Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South
Australia. Amen, Amen.
Awesome Father, we also thank you for the word that's going to
be shared by Dave this morning. This is a living and active
powerful word that is sharper than any 2 edged sword.
And so we just pray Lord as it's spoken this morning, would it
Pierce our hearts? Would it?
Would it encourage us and stretch us to be more like you?
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Thank you guys.
Wow, he's so good, isn't he? He's so good.
What an amazing day to be together to worship him, to lift
him high. It's Mother's Day.
But like it's not just about mums, is it?
It's like it's always about him first.
We can celebrate. Sorry, my voice is a bit shot
from singing. We can always celebrate things
like Mother's Day, but it's like it's Jesus first, right?
And it's like the Lord 1st and then everything falls into
place. So we can, we can celebrate
Mother's Day because we, we put the Lord in his rightful place.
Amen. We're going to talk about some
mothers. We're going to talk about some
some. We're going to talk about the
church. We're going to talk about women.
The sacrifice mothers make is an incredible sacrifice, something
that I've learned in the past almost seven years, which is
amazing because you know, on days like this, you'll remember
like what the sacrifice that my mother made for me, right?
And, and you learn that through being a father and, and watching
mum, you know, work hard to raise children.
It's an amazing thing. But mums give up their bodies
for the life of another. You know, they, they, these
babies grow up inside the mums and they, they sacrifice their
bodies to raise children that children could grow and not just
during the pregnancy either. It's like once the baby comes,
it's just, it's just the beginning right now.
The sacrifice just continues on. And if anything, it gets harder
from what I've seen, you know, your bodies, these the ladies
bodies become beds for the babies.
You know, they become pillows. You know, they're they're doing
weights all day. They're like carrying these
little ones around. You know, they're working out
everyday all day. It would seem.
They sacrifice their sleep, they lose their sleep.
It just has to be done. They give up their free will.
They can't just, you know, and this is for us as parents as
well. But we're talking about mums,
right? But they they can't just do
whatever it is that they want to do anymore because they've got a
dependent on them. And so their life is just now
sacrificed for to, you know, to raise a baby that can't take
care of itself. It's an amazing thing.
And it takes humility to walk this out.
Yeah. Mamas, Mamas must be humble.
They must humble themselves and just go this, this life isn't
about me. You know, that takes humility.
And it's such a picture of Christ, isn't it?
Like motherhood and, and being a parent and stuff like that, Such
a picture of Christ. And it's only in mums, you know,
this, this desire and this will and these instincts to do this.
It's only in mums because it was found in him first.
Because we were, we were made in God's image and mums were made
in the image of God. And so you know, Jesus, like
when you, you know, I said, this is a picture of Christ.
If you look at Jesus, he, he'd like adopted these 12 men, and
we call them men because they were men.
But they were. Completely dependent on him.
They were basically, he basically carried them for three
years, right? And he protected them and he fed
them. And I was thinking about this
during the week and it's like no one could touch these men while
Jesus was there. And it made me think about, you
know, the scripture that says that you're talking about fools
and it says, you know, better to to come before a, a, a mother.
What does it say? Like I took it out of my notes.
I should not have done that. A mother and her Cubs.
You'd be better off to, you know, like standing in between a
mother and her Cubs. That is very foolish thing to do
because the, the mother, the mother bear, she will tear you
apart right. And it's they couldn't touch
those men while. Jesus was here.
He was protecting them. He sent them on their way, you
know, like he, he, he took care of them.
They couldn't touch him while Jesus was there.
And so, you know, and then when the time was right, Jesus sent
them away to fend for themselves, to, to, to go and do
this thing on his own. He taught them how to live.
And this is something that parents do.
This is something that mothers do.
They raise their children. And one day, just close your
ears for a second, babe. One day we're going to have to
send these kids away, you know, to, to live lives of their own,
to have their own families. And that's tough.
But that's a part of this thing, You know, that's a part of being
humbled to be a, to be a mum and a parent.
And Jesus, it says he humbled himself to come and be on the
earth. You know, I said, like Jesus
basically raised these 12 babies and raised them up to be
leaders, to be strong men. Right.
