The Way of the Steadfast - The Way of the Steadfast

Hello everyone, I'm Dr.

Steve Holt.

I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast.

Each week we go into God's Word.

We teach chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

And we are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.

So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.

Today, be encouraged by our guest speaker.

It's a joy to be with you.

And uh as Pastor Steve and Liz have entered into their sabbatical time, uh we paused as a staff team and just kind of prayed about maybe where we want to head.

And I'm excited to say that um in the months of May and June, we're gonna move into a Bible study series in 1st and 2 Timothy.

And we're gonna be moving through that as a teaching team.

Today you get me, whatever that means to you, it's fine.

I'm good, but I'm gonna kick it off.

And thank you for that.

We'll see me afterwards.

I got a gift card for you.

I got one clap over there.

No, I'm kidding.

No.

I reject, I reject all the praise.

No, I'm kidding.

No, but thank you.

Um I would I would cover your prayers because we're gonna try something today.

We're gonna go old school, have your Bible, your app.

We're gonna be working through this.

I'm not gonna have a lot of slides today because we got to move pretty quickly.

And I'm and I'm gonna attempt to work through the first and second chapter of Timothy here.

Um, and there's intentionality behind that, given that Mother's Day is next Sunday.

And so let's open up in prayer, actually.

I've said that the study is gonna be the way of the steadfast.

And I'll unpack kind of what that means and how it's relating to what's taking place.

And we'll do a little backstory here in a minute.

But let's just open up in prayer.

God, we thank you for today.

We thank you for the glory of your kingdom, we thank you for your unshakable kingdom that we can build a firm foundation on.

God, we thank you for the work of the cross.

We thank you for the feeding and reading of your holy scriptures.

Lord, that you would open our ears and hearts today, and that you would nourish us with your word.

We thank you, Father, that you are so faithful and you've set a table, and now our posture is to sit with you and receive God.

God, I pray that you would use me in any way that you see fit in your Holy Spirit.

And if there's anything that's tried to come in and attach itself to this service that is not of your kingdom, we rebuke with the fire and light of your Holy Spirit right now, and we ask for your deep ministry work in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

So, a little bit backstory here.

Here's what's happening on the landscape of 1 Timothy, Timothy, Paul's relationship.

50 A.D., Paul's on a missionary trip, his second missionary trip to Lystra.

He's traveling with Silas, he meets Timothy's mom and then grandmother, and then he meets Timothy.

Initially, and then right away he recognizes an anointing on that young man and he calls him onto the team.

Four years later, 54 to 56 A.D., Paul finds himself, or Timothy finds himself in the company of Paul, and they're visiting Ephesus, and they're about to establish the church for the first time there and develop a structure.

They leave.

Four years later, Paul goes into house arrest in Rome, 60 A.D.

61 A.D., he writes his first letter to the Church of Ephesus.

So five years after its origins, and things have started to shift and get off course.

So he writes the book of Ephesians, the letter of Ephesians, and sends it to them.

Well, wasn't quite enough.

So then in 62 A.D., he commissions Timothy to move out and go forward in that process and sends him with the first epistle, 1 Timothy 1, 1 Timothy.

And throughout that process, Paul's letters to Timothy are essentially to restore the Ephesian church, to walk worthy of the calling which you were called, to walk steadfast in the way of Jesus Christ.

And here's what's happening right now.

So the backstory on Ephesus is that it's it's a Gentile church.

It's actually a Greek church, it's not Jews.

And so we have to understand some unique things about the Greek culture as we get into the writings of Timothy, because it's going to explain a lot how he talks to the men, specifically how he's talking to the women of the age, and what that means.

So, to understand Greek culture, they would have believed that women came first in the order of creation and not man in their pagan religions.

Women could usurp authority over a man, and some men in the church were teaching false doctrine and causing a lot of confusion and arguments.

Essentially, they had moved off of their original founding and had started to follow more of the ways of their culture than the gospel.

And so we are going to pick this up now and in 1 Timothy 1, and what I'm going to do is because we've got to cover some decent ground here, I'm going to kind of take verses as chunks, unpack what I think are maybe the meaningful kind of takeaways, kind of the big chunks of meat, and then we're going to move through this.

