Honoring Womanhood

You're listening to the Cross Kingdom Sermon of the Week, we hope you enjoy

this message from Justin Carpenter. Oh hey, um, there's a picture of

your beautiful pregnant wife up here, Cynthia Richie. I don't mean to put

you on the spot, but did you have something that you wanted to release

a little while ago? By chance? No? Okay, I could feel

you over there, That's why I wanted to ask. So I guess I

technically put you on the spot, even though I said I didn't want to.

Sorry about that. Oh man. Oh and uh, correction on the

building fund y'all, because Kim did the announce spens on Wednesday and between Wednesday

and Friday. So the new number is five hundred sixty thousand, six hundred

nine dollars and ninety four cents. And uh, we have we have a

new concept drawing that we're going to be going over with the leadership Monday,

and we are going to be consulting with an architect and so things are starting

to move and we we are going to bless the land, y'all. We

didn't forget about that. And uh, I just leaned over to Lease and

I thought, what if we do something on the land for the fourth of

July weekend. So anyways, we'll be brainstorming and and thinking about what might

take place. UM, yeah, are ready doing good? I'm it's a

i'ven't forty four this time, not twelve twenty, so that's I won't keep

y'all till ten to one. Don't worry, I'll keep yall till one fifteen

this time. We just get keep it going. UM. I actually just

want to talk about how UM wives can honor their husbands this morning. And

oh, just joking, lad, I'm surprised y'all didn't throw something at me

like the day with the bees. Uh No, I am going to talk

about honoring womanhood and uh but um, it's interesting this whole bee theme.

I was in HB not Walmart yesterday and I ran into um an old friend

of mine, Eric, and U. I roofed with him and his dad

and we were catching up, telling them about where the land was, and

and uh, he goes, oh yeah, he goes, I have some

friends that have land just down from there, and he goes, I'm going

to be putting bee hives on their property. And he goes, you know,

that's really important. I'm like, okay, yes, I know.

And then and then I'm in line fixing to leave after grabbing stuff, and

there's um another friend of ours right behind us, and she was like,

Hey, since I have you here, can I ask you a question?

And she said, is your church you know, like like a denominator,

like affiliated with like this, you know, like this big denomination or whatever

and uh, and she mentioned another denomination that she was at, and that

particular denomination right now is going through a lot of shakings and splits and different

things, and and she goes. My dad said, it's just super important

to be a part of a non denominational church, and so they're they're looking

to make a move from where they're at, and I explained her, you

know that we're you know, nondenominational independent. And it's it's interesting that those

two conversations obviously the whole the bee, the cross pollination, and then m

You're going to begin to see more and more dismantling of denominationalism in the days

ahead, because God is stirring in the hearts of his people about kingdom and

the Body of Christ. And I just I just leaned over to her and

I just said, hey, there are no denominations in the Scripture. I

said, either you're in or out. You're they're a part of the Body

of Christ, or you're not. And that's a good reminder for us when

when we are going to other streams that they are the body of Christ if

they preach the Gospel period. And we have to be careful not to let

not to focus on miners and allow those things to divide us. Which speaking

of division, the role of a woman in church has been extremely divisive over

the decades and lots of different opinions and exegesis on scripture, and I just

I really want to try to paint in a clear picture of what I believe

is absolutely biblical for the role of a woman. Don't get any tomatoes because

it's hum there's no showmanism here. In fact, I'm gonna I'm gonna actually

talk to you a little bit about why we have so many women minister in

preach. And we've had people leave and get offended and walk out. I've

watched them when a woman comes up over the years to minister. And so

if you're wondering what we're doing is biblical, yes it is. And we

just bless those that get offended. And there's a hundred other churches. I'm

sure they can find one that don't like women. Hold on, that might

have been a little hard. Let me soften that up. That was a

little hard, y'all. Sorry, you're awake, though you're listening. Okay.

Romans twelve ten love one another with brotherly affection. That wasn't so loving.

