You Complete Me: Biblical Womanhood as Covenant Help

time on your way to your seats. Thank you guys. Good stuff. [music] Man, you show up on Sunday. Hey, you know what? Good job to the people doing slides in the back, too. Y'all found that song and everything. Good stuff. Had heard that song in a minute. I love it when the worship team just follows the call of God. How we feeling today? We feeling good. I'm feeling good. I don't know about you. I'm excited. I'm going to tell the people in the back, "Hey, make sure you get this sermon right because this is probably the one that's going to be posted." I was I was right here in in the front row and I was worshiping to that song. And that song's interesting, right? Because it's one of those that for over a year I've just been worshiping to. But it's not your traditional worship song. It's got like a different signature. And even the words, it's not like I'm talking to God. simply talking about what it's like to bring all of the pain and destruction or dysfunction in your life and and lay it down with the one who can take all your burden on himself. Just lay it down at the altar and he'll consume it and he'll get rid of it. He'll cast your sin as far as the east is from the west. And today I'm going to talk about the the godly woman, the biblical role of a woman because I talked about men last week. So, I hope you'll give me the grace to to talk to you women in the room. I hope you give me the grace to do it. Um, but I was standing there and I was worshiping and I was just thinking like Hannah in the Bible, not Hannah, my wife, though you're the same way. Hannah in the Bible, like there was a desperation to her worship that caused God to meet her there. Even if you were to go to Hagar in Genesis, there was a desperation when she was out having been cast out by her leaders and and Sarai. She's out in the wilderness with her son Ishmael and the Lord meets her. There's a there's a desperation that many of the godly women I know have. They know they can't live life without their creator. And so whether it's a physical altar or whether it's their life, they they lean on him. I didn't say this in the first service. I probably should have, but I I think out here in the West that a godly woman is is is hard to find because many of us didn't grow up in this church world. And and what I hope to do today is maybe for some of you set you on this pathway where you you can experience a connection with God that has such an impact in the world that it would like permeate even your grandkids thoughts about how they operate. And maybe some of you, some of you have had a grandparent or even a mom who interacted with you in such a way that you're like, man, my mom prayed for me. But I think in some ways we've lost the art of it. And so that's just one component. But as we talk today about what it's like to be a godly woman, I I just want you to know that a lot of that has been lost. So a lot of this will be familiar. Some of it might not be. So open your hearts to what God might have for you. Ephesians, I believe it is, talks about the idea of opening the eyes of our heart that we might see the things of God. And so, ask God to open up the eyes of your heart that he might reveal something to you today. Inevitably, when the Bible is read, God can speak through it. So, I'd encourage you, consider what God has for you today. My sermon title, it's a simple one, comes from Jerry Maguire. You complete me. Biblical womanhood is covenant help. That's a long title for me, but I wanted to be as clear as possible for the YouTube viewers later. Just y'all ever seen that movie Jerry Maguire? I saw it when I was a kid. I don't know how appropriate it is. I'm not telling you to go watch it. I don't remember anything about the movie other than Tom Cruz crying, one of the greatest actors of our time. And he said, "You complete me. Now, I never forgot that line. And I was thinking about it in the context of this message because I think the world has gotten not just biblical manhood wrong, but biblical like what is a godly woman? I think the culture's gotten it wrong. Both the church culture and the secular culture. I don't think you're called to just be a tradife. Just for anyone in the room who knows what a tradife is, I brought it up to my wife. She's like, "What's a trad wife?" And I'm like, good. She doesn't know. Um, but there's nothing inherently wrong with being a trad wife either. You You do what you're called to do, boo boo. But like, I don't think the Bible says just go be a trad wife. I asked my wife recently, I said, "Give me some examples in the Bible of trades in scripture." And we came up with essentially Sarah in the Old Testament. I'm sure there's a couple others there, but I could argue against it. So, don't try. I mean, you can try, but it's it's going to make you look bad. Anyways, there aren't too many examples of that, but for my whole life, I've been told that there's a way that a godly woman is, and yes, there's a spiritual component to it that they talked about, but a lot of it, like most of the godly women I knew growing up in the