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2819 Church
WISDOM & WONDER | Marriage. Divorce. Singleness. | Matthew 19:1-12 | Philip Anthony Mitchell
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You can be seated. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yeah. Yeah. Hallelujah. You're my man in the red hat. Didn't I baptize you? Aren't you from New York? You was the dude that was going to commit suicide until you found us on social media. Yo, come here. Come up here. Come here. In the summer of this year, by God's grace, we had the opportunity to baptize a thousand brothers and sisters. And near the end, I met this brother from New York in the water who told me that he was just about to commit suicide and stumbled onto the ministry over. Over online. And how, through the proclamation of God's word. He's still here. Because the devil is a liar and a defeated fo. I see you with that 2819 on your neck. See? And I already know some. Some religious person out there is judging you for that tattoo on your neck, that 2819 on your neck. And so I just want to remind them that this is not the logo of a church. This is a script. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples. Disciples. Hey, y'all. Everybody stretch your hand this way. Father, I thank you for blessing me with this reunion with my brother, who you saved in a dark place. Through the proclamation of the Word, you transferred him from the domain of darkness and brought him into the kingdom of your marvelous light. You recorded his name in the Lamb's book of life. You zipped him up with your holy Spirit. We just pray over him right now that he would walk in your ways all the days of his life, that he will be a radically sold out disciple of Christ, that he would be a force to be reckoned with in every sphere of influence. And I impart to him right now some spiritual gift. Fire. Lord, I pray you would use him mightily in these last days. Your favor and blessing be upon him in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Somebody shout. Somebody give him praise. All right, be seated. All right. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, my God. Confirmation. Yeah. The Lord is with us. Yeah. Before we jump into the proclamation of God's word, I want to just acknowledge just our Director of Outreach, Ms. Brittany Timmons, and everybody who's been. I want to tell you, thank you for leading that area of ministry so well and being able to take vision and execute on vision. To everybody who's been serving in the streets of Atlanta through Serve 25, Serve M25, our arm of outreach, we are aggressively out there touching the city of Atlanta. And so I just want to thank all of you, hundreds of you that constantly going out there every single week and making a difference. Thank you for that. If you are guests, we welcome you to 2819. If you're sitting in the overflow, we welcome you to 2819. If you are one of our digital disciples, watching me right now live in cities across the country and around the world, we welcome you to 2819. And if you're not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that you're in the room, we know that you're sitting in the overflow. You may be even watching me across this camera. We are just thankful that you are here eavesdropping on these holy conversations that a shepherd is having with his church. And we want you to know that you could be long before you believe. You could be amongst us before you believe. And we just pray by God's divine providence, you will be brought into the kingdom of God, while time has afforded you grace to be able to do that. We are at the ending of a series called Wisdom and wonder. Just two more chapters left. Today is season eight of that series. We break the seals on season eight. And then one more chapter, chapter 20. And then this series will come to an end. We are Studying Matthew, chapter 12 through 20 together. Matthew was an outcast Jew who lived in the 1st century AD converted to Christianity by the Lord Jesus Christ. He went on to become a follower and eyewitness. He died for what he believed. He wrote the book that bears his name, which is the gospel. We are studying together. Okay, everybody, hear my heart. Okay? Today we approach a very difficult passage of Scripture. It is not difficult because it's hard to understand or it's theologically complex. I want you to hear me. It is difficult because what we're going to broach three things in this text that whenever they are discussed, they have the power to invoke in people a lot of negative emotions. Feelings of shame, feelings of guilt, feelings of failure. It can affect people from things that has happened in the past. It'll affect people for things that's happening right now. And I want you to hear me carefully as we approach this difficult passage. I want you to know that the driving thrust of the text, the driving thrust of my heart, is not condemnation, but that as we meet with the truth of God's word, it will be for transformation. Okay? And that the driving force of the text, if we study it carefully, is not to bring. Again, let me repeat, not to bring condemnation, but it's for us to bring revelation. And as we approach the text, we all have to make a decision how we deal with truth. We either push away from the table or we kind of lean in to say, lord, let me let this work in my heart for just a little bit. Okay, so I'm just preference this because it