This sermon emphasizes the importance of becoming like little children in God's kingdom, focusing on humility, dependence on God, transparency, teachability, and freedom from critical judgment and worldly ambitions. It encourages seeking the genuine fullness of the Holy Spirit to bring heaven into our hearts, leading to a life filled with the aroma of heaven. The speaker urges listeners to let go of pride, comparison, and pretense, and to approach God with childlike trust, simplicity, and eagerness to learn, ensuring a blessed and transformed life in the new year.

You know, children look forward to a promotion at the end of every year to a higher class. They're very disappointed if they don't get a promotion. Parents are disappointed. So, how do we know whether we have moved on in God's plan and purpose for our lives? I want to turn to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 18. During the conference, we were talking about how God's ways are higher than our ways. As high as the heaven is above the earth. And we saw how Jesus came to bring that kingdom of heaven down to this earth. And we also saw that the gift of the Holy Spirit, which most Christians don't value, or end up with some counterfeit experience, but if you really have the genuine power of the Holy Spirit in your life, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in your heart, it has to bring the spirit of heaven into your heart. That is the mark of a man filled with the spirit. There's going to be an aroma of heaven about his life. And I want to urge you, my brothers and sisters, don't be satisfied with anything less than that. Don't be satisfied with convincing other people that you're filled with the spirit. That's fit for the trash can. Make sure you genuinely are. Because I tell you, 90% of people I've met who think they're filled with the spirit, they're not. And it would be a great tragedy if you stand before the Lord one day and discover that your so-called fullness of the Holy Spirit was just a counterfeit. I remember when I was seeking for this, and I said, Lord, I will never be satisfied. I don't care how long it takes. Ten years, ten years, fine. But I want the genuine thing which the apostles received on the day of Pentecost, that baptism of fire. And those who hunger and thirst will be satisfied. For the spirit of God brings heaven into our hearts. And then the question comes, the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 18, verse 1, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? So if you know, the greatest means it's like whatever is the highest degree in education. Let's assume it's a PhD. That's the highest. If a little child asks his father, what's the highest degree I can get in education? Son, you can get a PhD. So this is something like that. In heaven, who is the greatest? So once we know what the peak is, then we know whether we are progressing every year towards that goal. Now, if you don't have the goal right, then you don't know whether you're progressing. You've got to see your goal very clearly. Whether it's a hundred meter race or a marathon race, or climbing a mountain or anything, you've got to see your goal clearly. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And they got a big surprise. They thought he'd point out one of them. He took a little child and set him before them. And I think it was a little baby because those mothers came carrying little babies, maybe a six-month-old baby. He picked up one of those six-month-old babies and said, See this child now. See this six-month-old baby. Unless you folks are converted and become like little children, like this baby, you're not even going to enter the kingdom of heaven. So whoever humbles himself as this baby, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now we know if you go to heaven today, you'll find that the greatest is Jesus Christ. God has exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. He is the greatest, and he will be the greatest for all eternity. They're going to sing, Thou art worthy, O Lamb, Thou alone art worthy. So when we know that Jesus was the greatest, and he said whoever humbles himself as this child is the greatest, then we know that Jesus lived his entire life on earth as a little child. And if we can understand that in our life, if you have become more like a little child in 2010, you have progressed. If you haven't, you have failed. You sit in the same class. And if you look back over the last five years, and you haven't become more like a little child, you have failed for five years. And if you're becoming more like an adult, then you're going backwards, which doesn't even happen in school. I mean, children don't go backwards from the fourth standard to the first standard. That only happens among Christians. I've never heard of a child backsliding in school, going from fourth standard to even third standard. He may get stuck in fourth standard. But backsliding in school, have you ever heard of it? Any country in the world? That only happens among Christians. They come to a certain level, and then they go down. We should be going forward. The other thing we must remember is, we can do nothing about the past. God is almighty. He can do everything. But