1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,400 Good morning, everybody. It's good to see everyone who's 2 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,080 here today. I'm excited to study with you a 3 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,080 little bit of God's word. We are continuing on in first 4 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,960 Peter chapter 2, and this is where we'll be taking lesson 4 5 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:13,560 from. So if you're just jumping in 6 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,079 with us, we want to welcome you. We want to encourage you to go 7 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,240 back if you have a chance and read some of this because it 8 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:21,720 will provide you all the context that we lead up to today. 9 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:24,920 Now, just a very brief, I'm not even going to have slides on it 10 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,040 because I know it gets a little bit cumbersome to go back. 11 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:32,240 We learned that he's writing this letter to people who are 12 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,440 dispersed because of the persecution under the Roman 13 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:37,760 Empire. And those people were thrown 14 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,000 into the countryside, so to speak, and they were spread out 15 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,200 and persecuted. Christians were literally being 16 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,320 burned at the stake. Christians were being utterly 17 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,360 persecuted by people that had no respect for God, had no respect 18 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:53,160 for this Jesus that they claim to serve. 19 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,200 And so he's giving them writings of encouragement. 20 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,120 We talked about how he assured them that they are a chosen 21 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:04,480 generation, that they're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his 22 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,920 own special people, no matter what it might look like in their 23 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,280 current circumstances, no matter what it might seem like or feel 24 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:13,880 like. He says, you are my special 25 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,960 people and they have a purpose here in this suffering, that you 26 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:21,080 may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness 27 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,000 into his marvellous light. And this is Peter writing. 28 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:25,560 But we learned about Paul, right? 29 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,960 Who? Paul was persecuted by the 30 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:30,840 government, and he eventually had a chance to go before 31 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,800 governors and teach to governors of Rome because of the 32 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,680 persecution he suffered. We never know where this 33 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,560 persecution can lead to. We never know where some 34 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:47,160 suffering might put us in a place to spread the gospel, to 35 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:51,760 teach about God, and for in this case, for them to proclaim the 36 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,200 praises of him who called them out of darkness into his 37 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,960 marvellous light. These people might have felt 38 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,800 scattered, but they were actually the people of God and 39 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,320 have obtained mercy from God. We learned about how He wants 40 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,960 them to because of that, because they're not really permanent 41 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,759 citizens of this earth, but they're pilgrims. 42 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,440 He said He wants them to fight a war against the thing that are 43 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:18,200 temporary, He wants them to fight a war against these lusts 44 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,240 that might hold them back and to have conduct that is honourable 45 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,600 among the Gentiles. The quickest way to silence 46 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,360 people, he says, is to have good works. 47 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,600 And our ultimate goal is that they will turn to God and 48 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,560 glorify Him because of the good things that we do. 49 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,720 All things we covered. And the last lesson we really 50 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,320 focused on was these verses regarding submission to 51 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:45,600 government. And he's in the flow of thought 52 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:47,920 as we progressed into lesson 4 of submission. 53 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,240 And, and we talked about this in the Ephesian letter. 54 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:53,920 And I was starting to feel like, man, we, we've covered this 55 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:56,280 recently, You know, I do, I wanted to skim through it. 56 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,640 And then I looked at the date on the letter of Ephesians where we 57 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:01,600 covered submission, especially in the home. 58 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,520 It's been a year and a half. I don't know if you can believe 59 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,680 that if you, if it's fresh on your mind, but for me, I 60 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:08,200 couldn't believe it's been a year and a half. 61 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,760 So these concepts are repeated in the Ephesian letter and the 62 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,840 letter from First Peter. They must be important. 63 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,440 They must be something that we humans struggle to do. 64 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:24,240 We struggle to submit to a lot of different things. 65 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:28,520 And the the authorities we've been given are the government or 66 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,520 all those who are put in place above us. 67 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,680 As we talked about before, that honour of authorities extends to 68 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,800 our even our bosses, and we're going to see that more in this 69 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,520 lesson. We talked about the disconnect 70 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,720 that exists between different levels of authority and how we 71 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,240 can bridge those gaps and make things work better when we 72 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,440 simply will submit to wherever we're at. 73 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,400 Now there are times when we need to get out of a bad situation, 74 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:58,360 but Scripture often shows us how to live and thrive in the 75 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,040 situation we're in instead of always just trying to get out of 76 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,760 a situation because there are times where there's no way out. 77 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,760 Praise God that we have a society where we are free and 78 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,320 where we get to do many things according to our will. 79 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:14,240 But there are times where we can't get out of a bad 80 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,399 situation. And So what do we do? 81 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:19,040 We have to learn to make the best of wherever we are at at 82 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:21,959 the time sometimes. So we talked about submission to 83 00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:25,080 government and we talked about honour, maintaining honour of 84 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,760 authorities, maintaining goodness, humility, he says, and 85 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,440 we'll get some verses leading up here. 86 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,360 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put 87 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,200 to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, not using 88 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:43,000 liberty yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bonds, 89 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,360 bond servants of God. And this is the kicker we 90 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,600 learned last time. Honour all people, love the 91 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,080 brotherhood, fear God and honour the King. 92 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,880 This extended us may be far beyond what we're comfortable 93 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:00,840 doing, honouring everybody around us whether they deserve 94 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:03,240 it or not. We looked at this this idea of a 95 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:07,080 graph where we might only honor a few people, but he tells us to 96 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,240 honor all men. And here's where we pick up in 97 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,960 this flow of thought. Verse 18, he says, servants, be 98 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:20,160 submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good 99 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,120 and gentle, but also to the harsh. 