Host: Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Guest: Dr. Randy Helms
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Hello friends. How are you doing?
I know it’s been a little while since we recorded a podcast video, but here we are again. I just want to reach out to you during this wonderful time.
Grab your coffee, grab your tea, sit down, and watch. And remember to subscribe to Grace That Works. God bless you.
Listen carefully, because I have a wonderful man of God with us today.
Three years ago, I had the opportunity to hear him preach. I’ve also read his books, and they have been a tremendous blessing. He is a pastor of pastors.
Three years ago, he spoke to my wife and me, and his word was so powerful. It came with revelation, refreshing, and transformation in our lives.
Since then, we have continued to follow him, and it is an honor and a privilege to welcome him again to Grace That Works.
Dr. Randy, thank you for coming.
Dr. Randy
Thank you, Pastor. It’s a joy to be with you again.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
What a blessing to have you here again in Rome, Italy.
Dr. Randy
Yes. It’s a joy to be here, and we’re having a great conference.
The Lord is moving, and He’s moving in my heart. I feel refreshed, encouraged, and strengthened—and that’s what the Holy Spirit does.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Praise God. And He’s doing it for me as well.
Dr. Randy, you are a pastor of pastors. Would you introduce yourself to our audience and tell them a little about who you are and what you’re doing?
Dr. Randy
I pastor GT Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. I also serve as executive presbyter for the state of Florida in the Assemblies of God.
I have several hundred pastors and churches that I oversee and watch over.
I’m also a professor at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, where I teach pastors.
And I’m a friend of Pastor Lawrence.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Wow. Praise God.
It’s an honor and a privilege to be under the leadership of a man of integrity and power, a man who is sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you so much for allowing a little boy like me to be under your umbrella. It’s such a privilege.
Dr. Randy
It’s a joy. It’s a joy.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Today we’re going to be talking about one of Dr. Randy’s books.
I’m telling you, go to Amazon and check out the books Dr. Randy has written. One of them is The Cry of the Righteous. What a powerful book.
But we’re not talking about that one today. We’re talking about Family Life Matters.
I’m telling you, family life matters.
A couple of weeks ago, I had this book and I was reading it. I intentionally took the metro just to have more time to read.
As I was reading, a friend met me and saw the book. He said, “Family life matters? We don’t have family anymore.”
This was an Italian man.
I said, “What?”
But that is exactly why this book was written—to bring the principles of family back, because family is in the heart of God.
God started with a family, and we need to return to the heart of God, which is family.
So today we’re going to talk about family with Dr. Randy.
Why did you write this book?
Dr. Randy
I was praying and asking the Lord for a word for my congregation, and He laid this upon my heart during prayer.
The Bible says that Jesus wept when He was on this earth. We also know that the Holy Spirit can be grieved.
As I was praying, I felt that. I felt like the Holy Spirit was grieved, like Jesus was weeping over what has happened to the family.
I realized that the family has been under severe attack from the spirit of Antichrist.
The Bible says that the spirit of Antichrist, even when the Bible was written 2,000 years ago, was already working—to deceive people and to bewitch people.
I realized that the family was under immediate and intense attack from the enemy.
The enemy is trying to destroy the fabric and makeup of the godly family.
And the reason why the enemy is attacking the family so fervently is because the family is so important to God.
We see that in creation.
Before God created the institution of the church—and He loves the church—He created the family.
Before God created the institution of government, He created the family.
It has always been God’s heart that His love, His grace, His mercy, and the message of salvation be passed on through the generations through the avenue of the family.
Father to son. Mother to daughter. Brother to sister.
No wonder the enemy is attacking the family like he is.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
That’s really the truth.
We are living in a generation where family has been redefined by the government, and today many people are accepting that lie as the truth.
As Dr. Randy said, the establishment of family is not by government or by any politician. It is through God.
We have to take back what God has given us—the family.
What a wonderful opportunity for us to build a godly family that is full of love.
You were teaching us today about the attributes of Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit. Could you talk about that?
Dr. Randy
I believe that Jesus wants this world to see who He really is through our lives as followers of Jesus, but also through our families.
That’s why the enemy is trying to redefine family.
My position—and we try to make this known in the book—is that the only one qualified to define family is the One who designed family.
