A Godly Marriage

Thank you for coming out. Welcome everyone. We have some visitors, so thank you for coming.

Welcome to worship with us. I've been going through some subjects here in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 5. We looked at various aspects that affect us more, maybe on a personal level, on relationships. Our relationships, we had looked at husbands and wives a few weeks ago, maybe a month or two ago.

We looked at a woman's role or the wife's role in the husband, the marriage relationship. I think I had a little illustration here, based off the verse in Proverbs 14, where it says, Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish plucks it down with their hands. Then, I think it was a few weeks ago, maybe we shared for the men about their responsibility.

We just noticed this order that the Holy Spirit has ordained here in Scripture. First, it always talks, the Bible always talks to those that are under authority first, and then those in authority. In God's protection, God's authority order here, or hedge of order.

Today, we had looked at Ephesians 5, talking to the men the last time. In verse 29, it says, as a reminder that the man, the husband, should nourish and cherish. He does that to his own body.

That's how he's supposed to take care of his wife. Remember, cherish has the meaning of warming, like a hen warms her little brood. It means to brood over, to foster.

That is how, that's the approach that the husband should be having. The care he expresses. We really didn't look a whole lot at verse 30, 31, and 32.

My heart would be maybe just to look at those. It might be just kind of pulling together or compiling some of these messages. Some time ago, I think we had talked about betrothal or young people in courtship.

Some people use some different terms there. But today, I'd just like to maybe look briefly at this thing called marriage here. So, you can turn to Ephesians 5, verse 30 here.

We'll read to the end just four verses here. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. That's talking about us with Christ.

We're married to him. Actually, we're betrothed to him. We're promised to him.

We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father, and mother shall be joined unto his wife. They too shall be one flesh.

Then he says, this is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the church. The Bible refers to different mysteries.

It talks about the mystery of iniquity. And a big mystery was that the Jews and Gentiles all being together, that the door is open to all of them. The Jews used to think we're the elite.

Now, I think they still do. We're the elite. We're the one and only.

We're the call-out ones. But that was the great mystery that Paul and Peter and those were expressing as they shared the gospel. That there's this wall that's come down.

And it was a mystery to them that God himself would be so impartial to open it to everyone. It was a mystery. So the Bible makes references to a few mysteries.

But this is a great mystery, he says, about concerning Christ and the church. Just like typifying the marriage relationship. In verse 33, he says, nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

That's like just capturing all what we talked about, the husband-wife relationship. I'm going to turn to Genesis chapter 2. When the Lord, when he formed man, he formed him from the dust of the ground. But then in chapter 2, verse 20, it says, Adam gave name to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field.

But for Adam there was not sound and help made for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs, and he closed up the flesh instead thereof.

Now, in the Hebrew, the word rib, I think, is a Greek, I mean, Hebrew word, something like tsela. And it actually, it has more of the idea of like a whole, a side, including flesh. It says, he closed up the flesh thereof.

And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. So it seems there might be flesh involved.

It wasn't just a minor surgery. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, or for this cause, as it reads in Ephesians.

For this cause, or therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, they were not ashamed. So this cause, I'd like to look at that phrase a little bit.

For this cause, or therefore. When there's a therefore there, we have to look what the therefore is there for. And it's for this cause because this woman was taken from the man.

And she was called woman. She was called because of the man. She was taken from the man.

And for this reason, man will leave his father and mother, and he will be on, it's just a natural thing. It's a good thing that God has put in every man, I believe. For the most, this is normally speaking.

He will be in certain age, he will be in pursuit of that which has been taken from his side. He will be on a search, and he will be looking, and it's okay, and it's right. He's not complete.

Something's telling him, I'm not complete. And this is from God. It's for this cause because she was taken from him, and he's not complete until that is by his side again.

I almost get this picture of when God did this, he kind of started rolling a tire down the hill. But it's kind of wobbly, but there's another tire that catches up with him. They join together.

They're more stable. They keep on rolling until a certain, you know, 70, 80 years, and the next tire kind of spins off from them. And God has put something in motion that has kept going.

And I will keep going until the day the Lord returns again. That's a very crude illustration. That's just kind of the picture that came to my mind.

But except now, and nowadays, we have many devious ways that people are taking this out of, and not God's order when we have the gay issue. It's not a stable thing, and this thing will fall flat. And if that thing is pursued, this thing will come to a stop someday because life can't keep going like that.

So what God has put in motion, that's what we want to be part of in his plan. So for this cause, therefore, so I just like for us to picture as God. I picture my mind when God formed man from the dust of the earth, I just picture him kneeling there on the earth and very carefully, deliberately, and very intentionally forming a man, taking time, and very intentionally he formed that man, and he blew the breath of life into him.

