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Please turn to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31. This is a very, very popular passage when dealing with the topic of women, wives, motherhood, all those kind of things. Boy, if you've looked at that, that, you know, if you've read through that, it is a high standard. There is a high standard of what it means to be a virtuous woman, okay. So let's have a look at this. Proverbs 31. It is the ladies turn this time to get preached at. I preached on the men last week. You know, men, I hope you've been loving your wives a little more this week than last, but let's look at Proverbs 31. Verse number 10, the Bible says, who can find a virtuous woman? Okay, so the title of sermon tonight is a virtuous woman. Now what I'm going to do is just keep your finger there in Proverbs 31 and turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, because if you remember when I preached on the men last week, I spent a lot of time in Ephesians chapter 5 preaching to the men, but there is a little segment there that I want to cover about women. Ephesians chapter 5, please. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22. Ephesians 5, 22. The Bible reads, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now you might be thinking, boy, somebody from the 1920s must have written the Bible, right. It says their wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands. I mean that was back then, not in 2018, surely not. I mean in 2018, husbands should be submitting themselves to their wives. That's the kind of, that's the mentality that's out there, okay. That's the mentality that's out there, and unfortunately even within the church, husbands even are afraid of their wives. Afraid to ask their wives to be submissive to them, okay. So this is, it really shouldn't be, but this is a hard saying in today's age. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, okay. So when you, when you have your husband, he is, and we'll see in the verse 23 there, for the husband is the head of the wife. God says, wives, that your husband is your head and that you should be submissive to him as unto the Lord. Who's the Lord? The Lord Jesus Christ. In the same way that you'd be submissive to God himself is the same way that you ought to be submissive to your husband. Wow. You know, wow. That's crazy. You know, 2018, what kind of preaching is this? Even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the Savior of the body. So let's, let's start off with that. Let's talk about what does it mean to be submissive? What does it mean to submit yourself to your husband? Of course, to submit yourself means to lower yourself, okay. You're, you actually, in the family, in the family unit, wives, you have a lower level of authority than the husband. You are to lower yourself under the authority of your husband. You're, you're, you're being put under that authority. Now think about this for a minute. If everybody knew this, okay, if we didn't leave in 2018, we leave back in the 1920s, where everybody knew, all the ladies knew, that they had to be submissive to their husbands, don't you think they'd be a little wiser when choosing a husband? All right, don't you think, you know, I've got to be submissive to this man for the rest of my life, you know, he's going to look after me, he's going to love me, he's going to care for me, and I've got to make sure that I'm a helpmate to him, I've got to make sure that I'm submissive to him, then you're going to be extra careful in choosing your marriage partner, aren't you? Because it's a big ask to be submissive unto that person, okay? Now this seems crazy, but we are submissive all the time in our lives, okay? Now as, I don't, I don't think I put a lot of requirements on you guys as the pastor of this church, but I do have the authority in this church, you know, if I were to ask something for, from you, within the church, while we're gathered together, I would expect that you'd be submissive to that request, okay? But as a pastor who loves the congregation, am I going to be asking you for ridiculous, unnecessary, extremely difficult things to do? Of course not, okay? I'd be asking you to do things that I know you have the ability to do, and to serve in the church, you know, when we work, when we have, you know, men, we go to work, usually we have a boss that we have to be submissive under, a supervisor, a team leader, a manager, you know, and again, if that boss asks you, hey, I need to get this project done by the end of today or the end of the week, you've got to be submissive to that, you know, you don't turn around and say, hold on, aren't we equals, you know, yeah, you know, this is 2019, boss, you know, we're no longer in the 1920s, you know, surely maybe you should be submissive to me, surely we should be equal, maybe, maybe, maybe you should be serving me, boss, you know, if you said that, yeah, that I should, you'd be out of that door straight away, right, you'd lose your job, hey, we're submissive all the time, you know, and the Bible says that we all as believers, we ought to be submissive toward one another, that I should hold you higher than above than I hold myself, now, as the pastor, yes, I have the authority, but you know what it means to be a minister, it means that I am to minister to you, you know, when I'm preaching, it might sound like I've got this, this, you know, I'm trying to, you know, Bible bash you, but I'm actually ministering the Word to you, I'm actually serving you, I'm actually lowering myself so you can be exalted by the preaching of God's Word, being submissive is not this weird word, it's not something that's unusual, but for some reason, when it comes to marriage, now it's like so weird, what, you're submissive to your husband, you know, you're living in the Stone Age, you know, we do this all the time, okay, unfortunately, we've been programmed by feminism to say, hey, you know, if you submit to your husband, then you're saying, you know, you're a lower quality human being or something like that, it's not true, okay, you have, all that means is that you're under the authority of your husband, and you don't assert the authority over him, okay, you have somebody that's your head, and that puts a lot of requirement on your head, okay, if your husband loves you, isn't he going to treat you good anyway, isn't he going to look after you anyway, this is why we need preach in both ways, we need husbands, love your wives, and we need wives, submit yourself to your husband, alright, so I just wanted to bring that there, please turn back to Proverbs 31, Proverbs 31, Proverbs 31 verse 10, the Bible begins here, it says, who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies, now rubies are precious stone, it is a virtuous woman, hard to find, okay, it's not that they're impossible to find, it is possible