Honoring The Head

Lift up your Bible, if you have one, do some push-ups.

Lord, we love you.

Everybody say, lord, we love you.

We're here to receive the love and light from your Word, your Word that changes our life, light us up to receive today and to do it to fulfill our destiny in Jesus' name.

All right, you may sit down, praise God.

Well, I feel like I need a preface tonight.

Let me give you the title first, and then I'm going to have to go back and justify why in the world am I ministering on this subject?

But I feel like it's the Holy Ghost tonight.

My title of the night is Honoring the Head, the Role of Women and the Bride of Christ, amen.

So we have been speaking much on this scripture and I just want to take a different path around the mountain tonight.

But one of my foundation scriptures tonight is out of Genesis 3, 27, and 28.

It says for as many of you as were baptized into Christ, everybody say that's me, we're baptized into him.

And then we put him on like a garment.

We put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And I'm going to just snip out that little part.

There is neither male nor female tonight, and I am going to.

That is the catalyst for what drew me.

We've been talking about this scripture in a different context, but I wanted to talk about because, clearly, we can look at our flesh and go, yeah, there's male and female, there are some big differences about the way we relate to each other and yet, spiritually, we are one.

And so then I want to direct you to Ephesians, chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

And then, while you're turning there, I just want to give you a little background.

Two years ago, this August, the Lord spoke to me during one of these services and I believe it was Sunday night service, because we were just flowing in the Holy Ghost and a little song came into my heart and it was God talking to me.

What are you doing to dress the bride?

And God began to show me that there's more to learn about the bride of Christ.

We, the church at large, male and female, though all we are mixed together here.

We are a bride and Jesus is our bridegroom, and the Word of God is throughout.

Genesis to Revelation gives us a picture of that relationship, and so he gave the male and female marriage relationship.

He gave us that, as is supposed to be a picture of Christ in the church, and so everything that I say tonight can be put in that.

And then he.

And so two years ago I guess it was in September then of that year I was celebrating my 15th wedding anniversary.

I remember that was a long time ago, but I taught a message called Dress the Bride, and I'll encapsulate that a little bit just for context tonight.

But before I do I'll just tell you what I see is when the church doesn't take our role of authority, when we do not rise to the level of glory that Jesus intends for us to have, when we have spot or wrinkle, when we have resignation and half-heartedness, apathy, when we do not take that role of the strong, supportive bride of Christ, then his will on the earth is delayed or subverted.

Because he told us occupy till I come.

And we know that Jesus is not on the earth today.

Where is Jesus?

He's seated at the right hand of the Father.

He is up there.

He left us down here.

We are physically separated from Jesus right now, but he did not leave us orphans, because who do we have that lives on the inside of us the Holy Ghost.

He left us the Holy Ghost.

And so the Holy Ghost is guiding us through this time when we are betrothed to our bridegroom.

But we have not yet entered into the marriage supper of the lamb yet.

And in the Bible times as I taught back then, the Bible times betrothal.

When that groom came to propose, it wasn't just a diamond ring, it was a lot of jewels, it was his family jewels.

And from that moment she said yes, they were legally bound, and it was as if they were married but they couldn't live together yet.

They still had a separation physically.

Because what was the bridegroom doing?

Well, he was preparing a place for her in his father's house.

He was adding on a room a place where he could take his bride away and be with her forever after that union.

And in the meantime she was watching and waiting for his return Because she didn't know the day or the hour when he would return.

And he didn't even know the day or the hour that he would return Because there was a custom in that day that only the bridegroom's father would be able to say yes, you're finished with that place you're making for your wifey over there.

It's good.

Check, I approve or note.

You've got to do some more work and whenever the moment was that, the father would say it's ready, go get your bride.

Woo, I feel the anointing.

Then the bridegroom would come.

It could be in the middle of the night, it could be in the morning, it could be in the evening, we didn't know when it was going to be, but the father said you're ready, go get her.

