(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO INTRO went out there as well just so I have an idea of kind of what it's like out there to visit one of our friends churches. Pastor Matthew Stuckey has a church called Verity Baptist Church and they actually have six churches that they have started in the Philippines. And Pastor Stuckey is just doing an awesome job. He's really doing a lot for the Lord, working really hard. He's a very dedicated individual and so he's very inspiring. It was great having fellowship with him and to see the works that they're doing over there. There was also a lot of other just great people there from the Philippines, locals that are plugged into the church, dedicated soul winners, really committed to serving the Lord and so it was just it was really encouraging to see a lot of those people, talk with them, visit with them, people would travel several hours even just to come to the church just while we were there and so it was a lot of fun. And really the thing that's interesting about the Philippines is just the population density is extreme. So it's very, I don't know, I'm sure there there might be areas in the world that have more population density but it's got to be one of the top places in the world, especially Manila specifically where we were. There's just people everywhere. It was somewhat reminiscent of New York City but even more extreme in my opinion, so and just more wide scale. Some areas of New York City are very dense kind of when you're near Time Square and some of that area but it's like in Manila it's like that everywhere and so it's just and then you add a bunch of bikes on top of that so it's just like it's very crazy how many people are there and I think that's why the soul winning is really really highly sought after is just because there's just so many people you could possibly talk to. From an individual perspective I didn't personally find it more receptive than some of the other areas we've gone to. I still think like the Bahamas or Fiji or Jamaica or some of these other areas the people in general are more receptive. That's just my opinion but the thing about the Philippines is you just have an endless supply of young people that speak English really well so you could get a lot of people saved, maybe even more people saved in a sheer number of quantity but it was very hard to get people saved that were older especially being only English-speaking. Many of them only speak Tagalog or maybe another dialect and so but if you're an English speaker you have no problem going over there traveling, communicating, getting people saved. Most people speak English on some level and so if you're ever in that part of the world you know it's a great opportunity to go and preach the gospel. I did visit Fiji as well for a day and I visited Australia and Fiji we went soul-winning pretty much the whole time and it was very receptive. It was kind of reminiscent of Bahamas a little bit so you know I hope that my trip there and maybe making videos about or talking about it will encourage other people to go there. There was a couple people from pastors of Pulveda's Church and from Australia that had already visited Fiji in the past and they had already gotten a lot of people saved through their efforts too. I think that they went to a city called Suva is how you pronounce it and they went to the downtown area and they got like over 120 people saved in a period of a week so just two people there regularly and me and brother James Perry from the Houston Church, Pure Words, we went soul-winning for maybe four hours and we had about 23 people saved and so you know and that's it's really interesting the people there are very poor and you know what the Bible says about poor people they love the gospel okay so it was great in fact I've never personally seen poverty at the level of Fiji just because when we went into some of the villages and we were walking around the neighborhoods and talking to people people in their houses some of them had literally zero furniture and I've just I've just never seen that before where people are just all laying on a mat and they had like no I mean not even a chair you know it was just like I think one house I saw like one person that is here there's like seven people there like the one person has a chair and it's not like a lazy boy you know it's just like a hard wooden chair or something like that and so it was just kind of incredible to see that extreme extreme nature of poverty but they're really friendly they're really nice people they seemed really happy you know it's it's crazy to see people I mean imagine how your wife would feel if she came to your house and there was zero furniture you know she might not seem that happy but these people are actually very happy really kind really hospitable you know I could share their mat with them or whatever you know and but no it was great being able to preach the gospel and reach these people I still probably intend on the next major missions trip or something that we do being Bahamas again just because it's closer to us the flights are easier the flights are cheaper I still just find it hard to from a quantity perspective like it seems like the Bahamas is the most receptive that I've experienced just on a person per person basis because everyone speaks English that's the main language there's not even any distinction really the people are really nice and so I think that's a great area plus you almost have every modern convenience of America while still traveling abroad and so it's really kind of like it's really kind of nice to have whereas you go to other areas and the foods maybe not as nice or the accommodations aren't as nice so you don't have as many conveniences and in my mind it's like you might as well go to the easiest soul winning possible right are the best options possible and so most likely you know God willing our church the next major foreign missions trips that we have planned will be something like that so you know I'm excited for missions trips I get an opportunity again to talk about Fiji and I will and the there's like a missions conference that Pastor Anderson's gonna have again at the end of the year and so I'm gonna talk about Fiji but you know it's great to visit other areas of the world because then you can appreciate how much I'm right that Texas is the Promised Land okay I'm just telling you you know this is the Promised Land folks it is amazing you cannot beat Texas it's not even close and so you know I know it's cold today but you know that cold helped kill some of those bugs so you live you visit some of these areas that never have cold and they have the biggest rats you've ever seen your life and some of the worst mosquitoes and bugs and everything like that especially Australia Australia they don't even let you kill the snakes and stuff so cuz it's like you don't want to harm the habitat or anything like that so they have just like giant snakes and spiders they can't fumigate with harmful chemicals for the spiders and stuff like that and so you know it's kind of crazy when you visit some of these areas and Australia honestly like I visited there and and visited pastor Sepulveda great church great people I really you know enjoyed my fellowship with them but just to be honest it is not a soul winning paradise okay the people there are very hostile to the gospel in fact most people would not even take a church invite so just to give you an idea let alone let me give them the gospel and so it was very interesting however we did have like a group of 20 30 so winners and we have four people saved so it's not like you can't get people saved and I tried to encourage them keep going but you know it's just not very receptive it's a very rich country in fact like most of the housing like just the average basic first starter homes are a million dollars so it's just it's crazy the government control over there is extreme they monitor all the driving with cameras everywhere and if you're not wearing a seatbelt it's $1,100 ticket and I mean I think I saw a cop one time for a brief second there's really almost no police presence but it's just that big brother camera system and they use facial recognition software from China to monitor everybody's movements I believe during the COVID era they just set up all these random borders between all the different provinces and in fact if they caught you on those facial camera recognition system going to a province that you shouldn't during COVID tickets they just would just take it you again that's why people couldn't the people literally couldn't even see each other for Christmas and they lived in the same city just because they created these arbitrary lines of saying well this is a completely different province or state or area or whatever and so people were literally not allowed to see their mom and dad or brother and sister on Christmas and if they did it was a big ticket you know they're getting fined and ticketed and all this kind of crazy stuff and you know it's obvious it's just they're being punished for being such a wicked place because everyone drinks to an insane extent in Australia and the fornication is an extreme in Australia the legal age is 16 in Australia prostitution is legal in Australia and so it's just a very ungodly place they are not Christian by and large and the few Christian movements over there are just that fake Hillsong you know just sweet Jesus kind of stuff and it's just it's garbage so you know we need to pray for them and encourage our brethren from abroad and I definitely hope that the people over there stay strong because it's just very difficult to serve God like if you think it's hard to be Christian and a fundamentalist in America it's way harder in Australia but I hope that they're encouraged to keep being a fundamentalist and you know they have a lot of opportunities for soul winning around them Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Philippines they have a whole bunch of areas that they can go to and travel and get really receptive soul winning so I really hope that that area can become kind of a hub to reach that portion of the world and even though their area is not necessarily the most receptive they could still do a lot of great works for the Lord so I could go on and on about that I just wanted to give you a brief update of just kind of that trip and thank you for everyone who prayed for us