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  LET GOD GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR LIFE
  by Santosh Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God,
especially for children, highlighting the need to focus on knowing God's
ways rather than just observing His actions. It challenges listeners to
choose knowing God intimately over seeking physical miracles, and to
prioritize understanding His ways. The sermon also discusses the concept
of being like a pencil in God's hand, being sharpened through trials,
and the significance of having a clear conscience and focusing on inner
transformation.

Duration: 1:03:30 Topics: "Surrender to God", "Inner Transformation"
Scripture References: Matthew 5:4, Matthew 5:6, Isaiah 53:10

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God, especially
for children, highlighting the need to focus on knowing God's ways
rather than just observing His actions. It challenges listeners to
choose knowing God intimately over seeking physical miracles, and to
prioritize understanding His ways. The sermon also discusses the concept
of being like a pencil in God's hand, being sharpened through trials,
and the significance of having a clear conscience and focusing on inner
transformation.

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CONTENT
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Yeah, thank you children. I would actually like to speak today primarily
to the children. And if you think you're too old to be a child, then
this message is especially for you.

But before that, I'd like to just briefly mention that our book for this
month is Knowing God's Ways, where it's, I think, 21 chapters, if I
remember correctly. Yeah, 21. So we'll just do the first 10 this month.

If you want to skip ahead, you can. And we'll finish it next month. So
two months to read this book.

There's a lot of difference. This is the introduction to this book.
There's a lot of difference between observing God's actions, even his
miracles, and understanding his ways.

And unfortunately, I think that for most of Christendom, they're more
taken up with seeing God's actions. And, you know, whenever we talk
about most of Christendom, please understand, it's not that we think
we're better than others. But we see the direction in which the world is
headed, the direction in which Christendom in general is headed, copying
the world, and the types of things that people are taken up with, the
types of things that even Christians boast about, in their church
meetings, and seeing that tendency, even in our own flesh, and wanting
to fight that.

And I think if you were to be honest with yourself, if I was to be
honest with myself, if you were to pick between a church meeting where
you see God do a genuine miracle, a genuine miracle, let's say somebody
who is miraculously brought back to life from the dead, or a really lame
person is completely healed. If you were to pick between a meeting where
you see that happen, and a meeting where you genuinely know more of
God's ways, in a secret way where nobody else knew it, but you knew God
more intimately, which would you pick? Which would you pick? That's the
real question that I think we should ask ourselves. Would you really
pick to know God's ways a little bit more deeply? To know the divine
nature, partake of it, to know Christ more fully today than to see him
do a physical miracle? I wonder how many churches and how many
Christians would honestly answer that question and say, I would rather
know God's ways.

And I say that as one who, even as I sit here, I wonder, Lord, what
would it be if I come here Sunday after Sunday, and the emphasis as it
is in this church is on knowing God's ways more than seeing his mighty
works. Does it somehow become ordinary and nothing exciting because, oh,
I just knew a little bit more of God's ways. That's all.

I didn't see a dead man raised to life or anything like that. It's
because our value systems is so upside down. The world is taken up with
what is showy and flashy, and worldly Christians are taken up with what
is showy and flashy, supposedly, even in God's kingdom.

But true Christianity is to know his ways and understand his ways. It
says that about, even in the Old Testament, that the people of Israel,
they saw God's actions, but Moses knew his ways. Moses was not as
interested in whether he would drink water, but he wanted to know God.

Read Exodus 33, and he says, show me your glory, Lord. I don't care if I
don't ever drink water again, show me your glory. That's what I hear him
say.

I don't care if you never drop food from heaven or bring the quails or
do another miracle. I don't care about that. I want to see you.

I want to see your glory. Moses had it in the Old Testament. How much
more you and I, for whom God has put his nature within us, his Holy
Spirit within us, and a lot of Christendom, sadly, is taken up with
outward things, even long prayer meetings, song sessions, so-called
revival.

Let's be taken up with knowing God's ways, partaking of his nature. He
goes on to say in his introduction, most Christians observe only God's
external actions. They are impressed by physical miracles.

They eagerly seek for healing and for material blessings. Most of their
prayers are also related to such earthly matters in which they want to
see God act on their behalf and bless them in the physical realm. This
is because they are in a state of spiritual babyhood.

Now, again, I think what my dad's saying in this book is not that you
have to beat yourself up because you're taken up with physical things
and miracles. It's okay. But that means you're still a baby Christian.

It's okay, to use an analogy, if you give your child a $100 bill in a
glittery envelope, for the child to be more taken up with the envelope
than the $100 bill, right? If you give your three-year-old or your two-
year-old a $100 bill in a nice glittery envelope, I guarantee they're
going to be more taken up with the glittery envelope and throw away the
$100 bill. Now, if your 25-year-old son is doing that, that's a problem.
If your 25-year-old son, you give him a $100 bill, he says, wow, what a
nice envelope, nice glittery, and they cast aside the $100 bill, you
would say you failed as a parent.

You'd say that you failed to teach them a right sense of values. And
that's our burden as elders in the church, is that we teach in this
church the right sense of values, to be taken up with the right things.
Even if the rest of the world is taken up with the flashy envelopes and
the glittery covers, we want people to partake of the divine nature, to
experience eternal life, to see the transformation of God, of the Holy
Spirit in their marriages, in their relationships with their children.

Children, for you to learn to obey your parents and to do so joyfully,
that's more than... I'm so thankful that you all say your memory verses
and keep doing that. But much more important than what people think of
you in the church, and whether you're a part of RLCF or anything like
that, that's great. Are you experiencing the life of Christ? So I hope
this book will be useful for children as well.

If these are the things that still excite us, these baby things, then we
have not seen the glory of the New Covenant. One mark of those who are
mature is that they are not taken up by God's external acts as much as
with knowing God Himself and understanding His ways. If you want to know
more about God and His ways, read this book.

