Jesus Bought A House - Part 12 | Pastor Paul McGee

Yeah, isn't he good? God just must not know what day

of the week it is. It doesn't matter to God.

It don't even have to be a church day for him.

Every day is a church day for him, I guess.

Amen. Praise the Lord.

Can we just raise your hands and thank him right now for his

spirit? And I thank you for your spirit,

God, it's rich and it's real and God, it ministers at the level.

Lord of our core. I thank you, O Lord Jesus, today

I'll worship you. O God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

Hallelujah, Amen and Amen. You may be seated tonight, Amen.

It's good to be back home, Amen. Good to be back here at 1121

Cedar St. Amen.

And give a course. Thanks to Doctor Mason on Sunday

morning and Brother Alex Mason on Sunday night.

As we were travelling home Sunday, we were able to be live

with you on Sunday night and then after that was done we

turned over and went to the morning service.

Caught both of them could catch a whole lot more in the amount

of time we had to drive. But we got our two services for

sure in so appreciate them between two Passovers Sunday

night and then that the sons accord died.

Not a man on Sunday morning. We're so we're grateful,

grateful for their attendance. Your attendance to the House of

the Lord, a man on Sunday. Just a few announcements to be

aware of the Green Team Shepherd Shepherd's Flock on Saturday at

4:00 PM. That login is the meal for the

winning team. If you're a part of that team

and you plan on being there, please see my wife after

service. If you had a guest that came

with you during that period of time and you know that they're

going to be there, just let us know.

That would be great. Or we need also to find out kind

of a number about how many to expect.

That'll help. Login.

Right now we kind of got this big number, but we need to get a

little bit more precise number as far as who is actually going

to show up at that time at 4:00 PM on Saturday.

Also this coming Sunday, Sunday in our evening service will have

Brother and sister Rhodes missionaries to Uganda.

They will be here with us and be sharing their burden for Uganda

and what's going on in Uganda. So you can come and be a part of

that, not just come be a part. If you're usually here on Sunday

night, then come a man and just be in service Sunday evening as

they share with us their burden for the Lord.

Also in this month, 24th and 25th is our District Spring

Conference in the Indianapolis, IN.

Pastor Tim Hammond will be there ministering.

Also the 26th of this month, which is a Sunday, will be all

in Camp focus Sunday, meaning that we're going to pray about

camp meeting that's coming up in the month of July and also

contribute and put money toward camp meeting.

And then on the 27th, which is a Monday, camp registration opens.

And that's important for anybody that is desiring to go and be at

camp meeting on the old campgrounds.

Amen. So we want to be mindful of that

as well. Hallelujah.

We are continuing in our series here tonight.

And just as a preface this evening, just because I don't

want to be a misunderstood, this is like #12 along the way.

And the difficult thing with this is that sometimes you can

hear a lesson and not hear the Ho Ho series and you don't get

the real gravity of what's being said because it's kind of like

reading a chapter out of a book and not reading the whole book.

And so with that tonight that the purpose of this series, even

from the very beginning, is to just to Plumb the depths a

little bit of what it means to be his, right?

And really how far, how far being his extends into our

lives, to our thoughts, to our behaviors.

And so the purpose really is to provoke our thinking, is to

provoke us to think maybe be made aware of some things maybe

we were not aware of before. None of this over the past

several weeks, whether we did on Sunday morning tonight, none of

this is to make anybody feel inferior or necessarily

uncomfortable because we are all on a journey in our Christian

experience. We're all on a becoming like the

Holy One journey and that journey that the Bible says is a

separating from the world and then a separating unto the Lord

type of scenario that's taking place.

And each of us are at different stages in that journey and that

is OK. No one, no one.

And we've said this for ages and for all the world out there in

Facebook land, we said this for ages since we've been in Mount

Carmel and even before. No one is expected to dress a

certain way to come to the first Apostolic Church.

We believe that the Lord accepts us as we are.

But here is the caveat. He accepts us as we are, but he

also empowers us to become as we ought to be.

That's the glorious thing about the Lord.

And so with all that, my, my advice is if you ever sit in any

of these services, not just this one, any of these services,

you're like that preacher, the way he preached tonight or the

way he explained that word tonight and you're like, I'm

going to jump ship. Well, listen, don't jump ship.