God created the family. The family was God’s idea. He is the only One qualified to define it and to show us what family is supposed to look like.
I believe God wants our families to reflect His image so that when people look at our families, they see the true love of Christ. They see the true nature and character of Christ.
And I’ve always believed that if anyone sees Jesus like He really is, they will want Him.
He’s that wonderful. He’s that glorious. He’s that loving.
But the enemy tries to distort who Jesus is.
He doesn’t want the world to see the real Jesus, so he tries to make it look like Jesus is religion, or some kind of church membership.
He doesn’t want people to see the real Christ.
That’s why he tries to distort the family. He tries to redefine what family looks like and redefine marriage.
The Bible teaches very clearly that marriage is between one man and one woman.
The devil tries to convince the world that marriage can be between two men, two women, or any other kind of distortion from the truth.
The Bible is clear. God designed it that way. He created Adam and He created Eve for Adam. That was the first marriage.
Marriage is one man and one woman.
The enemy also tries to redefine gender.
The Bible says very clearly that God created man and woman—two genders.
The enemy comes along and says, “You can recreate what God has already created.”
If you were born a man, the lie from the devil is that you can recreate yourself as a woman or recreate yourself as something else.
It is all a lie designed to distort what the family is supposed to look like, because the family represents the love, honor, and character of who God is.
And the devil tries to mess all that up.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
I don’t want to move you away from this because I’ve had people who believe in those lies of the enemy and use the covenant between Jonathan and David.
But when I look at that passage in 1 Samuel, I say, “Wait a minute. These two men had families. They had children.”
Dr. Randy
That’s right.
That’s the way the devil does it.
He takes something wholesome, like the brotherly friendship between David and Jonathan—something wholesome and godly—and perverts it, making it appear to be something that it’s not.
That’s what he tries to do with the family: take something wholesome, something that should reflect who God is—His nature and His character—and pervert it.
For instance, take fidelity.
The Bible is crystal clear: a husband should be faithful to his wife, and a wife should be faithful to her husband.
The enemy comes along and says, “No, you can have a family and not be faithful to each other. You can be involved in intimate relationships outside the marriage, and it’s okay.”
Well, it’s not okay.
The Bible gives us the standard.
So what I’m trying to say through this book is that it is a push back against the culture and against the distortion of people trying to redefine the family.
I’m trying to say very clearly: only God can define the family because He designed the family.
So we look to the Word of God.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
One last thing I want to talk about is what you mentioned yesterday about true love.
We know true love is a person—the person of Jesus, right?
Dr. Randy
Yes.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Today, the world is trying to redefine what true love is all about.
You mentioned that people can fall in love and then move out of love.
Could you expand on that?
Dr. Randy
No wonder the enemy tries to redefine or distort what love is, because the devil knows that God is love.
He doesn’t want people to come to God.
So he tries to paint love as something else.
He uses music, movies, and social media to paint a portrait of what love is so that young people will buy a counterfeit.
He says love is emotion.
If love is an emotion, then you can only love when you’re being emotional. If you’re not emotional, then you’re not loving.
But that’s a lie.
Love is a choice.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.”
God chose to love us.
He chose to love us when we were unlovable. He chose to love us when we were in our wickedness.
It was an act of His will.
And that’s what love is. Love is an act of your will.
I choose whom I love.
God chose to love us. The Bible says God is love.
And if God is love, you can’t have true love unless you have God.
You can’t experience true love outside of God.
You can experience lust. You can experience emotional ties. You can experience what music, social media, or movies say love is.
There was a popular movie once whose theme was, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Is that the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard?
Love is never having to say you’re sorry?
Let me tell you about love: if you love someone, you’re going to say you’re sorry.
I do it with my wife all the time.
Because I love her, I want to.
So the enemy tries to distort what love is.
The only way you can experience true love is to experience God.
He is love, and it is true love.
People say, “I fell in love,” and then later, “We fell out of love.”
It’s as though you’re walking along the road and suddenly trip over a brick. You just fell in love.
That’s not true.
God was intentional with His love for us, and we must be intentional with our love for each other.
“Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
It’s a choice you make.
And you don’t make it only one time.
I chose to love my wife 46 years ago, and I’ve been choosing to love her ever since.
I choose to love her now.
