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The Word of God is food for the spirit and health to the body.

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Through the spirit of revelation we are guided into the wisdom and deep mysteries in His

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Word that make our lives vibrant and productive.

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Welcome to the Merciful Gospel Church Podcast.

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As you're listening, the glory of God will be quickened and activated in your life.

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And now, the Word.

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Last month and part of November, I believe, we began a series to look at the circumstances

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that surround the birth of Jesus, the events that took place before, during, and after.

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And we are gleaming from those events, the narrative, the Word spoken.

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We're trying to see nuggets, lessons we can apply in our lives.

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And I thought we had finished, but the Lord gave me another message that is connected

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to the circumstances and events that took place during the birth of Jesus.

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So turn with me with your Bibles please to the Gospel of Luke chapter 1 verse 5 and verse

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6.

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We'll begin by reading those two verses.

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Luke chapter 1 verse 5 and verse 6, it says, There was in the days of Herod, the king of

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Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the

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daughters of Aaron.

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And her name was Elizabeth, and they were both righteous before God, working in all

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the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

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I want to begin by talking about evangelistic dating and marriage.

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Today I want us to discuss the subject of marriage.

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I hope we can all apply this message to our lives.

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If you're not yet married, it's still applicable.

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If you're married, it's applicable.

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But I can't help but see lessons we can gain from studying this couple, Elizabeth and her

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husband Zacharias.

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There are many things we can learn from them.

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And first of all, I want to talk about evangelistic dating and marriage.

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These people were both believers.

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Elizabeth was from the tribe of Aaron.

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He was a priest and he married a daughter of Aaron, I think a distant cousin of his.

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But they were both Jews, they were both believers.

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That's what I want to say.

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They were both serving the Lord.

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That is the desire for God's people.

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The Bible says, don't be unequally hooked with unbelievers.

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This is something I have preached about.

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And this morning I want to reiterate that God does not allow believers to be married

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to unbelievers.

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We are not allowed to do what we call evangelistic dating.

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You hope that this man, this woman, one day will become a believer.

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It's a good man.

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You know, he doesn't prevent me from coming to church.

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I know he loves God in his own way, but what?

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He will get saved.

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I want him to become my wife or my husband.

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I know he's not a believer, but you know, I'm believing that he will change.

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And when I get married, he has promised not to prevent me from coming to church.

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He allows me to come to church with the children.

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That is what we call evangelistic dating and marriage.

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That is not permitted in scripture.

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We see Zacchaeus, Elizabeth, they were both believers.

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That is God's standard.

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If you're a Christian, I'm afraid that is our standard.

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We're not allowed to date unbelievers or to be married to unbelievers.

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Praise the Lord.

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One of the, probably this decision is only second to believing on Christ.

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The person you choose to get married to, it is so critical because that decision will

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affect your relationship with God, it will affect your health, it will affect your destiny,

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it will affect your calling and purpose in God.

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This is the second most important decision you can make in this life, who you marry,

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because it affects you 360 degrees.

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It affects you in every sphere of your life.

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I want to show an example in scripture.

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But before I go there, I want you to notice that from the times of Esau to King Solomon,

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to the times of Ezra, the enemy has had a strategy of weakening the church and destroying

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God's purpose.

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That strategy is having believers get married to unbelievers.

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That strategy has worked for Seta.

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It tries to weaken the church by seducing and enticing believers to get married to unbelievers.

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It weakens our testimony.

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We have children who are confused, should I go with daddy, should I go with mommy, should

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I go to the church, should I go to the mosque, which faith should I follow?

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My father's religion is a Muslim, my mother's is a Bonnegain.

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Where do I go?

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You confuse the children.

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We can lose a generation.

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The enemy has used this tactic for years and it works.

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And it's unfortunate that we have not caught on.

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We have not caught on on this strategy and many still fall for this trick.

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We fall prey to this trick because the enemy does it over and over again.

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If Satan has failed to short circuit your ministry, if Satan has failed to destroy you,

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he will lead you to marry a wrong spouse, especially an unbeliever.

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It works.

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It will strong your ministry.

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It will affect your testimony.

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It will affect your work with God.

