My eternal relationship with Christ

The Bride of Christ (2)

May 3 2015

But notice that the foolish brides come and they take their lamps. They did the right thing in taking their lamps. Ok, they took their lamps. This is the word ‘Lambano’ of which Paul talk in Romans about ‘Soon anti Lambano’ the way the Holy Spirit will help us in our infirmities. The word help is the word ‘soon anti Lambano’ which is compound word with this word, which means to cease up and take hold of, but it has that connotation of being helped by the Spirit.

Notice that these women are brides; they are already passed the suitor stage. They are virgins; they are pure and chaste. They are already promised to the Bridegroom. But look, what happens? They take their lamp. What is a lamp?

The Scripture says, “Christ is a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet.” He is the light. But how many know that you may have Christ in your hand, you may have the lamp in your hand, but it may have no oil in it. How will you see? How will the lamp be a lamp unto your feet if there is not flame? So they took their lamp but they did not take their oil.

This is very interesting because we have to look at what is the oil here. The oil here is not any type of oil. It is the oil ‘Elaion’ which is olive oil. Oh! Have you ever heard about being engrafted to the true olive tree? Where is the root of the olive oil? Where does the olive oil come from? It comes from the olive tree. Amen?

The fuel which will supply the necessary power to the lamp is the oil, is the oil of gladness, is the oil that comes from the Messiah. You need to have a relationship of intimacy with him to have the oil. If you don’t have intimacy with him, you don’t have any oil! And you may be holding a lamp which says, ‘Christ or Rev Moon’ on it or whatever it is, but you got no oil. You need the oil.

Now remember there are different types of oil, even olive oil. There’s something called the first pressed oil, which is a virgin olive oil. That’s what they get the word ‘virgin olive oil’ from. It’s the first time you press the olives. You get the cleanest, purest oil. The second press is called ‘extra virgin olive oil’; that’s not better oil. That’s marketing, you understand? That is not better oil; extra virgin olive oil is less pure than virgin olive oil.

Did you know that in the Tabernacle, when the Israelites had to light the Menorah, it was not bees’ wax or paraffin wax candlesticks? The Menorah, the seven candle sticks were lamps; they were lamps of oil. What kind of oil was in the Tabernacle? It was the virgin olive oil, not extra virgin olive oil.

You ever heard the word ‘extra-marital’? That’s what extra virgin olive oil means. Ok? Now you get it! The oil that is used in the Tabernacle is the oil of the virgin olive oil; it’s the first pressed. Notice that in order to get the oil, you got to press. You got to press into God. To get the oil, you had to press forward and press into God. You cannot just wait for Him to take you over. You have to take initiative and you have to press into Him. Amen! (Amen) You’ve got to pursue. You’ve got to press; then the oil of gladness can come forth.

Now look at this: it was interesting because when they are there and the bridegroom is tarring, and then all the brides fall asleep, then there is a voice that says, “Behold the bridegroom has come; go forth now!” There is a voice that screams out that thing. And the girls are scattering around, running around, trying to trim their lamps, saying, “Oh my God, light that lamp, light the lamp, quick, quick, quick!” And the ones that don’t have the oil, they say to the ones who have oil, “give me some of your oil” and the ones who have the oil, what do they say, “We cannot. You go and get your own oil. You have to go down there and buy it; buy your own oil.”

There are many, many, in the world church that say, “Father I love you, Father I love you, Father I love you!” They are holding a lamp. The question is, “Do you have the oil?” Do you have the oil that comes by pressing intimately into the Father? Do you have the oil of anointing that comes when you are in the presence of the olive tree? Amen?

The oil of anointing: see we talked about it last week. We think that if we allow our wife to love Christ, if we allow her to be the bride of Christ, and to be intimate with the true Bridegroom, we think we are going to lose her. We think we are going to lose her, “she is going to fall in love with Jesus more; she is going to love Father more than me. I am going to lose her.”