So bear with me, and we're going to start right here in 1 Timothy 1, verse 1.

1 Timothy 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope, to Timothy, a true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

He's addressing Timothy here in sonship, in relationship, giving him authority now.

He's passing to him and he's greeting him in the posture of his ministering agent to Ephesus.

Verse 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give head to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes, rather than godly edification, which is in the faith.

What's happening here is that the church leaders had veered from sound doctrine.

Essentially, they were creating their own narratives from the Torah and Mosaic law around the areas of food, marriage, and sexuality.

Things have gotten off course.

They're taking their own understanding, and things are getting weird, right?

And so they're like, what's going on?

So Paul is now commissioning Timothy to instruct them back to holiness and true gospel.

So they got consumed with speculation specifically around early parts of Genesis and the genealogies, right?

None of which were consistent with the teachings of Jesus or the apostles.

So they're astray.

This is causing argument.

It's causing a lot of confusion.

And so Paul is saying we've got to get this thing in alignment, and the only way to do that is to now bring this thing back into focus with Christ, Christ crucified.

So, verse 5.

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.

That's the recipe right now.

He's saying this is the way back to walking the way of the steadfast.

From which, and now he's going to recognize, having strayed, having turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, and understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

And so Paul is saying right here that the purpose, essentially the purpose of the Torah or law, is not to fuel speculation, but to expose the truth of the sinful human condition as it did for himself.

There's a purpose for the law that exists outside the teachings of the righteous.

It's good to have that knowledge, church, but inside outside of that, once we experience the healing work and complete recovery of the cross of Christ, then the law is then still for the non-righteous person.

And we're going to hear what he says here.

So picking up in verse 8, he outlines this.

But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, appropriately.

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless.

And now he's going to go into a list of sinful natures, sinful deeds, and sinful positions in verse, uh the second half of verse 9.

What I want to pick up, though, is at the end of verse 10, starting in, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.

I think it's important to highlight here sound doctrine, because this is going to come up through his narrative through both the epistles 1 and 2 Timothy.

Sound doctrine is going to be the basis of which he's redirecting and pointing the church back to.

11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Now he's speaking here in a place of authority.

He's telling Timothy and the church, I am apostle appointed by God to carry out this mission.

And so we're going to redirect this thing and we're going to realign in a place of leadership and headship, and we're going to start working our way through this process.

Paul is saying that correct teaching about the scriptures will lead people to see the grace of God revealed in the Messiah who came into the world to save sinful, broken people.

Amen.

Amen.

The law, therefore, is not the basis for Christian living.

The law works with the Holy Spirit to expose sin in our lives and bring about true repentance.

We experience freedom from the law through the salvation in Jesus Christ.

Paul is a cross guy.

He's preaching Christ crucified, and he will do that, and that's where he brings us back into this alignment where the church has been shifted away.

He's saying, Listen, our posture, our focus needs to be back to true doctrine found in the gospel.

So, glory to God for his grace, picking up in verse 12.

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.

Although I was formerly a blasphemer, and this is where he gets into his resume of sin, right?

And he's doing so not from a place of shame anymore, church.

He's doing this from a place of completely healed.

He can talk about his former life because he knows now that he is a new man.

He's received the identity in Christ, and he's standing firmly at the cross of Calvary.

Right?

He's talking Galatians 2.20 language.

It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

It's not the life that I live, but I live unto the Lord now.

And so he's being bold with his testimony and his sin resume because he can, because he's fully allowed God to cauterize and heal with the healing light of his kingdom in his heart to the broken and shameful places.

He doesn't operate from that anymore.

So he says, Formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

That's important because what he's doing here, verse 16, right?

He says, However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.

He's saying, None of you are any or are worse than me.

In fact, I'm the worst of all of you.

And if God can wait for me, he's going to wait for you, and what's available for me, free of sin, eternal grace and love, and grafted in with salvation, that's also available to you.

When we confess Christ as Lord and invite him into our hearts, we receive both faith and love in Jesus Christ.

Last week we had baptisms.

So many people made that public declaration.

Christ is my Lord, he sits on the throne of my heart.

And in those moments, they're making a public declaration to a private decision that they made in their hearts.

And they have had now the opportunity where Christ comes in with faith and love in their hearts.

