So in 1 Timothy 2, I want to look at the beginning there in verse 8 where it says,
I will therefore that men pray everywhere,
lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting,
like men are also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel,
with shame, fated sickness, and sobriety,
not with broidered hair or gold or pearls or costly array,
but that which become with women professing godliness with good works.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection,
but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp
authority over the man but to be in silence.
I want to preach a sermon entitled Women in Ministry tonight, Women in Ministry.
This is a sermon that I've been thinking about preaching for a while,
and it's one that I wanted to go deep and really look at the other side of this argument,
because there's people out there that will say that it's perfectly
biblical to have women ordained as pastors,
to have them ordained as preachers,
and for them to get up and to teach the church the word of God.
Well, that's not what the Bible says.
The Bible is very clear that that is not the role of women in ministry.
Now, women do play a role in ministry, there's no doubt about it,
but it's just not behind the pulpit publicly preaching the word of God, it's just not there.
Again, there's a side that believes that it is,
and I thought, well, I don't want to just take this,
because the sermon admittedly is kind of a softball.
It's kind of a slow ball,
it's pretty easy to knock out of the park because the Bible is just so clear on it.
I thought, well, I'm going to take my time and really
dig into the other side and see what they have to say.
But the more I started to look,
the more I realized it's a pretty watered down argument that they make,
and it's certainly not a biblical one.
They can't really turn you to passages,
they have to just kind of find ways to explain away the Bible.
When I was confronted about this doctrine before I moved in here,
I'll just share the story, you might have heard it.
But when we first came over to look at this suite,
there was a church here previously that it's a charismatic church,
it's a four square church which is part of the Pentecostal movement,
and that's why they have some of these things that are still up there, they're not ours.
We didn't put that up there because that would have been a very poor job,
the lettering on the side of the wall.
We didn't start and start peeling it off.
But that's why it looks like there was a church in here previously because there was one.
In that church, they had a husband and wife pastoral team,
and they had Pastor Mary as we've affectionately become to call her Pastor Murray.
But I came here to look at the suite and with the landlord,
and she was here,
and she immediately went upon introduction.
The owner of the building who owns the property said,
hey, this is Pastor Mary,
and I didn't blink an eye on it,
I said, whatever, I'm not here to debate theology,
I'm here to just look at the suite and see what we're dealing with here.
She said, are you that church around the corner?
This is within 10 seconds of meeting her folks.
Yeah, I'm from that church, yes ma'am, I'm being respectful.
So, do you have a problem with women in ministry?
I mean, that's an uncomfortable position to be put in right away.
It's like, we're going to throw down right now over this,
like in front of the owner of the property and have this,
I don't want to waste his time,
I don't want to waste my time,
and I just said, well,
and this is my reply.
I said, well, we take a biblical approach to the subject,
some of that nature, and she didn't press the matter beyond that,
and she just said something to the effect of,
well, your people are so rude to our people,
and I said, no, they're not.
I said, they smile,
you guys never say good morning,
as I'm thinking, you never say good morning.
You guys get out of that car and march in here,
and don't even look our way.
We've greeted their people,
their people were coming in and sitting down in the middle of services,
and getting up and leaving when they figured out they're in the wrong church,
and that's fine, we don't care.
We weren't making a big stink out of it.
They had that lady that showed up the one day to our church,
and right before the move,
she gets out of her car with her kids,
dressed nice, and starts approaching our suite when it was over there,
and I'm going out to the van or something,
and I say good morning,
and then she walks over there,
and I believe a couple of the brethren were standing out near the door,
and she walked up and just said,
I'm here to speak today.
The guys didn't go, well,
let me just get the Bible out and show you why you're
just wicked for even suggesting such an idea.
They said, oh, I think, very politely,
I think you're looking for the other church, and she was.
So, I mean, that was that interaction.
That's what inspired this.
I've been sitting on this one,
I've been brooding, and then after that,
she says, well, if you could use the space,
I'd like for you to have it,
and to me, that said a lot,
to sit there and suggest that it was somehow up to
you to think about who's getting the space next.
She sat in front of the owner,
and I'm just like, hopefully, he got that,
and it got really awkward,
and I just said, well, this is off to a great start,
and I just walked away,
and yes, I said that,
and then I said, you know what?
Then the property management,
she came in, and she hadn't seen any of this interaction, and I just said,
will you just come find me when you're done with her, speaking with her?
I really don't want to do this to her.
It was so awkward.
Then they came over, and they were like,
oh, we're so sorry about that,
and I just said, you have nothing to apologize,
and I was over it. I'm like, whatever.
We're getting that space, and that's it.
That's all I'm interested in.
She said, well, she apologized,
and I'm thinking, I didn't say this,
I'm thinking, well, I didn't hear you apologizing.
She might have apologized to you,
but she wasn't about to apologize to me.
When people get bent out of shape like that,
it just tells me that that's something that's
been a burr under her saddle for a while.
Usually, when people are that confrontational about something,
it's because you've struck a nerve.
It's because people know that this is what the Bible teaches,
and look, this can go ahead and hurl up every dog in the county.
