What Every Child Needs | Dr. John Maxwell

[Applause] all right thank you oh I'm gonna have to be good aren't huh huh it's so good to be with you today I'm so excited to be able to share I I was in Las Vegas speaking of the Convention Center yesterday to a company and took a red-eye to get back in here for today and I'll be of course with us in this series and then of course and Monday I go to Guatemala where we're literally seen transformation of the country we've been working now with the president in the leadership for four years there's a half a million people now in roundtables and lives are just being incredibly changed and we're very excited about that heart for the house what an incredible ministry is happening right here in Florida through all of the outreach of Christ fellowship and Margaret and I love love love to give to this cost and I know you have been and you will so I want just to encourage you the only way that we could expand outwardly is to stay strong inwardly you got to build that base and so it's very exciting and and I know you have been giving I know that you will and just really keep that at the top of your priority 12-hour campuses we're so glad to be with you today and the in crossings Church we're delighted to have you with us today one of our United Churches hate weed we don't mind it all when other churches come in and join us do we huh we're just one big happy family back to you remember the old Nursery Rhyme there was old woman had a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do that's Christ fellowship that's just kind of kind of where we are and I'm so excited because I have a moment to to share with you from my heart about a lesson that that I think is going to be helpful to all of us it's it's a simple lesson and it's a beautiful lesson because it's a the blueprint is from God the Father and his relationship with his son Jesus and I would like to talk to you today about what every child needs because you see we're children we may be grown children we may be parents of children we may be grandparents of children but we started into this world as children and perhaps the greatest need perhaps the greatest felt needed in the world today is is how can we add value to children what what what can we do to to help them to have a better life I would say that that would probably be if you just kind of did a worldwide poll that would proud of me at the top of people's agenda that to make sure that we do we provide the very best for our children for our grandchildren if you're a child what do you need what do you need right now that will help you become the person that you really want to be that's that's what I want to talk about and the example is how father God the Father connected with his son Jesus this is this is simply beautiful I have a wonderful friend Chris Hodges and he and I a few months back were having a dinner together and he and I got on to this conversation in fact he was one that began to really turn me on and give me the insight of how the father really connected with the son and and we're gonna just dive into this lesson because it's just gonna really help us all so yeah I know you're ready to take notes and I'm ready to dive so look at the person you're sitting beside and say to them you're about to learn something okay just look right back at them and say why do you think I brought you here we go that there were two times that God spoke to other people about his son one was baptism and one was at the Mount of Transfiguration and we're going to look at those two times because that's where God physically visibly gave a response to how he felt about his son in front of other people so let's go let's go with baptism first of all coming out of the message again the moment that Jesus came out of the baptismal waters the skies opened and he saw God's Spirit he looked like a dove descending and landing on him and along with the spirit of voice this is my son chosen and Mark Bimal of delight of my life now we're going right over to the Mount of Transfiguration this is where Peter James and John they saw Jesus Elijah and and and Moses here's here's the passage just then a light radiant cloud enveloped them and from deep in the cloud of voice this is my son marked by my love listen to him in these two settings Jesus heard from his father what every child needs to hear from their parent and I'm going to look at these three and by the way they're the same in both situations at baptism the first thing that Jesus heard and felt from the Father is I belong this is my son secondly I am loved chosen marked by my love and thirdly I am special delight of my life that's what Jesus heard from his father as he was coming out of the baptismal waters he's hearing his father say son you belong you're loved you're special at Mount of Transfiguration where we again God interacts with others around talking about his son again I belong this is my son I am loved marked by my love I am special listen to him now what is the result of a child hearing that from his father or a mother confidence and Jesus exhibits incredible confidence because he knew who he was in fact there's a passage of Scripture and I'm gonna we're gonna look at right now at the Passover in John chapter 1 just before the Passover Feast Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world to go to the Father and having loved his dear companions he continued to love them right to the end it was suppertime the devil by now had Judas son of Simon Iscariot firmly in his grip all set for the betrayal notice these this next passage of Scripture jesus knew that the father had put him in complete charge of everything he knew that he came from God he knew that he was on his way back to God so he got up he got up from the supper table set aside his robe and he put on an apron and then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet drying them off with his apron you see Jesus could do this