Tape 1 - Christian Reflections from the Jewish Family

Park Meadows Church

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Doesn't matter to me whether the Cowboys win or lose, huh? My joy doesn't depend on that, does yours?

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To some it does. To some it does. There was weeping in Mudville. Yeah There may be some more weeping before the year is out

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Yeah, I understand. I understand. Well, I'm glad that you're here Open your

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Bible, please to Genesis chapter 1 and And what we want to do is cover some ground and start out tonight sort of foundationally and We've got two or three days to spend together and We're going to go and look at What we believe about living together husband wife children and parents grandparents and just Most of you have set through the family life seminars you've studied the

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Bible what it says about the family and what I want to do is is to take you into the

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Jewish mind Because it if you look at the Bible with the Jewish mind, you'll pick up some tidbits and information it was written by Jews and is written about a

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Jew and the Apostle Paul was a Jew from which we get most of our doctrine and So it

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I think would help us if we can understand How Paul was school? What was Paul taught?

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he was taught by Gamaliel who was in the ancestral line of the great rabbi Hilao and Gamaliel one of the great rulers of Israel Who lived back in those days of Jesus was the man who taught the

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Apostle Paul? So we can understand some of the things because we have writings by these people. We have writings that Gamaliel wrote

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We have copies and manuscripts of things that these early people Jewish people who lived around the time of Jesus and after the time of Jesus who strongly influenced the

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Apostles who strongly influenced Christianity because the first Christian movement was Totally Jewish and you know, one of the problems was that the

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Jews wouldn't let Gentiles into the church They just wouldn't let him in and that was one of the difficulties and you know in Acts 15 when

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Paul and Barnabas went down to Jerusalem meet with James and Peter there and the Holy Spirit indicated to them that Paul and Barnabas would care the

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Gospel to the Gentiles and Peter and James and the rest of them would stay with the Jews in Jerusalem Indicating that they were all one.

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And so what I'm saying to you is that the Jewish influence upon your life Is amazing and tremendous and yet we just don't understand it sometimes or we don't recognize it as such

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Many of the things you do in marriages in marriage ceremonies You can trace it back to the

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Jewish wedding feast You can trace it back to the wedding ceremony at the time of Jesus and many of the things that influence your life the radio

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Television TV and all those things you will find the Jewish influence

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You will find the Jewish hand you will find the Jewish technology. You'll find Jewish mind.

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And so if you and I can understand Some of these principles in the

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New Testament the New Testament is essentially in a great portion quoted Old Testament scripture and Jesus was constantly sending them back to the word and so you and I know that the principles we have to live on We can find them in the

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Old or the New Testament. It doesn't matter to us. God's principles are eternal They are eternal.

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And so what we want to do is to share something not just to be sharing something I want it to be fruitful for your life.

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I want it to be beneficial to you Your time is valuable and you take time to come and so you're saying well go on and get with it, you know

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And let's let's see, you know, we'll check it out. We'll vote on it. Now. I never put it to a vote I never

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I just commit time to you, but I don't know put it to a vote 613 commandments in the

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Torah. I'm going to use the word Torah t -o -r -a -h meaning Part somebody said it what the law the law

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Basically, the first five books of Moses is called the Torah. The Tanakh is the

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Old Testament But generally speaking Jewish people today sometimes when they say

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Torah, they just mean the whole Old Testament Oh, they may say it to not but it's just easy to say Torah, which means the word of the

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Lord So I'm going to use that word Sometimes I'll mean the law of Moses the first five books

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Sometimes I will mean the Old Testament teachings and I'll try to remember to tell you what

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I mean at that time because those of you Know, you know, you have to pass the examination that we will give on Thursday and so you'll want to make good notes, hopefully and I'll turn your tape recorder on or buy the tapes from the church or something of that nature, but of the 613 commandments inscribed in the

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Torah We call them the mosaic commandments the first and foremost commandment in the

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Jewish mind and in the scripture is what be fruitful and multiply ah

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Different thought tell me the Genesis chapter 1 verse 11 Genesis 1 verse 11 now

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God's creating everything He just saying God said and God said nine times God said God said

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God said God said and the inevitable result is it was so God said it was so God said it was

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So and God is getting everything together and then in verse 10. He formed the earth

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In verse 10, he called the dry land air So we're away from Genesis 1 1

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Genesis 1 1 he created the material and immaterial He created the invisible and the visible in verse 10

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And then in verse 11 and God said let the earth bring forth vegetation now this is on the third day of creation, isn't it?

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Say yes. Yes Let the earth bring forth Vegetation the herb yielding seed the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind whose seed is in itself upon the earth

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And it was so so on the third day of creation He says already wants all the herbs in the grass and so forth to bring forth their seed their fruit

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All right, you go to the fifth day of creation in verse 22 and God blessed him now here he's making animal life and he and he says and God blessed him saying be fruitful and multiply and Fill the waters in the seas and let fowl

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Multiply in the earth. So that's on the fifth day of creation God says be fruitful and multiply to the animals the waters and the sea and to fill them and the fowls of the air

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All right Then you go to the sixth day in verse 24 God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind Cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after its kind and it was so so God is just saying be fruitful and multiply

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Be fruitful and multiply said on a third day the fifth day the sixth day and then finally in verse 26 chapter 1

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God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have

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Dominion over the fish of the sea and over a fowl of the air Over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth

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Then we're going to verse 28 and tie that in with it and God blessed them It says God made male and female and God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply first thing said to them be fruitful and Multiply so what

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I'm saying is that man's desire And I'm saying man men's desire to procreate comes from a pure source man's desire to have children

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It comes from a pure source and man's desire to raise children to have his progeny comes from that source that comes from the hand of God and it causes man to become an associate with a master in Creation now, you know, we know those things, but we don't think about them in that way

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It doesn't lock into our mind when we're having children We do not think I am an association with Almighty God in bringing this life in now

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We pray and thank God for it and all of that, but we look at our children. We don't say I And God brought you into this world

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We just say you mine and you're gonna do what I tell you and that's what we tell them But it makes a difference if God's involved in it you see now by giving man this capacity

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God planted within man's heart life within his creative being he planted in him the impulse

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To not only procreate but an amazing thing that happens and I understand this world is an all in a turmoil and there's murders and all those things but essentially speaking man has a

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Spontaneous love to protect and to take care of an infant. He will hurt adults he may do many things but a man softens when you hand him a baby as Hard as he is and as egotistical as he might be when you let that's why men don't like to hold them

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You know what? Then you say come on. Hold him. Oh, I don't know. I might drop him Why he hadn't dropped anything in his life, you know

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Anything and man is a problem with those little things because he's good in a different direction

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But God has given him this desire to procreate and to raise and to love and to protect it is placed within the heart

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Of man so that he can raise them to the point that they with God will make their own creative Contribution and God's plan would continue on on the planet.

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So man's creative desire is Pure and undefiled in its source man contaminates it now if it is pure and If the desire to creep poke to procreate is pure and undefiled then that means it is filled with grace

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It is filled with love and it's filled with compassion Now we don't look at men.

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The ladies don't look at men as a man of grace and love and compassion But behind me beyond that hard exterior it's sort of like in Israel, you know, you call a native -born

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Israeli a Sabra and The word Sabra. It's a little fruit and it's extremely hard and prickly on the outside.

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It's tough but inside it's sweet and soft and That's kind of the way most men are they give you this macho image, you know

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But if you can get through it all if you get by There is a softness especially when it comes to children, especially when it comes to that child, especially when it comes to that son or that daughter and God gives this desire and nowhere can one see grace love compassion

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Involved more in the life of mankind on the life of humanity Then you can see in the relation of an artist to his work

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That is with parents and children if you want to watch grace love and compassion and operation just sit down and watch now

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I'm talking about a man or woman who's trying to walk with God. I'm just talking about ordinary people Somebody who understands that they are operating with God in those children.

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It is me and God raising these children. It is not you It's not your husband you I it's you ain't

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God operating there Then you begin to see grace love and compassion moving in their life.

