The Role of Women in the Church

0 (1s): Good morning, 1 (3s): Sorry. We're like we have people tuning in all over the world, you know? So we have to, I have to start at the right time when the, you know, when the camera goes, it's like, I feel like I'm on, I mean, like a, like a news studio or something, you know, they're like, they're like, you're on good morning. Welcome to harvest church. Thank you for joining us. Whether you're on campus in the sanctuary on the loft. I mean, in the lawn outside, we're just glad you're here tuning in on the live stream. We're going to, I'm going to open with a word of prayer for the service this morning, dear God. Thank you so much for just every blessing you've blessed us with. Thank you for being so faithful to show up. When we, when we invite you, when we become aware of you. And so this morning, I just declare that we're just going to stop and become aware of you more in this space this morning. 1 (49s): We're going to, I'm going to, like, I just asked to help us lay down what we have maybe burdens or just things we're thinking about, worried about are things of life and just lay them at the, at the foot of the cross this morning. And just, we're just going to exalt your name God. So I just ask you to move in us this morning and, and just show us something of something more of you this morning in Jesus name, please stand. We're going to sing a little bit of maybe a new song to the, to the church this morning. It's if you're not quite awake yet, you might be more by the finish of the song. 0 (1m 35s): I was shame who could carry that weight? It was, I was breathing, but not too high. 0 (2m 17s): It was fine. 0 (2m 21s): 2 (4m 12s): I needed rescue. My siblings had shades spray Catherine way to your hours. And you call me 0 (4m 29s): . 0 (5m 56s): He brought me no way I don't always get to see. 0 (13m 7s): I won't believe it feel like we all have kind of just be with God kind of reflect. 0 (18m 51s): 2 (19m 33s): Good. 0 (19m 34s): 2 (20m 17s): Smell. You make giants fall. You use balls. I went in to speak to my feed. I will preach your mind. You will face full that you will be faithful that 0 (21m 16s): I just want to speak right now too. Like, I just feel like some, even I question it sometimes like, Oh my gosh, it just feels like God's letting me down. It's like you say, he's faithful. You say that like, he's good, but I can't see it. And it's like, that's valid sometimes, but I just pray right now that God would just remind you if you're feeling that this morning that he is there and he understands what's going on because he's good all the time. 0 (22m 18s): So to encourage you guys now to it's a good time to turn around and encourage someone, let the overflow just like smiles and hug someone. If you're comfortable with that, maybe give high fives, fist bumps, introduce yourself to someone. 3 (22m 38s): So my wife threw a birthday, a surprise birthday for me a few years ago and, and she just completely pulled off. It was a complete surprise. So what she did is she sent me away to some friends for the weekend and we went out to Owens Valley and did some fly fishing, some adventuring, some just getting out in the country. It was a great time. And as I came back in, she sent me a text and such, she said, Hey, meet me at Manning park, up above Carpentaria. We were living in, in Santa Barbara at the time. And so I said, okay, I'm sorry. So Paul I'm pulling into meaning park. If you've ever been there, it's just this gorgeous park. It's surrounded by some Hills with Oak beautiful Oak trees. And as you pull into the park, there's this big grass field. And I just remember seeing kids playing out there and there's a jungle gym and there's families with around the barbecues. 3 (23m 22s): And as I pulled up to the site where my wife had said to meet her, I realized that like 30 to 40 of my friends were there. And it was just, you know, as I was walking up, I was just, it was, it was a super emotional moment because it just had that feeling of like, this is what heaven's going to be. Like. Some people hadn't seen in years, some, some, just some of my best friends in life, my wife, my kids, it was just an time. And I wonder if that's not what heaven's going to be like when we walk into the Gates and just, wow. Look at all the friends and family. And I hope that's what church is like for you. You know, like when I get just a taste of heaven each morning, I get to see each of your faces and just, we just gather up together. I hope you have that, that, that feeling of, of just companionship and friendship here at harvest. 