man well I apologize in advance that when the service is over I am gonna have
to leave really quick afterwards so hopefully I got to say hi to you earlier
but we have to drive seven hours tonight so soon as the service is over we're
gonna be out of here but we're on a road trip we're driving 6,700 miles in four
weeks preaching 14 different times all over America you guys are the first stop
and it's been great really enjoyed being here today and talking to everybody
going out soul winning etc but I'm going through the pastoral epistles on this
trip and so we're on 1st Timothy chapter number two which is a great little
chapter and one of the things I love about the pastoral epistles is that
they're just so packed with great stuff that you know I remember when I was a
kid and I always heard how I need to read my Bible every day and because I
was a kid and I wanted to play and fool around and do other stupid things with
my time instead of spending a lot of time reading the Bible like I should
have been doing I was a kid I was immature but I knew I'm supposed to read
my Bible every day and I remember I'd hear preachers say you know read until
you get something out of it they would say and so I would always just either go
straight to the pastoral epistles or Proverbs because I knew I'd get
something out of it really quick and then I could get back outside doing
whatever or you know so that's why don't just read until you get something out of
it you get something out of it keep going anyway but the pastoral epistles
are great like that as far as just being packed with wonderful teachings and and
it's it's just like a powerhouse of the New Testament right here and so it says
in verse number one of chapter two I exhort therefore that first of all
supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men and
what you're gonna notice in this first part of chapter two here is how much all
comes up right because he says prayer should be made for all men and then it
says in verse number four who will have all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth and then in verse six it says that Christ gave himself a
ransom for all now the emphasis here is on everybody right and the idea here is
that God wants everyone to be saved Jesus Christ died on the cross for
everyone we should go out and preach the gospel to everyone because God's will is
that all men would be saved why should prayers and supplications be made for
all men because God wants all men to be saved because Jesus Christ died on the
cross for all men that's why now there's a teaching out there called Calvinism
and one of the points of Calvinism in their Tulip right the L and Tulip is
limited atonement and it teaches that Jesus Christ only died for some he only
died for the elect but here's the thing about that it contradicts the plain
teaching of Scripture and they have all kinds of arguments and logic and
philosophy and they always tell if you read this book by this theologian he'll
explain it whatever but you know over and over again the clear teaching of
Scripture is that Jesus Christ tasted death for every man he died not for our
sins only but also for the sins of the whole world and the Bible says here he
gave himself a ransom for all elsewhere it says he's the savior of all men
especially of those that believe now how could he be especially of those that
believe that means he's also the savior of those who don't believe he's the
savior of all men but especially of those that believe because here's the
thing Christ his work on the cross is only applied to you once you believe on
him but he's there waiting he's the god of the whole worth well he's the god of
the whole earth and he's the savior of the whole world he's waiting right but
you have to receive him as your savior you have to believe on him in order for
that payment to be applied for you but he died not for our sins only but also
for the sins of the whole world the Bible says he is purchased and paid for
everyone since it's just that not everyone has believed on him to get that
payment applied to their account and so he said that prayers should be made for
all men it says in verse 2 for kings and for all that are in authority that we
may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty for this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all men to be
saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth now one of the big reasons to
pray for all leaders right it says for kings and for all that are in authority
pray for them the Bible says pray for them so that we could lead a quiet and
peaceable life because our leaders could really create problems for us right I
mean the decisions that are being made in Congress or the White House or the
Supreme Court they could affect our ability to carry out the mission of
preaching the gospel to every creature and God wants all men to be saved and so
because God wants all men to be saved we should pray for the leadership that they
would allow us to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty we're so blessed in America to have the freedom to go out and preach
the gospel to every creature we can go out knock doors and go soul winning and
every once in a while we'll be soul winning and the police will be called
and they'll come out and say that we're trespassing or that we have to leave a
certain neighborhood or whatever but they're wrong every single time even
legally they're wrong okay now look if it were illegal to go soul winning I
just keep doing it anyway and I don't even care because God has commanded us
to go preach the gospel to every creature I'm not gonna stop but it's
legal and if there's a local ordinance against it that local ordinance is
worthless because all laws that are repugnant to the US Constitution are