And so she would be ready and she would be sanctifying herself and whenever she went out in public she would wear a veil over her face and if it was nighttime she'd lay that veil and have it right there at arm's reach and she would have her lantern trimmed and ready with oil in it, because if he came at night, it was dark, there were no street lamps and you better have your oil and your lamp.

God's word is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path, and His veil of glory covers our face.

Hallelujah, his veil is over us and it changes our very countenance.

The glory of God on the face it talks about.

Moses had that veil when he spent time in the mountain of God and he came down and people couldn't recognize him.

They couldn't even see his face because of the veil of glory that covered it.

And meanwhile she was going through all kinds of beauty rituals.

She had her beauty rituals.

And that's where we are right now.

As a church, we are legally betrothed to our Savior Jesus.

We just can't physically be with Him yet.

And I notice that churches who don't have a revelation of the believer's authority here is what they say Well, you know, god is in control of everything.

He's in control of every detail.

He's God's in control.

Well, I know my life's burning up and falling apart, but God's in control.

Well, everything's going wrong, but God's in control, and that person cannot be bothered to lift up and help God in any way.

You know, it's not bad to help.

It's not bad when you know His will.

It is not bad to find out what is His way of escape so you can come out of that trouble.

Amen, because he gave us authority.

He's up there.

He already defeated the principalities and powers.

He gave us the Holy Ghost so that we could occupy.

And so you see that mentality in the church.

And I noticed I've never seen this before in my life.

But as I was preparing for this message, god showed me that there were, you know, those churches that do not have a revelation of the authority of the believer.

They also subjugate women.

They are also the strictest.

Most they muzzle their women and I'm so thankful for the freedom to follow the call of God.

I am so thankful for women in this church.

If you have a call of God on your life, the Lord, god, does not muzzle you.

You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.

The truth of God never brings bondage.

It never brings a snare.

It brings freedom.

But there are many scriptures and I have to give it to these people.

They do pick and choose.

Harry picked these scriptures and I want to go through them tonight because I've been reading the Woman Question by Kenneth E Hagen.

I've never heard my dad discuss this from the pulpit, though privately.

He has read this book many times.

He's had me read it.

He's given it to others in the church.

How many of you have ever read the Woman Question by Kenneth E Hagen?

It's so full of revelation.

I just thought I can't go through the whole book tonight, but I thought I would touch on it just as a catalyst, because we take things for granted when we understand the role of women, whether you're a man or a woman here tonight, you can understand hey, as a bride of Christ, I can have authority in this world and I can be a helpmate for Jesus, the Savior.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I can help, I can do through the Holy Ghost and the leading on the inside.

I can follow and I can build God's kingdom together with Him.

All right, so there's my context a little bit tonight.

So turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians 5, and you will hear.

If you've ever heard anybody in this church do a wedding my dad, my brother, my husband.

They will read this scripture, ephesians 5, and so I want you to listen to it, both as a fleshly wife and as a member of the body of Christ.

But true to the Lord Jesus.

It says wives, submit to your own husbands.

As to the Lord, I don't have to submit to anybody else's husband.

Praise God, I get to submit to my husband.

Amen.

We'll talk about what submission means in just a minute.

For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church and he is the Savior of the body.

Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything.

And you will hear old, tiny me preachers and you will hear men with a very deep revelation of this scripture and they'll say well, woman, you have to obey me in everything.

If I tell you not to go to church, if I tell you to come to the bar with me, or whatever, if I tell you to do this or that, you've got to do it because you have to obey me.

They might not know any other scripture, but a lot of times they'll know that one.

How many of you will know?

They know that one?

We'll talk about that in a minute too.

Husbands, love your wives.

Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, did Jesus give himself for you.

Amen, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water, by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot, a wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies, and he who loves his wife loves himself.

Do you feel the love of the Savior?

Today we can all feel the love of Jesus.

No man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church.

You know the Lord loves you, he cherishes you.

He nourishes you and feeds you what you need and do time.

Whether you're a man or woman, the Holy God Jesus, through the person of the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, nourishes and cherishes you, for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.

