Hi, I'm Wintley Phipps,
and welcome to our program
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Perfecting Me,
Becoming More Like Jesus.
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I'm so glad you've joined us.
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My guests today on our
program are Ruthie Jacobsen,
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Head of Prayer Ministry of
the North American division
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of Seventh-day Adventist,
Pastor Errol Stoddart,
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Senior Pastor of the
Church of the Oranges
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of Seventh-day
Adventist in Orange, New Jersey,
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and Mrs. Adly
Campos, Speaker and President
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of Family
Well-Being International.
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You'll hear from
them a little later.
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When God gave
Adam the woman Eve,
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God gave to Adam
much more than a wife.
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In Eve, God gave to Adam
one of the keys and blessings
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that holds His
entire universe together.
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He gave to Adam a gift
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that is a prerequisite for
living in heavenly society,
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a precondition of citizenship
in the kingdom of God.
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In Eve, God gave
to Adam something
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that is at the very
fabric and foundation
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of perfecting our character.
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In Eve, God gave to
Adam in the Garden of Eden
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the gift of a
reciprocal, loving,
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spiritual relationship.
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In God's kingdom,
relationships are essential
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to our growth and
development of character.
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Even today, God
looks at our relationships
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to determine the
fitness of our character
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for heavenly society.
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Remember the
young man that said,
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"Master, what shall I do
to inherit eternal life?"
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The Lord, God said, He
said, Jesus said to him,
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"Love the Lord God
with all your heart,
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with all your soul,
with all your strength,
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with all your mind,"
that's the relationship to God,
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"and your neighbor
as you love yourself,"
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our relationship with others.
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This world we live in
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is a character
training ground for heaven,
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and our
relationships with our families
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and those around
us are a key indicator
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of our readiness for heaven.
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Yes, God looks
at our relationships
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to determine our
fitness for heaven.
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That's why I try to
always remind myself,
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always love God
with all my heart
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and my neighbor as myself.
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In the Garden of Eden,
God made it abundantly clear
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that He created us
for reciprocal, loving,
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spiritual relationships.
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A relationship is
the joining of two hearts
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in sympathy and
compassion with one another.
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It is a quiet trust
between two individuals,
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a precious trust
between two souls.
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Relationships are
invisible, unexplainable,
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imperceptible, and
yes, often indescribable.
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How we feel about
children and grandchildren
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is often very
difficult to describe to others.
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I have a friend
who once said to me,
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"I've always heard
people say something happens
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when you have grandchildren,
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but I didn't understand
it until I got my own."
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He said, "Let me explain.
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My baby granddaughter was
by the house the other day,
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and she was fishing
behind a credenza for a toy
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she couldn't reach.
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So she picked up the credenza,
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and on it was my
wife's most expensive lamp,
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and that lamp came
crashing to the floor."
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He said, "If that
was one of my children,"
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and then he said, "But you
know what I heard myself say,
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"Oh, look how
strong my grand baby is."
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Through relationships,
one heart bonds with another.
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And we find, in
healthy relationships,
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comfort,
confidence, rest, and repose.
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Godly relationships
are conceived in sympathy,
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and nurtured in
love and compassion.
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And those relationships
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shape our
character and our destiny.
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The best relationships
are authentic, positive,
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and constructive relationships.
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The best
relationships provide support
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in times of trial and adversity.
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Often our careers and
our noblest aspirations
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are fulfilled by
the relationships
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we developed
with people we respect
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and people who took us
into a mentoring relationship.
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Now not all
relationships are healthy.
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When motives are impure
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and misguided in a relationship,
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that relationship can
become our greatest curse.
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Because of how it destroys
the beauty of character,
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many negative
relationships in this world
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are built on
injustice, greed, and power.
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When motives are
misguided and impure,
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those relationships
become toxic and poisonous,
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erratic and unstable.
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Someone once said, "We learnt
to fly the air like the birds
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and swim the
sea like the fishes,
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when will we learn to
walk the earth like brothers?"
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Many think that
their relationships to God
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is all that matters
and that they can then live
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in any kind of way they want to
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and treat people any
kind of way they want to.
