Speaker 1: God bless you, amen.
Speaker 1: Preaching at this moment can be a bit a challenge, but I'll give it a try in Jesus' name Amen.
Speaker 1: Kindly, let us be upstanding for the reading of the Word of God.
Speaker 1: We are discipling the next generation.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1: We are reading from the book of Acts, chapter 18, verse 24 to verse 28.
Speaker 1: Acts, chapter 18, verse 24 to 28.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
Speaker 1: He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.
Speaker 1: He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.
Speaker 1: He began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
Speaker 1: When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
Speaker 1: When Apollos wanted to go to a care, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.
Speaker 1: When he arrived, he was a great help to those who, by grace, had believed, for he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was their Messiah.
Speaker 1: Father in heaven.
Speaker 1: We thank you for this wonderful moment of receiving your Word.
Speaker 1: We pray that you release it to us now by the power of your Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: I am a vessel eagerly awaiting to receive of you that, lord, you may share to each one of us as you deem fit.
Speaker 1: I pray that through your Word may you draw someone to Jesus Christ, that they may have a relationship with you and that their lives will be transformed.
Speaker 1: Thank you for this moment.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, we pray.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: You may have your seats.
Speaker 1: As I get into the Word of God, let me just quickly bring greetings.
Speaker 1: Last Sunday my family and I worshiped at Membley Baptist Church, where I was preaching the Word of God in their services, and Reverend Queerah, pastor Simon, reverend Queerah, sent greetings to the church and brethren here, together with the entire congregation.
Speaker 1: You receive those greetings?
Speaker 1: Amen, we thank God.
Speaker 1: This morning one of my neighbors called me early in the morning on something different, but he's a pastor and he said Pastor, when you go to church as well, send greetings to the congregation.
Speaker 1: Do you receive greetings from my neighbor?
Speaker 1: Amen, we thank God for this moment.
Speaker 1: At least he knows I have delivered his greetings to the church my wife and two other daughters.
Speaker 1: They've left for home.
Speaker 1: They were here in the first service and it's important to mention that last time she actually came for me.
Speaker 1: Those who remember me remember she actually came for me and she bought me lunch.
Speaker 1: So may it happen as it happened the other time.
Speaker 1: May the Lord do likewise.
Speaker 1: But I've been left with a daughter here who was ministering with us and I love you, girl.
Speaker 1: I love you and I love the rest.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: For those who are visiting with us, this year we have been talking about the year of the Lord's empowered world changes and our senior pastor has always guided us through the theme vision.
Speaker 1: If you are visiting with us and you would like to enjoy what we have been receiving the whole of this year from our bookshop, you can actually have a copy of this and you can see what the Lord has been telling us throughout the year, and every month we have a theme, a sub theme.
Speaker 1: This month's sub theme is empowered relationships Enabled ministry, and our associate pastor started us off last Sunday with power and might, and we thank God for your ministry, our associate pastor.
Speaker 1: I pick it up today and I hope we all remember who our characters for the month.
Speaker 1: This month we have two.
Speaker 1: Who are our characters for the month?
Speaker 1: Paki.
Speaker 1: The visitors need to know that you have been following this thing.
Speaker 1: I just told them that you have been following with us, the visitors, so you need to sound like people who have been following along.
Speaker 1: Who are our characters this month?
Speaker 1: Yes, you see, visitors, they have been following, even those online.
Speaker 1: They just said Priscilla and Aquila and those in the pavilion.
Speaker 1: Yes, priscilla and Aquila are our characters for this month and today.
Speaker 1: I want to pick it up on the subject redeeming empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: From this theme vision, page 208 and 209, our senior pastor has pointed out the following properties in terms of empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: He says that the heavenly father purposed us for empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: Secondly, he says the glorious son displayed for us empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: Then he says the Holy Spirit equipped us for empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: Then he says the word of God gives us insight into empowered relationships and finally, prevailing prayer energizes us for empowered relationships Purposed by God, displayed by the Son equipped by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Insights given through the word of God and energized by prayer.
Speaker 1: And then through the pastor's word in the bulletin this morning, pastor Kenita identifies three key empowered relationships that I would like to highlight them for purposes of our sermon today.
Speaker 1: Through Priscilla and Aquila in the book of Acts, chapter 18,.
Speaker 1: This couple presents to us the following, at least three relationships.
Speaker 1: The first one is what I'm referring to as intimate relationships.
Speaker 1: If you look at chapter 18, verse one, the Bible tells us of Aquila and it tells us of his wife, priscilla.
Speaker 1: And these intimate relationships are mostly what I would call the family relationships.
Speaker 1: They can be husband, wife, father, mother, father, you know, son, daughter, like that, those close-knit relationships within the family.
