In this message, Coleton explores what it means to receive the kingdom of God like a child. Using the moment when Jesus welcomes little children while His disciples try to turn them away, Coleton highlights Jesus’ radical teaching: only childlike people can experience the life of the kingdom.Coleton frames the teaching around three key qualities children naturally possess, which Jesus wants His followers to imitate—not childish immaturity, but childlike virtues:⸻1. Be Dependent Like a ChildChi...
In this message, Coleton explores what it means to receive the kingdom of God like a child. Using the moment when Jesus welcomes little children while His disciples try to turn them away, Coleton highlights Jesus’ radical teaching: only childlike people can experience the life of the kingdom.
Coleton frames the teaching around three key qualities children naturally possess, which Jesus wants His followers to imitate—not childish immaturity, but childlike virtues:
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1. Be Dependent Like a Child
Children depend on their parents for everything—food, comfort, direction, and provision. Coleton humorously illustrates this with a barrage of questions his son Teddy asks in just a few minutes, revealing how constant and uninhibited children are in their need.
In contrast to earthly parents who eventually encourage independence, God never asks us to grow out of needing Him.
Jesus invites us to stay needy, to come to Him when weary, and to cast all our cares on Him (Matt 11:28; 1 Peter 5:7). The quality of life we experience is directly connected to who or what we depend on—Jesus or ourselves.
“Whoever or whatever we depend on determines the kingdom or kind of life we experience.”
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2. Trust Like a Child
Children are quick to believe. Coleton recalls how children after seeing Peter Pan jumped off beds thinking they could fly. While not endorsing naivety, he urges us to trust Jesus like that—not because the logic always checks out, but because He is trustworthy.
The Bible is full of people who experienced the kingdom of God because they took God at His word: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Mary, and more. They didn’t understand everything, but they obeyed—and saw God move.
Many of Jesus’ commands—love your enemies, forgive freely, give sacrificially—don’t make sense to the adult mind. But childlike trust leads to experiencing divine results. The more we rely on our understanding, the less we see of God’s kingdom.
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3. Submit to His Authority Like a Child
Children live under authority. Their lives are shaped by rules and boundaries from parents. Coleton points out that while kids grow up and grow out of their parents’ authority, we are never meant to grow out of God’s authority.
In Scripture, the people who experience miracles are those who do what Jesus says. Submission isn’t loss—it’s gain. Life under Jesus’ authority leads to peace, joy, and blessing.
“If you will let me lead you, submit to my authority—you will experience my rule and reign over your life. My rule and reign is peace and joy and love and hope.”
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Final Contrast: The Childlike vs. The Adultlike
Mark’s story ends with a rich young man who walks away from Jesus sad because he can’t be childlike. He can’t depend, trust, or submit. He clings to his wealth and control.
In contrast, the children in the story are scooped up into Jesus’ arms. They receive more than they came for—His love, His blessing, and His presence.
The message is clear: you can walk away sad or walk away scooped into the arms of Jesus. It depends on whether you’re willing to be childlike.
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Discussion Questions
1. Dependence:
• What’s one area of your life where you’re trying to be independent when Jesus is asking you to depend on Him?
• What would it look like to cast your cares on Him this week?
2. Trust:
• Is there a command from Jesus that doesn’t make sense to you right now—but you feel called to obey it anyway?
• What keeps you from trusting Jesus fully?
3. Authority:
• Where in your life are you resisting Jesus’ authority?
• How might your life be different if you submitted that area to Him?
4. Childlikeness vs. Adultlikeness:
• In what ways have you grown out of childlike faith?
• What would it look like to return to a posture of humility, dependence, and obedience?
5. Jesus on the Cross:
• How does seeing Jesus on the cross give you confidence to depend on, trust in, and submit to Him?
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Author Quotes Used in the Sermon
“After the first production of the play, Peter Pan, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904), I had to add something to the play at the request of parents. It was that no one would be able to fly until they received fairy dust. This was because many children had gone home and tried flying from their beds and needed surgical attention.” – J. M. Barrie
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Scriptures Referenced
• Mark 10:13–16 – Let the children come; receive the kingdom like a child.
• Matthew 11:28 – “Come to me… I will give you rest.”
• 1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast your cares on Him…”
• Philippians 4:6 – “Don’t worry, pray about everything.”
• Luke 18:1 – “Pray and never give up.”
• John 15:5 – “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
• Isaiah 40:29–31 – “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.”
• Hebrews 4:16 – “Approach the throne of grace with confidence…”
• James 1:5 – “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God…”
• Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…”
• Matthew 5 – “Love your enemies.”
• Ephesians 4 – “Forgive as Christ forgave you.”
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Closing Challenge
Where in your life are you too adult for the kingdom of God? Jesus is inviting you back into His arms—into a life of dependence, trust, and obedience. The path to joy, freedom, and blessing is not found by being stronger, smarter, or more self-reliant—but by becoming childlike once again.
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