So that's what we have to look forward to these next couple of months.
Children, before I move on also, anybody tell me what's a bond slave? A
number of you said that the Lord, that God would pour out His Holy
Spirit on bond slaves. Anybody know what a bond slave is? You can raise
your hand if you think you know what it is.

Yeah, we don't really see bond slaves thankfully in this day and age,
but a bond slave was somebody who was sold into slavery. Today you might
have servants in some homes, but those are servants who would or should
get paid for their service. You can say, I'm a servant of my company.

I do a service for them and they pay me. That's a contract. So in that
sense, I'm a servant.

If somebody, you know, even a gas station, they do full service, they
offer. Or you go to somebody and say, can you service my vehicle?
They're not going to do it for free. You have to pay for it, for them to
service your vehicle.

A bond slave was different though. He was sold into slavery, he or she
was sold into slavery in a way that they had no more rights. It was like
property.

You know, if you have a bicycle, can your bicycle ever complain about
how you treat it? You know, some of you boys, I know you like to put the
little cardboard thing over there so it makes a sound, so it sounds like
a motorcycle and all that. Can the motorcycle, can the bicycle ever
complain? Hey, why are you doing that to me? That's a bond slave. You
can do whatever you want.

You can kick it, you can throw it, you can jump over the ramp and crash
it. It has no rights. And there was a time when there were people who
were treated like that, didn't have rights.

And in the Old Testament, you read about that. Joseph, he was a bond
slave. The time of the Old Testament, there were bond slaves.

And even in the early days of the New Testament, there were bond slaves.
And if you saw a bond slave, you wouldn't even say hello to him or her.
You wouldn't even, you know, you ever think about saying hello to the
coffee maker in the back? That's a bond slave.

It serves coffee. It's its job. You don't ever say thank you to the
coffee maker.

And bond slaves were like that. They couldn't even be, couldn't even
demand a thank you. That's how they were treated, like property.

And God says, I have a plan even for bond slaves, both men and women. So
let's look at that verse, Acts chapter 2. It's a good verse for us to
know. Acts 2 verse 18 that the primary class is memorizing, Acts chapter
2. I'm so glad they're doing that passage.

Our prayer, dear children, for you is that you will all be filled with
the Holy Spirit. And not just in a way that the world thinks of being
filled with the Holy Spirit, but it will be a genuine experience you
have. You don't have to wait.

Some of us, for us, it was old when we were older in life. Some adults
maybe still waiting to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but you don't
have to wait. You don't have to even wait to be 18.

If you're old enough to understand what we're saying, if you're old
enough to understand even this sentence that I'm saying right now,
you're old enough to say, Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy
Spirit. Just pray that simple prayer. Because you just go to God on his
promise and say, Lord, you said in Acts 2 verse 18, I even memorized it,
that you would, even on, Acts 2 verse 18, even on my bond slaves, both
men and women, I will in those days pour forth of my spirit and they
shall prophesy.

This is the promise of God. I hope every single one of you children,
even if you didn't memorize this verse, at least you know that there's a
promise in Acts 2 verse 18 that says that God wants you to prophesy. He
wants to fill you with his Holy Spirit.

Even if you are a bond slave and all of you, I want to tell you
children, you are higher than a bond slave from the world's standpoint.
You have privileges. You have rights.

None of your parents will treat you badly. You have good parents and you
can expect a sense of fairness. For example, you know, if, if I don't
think that's true in anybody here, but if you had a parent that treated
one of your siblings better than you, you have a right to say, Dad, you
give that to that other person, or you're not treating me fairly.

Now I know that that's not true of any of you here. All your parents
treat you fairly, but there may be some people in the world, some
children in the world whose parents treat them unfairly. They're partial
to some other, maybe adopted or stepchildren or foster children that are
treated not equal to the, the biological children.

Even if you were one of those, God says, I want to pour out my Holy
Spirit upon you. There are no foster children in God's family. There are
no stepchildren in God's family.

There are no, we're all adopted, but we're, you know, I like to think of
it like this. They were not, it says in Ephesians one that we're adopted
us, but it's also true biologically. We have the blood of Jesus Christ
in us.

That means we're biologically related to Jesus also now. And it says
that in Hebrew seven, that the lineage is not the lineage of physical
relationship, but that of an indestructible life. So if you have the
indestructible life in you, you're biologically related to Jesus.

So you're not only just adopted, you're made biologically related to the
father, if you have the life of God in you. So it's a wonderful thing
that God has made you his child, made you his son, made you his
daughter. He wants to pour out his Holy Spirit on you.

So he wants us to prophesy. And the other verse that the adults and the
other classes memorized is from Isaiah 50. I'd like you to see that also
Isaiah chapter 50.

How do we prophesy? You know, it says in, uh, on my bond slaves, men and
women in those days, I will pour out my Holy Spirit and they shall
prophesy. But before that happens, I see that there's a condition that
God is looking for. And that's in Isaiah 50 verse four, the other verse
that was memorized this week.

Uh, the Lord God has given me the tongue of disciple. There's that
prophecy to know how to sustain the weary one with a word. Is that the
longing of your heart, your children, some of you very young, even 10
and up memorize this verse.

He, this is the whole verse you memorized only part of it, but the whole
verse says that God, God has given me the tongue of a disciple to know
how to sustain the weary one with a word. I'm convicted by that. Even as
I sit here, I meet weary people.

Sometimes you can look at somebody on their face and you see, man, that
person's going through something really hard. They're weary, they're
tired or they're discouraged. And I don't know what to say.

Sometimes I'm sure you meet people like that too on the, on the street,
maybe it's a, a grocery store clerk, and maybe you see that they're,
they're rude to you because of something that they're going through. And
you see, there's a tiredness, there's a weariness. So many people in
this world have to work long shifts on their feet perhaps at work and
they're tired.

And God allows you to run to the grocery store late at night because you
forgot something for tomorrow. And the main reason he sent you there was
actually because there's a lady who's at the end of her shift, who's
weary. And do you go there thinking, Lord, I want the tongue of a
disciple.

