The Mother of Us All | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

I want to open today with a scripture that I shared last

week. I'm not doing a text of

scriptures today, but opening with this from last week here it

says Jesus said to them, have I been with you so long and yet

you have not known me, Phillip. He who has seen me has seen the

Father. So how can you say show us the

Father? A little while longer in the

world will see me no more. But you will see me because I

live. You will live also at that day

you will know that I'm in my father, you and me and I and

you. He who has my commandments and

keeps them. It is he who loves me, and he

who loves me will be loved by my father.

I will love him and also manifest myself to him.

Can we pray? Father, we just thank you for

your word and we thank you today for the spirit of understanding

and pray that you would give to us enlightenment and

understanding concerning Your Word and Your way.

We ask it in Jesus mighty name, Amen.

Well, I want to open with that scripture from last week because

it's such an important scripture.

I believe specifically for the time that we're in now as the

body of Christ, Jesus Christ was getting ready to leave his

disciples. He wanted them to know that,

well, this isn't the end of the matter.

I'm going away, he said, but I'm also coming back.

As a matter of fact, he said, I go to prepare a place for you

that where I am, you may be also.

And a lot of people read that scripture and thinks he's going

to heaven to build them a mansion so one day they can be

with Jesus. But as you read the chapter, you

find out what he's actually saying is there's a work that he

was going to accomplish because the Bible teaches us that when

Jesus Christ died on the cross and his blood was shed, it was

shed for the remission of our sins and the old covenant.

They used to worship the Lord at a Tabernacle called the

Tabernacle of Moses, later on a temple.

It had three courts to it, an outer court, an inner court and

a most Holy Place where God himself dwelt.

Now most of the people could only go to the outer court, and

only the high priest could go into the very inner court, and

that was just once a year. It was there that you would find

the mercy seat, the very presence of the living God, and

people were held back from that presence.

But the Bible says that when Jesus Christ died on the cross,

literally the veil that separated the most holy place

from the people was rent. But also we also know that when

He ascended on high and he sprinkled His blood on the mercy

seat, that that meant we have access to God.

I'm really glad we have access to God.

Amen. We are not separated from Him,

but He has done the work to bring us to Him.

Now it's very important when we read a Scripture like this that

we understand as we're relating to God.

There's a visible image God has given to us, and that's in the

person of Jesus Christ. He is the visible image of the

invisible God. So when you think of God in a

visible way, you should picture Jesus Christ.

That's a very important to understand because as you note

in the scriptures that I read to you, one of the disciples said,

well, you're going away. It will be sufficient.

Show us the Father before you leave.

And Jesus, like have I been so long time with you, Philip, that

you don't know that when you see me, you've seen the Father, the

fathers of me. I'm in the Father and we want to

actually be in you. What a great plan of action God

has for us. So when we think about the

visible person of God, we think of Jesus Christ.

That's important to understand because a lot of people see the

Old Testament as well. There was that mean, legalistic

God. He sent his Son in the New

Testament to die, and now we just think about him.

No, Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God.

If you want to know what the Father was like or would be

like, read the Gospels and you'll see God is love, Amen.

And every part of his program is about love and something he

wants us to experience in him. Now ultimately he said, and I

will manifest myself to you through the power of the Holy

Spirit. Now that's important to

understand because as the body of Christ, we're moving into a

new day in God, transitioning from what was called the

charismatic movement to a new day where we're going to go into

a more fuller experience and expression with God.

Now, one of the things that has to happen as we move forward in

God is has to be sometimes a realignment of our thinking.

And in the charismatic Pentecostal movement, there was

a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit.

And oftentimes people tried to make the Holy Spirit and a

person the same way that Jesus Christ is a person and the Holy

Spirit has a different function. We have to understand that.

And I shared with you last week how we in the old covenants, or

excuse me, the old translation of the King James Version and

referencing the Holy Spirit, sometimes it would use the word

it and itself. Newer translations like the one

I have and we share here, the new King James Version takes

away the IT because it just sounds like a bad word.

And really it's just a reference to gender, male and female.

So when you speak of the Holy Spirit in relationship with the

Father and the Son, it's obvious that one could use the words Him

and He. But there's also this part where

we have to understand the Spirit comes to us in a sense that's

different because the Spirit comes to us to reveal Christ.

So Christ becomes our focus and our understanding.