I'm going to back up a couple degrees outdo one another and showing honor

and first. Corithian's fourteen thirty four and thirty five says this is like the

poster child scripture that everybody fights over, and it's the woman should keep silent

in the churches, for they're not permitted to speak, but should be in

submission. As the law also says, if there's anything they desire to learn,

let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a

woman to speak in church. Now, if you take that one scripture,

that one scripture can literally split the church, and it has it's literally split

denominations, and without going into the background and proper eggs of Jesus, you

can take that scripture and it can become very abusive, very quickly, and

we can begin to lose proper understanding. And so I just want to unpack

that a little bit as we move forward. Okay, So it in Corinth

they worshiped Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and

procreation. The worship of Aphrodite is believed to have started around the eighth century

BC and fully developed by the time of classical Greece five ten to three twenty

three BC. With the Temple of Aphrodite a top of the acro Corintheus mountain

overlooking Corinth. Strobo writes what the culture was like, and the temple of

Aphrodite was so rich that it owned more than a thousand temple slaves, courtesans,

whom both men and women had dedicated to the goddess. And therefore it

was also on account of these women that the city was crowded with people and

grew rich. For instance, the ship contains freely squared their money, and

hence the proverb not for every man is the voyage to Corinth. Moreover,

it is recorded that a certain Cortesian said to the women who reproached her with

the charge that she did not like to work or touch wool. Yet such

as I am. In this short time, I've taken down three pieces.

So from his letters to the Corinthians, Paul writes to a church compromised largely,

I'm sorry, comprised largely of Gentile and Greek members. As new members

of Christ, they bring with them their pagan and cultural influences such as glorifying

wisdom and ecstatic utterances, eating meat offered to idols, promiscuity and the denial

of bodily resurrection, and a society permitted prostitution, and the legal process of

taking disputes to the city master magistrates was customary. So this gives you a

little background, and it actually paints a picture of what Paul was dealing with

in corinth And as he's beginning to address things and put proper governmental order.

And verse thirty four and thirty five do not prohibit women or do not prohibit

women from speaking in the church in either pulpit ministry, teaching, preaching,

praying, provesyzing, or any other speaking function. These verses represent a quotation

which is the most plausible and correct interpretation. Paul is quoting a saying from

the oral law of the Jews, which is not intended to be understood as

the writer's original declaration. So to simplify this, when they went into Babylonian

captivity and they didn't have the scrolls and the parchments with them, oral torah

began to take hold in the Jewish culture. And so you fast forward into

the Gospels, and this is actually why Jesus was hammering them. He says,

you take the traditions of men, and you nullify the power of God,

because they took the oral torah and put it above the actual tora,

the written Torah. Are you all with me? I know we're kind of

in a little classroom setting. I'll back off all this in a sec but

it's important because so many disputes, so many arguments, happen in the Church

because we aren't good Boians. What did Paul say? The Burians were commended

because they actually searched the scriptures to see whether or not what was being spoken

to them was actually true. Today we'd call that fact check. Well,

maybe not from Google's perspective, but give me a little lenience there. And

so he's talking about the oral law. The evidence is compelling, diverse,

and objective. This verse also allows for the natural flow of thought to remain

uninterrupted with verses thirty four and thirty five. And I might add one thing

here you have in the Book of Acts. I think it was Apollos his

daughters had the gift of prophecy. Phillips. Sorry Apolos, he was there

too, but um fact check, thank you. You do read the word.

So Phillips there with his daughters with the gift of prophecy. So I

have a question for you. If we're to understand that one scripture that's divided

so much of the church with women and speaking in church, how is it

that God turned around and gave women an oral gift that was designed to function

inside of a church meeting. So there's something we're missing because God doesn't contradict

himself. Correct. Okay, man, I'm holding back so many good things

right now for the sake of not getting smacked by my wife leader. Okay.

So uh yeah, after almost twenty three years you begin to learn a

little, I think sometimes. So. Paul also has no need to specifically

address women as they only cause of interrupting the service. As some scholars suggest,

Paul's conclusion in verse forty is more than adequate to tell the Corinthians that

both men and women must be careful to minister in the gifts of the spirit

and an orderly fashion. The focus of chapter fourteen is on the proper use

of spiritual gifts, tongues, and prophecy. So what kind of silence does

First Corinthians fourteen thirty four demand. The entire question hinges upon the meaning of

the Greek verb psigo or psigoa whatever. I'm not a Greek expert, forgive

me the word. The word never did demand absolutely unqualified silence. Rather,

the nature of the silence is determined by the context. The verb psigoa isn't

found very frequently in the Bible, and act only nineteen times in the Greek

Old Testament and less than a dozen times in the New Testament. But a

careful examination of the word reveals that the context identifies the nature of the silence.