Don't ever jump ship. Stay around.

Now the Spirit of the Lord to touch your heart, allow the

spirit of his word to open your understanding.

You realize how many relationships you would be in

and out of at every disagreement you decide to change

relationships. We be relationship less, right?

Amen. And so we want to grow.

The Bible says that we may grow up into him in Ephesians 4, that

we may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even

Christ. All right, so with that tonight

and go to my text. It's just one verse.

We've been talking about the principle of identity.

We've been talking about the concepts of principle of

identity in our ideas and in our thought processes.

We talked about it in identity, identity the the male and the

female. That was very in the very

beginning. And continuing in that line of

thought, some other distinguishments in that male

female thing. I want to talk tonight about

being clothed with purpose. Being clothed with purpose.

This is a verse from Deuteronomy 22 and verse #5 the Bible says.

And this is among other laws and prescriptions that are given

here. And I'm having a real hard time

not dragging my feet through a lot of stuff because always

think of what everybody else is probably thinking.

OK? And that causes my mind to go

sundry places. But there's a lot of different

laws here about not mixing seed, about not putting 2 animals of

different kinds together. For, for, for, for plowing.

It's it talks about not, not not mixing like two different woven

threads of cloth, all these different things.

A lot of these things are ceremonial laws that was for

Israel. But there's other things listed

in this chapter that are moral law issues.

There are things that the Bible states.

There's things, again, I've alluded to this, there's things

that the Bible says that were abomination into Israel, and

then there were things that are abomination into the Lord.

So there are other moral law issues, ceremonial laws

captivated and you know, completed by the Lord Jesus

Christ in the New Testament, largely, right, that pertained

to Israel. But the moral law is something

that changes not whether old, whether new, whether now it

changes not. So this is one of those things

that's part of the moral law of God.

It's an abomination. The Bible says unto the Lord thy

God. Deuteronomy 22 and 5 The woman

shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither

shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are

abomination unto the Lord thy God.

Now listen, if we look at this verse and just look at as at

that, and we don't understand that the underlining context or

the underlining application pertains to this principle of

identity. We look at it just as some

outmoded or outdated rule rather than seeing that it's tied to a

principle of identity, then we'll miss it because much of

what we call in the Christian journey is as holiness

applications is predicated on the fact that we do not confuse.

Much of our application of holiness is predicated on the

fact of keeping straight who is and what is male and who is and

what is female through God's Word.

A lot of it. I see your face.

So I'm going to explain it a little bit more.

A lot of what we call holiness in Scripture, yes, there are

parts that have to do with modesty, but there's a greater

part that has to do with distinguishing the sexes.

And I don't know if that cleared it up for anybody, what I just

said. And so when when we understand

this, then we understand what God is, is warning to the

Israelites is making sense what he's doing.

He's protecting his creative order of what he created in

creation, in Genesis with this distinction.

Amen. And I'm just going to pray that

the Lord would help us tonight. All right, I'm going to try to

walk at a good pace, but I'm don't want to go too quick.

All right, I don't want to go too quick, but I do want to make

some distinctions here because we are clothed with purpose,

with purpose. Father, I love you that I thank

you, Lord, for your goodness and Lord, our ability together.

Lord, here tonight. We're thankful for your word.

God help us all, Lord, that's on a journey at our own varying

speeds and our own varying levels that we leave ourselves

open, Lord, to your word and God more so than anything that we

would, that we would lean heavily upon relationship and by

virtue of that relationship with you, God, that we Lord, have

this ebb and flow and give and take, Lord, our relationship

with you of what's pleasing to you.

God will honor you, Lord Jesus with our lives in the lovely

name of Jesus Christ and I pray Amen the church say Amen.

And so we've looked at identity again and ideas and identity.

But tonight I also want to look at them and how men and women

clothe themselves. Every man that's committed to

living out his God-given identity as a male ought to

clothe himself then like a man. And I know that right there may

be already just cause a little shudder in the atmosphere.

And every woman likewise committed Amen, ought to to

clothe herself like like a woman.