there are certain things you know He cannot do. He cannot tell a lie, for example. God can never tell a lie. There are certain things God cannot do. God cannot give you back the year 2010. Even Almighty God cannot do that. Or this one year of your life that you lived, He can't give it back to you. He can't do it. I know there are people who go to that verse in Joel. It's a favorite verse of those who live in sin and play the fool with God. They go to that verse and say, The Lord says, I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten and the caterpillar has eaten. They find some comfort in that type of verse. I told you in the conference that people look in the Bible for comfort for their sin. I'm sorry to disappoint you. But it's not going to be true. God can forgive you. Go to the New Testament and look for promises. And you'll see, wasted time is gone. So that should make us take time more seriously. The Bible says, make full use of the time. Because the days are evil. So if the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who has humbled himself like a little child, then that's the goal, to become like Jesus. It's helping us to see what Jesus is like. And one picture of Jesus is, he was a servant. We saw that during the conference. Another picture of Jesus is, he's like a little child. Because he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So I can learn from a child. I can learn by looking at servants, how they work. I can also learn from looking at a child, a little baby. And say, Lord, spiritually, I want to be like him. Now, not childish. There's a difference between being childish and childlike. Childish is not a good thing. Childish is immaturity, to get offended with little things. It says in 1 Corinthians 14, and verse 20, that in understanding, don't be children in your thinking, it says in 1 Corinthians 14, 20. Here's a verse which says, do not be children. So there's a certain, I mean, in a certain way, we should not be children. We should not be children in our thinking. Because we should be mature in our thinking. But in evil, it's a lovely verse. In evil, be like infants. You know, little babies, what do they know about evil? They know nothing. You look at a six-month-old baby, he doesn't know anything about evil. Be like a little baby in the matter of evil. In the earlier chapter, in chapter 13, also, he says, in verse 11, 1 Corinthians 13, 11, when I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child. This is what I mean by being childish. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. So I must not be childish and immature, but I must be childlike. So having made that distinction clear, let me show you also in Isaiah chapter 11, when we get into glory and in the kingdom, when Jesus reigns on the earth for a thousand years, it says in Isaiah chapter 11, verse 6, that the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and they will not bite or tear. The leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the paddling will be together. It will be like Garden of Eden conditions. And the leader in God's kingdom will be a little child. That's how it's going to be in God's kingdom. The values of earth are going to be completely reversed. It's not the one who's like a little child who's a leader in this world system. In this world system, it's the clever and the intelligent and the smart and the self-confident, the proud, they're the leaders. But in God's kingdom, it's going to be a little child who will lead. And so, if you believe that what Jesus said is true, and I believe it, it's not just being great in God's kingdom. Jesus said, if you don't get converted and become like this child, you won't even enter that kingdom. The wonderful message of the gospel is this. Not only that your sins can be forgiven, but that you can be a child once again. You know, if you can look into the eyes of a little three-month-old baby or a newborn baby, you look into its eyes, it's the closest to heaven that you can see on this earth. There's absolutely nothing closer to heaven than the eyes of a little child. We all had it once upon a time. Every one of us had eyes that were heavenly once upon a time. And you know how you lost it. The devil fooled us in our younger days as we grew up. Even though we were born again, read the Bible, he fooled us. Oh, it's okay. It's okay. It doesn't matter if you play around with the sin a little here and there. And we have lost the heavenliness of our eyes. We have lost the heavenliness of our mind. But here the Lord says you can be a child once again. To me that's a message of hope. And I want to say that's only possible through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's why I keep saying you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will gradually move back to become like a little child and be heavenly. So I thought we could think a little bit about what it means to be a little child. Jesus spoke here about humility. You see, he said unless you humble yourself like this little child, the one who humbles himself is really the greatest in God's kingdom. And one part of that humility, there are a number of aspects of that humility. One aspect of that humility is that child's helpless, you