null and void the Constitution is the highest power in the land and in the
20th century the Jehovah's Witnesses obviously they're a false religion
they're not preaching the truth but the Jehovah's Witnesses they fought this
thing of going door-to-door all the way to the Supreme Court and they fought it
about apartment complexes and mobile home parks and all these type of places
and the Supreme Court determined that they have the right to go and knock
doors in all of these places they can walk up to places that are in homeowners
associations apartments mobile home parks whatever and they can knock doors
and it's part of their First Amendment right to practice their religion and you
know we are blessed to live in a country where that's the law of the land
that we have that freedom and that the Supreme Court has ruled in in our favor
on that even though it was someone else who fought the battle God uses things
like that so that we can carry out the real mission our mission of going out
and preaching the gospel and so we've got the First Amendment we've got those
kind of Supreme Court decisions we've got all of this freedom and you know
what we have the right to raise our children by homeschooling them and
teaching them the Bible and spanking them right we don't we're not in a
country where it's illegal to spank your kids or where we have to put them in the
public school system or whatever we have all these freedoms but here's the thing
those things could change in the future there are countries in this world where
if preachers got up and preached the way that I preach week after week they could
be put in jail and where parents could be put in jail or or where their kids
could be forcibly removed from their home and taken by police escort to
school that's not just a theory I mean that actually happens in places like
Germany for example and so we're really blessed in the United States and so God
is telling us here that we should pray for Kings and for all that are in
authority that we would lead a quiet and peaceable life basically pray for them
to leave us alone pray for them to make laws and decisions that would benefit
God's people and not hinder the mission of God's people to go forward now let me
help you understand this by just taking you back one page if you keep your
finger there back to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 because the Bible says
something similar in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 it should just be one page
earlier it says finally brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may
have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be
delivered from unreasonable and wicked man for all men have not faith so what's
he asking for prayer and he's saying look pray that the Word of God can
freely go I mean are we gonna get more people saved if it's legal to go
soul-winding or if it's illegal are we gonna get more people saved in a place
where there's freedom of speech and where the message can just freely flow
obviously yes because there are wicked and unreasonable men out there they want
to shut down the truth they want to censor our message or even make it
illegal for us to serve God and preach the word and so that's what we need to
be praying because God wants everybody to be saved and so we want the Word of
God to have free course so that everybody can hear the gospel look at
first Timothy chapter 2 once again and he says that let me find my place here
there we go who will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of
the truth verse 4 look at verse 5 for there's one God and one mediator between
God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be
testified in due time so at the end of verse 4 we have this thing of coming to
the knowledge of the truth and then at the end of verse 6 he says that Christ
gave himself a ransom for all so that he could be testified in due time you know
Christ has died on the cross Christ was buried and three days later he rose
again from the dead and that message needs to get out to every man woman boy
and girl and people in order to be saved they have to come to the knowledge of
the truth the biggest reason why people aren't saved is because they don't know
the gospel literally that's the big reason now if it were just a matter of
everybody already knows the gospel and a lot of people just don't care you know
have rejected it or whatever then you know I wouldn't really be as
zealous about soul-winning I would just kind of think to myself well you know
these these idiots you know that's their problem but honestly I go out
soul-winning all the time at least in Arizona where I live and I run into
people who don't have a clue about the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and
then when they are enlightened on that once it's explained to them they get
saved now if there are all these people out there just sitting there and if they
knew what the gospel was they would get saved man that should really motivate us
to want to get that knowledge to them because it'd be one thing if they were
just rebellious against the Lord then we could kind of just blame them but you
know if they don't even know if they don't even know that salvation is by
faith if they haven't even heard a clear presentation of the gospel if no one has
even taught them what it takes to be saved that's really a shame that's
really sad and when we have the truth we have the answer you know if we could
just get this information to people and so we want to bring them to that
knowledge of the truth God wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth Christ needs to be testified and witnessed and and everyone
needs to hear this message and so we want to pray for all men and we want to
pray for leaders especially that they would allow us to do this work and that