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I want you to know
God's church can never grow
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with that kind of thinking.
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We live in a world
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where the only thing
that keeps us from chaos
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are healthy relationships.
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Father, mother,
children, and yes, even leaders,
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the character of a
leader can profoundly influence
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the character of a nation.
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As Dr. King once
said, "We are bound together
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by an inescapable
network of mutuality."
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In our world today,
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there are relationships
of blood and nationality,
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there are casual relationships,
professional relationships,
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there are short term
and long term relationships,
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but all of those relationships
were given to us by God
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to strengthen and
build our character.
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I want you to see this
video about strengthening
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and building
healthy relationships,
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brought to us by our
friends at the 700 Club.
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It is a video
that will inspire you,
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and motivate you,
and strengthen you,
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and show you how
you build relationships.
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We were very much in love.
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He asked me three
weeks after we met,
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if I would marry
him, and I said yes.
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We dreamed of
serving God together,
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we had a dream of
having some sort of
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world wide music ministry.
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Pat and Gayle
Hadley had high hopes
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when they married.
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But the daily responsibilities
of work and family
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soon took a toll.
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The dreams that I had of
traveling the world together
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and, you know,
singing for the Lord,
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none of those had happened.
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I think I took all
that disappointment,
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all that hurt, and I
turned it towards Pat in a way
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because I connected
him with those lost dreams.
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I wasn't really aware of
how bad things really were.
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So I just got to a
point were I thought,
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"Well, this is
as good as it gets,
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this is just the way it is.
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This is the way
it's going to be,
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this is normal marriage."
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I started
focusing on the children,
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and my
relationship with my husband
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became more of a
business partnership.
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Pat pastored a church in Alaska,
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and Gayle served
as the worship leader.
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But as their ministry
responsibilities increased,
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so did the tension at home.
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I always felt pressure
to have a perfect marriage
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as a pastor.
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You're an example.
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When marriages failed
for pastors, it's, you know,
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you got to find a new career.
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Pat and I couldn't even
be in the same room together.
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I mean, without argument,
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without there
was constant arguing,
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fighting over things.
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I was living downstairs,
she was living upstairs.
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We meet together in the kitchen,
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talk about things that
we needed to talk about,
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and then go about our lives.
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For 23 years, Pat and
Gayle went through the motions.
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But after a blow up on the day
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their daughter left for college,
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Gayle told Pat she'd had enough.
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Everything I did was
either for my children,
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or for my
husband, or for the church,
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you know, it was...
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I felt like I was gone
like, there was no me anymore.
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I didn't want
to do this anymore.
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I didn't want to be married.
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I didn't want to be a
pastor's wife anymore,
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that I was just done.
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That was the lowest
moment because I never,
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I never stopped loving my wife.
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I didn't want
my marriage to end.
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I didn't want my
family to suffer divorce.
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And then I heard God's voice.
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And He said to me, "Come to me,
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and I will heal you."
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And at one point
I said, "Heal me?
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I don't need to be
healed. I need you to heal her."
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Pat heeded God's voice
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and in an attempt to
find his own healing,
00:10:05.17\00:10:07.34
met with a local
Christian counselor and author,
00:10:07.37\00:10:09.60
Art Mathias and
began reading his book,
00:10:09.64\00:10:12.11
Biblical Foundations of Freedom.
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In that book, I learned
that I needed to forgive
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that if I was going
to be obedient to Jesus
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and obedient to
God, I had to learn
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how to really
forgive people from my heart.
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Not only my wife,
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but everyone in my
life that had hurt me.
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I began to pray for her.
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And I'd never really
done that in my marriage
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because as long as I was bitter,
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I wasn't going to pray for her,
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because the
bitterness was blocking it,
00:10:45.41\00:10:47.08
so I started praying prayers.
00:10:47.11\00:10:48.71
I had a little
bit more authority
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of having behind them.
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You know, in the name of Jesus,
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Satan, you
cannot have my family,
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you cannot have my wife.
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You need to get out of
here and leave her alone.
