9th August 2026 : Matthew ch 18 v 1 - 5

Matthew ch 18 v 1 - 5

I'll just start in prayer if that's all right.

Father, God, we just commit this meeting to you, Lord. And Father, I pray, Lord, that you give us the ears to hear and the eyes to see. Father, I pray for anointing upon the meeting, Lord, anointing upon my words, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that it speaks deeply into the people's hearts that you want it to speak into, Lord. Father, have your way in this meeting, Lord. Speak straight through me, Jesus's name. Amen.

Where'd you start? Where'd you start really? I'll start by, the 23rd of August, the worship meeting. I just want to say that worship meeting, God is organising that. And when God is organising summat, it's very, very good to get at the back of it. If you can't make it on the 23rd, please be praying for it. Please be praying for it. God is organising that. Man's not organising it. So it's good. It's good.

So a question. Can God tell a lie? Can God tell a lie? And is the word of God true? We can all answer it dead, dead clearly. Yes, it's true. Yes, God cannot tell a lie. We can do that dead dead clearly. But yet there's things in the Bible that we read and they make sense until we're in a bad situation in life and then we don't apply them scriptures to our life. And that's where all of us fall. That's where all of us fall.

The apostles, going to read the scripture in a minute, but the apostles, when they was walked the earth, there was always a thing there of, well, who's the greatest, who's the best? Who's God's favourite? Who's this, who's that? They always wanted to be better than each other. And even to today in the body of Christ, unfortunately, that still takes place. That still happens. There's still jealousy within the body of Christ when people are moving in God and things are happening in God. There's still a jealousy in the body of Christ. It's not about being jealous, it's about walking as one.

We find here for an example here, these two good people here who literally without them the church wouldn't function. That's the truth, Lorraine, without you doing what you do and Robert doing what he does, the church wouldn't function. Same for Pat, same for Margaret, same for lots of people within the church, same for Phil at the back. Without people doing what they do within a situation or within a church, the church doesn't function. It doesn't move. That's the same for the body of Christ when we come together. It's not about beating each other, it's about working together to make iron sharpen iron. That's what it's about.

I'm going to read this scripture. It's not very big, so I didn't trouble our Margaret. It's only dead, dead little. But it's titled Who is the greatest?

At that time, at that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then Jesus called to the little child to set him in the midst of them and said, assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become like this little child, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one of these little children like this in my name receives me.

And you know, we can picture that there. We can picture that there of Jesus putting literally a child in front saying, this is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So why is the child more greater? And to me, it's more of a childlike faith. And that's where God wants us today, as a childlike faith.

We, look, you know, what is a childlike faith, really? What is a childlike faith? What is he trying to say though? If we are a child, the children that are in there now, every single thing that they do, from being born to adult life, they rely on the parents. When they make a mistake in life and they do a bad nappy, they're relying on the mother to make them clean. They're relying on the food that's being put on the table. They're relying on the protection from the parents. Literally that child relies on the parents for everything. And if there's any problem in life, they come running straight back to the dad or the mum.

Dad, help me, help me. I've got a problem. He's picking on me. Children do this. And this is the same mentality as what God wants us to be like with him. Children rely on us. They don't ask the questions. They don't ask, where's them toys come from? They don't ask, where's that food come from? They ask the obvious question, why is Daddy going to work?

When we're looking after our Ava, our Ava will turn round, the grandchild, she's four years of age, say, where's Daddy? I say, he's at work, sweetheart. Why? And if I really went into it, why his dad was at work? Well, he's at work so he can pay the bills, because if he doesn't pay the bills, you're going to get evicted. If you get evicted, you're on the streets. If I went down the lines and I told our Ava all that, she'd go, okay. She won't understand it, but, she won't understand it. And God only tells us what we need to hear.

God only tells us what we need to hear for the simple reason, we won't understand it. We can be in a simple place in life and the Lord puts something on our heart to go and share with somebody else. And we go and share that little thing and we think that it's nothing but yet to that person and what God does around it is massive. God waters that seed. God does something when we are obedient to God. That's all he's asking, for us to be obedient and to look at him as a child. Look through the eyes of a child to the father.

