 year old who said, "My child was entirely perfect." Right from the beginning, never made a mess, never spilt their spaghetti on the floor, never made a mistake, never made an error, never got lost. Never got in danger, never broken a thing valuable, never needed help, never got in over their head. It's just a nonsensical notion. But sometimes we're more critical of ourselves than even perhaps, or even perhaps our brothers and sisters than God as our father is critical of us. Remembering that he sees us as children. And you know, for a parent, no matter what your child's done, you'll love them. In Sam 103, I'll just quickly turn there 'cause I was busy talking instead of turning. Sam 103 and in verse 10, it says there, "He shall not deal with us after our sins nor reward us according to our inequities." So God's not a strict parent looking for an opportunity to punish us. He's not cruel. Verse 11, "As heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him." As far as the East is from the West, so far he removed our transgression from us, like a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. And the Lord will always love us, will always watch over us, will always continue to guide us and to forgive us, and to continue our process. Praise the Lord for that. [Music]