Home Work Pt. 2

Hey, what's up, everybody? I'm here with my buddy, Isaac. And Isaac, who am I? What's my name? I'm Pastor Keith Battle. I'm Pastor Keith Battle, just like he said. And we're here to tell you about the message today called Homework Part Two. And today we're going to be talking about work on me. You're not going to want to miss this message. And they need to do some things. What should they do? Like? I've been subscribed to us. I'll see you again next week. As soon as you can next week. You need to comment. You need to like. You need to share. You subscribe. And how fast? As soon as you can. I see you as you can. Amen. Check out this video and we'll be right back right after the service. You know, I'm always, always. We always. Wasn't that great? Y'all, we got some talented people in this church. Make sure this is what they want you to put it to. This is, I forgot what I was going to say now. Anyway, stand with me if you can, across all of our campuses.

This is, again, part two of our series, Homework, and we're going back to the Word of God. Colossians chapter 3, verse 18 to 21 is our foundation scripture, and that's where we'll be focused on today. And I want to take a moment to shout out and celebrate Zion Woodbridge right now. We had a number of people get baptized this morning at the service, so congratulations to all of you. You made your public profession of faith, and now you're following Jesus. Make sure you keep going, keep going, and give it up, Zion Woodbridge, for all the family and friends that came out to support their loved ones today as they got baptized. Amen. Colossians chapter 3, verse 18, let's see how this goes. Last week, my subject was do your part. This week is work on me. Work on me. Wives, be subject to your husbands out of respect for their position as protector and their accountability to God, as is proper and fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives with an affectionate, sympathetic, selfless love that always seeks the best for them, and do not be embittered or resentful toward them because of the responsibilities of marriage. Children, obey your parents as God's representatives in all things, for this attitude of respect and obedience is well-pleasing to the Lord and will bring God's promised blessings. Finally, fathers, in verse 21, do not provoke or irritate or exasperate your children with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive, nor by favoritism or indifference. Treat them tenderly with lovingness so they will not lose heart and become discouraged or unmotivated with their spirits broken. No one sets out to break their children's spirits, but it happens. Amen. You may be seated. Again, my subtitle today is work on me. Work on me.

Say that for me everywhere. One more time. Now you have to mean it, have to mean it. If you need some motivation to know why that's so important. How about this? I'll borrow this statement from last week in part one, where we talked about your most difficult relationships will always require a higher version of yourself in order to just manage those relationships. A higher version of yourself, an evolved you, a more loving you, a more kind you, a more compassionate and a more understanding you. A better version of yourself is necessary in order to do the work. work you need to do in your home. So when you say work on me, you gotta keep that in mind. In light of the fact that I am not enough right now where I am, I gotta get better in order to have better relationships. Now say work on me. Work on me. Like that should be a perpetual prayer. Work on me. Work on me. Work on me, especially when somebody in your home triggers you. And you wanna do something else, work on me, Lord. How many of you know that the people in your house are the easiest people to trigger you? Yeah, work on me, Lord. Work on me. I got enough stuff to work on in my own life. Work on me, make me better.

Now, so that's our goal today, that God will work on me, that work on us, and guess what? Ladies first. Wives. It's chivalry. Wives, be subject to your husbands. That word, be subject, we talked about last week, is the Greek word hupotasso. Hupo means under, tasso means to arrange. It means to arrange yourself under someone. It is interesting, it is interesting. Verse 18 doesn't say a word to husbands at all. I started to call this message mind your business. God does not tell husbands, and he doesn't tell husbands, and make sure she obey you. By the way, the Bible doesn't say that a woman's supposed to obey her husband. It says she's supposed to arrange herself under him. The Bible says children ought to obey their fathers or their parents, and in verse 22 of Colossians chapter three that slaves and servants obey their masters. A wife is not your slave, she's not your servant, and she's not your child, and even though the traditional wedding vow says will you obey him, that's not biblical, because obedience, children are told to obey their parents in all things. A wife is an equal partner in the marriage, so you can be selective in what you choose to go along with because you're an equal partner. There are some things you should not go along with

