I want to open today with a scripture that I shared last
week. I'm not doing a text of
scriptures today, but opening with this from last week here it
says Jesus said to them, have I been with you so long and yet
you have not known me, Phillip. He who has seen me has seen the
Father. So how can you say show us the
Father? A little while longer in the
world will see me no more. But you will see me because I
live. You will live also at that day
you will know that I'm in my father, you and me and I and
you. 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.
I will love him and also manifest myself to him.
Can we pray? Father, we just thank you for
your word and we thank you today for the spirit of understanding
and pray that you would give to us enlightenment and
understanding concerning Your Word and Your way.
We ask it in Jesus mighty name, Amen.
Well, I want to open with that scripture from last week because
it's such an important scripture.
I believe specifically for the time that we're in now as the
body of Christ, Jesus Christ was getting ready to leave his
disciples. He wanted them to know that,
well, this isn't the end of the matter.
I'm going away, he said, but I'm also coming back.
As a matter of fact, he said, I go to prepare a place for you
that where I am, you may be also.
And a lot of people read that scripture and thinks he's going
to heaven to build them a mansion so one day they can be
with Jesus. But as you read the chapter, you
find out what he's actually saying is there's a work that he
was going to accomplish because the Bible teaches us that when
Jesus Christ died on the cross and his blood was shed, it was
shed for the remission of our sins and the old covenant.
They used to worship the Lord at a Tabernacle called the
Tabernacle of Moses, later on a temple.
It had three courts to it, an outer court, an inner court and
a most Holy Place where God himself dwelt.
Now most of the people could only go to the outer court, and
only the high priest could go into the very inner court, and
that was just once a year. It was there that you would find
the mercy seat, the very presence of the living God, and
people were held back from that presence.
But the Bible says that when Jesus Christ died on the cross,
literally the veil that separated the most holy place
from the people was rent. But also we also know that when
He ascended on high and he sprinkled His blood on the mercy
seat, that that meant we have access to God.
I'm really glad we have access to God.
Amen. We are not separated from Him,
but He has done the work to bring us to Him.
Now it's very important when we read a Scripture like this that
we understand as we're relating to God.
There's a visible image God has given to us, and that's in the
person of Jesus Christ. He is the visible image of the
invisible God. So when you think of God in a
visible way, you should picture Jesus Christ.
That's a very important to understand because as you note
in the scriptures that I read to you, one of the disciples said,
well, you're going away. It will be sufficient.
Show us the Father before you leave.
And Jesus, like have I been so long time with you, Philip, that
you don't know that when you see me, you've seen the Father, the
fathers of me. I'm in the Father and we want to
actually be in you. What a great plan of action God
has for us. So when we think about the
visible person of God, we think of Jesus Christ.
That's important to understand because a lot of people see the
Old Testament as well. There was that mean, legalistic
God. He sent his Son in the New
Testament to die, and now we just think about him.
No, Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God.
If you want to know what the Father was like or would be
like, read the Gospels and you'll see God is love, Amen.
And every part of his program is about love and something he
wants us to experience in him. Now ultimately he said, and I
will manifest myself to you through the power of the Holy
Spirit. Now that's important to
understand because as the body of Christ, we're moving into a
new day in God, transitioning from what was called the
charismatic movement to a new day where we're going to go into
a more fuller experience and expression with God.
Now, one of the things that has to happen as we move forward in
God is has to be sometimes a realignment of our thinking.
And in the charismatic Pentecostal movement, there was
a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit.
And oftentimes people tried to make the Holy Spirit and a
person the same way that Jesus Christ is a person and the Holy
Spirit has a different function. We have to understand that.
And I shared with you last week how we in the old covenants, or
excuse me, the old translation of the King James Version and
referencing the Holy Spirit, sometimes it would use the word
it and itself. Newer translations like the one
I have and we share here, the new King James Version takes
away the IT because it just sounds like a bad word.
And really it's just a reference to gender, male and female.
So when you speak of the Holy Spirit in relationship with the
Father and the Son, it's obvious that one could use the words Him
and He. But there's also this part where
we have to understand the Spirit comes to us in a sense that's
different because the Spirit comes to us to reveal Christ.
So Christ becomes our focus and our understanding.
