0:02 [music] Good morning family. It's nice to see you all and happy Mother's Day to especially our mothers here. Um I praise the Lord that in Christ we see 0:20 that um both male and female are created in his image. So the image of God includes the uh some aspect of how he wants to manifest himself through women through sisters. I'd like to speak on that a 0:39 little bit more now. [clears throat] But before that, I in our memory verses we saw from Luke 8 6 um give and it will be given to you. Um it will pour into your lap a good measure. 0:59 The a lot of prayers that people pray, even Christians are asking God, Lord, I need this. Can you give me um I'd say the majority of them are probably material materialistic prayers. 1:18 Lord, I need a little bit more money or I need healing or I need protection or and nothing wrong with that. It could be even spiritual prayers. Lord, I want victory over sin. Lord, I want uh justice over my enemy, the devil. 1:37 Lord, I want uh power over my lusts that in my flesh that press in. But this verse is very clear that if you want God to give, God looks to see if you have a giving heart. The children said the same thing. It's interesting that those two verses 1:55 coincided on this week. You receive freely. Freely give. That's what the uh preschool class memorized. As you know, in this church, everything is free. Uh we don't ask for money. We don't pass an offering plate. Nobody in 2:12 this church has paid one penny for their service. [snorts] Uh no matter what that ministry looks like. And um when I came here, it wasn't like that. There there's a lot of other practices that were going on in this church. Um and we decided 2:31 that we would follow the biblical principles of not asking for money. You've never asked for money. As you know on our church website, you will find it difficult to give. We don't have a donate button like almost every other 2:44 church. In fact, every church that I know of that I've seen their website has a place say you want to give, donate. Now, what you'll find on our website is if you want, you have to dig into what we believe and find our financial policy 3:01 and then you will see five conditions that you must meet in order to give. Have you ever heard of a church that says before you give, you have to meet these conditions? That's biblical. Every one of those conditions is biblical. 3:17 But the danger when we sit in a church where everything is free, even our conferences, we don't charge admission or anything like that. The danger is that when we freely receive, we freely hold on to and hoard. And I want to lay a challenge in front 3:34 of every one of us. If you consider yourself a part of this local church, brother, sister, or child, as much as you have freely received, have you given to even one other person? I'm not talking about your own family. Is there one other person in this church 3:52 who can say you, this person has impacted me in some way? I believe that's true. Most if not all of us, but it's a good opportunity to examine ourselves. As I've been meditating on this verse, uh I didn't I forgot that the preschool 4:09 at least the adult verse I've been meditating on about give. The Lord asked me Santosh, at the end of your life, will there even be one person in this church who can say yes, you invested in me? And that's not just for 4:27 us elders. Every one of us. I really I would put it this way. If you consider yourself a part of RLCF as a member of this church, it'll be shown by the fact that you're a giving person. You're not just sitting here and receiving, but that you're choosing to 4:47 invest in the life of somebody. And I very specifically say somebody outside of your own family. Cuz as men, as fathers and mothers, we invest in our wives and our husbands and our children. That's the worldly people do that too. 5:00 But to be a part of this church family is to say, "I'm here. God has placed me in this body to invest in others. To be a giver, not a taker." And uh you read in Matthew 25 about how Jesus will separate the sheep and the 5:15 goats. And it won't be, oh, you said a prayer and ask Jesus into your heart on such and such a date, so you're a sheep and they're goats. No, you see, read the parable clearly. It's the sheep were givers and the goats were takers. 5:30 There's a very important warning for us there that we don't sit in this church where everything is freely given and end up just receiving and receiving and receiving and never giving. You've heard me use the analogy of the Dead Sea which 5:46 is dead because nothing flows out of it. And the shest way to reach spiritual death is if you're constantly receiving from others and never pouring into the life of lives of others. So let's take it to heart dear family 6:00 that not to not to discourage or condemn anybody here but I don't want you to waste your life. I don't want to waste my life and I want to reach the end of my life and say Lord thank you that I gave what you gave me. I was simply a 6:14 vessel, a channel that your life could flow through me to others, not into me and get stuck here. If God has poured into your life, it will you will lose it immediately if there is no outlet. If you're simply a a bucket receiving, 6:31 receiving, receiving, receiving, and nothing is coming out of you, that anointing will be lost. The joy will be lost. The peace and the love will be lost. You'll be frustrated. You'll be depressed. You'll be gloomy. You'll have problems with others. But 6:46 the shest way to find joy is to let your life be a channel, a pipe that you're receiving, but it's flowing out of you. Proverbs 11:2 says, "The one who," let's read it. Proverbsap 11, [clears throat] The world will tell you that the 7:19 one who prospers will be the one who works hard or is most intelligent or has the most resources or the most ability. But the Bible says it very clearly that the one who will prosper is the one who is generous. The generous person will be prosperous. 