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Some nights, I
went into our bedroom,
00:11:00.72\00:11:03.76
I laid down on the
floor by the bed and I prayed,
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I prayed silently
so she couldn't hear me
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but God could hear me.
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It didn't take long
for Gayle to notice,
00:11:10.60\00:11:12.60
there was something
different about Pat.
00:11:12.63\00:11:14.90
He wasn't even fun
to argue with anymore
00:11:14.94\00:11:16.97
because I couldn't
get him to argue with me.
00:11:17.01\00:11:19.57
So I asked him, I'm like,
00:11:19.61\00:11:22.54
"What have you been
doing because you're different.
00:11:22.58\00:11:26.05
You're giving me lots
of space which is good,
00:11:26.08\00:11:28.88
I needed that
but you're different.
00:11:28.92\00:11:31.09
What's going on?"
00:11:31.12\00:11:32.85
And I talked to
her about forgiveness.
00:11:32.89\00:11:34.39
And I said, you know,
00:11:34.42\00:11:35.92
I have a lot of
things to fix in me.
00:11:35.96\00:11:38.46
And it's not about you, it's me,
00:11:38.49\00:11:41.26
and God needs to
fix some things in me,
00:11:41.30\00:11:43.20
and so I'm going to do that.
00:11:43.23\00:11:44.83
I have been trying to fix things
00:11:44.87\00:11:47.04
by my might and my power,
00:11:47.07\00:11:49.30
and I was learning how
to fix things by His spirit
00:11:49.34\00:11:52.64
so that and that's the
only thing that worked.
00:11:52.67\00:11:54.74
Gayle began to
see God on her own
00:11:54.78\00:11:56.98
and to try to understand
forgiveness in a new light.
00:11:57.01\00:12:00.28
These things that I had
been holding on to for years,
00:12:00.32\00:12:03.15
all these things
that have happened to me,
00:12:03.18\00:12:04.85
I had the wrong
focus of what was wrong,
00:12:04.89\00:12:07.06
and I though Pat was the enemy,
00:12:07.09\00:12:09.12
and that people in
the church were the enemy,
00:12:09.16\00:12:12.69
and even my family, you know,
00:12:12.73\00:12:15.16
I had seen them
in the wrong way.
00:12:15.20\00:12:19.77
And that they
were not the enemy,
00:12:19.80\00:12:21.64
and that I could forgive.
00:12:21.67\00:12:27.04
And I just
started feeling joy again.
00:12:27.08\00:12:31.55
And it was such an amazing thing
00:12:31.58\00:12:34.55
to feel this warmth,
and this love, and this joy
00:12:34.58\00:12:37.45
that I hadn't felt for years.
00:12:37.49\00:12:40.39
Hope was springing up in me
00:12:40.42\00:12:43.09
that my marriage could be saved.
00:12:43.12\00:12:45.56
She was becoming a new
person. And I watched it.
00:12:45.59\00:12:49.66
And I was like, "This is
what I've been praying for."
00:12:49.70\00:12:52.47
Now God was showing up,
and reworking her and me,
00:12:52.50\00:12:58.37
and it was beautiful.
00:12:58.41\00:13:00.31
These were things
that were new to us.
00:13:00.34\00:13:02.68
So what we were really
learning is we're learning
00:13:02.71\00:13:04.45
how to take the
teachings in the Bible
00:13:04.48\00:13:06.61
and make them real in our lives.
00:13:06.65\00:13:08.68
Today, Pat and Gayle say
00:13:08.72\00:13:10.22
their marriage has
never been stronger.
00:13:10.25\00:13:13.09
I never knew that
it could be this good.
00:13:13.12\00:13:16.89
I never knew that
this is what life could be
00:13:16.93\00:13:20.50
like being married.
00:13:20.53\00:13:22.56
She is my best
friend, and she is my partner,
00:13:22.60\00:13:26.67
and we face life together.
00:13:26.70\00:13:29.37
And it's awesome.
00:13:29.40\00:13:31.37
He's the first one that
when something happens to me,
00:13:31.41\00:13:34.08
I want to share it with him.
