The Rise of the Biblical Man: Redefining Masculinity to a godless culture | SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE

All right. Shalom, everyone. Such an honor for me to be here, Honestly, truly. Thank you so much. First, I want to say I recognize there are men older than me, more experienced than me in this room, with more wisdom, I think, even than me in this room. And so for that reason, I'm just so honored to be able to just share. And I really pray that the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart. Something today. Today I would like to speak to you about what it means to be a man, biblically speaking. Now, look, the world right now. This is Hot Topic. I mean, you guys know, you know, on social media, this is Hot Topic right now. Like, what? What is it? What does it mean to be a man? The world's got 100 different perspectives, and we can go 100 different ways as well. But I want to simply zoom in on one, the most pure definition of what manhood is according to the Bible itself. And I want to start off by just thinking a little bit about what you think. Just think in your own mind. Like, when you think about manhood, what does that mean, you know, to you? Because when I grew up, I come from South Africa. That's why I've got the weird accent going. And in South Africa, I grew up as an Afrikaner. And our culture, we're like farmer. Our roots are like, farming in South Africa. The Boers is what they're known as. And so, you know, to be a man in high school, I remember, is to be the epitome of it. At least the most manly man is the guy who plays on the. He's the best rugby player. Now, I know you guys play football over here with all your helmets and all your pads. I don't know what all that stuff's about. But to truly be a man is to play rugby, right? And that's true God. True in that God has given us strength as men. But it's interesting how our culture and our world boils it down to these certain ideals. I want you to listen to what Paul said, 1 Timothy 4:8. For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. Now, that's interesting because, you know, Paul's like, hey, sports, bodily training, strength, all these things, there's value in it. Hallelujah. God has given us that. But he says it's of some value. He limits its value. And he says it's value in this life right now. Sure, but there is something else that he points to that has value now and in the life to come, eternal value. And he calls it godliness. Godliness. And now, when we think about what is godliness for a man specifically, I think it's most deeply communicated to us by Paul within the confines of marriage. Now, I want you to just think about this for me in Ephesians 5. 25. I'm just going to read this one verse. He says, husbands. So he speaks to the men specifically who are married. Husbands, love your wives. And all. We're like, okay, yeah, we got that right. Well, that's what we do. That's what a wedding is. That's what the marriage is. That's what Sukkot is. It's about a bridegroom who loves his bride, who's coming back for a wedding. But then he goes on with the verse and he says this. Love your wives as Christ loved the church, giving himself up for her. Now, if you haven't really thought about what that meant and be like, okay, it sounds cool. If you have thought about what that meant, that should in some way be terrifying to you because what he is saying there is. He's pointing to the gospel, he's pointing to Christ and his relationship with his people. And he said, as Christ loved his people, that your husband, man, that is your obligation towards your wife. Okay, hold up. So his bride pierced him, his bride left him for dead, scattered like sheep without a shepherd. And even when he resurrected from the dead, she said, I will believe it when I see it doubting Thomas, right? And yet that is what it means. That's the love. That's the love of what he had for her. And now, okay, this is. And now he says, okay, that's the exact kind of love that I'm talking about that you ought to have for your bride. And so some of you, you're sitting here already being like, this is not fair. You're like, why does this say this to the man? You know, we can talk about all that, what the woman needs to do, but why does he say this about the man? This is not logical. This is not fair. P.D. i'm a man. I'm a man of logic. I'm a man. I make decisions based off the information and the logic available to me. Now, let me ask you this. Did God deal with you with what seems right to a man in pure logic? Because if he did, and if he is going to go to hell, and I'm not saying that as an insult, I'm saying that as A theological statement. If he deals with you logically, the wages of sin is death. One plus one is two. That's logic, right? You have sinned. You have fallen short of the glory of God, that sin is worthy of death. You need to pay for what you have done. You are separated from your bridegroom forever. You will never see his face again. That is, if God deals with you in fairness and in logic. You know what's unfair? Is when the most holy and perfect person, who is divine in the flesh, who never has done anything wrong, lands up dying and bleeding on a cross. And you're the one who put him there, and you're the one who deserves to be there. That's not fair. And so why am I talking about this? Because this is starting to give you a glimpse of, okay, that's what he's done for me. And he is saying that this now becomes a picture of what my marriage is supposed to be. And you say marriage is hard. Yes, it is. And that's exactly what our Messiah had to go through. Something that was hard, hard. And so what did it. What does it do to us? It molds us more into his image because we go through the sufferings he's gone through. And not nearly the same way, but in a certain way. And that molds you more into his image. Okay, so the world says men don't feel. The world says men don't have emotion. Men don't cry. That's what the world says. He was bleeding out on the cross. And I thank the Father that he felt something when he did, leading him to say, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Okay, what is the most manly man who's ever lived? He is. Because he bled out on a cross, he had the most brutal thing done to him. Being unrecognizable, being up there whipped until you could not see it, until his skin was bleeding and he was bare. Okay, that's manly. Don't talk to me about rugby. Don't talk to me about. Don't look, I get it. Yes. But that's what godliness is, and that's what manliness is. That is what God has called us to be. Now, I want to also think about just the way we've grown up. Some of us, you know, I know we've grown up from different from. In different ways. But one thing that I have seen oftentimes in men is it depends. But some of us, we grew up with a father who never said, son, I love you. Maybe we grew up with a Mom who never showed us care. Maybe we grew up being bullied, maybe we grew up being rejected by men or whatever it is and what it does to us as men. With this whole message also of you're not allowed to feel or cry or have emotion, truly is it causes us to bottle up these emotions. It causes us to suppress these emotions because we're not allowed to feel and experience them. The Bible says be angry, but do not sin. Okay, so God is giving you permission to experience your emotion, but do not let them lead you to sin. Because God Yeshua experienced emotion. But the question is, what do you do with those emotions when you experience them? Now why am I saying all this? Because in the kingdom of God, God is giving you permission to feel. He's giving you permission to to face this thing, the strongest emotion ever called love, not only to receive it, but to give it now to others. So not only does he give you permission, but he then instructs you to do so. He says in 1 John 4:7 I know this is basic, but we're just building up here, right? 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another. For love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. That God sent his only son into the world so that we may live through him. In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but he loved us, sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Okay, so again he's pointing to this love is supposed to cause us to cause this love. Now what is Satan's objective been from the garden? To destroy love. Now just to remind you, Tabernacles is about returning to the garden. It's about returning to the presence, the face to face of our Father. So in the garden we have to think about some of what went wrong initially there. What was the false consequences? The first relationship that God hurt was the relationship between man and God. Separation out of the garden. Get out. Right? That was the curse. The second relationship that suffers, man and his wife. Man and his wife. What happens immediately after the tree they eat and all this happens. Adam says, well God, it's the woman you've given me, right? And he blames her. And now that's an interesting situation. Why is that his first reaction? It's almost like the way that he expects God to deal with him. He projects onto how he deals with his wife, he expects. He does not know the mercies of God yet in the ways that we can see because we see what the Messiah has done. Adam has had limited revelation in some sense. And he says to his. He says to his wife or to. He blames his wife. He says, because God, do you have mercy? Do you have grace? Do you have a plan of salvation? What is the consequence? He said, you will die if you eat of it. I don't want to die. It was my wife. Let her die. I mean, think about the gravity of what he's doing there. He's literally sending her to death for something he partook in. That's what's happening there. So when we think about love, love is the first thing that stops become, that falls away and is no longer natural to mankind. We feel love easily for those who love us back. But when we're in a difficult situation and in trial, suddenly love gets on the chopping block, okay? Because we have this attitude of deservement in our relationships, whether it's with friends, whether it's with family or with our wife, we say, you deserve love, so I will give you love. We say that to our enemies. You've maybe treated me well today, so I will give you love. But the moment that someone becomes an enemy, we restrict love. That's why Yeshua had to come and say, love your enemies. And so with our wives, that's the same we do. And by the way, you guys who aren't married and if you're single, you need to listen because this is still important. All right? With our wives, we say to her, we love her. We're on our wedding day. It's like, it's just love is in the air, right? And then you have that first fight and it's like, I really don't want to love you right now. Like, I really don't want to. I don't feel like it. Like, just get away from me. And love suddenly feels like it's a choice now. Have you ever. I call it ping pong evil. You know, like when you know ping pong, when you play ping pong, you got the ball and so one of the, either the women or the man, right? They hit a ball over and that ball is full of hate. A ball is full of insult, full of frustration and all those things. And we hit the ball over the net and then the other person gets it and they're like. And they hit the ball back and then she hits the ball back and you hit the ball back and she hits the ball back. You're like just playing this game of ping pong all day long until someone decides to put the bat down and the ball falls off the table. And in that moment, that person can pick up a new ball called love, compassion, mercy, patience. Not because she deserves it. And you hit that ball over the net. Now she's hit with that, and it's like, I don't know what to do with this, right? So what? Actually, she cannot do nothing but hit it back. That's how ping pong works. You hit the ball over the net. That's how the game works. And so you hit it back, she hits it back. And you've just changed the game. You're in a new round. Some of you are in your marriage, and you're playing the wrong round. You need to put down your bat because you're fighting your wife. You think she's your enemy. You think she's an opponent. Ping pong is not a game of being an opponent. It's a game of having fun. It's ping pong, okay? Ping pong's just fun. And so that's not gonna happen until someone decides to put down the bat. That's my point over there. See, marriage, we think about marriage as a transactional thing sometimes. Like, I do this, you do that. I give this to you, you give that to me. Okay, cool. There's a degree of we need to be a blessing to one another. All that. I get that. You provide for your household. She has her responsibilities. Understand that. But marriage is more than transaction. It's covenantal. Okay, Covenantal. What does covenant mean? It means that even if you don't show up in all the ways that I expect you to show up, even if you don't reach this bar of standard that I have, that doesn't make my end of the covenant optional. See, God, when he came to Abraham, he said, I'm going to make a covenant with you and with your seed that I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make you your offspring. As many as the stars in the heavens. You are that offspring. You are sitting here as evidence of that promise fulfilled. Did you deserve it? And did your ancestors deserve it? Did Israel deserve it? No one deserved it because Israel rejected God. Israel ran away from God. Then they came back and they ran away from God. No king or no, no one could really solve the problem. They continuously sinned. And yet God could have at any point been like, well, you know, you didn't all of your end of the transaction get away from me. And he could have forgotten about us. He could have burned us all. That's what he could have done. And that would have been just and fair and logical. None of us could say anything about that. But what he does is, despite the fact that his people rebel and reject and all these things, he still comes and shows up to the end. And what does that love do? Think about this. What does that love do? You're the evidence of what it did. Just think about that. It has changed you. It has transformed you. It has done something to you. There is fruit in it. It has not been for nothing. God knew what he was doing. He knew the effects that the love empowered from him does inside of us. Now, this is the thing. You know, when we read Ephesians, husband, love your wives as Christ, love the church immediately. We should say, that's not possible. And you're right. With man, it is not possible. But to quote the Messiah, with God, all things are. And that thing is that love is only possible, only possible by reliance on the Holy Spirit in your marriage, in your relationships of whatever kind. You need to ask him to empower you to love like he loved. Because if you try and do this in your own strength, dear man, you will not be able to love your wife the way you are commanded to love her. He has instructed you to do something by nature that is impossible for you, so that it draws you to him, so that you are empowered by him, so that your relationship with him is strengthened as your relationship with her is strengthened. So am I saying that. You know, if you. Let me add this just analogy for you, for some of you may not get this yet in the army and all this, you'll hear this saying, right? They say, respect the uniform, Honor the uniform. Even if you don't like the guy, he's the drill sergeant. He is a. I don't. I just don't like this guy. But that doesn't mean that I don't get to. I'm like, oh, I don't want to respect you anymore. Because of who he is, his identity as an officer in rank, you have honor and respect for him. Now your wife has an identity. She is your wife. So that's why that love comes by definition with who she is to you. And you agreed with that definition when you stood before God and said, this is my wife and we are going into covenant together. Now you say, pd, is this going to solve all my issues? I'm not guaranteeing anything, but this is what I'll say to you. It will help it will definitely help. It is your best shot at any issue that you're facing right now in your marriage and in any relationship for that matter. But I'm specifically speaking to your wives, right, about your wives, because that's the one that's most difficult oftentimes. So, number one, it'll help. Number two, it's your responsibility before God. You don't really have a choice. You're in this situation. You're in this pickle right now. If you're in a situation where you have marital issues and you can't just throw up your hand in the air and expect, like, things are going to change while you do nothing. Even if she's done this, she's done that, I get it. You've done a lot of things. And what did God do with that? He loved you into his presence. He loved you and showed you compassion. So I want to read to you Matthew 19:9. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife. Yeshua speaking, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality and marries another, commits adultery. The disciples said to him, listen to what they say. If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. I chuckle because it's like, you know, I get their point. Like, Yeshua basically says, you don't get to get out of your covenant unless she cheats on you. And the disciples were like, if that's the case, I don't want to marry because I can think of a whole lot of reasons why I would want to leave her. I mean, if she was a terrible person, all the ways, except for cheating on me. Like, what about that situation? Like, that's a fair argument. And Yeshua says to them, well, for some they can receive that they can never marry. God has made some and calls some to never marry and some he has called to marriage. Let the one who can receive it receive it. But understand what you're signing up for. This is what you. This is what this. Dear men, if you've not married yet, this is what you're signing up for. Know what you're signing up for. And if you have signed up for it, yes, you have. And you're in that situation with you and God and your wife, and you have to be a man, because that's what it means to be a man. That's what it means to be a man. That's what Yeshua did. That's the definition of what it means to be a man. Okay, you say, my wife is incorporating. Okay, let's. Let's go there. My wife has scattered. When I was in my deepest, darkest time, my wife has pierced me. You know, you feel like those things that Messiah has gone through. You feel like you've gone through some of those things, perhaps. I want to read to you this in 1 Peter 2:19 for this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But when you do good and suffer for it, you endure? This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For this you have been called. Well, wait, what? For this you have been called if you do good and you suffer for it. That's what he just said. Because why Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you may follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. He did not play ping pong evil. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly, who is your advocate, who is with you, and who sees all that you go through. Now just a little disclaimer before I go on here. If there is abuse happening in a marriage, which can go both ways, by the way, we're not here talking about if there's danger, if there's stuff like that, we're not talking about letting that slide, right? If there is physical harm, physical danger, those things must be addressed. And those are extreme situations, right? And so if that's you and you need to talk about that, like, please come and talk to someone about that. But for now, I'm speaking about the typical things that marriages struggle with right now. How do we deal with those spots and wrinkles? Let's read on out from Ephesians 5. And Paul tells us, says, husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church giving him supper, then he says that he may sanctify her. So he's saying that sanctifying her is part of is what the love that he had for her has done, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that he may present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she may be holy and without blemish. So here's the question. Have you had spot or wrinkle personally? And how did God deal with that spot or wrinkle in you? Because he's basically saying Christ has done that for you and that Same way you're going to do with your wife now. What did he do? He didn't abandon you in your time of need and in your rebellion and in all this, he didn't leave you. And that's what Yeshua spoke about earlier. You don't just leave your wife because you feel like it. That's the first thing that Christ did for you. He didn't just leave you because you weren't cooperating. Next, refinement. Christ worked with you. God has worked with you. He has been refining you through all the trials and the situations and the difficulties that you've gone through in your character has been improving. That is what he's doing in you. But that means that he showed up, he was with you, and he continued walking alongside you through it all. And that's what you have to do. If your wife, you and your wife, you're going to have individual struggles throughout your life, right? But then when she has her struggles, walk with her through that refinement. Allow God to refine her, but be there for her through it all. Next, communicate. Okay, this sounds basic, but I know for us men, it's not really always that basic, especially the listening part, right? If you have issues with your wife or if you have issues with any relationship, you have to sit down and communicate. You have to. Because here's the thing, man, I know this is so basic, and I feel. It feels like kind of like, yeah, Peter, we know this. I know you know this, but we don't always do this. Say again? Yeah, yeah, Right. So I want you to really go and think about the things that are really the issues. You know, I'm feeling like, you know, part of me is like, why am I speaking about all these things? I feel like there's. I hope this is relevant. I believe that the father is speaking to you right now. Because in your marriages, there's varying degrees of this. And so, you know, I'm not just talking about big stuff. I'm not just talking about legal stuff. I'm talking about all of it. Right? Really? Go sit down on all the things that frustrate you. Go and write it down. Right? But then go and sit down with her whenever. Maybe go on a weekend away, Give the kids to grandma and Grandpa. Do whatever you need to do, and sit down and ask her first, what are all the things that you want to change that you want that I'm doing wrong? How am I irritating you? What do you want better in our marriage? And you be quiet and you just write down every point and you ask her, you sit there for half an hour, an hour, two hours, as long as it takes for her to think of everything through that she has an issue with. And you write it all down and you speak about solutions and you don't open your mouth about what you want. And then when that's done, you can start telling her, okay, these are some of the things that I would like for us to work on. But see, because here's what happens. We only start talking about those things in the heat of our fight, in the darkness of the night, and in our. When we, when we, when we're rolling in our sleep, that's when we talk about those things to ourselves and maybe to her when we're angry, but we never get alone with her with the purpose of actually, in calmness, figuring these things out. This is 101. But when this doesn't happen, bitterness gets into her heart, it gets into your heart, and it's. And the fallen nature of what came in from the garden, that's what happened there. That starts separating. And then you're 20 years in and you feel like, I don't even know where to begin. Well, begin somewhere because you need to start reversing the curse of the fool in your marriage. And the only way for you to reverse the curse of the fool is by doing what Yeshua did to reverse the curse. Loving you. He got on the cross for you. Now get on the cross. Sacrifice. That's how you reverse the curse. He's the one who did it. But then he does it in you and through you. He empowers you and that brings out above. Next teaching. Okay, this one, this one's fun. You know, he says Yeshua cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. Okay, God Yeshua gave us his word. And that's an interesting phrase. He says he washed us with water with the Word. Now it's interesting. He doesn't say. He just told us what to do. He didn't just, like, come and have a theological debate with us. He washed us with righteousness. And so many men. I know. You know, we like. And we're all like, you know, many of us are like, I'm like that. You know, we want to. We're like, black, white. This is right. This is wrong. Like, this is what you need to do, wife. This is what you don't need to do. I get that. But when we think about. And there is a place for having conversations. But what I want you to think about is your relationship with God is Supposed to be you as individuals, but also you as one flesh being one flesh. It's approaching God in prayer together, and it's approaching God with studying his Word together, reading his Word together, so that there's mutual edification, conversation, not just when you go to church together, but in your day to day. Right? So it's not just, hey, don't do this, don't do that, obey me, submit to me, you're coming together in love. And from that place of drawing near to him together by nature there's unity that's created, not uniformity. Me and my wife, we are theologically more connected, I would say, than many marriages. But I will tell you that there is always going to be theological differences and that's not a deal breaker because there's going to be theological differences between all of us in this room. And that's not a deal breaker for fellowship. God did not command us to be uniform, like perfect, like copies of one another. We have the right to have our own perspectives as long as love is still in the forefront. And then we. Iron sharpens iron and we grow together. Amen. And that's the same what God wants in our marriages with our wives. Okay, next mercy. God forgave us quickly. The Bible says in the Book of John that if we forgive or if you ask for, if we ask him to forgive us of our sins, he will be quick to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And so in the same way, if there is bitterness, if there is, you must forgive quickly. And even if she does not, if she has her, if she has things that she's holding on to forgive her quickly seek unification. Okay, last one. Have unwavering love through it all. Now, I understand that there's various degrees of, you know, it's in some ways difficult to speak to every situation in a room like this. I understand that. But if necessary, seek outside help. If the communication is, if you, if it's impossible for you to communicate in a place where it's just the two of you, for whatever reason, seek outside help, seek counseling. I know we're not always a fan of that, but it's worth it for your marriage to get someone else. If that's needed, absolutely do it. But I will say this. You know, pd, is this going to work? Like, is this going to actually, like, help me? Like, I feel like this is like stuff that we've, we've, we've thought about sometime. But ask yourself, how has it worked for you? Because you are in A covenant right now with him. And surely, surely it has done something for you, has it not? And so if that is the evidence that you are living and breathing every day, perhaps we can just apply the principles of that to your marriage and see the same result. Life from the dead, if that's what you need. And some of you, you've been listening to me all this time and you're like, yeah, yeah, okay, that's cool. Pd and you're just thinking about all the things your wife has been doing wrong. And really you're the issue. Some of you, you're really the issue here and you're blinded to it. And so here's the thing. No one is. Not everyone's perfect. I get it. They all have wives that have things that they need to work on. But sometimes we're the issue. And you know, it's really hard for me to say anything that's going to open your eyes except for you to really go to the father and say, lord, what am I not seeing? If you do not approach the father with humility in your marriage, you will try and pick out all the stuff in your wife's eye. All that, and you've got logs. What's the definition of manliness? Bravery. Strength. Ruggedness. Toughness. Courage. Determination. Fearlessness. And I like this one to have guts. Okay, so all those things, we agree, okay, that's what is, that's, that's manly things. But that's everything we've been speaking about now. And we've been talking about love. Do you see that? See, the world says love is ooey gooey and it's like this feminine thing. No, everything we just spoke about is bravery. No man is going to be able to do that without bravery. It's strength, it's ruggedness, it's toughness, it's courage, it's determination, it's fearlessness, it's to have guts. And now you ask, okay, Yeshua did all of that. How did he do it? He was empowered from above. As we discussed, he relied on the father. And number two, and I'm concluding with this, is he saw his bride not by what she has done, but by who she is, by who the father has created her to be. So when you look at your wife and you see all the things that she has done that you don't like, you're looking at her through the wrong perspective. You have to look at her and see her through the father's eyes and perspective. Her value and her being a treasured possession in his eyes. How he created her as part of his royal kingdom to do royal things upon the earth alongside of you. You are supposed to be a couple who is bringing the kingdom forward. And she has that value. That is who she is alongside of you. So when you see her for who God has made her to be, a righteous woman, a pearl after his own heart, then you will be able to apply the things that Christ applied to you. Because he saw you as a righteous man even before you were righteous in your actions. Think about that. He saw what you were to become even before you were it. And that's why he hanged on the cross and bled out for you. Like that's powerful. So I want you to. I want you to really think about how do I see my wife? Because how you see her will be how you treat her. I want to pray for us here and then if you. And then we can have a little bit of conversation as well, right? Father, I thank you, Lord, so much for all things. Lord, I thank you, Father, for the example that you have laid out for us. Yeshua, you have come and you have laid down your life for us. You have given us an example of sacrifice and love. Lord, I pray, Father, that even, Lord, this is the most difficult thing that any man can do or face, to imitate you in that way. But, Lord, we know that your Holy Spirit is powerful and able. Lord, we are not going to trust on our own strength anymore, as we may have been doing. Lord, we repent where we have. Where we have tried to fix our marriages like fixing a car. Lord, I thank you, God, that we cannot do it unless your Holy Spirit intervenes and changes us and moves through us so that our wives can be changed, so that we can be a changed people, so that our children can be changed. All for you. For your glory, Father, I pray. Lord, right now, Lord, where we do not have eyesight, that is clear. Where we're not sure, where we have questions, where we have doubts, where we have difficulties, where we are, where we feel. Maybe we even feel like it's too far gone. Lord, I pray that you would come and give us a gift of faith. Lord, if you are able to resurrect the dead to life, and if that's the promise we even hold to in the coming resurrection, that when we breathe our last, that will not be our last, that we will breathe again, if that is what we hold to. Lord, we ask that you would give us the faith even for anything that is dead in our lives, any relationship, any friendship, any. Sing this sukkot that we feel is dead. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would give us the faith to believe that you can even breathe life into that, that even that can come to life, because surely, surely you have the power to do even that. Father, I also pray, Father, for every family represented here right now. I pray that you would come with your spirit and that you would come and change the hearts of children. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would come and bring and raise up families to be kingdom warriors, for you to bring to be vessels of righteousness upon the earth, to be a voice of reason upon the earth and to be examples of love and compassion and mercy. Father, I pray that they would be that all of obstacles that the enemy tries to lay before us towards those things, even those things in our hearts that have come in through traumas or trials that we've gone through. Our Father, Lord, right now we lift up every word that's been spoken to us against us that even to the point of childhood, every word of discouragement, every person who's put us down or whatever it was. Lord, right now we lift up all of those things to you. And all bitterness and anger and fear, we lift up to you in the name of Yeshua. We cast that out. Father, I thank you for freedom. I thank you for your power to deliver us. And Father, I pray, Lord, that you would give us the ability just to love like you loved above all, above all things. I pray all this in the name of Yeshua, the Messiah. Amen. Sa.