So, for instance, when the Israelites were pursued by the Egyptians and

arrived at the Red Sea, they're terrified. They complied that their plight to

Moses. He told them Jehovah would fight for them, so they were to

hold their peace or be silent. It's that word. Obviously, they didn't

mean that they were to be forbidden to speak at all. Rather, the

kind of silence commanded was that they were to cease their faithless whimpering. When

David described certain hardships associated with his transgressions, he kept silence as his bones

wasted away Psalm thirty two three. But he was not speaking of general silence,

but keeping silence regarding his sin. After the disciples witnessed the transfiguration scene,

they held their peace, ie remained silent. That doesn't mean they didn't

talk at all. Rather, they did not discuss with others what they've seen

on the mountain. So the context the First Corinthians fourteen now to first the

verb psycho is used three times in this chapter. One who has the gift

of tongues is to keep silence if he has no interpreter to use with his

audience. If a brother is speaking and another receives an immediate revelation, the

former is to keep silence. It's the same verb here, so you're getting

context that it's not Paul's not telling women they have to be completely silent in

church. Are you with me? And sometimes when we don't go back to

the original language, we lose a lot of context. So finally, women

are to keep silence. It's the same deal. So in that context,

what he's addressing, he's saying, hold your peace. He's not saying women

can speak and teach and prophesy. You see the entire Bible flooded with women

being used of God. Deborah Ruth, I mean, I have a whole

list, just over and over and over, and so these are the things

as we according to Acts three, living in the restoration of all things.

These are things that must properly be put back in proper order. Because if

we're going to become Joel's army, and we're going to become a full expression

of who Jesus truly is and express that to the earth, then we actually

have to understand who we are in Him, our identity, our value,

and our function. Does that make sense? Okay? Two of you?

Awesome. So Paul's direction of women does not demand that she be absolutely silent

at church. Rather, in harmony with what the apostles taught elsewhere, the

woman is not to speak or teach in a way that violates her gender role.

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing

honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you

of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

So if you go back to this function we as husbands with the responsibility we

have, if we start acting like butt heads to our wives, guess what

happens. The Holy Spirit all of a sudden becomes a witness against you and

says, hey, taps you on your shoulder. You want to know why

your prayers aren't being answered yet, because I'm acting as a witness between you

and the wife of your youth. Knock it off. Repent. So,

men, if you've been hard on your wives and you're wondering why things aren't

working out the way you think they should, repent. Now everybody's mad at

me. All I heard. All I heard in that clapping was women's soft

hands. You know, if everybody's not offended by the end of a service,

I guess we just didn't have church. I don't know. First Timothy

five one to five, do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him

as you would a father, Younger men as brothers, older women as mothers,

younger women as sisters. In all purity, honor, widows who are

truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first

learn to show Godliness to their own household and to make some return to their

parents. For this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who's truly

a widow left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in

supplications and prayers night and day. My father in law always messes with me,

and he always says when he gets older, I'm gonna have to change

his diaper. And I'm like, yeah, no, not happing a dude.

I love you, Pops wherever you are live stream or is he here?

I can't see in the back. It's a little dark. It's probably

good somebody. You're probably offended with my diaper joke. So that kind of

sounded like Piper's voice in the back. I'm not quite sure. But man

and woman were both made in the image of God, and I want to

I want to say something in this final harvest, if you will, I

think part of I believe wholeheartedly the one of the greatest things that will come

out of this outpouring and harvest is actually the restoration of family that we were

because right now we are the most fatherless generation yet in America. But the

role you all have to understand something. The part of the role the Holy

Spirit. When you actually look at the description of the Holy Spirit, the

Holy Spirit represents what we would say is the feminine side of God. And

so it's it's when the father and the and the mother are actually in their

roles, functioning the way God designed, that we actually see a full,

fuller picture of who the Father is. Some of you're like her, uh

so, an excellent wife who can find she's far more precious than jewels.

The heart of her husband trust in her. Let me say something back in

twenty ten, and I've shared this before, but back in twenty ten,

we were in Denver. I was under just heavy burden of trying to figure

out where we were going to move next. We knew we had to leave,

and Lisa had gotten a job offer back in Virginia. I love Virginia.

I love the Blue Ridge Mountains, and I finally came to the grips

where, Okay, we're going to move to Virginia. That's fine, and

so I'm all settled in and then Jill Reno comes along out of Houston.