And so we have to realize this because it's important that we

see Christ manifest because ultimately we're going to

understand that God wants to manifest himself through his

church because the Bible says Jesus would be the first born

among many. Brother, God's plan is so

awesome and we have to understand that plan indeed

includes us. And today I'm going to talk

about the mothers and how important that he is.

But then look at it from a natural perspective and then see

a spiritual side. Because in the book of Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, the Scripture says, if you really want to understand

God, think about the fact that he created all things.

So when you look at his creation and how he created things,

sometimes it gives you insight into spiritual things even

though you're looking at something natural.

And with that in mind, I want to go to this Old Testament

scripture in Genesis 1. It says, so God created man in

his own image, in the image of God.

He created him, male and female. He created them and God bless

them. God said to them, be fruitful,

multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over

the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every

living thing that moves on the earth.

So when God created us, he created mankind with a very

specific purpose and we were created in the very image and

likeness of God. That's awesome.

Why did God do that? Well, He chose us to be His

partners. He created the earth and all the

things containing it, and then He gives us a place of position

that involves taking dominion, subduing and sharing with Him in

His purpose for planet Earth. Now it's important for us to

know that, and it's important for us to see the very important

attributes that are necessary for us to understand about

ourselves and also how that's revealed in God.

And what I wanted you to notice is that when God created man,

the Bible says the name Adam means mankind, not just the

personal name, that he created them, male and female in his

image and likeness. Sometimes people have this idea,

well, God created Adam first so that Adam is in the image of

God, and well, the woman is a secondary part of that.

No, chapter 1 of Genesis says one part of the story.

Chapter 2, which we'll be mostly talking about today, gives a

whole different aspect that's important for us to understand

how we know. We have to understand that both

male and female attributes are representative of the person of

God and there's value, very high value in the understanding that

God created us male and female, and that all of these represent

part of the attributes of God and something He wants us to

experience and walk in in him. Now in Genesis chapter 2, as I

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

said, we'll go there and see a little bit more explanation.

It says in the Lord God said it is not good that man should be

alone. I will make him a helper

comparable to him. So the Lord God caused a deep

sleep to fall in Adam. He slept and took one of his

ribs, closed up the flesh in its place.

Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into

a woman, brought her to the man. And Adam said, this is how bone

in my bones, flesh in my flesh, she shall be called woman.

Why? Because she was taken out of

man. And again, I want to talk about

the unique function. So God says Adams alone, that's

not good. He needs companionship.

How many know God doesn't want us to be alone.

Now, this is a very important thing that we understand because

of the world we're living in, where people can start working

at home, picking. People can pick up their food on

the way home and just eat it at home and not go out to eat as

much. And everything is centered

around the home. There's a certain sense of

comfort that brings to us. There's no place like home,

they'll say. But what's happening is people

are separating themselves more from other people.

And there's a whole lot of things we can do even

recreationally with the Internet that has to do with just us or

with impersonal people through the Internet as well.

And so what's happening is people are becoming more alone.

And then we wonder why there's so much anxiety and why there's

so much depression and so much that's going on in the emotional

side. And that's because, well, read

the word, God said you need companionship.

You should not be alone. That's why the Bible says he

takes the lonely and puts them in a family.

And in the connotation of that, he's talking about the family of

the church, because there's a whole lot of families and

problems that come to individual, what we call nuclear

families. But the family of God that Jesus

Christ planted 2000 years ago is going sterling Amian.

And so there's an important aspect of that we have to

understand. So you need companionship and

also you need a helper. And this is an important aspect

to realize that well, we all have gifts, we all have talents

and we can feel good about our gifts and talents, but we should

also feel good about the fact that we need other people in our

life for fulfilling our purpose. And so God says you need

companionship, you need other people to help you.

And this is important thing that God speaks from the very

beginning. I pointed out the scripture that

when God made this statement about Adam needing somebody that

he put him to sleep. The Bible says that he performed

an operation on him. Now the version of the Bible I

read to you today says, and he took a rib out of Adam.

And I like to remind you of this, that when the Bible was

written, Old Testament was written in Hebrew, New Testament

is written in Greek. And sometimes the translations

take a little bit of bias from the translators.

And this is one of those words. It's not in the original use

anywhere else in the Bible. And it's important to realize

that the word doesn't just mean a rib speaks about something

being curved or curvature. And that's what people usually

think about the fact that just a bone was taken.

