The Word Became Flesh
Welcome to "The Word Became Flesh," where we focus on John 1:1 and dive into the transformative power of Scripture. Join us on a journey of spiritual discovery as we explore how the Word of God can reconnect us with our faith, inspire us to deepen our relationship with Him and build a supportive community of believers. Each episode features heartfelt testimonies from guests whose lives have been changed by the Word, offering insights and encouragement to listeners on their spiritual paths. Whether you're seeking guidance, inspiration, or simply a sense of belonging, "The Word Became Flesh" is here to guide you on your journey of faith. Tune in and let the Word come alive in your life.
The Word Became Flesh
How to navigate Church hurt as the bride of Christ
The journey from church hurt to spiritual wholeness isn't easy, but it's essential for anyone seeking to be prepared as the Bride of Christ. This powerful conversation with Hadassah and Pastor Edgar explores how we can heal from spiritual wounds while preparing ourselves for Christ's return.
Drawing from the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, we unpack what true spiritual preparation looks like. Are you carrying your oil, or just empty promises? The difference between the wise and foolish virgins wasn't just awareness of the bridegroom's coming—it was their level of preparation. Similarly, our readiness for Christ requires both awareness and intentional preparation.
Many believers who've experienced church hurt struggle with the concept of spiritual authority. Our guests beautifully articulate how true spiritual authority exists in a divine hierarchy: first the Word of God, then the Holy Spirit, and only then human authority. Pastor Edgar shares a powerful analogy, comparing spiritual authority to the roof of a house—providing covering and protection, taking the beating of the elements so those underneath remain safe.
Hadassah offers a transformative perspective on preparation through the story of Esther, who underwent twelve months of preparation before meeting the king. The first six months with oil of myrrh symbolized purification and healing—a process we must all embrace, especially after experiencing hurt. "Don't push the pain down. Don't ignore it. Allow yourself to feel it and allow Him to heal you."
Perhaps most importantly, we discuss the vital truth that "you can't love Jesus and hate His bride." While individual church members may hurt or disappoint us, separating ourselves from the body of Christ isn't the solution. We're all members of one body, each with unique functions, designed to thrive together rather than in isolation.
Ready to transform your church hurt into spiritual wholeness? This episode provides the roadmap for becoming the prepared, purified Bride that Christ is coming to claim.
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Welcome to the when we Came Flesh podcast.
Speaker 1:Saints, happy Monday. This is your last Monday of the month. It's the month of May. You made it last Monday. So happy Monday to you and congratulations. I am so excited what we have in store for you today.
Speaker 1:But before we go further, let us open up with the word of prayer and then I'll let you guys know what's happening today. What are we doing, what's the topic today? Okay, so let us invite the holy spirit in this place and just welcome the presence of god. Father, in the mighty name of jesus, lord. We're so grateful, mighty god, for the month of january. We're grateful, jesus, for the month of february. Father, we are grateful for the month of march and we'll mountain the end the month of april. And now we are grateful for the month of March and the month of April and now, lord, that you have brought us into the month of May. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for your love, we thank you for your mercy. We thank you, jesus, for your grace. Mighty God, father, we commit this episode today, my Father, god, into your hands. We ask, holy Spirit, that you come absolutely control my Father, god, lord, god, lord, we ask my father god, your presence, it is welcome in this place. Oh, lord father, we pray for our brothers and sister, lord, whether they're in their office, whether they're in their car, whatever they are. Almighty god, lord, that your presence will lay down with them. Jesus father, we ask my father god for your wisdom. We ask god for your joy. We ask god for your restoration, my father god, and for your restoration, my father God, and your will be done In Jesus' mighty name. We pray. Amen. Welcome, saint. Happy Monday, I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:Last Monday of April we talked about church hurts, we talked about healing. We had Queen Shimona on this couch. She ministered to us about healing, about healing from our pain, trauma. But today, god has something in store for us, because God is so intentional with us. Today we're talking about Church Hurt, the Bride. Who is the bride? So that's what we're going to be focusing on on this episode. Today, I have two special guests that's how much Jesus loves us Sending us two, two, two, two to talk to us about this topic. So today I'm going to let the guests introduce themselves. We have Adessa, the bride, in the building, and then the bride did not come alone. Hey, so the Lord sent us a king. We have a king in the house. We have Pastor Edgar in the house, we have pastor anger in the house. So a pastor anger and adessa, you guys are welcome to the world became flat, thank you, thank you we're so excited to have you guys here.
