Steadfast Baptist Church, turning your hymnals to 210.
Wonderful grace of Jesus.
This is one you gotta sing out nice and loud
with passion, with heart.
210, wonderful grace of Jesus.
110, wonderful grace of Jesus.
Let's sing it out.
Second, nice and loud.
Transcribe.
Let's open up in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for all the people gathered here together
to worship you and to praise your name.
I pray that you would bless us now
as we sing praises to you.
Bless everything going on today in Jesus name we pray, amen.
Right, for our second song, go to 158.
Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.
158, oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.
(clears throat)
♪ To sing ♪
- Church, if you did not already receive a bulletin
and you would like one, just are coming by.
Slip through your hand real quick,
should be able to get the message.
You know, on Proverbs chapter 31, the entire chapter,
and then we're on verse 18.
Also on the inside, we have our service times,
church soul winning times,
and then also just a lot of regional soul winning times.
And so if you'd like to participate
in any of our regional soul winning times,
you can just contact the individual on the right.
Churchwide, just meet here at the building
so you don't have to communicate with anybody.
If you have any soul winning statistics or any information,
as far as getting people saved or emails or any of that,
you can always pass that on to your soul winning captains
or lieutenants, and everyone in our church
should be in a tribe, anybody that's a member of our church.
And so if you have any questions about that,
you can always ask me, Brother Oz or one of our ushers.
On the right, we have the list of expecting ladies.
We have several on the list,
and then we have a prayer list as well.
So if you'd like to help pray for our church family,
we'd greatly appreciate that.
On the back is the note about a baby shower
for the Krakers on February 3rd,
and it's gonna be from, I'm sorry, 1230 to 230.
It's nurselings only preferred.
Also, if you have, if you're gonna bring something
or if you were just coming, please just RSVP to Miss Milstead.
That way, it makes it a lot easier for them
to be able to plan these type of events.
We have a preaching class that's gonna be coming up
this next Saturday, and pretty much the preaching class
is gonna be every week for about 10 weeks,
although we are gonna skip the third, so just FYI.
So we should have another preaching class this Saturday,
2 p.m., but then the following week on the third,
there will not be a preaching class.
Brother Oz is helping with the preaching classes.
We had almost 20 guys show up yesterday,
and that was really encouraging.
There was a lot of people who you could just tell
have a lot of potential in preaching,
and I just hope that the men in our church
continue to work on preaching, and I really enjoyed it.
The class did go really long, but in future
it shouldn't be as long of a class.
That was kind of an anomaly, so hopefully you guys
keep at it, and I really appreciated everybody
who showed up, and I know there were some people
that even wanted to show up and couldn't make it,
but if you didn't make the first class,
you're always welcome to come to another class
if your schedule allows.
That's really all I have concerning the bulletin.
I did wanna mention, I had mentioned this Wednesday night,
but I was gone for approximately a week,
going on kind of a scouting missions trip,
as well as visiting the Philippines,
because our church is transitioning our evangelists.
We had sent evangelist Duncan Urbanik down to Pure Words
to help that church and lead that church in Houston,
and he was doing a really good job.
Everything's actually been doing very well down there.
Church has been growing, in fact.
And we also have other great men of God in our churches,
and so we've actually had an opportunity
to kind of transition and send down Salvador Alvarez
from the Oklahoma City Church to take on that church now
and become its pastor, and that's allowing us
to now send evangelist Urbanik to the Philippines full-time.
And so he's gonna be a full-time evangelist
for us in the Philippines, and pretty soon,
he's gonna transition where his entire family
moves out there permanently.
They're still in that transitory period,
so they're just waiting another month or so
to be able to get everything lined up.
Obviously, traveling that far and moving
can be quite cumbersome, and so just be in prayer
for Evangelist Urbanik.
And I went out there as well, just so I have an idea
of kind of what it's like out there
to visit one of our friend's churches,
Pastor Matthew Stuckey has a church
called Verity Baptist Church.
And they actually have six churches
that they have started in the Philippines.
And Pastor Stuckey is just doing an awesome job.
He's really doing a lot for the Lord, working really hard.
He's a very dedicated individual.
And so he's very inspiring.
It was great having fellowship with him
and to see the works that they're doing over there.
There was also a lot of other just great people there
from the Philippines, locals that are plugged
into the church, dedicated soul winners,
really committed to serving the Lord.
And so it was really encouraging to see a lot
of those people, talk with them, visit with them.
People would travel several hours even just to come
to the church just while we were there.
And so it was a lot of fun.
And really the thing that's interesting
about the Philippines is just the population density
is extreme.
So it's very, I don't know, I'm sure there might be areas
in the world that have more population density,
but it's gotta be one of the top places in the world,
especially Manila specifically where we were.
There's just people everywhere.
It was somewhat reminiscent of New York City,
but even more extreme in my opinion.
So, and just more wide scale.
Some areas of New York City are very dense
kind of when you're near Times Square and some of that area,
but it's like in Manila, it's just like that everywhere.
And so it's just, and then you add a bunch of bikes
on top of that.
It's like, it's very crazy how many people are there.
And I think that's why the soul winning is really,
really highly sought after,
is just because there's just so many people
you could possibly talk to.
From an individual perspective,
I didn't personally find it more receptive
than some of the other areas we've gone to.
I still think like the Bahamas or Fiji or Jamaica
or some of these other areas,
the people in general are more receptive.
That's just my opinion.
But the thing about the Philippines
is you just have an endless supply of young people
that speak English really well.
So you could get a lot of people saved,
maybe even more people saved in a sheer number of quantity.
But it was very hard to get people saved that were older,
especially being only English speaking.
Many of them only speak Tagalog or maybe another dialect.
And so, but if you're an English speaker,
you have no problem going over there,
traveling, communicating, getting people saved.
Most people speak English on some level.
And so if you're ever in that part of the world,
it's a great opportunity to go and preach the gospel.
I did visit Fiji as well for a day and I visited Australia.
And Fiji, we went soul winning pretty much the whole time
and it was very receptive.
It was kind of reminiscent of Bahamas a little bit.
So, I hope that my trip there
and maybe making videos about or talking about it
will encourage other people to go there.
There was a couple people from Pastors of Pulpitus Church
and from Australia that had already visited Fiji in the past
and they had already gotten a lot of people saved
through their efforts too.
I think that they went to a city called Suva,
is how you pronounce it,
and they went to the downtown area
and they got like over 120 people saved
in a period of a week.
So, just two people there regularly
and me and brother James Perry
from the Houston Church, pure words,
we went zoning for maybe four hours
and we had about 23 people saved.
And so, and that's, it's really interesting,
the people there are very poor,
and you know what the Bible says about poor people?
They love the gospel, okay?
So, it was great.
In fact, I've never personally seen poverty
at the level of Fiji,
just because when we went into some of the villages
and we were walking around the neighborhoods
and talking to people,
people in their houses,
some of them had literally zero furniture.
And I've just never seen that before,
where people are just all laying on a mat
and they had like, I mean, not even a chair,
you know, it was just like,
I think one house I saw like one person had a chair,
there was like seven people there
and like the one person has a chair.
And it's not like a lazy boy, you know,
it's just like a hard wooden chair or something like that.
And so, it was just kind of incredible to see
that extreme nature of poverty,
but they're really friendly, they're really nice people.
They seemed really happy.
You know, it's crazy to see people.
I mean, imagine how your wife would feel
if she came to your house and there was zero furniture.
You know, she might not seem that happy,
but these people are actually very happy,
really kind, really hospitable.
You know, I could share their mat with them or whatever,
you know, but no, it was great being able
to preach the gospel and reach these people.
I still probably intend on the next major missions trip
or something that we do being Bahamas again,
just because it's closer to us, the flights are easier,
the flights are cheaper.
I still just find it hard to, from a quantity perspective,
like it seems like the Bahamas is the most receptive
that I've experienced just on a person per person basis
'cause everyone speaks English.
That's the main language.
There's not even any distinction really.
The people are really nice.
And so I think that that's a great area.
Plus, you almost have every modern convenience of America
while still traveling abroad.
And so it's really kind of nice to have.
Whereas you go to other areas
and the food's maybe not as nice
or the accommodations aren't as nice
so you don't have as many conveniences.
And in my mind, it's like you might as well go
to the easiest, soul-winning possible, right?
Or the best options possible.