because he had heard the father in very specific tangible ways talk about his son and he knew that others even heard what the father had said he had confidence to face difficulty because you know that right after this time he's going to go to the garden that says cemani and and then we're going to go into the time of his trials and the cross so sorry we had confidence to face difficulty because he knew he was but he but he also had confidence to surf isn't interesting in his trying our what's he doing these he's washing the disciples feet and what I want you to know is that they're say a confidence that has given a child when the parent pours into that child and gives that child these three things that is literally life-changing I have a wonderful friend Diana Kay and she has a statement that I love she said people grow into the conversations that you have around them and Jesus grew into the conversations that were around him when the father was talking to to the people about this is my son that I want you to know that he belongs he belongs to me it's it's it's it's my son and then it that that this is the son is loved by me and and and and he's special it listen to him he's got something important to say I'd like to talk to you just about note about my own father he's now 96 he's in a wheelchair he had a stroke and he's fallen a couple of times and his health isn't as good as it has been but he's still an amazing man they he just absolutely inspires me I was having lunch with him recently and he was telling me about it with 24-hour care he's in the wheelchair now and and then all of a sudden he said son look at me look at me and I'm sitting right across from the table there at the restaurant with him he said look at me look at me and I looked into his eyes he said son he said I just want you to know I'm happy I'm happy there's the same in our family my father's name is Melvin and all of us say we all want to grow up and be like Melvin and my father really did give me what I need he gave me a sense of belonging one of his favorite things as a dad was he would live in the middle child my brother Larry's older my sister Trish is younger he is lying of something and we do this about once a month he'd line us up in and he'd put us on the couch to get a chair he pulled up a chair right in front of us and we'd be over there and he'd look at him and he'd say now kids listen to me carefully I got something important to tell you as your father and he leaned into us if he had looking in point each one of his that you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine you're mine I'm Yours I'm Yours I'm Yours I'm Yours I'm Yours you're mine you're mine I'm Yours I'm Yours and we sent there's kids teenagers and chant it with him all he was saying to us is you're mine you're a Mac as well you belong we would have these Maxwell DNA meetings he'd get us around the table every month and he'd say now let's remind ourselves what Maxwell's are and what Maxwell's do Maxwell's love God more than anything I'll say they they love God you have dad we love God and then he we love people Maxwell's love people more and and he take us the ritual five things and and he said that's that's that's who you are you're a Maxwell you belong he gave us great security of love continually Express love I even in the times when we were getting disciplined I'm the middle child and you'll probably find this difficult to believe but I was probably the orneriest of the three honest to god there were times I would look at things that I wanted to do that I knew I shouldn't do and I knew that if I did them that I would be disciplined and I would pull away for five minutes and I think about how much fun it would be and then I would think about the discipline it would come and sadly for me fun almost always won literally with my parents and with the teachers trust me I was always having a good time I attend elementary school I grew up in elementary school with a with a desk in the in the coat closet I mean is they when you went to the next grade they just had this is your desk job this is because I couldn't tell my teacher be talking I would get up I'd walk around talk to a couple friends I say let's go take a walk we'll be back the teacher said what are you doing and so I got disciplined a lot and but my parents talked about love that before their discipline tell me what their everyone doing and then they say now what we understood once you know we love you of course I'd look at me and my line was always well if you really love it well they didn't love me that much and and they would discipline me but but within 15 minutes after the discipline like clockwork they come back into the room and they'd hold me in this just want to make sure that I knew that I was loved and it was so easy to trust a heavenly father because I had such a good earthly father and and III knew I was special I I knew I was special my father would continually speak into my life and say John God has incredible plans for you I want to live long enough to watch them happen and when I was in the seventh grade II he took me to meet norman vincent peale who was his mentor and I met him in seventh grade at Veterans Memorial Auditorium and spent some time with him and I can still remember walking down the steps and hearing my father say son you could be just like him you could just be just just like him and when I was a freshman meeting II Stan Lee Jones my father arranged a meeting after he spoke that day that incredible missionary to India there was a great friend of Gandhi's and and had just did an amazing amazing work and my father had us meet afterwards and had him lay over men and pray for our being over me III just doing special now I just I just want I just want to stop here because I want you to know that I won the parent lottery contest you with me so I you got we got I got a stop here because we've gone far enough about good parenting and all this stuff