to find them, and it's possible to work toward this, you might look at this list and go, man, I'm far from that, it doesn't mean you can't be a virtuous woman later in your life, it doesn't mean you can't be working toward this thing, it's not like, you know, you're either not a virtuous woman, or you are a virtuous woman, hey, it means, hey, this is the standard of what the Bible says a virtuous woman is, and I need to make steps to try to get there, as long as you're making that journey, as long as you're headed in that direction, that's a good thing, it means because you're becoming more valuable, you're becoming more like these rubies, more and far above these rubies, you're becoming far more valuable in the eyes of God, in your position as a man's wife, okay, now it says virtuous woman, what does it mean to, what's virtue, what does that mean, it means something that's, that's got a high worth, something that's valuable, okay, who can find a valuable woman, you know, extreme worth, it also means excellence or highly effective, who can find an excellent woman, someone who's very effective for the family, very effective for her husband, the word virtuous also carries the meaning of strength, okay, now obviously a woman generally speaking is weaker than a man, you know, just biologically, but this is obviously not the physical strength, but the strength of character, the strength of having good morals, those kind of things are also very important for a woman, now if you have a look at verse number one there, Proverbs 31 verse 1, I just want to show you this, it says the words of King Lemuel, so Proverbs 31 is written by King Lemuel, which many believe that to be King Solomon, I think that's a fair assessment, the prophecy that his mother taught him, so he's actually writing about a proverb or prophecy or a teaching that came straight from his mother, this is what his mother taught him, okay, and of course a good mother is going to be teaching her son what kind of woman to marry, you know, these are the qualities son, when you're looking for a wife, these are the qualities that you ought to be looking for, okay, and you know this reminds me of my own personal experience, it wasn't my dad so much that talked to me about who to marry, it was my mum, you know, my mum would say hey make sure you marry a woman who's a believer, you know, a woman who you know, you can fall in love with, that you can see a future together, that you have a vision together, you have shared goals, all these kind of things my mum told me, and you know as a kid you're like, mum, I don't want to talk about these things, you know, but you know those things as you get older they come to your remembrance, and you know when it came to choosing a lady I had my mum's, you know, teaching, nagging me at the back of my head, right, into making the right decision, so you know mothers if you've got sons please you know this is Proverbs 31 for girls who want to be raised as a virtuous woman, but also to the boys, so they know what kind of woman they need to marry, okay, or at least be looking for, you know, and look at verse, let's go back to verse 11, Proverbs 31.11. Why is the virtuous woman so important? It says the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, you know, so her husband can trust this woman. Now, you know, don't answer this question wives, you know, do you believe that your husbands can trust you? You know, do you think that your husband has their full trust in leaving you to do, you know, your business around the house to raise the family, or are they lacking in a bit of trust, and if they're lacking a bit of trust, well, you know, you need to first of all be submissive to them, but then start working toward these things that are here in this list, you know, the husband trusts her to take care of the needs of the family and of the house, you know, the husband trusts her that she would not abuse finances, you know, I know a lot of men who can't trust their wives with money, I know a lot of them, a lot of my friends, you know, can't trust their wives with money, where they've even had to put restrictions on the credit card, you know, or give them a special card and say, hey, I'm only transferring a hundred bucks a day or something like that, because, you know, wives are going out there and going crazy and spending the money, you know, I'm hoping that, you know, none of the wives around here are like that, but hey, the husband of the virtuous woman trusts her with the finances, he trusts that she would be faithful to him and not seek the attention of other men, his full heart and trust is in his wife, kind of like where to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, the same kind of idea, the husband, he trusts his wife, no doubts at all, no doubts at all with all his heart, he trusts in her, to the point there in verse 11, it says, so that he shall have no need of spoil, now I was struggling to understand what that meant a little bit, but, you know, what spoil means is when, you know, spoil is the bounty of the, you know, when two nations go to war, whoever the victorious nation is, you know, they take the resources, they take the bounty, they take the, you know, the valuable things of the enemy that they defeated and we call that the spoil, okay, they take something that didn't belong to them originally, but had gone to war, won that war and they take that spoil for them, so the fact is, if you're a virtuous woman, your husband can trust you to the point that he has no need for spoil and what I think that's trying to say is, there's no need for that man to seek attention of some other woman, some woman that is not his wife, you know, something that doesn't belong to him, he doesn't have need for anything else besides his wife there, because he has his full trust and dependency upon her, you know, she's there to help him in his life and, you know, I can tell you with an honest heart here that my heart is truly safe with Christina, okay, I just, I know she's a faithful wife, she serves me faithfully, I don't even have to worry about so many other things that she's responsible for, I know she takes care of it and, you know, that is, that is a virtue, I guess, of this woman here in Proverbs 31, verse number, let's look at verse number 12, she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life, you know, and again, I've told you guys, I've worked with a lot of women, right, and I hear women complaining about their husbands and you know what the advice of other women is, you need to get back at him, you need to get back at him, you know, it's like they're wanting to do evil to that man, okay, but it says no, you will do good to him, hey, you will be a good wife and look, I know your husband's not perfect, because I'm not perfect, I know Christina doesn't have a perfect husband, okay, and I know you're never gonna