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  CLEAN HEART
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of children's faith and
innocence, drawing parallels between their behavior and the teachings of
Jesus. It encourages children to follow Jesus' example of love,
forgiveness, and humility, highlighting the significance of asking Jesus
into their hearts, being thankful, and taking responsibility for their
actions.

Topics: "Childlike Faith", "Following Jesus' Example"
Scripture References: Matthew 18:3, John 14:6, Luke 18:17, 1 John 1:9, Ephesians 4:32, Proverbs 28:13, Psalm 51:10, Colossians 3:13, James 5:16

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of children's faith and innocence,
drawing parallels between their behavior and the teachings of Jesus. It
encourages children to follow Jesus' example of love, forgiveness, and
humility, highlighting the significance of asking Jesus into their
hearts, being thankful, and taking responsibility for their actions.

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CONTENT
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You know, you children answer so quickly. If I were to ask the older
people on Sunday morning, do you see me? There will be silence. One or
two people may say yes.

Much better. So full of energy all of you. Good.

You must be like that always. You know, in the church, all those who
hear me speak always hear me speak about the example of who? Jesus. See,
God is in heaven and the only way we can't see him, but he wanted us to
see him, so he came down in the person of Jesus Christ.

So, if you want to know what God is like, you just look at Jesus and
that's exactly how God is like. Ok, let me ask you a question. Do you
think God loves little children? How do you know? How do you know? I
just told you the answer a little while ago.

Ok, I'll say it again. God cannot be seen. So, because God wanted us to
see him, he came in the person of Jesus Christ.

So how do you know God loves little children? Because Jesus loved little
children. And when you see Jesus loving little children, then God loves
little children. And do you know that Jesus said that if you want to see
what heaven is like, don't look at the older people, but look at, hey,
look at Jesus, that's right, and also look at little children.

So tell me, is the Sunday morning meeting here more like heaven, or is
this meeting more like heaven? Which do you think? This meeting. Because
Jesus said that heaven is like little children. And we've got such a lot
of little children here.

This is like heaven. Some people are afraid to say that, but it is true.
I'll give you an example.

You, all of you at home, you fight with your brothers and sisters,
right? Yes? Yes. Some honest people. But I know that everybody fights
with their brothers and sisters.

But, almost all of you, before the day is over, not even before, in a
very short time, you become friends again. Yes or no? Yes. That is the
difference between children and older people.

You know, when older people have a fight, sometimes for many years, they
don't talk to each other. That is why Jesus said, heaven is like little
children. Because little children, if they make a mistake, if they
fight, they still become friends very quickly.

And there's a lesson that all older people can learn from your children.
So, one of the things you must learn is, if you have a fight, you must
become friends again quickly, with everybody. Okay, I told you that in
the church, we always speak about Jesus as our example.

So, some of you are so small. Do you think Jesus was small at some time?
Or was he always a big man? Eh? Was he like a baby once? Was Jesus a
baby? Really? Really? Do you think he cried when he was a baby? No. Yes,
he did cry.

Some people think that crying is wrong. You know why a baby cries? Not
because it's angry. Because it cannot speak.

When you want to eat something, you go and tell mummy, I want this, I
want that. But a baby can't say it. So, what does a baby do? Cries.

And it's crying, it's speaking. That's its way of speaking. Do you think
Jesus spoke? Yes.

So, as a baby, he must have cried. A baby cries saying, I want milk. I'm
hungry.

Or my nappy is dirty. Or my diaper is dirty. It's crying.

So, Jesus, what I want to say is, Jesus was just like us. The only thing
he did not do was he did not hurt anybody else. He never hit anybody.

He never said words to hurt others. That's why we must learn to follow
him. So, even as a child, you must try and think, how was Jesus when he
was a little child? All of you can think.

How do you think Jesus was as a little child? In your home, do you know
that Jesus had four brothers and two sisters? So, how many children were
there in that family? Four brothers? Correct. Seven. I thought somebody
would say six.

Four brothers plus two sisters plus Jesus is seven. So, that's a big
family. We don't see many families like that today with seven children.

I don't think any of you got seven children in your home. So, can you
imagine what a big family that was? Seven little children. And Jesus was
the eldest brother.

And you know some elder brothers are very bossy. Even elder sisters can
sometimes be very bossy. Tell everybody else what to do and order them
around and do this, do that.

And they act like kings and queens. But Jesus wasn't like that. He was a
friend.