I don't care. This is what the Bible says.
It's not popular.
A lot of people could get upset at this.
I doubt anyone in this room is going to get upset at it.
Everyone here probably understands everything I'm about to preach tonight,
but we're going to go over it,
and we're going to look at it again,
and try to get some thoughts on this that are maybe a little bit fresher.
But that was the inspiration for the sermon.
Like I said, I said, well, I'm not just going to get up and just take an easy shot at the sermon.
I want to dig deep, but the more I started to look at him,
said they don't have a leg to stand on.
At least that when it comes to scripture,
they try to explain things away.
They'll look at passages like 1 Timothy Chapter 2 and say,
in verse 11 it says where Paul wrote,
let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
I suffer not a woman to teach nor to assert authority over the man,
but to be in silence.
They'll say, well, you have to consider the context of the times in which Paul was writing this.
This was back then, and the people back then in Ephesus were deceiving people,
and it was the women were being deceived and teaching false doctrine in church.
But when you read 1 Timothy,
when it comes to false doctrine,
he doesn't name women, he names men.
So, Chapter 1, that goes out the window.
So, that's really not an argument that you can use.
Oh, he was just speaking to this specific group of
people because there was this issue back then.
Well, that's not what Paul said. Did Paul say that?
Did he say there's women there that are teaching false doctrine?
He calls out people that are teaching false doctrine and other epistles by name.
But he doesn't do it here because that's not what's taking place.
This is a general idea.
This is a general rule and a hard and fast rule that he preaches not only here,
but in other passages that we'll look at.
But what does Paul point to when he preaches this?
What is the context truly that Paul uses to teach this doctrine?
Well, he says there,
I suffer not a woman to teach but nor do you super authority over the man,
but to be in silence. Look at verse 13.
For Adam was first formed and then Eve.
So, what is the context that Paul is using?
He's pointing back thousands of years to the very beginning of creation to make his case.
So, you can't say, well, this is just within the context of
the church that Paul is dealing with here where Timothy is.
That's just it's confined to this certain time with this certain group of people.
That's not what Paul said.
You're putting words in Paul's mouth at that point.
You're adding under the word of God in a sense,
which is very dangerous to round again on.
But the actual context is where Paul is pointing back to creation and saying,
this is why I suffer not a woman to teach nor do you usurp authority of the man.
For Adam was first formed and then Eve.
He's saying, look, God has just ordained that that is the order of things from
the beginning that the man leads,
that he is in that position.
People can like it or lump it.
That's what the Bible says.
This is clear teaching.
Again, as we get into this,
it's not that, and this is the charge that's often
leveled at people that teach what the Bible says on this issue.
You hate women. You're just angry at women.
You have a problem with women.
It's like, well, I married a woman and I love her and she's a woman,
and that's not true.
That's just not true to say that.
My job is just to preach what the Bible actually says.
Our job as Christians is to come to the word of God and say,
what does the Bible actually say and obey it,
and let this be our final authority and not some seminary somewhere,
and not just whatever someone might say online or whatever.
We have to go to the word of God and let it define these terms for us,
and tell us what is right and what is wrong.
He's saying, look, the reason why Paul doesn't want to suffer a woman to teach,
nor to serve authority over man,
is because of the fact that Adam was first formed and then Eve.
That's the context that he actually points to.
So their argument of, well,
it's all just about the people that he was writing to at that time,
that applied only back then.
That's a cross-cultural statement, isn't it?
He's going beyond all cultures and time,
and he's pointing all the way back to the first man and woman to make his case for this.
He goes on and says, and Adam was not deceived,
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Now, you could stay there in 1 Timothy,
but I'll read to you,
bookmark 1 Timothy and go over to 1 Corinthians Chapter 14.
I'm going to read to you from Genesis Chapter 3,
Genesis Chapter 3, where Paul is pointing back to in this scripture.
He says that Adam was first formed, then Eve.
He, of course, is referring to creation.
Then he says that Adam was not deceived,
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Now, there's two ways that I've heard this preached.
One of the more common ones that you've probably heard is that,
the reason why women are to be in subjection and not to lead or to teach,
is because they're more easily deceived.
I've probably even preached that in times past,
and I'm sure I have because that's the more common popular opinion.
I could see where people are coming from on that because of the wording there,
where it says Adam was not deceived,
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
But to me, that's suggesting that women are just more gullible by nature.
But really, when you think about it,
it seems from my personal experience,
it seems to me that women actually are more prone to pick up on deception.
They have that women's intuition,
they have that gut instinct.
That's been my experience.
So, what does he mean by that?
When he's saying, look, that the woman was not deceived,
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Well, she was deceived by Satan,
but it wasn't that he just pulled the wool over her eyes and duped her.
He lied to her,
but what was part of that deception?
It was him appealing to her,
appealing to her to be independent from God,
to be independent from God's ordained order.
She wanted to be separate,
she wanted to do her own thing.
I mean, really, it's the first feminist movement was all the way back then in Genesis,
and we see the results.
When the first woman ate the first man out of house and home.
