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Each episode brings practical, heartfelt teaching designed to strengthen families, deepen relationships, and root everyday life in faith. Join us as we explore what it means to love God and love each other well — one message, one family, one community at a time.
Let me walk us through something together as we begin this series because some of you have been married a long time. Some of you are thinking about getting married. Some of you are beginning families. Some of you are at the front end of this, and some of us are are farther along. And I want to take you into the scripture.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna revisit something today that I've talked about in the past with hopefully some fresh understanding. And I wanna take the next few minutes and answer this question, is leprosy in your house? I have an individual that I met a number of years ago. I was preaching a youth camp up in West Virginia. They were a bunch of teenagers then that, they were very talented and they they grew up and, began in ministry, music ministry, and all kinds of things, and was working in a church, and they built what they would call at the time their dream home.
Speaker 1:And so ladies, I want you to think for a minute what you might do if you were moving into a new home right now. How would you paint it? What kind of decor would you put in the house? What would your furniture look like? And they they moved into into this house.
Speaker 1:It was great. It was awesome. It was brand new. They bought the property. They build it from the ground up and after a period of time his wife started getting sick and couldn't figure out what was going on and the appliances in the house would randomly turn on and turn off.
Speaker 1:The mirrors, the bathrooms and things they would start to corrode and they couldn't figure out what was going on. And she kept going back to the doctor and there were no solutions there and as it was their home had been built with defective Chinese drywall. There were over a 100,000 homes across the country. This was back in 02/2024 to 2008, particularly when Hurricane Katrina happened and other things took place. There there wasn't enough drywall in the country to build all the homes that needed rebuilt.
Speaker 1:They began to import it, one of those places from China. And here's what they discovered, that the Chinese drywall had a type of coal ash and other industrial products that it was made with, and it was emitting a toxic gas. And so what was taking place is that mirrors were corroding from the gas. You couldn't see it by looking at the house. The paint was great.
Speaker 1:The decor was great. The furniture was awesome. It was corroding faucets and showerheads and HVAC units. People were replacing their units over and over again because it was corroding the copper coil. The wires behind the wall, again you couldn't see behind the wall.
Speaker 1:The wires behind the wall were turning black. The the copper was dysfunctional. You couldn't turn lights on and off. It became a fire hazard. If you look at the outlets, they had this gray film on them, and the toxic gases were being emitted from the drywall, and it was literally eating the home up from the inside, although you couldn't see it until you went behind the wall.
Speaker 1:They ended up having to, and many people had to do this, The only way to fix it is you couldn't repaint. You couldn't fix the mold. You couldn't fix other things. You had to totally gut the house. All the drywall had to come down.
Speaker 1:All the wiring needed to come out. And there were people that spent over a $100,000 among multiple lawsuits in order to be able to get the home livable again. And they had to leave the house and there were many people that were paying mortgages on homes that they could not live in because of the drywall that had come from China. They had to move out and by an act of God's grace, the house got sold and gutted. They were actually able to buy it back and it was a miraculous story he told me about of how they were able to get their house back.
Speaker 1:But the house, if you just looked at it, you couldn't tell, but there was one noticeable thing in every home that the inspectors would look for when they went in. Every one of these homes had a smell in it that smelled like rotten eggs because the house was literally rotting behind the wall. Now let me take you in to the bible for just a minute to help us understand the spiritual side of what was natural here. This is when God was telling Israel, I'm gonna take you in to this land and he he starts it in Leviticus 14. I joke around about Leviticus being my favorite book of the Bible, right?
Speaker 1:It's kind of a complicated book but it it really is some of some of the teaching in this book is is significant. He says, when you arrive in the land of Canaan which I've given you. So what is he doing? He's telling you're going somewhere. Look at somewhere and someone and say you're going somewhere.
Speaker 1:Okay. Your family's headed somewhere. You're not here today just to live, go to work, raise kids, die and move on. God has an intent for your family. God has a purpose for your home.
Speaker 1:God has a purpose for your marriage. It's more than just making money and living and buying and selling. The intent that God has for you, married in this room, single in this room. Whatever life situation you're in, God has an intent for your family. So God says, when I bring you into the land of Canaan, and notice this phrase here, and I put leprosy in some house there.
Speaker 1:I'll explain that in a minute. Then the owner of the house shall come and report to the priest. It seems to me that there may be leprosy. And and the word original language is used to describe any spreading mold, mildew, or disease, something spreading within the home. Now notice that God says, I'm the one that's gonna put leprosy in the house.
