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Special Sunday Service
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We are reading from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 14 to 15. The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth:
"For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."
When we read that the love of Christ constrains us, or as the Amplified version says, it compels us, we must understand what Paul is truly saying. Many times we hear about the love of God—that God loves us so much. This is true, but here Paul is talking about something different. He is talking about our love for the Lord in response to the love that he loved us with. This is our responsibility as children of God: to respond to the love that God has given us.
The problem in our world today is not that the devil is so powerful, nor that demons have grown stronger. These are the same demons from the time of Adam. The real problem is that many people have heard about the love of God but do not understand their responsibility in responding to it. This is why we find people backslidden, asking, "Where was God when I was going through this?" They have heard about God's love, but they do not know how to respond to it.
Let us look deeper at this Scripture. Paul says, "Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead." This is our judgment, our conclusion: if Christ died for all, then we all died. When Christ died, we died with Him. The Scripture tells us in Romans that we were crucified with Him, buried with Him, and raised to the newness of life together with Him.
If we simplify this: Christ died for us; when He died, we also died. We died for our sins, but not alone—we died in Christ Jesus. This is the important aspect. When He was buried, we were buried. When He was raised to the newness of life, we were also raised to the newness of life. The Bible says we are glorified together with Him.
These are the aspects that when people do not understand, they end up blaming God. Many churches have closed because people got tired of going to church. Why? There was no word in their spirit to respond to the love. The love was there, but they did not know how to respond to it.
The problem is not the policies enacted by governments, nor even the demons that take advantage of those situations. The real problem is the lack of knowledge—people not knowing how they are supposed to respond to the word of God. What happens is selfishness. When people do not understand something, they blame someone else. And where did wickedness come from when God so loved the world? It came from the absence of the word. We were singing that the word lives and abides forever more, and it is the cure for anything.
The Lord Jesus said, "My words are life." Moses said to the children of Israel, "This commandment is life to you." The word of God is life. Until we come to an understanding that the word of God is life, that the word of God is everything—because the word of God is Himself, and Him and His word cannot be separated—we will not understand the true nature of God.
When people do not have the love and the word of God, they cannot receive the love of God. When they cannot receive the love of God, they go into survival mode. Survival mode builds up selfishness: "I must win, I must get it, I must kill, it must be me, me, me, me, me." But this is because the love of God is not in there. You did not receive it, so you cannot give it.
Romans chapter 12, verse 18 says, "Live peaceable with all men as long as it is dependent on you." In other words, as long as it is dependent on you, it is your responsibility. Whatever the situation, whatever the other person did to you, the outcome depends on you. If the matter is going to be resolved, it does not matter who is wrong—the Scripture says that as long as it is dependent on you, you must make peace.
The reason peace is not prevailing throughout the earth is because people say, "I'm better than you. Until you do this, I'm not going to do this." This is where friction comes from. But when we do what the Lord says, "Peace I leave with you—not as the world gives my peace I leave with you"—we receive the peace that comes with the love of God. This kind of peace frees you from all forms of bondage.
You can be in bondage without knowing it. People may see you smiling and not know you are in bondage. You are the interpreter for your own peace. You are the one who can bring that peace. It is your responsibility to bring that peace.
I want to share with you my testimony, and I want you to pay attention. When I was about four or five years old—I am 62 now—I was sexually abused by my own uncle, my father's brother. I became a victim of his abuse.
After that, when I was about five or six years old, my mom sent me to my maternal grandmother's house for holidays. There, my aunt's daughter, my cousin sister, physically abused me. She would beat me with branches and whip me as we carried water. She abused me so much that I hated going to my grandmother's place.
Then my father died when I was young. I was given into the hands of my maternal aunt, who was a teacher and was supposed to help me with my education. I was about eight or nine. I fell into another port of abuse—another level. And here I had nowhere to run because I was staying in her house. But where did it start from? From the door that was opened. In other words, any form of abuse had gained entrance into my life.
For many years, I was the victim of physical abuse. But when she spoke to my mom, she would speak very nice words, and my mom would never know. I would not dare open my mouth and tell my mom what my aunt was doing. My mom would never have believed it—she was my aunt's sister. She had helped bring her younger sister; she could not have believed it.
My uncle went ahead with his own life, and I tried to sort things out the way I could. But the first day my uncle sexually molested me—I am 62 now—is as fresh as if it happened yesterday. I can describe the tree. I can describe the environment. This means there is something there, a stamp that cannot be deleted. It can only be deleted by the word of God. If you do not receive the word of God, that thing will kill you.
There is also a status quo in families. When things are taboo, you cannot say them about your uncle. What will the family say? The family will break apart. You are afraid that the family will break apart, so you say nothing. But your uncle—perhaps he even sings in the gospel choir. He is too good, a gentleman. And you are left as the victim. Everybody else is free, living their lives. But somewhere at the back of your mind, something is brewing. The status quo kills people because they cannot talk. It kills the victims.