100 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,160 So here is the here's the, the flow of thought. 101 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:31,280 He's talked about our submission to authorities and he's he wants 102 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:36,240 us to maintain the same level of goodness regardless of who they 103 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:37,840 are, what they are, what they do. 104 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,160 We are to be submissive not just to the people who are really 105 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:47,000 good, but to all of those who are in authority over us in our 106 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,040 work. OK, He's addressing servants 107 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:51,680 now. We look at that and we say, 108 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:53,560 wait, you mean servants? You mean somebody who waits on 109 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:57,600 somebody in their house? Labour in the course of human 110 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:02,640 history is not as simple as I have a job at a company, Labour 111 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,280 is someone else needs a job done and they're going to pay me to 112 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:07,800 do it, or they're going to give me food to do it, or they're 113 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:09,560 going to give me somewhere to live to do it. 114 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,360 We are in kind of a a special important history where we have 115 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,600 protections, we have laws that protect us, We have things that 116 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,080 will keep us safe if our boss tries to abuse us. 117 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,440 There's a lot of things in place right now that we can treat like 118 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,360 what? I'm my own person, I need 119 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,320 respect. It hasn't always been that way. 120 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,600 We all, though, in some way or another, exist in a place of 121 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:43,200 servitude. Labour unions, government 122 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,360 manifestos and basic protections come and go, but there will 123 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:52,640 always be servitude. And if we are only willing to do 124 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:58,840 good to a sliver of people, we will not have our full potential 125 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,840 to show the goodness of God and to show godliness in our work. 126 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,960 Verse 19, he says. For this is commendable if 127 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,160 because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, 128 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,840 suffering wrongfully. This is where the good stuff 129 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,240 happens. There's a lot of things in your 130 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:22,720 life where you may never get noticed for doing good things. 131 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,520 Like Jesus says, you do good to those who do good to you. 132 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:28,880 Congratulations. So do the Gentiles. 133 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,800 So do the heathens. Everybody is good to those who 134 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,520 are good to them. But we have a special 135 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:39,480 opportunity for impact on people when we will do this this 136 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:45,640 goodness and endure grief when it's wrongfully that we are 137 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,880 suffering. Let us adjust our gauge. 138 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,160 We need to adjust our gauge from being focused on what might seem 139 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,000 right to us, to focus on what is right in the eyes of God. 140 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,400 And God says this is the commendable thing. 141 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,320 This is the thing that we're going to get good credit from 142 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,200 God where we might say, you know what, bodily exercise, getting 143 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,960 super buff. That's that's great, right? 144 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:11,400 The Bible says that's little profit. 145 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:13,560 What about gaining the world's wealth? 146 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:15,520 The Bible says, yeah, it's fleeting and pointless. 147 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:20,600 So we have to adjust our view of what is good and commendable and 148 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:26,920 right and impressive. God says the good stuff. 149 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,880 The thing that is really impressive is suffering 150 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:35,280 wrongfully because of your goodness toward toward God. 151 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,679 And anything you go through wrongfully goes to this account. 152 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,520 If you're going through good times, great. 153 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,640 If you're going through hard times and you're enduring the 154 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,120 suffering because of that, it's commendable. 155 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:53,200 So it's even better in the eyes of God, the ultimate authority, 156 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,360 He says. For what credit is it if when 157 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,680 you're beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? 158 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,240 He wants them to suffer for a good thing. 159 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,480 But for us, that feels wrong. I need to stand up for myself. 160 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,400 I need to make sure I am. I'm taken care of, I'm doing the 161 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,080 right thing here. That's how I feel. 162 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,520 I feel like I need to justify myself if I'm being treated 163 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:18,200 wrongfully. That's not what he says. 164 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:26,400 This is part of the process, he says, because if we're beaten 165 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:30,840 for wrongfully, he's like for if we're beaten for our own faults. 166 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,960 Yeah, we got that coming. May we never suffer that way. 167 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,560 Why? Because God doesn't want your 168 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:42,560 suffering to be wasted. There's going to be a certain 169 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:46,360 element of suffering our lives and God's intention is that 170 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:52,120 every bit of that go to His glory and to your credit, He 171 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,640 wants you to be honoured by Him and by others because of your 172 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,280 suffering. So if I suffer for things that 173 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:01,560 are my fault, it's just a waste of time. 174 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,800 It's a waste of a suffering. It's like going to the gym and 175 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:07,840 exercising and then doing nothing for you. 176 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:11,320 You're feeling the pain but you get nothing out of it. 177 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,840 God doesn't want us to suffer for no reason. 178 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:19,400 A good parent will cause their children sometimes to feel pain 179 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:23,080 and to suffer a little bit in consequence so that they learn 180 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:25,600 something better out the other end. 181 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,680 You know what abuse is? Abuse by a parent is when 182 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:31,480 they're doing something to their child that's not going to 183 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,960 benefit them, that's giving them some kind of hurt or pain or 184 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,480 consequence negatively, but it doesn't do them any good. 185 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,200 It's just irritation. It's just abuse. 