And even to certain degree, we've looked at this in previous

weeks, even to a certain degree, society has understood these

distinctions to a degree. Because whenever a woman,

there's a woman who wants to function quote UN quote, like a

man, she seems to take on the appearance of the dress of a man

that whenever a woman didn't want a man wants to do on on the

other side, wants to function as a woman, then he tends to steer

towards those venom and items, if you will, to to adopt that.

But when we do this, when we blur the distinctions, when we

blur the distinctions that we lose the male and the female

identity and we confuse the roles of male and female.

Amen. That was ordered all the way

back in the book of Genesis. HDM Spencer and Joseph S excel

in the pulpit. Carmen Terry said this said

whatever tends to obliterate the distinction between the sexes

tends to lassitiousness, which means wanton of disregard.

It tends to a a wanton disregard of things.

And that one sex should assume the dress of the other has

always been regarded as a natural or indecent.

That's the reason why the Lord says in the Bible in Deuteronomy

that dressing as the opposite sex is seen as an abomination.

Amen. It violates the principle of

identity according to God's word of assuming a different sex or

breaking down that distinction between this two and bringing

and causing confusion among them.

And So what prompts the question then for us then what?

What garments are specifically for men or for women?

Well, for the readers of Deuteronomy, of Deuteronomy 22

and verse 5, for the readers of Deuteronomy in that error, them

speaking about what pertaineth to a man or a woman's garment

didn't specifically refer to women wearing pants or a man

wearing a dress, because in that era women didn't wear pants.

All right. Men and women of that era wore

robes. They wore robes of one kind or

another. For a a good major part of human

history, men and women wore robes.

But even in them wearing robes, there was distinctive

differences between what was a masculine or feminine attire as

far as the construction of the robe and the ornamentation of

the robe. And differences in the style

between the male and the female robe or colors or markings or

links or cuts or trims differentiated between male and

female robes. As a matter of fact, here's just

something just to think about. This is very practical.

But if there was no difference in the robes, why did

Deuteronomy even give a command to indicate that which pertained

to a woman or to a man or a woman's garment?

Wouldn't have been necessary even to say that if there was

absolutely no difference between 1:00 or the other, Amen.

And so it must have been different enough, obvious,

obviously quite significant enough, because the Scripture

even tells us that at some distance one could casually

observe if it was a male or a female that they were

approaching. The Bible says in Genesis 24 and

verse 63, this is that very long chapter of Abraham's servant

that's going to find a wife. For Isaac comes and gets Rebecca

and brings her back to Isaac to be his wife.

The Bible says, and Isaac went out to meditate in the field at

the even tide, and he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold the

camels were coming. These camels were carrying his

bride. Verse 64 says, And Rebecca

lifted up her eyes when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel

and she had said unto the servant, What man is this that

walketh in the field to meet us? And the sermon has said, it is

my master. Therefore she took a veil and

covered herself. So understand they're

approaching a field. They're not quite yet there.

Something else I think is important to note is the Bible

says the time of day that this was, it's even tide.

This is a time that's in the afternoon or late evening before

sunset. You know how it gets before the

sun completely sets. It's not quite completely light,

but it's not dark and yet at a distance at this time of day.

Rebecca says what man she was able to tell and distinguish

that this individual out here, all of them of that day wearing

robes that evidently something about his was distinguished as a

masculine attire for a man. We also read in scripture.

We we we, we read in Scripture. The word is this.

This is the word in Scripture. The word is breeches.

It's where we get the word breeches, where we get the word

eventually pants in our English dictionaries with the breeches

that were worn in the Bible were worn by priest under the robes.

As a matter of fact, every case that the word breaches BREECHES

is mentioned, which is a few. It is a man's apparel.

You can read of this in Exodus 28, Exodus 39, Leviticus 6,

Leviticus 16, Ezekiel 44. Throughout the Scripture, it was

always a man's apparel. Women were not allowed to wear

breeches. Amen.

Here again we get our English word britches and then our

concept of pants from this In biblical times, a woman was not

to wear a a crotched garment. Crotched garment because of the

command and the standard regarding for the priests being

males who were breeches. The Bible says in Scripture at

different places it talks about to gird up your loins.