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This strategy has worked for Satan for centuries.

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He has affected the people of God by having believers yoke or get married to unbelievers.

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I want to show you in the Bible a good example and that is King Solomon in the book of 1

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Kings 11.

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1 Kings 11 verse 3, it says, And he had several hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred

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concubines, and his wives turned away his heart.

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Solomon backsleed because of marriage.

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Friends, no one here is too strong that immune from this attack.

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The day you choose to marry an unbeliever, you become vulnerable.

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You become one whose heart may be turned away from the Lord over time or it will affect

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your effectiveness in executing your call and ministry.

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It will affect you spiritually.

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This man was a very powerful man.

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He was a spiritual man.

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God spoke to him.

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He had a visitation from God two times.

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He was endowed with a powerful gift of wisdom.

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He would see revelation and vision.

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He was a wise king.

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The Bible says the wisest man was ever lived, Solomon, very wise, anointed.

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But what causes fall?

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Marrying an unbeliever.

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That strategy of the enemy works.

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I want to let you know if you do it, you are not immune.

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You set up yourself to failure.

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You may say, Pastor, but I have some friends who got married to an unbeliever and somehow

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another man later on became a Christian and they are happily married.

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If that is your argument, I have just to say to you, there are people who have attempted

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to commit suicide and God intervened and spared their lives.

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Does that mean all those who want to commit suicide now should attempt suicide?

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Are you following my argument?

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If you say, Pastor, some people have got married to an unbeliever and you know somehow things

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worked out, it is a risk.

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It may or may not work.

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You can say someone, Pastor, the other day attempted to commit suicide and he did not

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die.

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Even me, if I try, I will not die.

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Who told you he may succeed?

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He may succeed.

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It is a strategy the enemy uses and friends, it works.

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People change.

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There is a way in which their testimony and their ability to influence other people for

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Christ declines.

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It declines.

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Verse 4, 1 Kings chapter 11, verse 4, But was so when Solomon was old, and his wife

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standeth in his heart after other gods, and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God,

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and as was the heart of his father David.

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It will affect your relationship with God.

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And my friends, whatever affects your relationship with God is dangerous.

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Whatever comes between you and God, it is extremely dangerous.

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Marrying or getting married to an unbeliever, it will affect your relationship with God.

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It says in verse 11, verse 11, verse 11, Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have

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done this, and have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which have commanded you, I will

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surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

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Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David.

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I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

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Do you know that when you get married to an unbeliever, you are setting up your children

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to fail?

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I know you do your best, but you put them in a precarious position.

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They are in a sleep on the ground.

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Your seed will have a battle ahead of them.

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And many of those children have issues.

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Some struggle, should I follow my mother's faith?

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If they follow your faith, they have challenges from their father's side or mother's side.

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There's the influence from in-laws, from cousins, from brothers.

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They have those meetings where they invite them.

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They are not believers.

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It is you are setting up your children in a place where there's going to be a lot of

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temptation.

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God said, I will not tear the kingdom away from you.

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But when you have good children, that's when I will begin to deal with you.

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Solomon's son became a king, but he had a sentence over his head.

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The kingdom was going to collapse.

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The kingdom was going to be torn into two because Solomon had married straight wives.

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You are doing a disservice to your children when you get married unbelievers.

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It's not fair to them.

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It affects your entire health.

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It affects even your ultimate success in this life.

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All right, hallelujah.

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Now the second thing I want to see from the example of Zacchaeus and Elizabeth, I've talked

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about evangelistic dating and marriage.

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I want to talk about God's will and marriage.

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When God brought Zacchaeus and Elizabeth together to get married, God was aware that Elizabeth

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had a problem to conceive.

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God was aware.

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But I believe these two people realized this was God's will for them to get married and

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to get married.

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And I believe God's will has inbuilt shock absorbers.

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God's will takes care of unexpected and unpleasant scissors in our lives.

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Oh, praise the Lord.

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God's will, when you find a spouse in God's will, even though you may face some road bumps,

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speed bumps, there may be some hurdles, but because it's God's will, it will be all right.

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God's will is supreme.