But we don’t understand that when we encourage her, be her number 1 fan to love God, to be in intimate relationship, to accept her place as the bride of Christ, to seek him, pursue him, press after him, when we are the type of husband that is a son of God who is encouraging her to be closer to God, guess what? We won’t lose her; we will gain her. But we will gain her with more anointing, we will gain her with the oil of gladness from her head to her feet; we will gain her back in beauty. Look at this: what is the oil used for? This olive oil was used in the Tabernacle; it was also the anointing of healing. This is the same oil that Jesus used to heal the sick. So it is also the oil of ointment of healing. It is also the oil of the shield of faith.

The weapons of the soldiers of Christ, we talk about in Ephesians 6, ‘with the shield of faith’.  How many knew that the shield of faith is not like a circular small shield. There were two different types of shield in the Roman army. One was a small circular shield which they would use in parades. But you would never use that in fighting. When you actually fought as a soldier, you would use what is known as the door shield. It is a rectangular shield that covered your whole body.

It was made of boards; it was made of different things that would hold it together, and then it was held together by leather straps, which you would put your hand through and hold when you were fighting. So you would have that, and you would have your sword; you would have your spear. But it would be a long type of shield.

This shield of faith protects us from head to toe. The Devil tries to attack us from every angle, but we are protected by the shield of faith, but notice, you have to oil your shield. Did you know that if you do not oil the leather on your shield, in dry weather- which the Romans and the Middle East is, the dry weather will dry out those leather straps? And will happen when the leather gets dry? It becomes brittle. So as soon as somebody hits it, your shield is gone. Now you got an open door. You don’t have the shield of faith; you have to oil your shield. You have to oil your faith.

This is why we have no anointing in our marriages. Number one we’ve forgotten what positions we are in. We’ve forgotten the 3-Day Ceremony; we’ve forgotten also that we need to oil the shield of faith. We need to have it oiled so that it is functioning and proper and that it protects us from the attacks of Satan.

In Ephesian 6 when Paul is talking about the shield, he says, “It will protect you from all the flaming arrows of the enemy.” Remember how Satan, the Devil, Diabolos, hits repeatedly, strikes repeatedly, shoots arrows repeatedly, and casts nets repeatedly? The shield of faith guards us from that repeated attack, but we must care for the faith, for the shield of faith by the anointing of oil.

How many know that when we develop an intimate relationship with Father, with Father’s spirit, intimate, we are receiving the oil of anointing. When you are in his presence you are being anointed with oil. So when the husband is encouraging his wife to love him more intimately, to be his bride, to seek him more than she seeks him, she knows that,” this is a man who is not trying to own me as a possession. This is not a man who is trying to use me for his pleasure. This is man who has my heart in mind. This is a man who is ‘phronimos’ wise; this is a man who is looking at my eternal relationship with Christ. This is a real man.  (Applause)And when a woman has a real man, she gives some love into that man, when we encourage our spouse to be who she truly is, which not just a wife of a household, but to be the bride of Christ.

There is no counterfeit feminist ideology that can compare with that; because all that says is, “girl you have to have power for you to be respected and loved in this world” and when they get it, they are more miserable. Because guess what? You’ve got to know this about power. Once you have power it does not create security; it makes you more insecure. If you are under the false idea that, “Oh I am insecure now, but if I have power, I’m going to be more secure”; if you believe that, once you get power you’ll see what happens, you become more insecure. All the ideologies of the world promising us, if we just have power and money, we’re going to be happy, we’re going to be more secure, I’ll have financial security. I’ll have this or that security. You become more insecure the more money and power you got. That’s the reality.

The only thing that will make you secure and powerful and an overcomer- this is another characteristic of the bride, she is an overcomer- the only thing that will let you have that power that you can face an army and say, “I will not lay down to you” the only power that gives you that surge of energy, is not money, is not political power, is not being a head of an organization, it is ‘phronimos’, it is love. Love! Love, love with the bridegroom, with Christ! That is what gives you true power. And when you are in love with Christ, ladies, you are radiant; you are gorgeous and beautiful; you are anointed with the ‘elaion’ olive oil. Ooh!

