Mf Oct 15 2018 Parental Authority 2

[Narrator] Churches and 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 Life Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] So we'll pick it from where we left it two Mondays ago. Fortnight we went back to our text. We keep going back to that text. I hope you know our text Matthew 19. We've been going round, going round, coming back to that Matthew 19, looking at it verse after verse because that is one place where Jesus spoke so categorically, so instructively, so authoritatively, in a way that cannot be contradicted except we don't have the Spirit of Christ. When you see men contradict the Word of God, contradict the word of Christ, it's because they don't have the Spirit of Christ. There are many men who are enemies of His cross. Their god is their belly. They mind earthly things. There are many men like that. So when we see people contradicting the word of Christ, it's a sign. The Bible talks about the Antichrist, the spirit of the Antichrist. And John said something that sometimes people don't pay attention to. He said, "We know that the Antichrist will come." He said, "But even now," talking about their time, "the spirit of the Antichrist is already in the world." Have you heard that scripture before? Which means when you see the spirit of the Antichrist, that is a spirit that oppose and reject everything about Christ. So when you see men obviously contradict Christ today, I say it's because the spirit of the Antichrist has already been at work. It has been at work long ago, only that now it's becoming more manifest, it's coming out more clearly. People will stand on the pulpit and they will contradict Christ. They will contradict His teaching, the clear word of Christ. So we should not wonder that we are seeing such things or that we are hearing such things. It is because the spirit of the Antichrist is already at work. So in that Matthew 19 where the Lord spoke about marriage, I said that is a place that is among the very clear scriptures, teaching of Jesus about marriage. There's others in Matthew 5, but this place is, that's why we've been going round it and believing the Spirit of Christ to help us to understand the mind of Christ and the mind of the Father. In our fortnight meeting, what we looked at was the chapter 19 verse 5. Our concern was the verse 5 where it said, "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." Our concern in that meeting was Jesus was responding to the Pharisees and He answered them saying that, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female?" and said, "For this cause." So our concern is why did Jesus locate the origin in father and mother? That was our concern. It said, "A man shall leave father and mother." Why is God choosing that the originating point is father and mother? He could have said, "A man shall be prosperous enough and marry his wife." He could have said, "And when a man is of age, he will take a wife." But the matter that the Lord raised in this place is that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female and He said that the originating point should be father and mother. So we began to look at that, issues were raised on and on. Okay, Bro Shun, you were in that meeting. Moses, you were in that meeting too. Before I raise one or two things, I wanted to summarize because the initial people were not in that meeting. Shun, what particularly did you take home from the meeting? [Speaker 2] I think one of the things is the superiority of the father to the priest when it comes to the matter of marriage. There's nothing like church blessing for it to be blessed. It is if you so desire it. [Speaker 1] That sounds strange to some of us. If you so desire that you get to the church, they bless you, they pray with you. But it should be clear that the church is not the building. When brethren gather around you at your father's compound, the church was present. Or was it the church the building? So what makes it church marriage? Not because it's inside the church building, it's because Christians gather to do it. So if they have also gathered at your father compound to do it, it's still church marriage. We should wake up out of certain what I call carved images, fixed mentality about certain things. Mentality is fixed about certain things, that when you now enter the church, when you wear white, that's not what makes it church marriage. When you wear the white and the suit, it's only European culture. That's not what makes it church marriage. We need to be delivered from some things that have been institutionalized. We are not saying these conventions are wrong, but we are saying sometimes like Jesus said, He says, "Through your tradition, you make the Word of God of no effect." Sometimes in a bid to sustain some of these church traditions, we make the Word of God of no effect. Remember that He was talking with the Pharisees, when they said God said, "Honor father and mother," but the Pharisees said that if a man says that what was supposed to go to the father and mother, he has given it to God, then he may not give father and mother anything again. He said, "By this, you make the Word of God of no effect." They make giving to God superior to ordinary giving to