Jill grew up here with Lisa, and she offers Lisa a job, and

I was at the Power and Love Conference on the front steps between sessions.

This is when this first started, and all of a sudden, Lisa was

not sure if she wanted to take the job in Virginia or take the job

in Houston. Well, this disturbed my peace significantly. So I'm on the

front. I'm on the front steps the Power and Love Conference, hence the

second word love, and I'm in an argument with Jill on the phone,

but out of my marriage, don't you. I'm like, literally an argument

with her being very spiritual at the Power and Love Conference so we can go

love people into the kingdom as I am not being loving and I'm full of

fear and feel like I'm out of control in that moment. And so I

get home and where I'm like we everything was fine till Jill called and we're

and I'm sitting there and it's a Saturday morning and we're in a little two

too apartment in Aurora, Colorado, and uh, we're there, Lisa and

the kids, Mike is a baby, and they're in the other room.

I'm praying and I'm like, Lord, just tell me what we're supposed to

do. And I'm I'm like, and all of a sudden, I hear,

clear as day, well the answer is easy, and I'm like,

it is so he's got my attention right, And all of a sudden,

I hear, are you ready, men? Hold on to your heinie.

The Holy Spirit says, let her choose. This season isn't about you.

And all of a sudden, all the weight and the burdens came off on

my shoulders. I throw that door open. I go hon. I got

the answer, and she I was like yeah, And she's like, what

I said, you choose? She goes, what, No, I'm not

choosing. I'm like, uh nope, I said, oh, yes you

are. I said, the Lord said, this season's not about me,

because this past season in Denver, I was fully engaged with rich and in

the school and worship team and teaching and all this stuff, and manytimes,

she felt like she was just at the house wondering what she's supposed to be

doing. And so the Lord actually flipped the rolls and I was a stay

at home dad for about a year and a half. You will never hear

me trash talk. Stay at home mothers. I know what you do and

I do not want your job again. And but but it was like I

got to get schooled and kind of like both sides of parenting and yeah,

and then and then it got so comical. Even Lisa would come home and

be like, well, why is there not ready? I'm like, you

think I got a skirt on. So we ironed out all those, uh,

all those deals. But I, um, it's kind of comical because

my mom moved my brother and I I said, comical, now I'm crying.

She moved us into her parents home. I think I was about five

years old, and my grandmother helped raise us. And so I've always I've

always had a kind of even like now with ministry, there's so many women

around me, and uh, but it was like, you know what,

as you grow up, God's preparing you and all these different ways in details,

whether you recognize it or not. And so I just thought I would

share that story because so many times in marriage counseling couples they get into I

can't tell you how many times I've heard where the husband really doesn't get it,

like the men are clueless to what women deal with when they're stay at

home mom, and they think like, well, they should be doing all

these extra things. Men, shut up. If you've not and I mean

that in the most pastoral way, if you have not been if the roles

have not been reversed, and you've not experienced that, you really don't have

a clue about what they go through and the importance of their role raising up

our children. It takes both of us, right, and so it takes

the husband and the mother. It takes all that nurturing and loving and support.

You know, one type of trauma is actually a lack of nurture.

So not having the things that you actually needed in life is a form of

trauma. And so that that part of the tenderness of God, the the

compassion of God, the gentleness of God. We see a fuller picture of

God. When husband and wife are actually acting as one, we see a

full picture. And so the heart of her husband trust in her, and

he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm.

All the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and works

with willing hands. She's like the ships of the merchant. She brings her

food from afar. She rises while it is yet night, and provides food

for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys

it with the fruit of her hands. She plants a vineyard. So this

is painting a picture of a virtuous woman. And she is multitasking on so

many sides. And so it's like, Lisa, I will come home after

a day of ministry, and if we're not going someplace to meet somebody,

or a graduation or something, or awards, of which we've done three this

week, she will then be working on other jobs. She worked over a

year to save money so she can take coal on vacation for his graduation next

week, and for over a year, and I'm messed up today. Who

She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her

merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. Lord,

would they start crying to please? She puts her hands to the staff,

and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and

reaches her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for

her household, for all her household, or clothed in scarlet, she makes

bed coverings for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Do you

think that this description is worthy of honor? Just a little brain? You

better, you better go like like this. Yeah, Daisy elbowed them.