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Now you and I can come back and say well Unfortunately, it isn't that way always God gave marriage for the purpose of procreation

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Being fruitful and multiplying the earth, but it was supposed to be multiplied with godly people it was supposed to be godly personalities flooding the planet

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Earth and Unfortunately, even though God has done so you and I know that some marriages go in the opposite direction

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You and I know that instead of being a blessing marriage turns into a bitter curse for many people and there are those who sit in the churches that are married and wish to God they weren't and If they could do it all over again, they would never do it

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They would never do it some sit and they are miserable now Why is that one basic reason it is because that couple has failed to sanctify?

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The marital relationship by the word sanctify I mean set their marriage apart unto

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God to be used of God and not to be consumed on their selfish aspirations Because once I start dealing with God in my marriage relationship

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It's gonna make all the difference in the world how I react and how I act and my motives and my goals and my desires

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They're all gonna be different They're all gonna be different and we're going to get in some very practical things if we get by this introductory material on just why you and I act like we do sometimes and how we can solve and resolve some of those things and so You and I know that marriage can be a tremendous blessing, but it can be one of the worst misfortunes

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Something that I run into constantly your pastor sees it and your staff members as they counsel. We'll see it time and time again

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Time and time again. We said well what he needs to do is just get married. It'll solve his problems. No, it won't

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My so it'll multiply It'll multiply marriage is not a solver of problems

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It is not the solution to one's ills. It is not some game for adolescents marriage is for adults from mature people and the problem is people race into it and they run into it

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But you don't find that in the Jewish home. You don't find that in the Jewish life now

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Whether or not that marriage now watch it where that marriage is going to be what God wants it to be depends upon one person one person 99 44 100 % of the time

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I'm not going to say 100 % of the time Although God does God says that the success of that marriage is going to depend upon the husband

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It depends upon the husband and the husband alone But that marriage is successful if that is true gentlemen that means if our marriage is not what it ought to be if our family isn't what it ought to be if our

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Relationship with husband wife and children and parents is not what it ought to be. You can trace the problem to the husband If that is true and I find that true in my life as I find it true in most people's lives

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That I've counseled with in that area if a man's soul is pure his marriage will be pure He just will be and there is no alternative to that.

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Now. Here's what the Jewish people say a Man who is unmarried really possesses nothing at all, though It may not seem so to him and they ask a question what enjoyment can he derive from the pleasures?

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Which must end with his life? He gains all these things and he dies and he leaves. Yeah, what good is that?

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He has nothing to continue on He has nothing to go beyond the time whenever he passes in to the other world and they say they are worthless

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Even in the very moment he possesses them the things that he has are worthless to him

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Although he does not seem to believe such a thing is true But the good that a married man possesses is really his in the present

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However much he may lack temporal goods It doesn't make anything it doesn't make an image where a person's rich or poor if he is married in Jewish life.

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He is rich He is rich if he's married if he's got a good wife, he's rich He has everything at the very moment of possession.

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Let me give you a statement that is written by the great Jewish sages He who has no wife dwells without joy

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Without blessing without good without Torah without the law of God without protection and without peace

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Yabba mot 62 in the Talmudic writings now I tried to go back through this with the rabbinical teachings and just see what they were trying to say to me and here's what they're saying

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They say he dwells a man who doesn't have a wife He dwells without joy for only he whose path in the future is illuminated

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Can have joy and a person who dwells without a wife It plainly says looks towards a tomorrow that is already dark before he gets there

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Now I'm trying to figure that out right now. What in the world is this guy talking about all these philosophical terms? Well, all you gotta do is just think about your life without your wife

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You think about what your day would be like tomorrow if your wife was no longer with you it can be dark

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Can be dark But a man who has a wife it didn't make any difference coming tomorrow. He'd face it

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He'd face it if he's got her because she illuminates the future with him. It says without good

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Jewish life says that there is no good without consequences. I mean you say well doesn't mean anything worth anything

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There is no good without consequence and he who dwells without a wife cuts himself off from all consequences

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It's the same anything is futile. Everything's vanity. It has no value to it whatsoever without Torah without the law

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They say that the essential purpose of the Word of God is to serve as an instrument for the building of a new world

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That's the purpose of the Word of God in the Jewish mind. It is to build a new world

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It is God's instrument in the creation of his world and God said and God said and God said

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God's Word spoke the creation into existence and he dwells without a wife destroys the world in which he lives and Destroys the seed that would control the future world.

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He does that because he doesn't have a wife Now you begin to see why Jewish people throughout all the 90 ,000 years have schooled their children to become nuns today

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But back then they were schooled for marriage There was a time when all families did this regardless of who they were and then he goes on and says without protection

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Won't even have to comment you'll see it immediately a man's best shield Against the storms of life and the raging of his senses is his home

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It's not the civic group, it's not the club It's not the gang. It's not the boys

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It's not the bowling it's not the fishing not the hunting I got to get away and I got to get away for a few

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Days, sweetheart. I I need to go to the woods for about a week. I need to go up in the cabin Don't call don't bother. I just need to get away and kind of get myself together

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Totally onion to the Bible that's on to the Jewish mind Where the husband goes the wife goes and where the wife goes the husband goes, you know

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I have the saying and you have it yourself. I mean, you know, you didn't you know You you didn't get married to be a bachelor

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People want to spend time away from their wife won't spend time wait remember I'm not talking about a day or half a day

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I don't know about the time that to go says but he who dwells without a wife is Exposed to every wind and every unchecked impulse and he becomes like wind -beaten shade and he just tossed about by every breeze of life

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He has nothing to keep in check. If a man's honest, he'll say that the thing keeps him in check in his home is his wife

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She checks these raging impulses that man has and that man knows about and then it says without peace

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For only a man whose field is planted and his produce is blessed Only a man who plants and has his produce blessed knows inner and outer peace

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If you plant there is no peace until the produce comes and if the produce is not blessed of God There is no peace inner and outer peace

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He who dwells without a wife sees the abodes of others filled with blessings Their children like olive saplings circling their tables in joy while his own inheritance is unblessed

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Therefore he does not have inner peace his days are filled with agitation His days are filled with jealousy his days are filled with strife and he can never be at peace with himself or other

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People look with me, please to Genesis chapter 2 Man was originally created whole

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Right. Yeah, God made man. God removed a rib making him incomplete

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Part of him was gone. Part of him was missing and God fashioning Eve from Adam's side

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Then he commanded them and they shall be one flesh meaning they were whole again

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Genesis 221 And The Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept

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He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which the

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Lord God had taken from man Made he a woman and brought her Unto the man and Adam said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh

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She shall be called woman Because she was taken out of man Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh

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God fashioned Eve from one of Adam's ribs that they're cleaving together might not only be a goodly thing

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Might not only be an act of truth, but that it might be impelled by nature himself and that is why men

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Search after women call it what you want. They can call it libido They can call it the sexual urge you can call it whatever you want

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But God has placed within the character of man to cause him to sense an incompleteness without a female

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He is just no matter all he can go on and be clear and it doesn't make it It was how high he goes

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There will always be an infinite and he will spend all of his efforts and all of his money Trying to fill up those voids and vacuums that come into his life because he doesn't have that wine

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God has made it so so that the very nature of man itself cries out for Woman, because she is a part of him and he always remains incomplete

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Until he has that relationship with his wife in the marital sense when they come together and live together as man and wife

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It is like different branches drawing nourishment from the same source They become one two branches same source become one with God and the cleaving together of man and woman is the very essence of their nature we read in verse 23 and 24 you can just stay in those two verses and stay in those two verses and stay in those two verses and when you have problems with your wife

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When you have problems with your husband just read Genesis 2 23 and 24 and recognize that God says you will never be complete when you're away from your mate

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There is that which causes it to come about and it says in Jewish life

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He who remains unmarried is denying his own nature and loses the name of a man

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He may seem to be a man. He may claim to be a man, but he is not a man

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That's why That's why you find very few Jews who are bachelors. I mean they don't hang around bachelors long

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You'll find one of them running around loose but not long as some little old Jewish girl will grab him because she's out hunting too you see and They're not many of them running around.

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So, you know, they're sort of, you know, their resources kind of limited Most of them either live in New York or you know down here if you find a

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Jew running around loose, you know He's just fair game. And so they go at it Well, we talked to you about marriage in the sense the people of Israel do it completely different Jewish people make marriage a time of feasting and rejoicing

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It is a time of feast. It's a time of rejoicing. It's a time of exultant.

