Glory to God. Look at all of you showing up on a Friday night to hear about relationships. Hah! Relationships and all the good things that God has to restore in our lives, and all of what fasting, and prayer does for us. So, of course you know the reason we fast, is not because our fasting moves God. The reason we fast are because our fasting moves us. Or to be more accurate we don’t move [Pastor John chuckles] if you fast. [Congregation laughs]. It took a while for people to get it, but they got it, they got it. I mean you don’t have energy. It depends on the kind of fast you’re having. [Pastor John and congregation continues laughing]. ‘Toe lag ek nou lekker vir myself.’ Oh boy.
I was just spending some time this week meditating and preparing myself and pastor Sharon is actually going to take the service this evening. But you know, when you consider relationships, it goes all the way back to the three parts of God. Who were together, The Three in One. Of course, in the three parts of God there is no division, there is complete unity and complete fellowship. And so, when God made man, He made a single being, because in the singleness of the way they were, He created a single being to represent all of their singleness.
So, although They were three, They were single in unity and single in everything They did. That’s powerful. So, They created a being that was singular, but had all of God in a single vessel. But this single vessel, aside from having fellowship with God, the Lord said, “It’s not good for man to be alone.” So, He then took a part of Himself out of the single vessel and He put the part of Himself that is, what we now know as a woman. And He put it in another vessel, so that the one vessel could have the same unity with another vessel. And so, from the very beginning, relationships are the foundation of everything that is created. So, nothing is created without relationship. It is the relationship of God the Father, the Son, that created all other things that were created. And out of that we were created.
So, relationship is a very, very big and very essential part of our lives. And, you know, we heard somebody say it like this way, “If you’re a born-again Christian, the closest thing that you will ever get to hell is a bad marriage.” That’s quite something to think about. Right? Because actually, if you understand who you are as a Christian, and what God has for you, if you’ve got a bad marriage, that’s the closest you’ll ever get to hell. I mean, whether that person is right or wrong, it’s just a thought. It’s quite something to think about, that if you’ve got a bad marriage, I mean, we will never go to hell, we will never experience hell. And so, the only hell on earth that you will ever experience will be a bad marriage or bad relationships.
So, that’s quite something to think about. However, the closest you can get to God while you’re on earth is to have a good relationship with Him. And then good relationship with the body of Christ, and your partner. And you can truly have heaven on earth. As it is in heaven, so we can have it on earth. That applies to relationships. Wow. This is already mind-blowing stuff tonight. It is. Wow. So, Pastor Sharon has really been, I can say, certainly I know, having lived with her all these forty plus years, I know how much, what she is going to do with you tonight. I know how much this has impacted her, and us, and how it’s been a fundamental foundation for the success of our relationship.
And so, she’s going to come and share with you and pray and we’re going to pray together tonight. And she’s going to, she’s got some marvelous things that she’s going to do, very practical, very marvelous things that she’s going to share with you tonight. Hallelujah. [Pastor John welcoming Pastor Sharon to the pulpit] My darling and the greatest joy of my life, and Pastor Sharon, my partner in ministry and everything. Won’t you welcome the most beautiful, gorgeous woman in the world to the platform, please? You must use this mic my babe.
Pastor Sharon:
Hello, everybody. Wonderful to have you all here. I know, and I know that you know too, that we are going to have a life changing weekend. It’s something that I believe Pastor John said on his last message, last Sunday. He believes that this weekend is going to catapult all of us to a new place, not only in God, but in our marriages, in our families and us as blood bought family. And because those are the areas that God spoke through Pastor John.
Will you just pray with me? Please. Father, I thank You, that our hearts are expectant. Our hearts are open. Our spiritual ears are open, Lord, to hear what the Lord would speak to our hearts. Thank You, Holy Spirit, that You live in every one of us, that as You give me utterance, so You witness it, and You confirm it in the hearts of all these, the children of God, all these born-again ones, because of the blood of Jesus that was shed. That You make this real to them, that as I read scripture, Father, that scripture will speak to them Father, they’ll hear scripture and truth speaking to their hearts. And we thank You for that in the name of Jesus. And we all say, Amen. Thank you.
So, on the 2nd of January, Sunday, the 2nd of January 2022, this came out of Pastor John’s spirit. I have this surge. The reason I’m reading this to you is because it’s the reason we are having this relationship weekend. I have the surge that God is going to restore people’s relationship with Him, God Himself, He is going to restore that relationship. He is going to bring us up to a higher place in our walk with Him, in the way that we are obeying Him, that He can use us and our discipleship. Hear me now when I say this, He is going to do major, major work on relationships.
He is going to do major work on relationships between husbands and wives, between fathers, mothers and children, between siblings, that’s brothers and sisters, between different family members. Which I really believe is the family of God, the Blood bought family. God is going to do a major thing. He’s going to bring them together under His mantle of knowing Him. And there’s going to be a restoration, that even those that have got good relationships, God’s going to bring them closer. They’re going to get better, they’re going to be bigger, they’re going to get stronger, they’re going to flow together, they’re going to be energized to do kingdom of God work together. God is going to do a major restoration in relationships in 2022. Hallelujah. Glory to God. We thank You for that, Father. We thank You for that, Father.
So, I’m going to go in a sequence tonight reading scripture to you because the sequence here just happens to be the sequence in which I have my seed file, the revelation that God gave me of ‘The Sower Sows the Word’ that you sow. Sow the Word of God is incorruptible seed, and you sow the Word of God into your heart with your mouth, and your heart was tailor-made to receive the Word of God. So, when the Lord gave me that revelation, about 34 years ago, I began to search the Scriptures. He began to show me. I said to Him, “How do I sow Your Word into my life, Lord?” In other words, “How do I seek Your Word for scriptures, and for which areas of my life?” And He said, “Number one, your relationship with Me. Number two, your relationship with your husband, and then your children? Number three, your relationship with the body of Christ.” Hallelujah.
There were, you know, there were other areas too, then He said, “And then you and your finances and your fruit of the spirit and your things.” But these are the three things that God is speaking about, I’m telling you when you get this right… And so, for those of you that are not married yet, it would be your relationship with your God, with the Father, with a Son, and with the Holy Spirit. Your intimacy with Him being restored, and it will be your relationship with the body of Christ, and even with your own family; even with your own family and the wisdom that God will give you for that. Right.