know, the trust, a life of dependence upon its parents. Simple trust in its parents. You know, even for an older man. Think of an older man who is put on a wheelchair. Or who is bedridden. It's pretty humiliating. It's pretty humiliating because others have to do so many things for us. How would you like that you become so dependent on others? Somebody has to push you around in a wheelchair. And if you have to lie in bed, somebody has to feed you and do everything for you. It's pretty humiliating. And for a child, the child can do nothing. It's a life of dependence on its parents for everything. And Jesus was teaching us there that humility means a life of dependence on God continually. Lord, I can't do anything without you. I need you to guide me and lead me for every little thing. I need you to feed me every day. I need you to give me your word every day. I think many of us were like that the day you were born again. Remember back, way back when you were born again, how you eagerly opened up the Bible. You wanted to read God's word. Like a little baby, you went to the milk. But now you've become smart. You've got so much knowledge. That dependence upon God, which you had then, is gone. You were like a child then. But you became smart. You became clever. Maybe you looked at other believers who did not know what spiritual progress was. They thought spiritual progress means to manifest your gift and be smart and show that you are somebody. That's because, as I say, we don't read the Bible slowly. And we don't understand that God's way is to make us like little children, once again. So we realize that that is the goal we should work towards in the coming year. Lord, make me more helplessly dependent on you than I have ever been. And I'll tell you this. When we are helplessly dependent on God, the mighty power of God can flow through us. Many of us are not experiencing that mighty power because we're not helplessly dependent. We don't have that humility of a child. If you come to the Scriptures with the humility of a child, God will speak amazing things to you. You say the Scripture is boring. Yeah, if you're not like a child, it will be boring because you don't hear God speaking to you. I find it exciting. More exciting now than I found it 50 years ago. It was pretty heavy and boring 50 years ago, but it's more exciting for me now. But I find for many Christians it's the other way around. They were excited to read the Bible in the beginning, but it's pretty heavy now. I'll tell you the answer. Be like a little child. You've seen the eagerness of children to learn. You know, my wife and I had children way back 30, 40 years ago. We'd almost forgotten what it is to be like a child, but it's one of the privileges of becoming a grandfather. You suddenly see children all over again, and it's exciting. It really is. As I see these little children growing up, how they depend on their father and how mother, and how they are so eager to learn how to write A, B, C, and as they start reading, there's an excitement about it. As I see them and I ask them how to spell a word, and they're excited, I'm also excited. I see there that God is excited when we learn something. That's how we must come to the Scriptures, with that eagerness. Oh, Father, there's more here that I want to know. It's the result of helpless dependence, not only for spiritual needs, but for all our provision. A child is not worried about whether there'll be enough food or clothing as he's going to grow up, and will my dad get me bigger clothing as I grow up. There's complete freedom from anxiety. When the Bible says be anxious for nothing, he's really saying be like a little child. Why are we anxious? Answer, we are not like little children. It's very clear. Have you ever seen a three-year-old child worried with a wrinkled brow? All these children. There's a lot that we can learn from little children. Have you been pursuing that in the last years of your Christian life, or have you been going in the wrong direction because you've been looking at other Christians instead of the Word of God? It's time to change direction. Say, Lord, in this coming year, I want to learn that life of dependence upon you. A second thing about little children is that I'm not telling you anything you don't know, just reminding you what children are like. They're helpless. If you hit a child, he can't defend himself. He won't hit back. No three-month-old child will hit back. He just keeps quiet. Are we like that when people hurt us? See, we live in a civilized world. People don't slap us on the face. They hurt us with words, which can be worse than slapping on the face. They hurt us by saying things about us behind our back. Does it disturb us? Do we seek to retaliate? Little children cannot retaliate. They can't even lift a hand to hit anybody. They are helpless. That is the greatest person in the kingdom of heaven. It's not the smartest, the man who can preach well and sing well and lead a church and all that. No, no, no, no, no. It's the one who's helpless and say, Father, you're my defender. I can't defend myself. And if someone hurts me, I'm just going to leave it. If someone, you're going to accuse a child. Can the child justify itself? Say, no, no, no, no, no. It