continue to pray for Evangis Urbanic he's been working really hard in fact the day that I left him and James went out soul winning and they just went swimming all day and brother Urbanic got 39 salvations by himself on that one day so you know he's he's working really hard and you know he's not taking it lightly that we're paying his way and giving him funds but of course you know we want to also be praying for him and thinking about him and not just shipping him off some distant land and forgetting about him but continue to think about Evangis Urbanic message him email him pray for him you know we want to continually think about their works and keep them near and dear to our heart so we'll go ahead and sing our third song this morning Psalm 119 it's not the whole thing it's just in our special handouts is a section Psalm 119 where they're always gonna lead us all right Psalm 119 let's sing it out thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my I have sworn and I will for me that I will keep by righteous I am afflicted very much quick in me Oh morning on to thy word the wicked have played us there for me yet I erred not from thy precepts thy testimonies have I taken forever on the second accept I beseech be the free will all freaks mouth the horn and teach me my judgments my soul my and yet do I not ah oh it can't have laid us there for me my testimonies have I take it my word is a lamp unto my feet and a line unto my for they are the rejoicing of my heart I have been by my heart even I hate many thoughts but by law do I love the wicked my testimonies have I take my word my good singing as the offering plates are being passed around please turn to mark chapter 16 mark chapter number 16 you mark 16 the Bible reads and when the Sabbath was passed Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him and very early in the morning the first day of the week they came under the sepulcher at the rising of the Sun and they said among themselves who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher and when they looked they saw that the stone was rolled away for it was very great and entering into the sepulcher they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white garment and they were affrighted and he saith unto them be not affrighted he seeked Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified he is risen he is not here behold the place where they laid him but go your way tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee there shall you see him as he said unto you and they went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher for they trembled and were amazed neither said they anything to any man for they were afraid now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom he had cast seven devils and she went and told them that had been with him as they mourned and wept and they when they had heard that he was alive and had seen of her and believed believed not after that he appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country and they went and told it under the residue neither believed they them afterward he appeared under the 11 as they sat at meet and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature he that believeth in his baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover so then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God and they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following amen by our heads for a word of prayer father God we just thank you Lord for pastor Shelley and his family I pray that you give him clarity of mind as he preaches his message to us Lord and soften hearts in the room and just give us ears to hear the preaching of your word Lord and enable us to apply the message to our lives so that we can glorify you better in our everyday lives we love you and in Jesus name I pray amen amen I wanted to kind of focus at the beginning portion of mark 16 and what I kind of noticed and sticks out in some of this section is the women that are mentioned here in this passage and we have Mary Magdalene being mentioned and what I kind of find interesting is that there's a lot of women in the Bible that are very spiritual but they're also kind of behind the scenes and because we have the lens of the Bible sometimes I don't think we even realize how behind the scenes these individuals were because God kind of reveals a little bit to us about them but if you really kind of understand you know what's happening in the context and the situation these women really aren't very public they're not really getting attention from man from men it's really God commending them and talking about them and and that's kind of the concept that I wanted to preach about this morning is spiritual women behind the scenes spiritual women behind the scenes and Mary Magdalene is mentioned here as well as the other Mary in verse 1 in Siloam it says had brought or had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him now you know their mission here in Mark chapter number 16 is kind of a private mission they're not really being commissioned by someone or no one's going with them most people probably don't even know what they're doing they're just simply going to anoint the Lord Jesus Christ and his body and notice that they had bought spices so they're spending their own money they're spending their own time their own effort and energy and arguably they're kind of doing this from their own will their own heart this isn't necessarily somebody else telling them what to do or giving them this kind of an idea they just have a heart to minister unto the Lord Jesus Christ of their own volition and they're not doing it for recognition because again nobody really even knows that they're doing this or where they're going and you see this consistently throughout the Bible that there were several women that ministered unto the Lord Jesus Christ and they're not really highlighted they're not really the ones that are getting a lot of the recognition or the limelight or the spotlight but they don't really care about that they just simply want to minister unto the Lord Jesus Christ and so they're going verse 2 and very early in the morning the first day of the week they came on the sepulcher at the rising of the Sun also notice that these women are very purposeful you know they're going at a time when probably no one's going to be noticing them they're going very early in the morning mean they must have gotten up very early they're planning they're putting effort and energy into ministering unto the Lord Jesus Christ and you know what a spiritual woman is a person that will put effort and energy into ministering unto God and ministering unto the Lord even rising very early and going out and ministering doing work and of course not to be seen of men but rather just because they sincerely want to minister to the Lord they sincerely want to please the Lord now they're going very early in the morning if you kind of skip down it says in verse number eight it says and they went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher for they trembled and were amazed neither said they anything to any man for they were afraid now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom he had cast seven devils now they went to the tomb they couldn't find him there Friday with the angels message but as they're leaving as they go on their way they end up being encountered with the Lord Jesus Christ himself and I think it's no coincidence it's not like this happened on accident but Jesus Christ if you think about it he showed himself first to a woman and I think that sometimes there could be this attitude or this thought and it's not a biblical thought but it's one that would put women as kind of like a second-rate citizen or like a second-rate Christian to men or act like somehow women are inferior to men when it comes to the things of God or the spiritual things you know that's not a biblical concept and while men are called to lead men are called to be the ones in the spotlight men are called to do a lot of things that kind of get a lot more of the attention that doesn't make them more spiritual or better Christians or more important of the things of God I mean the Lord Jesus Christ of all the people he could possibly appear to after his resurrection he chose a woman and he even chose a woman who didn't even have a very great upbringing who wasn't even very spiritual in the early parts of her life according to the text she had had seven devils in her you know that's not really someone those probably raised in a Christian home or being raised in a very godly spirit-filled home she obviously wasn't saved as a young person either because if you're saved you can't be possessed with Devils you can't be possessed with demons and so this woman had lived a probably very sinful life been involved in a lot of negative things had literally experienced demon possession to an extremity not even just being possessed by a devil but out of seven devils and you know if you compare scripture with scripture you know the Bible talks about some people being possessed with a demon and then they try to like get cleaned up or get that demon out but because they don't actually end up getting saved what happens is that demon goes and find seven other spirits more wicked than themselves and then they return back into the host returned back into that person and it says that they torment him even worse so it's possible that Mary Magdalene was someone that had constantly even tried to clean up herself and and was even worse off like she had gone through the torment of a demon and then possibly even got some kind of relief and then had an even worse experience even more demons all kinds of evil but you know once she got saved she ended up wanting to dedicate her life to serving the Lord Jesus Christ and being a spirit-filled woman after that and that goes to show that God can use people despite their past he can use people despite things that they've done negatively and it shows the redemption of women the sense that sometimes women could be pretty bad or have a rough past but that doesn't mean that they couldn't turn a corner end up serving the Lord being very spiritual and and doing great things for God I think that sometimes we look at women that have a bad past and think they're damaged goods or say well this woman's not spiritual because look at her past or look at mistakes that she's made or