they would allow the Word of God to have free course and that we be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men now what does it mean to pray for all men to
pray for all men I mean obviously I can't sit there and just go down a list
of eight billion people and just start praying through the phone book or
something and I got you know okay we got four point seven million people in in
Maricopa County Arizona I'm just gonna go down that phone book and you know I'm
just I'm praying for all the Andersons today and I'm just praying for thousands
of people named Anderson and you know obviously that's not really what the
Bible is saying that's not really what would be the practical way of
implementing this verse right what does it mean to pray for all men what does
that mean I would say that in this context what the Bible is saying is that
when we come into contact with people pray for them people that were aware of
pray for them people that we meet people that we encounter pray for them right so
when we're out soul winning we knock on just a random person's door they come to
the door one person's doing the talking and hopefully the other person while
that person's here in the gospel is praying right isn't that part of the
ministry of being the silent partner is that you know you're just kind of hanging
out as the silent partner but one thing that you should be doing in your heart
and don't do this out loud okay but you should be praying in your heart that
that person would be saved right and and the type of things that I pray when I'm
a silent partner is I'll pray dear Lord you know please allow there to be no
distractions right now please don't let anything interrupt this conversation
because how many times do you preach the gospel somebody and then somebody shows
up and interrupts so I'd be praying like Lord please allow nothing to interrupt
this conversation and I would just pray that the person would understand what's
being said that it would be explained in such a way that they would get it and
that the soul winner who's talking would have the right words to say that
they would actually grasp what's being taught and if there's any objection in
their mind or any obstacle or hindrance that hopefully the person doing the
talking would actually know to touch on whatever's needed right those are the
kind of things that you could pray as a silent partner and so I would say if
you're going out and knocking doors and preaching the gospel to every creature
and you knock on a door and somebody's being witness to and you just start
praying for that random person you're praying for all men you know you're
fulfilling this command of Scripture right there because you're going out and
talking to everybody and you're praying for them right or you could you're
praying before you go out so any Lord we're going to this apartment complex
prepare the hearts of the people in that complex lead us to the people that are
receptive the people that want to hear the gospel help us to find them help
them to be home and then maybe after you're done you pray about some of the
seeds that were planted you pray about some of the people that you talk to but
even sometimes just when I'm in public if I'm doing something and I'm going
I'll just see people in public and I'll just start praying for random people I
mean I'll just walk by a random stranger and I'll just be like Lord I don't know
who this person is but I just pray that they would hear the gospel that somebody
would knock their door and that when somebody knocks their door they would be
smart enough to listen or just I just always will just be praying for people
to be saved I just see random people and I'll just pray for them that's just you
know just praying for all men now obviously the Bible talks about how
there are people that are just these horrible haters of God and they're
they're beyond the hope of salvation and you have verses like in Jeremiah for
example where God says pray not for this people I'll not hear you these people
are reprobate silver and the Lord has rejected them and and don't pray for
them but here's the thing we don't really know necessarily who those
people are so until somebody's proven to be a reprobate until somebody shows
themselves to be a reprobate we should give people the benefit of the doubt and
just assume that everybody out there is someone that we should be praying for
because in general we're supposed to just be praying for people and just the
people that we see in public and the people that we run into out soul winning
just pray for people to be saved you know why not just have an attitude that
just and you say well that's kind of weird you just walk by somebody and just
pray for them real quick why not right and and why not just have a mentality
wanting what God wants which is wanting all men to be saved and wanting for
people to hear the gospel and to come to that knowledge of the truth and so the
apostle Paul here starts out in this chapter by talking about the fact that
we need to pray for all men God wants all men to be saved in order to be saved
they've got to come to the knowledge of the truth we've got to give them that
message we've got to testify of Jesus Christ and therefore in verse 7 it says
that Paul is ordained a preacher and an apostle I speak the truth in Christ and
lie not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity saying look this is why
I exist this is why God has ordained me to be an apostle is so that I could take
this message to the whole world to the Gentiles so that they could be saved as
well and I could be a teacher of the Gentiles then in verse 8 he somewhat
changes the subject here and he says I will therefore that men pray everywhere
lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting and like man are also the women
