Kingdom Revelation, Women in Ministry - Ps. Garry

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I want to continue on with the series of messages

I've been doing looking at Kingdom revelation. I want to

look at how we get fresh revelation from the same scripture.

It's easy sometimes to get caught up in what we've

always known or we think we know, and this is

also true. I think as Christians we can do this.

I just want to highlight the last one. There was

the bottom of where I finished last time John twenty

five to nine. This is the last part of it.

Verse nine. Then the other disciple who reached the tomb

first also went in, and he saw and believed this

is the empty tomb. For as yet they did not

understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.

Here were disciples who knew very well all the Old

Testament scriptures, and yet they didn't understand it. Not actually

been with Jesus for three years, they still didn't understand

the scripture. He was in front of them, wasn't hidden

in that sense, but they didn't get it. Luke twenty

four to twenty one. This is the road to Amaeus.

While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near

and went with them, but their eyes were kept from

recognizing him, and he said to them, what are you

discussing with each other while you walk along? They stood still,

looking sad. Then one of the two, whose name was

clear pass answered him. I'll put the gap here because

he talks a bit, and this is how he finishes

his passage. He says, but we hope that he was

the one to redeem Israel. Now, yes, the scripture says

that you know they couldn't recognize him. It's interesting, in

all of the scripture and all that happened, they hadn't

actually realized that the risen Jesus was the redemption of Israel.

They didn't get it. They actually were looking for something.

They were looking for a King David character. They were

looking for a military guy who was going to free

them from Rome, and here's Jesus. Yes, it's true they

couldn't recognize his face. It says that the scripture they

couldn't see, but they did not see this in the scripture,

that the very redemption, the cross and the resurrection. They

didn't get it. And I think sometimes we like that.

So what I want to do is, I've actually had

three or four questions asked of me recently and it

came up. It was highlighted again on Wednesday by Pastor

cha when he talked about the role of women in ministry.

And I've had three or four people ask me and

just genuine questions, why do we have women in ministry?

And ultimately, while I'm going to explain a biblical background

to it, I do want to put this straight out

there that I don't care less whether we have a

woman in ministry or not here, and I don't care

less whether we have a man or a woman in

ministry or not. What I care about is do we

have the people God has called into ministry. So let's

put that straight out there. It's actually not about male

or female that I'm getting on about here today. It's

actually about God calling his people and raising up who

he calls. What I'm going to address now is why

we do see women in ministry, and look at that

from the scripture. Okay, but please don't think this means

that I'm saying that we think we should have every

single woman up here ministering or whatever else. No, not

the case. It is always who God calls and equips.

It's always been that we're meant to be in our lane.

Heal equipments for that, whatever that is. You pick the lane,

you'll not with God, et cetera. So that's where I'm

coming from to start with. Okay, first of all, we

cannot this won't surprise you. Really. I'm not a feminist,

all right, I'm not overly trendy. All right. If you

want any hairstyle tips, I can give them to you,

but it won't take long, all right. Not a lot

of shampoo involved. And there are scriptures that say women

should not speak or be to string church. Right, It's true,

they're in there. We don't use white out so one

Timothy two eleven to twelve. I look at some of

these eighteen one just rereading quickly. Let a woman learning

silence with all submission. And I do not permit a

woman to teach you to have authority over a man,

but to be in silence. Out of one Corinthians fourteen

thirty four thirty five. Let your women keep silent in

the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, for

they are to be submissive. That the law also says.

And if they want to learn something, let them ask

their own husbands at home, for it's shameful for women

to speak in church. So that's there. So the question

I would ask is because that is a scripture. Let's

face it, that is a scripture. I'm saying, that's there.

Paul wrote it. Don't deny that for a minute. The

question is what are we saying. I was someone who

actually did not encourage women in ministry to a large

degree has actually passed away. Tim Keller actually said something

really interesting, and I thought I actually, even though we

would have a different understanding. I actually admired what he said.

He was asked this question once and he actually commented

that it actually comes down to what God is saying

in the passage, and he said, you need to be

He said he didn't believe women in ministry, etc. But

he had one exception for it, and that was he said,

if someone could look at the same scripture and actually

show me it was saying something else, then he respected

that because you're still going with the scripture, you're not

rewriting it. For me, a simple two things you do.