All the animals and this man, he named all the animals, gave them a name. And what it says for the man, he probably looked at all these different animals, and will that be a match? You know, some of them might be pretty close, certain monkeys and orangutans, gorillas, but it's still not quite, it just doesn't quite match. It's not the help meat.

But there came a day, I don't know how long Adam had been created, it says that, what is it, verse 21, the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. So I see Adam back down on the dust where he came from, and the Lord again by his side, kneeling down, and very carefully removing that side or however much he took out, and again, very carefully, very deliberately, and very intentionally forming that woman out of him. God is very intentional in all his creation and his design.

So it blesses me to think of how intricately God is concerned about your life, and he really enjoys spending time with his creation. I have to think, you know, as God put that thing in motion called marriage, or the creation, it almost seemed that he was done. He says, on the seventh day he rested, his works were done.

But then after the fall of man, you know, he has been doing a lot of recreating ever since. When he creates, when we are a new creature in Christ, I just see him yet on my life, kneeling, kneeling, coming to my level, and he's creating, he's not done creating. This should all have been perfect, kept right on going, but we have cost him a lot of extra work.

But I believe he does it very cheerfully and with something in mind, and that something is that he may present it to himself a glorious church. He's doing that very carefully, very deliberately, and very intentionally. So with everyone that has asked the Lord Jesus into their life and has surrendered to him, unfortunately, what we notice many times that there's just not this help me mentality there in our day and age.

It's more, if I can just put it in simple words, I sense sometimes more of a competition in many marriages. There's just a silent, maybe an unspoken competition there. Instead of that partnership, there should be a partnership, there should be a team, just be a, like 1 Peter 3 says that we are heirs together of the grace of life.

Together is that one another in church, Brother John. That also needs to be, I don't think we'll have that in church if we don't have it in our families and our marriages. It needs to be there.

We're not in competition. God, did I put that help me at our side so there's a competition. She's not a competitor.

She's a complement. And we complement each other. A help me complement, it does not hinder.

Just the other day, last week, I was looking for a certain thing in the encyclopedia and I was in W and fell open to a woman. It's kind of interesting to read what our society has to say about women and a lot about how they progress, the role, and the women's rights and all that. So that's kind of interesting.

It's devoted like, I think, half a dozen pages in the encyclopedia set we have. So I said, well, that's interesting. I'm going to see what it says about man.

So I just went over to man and it just says, see human being. Well, that's interesting. I'm glad you figured that out.

But that tells us, even our society realizes there is value, there is worth, there is something about that helps me. But we all know when the feminist movement just takes over, what that would do to any society. But I would say us men are the fault of that one.

It's a result of not being in our place, not being compliant with the Lord's design, and not working our own life. So in light of all that, in Ephesians it says that this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. I just want us to, first of all, in our marriages, and those that are maybe considering marriage, like I said earlier, some other, I think, when I talked about the betrothal, that if we're not young people, we're not, to be honest, to think about that, we're not quite normal.

But this is a normal thing. It's an okay thing. It's a good.

God called it good. But it says here that the young, the man will leave father, mother, and cleave to his wife. I see a permanence here.

There's something, you do this type of cleaving, there's not, you can't take it apart with some serious consequences, destruction and hurt. But in the day we're living in, the nation we're living in, divorce, remarriage is pretty simple to a lot of people in their minds, even in many churches. It's an option.

It's almost an option. But 2 Timothy 3, it says, the last days will be perilous times, dangerous times, because men will be lovers of their own selves. Then it gives a list, and one of them there is truth breakers, which is not keeping your word or breaking a covenant.

And the truth breaker, that word actually means, if you look that up in the Greek, it says without libation. It's like there's, the Bible has much to say in the Old Testament through Genesis, Exodus, to the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses all refer to a drink offering, which would be considered a libation. When we were gone, it was like 12, whatever, 15 years ago, one day I was traveling, going up to Trifo Paraso, which is about probably 20 miles north of us, and we're close to a bridge.

I don't know what we're, I forget what we're doing there. We, I think, walked across. We're doing something, coming across, and I see, we see the procession coming.

Funerals are a big thing, and they were, and these were people from our hometown. I knew they had come up there. They were taking a dead body to their certain area for the funeral.

But they stopped at the bridge, and I, and they were kind of uncomfortable. They were just kind of waiting until these, they called us, what did they call us? I forget what they called us then. Natlar.

Bruni. Bruni. You'll often hear that.

They were waiting for the Brunis to get out of the way. They had some things to do, but we did observe and find out what they were, they did not cross that bridge until they had poured out a libation with the spirit of the river. They had to do something to appease that spirit before they would take a dead body across.

But that same idea, the Bible, God said, when he instituted the ceremonial law, they were supposed to have a drink offering in the morning, drink offering in the evening with their sacrifices. It's like a covenant, a covenant that the Lord had with his people, with his bride. And it's not too unlike, I think, what the Jewish culture might even still do.