And so, most likely, God willing, our church,
the next major foreign missions trips that we have planned
will be something like that.
So, I'm excited for missions trips.
I get an opportunity again to talk about Fiji
and I will in the, there's like a missions conference
that Pastor Anderson's gonna have at the end of the year
and so I'm gonna talk about Fiji.
But it's great to visit other areas of the world
because then you can appreciate how much I'm right
that Texas is the promised land, okay?
I'm just telling you, you know,
this is the promised land, folks.
It is amazing.
You cannot beat Texas.
It's not even close.
And so, you know, I know it's cold today,
but you know, that cold helped kill some of those bugs.
So you live, you visit some of these areas
that never have cold and they have the biggest rats
you've ever seen in your life
and some of the worst mosquitoes and bugs
and everything like that, especially Australia.
Australia, they don't even let you kill the snakes and stuff
'cause it's like you don't want to harm the habitat
or anything like that.
So they have just like giant snakes and spiders.
They can't fumigate with harmful chemicals
for the spiders and stuff like that.
And so it's kind of crazy
when you visit some of these areas.
And Australia, honestly, I visited there
and visited Pastor Sepulveda.
Great church, great people.
I really enjoyed my fellowship with them.
But just to be honest,
it is not a soul winning paradise, okay?
The people there are very hostile to the gospel.
In fact, most people would not even take a church invite.
So just to give you an idea,
let alone let me give them the gospel.
And so it was very interesting.
However, we did have a group of 20, 30 soul winners
and we have four people saved.
So it's not like you can't get people saved
and I tried to encourage them keep going,
but it's just not very receptive.
It's a very rich country.
In fact, like most of the housing,
like just the average basic first starter homes
are a million dollars.
So it's just, it's crazy.
The government control over there is extreme.
They monitor all the driving with cameras everywhere.
And if you're not wearing a seatbelt, it's $1,100 ticket.
And I mean, I think I saw a cop one time for a brief second.
There's really almost no police presence,
but it's just that big brother camera system.
And they use facial recognition software from China
to monitor everybody's movements.
I believe during the COVID era,
they just set up all these random borders
between all the different provinces.
And in fact, if they caught you
on those facial camera recognition system,
going to a province that you shouldn't during COVID,
tickets, they just would just ticket you again.
That's why people couldn't,
the people literally couldn't even see each other
for Christmas and they lived in the same city,
just because they created these arbitrary lines
of saying, well, this is a completely different province
or state or area or whatever.
And so people were literally not allowed
to see their mom and dad or brother and sister on Christmas.
And if they did, it was a big ticket.
They're getting fined and ticketed
and all this kind of crazy stuff.
And it's obvious it's just,
they're being punished for being such a wicked place.
Because everyone drinks to an insane extent in Australia.
And the fornication is extreme in Australia.
The legal age is 16 in Australia.
Prostitution is legal in Australia.
And so it's just a very ungodly place.
They are not Christian by and large.
And the few Christian movements over there
are just that fake hill song.
You know, just sweet Jesus kind of stuff.
And it's just, it's garbage.
So, you know, we need to pray for them
and encourage our brethren from abroad.
And I definitely hope that the people over there
stay strong because it's just very difficult to serve God.
Like if you think it's hard to be Christian
and a fundamentalist in America,
it's way harder in Australia.
But I hope that they're encouraged
to keep being a fundamentalist.
And you know, they have a lot of opportunities
for soul winning around them.
Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
they have a whole bunch of areas
that they can go to and travel
and get really receptive soul winning.
So I really hope that that area can become kind of a hub
to reach that portion of the world.
And even though their area's not necessarily
the most receptive, they could still do
a lot of great works for the Lord.
So I could go on and on about that.
I just wanted to give you a brief update
of just kind of that trip.
And thank you for everyone who prayed for us.
Continue to pray for Evangelist Urbanic.
He's been working really hard.
In fact, the day that I left, him and James
went out soul winning, and they just went soul winning all day.
And Brother Urbanic got 39 salvations
by himself on that one day.
So he's working really hard, and he's
not taking it lightly that we're paying his way
and giving him funds.
But of course, we want to also be praying for him
and thinking about him, and not just shipping him
off some distant land and forgetting about him.
But continue to think about Evangelist Urbanic.
Message him, email him, pray for him.
We want to continually think about their works
and keep them near and dear to our heart.
So we'll go ahead and sing our third song this morning.
Psalm 119.
It's not the whole thing.
It's just in our special handouts as a section.
Psalm 119.
Brother, I was gonna lead us.
All right, Psalm 119, let's sing it out.
♪ My word is a lamp unto mine ♪
♪ Have I taken a sister ♪
Singing, as the offering plates are being passed around,
please turn to Mark chapter 16.
Mark chapter number 16.
16, the Bible reads, and when the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome
had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him.
And very early in the morning, the first day of the week,
they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun,
and they said among themselves,
Who shall roll us away the stone
from the door of the sepulchre?
And when they looked, they saw that the stone
was rolled away, for it was very great.
And entering into the sepulchre,
they saw a young man sitting on the right side,
clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted.
And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted,
ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified.
He is risen, he is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him.
But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter
that he goeth before you into Galilee.
There shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
And they went out quickly and fled from the sepulchre,
for they trembled and were amazed.
Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid.
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week,
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had seen of her, and believed not.
After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked and went into
the country.
And they went and told it unto the residue, neither believed they them.
After he appeared unto the eleven, as they sat at Mead, and upbraided them with their
unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after
he was risen.
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth in his baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe.
In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall
take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on
the right hand of God.
And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming
the word with signs following, Amen.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father God, we just thank you Lord for Pastor Shelley and his family.
I pray that you give him clarity of mind as he preaches his message to us Lord and soften
hearts in the room and just give us ears to hear the preaching of your word Lord and enable
us to apply the message to our lives so that we can glorify you better in our everyday
lives.
We love you and in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Amen.
I wanted to kind of focus on the beginning portion of Mark 16 and what I kind of notice
and sticks out in some of this section is the women that are mentioned here in this
passage and we have Mary Magdalene being mentioned.
And what I kind of find interesting is that there's a lot of women in the Bible that
are very spiritual, but they're also kind of behind the scenes.
And because we have the lens of the Bible, sometimes I don't think we even realize how
behind the scenes these individuals were, because God kind of reveals a little bit to
us about them.
But if you really kind of understand what's happening in the context and the situation,
these women really aren't very public.
They're not really getting attention from man, from men.
It's really God commending them and talking about them.
And that's kind of the concept that I wanted to preach about this morning is spiritual
women behind the scenes.
Spiritual women behind the scenes.
And Mary Magdalene is mentioned here as well as the other Mary in verse one in Salome.
It says had bought sweet spices that they might come and annoy them.
Now, you know, their mission here in Mark chapter number 16 is kind of a private mission.
They're not really being commissioned by someone or no one's going with them.
Most people probably don't even know what they're doing.
They're just simply going to anoint the Lord Jesus Christ and his body.
And notice that they had bought spices.
So they're spending their own money.
They're spending their own time, their own effort and energy.
And arguably, they're kind of doing this from their own will, their own heart.
This isn't necessarily somebody else telling them what to do or giving them this kind
of an idea.
They just have a heart to minister unto the Lord Jesus Christ of their own volition.
And they're not doing it for recognition because again, nobody really even knows that they're
doing this or where they're going.
And you see this consistently throughout the Bible that there were several women that ministered
unto the Lord Jesus Christ and they're not really highlighted.
They're not really the ones that are getting a lot of the recognition or the limelight
or the spotlight, but they don't really care about that.
They just simply want to minister unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so they're going, verse 2, "And very early in the morning, the first day of the week,
they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun."
Also notice that these women are very purposeful.
You know, they're going at a time when probably no one's going to be noticing them.
They're going very early in the morning, meaning they must have gotten up very early.
They're planning, they're putting effort and energy into ministering unto the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And you know what?
The woman is a person that will put effort and energy into ministering unto God and ministering
unto the Lord, even rising very early and going out and ministering, doing work, and
of course not to be seen of men, but rather just because they sincerely want to minister
to the Lord.
They sincerely want to please the Lord.
Now they're going very early in the morning.
If you kind of skip down, it says in verse number eight, it says, "And they went out
quickly and fled from the sepulcher, for they trembled and were amazed.
Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid.
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven devils."
Now they went to the tomb.
They couldn't find him.
