Mf Oct 1 2018 Parental Authority 1

[background music: Battle Hymn of the Republic] [Narrator] Church Jesus fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tales Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] In our last marriage forum of the third week in September, what we emphasized is just one of the things that we have said. We took our text in Matthew 19. Matthew 19. For first of September, it was He made them male and female. That was expanded the first Monday in September. Why the third Monday, we looked at God did not only make them. The making of God was not just making them male and female. God also said. God also said. That was, I read again. We keep going back to our basic text. Matthew 19:3-6. The Pharisees came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" And he answered and said unto them, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?' Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." So, our emphasis two weeks ago in our last forum was on having made them male and female, God also said. And when he said, he ordained something. He made and then he said. And by that saying, we said he ordained forever monogamy and not polygamy. He said, "A man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife." So that they are no longer two, but they are one. So today, we want to journey yet further in looking at this text as we title fellowship together again today. Please, always remember it is a forum. By that, it means contributions are welcome and questions can be taken as we go along. That is what it means. That is why it is a forum. It is a forum where we learn, where we engage ourselves. We look at scripture vis-a-vis and then we learn together. Now, let us look again at this same scripture. We saw that he said. And by that said, it meant he ordained monogamy once and for all. Because the Bible says he declares the end from the beginning. So God declares the end and we did not see Jesus changing the matter when he appeared again. Rather, Jesus came again to put in place something that was at the beginning. Because if you remember at the Mount of Transfiguration, what happened? Moses appeared. Elijah appeared. Moses representing the law, Elijah representing the prophet. And then the two of them were subsumed. So that at the end of the day, what we hear is, "This is my son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to this one." That is, beyond Moses, beyond the prophet, this is the fulfillment of the law and the prophet. So whatsoever thing we have seen in the prophet, whatsoever thing we have seen in the law, all that they are trying to say, if it is not clear, they are trying to say what Jesus said. Am I very clear at all? They are trying to say what Jesus said. That is very important. Now, when Jesus was called again on this matter, I keep going back to the matter of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus because it is important for us to realize that we are followers of Jesus. Sometimes we forget that Christianity actually means followers of Jesus. [background noise: baby crying] Do you look at the practice under Mohammedanism? Do you notice that even the way they urinate is because he was urinating that way? He bent down. Mohammed bent down to urinate. It became an ordination. Are you aware of that? You are not aware. It became an ordination. What I am trying to say is that when we say we are believers, what we mean is that we are followers of Jesus. We believe what Jesus said. Because when he was leaving, what he said is that, "Go into the world, make disciples of nations, teaching them to observe what I have taught you." So discipleship is about teaching men to observe what Jesus said. The reason for making this background is that we are going further into this scripture. And you know he said from verse four, although our discussion today is more on five and six. And he answered and said unto them, "Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?" We have considered that. And said, "For this cause, a man shall leave father and mother and cleave to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh. Wherefore they are no more two, but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." You know somebody raised a matter. Somebody raised an issue. He said that we know that for Adam, Eve was taken out of his bone. And so when he now said, "This is now the bone of my bone, the flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, she was taken out for man." He said but when we look at contemporary marriages, it is not so. A brother will marry a sister from one other family. Are you following me? He said so we cannot be talking about oneness. He said at which point is the oneness? Do you get the point I am making? At which point, what establishes the oneness? What makes the oneness? And you see, it is important to consider two things. Number one, you will discover that when he says, "A man shall leave father and mother," why is it not the other way? Why is it not, "A man shall join himself to his wife and they will become one flesh?" Do you understand what I have just said? Now, if a man joins himself to his wife, he made them male and female and said a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife. What I am saying is that why the introduction of father and mother in the ceremony of marriage? A mature man can prayerfully look at the woman and say, "Okay, this is the person I want to marry." And then can just go to court and they do a registry and then they are married. Would they not be married? Why is God putting the matter of the man will leave father and mother and the man of himself? Are you understanding what I am saying now? If you are matured, you are working, you have money, you have everything, the lady is matured, would they have done anything criminal? They go to the court and they marry. They have done nothing wrong. So God could have also just said he made them male and female and said a man at the point of maturity will take his wife and the two shall become one. Do you understand what I am saying? But when he was ordaining, he did not ordain it that way. He said, "A man shall leave father and mother." What is the essence of the father and the mother? Do you get what I am trying to say now? Because without the father and the mother, two matured people can prayerfully get, you know we pray, you know who you are to marry. If you are of age and then the two of you come together, as long as the two of you can call a ceremony just as you call for your birthday, "Brethren, I am marrying my wife today." And then we all come, we rejoice with you. That would have still been a ceremony of marriage. But has anyone