He says in Genesis Chapter 3 verse 6,
and when the woman saw that tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with her,
and there's some important details there.
The Bible saying, it seems to me when I read that,
that Adam was there with her when this was taking place,
because she took of the fruit,
she ate it, and gave it to her husband with her.
He was with her, she didn't go find him, and he did eat.
So, Adam, of course,
he has to bear responsibility for what's taking place.
In fact, when you go to Romans,
it tells us that sin came by one man's sin,
death entered the world and death by sin.
That Adam is the one that actually bears responsibility for this transgression.
So, what I think he's saying here in 1st Timothy 2 is
not that women are just by nature more gullible.
That's to insult their intellect.
It's not saying that women can't teach because they're just not as intelligent.
Far from it. Women are often more intelligent,
and they're just as intelligent if not more so than men.
You can't just base that on gender.
There's a lot of things that go into that, education, background,
genetics, just all kinds of things play into that.
It's not as black and white as men smart, women dumb.
But sometimes people will go that route.
Not saying that women are dumb or anything like that,
but they'll just say, well, they're more gullible.
I don't know that I necessarily believe that's a proper interpretation of that.
I'm leaning more towards the fact that she was deceived,
but it was appealing to her pride,
it was appealing to her desire for independence, all of that.
That was the deception, and that's why she's being told,
look, you need to get back in the natural order of things,
that God made man first and then Eve.
Now, you're there in 1st Corinthians Chapter 14,
another very crystal clear passage.
I mean, wasn't 1st Timothy Chapter 2 pretty crystal clear when Paul just says,
I suffer not a woman to teach nor to serve authority of man,
but to be in silence.
There's a lot of mental gymnastics.
There's a lot of things they have to do to try to wiggle out of that and say,
well, that's not what Paul meant.
He was speaking to the context of the times.
No, Paul went on in the very next verse and referred back to Genesis.
Now, if you're there in 1st Corinthians 14 verse 34,
the Bible says, let your women keep silence in the churches,
for it is not permitted on them to speak.
Now, I wonder what he meant by that.
Well, I think it's pretty clear, isn't it?
They're not permitted to speak on the churches.
Of course, there's always the bozo out there that's going to say,
well, you're saying women can't talk when they go to church?
No. That's not what I'm saying at all.
The Bible is teaching is that when it's time for the preaching to be done,
it's time for women to remain silent.
That's what the Bible says.
That's why we don't want amens from the ladies either.
You want to nod the head,
I'm not going to permit the hanky either.
I see that ladies nod the head,
they're in agreement, I get that.
Sometimes I wish we could let the women say some men
because I might actually get some amens around here a little more often.
That's one thing I think our church could work on,
men is you could say amen every once in a while.
Amen. See, just like that.
But I'm not going to try and force that.
I'm not going to amen my own sermon either,
but amen, amen.
But that is what the Bible teaches,
that women are to remain silent in the churches,
and that's why we don't permit them to speak during this time.
That's why in this church,
as long as I'm leading things,
no woman's ever going to get up behind this pulpit and teach.
I don't even like the idea of they'll say,
well, as long as it's not men.
But that's not what it says here in 1 Corinthians 14.
You could say, well, back in 1 Timothy 2,
it's just saying they're not to teach nor to usurp authority over the man.
To me, even that passage,
that's two separate statements.
They're saying, I suffer not to want to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man.
To me, that's making a distinction between they're not to
teach and they're not to have positions of authority.
They're not going to be the decision-makers in the church.
This is a man-led church.
That's the way it ought to be because that's what the Bible says.
He goes on, and again, here he's saying,
look, let your women keep silence in the churches.
Meaning, when it's time for the preaching to take place,
women remain silent, that's it.
When the service is done,
by all means, we chat, we congregate, we talk.
It's a silly and foolish idea to think that's what the Bible is saying there.
That when women become to church,
they just have to remain quiet the entire time.
That would be ridiculous to say that.
That's not the context.
I know it's almost embarrassing to have to preach that,
but I'm clarifying that because that is something that people bring up from time to time.
Someone say, are you saying you can't talk at all?
No. By the way,
it's confined within the church house.
You know, if women want to do other things outside of church,
they want to have some kind of online thing that they do,
I personally don't see any problem with it.
That's not, I know other people might take issue with that.
Me, I just don't see it here.
To me, it seems like it's very clear that it keeps silence in the churches.
For it is not permitted on them to speak,
but they are commanded to be under obedience as also say at the law.
So again, they'll say, well,
you know, again, that's just a Corinthian church. They had issues.
Paul had to deal with them there because the ladies there were just out of hand,
and he had to nip it in the bud over there.
But is that what he's saying?
Is that the context? Again, where does Paul appeal to to make his case?
He says, they are commanded to be under obedience as also say at the law.
Now, where are you referring back to? Genesis 3 again, verse 16.
Under the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and that conception,
and sorrow thou shall bring forth children,
and thy desire shall be to thy husband.
You know, that was part of the punishment,
the curse that God laid out upon woman,
you know, upon Eve and all the ladies that came after her,
that their desire was going to be to their husband and the rest that's there,
you know, the sorrow and childbirth.