So, the Lord in our relationship. So this is when I was 33, when I was doing the scriptures, my handwriting has changed so much, but I just had it in my heart to go and take it out of my archives, because I do have a new, I have renewed and refreshed it, but I had it in my heart to do it like this with you, Deuteronomy 6:5, Personalised: I love You, the Lord my God, with all my mind and heart, and my entire being and with all my might. Scripture: 5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5 AMPC). So, I think we could say that together Deuteronomy 6:5, let’s just say this together, [Congregation repeating after Pastor Sharon]. “I love You, the Lord my God, with all my mind, and hearts, and with my entire being, and with all my might.” Hallelujah.
Then Deuteronomy 4:29 says this, Personalised: I seek You. These are mostly from the Amplified Bible. Personalised: I seek You and require You as my necessity, Lord God, and I find You. I truly seek You with all my heart, and soul, and life. Scripture: 29But if from there you will seek (inquire for and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find Him if you [truly] seek Him with all your heart [and mind] and soul and life. (Deuteronomy 4:29 AMPC). This is Deuteronomy 4:29. So I have made it very personal to me because the Scripture actually would say, … seek (inquire for and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find Him if you [truly] seek Him with all your heart [and mind] and soul and life. But of course, I’ve personalized that with saying I. So, let’s say that together, [Congregation repeating after Pastor Sharon] “I seek and require you as my necessity, Lord God. And I find You. I truly seek You with all my heart, and soul, and life.”
I’m just going to do one more for tonight. One Chronicles 16:11. Let’s say this together, [Congregation repeating after Pastor Sharon] Personalised: “I seek You and Your strength. I yearn for and seek Your face and to be in Your presence continually.” Scripture: 11Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually! (1 Chronicles 16:11 AMPC). You don’t have to put the scriptures up. Okay. I like the personal touch here with us if you don’t mind. Thank you so much. Right. It’s just to get out of a habit. I like to swing things around sometimes. So that you can listen. And then listen with your heart and, right. So, now we’re going to pray. We’re going to all pray together. We’re going to pray for ourselves, but we also, because we pray in the Spirit, we’re going to also be praying for one another. So, God will use our prayers when we pray now, and we ask Him to restore our personal relationship with Him. Hallelujah.
Restore, God is going to restore people’s relationship with Him. God Himself, He’s going to restore that relationship. And I’m just thinking about this message that Pastor John ministered this last Sunday. And it’s going to take your time. Of course, we know that he ministers on energy, but it’s going to; how do you touch God? How do you integrate with His ways? Well, it’s going to take time with God. Your personal time with God, hallelujah, that you’re going to set aside for yourself to be with Him. And so, this is what we’re going to pray. We are praying it out now because 1 Corinthians 14 says that if we pray in an unknown tongue, we’re praying out mysteries and secrets, the secrets of God. And also, Romans 8:26 says we pray according to the perfect will of God.
So, we are asking the Father now tonight through our prayers to draw us into that intimacy with Him, in a deeper intimacy with Him. To draw us into perhaps something that we’ve lost that we once had with Him, to bring that back. Perhaps for some of you, you’ve never had intimacy with the Lord, other than to just come to church on a Sunday. And just, you sense His presence, and you know He’s real, but you haven’t actually, you don’t have a relationship with Him. To have a relationship with someone, you have to be with Him. You have to be with Him. To get to know somebody not to know about them. You can know about God, but God wants you to know Him. Actually, this is a very, I think probably one of the most beautiful scriptures that we can have before we pray. That we can have as a confession as well.
I think I have got it on that card but let me just see here. It’s well worth referring to and then we’re going to pray and ask God, draw me after You. It says in the Song of Solomon, Song of Solomon, right, it is the Bible book, it says, draw me after You and let us run together. We’re going to ask that God through our praying tonight. And those of you that don’t pray in the Spirit yet, you don’t pray in tongues yet, you’re born-again, you have the Holy Spirit, let me tell you, you have the Holy Spirit when Jesus lives in your heart. You have the Holy Spirit. So just get ready to have an appetite, to want to be filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Right, and just listen to the sounds that God hears, because it’s scriptural and God says in Romans 8:26, we pray according to the will of God.
Let me just find the scripture here. It’s in John 17, verse 3, and let’s say this together, [Congregation repeating after Pastor Sharon] 3And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent. (John 17:3 AMPC). So, the King James says, 3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, to know the Father and to know Jesus (John 17:3 KJV). And who is going to help you to know the Father and Jesus? The Holy Spirit that lives in you. When you read Scripture about the Father, and you read Scripture about Jesus, He’s going to make the Father and Jesus real to you, because the Holy Spirit, one of the Holy Spirit’s names in the Bible is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ.
They are one, like Pastor John was saying, this morning, but they are separate. They are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Really, the Holy Trinity, Glory to God. So, this is eternal life, it means: to know you the Only true and real God and the One whom You have sent. So, Father, we thank You with these scriptures that we have spoken out of our mouths Father, that they would lodge in our hearts, and that You would bring Your spirit to rain on these seeds, that we are sowing into our hearts tonight, Father, Glory to God.
Now Father, we pray in the Spirit for one another and for ourselves, Lord, that truly our relationship with You may be restored and we may go to new levels with You. As You said You wanted to do, at the beginning of this year, Hallelujah. Let your Spirit speak to God. You don’t speak to men, 1 Corinthians 14 says, when you pray in an unknown tongue, you do not speak to men, you speak to God. We speak to You now Father, Hallelujah, about our own personal intimacy with You and then those for others as well Lord [Pastor Sharon and congregation praying in the Spirit]. Now we’re going to pray for our brothers and sisters. We’re going to continue. It’s switched now in me, so I’m switching you with me. Now I’m praying for others, my brothers and my sisters Father, that I so long for them to enjoy intimacy with You, Father, to have this relationship with You that they never even dreamed they could have Father.
