MYSELF, MY LOVE AND MY LORD || 19TH JULY 2024 || APOSTLE FEMI LAZARUS

Beauty in this world. Nothing in this world can satisfy. Oh, Jesus. 'Cause you're the cup that won't run dry. There's no one like You Lord in all the earth. You know we tell Him to heal him saying matchless love and beauty endless more. Oh! Nothing can compare— Nothing in this world can satisfy my soul and my hunger, Lord. Jesus, you're the cup that won't run dry. We said your presence is heaven. You know it. Your presence is heaven. Yeah, it's heaven, your presence. Your presence is heaven. I want to be where you are. Your presence is heaven. It's more than life to me. I want to be in— hey, my God, my God, take me to your presence. All over this room, I want you to lift your hands to him this evening. Oh, your presence is heaven to us. Jesus, Abba Father, your presence is heaven to me. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. Sing to him. Sing. Your presence is heaven to me. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. Jesus! Your presence— your presence— oh Jesus! Oh Jesus! You're greater— you're greater than all things. Oh Jesus! Oh, oh, Jesus, Jesus, your presence, your presence. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, your presence, your presence is heaven. Oh, let Him hear you. Raise a sound to Him this evening. Your presence. Oh, Jesus. Jesus. Your presence. I will speak of Your glory. I will show forth Your beauty. Yeah. If I dance, it will be enough. If I shout, it will be enough. Yeah. I will speak of your glory. I will show forth your beauty. If I dance, it will be enough. If I shout, I will speak of your glory. I will show forth your beauty. If I dance, it will be enough. If I shout, it will be enough. One more time, say, say, we will speak of your glory. We will show your power. Yeah, if I dance, it will be enough. Yeah, if I shout, it'll be enough. You are the great and mighty God. So worthy to be praised. Beautiful for all generations. You're the joy of Oh, you are the great and mighty God, so greatly to be praised. Beautiful throughout the nation. Come on! We worship you in your beauty. You made a way, you made a way. Your name is a fortress. Your name is a fortress. Jesus, to you we long, to you we long. Oh God, Jesus, wherever I call, wherever I call, Lord, you make a way, you make Your name is a good name. Jesus, hey, your name is a good— your name is a good name. To you belong all power. Whenever I call, whenever I call, you make way. Your name Can you just raise your voice and worship the I Am That I Am, the one who is the reason why we are gathered here tonight? We bless you, Jesus. The veil is torn and you now have access one-on-one with God. Can you just raise your voice to Him and worship Him? He recognizes your voice. Can you just raise it up to Him and bless His name? We bless You, Jesus. The Holy of Holies. I enter through the blood of the Lamb. I enter to worship you, Holy. I enter to honor him. We are in the Holy of Holies. We are in by the blood of the Lamb. We are here to worship you. Holy, we are here to honor. And Lord, we, we worship and adore you tonight. Raise it up to him. We worship, we worship. Oh Lord, we worship. Lord, we worship. Lord, we worship. Serve you. Oh Jesus, we worship and adore you, God. We worship and adore you, God. One more time, raise it up to him. Lord, we worship. We worship. Lord, we worship. Lord, we worship. We raise our voice to say we worship. Hey, for your name is— for your name is holy. You are holy, you are holy, you are holy, you are holy. We raise it up to you and we say, for your name is holy, for your name is holy. You are holy, Jesus. Hey, you are holy, Jesus. We raise We lift it up to you. We say, for your name is holy, God. For your name is holy. For your name is holy. Holy are you, Lord. Can I hear the church tonight? For your name is holy, holy, holy, God. For your name is holy. Yes, for your name, for your name is, for your name is holy. Holy are you, Lord. Can I hear the church? For Your name is holy, holy, holy, God. Can you raise it up to Him tonight? Your name is holy. Ooh. I won't argue, I won't carry on. We join the 24 elders to say, oh, Your name is— Can you make it louder to Him tonight? Your name is— For your name is holy, holy, holy. Oh, your name is holy. Yes, your name is holy. Holy, holy, holy. Yes, holy are you, Lord. Yahweh Rapha Elohim Shaddai Jireh. We call you Adonai. We ask you to manifest yourself all over this room, all over this house. We call you Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh. You are the whole world. You are Elohim. Yes, you are, my Jesus. Abba Father, manifest yourself. Manifest yourself. We want you to manifest yourself. We are hungry.