186 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:47,720 God doesn't want us to suffer for no reason because he is a 187 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,800 good father. So instead he wants us to do 188 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:53,920 good. So it's not a waste of time. 189 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,280 He says this is commendable before God. 190 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,720 Now I want to establish, if we haven't already, just a basic 191 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,920 principle. We all know that controlled 192 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,920 suffering is good. All of us on some way or another 193 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:13,280 put ourselves through this suffering. 194 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:17,520 It feels bad at 1st and the first time you exercise hard, it 195 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:19,920 feels awful. Or if you climb a mountain and 196 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,040 you're not used to climbing mountains, it feels horrible. 197 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:27,040 But you realize that's a certain amount of suffering is good for 198 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,960 you. Or there's even projects we will 199 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,640 put ourselves through, maybe around our own house that we 200 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,600 voluntarily do because it's worth whatever challenges we 201 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,760 might meet that we're going to get something great out of it. 202 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,440 We're going to get a new piece of landscape, you know, we're 203 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:43,040 going to get a new feature on our home. 204 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,520 And we put ourselves through that struggle because we know 205 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,760 it's worth it in the end. We eat vegetables and for a 206 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:53,080 while that's that's suffering on some little amount for many of 207 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,120 us because we don't like vegetables naturally always. 208 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:02,080 But we put ourselves through it to make us better. 209 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,080 But you know what this is? This is just suddenly 210 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:12,080 surrendering to self. This may seem impressive when 211 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,760 people get great discipline about controlling their own self 212 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,600 to the point where they will go extreme feats of physical 213 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:23,200 endurance, where they will eat healthy with no cheat days or 214 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:24,840 whatever. You might say we think that's 215 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,320 amazing. But you know, in a spiritual 216 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:31,000 perspective, that's still just self will. 217 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,040 It's current self. And what I want right now is 218 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:35,840 surrendering to who? Future self. 219 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,960 So it's still about me. So this is great, but it's not 220 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,840 the ultimate. What is the ultimate? 221 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:51,440 The ultimate comes when we are called to suffer, but somebody 222 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:55,320 else is making us do it. Why is that? 223 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:58,840 Because when we are controlling the suffering, we trust 224 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,960 ourselves. I trust myself to stop it if it 225 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,280 goes too far, but whenever somebody else, if it's a boss 226 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:09,920 over me, is pushing me, or if it's a parent making a kid eat 227 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:11,280 their vegetables, they're pushing me. 228 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:15,160 And you start to doubt in your mind, do they have what's good 229 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:20,000 for me in mind? And as soon as we start doubting 230 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,840 the authority that's over us, we don't trust anymore. 231 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:29,880 That's where it gets really hard to reconcile the suffering when 232 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:32,520 we are no longer in control. But you know what? 233 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,160 This is when it's necessary for us to submit. 234 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:43,840 This is when it's hard though, because when someone else wants 235 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,920 you to do it, we are no longer in control. 236 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,200 And so the command is patient submission. 237 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,600 What does patient submission say? 238 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,960 Well, this may be a silly image. AI helped me out with this. 239 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,840 It may or may not land. It's kind of corny, but but the 240 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,560 principle is that when we are being treated by a certain way 241 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:13,200 by somebody else, we have the spiritual perspective to look 242 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:18,840 past that authority and see God and see someone who is higher 243 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,360 commanding us to submit. And that we don't trust our 244 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:27,000 employer enough to submit. We trust God enough to surrender 245 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,760 to the authority that's over us and put it in God's hands. 246 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,760 Because when we are just relying on our boss to treat us well, it 247 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,360 may or may not happen, but we if we are spiritually minded, we'll 248 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:44,000 trust that God is in control and the God is above this. 249 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:48,240 If God is commanding me to submit, he will watch over me in 250 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,520 this. And if I suffer in this, God's 251 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:54,760 still in control. And if I think I'm hitting my 252 00:14:54,760 --> 00:15:01,960 limit, God is still in control. And in this process, we learn to 253 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,400 really see God in each situation. 254 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:09,080 We learn to actually put into practice what we say, which is I 255 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,560 just going to trust God in life. What does that mean? 256 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,680 And work? It means trusting that he's 257 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,400 there, that I look past my employer and see a God who is 258 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,640 trustworthy. Here are the statements of 259 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,080 patient submission. God, I believe you're in 260 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:25,840 control. Even though it looks like my 261 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:30,320 boss is or God, I believe you are powerful enough to refine me 262 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:35,440 for the better and bless me through even the hardest things. 