We read a new test about girding up the loin of your mind, but we

read it throughout other places in Job where the Bible says gird

up by loins. It was always a phrase that was

applicable to men. It was to address men twice In

Job it is used once. It says gird up.

Now the loins like a man in Genesis 38 and three, and

another time it says gird up by loins like a man in Job 40 and

verse #7 to gird up the loins. This is what it meant to gird up

the loins a man has on his robe. That has the distinction of a

masculine man and he would take the back part of his robe

through his legs and tuck it in his girdle right here.

And he would transform his robe into something that was closer

fitting by bringing the vacuum of his robe up between his legs,

creating almost a trouser like effect for running or going

quickly. It gave him a distinctive

masculine, what we would consider today, a distinctive

masculine appearance. Women are never told in

scripture to girt up their loins.

It's never addressed to them, Amen.

They could lift up the hem of their of their garment, of their

robe, but they were not admonished to gird up their

loins as men were. It wasn't permissive for them.

Again, girding up the loins was an action that was associated

with masculine rows, masculine functions and masculine

responsibilities. Amen.

Everybody doing all right, everybody OK, OK Amen.

So even over the years. And we'll, we'll look at just

some real world history, U.S. history tonight a little bit.

But over the years, and I say this, please, I hope you know my

heart and everything I'm saying tonight.

But over the years, years ago, they used to say, and sometimes

it was a comical thing. Who wears the pants in your

family? You ever heard it?

Now, you could already start to explain to me what that meant.

It's from a older phrase really that happened back in 16-12.

A man wrote talk about who who wears the breeches, Sir John the

Harrington said who wore the breeches.

They even had an English comedy that was going around at the

time called The Woman Wears the Breeches.

It debuted in 1650 and it was a comedy.

And the whole, the whole gist of the comedy was it was implying

how a wife was having, having dominated her husband by

adopting his role back then. And so our text notice has a

little bit of a different command for the man and for the

woman. The woman shall not wear that

which pertaineth unto a man. And then neither shall a man put

on a woman's garment. All right, put on a woman's

garment or anything feminine attire or distinctive styling

that was to the feminine side and we, we might argue a little

bit. Well, Brother McGee, I've read

of the word skirt in Scripture more than once and how a lot of

times that even that even lent to the man when it was talking

about a skirt. Well, when you read that your

Bible's like in the King James Version and it's talking about

skirt and it's talking about a man.

The word skirt in our Bible doesn't refer to the same thing

we think of today. The Hebrew word for skirt, it

meant the extremity or the corner of a garment like a hymn.

Yes, the Bible speaks of in the book of First Samuel 15, the

Bible talks how Saul he he, he tore the skirt of Samuel's

mantle, the prophet's mantle, meaning he tore a piece of the

hymn or the corner of his garment.

We'd read in Scripture that David cut off the skirt of

Saul's garment while they were in The Cave.

He was tucked over about. Some people want them to kill.

So he says, I'll, I'll just cut off the skirt.

And he was even smoking his heart for doing that.

It was just a piece of corner or extremity of the garment.

And so it's not talking about it in the terms that we talked

about it today. It's talking about those corners

of the garment of a man. It says neither shall a man put

on a woman's garment. And that seemed to be sufficient

instruction for the man and here's part and parse the reason

why we see from from the Bible This is the case also because

men have a problem that's bigger than the way that they adorned

themselves in Scripture. We'll look at it according to

the apostle Paul the big the big rock for man is the way that he

acts. The Bible says in first Timothy

2:00 and 8:00. I will therefore that doesn't

mean that we disregard just the way he clothes himself.

It's just talking about he has a propensity to act incorrectly

more so than to clothe incorrectly.

The Bible says I wear will therefore that men pray

everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and

doubting. I'm just going to go and read

both of them together in verse 9.

In like manner also the woman adorned themselves in modest

apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered

hair or gold or pearls or costly array.

So on one hand he's talking that men would pray without wrath,

without doubting. And then he says enlightenment

are also the woman adorning themselves.

So we go from the way the man is acting wrath doubting them to

the man the way that the woman is clothing herself.

