Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So what a privilege also to share his word.
[00:00:04] As daunting as it is, it was such a wonderful time in worship. Now that's just on the side.
[00:00:14] It really like brings our hearts in a different place.
[00:00:21] Well, that's how I experience, experienced settles our hearts just to open up, to concentrate on him, to experience peace, quietness in our souls.
[00:00:36] And that's why we worship as well. And sometimes you come to a place where you feel like, do we have to stop?
[00:00:45] And yeah, there was that moment this morning.
[00:00:49] So. But it's, it's there for a purpose as well, to settle our hearts into what the Lord wants to do. And while we were singing our God reigns, I was just thinking, you know, how much do we allow God to reign in our hearts?
[00:01:07] You know, it's so easy to sing that.
[00:01:09] And because we always battling with ourselves, how much do we allow the Lord to reign in our hearts?
[00:01:20] It was just a thought that came to me while we were worshipping.
[00:01:24] And it's important because at the end of the day, we must let him reign. It's the only way we're going to have victory.
[00:01:32] So my topic this morning is. Last week we spoke about sonship.
[00:01:43] My topic this morning is, is walking as sons and daughters of God.
[00:01:49] Because I'll just give you a quick recap on last week.
[00:01:53] The main focus we started is that, you know, God and His kingdom. He is looking for heirs.
[00:02:00] I mentioned an example of the Roman times where people who couldn't have children were looking for children to inherit.
[00:02:11] And they chose children specifically to train them up in a new way to inherit what the father has.
[00:02:19] And that's exactly what the Lord did. He created man to bring up heirs for his kingdom.
[00:02:28] So, you know, that was his first purpose.
[00:02:32] And he created us humans to be the heirs of his kingdom.
[00:02:39] So through Jesus Christ, through His saving grace, we are adopted into this new family.
[00:02:46] Okay? So we belong.
[00:02:51] So we always come out of a past what we used to.
[00:02:56] And we have to now change our behavior, our identity has changed, we get disciplined, there's blessing. All of a sudden there's destiny, there's a new plan for our lives.
[00:03:12] And then the most important thing is we receive full inheritance rights to the kingdom because we've become a child of God.
[00:03:22] Okay, so there's an inheritance involved in that.
[00:03:26] We are no longer slaves to our past.
[00:03:31] And the Word also says that we can't remain, we mustn't remain as a child because as long as we're a child, we no longer, we're no different than A slave. And that's why when we come into the kingdom, we start growing, we start learning the ways of God, we change our ways, we get disciplined. And that's all part of the parcel.
[00:03:52] So the. Yeah, the adoption is double edge is both life and death.
[00:03:58] So we receive life, we die to ourselves as we receive Christ and get baptized, we join together. Our old life has passed away.
[00:04:08] So we embrace and we surrender.
[00:04:10] Okay, so it's always a double edged thing. So there's always a death that happens to us. So that's a quick recap on last week, especially on the discipline part. You know, discipline isn't always nice to receive, but God loves us and he says in Hebrews that if he doesn't discipline us, we illegitimate.
[00:04:41] So we're going to receive discipline.
[00:04:43] But discipline isn't always a hard stick. It's correcting, directing, changing, you know, things in our lives. So that's all part of discipline and that's how God grows us. Because we need to get out of our old ways.
[00:04:59] We sit with old waves in our ways, in our lives that we used to, that is so difficult to change.
[00:05:08] So it's easy to receive Jesus and you've got this new life and it's all happy, you feel good.
[00:05:15] But you're sitting with, depending on what age you're getting saved, sometimes 40 years old, you're sitting with 40 years of flesh, of habits, of doctrine, of paradigm that needs to totally change.
[00:05:33] Okay. And that's a hard thing because your default will always go to the flesh, what you used to.
[00:05:41] So that's why the Word says, train yourselves daily, renew your minds daily.
[00:05:47] Okay, so my question is, are you walking in your. Are we walking in our inheritance, what God promised us?
[00:05:57] So our pathways, have we grown out of that or is it still stuck in us?
[00:06:06] All right, is it still stuck? Does that still form us? What forms the patterns in our lives?
[00:06:13] Is it the kingdom now or our old ways?
