Preserved By The Priest

grandchildren. It's evil. There's no excuse, but to her godless heart, position meant more than people. She is wrong and her act is evil. She is motivated by selfishness and by greed. She is not content with her place or her time. She hungers for power. I would tell you tonight if power is the goal, then people will become the means. And this is the antithesis of the generational church. Any disposition that we might carry or motivation we might possess that would seek to preserve oneself or one's position at the expense of a future generation can never be of God. We are here to perpetuate the gospel and to extend the kingdom to another generation. And so the question must be asked of every servant and every leader of this house. It's not just how much do I know, but how much have I taught? The question is not simply who do I lead, but who have I trained and released?

For the future of this church and any church demands leaders who are servants and see beyond themselves. Perhaps it seems a strong statement tonight, especially with such a beautiful building as this, but our future is not guaranteed. This nation is filled with churches that today sit empty, remaining only as a relic and reminder of what once was, but now is not. The Pentecostal movement is no exemption. I've preached in these churches. Athaliah is what we might call illegitimate authority, her motive impure and her ambition unrestrained. The lengths to which she would go to protect herself are extreme. She will do harm and ultimately she will take the life of her own family, her grandchildren. Those that she should love and seek to serve, she kills. It's evil and all of this was merely the means that she would use to protect her position. It speaks to us now of an ever present temptation called disunity. It is without question a work

of the devil that is used to jeopardize not only the present work of God, but the security and the future of his church. Paul would write in Ephesians that we wrestle, but it's not against flesh and blood, and he details with great insight the spiritual nature in which we are engaged. So I say tonight, we cannot be naive. There is a conflict among us. This very moment division has its grip on cultures and cities and nations and families. And I say, God forbid, it cannot be so in the church. The conflict is not always observed by human eye because it exists in a realm unseen, but the scripture speaks clearly. There are demonic powers and spiritual forces that are at work in this present age and they seek to stop the work of God. While the story is graphic and her actions are evil, it probes me to consider how does this happen.

And to this I submit to you that we need not look far only to consider the environment in which Athaliah was raised in. She is the daughter of two well-known but hopefully not well-liked characters in your Bible, Ahab and Jezebel. They ruled in the northern kingdom, polluting the land with idols and false doctrine. Their actions set the spiritual and cultural foundation that would propel her into a destructive reign when she married into the monarchy of the southern kingdom. Ahab, he is the passive man. He is a king, yes, but his actions are void of any real leadership. He sulks and when he should be decisive and when he should speak, he hesitates. And Jezebel rises to make decisions for him. It was his weakness that gave space for the domineering nature of his wife to rise. Scripture would say he did more to provoke God

to anger than all of the kings before him. And that is quite a statement. Jezebel, his wife, is bold and unsubmitted, even aggressive. Her heart, it holds no honor for headship, no respect for spiritual authority. She leads over top of her husband and she challenges the prophets of God. It is striking to me that Eve and the militant prophet Elijah did not struggle with Ahab, but one message from Jezebel and he fears for his life. It's a spirit that defies authority. And it is true tonight, spirits know no gender. They may work through flesh, whether it is male or female, but we cannot casually pass over the record of scripture as if it bears no significance. The pattern demands our study. Athaliah is the daughter of a disastrous situation, a home without truth. She carries Ahab's disregard for the covenant of God and Jezebel's promotion of Baal. She is doctrinally unsound and morally impure. It is evil but equally

sad because she is merely the product of her environment. The idolatry and the confusion has now compounded itself and been passed on to the next generation. It's a horrible thing, but at the heart of this horror of which I preach is simply a home out of order. I submit to you tonight that the greatest danger to the generational church is not what happens in the world and it is not the lack of a proper facility. It is the proper order and function of our homes. It was the lineage of David through which the Messiah will come and at this moment it is nearly extinct. The remaining possibility of the Messiah coming is present in one boy, in one boy alone. His name is Joash and recognizing the future is in jeopardy. Jehoshaba is compelled to act. She steals that young baby from among the king's sons, hides