263 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,280 Even though it's pushing me past a place I'm comfortable with, 264 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:43,280 God, I trust you are powerful enough to do some refining on me 265 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:48,120 that I need It says God, I believe you are wise enough to 266 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:51,880 teach my boss and my Co workers about Jesus through my 267 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:58,200 sufferings. Maybe more importantly, God I 268 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:02,440 love these people enough to teach them about you through my 269 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:06,840 suffering. This starts to really sound like 270 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:11,600 what Jesus did, isn't it? That I love the people around me 271 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,960 enough that I will suffer if it means they're going to get a 272 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,640 picture of God that will show them what God really is like? 273 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:27,680 That's powerful, and it comes in the most undeserved or 274 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:34,040 undesirable circumstances. We don't want to do this, but if 275 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:38,080 I love people enough to teach them about Jesus, I will allow 276 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:39,880 it to come through me. Isn't that what Jesus did? 277 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,040 I'm going to suffer for the world so they will see my love. 278 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,880 To teach our bosses to teach our Co workers about God's love. 279 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:54,480 Sometimes it requires suffering. It says God, I believe you are 280 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:59,240 deserving of their praise enough for me to suffer, so maybe they 281 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:03,200 will glorify you too. Because the problem is, if I 282 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:07,880 don't think these people are worthy enough, I'm not going to 283 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:12,119 care if they learn about Jesus. The problem is if I don't think 284 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,480 about God being worthy of their praise enough, then I'm not 285 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:17,760 going to care if I bring them along to Jesus. 286 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:23,920 But when I honour God enough, I will do anything to make him be 287 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:27,359 praised. I will do anything to bring 288 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,280 people to his throne. And this may be it. 289 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:32,920 It says, God, I believe you are faithful enough to give me 290 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:38,960 strength to bear up this weight. That's what the surrender says. 291 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,600 But what do statements of not having a submissive heart to our 292 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:48,720 boss say? They say I want a world where I 293 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,160 am the authority to decide what is right, good and fair. 294 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:57,360 What does that sound like? Does that sound like the devil 295 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:03,160 who said, I can see all the glory of God and I've been given 296 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:06,040 all the blessings of God and I'm an Angel in the presence of God? 297 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:09,360 But no, why do you have to be in charge? 298 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:12,560 Why do you have to sit on the throne? 299 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,040 I will sit on the throne is what the devil says. 300 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,840 In the Old Testament, we learned about how how that situation 301 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,040 transpired. That's what this sounds like. 302 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,200 I would have decided when suffering is enough. 303 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,920 Didn't know I could do that. I want to decide when I can when 304 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,120 my suffering is enough. I want to decide how I can show 305 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,040 people the right way instead of surrendering. 306 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,160 And it says all the exact opposite things. 307 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,440 It says God I don't believe you're faithful enough to give 308 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,280 me strength to bear up this weight if we don't surrender and 309 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:42,680 send. It says God I don't believe 310 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:44,160 you're deserving of their praise enough. 311 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,880 It says God, I don't love these people enough to teach them 312 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,680 about you through my suffering. God, I don't believe you are 313 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,480 wise enough to teach my boss and Co workers about Jesus. 314 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,760 God, I don't believe you are powerful enough to refine me 315 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:01,200 through my suffering. May we show our faith through 316 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:05,240 the act of submission in work. Verse 20. 317 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,960 So he said, if you take impatiently, this is commendable 318 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,320 before God, you know what that phrase sounds like? 319 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,840 It sounds like when Jesus says in Matthew 25, well done and 320 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:21,160 good and faithful servant enter in to the joys of your Lord. 321 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,240 This is where Christianity gets good. 322 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:31,320 It gets hard, but it gets good and I got to learn this because 323 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:35,360 I want to hear well done, good and faithful servant that is 324 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:41,600 commendable before God. Verse 21, he says for to this 325 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,360 you were called. He's like, if we get surprised, 326 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:49,040 as he going to say later, well, we'll come back to that. 327 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,320 He says, if you get surprised by the suffering, just remember 328 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,520 This is why you're here. This is part of the process. 329 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:03,600 You know, Peter, when he was tempted to abandon Jesus, he ran 330 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,280 from him. It's like he forgot the point 331 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:07,520 that the suffering was part of it. 332 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,440 And so he's trying to remind us, this is this is what you're 333 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,080 called for. You're called to suffering. 334 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,600 I'm not calling you to a good easy life. 335 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,320 I'm not calling you to become a Christian so everything can get 336 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,400 smooth, he says. I'm calling you to this 337 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:28,480 suffering, he says. Because Christ also suffered for 338 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,800 us. Becoming a Christian and not 339 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,120 wanting suffering is like going to the gym, hiring a trainer and 340 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:37,160 being surprised when they push us hard. 341 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:41,400 The trainer would say that's why you're here for suffering for a 342 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,160 benefit. You could be dealing with pain 343 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,120 for no reason at all. At least we're dealing with pain 344 00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:52,960 for a purpose and Jesus suffered also for us, leaving us an 345 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,440 example that you should follow his steps. 346 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:02,600 It says who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. 347 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:11,520 Every bit of Jesus suffering was wrong, but he loved us enough to 348 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,200 teach us about God through his sufferings. 349 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,520 He loves his Father enough to give him praise through the 350 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,280 people who had learned from his suffering. 351 00:21:27,330 --> 00:21:31,890 If I wake up every day expecting things to be good and then 352 00:21:31,890 --> 00:21:34,650 someone comes through and messes it up, I'm going to have a hard 353 00:21:34,650 --> 00:21:36,530 life. An even harder life. 354 00:21:37,170 --> 00:21:40,930 But if I wake up expecting some level of suffering every day, 355 00:21:42,610 --> 00:21:46,480 I'll be all ready to handle it. And if I don't suffer that day, 356 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,520 praise God that He gave me peace today. 357 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,600 Praise God that He gave me some rest from my struggles. 358 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,120 And that is the gauge that will help us from Scripture. 359 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:02,360 I don't have all that said in my brain for the record, and I am 360 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:05,960 young and learning a lot, but this is God's guidance and I 361 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,040 trust that this will be the best for us. 362 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,480 Bible says come, let him take up his cross and follow me. 363 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,200 So Speaking of this, Jesus in verse 23, who when he was 364 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,600 reviled did not revile in return. 