For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

Everybody say one flesh.

This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless, let each of you in particular, so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

So we know, just in the natural that wives it aren't told to respect their husbands while husbands are told repeatedly to love their wives.

And we know that men have a need for respect that's built into them, and honor and respect that is what men, that is a need, an emotional need of every man, and that women we respond to affection and love.

We respond to that, and so God in his infinite wisdom put that right here.

And the apostle Paul never was even married, but God used him.

And so we see, though, that the two are made one flesh.

Everybody say one flesh.

So in 1 Corinthians 6, it also talks about this issue.

It talks about the unfaithful husband it was talking about don't be joined to a harlot, because that makes you one flesh with her.

But then in verse 17, it says but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

Everybody say one spirit with him.

So a physical union creates a flesh bond of oneness, but a spiritual union, like we have when we get saved, when we are joined to the Lord Jesus.

When we're joined to the Lord Jesus, it is one spirit.

So if we go back to our Ephesians scripture about how the wife needs to submit in all things, it will say let's go back, all right.

So first it says it says we should submit to one another, submit to.

In fact, we got to rewind to verse 21 for that 20.

And thanks always for all things to God, the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

So the submission is mutual, and so that headship that it's talking about.

When we submit to each other, the wife is subject to her husband in all things.

She submits herself, in matters of the flesh and the household.

It is a fleshly submission that we give and it's a joy and honor to give that.

We wouldn't choose to marry someone that we did not think could manage the household well.

And so when we, when we choose that person well, I choose somebody that can fulfill that role as the head of the household, that all matters that pertain to the household he is the head of that.

He will answer to God for the direction of the household.

So he has more authority, he has more responsibility.

Therefore he's given more authority.

And we honor our husband's ladies, we honor him.

But does that mean that we're no longer joined, that he's our spiritual head, we're one flesh with him.

But is our husband that's a good question is our husband our spiritual head above?

I mean between us and Jesus?

And I would say no, and Brother Hagin would say no.

There is no command that a husband can give.

If he countermans the word of God, then we cannot obey him.

We cannot submit to that.

We only submit to those things that honor God.

And so if you turn, okay, so turn with me to 1 Peter 3,.

Oh, this is gonna really I am swatting at a bees nest tonight and I hope I can put all the bees back in the nest before the service is over.

If not, you're gonna have to pray through ladies.

You're gonna have to pray through this 1 Peter, chapter 3.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

And don't put the real bees in the nest, because that will be a real bee nest.

Oh, that would hurt.

Okay, so I'm just gonna read off my paper here 1 Peter, chapter 3, I believe it's verse one.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Yes, wise.

Likewise, be submissive to your own husbands that even if some do not obey the word, they are without a word.

They, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.

When they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear, everybody say chaste.

So we're obeying God, we're submitting to our head Jesus.

That's our chaste conduct that he gets to observe.

He does not get to observe us obeying his unchaste commands.

That counterman the things of God, amen.

And so then it says do not let your dormant be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, putting on fine apparel.

Everybody say merely so.

In no place here does the apostle apply.

And I don't think we have a problem with this in the church.

I'm just heading off one.

It is not wrong for us to braid our hair, arrange our hair, wear gold or put on fine apparel.

These things the apostle Paul is not telling us not to do these things.

He's saying don't let it only be about that.

If you spend more time on all of that than you do, mining the things of the spirit, then you have your balances are out of whack.

Amen, let it, rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.

I am still working on that gentle, quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God, for in this manner in former times, a holy woman who trusted in God also adorned themselves.

So you know, if you say man looks on the outward appearance, he certainly does.

He looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

So we are to adorn ourselves.

It's good to adorn our outly person because, women, if you are married, your husband married you because you were pretty.

He liked what you did way back then and if we quit doing that he'll quit liking it.

So it's good to still adorn the outward man, but we have to spend more time on the inward man, because God sees the heart.

If we dress up for our husbands, then we want to dress up for Jesus on the inside.