doing themselves in modest apparel now it kind of seems like we're talking
about something completely different now because we spent the first seven verses
talking about God's desire for everyone to be saved how we need to get the
knowledge and and the testimony of Christ out to the nations and out to the
world and then all of a sudden he says well I want men to pray everywhere and I
want women to be in modest apparel in like manner now just the fact that it
says therefore in verse 8 and the fact that verse 9 starts with in like manner
also there has to be a connection here this can't just be changing the subject
because we wouldn't have these really strong conjunctions like therefore right
if there's a therefore then obviously it's tying to what we just said and so
why would praying everywhere and lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting
why would that be connected to reaching all men with the gospel why would that
be connected and then what in the world would women being dressed in modest
apparel have to do with either of those two things so think about that for a
moment but I would say that God wants us in verse 8 here to make it known to the
people around us that we are Christians so if he says I will therefore that men
pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting he's saying
don't be a Christian secretly be a Christian openly right lifting up your
hands is like hey everybody I'm here praying right now not like you know you
look at look both ways drop something and you're like dear Jesus please bless
this food amen the point is to let it known that we are a Christian now again
we could balance this with the fact that Christ said all of the Pharisees they
love to pray on the street corners you know you should go and enter into your
closet and pray to your father in secret and your father would see it then secret
shall reward you openly obviously the vast majority of our praying happens in
private doesn't it the most important praying that we do is secret it's
between us and God and we're not going out putting on a big show about praying
but I believe what he's saying here when he says I will therefore that men pray
everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting he's not saying put
on a show impress people he's just saying make it known that you're a
Christian don't be like well I can't pray here I can't talk about Christ here
I can't invoke spiritual things here no you know it should be something that
we're open about and the people that you work with the people that you go to
school with they should know that you're a Christian you don't have to be a
Pharisee or holier-than-thou or make a big deal about it but why not make it
known that you are a Christian because you know what that's literally step one
of witnessing to the people in your personal life is just letting them know
that you're Christian and just doing that is like half the battle because if
people know that you're Christian they'll often ask you they'll often talk
to you and you'll get opportunities to talk to people about Christ if you just
make it known that you're a Christian don't be ashamed of Christ the Bible
says that we should not be ashamed of Jesus in this evil and adulterous
generation I mean imagine the irony of living in an evil and adulterous
generation and then you're ashamed of Jesus when in reality it's this
generation that's shameful not us I'm not ashamed to be an independent
fundamental Baptist I'm not ashamed to be a fundamentalist Christian I'm not
ashamed to be an evangelical I'm not ashamed to be a clean living Christian
when the world out there is promoting all kinds of filth you know they should
be ashamed of adultery they should be ashamed of wickedness why would we be
ashamed of being Christian why not just lift up holy hands everywhere without
wrath and without doubting you know instead of getting mad and getting angry
about all the problems of the world we live in why don't we just shine the
light of Christ and just look on the bright side say well you know what the
darker it is out there the brighter our lights gonna shine and the weirder it
gets out there the more our preaching is gonna make sense to people and they're
gonna understand why we preach the way we do they'll understand where the end
of this road it goes that the world is heading on no wrath right lift up holy
hands without wrath and without doubting you know just hey I'm a Christian I'm
saved let it be known in like manner also that women adorn themselves in
modest apparel with shame face of this and sobriety what does that have to do
with men praying everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting
well here's the thing about that is that in the Bible it's clearly taught that
men are the leaders in the local church men are the leaders in the family the
husband is the head of the wife the Bible says right he is the head of the
household and in church the Bible clearly teaches that the preaching is
done by men right the pastor is a man the Bible says right here in this
passage in verse 12 I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the
man but to be in silence okay so women are not front and center when it comes
to the public ministry of God's Word and the preaching and teaching of God's Word
and when it comes to running the church and so forth they have more of a
behind-the-scenes role not the front and center leadership role that's the Bible
it doesn't matter what the world out there does and if they decide to go down
this feminist road or whatever it doesn't matter whether that offends you
the Bible says that women are to keep silence in the churches 1st Corinthians
14 it says it's not permitted unto them to speak okay so that's why we're not
gonna have a female preacher we're not gonna have a woman up here preaching or