look at who she was but you know what God used and Jesus Christ used a lot of women that have really rough pasts and of course he also then used women that had great pasts you know so you it's not to to praise the idea of these sinful pasts or to say like you can only be used by God greatly if you lived a rough life because look at Mary the mother of Jesus she doesn't have a rough upbringing look at her cousin Elizabeth she didn't have enough for up rough I'm sorry rough upbringing she was actually someone that was always serving the Lord and had a great testimony and these women were used to give birth to and raise some of the greatest men ever lived John the Baptist Lord Jesus Christ also notice that the women chosen to raise children were the ones with really good pasts and then Mary Magdalene is necessarily the one that's raising a lot of children but she was still ministering under the Lord and so I'm not trying to elevate a negative past you know we should all strive for our daughters to be virgin and clean and pure and have a great testimony that's what we want okay but if there are women out there that have not that past or have made mistakes we don't want them to feel like they can't get plugged in and be greatly used by God because they can't and Mary Magdalene is a great example of that of a woman who's very spiritual and ministering under the Lord and Jesus Christ chose her to be the one who the first reveal himself unto and I think it's mostly partly because she ministered unto him consistently keep your you don't hear me go to Luke chapter number eight from go to Luke chapter number eight just flip to the right you know when you do things for the Lord Jesus Christ he is going to reveal himself you know if you draw nigh unto him he's gonna draw nigh unto you and so she's coming to anoint him you know obviously she's involved and thinks is thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ even post his death whereas a lot of other disciples are distraught or sad or just not even like trying to be spiritual afterwards but these women are still trying to do godly things serve the Lord look it says in Luke chapter 8 verse 3 and Joanna the wife of Kooza Herod's servant and Susan and many others which ministered unto him of their substance now it also brought up in verse 2 Mary Magdalene so I don't want you to skip over that but notice that many of these women ministered unto the Lord Jesus Christ and notice this of their substance you know that's pretty difficult because women typically don't have a lot of substance they don't necessarily even have a lot of the money a lot of the resources a lot of the goods you know they're especially in this type of a society where you know the patriarchy is going strong you know women typically aren't these boss babes walking around with credit cards or something like that I mean the substance that they have is usually very humble very meager and so for them to minister of their substance is a great sacrifice and we see that these women were willing to sacrifice and minister unto the Lord Christ and sometimes you'd wonder like how did Jesus Christ just travel all the time and just go soul-winding all the time yet obviously he ate food obviously his clothes got washed obviously you know a lot of the just daily things somehow happened you want to know how they happen women like this women like this are the ones that are taking care of all the carnal needs of the Lord Jesus Christ of his disciples of the men that are traveling so that they can then do what the soul winning and the preaching and the healing and the miracles and all the different stuff they need to do and you know the ministry sometimes what we don't understand is that behind every great pastor is a great pastor's wife because in order to even be a pastor you have to have a great wife like that's part of the qualifications and yet you know unless you go to Joyce Meyer's church you don't even know very much about the pastor's wife or what she's doing you know it's a shame when the pastor is the wife okay you know that's it's embarrassing the Bible makes it clear that pastors should be men but also men that are married and men that are married to great women and the reason why pastors that are great are great is because they have great wives and for that pastor to be the great pastor he is he could not be that way if he didn't have a great wife if he didn't have a woman ministering unto him if he didn't have some spiritual woman behind the scenes and you know what Jesus Christ had a lot of spiritual women behind the scenes like Mary Magdalene like Joanna and notice this group many others not everybody even got mentioned but these were those were specifically the women the spiritual women behind the scenes the others you know it's like who are they I don't know but you know what the Lord Jesus Christ I guarantee really appreciated and greatly valued the ministry that these women provided him and you know sometimes we we think about ministries and focus only on the face of the ministry the outward of the ministry those that are getting recognition but you know what without the the people behind the scenes it can't happen you know me and brother Ben we have a podcast where we go on and we just kind of do funny stuff serious stuff kind of all that's called the Baptist bias you know and this is kind of my brainchild and my goal with the show was not to preach a fourth sermon you know for the week I don't need that it was basically just to try and reach new people you know and and kind of minister among the sinners you know what I mean like condescend the men of low estate and go down and you know the shows had some successes and you know I like it it's kind of fun but our show literally could not happen and be successful without the men behind the scenes okay and even in some cases the women behind the scenes at some points my wife was literally helping us we were doing the show at our house you know but it was like without these people and specifically without one person the show would not be the show that it is and me and Ben know for sure like who that is and and they don't need recognition because it doesn't really matter but at the end of the day you know that person is never gonna get the same recognition never the same praise but you know they're really important to us they're really important to the work getting accomplished and this is similar to how we are as a person when you think about a person and what do they get praised for they get praised for external characteristics you know when you when you think about the celebrities when you think about athletes what are they being praised for they're being praised for their hair they're being praised for the the complexion of their skin oh I mean what do you think models and women are being praised for how clear their skin is how beautiful their skin is maybe how young they look or how fit they are you know a lot of these things are not nearly as important as other characteristics like you can actually survive without hair you know you can't survive without a heart you can't survive without a stomach you can't survive without lungs you can't survive without a brain and you know these are really the the champions of who we are behind the scenes because you know those parts are way more important than our external parts you can you can be alive without hands arms hair you know you could have the ugliest complexion and you can still be kicking but you know what without a heart good luck without a brain there is nobody you know and so there's certain parts of our body that are so important yet they don't really get the recognition that they deserve do they you know when we praise athletes and stuff we're not just thinking like he has a really good heart you know those lungs are amazing you know what a brain you know often we're praising the external pieces that are more superfluous and they actually aren't as important as we think they are we just kind of look at things from the wrong perspective and even God God doesn't look at man on the outward appearance but rather he looks at man on the inward appearance you know the Apostle Paul describes himself as being contemptible in the flesh you know and sometimes I think as a man it's really hard for us if we're not like you know Tom Brady or something or Wayne Gretzky or something and we're not like the greatest male athlete you know we're not 6'5 and we can dunk you know on a 12-foot rim and we're the greatest athlete like sometimes we could feel bad about ourselves or be like I wish I was taller or bigger or stronger or more athletic you know you kind of wish that you had these physical characteristics but the people that have those physical characteristics how many of them are spiritual giants how many of them are actually doing great things to the Lord how many of those people would God look down upon and be like this is a great person and it's something that we we really want but it's really a carnal thing and if we had it we probably wouldn't be very spiritual either we would be focused more on the carnal focused on athletic sports or these kind of achievements and look there's nothing wrong with being athletic there's nothing wrong with being strong of course men we're supposed to be strong we're supposed to work hard I think it's good to have good eye hand coordination be able to do these things I love playing sports and doing those kind of activities but at the end of the day you know it's more important the spiritual things the spiritual things are what's important in this life and this world is focused only on the carnal and it's easy for us to get wrapped up with that same mindset and so for women in this world you know it's very difficult often for them to want to choose to be spiritual and behind the scenes what they want to do is they want to be carnal and they want to be on the front stage this is your Hollywood horrors and your models and your boss babes and just the big movement of feminism where they're going out and showing off their bodies showing off their intellect which it's like look obviously some women are very intelligent but just in comparison to men men are really the ones that are the intellectual geniuses they're the ones building society they're the ones of the engineers and the architects and the astronauts you know when you get an airplane and it's two diverse women you're thinking