And so we have to realize this because it's important that we
see Christ manifest because ultimately we're going to
understand that God wants to manifest himself through his
church because the Bible says Jesus would be the first born
among many. Brother, God's plan is so
awesome and we have to understand that plan indeed
includes us. And today I'm going to talk
about the mothers and how important that he is.
But then look at it from a natural perspective and then see
a spiritual side. Because in the book of Romans
chapter 1, the Scripture says, if you really want to understand
God, think about the fact that he created all things.
So when you look at his creation and how he created things,
sometimes it gives you insight into spiritual things even
though you're looking at something natural.
And with that in mind, I want to go to this Old Testament
scripture in Genesis 1. It says, so God created man in
his own image, in the image of God.
He created him, male and female. He created them and God bless
them. God said to them, be fruitful,
multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over
the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every
living thing that moves on the earth.
So when God created us, he created mankind with a very
specific purpose and we were created in the very image and
likeness of God. That's awesome.
Why did God do that? Well, He chose us to be His
partners. He created the earth and all the
things containing it, and then He gives us a place of position
that involves taking dominion, subduing and sharing with Him in
His purpose for planet Earth. Now it's important for us to
know that, and it's important for us to see the very important
attributes that are necessary for us to understand about
ourselves and also how that's revealed in God.
And what I wanted you to notice is that when God created man,
the Bible says the name Adam means mankind, not just the
personal name, that he created them, male and female in his
image and likeness. Sometimes people have this idea,
well, God created Adam first so that Adam is in the image of
God, and well, the woman is a secondary part of that.
No, chapter 1 of Genesis says one part of the story.
Chapter 2, which we'll be mostly talking about today, gives a
whole different aspect that's important for us to understand
how we know. We have to understand that both
male and female attributes are representative of the person of
God and there's value, very high value in the understanding that
God created us male and female, and that all of these represent
part of the attributes of God and something He wants us to
experience and walk in in him. Now in Genesis chapter 2, as I
said, we'll go there and see a little bit more explanation.
It says in the Lord God said it is not good that man should be
alone. I will make him a helper
comparable to him. So the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall in Adam. He slept and took one of his
ribs, closed up the flesh in its place.
Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into
a woman, brought her to the man. And Adam said, this is how bone
in my bones, flesh in my flesh, she shall be called woman.
Why? Because she was taken out of
man. And again, I want to talk about
the unique function. So God says Adams alone, that's
not good. He needs companionship.
How many know God doesn't want us to be alone.
Now, this is a very important thing that we understand because
of the world we're living in, where people can start working
at home, picking. People can pick up their food on
the way home and just eat it at home and not go out to eat as
much. And everything is centered
around the home. There's a certain sense of
comfort that brings to us. There's no place like home,
they'll say. But what's happening is people
are separating themselves more from other people.
And there's a whole lot of things we can do even
recreationally with the Internet that has to do with just us or
with impersonal people through the Internet as well.
And so what's happening is people are becoming more alone.
And then we wonder why there's so much anxiety and why there's
so much depression and so much that's going on in the emotional
side. And that's because, well, read
the word, God said you need companionship.
You should not be alone. That's why the Bible says he
takes the lonely and puts them in a family.
And in the connotation of that, he's talking about the family of
the church, because there's a whole lot of families and
problems that come to individual, what we call nuclear
families. But the family of God that Jesus
Christ planted 2000 years ago is going sterling Amian.
And so there's an important aspect of that we have to
understand. So you need companionship and
also you need a helper. And this is an important aspect
to realize that well, we all have gifts, we all have talents
and we can feel good about our gifts and talents, but we should
also feel good about the fact that we need other people in our
life for fulfilling our purpose. And so God says you need
companionship, you need other people to help you.
And this is important thing that God speaks from the very
beginning. I pointed out the scripture that
when God made this statement about Adam needing somebody that
he put him to sleep. The Bible says that he performed
an operation on him. Now the version of the Bible I
read to you today says, and he took a rib out of Adam.
And I like to remind you of this, that when the Bible was
written, Old Testament was written in Hebrew, New Testament
is written in Greek. And sometimes the translations
take a little bit of bias from the translators.
And this is one of those words. It's not in the original use
anywhere else in the Bible. And it's important to realize
that the word doesn't just mean a rib speaks about something
being curved or curvature. And that's what people usually
think about the fact that just a bone was taken.