3 (24m 5s): So we just want to say welcome. And if you, I haven't connected with us yet, feel free to go over to the info center and find out what's going on, how you can get plugged in, just do the things that are going on with that said, we've got a big thing going on and that's April 4th for celebrating Easter service. So we've got handouts here, some flyers that you can take to your friends and family and pass out and invite people to our service. It's going to be April 4th, it's one services, 10:00 AM. And it's going to be in our upper parking lot. So there's plenty of ways to get to, to help out with that. There's going to be plenty of stuff set up and clean up afterwards. So please feel free to say, sign up for that. 3 (24m 45s): Volunteer your time. Also, if you'd like to be baptized during this service, we'll be having the baptisms. It's gonna be a sweat special time. And a there's gonna be a class next week at 9:00 AM during, during this first service. So we'll have a baptism class, just go through the basics of what is baptism. Why do we do it? And so that's next week, but, but we definitely need some filled eggs. And I want to emphasize the filled eggs, right? Put some where they say wrap some can wrap candy stickers, small toys inside the eggs. It was by March 28th. So filled eggs. Feel free to drop those off for the church office or the info center. 3 (25m 25s): Oh man, we got some exciting things this week. We've got, starting up tomorrow night and that is men six or men Mondays at six. Okay. And then on men, on men, on Mondays eating meat at six. Okay. So that is tomorrow night at 6:00 PM at thousand Hills ranch. And it's a free dinner worship testimonies. And they say to bring a friend, there's no sign of necessarily just show up. And also this week is exciting that we're starting our journey groups or men's journey groups. So there's a couple this week that you can join in, find out what's going on. Those will be at six 30 Wednesday in the morning, 6:30 PM. 3 (26m 5s): And then Friday is 6:00 AM. And so you can find out more about the, about those at the info center, but this one kind of just, there's no commitment this week. It's come find out what journey groups all about and how, and what do we like to plug in and make that commitment. So that's this week, lastly, we have the college and young professionals scavenger hunt that is this Saturday, March 20th. It'll be from four to six 30. And that the cost is $12. And the age range they said is from 18 to 40. And yes, they will be checking IDs at the door. So 18 to 40, 41. I don't, I can't, I won't make, take it in. So head to the events page and to find out more 4 (26m 44s): About that and to fill, get the information. That's all I got. Thank you. 5 (26m 51s): Match today. Ooh. Yeah. Same glasses, same basic frame. 4 (27m 2s): He's wearing his trucks today though. And I didn't wear my chucks. How many, know what? Chucks are? A few of us don't okay, good. Good, good. How many have chucks? How many again? How many objects? So there's five of us that are cool, right 5 (27m 17s): On brain. Right? 4 (27m 19s): Just kidding. You're cool to you in your own little way, in your own special little way. How many, remember the time change? Yeah, no. I stayed up all night waiting for the sun to come up with the new time change and everything. And then finally it dawned on me. Finally, it dawned on me that it was a joke. Did you guys catch the joke? So I was up all night waiting for the sun to come up and then finally it dawned on me. Wasn't any funny or the second time As an Andy funnier the second time, I'm trying to get my, my sermon to come up here. So I'm telling bad jokes. There it is. 4 (27m 59s): There we go. So we're, we're in a second Timothy chapter two, the first Timothy chapter two, let's go out and stand up. I'm going to, we're going to pray cause we really need to pray because this is the topic of the message today. The role of women in the church. Isn't that just isn't that like warm and fuzzy. Just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not me either. I love the topic, but it's, it's so polarizing. It's so, so interesting. It's kind of like talking about Calvinism versus Arminianism pre-trip post-trip mid trip, pantry ribs stuff, whether it gives, have a C since the first century or whether gifts are still for today, all of these topics. 4 (28m 42s): So what w what I find is that the church before we pray real quick, little pre-storm and sermon at here, I find is the church that we battle inward internally about all these kinds of silly things. And I think when we get to heaven, we're going to laugh about the things that we battled over here in the earth. And so, so some of you are going to agree with me today. Some are going to disagree. It's okay. It's okay. You can be wrong. And that was, that was an attempt at a joke as well. So instead of jokes, I'm just going to pray, and then I'm going to teach the Bible. How's that? I'll stick with 5 (29m 21s): That. Thank 4 (29m 23s): You, Lord. As we stand, we stand to honor you Lord, and we, we really want to hear from you today. So I pray that you would speak through me and through your word and through the power of your Holy spirit, doing what you do best instructing us, informing us and helping us to know what your will is. So bless us as we do. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So I don't know if it was this topic or just the time change, but I, last night I was, I set my clock and I'm in the bedroom and then went to bed and I woke up and I, the clock said 6:00 AM, but I went into the living room to get coffee and the coffee hadn't brewed yet. 4 (30m 5s): So I'm like, something's up. And so I look at the other clocks and they say 5:00 AM. So I dunno if I set my clock and then it set itself again, you know, some locks are smart clocks and they can set themselves well, this is a new clock. So it might be a smart clock. I wake up at 5:00 AM and then I realize, or I re I think it's six, but it's five. So then I crawl on the sofa with my pillow and I'd go back to sleep for about 45 minutes, and then I'd get up and I drank coffee and I've worked on my sermon a little bit more. And then about seven 30 or so, like, it's almost time to leave for church, but I told Jolene, I said, I'm going to lie back down for another 30 minutes. So I was cold. So I got my blanket and I got on the bed and I went back to sleep for about 30, 30 minutes. 4 (30m 45s): And then finally we're here. So it's been kind of a full day, already, lots of naps and lots of all kinds of stuff. So it's good. And then I'm going to go home and watch the players championship after this. So it should be really good. Hey, we're in first Timothy chapter two, verses eight through 15, the role of women in the church, verse eight in every place of worship. I want men and that word in the Greek is a Nair and it actually means men. And so we're going to see a difference between men and women in this texts. This first portion is speaking to men. Men were called to lead spiritually, and it says, I want men to pray with Holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. 4 (31m 28s): So it's a challenge from the apostle for men to come into a place of worship. And we can do this as we gather corporately, or quite honestly, it's, it's just effective. You have to do it when you, when you're all by yourself, just taking the time to lift it Holy hands. And it says, lift up Holy hands, because it's like when we're told to come and worship with, with, with what's the words worship in spirit and in truth, not my notes. So I'm trying to pull it out here, worship the Lord in spirit. And in truth, the Lord wants something of honesty from his worshipers. And so when we come and lift up, Holy hands, it's a time to do an inventory and say, Lord, what is going on internally with me? 4 (32m 11s): Is there anything of anger and controversy? Another translation says wrath or doubting. Is there anything happening internally that I need to deal with? It's kind of like what we talk about when we do communion, I always invite people to take a personal inventory of your lives. And before we take the bread and the cup, we take that inventory so that we can confess our sins so that we can be refreshed in the spirit of God and the grace God, and the love of God. And it powerful things happen as a result of that. So Paul's saying, I want men to lift up Holy hands. And then women following that example, lifting up Holy hands, without anger, free from anger and controversy. 4 (32m 55s): Sometimes we show up and we've got anger. We've got an angst in our soul, and God is giving us this opportunity, this invitation to just let all that stuff go, just to let it go and say, Lord, I don't want to be angry. And maybe you're thinking about somebody right now, and you're having the opportunity to in your soul. Say, Lord, I don't want to be angry with this person. I don't want to be mixed up in controversy. I don't want wrath and doubting in my soul Lord. I want to just be free in Jesus name to worship. And so that's what Paul is talking to us about. Paul Ron talked in the first part of this chapter about prayer. And so we just kind of continue with that theme. And every place I want men to pray with, Holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. 4 (33m 37s): And I want women that word is speaking about women. That Greek word is G Y N E. And Paul is speaking to women and he gives some specific direction here. He says, I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves, by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes for women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. You're thinking myself, well, maybe you're a woman here. And you say, I've got gold pearls and expensive clothes on. 4 (34m 17s): I just want to let you off the hook there. A lot of what we're going to be reading about in this text is cultural, but the truth is the same. And it's true for men as well. We need to be careful that we're not spending so much time on the externals that we're neglecting the internal. So we bought this house next door, this old 1865 house that is now the church office. And when we bought the house without doing a lot of investigative work, we, we thought, man, we can probably just slap a coat of paint on this place and do some cosmetic stuff than it would be awesome through and through, you know, and then we get working on the place and we realize that as we're stripping wallpaper, as we're working on floors, as we're doing cabinets and all this stuff, we're trying to clean things up and put a, it was kind, kinda like trying to put lipstick on a pig. 4 (35m 4s): It was this ugly building that we're trying to just kind of clean up with a little bit of cosmetics. And we realized that there were so much more wrong with the house that if we didn't deal with it, the place was going to be falling around us, falling down around us over time. So we ended up putting in new floors, new interior doors, new windows, a new dry wall, new insulation, new heating, air conditioning, electrical plumbing roof. We pretty much check it all the way down to the studs, pretty much everywhere and re every dentist. And now when you walk in, man, it's beautiful through and through. It's got the paint, but it's also got all of the new stuff inside. 