Speaker 1:Okay so, but we go before. The people need to know you. Who is adessa? Please tell us. Uh, tell us who is adessa, so the people can know who you are. I think my husband should go first. Tell us who is Hadassah so the people can know who you are.
Speaker 3:I think my husband should go first. He should go first, I'll go first.
Speaker 2:Ladies first, ladies first. Don't get me in trouble, ladies first Hadassah, the bride.
Speaker 3:Hadassah. Well, my name is Hadassah. Yes, I like my name very much. It has a lot of meaning to me. Amen. Besides that, you that I'm a worshipper, I'm a lover of Jesus Christ, I'm a mom, I'm a wife to this wonderful husband of mine that I'm really, really grateful for the greatest gift the Lord has ever given me.
Speaker 1:Truly, I'm really grateful for my husband, don't be jealous, don't be jealous.
Speaker 3:I love my husband very much and I'm grateful for him. Guys said I'm a mom of two. I love to empower, equip and enlighten children and women as well. And yeah, that's Hadassah I'm a daughter, I am a sister singer of that. Singer a writer, don't forget about oh yeah. I wrote a little book here and I yeah yes, yes, the bride, the bride.
Speaker 1:Pastor Edgar, who's Pastor Edgar?
Speaker 2:well, my name is so I'm. First, I'm a lover of Christ, yes, so, and I'm a musician and I'm privileged to lead the music team at Cornerstone Christian Church of God. I was ordained as the worship pastor, sometimes around December 2023, I believe. Yes and um, and yeah, I'm, I'm serving under the leadership of, you know, apostle emmanuel adeusi. You know, the apostle of meditation, apostle meditation great man of god. Yes, so, yeah, I have, um, I have a couple of songs and music that I've released. I also have a podcast. There to Try Jesus.
Speaker 1:I'm married to the bride, the bride herself.
Speaker 2:She's the bride of Christ, but she's also my bride. Together we have two beautiful children, amen. Yeah, so that's pretty much me in a nutshell amen, so honored to have you guys here.
Speaker 1:We're really honored to to be here.
Speaker 3:Really, this was, uh, I said when you invite. When I saw the invitation, I was like yeah, I have to. I have no choice but to be on this thing. I was like, ah, jesus, I don't know why she wants me on here, because I'm not a bible scholar, literally it's the holy spirit.
Speaker 1:When he was giving me um while we're talking for the year, and then he landed on church for the bride and I was like first I thought it was me. I was like, okay, god, am I getting married? The bride and then he's like nope, no. And I was like, no, you have to reach out to a doctor and her husband. So. And then I was like, okay, so I just, I just followed the lead of the Holy spirit.
Speaker 3:So yeah, we're really grateful to be here.
Speaker 1:That's how you guys landed here.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:Jesus really just landed you guys here to my couch, I mean to our couch, to all the saints there. So let's get dive in. Um, as you guys know, that, um we're we're diving in into a church hurt and church trauma. You know, most of us, most of us, because I've been there. You know, um, most of the listeners, they've been there. We like, once you're hurt by the church, you're like I'm done with the church. You know like, so I want to know, like, what is church to you guys? What is the meaning of church? You know?
Speaker 2:for me, uh well, the church is so, so, so important you know, the bible says that you know we are.