Speaker 1:What what what's up with that? So remember that when God said, I'm gonna bring you in to the land of Canaan. And notice what he told them in Deuteronomy chapter number six. He says, when the Lord your God brings you into the land, he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, A land with large flourishing cities, watch this, you did not build and houses with all kinds of good things you did not provide. I'm gonna give you homes that you didn't build.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna give you fields that you didn't plant. And it was well known that the Canaanites were idol worshipers. And so the Canaanites, they knew Israel was coming. And it was common practice for them to take their idols and put them behind the walls of their house. It was normal for them to put the idols in the foundations of the homes.
Speaker 1:And these weren't just simple pieces of material. Spiritual activity was attached to the idols. But if you moved into one of those homes, you couldn't tell what was behind the wall. You couldn't tell what was in the foundation. So God says, in order so that you can know what is in the home, I'm the one that's going to cause something to appear on the wall and when I cause it to appear on the wall, you'll know you have to do something.
Speaker 1:Listen, it's not spiritual warfare if I'm the one that has opened up the door. And so God says, I am going to cause this to happen in your home. When I do, you'll know that behind the wall is something that you need to deal with. So let me give you six things right out of this passage of scripture that God says, I want you to do when you see leprosy in your house. And here's a fact folks.
Speaker 1:When you get married or you start dating, when two people come together, they're coming from two totally different backgrounds. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Okay. Sometimes I I say, God, did you know what you were doing? He takes two people from two totally different ways of thinking, two totally different lifestyles, and two totally different generational patterns.
Speaker 1:And then he says, I'm gonna bring you together. Sometimes when they are brought together, things show up. Everybody know what I'm talking about? Can we have some transparency in the room here today? So what did God say you need to do?
Speaker 1:Number one, he said recognize the problem. When you arrive in the land of Canaan, which I've given you and I place, I place leprosy in the house. Listen, sometimes the things that are going on in your marriage, in your relationships, in your family is not the devil. It's God trying to get your attention. Because God's intent is that things get fixed.
Speaker 1:God's intent is that things get solved. So God says, when I do this then the owner of the house shall come and report to the priest. It seems that there's an issue here. Listen. We are often too comfortable with uncomfortable things.
Speaker 1:There's an old movie. I won't give the plot away. It's called, The Village. If you've watched this movie, there's a famous line in the movie that says this, we do not speak of those of whom we do not speak. We just don't talk about that.
Speaker 1:We don't deal with that. We don't bring that up. But here's a fact, if I'm not willing to recognize the problem, then I can never resolve it. So the first thing I've got to do, I have got to be honest enough to recognize the problem. Number two, he said, want you to reveal the problem.
Speaker 1:The preshow order, the house to be emptied before he examines it so that everything in the house will not be contaminated if he decides that there's leprosy there. If he finds things show up, why does this keep happening? Why is this going on? Why is this stuff taking place? If he finds greenish or reddish streaks in the walls of the house which seems to be beneath the surface of the wall, he shall close-up the house for seven days and return the seventh day to look at it again.
Speaker 1:He said, want you to reveal the problem. Listen to this. We have a tendency to resist rather than reveal. Everything that is hidden grows. Everything that gets in the light diminishes.
Speaker 1:Our tendency as men, our tendency as women, our tendency as families is not to reveal, it's to resist. So here's a question, what things in your home need to be uncovered? Is that a fair question? Your support is overwhelming. Why does he say seven days?
Speaker 1:It's because sometimes things take time. Why? Because we've come from two different backgrounds with two different ways of thinking, and two different life experiences. It takes time. It takes patience.
Speaker 1:So I got to recognize the problem. I've got to reveal the problem. And then he says, I want you to remove the problem. If the spots have spread in the wall, then the priest shall order the removal of the spotted section of the wall and the material must be thrown into a defiled place outside the city. Then he shall order the inside walls of the house scraped thoroughly and the scrapings dumped in a defiled place outside the city.
Speaker 1:Here here's the question here. What is in your heart, your mind, our conversations, our relationships, media, etcetera, in our lives, in our families, in our homes that need to be removed. If Jesus came to your house today, he's already around whether we think he is or not, but let's just think that Jesus showed up and knocked on the door and one of the kids went to the door and they said, mom Jesus is at the door. When we have to run around, I'll put that away. Turn that off.
