Building a Family
Pastor David T. Elms 5/11/2025
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37:13
Summary
Pastor Elms explores how a authentic family is God's design for fighting fraud and how Jesus redefined the concept of family from the cross to include the spiritual body of believers.
Key points
- •The nuclear family is God's primary weapon against 'fraud' and insincerity because children have an instinct for authenticity and see through pretense.
- •A balanced, healthy family is built on four pillars: acknowledging no one is always right, practicing righteous repentance, extending godly mercy, and prioritizing godly restoration.
- •While at the cross, Jesus redefined family by connecting Mary and John, showing that the church is a family bound by the Spirit that transcends biological DNA.
- •Forgiveness is possible only when we view those who hurt us through the lens of Christ, acknowledging that on a spiritual level, 'they know not what they do.'
- •Joining the family of God through baptism and the Holy Spirit offers deliverance from the trauma of broken biological backgrounds and fraudulent relationships.
Scripture
Family Dynamics
Authenticity vs. Hypocrisy
The Cross
Forgiveness
Spiritual Kinship
Life application
This week, identify a 'mask' of pretense you have been wearing or a resentment you have held against a family member, and deliberately choose to practice righteous repentance or godly mercy in that relationship.
Reflection questions
- What 'forged judgments' have you held onto because of the lack of authenticity you experienced in your upbringing?
- Which of the four pillars of a balanced family (No one is always right, Repentance, Mercy, Restoration) is the weakest in your current household?
- How does viewing an offender as 'not knowing what they are doing' change your ability to forgive them?
- In what ways can you lean into your 'church family' to fill the gaps left by a broken biological family?
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Full transcript
0:00Musk. And I lie
0:00up. I'm going to speak on building a
0:01family today. You may be seated in Jesus
0:03name.
0:07Thank you for your
0:15kindness. Insincerity is the most
0:17dangerous
0:19religion that
0:21exists. Fraud is a demonic
0:25creed.
0:27Fakery, something the world cannot
0:30stomach.
0:32insincerity corrods the soul and when
0:37pretense is stripped away from it. That
0:41reduction reduces life to its primal
0:46essence. And when you take take away all
0:49pretense, what remains is
0:53truth. The Lord instructed us to buy the
0:57truth and sell it now.
1:00But the scam of
1:03insincerity is
1:05unmasked in healthy
1:07homes. Children have an instinct for
1:12authenticity. And in time, children
1:16sniff it out. They see through the masks
1:20and they revolt against all fraud.
1:25They silently forge judgments which will
1:29be unmoved by the words of their parents
1:32and unshackled from the control of their
1:36parents. And those judgments are rooted
1:39in what is real at
1:42home. The nuclear family was God's way
1:45to fight fraud.
1:48It's the place where the Lord intended
1:51children to get a test system in their
1:55spirit to find out who is really for me
2:00and who is really for
2:02themselves or who is really selfish and
2:06who is a
2:08servant. Those determinant
2:11factors are critical to succeeding in
2:14life. Those who have never experienced a
2:18good family really understand what I'm
2:20talking about right now. If you've never
2:23had a good family, you know how primal
2:26this battle
2:28is. I pastor a lot of people who have
2:31had tremendous families. But there is
2:34also in this congregation those who do
2:36not know their father, those whose
2:39mother has been
2:41immensely
2:43selfish. And this day is a day where you
2:46struggle to find a reason to celebrate.
2:49But you will do it because you want to
2:52serve the
2:53Lord. And you will wipe out all the
2:56memories of the negativity because the
2:59Lord instructs us, "Honor your father
3:02and your mother and your days will be
3:05long upon the earth."
3:07So while the enemy is always trying to
3:10sever close ties and cut out family
3:15relationships, the Lord is in the
3:17business of saying you find the good and
3:20celebrate it. But a balanced family is
3:24not easy, especially in this hour when
3:26there are none presented on television.
3:31Every family is one that has been
3:33presented somewhat broken or or
3:36disjointed or somehow uh they're always
3:40belittling a certain part of that
3:43family. Everything is tearing down the
3:46patriarch of the house. And I will use
3:49that word. I don't care what academia
3:51has tried to do with that word because
3:54the Bible is the place where patriarchs
3:57are found. I'm talking about biblical
4:00patriarchs, not this new modern
4:03definition of the
4:04patriarch. I'm talking about men of God
4:07and women of God that understand family
4:11and and the battle for faith and the
4:14battle against
4:16fraud and the rules to have a balanced
4:20family. I've got just four quick ones to
4:23give to you. Number one, if you want a b
4:25b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b
4:25b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b
4:25family, you need to realize that no one
4:27is always
4:29right. I know people want to have
4:31authority, but I don't care if you're
4:33the father as I am or the mother as
4:36others
4:37are. Well, in my house is just
4:39one. But it doesn't matter to me. No one
4:44is always
4:45right. Your children will know that.