wasn't like that. Pharisees justify themselves. Most Christians are closer to Pharisees than they are to like little children. But they don't seem to see it. Year after year after year after year, they don't seem to see, I'm not growing spiritually. Do you think spiritual growth is growth in knowledge? Well, it's growth in knowledge. I think folks in CFC who are coming here regularly have got more knowledge than almost any other Christian in Bangalore. But you're not the most spiritual just because you've got knowledge. I'll tell you you're the most spiritual if you have become helpless and you can't defend yourself and people accuse you. If people accuse you, you just say, okay. I'll let God defend me. A child doesn't make excuses for anything. Those who justify themselves have got a lot of things they make excuses for. This was why, and that was why, and that was why, and this was why that I did this. Brothers, sisters, be like a little child. Trust your father to take care of you. Many years ago, I was about 23, 25 years old. There was a great man of God in India, the one I respected the most, who told me, one bit of advice he gave me, if ever in your life people attack you, accuse you, just keep quiet. Leave it. Let them have their say. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got. I've tried to follow it. It's made me a very happy man. God takes care of you. Dear brother, sister, is somebody cheating you maybe in your family or somewhere else? Be like a little child and you'll see the amazing power of God, how he can do miracles for you. Then thirdly, children don't have any pretense. I don't find a three-year-old child trying to act smart or try to give me an impression that he's cleverer than he really is or that he knows a lot. Not at all. There's zero pretense. We need to work towards that. I remember seeing in an automobile factory, car factory, a board saying, we aim for zero defect. I've never forgotten it. I said, Lord, these guys are aiming for zero defect to produce a car. That should be the motto of Christians. I aim for zero defect. That's how it is. That means I aim for zero pretense. There must be zero pretense in my life. Jesus should be able to say about me like he said about Nathaniel, there is a man in whom there is no pretense. There is a woman in whom there is no pretense. She's not pretending to be spiritual. She doesn't want a person to get even the slightest feeling that she's better than she really is or he is better than he really is. I don't think any one of these children, if they're in third standard, will tell me that they're in the fourth standard. Have you ever met children like that? They're in second standard and they say I'm in third standard. I've never seen one till today. I've seen Christians like that. They're in first standard and they'll act as if they're in the 10th standard. It's amazing. You never see a child like that. There's no pretense in a child. And if the child failed and you ask him, Hey, are you in second standard again this year? Yes, I failed. What a wonderful thing it is to be like a child. You don't have to strain and try to show off. Okay, I slipped up. No pretense. There's a transparency. A willingness to be known as we really are. That's wonderful. Pursue that life, brother, sister. If you really want to make progress, if you want to see December 31st, 2011. We're far ahead. You want to be far ahead of where you are right now. Here's the way. This is the path to perfection. The way up is down. And then a fourth thing I find is that children don't keep any grudges. If you get angry with your three-month-old baby and go and pinch it, you come back tomorrow and look at it. It'll smile at you. It doesn't even remember that you hurt it yesterday. It doesn't remember that you're the one who did something to it. It's wonderful. I mean, they become evil pretty quickly. By the time they're one or two, they've become evil. I'm talking about two, three months. Are you like that? Can you remember the evil somebody did, not only yesterday, but ten years ago? You discover that as a husband when you have a little fight with your wife. Oh, what all memories come back that you can remind her of. Or you can remind your husband of. What a wonderful thing to be like a child. You know, it's almost like an impossible thing. Lord, can you make me like a child, really? You can't do it yourself. You know that. Try and make yourself like a child. You'll be an actor. You can act like a child. You can't be like a child. Only the Holy Spirit can make you. I'm just excited when I hear this message that I can be like a little child once again and possess God's kingdom. That's one of the wonderful messages that comes through with the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is no other way. It's only God who can do it. We can improve our lives. You don't have to be a Christian to improve our lives. There are a lot of management seminars conducted by management gurus for corporate executives, teaching them how to behave better with their clients and with their staff. And for many Christians, I tell you, even listening to messages in CFC is like a management guru giving them a lecture on how to behave better at