And Philippians 2 says says this.
It says, let this mind be in you.
Everyone say, let this mind be in me, let this mind be in you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God,
did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, taken the form of a bondservant, and
coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross.
And Paul says that we must think about our lives this way, that
Jesus humbled himself and laid down his life even to the point
of death. So when we consider the life
that we live, we're told to think about what Jesus did and
live a life in accordance with that truth.
So we must represent, you know, the sacrifice that Jesus has
made. For us, that's the life that you
and I live now. We're not living for ourselves
anymore. We're living for one another
because Jesus did that first. It's not enough to tell people
about Jesus. They must encounter Jesus in US.
Is that true? Like it's no good me telling the
world how wonderful Jesus is. And this, you know, that he
humbled himself and that he died for us and that he lived a life
if I'm just living for myself. And that's the example that they
see we need. To show people who Jesus is by
the life that we live. We read in Two Timothy 1/5 it
says when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in
you, in Timothy. Which dwelt first in your
grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in
you also. So genuine faith was was seen
and witnessed by Timothy's grandmother and his mother.
And then it was seen in Timothy as well.
Paul believed that that same faith that he saw in in that his
grandparents and his mom was in him also.
That's genuine faith being passed down.
Through a life lived. And that's, that's the call.
That's the call as parents, as mums, as dads, that's the call
that you and I have in the body of Christ in the church.
That the life that we lived and, and live displays Christ and
people could see Christ in US and that could be passed on to
others, that they could receive Christ, that they could start to
now represent Christ needs to pass through the generations.
We are not a, we're not a people that live for us now for this
generation. We got to live for the
generations to come. And you know, the, the, I've
said this a number of times, but the only reason that you and I
are in this room as, as Saints, as believers is because people
before us lived faithful lives serving the Lord, displaying who
Jesus was. And it got passed down from one
generation to the next. And now you and I and this
church and the body of Christ all over the world, now it's our
turn. Now it's our turn to represent
Christ so that those beyond us can know who He is, so that they
could pick up their cross and they could follow Him and they
could continue to pass this on to the generations to come.
Salvation is not a passive thing.
It's not a now we get to be saved and just wait for the King
to come. No, we are, we are ambassadors
of the King. We are to pass on, you know
this, the knowledge of Christ, who he is to the generations to
come, and that is a that is a high.
Calling that is a wonderful calling that we get to be a part
of. And so you know this picture of
a good woman in the Bible, you know that the the church is a
woman. It's the bride, right?
It's and, and when you look at good women in the Bible, it
always points to the bride. It always points to Jesus,
right? Go and look at good women in the
Bible. It's always looking, it's always
pointing to to Jesus and his bride.
Bad women in the Bible, a picture of, you know, the world
and where what a what a woman could be if she was, you know,
taken away and and influenced and and LED astray, right bad
the bad woman and the good woman.
It's sort of like the story through most of the scripture.
We got to find the good woman. We got to look for the good
woman. We've got to be be the good
woman because we are the bride of Christ.
And so we're going to look at, you know, you guys are going to
laugh, but like we're going to look at Proverbs 31 this morning
and everyone goes, well, of course we are because it's
Mother's Day and that's what we do.
But I've never done this, so this is new for me.
So let's do this. Proverbs 31.
I'm going to give us 7 principles for building a
healthy bride or a healthy church.
OK. And we can apply these in our
togetherness, but we also must apply these personally because
you and I, whether you are a man or whether you're a woman, we
make up the bride here. And so all of these principles
are for us, and we need to apply these to our lives.
But more than that, we need to apply these in our togetherness
so that the bride of Christ can represent Jesus well, so that we
so that people could know him and see him.
Amen. Excellent.
So Proverbs 31, if we look at Proverbs 31 verse one, can I
just ask before you look there, just close your eyes.
Don't look. Proverbs 31 it was written by a
king Lemiel. Lemiel very good king Lemiel
wrote this. Where did he get this wisdom
from His mother, his mother, he got it from God.
Where'd his mother get it from God ultimately, but it says here
in in Proverbs 31 verse one, it says the words of King Le Manuel
Le Manuel, whatever the utterance which his mother
taught him. Isn't that cool?