Now my Spirit speaks to You for my brothers and my sisters, for the young ones Father; for the young ones, for the middle ones for the older ones Father. My Spirit speaks to you for all my brothers and sisters in this congregation, Father. It’s my desire, it’s our desire Father, that we all have this together Father. [Continues praying in the Spirit]. Draw, draw them Farther. Yes, with cords of love. [Praying in the Spirit]. This is eternal life Father, that they may know you and your Son. [Praying in the Spirit]. Pray for those who have had the measures and little touches here and there, and little experiences from time to time that it becomes consistent now, Father. That they have a desire and a hunger to not want to be a moment without You, Father, not a moment without You and we thank You for hearing our prayers. We thank You for hearing our prayers in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah.
So that’s our relationship with the Lord. I have another scripture here, if you want to write it down, it’s Hebrews 10 verse 19. But I’m going to read it out of the Living Bible, it says, Personalised: and now I may walk right into the very holy of holies, where you are God, because of the blood of Jesus. This is the fresh new life-giving way which Christ has opened for me by tearing the curtain of his human body to let me into your holy presence. I come right into you with a true heart fully trusting you to receive me because I’ve been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make me clean. Hallelujah. Scripture: 19 And so, dear brothers, now we may walk right into the very Holy of Holies, where God is, because of the blood of Jesus. 20 This is the fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—his human body—to let us into the holy presence of God. 22 let us go right into God himself, with true hearts fully trusting him to receive us because we have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean and because our bodies have been washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-20,22 TLB).
So that’s how I come to him because of the blood that has made me clean. It’s not because of how good I’ve been that day or how I’ve missed it that day. The blood of Jesus qualifies me to come and have intimacy with Him any time. Hallelujah, Glory. So that’s his presence. Right, and now I’m going to just share with you, major work. He is going to do major work in our behaviour towards one another. How we speak to one another, how we think about one another as a Blood bought family, Heritage of Faith people. How we treat one another. So, I sought the scriptures and I’m going to read some, my behaviour towards others in the body. I mean, there are so many, I’ve got so many, but I’m just going to read you some of them.
Ephesians 4, verse 2, in fact, Ephesians 4 there’s so much of it in the Amplified Bible, but I will read it to you. Personalised: I live as becomes me with complete lowliness of mind, humility, unselfishness, gentleness, meekness, with patience. I think I’m going to just read you the scripture instead of my confession and then we will make a confession. told you why a lot of my scriptures are out of the Amplified Bible because when Pastor John and I first got married, we were very, very poor. So, the only Bible that we had was, you had a New King James, I think that your mom and dad had bought you and you had an Amplified [Talking to Pastor John]. So, I annexed the Amplified Bible. I did ask you if I could have it, because the only Bible I had was a funny little square, white wedding Bible. I didn’t know, I bought it, but I didn’t know that it was a wedding Bible. Afterwards, somebody said to me, “Oh, you got a wedding Bible.” Found out that people that get married buy a white Bible. Okay, so, well I was married, but I wanted a nice, like paper, so it happened to be an Amplified Bible which I’m delighted about. Ephesians 4:2 Amplified Bible. So, you can listen right? Are you listening?
This is the apostle Paul saying, 1 I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God’s service, 2 Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. (Ephesians 4:1-2 AMPC). Right there, right there is all you need. If you have one seed like that, it’s all you need to grow in your heart, to exercise and develop in your life. Hallelujah.
So, let’s say this then, [Congregation repeating after Pastor Sharon] Personalised: I love as becomes me. With complete lowliness of mind, humility, unselfishness, gentleness, and meekness, with patience, bearing with others and making allowances because I love them. Wow. Glory to God. Here’s Titus 3:2, Personalised: to slander or speak evil of no one. Avoid being contentious. Before bearing yielding, gentle, conciliatory, show unqualified courtesy towards everybody. Avoid stupid, foolish controversy and quarrels. They settle nothing and lead nowhere. Scripture: 2 To slander or abuse or speak evil of no one, to avoid being contentious, to be forbearing (yielding, gentle, and conciliatory), and to show unqualified courtesy toward everybody. (Titus 3:2 AMPC). Wow. Right. And then this is beautiful. I remember then the book of Philippians coming alive. Those scriptures are still working in my heart. They’ve grown fruit already. And God has to prune me every now and again so that I can be more excellent fruit in this area.
Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility, think more highly of others, then you do of yourself. Do not think only of your own affairs but consider other people’s interests also. Wow Isn’t that beautiful? So, let’s say that together, [Congregation repeats after Pastor Sharon] Personalised: I never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility. I think more highly of others than I do have myself. Sjoh, alright, one more, Colossian 3:12. I’m going to read that to you out of the amplified, Colossians 3:12, I remember when I was searching the Bible for these scriptures, so that I could put them into my heart so that I could begin to live them. What an impact they made on me; you know? And so, here’s Colossians 3:12.
Just listen to this. So beautiful. 12 Clothe yourselves therefore, as God’s own chosen ones (His own picked representatives), [who are] purified and holy and well-beloved [by God Himself, by putting on behavior marked by] tenderhearted pity and mercy, kind feeling, a lowly opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, [and] patience [which is tireless and long-suffering, and has the power to endure whatever comes, with good temper]. 13 Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference (a grievance or complaint) against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you also [forgive]. (Colossians 3:12-13 AMPC).
Wow, how beautiful is that? So that’s what’s the kind of person actually as a born again, Christian, that’s actually who I am. But I’ve got to grow the word in me. Because when you were born again, you were born again, a baby born again one. Now you’ve got to develop and grow. And the Bible is very clear, desire the milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. You don’t grow by anything else; you don’t grow with age and grow in wisdom because you get older.
In fact, there are some old people that developed things when they were young. And even when they were 70 and 80, they’re still better. Because they’ve never put the word of God in their hearts to change that. So, Wisdom does not come with age. Maturity, and growth, spiritual growth comes from the Word of God. So young people can grow very quickly. But older people can also grow very quickly. But you need to be, I’m probably going to be doing that teaching. But I know that, you know, the teaching of sowing the Word into your heart. It’s the biggest revelation I ever received in my life was Mark 4.