00:13:34.11\00:13:35.44
And I have hope for
our future together.
00:13:35.48\00:13:37.51
Well, I'm so thankful
that God showed me the way,
00:13:37.55\00:13:41.65
showed us the way of life,
00:13:41.68\00:13:44.05
and showed us how
to live life together.
00:13:44.09\00:13:46.52
Joining us again are my guests
00:13:51.69\00:13:54.10
Ruthie Jacobsen, Adly
Campos, and Errol Stoddart.
00:13:54.13\00:13:59.17
I wanted to start of
by asking each of you,
00:13:59.20\00:14:04.51
do you have a memory of probably
00:14:04.54\00:14:06.27
the most
influential relationship
00:14:06.31\00:14:10.11
that you've had
with another human being
00:14:10.15\00:14:13.01
in your life?
00:14:13.05\00:14:14.48
I know, most of us
would say our spouses,
00:14:14.52\00:14:17.92
but I wanted you to
go beyond your spouse,
00:14:17.95\00:14:20.39
maybe when you were growing
up, in terms of understanding
00:14:20.42\00:14:26.33
the importance of
surrendering to Christ.
00:14:26.36\00:14:29.56
Can you think of
the person, or a person
00:14:29.60\00:14:33.20
that has influenced
your life profoundly,
00:14:33.23\00:14:36.94
the relationship
you had with them,
00:14:36.97\00:14:38.54
influential life profoundly?
00:14:38.57\00:14:39.97
Sister Campos?
00:14:40.01\00:14:42.41
Yes, I'm thinking
on Dr. Charles Taylor,
00:14:42.44\00:14:45.81
he was the president of
the Montemorelos University
00:14:45.85\00:14:49.08
at the time I was a student.
00:14:49.12\00:14:51.49
He inspired my life,
00:14:51.52\00:14:55.19
he tried each and every
day in everything he did
00:14:55.22\00:14:59.19
to resemble the
character of Christ.
00:14:59.23\00:15:03.33
And how about
you, Pastor Stoddart?
00:15:03.37\00:15:06.20
Probably, two people.
00:15:06.23\00:15:08.00
Dr. Benjamin Reeves,
00:15:08.04\00:15:09.47
my homiletic's
professor at Oakwood.
00:15:09.50\00:15:11.64
Yes, he was mine teacher too.
00:15:11.67\00:15:13.01
Just a steady man,
levelheaded, calm spirit,
00:15:13.04\00:15:17.81
and probably the opposite of him
00:15:17.85\00:15:20.38
was Dr. Cleveland, EE Cleveland.
00:15:20.42\00:15:24.35
He was the
firebrand but Dr. Cleveland,
00:15:24.39\00:15:28.36
sitting in his
class was really the thing
00:15:28.39\00:15:31.19
that drove home to my heart
00:15:31.23\00:15:34.90
how special I was
in the eyes of God,
00:15:34.93\00:15:38.03
and how God saw me,
and how God sees us,
00:15:38.07\00:15:41.84
His deep love for us.
00:15:41.87\00:15:43.41
Dr. Cleveland's class was where
00:15:43.44\00:15:46.01
that transformative
moment took place.
00:15:46.04\00:15:48.94
How about you, Ruthie?
00:15:48.98\00:15:52.65
Well, I'd have to say
that one of the people
00:15:52.68\00:15:55.58
who influenced me
was Elder CD Brooks.
00:15:55.62\00:15:59.45
Many, many years ago, I
was living in Dayton, Ohio,
00:15:59.49\00:16:03.39
working in Nursing
Service Administration
00:16:03.43\00:16:05.79
at the Kettering Medical Center.
00:16:05.83\00:16:08.03
And this is
before we were married.
00:16:08.06\00:16:10.63
I used to go out
00:16:10.67\00:16:12.37
to Germantown
Church near Dayton,
00:16:12.40\00:16:15.80
and CD Brooks would come
out there every Thanksgiving,
00:16:15.84\00:16:18.44
and he'd come out
at other times too.