Speaker 1:Get that done. Don't let him in yet. Right? Or would we be able to say, Jesus come on in. Here's an old phrase that we don't often hear.
Speaker 1:Jesus doesn't just want Christian homes, Jesus wants holy homes. He wants homes that are honoring him. Homes that are honoring his presence. Homes where he is clearly welcome. So what is there if anything that maybe the Holy Spirit has talked to you about.
Speaker 1:I don't know if the Holy Spirit's talked to me or not. It's called conviction. It can even be a thought through your head. Hey, do you think you ought to be doing that? Do you think you ought to have that there?
Speaker 1:Do you think that's okay? And we just move this out of our minds and go on to the next thing that we happen to be doing. Do you understand what I'm saying? Because God's talking all the time. So what do I need to remove?
Speaker 1:Number four, replace the problem. Other stones are to be brought to replace those that have been removed, new mortar used in the house replastered. You don't just remove something. You've got to replace it with something. So here's the question.
Speaker 1:What do I need to replace? So what about my habits? What about my actions? What about old patterns, beliefs, friendships? What about renewing the mind with God's word, prayer, worship, community, and accountability?
Speaker 1:Because I I I gotta replace it with with something. If I'm gonna remove it, there's a void if I don't do something with it. So I need to replace it with something. And then he will say this, if it keeps coming up over and over again, he will say, raise and deal with the root of the problem. But if the spots appear again, the priest will come and look and if he sees that the spots have spread its leprosy, the house is defiled.
Speaker 1:Then it shall order the destruction of the house, all its stones, timbers and mortars shall be carried out to the city to a defiled place. This refers to dealing with generational patterns that God intends for our family to root out and resolve so the next generation can be free and not have to deal with the same issues. Here's here here's the reality folks. Let's have some transparency in the room. How many of you can say, yeah you know some of these things my dad or my mom dealt with, my granddad, my grandmother, my great granddad, my great grandfather.
Speaker 1:And you can look in your generational line and you can see similarities in your own life with the things that they had to deal with. Anybody know what I'm talking about in the room today? You see the reason this is important is because somebody has to say enough is enough. Someone has to say, I don't want my kids, my grandkids, my great grandkids, a hundred years. Oh, I'm not gonna be here in a hundred years.
Speaker 1:Your influence will You may live to be 100 years old. My mother just turned 99. She's gonna hit a 100. I'm telling you, she's gonna hit a 100. Okay?
Speaker 1:But even my mom at some point is gonna exit this life. I'm gonna tell you something. You're gonna exit this life at some point. You say it'll be over. No.
Speaker 1:It won't. Your influence is gonna be here for generations. And the reason God says he wants you to deal with it now is so you can get those kids and those grandkids free from generational patterns so they don't have to deal with it any longer. See, this is this is what God's trying to do with us. We don't think of our families as generational.
Speaker 1:We think of us as just situational. It's my situation today. I'm gonna live and I'm dying. I'm gonna go on. When God is trying to get you and me to the place where we realize that there's purpose in your home, that there's authority in your home, that there's anointing in your home to deal with this stuff, that there's some prophetic things that God wants to say over your marriage and over your children and over their grandchildren, that there are some things that God wants to do.
Speaker 1:And you may have never seen it yet, but you can be the one that makes the difference for the next hundred and fifty years in your generational life. If you will say right now, not on my watch. It stops with me. I told you about my family and how wonderful family, parents, grandparents, but they're a whole bunch of heathens Really. And a grandmother decided one day she needed to pray a little boy that was born in that family to Jesus.
Speaker 1:Things stopped with me. Now did you have the influences of some of your family line? Oh yeah. That's why I'm talking to you. Not theology.
Speaker 1:I'm talking to you reality because I've had to deal with some of those same things and say, God not me, not for my sake but my kids and those grandkids and those great grandkids because there's a generational purpose that God has placed on your home today. It's his plan, it's his purpose. Okay. So the question is, can I see anything from yesterday that's affecting my family today? I have to I have to ask that question.
Speaker 1:And then release the problem. But if when the priest comes again to look, the spots have not reappeared after the fresh plastering, then he will pronounce the house cleansed. Let me tell you something. It doesn't have to go on forever. Jesus can walk in and if you'll let him and do the right, you'll do what you need to do.
Speaker 1:God will fix it and he will cleanse it. And then he will pronounce the house cleansed and declare the leprosy gone and he will perform the ceremony of cleansing. Question, can I forgive and accept the freedom Jesus has for my home? Now you'll notice over and over again it refers to the priest. What's he talking about there?