4 (35m 48s): I think God challenges us to do the same thing in our own lives. Sometimes we can show up to church or show up in our life and we look good on the outward, but man, there's just stuff going on inside. And God is giving us an opportunity again, to just look at those things and do some business with him because he can heal us. He can minister to us, he can set us free. He can do what only he can do in our lives, making us beautiful through and through. So this is what, this is what Paul's talking about. When he writes about the church, we have this opportunity to look internally, to think internally and to worship out of that and to present to the Lord. 4 (36m 32s): Something that is beautiful through and through now, as we get to verses 11 to 12, we get to look at the hard portions of this text. It's the most popular portion of scripture in the Bible. It says this women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them, or you serve their authority. Let them listen quietly so we can stop and, you know, ask ourselves some questions about this text. And Paul actually says something very similar in first Corinthians chapter 14, in that he says, if a woman has questions, she should ask her husband when she gets home. 4 (37m 18s): And so in, in the first century, when this was written and when this was first proclaimed, women were for the most part uneducated, they couldn't read, they couldn't write. They were essentially the property of their fathers. And then they became the property of their husbands. In fact, unmarried women needed to ask permission before they could, even from their fathers before they could even leave the house and married women needed to ask permission of their husbands to leave the house. They were normally restricted to roles of little or no authority. They could not testify in court. 4 (37m 60s): They could not appear in public venues. They were not allowed to talk to strangers and they had to be doubly veiled. When they left their houses, women should learn quietly and said, mischievously, I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. There's a reason that Paul communicated what he communicated in that culture. The culture has changed. And now we can probably dismiss a lot of the Bible by saying that was cultural, but the way he differentiate the two is you say, okay, is this truth that we're reading? Is it portrayed throughout all of scripture in the old and new Testament? Is this something that we see consistently throughout the scripture? 4 (38m 42s): Or is this a specific instance or one of a couple specific instances? And then you do your due diligence with X's Jesus there and decided by God's grace through the rest of the scripture, as you allow scripture to interpret scripture, then you decide what is cultural and what is timeless first 13 we'll look, we'll read verses 13, 14, 15 comment on those quickly. And then we'll jump back to our favorite verses number of verses 11 and 12, and just kind of unpack those for the rest of the service. And again, so this is a primarily a teaching today. It's not a, so I'm going to be reading a lot, reading a lot of verses, a lot of commentary. 4 (39m 24s): And so it's not my typical style of maybe more preaching than teaching. I'd try to do a blend, but today is mostly just teaching. It's mostly just teaching what I feel like the Lord has given us to understand today for Adam verse 13 says for Adam, for God made Adam first and afterward, he made Eve and it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived and sin was the results, but we see in Romans five, 12, Paul wrote something else. We can read the scripture real quick. We can read the scripture and see and conclude that Paul was a chauvinist, a male chauvinist pig, right? Based on what he wrote here and what he wrote in first Corinthians chapter 14, we can say Paul was a chauvinist. 4 (40m 10s): But the reality is, is that Paul recognized the value of women. As you read Romans 16, you see that Paul declares just the help that women gave to him and th the help that they were to his life in ministry. And then we're going to read through the old and the new Testament, see how God specifically worked through women in powerful and important ways. Romans five 12 says when Adam sinned sin entered the world, Adam's sin brought death. So death spread to everyone for everyone sinned. And so there's this, you know, topic of deception. 