if you don't have peace about it. Amen, I'm going there, I'm already in that. I'm so glad that there have been times in my marriage, we've been, Vicki and I have been married 37 years, and there's some times in our marriage where she didn't agree with the direction I was going, and she let me know it not in a disrespectful way, I was trying to get her to go along with me on some things, and she just said, I don't have peace about that. One example is for 10 years, from 1990 to 2000, I was trying to get a job being the senior pastor of a church, for 10 years, I've told you this story before, 10 years I was applying at churches and interviewing, and none of the churches picked me. And during that time, my wife really didn't want me to be a senior pastor because she didn't have peace about it because we had a young family, and she was concerned about the impact that being in that position would have on our family. And at least one of those churches, they interviewed her too. And I just thought about it yesterday, how nonchalant she was in that interview. She probably was praying against the whole thing. But she would always tell me, it's not, I don't think it's time, I don't think it's time. But in September 1999, she said, I think it's time. And in 2000, I started Zion Church. Now I was mad at her and upset when she didn't go along with it because she didn't have peace about it,

but we all owe her a praise because guess what? If any one of those churches had picked me, I wouldn't have started this church. I'd be in a robe for real right now. So I want to salute you that you stood up and you knew it wasn't time, amen. Because as a wife, you have a right to do that. See, hupotasso, I want to unpack this word, hupotasso, be subject. In the Greek syntax, syntax is the tense of a word, it's more depth around a word. And in Greek language, there is an active voice, there is a passive voice, and there's a middle voice. And in this word, be subject is a middle voice. Now an active voice means that somebody is carrying out the action. They are the aggressor, if you will. They are executing the word, that is active voice. A passive voice means that something is being done to you. Something, whether willingly or not, whether you say something against it or not, you have no power, no authority over what's happening to you. But the middle voice, which is what this is telling wives, wives be subject to, hupotasso is in the middle voice, and it is totally a personal voice. choice It is something that you are told to choose to do not because you have less value than your husband But because you understand order and in order for there to be order and not confusion somebody must take a voluntary role and voluntary position of submission and

it's only God only says this to one group of people on the planet a wife not a girlfriend Not a life partner, not a child and not a husband. He doesn't tell husbands. Yeah, make sure you You ain't supposed to go home and say, you know, he's supposed to hoop a toss. Oh Yeah, you you're trying to go to that's not your job In all my years of marriage I have never walked around the house told my wife you're supposed to be subject to me or you supposed to be hoop a toss Now in my pastoral office, I'm teaching this just like I teach everything else and I teach it to everybody She's just listening just like everybody else, but I'm not at home saying, you know, you're supposed to be in arrange yourself under That's not my job. That's God's daughter and And guys the woman you married to is God's daughter If she's supposed to be subject to me and she's not she gonna have to answer to God not me Just as a man There's enough that God calls us to do in the word that we can spend the rest of our lives trying to get our assignment Right, so he doesn't need a middleman to say make sure she's under you or make sure she fall in line God is talking to his daughters and he's saying arrange yourself under me because it's the right watch this it's the proper and fitting thing to do It's actually if you want an example of it. It is what God does You think about this God actually Demonstrates hoopoe Tasso in the Godhead The Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are one one God three distinct persons They are they are they are equally powerful equally eternal and equally divine But two of them take on voluntary roles of submission two of them hoopoe Tasso in the end of divine order in the Trinity The Son submits to the Father and only does the Father's will The Holy Spirit only does what glorifies the Son and all three of them are equal Jesus is the Son by title God the Father's is the Father by title. It's not like he he's Jesus daddy Or like he older than Jesus. They the same age that you know, how old they are forever They're eternal. That's their office. The Holy Spirit is no less divine than the Father and the Son