Speaker 2:The Bible says that you know we are part of the body of Christ and the church is the bride of Christ, right, which is also the body of Christ. And for me, being part of the church is, you know, I was saved, you know, I would say really at a pretty young, not too young age, young, not too young age, but you know, when I was safe, you know, realizing that god, jesus christ, died for my sin, and then, you know, I paid a price for me and everything. You know, I realized that the only thing that I could do was to give him back my life, you know, know to, to, was to, you know, live for him, right. And I think that, for me, the best way for me to be able to express that, or to live um the life that Christ wants me to live, is to be part of, you know, of the church. Right, is to be part of um a church you know that God has ordained. So for me, me, the church is so, so, so important.
Speaker 2:I think that, you know, as a christian, you know, or as a believer, right? Uh, being part of the church is like being part of a family, right? Uh, it's just like when, when a child is born, right. If the child is not taken care of, or if the child is not, you know, know, part of a family, doesn't have a father or mother or a family structure, right, the child has doesn't have much chance to be able to survive, right? So for me, the church also is, is is an avenue for me, as a child of God, to be able to survive and to thrive in the world that we're living.
Speaker 3:Me, as a child of God, to be able to survive and then to thrive in the world that we're living, right? So, yeah, so, like he said, you know, the, the church, first and foremost is, you know, the, the bride of Christ, like he said. And Jesus, because of his love for his bride, his church, he was willing to die on the cross for her because of the love that he had for her. And, um, the church is also the body of christ, like he's, like he said, and in the book, I think, of first corinthians, the bible talks about how, the, the, the, the body, even though it's one, there's different parts to the body, right? So there, that's how, that's a representation of the church. So, there it's, it's, it's one, but there's different, different parts, so there's a role that every single part plays. There's a role that you played that I might not play.
Speaker 3:There's some people who are called to be hands, some people are called to be a mouthpiece, some people are called to be eyes, right, kind of like in line with the five-fold offices, right, they're there for a reason and the church, I believe, is really there to advance the kingdom of God. It's not just there. Yes, it's a place of fellowship, it's a place to grow spiritually with one another, and we have a shepherd, a pastor who gives the another, and we have a shepherd, you know, a pastor who you know, gives the word and we receive and we grow together. But it's, it's, it's to advance the kingdom of god. It's, it's, it's an um, it's an instrument for the advancement of the of the kingdom of god. So I think the church, um, yeah, it's the body of christ and every single person has a role to play. Right, there's, and we have to understand that we need each other. You know, I think you, when it comes to church, hurt a lot of the times. There's that temptation to just want to separate ourselves.
Speaker 3:But I think, yeah, we just like, oh, because you're so hurt and because of what happened, you just won't, like you know, forget about the church. I can do life on my own, I don't need the church. But it's like you can't love jesus and hate his bride. It doesn't make sense, right? So you have to. I think we have to. It's important to understand that you, being on your own, you can't really survive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the church is there creating pride? You know like I can do battle by myself? Yeah, no, it's a lie of the enemy and you become prey.
Speaker 3:It's easy for the enemy to get you because there are some battles, that is institution versus institution, like we've we've been taught. There are certain battles you can't win on your own.
Speaker 3:You need to be part a hand can't function well on its own, you can't. The hand or the mouth can't say like oh, I don't like the food that the hand feeds me, so I'm gonna separate myself from the rest of the body. You're not gonna function, it's not gonna work. So, understanding that, like there are things in me that you need, there are things in you that I need, yeah, we all need each other because we're all members of the same body body of christ I cannot survive on my own if I'm not connected to the body of christ right.
Speaker 1:So I think that's so good anyways. Um, saints, I forgot to read the scripture for the day. You know that's how excited I am, but the scripture for the day that we're really focusing on. I'm gonna read the scripture, because here we're all about scripture. We're talking about on the scripture of matthew, 25, verse 1 and 10. Okay, I'm just gonna read the scripture for you guys out there.
Speaker 1:It says at the time, the kingdom of heaven will be like the 10 virgin who took their lamp and went out and meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish one took their lamp but did not take any oil with them. The wise one, however, took oil in a jar along with their lamp. The bridegroom was a long time in coming and they all became drossy and fall asleep. At midnight the cry rage out here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all the virgin wake up, trim their lamp and the foolish one said to the wise give us some of your oil. Our lamp are going out. No, they reply. They may not be enough for both of us and you. They may not be enough for both of us and you. Instead, not be enough for both of us and you. Instead, to go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourself. But while they were on their way to buy oil, the bridegroom arrived, the virgin who were ready went with him, and the wedding at the wedding banquet, and and the door was shut.
