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The Guardian - Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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Speaker 1: We are going to the Gospel of St. John, chapter
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Speaker 1: number 14, verse number 1. There you will find our
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Speaker 1: assignment for this morning. It is not often that we
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Speaker 1: go to John 14 without a casket in front. of
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Speaker 1: the building, but we're going there today because there's something
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Speaker 1: that God wants us to learn out of the text.
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Speaker 1: It is John 14. I wanted to read the whole verse,
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Speaker 1: but I figured it might be too much for you.
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Speaker 1: So I got 16 through 27 in the hopes that
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Speaker 1: you might at your own leisure go through the whole
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Speaker 1: context from which the text is extrapolated and thereby gain
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Speaker 1: extra wisdom as to what Jesus is summarizing to his
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Speaker 1: disciples right before he exits. You know the text, let
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Speaker 1: not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe
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Speaker 1: also in me. In my Father's house there are many
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Speaker 1: mansions there. If it were not so, I would have
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Speaker 1: told you so. I go. Yeah. See, I knew you
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Speaker 1: knew it. I go to prepare a place for you
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Speaker 1: that where I am, there you may be also. My
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Speaker 1: cousin's funny. Thank God I didn't see you, man. Give
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Speaker 1: God for my cousin in the house. Amen. Amen. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Go over there and take a picture of him. Yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: And if I go, I will come again and receive
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Speaker 1: you unto myself. Philip said, have I been so long
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Speaker 1: time with you? Philip said, show us the Father, and
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Speaker 1: it suffices us. Jesus said, have I been so long
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Speaker 1: time with you, and you still don't know that I
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Speaker 1: and my Father are one? If you have seen me,
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Speaker 1: you have seen the Father, for I am in the Father,
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Speaker 1: and the Father is in me. My God, that's some
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Speaker 1: good stuff. We're going to start at the 16th verse.
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Speaker 1: I was up above it, but we're going to go
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Speaker 1: to 16. And we're going to read it out in
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Speaker 1: the Amplified Bible because the Amplified Bible does just that.
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Speaker 1: It amplifies the text so that you can see that
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Speaker 1: the particular words that are invested in the text have
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Speaker 1: variances of meaning that you might get a deeper, richer,
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Speaker 1: and fuller experience as you go into the Word of God.
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Speaker 1: The Gospel of St. John, chapter 14, verse 16. When
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Speaker 1: you have it, say amen. If you can't find it,
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Speaker 1: say pray for me. Don't fake it.
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Speaker 2: And I will ask the Father and he will give
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Speaker 2: you another helper, comforter, advocate, intercessor, counselor, strengthener, Stand by.
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Speaker 1: Good God have mercy. You're going to let me have
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Speaker 1: a comforter, a helper, an advocate, an intercessor, a counselor,
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Speaker 1: a strengthener, a standby to be with you forever. Let's
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Speaker 1: go on. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot
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Speaker 1: receive and take it and take to its heart because
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Speaker 1: it does not see him or know him, but you
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Speaker 1: know him because he, the Holy Spirit, remains with you
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Speaker 1: continually and will be where? Will be in you. I
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Speaker 1: will not leave you. As orphans, comfortless, bereaved, and helpless.
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Speaker 1: I want to read that again. I will not leave
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Speaker 1: you as orphans, comfortless, bereaved, and helpless. I will come
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Speaker 1: back to you. After a little while, the world will
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Speaker 1: no longer see me. But you will. You will see
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Speaker 1: me because I live. You will. Live also. On that day,
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Speaker 1: when that time comes, you will know for yourselves that
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Speaker 1: I am in my Father and ye are in me
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Speaker 1: and I am in you. Come on. The person who
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Speaker 1: has my commandments and keeps them is the one who
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Speaker 1: really loves me. No shenanigans, no slipping, sliding, ducking, hiding,
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Speaker 1: night riding. But the one who keeps my commandments and
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Speaker 1: really keeps them is the one who really loves me.
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Speaker 1: And whoever really loves me will be loved by my father.
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Speaker 1: And I will love him and reveal myself to him.
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Speaker 1: I will make myself known. Real, Jesus is real to me.
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Speaker 1: So many people doubt him, but I can't live without him.
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Speaker 1: Jesus is real to me. I will make myself, I
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Speaker 1: will make myself real to him. Come on. Judas, not Iscariot,
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Speaker 1: asked him, Lord, what has happened that you are going
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Speaker 1: to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, if anyone really loves me, he will keep
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Speaker 1: my word, my teachings, and my father will love him
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Speaker 1: and we will come to him and make our dwelling
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Speaker 1: place with him. Ain't that something that God says, I
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Speaker 1: and my father, we will come together and make our
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Speaker 1: dwelling place with him. Do you know God lives with you?
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Speaker 1: One who does not really love me does not keep
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Speaker 1: my words, and the words, the teaching which you hear
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Speaker 1: is not mine, but it's the Father's who sent me.
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Speaker 1: I have told you these things while I am still
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Speaker 1: with you, but the helper, comforter, advocate, intercessor, counselor, strengthener, standby,
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name,
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Speaker 1: in my place to represent me, in my place to represent,
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Speaker 1: in my place to represent me and act on my behalf.
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Speaker 1: He will teach you all things and he will help
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Speaker 1: you remember everything that I have told you. Peace I
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Speaker 1: leave with you. I felt anxiety leave out the room
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Speaker 1: when I said that. Peace I leave with you. My
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Speaker 1: perfect peace I give to you. Not as the world
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Speaker 1: gives do I give to you. Do not let your
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Speaker 1: heart be troubled nor let it be afraid. Let my
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Speaker 1: perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you
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Speaker 1: courage and strength for every challenge. Good God Almighty. You
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Speaker 1: can go home now. That's a sermon all by itself.
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Speaker 1: What fascinated me about the text is when it said
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Speaker 1: that Jesus said, I will not leave you as an orphan.
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Speaker 1: I will not abandon you. I will not leave you
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Speaker 1: as orphans, comfortless, bereaved, and helpless. I will come back
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Speaker 1: He's setting us up for the advent of the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit to take up residence in the world, our advocate,
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Speaker 1: our helper, our standby. And this morning I'm going to
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Speaker 1: call him the guardian. My subject is the guardian. Eternal
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Speaker 1: and all wise God, we come before you now. Humble
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Speaker 1: as we know how. Asking you to sanctify the word
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Speaker 1: in our hearts. Let the word bring forth fruit in
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Speaker 1: our lives. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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Speaker 1: You may be seated. Yeah, I'm home. First time I
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Speaker 1: used this text publicly, I was 19 years old, preaching
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Speaker 1: a funeral for a 17-year-old boy who was killed in
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Speaker 1: a car wreck. I brought the family in. Let not
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Speaker 1: your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
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Speaker 1: in me. In my father's house, there are many mansions there.
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Speaker 1: If it were not so, I would have told you.
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Speaker 1: I go to prepare. a place for you that where
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Speaker 1: I am, you may be also. And anytime we associate
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Speaker 1: a text with a circumstance, sometimes we compromise the context
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Speaker 1: from which the text is taken because our point of
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Speaker 1: reference is limited to homegoing services and funerals. But in actuality,
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Speaker 1: this is not a text of bereavement. This is not
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Speaker 1: a text that is meant to comfort people in times
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Speaker 1: of emotional chaos and distress. This is a text that
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Speaker 1: is given to explain to a nervous and restless group
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Speaker 1: of disciples the feeling of abandonment that they are facing.
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Speaker 1: The time has come in their life for Christ to
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Speaker 1: step away in his physical form and they are being
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Speaker 1: weaned from him. Much like many of the soldiers who
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Speaker 1: go off to war and they kiss their kids and
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Speaker 1: their wives goodbye and say, let not your heart be troubled.
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Speaker 1: I will come back to you. It is a promise
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Speaker 1: that he gives on his exit that they are not abandoned,
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Speaker 1: but that he will give them life. a guardian, another comforter,
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Speaker 1: an alos pericletes, one who stands alongside to help and
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Speaker 1: to aid and to give comfort. He is there to
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Speaker 1: make sure that you don't suffer in my physical absence.
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Speaker 1: He is there and has been with you and shall
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Speaker 1: be in you. It was interesting to note that one
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Speaker 1: of the fullest classes that we had on Wednesday night
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Speaker 1: has been on the Holy Spirit itself. Because we want
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Speaker 1: to activate the Holy Spirit. We want to know that
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Speaker 1: he is more than goose pimples and chill bumps, but
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Speaker 1: that he is a resident force in our lives. He's
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Speaker 1: not a feeling in our lives. He is a force
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Speaker 1: in our lives. He is not an emotion. He is
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Speaker 1: the personality of God revealed through human bodies. He is
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Speaker 1: the light that lights the lantern. We are the lantern,
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Speaker 1: but he is the light. I was looking at the
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Speaker 1: moon last night. It was a quarter moon out and
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Speaker 1: it was just glowing so beautifully in the night. And
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Speaker 1: I said to a friend of mine, I said, the
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Speaker 1: moon has no light of its own. It has no
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Speaker 1: light of its own. It is at the mercy of
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Speaker 1: its ability to see the sun. And to the degree
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Speaker 1: to which it sees the sun, it illuminates in direct
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Speaker 1: proportion to that visibility of That it experiences with the sun.
