Fathers and Sons – Ps John Bendixen (WTB)

19 June 2022 Fathers and Sons Pastor John Bendixen (WTB)

Scripture reference: Malachi 4:5-6 (NKJV); Luke 1:11-20 (NKJV); 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (AMPC); 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 NKJV); John 6:26-40 (NKJV); John 8:19 (NKJV); John 14:6-21 (NKJV)

Pastor Sharon: We are all believing, Pastor John, as you come. I just declare that we’re getting ready; our hearts are prepared to do some more receiving and some more believing these words that the Lord has put into your heart and your mouth. I declare it, and I pray it; we declare it together. My heart is prepared, and my ears are open. Blessed are my spiritual ears, for they hear what You say today. Blessed are my spiritual eyes, for they see in Your Word what You want us to see today, Father. Our hearts are ready. Right now, when Your Words come to us, we do the believing, we do the receiving and the believing, and then we follow up with the doing, the becoming, in Jesus’s name. Hallelujah. 

Pastor John: Woo! Yeah! If this is not Father’s Day music, then I don’t know what is. Hallelujah! Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus! Hallelujah! Glory to God! Hallelujah! Praise You, Jesus! Woo! Hallelujah! Well, for me, this is Father’s Day music. I tell you what, my spirit man, my soul is just enjoying. Hallelujah! I’ve got some other things I need to say today. Things we need to do, so you may be seated. Thank you, guys. Thank you.  

Wow, I mean, you got to preach after that. You know, it’s like, wow! What a great joy it is to be in church, to listen to music like that and sing to the Lord and just enjoy church. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. 

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers here, I know we’ve done all the celebrating and all of that, but I have a message today that the Lord started to minister to me to talk about this subject today. I’m generally speaking as a minister; I generally like to live my life every day the same as the other day. When it comes to church, in the past, I have not really been someone that has wanted to celebrate occasions that everybody in the world says that we should celebrate. We are in a place where I believe that God wants to say things to different people, in different ways and at different times. 

I’ve felt very strongly led by the Lord this week that I should be ministering this to you today. So, here’s a challenge that you have listening to me. You’re looking at me, and what you’re seeing is a human being standing here. You’ll see my hair nicely combed, and I’m reasonably nicely dressed this morning. I dressed in all jeans in celebration of Father’s Day. Yeah, well, I would wear jeans at home, and I would normally wear jeans, so I thought I’d wear jeans today. Anyway, you see me as a human being, and you see my face, you see me standing here, you listen to my voice, but there is something on the inside of me that is far more powerful than what you’re seeing. What you’re seeing is just the natural man. What’s inside of me is the Spirit of God that lives inside of me because I’m a born-again believer, I have Jesus living in my heart, and you can’t see that. You can’t see it. You can only see the human being.  

As I’m talking to you and I share the different things with you, you might want to sort of analyse it, or hear it or have some kind of calculation going on in your head about some things that you might receive or not want to receive. I trust that you will understand that’s the enemy just fighting with your mind. Because unless I’m preaching heresy and the Word of God is truth. Unless I’m preaching something that’s different from what the Word of God says, then you should be receiving it; you should have a heart that’s ready to receive it. 

The being inside of me is far more powerful than what you’re looking at. The thoughts and the intellect that I can bring to any conversation with you is far less effective and powerful than the Spirit man that is in me. The most powerful part of my being, you can’t see. So, I ask you today, and you’ll see how this leads into my message in a minute or two, but I ask you today, do I have a job, or do I have a calling? Maybe I’ve got both. Right? If I’ve got a calling, then I also have a job. If I have a job, it doesn’t necessarily mean to say I have a calling or I’m operating in my calling. We all have a calling, but if I’m operating in a job, it doesn’t necessarily mean to say I’m operating in my calling.

Where is my spirit being most powerful? My spirit being is most powerful when I’m in my job and my calling. Then my Spirit man can align my activities and what I do as worship to God because my job and my calling are functioning together. Amen.

Today I’m doing my job. You’re not doing your job today. Well, I suppose you’re being part of the body which is a fellowship thing, but today I’m squarely in my job today. Today you see more of my job than you will see of my job almost any other day of the week. You won’t necessarily see what my job does. What you see is the effects of my job when you come to church on Sunday. Right? But today, you see a big part of my job, which is to stand here and operate in my calling. Now, if I was involved in my job every day of the week, but I didn’t come and stand in the pulpit then, I would be not obeying God because my job and my calling are to do this, to be a messenger of God to you. 

I’ve been speaking to you over the last couple of weeks about how we are functioning as human beings. We are directly squarely in an eternal conflict, and you’re either operating in darkness or you’re operating in light. If you’re a Christian and you’re not making progress in your spiritual life, then you’re decreasing in your spiritual life, and so, if you’re praying, that’s a good thing. If you’re reading the Bible, that’s a good thing, but you need to be seeking what God’s calling and assignment are for your life because only then can you truly be effective in the kingdom of God. Only then can you truly be in a position where the blessing of God can flow to you cause I’ve been talking to you about God’s beloved, favoured ones. While God loves the whole world, He has a special place for His children in His heart. He’s the Father of all children that come to know Him through Jesus. He’s the Father.

So, today is Father’s Day, as the world says we should celebrate Father’s Day. Well, He’s the Father of all children that accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Then He becomes your heavenly Father. As a heavenly Father, He’s got some things that He wants you to have. So, I’m going to just connect the last couple of weeks’ messages to this week’s message, and then I’ll go into it further. I said, God never dominates. He is love and draws people through His goodness and justice based on the foundation of His love. He does not try to dominate anybody, and He doesn’t try to control your will. He lets you choose whatever you want to choose. He draws you with His love and His goodness, and it’s on the basis and the foundation of His mercy and His justice. That’s the foundation of God. 