One is you just pray, ask a spirit what is

he saying? But that spirit will then be confirmed by

the scripture, which I no sounds contradictory, but it isn't

because what you do is you start from Genesis to

Revelation and you go, Lord, if this is beyond time

and culture, it will be consistent all the way through. So,

for instance, I have real troubles if someone says, gee,

I think you know, I think murder would be a

great thing to do this afternoon. Okay, No, I don't

think so. I think you'll find Genesis to Revelation says

murder is wrong, all right, you won't find a scripture

that contradicts that. I'd argue the same for the teen

Commandments that you find. They're right through. It's straightforward. So

what we need to do then is start to look

at Genesis to revelation. If what Paul is saying is

beyond time, beyond culture, we will not find women in

public ministry, teaching and preaching and leading people with the

word of God. Otherwise, I think you can see where

we're having. There's a problem, Houston, because if God's word

is unerring, which I believe there is no error, then

it has to be consistent. Otherwise we're talking about culture

and place, and therefore, what's the deeper message in it?

Is there actually something else? That's the eternal time bit

that he's talking about. So let's start. We look in

the Old Testament. By the way, I'm not planning here

to be here after lunch, so we're going to skim

through this. There's a lot more we could do Deborah,

So we go straight to the Old Testament scriptures. We're

looking Judges four and five. Deborah was a great leader

of Israel. She's not only a judge, she was a prophet.

Now some people will go, oh, hang on, and this

is where we're going to be careful. We've got to

make sure that our theology comes out of the scripture,

not we try and shape the scripture to our theology.

Some people will say, oh, but hang on, Debrah, no, no, no, no, no.

Deborah was because of Barak. Well, the problem with that

is she was actually listed as a judge a chapter

before Barak comes on the scene. Okay, And he's seriously

going to try and tell us that in all of Israel,

I couldn't find one man if God wanted one, what's

God that useless? Is what we're saying, that he couldn't

find one a million or more. No, he chose her.

And it's interesting when you look at verses six to seven.

It's Deborah. The Lord speaks through her, and he says

to attack the king of Canaan. See the word of

the Lord came to her as the leader of Israel.

So already we have a woman in the scripture who

is leading the nation and hearing the word of God

and instructing the whole nation. And it seems good. Huldah

two kings twenty two. It's an interesting one. She's a prophetess.

And it's interesting when they find the Book of the Law,

they're starting to renovate the old Temple, they find it.

Who do they go to to find out what the

Lord is saying for the nation? They go to a

woman holder. Now that's really interesting when we look back

at what Paul says later on sometimes about women and

men and deception, women being deceived. Think about now, a

woman is the one who's hearing the word of the

Lord for the whole nation, and they trust in that.

So what's going on here? So clearly there are Old

Testament examples of women in leadership the New Testament. This

is from Romans sixteen. We don't take much notice as

usually if the end bits, because Paul their personal letters

and he's often just doing the as I call it,

the family round up of love to everybody, give Mama

hug had for the brother type stuff. And it's actually

really lovely because I think it makes it so human.

This is what he writes, greet Andronicus and Junior, my

fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They

are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ

before I was. It's interesting there the very first the

earliest witnesses. We have to the Letter of Romance. The

early versions all have Junior as female, so that's just

an interesting point. Later on the Bishop of Constantinople, it's

interesting his writings. I'll just read it there. Indeed, how

great the wisdom of the woman must have been that

she was even worthy of the title of apostle. The

early church all knew that Junior was an apostle. Apostle

founs churches, they teach, they build up. That's what Paul

did all through Asia Minor. So we actually have in

the New Testament we have women apostles. It's interesting when

we go through and look at this later on, it

seems to change. And it's interesting if you look at

the NIV, for instance, that had Junior, they changed it

to a male name in their first version. They now

realize you can't do that. So even the NIV has

now changed it back to what it should be, which

is Fema. It always was. There was only one version.

I've just got a note down here, thirty eight versions

from Erasmus in his Greek New Testament fifteen sixteen right

through to Nesley nineteen twenty. Of those thirty eight versions

thirty seven of them. Thirty seven had Junior as Fema.

There was only one exception. One exception Henry Alford, who

wrote his in the nineteenth century, and he made it male.

And it's interesting when you read people who have had

great influence in recent times, particularly in some churches. John Piper,

I can say by name because he's won and openly

admits that. He actually says that Alfred was the man

who's greatly influenced his theology. He teaches women can't preach

in church because there's no evidence that a woman was

in ministry, which is true if you use Alfred's version

and he catches it's not what the Greek says. It's

actually been changed. So Junior was clearly working. Professor Michael

Byrd is at Ridley College for those just so I

want to make sure that I'm being open with this.

Ridley have a lot of my friends act you've been there,

got people I know studying there. It's a good college.