is an uncomfortable passage and the three things we're going to deal with are uncomfortable topics. But I pray that as a family, we will lean into this truth together. Our text this morning is coming from Matthew 19:1 12 for all of our note takers and we're not going to hide from the text. So the title of this message is coming right out of the text. Marriage, divorce, singleness. We don't do anything sexy here. Just straight from the word of God. Okay? I can't go around it, can't jump past it. Since we're a fully expository church, we got to deal with this text. Okay? We got to deal with this text. So eternal God and ever wise Father, Lord, we thank you for the truth and the wisdom of these holy scriptures. Father, I know that this is a difficult text. I know that it can stir a lot of uncomfortable emotions. But Lord, I pray there would be a spiritual maturity right now under the proclamation of the Word for sons and daughters to lean into this truth, to not run from it, but deal with it right where it is. I pray, Father, in the name of Jesus, in my own weakness this morning, you would give me the strength to proclaim these difficult truths in love and in clarity. Let the weight of the Word come to bear on our flesh. Touch us now in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and all God's people say Amen and Amen and Amen. Marriage, divorce and singleness. In October of 2002, I had just got off the highway from New York, driving back to North Carolina, had a female in my car and stopped at Sally's beauty supply store to get a do rag for my locks. When I walk into the store, I see this beautiful, blazing sister behind the cash register and I do everything I can to shoot my shot to no avail. And I leave her my number and after about two months she would call me back and she and I began a dating relationship that lasted for a year. Some change that was. It was bliss. During the time we was dating, this is Lena and I, my wife who would become my future wife. During the time of our dating, our courtship. Man, we laughed, we traveled, we went on trips, we ate good food, we were sinners at the time. So we did all the things that sinners do, all the things, you know, we. You're tracking with all the things that sinners do. We are intimate. I am smoking, we are drinking, we're doing all. And we're just enjoying life. And for years, some change. It's bliss. In November of 2003, the following year, I am converted to Christianity in the bathroom of our apartment after my wife survived the car accident. And her worship unto God on that day caused me, in my suicidal state, to desire the joy I saw in her. In that moment, she would recommit her life to Christ and then we would honor the Lord. Although we was living together, I slept on the couch, she slept in the room. We would honor the Lord until we was married. Except for that one night we dishonored the Lord. It was the first time I felt sin in my life. And we would honor the Lord until we was married in the following year in August. Now, after my wife and I get married, something shifted in our relationship. It felt like out of nowhere, just warfare hit our house out of nowhere. We are arguing about everything. We are fighting about everything. We at each other's throat about everything. I am seeing all of her flaws. She is seeing all of my flaws. It seems like every week was replete with fights and arguments. I mean, we are just in battle all the time. And I'm wondering, man, what happened to that time we dated when we was in bliss and now all of a sudden we are married. It's like we're two different people at each other's throat all the time. It was in that season, a man who I used to be in relationship with came to me and said, man of God, I had a dream about you and Lena. He said, I saw in the dream you were standing in the kitchen, you and Lena. A man walked up to you and whispered in your ear. Then he walked up to Lena and whispered in her ear. Y'all turned towards each other and started fighting. And then the man walked out of the room. As I prayed about that dream, man, I got revelation in my heart. That man in the dream represented Satan himself. And what the Lord was revealing to me in that dream is that after my wife and I came into a covenant of marriage, we became a target for the adversary. And then I realized that a lot of our fights, a lot of our differences, our arguments, was being instigated in our hearts by demonic influences. I would feel things in my heart against her that was not biblical. She would feel things in her heart against me. That was not biblical. We know the enemy can influence us demonically, for this is what he did to Jesus in Matthew 4. When the Lord is in a place of Vulnerability after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, here comes the enemy to tempt him in his vulnerability. So now as I'm reading the Word of God, I get to letters like the letter Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus. And I realized that watch. Marriage is not only a covenantal relationship between a male and female, but marriage is also a picture of Christ and the church. Now it makes sense to me that in the natural realm, we are fighting, but in the spiritual realm, every time the devil sees a biblical union, he sees something that aggravates him. He sees a picture of Christ and the church. And what he would do is take his knife of influence, lies and deceit, and on that canvas, he will