have this perfect husband, but it says here that you should be desiring to do good to him, okay, even when he's a bit off, even when he does a bit of wrong, your desire ought to be do good and not get revenge on him, you know, and it says that all the days of her life, hey, marriage is for life, okay, again, another reason why it's so important to choose the right partner, it's for life, okay, and you want to be happy for the rest of your life, you want to find someone that you can truly love for the rest of your life, make sure you make that right decision, and I'd say to the girls, speak to your dads, because, you know, I don't think there's gonna be very few people besides your dad that would want to make sure you make the best decision in your marriage, you know, I would run, you know, any relationship, I know we have young girls, one day you're gonna grow up, you're gonna be interested in getting married, I'd say run that decision, the man that you're interested in, to your dad, and get your dad's advice, okay, get your dad's advice, but yeah, I mean, she will do him good, and I'm thinking about praising their husbands, you know, because the husband does go out and work and provide, and there's nothing sweeter than hearing your wife say thank you, you know, thank you for going to work, thank you for providing, hey, we've got enough, you know, food in our bellies, we've got enough money to be able to run it, you know, the house and the resources, you know, men appreciate being thanked, and what we're gonna see here later on is that the women too need to be thanked and praised, okay, look at verse 13, she seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands, okay, so wool and flax, it says here that a housewife, basically, let me read that again, nice and loud, she seeketh wool and flax and worketh, okay, now my wife, since I've been married, has been a stay-at-home wife, and you know what people say to me, is your wife ever going to work, or why doesn't your wife work, and I'm like, are you crazy, she works more than all you women, they put together, she works probably harder than I have in some of the, you know, the cosy office jobs that I've had, okay, the virtuous woman works, because being a housewife, being there submissive to the husband, looking after the family, looking after the children, is hard work, okay, it's not a cosy, cushy job, feet up, watching Dr. Phil, no, you know, you've got your attention on your kids, you're concerned about the laundry, you know, concerned about cleaning the house, you're concerned about food, you know, all these kind of things, and all the other, you know, things that you need to get done, you know, if you're, if you're teaching your kids, the education of your kids, hey, you're taking on multiple work, right, at least the schoolteacher, all they need to worry about is teaching the kids, the housewife teaches the kids, and does all these other things, they do a good work, they work hard, and as we see here, this is an example here in, in verse number six, sorry, verse number 13, it says she's sick of wool and flax, now wool, as you guys probably know, come from sheep or even goats, you can get wool out of goats and sheep, and flax is a, is a plant, it's a vegetable, some linen is made out of vegetables, some linens are made out of, you know, animal, you know, coats and wool and things like that, I think what it's saying here is that, you know, in this case, and you know, I don't think any of us have farms or anything like that, right, but in this case, she uses the resources that are available to her, whether that's animals or whether that's plants, and she uses the resources in her house to look after her household, obviously with this linen, with this fabric, she makes clothing, okay, now you're gonna say, well are you saying, Kevin, that, you know, we ought to, you know, start making our own clothes, I'm not saying that, okay, in this day and age, it's probably easier to get a Kmart and spend five bucks on a shirt or something, I don't know, maybe it's more than that, ten bucks, okay, then spending your time, it's probably gonna cost you more to actually put the effort in and get all, you know, do the work to have this fabric to work, but the point is, she's a working woman, okay, she's a working woman, and what I want you to understand here is she works with these fabrics in this day and age there, and she develops those skills, okay, I don't want you to think that a housewife is this unskilled, untrained woman, no, it's important to develop skills in your life, and I would say, mothers, you know, I teach your girls to develop skills, you know, you know what it takes to run a household, to run a household effectively, you probably even know what you wish you knew when you got married, hey, these are things that you ought to be teaching your daughters, you know, when my mum got married, my mum came from a pretty rich family, like for their standards, and they had servants, and the servants would do everything around the house, when my mum got married, she didn't even know how to make a cup of tea, I feel sorry for my dad, my dad married my mum, actually I feel sorry for my mum, anyway, don't worry, I won't go there, but she didn't even know how to make a cup of tea, alright, so after getting married, she had to learn all these skills, but it would have been ideal, obviously, that she would have learnt that growing up, you know, that the servants weren't doing everything, that's what happens, I guess, sometimes when you've got a bit of money, you get other people to do things, but hey, we'll say this woman had money, okay, she's able to buy vineyards, she's able to buy lands, but even she gets in and develops skills, develops handiworks, it's never too late to develop skills, okay, look at verse 14, by the way, by skills, I'm talking about things like cooking skills, you know, you know, educating your daughters are important, okay, educating your daughters, why, so they can then educate their kids as they grow up, you know, pass on the knowledge that you've developed in your family. Verse 14, she's like the merchants' ships, she brings her food from afar, now this is not saying you've got to travel far distances to get food, okay, it's using an analogy here, she's like the merchant ships, so it's like the freight ships that take, you know, goods from one nation to another nation, you know, multiple ships, hey, you know, she's able to travel and get food, you know, she's interested in finding the best quality food for the best price that she can get, you know, she doesn't want to just be the kind of woman that cooks, you know, frozen meals all the time, you know, microwavable meals, okay, she's not always looking for the lowest quality food, she's there trying to get the best she can to feed her family, she's after looking after her family, okay, not constantly