parents. And Jesus said, "No, you make the Word of God of no effect." So it's not to say that when we enter the church and our brethren pray in our normal place of gathering, God does not recognize it. That's not what we are saying. But we are trying to put certain things in the order in which the Lord sets them. The order in which the Lord sets them makes it clear that gathering in the church for anything is just as well as. For God, what is a suit and blessed marriage is that the father, the mother, they sit and they say, "Our son, we are blessed as you are going and the blessing follows you." Anything in addition to that is as well as. If it ends there and they go to their home and start sleeping together and doing everything together, for God marriage has taken place. But if all other thing took place without that, there was no marriage. There was no marriage. So the superiority of the parents, the family over the priest in the matter of marriage. That is finally settled, there should be no controversy, there should be no drag about it. So many things have been said, many things have been turned and turned, but this is the word of the Lord Jesus. If a man meets his parents and meets the parents and they agree and they pray to release them, they are married. They are married. They are. It's as sacrosanct as that. But it is okay, it will be good if we now also add this, it will be good since all our brethren, let them come now so it won't be as if you never tell them about I'm doing something, let them come and rejoice with you, people should rejoice with you, people should be there, people should witness it. Those other things should come in addition, but it's so important for it to be clear, the parent supersede the priest in the matter of marriage. And there is nowhere in the Bible where God ever referred to the priest in the matter of marriage. Go and check your Bible, there is nowhere, under the Old Testament, under the New Testament, there is no single place where the ceremony of giving out a man or giving out a woman was linked to the priest. That's some of what we tried to journey on today. That's some of the things we explored. What we just said that day was that the authority of the parents supersede the authority of the priest when it comes to giving out a man in marriage. And then is that all you want to mention? The other things we said in addition to that was that it is important to therefore know that God wants all of us to see that a man have a source, a man flowed out of somebody, a woman flowed out of somebody, and from that their source, they should take their life. In other words, everybody can be traced to a family. What God expects is that from that family again you take your source. Another thing we raised about that is that the Lord wants us to see that it is so crucial, you don't marry and still be under your parents. It is so important. You don't marry and then still you're discussing your family life, your this life with your parents, it's not correct. You don't marry and live under the same roof with your parents. Even if your husband is so poor, let him go and rent one room away from that parents. Don't be under the same roof with them. You should move away, you should leave them. Leave them to their own, leave that nest, go and raise another nest. Don't say, "Ah, you see my father built a boys' quarter, AC and everything is there, let's just stay there, we'll be in my father boys' quarter." Don't stay in your father's boys' quarter. Leave them, go away, go and raise your own nest and start from somewhere. That was another point we raised that it's important for us to know that there's a point of leaving, there's a point of departing, there's a point of establishing a new home. Another thing we raised again that day is that how does then a man leave? How does a man leave father and mother? How does a woman leave father and mother? So it becomes very clear that it is by pronouncement. It is by pronouncement. We began to look at the Bible, we began to see where pronouncement became a very important thing. We saw first that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. God is equal to His Word, a man is equal to his word. God is His Word, His Word is God. So when a father speaks that "We release you," the speaking, the prayer, that thing that was said is the releasing point. Another thing again we checked, we now checked scripture, we saw that when Esau and Jacob, even though Jacob came by 419, he keeps Jacob-ing people, Jacob itself means supplanter, that's why God had to change it to Israel. He keeps Jacob-ing everybody. You know, we saw that even though he came to Jacob Esau, when the father blessed him, he was blessed. When Esau came back later, he wept and the father said, "Look, I have blessed him and he's blessed. I have blessed him, I have said it, it will follow him." We saw that it is by the pronouncement. When the parents say, "It is well with you. God who kept us will keep you. Just know that it follows you. Just know it that it follows you." That's the pattern we are seeing in the Bible. "May he be blessed." When Esau wept and wept and his father said, "Okay, okay, you will serve your brother. But when you grow strong, you will break the yoke." We