I was once going speaking somewhere and I was asking the Lord, I took our Jack out for a walk, he was only a babby. And as I'm walking through the woods with him, we're walking through and I'm like, Lord, what am I speaking about tonight? What am I sharing tonight? What am I doing tonight? And as we're doing this, he just did a runner, he's gone. And he's running through all the nettles and all the brambles and I'm lifting these nettles and brambles out the way and he did not have no sense of fear. He's just literally running straight through and I'm moving.

Then he come close to an edge and as he's walking, he's laughing because he thinks I'm chasing him. I've got my hand so he can't fall down the edge. But he didn't realise what I was doing. The protection was already over him that he didn't realise the obstacles was already being removed. And literally, when I'd, come on, I've got you, picked hold of him, then the Lord spoken in to my heart, that's what you're speaking about tonight. And it was the protection of where God is within your life. We don't always see it, but the truth is, God's got his protection upon our life.

We've actually, just think about our Ava. We've got a washing machine in the middle of the room. Now, our washing machine's broke and there's a washing machine. We're going to fit when we get home, basically. Long story short. And we're picking our Ava up on the way back. And I can imagine our Ava going, what's that? It's a washing machine. What does that do? Washes clothes. Why? You know, kids are like, why a lot, don't they? Our Ava's greater than she's belting. She's really into the why stage.

Again, if we turn round with her and said, Well, it's to wash your clothes, because if you don't wash your clothes, you're going to smell it. If you smell, people won't want to be around you, and if people don't want to be around you, you're not going to have any friends. And if you're not going to have any friends, you're going to be a reject. And if you are a reject, if you went and doing them lines with them, again, the child wouldn't be able to comprehend that. So we only tell them what we need to tell them, and that will be we're washing so we can wash clothes and the conversation will stop there. That's what God is like with us in that childlike faith.

From birth to life, God has got his hand upon each and every one of us. He's got his hand upon it. He's got his protection upon us. And I'm not saying that we don't have problems in life because we do. The word of God tells us that we're going to have problems. It also tells us that if we submit our way to the Lord and give him the problem, he'll sort it for us. All we've got to do is believe it. And that's where the childlike faith comes in.

The question at the beginning, can God tell a lie? The answer is no. He's wrote us the book. He's wrote us a book with thousands of promises in. And all we have to do is simply as a child, if with our Ava was a little bit older and she could read and write and do all that, and her dad left her a message on the fridge, making this up completely as I go along, of you tea's in the oven, warm it up, I'll be back at 4 o'clock. And our Ava would read that and go, oh, tea's in oven, right? Back at 4 o'clock. She'd receive it because her dad's left her a note on the fridge. Like we receive of our notes on the fridge when we were kids and your mum would leave your note. Similar to that. And you'd just know that it was done.

Childlike faith, this is the word of God. This is the word of God. And when we read it, we have to apply it into our lives. We have to apply it into our minds. We have to apply it into our spirits because when we eat the Word of God our mind is transformed. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind and the renewing of your mind, it comes through prayer. It comes through the engine room that has been mentioned today, which is prayer. It comes through reading the Word of God. It comes through believing the Word of God. And if God can't tell a lie, then every word within this is true. Every word within it is true. Whether we want to believe it or not, it's still true. It's still true.

In Romans 3, 4, these are some scriptures I'm just going to read out. I've actually wrote them down, so I'm not doing that flicky, flicky thing with my book. But Romans 3, 4, Romans 3, 4, can God tell a lie. May it neither be rather let God be true and every man a liar. So let God be true in our life and every man a liar. And what I believe within my life is when the impossible comes and we cannot do that, I tell that person literally that, I tell them that. Let God be true and that's a lie. I don't receive your lie. I receive what the word of God tells me. And then I watch it come to pass in God.

Proverbs 8, 18, 21, death and life and the power of the tongue. Power and life and the death of the tongue. Sometimes, because we are not grounded and rooted within the Word of God, and please believe me when I say this, I'm not speaking to you lot there like I've got everything right. I've definitely not. I've definitely not that. But there is power of death and life within the tongue. And sometimes we self-curse ourselves. Oh, I'm useless at that. I'm hopeless at that. Oh, I'm thick.