do anything he can to cut that canvas, ruin that canvas, distort that canvas, destroy marriage. Is there any evidence of that? Yes, because there's anecdotal data in this room, in the overflow across that camera of couples who got married and felt warfare after marriage. Is there any evidence of this in society? Yes. Statistics show one out of every two marriages ends in divorce, even in the church. It seems like we are struggling to stay married in our society. And all of it is not just we are bad people. A lot of it is that we have an adversary who hates marriage. Is there any evidence of that? Well, yes. We see people in society trying to redefine marriage, which is satanic. We see people in society who dishonor marriage, which is satanic. We see people in society, man, who treat marriage with nose regard, which all of this is satanic. Is there a sanctity to marriage? Is this covenant more valuable than what we think it is? Is there a message in the text for even people who are single today and who are not married? These are very important questions that are being had in the discourse of culture that are being had in the Church. These are the questions at the center of this difficult text that emerged between watch a heated exchange between Jesus and some religious hypocrites of his day. Matthew, who was there, records for us this conversation in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 1. Matthew records. Now, when Jesus had finished saying these things, he went away from Galilee and entered into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan, and large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. I want to draw your attention to a few things in the text. The first thing I want to draw your attention to is after he finished these things. This is a common line in the Book of Matthew that he's using to transition us from the last section of teachings that Jesus gave to what he's about to do next. In the Book of Matthew, there are five major blocks of teaching, five major sermons from Jesus. What we have just concluded was the fourth major teaching from Jesus where he just taught us about community and humility and hospitality and dealing with sin and dealing with forgiveness. And now on the heels of talking about forgiveness, he will now talk about the relationship that will be tested the most around forgiveness. After he finished these things, he went away from Galilee. I love that Matthew put these details there. Boring for you. Exciting for me as a theologian, because I know from this text that Jesus would never return to this area ever again. He's in Capernaum in northern Galilee, his home base of operation. He will never return back to his home base. Why? Because from here he's headed towards to Jerusalem, where we know historically. He will be arrested. He will be tried. He will be brutally executed for your sins and mine. He will never return back to this place. He will never see these people ever again. So he leaves and he travels down the east side of the Jordan river through Perea. As he's making his way towards Galilee, he does not go through Samaria, except for that one time he met that woman at the well. It says large crowds followed him. Now I want you to peep the text. Why are large crowds following Jesus? It was Matthew who told us earlier in the book that the Lord looked out at the crowds that were following his ministry and said, they are like sheep scattered without a shepherd. This was New Testament language to say, look at the people of his day who watch. Who were spiritually neglected by the bad teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. That is, look at the amount of people who were tired of bad doctrine. Is giving America tired of empty doctrine. Is giving Atlanta tired of foolishness in the church is giving Atlanta. And so now the crowds are hungry and they're searching for truth and they're hearing truth in Christ and they're latching hold of that truth. Because after some time you can't keep eating cotton candy. It'll rotten out your soul. At some point in time. You need meat. You need real doctrine. You need truth, even if it hurts your feelings. And now the people are wary watch. They are tired. These are mixed multitudes of people, man, who are dealing with the issues of life. And they're realizing that the teachings of the Pharisees is not dealing with those issues. They are sheep scattered without a shepherd. They hear the chief shepherd. They see his teachings, they see his miracles. They say, we will follow Him. I just want to throw this in there. Notice anywhere Jesus shows up, lives were transformed. And so they're following Christ and he healed them because he heals. Verse 3. And Pharisees came to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? Now I want you to peep what Matthew is doing. It didn't say, the Lord went into a house and the Pharisees came. They come as he's in the midst of the crowds, so they come and attack him in the presence of people. This is a public dispute that's about to happen. This is no different than trolls who creep up on people's pages looking for an audience. In the comments. You don't really have anything of value to add to the conversation. You just want to stick in your ignorance to make it palpable for everybody else in the comments to think that you're a theologian. So here they come, acting like theologians in front of the crowds. And the Scripture says