Speaker 1:Okay, guys, this is why we're covering this topic, because we want to be wise, we don't want to be foolish. Okay, so this is the scripture that we're starting on today, at this episode you want to be wise as you're preparing for christ. Okay, as we're preparing for, uh, a groom to come and to take us home. Okay, so, um. The next question is um. So, from most of us, I emphasize, I talk a lot about this, about spiritual authority, because I know for me that was the pain is the people that I was looking up as spiritual authority to really traumatize me, my view of church? I was like, eh, you know, god, I'm not submitting, I'm not submitting, I'm not submitting, I'll be my own authority, I'll be my own church, you know, I'll be my own Bible. So my question is is to you guys, what is the role of a spiritual authority and what impact a spiritual authority has played in your guys' life? Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3:What is the role of spiritual authority?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is the role of spiritual? What?
Speaker 3:okay, what is a role? Um, so, spiritual authority. I think some people, when they think of spiritual authority, they just think of the human being, but, um, in his book, uh, the blessing of being under spiritual authority best book, apostle emmanuel, really, um does a good job at explaining what spiritual authority is, and it starts with the word of god.
Speaker 3:The word of god is first, then there's a holy spirit and then there's human authority, right. So somebody can come and tell me that, oh, holy spirit told me this. But if it's not in the word, right. I like the word is first. Before you submit to any spirit, we submit to the word. Before you submit to any human being, you submit to the word of god. That's first, right. So that order is very, very important. Um, so yeah, that's really what spiritual authority is. It's basically knowing who has an influence in your decision-making process. Me, I feel like it's a system that god has put in place to cover me and protect me.
Speaker 1:Spiritual authority in that order, not just human, but the word, the holy spirit and human authority and see that's the part that I was like god, I'll submit to your word, I'll submit to your spirit, but, human authority, don't look at me.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, and it's understandable because and I think a lot of the times people because they put human beings on a pedestal. Sometimes you can have a tendency we admire someone so much, we love someone so much that we can put them in a place of god almost. But then it's important to understand the nature of human beings, the nature of god, the nature of man and the nature of the devil. I think it's important to understand the nature of man. Man is bound to disappoint you. That's just the nature of man. They're bound to make mistakes, no matter how high up there they are, because they're human beings and human beings are imperfect yeah and so they can do things, they can say things that will hurt you.
Speaker 3:It's bound to happen because they are human being and that's why the bible warns us against putting our entire trust. The bible says curse is a man who puts their trust in a human being. The first person, the person or god, should have your full trust and then trust everybody else, trust the god in every in your human authority, if that makes sense. Right, because they will make mistakes, right, but it doesn't mean that they're not of god. There's some who are yes, they are of the devil, but you know, if you know that this god brought this person in my life, god, god brought this, this human authority, in my life.
Speaker 3:They will make mistakes and it's up to you to forgive and yeah, forgive and love and ask the holy spirit, yeah but don't be surprised if, like your human spiritual authority makes a mistake or they say or do something that that hurts him. Like I was not expecting this. Well, you had a wrong expectation, because they're human being, they will make mistakes. Of course they will do things, maybe not intentionally, even unintentionally. They can hurt you because they are imperfect and and and and imperfect people make mistakes. We are not god, we are in a fallen state, right so?
Speaker 3:But for me, it's now that I'm having all of you know, you know, as god has taken me through a process, I've been having this, you know, realization like, okay, okay, okay, because sometimes it can be shocking.