like I'm ready to fly somewhere else you know I'm gonna get off the plane like I'm not that interested I remember I was on an airplane and I didn't you know I don't always pay attention to the pilot maybe I should start paying attention but we're kind of starting to descend and they say oh by the way we have one of the first women pilots ever you know like flying the plane today and she's gonna be landing and I'm thinking like oh man I need to start praying I don't normally pray this much you know about landing but boy you could tell a difference like we descended super fast the landing was rough and my ears felt like they were gonna explode out of their sockets and you have to understand is that who's written on a plane your ears hurt when you're kind of starting to land you know that's because you're changing pressure you know you're changing elevation that changes the pressure in ears and if you do it fast it causes more pain so the more gradual you do this and the more smooth you do it the less likely you're gonna experience that pain the people that descend very quickly those are not a very good pilot and they're the ones that are gonna cause your ears to almost explode and bleed I mean if you're in the ocean in fact doing scuba diving and you go pretty far down you can't just go straight up because that pressure change could literally just cause you to die or things to explode in your body and everything like that the same as with aircraft you can't change elevation super fast because it could cause a lot of problems internally their body your body needs time to adjust and I'll just be honest it was not a smooth landing she descended super fast and you could just tell she's probably really nervous and didn't really do it he said oh it's because we're repressing women it's like no she needs to be a spiritual woman behind the scenes she needs to be making the pilot a sandwich while he descends gradually okay you know oh that's so you know offensive well but wait a minute you know what I love women there's nothing wrong with women but you know Mary Magdalene is not the disciple she's not the one she's not the apostle she's not the one going out and minute the ministering in the way of getting people saved and you know healing people and doing all these miracles she's just ministering unto Jesus and you would say oh well why why you're against her no what why would I want to just like open up my chest cavity and take my heart and just show you my heart my heart doesn't need to be seen it's fine staying in my chest cavity I don't need to expose that to you and it'd be insanity to say I'm gonna take all my internal organs and take them out of my body just so you can see them you know my heart doesn't need to be an external organ you know if I'm gonna play tackle football I don't want my heart to be the first thing to block or to run into the the linebacker you know I like the heart being protected why because it's more sensitive it's more delicate than other parts of my body right I want my shoulder or something you know to be the first part of contact not my heart does that mean that my shoulder is more important than my heart no just like women are more sensitive and more delicate does that mean they're of lesser value no in some ways they're actually in of more value but because they're sensitive because they're delicate we don't want to expose them to the dangers of this world we don't want to put them on the front lines we don't want to put them in a position that they're not suited for they're not capable of where they could be hurt or attack or taken advantage of we want to protect them and guard them and love them and treat them the way they should be treated and put them in the role that they should be in my heart should not be my brain my brain should not be my heart okay and women should not be the ones leading society women should not be the ones on the front lines you know women should not be in the military on the front lines you know if women we're gonna serve in a capacity in the military where they're making meals or sewing or you know doing these different activities that they're really good at I'm not gonna say that's necessarily wrong but you know what they should not be on the front lines with a gun in the trenches fighting these gruesome wars you know that's not for women to do you know it's a shame and an embarrassment in America that women the idea of them being drafted is on the table it's like women should never be drafted in the military ever never that is ridiculous ok it's just ridiculous though that this mindset creeps into American women and even across this world where they think that they need to be on the front lines they think they need to be in the cockpit they think that they need to be the boss they think they need to be the pastor they think that they need to do these certain task and jobs that God is not ordained that God does not want them to do that they're not well suited for you know they need to do the things that God has built them to do and they need to not be embarrassed or ashamed of their role in life just like my heart should not be ashamed of the role that it has it's a secret role you'll probably never see my heart I hope ok hope that's the case but my heart is very special to me it's very precious to me is very important to me ok just like you probably never see all the things that my wife does for the church or for this ministry and I'm ok with that that's great you know we need more women that are willing to be spiritual and behind the scenes not striving to be on the forefront and and trying to get all the recognition and the attention because it's all vain it's carnal it's not what the Bible teaches go to Titus chapter 2 I love the Mary Magdalene's of this world that are willing to just minister in the Lord Jesus Christ of their substance they're not looking to get some kind of limelight they're not trying to be a Jezebel they're not trying to elevate themselves they're not trying to lead like Eve did they simply are fine with just ministering unto the Lord that's their role that's their job it was an important job it was so important that Jesus said I am going to reveal myself first to Mary Magdalene he didn't have to do that he chose to do that that was the Lord Jesus Christ choice to reveal himself and appear first on the Mary Magdalene and in fact many of the disciples didn't even believe it many of the disciples rejected it so she didn't even get any recognition I mean she's the first person to see Jesus and they don't even believe her so it's not like she got any special attention out of it and you know some of you women when you serve the Lord Jesus Christ they're going to be people in your life that doubt your ministry to Jesus like you're going to serve in your church and then your family members and friends are going to be thinking negatively about you and think you're not really serving Jesus oh you think that you helping and doing these things at church is actually ministering the Lord you're wrong you're in a cult you're doing these things that are carnal it's like they're going to attack you or think that you're seeking attention wouldn't you wouldn't you think that the accusation laid against Mary Magdalene she was seeking attention she comes and says I saw Jesus I'm the first person to see Jesus like oh whatever you're just trying to get some attention and you just want everybody look at Mary and whatever but it's no that's what really happened you know maybe for some of you ladies you've been wanting to go soul winning or preach the gospel for a long time and maybe finally you got that opportunity maybe you finally got that first person saved but have you shared that with some people in your family they would be like oh you think you get people saved or oh you think you're special you know oh you just want attention and it's like no you're just excited that you got someone saved and you sometimes just have to be content that people aren't going to give you the attention that you deserve people aren't going to be the recognition that you deserve you just have to decide you know what I'm just going to minister unto the Lord I'm going to do what's right and I know that he knows what I'm doing is important but I may never get the attention I may never get the recognition that I deserve okay and you have to be okay with that and you say how can someone be okay with that by faith it shows a great woman of faith who can minister privately unto the Lord Jesus Christ do things for the Church of God for ministers and not getting attention you know it takes great faith but consistently through the Bible you see women being praised for this and being recognized for this and and why I think it's important that we recognize it's the Bible that's giving them this attention man is almost never giving them this attention when did we see someone in the Bible like Peter being like hey Mary Magdalene doing a good job today when we see the Apostle Paul being like Mary Magdalene good job today you know like who gave recognition to Mary Magdalene only the scripture really only the Bible is the one paying attention to them telling them that they're doing a good job liking the works that they're doing and so sometimes we have to say you know what I'm okay with only getting recognition from Jesus look at Titus chapter 2 verse 3 the aged women likewise that they be in behavior as become with holiness not false accusers not given too much wine teachers of good things they may teach the young women to be sober to love their husbands to love their children here's here's the phrase I really want to focus on to be discreet you know an attribute of a godly woman is a woman who's discreet and and what is it to be discreet or to use discretion it's something that's not being seen something that's not being seen as behavior or works done in secret and you know that's what a woman should strive to be is a woman that does things discreetly what's what's the opposite of that this is your Hillary Clinton's Kamala Harris's women that want everything to be done in public and they want attention they want to be that boss babe they want you know basically did not do things in discreet didn't description discretion but rather just they're kind of obnoxious and loud and look at me and look what I'm doing and I'm all about female businesses business owners and just all this just carnal vanity