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It's a time of just Exhilarating joy. It's a time of total happiness and complete commitment to what is going on They believe that marriage is a gift from God.

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It is not something you decide to do You do make a decision, but it is something that God has given as a gift to mankind and it is not an option

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You do not choose whether you will or not. It's just a matter of to whom Because boy and girl man or woman must be married according to Jewish life and in doing so it bestows joy six things joy blessing goodness

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The law of God or the Word of God security and peace those things are given to a couple by God They believe when they are married and they are happy in the consciousness that the marriage bond can bring their lives to perfection

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Now when Jews enter into marriage They rejoice because they believe they have performed the mitzvah of God's command

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They have performed the commandment of their Creator when he said be fruitful and multiply They believe when they are married, they are fulfilling

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God's command for them It is as much a commandment as the member of the Lord by God Honor thy father and thy mother or anything else to be fruitful and multiply is a commandment from them

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Therefore again, it is not an option and when Jewish parents have a child Here's what they say when a child is born and that Jewish mother and that Jewish dad have that child together

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They receive the blessing may the newborn child enter the portals of Torah May they enter the portals of the

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Word of God. Maybe they learn the Word of God be committed to the Lord of God that's first and Second marriage may they get married as quickly as they can and then may they live a life of good deeds

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May they enter the portals of the Word of God marriage and good deeds and you will find a religious

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Jew You will find him committed to the law of Moses You will find him married and faithful in his marriage and you will also find him struggling to live a life of good deeds

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That's why you find Jews members of every civic group. You can find they're out involved in everything. They get in this they get in Well, they try and do good deeds.

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I mean they get in everything They get in everything They join everything in town

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You say well, that's the real business now, that's what you think They are doing it because it is a commandment from God as far as they are concerned if they are religious

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Now if they're secular, you don't know what's in their mind, you know If they're secular just like you don't know with other, you know people and so the focus of concern of Jewish people

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With their children is what? Not to get them totally educated Yes to get them educated But the primary focus of a

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Jewish family as far as their children's concern is to prepare that morning girl for marriage to prepare them as best as they possibly can and let me share with you there are hours and hours and hours and hours and Hours that are spent by that mom and that dad schooling that boy and that girl on what marriage is what it's about and how to give and how to live and how to do

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And how all these things and hours of their life as they grow up is spent towards that one

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Marvelous moment when they will join in what we call holy matrimony now some questions

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Why is it necessary to Consider marriage an obligation of the

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Word of God. Why is it necessary to consider it a Commandment of the law so to speak.

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Why did the Jewish sages when you go read the great Jewish minds of old you'll find They're constantly talking about marriage.

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I mean, it's all it's like it's almost an obsession with them Everything they say is related to marriage and the answer is this according to rabbinical teaching

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It was the specific interest of the law of God to instruct all people in the sanctity of marriage it is to teach the bride and groom that they were to view themselves as participants in the creation of a new world this married couple is going out to create a world of purity a world of majesty a world of splendor a

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World of blessing and a world of peace Now how many couples do you know

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Start their marriage out with those thoughts in their mind The first thing listen don't things in their minds getting away from mom and dad in the church and getting on that honeymoon

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We're gonna talk about honeymoon Jews. Don't look at that honeymoon in the same way It's something we kind of get ourselves to do

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But this couple is supposed to go out understanding they're making a contribution to the world together to make it a better world for God Now I'm not saying that Jews always do this

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I'm just saying it's in the law it's in their teaching it's in their custom It's in their history.

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It's in their heritage and they are supposed to be doing it and So marriage was not an option and they wanted every

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Jew and every boy and girl every bride and groom to be aware of that Would you turn me please to the book of Proverbs chapter 18?

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the book of Proverbs chapter 18 There is a Jewish saying that says this

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He who performs a religious obligation And Is aware that it is a religious obligation is superior to a person who performs it and is unaware of it by that he means

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That a person who does what God says and knows he's doing what

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God says is superior to a person who would do what? God says but didn't know that it was godly principle

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See there are those who teach today that there are lost people who can go about and do the principles of God and get blessings from God and that violates what

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I Understand the Bible teaches me God only blesses his obedient children through Jesus Christ and so consequently the

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Jewish mind has already picked up on that and he says a Person is superior if he knows that that principle comes from God and he's doing it because it does come from God not a person who does it and Doesn't know where it comes from.

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Look at Proverbs 18 22. Here's one of the passages they deal with Who so findeth a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the

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Lord a Person who finds a good wife and gets married gets favor from God. He gets blessings from God So the opposite of that in the

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Jewish mind is a person who doesn't get married He does not only have a good thing. He doesn't have a wife, but he doesn't get blessings from God There are certain blessings that God holds back from him in his life because he's not done what

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God wants him to do Who's well find though a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the

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Lord now Jewish tradition says that the groom is the king now we men like that all men like that, you know man, as I said memorize

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Ephesians 5 22, they just love that passage of Scripture a Groom is like a king and it's simply because a wife frees her husband according to Jewish tradition in marriage

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She frees him from the curse of wanting things a man who is truly contented with his wife

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Doesn't want things He is contented with now that doesn't mean he can't have things

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But she is his life. He is wrapped up in his wife Man is to the woman as Christ is to the church the

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New Testament teaches us and Jesus Christ gave up every single thing He had

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He left heaven and the glory of it to call a servant a stranger to be spit upon and cursed

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Had no home. He could call his own had no friends that would stay with him and His own people rejected him he left it all and man is to the woman as Christ is to the church totally self -sacrificing and So they say therefore

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What they're looking at is that when a man has a good wife and he's committed that wife things are unimportant to him

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He had rather see her happy His joy comes from sacrificing for her, but that isn't what

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I find That isn't what I see and I don't think it's what you see What I see is men spending any a

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Tremendous amount of money on things they want and things they like well

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That's ain't done make a difference where it is. It can be a boat bowling ball It can be anything and there's nothing wrong with any of those activities

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But then I follow up and I say what was the last time you bought your wife a dozen roses What was the last time you went out and bought your wife a dress?

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I don't know what a size is what was the last time you went and bought a pair of shoes man What was the last time you did anything just cause you wouldn't do it just for your life no birthday no anniversary

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No occasion nothing just went out and got her something said here. I want to do this for you now She's immediately gonna say you shouldn't have done that Because you see she's trying to figure out why you did it

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It is so out of the ordinary But if I put it into the biblical perspective and there isn't anything wrong with having enjoyment life

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But my dear people a man's job is to spend all that he has to see that his wife is totally contented and happy Everything she does

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That's his primary responsibility to her. It isn't going on getting all these other things So I immediately got the women on my side tonight and the men thinking about it, yes,

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I understand Like a king they say the bridegrooms every need is met in his wife

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And they say like a king he is led to the marriage canopy, you know in Jewish life You get married you get married under the bar, you know the canopy and they get married and and they're led there with rejoicing and dancing and singing and clapping as The groom comes as if he was a king and there's a reason for that because in the

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Jewish family the father is a king Now watch it. The mother is the

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Queen and the hour that they are marriage marriage that is the hour of their coronation and That's in the mind of the

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Jewish man and the Jewish woman. He's King She's Queen and the hour of marriage is the hour of their coronation and from that very hour their lives are dedicated to the building of a miniature kingdom and Every son that is born is considered a prince and every daughter that is born is considered a princess

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And their kingdom is the family their kingdom is their family and my dear people when you see a

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Jewish home as long as they are about many many things and They reject the wonderful Messiah of Israel the

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Lord Jesus and they don't know him and they're lost because they don't know him So when you look at that family, you will find and I've had people tell me everywhere

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I go Why don't you stick together so much? I mean man, they're so Turkish I mean you can't break through that family while that whole family

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They just kind of pass everything about from son daughter uncle he just kind of passes around everything that's like family

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Their family is more important to them than anything on this earth. I Wish we

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Christians now, there are Christians who believe that don't misunderstand me. I said that last evening There are many godly

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Christian people who are who are far more committed to God than that But the tragedy is the church isn't filled with people like that Their church isn't filled with people whose family is more important to them

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Than the acclaim of the community or the approval of society who cares what they think about you in the school

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As long as you have the approval of your mom and dad your brother and your sister and you know You're right with each other who cares what they think on the job as long as you're writing your family and your families together

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And you're growing who would dare take sides against their family But it happens day after day day after day it happens

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Jeremiah chapter 29 Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 6 it simply says this

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Take to yourselves wives and beget sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to Husbands that they may bear sons and daughters that you may be increased there and not be diminished

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He says be fruitful and multiply. This is one of them. They go in there and jerk out of Jeremiah They say there it is boy

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You're supposed to get your children married and they're supposed to get theirs married and just keep on multiplying feel here

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But again, it should have been with godly people. It should have been with people who would follow the teachings of God And you know, there's an interesting factor that I found out that I never paid much attention to Jewish people believe that there was an atonement factor

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Not total atonement, but there's an atonement factor in marriage there's something about atonement that begins to react our work in marriage because you see when a young Jewish couple and I'm talking about a

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Religious Jewish couple young people, you know what they do when they get married the day they marry they fast Total fasting nothing to drink nothing to eat all day long.