Speaker 1: But the second relationship this couple represents is what I'm referring to as the ethnic relationships.
Speaker 1: These are the tribes and races.
Speaker 1: We all belong to a tribe, to a race, and Dr Luke is keen to tell us that there was a Jew named Aquila.
Speaker 1: There was a Jew named Aquila and his wife.
Speaker 1: He doesn't tell us whether Priscilla was also a Jew, but then he is keen to say there was a Jew and we also know that Paul was a Jew.
Speaker 1: We know that.
Speaker 1: It is there in the bulletin, more details.
Speaker 1: And so we all belong to tribes, we all belong to races.
Speaker 1: As we are seated here, we have those kind of relationships and when you go out there and you are a Kenyan, when you get to a certain airport and you want to find out whether there is a fellow Kenyan, just shout I belong to Manu and somebody will sell you.
Speaker 1: You have three issues to deal with.
Speaker 1: You just know that one is a Kenyan, that one is a Kenyan If you know.
Speaker 1: You know, you will know that one is a Kenyan out there in the diaspora and they will identify with you.
Speaker 1: They will not ask you, you know they will not be bothered about your tribe or they just know this one is a Kenyan and they identify with you.
Speaker 1: And we can talk about other.
Speaker 1: You know people from Zimbabwe, for example, people from Cameroon, for example.
Speaker 1: That there is something that connects you at that level is a relationship.
Speaker 1: And Dr Luke tells us this was a Jew, paul was a Jew, but then this couple also represents another relationship.
Speaker 1: I see, and I call it the marketplace relationship.
Speaker 1: These are the employee-employer relationships, the business partners and associates.
Speaker 1: You know people that you are related because of your marketplace engagements.
Speaker 1: All right, and you see this in verse three, because the Bible says that Paul went into this couple's home because they were tent makers like him.
Speaker 1: A marketplace relationship.
Speaker 1: They were finance guys, they were bankers, they were psychologists, they were doctors, and that brings us together.
Speaker 1: They were HR practitioners, you can name it, they were businessmen.
Speaker 1: This past week we have been treated to a glorious moment in our country where climate, climate, what Climate something?
Speaker 1: Experts were in the country and it didn't matter where they're coming from.
Speaker 1: All the news that we are fighting.
Speaker 1: We have a cause.
Speaker 1: What brings us together is climate, a marketplace relationship.
Speaker 1: But to these three I would like to add two more critical relationships in the life of a believer, and these are one, spiritual relationship.
Speaker 1: The spiritual relationship is the relationship that you have with God that comes about on the basis of new birth or spiritual birth.
Speaker 1: John, chapter one, verse 12 and 13, tells us Yet, to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Speaker 1: Are you a child of God?
Speaker 1: It's an important relationship.
Speaker 1: And then it further says children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but children born of God.
Speaker 1: That's a very important relationship.
Speaker 1: What is your relationship with God?
Speaker 1: Are you a child of God?
Speaker 1: But the second relationship I want to introduce is what I'm calling faith relationship and faith relationship.
Speaker 1: This is the relationship with one another in God.
Speaker 1: The first one is your relationship with God.
Speaker 1: The second one is our relationship with one another in God, the faith relationship.
Speaker 1: Galatians, chapter three, verse 26 to 28 tells us so in Jesus Christ, you are all children of God through faith, all children of God through faith, all of us.
Speaker 1: And then he further says for all of you who are baptized into Christ, you have been, you have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Speaker 1: And then verse 28 says this there is now neither Jew, there is no gentile, there is no slave, there is no free, there is no male, there is no female, for you are all one in Christ, the faith relationship.
Speaker 1: This faith relationship supersedes the ethnic relationship.
Speaker 1: That's why there is no more Jew, no more gentile, and we are able to sit here.
Speaker 1: Somebody said we are a global, international church.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter where you come from, because you are a child of God and I am a child of God.
Speaker 1: We have a relationship.
Speaker 1: It's a faith relationship.
Speaker 1: It also transcends the marketplace relationships.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter whether you are a doctor.
Speaker 1: It says there is no slave, no free.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter whether you are an employer or an employee.
Speaker 1: When we come into the house of the Lord, when we come into this faith relationship, we become one children of God.
Speaker 1: It also transcends what we may call even the intimate relationships between man and woman, male and female, and we all become one in Christ.
Speaker 1: However, brothers and sisters, though these relationships are empowered, they do not always look and operate like empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: Do you agree with me?
Speaker 1: You don't seem to be convinced.
Speaker 1: Sometimes, the intimate relationships, though they are empowered, again, our brother said marriage is of God.