eating out, because that's very expensive, I'm not against eating out, okay, but not constantly doing that, because it's very expensive, and not always making those microwave dishes, which again, I'm not totally against, hey, but the low quality, it's not healthy for your family if you make food like that, hey, you know, like a merchant ship going out, getting all kinds of produce, best quality, best price, that's how she is, okay, verse 15, she riseth also while it is yet night, so she's an early riser, okay, she starts early, okay, and giveth meat to her household and a portion to her maidens, so you can see that one of her priorities is to make sure that her household are fed, okay, and she rises up early, I guess for breakfast, making sure that they start on a good diet, they start on a good meal, a lot of people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I don't know if that's true, that's what they say, but hey, she's up early making sure that her family can be fed, and it says here, and a portion to her maidens, you know what maidens are? They're servants, servant ladies, now, let me say a couple of things here about this chapter, because if you look at this chapter, it's a huge ask to do all these things, what I want you to understand, as we'll look at this soon, is that this virtuous woman here had servants, had maid servants there to help, because in some of these households, especially if it's King Solomon, okay, you know, that they would have the servants, and I just told you about how my mum had a lot of servants where she didn't lift a finger, okay, now there's nothing wrong with having servants, there's nothing wrong with having help, in fact right now my mother-in-law has travelled from Sydney to help my wife out with with a newborn baby, nothing wrong with having help, okay, but don't be to the point where you've got enough help that you don't even lift a finger yourself, hey you need to know what's going on, you need to be the one that takes control, if you're a housewife and you're able, and Australia, I guess we can't afford maid servants in Australia, but let's say we were in a nation where we had that, you would still be the manager, if you want, of those maid servants, they might carry out a lot of the work, but you're still having your hands on top of what's going on, that's what the virtuous woman would do, okay, and this is why, by the way, she was able to accomplish a lot, because she did have help, okay, so I don't want you to look at this list and go, man this is impossible for me to do, I understand the situation she was in, she had help, and one thing that I'll say to the, you know, wives and mothers, your kids, okay, are a big help, you can train them as they grow up to do little things around their house, to do chores around their house, hey you're still in control, you're telling them what to do and how often it needs to get done, hey, but use the help you've got, you know, if you take, unfortunately, you know, a lot of families have this children in schools, when they're in schools, they can't help you while they're away, right, but when they're at home, they can get the work done, they can get the chores done during their breaks, or after school work is done, hey, you can have a lot of help if you give it thought, you don't need to get the maid servants, you can use your own kids, okay, look at verse 16, she considerth a field and buyeth it, so do you see how her husband trusts her with money, she sees a field, she goes, hey, this is a good investment, you know, this is going to profit our family, then she goes out and buys it, okay, with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard, so we definitely see here the husband trusting her with the finances, and, you know, again, I'll just say, I'm not trying to boast, I'm just telling the truth, you know, with Christina, I trust her 100% of the finances, I don't put any restrictions on her, she can spend whatever she needs to spend, every now and again, if it's a little expensive, she'll run it by me, but she'll tell you nine to nine out of a hundred times, I'm like, yeah, just do it, like, why are you asking me, just, just buy it, you know, because the virtuous woman isn't just trying to spend money for no reason, all right, she's looking how can I help, you know, she's, you know, obviously not trying to, you know, she's looking for the discounts, looking for the vouchers, making sure that, you know, if we're going to buy something, first of all, we need it, or secondly, it's going to help us in the future with this investment here in the vineyard, you know, and, you know, that's, that's, you can see this woman isn't this stay-at-home slave, she's smart enough to know there's investments to be had, and this can help the family, okay, and I also think this is a little bit symbolic, you know, because not all of us can afford a vineyard, not all our wives are going to look at Aura and go, wow, there's 800 square meters there, we can afford, I'm just going to go and buy it, of course that's not going to happen, but I also think I'll just read to you, don't need to turn there, I'm going to read from you, from Psalm 128 verse 3, Psalm 128 verse 3, it says, thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table, okay, so I want to take a little bit of a spiritual application there, okay, I know we can't all buy vineyards, okay, but one thing that a wife can be like a vineyard herself, raising children, having children, children like olive plants round about thy table, obviously these kids are well behaved, they're able to sit around the table, sit still and eat their dinner, you know, it's a running wild, okay, it's the same kind of idea, hey, if you can't afford the vineyard, that's alright, you can be that vineyard yourself, you've got that time there to raise your kids, you've got that time to raise your kids, because what's a greater investment to you? A piece of land or your own children? Surely it's your own children that you'd want to spend more time investing them, train them, hopefully so they don't make the same mistakes that we've made, right, they can do, go far and beyond above what we've achieved in our lives. Verse 17, verse 17, she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. Now again, we know that women generally and biologically speaking, you know, women are weaker, you know, physically weaker than a man, but you know, managing a house requires strength, I mean, as I was going through this, I was thinking about Christina and she's always on her feet, you know, I mean, even after giving birth, she's on her feet, because that's what's going to take, right, to look after a house, raising kids, it's not like you can just sit there and put your feet up all the time, you know, if you're doing a good job, if you're working, it is work, you're going to develop strength, okay, she's not