Listens as Karol Prado shares how she learned where her true identity is found. She walked away from homosexuality and found love and redemption, forgiveness and grace.

Love in the Making

<p>Listens as Karol Prado shares how she learned where her true identity is found. She walked away from homosexuality and found love and redemption, forgiveness and grace.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Walk by Faith Ministries

Breakout Session A

Dwayne Lemon

Alexandra Lemon

The Foundation for a Happy Marriage

Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, so much for a beautiful Sabbath day.

And Lord, already your Spirit is working, I know, on my heart even more, forever learning, Lord.

I pray that you will use Duane and I as we seek to share the principles you have in your word.

And I ask that the hearers will be open to receive the counsel that you would have them to know.

Be with all the speakers in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, if we could turn our Bibles to Matthew 24.

And you definitely wanna make sure you have your Bibles, and of course, take good notes as well as we go through this session together.

Matthew 24, we're going to look at verses 37 and 38.

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.

So, what do we see in this text, essentially?

What we're seeing is that in the days of Noah, there's things about the past in the Antediluvian times that we're gonna see today.

And based off of the emphasis of our weekend, what is our focus based off of the text?

Based off of the emphasis of our weekend, what do you think is our focus in the text?

As the days of Noah were, in verse 38 he describes what the days of Noah were like.

What in that description would you say is applicable to our meeting?

Okay, they were marrying and giving in marriage.

And so, you would think, what's wrong with marriage?

At the beginning, that was the institution that he placed in the Garden of Eden, is marriage.

We're going to go actually at the beginning of the Bible to Genesis 6.

If you can turn to me, with me to Genesis 6 and we're going to look at verses 1 and 2.

And the reason we're going there is because Jesus just said as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be.

And in the days of Noah they were marrying and giving in marriage.

So now we're going to look at the marriage institution in the days of Noah to see, well, what was the disconnect?

So we're going to look for that right now as we go through Genesis 6.

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair.

And they took them wives of all which they choose.

So the first point we can establish here is the fact that there was marriage back in the days of Noah.

But how do we make the connection in prophecy?

Because this is something in Matthew 24 that God said we have to look for.

Something happened to the marriage covenant.

And if you look at verse 2, we could see, well actually let's go to verse 11.

11 and 12, and we're going to answer that question before we go back to verse 2.

And the Bible says, the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

Can a corrupt man and woman have a holy marriage?

And so when you consider Matthew 24, this is the emphasis when he said, when the Bible says, marriage and giving in marriage, this was the context of what he was talking about.

The fact that the marriages were corrupt back then.

Okay, So people got married in Noah's days, and we're going to look at the quote, Testimonies to the Church, Volume 4, 5 through 5 and 3.

So what are some things we see in Genesis 6?

If you're looking at Genesis 6 in verse 1, right, the first thing that it says is that sons of God were marrying daughters of men.

Now, if you go back to Genesis 5, you will see why that term or those terms are very significant.

In the Bible, there's some, you know, religions and what have you that believe the sons of God were angels.

Well, we have to cancel that because Matthew chapter 22 says angels don't marry.

So in Matthew the 22nd chapter, angels don't marry.

They were those who were following the teachings and the ways of God.

So the daughters of men were obviously the contrast to the sons of God.

In other words, there was unequally yoked taking place in Genesis 6.

There were those who were the sons of God, the followers of God, but they're marrying the daughters of men.

Number 2, why did those guys marry those girls?

So that means that the marriage was not based on anything deep.

They were just like, she's really pretty.

The sisters were like, he's really good looking.

And they allowed surface reasons to bring them together in marriage.

A lot of people are getting married today based on physical attraction.

Then the point number 3 in verse 2, it says, they took them wives of whom they chose.

In scripture, God was the 1 that would choose the wife for the husband.

That's what we learned in the Eden model.

The parent was the 1 that would approve the person that is about to be married.

But these guys, they chose what they wanted without any parental counsel or consultation.

And as a result of that, that threefold formula is ultimately what brought corruption in the marriage covenant.

As a result of being unequally yoked, as a result of being focused on externals, And as a result of not following God's plan on how to approach the subject of marriage, it ultimately produced a scenario or an environment that now when corruption came in the world, the marriages were also corrupt.

So As Alexandra just said, when we consider this quote here, this quote is very important.

Why don't you go ahead and read that for us?

There is not 1 marriage in 100 that results happily that bears the sanction of God and places the parties in a position better to glorify him.

So notice this, not 1 marriage, and how many?

Not 1 marriage in 100 that results happily, that bears the sanction of God and places the parties in a position better to glorify him.

So Alexandra, can you speak to these points here from what's coming out in the quote, because the Lord was showing us some powerful information.

Danella Taylor

Addicted to Affection

Our dear, kind, and loving, and gracious, and heavenly Father, I am so thankful for bringing us here at this time.

I'm thankful, Father, for this opportunity that we have to study your Word, to talk with each other, and to allow you to reason with our hearts.

