Jentezen Franklin - God's Hand On Our House
I do believe what I'm sharing today is absolutely a word for everyone here, that you will be able to relate to in a specific way in your life. Look with me in Ezekiel 43:12 this is the law of the house. Everybody say the law of the house. "This is the law of the house, the whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold this is the law", he says it again, come on. "This is the law of the house". He's trying to get something across that this is how, if you want me, God's saying, this is the law of the house.
Verse 13, "These are the measurements of the altar in cubits, the cubit is one cubit and a handbreadth". One cubit and a handbreadth. And I want to talk to you for just a few moments on God's hand on our house. God's hand on our house. The common measurement in the Bible is given as the measurement of a man's hand. Noah first mentions this term, cubit, and I'm gonna build something here, and I want you to stay with me. Everybody say cubit. Cubit is how they measured in Bible days, they didn't have a measuring stick, they didn't have a measuring tape, so they measured by the hand breadth, or the distance of this finger to that finger, and it's called the handbreadth.
And the way they measured it, is they would measure your arm, every man here, I want you to do this, I want every man here to take your arm, and put your four fingers right where your arm bends, at the elbow basically. And they would measure out six, and unless you've got a weird arm, if you measure it out, you can get six hand widths all the way up to the top of your fingers. I measured it over and over, and it's absolutely right, give or take a little bit. And that's how they used to measure. That was called a cubit, if you had six hand widths, that measured one cubit.
When God told Noah to build the Ark for the saving of his family, He told him how many cubits, and they didn't have measuring tape and equipment, sophisticated engineering stuff like we have. They measured by hand widths of cubits. It's very important. The cubit tells the width of something. Now, what's interesting is the word cubit in the Hebrew language is ammah, a-m-m-a-h, which means the mother, or the beginning. So get this, now in Jewish synagogues they teach that your arm, which is called in scripture, the cubit of a man, is six cubits, and they teach this part of your arm is the mother of the arm, why? Because whatever the mind can imagine, it's not enough to imagine it, the hands have the ability, the creativity, the skill to create it.
And so, the reason it's called the mother part of the arm is because it's what gives birth to it. It's not enough to think it up here, it has to be worked out with your hands, and six cubits which, six is the number of man. He worked six days and then God said we're gonna rest on the seventh day, cause that day belongs to me. Six is the number of human influence, and what man can do, and he says, "It's amazing what man can do with his hands".
Man, the cubit of a man's hands can build a business, can build amazing and astonishing things, and we see all that the world has came from the work, and the ingenuity, and the genius of man. It's really amazing, now if this is the mother of the arm, then I'm gonna throw this in, this part up here is the father of the man. Come on, that's where the softball is right there, or the mosquito bite, whatever you want to call it, but notice that the power's up here, but the ability to create, the ability to begin, the ability to release that thing. It's only a thought, it's only a concept until this part of a man's hands begins to build it, and then it becomes a reality.
Here's my point, he said in John 15:5, Jesus said, "I am the vine, and you are the branches, and without me you can do nothing". He did not mean you can't do some things with human ability, but you can do nothing that will have eternal consequence without Him. You can do nothing that will be spiritually good and eternally good without Him. "Without me you cannot do what is eternal". And what He's saying is this, that the six represents human effort, the six handbreadths of a man represent what man can build, what man can achieve. The kingdoms he can build, the corporations that go all over the world. Amass millions and even billions of dollars with this part, nothing but intellect, and these hands. And He says, the six represents what man can do, but there are two cubits in the Bible.
There's the cubit of the six handbreadths, and remember, one cubit equals six handbreadths, six handbreadths equals one cubit. But then there is the sacred cubit that is found only in Ezekiel 43 that I just read from. Ezekiel was shown a vision, and God said, "I want you to build me a house that will endure, a house where children will be blessed, and he's the key to it", He said, "This is the law for the house". So, notice there's a cubit and a cubit is how many handbreadths, everybody say it. "Six, and then a handbreadth". Add one more to it, which makes seven. Six is the number of what man can do, but I'm gonna add one more hand, and that's God's hand and He said this is the law of the house, this is the only way you're gonna build a house that's gonna endure in the 21st century, this is the only way you're gonna build a marriage that's gonna last, this is the only way you're gonna raise children in a wicked world that has forgotten about God and gone crazy.
The only way you're going to... this is the law of the house. You do all you can do, give it everything you've got, all six handbreadths, but then it's gonna take the seventh hand, and that's the hand of God. And what you cannot do on your own, my hand's gonna come on your hands, and I'll put my hand with your effort, and you'll feel my hand with your hands, and I'm gonna take my hand, the seventh hand, and add it to your six. Your six is what humans can produce, what human ability, and human talent, and human gifting can produce. But how many people do we know, they have built amazing corporations, they have fame and fortune and amazing kingdoms that they have built with their hands, but they cannot hold their marriage together, they cannot hold their family together, their lives are in shambles at the same time they have built things from here to here with natural ability.