I'm going to talk to this lady for about two minutes while she's
checking my items out. But I want you to give me the tongue of a
disciple to sustain this lady so that when she goes home, she, she knows
how to reach out to you. I want you Lord to give me a prophetic word on
my tongue.

That's what prophecy is. It's not saying that set the Lord in a meeting
or anything like that. I tell you, most prophecy should be practiced
outside the church as well.

With those we meet a prophetic word. You read the prophets of the old
Testament, they didn't just stand in the temples. They stood on the
street corners and they preached.

And maybe you don't practice it like that today. But what about the
grocery store clerk? Can you prophesy to her a word that sustains the
weary? This is prophecy. So how does that happen? In order for that to
happen at four o'clock in the afternoon, let's say something must have
happened at seven o'clock in the morning.

That's what the rest of that verse says. That before you, you know, say,
Lord, I want this four o'clock in the afternoon tongue of a disciple to
prophesy. It says, okay, what did you do at seven o'clock in the morning
when you woke up? Did you immediately grab your phone and see, oh, what
happened? Or what's going on in social media? What's in the news or who
won the cricket match and all this stuff? Or was it like he says here in
verse four, that God awakens you morning by morning and awakens your ear
to listen.

He says, I want to see, are you willing to listen at seven o'clock in
the morning? And you may not even know why God knows that tomorrow or
later that same day, there's a something prophetic he wants to give you,
but he's going to see, first of all, are you willing to have your ear
open by him? So I pray that all of us, if not, that hasn't happened even
this morning, that tomorrow morning onwards, as soon as you wake up or
you go to bed tonight, say, Lord, I want to wake up with you awakening,
opening my ear. And I want to hear something from you. And maybe nothing
will happen that first day, but you do that the second day.

And then you do that the third day and we'll do that the fourth day. See
a disciple is not proven in the first day. Disciple and discipline are
related words.

If you want to develop a discipline, it's going to take at least 21
days. I think they say in the world, if you do something for 21 days,
it'll become a habit. So you do that for 21 days, you wake up every
morning, say, Lord, I want you to open my ear so that I will have a
tongue of a disciple.

Maybe nothing will happen, or you don't know that anything's happening,
but something's happening inside. God is training your ear and he's
training your tongue. And little by little by little, suddenly you'll
find your tongue is loosed.

And you say one sentence to somebody, it's prophetic. And you don't even
have to know. You may walk away from that grocery checkout counter not
knowing what happened, but that lady went home changed.

That man went home changed. That co-worker of yours that you had a two-
minute conversation with went home changed. Why? Because three weeks
earlier you said, Lord, open my ear.

Open and loosen my tongue. Oh that we will do that. A lot of people
covet sitting up here and preaching or standing and preaching and
wanting to share the word and all that.

I tell you, there's something that's far more important for the ministry
of this church. And that is the tongue of a disciple that comes from the
ear that's opened. May we all have that.

I've been thinking children, I want to continue to speak to you, but
it's for all of us children, young and old, that it's so important that
you receive, that you know the truth. So important that you experience
the truth. It's wonderful that you're in a church where you hear the
truth.

You can have fun memories together and all of that, but it's so
important because the time will come when you will have the opportunity
to choose for yourself. Right now, all of you children who are living at
home, you come to this church, I would say mostly, I think you like it
here and there are friends here, but I'll say mostly it's because your
parents have chosen to come here. That's why you're here.

And you know the truth and the kind of things that we emphasize. The way
you dress, sisters, modesty. I believe a lot of that has to do with how
your daddy and mommy tell you you should dress.

Boys, what you choose to do, what kind of conversations you choose to
have with your friends in school. A big part of that has to do with what
your parents tell you, how you can talk and how you can't talk. What you
watch on the phone, when you see a picture, a billboard or an
advertisement, or you see a girl walking by and you're sitting next to
you in your classroom, whether you choose to look at her lustfully or
not.

Boys, maybe to some extent there's a little bit of a conscience pricking
in you that says, you know, I shouldn't do that. My dad and mom tell me
to be careful with my eyes. In the church they teach about being careful
with your eyes.

But the time will come, young boys and young girls, when you can do what
you want with it. You can do what you want with your eyes, with your
ears. You can listen to whatever music you want.

You can watch whatever movie you want. That time is coming. What will
happen then? And our burden in this church, our burden as parents and
our burden as elders, is that when that time comes, you will make the
right choice.

I know you all look good now and with your memory verses, and I'm not
saying that to slight it in any way. But as one who grew up in a church,
where it might have looked a little bit different than our church
meeting here, but it was the same essential foundation that I received
growing up. The same things that we emphasize here was emphasized in the
church that I grew up in.

But I know that that time came when I had to make that choice for
myself. And I know plenty, many children in the church that I grew up
in, who are not walking with the Lord today. Or are taken up with
another form of Christianity, a worldly form of Christianity.

I'm not saying that if you leave this church and go to another church,
it has nothing to do with RLCF, honestly. But it has to do with a
radical commitment to the things that we emphasize, which are in God's
Word, especially in the New Covenant. There are people who are children
who have been in this church, and I see the quality of life that they're
living now, not in a judgmental way, please understand, because that
could be me, could be my children, I know that.

But I see children who have grown up in this church, have heard the
truths that we've emphasized, and as they've grown up older, have chosen
a different path. A path that looks like dressing just like the world,
and talking just like the world, and being taken up with the things just
like the world. And what that does is it brings a fear in my heart,
because I see that the children in this church, all of you are under the
age of 18.

You're 17 and younger. And I have a burden, and it's not just me, I want
you to know, I believe I'm speaking for all of us parents. We have a
burden that when you have the opportunity to choose for yourself, when
you're old enough to set up your own little apartment, or have your own
job, and you have freedoms that you can choose for yourself, what will
you do? Is the life that we have exemplified, and the things that we
have talked about, worth giving up everything else in the world for? Is
it worth it? Let's turn to 1st John chapter 2. I love that John, at the
age of 90, had this burden.