Because in this instance, the Apostle Paul has pinpointed two

major things that both the female and the male are prone

to. The male sometimes has a bad

problem with his attitude. He is angry quickly, frustrated

easily. But then there's a propensity of

a woman that she may struggle with than what she wears or how

she appears. And so he addresses these two

things right away. And so whenever the Old

Testament in the Old Testament says that a man should not put

on a woman's garment, I mean, it seems very sufficient for the

man again, because majorly the masculine male has a problem

oftimes with his attitude. And so when we get Deuteronomy,

then the instruction for the woman is a little more precise.

Amen. Because she seems to have

testing in this area of attire and appearance according to the

apostle Paul. And so Paul even tells us that

her vice is her adornment and her apparel.

Amen. She, according to Deuteronomy,

should not wear that which pertaineth unto a man.

And the word pertain there in the Hebrew means relate or have

reference to be appropriate for or belong to as an accessory,

attribute, feature or function to a man.

So that's the long definition of of pertinent.

It's Latin root means to reach towards.

She should not she should not wear that which reaches toward

that masculinity or a man. She must refrain from that.

All right. The Wickliffe Bible Commentary

notes that the distinction between man and woman should not

be blurred by either one appropriating the characteristic

of one or the other. Again, what is this doing?

This is just helping safeguard God's original intent from

Genesis of male and female. All right?

It's just, it's just protecting His representation.

Amen. In 1890, Charles Gibson was a

cartoonist and he used pen and ink and he created a likeness of

what in that day was considered to be a beautiful woman who

epitomized the female ideal of that hour and this, this concept

and this pen and ink. And he did several of them.

You can look it up tonight. When you go home, preferably

when you go home. Not right now in the service.

Some people do that and go on, I guess, if you just absolutely

not going to be able to go any further.

But it remained popular for about 20 years.

And he drew different scenarios of her drew scenarios of her at

at gatherings with other people, do her scenarios of being on the

golf course, do her scenarios of of of even swimming.

She became known and his name was Gibson, of course, Charles

Gibson. She became known as the Gibson

girl. You can read of this in history.

And she typified a beautiful feminine ideal of her time.

And when you see the different things of her, most of them,

almost all of them is is this lady that is very mod.

She has long beautiful dresses or skirts.

She's very womanly. And that was the Gibson Girl for

almost 20 years of our history that depicted what was commonly

accepted as this feminine woman type of nature thing.

Kill and the lych, say it's a commoner, says the immediate

design of this prohibition between not taking that which is

male or that which is female was to maintain the sanctity of that

distinction of the sexes which was by creation man and woman.

And so when we begin to wipe that away and we blur the lines

of male and female, then in the sight of God again he said that

was an abomination unto him. And we see this, we see this

come over time, right? We didn't get where we are in

the world today in just a turn of the key.

It happened gradually. I mean, when you start with Adam

and the Eve in this perfect paradise in the garden compared

to where we are today, that didn't just happen by turning

over a leaf. The the old songs, what's the

lyrics of the old song? It's the slow fade.

It's the slow fade, right? I mean, years ago, Bishop Mccool

talked about when he taken, he's given advice to new pastor says

if you don't like the piano on that side and you want it on

that side, he said don't just move it over there because

people have a hard time with change, he says.

But if you move it an inch every year, he says, it'll eventually

get there and they won't even really notice.

It's the slow fade. Things just happen over time.

And so, and I'm probably going to butcher the word femininity a

few times because it just don't roll off my tongue very easily.

But there was a book or article called Femininity by Susan Brown

Miller in 1984, and she wrote and said femininity is in

essence a romantic sentiment, A nostalgic tradition of imposed

limitations. As a matter of fact, she implied

that women who adopt feminine styles are trapped.

And as part of her personal revoke against it, she said that

she would just stop wearing dresses and skirts all together

because she didn't want to be trapped by such a thing.

But for what purpose? Why did she do this?

She revoked it against femininity because in her

writing she says she wouldn't be set free from what was

traditional. She wanted to discard what was

traditional. And so she said if I didn't want

to be, if I didn't want to be identified with the feminine

side of humanity, then I was going to need to disregard my

skirts and my dresses. That's her words, not mine.

Now, here's what we know for history, Sister Maya.