It changed my life, I was in a place in my life at 33 where I just said, “Lord, I’m hearing so many messages. I sit in church. I, you know, I cut my teeth apparently on church pews when my mother was playing the organ, and she put me at her feet, and my head would bob up and down on her feet would go like this on the organ, ‘op die oral’, you know, and so, you know, I’ve grown up grown up in church. I’ve heard so many messages, but Lord, I want to know that I’m making spiritual progress, and that I’m developing, and that I’m maturing and making progress, Lord. I want to know and be sure that my life in every area is pleasing to You. That there’s nothing missing. That there are no building blocks, just because I come to church every Sunday, and listen to the message.
And He took me on a journey that year and He gave me the revelation of the Hard-working Farmer. That actually, if you want a garden to grow, you’ve got to go to work in that garden, you’ve got to weed. You’ve got to plow; you’ve got to plant, you’ve got to water, you’ve got to keep weeding. And you got to keep watering. And you’ve got to keep being persistent, like a farmer and waiting and trusting and believing that the Word of God is incorruptible seed, that when you planted in your heart, with your mouth, this is the word of faith that we preach. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 10, that the Word of God is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart; and in your mouth, and in your heart, so that you can have it, and you can do it, and you can be it. Hallelujah, glory to God. Glory to God.
And so, we’re going to, we’re going to say this now in Colossians 3, right, so don’t despise the day of small beginnings. I mean, I heard somebody say once, quite a few years ago, “Argh, moet ons alweer Woord verklaar’. They didn’t know I was standing close to them. I was like, “What? It’s my life. Where would I be in my relationship with God. In my relationship with my husband. In my relationship with my children. In my relationship with the body of Christ.” If I couldn’t live Romans 10, Your word is near me, in my mouth, and in my heart, in my mouth, and in my heart. This is the Word of Faith. Hallelujah. It’s written in the book of Deuteronomy, where Moses is instructing the people. And he’s saying to them, the Word is not far from you, that you should say, “Could Jesus come from heaven, please. Can we bring Him up from the dead? Please?”
No, it says in Deuteronomy, the Word of God, the words of God are near you, even in your mouth, and even in your heart; and in your mouth, and in your heart; and in your mouth, and in your heart. And that’s how you sow the seed of God’s Word. And that’s the only way you will grow. That’s the only way you do not have some mysterious other way of developing and maturing, than what I have. This is the way God has given us seed to sow, so that we can grow and mature. Hallelujah.
So, here we are tonight, we are praying, and we are putting seeds in our heart. So, I put on behavior marked by tender hearted pity, I put on behaviour… Let’s say it [Congregation repeats after Pastor Sharon]. Personalised: I put on behavior marked by tender hearted pity and mercy. Kind feeling, a lowly opinion of myself, gentle ways and patience, which is tireless. Tireless means: you don’t get tired. T-I-R-E-L-E-S-S, and tireless and long suffering and I have the power to endure whatever comes with good temper. I tell you something, people. Let’s continue here. I am gentle and forbearing with others. I’m gentle and forbearing with others. And if I have a difference or a grievance against anyone, I readily pardon them, even as the Lord has freely forgiven me, so I also forgive. Hallelujah.
So, we’re talking about relationships, people, Pastor John, so I’m just initiating this tonight in you that you can understand where God has been speaking to Pastor John that this is the year. He’s been speaking to us, that we are going to develop in all of our relationships so we can become whole, all rounded, mature disciples, sons of God in the Kingdom of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, that our Father can look at us and say, “Wow, there’s My son, there’s My daughter. Those are My beloveds. They are seeking My ways and walking in My ways.” Glory, glory.
You know, you’re not going to have overnight growth. When you sow a seed in your heart, you’ve got to water it, you’ve got to trust God’s way that I put it in my heart now. Because you’re going to have an opportunity for it to not manifest in your life, there you’re going to lose your temper again, there you’re going to be unkind to someone again, there you’re going to shout at someone again, and you go, “This is not working. I’ve been putting this Word in my heart and in my mouth and in my heart and look, it’s not working.” Do you think that a farmer with seed will say, “It’s not growing yet, I’ve got to dig up the seeds, because this is not working, this planting seed in the soil things doesn’t work.” That’s foolish for you to think you’re going to get an overnight harvest of the Word of God.
You were created and recreated to receive the Word of God in all, its beauty, in all its capacity, it’s to exercise that superhuman energy in you to work in you. Aww hallelujah. Glory to God. God expects you to keep and hold that Word tight regardless of circumstances, regardless of how you are behaving. Because it will change you because Mark chapter 4, all that I’m talking about, this parable that changed my whole life, it says, but if you hold that Word in, adjust and worthy heart and you, you don’t give up on yourself, but you trust the Word and not yourself, that first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear and then the harvest is there. Hallelujah.
It’s too late for anybody to tell me that it doesn’t work because I have been sowing and farming with the Word of God in areas of my life that have truly changed me. They’ve transformed my life. The Word of God works in my heart and the Holy Spirit works with that Word in my heart. So, what do I do if I miss it and I lose my temper again? I go back to water my seed. I go back to water it because I’ve planted it now, I’m going to water it, then I go back because I wasn’t gentle, and I wasn’t forbearing, and I wasn’t and l go and I’m gentle and forbearing with others. If I have a grievance against another, I really pardon others, Father. Hallelujah. Father, Father, I put on behaviour, tender-hearted pity and mercy marked by tender …. A kind feeling, a lowly opinion.
You see, because in the book of James, it says, if you look in a mirror in the Word of God, who you are and then you walk away from the Word, you just walk away from the Word, you forget what manner of man you are. But if you keep looking into God’s Word, because that’s who you are. I’m looking to see who I am. I’m only saying what God says about me. He’s saying that about me. Now I’m growing it, in me. And if I keep, the book of James says, If you keep looking into the faultless law of liberty, you will be blessed in your life of obedience. Because you’ll find on a day where if you don’t let go of the Word and you don’t let it get snatched out of your heart by satan, you’ll find on a day, you’ll go, “Wow, that kindness came that gentleness, wow, yes, I’m exercising myself here in godliness. I’m not looking just to my own interest, but I’m looking, I’m finding myself. It’s the Word of God growing up. First the blade. Oh, there is a blade. There’s some fruit. There’s no fruit, but there’s some movement here in me where I’m realizing I’m changing.” Hallelujah. It’s not full-grown fruit yet.