His mother taught him this. And again, this is like I've
already said, but like Timothy was this wisdom, this
understanding of of godliness was passed down.
So this king, he learned it from his mother and he wrote it in
the Scripture and it was God breathed and it's full of life
and it's for us today. So I guess you know, my first
point, which isn't a point is sons, listen to your mum's Amen.
My mum's here somewhere like, you know, every man in here is
someone's son and every woman in here is someone's daughter.
Anyway, listen to your mum's men.
That's a, that's a really good principle for life.
Now we're going to start here. Number one, she, I'm saying she,
she's the bride. She must fear the Lord.
The bride must fear the Lord. I won't say that we don't like
to say this. I like to say this, I like to
say that we should fear the Lord.
He is God, he he created all things he answers to no one.
I'm going to fear him. You know, Jesus even says fear
the one that can throw your soul in hell.
If Jesus says that I should, maybe I should have a healthy
fear for, for a God who you know is almighty and, and, and you
know, it's all his guys. Our lives are not our own.
So we must fear she, she must fear the Lord.
Proverbs 3130, it says a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be
praised. That's pretty good, isn't it?
Like that We're going to be rewarded for fearing the Lord.
She's going to be honored. She's going to be praised not
for her own good, but just because she positioned herself
in a rightful place of having a reverent fear for God.
So that's pretty good. You think, You would think that
that would be an easy thing to do, but I don't know that it is
because like, you know, if you look around people's lives, how
we're living like the US that claim to be followers of Jesus,
I don't know how much we fear him.
Sometimes. I think that we're willing just
to live like, oh, he knows my heart now He, you know, he knows
that I fail sometimes. He knows this and that and
that's true, but where's the fear of God to say, I don't want
to dishonor my Lord, He's my king, He's my savior.
He, he laid down his life for me.
I don't, I don't want to lay down my life for him.
You know, there's a fear of the Lord and we're talking about
having good character here. Way back in Proverbs one, it
says it lays this foundation. It says the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.
It's like you could know nothing outside of having a healthy fear
for the Lord. It starts there and and again,
like if we don't have that healthy fear and we're just a
bit flippant with it and just say, oh, you know, he knows my
heart and well, you know what? You're going to struggle to
receive wisdom and understanding from the Lord because it starts
in a healthy place of fear to the Lord, Amen.
So we must start our lives as new, new believers in Christ
with him seated on the throne of our hearts.
That's like where it begins. Like when you get saved, you're,
you're humbled because you realise that you've been living
a life outside of God's, God's desire and God's will and, and
he's God and it humbles you. And then there's repentance.
And from that place, when, when Christ becomes king and your
Lord and your Savior, now he's seated on your heart.
It's just like now I have this reverent fear of who he is.
It starts there, guys. It's not something you have to
grow into. That's like a salvation moment.
You got to live from that place. If you if you start there and
then move away from that place, you've missed it.
You're off on some other Rd. You're not following Christ.
It starts there. Amen.
It's complete service to the king.
If we miss that, we miss everything.
So this church must It can't be built on our talents and our
abilities. It can't be built on like it's
flashy appearance, like it looks like the life of God is here.
It can't be built on amazing programs.
It must be built on the truth that Jesus is Lord and Saviour,
that he is our king. That's what this church is built
on. Christ is the foundation, not
all the stuff. And, and I sort of started by
saying that, you know, we can celebrate Mother's Day if Christ
is in his rightful place. And that's great.
We can have all the programs, we can have all the flashy music,
we can have all the stuff if Christ is in his rightful place.
Otherwise, we're just trying to do this in our own strength and
Christ isn't in it. God's not in that if he's not
seated in his rightful place. So we build this church on
Christ, reverent to God, His Holiness, obedience to His Word,
fear of the Lord leads you into a place of obedience to the
Lord. That's where we want to live.
That's where this church needs to be built from.
Jesus says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you don't do the
things that I say. Jesus said that guys like he's
just like he's going to, he's going to say that to people
that, you know, people are going to live their lives and, and,
and leave this place and stand before him thinking that, you
know, oh, God knows my heart and he knew that things were hard
for me to go. Why do you even call me Lord if
you're not willing to do the things that I've said?