When you and I approach God, we have to believe that He is because you can’t see Him. Have any of you seen God? If you put up your hand, then I’d say you lied because God says nobody can see My face and live. He said that to Moses. Anyway, I know that there are people that have seen Jesus, and they’ve seen Jesus in a vision, and they’ve had personal encounters with Jesus, namely Kenneth Hagin. Even this last week, I was listening to Kenneth Hagin, and he was talking about how Jesus came and sat in his room and talked with him for 45 minutes. He saw Jesus talking to him. 

Well, that’s something I would like to have. I know Kenneth Copeland has said that many times in 50 odd years that I’ve heard him, minister, he said, “I would have loved to have Jesus come and talk to me like He did with Kenneth Hagin, but He never has.” And he says, and he goes on to say, “But my relationship with Him does not depend on Jesus coming to visit me because I believe He is. I believe He is. I believe God the Father is my Father, and I believe Jesus is my Saviour. I believe it. If I believe it, then I’ve got to live like I believe it. I can’t live like I don’t believe it.” Right? 

Okay, so today, we’re going to be talking about fathers. The Lord has been on my case, and in fact, I’m going to say to you that if you have any questions if you’re female or male that is here today and you have questions about what I’m preaching today, I suggest that you send them in. Send them in via email or whatever you want, and let me see if I can address them either on a digital platform or if God wants me to do more about this. 

I’m going to start with reading out of the Book of Malachi. Now, most people, when you read out of the Book of Malachi, you think I’m going to preach on tithing. I want to remind you that the Book of Malachi talks about the relationship that the children of Israel have with God. They’ve got attitudes towards God, they’ve got words against God, and they don’t tithe because they say, “Look, the whole world doesn’t tithe, and they are blessed. They live with joy and have all that, and we walk around like mourners because we’re giving our money away.” So, God says, “Because your words and attitude are against Me, I have to judge that.” He says, “But if you serve Me, and if you love Me, and if you keep My commandments, then I can bless you, and I can open the windows of heaven, and that means keep on blessing you.” Amen. You have to believe that too. 

Now, after you’ve read all of that in Malachi, you get to chapter 4, and verse 5 says, 5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6 NKJV). There is a definite God-ordained relationship that must exist that the hearts of fathers must be toward their sons and their sons to their fathers. Now, I just want to make clear that although I’m talking about men today, in particular fathers, because it’s Father’s Day. I want you to realise that this relationship exists in principle and foundation between mothers and sons, and mothers and daughters, and daughters and fathers. Although this is speaking about sons and fathers, it refers to all relationships between children and parents and parents and children. 

We go to Luke chapter 1 verse 11. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, (this is Zacharias) standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. (Luke 1:11-12 NKJV). Well, I’ll tell you what, if you find yourself in the presence of God and the glory of God and the light of God shines, you will instantly be aware of just how human you are, and you will instantly be aware that the glory of God with all His might and power is in your presence, and instantly your heart will be full of repentance.

My pastor, whom I served for 19 years in the ministry that God called him to, he told a story one day where he had an encounter with the glory of God. He was aware that the glory of God; maybe the person of Jesus came into his bathroom while he was in the shower. 

Certainly, he talked about the glory of God that came into his bathroom while he was in the shower and the glory of God; the shining glory of God appeared so strongly, was so evident and was so powerful in the bathroom that even though he was in the shower, instantly he fell on his knees and began to understand that in his humanity God could wipe him out in a second, because when you become aware of the powerful presence and the awesomeness of how mighty God is, you can’t help but, in your humanity, just kneel and bow before Him because He is eternal, all-mighty God.

But, for you and me, He’s our Father. For you and me, He is our Father. For the world out there, He’s the judge of the whole world, which He’s handed over to His Son. 

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; now, I want you just to remember this statement; “For your prayer is heard”, ¹³ and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:13- 15 NKJV)

Let me tell you, from this reference to the birth of John the Baptist; if you don’t understand that God has a calling for you and me before we are born and that even in the womb of your mother, God by the Holy Spirit is resting upon you to bring you into your assignment that He predicted long before the world began, that you should operate in assignment; then you have not yet come to understand the revelation that you are called for much greater than just doing whatever pleases you.

¹ He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹ He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, so he will go, ¹ He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, so this prophet, John The Baptist, is going to have the spirit of Elijah in his calling. 

What’s that look like? ¹  ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:15-17 NKJV) So, this scripture is telling us when God was getting ready to birth Jesus into the earth. He had a messenger prepared beforehand that as He would come into the earth, this messenger would already be preparing everybody around him in the world. He would be preparing them for this event that was going to happen where the Son of God was going to be born into the earth by a virgin.

This messenger that is born is filled with the Holy Spirit, even in his mother’s womb; when he’s born, he’s going to come with the spirit of Elijah, and he’s going to begin to preach, and when he preaches, he’s going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. (Luke 1: 17 NKJV)

Just two things I want to say here; before God is about to do something spectacular, in other words, all of the prophecies, everything eternal; the one thing that He, that the angel, and you will see in a minute which angel came to talk to him, but the angel [Looking for correct reference,] (Luke 1: 19 NKJV)

It’s the Archangel, Gabriel, that comes to talk to him. Gabriel is the one who stands in the presence of the Lord, and he tells Zacharia this, “I come from the presence of the Lord”, and he comes to tell him that he’s going to, this child that is going to be born, is going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.