They're frightened with the angel's message.
But as they're leaving, as they go on their way, they end up being encountered with the
Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And I think it's no coincidence.
It's not like this happened on accident.
But Jesus Christ, if you think about it, he showed himself first to a woman.
And I think that sometimes there could be this attitude or this thought, and it's not
a biblical thought, but it's one that would put women as kind of like a second-rate citizen
or like a second-rate Christian to men or act like somehow women are inferior to men
when it comes to the things of God or the spiritual things.
But you know what, that's not a biblical concept.
And while men are called to lead, men are called to be the ones in the spotlight, men
are called to do a lot of things that kind of get a lot more of the attention, that doesn't
make them more spiritual or better Christians or more important to the things of God.
I mean the Lord Jesus Christ, of all the people he could possibly appear to after his resurrection,
he chose a woman, and he even chose a woman who didn't even have a very great upbringing,
who wasn't even very spiritual in the early parts of her life.
According to the text, she had had seven devils in her.
That's not really someone who was probably raised in a Christian home or being raised
in a very godly, spirit-filled home.
She obviously wasn't saved as a young person either, because if you're saved, you can't
be possessed with devils, you can't be possessed with demons.
And so this woman had lived probably a very sinful life, been involved in a lot of negative
things, had literally experienced demon possession to an extremity, not even just being possessed
by a devil, but out of seven devils.
And you know, if you compare scripture with scripture, you know the Bible talks about
some people being possessed with a demon, and then they try to like get cleaned up or
get that demon out, but because they don't actually end up getting saved, what happens
is that demon goes and finds seven other spirits more wicked than themselves, and then they
return back into the host, return back into that person, and it says that they torment
him even worse.
So it's possible that Mary Magdalene was someone that had constantly even tried to
clean up herself and was even worse off.
Like she had gone through the torment of a demon and then possibly even got some kind
of relief and then had an even worse experience, even more demons, all kinds of evil.
But you know, once she got saved, she ended up wanting to dedicate her life to serving
the Lord Jesus Christ and being a spirit-filled woman after that.
And that goes to show that God can use people despite their past.
He can use people despite things that they've done negatively.
And it shows the redemption of women.
The sense that sometimes women could be pretty bad or have a rough past, but that doesn't
mean that they couldn't turn a corner, end up serving the Lord, being very spiritual,
and doing great things for God.
I think that sometimes we look at women that have a bad past and think they're damaged
goods or say, "Well, this woman's not spiritual because look at her past or look at mistakes
that she's made or look at who she was." But you know what? God used and Jesus Christ used
a lot of women that have really rough pasts. And of course, he also then used women that
had great pasts. You know, so it's not to praise the idea of these sinful pasts or to
say like, "You can only be used by God greatly if you lived a rough life." Because look
at Mary, the mother of Jesus. She doesn't have a rough upbringing. Look at her cousin
Elizabeth. She didn't have a rough upbringing. She was actually someone that was always serving
the Lord and had a great testimony. And these women were used to give birth to and raise
some of the greatest men to ever live, John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ. Also
notice that the women chosen to raise children were the ones with really good pasts. And
then Mary Magdalene isn't necessarily the one that's raising a lot of children, but
she was still ministering under the Lord. And so I'm not trying to elevate a negative
past. You know, we should all strive for our daughters to be virgin and clean and pure
and have a great testimony. That's what we want. Okay. But if there are women out there
that have not that past or have made mistakes, we don't want them to feel like they can't
get plugged in and be greatly used by God because they can't. And Mary Magdalene is
a great example of that, of a woman who's very spiritual and ministering unto the Lord.
And Jesus Christ chose her to be the one who'd first reveal himself unto. And I think it's
mostly partly because she ministered unto him consistently. You don't have to keep your
finger. Go to Luke chapter number eight for a moment. Go to Luke chapter number eight.
Just flip to the right. You know, when you do things for the Lord Jesus Christ, he is
going to reveal himself. You know, if you draw nigh unto him, he's going to draw nigh
unto you. And so she's coming to anoint him. You know, obviously she's involved and thinks
is thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ even post his death. Whereas a lot of other disciples
are distraught or sad or just not even like trying to be spiritual afterwards. But these
women are still trying to do godly things, serve the Lord. Look, it says in Luke chapter
eight, verse three, and Joanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod's servant, and Susan and many
others which ministered unto him of their substance.
Now it also brought up in verse 2, Mary Magdalene, so I don't want you to skip over that, but
notice that many of these women ministered unto the Lord Jesus Christ and notice this,
of their substance.
You know, that's pretty difficult because women typically don't have a lot of substance.
They don't necessarily even have a lot of the money, a lot of the resources, a lot of
the goods.
You know, they're, especially in this type of a society where, you know, the patriarchy
is going strong.
You know, women typically aren't these boss babes walking around with credit cards or
something like that.
I mean, the substance that they have is usually very humble, very meager.
And so, for them to minister of their substance is a great sacrifice.
And we see that these women were willing to sacrifice and minister under the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And sometimes you'd wonder, like, how did Jesus Christ just travel all the time and
just go soul winning all the time?
Yet, obviously he ate food, obviously his clothes got washed, obviously, you know, a
lot of the just daily things somehow happen.
You want to know how they happen?
Women like this.
Women like this are the ones that are taking care of all the carnal needs of the Lord Jesus
Christ, of his disciples, of the men that are traveling, so that they can then do what?
The soul winning and the preaching and the healing and the miracles and all the different
stuff that they need to do.
And the ministry sometimes, what we don't understand is that behind every great pastor
is a great pastor's wife.
Because in order to even be a pastor, you have to have a great wife, like that's part
of the qualifications.
And yet, you know, unless you go to Joyce Meyer's church, you don't even know very
much about the pastor's wife or what she's doing.
You know, it's a shame when the pastor is the wife, okay?
You know, that's, it's embarrassing.
The Bible makes it clear that pastors should be men, but also men that are married and
men that are married to great women.
And the reason why pastors that are great are great is because they have great wives.
And for that pastor to be the great pastor he is, he could not be that way if he didn't
have a great wife, if he didn't have a woman ministering unto him, if he didn't have some
spiritual woman behind the scenes.
And you know what?
Christ had a lot of spiritual women behind the scenes, like Mary Magdalene, like Joanna,
and notice this group, many others.
Not everybody even got mentioned, but those were specifically the women, the spiritual
women behind the scenes, the others.
You know, it's like, who are they?
I don't know.
But you know what?
The Lord Jesus Christ, I guarantee, really appreciated and greatly valued the ministry
that these women provided him.
And you know, sometimes we think about ministries and focus only on the face of the ministry,
the outward of the ministry, those that are getting recognition, but you know what?
Without the people behind the scenes, it can't happen.
You know, me and Brother Ben, we have a podcast where we go on and we just kind of do funny
stuff, serious stuff, kind of all of it.
It's called The Baptist Bias, you know.
And this is kind of my brainchild.
And my goal with the show was not to preach a fourth sermon, you know, for the week.
I don't need that.
It was basically just to try and reach new people, you know, and kind of minister among
the sinners.
You know what I mean?
Like condescend the men of low estate and go down.
And you know, the show's had some successes and, you know, I like it.
It's kind of fun.
But our show literally could not happen and be successful without the men behind the scenes.
Okay, and even in some cases, the women behind the scenes.
At some points, my wife was literally helping us.
We were doing the show at our house, you know.
But it was like without these people and specifically without one person, this show would not be
the show that it is.
And me and Ben know for sure like who that is.
And they don't need recognition because it doesn't really matter.
But at the end of the day, you know, that person's never going to get the same recognition,
never the same praise.
But, you know, they're really important to us.
They're really important to the work getting accomplished.
And this is similar to how we are as a person.
When you think about a person and what do they get praised for?
They get praise for external characteristics.
You know, when you think about the celebrities, when you think about athletes, what are they
being praised for?
They're being praised for their hair.
They're being praised for the complexion of their skin.
"Oh, I mean, what do you think models and women are being praised for?
How clear their skin is, how beautiful their skin is, maybe how young they look or how
fit they are."
You know, a lot of these things are not nearly as important as other characteristics.
Like you can actually survive without hair, but you know you can't survive without a heart,
you can't survive without a stomach, you can't survive without lungs, you can't survive without
a brain.
And you know what?
These are really the champions of who we are behind the scenes because, you know, those
parts are way more important than our external parts.