Amen, amen, amen. Good morning, everyone. God bless you so much. I want to appreciate the privilege to bring God's word to you, to families, this morning. Um, which is one aspect of ministry that I am so, so passionate about. It is such a joy, and I'll be bringing you God's word this morning, and I am super, super excited. I want to thank God for the entire leadership of RCCG Amazing Grace Church. God bless you. I mean, as one who had my foundational pastoral years in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. So I know I'm at home, and I, I feel so blessed to be able to communicate and be a blessing to homes this morning. I, I especially want to trust God that through these teachings there will be healings in different homes and there will be restoration in the name of Jesus. All right, and I want to beg and as we have this session together, while we have families seated together this morning, um, I'd like to implore that we will listen to this brief teaching for ourselves. One of the most, um, um, should I call it painful things I've seen about families listening to some of my teachings is that people sometimes listen on behalf of their spouse, and sometimes they are urging the spouse that, do you see what Apostle is saying? He's talking to you. And when the thing is actually focusing in their direction, then they look away. All right, marriage work when the both people put in the work. Amen. And the Lord will bless and strengthen us in the name of Jesus. I decree that there is release of utterance, and everyone hearing me will hear and be healed, and families will get better because of this, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Um, I think it might be a good time to say guten Morgen, if you know what that means. I had to go check you guys' language.

Amen.

All right, I want to show you a scripture quickly. And I know it's going to bless you. Okay, so we look at it, the book of Genesis chapter number 2. The book of Genesis chapter number 2, we'll start the reading from verse— Genesis 2 chapter number— Genesis 2 from verse 18. All right, and the Lord God said, Genesis 2 verse 18, And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave name to all the cattle, to all the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found an help, that is, meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord had taken from man made he a woman, and he brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now the bone of my bones and the flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother father, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. There are, there are very important things that I'd like to bring out, which are already on the surface as we read the scripture. Now, some erroneously believe that the woman is actually— or the woman, um, was made as an afterthought. All right, that is, some believe that God did not plan to make women. Um, men, we are the superior beings, so God just saw that something was missing, so he made the woman as an afterthought.

No, no, no.