Later in life, I realized I did not really talk about my uncle. I did not have anything against him. I just did not find anything to talk about him. But something was sitting at the back of my mind.
I was brought up in a spirit-filled home, a tongue-talking church. I understood healing and miracles. But later on, things started to go cold in that church. When I became born again, I said my answer has come. Forgiveness was taught. I received forgiveness—first, forgiveness for myself for being in bondage for many years. After I forgave myself, I forgave everybody else, and I was getting along with them.
But something was still there, something was still sitting at the back of my mind. When I became a pastor's wife, I approached the general overseer's wife and shared with her what was in my heart about my uncle. She counseled me and talked to me about forgiveness. She opened the word of God to me. Then she said, "But you are born again. You understand the word of God. You understand forgiveness. But perhaps your uncle is not at the same level with you. So if you speak it, if you approach him, you are going to cause problems." That shut me again, and I went into a little box.
But when I found the truth, when I started to follow my man of God, I found the truth in the word of God. I found that the Lord Himself was broken for me. He was broken for me. And so I could not be broken regardless of what men had done to me. I could not be broken regardless of the abuse.
Isaiah 54, verse 4 says He bore our sorrows and our grief. I came to understand that He took my sorrows. He took my grief. This thing that I had been grieving about for so many years, He already took it. He already sorted it out. When I understood the word, it set me free. It set me free.
For many years after starting to follow my man of God, I was set free by understanding the love of Christ. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 19 says:
"And to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with the fullness of God."
It is a kind of love that you cannot just understand with your head. It passes all knowledge. When you understand that love of Christ, then you are filled with the fullness of God.
But there was one thing I did not do after I received this freedom: I did not share my testimony. I thought, "Why would I share my testimony?" It was not until two weeks ago that the Lord spoke to me. He said, "I set you free from this thing. But if you share your testimony, you will deliver somebody who is in the same place that you were for so many years."
That status quo in families is so serious that it keeps people in bondage because they cannot talk. If you talk, you destroy families. That status quo is a demon, actually. The abuser is strengthened because they know nothing can happen to them. The thing does not stop. People end up in mental health institutions not because they have a problem, but because they are not allowed to talk and they are in bondage.
If you do not know the Lord, you suffer with that thing until your head starts growing. Imagine somebody who was abused by a father but cannot talk. What is going to happen? You keep on thinking, "My father abused me. My father abused me." And you start to go mad because nobody will listen, and they start giving you medications. But there is a way out. It is the love of Christ.
If you have received the love of Christ, all those things become vanity. I love my uncle. He is alive. I love him. My cousin sister is alive. I love her. I have received the love of Christ. I have come to know that I cannot be broken because He was broken for me. When He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He was raised to the newness of life, I was raised to the newness of life. God has promoted me. I am seated together with Him in the heavenly places far above all principality and power. I know who I am. I am sharing this with you so you are also going to be set free.
Consider the Apostle Paul. He so loved Christ. He received the love of Christ. When he received it, he gave himself to the work of the ministry. The way he gave himself was such that nothing else mattered. He was ready to die. Acts chapter 20, verses 17 to 24:
"From the first day that I came unto Asia, after what manner I have been with you all this season, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house...
"And now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide in me. But none of these things move me."
Can you say that? Can that be your testimony? That regardless of how you have suffered, regardless of how you have been abused, regardless of how you have been persecuted, none of these things move you? You will be so lost in the love of Christ that nothing matters. Not even your past can follow you and overtake you.
Paul did not even walk with Jesus. He came later in life. He received the revelation of the Lord Jesus on his way to Damascus. When he received this revelation, he spent three years in the desert of Arabia receiving a revelation of who Christ is. And then he took the work to the Gentiles. The apostles were there—Peter was there, whom Jesus said, "Your name is Peter and on this rock I will build my church." But Peter did not go to the Gentiles. It was Paul who was not even on the scene. Yet he was promoted, equaling the apostles who walked with Jesus.
In Acts chapter 21, verse 14 to 17, we see something else about Paul. When he was discouraged from going to Jerusalem because of persecution, and people were telling him not to go, he said, "I am even ready to die in Jerusalem. I'm ready to die."
What are you ready to do as a child of God? You have received the truth. Are you going to maintain the status quo? Are you going to keep a peace that does not really work?
I was trying to keep peace with my family, but it was a false peace. Inside, I was in a legal prison. I could not tell anybody. I could not speak. But now the love of Christ has set me free. I can share my testimony freely. There are levels of abuse—when I was a teenager, when I was in my profession, when I was married, now when I am widowed—but at every level, I received the love of Christ, and He honored me and accounted me faithful, calling me into ministry.
When I even think of something that is so broken, and then you want to use it in ministry—how come? This is the love of Christ that we read in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 19: it passes all knowledge. I would have judged myself that because of where I have been, I could never stand before a holy congregation. But because of the love of Christ that passes all knowledge, I am here, standing before you, sharing my testimony to set you free.
