Here's Pastor Alan Wright with Today's Blessing: A Biblical Faith-Filled Vision. for your life. I bless you today. To see the sins of your past as Jesus Seize them. through a lens of truth and mercy.
What great regret or gnawing condemnation still haunts and still can bring your soul down to the dirt, like the woman caught. and waywardness awaiting the stoning from her accusers. If you know what that dust tastes like and what that hellish shame feels like, May you have the eyes of Jesus at least for a moment. to see your sin as he does real, but not final. Costly.
but not condemning. watched the scene through his eyes. See him stoop next to you, and see him rebuke the accusers with a word etched in the soil, and listen for the thud, thud, thud. of rocks dropping to the earth, And hear his words for all their blest power. Go and send no more.
He has seen your sin? But through his shed blood he sees it no more. He sees it all. And then he sees it not at all. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
If you were to. Be daringly honest enough to say. I really Don't have that much knowledge. I really don't have any stuff that gives me any real security, and I have very little control. It'd leave you with two choices: you would just be lost in existential angst, despair over I can't control this and I don't know what's going to happen, or you would turn to God.
That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, No Worries, as presented at Ronalda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now.
It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. You can learn more about it. Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org.
Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544. 4860. More on all of this later in the program. But now.
Let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. We struggle in our relationships and we fret. and we worry. We worry about how we've offended and we worry about how we've been offended and we brood over it and we think about it and we analyze it to death.
And toddlers don't do any of that. Years ago, Bennett's two, we're down at the beach. And then My brother and sister-in-law's family, they come. Their nephew Jake and Bennett were great buddies, these cousins. And they come and they got little Anna Catherine who's also two.
And And they see each other. You'd have thought that they, like, best friends hadn't seen each other in a year. You know, it had been like three days. And Jake runs over, hugs Bennett. Bennett hugs Jake, and Jake says, I've missed you, Bennett.
And Bennett's too. He said, I've missed you too. And they're just like, it's like a scene. It's just so heartwarming. I'm just like, this is the sweetest thing I've ever seen.
And then they start playing on the beach. And within minutes... Bennett has kicked some salt water on Jake. Jake has taken Anna Catherine's toy. Anna Catherine has shoved Bennett.
At lunch, Bennett has eaten Jake's grilled cheese. Jake has taken the hose away from Anna Catherine. Bennett takes the hose and with cold water douses Anna Catherine in her diaper. All of this in the matter of a day. And that night we put them to bed.
Everybody's happy as could be. But there it was. In one day, you had all of it. You've got anger and malice and thievery and covetousness and slander. You've got it all there in one day.
Put them to bed. They're happy as me. Get up the next day and off we go. My friend Bob Phillips and I are best buddies, and we would be, we would play together every single day, lived across the street, and we would go over there and be playing G.I. Joe together, and he wouldn't do something right or something like that and say, No, I'm playing with that guy, and then you know, I'm that guy, and then he'd be like, Stomp across, back across the street, sit there for about 10 minutes, stewing over it, and then the phone would ring.
What you doing?
Well, not much. You want to come back over? Yeah, sure. I'll see you in a second. Here, come back over.
And adults will brood over something forever. Won't even talk to each other anymore because they're brooding over it. See? Little children don't do that. They just Don't worry.
Why? Here's the irony. Little kids are so little. that they don't have enough of the things that we count on. for our security.
to even give those false things a try. First time we ever went to the rides down at the beach. Bennett maybe two, he's in the back seat and all of a sudden I he goes, Bennett too little. Think what? I said, Wha what what, sweetheart?
And I looked at him and said, What is it? He said, Bennett too little. I'm like, what what what do you mean Bennett too little? He just kept saying, Bennett, too little. And finally I figured out later the cousins, not out of malice, I don't think.
The older cousins had informed him, you're too little to ride the big rides. You're relegated to the little train that goes around or the little caterpillar that just puts around in your eye with your parents. You're not big enough to get on some of the, you know, the crazy mouse or something.
So he had just heard him too little. And there's a part of all of us that's like, that's the thing, I don't want to be too little. But what I want to say to you is that being too little Um one hand it might feel frustrating, but on the other hand It's a toddler's ticket to heaven on earth. The key is if humble yourself and become like a little child. In other words, if you want to get rid of worry in your life, in a sense, Take a giant step.
Back. to something that is much simpler. where you begin to admit how limited you are. In other words, this is the irony. We think the way to worry less It is to get more of everything, but Jesus is saying the way to worry less.
is to admit how little you are. Like like a toddler. They don't know very much. And they know it. This is one of the great secrets of their happiness.
They know very little about anything that's happening. They don't know What's going to happen tomorrow? It's a beautiful thing. You can take your two-year-old to the doctor. And they don't know it until you start going in.
You say, as you're walking in, oh, we're going to go see the nice doctor now. Am I gonna get a shot?
Well, you might. Ah! And then it's over. but no concept of dread. In other words, they know so little, they have no choice but to be mindful of the moment.