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Speaker 1: The only reason it is only lit to a quarter
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Speaker 1: is because of the obscurity of the vision. So the
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Speaker 1: clearer the vision, the brighter the light. So you might
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Speaker 1: have some half moon Christian right now that are going
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Speaker 1: to get a vision that's going to take them to
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Speaker 1: half moon that takes them to, y'all don't get it,
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Speaker 1: to full moon if you keep walking with him. So
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Speaker 1: the moon is just a reflection of of the sun
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Speaker 1: in another part of the world. And that's what we
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Speaker 1: are to be, created in his image, a mirror, a
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Speaker 1: reflection of his glory. There are many things, and one
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Speaker 1: of them we're going to talk about today is a
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Speaker 1: reflection of his glory. What's going to help us to
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Speaker 1: understand is that this is an allegory in its essence,
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Speaker 1: as a story or a picture or a piece of
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Speaker 1: art that uses symbols to convey a hidden or ulterior meaning,
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Speaker 1: typically a moral or political one. This is an allegory.
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Speaker 1: In other words, I'm not saying that it didn't happen.
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Speaker 1: I'm saying that it has a double meaning. In its
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Speaker 1: most simple meaning, and concise definition an allegory is when
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Speaker 1: a piece or visual or narrative media uses one thing
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Speaker 1: to stand in for a different hidden idea the reason
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Speaker 1: that the idea is hidden from us is that what
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Speaker 1: Jesus is saying is consistent to what the bridegroom would
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Speaker 1: say to the bride okay Because in Jesus' day, they
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Speaker 1: took marriage a little differently than we do today. At
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Speaker 1: the time you were engaged, you were actually married, even
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Speaker 1: though the marriage hadn't been consummated. That time period, you
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Speaker 1: had entered into an agreement that was serious and committed.
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Speaker 1: That's why Joseph was going to give Mary a bill
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Speaker 1: of divorcement. Though he had not yet married her, he
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Speaker 1: had betrothed her. He had entered into commitment with her,
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Speaker 1: and that was a part of the marriage ceremony process.
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Speaker 1: What Jesus is saying to the disciples has the reflection
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Speaker 1: and the relevance of what marriage meant in the Bible days.
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Speaker 1: Can I go deeper? Marriage mimics the gospel. It is
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Speaker 1: a shadow of how God brings us into the commonwealth
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Speaker 1: of Israel. In its purest form, marriage is adoption. Marriage
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Speaker 1: is adoption. When I met my wife, she was Sarita Jameson.
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Speaker 1: But when I married her, I gave her my last
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Speaker 1: name and adopted her into the Jakes family. Are you
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Speaker 1: hearing what I'm saying? You in? Yeah, after 43 years,
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Speaker 1: if it didn't take by now, it's not going to take.
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Speaker 1: The whole theme of weddings are important to God. Marriage
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Speaker 1: is important to God. It means a lot to God.
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Speaker 1: Your marriage is important to God, but marriage in general
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Speaker 1: as an institution is important to God because it mimics
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Speaker 1: his relationship with us, not your marriage. Marriage itself mimics
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Speaker 1: his relationship with us. The church is often called the
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Speaker 1: bride of Christ for that reason. All throughout the Bible,
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Speaker 1: God talks about marriage over and over again. From the
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Speaker 1: book of Genesis, where he begins the very first thing
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Speaker 1: he does before he establishes the church. Before he establishes
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Speaker 1: a community, he starts with marriage. He puts Adam into
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Speaker 1: a deep sleep, pulls a rib out of his side,
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Speaker 1: and makes Eve to be his bride, and performs the
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Speaker 1: first marriage in the book of Genesis. From the book
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Speaker 1: of Genesis to the book of Revelations, where we're at
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Speaker 1: the marriage supper of the Lamb, the whole Bible is
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Speaker 1: full of inferences and references here. to marriage. In the
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Speaker 1: second chapter of John, it opens with the marriage at Cana.
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Speaker 1: So we see marriage in Genesis. We see marriage in Revelations.
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Speaker 1: We see marriage in the Gospel of St. John. We
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Speaker 1: see it over and over again. We see references to marriage.
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Speaker 1: He tells one prophet to go and marry a harlot.
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Speaker 1: It is not so much that he wants the prophet
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Speaker 1: to be married to the prostitute, but he is trying
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Speaker 1: to show us an image, an allegory of what he
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Speaker 1: is going through being married to his people. maybe your
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Speaker 1: marriage he is using as an allegory to show you
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Speaker 1: what it feels like for him to be married to
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Speaker 1: us I told you they wasn't going to like this
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Speaker 1: message So the second chapter of John opens with Jesus
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Speaker 1: at the marriage at Cana. In the times of Christ,
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Speaker 1: a Jewish wedding was a joyous and important event that
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Speaker 1: typically lasted for several days. Days. I don't know how
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Speaker 1: they afforded it. We did it in one day and
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Speaker 1: I almost went broke. The wedding was typically held in
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Speaker 1: a couple's home or in a rented space or in
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Speaker 1: a banquet hall or a palace. The day of the
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Speaker 1: wedding was considered a holiday and many friends and people
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Speaker 1: would come to celebrate this particular magnanimous occasion. The wedding
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Speaker 1: started with the betrothal, which was a simple ceremony where
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Speaker 1: the couple would pledge love. to marry each other. It
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Speaker 1: started way back then. Some marriages took longer than others.
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Speaker 1: After the betrothal, the couple would wait for a few
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Speaker 1: months or even years for the wedding to take place.
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Speaker 1: During this time, the couple would prepare for the wedding
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Speaker 1: and not just the couple, but the bridegroom would go
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Speaker 1: and build a house for his wife because he understood
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Speaker 1: that it was his responsibility to provide. So I want
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Speaker 1: to be sure you get this. So he engaged her,
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Speaker 1: but he says, I can't marry you. I have to
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Speaker 1: go prepare a place. for you. And if I go away,
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Speaker 1: I will come again and receive you unto myself that
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Speaker 1: where I am, there you may be also. And so
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Speaker 1: Jesus is speaking in language that is familiar to the
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Speaker 1: Jewish people. He's speaking broom talk. He's speaking room talk.
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Speaker 1: He says, in my father's house, there are many mansions there.
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Speaker 1: If it were not so, I would have told you so.
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Speaker 1: But none of them are suitable for you. I go
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Speaker 1: to prepare a place for you that where I am,
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Speaker 1: there you may be also. And if I go, I
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Speaker 1: will come again. And receive you unto myself. Hallelujah. This
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Speaker 1: is marriage talk. This is wedding talk. This is what
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Speaker 1: the wedding ceremony is symbolic of. When we say that
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Speaker 1: the wedding is sacred. It's not sacred because Jimmy and
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Speaker 1: Susie are standing there. Because Jimmy might not be sacred.
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Speaker 1: And Susie might not be sacred either. But they could be.
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Speaker 1: I'm not taking anything away from her. But the institution
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Speaker 1: itself is an icon and an allegory of a relationship
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Speaker 1: that has a much deeper meaning. than what society is
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Speaker 1: talking about today. This is not a sociological or a
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Speaker 1: political issue. From the text, it is a theological issue.
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Speaker 1: It always was and it always will be because marriage
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Speaker 1: is a picture of the relationship that God has with
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Speaker 1: us in that he has adopted us and given us
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Speaker 1: his name. Did he not say, whatsoever you ask the
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Speaker 1: Father in my name, that will I do? Did he
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Speaker 1: not say, whatsoever you do in word or deed, do
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Speaker 1: it all in the name of the Lord Jesus? He's
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Speaker 1: given us his name as a sign of betrothal, of adoption.
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Speaker 1: I will not leave you orphaned. I will not leave
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Speaker 1: you doubting who you are. I will not leave you
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Speaker 1: at the mercy of anybody else excepting you. in order
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Speaker 1: for you to be whole, I will come to you.
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Speaker 1: Are you hearing what I'm saying to you? On the
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Speaker 1: day of the wedding, the bride and the groom would
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Speaker 1: start their day with the church service, followed by a
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Speaker 1: procession to a wedding ceremony. They would go through all
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Speaker 1: of these routines. The wedding ceremony typically took place in
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Speaker 1: a synagogue, and it was led by a rabbi. During
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Speaker 1: the ceremony, the bride and groom would exchange vows and
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Speaker 1: make promises to each other. Make promises to each other.
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Speaker 1: No wonder we have precious promises here. He made promises
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Speaker 1: to us like any groom would make to his bride.
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Speaker 1: Precious promises have been extended to you. And the good
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Speaker 1: thing about his promise, he always keeps his promises. He said,
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Speaker 1: I'm not a man that I should lie or the
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Speaker 1: son of man that I should repent. Have I not
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Speaker 1: spoken it? Shall I not perform it? Have I not
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Speaker 1: said it? Will I not make it good? After the
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Speaker 1: wedding ceremony, there would be a grand feast, which was
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Speaker 1: attended by the family and the friends and and the
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Speaker 1: members of the community. The feast typically lasted for several days.