All right, so being submissive to their own husbands as Sarah, everybody says Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord James prefers King James Captain occasionally.

But Abraham and Sarah are lifted up here as an example.

How interesting.

We'll go to that in just a minute.

Whose daughters you are.

If you do good and are not afraid with any terror husbands likewise, dwell with them with understanding.

Again, here's a mutual submission, submitting to one another, giving honor to the wife as the weaker vessel, weaker physically.

Obviously I cannot beat my husband in arm wrestling, but that's a physical weakness.

Everybody says heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

So our prayers are hindered.

If we have one of the spouses usurping authority over the other one and treating them badly, then it blocks our God's trying to answer our prayer and it's blocked by our own disobedience sometimes.

So it uses Abraham and Sarah and then it says heirs together of the grace of, heirs together, heirs together, heirs together.

And back in Ephesians remember it mentioned that the two shall become one flesh.

It was quoting from Genesis, chapter one and two, with Adam and Eve, how God formed Eve from the what part of Adam, the rib of Adam, not from the bottom of his foot, certainly not from the top of his head, but from his rib.

So that's my dad who says, closest to his heart and right by his side.

But there is to be a side by side, equal.

We are heirs together, standing together under God, honoring the head who is Christ.

He is our head, both of us spiritually.

About household matters and about things of this life, I submit to my husband, but I answer to Jesus for things that are spiritual.

And now my husband takes a place in my life because he is spiritual and I respect him as so I can obey him in matters of spiritual things.

Does that make sense?

So that's a wonderful dimension also.

So, but here it uses Abraham and Sarah.

And was Sarah?

So when we talk about the submissive wife, did Sarah just say yes, abraham, yes Abraham, yes Abraham.

What anything you say Abraham?

Yeah, she called him Lord because she honored him.

But you know she had a very, she was very opinionated.

Sometimes she had ideas about how things should be and sometimes they weren't good ideas, were they?

Hey, gar Ishmael?

But Abraham still listened to her.

And when they both realized how wrong they were.

After Ishmael and Isaac both began to grow up and you can read about this in Genesis, chapter 25, verse nine, it says Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian whom she had born to Abraham, scoffing.

Genesis 25 · chapter mention

So therefore she said to Abraham cast out this bond woman and her son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.

And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham's sight.

The King James said it was grievous.

So Abraham had a contentious disagreement with Sarah over this issue.

You can imagine he did.

He was grieved.

It was right up in his business, oh, that she would want his son to leave.

But God had something to say about it.

Everybody say God has a side, even in marital disputes.

Do you know?

God has a side.

Let's seek the Lord and find out what his side is.

Let's get on his side and he will speak into it.

And he did because Abraham prayed and was open to hear the voice of God.

God came in and spoke.

You know what Sarah's right?

You gotta send him away.

I know that was hard for Abraham to obey, but he did it and it was because Sarah was the catalyst, brother Hagin, tells a story in this book about how there was one time that he actually God had told him to begin this.

He hadn't began holding tent meetings yet and praying for any sick people.

And that was to what would eventually be one of the cornerstones of his ministry, the tent healing meetings.

And he had gone to a different meeting of some pastors and he was listening to their different style of preaching and he came back all discouraged.

You know, I was thinking about doing these tent meetings, but really that's just a believer's ministry.

Everyone should be able to.

Well, I shouldn't do this.

Everybody should just pray for everybody else and there shouldn't just be one man praying.

And he just got all his doctrine got all messed up.

He said I'm just not, I'm not gonna do it.

And his wife said oh yes, you are.

God told you to do that.

You are not going to step away and disobey God at this time.

We are, they are she.

I'm packing up the house Right now.

We're gonna go on the field and we are gonna do this because God talked to you and she just kicked him in the pants.

Is that submissive?

Well, she submitted to the head who was Christ and she knew God had a side and she spoke her truth that God, the Lord's truth, that he put in her heart and it set their family on the course of God's plan for their lives.