they test him by asking him a question. This is important because we know that their motives are not pure. They are trying to trap the Lord in us in a theological debate. This is why it's very important for us who are followers of Christ to have watch this word discernment when we are talking to people, when we are in conversations on rooms. Because everybody talking to you does not have good intentions. Everybody trying to friend you does not have good intentions. Everybody trying to talk to you about something theological does not have good intentions. These men do not have good intentions. They ask him, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? Now let me explain to you what's happening historically. In the first century A.D. rabbis were very influential people. Jesus was a rabbi. He was extremely influential. But he was not the only influential rabbi in the first century. In the first century, there was another rabbi who was very influential. His name was Rabbi Shammai. Now, Rabbi Shammai taught a conservative doctrine about marriage and that people could not divorce except for sexual immorality or death. But now there was another rabbi who was very liberal. Peep where I'm going. His name was Rabbi Hillel. Rabbi Hillel had great influence. He taught a different doctrine. He said that watch people could divorce or men could divorce for anything that they chose. So now you have a conservative doctrine around marriage and divorce. You have a liberal doctrine around marriage and divorce. And they come and ask Jesus, what side are you on? What is the origin of this? What side are you on? He knows that if he says, I'm on Shammai's side, he offends all of the liberals. If he says, I'm on Hillel's side, he offends all of the conservatives. So no matter what he responds to man, based on what they're asking, somebody's going to get offended. What is the origin of their arguments? Deuteronomy, chapter 24. In Deuteronomy, chapter 24, here is the origin of their fight. It says, when Moses wrote this laws from God, When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then he finds no favor in his eyes because she has found some indecency in her. And he writes her certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of this house, and she departs out of the house. And if she goes and becomes another man's wife and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then the former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring this sin in the land. The Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. Now pay attention. If you read the text carefully, you will not see a license for divorce. If you read the text carefully, you will see Moses permitting something to happen. Permitting divorce with certificate. Watch to protect a people group who had no rights. Women, just like the Lord, will deal with children next week in the next text. Imagine a culture where women have no rights and only men could pull the trigger on marriages. So what Moses does here is permit a type of certificate to protect women from being abused in these kind of relationships. Now I want to draw your attention to one statement where it says, if then she finds no favor in his eyes. Verse 1. The drama in the culture stemmed from this one verse. If she finds no favor in his eyes, that is nuance. What does that mean, if she finds no favor? Hillel says, well, if she finds no favor, that is, if a brother looks at his wife and sees anything in her she does not like, he does not like, he can write her a certificate of divorce. History tells us in the Mishnah that men were divorcing women for things as simple as they burned a meal. This is written in history. They were divorcing their wives for things as simple as they found somebody else more attractive. Okay, okay, see, Let me help my ladies out. Now, imagine a culture where if you grew after your marriage. Divorce. Somebody had a better bundle. Divorce. Somebody had a better B face. Divorce. You marry a man and you can't cook. Divorce. You marry a man and he don't like the way you dress. Divorce. You marry a man and he don't like your perfume. Divorce. I'm trying to give you a picture of what was happening. Imagine a culture where a man can see anything he don't like in his wife or he meets somebody at the job more attractive. Divorce. And then you start practicing that for hundreds of years. By the time you get to the days of Christ, you know what you have? You have a culture where there is no respect for marriage. You have a culture where everybody is getting divorced all the time. This is not a condemnation of divorce for legitimate reasons. This is me telling you that when Jesus got into this dispute, he's talking to men in a culture watch. Where everybody is just having. Watch this. Watch frivolous divorces for anything. Women have no rights because they can't pull the trigger. So now you have women being abused left and right. I can't cook. I grew a few pounds. He sees somebody more attractive, I start aging. Not enough Botox to keep me in the marriage. Now, you put yourself in that circumstance, especially every married woman, and just imagine being in a culture where if your man, for any reason saw something in you, he did not like divorce. You know what that creates? That creates a culture where women are abused. They are tired, they are wary, they feel no sense of. Watch this word, because y'all love this word security. This is the