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