Speaker 1:He's simply asking for you and for me to bring God and the accountability of others into our home. Look at somebody beside you and say, you have generational purpose. This is a picture of a Nikki Cruz. Some of you might have heard of him. He came to Christ under David Wilkerson's ministry.
Speaker 1:Nikki Cruz was born in Puerto Rico into an occultic family. You understand the difference between a cult and the occult. Right? A cult is a religious group that has various beliefs that centers around one person that leads people away from Jesus. The occult is Satan worship.
Speaker 1:He was born into an occultic home where they worshiped Satan and his mother called him the son of Satan. In Puerto Puerto Rico, he's a wild kid. He was beaten. He was abused. He was selling drugs.
Speaker 1:He was doing drugs. They couldn't do anything with him. He was full of anger, hated everybody. So they sent him to New York City as though that was gonna help. They sent him in New York City and become part of the Mau Mau gang that was there and drugs and murdering and everything that goes along that went along with gang activity in that day, Nikki was part of.
Speaker 1:One day, while David Wilkerson is praying in his home in Pennsylvania, he sees this article about what's going on with some of these gang members in New York City, and he feels prompted over Lord. He found teen challenge, David Wilkerson. Feels prompted over Lord, you need to go help these kids. Can I just tell you something? You don't know what some of the simple promptings that you get, what it's gonna turn into.
Speaker 1:It turned into a worldwide ministry. All that David was wanting to do was obey God and go to New York City and help some of these kids. Really, he meets Nikki Cruz on the street. Nikki spits at him, spits on him. He threatens David and he says, I'm gonna chop you up into a thousand pieces.
Speaker 1:David looked at him and said, you can chop me up into a thousand pieces but every piece is gonna say I love you. David held this evangelism event and funny part about it was when they took up the offering, it was the gang members that were taking up the offering. Right? Say, oh, that money's gonna disappear. It didn't.
Speaker 1:They didn't steal it ironically. And David preached that night. Nikki's in the crowd. David preaches, he gives the off call. Nikki comes to the front of the building, and for the first time in his life, sobs like a baby.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you something. I love worship. I love the worship here actually. This worship team, I love them. I love Ashley leading them.
Speaker 1:I love the team. I think you guys are great. AV people, everything we do here, kids, whatever you're doing here in the room. I won't remember everything that's going on in media, whatever it is. And I love the teaching of the word of God because this is what we're supposed to do, but but you need to understand something.
Speaker 1:Sermons and songs by themselves don't take gang members that have been dedicated to Satan. It has to be the presence of God. You see, a lot of us in the room, some of you in the room, you've been in church a long time, but you're struggling with stuff. There's no shame at that. But what you really need is to make a decision of whether or not you want Jesus in the middle of the issue and the struggle you have because you have to have an encounter with the presence of God.
Speaker 1:If you don't have an encounter with the presence of God, more sermons and more songs are not gonna fix it. Our culture listen. If we could have had awakening around this country with preaching, we would have had it long ago because America has some of the greatest preaching in the world. If that could do it, just one more sermon. If that could do it, we'd had it a long time ago.
Speaker 1:God is looking for some hunger out of people that say, I gotta have more than religion. I gotta have more than Sunday morning. My family needs more than just another sermon or a song. My family needs an encounter from God. You can be satisfied sitting here on a Sunday morning because everybody in America is a Christian now.
Speaker 1:I mean, the political parties are Christian. If you're a conservative, you're a Christian. What our families desperately need, what your home needs, what I need, is an encounter with the presence of God. Nicky's standing at the altar. He is encountering something that he's never felt before.
Speaker 1:Now it's not gonna take the responsibility off from him to be discipled, to learn, to read his bible, to pray, to grow. I wanna tell you what, if you want change in your family, you gotta stop pretending like it's all okay and coming to church on Sunday and then going home and acting a fool and then coming back next week and doing the same thing all over again. There's more to this than religion on Sunday AM church. He's standing under the presence of God. The drug stopped.
Speaker 1:Drug dealing stops. He leaves the gang. Dangerous thing to do. Here's this radical turnaround because somebody extended the love of God to him, and then the presence of God touched him. And for those of you that that know the story, he will win millions of people to Jesus as an evangelist.
Speaker 1:And he will go back. Here's the other part of the story. He will go back to Puerto Rico to his occult, devil worshiping family, and lead many of them to Jesus. That's what this is about. Because it's not just about you.
