Thanks for checking out the anchor Faith.
Message podcast from st. Augustine Florida.
Now enjoy this message today. I want to start in Ephesians
chapter 5 verse 28 to 35. I'm going to read out of the
passion translation. I believe it to be a
continuation from the weekend and it says, husbands have the
obligation of loving and caring for their wives the same way.
They love and care for their own bodies.
For to love your wife, is to love your own self.
No one abuses his body, but Pampers, it serving in
satisfying, its knees. That's exactly what Christ does
for his church verse 30. He serves and satisfies us as
members of his body. For this reason, a man is to
leave the father, his father and his mother and lovingly.
Hold to his wife. Since the two have become joined
as one flesh, marriage is the beautiful design of the
almighty, a great and sacred mystery meant to be a vivid
example of Christ. And his church, Jesus said in
Matthew 16:18, he said, but I say to you that you are Peter
Matthew 16:18 that you are Peter and Upon This Rock.
I will build my church and the Gates of Hell or Hades will not
overpower it. In the series, we've done in the
past called, I'll build my church or my church.
Jesus says his word, my is of me in my pocket.
Here is a handkerchief and it's mine and I could pull it out and
throw it down. It would still be mine, but it
would not be of me although a smile on Jesus in this context
says I will build my church, meaning of me, it's like my arm.
Now, if I cut my arm off, that's going to be a different story.
Are you hearing me? I can throw my handkerchief down
and come back and get it a month later and it doesn't matter.
I throw my arm off my body a month, come back and there's a
problem. I said there's a problem, it's
going to be very difficult to reattach it without some
Supernatural taking place. Are you hearing me because the
blood in my body is what causes every member of my body to be
sustained and maintain life. You cut the blood supply off and
it begins to die. Amen.
So then Jesus says this in Colossians chapter 1 or Paul
writing concerning Jesus and his church in Colossians 1:18 he he
is also the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that
he himself will come to have first place in everything.
So Jesus is the head of the church.
So Jesus and the church are connected.
Just as much as my head is connected to my body.
So, church is not something we do, it's something we are We are
of Christ. We don't go to church, we are
the church. So we don't go to church, we are
the church. We are the dishes.
Why people say, well, it's not a build in any, you're right?
It's not, but you can't be the church by yourself.
No more than my finger Can Be Me by itself.
Now, we can be my finger but if it's disconnected it's not
working well and I can't have the use of it in my hand because
it's no longer attached. So we can boast its mind all day
long, but it serves no purpose. I said it serves no purpose and
it doesn't have life unless you are under understand that when
you were born again that he wrote your name down in glory,
it was not so that you could go to heaven, but it's so that you
could become Um, a Son of God, a child of God and he could attach
you to his body. I said he could attach you to
his body turned over to 1st Corinthians.
Chapter 12, First Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 18.
I love this verse because if the body of Christ would get this
verse, then we would dominate The Globe.
Immediately we would immediately dominate The Globe says, but now
God. But now whoo-hoo-hoo God has
placed Place the members. Why are you searching for
church? Let's just be honest.
If you're searching for a church and you have to show up to
determine if it's for you, you're not really good at being
led by the spirit. Let's just be honest because if
you were really led by the spirit, you can hear it first
and show up there to the church. The one that's where you
immediately, without any guesswork.
Hallelujah. But you show up because you need
to see you need to hear. Those are things that are
seeing. We're not led by what we see or
hear were led by what we know on the inside.
Now if you come and you don't know yet, that's fine.
I don't have a problem with that because God will help navigate
you, but at the end of the day, you're going to hear hear.
Because if you're making a decision to attach to a local
body based upon what you see, and what you hear, and what you
like, That is you placing yourself and not God.
I said it's you placing yourself and not God.
This is why he said In this passage of scripture, the hand
can I say to the foot? I don't need you.
Well, I'm not going to go to that when I don't like it, but
if the Lord says, but that's where I need you.
Hallelujah. But now, God has placed the
members, which one of them, which one?