[00:06:20] So we can't be enslaved by our old ways? Okay, that's the caution.
[00:06:25] We must strive what Jesus is holding in front of us. I'll get to that verse. He lays hold of us and we must lay hold of his kingdom.
[00:06:35] All right, so yeah. What is available to you that you didn't have before you gave your life to the Lord? And there's a lot, and that's what we have to discover coming into Christ. There's so much more that we had before. There's blessing, but there's also a lot to do before we receive the blessing.
[00:07:03] And in remembering this all that, the big picture, that he wants to establish his kingdom on earth.
[00:07:11] He wants to establish his kingdom on earth with us, and he wants to use us as humans to do that. All right? He can control the weather and he can do many other things, but he needs us to establish his kingdom, to change ways, to change everything that the enemy has stolen.
[00:07:32] So how do we take back territory in our lives?
[00:07:38] And how do we establish kingdom ways in our lives?
[00:07:43] So what needs to change?
[00:07:47] What changes in our lives?
[00:07:50] So I want to go to the first scripture in Philippians 3.
[00:07:55] So this is Paul, Paul of all that had to change his whole life. Okay? And we're going to read this, but it's important when we read this to know that Paul was following Christ and the ways of Christ.
[00:08:15] So Paul is a good reference for us.
[00:08:19] We see he could do it, we learn from him, but we follow Christ, okay? Because he attained to Christ.
[00:08:28] So we mustn't follow Paul, we following Christ.
[00:08:33] But he is the good example of how to do it.
[00:08:36] So from verse eight, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Jesus. My Lord, there's a catchphrase to know Christ, okay?
[00:08:53] Not according to the law, but a personal relationship for his sake. I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.
[00:09:03] He's speaking of his past life and he tried to live.
[00:09:08] He lived very close to the law and did so many things right, remembering Paul, okay? So he counted that as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, that depends on faith.
[00:09:36] So faith is also coming into play here.
[00:09:42] We know we need to believe that we are saved by grace.
[00:09:47] So verse 10. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
[00:10:08] So verse 12, striving toward the goal. Not that I have already obtained this, or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
[00:10:23] So other translations. Speaking of that I may lay hold of that Christ is what Christ has laid hold of me.
[00:10:31] This one is just explained a bit better because Christ has made me his own. So Christ has taken us in, remember, adopted, he's taken us in. He's laid hold of us. Okay, brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
[00:10:56] So that's part of our inheritance. Our inheritance is ahead of us.
[00:11:01] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
[00:11:07] Let those of us who are mature think this way.
[00:11:11] And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
[00:11:16] Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
[00:11:23] So, yeah, there's important things there of, of leaving behind what we think we've achieved in life, what we think is good, and look forward to the goal that Christ has set before us.
[00:11:40] So the next verse I want to share is Matthew 11:12.
[00:11:46] Speaking of the kingdom. What is our function in the kingdom?
[00:11:50] From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence.
[00:11:57] And the violent take it by force.
[00:12:01] So I've always questioned this or not questioned, I've always battled with this, understanding the scripture because our human nature, when they talk of violence, I mean, it is, you know, violence as the word speaks. You know, there must be like maybe blood and guts and, I don't know, noise and fists flying or I don't know how you see it, you know, violent, you know, earthquake call.
[00:12:33] But I've come to realize that because we, we part of the kingdom as well.
[00:12:39] How does the kingdom suffer violence?
[00:12:43] Remembering that we are sons and daughters of the living God and we are here to establish his kingdom, to restore his kingdom, he uses us.
[00:12:54] So how does the. How does it.
[00:12:56] The kingdom suffer? It suffers through, through us.
[00:13:03] Anything that we do that does not reflect the kingdom, that does not restore the kingdom or bear the fruit of the kingdom, the kingdom suffers violence because that's what he wants to restore.
[00:13:20] Because it has been suffering in our lives. Everything we need to do to bear fruit, everything that in our lives need to change, that's wrong.
[00:13:31] Anything we, if we live a wrong life, the kingdom is suffering, violence, suffering. The Kingdom is suffering because God wants to restore that.
[00:13:43] He wants to restore that in our lives. He wants a healthy person.