But we always say that, well, if you want to understand the

Bible, you got to translate the Bible from the Bible, interpret

the Bible from the Bible. And if you notice that what Adam

said is this is now bone a by bone, flesh of my flesh, for she

was taken out of me. And so it's important for us to

realize that when God performed this work, it wasn't God just

taking a bone and making a whole new creature.

It was there was a part of Adam that would now be in another

creature. And so in both of these, in

these instances, we have to realize that it was a side of

Adam that was now viable, but in another person.

And so it's important to see how these two things work together.

And there's a complete list that comes when we bring both of them

together. And that's why when we look at

this story of bringing together, we can see it even more richly

as you think about this separation.

And literally there's a part of you in somebody else.

And so we require another person's participation in our

life in order to find incompletion.

Now, this Scripture here is very important.

And again, the Scripture needs to interpret Scripture.

And this is a very interesting one that a lot of people don't

even take note of. In Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

This is the apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus.

And he says, so husbands ought to love their own wives as their

own bodies. He who loves his wife loves

himself. And we can understand what he's

talking about when we read that story.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and

cherishes it, just as the Lord does the Church.

For we are members of his body on out of his flesh, and of his

bones. For this reason, a man shall

leave his father, mother, be joined to his wife, and the two

shall become one flesh. Now this is where it gets really

interesting because it says this is a mystery, but I'm speaking

concerning Christ and the church.

And so he basically says you can use Genesis chapter 2 as an

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

illustration in a natural sense, a husband and wife and how that

relationship works out, but you also have to know that the Bible

is a prophetic book. The Bible talks about Scripture

as being a prophetic word that's made sure.

And so because of that, there's more than one dimension to it

that we have to see. And basically what he's saying

is when you read Genesis chapter 2, you can look at it from a

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

personal sense in mankind, but you have to realize that there's

something God was trying to tell us from the very beginning is

that in his eternal purpose, He had a plan of action.

The plan of action was that Jesus Christ would come die for

our sins, and that also he would have a bride, which is his

church. And so we have to look at these

scriptures and realize that God's talking about a spiritual

issue here, and he's describing us as the bride of Christ.

How we know that adds a whole new dimension to it.

And it's important that we would see this because it's important

for us to see the role of the church in the plans and purposes

of God and see again, and we'll understand this, where the Holy

Spirit fits in because as we said, God took a side of Adam

and put him in a woman and she became woman.

So how many know that when God pours His Spirit upon us, that's

God taking part of who He is and putting it on us.

That's an awesome revelation to have, isn't it?

That's why we are the bride of Christ, a man, because part of

Christ, which was the spirit of the anointing that was upon him.

The Spirit of the Lord that abides in him then comes to each

and every one of us. And God says, now you are now of

my spirit. Now there's something in you

that came from me. You are my bride, says the Lord,

and you need to understand how you are to relate to me and

really to the world as the bride of Christ.

Look what it goes on to say here in Galatians 4 which things are

symbolic, for these are the 2 covenants, the one from Mount

Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar.

This Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, corresponds to

Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with their children.

But Jerusalem above is free, which is what?

Read that with me, mother of us all.

So we're talking about mothers today, and we want to see how

that the Church is our mother. For it is written, Rejoice

o'bearing you who did not bear and break forth and shout, you

are labeled. For the desolate has many more

children than she that has a husband.

And this verse 27 is quoting Isaiah chapter 54.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

So in the Old Testament, God was given us examples that we could

look at and they were always speaking prophetically about a

day which was to come. And so through the 1st Adam in

the natural there is the seed of Adam.

And then also the Bible tells us about a man named Abraham who

entered into covenant with God, and God said to him that he was

going to bless him, and through his seed all the nations of the

world we're going to be blessed. When you read the Old Testament,

you read about a literal physical place, Jerusalem, Mount

Zion. And he said, but there's

something more that's going on in the New covenant because

there's the spiritual Mount Zion, there is a spiritual

habitation. And that's what I wrote when I

wrote my book, The Descending New Jerusalem, because it is a

spiritual reality. And so there is a natural

reality and there is a spiritual reality.

How do you know where that spiritual reality?

That's important to understand because the Bible says that when

we are in Christ, we're neither male nor female junior Greek

bond or free. So God says, I want you to

transcend above the natural and live into this spiritual plane.