You are in the Tabernacle; you are illuminating the holy place of the Tabernacle with the fuel of the spirit of He who dwells in you. You see, we thought Father’s teaching on absolute sex just means relationship between husband and wife. But we have left out the most important piece of that puzzle which is what? It’s God. Father said when husband and wife are one and they make intimate relations in love, God is there. In fact God can experience the intimacy and oneness of his people in that place, but you have to allow God to be there. If you don’t, you are going to dry up like a well. You are not going to be fruitful in your blessing. You are going to become dryer, barren; the love will start to disappear because it’s only about boy and girl.

That does not have power to outlast and overcome the difficulties that Satan will throw against you. That he will ‘bolos’ against you, ‘bolos’ against you and ‘bolos’ against you. You have you have a supernatural power that come from a supernatural source. You’ve got to have the oil of gladness that comes from the true olive tree. You’ve got to have that intimacy with God.

Look at this: this is interesting, because the word for- you remember when that guy is screaming in the middle of the night; he says, ”Behold the bridegroom is coming”. This is the word; it means ‘krauge’. It comes from the word “krozo” look at this: ‘loud crying, done with ‘pathos’ (great emotions); clamorous screaming (shrieking) that is extremely boisterous, like a wounded person emitting ‘unearthly’ (non-human) types of sounds.”

When we saw it in the regular translation it just said, ‘behold the bridegroom cometh, go forth and meet him.” That’s all it says, right? You don’t get any of this ‘pathos’; you don’t get any of this heartistic flavor. This guy is screaming; he’s screaming; do you understand? He’s shrieking, “He’s coming, he’s coming, get up, get up, get up!” It reminds me of when we had to serve Father.  “He’s coming; he’s coming back from fishing; get up, get up, get up!” It’s a boisterous clamor; it’s unearthly sounds that come out. Everybody has to run to the door.

But what is fascinating about this is: who is the person who is screaming this? Who is it? We have to go back to the ancient wedding. You see when the bride and the bridegroom met in the bride chamber, there would be a man who would guard the door. He would be called the best man; that’s where we get the word ‘best man’. It is the closest man to that husband. So that is the man that will stand in front of the door and when the marital sexual relations are done that man will say, “Behold the bride and bridegroom cometh. Prepare the feast, slaughter the lamb!”

That’s where we get the word ‘best man’. It comes from this ancient wedding. So who is this man who is preparing and calling up, “quick, quick, come the bridegroom is coming”? Who should it be? (The good archangel) Yes, the good archangel! Who knew that that is the posture of the best man? That is the posture of a son of God who desires his bride and his wife to be closer to the bridegroom. “I will guard you in your intimacy with the bridegroom. I will guard the door and entrance so that you can be intimate with the bridegroom.”

If we had men and husbands that were standing guard like that and encouraging their wife to have that intimacy with Christ, who were excited to be in the presence of God and to guard the door and when they come out, to celebrate the intimacy with Christ. If we had husbands like that, think how beautiful that husband would look to that wife. Amen?

Think how much your heart, your wisdom, your ‘phronimos’ knows that that is a man of true love. Because not only does he support you to love Christ, not only does he support you to be intimate, he will guard your life near the door, so that you can share deepest love with Christ. He is a man that is not living for himself; he is a man who is not having you for his own pleasure. He is a man who understands your true longing and your true desire of your soul and the lover of your soul. And he is a man that supports that and protects that with his life and celebrates; he celebrates that with great pathos.

You see if we understand that in that story, not only all the women are there, but also all the men; we are there as husbands. We are the ones that should be calling out for the feast. We are the ones who should be defending the doorway. We’re the ones that should be standing there and say,”Hallelujah! She is intimate with Christ; she is his. I don’t own here, I don’t try to possess her. I am not using her as a material object for my pleasure. She is the bride of Christ. She is holy and righteous with him. She is pure and without wrinkle of stain in him. She is the apple of his eye.”