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The number one thing, God's people, if you're still single, the number one question to ask

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when you're getting married, is this God's will?

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When that question is answered in the affirmative, everything will fall in place in time because

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it's God's will.

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This woman says in verse, let's turn to that.

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Look, look, let me turn to my Bibles also.

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My Bible, Luke chapter one, Luke chapter one, I want you to see here, verse 24.

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Luke chapter one, verse 24 says, now after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and

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she hid herself five months saying.

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Now first of all, the Bible says they were stricken in age, they were very old.

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But because it was God's will for them to get married, even that issue of marriedness

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could not prevent God's purpose in their lives.

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She conceived and look what she says in verse 25.

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Thus the Lord has, there was me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach

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among the people.

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It means people were saying many things about their marriage.

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There were people who were insensitive, making nasty comments.

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There were many people who are talking behind their back, but because it was God's will

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for them to get married, in the end they came out victorious.

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Please hear me very well.

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If you're still single and someone comes to you and wants to marry you, the number one

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thing to check out is not how tall, how handsome they are, how much money they have, how much

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education they have.

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The key question is, is it God's will?

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If it is God's will, everything will fall into place as time goes on.

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You'll fall into this.

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Barrenness, poverty, cultural problems, tribal differences, whatever challenge you face in

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that marriage, if it is God's will, it will be okay.

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To be okay, that's for sure.

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Now turn to the Book of Ruth.

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I want to dig deeper into this point because someone needs to get this in his spirit.

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Ruth chapter 3, chapter 3 verse 10 to verse 13.

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Ruth has come back with Naomi in Israel.

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She's now probably about maybe 35, 40 years old.

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She has been single.

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She got married.

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Her husband died, but they had no child.

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Probably people thought she was also having a problem conceiving.

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She has baggage.

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She's taking care of her mother-in-law.

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She has extra baggage.

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On top of that, she's a foreigner.

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She's from the tribe of Moab.

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She has all these things against her.

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In spite of that, there is a man called Boaz who has looked at her and has gained interest

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in her.

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Now Ruth comes to him at night and she does what they do in their culture.

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He says, you are now my kinsman-redeemer.

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Your male relative, my husband, died.

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It is now your responsibility to marry me so we can raise a seed in the name of your

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dead relative.

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In verse 10, he says, and he said, blessed be thou of the Lord my daughter.

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There was a big age difference.

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For thou has showed more kindness in the latter than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followest

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not young men, whether poor or rich.

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Now my daughter, fear not.

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I will do to thee all that thou requirest.

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For all the seed of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.

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And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman, howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I.

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Then you suppose there.

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But what is his surprise that a Ruth who is much younger than him is willing to become

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his wife.

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He says, you have a wide choice of younger men in your country, Moab, and even in Israel.

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How many you could choose from.

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But he says, you have come to me.

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And I believe this young woman Ruth, with the help of her mother-in-law, was being led

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by the Holy Spirit, because Ruth was being given an opportunity to join the lineage of

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Jesus.

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Someone who is coming from outside Israel, being included in the commonwealth of Israel,

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being, and even being put in the bloodline of Jesus, that is a lifetime opportunity.

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That is what every girl will dream about, being a grandmother of Jesus.

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This woman, through revelation, her mother's counseling, her mother-in-law, she decided

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to choose or to go with this older man, because she sensed destiny with this man.

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And it shows me that in marriage age is important, physical appearance is important, culture

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is important, tribe is important, and the question is, all these things are important.

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But what is even more important is the will of God, the will of God.

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She says it was God's will for her to go with this man.

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There were other men, she could even go back to Moab and get married to people who are

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closer to her age, people probably more handsome, more good-looking.

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But she says this, I say something in this man, I feel God drawing me to this man.

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There are differences in tribe and culture and age, but I sense destiny with this man.

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It comes back to what I've been saying, that God's will is supreme, supreme over everything

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else.

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People have made bad choices because they base their choices purely on the physical.

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They base their choices purely on the financial prospects.

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The best decision on family is coming from, she's coming from this family, and marrying

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up as if you need a breeding through marriage.

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Some people, that's their goal.

