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Good morning and welcome to our services today here at Faith Word Baptist Church. If you would please take your seats and find the hymnal close by. Please take your seats and find the hymnal close by. Let's turn to hymn number 157. Hymn number 157, Come Thou Almighty King, number 157. Let's sing it out on that first verse, number 157. Come Thou Almighty King, help us thine aim to sing, help us to praise. Father all glorious, all all victorious, come and bring over us ancient of praise. Come down with heart and word, girl on thy mighty shore, Aquaritan, come and thy people us, and give thy word to us. Spirit of all events, on us we send, the holy comforter, Thy sacred witness fair, in this light our, Thou who almighty are, thou who live in every heart, And there from us the dark spirit of power, to the great one in three, Eternal praises be, and evermore, His sovereign majesty made thee in glory sing, And to eternity, come and run, Lord. Father in heaven, thank you for the church this morning. I pray that you please bless all aspects of the service, the song worship, the instrument playing, and Pastor Anderson's preaching, and bless us your children, Lord, that we get better and better in the faith and in your word every day. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen, let's turn to number 428. Number 428, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. Number 428. Sing on that first verse, number 428. It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth, To touch their hearts the gold, Peace on the earth, fulfilled to men, For let all gracious sing, The world in solemn stillness play, To hear the angels sing, Still through the golden skies they pluck, With peaceful wings unfurled, And still their heavy music plucks, For all the weary world, Above its sad and lonely plains, They land on hungry wing, And ever-roaring with apple sounds, The blessed angels sing, And he who needs life's crushing glow, Whose horns are bending low, Who toil along the climbing wind, With painful steps and slow, Look down for glad and golden hours, Come swimmingly on the wing, Or rest beside the weary road, And hear the angels sing, For though the days are hasting on, By common heart foretold, When with the ever-surfing years, Comes round the age of Rome, When peace shall over all the earth, Its angels' letters play, And the whole world give back the song, Which now the angels sing. Thank you, sing it. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service times. Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our bible study. This week will be in Judges chapter 3. We've got the soul winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. A couple more baby announcements here. Congratulations to the Conlon family on the birth of Elias Benjamin, born Wednesday, December 9th, 11 34 a.m. Weighing 10 pounds, 5 ounces, measuring 23 inches. And also congratulations to the Russell family on the birth of Julie Lynn. Friday, December 10th at 6 19 a.m. 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and measuring 22 inches. So congratulations to both of those families. We've got the bible memory passage that we're just wrapping up for the end of the year. Just a little short one. If you want to wrap that up by December 20th, you can get a prize. And then below that, we're collecting pictures for the 2020 yearbook. So if you have any church related photos that you'd like to be considered for inclusion in the yearbook, then please email them to our church email address. On the back, we've got the cookie bake-off coming up on Wednesday, December 23rd. And that's at five o'clock. Our normal service will be at seven o'clock, but you can get here early at five o'clock. We'll do the cookie bake-off. Everybody gets to vote on the best cookies and we will enjoy the cookies. And is this a hot cocoa thing also? The cookie bake-off or no? What do we wash it down with? Cold kegs of milk or what? All right, we'll figure it out. And then thank you to everyone who came out. Christmas caroling. We had a huge crowd out caroling. Everybody seemed to have a good time. And so thanks everybody who participated in that. We've got the 15 year anniversary service. Also, we're commemorating on Sunday, December 27th, 15 years of Faith Ward Baptist Church. And this will be followed by a potluck luncheon. Please speak to Mrs. Suzanne Forte, who's organizing the luncheon, to let her know what you plan on bringing. Please pray for the ladies that are still expecting that they would have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. And then below that, the homeschool field trip for December 18th has been canceled. That's about it for announcements. So let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, in your hymnals, you should find that insert of holy, holy, holy. If you don't have it, you can raise your hand and one of the men will get to with one. Sing it on that first verse. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, early in the morning, thy song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adoring, passing down their golden crowns around the classy sea. as they see cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee which word and garden evermore shall be holy, holy, holy though the darkness thy be though the eyes of sinful men thy glory may not see only thou art holy there is none beside thee perfect in power and love and purity holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea holy, holy, holy merciful and mighty God in three persons blessed trinity Amen. On the back of that sheet, you should find O Come, O Come, Emmanuel So let's sing it on that first verse. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Sing it on that verse. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel O Come, O Come, great Lord of night move to your tribes on Sinai's hide in ancient times did give the law in cloud and majesty and on Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel O Come, O Branch of Jesse stand unto your own and rescue them from depths of hell your people say and give them victory o'er the grave Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel O Come, O bright and morning star and bring us comfort from afar dispel the shadows of the night enter the shadows deep to find Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel All right, this time we'll pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. We'll follow along silently with Brother Hester as he reads Proverbs 19, beginning in verse number 1. Proverbs 19, and the Bible reads, Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good, and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth. The foolishness of a man perverteth his way, and the heart freteth against the Lord. Wealth maketh many friends, but the poor is separated from his neighbor. A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape. Many will entreat the favor of the prince, and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. All the brethren of the poor do hate him. How much more do his friends go far from him? He pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him. He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul. He that keepeth understanding shall find good. A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish. Delight is not seemly for a fool, much less for a servant to have rule over princes. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. The king's wrath is as a roaring of a lion, but his favor is as dew upon the grass. A foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. House and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the Lord. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. He that keepeth the commandment to his own soul, but he that despiseth his own soul, but he that despiseth his ways shall die. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and he that which he hath given, and that which he hath given will he pay him again. Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment, for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again. Hear counsel and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. There are many devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. The desire of a man is his kindness, and a poor man is better than a liar. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil. A slothful man hideth his soul, a slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware, and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge. He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach. Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. An ungodly witness scorneth judgment, and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity. Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools. Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us together for church this Sunday morning. I pray Father Phil Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit to teach us and edify us from these proverbs, and I pray Father that you fill us with your Holy Spirit to receive your word with gladness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is The Contentions of a Wife. The contentions of a wife. Down in verse 13 there the Bible reads, A foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. Houses and, or house and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the Lord. The title of my sermon again, The Contentions of a Wife. Now what does contention mean? When I looked up contention in the dictionary, it means a struggling together in opposition. Strife. Number two, a striving in rivalry. Competition. Contest. Number three, strife in debate, dispute, controversy. So all three of the definitions, they all contain the word strife. It has to do with quarreling, arguing, striving, strife, bickering, fussing. And the Bible here says that the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. Now here's the thing. I'm not just going to preach about marriage this morning because of the fact that this could be applied to many other areas as well where being argumentative is not appropriate. You know, we could apply this same teaching to children that are constantly arguing with their parents, or an employee that's constantly arguing with the boss, or a student that's constantly arguing with the teacher, because when we study the Bible, we want to make sure that we apply the principles of the Bible broadly. You know, like in this chapter it says, Chasing thy son while there is hope, but it didn't say daughter. You know, that'd be a dumb way to read the Bible, wouldn't it? You know, if the Bible's saying chasing your son, you're supposed to extrapolate that out. Okay, I'm also supposed to chase in my daughter as well. So the same thing goes here. The contentions of a wife or continual dropping, even if you're not a wife this morning, you could still profit from this sermon thinking about other situations where submission to authority is appropriate. But if you would flip over to chapter 27, Proverbs 27 verse 15. What does it mean when it says the contentions of a wife are continual dropping? What is that dropping? Well, what we're talking about is the dripping of water. When it talks about a continual dropping, think about how close those words are. Drop, drip. And the proof is right here in chapter 27 verse 15, where the Bible reads, A continual dropping in a very rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike. Now, of course, we like the rain here in Arizona. Doesn't mean that we want to have a contentious wife. But we like the rain, but in most places, you know, rain can be a little too much. It can get old after a while. It can get dreary. And the continual dripping, that noise could become annoying, okay? And we've all heard of the Chinese water torture, where someone's strapped down and you just drip water on their forehead, and it doesn't sound like a big deal, but, of course, it's horrible. It's torture. What the Bible's basically saying here is that the contentions of a wife are torture. That's what it's saying. It's like a Chinese water torture, continual dropping, just relentless, annoying, just shut up. That's what the Bible's saying here when it says the contentions of a wife are continual dropping. Now, look, if you would, at chapter 25 verse 24. While you're turning there, I'll read for you from Proverbs 21, 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Look at chapter 25 verse 24. It's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Same thing, but when the Bible repeats something twice, it's because it bears repeating, because it's being emphasized. Now, I looked up the word brawl in the dictionary, and I think that the definition of brawl might surprise you a little bit, okay? Here's what the dictionary said for brawl. Number one, a noisy quarrel, squabble, or fight. Pretty similar to contention, isn't it? Number two, a bubbling or roaring noise, a clamor, or it says that it's used as slang for a large, noisy party. Now, that wasn't my generation. Who's ever heard a loud, noisy party called a brawl? No, you have? Whoa, man, it's the youth. A 15-year-old has heard it, so apparently this is up and coming. We're on the cutting edge, man, of slang. But anyway, the