But we always say that, well, if you want to understand the
Bible, you got to translate the Bible from the Bible, interpret
the Bible from the Bible. And if you notice that what Adam
said is this is now bone a by bone, flesh of my flesh, for she
was taken out of me. And so it's important for us to
realize that when God performed this work, it wasn't God just
taking a bone and making a whole new creature.
It was there was a part of Adam that would now be in another
creature. And so in both of these, in
these instances, we have to realize that it was a side of
Adam that was now viable, but in another person.
And so it's important to see how these two things work together.
And there's a complete list that comes when we bring both of them
together. And that's why when we look at
this story of bringing together, we can see it even more richly
as you think about this separation.
And literally there's a part of you in somebody else.
And so we require another person's participation in our
life in order to find incompletion.
Now, this Scripture here is very important.
And again, the Scripture needs to interpret Scripture.
And this is a very interesting one that a lot of people don't
even take note of. In Ephesians chapter 5.
This is the apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus.
And he says, so husbands ought to love their own wives as their
own bodies. He who loves his wife loves
himself. And we can understand what he's
talking about when we read that story.
For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and
cherishes it, just as the Lord does the Church.
For we are members of his body on out of his flesh, and of his
bones. For this reason, a man shall
leave his father, mother, be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh. Now this is where it gets really
interesting because it says this is a mystery, but I'm speaking
concerning Christ and the church.
And so he basically says you can use Genesis chapter 2 as an
illustration in a natural sense, a husband and wife and how that
relationship works out, but you also have to know that the Bible
is a prophetic book. The Bible talks about Scripture
as being a prophetic word that's made sure.
And so because of that, there's more than one dimension to it
that we have to see. And basically what he's saying
is when you read Genesis chapter 2, you can look at it from a
personal sense in mankind, but you have to realize that there's
something God was trying to tell us from the very beginning is
that in his eternal purpose, He had a plan of action.
The plan of action was that Jesus Christ would come die for
our sins, and that also he would have a bride, which is his
church. And so we have to look at these
scriptures and realize that God's talking about a spiritual
issue here, and he's describing us as the bride of Christ.
How we know that adds a whole new dimension to it.
And it's important that we would see this because it's important
for us to see the role of the church in the plans and purposes
of God and see again, and we'll understand this, where the Holy
Spirit fits in because as we said, God took a side of Adam
and put him in a woman and she became woman.
So how many know that when God pours His Spirit upon us, that's
God taking part of who He is and putting it on us.
That's an awesome revelation to have, isn't it?
That's why we are the bride of Christ, a man, because part of
Christ, which was the spirit of the anointing that was upon him.
The Spirit of the Lord that abides in him then comes to each
and every one of us. And God says, now you are now of
my spirit. Now there's something in you
that came from me. You are my bride, says the Lord,
and you need to understand how you are to relate to me and
really to the world as the bride of Christ.
Look what it goes on to say here in Galatians 4 which things are
symbolic, for these are the 2 covenants, the one from Mount
Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar.
This Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, corresponds to
Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with their children.
But Jerusalem above is free, which is what?
Read that with me, mother of us all.
So we're talking about mothers today, and we want to see how
that the Church is our mother. For it is written, Rejoice
o'bearing you who did not bear and break forth and shout, you
are labeled. For the desolate has many more
children than she that has a husband.
And this verse 27 is quoting Isaiah chapter 54.
So in the Old Testament, God was given us examples that we could
look at and they were always speaking prophetically about a
day which was to come. And so through the 1st Adam in
the natural there is the seed of Adam.
And then also the Bible tells us about a man named Abraham who
entered into covenant with God, and God said to him that he was
going to bless him, and through his seed all the nations of the
world we're going to be blessed. When you read the Old Testament,
you read about a literal physical place, Jerusalem, Mount
Zion. And he said, but there's
something more that's going on in the New covenant because
there's the spiritual Mount Zion, there is a spiritual
habitation. And that's what I wrote when I
wrote my book, The Descending New Jerusalem, because it is a
spiritual reality. And so there is a natural
reality and there is a spiritual reality.
How do you know where that spiritual reality?
That's important to understand because the Bible says that when
we are in Christ, we're neither male nor female junior Greek
bond or free. So God says, I want you to
transcend above the natural and live into this spiritual plane.