whereas women in the Bible are supposed to be discreet okay not going around trying to make a big deal about who they are what they do what they look like go to Proverbs chapter 11 what is this world teach women should go around flaunting themselves flaunting their body flaunting their clothing flaunting their jewelry flaunting their hair flaunting their personality flaunting their wit flaunting their business just flaunting everything that they can possibly flaunt you know the Bible saying the exact opposite they should be discreet and you'll notice that the spiritual women in the Bible many of them if not most of them are behind the scenes there are a few women that just by sheer nature of what they do or who they are they have a little bit more public visibility you can think about people like Esther obviously being the queen of the entire world you get some recognition okay but Esther wasn't necessarily striving or seeking for that kind of attention she was put in that position you have other women like Deborah who becomes a little bit more public just by result of the things that happen you know Akila and Priscilla Priscilla is a little bit more public of a person so the handful of women in the Bible that are kind of a little more public I'm not really talking about them because the vast majority of women in the Bible that are praised are behind the scenes not really in any kind of a public sphere whatsoever not getting a lot of public attention at all they're really just deciding to be behind the scenes and it's impossible to hide women completely that's why occasionally women still will get public recognition sometimes are seen and more visible but just because they're a little bit more visible doesn't mean they should change their attitude we should all strive you know to be discreet and especially women they should strive for their works and their ministry to be discreet okay look what it says in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 12 I'm sorry verse 22 as a jewel of gold in a swine's snout so is a fair woman which is without discretion notice that the Bible is saying that a woman without discretion is a negative thing it's describing it as a pig I mean that's a pretty grotesque animal to be comparing women to you know if you ever called a woman a pig she's not gonna be really happy about that okay there's a lot of negative associations with a pig you know the Bible is calling women pigs he's saying women are like swine women are pigs when they don't have discretion and think about it the pig is like the least discreet animal it's just like it's like giant it's fat it's pink so it's really obnoxious and it's color you know think about it this is like what women are like when they're not screen they're the flashy clothes right I mean you're not gonna just a pig doesn't blend in with this environment it's not like there's this pink forest that the that the pig is just hiding in and you don't see it right I mean there's some animals that are brown black kind of like even camouflage looking they can hide in plain sight there's certain chameleons and there's certain lizards they'll even change their skin color a little bit just to match whatever they're on just so you can't even see them a pig is just what loud wild it's there you and you just you know it's just going around uses loud it's obnoxious I mean this is what it's painting the picture of a woman without discretion that her clothing is loud she's constantly making noise she's loud she's obnoxious when she eats she's just like you know that's not really a lady like feature is women that are just loud and obnoxious and making all this noise and just eats anything and just fills their belly and it's just big and just I mean this is the characteristics of a swine and it's saying this is like a woman that has no discretion so think about what women should then be like not dressing super flashy not being loud not making noxious noises being careful you know not having to be the center of attention you know a lot of these type of attributes are what women should really strive for and you say well that sounds like you're trying to put us behind the scenes yes yeah that's what the Bible teach it I mean they be discreet I mean isn't that what they said that the older women are supposed to teach the young women to be what discrete not to be loud not to be flashy not striving for attention be spiritual ok and the least spiritual women will be the most loud obnoxious and carnal trying to draw attention themselves the most spiritual women are the ones that are meek and quiet spirit behind the scenes not trying to just get a lot of the vain attention that ungodly women want so who are the worst women the celebrities the models all of those women are the worst women they are the swines with just jewels of gold in their snout ok whether that be Taylor Swift or Kamala Harris or any of these type of women some are more swine than other ok right like Rosie O'Donnell talk about some swine ok Oprah Winfrey ok Lizzo she ate the swine ok she makes wine embarrassed go to Luke chapter 10 go back to Luke and go to look at number 10 but you know even rail thin chicks like Taylor Swift or something they're still swine ok and it's gross no one likes it you know it's making every football fan so annoyed that when they watch the Kansas City Chiefs all they do is talk about Taylor Swift and it's like no one cares like we want to watch football you know like nobody cares about this chick behind glass you know seem to herself or whatever it's like you know can we watch the football and sometimes people don't realize especially women they don't realize that when they're loud obnoxious it's a turnoff anyways it's not really what guys are striving for wanting in their heart they kind of want a woman who is making quiet now I'll say it this way carnal guys that just want to you know commit fornication they like the loud horse women but only for that reason they don't actually want to be married one of those they don't actually want to be near one of those they pay them to go away ok that's literally what they're doing but you know what every guy if he had to be married or actually be with a woman you know what he wants a meek and quiet woman that's what he really wants and that's what they all want we love that that's what is that's our nature ok whereas these loud obnoxious women yeah sure they men are willing to do you know anything to commit fornication but that doesn't mean they actually like them or want to be around them they just use them and abuse them and discard them later because of the trash that they make themselves to be and so don't turn yourself into trash don't turn yourself into swine you know be something I mean nobody wants to hang out in the pigsty but everybody likes eating bacon ok so you know we have to realize that women should not become a swine ok don't don't go for that type of an attitude because the type of men that you'll attract are the worst men to the worst kind of men godly men actually try to stay away from those individuals for all reasons and then there's carnal men that will never marry you never be sweet to you never take care of you that all they want is to just take advantage of you ok so really you're not doing yourself a service by becoming a swine you're just putting yourself on the chopping block you're putting yourself out there to be taken advantage of you know be a spiritual woman and minister on the Lord Jesus Christ he'll take care of you know be a sheep not a swine look at Luke chapter 10 look at verse 42 now I'm not gonna I'm not just reading verses so I'm not gonna go over the whole story but it says in verse 42 but one thing is needful and Mary have chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her in this story the Lord Jesus Christ is visiting Mary and Martha Martha's working and you know come right about with many different tasks but Mary ends up actually just sitting with Jesus and talking with him and what kind of symbolized in the story is the idea of a woman just simply just talking with Jesus is like how we would talk with Jesus what how does a woman talk with Jesus how does a man talk with Jesus by reading the Bible and praying and so it's kind of symbolized here is having a quiet time having a devotional time with the Lord Jesus Christ and this is something that's not gonna be public you know getting up early in the morning and just reading your Bible no one's gonna know about that no one's gonna see that you know getting up and praying using the prayer let you know praying on the prayer list or praying for your family no one's gonna see that no one knows what you're doing there necessarily you know what happens is it changes your heart and it changes who you are and you're less of a swine that day you know the women that are reading the Bible and praying and seeing Lord I guarantee they're not gonna turn into the swine of the Bible's warning about they're probably gonna be the women that stay discreet and they're probably gonna be the more spiritual women behind the scenes and they're already doing things behind the scenes to remind them hey my day today is not about me it's not about attention it's about Jesus today and I'm gonna put him first and you know notice what the Bible even said about this one thing is needful some things needful you know of all the tasks that you have as a as a wife and a mother only one is needful and how much do you approach Christianity or serving Jesus is that way you know some people would think oh women reading the Bible and being spiritual isn't that important no no one thing's needful you know serving me or serving my children is not nearly as important for my wife as her reading the Bible and praying that is the needful thing all the other stuff is yeah it's part of her job and it's important but it's not even close to as important just like you know me grooming myself physically is important but my heart it's like way more important I take care of my heart because I could have a bad skin day or hair day and be fine we have a bad heart day and you die you know you don't want that to be neglected you need these parts to be taken care of and you know our spiritual hearts need to be taken care of every day by reading the Bible studying and you know that's not just for women that's all of us we all need these type of things but again this is a spiritual woman behind the