They all have different functions the Father draws the Son dies the Holy Spirit indwells And he seals and there is no chaos in their activity because they understand order and they know how to respect the authority of the one Who's in charge? Amen, that's how that works See people who understand order know how to fall in line I'm not following you because you're more valuable to me because the Bible said he made male and female in his image Man and woman were made in the image of God He made us all is there so it's not a matter of human value or or whether or not we're equal or not It's a matter of what is your role and you choose to follow and we can all learn from The Godhead in doing that it's because even when Jesus had a problem with the Godhead plan plan plan Dr. Caffey, that's one the way. Amen. Pastor Caffey when he had a problem in the Garden of Gethsemane What Jesus said father? Let this cup pass That ain't the plan you got to drink this cup the father please for three hours He prayed over and over again. Let this cup pass for me. He was struggling with the plan But he never picked up his ball and went home and abandoned a plan He submitted to the one who wasn't greater than him, but the one that had the authority Now, let me say it is to those of you who've been given an authority and given title Be careful how you use it because you're not supposed to abuse it. Don't be throwing your weight around. I Say it's don't be throwing your weight around. I'm talking to my team now Yeah We got people to get weight and they got authority But they mistreat the people under them and when you work for me if you mistreat people under you it's like mistreating me I know you kiss up and kick down but I'm gonna catch you. I'm gonna catch you Somebody gonna have the courage to confront you about it Yeah, it's gonna happen and you better be careful throwing your weight around cuz you might lose that weight I'm about to put you on those Olympic talk to Yeah, yeah, if you know, you know You have to carry weight with humility and honor you don't just get to throw you you ain't no better than the people that are under you. Amen. Now let me say something to single people. This is the

no playing suit. Amen. You want to know what kind of suit this is? This is ain't no game suit. That's what this suit is. Let me say something to you single people, especially because if you're married, you're married. If you're single, you need to beware of people you're interested in who are, watch this, who are not under any authority in their life. And I'm talking specifically about spiritual authority. If that person doesn't have a pastor or a minister or a deacon or a small group leader or some spiritual person in their life that can correct them, that can coach them, that can counsel them, and that they will listen to, they're a dangerous person to be in a relationship with because they will always walk to their beat of the drum. And if they go to a church that tells them what they want to hear, they'll stay there. As soon as the church starts saying stuff they don't like, they'll leave. They'll find new therapists if the therapist challenged them. They refuse to be challenged. They will veto anything you say that doesn't acquiesce to their selfish whims. And they always hear from God too. Watch, I'm telling you, they always hear from God, but they hear from God stuff ain't nobody else hearing. And they don't care if it don't line up with the scriptures because they heard from God. Y'all ain't ready for me today. And if you are, you better stay ready because if you mess with people like that, you will have a difficult marriage because they're not under anybody and they refuse to be corrected. It's hard to be married to somebody that can't be corrected. You will have a miserable time. Amen. And just because they go to a church and give to a church don't mean they under the authority of anybody in that church. Most of y'all ain't your pastor. I'm just your preacher. You just like the sermons. I can't correct you. I can't rebuke you. I can't sit you down. I can't tell you what to do. I have no authority in your life. I don't know what kind of church that is. I don't know a pastor like that. My pastor can sit me down, shut me down, tell me what to do, and my wife can call him and pull the trigger on the whole thing. If you ain't got that in your life, you better find that. Who are you under? What's going on? The wife follows volitionally. You can't force her to do it because she's an equal partner. Where do you get that from, pastor? Look at 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 7. It's talking to husbands. It says, in the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wife. Give honor to your wives. Don't try to put them in their place. Give them honor. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, and that's talking about her physical composition,

but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. She's a joint heir. She is made in the image of God, and she has an opinion. Let me tell you something, ladies. You got to be careful just falling in line just to be falling in line because you think you're going to submit to something that's ungodly, immoral, illegal, and you think God's going to cover you because you just did it in the name of submission. No, you're going to still get in trouble because you're an equal partner. You don't have to follow everything. Amen. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered. I don't know of a man that appreciates the power of prayer that wants his prayers to be messed up. I want my line between me and God to be clear. One thing that will unclear it and confuse it is how you treat your wife. She should be treated with honor. Let's go back to the verse 18. It is proper and fitting for you to do it this way, and so I want to… Let me move on to the next verse. Let's go to verse 19. Husbands… Amen. That's where I want to go. Husbands, love your wives. There are only two directives in verse 19. There are amplifications of each one, but there are only two. Love your wife. Don't be resentful towards her. Love your wife. Don't be bitter. What it's teaching us is, is that one will keep the other from happening. You want to know how to not be bitter and resentful? Love her. Agape her. If you want to stay out of bitterville, stay in loveville. Stay in loveville. And let me tell you how it's easy to get to bitterville. A lot of men are bitter and resentful to their wives because they feel like they're doing it all. I got to do everything in this marriage. I got a message on Instagram one time from a man. He reached out to me, and he said, pastor, he felt this way. He says, I feel like I got to do everything in my marriage. It's all on me. And I heard him, and I don't remember everything he said, but I remember saying back to him, I said, you feel like, I got too much, Asa, you feel like the weight of the marriage is in balance and it leans heavily towards you and you gotta carry the weight and you gotta do everything to make the marriage work. And he said, yeah, that's how I feel. And this is what I said to him, it must have been a time when Kobe Bryant was still alive and he was playing with the Lakers at a high level. And I said to him, I said, that's, that sounds like Kobe. I said, Kobe, it's all on him. He's got to lead the team. He's got to rally the team. He's got to pull the team. He's got to carry the team on his shoulders. He's got to show up on the defensive end and lock