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They fast Can you imagine an 18 year old boy and a 17 year girl or 20 year old boy and a 19 year girl fasting?

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No, you can't keep our kids out of McDonald's long enough to get them to fast Man they'd come down to wedding with some french fries if they could you know or some

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McNuggets They'd come all the way down the aisle if you'd let them. I Know dad be sitting there with something stronger

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But you know They recognize that they are coming in penitence

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For the waywardness of their youthful days and they're about ready to set out on a new new

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Thing they're about ready to set out on a new way of life And so they fast all that day and with marriage

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They believe that they erase all the former guilt of the waywardness of their youth when they make that commitment one to another

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Previously they recognize and they are taught you are a half a person You are not complete until you have a wife

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You are not complete until you have a husband because you have part of man in you and God wants you to come together

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And to be one and they know Genesis chapter 1 they cleave together and become one

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So they're taught that you'll never be complete until you come together as one

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You will always like peace. You will always like goodness in your life And so they are urged and with the hour of marriage

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They know that they resume that original holiness and again They become one flesh and they open their hearts to peace and goodness and to move out and try to develop their family

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According to the things of God. It is interesting to me that Jewish young couples when they are married in a religious family

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Before they come together for marriage. They pray together for forgiveness of their sins of their youthfulness

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They pray for forgiveness of the sins that they have done as a young person and they ask for atonement for their wasted past Before they get married

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Now that's before the day of marriage that they do that. They don't do it on the day of marriage They do that before the day of marriage and they recognize that their previous reckoning is now done away with The way they directed their lives the way they honed in on what's out in front of them

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They no longer look at it in that that is going to be changed with them Their life's destiny is now set as husband and wife

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They must now be fruitful and multiply and they must walk in the Word of God They must build their marriage and they must do good deeds together as husband and wife

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And that's why again you go into the communities where there are significant Jewish populations and you will find husband and wife

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They are involved in everything going on in town They just do what because they're working they don't understand grace

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But they're working and they are doing it diligently and that young boy and girl say this prayer

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Open thou a new gate for us as the old gate is now closed Open up a new gate of life for me and then there are two benedictions that are recited

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One is for joy and the other is for betrothal One is Commitment and the other is for joy and that benediction of joy and betrothal expresses praise expresses thanksgiving and Expresses a thanksgiving to God who puts holiness into the

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Jewish life So that young couple look at their marriage as if the oneness coming together

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But they look at it as a life that is about to embark on holiness It's interesting that you find that in Jewish life holiness now, how many couples do you know?

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How many couples do I know that I've even married? That they set out believing they were embarking on a life together in God in holiness

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Well, we don't even do that as mature adults After we even understand it we have difficulty sometimes with it

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The groom then places the ring on the finger and as he places on that bride's finger he says this

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Behold thou art consecrated to me with this ring in accordance with the law of roses and Israel Which is to say as the law of Moses and Israel is a divine origin and it bears the seal of truth

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So shall our marriage be consecrated by divine holiness and truth

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That'd be a marvelous prayer for anybody to pray Regardless who they are divine holiness

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Is the mark of our marriage? Let me ask you a question Is the mark of your marriage divine holiness?

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Where is holiness in your marriage young marriage or old marriage doesn't make a difference is it divine holiness? That is something we've kind of forgotten about in Christianity in so many ways

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Well, we say that nothing that is consecrated to God can be profaned If it's consecrated to God, it can never be profaned

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If it is profaned and it comes under the wrath and the curse of God So from that moment on the basic rule and in Jewish life

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It is called the rule of holiness the rule of holiness the rule of holiness Guides the life of that boy and girl if not then

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God's presence does not dwell with them And so in the law and the prophets there is a word that is used that is called betrothal.

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It is Erosin e r u s I n e r u s

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I n and it means basically Betrothal and it's used to designate the act of Kiddushim K I d u s h

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I n and it's that act of betrothal It's the consecration of a marriage and it's identically the same word that is used in the

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Old Testament When it talks about the covenant between God and Israel Between the covenant that God made with the people of Israel and God said

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I will be your God I will dwell in the midst of you and I will bless you I didn't choose you because you were many but you were small than all the rest and yet I've chosen you and they become the

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Apple of his eye and it's a covenant that cannot be broken in Jeremiah It talks about it in Psalms It talks about it and God said if you can change the moon change the stars and all these things then you can break my covenant that I made with David and So it is a a covenant and it's used between God and Israel.

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And so the Jewish people use that in their marriage And that's why again. Oh, I know that there are exceptions to every rule, but that's why you'll find divorce extremely low

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Extremely low now things are changing very rapidly in Jewish life because 40 % of all Jewish marriages today are intermarriages

43:39

And that's why the rabbis are all up in arms about all this Jews are marrying non -jews I mean, you know, they're marrying this that and whatever and so there's a great concern about that, but their description of this marriage betrothal or this consecration of their marriage in Describing it in the same terms of the great covenant between God and Israel is extremely significant and can help us

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Understand will you turn me to the book of Hosea? the book of Hosea It's been preached on and taught it's such a marvelous book and the book of Hosea is a book that talks about the marriage experience and It is

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Israel's betrothal to God God's covenant with Israel In the sense and we make symbolism of marriage and an analogy of the marriage situation and it uses this

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Throughout the book of Hosea and the prophet Hosea makes Erosine it makes betrothal to be based upon seven conditions

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In this book, there are seven conditions six of these conditions apply to God and only one applies to Israel there are six conditions about God in his relationship in this covenant with Israel and Only one applied to Israel look at chapter 2 and I'll show them to you in chapter 2 verse 19

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The very first part and I will ever sing thee unto me forever. I will betroth thee to me forever

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So that that's just what God said just by God did that All right again in in verse 19, but I will ever sin

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I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness. I'll do it forever and I will do it in righteousness and injustice and in verse 19 the third part of the verse and in loving -kindness,

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I will betroth thee in loving -kindness and In mercy in compassion it means and then in verse 20,

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I will even ever seen I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness

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Now look what Israel is supposed to do just one thing and thou shalt know the law

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God says six things. I'm gonna do one thing Know the Lord now, you know,

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I know that word. No just doesn't mean knowing about him know him know

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God Know the Lord intimately Know him personally know him daily know him in your experience of life

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Know him in everything that involves your life know all of these things now those same seven conditions

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Jewish people have based it upon the same covenant that God had with Israel. You will find seven conditions apply in The betrothal of a husband and wife six of them are the husband's responsibility and one of them is the wife

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Six is the husband one of the wife go back to verse 19. I will betroth thee unto me forever

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Jewish law says a husband cannot and must not and may not while Consecrating the wife in marriage ever entertain the idea of divorce one of the great tragedies today is our young people and Even me of college and career and adults believe that they can go into marriage and if it doesn't work,

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I can get a divorce and I'll start over again and God never meant that it be so God never desired that it be so and the danger that lurks in that kind of thinking

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That kind of thinking and so that's one thing for the husband he cannot he cannot because usually he is the guilty party in doing so and then it says in righteousness a husband must not and may not and cannot ever bring up false charges against his wife to Justify his desire to break the marriage bond or to do anything that he desires in his heart

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Again, I could list you all kinds of instance Where husbands have conjured up lies

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Stories rumors fairytales and myths about their wives. Yeah in the church

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So called Christian people. Yeah, even some call themselves Baptist Who would conjure up charges against their wives to justify the life that they were living?