Some of them, when young people get married, the families come together, and there's like, I'd say, a libation. There's like a covenant between the two parties. And I've read this that, this has been shared already, that sometimes, I'm not sure they still do all of it, but they will, the young man will hand some grape juice or wine, the fruit of the vine, to the young girl, and she accepts that.

That's the agreement of the covenant. It's the libation. So he says, that's what the word truth breakers means, is people that do not keep their covenant.

They don't, that libation has not taken place. There's not a covenant. This is a spiritual picture of what we are doing with the Lord Jesus Christ and also our marriages, they're binding, they are permanent, is what the Bible would teach.

And I think it's important to lift that up because people start getting away from that, and it just kind of wants to enter into many relationships and into many societies. But God's heart is, there is, there's this one Adam, there's this one Eve, and they come together, and there's a cleaving, there's a permanence there without any truth breaking. I like to think this is a, not just talk about marriage now, the rest of the, it's time that, I think we talked about some of that in talking to the husbands and to the wives here the last couple months or two.

But young people just like to encourage you and to, in a loving way, exhort you for you to be a proper place to enter into this union that it will be so much more blessed and satisfying if you're first married to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're first committed to him. So we'll probably look more at this, that spiritual aspect of Christ and the church here for a while. For the, for you to have a fulfilling marriage that will honor the Lord, you will find that it will be, if you have the foundation of being truly yoked to the Lord Jesus Christ, it will be a blessing.

You won't need to have that competition. You'll find that it will actually be a blessing. It's one of the most beautiful things that you will experience on this planet really, is a fulfilling, godly, God-honoring marriage.

But to come to that place completely in our personal life, walk with the Lord, I'd just like to use this allegory here or this picture of what we have of Adam. Adam, after he had been formed, when the Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon him. And I would just like to encourage, this is for all of us really, but especially young people, as you're coming to that age, as sleep overtook Adam, it influenced his posture and his position.

When he was asleep, he was not, he was not calling the shots, as it were. It was not his decision. He was, I believe he was on his back or maybe, I don't know, which side he lay on his back.

But the Lord did a surgery because he caused a deep sleep to come upon him and he slept. And I'd just like to use that to lift that up for all of us, especially young people. Totally just give yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, here I am as a potter, those with the clay.

You're complete, we're completely vulnerable. Total surrender. If we can give ourselves in total surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, He will bring, He will bring the true Eve to your side.

But if you stay awake and you're out doing your own thing, it might not be the Eve that He has wanting to create. But I will say, once you have your Eve, it's time to cleave. Then you need to cleave.

So, it encourages you to be in that position, be in that posture that Adam was. Totally asleep to your own desires, to your own way of thinking. Lord, I'm here.

Mold me and mold my Eve. So, in light of that, dear young people, I'd like to just look at, I think we'll go through the book of Acts. My heart is just to look at a few references throughout the book of Acts that make some references, some that are very clear to young people and their role in the first church of Christ.

Sometimes through the summer, this came to me some time ago already. You know, we go through a town and here's maybe a youth group out there. They have signs and they're doing a car wash and it's like a youth group and you shouldn't even look because of just the sight, you know.

They're dressed for getting wet and I just try to imagine the first church of Christ in Acts doing some activities like that and it just doesn't, I'm glad we're not at that place. I just want to bless you but just to stretch this maybe further and higher, I'd like to go through Acts a bit and, you know, there might be a certain church doing this fundraiser or this car wash or it could even be the first church of Christ or the first church or the church of God. There are things like that but I'd just like today to lift up the first church of Christ out of here and we just look at ourselves from God's perspective.

Now I know youth growing up is not easy. I mean, we talk about our own house and our own youth will attest to that. It's not an easy thing.

If you don't act grown up, we tell you to. If you act grown up, we sometimes don't believe it. So you are in a hard place many times and my heart goes out to you.

I'm not against you. I'm really, we are for you. We love you.

We just want you to have that foundation that your life will just be blessed as you lay, as you enter into this area that there's nothing but an open channel blessing coming upon you. I will share this because in the last year or so I've been witness with a prayer effort, prayer burden. The Bible talks about in Romans about groanings which cannot be uttered and maybe praying the Spirit.

I'll just say it like this. I've been witness to some of that. I've never to be witness or participated in to such a level as I've been exposed to this past year.

And the greatest, and the deepest groanings have come forth for you as it's been prayed one by one especially maybe come to certain one. I've witness tremendous groanings that are not unlike to labor pains. We're not against you.

Others aren't against you. So God bless you, dear you, as you put yourself in that position and posture that Adam had. Many of you as you come to the Lord, it's just the beginning of He's at your side again.