growing up in the South, were that trad style. And so many men in the room, I think, and women as well, grew up thinking that if I'm going to be a biblical woman, I got to act like this. And I want you to know that's not the case. All throughout scripture, there are tons of different types of godly women. They did different things. Some people were called to the home. Some people were called to work. Some people were called to battle. Some people were called to the altar. It was varied all throughout scripture. Some hid spies and some birthed the Lord. You know, it's so different for different people. And so I don't want you to be bogged down in any type of superficial version of what a godly woman is according to your dad or according to somebody else. I want you to look at the scriptures and try to understand what God has for you. Because ultimately your role as a woman is not some superficial activity. It is a posture and a mindset that serves the Lord. And when you get married, it impacts your marriage positively. That's why I said you complete me. I'll start with the scripture in Psalm 121:es 1 and 2. Said even a scripture about women. It's a scripture about the Lord. The psalmist says, "I lift my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help?" Greek word there is a variant of aair to help to assist. In this case, to rescue. I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Where does my rescue my help come from? Verse two, my help is there comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. And if we jump back to the beginning of our world, Genesis chapter 1, God creates the heavens and the earth, and then he fills it with all the beasts, and he separates the light from the dark, and he separates the land from the ocean. And then he creates man in his image and gives it gives man authority over all of creation. And in chapter 2 verse 18, God looks at the man who at the time is alone and he says, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper as there suitable an ego for him, a corresponding help." Now, this is where we've screwed it up when we teach it because we grew up in, I don't know, leave it to Beaverville or something like that. No. Was it as uh Pleasantville? No. Steppford Wives. Was that Pleasantville? I don't even know. You get what I'm talking about, though. We grew up in that world where men did their thing and women did their thing and there was no carryover. And I think to some extent God has called us into different tasks. But in terms of posture, that's where I want to spend the time today. A man's posture, as I talked about last week, is to be self-sacrificial. In the same way that Christ Jesus loved the church as the head of the church, we're called to love our wives as head of the household. So, what are women called to do? Ephesians tells us to respect, well, it tells us, "Husbands, love your wives. Wives respect your husbands." But I want to take you back to the beginning because I'm big on first principles. God created woman because it was not good for man to be alone. He needed a counterpart. Man was standing there alone in the Garden of Eden. And I don't know if there were mountains or not, but Adam was like like looking to the Lord for his help. And the Lord provided it not just with walking with him in the cool of the day, but he said, "I'm going to provide you a woman." And so he he fashions woman out of a rib taken from man, which is a good opportunity for me to tell you. We're handing out ribs next week. That's the joke. Jake, I'm proud of you. You made a dad joke. It's a young Padawan. If they don't jokes that you don't laugh at, it means they're up here. That's what I tell myself at least. But here's a big idea for you about how God created you women in the room. A biblical woman is a covenant ally. She's strong, wise, steady, shaped by the fear of God. You're an ally, not an assistant. So when it says you're his helper, I just want to throw this away. Like that doesn't mean you're subservient. Doesn't mean you're a slave. It means you are his partner and ally meant as an aerdo as there helper ally rescue an egg corresponding. You're meant to compliment your husband not in specific activities. Those change all the time but in posture. He follows God in a specific way where he sacrifices just like Christ did. You're called to be a helper. And while God rescues us in terms of our salvation, God made woman to rescue man from his loneliness. And it's not your job to just fulfill his loneliness. No, it was just ontologically bad that man was alone. And so he created woman because man was not complete without woman. You complete your husband, Hannah. Hannah, you complete me. And she does. Have you ever met me without my wife? I can handle myself. I can do a lot of work. When she's gone out of town, I get a lot more work done because I don't have to spend time with her. But I love spending time with you, sweetie. Work is not my is not my top calling. You're one of my top callings. God, then you than the kids. That's why they're in Texas right now. [laughter] But no, I I am I am It is not good for Matt to be