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They want to marry into a wealthy, aristocratic, powerful family because it will improve their

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image.

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But that is not the basis for marriage.

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The basis is, is it the will of God?

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That is the most important question to ask.

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When that answer is in the affirmative, move ahead, move ahead.

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Now even Bawah has had to make a decision.

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Chapter 4, Ruth chapter 4 verse 3 and 4, Ruth chapter 4 verse 4 says, and he said unto the

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kinsman.

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Now of course, before I read this, Bawah told Ruth, Ruth, I am honored that you chose me,

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but is actually someone closer to your dead husband than me.

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There's someone who should take the first opportunity to marry you because he's closer

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to your late husband than me.

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So I'm going to give him the first opportunity to choose whether he will marry you or not.

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So look what happens in verse 4, said unto the kinsman, now me that is come again out

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of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land, which was our brother El-Melech.

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And I thought to advertise the saying, buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders

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of my people, if thou will redeem it, redeem it, but if thou will not redeem it, then tell

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me, and I may know, for there is none to redeem it beside thee, and I am after thee.

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And he said, I'll redeem it.

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Now let's pause there.

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This first kinsman redeemer, the one who's closest to the dead husband of Ruth, at first

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he agrees to buy the land because he's going to get property.

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You know, in Israel, land will always go back to the original owners at every jubilee.

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You only would leave, families would not sell land because land was perpetually owned by

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families, but you could buy land back by paying the lease.

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So this man was going to pay the lease, the leaseholder, and redeem the land, and it becomes

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his.

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He had no problem doing that because it would amass his wealth, it would out to his acquisitions

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and property.

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But then, Boaz told him, before you say yes, there is another catch.

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He says in verse five, then said Boaz, what did thou buy the field of the hand of Naomi?

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Thou must buy also of Ruth the more purchase the wife of the dead to raise up the name

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of the dead upon his heritage.

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Ah, now he's told, before you say yes, because you think you're going to get more property,

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there is a condition.

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There is a widow, and there's an old mother-in-law, and you must put them into consideration.

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You must raise up a seed in the name of your dead relative, and the property that you are

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acquiring will go back to that young man.

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Whichever seed you produce first with this woman will become the heir of the deceased

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and will take over the property that you're redeeming.

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The man thought, hey, is that the condition?

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And moreover, you're bringing a foreigner in the equation.

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Why me to marry this woman from Orbite, for obviously she lived with my late relative

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for years, she had no children.

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Then the man said, verse six, the king of Zuma said, I cannot redeem it for myself,

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lest I may my own inheritance.

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Redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it, because...

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Are you following?

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This man looked at the exterior.

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He only was going to marriage with a view of becoming wealthy and rich.

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I looked at this young woman and saw a widow who had been married for years, had no child,

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and she had baggage to take care of an old woman who was her mother-in-law.

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No, no, no, you can redeem the land.

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Many people make choices based on appearance, financial conditions, culture, tribe, education,

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all those things.

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And I'm not saying they're not important, but be careful.

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That's not the most important question to ask before you get married.

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Is it God's will?

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This man, this man lost an opportunity in a million lives.

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Bible says, when Orbite married, no, not Orbite, when Boaz married Ruth, the moment they came

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together she conceived and she gave birth to Orbite.

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Orbite became the father of Jesse.

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Jesse became the father of David.

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Hallelujah.

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Jesus is called the son of David.

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Don't judge by your eyes.

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Don't judge because of lust.

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Don't judge because purely you want someone educated.

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I know it's important, but before you look at education, is it God's will?

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This man could be now, instead of having Boaz, whatever his name was, he would be the one

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in the lineage of our Jesus Christ.

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There are women who look and appear what they are not.

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You look at her, what you see is not what she is.

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There's destiny in her.

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When that man saw Ruth, he failed to see that God was intending to bring a Gentile in the

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lineage to show the world that are most interested in saving Gentiles.

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God brought Ruth into the lineage to show that salvation is not just for Jews, even

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Gentiles can participate in salvation.

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It was in God's program.

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So when you are looking for a spouse, be discerning.