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Speaker 1: That's why you hear the book of Revelations talking about
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Speaker 1: the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is a celebration
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Speaker 1: of after the wedding has taken place, we go into
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Speaker 1: the marriage supper of the Lamb. In fact, on the cross,
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Speaker 1: Jesus was given his body to his bride. Oh, you're
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Speaker 1: going to get with me in a minute. On the cross,
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Speaker 1: he was giving his body to the bride. In the resurrection,
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Speaker 1: the bride will give her body to him, and we
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Speaker 1: will enter into the merry supper of the Lamb. Do
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Speaker 1: you hear what I'm saying to you? Let not your
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Speaker 1: heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
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Speaker 1: In my Father's house, there are many mansions there. If
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Speaker 1: it were not so, I would have told you. So
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Speaker 1: I go to prepare a place for you. Remember when
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Speaker 1: Jesus rose from the dead and Mary saw him out
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Speaker 1: in the garden and she called him Rabboni. And he said,
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Speaker 1: touch me not for I have not yet ascended to
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Speaker 1: my father. What he means by that is I've got
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Speaker 1: to put the blood on the mercy seat. I've got
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Speaker 1: to sanctify a place for you. I've got to consecrate
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Speaker 1: a place for you that where I am, there ye
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Speaker 1: may be also. So don't contaminate my blood with your
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Speaker 1: touch because I'm on a mission. I've made a promise.
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Speaker 1: That I've got to go to prepare a place for you.
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Speaker 1: I did not rise from the dead just to prove
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Speaker 1: to you that I am Lord. I rose from the
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Speaker 1: dead so that my perfect, holy, spotless blood could hit
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Speaker 1: the mercy seat and prepare a place for you to
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Speaker 1: be able to dwell in the presence of the Lord.
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Speaker 1: Do you hear what I'm saying to you? So all
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Speaker 1: the friends and the family would gather around for the
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Speaker 1: supper that came at the end. It was a celebration
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Speaker 1: of love, of the commitment of the bride and groom.
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Speaker 1: Are you hearing what I'm saying to you? So the
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Speaker 1: Jewish wedding took place Quite some time to take place.
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Speaker 1: That's where you get the parable. About the five wives.
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Speaker 1: And the five foolish virgins. Who kept their oil lamps.
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Speaker 1: Trimmed and burning. Waiting for the bridegroom coming. Because no
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Speaker 1: man knew the day nor the hour. That the bridegroom
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Speaker 1: would come back. They knew he was coming back. They
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Speaker 1: knew he had promised to come back. They knew he
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Speaker 1: had betrothed us. They knew that he had declared to
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Speaker 1: us that we were his. They didn't know how long
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Speaker 1: it would take him to prepare a place, but we
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Speaker 1: were supposed to keep our lamps lit. Trimmed and burning
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Speaker 1: for we did not know what day the master would
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Speaker 1: come back for us. And this is why the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit is so important to us because keeping your lamps
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Speaker 1: trimmed and burning is an indication of having oil in
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Speaker 1: your lamp. Oil in your lamp. Is keeping yourself ready
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Speaker 1: so that whenever he comes. If he comes before I
26:14
Speaker 1: get through preaching. If he comes before I close the service.
26:18
Speaker 1: If he comes before you leave the parking lot. If
26:21
Speaker 1: he comes in a suddenly situation. Immediately, if he comes
26:26
Speaker 1: in a flash, we'll be ready because we have the
26:29
Speaker 1: oil of the Holy Spirit down inside of us, which
26:33
Speaker 1: is a guardian that lights the way so that we
26:37
Speaker 1: can see the Father. Philip says, show us the Father,
26:41
Speaker 1: and it suffices us. Jesus said, have I been so
26:44
Speaker 1: long time with you, and you still don't know that
26:47
Speaker 1: I and my Father are one? If you have seen me,
26:51
Speaker 1: you have seen the Father. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go
26:56
Speaker 1: ye out to meet him. So here I go with
26:59
Speaker 1: my light. which is coming from my oil because I
27:03
Speaker 1: have the guardian down inside of me and I can
27:06
Speaker 1: see him. And Philip said, how can we go? We
27:10
Speaker 1: don't know the way. We've never been there. Jesus said,
27:13
Speaker 1: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
27:18
Speaker 1: man cometh unto the Father save he come by me.
27:21
Speaker 1: And all of the Bible over and over again says,
27:24
Speaker 1: There is an emphasis on marriage. Jacob worked seven years
27:29
Speaker 1: that he might have Rachel, and instead he gets her
27:33
Speaker 1: sister Leah and has to work another 14 years before
27:38
Speaker 1: he gets Rachel, the love of his life. It took
27:42
Speaker 1: a long time, but he came back for her. We
27:46
Speaker 1: see it over and over again, the importance of of
27:50
Speaker 1: marriage in the scriptures is symbolic of a much bigger issue.
27:55
Speaker 1: I am not saying that your marriage is a picture
27:59
Speaker 1: of Christ and the church. I'm saying the institution, the ideology,
28:04
Speaker 1: the concept of marriage itself is a picture of Christ
28:09
Speaker 1: and the church. That did he not say in the
28:12
Speaker 1: Old Testament, I'm married to the backslider. Yeah, you threw
28:18
Speaker 1: him out of the church, but I'm still married to
28:21
Speaker 1: the backslider. That's why I told the prophet to go
28:25
Speaker 1: marry a prostitute and I let him go redeem her
28:30
Speaker 1: off the slave table because that's what I did with you.
28:34
Speaker 1: I promised you and you went a whoring and had
28:37
Speaker 1: strange children, but I still want you. And if I
28:41
Speaker 1: have to buy you back, that's what redemption means, to
28:45
Speaker 1: buy you back. I bought you back off the slave trade.
28:48
Speaker 1: You embarrassed me, but I still bought you. You made
28:53
Speaker 1: me ashamed, but I still brought you. You scandalized my love,
28:57
Speaker 1: but I still brought you. You took my promises for granted,
29:01
Speaker 1: but I still bought you. And if I have to
29:03
Speaker 1: go down to the slave auction, I see you standing
29:07
Speaker 1: there butt naked on the table. You're still my wife.
29:11
Speaker 1: Your hair is all over your head. Your makeup is smudged,
29:15
Speaker 1: but you're still my wife. And I will pay the
29:18
Speaker 1: price that is necessary to redeem you unto myself. Notice
29:23
Speaker 1: it is not dimption. It is redemption. I will buy
29:28
Speaker 1: you back. I will pull you out of your mess.
29:32
Speaker 1: I will pull you out of your shame. I will
29:34
Speaker 1: pull you out of your disgrace. I will pull you
29:37
Speaker 1: out of your trouble. I will pull you out. I
29:40
Speaker 1: will snatch you out because you're still mine. Shake your
29:44
Speaker 1: head and say I'm still his. I messed up, but
29:48
Speaker 1: I'm still his. I blew it, but I'm still his.
29:52
Speaker 1: I haven't been steadfast, but I'm still his. He says
29:56
Speaker 1: I am married to the backslider. So what Jesus is
30:06
Speaker 1: doing in the 14th chapter of the gospel of St.
30:08
Speaker 1: John is talking to us like a groom talks to
30:13
Speaker 1: his spouse's fiance. He said, don't be upset. I know
30:18
Speaker 1: you're in love with me. He said, I'm going to
30:20
Speaker 1: wait for a little bit, but I'm coming back to
30:24
Speaker 1: receive you unto myself. We ain't finished. We're just getting started.
30:31
Speaker 1: And while I am gone, and while I am gone,
30:36
Speaker 1: I will not leave you as an orphan. I will
30:40
Speaker 1: not leave you in this world by yourself. I will
30:43
Speaker 1: not leave you in this world to deal with witches
30:46
Speaker 1: by yourself. I will not leave you in this world
30:49
Speaker 1: to deal with devils by yourself. I will not leave
30:53
Speaker 1: you in this world to face diseases by yourself. I
30:57
Speaker 1: will not leave you in this world to have to
30:59
Speaker 1: fend for yourself. I will leave you an advocate, a comforter,
31:04
Speaker 1: a standby. I will leave you somebody, a guardian that
31:09
Speaker 1: stands in for you until I return again. You are protected.
31:15
Speaker 1: You are covered. You are sealed. You are connected. He
31:20
Speaker 1: is in you. Glory to God. He is inside of you,
31:25
Speaker 1: protecting you. You might not always sense him, but the
31:28
Speaker 1: devil knows that you're anointed. The devil already knows that
31:33
Speaker 1: there's oil in your lamp. The devil already knows that
31:37
Speaker 1: there's glory down inside of you. Did not the Bible say,
31:42
Speaker 1: Paul I know and Jesus I know, but who are you?
31:47
Speaker 1: That means that the devil can't really detect when you
31:52
Speaker 1: have had an encounter with God. There are certain things
31:56
Speaker 1: he can't do to you because you're covered by the blood.
32:00
Speaker 1: Do you hear what I'm saying to you? So the
32:10
Speaker 1: Bible said that when the sons of God came around
32:13
Speaker 1: the throne, along with them also came Satan and Jesus.
32:17
Speaker 1: And God asked him, where have you been? He said,
32:20
Speaker 1: I've been going to and fro and up and down seeking,
32:24
Speaker 1: watch this, whom I may devour. If you got to
32:28
Speaker 1: seek who you can, then there's got to be somebody
32:32
Speaker 1: who you can devour. The reason you're still here is
32:37
Speaker 1: because he couldn't. devour you. The reason you made it
32:40
Speaker 1: through your test is because he couldn't devour you. The
32:43
Speaker 1: reason he didn't take you out is because he couldn't
32:47
Speaker 1: devour you. The devil can only devour some people. A
32:50
Speaker 1: thousand may fall at your right side. Ten thousand will
32:54
Speaker 1: fall at your left side, but it will not come
32:57
Speaker 1: nigh you because I've got a guardian around you. Do
33:02
Speaker 1: you hear what I'm saying to you? So Satan, otherwise
33:12
Speaker 1: known as Lucifer, says I've been going to and fro
33:15
Speaker 1: up and down throughout the earth seeking whom I may devour.