Because if you don't know that much, Then You have to accept your limits and just say, well, I might as well live in this moment. Because I don't really know what's coming tomorrow. They don't have very much. They don't have stuff. They had a few toys.
But even those are just given to them. They got no bank accounts. They have no retirement plans. They have no prestigious job. And they have no fame.
And children don't Have Control. And they know it. And this is probably the most important Important piece of it all. Children, little ones, know this. They know someone else is in charge.
They don't get to choose their own bedtime. They don't get to choose. Even what they're eating for their meals. They don't get to choose where they're living. They don't get to choose what they're going to be doing next week.
They're just a two-year-old and they don't have those choices. And we think that it's through control that we're going to feel secure, but it's just the opposite. Think about this, beloved. We're just like little toddlers, we don't know much.
So, I think the older and wiser I get, The more I know that I don't know. I'll tell you: the more you walk with God, the more you'll find out you don't know about God. And the more that you learn in your particular field of study, the more you'll find out you don't know. I'll tell you, there's a whole There's a whole level of naivete. in which in some sophomoric type of Illusion that we know more than we do.
We think we know a lot, and then if you get a little smarter, you'll find out I don't know anything. Smartest people on earth realize the knowledge of this universe is so vast. That's Alan Wright. and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. The life-changing message of good news has been taught over radio from Alan Wright Ministries for quite some time now, and God has used every one of those messages.
But some broadcasts have really hit home in special ways. In gratitude of more than a decade of radio, we have assembled the most powerful, best-loved messages from each year of the first 10 and put them together in one special album. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we want to give you Alan Wright's top 10 CD album or digital download. Are you ready for some good news? Make your gift today and discover God's grace afresh with Alan Wright's top 10 of the first decade.
The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website pastorallen. org Today's teaching now continues. Here once again. is Alan Wright.
We'd worry far less if we just could admit we don't know much. Isaiah 55, verse 8 says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. It was very interesting. God comforted Job in a way that at first seemed like He was just being cruel to Job.
Job suffered as much as any human being could possibly suffer. And we know there's a whole other story going on, and God's going to restore Job. But Job doesn't know all this from his limited perspective, and Job perseveres for a long, long time. Until he starts questioning God. And after Job questions God, And after Job starts bringing all this against the Lord, then finally at Job 38:1, the Lord comes to him.
And the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? He's like saying comes into my presence and asks me questions as if they know something. Job gets quiet. And God gives them a little speech. And he starts with, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Were you there? What were you doing at that time, Job? Uh well, I didn't exist. Oh, that's right. He starts saying things.
Have you ever walked along the bottom of the ocean where the springs come up? that prov s provide all the waters of the ocean.
Well, no, I In other words, The healing for Job. in his doubt, questions, and confusion. was to be reminded You're too little. to understand all these things. You're too little.
You don't know that much. And like little children, We don't have really anything that gives us any security at all. Yeah. Oh, we have stuff. Yeah.
We've got stuff. We've got material stuff. And you can get a bunch of followers on Facebook or Instagram, and you can get the approval of other people and get people talking good about you. You can get a big bank account. But not one bit of it gives you any real sense of security.
In fact, some of the people who have the most stuff of all are the ones that are most worried. They start worrying about all of this kind of stuff. And Society itself, therefore, is just like a fear factory. It's just... producing people of fear.
The media, the commercial, the social media, all of it, in one way or another is saying you don't have enough of this. and that the way to feel more secure and worry less is to have more of this. And it is all an illusion. because not one bit of it gives you any real security in the end, does it? And light little toddlers.
Can we admit we don't have much control at all. I would say that's the other thing in pastoral ministry and in life. Then hopefully as I go grow a little bit wiser each day, I find myself admitting more and more each day. I am not in charge of this world. Amen.
If you get wiser, you'll find yourself saying a whole lot more often, well, It is what it is.
Well I'm not in charge of the hat.
Well, I wish such and such would happen, but I can't control that. A wise person becomes like a little child. and goes I'm too little to think. that I'm in charge. of this world.
And it's so freeing when you come to that place. What I'm saying, beloved. is that The secret to a worry-free life is opposite of what most people think. If you were to Whether you're a Christian or not. Be honest enough.
daringly honest enough to say, I really don't have that much knowledge. I really don't have any stuff that gives me any real security. and I have very little control. If you'd be one of the few people that would be willing to do that, It leaves you with two choices. Either one you would just be lost in existential angst.
Despair over, I can't control this, and I don't know what's going to happen. You would turn to God. Because the more you are humbled, The more that you are Aware. of your need. the more you have to turn to God.
That's the secret of a little child. They know they don't know much, they don't have much, they don't control hardly anything.
So the only way that they're going to be able to live is to get help. from someone stronger. And wiser. And Jesus brings a little child. He says, if you want to know what the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is, look right here.
This is what it's all about. It's living like this. Because guess what, beloved? Compare your knowledge to God's knowledge. My two-year-old has a very good had more knowledge compared to me than I do compared to God.