So, Father, this is who we desire to come up in relationships in the Church. We desire to have relationships, Father, godly relationships and fellowship, Father, and not to isolate ourselves from the Body, from our Church, Lord. Something else Pastor John said that was so powerful, that we think we can just put our money in and put our tithe in, but we don’t have relationships in the Church, we’re not fellowshipping, we’re not even allowing ourselves to get close to other people, so that the Christ in them can touch the Christ in me. Hallelujah. So, this is something that we should be having the kind of fellowship, the kind of intimacy in a congregation that’s in the Father’s heart, not what we think it looks like, but to how God wants it to look.
There’s something in the heart of God, when He looks at this congregation that goes, “Joh, they could come up to a higher level with each other, they could be enjoying each other so much more. Even if it gets messy sometimes, I’ll help them because they are trusting My Word, I’ll help it if it’s messy, to get too marvelous, but they need to be at least getting close to each other. As they’re getting close to Me, they must get close to each other.” Hallelujah. “They must talk, they must fellowship.” Hallelujah, glory to God. Not just come on a Sunday and we hold ourselves aloof from each other, because… no, I have to allow the Christ in you to touch me and change me. I cannot mature on my own, even though I have the power of the Word of God, that’s working in my heart. Jesus, and the Father has still given me the Church, so that we touch each other and that’s also part of our growth. It would be like saying that I can grow all by my own, without need of the Body, without need, I have no need of the Church. We can’t do that. We are living stones. We are built together. We are members of one Body, the Bible says, you know.
So, we got to just get over it. You know, people said, “The Church hurt me. I got hurt by the Church. The church hurt me. I got hurt by the Church.” No, no, no, no. You have to forgive. You have to forget. And you have to be planted. And you’ve got to, this is what the Lord has me always say, “God plants you in a Church and, if God plants you in a Church, even if you get upset, you stay set.” I can guarantee you, people come to this Church and they’re like, “This is where God wants us to be, and God wants us to be.” It’s like a honeymoon, it’s like a new romance because it is wonderful when God wants you and sets you in. But then they talk about, “The honeymoon period is over”, and now I’m having confrontations with people I don’t like, or this person looked at me like that, or this person like that.
No, no, it is exactly when God sets you into a church and He divinely connects you; it’s like a marriage. It is. You’re married to His church. And when He plants you somewhere, He doesn’t say to you, “Now I’m going to transplant you, with all your roots that you’ve grown here; I’m going to rip you out of this congregation and I’m going to put you somewhere else and see, maybe your roots will, I don’t know what will happen to your roots; but to be planted means that you allow the roots; roots of the messages in the Word of God that comes to us, to grow into your life.
To be planted doesn’t mean I attend church. If you, if you’re going to be planted, then you’re a plant. You’re a plant that must grow by The Word. Hallelujah. And so, there we go. Let’s pray. Now we’re going to pray for ourselves personally, about how God; there’s things that God knows about us and how we’re supposed to grow and develop in this congregation that you don’t know. You don’t know it all. I don’t know it all, but I want to grow more, I want to be more among you, I want to be more in relationship, I want to be everything God wants me to be among you. Right?
And to you, and from me to you, and Him through me, to you. Hallelujah. Glory. So, let’s pray this for ourselves in Jesus’ name: “Father, we come and let our spirits speak to You now. We want to change and come up to a new level in our corporate obedience, in our corporate relationships, Father, in Your church.” [Pastor Sharon, praying in the Spirit], I really want to, Load, I want to mature more in this congregation, Father, [Praying in the Spirit], to be sensitive to others around me much more Lord, much more than before, [Praying in the Spirit], to not look just to my own interests, but to the interests of others. Hallelujah.
Here’s another one, in 2 Timothy 2:24, Personalised: I’m not quarrelsome. I’m kindly to everyone and mild tempered preserving the bond of peace. I’m willing to suffer wrong. Scripture: 24 And the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome (fighting and contending). Instead, he must be kindly to everyone and mild-tempered [preserving the bond of peace]; he must be a skilled and suitable teacher, patient and willing to suffer wrong. (2 Timothy 2:24 AMPC). All right, so our next area is marriages, and families, and homes. Right, and so I’m going to give you my scripture that the Lord gave me that was a foundational scripture for our family. And now this is for families, and for people that will get married one day and they will have families, and even for grannies and grandpas who have got children that want to read the Scripture, and want to get a hold of the Scripture, and want to put it in their heart.
And this is Proverbs 24:3, Amplified Bible; This is my confession: Our home, our lives, our family is being built through skillful and Godly wisdom. It is established by understanding on a sound and good foundation. By knowledge is our homes’ chambers filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Glory to God. I mean, when I found that scripture for my home, my family; I thought, “Wow, what does that look like, Lord? For my home and my family to be like that?” I’m just going to turn the Proverbs 24. You can actually put that one up, if you like; let our eyes see this one. Proverbs 24 verse 3.
Beautiful. Beautiful. Proverbs 24 verse 3, 3 Through skillful and godly Wisdom is a house (a life, a home, a family) built, we’re going to pray out skillful and Godly wisdom tonight for our loves, our homes, and our families. Isn’t scripture just beautiful? When truth comes to you like this, then hope comes, and faith starts to arise. It gives you hope for your home, your lives, your families. Glory. And so, ³ Through skillful and godly Wisdom is a house (a life, a home, a family) built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation], ⁴ And by knowledge shall its chambers [of every area], so that’s every area in your life, and your family, and your home, every area. Hallelujah, ⁴ be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. (Proverbs 24:3-4 AMP). Glory to God. Glory to God.
So, Father, now we pray Your wisdom; we pray Your wisdom for our families and our lives. In every area, in every chamber, we pray out the wisdom now for our lives, our families and our homes. [Pastor Sharon praying in the Spirit], our lives, our families, our homes, [Pastor Sharon, praying in tongues], wisdom and understanding. Thank You, as we pray, we know you’re going to give it to us, [Praying in the Spirit], skillful and Godly wisdom and understanding as our family’s built. [[Praying in the Spirit] Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. We take the scripture for our families and our homes, Lord. Glory to God.