ever asked himself or herself, why is God putting the clause a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife? Even if you do not put father and mother, who will the man be leaving naturally? Is he not leaving them naturally? But why the matter of father and mother in this matter? And that is, you know, it is good to look around many of these things. Because it is good for us to know that God is not a vain talker. Do you understand me? God does not talk because he feels like talking. God talks because there is a purpose for why he is talking. He talks to ordain. He speaks to establish decrees. And the issue we are looking at is, before I begin to compare scriptures with scripture, why do you ordinarily, why do you think there is a need for father and mother in the matter? Why the need for father and mother in the matter? [Speaker 2] To clarify issues. [Speaker 1] How? How will it clarify the issue? If a man is of age, he is working and he prayerfully knows the sister he wants to marry, what are the father and mother clarifying? So, what are they making clear? [Speaker 2] The moment you are married you are cut off from your parents and you cleave to your wife. [Speaker 1] He is saying that the reason why God put that is that the man may marry and not leave his parents. And so, for it to be clear that once you leave, once you marry, forget always remember that your wife is more important than your mother. And do not forget that your husband is more important than your father. So you must get that very clear. To clarify that. Okay. I think that is a strong point. Most people do not leave parents. Most people place parents above their spouses. Most people place the father or the mother above their spouses. And so God wants it to be clear that even though some people raise you up, it is important to know that the person you are now getting married to is more important. You leave those ones to cleave to this one. I think that is a very strong point. Leaving to cleave. What of brothers and sisters? It means you shall cleave to those ones. [Speaker 3] No. Another reason why God said they should leave. In the first instance, every children, until you are married, no matter your age, even if you are so mature that you have left your parents' house and you are on your own, matured in every sense to be married, God still sees that man or woman under the son. Even though you are not living in the house. You are still somebody that he has placed there over you as parents. And when it comes to marriage, it must be that they are released you, you leave them. Why God is bringing back father and mother in this marriage is that he is saying that you are matured now but father and mother matter. He is still bringing your source back to you. Now that you want to be branched, it must all be that you leave them and in leaving them, it is also to point to another home because marriage is another thing different from parents' authority. You have another authority that governs that so to speak. Your parents already recognize that. They cannot just pop into your house and issue decrees. They do not have such audacity again. They can give you suggestions, good ones, even bad ones, even the one that is good even if God is telling them and they say God brought this, it is for you to let you hear, you can take or you leave. But when it comes to children, they are still under you. They have that authority even if you are matured. By the time they now want to, if you have another parent that is not understanding, can want to force it. And whether you like it or not, the most you can do is that you cannot force it on me. But in doing that, you are still doing contrary to God. So I see it as making children to know that even if they have left no matter the age, God so planned human authority, not like the animal world where they do not have, you know we always have this impression of 18 years is a man, of course he is. According to the law, according to the law he has the freedom and what have you but when it is God's concept, God's concept is that man has to be released or woman into marriage. It must also come from. That is the reason why I think God is bringing father and mother even when it is going into another institution ordained by God. Parental is an institution of God. [Speaker 4] I think it is also to indicate that the man is from a source. The man did not just come down from heaven. He is from a union, from another union. He has to leave father and mother, he has to leave a source, he is from a source like a continuous process. Indicating that there is a source. [Speaker 1] Indicating that there is a source. Now, the reason why we are looking at this thing, why we are checking all of these contributions. The second speaker said one thing too that you are under one authority so for you to go into another institution you need an authority to release you into that. And another said that God sees a continuity from generation to generation. You are from this line and then you move on again, you move on like that, you are from this source and then you move on again, you move on like that. All of these are very important that we have mentioned. Now, let us try to bring everything together as we try to look at scriptures. Let us look at Numbers 30. Let us look at Numbers 30. I read from verse one. "And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, 'This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.' If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind her soul, being in her father's house in her youth; And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the Lord shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, and uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the Lord shall forgive her. But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her. And if she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by an oath with a bond; And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the Lord shall forgive her. Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day when he heard them. But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.' These are the statutes, which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father's house." Is this still making any sense? Is it bringing out anything? Okay. Let us look at the more familiar one which we are very familiar with. Ephesians 6:1-3. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Now, if you look at the Ten Commandments, do you notice that you can divide those commands into two? Into two basic parts? Before you now have the third one, sorry, three basic parts. The first part of the command is about who? It is about God. Then there is an in-between. The second part is about who? It is about parents. Then all the rest is about the society. Do you notice it? "Keep the Sabbath, have no any other God before the Lord." After that, then the next thing, "Honor father and mother," before you now start "Thou shall not steal, thou shall not kill." There are so many about society. So there is God, there is the society, then there is the parents in-between. Do we get what I am trying to say? Now, I thank God for all the contributions that have been made and let try to now relate them to scripture. Now, you will notice that there is something about God when it comes to issues of vow and covenant. There is always an authority figure. There is an authority figure when it comes to vow and covenant. When it comes to entering into any covenant, for the covenant to stand, it must be under certain premise. Do you get the point I am making? When Joshua and the elders when they swore to them, what established the vow that they swore to the Gibeonites? What established the vow that they made to the Gibeonites? Because they had made it in the name of the Lord. He said so if they go against it, what will happen? It would come back on them. Saul tried to go against it and it came back on Saul because it was made in the name of the Lord. Now, it is important for us to anyhow when you come to the things of God, it is important to recognize what we call spiritual authority. And that is what I am first looking for before I now come to the church. You will notice for instance, take your mind back again to creation. When Eve ate the fruit, did anything happen? Did anything happen to her? Her eyes remained closed. The glory of God remained with her because she is not the authority figure. The covenant could not be cancelled because she is not the one that carries the authority. And that was what gave her boldness to tell the man, "Eat this thing. Why did you eat it? God said we will eat it, we will die. Did I die? This thing, nothing will happen. Why are you behaving like a woman? Be strong. Eat this thing, nothing will happen." She does not understand the authority figure in the matter. Adam was first formed before Eve. And Eve was an extension of Adam. That is why I am talking about who also comes to source. The father line, there is always a line. We will still come back to source too. There is always a line. There is an authority line. There is a line. When Eve ate it, nothing could happen. It was when immediately Adam ate it, what happened? Their eyes became open. That was when the human knew that Satan deceived me. She never saw the deception until Adam ate it. She never felt the consequence. And so, even though she ate it first, she became a sinner by Adam. As by one man sin entered the world, not as by one woman. So when she ate, she was not yet a sinner. Sin had occurred, but sin could not enter. When Adam ate, as by one man, sin entered the world and death by sin. And so, sin passed onto, death passed onto all men. So it was by Adam that Eve died. Why? That is the authority figure. I am talking about establishing of covenant. I am talking about spiritual authority. I am talking about why do you think again in rising up with children, God said, "Honor father and mother that it may be well with you so that you may live long." What is in the father? Is it not just a man? What is in the I just common sense thing that you have, "Why is it he? There is nothing about it." But there is something about it when God ordained. There is something mysterious, something mystical about this thing. That is why he says this is a great mystery. There is something mystical. There is something mysterious. There is something we cannot just explain about this thing. Such that when children honor parents, it goes well with them. When children dishonor parents, it just does not go well with them. And then the length of their life is conditioned again on that thing, the length of life is conditioned on it. Now, the point I am trying to make you see is that in making, please note, in making Eve to come out of Adam, an authority line was established. Do you follow me at all? In making Eve to come out of Adam, an authority line was established. And if you go to know something that Adam slept, God brought out Eve. Is that not? Christ slept and God brought out the church. You know, Adam was as good as dead. Christ died for the church to be born. For the fact that we came out of Him, Christ is the head of the church. For the fact that the woman came out of the man, the man is the head of the woman. Are you following me now? Are you understanding birth now? For the fact that it came out of the man, an authority was established. An authority was established because he came out of the man. Do you notice what Jacob told Reuben? What did he tell him before he cursed him? "You are my strength, you are my firstborn, you shall not excel." He first made a pronouncement that, "Look, you are the sign of my strength, you came forth as the sign of my strength, but look, turbulent as water, you will never excel." And that was established. That it was at the end of the day that Moses has to beg God, "Let Reuben live and not die." If you look at the Reubenites, they were down, down, down, down, down. That tribe never came up. It never became anything. Everything went to other tribes. Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, Levi. What came out of Reuben? When he spoke, he ordained. I am showing you another one again in this matter of father and mother. The line where the authority stands. The line. The source. The source. The line. The authority. Society is in a big confusion today because we have downplayed many of these things. We have ridiculed it. We have downplayed them, we feel that they are nothing. The spirit of error has been established and error spread because certain things are not just, there is an ordination that governs life. Life came out of somebody and that person set the order for life. I show you another one again in another dimension. Look at when Aaron and Miriam rose against Moses. And the Lord, the Bible says and the Lord heard it and said the three of them should come before him. You remember? What was God's point against Aaron and Miriam? "If there is a prophet among you, I will speak to him in vision, in riddle, and in dark speech. Not like my servant Moses, who I talk to mouth to mouth. Why were you not afraid to speak against him?" Now, what is God saying? Having set Moses, those two could not have spoken against him. And immediately, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And then Aaron had to beg Moses. Moses had to speak again to God. God now said