What? I mean, this Archangel Gabriel could be saying just about anything about the future of the world to come, and what? That John the Baptist is going to baptise Jesus? He could’ve told him many, many things, and yet he tells him that he’s going to have the spirit of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Wow. Powerful.

I mean, this is about relationships. Whatever else was about to be happening with Jesus coming into the earth and John the Baptist coming into the earth, the fact that He was going to die on the cross; it’s all about relationships. 

¹ …and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. (Luke 1:17 NKJV) 

If you’re disobeying God, in any form in your life, you will have to bow to the wisdom of the just because a just person understands the wisdom of God. A just person that is walking in the wisdom of God, disobedience cannot stand in the presence or has to bow in the presence of the just because disobedience is rebellion, and it’s part of the darkness.

¹ …to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:17 NKJV) This is a powerful story about what God is going to do right before Jesus comes, right before Jesus is about to manifest on the earth as Lord. 

¹ And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, (Luke 1:18 NKJV) Hold on a minute, hold on a minute. Do you remember that little statement I said to you? “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard…”  

He says, “How will I know this? For I am an old man.” Huh, watch now, ¹ I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” (Luke 1:18 NKJV) In other words, how is it possible that we can have children? He is already in a space where he, “Age-wise, we’re beyond having children.” So, when was he praying for them to have children? He hadn’t prayed in a long time that they were going to have children because he was already arguing with an angel that they were too old to have children. So, here is an angel standing before him, so what do you think was going on in his mind before the angel came? “I am praying, Lord, please can we have children, and I am this old, and she is old.” He wasn’t praying that; he hadn’t prayed that for a long time. He prayed it a long time ago. He did pray it.

The angel came and said, “Your prayers have been heard.” “Well, why didn’t you tell me that 20 years ago?”  “It wasn’t necessary 20 years ago; the time was not right 20 years ago. I only came to answer your prayers when it was time for Jesus to come.”

19 And the angel answered and said to him, He is arguing with this angel, he is in fear of his life, and the angel says, don’t worry, and Gabriel says “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.” (Luke 1:19 NKJV) Remember, there was an angel that came to speak to Daniel. We talked about that last week, but the angel that came had to get Michael, an archangel, to come and help him. This is Gabriel, the chiefest of all the angels, that has come to deliver this message to Zacharias. Why? Because this was the most important thing that could be said eternally to Zacharias because a messenger has to prepare the way of the Lord. Wow.

19 …“I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. 20 But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” (Luke 1:19-20 NKJV) Now he’s come to bring words, and he is speaking words that will be fulfilled in the right time, in their own time.

I want to say to you; if you are speaking the Word of God, do not quit because God hasn’t answered your prayers or yet responded to your words because in the right time and if you keep believing, they will come to pass.

Zacharia didn’t believe it, so the angel had to actually say, “You will not be able to speak because you may not speak against this thing that God has got to bring into the earth. Your words are so powerful that you can stop this thing, and I am going to shut your mouth so that you can’t stop this thing. We just think that we can say any words that we want to, and then God must answer us. Your words have such a lot of power; they create your world. Your words create your world. Whether they are the words for light or they are the words for darkness. Whether they are words for assignment or whether they are words for self-assignment. Your words create your world.

I need your handbag, please, Pastor Sharon. I just need the colour, that’s all. Thank you. I mean, I just have an object that I am using here, and I want to tell you that I see this object as black. This object is black; I see it as black. Don’t you see it as black? You don’t see it as black? I see it as black. You don’t see it as black? What colour do you see it as? What, say again?  (The congregation responds blue) You see it as blue? I don’t see it as blue; I see it as black. How can you tell me what I see? Huh, how can you tell me what I see? I see this as black. I don’t care what you say. I don’t care what you say; I see this as black. You all say? You see it as blue? Thank you, Pastor Sharon. Please take your black bag back.

You are all in disagreement with me that I see it as black, but what if I told you that my eyes have been affected by something, and I don’t see all the colours in the spectrum, and so I see it as black. You say then, what is that colour to me? What is the colour to me? It is black to me. So, how can you tell me I don’t see it as blue when I see it as black? I see it as black, so I will believe it is black because I see it as black. The fact that I don’t have all the colour spectrums in my eyes doesn’t change the fact that you think it is blue. Who says your eyes are right? Just by the way, who says your eyes are right?

Come on; I am doing this on purpose; you got to work with me here. Who says your eyes are right? I am sure you are going to say, and you should probably say it’s blue because everybody else says it is blue. So, then everybody else is also right, and so, their eyes are also right. Because everybody says it is blue, it must be blue. So,, you are going to believe it is blue because everybody else says it is blue. How do you know what colour your eyes are seeing? Come on, how do you know what colour your eyes are seeing? You just believe that it is blue because everybody else says it is blue. I say it is black.

Let’s just say I have a greater spectrum of colour than you have, and I see it as black because I see through all of the things that made it the colour you see it, and at the base of it, it is black. I see through all of that, and I see black on the base of it, and you see blue because there are other colours that have been put on it that make it look blue to you. So, maybe my eyes are better than your eyes, but you all think it is blue because everybody else says it is blue. How do you know that you see it as blue? Because it is blue, that is what you want to say because it is blue.

Why are you keeping on pressing this point? Just because everybody else says that God must work one way doesn’t mean to say that God is going to work that way for you.

Just because everybody else says God must work one way doesn’t mean to say God is going to work that way for you. God doesn’t work because so many voices say it’s one way when God says it’s a different way. Who says it what it is? If God says it’s one way, I don’t care how many people say it’s different, but you can’t see what God says. Hello!