But that is not enough, the home, the family, the law of the home is the supernatural thing, and it takes the seventh hand, which is all of your effort, and then comes the hand of God. The hand of God. "My hand is gonna come behind you, as you raise those children". The seventh hand will bless everything your hand sets to do. "I will bless the work of your hands. I'll add the seventh hand to your six handbreadths". There's a need for the extra hand if you're gonna build a home. There's a need for that hand. You see, the genius that you have is not enough. The brilliance of man is not enough. Talent is not enough. Sometimes it requires the six hands of man, plus God's seventh hand to do things that only can be done in a home that is successful.
And notice, he said two times, "This is the law of the home". You can't do it. I don't care how smart you are, I don't care how educated, I don't care how brilliant, I don't care how successful. Your money cannot build. What you can do, cannot build a family that loves and honors God. It takes the seventh hand added to your effort. That also means that I can't just say, "God, You do it and I'll come - You know, I hope You're..". Notice, I've got to use all six of my handbreadths. That means I've got to get up and bring my children to church whether I feel like it or not because I've got to do my part and then God will add the seventh hand. But I've got a large part of that. It's my job to teach my children to pray. It's my job to intercede for my family. It's my job to call their names, as I do every day of their life, in prayer.
I never forget it. There's never a day that goes by that I haven't prayed for my children. Why? Because that's my part. I'll do what I can do, and then when I can't do it, when I release 'em to go to college or they leave my house and they're no longer under my - The seventh hand comes upon them and goes with them wherever they go. Come on and give God a praise for that. Your greatness is not enough. Your talent is not enough. I think about Elijah, and how that there was a famine in Israel, and the Bible said that he got down and prayed, and when he started praying he told the servant, "Go look on the mountaintop and see if you see any signs of a storm, because we've been in a famine and it hasn't rained for three and a half years, go see if you see any rain coming".
And the servant ran, and he looked out and he saw nothing, and he came back, and the prophet said, "What did you see"? And he said, "I saw nothing". He said, "Go again". And he ran again, a second time and looked, came back and said, "I saw nothing". The prophet prayed and said, "Go again, go again". He goes four times, five times, six times, everybody say six. Six times and nothing happens. He comes back and the prophet said, "I want you to go one more time. I've done all that I can do, and I want you to go tell me, do you see anything". And on the seventh, noticed it's the seventh hand now that's about to get involved. He's done everything, it's our job to pray for our family, it's our job to intercede for our family, it's our job to honor God and teach them, and mentor them, and encourage them, and set rules, and stay on the, it's our job to do that, but once we've done our part, I'm glad he said go one more time, and on the seventh time.
The sixth is exhausted, and now there's one more trip and he looks out, and he said, "I saw one thing. I saw on the seventh time a hand, a cloud the size of a man's hand, in the shape of a man's hand, and it's moving this direction". He saw the seventh hand coming to help him with the rain that he needed to produce the crop in his house, and I'm saying to you that when we do what we can do, that's why the Bible said train up a child, this is your part, train up the child in the way that they should go, and when they get old they may rebel, they may act big, bad, sassy, whatever, but there's a seventh unseen hand that comes on their life, and wherever they go that hand won't let 'em go.
They can go off to college, they can go to bars, they can go to the clubs, but that hand won't let 'em go, and when it gets through with 'em, it'll drag 'em back right back to the house of God, set 'em right on the seat, and say, "Now serve the God of your fathers, because there's a seventh hand involved in your life". Somebody thank Him for His faithfulness in our families. Hallelujah. Praise God. I believe what I'm preaching. The Bible said in Psalms 127, "As arrows in the hands of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth". I want you to get this picture. He said, your children are like arrows in the hands of a mighty man, to me, that's the Dad. Every man in this room say, "God, I want to be a mighty man, not a weak man. I want to be a mighty man, because my children need a mighty man". And he said, "As arrows in the hands of a mighty man, so are the children".
He's saying the arrows are like our children, and they are to be in the hands of a mighty man. But it's not just what my hands can produce, I need the seventh hand on my hand if my kids are in my hand. If their destiny, if their call, if their purpose is in my hands as arrows... now what am I to do as a mighty man with these children? If they're arrows, number one, they don't come shaped like arrows, I am to shape them. I am to sharpen then, and then I am to shoot them. The job of every father is to shape the children so that God can use them. I am to shape them, and that's what I do when I come to church, and that's what I do when I pray, and that's what I do when I do the best that I can, I'm shaping their lives. I'm sharpening their lives, and then at some point, notice their only in the hand of the mighty man for a while, they'll come a time when you will release them like arrows in a bow, and listen to this, if the man is the archer, and the children are the arrows, prayer is the bow.