4:49Whether or not you teach them that is up
4:51to you of how much you want to embrace
4:55fraud. So when you know that no one is
4:58always right in a balanced family, you
5:00anticipate
5:02shortfalls. You expect
5:04lapses. In fact, you've got a plan for
5:07failures. When it happens, everything is
5:10not blown up because you realize no one
5:14is always right.
5:16Second rule of a balanced family is that
5:19righteous repentance is a core
5:23pillar. Righteous repentance is a core
5:28pillar. Everybody, if they're going to
5:30fall, you got to have a way to say, "I'm
5:34sorry. Will you forgive me?" Otherwise,
5:37fraud will be around. Otherwise, you can
5:40wound another and never say, "Will you
5:43forgive me?" Even I'm sorry doesn't
5:47cover the vulnerability of the one that
5:49you have
5:51harmed. So you've got to submit yourself
5:54and humble yourself to the judgment of
5:58another. Oh, the flesh doesn't like
6:01that. But in a balanced family, there's
6:05no one always right. Righteous
6:08repentance is a core pillar. Number
6:10three, godly mercy is
6:13foundational. If there is no mercy, then
6:16repentance is
6:18empty. And so, we must always realize
6:21we're not always right. We must realize
6:23that righteous repentance is a core
6:25pillar. We must realize that godly mercy
6:28is foundational. And fourthly, remember,
6:30we need to remember that godly
6:34restoration is a first principle.
6:37And in every balanced family, you've got
6:40these pillars, these critical
6:43foundational
6:44truths. Understanding no one is always
6:47right. Righteous repentance must be
6:50there. Godly mercy has to be present.
6:52And restoration is a first principle. A
6:57mother's heart is forged by hope built
6:59in sacrifice. She nurtures the instinct
7:02for authenticity in her children. Mother
7:05many times toils in the shadows, subtle
7:07yet seismic, pensive maybe, but
7:10powerful, always teaching them to see
7:12past the masks, past the fraud, discern
7:16what is real, fighting demonic
7:19deception. And even today, this morning,
7:21there were mothers that woke up doing
7:24what I just talked about, helping their
7:27children understand what is a fraud and
7:30what is real.
7:33And that's why we come to this text
7:35today in your
7:38Bible. While Andre Crouch was singing uh
7:41on my dance time today, one of the songs
7:46that popped up was There's nobody else
7:48like you. Nobody else like you. Not my
7:52mother, not my father, not my sister,
7:54not my brother. No one else will do.
7:58That's why I love you. There's nobody
8:01else like if you don't know that song,
8:04you need to YouTube it
8:06today. It's one of the best little tunes
8:10that will go over and over in your
8:13mind. Nobody like Jesus. And that's why
8:17when we preach, we go to the cross. To
8:19the cross. He has come. And he didn't
8:22want to go to the cross. In the garden
8:23of Gethsemane, he has prayed and he has
8:26asked, "If it's possible, take this cup
8:30from me." In this cup is every rancid,
8:35rancerous, toxic brew that men have ever
8:39done. in that cup when he drank it, he
8:43reached all the way back to the
8:45beginning of time and dragged every sin,
8:49every stench, every wrong and put it in
8:53that cup. And then he reached all the
8:55way to the end of time and he dragged
8:58every sin and every wrong and every
9:01fraud and every failure and he dragged
9:04it all the way and he clumpled them
9:07together and packed them in and put it
9:10in that cup and he said, "Is it
9:13possible?" And it was not possible. So
9:17he drank the cup and that's why we have
9:20a crown made of thorns. And that's why
9:23we have a cross, an instrument of
9:26torture and death that we celebrate. And
9:30on that cross, he took our sins
9:36away. On that cross, there were three
9:38words that he said, really seven words
9:40from the cross, but only three burst of
9:43speech that came out. And I'm going to
9:46feature or speak about the first three
9:49because after them, as our text said,
9:52the Bible said, "Knowing that the
9:54scripture hath been
9:57fulfilled," that was when he said, "I
10:00thirst." Before he ever addressed
10:03anything about his own physical needs,
10:05there were three specific things he took
10:07care of. The first word, his body is
10:10bleeding and torn and he's dying on the
10:13cross. The first thing that comes out of
10:15his mouth there in his pain and trauma,
10:18he sees soldiers, he sees gamblers, he
10:21sees mockers, he sees sinners, and he
10:24says,
10:27"Father, forgive them for they don't
10:30know what they're
10:31doing." The next thing he says on the
10:34cross, after this is done, a thief
10:37begins arguing with the other thief
10:39between them. And one said, "If you're
10:41the Christ, why don't you come down? why
10:43if you're what are you doing all here?