And when you begin to understand that, you'll see how that the

natural explains it, but you understand that it reaches

beyond that. Now, this is an important thing

to point out because Mount Zion was a part of the Charismatic

movement going back to the latter, and revival going back

to the Pentecostal movement, going back to what was called

the Holiness movement, way back, beginning with the Third Great

Awakening in the 1850s in the United States of America.

And I mentioned this from time to time because I believe we're

in the time of a new awakening. Can I hear an Amen about that?

So we need to know where we came from to know where we're going.

Well, when the holiness movement started, there was a major

figure involved. Her name was Phoebe Palmer.

And back in those days, if a woman had a ministry in the

church, she couldn't teach or preach to men.

So she had a ladies prayer group and it she got such a

reputation, the mineral saying, wait a minute, I want to go to

that. What's going on here?

And so she started, OK, come on in.

Well, what I want to point out is since that time, churches in

this stream in the body of Christ have always believed in

women in the ministry, women as pastors, women as teachers.

Sometimes people from backgrounds that are not

thinking that way will think that, well, if a church has

women in the ministry, they're just giving in to the world or

following the patterns of the world.

And no, that's not true at all. For almost 200 years now,

there's been a people who said, we're following the anointing

because it's the spiritual that transcends the natural.

Can I hear an event on that? Amen.

That's why Mount Zion, we've always had women pastors,

teachers, and there's a side that women have that men don't

have. And so if you want complete

ministry, looking at it from a natural perspective, how you

know, you need to understand how important it is.

So we transcend the spiritual and yet we understand there is

that gender side that becomes very important in the natural

and being able to reach the different members of the body of

Christ. It's an essential function for

us to understand. Now having said that I want to

go to this Scripture in Genesis 3 and then 1st Corinthians 15 it

says and Adam called his wifes name Eve because why she would

be the mother of all living. Now again the Bible speaks about

Jesus Christ being Adam as well here called the last Adam

literally a first Adam because the first Adam the Bible says we

came alive naturally, that through Jesus Christ we become

alive spiritual Amen. That's why it says for so is

written the first man Adam became a living being.

The last Adam became what a life giving spirit, which is

important to understand because the name Eve literally means

life giving spirit. So we know that when Eve was

separated from Adam, he looks at her and says we're going to call

her Eve because she's the mother of all living.

She's a life giver. How many know women are life

givers, Amen. When they have children and it's

a choice that they make when they get pregnant nowadays to

decide I'm going to have this baby.

And we know that it's not always a pleasant occasion because

having children can have its share of problems.

I was just illustrated to my wife Bonnie.

She would love being a mother, she wanted to be a mother.

And I remember standing at the bathroom door when she looked at

the test and said I'm pregnant. She had the biggest smile on her

face and I was happy with her because I wanted a child too, of

course. But it wasn't too long after

that, I was looking through the same bathroom door and she was

kneeling at the toilet. She was not praying.

She was starting experiencing the effects of having a baby.

And there are unpleasant. Some have worse time than

others. Sometimes it's not just morning

sick, then some for some is all day sickness, whatever.

But there's a cost to be paid because the mom is a life giver

and being a part of that life giving, there is a cost to be

paid. And Jesus Christ is a life

giver. And how did that happen with

him? Well, he gave his life on the

cross and then after that he poured out his spirit, which is

what? A life giving spirit.

So again, when I'm born in the natural, I'm alive.

Thank you mom, you had a baby and now I'm alive.

But when I'm born again, I have received a life giving spirit.

And so this has transformed my life and I'm a whole new person

now because I have received new life, which is what spiritual

life. And that's why it's important to

understand how the Holy Spirit works because of the Holy Spirit

comes to us and makes us alive and becomes the habitation of us

experiencing mothering in the natural and also now in the

spiritual as well. That's why it talks about the

Holy Spirit and it talks about the church being the mother of

us all. Now having said all that, I want

to go to the Scripture in Acts chapter 19, it happened while

Acts 19 · chapter mention

Apollo's was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the

upper regions, came to Ephesus and finding some disciples, he

said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you

believed? So they said to him, We have not

so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.

He said to them, into what were you baptized?

So they said on to John's baptism.

And so as you read through the Scriptures, they repented, they

were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for their mission

and their sins. They received the baptism, the

Holy Spirit and they also spoke in other tongues.