He's creating. He's been creating this process. So it's important that we we're together.

We bless one another. We encourage one another. We share the milk of the Word.

Sometimes I fear in our society as young people come to the Lord that instead of the sincere milk of the Word maybe we share too much of the milk of the Word instead. I think that sure well, they're young, need a little bit of carnality but we're not being fair if we're doing that. It's still, it's milk but it's just the Word.

It's milk of the Word. It's not milk of the world. That little letter L could be the difference of heaven and hell for many young people.

So partake of the milk of the Word. I read this recently from a translator maybe 60 some years ago. A translator that had been working on the book of Acts and he had this to say.

He said, It is impossible to spend several months in closed study of a remarkable short book without being profoundly disturbed and to be honest, disturbed. The reader is disturbed because he's seeing Christianity the real thing in action for the first time in human history. The newborn church is as vulnerable as Adam was as any human child having neither money influence nor power in the ordinary sense.

It is setting forth joyfully and courageously to win the pagan world for God through Christ. Yet, we cannot help feeling disturbed as well as moved. For this surely is the church as it was meant to be.

It is vigorous and flexible for these are the days before it ever became fat and short of breath through prosperity or muscle bound by over organization. These men did not make acts of faith. They believed.

They did not say their prayers. They prayed. They did not hold conferences on medicine.

They simply healed the sick. But, if they were uncomplicated and naive by modern standards we have ruefully to admit that they were open on the Godward side in a way that is almost unknown today. That was quoted in 1955.

I just like for us to open our hearts to this thought of being open on the Godward side. I think when Adam lay there he was open on the Godward side. With that heart let's just look into a few of these.

There is actually a lot in Acts. I am not sure because of the time how much we can do here. But, I believe first of all that salvation in the book of Acts appears like in Acts 10.

Cornelius and his family and in chapter 11 Peter rehearsed this to the others that were faulting him for going to the Gentiles. In Acts 16 Lydia's household later on in the same chapter the jailer's household Acts 18 Christmas in the synagogue one thing these all had in common is that they believed or the Lord moved the Lord was with them with all their house. So, first of all salvation God's heart is that it's a family experience.

It's a household salvation. It's a household salvation we want to lift up. I know there are cases where God will call a young person from a family that's not walking with the Lord.

But, this is God's heart. Those that know the Lord that you bring your family along fathers and mothers that we bring our family along it's a household experience. I cannot believe that they were split in their pursuit those families they were some go off doing their thing they were entering this thing together.