lazy, she's not idle, she's constantly working with her hands and strengthening her arms just by doing the things that she needs to get done around the house, okay, and I just, I was thinking about, you know how some girls are too afraid to break a fingernail, you know, they're so princessy, you know, and look, I'm all for feminists, sorry, I'm all for feminis-, no, not feminism, I'm all for, what's the word I'm looking for? Femininity, thank you, I'm all for femininity, alright, I'd rather they be that princess that's afraid to break their fingernail than try to be some butch man, okay, but at the same time, she, you know, she can't be afraid to break that fingernail, she can't be afraid to get her hands a little bit dirty and work, okay, you know, she's, you know, girls don't think that when you get married you're marrying some prince and you're gonna live in a castle and you're gonna have all these servants running around and you're just gonna, I don't know, what do princesses do? I don't even know, ride unicorns or anything like that, you know, that's not, that's not real, okay, that's not realistic, okay, we don't live in Disney, you know, it's, you're not a Disney princess, so, you know, promoting femininity is important but not to the point that they become a useless, you know, Disney princess, that's not what you want for your daughters, okay, they need to be able to work as well, they need to understand that when I get married I've got to put my effort in and that's the reality of it, okay, strong women, okay, strong women in that sense, you know, a feminine strong woman, okay, alright, verse 18, she perceiveth that her merchandise is good, her candle goeth not out by night, wow, so we saw that she rises up early while it's still night and now we see that her candle goeth not out by night, so she's up late as well, okay, she's up late as well, she laid her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the this stuff, I don't even know what the this stuff is, I'm assuming this is, you know, making clothing or stuff like that, I'm not sure what spindle, I'm thinking of something that spins and makes linen, anyone know what this stuff is, I should look that up, I don't know, but obviously she can, she's productive, she's efficient, you know, she's making clothing, but what I want to point out there to you guys is that she's up early, yes, to make sure her household is being fed, but she's up at night still working, okay, because getting married, being a housewife, being a mother is a 24-7 job, it doesn't end, you know, the last two nights we had the newborn crying, crying, crying, crying, and I can't help it, Christina has to breastfeed that baby, she's up, she doesn't get a rest, right, 24-7 she's a mum, 24-7 she's a mum, and this is the kind of idea that I think of is that, hey, your job as a mother, as a housewife never ends, you know, it starts from the time you wake up to the time you fall asleep, you know, go to bed, you know, that's just, that's how it is, you know, she's not idle, she's working, now you might say, well, hold on, does that mean God doesn't want women to sleep, you know, up early at night, I'll just quickly read to you Psalm 127 verse 2, it says, it is vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep, you know, God calls you his beloved, God wants you to sleep, God wants you to recharge your batteries and get the rest, but doesn't want you waking up early and go to sleep late eating the bread of sorrows, whoa is my life, or being idle and being a troublemaker, no, he wants us up, he wants us up and being as productive as we can in our lives, okay, not to be these idle, you know, full of sorrow people, but being effective, being productive, these are good reasons to maybe having to stay up at night or things like that, okay, verse number 20, verse number 20, she stretches out her hand to the poor, yea she reaches forth her hands to the needy, so you can see that she's considerate of others that are in need, okay, she's able to see others in need and offer help, now often when I read these passages in the Bible, I would like to be more helpful to the needy, but we live in such a rich nation, I mean I don't even find needy people, like everyone's got what they need, okay, and actually when I was down in Sydney, I was having lunch with my brother and we had this lady walk up to us and say hey can you spare a few change, you know, some dollars, can you spare some change, you know, I've got to catch the bus from here to some location, now if you've, you know, if that's the first time you come across someone like that, you might get fooled by it, but that's, it's the same story every time with these people, right, I know she's not needy, I know she's just going around collecting money and she's probably going to, you know, go to the to the pub and drink alcohol with the money that she collects, okay, that's, Australians are not needy, okay, and I was just talking, what did I talk to you about this, like homeless Australians are homeless on purpose, honestly, because even in Australia, the government gives you a house, you know, there's a lot of people that, you know, have Housing Commission, I don't really see this happen, but I just want to, I do want to apply this to someone in some ways, and you know, again, I want to think about our church family that we have, you know, obviously I would love to see our church, and I think we have a great church, I think we have a solid church that actually cares for each other, but I want you to just be mindful, if you do see someone in our church that has a need, hey, and you can fulfill that need, then offer, you know, offer that, otherwise ask them, hey, is there anything that I can be praying for you about, is there anything that I can do to help you, you know, I'm thinking about, you know, you know, well, Christina's got a mum helping her, but I'm thinking of Yasmin, first time mum, hey, she might need some help, she might need, you know, you know, maybe we can, you know, I don't know if she'd be interested in pizza, we can order pizza, send it her way once in a while, just do little things that we can be helpful to one another, okay, but women, this is something that you guys are actually better at, men, we don't really notice when people are in need, but women actually pick these things up a lot more, but you can see that she's considerate, the virtuous women, and she's generous, and I believe the reason why she's generous is because she doesn't waste her money, okay, we saw this, her husband trusts her, she takes care of all the things, and she still has left over in order to help other people, she's generous to others, but she ensures that her family is taken care of as well, verse 21, she's not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet, so she's not afraid of the winter months, we don't have snow here, it's never snowed