33:19
Speaker 1: And God said, have you considered my servant Job? And
33:23
Speaker 1: Satan said, come on, please. You know I can't do
33:26
Speaker 1: nothing with him. You got the guardian around him. Oh,
33:39
Speaker 1: my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh,
33:43
Speaker 1: my God. You've got a hedge all around him. You've
33:47
Speaker 1: got protection all around him. I can't even get to him.
33:51
Speaker 1: I can't get to his property. I can't get to
33:55
Speaker 1: his children. I can't get to his body. I can't
33:59
Speaker 1: get to his mind. I can't get to his emotions.
34:03
Speaker 1: Because you've got that force field around him. You've got
34:07
Speaker 1: that protection around it. You've got that courage. That's why
34:10
Speaker 1: you didn't die of crib death. That's why you didn't
34:13
Speaker 1: die at an early age. That's why you made it
34:16
Speaker 1: through three trimesters. That's why you made it through adolescence
34:20
Speaker 1: and puberty because God had a guardian around you. You
34:25
Speaker 1: were not orphaned in this world. You were not alone
34:28
Speaker 1: in this world. You were protected in this world. I
34:31
Speaker 1: need about a thousand protected people that will Touch somebody
34:52
Speaker 1: and tell them I've been protected all my life. I
34:57
Speaker 1: may have gone through trouble, but trouble didn't go through me.
35:02
Speaker 1: I may have had a hard time, but it didn't
35:05
Speaker 1: prevail over me. I've been protected all my life. When
35:09
Speaker 1: the enemy came in like a flood, the Spirit of
35:13
Speaker 1: the Lord lifted up a standard against it. I've been
35:16
Speaker 1: protected all of my life. I never had to fight
35:20
Speaker 1: for myself because the battle was not mine. It belonged
35:24
Speaker 1: to God. And every time they thought they had me surrounded,
35:29
Speaker 1: I looked again and I was surrounded by him. I've
35:33
Speaker 1: been covered on the right. I've been covered on the left.
35:36
Speaker 1: I've been covered on the north. I've been covered on
35:39
Speaker 1: the south. I've been covered while I was sleeping. I
35:42
Speaker 1: was covered even when I was wrong. I was covered
35:46
Speaker 1: when I made mistakes. I was covered in my foolishness.
35:50
Speaker 1: So when you see me praising God, don't think I'm
35:54
Speaker 1: praising God because I'm crazy. I'm praising God because I'm protected.
35:59
Speaker 1: I want somebody to take 30 seconds and just begin
36:03
Speaker 1: to just, just, just, just Not only has he covered me,
36:26
Speaker 1: he's covering me right now. Touch a neighbor and say,
36:30
Speaker 1: God's got you covered. Whatever you're worried about, God's got
36:34
Speaker 1: you covered. Whatever is getting on your nerves, God's got
36:37
Speaker 1: you covered. Whatever the devil is threatening you with, God's
36:41
Speaker 1: got you covered. Hallelujah. The host should encamp against me.
36:46
Speaker 1: My heart should not fear. The war should rise against me.
36:51
Speaker 1: In this will I be confident. One thing have I
36:54
Speaker 1: desired of the Lord. That will I seek after. That
36:57
Speaker 1: I may dwell in the... that I may dwell in
37:02
Speaker 1: the house of the Lord all the days of my
37:11
Speaker 1: life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to
37:15
Speaker 1: inquire in his temple for in the time of trouble
37:19
Speaker 1: he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret
37:24
Speaker 1: of his tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set
37:28
Speaker 1: me upon a rock And now shall my head be
37:32
Speaker 1: lifted up above my enemies and I will sing, I
37:37
Speaker 1: will sing praises unto my God. Somebody sing a praise
37:44
Speaker 1: to your God right now. The Bible says that Herod's
38:08
Speaker 1: daughter danced before the king. And the king said, if
38:12
Speaker 1: you dance before me, you can have whatever you want.
38:15
Speaker 1: And she said, I want the head of John the Baptist.
38:19
Speaker 1: And John the Baptist lost his head because that daughter
38:23
Speaker 1: found her dance. Let me tell you something. If you
38:26
Speaker 1: dance before the king... He will cut the head off
38:30
Speaker 1: of your enemy. No weapon formed against you shall be
38:34
Speaker 1: able to prosper. And every tongue that rises against you,
38:39
Speaker 1: God will condemn. I know you're quiet. I know you're conservative.
38:44
Speaker 1: I know you're reserved. I know you're intelligent. But when
38:48
Speaker 1: you're in a fight with the devil... Sometimes you got
38:52
Speaker 1: to dance for his head. You got to dance for
38:56
Speaker 1: a breakthrough. You got to dance for deliverance. I'm going
39:00
Speaker 1: to take 30 seconds for a praise break. Because there
39:04
Speaker 1: might be something you want to kill. There might be
39:08
Speaker 1: something you want to annihilate. There might be something you
39:12
Speaker 1: want to destroy. There might be something you want to
39:16
Speaker 1: take out. There might be something you want to get
39:19
Speaker 1: out of your way. There might be something that you
39:23
Speaker 1: want to annihilate. And I dare you to dance before
39:28
Speaker 1: the king. Look at your neighbor and say, don't make
39:53
Speaker 1: me go to dancing. If I go to dancing, no
39:57
Speaker 1: weapon formed against me shall be able to prosper. If
40:02
Speaker 1: I go to dancing, yokes will break. If I go
40:05
Speaker 1: to dancing, walls will come down. If I go to dancing,
40:10
Speaker 1: doors will open. If I go to dancing, God will
40:14
Speaker 1: behead my enemy. If I go to dancing, God will
40:18
Speaker 1: give me the victory. I'm not in this thing by myself.
40:24
Speaker 1: I better stop because I feel something pushing me in
40:27
Speaker 1: the back.
40:28
Speaker 3: Hallelujah.
40:30
Speaker 1: I feel like giving God a praise in this place.
41:05
Speaker 1: Slap seven people and tell them he promised. He promised.
41:10
Speaker 1: He promised. He promised never to leave me. He promised
41:20
Speaker 1: never to leave me alone. He promised never to leave me.
41:24
Speaker 1: I've seen the lightning flash. I've heard the thunder roll.
41:29
Speaker 1: I've felt sin's breakers dashing, trying.
41:32
Speaker 3: To conquer my soul.
41:34
Speaker 1: But I heard the voice of Jesus telling me, still
41:40
Speaker 1: fight on. He promised never. He promised. He promised.
41:53
Speaker 4: He promised.
42:04
Speaker 1: Sit down. I'm not finished yet. I'm not finished yet.
42:07
Speaker 1: I'm not finished yet. I'm not finished yet. I feel
42:11
Speaker 1: something in this place, so I'm not finished, but I
42:15
Speaker 1: feel something in this place. I feel something in this place.
42:18
Speaker 1: I feel an unction in this place. I feel the
42:21
Speaker 1: guardian in the room right now. I feel it. I
42:24
Speaker 1: feel it. I feel it. I feel it. I feel it.
42:27
Speaker 1: I feel it. I feel it. I feel it. I
42:29
Speaker 1: feel it. I feel it. Somebody, the devil's been trying
42:32
Speaker 1: to tell you you are orphaned, but the devil is alive.
42:35
Speaker 1: God said, I will not leave you an orphan. Hallelujah.
42:39
Speaker 1: I will send an alos pericletus, one who stands alongside
42:45
Speaker 1: to help. One who stands alongside to help like godparents
42:53
Speaker 1: do with parents at baby dedications. They stand alongside to help.
42:58
Speaker 1: They have a responsibility that if something would happen to
43:01
Speaker 1: the parents, the guardians step in to make sure. that
43:05
Speaker 1: the decisions for the child are taken care of. Like
43:08
Speaker 1: the executive over a will or an estate, they step
43:12
Speaker 1: in as a guardian to make sure that the will
43:16
Speaker 1: is taken care of according to the testator who left
43:20
Speaker 1: a will for the children. The executive over the will
43:24
Speaker 1: is there to make sure that everybody gets what they're
43:27
Speaker 1: supposed to get. The Holy Ghost is there. to make
43:30
Speaker 1: sure that everybody gets what they're supposed to get. You
43:34
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about nobody getting your stuff. You
43:37
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about nobody getting your life. You
43:40
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about nobody getting your job. You
43:43
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about nobody getting your blessing because
43:45
Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost is the executive over the estate. And
43:49
Speaker 1: whatever the testator has willed for you to get, you're
43:53
Speaker 1: going to get it. Can I get a good hand
43:56
Speaker 1: clap for the testator? Sit down, I'm going to go further.
44:14
Speaker 1: Jesus' conversation was so real to the apostles that they
44:20
Speaker 1: were expecting his return at any moment. When they stoned Stephan.