10:44And the other one says, "Hey, he's done
10:46no wrong. We deserve this, but he
10:49doesn't deserve this." And then he says
10:51to the Lord, he said, "Hey, remember me
10:54when you come to your kingdom." And the
10:57second burst of speech that comes from
10:59the Lord on the cross is
11:03today I found a
11:06convert. So since you're converted to
11:09follow me today, you will be with me in
11:13paradise. They say you're worthless, but
11:17I'm saying you're mine.
11:20So when they discard you, I will welcome
11:23you. Come on, let's go somewhere
11:27together.
11:29I love that word. But the third word is
11:32our text, the third burst of speech. And
11:35this is when he looks at John the
11:37beloved who's standing at the foot of
11:39the cross and his mother who's standing
11:42at the foot of the cross. Imagine this
11:44with me. Enter into the moment. Enter
11:47into the context. She's standing at the
11:49foot of the cross. John's brother was
11:53James. In the Bible, we know there are
11:55three very close disciples to Jesus.
11:59James, John, and Peter. These are the
12:02three that are closest to him. The
12:05father of John and James was a man named
12:08Zebedee. The mother of these two boys
12:12names was
12:13Salom. And that woman Salom is at the
12:18cross with Mary the mother of Jesus.
12:20Okay. So we've got
12:22John. We've also got his brothers
12:25somewhere around. the brothers of Jesus
12:28somewhere around Jude and James the less
12:32the brother of Jesus which is different
12:35than the brother of John that's known as
12:38James the greater okay don't get
12:41confused they're different people both
12:44named
12:45James you don't know them but if you
12:47know both the Davids in this church or
12:50the Zachs in this church and whatever
12:52then you know the difference when you
12:54see them two different James standing in
12:56there. There's Jude. There's James, the
13:00brother of Jesus. There's James, the
13:02brother of John and John. There's Mary,
13:05the mother of Jesus. And there's Salom,
13:08the mother of
13:10John. Jesus is
13:12dying. And if you don't understand what
13:15is going on at this cross, you miss an
13:19undercurrent because Salom as the mother
13:21of James and John has revealed herself
13:23earlier. She's a tiger mom. She's a
13:27helicopter
13:29mom. She's a mom that has got a little
13:31bit of narcissism in
13:34her. You know how I know this? Because
13:38Jesus was talking about the kingdom of
13:39God one day and up marched
13:42Salomi, the mother of James and John.
13:45You know what she said to Jesus? She
13:47said, "Um, listen. When you come into
13:50your kingdom, take these two sons of
13:52mine and put one seat to your left and
13:55one on the seat to your
13:59right. She didn't say, "Take James and
14:02put him in a seat or John." No, these
14:04sons of
14:06mine. She's wanting to set her boys up,
14:09but
14:10why? They're
14:12mine. And so this process, Jesus, and I
14:15don't have the time to tell you, but
14:17Jesus breaks down into the power of
14:19being a servant. And that in this
14:21kingdom, you don't get it by
14:22manipulating your way to the high seat.
14:25You get it by serving other people.
14:29Somehow that message took because Salom
14:32is now at the foot of the cross. Okay,
14:36she's there. The rebuke took. But wait,
14:40it's not
14:42over. John, his mother's here. Mary,
14:47Jesus's mother, is there.
14:49Jesus does something quite
14:55stunning.
14:57Son, behold your
15:06mother. My mama's
15:09here. You're looking
15:13here. How
15:15did Salomi feel right at that moment?