And I pray that this morning, this afternoon rather, that you will send your Holy Spirit to be with us.

Father, in all of these things, we desperately need the power of your Holy Spirit.

And we want to be able to see this subject objectively, And we want to be able to see this subject objectively, and we want to be able to yield our whole self to you.

And this is not going to be possible, Father, without your Spirit.

So I ask that your Spirit will rest over this room, and that you will be with me as you speak through me The things that you have shared with me to all my precious sisters here in the name of Jesus.

We pray amen All right, good afternoon I'm excited about being here, and I'll tell you why I recently went through a mini paradigm shift myself.

End of last year, we had a really amazing time in the state of Michigan.

We did something called a company of workers.

And while I was there, what happened was my life was changed.

I really thought that I was going there to help to enhance the experience of the students that were with me and different things like that.

But what ended up happening was God broke my heart and remoulded me and It was a really fantastic experience.

I'm telling you that because probably up until that point, I wouldn't have been able to be really open and honest about these different topics, not just this topic of single and satisfied, but just in life.

I was a person that was quite reserved, although you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell that from associating with me, but there were just things that you would never have been able to get to.

So I was able to just lock myself down like that.

And God showed me clearly that being locked down is not his idea.

He wants us to be able to be open and honest.

So For those of you that don't know me, my name is Danella Taylor.

My accent is not that strong now, because I've been in this country for a while.

I am transitioning at this moment from meat ministry.

And we're about to set up a new ministry in Kentucky called Thrive.

So anybody that wants to know anything about practical, apprenticeship, training for soul winning, come and see me afterwards.

And it's just a blessing to be able to speak about this topic today.

Okay, so single and satisfied When they first told me about this title There's a seat right here.

Yeah When they first told me about this title, I thought, that's really interesting.

Because the majority of us, is everybody here single?

But The majority of us single women, I think, at least I'm gonna speak, I'm gonna really speak from my experience and I hope that you can resonate with me.

At least in my experience, I have found that it's very easy to say I'm satisfied and really be feeling and experiencing something else.

Okay good I see I see nodding heads and that's because it's almost like we don't want to come across as not being satisfied.

So it's not OK for anybody to see anything else, right?

So I'm single, but I don't want to come across like I'm pining.

I don't want to come across like I'm lonely.

I don't want to come across like I need men.

So all of these different things are going on in our minds and so we end up portraying something that is not it's not real and I want us by God's grace by the end of this session or not even by the end of the session, at least by the end of the session and then when you go and have some heart-wrenching, soul-searching time with your Savior, amen, by the end of that, that we can get past that facade of pretending and just be real and be really fulfilled in who we are.

Now the people over there, can you see the screen?

I don't mind if you want to take some chairs really quickly and put them over here in this corner.

Like you might be able to squeeze some in that row.

I don't want you to not be able to see what's happening.

Okay, that's what we're talking about for this session.

Just going to wait until our lovely sisters pass by.

After brother Caleb spent all his hard time setting everything up just perfectly.

In being raised in this society where we are told that you need to be connected with somebody else in order to feel fulfilled, often times what happens is we go from infatuation to infatuation.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

And it almost feels like if your mind isn't focused on somebody, that you feel kind of empty.

And if you're kind of in denial, I'm praying.

Seriously, that the spirit can really talk to us at this moment in time, because it's so important for us to be honest with ourselves right now.

In order to get over anything, like the first step is actually knowing what we're getting over, right?

The first step is to admit, Hello, my name is Danella, I'm addicted to affection.

Okay, but by God's grace, we can overcome.

So the first thing is that God wants you to be happy.

Now, do you think that the devil wants for you to be happy?

The devil doesn't want for you to experience the happiness that is found in Jesus Christ.

And so the things that God has given us to experience true satisfaction are the very things that The devil is going to try his utmost best to barricade us from, to block our minds or to deceive us from.

So that's something to keep in focus as we go through this or just as you analyze your own life that what the majority is doing is of the world and that means what the majority is doing is of the world.

And that means what the majority is doing is not going to bring me the greatest satisfaction.

And so we go through life as young ladies and We are in a dark place.

We are here, for behold, let's read this together.

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.

So this is where we are in this moment in history.

Our hearts are darkened because the devil doesn't want us to experience the light.

And so the darkness that's been coming out from the ages is now really being compounded on us at this moment in time.

And so it says, we grope for the wall like the blind and we grope as if we had no eyes.

We are looking for, searching for this reality.

We're searching for something better than the darkness that we experience without being fully set free from Christ.

Is that kind of, can you resonate with what I'm saying?

He sees us in this darkened state, kind of groping for and reaching for the things that we think is going to make us satisfied and things that we think is going to fulfill us.

And the Lord is desperately wanting His children, His daughters, you are His daughters, amen, desperately wanting us to be in an experience of light and happiness and fulfillment and not in this experience of darkness that the devil, I mean he would do anything to keep us right here.