up here on the Sunshine Coast, no, okay, she's not afraid of snow, she's not afraid of the cold weather, why? Because she's well prepared, you know, she's got warm clothing for her family, she's got warm clothing for her kids, she's thought that through, hey, it's gonna get cold these few months, I want to make sure that there's enough jumpers and jackets and things to keep us warm, that's why she's not afraid of the snow to come, she's not afraid of that, and says there, for all her household are clothed with scarlet, now scarlet is a bright red color, now, you know, no one's dressed in scarlet right here, does that mean no one's a virtual swimmer? No, I think what's being said here is because, you know, in winter, you know, people think of it like it as, if you see people wear winter clothing, it's not normally like black and gray and sort of colorless, but when it gets to spring and summer, it's a lot more colorful, okay, so what I think this is talking about here is that even in winter, the family is dressed well, even in winter, hey, you know, they've got bright and happy clothing, is what I think is going on, they aren't dressed in daggy old clothing that's falling apart, she makes sure that her family is taken care of, and as you can see, a lot of this stuff is common sense, you know, when you think of a housewife, you know, clothing the family, feeding the family, looking after the household, all these things are true, all these things are found here in this chapter, verse 22, she maketh herself coverings of tapestry, her clothing is silk and purple, so she doesn't just take care of the clothing of a family, hey, she dresses up a little bit herself, when you think of the clothing of silk and purple, it's often associated with royalty, right, royalty clothing, hey, she gets material and colors associated with royalty, hey, she tries to look nice, she tries to look presentable, you know, it's not like she, you know, she's, you know, trying to look like, you know, look trashy with her hair uncombed, you know, in the worst kind of clothing, you know, she tries to look, you know, hopefully attractive for her husband, but also presentable to other people around her, look at verse 23, her husband is known in the gates when he sits up among the elders of the land, and I don't want to talk about two husbands here, but I think this goes back to the idea of who are you going to marry, what kind of man are you going to be looking for, because look at the wise decision she made, she married a man that is known in the gates, he's got a good reputation, okay, he's got a good reputation, he's a man of good character, hopefully a man of godly character, and he sit up among the elders of the land, meaning that he's wise, he's got knowledge, okay, he's wise, he's knowledgeable, a wise man, good character, good reputation, that's the man you need to be looking for, not the bad boy, you know, not the one that's, you know, drinking alcohol, getting drunk, taking drugs, wasting his money, that's not the guy you're looking to marry, you should be looking for someone with godly character, good reputation, wise, who loves the Lord, okay, she made a right decision here in who she married, verse 24, she make a fine linen and selleth it and delivereth girdles unto the merchant, so she helps with the finances, you know, nothing wrong with making a little bit of money, it's not the fact that a woman makes money that I'm against, I'm just, I'm against us sending our women into the workforce who aren't looking after their children, they put their children in the hands of other people, and then the husbands aren't really being the main breadwinner, okay, they give that responsibility onto their wives, that's wrong, hey, there's nothing wrong with a wife making a bit of money, you know, again, I'm just giving you examples of my wife when she had more time and she had less kids, you know, the kids would grow out of clothing, she'd sell it on eBay, make a bit of profit, you know, sometimes, you know, in winter, she'd buy summer clothes, secondhand summer clothes, in summer, she'd buy secondhand winter clothes, and because she bought it out of season, she bought like great quality clothing, stuff that would be in the wash, you'd put in the wash, it would still look brand new, and then she'd sell it, like thirdhand, and many times, and she'd sell it in season, right, and so when you're buying it, like selling it in season, obviously you're gonna get more money for it, and many times she was able to sell the same clothing thirdhand for more than what she purchased secondhand that first time, okay, now we don't do that so much now because we've got so many kids, it's all passed me downs, by the time it gets to the last one, it's ripped and falling apart anyway, and so we don't do that so much, but look, if there's nothing wrong with a woman finding a way to make a bit of money and helping out, as long as the other priorities are in place first, okay, verse 26, sorry, what was I, did I miss one, 25, right, yeah, verse 25, strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come, so I spoke about how a woman, you know, does look after herself, make sure she's presentable, dresses well, but what is her actual clothing, this is obviously, it says here that it's strength and honor, okay, so a woman, yes, ought to try to look pretty, nice, attracted to her husband, but what really should be clothed with is strength and honor, okay, these are qualities, these are moral qualities about themselves, if you can keep your finger there, please turn to 1st Timothy chapter 2, 1st Timothy chapter 2, 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 9, 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 9, now I'm going to read this verse, and I'll tell you how a lot of people misinterpret this verse, but verse number 9, 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 9, it says here, in like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works, so some people have misunderstood this verse, I've heard it taught that, the Bible is teaching here, that it's wrong for women to fix their hair up, you know, to braids, is that broided, must be braids, or to put on jewelry, says they're, you know, of not gold, or pearls, or costly array, that's not what it's saying, okay, it's not saying that it's sinful or wrong for a woman to dress up a little bit, fix their hair, put a bit of, you know, makeup or jewelry, it's not saying that's wrong, okay, but that ought not to be what they're known for, okay, that's not, that ought not to be the main thing about a woman, okay, the main thing there, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame-facedness and sobriety, okay, so these, these are important qualities that a woman needs to adorn herself with, let's talk about that shame-facedness there, okay, shame-facedness means basically not just modest