home. It's all an act. A child is an actor. He just doesn't have any graduates. He doesn't get offended. He doesn't get offended. I want that life. I want that life where I'll never get offended, where I don't have any memory of evil done to me, or if it comes up, if the devil reminds me, I reject it because I refuse to retain it in my will, even though there are things in my memory. You know, it's been a great liberation for me to know that God doesn't condemn me for what I have in my memory. Don't let the devil accuse you and condemn you for what you have in your memory. I can never get rid of things from my memory. It's impossible. It's there. What can I do about it? And God says, you don't have to worry about what's in your memory. But what does your will choose to pick out from that memory? There may be a hundred things in my memory and some things are not very good memories. Do I exercise my will to pick out that? It's like when you sit at your computer. Which site do you go to? What do you pick out? I mean, there are so many good sites you can go to. There are so many good things I can pick out from my memory. Or I can pick up some bad things. And when I pick up those bad things, then I'm reminded again of those things. I remind myself of what that person did or that person did against me. I need to grow and become like a little child with no memory. Where the evil, I reject it. As soon as it comes up, I say, no, I'm not going to think about it. Then, one other thing, number five. Children are teachable. They don't get stubborn and argue with you when you try to teach them how to spell cat or bat or road. They just are so teachable. They're so trusting and teachable. It's part of humility. I mean, all these things are different aspects of humility. To be helpless and a humble person doesn't want to pretend in anything. A humble person will not get offended. And a humble person is teachable. Yeah, teach me. I want to learn. One of the very precious lessons that I have learned in Ephesians 3, it says that along with all the saints, we can know the height and the length and the breadth, the four dimensions, the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ. The love of Christ has got four dimensions. Ephesians 3, 18. But I can only know it, verse 18, with all the saints. And so, I say to myself that every person in the body of Christ, every person, is superior to me in some area. And in that area, I can learn from him. That means he's got something of Christ and his love. That's what this verse says. Along with all the saints, I can learn the breadth and length and height and depth and know the love of Christ, which you cannot understand by knowledge. That means I can't study about it and hear about it in messages and get it. I've got to get it from the saints. So if you cut off some saint saying, I don't like that person, you're the loser. Because that person can give you some wealth of the love of Christ, but you cut him off or cut her off because you've got some prejudice. You don't like his face or her face or something about them or the way they speak or something like that. You're going to be the loser. I don't want to be the loser. God has made me spiritually a very rich person because I have learned from anyone who's got something of Christ. Every person in the body of Christ is superior to me in some area. I mean, we can take an illustration from the world. Even the ordinary person, a laborer, is superior to me in some area. For example, a plumber comes to my house. If I am humble enough to acknowledge that in the area of plumbing, he's superior to me. I may know a lot of things about science and mathematics and other things about the internet. That guy doesn't even have a computer. But in plumbing, he's definitely superior to me. If I watch him when he's fixing my tap or pipe or something like that, I may not need to call him next time. Maybe I can do something myself because I was humble enough to learn from him. If he does something, I ask him, hey, why do you do that? He's excited that a clever fellow like me is asking him something about plumbing. We've got to be humble. Or an electrician comes. And I see him. I've done this all the time with plumbers and electricians who come to home. Gradually, I can do something myself. But if you're too proud, say, I'm not going to ask him. It's humiliating to ask him. No, I acknowledge this electrician. He's not so educated. He can't speak English, but he knows more than me in one area. He's superior to me in one area. Everybody in the body of Christ has got something of the love of Christ that I can receive from that person if I'm teachable. That's the other thing about children. They're teachable. And the one who comes to the class pretending to be proud, pretending to be clever, learns nothing. Dear brother, sister, let the year 2011 be a teachable year for you and learn not only from the great men of God whom you meet, but from the humble brother and sister who's half your age, but who loves Jesus, who's got a passion to serve God, which you had once upon a time, but you lost. Go to that young brother and get some passion once again. Get a little fire, brother. Yep. Number six, I find children don't judge other people. Little