And when you begin to understand that, you'll see how that the
natural explains it, but you understand that it reaches
beyond that. Now, this is an important thing
to point out because Mount Zion was a part of the Charismatic
movement going back to the latter, and revival going back
to the Pentecostal movement, going back to what was called
the Holiness movement, way back, beginning with the Third Great
Awakening in the 1850s in the United States of America.
And I mentioned this from time to time because I believe we're
in the time of a new awakening. Can I hear an Amen about that?
So we need to know where we came from to know where we're going.
Well, when the holiness movement started, there was a major
figure involved. Her name was Phoebe Palmer.
And back in those days, if a woman had a ministry in the
church, she couldn't teach or preach to men.
So she had a ladies prayer group and it she got such a
reputation, the mineral saying, wait a minute, I want to go to
that. What's going on here?
And so she started, OK, come on in.
Well, what I want to point out is since that time, churches in
this stream in the body of Christ have always believed in
women in the ministry, women as pastors, women as teachers.
Sometimes people from backgrounds that are not
thinking that way will think that, well, if a church has
women in the ministry, they're just giving in to the world or
following the patterns of the world.
And no, that's not true at all. For almost 200 years now,
there's been a people who said, we're following the anointing
because it's the spiritual that transcends the natural.
Can I hear an event on that? Amen.
That's why Mount Zion, we've always had women pastors,
teachers, and there's a side that women have that men don't
have. And so if you want complete
ministry, looking at it from a natural perspective, how you
know, you need to understand how important it is.
So we transcend the spiritual and yet we understand there is
that gender side that becomes very important in the natural
and being able to reach the different members of the body of
Christ. It's an essential function for
us to understand. Now having said that I want to
go to this Scripture in Genesis 3 and then 1st Corinthians 15 it
says and Adam called his wifes name Eve because why she would
be the mother of all living. Now again the Bible speaks about
Jesus Christ being Adam as well here called the last Adam
literally a first Adam because the first Adam the Bible says we
came alive naturally, that through Jesus Christ we become
alive spiritual Amen. That's why it says for so is
written the first man Adam became a living being.
The last Adam became what a life giving spirit, which is
important to understand because the name Eve literally means
life giving spirit. So we know that when Eve was
separated from Adam, he looks at her and says we're going to call
her Eve because she's the mother of all living.
She's a life giver. How many know women are life
givers, Amen. When they have children and it's
a choice that they make when they get pregnant nowadays to
decide I'm going to have this baby.
And we know that it's not always a pleasant occasion because
having children can have its share of problems.
I was just illustrated to my wife Bonnie.
She would love being a mother, she wanted to be a mother.
And I remember standing at the bathroom door when she looked at
the test and said I'm pregnant. She had the biggest smile on her
face and I was happy with her because I wanted a child too, of
course. But it wasn't too long after
that, I was looking through the same bathroom door and she was
kneeling at the toilet. She was not praying.
She was starting experiencing the effects of having a baby.
And there are unpleasant. Some have worse time than
others. Sometimes it's not just morning
sick, then some for some is all day sickness, whatever.
But there's a cost to be paid because the mom is a life giver
and being a part of that life giving, there is a cost to be
paid. And Jesus Christ is a life
giver. And how did that happen with
him? Well, he gave his life on the
cross and then after that he poured out his spirit, which is
what? A life giving spirit.
So again, when I'm born in the natural, I'm alive.
Thank you mom, you had a baby and now I'm alive.
But when I'm born again, I have received a life giving spirit.
And so this has transformed my life and I'm a whole new person
now because I have received new life, which is what spiritual
life. And that's why it's important to
understand how the Holy Spirit works because of the Holy Spirit
comes to us and makes us alive and becomes the habitation of us
experiencing mothering in the natural and also now in the
spiritual as well. That's why it talks about the
Holy Spirit and it talks about the church being the mother of
us all. Now having said all that, I want
to go to the Scripture in Acts chapter 19, it happened while
Apollo's was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the
upper regions, came to Ephesus and finding some disciples, he
said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed? So they said to him, We have not
so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.
He said to them, into what were you baptized?
So they said on to John's baptism.
And so as you read through the Scriptures, they repented, they
were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for their mission
and their sins. They received the baptism, the
Holy Spirit and they also spoke in other tongues.