Michael is a very good theologian and he writes this,

By the way, Ridley is a conservative, evangelical reform college,

and Michael actually writes there, I'll turn around. That way's

easier Basically, you can see there he's saying, no matter

which way you look at it, Junior is a female.

Forget it. And remember this is a guy who a

lot of his work goes into churches today that still

don't want to have women in leadership roles in ministry,

and he's telling them he's professor. There, guys, can't you

can't play that game anymore. On this scripture, so we

have examples of this Priscilla and Aquilla to read. This

is from Acts eighteen twenty four to twenty six. Meanwhile,

a Jew named Apollus, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.

He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of

the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of

the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught

about Jesus accurately. Though he knew only the Baptism of John.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and when

Priscilla and Aquilla heard him, they invited him to their

home and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

What's really interesting in this is that Apollus, of course,

later on one of the apostles learns the Greater Way

through the teaching of Priscilla and a Quilla. It's a

husband and wife team. They were the head of the

church in Rome as well that time. It's interesting that

God would allow a woman to teach someone who's going

to be an apostle of the church. And what does

he Apolos have to learn? He has to learn the

greater Way, the more significant, deeper spiritual stuff he learns

from this couple. Again, Bishop of Constantinople, in his writings

in the three hundreds, he writes about this, and he

writes about Priscilla's ministry and the depth of her ministry

and the power of it. He does not mention a

Quilla once he mentions her. In the Roman culture, you

always put the man first when you're talking about marriages.

Always put the man first. Paul and Luke. I think

it's only on one occasion. I might be wrong there,

but I think she's mentioned six times times. Equilla and

Priscilla mentioned six times. I reckon in the New Testament

together four or five of those. Priscilla is first. It's

only on the very first mention when they first come

into contact with the disciples, that it's a Quilla and

Priscilla once they're better known and always in their ministry.

Priscilla's first that says something that's deliberate, something is happening there.

And then we have scriptures that also show that women

were participating in church and not in silence one Corinthians

eleven four and five. Every man who prays a prophesies

with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman

who prays a prophesies with a head uncovered dishonors her head.

It is the same as having her head shaved. Or

clearly they're praying and prophesying. And we know it's in

church because later on he writes, what then shall we say,

brothers and sisters. So that's what the Greek word translates to.

When you come together, each of you has a hymn

or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or

an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church

may be built up. So we seem to have this

mixed message, and it is mixed. As I said, we

can't write out stuff. Paul also said those scriptures. I said,

at the start, women should be silent in church and

not teach. And then you've got these other ones and

these other examples. So if scripture is unerring, which again

I hold absolutely too, what's going on here, what's going on?

What is Paul and what is the What is God

actually saying in this that confirms it? What I want

to suggest to you is this is where a lot

of it is found. These are personal letters and accounts

of real people in a real specific time and culture,

and God speaking through that. When Paul is in Ephesus,

he starts preaching Christ and Christ crucified and risen. And

if you might remember, he tended to stir up a

bit of trouble. I don't think he intended it, but

I'm sure he knew it was coming, and he started

to preach, and in doing so mentioned that with of

course Jesus being God being the lord, that really impacted

on people who made money out of the god of Artemis,

Artemis coming from the Greek and then the cult of

Diana was sort of placed over it. That was the

romanization of it, and the crowd got really because there

was a silversmith who was making lots of these Artemis idols,

and of course if everyone stopped worshiping Artemis, of course

he's gone out of business, so stirs up a crowd,

and it's interesting to shout when the crowd started to shout,

great is the Artemis of the Ephesians. These gods were

buried in the culture of the time. So I want

to go through what's happening here? Why what can be

behind what seems at times like contradictions in Paul's writings.

I'm arguing there is no contradiction whatsoever. There's a consistent

argument Paul's putting forward here. So what's happening in this culture?

Artemis was a or a goddess that elevated women to

quite a high level in that society once the Romans

were there. The cult of Diana basically superimposed over that.

You might have seen. That's a picture one of a

sculpture of it. She's sort of like this long flowing

hair could also be seen with jewelry and elaborate stuff

whatever arrow back. Interestingly, she was ever virgin. Keep that

in mind when we read the scriptures here, and so

we started to see in this culture a whole lot

of young women coming through who for one of a

better ter bit like wonder woman type image. I'm not

even sure if The Wonder Woman characters partly modeled on

this very attention seeking we would say in your face

these days type characters. There's also something else happening interesting

Mark Antony. I'm sure many of you know Mark Antony,

and we know all about the plays and whatever. Mark

Antony actually introduced a law banning adultery. It's interesting that

you have to bring in a law, that something is

so rife that you bring in a law to banner.