culture at the time. And so when they come to the Lord and ask, well, can a man divorce himself for any reason? It's because there's an argument in culture between liberals and conservatives about that one phrase. If the Lord responds one way, he offends the liberals. I'm almost done. If he responds the other way, he offends the conservatives. So what is the wisest thing for the Lord to do in this moment is what we should be doing when these debates happen. Verse four, I'm almost done. And he answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? Just stop before finish. All right? I'm about to get in trouble, but I don't care. Listen to me right now. It's in the text. We're not gonna just drive over it like it's not there. I don't care. You can send me all the DMS you want. You can email us all you want. I don't care. Because we're not gonna just step over what's in the text. The Lord responds to a debate between liberals and conservatives, not with conservative dogma, not with liberal dogma. I am a conservative side note. But he responds with have you not read? He does not even answer their question about divorce. Instead, he takes them back to the word of God. He does not respond with his opinion. He does not respond with what his mother said or what his father said. He responds to a beef between liberals and conservatives, but giving them the Word of God. And that whoever it offends, it just offends. But if you're going to be offended, you won't be offended for my opinions. You will be offended for the the Word of God, no matter who side it lands on. So if there's sanctity of life and you are pro abortion, man, you got to deal with the Word of God. Don't be mad at me because I'm pro life. I'm pro life because the word is pro life. I don't care. Listen, you ain't scaring me. Ain't no tucking no tails. Ain't nobody running from this truth. The Lord says to them, have you not read that is why have y'all not properly interpreted the scriptures that y'all teach? The Pharisees are the religious elite of the day. They are the pastors of the day. And he says to the pastor, you talking to me about divorce? I want to talk to you about marriage. Have you not read that is why have y'all wrongly interpreted the word of God? And then he says, did you not know from the beginning that God created them male and female? This debunks all cultural arguments, all bad doctrine in the church that there's any such thing as non binary gender assignments. So we see people talking like that in culture and you got Christians that like they post. Why? Because you let your preference be stronger than God's word. It is an error for our preferences to be greater than God's word. How can we support anything non binary when the scripture says in the beginning he made the male female. This is Jesus quoting Genesis 1 and 2. This is Jesus not giving opinions. This is Jesus sticking to there are only two pronouns. There are only two genders Jesus gave us. Don't say Philip Anthony Mitchell said and try to meme me to death. In the beginning Jesus said he made them male and female. Verse 5 and said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, Let not man separate. What is the Lord doing? They are talking about divorce. The Lord is pointing them back to the Bible, pointing them back to marriage. He tells us that from the beginning God created the male and female. And then he quotes to us the very first marriage that God created. Notice in the first marriage that God created. Created. He created the marriage between male and female. So there are some things here about marriage I just want to touch and move on. Okay, first things first. I want you to notice in the text that God in his original design created marriage as a covenant between one male and one female. Then he gives us some parameters around marriage. They shall leave, which means once you are married, that relationship takes top priority over every other relationship, over friends, over family, over in laws who become outlaws. He says in the context of marriage, they shall hold fast to one another. That is, the Lord expects married couples to to be deeply bonded. Communication, sharing, forgiveness, all of that. Deeply bonded. And then he says, in marriage, man, they shall become one flesh. So he reserves sexual activity for the covenant of marriage to bind a male and female together. So we won't keep yoking ourselves to people who are not our spouses and then wonder why we are emotionally and mentally all dis. Disrupted all the time. He teaches that sex is a powerful thing that was designed for this union. Now this is not an indictment on someone who struggles with same sex attraction. And we should not condemn people who struggle with same sex attraction. Because watch when God spoke this. Watch this. When God spoke this in Genesis 1 and 2, Adam was perfect. I'm going somewhere with this. And Eve was perfect. And so marriage was probably bliss until Genesis 3 when there is a fall and rebellion against God. And then what infects the marriage? Sin. And now Adam is not perfect. And now Eve is not perfect. And now Adam gets mad at Eve. And now Eve gets mad at Adam. And now Philip gets mad at Lena, and Lena gets mad at Philip. And now for the thousands of years there was fights and wars inside of marriage. Now we have men marrying men and women marrying women and redefining marriage and couples fighting and divorce everywhere. All of that came