And he did not.

She did not resign that.

She heard from God, with him, hallelujah.

It's just like Sarah, I'm telling you, there is a time when we wives, we cannot just, and the body of Christ needs to speak out.

When we see the church at large headed in the wrong direction, it is incumbent upon us to speak out and say something.

Let's write this ship Hallelujah as the bride of Christ.

All of us with one voice.

You, how many of y'all remember Abigail?

Abigail first, samuel, 25 Abigail.

It was when King David was not king yet and he was coming through his army.

I believe he was still running from from Saul, but his army needed provisions and they were hungry.

And they came through the land of a very, very rich man named Nable, which means fool, so that must have been a nickname, as I don't know.

His mama would have named him that.

But he was foolish.

He what?

He had more money than he knew what to do with, but he would not share any of his food and his abundance with David and David was gonna mow him down.

I have an army here with me and I'm bigger than your little servants over there and I'm about to mow you down.

But Abigail mounted up her donkey and made all of her cakes of raisins and her figs and her almonds and she had all of the Spread and bread for the, for the soldiers, and she said forgive my husband, he's, he lives up to his name.

She bowed down, she fell at his, at David's feet and said oh for my, my servant, forgive, forgive, forgive my, you know, just will.

We'll hear some food, and so Sometimes we the man is not always right, that's my only point.

The man is not always I sometimes he meant sometimes you need us to talk nice To somebody that you have offended.

Praise God, but, but wives, don't be, don't shirk your responsibility in that role.

Proverbs 31, proverbs, 31, proverbs.

I want you to see like, think of your traditional role of submission and subservience, and I want you to compare that with what's.

Proverbs 31 talks about the virtuous woman.

I'm not gonna read the whole thing.

You can go back and read.

I love it, it's beautiful, but listen to verse 16.

She considers a field and buys it and from her prophets she plants a vineyard.

Okay, so she's out there doing some business.

Her husband's doing business.

He's respected in the gates but she's got something going on.

She's not just subservient folding his underwear at home.

I, she should.

Maybe she does that too, because it does say she's very crafty, she cares for her household, she has no fear in the wintertime, they've got warm clothes.

She's done all of that stuff already and she still found time to go do some business.

And it says and then later it says her heart of her husband safely trusts her.

She's trustworthy.

She gurns herself with strength everybody say strength and strengthens her arms.

She perceives that her merchandise is good.

She likes to shop.

She knows the good stuff is and her lamp does not go out by night.

So she likes to shop but she can pay for it because she's working it out there and she's taking care of all of her family.

She's got it.

She's got all the plates spinning and her and everybody trusts her and her kids.

Rise up and call her blessed.

I'm telling you the body of Christ.

Today we are doing business on this earth.

God has made us a strong Bride for him.

All right, so quickly.

Can women be?

Can they serve in the church?

Can they serve in the church?

Can they prophesy?

Can they prophesy?

Yes, they can.

Luke 1 39 is the kicks off the song of Mary.

She was in the house of Zacharias it wasn't her own house but we're two or three gathered in my name there.

I am in the midst.

They were.

They were talking about the Lord and, and so she said in a loud voice Would she let your women be silent in church?

Was she silent in church?

No, mary was not silent.

She rose up and prophesied and she said one of the most beautiful my soul magnifies the Lord, she said.

And she goes on and wouldn't say one of the song, the song of Mary.

It's beautiful.

Read it if you hadn't in a while.

It's beautiful About the messy in it coming of the Savior born and how God chose her.

And then the prophetess Anna Luke 2 36.

She is in the temple at the time that they bring in the baby Jesus to dedicate him, and she Begins to extol all the people in the house of God at that time.

And you can say you know what Anna, the prophetess that was in that was technically under the old covenant because Jesus had not died and gone to the and gone to the cross, yet he had not risen to.

You know.

Well, let me ask you what changed when Jesus was born, when Jesus died and rose again, did some?

Did he take away rice from women?

Did he take away their importance or did he come to add something?