No one is beyond the reach of God's grace and salvation through the perfect work of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah.

It is available to even the greatest of sinners.

And from genuine repentance of sin and acceptance of God's love and forgiveness, we are made into a new creation in Jesus.

Now, from that place, picking up in verse 17, this is where he brings his alignment back in.

He's going to bring the posture and he's going to kind of have this blessing tucked in the middle of this chapter.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Praise God.

So this has got to be pretty life-giving for Timothy.

It's life-giving for us to read these words to claim in 17 what is given to us as a body and as believers and as beloved sons and daughters of God's creation.

Now, here's the commission.

Picking up in verse 18, this is where we get this mosaic, kind of Joshua-esque kind of vibe, where Timothy's walking back in to heal a land.

Moses is commissioning through God's command Joshua, right?

And we'll be picking back up Joshua after sabbatical for Pastor Steve.

But here you kind of hear some language where Paul is talking to Timothy.

Find your heart, good courage stuff.

So let's see what he says.

This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you.

There was prophetic spoken over Timothy, his gifts, his abilities, his work that he was going to do.

Paul is reminding him right now that by them you, sir, son, can wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, ingredients to that good warfare.

Again, good warfare going back to Ephesians 6, whole armor of God, that we may stand in the evil day when the wicked one comes.

We're going to take up the full mantle of God's arsenal to fight the good warfare that we all church have been called to fight in this day and age.

What's true for Timothy then is true for us today.

Amen.

Okay.

Having faith and a good conscience.

Some of you, which some have rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck.

Of whom are Hemaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they may not learn to blaspheme.

So what's happened here?

This is metaphorical.

We know Paul was in shipwrecks.

He's using this as a metaphor.

Alexander and Hemaeus haven't actually been in a physical shipwreck, but their faith is in a shipwreck.

They have strayed from the faith, they're landing on their own doctrine.

It's not sound, it's not the gospel, and they veered so far from what the intent and the desire is for God and his church.

He's encouraging Timothy and his calling for such a time and to wage warfare on the infiltration of corruption and bad theology in the church.

It's a call for all of us to be strong and courageous, church, to fight the good fight.

We put on the full armor of God daily in the pursuit to look at the things in our lives where the enemy is trying to infiltrate with unholiness and distraction.

And I would say it's just as critical to be on alert today for false teachings as it was back then.

We have to use God's word and spirit to illuminate the truth of a word or message.

And he will bring light and truth to it.

So in your posture, you're listening to a message and you feel this like you hear something, you're like, eh, I don't know.

That didn't sound right.

That didn't settle on me.

Well, if you're a son and daughter of the king, his spirit's connected with yours and you're in alignment.

And therefore, he's going to give you that twitch, that knee jerk.

And what you need to do is you need to be sensitive and obedient in that moment.

You take that word, you put it on the scripture, you bring it into alignment, you ask the Holy Spirit to bring light to that, to bring truth to that, and show you the way.

We're not meant to walk a crooked path.

He makes crooked paths straight.

He puts a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Amen?

Amen.

So this is a call for all of us in ourselves to be obedient to the Holy Spirit when we get the eh I don't know.

Nope.

Maybe I need to check that, right?

I need to check that.

It looks like a little bit like, yeah, well, I know what I look like, but you guys will remember that next time when you're like, that didn't sound right.

I saw Ryan do that.

It's like, you had to try to bite his shoulder.

But the deal is we have to be sensitive and we have to be obedient in those moments because it is for us to work out our salvation in Christ Jesus through the cross of Calvary and the perfect work of God's gospel.

And his work is unfallible.

His word is unfallible and unchanging.

Okay.

We got through chapter one, and I've got some space for chapter two.

So this is good.

Now, morning we're going to uncover some things, and I want to bring us back to just what I said in the beginning.

Let's remember the cultural things that are happening here because there's going to be some strong language.

And I would say in the last 50 years, there's been a lot of controversy, there's been a lot of speculation, and there's been a lot of conversation about Paul's language to Timothy in chapter 2.

So let's remember that he's speaking specifically to an Ephesian culture of Greek men and women.

In that culture, women are allowed to usurp leadership.

They believe that woman came first in the order of creation, which is completely out of alignment into Genesis.