And that's not legalism. That's just having Christ seated
in the throne of your heart, right?
Amazing. It's a good thing, guys.
Like it's like we've got to step it back into that.
If we don't find ourselves in this place challenge, be
challenged by this this morning. If not, if that's not, you don't
just don't just shrug it off and just go, Oh well, no, Oh well.
Like we're running out of time here, guys.
We are going to stand before the Lord one day, and we are going
to give an account. Help us, Lord #2 She serves
faithfully. Proverbs 3113.
She works willingly with her hands.
Proverbs 3127. She does not eat the bread of
idleness. She works consistently.
She works with a humble heart. She works diligently.
She's a busy worker. She's not lazy.
She's not just leaving it up to everyone else.
She's not just like again, like she's not just going, oh, well,
I'm saved. I'll just someone else will just
like preach the gospel to the next generations.
Someone else will, you know, pass this on.
No, she, she will be diligent in the work of the Lord.
She will make sure that she's playing her part in the Great
Commission in seeing the gospel go to the ends of the earth to
to our city. She's going to work hard with
her hands. She does not sit idle.
Most of the service that we do for the Lord goes unnoticed like
you know, I, I thank you guys for your service like so it's
not unnoticed right now, but most of what we do for the Lord,
there's no earthly reward for this.
It's like the Lord sees your heart.
The Lord sees the sacrifices you make as a mum, like where we are
today. The Lord sees the sacrifices
you're willing to make to raise godly children.
Do you see it? We're going to be rewarded for
these things, for laying down our lives.
But in this life now, we are not called to live for a reward.
We're not called to live for a thank you.
It's like, I'll do it, but so long as someone notices and if
they don't say thank you, then I'm not doing it this next week.
Like, do you see what I'm saying?
Like we, we, we got to, we got to, we got to serve faithfully
and we're serving the Lord. We're not serving one another,
but as we serve the Lord, we serve one another.
It's like it's both right, isn't it?
And can I say that like this faithful service, it's not easy.
It's hard work. She works hard.
She works diligently. And you know, it's scary to say,
but it's not going to end soon. Guys like you got to keep
working until, until the day of when you're not here to work.
You know, that's like you don't retire Dudley, if you're retired
from serving the Lord yet. Amen.
Nada. Have you, have you retired from
serving the Lord? We don't get to retire.
Like we don't get to retire. We are a vessel for his Holy
Spirit and there's work to be done.
So we work diligently until the day that he comes for us or, you
know, just keep working diligently.
It's not over. I don't say that to to to put a
hardship on us, but it's just that's the call.
That's the self selfless life we've been called to to live and
it is a it is a wonderful life. It is a strengthening life.
It is a fulfilling life. There is no other life out there
that can be more fulfilling than serving the Lord.
Can someone say I am ended up. It is the most rewarding life
one of us, any of us could ever live.
And the reason that it's rewarding is because it's what
you and I were created for. He puts his spirit in us now
we're we're, we're where we're supposed to be.
And it's, it's, it's hard, but it's rewarding.
And we get to engage with our king again.
Amen. Thank you, Lord, Lord, we thank
you for service. We thank you that it's not hard,
but you give us what we need to see it through.
You're an amazing God and we serve you with our hearts in
Jesus mighty name, Amen. Thank you, Lord, thank you that
you are building a house here that serves faithfully, Lord.
All right, so I'm going to keep moving.
Yeah, I just, let me just say this as well.
Like the the ladies that followed Jesus served him
faithfully. Like the the ladies weren't sort
of off to the side, just, you know, he's got his 12 and those
are the ones that are serving with the Lord.
If you read about the the ladies that followed the Lord, they
were serving him wholeheartedly. They laid down their lives to
serve him. They followed him.
It says that they provided for him out of their own substance.
It's not just left up to, you know, to, to leaders or to it's
all, it's all of us guys. The picture is the bride, every
single one that is a part of, of the bride of Christ has a
purpose. And they serve their, their king
wholeheartedly. And they are generous and they
bring offerings and they, they make sure that the work can be
done together. It's a, it's a body.