44:28
Speaker 1: The Bible said that Stephen, while they were stoning him
44:33
Speaker 1: in his face, he wasn't looking at the rocks, but
44:36
Speaker 1: he looked up into the heavens and he saw Jesus
44:40
Speaker 1: standing on the right hand of the Father. And once
44:44
Speaker 1: he saw Jesus, the rocks didn't make any difference at
44:48
Speaker 1: all because he remembered that he had a promise from
44:52
Speaker 1: the Lord. Anybody, you got some rocks thrown at you
44:56
Speaker 1: right now? but you got a promise from the Lord.
44:59
Speaker 1: Look above the rocks and see that God is still
45:03
Speaker 1: with you. Does somebody say he's still with me? You
45:08
Speaker 1: hit me, but he's still with me. You talking about me,
45:11
Speaker 1: but he's still with me. You're scandalizing me, but he's
45:15
Speaker 1: still with me. You don't like me, but he's still
45:18
Speaker 1: with me. You curse me, but he's still with me.
45:22
Speaker 1: Shout yes! The last days were so paramount in the
45:40
Speaker 1: mind of the disciples. That when Peter started preaching on
45:45
Speaker 1: the day of Pentecost. He reminded them. He said this
45:48
Speaker 1: is that which the prophet Joel spoke of. That in
45:52
Speaker 1: the last days saith God. I will pour out my
45:55
Speaker 1: spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
46:00
Speaker 1: Your old men shall dream dreams. And your young men
46:05
Speaker 1: shall see. This is that which the prophet Joel spoke.
46:09
Speaker 1: spoke of in the last days. The last days started then.
46:17
Speaker 1: You up here talking about we're in the last days.
46:19
Speaker 1: We're not in the last days. We're in the last seconds.
46:34
Speaker 1: The Apostle Paul, who was a new convert, who had
46:36
Speaker 1: been a follower of Judaism all his life, Hebrew and
46:41
Speaker 1: Zellius concerning the law, when he was converted on the
46:44
Speaker 1: road to Damascus, the very first book he wrote was
46:48
Speaker 1: the book of Thessalonians. So don't read Paul's writings in
46:52
Speaker 1: the order that they are in your Bible. The first
46:54
Speaker 1: writing of Paul came from Thessalonians. And he says, he
46:58
Speaker 1: says that day will appear, but not before the man
47:03
Speaker 1: of sin is revealed because all Paul knew is that
47:06
Speaker 1: the groom was coming back. It was years before he
47:10
Speaker 1: understood the death, burial, and resurrection. It was years before
47:14
Speaker 1: he understood justification by faith. It was years before he
47:18
Speaker 1: understood the fruit of the Spirit. It was years before
47:21
Speaker 1: he understood the gifts of the Spirit. But while he
47:23
Speaker 1: was still in Corinth trying to establish a church, he
47:27
Speaker 1: wrote Thessalonians because the one thing he was sure of
47:30
Speaker 1: is that he was coming back. The guardian had not
47:35
Speaker 1: yet reminded him Of all that Jesus taught. So as
47:41
Speaker 1: Paul's understanding increases. His epistles increased. But the one thing
47:47
Speaker 1: he understood from the beginning. Is that he's coming back again.
47:52
Speaker 1: Tell somebody say he's coming back again. He's coming back again.
47:58
Speaker 1: He's coming back. You'd be surprised how differently people would live.
48:03
Speaker 1: If they really believed he was coming back again. Amen.
48:06
Speaker 1: You'd be surprised at the habits you say you can't quit,
48:10
Speaker 1: that you would quit if you believed that Jesus was
48:13
Speaker 1: coming back again. You'd be surprised at the people you
48:16
Speaker 1: wouldn't cuss out if you believed that Jesus was coming
48:20
Speaker 1: back again. You'd be surprised at the people you wouldn't
48:23
Speaker 1: do evil to if you really believed that Jesus was
48:27
Speaker 1: coming back. Because the Bible said, if you really believe
48:30
Speaker 1: what I said, you will keep my commandments. Not you
48:34
Speaker 1: will dance, not you will shout, not you will holler,
48:38
Speaker 1: but the sign that you really believe me and that
48:42
Speaker 1: you really love me is that you obey me. Oh,
48:47
Speaker 1: I lost you. Let me try you. Obedience is a
48:51
Speaker 1: sign of love. Obedience is a sign of love. Obedience
48:57
Speaker 1: is a sign of love. So that's why obey him
49:02
Speaker 1: is in the vow. It's not because he's smarter than you.
49:09
Speaker 1: It's because your marriage is playing a role. And the
49:18
Speaker 1: bride is the church. And as a bride, we include
49:25
Speaker 1: the word obey into it because obedience is a sign
49:29
Speaker 1: of love. It's not that you're any lesser. It's not
49:41
Speaker 1: who makes the most money. It's not anything that society
49:44
Speaker 1: is talking about today. That's why the text said that
49:48
Speaker 1: society cannot see me. You're trying to make the culture
49:54
Speaker 1: see the Christ. The culture can't see the Christ. The
50:01
Speaker 1: culture only sees what's fair, what's right according to the
50:05
Speaker 1: norms of the times that you're living in. But this
50:09
Speaker 1: is not about you and Harry. This is not about
50:12
Speaker 1: you and Boo Boo. This is not about you and Frankie.
50:17
Speaker 1: You're just an icon. You're just a symbol. The union
50:22
Speaker 1: is a symbol of a far deeper principle and allegory
50:28
Speaker 1: that has way more strength in it than your personality
50:33
Speaker 1: does with his. This is not about you. I'm not
50:43
Speaker 1: obeying nobody. This is not about you. Your marriage becomes
50:51
Speaker 1: a symbol of a struggling church to obey the Lord.
51:01
Speaker 1: Let me go deeper. Husbands, love your wives more. as
51:12
Speaker 1: I told you playing a role, as Christ has loved
51:17
Speaker 1: the church and gave himself a ransom for it. I
51:21
Speaker 1: wish I would stop complaining about obeying because you got
51:25
Speaker 1: the best deal. It told the men to love you
51:32
Speaker 1: like Christ loved the church. Christ died for the church.
51:39
Speaker 1: And if you stay married long enough, I say if
51:50
Speaker 1: you stay married long enough, you're going to have to die.
51:57
Speaker 1: What you would do, what you'd like to do as
51:59
Speaker 1: a man, what you'd like to say, how you'd like
52:02
Speaker 1: to respond has to die because you're playing a role. Husbands,
52:08
Speaker 1: love your wives as Christ has loved the church and
52:16
Speaker 1: gave himself a ransom for it. Can I preach this
52:19
Speaker 1: thing this morning? So God establishes the marriage as a
52:31
Speaker 1: prophecy that has meaning behind it. Because it is symbolic
52:39
Speaker 1: of Christ and the church. I go to prepare a
52:47
Speaker 1: place for you. That where I am, there ye may
52:51
Speaker 1: be also. Whether you go, you do not know, but
52:59
Speaker 1: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
53:05
Speaker 1: man cometh unto the Father, save he come by me.
53:11
Speaker 1: Jesus is talking language that they understood. He's talking marriage talk.
53:18
Speaker 1: The reason it sounds like funeral talk is that we
53:21
Speaker 1: are in a different culture. So we bring bodies in saying,
53:29
Speaker 1: let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God,
53:33
Speaker 1: believe also in me. In my father's house, there are
53:37
Speaker 1: many mansions there. If it were not so, I would
53:41
Speaker 1: have told you so. I'd go to prepare a place.
53:45
Speaker 1: We don't even know what we're talking about. What we're
53:50
Speaker 1: really talking about is the promise of the betrothed. Christ
53:57
Speaker 1: to the church. What we're really talking about is the
54:02
Speaker 1: dilemma Joseph was in. Because before he could build a house,
54:08
Speaker 1: Mary got pregnant. And he said, let me give her
54:11
Speaker 1: a bill of divorcement privately to put her away. Because
54:16
Speaker 1: had he finished the house, she wouldn't have had Jesus
54:20
Speaker 1: in a barn.
54:21
Speaker 4: Amen.
54:27
Speaker 1: He didn't have a prepared place for her. So she
54:31
Speaker 1: rode on a donkey. I feel like preaching this morning.
54:35
Speaker 1: She rode on a donkey. Because everything was going down
54:40
Speaker 1: so fast. He said, well, maybe I should divorce her.
54:43
Speaker 1: But the angel said, don't divorce her. That that is
54:46
Speaker 1: in Mary was conceived by the Holy Ghost. And it
54:50
Speaker 1: put him in a dilemma because he hadn't prepared a
54:53
Speaker 1: place for her. So he said, as a guardian, I'm
55:00
Speaker 1: going to have to put you in the inn. But
55:02
Speaker 1: there was no room at the inn. So she had
55:06
Speaker 1: the baby in the barn. But because God is sovereign,
55:11
Speaker 1: he meant for her to have the baby in the barn.
55:14
Speaker 1: Because she didn't really have a baby. Because babies aren't
55:18
Speaker 1: born in barns. She had a lamb.
55:26
Speaker 5: Come on, come on with me. Come on with me, church.
55:31
Speaker 5: Come on with me, church. Come on with me, church.
55:36
Speaker 5: Come on with me, church. Come on with me, church.
55:39
Speaker 5: Come on with me, church. Come on with me, come on,
55:42
Speaker 5: come on. Do you know God's got a place for you?