in clothing, but modest in their personality, modest in their personality, not seeking to be the center of attention, okay, not seeking to be that loud, obnoxious woman that frustrates everybody, okay, no, hey, have some shame, have some modesty, you know, again, that submissive to your husband kind of thing, and it says sobriety as well, so not a woman that's silly and immature, but someone that is serious and responsible, a woman that is serious and responsible, that is modest, that's how a woman ought to clothe herself, okay, and as we saw in in Proverbs 31, strength and honor, an honorable woman, okay, but when you look at the opposite, you know, a lot of, a lot of women these days, especially in our, you know, newer, newer generations, are those loud, obnoxious women, right, they are the silly and immature women, okay, and they're foolish, and men take advantage of them, men abuse them, take advantage of them, and then they wonder why they can never settle down and find a husband, okay, because they're not wife material, okay, they're not wife material, and you have the worldly men that just take advantage, you know, and, you know, but really they're looking for a better woman as for a wife, okay, they get all the attention now, but, you know, they're not taken seriously, okay, they're not taken seriously, so we need to make sure that, yes, I do, you know, I do think it's nice for a woman to look presentable, look nice, fix themselves up, you know, look nice for their husbands, all that kind of stuff, but more important is your character, and that's really, a lot of this is character building for a woman, okay, verse 26, back to Proverbs 31, please, Proverbs 31, verse 26, she opened up her mouth with wisdom, she's wise, you know, women, you need to strive for wisdom, and in her tongue is a law of kindness, boy I've met some really unkind women in my life, all right, women that just want to attack, women that just want to destroy, women that want to destroy anybody else's happiness because they, they're miserable, and, no, you know, a virtuous woman has a tongue of kindness, okay, they're there to lift up others, to edify one another, hey, if a woman is speaking to another woman that has problems, they're not trying to tear them down, they're just trying to lovingly give them counsel and advice with kindness, that's what you need to be working toward, I think a lot of women struggle with this area, in this area, I'm not saying anyone here, I don't know, husbands maybe, you know, I don't know, I don't know your wives, but I'm just saying, I do see this as a major issue among a lot of women today, not having that tongue of kindness, you know, she has wisdom, and I often think about the fact that this woman, she's slower to speak, she considers things that happen, you know, is thoughtful about the situation, and then speaks, okay, because we're very tempted when we, when we're very opinionated, you know, when someone does something wrong, we're very tempted to speak quickly, but when you do that, you can speak a lot of foolishness, you can speak a lot of unkind words, okay, now if, if you see me sometimes just go quiet, it's because I'm thinking about something kind to say, okay, because it takes time, right, it takes time to be thoughtful, to think of something wise and kind to say, it takes more work, hey, but the virtuous woman is able to do that, she's able to accomplish that. Verse 27, she looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness, we already discussed that, you know, she's not idle, she's got a lot of work to do, you know, and a lot, you know, people get turned off by work, but again, if we're, if we're striving and we're doing the things that God has, has given us instinctive to do, and we're accomplishing those things, and we're being successful in those things, it's going to give you great joy, it's going to give you great satisfaction to do these things, it's not depressing to work, a lot of people think, oh man, I just want to get the day over so I can rest and enjoy the, hey, you can actually find enjoyment in work, as long as you're doing it right, in the right ways, okay, and if, if as a wife you're looking after your husband, looking after your family, and you put that as your priority, and stop listening to the feminists on the television, you are going to find great joy in your life, you are going to find great satisfaction in your life. She'll look of well to the ways of her household. Verse 28, I'm almost done here, it says her children arise up, so she desires to have children, she wants to be a mother, you know, she wants to have more than one child, children, her children arise up and call her blessed, hey, her children praise her, okay, now if you hear children praising their mum, you probably have a virtuous woman on your hands there, because even the children recognise her value, even children recognise this is a great mum that I have, and kids, let me say, you ought to be praising your mums, they work real hard, you know, to raise you, to love you, and to nurture you, and then it says here, her husband also, and he praises her, he praises, men, we need to praise our wives, we need to praise our wives, they work hard, they do, they work hard, they raise the kids, look after us, you know, sometimes when you're at work you don't see all the work that they do, you know, and they might feel underappreciated, and I think what we'll see here in the next few verses, is that women, you know, are virtuous women, stay-at-home mothers that are looking after their families, need to be praised, we'll see this not just in verse 28, okay, verse 29 here is an example of the praise, you know, how he praises her, it says, many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excelleth them all, so this is like the husband saying to his wife, hey, wife, you know, there's a lot of good women out there, a lot of good mothers, a lot of good wives out there, but thou excelleth them all, you're better than all of them, you know, that's the kind of praise that you need to be saying to your wife, okay, they cook a good dish, honey, that's the best meal I've had, that's the best spaghetti bolognese I've ever eaten, and that's gonna give them, you know, joy and praise, you know, don't say, I was good but, you know, the lady in church, you know, cooked better last time, that's not praising your wife, okay, that's not praising your wife, you're the best, you're the best, verse 30, favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised, okay, so the virtuous woman fears the Lord, she's spiritual, she's godly, she wants to know the things of the Lord, you know, she's in a position to teach her kids, she should be teaching them the Bible and training them of doctrines, okay, that's a great place for you to take, you know, not in the church, not to stand up behind the pulpit teaching the Word