Each one of them. Not just the pastor's, not just
the apostles, not just the prophets evangelist and
teachers, but that's the Saints. Each member he places them in
the body, just as he desires where he wants you, what he
wants you to do, where he wants you to be.
Now, why is this important? Because the churches of Jesus,
and Jesus will not abuse his body, Jesus does mutilated.
Jesus doesn't cut it. Jesus doesn't pound on it.
Don't abuse it. A man cutting and beating on
himself. Has a demon probably Oh, you
don't hear this, okay? If a man is bruising his own
physical body cutting and beating on himself, we have
scriptural evidence that they're probably possessed of a demon.
No wonder men. Do they said they are not going
to intentionally try to hurt themselves.
So we should never intentionally try to hurt our wives.
Because Jesus has never intentionally, never
intentionally and unintentionally, is he hurting
his body? That's why a lot of pulpits have
false Doctrine when they're saying, God, put that sickness
on you to teach something that's a lie.
He's not abusive like that. I said, he's not abusive like
that. No, he's the Healer.
I said he's the Healer. Now the devil puts sickness on
you, if you don't judge your body, right?
Lee and you just keep ingesting, a bunch of chemicals, will guess
what? Your body is going to respond.
And that's not a god problem. That's a cigarette problem.
That's a high fructose. And other things issue.
Amen. If you don't judge your body,
well, God's in control. If he wants me to be healthy, I
will no no. Don't put water in your car.
Just go ahead and fill it up with water from your, your, your
garden hose. See how far it goes then when
you go to the mechanic and say, well, you know, I just believe
God would take care of it. They're like, Well, amen.
No the Lord has given us wisdom right now?
If we accidentally put water in the car, can he do something
about it? Amen.
Can't he clean it out? Does that mean the car is gone?
Maybe not. May have to rebuild it.
And some of us we need to rebuild some things.
God can rebuild our bodies, but he's not putting something in
you to harm you. He's only putting things in need
to keep you running at Perfection.
He plays your where he wants it to be.
Why is this important because he loves us, he cherishes us, and
Ephesians tells us this relationship between Christ and
the church is like a marriage relationship and as Pastor Marcy
said today, the reason why so much Freedom came in the house
today is because so many marriages got right this
weekend. But I would say this is really
what took place and is found in Revelation Chapter 2 because I
believe all of us, run the risk of Revelations chapter 2 at
times in our own personal life. Now, Jesus is speaking to a
church specifically, he's talking to the church at Ephesus
and he's talking to them about the things they've done
extremely well, but he had one thing against them, one problem,
one issue. And it was a serious issue.
I said it was a serious issue. He sells them in verse 2.
He says, I know your deeds, and you're told and perseverance and
that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test
those who call themselves Apostles and they are not and
you found them to be false. And you have persevered and have
endured to my name sake, or for my name's sake and have not
grown weary. He said, but I have this against
you that you have left your first love.
He said, therefore remember from where you have fallen repent,
repent and do the Deeds you did it first or else I'm coming to
you and will remove your lampstand out of its place.
Unless you what? Repent then he recognize another
thing, they hated that he hates himself and he says Those Who
hear he'll overcome Specifically.
Now, what's interesting about this is that he said, you've
lost your first love when we deal with marriage.
Is a lot of times when we come down and say I do, there are a
lot of things we're doing prior to the.
I do moment, we're very attentive to one another, we
care about one another. You know, we were courting, we
are, we are doing everything to make sure they know that I'm the
one forever. We're nice work.
God, we're long-suffering, we're merciful, when argument comes we
drive where the where the we try to get rid of it as quick as we
can because, so we can kiss, we want the kiss and make up, we
don't want the argument. But once we've come together, we
become one flesh. We've been in the house together
for a year. Two years, a honeymoons, Over
All. All of a sudden those beautiful
feet, don't look so beautiful anymore.
The routine of coming home to the same person.
The routine of hearing the same voice, the routine of living
life day in and day out all of a sudden.
It's not that they're not the same person or that they've even
progressed and become someone even greater in God.