Speaker 1: Though marriage is of God.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there is a cold weather that comes over marriages.
Speaker 1: It's not a cool breeze, it's a cold weather and there is some shivering.
Speaker 1: And it is not because of the spirit of God but because of things happening.
Speaker 1: Father son relationships they are empowered relationships, but not all the times they are cool.
Speaker 1: Mother-daughter relationships how about the marketplace relationships?
Speaker 1: Sometimes you wonder why did you get employed in the same organization with the so and so?
Speaker 1: They are not always cool.
Speaker 1: How about?
Speaker 1: Which other relationship are very left, of course, the ethnic relationships, and we know what has happened in Africa, for example.
Speaker 1: What negative ethnicity has done.
Speaker 1: It has creeped even into the church.
Speaker 1: It is no longer about who is for Paulus and who is for Peter and who is for Jesus and Paul.
Speaker 1: It is about which tribe we need our man at the center.
Speaker 1: They have not always been cool.
Speaker 1: However, I have some good news for us brethren.
Speaker 1: I was to talk about the faith relationships as well.
Speaker 1: It is very easy we praise the Lord together, but we are not seeing eye to eye, we are not speaking to one another, we are not shaking hands, but we are going to heaven.
Speaker 1: We are going to heaven, and let me tell you why we are going to heaven Because it is Jesus who is taking us to heaven.
Speaker 1: If we were to take each other to heaven, some of us would hide the key so that so and so doesn't, you can't show up in heaven and you bind them.
Speaker 1: Thank God, it is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who takes us to heaven, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And so there is hope for your empowered relationships because of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Our focus today will mainly be on the other relationships other than the spiritual one.
Speaker 1: You are relationship with God, but let me point out that relationship with God significantly affects the rest of the relationships.
Speaker 1: Your relationship with God will determine how you will relate with your son, with your daughter, with your wife, with your manager, with your boss, with fellow brethren, with leaders, with pastors, with the leadership of the church.
Speaker 1: Your spiritual relationship will determine how you will relate.
Speaker 1: Jesus related with the Samaritan woman.
Speaker 1: How will you relate with people not from your tribe or ethnicity?
Speaker 1: It is what God is doing in your life that will determine how you will relate with them.
Speaker 1: The passage that we have before us today Paul is on his second missionary journey and he comes to Corinth where he meets this couple, priscilla and Aquila, at Corinth.
Speaker 1: They had traveled from Rome and immediately they do what they have a relationship, they strike a relationship.
Speaker 1: And immediately the Bible tells us that actually Paul now picks them and somehow they become part of his missionary journey, this second missionary journey, because immediately he goes with them to Ephesus and he leaves them at Ephesus.
Speaker 1: And it is while Priscilla and Aquila were left at Ephesus that Apollos showed up.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor, apollos is in town, he has showed up.
Speaker 1: And why do I say he has showed up?
Speaker 1: We will see in a moment.
Speaker 1: And therefore, it is this encounter between Priscilla and Aquila and Apollos that I would like us to draw some principles, what I'm calling redemptive principles for our relationships.
Speaker 1: And the first one is this we need to learn to recognize the good in the other party to a relationship and celebrate it.
Speaker 1: We need to learn to teach ourselves to recognize the good in the other party or parties and learn to celebrate that good if we are going to redeem our empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: And let me say this there is always something good in everyone.
Speaker 1: There is always something good in everyone.
Speaker 1: Maybe you are telling me, preacher man, are you?
Speaker 1: You don't understand my husband?
Speaker 1: Something good.
Speaker 1: Are you a gardener?
Speaker 1: Or my wife, really?
Speaker 1: Or do you you don't know these guys from that tribe?
Speaker 1: There is nothing good.
Speaker 1: But I am here to tell you, brothers and sisters, there is something good in everyone.
Speaker 1: I want you to turn to yourself and say there is something good in everyone.
Speaker 1: Now you realize I didn't tell you to turn you to your neighbor, because many times the problem is not your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Many times the problem is you acknowledging, recognizing, discovering that there is actually something good in the other person.
Speaker 1: And as we continue with this someone, I want you to have somebody or some people in mind.
Speaker 1: I know my wife has me in mind.
Speaker 1: He is just telling me where I can go to.
Speaker 1: So you talk to me at home, but when I get to the door I will tell her please tell me all the good things about me.
Speaker 1: Let's start there.
Speaker 1: There is something good.
Speaker 1: And why am I saying there is something good?
Speaker 1: I am saying there is something good because God's deposit in everyone is goodness.
Speaker 1: God has deposited goodness in every individual you can ever think about.
Speaker 1: Let us look at this guy called Apollos, and if there is something good in everyone, then our role in redeeming our relationships is to find that good thing.