alone. I'll never forget one time I went to a church. It was a large church. It was the first large large organization that I'd been a part of. And if you've gone from a smaller organization where everybody knew you, kind of understood your quirks um and your ticks and things like that and you went to a large organization, there was something that was really important for you to understand. We call this emotional intelligence, social skills, self-awareness, all of those different things. And I went to this large organization and I realized very quickly that I needed to work on so many of these things and I went to one of the campuses at this church and I'm sitting with somebody one of the worship leaders and so they don't say much but they said this um they were talking to me and they said, "Yeah, I heard about you." But it's it's weird because my wife, she was on the worship team alongside this person and and she said, "But I knew your wife first." And so when I'd hear these things about you, I thought there's no way with her. Like there's no way he's this bad if she's this good. That's what she said to me. It's not good for Matt to be alone. And so my wife was there. She like she completed me. Like if she walks into a room, there's a fragrant aroma that that kills the stench that I already brought, you know? And I think for you men, you got to understand this. Your wife is there for a reason. The first time I ever got hired, the pastor looked at me for in church. The the pastor looked at me and he said, "I want you to know, Matt, don't get cocky. We hired you because of her." Yeah, I know. She You complete me. I've got gifts. I bring value. I'm I'm self-sacrificial in the way I think most of the time that God calls me to be. But but there's something that she brings. She rescues me. She's an instrument that God provided to rescue me. She does save me, but she does rescue me from some of my bad personality quirks. She does rescue me from some of the negativity that dwells within me. There are things about her that compliment me. She's my aerdo, my corresponding ally. And when you look in scripture, you see this throughout. This is the role of a woman to be an ally. And what I want to do is I want to ask you a couple rhetorical questions that I hope will help you not determine necessarily whether you're a godly woman, but for you to ponder what it looks like to move in that direction. We can all grow today. Whether you're single, whether you're married, whether you've been divorced or widowed, regardless of where you stand as a woman in this room, we can all grow in these categories. And I hope it'll be helpful. The first question I want to ask you is, do you compete or do you complete? The reason I say that is because there's so many roles that we get all jacked up today. And I'm not even just talking about the things that we always want to make fun of that you should be doing this because you're a man or you should be doing this as a woman or you should submit in this specific way because you're a woman and you should lead in this specific way because you're a man. Let's let's get that out of the window for a second so we can talk about the reality. Are you okay following God's calling on your life as it is departmentally different than God's will for your husband's life? That's that's just a question. Are you seeking to be the compliment to your husband or are you seeking to compete with your husband? And there's so many different ways that we can compete. I could give you example after example, but I've got a slide here that I just want to help you with. In Genesis, it says there's a helper that's corresponding or suitable. It's a strength that corresponds to the other. This isn't you being weaker than your husband. This is you corresponding to your husband. You're not beneath him and you're not against him. So husbands in the room, don't make your wife subservient. For wives in the room who are subservient, figure out a way to actually be an ally rather than just an assistant in terms of the calling, don't be against your husband, even when he's being a jerk. Don't have a posture that's against your hus. Disagree all you want. We disagree all the time. It's it's fun and not fun at the same time. Disagree all you want, but don't be against them. We serve a God who's for us, not against us. And if you're going to be a help, you need to be for the one who's looking to the mountains for the help. Be a helper, an ally, not a a competition. I've seen marriages and relationships where one person wants what they want and they do it almost to the neglect of what the other person wants. So, are you seeking to compete or complete? A competitor is someone who wants to live their life the way that they want to live it. Someone who's seeking to complete is someone who wants to honor God in their marriage, which means they've got to sacrifice daily on both sides because I want to complete this person. If I want to complete this person rather than compete with this person, then when they have a friend group and they're developing their social skills, just an easy thing to think