My two-year-old had more control compared to me than I have compared to an almighty God who made everything that exists. My two-year-old with a few toys had more than I have in this transient world where everything is going to turn to dust. I have to just say, I'm too little. I'm just humble. I'm just your little child.
And what that does is it makes you hunger for God to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The children of this world have one skill that we would all benefit from learning, and that is to raise your hands up and say, Hold me. To say, I need something. Children are expert toddlers know how to tug on their daddy's pants and say, Can I have one of those? No.
What about one of those? No. Can I have that?
Well, maybe we could. Because anything they get. They have to ask for it.
Someone asked me before we became parents. What are you looking forward to most? I knew exactly what I was looking for. I know exactly. And it wasn't that maybe I'll have a boy and we'll play golf together one day.
Oh, that's great, though. It wasn't it, maybe I'll have a little girl and we'll dance together one day. That's wonderful. It wasn't all that. It was very simple for me.
I couldn't wait. For there to be a human being in this world They would believe me totally. It's so precious. to have a little child. Who would look at me And if I said, I love you.
That child would believe me totally. And if I've said There is a God that made everything that exists. Here's a story let me read you about it. There was a man named Adam and a woman named Eve. And God made everything in the garden and it was beautiful and it was lovely.
That there would be a human being that would believe me totally. And then I would say, there was a man who came. who was God himself, And his name was Jesus. And he came because he loves you. And he died for you.
And you can trust in him. and have eternal life. and know that you're actually a child of God. And there'd be a human being that would totally believe me. I wanted to feel the weight of a baby in my arms who had no.
other choice but to trust that I wouldn't drop her. I wanted to have the joy of hoisting the child on my shoulders. who would giggle with delight and have no question about whether I would be strong enough to carry them. I look forward to standing in a swim pool and have a toddler jump off the edge into my arms because that toddler trusted that I would hold him strong enough. I'll tell you what God loves.
God loves for you to come to Him because you're too little to do it on your own. I'll tell you what God loves. God loves for there to be somebody that will believe the truth that He has. God loves it when there's somebody that would receive His love. Every good and perfect gift comes down from Father God, and here's your one qualification that you have for a relationship with God: you need Him.
Here's the best thing you can bring to God: you're humble. The most wonderful thing That God loves more than anything else is your simple childlike faith.
So much so the Bible says without faith it's impossible to please God. Nothing else, all your acts of righteousness, that's not what pleases him. God didn't have you, he didn't create you because he needed some servants. He created you because he's got so much love that it's got to spill out of him everywhere. And he's looking for somebody that'll receive his love like a little child will.
So Jesus did not rebuke them for their question. He said, I'm glad you asked. Yeah. The greatest in the kingdom? Is it the Pharisees?
No, definitely not the Pharisees. Is it the scholars and the teachers? No, it's not the scribes and the teachers. No, that's not. Is it James?
Is it John? Is it Peter?
Well, sorry, guys. None of you. Here, come here. Come here, buddy. Come here, buddy.
Look at it right here. They got the little boy up there giggling, squirming around. This is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And here's the good news: when Jesus gives you a command. Humble yourself and become like a little child.
It's not only possible, But the promise of its fulfillment is in the command. If he says humble yourself It must be possible. If he says, humble yourself like a little child. He's going to enable you to do it. If you want to worry less.
Giggle more? Take a look at a two-year-old this week. There is the greatest in the world. the kingdom of heaven. And that's a gospel.
Alan Wright. In our teaching, sleeping like a baby from the series, No Worries, and we've got Alan back in the studio sharing a parting good news thought for you as a takeaway here in just a moment. The life-changing message of good news has been taught over radio from Alan Wright Ministries for quite some time now. We have assembled the most powerful best love messages from each year of the first 10 and put them together in one special album. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we want to give you Alan Wright's top 10 CD album or digital download.
Are you ready for some good news? Make your gift today and discover God's grace afresh with Alan Wright's top 10 of the first decade. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Alan, I'm going to withhold the joke that says sleeping like a baby. Never had one that was up all night crying. But I do get your point. And a friend of mine says you're sleeping the sleep of the pure.
And that's probably what we're talking about. Sleeping like a baby, no worries at all. And now I could go back there and have a simpler life, right?
Well, if you've ever longed to be a child again and thought about those simpler days and um When life didn't seem so complicated and you just didn't have so many worries. There's something that's just wonderful to think that you could have a chance at childhood again. And I think that's the invitation of the gospel. When you're born anew, you're born in a spiritual way in which you're put into a trust relationship with your father. And I think he wants us to be like that.
And here's the interesting thing, Daniel: what we've learned. Is that in order to appropriate this, you must admit how much you don't know. How much? Mm stuff. You have that doesn't really matter, and how much you really don't control very much in life.
And those are things that are hard for us to admit because we like to think we know a lot, that our stuff really matters, and that we're in control, but we're not. And when you get to that point, There's something wonderfully freeing you become. like a little child. The childlike heart is just a whole big picture. of a way you can live life.
With the heart of a little child. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production. of Alan Wright Ministries.