Guess what? If we speak those words over our life, that's exactly what we will be. The best words to speak over our life is, I am a blood-bought child of the Lord Jesus Christ. And through him, all things are possible. That's the way to speak and be positive within the word of God.

Philippians 2, 10 to 11. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, and through in heaven and on earth and through and under the earth. So at the name of Jesus, everything has to bow. But do we believe that when we're in the situation? Do we believe that when we're confronted with an illness in front of us? We have to believe it and we have to walk within it. And if we're struggling within that area, then we pray to God, Lord, help me for my lack of faith here. Help me believe. We've seen people within the word of God help my lack of unbelief. God will move that round and he will put you in a place where you are in a place of faith within it.

Isaiah 54 17, no weapon formed against you shall prosper. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. They shall surely assemble upon you, but because of my name, they shall surely fall. When the world, I mean, within that, no weapon formed against you shall prosper. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. It's actually stating there, we have inherited, it's a promise from God. We have inherited it, that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. We've inherited it. So God's not saying that there's not going to be problems. What he's saying is, I've already sorted that out, cocker. He's saying that.

Mark 11 23. For verily verily I say unto you, that whoever shall say unto this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and it shall be done and in his heart it shall be done for he who believes. So whatever mountain is within your life, whatever mountain is within your life, you speak to the mountain. And you tell the mountain to go away. You tell the problem to go away. In fact, you don't tell it to go away. You command it to go away. Because all authority within heaven and earth has been given to Jesus Christ. He who receives the Son receives the Father, entitling him to become a child of God. All authority has been given to Jesus and he passed it to you freely. We have the authority to move those mountains in the name of Jesus.

But do we believe it when we're in it? We have to believe it. We have to be like that child, that child in a playground, that child in a playground that literally, two kids fighting, I've been in this situation in school once or twice. And you'd be literally having a scrap or just before the scrap, my dad is bigger than yours. My dad is going to batter you and then he's going to batter your dad because he's bigger than your dad. And you see kids going through this. The truth of it is, our dad, God the Father, really is bigger. He really is bigger. And he's the biggest God that could ever be. There's nothing impossible for him. He's a big God.

Last kind of scripture. Again, I say unto you, if two people can agree in their hearts and believe it within their hearts. God will honour it in heaven. When we're in them situations in life, do we believe in our hearts? Can we believe in our hearts? Just two people, that's all it takes. Can we believe within our hearts, dedicate it to God, and then sit back and rest in God, but knowing that God is in control of it and watch it come to pass? These scriptures are from the Word of God. But sometimes when chaos comes and when problems in life comes, we forget about the Word of God. And what God wants is a child-like faith. He wants us to run to Him in every situation, regardless big or small. He wants us to be in that situation where, Father, help me. Father, help me. Father, help me.

Do you know, it's true this and my two sons are here. There comes a point in life when they get a bit older and when there's a problem with a car, they don't come and ask anymore because they know it. When there's a problem in, they don't come and ask anymore because they know it. They don't come with them simple things because they're growing up. But in God, the truth of it is, he wants to continually go to him. Why? Because he wants to be your God. He wants to be your God. He wants that child-like faith.

He doesn't want you to be useless and hopeless. You can get to a point in Christian life. And we were speaking to John about this last week, funny enough. You can get to a point in Christian life where you already know the answer when somebody's asking you it. You already know the answer because you have a bit of experience within that area. What God would say in that area, not every area is the same. And if you take everything back to God and ask God for wisdom, the answer to that person will be completely different to what it was and it could be the same problem. But everybody is different and have different problems and God will deal with our problem different to how he deals with that problem because he's God and he knows us, he knows us from, he knows us.

Childlike faith, yesterday, my wife said, are you going to share anything that happened yesterday? We went speaking yesterday at a place and I don't know love, I don't know. You got up today love, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. And the truth it is, we should share the glory of God. We should share what? We should testify of the miracles of what God's doing. We should do that. Why? Because God's done it. Our Father in heaven has done it. So I'm going to share a couple of things.