Speaker 1: Verse 24-26,.
Speaker 1: This is what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: Now, a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in scriptures, came to Ephesus.
Speaker 1: This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and, being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John Verse 26,.
Speaker 1: So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
Speaker 1: Let me pause it there.
Speaker 1: Luke is very keen to describe Apollos to us.
Speaker 1: Apollos was not just any other fellow in town.
Speaker 1: Luke tells us that Apollos was an eloquent man, and early in the morning I said we have all agreed that our associate pastor is a man of eloquence.
Speaker 1: Every time he stands here he has a new heart.
Speaker 1: Let's celebrate our associate pastor, and that's why some of us are learning at his feet.
Speaker 1: So we are being discipled.
Speaker 1: Well, apollos was an eloquent man.
Speaker 1: We are also told that he was mighty in scripture.
Speaker 1: This guy was not a joke.
Speaker 1: When it came to scripture he was mighty.
Speaker 1: I don't know whether you've heard this reason's phrase.
Speaker 1: You know that preacher is deep.
Speaker 1: That preacher is deep.
Speaker 1: I don't know about our preachers here, I don't know what you say about us, but we are deep.
Speaker 1: Just in case you didn't know, we are deep, we are mighty in scripture.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: This guy was mighty in scripture.
Speaker 1: We are also told that he was instructed in the way of the Lord.
Speaker 1: The NIV version says that he was learned.
Speaker 1: He was not a quack, he was not a fellow who had just appeared from the bush.
Speaker 1: This is a guy who probably had a diploma in theological studies.
Speaker 1: Actually, he had come from Alexandria in Egypt and that was a hub of knowledge.
Speaker 1: You know that.
Speaker 1: Yes, so he was a learned man.
Speaker 1: But we also told he was fervent in spirit, very enthusiastic.
Speaker 1: We are told he was speaking and teaching accurately, speaking and teaching accurately the things of concerning Jesus.
Speaker 1: Therefore, he was a skilled man.
Speaker 1: But we are also told he was bold in speech.
Speaker 1: The man had confidence.
Speaker 1: Can you see the profile of that man?
Speaker 1: Is he not a powerful man.
Speaker 1: There are good things in everyone.
Speaker 1: There is something good in you and there is something good in the people that you relate with.
Speaker 1: What do we do then?
Speaker 1: We celebrate these things that are good, and that's why the Bible outlines this man.
Speaker 1: There is something good in today's preacher you didn't hear me Because you seem to be struggling.
Speaker 1: There is something good in today's preacher.
Speaker 1: He is probably tall, dark chocolate and handsome, and that's why I have a wife.
Speaker 1: She must have seen something.
Speaker 1: Well, let's see if you will.
Speaker 1: I pray that she celebrates that every day, that she can pick out something, that you can pick out something.
Speaker 1: There is something good about your children.
Speaker 1: My daughter requested me that she wanted to come and sing here.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something, brothers and sisters, standing here is not a small feat.
Speaker 1: You can stand here and forget your name, call yourself your neighbor's name and you think it's a joke.
Speaker 1: Earlier, there is somebody who stood here one time, introduced himself, introduced his family, a man of eloquence, a man who is learned, a man of high standing.
Speaker 1: I will not continue with the features you may identify with.
Speaker 1: The person is, and in the process of introducing his children, he forgot one of his children, kabisa, see, the other one is called, and he left this stage without telling us the name of the other child.
Speaker 1: So, fonduta, for you to come and stand here and sing, that is boldness.
Speaker 1: I love you, god bless you.
Speaker 1: That's something to celebrate in her and I will keep celebrating it.
Speaker 1: And there are many others together in their sisters.
Speaker 1: What can you celebrate in the life of that person?
Speaker 1: There is something to celebrate, and so this is where now we go practical.
Speaker 1: I want you to think of that person, or those people you are thinking now.
Speaker 1: Has somebody come to your mind?
Speaker 1: Those people, that person, somebody has come to your mind.
Speaker 1: I want you to write down because you are taking notes two things that you say.
Speaker 1: This one about my nani is excellent.
Speaker 1: Write them.
Speaker 1: It's a practical sermon.
Speaker 1: We are helping relationships.
Speaker 1: We are redeeming relationships in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Once you have written that plan to celebrate that person you know we normally take selfies in church I wish I could have said now remove your phone and tell them.
Speaker 1: Tell them, write a text to them.
Speaker 1: Tell them I celebrate the fact that you are tall, I celebrate the fact that you are beautiful, I celebrate the fact that you bring something home.
Speaker 1: At least you come home.
Speaker 1: You love the children.