When you conclude like that, then you are not functioning as a good student of the Bible. If you read the book of Genesis chapter number 1, verse 26— Genesis 1, verse 26— Genesis chapter number 1, verse 26: And God said, let us make man in our image. Image after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them. So the idea of let us make man— the man made there was not just male. From the very beginning, he made them male and female. When you approach the Bible like this, you have correct perspective about gender. Why the Bible says male and female and not female first? Male first because the males are the foundation. The purpose of the man is to be the foundation. In the book of Psalms chapter number 11, verse 3, Psalms 11, verse 3, 3, the Bible says that if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? So it means that we cannot build healthy families on dysfunctional males. We cannot build healthy families on males that are weaklings. And that's one of the things that the devil is doing in the society today, is trying to change perspective. Males are suddenly becoming interested in hips enlargement, okay? Some are getting interested in extending their eyelashes. Males are falling in love with the woman's breast. They want to have theirs too. Why? Identity crisis. The moment you can have a society that the males don't don't know who they are anymore, then they cannot function as the foundation that they should be. Now, it will interest you to know that there— we cannot have a family system that is healthy until we have two individuals in it that are also healthy. Sometimes in counseling couples, one of the very distressing things you see is that people believe— you see, people have come to make a conclusion, and they seem to be operating from the standpoint of the fact that if something is going wrong, then ask my husband. If something is not right, then ask my wife. Wife. This is not this, then ask him. And you see that people are not taking responsibility, and that's the reason why we have the level of decadence that we have in families today, because you have two individuals who don't want to play their own part and just want to blame it on the other person. And let me say this to to you. Marriage is not just the union between a man and a woman. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is also in the midst of couples. So you must understand that, all right, you are married to your wife, you are married to your husband, you are not alone in that union. The one who saved the both of you and redeemed you with his God is also in that union with you. When you are married, you are not the owner of your spouse. You have been trusted with each other by God. You will account on the last day for how you treated your spouse. The moment you denied your spouse sex, all right, you will account to God. The moment you said your husband will not touch you unless he has paid the money for the mortgage, you will account to God. The reason why you will both decide to starve each other— there are couples who have not had sex for months. Why? I'm angry. And the Bible said when you make decisions like this, you expose each other to temptations. It is important we understand the foundation that when we were getting married, the oath we took is a sacred one, and I will cleave to no other but you, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in lack, till death do us part. I heard some people don't even say for better, for worse anymore. Whether you believe it or not, doesn't matter what your theology is, marriage Marriage is for better, for worse. And if there's anyone here who by chance is single, let me ask you a question, or let me give you a suggestion. One of the most important traits you can have in a spouse is kindness. Kindness. Are you still kind towards your spouse? There are people who can't stand anything from their There are insensitive spouse. Your wife is pregnant, she can't do certain things at this stage, but when she talks, you believe she's pretending. You say, is it not pregnancy? Is this your first one? That shows that there is lack of trust. And there are women who are not kind towards their husband. They make money and hide their own. You are the man. And there are women who have turned themselves to men. When there's small argument, you stand up with him. You know who I am. If you do marriage your own way, Will your children have a future if everyone decides to be right? Because you must understand that the first school of marriage your children will attend is your marriage. I'm saying what I'm saying today with, with pain in my heart. Sat down and counseled people. I've seen the damage that has occurred in the heart of children. Some don't even want to get married anymore at age 10 because they've seen what it has made out of their mom and their dad. They say to themselves, if this is it, I don't want to be a part of it. Let me share a story story with you. I heard this story years back. A young man went to a restaurant to eat. They told him when he got into that restaurant that every food you eat in this restaurant has been paid for. You can choose from all the varieties of the menu. You can choose to have 4-course course meal, can choose to have 5-course meal. Everything has been paid for by your father. The guy sat down, ate, enjoyed himself, dusted his trousers to go. Interesting. So they called him back, said, did you enjoy your meal? He said, yes, I did. 'Are you sure?' Say, 'Yes, I did.' Say, 'Are you leaving now?' He said, 'Yes, I have to go.' The meal you ate, your father paid. What will your children eat? Who will pay their own? Children are concerned about privileges. Mature people people understand responsibilities. Don't just settle for the privilege of marriage without being interested in the responsibility. Some of the things we have found out from our own statistics is that many marriages tend to do well here at home in Nigeria compared to those who have traveled. And sometimes because people have seen maybe the privileges of the Western world, I have my right, you have your right. So it shows fundamentally that just very few people have a revelation about what marriage is and how a home is to be built. I want to show you a Proverbs chapter number 24. Proverbs 24. And this is a very interesting scripture. We start the reading from verse 3. Proverbs 24:3. I want to be sure you are following me and you are learning something. Amen. Smile now. This atmosphere is looking quite tense. Amen. Awesome. Amen. Glory to God. Now Proverbs 24:3 says, true wisdom is an house builded, and by understanding it is established, and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with precious and pleasant riches. So it means that without wisdom you can't build a home, and the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. So it means the two people that will build a very healthy family, number one, will be people who fear God. You know, let me tell you, and I'm telling you from the perspective of a married man, there are times that your spouse has done something, you, you, you want to, you want to, you want to talk, you remember. Ah, God help me. People don't have the techniques of holding back because they fear God will destroy their own homes. Let me tell you something, you cannot say everything you feel because you are building. If you say it as you feel it, you will bring your home into a winds. A wise woman builds her home with her hands and destroys it with her hands. A wise man builds his home with his hands and destroys it with his mouth. All right, meaning that if you are going to destroy your home, it will happen through the things you are saying. There are men who talk like women. Just small thing will put you on high heels. Any small thing— Mommy, Mommy, do you see? Are you seeing what Lydia is doing now? Are You have spoken about your wife to all family members. You have damaged the woman's reputation in front of your people. Every time there are issues, you, you speak about your wife like you are speaking about an assassin, and you expect all to be well. And there are women too where they are making it. And I tell, I tell you for free, one place that that I cannot really enter and I cannot cope. I don't know how it is there in Germany, but here in Nigeria, I can't cope. It's women hairdressing salon. I don't know what it is like over— oh, it's like when they are under those dryers, they urge to talk. I've seen things. Some women will be in salons and be discussing how their husband is having sex with them, the sex positions, and this, this, this, how they have been stabbed of sex, or whatever is going on their home, and they are saying that to friends who also want the man. Cho, cho, cho, cho, cho. If you want to build, you build with wisdom. Don't use your own hands to destroy your home. It is through wisdom that a house is built, not by fighting. True wisdom, by understanding, it is established. All right, there are people of understanding. Let me tell you this: how do you know a man of understanding or a woman of understanding? People of understanding know consequences. That, see, if I go about this thing like this, if this is a matter we can settle you now. But if I should go about it this way, in another 20 years we'll still be around this same mountain, all right? Because sometimes the one that you think is a fool is actually the wisest. The one who is the first to apologize is actually the one who understands, all right? That is how a home is built. Bible now says that through knowledge shall the chambers be filled. I have seen people who are struggling And their struggle will end if they will learn to treat their spouse better. Are you following what I'm saying here? Their struggles will end if they will learn to treat their spouse better. They will become better spouse. The jobs opportunity— job opportunity they've been knocking for will suddenly open. When you treat your wife with understanding, your prayers will not be hindered. All right, we understand this, that there is a reward for a home that there's harmony. When we pray together, one tears a thousand, two tears ten thousand. There are families that can't even remember the last time they both held hands together and called the name of Jesus. When you were dating each other, you, you You couldn't wait, you wanted to kiss, you wanted to hold each other, you couldn't wait. You are looking for every opportunity to be alone, to talk, talk. They'll be looking for you up and down. They'll say, where have you been? Say, I was receiving a call. Some of you back then, you remember what I'm saying now. You did extra cool. You will talk, you are not talking some very serious stuff. How are you doing now? This, this, this. Okay, is that where you are going now? Oh, good, good, fantastic. Drastic. Now you have married each other, you can't remember the last time you kissed each other. Let's do a test. I want every family, every husband and wife under the sound of my voice to stand up. Now hold the hands, stand up. If your husband or your wife is not on ground, sorry, you just sit down. Maybe your husband is still in Nigeria or your wife is still in Nigeria. You sit down, close your eyes. But the rest of us stand. I would have wanted my wife to join me here. Hold the hand of your husband, hold the hand of your wife. Look into the eyes of your spouse the way you used to drop punchline, drop punchline then. If love If love was a fruit, it would be an apple. If love was a house, it would be a mansion. If love was a person, it would be you. Say it again. I want to give us the next 2 minutes. Hold the hands of your spouse, all right? And both of you again reconfess your love one for another. You have the next 2 minutes. Hold yourself. You can give each other a hug. Hug, yes. And celebrate yourself. Say sweet things to your spouse. We are waiting. Say beautiful things. Yeah, yeah, that's it. Some of you are not talking. You are saying Jesus loves you. Yeah, he You better find nice punchline to use and say sweet things to your spouse. Now seal it with a very big hug for each other and a peck if you can. We are before the Lord, okay? Yes, appreciate yourself. Go ahead, you are in your father's house. Glory to God. Glory, glory, glory, glory. Oh, glory to God! Please, you may be seated. Please, you may be seated. Let me say this to you, um, there are certain activities that when they cease or when they start slowing down in the marriage, the marriage start becoming bad. And one of it is communication of your affection one for another. When you don't communicate, you give room for assumptions.

Assumptions.

You give room for assumption, and your spouse is now assuming, maybe he doesn't love me anymore, right? Maybe he doesn't love me anymore. But when you say it, the other person knows. Praise God. Thank you, Lord. Now let me say this to you. The most important and the most strategic unit or institution for the devil to fight is families. If the devil wants to get his job done faster, he needs to fight families. Because when you fight the family structure, you have fought every aspect of the society. When you fight the family structure, you have fought the church church, because it is people from the families that make up members. When you have dysfunctional families, you have dysfunctional churches. When you fight the family structure, you have fought the schools. Years back, all right, uh, years back, I was told they reported the case of a young boy to me. I think it was about age 7 or thereabout, and he's been expelled from about 3 different schools. Yeah, they were expelling him, and I'll tell you the reason why they were expelling him from those schools. Okay, um, so usually when girls go to use the toilet, he will sneak after them and he was always found in the habit of touching their genitals, their private part. They reported the case, and when they saw it was not getting better, they would expel him because parents were complaining and withdrawing their children from school. So I took the matter up. One of those days, I went to the house of the boy to talk to his parents. When I got to their house, I didn't meet them. Them. So I knocked the door to talk to their— to enter. So I entered the parlor and I saw the boy. I saw his two elder brothers. They were sitting down in front of a big screen in front of them, watching pornography with the boy in their midst. That was what they were doing. All right, so, and what— where is the dad and the mom? They were divorced. The mom had gone separate ways to meet another man. The father also was doing his job and bringing different women home, but the people who really bear the bond for that are the children. They are the ones that, that bear the scars. So we do not want to have a case where we have couples who have been engineered to think about themselves alone and not the next generation. Let me give you a few things here that I've written down. It is important that we understand that marriage is God-instituted. That is, marriage is not man's institution. God was the one who said, it is not good for man to be alone, I want to make an help that is meet. So when you look at your spouse, you must understand that God measured your destiny and gave you an help that that is meet. You say, but why is my own spouse not meeting up to this? Because you will have what to say. If you look at your spouse and you keep calling up the negativity, what you will get is the negativity. Many of you don't even believe that you are prophets. When Abraham and Sarai were still struggling to give birth, what did God say? He said, from today He said, call her Sarah, not Sarai, and call him Abraham, not Abram. Sarah means princess, Abraham means father of nations. Call yourself what you want to become. Your wife used to nag, let me give you a name, call her Dove, not Dove TV. I say, my dove. I say, you buy my day, say, all right, all right. Just— I mean, you— we call forth the things that be not as though they were. Your spouse has, has cooked the food, ah, and the food is so salty. There's a way to say it. What's the something wrong with our government. I think they must have connected our tap to the Red Sea. Say, what do you mean by that? I can't tell where this salt is coming from. Hey baby, I'm sorry. All right, presentation matters. Marriage is God-instituted. Marriage was designed to demonstrate the union between Christ and the church. Let me come again. Marriage was designed, all right, to illustrate and project the union between Christ and the church. Now you should understand that, all right. Marriage was designed to institute that. Now look at it, let me show you the book of, um, Ephesians chapter number 5. Ephesians chapter number 5, we'll start the reading from verse 20. Ephesians chapter number 5 from verse 20 says, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands servant as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. All right, look at it. He was showing us the perfect blend, the relationship between Christ and the Church. Now look at this. Verse 26 says, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or such thing, but that it should be holy without blemish, and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth loveth his wife loveth himself. And I love that word. I think that's where they got the word from— happy wife, happy life. Very important. Amen. If you are following me, say amen. All right, if you can hear me, say amen. Glory to God. Thank you, Lord. All right, so it is important for us to know that the most strategic way for the devil to fight the entire community is to focus on marriages. If you want to destroy a forest, kill the seeds. The seed of the community is the home. It is so important that we note that. All right, now let's pay attention to this. When we allow the family family structure become fragmented, or to be fragmented, and you are watching things go down the drain. Sometimes the things that humbling ourselves and saying in simple words, I am sorry, would have sorted, will now require months of repair, sometimes years of repair. And there are times that the damage becomes almost irreparable. The grief of fragmented families is too much for anybody to bear. It's too much. You can't bear it. Don't fragment your home. When you allow what ought to be sweet become sour, The taste becomes too bad for anyone to bear. Okay, so I want to show you a few things quickly. How the devil fragment families. How the devil fragment families. Please note that down. I'll wait for you. To fragment is to break, to break into pieces. How does he do it? If the devil wants to destroy a family, how does he destroy it? Now let me share a story with you. I remember years back, one of my friends was getting married. We were preparing for his wedding, and we were praying alongside with them. You know, by the grace of God, we pray a lot as friends. And one of those days, one of our friends that have been praying together had a vision, and he saw in that vision that different spirits were meeting, and they were asking questions and asking how they can, how they can destroy that new home that was forming, how they can destroy that new home that was forming. All right, and he said different spirits began to bring suggestions, and some said, let's do this, let's do this, and none of those suggestions were, were in line with what their master wanted. So he said he saw that one of those beings came and said, let's fight them with their individual differences, let's fight them with their individual differences. And they said, that's it. Then the master now objected, said, but there are so, so number of people interceding for them. Then pointed at that one, that my friend that was there, and said, including this idiot that think we can't see him. So we were able to get the gist that the devil fight families with individual differences, and they were able to pray against it. And he's still doing that now. You see, our differences is supposed to be a way for us to complement each other, not destroy each each other. Okay, there are ways men act. When a man is going through pressure, he wants to withdraw for a while and think through and find a way out. Then he can communicate it in simple terms. A woman gets a solution through talking, and I've learned that from my wife. Hey, this, this, this, this, you won't believe what I away. Wow, amazing!

Really?

That's how this one— this is, this is really— ah, better learn. Look at this one. So that's how this guy— this, this— we went to this, we did this. Wow, really interesting! By the time she's done saying that, she say, eh, this is one— in fact, by now that I've even spoken to you, I know what exactly I'm going to do.

Correct.

When women talk by themselves, they will say the solution and they will do it. They need a listening husband. All right, just understand that when a man is having his own issue, he wants to keep quiet, he wants to withdraw, he wants to retire, he wants to clear his mind, then present And let me, let me just say this in passing. Sometimes I've seen books on understanding women, but I say women are complicated, women are difficult to understand. I can tell you men too can be quite difficult to understand because sometimes we don't know. People say that a man— men don't talk. Some women are complaining, my husband doesn't talk, he doesn't talk. Let me tell you something. If a man has 3 issues bothering him and he wants to talk to you, he will start with the list of it. And tell you. Then he will check the way you are able to bear it. The moment he sees that you can bear it well, you will not have to beg. He will be pouring matters to you. But when a man tell you this, this, and he sees how that matter rocks you, he just understands that this is the level of what my wife can bear. All right, then he keeps quiet. You want to get your husband to talk. Listen to him like his mother does. That's the secret. Are you following what I'm saying? Bring your head, your chest, for him to pillow his head. We usually insult Delilah, but if there's a lesson to learn from her was that she could pillow the head of a mighty man on her laps. You, every time they want to pillow on your legs, pull the sand, my friend. What What do you mean? Kabumasaanda what? Come on, sit down and let your husband enjoy your bosom. Sometimes when men go through life, we want to come back to your safe haven. Your husband is returning from work, create an atmosphere of peace. The greatest thing you can give a man is is not sex, it is peace. An atmosphere of peace where regardless of the trouble, he can't wait to get back. Let me tell you something, even this morning as I'm preaching, I just returned back from several days of trips, came back from London a few days ago. I just had a day rest, traveled again, just getting back, and I'm all right broadcasting to you live from my studio. Okay, but I will tell you something on all Authority. Um, let me tell you, sometimes I'm in it, I'm on a trip, things like my wife just sent me the picture of herself and our daughters. Ah, I see the picture, I can't wait to get back home to be with them. Let's learn to create an atmosphere where our visions can flourish. We will not gain anything by making the home hell for each Brother, forgive on time.

Heal.

There are no matters you can't talk through. Men, make your wife convenient around you. Make her fall in love with you again and again and again. Sometimes when women stop complaining, it is not because they now understand, it is because they have given up. Unfortunately so. Many women have come to conclude that there's nothing I can do again. When a woman becomes quiet, a part of her is dying. Let's be sensitive one to another. Praise God. Are you learning something? Hey beloved, are you learning something? Praise God. Now look at it, let me show you the playbook of the devil. How the devil fragments families. Number one, he pushes, or he brings, or he fragments individuals first. You cannot have a bad omelette if you don't have a bad egg. All right, so the first question is, the person who is getting married, who is that that person? How did you get married? Don't be surprised. See, there are problems people face in marriage that they should not be surprised about. How were you thinking before you got married? How would you perceive a woman to be? A guy was going to get married and his friends came to visit him, and they noticed that the house was smelling. He was no longer washing washing plates, he was no longer washing his clothes. And when they asked him, why is your house like this? You know what he said? He said, sister is coming. Meaning that according to him, all right, a wife is the one whose duty in life is to wash plates and wash clothes. Before— in case there's any single person here, let me tell you something. Before you marry a person, listen to the person. And I tell I tell people, in relationship, touching, huh, is a trap. The moment you start touching each other, you will not be able to listen to the person. A goat may speak like a person, only for you to get married and they remove the suit or remove the gown and say, eh, gizi se meh. But when you hear the person's ideology, you already know what you are getting into. Fragmented individuals. The society has a way of trying to brainwash people and change their perspective about the good institution called marriage. Wants to wash them off. Some people have been re-educated through movies, through books, painful stories, and they are carrying the grief and the hurt. Some are scared already. Their husband has not done anything, the wife has not done anything, but they've told him, they've told her, ah, you have to protect yourself, your spouse must not know that you have. So you too, because these women one time they can just do this, and this man one time can just do this, so let me hide my money. Already you have broken that home the moment you stop trusting your spouse.

House.

You have destroyed the home. Forgive yourselves. Don't listen to naysayers. Some families would have been better if not for the input of the parents. They send strange broadcast message to the in-law every time. Broadcast, broadcast message. How a Pastor is preaching against a man who is maltreating the wife, broadcast. And sometimes we forget that when you keep taking matters to family, everybody will defend their own, particularly since some of you are the first generation to break through and come to Europe. Everybody want to protect their own, their own interest, and sometimes that might not be the interest of the home. I know what I'm like I know my name. And there are families here going through what I've just described. The devil fragments individuals through fragmented ideologies, things we see, the re-engineering work of the society, movies, books, friends, dysfunctional environment, You've seen too many broken marriages. Who asked you to make celebrity marriages your own model? Looking on to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Praise God. All right, now look at this. The moment you are coming into a marriage with a dysfunctional idea, it is just a matter of time, it will rub off on the marriage. Who is a husband and who is a wife? How should the wife be treated? How should the husband be treated? Now, these are questions you have to answer. All right, and when you answer this question, check it with the instructions in the Bible. Am I correct? Some people are saying, after all, since we got married, I've never laid my hands on you to beat you before, so this, this, this. But there are verbal abuses, there are emotional abuses. You will insult each each other and emotionally abuse each other.

It's wrong.

It's wrong. Number 2 way through which the devil fragments families is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness.

Forgiveness.

And this is a very, very crucial matter. Now, if you look at Psalms 103:3, Psalms 103:3 says, who forgiveth all thy iniquities who heal all thy diseases. With forgiveness comes healing. With forgiveness comes healing. Matthew 6:12. Matthew 6:12 says, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Matthew 6:14 says, for if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also. He will forgive you also. Forgive yourselves. Forgive yourselves. I want to show you one more scripture. Forgive yourself. Amen. Now, okay, before I show you this scripture Let me say this to you. We don't forgive people just because they have changed. We forgive because we are children of God. We forgive because we have been forgiven much. What do you do in a case whereby the person you need to forgive, does not even know he's wrong. You forgive because the Bible says so and protect your mental health. Let me share a story with you. Daddy Joe shared this story with us years back, years back. He shared the story of a man whose wife died at quite a young age, and they had a daughter, and he promised not to remarry. Marry, but to channel all the affection, all right, that he had for his wife for that girl. And he raised that girl. She was the love of his life, all right. Many of you don't know what it means for a woman to get married and you take her from her father. Ah, the serious thing, you know, treat that woman well, okay. So the man took the girl. The father cried, and the father said, I'm not taking bride price from you. I don't want bride price. I just want one thing. This girl, she is my life. I beg you in the name of God, no matter what she does, don't beat her, don't maltreat her. Report her to me. The man too said, ah, I've heard Daddy, I will never touch her. He got married and he began to do the exact opposite. You beat the girl Blue-black. At one point, the father called for his daughter and said, let his daughter return back to his house in one piece. Can't lose the mother and also lose her. The father held the guy in his mind, refused to forgive him. He would not see the boy. Later on, the father became sick, very, very very sick. All effort to pray for him proved abortive. He tried everything, tried many medications, they weren't even seen, and he was swelling up, was swelling up. His feet, his face, his hands, his stomach had ascites. So finally, a man of God prayed for him. And said, there's somebody in your life you need to forgive. When he heard it, he cried. He cried and cried and cried and invited the boy. He held the boy and said to him, I forgive you the way you maltreated my daughter. I forgive you. And I let go. And he hugged the boy. And when they hugged each other brother and were crying, all right, the wedding ring in the hand of the old man fell. You know what had happened? As he hugged the boy, he shrunk. The one who is in prison is not the one you are yet to forgive. The one who is in prison is the one who is yet to forgive. Forgive for the sake of your eternity, for the sake of your health. Forgive your parent, the things they said to you that you have not forget— forgotten. Forgive. Forgive your mother-in-law. Beg you in the name of Jesus Christ. He's taking sides against you. Let go. Forgive your father-in-law. You expected him to be a father. You trusted him to be there. What you were expecting was not what you met. It's human. Forgive and let go. Forgive your husband. All the things he promised to do, the way he promised to treat you, it's not what he's doing now. Forgive him. He said things to you, find difficult to forget. When you look at him now, you are not sure what you are seeing. Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night to ease yourself. And you regret why you married him, forgive him. You can love again and you can heal. Forgive your wife. Femi Lazarus is being manipulative. She has caused several problems, insulted your parents, spoke rudely to them, did something things, either finances from you. Forgive. She's a pleasant woman. She might be afraid. Maybe some things have happened that everybody wants to keep their own lot. Forgive yourselves. There's nothing we can't talk through, and that's the purpose for this meeting. When I saw the topic, I knew the pastor has a I knew they wanted families to get it right. How can we move on if there's no forgiveness? There's a Yoruba adage that says, 'Ta ba gbabio ara noa reni aba shere.' If we don't forget the matters of yesterday, there's no one to play with. Forgive yourselves. I'm begging now in the name of Jesus Christ.

Christ.

Give each other another chance. They cry, they be hurting. You suffered a lot through life. You thought marriage would be the sukuk, and then you experience— let go. Beg you in the name of Jesus Christ. And I'm praying for you that the Lord of Hosts will heal your heart. He will heal your marriage. Your heart is no longer what it used to be. You are not sure if you can love him or love her like before. You can! Everyone Jesus healed, he healed completely. In the marriage, a wedding at Canaan of Galilee, wine finished, but because Jesus was there water became wine. There are times you look at your spouse and you can't see the wine that you started with. With Jesus in that boat, water can become wine. Forgive yourself. Unforgiveness is one of the things the devil used to fight families with. The third one, third party involvement. Trusting your parents more than your than your spouse, trusting your friends more than your spouse, trusting outsiders more than your spouse, confiding in outsiders, not your spouse. Third parties— believing what people say about your spouse, not what you see. It destroys the home. It destroys the home. Third party involvement. Very important. Proverbs chapter number 18, verse 8. Proverbs 18, verse 8 says, the words of a talebearer are as wounds. Proverbs 18, verse 8, the words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost part of the belly belly. You hear those things, you keep them. There are wounds in your belly. He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets. Therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. When people come to tell you bad things about your spouse, what do they want to gain from it? Where there are— where no wood is, the fire goeth out. Proverbs 26:20. Where no wood is, the fire goeth out. So where there is no tailbearer, strife cease. Where there is no tailbearer, rumor mongers, strife cease. Very important. Let's pay attention to this so we don't hurt our families. Be careful of third parties. Number 4, one of the arrows that fragment families: hatred. Unfortunately, some have come to a point where they now genuinely hate hate his brother, their, their, their, their spouse. Some have unfortunately gotten to that point. When they look at their spouse, all they feel is hate and rage. 1 John 3:15. 1 John 3:15 says 1 John 3:15: Whosoever hated his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. So by nature we are love beings. If a man says I love God, 1 John 4:20, a man says I love God and hated his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? It will amaze you to see people who lift up holy hands in church, what they feel towards their spouse. The Bible says that that holy hand is a scam. 1 John 2:11. 1 John 2:11 says— let me start from verse 9.

It—

1 John 2: 9. He that said he is in the light and hated his brother is in darkness even until now. But he that hated his brother— verse 11 now— but he that hated his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth, because darkness has blinded his eyes. It takes being blind to hate somebody made in the image of God. Not talk about your spouse house. Number 5, arrow that fragment families: tiredness. Many spouses have given up. They are tired. They are done trying. You can come back to duty again. Don't stop interceding for your spouse. Don't stop trying to make it work. How can we ready fragmented families that are already fragmenting and things are going bad? Number 1, understand that attraction is about focus. Choose to see what is good about your spouse. When I listen to couples and they talk many times over, you just observe that these two people have chosen to see what is bad about each other. That's it. If you focus on your spouse, you can't see anything. Focus is blindness. If you focus on something, you are blind to every other thing. So if you focus on the good part, you are blind to the bad part. Choose to see your spouse correctly. Number 2, stop getting families involved. Stop, stop at once. When you are done destroying each other before your families, both of you have reconciled, but families are still holding on to those things things. Stop. When you sell your neighbor cheaply, they said even the buyer will not trust you. Be careful of selling your spouse cheaply. Don't sell your spouse. Number 3, learn and master the principle of ignoring what is not necessary. You cannot react to every matter, particularly if you intend to live long. You can't choose to observe everything and speak to everything. Look at it, you see now, you see now, see, see now, see now, see where he drop his socks, see, see where he drop his shoes, see now, see now, you see now, she's been pressing her phone since. There are times that for the sake of your mental health. Just ignore it and give the other person— cut the other person some slack, okay? And when you are settling matters, avoid bringing up old matters because that makes it look like you have not forgiven. Just ignore. It doesn't mean you are stupid. It means you are mature. Number what now? Number 4. Am I correct? Be optimistic. Don't be a pessimist. Be hopeful. When many couples talk, they are not communicating hope. All they are saying is why this can't work, why this can't this, why this is like that, why this is this, why he can't change, why she can't change. I know this, this. I just accept my fate. Be hopeful. You are not alone. Number 5: communicate.

Talk.

This is what I love, this is what I don't like, this is what you did. Now all me. And there are times that you delay certain conversation so that you will not say what you don't want to say. You hold on for a while, you make sure you are not about to bleed on each other, then you present it. Communicate, talk about everything, talk about your sexual life. Talk about your finance. Don't assume you are satisfying your wife. Ask her questions. Are you satisfied? What can we do better? Ask him question. Women, when you want sex, talk. Is your husband know how to start it too? It's not every time you just lie down. Yeah, they are trying to You to initiate now. Eh, it's not initiation into witchcraft. Initiate, talk. Eh, I don't want to say it so you not look at me like a bad girl. Be a bad girl to your husband. When you are done, you cannot do kui mama, kui mama, kui mama. Don't start sex with let us pray. See, let's, let's pray about it. Father, as we're about to eat this food, bless it in the name of Jesus. By the time you are done, you have deflated him. Okay, talk. Okay, talk. And don't use sex as a tool for bargaining. I will do it, but before you touch me, you have to do this. That's witchcraft. That's manipulation. Go back to having family altars. Um, somebody says that the family that the bed is shaking will not shake. Somebody also said that the couple that pray together stays together. I think I found out that the devil will try everything within his capacity to make sure that you don't pray with your spouse. So So whatever it is, fight for it. Fight to make sure you get your prayer life intact. And I will say this to you, it doesn't matter how brief it is, pray daily, okay? Then lastly, trust again. Particularly families are recovering from infidelity, you have seen things.

Things.

You don't know if you can trust him. You don't know if you can trust her. You can trust again. Trust again. Let me wrap up with this scripture, Isaiah chapter number 40. I'm sorry, I was told that there will be question and answer session, and because of my numerous engagement I'm just going to be teaching, and, um, I trust God that if questions are sent, I can answer later and send the video to you, or we have a brief live session on Zoom. Um, I will do that. I just— there's just something about this church I have fallen in love with. I'm not there with you physically, but there's, there's something touching my heart. And I promise you, whenever I'm in Germany, I will say hello to you guys. I don't know if you're excited about that. All right, thank you. Isaiah chapter number 40, verse 29: He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. So there are times that we are We are getting tired. We don't know where to start from. He gives power, increase strength. He turns water to wine. He does. There's nothing going wrong with your marriage that God cannot restore. Don't forget at the wedding of Canaan of Galilee, when water became wine, people were confused because they said David said the wine, the later wine, was even more sweeter than the first. What God is bringing out of your home will be sweeter than your honeymoon days. I want everyone to get up on their feet, and in one word, let's join our hands together, couples now, and release the word of the Lord. Satan, take your hands off our homes! Take your hands off our families! Please, we rebuke distractions. The devil doesn't just divide and rule, he distracts and rules too. We rebuke distractions. Love returns into this home. The beauty of the Lord descends back. Grace is administered again. Oh, blessings of the Lord, in the name of Jesus. From today we go from strength to strength. Our love is rekindled. Pray for yourself. Release blessings upon your spouse. Join hands with each other. Speak words to yourself. Reverse some of the statements you have said. Hug yourselves. Pray together. We are coming back strong in one piece. Release the blessings. Let healing flow today, Lord. Let healings flow. Grace in the name of Jesus. We bless you, Lord. Thank you, blessed Father. Blessed be your holy name. In Jesus' mighty name we're praying. Father, I stretch my hands and pray for every family represented here. Grace is administered. You will not fail. Your womb will not break. God will give you peace on all sides. Everyone trusting God for the fruit of the womb, you carry your own babies. By this time next year, you are carrying your I rebuke PCOS. Every cases of children with autism, I command be healed. Any family under demonic attack, I rebuke the devil now. Grace is administered. Be blessed. Water is becoming wine again in this family. It is done. Anyone here that is scheduled with any terminal illness, sickness, I command be healed. Let the hand of God rest upon you in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

God bless you all. I want to thank you— to the entire— big thank you to the entire pastorate for the opportunity and the privilege you've given to me to be a blessing to you. I love you all so much, and there's nothing you can do about it. Bye-bye. Thank you.