A 90-year-old man who had walked with Jesus for three and a half years,
he was related to Jesus, he was Jesus' first cousin, and he walked with
Jesus. So I assume that he played with Jesus when he was a kid. Imagine
what it must have been like for John and James, the first cousins of
Jesus.

Maybe they got to play with him, cousin vacation, with Jesus himself.
And then something got a hold of James and John's life, along with the
other disciples. They followed John the Baptist, and then they followed
Jesus.

And it says that John, you know, was a very sensitive person, you can
say. He had a soft heart. And on the last day that he's spending with
Jesus, you see him leaning.

He's so in love with Jesus, in a pure way, in a genuine way, that he
just leans his head on Jesus. It was late in the evening, they'd been
walking a lot that day. He's tired, and he's so drawn to Jesus that he
just leans his head on Jesus' shoulder, and Jesus lets him.

And then you read later on that he was beaten, because he stood up for
Jesus in Acts chapter 3 and 4. And then later on, he's persecuted, and
he's put on a prison, locked up in a prison on an island all by himself,
for years, on the island of Patmos, and he gets a revelation of Jesus in
the book of Revelation. But when he writes in 1 John, after 60 plus
years of following Jesus, more than, imagine if you walked with Jesus
for 60 years, you planted churches, you walked with him, what's your
burden? Is it some sort of deep philosophical theological thing? No, he
says, I want to write, talk to your children. He has a burden for the
children in the church.

He has a burden for the young people in the church. He has a burden for
the fathers in the church. You see that in 1 John 2, let's read.

Verse 12, I am right, now imagine if you could, I hope for a moment you
can just picture John the apostle sitting here at the age of 90. You
know, they say when John was old, or was that Timothy, I forget, but
they used to, yeah, I think it was John. He was so old, he couldn't even
walk, so they'd bring a chair, and they'd carry him in the chair to the
meeting, and they'd sit the chair in front, and he would sit there and
speak.

He was so old, he couldn't even walk, and he would speak from there.
Imagine this frail, quiet voice, not like Peter, brash Peter, this is
quiet voice, and they didn't have microphones back then, so you have to
listen very carefully. So imagine there's a pin drop silence.

We've got to hear with this 90-year-old man. He actually saw Jesus, put
his head on Jesus' shoulder. What do you think this man would have to
say? And he looks at the children.

Well, first, let's read verse 18. Children, it is the last hour. First
John 2, verse 18.

Children, it's the last hour. Jesus is coming soon. Let's go back and
read verse 12, and he says, I'm writing to you, little children, because
your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake.

I want to ask you, children, can John, if John the apostle was to sit
here and by the prophetic utterance of God say, I'm looking to you,
children, and I know your sins have been forgiven. You know, John says
that, not to the adults, but to the children. Children, I'm writing to
you because your sins have been forgiven.

Children, I want you to know, if there are any sins in your life today,
it's the last hour. Don't wait. It's almost time for Jesus to come.

Almost time for Jesus to come. Your sins can be forgiven too. And John,
the Holy Spirit can say, children, your sins are forgiven.

That's why I'm writing to you. Wonderful. He says it again in verse 13.

The end of verse 13. I've written to you, children, because you know the
Father. Is that possible, children? You hear about knowing the Father.

It's not, yes, it's for us adults, but think, children, if you can start
at this age, if godly John the apostle, at the age of 90, he's got
discernment. He says later on, discern the spirits. So he's somebody who
can discern.

He can look at a child and know what's really in the heart of that
child. I believe John could know it. Imagine if a godly man like John
the apostle was to come and look at one of you little boys, little
girls, and say, I know your sins are forgiven.

I know you know the Father. Can't fool John. You may be able to fool a
lot of the other immature, undiscerning people, even some of the
undiscerning elders.

You may even be able to fool your parents if they're not discerning. But
think if there was a discerning man and a real, genuine apostle of God
who's in touch with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit says, that
little boy, his sins are forgiven. He knows the Father.

That little girl, her sins are forgiven. She knows the Father. What a
testimony.

Think, children, if you can set this as you go. Lord, I want you to be
able to say this of me. My sins are forgiven.

I know the Father. Then he says, I'm writing to you young people. In the
middle of verse 13, I'm writing to you young people because you've
overcome the evil one.

Think about it. If John the apostle was to sit here and say, young man,
I know what you've been battling this last week, and I see you're
overcoming. He saw it.

John wasn't there watching what your eyes were watching on your phone or
the computer, but he knew through the witness of the Holy Spirit, young
people, I know you. I see that you're battling. And even if you've
fallen, dear young people, I want you to know that the voice, that what
Jesus would say to you is just keep fighting.

Have you gotten up today? Then you've overcome. Okay, you fell last
week. That's great, but did you get up? Are you standing today? You've
overcome then because it's not how many times you fell or how many times
you failed.

It's how many times you got up. Are you standing today? Then you've
overcome the evil one by the power of Jesus. Young people, John is
writing to you.

The Holy Spirit's writing to you through John. I'm writing to you, young
people, because you've overcome the evil one. He says it again, verse
14.

I've written to you, young men, because you are strong, young people,
and the Word of God abides in you, and you've overcome the evil one.
Dear young people, I hope you'll take this to heart, that the Holy
Spirit wants to be able to bear witness of you, that you are strong. The
Word of God abides in you.

It means the Word of God has gone into your heart, into your spirit, and
you've overcome the evil one. And lest we think us adults are off the
hook, he says, I'm writing to you, parents or fathers, he says in verse
13, because you know him who has been from the beginning. Is that true,
parents? Not, I know the doctrine.

I'm a member of RLCF. I know him who has been from the beginning. And
this is the one that he repeats again in verse 14.

I'm writing to you, parents, fathers, because you know him who has been
from the beginning. Take that to heart. Lord, I heard what you said to
the children.