Now, I want to just talk for a minute. Who heard Zacharias’ prayers? Who heard them? God heard them. Everybody else was probably saying Elizabeth and Zechariah can never have children because somehow God has never wanted to bless them with children. It didn’t matter what they were saying all the years that the physical condition of her pregnancy had not yet been revealed. God had determined way beforehand that Zachariah would pray the prayer that Elizabeth would be pregnant, and he would answer, but not just with any child. He would answer with John the Baptist, who would be the messenger of Jesus. He could not say to Zachariah way ahead of time, “Don’t worry, boy, you’re going to have a child even when you don’t think you’re going to have a child”. He couldn’t do it because even when He came to tell him with an angel, he didn’t believe it, but God said it, and so then what was anybody else to do about it?

Let me tell you for nothing, free of charge, what I’m going to say now. I don’t care what anybody says about what’s right or wrong in the Bible. If I read it there and I believe it there, I don’t care what anybody else says about it. The Bible is my source. The Bible is my source. The Word of God is my source of my world. Not my intelligence, not my deep thinking, not my education, not my talent, not anybody else, not anything else. God is my source. I believe God is my source. How do you know, Pastor John? I mean, do you really believe that? Well, if you’ve been around me long enough, you will know that not only has my personal lifestyle been challenged by many, but my whole calling has been challenged by many. You know, if I could play you some of the stuff that Pastor Sharon and I’ve been listening to. Brother Hagin, this week, we were listening to a message of his, and he was talking about 1949. It sounds like a long time ago, was a long time ago. In 1949 for five months, there were more demons unleashed against him and his ministry in 1949 for five months, that he almost couldn’t stand it, and almost couldn’t get through it.

He’s talking to a church full of students, hundreds and thousands of students that had come to Rhema, and he’s saying, “The enemy of God came against me to make me quit or to kill me in 1949 because he knew that the anointing of God and the assignment of God was on my life for this.” He talked about this because this is what God wanted to bring about. I stand here today after Kenneth Hagin died maybe 13 years ago, and he had all these visions and things from God from the 1930s already. I stand here today saying most of my learnings of the Word of God came from the man that is gone already. I’m still listening to his messages, and I’m still being encouraged in my faith. God called him all those years ago so that his messages could come to you and me now.

God’s Words are eternal; they never stop. His assignment is eternal; it never stops. Even though he’s gone to be with the Lord, even now, he stands before God, and he is believing God exists eternally. That’s how you know that your assignment is a God-given assignment. Hallelujah! It rewards you eternally. If you want the reward of men, you get the reward of men. If you want the reward from God, God says He will give it to you. The Word of God says you must believe. You must believe that God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. He is a rewarder of who? The diligent seekers. Of who? Him. Not me, my ways. Him. Amen.

I can’t see what you believe. You can’t see what I believe. What you can see is the way I live my life and whether my lifestyle matches up with what I believe. Come on now. Come talk to me. If you come and hang out with me and Pastor Sharon and you look at our lifestyle, and you hear the things, you can’t stay around our presence very long, and we’ll be talking about Jesus, and we’ll be talking about the things of God. Even if we spent time talking about sport or about cycling or about doing whatever, pretty soon something’s going to come out of our mouths, and we’re going to start Glory to God, Thank You, Jesus, Praise You Jesus, and we’re going to start giving God the Glory.

I don’t just stand here on a Sunday and behave like this. I behave like this all week long, all the time. God has turned my heart as a son to the Father, and His heart the Father is towards me as a son. This is good news for you. Sons of God. His heart is towards you. Okay, so you’ve heard, if you’ve been here for a while, if you haven’t, this might be new for you today, but you’ve been here for a while, you will know that God gave me a revelation many years ago which has become a fundamental part of my life and I have a strong plumbline because of that revelation.

I always ask myself, always ask myself. If I’m thinking with reason and I’m looking at my reality and what is relevant to me, I always have to take my reason and my reality and all of this relevance that is relevant to my natural man. I’ve got to step over into the place of God and say, how do I live redemptively with this reason? How do I live redemptively with this reality? Because I’ve got to move over to redemption because if I just live in reason and reality and things that are relevant to me, I can never have the breakthroughs that God wants me to have. I’ve got to move over from reason and reality and the things that are relevant to me, and I’ve got a step over to redemption. I’ve got to live in redemption so that I can live in revelation.

I can’t live without God revealing to me Words that make my life full and abundant, and I feed off His Words. That’s called revelation to me of His redemption for me. I must have a revelation of His redemption in every area of my life because when I have a revelation of His redemption, then when I am looking at my reason and my reality, I say, “What part of this reason and reality is in line with the Word of God and what is not?” Because the minute I’ve got something like, “Money is not coming through”, or “Sickness is in my body”, or “A relationship is not working.” I look at the reasons why it’s not working, and I express the reality of that in my world that is relevant to me. I bring no redemption to it. I get stuck there, and I can only be human.

What has God called you to be, son of God? Your heavenly Father does not want you to live as humans. He wants you to live as a spirit being human. Full of the life of Christ being humans. He doesn’t want you to live just as humans. Anybody can live as human. It doesn’t take a genius to live as a human. You get up in the morning; even if you are poor-poor, you get up in the morning, you’re going to eat something, you want to try to have something as part of your life. Human beings come as easily as breathing. But to be a Spirit-filled, Spirit-life human being, that’s what God wants you to be.

If I live in redemption and revelation, then my revolution must come in the form of repentance. How so? Well, the minute I see my reason and my relevance, and my reality is only my human condition, I apply redemption, and God gives me revelation. I can’t keep living the way I was just in reason and reality. I’ve got to change my mind and live in redemption and revelation to be spiritual. I have to change my mind. What’s changing your mind? Repentance. Repentance is what creates the revolution.