365 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,720 When he suffered, He did not threaten, but committed himself 366 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,280 to him who judges righteously. There it is again. 367 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,800 We are not focusing on the person who's causing us the 368 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,840 suffering. We have to over commit beyond 369 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:41,640 the power of the adversary or the person who the pain is 370 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:43,480 causing, the person who's causing us pain. 371 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:48,360 We have to commit in a stronger way beyond that counterforce to 372 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:51,840 himself, to him who judges righteously. 373 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,480 We have to commit stronger than the adversary. 374 00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:00,160 And when we commit ourselves to God through this, that's where 375 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:04,040 the strength lies. That's where the money is. 376 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,880 It becomes doable. But if you don't look at God, if 377 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:09,840 I don't look at God and these sufferings, it becomes 378 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:15,360 impossible. Who himself Speaking of Jesus 379 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:19,760 bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died 380 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:21,720 to sins, might live for righteousness. 381 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,280 By whose stripes you were healed. 382 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,840 We sing the song, they give us a good visual of this. 383 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:32,920 It says O to see my name written in the wounds. 384 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,480 For through your suffering I am free. 385 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,000 Death is crushed to death. Life is mine. 386 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:47,440 To live one through your selfless love for you are like 387 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,640 sheep going astray. Sheep wonder. 388 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,000 They have no direction, they have no purpose. 389 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:57,760 But now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your 390 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:05,040 souls, going on to chapter 3, verse one, wives likewise be 391 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,400 submissive to your husbands. Wait, what? 392 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,920 He was just talking about people who are suffering persecution, 393 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,120 thrown out into the furnishes of the world. 394 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,480 He's telling them to submit to those government, the 395 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,440 government. OK, I understand He's telling 396 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,720 them to honour people to submit to their bosses. 397 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,800 How are Christians and suffering called? 398 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,360 Why are we talking about submitting to the authority of 399 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:34,640 the whole? Because the bottom line, number 400 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,160 one is the recipe is the same for all of us. 401 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,360 If you're in a place of suffering, focus on the things 402 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:45,920 you can control. Focus on your place and your 403 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,720 surrender to whatever position you're in. 404 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:52,840 That's part of it. But also another layer of this 405 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:57,160 is maybe in this dispersion and in their suffering. 406 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,240 There were women who didn't have faithful husbands. 407 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,000 There are women whose husbands did not believe. 408 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,480 He's going to talk to them in just a minute. 409 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:09,600 And so maybe those women are asking the question, do I 410 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,800 surrender to this man? Do I need to leave him because 411 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:14,960 now I'm a Christian? Am I better than him because 412 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:18,960 he's not a follower of God and the guidance to them? 413 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:26,840 No be submissive to your husbands, that even if some do 414 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:32,240 not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct 415 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,840 of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied 416 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:43,600 by fear. So I like how the NIV says this 417 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,560 a little bit better when they see the purity and reverence of 418 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,240 your lives. It's just it's elevating the 419 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,560 woman's example to how much impact she can has in purity and 420 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:57,120 reverence on the husband. Now the command and the 421 00:25:57,120 --> 00:25:58,800 principle is being carried over, right? 422 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,520 It's submission. It's being submissive. 423 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,360 At this point you're starting to feel like, is this an over 424 00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:06,120 everything? And it is. 425 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:08,560 It's kind of like the secret sauce of the Christian life. 426 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,920 You ever get that secret sauce that you like to put on 427 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,120 everything? I found this Thai chili sauce 428 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:17,560 that goes good on any meat you put it on. 429 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,800 It goes good on rice, potatoes. I love it on everything I eat at 430 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,880 at this point, pretty much. I remember growing up my mom, 431 00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:28,680 when she discovered turmeric, everything started turning 432 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,640 yellow and orange in our foods. Our chicken turned yellow, our 433 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,680 rice turned yellow, our beans turned yellow because she found 434 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:40,160 the stuff that was good flavour, but it was good for us and it 435 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,400 became the secret sauce that became part of everything. 436 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,920 And that's how submission is. If you're wondering where do I 437 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,000 fit into all this process, Maybe I don't have a job. 438 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:53,000 Maybe I don't have a spouse. Submission is going to come in 439 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:55,160 at some point in all of our lives. 440 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,640 It's the secret sauce of being a Christian. 441 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:04,680 In some ways, submission works because you know what happens 442 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,880 Sometimes you know this better than I do. 443 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,600 There are relationships where the husband is not a Christian 444 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:16,840 or is not a good Christian and his wife can try to tell him and 445 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,240 can try to tell him and can try to tell him. 446 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,560 But you know what happens? He starts to get bitter towards 447 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,560 it. He starts to get hardened 448 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:25,720 towards it and pretty soon he's calling her a nag. 449 00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:28,480 He's calling her things that are not nice. 450 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,920 And you know what? A woman, there's nothing worse 451 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,360 than being called a nag because you don't feel loved, you don't 452 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:35,600 feel valued, you feel like a bother. 453 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:42,040 How wise is God to give us this instruction without a word? 454 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,000 That's not saying you can never say anything, but that's saying 455 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,080 what's really going to affect him is not the words. 456 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,400 What's really going to affect your husband is the conduct. 