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Well, the reason I do what I do is because she's this way or she's there and then when you go talk to him You find many times the opposite The opposite and then he says injustice

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Jewish law says that even if a wife wrongs her husband, the husband cannot treat her unjustly

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He cannot no matter what she does He cannot do so and then in loving kindness

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The husband must always act compassionately Toward his wife. He can never act rigorously

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Towards his wife everything he says or does to his wife according to Jewish law must be done with compassion mercy

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Concern and care Well, we believe that of course more so even as Christian people, but again, how many husbands even who are

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Christians? I Mean, you know just all of a sudden without even realizing it The wife says the wrong thing and all of a sudden here he is blaring like a trumpet

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You know scream how? Yelling as if she can't hear him. She's standing right there in front of him, you know

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Speaking softly one to another one with whom we've committed our lives to There was never need for husband to raise his voice to his wife

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Never a need for husband to raise his voice to his children. You can communicate the same thing by speaking softly

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The same thing can be done. We don't do it in the civic groups. We don't do it out in public

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We don't do it at all these other things. No, we don't we only do it in our home And we're gonna talk about that as a reason why it happens in the home and then in faithfulness

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Now Jewish people look at this on the very practical level and they say that the husband does not dare To simulate affection for his wife when he thinks his heart belongs to another he has to tell her

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He can't come in acting like he's in love with his wife and acting like he cares about her when he thinking about somebody else

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According to Jewish law if that's in his heart, he must confess it to her Well, that's what my New Testament tells me.

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That's what my New Testament tells me How many men would dare such a thing How many men have that kind of freedom with their wife?

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And man brought I'll tell you what Rocky you go tell my lady that brother. I'm gonna tell you right now What happened to you brother? I mean she'd be up on your head like man.

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I'll tell you what you don't know her man She got that temper. I mean boy listen, I Know that's one good rationalization.

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They're probably some others But would to God that husbands and wives would have that kind of freedom where they are not threatened

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They are not challenged where they have the freedom to share whatever's in their mind Whatever's in their heart with one another without any worry whatsoever

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That's where it's supposed to be but it isn't that way in most marriages that I meet even good sweet couples who really love the

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Lord It isn't that way why we are fearful. We're afraid of each other We are afraid of each other

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We're afraid to be hurt we're afraid to be rejected We're afraid someone is not going to like us someone's not going to love us or someone will see a weakness well those are the things that a husband does the wife for her part assumes one stipulation and If she heeds the stipulation it renders her

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Consecration of the marriage to be in truth and her betrothal to this husband to be free of all deceit

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All she has to do is and thou shall know the Lord now that intrigued me I said the

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Lord as I begin thing, but it's why in the world. Would you put all those stipulations? That's true on the man and the wife all she got to do is know the

51:34

Lord I mean, uh, you know, it doesn't seem like it's much for her to do I mean, you know, we mean and we get all the burden, you know, you gotta lay it all on us

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I mean, you know what's going on? I was trying to find some way out for us brother, but I was having a hard time

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And of course I knew that I would be speaking to you and it wouldn't mess with me, you know I mean had nothing to do with me. I'm the speaker. So I'd be free from all this stuff, you know

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So that kind of let me off the hook but you know then I began to read what some of the great rabbis and the great

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Jewish sages of old and here's what they were saying to me a Wife has no need of the admonitions addressed to her husband because the traits and I had to say

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God, that's right That's right. That's right The traits of compassion and mercy and righteousness are more deeply rooted in the being of a woman than there are man the roots of compassion and And Righteousness and Mercy run deeper in a woman than they do a man

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Be she young or old they just did and I said Lord I understand that now there is a respect that a woman does need admonition a

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Woman can never reverence her husband more than she reverences her Lord She can never make her husband or God He does not become your

52:53

Lord The tragedy in church and in church life So many women love their husbands more than they love

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Jesus, and I believe you ought to love him with all your heart But you only give 100 % allegiance to God He alone gets 100 %

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You can give your husband 99 44 100 you gotta love God more than you love him

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And that's exactly what Jesus said he that loves father mother and more than me is not worthy of me

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He who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me think not that I've come to bring peace

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He said I come not to bring peace put a sword I've come to set a man at variance with his house So why the love we have to get a balance and perspective here and I have to find out how

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I discern How can I love God and still love my wife? How could I love God and still love my husband?

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I mean, how can I do this because I love my family with all my heart How can I love him with all my heart, but there is a way that it can be done

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There is a way that it can be done And so Compassion and righteousness are deeply rooted in the woman

53:57

The man is basically sensual the man basically runs on his senses man basically runs on his rationale

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Man basically runs on his sensual nature and when his senses are aroused

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He is capable of overturning all the foundations of a home. It's purity.

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It's sanctity He is capable in a moment's time of destroying it all where you won't find that in the case of a woman a

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Man can destroy a home quicker than a woman. Although she can't destroy But a man can do it in a moment of time in a moment of time at such moments the amazing thing to me is that a wife is perfectly capable of restraining her husband's raging senses

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And she does it in any number of ways by her sweet godly spirit

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By her compassionate heart by that reaching out to him by that encouragement.

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She gives to him She calms the raging of those senses that are so strong and all of we mean all of we men the bride and groom

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Fast on the day of wedding fast. I thought back to that man

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I got married. I married a Gentile because God wanted to bless her, but You know, I didn't fast man.

55:15

I'm ready. I was gonna get married I thought wouldn't have enough money to buy any more food. So I sucked up thing I get I mean, huh, man,

55:20

I mean I put a feast on before that wedding Because I was wondering where I'd be there in the first place or not, you know

55:25

And you have all those doubts and wonders, you know what? You know a lot of people tell me they won't get it all. I had perfect confidence brother, man

55:32

I said God is this it Lord? I mean, you know, maybe you know, maybe I can do something, you know But once you get down there in the pastor there, you know, and he's

55:39

God, you know, I got saved under him You know, you can't run off and leave him Because then I didn't know enough, you know,

55:44

I figured man. I might lose my salvation But then I didn't know but you know had all these thoughts in my mind, you know

55:49

But I hear people tell me say brother. I didn't have any problems with it. And yet everybody I've married I see a guy standing like this and Here she comes, you know, she's trying to be gracious And Her dad walking on the side of him.

56:06

You sure you won't do this, sweetheart You sure you sure he's the guy you sure he's a guy all those things

56:11

But we're all confident and we thank God for what he's done. But you know to believe that we approach married solidly and earnestly seriously with solemnity and commitment and sanctity and That a young couple should dedicate that day to prayer to God And that his divine presence might rest upon their marriage to start it out together in prayer before God God bless the ceremony tomorrow

56:43

God bless we got something now. You can't see the bride on the day of the wedding. You know, we're all said you came

56:49

You've been seeing her for five ten years What difference is another well, it's a bad luck

56:55

Hmm Listen you've got already had all the bad luck you gonna get you know, you know, you've got already

57:03

That's the body well, let's take a few minutes pastor Tell us what you'd like for us to do and then I want to share something with where joy dwells in the home

57:10

Where the joy dwells pastor if you'll direct us regardless of what kind of a home a person lives in But specifically speaking about the man because the husband has tremendous responsibilities

57:24

Even though he lives in the most palatial of residences Jewish life believes he will never have founded a home until he takes a wife

57:34

You heard it said that a man's house is where he hangs his hat Man's home is where he hangs his hat but in Jewish life a man's wife is his home wherever his wife is that's where his home is and He's committed to that particular fact and a man can succeed on the outside The true satisfaction and rest within himself awaits for him only at home

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You and I know that men and women differ in nature But I think sometimes we men forget that we differ also in understanding and discernment and insight

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Man gets his understanding from a different place than a woman gets her understanding Man acquires understanding

58:18

Basically through social intercourse in this just moving about the community going about on his job.