I heard what you said to the young people. Now, Lord, let it be so that
I know you who have been from the beginning. And then he goes on to say,
why is this so important? I'm writing to you.

You're overcoming, you know him who has been from the beginning, your
sins are forgiven, all these things. Why? Because I want you to know you
should not love the world, verse 15. If you love the world, the love of
the Father is not in you.

Very simple test. And that's what I was saying earlier, that the time
will come when this verse 1 John 2 verse 15 will be proven in your life
or not. If the love of the world is in you, then you know that the love
of the Father is not in you.

If you love the world. And that's what I see. Like I said, there's a lot
of young people who grow up in godly churches, children who grow up
hearing the truth.

And they love the world today. They want to be like the world. They want
to dress like the world.

They want to talk like the world. They want to post on social media just
like the world. They want to act like the world.

They're interested in the things of the world. And God forbid that any
of you children sitting in this church, it was just a cover. You just
didn't have the opportunity.

The love of the world was there in you all along. You love the world.
And when you saw your friends at school doing this and being able to do
that and talking like that and behaving like that and having girlfriends
and having boyfriends and all this stuff.

And a careless attitude towards it and speaking disrespectfully to their
parents and to adults and to their teachers. Deep down you wanted to do
the same thing. Because you had you love the world.

And our prayer is that you will not love the world. Now while you're at
home we will restrict certain things. We won't let you just have freedom
on the phone to do whatever you want.

We won't let you just sit on a laptop in the room with a locked door and
get on whatever website you want. We'll be careful whose house you go
over to so that you're not misbehaving. We'll limit what you can do with
your friends because we care about you.

But what are we after ultimately dear children? We want you to not have
the love of the world. We want you to see in us first of all and parents
let me speak to us first of all. If our children, if you were to ask if
God was to come privately to our children.

You know you you hear about child investigators privately to have
conversations with the parents. What's dad really like? And they do that
away from the parents if there's an abuse situation and things like
that. Child protective services will often interview the children
privately.

Now if the Holy Spirit was to come privately and ask child what's dad
really like? Does he love the world? What's mom really like? Does she
love the world? I mean you see them you child you see what your dad
talks about and what he's excites him and well you know you see well how
much he's on his phone or what he spends his time doing. Does he really
love the world? It's convicting isn't it children, parents? If God was
to ask my children what does Santos really love? Does he love the world?
Okay the times of ignorance God overlooks but now he commands men
everywhere to repent. Say Lord I want my children to be absolutely
certain.

Not oh I heard dad talking about the love of the world. No he actually
doesn't love the world. Because the other day he got a little bit of a
bonus at work and he was like yeah okay it's a little bit more money but
it's the world.

It's going to be taken away from me at some point it's passing away. I'm
more interested in the things of heaven. I'm more excited about
gathering together with the saints than with some other party that we
got invited to where there's nice food and games or somebody gave me
free tickets to watch the basketball game playoffs.

No I'm more interested in meeting with God's people. There's nothing
wrong with doing things in the world that are exciting. 1st Timothy 6
makes it clear God has given us all things freely to enjoy.

Enjoy them by all means but what do you love? Now how do we free
ourselves from the love of this world? You can say well Lord I don't
want to love the world. I don't want to love the world. You could try
and I can tell you now itself you will fail.

But how do we free ourselves from the love of the world? We're told in
that verse that it's by having the love of the Father. The proof that I
don't love the world is the proof that I have the love of the Father is
that I don't love the world. So the lack of love for the world, not
loving the world.

Children please listen I want to try to explain this in as simple a term
as possible so that you understand it and then hopefully us adults will
get it too. I know that I have the love of the Father in me, the love of
God in me by the fact that I don't have the love of the world. But if
you're busy trying to not love the world, oh I don't want to love the
world, I don't want to love the world, that's going around it backwards.

You're trying to not love the world. But instead if the love of the
Father was in you, if you had the love of the Father in you, what would
happen as a result of that is you lose interest in the things of this
world. Because the love of the Father is so filled your heart that
there's no room for the love of this world.

I want to tell you that if there's even a little bit of the love of the
world in you it's because that's a little bit of the lack of the love of
God, the love of the Father in you. So then children you should ask me,
well how do I have the love of the Father? I'm glad you asked. Romans
chapter 5, Romans chapter 5. So children if you want to write down these
verses you can.

We were in 1 John chapter 2 verse 15 and it says, if you read those
later verses, what is the love of the world? The lust of the eyes, the
lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life. Essentially everything
you see in the world can be summarized in those three things. Lust of
the eyes, that is wanting things.

I want a nicer car, I want a nicer house, I want a better job, what I
see I want. Lust of the flesh, that is especially sexual lust. Desire
for pleasure and that can be true for girls as well.

That you want pleasure, you want that what will feel good. People drink
alcohol for that reason, they take drugs for that reason, they're
addicted to sexual habits for that reason. All of those things that's
the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life is saying I am
better than somebody else.

I want to show off that I'm a little bit better and you can bring that
into the church even. I want to show that I memorize my verse better
than everybody else or I'm good at this, I can do this better. I can
always, you know what about what is the boastful pride of life? Always
wanting to win.

Now I hope that you'll keep trying to win but if you don't win it's okay
and if you find that when you lose in the game you're so discouraged and
you're angry and you're upset and you're in a bad mood for the rest of
the day you probably have the boastful pride of life and it's the world
and you see that your friends act like that when they lose but you want
to be different children especially boys it's probably in you and maybe
some of us some of you girls as well. I want to tell you this is
something that I struggled for many years and I still find it crops up.
The boastful pride of life I must win and yes I'm sure you will all feel
disappointed if you lose but that's why as most of the children will
tell you most of our games end in a tie.