But that's what he's saying and that's what he's referring back to when he says,
that's also say at the law.
But this is something that, again,
Paul is referring back to Genesis chapter three.
It's not just the context of Paul's day.
You know, that's not that's not how he makes his case.
He doesn't, couldn't if it was if that was the case, if Paul was saying, look,
I'm just dealing with this and with the Corinthian church,
I'm just dealing with this with with, you know, in First Timothy, those people.
Would he do it? Wouldn't he be a little more clear about that?
Wouldn't he say, you know, there's there's some there among you, you know,
you got ladies in that Corinthian church that you need to deal with.
And I, you know, in this case, you need to you need to really button down, you know,
you know, button down the hatch.
I'm trying to think of what is whatever it is that's saying.
It wouldn't have, wouldn't he clarify that if that was the case?
But what does he appeal to?
Genesis, he goes all the way back.
That would have been a lot easier to do.
I mean, doesn't he call out other people in First Corinthians?
Doesn't he get real specific in First Corinthians?
Five and other places in the passage where he gets,
when he's dealing with a specific situation in church, he narrows it down.
And there's just no question that he's dealing with a specific issue in that one particular church.
So why wouldn't he do it here? Because that's not what he's doing.
This is a general rule for all churches.
That's why it says in verse 34, let your women keep silence in the what?
Churches, plural, because these epistles were to be read in multiple, in all the churches.
So, you know, go over to, you're right there in First Corinthians, go over to chapter 11, First Corinthians chapter 11.
So Paul is making his case saying, look, women should remain silent in the churches.
And he appeals back to the God ordained order that was laid out in Genesis chapter three, where Adam was first form and then Eve.
Eve was deceived and was in the transgression.
I also say at the law, he's making his case from Genesis.
And that's, you know, something that you see throughout scripture.
Look at First Corinthians chapter 11, verse three.
But I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is man and the head of Christ is God.
So God has an ordained hierarchy that he has laid out.
And it goes, God, Christ, man, woman.
That's the that's the order of authority.
And, you know, it doesn't say it there, but below that you could put children, right, that they are under the authority of their parents, plural.
OK. And that's, again, not a popular subject.
That's not something people like to hear today.
That's not what they're teaching in our schools or universities.
But that is what the Bible says.
And if you would, if you kept something in First Timothy, go back to chapter five, First Timothy chapter five.
So the title of the sermon is Women in Ministry.
It's not, you know, what women it's not all about what women are aren't allowed to do.
I want to talk about, you know, what women are allowed to do, because, you know, most women, you know, probably every woman in this room, I would just assume has no problem with what I'm saying tonight.
They in fact, they they probably prefer it this way.
They're like, I'm glad that you get to deal with the stress and the leaning the church is upon a man and that you're the one that's going to get up, stand up in front of all these people and speak.
You know, most you know, most people shy away from public speaking, men and women.
You know, it's one of the great terrors that people have.
People have nightmares about having to go and give public speaks, you know, public speaking engagements.
People, someone was telling me the other day, like they they had a I can't remember who it was, but they're saying I had to give a speech at the end of a class.
And, you know, the teacher told us, hey, at the end of the last semester, you're going to get up and show everybody how to cook something was a cooking class or something like that.
And they were just dreading it the whole time.
Like it was just every day they got up, it was just they were just dreading the day that they're going to get up and stand in front of people and speak.
And it is nerve wracking. You know, I just did my first wedding, you know, this last Monday on last minute notice.
You know, it wasn't last minute, but I had like two days notice.
Hey, you're preaching this wedding. And I thought, oh, I'll be I'll be fine.
You know, I'm leaving Monday morning to go up there. I'm like, hey, let's go.
Let's go buy some people. Holy matrimony. Let's do this. Right.
I was excited. You know, I thought I had the vows memorized.
You know, I still wrote them down because I knew I was going to, you know, clam up once I got up there.
And, you know, I go up there, I'm excited. As soon as I got up, I'm telling you, I haven't been that nervous since since the first time I probably preached.
That's probably one of the most nerve wracking things I've ever done. You know, I said, well, why do you why do you do that?
You know, this life chose me. OK, I don't know what else to tell you. Right.
So what am I saying? You know, most ladies would probably prefer that that the men get up and do the preaching and speaking.
They don't want they don't like getting up and speaking that, you know, that's something that is natural to women,
that they have what the Bible refers to as what shame facedness, you know, to be bashful, to not want to be the center of attention.
Now, I know there's exceptions to the rule, but that's generally speaking. That is how women operate.
You know, they're a little bit more introverted. You know, they don't want to be up in front of everybody.
Now, if you go to First Timothy five, is that where you are? So what is it that women are to do in ministry?
OK, well, the Bible tells us, I mean, Paul's not just all about don't what all the don'ts, you know, he tells them what to do to what he does desire.
Verse 14, I will, therefore, that younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give them on occasion the adversary to speak reproachfully.
That's God's will. And ladies, you think, well, what's God want for my life? That's it.
Well, where is the part in here about my career and and my ambitions and everything else that's not there?