scenes Mary is doing all the works like oh look at the meal that I made and look at all I cleaned the house and it looks so beautiful and and look at all the works that I'm doing you know what Jesus Christ is saying hey there's one thing that was needful and you are skipping that and Mary is actually doing that and I'm not going to take that away from her I want her to be able to have this time with me and you know what Jesus Christ doesn't treat women as these inferior second-class citizens look at it Jesus is sitting down and just chatting with a woman Jesus wants to visit with you women he wants to have a relationship with y'all he wants to minister unto you and you minister unto him it's a reciprocal arrangement Jesus women are special to Jesus you know I don't want you to think like oh I'm a woman so I'm not special Jesus no you're just as special to be just as silly as if I said my heart's not important my brain is not important my lungs are important you know of course that's ridiculous you know well I never see you like taking care of your heart what does that look like to you okay I mean you know obviously I can't pat my heart you know and everything like that but that doesn't mean it's not important to me okay just because you see you grooming some of the outward appearance doesn't mean you don't care about the inward appearance you know we should care about all of it and sometimes things aren't just gonna be out in the open go view the first Kings chapter number 17 go to first Kings chapter 17 now this in the the the chapter of faith you know the Hall of Faith as sometimes people will describe it in Hebrews chapter 11 it's not only men that are mentioned in fact there's two women that are mentioned Sarah and Rahab now Rahab was known as the harlot Rahab is also mentioned in James so you know these women were special to God they were put in the Hall of Faith that doesn't sound like second-rate citizens I mean think about the list of people it's it's Abel Enoch Noah Abraham Sarah I mean think about the list and the group of people she's with she's not with some scrubs she's not with second-rate citizen people in the Bible she's with the greatest men of faith to ever live in this planet she's mentioned in that same list not only that you have Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses Rahab after Moses you know it doesn't say then Aaron Aaron gets skipped over you know it goes from Moses to to Rahab the harlot Rahab the harlot oh well I you know I'm a woman I'm not that important I'm not that significant wait a minute this woman is mentioned before a lot of men think about this you know who also wasn't mentioned Joshua like wouldn't you think like now again it does mention them going around Jericho and stuff so he's kind of mentioned by proxy but I'm just saying like it's not saying the name Joshua it's saying the name Rahab and that's the timeline of Joshua okay but think about it you know that's really significant to be personally named in the Hall of Faith and look this is a woman you know what this woman did is she received the spies and sent them out another way all secret all behind the scenes obviously not seeking for attention because the whole point is to be secret the whole point was using discretion you know what she's literally praised for discretion like the entire embodiment of Rahab is discretion and what's funny about it is she's a whore because like a harlot is literally opposite of a discreet woman but then she has a radical transformation and she becomes a believer and she what she then uses an exercise that discretion and you know what in the sight of God it was a great price so even though a lot of men may have looked at her as damaged goods or worthless or not having any more value collateral damage she still had great value to the Lord Jesus Christ and she was greatly used why because of discretion so that also tells me this if you're a woman that hasn't been very discreet in the past just start right now you could be like Rahab and and you know you could be like Sarah Sarah was also praised in this particular section of Scripture and you know again Sarah's not necessarily the front-runner she's not the one getting all the attention she's in the tent she's the one cooking meals and taking care of Abraham and calling him Lord but you know that she's greatly praised as being a great woman of faith and in fact the Bible says when you are spiritual you're like a daughter of Sarah meaning that she's pretty much at the top of the food chain and the most spirit filled people oh how dare you say yes sir to your husband well you know what you're just not Sarah you're being like a swine why why if the greatest woman I mean the greatest example you could possibly have in the Bible she's using respectful titles for her husband why would you then be embarrassed to do the same thing oh yeah why why would you talk to her husband that way you know it's just like well Sarah called Abraham Lord oh my husband doesn't deserve it well did your husband knock up Hagar and have a bastard kid well no he still she still called him Lord I mean and again I'm not excusing that I'm not saying that was a good thing but I'm just saying oh well if it's Abraham then I would call him Lord no you wouldn't if you won't call your husband Lord and you won't call him sir and you won't be respectful him now you wouldn't even been respectful to Abraham the woman that's respectful to her husband now is the same woman that respectful to Abraham because you know Abraham was messed up to Abraham was sinful to Abraham Abraham literally tried to give his wife to another guy how would you feel if y'all went to a restaurant or a business and he's like hey sit at another table and if anybody asked we're just we're just brother and sister how would that you how would that make you ladies feel wouldn't that cause a rift in the relationship a little bit I mean you sit here and you think like well it was Abraham then I'd call more it's like no you wouldn't you're just deceiving your own self if you would be respectful now you'd be respectful then and if you think that somehow these guys in the Bible are just so much better you know you're kind of fooling yourself they have issues too okay we all have issues we all have problems and you shouldn't respect your husband because he deserves it you should respect your husband because he's your husband because if I got respected because I deserved it I just wouldn't get respected ever no one deserves it okay I don't deserve it you don't deserve it none of us deserves it for how great we are we only deserve it because God ordained it just like my boss at work doesn't always deserve respect but I should just give it to him the pastor maybe doesn't always deserve respect but you should just give it to him anyways okay and you know unless your president's a reprobate you should always give him respect to okay I put that caveat on there so we live in America but first Kings look at chapter 17 verse 9 and Elijah the Tish bite who was of the inhabitants of Gilead said unto Ahab as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be do nor rain these years but according to my word and the word of the Lord came on him saying get the hints and turn the e sword and hide thyself and the by the book Keirith that is before Jordan and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook and I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee there so he went and did according unto the word of the Lord for he went and dwelt by the Brook Keirith that is before Jordan and the Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and the bread and bread and flesh in the evening any drink of the Brook and it came to pass after a while that the Brook dried up because there had not or because there had been no rain in the land and the word of the Lord came on him saying arise get thee to Zarephath which belong at the Zayden and dwell there behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee now it's really interesting because think of all the people in the world that are going to help Elijah he picks a widow woman you ever think about that like probably you could argue that this is the worst person qualified to take care of Elijah because not only is it a woman it's a widow meaning she doesn't even have any substance to provide of her own she is completely you know reliant on other people for her substance but you know what God likes to use is he likes to use weak people to show them his might his power and his trust plus it's kind of brilliant because the king is going to constantly seek for Elijah to try and kill him the last place they're gonna look for is a widow and specifically in Zarephath which is kind of a more wicked place and yet he's there and the Lord provides miracles this woman was kind of ready to die and I'm not going to necessarily read the whole story here but this woman ends up basically being ready to die but when Elijah comes he's like hey no no don't prepare your last meal prepare me a meal first and then you can prepare your meal and die but it ends up working out that the food that she has by a miracle of God doesn't run out the oil doesn't run out and she's able to keep making food the whole time during this famine and it just kind of goes to show a woman that puts God first he can perform miracles in your life to take care of you because women I think their greatest fear is not being provided for not being taken care of or going without during difficult times you know when you put God first he can sustain you through that difficult time and you know think about how hard it would be to just trust the Lord but to also then minister unto another guy and then still have to rely on the Lord I mean she's not just providing for herself she's ministering unto Elijah of her own substance why because constantly in the Old Testament is pictures of Jesus Elijah is a picture of Jesus and this widow woman is a picture of those other women who what ministered unto the Lord Jesus Christ of their own substance you know she she gave of the Lord what she had and then God multiplied what she had but that's going to take a great step of faith to take the little bit that you have and give that to the Lord or minister unto the Lord or to help the man of God you know what she put the man of God you know as a priority in her life and God greatly blessed her and preserved her if she didn't put