You can’t have a revolution without repentance; spiritually speaking, you can’t. You’ve got to change your mind about something, and then you’ve got to start behaving differently. You can’t behave the same way after you change your mind because then you didn’t really change your mind. So, then you go back to your reality and your reason lifestyle.

Where does the devil want you to live? Okay, I’m going to get to that question a bit later. I am going to ask you this question, “What constitutes a good father? What makes a good father?” So, to be clear, any man can be a biological representation of fatherhood. Man, man can make baby. Man that makes baby isn’t necessarily father. He’s the biological reproductive father, but man that makes baby doesn’t necessarily man make father. Father is a choice. Man, who can come just because something happens with a girl.

What does reason and reality about manhood mean today? If you go back, I’m just going to go back a couple of hundred years. A couple of hundred years ago, women couldn’t vote, women stayed at home, and they produced children. They didn’t work; they didn’t vote, and they didn’t have any place in society other than they were housekeepers. Men made the money; men did the protecting, men went and did the voting, and men did all the debating about economic and political issues. Are you with me? So, men did not regard women as inferior; men saw the women as having a role to play and men have a role to play.

Some of their ideas were a bit wrong. Let’s say they were not enlightened. They did not have revelation. Then a couple of hundred years fast-forward, and suddenly women are considered to be equal to men. They can vote, they can work, they can do many things and have babies and be in the home and they can do many things. So, women are now considered to be equal to men. There is still a difference between a man and a woman. It is definitely biological, but it can be more than biological, and it is almost always psychological. Men are different to women. Let’s call it emotional; call it whatever. I’m using the word psychological just because it covers the whole spectrum. Okay?

Now, in the last ten or twenty years, there’s come a rhetoric in the world about women’s rights. What has that done to men? It has created a manhood crisis. Now I’m using these words, men and women, on purpose because it’s created a manhood crisis. Because women are liberated to be in every space that men are, but there is one thing that a man can’t do, is have a baby. You got this whole thing that’s happened of women’s liberation and women’s feminist movements that’s happened, and they mostly talk about societal issues and career issues where there is a glass ceiling and men occupy the boardrooms and men do all of that and women need to do this.

This thing doesn’t just happen at the corporate level; this thing is happening in every sphere of society where men are no longer sure of what they need to be doing in, how they should have relationships, and how they should behave themselves. Because not only is there a question of what role the women plays, but now men are with men and women are with women. And so now, everything is confusing the man. Some women are confused too, but for the most part, the role of a man has been confused.

If we consider the fact that all these issues are about your manhood and about manhood in general, now let’s take those issues and put them in fatherhood. What does reason and reality? Now just bear with me while I go through this with you. What does reason and reality say about fatherhood? Reason and reality would say: Fatherhood is about provision, about protection and about potential. Fatherhood, the reason and the reality of days gone by, men would be the providers, men would be the protectors, and men would create an environment where their children’s potential could be released. Yes? Okay.

The role of man has got to have an impact on the role of father. Especially, you know, everybody is questioning about the legitimacy of fatherhood nowadays because, unfortunately, there are fathers that abuse their kids, but that doesn’t mean that all fathers are to be treated that way. But the enemy of God wants all fathers to be treated as child abusers because that further undermines the power of a man and the power of a father. What does reason and reality say about fatherhood? Is fatherhood about provision? What does provision look like today?

Three hundred years ago, 200 years ago, provision was, a man would do whatever he could, whether he was a farmer or was a lawyer or whatever he was, he would go and be the provider. Right? What does provision look like today? Does it mean that if you make more money, you are more of a father? If you make less money, does it mean you are less of a father? Fatherhood and manhood cannot be represented by money. How much you earn, or you don’t earn. But do you think there is a subtle underlying drive for identity reality that says, “The more money I make, the more my status proves as a man and a father?” It’s not spoken about like this, but it’s happening subtlety in society, isn’t it?

It’s happening subconsciously. Where is it coming from? That the more you make, the better provider you are, the better the man you are, the better the father you are. What about protection? If you’re stronger than another man or a group of men, does that make you a better father? Just because you’re stronger? Or does it make you less of a father because if you’re weaker than another man? The strength of a man has got nothing to do with whether you’re a good man or a good father. Come on, work with me here. I’m taking you through reason and reality because we have this idea in society subconsciously that the better you are in the societal realms and the more you can speak about yourself and the more you can give potential to your kids, the better father you are and the better man you are.

What about the potential of your children? Are you a better father if you give more potential to your children or create more opportunity for potential to be given, or are you less of a father when you can’t give that much potential? Come on; I’m touching on the heart of matters now. Does that make me, if I can’t send my son to university because I don’t have the finances to do it, does that make me less of a father than someone else who’s got money that can send his son to university? [Congregation: No!] It doesn’t make me less of a father. It just means that someone else has got more money than me. Does it make him a better man? It doesn’t. It just means that he’s got more money.

Some of the worst men in the world have had lots of money. Ask Al Capone, ask the Guptas. I mean, they have the worst values in the world, and they are very rich, and so you think that makes them better men and makes them better fathers because they’ve got all these things they can give to their families. Makes them rubbish. Excuse me. People that prey on other people like that, they need to be brought to justice; they do. 

Then, what makes me relevant as a man? What makes me relevant as a father? Where does my redemption come in as a father, as a man? Where does my redemption come in? Well, it can’t start by what society tells me it is because everybody in society today says it’s going to be blue, and God says it’s black.