If there were prophets in the Old Testament there that were women, there are prophets in the New Testament.

Now, here's one thing I don't see.

I don't see that any women Wrote any of the New Testament books of the Bible.

So I don't see women apostles.

I Just don't see it.

I don't have doctrine to say there could never be one.

I do think it's tough for a woman and brother Hagan also says this, but I it bears up in my spirit I think it's hard for a woman to be a pastor.

There are times when they are, because there are time.

Brother Hagan tells the story of a woman who her husband was a contractor of some kind in a little town and the church there had just dried up and they Stood it simply, god, just, they were still paying rent on this empty church, empty church, empty church, rent, rent, rent.

And they said you know, we need to get somebody who lives in that town and this lady was the only one they could think of and you know she didn't have to take a salary from the church because she was she.

Her husband was doing really well, thank you and she was able to raise up this church.

She got it humming and going 200 people or so and she was a and she didn't do a lot of baptism.

She had brothers in the church that would baptize people, but she had an evangelistic heart and a pastoral heart and for a time she could do that and she handed it off.

I know Sharon Daugherty, billy Joe Daugherty's wife.

In a victory Church in Tulsa.

Her husband died of cancer.

It was a terrible, sad thing.

It was a big, strong ministry, pivotal ministry at when I was growing up and and this woman was able to shoulder that church.

She did it for a short time and she and she handed it off to her son.

Meanwhile she had, she raised four kids and all of them are in ministry and and.

But she did, she was, she was the pastor, she was the head pastor.

She was able to do it for a time.

It's I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just my opinion it's harder for a woman to be a pastor, because it's a why, it's a fatherly role.

It's just like it's hard for a woman to be a single mama, she can do it.

She's graced and uniquely skilled and anointed.

If she finds herself in that situation, her God is her strength and he will grace her for that.

She's blessed.

And so I believe there are churches with that kind of same kind of blessing, that single mama blessing.

They can come out just.

I mean, god's blessing can be on them, amen.

But but prophets, teachers, where would we be without Billy brim?

And how ironic is that she she's a woman and she came in here and taught us.

I remember in 2007.

I sat right over there.

I have held my baby son I in my arms and she taught on the authority of the believer.

A woman preacher taught us on the authority of the believer and now we understand that we are seated together with him in heavenly places and he's placed all things under our feet.

He has placed it and he has given us to be hit.

I mean, we have authority, we care and are gonna rule and reign with Jesus and we are not gonna be Karen's gonna teach class on that one of these days.

I know you are.

But when he comes after that marriage supper at the Lamb, we're gonna rule and reign with him and we will have rights and privileges as side by side with him.

Amen.

So we got to start practicing now.

So, yes, women can serve in the church and if you need proof of that, here in Romans 16 is a big, a lot of them mentioned right here.

Because Paul starts.

He starts commending, he says I commend you, all of you.

Now I've written this wonderful letter, but I commend you to Phoebe.

Everybody say Phoebe, our sister, who is servant in the church in Centraea, so she's a servant.

That word servant is diaconos, it's a deacon or servant, so she's in church leadership.

And he tells the entire church at Romans receive her and the Lord as a manner of worthy of the saints and assist her.

In other words, give her what she needs, assist her.

She's leading it, you be the assistant.

And so she had a leadership role.

Clearly there's no denying that.

Then he says great Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, workers wouldn't just like.

They made tents together.

Yes, they did, but they labored for the ministry together.

And Priscilla is the wife, aquila is her husband, and the wife is mentioned first.

Later on it talks about how Priscilla, when they found Apollos this is an ax later in Acts, when they found there was a minister of the gospel named Apollos and he was preaching people, but he only knew he didn't have the full revelation.

And so Priscilla and Aquila encountered Apollos and they explained the word of God more perfectly to him.

So, priscilla, she did not usurp authority over a man, but she did explain the word of God to him, and God used her for that, and the Bible records it.

Is it wrong?

No, she was helping the kingdom of God.