And now the first thing that he asked them is, well, what do you

believe? Well, they had a belief system

based upon what they would had already heard, because how do

you know? You can only believe what you

heard with the heart. Man believes, the Bible says

with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

I'm glad you're a believer here today.

Amen. So as Paul's passing through

town, he finds some believers, but there's something missing

here because they didn't hear the whole message and certainly

have the whole experience. And that's when he says, have

you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?

Now this is important to understand because as a

Pentecostal charismatic holiness, second work of grace

Christian, we believe there's something beyond just believing.

A lot of people are content with I believe in Jesus Christ.

Sins are forgiven. I'm going to heaven.

But as people who believe in the work of the Holy Spirit and

understand that it is a life giving spirit that has been

given to us, we understand it's not just enough to believe that

if you want everything God has for you, there's a receiving

part. My mom used to always talk about

that when she would have her prayer service and praying for

people because she said don't just believe you got to receive.

And that really has to do with an attitude we have where we're

like, I want to grab a hold of this, I want to experience this.

And this is what the Pentecostal holiness charismatic movement

added to the body of Christ. As we said, you know, there's

something that you receive going beyond believing.

There's something in receiving, and that's why last year I

talked about the descending New Jerusalem.

We talked about the power of what happens in church and how

important it is for us to understand there.

I mean, when we come to church, the Bible says I will enter his

gates with Thanksgiving in my heart into his courts with

praise. And that the Bible says that

Jesus worships among the worshipping congregation.

And I reminded everybody a few times last year because when we

hear something, we got to hear it a few times how important it

is for us to realize when we preach here at Mount Zion on a

Sunday morning, it's not just instructional, which would be

teaching, but preaching is something to inspire faith.

So although you need to learn, you also have to understand that

you need to receive it. That's why the Bible talks about

the implanted word of God. We are born again by the seed of

the living God coming into our heart.

So that means there's something that we have to receive.

So I come into the song service and I say, wait a minute, I know

what I believe that I'm going to receive.

Come on. You know, you have to be willing

to do that because if not, you can come in church and it'd be

just like anybody else's. Some churches don't believe you

receive at that time. So they are believers to gather

together and sing songs, and then they have a message where

they're instructed and how to be a better Christian.

And all of these things are a part of it.

But you have to understand that when you're understanding the

need to receive, you say, no, I need to receive something here.

That's why when we have our altar call, we gather and we

say, OK, we've heard this word, we want to receive it.

And at Mount Zion we teach the word sacrament versus just

ordinance. An ordinance says this is what

God told us what to do. The sacrament says, oh,

something happens when you do it.

That's why the apostle Paul is speaking about communion, said

This is why many are weak and sickly among you and people even

die prematurely because when they take communion, they don't

understand or discern the Lord's body.

There's a reality here. So I don't just believe it and

do it, I receive something. How about you?

And we do the same thing. When people get baptized, we say

we are expecting them to receive something.

So there's a whole different concept here.

And when it comes to the receiving part, and this is a

very important part of who we are.

Now, having said that, I want to talk about the sexual revolution

because I want you to see natural things, how often times

they reveal to us spiritual things when we're looking at.

That's why as a Christian, we're in the world, but we're not of

the world. So we should look at things from

a Kingdom perspective. When I was growing up, I was

part of what they called the baby boomer generation.

The latter part of that, especially in the 60s, one of

the challenges were against the morals of our past generation

and they called it the sexual liberation time or the sexual

revolution. And basically people are saying

we don't need morals, we don't need restraints, we just need to

injure ourselves, take off the restraints and well, just learn

how to enjoy life. So the idea overtime began to

demonstrate itself in that sexuality was not at all

private. That's why on movies they don't

just imply someone's had a loving relationship.

They show the whole thing because guess what?

Nothing secret nowadays. Immodesty.

Well, that went out the window. There's not secret parts anymore

as we used to use the term because everything is out there

in the open going on now. If you were to look at another

aspect of what's happening right now, there's a lot to talk about

SA, which is sexual assault. And what's happened here is

there's a whole lot of people and some of them are bringing up

issues for a long time ago because they didn't think they

had the right to talk about it at the time, because people are

saying, wait a second, I had unwanted sexual advances made

towards me. People were doing things and I

didn't want them to do that. Well, there's a problem in this

because you understand that society is saying one thing over

here and then there's another need over here.