And always, always, always pray for your children. Because the thing that sends your children, when they leave your house, we are to never, never, never stop praying for our children. As long as we have breath, we are to pray for our children, because our prayers are the bow that sends our children, and they cannot soar without our prayers. They cannot reach the high places without our prayers. This is what a father does. We are to build character as we have these arrows, but for a while there's gonna come a day you've got 'em, and I never thought it would come to our family, but I thought those children would be in my hands the rest of my life, but you know what, just in the last few years one after another they've been released. They've been released, they're going out on their own. They're going in the direction that I sent them.
And I only have a matter of time to shape and to sharpen, and then to shoot. We're to build character in our children. Who is teaching my kids character? Listen to these words, because they're very important, and who's gonna teach this to your children? Nobody but you, nobody but you. Listen to these words. Courage, character is all these words. Courage, courtesy, discernment, fairness, generosity, gentleness, honesty, kindness, obedience, humility, self control, patience, persistence, thankfulness. Who's gonna teach our children that zeal for the Lord? Who's gonna teach 'em thriftiness? Who's gonna teach them the difference between laziness and work? We are. Assign them responsibilities, teach them there's a link between success and work. Put limits on your children while you have 'em in your hands. Put on limits on their life.
The Bible said in 1 Samuel 3:13 that Eli's sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. Notice this father has children that are acting crazy and doing wrong and immoral things, and he restrained them not. The job of every father is not to just ignore and let kids go crazy and do whatever everybody else is doing, but we are to set limits, because while we have 'em, we are to shape them, we are to sharpen them, and then we are to shoot them out with always our prayers on their life so that when they get out in college, when they get out and there's all kinds of temptations they have discipline, they have character, they're sharp, they're shaped, and they've been shot with prayer. And the hand, the seventh hand goes with them, and it will not let go of them no matter how they try, no matter what they hear, no matter who they get around. If I raise them right, the seventh hand is gonna go where I cannot go, and do what I cannot do. Shout amen somebody.
3 John 4 says, "I have no greater joy than to know my children walk in truth". Send them forth, understand that when God puts His hand with your effort, you can't fail. And many of you may be troubled about your children, maybe you're listening to me today, and you're a dad, and you're a father, and you're a mother and you just are trying to raise these children. The law of the house is you do all you can do, and when you run out of all that you can do and you hit your limit, the seventh hand, the mighty hand of God will come and the law of the house is, "Only by me, for without me you can do nothing of eternal consequence. You can do nothing spiritually good. I am the vine, you are the branches, and without me you can do nothing".
But oh, when that seventh hand is on your life as a dad, as a mom, as a parent, as a business person. Wouldn't it be powerful if today everyone who has reached their limit in what they can achieve and do had the seventh hand, because that's what it's gonna take in the day that we're living in. You need something beyond intellect, you need something beyond ball games and just being in their life and all of that. It takes the anointing, it takes the seventh hand, it takes the experience with God to raise a Christian family in the 21st century. And I'm so thankful I don't have to fight alone, if I'll do my best, all I can get, you know, let me close with this, but this is the truth. The Bible says of Goliath, that he was six cubits, that means if you were to take him and stack him up, that's about one cubit, six cubits. Guess what, he was nine feet, six inches.
Notice that he's six cubits, everybody say six. The Bible said he had six fingers and six toes. Six, six, six. Revelations says the number of the antichrist is six, six, six, and six is the number that man can produce, it's human endeavor. The devil wants to be God so bad, the antichrist wants to be God so bad, and he goes, "I'm gonna get there, I'm gonna get there", and he gets to six and has to start over. "I'm gonna get there, I'm gonna get there, I can get to the end of what I can do". But you can't do it without God. And he tries it again, and all he can do is keep hitting sixes, he keeps running sixes, the number of humanity.
And so when David went out to fight Goliath, it was a type of antichrist and there that giant is, six, six, six, but here comes David, and he's got the seventh hand. And he takes a stone and throws the stone and kills the giant, but it wasn't just his hand. He did every... notice, God didn't throw the stone, you do what you can do, and my hand will come on your hand, and what you can't do on your own I'll defeat the giants against your family, against your home.
There are some of you listening to me today, here and in Gwinnett, and our campuses, and online, and by television, and you've got an addiction in your life. Do what you can do. Get help, and as soon as you do you'll look out and you'll see here comes the seventh hand to the rescue. What you can't complete, He can complete. He can bless the work of your hands when His hand touches your hand. Do you believe that? Do you believe that our children, our children absolutely are going to serve God because the seventh hand is on their life, and whether they know it or not they are already marked for the kingdom of God? If you believe it, give the Lord the biggest praise you can. Hallelujah.