because of what? Because of our sinful nature. That's why it's difficult. That's why marriage is difficult. Marriage is not difficult because your spouse is evil. It's difficult because we are all infected by sin. But if you see God's original intent. And I'm almost done. God actually intended that any two people who will get married will never separate until one died. So what he's given back to the Pharisees, Watch. This is not an indictment on people who has been divorced or have gone through it. It's not an indictment. This is God just giving the Pharisees in their argument what God's original design was. So I hear y'all asking me on the liberal and the conservative side about divorce. I'm just telling y'all, here's what God's original design was. Do y'all see that? Then? Verse 7. But they said to him, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? Do you see that? So the Lord gives them the word, they give him a rebuttal. The Lord gives them truth, they give him a rebuttal. The Lord tells them what God says, they give him a rebuttal. Look, they are no different than us. That what they're trying to do is exalt their preferences above God's truth, their opinions above God's truth. And you and I, we do this all the time. Instead of leaning into truth and being transformed, we find every reason in our heart to give rebuttals against God's truth. Instead, we should just allow God's truth to deal with my heart. Like, you know what? This is what God said. I got to deal with this in my heart. So they do what we all do. They give a pushback against the teachings of the Word of God. And then the Lord responds to them in verse eight. And he said to them, because he said to them, because your hearts were hardened because of the hardness of your heart, because of the hardness of your heart. Because of the hardness of your heart, Moses allowed you to voice your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so. And so I say to you, this you right here in your Bible, in Greek is plural. He's talking to the Pharisees and the crowd. It's plural. I say to you Pharisees, to my disciples, to the crowd, I say to all of you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. Now, this is not to condemn anybody who's been divorced. If you remarried and you, you had sex with your new wife, the Lord forgives you for that. You got to move on. But what the Lord is doing right here is addressing. Now listen to me carefully the immediate circumstance of the question he was asked. This is important for you to understand this as growing theologians, because what he does not address here is all the reasons why people might be in a divorce. He's not talking about, like, what Paul would give us when you unbelieving spouse abandons, or if a person or woman is in an abusive relationship and in danger for her life, and for some reason she gets a divorce to save her life and then begs God for forgiveness. Like, he's not addressing all the other issues that may cause people divorce. What he's doing right here is addressing the immediate circumstance, saying to me, these Pharisees, the crowd, his disciples. Listen to me, all of you. Y'all arguing about all these frivolous divorces. You got conservative arguments and liberal arguments. And I just want to let all of you know, here is what God intended from the beginning. He intended marriage to be one male, one female, bonded together for life, bonded in the flesh. Sexual activity only in the context of marriage, and for them to remain married until they are watch, departed by death. This is what God originally wanted for all human beings. Because in his wisdom, he knows if we follow this, you will live the best life possible. But now we know it is more difficult because when he said this, the couple was perfect. But what we dealing with right now is marriage in the context of sin. So for us, we know that this is more difficult. We know it is difficult. We know this. And this is why all throughout Scripture we have teachings on marriage to deal with our flesh for men and women. Because we're wrestling with sin. Now, everybody pay attention. That is a heavy teaching. And you know who's listening to him? Not only in the crowds and the Pharisees, but his disciples. And amongst those 12, one of those men are married. Peter. The other 11 are single men. Now everybody watch. I'm about to close. 12 men, one married, 11 single. So you got one married man who probably knows what it is to be fighting with his wife. Peter. Fussing with his wife. Peter. Giving her the business. Peter. So Peter knows the frustration of marriage. Then you got 11 dudes who's listening to this and thinking like, yo, that's a heavy teaching. So how do they respond when they hear the teaching? Verse 10, the disciples said to him, oh, Lord, if such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better to not be married. Peep the text. They like, yo, ho. If, if. So you're trying to tell me if I marry my wife? Because remember the culture. And I can't divorce her if she cooks my meal bad or if she gets big or if I see Somebody more prettier. You telling me. Wait, so culture is wrong? So you're telling me, Lord, if I get married, I gotta stay in there no matter what? Well, shoot. Lord, if that's the case, it's better for us to stay single. Watch. Come on. They understand the gravity of God's original design. They understand the gravity of God's original intent. And when they see that