Speaker 3:You know, uh, as a, as a child, when you look at your parents as like you, you, you look at them as like your heroes, right, and so it can be like, oh my goodness, when they I don't know if I'm going on a tangent here but, um, yeah, you can start to look at your, your parents, as like these heroes and then if they, when they hurt you, then it's like, oh my goodness, but it's like, no, they're human beings too. They also deserve mercy and grace, right? Um? But for me, spiritual authority has played such an important, important role in my life Human authority, um authority, um. I know that the human authorities, the human authorities that god has put on my life, my, as a married woman, my husband is my, my human authority, as well as my, um, my, my pastor, apostle emmanuel adios, is my, uh, the authorities that god has put in my life, and I would not be where I am today if it was not for for their leading when I'll be saying Adessa the bride.
Speaker 3:I will not. I really, really, truly I, yeah, I will not be here without my the leading, the guidance and the covering of my spiritual authorities.
Speaker 2:Amen amazing amen pastor let's hear from the pastor I mean, I think she pretty much said you know the book of it, right. But if I'm going to add something or maybe not add but emphasize, you know on something is you know. First, she said you know, when you're talking about spiritual authority, you have the word, you have the spirit of God, and then you have human authority, right, and you know, one of the purpose of spiritual authority is covering. You know, one of the purpose of spiritual authority is covering. That's, you know. For me, you know, I think that's one of the most important aspects of having the spiritual authority is because you are covered. You know, just imagine being in a house.
Speaker 1:Apostle. When he came here, he said imagine being in a house where there's no roof Absolutely. And I was like okay, imagine being in a house where there's no roof Absolutely. And I was like okay, imagine being in a house where there's no roof for example where you're living, you're sleeping and then it's raining and then it's snowing.
Speaker 2:You know, everything can happen Right. First. So the spiritual authority, and and I'm and I'm talking more about the human spiritual authority right, because you know, we know the word of God, we know the Holy Spirit, but I'm talking more about, because that's where most people have an issue it's the human aspect of the spiritual authority, right To submit to spiritual authority, right. So the human authority is that covering you know, and and for me, is that that person that is covering me, that's that roof. You know that is getting all the beating.
Speaker 2:You know, know that is getting all the beating, you know that is getting all the rain, that is getting all the sun. On my behalf, yeah, right, and, and that's actually really true, because you know spiritual authority, they actually do. You know spiritual things are very interesting, are very, you know, because a lot of times you look in the natural but in the spiritual right is spiritual attacks and things like that are very, very deadly. They are very, very dangerous, right?
Speaker 2:yeah and a lot of times you know, as someone that is under authority, you might not even know. You know when an attack came and you know your spiritual authority was able to withstand and cover you, and then you just enjoy your life, and then you're just living your life, right. So having a spiritual authority is so, so important for covering for protection you know, for, yeah, for that, for peace of mind, even.
Speaker 2:Right, and knowing that you know, no matter what you know, you are covered. Now, the other aspect of it that I want to say is be someone of authority. It's actually a very, very big responsibility. It's all about responsibility and someone that is really really under authority. Anything that happens to that person, god is going to look at the spiritual authority, right, so the spiritual authority is responsible for whatever happens to the person if the person is really really on the authority, right so also having that responsibility is is very important, right. And then the bible say give honor, you know, to those who deserve honor. Yeah, right, so that's true.
Speaker 1:So spiritual authority deserve honor, honor I'm telling you love and being apostle, as my spiritual father, I've been sleeping in the night like this. Well, every time the enemy come, I'm like hold on, I'll just play how hour of meditation on, or I'll just pray where he's speaking tongue and I'll go back to sleep. Okay, I'm not, I'm like God, I'm not fighting, I'm not worried about it. So it is really important to have that.
Speaker 2:You know? Just to add something having the right spiritual authority is very important.
Speaker 1:Very important.
Speaker 2:And that's where you know the knowledge of the word of God. Yeah, and having the Holy Spirit also plays a very big, big role, Right, Because it's not just we're not just saying, oh, submit to any.
Speaker 1:Anybody.
Speaker 2:Anyone right.