Nobody has the boastful pride of life because our games tend to end in a
tie that's why I like ties so much but Romans 5 verse 5 it says that the
how is it that the love of God is poured out within our hearts. Hope
does not disappoint verse 5 because the love of God the love of the
Father has been poured out within our pride. I like the King James I
think it says shed abroad that means it's overflowing it's like a you
know sometimes you see these hydrants that are broken somebody car runs
into the fire hydrant and underneath that is a water under a lot of
pressure and if that hydrant is broken this water is released you see it
flying up into the air with such pressure.

Think about the love of God like that how through the Holy Spirit who
was given to us. So where does it start children at a young age ask God
to fill you with his Holy Spirit that's what it comes down to ultimately
say Lord I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit I want it to be like a
cup that's empty I want you to pour out your Holy Spirit within me that
it's overflowing and there's such power of the Holy Spirit within me and
it's not just me coming to the prayer meeting say Lord please fill me
the Holy Spirit because that's what my dad mom told me to pray no Lord I
want to ultimately I don't want to love the world I see that when I when
my friends are doing these other things I want to do what they want to
do as well I want to be like the world will you change my heart Lord
children is that the cry of your heart Lord I don't want to be like that
because I tell you the time will come when there won't be dad and mom
around to tell you you can't hang out with those friends you can't go to
that movie you can't um you know listen to this music or whatever the
time will come when dad and mom won't be around and then what if you if
you've cried out for the baptism of the Holy Spirit within you and God
has filled you with his Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is shed abroad
his love in your heart the love of the Father fills you so much that you
don't have room for the love of this world anymore I want to tell you
children I'm on this journey myself I don't want any even a little bit
of the love of the world I see it coming it's a battle you'll have to
fight all your life that even when you're 20 30 40 50 60 I mean you ask
an 80 year old person 90 year old person the temptation to love the
world is still there and how shall we be free from that how shall we
resist that temptation it's not by gritting our teeth and saying oh I
guess I shouldn't love the world let the love of the Father fill your
heart through the Holy Spirit so cry out from a young age for the
fullness of the Holy Spirit within you let's turn to Matthew chapter 5
there are two things that I've been thinking about recently and again
children I want you to think about this as well because if you get it I
think us adults will get it why is it that people are not filled with
the Holy Spirit see ultimately we don't want to have the love of the
world because the love of the Father is within us kind of working our
way backwards right we don't want to love the world because the love of
the Father ultimately the love of the Father is the most important thing
because guess what in heaven there's not going to be a world to love all
we'll have is the love of the Father we'll have the love of the Father
because we see him and we're in his presence that's ultimately the
pinnacle the love of the Father in us but the manifestation of that
while we're here on this earth is that we don't love the world because
the love of the Father is within us and like I was saying that comes
through the fullness of the Holy Spirit the baptism of the Holy Spirit
remember I started this this message by saying what would you choose to
see a dead man children what would you rather choose to see somebody
dead brought back to life or to have a little bit more of the love of
the Father in you I hope you'll choose that a little bit more of the
love of the Father I heard a message you can say that inspired me or I
heard I sang a song that that God spoke to me and said Lord I want more
of your love fill my heart with your compassion Lord if you sang that
song it said Lord I want that and the love of the Father in my heart
okay so what comes then for the for the God to fill us with his Holy
Spirit I see two things I want you to see in Matthew 5 verse 4 and verse
6 I believe you know that know these verses already but these are two
things as I've seen a lack of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in my life
and I've seen some even this week a lack of the fullness of the Holy
Spirit in my life which results in a lack of complete love for the
Father which results in a little bit of the love for the world that's
how I see it and I see that immediately I don't say okay at least I'm
not that bad no even 0.1 percent of the love of the world is a serious
thing for me because it means that I don't love the Father that means
that the fullness of the Holy Spirit was not there why was it not there
and the Lord showed me two things as I've been meditating on it and that
is first of all there's a lack of mourning there's a lot of talk about
rejoicing in Christendom and oh yes there's there's rejoicing in the
presence of the Lord there's fullness of joy but long before the
rejoicing comes a mourning when you see a little bit of the love of the
world dear family dear children is there a grieving within you say Lord
I'm not like you I'm not Christlike I see in my attitude towards my wife
I see my attitude towards my children I see my attitude towards the
world or something I'm not like you and there's a mourning is there a
mourning adults in your life is is your life characterized by a secret
mourning over unchristlikeness in your life if there isn't I want to
tell you you will never be filled with the Holy Spirit you won't be
filled with the love of God and you will have the love of this world in
you your children might overtake you our children might overtake us
because they take it seriously but is there a mourning is it Matthew 5
verse 4 blessed are those who mourn for they shall be filled with
strength that's what the word comforted means they will you know what to
me the the key to that word comforted is the word fort is there's a fort
in your life is there a fort around your heart around your mind around
your eyes around your ears around your tongue is there a fort around it
so that your tongue can't just slip out and do say some word like that
why there's a fort protecting it your eyes just can't look at that in
lust why there's a fort protecting it your ears can't listen to that
gossip easily why there's a fort protecting it how do you get that fort
through mourning you mourn over it when you fall in the sin is there a
mourning in your life say Lord I I hate this please I don't want to be
like that I don't want to use my tongue like that or even a thought when
a little thought a bitter thought an angry thought or a resentful
thought or an unforgiving thought towards somebody is there a fort
around your mind those who mourn shall have this fort around them verse
6 blessed are those who hunger and thirst these are the two things the
Lord's been reminding me and showing me why there's a lack of the
fullness of the Holy Spirit in areas in my life because I don't mourn
enough over my my sin and my on Christ likeness and I don't hunger and
thirst enough for it because I'm I ate a meal I had my coffee I slept
well life's pretty good therefore there's no hungering and thirsting and
I tell you my dear brothers and sisters I believe that the greatest
danger we faced in a first world country like the United States is that
there's a lack of a hunger and thirst for righteousness because we're
not in need I tell you the poor people in the third world countries
their lack of physical things the necessities will cause them to be
hungry and thirsty for God they'll grope for him say Lord I can't see or