of God, but you can teach your kids at home, even better, teach your kids so they can know the Word of God, fear in the Lord, she's been praised, she shall be praised, you see that, she's praised for being a godly wife, praised for being a spiritual woman, praised for fearing the Lord, that's something else they ought to be praised for, that's something else a virtuous woman ought to be doing, right, getting into the Bible, wanting, desiring the Word of God, and again we've already discussed this last week, men, you're the spiritual head, you should be teaching your wives as well, okay, verse 31, give her, look at this, give her of the fruit of her hands, hey your wife is not your slave, okay, she works, she deserves the fruit of her hands, she deserves reward, she deserves, you know, I don't know if they're into flowers, she deserves flowers once in a while with a box of chocolates, she deserves to be taken out on a date, she deserves having a nice little gift from you once in a while, she deserves, you know, everything that she's working for, okay, it's not like, well that's your job anyway, you know, get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich, all right, now you might have that attitude sometimes if the sandwich isn't there, but I'm just saying, hey, if they do the work, they ought to be given, they ought to be rewarded and praised, look at this, and let her own works praise her in the gates, you ought to be speaking well of your wife, you know, I don't know if, we probably don't do this all that much because we're doing Bible study, hey, but, you know, we ought to be praising our wives, you know, we have to be praising the works that our wives have done, we have to be praising her so that her own works are praised in the gates, that it's heard by other people, you ought to be talking up your wife, all right, look at verse, look at verse 28 again, verse 28, and he praised of her, verse 30, she shall be praised, verse 31, her own works praise her in the gates, hey, this virtuous woman ought to be praised, ought to be praised, ought to be praised, you know what this tells me is that women that work hard like this are going to get to a point where they don't feel valued, they don't feel appreciated, which means we need to remind them to praise them, okay, and again, if they're listening to this world, if they're listening to their ungodly family and friends, if they're listening to the media, they're going to feel, they're going to be told they're undervalued, they're going to be told you're wasting your life raising your kids, they're going to be told you can be doing greater things for your life, and that's why we need to praise them for what they do, we need to praise them for what they do because the world is not praising them, okay, it's not like the world's being quiet, the world's actually putting them down, that's what's going on, the opposite to what the Word of God says, and so mothers, wives, if you're a stay-at-home mother, raising your kids, striving to be this virtuous woman, you know, you might say well my husband's not really praising me, look God praises you, this is the Word of God, and he says you're worthy of being praised, and just husbands, look seriously, they probably deserve a little more than what we're giving them sometimes, you know, what did it say there? Again in verse 31 give her of the fruit of her hands, you know, this tells me that she's not looking to reward herself, others need to step in and value her, and reward her, and praise her, okay. Now just in conclusion guys, just in conclusion, I'll get you to turn to, I'll get you to turn to Proverbs chapter 12, since you're in Proverbs already, Proverbs chapter 12, now this word virtuous or the term virtuous woman only appears three times in the Bible, so I've already covered the first time where it's covered, that's in Proverbs 31, I just want to quickly, just in conclusion, cover the other two places where we find it, so we get a little bit more information, but we won't spend too much time on it, you guys turn to Proverbs chapter 12, and I'll just, I'll read to you from Ruth chapter 3, now I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with Ruth in the Bible, she's actually one of the, not descendants, how would you say it, of Jesus Christ, one of the ancestors, one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, and it says here in Ruth chapter 3 verse 11, she married Boaz, maybe you're familiar with the guy called Boaz in the Bible, Ruth chapter 3 verse 11, it says Boaz speaking to Ruth who he marries, it says, and now my daughter fear not, I will do to thee all that thou requirest, for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. Now I guess the only thing I want to drive from there is that a woman that is virtuous, Boaz who was, who ended up marrying her, says hey I will do all that you require, meaning that if you strive to be this virtuous woman, your husband's going to be driven to do more for you, your husband's going to be driven to to fulfill all your needs and all your requirements that you have, okay, you might be saying my husband does not appreciate it, hey maybe work toward being that virtuous woman, he's going to get to a point where he can't help himself but do everything he can to to to lift you up and to supply your every need, okay, but go to Proverbs chapter 12 verse 4, let's look at the other reference, Proverbs chapter 12 verse 4, it says a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, wow, a valuable crown, you know, it makes your husband a virtuous woman will make your husband look better than he is, that's the truth, you know, if I didn't have Christina I wouldn't look as good as I do, I think of her as a virtuous woman, okay, I'm not saying she's perfect, you know, none of us are perfect, we can all work to all these things, but hey you can actually make your husband look better in front of everybody, okay, by just being that virtuous, faithful wife, you know, and what's a crown, you know, it's something that's valuable, something that it adds authority to that man, it adds respectability to that man, okay, you can actually cause your husband to be respected in the community just by being a great wife, just by being that this great woman, but look at the flip side, it says but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones, wow, right, a woman that a wife that a man is ashamed of, it's like a rotting of your bones, makes you sickly, it's just the opposite to the virtuous woman, she's an embarrassment to her husband, okay, so I just want to end with that, which one are you going to be, are you going to be that crown to your husband or are you going to be like rottenness to his bones, that's what the Bible says, I didn't make that up, okay, you're gonna choose between one of those two things, what are you going to strive to do, alright, let's pray.