That's why he's going to throw in some stuff at the end about Adam and Eve, and you're kind of like, well, that kind of seems left field.

But there's a purpose for that when we understand what's happening in the background of that culture in that day and age.

So, as we dig in, we're going to start 1 Timothy 2, ch1.

Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Unpacking verses uh one and two right there, there's a little bit of a promise and a command, and we're going to break that down in just a minute.

Now, verse 3 for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all men, all humans, men and women, to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

And this is where he impacts it.

There is one truth.

And he says this in five for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle.

I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles, faith, and truth.

He's saying now he's re-establishing his authority, his mantle as an apostle, and he's saying, Listen, the things you guys are saying are not accurate.

They're lies.

By the way, I'm not speaking lies.

I'm speaking truth in the name and the blood of Jesus Christ.

Hear my words.

And he had to kind of establish that for what comes next.

Paul's giving a model of prayer right here, right?

He's outlining the four types of prayers that we should take in posture as we are commanded to pray over authority figures in our lives.

Supplications, first, for the averting of evil.

Number two, prayers for obtaining of good, the things we desire that are good in our lives.

Ask in my name, and you will receive it.

Intercessions for others.

I'm praying on behalf of maybe the prodigal in my life, the lost, the hurting.

And I'm going to intercede for their behalf and on their welfare, right?

And then fourth, thanksgivings for mercies already received.

It's important that we recognize that one too.

Sometimes we get the gift, we get the parcel, we get the delivery, but then we don't take it back to the Lord and we say, God, thank you.

You heard my cry, you saw my heart in a time of need.

You rescued me.

We take our thanksgiving back to Him.

We're called to pray for those in authority, even if we don't agree with the politics, probably especially if we don't agree with the politics.

God desires salvation for all his children, that none would perish.

It is a commandment with a blessing attached that we may experience quiet and peaceful lives.

How does that work?

It works that we know that we serve a God whose kingdom is unshakable.

He is unshakable.

We can anchor to this truth and find peace in the storms of life because we know that in this dress rehearsal, beyond that, the eternal gift, which is our salvation through Christ our Lord, is majesty that we have yet to even comprehend in our own minds.

But we know that if we can anchor to the truth that his kingdom is unshakable and we get to partake in that, then we can endure anything that life is throwing at us in this very moment.

And life is throwing plenty at all of us in these moments.

The enemy is constantly trying to steal our heart, take our courage, burn us down.

Every one of you has a unique story.

And if I asked any one of you, give me the contents of your week, of this last week, where did you find a win?

Where did you experience a loss?

You guys are all gonna have something of meaning, something of value.

And what he's saying is if we anchor here, then we can have quiet and peaceful lives in God's unshakable kingdom.

So hope that encourages you.

I want to move into now mental.

And women in the church.

Verse 8, Paul says, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

The man's mandate here is to cover and model prayer free from the constraints of wrath, anger, and doubting.

We talked to men on Tuesday mornings.

One of the things that we deal with as men that's consistent to our core is this feeling of anger that comes up.

In the culture today, you know, we're confused, our masculinity is toxic, we don't feel permission maybe to operate in the way that we should.

And as a godly man, that's confusing.

In the time of Ephesians, in Ephesus and the Church of Ephesians, these men are conflicted, they're teaching false doctrine and they're getting in arguments with each other.

They had their own set of situations and narratives going on at the time that was causing conflict.

But there's this command: we should lift up holy hands.

In prayer, we should lift up our hands.

David, in Psalm 134, 2, chapter 134, verse 2, says, Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord.

Culturally, men of the time in churches would lift up in posture and pray with hands up.

Culturally, it's a little different, and depending on where you're at, in what church, etc., maybe less so here.

But it's still a desire of God, and it probably is still for us, still should be a posture that we lift up our hands in holiness and pray for the things that He's asked us to pray for.

Our families, our centers of influence, those things that He's called us to pray for.

We must pray in faith without doubting.

James 1 or James chapter 1, 6 and 8 unpacks what that looks like, but essentially it looks like this to pray without doubting means to pray without dispute in your heart, being single-minded in your prayer.

James 1 · chapter mention

Don't be double-minded and unstable in your petitions to the Lord.

Pray specifically, with intent, with focus.