00:16:18.47\00:16:20.48
And he sometimes had
evangelistic crusades
00:16:20.51\00:16:22.84
in Cincinnati or other places.
00:16:22.88\00:16:25.11
And I would be so
thrilled to sit at his feet
00:16:25.15\00:16:28.88
because he taught Jesus.
00:16:28.92\00:16:32.39
He taught amazing grace. Yes.
00:16:32.42\00:16:35.02
And I think it was,
although I've grown up
00:16:35.06\00:16:38.73
in an Adventist home
and my parents were praying,
00:16:38.76\00:16:42.50
godly people, I was
first influenced by them.
00:16:42.53\00:16:46.87
But CD just was
somebody that waters your soul.
00:16:46.90\00:16:52.21
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:52.24\00:16:53.58
You know, when
we all think back,
00:16:53.61\00:16:57.78
different names
come to our minds.
00:16:57.81\00:16:59.75
And for me, Elder EE Cleveland,
00:16:59.78\00:17:03.82
I was a
teenager, I was a teenager.
00:17:03.85\00:17:07.62
And I remember, they said this,
00:17:07.66\00:17:11.13
"Preacher from
the general conference
00:17:11.16\00:17:12.49
was coming to speak
at Oakwood College then,
00:17:12.53\00:17:15.26
now Oakwood University.
00:17:15.30\00:17:16.97
And I remember so
clearly sitting there,
00:17:17.00\00:17:20.40
and as they were
reading his vitae
00:17:20.44\00:17:22.77
and his long list
of accomplishments,
00:17:22.80\00:17:25.31
I was focused on him.
00:17:25.34\00:17:26.71
And he had his eyes closed,
he had his hand on his chin,
00:17:26.74\00:17:29.31
he was patting his feet,
00:17:29.34\00:17:30.68
and he was
rocking back and forth.
00:17:30.71\00:17:32.91
And when he got up
to speak, he soared,
00:17:32.95\00:17:35.98
and I deduced that his soaring
probably had something to do
00:17:36.02\00:17:39.92
with his preflight
checklist, you know.
00:17:39.95\00:17:43.46
Whatever he was going through,
00:17:43.49\00:17:45.79
that was going to
help him fly, you know.
00:17:45.83\00:17:48.10
And so when they would
introduced me as a teenager
00:17:48.13\00:17:51.20
at Oakwood, I closed my eyes
and I put my hand on my chin,
00:17:51.23\00:17:55.67
and I pat my feet,
and I had rocked too
00:17:55.70\00:17:58.41
when they were introducing me.
00:17:58.44\00:17:59.97
But little did I know
that I was entering into
00:18:00.01\00:18:03.14
what would become the
secret of all of my blessings
00:18:03.18\00:18:07.02
and success in
life and ministry.
00:18:07.05\00:18:09.38
And that is, I was
learning to go to the mountain
00:18:09.42\00:18:12.82
before I went to the multitude.
00:18:12.85\00:18:15.32
So when I came
down off the mountain,
00:18:15.36\00:18:18.19
my voice was
shining, my face was shining,
00:18:18.23\00:18:21.20
my relationship with
Christ was being reflected.
00:18:21.23\00:18:24.90
We all know that
relationships profoundly
00:18:24.93\00:18:29.90
impact our character.
00:18:29.94\00:18:31.27
The Bible talks
about bad associations
00:18:31.31\00:18:35.71
corrupting good
morals, for example.
00:18:35.74\00:18:38.81
But, Pastor Stoddart,
in what way do you see
00:18:38.85\00:18:42.35
the power of relationships
00:18:42.38\00:18:44.59
impacting
profoundly our character?
00:18:44.62\00:18:49.22
It has a
tremendous impact, you know,
00:18:49.26\00:18:52.56
the old folks would
say, when I was growing up,
00:18:52.59\00:18:54.76
if you hang around
dogs, your cats flee.
00:18:54.80\00:18:56.83
Yeah.
00:18:56.87\00:18:59.13
There is this
sling of assimilation
00:18:59.17\00:19:02.57
that takes place up
based on association.
