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Children used for God's work
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[Matthew
21: 15-16]
But
when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things
he did and
the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of
David," they
were indignant.
"Do
you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him.
"Yes," replied Jesus, "have
you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you have
ordained praise'?"
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Among
the children in the Bible, children who have strong faith in God often
appear.
As
we celebrate the Children's Sunday, we will make sure that we have time to
check our
beliefs and learn lessons through the stories of children in the Bible.
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First,
the child we will meet is a girl from the Old Testament.
This
child was Naaman, the general of Syria, who went to war with Israel and
captured her.
Naaman made this child the maid of his
wife.
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On
one occasion, this child came to hear the conversation between General Naaman
and
his wife.
It
was what two people were worried about when Naaman was involved in leprosy.
At that time, having leprosy was like
saying that normal life is no longer possible.
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A
child who knew this, said to Naaman's wife, whom she served.
¡°If
he go before a prophet in Samaria, he may be healed of leprosy.¡±
The girl was a child, but knew that
the prophet of God was a great power.
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Even
though she was young and her situation was difficult,
she
told them that God was able to do so.
General Naaman who listened to this
child had a clean leprosy.
And he became a worshiper of God.
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Secondly,
the child we are going to meet is a child named Rhoda in Acts.
King
Herod captured the apostle Peter, who preached the resurrected Jesus,
and
put him in prison.
And the next day he planned to kill
Peter.
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After
Peter was taken, believers gathered together to pray to God to save Peter.
There
was also a young child named Rhoda in prayer.
God heard the prayers of the believers
and sent an angel to take Peter out.
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Peter
hastily rushed to the place where the believers were and knocked on the door.
When
the door knocked, Rhoda ran for the first time.
Rhoda was pleased to know the voice of
the Apostle Peter and to know that God responded to their prayers.
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Rhoda
rushed in and told adults. "Sir Peter returned," but the adults did
not believe it.
Rhoda
was a child of a young age, but he surely believed that God was listening and
listening to the prayers of the faithful.
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The
third is when Jesus is on earth and preaching the kingdom of God.
As
a great Jewish holiday, Jesus entered the temple.
Jesus chased away all those selling
and changing money in the temple.
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Jesus
had compassion on those who came to the temple.
He has fixed those who cannot
see.
Those who cannot use their legs have
also healed.
Jesus restored the true image of the temple.
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The
children saw Jesus like this and began to sing loudly as they exalted Jesus.
¡°Hosanna
to the descendants of David.¡± The word Hosanna means ¡°save me.¡±
They praised Jesus as the God of
salvation.
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The
chief priests and Pharisees who saw this in the same place hated Jesus more
and more.
They
did not accept Jesus while looking at miracles done before their own eyes.
And they told Jesus that he would not
allow the children to praise.
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Jesus
said to them: ¡°have you never read,
¡®From
the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise¡¯¡±
Through
the young children, God has testified to the great enemies
that
Jesus is the very Savior who foretold in the Old Testament Psalms.
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We hope to ponder what we have heard
today. Young children of your age, like yours, have been used preciously in the work
of God.
The physical age and the age of faith are not the same. Even if you
are a young person, if the Holy Spirit is with you, you can do things that
God is pleased with. I hope that our children will be faithful to God all the
time regardless of their age and live in
obedience to the Word.
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(This
is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the
conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)
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