So what was going on in that culture? The vast

majority of blokes, when you're getting married, you would go

you would start to try and establish yourself, so you

would either get into business, you might go off in

the army. You would start to get your funds together,

build a life for yourself, and then when you're ready,

you would then marry. The wives, however, were younger, so

often there's at least half a generation, if not more,

between the two. There was always a gap. The mail

was much older. A lot of the marriage was happening

though because of politics. So you would marry for status.

You'd make sure that you would try and make sure

that whoever you married, the bloke would marry someone equal

or higher in social political power because that's how it

operated in the Roman Empire, the Roman system, and so

you're looking at for that. Therefore, love wasn't a big

part of it. It was actually about family connection. It

was about status and make sure I can get higher

if you wanted the love bit, that's where you had

the mistress on the side, who might well be a

bit older. So you had this dual system going on.

Keep that in mind when you start thinking about Ephesians

and Ephesians five says submit to each other. And then

the first example Paul gives is husbands love your wives.

Wives submit to your husbands. Always think, isn't it odd

you'd have to be told to love your wife? Seems

to be odd. If you start thinking about this cultural bit,

wives submit. Actually, it starts to make more sense what

Paul's getting at when he's writing here one Corinthians eleven,

verses four to five. Every man who prays or prophesies

with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman

who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.

It is the same as having a head shaved. That's

an interesting comment when you think about it. Every man

who prays or prophesies with his head covered, dishonors his head.

Don't Jewish men wear kippers on their head? Wouldn't that

be head covered? Think about it? What's going on here?

Paul's writing specifically, remember, is the apostle to the gentile.

There's something going on here in his writing. With this

in mind, as I said, we can go on a

lot more passages. I'm just picking a couple now where

Paul specifically talks about women shouldn't be involved in ministry,

and then we're going to just have a quick look

at them with this cultural background in mind. Therefore, I

want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands

without anger or disputing. I also want the women to

dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves not with

elaborate hairstyles, or gold or pearls, or expensive clothes, but

with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

And then he goes on, a woman should learn in

quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman

to teach or to assume authority over a man. She

must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

Adam was not the one deceived. It was the woman

who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will

be saved through child bearing if they continue in faith,

love and holiness with propriety. Note the first part is

very much about a cultural practice. Can you see that there? Basically,

men don't be angry disputing, live in peace. Women dressed modestly.

Remember what I said about the cult of Diana. Dress modestly.

Don't adorn yourself with elaborate gold jewelry, stuff like that.

It's not the expensive clothes. It's not about showing off here,

it's not about elevating yourself. Think about what I just

said with young women being lifted, that idea in your face. Whatever.

He's addressing something here. And then he goes on and

he says women again then should be quiet and submissive,

and of course he gives a reason for them. Now

many could see that and go actually will let that

must be adam first, therefore women to deceive. Women shouldn't teach,

it must be forever. I would say to that, let's

just test that with the scripture. Let's just test that out,

see if it actually holds one Corinthian's seven two to three.

With what I've just said, think about it. But since

sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations

with his own wife and each woman with her own husband. Okay,

that makes sense, to make perfect sense, But the next

verse is really interesting. Why it's needed. The husband should

fulfill his marital duty to his wife and likewise the

wife to a husband. What's going on here? The cult

of Diana? Remember was ever virgin? A lot of these

young women were coming through thinking that the way to

elevate yourself in life and power and authority was you

never had sex. That's why Paul's having dispelled some of

this stuff out. Now read it in context with the

last verse and the one Timothy passage we've been reading.

There's something in this, but women will be saved through

childbearing if they continue in faith, love and holy hang on,

what happens the women who don't get married? Remember Paul

actually said, I wish you were all like me, didn't

get married. He's talking to the church, but he said,

but if you don't burn with passion, well hang on.

So he wishes you don't. He wishes you don't get married,

but you get saved through having kids. Who's can you

see the problem he's addressing a specific thing here. This

is why it's called the Letter to the Ephesians and

to Timothy. He's writing because Timothy's looking over this Asia

Minor region, because a lot of these young women were

not having going into marriage to have sexual relations, because

they were in this cult of Diana. It's just what

these were gentiles. They hadn't been brought up in the faith.

They were coming from outside, and so he's addressing that here.

It's really a response to the ever virgin bit that came.