Love is a choice, and we make it.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Amen.
You see, it’s not about your feelings. It’s all about a choice.
You make that choice because when you have Jesus in you, you have determined to love whether you feel it or not.
It’s not about feeling. It’s about decision.
Friends who are watching, remember: grace is at work in your life.
That grace is the ability of God to keep loving.
Dr. Randy, I sometimes make mistakes. I tell my kids I’m sorry. I apologize to them because I love them.
I want to show them the love of Christ.
I’m not going to allow pride and arrogance to keep me in my error. I have to recognize it and apologize.
So friends, I’m encouraging you: get hold of this book.
There are a lot of revelations about what true family is all about—honor, forgiveness, and how to build a healthy family.
I’m telling you, it is in one book.
You can go to Amazon and get a copy of this book.
If you’re a pastor watching, I’m telling you, you need this material. And it comes with a workbook.
Dr. Randy
Yes, a workbook.
I wrote the book, and then I felt like the Lord said, “This is something that families need to do together.”
So the workbook is designed for a family to go through the book slowly and answer the questions in the workbook.
It causes the reader to apply the principles to their own life.
How does this principle affect your family?
How does this principle affect your life?
You go through the workbook, answer the questions, and then as a family you talk about them.
You share what you’re feeling in your heart.
What have you learned from the Word of God about family?
It draws the family closer together and builds an environment of honor.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
And pastors, the one thing that’s missing from the modern family—the redefined family of our culture—is honor.
Dr. Randy
That’s true.
People do not honor.
The Bible says, “Give honor to whom honor is due.”
Children should honor their parents.
We should honor God.
Husbands should honor their wives, and wives should honor their husbands.
It is the missing element.
What the workbook does is help a family rebuild the component of honor in their family because it is missing in today’s family.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
I do a Bible study at home with my kids, and as you were sharing this morning, I was making that decision.
This book is going to be part of our Bible study for at least two months because it’s important.
We need to really get hold of biblical family and build a healthy family where people are loved and receive love, where peace and joy are established.
One of the things you said this morning is that the enemy feels comfortable in an atmosphere of hostility, anger, rage, and unforgiveness.
We don’t want to build an atmosphere where the enemy feels comfortable.
No, no, no.
We want to build an atmosphere where the Holy Ghost is comfortable, where heaven is open over our family, where we receive blessing, healing, restoration, and wisdom to move forward.
So I encourage you, friends: build an atmosphere of forgiveness, joy, peace, self-control, and patience over your family, and you will reap the reward of your labor.
Dr. Randy, could you look at this camera and speak to our audience about family?
Dr. Randy
I would say this:
If you do family right—and that means you let God define family, you follow the Word of God, and you obey the roles that the Bible lays out for the husband, the wife, the mother, the father, and the children—then family can be the greatest joy of your life.
Your family can be an oasis.
It can be a place where you are refreshed.
It can be a place where you find joy and peace.
You can come out of the world and be renewed in your home, renewed in your family.
Praise the Lord.
But if you don’t do it right, it can be a curse.
Family can be destructive.
Family can be a great burden if it’s not done correctly.
So my message—it’s really God’s message to all of us—is: let God show us how to do family the right way.
The Word of God teaches us how to do family right, and it can be the greatest blessing of your life.
Pastor Lawrence Ihekweme
Praise God.
Do you hear that?
Your family can be a place of refuge where people come in and are refreshed and transformed.
Wow. What a prophetic word for you today.
Would you receive it?
Will you allow the Holy Spirit of God to help you?
If we obey Him, He will lead us through the path of His righteousness.
When I obey Him, He gives me the supernatural ability to build.
He is not calling us to build in our own strength. He is calling us to build with His strength.
So today, with the grace that works, will you allow the Holy Spirit of God to work through you?
If you’re a family going through troubles, trials, or unforgiveness, will you choose to forgive today?
Will you choose to let go?
It’s not about you anymore. It’s all about what God wants to do in your life, in your family, and in your marriage.
Remember, there is nothing God cannot heal. There is no situation God cannot solve.
You only need to choose to say, “You know what? I want to build my family to always be this place where my children and my spouse can come in and be blessed.”
May God bless you.
Remember to subscribe, and remember: this is Grace That Works.
Dio vi benedica
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