down his opponent. Then he's got to sometimes on the offensive end, score 30 or 40 points just to have a shot to win. That sounds like Kobe to me. He says, you're right. I said, but this is what I want you to do from now on. Stop seeing yourself as a pitiful man. See yourself as Kobe and your family. You are Kobe and your family. You are the Kobe of your marriage. And I said, you know what I've never noticed about Kobe? I've never heard Kobe complain about being Kobe. Kobe never said, you know what, but you know what Kobe does do? I know what my responsibility is. I know my team needs me to do. I expect more and demand more from me than anybody else in this team. I work harder than anybody on this team. I work out more than anybody else in this team. I take the hardest defensive assignment on the wing on my team. And if I got to get points, give me the ball on offense. And even if I'm double team or triple team, I'm going to score the ball because that's what I do. So in fact, Kobe was being interviewed one time and the interviewer showed him a video of a guy named Devin Booker who plays for the Phoenix Suns. And Devin Booker was playing in what they call open gym. And he threw the ball down because he got mad because he was being double teamed in open gym. And Devin said, man, we can't be double teaming in open gym. Like he didn't want to deal with that in open gym. They stopped the tape and asked Kobe, what would you do if somebody double teamed you in open gym? And Kobe said, I say you better send another one. Two ain't enough. You better get somebody else to help you. That's a Kobe mentality. And I'm telling you as a husband, stop keeping score. Stop trying to see who's doing the most. You're Kobe in your marriage. Get 40, ice up, rest up and then get 40 tomorrow. And if you got to get 10 rebounds, do them too. And if you got to wash the dishes, do that too. And if you got to pick up from childcare, do that too. And if you got to drop off at school, do that too. And if you have to cook sometimes, boy, you some hot dogs, do what you got to do and do that too. And if you have to help with the baths and help change the diapers, you Kobe man, suck it up. And from then on, every time he would write me, he would say, hey, passing battle, this is Kobe. I loved it. He got it. He said, I'm still scoring 40. I said, that's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. He saw it different to whom much is given. Tell him what you got to do. And at the end of the game, and when you stand by the interview and somebody says you do all that, yeah, I do whatever it takes for my family. Amen. That's love. That's the

kind of love that he wants us to have. And I want to unpack this word love. I want to go deeper into that word love because in the Greek language, they don't just have one word for love. Like we do. They got a plethora of love words. I want to share like nine of them with you right here. That comes from the research of Dr. Carol Morgan. And I want to show you them because some of these are what's wrong with our marriage. Now the one love that husbands are called to have is called a gapay. It is an unconditional, no strings attached love. It is a love that doesn't expect anything in return. It does not have an ulterior motive. It is the highest form of love. And God says, I don't care how many of these other loves you have, make sure you got that one. The second form of love that is the word Eros is where it comes from the Greek goddess Eros, the same name that has to do with romance, passion, and physical love. Philia is friendship love. It is to be fond, brotherly love, like the love that Jonathan had for David in the Bible. It is nonphysical. It is platonic. Storge is a family love and it is particularly the love between a parent and a child. All these loves have value. you. Pragma is an enduring love. It is a love that stands the test of time. It is a love that I'm speaking over our church. Amen. I speak that over our church. A love that won't quit. A love that says I'll never give up. A love that says for better or for worse and means it. In sickness and in health. For richer or for poorer till I die kind of love. And I'm saying there are a lot of people in here that have been married a lot longer than my wife and I. But I guarantee you this, you cannot have an enduring love without having to endure a lot. Just because people stayed together don't mean they had an easier time than you. They just had a different love. And some of you need a love to just say I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm committed to this. I'm keeping my vow. Ludus love is a playful love. It's like, it's like when you have a crush on somebody. We get them as children. You can have a crush on somebody, they don't even know you. This is on TV. You know that's my husband. That's wifey right there. They don't even know you. But they give you butterflies inside. That's that, that's that infatuation love. And it's okay to have it, but it won't sustain a marriage over the, marriage will have too many challenges and complications for playful love to keep it together. It's okay to feel a playful love when you're dating and even have some of that goose bumps when you're married, but it ain't