You can be alive without hands, arms, hair, you know, you could have the ugliest complexion
and you can still be kicking.
But you know what?
Without a heart, good luck.
Without a brain, there is no body, you know.
And so there are certain parts of our body that are so important, yet they don't really
get the recognition that they deserve, do they?
You know, when we praise athletes and stuff, we're not just thinking like, "He has a really
good heart," you know.
Those lungs are amazing, you know.
What a brain.
You know, often we're praising the external pieces that are more superfluous and they
actually aren't as important as we think they are.
We just kind of look at things from the wrong perspective.
And even God, God doesn't look at man on the outward appearance, but rather he looks at
man on the inward appearance.
You know, the Apostle Paul describes himself as being contemptible in the flesh.
You know, and sometimes I think as a man, it's really hard for us if we're not like,
you know, Tom Brady or something, or Wayne Gretzky or something, or we're not like the
greatest male athlete.
You know, we're not 6'5" and we can dunk, you know, on a 12 foot rim and we're the greatest
athlete.
Like sometimes we can feel bad about ourselves or be like, "I wish I was taller or bigger
or stronger or more athletic."
You know, you kind of wish that you had these physical characteristics.
But the people that have those physical characteristics, how many of them are spiritual giants?
How many of them are actually doing great things to the Lord?
How many of those people would God look down upon and be like, "This is a great person."
And it's something that we really want, but it's really a carnal thing.
And if we had it, we really wouldn't be very spiritual either.
We would be focused more on the carnal, focused on athletic sports or these kinds of achievements.
And look, there's nothing wrong with being athletic.
There's nothing wrong with being strong.
Of course, men were supposed to be strong, were supposed to work hard.
I think it's good to have good eye-hand coordination, be able to do these things.
I love playing sports and doing those kinds of activities.
But at the end of the day, you know, it's more important the spiritual things.
The spiritual things are what's important in this life.
And this world is focused only on the carnal and it's easy for us to get wrapped up with
that same mindset.
And so for women in this world, you know, it's very difficult often for them to want
to choose to be spiritual and behind the scenes.
What they want to do is they want to be carnal and they want to be on the front stage.
This is your Hollywood whores and your models and your boss babes and just the big movement
of feminism where they're going out and showing off their bodies, showing off their intellect
which it's like, look, obviously some women are very intelligent but just in comparison
to men, men are really the ones that are the intellectual geniuses.
They're the ones building society.
They're the ones that are the engineers and the architects and the astronauts.
You know when you get on an airplane and it's two diverse women you're thinking like, I'm
ready to fly somewhere else.
You know, I'm going to get off the plane.
I'm not that interested.
I remember I was on an airplane and I didn't, you know, I don't always pay attention to
the pilot.
Maybe I should start paying attention.
But we're kind of starting to descend and they say, oh, by the way, we have one of the
first women pilots ever, you know, like flying the plane today and she's going to be landing.
And I'm thinking like, oh man, I need to start praying.
I don't normally pray this much, you know, about landing.
But boy, you could tell a difference.
Like we descended super fast, the landing was rough, and my ears felt like they were
going to explode out of their sockets.
And what you have to understand is that who's written on a plane your ears hurt when you're
kind of starting to land?
You know, that's because you're changing pressure.
You know, you're changing elevation that changes the pressure in your ears.
And if you do it fast, it causes more pain.
So the more gradual you do this and the more smooth you do it, the less likely you're going
to experience that pain.
The people that descend very quickly, those are not a very good pilot, and they're the
ones that are going to cause your ears to almost explode and bleed.
I mean, if you're in the ocean, in fact, doing scuba diving, and you go pretty far down,
you can't just go straight up because that pressure change could literally just cause
you to die or things to explode in your body and everything like that.
The same as with aircraft, you can't change elevation super fast because it could cause
a lot of problems internally with your body.
Your body needs time to adjust.
And I'll just be honest, it was not a smooth landing.
She descended super fast and you could just tell she's probably really nervous and didn't
really do it.
You say, "Oh, it's because we're repressing women."
It's like, no, she needs to be a spiritual woman behind the scenes.
She needs to be making the pilot a sandwich while he descends gradually, okay?
You know, "Oh, that's so offensive."
Well, but wait a minute.
You know what?
I love women.
There's nothing wrong with women.
You know, Mary Magdalene is not the disciple.
She's not the, she's not the apostle.
She's not the one going out and the ministering in the way of getting people saved and, you
know, healing people and doing all these miracles.
She's just ministering unto Jesus.
And you would say, "Oh, well, why, why you're against her?"
No.
Why would I want to just like open up my chest cavity and take my heart and just show you
my heart?
My heart doesn't need to be seen.
It's fine staying in my chest cavity.
I don't need to expose that to you.
And it would be insanity to say I'm going to take all my internal organs and take them
out of my body just so you can see them.
My heart doesn't need to be an external organ.
If I'm going to play tackle football, I don't want my heart to be the first thing to block
or to run into the linebacker.
I like the heart being protected.
Why?
Because it's more sensitive.
It's more delicate than other parts of my body.
That I want my shoulder or something to be the first part of contact, not my heart.
Does that mean that my shoulder is more important than my heart?
No.
Just like women are more sensitive and more delicate, does that mean they're of lesser
value?
No.
In some ways, they're actually of more value.
But because they're sensitive, because they're delicate, we don't want to expose them to
the dangers of this world.
We don't want to put them on the front lines.
We don't want to put them in a position that they're not suited for, that they're not capable
of, where they could be hurt or attacked or taken advantage of.
We want to protect them and guard them and love them and treat them the way they should
be treated and put them in the role that they should be in.
My heart should not be my brain.
My brain should not be my heart, okay?
And women should not be the ones leading society.
Women should not be the ones on the front lines.
You know, women should not be in the military on the front lines.
You know, if women were going to serve in a capacity in the military where they're
making meals or sewing or you know doing these different activities that they're
really good at, I'm not gonna say that's necessarily wrong, but you know what they
should not be on the front lines with a gun in the trenches fighting these
gruesome wars. You know, that's not for women to do. You know, it's a shame and
an embarrassment in America that women, the idea of them being drafted is on the
table. It's like women should never be drafted in the military ever. Never. That
is ridiculous, okay. And it's just ridiculous though that this mindset
creeps into American women and even across this world where they think that
they need to be on the front lines. They think they need to be in the cockpit.
They think that they need to be the boss. They think they need to be the
pastor. They think that they need to do these certain tasks and jobs that God
has not ordained, that God does not want them to do, that they're not well suited
for. You know, they need to do the things that God has built them to do and they
need to not be embarrassed or ashamed of their role in life. Just like my heart
should not be ashamed of the role that it has. It's a secret role. You'll
probably never see my heart, I hope, okay? Hope that's the case, but my heart is
very special to me. It's very precious to me. It's very important to me, okay? Just
like you'll probably never see all the things that my wife does for the church
or for this ministry and I'm okay with that. That's great. You know, we need more
women that are willing to be spiritual and behind the scenes, not striving to
be on the forefront and trying to get all the recognition and the attention
because it's all vain, it's carnal, it's not what the Bible teaches. Go with the
Titus, chapter number two, Titus chapter two. I love the Mary Magdalene's of this
world that are willing to just minister under the Lord Jesus Christ of their
substance. They're not looking to get some kind of limelight. They're not trying
to be a Jezebel. They're not trying to, you know, elevate themselves. They're not
trying to lead like Eve did. They simply are fine with just ministering under the
Lord. That's their role. That's their job. It was an important job. It was so
important that Jesus said I am going to reveal myself first to Mary Magdalene.
He didn't have to do that. He chose to do that. That was the Lord Jesus Christ's
choice to reveal himself and to appear first unto Mary Magdalene. And in fact
many of the disciples didn't even believe it. Many of the disciples rejected
it. So she didn't even get any recognition. I mean she's the first
person to see Jesus and they don't even believe her. So it's not like she got any
special attention out of it. And you know some of you women when you serve the
Lord Jesus Christ they're gonna be people in your life that doubt your
ministry to Jesus. Like you're gonna serve in your church and then your
family members and friends are gonna be thinking negatively about you and think
you're not really serving Jesus. Oh you think that you helping and doing these
things at church is actually ministering the Lord. You're wrong. You're in a cult.