babies don't judge anybody. They don't compare themselves with anybody. They don't judge. They don't have an opinion on this person and that person and the other person. They don't judge. Now we must, as I said earlier, we're not to be childish and immature. We need discernment in one sense. We need discernment. But I'm talking about this critical judgment. That's the type of judgment I'm talking about when Jesus said, don't judge in that critical type of way. If you were to examine your life over the last one year, you may find there are many, many people who, it was not discernment about spiritual things, which is very essential. Our sense of discernment must become more and more every year. But critical judgment of others, how much has it helped you? Maybe you sat at home and criticized this person and that person. Tell me, has it really made you more spiritual? Has it just brought a sour atmosphere in the home? Has it just made you, it polluted your heart? Why not become like a little child in 2011 and say, yeah, I want to have discernment so that I don't get fooled by wrong doctrines and all that. But I want to be like a child in being critically judgment of other people. I don't want to judge them. It's none of my business. He doesn't compare this person with that person. It's none of his business. It's a wonderful thing. And then one more thing. Little children, they don't have any ambitions to make money or to become famous. They've got a father who takes care of their needs. Do you know that Christians are not supposed to be ambitious for earthly things? If we are ambitious for the things of God, God will give us enough advancement in our earthly job and position as much as we can bear and as much as we need. I'm absolutely convinced about that. But if I pursue that myself, maybe I can go much further, but I lose the kingdom of God. And that's exactly what's happened to a lot of believers. So that's another thing that we need to learn from little children. Lord, my ambitions are for God's kingdom. My earthly needs, my father will take care of that. If you have progressed in that area in 2010, and I don't mean activity. I'm not talking about doing this and that and the other thing for the Lord, but letting the Lord lead me. I sent a little sentence out on my Twitter account this morning for those who are, I mean today for those who are, for those who subscribe to it for the new year, and this is what I said. Only one life, it will soon be past. Only what you allow Christ to do through you will last. What you do for Christ may be uprooted. Because Jesus said in Matthew 15, 13, every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be uprooted. There are a lot of people doing many things for Christ like Martha. It will just disappear like wood hay and straw one day. It's not what you do for Christ. It's what you allow Christ to do through you. And there's a world of difference between the two. That's to be like a little child. Lord, I can't do great things for you. And I'm not even going to attempt it. I'm going to let you do something through me. Through the years, in these last 35 years as we've had conferences, we've had different people come from different parts of India. And they see something here, they're so blessed by it, and say, boy, we want a church like this in our place. Now I'm going to build a church there. They succeed in building Babylon. Confusion. Because they think they can build a church. They're pretty self-confident. Like Martha, one day the Lord will say, you wasted your time. The Lord has to do something through us. That is to be like a little child. And a little child doesn't think about his accomplishments, what all I've done, a little baby doesn't think what all I've accomplished in these three months. No. Even when a little child learns to crawl or walk, it's not thinking of its accomplishments. There's a humility about it. I tell you, there are so many things that we can learn from little children. I just want to give you a little, like a booster rocket, to send you up into space. And you can move on from there. Say, Lord, teach me more of what it means to be like a little child. Because this is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We're safe when we're like little children. You've heard me use the illustration that if a father has got two sons, a 14-year-old and a 2-year-old, they're standing by the side of a busy road, car's going up and down, and they want to cross it. Which of the two children will cross safely? The 2-year-old or the 14-year-old? The 2-year-old. Because the 2-year-old will say, Daddy, I'm scared. I can't go across this road. You're going to hold me and take me across? He'll take him across. But when the father tries to hold the hand of the 14-year-old, have any of you tried to hold the hand of a 14-year-old? Say, give me, free me, let me go, Dad. And he tries to cross on his own and gets run over. It's the smart, clever person in Christendom who falls, the one who thinks he knows. But the one who's like a little child, said, Dad, Dad, I can't live in this world. The traffic is too heavy. I'll get run over any day. Take me across safely. And no matter how much I've grown, I mean, I've been a believer now