Enter the throne room with boldness in your heart because as a son or daughter, that's been granted to you.

God has unlocked that in your hearts, and that we should come in with boldness, with specificity, and pray exactly for what we want and not be double-minded in that.

All right.

Now we're going to recognize a few things here, and there's there's some there's a lot happening.

So I just want to first acknowledge one I'm not God.

I'm not in control, and I'm only human.

Right?

So unpacking these verses through the discernment of the Holy Spirit and my beautiful bride, we had some we had some great work that we unpacked here.

And I feel like the Holy Spirit's brought alignment to really what Paul is trying to communicate here.

So, number nine, in like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works.

Now, what I'd like you to do is that section in your Bible that says with good works, highlight that.

And if you have space in the margin, you could even write verse 15 next to it, because in a minute, God's going to unpack what good works look like.

What does he mean by good works?

Pausing here for a minute, the Ephesian women, first of all, Ephesus was a wealthy culture.

The Ephesian women were displaying their wealth with their dress and jewels.

This became a distraction from the primary focus, which was, of course, Jesus Christ.

When you come into the church, your focus should be on the cross.

Where am I at?

Where's my posture?

Where's my heart?

Not like, let's be distracted from the gospel and look at how good I can look today.

This is this is his kind of admonishment to the culture here.

These women, by way of their opulent dress and upscale fashion, were shaming other women who could not afford to adorn themselves in the same way.

So not only we distract him from God, now we're bringing shame into the culture too.

Two negatives right there.

So he's just saying, hey, be aware of this, and this is not what we need to do when we come into the house of the Lord.

Verse 11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission.

And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

Couple things happening here.

We right away go right to silence and submission as some trigger words.

But what's interesting is if we look right before that, it says learn.

And so his correction here is about the posture of bringing a learning heart.

We're teaching bad theology and false doctrine, so let's figure this out.

Because it's a reference to the women of Ephesus who had assumed leadership roles, publicly teaching false doctrine, bad theology, and had usurped authority, stepping out from the godly covering of their husbands.

And we know that Paul was not opposed to women giving godly instruction, and he refers to other female leaders in his other letters.

In Romans 16, we see Phoebe, a noted deacon of the church of Sencaria.

Junia was counted as an apostle in the same chapter.

And then we see Priscilla come up many times in Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Timothy.

And she ran a house church with her husband Acryla.

Thank you.

Acryl, and they actually taught Apollos, who was over and placed in that church.

So we know God's word proclaims in Joel 2.28 as well as Acts 2.17, in the last days I will pour out my spirit, and your sons and daughters will prophesy.

So it's important that God sees us, there's equality here.

This isn't put women under the boot, under control.

It's more like you are out of alignment with God's creation and what he designed creation to look like and his church and even the family structure.

And there is a lot of problem that we've got to fix in this issue.

So when we look at the word silence, that's referenced here twice, and we look at the Greek, it actually means quietness.

The description of the life of one who, doing their own work, does not officially meddle in the affairs of others in the way of gossip and slander.

So there's a call to correction.

There's a call to sit there with that and say, it's quietness, it's time of reflection.

What do I need to do?

What do I need to take the posture of my heart?

And so I just want to encourage the women in the room, the women in the room today, what should you take from these verses?

Uncovering God's heart here, discarding the cultural message around things like braids and jewelry and finding out what he wants for you.

Are you struggling with any of these issues?

Then we take it to God.

God?

Just like David's prayer.

God, reveal my heart to me.

Where's my heart in this?

What's my desire?

Are you struggling with any of these issues?

He wants to help you.

If you're okay, are you okay doing this?

Don't take offense.

These verses are not meant to shame women, but to help you understand God's heart for you and how to walk in blessing and the high calling of your life.

1 Peter 3:4 says this.

1 Peter 3:4

Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, of which there is no rebuke, but which is very precious in the sight of God.

He's calling out beauty in a different way that the culture is asking for it to be on display.

And we can see that even in our own culture, where things are on display that shouldn't be on display.

Because you're giving away things of your heart and yourselves that God would say, protect and preserve, because there's gentle beautiness that we need, that we men in our lives need from you.

I have beautiful women in my home.