him in hopes that that messianic lineage can be preserved, and there he remains hidden in the house of God under the care of the priest for six years. Had it not been for one servant who acted with selfless intent to save a boy and a priest who rose to the occasion and cared for him, the future, they had believed for and they had hoped for may never have come. And so with this backdrop, let me break from the Old Testament narrative and perhaps I might still yell, but there's going to be a lot of teaching in this house tonight. I've come to talk to us about family because we are going to reach the lost. We will see the sinner converted. We are here to see deliverance, healing, and salvation. Yes, and when they come, we will disciple them and we will establish them and we will send

them into the harvest. But the greatest strength of a generational church is godly families. Genesis chapter one opens by describing the state of things absent of God. The earth is without form and void and darkness, a place of chaos defined by a lack of structure, confusion or uncertainty of thought, emptiness, nothing really mattered, no clear order. This is the state of all things where God is not. And so as he begins to create by his spoken word, all that he does stands in contrast to the disordered nature of things that are absent of him. From the solar system to the seasons, the cycle of life within nature, all of it is an ordered system. I heard it said recently an old farmer said, I have no interest in seeing the great cities of the world. Because if you put me in downtown Manhattan, you are only showing me what man can do. But if you drop me on a mountain

or in the middle of the forest, I am surrounded by what only God can do. None of this as beautiful as it was, the peaks of the mountains and the beauty of the ocean, the beaches and lush valleys, none of this was the focus of God's creation. It was merely the canvas he would use to make his most prized possession, people. First Adam and then Eve, male and female. See the family was never a disheveled afterthought for the construct of ancient tradition. Families were God's idea. They are fashioned by God with structure and order and purpose and eternal value. And knowing it is God's design, it should be no surprise to us tonight that it is the devil's target. Satan rejoices when homes are ruined. From the beginning of time until this night, he has targeted families with division intent on destroying the legacy of faith. First it is Adam and Eve, and then it is Cain and Abel.

First it is the marriage, and then it is the sibling relationship. He will do whatever he must do to bring division into the family unit. I preach to you tonight, the devil is intent on making families feeble because the weaker the family, the stronger his rule. Homosexuality, transgenderism, gender dysphoria, and abortion are all tools of the enemy. Ideologies that are commonly accepted, cultural strongholds we might call them, that erode the biblical value and family identity, and ultimately the stability of nations. So it is as pastor has done so well time and time again, it is the duty of the pulpit in the church to stand guard and declare the counsel of God. Godly families, make godly churches. We are not great by the beauty of this building. We are not great by the talent of our instruments or how well we might sing or preach.

The strength of the church is only as strong as the strength of our homes. I preach to us tonight, good churches are made of good families. Godly churches are made of godly families. And the scripture says it time and time again, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It provokes me to consider God's interest in a generational narrative. What starts with me should not stop with me. And that's why the prophet Joel said, tell your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation. I don't know if you know this, but the generational church was not something pastor got out of an Amazon bestseller. It's the pattern of God for the propagation of the gospel and the strength of the kingdom, but a generational church demands godly families. So it is when Jesus himself and the apostle Paul would refer back to Adam and Eve when speaking

of both identity and family order. If Genesis was the foundation of their biblical teaching on the family, it must also be ours. Adam is made in the image and likeness of God. This shapes the form and the function of the family because it shows us man's initial and essential role and responsibility. The man is God's image in the home. He represents God to the family. He is quite literally the priest of his home. And in that proclamation in Genesis one, God gave him dominion. He was made to have dominion. He was empowered to rule to lead. It is what God wanted. But let me talk to the men here for a minute. Dominion has to begin in the heart before it can get into the home. As a husband and as a father, I have a mandate from God to make sure that godly dominion finds its way into the bedroom

my son sleeps in, in the living room we gather in, in the table we may eat at, but before I can give it, I must have it in my own heart. Job sanctified his children and offered a sacrifice for each of them. What was this? He was fulfilling his priestly role and so to the family. If the family fails to recognize this, the husband will be robbed of his influence and eventually the entire family identity will be distorted and soon destroyed. This means the spouse in the children must let the husband and the father be who God has made him to be. Now to the man, to be like God is not to be God. You are a steward of the family God has given you, not an owner. He has placed it under your oversight, but the recognition that those are God's children must temper how we lead.