And now the first thing that he asked them is, well, what do you
believe? Well, they had a belief system
based upon what they would had already heard, because how do
you know? You can only believe what you
heard with the heart. Man believes, the Bible says
with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.
I'm glad you're a believer here today.
Amen. So as Paul's passing through
town, he finds some believers, but there's something missing
here because they didn't hear the whole message and certainly
have the whole experience. And that's when he says, have
you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?
Now this is important to understand because as a
Pentecostal charismatic holiness, second work of grace
Christian, we believe there's something beyond just believing.
A lot of people are content with I believe in Jesus Christ.
Sins are forgiven. I'm going to heaven.
But as people who believe in the work of the Holy Spirit and
understand that it is a life giving spirit that has been
given to us, we understand it's not just enough to believe that
if you want everything God has for you, there's a receiving
part. My mom used to always talk about
that when she would have her prayer service and praying for
people because she said don't just believe you got to receive.
And that really has to do with an attitude we have where we're
like, I want to grab a hold of this, I want to experience this.
And this is what the Pentecostal holiness charismatic movement
added to the body of Christ. As we said, you know, there's
something that you receive going beyond believing.
There's something in receiving, and that's why last year I
talked about the descending New Jerusalem.
We talked about the power of what happens in church and how
important it is for us to understand there.
I mean, when we come to church, the Bible says I will enter his
gates with Thanksgiving in my heart into his courts with
praise. And that the Bible says that
Jesus worships among the worshipping congregation.
And I reminded everybody a few times last year because when we
hear something, we got to hear it a few times how important it
is for us to realize when we preach here at Mount Zion on a
Sunday morning, it's not just instructional, which would be
teaching, but preaching is something to inspire faith.
So although you need to learn, you also have to understand that
you need to receive it. That's why the Bible talks about
the implanted word of God. We are born again by the seed of
the living God coming into our heart.
So that means there's something that we have to receive.
So I come into the song service and I say, wait a minute, I know
what I believe that I'm going to receive.
Come on. You know, you have to be willing
to do that because if not, you can come in church and it'd be
just like anybody else's. Some churches don't believe you
receive at that time. So they are believers to gather
together and sing songs, and then they have a message where
they're instructed and how to be a better Christian.
And all of these things are a part of it.
But you have to understand that when you're understanding the
need to receive, you say, no, I need to receive something here.
That's why when we have our altar call, we gather and we
say, OK, we've heard this word, we want to receive it.
And at Mount Zion we teach the word sacrament versus just
ordinance. An ordinance says this is what
God told us what to do. The sacrament says, oh,
something happens when you do it.
That's why the apostle Paul is speaking about communion, said
This is why many are weak and sickly among you and people even
die prematurely because when they take communion, they don't
understand or discern the Lord's body.
There's a reality here. So I don't just believe it and
do it, I receive something. How about you?
And we do the same thing. When people get baptized, we say
we are expecting them to receive something.
So there's a whole different concept here.
And when it comes to the receiving part, and this is a
very important part of who we are.
Now, having said that, I want to talk about the sexual revolution
because I want you to see natural things, how often times
they reveal to us spiritual things when we're looking at.
That's why as a Christian, we're in the world, but we're not of
the world. So we should look at things from
a Kingdom perspective. When I was growing up, I was
part of what they called the baby boomer generation.
The latter part of that, especially in the 60s, one of
the challenges were against the morals of our past generation
and they called it the sexual liberation time or the sexual
revolution. And basically people are saying
we don't need morals, we don't need restraints, we just need to
injure ourselves, take off the restraints and well, just learn
how to enjoy life. So the idea overtime began to
demonstrate itself in that sexuality was not at all
private. That's why on movies they don't
just imply someone's had a loving relationship.
They show the whole thing because guess what?
Nothing secret nowadays. Immodesty.
Well, that went out the window. There's not secret parts anymore
as we used to use the term because everything is out there
in the open going on now. If you were to look at another
aspect of what's happening right now, there's a lot to talk about
SA, which is sexual assault. And what's happened here is
there's a whole lot of people and some of them are bringing up
issues for a long time ago because they didn't think they
had the right to talk about it at the time, because people are
saying, wait a second, I had unwanted sexual advances made
towards me. People were doing things and I
didn't want them to do that. Well, there's a problem in this
because you understand that society is saying one thing over
here and then there's another need over here.