You must be a friend of your brothers and sisters and all the others. If
you want to be like Jesus, you got to think of those things. How did he
behave with his brothers and sisters? That's how you must behave with
all the children in the school, in the class, in the school and in your
home.

Okay, but you know Jesus' brothers and sisters, they were not holy. They
were just ordinary children like all of you and they would fight. When
one of his brothers came to fight with Jesus, do you think Jesus fought
back? No.

He wouldn't fight back. That's a great example to follow. The other
thing, you know, children tell lies.

Haven't you told some lies to your daddy and mommy? Everybody quiet?
Yes. The Bible says every person has told lies. Everybody.

From the time they are born, that lying is in our nature. So think that
Jesus became like us and he never told a lie. So that's another habit
that you must try and develop.

Try not to tell lies, ever. And when you tell a lie accidentally and you
realize later that it was wrong, you must go to your daddy and mommy and
tell them, I'm sorry mommy I told a lie. Shall we do that from today? So
what should you do when you tell a lie and afterwards you realize it was
wrong? You must say sorry to your mommy and say I don't want to do that
again.

Now, in one day you may not get over that habit but every time if you
make any mistake, not just telling a lie, supposing in anger you hit one
of your brothers or sisters or spoke rudely to your mommy, afterwards
you feel bad about it, you must go and say, I'm sorry. And if you keep
doing that after some, maybe some years, it may take some years but one
day you will completely stop telling lies. And one day you will
completely stop arguing with your mommy or hurting them with your words
or even your brothers and sisters.

So everything takes time. You know, just like you take time to grow and
become bigger and bigger and bigger. In the same way, all these habits
that you have, it takes time to overcome them.

Okay, are you paying attention? Are you looking at me? Did Jesus go to
school? No? Of course he had to go to school, otherwise how can he
learn? He was just like us. Do you believe he was just like you? Yes.
Then did he go to school? Did he shout at his teachers? Do you think he
fought with the other children in school? What if one of the other
children grabbed his book or did something like that? Do you think he
would fight with them? What a good example we have in Jesus as a little
boy.

Okay, let me ask you another thing. Do you think Jesus made friends only
with all the rich children or do you think he made friends with the poor
children also? I'm sure he made friends with everybody. He wouldn't look
at a child and say, Oh, that's a rich child.

So if I make friends with him, he may give me a chocolate. No. He didn't
make friends like that.

Or, that's a poor child. So if I make friends with him, I can't get
anything from him. I personally think he loved the poor children more
because nobody else would make friends with them.

So, supposing there was one boy in Jesus' class who was, whose leg was a
little bent, so he always walked in a crooked way. There are some
children like that who can't walk properly because of some problem in
their legs. Don't you think Jesus would have gone and made friends with
that person? Because nobody was his friend.

So, if you want to follow Jesus, there are little things like this you
can do. When you go to school and you see some boy lonely and maybe he
has a lot of problems at home. Maybe his daddy and mommy don't love him
like your daddy and mommy love you.

And so he feels sad and he's lonely. You must look for such a child and
go and say, Hey, I want to be friends with you. What's your name? That's
what Jesus would do.

So in everything, you say, Lord Jesus, I want to be like you. I want to,
from childhood, I want to be like you. Then as you grow up, you know,
Jesus was being prepared little by little.

And I'm sure his mother told him stories about the Bible, about Adam and
Eve, and about Noah and the ark. Have you heard those stories? You know,
Noah built an ark when a rain came and a lot of people... So Jesus heard
those stories as a little child. His mother told him about Abraham and
Isaac and how the Israelites were in Egypt and they came through the Red
Sea and so many stories.

And you know what the result of that was? When he was 12 years old, he
knew all the stories in the Old Testament. That's because he paid
attention to his mother and listened. So when you hear something that
your parents tell you or you hear in Sunday school, you pay attention.

By the time you're 12 years old, you can really know so much about the
Bible. By the time you finish with Sunday school, you can know. You may
not know the Bible itself, but you know all the stories and there are
some wonderful stories in the Bible.

Can you tell me the name of a little boy whom God spoke to one day at
night? Oh! You know the stories. How did God call him? He said, Samuel,
Samuel. He didn't say, Hey little boy.

He knew his name. Right? Do you think God in heaven knows your name?
Yes. So God called Samuel and what happened in the beginning? He thought
that older man in the next room was calling him the priest.