From the beginning, it was, look, you're going to your desire is going to be your husband, your help meet for him.
And God's will is that you marry and it's young, marry young, younger women marry, bear children, guide the house and give them on occasion the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Why? For some are already turned aside after Satan, the Bible says.
And again, not popular, but what the Bible says, OK? And that is a ministry, believe it or not.
I believe that is the ministry that God has ordained for for for ladies to bear children.
And look, I understand that people get saved later in life. This isn't they can't always fulfill God's ideal role for them.
And I'm not saying that, you know, God's just perpetually upset with them or angry and that they still can't do great for things for God if they can't fulfill this role.
They still can. We're going to look at other ways in which women can serve Lord, serve the Lord in the ministry.
OK, but this is God's ideal situation, isn't it? This is what he lays out here, that the women are to bear children and guide the house there to be homekeepers, keepers at home, the Bible says.
And to me, that's you know, and people today want to look, they would hear me say that and they would say, oh, you're so chauvinistic and you just want women to just, you know, be these doormats or something like that.
And but here's the thing, I'm not the one that's saying it, you know, and I'm and personally, I don't devout think this is a lower position.
You know, this isn't this isn't, you know, something that's that's just, you know, well, you got nothing better to do.
Just why don't you just have some kids and keep the house? That's a very high calling, you know.
And look, I don't I like to bring when I have opportunity to bring that up because, you know, nobody else is going to bring that up in this world today.
Not too many other people are going to praise women for having children and keeping home.
They're not you know, they're not you know, they're not going to do it on the mainstream media.
They're not going to do it in our entertainment. They're not going to do it in schools.
They're going to tell them, hey, you could be whatever you want.
And look, women have the ability and intelligence, the opportunity to go out today and truly be whatever they want.
You know, they can go ahead and be vice president.
They can go ahead and be the head of some CEO, you know, be the CEO of some company, and they'll probably do a great job at it.
You know, they could put on a power suit and some heels and clack around some office and sound big and bad and boss men around and fire people and hire people and make lots of money.
You can do all that. Right. But is that what God wills for women?
No, this is what he wills. And I'm not you know, and there's more to life than just making money and being successful.
You know, raising godly children, you know, running a godly home.
That's a high calling. The world might not look at that way, but that is what God has ordained.
And God will be pleased when ladies seek to fulfill that role. And I believe that is a part of a woman's ministry on this earth.
Now, some of the other arguments they'll make up and say, well, there's there's there's lady preachers in the Bible, though, you know, there's there's women that led in the Bible, like in judges.
We won't take the time to turn it all there. But if you remember Deborah, the prophetess.
Right. When she was she was the one that, you know, that they came to that Barak came to.
Right. When they were in rebellion, you know, they were being oppressed and barracks comes and she tells them, look, you need to go and fight.
And she went and called Barak, the son of Abinom, out of Kadesh, Naphtali, and said unto him,
Hath not God, the Lord God of Israel, commanded, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take under the ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and the children of Zebulun?
And I will draw into the to the river of Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitudes, and I will deliver him into thine hands.
So this is a woman that's, you know, the prophetess that's telling him, hey, you need to sit.
Look, they're seeing judges. You got a prophetess. And she's telling this man what to do.
But you have to remember, what's the theme of judges? Every man did that, which is right in his own eyes.
When there was no ruler in Israel, when there was when people were in rebellion to God, that's what's going on in the story.
They're being oppressed by the enemy because men aren't leading, because men aren't doing what's right.
And when and I've said this before, when, you know, nature does not will not put up with a vacuum, you know, and in this these dynamics with men and women, there cannot be a power vacuum.
Something will get sucked into that vacuum. And if men will not step up and fulfill the role that they are demanded by God to do, to step up and fulfill that role, women will fulfill that role because somebody has to lead.
There has to be a leader. Somebody has to call the shots. Somebody has to make decisions.
You can't just have this apathy on all sides where just nothing ever gets done. That just leads to chaos and disorder and things fall apart and things get terrible.
You know, there's a vacuum there. And if men don't do their job, you know, Deborah the prophetess will step up and do it.
Not necessarily because she's just, you know, has wants to just strut her stuff and show everybody how great she is.
But because somebody has to lead. Somebody has to do it. If the men aren't going to do it, well, someone's got to do it.
And look, this happens in households all the time where the men just decide, well, you know, I just I don't want to lead.
You know, we're a 50-50. There's no such thing as 50-50 in a marriage. I don't believe that.
You know, it's more and there might be 51-49, but look that that those two points usually go to the ladies.
Right. And they're the ones that are calling the shots. I mean, how do you explain how we've gotten to this where we're at in this country today?
It's big. You know, you can say, well, it's because of feminism. It's because of, you know, all the liberalism that's being taught and that.
Yeah, obviously that's that's part of it. But what did that come from? It came from men backing down and saying, well, you know, who are we to let, you know, stand in their way.
Just let them do whatever they want and getting away from the word of God and not holding their ground, backing down.
And that's what's going on in judges. You got a bunch of men that were not leading. Deborah steps up. And what is she?