55:45
Speaker 1: God's got a prepared place for you that you are
55:51
Speaker 1: not in this world by yourself. Holler at me. Now
56:11
Speaker 1: behold the Lamb, the precious Lamb of God. Come on, come.
56:24
Speaker 4: On, come on.
56:30
Speaker 1: She's in delivery.
56:31
Speaker 4: And they wrapped.
56:35
Speaker 1: Him in swaddling clothes. And he was born in a manger.
56:41
Speaker 1: While shepherds were outside tending the flock, they were tending
56:47
Speaker 1: a lamb, but she was having the precious lamb, the
56:51
Speaker 1: precious lamb, the precious lamb, the precious lamb. Come on,
56:57
Speaker 1: come on, come on, come on.
56:58
Speaker 3: The precious lamb.
57:15
Speaker 1: That's what I'm telling you anybody glad you came to
57:18
Speaker 1: church this morning I remember when I used to have
57:25
Speaker 1: to go out and speak a lot I was going
57:28
Speaker 1: all the time and my kids were real small and
57:31
Speaker 1: they never liked for me to go preach you know
57:33
Speaker 1: and they felt like I was leaving them. They didn't
57:35
Speaker 1: understand I was taking care of them, but they felt
57:38
Speaker 1: like I was leaving them. They grabbed my legs and said,
57:40
Speaker 1: daddy don't go. Daddy don't go. I'd have suitcases at
57:46
Speaker 1: the door, daddy don't go. I said, I'm coming back.
57:51
Speaker 1: I'm coming back. But I left you with your mother.
57:58
Speaker 1: I didn't leave you by yourself. I left you with
58:02
Speaker 1: your mother. You're in good hands. And this is what
58:04
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying to his disciples. He said I'm not
58:08
Speaker 1: going to leave you by yourself. You're not going to
58:12
Speaker 1: be without a guardian. You're not going to be without
58:16
Speaker 1: a protector. You're not without somebody who's going to feed you.
58:21
Speaker 1: You're not without somebody who won't fight for you. You're
58:23
Speaker 1: not without somebody who won't take care of you. But
58:26
Speaker 1: Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit. Glory to God.
58:31
Speaker 1: Can I go deeper with this thing? Do you not
58:36
Speaker 1: realize that the Holy Spirit is your guardian? Protecting you
58:44
Speaker 1: in the wait. That the anointing of God in your
58:48
Speaker 1: life is there to protect you in the wait. So
58:52
Speaker 1: that people can get a lock on your hair and
58:55
Speaker 1: can't curse you. So that they can make a doll
59:00
Speaker 1: that looks like you and stick pins in it. But
59:03
Speaker 1: you can't feel it. Because you got the Holy Ghost.
59:07
Speaker 1: Because you got the Holy Spirit. the Holy Ghost down
59:11
Speaker 1: on the inside you are still here some of you
59:16
Speaker 1: are the only one in your family that survived but
59:19
Speaker 1: because of the Holy Ghost you are still here the
59:24
Speaker 1: disease that runs through your family ran into a wall,
59:29
Speaker 1: when it ran into the guardian that's standing up to
59:32
Speaker 1: protect you from all hurt, harm, or danger, touch seven
59:36
Speaker 1: people and say, I'm protected. I'm protected.
59:45
Speaker 3: I'm protected.
59:47
Speaker 1: God's got me covered. I am protected. You ought to
59:52
Speaker 1: put A, B... You ought to put ADT on your
59:56
Speaker 1: shirt and let hell know this house is protected. Don't
1:00:03
Speaker 1: try to burglarize me because God has got me protected.
1:00:08
Speaker 1: I wish I had a thousand people with the Holy Ghost.
1:00:12
Speaker 1: in this place that would thank God for the guardian
1:00:16
Speaker 1: that you have over your life. The only reason you're
1:00:21
Speaker 1: not turning tricks is that the guardian kept you when
1:00:26
Speaker 1: you wouldn't keep yourself. The only reason you don't have
1:00:30
Speaker 1: a needle in your arm is because the guardian protected
1:00:34
Speaker 1: you when you wouldn't protect yourself. Slap somebody and tell them,
1:00:38
Speaker 1: I'm glad I got the Holy Ghost. You need the
1:00:42
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit every day and every hour. You need him
1:00:47
Speaker 1: to watch over you. You need him to protect you.
1:00:52
Speaker 1: You need him to guide you. You need him to
1:00:55
Speaker 1: be a fence all around you. You need him to
1:01:00
Speaker 1: be by your side. You need him to make a
1:01:04
Speaker 1: way out of no way. Somebody ought to thank him
1:01:07
Speaker 1: for the Holy Ghost. My guardian, my advocate, my comforter,
1:01:15
Speaker 1: my stand-alone side, my help in ages past. I'm talking
1:01:22
Speaker 1: about the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit of God
1:01:26
Speaker 1: is on you now, both to do and to will,
1:01:30
Speaker 1: according to his own good pleasure. I know there are
1:01:33
Speaker 1: a few witches in here, but I'm not scared of you.
1:01:37
Speaker 1: Because I got a guardian angel. And because I have
1:01:41
Speaker 1: a guardian, I understand that my root is stronger than
1:01:51
Speaker 1: your root. That I got more power in the hem
1:01:56
Speaker 1: of my garment than you have in your pocketbook. Covered
1:02:01
Speaker 1: by the blood of the lamb. The spirit of God
1:02:04
Speaker 1: is all over me. And he's keeping me alive. Slap
1:02:09
Speaker 1: somebody and say the guardian did it. The guardian blessed
1:02:14
Speaker 1: me with my house. The guardian blessed me with my car.
1:02:18
Speaker 1: The guardian blessed me with my life. He's just that good.
1:02:23
Speaker 1: He makes a way for me. He prepares a place
1:02:27
Speaker 1: for me. He opens doors for me. He provides for me.
1:02:32
Speaker 1: He protects me. When the serpent tries to bite me,
1:02:38
Speaker 1: it's the oil that drives the serpent away from me.
1:02:42
Speaker 1: I'm covered by the oil of God. Somebody shout yes.
1:02:47
Speaker 4: Yes.
1:02:48
Speaker 1: When I was in Jerusalem, I talked to an old shepherd.
1:02:52
Speaker 1: And the shepherd told me that the sheep are so
1:02:56
Speaker 1: dumb that they'll stick their nose in the holes. And
1:03:00
Speaker 1: the holes in the ground are where the snakes live.
1:03:04
Speaker 1: But a good shepherd will take oil and put it
1:03:08
Speaker 1: on the sheep's head. I said, why do you put
1:03:12
Speaker 1: oil on the sheep's head? He said, because the oil
1:03:15
Speaker 1: is a snake repellent. Think of all the things you
1:03:19
Speaker 1: stuck your head into. But because the oil was on
1:03:23
Speaker 1: your head, I heard David say, the Lord is my shepherd.
1:03:30
Speaker 1: I shall not want. He covers my head with oil. Ah! Ah, Satan,
1:03:38
Speaker 1: you tried to kill me, but I shook it off
1:03:42
Speaker 1: because I got oil on me. I got snake repellent.
1:03:46
Speaker 1: Look at your neighbor and say, what are you wearing?
1:03:50
Speaker 1: Tell them I'm wearing snake repellent. I'm covered with oil.
1:03:54
Speaker 1: This is not Chanel. This is not Tom Ford. I'm
1:03:59
Speaker 1: covered with all of the lamb. I've got a guardian
1:04:03
Speaker 1: protecting me both day and night. Now I lay me
1:04:08
Speaker 1: down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul should keep.
1:04:14
Speaker 1: If I should die... Before I wake, I pray the
1:04:19
Speaker 1: Lord my soul will take. He kept me when I
1:04:24
Speaker 1: was asleep. He kept me when I was under anesthesia.
1:04:29
Speaker 1: He kept me in the operating room. He kept me
1:04:34
Speaker 1: in the car wreck. he kept me when my friends
1:04:38
Speaker 1: were enemies he kept me when i was surrounded by
1:04:43
Speaker 1: witches he kept me when the enemy tried to destroy
1:04:47
Speaker 1: me he kept me down through the years the The
1:04:52
Speaker 1: guardian has made a way for me. The guardian has
1:04:57
Speaker 1: opened doors for me. The guardian has protected me. I
1:05:02
Speaker 1: wish I had a hundred people that had the Holy Ghost.
1:05:07
Speaker 1: And he walks with me. And he talks with me.
1:05:11
Speaker 1: And he tells me I'm his own. If you don't
1:05:16
Speaker 1: like me, I'll be okay. Because he tells me... I'm
1:05:21
Speaker 1: his own. I'm not an orphan. I'm not alone. I'm
1:05:27
Speaker 1: not by myself. If you think you got me cornered,
1:05:31
Speaker 1: the devil is alive. Hallelujah. God has me surrounded. He's
1:05:40
Speaker 1: got me covered. He's got me protected. He's got me
1:05:44
Speaker 1: covered on every side. Hallelujah to God. He that dwelleth
1:05:51
Speaker 1: in the secret place of the Most High shall abide
1:05:57
Speaker 1: under the shadow of the Almighty. I got to quit,
1:06:02
Speaker 1: but I feel the power of the Holy.
1:06:06
Speaker 3: Ghost all over this place.
1:06:10
Speaker 1: He's real. He's real.