And so in some ways, especially when it comes to male and female

different understanding of these things, it's hard to reconcile

how to bring this all together. That's even why they say a lot

of young men are confused to the world in which they live because

they see, hear these different voices.

Well, it's important to understand that the woman when

it comes to marriage, to consummate the marriage, she has

to be a receiver in the consummation process.

And in order for her to be a mother, she has to receive the

seed of the father. So there's a place for

receiving. And the Bible considers this the

very holy thing when it comes to the natural, but also there's a

spiritual counterpart to it which we need to understand and

relate to because there's something in the experience

that's very important. So what people are finding out

is, hey, this isn't just a recreational sport.

This isn't really making love. What's going on here?

And so a lot of more women than men certainly are saying, wait a

second, there's something here that's, well, it's not just

something physical. There's something deeper here.

There's a sense that I have to protect myself and, and to hold

back and make a choice. And that should always be true.

And so God says to us, I want you understand something.

I want you to be my bride. I want you to be the mother of

my children, says the Lord. And I want you to know I respect

your right to make the choice, but I want you to open up

yourself to me, says the Lord, so that we can be productive

together and we can build in this holy relationship that I

have for you and for the world in which we live.

How many of God's ways, a better way, but also to understand God

understands the human condition. A lot of people just think, oh,

who needs that? Well, we all need to understand

that. We don't always understand why

God is doing what He's doing or why He says what He says, but

you can be sure there's always wisdom, wisdom to it and always

an understanding involved in it. God even spoke to me about this

once. I shared it.

One of my books, I forget which ones are which sometimes and

what I talked about, but I've often shared with you, I had a

testimony about how was healed of muscular dystrophy.

And in my 30s I started becoming very weak and suffering from

this not only weakness but pain. I went to the doctors and they

said, well, you have muscular dystrophy and we're not sure how

long it's going to take to work over your body, but expect more

to come. And really there's nothing they

can do when it comes to muscular dystrophy other than perhaps

help you a little bit with the pain, whatever.

And I remember going to the altar in prayer and saying,

Lord, I believe in healing and I've been serving you and I want

to serve you for a very long time.

And as I was there in prayer, the Lord spoke to me the

scripture Revelation chapter 4, for my pleasure.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

Were you created? Now that's a King James

translation, so you won't find it unless you go that way.

And all of a sudden I thought, yes, my body is not just for my

pleasure and my purpose, it's for yours.

And that day I had a very intimate altar experience with

the Lord where I just surrendered myself more fully to

him. And it was just an amazing

experience to me. Another day in prayer, the Lord

began to speak to me and he said, well, I'm going to heal

you. Now this is important in in the

book of Psalm chapter 37, it says delight yourself in the

Psalms 37 · chapter mention

ways of the Lord and he will give you the desire of your

heart. Now again, if you looked up the

word delight in the original Hebrew, you know what it speaks

about it. It speaks about being effeminate

or a female gender, if you would, in that you're saying, I

receive you. It's not just my body.

We're here to share love with each other.

We're here to share. And and all of a sudden I

realized in that verse, there's a key total surrender releases

total power. Guess what, most of you know my

rest, my testimony. I was healed in a supernatural

way. How many thank the Lord for

that? Amen.

But for me, it's always been about God teaching me along the

way and me learning more about Him.

And to me, following God is just such an exciting journey.

It has. It's difficult times and

sometimes when you say yes to God, there's some uncomfortable

parts, but in the end, it always produces life.

Church, But I want you to know that this is important for us to

understand, because we can see in this natural thing, a very

spiritual thing, where God is saying, will you allow yourself

to come to me in a greater way? In Ephesians 4 he says, And do

not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for

the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath,

anger, clamber and evil speaking be put away from you with all

malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted,

forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.

I put over this sensitivity because basically when we think

about the Holy Spirit, that's our opportunity to experience

the sensitivity of God. And again, this is an important

lesson for men to understand. There's a place where we learn

about being the sons of God, but as the bride of Christ and the

church, being the mother of all. There is a place where we learn

sensitivity and our wives and the women in our life give us an

opportunity to see something about that that we would not

know. That's why that learning

process, even in marriage and relationships, is good for all

of us. But it's important to realize

here that the apostle Paul is saying, it's important for you

to understand that if you're not careful, you can grieve the Holy

Spirit, which means to make sad. God has feelings and when you

begin to realize that you can have a more intimate time of

prayer because you can go into prayer and you can share God's

feelings with him as you learn that.