4 (40m 50s): And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived and sin was the result. The truth is if Adam was doing his job, there wouldn't have been that problem. If Adam was doing his job as a spiritual leader of his home, there wouldn't have been that problem. And so in Romans five, Paul actually makes Adam responsible for the sin that entered into the world. And then we get to verse 15. It's a difficult verse. One that I have still, somebody tried to give me their perspective on this verse this morning. And it still doesn't make any sense to me, but it says this, but women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, holiness, and modesty. 4 (41m 35s): So it's a difficult verse. What does that even mean? Women will be saved through childbearing. Well, first of all, we need to understand theologically that nobody has saved through any works, especially childbearing nobody's saved through childbearing. And so what is the apostle Paul mean? Somebody told me this morning that they think that Paul was affirming the position of women or the role of women in the family, because they weren't able to go on missionary journeys with Paul. So he was affirming them in their role as women who brought forth children and, and that important role that women still have today. So maybe that's possible. Maybe this verse is pointing prophetically toward or historically toward the price child who was born to bear the sins of the world. 4 (42m 28s): Maybe, maybe it's not about salvation at all, verse 15, but the woman, but women will be saved. Maybe there's talking about physically, they're going to be saved through childbearing. It was a dangerous thing like it is now, but it was dangerous, especially back then for women to give birth. And often there would be complications and the woman would lose her life. So maybe it's a promise to women. Women will be saved physically through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness and modesty. We're not really sure. And it's one of those things that God will make clear to us when we get to heaven. So let's move forward back to our favorite verses. 4 (43m 9s): First Timothy chapter two, verses 11 and 12 women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. You think this is a forever expectation. I don't think it is. I believe it's purely cultural for the time. And I, I believe the scripture spells that out and kind of back set up when Christ came, a part of his ministry was the liberation and the elevation of women in the world, but also in the church under his leadership, things began to change. 4 (43m 51s): And we're going to kind of look at a couple of those things. In fact, we see, as we read the gospels, that women were constantly part of the ministry of Christ and they were constantly a part of the way, the ministry of the apostle Paul. It was women who first declared that Jesus just had resurrected from the dead. It was women that Jesus trusted that revelation. Now that bedrock truth, that bedrock truth or faith, it was women who first proclaimed that to the others and Matthew 28, 10. Then Jesus said to them, to Mary Magdalene and to the other Mary don't be afraid. Go tell brothers to leave for Galilee. 4 (44m 34s): And they will see me there. In other words, I'm alive. I've resurrected from the dead. I, I am who I say I am. I've done what I said, what happened? He said that he would die on the third day. He would resurrect from the dead and he's telling the Mary's to go and declare that that is actually happened. It was the women who demonstrated faith and faithfulness to Jesus, even when he was dying on the cross. A lot of his disciples, a lot of disciples of God, of Jesus scattered. When he got arrested, Peter denied that he knew him a lot, scattered all four gospels record that record the women who followed Jesus. 4 (45m 16s): They watched the crucifixion from a distance and it was the women who were ready after the Sabbath to anoint Jesus' body for burial. So it was the women who remain faithful, even though they probably didn't understand what was going on, even though Jesus declared it to be. So it was a confusing time for Jesus' followers because they, they believe that he was the Messiah and that he would be the King who would deliver Israel and, and establish his kingdom here in the earth. And so when he got arrested and then crucified and then buried, there were some confusion there, but these women stayed true to their faith in Jesus, Matthew 15, 40 and 41. It says some women were there watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalen at his crucifixion, Mary, the mother of James, the younger and a Joseph and Solomon. 4 (46m 5s): They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there. And in Matthew 16 one, it says Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Sala may went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus' body. So they were faithful to him even to death. And so imagine their joy when he was resurrected from the dead. So from the scripture, from the scripture, how do we see women being used while we see women teaching men in acts chapter 18 with Priscilla and Aquilla instructing Apollo. 4 (46m 51s): So I'll read that in acts 1824 through 26, it says now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man came to emphasis and he was mighty in the scriptures. This man had been, this man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being forgiven in spirit. He was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquilla heard him, husband and wife, when they heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God, more accurately. 