457 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,000 How so? As we just mentioned in that 458 00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:02,200 last slide, with purity and reverence you can win over his 459 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:06,080 heart. We can spin our wheels for a 460 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:12,000 long time trying to make things happen, but if we surrender to 461 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,760 God's way, it may be frustrating, but it will work. 462 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,920 Does it say when submit to the husband when he is deserving? 463 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:26,640 No, just in this little sliver of time where he happens to 464 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:33,360 measure up? No, says submit, and that's 465 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:39,080 hard. We're going to come more to in a 466 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,160 minute that is difficult to do and we'll talk about that. 467 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,320 But you might be wondering, well, I have a husband who 468 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,400 believes. So is this talking to me? 469 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,240 Yes, because it says even if some don't obey the word, so if 470 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,720 they do obey the word, you can still have the same effect on 471 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,600 them. When Taylor is a certain way 472 00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,640 with her attitude and her actions, it makes me like, man, 473 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:00,880 I got to, I got to straighten up. 474 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,320 I got to be better. Even though I might not say it, 475 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:10,160 I'm realizing I got to be better when I observe her conduct. 476 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,920 How much more does this apply to the godly marriage for the 477 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,000 woman's example to impact the heart of the man? 478 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:23,040 So to the wives, when you show patient submission, you are 479 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,400 saying, God, I trust you even when it is difficult to submit 480 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,440 to my, you name it, husband. That's not. 481 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,600 It's not a place for a cuss word for my frustrating husband, my 482 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,000 rude husband, my stubborn husband. 483 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,480 God, I trust you. The woman has to do the same 484 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,960 thing that the employer does. They have to look past the 485 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:48,640 authority of the man and see a God who they're willing to trust 486 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,240 enough to surrender herself to a man that is faulted and fails 487 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,800 her. And this is a hard ask, but it 488 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:57,720 shows an even greater trust in God. 489 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,360 Now I'll be clear. We started by saying this, This 490 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,640 is to your own husbands. This is not a general command. 491 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,880 We've said this before. It's not a general command. 492 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,800 Woman submits to man, It's wives. 493 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:15,520 Submit to your own husbands. OK, we're going to come. 494 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:16,880 We're going to go deeper in a minute. 495 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,040 So if you're wondering, well, what about this, give us a 496 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:19,880 second. Verse 3. 497 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,400 He says do not let stalking to the woman. 498 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,080 Do not let your adornment or your beautifying be merely 499 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:31,040 outward arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine 500 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,680 apparel, he says. Don't let me merely that if it's 501 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,200 only that you're going to be in trouble. 502 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,760 You're going to be always trying to make yourself something that 503 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,000 you're never going to arrive at, he says. 504 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:46,000 But instead, rather let it be the hidden or the inner person 505 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,640 of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle 506 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:54,720 and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God. 507 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,440 It can be scary from what I understand and from what I hear 508 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:04,160 for women to lose their beauty as time ages then. 509 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:09,240 And it's makes sense because God created woman to be beautiful. 510 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,200 It even says that woman is the glory of man. 511 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:16,440 Man is just like wow, it's the glory of man. 512 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,880 You are made to be beautiful. God wants you to be beautiful. 513 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,200 He even gave you a desire to want to be beautiful. 514 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:26,080 I believe that's why women want to, to make themselves look that 515 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:26,920 way. That's why they want to make 516 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:30,200 their homes look that way. God gave woman a desire for 517 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:36,920 beauty to create beauty. It's good, but he wants them to 518 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:41,840 let it transition in their life from just being outward to being 519 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,000 an inner beauty. Now I put, I made sure to put a 520 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,920 translation here that says enter because it can seem like it's 521 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,720 hidden. No one's ever going to recognize 522 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:51,400 it. That's how some women feel like. 523 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,080 No one's ever going to recognize what I do. 524 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,840 It's not hidden in the sense that no one's ever going to see 525 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,360 it. It's inward, hidden in the sense 526 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,200 that it's not on the outside. People see what's on the inside. 527 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:06,320 The hidden person or the inner person of the heart with the 528 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:12,440 incorruptible beauty, the transition in beauty from when 529 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,680 you have it as a young woman to being beautiful in your soul. 530 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,160 It gives you comfort to know that this beauty is 531 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,680 incorruptible. It's never going to go away. 532 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,080 It's going to be forever. What is it rooted in? 533 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,160 It's rooted in the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. 534 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:42,800 It will 100% be noticed. I guarantee you it'll be noticed 535 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:49,080 by people, but regardless of whether they recognize it, God's 536 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:53,000 going to see it. That's where our ultimate trust 537 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,280 is. That's where the faith comes in. 538 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,680 But you know what? We have consequences in this 539 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:04,280 world, the business world for generations. 540 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,680 And our culture for generations has pushed women to carve out 541 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:10,000 their place in the business world. 542 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:16,880 And by doing that, they have devalued what women are gifted 543 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:21,160 with by God the best. Now I want to be clear, women 544 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,840 can do so many things in arts and science and and construction 545 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:30,240 and all these things. My dad recently got one of a new 546 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,640 project manager and he said this girl is like the best project 547 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:37,040 manager he's had. Women are capable of of all 548 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,560 these things. They may not be blessed with the 549 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:43,080 physical strength. That's just a fact of nature. 