In Acts 1 14 it says they were all accord the early church they were all in one accord in prayer and supplication. Supplication means they were bound together they were just locked in with the Lord Jesus they were pleading with him I don't know about the noise level it might have been pretty loud at times probably was the noise is not the decibel is not as important as the heart condition how much were they seeking God corporately and I can't help but believe there were young people there I really believe there was because the next chapter says when the Holy Spirit came and they were being questioned what are we hearing are you drunk? This is what was answered to them no Peter said this is just what Joel was prophesying the last days that I will already sing in the book of Joel I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your young men shall dream dreams old men have visions but your young men will have experiences with the Lord the Lord is going to be pouring this out and they were this was just prophesied so he's prophesying it's going to include young men on my hand maiden he says I will pour out my spirit I will pour out my spirit so I have every reason to believe there were young people along here to fulfill this prophecy God's word is true they were part of this whole package this household and then in chapter 2 verse 36 Peter's preaching again he says know you house of Israel all the house of Israel that this Jesus who you crucified has God made both Lord and Christ so what we're looking at today is just we don't believe I don't believe I don't think any of us wants to propose a lordless salvation we believe in a lord salvation not only he's not only been anointed as Christ but also as Lord this same Jesus I should just read that this same Jesus therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus that same Jesus we like to talk about has made him both Lord and Christ God has made him both Lord and Christ so we if we find ourselves in the posture totally given up to the Lord he is our Lord and he will also be our Christ he'll be our Savior if we are in total surrender so if I ever reasonably there were young people here when this all started Lord and Christ a youth in the right posture will have Christ as Lord just as well as having him for a Savior in Acts 5 I'll just go through different books chapters here in Acts Acts 5 it's a story of Ananias and Sapphira when they sold a piece of real estate and brought part of the price wanting to appear that they were very godly and really contributing to this whole new movement but their hearts weren't right and it says in verse 6 after Peter talked to Ananias verse 5 it says Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost in great fear came upon all them that heard these things and the young men arose wound him up and carried him out and buried him it was about the space of three hours after when his wife not knowing what was done came in and Peter answered unto her tell me whether you sold the land for so much and she said yes for so much and Peter said unto her how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord behold the feet the feet of these young men of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out then fell she down straightway and at his feet and yielded up the ghost and the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her forth buried her by her husband so here I just wanted to challenge all of us especially as young people that this here we can take a lesson here we have young people involved and they were helping to carry sin out of the church what am I doing what are you doing are we a channel to help evil to carnality sin to be carried out or are we a channel that it wants to come in there is a difference there allowing it to come in will bring death as it did here and it brought the fear of God I just had to think I know there's been times I've gone to church and I probably wasn't very different from I'm going to be honest than Ananias was and if God would have kept right on working with this process I'd have been long gone black and white I think things were very black and white here they were unashamed to be these young people young men were unashamed to identify with those we're standing for what is true we're carrying sin out we're getting rid of it not only carrying it out we're burying it it's a picture we want it no more we're unashamed to stay where we're at where we stand with things we're unashamed to stand for truth I wonder how it was when those young men went home that evening and in their homes what kind of what was the conversation around their dinner table you know what happened today I'm I probably was all over town already it says great fear came upon all the church what would happen if that would happen today one of us would just drop over because the Lord had revealed there's dishonest heart there's there's lies in your life you're not you're not being honest yeah he just fell over and carried him out they were grieving Paul I mean Peter challenged him how do you dare tempt the spirit of the Lord so instead of young people instead of tempting the Lord's spirit the Bible says we can grieve him let's instead endeavor to have a clear conscience as Paul says before one of the kings was Agrippa Ephesus that I haven't I I exercise myself always to have a conscience void of offense that's another thing carrying sin out but also having a conscience that is clear if you allow yourself to be totally vulnerable to the Lord Jesus Christ and your posture is right your conscience also will be right you'll be clean you'll be clear exercise to have a clear conscience always before God or man talk about honesty and transparency you want to grow a young person be honest be transparent share with someone sometimes become weary in that it was my story growing up I would have benefited more I would have helped quicker lay a better foundation if I would not become weary sometimes just sharing my struggles my needs my fallings my failings strive for honesty transparency so are we carrying out or are we allowing in the evil that wants to come in chapter 7 is the story when Stephen was preaching he was challenging the religious leader he was preaching to the Sanhedrin here just giving his testimony but I find it interesting that in just his last moments upon his earth in his sermon here the Holy Spirit inspired him to bring in verse 9 the patriarch the story about Joseph Joseph a young man the patriarch moved with the enemy and sold Joseph into Egypt but God was with him and we could spend a couple sermons just on just looking at Joseph's life I know he was from the not from act here but he's mentioned here and Joseph in the in his life if he would be here today if someone would go through what he did he would be the prime candidate for just all kinds of specialized help counseling and you know he needs to be dealt probably he needs to deal with the spirit of rejection all kinds of spirits that he was negative but it just says God was with him you know I think we need a revival of that I'm I know I know there's spirits that affect us but sometimes I'm I'm wondering if we if we can take that too far and we call it I guess victimizing I'm just a victim of grandmother great-grand did this just hand it down I just really you know just keep going back and back and back all the way back to Adam and Eve Adam said it was Eve but sometimes somewhere along we just need to have the grace that Joseph did he was removed from from any help but he had help wouldn't you say that he was open on the Godward side as we this man said he was open on the Godward side and God was with him you'll find young person if you're open on the Godward side he'll be open to you you'll have an open heaven God will be on your side Joseph he was open on the Godward side it came out when he was tempted it was not well I'm a victim it was how can I sin do this great evil against God so I just want to lift that up young person have that heart seek after that heart it's not what people are saying what will they think if I do this or don't do this it was he was open on the Godward side that's basically all he saw I believe it was God that he was concerned about he walked through that whole long years away from home probably lonely many times but at the end you don't care any bitterness coming out of his life towards his family or wife or others even the baker or butler forgot him he was a prime example prime candidate to have all kinds of bitterness but he was open on the Godward side no bitterness he was strong no moral weakness no minimizing of sin the Holy Spirit inspired Stephen just before he took that first stone to bring him into this message here open on the Godward side chapter 12 we have the story of when James was killed the brother John was killed James the brother John was killed with a sword and the answer has sent his angel and delivered me out of all the expectation of the Jews and when he considered the thing he came to Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying, and as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda, and when she knew Peter's voice, she opened up the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate, and he said unto her, Thou art mad, for she constantly affirmed that it was even so. But anyhow, my question is, young people, young girls, what, ladies, what gets you excited? What gets you moving? Answer prayer got Rhoda excited.

I just like to look at prayer a bit, because they were together praying, and you can't help it, you start going to go back there, if your heart is open on God's side, you realize there is, there was a constant prayer burden there. If we do a lot of things wrong, I mean, we will, we are, we will do a lot of things wrong, but let's not go wrong in this one, backing off from prayer. I believe it is one of the keys of bringing us together where we need to be in Christ Jesus.