4 (47m 36s): So in this case, we see a husband and wife, fave, and Priscilla is named first Priscilla. And Aquilla heard him. They took him aside and explained to him the way of God, more accurately. See? So we see women teaching men. We see women participating in the ministry with the apostle Paul. I mentioned Romans 16, verses one. And two says this. I commend to you, our sister, Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church of Saint Korea. Welcome her. And the Lord is one who is worthy of honor among God's people help her in whatever she needs for. She has been helpful to many and especially to me. 4 (48m 18s): So that word deacon means minister. It means servant. We're going to see that it actually, according to Strongs, it means teacher or pasture as well. And we'll look at that here in just a moment. So Romans 16 one, I commend to you, our sister, Phoebe, a servant of church of the church in St. Korea. So again, that word deacon means it can mean servant or it can be minister. And we see both in the next couple of verses first Corinthians three, five says this, what then is Apollos? What is Paul y'all can us servants? 4 (49m 1s): That's the word through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each? So in that verse, Paul and Apollos are called servants. It's the same word. it? Just to be it just translated servants there in Colossians one 23. It says, if indeed you continue in the faith stable and said fast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. And of which I, Paul became a Deaconess. That's the Greek word, but it's translated minister there. So that same word can be translated. Minister can be translated servant. 4 (49m 43s): And we see we're going to actually look at the qualifications of deacons here next week or in the next couple of weeks. And we'll go from there. Strong's Greek lexicon defines for us this word, deacon, Deaconess. I thought we were going to have the slide up there, but it's not up there. So I'll just read it to you a little hard to follow me, reading it to you. But this is what it says, probably from an obsolete docto to run on errands and attendant I E genitive case a waiter table, a waiter at a table or in other menial duties. 4 (50m 24s): So that's, you know, speaking of servant, but then it says specially a Christian teacher and pastor technically a deacon or Deaconess. And so it says, it means deacon minister servant, but also teacher, pastor. And so that's pretty interesting as we look at that. So deacon means minister servant, and according to strongest Christian teacher or pastor, we only see the word pastor once in the whole Bible, we, the, the word is poor main, and we see it translated once in the scripture pasture, wherever else it's used in the new Testament, it's translated shepherd. 4 (51m 6s): And so we only see the word pastor using Ephesians four 11. So I'll read Ephesians four, 11 and 12. It says this. Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers, their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. And so we see that word, pastor being used here, and it's in the context of gifts that Christ gave the church. Now, these are the gifts that Christ gave the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers. And so if we look at these gifts, these, these five things as spiritual gifts, like we would look at the gift of hospitality, the gift of leadership, other gifts that are mentioned in Romans chapter 12 and in first Corinthians chapter 12, there are no, there are actually no qualifications for this gift of pastor. 4 (52m 3s): Now we use pastor in the Western church, maybe in the, in the world, pretty loosely. And it, we think that pastor is kind of interchangeable with elder or overseer, but there are actually all different words in the Greek. And so there are definitely qualifications for elders and overseers and deacons. And we're going to get to that as we read first, Timothy chapter three and following, and as we get into Titus, and as we get into first, Peter, there are qualifications and expectations, but there don't seem to be qualifications and expectations for this, this gift of pastor. And so this girl, Phoebe is based on the word could possibly have been some kind of a minister where it's a bit of a guessing game, but, but it's not too much of a stretch to think that she could have been some kind of a administer. 