It's just that to us, it becomes familiar.
And we do this with the church, the reason why the atmosphere
and worships like this today is because we were renewed for
those. You know, when you get 160
people, they get jacked excited about their relationship with
Another and how that is an example of their relationship
with God and they're like, man, I'm just need to come in here
and worship my king because I was forgetting about the wife of
my youth and how beautiful she was and how awesome she is.
And you know what, she's really gone through a lot in his past,
a lot of tests. And who am I to complain about
this? I'm actually a really blessed
man. And the wives are saying, you
know what, my husband has done a really good job.
Actually, you know, when I look at all that, they've done where
they could, what could be mad? What am I doing?
And all of a sudden we've renew and then when we get into places
that we don't care but you know what?
We apply Faith to it. Then things begin to manifest
and then when we get crazy and actually have sex with one
another like more than the world does because we're the only
lawful authorized people to have that kind of form of intimacy.
Amen. I will not let the world out.
Sleep me. It's not going to happen.
Y'all gonna be alright. Some of y'all struggling
already. All right.
Good thing. We don't have to bail because I
understand, we have kids. They need to learn.
Don't think these teenagers aren't seeing this on Snapchat,
Tick-Tock, don't think they have it on sitcom all day here.
Seen his guys, holding hands girls kissing and I'm going to
talk about sex right now in the church because we have
children's ministry and they could be there, the youth are
here. And they definitely need to hear
about this because have them been sending tick-tock.
New photos of each other around and that needs to stop.
Are you hearing me because we'll lose our?
First loves will, make sure to routine and we won't get up in
here and worship. God be passionate about the one
who laid down his life for died on the cross.
Are you hearing me? No, we need to be an example in
the home and then let it overflow into the church.
Wow, because we're in the church first.
I said we're in the church first.
How do I know this? All you got to do is go back to
the book of Beginnings. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the Earth. He makes all these great things
then he says, let us make man in our image, according to our
likeness. And he makes this Man Out of the
Dust of the earth, breathed into his nostrils, the breath of
life, and he became a Living spirit a living Soul.
He's in the image of God, the DNA of God, he has a direct
relationship with God and he's the only person in the planet.
Are you hearing me? And then he says, it's not good
for man to be alone. So he has him fall down into a
deep sleep. He doesn't make another skin
suit and breathe into it. He pulled out of the man from
the side of the man. What was already contained
within the man? And he formed a woman.
And when Adam saw this, he said this is woman.
She's bone of my bone and Flesh of My Flesh, man, shall leave
his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they'll become
one flesh. Meaning we have a relationship,
this spirit that all of a sudden got multiplied into two.
Had a relationship with God before we ever said I do.
So it didn't God marriage or God Family Church.
It's God Church. You're not going to have family.
You're not going to have marriage and do nothing until
you realize you're of the church that the relationship with God
is supreme and Authority. Because when Jesus says here in
Revelations, he said, you've lost your first love.
He says, you've forgotten the priority that I am to be
preeminent in all your life and your decision making and how you
do everything you have come in. Into my presence in a
traditional sense, knowing what to do, but you don't actually
consult me first. You don't make me first
priority. You show up when you want to,
you come when you want to, you do what you want to do, then you
consult with me. You take things that were of
mine, do it in your own ability, and then 20 give me glory for
it. The minute I slipped a second.
That's a problem. And immediately we in our
weekend of our marriage banquet. The only reason why these
marriages were on fire is because they didn't put that
relationship as a higher priority than their work
relationship. Then their children
relationships. Then the friend relationships
because they got bored with someone they became familiar,
they forgot to see you then since the butterflies in their
stomach, what made them fall in love with them in the first
place? Because in actuality, you're of
me. How can I look at you and not
see me? I said how can I look at you and
not see me, this is what Jesus said how can I look at you and
not see me because you're of me you're my church and you know
Jesus Longs just spend time with us.
So once your church look like you come in ready.