Who cares about what society says a man should be and what a father should be? It’s what God says that matters, and God says it’s black! To be a man and to be a father means that you must be someone that lives for God, it doesn’t matter how much money you got and how much potential you can give your kids. I’ll tell you what, if you can be a Godly man to your children and to your family, you’re giving them much more than you can provide for them financially and anything else. Because they will grow up knowing what the will of God is, not what provision and what potential and what protection means to them because they will get it all in God because you’ll get it from God.

Where do all these ideologies and all these things happen about life? Where do they come from? That affects us so much. It doesn’t even get preached in most churches today. Girls don’t sleep with a man until you’re married to him. Man, don’t sleep with a girl until you’re married to her. Doesn’t get preached in church anymore. Why not? Because the world says, it’s okay to sleep around before you get married. In fact, it’s encouraged because how will you know if you’re actually compatible or not until you sleep with each other. The Bible says, don’t do it. Who’s right and wrong? Just because the world says it’s blue. God’s got a vision and a sight about these things because He’s God, and He says, “Don’t do it; it’s black!”

“Well, everybody says it’s okay, and it feels like, in the moment, it feels like, wow, you know.” That’s the point. The enemy of God wants you to live in the moment with your reality, your reason and something that’s relevant to you. He doesn’t want you to think about redemption; he doesn’t want you to think about the revelation that God’s given you; he doesn’t want you to think about a revolution of, “I won’t do this. I’ll believe God for the woman, I’ll believe God for the man,” then when we are intimate together, we will have God’s blessing on it, we will have God’s glory on it, and it will be better than anything that the blue people say it can be. I don’t care what the world says; the Bible is my source, I believe the Bible, and I live according to the Bible. I don’t care how much they tell me it’s blue.

3 For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. (2 Corinthians 10:3 AMPC) I’m not fighting; whatever it is that you’re doing, I’m not fighting you. I’m fighting the spirit that’s driving you, that’s driving your thinking, that’s driving your emotions, that’s driving your actions; I am fighting the spirit that’s driving you, not you. Come on, so how do I fight these spirits that are affecting our thoughts?

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God, they are mighty, they are mighty for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. Come on now; I’m addressing this directly this morning. 5 [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 AMPC). 

So, where’s the war happening? Where’s the war happening? It’s in your head because if it can happen in your thoughts and your head and your emotions, then the devil has got a stronghold in your life that you keep thinking that way. Because if you keep thinking it’s okay to sleep around before you get married, then you’re going to keep doing it before you get married. I’m just using one example. 

The world would say to you, “You’ve got to go and buy a house as soon as you can because the quicker you get into the house market, I mean, the house prices are going to accelerate, they’re going to grow, and so you’ve got to go and buy a house, you’ve got to get into the house market as soon as possible. They tell you that it’s blue. What does God say? Seek Me first, and My kingdom and My righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Say what? If you read the whole of the rest of that scripture, He knows what the birds are; He knows the hairs on your head, He knows everything that’s in the field, He cares for all of the creatures, won’t He care much more for you? All you’ve got to do is seek Him, and He adds it. That’s the black message. Not the blue message. 

Jah, but you’re getting behind, you’re getting behind. You’ve got to grow your investment; you’ve got to grow your wealth; you’ve got to grow your wealth. That’s not what God says. There’s a story that Jesus talks about. I’ve got a timer going here. I’m doing my best this morning. I’m trying to work according to my timer.

Jesus tells a story about a man that he’s got all these barns, and he’s got all these barns filled with grain, and he’s all happy, and he says, “No man, you know, I’m doing so well, I can’t even have these little barns anymore. I’ve got to tear them down and build bigger barns so that I can store and hoard more stuff.” 

His whole focus is on what he can have in his life, and the Lord says, “Your focus is on the wrong thing. Tonight, your soul is required of you and then what? Then all of your money means nothing.” Huh? Money doesn’t make me a better man, and money doesn’t make me a better father. What makes me a better man and a better father? My desire to believe God that there are things that I have to be redeemed from; thoughts, a lack of knowledge that the devil wants to devour my life because I have a lack of knowledge. I have to be redeemed from my thoughts, and I have to get more knowledge from the Word, revelation. Because if I take my thoughts captive and I use the revelation of God, I’m being redeemed from bad thoughts, and I’m living in the good ideas that God has got for me. I start a revolution in my life because I repent from everything that everybody is telling me that it’s blue. 

Pastor Sharon, can I borrow your handbag again, please? I’m just making sure that we all understand; we all understand that when I’m talking about blue, I’m talking about you see this as blue. I say it’s black, and so we are not going to; I’m just making sure that we, nobody, is misunderstanding me that God’s giving us a black message. Because I know people can take sound bites, and they can talk about sound bites, and they can make it say anything that they want to say, but that’s not the spirit of this message. The spirit of this message is to tell you that it doesn’t matter what the world tells you; you need to be doing. God has got another focus for your life. 

God’s idea of fatherhood and manhood and motherhood and being a good daughter or good child, first of all to God the Father, then to your human father. Well, you learn it first in the early years of your life by obeying your father and your mother because they should be teaching you the ways of the Lord, not the ways of the blue talk. 

Let me tell you; the world wants to train your eyes to see that thing as blue so that when God tells you it’s black, you say, “Everybody else says it’s blue, so I don’t have to believe what God says. I’ve got to go with what the world is saying; it’s blue because everybody else says it. Everybody is doing it. Everybody has got to be right. Pastor John, your eyes are a bit squiff.” My eyes are not squiff; I’m seeing them through God’s eyes; when I tell you that I’m seeing things as God’s eyes. 