7:37 And he who waters others will himself be watered. I know there have been times in my life where I would be discouraged or have issues with people or issues with myself even. And the Lord showed me very clearly, Santos, you haven't been 7:50 giving. You've been receiving a lot, but you haven't been giving. I said, Lord, make me a giver. One of the best examples of givers that we have on this earth are mothers. I think it's it's good for us to think about that. I I read something some 8:08 years ago. It's written by an earthly person, but it was humorous. I'll share that with you briefly. It was a little uh little article that a lady named Irma Bombbeck wrote in uh almost yeah over 50 years ago about she titled it when God created 8:26 mothers. You can look up online and read it sometime. But uh she described it. And I thought it was cute and funny, but true in many ways what she wrote. She said, I'll just picked out a couple things from that little article that she 8:40 wrote. Uh, mothers must have a kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed heart. Has that been the testimony of your mother? uh if you had a a a mother that loved you, which I'm sure almost all of us have had in some 8:58 ways. They weren't perfect necessarily, but a kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed heart. And they need to have six pairs of hands. Children, did you know that your moms have six pairs of hands? If you look 9:13 carefully, you'll see maybe you can only see one pair, but they have five other pairs of hands that you can't see. I think you know what I mean. And they have three pairs of eyes. Did you know that moms have three pairs of eyes? One 9:29 pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, "What are your kids doing in there?" when she already knows. That's one pair of eyes. Another in the back of her head. Now, the hair covers it up so you can't see it. But your moms have 9:44 eyes in the back of their heads. I'm sure you know that too, children. Another in the back of her head that sees what she can't. But what she has to know, and you think you might be able to hide it from your mom, but you haven't. And 10:00 if she hasn't confronted you about it, it's simply because she's patient and waiting for you to turn and praying for you on her pillow at night and seeing through all the things that you think you've successfully hidden. So 10:15 that's the second bear of eyes. Then of course the third, the ones in front that can look at a child when they mess up and say, "I understand and I love you." without even uttering a word. [clears throat] She has to find a way to heal herself 10:33 when she is sick. You know, children, when you're sick, you know that you don't need a doctor as much as you need your mom. And mom will be there to support you and love you. What about when mom's sick? I've watched my wife. I've watched my 10:48 mom and I've watched many of you moms as well knowing physical burdens that you carry. Um knowing about and seeing you sick and yet caring for the sick. I believe Jesus was sick when he was here on this earth. Uh he bore our 11:06 sicknesses in his body. And I absolutely am certain in my own heart that there were times when he had maybe a severe migraine or something else in his body physically cuz to be sick is not sinful. Jesus had no sin in his body ever. Never 11:22 sinned in his life. But he bore our sicknesses. And in order for him to be tempted in all points as we are, there had to be those times when physically he just didn't have the ability to pour out to be poured out for others. 11:35 And yet he did. And he didn't think only of himself and what what a the the day kind of day he was having and the headache he had or or anything else but he thought of others. And I imagine Jesus laying hands on somebody on on 11:53 Peter's mother-in-law perhaps and fever is rebuked. He rebuked the fever and it went away while he himself bore in his body pain. And I can't think of a better living example of that in what I see than 12:10 mothers who do this faithfully for their children, bearing pains in their own body and carrying that pain and praying to be healed. Sure. But willing to be poured out, willing to still get up and make breakfast and and and and clean the home 12:27 and take care of their children uh quietly, silently, and never making their children feel bad for the demands they have of them. It's tremendous. A mom has to be able to feed an entire family on leftovers. 12:47 Don't we know that, men? how it's just like, well, what's there? Well, didn't get time to do grocery shopping because sickness just went through the house one after the other. So, what are we going to eat today? Can't starve. 13:00 Well, we'll make something. We've got a little bit leftover of this and a little bit leftover that, and it still tastes delicious. That's a mom. And uh the last one, one of the things she mentions is that a mom ought to be 13:13 able to get a 9-year-old to stand under a shower. Yes, we've all had know what that means to get a 9-year-old. Nothing wrong with you 9year-olds, but somehow when you turn nine, you're like, "God, really? Do I need to take a shower? I took one a 13:29 month ago." [laughter] So, here we are. Moms, thank you mothers for all you've done. Uh I watch you all here in this church and the way you serve not just your own children but others whether it's as a Sunday school teacher or even sitting outside with 13:45 them while they play. Uh I'm thankful for my own mother who has put up with me for 53 years. And my wife who's put up with me I won't tell you how long but um it was and been a wonderful mother. And by put up, I don't mean that in a negative way, but 14:02 they have uh my mom and my wife have been a tremendous example to me of Christ. Another mother that has often challenged me is a woman named Susanna Wesley. She lived in the 1600s. And you've probably heard of John Wesley. I hope you've 14:20 heard of Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley wrote some tremendous hymns that were a wonderful encouragement uh to the people in that time period in the mid 1700s when God sent a revival through the world actually a revival that would one 14:37 day impact the world but especially in in uh Europe, the UK and other parts of Europe through John Wesley. Charles Wesley wrote some tremendous hymns, hymns that we sing even to this day. See, I part of the reason why I I dig 14:52 out these treasures like some of the songs we hang sang today that you don't hear on Christian radio is because these are the hymns that will last 3 400 years, not three or 400 minutes like a lot of the hymns that are written today 15:05 because they lack depth of meaning. And God will bear witness to the words that come from life. Hymns like Charles Wesley wrote that will last three 400 years. And I think if you've been in this church, you know that we that that you don't have to sing 15:21 those 400-year-old hymns with a dreary, heavy, somber look. You can sing them with life and uh and and receive the power that is in those words. Charles Wesley wrote some tremendously encouraging and uplifting hymns. And his brother Charles 15:37 John Wesley, who's perhaps more wellknown, started what we now know as the Methodist movement. And uh but there was a real he was one of the most god-fearing men of his time. And um their mother Susanna Wesley raised a a godly family. She raised 15:55 these two boys especially but other children as well. And she became known as kind of the mother of Methodism, the Methodist movement. She she in a sense she was called that. And she wasn't a