and and we're gonna we're all gonna get a little uncomfortable if I continue I I want you to know that I just lied didn't do anything that did I hey I just got born okay I didn't do any picking but what I really want you to know is that my father who did all those things for me had none of those things as a child himself my father broke the chain he broke the chain and I say that to you because none of us could measure up when we compare ourselves to incredible people and yet I'm hoping that this message will help you break the chain because what the father did to Jesus and for Jesus by saying those three things in front of other people every one of you and I can do this this is not beyond us every one of us can look at our our children and say you're special and and that I unconditionally love you and and and and we can say you belong to me we every one of us can do this is not this is not beyond us but but for many of us it means we have to to break the chain and as I was thinking about today and as I was praying over you the main thing I was praying for more anything else is who God may there be thousands of people this weekend break the chain may there be thousands of people who who say to themselves I'll be the first one you see though you cannot go back and make a brand new start my end my friend anybody can start from now and make a brand new end and you can and I want you to know that I you know I wrote a book I've read a lot of books and and what's so funny and you're gonna love it there's only two books I ever wrote that are out of print I mean they're RS Tamar still in print I can't even fathom it but they are but what is a books I wrote that's out apprentice is called breakthrough parenting hey nobody wanted to buy it from me and and you know and as I look at the book I understand now why but I can still remember going to my publisher because he'd ever wants to pick the name this is breakthrough parity and first of all this is stupid stupid stupid we wrote the book when our kids were teenagers some things just shouldn't happen because you're stupid do you know that and while we're writing this book with all these incredible breakthrough principles we weren't having any breakthroughs so I called the publisher I said I would like to change the title of the book he said well what do you want to change it to I said break down parenting how about breakup parenting I got a whole bunch of breaks but they're not the break that you're looking for in this book some of us kind of feel like Mark Twain who said he spent a large sum of money to trace this family tree and then spent twice as much trying to keep it a secret it was like that it was like the family that reportedly wanted there its history written up so they hired a professional biographer to do this but they were worried about how the document would handle the family's black sheep uncle George who had been executed in the electric chair for murder no problem said the biographer I'll just say the uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution he was attached to his position by the strongest of ties and his death came as a real shock [Applause] you're a little slow but I'll wait so as a father I tried to do this for my children Margaret I worked hard too to give them a sense of belonging both of our children are adopted and we had a large church while we were doing the process of adopting Elizabeth and and we didn't want anybody to know so we didn't tell anybody until literally we got her she was an abandoned child it took about eleven months almost a year to get her and and so finally the day came but the day that they came in the bulletin Margaret had done a beautiful job on adoptions which seemed especially significant to us and in the Bullitt talked about Moses who was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and Esther who was adopted by uncle Mordechai ah Jesus who was adopted by Joseph and we as Christians believers adopted by God and then him Sara Elizabeth Maxwell adopted by us and every year in December fourth we'd have an adoption day and we just try to help these our two children understand how special they were that that that they that they belonged we tried to give them a security of love unconditional love I can still remember I was at a pastors conference I heard a pastor well-known pastor talk about the fact that he'd never missed his son's basketball games and in his last season of his son he had an opportunity to go to the White House and have a dinner with the president he had a personal invitation and so I sat down with his son I said son as they said that go go go yeah I mean who gets to have dinner with the president go and and and so the father decided to do this and went to the airport Reagan on the plane and all of a sudden he thought boy my my son's gonna play ball about an hour and I've really never missed a game he didn't get on that plane he just went back got in his car and went to his high school kids game and watched his son play and and as a parent as a father I was very convicted and I was convicted because I didn't think I would have done that as a dad and I'll have to say for about three months this really bothered me I kept thinking I I think I had to go into the white house little did I know I was during the time of Promise Keepers and I was one of the speakers doing The Promise Keeper stuff and they were getting ready for the big million men deal it was gonna be in Washington DC and there were six of us that were going to speak and I was one of them and they invited to speak at that huge event in the mall and the issue was that we all had to go to Colorado Denver for a couple days as the speakers to talk about what we're going to do pray together and really get ready for this assignment and so I landed in Denver and getting ready to go to the meeting and and I called Margaret and she she said John just pray for Joel he's not having a good day so I talked to her for a few moments and I could tell he was having a very very difficult time and I'll never forget I just said you know what um I'm gonna come back home she said no no no no get to the meeting you gotta go to me you if you don't go to the meeting you can't speak in DC I said no no I'm coming home jumped on the plane went back to Atlanta and spent the two days I'd been in Denver I spent in with Joel and we just had a had a good time we just we talked and we just we just spent time together and and he knew he knew that that I had left that meeting and he knew he said with that you can't speak in DC in that it's okay son this I want to be with you I want to be with you lord I know that Coach Mac went to those other speakers and and said you know John didn't come he's got to he wanted it needed spend some time with his boy and it max okay Tom never backs the k2 look said well look if we all should probably at home with their kids and he said that so they decided to let me go ahead and speak even though I wasn't in the meeting and so coach Mac of course I didn't know this came to Atlanta flew all the way in Atlanta for a luncheon said I've got exciting news for you told me the story he said you can speak you could speak in the moat work it's good we got your place we already got the assignment set up and and he was so happy and I'm listening to him and when he's finished I looked at what said coach I can't do that I said why not I said because my son my son knows what I gave up for him and if I take it back now he won't feel the love that he needs to feel from me so I'm not gonna speak I said now I'm going to go and sure enough took my son-in-law my son and we went there and we stood in the mall with million people and we worship the Lord and had a had a tremendous day but if you talk to my son today it marked his life now I want to stop here from home because I'm uncomfortable with that story because it makes me look better than I am and I don't like stories that make me look better than I am so just please understand I told you the only one good father story I've got okay the rest of them I was just terrible okay do you understand that makes me feel more confident but but but but but what he was marked that day because he knew that he was special my nickname for my daughter Elizabeth was she's the apple of my eye so when her and Steve had two girls they got old enough I let them know that they could be apples also but my daughter is Apple one and my oldest granddaughter Maddie's apple to Ella's Apple three then it got disgusted they didn't have any more apples told my son Joel time you know you're my number one son it was easy he was the only one I had fit him in the first shot had been the only child as a grandfather I work very hard we work Margaret I work very hard to let the grandchildren know how special they are and we plan moments times events couple years ago we took them all to Hawaii for Christmas and and we sat down months before and made a laminated card for each one of the grandchildren with their name on it and then a scripture verse that we felt that fit them and then a quote that felt kind of fit with the the scripture verse and then a prayer and we put it on a card and and during that time we pulled him in one by one and we'd sit them down and we'd open up the little card for them and we'd talk to them about who they were and how we saw them and what we thought about them and how much we loved them and what we believed them and we and then we would give them that card if you would go into the homes of our children today you'd find those cards that's that's four years ago those cards are in a prominent position where those grandchildren can constantly look up and see that in their grandparents eyes they're special they build a home they're unconditionally loved and now I'm coming to the best part of the story because that's how we can parent and again I know many of you are going to break the chain you're going to be the first to do those three things for your children but now I want to come and talk to about you and me about how God our Father does this for us how he gives us a sense of belonging on the screen is a passage from first John 3:1 and it's a beautiful passage it says what marvelous love the father has extended to us just look at it we are called children of an omnipotent God loves us so much he wants us to cut wants to call us his children you know the story of the prodigal ran away spent his money messed his life up got so bad finally said I'm going to go home but I'm not going to go home as a son I'm gonna go home as a servant and what happens is when we mess our lives up we begin in our own eyes to reduce ourselves and distance ourselves from our Heavenly Father and he said I'll come as a servant I'll I'll ask for a bunk out in the barnyard and and I'll go around and do the chores you see he already lowered himself II he said I'm not worthy to be called a son but you know the story as he comes close to the house the father's looking for him runs out hugs him kills the calf puts the ring on and puts the robe on him grabs hold I meet you my son my son is gone is now home now here's what I want you to hear I don't know where you have been and I do not know what you have done and I don't know how much you maybe have disappointed yourself others or God in your eyes but I want you to know this you may think that at best you could have a servant relationship with the Heavenly Father but he has never considered that he has never thought of you as a servant a second-class citizen you say but you don't know who I am you don't know what I've done you don't know what I do you don't know what I think you don't know me I don't know you I don't have to know you do I know the father I know God the Father and God the Father loves you unconditionally right now no strings attached in the story that's how much God loves me and I just want you to know that he's always waiting and ready like the father you may not be ready you may not be looking you may not be waiting but I'm here to tell you that God that I am talking about the God that I know who the God that has changed my life can change your life the God that I'm talking about he has standing at the end of the road with his arms out and he is waiting for you to come to him no matter who you are no matter what you have done he is waiting for you to come to him he wants more than anything else for you to know that you belong to God's family but he also wants you to know that you're loved look at the passage in Ephesians 3 and I asked him Paul is praying here that both feet planted firmly in love that you'll be able to take in with all the followers of Jesus the extravagant and they are extravagant extravagant dimensions of God's love reach out and experience its breath test its length plummets depths rise to its height leave for Lives full in the fullness of God he said I want you to know and experience the extravagant love of God he said the breath what was what's the breath of God's love that means it's everyone God loves everyone you say what do you mean God loves everyone God loves everyone everyone everyone and as God's children we need to love everyone too everyone everyone the length of his lavas it goes on forever it never ends it never ends there's no end to his life the depth of us love as it reaches as low as you have been and then a little bit lower to pick you up and the height of his love is all about your potential once you become his child and you have that sense of belonging he now that potential that height of his love it's just gonna take you and lift you to a whole new level and then thirdly God wants to you to know how special you are one more passage of fishers chapter 3 how blessed is God and what a blessing he is he's the father in our master Jesus Christ he takes us to the high places of blessing in him look at this these next two words long before long before he laid down Earth's foundations he had us in mind he had settled on us as the focus of his love to be made whole and holy by his love long long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ what a pleasure he took in planning this I was talking to this week to a friend of mine that's an atheist he's one of my beautiful people that is one of my projects sometime I would have just do a whole evening on people that I dearly love that are hard cases in the kingdom and he's an atheist so we were talking and and and he was getting vulnerable and and I was sharing and I've developed years of trust with him now and and so he was being fairly open with him me and and he got to the place where I could sense that I could say this to him and III called him by name and I said I'll call this is not his name i I said Joe I know you don't believe in God but I can tell you're really missing everybody created by God misses him and I knew it and that's why I'm so passionate to share my faith because all they're waiting for somebody is to come and help them connect with that Miss in their life I prayed with him on the phone and when it was all over he said John he said thank you he said while you prayed I did what I've seen you do before I lifted my hands and I prayed - it's a beautiful thing when an atheist I love this I just love this this is my world folks it's wonderful when an atheist lifts his hand you say yeah [Music] my friend I don't know if you believe in God or not but I know this you sure missing you're missing because you have a longing to belong a desire to feel unconditional love and to believe that you're special I'm gonna ask everybody to bow their heads now here on the main campus and all the other campuses I'm going to ask you to do the same thing and pastors of those campuses as I am at the front here I want you to come to the front of your congregation right now every head bowed and every eye closed this is a beautiful environment right now for you to know God I wonder how many of you would raise your hand here and on all the campuses raise your hands because the pastor's on those campuses they're watching right now I wonder how many of you would raise your hand and say John I sure do miss God I sure do miss him and I'd love to connect with him and you just raise your hand real high all over the auditorium right now that's it just raise Fi I sure do miss you I sure do miss him and I'd love to connect with just raise him up that's it just all over the place I'm looking out I see the hands on each one of the campuses there being hands that are being raised just raise them up high I just missing John I just missing and you just raise up your hand with the others just that just raising that god bless god bless now you that have your hands raised right now you that have your hands raised up look at me okay and on the other campuses you that have your hands raised look at your pastor he's up there he's watching okay if you've got your hands raised look at me right now because I'm going to come down to the main floor and the other campus pastors are doing the same thing I'm coming to the main floor in a moment we're going to stand and you that have your hands raised I see you I see every one of you there have your hands raised you that have your hands raised I see you you want to belong I'm going to just ask you in a moment to step out and come down and meet me just as on the other campuses they do the very same thing [Music] so each pastor of each campus now it's your service

Channel: Christ Fellowship Church

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Keywords: what every child needs, Christ Fellowship, Christ Fellowship Church, Latest Message, Latest Sermon, Dr. John Maxwell, Doctor John Maxwell, John Maxwell, John C. Maxwell, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Bible, Bible teaching

Id: vrXrMM786YU

Length: 37min 38sec (2258 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 04 2018