The book of first Corinthians chapter 2, I’m going to read from verse twelve. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. (1 Corinthians 2:12-14 NKJV)

You see, when you are not spiritual, and you hear spiritual things, and you’re not spiritual, spiritual things seem foolish to you. You can’t tell me that everybody in the world says it’s blue; you can’t tell me that it’s black. If you’re spiritual, you will understand it’s black because that’s what God says. If you’re not spiritual, the spiritual talk and the spiritual things that happen around you, they just kind of you’ll touch them, you’ll touch them, you understand them a little bit, but you’ll be— like the Book of James says you’ll be like a ship, tossed to and fro on the sea. You go this way and this way, and every wave of doctrine, every wave of ideology, every wave of something that’s about to happen or not to about to happen is going to move you this way or that.

John chapter 6 verse 26, 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. He just fed five thousand people. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes. What does that say? 27 Do not labor for food. (John 6:26 – 27 NKJV).

Now, what makes me a better man? What makes me a better father? When I put the labour in the right order, when I’m labouring for God for the food which endures to everlasting life, (John 6:27 NKJV), When I’m labouring for that food, then God answers my labour for the natural food. This is the same as Matthew chapter 6 verse 33. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John 6:27 NKJV). In other words, you seek Him because the seal of God is upon Me, and all your needs are taken care of; just seek Me.

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Just in case you thought this was some kind of high spiritual stuff, they understood what Jesus was saying, “Don’t work with your hands, work for the labour that has everlasting life.” So, they ask Him the question, “What is the work?” Then, what is it, what is the works of God?  29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 30 Therefore they said to Him, He’s talking about, “Hey, you don’t have to work for your hands, just believe in Him Who God has sent.” That’s why I keep asking you this question every Sunday, “Do you believe?” Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean you believe. You may believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that you’re going to go and be with Him eternally, but you need to believe that by worshipping Him and giving your life to Him, you don’t have to labour for food. But the world will tell you; that you have to labour for food. Then you’re going to say to me, “Well, Pastor John, why the Scripture says; if you don’t work, you won’t eat?” He’s telling them what kind of work you must do first.

What work must you do? He said, “Believe in Him whom He sent.” The Father sent. 30Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? These disciples are standing talking to Jesus. They’re talking to Jesus. What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger. (John 6:30 – 35 NKJV).

I ask you this question. If you are full spiritually, will you hunger naturally? If you’re hungry naturally, can you still? If you are full naturally, can you still be hungry spiritually? Hunger is not satisfied because you eat croissants and jam and thick butter spread on a warm croissant with a fresh brewed cappuccino. Ok, I’m moving on.

36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, The fathers and the sons, turning the hearts of the fathers to the sons. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:36 – 40 NKJV)

I’m just wanting you to see that Jesus’ priority was always for the disciples to believe that He was the Son of God and that He and the Father were one. He was the Messiah. The Two were One. 

John chapter 8 verse 19 says, 19 Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” (John 8:19 NKJV) This tells me straight away that in order to have all the blessings of the Father, you must know the Son. The Son and the Father are One, so you must know the Word of God, you must be in the Word of God and you must be in the life of God. 

John 14 verse 6, this is my last passage of Scripture and I’m going to read it all the way through. 6 Jesus said to him, in John 14 verse 6 to 21, 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” How? Because you have seen Me, Jesus said. 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? (John 14:6-9 NKJV) I ask you, Christians, have you been in church so long and yet you don’t know Him? Have you been listening to the Word of God for so long, and yet you don’t know Him?

Well, in some ways, it doesn’t surprise me because the devil is always trying to make a stronghold in your mind and cause you to live in reason and reality and relevance. Whereas God says you have to be in your human body, which includes reason, relevance and reality, you have to be in your human body, but you must step over and live in redemption and revelation so that you can live in a revolution. That means you live the way the Father wants you to live. 

9 …He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Do you not believe it? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; and neither do I stand here today and speak to you on my own authority. I come here doing the best that I can, prayed up before the Lord, meditating in the Word of God to bring you this message. I do not speak on my own authority. I bring this by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God that I’m reading to you. …but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:9-11 NKJV)

You see, if I had to tell you some of the works God has done in our lives, miracles that God has done in our lives, you wouldn’t believe me. But if you did believe me, you would probably say, “Well, that’s because you’re the pastor and you’re in a position where, because you’re the pastor, things come to you.” No, I’m in this position because I obeyed God. I promise you there are many, many pastors in the world that are sick, they’re poor, they’re divorced, they’ve got poor lifestyles, and they’re pastors. Just because you’re a pastor doesn’t mean that you can have what the Father’s got for you. You’ve got to live the life, and you’ve got to believe in Him. You’ve got to believe in Him! 

12  “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (John 14:12 NKJV) What does that mean? It means that just all of us can be doing the same work at the same time. So, we’re a greater number of people that can do the work. Very simply, that’s an answer. There may be other answers, but that’s an answer. We can all believe in God, we can all use our faith, we can all lay hands on the sick, and they can all recover, and we can all raise the dead. That’s greater works. That’s one answer. Others might have other answers for that. 

13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14 NKJV) Come on. I’m finished here. I’ve got two more verses to read of this scripture. What does it say? If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. The Amplified Bible says if you ask anything in My name as representing all that I am. It means you’ve got to know Him. You can’t just ask. You’ve got to know Him. I will do it, what you ask because my heart is aligned with Him.

Well, I just have to say this, the Holy Spirit is prompting me to say this right now; How do you know what the will of God is for your life if you have a desire in your heart? Let me tell you if you are not living in the church, with the local church as the highest priority besides God in your life. You do not know what the desires and will of God is for your life. You do not know how to interpret your desires versus God’s desires for you. You do not know how to interpret that if you are not involved in the local church, and you’re not bringing your gift to the local church. 