Why is it ladies that when you hear poetry about the cosmos and the universe and the stars above, and the silky mountains and pastures, and the flowing waterfalls, … but nothing compares to your beauty… When you hear all those why does something inside of you ring out, even though you may not want to admit it? Why is it that you’ll watch dramas and Korean dramas and these stories about love that will go back and forth; and this and that person will get involved and he is sad and she’s crying but she really wants him and when she gets him, “Oh praise!” But in order to get him, he’s got to pluck out his eyes, he’s got to show you how much he loves that girl. What is it that something on the inside of you cries out for that? How can these corporations make billions off you because of that? What is it that is in you that is yearning for that? Amen? What is it? What is it? What is it that is making you yearn for that type of love?

It is because God wanted you when He made man and woman. He wanted you. You are the apple of His eye. You are the bride. He wanted you and your heart. The husband is His instrument, is his son. He will work; he will be with his son, one with the son, but He really wants you.

See, no counterfeit ideology can compete with this. When you meditate on the deepest desires to be loved eternally, for all time, your deep desire to have the love of a man who will sacrifice his life for you, put down his life for you, who will be there for you, why do you have that? You have that because God made you that way. He made you to be the object partner of His love.

And when the husband supports that bride to be the way she was made by God, to return love to him, and when he stands there in support and love, that husband is whom the bridegroom will call the best man. He will say, “Son you are my best man; you are truly a son.”

Ok, Omma, you want to say something on that?

Yeon Ah Nim

Let’s give one more round of applause for our pastor Hyung Jin Nim! Thank you. Thank you son of God; I am telling you as a bride of Christ.

You know standing here, speaking in front of you every Sunday, for me it is always a nerve-racking thing, actually. I always feel honored, and I feel always humbled, and before I speak, I always pray that, “whatever I speak- please God- that it doesn’t come out of my ego, it does not come out of my own greed. I only want to speak to really glorify You and to really return joy to You.” I always pray that before I speak. And speaking since ‘breaking the silence’ and standing here every Sunday to support him, that was another rollercoaster trip for me.

And last week the sermon was one of the toughest one when I really mustered up my courage and whatever I had I pushed myself and did it. Saying that,” I will not do whatever True Mother did and I will be faithful to my husband and I will be faithful to what True Father gave promise to our son”, it was a really big thing, and I really think that it’s kind of very interesting; the spiritual journey’s really an amazing thing.

You know I almost felt like I was one of the virgins who are holding the lamp; I really felt that this week. Because before I spoke that I really thought about St Paul. He was beaten; he was stoned to death almost in Galicia. He was almost accused as a false disciple of Jesus Christ in one of the churches in Corinth that he built. He built that church and the church is accusing him as a false disciple. He went through tremendous things and I am here standing, speaking and making my stand strong. It’s like nothing compared to what Paul did. I don’t even have to be scared. I can do this, and I did it.

But still you know the thought was there, “Because I said this, people are going to really curse me; people are going to really criticize me”; that thought took me over at one point, without even me knowing, and I started to think about it while I am brushing my teeth, “yes people are going to really curse me” and while I am eating, yes this is something I am doing but making a stand is not an easy thing.” Then while I am looking at birds I am thinking that, and I did not even realize that until I think it was Tuesday morning, I was brushing my teeth and my husband said, “Honey, just listen what you are saying. You’ve kept on saying people will curse you, because you made a stand” (my voice is a little hoarse, not because I am crying, OK, because of cold)

I kept on saying that, without me even knowing, and then as he said that, Wow! It was so true; I am in the net of Diabolo. It was so true, and not only he is using the technique of drawing net, he is also using the technique of continuously beating you with the same idea, until I accepted it as mine and it grew into my head.

Wow! That is so true, I learned it; I am like one of those ten virgins who is holding the lamp. I prepared myself, I wait for Christ, I even prepared lamp, but I was not carefully preparing my oil, actually. I was filling up that lamp with Diabolo’s technique, Diabolo’s temptation, instead of his oil of gladness and anointing. And Wow! You know what? The spiritual journey is so delicate  and there are so many temptations involved here and if I am not careful enough, and if I am not wise enough to navigate it, I thought I was doing right and I could do something terribly wrong and myself totally stray away like one of those foolish virgins who is holding the lamp.