I just like to challenge us, we did it last week in our prayer service, just try to challenge us to, let's press into more of a burden of prayer, praying together, calling out to God. Can, could that excite us for a bit, and start working on our hearts, and we just press into prayer. Someone said, I heard this, I read this sometime, a man made this quote, he says, you can tell how popular a church is by who comes Sunday morning.

You can tell how popular the pastor is by who comes Sunday evening, he says, but you can also say, tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting. So let's, let's just allow ourselves to be open on the God word side on this one. I really think that is the most important service, really, is the praying service, and it's probably the least attended, often, in many churches.

It seems that, you don't, you don't really read much about some of their church services up to this point, but you read about prayer. That's the reason why, one of the reasons that the Lord chased the money changers, the sheep sellers, and all those people out of the temple, says, you have corrupted this place, you've made it a place of merchandise, my, my house should be called of all nations a house of prayer, and I believe people are even doing it today, you know, they bring, they're surfing, they're shopping while we're in the house of God, and this should be a house of prayer. Are we not, are we not in the same place as we were heading down that road? Let's be like Rhoda, let's be excited about prayer.

God has answered our prayer. It should just motivate us that we're going to press into prayer. You know, I have, I have great hope as we as a church, as we as parents unite together, we're going to press into prayer, we're going to pray through on this one, but I have even greater hope if the young people get that vision.

I really do. If young people get that vision of prayer, we're going to press into it as if it's sparked by the youth. I have so much greater hope.

A lot of things are taken care of already if that heart is there. So, let's press into a burden of prayer. It's warming up again, and we can use the prayer barn again this summer.

Let's press into that. I just, I just want to challenge you young people. Start organizing more of that, just spontaneously.

Let's go pray the afternoon. Let's meet back here. Let's pray.

Let's get to this burden for this person, that person. Intercede in supplications like they were doing in chapter one, in one accord in prayer and supplication. They were knit.

They were bound together and they were bound with the Lord. We're not letting go. Lord, we're knit with you.

We're bound one to another. We're bound with you. We're hanging on as Jacob did, prevailed.

So how, how are we known? Are we popular because of who comes Sunday morning, or we have evening meetings, or is it our prayer? We don't go for popularity, but what are we known for? Is this a house of prayer? Among all nations, would we be known as a house of prayer? It would probably be very revealing. We honestly have a screen up here, and it would accurately portray how much the level of our prayer and how much the earnestness of every person's prayer life would be displayed. It would really be an eye-opener.

It really would be. Where are we at? I don't think we can say enough about this one. Let's press into prayer together.

The Holy Spirit inspired that early church that they were together. That was inspired by the Holy Spirit, praying together. Chapter 13, the first missionary journey that Paul and Barnabas would send out on, they were in the first sending church, actually, was these Gentiles up in Antioch.

And as they ministered, verse 2, and as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work we're into I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they had been sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed in Seleucia, and from thence sailed to Cyprus.

And when they were at Solomus, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John, they had also John to their minister. That's just kind of, you read that, you just kind of go right over that.

But this John was, by all indications, a young man, and he went out of his comfort zone. We heard about a comfort zone this morning from different brothers, being in Florida, being out of your comfort zone. Because we can read, we just go over to verse 13, they had this experience with this man, this sorcerer, on the island of Cyprus there, on the Isle of Cactus.

And this sorcerer was trying to keep the deputy, like the mayor, maybe, of the island from believing. So I don't know what kind of spiritual warfare they were in, what kind of the confrontation was. But at least John was willing to give it a try, he was willing to be stretched.

So verse 13 says, after they left this place, then Paul and his company, loose from Paphos, they came to Perga and Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. And we know this was the reason why Paul and Barnabas had that separation sometime later then. Because Paul thought he should not be taking it long again, because he left the work back here.

But Barnabas gave another chance, later on Paul does recognize John Mark again. But my point would be just to allow yourself to be stretched. Sometimes you might be encouraged to do something that's not in your comfort zone.

For some people, it's not comfortable to be out on the streets and holding a sign or sharing the gospel. It's not always comfortable to start with. I don't think it was for him either, but he was willing to try.

Even Brother Jerry, I heard him say already, he would not have started what he's doing going out there if he would not have been nudged at Barnabas, behind the scenes of Barnabas. Yeah, you can do it. So allow yourself, young men and women, to be nudged into this area.

I'm not just lifting up street preaching, but being stretched to volunteer. He had, I don't know if he had to take off from work and how all that was. It takes a sacrifice.

It's a life of sacrifice. I would just really just lift this up again. We have ladies, young sisters on the board, but we're lacking spaces of young men there to volunteer, to give your... We can give with our money and other resources, but it's good for time sometimes to just volunteer your time.