They had to change, they had to change. I'll read

this one out. I hope you can read it. This

is from one Timothy. I want you to look at

it again. Here the first part, because already talked about

the women being saved. A woman should learning quietness and

full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach

or to assume authority over mean she must be quiet.

For Adam was formed first then Eve, and Adam was

not the one deceived. It was the woman who was

deceived and became a sinner. If that is, if that

is eternal, we have a huge problem in the faith.

Because Paul also commended Priscilla for her teaching junior was

an apostle, and Paul commended her church father said, what

an amazing woman. Amazing teacher. Can you see the problem

because if if the bit about Adam being first and

therefore he wasn't deceived, the woman gets deceived. Paul is

recommending teachers who could deceive the church, and that's called demonic.

But he wasn't. That's the point. What Paul is doing

here is something else. He's saying to guys who are

older and have already set themselves up, who marrying younger women.

He's saying, Adam was older, more mature, therefore not as

easily fooled and deceived that and he's placing that onto

this culture to give an example to these guys. So,

younger women, pull your heads in. You actually need to

come to Christ. And part of that is submitting to

each other. And for you guys at me, submitting to

your husband, it means actually loving people. That's why he

was also saying to the husbands, love your wives, no

more mistresses. Interesting it's being said in Corinthians, where this

was rife, that culture was still changing. Read Corinthians chapters

five to seven. There's a whole litany of stuff. Paul's

trying to correct with them because they were still stuck

in pagan behaviors, a lot of it, even though he

loved that church and it was still spirit filled. He's

talking here about the age bit. This is why he

can talk about Priscilla and he can talk about Junior.

Why because they're not young women, they're mature women, and

therefore he knows they're not going to be deceived in

the same way, which is why he can commend them,

which is the very reason why God called them in

the first place. God does not make mistakes. These guys

were called by God, these women, Priscilla Junior, and that's

why it's not a contradiction. That's why I said childbearing.

You'll be saved through child bearing. Paul always taught you

save by faith in Jesus Christ. It's got nothing to

do with whether you have a kid or not. But

it mattered here. It mattered absolutely here because they were

ever virgin. They were totally misguided, stuck still in paganism.

So he's saying, no, women, no, you're younger, you're wet

behind the ears. Listen to your older, experienced husband, more

mature husband. Pull your head in and actually live a

faithful married life, which again is why in Corinthians he

says have sexual relations with each other in your marriage.

He's addressing specific things for the church. If that isn't

true what I'm saying, we have a huge problem because

if women, if that was actually for all time and

place a why is Paul then commending women who taught,

because he's be commending people who can be deceived. And

the second thing is why would God have appointed people

like Deborah? Right from the beginning. God knows what he's doing,

and we see that coming through. So just to finish

it doesn't been too long. Yep, wind up now right

from Old Testament through Deborah Holder Journior, Priscilla. Phoebe's a deacon.

We see Phoebe mentioned in Romans sixteen. She's a deacon.

We used to try and say, oh, yeah, that's a deacon.

S I remember in my early Anglican days we separated

that women in their place back then. But the terms

actually deacon deacon means servant absolutely. But what's interesting with

this is that's the same phrase he uses about Philip,

the evangelist, who earlier is described as someone who taught,

witnessed remembered the eunuch and was actually teacher in a church.

Paul's using the same word that he used for Philip,

he uses for Phoebe. There are people all through the

early Church knew this. We know that from some of

the writings. So the examples there. But I just want

to read one verse to us charismatics, penties all love

Joel two twenty nine, just the last bit, and also

on my men servants and on my maid servants. I

will pour my spirit out in those days. These are

the days he paus his spirit out among us. I

have no question, no question, no doubt whatsoever that the

Scripture teaches us that women can minister in church as

can men if they meet the criterion that Paul was

trying to say, and that is maturity in the faith,

growing in the faith, and a heart for Jesus. That's

the key. It's not always about age, by the way,

because remember Timothy, Paul commands Timothy, but Timothy was also

mature in the faith, So it's actually about that. The

final thing I would say is a confirmation is the

Holy Spirit always confirms the scripture. As much as the

Spirit is confirmed by the scripture goes the other way

past to Chay on Wednesday night. I'm pretty sure a

lot of you were here. He mentioned really interesting, it's

quite prophetic, because he didn't say it at the other meetings,

and he said here he talked about women in ministry,

and he talked about how God is raising up women

in ministry for mighty things. And he talked about a

woman who used to go to their church. She just

felt a calling from God, went to India, didn't know

any of the languages, just went learnt the language and

then went around villages just basically saying, Hey, if you

got any sick people, bring them out, bring them out.