And brothers and sisters, today as I was listening to ‘10,000 reasons’ in the worship song, I was so grateful to God one more time that He is who He is. He does not change, whether I feel like deep in the valley of death, whether I am overjoyed in His greatness, He is always the same just like True Father was. Sometimes we did not like what he said but he was always the same, and today I want to glorify his name once again for who he is, for his greatness, for his eternity. Aju!  (Applause)

Hyung Jin Nim

Ooh! How beautiful, beautiful.

Let us go to Cheong Seong Gyeong 56 Everybody and Lets’ read together

“If instead of falling, Adam had grown to maturity, flourished on earth, and gone to heaven, he would have become God who still retained the form of Adam. Hence the invisible God and visible Adam would have become one. Then Adam’s laughter would have been God’s laughter and the laughter of the universe.”

Amen!

I praise God that we have a true Adam who is one with God and is pouring out his spirit upon his people who know their proper place. Amen!

Come on down, everybody, I want to ask you to come down if you want to receive prayer, come on. Let’s stand up; let’s sing one more song as we meditate on God. Let’s finish really quickly by prayer. We just want to offer up all the thanks to God. If you want to come down, you want your marriage to be anointed, come on down, bless your marriage come down. Stand in the anointing of the oil of gladness; if you want to come down and receive that I think we want to give that glory to God. Let’s pray right now. If you came with your spouse, put your hands on her shoulder, and anoint her, as you anoint her.

Prayer

“Heavenly Father we thank you so much that this day you have opened our eyes to the significance of the 3-Day Ceremony. Father let us not be ashamed of that; let us not be the woman who is at the mill who is not taken because of our shame in Christ. We forgot who we are, but Father let us be like the ten virgins who know who we are, who know our positions in the blessing marriage and in the covenant of husband and wife, where we stand in relation to You.

Father let us be those husbands who stand as the best man to guard and to bring joy to the bridegroom. Let the wife stand in the position of the beautiful bride adorned for her bridegroom, prepared, who is chaste and worthy and righteous, not because of her deeds, but because God loved her so much.

Father, let that bride be one that brings you a new dimension of love, who has wisdom, not ‘sunetos’, not necessarily just ‘Sophos’, but Father who has ‘phronimos’ wisdom; who has wisdom of each breath, who has wisdom of every heart beat. Every move of her soul is for You. Father let that wisdom be poured upon your brides today around the world. Let those who are watching from far off nations be in contact to meet ‘Hupo’ and ‘Theo’ your spirit, now.

Let them receive the wisdom sagacity of ‘phronimos’, and let them receive the ‘elaion’ oil of gladness from the true olive tree. Father let them be brides who are standing with the lamp that is Christ that is full of oil, so that when the bridegroom comes for them, they will shine that light; show him that he means everything to them. Show him that she has prepared for him and that her love is forever his.

Father, we thank you this day that You are now opening the eyes of our people around the world. Things that we did not want to talk about, now God You are giving us the courage and now You are opening up our heart so that we can live in the Holy Communion and intimacy that is with You. Father we want to be sons of God as men; we want to bring You joy and we want to be with You. We want to bathe with You in the wells of salvation, as your sons. We love being with You, Father, and as the wives we pray that the brides will desire You more, will seek and long for You more, just like their first love, every night whom they cannot stop thinking about, every night who when they even imagine being in the presence of Him, that they are full of joy, satisfied in their soul.

Father let us be those types of blessed couples, because when we stand in that holy anointing as that kind of family and couple, You will dwell amongst your people, You will be with us, and You will move through us. And we will see the supernatural world of your Kingdom open before our eyes.

God we thank you and we pray right now that You will touch these people and the people around this world, that we want to come into intimacy with You for now it is time.

We give You all the praise, glory and honor. In our own names as central blessed families we report, and in your precious name we pray. Amen, Aju! Amen, Aju!

Bless your wife, hug your wife, and hug your neighbor. If you came with your spouse, say, “Bride of Christ I love you!” Say to your husband, “Son of God I love you!” Amen, amen! God is with you; praise God, praise God. Let’s give God some praise everybody. God is good, 

Amen!