[00:13:48] But we are challenged with our past.
[00:13:54] So it starts with individuals.
[00:13:58] And remember, God wants to grow us in his likeness.
[00:14:04] That's what his command is. He wants us to grow in his likeness, learning his ways, transforming daily to his ways, sanctifying us, remembering our new identity, as in 1 Peter, that we are a royal priesthood in the holy nation.
[00:14:22] We restore to that.
[00:14:24] But because we have how many years of bad habits and the past, we need to grow into that because he's given us a new identity as a child that's adopted into A family. And now you're growing. Now you're learning the ways of this new family.
[00:14:41] And you're still a child and you're growing up and slowly but surely you're learning. You're learning and your past is leaving behind.
[00:14:51] And what is confusing sometimes to understand the kingdom, it's a very upside down kingdom, if you read in the word, because he says, you strong when you humble.
[00:15:06] Humility is your strength.
[00:15:08] Now, in a normal world, you have to be a bit different than humble. Sometimes you have to stand for yourself.
[00:15:17] It says when you're weak, you are strong.
[00:15:21] You see how sometimes it's like an upside down kingdom, but for God, that's the strength. When you're weak, you're strong.
[00:15:29] He says you have to die to yourselves.
[00:15:32] Where the world says, rise up and fight, he says, no, die to yourself.
[00:15:39] And that's the power of the kingdom.
[00:15:41] He says the last will be first.
[00:15:45] And then it's like, how does this kingdom work?
[00:15:49] He says, have faith like a child.
[00:15:52] And it's like for adults, it's like, you know, you can't think back when you were a child, but you can see how easy children, young children just receive the love, just have the faith. They sometimes just believe something. Even if you tell them, they believe you and go with it.
[00:16:11] So he speaks of a mustard seed. Have faith like a mustard seed.
[00:16:17] And he explains it further. It grows into this big tree. But now, you know, it's like understanding the kingdom. He's explaining to his disciples about this kingdom and they can't understand it. And he has to keep on explaining through parables.
[00:16:35] So but the good news is that is, is that he is restoring and he's choosing the broken people, like all of us, because he needs people.
[00:16:51] So there's no getting perfect first and then start building. It's like, accept Jesus with your faith. We join together and he'll start building you.
[00:17:03] All right? The only thing we need to concentrate is to letting go of our past because he's restoring our lives.
[00:17:12] And we must allow him to give the rightful place in our lives.
[00:17:17] As soon as we allow the past, or what we used to, or what we believe in, how to live, to start reigning in our lives.
[00:17:31] God is shifted out, you know, to make him Lord in our lives. Sometimes we, we profess these things so easy, you know, he's the Lord of my life. He's worthy, but easy in every area.
[00:17:47] And I know we all fall short of the glory and he is building us, but we need faith for this. Okay?
[00:17:56] We, not we Cannot enter this, this kingdom. Walker. Sons and daughters without faith.
[00:18:06] The word says that they could not enter my rest because of unbelief.
[00:18:11] So there is faith. I mean, we saved by faith through grace, and we believe that. And now we must start believing that God can change my life. He can change things in my life according to his way and his will. But we need to have faith. If we start disbelieving this, it's going to be hard.
[00:18:34] So there's many ways he's restoring his kingdom in many areas you can look at.
[00:18:42] Yeah, there's, you know, as soon as you get to know Christ, you know, okay, you must do righteous things. Okay. So you can focus on many things in the world, like dealing with your finances, being honest, you know, treating people well.
[00:18:58] Spiritual warfare. Suddenly you've got authority. There's a lot of authority in the kingdom that we receive, that we don't use.
[00:19:08] So we can focus on a lot of things of the kingdom.
[00:19:12] But I'm going to zone into one aspect of the kingdom of restoring because it is important for us, and that's families, husbands, wives, children.
[00:19:28] How God restores his kingdom. Remember, God made man and woman to fill the earth to create a godly offspring.
[00:19:40] So what has happened?
[00:19:43] We born into this Tirmakar world where there's not much godly offspring, and that part of the restoration process of the kingdom where the kingdom has suffered violence through families.
[00:19:59] I mean, you can look around the world.