You're doing these things that are carnal. It's like they're gonna attack
you or think that you're seeking attention. Wouldn't you wouldn't you
think that the accusation laid against Mary Magdalene that she was seeking
attention. She comes and says I saw Jesus. I'm the first person to see Jesus.
Like oh whatever you're just trying to get some attention and you just want
everybody look at Mary and whatever but it's no that's what really happened. You
know maybe for some of you ladies you've been wanting to go soul winning or
preach the gospel for a long time and maybe finally you got that opportunity
maybe you finally got that first person saved but if you shared that with some
people in your family they would be like oh you think you get people saved or oh
you think you're special you know oh you just want attention and it's like no
you're just excited that you got someone saved and you sometimes just have to be
content that people aren't going to give you the attention that you deserve
people aren't going to be the recognition that you deserve you just
have to decide you know what I'm just gonna minister to the Lord I'm gonna do
what's right and I know that he knows what I'm doing is important I may never
get the attention I may never get the recognition that I deserve okay and you
have to be okay with that and you say how can someone be okay with that by
faith it shows a great woman of faith who can minister privately unto the Lord
Jesus Christ do things for the Church of God for ministers and not getting
attention you know it takes great faith but consistently through the Bible you
see women being praised for this and being recognized for this and why I
think it's important that we recognize it's the Bible that's giving them this
attention man is almost never giving them this attention when did we see
someone in the Bible like Peter being like hey Mary Magdalene doing a good
job the day when we see the Apostle Paul being like Mary Magdalene good job the
day you know like who gave recognition to Mary Magdalene only the scripture
really only the Bible is the one paying attention to them telling them that
they're doing a good job liking the works that they're doing and so
sometimes we have to say you know what I'm okay with only getting recognition
from Jesus look at Titus chapter 2 verse 3 the aged women likewise that they be
in behavior as become with holiness not false accusers not giving them much wine
teachers are good things that they may teach the young women to be sober to
love their husbands to love their children here's here's the phrase I
really want to focus on to be discreet you know an attribute of a godly woman
is a woman who's discreet and and what is it to be discreet or to use
discretion it's something that's not being seen something that's not being
seen as behavior or works done in secret and you know that's what a woman should
strive to be is a woman that does things discreetly what's what's the opposite of
that this is your Hillary Clinton's your Kamala Harris's women that want
everything to be done in public and they want attention they want to be that boss
babe they want you know basically just did not do things in discreet then
discrete indiscretion but rather just they're kind of obnoxious and loud and
look at me and look what I'm doing and I'm all about female businesses business
owners and just all this just carnal vanity whereas women in the Bible are
supposed to be discrete okay not going around trying to make a big deal about
who they are what they do what they look like go to Proverbs chapter 11 what does
this world teach women should go around flaunting themselves flaunting their
body flaunting their clothing flaunting their jewelry flaunting their hair
flaunting their personality flaunting their wit flaunting their business just
flaunting everything that they can possibly flaunt you know the Bible is
saying the exact opposite they should be discrete and you'll notice that the
spiritual women in the Bible many of them if not most of them are behind the
scenes there are a few women that just by sheer nature of what they do or who
they are they have a little bit more public visibility you can think about
people like Esther obviously being the queen of the entire world you get some
recognition okay but Esther wasn't necessarily striving or seeking for that
kind of attention she was just put in that position you know you have other
women like Deborah who becomes a little bit more public just by a result of the
things that happen you know Achille and Priscilla Priscilla is a little bit more
public of a person so there are a handful of women in the Bible that are
kind of a little more public I'm not really talking about them because the
vast majority of women in the Bible that are praised are behind the scenes not
really in any kind of a public sphere whatsoever not getting a lot of public
attention at all they're really just deciding to be behind the scenes and
it's impossible to just hide women completely that's why occasionally
women still will get public recognition sometimes they're seen and more visible
but just because they're a little bit more visible doesn't mean they should
change their attitude we should all strive you know to be discreet and
especially women they should strive for their works and their ministry to be
discreet okay look what it says in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 12 I'm sorry
verse 22 as a jewel of gold in a swine's snout so is a fair woman which is
without discretion notice that the Bible is saying that a woman without
discretion is a negative thing it's describing it as a pig I mean that's a
pretty grotesque animal to be comparing women to you know if you ever called a
woman a pig she's not gonna be really happy about that okay there's a lot of
negative associations with a pig you know what the Bible is calling women
pigs he's saying women are like swine women are pigs when they don't have
discretion and think about it the pig is like the least discreet animal it's just
like it's like giant it's fat it's pink so it's really obnoxious and its color
you know think about it this is like what women are like when they're not
screen they're the flashy clothes right I mean you're not gonna just a pig
doesn't blend in with this environment it's not like there's this pink forest
that the that the pig is just hiding in and you don't see it right I mean there's
some animals that are brown black kind of like even camouflage looking they can
hide in plain sight there's certain chameleons and there's certain lizards
they'll even change their skin color a little bit just to match whatever they're
on just so you can't even see them a pig is just loud wild it's there you and you
just you know it's just going around just loud it's obnoxious I mean this is
what it's painting the picture of a woman without discretion that her
clothing is loud she's constantly making noise she's loud she's obnoxious when she
eats she's like you know that's not really a lady-like feature is women that
are just loud and obnoxious and making all this noise and just eats anything
and just fills their belly and it's just big and just enemies this is the
characteristics of a swine and it's saying this is like a woman that has no
discretion so think about what women should then be like not dressing super
flashy not being loud not making knocks of noises being careful you know not
having to be the center of attention you know a lot of these type of
attributes are what women should really strive for and you say well that sounds
like you're trying to put us behind the scenes yes yeah that's what the Bible
teaches I mean they be discreet I mean isn't that what I said that the older
women are supposed to teach the young woman to be what discreet not to be
loud not to be flashy not striving for attention be spiritual okay and the
least spiritual women will be the most loud obnoxious and carnal trying to draw
attention to themselves the most spiritual women are the ones that are
meek and quiet spirit behind the scenes not trying to just get a lot of the
vain attention that ungodly women want so who are the worst women the
celebrities the models all of those women are the worst women they are the
swines with just jewels of gold in their snout okay whether that be Taylor Swift
or Kamala Harris or any of these type of women some are more swine than other
okay right like Rosie O'Donnell talk about some swine okay Oprah Winfrey okay
Lizzo man she ate the swine okay she makes swine embarrassed go if you would
to Luke chapter 10 go back to the Luke and go to Luke chapter number 10 but you
know even rail thin chicks like Taylor Swift or something they're still swine
okay and it's gross no one likes it you know it's making every football fan so
annoyed that when they watch the Kansas City Chiefs all they do is talk about
Taylor Swift and this is like no one cares it's like we want to watch
football you know like nobody cares about this chick behind glass you know
singing to herself or whatever it's like you know can't we watch the football and
it's just like sometimes people don't realize especially women they don't
realize that when they're loud and obnoxious it's a turnoff anyways it's
not really what guys are striving for or wanting in their heart they kind of want
a woman who is meek and quiet now I'll say it this way carnal guys that just
want to you know commit fornication they like the loud horse women but only for
that reason they don't actually want to be married to one of those they don't
actually want to be near one of those they pay them to go away okay that's
literally what they're doing but you know what every guy if he had to be
married or actually be with a woman you know what he wants a meek and quiet
woman that's what he really wants and that's what they all want we love that
that's what is that's our nature okay whereas these loud obnoxious women yeah
sure they men are willing to do you know anything to commit fornication
but that doesn't mean they actually like them or want to be around them they just
use them and abuse them and discard them later because of the trash that they
make themselves to be and so don't turn yourself into trash don't turn yourself
into swine you don't be something I mean nobody wants to hang out in the pig
's time but everybody likes eating bacon okay so you know we have to realize
that women should not become a swine okay don't don't go for that type of an
attitude because the type of men that you'll attract are the worst men to the
worst kind of men. Godly men actually try to stay away from those individuals for
all reasons and then there's carnal men that'll never marry you never be sweet
to you never take care of you that all they want is to just take advantage of
you okay so really you're not doing yourself a service by becoming a swine
you're just putting yourself on the chopping block you're putting yourself
out there to be taken advantage of you know be a spiritual woman and minister
on the Lord Jesus Christ he'll take care of you you know be a sheep not a swine
look at Luke chapter 10 look at verse 42 now I'm not gonna I'm not just reading