about, not the most important, just a thing. They have a friend group and they're developing social skills and they're trying to develop hobbies and they're trying to grow, but you also want to do the same thing. Are you fighting about it the whole time? Or are you saying, "Okay, I want them to grow because I don't want to be against them. I don't want to compete with them. I want to compliment them because we do this together." I put this here. She is beside him or behind him. Beside him means I'm not like just doing my own thing. I'm doing life with my husband. Behind him doesn't mean what you think it means. Behind him is like if you want to push someone forward, what do you got to do? Got to get behind them. I I love that my wife is behind me. Like she's not just back there trying to catch up because I'm running fast. She is behind me pushing me forward when I come home after a day of maybe like some people didn't show up that I'd hoped would be here. And I'm like, poor me. And she's like, "Hey, God's got a calling on your life. Hey, you could do this. You could do this. I woke up this morning. I was like, man, I wonder if we could do this." And she's like, "Yeah, you should totally do that." And I'm like, "No, I don't want to do it." The wives in the room, you've been there. Don't compete with your husband. Complete them. Second question, do you create a safe space? Do you create a safe space? Maybe it's your household or maybe it's just your presence. Do you create a safe space? Proverbs 31:11 says this, "Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. Now, many of you in the room, you've read Proverbs 31. And I want to just be clear about this. Proverbs 31 is the thing that all the men throw out to the women and they're like, "You should read that and be that type of woman. Be a Proverbs 31 woman." Proverbs 31 when it starts with the portion where it talks about a wise woman is actually the personification of wisdom is not explicitly and only talking about a woman. Also, it's an acrostic with the Hebrew alphabet from Alf all the way uh to to yeah all the way to to it's just a poem that is talking about wisdom personified in the form of a woman. This is not a list that you need to check and do all of. I just want to be clear about Proverbs 31 for you as I talk about it. But it is wisdom and it is helpful. And this woman is one that their husband has full confidence and she brings them good, not harm. Back to the question, do you create a safe space where your husband and your kids and everybody else around you can thrive? What kind of It's not cultural safe space. Now, you can have some hard conversations in your safe space, but do you create an atmosphere where people thrive rather than people being frustrated or diminished? This is trust, confidence, goodness. Does your husband wonder about where you are mentally, physically, and emotionally? Do they wonder? Man, there's such a valuable thing. I grew up and I struggled when I was younger, but just just because there are a lot of people that I knew in my life who had been unfaithful to their spouses, and I didn't know very many women who were who were faithful. And and so when I got into college, I was like, I guess I'm just going to be single because I don't have trust built up. And then I met Hannah. And you know, it helps when they never kissed a dude or whatever, but she's also clear about where she stands emotionally. And it's very helpful for a dense idiot like me when I'm talking to her to know where she stands. She creates a safe place for me. Now, I'm not just trying to make you feel bad about yourself in comparison to my wife. My wife's got her beefs, too. Um, speaking of beef, we're doing next week we're handing out ribs. It's a good joke, Jake. And And what kind of space do you create? Is it is it safe? Does does your husband feel like you're with him? Even if you disagree sometimes, does he does he feel like the next step he makes, you're going to leave the house? Does he does he feel like you're for him, not against him? How does how does he feel? What kind of atmosphere are you creating? Does he sense an anxious presence when he walks in? Is he walking on eggshells? I know it's two-sided, but I ask for I I'm asking you now for permission not to just go back to the men. I hit them pretty hard last week, so I'm going to talk about women today. What space are you creating? How do you correct? Do you correct with belief in him or with belittling of him? I've seen both. We have this value at our church. We say to imagine more. We imagine more. And this comes kind of from from God who will do immeasurably more than we ask, think or imagine. So we say, "What happens if we imagine more?" Then as a wife to a husband, one way that you complete them I is by believing in them. And I know it's hard cuz cuz some of y'all, including my wife, are just married to these dudes, you know? Yeah. It's funny cuz y'all are I talked about them last week. Like they may be like, "I'm a man. I'm a real man." You're like, "Sure you are, sweetie." And then the other ones are like, "Man, I suck at everything." And