the man of God in her life she would have had her last meal and died I mean that I would have been the reality she would have died and even Jesus Christ brings up how God didn't send Elijah to a lot of the widows and in Israel at this time but just this one okay why because this is one that was actually gonna put Elijah first this is one that is actually going to minister unto him and you know Elijah Elijah is like someone that everybody knows Elijah gets a lot of public attention Elijah is the face of Christianity in a lot of ways you know this little woman's not we don't know her name but you know what she is a spiritual woman behind the scenes Elijah wouldn't survive Elijah wouldn't been the man of God that he is he wouldn't have gone up in a whirlwind to heaven if it wasn't for this woman and so you know what many of us men we wouldn't be who we are without the women in our lives and we need those women to stay the spiritual women behind the scenes so that we can be the Elijah's going out and doing the work you know don't undermine your role in society don't undermine your role in Christianity and think you're less because you're not getting all the attention you know the attention is vain anyways we go to second Kings chapter number four go to second Kings chapter four find a man of God to minister unto and you know what it doesn't have to be a pastor a preacher it could be your husband because your husband's the man of God your husband's the one going out doing soul winning and you know what don't be a negative Nancy don't be a swine be the woman behind the scenes helping minister unto your man and helping him go out there and accomplish great works of God you know encourage him to be a soul winner encourage him to be plugged in a church encourage him to preach the Bible encourage him to do the works of God and to stand alongside of him and to help him and a minister unto him and to encourage him you know be that Sarah be that Mary Magdalene be that widow woman be the woman in his life be the the pastor's wife or the deacon's wife to that man and help him to do great things for God and you know Jesus Christ is paying attention Jesus Christ is noticing in fact it's funny because it said that God had commanded this widow woman but when July just shows up she didn't know it I mean do you see that we didn't read the whole story you know I apologize about that but it read the whole story and then show me the verse where God audibly commanded that woman to feed Elijah you know what it's just that women are commanded to be a help being under the husband and that women are supposed to be ministers and so you know whether she realized it or not she was supposed to do it and you know women should be ministers unto men that's what God ordained that's what God decided don't be mad at that role why is that a bad role well I would do it if it's Elijah will do it if it's your husband do it if it's your father do it if it's your grandfather do it if it's you know just some soul winner do it if it's just some evangelist do it if it's some deacon do it if it's some pastor do it if it's just anybody in the name of a disciple you know it just help the ministers of God help the Church of God minister unto them do good unto them you know for Mary Magdalene and Jesus there was no carnal relationship there he wasn't like her distant cousin necessarily or uncle or brother or dad or husband she was just ministering unto Jesus because he was a man of God and she was there at that time you know be someone that would minister unto the men of God and help them look at 2nd Kings chapter 4 verse number 1 the Bible says now there were cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying thy servant my husband is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord and the creditors come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen now Elisha ends up performing a miracle for this woman too but notice she lose her husband she's indebted and she doesn't have you know a way to pay what does she end up doing she didn't create an only fans account she didn't whore herself out she didn't prostitute her body she didn't do what a lot of women do she didn't get a job you know what she did she asked the man of God what to do she sought the Lord and the Lord took care of her and you know how many women today are seeking the Lord and putting the Lord first and then having the Lord provide for them and take care of them you know this is a spiritual woman behind the scenes she goes out and borrows the pot she does with the men of God says and you know what she is greatly blessed and you know we women that seek God first in their lives and not seeking to preserve themselves and and by carnal means taking things in their own hand staying dependent you know this is what often is accused of fundamentalists is they say oh you're trapping your wife because if you die how is your wife gonna pay bills I said well I'm dead I'm not gonna worry about that no you know what she's gonna trust in the Lord and somehow the Lord's gonna provide for her oh I don't know if that's gonna work out well you know what you don't have a big God then because I have a great big God and you know what he has the cattle a thousand hills and he can take care of her he can take care of my wife and you know what the Bible says that women under the age of 60 they're supposed to get remarried again anyways okay and if they're past that age then some family member by the time my wife reaches the age of 60 she's gonna have a lot of men in her life that can take care of her Clayton and Jackson and James I mean she's gonna have lots of men in her life that can take care of her let alone grandchildren and everything else you know what she's she's fine and I'm not planning on dying anytime soon so get used to me all right but at the end of the day you know we need to trust the Lord and seek the Lord and be a woman that's seeking God first not seeking to preserve themselves if you skip down to verse 8 this is another story it says and it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem there was a great woman and it's not saying she's big it's saying she was awesome okay and she constrained him to eat bread and so it was that as off as he passed by he turned in thither to eat bread you know this is saying like the man of God was going and he didn't want to eat but she's just like no you have to eat let me let me give you food she's compelling him and she's giving him she's ministering to him of her substance even this it says in verse number nine and she said under her husband behold now I perceive that this is an holy man of God which passeth by us continually you know she's kind of the spiritual giant in the household and she's even having to help her husband hey this guy is like a really important man of God there's nothing wrong with a woman prompting her husband and letting him know spiritual truths you know there's been plenty of people who their wife got saved first and had to prompt their husband to get saved or she actually started reading the Bible and understanding the doctrine trying to prompt her husband now of course you want the husband to lead but notice that this woman is recognizing this is a man of God she's telling her husband about it verse 10 let us make a little chamber I pray thee on the wall and let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick and it shall be when he cometh us that he shall turn in thither she's thinking about the man of God thinking about his needs thinking about what he could use and she's even accommodating him above and beyond what he needs I mean she's thinking like give him a stool and give him a candle and like you know obviously why does the man of God need those things I don't know maybe so he could read the Bible maybe so he could write things down he could work on you know whatever work that he has to do but she's thinking about this she's setting aside an entire place in her home just for the man of God you know that is a spiritual woman sometimes we we try to make being spiritual something that it's not here what is this woman doing this being spiritual making meals preparing a bed preparing a table lighting a candle just setting a place up in her home to minister and other people you know that's being hospitable you know that's some of the descriptions of what a spirit-filled person is a person that's hospitable thinking about others providing for others helping others assisting men of God doing work for them saying this is a great man of God hey let us minister unto him let us do good unto him and of course she's letting her husband know she's not like have ulterior motives to be interested in this guy or something like that she's just saying this is a man of God let us help him let me and you do good unto him and bless this man of God okay I I want to go to one more place go to Luke chapter number one there's a lot more that we could talk about but you know some of the things that we brought up number one we brought up ministering unto the Lord and and of course we don't have Jesus Christ physically on this earth to minister to but Jesus Christ says when you've done it on the least of these my brethren you've done it unto me so you know you do have is you have men women and children on this earth that are Christians and every time you ladies minister unto one of them you're ministering unto Jesus so let the women in this church be women that are spiritual women behind the scenes assisting the men women and children in this church and not just this church yay the whole world other churches in this whole area be a minister unto them serve them do good unto them make them meals provide them with clothes and the things that they need that is what a spiritual woman is doing not only that we we noticed that Mary was reading her Bible proverbially speaking she's talking with Jesus she's reading her Bible and praying you know this is another great thing that women can do we see that the widow woman seeks after God in in this passage that we had read it said this one was very careful with the care that she had toward Elijah or Elisha I'm sorry and so you know caring for others thinking about others here's another thought is just being humble and in Luke chapter number one we have the story about Zacharias and Elizabeth and they're kind of older and they end up having John the Baptist and John the Baptist is their child but