Speaker 1:You got family. You got friends. You got extended relationships. They need a relationship with Jesus. I can come out of some stuff.
Speaker 1:And I don't if it'll ever come out. Well, some people said that about you. How many of you know what I'm talking about? You didn't want anything to do with God? You didn't want a relationship with Jesus?
Speaker 1:You didn't want all that stuff. You know, these church people are crazy. First time you came in here, those people are little weird. Okay. But something touched your heart, and you said, I gotta have more than what I've got.
Speaker 1:You did the religion thing, and it didn't work. Some of you were in this room. You understand what I'm talking about. Somebody say amen. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:Okay? You know what I'm talking about. I want you to bow your heads with me. Holy Spirit, as only you're able to do, deal with the depths of our own hearts. Lord, some of us have been here a long time in this church, but things haven't changed at all.
Speaker 1:Holy Spirit, I pray you give them hope and faith today to believe you. Lord, there's somebody in this room that likely does not know you. I pray Holy Spirit you'll do what only you're able to do. Your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed. I'm gonna do two things.
Speaker 1:First of all, this prayer is for those of you that say, you know what? I need Jesus. You've not given your life to Christ before. Your life has no evidence that Jesus is in it. Or maybe you've drifted away from God.
Speaker 1:You said, you know, I used to know the Lord, but I I've I've gone way down the wrong path. That's who this prayer is for. I want everybody to pray it with me, but that's specifically who the Holy Spirit talking to right now. Pray this prayer with me everyone. Say, Jesus, I come to you in this room today.
Speaker 1:I ask you to forgive me. Today, I'm giving my life to you. With my heart, I believe. With my mouth, I confess. Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1:I renounce the devil and say yes to you, Jesus. Your heads are bowed. How many of you prayed that prayer with me? Say that was for me. Pastor, that was for me.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Anybody else in the room? Anybody else in the room? Let's see your hands. I want everybody in the room to stand with me right now.
Speaker 1:If you lifted a hand and said, I I I need Jesus. I want you to come meet me here just so much for a minute. Would you come here? If that was you, come on. I'm gonna give you a second.
Speaker 1:If that's you, come on. I want the rest of you in this room, everybody in the room, I am. We're gonna pray a generational prayer together, and I want you to come out of your seat right now, moving as close as you can to this altar. Come on. That's everybody, folks.
Speaker 1:Everybody in the room. We're gonna pray together. Come on. And move up as close as you can to make room for everybody. It's my absolute belief in broader seeing signs of it, that the Lord wants to descend on cities with his powerful presence.
Speaker 1:Okay. And everybody says amen to that. Right? Can you listen to me? You wanna know where that starts?
Speaker 1:It starts at the address you live at. Something's gotta happen in your home. Something's gotta happen with those relationships that you have. Something's gotta happen between husband and wife, mom and dad, kids and parents. Those of you who are single in the room, you gotta make a decision in a crazy culture that says that you can be single and live any way you want to.
Speaker 1:You gotta stand up and say, I live for Jesus regardless of what anybody else tells me I can or can't do. I want everybody in the room. I want you this is the prayer, and it's not just words. Okay? We're talking to Jesus.
Speaker 1:We're not just saying some words on the screen. But this is a a prayer that we will say to the Lord and ask him for his help. Everybody pray this with me. Today, I speak blessing over my family and all my relationships. I ask for those areas that are healthy to be continually blessed with your favor.
Speaker 1:I pray over any issue for pray pray I for Spirit. We pray that home will be be a a place place where your presence is welcomed and evident. Let the atmosphere be pure, peaceful, patient, and loving. We ask that the words from our mouth will bring life and healing. We accept the identity of Christ over our home and ask from this day forward, we'll be reminded of who you are within us.
Speaker 1:Today, we speak generational blessings over our past, present, and future, and reject any curses spoken over our family line. We declare that every purpose will come to pass, every promise from your word to become clearly evident, and every path to be followed in the footsteps of Christ. May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace.
Speaker 1:Look at the person beside you say, I bless you in Jesus name. And your next step is to walk through a discipleship process with us on Wednesday nights with the family or there are multiple ways you can get connected with what's going on here. As pastors, we'd love to meet you to the left of the door when you leave. We love you, and we'll see you this coming Wednesday evening. You're awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you for being here. Give the Lord praise today. Come on.