We do it together. So #3 she is compassionate for
people. She has compassion.
Proverbs 3120 says she extends her hand to the poor.
So this bride, this good, good woman, she cares for the needy.
She supports hurting people. She shows compassion.
She practices generosity. And not just the financially
poor. Jesus, Jesus.
And when he talks in the Sermon in the Mount, he says that he
talks about the poor in spirit. It's not just poor financially,
it's people that are poor in spirit that don't know their
worth, right? The poor in spirit, she, the
bride takes care of the poor and the church because we're
together, we have all things in common and we look after one
another first. You know, like when it comes to
taking care of the poor, you know, we've got a heart for the
community around us and we, we play our part in food ministry
and stuff like that. But it has to start here.
The bride takes care of the bride first.
It's like we have all things in common.
None of us should have no food on our table or all of us should
have no food on our table. Do you see what I'm saying all?
Things in common. We take care of one another.
We take care of the bride first because we're a body, one body.
And then out of the out of the overflow of what God has given
us and, and, and brought into this house, it flows out to the
community that we could make a difference where, where God's
got this lamp stand. Amen.
All right, So you know, our Christmas, Christmas and Easter
and our hampers and all of these things, these are way that we
get to take care of the community beyond ourselves,
beyond this family here. And we don't charge for these
things. We don't want to charge for
these things. We want to be a generous church.
And again, that that when people look at us, they see the heart
of God. We serve a generous God.
So we want when people look at us and the community looks in at
what we're doing here, we want them to see God's generosity and
that we we won't charge to take care of the needs of the people.
But the only way that this church can be generous is if we
are generous. That's the only way, because
this is how the Lord takes care of his house.
He takes care of his house through us.
So if we believe that we are called to be a generous house
and if you believe that we should be taking care of the
needs of the poor around us, reach into your pocket.
And but that sounds terrible. But we we got to we got to be
generous. We got to give.
It takes money to buy food to give to someone.
It takes money to pay to stand in this space.
It's like, you know, when people say, oh, the church just wants
all of our money and all the rest of it.
We don't want your money. We want to serve the Lord the
way that God calls us to. We want for when people to look
at this house to see that the heart of God is here, they're
generous because He is generous. We got to be a generous people.
All right, all right, 22 Corinthians 9, we've got to go
back to Scripture. Don't take my word for it. 2
Corinthians 9 verse 6 it says, But this I say, he who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly.
He who sows bountifully will will reap bountifully.
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not
grudgingly or out of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver.
Why does God love a cheerful giver?
Because God is a cheerful giver, right?
He doesn't love himself, but he knows he's good, right?
It's not arrogant for God to say I'm good because he is good.
Goodness comes from God, right? So he loves a cheerful giver
because he is 1. And God is able to make all
grace abound towards you, that you always having all
sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good
work as it is written. We believe that this is the Word
of God. We believe these words are true.
If you wanted, if you wanted to, for God to provide abundantly
for you, that you could provide abundantly for others.
We better be a cheerful giver. We better give with a good
heart. We better be generous, Have to
be, because Christ is generous. This is how the Bride reflects
Christ #4 She has strong households.
Proverbs 3115. She also rises while it is yet
not and provides food for household.
This is what the the bride does for our house.
Like this has to be true for us as individuals, for our house,
but this has to be true for this house as well, right?
She has healthy families. We got to raise healthy
families. We got to raise a healthy family
here. We have to be healthy.
You know, she, she is active in discipleship.
That means that she is active in discipleship, not that the
leaders of this church are active in discipleship.
That she, that means you and I and everyone in this room, we
play a part in discipling, in raising people up to know the
Lord. She does this, she is active.
She's, she provides spiritual nourishment, but she, she
provides spiritual numbers. She speaks words of life over
one another. I hope that when we're together
and I see some of this, that words of life are spoken over
one another. We nourish one another.
We don't allow each other to stay in a place of brokenness
and hurting. We, we nourish one another with
the word of God. We speak words of life.