Speaker 1: I celebrate the fact that you have given me a job opportunity.
Speaker 1: You may not be the best boss, but at least you have given me a job opportunity.
Speaker 1: I celebrate you and see what the Lord will start doing in that relationship.
Speaker 1: Some of us may need to tell our landlords I celebrate you, men.
Speaker 1: Your houses are good.
Speaker 1: They have served us for the last five years, even though right now you have locked the door, but they have served us.
Speaker 1: We celebrate you.
Speaker 1: I'm saying there is something good in everyone, because God has deposited something good.
Speaker 1: But secondly, not only should we recognize and celebrate, but secondly we should learn to cover the weaknesses and bear with the people in our relationships.
Speaker 1: Cover the weaknesses and bear.
Speaker 1: You know, the paradox is this that in that man, in that woman, in whom there is a lot of goodness, there is also a measure of weakness.
Speaker 1: Hello, turn to yourself and say there is a measure of weakness in me, not the preacher man yourself, because the Bible tells us, for all I've seen then fallen short of God's glory, there is a limitation, there is a falling short in today's preacher.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he is not very patient.
Speaker 1: Somebody is saying ah yes, I already discovered that the other day.
Speaker 1: You are not very patient with me, kumbh.
Speaker 1: You know you need to repent, which I agree.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's loud, but I'm saying there is a measure of fallenness in that person who is so much endured.
Speaker 1: The only challenge that ruins relationships is that we capitalize on the weaknesses, we magnify them.
Speaker 1: I said there is a measure, we magnify them.
Speaker 1: Anytime I am counseling with couples who would like to get married, I ask them tell me something, one thing that you don't like about this guy.
Speaker 1: First, I'm telling you, I've never met a man like this one.
Speaker 1: This man, he makes me happy.
Speaker 1: Now I said, excuse me, I just said tell me one thing that you don't like about this guy.
Speaker 1: You see, pastor, since we started dating, things have just been working.
Speaker 1: In fact, that's why we want to get married, because things have been.
Speaker 1: And I turn to the guy tell me one thing that you don't like about this girl.
Speaker 1: The guy says among all women, there is no girl finer.
Speaker 1: First, I'm telling you I have been on my knees what the Lord has shown me about this girl, hallelujah, unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Then, after marriage, after a short while, they come to the office again, me.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, pastor, this man has really changed.
Speaker 1: He doesn't come home, he doesn't return my texts, he doesn't call me Every time I nothing good is mentioned.
Speaker 1: Then the guy turns around and says pastor, you see the way she's saying, you see the way she's talking.
Speaker 1: Now, these are the things I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: This is how she talks at home.
Speaker 1: You see all these things?
Speaker 1: Nothing.
Speaker 1: But there is redemptive hope for that relationship in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: So what do we see in Apollos, verse 25,?
Speaker 1: This is what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and, being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of God.
Speaker 1: But there is a though Though he knew only God, he knew the way he was talking, though he knew only the baptism of John.
Speaker 1: Now, that may sound like a very small statement, but that statement has a very grave theological implication Because, according to Apollos, christ had not yet come, christ had not yet died on the cross, christ had not yet ascended to heaven, christ had not yet become the Messiah.
Speaker 1: It's grave.
Speaker 1: It meant there was no hope, because the baptism of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for he who was to come, whose sandals John says he was not worthy even to untie.
Speaker 1: This is the message that the eloquent, the bold, the fervent, the mighty man, apollos, was walking around with.
Speaker 1: Turn to yourself and say ignorance is not good.
Speaker 1: Apollos, with all this goodness in him, he had zeal, but he lacked knowledge, lacked understanding completely.
Speaker 1: And this would have been a great opportunity for Apollos, for Priscilla and Aquila to shine with Apollos.
Speaker 1: Now translate that into Swahili.
Speaker 1: They had an opportunity, but what did they do?
Speaker 1: What did they do?
Speaker 1: Verse 26 tells us this.
Speaker 1: So he began preaching.
Speaker 1: When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, the Bible says they took him aside.
Speaker 1: I don't know whether you're hearing this.
Speaker 1: They took him aside.
Speaker 1: Taking someone in a relationship aside is a redemptive ministry.
Speaker 1: They had the opportunity to stand up and tell him Aquila, listen, there is something you don't understand here In the gathering and rebuke him.
Speaker 1: They had that opportunity, but instead they decided to pull him aside to cover this weakness.
Speaker 1: They decided to shoulder this weakness of his by pulling him aside and they bore with him.
Speaker 1: The alternatives would have been to walk away.
Speaker 1: The alternatives would have been, after the service, to congregate and ask people did you hear what this guy was preaching?
Speaker 1: You know he had just showed up.