550 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,640 But women are capable of so many things. 551 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,080 It's not that they're not capable, it's what are you 552 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:54,320 designed to serve? What is your most valuable 553 00:33:54,320 --> 00:34:00,880 service? The world has pulled women away 554 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,920 from the glorious nurturing disposition. 555 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,360 It said. You need to go out and you need 556 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,480 to take what's yours in the business world. 557 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,960 The business world requires you in many ways to be harsh and 558 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,800 cruel at times, because unless you step out and you go get 559 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:20,040 what's yours, you're not going to get a raise. 560 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,560 You're not going to get that better job. 561 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,480 In some senses, it's true. Studies have shown when a woman 562 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:29,080 will go out and go get it, she will get more money. 563 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:34,040 But some of those dispositions are not encouraged of gentleness 564 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:37,760 and nurturing to the point where they get lost in her soul. 565 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,400 She stops valuing them, and so she stops becoming them. 566 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,199 I'm not saying you can be a career woman and a good, good 567 00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:48,360 woman, a good godly woman, but the world doesn't encourage it. 568 00:34:49,679 --> 00:34:52,239 The world wants to pull you in another direction. 569 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,239 It's brilliant on Satan's part, of course. 570 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,800 And you know what the result is? We have the most depressed, 571 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,600 anxious, sad generation in the world. 572 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,440 We have on record depression rates. 573 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,280 Suicide is through the roof. Why? 574 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:11,040 Because we've pulled women from the nurturing heart of our homes 575 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:13,600 and our lives. And we've said you're just 576 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,240 another salary, go get some more money so we can buy more stuff. 577 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:20,640 And you know what happens? People are not supported. 578 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:24,000 People are not cared for and loved. 579 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:31,400 And what's the benefit if you have a house or a car, if you 580 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:36,600 don't have peace and support and love women? 581 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,240 You outclass us every day of the week and you're nurturing. 582 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,560 A world without nurturing becomes cold, robotic, sterile 583 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,120 and stoic. You outclass us in emotional 584 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:50,520 awareness and empathy. We as a culture have not 585 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:52,880 honoured that in you, but in the church. 586 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,640 We must honour you in that, and we must encourage you to be 587 00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:59,480 that, because that's what your most valuable role is. 588 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,000 We've got men here who can design you a building, build 589 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,680 that building, and fix things in that building if they go wrong. 590 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,600 But we're not always good about building people up. 591 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,680 May we learn from you and that, then may we learn from them, and 592 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:19,440 may you show us how to support people in a way that this church 593 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:25,240 needs desperately. Sometimes we might think of men 594 00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:27,640 being the framework that's holding all things together. 595 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,840 But there's a biblical perspective in which the women 596 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,600 are the ones supporting all the work being done. 597 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:36,320 So it's just you could, you could draw it up two different 598 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,640 ways. Scriptures tell us we can't do 599 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:39,920 without you. You can't do without us. 600 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,800 It just goes hand in hand. We need your support. 601 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:48,280 Nobody can do it like you. And in this context, you might 602 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:54,960 be thinking, I don't have a husband or maybe mine's past. 603 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,400 You can still do all these things even if you don't have a 604 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,320 family right now. You know why? 605 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,920 Because in the church you have a place to provide the warmth, 606 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,760 support and love that so many need. 607 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,160 Where I grew up going to church, it kind of became like a halfway 608 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:15,760 house for the young men. We had so many young men, like 1 609 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:20,600 after another who were coming to Christ and they were treated 610 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:24,560 with disdain from their parents kind of in their later teen 611 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:25,760 years. And so it was a formative time 612 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:29,720 where they still needed love and care, and these young men were 613 00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:32,760 just kind of broken, rejected by their own families and missing 614 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:34,680 love. And you know where they found 615 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,520 it? Often times with the women in 616 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:42,360 our congregation, they found camaraderie, brotherhood, and 617 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,160 iron, sharpening iron with me and other brothers, they found 618 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,600 that. But they found a comfort with 619 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:49,320 the women that they didn't find in US. 620 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,320 I saw young men rest in the presence of a godly woman's 621 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,120 home. Yes, in my mom's home. 622 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:58,880 But in other ladies homes, we'd go to the house and you could 623 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,680 just see it on their faces. They relaxed. 624 00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:05,800 They had peace. They had just a calmness about 625 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,840 them that I didn't see anywhere else until they were in the 626 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:11,840 nurturing presence of a good woman, an older woman. 627 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:17,320 Maybe our home has even turned into that in a little bit. 628 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:21,640 I we joke about sometimes Taylor, the way she'll, she'll 629 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,760 take some of these young men who come and stay with us and she'll 630 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:25,720 make him a good meal. They can talk about their 631 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:28,600 struggles, their breakups, their their women troubles and then 632 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:30,160 get back on the right track and get going. 633 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:34,920 It's real. There is something that women 634 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:38,960 can provide that we can't do the same way you remember in the Old 635 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,960 Testament when Elijah was alone and depressed and he was on the 636 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,160 run. He didn't have a woman there. 637 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,960 And you know what God did? He gave him food. 638 00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:52,840 He gave him a good night's rest and he got him on his way and 639 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,920 that restored him. He went on from there to do his 640 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:56,960 work. And we don't read of that 641 00:38:56,960 --> 00:39:00,680 happening the same way again. The women helped provide that. 642 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,960 The women are the helpers that provide that kind of thing. 