When we speak, we speak and we act as God's image knowing that how I live and lead and whatever it is I do, I do as bearing the image of God and so it is my authority as a husband and as a father is limited by God's law. I cannot represent myself for I must represent God. It is my duty to my family. Jesus said in John 5, his judgment was just because he did not seek his own will and so it is that the judgment of a husband and a father is only just if he judges based on the will of God and not his own will. For if we men misrepresent the image of God and the service of our family to our will and not God's will it becomes idolatry because we have made God something he is now. Matthew 12 and 29 perhaps it seems out of context

to this subject but Jesus said how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house. I know Jesus said it but can I pull back the curtain tonight and let you know Satan has been using it. If the devil wants our families he will first seek to bind up the husband and the father because if the dad is bound the family is bound and so it is I've watched on many occasions a father's influence being neutralized by passivity within himself or dishonor from his spouse and I must tell you tonight that is how Satan gets in a home to the man you must be willing to grow and to the family you have to let that man grow. Now listen I know this is crazy it's crazy to me

I got married at 19 I was a little bit ahead of the curve maybe but I found a good thing now I will confess to you tonight in all the ways that a husband should be a husband I was not ready at 19 but thank God for a wife who was willing to let me grow and did not dishonor me from the role that God placed me in. I know I know listen I really feel I'm talking to some things tonight I know you may feel like your husband is immature inexperienced and perhaps you don't think he's developed as he should be but I got to tell you he is put in that role by God and so he is to be respected for the office he holds as given by God he said well he's not perfect no he may not be but he's placed by God and should be honored as such

and the scripture speaks in Colossians 3 wives say uh-oh submit yourselves under your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them children obey your parents and all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged here in four short verses an admonition to the wife to the husband to the children and then to the parents to the children what is it it's the apostle recognizing the strength of the church as only as strong as the family he was trying to tell them a family must derive its identity and its function from God alone that means as a family we build our purpose around the purpose of God we tell our story as weave together with the story of his kingdom and as a father it is my duty to cultivate a sense of

purpose in my family that goes beyond material gain beyond selfish pursuits and beyond anything of this earth i must bring into my home a sense of eternal purpose and i know i know even even those who call themselves christian will shy from the topic churches diminish the sanctity of the scripture but headship is biblical adam was created first this establishes the precedent as it relates to the home it is highest because it is first not because it is better it is not a competition i hope you know this competition is simply the enemy's vice to bring division into your marriage and division into your family and division into a church god put them in their lane uniquely gifted to compliment one another now i know it's been mispreached in times past i won't stand here and confess to you something the scripture does not confess i'm not against a woman working outside

of the home however i must preach to you the scripture i've heard the chauvinistic statements how woman's place is in the home i got some things to say to that man too your place may be many places but the bible does teach your priority must be the home oh i know you want to make the money you got corporate dreams you got all these ambitions be careful that your ambition doesn't redirect your priority from where god put it in the home and when you read Ephesians 5 22 to 6 and 9 this is the apostle paul writing at length on the subject of family and i marvel it's so uniquely placed sandwiched right there in the epistle between him writing on corporate worship and spiritual warfare what a unique place to put it paul almost as if god was saying i'm trying to show you the importance of this and the relevance of it to both subjects

you cannot consider the corporate gathering without considering the family and you cannot talk about spiritual warfare without talking about the family and in that discourse he would say in Ephesians 5 and 23 the husband is head of the life even as christ is head of the church he is the savior of the body what does this mean that just as christ is the head of this church sir you are the head of your home it's notable as you study paul's epistles paul never speaks to the man concerning headship he always speaks to the woman because he is not feeding the ego of the man to be chauvinistic or domineering it is his nature but he is telling the woman you must recognize and you must honor let me tell you something about men we have egos and if you dishonor that man you will smother out the part of him that god put in him to lead shame will silence his voice

uncertainty will rob him of conviction and so paul tells the wife it is your duty to recognize the head that i have placed over you this does not give the man permission to be brash in his role it's simply admonishing the woman to recognize the authority that god has established now yes i use the word authority but this does not mean you can be cruel headship might rightly be understood as simply the the source or the origin of something because as eve came from the side of adam so he is saying the woman has come from the man he is trying to tell them that the avenue of kingdom authority in the home is through the man god is saying if i want to do something if there's direction if there's issue it comes through the man now i know maybe i don't hope not maybe there is a chauvinist in the house

you think wrong well let me tell you this reality should invoke some introspection and humility it oughta burden us by the weight of this task because as the head of my home i'm confronted by the reality that everything that comes into my house comes through me whether by careful intention or careless ignorance the man the husband the father he is responsible for what comes into his home if the family river flows with things not of god all you got to do is walk upstream and see what daddy's been doing all the way back to the garden of eden where this began the first air was not that blatant disobedience that eve is so often pegged for it was the passivity of the head of that home i've got a question adam where were you when you knew what the word from god was and the serpent was seducing your wife

presumably he is near but he is silent but silence does not abdicate him of his responsibility in this moment he is the head of that home and as such when the lord comes he calls him to account because when you're going to deal with an issue you always go to the head of the home and adam looks back at the lord and jenesis 3 and 12 it's it's a bold statement oh he says the woman that you gave me all right you realize what he's doing right he is seeking to place eve back under the headship of god but god has already put her under him he has been passive in his role and now he seeks to maintain the privilege of the dominion that god has given him without the accountability that comes with it he is essentially saying not my fault she did it and god says

that's not how this works because i made you the head of the home and so it is headship is not so much about male privilege it is about accountability it is about the stewardship of the things god has entrusted to our care and if we fail to recognize i'm talking to you men now if we fail to recognize who we are and the role for which we have been made our families will collapse into insecurity and spiritual wandering idolatry and false doctrine men we must speak i didn't come expecting a whole lot of amen's because i know there's a lot of scripture and teaching there's a lot of meeting here tonight listen i god started dealing with me about family a couple months i sat with the man in an office of this church just a week or so ago i said you go listen to the last many times i've preached here on a sunday i called dad's up i've talked

about family i've got a burden from god for the families of this church i didn't get this off youtube i would have preached it a couple sunday nights ago until pastor called said i really feel i got a message on hell i gotta preach tomorrow night i said no problem pastor you do what you feel you don't need to justify anything with me i said lord maybe i'm not supposed to preach that but god kept talking the burden kept stirring and he walked in the office a week ago he said where are you next sunday i said well i'm gonna be in illinois he said is there any way you can preach on sunday night i said yeah there is because i got a burden stirring in my heart for the families of the church do you realize what happens when she does not recognize her head

when she dishonors her god-given authority when she robs him of the confidence that's necessary to lead i hope i'm not saying too much here but you've all you all saw it because it is such that with the right spirit and the right demeanor god in fact in the heber when you study genesis one it literally that that helped me it literally means to rub against it's a friction it's a balance god gave you that spouse to make you more like him and i thank god for a wife that'll challenge me and in the right spirit call me into a place of consideration and accountability where we can talk but but when i say this is what i feel and this is what we're doing i was sitting in paris france with brother and sister novaki several years ago when i was telling them how we were getting ready to move to tarot and there was

little sweet sister novaki she'll be here next weekend and uh she said you mean to tell me that that your wife you sold everything and and your wife and your kids moved with you to europe when you knew it wasn't forever and now you're waiting to move back to a place you've never been and that's correct and she said you have a good wife and i said oh yes i do throw her away in which that spouse can work in tandem with their partner perhaps you saw it on Wednesday night sister tammy and her sister harpal her sweet way she just what's that that's that's that sister harpal saying just preached the word i was in conversation with pastor one day and we were talking about some things he said i just i really need you to help keep me humble and i said um you're my pastor but you do have a wife but she must do it in a way that honors

him as who god has made him lest she rob him of any semblance of ego and confidence and now he is afraid to lead in the very place god has put him and so it is i tell you perhaps one of the greatest pandemics of the apostolic movement is the passivity of our men silence when we should speak laziness when we should lead and so the scripture speaks paul writes to timothy in two and a i will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting and then he continues in like manner also as if to say men lead and women follow prior to any instruction on matters of what we might call external holiness towards women paul speaks to the men concerning the nature of their leadership in their marriage their home and their lives this is by example perhaps the greatest struggle of the modern church

is weak men and unsubmitted women that are polluting penny cost we talk much of jezebel she's even mentioned by the revelator the church is indicted the rebuke for their tolerance of that but i would tell you tonight there is no jezebel without an ahab women desire a man to lead not to lord over them but to lead with love to rise with confidence and say this is what god is saying but i tell you a man will never have the confidence to do that if he feels dishonored by his wife and this as practical as it seems is the very thing that keeps families weak and churches struggling it is the real pandemic men to do nothing can be as bad as doing the wrong thing because passivity will always produce iniquity stand together with me i know i know how this works we can put on our suit and tie we can come to church

and we can do the part but paul said you got to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting this was the action but then he talked about the attitude because you're not just what you look like you are what you think like he was saying the man a disposition of your heart has to match the posture of your hands don't just look spiritual be spiritual don't just worship spiritual think spiritual don't just do this on sunday let it be the guiding light of your life the knowledge of who i am as made by god gives me confidence to lead but at the same time it burdens my heart with a fear and trepidation because i know i can't do it without him i can fit i don't have it all figured out a regular statement in my home sounds like this i don't know

i've never been a dad to a 14 year old before but in november i will i've never been a dad until i was i know i know hailey when you when you marry me i thought she probably thought i was perfect didn't take long to figure out that wasn't true but i had never been a husband before and it took a grace on her part to let me grow in the role god gave me i know sometimes my kids don't like my decisions and listen i'll just tell you sometimes they say well so and so can do this they do this why can't i do this well because i've wrestled with the scripture and i've been in prayer and i don't have peace and i just i know you don't understand it but i'm asking you please give me a little grace i've never had a parent in an hour like this

before i'm not perfect but i'm trying to figure it out in the fear of god listen how that conversations was some who this church is home to and pastors kids from around this country in the last couple weeks and i think oh god oh god where was this conversation 10 years ago i know those kids were loved i know that family loved god i'll tell you what it was it was passivity on the part of a man and it was dishonor on the part of a woman that robbed that home of the authority that was necessary for those children to be raised in the fear of god and had it not been for one priest who said i will take responsibility for this child and i'll raise him for the next seven years until we can anoint him king the future would have died that's why i come tonight to tell you the future of new life fellowship i wish it could

i wish to god pastor could do it by himself i wish to god he and sister harpole could do it by themselves don't work like that he's a shepherd of this house he is the man of god he is the voice for this place but if the future will be preserved it isn't coming upon us for the priest of every home to recognize i am responsible for my family i am responsible for my spouse and my kids if they will know god if they will be saved if they will be preserved it will only be by my priestly function you know how many times listen this is the fourth time i've preached in the last 48 hours and i got to preach tomorrow night and tuesday night and i'll be back here wednesday and when i'm dragging my kids around going to church and i got a six-year-old saying

why do we got to do this why do we got to go there we already went to church today i know but just come because one day you're going to discover the beauty of the lord that's in this house athelaya she's that vile wicked work of the devil that jeopardizes the future of the church so how does that happen a home without order it is the nature of a man to seek the influence of a man dad if you don't do it somebody will it might be a figure on the screen of their iphone it might be somebody they work with but that boy needs your affirmation he needs your voice your counsel your example not just in matters of your will and earthly gain he needs to see you lead him in the matters of the spirit how will your daughter ever know what a godly wife in a good home looks

like if she doesn't see you honor the man god gave you to be your head i learned a long time ago as a young man in ministry those who run the race and run it well and i've heard pastor say it many times damn sister tammy and i are okay then everything's okay he said i've had people rise against me i've had people do things and i've had people say things there's been trying moments and seasons of uncertainty but i know if tammy's with me but they can't do that for your home oh god i hope to god you can you can feel my burden i'm contending for the generational church i know we've talked about facilities and we will some more but we can build but if there's not order in our homes the issue's not been fixed the strength of the generational church is in our homes and the strength of this church

is only as strong as your home and my home so men lead in the fear of god speak as the scripture speaks ladies honor and uphold children obey and honor for this is the first commander with promise what is this it's the instruction for the family and if there's any question about the reality of this value and its acceptance in culture we only have to consider what's happened in the last several days the enemy will do whatever he must do to divide the home to rob it of the authority that is necessary for the image of god to be in the earth i think it'd be fitting tonight if if you're a married couple and you're here take each other by the hand and begin to make your way down to this altar perhaps you're here in your single i'm going to ask you to come too because there may be a day that you are married

and there is a family that you are born into by water and spirit we're all here tonight eating the fruit living in the blessing of their decision of one generation that told another generation i'm not there yet but it strengthens my heart to look across the sanctuary and realize if they could do it young people if your parents are in this altar right now you ought to step out of your seat and find them you ought to make your way to them i was on the phone this week the pastor from somewhere in this nation whose daughter and their family is in jeopardy i said i'm not in the business of inserting myself between a man and his wife but his decisions are clear that he is abdicating his role and his authority and as the dad of that girl and the pastor the shepherd of their soul you're at a point

where the decision has to be made on the basis of eternity if you don't speak they may walk their way into an eternity without god i know there comes a point where everyone makes their own decision but i feel the burden to do all i can that a man would rise up into his priestly role and say i want to preserve the future of my family in this church that a lady would say i want to help you be the man god wants you to be i won't speak in a way that demeans you or dishonors you i will lift you up and advocate that my children respect you as the priest that you are atheliah there's nothing more than an agenda born in a home of disorder god help us come on would you take them by the hand would you lift up your voice let's pray

god i'm praying for our homes now i'm praying over every marriage every husband and every wife that the construct of our lives be patterned by the scripture and not by culture that the function of our homes be dictated by your word we honor it lord we submit to it we want to obey it come on man you've got to love her as christ loved the church you've got to be willing to lay yourself down god empty every man of selfishness help me be more selfless help me be more aware oh god lord we are not defined by the beauty of this building for the talent that draws the attention of man my suit and tie might deceive my common churchgoer but lord the disorder of our homes will rob us of the authority that we need help us god i'm contending tonight for the generational church for the future

for another generation of young adults that will teach bible studies and children that will serve and another generation of parents and grandparents as seasons come and seasons go and oh god give us families that are strong families that are godly come on that's it come on pray pray pray i pray for godly marriages i pray for honest marriages i pray the breach would be restored i pray the home would be strengthened yes yes yes come on the prophet said in the last days he would turn the hearts of fathers to the son and sons to the father it was a recognition that one of the dominant works of the last days was the spirit of god would bring healing to our homes why because for thousands of years that antichrist spirit would defy the image of god would attack marriages would attack families oh but god we invite your spirit into our marriages

we invite your spirit into our parenting the error of eve was she acted in the absence of her accountability and the error of adam was though he was present he was passive and in no way do i seek to minimize the necessity of attendance in this house but being present in the house is not a substitute for being passive in the home men god gave you a voice use it now i fully understand that i have to father differently in every season of my life i don't deal with my 13 year old the way i deal with my six year old and my father doesn't deal with me the way he did when i was living in his home because the intent is that maturity would take you beyond the need for consistent correction and then in that loving fatherly way often ingest there might just be a a little encouragement

a little counsel a little something to consider but the point is the father must speak i've heard pastor andrew brother zack tell stories about their father i've heard brother ryan tell me stories about his father and mother and how would i like to be in a fly on the wall back then when sister diam is laying the law down but you know what i'm glad she did because there's her grandson standing in the risers but you know what now there's new young parents and there's there's new grandparents and another generation pastor said it those he married almost 26 years ago he's now marrying their kids it's the generational church i just come to tell us the strength of that church is not defined by this building or the spaces we have or do not have it is the function of our homes when we walk out those doors and the lights are turned off