But what does she say? What does she tell him? And Barak said under her, if thou will go with me.
Then I will go. I mean, this is how weak this guy is. She's saying, look, go. God's going to deliver the enemy into your hand.
He said, well, Deborah, if you come with me, I'll go. Right.
So this is the you know, he needs to have mama there with him holding his hand the whole time and telling me he's a good boy.
And, you know, this is weak leadership, in my opinion. And Barak said under her, if thou will not go with me, then I will go.
But if thou will not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee because she just wants this job to get done.
It's like, if it's going to take me to go with you and make sure you do this, then I'll go.
And she goes on and she says, notwithstanding, the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor, for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.
And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh. So she says, look, I'll go with you if that's what it's going to take to get the job done.
But just understand this, Barak, when the victory is done, you're not going to get credit for it.
She said, a woman's going to, because you need a woman to hold your hand and get you there.
You know, then God's going to give it to a woman. And by the way, that woman was not Deborah.
It was Jael, right? She was. And what was Jael? She was a housewife, right?
Sisera turns aside and goes into her tent. She she says, yeah, come in. Don't worry, it's safe.
She gives him some more milk and puts a blankie on him, puts him to sleep.
Then she grabs a tent spike and shoves it through his head with a hammer and just decapitates him.
Go read the story. It's awesome. Right. But that's who got the honor.
It wasn't Deborah saying, well, if I go with you, then everyone will know that I, Deborah, the great prophetess, is the one that delivered Israel.
You're saying, you know what, Barak, if you need me to go, I'll go. But God's going to give the honor unto a woman.
And God gave that honor unto what? Just a just a plain, everyday housewife.
She she crushes the leader of the enemy and delivers Israel.
OK, you know, so that's when people will turn to that and say, oh, what about Deborah?
You know, it's like, well, have you ever actually read the story?
Have you actually gone and actually looked at it and read every line and see what it's really going on here?
And then they'll also point to, you know, other people, other another lady, Hulda.
All right. That's a great name. Hulda. Any of you ladies that are, you know, you couples that are looking for another baby name.
You got a girl on the way, Hulda. OK, no. All right. At least I know it's available.
So Hekiah, the priest. And of course, this is a story when, you know, Josiah, they clean out the house of the Lord.
They find the word of God. They find the law. They find the Bible, basically.
And they bring it to him and say, look, we found this book of the law.
And they're Israel so backslidden at this point that they don't even have a copy of the word of God around.
They're like, we dust this old thing off and they read it and they find out that they're totally backslidden and that they're not right with God.
And so Josiah sends Hekiah, the priest, Nahikim and Achbor and Shaphan and Asaiah unto Hulda, the prophetess,
the wife of Shalom, the son of Tikva, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe.
Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college and they communed with her.
And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, tell the man that sent you to me.
Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof,
even all the words of this book, which the king of Judah hath read, because they have forsaken me and have burnt incense under God.
So say, well, what about Hulda? Well, you know, these people are so they just love this to play this, you know, context game.
You know, Paul, you got to remember the context. Well, let's look at the context here.
God's saying, look, you forsaken me and you burnt incense to other gods.
You provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my wrath shall be kindled against this place and shall not be quenched.
So when we see in the Old Testament where women are actually fulfilling that role of leadership, it's not a good thing.
It's because the men are weak because they're not doing their job and God is punishing them.
You know, if you would go over to Titus, chapter number two, I don't know where I had to go, but go to Titus, chapter number two.
So, yeah, God has, you know, a role for women in ministry, but you know what? It's not leading.
It's not preaching. It's not making decisions in the church. It's not being the one leading the charge.
That was something that Barak was supposed to do.
That was something the men of Josiah's day were supposed to be doing to making sure that they're right with God and keeping the nation right.
Look at Titus, chapter two, verse one. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
So, you know, heads up, everything that's coming after this is sound doctrine.
He's saying this is sound doctrine. Everything I'm about to tell you, this is what I want you to teach.
This is what sound doctrine is.
That the age of men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith and charity and patience.
The age of women likewise, that they be in behavior such as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not giving them much wine, teacher of good things.
That they may teach the young women.
So do women have a role in ministry? Yeah. Is there a teaching? Yeah.
But it's teaching younger women, right? And what is it that they teach them to do?
To get a PhD. You know, to make lots of money. No.
Teach young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
So, you know, ladies want a teaching ministry here. There you go. Teach that.
You know, the best way to teach that is by example.
You know, the younger women should be able to look at the elder women in the church who have successfully done all these things and go to them and say, hey, how do I do that?
How do I, you know, love my husband? How do I love my children?
What does it mean for me to be discreet and chaste? What helped me to be a keeper at home?
And look, being a keeper at home is a big job.
It's a lot of work to keep house, especially when you have younger children coming in the picture.
So it's a very important job. Help me to be obedient.
You know, that's the teaching ministry that's there for women.
It's for the elder to teach the younger to do these things, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
I won't, for sake of time, have you go to Proverbs chapter 31 and read, you know, about the virtuous woman.