verses so I'm not gonna go over the whole story but it says in verse 42 but
one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not
be taken away from her in this story the Lord Jesus Christ is visiting Mary and
Martha Martha's working and you know covered about with many different tasks
but Mary ends up actually just sitting with Jesus and talking with him and
what's kind of symbolized in this story is the idea of a woman just simply just
talking with Jesus is like how we would talk with Jesus well how does a woman
talk with Jesus how does a man talk with Jesus by reading the Bible and praying
and so it's kind of symbolized here is having a quiet time having a devotional
time with the Lord Jesus Christ and this is something that's not going to be
public you know getting up early in the morning and just reading your Bible no
one's gonna know about that no one's gonna see that you know getting up and
praying using the prayer list you know praying on the prayer list or praying
for your family no one's gonna see that no one knows what you're doing there
necessarily you know what happens is it changes your heart and it changes who
you are and you're less of a swine that day you know the women that are reading
the Bible and praying and seeing Lord I guarantee they're not going to turn into
the swine of the Bible's warning about they're probably gonna be the women that
stay discreet and they're probably gonna be the more spiritual women behind the
scenes and they're already doing things behind the scenes to remind them hey my
day today is not about me it's not about attention it's about Jesus today and I'm
gonna put him first and you know notice what the Bible even said about this one
thing is needful something's needful you know of all the tasks that you have as a
as a wife and a mother only one is needful and how much do you approach
Christianity or serving Jesus is that way you know some people would think oh
women reading the Bible and being spiritual isn't that important no no
one thing's needful you know serving me or serving my children is not nearly as
important for my wife as her reading the Bible and praying that is the needful
thing all the other stuff is yeah it's part of her job and it's important but
it's not even close to as important just like you know me grooming myself
physically is important but my heart it's like way more important I take care
of my heart because I could have a bad skin day or hair day and be fine we have
a bad heart day and you die you know you don't want that to be neglected you need
these parts to be taken care of and you know our spiritual hearts need to be
taken care of every day by reading the Bible studying and you know that's not
just for women that's all of us we all need these type of things but again this
is a spiritual woman behind the scenes Mary is doing all the works like oh
look at the meal that I made and look at all I cleaned the house and it looks so
beautiful and and look at all the works that I'm doing you know what Jesus
Christ is saying hey there's one thing that was needful and you are skipping
that and Mary is actually doing that and I'm not gonna take that away from her I
want her to be able to have this time with me and you know what Jesus Christ
doesn't treat women as these inferior second-class citizens look at it Jesus
is sitting down and just chatting with a woman Jesus wants to visit with you
women he wants to have a relationship with y'all he wants to minister unto you
and you minister unto him it's a reciprocal arrangement Jesus women are
special to Jesus you know I don't want you to think like oh I'm a woman so I'm
not special Jesus no you're just as special it would be just as silly as I
said my heart's not important my brain's not important my lungs aren't important
you know of course that's ridiculous you know well I never see you like taking
care of your heart what does that look like to you okay I mean you know
obviously I can't pat my heart you know and everything like that but that doesn't
mean it's not important to me okay just because you see you grooming some of the
outward appearance doesn't mean you don't care about the inward appearance
you know we should care about all of it and sometimes things aren't just gonna
be out in the open go through the first Kings chapter number 17 go to first
Kings chapter 17 now this in the the chapter of faith you know the Hall of
Faith as sometimes people will describe it in Hebrews chapter 11 it's not only
men that are mentioned in fact there's two women that are mentioned Sarah and
Rahab now Rahab was known as the harlot Rahab is also mentioned in James so you
know these women were special to God they were put in the Hall of Faith that
doesn't sound like second-rate citizens I mean think about the list of people
it's it's Abel Enoch Noah Abraham Sarah I mean think about the list and the group
of people she's with she's not with some scrubs she's not with second-rate
citizen people in the Bible she's with the greatest men of faith to ever live
in this planet she's mentioned in that same list not only that you have Isaac
Jacob Joseph Moses Rayhab after Moses you know it doesn't say then Aaron Aaron
gets skipped over you know it goes from Moses to to Rahab the harlot Rahab the
harlot oh well I you know I'm a woman I'm not that important I'm not that
significant wait a minute this woman is mentioned before a lot of men think
about this you know who also wasn't mentioned Joshua like wouldn't you think
like now again it does mention them going around Jericho and stuff so he's
kind of mentioned by proxy but I'm just saying like it's not saying the name
Joshua it's saying the name Rahab and that's the timeline of Joshua okay but
think about it you know that's really significant to be personally named in
the Hall of Faith and look this is a woman you know what this woman did is
she received the spies and sent them out another way all secret all behind the
scenes obviously not seeking for attention because the whole point is to
be secret the whole point was using discretion you know what she's literally
praised for discretion like the entire embodiment of Rahab is discretion and
what's funny about it is she's a whore because like a harlot is literally
opposite of a discrete woman but then she has a radical transformation and she
becomes a believer and she what she then uses an exercise that discretion and you
know what in the sight of God it was a great price so even though a lot of men
may have looked at her as damaged goods or worthless or not having any more
value collateral damage she still had great value to the Lord Jesus Christ and
she was greatly used why because of discretion so that also tells me this if
you're a woman that hasn't been very discreet in the past just start right
now you could be like Rahab and and hope you know you could be like Sarah Sarah
was also praised in this particular section of scripture and you know again
Sarah's not necessarily the front-runner she's not the one getting all the
attention she's in the tent she's the one cooking meals and taking care of
Abraham and calling him Lord but you know that she's greatly praised as being
a great woman of faith and in fact the Bible says when you are spiritual you're
like a daughter of Sarah meaning that she's pretty much at the top of the
food chain and the most spirit-filled people oh how dare you say yes sir to
your husband well you know what you're just not Sarah you're being like a
swine why why if the greatest woman I mean the greatest example you could
possibly have in the Bible she's using respectful titles for her husband why
would you then be embarrassed to do the same thing oh yeah why why would you
talk to your husband that way you know it's just like well Sarah called Abraham
Lord oh my husband doesn't deserve it well did your husband knock up Hagar
and have a bastard kid well no he still she still called him Lord I mean and
again I'm not excusing that I'm not saying that was a good thing but I'm
just saying oh well if it's Abraham then I would call him Lord no you wouldn't if
you won't call your husband Lord and you won't call him sir and you won't be
respectful of him now you wouldn't even been respectful to Abraham the woman
that's respectful to her husband now is the same woman that we respectful to
Abraham because you know Abraham was messed up too Abraham was sinful to
Abraham all Abraham literally tried to give his wife to another guy how would
you feel if y'all went to a restaurant or a business and he's like hey sit at
another table and if anybody asked we're just we're just brother and sister how
would that you how would that make you ladies feel wouldn't that cause a rift
in the relationship a little bit I mean you sit here and you think like well
those Abraham then I'd call more it's like no you wouldn't you're just
deceiving your own self if you would be respectful now you'd be respectful then
and if you think that somehow these guys in the Bible are just so much better
you know you're kind of fooling yourself they have issues too okay we all have
issues we all have problems and you shouldn't respect your husband because he
deserves it you should respect your husband because he's your husband because
if I got respected because I deserved it I just wouldn't get respected ever no
one deserves it okay I don't deserve it you don't deserve it none of us deserves
it for how great we are we only deserve it because God ordained it just like my
boss at work doesn't always deserve respect but I should just give it to him
the pastor maybe doesn't always deserve respect but you should just give it to
him anyways okay and you know unless your president's a reprobate you should
always give him respect too okay I put that caveat on there so we live in
America but first Kings look at chapter 17 verse 9 and Elijah the tishbite who
was of the inhabitants of Gilead said unto Ahab as the Lord God of Israel
liveth before whom I stand there shall not be due nor reign these years but
according to my word and the word of the Lord came on him saying get thee hints
and turn the eastward and hide thyself in the by the book Kireth that is before
Jordan and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook and I have commanded
the ravens to feed thee there so he went and did according unto the word of the
Lord for he went and dwelt by the brook Kireth that is before Jordan and the
ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and the bread and bread and
flesh in the evening and he drank of the brook and it came to pass after a while
that the brook dried up because there had not or because there had been no
rain in the land and the word of the Lord came on him saying arise get thee
to Zarephath which belongeth to Zidon and dwell there. Behold I have commanded a
widow woman there to sustain thee. Now it's really interesting because think
of all the people in the world that are going to help Elijah he picks a widow
woman. You ever think about that? Like probably you could argue that this is
the worst person qualified to take care of Elijah because not only is it a woman
it's a widow meaning she doesn't even have any substance to provide of her own.