00:19:02.60\00:19:06.24
And there's no doubt,
Moses on the mountain,
00:19:06.27\00:19:09.28
his being in
the presence of God,
00:19:09.31\00:19:12.81
when he came
down, the Bible says,
00:19:12.85\00:19:14.72
his face was shining so much
00:19:14.75\00:19:16.65
so that they had
to cover his face,
00:19:16.69\00:19:18.89
they could not
look at his face at all.
00:19:18.92\00:19:21.46
And that's the
reflection of association
00:19:21.49\00:19:25.36
in being in the presence of God.
00:19:25.39\00:19:27.10
Elijah with Elisha, and so
on, and so on, and so forth.
00:19:27.13\00:19:32.17
If you see the biblical examples
00:19:32.20\00:19:33.84
over and over again of
people hanging around somebody
00:19:33.87\00:19:39.34
who had a connection with
God, and by their association,
00:19:39.37\00:19:43.55
they experienced
in their own walk
00:19:43.58\00:19:46.35
a connection with God.
00:19:46.38\00:19:47.72
How about you, Sister Campos?
00:19:47.75\00:19:49.08
How important do you
think relationships are
00:19:49.12\00:19:52.95
in the development
of Christian character?
00:19:52.99\00:19:56.76
So important that
specially in the family,
00:19:56.79\00:20:02.30
parents are to be very
careful on how they reflect God
00:20:02.33\00:20:07.44
in their own lives at home,
because children learn more so
00:20:07.47\00:20:13.74
from observing the conduct,
the behavior of the parents
00:20:13.78\00:20:18.41
than words or punishment.
00:20:18.45\00:20:21.62
So therefore, it has a
lot of influence on us,
00:20:21.65\00:20:26.55
what we learn at home.
00:20:26.59\00:20:28.22
Even though our parents
might not be perfect, no, no,
00:20:28.26\00:20:33.09
according to
their world standard,
00:20:33.13\00:20:35.86
they still are
reflecting Jesus' character.
00:20:35.90\00:20:40.57
Especially, I
teach in my seminars,
00:20:40.60\00:20:44.34
fathers, the
figure, the male figure
00:20:44.37\00:20:47.21
has to be so careful in the way
he behaves, he conducts himself
00:20:47.24\00:20:52.25
because children tend
to think of God as a male.
00:20:52.28\00:20:57.45
Yes.
00:20:57.49\00:20:58.82
Father, we say our
father which art in heaven.
00:20:58.85\00:21:02.16
And they will
compare their father on earth
00:21:02.19\00:21:06.70
with the father on heaven.
00:21:06.73\00:21:09.10
So we have to be so
careful in how we represent
00:21:09.13\00:21:13.74
God's character
before our children,
00:21:13.77\00:21:16.30
before our little
ones, before our own family,
00:21:16.34\00:21:18.81
and then to others.
00:21:18.84\00:21:21.34
Ruthie, what do
you think about that?
00:21:21.38\00:21:24.28
What do you think,
and why do you think
00:21:24.31\00:21:26.95
that
relationships are so important
00:21:26.98\00:21:30.19
in developing character?
00:21:30.22\00:21:31.55
And as you think about that,
00:21:31.59\00:21:32.92
I want to ask you two questions.
00:21:32.95\00:21:34.29
And the second one really
is, have you seen miracles
00:21:34.32\00:21:39.03
in prayer to
transform relationships,
00:21:39.06\00:21:43.37
and how they've
impacted other people's lives?
00:21:43.40\00:21:48.00
Absolutely.
00:21:48.04\00:21:49.47
I'm convinced
there's nothing else,
00:21:49.50\00:21:52.01
there is nothing else.
00:21:52.04\00:21:54.18
I have seen
people who have been sure
00:21:54.21\00:21:57.35
that they were
at the very bottom,
00:21:57.38\00:21:59.21
and suicidal, you know,
and just had no place to go.
00:21:59.25\00:22:05.49
And when they
came to prayer meeting,
00:22:05.52\00:22:07.69
and they were
surrounded by loving people
00:22:07.72\00:22:10.33
who placed hands on
them and prayed over them,
00:22:10.36\00:22:13.60
believing and
praying in the name of Jesus.