it's like, "No, you don't." Yeah, I know. It's tough sometimes. They're like all over the place. That's the woman. I mean, like, that's the woman. And you're like, "That's that's how I'm supposed to be, not you, sweetie. You need to get your stuff together." And I know you want to just like punch him sometimes. Cuz culture still kind of allows you to punch us cuz if a dude like calls the cops and he's like, "She hit me start officer." And I was like, "Okay, bro. Man up a little bit." Anyways, it's not about that you shouldn't hit your husband. What I'm saying is, I know it can be difficult to believe in your spouse sometimes because you got your own struggles you're dealing with and you're trying to gauge while in a relationship whether if you support this person, you're going to end up at your desired outcome. You got to get that out and you got to focus on Jesus. He's the one who perfects. He's the one who changes the trajectory of the story. And when you seek him and create an environment of safety, then you actually have an atmosphere for them to do what they should. Now, this doesn't mean they will. God's got to get a hold of them. But you're not God. But one of the ways you rescue your husband is by believing in them when they don't believe in themselves. A safe woman is not a silent woman. She's a faithful woman. I just want to be so clear about that. Number three, are you a strong counterpart or an anxious presence? An anxiety can come on real strong. Being against them can come on really strong. But are you a strong counterpart or an anxious presence? One sounds loud, sounds strong, but isn't. The other one is strong, but looks radically different than some of you may be familiar with. The goal as a wife, as a helper, as an aer anecdote, is to be a strong counterpart. Not at whatever you want to do. I mean, sometimes you will do that like dinner and stuff. When it comes to something serious, it's like, "Hey, let's pray together, sweetie. Like, let's let's talk about this." Strong counterpart. It's not good for man to be alone. Sometimes men want to be alone and they want to act alone and they want to do stuff alone and they want to make decisions alone, but it's not good for man to do that alone. That's what you're there for. You're there because God placed you there intentionally so that you would do what only he called you to do, not what he called them to do. They're missing something without you. You've got to be a strong counterpart. The yin to their yang. You have got to to really follow Jesus and bring your part into it. If you're just sitting there waiting on him to lead you, you're going to you're going to be frustrated for a while. But if you allow God to lead you and he leads you in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, that's going to overflow first Peter chapter 3 right into the heart and the mind of your spouse. And it may take longer for some than others to get the picture. But as you are a strong counterpart, the atmosphere of your family is going to change. In leadership, we would say that's leading up or side by side, whichever one doesn't offend you. Proverbs 31:25 says, "She is clothed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come." And a lot of us, we can't laugh at the days to come. We're stressed out. We open up the Fox News or the CNN article, we're like, "Oh my gosh, hey, I clawed cyber attack. They closed the straight of Vermouth. I don't know. I forgot. I stopped watching it. It keeps changing. It's I don't want to be stressed out. I got too much to do. And And I keep looking at this. Oh, did you hear what happened down the street? Did you see what's happening, Buckeye? This is crazy. This is not good. This is not helpful. It's anxiety. Here's your litmus test. Can you laugh at the days to come? The only way you laugh at the days to come is if they're not stressed out by you because you are sustained by your creator. She's strong and dignified and she can laugh about the future. Now, this woman in Proverbs 31 is not saying the future like the future's still bleak sometimes can still be difficult. In fact, when this was written is battle after battle after battle after battle after exile into building into battles. It's tons of stuff. Like life is still hard. Laughing about the future doesn't mean the future's easy. It means your posture is one that you are guarded and sustained by God and you can just not care. Some people stressed out about AI. Dude, I had some people come up to me after the AI series. They hated it. I don't know why I keep calling it the AI series. It was the aligning with the image of God series. Yeah, it it was about the image of God, but people are so frustrated about it. Why? As you get into the conversation, there's people scared and anxious about the future with AI. And I've dove into it. There's a lot that you could be anxious about. I'm being honest with you. There's a lot you could be anxious about. People anxious they're going to lose their job. You might be anxious your husband and you might lose your job. You might be anxious about what this means for your kids. The Bible