We gather together. We, we, we make sure that we're
taking care of one another. We're reaching out, we're
sending texts, we're picking up the phone, we're knocking on
doors. We're together in our own homes
and, and here as well, you know, it's easier to stay home some
nights, especially in winter. It's easier to stay home this
morning and stay in bed when it's cold.
You know, when it's raining, it's easier.
But this says that she's she's up while it's still not.
She's willing to get up. Jesus was up all night.
You know, this is the picture that we have.
Healthy families are together. We are together.
It's easier not to be together, but when we are together, that's
when the life of God can really start to move and stir in our
hearts and and innocent through US.
Amen. Hebrews 10 verse 24 and let us
consider one another in order to stir up love and good works for
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the
matter of some. This is like this not Paul.
This is someone was writing this in Hebrews, right and he was
saying don't forsake the assembling together as is in the
matter of some. He's writing to believers and
just going. It's already happening then that
people wouldn't think that it's important to be together.
I can tell you right now the church needs to get another
revelation of the importance of being together because I think
we're we're we're sort of fitting that category more than
the we want to be together category.
We need a greater revelation. Lord help us and so not
neglecting the assembling of ourselves together as is the
matter of some, but exhorting one another and so much more as
we see the day approaching. What day is that?
The day of the Lord so much more as we see the day approaching,
right. That means that we need to be
together more. We do like, and it's a good
thing like we, we can do like maybe we need to look at our
schedules, see the things that we've put in place and seeing
the things that we consider to be more important than being
together because of the Scripture is clear, even more so
until the day of the Lord. All right, so we eat together.
We open up scriptures together. There's food for us when we're
together. We're eating together right now,
aren't we? What are we eating?
Spiritual food? It's good for us.
We have to be together in our meetings, our community groups,
you know, these need to be LED. Well, we can't, we got to be
intentional, right? We can't just come together in
our homes. And this is, this is not just
for a community group. This is for when you ask another
family or something or a friend to come to your home.
Intentional guys, like we need to be intentional about that.
You know, that doesn't just become a hangout like we let's
just come together because if I'm honest, I've fallen into
this, even when we planted the church, I'm catching a
revelation of intentionality, if that's a word, right, because
I'm just like, Oh, we'll just come together as the, as the
bride and we'll just see what God does.
It just doesn't work. Like we, we need to be
intentional when we're together. We need to intentionally open up
the word of God. We need to intentionally speak
to one another about our struggles and about what we're
where we need help and pray for one another, prayer and the word
and communion and eating. We need to be intentional.
So I say all that to say that when we're together in our
community groups, we need to be intentional.
Bring your Bibles along, be prayed up, ask the Lord to give
you a word for someone, but more so than that, because we're
going to be together even more so until the day of his coming,
anytime that you're together, be prayed up, bring your Bible, ask
God to speak, come together intentionally that the that the
Lord could work. Amen.
All right #5 she is wise and kind in speech.
Proverbs 3126 it says that she opens her mouth with wisdom, and
on her tongue is the law of kindness.
She speaks wisdom, she's gracious, she speaks the truth
in love to encourage and to build up.
Ephesians 415 I'm just moving fast now guys.
I just looked at the time, but speaking the truth in love may
grow up in all things to him who is the head Christ from the for
the whole body being joined and knit together by what every
joint supplies according to the effective working by which every
part does its share and causes growth of the body for the
edifying of itself. That's sort of well encapsulated
there, isn't it? It's all there.
Sometimes our lives need challenging.
I'd say that quite regularly. We need to be challenged by the
Word of God. To be challenged doesn't feel
good. It doesn't feel good for someone
to challenge you with the word of God sometimes, but it's
necessary for the building up. We need to become Christ like so
you know when when leaders and when people more mature than you
gather around you and, and, and highlight something to you or
even just brothers and sisters just see something that you're
missing and they bring it to your attention and we must bring
it to each other's attention in love.
We got to take that with humility to know that if it's
from the word of God, if it's not just someone's opinion, if
it's from the word of God, we need to yield to the word of
God. We need to be shaped by the word
of God. And I say that just to prepare
us. Prepare yourself, guys, because
when correction comes, it's not going to feel good and you're
going to want to push back and you're going to want to isolate
and you're not going to want to hang out with that person
anymore and you don't want to listen to the pastor anymore.