1:06:14
Speaker 3: Jesus is real to me.
1:06:17
Speaker 1: So many people doubt him, but.
1:06:22
Speaker 3: I can't live without him. That is why I love
1:06:27
Speaker 3: him so. He's so real to me.
1:06:29
Speaker 4: Yes, he is.
1:06:40
Speaker 1: He's real in the.
1:06:47
Speaker 4: Morning.
1:06:48
Speaker 1: He's real at no day. He's real when the sun
1:06:52
Speaker 1: goes down. He's real when I don't have a job.
1:06:58
Speaker 3: He's real in the courtroom.
1:07:01
Speaker 4: He's real.
1:07:03
Speaker 3: Somebody shout, he's real. He's real. He's real.
1:07:09
Speaker 1: If you thought you saw me driving by myself, you're wrong.
1:07:14
Speaker 1: The guardian was sitting right beside me. If you thought
1:07:18
Speaker 1: I was eating by myself, you're wrong. The guardian is
1:07:22
Speaker 1: sitting at the table.
1:07:24
Speaker 4: He's real.
1:07:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:07:28
Speaker 4: Yeah!
1:07:29
Speaker 6: Yeah!
1:07:29
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah!
1:07:31
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah!
1:07:32
Speaker 6: Oh, yeah!
1:07:45
Speaker 1: Slap somebody and tell them the Guardian did it. Ain't
1:07:48
Speaker 1: no needin' hatin' on me, the guardian did it. The
1:07:51
Speaker 1: guardian gave it to me. The guardian protected me. The
1:07:55
Speaker 1: guardian surrounded me. The guardian guided me. The guardian brought
1:08:00
Speaker 1: me through the storms, through the rain, through the lightning,
1:08:06
Speaker 1: through the flood. He's always been there every time I
1:08:12
Speaker 1: turn around. God keeps doing great things for me. Somebody
1:08:17
Speaker 1: turn around right fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:08:24
Speaker 1: Every time I turn around. Every time I turn around.
1:08:31
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
1:08:32
Speaker 1: Yeah. He's my garden. He's my king. He's my prince.
1:08:43
Speaker 1: He's my peace. He's my redeemer. He's my day star.
1:08:49
Speaker 1: He's my shield. He's my buck. He's my trumpet. He's
1:08:54
Speaker 1: my lily in the valley. He's my bright and morning star.
1:09:01
Speaker 1: He's my kinsman redeemer. He's my bulwark. He's my water
1:09:08
Speaker 1: in dry places. Yes, he is.
1:09:12
Speaker 3: Yes, he is.
1:09:13
Speaker 4: Yes, he is.
1:09:13
Speaker 3: Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Yes, he is! Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory.
1:10:08
Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
1:10:15
Speaker 1: Yes.
1:10:16
Speaker 3: Hallelujah.
1:10:31
Speaker 1: Stand on your feet. I'm going to show you something close.
1:10:34
Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 5. Put it up there for me. I
1:11:02
Speaker 1: might not have given it to you. Ephesians 5. Find
1:11:07
Speaker 1: it for me.
1:11:07
Speaker 4: Uh-huh.
1:11:10
Speaker 1: I didn't give it to you. But I still know it.
1:11:17
Speaker 1: Ephesians 5. Where it talks about wives obeying your husbands.
1:11:26
Speaker 1: You got it? Yeah. Go on down. From one, knock two.
1:11:34
Speaker 1: Keep on going. Keep on going. keep going keep going
1:11:43
Speaker 1: right there 521 be subject to one another out of
1:11:51
Speaker 1: reverence for Christ not out of who's right or wrong
1:12:03
Speaker 1: out of reverence for Christ The Messiah. The anointed one.
1:12:12
Speaker 1: Come on. Wives, be subject. Be submissive. And adapt yourself.
1:12:26
Speaker 1: Not to men. To your own husband.
1:12:41
Speaker 4: As.
1:12:44
Speaker 1: A service. To the Lord. I know that's not what
1:12:53
Speaker 1: you're reading in the magazines today. But that's what the
1:12:55
Speaker 1: word says. Come on. Keep going. For the husband is
1:12:59
Speaker 1: the head of the wife.
1:13:02
Speaker 4: As. As.
1:13:04
Speaker 1: Christ is the head of the church. Himself, the Savior
1:13:13
Speaker 1: of his body. You're supposed to see her as your body.
1:13:24
Speaker 1: Let me show you something. Hold it right there. I'm
1:13:25
Speaker 1: going to get the rest of it in a minute.
1:13:27
Speaker 1: When Adam woke up out of his sleep, before he
1:13:31
Speaker 1: saw Eve as his wife, He saw her as his body.
1:13:37
Speaker 1: He said, she is bone of my bone and flesh
1:13:40
Speaker 1: of my flesh. So she is both the body of
1:13:45
Speaker 1: Adam and the bride of Adam. So when the Bible
1:13:51
Speaker 1: says that for the husband is ahead of the wife
1:13:55
Speaker 1: as Christ is ahead of the church himself, the savior
1:13:59
Speaker 1: of his body. Why are you beating on your body?
1:14:12
Speaker 1: I never to this day have met a man who
1:14:18
Speaker 1: beat his woman and loved himself. The reason you are
1:14:28
Speaker 1: beating on her is that you don't like you. She
1:14:41
Speaker 1: is your body. She is bone of your bone and
1:14:48
Speaker 1: flesh of your flesh. Come on, I'm gonna drive this home.
1:14:54
Speaker 1: As the church is subject to Christ, as the church
1:14:59
Speaker 1: is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject
1:15:03
Speaker 1: in everything to their husbands. Everything. Everything. As the Christ
1:15:14
Speaker 1: is subject to the church. Now neither one of us
1:15:16
Speaker 1: got it real right. Because the church isn't always subject.
1:15:24
Speaker 1: And the wife isn't submissive. But the role you play.
1:15:29
Speaker 1: Does not make you lesser than. But your role is
1:15:35
Speaker 1: an allegory of Christ and the church. So we're in
1:15:40
Speaker 1: our parents closets. And we playing dress up. And you acting.
1:15:47
Speaker 1: You done put on the church. And he has put
1:15:51
Speaker 1: on Christ. And we're acting as. The church. Has loved
1:16:01
Speaker 1: and submitted. To Christ. That's what it's supposed to be.
1:16:05
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about what it is. Husbands love your wives.
1:16:13
Speaker 1: As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
1:16:25
Speaker 1: I just got to be me. I just got to
1:16:27
Speaker 1: be me, man. I just got to be me. She
1:16:29
Speaker 1: don't understand me. She don't understand where I come from.
1:16:32
Speaker 1: This is how I am. So it's wrong. It's I.
1:16:40
Speaker 1: You're supposed to do it as, not I. Christ has
1:16:45
Speaker 1: loved the church so that he might sanctify her. So
1:16:53
Speaker 1: he's got to love her like that while she's still
1:16:56
Speaker 1: not sanctified so that he might sanctify her having cleansed
1:17:02
Speaker 1: her by the washing of water with the word. Watch this.
1:17:11
Speaker 1: That he might present the church with To himself that
1:17:15
Speaker 1: where I am he may be also. In glorious splendor.
1:17:21
Speaker 1: Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That she
1:17:26
Speaker 1: might be holy and faultless. If I had time I'd
1:17:32
Speaker 1: get into this. Some of her purity is your responsibility.
1:17:50
Speaker 1: A lot of her anger is coming from the fact
1:17:52
Speaker 1: she has not been loved as Christ has loved the church.
1:18:02
Speaker 1: How can you submit to somebody who won't be ahead?
1:18:11
Speaker 1: I'm just saying if you decide to do it the
1:18:14
Speaker 1: way the Bible said do it. If you decide to
1:18:16
Speaker 1: do it the way they're doing it now, I can't
1:18:18
Speaker 1: teach on that. I don't understand that. They're doing something new.
1:18:22
Speaker 1: I don't get it. Even so, husbands should love their
1:18:25
Speaker 1: wives as being, in a sense, their own bodies. He
1:18:35
Speaker 1: who loves his own wife loves himself. Ladies, stop marrying.
1:18:50
Speaker 1: men who don't love themselves. Because if he don't love him,
1:19:04
Speaker 1: for no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes
1:19:11
Speaker 1: and carefully protects himself and cherishes it as... See where
1:19:18
Speaker 1: it keeps going back to? As Christ does the church. See,
1:19:23
Speaker 1: so I'm kind of confused because it sounds like he's
1:19:28
Speaker 1: talking about marriage, but I'm not sure because he keeps
1:19:35
Speaker 1: going back to as Christ does the church. Come on,
1:19:39
Speaker 1: give me some more of it. Because we are members...
1:19:43
Speaker 1: parts of his body for this reason a man shall
1:19:49
Speaker 1: leave his father and his mother oh yeah they're talking
1:19:52
Speaker 1: about marriage and shall be joined to his wife and
1:19:55
Speaker 1: the two shall become one flesh come on this mystery
1:20:04
Speaker 1: underline that this mystery is very great but I speak
1:20:12
Speaker 1: concerning the relation of Christ and the church. He's not
1:20:22
Speaker 1: even talking about marriage. He's only using marriage as a
1:20:29
Speaker 1: metaphor to talk about Christ and the church. However, let
1:20:36
Speaker 1: each man of you, without exception, love his wife. He said, however,
1:20:40
Speaker 1: it's still good for you love his wife as being
1:20:44
Speaker 1: in a sense his very own self and let the
1:20:47
Speaker 1: wife see that she respects and reverences her husband, that
1:20:51
Speaker 1: she notices him. This is all you got to do.