Healings occurred. She was able to teach to preach because

when people get healed, when miracles happen, it gets attention,

gets attention. And he was saying that, well, I think

it was over fourth. I could be wrong, but I

think he's about four thousand churches, forty thousand churches throughout

India have come about from that woman's leadership. Leadership. I

see it in this church. I saw it this morning.

Helen Mary came up. She frequently has prophetic words that

bless this church. And I have no doubt I hear

God speaking through her. I'm not going to say every

single word, and Helen Mary ever says there's the Lord

stuff like that. But I hear God speak through her.

And it's strange because sometimes it's not strange that God

speaks to I don't mean that what I mean. It's

strange because sometimes the same with blokes. Sometimes I'll hear

blokes speak and go, oh, okay, that's okay, interesting, just

doesn't really hit me deeply, and then someone else go, wow,

that was so deep, man, did you hear that. I

was just chattered by I was broken by that. They go, wow,

God works in that way. I hear that sometimes. I've

seen hear that from when Sarah speaks. At times, people

will say, oh, I just needed that was just the message.

I was so down and just I was right on

the edge and that just spoke to me and I go, wow, Okay,

praise God. And there's like I wouldn't have realized, but

God works because he touches hearts. I had someone just

recently talk about remember the New Year's Eve service we

had New Year's Eve when we had everyone up and

we did the anointing oil. It was interesting. I've had

a couple of people and several people mentioned that, but

someone just recently mentioned how that moment impacted them so greatly.

I don't know if you realize who the person was

who was on the Prophetic Prayer ministry that day. It

was Paige. There was a woman spirit work through Heather Edwards.

I know I'm going to miss people, so apologies in advance,

Heather Edwards. I've seen people come up and say, Wow,

God just spoke through that message. And what I really

love is sometimes when I get that feedback and I

go I didn't even hear them say that, I don't

know what you're listening to, but somehow the Holy Spirit.

It could also be too that I'm thick, So that's

quite possible. In fact, that's actually most likely the answer.

But God works in amazing ways, and he does that

also through men. This is the key, and I want

to finish with this. This is not about women. This

is about the church. This is about the Church, and

it's about we are filled with the spirit and we

are called by God. Every single one of us is

called by God in a particular way. What is important

is that this doesn't become some sort of socio cultural

political cause. Because that's not what it's about. It's about Jesus.

It's about him raising up his church. Mike said it. Today.

We face amazing times, I think, very challenging times. But

light always shines brightest in the dark, always has done,

which means the darker gets the greater the opportunity to shine.

And we need all of God's Church, all of His family,

released for that challenge. And that is why we continue

to promote the women that we believe God is calling

in this particular way into ministry. It's not like everyone

I know. John Wember used to say everyone gets to play. Well,

yes they do, but not always in everyone's role. We

play where God calls us to be equipped in the

power of His spirit, supported surrounded by the scripture and

His family, and that's how we move forward, guys. So

I just wanted to do that today because it came

up Wednesday night. I've had two or three people ask

me why is it we do have women in ministry.

That's the biblical reason why we do it. As to

how that occurs in the backgrounds, we stick to the

creeds we believe Jesus Christ Christ crucified, risen ascended. We

can get it caught up in a whole lot of things.

As I said, you can go into headship, not headship.

I can talk here about headship. There'll be a good

majority of probably will be at least half here who

will say it's to do with headship too, and a

male role. There'll be another half here, So it's got

nothing to do with headship whatsoever. Headship's also in that

same thing. It's all to do with the age thing,

and give examples. I don't care. I really don't care,

because as long as you're holding to scripture and you're

genuine in that, I don't have an issue with that,

because in the end, what I'm saying is we need

all the church operating in ministry in the power of

the spirit. How you explain that you can do what

you like as long as you're a scripture that's all

I say, as I said, and we hold it in grace. Seriously,

If we went around the theology of every single person

in this church, I reckon, we'll get a bit of variation,

all right, and that's welcome because just think about your

own family, you reckon, you're what do you call cookie cutters? No?

If your parents, just think of your kids, how different

they are, whatever else. But you know what, with the

love of Christ, we stay together, unified in the spirit

and with the Scripture because that always has to be

our litmus test and keeps us strong.

Thank you for joining us today for his story, our story.

We hope you've enjoyed this episode and have been encouraged

and uplifted. If you would like to learn more about

Walking with God or Southland Church in Pasadena, Adelaide, please

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