All of these things, but it is necessary for the building up of
the body. So we have to be opened to
correction. Word ABS getting the word of God
spoken over us in love. Two more number six.
She is a good steward. She stewards well.
Proverbs 3116 She considers a field and she buys it.
Proverbs 3124 She makes linen garments and she sells them.
She works hard. She, she produces, she stewards
her resources. Well, she develops, you know,
this isn't just money, right? This she develops people's gifts
and callings. She develops them.
She invests, she sows, she raises them up.
She thinks long term, you know, she buys a field, she considers
the field and she buys it. What's she considering?
She's considering how she can sow in this field and how it can
produce a harvest. You know, she's, she's wise in
what she's doing. And so we need to think long
term. It's sort of how we started.
We need to think for the generations behind us and not
just think about this little happy time that we get to have
now. It's for the generations.
It's long term. She works with with wisdom and
with vision from the Lord. She can see where the Lord is
taking her and she heads in that direction.
So, yeah, again, it's not just about money, but it is about
money, you know, like we need to be wise with our money, you
know, earning money and making money.
You know what's, you know, just as when it comes to saving and
building up wealth and, and, and getting ahead to provide and all
these things, saving money is as good as earning money.
So if we're wasting all of our money and things that don't
matter, it's it's just, it's not wise stewardship, right?
And churches, like for us as people and churches, we
shouldn't be overwhelmed with debt.
Debt should not be a thing. And you know, in the, our
society is like absolutely enslaved to debt.
You know, we're sitting on couches, we don't own, we're
watching TV's, we don't own, we're getting our, in our cars.
We don't own, we're in our houses, we don't own.
We're do you see what I'm saying?
We're washing our car, our, our clothes in things that we don't
own. It's like no one owns anything.
We're going to the shops, we're buying things in Afterpay and we
still don't own them. So now we're we're now we're
walking around in clothes that we don't own like the the our
society is in such a place of debt and debt is not God's will.
Deuteronomy 28 says the Lord will open to you is good
treasure in the heavens, to give rain to your land in the season
and to bless all the work of your hands.
You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
That's what the Lord says. Proverbs 22 says the rich rule
over the poor, but the borrower is slave to the lender.
Are we slaves? We are not slaves.
We have to consider our finances wisely anyway.
We're going to leave that alone, but that's it.
That's a tough one, guys, because we could easily conform
to the ways of this world just because that's how it's done.
But the word has a different direction for us, so we need to
submit. All right, I'm going to leave
all that alone #7. Her life brings honor to her
husband. Proverbs 3123.
Her husband is known in the gates.
Let me just unpack this term, the gates for us really quick.
In the time that this was written, the gates were like the
centre of the city government, like you know, the legal sector,
the business affairs took place there.
Various leaders, prominent people were found at the gates
in the city. In the book of Ruth, Boaz goes
to legalize a marriage and and and set some things in in order
for some land details. He goes to the gates and he
meets the elders of the city there.
So this is the picture. The gates are where, you know,
the where leadership is, where the governance is, where the
elders are. And to say that her husband is
known in the gates is to say that through the conduct and the
reputation of the bride, her husband has a place of
prominence and is well respected.
Do you see, like we are the bride, who is the husband that
we're lifting in high regard, Jesus our Lord.
And so that means that when, when when society looks at our
church, when outsiders look at the church, they see Jesus
lifted high, that Jesus is in a place of prominence, right?
So the way that we conduct ourselves needs to be in a way
that that makes sure that Jesus is lifted high and that his name
is not tarnished, right? And so obviously, like this is
the closing point. Then through all of these other
six points, our husband, who is Jesus needs to be held in high
regard. He we need to have a good
community reputation. We need to represent our king
well in a real way that shows the goodness of God.
Jesus was the image of God. Hebrews 1/3 it says who being in
the likeness, sorry, who being the brightness of his glory and
the express image of his person. Jesus was the image of God.
Jesus says, you know, how can you say, show me the Father?
You've seen me, you've been with me.