She is completely you know reliant on other people
for her substance but you know what God likes to use is he likes to use weak
people to show them his might his power and
his trust. Plus it's kind of brilliant because
the king is going to constantly seek for Elijah to try and kill him.
The last place they're going to look for is a widow
and specifically in Zarephath which is kind of a more wicked place
and yet he's there and the Lord provides miracles.
This woman was kind of ready to die and I'm not going to necessarily read the
whole story here but this woman ends up
basically being ready to die but when Elijah comes he's like hey no no no no
don't prepare your last meal prepare me a meal first
and then you can prepare your meal and die but and it ends up working out that
the food that she has by a miracle of God doesn't run out the oil doesn't run
out and she's able to keep making food the whole time during this famine
and it just kind of goes to show a woman that puts God first
he can perform miracles in your life to take care of you because women
I think their greatest fear is not being provided for not being taken care of
or going without during difficult times but you know when you put God first
he can sustain you through that difficult time
and you know think about how hard it would be to just trust the Lord
but to also then minister unto another guy
and then still have to rely on the Lord I mean she's not just providing
for herself she's ministering unto Elijah of her own
substance why because constantly in the Old Testament it's pictures of Jesus
Elijah is a picture of Jesus and this widow woman is a picture of those other
women who what ministered under the Lord Jesus Christ of their own substance
you know she she gave of the Lord what she had and then God multiplied what she
had but that's going to take a great step
of faith to take the little bit that you have
and give that to the Lord or minister unto the Lord or to help the man of God
but you know what she put the man of God you know as a priority in her life
and God greatly blessed her and preserved her if she didn't put the man
of God in her life she would have had her last meal and
died I mean she that that would have been the reality she would have died
and even Jesus Christ brings up how God didn't send Elijah to
a lot of the widows in Israel at this time
but just this one okay why because this is one that was actually going to put
Elijah first this is one that was actually going to
minister unto him and you know Elijah the Elijah is like
someone that everybody knows like Elijah gets a lot of public
attention Elijah is the face of Christianity in a lot of ways
you know this widow woman's not we don't know her name but you know what
she is a spiritual woman behind the scenes Elijah wouldn't survive
Elijah wouldn't been the man of God that he is he wouldn't have gone up in a
whirlwind to heaven if it wasn't for this woman and so
you know what many of us men we wouldn't be who we are
without the women in our lives and we need those women to stay the
spiritual women behind the scenes so that we can be the Elijah's going out
and doing the work you know don't undermine your role in
society don't undermine your role in Christianity and think that you're less
because you're not getting all the attention you know what the attention is
vain anyways go to 2nd Kings chapter number four go
to 2nd Kings chapter four find a man of God to minister unto and
you know what it doesn't have to be a pastor a preacher it could be your
husband because your husband's the man of God
your husband's the one going out and doing soul winning and you know what
don't be a negative Nancy don't be a swine
be the woman behind the scenes helping minister unto your man
and helping him go out there and accomplish the great works of God
you know encourage him to be a soul winner encourage him to be plugged in at
church encourage him to preach the Bible
encourage him to do the works of God and to stand alongside of him
and to help him and to minister unto him and to encourage him
you know be that Sarah be that Mary Magdalene
be that widow woman be the woman in his life
be the the pastor's wife or the deacon's wife to that man and help him
to do great things for God and you know Jesus Christ is paying attention
Jesus Christ is noticing in fact it's funny because it said that God had
commanded this widow woman but when Elijah shows up she didn't
know it I mean do you see did you I we didn't read the whole story
you know I apologize about that but read the whole story and then show me
the verse where God audibly commanded that woman to
feed Elijah you know what it's just that women are commanded to be a
help being under the husband and that women are supposed to be
ministers and so you know whether she realized it or not she was supposed to
do it and you know women should be ministers unto
men that's what God ordained that's what God
decided don't be mad at that role why is that a bad role
well I would do it if it was Elijah well do it if it's your husband do it if it's
your father do it if it's your grandfather do it if it's
you know just some soul winner do it if it's just some evangelist
do it if it's some deacon do it if it's some pastor
do it if it's just anybody in the name of a disciple you know just help the
ministers of God help the church of God minister unto
them do good unto them you know for Mary Magdalene and Jesus
there was no carnal relationship there he wasn't like her
distant cousin necessarily or uncle or brother
or dad or husband she was just ministering unto Jesus
because he was a man of God and she was there at that time you know
be someone that would minister unto the men of God and help them
look at second kings chapter four verse number one the Bible says now there were
pride a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha
saying thy servant my husband is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did fear
the Lord and the creditor has come to take unto
him my two sons to be bondmen now Elisha ends up performing a miracle
for this woman too but notice she loses her husband she's
indebted and she doesn't have you know a way to pay what does she
end up doing she didn't create an oldie fan's account
she didn't whore herself out she didn't prostitute her body
she didn't do what a lot of women do she didn't get a job
you know what she did she asked the man of god what to do she sought the lord
and the lord took care of her and you know how many women today
are seeking the lord and putting the lord first and then having the lord
provide for them and take care of them you know this is a spiritual woman
behind the scenes she goes out and borrows the pots she
does what the man of god says and you know what she is greatly blessed
and you know we even women that seek god first in their lives
and not seeking to preserve themselves and and by carnal means taking things
in their own hand staying dependent you know this is what
often is accused of fundamentalists is they say oh you're trapping your wife
because if you die how is your wife going to pay bills
i say oh i'm dead i'm not going to worry about that no you know what she's going
to trust in the lord and somehow the lord is going to provide for her
i don't know if that's going to work out well you know what you don't have a big
god then because i have a great big god and you know what he has the cattle on
a thousand hills and he can take care of her he can take care of my wife and you
know what the bible says that women under the age of 60 they're supposed to
get remarried again anyways okay and if they're past that age then some
family member by the time my wife reaches the age of 60 she's gonna have a
lot of men in her life that can take care of her
clayton and jackson and james i mean she's gonna have lots of men in her life
that can take care of her let alone grandchildren and everything else
you know what she's she's fine and i'm not planning on dying anytime soon so
get used to me all right but at the end of the day you know we
need to trust the lord and seek the lord and be a woman that's
seeking god first not seeking to preserve themselves
if you skip down to verse eight this is another story it says and it fell on a
day that elisha passed to shunem there was a great woman and
it's not saying she's big it's saying she was awesome
okay and she constrained him to eat bread and so it was
that as oft as he passed by he turned in thither to eat bread
you know this is saying like the man of god was going and he didn't want to eat
but she's just like no you have to eat let me let me give you food she's
compelling him and she's giving him she's ministering
to him of her substance even this it says in verse number nine
and she said under her husband behold now i perceive that this is
and holy man of god which passeth by us continually you know
she's kind of the spiritual giant in the household and she's even having to help
her husband hey this guy's like a really important
man of god there's nothing wrong with a woman prompting her husband
and letting him know spiritual truths you know there's been plenty of people
who their wife got saved first and had to prompt their husband to get saved
or she actually started reading the bible and understanding the doctrine
trying to prompt her husband now of course you want the husband to lead
but notice that this woman is recognizing this is a man of god
she's telling her husband about it verse 10 let us make a little chamber i pray
thee on the wall and let us set for him there a
bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick and it shall be when
he cometh to us that he shall turn and dither she's
thinking about the man of god thinking about his needs
thinking about what he could use and she's even accommodating him
above and beyond what he needs i mean she's thinking like give him a stool
and give him a candle and like you know obviously
why does the man of god need those things i don't know maybe so he could
read the bible maybe so he could write things down he
could work on you know whatever work that he has to do
but she's thinking about this she's setting aside an entire place in her
home just for the man of god you know that
is a spiritual woman sometimes we we try to
make being spiritual something that it's not here
what is this woman doing that's being spiritual making meals
preparing a bed preparing a table lighting a candle
just setting a place up in her home to minister unto other people
you know that's being hospitable you know that's some of the descriptions of
what a spirit-filled person is is a person that's hospitable
thinking about others providing for others helping others
assisting men of God doing work for them saying this is a great man of God
hey let us minister unto him let us do good unto him
and of course she's letting her husband know she's not like
have ulterior motives to be interested in this guy or something like that
she's just saying this is a man of God let us
help him let me and you do good unto him
and bless this man of God okay I I want to go to one more place go to
Luke chapter number one there's a lot more that we can talk
about but you know some of the things that we've
brought up number one we brought up ministering unto the Lord and and of