58:25

That's where he gains Basically his understanding Men gather theirs in that way

58:31

Men who restrict themselves to the confines of their home or their house and who do not venture out

58:38

You will find those people with very little understanding There are those professions and there are those careers that there are certainly not unworthy

58:47

That are available in our society where a man stays essentially near his home He stays essentially near the confines of his house

58:55

And he does his job there and he ventures out very little and when you confront those people share with those people meet with those

59:02

People visit in their homes. You will find their Understanding of the things going on in life are very strange and you'll find that there's a lack of their understanding a woman is different a

59:14

Woman finds her insight basically within herself. God has just placed it within her

59:19

We try to say well women have this intuition. I mean, they just know something, you know, they just know

59:26

Well, you can't tell my wife that brother go out there. She'll know the moment. I said she gonna know the truth That's why

59:32

I figured out my mother used to say look me in the eye and I said she she can't tell nothing man I'd look at her and lie like a dog

59:38

Look up there and just lie. I Knew every time she knew every time, you know,

59:45

I've talked to mothers that have shared with me and you've heard things I've heard mothers tell me story and listen and I don't put a lot of faith in dreams and all that stuff

59:52

But you know, I've had mother say, you know, I just felt in my heart something was wrong with my son Something was wrong with my child and I ran out of the house and sure enough.

01:00:01

There was a peril There was a danger. There was a hazard there Child was about to go out in the street or something there and she just felt it within her heart and woman seems to have

01:00:11

Those innate insights that God has placed within them You and I know that wisdom comes from God most men make the mistake that I've made for over 20 -something years of ministry

01:00:21

Believing and I've said this to you before but I repeat myself purposely Is that we believe that because we gather some facts that that's wisdom

01:00:30

That because we're a man and we're a husband and we're a father with the head of the home Automatically we have wisdom and therefore any decision we make ought to be adhered to regardless but it's very difficult to learn that wisdom is not the gathering of facts and data and information a

01:00:47

Person can quote an encyclopedia and have no wisdom wisdom comes from God God alone gives wisdom and Yet sometimes it's extremely difficult for us to grab hold of that insight comes from one's self wisdom comes from God Insight comes from one's own being and in the depth of insight in That which is discernment

01:01:12

Rabbis of old have always considered the woman superior to the man they consider the woman superior insight a woman superior to man in discernment a

01:01:21

Woman superior to a man in basic intuition in the things of life Woman has always been considered superior by the rabbis and by the

01:01:29

Jewish sages in Jewish life, and they say something like this a Home is most unfortunate where a husband will continually draw his wife into the vortex of his outside business

01:01:41

Into his own agitated life outside the home For life's raging currents will then through that couple invade that home and there will be no escaping the strife of the outside world

01:01:54

Indicating that we're possible and I understand that in our economy somebody You know, sometimes the women work in the same business that their husband has and things like that But even if that's the case and even if both are committed

01:02:06

Christians I will guarantee you there are difficulties that will arise that arise nowhere else.

01:02:12

My wife works in my office and we did it because we believe that God would honor him and She has been a tremendous help in managing that office

01:02:21

She quit a very little good job a well -paying job in the medical profession to come into there

01:02:26

And I talked to a couple that I trust and value their counsel and as we shared with them and they said to us they said listen

01:02:34

You don't know the problems you've had until you began working together. You see each other all day

01:02:40

You see each other all night. I mean you eat breakfast together. You eat lunch together. You eat supper together

01:02:45

You work together you give orders you take orders, you know, and when you start telling a secretary, this is what I want done

01:02:51

That's no problem, but when get secretaries your wife But my office manager is my wife and I said to her one day

01:03:02

I said, you know, you think you run this office But let me tell you something

01:03:07

She says no, I don't believe that She said all I'm doing is suggesting to you that this is a better way of doing it than that and it'll save us a

01:03:14

Lot of time it'll save money and things like that And I said, well, as long as you know who runs the show you go ahead and do it that way, you know

01:03:22

Long as you understand, you know, you may know what I'm talking about, you know but you know,

01:03:28

I never realized the tensions that will arise and And all of those things and although it has been a tremendous blessing in so many ways but the

01:03:37

Jewish Sages says that is not the way to go and The husband and wife are fortunate when they recognize that neither is suited to perform the others functions

01:03:49

The others functions as I mentioned last night You give a man the job to do during a day's time that a woman does and he will collapse you'll go nuts

01:03:58

He'll go bananas He'll never make it through the day if he has to do what she does

01:04:05

I've asked a man one time Yeah I have a little thing that I do with couples on the five secrets five secrets to a happy married life

01:04:11

That we do sometime in fellowships and Sunday school meetings and things like that And one thing's I said how many of you men know how to turn the washing dryer on would you raise your hand and he's amazing guys then

01:04:20

I go They just got a laugh or hit the ride, you know, I guess yeah, they'd raise your hand if you know, he doesn't know

01:04:28

You know, I've turned that thing on and they give me this thing Well, I don't go back there because my wife doesn't want me to go back I said, you know why you

01:04:33

I don't want you to go back there because she knows you don't want to go back there Could you make a souffle

01:04:39

Are you talking about that thing they call like a mouse? No, that's moose.

01:04:45

No, we don't see. Yeah Most men know how to turn an oven on Radar range they like that because it makes that little noise beep beep beep beep

01:04:55

So they learn that one pretty good, you know, they like to go beep beep Mopping she said would you mop the utility room there for me?

01:05:04

Well, I get ready to get everything else. Where's the mop? It's in the mop blocker on the M. It's out back, you know

01:05:11

Well, what do you use on his Clorox? No, we don't use Clorox on there. What's this handy -dandy stuff? You know, he didn't know

01:05:18

It's a world that he has no knowledge of whatsoever Jewish life says that one

01:05:24

Understands you can help one another but if one understands that they cannot perform the other's Functions and that the separate endeavors enjoyed by their different natures when they come together

01:05:34

Produces a beautiful harvest in that life if they recognize that and that the home is the only place

01:05:41

Where that harvest can be reaped it cannot be reaped anywhere else. It cannot be reaped in your office

01:05:46

It cannot be reaped in the place of business. It cannot be reaped anywhere except within that home and I was thinking as I thought about marriage, you know, and I was thinking about honeymoons and and because I've had some couples asked me and I had a

01:06:02

Sweet sweet family bless their heart just such a godly family and I've known him through the years They lived in Albuquerque and I met them many years ago

01:06:09

They've had a daughter and I've we've just become the best of friends and I've watched her grow up into a beautiful young lady that loves the

01:06:16

Lord and so she decided she's gonna get married and So I told her one time

01:06:22

I said, you know before you ever marry guy I want you to come talk to me about it Would you give me that frame on you make sure you check check in with me before you ever married some dude

01:06:29

I I just want to put a wall around her, you know I want to make sure I protect her as best I could She has a godly mom and dad and so they called here not too long ago and want to know if I could marry

01:06:40

Her and I said well, what do you mean man? She's getting married in New Mexico and I said well Who is the guy and this guy works where she works?

01:06:48

He is the Manager of a funeral home a mortuary and I said well, are they gonna get married in the church out there?

01:06:55

He said no, they're gonna get married in the mortuary Chapel. I Said now that'd be a first for me

01:07:04

That would be strange And I said, you know, I'd love to do it but I got to be at Parkside Baptist Church and I just can't do it

01:07:14

So is this Sunday that I spoke to that they would want me to I said Lord, thanks for the scheduling, you know

01:07:21

Much as I love more, you know, that'd be kind of weird But you you know and I think about I'd ask him, you know, where are you gonna go?

01:07:27

You know what Jewish life says about a honeymoon the practice of traveling for a month of honeymoon is not praiseworthy from God Travel at its most pleasant is a tiring and unsettling affair and diminishes the bride and grooms real happiness

01:07:42

Now when I read I just began to call some people that just recently got married that I knew And I said, how long did you go and some said week two weeks?