[00:20:03] Divorces, abuses out of wedlocks, children, orphans, you know, you can go.
[00:20:11] And it's like they're supposed to be a godly, healthy offspring family.
[00:20:17] And though the reason why I'm sharing it is because we have had that personal experience with that when we came to know the Lord, I knew someone's making music, carrying on with worship.
[00:20:39] Someone's phone down there.
[00:20:44] Yeah, as long as it's worship.
[00:20:50] Yeah. So.
[00:20:56] Before we turn our lives around, I suddenly realized that I'm falling short as a man, as a husband, as a father to my children, because things weren't in order in our family.
[00:21:18] And I knew how to start changing it. And I was so grateful that I had the chance to do that. And.
[00:21:28] And I also realized it's never too late because we had three children by that time.
[00:21:36] So I'm gonna share a portion here. And, and, and I realized that a lot had changed. You know, when you're talking of the old and going to the new, then. But the Lord provides the answers. There is the new.
[00:21:52] You know, I had to step up as a man. I Had to step up as a husband, firstly, to take my rightful place in honoring my wife, loving my wife, understanding.
[00:22:10] And it's a hard thing to do when you're used to other things, and especially to my children as well.
[00:22:16] For me to take responsibility, realizing that the father is the most important role to play in a child's life. The responsibility of giving direction, of giving blessing. And it's my responsibility to lead them to the Lord, to lead them to salvation.
[00:22:37] And it's heavy. It's not the mother's responsibility.
[00:22:41] It's the father's responsibility to lead your child to the Lord. And it's such a privilege to do that.
[00:22:50] And I realized that I need the Lord in this.
[00:22:54] I need to step into this.
[00:22:56] And the wonderful thing is there's grace for that because God has created us to be in that role, to be that.
[00:23:07] And the same for the. For the wife to come into the rightful place.
[00:23:15] If I don't take my responsibility as a husband, there's more pressure on the wife.
[00:23:22] And the natural thing is for them to step up. And then they step up in the wrong position because they're supposed to be our helper.
[00:23:32] They're not supposed to lead the children to Christ and have the responsibility and the burden on their shoulders for that.
[00:23:39] Okay, so that's where, like in a family, that's where it suffers violence. Okay? Because God didn't want it like that. He didn't design it like that.
[00:23:49] All right, so I'm gonna read the next scripture and we'll carry on from that.
[00:23:58] And yeah, it could be touchy for some of us, but it's good.
[00:24:03] It's good. That's what the truth says. We're not gonna wind around the truth.
[00:24:07] So Ephesians 5, 22, 33. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.
[00:24:17] For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the Church. His body and himself is himself its Saviour.
[00:24:27] Now, as the Church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to everything, in everything, to their husbands.
[00:24:38] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and give himself up for her, gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water. With the Word, there comes a bit of responsibility, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body.
[00:25:27] Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. And this mystery is profound.
[00:25:37] So this is a mystery. It's not a secret.
[00:25:40] It's a mystery.
[00:25:42] It's a truth that is covered. So a mystery is not a secret. A mystery will always be revealed. Okay, so this is the mystery, and it's profound. And I'm saying this, that. I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
[00:25:59] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
[00:26:07] So going a bit deeper into that, yeah, obviously the comparison is church and Christ.
[00:26:16] We the bride, the church is our head.
[00:26:20] Okay, so now I compare the marriage to that.
[00:26:24] So there's no pressure on the husbands.
[00:26:29] Okay? We supposed to be the Christ in our house.
[00:26:34] And everything that Christ does and remembering the upside down kingdom, we come in low, we serve, we humble.
[00:26:43] We lead them. We wash them with the word.
[00:26:47] So we lead with love.
[00:26:53] We lead with humility and grace, patience and forgiveness. Everything that Christ does, God has appointed us to lead and serve the family.
[00:27:04] As fathers, we are there to understand and love them.
[00:27:12] Okay, now this.
[00:27:14] Yeah, it's. It's quite. That's what God wants. All right.
[00:27:21] He's given us the authority.
[00:27:26] Kings, priests and prophets that we supposed to be so.
[00:27:32] And. And the men. Sometimes I was. I always thought, I'm not qualified.