says that we're called to live in such a way that we're strong and dignified enough to just giggle about the future. I'm just not stressed about it because if it does take over the world, God's going to come afterwards and save it. That's what the woman after God does. It's like, you know, even if it's bad, even if gas prices are high, I'm still good because he's still God. Be a strong counterpart, not anxious presence. the strength and dignity, not control and panic. Your confidence is in the Lord and you're not letting anxiety rule. The next question, do your words carry wisdom? It's a big one. Seen some bad advice, Hannah. Bad advice. I've been watching that off-campus show. Walking around. Did you watch Off Campus yet? Did you watch Off Campus yet? I put that show on. Goodness gracious. Love Island people. Let's go further. When you're watching that show, you're like, "Do people in the world think like this? Do they really?" And you're old enough to know that lifestyle doesn't work out the way you thought it would. But then you got the audacity to look at people that are younger than you and say, "Yeah, you should just there's a lot of fish in the sea. Can't marry the first person that you're dating." Yeah, if they stink, don't marry them. But don't go out there with this this advice that says, "Yeah, you got to go you got to go, you know." The first three thoughts that came to my mind were not good to say. Like you gota [clears throat] you gotta go find the one. It's like if you're looking for the one, you're in trouble already. If you're looking for the one and that one is not Jesus, your marriage will suffer. And then the advice that people keep giving, it's the worst, man. It's like the moment you get offended, it's like, yeah, how dare they? I've seen people leave their spouses because one of their friends is like, I can't believe he did that. Some of you Chad GPT needs to shift too. You're getting advice from Chad GPT without training Chad GPT and now you're giving advice from that that's not helping somebody else. But the woman who has wisdom that comes from God's word is valuable and different. Proverbs 31:26 says she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is in her tongue. What do your words have within them? Is it the imprint of God or of the world? Do you know when to be empathetic? Do you know when to give feedback? Do you know when to build people up? Do you know what gossip is? What do your words carry? Because the godly woman carries wisdom. Five. Does your life preach? Does your life preach? 1 Peter 3:1, I've referred to it several times. I'm going to read it for you here. It says, "Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that if any of them do not believe the word, they may be one over without words by the behavior of their wives when they verse two see the purity and reverence of yours." Now, what that's not saying is stay in an abusive relationship. What it is saying is there's something that happens when we follow God without making a crazy big deal about it. That fragrant aroma comes around. And at at worst, your husband will see something different about you than they've experienced before. You you live in such a way that you love God so consistently, faithfully, that it overflows into the vibe of your household. And when it overflows, it's going it's going to hit people. They may not do the right thing with it. Not everybody's going to be ready. To some, it's going to be fragrant aroma. To others, it's going to be a stench of death. Remember second Corinthians. But it will overflow and it will have an impact. God's word does not return void. So live in such a way that without words, your husband may be won over. I know some of you are just praying for your husband to get the word. Keep praying. Keep being patient and enduring because what's going to happen is you're going to know God at the deeper level than you currently do as you follow him. Your kids are going to continue in that same pursuit, I believe. And then eventually your husband and your extended family may get on board. I've seen it happen and we've only been open for two and a half years. I've seen it happen so many times already. baptizing husbands because their wives were patient enough and believed in them rather than being against them. Next number six, are you adorning the outside or the inside? First Peter, the next verse says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit." Let me say it this way, and I want to be careful with the way that I say it, but you can tell when someone is focused on superficial things versus supernatural and spiritual things. It is a it is a it's an aroma that no one really identifies immediately, but they can tell. Like, if I'm in a conversation with you, and I want you to be scared, I'm not judgmental. I I'm trying to let loving kindness lead people to repentance. Sometimes I'm actually un like unnecessarily intense, but I'm trying to honor God in the way that I operate. But if you and I are chatting, if you and somebody else are chatting, anyone who has been in the word of God for an amount of time can tell