preacher as far as I know. She never 16:07 ever preached a sermon, but uh she was the mother of 19 children and uh nine of them died as infants including two pairs of in of twins that died very very young. One baby died 16:25 because she was accidentally smothered by a nurse, by a maid who was taking care of this child. And the child died uh accidentally at the hands of one of the maids. Um twice her house that she was living in was burned down. In one of them, John 16:43 Wesley almost died and had to be rescued from the second floor. Um God had a plan for John Wesley's life and this fire uh almost took his life but God said no can't happen. You think about all that this wonderful woman Susanna Wesley went 16:59 through and uh at one point you know this was perhaps the saddest part of all was her husband left her for about a year. That's John and Charles Wesley's father uh over some minor disagreement that they had he and his wife and she had to 17:16 raise her children. I don't remember exactly how many she had at that time but she had to raise them by him by herself. Later her husband did come back and um they were reunited. But during that time when when he had left her, she 17:33 God used that time for a little over a year or so that she was raising her family, her children on her own um to open her eyes to see the calling that he had for her life, for Susanna Wesley's life. And she realized that she 17:50 was called to the ministry to be an evangelist. 2 Timothy 4 says, "Do the work of an evangelist." That's something all of us must do. Dear brothers, dear sisters, dear children, I already spoke about giving. One of the ways we're 18:04 called to give. Let's turn there. 2 Timothy chapter 4 is to do the work of an evangelist. This is not the gift of being an evangelist. Some are called to be evangelists. We read about that in Ephesians 4. apostles, prophets, evangelists, 18:22 shepherds, and teachers. There are some who are called to be evangelists. But every one of us, according to 2 Timothy 4:5, is called to do the work of an evangelist. Do the work of an evangelist. Take that with you this week, wherever 18:38 you go, whatever situation God places you in to do the work of an evangelist. That means there must be a witness that you are of Christ. do the work of an evangelist. 2 Timothy 4:5 says, "But you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work 18:57 of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." And I don't know if it was this specific verse or other verse or otherwise that Susanna Wesley during this time when her husband had left her for a period of time, instead of moping 19:10 and complaining and grumbling and criticizing him over whatever it was, she sought the Lord. And during that time, the Lord revealed to her his ministry and his calling for her life. And she wrote to him at some point a 19:23 little letter. Um, and I want to read a little extract from that and I I paraphrased it a little bit to modern language. She she wrote, "The greater responsibility of our children's souls lies upon you." She is telling her 19:39 husband, "The greater responsibility of our children's souls lies upon you." That is true. Fathers, we do have the instructions are given in Ephesians 6. You read about it in Colossians 3. Uh, fathers, raise up your children in the 19:54 discipline and instruction of the Lord. So she wrote to him that greater responsibility of our children's souls lies upon you. Yet in your long absence, I look upon every one of our children as a talent committed to me under a trust 20:12 that God has entrusted these children to me in my care. I am not a man nor a minister. She writes, "Yet as a mother, I felt I must do more than I have done." Instead of just saying, "Well, my husband's like this or he left me or 20:29 whatever." She said, "Well, Lord, you've allowed this circumstance in my life. Now give me the strength and the power for my children's sake. I can't allow them to suffer because my husband is a particular way." So she says, "I decided to use the 20:45 following method. I simply take a little time, as much as I can spare each night." Can you imagine? her life was very busy during this time all by herself raising her children uh making meals for them trying to educate them and all of that. She says I 21:01 simply take a little time as much as I can spare each night to talk with a specific child separately and the way I understand it each day she had a different child. this was your day. And at night, she would spend a little time 21:15 privately with that child and simply say, spend time talking to them, asking them questions, encouraging them. And I bet I imagine that those children grew up reflecting on those times that they had special times with mom and with dad. 21:31 And however the Lord chooses to do that, I think that's something that no matter how busy our lives are, we can dads, we can take that to heart. Moms, you can take that to heart. As many children as you have or even if you don't have 21:44 children, uh find a time when you can spend a little time. Moms, perhaps you're already doing that. Praise the Lord. Dads, I hope you're doing that. Take a little time to spend to make each of your children feel special. You can 21:59 have a different day of the week perhaps and it could be five minutes. And for all of us, whether we have our own children or not, there are children in this church. Isn't it amazing that more than 50% of this church is 22:13 members under the age of 18 children more than 50% of this church is members under the age of of of 18 which means that we all have a responsibility imagine if every Sunday each of us said okay um we have 52 weeks in a year and 22:33 every Sunday I'm going to find one new child to spend two, three minutes talking to you go through all the children in a year. If you can do more than one child, sure you can give them double the blessing in a year. Imagine 22:47 if every one of us adults took that to heart. I'm going to spend two minutes talking to and you write down the list of the names. If you don't have the list of all the names in the church, come and ask one of us elders. We'll be happy to 22:57 share them with you. Make it your goal that by the end of this year perhaps you know the names of every child for one and that you've invested in them a little bit. Why is it that we stay and have lunch and play outside with them or 23:11 uh sit in here and have fellowship? It is just so that the adults can hang out and the children can go do their thing. Or can we have the heart of a mother male and female brothers and sisters? If we can have the heart of a mother that 23:24 says, "I'm going to invest in my little child, in this little child in the church." Young people, you can take that to heart. Sometimes uh people uh you know years ago, we didn't have a youth group. There were very few young people in this church. 