going to keep the marriage together. Philoutia is a self love. Now all of these loves can be overdone or taken too far. Self love is one of it. One of them. Some people who love themselves too much are narcissistic. It's all about them. They have a self care day every day. But it's not always negative because self love is important to healthy love of others. In fact, the Bible says, love your neighbor as you love yourself. So you can't have a high quality love for your neighbor. If you don't, it doesn't start with you. You can't give what you don't got. So it's an important kind of love. Xenia is spelled with an X, but it's pronounced Xenia. It's hospitality. It is a love between host and guest. It is our mission at the church here at Zion Church to have unreasonable Xenia, to have loving hospitality. We may not reach it all the time, but that's the goal. We're bridge y'all with me. That's the goal Zion for Washington. That's the goal Z-Low. Unreasonable Xenia. Amen. The final love is mania. Mania is obsessive love. It is doing too much. It's the kind of love that'll have you on the news, stalking people, doing weird stuff. It's crazy. It's out of control. And it's usually displayed by people who have low self worth, low self esteem. They won't let you go kind of stuff. I'm talking about, let me say this. Let me say this to single people. If while you're dating somebody, the Lord reveals to you that they crazy. Let me talk to somebody online. If the Lord is kind enough to you, to reveal to you that somebody you messing with is crazy, because you have to understand that don't always come out. Understand when you're dating somebody, if both of y'all want to be married, that's like an interview. Every date is an interview. They got the best, do go get the best of the best. If while they're on their best behavior, cray cray peek out. I don't know if they still say cray cray, but it's going to work today. If cray cray creep out when I'm at my best, you got to thank the Lord for that. This is what you do. If they have the capacity to turn their whole head around in one 360 degree and not stop. I'm talking about the exodus kind of crazy. If you see it, don't even act like you saw it. Just act like you ain't see it. But as soon as you get home, relocate. I'm talking about quit your job, go to another country. You've been wanting to go to Japan anyway. This is your chance. Do not let them ever see you. Because what God gave you a glimpse of while you were dating, you'll get the full view of it. And it's unedited, unlimited self. See what you get glimpses of in dating.

You get the full thing when you marry and once you in I'm telling y'all I ain't lying One glimpse one glimpse of cray-cray govern yourself accordingly Now, let me just say this. There are people who have legitimate mental health illnesses They're legitimate and they're being treated for they're in therapy. They they they acknowledge it. They're getting help with it That's not who I'm talking about I'm talking about people who are officially crazy and they ain't in no treatment no therapy They don't even come up to the altar and say hey man pray for me man. Something wrong. That's something wrong I'll be bad. Y'all just pray for me none of that and Stop being so naive to think that they were available and single because God was holding them up for you That Was your ram in the bush the devil is alive some people are single and lonely cuz they crazy Y'all gonna thank me one day You can't do it out loud you got a slip better say passes you were so right I Want to tell you Why this is so important it's in Titus chapter 2 Titus chapter 2 we're going back to which I'm talking about his marriage I'm just talking about marriage Husbands, that's not the verse. Let me go to this Titus chapter 2. You got it older women Likewise, it'll be reverent in their behavior not malicious gossips nor enslaved to to to I think that's supposed to be too much wine Too too much wine teaching what is good so that they may encourage the young women To love their husbands that this is the only time in the Bible where a woman is told to love their husbands But I want to show you something and they're told to love their children Now I want to stop right there because most translations will put a connective Chi right there in Greek put the and word there and say young teach the young women to love their Husbands and their children to love them both But actually I like to NASB here because the NASB acknowledges that the two different types of love The love that a woman is told to have for her husband is different than the love she's supposed to have for her children It's two different words the word for loving her husband is phila