Speaker 2:Any spirit, yeah, Right you want to be able to submit to someone that has the Holy Spirit and then someone that is also under spiritual authority. Right, that's very, very important. If you have someone that is not under spiritual authority, they have no right to have people submit to them. Yeah, right, is not under spiritual authority, they have no right to have people submit to them. Yeah, right, so so that is also very important. So, knowing the word of god, having the holy spirit inside of you, will help you to be able to die to, to identify your spiritual authority actually for sure.
Speaker 1:That's make that really makes sense. Okay, now how does one prepare to be a bride of christ? Do you want? To take this one. You want to take us there. No, like we're talking both of you guys. I just said the bride like, like, really like somebody who's been like really hurt and they want to go back to church. You know they want, they don't want to be the foolish person, but they have to prepare themselves. How does the bride prepare themselves, a bride of Christ, as we're waiting on Jesus?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. Yeah, I think when I think of preparation, I think of the story of Esther. Okay, aka Hadassah, I like my name, anyways, I think my name suits me. Yeah, anyways, I think of the story in the book of Esther, and the Bible tells us that she, before meeting the king, she all the virgins actually, they had to go through a 12 month process of preparation.
Speaker 3:The first six months was with, um, the oil of myrrh, and then the other six months was like with perfumes and ointments and all of those things. So the first six months the oil of myrrh of often symbolizes purification and cleansing and healing, right. So I believe that during that six months process was of, of of preparation with the oil of myrrh. I think it was a time where these women esther, she had to go through, she had to go through a process of being cleansed and healed, right. This, this type of oil um helps to heal wounds. So she had to put herself in a space, kind of like, be exposed, expose herself so that they can heal her body, so that she could be taken care of, and in order for that healing to take place, she had to yield. So I think there's no other way to prepare as a bride of christ, to prepare to meet the bridegroom. There's no other way than to yield, to submit, to surrender, to yield, to die, jesus to allow god.
Speaker 3:If you've gone through church hurt, it can be very, very painful yeah extremely painful, um and it distorts your the way you see things yeah right. I think it's important to take your eyes off of the pain, take your eyes off of the person who hurt you and give it to jesus. Go into the secret place and allow him to cleanse you, allow him to heal your, go through the process. Don't push the pain down. Don't ignore the pain. Allow yourself to feel it and allow him to heal you. The bible says to uh, uh, call on, call on to me, you who are burdened.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah so jesus wants us to come to him, yeah, with whatever you have, whatever you've gone through, the pain that you have. He wants you to take it in his presence and he will exchange it for beauty. Allow him, yeah, allow him to, I think, yeah, allow him to, I think, allow him to just heal you. Go through the process. There's some wounds. It can be one day, one week done, but if it's really deep, it might, it might be a long process. It might be six months, it might be a year, but allow god, allow jesus to heal you and just all you do is just surrender, amen, all you do is just die to yourself. That's really the only way. That's how we prepare, yeah, that's how we prepare. We die to ourselves and allow jesus to heal us from within so that, once he begins to perfume us, the the, the fruits that will come out of us will be different.
Speaker 3:It will not be fruits of bitterness they'll not be fruits of anger, but they'll be fruits of the holy spirit yeah right. So yeah, that's what I was say yeah, I think that was beautifully said.
Speaker 2:You know, one thing that I will say is you know, the bible says that, jesus, you know, we are cleansed by the word of god and jesus is cleansing us so that he can present us to himself as a pure and white, you know, as snow. I don't know if that's in the Bible.
Speaker 3:As a radiant bride.
Speaker 2:But you know. So what I would say is the first thing that you know how do you prepare?
Speaker 2:yourself to be the bride of Christ. I think the first piece of information that you know, someone that we need to know, is that, first, it's not our responsibility to prepare ourselves, and it might sound a little bit strange, but I think it's the responsibility of Christ to make sure that the bride is prepared. It's the responsibility of Christ to make sure that the bride is prepared, and the way he does that is through cleansing, correction and things like that.