something. Look for what God said. God said, "If her father had offended her and her father spat on her face, would she be ashamed for seven days? Go and confine her." God is saying that having set Moses, there is an authority. But in talking about that authority again, he related it again to what? To fatherhood. Go and check the story. Go and check the story. He said, "If her father spat on her face, would she be ashamed for seven days? So go and confine her after seven days then you can bring her back into the camp." I am showing you something between authority and fatherhood. There is something about fatherhood. There is a mystery about fatherhood. There is an authority about it. There is a source about it. There is a something about source that which you flow out from. And that is why he says, "Honor father and mother that it may be well with you and you may live long." It carries that figure, carries something about life and death. Those are the shadows you are seeing in the Old Testament. When he set Ephraim over Manasseh, "I have blessed him, he is blessed." If the priest is doing something and the father says, "No, it is no," and you will notice, he said something again after he said about the father, he mentioned the husband. But if she is no more with her father, she is now with her husband. So there is a transfer. That authority of life and death that was with the father transferred again to the next generation. Do you get it? That is why I tell people why it is possible for a man for adults to move on and give birth and reproduce because they have the capacity. Something cannot be transferred until it is spoken. It must be said. It must be said. In the beginning was the word. It must be said. Please, ask your question. [Speaker 5] How about the blessing of Moses and Ruben? He interceded with God. [Speaker 1] Moses interceded for Ruben. We cannot say he cancelled. Because what became of Ruben all through? Look at Ruben all through. Look at what Joseph did. Look at what Judah did. Look at what Levi did. What can we say to Ruben? I do not finish answering his question. I am saying Moses as a man of God can intercede on behalf of a higher authority. As far as Ruben is concerned, as far as Ruben is concerned, when Moses stood up and by the provision of God, "Please let him live," and God answered that prayer. That is what I am saying. Yes, a man of God can intercede. He can stand on behalf of higher authority to annul. You get the point? What you do not see in our spirit. If it happens that probably, okay, your father is irresponsible, and probably one or two things happen because of his irresponsibility at a time. If the man is still alive, if I have the opportunity, I have learned my lesson, I have come to know when I was doing wrong things, I should go back to apologize. But in the case where the person is no more, you are in Christ, far away there, that is the position of where the man of God, Jacob was no longer there. Moses stood up and by the provision of God, "Please, let him live." And God answered that prayer. That is what I am saying here. [Speaker 5] But can a man of God stand as the father? Because you spoke about the father and... [Speaker 1] A man of God can intercede in the position of a father. A spiritual father. He has the spiritual authority to annul. You get the point. What I want you to know is this. We are not we see what we are trying to say is that the reason why God ordained this authority is so that it can be well with children. That is what was in God's mind. So that they can live long. God did not ordain authority because some people there will be negativity. But the purpose of God, just like marriage today. Did God ordain marriage so as to kill people to destroy people? Did God ordain sex to destroy people? Because we left God's ordination, that is why today premarital sex, unwanted pregnancy, look at what we have done. People just destroy themselves over it and so many things are going on. God never ordained authority for them to abuse. God is a God of authority. He ruled by his word. That is God. And so, he created an image of himself in Adam. He made him in his image. The image was created in something physical. So he want the continuity. And that is why Adam could be a cause to the whole race. He came again by himself. He ordained Christ again as a redemption from that race. So, but the purpose was not because God want to create problem. It is so that when children recognize all of these things, they honor parents. And so what happens? They are able to, it becomes well with them and they live long. Go and look at one thousand and one things that are happening to children today. It is because children forget parents. Why are they fornicating? Why are they doing so many things? It is so that there will be a society to be better. Unfortunately, just like every other thing that God have ordained, authority have been negatively used. Instead of father blessing, "If you misbehave I will just curse you. You know I have authority." That was not why God... That is what I am trying to say. God made a balance, but you know man. Like every other thing that God have created. Look at how some husbands will carry their wives, "I am your head. If you don't I will kill you." Was that why God made man the head? He made him the head to be a blessing. "Husbands love your wife as your own body." Unfortunately, how did we use it? So I hope you understand me. God has intention for society, but we keep moving out. We keep moving out of the ways of God as in so many other things. And so we have created so much problem. I think we can pray for today. We have spent so much time today. But it is good that we answered all of these questions. Father, we will give you glory. Let us just thank the Lord. Let us talk to the Lord. Let us bless the Lord. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. We thank you. We thank you, our father. We thank you, our Jesus. We give you glory. We give you honor. We give you adoration. We bless your holy name. Thank you, father. Thank you, Jesus. Blessed be your name. In Jesus' name we pray. I just want us to pray lastly. Very important that God help us to live in fear of you in everything we do. Whether as fathers, whether as husbands, whether as, it is to live in the fear of God. The fear of God is to hate evil. The fear of God is to hate pride. The fear of God is to do right. God, in everything help me to live in the fear of you. Help me to honor you in everything I do. In all I think, in all I say, in all I do. God help me. Lord help me. Thank you, father. In Jesus' name we pray. I think we will finish up on the issue of marriage next week. God bless you. Thank you.