pastoring or leading and so men are the more public face as far as proclaiming
the Word of God because you've got men that are preaching on YouTube for
example or men that are preaching behind pulpits or men that are leading churches
and so forth and then men are a good testimony in that way proclaiming Christ
and and and being a good Christian and then women part of their testimony is
their godliness as a woman and part of that has to do with dressing modestly
submitting to their husband the meek and quiet spirit now it's a more subtle
message the meek and quiet spirits ends but it is a message nonetheless that
this world needs to hear and so the Bible teaches that just as men should be
praying everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting you know
here's the thing if I went to a big event or something let's say I went to a
some kind of a sporting event and they said hey we're gonna open in prayer
who's ever been to a sporting event that opened in prayer I've been to a ton of
sporting events that opened in prayer and you know if I were in a sporting
event with 200 people there and they said hey let's open our sporting event
in prayer let's ask God to bless this sporting event wouldn't you expect a man
to be leading that prayer and not a woman again nothing against women but
it's just the Bible has different roles for men and women and the Bible teaches
that men are supposed to be the ones leading in congregations and so forth
and even though that's not church you'd expect a man to take that spiritual
leadership publicly front and center in front of 200 people you'd expect a man
to be able to get up and lead in prayer at that baseball game or whatever
now you say pastor Anderson why are you talking about that only three people
have ever even been to a sporting event like that I'm just trying to help you
understand what this passage is saying okay men are the ones who'd be out there
you know opening Congress in prayer or you know leading a big group in prayer
or a sporting event or whatever government event or whatever you know
you think men would be the ones that would be publicly proclaiming these
things loudly women are a good testimony by being adorned in modest apparel being
godly women with a meek and quiet spirit as the Bible says that's a powerful
testimony and so the Bible here has these two things in contrast you know
men praying everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting and
like men are also women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame face of
this and sobriety not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array but
which becometh women professing godliness with good works now women
obviously although they're not having that public preaching and teaching
ministry they still have a spiritual role to play because first of all they
could be powerfully used by God talking to people one-on-one okay like we
strongly believe in women going out of soul winning I thank God we have a ton
of women that go soul winning at faithful word Baptist I'm sure you have
women here that go out soul winning and women can be greatly used by God out
soul winning and that's biblical because if you study the Bible in Acts chapter
two you know there were women there actually doing some of the witnessing
and so now who's the guy who's publicly leading that day of Pentecost gathering
it's Peter right Peters up there and he preaches to thousands of people and they
get saved and so forth but Peter wasn't the only one preaching the gospel there
were 120 people there and there were a lot of men preaching but there were also
a lot of women preaching because if you remember Peter said that that event at
the day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of Joel when he said I'll pour out my
spirit upon my servants and upon my handmaid ends handmaid ends and they
shall prophesy and he said look what you're seeing here at the day of
Pentecost is a fulfillment of that prophecy from Joel you got men and women
preaching the gospel to the lost but the difference is that women have a role of
preaching the gospel one-on-one right witnessing to people in your personal
life witnessing to people that you know witnessing door-to-door and you know what
that is powerful that is just as powerful look let me tell you so I've
been I've been going door-to-door soul winning since I was 17 years old so you
know about 24 25 years I've been out the soul winning at least like about every
week I've been out knocking doors preaching the gospel to people one-on-one
but I've also preached to a lot of crowds right you know we went to Guyana
and we're preaching at schools and preaching in crowds but you know what I
guarantee you that I've had more people saved one-on-one than preaching to
crowds because just talking to people one-on-one is powerful and you get a lot
of people saved talking to people one-on-one just just looking them right
in the eye just one-on-one and so women could be powerfully used by God and they
could get literally hundreds or even thousands of people saved just by going
out for decades week after week and talking to people witnessing to family
friends talking to people in their personal lives they could be powerfully
used by God to win the loss and they can also be a great testimony that would
cause people to want to come to Christ when they see your good works they're
gonna glorify your father which is in heaven and the Bible says here that
women should be adorned with those good works that is what is cumbling now women
care more about their parents than men right we as men we don't really care
that much about our appearance we don't really put that much work into it does
it show you know but I you know we don't put a lot of work into it it's just like