the Bible even says very specifically about them is that they were great people they really love the Lord yet they were this also just proves the fact that you could be the greatest person you could be the most spiritual woman and man and still be barren you know some people would maybe think that you're a bad person because you're barren but that's not necessarily true look at verse 5 there was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking and all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless how many people in here can say that's me I'm walking in all the commandments blameless like that's an extreme righteousness that's an extreme level of godliness but look at this and they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years so the Bible saying that they've lived a long life they've been pleasing unto the Lord they're very righteous they're constantly serving God but for some reason they're barren okay and of course it's to make it more significant when they give birth to John the Baptist of course but you know we don't always know God's intention look at verse 41 when it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary so the Mary comes and visit her the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost you know what not only men are filled with the Holy Ghost the Bible very clearly instructs and tells us that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost you know we shouldn't think like only men are filled with the Holy Ghost no women can be filled with the Holy Ghost and what happens and she spake out with a loud voice and said blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb and whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me you know why God chose her look at these words that she says and whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me she's humble it's a very humble woman she's not saying of course of course she would come to me I'm very righteous I'm keeping all the commandments blameless look at me look at all the works that I've done of course it makes sense that the Lord would come and visit me she still says like who am I that the Lord would come and visit me or would come to see me you know it shows that she's very humble and it shows that she cares about the things of God and she's filled with the Holy Spirit and she speaks the Word of God you know we need women that are gonna speak the Word of God the Bible says in Proverbs 31 which we've been memorizing that the that the proverbial woman she opens her mouth with wisdom she opens her mouth wisdom and we need women that speak the wisdom of the Word of God that when they speak they speak what the Bible says that they know the Bible when they instruct their children they're instructing them out of the Bible when their friends are asking them things they're instructing them from the Bible not gossip when their husbands are asking them questions and talking with them they're instructing their husbands with wisdom they're saying hey this is a man of God let us make him a little chamber I mean that's a lot of wisdom you know they're saying yes Lord they're saying yes sir they're using discretion they're saying the things that are coming from the Bible you know that's what they can be spirit-filled and you know when they go out they can preach the gospel and they can speak with wisdom there's a lot of people that probably wouldn't even get saved from a man but there's a woman that could get them saved whether that be children men women you know there's gonna be men that would probably talk to a lady there's probably ladies only talk to a lady there's probably children that may only want to talk to a lady and you know we need women that are willing to go out and preach the gospel we need women that are gonna speak the word the Word of God says we need the women to teach our children the wisdom of God you know Proverbs 31 literally starts out by telling us it's the prophecy that his mother taught him I mean the prophecy that his mother taught him I I would love for the Bible to say of me and my wife that we're both filled with the Holy Ghost it's not just about me we want our women to be filled with the Holy Ghost you know the Bible talks about women's not just women but all of us speaking to ourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing making melody in our heart of the Lord that's how we're filled with the Spirit you know women can be filled with the Spirit say how do I get filled with the Spirit how about sing some hymns when you're at home well who's gonna hear my beautiful voice should I put on tiktok no don't look I'm not against you know I'm not against putting out music online and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with making great soundtracks and great musical works and putting them out there you know you don't have to necessarily film yourself singing all day every day and tell everybody about it and do a little dance show or something like that you know that's that's not really trying to be filled with the Spirit that's trying to get followers and likes and whatever you know that's not what we should be striving for and the world is trying to turn women into non discrete people that are constantly sharing their lives with everybody online you know women should use the more discretion especially when it comes to spiritual things you know read in private pray in private sing to the Lord in private you know let your child sing with their children you know if you need an audience if you need some followers sing with your children because I guarantee they'll like it you know they'll pay attention they enjoy you know you're singing even if the world doesn't and I want to show just flip the page and look at chapter 2 verse 36 women should seek to be humble and and here's one other thing that I noticed that's kind of a private thing verse 36 this is about a woman named Anna and there was one Anna a prophetess the daughter of annual of the tribe of Assar she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity and she was a widow of about four score in four years which departed not from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day you know it had been easy for this woman to have thought like is what I'm doing even matter I mean no one's no one's noticing that this woman's constantly fasting and praying because those are things done in private you know Matthew chapter number six even makes it clear that when you fast and pray you're supposed to be doing it in secret and for God to praise her works means it was definitely done in secret if it wasn't for this passage of Scripture we would have never known and I think I think what God's doing is God just giving a sneak peek into the spiritual women behind the scenes and it's not so that you would say well I really hope I get that one mention I really hope I get some recognition eventually no it's to help you realize that most of the time if not all the time you're not going to ever get that recognition but God notices God notices the women being spiritual God notices your prayers in secret God notices your fastings in secret God notices you reading the Bible in secret God notices you making all those meals and making the clothes and making the bed and providing the house and making it hospitable God notices you doing the things of the Lord God notices you when you put your cut your care and trust in him and have him provide for you he'll make your oil multiply he'll make the oil not run out he'll he'll cause it to where everything you could ever want and need will be taken care of and you'll be blessed greatly and in fact he may even real himself to you privately in a way that he did to no man just like he did to Mary Magdalene let us not look down upon the women in this world or the women in this church the women in this ministry let us realize these are the secret parts of the church body that are so important and let us constantly praise them and let us constantly take care of them and protect them and encourage them to be the part of the body that they need to be don't seek for vainglory it's not what the Bible says be a discreet you know spirit-filled woman of God speaking the wisdom of God and just stay humble thank you Heavenly Father for the word of God and giving us these instructions I pray that the women in this church would would realize the importance of staying humble and would realize that that the works that they do are going to be seen and noticed by you regardless of what kind of attention they may get from this world and I pray that you would help build their faith encourage their faith strengthen their faith help them to realize that the works that they do are important I hope that all the women in this room realize that they're very important very special to you that you want to have a special relationship with them and I pray that you would help us as men to encourage our wives and encourage our daughters and encourage our mothers and encourage all the women in our lives to be very spiritual and to see their importance and for them to for them to know that we we believe that they're important even if we can't always pay attention to everything they do but that Jesus will and in Jesus name we pray amen all right for our final song this morning let's go to 370 throw out the lifeline 370 throw out the lifeline three seven zero throw out the lifeline throw out the lifeline across the dark wave there is a brother whom someone should save to to share the lifeline, someone is drifting away. Throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline someone is seeking today. Throw out the lifeline with hand wick and strong why could you tear me by I linger so long. See, he is sinking, oh, hasten today. And out with the lifeboat away, then away. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is sinking today. Throw out the lifeline to danger from men. Sinking in a ways where you've never been. Wings of temptation and billows of hope. Will swoon heard of the mountain where the dark waters flow. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is sinking today. On the last. Soon will the seas and the rescue be o'er. Soon will they drift to eternity's shore. Case then my brother knows mine for delay. But throw out the lifeline and save them today. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is sinking today. Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed.