Why I Love Jesus — Jim Cymbala

I'd like all the kids in the building, all the young people who are seven to twelve years old, get out of your seats and come up here and sit on the floor here. I want to talk to you. I never get to talk to you.

A Childhood Lesson About Listening to Parents

I want all you kids to listen, okay? And I'm going to let the parents, you just listen in on our, my little talk to you, okay? You know, kids, I was thinking about yesterday, I was thinking about someone that I never got a chance, maybe he was an angel, maybe he was a real man, I'm not sure, but when I was seven years old, I was living in Brooklyn here, and I went to Prospect Park, and there's a lake in Prospect Park, and I didn't know how to swim, and my mother told me, don't go near the lake, don't go near the water.

So, when we got to the park, I was with some four or five other friends, seven years old, and there was the lake, and there was a ball in the lake, like a beach ball that had lost the air, and it was just on the side, so my friends started kicking the ball, you know, kicking it without going in the water, just kicking it, and I went near the edge of the water, which I shouldn't have, I wasn't listening to my parents, and I went to kick the ball, and I missed, I hit the top of the ball, and I lost my balance, and I fell in, and I went down once, and I started crying and screaming, I remember my whole seven years of life passed before me, all the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches my mother used to give me for lunch, and I was drowning, and guess what happened?

I could have died at seven years old, and it probably would have been in the paper, kid died in the lake, some man was walking by, a businessman in a suit, and he took off his jacket, put down his case, and he jumped into the water, and he pulled me out, or I would have died, and sometimes, you know, kids, God sends angels to help you, and I thank God for that man, I was too young to know him, and I was just so afraid that I was shaking when they pulled me out of the water, and then they brought me home, and my mother and dad saw me just shaking, and with the water, you know, soaking wet, and they said, what happened, and I told them what happened, I said, it's okay, get in the bath, so I got in the bath, and it was hot, they were hot water, they wanted to bathe me, and get me back, and then they finally adorned them, about 15 minutes later, I'm in the bath, it hit them, he didn't obey, he went near the water, and they went in, and they spanked me in the bath.

Have any of you, have any of you ever got a spanking? Have, if you ever got a spanking, lift your hand. How many of you have never got a spanking? You never got a spanking? I don't like you, I don't even know your name, I love you honey, that's good.

How many of you out there ever got a spanking? Okay, oh yeah, and then when my father got tired, my mother came in, because they were doing like a tag team, like Hulk Hogan, it's like wrestling. Okay, so here's when I talk to you, I want to tell you why I love God, you know why I love God?

Loving God Through Psalm 116

I want to tell you why I love him, and I want to say something that will help you, and all the adults that are here, so look at me, okay, you know I could tell you why I fell in love with my wife, I could tell you how I love my grandchildren, my children, why I love the people in the church, but why I love God, the words are best found in a psalm, so I'm going to teach you one verse today, kids, let's learn one verse, okay, I'm going to make you say it out loud, let's look up at the screen, Psalm 116, let's, I'm going to read all four, but then look up there, and I'll tell you the one we're going to learn, just verse one, I love the Lord for he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy, because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live, the cords of death entangled me, look at the trouble that the guy was in who wrote this, the anguish of the grave came upon me, that means I was in big trouble, I was in real trouble, I was overcome by trouble and sorrow, and then I called on the name of the Lord, and now it's in quotations how we prayed, oh Lord save me, so now look at the first verse, I love the Lord for he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy, say that to everybody in the church, say it out loud with me, I love the Lord for he heard my voice, he heard my cry, so you know why the psalmist is saying that, and you know why I love the Lord, among other reasons, I love the Lord because Jesus died for me, and he died for you, and he has the most beautiful plan for your life, look at me kids, don't you believe any of your friends, don't you believe anything you hear that tells you that there's a better plan for your life than the one that Jesus has, if you serve Jesus, if you trust Jesus, if you walk with Jesus, you will end up having the happiest life, you're gonna be blessed by God, he'll help you in school, he'll help you no matter what you're facing, so that's why we love the Lord, you know what the Bible says, we love him because he first loved us, that's good that you know that, but notice what the psalmist says here, he says, you know why I love the Lord, because he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy, you know why the psalmist loved God, you know why I love God, because so many times in my life I have been in trouble, I haven't known what to do, I've been short on something, or I've made mistakes, and I've been in a mess, or it was like I fell in the lake, but it wasn't a lake, I fell in a different kind of lake, and when I asked God to help me, guess what God did, he helped me, so when I tell you, look at me, that I love the Lord, I love the Lord because he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy, so what I want to leave with you today is just this simple truth, I want to make sure you all know the power of prayer, the power of prayer, say that out loud with me, just the kids, yeah that's right, the power of prayer, now what is prayer, prayer is talking to the Lord and telling him what you need, and the man who wrote that says, you know why I love the Lord, I was in a mess and he helped me, did you ever have anyone help you in life, well God will help you big time, whatever your situation is, now listen up parents, and listen up kids, the Bible says the Lord, I love the Lord because he what, heard my what, now that means when you're alone sometimes, and no one's around, you should pray out loud, pray out loud, you can pray in your heart, or you can pray out loud, and if no one's around, what I have found is very helpful is to walk, or be alone somewhere in your room, and say Lord out loud, go like this, you can pray, Lord help me today in school, or help me with this problem, or help me with that, that those kids that are bothering me, or help me with this test, or help me with these, this noise, this that's annoying me, help me so that I don't lose it, and start getting in fights, and start messing around with people, help me Lord to keep control, now here's what you're going to find in life kids, look at me, one of the problems today is that nobody's listening to anyone, I was just in Chicago for that wedding of my granddaughter, and I went into a restaurant by myself to eat, and four people sat down at the table next to me, and I looked over at them because I heard them talking, but it was like funny kind of talk, so I'm reading the newspaper, I'm all by myself, and I look over, and there four of them are eating, and they're like talking to each other, but three are texting while they're talking, they're talking to each other, but they're texting somebody else, and they're going yeah, yeah, right, yeah, right, and the other one goes yeah, I know what you mean, yeah, and no one was even listening, and I looked at them, and I went that's weird, they're eating lunch together, but nobody's really listening, now did you know what congregation, we live in a society now that's a lot of problems are happening, because nobody's listening to one another, now kids I want to say to you, you have to ask God to help you to listen to your parents, you can't turn your parents off, you can't shut your parents down, or if I talk to you, or Miss Susan and the other staff talks to you, you got to listen when people talk to you, you can't close down, I talked to a young 16 year old girl on the phone, and she wouldn't talk to me, I'm trying to help her, and you know what she would just do, yeah I guess so, so but listen, you're in trouble, you're in jail, so don't you want to get out of jail, yeah I guess so, I don't know, I know, but don't you think God has a plan for your life, I don't know, I know, but don't you want to do something with your life, you want to end up in trouble, I don't know, so what you have to learn to do, is you got to learn to listen to your parents, everybody say amen to that, but I want to say to you parents, and those of you who want to be parents, you got to listen to your children, why a lot of children have anger in them, is nobody's listening to them, nobody's listening to them, and I don't mean listen to them like, yeah get through with what you're saying, so I could tell you what to do, you got to listen to your children, because if we don't listen to one another, some of the biggest mistakes I've made in my life have been, I wasn't listening, I wasn't listening to God, I wasn't listening to people, I wasn't listening to the word of God, you got to listen to what people say, or you'll never understand them, how many say amen to that, so kids when you talk to each other, listen, because you see when you talk to her, and she's telling you something, she might be hurting, but unless you listen to her, you'll never be able to help her, and he might be hurting and facing something, but unless you listen to him, how are you going to help him, how are you going to be a friend if you don't listen, so no matter how young you are, you got to learn to listen, you can't shut people out, because this young lady that I'm trying to talk to, she's shut so many people out, now nobody can get in, nobody can get in, now let me tell you this, the one you can always talk to no matter who turns you down, no matter who doesn't have time for you, I love the Lord because He, Jesus will always listen to you, and that's what prayer is about, when you talk to Jesus, I don't care who's cursed you, I don't care what the teacher's doing in school, I don't care what's going on in your house, I don't care if there's no dad there, and if your mom's busy working, I don't care what kind of chaos is going on, if you get alone and talk to Jesus, He will always listen to you, can we all put our hands together and say amen to that, come on, He will always listen to you, and that's why, listen, that's why the psalmist is saying, I love the Lord because He heard my voice, nobody else would listen to me, but He listened to me, sometimes in life, nobody would listen to me, I didn't even know what I was going through, but when I talked to Jesus, He never says I'm too busy for you, He's never busy with another call, He's never texting when you call Him, praise God, God doesn't text, how many say amen, so He will always listen to you, now let me tell you two things that will help you young men, young ladies, this will help you, you got to talk to Jesus, because when you talk to Him, He will answer back and He will help you, now here's two things that the psalmist mentioned, who wrote that, that stop us many times from talking to Jesus, we go like this, no man, this is too messed up, no, no, this is messed up, this is really messed up, my situation is too hard, I live in the Van Der Veer projects, and the crypts are making a move on me to get me to join, and people are trying to hit me up for money, and a lot of other evil things are going on, this is too messed up, did you know it's never too messed up for Jesus to help you, if you talk to Jesus, no matter what you're going through, no matter what you're facing, Jesus can help you, because with Jesus, nothing is impossible, can we all put our hands together and say that, look at me, look at me, all of you, no matter how hard it looks, no matter how difficult it seems, like it's so confusing, or you're struggling, and it's such a mess, and you'll go, nobody can help me, this is just messed up, it's never so messed up that Jesus can't help you, Jesus will help you if you talk to him, you know who are the strongest Christians, you know who people get the most help from God, the ones who talk to Jesus the most, you know the people who are suffering the most, they don't talk to Jesus, no I don't have time, I'm not into that, but if you talk to Jesus, Jesus will help you, I love him because he heard my voice, alright, one last thing, here's another thing that will discourage you from praying sometimes, how many of you have ever done something wrong and you felt bad about it, you said something or did something wrong, lift your hand, do you know that bad feeling, you can put your hands down, and here's what's gonna happen sometimes, look, I'm gonna close, sometimes you feel bad about something you did and said, and the devil will whisper in your ear, don't talk to Jesus, don't talk to God, you messed up, you should be ashamed of yourself, that's the very time to talk to Jesus, because you know what the psalmist said, the psalmist said, I love the Lord because he what, heard my what, heard my voice, now what's the next sentence, he heard my cry for what, you know what mercy is, mercy is even though he should be punished or he should be corrected, mercy says no, I love him so much because he's asked for forgiveness, I'm not gonna do what he deserves, I'm not gonna give him what he deserves, that's mercy, now there's another word, every time you talk to Jesus, he wants to show you mercy, he doesn't wanna pay you back and hurt you, when you talk to, people will wanna hurt you sometimes, Jesus never wants to hurt you, am I right congregation, mercy is when you say, don't give the person what they deserve, that's when you showed mercy to a person, person acts nasty to you and you don't act nasty back, you're showing them mercy, I could act nasty back but no, I'm gonna show mercy and love to you, okay, now here's what a word is, means, this was a hard word for me when I was young, I didn't understand it, here's grace, grace, mercy is don't give the person what they deserve, you know what grace is?

Distinguishing Mercy and Grace

Give them something they don't deserve, mercy is don't give them what they deserve, grace is give them something they don't deserve, what's mercy? When God doesn't give you what you deserve, when you talk to Jesus, he's not there to punish you, he's there to help you, what's grace?

Giving somebody something they don't deserve and you know what the Psalmist said in the Bible, I love the Lord because he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy, we want to tell you something before we dismiss kids, we want to pray for all of you, all of us here in this building have made mistakes, we've all sinned, you lifted your hand before and said that you've made mistakes, right, we all have to, everybody here in the building who's messed up and made mistakes and failed God, lift your hand, congregation, kids, look around, look at the adults, turn around, look at all the hands that are up, you know why we're all here today?

Finding Mercy After Sin and Failure

Not because we're perfect, you know why we're here? Because God is full of mercy and he loves to help us, now my last thought, when the devil says to you, it's too hard, God will never help you, he's a liar, you talk to Jesus, he will help you, when you hear a voice in your head saying, you've messed up too bad, you've told a lie, you stole something, you did whatever, should you ever do something terrible like that, what you do is say, no, I'm running to Jesus because he loves to show mercy, no matter how bad it looks, Jesus can help you, am I right, congregation?

Calling on Jesus in Every Trouble

No matter how wrong you've been, Jesus will show you mercy, now listen to how the psalmist ends, because he heard my voice, I will call on his name forever, everybody down here say call, say it one more time, call, call, you know what that word means?

In the Bible, it means three things, see, we just use it like this, let me call somebody on the phone, right, or hey, over there, come on over here and join me, I called them, but you know what it means in the Bible?

It means every time in trouble, I'm gonna call to Jesus, I'm gonna call to him and ask him for help, morning, noon and night, just know this, forget your cell phone when you get them, forget texting, the best call you can ever make is to Jesus and you could tell him, Jesus, I need you, let's all put our hands together, I'm done with my lesson, stand up, all you kids stand up, come up close to me, pastors come, choir members come in the front, deacons come behind them, reach out, deacons reach out, choir members put your hand on the heads of these kids, kids, close your eyes, we're gonna pray, close your eyes, all of you, dear Jesus, I bring you every one of these precious youngsters, I pray that angels will watch over them, you know everything, I don't have to say a word, God, you know every situation they live in, you know the pluses, the minuses, you know the challenges, you know the dangers, but you know the potential and with you, nothing is impossible, God, I ask you to guard their minds, guard their hearts, Lord, don't let any of them get hard, keep them soft and tender before you, Lord, help them every day to talk to Jesus, I love the Lord because he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy, just like the man came and pulled me out of the lake, God, pull them out of every bad situation they ever get in, Lord, and Lord, they don't have to learn complicated prayers because the only prayer that we saw in that psalm was, Lord, save me, teach them to say, Lord, help me, Lord, save me, help me, Jesus, save me, Jesus, so bless their families, bless their moms and their dads and their grandparents and their brothers and sisters, bless them when they wake up in the morning to go to school, bless them when they come home, protect them in the playgrounds, Lord, protect them in transportation, watch over them, Lord, and now, Lord, I claim every one of them, it sounds astounding because you are so awesome, I ask it, I claim every one of them, Lord, for the blessing of God and for your purpose to be done in their lives, shine your light, Lord, into their hearts, into their minds, help them to understand what I spoke today, let that seed fall on good ground, Lord, make them young people who know how to pray, talk to Jesus, talk to Jesus, I thank you for them, they are a blessing to my life, watch over all of them, Lord, for we prayed in Christ's name, and the whole congregation said, Amen.