15:20All you mothers with sons, you're
15:22standing by your
15:23boy and all of a sudden somebody says to
15:26them, "Look at your
15:30son." Or says to your
15:32son, "Look at your
15:35mother." And your son doesn't look at
15:41you. Are you with me?
15:44Sometimes we skate through these
15:45scriptures so fast and don't understand
15:47really what we're
15:48saying. What is the
15:51dynamic? What kind of press is going on
15:53right now? All of a sudden, a mother
15:56who's been a tiger
15:59mom, she she always made sure her son
16:02was picked early. When he came home from
16:04school, he said she would say, "How did
16:05teacher teach you today?" Uh, she didn't
16:08set you in the front desk. I'll be there
16:10tomorrow.
16:13Where did you put my son? You know, he
16:16needs to be sitting right over there.
16:18That was
16:19Salom. But now Jesus says to John,
16:23"Behold your
16:24mother." Now, if we think of all of this
16:29undercurrent, we might even miss the
16:32harder part because
16:35Mary is the mother of
16:37Jesus. She's older now. A world is harsh
16:41to widows. Mary's been a widow for a
16:44little while now. But the question is,
16:47has it been hard enough for Mary, the
16:49mother of Jesus? Because when we know
16:51the first time she went to the temple,
16:53taking her firstborn little boy to the
16:55temple, a prophet named Simon or Simeon
16:57is standing in the entryway of the
16:59temple and he sees all the brand new
17:02baby and he wants to look at the baby
17:03and he prophesies some amazing things,
17:06but his eyes pierce her soul when he
17:08says, "A sword will pierce your soul."
17:13Imagine taking your baby the first time
17:15to church and having the elder of the
17:17church walk up to you say, "Wow, that's
17:19cute. Beautiful. Awesome. Look at those
17:21toes. Love the bonnet. Awesome. A sword
17:24will pierce your soul. Uh, that's not
17:28what I'm wanting from
17:30church. If some of you have a dream
17:32about other people's babies that they're
17:34going to die, talk to me first. Okay?
17:37Don't go telling them. Come talk to me.
17:40All right? This isn't what the Lord's
17:42wanting that dream to mean to you. Well,
17:45go tell them their child's going to die.
17:48No, we're not having that kind of stuff
17:50around this
17:51church. You talk to me if you have a
17:54dream about some child dying and
17:55together we'll get to a gentle, loving
18:00discovery because God does send dreams
18:02like that and actions should happen from
18:05those dreams. But this is what happens
18:07to Mary. So, are you still with me?
18:09She's already had a Simeon tell her a
18:12sword will pierce your soul. At 12, she
18:14takes him to the temple and she loses
18:16him for three days. And when she finally
18:18finds him, this is his first time to be
18:20away from his mother. She finally finds
18:22him, she's sitting there wondering, "Did
18:24you miss
18:27me? I've been missing you like
18:30crazy." You have a mama that does that
18:32every once in a
18:34while. My mom will tell me, "I was
18:36hungry to hear your voice
18:40today." Why does she have to use that
18:42metaphor?
18:44hungry to hear my
18:46voice. I'm sure Mary wanted to know,
18:49"You're only 12. You've never been away
18:52from me. Are you missing me while you're
18:54away?" And not only will a sword pierce
18:57her soul, but now Jesus looks up at her
19:00as if he's surprised you would ask such
19:02a
19:04thing. Uh, did you not know I was to be
19:06about my father's
19:10business? I to some
19:13mamas who would have told their
19:17son, "You listen
19:23here, I'm your
19:28mother." So, she's already losing him a
19:31little bit. Then the first miracle at
19:34the wedding, he's been with her until
19:36he's 30 years old. And this miracle,
19:39she's never seen a miracle. She didn't
19:41even expect him to have a miracle other
19:43than the virgin birth. There's no real
19:45miracles that she can report of. She
19:47didn't know Jesus had miracles in his
19:49future. She had never seen him perform a
19:52miracle because the Bible specifically
19:54says this is his
19:56first. So, she's not expecting a
19:59miracle. She knows her friend's wedding
20:01has a shortage. And so, she goes to her
20:03problem solver who's been Jesus all
20:05these years and she says, "Jesus, we got
20:07a problem. They've run out of wine. We
20:10got to fix this. I don't know what's
20:11going to do. And he said to
20:15her,
20:22woman, okay, we need to stop right
20:27there. And that sounds much more rugged
20:29in our language than it did in the
20:31original. So, I'm not going to play on
20:33that, even though I have heard it played
20:34on.