Remember again, one of my favorite scriptures I keep camping out on is in

Romans, and it says outdo each other with honor. What if we're reminded

of these characteristics and marriage. What if you know, we talk about core

values and how we build culture with that. What if when we're seeing our

spouse doing these things that we stay consistent with, actually acknowledge, acknowledging it

and giving thanks. If we spent more time acknowledging the things that we were

doing correctly with each other and thanking each other and blessing each other and honoring

each other, what would our marriages look like. So, if you're having

marriage difficulties this morning and you're not doing well, honor love says Love covers

a multitude of sin. How about this, James one night, Especially you

prophetic people James one nineteen, be quick to listen, slow to speak,

and slow to become angry, because the anger of man does not produce the

righteousness of God. What if we're actually quick to listen. What if we

don't try to jump to conc inclusions, what we believe the other one is

thinking, or the motive for why they just did something. Her husband is

known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She

makes linen garments and sells them. She delivers sashes to the merchants. Strength

and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her

tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat

the bread of idleness. Like listen. I had two boys, and when

I was at home with the boys, Cole was in kindergarten, so he

was out of the house all day. Mica would sleep two and a half

to three hours every single day for a nap, And that was my glory

time. I got to spend two and a half to three hours with the

Lord. Some of y'all in here have like eighteen kids and women I have

no. I mean, Mills, you got six, he's got six,

you got five? No, four, Sorry, I'm not prophesying. And

and then Daisy, he's got at least ten and another one on the way,

Like, how did you even have time to get ready this morning?

You did your hair yesterday, Daisy slept like this all night in a chair.

Tomorrow morning is church. Don't touch me strap her in, but no,

seriously, like when Jesus said, do unto others as you would have

them do unto you, husbands, Like when you come home, I know

you may be doing. When I was roofing in one hundred and forty degrees

on a roof, I mean, it wore you out. But one thing

I started to do, I don't know, some years ago. I don't

want to get corrected on the timeline, but I started to help out with

dinner more like, I started cooking more and more and helping clean up after

dinner. And of course, you know Lisa's not at home now. We're

both running and gunning. But it's just those little things. You don't end

up with a good marriage because you just rolled the dice and it just happened.

You end up with a good marriage because you work at your connection.

You work at keeping your connection. You grow in the skill of laughing at

each other when you're grumpy. I was grumpy yesterday and I hadn't eaten all

day. It was like four o'clock. I was tired, and uh,

and I'm angry and uh, you know I had I need to eat to

keep up my girlish figure. And um. Anyways, Lisa could have Lisa

could have justifiably joined the spin cycle of grumpiness and we could have had an

argument. Instead, she trash talked me for about thirty seconds and started laughing

and not mocking, but just laughing. I knew what she was doing.

I knew she wasn't trying to mock me. And then she came up to

me to give me a hug, and I was like a hugger. I

laugh. I'm like, okay, I'm better. We kiss and don't argue.

So, but seriously, stopped taking each other. Stop. I should

say, stop taking yourselves. So seriously, we have enough to navigate in

this crazy world right now. We don't need to be at odds with each

other and our home right and we are to be a picture when the marriage

is correct. It's actually prophesying the love of Jesus for the church. Listen,

So you want to live a lifestyle of evangelism, So many of these

things that we don't think of actually help to solidify your voice, and I

mean the voice of your life, not just the words you're speaking. And

so when we begin to wait, y'all, who's been married more than forty

years? In here? Raise your hand? One? Two? Three?

Yeah, give him a big hand. Who's been married more than and fifty

two? All right? Are we down to two? Who's who's been married

more than fifty three years? Chad's son put his arm up, he's like

fourteen. So how many years y'all been married? Fifty and a half?

What about y'all? Oh, y'all are within six months? When I wish

I had something to like throw to you or something, all you said fifty

two? Oh, up there, fifty two? Okay, from the balcony,

folks, where's my cannon? Here's a shirt food. So her children

rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also and he praises her.

Many women have done excellently, but you surpassed them all. Charm is deceitful,

beauty is vain. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be

praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works

praise her. In the gates that's what brings the issue of authority Ruth.

And I'm sorry, Esther says, for if you keep silent at this time.

Wait a minute, here's the word silent, saying, don't keep silent,

for if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will not

rise for the Jews. The I'm sorry, relief and deliverance will rise for

the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish.