drunk philandros Feel philo means to be fond of andros means husband or man It means to be fond of your man to admire him to hold him in high regard That's what we like That's what the Bible doesn't even say a gap a us We ain't that deep Hold us in high regard Yeah, because we are drawn to places where that happens Even if it's the wrong place I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying it's real Who I wish I was at Zelo right now because they'd be they'd be walking around the stage while I'm preaching all it It's just what's up Zelo? The love for the children is a different word is philo technon Technon means child daughter or son and it means have a fondness for your child and It should be equal. It shouldn't be any favoritism. We're gonna talk about favoritism in this series So so God is telling a woman to do a whole different kind of love They tells a man to do and then he says to be to be sensible pure workers at home Watch this being kind and subject There it is again who Potasso but watch this their own husbands That part You want to you want to really offend a man Disrespect him dishonor him don't listen to him, but you ain't got no problem listening to your father To your boss to your pastor That's why a lot of men don't come to church because you listen to me but won't listen to him That's why he don't like me. That's your fault Keep battles, you know, he recalled me with a key battles Mmm y'all, okay. How y'all doing in the bridge? Why must you make sure you're subject to your own husbands so that the word of God will not be dishonored the word is on the line Amen I'm gonna leave y'all alone. This is where I'm gonna land this plane. I

Don't have time to go into verses 20 and 21 today But verse 20 and 21 shift Paul shifts his attention to parenting Starts talking about what the children supposed to do and what the father's supposed to do But what is powerful is he didn't start there he started with the wife and the husband it always starts with the marriage Everything starts with the marriage it is the foundation of the home He does not start with the children because he wants it to be clear that whatever I told the wife to do and whatever I told a husband to do doesn't change when the children come and The problem we have in too many marriages is is that we don't have a marriage plan We make wedding plans We don't have a marriage plan That's why the wedding is far better than the marriage because the wedding had a plan You think the wedding didn't have a plan An exotic plan I remember you get married in 20 minutes in a church chapel Wedding now for day events The hood with with attire themes on islands Guestbooks outfits Photographers videographers They got websites for wedding That's planning right there the caterer the guest list No marriage plan They plan proposals now Hey time for Washington, I promise you they film proposals now That's extravagant You gotta you got a proposal plan. Is this this how I'm a pop the question You go y'all be y'all be over here and we go

Huh? It ain't none of that creativity going on now Because you had a proposal plan and he had a wedding plan, but you had no marriage plan And you can get away with it in the early stages of your marriage because you're still running on that looters love And on that air Ross. I know that's strong in the church because we know we ain't supposed to So it's really wild when we finally can I'm trying to keep it So all that's got it go so so you don't have a marriage plan you just got momentum So you get married and and you just still hanging out y'all going dates random days. It ain't even got to be scheduled Let's just go out. Okay Y'all don't just celebrate anniversaries y'all celebrate dates leading up to the anniversary What y'all celebrate this today we met oh That's nice like candy and flowers on today, what's the day, you know, we met a year ago today That's how it starts Y'all celebrate first kiss first date You'd be like Leroy You remember he's down the wolf and I broke my nail. He's taking a picture Yeah, early, you know That was a year ago today Well, let's go out to celebrate That's all momentum ain't no plan But when you have children with no marriage plan and When somebody gets a promotion and got to work more hours and be away from home more with no marriage plan And when you get a bigger house and now somebody gotta get a second job or a side hustle to help pay for the maintenance And the mortgage and you don't have a marriage plan Now all that creative love is gone because all our attention is on something else Well, I'm gonna talk about it. We didn't have a plan. Can I go deeper? You pray for children God give us kids and the kids have a plan There's a plan for them jokers

prenatal care What gynecologist we're going with what hospital are they gonna be born at? We're gonna do Lamar's class. They still do that We're gonna breastfeed. We want we got to have a registry The baby shower is an event We need a stroller We need a car seat. We need swaddling blankets. We need baby bottles. Who's gonna be the godparents? Let me break it to you, godparents. You were only selected because we think you can be staff. That's it. We're looking for babysitters. Don't even take it like you really, we really care about you like that. We're looking for staff. I know you thought, we're looking for help. How many of y'all know I'm telling the truth? You're staff, Jack. We didn't give you that title. We don't expect you to drop off gifts. We expect you to drop off, pick up. Give us six eyes. We need staff. Will the grandparents be nearby? When are they coming in town? Will I have enough maternity leave? Those are plans. What's the baby's room gonna look like? Do we need a bigger house?