Jesus represented the image of God the Father.
You know, it has to be true for us as well because the church is
the body of Christ. So the church is the image of
God on the earth because Jesus is seated on the throne in
heaven. And so how do we, you know, make
sure that the Lord is well respected around?
It's the life that we live. It's the way that we conduct
ourselves as the body of Christ. Colossians 39 says, Since you
have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the
new man, who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image
of him who created him, Romans 8.
There's heaps of them guys Romans 8 verse 29.
For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to
the image of his son. 2 Corinthians 3.
Verse 18 But we all with unvowed face, beholding us in the
mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the
same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the
Lord. I'll give you one more. 1
Corinthians 15 And as we have borne the image of the man of
dust, that's your flesh, that your old man, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly man. It's all through the scripture,
guys. Jesus was the image of God.
We are the image of Christ on the earth.
And so I get like if you were paying attention to what I read,
you would see that it was to be conformed, being transformed.
We shall bear the image like it's not just like bang, you're
the image of God. We've been saved.
Now everyone can see Jesus. It takes diligence, it takes
hard work, it takes, you know, giving your life over to serve
the Lord. It takes hard work to bear the
image of the Lord. And one day when we stand before
him, the word says that we shall be like him because we shall see
Him as he is. So one day, you and I and the
and the bride, the body of Christ, we will bear his image
completely. We will be like him.
But until then, we need to be conformed to his image by the
Spirit of God. That means yielding to Him.
That means that when the word of God convicts you and you just
you know, I say things like we shouldn't be in debt.
Well, you should probably shouldn't leave here and then go
get ATV on credit. Like did you see what I'm
saying? Like the Spirit of God should do
something in here and just go. I'm going to choose God's way
and not my own. I hope.
No, none of you were planning to do that today.
I've got an old TV at home. You can have my old one.
I'll give you my good one if you need one anyway, whatever, just
come and talk to me. And so, you know, this is the
end of this of this preach guy. It's like this is the point is
we must yield ourselves to him if this is going to be true for
us. If we're going to be a church
that you know, these things can be seen and reflected and show
Christ, we're going to have to something's going to have to
happen in here because I love you guys and I love this church,
but we've got some work to do right with the the Lord needs to
work on us, all of us. Me too.
I'm here guys, I'm standing here.
I'm saying, Lord, work on me, work on me.
I need to be conformed into your image.
There's work to be done, but all of us need to be front footed in
saying, Lord, we want to represent you well that the that
the community around us that the loss could see your goodness.
Amen. Amen.
Justin's just going to it's going to hand over to Justin.
He's going to land and. Awesome.
Cool. What a word.
Hey, what a word. I want to just kick us off at
the beginning of this word talks about this excellent woman and
it says an excellent wife who can find God is looking for an
excellent wife. He's looking for an excellent
bride. She is far more precious to him
than diamonds. The heart of her husband trusts
in her. Then I want to be a person that
God trusts. I want to be that excellent
bride that he goes, man, I found my bride, the excellent bride.
Father, we just, we reflect on the word that we've just heard
about becoming an excellent bride and we know that that's
what you're searching for. You're not searching for
flashing lights and brilliant music and but you're searching
for an excellent bride. And so we all commit ourselves
this morning just a fresh to you to say that we want to be an
excellent bride. We want to be trusted by you to
carry the things that you want us to carry.
So as we sit here right now, as we pour over our notes, as we re
listen to this, Lord, would you stir something in us to grow and
become the excellent bride that you've called us to be?
That the world may know of you, that we may represent you well,
and then we may say, look at him, our beautiful husband.
Lord, we thank you that you have called us as your bride.
You haven't just called us as servants, you haven't just
called us as people just to follow you, but you've actually
called us into communion and close fellowship with you as
your bride. And so we want to be a bride
that honours you in everything we do.
Thank you for this day. Thank you for our mums who
demonstrate to us something of what you've called us as a
church to be, to pour out our lives, to honour you.
And together all of us said Amen.
Thank you for. Joining us for today's message.
For more information about The Way Church, please visit
ourwebsite@thewaychurch.com dot AU.
Have a blessed day.