course we don't have Jesus Christ physically on this earth to minister to
but Jesus Christ says when you've done it on the least of these my brethren
you've done it unto me so you know you do have is you have men women and
children on this earth that are Christians and every time you ladies
minister unto one of them you're ministering unto Jesus so let the women
in this church be women that are spiritual women behind the scenes
assisting the men women and children in this church and not just this church
yay the whole world other churches in this whole area be a minister unto them
serve them do good unto them make them meals
provide them with clothes and the things that they need
that is what a spiritual woman is doing not only that we
noticed that mary was reading her bible proverbially speaking she's talking with
jesus she's reading her bible and praying you
know this is another great thing that women can do
we see that the widow woman seeks after god in
in this passage that we had read it said this woman was very careful
with the care that she had toward elijah or elisha i'm sorry
and so you know caring for others thinking about others
here's another thought is just being humble and in luke chapter number one
we have the story about zacharias and elizabeth and
they're kind of older and they end up having john the baptist and john the
baptist is their child but the bible even says very
specifically about them is that they were great people
they they really loved the lord yet they were barren
this also just proves the fact that you could be the greatest person
you could be the most spiritual woman and man and still be barren you know
some people would maybe think that you're a bad person
because you're barren but that's not necessarily true look at verse 5
there was in the days of herod the king of judaea a certain
priest named zechariah of the course of abaya and his wife was of the daughters
of aaron and her name was elizabeth and they were both righteous before god
walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the lord blameless
now how many people in here can say that's me i'm walking in
all the commandments blameless like that's an extreme
righteousness that's an extreme level of godliness but look at this
and they had no child because that elizabeth was barren and they both were
now well stricken in years so the bible
saying that they've lived a long life they've been pleasing unto the lord
they're very righteous they're constantly serving god but for some
reason they're barren okay and of course it's to make it more
significant when they give birth to john the baptist of course but
you know we don't always know god's intention look at verse 41
when it came to pass that when elizabeth heard the salutation of mary so the
mary comes and visit her the babe leaped in her womb and elizabeth
was filled with the holy ghost you know what not only men are filled with the
holy ghost the bible very clearly instructs and
tells us that elizabeth was filled with the holy ghost
you know we shouldn't think like only men are filled with the holy ghost no
women can be filled with the holy ghost and what happens
and she spake out with a loud voice and said blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb and whence is this to me
that the mother of my lord should come to me you know why god chose her
look at these words that she says and whence is this to me that the mother of
my lord should come to me she's humble she's a very humble woman
she's not saying of course of course she would come to me
i'm very righteous i'm keeping all the commandments blameless
look at me look at all the works that i've done of course it makes sense that
the lord would come and visit me she still says like who am i
that the lord would come and visit me or would come to see
me you know it shows that she's very humble
and it shows that she cares about the things of god and she's filled with the
holy spirit and she speaks the word of god you
know we need women that are going to speak the word of god
the bible says in proverbs 31 which we've been memorizing that the
that the proverbial woman she opens her mouth with wisdom she opens her mouth
wisdom and we need women that speak the wisdom of the word of god
that when they speak they speak what the bible says that they know the bible
when they instruct their children they're instructing them out of the
bible when their friends are asking them
things they're instructing them from the bible not gossip
when their their husbands are asking them questions and talking with them
they're instructing their husbands with wisdom they're saying hey this is a man
of god let us make him a little chamber i
mean that's a lot of wisdom you know they're saying yes
lord they're saying yes sir they're using discretion
they're saying the things that are coming from the bible you know that's
what they can be spirit filled and you know
when they go out they can preach the gospel and they can speak with wisdom
there's a lot of people that probably wouldn't even get saved
from a man but there's a woman that could get them saved whether that be
children men women you know there's going to be
men that would probably only talk to a lady
there's probably ladies that only talk to a lady there's probably children that
may only want to talk to a lady and you know we need women that are
willing to go out and preach the gospel we need women that are going to speak
the word the word of God says we need the women to teach our children
the wisdom of God you know Proverbs 31 literally starts out
by telling us it's the prophecy that his mother taught him I mean the
prophecy that his mother taught him I I would love for the Bible to say of me
and my wife that we're both filled with the Holy Ghost
it's not just about me we want our women to be filled with the Holy Ghost
you know the Bible talks about women's not just women but all of us
speaking to ourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing making
melody in our heart unto the Lord that's how we're
filled with the Spirit you know women can be filled with the Spirit
say how do I get filled with the Spirit how about sing some hymns when you're at home
well who's going to hear my beautiful voice should I put on TikTok no
don't look I'm not against you know I'm not against putting out music online
and I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with making
great soundtracks and great musical works and putting them out there
you know you don't have to necessarily film yourself singing all day every day
and tell everybody about it and do a little dance show or something like that
you know that's that's not really trying to be filled with the spirit
that's trying to get followers and likes and whatever you know that's not what we
we should be striving for and the world is trying to turn women into
non-discreet people that are constantly sharing their
lives with everybody online you know women should use some more
discretion especially when it comes to spiritual things
read in private pray in private sing to the lord in private
let your children sing with your children you know if you need an
audience if you need some followers sing with your children because i
guarantee they'll like it you know they'll pay attention they enjoy
you know you're singing even if the world doesn't and i want to
show just flip the the page and look at chapter 2 verse 36
women should seek to be humble and and here's one other thing that i
noticed that's kind of a private thing verse
36 this is about a woman named anna and there was one anna a prophetess
the daughter of phanuel of the tribe of asser she was of a great age
and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity and she was a
widow of about four score in four years which departed not from the temple but
served god with fastings and prayers night
and day you know it had been easy for this woman
to have thought like is what i'm doing even matter i mean
no one's no one's noticing that this woman's constantly fasting and praying
because those are things done in private you know matthew chapter number six even
makes it clear that when you fast and pray you're supposed to be doing it in
secret and for god to praise her works means
it was definitely done in secret if it wasn't for this passage of
scripture we would have never known and i think i think what god's doing
is god's just giving a sneak peek into the spiritual women behind the scenes
and it's not so that you would say well i really hope i get that one mention
i really hope i get some recognition eventually no it's to help you realize
that most of the time if not all the time you're not going to
ever get that recognition but god notices god notices the women
being spiritual god notices your prayers in secret
god notices your fastings in secret god notices you reading the bible in secret
god notices you making all those meals and making the clothes
and making the bed and and providing the house
and making it hospitable god notices you
doing the things of the lord god notices you
when you put your your care and trust in him and have him provide for you
he'll make your oil multiply he'll make the oil not run out
he'll he'll cause it to where everything you could ever want and need
will be taken care of and you'll be blessed greatly and in
fact he may even reveal himself to you
privately in a way that he did to no man just
like he did to mary magna let us not look down upon the women in this world
or the women in this church the women this ministry let us
realize these are the secret parts of the church body
that are so important and let us constantly praise them
and let us constantly take care of them and protect them and encourage them
to be the part of the body that they need to be don't seek for vainglory
it's not what the bible says be a discreet you know spirit filled
woman of god speaking the wisdom of god and just
stay humble all right let's close in prayer thank you heavenly father for the
word of god and giving us these instructions
i pray that the women in this church would
would realize the importance of staying humble and would realize that
that the works that they do are going to be seen and noticed by you
regardless of what kind of attention they may get from this world and i pray
that you would help build their faith encourage their
faith strengthen their faith help them to realize that the works that
they do are important i hope that all the women in this room
realize that they're very important they're very special to you
that you want to have a special relationship with them
and and i pray that you would help us as men to
encourage our wives and encourage our daughters and encourage our mothers and
encourage all the women in our lives to be very spiritual
and to see their importance and for them to
for them to know that we we believe that they're important
even if we can't always pay attention to everything they do but that Jesus will
and in Jesus name we pray amen all right for our final song this
morning let's go to three hundred and seventy throw out the lifeline
three hundred and seventy throw out the lifeline three seven zero
throw out the lifeline throw out the lifeline
us the dark wave there is someone to say
you are dismissed