I'm dressed let's go you know pair of pants throw on a shirt whatever and we
don't really put that much effort or thought into it you know there's not a
lot of thought goes into my hairdo here because I just I just don't really care
that much right but here's the thing you know women they care more about their
parents than men in general and when we now if you knew a guy who was just super
into his appearance you'd probably think he's a little bit of a feminine or a
little bit of a pretty boy like dude come on you know like putting all this
effort into being so well quaffed it's a little manlier to just kinda all right
let's go you know whereas women tend to care a lot about their parents I'm not
saying that there's necessarily anything wrong with that okay it's just kind of
a fundamental difference between men and women women it's more important to
them but you know what God's saying here is that what's on the inside is a lot
more important than what's on the outside and that your good works and
your Christian attitude is way more important than how you look physically
ladies so even though women care more about their appearance than men and I
understand that as a man I can't really necessarily you know grasp that or
understand that because I've never been a woman so I can't really understand I
was once a man trapped in a woman's body but then my wife gave birth to me or my
mom gave birth to me I just ruined that joke I was once a male trapped in a
woman's body and then my mom gave birth to me that was the worst worst delivery
of a joke of all time but here's the thing about that is that you know I
can't understand I can't grasp the the obsession with the appearance but I'll
tell you this according to the Bible though according the Word of God you
know you need to worry ladies a lot more about your Christian testimony than just
a physical appearance you know so it look you could you could look perfect on
the outside you could have your hair perfect perfect complexion the right
clothing and everything like that but you know what's really important is that
people look at you on the outside and they see your good works and they see
your Christian behavior and that that's what impresses them about you and that
that's what they're gonna remember about you because let's face it there are a
lot of pretty faces out there right there are all kinds of beautiful women
in this world but how many really godly Christian ladies are there out there in
this world you know I mean if you really want to be valuable right the virtuous
woman her price is far above rubies and so if you really want to have value if
you really want to be special if you really want to be a commodity let me
tell you something be a godly Christian woman because that is what is of great
price and by the way that's what godly men are looking for if you're a young
single lady and you say well you know I got to look beautiful so that the you
know the right kind of man will be attracted to me and will want to marry
me you know I I don't want to be become an old maid or something you know I want
I want men to to want to marry me or whatever well you know what if you want
the right kind of guy to be interested in you you better start developing that
Christian virtue because that's what he's looking for he's looking for a
godly Christian that's what's important and if you want all men to be saved you
want to put a good example out there of what being a Christian is and so women
who are dressed in modest apparel and doing good works that gives Christ a
good name that gives Christianity a good name right and then men who are like I
said this morning excelling on their job being good people being godly and loving
and kind people you know they're giving Christianity a good name as well and so
that's what this chapter is getting at with this dichotomy between the men
praying everywhere you know men going out and letting people know that they're
a Christian and and being very public speaking the Word of God and then women
living that Christian life being in modest apparel shame-faced sober and so
forth that is becoming of them and if they profess godliness they should be
adorned more in good works than in these physical things you know the Bible says
here not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array why because women
who profess godliness should not be dressed in a flashy way that says hey
look at me that's the exact opposite of modesty right and a lot of people don't
understand what the word modest means but if I said I live in a modest home
what does that mean that means that it's not super expensive I'm not living in a
mansion it's not really fancy if I'm living in a modest home then it means
I'm living in a humble home if I said well you know I would play basketball
with you but I'm too modest you know that would be ironic because it sounds
like I'm bragging right there but modesty would be that I'm not going to
show off right I'm not trying to get attention and so the Bible says that
women should adorn themselves at modest apparel this means that women should
not dress in a way that says look at me you should not dress in such a way that
when you walk in to the church you're just the center of attention just
everybody just everybody's head just goes to you because you're lit up like a
Christmas tree and you're covered in sequins and you're you're you're all
glitter and you're all fancy and just screaming out and you know teenagers
they like sometimes to dress or do their hair for attention so they get really
wild with their outfits and really wild with their hairdo it's like hey
everybody look at me and you know what that's what God's saying we should not
do and another way in which you should not be seeking attention is with how
expensive your clothing is and by the way when we read these principles in the