Excited. Can't wait to assemble with the
rest of the safe because God's playing at me and anchor, Faith
Church, it pleased him so that I could grow Prosper, strengthen
gonna be something great. He put me in his kingdom.
So the king can oversee my life and make me a child of the king.
So I'm a king itself because he's the king of who are those
kings? You are those kings right now?
Not when you get to heaven. But today today, so I Jesus said
You pray, pray this way, Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed Be Your Name, Your Kingdom Come your will be on as
it is. We don't have to wait to heaven
to get heaven to show up in our lives because the kings of the
Earth have dominion again but that's when God's first.
When he's first, when he's first when he's first when he's
preeminent. When he's the source and supply
of all that we are and do and know that if I Seek You first,
then it just overflows into my marriage, it overflows into my
relationships. They were, but I'm not even
married Pastor. I'm just a single person within
you ought to be the first one in church.
You ought to be the first one. Why?
Because you should have Paul said, listen in First
Corinthians 7. He said, listen, it's not a
command, it's just my opinion. But listen, if you can remain
single do so because you don't have to deal with the spouse,
meaning you have to care for them.
That's someone you're going to have to be obligated.
That's someone you got to you're not independent of you are fully
dependent on them, you're going to serve them, you're gonna
cater to them, you're going to prefer them, you're going to
honor them male or female, doesn't matter in the marriage
relationship, husband and wives are doing this.
And they're jockeying to serve each other because they want to
be able to be a blessing to one another.
But when you're single, you can just focus on God and God Alone.
So, you have to be first here. First one down in the altar.
First one worshiping God. First one running.
Because your whole relationship is driven by the king of glory.
Hey men, are you running around? Trying to find your man?
Are you running around trying to find you a woman instead of
letting God bring them? Hey men, he'll bring them.
I said he'll bring go and it's not on your time.
Has on his time. As some of you need to get some
things right before he can bring them because he has for you is
better than you think and you don't have to settle so you need
to be the best for them. Are you hearing me?
But this just comes Natural. When you love God, I'll say that
comes natural when you love God. And so, man, we get in an
atmosphere like today. Why?
Because we begin to remember intimacy intimacy.
Alleluia, this is why I struggle sometimes with how churches
become institutionally speaking. Bring it on man.
Getting them out, just lectures. It's just lectures.
Let me ask this, who said you had to be in your seat right
now, and you couldn't come down and begin to worship God right
here. Now, you're not gonna be able to
interrupt a sermon but who says that, if God didn't move, you
couldn't come down here and just begin to minister to him.
They said you had to wait till an altar call to say, man, I
need get it right? I got to come down and get
right. Hey, men mean as long as you
don't attack the stage, there's going to be no problem.
If you take the stage is going to be a problem.
It's not lecture moments. These are intimate moments.
Why cannot are singing go longer?
It depends on how much we just want to sing.
And the Lord says oh they're not just doing a routine.
Let's just sit here, this a little bit longer.
Then the atmosphere stays and in that atmosphere people get
healed, demons, get cast out, start running shave, a demon.
Could come here, demon came in the synagogue's with Jesus, but
he kicked him out. Right.
They're not going to stand against the anointing not in
this house. Amen.
Why? Because God is in this place,
and he's looking for a church that wants to be intimate.
I mean, we're full of instruction, we're going to
continue to grow and have those expressions.
But I believe, God, just wants us to minister to him.
Jesus said, In Ephesians chapter 5.
The passion translation. Verse 32.
He says marriage is a beautiful design of the almighty of great
and sacred mystery. Meant to be a vivid example.
Of Christ and his church. I love all aspects of my wife,
Spirit soul and body. I love her by her spirit first
because she's a conqueror in Christ.
And I've seen her through her soul realm, her mind, her will
and her emotions yield in every test to what the spirit of God
says, to her spirit, she's an overcomer.
That's the sexiest thing on the face of the planet.
The body is just what houses her. and so, when I'm around
her, I'm not intimate with her just because of her outside, but
because who she is really on the inside, I like to drive and I
reach over and she touches my hand.