23:40 And I encouraged the young people then. Sadly, none of them are here today. But I encouraged them. I said, "Instead of looking for people your age, why don't you look to be a blessing? Why don't you look to be a giver? The world is full of people who are 23:53 looking for what will meet their own needs. Oh, I want people like me, who have the same interest in me, the same age group as me. I said, instead of looking for that, look to be a giver. Look to be one who can invest in 24:05 somebody a little bit younger than you. If you're 20, 21, look for a 17year-old that you can invest in. If you're 17, look for the 13year-old that you can somehow show an interest in, make friends with them. If you're 13 years 24:19 old, look for somebody who's 9 or 10 years old and be a blessing to them. And if you can look for little ways to invest in the lives of others, I tell you, you will no longer be a lonely person. Loneliness doesn't come not 24:35 being lonely doesn't come from having a lot of friends. Some of the loneliest people in the world are people who are have a lot of people around them. I read the stories. I hear of stories of sad stories of Hollywood stars and pop music 24:49 stars and successful businessmen who are lonely. Sadly, many of them take their lives out of their loneliness. And you think they were lonely. Everybody in the world knows their name. They're splashed all over the newspapers 25:03 and on websites and you they're recognizable on the on the planes and on the streets. And yet they were lonely inside. The best way to combat loneliness is to be a giver, to invest in the life of somebody else. And you'll find that God 25:20 gives you relationship. And that's what we're seeking to be as a church. You will always be an outsider in this church or a lonely person in this church if you're a taker and not a giver. Mothers are a great example. And I look 25:31 at how God has blessed so many in this church. So many of you mothers, God is blessing your children, I believe, because you have this giving heart. Um, and here are some quotes, um, some other quotes that from Susanna Wesley 25:47 that I wrote down that I'd like to, uh, uphold as an example, a way that we can all go. I see many of you mothers living this out. Thank you for that. Here's one. The child that never learns to obey his parents in the home will not 26:03 obey God or man out of the home. Children, listen to this carefully. This is by Susanna Wesley. The child that never learns to obey his parents in the home will not obey God or man out of the home. The reason that we emphasize and 26:22 we try to teach you children to obey daddy and mommy at home is first of all because the Bible says so. O children obeying your parents is very important. It's the one of the most important things. In fact, Colossians 3 in the 26:36 Amplified Bible reads this way that one of the best ways you can show your love for God is by obeying dad and mom. He's made it that simple. Children, if you wonder, "How can I love God more?" Here, it's very simple. Colossians 3:20, obey your mom. Obey 26:50 your dad at home. God will be pleased by that. You'll make God happy. It's very simple. And she writes, "The child that never learns to obey his parents in the home will not obey God or man out of the home." Another quote from Susanna 27:04 Wesley. She says, "Help me Lord to remember that religion is not confined to the church building. Religion, Christianity is not confined to the church building, nor exercised only in prayer and meditation, 27:22 but that everywhere I am in thy presence." Let's listen. Meditate on that as I read it again. Help me Lord, she writes to remember that Christianity is not to be confined to the walls of the church nor 27:40 exercised only in prayer and meditation. Maybe you're active in the church. You're a committed member of the church. You spend a lot of time in prayer and meditation. Is that Christianity? She says, "Help me, Lord, to remember 27:52 that Christianity is actually everywhere I am in thy presence." That means I could be playing a soccer game or going to work or driving on the road or working with my hands, building a shed or building some some project, 28:06 doing some housework, fulfilling the honeydew list and doing a load of laundry or washing dishes or cooking a meal. Everywhere I am in thy presence. Here's another one. 28:22 I am content to fill a little space if God be glorified. I am content to fill a little space. See, the world is full of people that want a big space. I want to be known. I want a bigger this and a better that. And I want more people to know me. I 28:40 want more friends. I want more popularity, more success, a promotion. Okay, here's somebody whose life was lived. Today I'm absolutely certain Susanna Wesley has no regret because she said, "I am content to find a little 28:54 space. Lord, what is the size of the space you have ordained for me? Is it small? That's fine. Will you get glory out of it? That's what I'm more interested in." She could have been a preacher. I believe she knew God in such a deep way 29:07 that she could have easily got up and preached sermons better than almost any other preacher at in her time. But she saw her calling. It's like God was telling you, Susanna, invest in John. Invest in Charles. Invest in that other child of yours. 29:24 Pour into them. Pour into them. Pour into them. You will see the fruit of it in eternity. And I think Susanna Wesley was more known long after she died. But the Lord saw and the Lord honored her life. I am content to fill a little 29:39 space if God be glorified. You know that line a lady named Anna Wearing took and wrote into the song we sing. Father I know that all my life uh and in that line it says content to fill a little space if God be glorified. As far as I 29:55 know Anna Wearing took that line from what Susanna Wesley had written. I am content to fill a little space if God be glorified. One more quote. There are two things to do about the gospel. Have you heard the gospel? Do you believe? Do you 30:09 know the gospel? There are two things to do about the gospel. Believe it and behave it. I like how she put it. Believe it and behave it. That means yes, you say, "I believe it. I'm a believer." Okay. I believe that Jesus 30:25 Christ died for my sins. But do you believe it? Is it lived out in your life? Can others who see your life say, "Yeah, that's a Christian." It's one thing to say, "Yes, I believe it." It's another thing for other person, 30:39 other people to be able to say, "I see that you believe it by how you live your life." And I'm thankful, mothers, that even though many of you ne none of you ever get up here and preach, I see you