20:38My time is not
20:40yet. So now she's been denied
20:44again. Many times he never denied her.
20:47He loved his mother. And so she says the
20:51word that some women that I'm aware of
20:55say when frustration hits them. For some
21:00reason, this is a quick to the mind
21:03word. I don't know if I have any
21:05witnesses in the
21:07house.
21:14Whatever. I don't like that
21:16word. My wife is still in a period of
21:19penalty
21:21box because she has at times employed
21:25the word
21:26whatever and at times I think it's still
21:28in her
21:31holster. Whatever.
21:34And I've just got to tell myself, she's
21:35being like Jesus's mother.
21:39Because Jesus's mother goes to the
21:43kitchen among the servants and says,
21:47"Whatever he tells you to
21:50do." Now, I don't think she's imagining
21:53a miracle. She just thinks he's going to
21:54help get us some
21:56liquid. And you know the rest of the
21:58story. The last point in this is she's
22:01missing him.
22:03She hears he's in Capernium, which is
22:05about 30 miles from where she lives. And
22:07back then there was not any car
22:10service. She didn't have a wagon or a
22:12chariot, but she hears he's about 30
22:14miles away in Capernaum. So, she leaves
22:17Nazareth and it's about a day's journey.
22:19She gets to where Jesus is teaching and
22:21there's a big crowd all around him and
22:24she can't get to him because of the
22:26press. So, she sends word by a very
22:28nimble guy that's a part of his crowd.
22:31Please go tell
22:33Jesus. Kmart.
22:36Kmart. Jesus, your mother hath need of
22:40thee. I say Kmart because that's where I
22:42got lost. Many of you all don't know
22:44where Kmart is, but Kmart had blue light
22:47specials. I got lost in Kmart as a
22:49child. And I went to the desk up front
22:51and that was the sound of me trying to
22:54get my mother with tears coming down my
22:56cheek.
22:58Uh, and so she is on her tiptoes looking
23:03out to see, okay, I've I've walked an
23:07entire day. I expect my son to think,
23:10"Mama gets special service." So, I can
23:12see her on her tiptoes watching the guy
23:15work through the crowd, get up to Jesus,
23:18lean down. She can't hear what he
23:22says, but he said to Jesus, "Your mother
23:27is out there wanting to see you. And
23:31Jesus turns to the
23:34crowd and says, "Who is my
23:40mother?" Now, that's not your Mother's
23:43Day
23:48text. Can you imagine the blow that that
23:51felt
23:52like? All right. Now, we're coming to
23:54the cross. And at the
23:56cross after all these
23:59blows, she sees him
24:03dying. And Jesus when every breath is a
24:07battle looks at his mother and
24:10says,"Woman, behold thy
24:12son. Son, behold thy mother." Now she
24:17has other sons. So if Jesus wants to
24:19play like this, why is he not saying
24:22look to
24:24James or look to Jude his brothers which
24:28were around? She's not without other
24:31sons. What in the world is Jesus doing
24:35telling this guy who is not her son,
24:39look at him as he is your
24:42son. Now all of these quandries are
24:45fair. They're truth. They're biblical.
24:49And I would imagine you p probably
24:51haven't thought of all these. You may
24:54have all thought of them all. But here's
24:56what the Bible says. At that moment,
25:00from that hour, that disciple took her
25:04to his own home. And the four gospels
25:07all tell of Calvary. But when you read
25:10through them all, Matthew, Mark, and
25:12Luke speak of so many anomalies that
25:16happened while Jesus is on the cross.
25:18But when you read of John, he never
25:21speaks of saints walking in the streets.
25:24He never speaks of the sky becoming
25:26black. He never speaks of an earthquake.
25:29He never speaks of the the temple veil
25:32being torn. He never speaks of all of
25:35the my God, my God, why hast thou
25:38forsaken me? None of that is in the
25:40Gospel of
25:41John. Would you think it might be
25:46because he wasn't there when all that
25:49happened?
25:51He had
25:52taken Mary, the mother of Jesus, to his
25:56house, and he missed all of those things
26:00because he was doing the will of the
26:04Lord. Musicians, come. I'm
26:08closing. There are three revelations
26:10from these words. First of all, the Lord
26:13is making the church into a family. And
26:17this is his first move to redefine who
26:22family really is. Family includes your
26:26DNA. But when you get in the church of
26:28the living God, it is far more than just
26:33DNA. Because he looks at his own mother
26:36and
26:38says, "Look at that boy and act like
26:43he's your son."