Speaker 2:and then, purification right and then he brings us back to the fact that you know we need to be under authority. Right, you need to be under authority. So when he comes and then he cleanses, corrects us, you know, it's not because it's not out of wickedness, but it's out of out of love, because he wants us to be that bride that is going to be radiant and shining, you know, and glorious.
Speaker 2:Right so having that, that and that knowledge that you know is the responsibility of Christ to make sure that I'm prepared. So it gives you a certain kind of confidence, you know, because everything that Christ does you know. He, he always, and the bible and the word of god said it right when god starts something, he always bring it to perfection so you, yeah.
Speaker 3:So basically, like you know, um, what we're saying, like, so it is a responsibility of christ. But you have to take that position of submission, you have to take that position of yielding, because god, of course jesus, has the desire to, you know, purify you and cleanse you. But if your heart is not ready, it's not much you can do right.
Speaker 2:So you have to actually have a hard posture of submission for that to take place yeah, you definitely have to have a hard posture of submission for that to take place, right, um, but the second thing that I wanted to add is that you know. The second thing is understanding that in order for you to be prepared to be the right the bride of christ, you need to know who is the bride of christ, you need to know what are the attributes of the bride of christ and and, and the reason why I'm saying that is you need to know who you are in christ. It's very important. So the mindset I'm really talking about the mindset of the bride there right, knowing who you are in christ. So when christ said you are he. When christ said you are he. When Christ said you are priest and kings when.
Speaker 2:Christ said that you are the righteousness of God. He really means what he's saying that you are the righteousness of God. So having that mindset is very important as well.
Speaker 3:And I'll just add one more thing. I think is really key when it comes to preparation is intimacy, just intimacy, just getting closer, growing closer and closer with Jesus.
Speaker 1:What does intimacy look like for one who doesn't know how to have an intimacy with Jesus?
Speaker 3:How does it look like when somebody doesn't know it's just going before God and just being honest honest with him, however, you feel. That's intimacy, lord. I have this pain in my heart. This person did this to me, if you gotta.
Speaker 3:Sometimes the pain is so deep that you don't even have words for it yeah you just go in his presence like god, jesus, I just want to spend time with you. If it's tears, if you gotta write it, write it down. If your prayers have to be in written form sometimes that has happened to me before I don't have words, I just writing, writing my prayers, writing my prayers, right? Sometimes it's just tears, sometimes just one word, right, but it's it's little by little. But just take the step, go in his presence and just be open. Open Wherever you are, jesus will meet you there.
Speaker 1:That's where you start, also with anointing music, adessa and Pastor.
Speaker 1:Edgar, have some anointing music for you guys, like the song that is right now holy spirit, teach me how to love you. Teach me ah, that's my job every day. I'm like god. Better, teach me now. You know intimacy, look, um, you know, everybody have different intimacy how they do intimacy with god. It can be in worship, it can be a meditation. It can be in worship, it can be in meditation, it can be in the Word, whatever that your spirit just can connect with the Lord, you know. So have that. I like that. Have that intimacy with God. Okay, so we're focusing on Matthew 25. So the next question is how can a personal responsibility for our spiritual growth, as shown in the parable of the 10th version, help us heal from church hurt instead of blaming others or lack of preparation or disappointment?
Speaker 2:Can you repeat that question?
Speaker 1:How can a person's responsibility for, how can a person's responsibility for spiritual growth, as shown in the parable of the 10th version, help us heal from church hurt, instead of us blaming others or lack of preparation or disappointment?
Speaker 2:I think, in life, taking responsibility is very important Because, first of all, it takes you out of the of the victim mentality. Right because, um, even though sometimes you know things might happen in your life that are that are justifiable, right in terms of you know, yes, I want to complain and I want to. You know, I've been hurt, by the church, for example, and sometimes you can be the one who are hurting the church.
Speaker 2:Yes, sometimes you can be the one who's hurting the church, right. But you know like I've been hurt by you know, and I don't really like to say being hurt by the church, because the church of Christ, you know, doesn't hurt people. But you know people in the church can hurt you. But you know, that's beside the point. So if you've been hurt and everything, I think that taking responsibility