point is, what do these three definitions of brawl all have in common? Okay, and then here's two more definitions of a verb. See if you can get the common denominator. To quarrel angrily and noisily, wrangle. To make a bubbling or roaring noise as water flowing over a rocky bed. A noisy quarrel, squabble, or fight. A bubbling or roaring noise, slang, a large, noisy party. What's the common denominator? Noise, noise, noise. Five definitions of brawl all contain what word? Noise, noise, noise. So basically, this is the exact opposite of what? The meek and quiet spirit that God tells women to have. He tells Christian women to have a meek and quiet spirit. The opposite of that would be a brawling woman, a woman who loudly quarrels, loudly argues, loudly strives. And the Bible says it's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. He's saying, look, you'd rather live in a little shack or a tiny dwelling or some kind of an Ikea inspired 250 square foot apartment than to be in a huge house with a brawling woman. Okay? Why? Because the contentions of her wife are a continual dropping. Go if you would to Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15. You see, the contentions of a wife or a brawling woman could poison the atmosphere in a home. It doesn't matter how big the house is. It doesn't matter how nice the house is. And by the way, it also doesn't matter how good the food is. Because look what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 15 verse 15. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Basically he's saying you'd rather become vegan than to deal with the contentions of a wife. It's that bad. It's that much torture. You would choose veganism. You would choose vegetarianism. You say, I don't know if I could give up the stalled ox, but he said, you know, you'd rather have a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Strife, anger, bickering, brawling. You'd rather order off the vegetarian menu and have peace. Okay? Now the Bible does not promote vegetarianism. It's using this as an extreme example of just how important this is. Okay, now flip over if you went to Colossians chapter 3. The question is then, so you know, I've gone through this and I hope you understand what it means to contend. It means to argue. That would be the 20-20 vernacular word that we would use the most often to describe this. Arguing. Arguing. Constant arguing and talking back. So here's the question. If you're not supposed to argue, if the contentions of a wife are annoying and a continual dropping, then what are you supposed to do when there's a disagreement if you're not supposed to argue about it? Here's what you're supposed to do. Submit. That's what the Bible says. What are children supposed to do instead of arguing with their parents? Their parents tell them something, they argue. Tell them something, argue. Tell them something, argue. What are they supposed to do? Submit and obey. You know, I remember one time I was given this principle. I think it's like a military thing. I've never been in the military, but many here have and maybe you can verify this. But, sir, yes, sir. Who's ever heard of that? No one. All right, somebody has. You know, basically the idea of but, sir, yes, sir is that you get one but, sir, and then it's a yes, sir, meaning that, you know, in the military or I don't even know, apparently that's not a military thing because I didn't see a lot of soldiers raising their hand. But the point is, the idea is that, you know, it's okay to bring something to somebody's attention, but if they say, look, no, this is how it is and they're the boss and they're the authority, at that point, you just let it go. It's a yes, sir, at that point. Maybe this is more of like a corporate leadership thing. Is that where you learn? Yeah. So anyway, but, sir, yes, sir is a good attitude to have. Sometimes, yeah, you need to point out something like, hey, wait a minute, it's this. But when the authority insists and says, no, this is how it is, then at that point, it's time to submit. It's time to let it go. It's time to go with what the boss is saying. Now, the Bible says in Colossians chapter 3, verse 18, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. This is what the Bible commands, submitting to your husband. Not arguing, not contending, not striving, battling with him, competing with him, but rather to submit. Now, if you would, flip over to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter number 13. And while you're turning to Hebrews chapter 13, I'm going to read for you from Genesis chapter 3, verse 16. Genesis 3, 16 says this unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, watch this, and he shall rule over thee. So this is right at the beginning of the Bible. God lays down this principle in the Garden of Eden. He says to the woman, your husband shall rule over you. So there's no question about the authority structure in the home to anybody who actually believes the Bible. Anybody who denies the fact that wives are supposed to obey their husband simply doesn't even believe the Bible. They're just rejecting the Word of God outright because the New Testament's crystal clear. But even in the Old Testament, you don't have to get very far, do you, when Genesis 3, 16 says your husband's going to rule over you. And there are plenty of commandments to that effect, but today we live in a feminist society. And you know what feminism has done to our country? It's made women miserable, and it's made men miserable. It doesn't work. It's a failure. It was an experiment, and it failed. And now we're living with the consequences of it. But it is not helpful to our society at all. It's not helpful to relationships. And I've even seen a movement now where even many atheists are saying we need to get back to traditional roles in marriage. They don't even believe the Bible, but they're just saying this doesn't work. You know, the man has to be in charge. You've got to have one leader. It's against the natural order to have a woman ruling over a man. It's not natural. It's not normal. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17 says this, it says, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. See, it's unprofitable for you to rebel against authority. Now, the context here is about spiritual leaders, but you can apply this also to the husband and wife relationship because the husband is the head of the home and he's a spiritual leader and he does have the rule over you because that's what it said in Genesis 3.16. And so it says, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. You know, he has to give an account for his home and he is responsible for the home and you've got to submit to him. Go to Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter number 5. Ephesians chapter number 5 is, of course, the most famous passage in the Bible on marriage. And the Bible says in Ephesians 5, 22, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Now that's a pretty strong statement as the church is subject unto Christ. Let me ask you this. To what degree is the church subject unto Christ? I mean, stop and think about that. You know, to what degree is the church subject unto Christ? Just a little bit? Just sort of? Is Christ just sort of a figurehead? Or, well, technically he's the boss, but, you know, if momma ain't happy, you know, ain't nobody happy, so, you know. Is that what's going on? Is that how the church is run? Is that how the church is? Like, well, we're the one. You know, the church is the one, really. I mean, yes, you know, he's the boss, but, you know, we can't really do what we want. We get what we want. Is that how the church... How would you feel about a church that had that attitude? Okay, that's not... No, you would say, well, no, Christ has total authority over the church. He has absolute authority over the church. Well, the Bible says, okay, well, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. So put that in your pipe and smoke it. That's what the Bible says. That's a pretty strong statement. Now, I've heard sorry excuses for preachers get up and just negate this entire passage by going, well, yeah, but verse 21 says submitting one to another. So, therefore, let's just ignore what the Bible teaches. Let's just ignore everything else. Let's just use verse 21 to negate everything that comes after. Folks, that's a wicked way to twist the Bible. And, you know, these pastors that would teach that are doing a great disservice to their flock. They're destroying people's lives when they teach that kind of garbage from the pulpit of, well, husbands are actually supposed to submit to their wives. Actually, you know, parents are supposed to submit to their children. Parents need to obey their children. It's nonsense. It's stupid. It's bizarre. It makes no sense. If both husband and wife are supposed to submit to each other, then that's no submission at all. Then there's no leader. There's no boss. And it's just every man does what's right in his own eyes. Every woman does what's right in her own eyes, right? No, folks, that's wrong. They are twisting scripture by taking it out of context. Ephesians 5 verse 21 is talking to the whole church. He's talking to the church. He's saying you're going to speak to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. He's corporately talking to the whole church body saying that as a church body we submit to one another in the fear of God. Then he changes the subject and says, hey, wives, submit to your husbands. See, there's no verse that says rule over each other. There's no verse that says husbands obey your wives. But there are clear verses that say wives obey your husbands. The husband shall rule over you. Does everybody see the difference there? Now what does this mean, submitting one to another in the fear of the Lord? In the local church there's going to be a submitting one to another because there's no absolute authority in the local church as church members. It's not like one person is over another permanently in the church or inexorably. Now in marriage there is a permanent order there. The husband is the head of the wife. Children obey your parents. I mean these are clear cut obvious things. But in the church the reason that there's a mutual submission in the church is because at different times and in different situations different people are in charge. Like for example, you know, I will often participate in and go along with missions trips organized by other people or trips to the Indian reservations organized by Brother Corbin Ressl. So there are going to be times when I submit to him, right? If I go on their trip or their activity or something that they've organized, I'm not just going to go in there and just start vetoing everything and changing everything. You know, I'm in situations where I'm just kind of along for the ride. And basically if I'm told, hey, you're going to go over here, you're going to knock these doors, then I'm going to say yes sir and go do that because in that situation I'm not the one in charge. Does everybody understand? You know, yeah, I'm the pastor of the church so as pastor I have responsibilities, I have authority. But there are other situations. If I'm on a missions trip where someone else is running it or I'm on this soul winning time that's run by someone else or, you know, then there are going to be times that I'm going to submit to them. I'm not better than that. I can submit to other people too, you know, when it's their show, when it's their deal. Then it's my job at that point to not go in and throw my weight around. See what I mean? Because I need to be humble too and go with the flow. And even as a leader sometimes you do things that you don't necessarily want to do as a leader but you do it because it's good for the group. You do it because it's for the team. Every decision that I make in my family is not what I personally want. Sometimes I do things that I don't personally want because it's what's best for my family. You know, just recently I just moved. Now personally I did not want to move. I liked where I lived. I would have been happy to live there for the rest of my life but you know what, I knew that it was better for my family to move because, you know, the house was just too small, okay. Now I didn't feel like it was too small for me, you know, I was okay with it. But here's the thing, I'm looking at, okay, what's best for my family though? So that, you know, when you're a leader you do things for other people and there are situations and times in the local church where you submit to one another. A great example of this too is that when I was at a church where my ministry leader got hired at the company I worked for and I was his supervisor. So at church he's my ministry leader and at church, you know, we were running a ministry to the inner city black population of South Chicago. It was called the Chapel Ministry and we set up chapels in the all black area in South Chicago to reach the people there and it was a great ministry. We got tons of people saved, baptized. Well, you know, there was a guy who was running my particular chapel. He did all the preaching, he ran everything and I mean he was a pretty authoritarian guy. He's constantly telling me what to do and it's just, yes