And the reason why we're here, 1 of the main reasons is that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Karol Prado

Prodigal Child

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the wonderful blessings that you've given to us throughout today, Lord.

And I pray, Father, that as I begin to share my testimony with this group, this wonderful group of people, Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit may be with me, that the words that come out of my mouth may be yours and not mine and most importantly Lord that we may leave this room today with a new understanding of what it is to be a Christian Lord and what it is to give ourselves to you holy.

Thank you so much for all they do for us in Jesus name amen.

So before we begin I just want to go if you guys have your Bibles to the book of Luke And the reason why is because I like to kind of interwine my testimony with the story of the prodigal child.

And so it's a very common story, But I like to go over it before I share my testimony, only because sometimes we forget important pieces of that story.

So if we can just go to the Book of Luke.

And it says, and he said, a certain man who had 2 sons and the younger 1 of them said to his father, father give me the portions of goods that falleth to me.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living, or another version that says prodigal living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a great famine in the land, and he began to be in want and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed the swine and he would feign have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave on to him and when he came to himself he said How many higher servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.

I am no longer worthy to be called thy son.

But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servant, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to be merry Now we've heard this story multiple times and many times we say yeah I can relate to it, I understand, but from my personal experience I can honestly say that when I read this story I can read it over and over and over again, and I can still see my personal testimony being the same exact testimony of that prodigal son who left his father's home, looking for a better life out in the world.

And so, in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 1, in verse 5, it says, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.

And the reality is that many times Satan will have us believe that what's the point anymore?

Especially when he tempts us and for whatever reason we just fall into his temptation.

He makes us feel like, you know, worthless and what's the point of even going on?

But the reality is that here we have a promise from God.

It says that before he formed us in the belly, he knew us.

The Bible says that God knows the end from the beginning and so he knows that you're going to make mistakes but despite of your mistakes he's still there for you.

He's still willing to pick you up and that's the beautiful part of God.

It says before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you.

So each 1 of you sitting here today are sanctified to do a special work in this world.

And it's up to you to allow God to show you what it is that he desires for you to do.

So I was born in Colombia to a woman who was actually a prodigal child herself.

Her mother passed away when she was very young.

She was only 11 years old when she passed away.

My father grew up not having a father in his life, and not really knowing who God was.

And so my father grew up as a non-believer, and my mother grew up in the Adventist faith, but when her mother passed away, she kind of walked away from the faith, and she began to live her own life, and She became a prodigal child herself.

And so because I was born into this home where there was no foundation, no holy foundation, I grew up not really knowing who God was.

Up until the age of 7, I lived in Colombia with both of my parents, but unfortunately 1 day my parents decided that, you know, it was time to be able to provide more than what they were able to provide in Colombia for their children.

And so they came to a decision that They were going to both apply for visas to come to the United States.

And whoever got approved with the girls, being my sister and I, was going to be the parent to come and provide a better life for us.

They were not married, and so there was really no legal bond that was holding them together.

And so the embassy wasn't obligated to give him and her a visa.

It was really whoever got lucky and got it first, right?

And so my mother, my sister and I got approved and my father wasn't.

And so I remember this day back in 1999 when we embarked on a journey that literally changed our lives forever in so many different ways.

And so as I moved here from Colombia, at first you know it was traumatizing for me because obviously being with my father, I mean, most girls are daddy's girls, right?

And so having to be ripped away from that, it was very traumatizing for me.

And I didn't know exactly what it is that I was experiencing because as a child, it's very hard for you to vocalize your feelings.

It's very hard for you to express exactly what it is that you're feeling.

So I wasn't sure what I was feeling, but I knew that I felt empty now, right?

There was something missing in my life and I wasn't quite sure how to get it back.

And so we moved here and we began a new life.

But Jeremiah 29 11 says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, say of the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

And you see, many times we don't understand the plans that God has for us.

But he says, because I know the end from the beginning.

I know what path I'm leading you through.

And that's exactly what he was telling me, even though I couldn't understand his voice yet.

Series

Breakout Session A

Prodigal Child

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Attachments

Michael Carducci Weekend

01 Bows and Ribbons: TRANS-formation

1h 7m

Magna Parks: Secular Psychology - Satan's Alluring Path

Secular Psychology - Satan’s Alluring Path, Part 1

56m

Healing From Bad Religion and Church Hurt

We Need Counseling

55m

GYC 2013 Seminar: The Gay Puzzle: Loving Gays to Christ

01-Knowing the Difference

58m

Seminar: From Darkness to Light: Overcoming Sin and Addictions

Loving as Jesus Would

56m

Unraveling the Gay Spin

1. Transgender vs. Transformation

1h

The Law of Love & Sexuality and Purity

1h 51m

Got Thinking Problems?

Coping with Our Problems - Part 1

1h 13m

LGBTQ Issues and the Church

1h 14m

ASI 2011 Seminar: Health

Triumph in Trial: Responding to Life’s Difficulties God’s Way

1h 15m

Engage

1h 16m

Sound Doctrine