living out the gospel in your 30:53 lives. I see the fruit of it in your children. I see the fruit of it in your marriages. Praise the Lord for that. And I pray that the Lord will raise up another generation, you young women. I pray that the Lord will raise you up, 31:05 whatever your calling in life, whatever he wherever he calls you to go. Don't be distracted. Don't be drawn away by all the apparent success that the world will tell you this will be how you will be successful. Don't be drawn away by any 31:21 of that. Read God's word. Know God's calling in your life. Believe with all of your heart that God wants to show you your calling in your life. It'll be different for each of you children. It may be different for in fact it will be 31:35 different for every one of you but God has a plan for your life. Dear young sisters especially I want to speak to you because one day I hope you will be godly mothers as well like your moms are. Don't be distracted by what the 31:48 world tells you success is. I pray that you will lay a hold say Lord I want to know what your plan for my life is and that is the best plan for my life for and I want to fulfill it. help me and God will lead you into that. So the best 32:04 thing you can do, there are two things that God asks you to do about the gospel. Believe it and behave it. I want to talk about just briefly in in in the remaining time as I share two things about behaving the gospel. By behaving 32:19 the gospel, it means that I'm living it out. So remember that dear RLCF church family especially, there are two things that you must do. believe the gospel and behave it. But I want to talk about just two things that I see manifest in God's 32:35 calling for sisters, not just mothers, but for all sisters. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And you can write these two things down as I speak about them. The first is unveiling the glory of God in the church or revealing the glory of God in the 32:58 church. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Dear sisters, God has given you and I speak to you young girls as well, young sisters. God has given you sisters the tremendous responsibility that he hasn't given to men but a very specific 33:15 responsibility to reveal the glory of God in the church. Now he's given us men also a part of that but it is most manifest in the responsibility he has given to the sisters. The glory of God can only be revealed in the church if the glory of man of human 33:33 by men I mean human beings is hidden. The glory of God will only be seen in the church when the glory of the earth men and women is hidden. And in that he's given you sisters women in the world a very very important responsibility. 33:53 John saw this in order for him to glorify Christ. John 3:30. You read that John the Baptist saw this and we read that in the Gospel of John. In order for Christ to increase, John the Baptist had to decrease. If John the Baptist with all his gift, he 34:10 was a dynamic preacher and he did miracles and he was baptizing people and he was known as a tremendous prophet. People compared him to Elijah who was kind of the standard of what a prophet looked like under the old covenant. The 34:24 Jews, you're like, "Who's the greatest prophet all?" They would take Elijah. And then along comes this man, John the Baptist, with perhaps more dynamic power and gift than even Elijah, a a living prophet in our time. But John 34:39 the Baptist knew your calling is to find a small place. John, you're pretty big right now, but Jesus is coming. And in order for Jesus, in order for your ministry to really reach its fulfillment, in order for you to finish 34:54 the course of your life, John the Baptist, you must decrease so that Christ can increase. You must decrease so that Christ can increase. And in order for Christ's glory to fill the church more than it has before, the glory of mankind, the 35:10 glory of hum humanity, the glory of everything of this earth must decrease. I hope dear RLCF family that you want to go this way as a church in the days ahead that whatever things that are our own glory, whatever things the world 35:30 glories in, whatever things the world considers valuable and important, we are devaluing more. We're decreasing more. We're putting less value and emphasis on that so that the glory of Christ can be manifest more the glory of Christ. See a lot of people 35:49 I hear even in Christianom saying Lord we want your glory. We want your glory. We want your glory. And they say it in such a way. Oh let your glory come. That's not how you you can't invite the glory of God or force the glory of God 36:01 into a place by how you sing or how you speak or anything like that. It's very simply by decreasing And when God sees you decrease a little bit more in your marriage and in your home and in the church and in your thoughts about yourself so that the c 36:19 glory of Christ can be manifest more then he says okay then I'll come then my glory will be manifest and dear brothers dear sisters I believe the glory of the Lord is being manifest in this church I hope you're not too blind to see it the presence of the Lord 36:33 is in our midst in an increasing measure don't be blind to miss it but that's happening Because I believe that we're seeking to go lower, to be despised in this world, thought less of, spoken evil of, and people speaking all kinds of 36:49 evil about us. They've done that for years. But it's okay. We want to go down in such a way that the glory of the Lord might be manifest more. In 1 Corinthians 11, we're seeing seeing a little bit a little picture of how this is 37:02 practically done. It's one thing to say, "Yes, Lord, we want your glory. Yes, Lord, I'll go down." And then he says, "Here's what I actually want you to do." He starts by saying in verse one, "Be imitators of me just as I also am of 37:15 Christ." Verse two, "Now if now I praise you because you remember me in everything. And listen to this. Hold firmly to the traditions [clears throat] just I as I delivered them to you." But I want you to understand that Christ and 37:32 listen carefully because many people skip over this passage of scripture. Now, they'll skip right down to verse 23, which is the breaking of bread. Almost every church denomination has some form of communion, the breaking of 37:45 bread. But very few churches actually practice the first half of this chapter. Both are practices that are given to us as important in the church. And almost every church has the second one, but doesn't practice the first one. Let's 38:01 keep reading. uh I want you to know understand that Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ. So if you read it in the correct order, it's God that is the father is the head of Christ and Christ 38:18 is the head of a every man and the man is the head of a woman. Says, "Okay, that's great. I understand that." Ephesians 5 says, "Husband loves your wives as Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her. Wives, be 38:32 submissive to your husbands in all things." I believe that. Okay. How am I going to actually show that when we gather? Verse four, every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But 38:49 every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying. Now listen, he's speaking to the gathering of the church here because he's talking about communion when we gather as a church. And throughout these chapters in 39:02 all the way through verse 14 and such, he's talking about what you do in the meetings of the church. So let me read again from verse four. Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who has her 39:19 head uncovered, it means there's no covering over her head while praying or prophesying disgraces her head. For she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her 39:36 hair cut off. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to have his head covered. And then he explains to us why is this important? Why is this a 39:51 practice? Why is this a tradition that he said in verse two that is as important according to God as the breaking of bread which he's going to talk about a little bit later. That practice, why is it important? Because in fact I would almost venture to say 40:06 maybe I was going to say that it's even more important than the breaking of bread but it's not. Jesus said do this in remembrance of me. But the when women cover their head when they pray and prophesy and men make sure that 40:20 their head is not covered when they pray and prophesy is for a very important reason. It's not just okay that's what they did back then in the in the in the first century. A lot of people have used that as an excuse to say, "Well, we 40:32 don't have to do it today or it's legalism and all that stuff." But let's just go and read God's word exactly as it is. For a man ought not to have his head covered. This is verse 7. Since he is the image and glory of God, 40:48 but the woman is the glory of man. So here we see that the responsibility and the calling that he has given to women to sisters is that by putting on that covering on your head when you pray and prophesy you're covering all of us. 41:05 There is only one act physical act I'll say. There is only one physical act that hides the glory of everything of this earth in such a way that the glory of God can be manifest. Listen carefully to what I just said. There is one physical 41:24 act in the church meetings that God has ordained for the glory of everybody. Men, women, children, everything of this earth. There is one physical act that God has ordained for every all the glory of this earth to be hidden so that the 41:44 glory of God can be more manifest in the church. And that is when a woman puts a covering over her head while she prays and prophesies. I'm going to read these verses again because I tell you I people make it an argument. People make it uh oh fighting 41:59 about this. Well, let's just read verse 16. If one is inclined to be contentious, which we're not. We're not here to tell people what to do or to fight about it. We leave it up to each individual, but we preach the truth and 42:13 we don't water it down. We don't say, "Well, nobody else in the world does it, so let's not. I'll tell you, the rest of the world can deny Jesus Christ." I won't. And the rest of the world can cut out this from the Bible and cut out that 42:25 from the Bible and say, "Well, this is cultural and this is for that period and, you know, it's just a symbol and all that." I say I'm just going to take God's word as he's written it. Not legalistically, not judgmentally, but 42:37 reverentially. So, I'm going to read again from verse verse one. And then um you listen carefully, brothers and sisters and children. Be imitators of me just as I also am of Christ. Now, I praise you because you remember me in 42:53 everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I deliver delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ. Every man who has something on his head 43:08 while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head. For she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shade. For if a woman does not 43:22 cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to have his head covered since he is the image and glory 43:35 of God. But the woman is the glory of man. And I'll ask you this, dear family, as we think about this. Now, I it's not to set a law or, you know, or set some kind of legalistic set of rules, but that we know why we behave our faith. 43:53 Remember what I said about Susanna Wesley's quote? There's two things to do with the gospel. Believe it and behave it. That means it should be more than just, yeah, I believe it in my heart. I believe in submission in my heart, but I 44:03 don't have to show it outwardly, do I? Well, according to the word of God, you do. And Susanna Wesley's life was useful to the Lord because not only did she believe it, she behaved it. She demonstrated it. What do you think is 44:17 greater in the church, preaching or bringing glory to God? That's a very easy question for me to answer. Now, preaching does should bring glory to God. It should honor God. But when I see in scripture that God has entrusted to the sisters in the church, 44:33 especially good for us to think about this on this Mother's Day when God has entrusted to sisters in this church this one valuable ministry. sisters see the Lord speaking to you and saying dear the Lord Jesus Christ coming 44:49 to you and saying dear younger sister of mine I'm going to give you a very very important task I want you to help bring my glory into the church if he came to you and said that which one of us would say no lord don't not me if he came to 45:05 you sisters individually and says I want you to be whom I use to bring glory in my glory into THE CHURCH OF COURSE I WOULD SAY LORD I'LL DO ANYTHING. WHAT IS IT you want? You cut cut my leg off or do this, do that. What what can I do, 45:19 Lord, to bring your glory into the church? And then he says, you sister, I want you to put a covering on your head when you pray or prophesy. And the devil has succeeded in blinding the eyes of most of Christendom to say, 45:30 "Nah." And it's no wonder that the glory of the Lord is missing in many churches, bringing glory of the Lord in the church. Amen. So I I want to share one more thing and that is secondly. So the first was making way I could put it or revealing 45:49 making way for the glory of God in the church. That's a tremendous responsibility you have sisters. Now I see in in churches most people who walk into a church if