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Ask God to show you very well what is before you because you may turn down an offer and

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miss a lifetime opportunity.

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There are girls in this church that turned down applications and I believe some of them

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have lived with great because they looked at the young man and said, this one, look,

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as years go by, this one becomes somebody.

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And I have seen that in my eyes.

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What is critical is, is it the will of God?

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Hallelujah.

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I want to show you something in the Bible that has been on my heart these past few days.

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It has blessed me.

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In Matthew chapter 13 verse 8, the Bible speaks of the sower going to sow a seed and some

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seed fell on the west side, some fell on the rocks, some fell on thorns and the seed that

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fell on the roadside was stepped on and bats came and ate it.

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The ones that fell on the rock germinated, I did not grow when the sun came up, they

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died because they lacked roots and the ones that were sown among thorns were choked by

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the thorns.

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But then Jesus told us there is a fourth category, the good soil.

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The good soil for me is a picture of believers, we are good soil, all of us who have come

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to know Christ, our hearts, our feral, when we receive the word of God in our hearts,

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it produces fruit.

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I am now teaching and preaching, I hope the seed is falling on good ground and will produce

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fruit in due time.

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So the fourth type of soil is good soil.

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However, and this really touched me, all of us will go on to live a life where some of

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us produce a hundredfold, some produce sixtyfold, some produce thirtyfold.

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Why?

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Why?

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The Bible says in Matthew 13 verse 8, but others fell into good ground and brought forth

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some hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold.

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Why?

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If we are all receiving the same seed, the seed is the word of God.

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There's no word of God, the word of God for one day, another seed for another seed for

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the next day, it's the same seed, then why is it that at the end of the day we produce

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different harvests?

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Why is it that some produce a hundredfold, others produce sixty, and others fall into

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good ground?

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I thought about that.

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Now, there are many factors that affect farming and crops and harvests, but for me, I want

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to zero on one thing.

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In this life, marriage affects how much fruit you produce in your life.

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As a Christian, all factors being constant, the one important variable that will influence

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the production of fruit in your life is marriage.

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If all of us come to the same church, eat the same spiritual food, live in the same

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country, but why is it that some people have a hundredfold, others sixty, and others thirty?

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There may be several reasons, but one of them is marriage.

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This question of marriage is so important, it will affect even how much fruit you produce

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in your life.

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The kind of spouse you have will have an impact on how fruitful you are in this life.

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You can see that in the life of Mother Crius and Elizabeth.

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And my friends, this is one thing that we are all called to do.

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Jesus told us, my Father glorified when you bear much fruit.

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We are alive today to bear fruit.

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Not just, forgive me, to sleep, have sex, have children, make money, those things, they

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are there, but the most important reason why we are alive, we are alive to bear fruit.

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This is my Father, John 15 verse 8, my Father glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall

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you be my disciples.

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Verse 16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should

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go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain.

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That was the reason we ask of my Father in my name, he may give it to you.

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Being fruitful is the number one thing for us who are alive.

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The Bible says in Daniel chapter 2 verse 44, Daniel chapter 2 verse 44, it says, In the

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days of this king shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed,

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and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but shall break in pieces and consume

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all these kingdoms.

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It shall stand forever.

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There is a kingdom that God is building in these days, it will cover the whole earth.

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The image that Nebuchadnezzar saw, he saw a fourth kingdom that has no end.

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These are the days when God is building his kingdom.

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He has sent us to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

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That is the number one reason why you are alive, God's agenda.

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Now, number one agenda, he's building a kingdom.

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He said, pray in this matter, the kingdom come, that will be done.

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That is what God is about.

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When he says, he says, oh no, Kola, oh no, where is him?

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Can I employ you?

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I am building a kingdom.

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I am building a kingdom.

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Can I use your talents?

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That's the number one mission that God has.

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Yes, people talk about prosperity, all these things, you know, those things are good, but

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please don't forget, God is busy about building a kingdom.

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And that kingdom requires workers.

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And you and I must be careful that when we choose to get married, it does not impair

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our ability to work in the kingdom.

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It should not impair or impede or short-circuit our effectiveness in building God's kingdom.

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You know, scripture says, Proverbs 19 verse 14, house and wealth are the inheritance from

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fathers, but a wise, understanding and sensible wife, a gift, a blessing is from the Lord.

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I believe that I might be wrong, but this is what I want to submit to you.

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I believe that there is a person that God will bring in your life who can help you produce

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a hundredfold.

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But if you miss God's purpose, get married, and by the grace of God, you can work, produce

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three hundredfold, work for you sixty-six-four, it's possible you will not become a total

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failure and you will go to heaven.

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You will go to heaven.

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But I believe there is a particular person that God brings in your life and my life that

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when you link up, the person may not be the most likely individual for you to marry.

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The person may be like Ruth, a foreigner, a gentile, a widow, but if you link up that

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individual, then you have hooked into the possibility of bearing a hundredfold.

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However, if, and God help us, if you have made a choice, pick somebody else, and please,

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I'm not saying leave your spouse, but if you've made a decision, work, you may be able to

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get thirty-fold, sixty-fold, seventy-fold, eighty-fold, but it is almost impossible to

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get a hundred with that, that individual God destined for you.

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Possible.

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Possible.

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The Bible says that gift is from the Lord.

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You may get wealth, you may get houses, you may get property, all these things you can

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get, but that individual whom you link up and you hit a hundredfold must come from God.

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That's why God's will is important.

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Young people, God's will is important.

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Sometimes we push people, but sometimes it's even better to go slow and make sure you are

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doing what is in the will of God for you.

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Praise the Lord.

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Hallelujah.

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I want to finish with this.

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Being single and marriage, I've talked about evangelistic dating and marriage.

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I talked about God's will and marriage.

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Later I want to talk about being single and marriage.

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In the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 7, Paul says, For I would not that all men

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were even as I myself, but every man that has his proper gift of God, one after this

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manner, another after that.

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I believe, brothers and sisters, that being single and being married are both bits.

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Paul says, I want, I would want everyone to be like me.

473
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I have a gift to be single because when I'm single, I am able to produce a hundredfold.

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But there are individuals who if they are single, cannot produce a hundredfold.

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Are you following?

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All of them, it's a gift.

477
00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:13,280
Some of us can't be single.

478
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,000
We will have problems.

479
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:22,840
We will produce no fruit.

480
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:32,920
There are a few people who are gifted to be single and they hit the mark.

481
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:40,240
Both are gifts that gives out of his own sovereign will.

482
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We have no choice.

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We have no power over that.

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And it shows me that none of them is more spiritual than the other.

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You know, the Catholics say that the fathers must remain holy, they remain single, they

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are celibate, you know, they are higher on higher pedestal because they are married to

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00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:06,280
Jesus.

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Some of them are actually married at night.

489
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They have children and they open up orphanages and put the children there.

490
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They say that we have orphanages, but they are children that have been fathered by priests.

491
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I know that because of the Catholics.

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Being celibate doesn't make you more spiritual than someone who is married.

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It all comes down to what is God's will.

494
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Are you called to be single?

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00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:45,040
There are times in our lives when God calls us for a season to be single, a season, so

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that you hit a certain mark.

497
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:51,260
Are you following?

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00:45:51,260 --> 00:45:58,760
You may not be called to be single all your life, but there comes a time when you have

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00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:08,320
to be single to do an assignment to reach a level of growth as a believer before you

500
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:11,440
get married.

501
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:15,240
That's all in God's power and control.

502
00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:22,240
And I believe some of the best times when we have, especially when we have got young

503
00:46:22,240 --> 00:46:28,000
people in this house, is when they are still single, they are more active.

504
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:32,280
They have got more time to invest in the work.

505
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:34,600
They are more engaged.

506
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:38,360
That is there sometimes for a purpose.

507
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:44,480
That God may get something out of you before you get engaged with marital affairs.

508
00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:46,480
That's all in God's time.

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Hallelujah.

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00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:49,640
Thank you for listening.

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We hope that you have been strengthened with his might and fortified by the word of God.

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Please make sure to like, follow and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube

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00:46:58,440 --> 00:46:59,440
pages at FullGospaMap.

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Goodbye.