Speaker 1: After all, he was new in town.
Speaker 1: Do you know?
Speaker 1: That guy does not have understanding of scripture.
Speaker 1: But instead of doing that, they pulled him aside.
Speaker 1: You can imagine when I'm preaching like this and you're all saying amen, but I only know the baptism of Jesus, but the Word is moving very powerfully.
Speaker 1: They pulled him aside.
Speaker 1: I've shared this before.
Speaker 1: This mighty man of God was preaching powerfully, powerfully.
Speaker 1: He's preaching Everybody's.
Speaker 1: People are on their feet, they are celebrating the preaching.
Speaker 1: And in the middle of the preaching he said and Jonah swallowed the fish, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And then he continued.
Speaker 1: He continued expounding what that means and the spiritual implication of Jonah swallowing the fish.
Speaker 1: And the man was on fire.
Speaker 1: But there is this congregant who could not hold it anymore.
Speaker 1: He lifted up his hand and the preacher man, thinking the spirit of God has come upon a brother, he has a prophecy.
Speaker 1: He made a mistake and gave him an opportunity.
Speaker 1: Oh, give him a mic, give him a mic, give him a mic.
Speaker 1: What is the Lord saying, brother?
Speaker 1: And the man said you know, pastor, I think it is the fish that swallowed Jonah.
Speaker 1: And the preacher man was very upset.
Speaker 1: But he picked up the preaching and he said whether the fish swallowed Jonah or Jonah swallowed the fish.
Speaker 1: What I am emphasizing today is that there was a swallowing.
Speaker 1: That is the point I am making.
Speaker 1: There was a swallowing.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter who swallowed who.
Speaker 1: There was a swallowing.
Speaker 1: Never lift up your hand to correct the preacher man.
Speaker 1: Pull him aside after the service and tell him it is the fish that swallowed Jonah.
Speaker 1: Let this be the case in our relationships.
Speaker 1: I have sometimes sat with couples and I hear a man saying you know, you just leave my wife alone.
Speaker 1: She doesn't understand.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking okay, okay, so when you go home, how do you start that one?
Speaker 1: Did you just tell them I don't understand.
Speaker 1: One time a gentleman told me ah Pasi, in the presence of his wife, this one is not a wife material.
Speaker 1: No, I am supposed to cancel such a couple.
Speaker 1: And now I am confused.
Speaker 1: If this one is not a wife material, who is the problem here?
Speaker 1: Is it the wife or the one who brought an unwife material into a marriage?
Speaker 1: What do we do now?
Speaker 1: Pull aside.
Speaker 1: One time a couple had invited their friends for dinner and accidentally, the wife put a lot of salt in the food and so when food was served and everybody seated, we are at the dinner table we are just about to start enjoying.
Speaker 1: The husband took one spoon.
Speaker 1: Oh, that food was unbearable.
Speaker 1: You know the way sometimes when you are cooking ladies I don't know whether it happens to ladies, for me it happens quite a bit, because once in a while I cook actually many times.
Speaker 1: So you cook, you put salt, then you go, you forget.
Speaker 1: When you go this way, you forget what you just did.
Speaker 1: When you come back, you add salt and then when you go again, you may actually forget.
Speaker 1: And when you are just about to serve the food, you add some more and then you bring the salt to the table.
Speaker 1: This food was unbearable.
Speaker 1: When the husband had the first spoon, cleared his throat and said I hope you guys won't mind, as we like food salty, we like it salty.
Speaker 1: So in case you don't like it that salty, you can get some water and we will continue eating this food together.
Speaker 1: Pull aside, pull aside.
Speaker 1: Bring your people, your person aside.
Speaker 1: Cover for their weakness.
Speaker 1: You are working on a redemptive process for that relationship.
Speaker 1: When I saw his face, your son may be so difficult, but don't ask him who's son are you?
Speaker 1: He gets confused.
Speaker 1: When I came to this world, I found you as the father.
Speaker 1: How do you now ask me who's son am I?
Speaker 1: Now, if my father doesn't know who's son am I?
Speaker 1: I have this power in taking someone aside.
Speaker 1: Go back to the list.
Speaker 1: You remember that person.
Speaker 1: You wrote some good, good things about them.
Speaker 1: You remember that person.
Speaker 1: I hope we are working together.
Speaker 1: I hope you're obedient.
Speaker 1: I know some of you are just writing them in the brain, in the head and in the heart.
Speaker 1: Now that person, I want you to write down a weakness.
Speaker 1: Earlier in the service, I saw my wife writing the good things about me, but I requested for the bad ones.
Speaker 1: We discuss at home.
Speaker 1: But you write Write a weakness.