they're wearing a hat men will take their hat off. That's 46:01 probably just they say well it's a sign of respect. You know, that started here in 1 Corinthians 11 when they say even, you know, men will gladly take their hat off for the national anthem and hold it over their heart, but they refuse to take their hat 46:15 off in church. Well, no. I care about the flag more than I care about God in heaven. Is that sad? This country that's supposed to be a Christian nation, which it's not. There's no such thing as a Christian nation. But when men will 46:28 gladly take their hat off at the at the baseball stadium and hold it over their heart because the announcer tells them to and they're looking at the flag will sit in the presence of the Lord with a hat on. You you know that something's 46:40 fundamentally wrong. Let's have a reverence for the Lord. So making way for the glory of God in the church. Secondly, for you sisters and for all of us really, what I'm exemplifying here is what can we learn from the instructions of God to women 46:56 that we can take as an ex as the spirit of Christ. You know it says when when we heard about a lot of people get hung up over man is the head of Christ. Man is the head of woman. Sorry, the man is the head of the woman. They get hung up 47:10 about that. You know what the whole verse said? God is the head of Christ. That means Christ has placed himself, he who was equal with the father. Philippians 2, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, placed himself in submission to 47:25 the father. And then he says, "No, you sisters, I want you to exemplify that. The men can't do that. They've got to submit to me, but on this earth, I want an example of how I submit to the father." And he says, "Sisters, will you 47:39 do that for me, please? by your submissive attitude to your husbands and the way you cover your heads when you pray and prophesy. Okay. Thank you, Lord. You You chose me. I tell you, I I don't say this lightly and I don't say this casually. I really 47:57 believe with all my heart as I read God's word, if I were a sister, I would receive this instruction with joy. Say, "Thank you, Lord. of all the creatures on this earth that you could have chosen to make way for your glory to be in the 48:10 church you chose me as a woman. I want to cherish that and value that and I want to do IT JOYFULLY. DON'T BUY INTO the lie of the world that says, "Well, they're putting a weight on you and their condemnation and all that." Don't 48:24 don't buy into that. The world will the devil will twist everything that's glorious about the kingdom of heaven and make it burdensome. May we see the glory of this. And for you sisters who grow up, young girls who grow up, and you'll 48:37 face the choice of whether to obey God's command or not, I hope you've seen the beauty, the beauty of the submission of Christ. Secondly, let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy 3. I I'll say this. So first 49:01 of all, manifesting the glory of God in the church. Secondly, manifesting the modesty, submissiveness, and dignity of Christ. See, what what we see in moms, in women, sisters, I'll say, not just moms, what we see in sisters and the 49:16 godliness that he's called sisters to aspire to is from Christ. It's not even though Christ came on the earth as a man and he is a man in heaven, he's not man in the way that we think of man. He has in him in the divine nature is something 49:35 that is manifest in women in you sisters. You your you sisters have something in your temperament your nature and the goal he has placed for you as women. He's not going to make all of you women men in heaven. I hope you 49:49 know that you'll still be there and I don't know what exactly that looks like but that attribute of sisterhood that he's called you sisters to be a part of his body and and to demonstrate Christlikeness and the divine nature as 50:03 a woman is seen in Christ the man and it's perhaps too complex and complicated for us to fully understand with our human minds but we must and as we see the exhortations to women and to sisters we see who Christ really is. Do 50:19 you want to know what Christ is really like? I that's my passion. I want to know all of Christ more. And when he says, I have put a little bit of my nature in women in my instructions to women in like what we read in 1 Corinthians 11. I want to know that too. 50:33 And even if I don't get to do that, I never get to put a covering on my head. I WANT TO KNOW THAT SPIRIT. I WANT TO KNOW Christ who is submissive to his father. And here we see the modesty and the submissiveness and the dignity of 50:49 Christ. Do you know that Christ is modest? In the Bible, we're only told about modesty when it comes to women. But I hope men that you know, you ought to be modest too. These days, sadly, even men dressed immodestly with shorts that are 51:03 too short for men to wear and uh other kinds of immodesty. But in the instructions on modesty that he has given specifically to women. Whose modesty is it? It's Christ's modesty. It's the modesty of Christ that he has called women to have as well. So 51:21 here's what I want you to see. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 14. I am writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long. But in case I'm delayed, I write this these instructions that he's just given so that you will know who Timothy a man 51:41 and you and I in whose Bible it is written, men or women, that all of you, male or female, will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the 51:56 truth. So all these instructions that he's given us here, we'll look at a few of them. He says, Timothy, I'm giving you these instructions so that all of you living even in 2026 will know how you ought to conduct yourself. This is 52:11 behaving the gospel, not just believing it, behaving the gospel. How one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. So here what Paul is saying is the 52:25 church is called to be the pillar and support of the truth. The household of God, not just any old house, but the household of God himself, a holy God to be reverenced. He says you ought to know how to conduct yourself in in the in the 52:38 church. If you believe that this is the house of God, not this building, but the gathering of the saints, then you ought to know. I mean, if you go to the White House, there going to be some rules of regulation. I I don't even know if 52:51 that's true, but certainly I know it's true in Buckingham Palace. If you go to see stand before the queen, the king now, there are certain rules. Well, you can't do this, you can't do that. You you okay, you need to stand here and you 53:02 observe these codes of conduct because this is not just any old house. This is Buckingham Palace. This is the White House. You're allowed to go here. No, you're not allowed to do that. You need to stand this way. You can't go there. 