643 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,480 But you know what these women in in the congregation I grew up 644 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:10,560 in, it wasn't just their homes. I would see these young men 645 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,400 talking to the women after services and the women would ask 646 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:16,640 things about them that they knew they cared about. 647 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:18,360 Why? Because they're emotionally 648 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:20,640 intelligent and pay attention to what people care about. 649 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:23,840 And when they did that, they had these young men all of a sudden 650 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,000 who were crossed armed at 1st and and frustrated, opening up 651 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,640 about their problems and talking to them about everything. 652 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:34,520 They had an effect on them. And sometimes you're a Marian 653 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,200 and sometimes you're a Martha. Maybe you're a better host, but 654 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,480 maybe you're better about getting something out of people 655 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:43,800 and supporting them emotionally. Do it all. 656 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,440 Do whatever you can do. It needs to be done. 657 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:52,280 We need it. We've even got a brave soul that 658 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,000 does the honourable of work, of caring for foster children here. 659 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:01,360 But that can be done in this home. 660 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:03,840 The church can be a foster home for people who need love and 661 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:13,680 nurture. Adults, young, old, we need you. 662 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:17,200 I've heard this quote and it may have some. 663 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,480 There's plenty of criticism for it, but there's a truth to it 664 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,760 that is kind of striking that someone said God gave the man 665 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:26,640 the mind of God, but he gave the woman the heart of God. 666 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:33,240 There's a lot of what ifs about that, but the point is not easy 667 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:38,480 to dispute. These qualities of a godly woman 668 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,080 may not seem honourable to people for a long time in life, 669 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,880 but I've yet to see an 80 year old criticize another woman 670 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,360 who's surrounded by people who love her, whether it's a 671 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,880 congregation or children or grandchildren. 672 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:55,840 I've never seen any year old woman get criticized for that. 673 00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:57,480 You know why? Because it stands the test of 674 00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:00,160 time. It is incorruptible beauty. 675 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:05,200 There's a lot of loud party animals type who've lived their 676 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:09,000 life for them who I've seen a lot of regret out of and a lot 677 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,480 of misery. But this is an incorruptible 678 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,560 beauty. For in this manner, in former 679 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:20,400 times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorn 680 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,880 themselves being submissive to their own husbands. 681 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:26,360 There it is. They're trusting in God. 682 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:30,320 They're not trusting in the man. They're trusting God enough to 683 00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:33,800 submit to what he says. Now we haven't even talked about 684 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:35,920 there's a place where abuse needs to handled by the 685 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:37,880 authorities of the church and the authorities of the law. 686 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:39,680 We're not getting into that. That's a whole other 687 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:43,160 conversation for another time, but if we will focus on these 688 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:47,800 virtues, they will change us. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling 689 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,600 him Lord. That word means master. 690 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:54,360 I'm surrendering to you doesn't mean Lord God, it means leader, 691 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:58,160 Master, whose daughters you are, if you do good and are not 692 00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:01,400 afraid with any terror. Hey terror, what is he saying? 693 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,400 The NIV says, I think a little bit clearer and do not give way 694 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:06,520 to fear. Remember Frank said not long 695 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,880 ago, there's a way to live a faith driven life and a way to 696 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:14,880 live a fear driven life. When you put your surrender to 697 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,920 the authority God has given you are standing in the way of fear 698 00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:20,080 and saying no, I'm not going to be afraid. 699 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:24,160 I'm going to trust in you God. I'm going to put my faith in you 700 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:30,400 instead, and I hate to stop this because the men need a talking 701 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,840 to from verse 7, but I I got to we're we're we're on a time. 702 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:39,400 I have to pause here. The men are going to get it and 703 00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:40,800 we have to provide the other side. 704 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:43,560 We have to provide support and love. 705 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:50,960 But maybe you haven't even started this walk and maybe you 706 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:54,560 are just needing to begin the surrender process, not just to 707 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:57,200 all these other areas of life that you will learn to surrender 708 00:42:57,200 --> 00:42:59,400 in, but first to God. What does it mean to surrender 709 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:01,080 to God? Well, we first have to 710 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:03,680 understand what He wants to say and we have to hear Him 711 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,480 according to Romans 10/17. That's where faith comes from, 712 00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:09,720 and that will hopefully produce belief in us. 713 00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:12,600 There's required. We cannot serve God without 714 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:14,840 believing in Him and believing in Jesus Christ. 715 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,200 We have to be willing to do what we've talked about today, to go 716 00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:21,160 from what I want to do, to submit and surrender to God's 717 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:24,560 will and to repent according to Luke 13 and three, and to 718 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:26,920 confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 719 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:29,520 That is the source of our salvation. 720 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:35,920 You can't be a Christian and be a Muslim because they don't 721 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,680 acknowledge the same source of salvation. 722 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:43,360 So we must confess Jesus and be baptized for the remission of 723 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:47,840 our sins according to Mark 1616, where we get that fresh start or 724 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,400 we have our sins washed away. And if you've done that, now 725 00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:54,440 it's time to live faithfully. And if you need to start the 726 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,320 process and be baptized for the remission of your sins, or 727 00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:59,440 whether you need help getting back on the right track to live 728 00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,760 faithfully, we'd be happy to support you in one of these 729 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:03,520 ways. Always stand on what we see.