That's a plan. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. We need a car seat. What about having a bigger house? That's a plan. We are formulating plans for the child, but we have no marriage. Let me tell you something. We'll plan for that child. What school they're gonna go to. Is this the right school district for them? We got academic plans for the children. Educational plans for the children. We got sports and activity plans for the kids. We got summer vacation plans for the kids. We got visiting grandparents plans for the kids. We got sleepover plans for the kids. We got pet plans for the kids. But there ain't no plan for the marriage after the kids come. And so now all this love that went into producing a child has now been sacrificed on the altar of raising the child.

And so you're getting AIDS and raising your children, but your marriage is failing and falling apart. And now the children grow up, but mom and dad break up and split up and fall apart. And you weren't even having necessarily an affair with another adult. Your affair was with your children. And you gave everything to the child and took each other for granted. The devil is a liar. You're gonna have and hold the child and stop having and holding each other. So we gave everything to them, but we lost us. And us matters. Paul says it starts with us. And I don't care how many children you have. You need to stop having them if it's going to mess us up. So now we got two people that were once a couple, now they're just co-parenting. They're just colleagues. And it was your passion and love that brought them jokers here. Them children here. Some mother here said, jokers. I ain't no jokers. That's Jae Kwon ain't no joker. And so now you're divorced and you say, but it's okay. God gave us three beautiful children, but you won't admit, but the reality is we didn't have an us plan. And now we are strangers. Where did it go wrong? When did we stop ludus? You can't convince me. How did you become that bitter with each other? I can look, nobody gets married that way. What happened to those two people, promotions, bigger houses and churn and no plan.

Do you understand what I'm saying? I speak a plan over your life today. I said, I speak a plan over your life and I'm talking about, you need a plan for the marriage you have now, not the marriage you had when it didn't take a plan. When puppy love was enough, you need a plan for the marriage you have now. We're going to take back what we're about to lose. Let me tell you something. If you ever walk in a house and people have plants in their house, you can just look at the plants and see how well they're taken care of. Whether the plan is vibrant and thriving or is brown and withering and dying. And if the plant could talk, the plant would say, pastor, I look like how they treat me. And you can fold your arms in here today and smack your lips and roll your eyes at me, but your marriage looks like how you treat it. Stand up. I'm done. I ain't done, but I'm going to stop. I ain't mad at you, I'm mad at the devil. Mad at what he does. families Good people I'm talking about good people Won't listen won't submit I'll prophesy today. Let me say something. I got one assignment Let me tell you something if you at any of our location right now and you want to get saved You want to join this church? You won't get baptized Whatever your next spiritual step is there will be people up front at the end of the service to help you with those steps But I got one agenda today, I'm praying over marriages today, I'm praying over marriages today And I don't care if the divorce papers are in and the assets have been divided up But God has joined together let no man put us under no lawyer no system

You do what you want But I speak against it in the name of Jesus. It might be hanging on by a thread. We're gonna work with the thread Take this thread and give it to Jesus and watch this. I ain't gonna point my finger. I'm gonna say work on me Work on me And if you're here today and your marriage needs prayer Well, you're watching at one of our campus and your marriage needs prayer or you just want prayer for your marriage pastor It ain't even that bad, but I bind the devil for where we are If that's you come on up to the front with our service right now. I'm gonna pray for your marriage Come on, don't let pride keep you and I don't care if you have to come by yourself You stand up for your marriage You stand for your marriage Maybe your spouse is not here For whatever reason good or bad You come to speak to your marriage if it matters as we're bringing it to God Some of you put far too much in it to let the devil take it from you Come on people of God Just pray And I'll be there I am your Yes sir Oh Prayer away Come on and work on me Work on me With your heart And I'll hear Every word You say When you cry at night I'll wipe

Your tears away Just pray Just pray Yes Lord And I'll be there I am Just He's here for you He's here for you Prayer away Come on And work With your heart And I'll hear Every single word You say When you cry at night I'll wipe Your tears away Just pray My love Come on Pray over your marriage Work on me Work on my anger Work on my judgment Work on my attitude Work on my forgiveness Glory to God Glory to God

Yes Lord And I'll hear Every word You say When you cry at night I'll wipe Your tears away Just pray Every word You say I'll be there I am Just Pray Prayer away Come on And work With your heart And I'll hear Every word You say When you cry at night I'll wipe Your tears away Just pray My love Come on And I'll be there I am Glory

Glory Grace over your marriage Grace over your marriage Grace over your marriage What God has brought together Let no man separate it Two are better than one Glory to God We can make it We can make it We can make it We can make it! We can make it! We can make it! We can make it! Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord! Grace over your marriage! Grace over your marriage! Grace over your marriage! In the name of Jesus! Hallelujah! When you cry at night, stay right there! Stay right there! You hear that, Z-Lo? You hear that, Fort Washington? You hear that, Woodbridge? I see your tears! I got you! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I need every wife in this room, if you're with your husband right now. If your husband's in this room, I want you to walk up behind him. Stand behind him, in the name of Jesus. Get behind him. Get behind him. Get behind him. Get behind him. Not yet, Josh. Get behind him. Get behind him. When you cry at night, stay there. Get behind him. Now, I want you to hold him.

Hold him. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got your back. It ain't perfect, but it's us. We're going to put the past behind us. We got generations to fight for. Hallelujah! When you cry at night! Yes, Lord! If you're by yourself, imagine your husband is in front of you. Imagine your wife is behind you. Speak those things that are not as though they are! Glory! I come against every witch, every side chick, every person that's trying to take what belongs to you. In the name of Jesus! Back up, devil! This is God's property! This is God's! Hold on! God's going to heal! God's going to deliver! He can turn it around! When you cry at night, I'll wipe your tears away. Pray! Work on me! Work on me! I'll wipe your tears away. When you cry at night, I'll wipe your tears away. When you cry at night, I'll wipe your tears away. Just pray, my love. I'll be there. Just pray, my child. I'll be there. Just pray, my love. I'll be there. I want you to pray for them. Just pray for us. Father, in the name of Jesus, first of all, we just say thank you. You are the God of mercies, and we just come to you asking for forgiveness. We have sinned. We have mistreated our partners, our spouses. We have not loved the way you have commanded us to love.

We have been disrespectful. We have been unloving. We have not followed your covenant or your commandment. And we say to you, first and foremost, God, we are sorry. Forgive us in the name of Jesus. Now we ask, God, that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And moving forward this day, that you would just place in our hearts a renewed spirit to do your will, God. We cannot change the past. But from this day forward we can do everything by the help of your holy spirit that you have commanded us to do Lord, I pray that we as wives would simply respect our husbands. I pray that Our husbands would simply love us lord. God I pray that children would begin to open their hearts to their parents to simply obey lord god I pray for the family lord jesus that your will would be done and that your love would prevail god Thank you god for your love You are the perfect example because you gave your life you died You laid it all down for us and it is in your spirit god that we find the love the strength the wisdom the healing Everything we need to be the wife the husband the child the marriage partner that we need to be Thank you. God I pray that you would bless everyone at this altar in the name of jesus. Amen Amen Minister dumasani I turn the service over to you pastor shaman smalls. The service is in your hands Pastor donna strafford the service is in your hand and pastor alicia simmons as you return to your seats services in your hand Ah isaac, did you like today's message? Yes, it was good, wasn't it? Yeah, you're gonna be a better husband. Yeah Listen, we're serious about marriage It's really heavy on my heart but more importantly the heart of god that you have strong marriages that last for generations And uh, we again want you to what we want them to do. We want them to like and comment And subscribe and subscribe and share and share and when should they do it? As soon as possible come back again

Next week come back again next week for part three Of home we love you. Jesus name. Amen. Amen