marriage was serious before God, holy before God, a covenant before God, eternal before God, till death before God, we can't be frivolously thrown away, our wives and abusing our wives will shoot. If it's that serious in the eyes of God, I might as well stay single if it's that serious. Now watch. This is the disciples giving their own Lord pushback on his teaching. Any disciples ever gave the Lord pushback on his teaching? Yes. Liars. Yes, you have. How does the Lord respond to their pushback? These are the last verse. How does the Lord respond to their pushback? He says in verse 11, last two verses. But he said to them, not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. You know what the Lord is saying. You know what? Y'all are right. This teaching is not for everybody. Watch. That's why some of y'all should stay single. That's what he's saying. I love the Bible. He's saying to them, yes, since marriage is so serious in the eyes of God, that's why some of you should not get married. Watch this. And don't be in sin at the same time. See, because some of y'all are thinking, well, oh, I. I just stay single cuz I'm. I'm banging it out anyway. I'm all good. But before he got to this, he was talking about dealing aggressively with sin. So now peep the context. So you want me to be holy? And now you're saying to me in my holiness, if marriage is too serious, stay single for life while being holy. So the Lord is saying, yeah, I agree with y'all. Since it's so heavy, some of y'all should just stay single. Oo, you should stop being so thirsty to be married because you're not ready for what you're asking for. You fasting all the time for a husband and a wife, but are you ready for what you're asking for? That's what the Lord is saying. You're always fasting for a spouse, but are you mature enough to handle what you're asking for? So the Lord finishes the verse, the sex, he says, for there are eunuchs who have been so from birth. And there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men. And they are eunuchs who have been made themselves eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who was able to receive this receive it. Now. Everybody watch. You know what the Lord just did right here? Watch this. The Lord just affirmed singleness. What the Lord just said to you. Watch. Watch the gem. Singleness is not a curse and marriage is not the goal. Pay attention. Nobody move in the overflow. Pay attention across the camera. Pay attention. Everybody listen to me carefully. What is a eunuch? A eunuch were men who were castrated from their testicles, who served kings so they will not corrupt themselves with women. Let me repeat. A eunuch were men who were castrated in their testicles who served kings so they will not defile themselves with women. So the Lord uses eunuchs of his day to give them watch a teaching that marriage is so serious. He says some people are born eunuchs. This is code language. For there are few people who are born with a gift of singleness, a gift of celibacy. They will be single their whole life, like Paul was. And then he said, there are some people watch who watch who were made eunuchs. There were some people watch who life made them single. Maybe on the other side of divorce and no husband or wife is coming. And then he said, there are some who made themselves eunuchs. That is some people who made a decision for the sake of serving the Lord and not having to share my time with a spouse. And the Lord I will devote my whole life to. To the Lord. And what the Lord just did is exalt the call to singleness. But the culture keeps trying to force everybody to be married. Have you not read? And what you have here in the Word of God, Listen to me. Is a gem for married people that the covenant that you are in is a serious one. And that the Lord wants you to fight for that covenant because it is a picture of Christ in the church. But then to the divorce, no condemnation. But it is not his will for us to just treat divorce like the automatic out at the altar, like we're getting married, planning an exit. And then to the single person, he says, your singleness is not a curse. You should see a singleness as a blessing. For while you are single, you can be completely devoted to the Lord with undivided time and undivided devotion. And then you should stop letting teachers make you feel that you are cursed because you are single. You should stop letting people who are preaching make you feel you're cursed because you're single. You should start seeing something single as something God, Jesus elevated as a divine calling. For some people, that does not mean you're less of a man. It does not mean you're less of a woman. The Lord might want you all to himself for a season, wants to do something in you for a season. And I just want to remind everybody under the sound of my voice that if there's any pushback to the text, I want to remind everybody, no matter what your status is, all of us are married. Said preacher. I don't get it. There is a man, the son of God, who called himself a groom, who gave birth to an organism he called a church a female. He said he's the bridegroom of the church and that he is forever married to the church. Watch. But all of us, we've committed adultery on him. We've had other lovers other than him. We've snuck out at night behind his back. We've been rude to him, cruel to him, rebellious to him, disobedient to him. But he has never given you