And then this was also a very big one, for me, and still is for me, is Isaiah 59:21. This is God’s covenant with us, for our children, and our children’s children. When I started to learn about the Word of God being incorruptible seed, and that I could put it into my mouth and into my heart in every single area of my life, and then God gave me this, to show me that this is his way for my children, and my children’s children. Let’s go to Isaiah 59:21. Isaiah 59:21; we’re talking about covenant right, covenant; touch, integration of ways, strategic intentions, divine productivity, back to covenants; everything starts with covenant.
So this, ²¹ As for me, this is my covenant and league with you says the Lord, My Spirit who is upon you, who writes the law of God inwardly on your heart, and my words, which are put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth, now this is not, I did not take it as spiritual children, but we can, because the King James doesn’t put it as, spiritual children. (Isaiah 59:21 AMP). [Speaking to Leigh-Anne] Do you want to swap it for me to the King James? Thanks, Leigh-Anne. Because I took it for my children, and my children’s children, because then I can teach it to spiritual children. ²¹ As for me, says the Lord, this is my covenant with you, My Spirit who is upon you, my words which are put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants, descendants, says the Lord. (Isaiah 59:21 KJV).
And the King James says, the mouth of your children and your children’s children, the mouth of your children. So, this way that I have taught you to put your words, My words in your mouth, and in your heart shall not this way of mine, “This is My covenant with you shall not depart out of the mouths of your children,” you teach your children Deuteronomy 6, you teach your children to put His words in your mouth, like I put them in your mouth. So, then this pattern and this principle of power, will not depart from your children and your children’s children to speak God’s Word, and sow seed and grow. Glory to God.
From the time my boys could read, I started to make them [Pastor Sharon refers to her cards with scriptures and confessions] as well. I’m not putting shame on anybody that hasn’t done this right, this is not … this is an encouragement to do it now, do it now. Pray for your children’s children that, you know, I made them each a little file like this, isn’t that so Brynn? [Brynn: Yes, I still have it] You still, have it? When they would come to me with some things like because dad was at work during the day, so dad did a lot of the training and the things on weekends, like Garth would come to me and said to me, “I hate school.” Where did he learn that? At school because the world speaks like that.
I would say, “Oh, no. No, Garth, you’re learning things, and your love for learning. You don’t say that my son, if you put that death in your heart, you’re going to hate school forever. And you’ve got to be there a long time.” You know, that was before, I found out that there are better ways to educate your children. And so, I put things like that in, like from the book of Daniel, that I am 10 times wiser than those in my… It says that about Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And I would put things like that, and “I love to learn” I would write that in their files. So, you still got yours Brynn? Glory to God. Hallelujah. And because I was a primary school teacher, my cursive was so nice. So, I wrote their little cards like this [Pastor Sharon gesturing cursive writing with her fingers] in cursive so that they could read it.
Anyway, that was my way that the word that God was teaching me shall not depart out of my mouth and as soon as you can read, so that it can’t depart out of your mouth, either. Read, read, speak, sow it, grow it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So, my family and my home. So, we’ve prayed about that. So, here’s my husband, and our marriage. And we’re going to pray for marriages. Oh, maybe we can do that tomorrow afternoon. Or if there is another time, I can just quickly do that. Because here is here’s other things about my children, I should have done you first because you were always first, before, your thing is always in front of my children; because it’s you first. I don’t know how I got to my children first. Oh, I went from my family. I was going to go – my family, my marriage and my children. My marriage, but now I’m on my children. So, I’ll go back to the marriage part.
So, here’s marriage, because that’s what the Lord said, right? Through Pastor John He is going to do a major work between husbands and wives, and fathers and mothers and children, husbands and wives, Lord, so here’s my scriptures, Lord, Genesis 2:18, 18 Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him. (Genesis 2:18 AMPC). You said that it was not good for John to be alone. So, you made me for him, to help him. The Amplified Bible says to adapt myself to him, and to compliment him. I am bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh now, I am one flesh with him. We are united and we cleave to each other. This relationship is unique to any other that I have. I don’t have that relationship with my children. I have this relationship with my husband. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
And so Proverbs 31 I put in my mouth and in my heart. Personalised: I’m a capable, intelligent, virtuous woman. The heart of my husband trusts in me confidently and relies on me securely so that he has no lack of honest gain or need of dishonour, spoil. I comfort and encourage and do him only good as long as there is life within me. I comfort and encourage and do him only good as long as there is life within me. Scripture: 10 A capable, intelligent, and [b]virtuous woman—who is he who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls. 11 The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on and believes in her securely, so that he has no lack of [honest] gain or need of [dishonest] spoil. 12 She comforts, encourages, and does him only good as long as there is life within her. (Proverbs 31:10-12 AMPC).
Hmm, isn’t that beautiful? I deeply love, this is Ephesians. I think it is 1 Peter 3:1-6. Wow, did this Scripture, this Scripture continue to help me to bear more fruit in my marriage. Oh, Jesus, we love Your Word. Can we lift just one hand unto Him or two? We love Your Word, Lord. We love Your Word. Your Word is truth, Lord, Your Word is seed, that we can grow, Lord, hallelujah. Oh, we desire Your Word that we may grow thereby, Father. Thank You that You’ve given us the scriptures that speak to us, anytime we let them. Scripture speaks to us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
And so, 1 Peter 3:1-6 You know, there was a place in my life when I was 33, and I’d had two babies, and it was like, “Uh, uh, uh…” You know and going to church every Sunday and so when He began to give me this revelation, and I saw all the wonderful things that I could be more of in my marriage. Yes, it blessed me. After a few months, my husband came to me and said to me, “That revelation God’s giving you” because he was experiencing the change. Right baby? And it continues to change me. He said, “I want, come share that with me. I want some of that.” Hallelujah.
I’m thanking Him again for His Word. And I can let His Word dwell richly in my heart, in all its richness. I thank Him tonight. I thank Him and I praise Him tonight; that His Word truly is incorruptible seed. And you can find that scripture in Peter, thank You, Lord. Hallelujah. That’s the word of faith to me. That’s what the word of faith is to me. It’s not about me believing God to get stuff. That’s such a smidgen of it. It’s about me having my faith to become like Jesus, in my marriage, in my walk with Him, in my intimacy with Him to have, for me to be a son of God and to be able to have intimacy with Father God, the way Jesus has. Jesus’s death and resurrection made that available to me. He was the firstborn Son and I’m in there. So that I can have a relationship with the Father the way He has it. Glory to God.