immediately when you're focused on superficial things. And I want to tell you wives and women in the room, if the sum total of your beauty is getting your hair done, getting your nails done, pedicures, you know, self-care days, all the other stuff, there's a problem. Proverbs even says about the woman of wisdom that she she gets up early and she puts on rings and all these other things. There's nothing wrong with adorning yourself outwardly, but what's crucial is that you do it inwardly. You need to be so much more focused on soul care than you do self-care. It's crazy. You You've got to care about the innermost part of your soul. And that is what God wants. And if you haven't handed it over to him, then you're going to appear and be superficial and adorn yourself with all of the outward things that will fade. Their beauty is fleeting and they're not going to last into eternity. So adorn the right things. The woman of God, she chooses or she is consumed by a thought life with God, not superficial stuff. Gentle and quiet is what first Peter says. And this is not about silence. It's about posture. It's about posture. Gentle means strength under God's control. How can I be gentle when I'm not anxious and stressed or expecting or controlling? I'm gentle when I know who's in control. When am I quiet? I'm quiet when I'm settled before God. Women in the room, gentle and quiet doesn't mean silent and submissive. Gentle and quiet means strong under the hand of God. And quiet, settled in his salvation, in your process of sanctification, and in your eternity. And when you're settled, that impacts your home and your husband. Next, do you fear the Lord? Do you fear the Lord? Chap chapter 31 of Proverbs verse 30 says, "Charmm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Do you fear the Lord? The woman who fears the Lord anchors herself because fear is so often in the construct of like like ship fairing. When do you get scared? When when there's a storm on the sea. So what is helpful when there's a storm on the sea and you're docked anchor. If the Lord is your anchor because you fear him first, then everything else must bow to your fear of God. This woman isn't focused on man's approval, but they're focused on alignment with God. And Proverbs tells us various times in various ways that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And for you wives and women in the room, fear God. That'll be the starting place for your wisdom, for your wise words. And it's going to be the anchor for your worship. You don't want to worship in this flailing, inconsistent, unstable sense. You want to worship with an anchor that guides your soul. So, I want to take us back to Ephesians 5 25 where we were last week with husbands. Says, "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." What you see here is an it's a metaphor, but it's a reality. It's an image [music] that just as Christ gave himself up for us, we as husbands are called to give ourselves up for our wives. And wives, this is what you're called to. God uses you to make your husbands whole. You're whole, but your husband leads. Your husband is not whole without you. You are his help. is as their anecdo in a marriage. Just like God is ultimately where our help comes from. You're not his salvation. God is. But you are a part [music] of God's assistance to your husband as he's standing there in the midst of a turultuous [music] situation. Lord, send help. He sent you. And on Monday, I was Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday [music] cuz my wife was gone. I was sitting there alone spending way too much time on Claude [music] code and um in our staff meeting that morning I we had gotten a call to the church. [music] It was this we see the voice memos and and it said I'm from Arkansas. This is where I'm from. I saw you and your wife [music] in a magazine which is interesting. So you and your wife in a magazine and I wanted to call and pray for you. And so I'm like, [music] that's interesting. I told the team, I guess I'll call her back. Um, so I called her back that evening. She answers the [music] phone and she's 80 81 years old. Her name was Glenda. 81. [music] Picturing a perm, curly hair, white, short, just [music] I'm I don't know what she looks like, but I'm picturing that. And so she answers the phone and I tell her who I am and she said, "Well, I reached out because I [music] saw that you guys have a sending church." So one of when we launched, we had other churches who partnered with us and so they had listed one of the churches that partnered with us and their leaders. [music] And so she recognized their names. And so she said, "Maybe the Lord's inviting me to to call [music] you." And so she called and I I had called her back and [music] were processing through that and I said, "Hey, did you know that I was from Little Rock, Arkansas, where she lived?" Long story short, she knew [music] every single person that had had an impact on me when I was growing up. And um so one of the people she knew was the missions pastor at the church that I became a Christian at in 8th grade. This person had led me to [music] go on a mission trip to Brazil in 2004. And when I went on that mission trip, we visited some missionaries on that mission trip. And she said, "What [music] were their names?" I told him told her the names of the missionaries and she said there's a missions house near us and my husband and I he's since been promoted three years ago meaning he had passed [music] and she said we used to go in and she starts tearing up as she's telling [music] me about how her husband and she would go in to these this missionary house and they would just sit and listen to the stories of these missionaries so that they could put them on their prayer documents and start praying for these missionaries. and she had [music] been praying for them since the '9s. And so I told her, I went on this trip to Brazil and I felt called to ministry. And so I just spoke back to her. I said, "Man, it's crazy that [music] the missionaries you were on the prayer team to that you've been praying for for years, provided the experience [music] for me to go with that other person you were praying for, and I received [music] the call to ministry." And now you've continued to do that. And 22 [music] years later, every day you are praying for people who are doing the will of God. And I'm just like, that's a godly woman. is someone who is so desperate for the hand of God over her life, [music] so saturated with the belief of what God can do that every day for 30 plus years. [music] Now, as a widow, she reads about people that [music] she needs to be praying for and intercedes on our behalf. So for the women in this room, I've I've given you some feedback and some advice, but I want you to ponder. Is that your trajectory? You may not have the same gifting she has. You may have something radically different, but are you living in such a way that you're trying to apprehend the nature of God so adamantly that once [music] you obtain it and taste and see that the Lord is good that every single day you're at his altar praying, interceding for your husband, interceding for your kids, [music] interceding for those randos you know nothing about because you trust the power of God and the hand of God in this world. Are you on that trajectory? If you're not, I want to encourage [music] you. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he may bring you into that [music] position. It's going to look different for you. Don't stress out. You don't need to be an older lady at 81 years old with a perm in [music] the South praying over missionaries. You might be the person who lifted up your husband in such a way that nobody else could do. You may be the one who raises your kids in such a way that they know they were loved. And because you love them the way that God loved you, they know the love of God and they don't flee from it when they get older. I don't know what it is for you, but God has called you to live as a godly woman, as a rescue to those [music] around you, as an embodiment of his help. I don't know about you, that doesn't sound like a trad wife. That sounds like a calling. Let's lean into it, y'all. Everybody, actually, I did for the men. Women, if [music] you would stand for a moment. Husbands, if you would hold her hand this time. I don't know about you, but I I'm I'm into calling these days. [music] Tired of comfort. It's not fun. Makes me lazy. Gives me a gut. Let's move into calling. We're [music] going to get fit spiritually, [singing] physically, and everything else. So, I want to speak over you right now. [music] So, if you would bow your heads, close your eyes. Husbands, don't jack around. Hold their hand. [music] Boyfriends, hold their hand. If you don't, I'm going You should break up with them. I'm just kidding. God, I pray that you would give them a word right now. A word first for for you. One that helps them follow you deeply. Secondly, a word for them and their husband. God, I pray that you would give them the patience that lasts long enough to build up their husband, not as a subordinate, but as an [music] ally. God, I pray for every woman in this room that you would give them a wisdom that surpasses knowledge and a peace that surpasses understanding. I pray that you would guard their heart and enable them to be the women of calling like Hannah in the Bible, like Mary in the Bible, like Rahab, like Deborah, like Priscilla, [music] Lydia, Tabitha. Give them a calling. God, we love you and we believe that right now. It is in Jesus's name that we pray. And God's people said, "Amen." And women, if you receive that calling, say, "Yeah." Oh, I love it. Better than the dudes. Husbands, if you're cool with that, say, "Yeah." Yeah. All right. Hey, everybody stand now. Everybody stand now. Hey, I dismiss you from here, but never from the presence of God. Put on that worship music. Open up that Bible. Learn from God, [music] and allow him to lead you rather than you do just what you want to do. If you're with me, say, "Amen." Hey, we'll see you guys next week. Have a great one. [music]

Genesis 1 · chapter mention Proverbs 31:11 1 Peter 3 · chapter mention Proverbs 31:25 Proverbs 31:26 1 Peter 3:1