I don't have food I'm gonna grope for you and they'll come in touch with
God remember that verse in Acts 17 says you'll grope for God who are the
ones who grope for God the ones who are not who are hungry and thirsty
they don't have things on this earth that can satisfy them that's where
they're groping where are you Lord perhaps what it will take then is
fasting fasting for a day or fasting for a meal deny yourself the foods
there but will you take take some time to deny yourself that food
because you you say Lord I see a love of the world in me that means
there's a lack of the love of you in my heart that means I'm not filled
with the Holy Spirit and that means that I'm not hungry and thirsting
for you for righteousness so Lord I want a hunger and thirst and you'll
say it's okay skip a meal skip three meals children before you do that
check with your parents you may need to eat maybe for you the hungry and
thirsting comes from eating what you should eat eat your vegetables
that's that's fasting for us children but seriously though you each of
us must stand and answer to God ultimately and rather than simply
looking at that and saying oh I love the world I don't have the love of
the Father instead of that say Lord there's a lack of a hungering and
thirsting in my life so yeah before I move on before I close I wanted to
share something also for the children it should only take about 10
minutes or so I was in London recently and I spoke again primarily to
the children hoping that in that in speaking to the children even the
adults would understand and I spoke about letting God get the most out
of your life letting God get the most out of your life children I think
you have the opportunity to start at a young age to let God get the most
out of your life for us adults it's it's a different thing because we're
adults 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s even but you can still get let God
get the most out of your life at whatever age you are but think children
if you can start now you're eight years old six years old if you're old
enough to understand what I'm saying and you're paying attention you're
six years old let's say say Lord I want you to get the most out of my
life I want to give it to you today I remember hearing the testimony of
a young of an older lady who served God as a missionary for many years I
heard her testimony myself live in Bangalore years ago and she said she
I believe she was five years old five or six years old maybe even
younger when she was sitting in a meeting and she heard somebody say
something about giving yourself to the Lord fully and she said okay I'm
gonna give myself to the Lord fully by the time I met her I think she
was in her 80s and she'd given her life to the Lord at the age of five
or six and God had used her she didn't you know I don't think there's
any biography written about her but we're gonna hear about it in heaven
and she was such a godly woman saintly woman you sat and talked to her
the joy of Christ was on her face in her speech there was graciousness
in her speech and you know all of us have different personalities but
all I'm trying to say children is that you too and the greatest example
of that is Jesus at the age of three months six months nine months and
yes he was like you and he had to also learn but from the earliest age
he gave the most to his father and he says now follow me Jesus says
follow me so you children at a young age can say Lord I want you to get
the maximum out of my life I tell you what a RLCF will be a hundred
thousand ten thousand times better if you children can all of you decide
at young age at your age whatever age you are Lord I want you to get the
maximum out of my life I don't want even to take one minute for myself
again and adults if we can take that to heart what a difference this
next the rest of this year will be if today we decide Lord I want to
give you the maximum out of 2023 maximum no more just sitting on the
pity pot bad moods angry fighting with the in the home arguing
complaining no more of that Lord I want you to get the maximum out of my
life that'll be greater than a hundred dead people raised to life so
what I told them was I used a pencil as an example I thought I would
just share that with you children so you can remember how are you gonna
let God get the most out of your life I use a pencil as an example some
characteristics form of pencil so children I want you to pay a special
attention as I'm speaking primarily to you a pencil is helpless without
a hand holding it see if I drop this pencil it just drops it doesn't
have any strength on its own even a plant you can say or an ant or a
spider or a little bug has some ability on its own to do something but a
pencil has zero ability to do anything on its own a pencil is helpless
without the hand holding it and remember that children unless God is the
one who's filled you like I talked about unless your hand is placed
completely in the hand of God your life is useless it doesn't matter
what you can do doesn't matter if you finished first in class you can
dunk the basketball you can score a goal from the halfway line none of
that matters if God is not the one holding you you're good for nothing
there's a wonderful hymn I sing I love to sing Jesus lover of my soul we
sing it maybe we can sing it later there's a few lines in there that's
go like this other refuge have I none think about a pencil saying to the
hand I don't have any refuge except you hand the only place I want to be
is in you hand pencil doesn't want to be over here doesn't want to be in
the showcase doesn't want to be in front of anybody else it just says
hand I want to be in you that's it other refuge have I none hangs my
helpless soul on thee all my trust on thee is stayed all my help from
thee I bring cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing thou
O Christ art all I want more than all in thee I find you know I thought
about it like this the pencil's goal is where's my hand where's the hand
that's supposed to be holding me you know this pencil sitting there
doesn't think oh look at me I'm so beautiful and I could write so many
wonderful things the one thing that occupies and preoccupies the mind of
this pencil is where is my hand the hand that is supposed to be holding
me and think family think children if throughout our day it says Lord I
where are you in this situation you're the hand that's wanting to hold
me I just found out this news or my child just fell and got hurt or my
child is sick or I don't know what's gonna happen with my children's
future and and all this where are you hand a pencil is useless unless
it's without the hand holding it the second thing I seen a pencil is
that a pencil is useful only if it's been sharpened you get this pencil
has a very sharp point that's why if I was to write with it you could
see very clearly have you ever tried to write with a blunt pencil you
can't hardly make out what does it say it's blunt and the reason so many
people are use are not useful to God they're not clear messengers of
Jesus Christ is because they haven't allowed God to sharpen them and
children God will use your times when you're at home especially when you
have to obey daddy and mommy and it it's the last thing you want to do
it takes everything within you to obey them what's God trying to do he's
trying to sharpen you when you want to do something else or if your
parents ask you to do something or not do something and you ask them
well why dad and mom and dad and mom say well because I love you and
that's it you don't have to understand why God's trying to sharpen you
all of us adults can testify it's that during those times when we're
perplexed we don't hear we don't know why God is doing things a certain
way in our life and we're not sure he's allowing something to happen and
I if it were up to me I would I would have a much different better plan
God is sharpening you God is sharpening you because he wants to write a