My beautiful bride, our daughters, and I'm so blessed by their beauty, what they bring, the light, the energy, the vision, the wisdom, the discernment.

Oh my gosh.

Like I'd be living in a van down by a river, living on a steady diet of government cheese if it wasn't for them in my life.

Verse 12, the Greek translates the word authority here.

This is interesting, and it adds in other interpretations, usurping authority.

This is important because when you add usurping authority, as was happening in the church, meaning an absolute master to govern or exercise dominion over one or a body.

Out of alignment.

Wasn't the way it was designed.

So this is where he then in verse 13 goes into the Adam and Eve story in Genesis, which is interesting, and let's not forget that they had gotten off track as a culture in the earlier chapters of Genesis.

They got fixated and they didn't even understand what they were talking about.

So now he's redirecting them, saying, Your culture's out of alignment.

And let me show you what God's creation actually says.

For Adam was formed first and then Eve.

Okay, so it's not woman first, it's actually man by God's design, and then woman came.

And Adam was not deceived.

Now, let's pause here because he's not saying Adam was not guilty.

Adam is actually attributed in the Gospels Romans 5 as being the man who brought sin into the world.

So Adam's not off the hook.

He was just saying he wasn't the first deceived.

But then he goes, but the woman was deceived and fell into transgression.

He's lining out the process of how we fell into sin.

That's what's happening.

Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control.

That's the good works.

We're going back up now, and this is where Paul is laying out what the good works are.

Now, this is only a portion of what Paul lays out in Galatians 5.22, the full catalog, the full menu of the fruits of the Spirit, and that's available to men and women.

This doesn't, this transcends both of us, right?

It's men and women that we have access to the fruits of the Spirit.

But he's specifically landing on a couple of these things for the women at this time.

See, Eve's offspring, as we look at like this being saved idea, it's not her salvation came that way necessarily, but what we do know is that Eve's offspring would eventually come, would eventually come the child, Jesus Christ, who was born to save her and the entire world.

Genesis 3:15, and I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between you and your offspring, and her offspring.

Genesis 3:15

There's something that's happening there in the process of this downfall of his creation.

He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

Her offspring, Christ, was going to strike the head of Satan, the serpent of old.

This verse is not saying every woman must have a child to be saved, nor that every woman who has children is saved, but that the work of the gospel restores the order of God's creation.

We can get back into alignment, church.

Salvation for the Christian woman is to be lived out in the areas of faith and love and holiness.

These are the good works of verse 10, which truly express and adorn the women who profess godliness.

See, that's the problem.

These women in Ephesus were professing godliness, but had no conduct that would indicate that they had that.

Faith, love, and holiness.

This is the way a godly woman in any age or culture will choose to dress herself as she works out her faith with the educated wisdom of self-control.

And what does Proverbs say?

Proverbs doesn't give the title of wisdom in a masculine sense.

A lady of wisdom throughout the entire book of Proverbs, women are given the title of wisdom.

It's accounted to your gender, and that's a wonderful thing.

So I just want to close as you rise here and we take communion and enter into worship.

The good works that I see in her, Mandy, at home with our kids, being steadfast in faith and love and teaching true doctrine to our kids.

A couple weeks ago, my youngest son Sawyer was working through some things, been working on this neighborhood boy and trying to bring him to Christ.

And he was getting frustrated.

He was kind of like, okay, I'm just gonna, I gotta go right at this thing.

And so he does.

And he looks at the kid and he goes, Listen, do you want to burn in the eternal lake of fire?

Or do you want to walk the streets of gold with your Savior Jesus Christ?

And the kid was like put to a decision right there.

He's like, uh, I want the streets of gold.

And I'm like, he's like, yes, you do.

And so then he walked him through the ABCs and brought that kid to salvation and prayed the sinner's prayer with him and ushered him in a date.

I'm like, you know, raising, raising a little evangelist, which is in Mandy's heart.

I mean, we we love Bible studies with our children, but just to see the fruit of that and her efforts and the good work, I just acknowledge you today.

And I see you, and I thank you.

But what's available to us all today, church, as we enter into communion, is I want us to turn to Galatians 5, 22.

Actually, you don't.

I'll read it over you.

You don't have to turn there.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives.

We have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

There is no law against these things.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.

Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast.

We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

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