Acts two it shall come to pass and last day, says God, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Your young men shall see visions.

Old men shall see them dream.

Your men serve as, and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit.

So God's pouring out his spirit everywhere, on all of us.

Amen, all right, so I probably could sum it up right now, because now I'm about to swat some bees nests.

How long have I been at it, james?

Do you have time?

Yeah, I'm done.

It would take me a while to get into these other, but there are many other scriptures that when you read them you think women need to really shut up.

They need to sit down and shut up in church.

Have you all read those scriptures?

When you see, read the sit down and shut up scriptures I know, I know, but I'm not gonna get into all of them right now.

I do encourage you to read this book if you have questions about them.

But what I will say is that in general, most of the time where it says sit down and shut up women in church, it is either talking about women, because the word women and wife in the Greek is actually the same word.

There's not two words.

We have women and we have wives, so we can differentiate in English.

But in the Greek New Testament there was one word, gyne, and it meant woman or it meant wife.

So when the wives would sit on one side of the church and the husbands would sit on the other side of the church and the husbands had all the education and the wives were uneducated.

So when they were hearing things come across the pulpit, they didn't know what they meant sometimes and they might ask, or they might sometimes embarrass their husbands by airing personal things across.

Hey, are you listening over there?

He's talking to you Stuff like that, and that would be disorderly, would it not?

And that would embarrass the husband and that would usurp authority from him.

And so most of those scriptures are all just trying to not have the wife usurp authority over her husband or over her husband over her husband, and having husbands and wives have that relationship of deference to each other and submission to each other.

So that is the root of many of these scriptures, but in general.

Then there's that one about and I have to close with this because I did title my message honoring the head.

There is the scripture and I will read part of it because it's really long.

But it talks about how women should wear head coverings in church.

Y'all remember that one.

They should always, because if they don't wear their head covering it's a dishonor, it's a disgrace, and if they cut their hair it's a disgrace.

Their hair has gotta be long and glorious and they've gotta wear a head covering in church and I would just submit to you that and you can read the text for yourself.

But it's clearly there is a custom going on and what Paul is saying is it's important to honor the customs of that day and wherever you're preaching, if you're a missionary here or there, you're in a certain you need to be able to blend in with the culture in a certain way and be able to be sensitive to that.

And then, because they had a custom of wearing head coverings in church and it meant that they were submissive to their husbands.

And so I would take that and say you know what?

My head covering in church, my head covering in church is my honor and submission to Jesus, the head of the church.

I will never pray, I will never prophesy without honoring the covering of Almighty God over me, over my family and my husband, over the church, and I never wanna bring disgrace on His kingdom or on my family or my husband or my church, my head covering.

And so I submit, I honor the head, christ Jesus.

And so, first of all, as the church of the living God, I just, we can honor the head.

We can honor the head by wearing our wedding veil, by saying we are spoken for, we are sanctified and set apart from the things of this world.

We are blind to those things and we have the glory of God on our faces.

When we pray and we prophesy, we don't do so in our own strength or from our own ideas.

We are sanctified and veiled with the love of God.

We are betrothed in that knowledge that we are betrothed to Him and fully submitted to Him in all things.

That is the head covering that we have when we pray or when we prophesy.

That is what is desired and I think if we Jesus always had, he was always trying to talk to people about spiritual things and they'd get confused and make it about something physical.

And for years and centuries the church has been, and we're free of that.

I don't know anybody in this church that thinks you gotta not cut your hair, but for years the church has been arguing over whether ladies should cut their hair or wear a hat in church.

It was never about that, never was about any of that.

It's about what we submit, what we sanctify, what we love God above all else and cut off the things of this world.

When we pray and we prophesy, then we'll be blessed and it'll be an honor to the head, christ, Jesus, amen.

And so we're honoring the head tonight as the bride of Christ.

Ladies, as godly wives, and if you don't have a husband then you get to submit directly to Jesus himself.

So that should encourage you.

Tonight You're a nourished and cherished by him.