And often times it's women that excel in areas of prayer and

spiritual habitation. And that's something that we

should look at and say that's for the ladies.

That's something we should look at and say, wow, they know

something I don't know. I want to experience prayer in

that level or I want to have a intimate relationship with God

that comes in a very sensitive form, if you would.

And to me, this reminds me of motherhood because how many of

them ever heard a mom say, if you don't have something nice to

say, don't say anything at all? Isn't that what the apostle Paul

say to them? Don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

If you don't have anything nice to say about other Christians,

don't say anything at all. Oh, oh, let's receive that one,

because the power of life and death is in the tongue.

Amen. And so it gives us the

opportunity for emotional awareness.

Now, I've often heard people say that women are more emotional

than men, and that's not true at all.

They're more likely, often times, to express their

emotions. But I've seen very emotional men

who respond emotionally. And if you go back to the book

of Genesis, I'm you know the story in Genesis chapter 3, God

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

said don't eat at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Eve standing next to the tree and she's talking to the serpent

and she looks at the tree and she says, you know, that's good

for food. Does he a tree desirable to make

one wise plus into the eyes. She was thinking about it.

Hmm, what can I do with this tree?

After she decided to eat at the tree, she gave it to her

husband. The Bible didn't say he's

thought about it, just ate it. I don't know if he thought that

was dinner or what. You know, sometimes men are more

emotionally driven than women. And it's important to understand

that there's a difference between talking about

sensitivity and feeling what other people feel.

Because if you're too emotional, you won't feel what anybody

feels but what you feel. Amen.

So how many know that that's something that moms can do which

is so powerful. That's why these scriptures say

a foolish son is what the grief of his mother.

And when I was my father's son, tender and only one in the sight

of my mother, because guess what?

That child grew in the mother. That's part of the mother.

That's why what we call women's intuition, it isn't just a

mystical thing. It's part of the fact that, hey,

that child started you, grew in you.

It's a part of you kind of hear mom say Amen.

And so that's why sometimes you know more about the kid than

they might even know about themselves.

Course, they don't want to listen to you when you tell them

that, but there's a truth to that.

And that's important for us to understand.

That's why as Christians we need to be open to the Holy Spirit

and how God uses the Word. So we sometimes find out things

about ourselves that we didn't know.

And So what do we do? We should change, but because a

woman has this part of her that was in that child, what we call

women's intuition is that's why it's a grief and that's why

there's a pain involved. It's not the same as a husband's

pain. And this is important for us to

understand. And that's why I'm going to

close with this particular scripture because all the things

that I talked to you about are true of God himself.

That's why this scripture says then the righteous will answer

him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or

thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger

and take you in or naked and clothe you?

Or when did we see you sick or in prison or come to you?

And the king will answer and say to them assuredly I say to you

in as much as you did it to one of the least of my brother and

you did it to me just like a mom.

If you do it for kids, it's like you've done it for her.

God says the same thing, you know.

Do you realize how much your Father loves you?

Do you realize that He gave you the Holy Spirit so you could be

in touch with Him in such a way that you could feel inside?

I belong to God. I'm tender and very beloved in

His eyes. And when I grieve, His Spirit

grieves with me. That's how much He loves me.

It's so personal, it's so real, it's just like a mother's love,

but even greater. Can we all bow our heads and

close our eyes for just a moment?

Because I really believe with all my heart, this is a new day

in God, and there's something God is inviting all of us into

in Him like we've never experienced before.

And it's going to come to us through His Word and His Spirit.

But we should understand that God knows more of the human

condition than we do. And we should also understand

that he senses our need. And then he also says to the

church, Will you let me, through my spirit, make you sensitive to

others in our marital relationships?

If we would let God's Spirit make us sensitive, what a

difference it would make. If we would understand our

differences, what a difference it would make.

But God wants us to understand there's something more that He

wants us to receive, not just believe.

Receive. Father, in the name of Jesus, I

pray today that each and everyone of us would receive

from you afresh in Jesus name, Amen.

This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius from Mount Zion Church.

We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect

with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and

following us on social media. God bless you.