Jesus came to die and be raised again to take me and bring me to the Father. There’s lots of scriptures about that. Hallelujah. Right? Where was I going with all of this? [Pastor John: 1 Peter]. 1 Peter right, let me see. This was so beautiful to me, still is so beautiful to me. Now, I think we’ll go to 1 Peter chapter 2, and we go to see Jesus. Let’s go to 1 Peter chapter 2:21 and go and look at Jesus. Let’s look at Jesus. Okay, verse 22 let’s look at Jesus. 22 He was guilty of no sin, neither was deceit (guile) ever found on His lips. 23 When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return; [when] He was abused and suffered, He made no threats [of vengeance]; but he trusted [Himself and everything] to Him Who judges fairly. (1 Peter 2:22-23 AMPC).
Go to verse 1 of chapter 3, 1 In like manner, you married women, there it goes, In like manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives, 2 When they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence [for your husband; you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to, revere him—to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize, and, in the human sense, to adore him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy your husband]. 3 Let not yours be the [merely] external adorning with [elaborate] interweaving and knotting of the hair, the wearing of jewelry, or changes of clothes;
4 But let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which [is not anxious or wrought up, but] is very precious in the sight of God. 5 For it was thus that the pious women of old who hoped in God were [accustomed] to beautify themselves and were submissive to their husbands [adapting themselves to them as themselves secondary and dependent upon them]. 6 It was thus that Sarah obeyed Abraham [following his guidance and acknowledging his headship over her by] calling him lord (master, leader, authority). And you are now her true daughters if you do right and let nothing terrify you [not giving way to hysterical fears or letting anxieties unnerve you]. (1 Peter 3:1-6 AMPC).
7 In the same way you married men… So, okay, there’s the married men, there’s instructions to the married men, too, now. Because this that I’m talking about does not equal “doormat.” It does not equal “doormat.” It equals, “I’m doing this as unto the Lord. I’m following in Jesus’ footsteps.” Hallelujah. Glory to God. Because God has got instructions for men first. For men first. In Ephesians it says husbands, you love your wives as Christ loves the Church. You give yourself up for her. You cleanse her with the washing of the water of the Word. You present her to yourself. So, God gives the responsibility to the man first, to love his wife. Hallelujah.
So, there’s a balance here, but the beauty of it is that sometimes as wives you think that you’ve got to do it and you’ve got to control it, but actually what it says here is that “I will do right here, Lord. I will not let anxieties unnerve me. I will not give way to hysterical fears here; that my husband may be making a wrong decision or what, what, what, what… I put my trust in You like Sarah did,” and God took care of her. Right. Glory to God.
So, I’m done, right, John? I’m done. Well, thank you. Should we just finish off by praying for the marriage, my darling? Just, we pray for the marriage, our marriages here. And those of you that are not married yet and there’s a desire in your heart, you pray for yours. We pray for all these things to come to pass; for a wife, for a husband that’s going to love you like Christ loves the Church, a godly man, a godly woman. Let’s pray for marriages here, today. [Pastor Sharon and congregation prays in the Spirit] Yes, Lord. Marriages, marriages. To go to new levels. Our marriages, all of our marriages to go to new levels. Amen. Hallelujah.
Pastor John:
Wow. Like I said to you before; what you saw here and when Pastor Sharon and I were talking about preparing for this weekend and she decided to pull out her confessions from all those years ago, you know, at first she was like, “I don’t want to do this,” I said, “Actually, Sharon, I think this is a very good idea, because actually people think that they look at our lives, now, all these years later, and they think that we have got some formula or that we’re just compatible and we… all of that kind of stuff.” [Pastor Sharon: Soulmates. Oh, my word! No, no, no.] But actually, the Word of God is really what brought us to this place. It really brought us to this place.
And so that’s why I keep saying; you must believe in the Word of God. You must believe in God. You must believe in God. Because if you believe in God, you know that His words are true. And if these words are true, then when you speak to them, you are sowing seed and they will come to pass as sure as anything, you know.
I was having a chat to Loutjie, who’s a farmer, and he was saying, “I like to grow trees, apple trees,” he has an apple orchard, “I like to grow apple trees because I don’t have to replant them every year, they just keep growing fruit all the time, you know.” And certainly, when it comes to our life of the Spirit there is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives that when it grows, it keeps bearing fruit. But there is also a part of our lives where you’ve got to keep on watering seed that you plant, and you’ve got to grow and reap the harvest and then you’ve got to keep working it. And so, that’s the way it works is that you have patch and patch and patch and patch and patch and patch and so you harvest, harvest, harvest, harvest, and there’s no interruption in the harvest in the Spirit. It just keeps producing and it changes your world. It changes your life.
Our marriage that we have and our relationship that we have with our children is based on this. Have we had differences of opinion? Have our children had to kind of find their own ways in life and sometimes it hasn’t always been the same as we would, do it? And so, then there’s a difference of opinion and then we’ve got to correct that, and they’ve got to correct that? Yes! All of the above. How do we do that? Same way – Word of God. Speak the change. Speak the change. Speak the Word. Speak the change.
Well, what if I do it for two years and it doesn’t happen? The Bible guarantees it’s going to happen. So, what’s your alternative? I’m not going to do it. It’s like a farmer saying, “What’s my alternative to be a farmer? I plant no seeds.” Well, then you’re not a farmer, are you? Then what are you? “Unknown,” question mark. You become whatever the world says that you can become, you harvest the world system. [Pastor Sharon: You harvest the world’s thing. You harvest the world system.] Yes, yes
Don’t you think what Pastor Sharon did, the way that she presented relationships to you tonight, wasn’t it just beautiful? Isn’t it just amazing the way that God used her tonight? I mean, this is the way that we live our lives. This is the way that we live in the Word. This is how we, right now, in our lives, we are believing God that, and we’ve told you this, we are believing God that even though we’ve been married 42 years, we are believing God for change. There is more intimacy, there is more closeness, there is more things that we want out of our marriage.
Pastor Sharon:
Ja. I mean, I’m not going to read it now, but in my new file, I’ve got new marriage things. And so, oh ja, it doesn’t stop. I mean, the fun has just begun. The best is yet to come.