We went speaking yesterday and it was like a tent crusade. It was bang on, it was belting, to be honest with you. There weren't many people there, but it was belting. And at the end of the meeting we spoke and then people come forward for prayer. Quite a few. These are some of the people that come forward.

A guy got come to and he had a curved spine. And on the spot we prayed for him and his spine went and lined up. Another guy come with a swelling on his back, on the right-hand side of his back, and it was quite big. He had a car accident and it had left him a little bit deformed. And there and then on the spot, Jesus Christ took the swelling away. It just disappeared, literally. And he's lifting his arms up, no pain, no nothing. Glory to God, by the way. Glory to God.

A woman with arthritis, with rheumatoid arthritis. She had in her wrists and literally come forward and we commanded the swelling to immediately disappear. And you could see it going and just disappearing. All pain left her body. She walked away praising God.

A man come who just needed a full MOT to be truthful with you. He had so many problems that was wrong with him on the inside. We just prayed for him. But he had hearing aids in. And as we're praying for him, we sees the hearing aids. We say, can we pray for your ears. He went, by all means. And we pray for his ears. Quite funny. But we prayed for his ears. And we took the hearing aids out and we started to pray. And we prayed. I walked back, I went, can you hear? He's going, no. Right, okay, pray again. And we went back and we prayed again. And then we walked back, can you hear? He goes, yes, I hear that. I said, good, can you hear? No, right, went back. And we basically carry on praying until I am here to possibly the other side of the road. And he was with his wife, like, can you hear? Can you hear? Can you hear? And we're going further away. And as we're going further away, he goes, I can hear. And his wife went, I can't. I can't. And we walked back, I said, Jesus Christ is healing you. I know. He walked back, he said, if Jesus Christ has healed my ears just, then he's healed the rest of the body that you've prayed for. I said, that's the way we need to look at things.

At the end of the day, if we pray and we do not believe what we're praying is going to happen, there's really no point praying. There's really no point praying. We need to pray knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Jesus Christ is more than willing to help us, to heal us, to deliver us, etc., etc.

But it was a great day. It was a great day. There was other people being prayed for and we've still not got our heads together even though we drove home in the same car. We drove home in the same car with Charlie and etc. I know Charlie had a few good ones as well, to be truthful with you. But God's good. God's good. He's here for each and every one of us. God's good.

I'm just going to read a few points out that the Lord's gave me at the back of this and then I'm done. God wants to be God in your life. God wants to be God in your life. God wants you to trust him in all situations. We walk in God's righteousness and I've put underneath the full armour of God. You know, we've all got sin in our life. There's not one person in this room that is not a sinner. The guy that's speaking, he's the best at it. I'm a wretched sinner, wretched sinner, but I walk in God's righteousness. I walk in his righteousness. And that's how we can come to him in a holy manner, because we're walking in his righteousness with his righteousness with his breastplate on.

God wants a relationship with you. He wants you to know he is your God. your father and your friend. God is your friend. He's your friend. He's actually the best mate that you'll ever have. He's your mate, he's your pal. He's somebody that you can go to in any situation. And he knows the answer. He's pretty good actually.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind into a childlike faith. Be transformed with the renewing of your mind with a childlike faith. And in all situations, submit to God and watch him move. God wants you to know you are safe because you belong to him, bought at a price. God doesn't want you in fear. Fear is mentioned 365 times in the Bible. One for every day. God says, do not fear. He actually says, don't mention fear. God says, I'll correct this, do not fear. 365 times. One for each day.

God can't stop loving you. God can't stop loving you. Regardless of what you've done in your life, regards to what you're doing in your life maybe, God can't stop loving you. The first and the last, who reigns over the heavens and the earth and the seas, wants you to trust him. And the reason why God wants you to trust him is because he's trustworthy. Going back a bit there, he's your friend. he's your Saviour, he's your Lord, he's your King, is everything that we need.

God wants you to have a child-like faith, totally reliant on him in all situations.

Last one. All problems was dealt with at the cross. All we have to do is claim it and believe in it. And the reason why the people that we pray for yesterday, when I got up and I spoke, I spoke about the cross. I spoke about every problem that we've got has already been dealt with at the cross. Every illness is dealt with at the cross. All we have to do is claim it and believe it.

Thank you for listening.