26:45He looks at a boy who has a mother on
26:47one side and he says, "Look at that
26:51woman who is not your
26:53mother and treat her as if she is your
26:58mother and do it in such a manner while
27:01you do not neglect your real mother, you
27:04learn how to love
27:06exponentially for others."
27:09So on the cross he does three things
27:12before the scripture is fulfilled. The
27:15first thing he does is he tells all of
27:18us when there are people around you who
27:21are sinners and mockers and pretenders
27:26and those trying to destroy you, you
27:29don't curse them. You return good for
27:33evil. You bless those who curse you. You
27:37pray for those who despitefully use you
27:39and persecute you. The first thing if
27:42you're going to be a part of my church,
27:44you're going to have to say whatever
27:46they're doing, they really don't know
27:48what they're doing. You may think
27:51they're choosing to be a drug druggie,
27:54but they really don't know what they're
27:56doing. You may think they're choosing to
27:59be a pimp, but they really don't know
28:02what they're doing. You may think
28:04they're choosing to be a thief, but they
28:07really don't know what they're doing.
28:09Oh, they know on a shallow measure what
28:13they're doing. They know enough to be
28:16judged by God for what they're doing.
28:19But when I want my church to think about
28:21the lost. When I want my church to think
28:24about their neighbors who are so mean,
28:27so cruel, so thoughtless, so selfish.
28:31When I want my church to think about the
28:33person at work that they're working
28:34besides that treats them with such
28:37mockery when you look at them, don't
28:40look at them as if they really know what
28:42they're doing. Look at them as if they
28:46really don't
28:47know. They really don't know. So you
28:51come and get a part of the church and
28:53you think how there's people that do
28:55that to me. They won't ever do that to
28:56me again until you get at the foot of
28:58the cross. And then you realize, no,
29:01they really don't know what they're
29:02doing. When I get close to the Lord, I
29:06see the people completely differently.
29:08When I get close to the Lord, I may have
29:10never known my mother,
29:13but I see her a lot differently. When I
29:16get close to the cross, my dad may have
29:18been the biggest jerk that existed and
29:20he left me and abandoned me and I could
29:22care less who he is because he cares
29:26less who I
29:29am. My grandfather never come to one of
29:32my birthday parties. My grandfather
29:34never came to our house one time in
29:37North Carolina or in San Diego. This was
29:40my mom's daddy. Never one time did he
29:43really even acknowledge that I existed.
29:46Never one time. One time in my entire
29:48life we went to his house and my mother,
29:51he took all of his grandkids around and
29:54he showed us his fruit trees and he was
29:57so proud of his fruit trees and he had a
29:59pit in his backyard. This was in
30:01California. And he had a great job and
30:04he made good money. And in that in the
30:07in the backyard, he had a pit where he
30:08took all of the clippings from his grass
30:11mowing. He would mow his grass and keep
30:14his clippings and he put them down there
30:16and he kept them so they could become
30:18fertilizer for his trees. And he showed
30:20us all around the one memory I've got of
30:22my
30:23grandfather. And I remember walking
30:25around thinking,
30:28"Boy, he does know how to
30:31love, just not me.
30:35I have my entire life fought my feelings
30:38about my grandpa. My entire life. I went
30:41to his funeral only to be with my
30:43mother. Not because I thought much of
30:45him. And I walked by, looked down at
30:50him,
30:52thought, "Wish I could have known
30:55you." And I was pastor of this church
30:58when that happened.
31:00I pastor people that fight those same
31:02kind of feelings right now while you're
31:04sitting here right now. You've been
31:05exposed to fraud and the people who have
31:08been fraudulent to you and with you at
31:10home, you've seen through it. You've
31:12smelt it. The mask is gone. You don't
31:14You've got a forged judgment on them
31:17that there's nothing they can do to
31:19change what they really think. Oh, you
31:21cover it. You're charming. You're kind.
31:23You're thoughtful. But you know that you
31:25know. I'm telling you in the Holy Ghost
31:28right now, you need to go to the cross
31:31and say,
31:33"Father, forgive them. They know not.