1:20:54
Speaker 1: This is all you got to do. Notice him, regard him,
1:21:06
Speaker 1: honor him, prefer him, venerate and esteem him, that she
1:21:16
Speaker 1: defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly.
1:21:47
Speaker 1: Now you got to understand this. He says, I'm really
1:21:51
Speaker 1: not talking about marriage. I'm talking about Christ in the church.
1:21:55
Speaker 1: But it's still good medicine for you to understand how
1:21:59
Speaker 1: it really works. But what I'm really teaching you is
1:22:07
Speaker 1: let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.
1:22:14
Speaker 1: You believe in God. You believe in God. believe also
1:22:17
Speaker 1: in me in my father's house there are many mansions
1:22:22
Speaker 1: there if it were not so I would have told
1:22:27
Speaker 1: you so I go to prepare a place for you
1:22:33
Speaker 1: that where I am there ye may be also and
1:22:37
Speaker 1: if I go I will come again and receive you
1:22:43
Speaker 1: unto myself I will not leave you as an orphan, comfortless.
1:22:55
Speaker 1: I want that to sink in. I will not leave you.
1:23:00
Speaker 1: The reason I want it to sink in is because
1:23:02
Speaker 1: so many of us feel so alone. Jesus said, I
1:23:11
Speaker 1: will not leave you as an orphan, comfortless. I will
1:23:21
Speaker 1: give you a guardian, an advocate, one who stands alongside
1:23:33
Speaker 1: to help. If you need help this morning, you are
1:23:40
Speaker 1: not alone. The guardian stands alongside to help you. If
1:23:59
Speaker 1: you've been in a hard place, and you've been trying
1:24:04
Speaker 1: to do it in your own strength, you're going to
1:24:11
Speaker 1: fail at it. Let me tell you something, sisters. You're
1:24:16
Speaker 1: talking about I'm a strong woman. I'm tough, I don't
1:24:22
Speaker 1: take no stuff. I wish you. Being strong is overrated.
1:24:40
Speaker 1: It might be all right for about 10 days or
1:24:42
Speaker 1: something like that, but you get in about 10 years
1:24:48
Speaker 1: Having to go to the grocery store, argue with the mechanic,
1:24:51
Speaker 1: carry the groceries up the steps, cook the food, help
1:24:54
Speaker 1: the kids with homework, drive them to school, go to jail.
1:24:58
Speaker 1: Every dollar come in the house, you got to bring it.
1:25:00
Speaker 1: Every napkin come in the house, you got to buy it.
1:25:03
Speaker 1: Every piece of bread come in the house, you got
1:25:04
Speaker 1: to buy it. It's overrated. Brother, you can't be no
1:25:15
Speaker 1: man by yourself. Half of you didn't have no example.
1:25:25
Speaker 1: Half of you didn't have a good example. Some of
1:25:28
Speaker 1: you had a good example, wouldn't listen to it. Now
1:25:33
Speaker 1: you're trying to play a role by yourself. Y'all going
1:25:36
Speaker 1: out to that church, you women going out to church,
1:25:37
Speaker 1: you should beat her in the door. You're the one
1:25:49
Speaker 1: that has to prepare a place. You're the one that
1:25:52
Speaker 1: has to give a ransom for her. You're the one
1:25:54
Speaker 1: who's supposed to love, cherish, and nourish her. You're the
1:25:57
Speaker 1: one that's supposed to treat her like you treat your
1:25:59
Speaker 1: own body. You're not supposed to starve her of your attention, affection. Yeah,
1:26:09
Speaker 1: I'm starving her because she's starving me. That you might
1:26:12
Speaker 1: sanctify her. You're supposed to leave her with no excuse
1:26:23
Speaker 1: to disrespect you. I'm not excusing her. I'm saying you're
1:26:30
Speaker 1: not supposed to leave her with no excuse. Some of
1:26:33
Speaker 1: you gave her a license to cuss you. And then
1:26:42
Speaker 1: got mad when she used it. the point of the
1:26:51
Speaker 1: message is I'm not preaching about marriage I'm just like
1:27:01
Speaker 1: Ephesians I'm like Paul I'm preaching about Christ and the
1:27:07
Speaker 1: church and that all God is using marriage for is
1:27:14
Speaker 1: an allegory marriage in general not yours So don't write
1:27:21
Speaker 1: me anything about your anger. What about when Fred come
1:27:27
Speaker 1: in at 3 o'clock? I ain't talking about Fred. It's
1:27:34
Speaker 1: just an example. A shadow mimics motion but shows no detail.
1:27:46
Speaker 1: Earthly marriages motion and model but do not detail nor
1:27:53
Speaker 1: fully reflect. We are only talking about shadows, allegories, what
1:28:03
Speaker 1: we are talking about. I guess, I don't know whether
1:28:09
Speaker 1: that appreciates for you or for me. When my mother died,
1:28:13
Speaker 1: a long time ago, I'm okay now, but when she died,
1:28:19
Speaker 1: and my father had been dead, it occurred to me
1:28:24
Speaker 1: that never again would I be able to walk in
1:28:26
Speaker 1: somebody's house and just go in the refrigerator. Never again
1:28:34
Speaker 1: would I have anybody that no matter what I did stupid,
1:28:41
Speaker 1: they would open up the door and take me in.
1:28:44
Speaker 1: Never again would I have somebody that I could come
1:28:47
Speaker 1: to their house at 3 o'clock in the morning and
1:28:50
Speaker 1: my mama would swear she wasn't asleep. No, I wasn't
1:28:57
Speaker 1: really asleep. You hungry? You hungry? And I felt like
1:29:07
Speaker 1: an orphan, a 40-year-old orphan. And what really, really made
1:29:17
Speaker 1: me want to drive this in is that I suspect
1:29:23
Speaker 1: that some of you with and without parents, with and
1:29:25
Speaker 1: without spouses, with and without people, feel like you're in
1:29:32
Speaker 1: this world all by yourself. And you go to church,
1:29:43
Speaker 1: and maybe you even have the Holy Ghost, but you're
1:29:45
Speaker 1: not really letting him be a guardian. And you feel abandoned, orphaned.
1:29:57
Speaker 1: And you feel like this is the test. If people
1:30:00
Speaker 1: really knew who I was, they wouldn't love me. So
1:30:07
Speaker 1: you don't get the benefit of fellowship. Because fellowship is hidership.
1:30:17
Speaker 1: You're hidden like torpedoes buried in the bottom of an ocean.
1:30:24
Speaker 1: Dust and dirt all over top of you. And the
1:30:29
Speaker 1: guardian is standing there with his arms outstretched saying, come
1:30:33
Speaker 1: unto me all that are weak and heavy laden. I
1:30:37
Speaker 1: will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and
1:30:41
Speaker 1: learn of me. My yoke is easy and my burdens
1:30:45
Speaker 1: are light. And I know you got your image to
1:30:52
Speaker 1: protect and your ego needs a bottle. But if you
1:31:00
Speaker 1: let go of your ego and your image a minute
1:31:04
Speaker 1: and you've been fighting like an orphan in an orphanage.
1:31:10
Speaker 4: Everybody.
1:31:16
Speaker 1: The whole reason your temper is so bad is you
1:31:20
Speaker 1: don't feel safe. You sounded pretty good. You don't feel safe.
1:31:39
Speaker 1: And let me tell you something. Needing to feel safe
1:31:42
Speaker 1: is not feminine. Even men need to feel safe. Are
1:31:58
Speaker 1: you safe to love? Are you safe to take care of?
1:32:04
Speaker 1: I don't mind giving you a house as long as
1:32:07
Speaker 1: I know that isn't why you're with me. Truth of
1:32:14
Speaker 1: the matter is, there are as many lonely married folks
1:32:20
Speaker 1: as there are single folks. Truth of the matter is,
1:32:23
Speaker 1: there are as many miserable rich folks as there are
1:32:28
Speaker 1: desperate poor folks. And the guardian just wants you to
1:32:35
Speaker 1: be real for a minute and come to this altar.
1:32:44
Speaker 1: And say I am not going to go out in
1:32:47
Speaker 1: that parking lot. And get in that car alone. I
1:32:51
Speaker 1: don't care what you say. I am going to get
1:32:54
Speaker 1: in that car. With an awareness. That I have been
1:32:59
Speaker 1: adopted into the royal family. And the commonwealth of Israel.
1:33:05
Speaker 1: And I belong somewhere. I belong somewhere. I fit somewhere.
1:33:29
Speaker 1: I fit somewhere. I fit somewhere. He has a place
1:33:34
Speaker 1: for me. I've been trying to shove into all of
1:33:38
Speaker 1: these places. And now I realize that the guardian has
1:33:42
Speaker 1: a place for me. I don't have to spend the
1:33:47
Speaker 1: rest of my life in a barn. Neither did Jesus.
1:33:54
Speaker 1: There's a place. God had me preach this to let
1:34:07
Speaker 1: you know he heard you. This message is a prophetic
1:34:20
Speaker 1: sign that God heard you.
1:34:33
Speaker 4: Thank you.