01:07:50

I'm said three weeks. I only found one or two that were able to stay away a month You know and they were rolling it in so most of them were just glad to get away for a few days

01:07:57

And I said, well tell me what you did and they told me and I said, did you have any problems? Oh, yeah, man He didn't want to go here and I wanted to go there and I went back and looked at my own honeymoon

01:08:06

I thought myself I spent most of my time Quibbling in our email where I was gonna go what I was gonna do during the day

01:08:14

Here's what Jewish life says Perhaps some people say the point of the honeymoon is to distract the couple from a very difficult period of transition

01:08:21

Until the adjustment is made now every marriage counselor that I've been able to read who would comment on the purpose of a honeymoon

01:08:28

That's what they said. It's to allow them to adjust to that period from the distractions that will arise around Now when bank found what some of the wise men of old they said they said we find holiness and sublimity in marriage and have no need of distraction

01:08:45

Now I thought well go back to that rule of wholeness. Why am I getting married anyway? a Couple can do no better than to rejoice in their own home in rest

01:08:55

Quiet tranquility and in genuine happiness with one another now

01:09:00

I tried to figure out why people don't stay at home and Just have some time off and get to know one there.

01:09:07

It's because the in -laws won't let them alone Is he treating you?

01:09:13

All right, sweetheart Now, you know, you can come home to mother anytime If that boy says anything to you sweet all the way you just let me know

01:09:25

That's why they go off To get away from mom and dad always say it's to get away from all the guys.

01:09:31

No, they don't care like that But I'm convinced there's a truth in that rather than expended the money that that is so hard to come by and Spend all that time and energy in going off somewhere and I'll promise you most of the time is spent sightseeing

01:09:48

It's not getting along one another. It's not talking about who you are. It's not making an adjustment about anything

01:09:53

It's just going out sightseeing during the day and going to bed at night. That's it. I Said my soul, you don't have to be a

01:10:00

Philadelphia lawyer to think about the money you can save I do that at home Go to the zoo during the day and then come back home at night

01:10:14

I'm not saying don't go. I'm just saying I would like to know the real value of it

01:10:19

Because I believe it sets us out believing Psychologically that have distractions.

01:10:26

We have to get away from there We've got to get away from this in order to get to know one another so that we come back to that We're already good in our minds.

01:10:34

We can't really get to know one another in this environment Whether we recognize it not subconsciously that barrier has been put there and That's why people say

01:10:45

I got to get away I Got to get away from this Well, I'm not talking about vacations and things like that.

01:10:52

I know a lot of couples at vacation from each other They said where you going to vacation? This one says

01:10:58

I'm going up here. I'll so what you mean. I'm going up here Oh, yeah, he's going down there. I said you mean you go on vacation.

01:11:04

You're not going together No, I said here. Let me give you my card You don't need it.

01:11:10

You don't need me soon Well Why is it that way why why would

01:11:16

Jewish people make such a statement that's so strong when it goes contrary Sometimes the things that I I might hold dear it's because they believe that God dwells in the midst of the marriage

01:11:26

That God dwells in the midst of the marriage and here's what they say if a husband and wife are deserving God's presence dwells in their midst if not deserving fire

01:11:36

Devours them and I've tried to figure out now We're in the world where they get something like that that God dwells in their midst if they're deserving

01:11:41

But if they don't fire devours them and then I ran across this the Hebrew word for man is ish

01:11:50

English I s H now if you spell that out in the

01:11:55

Hebrew it is olive yode sheen Olive yode sheen now if I take that yode out

01:12:04

I have olive sheen ash Esh which means fire Now the woman in the

01:12:12

Hebrew is ish. Ah, it's olive sheen. Hey If I take that hair off,

01:12:21

I've got ish again. I've got fire in the very name of man and woman in the

01:12:26

Hebrew Now I went back and found out what someone else had to say about that And it says we learned from this that there is a consuming fire

01:12:35

In the heart of every man and woman and when they marry two fires are brought together That are capable of destroying the entire world if they are not properly tended

01:12:45

You remember what God said to Lucifer? Because a fire was found within him the fire of passion and pride coupled together uncontrolled

01:13:01

Changed Lucifer from the great shining angel to Satan the adversary of God in name and it caused the angels to be changed to demons and it has been the source of all the sin and Sickness and all the wars and all the crime and all that which is evil came because of a fire

01:13:19

Coming from within God's creation and man and woman has that same fire

01:13:27

Now It is impossible to put it out it cannot be put out There's no way that it can be done because it generates a life in the world

01:13:35

But to leave it as it is is impossible because it generates evil as well So what did

01:13:41

God do about it? You already know he placed one of the letters, you know in Jewish life

01:13:46

There's what is called the sacred tetragrammaton From the word Jehovah we say YHVH Four letters some people say

01:13:54

YHWH YHVH the sacred tetragrammaton the four letters

01:14:00

Someone came along and said, okay J and we'll put a E in there and we'll make that, you know

01:14:07

H and then we'll put a O and we'll put a V and we'll put a there are no vowels in the Hebrew language

01:14:12

They're all consonants. They have vowel markings, but they're all consonants and Originally, they were all consonants

01:14:19

Somebody came along that Jews believe the ancient Jewish sages that no one knows the true name of God That's why when you see

01:14:26

God written, it'll say G hyphen D It'll never spell his name out. If it's a really religious

01:14:31

Jew, he'll say G hyphen D because Jews believe that Aaron Once knew the name of God and he whispered it in the

01:14:39

Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur once a year But because the people rebelled against God and continue to be sinful and sin began to progress in their their activities

01:14:48

And they began to intermarry they did all the things that God told him not to do that they were afraid to mention God and whenever the dispersions came in the captives came and then the destruction of this and destruction that that they forgot and lost the name of God so That no one knows and many conservative

01:15:03

Bible scholars believe that the name Jehovah is a convenience for us It's the best we got and there certainly isn't anything wrong with doing that But we cannot say for sure that that's exactly what it means

01:15:14

So Jews call it the sacred tetragrammaton the sacred four letters J H V H So here's what they did.

01:15:23

They said God placed one of the letters of the divine name. So the first one is Y Yod Yod, so he placed the name

01:15:31

Yod between the Aleph and the Shin to make the Hebrew word for man Aleph Yod Shin, he took the second letter of his name

01:15:40

H And he and he took that and put that into the woman and he added that after Aleph and Shin he put the hay

01:15:48

So God put his presence By a letter of his name in the name for man and in the name for woman so in that way both man and woman retained their name and Retained in their names the word fire

01:16:03

But when they marry Because the divine presence dwells in their midst in the combination of their names that fire gives warmth and it gives heat to the life

01:16:15

If God's presence does not dwell there that fire is a consuming fire and it turns their home

01:16:21

Into a literal hell on earth and if a husband and wife and many do make God's presence unwelcome in their home

01:16:28

I I love to see those little signs and I go into home and says the Lord Is the unseen guest in this home

01:16:35

Others say the Lord is the head of this home and all those but you know when you begin to observe that home

01:16:41

Sometimes you wonder why they have that there. Is it just there or is it really true? Is he really and truly

01:16:47

Lord of the home? Well, why is this in the Jewish mind because every

01:16:52

Jewish home? Remember I said it'd be a miniature kingdom, but there's another concept that every Jewish home is to be a sanctuary

01:16:59

It's to be a place of worship That is why I see in the church. We have all of our activities in the church in Christianity But in Jesus day, they didn't in Jesus day

01:17:09

Jesus himself Observed the feast some of them were at the temple But also in the home in the home because they were done in Jesus day in the home many of the activities went on in the home and Many of those things the holidays were celebrated in the home and so consequently every home was intended and is intended in Jewish life to be a sanctuary in the small a miniature sanctuary and We say that in ourselves

01:17:35

We preach it we teach it we share it with one another That the man is the priest of the home and the home want to be a little heaven on earth and the hall want to be

01:17:42

A worshipful place. It ought to be a place consecrated completely to God and that's what a sanctuary basically is

01:17:47

It's where people meet with God and where God's presence dwells and the functions that take place in it in Jewish life

01:17:55

Are considered as sacred altar services. It is mandatory as a sacred altar service

01:18:01

It's just as the priest would minister before God in the tabernacle or in the temple and the father is the priest of that home

01:18:08

And they're basically six things that go on in the Jewish home that he must do there many other things

01:18:14

But basically they fall under these categories. First of all, they are considered offerings unto God They are considered offerings unto

01:18:21

God and here are the offerings He does they must control the fire in the heart of the husband and the wife