And so in some ways, especially when it comes to male and female
different understanding of these things, it's hard to reconcile
how to bring this all together. That's even why they say a lot
of young men are confused to the world in which they live because
they see, hear these different voices.
Well, it's important to understand that the woman when
it comes to marriage, to consummate the marriage, she has
to be a receiver in the consummation process.
And in order for her to be a mother, she has to receive the
seed of the father. So there's a place for
receiving. And the Bible considers this the
very holy thing when it comes to the natural, but also there's a
spiritual counterpart to it which we need to understand and
relate to because there's something in the experience
that's very important. So what people are finding out
is, hey, this isn't just a recreational sport.
This isn't really making love. What's going on here?
And so a lot of more women than men certainly are saying, wait a
second, there's something here that's, well, it's not just
something physical. There's something deeper here.
There's a sense that I have to protect myself and, and to hold
back and make a choice. And that should always be true.
And so God says to us, I want you understand something.
I want you to be my bride. I want you to be the mother of
my children, says the Lord. And I want you to know I respect
your right to make the choice, but I want you to open up
yourself to me, says the Lord, so that we can be productive
together and we can build in this holy relationship that I
have for you and for the world in which we live.
How many of God's ways, a better way, but also to understand God
understands the human condition. A lot of people just think, oh,
who needs that? Well, we all need to understand
that. We don't always understand why
God is doing what He's doing or why He says what He says, but
you can be sure there's always wisdom, wisdom to it and always
an understanding involved in it. God even spoke to me about this
once. I shared it.
One of my books, I forget which ones are which sometimes and
what I talked about, but I've often shared with you, I had a
testimony about how was healed of muscular dystrophy.
And in my 30s I started becoming very weak and suffering from
this not only weakness but pain. I went to the doctors and they
said, well, you have muscular dystrophy and we're not sure how
long it's going to take to work over your body, but expect more
to come. And really there's nothing they
can do when it comes to muscular dystrophy other than perhaps
help you a little bit with the pain, whatever.
And I remember going to the altar in prayer and saying,
Lord, I believe in healing and I've been serving you and I want
to serve you for a very long time.
And as I was there in prayer, the Lord spoke to me the
scripture Revelation chapter 4, for my pleasure.
Were you created? Now that's a King James
translation, so you won't find it unless you go that way.
And all of a sudden I thought, yes, my body is not just for my
pleasure and my purpose, it's for yours.
And that day I had a very intimate altar experience with
the Lord where I just surrendered myself more fully to
him. And it was just an amazing
experience to me. Another day in prayer, the Lord
began to speak to me and he said, well, I'm going to heal
you. Now this is important in in the
book of Psalm chapter 37, it says delight yourself in the
ways of the Lord and he will give you the desire of your
heart. Now again, if you looked up the
word delight in the original Hebrew, you know what it speaks
about it. It speaks about being effeminate
or a female gender, if you would, in that you're saying, I
receive you. It's not just my body.
We're here to share love with each other.
We're here to share. And and all of a sudden I
realized in that verse, there's a key total surrender releases
total power. Guess what, most of you know my
rest, my testimony. I was healed in a supernatural
way. How many thank the Lord for
that? Amen.
But for me, it's always been about God teaching me along the
way and me learning more about Him.
And to me, following God is just such an exciting journey.
It has. It's difficult times and
sometimes when you say yes to God, there's some uncomfortable
parts, but in the end, it always produces life.
Church, But I want you to know that this is important for us to
understand, because we can see in this natural thing, a very
spiritual thing, where God is saying, will you allow yourself
to come to me in a greater way? In Ephesians 4 he says, And do
not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for
the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath,
anger, clamber and evil speaking be put away from you with all
malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.
I put over this sensitivity because basically when we think
about the Holy Spirit, that's our opportunity to experience
the sensitivity of God. And again, this is an important
lesson for men to understand. There's a place where we learn
about being the sons of God, but as the bride of Christ and the
church, being the mother of all. There is a place where we learn
sensitivity and our wives and the women in our life give us an
opportunity to see something about that that we would not
know. That's why that learning
process, even in marriage and relationships, is good for all
of us. But it's important to realize
here that the apostle Paul is saying, it's important for you
to understand that if you're not careful, you can grieve the Holy
Spirit, which means to make sad. God has feelings and when you
begin to realize that you can have a more intimate time of
prayer because you can go into prayer and you can share God's
feelings with him as you learn that.