Bible we should also apply it to other areas of life too because we want to get
not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law and so if God says
that I want women to be in modest apparel not with gold or pearls or
costly right do you think that God wants the pastor pulling up in like a $200,000
car I mean think about how stupid that do you think that the pastor should show
up and he's wearing our money suit and he's wearing just super expensive suits
and he's got a bunch of gold rings and jewelry and he's got a Ferrari out in
the parking lot he pulls up to church in a Corvette and you know I've seen
people driving just super wealthy car I mean this guy pulled up in some super
expensive Jaguar in Phoenix and his license plate was God's man and he was a
pastor of a church God's man you know that's a bad testimony you know why
because it's it's flashy it's like hey everybody look at me and look rich
people buy stuff like that because they were showing off it's not just that they
really think the seats are just that comfortable and they just really like
that vehicle I mean look the reason that you buy some Ferrari or so you know put
on some $20,000 suit or something it's because you're showing up it's not like
well then you know these are just the only suits that fit me and they happen
to be 20,000 yeah it's the only suit I look good in and it's $30,000 or we you
know these you know these are just the most comfortable shoes I could find in
there they're five grand I mean that's absurd it's called conspicuous
consumption it's where people buy things just to show off just just as a
status symbol like hey everybody look at me I've got this expensive jewelry
expensive clothes and and obviously the Bible doesn't talk about this because
it's written 2,000 years ago but you could also apply this to like expensive
cars right and living in some fancy mansion or something just to make a
point like hey everybody look at me that's a bad testimony as a Christian
okay and so women should be dressed in modest per a lot of people a lot of
people just think like oh modest apparel just means that they're not you know
they're not too scantily clad you know they're you know because we would think
of something immodest as like a really short skirt or a low-cut top or something
we say that's a much and that is a modest because that is trying to get
attention and whatever but it goes beyond that because you could check you
could take all the boxes of the knee-length skirt and and being covered
but if if you're wearing super expensive flashy clothes it doesn't matter how
modest they are as far as like oh they've checked all the Baptist boxes
but if you're trying to get attention by how fancy you're dressed your priorities
are all out of whack people should think of you for your godliness your piety
your Christianity not just you're just looks to them it's just the way that you
look it's all about your appearance that's pretty shallow if that's your
main value as a woman and so he says not with broided hair or gold or pearls or
costly right but which becometh 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 for Adam was
first formed then Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived
was in the transgression notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if
they continue in faith and charity with excuse me faith and charity and holiness
with sobriety now here's what we see here in the world today we've got
billions of people and many of them need to hear the gospel God wants all men to
be saved they need to come to the knowledge of the truth they need to hear
the testimony of Christ Jesus they need to get saved right it's our job to get
them saved as Christians right and so the Apostle Paul says that's why I exist
as an apostle I'm here to teach the Gentiles the gospel I want to get the
gospel to the world and then he says I want the men to be lifting up their
hands and praying everywhere and publicly proclaiming Christ as Savior
right and then he says I want the women to be in in modest apparel and meek and
quiet not not to be teaching in church or preaching the Word of God publicly or
or to be usurping authority over the man or to be running churches and
denominations and so forth but to be behind the scenes as a godly Christian
example of what a woman should be and of course also one-on-one and and you know
in everyday life and and in a in a in a less public way preaching the gospel to
the people that they come into contact with and the people that they run into
now if you think about this what's gonna get more people saved you know women
going out and usurping authority over the man say no no I'm gonna go preach to
thousands I'm gonna start a YouTube channel I'm gonna start preaching the
Word of God and I'm gonna reach thousands that way but you know what
here's the thing there are already lots of men out there preaching what the idea
is that you get in a local church and you support the man of God in that local
church as he fulfills that mission or you're married to some man who's
fulfilling that mission or you're just a godly church member in a church
somewhere as a woman you be the testimony you show them what a meek and
quiet spirit looks like and let me tell you something that is there a shortage
of men behind pulpits in America fearlessly proclaiming the Word of God
yes there is but you know there's also a shortage of godly Christian women
showing this world what a Christian woman looks like and so everybody needs
to be in their place and no one position is more important than the other every
man and woman needs to walk in the calling that God has given them and so
God has called me to be a pastor of a local church and I preach three times a