nearly 51 years, and I say, I want to be like a little child. Even when I get up to speak, I say, Lord, tell me what to say. I'll say it. My cleverness and smartness will not lead people into God's kingdom. It'll just give them information. But if I'm like a little child, I can minister light. Because the words of God have light. Dear brother, sister, you can be like a little child in this coming year. Forget the things that are behind. Press on and say, Lord, this is the way I want to go. And I believe 2011 will be a wonderful year for you. It won't be like 2010, where you had to show off and impress people. You're finished with that. You just want to be like a little child. I often think of myself like that now. See, I'm like a little child sitting in my heavenly father's lap. There's a song I heard the other day which says, where God speaks and says, even when you're old, God's speaking to me and you, even when you're old, I hope you will realize that you will always be a child in my eyes. Thank you. Thank you, Dad. Even when I'm old, I want to realize I'll be a child in God's eyes. A little child sitting on his lap. You know, people ask me, can we ask God for anything? I say, sure. A little child can say, Dad, I want an elephant. Or a real airplane. None of these toy airplanes. I want a real one. Little children are like that. I ask God for some amazing things. Of course, God doesn't always give it to me. That's another thing. A good father doesn't always give. But I always conclude my prayer with, but not as I will, but as thou wilt. So I've learned the simple thing about prayer. You can ask God for anything. Provided you say this is the last sentence. But not my will, but thine. I say, Lord, I'd like to live to the age of 90. It's like asking for an elephant. But I want to be healthy. And I don't want it for myself. I don't want to make money. I just want to serve your church. But, not as I will, but as thou wilt. It's God's will. Tomorrow, if we live, if it is God's will, we live tomorrow to do the will of God. We live day by day. We don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. God will take care of it. We live day by day. But we can ask God for anything. You can ask God for the most amazing things when you're a little like a little child. Conclude your prayer with, but not as I will, but as thou wilt. Your life will be supremely happy, my brother, sister, as you enter this new year. It will be the most wonderful year that you've ever lived in your whole life. If you take heed to what you heard today and pursue it and meditate on it and say, Lord, explain to me what it means. Your family life is going to be like heaven. And your wife will wonder what happened to you. Your husband will wonder what happened. Imagine that. Heaven comes down into your home. And you become a tremendous blessing in the church because you're coming to the church with that humble spirit. Learn from one another. Let's bow our heads in prayer. As we enter a new year, it's a good time to check our lives and see whether we're going in the right direction. Don't you want to be great in God's kingdom? What's the use of being great in this rotten old earth? Waste of time. You've accomplished so many things on earth. You're smart, you're clever, you're admired. It's all garbage. I hope you realize it. If you haven't become more like a little child, you've wasted your life so far. You've wasted your Christian life so far. You've accumulated knowledge. Garbage. How much have you become like a little child? That's the test of whether you've made progress in God's kingdom. Pursue it. Pursue it, my brother and sister. Pursue it with all of your heart. I believe that God will fill you with His Spirit. Ask Him to fill you. May there be a desperate passion in your heart to be filled with His Spirit because you know that you cannot live this life without the power of the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, I want this life. I hope there are others here who want it too, but I certainly want it. I want to be far more like a little child in this coming year than I have ever been so far. I want to sit on your lap and look at your face, enjoy your beauty, be at rest in your care and love and concern for me and the plans you've made for the future, which I don't have to worry about because I'm a little child. Lord, help us all to live like this in a world full of tension and anxiety and pressure and problems. Make us like little children. Give us grace from above. Fill us with the Holy Spirit. Give us a genuine fullness of the Holy Spirit. Your precious Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, will come and flood our inner beings, permeate our whole being and control every area of our daily life and thinking. Oh Father, what a gift you gave us on the day of Pentecost. How little we have valued it. How much it has been corrupted and counterfeited in Christendom. Help me, Lord. Help us to demonstrate the reality of it in the midst of all the counterfeit. Thank you, Father. You'll do it for us, we believe. You'll do more than we ask or think. Help us to value one another, brothers and sisters. Help us to have the humility to learn from one another. We humbly ask in Jesus' name. Amen.