4 (53m 1s): And we're all called to be ministers within the body of Christ. I'm called to minister to you. You're called to minister to me, we're called to minister to one to another. So we have this responsibility to serve one another. And there's no hierarchy within the body of Christ, meaning that we never graduate out of this place of being a minister where we're serving. Jesus said I didn't come to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many. So we're all in this role, in this room, having this responsibility to serve and minister to one another. So we see women teaching men, we see women deacons, which based on what I've said and what we studied so far has imply maybe far farther reaching implications than what we may have thought prior to this. 4 (53m 48s): And we see women profits, we see women profits in the old Testament and we see women profits in the new Testament. So we're going to answer the question, what is a prophet and how many women prophets prophesied in the Bible. And so we're going to kind of look at some things. So what does a profit profits where God's authorized, spoke persons, both women and men communicated God's direct revelation to designated peoples. So we see that in old Testament, new Testament, and he instructed his people to listen to the profits he raised up. And we see that in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 15 verse 15. I'm going to mention some verses that aren't going to be on the screen because we don't have enough time to go over all the verses. 4 (54m 30s): But if you want to go back and re-listen to the message@aguharvest.org and check the verses out, please do so sometimes times profits preface their message with this. Well, the Lord says, or thus sayeth the Lord. So they were a voice speaking for the Lord at times, singing and musical instrumentation accompanied the minutes history of prophecy. We see that in first Chronicles, 25 verses one through seven, some profits were called to deliver specific messages and other instances of profit, deliberate, Avery Buke for disobedience and encouragement. Okay. 4 (55m 9s): Prediction as a reminder of God's covenant with his people or specific instruction for caring the message from God, how does God communicate with profits in a very, very, very different ways. God communicated to his profits through right. Various methods. Moses was unique in that he had the privilege of speaking God to God face to face, but that wasn't common, but we read about it. Numbers chapter 12, verses six through eight. It says, listen, to my words, there is a prophet among you. I, the Lord reveal myself to them. Yeah, envisions. I speak to them in dreams, but this is not true of my servant. 4 (55m 49s): Moses. He is faithful in all my house with him. I speak faith to face clearly and not in riddles. He sees the form of the Lord. So that was a specific instance with Moses. But most often profits receive God's message by less direct means. They received messages in the form of visions and dreams and vivid imagery and audible voices and inaudible internal voices by the supernatural opening of their eyes to see unseen things. We read about that in the scripture, through an angelic messenger or through symbolic actions. 4 (56m 29s): So did women prophesied? Yes. Men delivered the majority of scriptural prophecies. Yet God also called women to receive and proclaim his message throughout the Bible are instances where women prophets prophesied in the Bible. They spoke the word of the Lord to others on the day of Pentecost, the Holy spirit was poured out on both women and men at that time, Peter, one of the 12 disciples echoed this prophecy of Joel two 18. I will pour out my spirit on all people, your sons and daughters will prophesy. And your young men will dream see dreams. And that sort of thing acts chapter two, verses 17 and 18 and ancient Neary scholar notes. 4 (57m 16s): The fact that certain biblical texts presuppose that there were women profits. There can be no debate. There were women profits in ancient Israel and an early Christianity. And the term that is used in Hebrew and in Greek for women profits is the same as the term used for men profits. With the, the only difference being the marker of gender, that is the linguistic component of these ancient languages, Dr. Christopher Rolston wrote. So who are the, some of the named women profits in the old Testament? Well, there's Miriam. You see that in Micah chapter six, verse four, exit is 15, 20 and 21, Deborah judges, four and five. 4 (57m 59s): And Holda second Kings 22, 14 through 20. There are also women profits in the new Testament. There was Anna Anna, Luke, two 36 through 38, a prophet in the temple court worshiped a night and day fasting and praying. She was a widow after Simeon spoke and a prophesied over the baby Jesus, to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Other new Testament references to prophesizing women, including include actually Mary, the mother of Jesus. She sang a song of praise and a response to her relative Elisabeth's spirit-filled declaration of blessings. Mary's prophetic song of praise is often called the Magnificant, the Magnificant. 4 (58m 44s): And so we see that song that she sang. It was, it was a prophetic song that the Lord had given to her. Peter quoted Joel and your sons and your daughters will prophesy acts two 17. I just mentioned that Luke's reference to your, to the four unmarried daughters who prophesied they were the daughters of Philip the evangelist. And so there's plenty of examples in the scripture that identifies women who were prophets Paul's letter to the church at Corinth, in what you described, any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, he's identifying women who were praying or prophesying correcting their uncovered heads. He didn't correct them and say, you shouldn't pray or prophesy. 