We know during World War 2 that there are men in the draft has

been taken. There are several men that are

off to war in our American history and as a result of that,

to keep the supplies of what was needed in war that was being

made on American soil, many of the women went to the factories

to work that beforehand weren't in the factories.

They were typically at home and they were taking care of their

home and nurturing their children.

And so they were leaving that and they were going into these

factories and they begin doing jobs that were typically held

only by men in that age. And as they were doing the work

in these factories and doing men's work and men's jobs, what

started to happen was these ladies that had been carers of

the home started then to begin to dress like men.

You can look this in your history.

And so during this time, this is also in this same period time is

when largely women start even taking up smoking cigarettes,

swearing, which was unheard of before this time, that if we

wouldn't do this before this time, they they, they begin even

bobbing their hair. They're fulfilling this role of

a man. So they're taking on these other

things, if you will, into their behavior.

And so as time passed, though, wearing the apparel of a man

wasn't just regulated for the factory when they went to work,

now they're doing it outside the factory in their everyday lives,

even whenever they go home. And so we have this complete

turn around that happened almost during the World War 2.

Amen. And so when we think about this,

we're keeping the distinctions right, keeping the distinctions

male and female as God has has created it in the beginning.

Let me ask you this. And then we've done this for

years. Bishop has done this probably

generations of people before they've done it.

If you walk toward the restroom and the word woman or the word

man is not on the door, and it has a little icon, a little

figure there, you know which restroom to go into by that

little icon on the door. 1 is a little picture of a figure with

two legs going all the way up to a crotch region.

And I'm not trying to be vulgar, but the other than has that

little triangular skirt or dress that goes so far down on those

stick legs as the ladies restroom because we know in our

core a distinction from the beginning.

In my house at the garage, I still have bicycles that my kids

have had, my wife's had. I have that bicycle that I have

has a bar that goes from the seat over to the handlebars

that's straight. The one that my wife has droops

down male and female bikes, it slopes down in the middle

because that accommodated a woman's clothing of her skirt or

her dress. So it ride high as far as I

haven't bought a bike lately, but I think they still hold

pretty close to that pattern today.

Why? Because there's a distinction

whether we go on and live life differently, there's a

distinction that's still even ingrained in some of those

things while while while riding, even bicycles to accommodate the

flow of a dress. Whereas a man would not need

that with the trousers that he has, he has on.

We look today again, how we even put measurements on clothing

that is female and male. I'm going to the store to buy me

a pair of trousers and at this stage of life I need more of a

waste than what I did when I first got married.

I was like, I think a waste of 29 when I got married and I'm

not in the 20s anymore, brother Earl.

But let's just say 30 something. So I'm looking for 30 something

and you know, about a length of 34.

And so I'm looking at that number, whatever it is, 323434,

one telling me my waist size, the other one telling me my

inseam, how he ever even if a woman were to buy a pair of

pants today, a lot of times they still not always a lot of times

they still go by sizes like size 8, size 16.

Now there's some that take an account both waist size and hip

size. Some have vanity sizes and you

got to check the sizing charts to even see what you are.

But All in all, what I'm saying is this.

They didn't give an inseam. Why not?

Because they use the same measurements that they use for a

woman wearing a dress or a skirt.

Size 8, size 10 size. It never change.

Why? Again, it just goes back to the

origin of a differentiating of the sexes between male and

female. And folks, I don't know about

you. And I think it's beautiful.

I think it's beautiful that we would hold on to something that

God thought well enough of. He would start it like that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So, well, Brother McGee, we got.

Yeah, we have anatomic differences.

And that's the way it was before the fall.

The Bible says they were naked and unashamed.

That's right, but after the transgression they are ashamed,

they are hiding, they're making themselves aprons and then he's

in. That's not sufficient puts them

in coach skins. And so now he if if there was

ever no sin in the world, we could have just went with the

anatomical differences, but since we had then because of sin

start to cover what he did through anatomy.

He still has to express some way to distinguish what he ordained

from the beginning. Amen.

So he, he, God never wanted our identity to be per SE hidden or

confused. If I'd say like confused, it was

meant to be known. But that's a man.