I like to hear your voice. When I'm traveling, she's not
there because of technology. I FaceTime.
If I could FaceTime, God, I would I much rather see her,
then just hear voice. But at times of all I can do is
hear of Our Song with just want to hear her voice.
Because we're intimate, then there's times we come together.
You'll know what I'm talking about coming together.
And sometimes in those moments it's like don't stop.
Can this thing last for five hours?
No, all right, don't look at me like that cause all y'all going
to movies and you're seeing, fornicators and adulterers
relationships all the time, you don't ever see in the movies,
husband and wives in the bed. But it's like, man, I don't want
this to end. But we come to church.
And we could have an intimacy with God greater than that
moment. When we know how to make him
first. To, where will I don't want it
to end. What would it look like if we
all showed up and says we're going to press in and be
intimate with God and it just became so full of his spirit
that were like man I just don't want to see any you're not
going. Now maybe a guest to do that.
I get it. You know they don't maybe they
don't know who they are in Christ.
Maybe they're just checking it out.
Trying to see what fits them, you know, they don't know, they
don't know any better. But for us, you know, we should
give such a vivid example, not only in our personal lives in
husband and wife, because we prefer each other, but when we
come together in this thing that we're so passionate about God,
let me just tell you something. If you have a bad marriage,
you're uncomfortable with those who have good ones.
And you don't want to hang out with them.
So that's why some people aren't going to come and stay at a cafe
church because we have such a great relationship in our
worship. And so free to have expressions.
Are you hearing me? Are you just passionate for the
Lord? What rekindles things that are
personal marriages old photos memories of things we did.
Looking back at our children, when they were just babies
putting ourselves in those moments that remind us of why we
were together. How much more in the church
were, like, but God being rich in his Mercy, while we were
still sinners Christ died for me.
He died for me when I was separated, cast-off, doomed, in
Rebellion. But God.
And fulfillment of his father's word.
Gave me an opportunity that by faith.
I could call on his name and get back into the house, not just
getting the house. So I can go to heaven when I
die, but get back in the house and begin to live with him.
Now, begin to sit with him now, be a part of the vine now,
getting grafted in now have fruit now.
Be intimate with God, now hear his voice and at times, even get
caught up in the spirit. And the naturally say, when's
the last time you dated your wife?
When's the last time you did this?
When's the last time you did that?
When's the last time you came to church and said, I'm not going
to leave till I touch him. And get what I came for.
We'll get what I came for because he wants to see me.
He wants to talk to me. He wants to spend time with me.
Stand to your feet. There's an anointing here.
To rekindle your first love. And anointing.
There's an anointing here. And you just going to have to be
honest with yourself, just like all the marriage couples had to
be honest with themselves this weekend.
We're hearing a lot of great reports, great testimonies of
how God ministered to them and their marriages are being
strengthened and encouraged. Coming back to life more and
more seeing hope in it, it was powerful.
It was powerful. But right now, the Lord saying,
but what about me? Well, by me.
Now, there's an anointing. And that anointing is not in
your chair. It's not in your chair.
But that anointing is up here and I'm not giving it away, it's
in the atmosphere, but it's going to require you to make a
step. No husband and wife relationship
is ever going to continue to grow stronger and stronger until
both move. He said, well I'll move when God
moves God's not going to not going to do it.
Because when you are lost and dead in your trespasses and sin,
he pursued you, the Bible said that God, Drew you to Christ.
He did that, but the Bible tells us once you're born again.
God, doesn't pursue you anymore. James says, draw near to God.
And he'll draw near to you because the minute you made
Covenant with the Lord. He said I'll never leave you nor
forsake you he'll never leave you.
He's never in the leaving position, he doesn't get.
So aggravated mad with you that he slams, the door and leaves.
He never gets so frustrated with you that he walks out and says,
I need some time. He never gets so aggravated and
said we going to separate for a little bit, know if separations
happening if anger and a door slamming in somebody's leaving,
it's on our part. Because in order for you to get
intimate with God, you got to go back home, because he's not
left. He's never left.