clear letter in your with you there's a poem I'll read it's it's it's
it's a beautiful poem but listen to it even if you don't understand it
see if you can understand the words when God wants to drill a man and
thrill a man and skill a man when God wants to mold a man to play the
noblest part when he yearns with all his heart to create so great and
bold a man that all the world should be amazed watch God's methods watch
his ways how he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects think about
this pencil going into our sharpener have you ever thought about what
would we be like if somebody put your head into a pencil sharpener and
the blades are spinning you around that's what you do to a pencil
without thinking about it you just stick it in there and it comes out
sharp it's not pleasant for the pencil it's very unpleasant and think
about the circumstances God is taking you through frustrations
disappointments things that you wish would be different you hoped it
will work out this way it worked out differently God is sharpening
parents when you see God doing that in your children maybe they didn't
come first they failed in something or they wanted something else they
didn't happen what's God doing in their lives he's sharpening them the
little success or failure here is not as important as God's purpose how
he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects how he hammers him and
hurts him and with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay
which only God understands while his tortured heart is crying and he
lifts beseeching hands listen to that carefully this you're like a
pencil and you feel like your heart is tortured while his tortured heart
is crying and he lifts beseeching hands you would think finally God
would have mercy have you ever prayed said Lord why why me will you make
it stop I have I look back now and I'm glad God didn't make it stop
because I was still blunt I remember times I think I've shared this at
times I felt like I was a rag doll in God's hand and he was just beating
my head onto the ground just non-stop I felt like that it wasn't true
but God was sharpening God doesn't want to just use you in this dispose
of you he has a purpose and if you feel like that if you feel like your
tortured heart is crying and you're lifting up beseeching hands saying
Lord why he's sharpening you there's a purpose that is coming how he
bends but never breaks see God knows exactly how far he can bend you and
sharpen you he knows when's the right time how he bends but never breaks
when his good he undertakes how he uses whom he chooses and with every
purpose fuses him by every act induces him to try his splendor out God
knows what he's about God knows what he's about says in Isaiah 53 verse
10 it pleased the Lord to crush him you know that verse Isaiah 53 let's
look at it very quickly Isaiah 53 verse 10 and speaking about Jesus now
if you think well Lord I'm the first one that's suffering like this no
you're not first Corinthians 13 verse 10 verse 13 says that no
temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man and God is
faithful and will not allow you to be tempted more than you're able to
bear but with the temptation will provide the way of escape so people
have gone through this and most importantly Jesus has gone through that
he went through much more sharpening than you have ever gone through and
here it says in verse 10 of Isaiah 53 if the Lord that is the father was
pleased to crush Jesus putting him to grief you meditate on that phrase
sometime putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt
offering and then he will see his offspring he will prolong his days and
the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand do you want the
good pleasure of the Lord to prosper in your hand but meditate write
that phrase down or look at it sometime Lord I want your good pleasure
to prosper in my hand in your hand sorry I want your good pleasure to
prosper in your hand you do it God will do it another thing about a
pencil is every pencil has what on the end of it some child tell me an
eraser every pencil has an eraser and the end of it to set right the
things that have you've done wrong I know you've all already done a lot
of wrong things children but God's given you an eraser and that is the
blood of Jesus Christ and a conscience to set right the things that
you've done wrong there are things you've done wrong maybe you fought
with your sibling you told a lie set it right today God's given it to
you you can set it right to erase that once it's erased it's gone
completely it's erased it's not covered over it's erased God's given you
a razor keep a clear conscience you can have that today children if
there's something you've done wrong and you and God reminds you of it
right now or sometime later set it right go go to your sibling go to
your parents set it right whoever it is that you've harmed another thing
about the pencil is it's what's inside the pencil that matters it
doesn't matter if the outside looks ugly scarred broken whatever it's
inside the graphite inside it that matters so don't worry about what
gifts or talents you have what you look like you look in the mirror
don't look at the face because that's what the world will tell you to
look at it's okay make sure you're presentable but don't be vain about
whether you think you're good-looking don't be don't complain about
whether you think you're not good-looking enough it's what's inside
that's the only thing that will matter at the end we will all have a
resurrected body we'll all look like Jesus those who are conformed in
his image and it's what's inside that matters that's the most important
thing the next time you stand in front of the mirror children say Lord
Jesus I'm looking at my mirror and I can see what my face looks like but
will you show me what's inside and you know how you'll do that it says
that the Word of God is like a mirror if you read the Bible what will
happen little by little is God will show you what the inside of your
life looks like and that's much more important than what the outside of
your life looks like lastly what happens when you write with a pencil
does it get longer or shorter yes the more God uses you the smaller
you'll become how do you know that God is using you are you better
bigger more well-known more famous more important then you're a
different you're not God's not using you but you know that God is using
you is that the more he uses you you get less and less and less you're
more humble you're more broken you think less of yourself because God's
writing and the more he writes and think what delight you know if you
say God you can write with me but make sure I get bigger he says no I
can't use you then but are you willing to you let me use you and I write
and write and it gets shorter and then he puts you in the in the
sharpener you get even shorter and then you write some more gets shorter
put you in the sharpener gets even shorter and what happens at the end
of my life I'll tell you I've set it as a goal the end of my life it'll
be nothing left God will have used every little bit of the graphite that
is in me the world is trying to die old God I want to die empty I want
to die with nothing left I say Lord I give my life to you remember that
poem that CT stud wrote only one life it'll soon be passed only what
Christ does through me will last and when my life at last line says when
I see you at the end of my life how happy I'd be if the lamp of my life
had has been burned out for thee what a goal to set for our children
children you can start now you can say Lord here's my pencil it's still
pretty big because I've got a whole life ahead of me I want it to be so
that the end of my life it's all written completely written completely
burned out for you amen

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/OsfDDT_Cj7E.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/santosh-poonen/let-god-get-the-most-out-of-your-life/
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