So he went there and that man said, No, I didn't call you. Again he
heard Samuel. He couldn't think that God was calling him.

So then finally he realized and he said, You know what Samuel said? Do
you remember what Samuel said to God? Speak, Lord. Your servant is
listening. I'm listening.

That's a very good. He managed as a little child. I think he was like
one of these children, all of you here.

As a little child he looked up. He couldn't see God. No one has seen
God.

he said, I want to hear what you have to say to me. And God spoke to
him. After Jesus came, God speaks to us in our heart because before
Jesus came God could not live inside anybody's heart.

That's why he spoke from outside. Samuel, Abraham, they always spoke
from outside. But after Jesus came, when he went up to heaven, you know
he died? After he died? After three days he came out of the grave and
you know in the presence of others he went up.

Can you imagine? Picturing Jesus going up like that. Just moving up.
Going straight up into the clouds and into heaven.

And then a few days later he sent the Holy Spirit and when the Holy
Spirit came inside people's hearts, God came inside. Now he was not
outside. So when you ask Jesus to come into your heart, he comes inside.

Have you asked Jesus to come into your heart? Yes? You should do that. I
used to tell my... I have four grown up boys who were once little boys
like you and I used to tell them when they were very small Sister Annie
used to tell to tell the boys when they were even three years old ask
Jesus to come into your heart. I used to tell them too.

Ask Jesus to come into your heart. So all of you can ask Jesus to come
into your heart and sometimes you say that many many times because you
are not sure. Nothing wrong in that.

But you must say Lord Jesus I have done many wrong things. I want you to
come into my heart. I want you to forgive me.

I want you to clean up my black heart and make it white. Will you do
that? What will you tell Jesus to do? Clean your black heart and make it
to forgive you all the wrong things you did in your life. And I want to
tell you, Jesus will hear you and when Jesus comes inside you, he will
come inside.

If you ask him to come, he will come. Definitely. And then he will speak
to you from inside.

That's like having somebody inside your house instead of outside your
house. So isn't it better that now that Jesus can speak to us inside.
Wherever we go he can be there and supposing you are finding some
problem.

Supposing you lost something. Your school book or your pencil small
thing or big thing and you are looking for it. Isn't it good to ask
Jesus Lord help me to find it.

You know I do that even now. Sometimes I misplace a paper or something
and I say Lord Jesus where did I leave it? Please remind me. Please tell
me.

I want to be like little children because I know that if I am like a
little child Jesus will hear my prayer. I pray just like you. If I am
hurt somewhere, I say Lord Jesus please heal me.

Anything, even a small thing. If I get a small injury you know you can
get hurt. Lord Jesus please heal me.

Some people think oh we shouldn't pray about little things. Because I
pray to Jesus about little things over many years he and I have become
very good friends. You want to be a good friend of Jesus? Yes? Okay then
I'll tell you what to do.

You must talk to him about the little things. Lord Jesus I don't know
where my school book is. Can you help me to find it? Or I'm feeling very
discouraged today.

Please help me. Anything. You can ask him for anything, anything,
anything.

You must develop that habit when you are small. And if you do it by the
time you come to my age you and Jesus will become very close friends.
Imagine if you talk to somebody here for many years you'll become good
friends.

So how old do you think I am? 25? 30? 70? 8? How did you know? And you
know when I asked Jesus to come to my heart first time maybe when I was
about 13 maybe even before that I don't know but I was never sure.
Sometimes you know you ask Jesus to come into your heart and you're not
sure has he come, has he not come? I was like that many times. So I must
have asked Jesus more than 100 times.

Lord Jesus come to my heart, come into my heart just like you. There's
nothing wrong in that. Nothing wrong in asking again and again till you
are sure.

So one day I became sure. By the time I was very old. You know how old?
19.

That's very old for you. You shouldn't wait till then. You must say Lord
Jesus.

You know why I was not sure? Because there's a verse in the Bible which
says, Jesus says if anyone comes to me I will not push him away. So if
you ask Jesus so I said Lord Jesus I came to you. He says I didn't push
you away.

I came into your heart. So I want you to believe that. That Jesus says
if you come to him he will not push you away.

He'll accept you. So that's very very important to be sure. And if Jesus
is in your heart you must talk to him everyday.

Okay? Hey are you all listening? Look at me. Can you see me? You must
say Lord Jesus thank you for coming into my heart. You must say Lord
Jesus thank you.