Pastor John:
Exactly, Sharon.
Pastor Sharon:
The best is happening right now.
Pastor John:
It’s happening right now. That’s the power of it, is that we’ve decided, we made a choice. Choose life. So, if I choose the death of comfort, then I die in my marriage out of comfort. Because I’m old-er, older. Right? So, when you get older because you know each other so well and you can live in comfort with each other, you can die the death of comfort in your marriage, but if you decide; “I still continue to choose the life of God in what our marriage can produce, because why should it stop producing because we’re comfortable with each other?” Like I said before, she’s changing, the Word of God must be changing her. The Word of God is changing me. So, I’m continuously living with a changing person. She’s living with a changing person, and so if we are changing, then we’ve got to keep on adapting ourselves to each other and see what God’s doing and let the God in each other be more productive as we get older.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, because the Word that you are putting in your mouth and in your heart is changing you.
Pastor John:
Exactly.
Pastor Sharon:
And the Word that I’m still putting in my heart and watering, and that’s growing, is changing me.
Pastor John:
Yes.
Pastor Sharon:
It’s absolutely accurate what you said in your message.
Pastor John:
Yes.
Pastor Sharon:
I don’t know him.
Pastor John:
I’m not the same man.
Pastor Sharon:
He’s not the same man, he was a month ago; because the Word of God is changing him, growing him.
Pastor John:
And we have had these conversations this week. We’ve been speaking. John, you’re doing this and you’re doing this? That’s right, Babe, that’s what God has got me doing right now. So, I have to adapt to this new thing that God has got you doing. That’s right, Babe.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes.
Pastor John:
We have the conversation because God is producing in me.
Pastor Sharon:
And then I go to the Word; I am adapting. I thank You, Holy Spirit, that I have the law of recognition happening in what’s happening here with John. I’m receiving the instructions, all those things that we learn, you know, I thank You, Lord, that I’m adapting myself here. I’m adjusting. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for helping me to adjust and adapt here to this which You have, which You are doing in him. Yes.
John Bendixen:
And as she’s speaking the Word, I can sense that there is some growth happening here. But there is also, I can, this happened this week, we can sense that the devil doesn’t want this productivity, this divine productivity to happen. So, we’ve had to say, “Oh, we recognize, hold on, we know what’s coming here, there’s a little fox coming in that’s trying to spoil this vine.” So now we got to, “Hey, let’s do what we can to keep this fox out.” So, we had to come together, we have to get into agreement, we had to speak the Word. We had to have conversations so that the divine productivity can continue so that the little foxes don’t come and spoil the vine of what God’s building and growing.
Pastor Sharon:
We had to get skilful wisdom and understanding so that our lives can still be built on skilful and Godly wisdom and understanding. Still, we have to continue to get that new understanding, new wisdom from God because we keep changing.
John Bendixen:
Yes. Hallelujah. So, you know what happens is; when you’re growing like this, the joy of this rises, the joy of it increases, the power of it grows. And so, you have integration of ways continuously, that means your touch changes. I’m so glad that we still touch each other a lot. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Touch is always important, but we also work at integrating ways by the Word of God, and so then the strategic intention of God is working and then we are already, and we continue to be even more divinely productive. And so, there are things in our lives that we know that God is causing us to be in covenant with Him because He’s asking us to do things. That only when you know God that way, can He ask you to do those things, and that’s none of your business because that’s covenant business. Hallelujah.
Pastor Sharon:
John, because I don’t think I’m going to get another opportunity.
Pastor John:
I should have said good night.
Pastor Sharon:
One last scripture here, my darling, because if you read it in the Passion Translation, you’ll see that a marriage is supposed to represent Christ and the Church. Marriage is not just two people getting married because they like each other, and they’ve got things in common. Marriage was ordained by God in the Garden, to represent him. And so, it says here, listen to this. I’m just going to read it here.
21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 22 Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body. 24 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands
You know, for a husband to say, “My wife won’t submit to me.” I don’t see anywhere in the Bible, where it says, husbands must make their wives submit to them. That’s not an instruction to husbands, to ever say to a wife, “You must submit to me.” No, no, God says this; 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, 27 That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless]. 28 Even so husbands should love their wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and carefully protects and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, 30 Because we are members (parts) of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning [the relationship of] Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:21-32 AMPC).
That is the passion of my drive, of my wanting to bear fruit in my marriage, is I say, Jesus is this looking like You? Jesus is this, looking like You?
Pastor John:
Hallelujah. So, as we go through the weekend; you will receive hope, you will receive strength, you will receive wisdom, you will receive understanding, as we go through the Word of God and we show you how God is going to restore relationships, through what God has given us as the Word of God for this year. He has already been doing it because of the way that we have been living amongst each other as Ecclesia. Hallelujah. And so if you are here tonight, and you’ve listened to this, and you say, “But boy, if I could have done that, or I should have done that, or I haven’t done that,” and you maybe feel like, “I don’t have the kind of relationship that Pastor Sharon and John have and things are like, you know, I don’t know that I can ever get there.”
If you have that kind of thought process, then it’s going to stop you dead in your tracks. And you’re going to say, “It’s too much work. I’ll just have what I’ve got.” Well, then you’re going to die the death of comfort and so, I’m going to kick the nest. I’m going to kick your comfort nest. If that’s what God is going to do to you this weekend. Then He’ll kick your comfort nest, so that you can have a different kind of God relationship. Amen.
Won’t you stand with me please? Praise the Lord. I really feel like I’ve been nourished by the Word of God tonight. Don’t you feel that? Nurtured, nourished, strengthened, you can just see God, the Father, the Holy Spirit and His Son, Jesus, has just shifted things for us. Amen. I thank You, Father, for this Word tonight and I pray that this Word will not return onto You void, but it will accomplish in every heart that which You have declared it will. I thank You for a harvest. I thank You for a blessing. I thank You for increase, and I thank You that it will not be taken out of their hearts, but it will produce a great harvest. Thank You, Lord, and they are protected as they go home and sleep tonight, and they have the dreams and the visions of the Holy Spirit while they sleep, in Jesus’ name and everybody said, “Amen.”
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