That's a woman. And he created them with those

roles, with those outward expressions, as it was before

all right, creation. And then even how that was

managed or reapplied after the transgression in the garden.

And they were unquestionable. That which was in the beginning

was unquestionable. And overtime culture, overtime

culture and society and people has blurred it, right?

But the principle has not changed.

And again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, and I

hope you're understanding the spirit, I'm saying this again,

this was never merely about clothing.

It was about identity. If you leave here thinking

anything, that's what I want you to understand.

This isn't merely about clothing.

It's about identity. That's masculine.

That's male, that's feminine, that's female.

What God called it was the 6th day.

He says it's very good in creation.

What he called very good, which was created he male and female

created he them. That very good is still good

today. It it's still good today and

again, I'll close here soon. I know we've already had good

time and service. Holiness really isn't about

restriction as much in this particular mode here.

It's about reflection. It's about reflection.

Have I aligned in such a way that I've represented with what

God has established? You didn't stand with me.

Just a few questions to think of as as as we depart from here

tonight. So the the big question isn't

what am I wearing? That's not the big question.

It's not the big question. The big question is what am I

representing? What am I representing?

Are you embracing your your God-given identity?

You embracing that or, or or is there a reaching towards

something else and are you reflecting the distinction or or

is there is there confusion? Years ago I did it when I had a

little, I had a little image I had up on the screen.

It was someone on the beach and the silhouette.

I had the silhouette. The silhouette, I said who?

What does that mean for you? We're like male.

And I took the black silhouette off.

It was a woman. I'm just saying because we just

identify. OK, Case in point, how many

today? And I know we live in a world

where there's every flavor under the sun, but how many today has

had trouble checking outgoing through a drive through?

I'm wondering if you're like me. I'm like, I wasn't born in the

South, but I have Southern tendencies.

I say yes ma'am, no Sir, those things.

How many has ever had problems knowing what to say or may have

even said something wrong and then course correct confusion,

Yes, a New Testament says God is not the author of confusion.

Amen. So again, and I hope you

understand the Spirit, I'm saying that this is not about

condemnation. This is about consecration.

So what do we do? We come to church, we keep

coming to church. We could come to church the way

that we are. We keep showing up.

That's right, just the way we are.

And we let God speak into our hearts and we read a little bit

more of His word and we investigate a little bit more

and we allow it to speak into our lives.

And then sometimes we feel that little tugging and that we call

the conviction of the Holy Ghost or the conviction of the Lord,

and we follow that conviction, we respond to it.

The fact is, wherever we are on our journey, you know what we

do? We take the next step that He's

enlightening for us. And your next step may not be

the ones I've been Speaking of tonight, but as long as you take

the next step, you're still in a process going forward.

This next step could be 20 steps from now.

Keep coming, keep believing, keep seeking, keep loving, keep

drawing close. Because here's the fact of the

matter, and I hope you got this from me.

I love you regardless. God loves you regardless, but

he's wanting to take you on a journey, Amen.

He's wanting to take you on a journey and reveal more of

himself to you, to you than than you've ever experienced thus

far, Amen. Can we bow our heads tonight,

Father? I thank you, Lord, this evening,

God, for your people. I thank you, Lord, for your

word. I thank you, O Lord Jesus, today

because you are a long-suffering and a patient God, Lord, and you

deal with us at every level and every degree of our walk and our

path. I pray, O God, tonight, Lord,

let your word become alive in our lives.

God, as we study them, as we look them over, as we ponder

them. I pray, O Lord Jesus, we're so

thankful, God, that we can come to you that while we were yet

sinners, Lord Jesus, you died for us.

But God, you also, Lord, provoke us, Lord, in a growth pattern,

Lord, to grow up, Lord Jesus, into you in all things.

God, I want my mind and my heart to be open to your Spirit.

Lord, as you would deal with me and speak with me and guide me,

Help me, Lord, to have a soft heart that's always open, Jesus,

to you and to your word. We can trust it in the name of

Jesus Christ that we pray Amen and Amen and the church say

Amen. Amen.

If you were on the winning team and you plan on being there

Saturday at 4:00 at login, please let my wife know.

Amen. And if you know those guests

that you had are coming, let us know.