31:37They really don't know." There's a
31:40deliverance in this house today. There
31:43is a freedom that you're going to find
31:45in this altar today because you've been
31:47fighting this and fighting it and
31:49fighting it and fighting it. And the
31:51Holy Ghost sent me on this Mother's Day
31:53to tell you first of all, you need to
31:56learn to look through the eyes of the
31:58Lord and say they I thought they knew
32:01what they were doing. But now that I
32:03look through the eyes of the master, I
32:05now know they really didn't know what
32:08they were doing. So I choose his love,
32:11not their love. I choose his freedom,
32:15not their bondage. I choose his mercy,
32:18not their brokenness, because I am now a
32:21part of a different
32:24family. The next
32:27thing he turns to a
32:30convert who the world had says is
32:33worthless, need to die today. We're
32:36discarding you right now. This man was
32:40going to be discarded from the world.
32:44And Jesus said, "Because you love
32:47me, because you want to be mine this
32:51day." They all think it's over when we
32:55die. But I want to tell you, even though
32:57it looks like we're finished, death
32:59doesn't get the last word. Hey, it's
33:02only just begun. When hell says you're
33:04done, Jesus says, "Come unto me, all ye
33:08that are weary and heavy laden. I will
33:12give you rest.
33:14converts. Welcome people who want to
33:17love him. Welcome. People who want to
33:20serve him. I don't care how far you've
33:22been gone. I don't care your heritage. I
33:24don't care the fraud you've been exposed
33:26to. And maybe the fraud is being
33:28perpetrated even right now. It's not too
33:31late to say, "I choose to not accept the
33:34fraud, but I'm going to stand in hope
33:38that there is a great God of heaven."
33:41And the last thing is when he turns to
33:43his mother, he says,
33:46uh, when you get into my body, you're
33:49not just bone of my bone and flesh of my
33:50flesh. You become spirit of my spirit.
33:54And when you're filled with his spirit,
33:56the Bible says there is one body and one
33:58spirit. Even as you are called in one
34:00hope of your calling, one Lord, one
34:03faith, one baptism, one God and Father
34:06of all, who is above all and through all
34:08and in you all. In a world choosing me,
34:12the church chooses
34:16we. I love people I have no reason to
34:19know. I serve God with people there's no
34:21reason we should even know each other.
34:24Why? Because it's not about me. It's
34:27about we. Shall we stand all over this
34:29building? Romans 6 says, "Know ye not
34:32that so many of us as were baptized into
34:35Jesus Christ were baptized into his
34:39death? Therefore, whenever you see a
34:42therefore in the Bible, you need to know
34:43what it's there for. Therefore, we are
34:47buried with him by baptism." This is why
34:51I stress baptism all the time. You got
34:54to get baptized into Jesus because
34:57therefore we are buried with him by
34:59baptism into death. In that like Christ
35:03was raised up from the dead by the glory
35:05of the father. Even so we should walk in
35:08newness of life. For if we have been
35:11planted, it's what it looks like when we
35:13baptize people. We don't just sprink
35:15them. We plant them. We plant them. We
35:19have been planted together in the
35:21likeness of death. We shall be also in
35:24the likeness of his resurrection. It's a
35:28new family. It's a new res relationship.
35:32It's a new reason. Now, when I talk in
35:34tongues, I'm talking about something
35:37that has to do with resurrection, not
35:39death. When I get baptized in Jesus, I
35:42don't put on put on mortality anymore. I
35:46put on immortality.
35:48And if that spirit that raised up Christ
35:51from the dead dwell in you, it will
35:55quicken,
35:56liven, make alive your mortal bodies,
35:59and so shall you ever be with the Lord
36:02because he'll rapture you out of this
36:04world. Hallelujah. I'm opening this
36:07altar to anyone today who's fought
36:11fraud, who's fought fakery, who's fought
36:15hypocrisy, who's fought people that have
36:18mocked you, they have belittled you.
36:22They have abandoned you. They have let
36:25you down. Maybe you're just lonely and
36:28you can't breathe. Maybe you feel alone
36:31and there's no hope. Why don't you come
36:34join our family? Why don't you come in
36:37this place and get baptized in his
36:40spirit and baptized into his body?
36:45You're welcome to come now. I open this
36:48altar to
36:49everybody. Come and talk to the Lord.
36:52We'll wait on you. We'll wait on you.
36:56You've been lonesome. You don't have to
36:58be alone. You've been lonely. Welcome to
37:02a new family. Welcome to a family
37:05that'll love you, stand by you, hold you
37:09close in their prayers.
37:12[Music]