a certificate of divorce. He signed your marriage license in blood and is forever, and is forever committed to you. Come on, man. Some of you, you deserve to be divorced from the Lord. You deserve to be put out of the house. You deserve that certificate of divorce. But no, even in all of your mess, he never wrote you a certificate of divorce. He's seen you fall time and time again and kept married to you anyway. He's seen you rebellious and stayed married to you anyway. He's seen you, had other lovers and been married to you anyway. He sees all of your idols and he stays married to you anyway. He has set the great example and my prayer for us, that we would honor the one who came, lived, died, rose and married you and put a ring on. He is never gonna take off. And my prayer is that for the married couples, man, the Lord would help us. For the divorced couples, you will find grace. And for the single couples, you will feel like that's God's will for you for a season. Single people. So, Father, in the name of Jesus, don't move. It's a serious moment. Don't move. Serious moment. Father, in the name of Yeshua, I pray over 2819 local and abroad. I pray over our local disciples and digital disciples. I pray over everyone in America or the world that would hear this message. Restore to the church honor for the covenant of marriage. Restore to the church a fight for the covenant of marriage. Restore to the church a fidelity to the scriptures above our dogma and our opinions. Father, help every married couple who is in trouble right now. Father, I pray you would heal every person who has gone through a painful divorce. And Father God, I pray you would strengthen every person who is single to be holy until the season has come for them to be married or if it's your will, for them to be single for the rest of their life. Help us to look beyond opinions of culture and to honor you, Father. Lord, according to the word, I pray for strength right now for all of your sons and daughters. Comfort us right now. For those who need healing, I pray this right now in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and all God's people said amen and amen. Put your hands together. You gotta say something before you leave, okay? Before you leave, listen to me carefully in the overflow. Everybody watching Digital Disciples before you leave, hear me, no shade and no manipulation. Our church right now is in a very difficult season. We have outgrown this facility and we are causing trouble for the city and for this neighborhood and for this community. We have to transition out of this facility. We cannot do that with prayer only. Listen to me. I don't want to give you details, but it is very important. I am asking everyone first to just honor God by just being faithful with your giving whatever percentage he puts on your heart. But I'm asking everybody to go beyond that, that if you're not involved in honoring God, help the church you belong to. If your life has been changed here, if you're in A squad here, you're getting fed here. Listen to me, we cannot stay here. Pressure on us from the outside. And I'm asking everybody to join us now in being faithful in supporting the church. You say you love Digital Disciples. We're not asking you for your percentage. That belongs to your church. If this is supplemental, you can help us if the Lord feels. But if this is your home on the ground, I'm asking everybody now to listen, to just be faithful in giving. Because watch. We cannot stay here. There is pressure on us from the outside. That's all I'm going to tell you right now. We may not be able to buy a facility even if we have to go lease something, but we cannot stay here because there is pressure on us from the outside. We have to leave. We need. So I'm asking everybody to pray that God will grant us Favor that we will find a larger venue immediately. And then I'm asking you if you have a job, if you have a business that is in the black, if you have a ministry in the black, if you have surplus, I'm asking everybody, look, whatever that percentage is, everybody to get involved in supporting the church you say you love and belong to. So we have the revenue to find a larger venue. Listen to me. Right now, even if we can't buy something, we got to lease something. Listen to me, you don't need the details. We cannot stay here. We're feeling pressure from the outside. It's not a joke. So, Father, I pray over the gift and the givers who love 2819 who believe in this revival, believe in this mission, believe in what you are doing here. We are thankful for how you have done something that is supernatural. You have made us a storehouse for so many men and women. God, we don't have space for human beings. And now, Lord, I pray that you would move on the hearts of your sons and daughters, that we would come together as a family to find a home that better supports the revival that you have given birth to. We don't gotta beg a bank, and we don't have to beg anybody. We can do this for ourselves. I pray a blessing over every home, every single home, every business, every ministry, every job. I pray favor upon your sons and daughters and wisdom to be good stewards. Bless the gift and the giver. We got confidence in you that you will provide our need, whatever that looks like, according to your will. We ask in the mighty, the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Everybody stand to your feet and give God praise.