saw that in that place. Again we saw the institutionalization, Jacob, Joseph, that was how he did. Isaac blessed Esau and Jacob and Jacob was blessed. And we saw that that blessing follow Jacob and the covenant of Abraham move from Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob, it didn't move to Esau by that pronouncement. That's why God appeared to Jacob when he was using stone as pillow and said, "Look, the covenant continues with you," because it was pronounced to him. So there is a source to see it, it goes, it goes, there is something about line. Now so you find the generational blessing moving to Jacob. Now you notice again that when Jacob was about to die, Joseph brought Manasseh and Ephraim to greet him. And unwittingly Manasseh was taken to the right, Ephraim to the left. But Jacob crossed it and as he blessed, Joseph was grievous. He said, "My father, my father, you are changing the order. This is the firstborn, this is the lastborn." The father said, "I know, God will bless him too, but his brother will be greater than him." The Bible says and thus Jacob set Ephraim before Manasseh. By that pronouncement, he set Ephraim before Manasseh. It became an established order that Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh. It was by pronouncement. So we are answering how does the leaving take place? Which is by pronouncement. That few things your parents just say, "My daughter, my son, it is well with you. You will not die young oh." That may be the only prayer they know how to pray. "You will give birth oh." It may look as if there is nothing, but I'm telling you things are transferring. There is spiritual interchange. Heaven is set, things are set by those things that are said. That is why that little ceremony, that thing we call a ceremony, becomes a very significant thing as far as God is concerned because God sets it and God looks to it. That was why you notice that when Isaac was blessing Jacob, God saw it, He looked to it. When he set Ephraim before Manasseh, He looked to it. When we talk about Reuben again, "You are my firstborn, common as water." God looked to it. There is a source from which things flow. And God always wants us to know that everybody has a source, there is an order. I wish we can respect this order and it would be a great blessing for us all. The point I'm making is that what gives a man authority to bless is not because he is a minister or is not a minister, is because he became a father properly. There's a proper way of becoming a father. A man leave father and mother. That's proper way of becoming a father. But if you just go and impregnate a lady and then now start living together, something was missing somewhere. He has not honored father and mother. It'll say, "Honor father and mother that it may be well with you." He has not honored father and mother so somewhere somehow there is a missing link. What brought the covenant blessing to Jacob? Isaac spoke. What brought it to Isaac? Abraham spoke. What brought it to Joseph? Jacob spoke. And I'm ever grateful today that I understood these things early and I made sure I got everything I needed from my father before I left his house. I made sure certain things were done. You know when you have the kind of home where you have more than one wife and all, you know the way that kind of setting looks like. But there are certain things I made sure that certain things must be done. So I'm just trying to establish something from the Word of God, that if you look at how God placed issues, look at Exodus 22 from around verse 16. "If a man seduce a virgin who is not engaged to anyone and has sex with her, he must pay the customary bride price and marry her. But if her father refuses to let him marry her, the man must still pay him an amount equal to the bride price of a virgin." What can you make out of this scripture? Brethren, let's talk. What is this scripture saying? [Speaker 2] Before a man and a woman can have sex, there must be a release from the parents. Or the father says no, even though you have virgin-ed his daughter, the father still said no. So there's no release so you can't continue in that relationship as long as the man has not released his daughter. [Speaker 3] But he said he must still pay the bride price. The sex is taken as marriage because he said even if he's not given in marriage, provided he still pays the bride price. So it's just like sex is the point to marriage. He said if the father did not agree for him to marry her, he must still pay the bride price. So what do we pay bride price for? To marry. [Speaker 1] So what is it telling us therefore? That sex is marriage. He still collects the bride price as if she has been married but he'll give her again to somebody else and collect another one. Are you following me? So what does that tell you about premarital sex? [Speaker 4] I'm seeing a multi-headed woman, that is a multi-headed beast so to speak. Every woman that multiplies husband in terms of sexual partner becomes a multi-headed beast. [Speaker 1] Yeah. As far as God is concerned, a joining took place, but man can put asunder. You know the one the other way it said, "Let no man put asunder." But a marriage took place, but man can put asunder because God did not