[00:27:37] It is not my place to stand up and pray for my child or my wife and intercede for her because God has given me the authority.
[00:27:49] I can go into my closet and pray for them and know that God will move because he's given me the authority as a father to do that.
[00:28:01] But I never believed it until I came to know the Lord, came to know the truth, that that's my place.
[00:28:10] And it's not out of.
[00:28:13] Not out of anger or pride, but it's. It's the thing that the Lord gave me.
[00:28:19] And once you realize that that's our place and you realize how God structures the kingdom and how safe that is for the family and how safe that is for the family. Building a church, even these fathers, everyone in their place.
[00:28:40] And we've all had life experiences. We grew up in different homes, different circumstances, different cultures.
[00:28:48] And that's the thing we need to lay down because a lot of it's not healthy. I'm not saying Everything is not healthy.
[00:28:56] There's good things when we in our houses and remembering that our parents did the best they could or best to their knowledge, what they knew.
[00:29:08] So I'm not pointing any fingers to parents, but they thought they did the best and they maybe misinterpreted the word abusing. Authority is so, so common under males in households because it's used with force and anger.
[00:29:32] I know from our culture, where we come from, the Afrikaners are very known for that to be so freaking angry and they force it on you, they force it on their wives. And it's wrong.
[00:29:48] It's not what Christ does.
[00:29:50] So there's a lot of that that can surface in your walk with the Lord.
[00:29:56] You know that's part of the past that will want to default to.
[00:30:02] And it's so wrong.
[00:30:04] You're a king, you're a priest, you're a prophet. As men, okay, I can intercede for my child.
[00:30:12] You've got five children, so I've got more to intercede.
[00:30:17] But ah, I can remember through the years, just wait when one of them have an issue or problem or you wake up at two o' clock in the morning and it's like on your heart, you just go pray and pray and pray.
[00:30:34] Because God's given us the authority to do that and there's breakthrough and there's protection.
[00:30:43] So you can, as a king in your house, as a priest, you can bring your family before the Lord as the priests of old.
[00:30:54] He brought the people before the Lord.
[00:30:56] He came before the Lord. Lord, this is my wife, this is my children. I bring them before you and the Lord will hear you as a prophet, you have the authority to speak into their lives.
[00:31:12] I know Ludwig and them has done it as well. Blessing your children in different ages, especially coming into puberty, where it's our responsibility to speak destiny into the child's life. This is who you are, this is who the Lord says you are. I bless you as my son, as my daughter.
[00:31:31] And you're going to prosper. And you speak those blessings.
[00:31:34] You walk with him, you're their spiritual father, you guide them, you lead them to Christ. How much of that happens today?
[00:31:42] It's a lack. It's what the enemy's stolen. He's stolen territory.
[00:31:47] We're busy restoring that. We had a wonderful time with Anton as well, with his oldest son in December, where we also did a blessing for him, where he could pray into him and bless him and speak over his life. And now he's walking with his father and his mother. Is just caring and just helping.
[00:32:08] Not the mother. Responsibility.
[00:32:11] Okay. And we're busy with someone else as well. And it's such a good thing to restore in families.
[00:32:16] And saying that it's never too late. Even if your kids are old, there's a way of repentance. There's a way of restoring that. We've seen that as well.
[00:32:25] Even when children. When.
[00:32:27] Even if your sons are married and have family, there's that lack in their lives of blessing from the Father, and it can be restored. God restores all things, and he catches up, but it's just so much easier when it's done from the beginning.
[00:32:45] Yeah.
[00:32:46] So, okay, now it's the wives turns.
[00:32:51] Okay, men, you can relax.
[00:32:54] Yeah. The word submit. Submit to your husbands in everything.
[00:33:00] Yo, that's a. I mean, sometimes the gods just come up, what did I do wrong? Why must I submit to my heart?
[00:33:10] And it. And it is. In many ways, there's.
[00:33:14] There is a reason. There's a good reason why women stand up against it because there was abuse and they didn't experience the right thing.
[00:33:27] So there needs to be grace both sides. Okay.
[00:33:31] So another definition for submit is to willingly align under.