sir, you know, and I'm just, I'm following his lead, I'm on his program. But then he got hired at a job where he had to take orders from me and we were doing both at the same time. So on Sunday I'm doing whatever he says and submitting to him and on Monday he's submitting to me. So that, you know, that's where submitting one to another in the fear of the Lord comes into play because sometimes we play different roles in life. But to sit there and say, oh, you know, husbands are supposed to submit to their wives and children are supposed to submit to, and folks, this is stuff I've actually heard in an independent Baptist church where, you know, even children, parents are supposed to submit to their children, husbands are supposed to submit to their wife. That's garbage. It's a garbage teaching. So don't twist the Word of God. Go if you would to 1 Peter chapter 3, Titus chapter 2 verse 4 says this, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed. First Peter chapter 3 verse 1, likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the Word, they also may without the Word be won by the conversation of the wives. Look at verse 6, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Now let's someone say, oh what you're preaching is outdated. This is 2020, it's America, how can you teach this? Well here's why I know this isn't outdated, because number 1, the Word of God never changes. But number 2 is that this scripture in 1 Peter 3 was written about 2,000 years ago, approximately, right? But he refers back to Sarah and Abraham, and guess when that was? Only 2,000 years earlier. Abraham lived around 2,000 BC, and so you've got Abraham and Sarah 2,000 years before Christ. Peter's saying well hey, follow that example. And I'm standing here in 2020 looking back 2,000 years saying follow that example. And now I'm going to look back 4,000 years and say follow that example. And then let's go back 6,300 years and say hey, Genesis 3.16. Because of the fact that God's Word is eternal, he doesn't change with the times, this feminist garbage is not biblical, it never will be biblical, it will never become relevant. It's wrong. So if you would flip over to 1 Peter 5, you're in chapter 3, go to 5. Let me just quickly review. Number 1 we said, you know, the contentions of a wife are continually dropping, contention is arguing, brawling is loud arguing, and these are the things that should be avoided. You should have a meek and quiet spirit. What do I do when I don't agree with my boss? What do I do when I don't agree with my husband or my parents or whatever? Then you submit. You submit. Now the next point I want to make is that submission requires humility. This is the key ingredient of being submissive is being humble. You have to have humility. Why? The Bible says in Proverbs 13 10, only by pride cometh contention. Only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised it is wisdom. You know what that tells me is that in the absence of pride, you're not going to have the contentions of a wife, are you? There must be some pride element there because only by pride cometh contention. Now look at 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 5 and you'll see a similar idea. It says in chapter 5 verse 5, likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. So again, when we're talking to the whole church, there's a hey, submit yourselves one to another because there's not a clear authority structure. We don't have some pecking order chain of command here. You know, we're all brothers and sisters in Christ. Obviously there's some authority that the pastor has. Different people have different authority on different ventures and different sowing times and trips or maybe someone's in charge of the music or something. But in general here we're all on an even footing here, okay? So it's be subject one to another, submit yourselves one to another, but he says and be clothed with humility. Isn't it interesting that those two things go hand in hand? Humility and being submissive. And then he says because God resists the proud and giveth grace to the humble. So God resists the proud and giveth grace to the humble, therefore submit. So you see that submission requires humility. You have to be humble enough to where everything doesn't always have to be your way. You don't always have to prove that you're right about everything. You know, and who's ever seen that meme where there's a little cartoon guy who's like and then he just kind of stops? Who knows what I'm talking about? I can't even count how many times I've sat in like a classroom or something and I'm just kind of like. Because you don't have to fight every battle. You don't have to prove every point. You don't have to defend yourself every single time. You don't have to always prove that you're right, but human nature just wants to always get in there and prove that we're right, fight every battle, right every wrong. You know what? You're not going to right every wrong in this world. You know, especially if you're someone like me that's constantly getting barraged and attacked and just criticized and everything. You know, if I just answered every critic, can you imagine, you know, what my life would be like? It'd be a frustrating life, right? Just trying to answer or just right every wrong in the world, set everything right. There are a lot of wrong things in this world that are just not going to be fixed, you know? And I mean, I'm just all these things are flooding into my mind, but I got to stay on course with the sermon of all the wrongs that I'd love to right, but you can't. You know? It's just, you got to just be humble enough to just say, you know what, who cares? I'm just going to do what I'm supposed, I'm just going to do what I'm told, I'm just going to go with the flow, okay? Now go to 1 Peter chapter 2 and notice that we're spending a lot of time in 1 Peter because we did 1 Peter 3, we did 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter, this is a big theme in the book of 1 Peter is submission, being humble, going along with things that aren't necessarily right because it's the right thing to do sometimes to just be peaceful, go along, submit because of the fact that there's a God-given authority there in place and you don't have to always have your way. Now the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 13, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. So even if you don't respect your husband, if you respect the Lord, then you're going to submit to your husband because your husband's appointed by the Lord. And the Bible says submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God. Notice that liberty can be used as a cloak for maliciousness. You know what a cloak is? Something to cover up and hide. So basically a lot of times people's freedom and their liberty and their rights, which are good things that I strongly believe in, but we don't want to ever use that to cover for us just being rebellious and wicked and wanting to do evil or wrong. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? You know, there's a difference between real Christian liberty and then just using that as a cloak to do evil, to be malicious, to do wrong. And so the Bible says in verse 17, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king, servants be subject to your masters with all fear. And watch this, not only to the good and gentle, but also the forward. Here's the point that I want to make and do not miss this point. This is a key point. Disagreement is the only real opportunity for submission. Let me say that again. Disagreement is the only real opportunity for submission. Okay, so let's say brother Corbin Russell, he organized a trip to the Indians and I'm going there with him and he says, hey for dinner we're stopping at Chipotle. And I'm just like, well here's my opportunity to submit to his leadership. Do you think I'm really submitting? No because you know I wanted to go to Chipotle anyway, right? That's not submission. Now if Charlie Jeffries is on that trip and Corbin Russell says, hey we're going to Chipotle, he's exercising submission at that point. That's not what he would have chosen, am I right? So do you see the difference there? He submitted. I didn't submit. So here's the thing, if you're like, well I do, I do what my husband wants all the time. That I agree with it, that I like it, that I wanted to do it. That I thought every time, look every time I believe he's right I submit to him. Every time he's right. That's the only time I rebel is when he's wrong. Folks that's the only time anybody rebels is when they think that the leader is wrong. Because why would you rebel if you thought he was right? So if the Bible is telling you not to rebel, he's telling you don't rebel when you think he's wrong. Because if you thought he was right you wouldn't even be tempted to rebel. Think about that. Let that sink in, okay? That is the only opportunity to submit that's actually even real. That's why the Bible says here, it says, servants be subject to your masters with all fear every time they're right, if they're a good boss, if they're, if everything is ethical. Is that what it says? No. It specifically says, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. That's what the Bible says. For this is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward God endured grief suffering wrongfully. What glory is it if when you're buffeted for your faults you take it patiently? So basically your husband corrects you when you're wrong and you take it patiently, reward zero. Your parents correct you when you're wrong, you take it patiently, zero reward. Is everybody listening? The boss at work comes down on you and you take that correction because you were wrong? Zero reward. The Bible says here that if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Now look, I don't understand how these verses could be any clearer, but yet I preached something similar to this several months ago and I saw on a YouTube video the comment, I wanted to find the exact comment, but that was several channels ago, so I can't find the comment. But of course this woman comes on there just, well I didn't agree with that part of your sermon where you said if you're not right with your husband you're not right with God because and the, oh and by the way, and then she's just listening and it was just everything was just, she was just so rebellious. It's like, well of course you don't agree with me that if you're not right with your husband you're not right with God because you're wrong with both. Clearly based on your comment it was like, that's why I wish I could find that comment. But the point is that disagreement's the only opportunity to submit and the only points you get for submitting, the only brownie points you get, the only reward you're going to get in heaven for submitting is when authority came down on you wrongfully and you took it and submitted it. That's what the Bible says. Now if someone has an alternative explanation for what this verse means, please come see me after the service and enlighten me because I keep reading it over and over and it just keeps saying the same thing. For what glory is it when you're buffeted for your faults you take it patiently, but if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently, this is acceptable to God. I can't find any other interpretation. That's what it says. That's what it means. That's what this passage is teaching. This is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward God endured grief suffering wrongfully. That's what the Bible says. So this thing of, well I'm going to obey when the boss is right. I'm going to submit when the boss is right. I'm going to, it's garbage. It's not biblical. Everyone will do that. The heathen will do that. Anyone will agree when it's what they wanted to do anyway. Now go if you would to Genesis chapter 16, Genesis chapter 16. Here's another thing that's enlightening about this is when you look up the first mention of the word submit in the Bible. First mention of the word submit because this is what a lot of people say, well my husband's just impossible to get along with. My husband's just impossible to please. He's impossible to submit to, right? That's what people will say. Well listen, I once felt the same way as a teenager. I've never been a wife obviously, but guess what? These relationships are analogous. Like I said at the beginning of the sermon, you've got parents and children, husbands and wives, employees and employers. I mean we have all kinds of relationships like this in our life where we've experienced these dynamics. And let me tell you something. I once felt the same way. I remember as a teenager believing that my parents were impossible to please. And I bet there's a lot of teenagers that feel that way. My parents are just constantly on my case. They're on your case because you're being an idiot, okay? And I don't even have to know the situation. I've already judged that. Because what? Because you know what? I'm on the side of the parents. Because that's what the Bible says. Unless your parents are telling you to sin against God, I'm on your parents' side. They're right, you're wrong, shut up and do what you're told. I don't need the details. And this is why