We can tithe our time and sacrifice, give it as an offering, be willing to be outside of our comfort zone. So that's John there, John Mark. Now, Acts 16, we have another young man that you can read about, and that's Timothy.

Verse 1, Paul's on his journey. As he's in his travels, he came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewish and believed, but his father was a Greek, which is well reported by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him and took him and circumcised him because of the Jews which were on those quarters where they knew all that his father was a Greek.

And they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained as apostles and the elders which were at Jerusalem. So were the churches established in the faith increased and numbered daily. We have many references throughout the book of 1 and 2 Timothy.

Timothy was very close, I believe, to Paul. Actually, Paul had this testimony, witness about Timothy, the one place it says, I have no man like-minded that has served with me in the gospel for all men seek their own thing and not the things of Jesus Christ. But there, he was a young man.

Paul saw something in him and he called him aside and he gave him a lot of spiritual authority and responsibility as a young man. But he first took and circumcised him. Well, how do you explain that? He had to be willing to be maybe misunderstood, maybe be under the law, legalistic.

So sometimes to really stand alone, to follow, to be in the right position, you'll be misunderstood as a young person. If you're completely surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes you'll be misunderstood and misinterpreted, your intent, your motives. But don't be discouraged.

If you know you've had that calling as Timothy had, do not be discouraged. Be willing to be misaligned and be called, you know, maybe legalistic or I don't know what people thought here. Because depending on the situation, Paul defends not being circumcised for here, for the firmness of the gospel.

He did that with a young man. He was for the firmness of the gospel, so he was a willing vessel. I see this young man as a willing vessel.

Whatever it takes to keep the gospel going out, be in line with that. Be open on the God word side. Be above reproach.

Because depending where they would have gone, depending what kind of Jews would have been there, it could have been all kinds of accusations, reproach. So Paul just covered all the bases for no offenses. So this young man was a willing vessel to be above reproach.

He was a youth. We know he's a youth. 1 Timothy 4, 12, Paul tells him to be an example of the believers.

He says, let no man despise thy youth. In 1 Timothy 6, he says, but thou, O man of God, flee these things. Talk about the riches and the snares of this, what, richest spring of the world.

He says, thou, O man of God. He's a youth, but you're a young youth. If you're in that position, you've been called to the work of men.

You're a man of God. You've been called to the work of a man of God. Even as a youth, you're a man of God.

It's not for the boys, it's for a man of God. He is willing to be that man of God. So, dear youth, in Christ Jesus, you have a man's calling.

Acts 20, we all know this story, Paul is one of his final travels heading to Jerusalem before his arrest. Verse 7 of chapter 20, they were at Troas, and upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, continued his speech until midnight, and there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together. There sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen to a deep sleep, and Paul was long preaching.

And as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down in sleep and fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead. Paul went down and fell on him, embracing him, and said, Trouble not yourselves, for this life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread and eaten, talking a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

They brought the young man alive, were not a little comforted. Here we have a dear young youth that he was willing to, he spent the wee hours of the night in pursuit of God's Word. How does that measure up with my life? How does that measure up with your life? When I look back at my youth, what were we doing? But I can tell you this, the times we spent in pursuit of seeking God as young people, and sometimes the wee hours of the night, it brought, it was a growing time.

It was a time of having God's favor upon my life. I can attest to that. But I can also attest times we did not do that.

We were doing, you know, sometimes we were camping and just doing all kinds of activities or games, sports activities into the night. People hurt themselves also doing that. But the result might be different than this.

This man was hurt. He was, he actually seemed, appeared he might have died, but he was in the right position. He was in the right posture of listening to God's Word.

And Paul brought him back and raised him again. So are we open on the God Word side on hearing God's Word and pursuing God's Word? Even if he's listening to midnight and says he actually spoke to the break of day. It almost, I wonder sometimes if Paul was almost done by midnight.

He was, it was getting pretty long. Then this happens and he had this big uproar. He had brought him, Paul rushed down and brought him back to life.

He says they brought the young men. They were not a little comforted. They might have just inspired again.

Maybe he started a sermon on resurrection now. So if you want an exciting life, press into the Word of God. Be studious.

Suddenly you show that they'll approve unto God and you will only do that as you are a student of the Word. Remember the milk of the Word. It's not the milk of the world.

The milk of work. The milk of, you name it, but it's the milk of the Word that you will grow thereby and eventually you'll be taking in meat too. I believe a lot of you are taking in meat already, but it's just a, I want to lift up Eutychus.

He was willing to be, he was willing to fall out of the window in pursuit of the Word. What am I willing to risk in pursuit of the Word of God? Are we open on the God Word side on this one? Acts 21, verse 8 and 9, Paul still in his travels, getting closer to Jerusalem. The next day, starting verse 8, chapter 21, verse 8, the next day we that were Paul's company departed, came to Caesarea and we entered into the house of Philip, the evangelist, which was one of the seven and abode with him.