When you say thank you then you know that he has come. It's like you
know some uncle or auntie gives you a chocolate or something you say
thank you uncle. So you must say thank you Jesus Lord Jesus for cleaning
my heart.

Thank you for coming into my heart. Thank you for being my friend.
Supposing you ask Jesus one day you lost your pencil or your book or
something say Lord Jesus please help me to find it.

And when you find it what should you do? Hey? Say thank you. That's
right. Many people don't say thank you.

If you learn to say thank you to Jesus you'll get something more from
Jesus than others who don't say thank you. There's a story of 10 people
with leprosy who came to Jesus and said please heal us. And Jesus said
okay.

Go your way you'll be healed. And all 10 got healed Healed of leprosy is
a terrible disease and they all got healed but only one of them came
back to Jesus and said thank you Lord Jesus and because of that he got
something more which the other 9 did not get. All 10 were healed of
their leprosy but Jesus said to this man you came back and you said
thank you I'm giving you salvation you are saved.

So he got something inside his heart which the other 9 didn't get. What
did we learn from that story? That if you come back to Jesus and say
thank you you'll get something more if you only pray and say Lord help
me please help me to find this, please help me to do this okay you'll
get that thing. But after that if you come back and say thank you you'll
get something more.

So there are many things like this we can learn from stories of Jesus.
You know there's no there's nothing that Jesus will not forgive.
Anything that you do wrong you forgive.

Now you know how little children are, all of you sometimes you have a
fight with somebody and mommy asks you why did you hit him? And
sometimes you'll say he hit me first. There's always a habit of putting
the blame on somebody else. Do you find that in your life sometimes?
Blaming somebody else he did that or she did that, that's why I did
this.

Okay in the bible there was a man like that I'll tell you you know his
name his name was Adam do you know Adam? He was the first man and God
told him not to do something and he went and did it he took something
from a tree and then God came and said did you do this? Actually he
didn't do it himself, his wife took it and gave it to him but he ate it
so God came and asked Adam did you eat from that tree? He should have
said yes God I'm sorry I ate that but instead of saying that you know
what he said? He said my wife gave it to me he was trying to put the
blame on somebody else that's the first thing you see in the bible of a
man putting the blame on somebody else and God put them out of heaven
out of Eden, out of that garden so you can't come back here so what we
learn from that is never blame somebody else if you did something wrong
ok he hit you first never mind but you hit him didn't you? you say I'm
sorry don't worry about whether he hit you first that's his business so
don't try to give an excuse when you do something wrong to blame
somebody else now I'll tell you another story of a man who did not blame
others do you know that Jesus was crucified on a cross? you know that
story? and do you know that two others were crucified beside him? they
were very bad people they had killed people, they were thieves and do
you know that those two bad people one went to heaven the other went to
hell you know that? you don't know that? ok let me tell you do you know
that? some of you? ok some of you know it one of them went to heaven
both were equally bad but one went to heaven the other went to hell, you
know why? because only one reason, now listen to this all of you
children that man went to heaven only because of one reason and that's a
good lesson for all of you to learn he said Lord Jesus it is my fault
that's not what Adam said, Adam said it's my wife's fault so God said
get out of here and this man said it's my fault even though he did so
many wrong things he didn't blame anybody else, he didn't say my mother
brought me up badly or I got into fellowship with bad friends he never
said any of that he said my fault and Jesus said really? it's your
fault? ok you're willing to take the blame you don't want to blame
anybody else then you're forgiven come with me to heaven today what a
wonderful lesson we can learn from that tell me again what did Adam do?
blame somebody else and God kicked him out what did this thief do? took
the blame himself and he went to heaven that day so there are a lot of
lessons we can learn from these stories for ourselves as to how we
should live the Christian life ok are you tired of hearing me? I'll
stop, anyway thank you for listening God bless you all I want you to
close your eyes for a moment bow your head, close your eyes please close
your eyes I want you to say loud Lord Jesus forgive me for all the wrong
things that I did thank you for dying for me I know you're living today
Lord Jesus come into my heart now clean my heart make it white help me
to be a good child to obey daddy and mommy to obey my Sunday school
teachers and to always do what is right help me not to tell lies and
when I fight to ask to say sorry to say sorry thank you Lord Jesus for
coming into my heart Amen ok boys and girls God bless you all, thank you
for listening

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/aPgL3f8mi6s.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/clean-heart/
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