And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time

as this, this issue of not being silent, Esther. So as I

land this, I just want to I just want to give you some quick

scripture references and how many times women are actually mentioned in the Bible. Obviously

Mary, and there is a whole host of scriptures from the Gospels. Peter's

mother in law, the daughter of Jarius, his wife, the woman with

the issue of blood, Christ's sister. Now not all of these are great

examples. Some of them were Stinkers Herodias, Herodias's daughter, the women and

children at the feeding of the five thousand as well as the four thousand,

the woman in Canaan, the young daughters of the woman the mother of Zebede's

children, the women who anointed Jesus, the maiden to whom Peter denied,

the wife of Pilot, Mary Magdalene married, the mother of James, the

widow who gave two mights, Salomee and many other women who came up with

Jesus from Galilee, Elizabeth and Luke Anna and Luke two. The widow of

Naine Sinners who's washed Jesus's feet with her hair, the woman who had been

healed, the wife of Choosa, Susannah, Martha, Mary of Bethany,

certain women of the company, women with the spirit of infirmity, the woman

that was which bewailed and lamented, the women that followed Jesus, the women

that went to the empty tomb, the Samaritan woman at the well, the

woman caught an adultery, the mother of the man born blind married, the

wife of Cleophus, his mother's sister. The apostles gathered in prayer and supplication

with the women. And this list goes on and on and on and on

and on and on that with how many times in the role of women and

the importance of what they've done, you have Esther Ruth, Deborah, all

of these powerful women that God used in Israel. Deborah was a prophetess and

a judge, and she governed, She judged Israel. Rhoda Lydia, chief

and honorable women of the Greeks, Priscilla, the Four Daughters of Philip fact

check, Paul Sister Drusilla, Bernice, Mary of Rome. The list goes

on and on and on. And this, this list I'm reading from is

literally all New Testament. And then there's a whole list of all Old Covenant

women repeated in the New Covenant. On top of that, UM, I

don't know if anybody is in here. Um, let me see how to

do this. If you feel like you were shut down in the church and

told you couldn't actually women I'm speaking of, and we're told that you could

not speak or teach with with the role of God's gifting over your life and

you have, um, you're still kind of wrestling with this. Could I

just see a show of hands? Okay? Would y'all come forward? Is

that okay? Please? Sean and Josh, will you come forward up here?

Please? If I can get all you amazing women to kind of huddle

up there, and then if you'll grab that mic and if y'all would come

up here and join me, please, So as leaders in the Body of

Christ, we just want to stay in the gap on behalf of other men,

other leaders and other ministries that did not see your value, that stepped

on you, held you back, betrayed you, whatever the offense was.

And we stand in the gap, and we asked that you would forgive us

for not seeing your proper role in the Body of Christ. And each of

you have been given gifts and callings, and we just want to say that

there's absolutely room here for what you're gifted in and called to do. And

if y'all want to say anything, yeah, we just we bless you guys.

Everything that has been stuffed back and not released. We just ask for

a multiplication and blessing and release of that now in the name is you just

opened doors, open windows, clear paths, and a multiplication of what the

Lord has put in each of you to be released. In Jesus name,

Lord, I thank you for powerful women. I thank you for the wisdom

that they bring. Thank you for in my own life, just the the

edges knocked off of me by their wisdom and beauty and heart of my wife.

And so I pray for these women up here as us a man standing

in the gap for them, and and I pray that their value shines through

everywhere they go in the future. Thank you for the women of this church.

I can't imagine if there's a room for a man, it would just

be a disaster. So, uh, yeah, it's like a floodgate,

right, it's been pent up for all these years. We're glad you guys

are going to release it here. Yeah, we receive it. And so

um if y'all just hold your hands out so Holy Spirit, I just asked

right now that you would wash over them like a wave, Lord, and

just bring refreshing and just wash those places of wounding from leaders, from their

minds and their hearts. Lord, lift the burdens and lift any expectations to

be overlooked again. And now, Lord, I just asked that you would

bless every mother here, every woman here this morning, that you would strengthen

them, Lord, that you would cause old dreams to come back again,

that you would invite them into that place of dreaming with you. Lord,

that you would open doors that no man can shut. Lord, that you

would guide them and lead them, and that you would just bless them for

putting up with us for so long. In the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen, all right, thank you for listening. For more messages and other

resources, please subscribe to this podcast. We'll go to our website at www

dot Cross Kingdom dot org.