And often times it's women that excel in areas of prayer and
spiritual habitation. And that's something that we
should look at and say that's for the ladies.
That's something we should look at and say, wow, they know
something I don't know. I want to experience prayer in
that level or I want to have a intimate relationship with God
that comes in a very sensitive form, if you would.
And to me, this reminds me of motherhood because how many of
them ever heard a mom say, if you don't have something nice to
say, don't say anything at all? Isn't that what the apostle Paul
say to them? Don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
If you don't have anything nice to say about other Christians,
don't say anything at all. Oh, oh, let's receive that one,
because the power of life and death is in the tongue.
Amen. And so it gives us the
opportunity for emotional awareness.
Now, I've often heard people say that women are more emotional
than men, and that's not true at all.
They're more likely, often times, to express their
emotions. But I've seen very emotional men
who respond emotionally. And if you go back to the book
of Genesis, I'm you know the story in Genesis chapter 3, God
said don't eat at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Eve standing next to the tree and she's talking to the serpent
and she looks at the tree and she says, you know, that's good
for food. Does he a tree desirable to make
one wise plus into the eyes. She was thinking about it.
Hmm, what can I do with this tree?
After she decided to eat at the tree, she gave it to her
husband. The Bible didn't say he's
thought about it, just ate it. I don't know if he thought that
was dinner or what. You know, sometimes men are more
emotionally driven than women. And it's important to understand
that there's a difference between talking about
sensitivity and feeling what other people feel.
Because if you're too emotional, you won't feel what anybody
feels but what you feel. Amen.
So how many know that that's something that moms can do which
is so powerful. That's why these scriptures say
a foolish son is what the grief of his mother.
And when I was my father's son, tender and only one in the sight
of my mother, because guess what?
That child grew in the mother. That's part of the mother.
That's why what we call women's intuition, it isn't just a
mystical thing. It's part of the fact that, hey,
that child started you, grew in you.
It's a part of you kind of hear mom say Amen.
And so that's why sometimes you know more about the kid than
they might even know about themselves.
Course, they don't want to listen to you when you tell them
that, but there's a truth to that.
And that's important for us to understand.
That's why as Christians we need to be open to the Holy Spirit
and how God uses the Word. So we sometimes find out things
about ourselves that we didn't know.
And So what do we do? We should change, but because a
woman has this part of her that was in that child, what we call
women's intuition is that's why it's a grief and that's why
there's a pain involved. It's not the same as a husband's
pain. And this is important for us to
understand. And that's why I'm going to
close with this particular scripture because all the things
that I talked to you about are true of God himself.
That's why this scripture says then the righteous will answer
him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or
thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger
and take you in or naked and clothe you?
Or when did we see you sick or in prison or come to you?
And the king will answer and say to them assuredly I say to you
in as much as you did it to one of the least of my brother and
you did it to me just like a mom.
If you do it for kids, it's like you've done it for her.
God says the same thing, you know.
Do you realize how much your Father loves you?
Do you realize that He gave you the Holy Spirit so you could be
in touch with Him in such a way that you could feel inside?
I belong to God. I'm tender and very beloved in
His eyes. And when I grieve, His Spirit
grieves with me. That's how much He loves me.
It's so personal, it's so real, it's just like a mother's love,
but even greater. Can we all bow our heads and
close our eyes for just a moment?
Because I really believe with all my heart, this is a new day
in God, and there's something God is inviting all of us into
in Him like we've never experienced before.
And it's going to come to us through His Word and His Spirit.
But we should understand that God knows more of the human
condition than we do. And we should also understand
that he senses our need. And then he also says to the
church, Will you let me, through my spirit, make you sensitive to
others in our marital relationships?
If we would let God's Spirit make us sensitive, what a
difference it would make. If we would understand our
differences, what a difference it would make.
But God wants us to understand there's something more that He
wants us to receive, not just believe.
Receive. Father, in the name of Jesus, I
pray today that each and everyone of us would receive
from you afresh in Jesus name, Amen.
This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius from Mount Zion Church.
We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect
with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and
following us on social media. God bless you.