This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day three together of our look through Matthew chapter
19. And let me begin by reading verses 13 to 15, what happened when some little
children were brought to Jesus. Verse 13, "Then little children were brought to
Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.

But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, 'Let the little
children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs
to such as these. ' When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

" I just get this picture of what happened this day, this amazing day. There's
this group of mothers and maybe some dads who take their children to see Jesus.
I can just imagine the energy and excitement in this crowd.

There's moms and kids gathering, more mothers, more children as they walk down
the street with this single purpose, "We're going to see Jesus, we're going to
see Jesus. " Just picture with me how it must have felt as the mothers shared
with their children the anticipation of meeting this man that they'd heard so
much about. "Jesus," they would say to their children, "He is a man who cares
about people like us.

They say he does miracles, he heals people, he teaches in ways that even
children can understand. " Let me say that Jesus is the promised one of God that
we've been waiting for. We're going to see Jesus for you, little one.

I want Jesus to pray for you. I want this man of God to bless you. And they
finally catch this glimpse of Jesus in the square, far down this narrow street.

And the mothers, you can sense, they start to walk faster. And the children's
chatter grows more excited, and they're getting close enough that Jesus can hear
them now, the disciples can hear them now. And the mothers, they start to cry
out his name, "Jesus, Jesus!

" They hold up their children so that they can see Jesus over the crowd, and
they gather the little children in their arms to prepare to present them to
Jesus. They're just a few feet away from Jesus, and suddenly the disciples of
Jesus stand in their way. "Stop," they say.

"Jesus doesn't have time for children. You'll have to take them away. " And you
can just sense these mothers, they stand there stunned.

They don't know what to do. They turn to walk away. "I'm sorry, sweetheart.

You won't be able to see Jesus today. " Anyone who's been around a child, anyone
who's a parent can imagine the tears of disappointment that start to fall from
the children's eyes. "Why can't we, mommy?

" At this very moment, they hear a rich, gentle, powerful voice speaking, "Do
not prevent the little children from coming to me. " And turning back, they are
greeted by this warm, welcome, open smile of Jesus, the open arms of Jesus. This
is often called the story of Jesus and the little children, but on a deeper
level, it's the story of Jesus' priorities versus the disciples' priorities.

You see, it wasn't that Jesus didn't have time for children. They didn't have
time for children. Jesus welcomed the children.

Now, just a couple of weeks ago, we studied together Jesus' teaching, "Anyone
who welcomes a little child welcomes me. " Now in the very next chapter, they're
sending children away. Now I know he was talking about children who believe in
me, but it's the same sense of why would you send someone away from Jesus?

How did they miss what Jesus was saying? Now, they may not have been listening.
It's possible, but it's also possible they may have spiritualized it.

He's not talking about this situation. He's not talking about this day. And it's
almost certain that they could not see past the cultural barriers that they had.

Children just weren't important. If children weren't important to them, how
could they be important to Jesus? As I read this chapter, as I read this
passage, it challenges me.

It causes me to ask some questions because I know I can miss God's priorities
for my life. If Jesus' own disciples could miss it, I can miss it. There are
three questions that this passage causes me to ask.

I hope you'll ask them along with me. First question, Lord, where are my
priorities keeping me from seeing your priorities? The disciples' priorities
that day was the rest of the crowd, or it may have been getting Jesus through
the crowd so they could get to lunch or dinner or whatever was next.

Oftentimes our priorities are what's next. Where are my priorities keeping me
from seeing your priorities? This has happened too many times in my life.

So many times that I know it's a prayer I must often pray because the things
that become important to me, they may have been important to God, they may still
be important to God, but in that moment it's not the most important thing I need
to be doing. It's not what God wants me to be doing. So Lord, where are my
priorities keeping me from seeing your priorities?

Second question is obviously, Lord, what are your priorities? What are your
priorities? What is it that you sense, that you feel is important in this
moment?

Help me to hear from you, not just what I thought in the past, what I'm thinking
now. Keep my mind open to what you're doing. What are your priorities?

And then the third question is, Lord, what can I do today that's a priority to
you? What can I do right now? Not next week, not next year.

What can I do today that's a priority to you? Jesus prayed for these children,
laid his hands on them, prayed for them, and then he went on. He didn't stay
with them all day long.

He did exactly what the mothers asked him to do, what the parents asked him to
do. He prayed for them and then he went on. Now in this story and what happens,
the mothers coming, the children coming and interrupting Jesus in this crowd and
him praying for them, there is a truth that you want to not miss.

Don't miss this. God's priority for you today may very well come in an
interruption. God's priority for you today may not be something you planned.

It may very well come in an interruption. They thought, the disciples thought,
the children were in interruption. Jesus said the kingdom of God belonged to
such as them.

My friend Buddy Owens often likes to talk about, instead of studying the steps
of Jesus, study the stops of Jesus, the times when Jesus was interrupted, when
he had to stop. And as you study through the Gospels, you find Jesus' life was
filled with interruptions. So if you think you're too important to ever be
interrupted, that means you're too important for relationships because
relationships are often an interruption.

You say, "Well, they're never an interruption for me. " Well, that's because
you're controlling them all. And that's not a relationship, that's you being in
control.

When you have a true relationship, that means the other person can call you at a
time that's not convenient for you. When you have a true relationship, that
means you can be interrupted by that person. And Jesus had a true relationship
with everyone.

So he was often interrupted. All of his miracles are a result of an
interruption. His healings happen when somebody interrupts him.

He didn't plan to go into a town, make a date two or three weeks in advance to
say, "By the way, blind man, by the way, Jairus, by the way, whoever's facing
this problem, I'm going to come in and I can meet with you at 10. 30. Let's see,
I've got another appointment at 11.

30. So it'll have to be 10. 30.

I can meet with you and we can do a healing. " That's not how it happened. It
was an interruption.

And out of that interruption, Jesus worked. God's priority for you today may
very well come in an interruption. I'm not telling you not to make plans.

We still need to make our plans. It's good to make plans. It's good to have
plans that work towards the future.

You should do that. But you and I have to have the humility to admit that many
times the priority of God in our day was not the plan that I was working toward
or have been working toward for a year. The priority of God in that day was the
five-minute interruption where I got to give a word of encouragement from God,
the 10-minute interruption where I got to tell someone that God loves them, the
15-minute interruption where I got to tell someone that their sin is forgiven
because of what Jesus did.

That's the interruption that changes eternity. So when you think about this
story of the children and the disciples, I always put myself in the place of the
disciples and recognize how easily I could have been the one who stood in the
way of these children that day. So let me ask you those questions one more time.

Lord, where are my priorities keeping me from seeing your priorities? Lord, what
are your priorities? And Lord, what can I do today that's a priority to you?

As we pray together, let's just pray and say, "Jesus, that's the question I ask.
What are your priorities and what can I do today? What do you show me that's a
priority to you?

" It may come to my mind right now, something you want me to do, or it may come
in an interruption. Help me to recognize it, not to walk right past it. Help me
to see that it's there, an opportunity to serve and to love someone.

Help me to see how you can work through me in that circumstance. I can't create
a need in somebody else's life. I need to be heard and need to be ministered to,
but their problems can create a need and that's when they come to me, Jesus.

I know that. So in that moment, I know I can serve them. I pray that you help me
to recognize that moment today.

I pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow we get to look together at Jesus' talk
with a rich young ruler.