4 (59m 26s): And this was in a public gathering. He said, if you're going to do it culturally, they sh their heads should be covered. So we asked the question is prophecy also teaching will, prophecy is a gift from the Holy spirit. Paul wrote fall in the way of love and eagerly desire, gifts of the spirit, especially prophecy first Corinthians 14 one. So again, did, did those who prophesied also teach? I think they did. Paul clearly described teachers as distinct from profits, but I think there was an element of teaching and the prophetic gift. He described tangible ways. People spiritually grow through prophetic words, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening and encouraging and comfort. 4 (1h 0m 9s): First Corinthians 14 three, and the one who prophesies edifies the church first Corinthians 14, four. Also Paul encouraged prophecy in an orderly manner so that everyone may be instructed and encourage first Corinthians 1431. So it truly seems that the prophetic message included elements of teaching. And so we see God using women in the, in the Bible, the new Testament within his kingdom work to do profound and wonderful things. We're seeing God do amazing things. And so I just want to want to dip, put that out there for a couple of reasons. 4 (1h 0m 50s): Number one, I think we've been vague as a church about our position with women in the ministry. We've been a little bit vague. And, and so I wanted to be, I wanted to kind of remove the veil from that. We're going to be talking more about church leadership. As we look at chapter three, as we look at elders and overseers and deacons and that sort of thing, we'll unpack that some more there's actually qualifications for those offices. Things that we consider offices that aren't spiritual gifts, necessarily the people working in those offices have been given spiritual gifts to work in those offices. But when we're talking about the spiritual gifts that God gives to his church, we're talking about things that God gives without consideration of gender or anything else. 4 (1h 1m 37s): God just gives gifts to his church. So we're seeing God work mightily. And so I want to encourage women in the church to believe that God has gifted you, that he's given you spiritual gifts to be used within the body of Christ. Use them with all of the grace and strength that God has given you to use those spiritual gifts. You've got plenty of women in the church who are teachers. They teach biblical truth. We've got plenty of female teachers who teach Bible studies and Sunday school and, and all kinds of stuff. So we still believe that there's an, an order of things within the family. 4 (1h 2m 21s): I think God's clearly, and we can talk about this as the weeks go on. But clearly men he's placed men as the authority in the home, the spiritual authority of the home. And I think he's placed men as the spiritual authority in the church as well, but it's all to be, not to be lorded over anybody, but just as a means of structure and organizing things. And so I'm a little hesitant about opening things up for questions, but I feel like maybe it's a good idea to open things up for questions. I don't normally do this and maybe I'm going to get myself into trouble, but I want to give you a chance to, to ask questions. And so I'm going to use Tim's Mike, and as we do this, I'm going to invite the worship team to come forward. 4 (1h 3m 6s): But if you have questions, I want to get it on, on the mic so that everybody can hear you who are meeting outsider in the loft. So anybody disagree with me that would like to ask questions, anybody wholeheartedly agree with me that would like to comment anything in between. I'm open really? All right. I'm not going to labor it. Good. You can ask me questions afterward as well. Let's go ahead and stand up and you do have questions. Oh, Gina. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Lord. 4 (1h 3m 46s): Thank you for the opportunity to gather and to open up your word. I pray that you would just continue to lead us in all truth with all grace. We love you. Lord. Be glorified in our lives. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 0 (1h 4m 45s): No, the way, when was a close look at the space between where you used to be. I know I'm never be, you know, standing next to me, 2 (1h 5m 21s): Man said there is a cross 0 (1h 5m 25s): 2 (1h 5m 54s): 0 (1h 6m 1s): Yeah. 2 (1h 6m 1s): The space between and the spending 0 (1h 6m 14s): 2 (1h 7m 55s): Snow, but the name that is he who was and still is and be through it. 0 (1h 8m 8s): Okay. 2 (1h 8m 10s): And the space between all the things that see, and this record, the no, 0 (1h 8m 17s): Never be no, I want them to be feed bad. 0 (1h 9m 59s): No, that's the joy she's asked, blah, blah . 0 (1h 13m 18s): And before we say 2 (1h 15m 6s): Thank you God. So much for meeting us here this morning, gracing us with the presence that we actually are going to carry with us as we leave Lord. So I just pray that you just be alive in us more as we leave than when we came even Jesus name. Amen. Thank you guys. See you next week.