You know, the virtuous woman is all about all the work that she's doing with her hands, looking well to the ways of her household.
That's what she's being praised for. The fact that she gets up early and she, you know, she she makes she gets things done for her house.
Right. Go read Proverbs 31. There's no talk about, you know, and she goes out and, you know, preaches to the congregation.
You know, she she sits everyone down and opens the word of God. There's none of that there.
It's all the work that she's doing in her home. And what is the result that she's praised by her husband and her children?
The people that should matter the most in a lady's life. You know, the praise of the world is fleeting.
They're going, oh, employee of the month. Big deal. Big deal to employee of the month. Next month will be a different one.
You know, if you have the praise of your husband and your children saying well done and the praise of God saying well done,
fulfill the role that God has given you, that's something that's going to last eternally.
And look, that's not to say that women can't serve God in other ways. God has ordained other ways for women to serve.
If you would go over to Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter number four.
You know, women can you want to be a preacher, go out and preach the gospel.
You know, that's that's some of the most important preaching that could ever be done is to go out and tell people how to go to heaven.
I mean, what if we stop doing that here? What you said? You know what?
I'm just going to preach here and we're not going to do any more soul winning, which is going to be us.
And if someone happens to drift on in here somehow, they stumble in here.
Great. Well, you know, we're just not going to preach the gospel anymore.
Men and women. I mean, think about all the souls that would go unsaved.
Think all the people that would end up in hell that otherwise would have gotten saved.
Does that kind of help you see the importance of soul winning? How important it is?
And look, that's that is a ministry that is wide open to ladies.
And honestly, some of the best soul winners I've seen are women.
And they I've found typically that when a group of ladies go out, we usually have a salvation.
And it's usually the ladies that get it. Because some of us guys are a little too rough around the edges, I think, or something.
I don't know what it is. But people, you know, and I know it's not always this way, but it seems like people are a little bit nicer to the ladies.
You know, they're they're willing to stand there and look at them longer than they would us.
You know, who can blame them? Right. I mean, right. My my reflection put in for a divorce the other day.
You know, so that's a very important role that they'll they'll have an appeal deal.
The rich people that we as men cannot, you know, and in Acts, you know, when Peter stood up and he lifted up his voice and he preached that great sermon,
you know, he he quotes Joel and says, and it is shall come to pass in the last day,
saith the Lord, say, God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughter shall prophesy.
And your young men shall see visions and your old old men shall dream dreams.
And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy.
And what's the prophesying that's taking place there? It's not a foretelling of the future.
It's the prophesying is what took place in Acts chapter two, where they preached the word of God and all to all those different in all those different languages.
The spirit came upon them. They spoke with tongues and not the type of tongues.
The last church I was in here believes in where they're babbling, but actual, you know, go read the chapter where they're actually talking.
They name the specific languages that were spoken at that time.
That was the time. That's what it means to speak in a different tongue, to speak a language that's foreign to you.
You know, like, I don't know Spanish. If I were just miraculously be able to begin speaking in Spanish, that would be me speaking in another tongue, speaking in tongues.
And look, that's what happened in Acts two, and it was men and women. It was young men and maidens.
It was servants and maidens that did that. And 3000 people were added under the church that were baptized.
So God used them in a mighty way. If you're in Philippians chapter four, look at verse one.
Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown so stand fast.
Lord, my dear beloved, I beseech Yodis and I beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind, the Lord.
And I believe those are two ladies that he's referring to. I entreat thee also a true yoke fellow.
Help those women in the Lord. Excuse me.
Help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with my fellow laborers whose names are in the Book of Life.
I mean, Paul saying, look, there's you got some ladies over there that helped me in the gospel that labored with me.
You need to help them. You need to be the same mind. You need to help them. They labored in the gospel.
Look, women in ministry, they have a role, you know, not only just in their homes,
but also here in the local church in terms of preaching the gospel, laboring in the gospel.
And don't ever think that that's just some kind of second class job. That is the main thrust of what we do.
I mean, a lot of what I do up here is just to encourage you and to motivate you to go out and do that job and to be faithful to it.
That's how important it is for me to exhort and to teach the doctrine so they can go out there and be successful at that.
And that's that going out and preaching the gospel. That's for everyone.
That's how important it is. So, you know, just desiring to be up behind the pulpit and being in the spotlight and being the one that teaches that can,
you know, if you're willing to set aside the word of God and and say, well, I know that's what the Bible says, but I'm going to do it anyway.
You know, that's just pride. That's not that's not a heart for for for souls.
That's not coming out of a place of love of the Lord and wanting to serve God. That's just coming out.
That's coming from a place of pride. I've got to be the one that's up there.
I've got to be the one that's opening up the Bible and has everybody's attention.
I've got to be the one that's up there preaching and teaching the word of God, even though the Bible says that, you know, as a woman, I'm not allowed to do that.
Well, you know what? That's that's just pride. And we typically associate pride with men.
But you know what? Pride is, you know, something you associate with sinners in general.
Men and women are capable of pride. Now, men are probably more prone to it than other than them ladies.
But women can be just as proud in that area in that area and say, I've got to be the big shot there.