00:22:13.63\00:22:17.40
You know, heaven, it's just like
00:22:17.43\00:22:19.63
the Peterson song.
00:22:19.67\00:22:21.64
Heaven came down and
glory fills your soul.
00:22:21.67\00:22:24.87
But it comes through
people, it comes through people.
00:22:24.91\00:22:29.01
God works through His people.
00:22:29.04\00:22:31.25
Wintley, I have to
tell you, one of the things
00:22:31.28\00:22:34.18
that I still remember
about the prayer meetings
00:22:34.22\00:22:36.45
at Capitol Hill
00:22:36.48\00:22:37.85
was how those
young professional people
00:22:37.89\00:22:40.89
would line up to
give their testimonies.
00:22:40.92\00:22:43.32
Yes, you remember
that. Everybody has a story.
00:22:43.36\00:22:46.53
Every body has a story. Yeah.
00:22:46.56\00:22:48.56
And God uses those
stories to encourage.
00:22:48.60\00:22:51.90
And when you share your story,
00:22:51.93\00:22:54.67
it not only blesses
people who hear this story,
00:22:54.70\00:22:58.37
but it
encourages your own heart.
00:22:58.41\00:23:00.38
So relationships are just...
00:23:00.41\00:23:02.54
I think this is
a paramount subject
00:23:02.58\00:23:05.08
to the heart of God.
00:23:05.11\00:23:06.45
Pastor Stoddart. Let
me say this, Wintley.
00:23:06.48\00:23:08.98
I took a class recently
called theories of personality.
00:23:09.02\00:23:13.49
It was a very interesting class.
00:23:13.52\00:23:14.86
I just wanted to
sharpen my soul as they say.
00:23:14.89\00:23:18.09
And one of the things
they talked about in the class
00:23:18.13\00:23:20.60
was, they talked about
a religious personality.
00:23:20.63\00:23:24.67
And they said that the way
00:23:24.70\00:23:26.80
a religious personality
gets developed is that
00:23:26.84\00:23:29.90
it's passed on through heredity.
00:23:29.94\00:23:32.67
It's comes from
grandparents to parents
00:23:32.71\00:23:35.91
down to grandchildren.
00:23:35.94\00:23:37.28
I thought to myself,
"That is unbelievable."
00:23:37.31\00:23:40.18
There is a thing in psychology
called a religious personality
00:23:40.22\00:23:44.92
that seemingly has the capacity
to be transferred generational.
00:23:44.95\00:23:50.19
And the teacher says,
00:23:50.23\00:23:51.73
"Sometimes it
may skip a generation
00:23:51.76\00:23:54.13
but catches up with
the following generation."
00:23:54.16\00:23:56.16
Right, right.
00:23:56.20\00:23:57.53
And I thought to
myself, "That is so powerful
00:23:57.57\00:24:00.67
to know that what a
parent is doing today
00:24:00.70\00:24:04.47
or what your grandparents
did 50, 60 years ago
00:24:04.51\00:24:08.78
were seeds that
were sown in preparation
00:24:08.81\00:24:12.18
for who we are
today spiritually."
00:24:12.21\00:24:15.08
It was so profound to me.
00:24:15.12\00:24:16.45
Yeah, yes. Amen.
00:24:16.48\00:24:18.39
I made a
statement at the beginning
00:24:18.42\00:24:20.26
that God looks
at our relationships
00:24:20.29\00:24:24.56
to determine our
fitness for heaven.
00:24:24.59\00:24:28.76
He looks at our
relationship with Him, you know,
00:24:28.80\00:24:32.70
He wants to be sure
we are happy with Him,
00:24:32.73\00:24:37.71
and happy in Him,
because He does not want us
00:24:37.74\00:24:41.84
to come to eternity unhappy.
00:24:41.88\00:24:45.25
And then He looks
at our relationships
00:24:45.28\00:24:48.18
with those, as
Sister Campos was saying,
00:24:48.22\00:24:51.02
those who are
closest to us, you know.