[00:33:38] Willingly align under your husband or under authority as a helper or as a support, because that's what the word says. You're a helper. Speaks of the weaker vessel, but not necessarily identity or anything. Physically, you're weaker naturally.
[00:34:02] How do you respond to leadership?
[00:34:06] If you have a problem responding to leadership, there's a problem with submission somewhere, and it can be healed.
[00:34:15] And the worst thing you can do is stand up against it.
[00:34:20] The moment you realize there's a problem with submitting to something, it's so good to just say why?
[00:34:27] And the Lord will show you.
[00:34:31] My wife can talk about that. I can't speak for her, but we both had to learn so much in. In our roles, and it's so liberating because the Lord restores that, and the fruit is in your lives and your children. And if there's not fruit, you know, there's always something that you can try and dig up.
[00:34:54] So submission is not a weakness.
[00:34:58] The world makes it a weakness because of the abuse. Okay, it's not a weakness, but it's actually a spiritual strength for a lady.
[00:35:09] There's such a strength in submission.
[00:35:15] There's such a burden that's lifted off your shoulders in submission because the women have been. Because men weren't in place, they had to step up naturally. And ladies are good with it because in your especially, like in a Family, when there's an absent husband.
[00:35:33] I mean, the natural thing is because you love and you care, you step up into that place.
[00:35:39] So there's also something that of the past, what was wrong, what must be set right, okay, Just as the husband is set right.
[00:35:48] So, yeah, so it's not a weakness and it's not anything to do with your identity. We sons and daughters, all right? And you, you're not made weak in submission.
[00:36:04] You are under his covering.
[00:36:09] You're not behind or of less value.
[00:36:12] You're just under his covering. And there's a strength in that respect. Empowers a husband, empowers a husband to do, to lead. Well, That's for the ladies, you know, it does empower the husband to live well, just as love empowers a wife to respond freely.
[00:36:37] So, you know, it's, it's always both ways. There's no pointing to one, but as if that's healthy. It's, it's so, so powerful.
[00:36:50] So just the example of covering, My wife's used it a lot.
[00:36:58] The word says clearly that Christ is our head.
[00:37:03] And then the husband, and then the wife, then the children.
[00:37:09] And you can picture a nice big umbrella, smaller umbrella, small umbrella, and everything's in line.
[00:37:17] And that's how God ordained it.
[00:37:20] And if you want to prove me wrong, you can.
[00:37:23] I don't think you can find it, but that's how God wants it. That's how. That's the safety structure that God made for us so that we can have a healthy family and so that he can work with us.
[00:37:38] Because as soon as we step out of that umbrella, the enemy gets us. As long as we under Christ.
[00:37:46] As long as I'm under Christ, my wife's under my covering and my kids under all of our covering.
[00:37:54] We protected, we hear from the Lord.
[00:37:59] As soon as any one of them rebels or anything comes out, you expose yourself to the works of the enemy.
[00:38:08] You take it unnecessary.
[00:38:12] The Word also says in Matthew Mark, where he talks about the strong man just for the husbands again, for the men.
[00:38:22] When a thief goes, he binds up the strong man.
[00:38:25] And when the strong man's bound up, he's got free reign.
[00:38:30] So if I'm bound up in any sin, if I'm not in my place, I expose my whole family to the works of the enemy. And that's scary.
[00:38:42] Okay, now to the children.
[00:38:50] Kids thought they're going to be left out if you still under your parents care in Ephesians 6:1:4.
[00:39:00] And that's the one thing we must learn. Our Children. So remember, as parents, our responsibility of discipline. Train the child in the way he should go. Do not withhold the rod, all those things.
[00:39:14] Okay?
[00:39:15] So Ephesians 6:1:4. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
[00:39:21] Honour your father and your mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise. All the other commandments are just commandments, but this one has a promise connected to it that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.
[00:39:41] People read over it so quickly, and that's one thing we must train our children.
[00:39:48] If they dishonor you.
[00:39:51] My children have received so much discipline. Sometimes when they dishonor my wife or when they dishonor us, it's not their place.
[00:40:03] It's so dangerous to. To walk in that there's no blessing on that because the Lord says it will go well with you and that you're. That you may have a long life in the land.