You remember, well, Stephen was there and he had given his life, but Philip was still here, he was one of the seven, and it says the same man had four daughters, virgins, which is prophesied. We tarried there many days. As we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus, and here we had a home where there's some young, lovely young girls, virgins.

It defines them as virgins. There was a purity about them, and I'll just say that, this, but the Holy Spirit's falling upon your life and knowing you will be in the embodiment of purity. It will be.

I mean, you know, if we can fall, but if we clean our hearts, if we repent, we can be at a purity level. But God, anointing God, outpouring of His Spirit does not go hand in hand with a life that is not open on the Godward side, that is not pursuing purity, is not pursuing a set-apart life. If we're pursuing young girls, daughters, virgins, I'll just share this.

If we are spending our time with wrong relationships, social media or romance books, novels like that, we are not open on the Godward side, and we won't have that anointing. We won't have that stamp of the Holy Spirit. This was actually, this was really, right here, is proof of God's prophecy there in Joel.

He poured out His Spirit and says they prophesied. It really means, it can mean prophecy, this word here actually means just to foretell the future. It's really what it means.

But it can, I know it can entail other things, to profess the great thing works of God, but I believe there is foretelling involved, because it attracted a man, this activist that came down and said, this is what's going to happen also. There, I find it interesting that so often when we talk about the gifts of the Spirit, the working of the Spirit, that we become kind of paranoid, we've got to be careful. But when, I wish we'd be as careful as about the Spirit of the world.

I wish we would be. I know we have, we need to be careful in our days. There is, there is, it can be misused, it can be a cover for what's not real.

But these are actually young girls that were under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and there was prophecy coming, there was, I believe, spiritual direction, spiritual vision and vigor coming out of this. So let's have this balance right. Let's be open on the Godward side on this one.

And to be, I tell my children, I would rather than, you know, I'd rather them, for seeing them pursue an anointing of God, however that may be, you can interpret that in your own mind, but I would rather see them pursue those things on the Godward side, in the right context versus so many other activities that youth want to do that are maybe neither, we can argue a long time or discuss is it good or bad, but I just want to encourage you to be open on the Godward side on this one. Let's not, let's not be paranoid about the things that God has given to us as a gift, if it's used rightfully. Because the Holy Spirit, these gifts being exercised, if it's truly from the Holy Spirit, it will lead into holiness, or it's not the Holy Spirit.

It will always measure up with this. Just briefly, at chapter 23, Paul, after he'd been arrested, the Jews banded together, were wanting to kill him. And it says in chapter 23 that they conspired to lay wait while they were transferring from one city to the next, or one town to the next.

And Paul's sister's son, nephew, heard about this in verse 16. When Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him and said, bring this young man unto the chief captains, for he had a certain thing to tell him.

So he took him and brought him to the chief captains and said, Paul the prisoner, call me unto him and pray me to bring this young man unto thee who has something to say unto thee. Then the chief captains took him by the hand, so in occasion, it might have been just a younger boy, young man, took him by the hand, went with him aside privately and asked him, what does that man have to tell me? Then he told him about that, he warned him about that. So here we have another young person just willing to be a vessel to help promote and extend the witness and testimony of Jesus Christ.

Because if Paul would have been killed here, it would have kept him from testifying further to all the other kings. And in Rome especially, wouldn't have the book of Romans, I believe, or I'm not sure what all was written from Rome. But you just think about it, the different epistles that were written from Rome when he was in Rome, this would never have happened.

This young man would not have done his part of laboring for the kingdom and doing what he can. I don't know, he might not have been very talented, but he did what he could. Like we read about this young, or this woman that washed Jesus' feet and anointed his feet, she received all that criticism, but Jesus said she did what she could.

So young people, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, allow yourself to be in that posture, be in that position, and be open on the Godward side. And God will use you, and you'll have a tremendous foundation. You'll be married to him, and he'll be forming you, and he'll be forming that help me at the same time, in its proper time.

It'll be a beautiful thing if you're open on the Godward side. And total, your posture is, it just says, here I am, Lord. Total surrender.

Isaac, how are you feeling? Okay. We had Brother Jeremy, his wife, Sabrina, and their children at our house for the night. And Sabrina's wife, Sabrina's brother, Isaac, is along, and I never even heard his testimony.

So I just said, you know, today, it's good to open our mouth. So I was just checking with him a little bit, is he going to be open on the Godward side, to be willing to share what, maybe, just breathe what the Lord has done in his life. He said he would do that.

So we can just bear with that. Pray for him, just encourage him to share, as a youth, share your testimony, what the Lord has been doing. So it just worked out well, and he just happened to be at our house, and said, just do