People have asked me for years; let me tell you, I’ve had this, from even when I was in my previous church, people ask me, they would come to me and say, “How do you know the will of God for your life?” It’s one of the biggest questions that people want to know is, what’s the will of God for my life? My answer to them is always the same; if you are doing the written Word of God, then you can start to ask God for the interpreted Will of God for your life, but you can’t ask God for the interpreted Will of God for your life when you’re not living the written Word of God for your life. 

So, very simply put, I mean the fact of the matter is that the Bible says that He’s given us all a gift, He’s given us all a calling. It’s all so that we can live together as the Body of Christ so that we can all come to maturity, and we can all be a revelation to the principalities and powers. I’m getting back to last week’s message, in the heavenlies, that Jesus is Lord and that He is the Ruler of all things – the Church is the representation of that, not your will. When you know God in your heart, and you worship God in your life, then you put the Church as the place where you reveal your love for God all the time, then you can begin to say, “Alright, Lord, I know.”

I know this argument. I’ve had family members that have argued this with me for many years, and they say, “You’re just saying that because you want people to come to church because you’re the pastor, and so you want to have more people in your church than less people in your church, so obviously you would say that.” No. It’s not me that’s commanded that to happen. It’s the Word of God that says you should not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. It’s the Word of God that says that He has given you gifts so that we can edify each other and build each other up and bring each other to maturity. It’s the Word of God that says it, not me. 

I told you this when COVID came; I said COVID came as a direct attack against the Church because suddenly the Church has got to be separated from each other and when you’re not coming and involving yourself in the Church, with your gifts and understanding what the Church is to you, that it releases all of this blessing into your life, if you don’t understand it I can’t help that you see it as blue – but it’s black, because God says it’s black. I can’t help it that you see it as blue. That’s your thing that you’ve got to settle with God that you get black eyes rather than blue eyes. Next week I think you should all come to church with [Pastor John gestures putting on war paint over his eyes] black, you know, like they do …

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; here is a Father speaking, you see, I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:15-21 NKJV) Remember I said to you that the way that God loves you is different from the way He loves the world. There’s the scripture for you. Right there. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. 

I am so glad that we serve a Heavenly Father that has got it all sorted for us. Amen. Praise Jesus. I need to just go back to the beginning of this. I have to say to you, does having more money make me a better man? Does having more money make me a better father? Does having more money give my kids more potential and therefore make me a better man and a better father? What makes me a better man and a better father? It’s my heart’s desire to discover Who God is, and then it is my obligation before God as a man and as a father to live that way in front of my children.

Now, if you are a man and you are not yet a father, you can begin to believe God that you will have the Father’s heart, that is God the Father’s heart. So, that when you do have children that you live before your children as people and as a man and a woman, Mom and Dad that live before God, give their lives to God. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Glory to God.

I feel like I’ve shot some holy cows today. No, maybe not some holy cows, some very worldly cows. I feel I have killed some big giants today because there is so much talk about the world system that says it is blue, but God says it’s different. You have to believe; you have to believe, you got to believe, you got to believe, you got to believe. “How do I get my belief up, Pastor John? The more I’m in the Word, the more I’m taking the Word, I can even pray and say, ‘Lord, help me in my unbelief, help me to believe.‘“ The Bible says where you are weak; He will make you strong. He will be strong for you. Praise Jesus.

Won’t you stand on your feet, please? Did you get something out of the message today? Hey? Praise the Lord. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Aaah Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. 

It is my prayer, Father; it is my desire; You are putting this desire in my heart right now to pray for these precious ones and the ones that are hearing this message via digital platform; it is my prayer, Father, that You will reveal to them just how much You have redeemed them from, that they will know the redeeming power of Jesus, that they will understand it fully in their heart. It is my prayer, Father, that they will understand that by getting revelation from the Word of God, their lives can change forever. It is my desire, based on what You are causing me, to pray by the Holy Spirit that Your peace will rest upon them. Great peace will be upon them, Father. 

I pray that their minds will not be confused by all of the strongholds, and I am asking You supernaturally to bring Light where their minds have been darkened. Your Word tells me that, and I pray that. I pray that You will bring Light to their minds where they have darkness. Bring Light, Father. Bring Light in the Name of Jesus. Hallelujah. I pray that great joy will be their portion. Great joy, great peace and great Light, and they will understand Your great love as a Heavenly Father to them. I pray that Your people will be blessed this week. They will be blessed by the strength of truth that sets them free. I pray, Father, that the truth of God will penetrate their mind and their hearts and will penetrate to the deepest core of their spirits, and it will be buried there to bring much fruit, bear much fruit in their lives, Father. This message that they can trust You as their Heavenly Father that they can believe in You, Father. They will know You that way. Hallelujah. 

Put your hand on your heart and say, I am a son of God. Jesus lives in my heart. He is my Lord and Savior. I am a son of God and therefore, it is my desire to know Him and to live for Him, and He meets all my needs because I love Him, in Jesus’ Name. Hallelujah. I just want to tell you don’t be a needs-oriented person, be a God inward-minded person that the power of the Holy Spirit will be released in your life. In Jesus’ Name. Hallelujah.

Thank you for coming to Church. Have a marvellous wonderful Father’s Day. Fathers, you have permission to eat as much as you want; sons, you have permission to eat as much with your fathers as you like to. Daughters, that’s up to you. Wives and mothers, that’s also up to you. Now I know I won’t get into too much trouble. Bye, everybody.