53:15 But oh, it's just the house of God. Yeah. Does it really matter? Can't I just s sit there lazily and be on my phone all the time? It's just the house of God, right? I wouldn't do it if I was in front of the president. But the household of God, and that's 53:28 what Paul's burden was, that you would know how to conduct yourself in the household of God. And so what does he say? First of all, skip over back to chapter 2 verse 9. Likewise, I want women, first of all, he says, "Men, hold up your hands. 53:48 li Lift up your holy hands without wrath and dissension. No anger and no complaining and fighting. No issue with anybody else. No com dissension, no complaint, no arguing, no dissension. 54:07 I hope all of us lifted up our hands earlier and sang without anger in our heart, without any dissension in our heart. Otherwise, God's going to judge. Now, maybe we'll we'll hear on that on Father's Day. How about that? But verse 54:20 9, likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper. This is how to conduct yourself in the household of God. And it's not just on a Sunday morning. It's being a part of the church, the living organic church of Christ, wherever we go. Like Susanna 54:38 Wesley said, that your presence is with me always wherever I go. So if I'm out on the street or if I'm at the beach or if I'm uh uh out in public somewhere, I'm in the household of God and I ought to know how to conduct myself. And so he 54:52 says, "You sisters, you want to know how to conduct yourself in the presence of God? Adorn yourselves with proper clothing modestly, discreetly." Discreetly means that you're hiding what should be hidden, not wanting to expose it like the rest of 55:06 the world does. Not with braided hair and gold and pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works as is proper for women, making a claim to godliness. Do you make a claim to godliness? Do you say that you're a 55:22 sister of Jesus Christ? Dress modestly with proper clothing discreetly. um the and this is Christ you know even though the exhortation is to to sisters and specifically in having that modest spirit now notice he doesn't 55:40 say what does this actually mean you know how long your dress is and it should do this and do that ask the Lord to give you wisdom stand in front of the mirror and say Lord Jesus are you happy to walk onto the street with the way I'm 55:52 dressed right now look at me Lord Jesus in my whole body how am I dressed are Are you excited to hold my hand and walk down the street with me knowing that there's that I'm demonstrating your modesty, Lord Jesus, in how I'm dressed? 56:10 Okay, that's one, the modesty of Christ. Secondly, the submissiveness of Christ. We read in verse 11, a woman must quietly receive instruction. This is not, oh, you women, you're less or anything like that. Men and women are equal in God's eyes, the 56:24 equality of Christ, male and female. But it's the submissiveness of Christ manifest in women. It's not the submissiveness of women. It's the submissiveness of Christ manifest in sisters. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. 56:39 See, if it wasn't Christ, you sisters could say, "Well, Lord, I don't have an example. You're not an example for me." And yet, he is. Christ is an example for you sisters even in this even though he was a man here on this earth. A woman must quietly 56:57 receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over man but to remain quiet. So again is the submissiveness of Christ manifest in women. Today we have a a Christendom 57:12 that's full of women that want to be preachers and a Christianom that says, "Well, why can't I preach? Why can't I teach? why can't I be a pastor of a church and all that and so they say yeah they've taken out this verse from the Bible completely 57:25 and yet it's very clear and it's the submissiveness of Christ manifest in sisters and finally chapter 3 11 the dignity of Christ you know what the dignity of Christ looks like for sisters for for brothers we'll hear about that at some point for 57:43 sisters you know what the dignity of Christ looks like chapter 3 11 it says says um be dignified. Women must be dignified. How? By not being a gossip. 58:01 You know the most undignified thing a sister of Jesus Christ can do according to this verse is to gossip. To want to know a little bit. Oh, I want to know this and then I want to gossip about it and spread that to somebody else and 58:11 spread that to somebody else. And you think Jesus is and and undignifying Christ. It goes on in churches. Now, sadly, some men are also gossip. And that's that's really sad. But the instruction is especially here to women. 58:27 Chapter 31. Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate and faithful in all things. Dear sisters, when you by the power of the Holy Spirit don't gossip, when you hold back your tongue from gossiping and wanting to 58:45 gossip and and and it's in our it's in our flesh, isn't it? For you women, it probably is in your flesh. Men tend to struggle with lust a lot more than that's the instructions I see in scripture. And women perhaps struggle 58:59 a little bit more with that tendency to gossip. But regardless whether you struggle with it, men or women, this is the spirit of Christ that we're seeing here manifest um manifest in the word of God. And in order to say that we're more than just 59:13 those who believe the gospel, but we behave it, let's take these instructions to heart. So two things I spoke on from the exhortations we've we see in scripture for for sisters for women and that is first of all making way for the 59:26 glory of God in the church and manifesting the modesty and submissiveness and dignity of Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we've heard some serious things today. I believe is on your heart, Holy Spirit, to speak to us and to me included. Lord, all of us, 59:43 we want to receive this instruction with humility, not with pride and resentment and uh uh rebellion, Lord, but with humility. Receive the word that you wanted to implant in our hearts today. And may the word that you've spoken, we 59:58 believe, Lord, will not return to you empty, but will accomplish that for which you spoke it to us today. that we will be all of us men, women, and children, those who exemplify Christ, who both believe and behave the gospel. Help us, Lord. We need your Holy 1:00:17 Spirit. We can't do this in our own strength. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us that Jesus Christ will be more clearly seen, believed on, and manifest, and demonstrated by our everyday lives. We thank you. You will do it in Jesus' 1:00:31 name. Amen. [music]