I don't end up doing a lot of marriage counseling. Because I don't need the details. If your husband's not telling you to sin against God, do what he says. That'll be five dollars, please. You know, it's like that Lucy, Lucy on Charlie Brown, didn't she set up like a little mental health clinic or advice or psychiatric help or something, right? Little things like, back then it was five cents. There's been inflation. Now it's five dollars. So you can, if you want, I can set up a little booth like Lucy and give you marriage advice for five dollars. But you're not gonna like it. Because here's the thing, you know, if your husband's telling you to sin against God, you know, then okay, then you're in a situation like Daniel or something, you know, and you gotta figure out a way to handle that. You know, if your parents are telling you to sin against God, that's one thing. But if your parents or your boss at work aren't telling you to sin against God, then you need to obey, okay? And this is, you know what, it's gonna take humility, isn't it? To do that. To just swallow your pride and just say, okay, fine, I give up. Well, my husband's impossible to please, impossible to go along with. I felt the same way as a teenager. I thought my parents were impossible to please. I distinctly remember telling my brother, and I know I've told this story before, but I'm gonna tell it again because it bears repeating. I told my brother, I said if Jesus lived in this house, he would get yelled at every day. I said if we had Jesus Christ as our brother, I said this to my brother, Clint. I said if Jesus lived in our house, he would get screamed at on a daily basis. Now look, that was a stupid thing to say. I said that. I was wrong. It was stupid. Because you know what? When I turned 17 and got into an independent fundamental Baptist church, started soul winning, I decided to get right with my parents and I decided to submit to them and you know what? It was so easy. It was ridiculously easy to get along with my parents. My parents were so easy to get along with and I thought it was impossible. But as soon as I changed my attitude and said, you know what? I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna make it work. And you know what? Before that, I was just counting down till I was 18. I'm not even kidding. I'm like 257 days till I'm 18 and I'm out of here. You know, I'm not exaggerating. I was counting down. I can't wait to get out of this house. But you know what? All I did was just make a slight adjustment in my own attitude and say, you know what? I'm gonna be nice to my parents. I'm gonna do good. I'm not just gonna do the minimum. In fact, I remember one time I got home from work and I remember just, I had this epiphany. I'm doing all these dishes at Roundtable Pizza. And I had this epiphany. I could do the dishes once at home. I'm thinking to myself, I'm doing like a hundred loads of dishes. I was like, what if I just went home and started doing the dishes? What would happen? Because I mean, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's one load. I'm doing, I'm doing just load up because you know, it's like an industrial dishwasher. Just loading it up and just, just because it was a very busy restaurant and dishes, I was the dish guy sometimes. It was just nonstop. Just dishes, dishes, dishes, dishes. I went home, I did the dishes. And my mom's like, what are you doing? She's like, what? What is this? I said, mom, I'm doing the dishes. And then I, look, it was just a couple things like that and then my parents are just like, is there anything we can do for you, son? Can we help you? What can we do? You need money? What do you need, son? I'm not kidding. My parents are just like, whatever we can do to help. You know, you start showing them a good attitude, pitching in around the house, doing things without being asked, being nice, being friendly. When they come down on you wrongfully, just go with it. And you know what? That relationship turned around fast. Okay. Now you're well, yeah, but you don't know my situation then. Okay. You don't like my story? Let's look at the Bible story. This is the first time submit is used in the Bible. Look what the Bible says in Genesis chapter 16 verse 5. And Sarai said unto Abram, my wrong be upon thee. Who's wrong? Is Sarah wrong or what? That's what she just said, my wrong, my bad. Be wrong upon thee. I've given my maid unto thy bosom. And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judged between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, behold thy maids in thy hand, do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. Now, let me ask you something. If you know, I don't really have time to go into a lot of depth on this Bible story, but if you know the gist of the Bible story that we're talking about here, if you know the basics of this story, you know that Sarai is being pretty unreasonable here and is pretty impossible to get along with here. Because here's what happened. Let me just kind of quickly bring you up to speed here. You know, Abram and Sarai are not having a child. And basically she takes the handmaiden Hagar and says, okay, Abraham, you know, we're going to use her as a surrogate. You're just going to have a baby with her. But then what happened is once she gets pregnant, now of course there's animosity between Sarai and Hagar here because of the fact that there's going to be envying on both sides. You know, because Hagar is envious because like, well, I'm the one who's carrying his baby or whatever, you know, but I'm just this chopped liver and you're the wife. And then the wife's like, oh man, you know, you did what I failed to do. That proves that it was me. But you know, I'm sure there's a lot of complex things going on here. But the bottom line is that Sarai turns around and just starts coming down so hard on Hagar basically to where she's dealing hardly with Hagar to the point where Hagar flees because she's being so mistreated as a result of this bad dynamic, this bad relationship. Does everybody see what's going on here? When Sarai dealt hardly with her, verse 6, she fled from her face. I mean that's pretty bad when you're fleeing into the wilderness. I mean, you know, what is she even going to do? I mean, you know, at home she's got food, place to live, a job, whatever. But it's like, no, she's just fleeing into the wilderness just because the situation was that bad. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, verse 7, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? And whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for multitude. So basically Hagar is definitely being mistreated because what we see here is that this whole stupid thing was Sarai's idea. And then she regrets it like, oh my wrong be upon the, oh man. And then, okay, well now I'm just going to make life miserable for Hagar. So does Sarai, would anyone disagree with the fact that Sarai has it in for Hagar and wants to make her miserable? That's what she did. But yet even though Sarai has it in for Hagar and wants to make her miserable, what does God tell her? Hey, submit to her. And what does she do? She goes back and submits to her and funny, she found a way to make it work. Somehow she found a way to make it work. And what's the payoff? And the angel of the Lord said unto her, verse 10, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for multitude. So basically what he's saying is, look, I'm going to bless you. Yes, Sarai is a pain in the whatever, but go back and submit to her and I'm going to bless you. Okay, well let me ask you this. You think God's going to bless you for submitting to your husband if that's what the Bible commanded you to do and you do it? You think God's going to bless you for submitting to your parents if that's what the Bible said to do and you do it? You think God's going to bless you on the job if you submit to the leadership on the job when that's what the Bible told you to do and you do it? Do you need an angel of the Lord to come show up to you and say, go back home and submit to thy husband? I'm the angel of the Lord telling you that right now. Okay, I'm telling you that right now. I got a message for you directly from God. I had a dream last night and in a dream I was up here telling you to submit to your husband. Is that better? Does that mean more to you? And so I'll close with this. Let's look at the definition of contention one more time. Number one, struggling together in opposition and strife. Number two, a striving in rivalry, competition, contest. Number three, strife in debate, dispute, controversy. Folks, our homes should not be a place of debate. They should not be a place of brawling. We want our homes to be a peaceful atmosphere. We want to have a happy home. And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 3, but I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. I mean, look, Jesus Christ submitted unto the Father. Why? Because he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So Jesus is not telling you to do something that he doesn't know about because he submitted to the will of the Father even when he said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me and he's, you know, sweating as it were great drops of blood and he's being asked to go to the cross and obviously he did that willingly. He submitted, but the point is the Bible says let this mind be in you which is in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and you say, well, you know, I am woman, hear me roar and I'm just as, okay, are you Jesus? Because even Jesus humbled himself, made himself with no reputation, became obedient even unto the death of the cross. So if Jesus can submit, well, his authority was perfect, the Father. True, his authority was perfect, but you know what? He also submitted to Joseph and Mary. Were they perfect? Remember when he kind of told them how it was a little bit in chapter 2 when he said, well, I must be about my Father's business? But you know what? After making that one statement, the Bible says he went home with them to Nazareth and was subject unto them. Jesus was the ideal teenager. He obeyed his parents. Now, how many times do you think Jesus heard Mary or Joseph say something and thought, yeah, you're wrong? He's God. Think about it. He's God. I mean, think about it, how much God realizes we're wrong about stuff. And you know what? I guarantee you Jesus wasn't just constantly piping up every time and just constantly telling them that they're wrong and saying, hey, let me lead this family. I'm the Son of God. Can I lead this family? You know, Joseph, you're blowing it, buddy. And by the way, you're not even my real dad. You know, that's how he's doing. You know what he did? And he wasn't even just subject unto Mary, he's subject unto them. He's subject unto Joseph. The creator of the universe was subject unto Joseph and subject unto Mary. Yeah, okay, he was submissive unto the Father, but he was also submissive to human beings on this earth, too. That's what the Bible says. And you know what? That verse is in the Bible for a reason. To help us to understand this concept that you don't submit to someone because they're better than you, you submit to someone because it's the right thing to do if it's biblical. I'm not up here saying that husbands are smarter than wives, I'm not saying that husbands are better than wives, I'm not saying that husbands are more important or more valuable than wives. I'm telling you that the wife should submit to the husband for the same reason that Jesus needed to submit to Joseph. And you want to talk about an imbalance there. That's an imbalance. And you think that Joseph and Mary ever came down on Jesus for something that wasn't his fault? That's why his brothers treated him in John chapter 7. You know, I have a feeling that that probably wasn't the first time that they've ever picked on him or said anything to him or whatever. He might have taken the fall for something that somebody else did. In fact, it's called the cross. He took the fall for what the whole world did. So if you're going to be a follower of Christ, you better dig into the book of 1 Peter and understand what it means to submit to authority in your life. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you for the clarity that it brings, Lord, in a time when the world is upside down, when the world is insane, when the world's standards are so far beyond the pale, Lord. Thank you that the word of God never changes and please just help everyone who's here to let this word sink down into their ears, Lord, and help no one to go away emotional or angry at you, Lord, because they can't be angry at me since everything I taught is directly from your word, Lord. Help them not to go away mad, Lord. Help them to actually be humble enough to receive this message. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Let's grab our hymnals and turn them to hymn number 427. Number 427, we three kings of orientar. Number 427, let's lift it up on that first verse. Nice and loud, sing it out. Number 427. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. Milled in fountain pour and mountain far. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar. We three kings of orientar, bearing gifts we traverse afar.