Speaker 1Hello, welcome to Intimacy 30 again, day 19, and I have been looking at the hindrances to intimacy, all right, why people are not able to develop a depth of fellowship with the Lord, intimacy with the Lord. And we have looked at quite a number of, you know, things here and there that I believe stands in the way of developing a depth of relationship and fellowship with the Lord. I want to introduce an interesting one here, and it's called profanity. Oh, and let me quickly say this, there is no generation that has to deal with more profanity than this generation, no generation, there is no generation that has to deal with more profanity than this generation. What? What is profanity? According to scriptures, not just English language, all right, what profanity as defined by English language is implied, or what is profanity according to scriptures in Hebrews chapter 12, I want to read us a scripture, verse 16, the Bible gives us an example of one profane man, profane man. So we draw our definitions of profanity from the man's life, Hebrews 12, verse 16, it says, Let there be any fornicator. Let there be any fornicator or profane person, and I want you to see the category that profanity is put inside. I mean, the broader profanity is fornication. So that gives you an idea what God sees profanity as, it says, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one muscle of meat sowed his birthright. Then it says, for you know how that afterward and all the rest. Now, for you to understand. What exactly happened? Let's read Genesis 25, verse 32 to 34, the Bible says, Esau said, Behold, I am at the point of death, I'm here ready to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day, and he swore unto him, and he sowed his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and potage of lentils, and he did eat and drink, and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau despised, and that's the key word, profanity. Profanity is despising, and I'm going to explain what I mean. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Profanity, please, I want you to note this definition because it will help you, is a lack of reverence and regard for spiritual things. And this may hit hard, but please listen very carefully to me. It means to esteem spiritual things lowly and to despise it. Let me put it this way. I feel like one of the biggest challenges we've had today in the modern church and in the modern world today is the challenge of, you know, trying to, as it were, remove what we call ancient landmarks in a bid to make Christianity more acceptable to people. All right. And then we almost, as it were, desecrate our fellowship and our walk with the Lord. Things that candidly should have no place. In the service of the saints have been introduced in the services. You know, I mean, comedy, all those kind of things. I'm talking about, I'm not talking about Christian events that a church can have. I'm talking about services where believers are to be edified. You know, a lot of things, and I don't want to go into all of those things. Now, what has happened generally is that the value and the regard that believers place on spiritual things has really dropped. It has really dropped. So you can have a believer. Who sits in a service today and just chews gum, is chewing gum and blowing gum, is chatting away on their phones and all the rest. And that regard, that reverence for God that marked previous generations seems to be completely lost to this generation. Now, the problem with that is that it comes at the cost of your inheritance. It comes at the cost of your betrothed. The Bible says that Esau was hungry. And can I ask you a question? Would there be anything wrong if Esau wanted to eat? No. But then he was willing to sell his betrothed just to meet his immediate desire. All right. And that's why you'd observe that Paul speaking, he puts fornication and profanity in the same category, which means we're referring to men and women who will put the desires of their flesh above the demands of the spirit. Let me say it again. And when we're talking about profanity. We're talking about men and women who, because they despise and do not value spiritual things, will put the desires and the demands of their flesh above the demands of the spirit. They will put the desires of their flesh above the demands of the spirit. And this reflects in a lot of their life actions. One of the major places where it reflects is in their speech. So you find out that in their speech, there's no sense of. Form of regard or reverence for God. All right. We can speak down on the church. We can speak down on the things of God. We can speak casually about them as though they don't matter. We talk lightly about ministers. We talk lightly about the church. We talk lightly about the anointing. And then we have that same attitude. We show up at whatever time is convenient to show up for church service. Show up at whatever time is convenient to show up. You know, and things like that. Now, somebody says, how does this affect intimacy with God? I'll tell you, if you do not love what your lover loves, you will fall out of love with your lover in a very short time. Let me say what I said again. If you do not love and value what your lover loves, it will become a clog in the wheel of that relationship. You will find out that if you don't value the things that your lover values. For example. For example, you're in a love relationship with somebody and you don't value the things that they value. It's a matter of time before they begin to feel despised, before they begin to feel unvalued, that you're not placing wealth on them because you don't value the things that they value. God values the church. That's why you can't speak against the church. He values the church enough to send his son, Jesus, to die and shed his blood in behalf of the church. The church is said to be the bride of Christ. He values her too much. And so you see, when people think that, well, I can say whatever it is I want to say, I can do whatever it is, I'm the church to myself, I have a relationship with God all by myself. They really display an ignorance. They display their ignorance of spiritual things. For you to develop intimacy with anybody, you must guard your words and you must guard your actions around such a person. Your words must align with their value. It must align with the things that they treasure. Your words must value it as well. For example, as simple as a husband loving football. The wife does not need to necessarily know all of the football names and all the rest. But it's smart of her to know a bit about it. All right. You know, and be able to have a conversation and vice versa. It's not just a man thing. Vice versa. In the same way. We have to understand that it was such a big deal with God that Esau was said to be a profane person who for immediate pleasure sold out the inheritance that God had for him. And that's what happens with a lot of believers. Profanity is a major deal. And so we have to guard our speech. We have to guard what we say. We have to guard where we go. You see, it is all in that entire. The entire spectrum of profanity. That's why believers can watch whatever it is they choose to watch. And they don't care. They really don't care. It doesn't matter to them that they are the temple of the Holy Spirit. They despise who they are and what Christ has made them. And the Lord honors you so much to make you his dwelling place. And then you carry his dwelling place and turn it to a chimney. You take his dwelling place and then and things like that. And you say it doesn't matter. It's my body. It's this. It's that. It's all profanity. It's a lack of regard for God and for the things of God. And so people wonder sometimes why sometimes is it that they carry on the activities, the disciplines, and then they are not seeing their relationship blows on with the Lord. Can I tell you, sometimes it's because you don't regard the things that God regards. You don't honor the things that he honors. You don't value the things that he values. And you don't love the things that he loves. It takes this to be able to build fellowship and relationship with the Lord. I want to encourage somebody or advise somebody. Be very intentional about your association. Don't associate with people who esteem spiritual things lightly. I'll give you a story as I close. A Bible story. Abraham had just won the war. The kings, he had defeated the kings. But as one man, 318 people trained in his house. And here stood before him the king of Sodom. And stood before him the king of Salem. And he looked at both of them. Both of them were kings. But he, by spiritual recognition. could tell that one was a natural king, another had spiritual grace on his life. We know who Melchizedek was in scriptures. He looked at the king of Salem, and before he did anything with the king of Salem, before he did anything with the king of Sodom, he looked at the king of Salem. The Bible says Abraham took tight and gave it to the king of Salem in recognition of who he was, that he was a priest of the Most High God and at the same time an earthly king. Then he looked at the king of Sodom, who had said, you can't keep everything. The king of Sodom wanted to give him something. He refused it. The king of Salem, he decided to give the king of Salem something. Now look at both kings, and I want you logically, logically, I want you to consider that one king looks at him and is collected. He is collecting from him, in quote, receiving from him. The other is saying, I'm giving you everything. Logically speaking, who should look more valuable? It's the one who wants to give him everything. But Abraham knew that the lesser is blessed of the greater. He was not a profane man. He had his honor in the right place. You see, let's be careful that we honor the things that God honors, because then you find out that you have, as it were, it does. It boosts, it's a booster to the relationship that we share with the Lord. I pray for you that the Holy Spirit will do a circumcision work in your heart, and that your heart will come to a place of great honor for the things of the Spirit, in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this has blessed you. I'll see you same time tomorrow. God bless you.
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