[00:40:19] And that's an awesome promise.
[00:40:22] And we sometimes battle with that.
[00:40:27] And then it also says, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
[00:40:37] So it's good for the children. And it's a thing that we need to learn our children to teach them.
[00:40:48] And sometimes we know.
[00:40:50] I know. With things we've handled with. When, you know, you're struggling with something that you didn't honor your parents in the way you should have, and now you struggling with stuff in your life and that sometimes that's a reason because you didn't honor your parents well.
[00:41:11] And then you're going to struggle honoring anyone else because you haven't been taught to honor.
[00:41:18] And it's interesting that that's. Yeah, we'll do more of that next week. So.
[00:41:25] So, yeah, in short, I want to land this now.
[00:41:32] I want to, you know, everyone you can go through your life and you know, where you haven't been in place, where the enemy has withheld you from stepping into the promises of God, where the enemies kept you back with fear to not step in faith as your responsibility as a man, as a husband, even as a young man, as a wife.
[00:42:05] And there's many areas that you could tweak.
[00:42:09] And I would encourage you to search your heart in that remembering that you must leave the things behind.
[00:42:21] And we've got all the habits, but the hope is incredible because Jesus has set us free. He's made us this new family and he set things in place.
[00:42:32] Like we've read, just simple things, how to do husband and wife.
[00:42:38] But the world's made it all other things, all other rights, our own rights.
[00:42:46] Okay, so, yeah, I want to share 1 scripture, 1 Peter 1, verse 13 to 16.
[00:42:57] We need to prepare our minds, verse 13. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:43:13] As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
[00:43:21] So a lot of times we've been acting in ignorance because of our default.
[00:43:27] Okay? And he warns us there don't be brought back to that.
[00:43:32] But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
[00:43:40] Since it is written, you should be holy. For I am holy.
[00:43:52] Yeah. Amen.
[00:43:55] So, yeah, I'd like to take this opportunity.
[00:44:00] I'm gonna pray, and if you think you're holy and you don't, you don't have any shortcoming in any of these areas, so be it.
[00:44:16] But I know we always fall short of the glory.
[00:44:20] I need to still tweak a few things.
[00:44:25] We haven't got it, all right?
[00:44:28] But the big thing is if we know Christ and we know where we're going, we're putting our faith in that, and we're part of this family, and he's growing us, and there's a hope he's restoring. He's creating a healthy family, he's creating a healthy marriage, healthy relationships, and he wants to build on that, and he wants the church to look like that because the church is the picture of Christ of the bride that he's coming back for.
[00:44:59] And some brides aren't looking well at the moment.
[00:45:04] The whole church is not all looking well. And we're part of that.
[00:45:11] We can't look outside to that church or that bride, or we're looking to our bride. And that's why we want to build this for us.
[00:45:21] Okay?
[00:45:23] Okay. Let's pray.
[00:45:25] Father, we thank you for what you want to do in our lives. And, Lord, just the inheritance you've promised us as sons and daughters to walk in.
[00:45:39] It is so awesome, Lord, that you've given so many solutions in your word.
[00:45:44] And all we need to do is to know you better and to follow you and to be obedient to your call. Father.
[00:45:52] Father, let us not go back to our defaults and anything of our former lusts and our former ways.
[00:46:02] Father, you wanted to establish. You want to take back your kingdom on this earth, and the one way you want to take that back is in our lives, in our relationships, in our homes, with our children.
[00:46:18] And I pray that you did come and do that. Just point on our hearts, Father.
[00:46:25] Just point out things in our hearts that we can come again and lay before you and ask you to change.
[00:46:36] So I'm trusting the Holy Spirit to just show you in your heart if there's anything that you maybe need to tweak as a husband, as a wife, anything you're struggling with or you don't know how.
[00:46:53] And we can pray with you, ask someone to direct you in that sometimes you need to walk with someone.
[00:47:06] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:47:10] So the invitation is there.
[00:47:14] The invitation is there. And I would like to invite you to bring it before the Lord, and we can pray with you and really pray with you so that you can be liberated of that burden, whatever the burden is.
[00:47:39] We thank you, Father.
[00:47:44] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:47:48] Amen.