join. It is when the father gives it that God joins. When it's not the father that gives it, there is a marriage, but man can put asunder because God did not join. Sex is a joining. So premarital sex is several joining, joining, you are doing joining. [Speaker 4] I wanted to ask about the spiritual implication. [Speaker 1] Yes, that's what it means. That's what it means. And that is why you notice that Apostle Paul said flee fornication. For every sin a man sins is outside his body. But he that commit fornication sins against his body. He's telling them to flee because as you have sex, there is a joining. You have joined the generation of that person, although man can put asunder. If the father is not the one giving out before the joining took place, God never joins. That is, the father gives out the lady, wife, the man now joins himself to his wife, then God has joined. But if the father has not given out, the man joins himself, he will pay the bride price, but man will put asunder. That is why if man can put asunder, how many times do you see devil putting asunder today? If man can put asunder, what of the loss of darkness? What of wicked spirits everywhere? If man can put asunder, what do you think the devil will do? What do you think he will do? I'm trying to show you the reason for marital instability. Look, man can put asunder. Disobedience, several things can climb on you. Satan is an opportunistic person. He knows that once a man goes out of that, he has gone out of he has come to where he can ride over him. And there are so many young men today that have done several joining like that. They have mortgaged their authority. They have mortgaged their authority as a man. That's what happened to Adam. Immediately he ate, what happened? Glory left him, authority left, he became a slave to Satan. And several young men have become slaves to Satan today and young women, they are slaves to Satan. Because man can put asunder. Their life is already in disobedience. So several things can be coming into their life. Several issues you have placed your life under. That's why Paul says flee! There is a danger, there is an inherent spiritual matter in sex. It's not just fun. There is a serious spiritual matter. God did something so wonderful in biology. What you call the hymen is just a tissue that contains blood and it is placed at the entrance of the vagina such that there must be a blood covenant for the man that passes through. He took her life, the life of an animal is in the blood. So there must be blood. That is why God placed the hymen there. There is a serious spiritual matter and if you notice it today, what do you see that young people do most? Sexual sex. The enemy knows what he's doing. He has mortgaged a lot of authority at their prime so that when it will be useful it will not be available. We will stop here today. We will move this matter forward in another meeting. But it is because we started very late because of work and all of that. But I trust God that God will be helping us to be much more early that we can be finishing more and discussing more things together. Let's just pray, let's talk to the Lord. What we are looking at is why did Jesus say a man shall leave father and mother? That's what we are tracing. The Old Testament is a shadow of what is to come. But when Jesus came, He now brought it out clearly, "A man shall leave father and mother. What therefore God has joined together let no man put asunder." Jesus now brought everything out clearly. Let's pray. God, help us, Lord. For those of us who are not married, let's be careful with how we handle our life. Society calls sex fun, it's not fun. Open your eyes and see what God is saying. And that is why you must be decent. Dress decently, do things decently. Contain your life, live in a way that you are keeping yourself so that the evil one touches you not. He that is born of God keepeth himself and the wicked one does not touch him. Learn to live correctly, live rightly, take good decisions for your life. Make up your mind, no, I will not be a polluted breed. And those of us who are married, let us understand the covenant we entered into. Are you married? Understand that there's an authority in the father. Bless deliberately bless your wife, deliberately bless your children. Understand that who say a thing and it come to pass when God has not ordained it? If God have ordained it, you can say it and it will come to pass. Definitely make pronouncements and bless. Whatever God have ordained, if you say it, it will come to pass. God ordained your authority in your home. As a father, look at your children, bless them, bless them, pray for them. Be deliberate about this thing. It will follow the children. That is why God placed this thing so that we can always be under a hedge, the hedge of God around our life. There's a hedge around us, word of blessing, pronouncement, there will be no enchantment against Jacob, there will be no divination against Israel because he has been declared blessed, nobody can curse her. God has blessed, who can curse? Understand these things and operate it in your home. Oh, thank You Jesus. Blessed be Your holy name, our Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [Speaker 2] Amen. [Outro Music]