You know, I've got to just ignore these passages and explain them away so that I can be in the limelight.
And meanwhile, you know, the real work that needs to be done goes undone.
The work of actually going out there and opening your mouth and boldly making known the gospel goes undone.
And that's the most important job, really. You think about it. I mean, think about it.
Just think about the consequences of, you know, if you come here, you know, coming here and I'm teaching you the word of God.
You know, you're going to learn doctrine. You're going to learn things. You're not you're not going to learn anything you couldn't learn on your own.
You're going to learn at a faster pace. Right. But what if what if you didn't come? You know, you're still saved.
You're still going to go to heaven. You know, life might not be as good as it is here.
You might not know the things, the word of God, the do's and don'ts and all that. You won't have the fellowship.
You know, there's there's still consequences. But what about the consequences of people just never hearing the gospel?
That's a that consequence. You know, that's a far greater consequence, isn't it?
I mean, you living a watered down, backslidden Christian life, that's not good. Somebody going to hell is a lot worse.
So that just tells me that the real the real important work of the ministry is going out and preaching the gospel.
And that door's wide open to everybody. You know, but is that going to get you in the limelight?
Is that going to get your name in lights? You know, is that going to get you 100 views on YouTube?
No, it's not. But, you know, it's going to it's going to get you rewards in heaven.
It's going to make God's going to pour out a spirit upon you. God's going to be pleased with you.
There's going to be people in heaven that are glad that you as a man or woman came to their door and fulfilled that role and got them saved.
So, look, women in ministry, they have a place. They have a role. And it's an important one.
It's just not up here. It's just not preaching the Bible to everybody else. And that's fine.
You know, it doesn't have to be that way. We'll be you know, we'll we'll manage now, if you would.
And there's so many other passages we could look at where women play an important part in in these ministries,
if you would go over to Acts 16, go over to Acts Chapter 16.
Think about in Luke eight, right, you got it came to pass afterward that he,
Jesus went through every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the King of God and the 12 are with him.
And who else was with him? Certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and firmities.
Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Cuzzah,
Herod's steward and Susanna and many others, which ministered unto him out of their substance.
I mean, Jesus had ladies, you know, following him around and were ministering unto him of their substance.
You know, they were taking him into his home, taking the apostles home, you know, feeding them and sheltering them,
giving them a rest, a break from the work that they were doing. That's important.
That's one way they were ministering.
You're in Acts 16, verse 13.
On the Sabbath day, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wanted to be made,
and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God,
heard us, whose heart the Lord had opened and that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying, put me into the ministry.
I want to do what you do, Paul. I want to be a preacher just like you.
No, she said, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.
And she constrained us. So again, this is a way that she ministered to them.
You know, she brought him into her house and ministered on the man of God and helped Paul to go on and continue doing what he's doing.
And look, there's other passages we could go to.
I don't want to belabor the point, but the point is this, is that when it comes to women in ministry, you know, you could when I get up and say,
hey, women are not to teach nor to serve authority of the man. That's what the Bible says.
Let your women be in silence, as also say at the law.
You know, you could you could get better out of shape of that and just say, I'm never going back to that church.
Who do they think they are? Or you could just understand that that's just God's ordained order.
That doesn't make you second class. That doesn't make you lesser.
That just means that you just don't have that role. And look, there's other roles that that ladies have that men cannot fulfill that we're told not to fulfill.
You know, we can't be the keepers at home. OK. And I'll say it again.
Men are not to be the keepers at home. And there's something strange going on when you got these these stay at home dads.
OK. And I personally know people that are in that position and they say, well, she can make more money.
Yeah, but you know what? That's not what God ordained. There's more to life than money.
And it's completely backwards when when the wife is going out and being the breadwinner and dad staying at home.
And it's not because dad wants to stay at home and make it spic and span and cook a nice meal.
And it's because dad wants a lot of times stay home, play video games and smoke weed or do whatever else they do and just put the kids in front of a television.
It's because dad's actually lazy. OK. That's not saying that's mom's role to do either.
OK. Mom doesn't do any of those things either. But women, you know, they're better suited for those for those roles to go home.
They want to be the homemaker. They want to keep house. They want to have a nice space where they can come home out of the world and feel welcome and safe and relaxed.
They want to make that delicious meal. All of that. They want to raise those kids and enjoy those children.
That's just something that's in them. That's not really in men. You know, we just want to come home and have somebody else already done those things for us.
Right. And enjoy those things. Because the man's role is to go out and earn the living to work hard, you know, and to bring home the bacon.
You know, literally bring home the bacon. Bacon's good. Right. So those are important roles, you know.
And there's there's some roles that women just aren't going to fulfill in ministry.
And there's some roles that men aren't going to fulfill that, you know, God has ordained this from the beginning.
And these people that want to argue about this and, you know, and try to explain it with the scriptures, they don't have a leg to stand on.
The Bible is crystal clear on the subject, you know, and that's the that's the line that we hold here.
That's what that you know, and that's that's the one we're going to hold until Jesus comes here.
OK, because that's what the Bible says, you know. So let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.