Speaker 1: And this is what I want to encourage you today, this week.
Speaker 1: Take someone aside.
Speaker 1: You know when things are very thick, that's when sometimes there is no even dinner.
Speaker 1: Are we not eating today?
Speaker 1: No, there are things that are more important than eating that we need to resolve now.
Speaker 1: I didn't even have the strength to prepare anything, but let me encourage you when things are so thick, prepare the best dinner.
Speaker 1: Then, when the fellow is eating and enjoying and saying this food is so good, tell them.
Speaker 1: By the way, the reason we are having this very good dinner is because of late there is something I have discovered that is not taking me right.
Speaker 1: And the conversation begins there because the environment, the mood is set.
Speaker 1: Take her out for lunch.
Speaker 1: And when we are enjoying that lunch and you say, wow, it's long since you took me out for lunch, I'm so grateful.
Speaker 1: Then, somewhere in the middle, say, by God's grace, I wanted to tell you there is something.
Speaker 1: Lately you have been stepping on my toes.
Speaker 1: Can we resolve this issue?
Speaker 1: And you will see redemption happening in our faith relationships.
Speaker 1: I pray that we can pull one another aside and say Pastor, you know, that day when you did ABCD, I'm telling you it hurt me.
Speaker 1: If only next time you can do it this way.
Speaker 1: And, by the way, I've experienced such they are difficult conversations.
Speaker 1: They are difficult.
Speaker 1: Somebody has come to me and said the way you preached, I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: And you're thinking you are preaching in the Holy Ghost power, please, I didn't like it, pastor.
Speaker 1: And we sit down.
Speaker 1: Those are very difficult conversations.
Speaker 1: The natural tendency is for me to stand up and start binding.
Speaker 1: I bind the enemy here.
Speaker 1: This is the enemy of God's word.
Speaker 1: Apollos was pulled aside, but let's see, when he was pulled aside, what happened.
Speaker 1: Finally, the third principle Not only should we recognize and celebrate, not only should we cover the weaknesses and bear, but we should also equip for the best and empower.
Speaker 1: Equip for the best and empower.
Speaker 1: Let me say at this point what you do about the weakness that you have identified has a make or break effect on that relationship.
Speaker 1: Whatever you decide to do with that weakness has a make or break effect on that relationship.
Speaker 1: The Bible tells us in verse 26, be part of it.
Speaker 1: It says when Aquila and Priscilla had him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Speaker 1: Not only did they do that.
Speaker 1: It says that when and when Apollos desired to cross to a care, the brethren wrote exerting the disciples to receive him.
Speaker 1: They even wrote a letter.
Speaker 1: So they pulled him aside.
Speaker 1: They explained the way of God more accurately.
Speaker 1: I want you to note that they did not dwell on how much Apollos had goofed, but they took time to explain to him the way of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Even the brethren came alongside him.
Speaker 1: They encouraged him, they affirmed his decision and desire to go all the way to a care.
Speaker 1: They even wrote to the disciples on that side and said welcome this man.
Speaker 1: They wrote a recommendation letter One moment.
Speaker 1: There is a man who was completely theologically upside down and now here are brothers and sisters recommending him and saying receive this man, he is a man of God.
Speaker 1: I was reading an article that's written by a guy called Gordon Franz and he says Aquila and Priscilla did not have roast preacher for lunch.
Speaker 1: That's the roast you know, roast potatoes, roast preacher For lunch.
Speaker 1: That they, instead they had homemade apple pie on a silver platter.
Speaker 1: He is actually quoting or refreshing of us in Proverbs 25, 11, which says a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
Speaker 1: And then he further says they did not take him home and say that was a stupid someone.
Speaker 1: Don't you know your Bible?
Speaker 1: Don't you know what happened after John the baptizer?
Speaker 1: Don't you know about Jesus?
Speaker 1: That is not what they did.
Speaker 1: Instead, he says they brought him home, showed him hospitality by feeding him a good meal and then gently and lovingly instructed him in the way of God.
Speaker 1: More accurately, the secret here is gently and lovingly.
Speaker 1: And so what was the result?
Speaker 1: We started by saying there is something good in every person.
Speaker 1: Now, what was the result of the actions of Priscilla and Aquila?
Speaker 1: Verse 27 B tells us that when this guy went to a care, apollos now he greatly helped those who had believed through grace and in verse 28, for he vigorously refuted the Jews, publicly showing from scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.
Speaker 1: His goodness has been refined by covering and eliminating the weakness and empowering him.
Speaker 1: Now, apollos in a care, he was the guy, in fact it is.
Speaker 1: Later on, paul says there was division in Corinth and Apollos is one of the main men that the people at Corinth were now identifying with.