week at my local church and I lead the congregation that's my calling that's
what God asked for me the Apostle Paul had his calling right the Apostle Paul
is a preacher of the Gentiles he's an apostle of Jesus Christ and he's a
preacher of the Gentiles that's his job but you know women have their job too
and by the way not every man's gonna be a pastor not every man's gonna be a
preacher a lot of men again are just gonna be out doing one-on-one soul
winning door-to-door and that's that's that's the most important preaching that
happens anyway to be honest and so everybody has their place everybody has
their calling and if you want to do the most for God don't lean on your own
understanding get on God's program and so as a woman don't envy or covet what
men do or the life that men live and think like oh man if I were a man you
know the preaching I would do the sermons I would preach man you know
that's just kind of a foolish thought okay you don't you need to just exalt
and glorify the position that God has given you as a woman and desire to be
the most feminine godly meek righteous Christian woman that you could possibly
be rather than trying to fill some other role that God never intended for you in
the first place okay and as men we need to be more public and lead more because
that's what God has called us to do right and it's not that one's better
than the other it's not that one's more important because honestly there's a
shortage of both and we need both you know we need godly women as support and
we need godly men on the front lines out there fighting the spiritual battles
that we have because God wants all men to be saved and he died for everybody
every single person when Jesus Christ died on the cross he died for every
single person and obviously there are people for whom it is too late I mean if
people die without Christ it's over for them right there's no second chance once
a person dies without Jesus Christ it's too late for them it's over for them
okay and some people it's over for them even before they die because they reject
Christ ultimately for the last time but you know what Christ died for everybody
God so loved the world anybody has the chance to get saved before they get to
that point where it's too late and God wants all of us out there working hard
to get the gospel to every creature in this world he died for all men he wants
us to pray for all men he's willing that all men would be saved and come to the
knowledge of the truth and the best way that you can do that as a man is by
making it known that you're a Christian and being a great testimony as a
Christian man the best way that you can do that as a woman is by being a godly
woman being a godly example making that known and then both male and female need
to be willing to open their mouth and share the gospel with your friends your
family your loved ones and even to go out there in the highways and hedges and
to just just find random people and just talk to them and give them the gospel
just knock a door and preach the gospel through soul winning you know we all we
all have a role to play here in evangelizing this world for Christ and
we all need to do our part and let me tell you something we can really do a
lot for God in our lifetime if we actually will show up and participate
and did you know this church is not a huge church but faithful word Baptist
Church is not a huge church either and yet we have literally knocked the doors
of millions of people just I'm talking just physical door knocking we've
knocked the doors of millions of people and presented the gospel and I know you
guys have knocked the doors of many thousands of people in your churches
shorter existence but the longer this church is here I mean this church can do
a lot to get the gospel out and you know if women are doing what God has told
them to do and men are doing what God has told them to do you know there's
really no limit to what we can accomplish for Christ in this area in
Arizona and all over the world and it's so it's great to to come to these kind
of events because I see people at these events that I've seen at other events
all over the world and and and and people that have been soul winning with
us for years that have seen the mighty works that God has allowed us to
accomplish over them over the years and you know what the the greatest days are
still in the future for us you know and and and you could be part of it too and
just as God had a calling for Paul and God has a calling for me God has a
calling for many as a calling for women you know what God can use us greatly if
we'll just show up and and do it let's borrow that word of prayer father we
thank you so much for this chapter Lord and I pray that you would just help us
all to live a godly and honest life and in quietness Lord help us to be able to
have free rein with preaching the gospel Lord let the Word of God have free
course please just let us be delivered from unreasonable and wicked man Lord
and Lord just help our leaders in our country to continue to allow there to be
total freedom when it comes to preaching the Word of God and Lord I
just pray that that every young lady in this room would understand the
importance of spiritual things over physical appearance and put more time
into reading the Bible and prayer not just into obsessing about appearance
Lord and I pray that the young men that are here today and and the men of all
ages Lord I pray that they would make it known that they're a Christian
everywhere they go and that they would never be ashamed at school or at work
to just tell people I am a Christian and to make that known and to pray
everywhere raising up holy hands without wrath and doubting and Lord we're
thankful for this church I pray that this church would continue to do a great
work in West Virginia and in Jesus name we pray amen