00:24:51.05\00:24:55.32
I often tell my wife,
00:24:55.36\00:24:57.03
we just have a few more seconds.
00:24:57.06\00:24:58.46
I tell my wife that
I have to speak to her
00:24:58.49\00:25:04.37
the way I
planned to speak to her
00:25:04.40\00:25:07.14
in the kingdom of heaven.
00:25:07.17\00:25:08.97
Amen.
00:25:09.00\00:25:10.34
I love that.
00:25:10.37\00:25:11.71
Yes.
00:25:11.74\00:25:13.48
So I envisioned
myself sitting in heaven
00:25:13.51\00:25:16.61
across the table,
you know, for my wife.
00:25:16.64\00:25:19.91
And the way I
planned to speak to her there
00:25:19.95\00:25:23.28
is the way I want to
speak to her right here now,
00:25:23.32\00:25:27.32
because the Lord
looks at our relationships
00:25:27.36\00:25:31.83
to determine our
fitness for heaven.
00:25:31.86\00:25:35.50
Thank you so much, you guys.
00:25:35.53\00:25:36.93
If we had all
think that way, Pastor,
00:25:36.97\00:25:39.47
then there will be no divorce.
00:25:39.50\00:25:41.00
That's right,
there'll be no divorce
00:25:41.04\00:25:42.50
if we all thought that way.
00:25:42.54\00:25:44.44
God bless you.
00:25:44.47\00:25:45.81
Thank so much for
being with us today.
00:25:45.84\00:25:47.18
Sin entered the world
00:25:52.31\00:25:53.65
because Eve's relationship
with God was compromised,
00:25:53.68\00:25:57.12
shattered, ruptured, and broken.
00:25:57.15\00:26:00.22
And with the broken relationship
00:26:00.26\00:26:02.72
came a deformed character.
00:26:02.76\00:26:05.96
Jesus came to this
world to live and die,
00:26:05.99\00:26:10.57
to repair the relationship
between God and man,
00:26:10.60\00:26:15.40
and to restore the character
and image of God in man.
00:26:15.44\00:26:21.04
And now everything in eternity
hangs on a relationship.
00:26:21.08\00:26:27.98
For us, it is a
relationship with Jesus
00:26:28.02\00:26:31.22
and our
relationship with others.
00:26:31.25\00:26:34.86
And Satan knows that, and that's
00:26:34.89\00:26:37.53
why when the enemy
wants to discourage
00:26:37.56\00:26:39.59
and dishearten us,
00:26:39.63\00:26:41.26
when he wants to
disappoint and depress us,
00:26:41.30\00:26:44.50
the first place he
attacks is our relationships.
00:26:44.53\00:26:50.61
Satan knows that
before he can destroy us,
00:26:50.64\00:26:53.68
he has to first
damage, devastate,
00:26:53.71\00:26:57.25
and destroy our relationships.
00:26:57.28\00:27:00.75
Servant of God said,
00:27:00.78\00:27:02.12
"I saw that it is in
the providence of God
00:27:02.15\00:27:04.19
that widows and
orphans, the blind, the deaf,
00:27:04.22\00:27:07.02
the lame, and persons
afflicted in a variety of ways
00:27:07.06\00:27:10.23
have been placed in
close Christian relationship
00:27:10.26\00:27:14.06
to His church
to prove His people
00:27:14.10\00:27:17.77
and develop
their true character."
00:27:17.80\00:27:21.27
I want you to
know, God's blessings
00:27:21.30\00:27:24.54
will rest upon
our relationships.
00:27:24.57\00:27:27.18
He uses relationships
to determine our fitness
00:27:27.21\00:27:32.78
for heaven.
00:27:32.81\00:27:34.32
And so thank God
for the relationships
00:27:34.35\00:27:37.32
that you have.
00:27:37.35\00:27:38.82
Thank God for the relationships
He's placed in your life.
00:27:38.85\00:27:43.83
I'm Wintley
Phipps, and remember,
00:27:43.86\00:27:47.00
to be a Christian
means to be Christ-like.
00:27:47.03\00:27:52.00