Speaker 1: Some were saying the man who is deep is Apollos.
Speaker 1: Others were saying the man who is deep is Paul.
Speaker 1: Others were saying the man who is deep is Peter.
Speaker 1: Others were saying the man who is deep is Jesus.
Speaker 1: Now, this may have cost division, but now you can see these are men lined up at the same level Peter, paul, apollos and Jesus.
Speaker 1: Transformation had taken place.
Speaker 1: This man was no longer working in ignorance, he was now a fine man, and so this week I want to encourage you, remember that relationship.
Speaker 1: You have already identified something to celebrate.
Speaker 1: You have already identified something to set someone aside.
Speaker 1: Now I want you to identify what is it you can do in that safe space after you say you know, I don't like your food, don't end it there.
Speaker 1: Can you then say I am proposing that we do one, two, three so that we can make it better?
Speaker 1: After you say, preacher man, I don't like your preaching, go ahead and say I think if you did one, two, three, it will.
Speaker 1: It will make your preaching better.
Speaker 1: And we can go on and on in those relationships.
Speaker 1: And when we do that, we are going to redeem the relationships, the empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: As I conclude, remember the key is to celebrate, to bear and to empower.
Speaker 1: Shall we stand up.
Speaker 1: I want to remind us that the heavenly Father purpose us for empowered relationships, that the glorious son displayed for us empowered relationships, that the Holy Spirit equipped us for empowered relationships, that the word of God gives us insights into empowered relationships and that prevailing prayers energizes us for empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: There is an anointing that the Lord is releasing over each one of us that is meant to redeem our relationships.
Speaker 1: This month, there are people who will reconcile in Jesus name.
Speaker 1: This month, there are relationships that will go to the next level.
Speaker 1: In Jesus name, I am talking about your relationships.
Speaker 1: I am talking about your relationships.
Speaker 1: Something new is going to happen as you celebrate, as you bear, as you empower.
Speaker 1: And as you take time now to just release this to the Lord, that relationship that we have worked together today on this, someone, release it now to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Say, father, minister to this relationship.
Speaker 1: Savior, savior, hear my humble cry.
Speaker 1: Why don't others know what calling?
Speaker 1: Do not pass me by.
Speaker 1: Make it personal to your relationship now, savior, savior, hear my humble cry.
Speaker 1: Why don't others know what calling?
Speaker 1: Do not pass me by.
Speaker 1: Make it personal to your relationship now.
Speaker 1: Make it personal to your relationship now, jesus, jesus, who needs me?
Speaker 1: Father, as you visit relationships this month, as you visit our intimate relationships, as you visit our ethnic relationships, as you visit our marketplace relationships, as you visit our faith relationships, oh Lord, our prayer is that when thou art calling, do not pass us by.
Speaker 1: I know you're also visiting spiritual relationships this afternoon, someone who is in the sanctuary following online in the pavilion, and they are not born again.
Speaker 1: Christ, you are calling them.
Speaker 1: You are calling them.
Speaker 1: You are calling them while thou art passing.
Speaker 1: You are calling them.
Speaker 1: You are not passing them by today, and so I pray that somebody, by the power of your Holy Spirit, will hack into this voice, that they will surrender their lives to you.
Speaker 1: Bless your people's relationships, help us to develop a spirit of celebration, help us to remember to bear with one another, but, above all, help us to equip and empower one another so that the goodness that is in us can shine and cause an impact in your world.
Speaker 1: Today I stand here, lord.
Speaker 1: I know there are relationships that are bleeding Right now.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit brewed over those relationships.
Speaker 1: Some are actually at the verge of breaking down completely.
Speaker 1: With you, there is no point of no return.
Speaker 1: I dare say, even the relationships that have completely broken down, there is redemptive power for them and, lord, you can redeem them, you can restore them.
Speaker 1: So I pray in the name of Jesus this afternoon.
Speaker 1: Lord, give us a testimony concerning our relationships in the mighty name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: In the mighty name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, give us a testimony concerning our relationships, because we pray this prayer by faith In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: And God's people say come on, celebrate your relationships in Jesus' name, celebrate your empowered relationships.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody, give the Lord a mighty shout, a shout of redemption, a shout of redemption in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: All your relationships are blessed this week.
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: They are going to be sweet on Monday, sweeter on Tuesday, even sweetest on Thursday, wednesday and Friday, and on Saturday and on Sunday they'll course you to wear your dancing shoes and come into the house of the Lord to celebrate His goodness over your life, because you are blessed to be a blessing and I will be.
Speaker 1: The grace of our Lord, jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Be with us both now and forevermore.
Speaker 1: Amen and amen.
Speaker 1: Have a blessed week.