01:18:29

When you go into most Jewish homes, you will not hear screaming If it's a religious home

01:18:35

You will not hear screaming and you will not hear that father raising his voice At his wife or child if it's a religiously observant home

01:18:44

He will speak firmly and he will speak strongly But he will not speak loudly and I can remember my dad who was not a believer in Jesus I Tried to go back and think about the times my dad scolded me

01:18:56

The times that my dad had to chase in me and sometimes even scourge me And the things that he had to do with me in my life, but I cannot ever remember my dad raising his voice to me

01:19:06

I can't ever remember my dad raising his voice to my mom I can never remember my dad raising his voice to my brother or my sister

01:19:13

I can never I can never remember my mother doing it and yet I can remember both of them whipping me till I thought

01:19:19

I was Gonna die. I Mean, you know, my daddy gave you time. He didn't give you licks I know other people say you're gonna get ten licks that my dad gave me time

01:19:27

He'd say you get four minutes or you get five minutes and you know mother said, oh, please don't hurt him Don't hurt him, you know

01:19:32

Cuz she knew what was coming so we had to go up to the bedroom and we closed the door went inside and my dad took His belt off He didn't have a neutral object he's took his belt off and yeah

01:19:41

I mean, it's a that thing had those little holes in it and he'd wrapped around his hand He said, okay time begins now and I could do anything.

01:19:49

I want to in that room to keep away from him He'd give me time I get four minutes five minutes, whatever was sometimes

01:19:55

I was in there 15 minutes And you know, he didn't have to hit me. I'd scream. He just swung You know, I just jump away, you know

01:20:02

And he I'd go into the bed and he'd come underneath there after me popping it and he got what he was good at that Thing, you know,

01:20:07

I mean he could pop that thing almost like a whip a big old long belt I believe he just had it made purposely me couldn't fit him

01:20:16

But I never remember my dad raising his voice at me even when he chastened me even when he had to correct me

01:20:21

I never remember him raising his voice to me and I found it to be true in religiously observant Jewish homes

01:20:28

And so I think it we you know, we do the same then another offering to God is to avoid quarrels

01:20:35

To avoid arguments it is considered an offering to God To lessen the arguments in a home not to have arguments one with another

01:20:43

Well, it's kind of difficult to argue when you believe the dad's the king If you believe the mother's the

01:20:49

Queen, I mean there, you know, you just have some good discussions but argue

01:20:55

Shouldn't be Mutual loving kindness and support support one another. I hear this all the time

01:21:01

I was in Florida sometime ago, and I was talking to a person that's I talked to him.

01:21:07

I don't have a lot of confidence in him, but you know, he's one of these macho egotistical young man He's in a career and he's married and claims to be a

01:21:15

Christian, but there's so much in his life That isn't Christian and I cannot give me a good salvation Testimony and all of this and and many things and we were talking about he said, you know

01:21:23

He's talking about Jewish people and he always brings it up with me So we were sitting there in his home So I had listened to him and he gives me all this stuff of ideas and why come you guys always stick together

01:21:33

He said, you know, nobody can get in there, you know You don't care if I get in your family said one doesn't one line doesn't square to it all this stuff.

01:21:39

I said support If you don't support your family who will If you don't stand for your family who is

01:21:46

I can't depend on other people supporting my family We got to support ourselves and we're taught very early.

01:21:52

I can remember when I was four and five years of age I was taught as a young Jewish boy

01:21:57

If you don't stay close and if you don't excel if you don't succeed and if you don't support if you don't stay close to Your family if we don't build this family up, they'll trample us to death.

01:22:06

They'll slaughter us They'll trample right over us. We have to stay together. And that's why the community stays together

01:22:12

That's why when you go to a Jewish people, they all function together with the God we Christians would Listen if we ever get together my soul

01:22:19

Listen, if your church ever just comes together in perfect unity, listen, this community won't be able to contain you Now I'm not just about all

01:22:26

Christians coming together They weren't dropping doctoral differences on you can't do that. So I don't believe the virgin birth. You can't go off fellowship with that I'm talking about churches of light faith and order you can do that We can do that and then the employment of nature's flame only is permitted in fulfillment of divine covenant commandment sexual intercourse physical cohabitation

01:22:48

Is done with the recognition that this is a commandment from God. This is a gift from God It is an act of God and you do it with a consciousness that you are of God Now you can play with that all day long that doesn't mean you're thinking about God that doesn't mean you pray

01:23:08

You know, that's not you and all those things not at all. Not at all It's just a general recognition, you know,

01:23:13

Paul said pray without ceasing being a prayerful attitude at all times He wouldn't mean you'd be praying all the time

01:23:19

Just be in constant communication with God be accessible and approachable to God at all times recognize that God is involved in your life

01:23:26

Everything significant or insignificant he is and then another offering to God is the rearing of generations and you sanctify them at birth sanctify them at birth

01:23:36

I'm going to share with you something we advise all couples to do and I have couples literally by the Thousands around this world are doing it with their children right now in their home and I can give you letter after letter letter

01:23:46

We have in our files for our children Their whole personalities are completely changing within just a couple of weeks time

01:23:52

Had a young major from the Air Force Who was teaching at the Air Force Academy? Wrote me and talked to me about his 12 year old daughter and we shared with him just some basic principles that I'll be sharing with You concerning what

01:24:03

Jewish people do with a family and we found it to be very effective as Christian people And so we began to share with them and those children's personalities completely changed had an agricultural agent from Arkansas Wrote me told me kids are having all kinds of trouble in school

01:24:18

And then so we shared with them what to do had a 19 year old girl her mother came to me in Fort Worth and said the same and I just give you instant after instant where Personalities totally change and they began to think about the right things and then the gear the right and it's just a matter of doing

01:24:30

Well Jewish people do it from birth and I'm not saying they wind up in the right place I am saying that if they would follow the logical conclusion, they would come up knowing

01:24:37

Jesus They would come up knowing the Son of God But they stopped short of where God wants them to be as many other people do and so they sanctify a child from birth

01:24:46

Not only raise him up, but start him out that way And then another offering is a loving willingness to willingly bear a loving willingness to bear the burdens of the home

01:24:56

Whatever they are No matter what the burden is in that home to bear it to bear it lovingly and without complaint without griping without grieving about it

01:25:04

Just go on and bear it bear that burden whatever it is the children of Israel built many many worship places did not you recall they had the tabernacle in the wilderness that Moses built and Aaron was there and they raised that tabernacle.

01:25:19

There was a place of worship at Shiloh There was a place of worship at Kadesh Barnea There was a place to worship here the place of Mount Zion Abraham took

01:25:27

Isaac and offered him up to all kinds of places But they're all in ruins. They're gone They're no longer and even the great temple itself in Jerusalem is gone.

01:25:35

It was destroyed in 70 AD Was it not when Titus and the Roman legions came in so they don't have that but Jewish people say that's all right

01:25:43

Because there's one place that can never be destroyed and that's the Jewish home that is the Jewish home and that has become a place of worship and it can never be destroyed and in the

01:25:54

Jewish home the divine service of God Continues Passover is done in the synagogue, but Passover is also done in the home

01:26:02

It's done in the home Hanukkah celebrated synagogue, but it's also celebrated in home

01:26:07

Why is it that we believe the church has to provide us everything for our homes when that's not its job

01:26:14

We ought to be doing some things at home brethren We'll be doing some celebrating of God at home

01:26:20

Why is home fun and games and we want to get spiritual when we come to church? We want to get religious in the congregation

01:26:26

We want to get godly in the auditorium whenever the home ought to be more sacred than any place on earth.

01:26:33

I Think they have a secret here. I think they have a secret. It is said this if you want to understand the people of Israel Acquaint yourself with a

01:26:42

Jewish family If you want to understand what Israel is all about if you want to understand the

01:26:47

Israelites if you want to stay with God doing There's a quaint yourself with a Jewish family Even if that people should be completely destroyed it can be rebuilt from that last surviving family

01:27:00

The whole nation can rise back again if there be just one family left on earth

01:27:07

You won't understand them you have to understand the family now What basis could they make such a statement on the strength of the divine promise that God said

01:27:16

I shall dwell in the midst of thee I will dwell in the midst of thee how much more has