He's been calling your home the whole time.
So many people want to come to church and just be preached to
the God. Just wants to minister to you
today. Today today today today.
Today. Today, today he wants to
minister to you, hallelujah? Thank you Lord.
Thank you Lord.
Thank you.
Lord. You know when marriage is tough.
When the husband gets prideful, don't want to give up his right
to be right or perceive right? And so he'll just dig his heels
in. Wait, be stubborn stiff-necked
going to make sure the wife bins and yields first or vice versa.
Sometimes a wife, not going to do it.
Not going to bend, not going to break.
I'm not giving in this time. I'm done.
I'm done with that. I'll never do it again.
It's over. They're gonna have to come to
me. I'm finished, it's over.
Yep, when that takes place, man, marriages are in trouble,
because it always requires someone to yield and Jesus has
never failed us. The father has never done
anything wrong. He loves you.
He just wants to put his arms around you.
She got to be out of admit, I'm just not seeking him a whole
heart. I'm not pressing in.
You're not first and foremost on my mind.
I think more about my job and my work than I do.
You have put more time in it than I do on the word, praying
in the spirit. I put no time in it.
You know, you know God saying, come on, come on down, I'm gonna
feel you. I'm a minister to you.
I'm going to touch you because I'm telling you a wave.
An anointing fixing a flow in this place.
And it's going to be pretty shallow.
What do I mean? Is only going to go so far back?
But it'll go deep and those that are in it, you understand, when
you go to st. Augustine, you can stand on the
beach and you can see the waves coming in, but the waves only go
so far. It only goes so far, and if you
are hot, if you are sweating, if you need a refreshment, the
ocean says, this is far as I go. If you want this, you going to
come. You're gonna have to come to me.
You got to come to me now. Some of you gonna have to hold
some of your Your Expressions. I need you to be quiet cuz this
is not an individual. This is a corporate anointing.
Because some of you a routine of how you respond to God, you
don't do that today. This is a new and a fresh
anointing, it will not get an old response.
Yes, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. now, for those
that are still standing, Outside of the altar.
The Lord said it appears as if those who came down or saying
that they have lost their first love.
He said that's not the case with many.
He said, for many, they were counted the intimacy and their
said, I want to do it again. I want to do it again.
I want to do it again, but I do want to give occasion to those.
That's why I asked for it first, because hungry ones, always get
But if you are still standing in your seat and you're like, man,
I love God. I love him with all my heart.
There's a fresh anointing for you.
A place a sense. Yeah, I don't know why God does
this but I think he does it just to remind us sometimes of just
how great his glory is that we can get down into the full
weight of this thing. Many of us have been in Services
where the power and the presence of God was so tangible.
We didn't want to leave it. The next time we come to a
service and we didn't sense it. You wanted it but God doesn't
live and he doesn't Express himself the same way all the
time. His greatest expression is his
word. It is his greatest expression
because the Bible said he didn't send his glory and it healed
them, he didn't say he sent his healing.
Power and it healed him. He didn't say that.
He sent his joy and it healed him.
No, he sent his word because in his word is glory, in his word
is healing in. His word is Joy.
Whether you feel is word or not. Is word is still truth.
When acted upon by faith, he comes to pass, but there are
times God just will remind you Who he is in his presence.
He see his presence alone is not enough.
I recently, read someone say that the future of the church is
present presence, driven churches.
The explanation was is that they only want to minister to the
Lord. They want to do what God wants
to do. They're not here to serve any
other agenda, but to do that, now honestly that sounds good
and we do want to be in his presence but it lacks again.
It tries to put an emphasis on the wrong thing.
Because the reality is the presence of God can be in the
service and nobody still gets healed.
Nobody still gets delivered, nobody still gets saved because
the only ones who get it are those who act Jesus was
personally present in a crowd and everyone was touching him.
But one woman said, if I just touch him, I'll be healed.
And he stopped and said, power left.
The disciples who had been with him.
They didn't pull the power. The crowd didn't pull the power,
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