God’s Good Design of Femininity

TWELVE 5 CHURCH

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We worship the God who was We worship the God who is

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We worship the God who evermore will be He opened the prison doors

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He parted the raging sea My God, He holds the daisies with me

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There's joy in the house of the Lord There's joy in the house of the

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Lord today We won't be quiet when we shout out

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Your praise There's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place

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We won't be quiet when we shout out Your praise

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When we shout out Your praise We sing to the

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God who heals We sing to the God who saves We sing to the

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God who always makes a way We hung upon that cross

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Then He rose up from that grave My God still rolling stones away

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There's joy in the house of the Lord There's joy in the house of the Lord today

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We won't be quiet when we shout out Your praise There's joy in the house of the

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Lord Our God is surely in this place We won't be quiet when we shout out

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Your praise When we shout out

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Your praise We were the beggars, now we're royalty

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We were the prisoners, now we're running free

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We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace

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Let the house of the Lord sing praise We were the beggars, now we're royalty

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We were the prisoners, now we're running free

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We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace

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Let the house of the Lord sing praise There's joy in the house of the

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Lord There's joy in the house of the Lord today We won't be quiet when we shout out

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Your praise There's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place

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We won't be quiet when we shout out Your praise

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When we shout out Your praise Amen!

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Well, I want to thank the praise team for a great job they do. You just don't imagine the sacrifice they make and the time that they spend rehearsing and putting this together and coming early.

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So, we're really appreciative of what they do. Before you're seated, I have one question. Is there joy in the house of the

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Lord today? Yes, sir! Alright, that's a good enough answer. Y 'all can be seated. I want to welcome everybody here today.

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Of course, members, guests, repeat guests. And most of all, if you're a first time attender, we want to welcome you here.

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We're so glad that the Lord has brought you here today to worship with us. And I wanted to address something that really hasn't been addressed in a while.

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And most of y 'all are going to know this. But, we're 12 .5 church. How did we come up with that name?

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12 .5 And of course, that comes from Romans 12 .5 where it says, So we though many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.

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And this verse really describes what we're about. What we put priority on.

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How we conduct ourselves. When we do anything in this church, this is the blueprint we go by.

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We are in Christ. And that's what we've been learning as we've been going through Ephesians. What does being in Christ mean?

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It means we have the spirit of wisdom and the knowledge of Him within us.

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We have Christ in us. You know, before we go to heaven, heaven has come down to us and dwells within us.

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We are one body. We gather as one. Sharing our life and growth in Christ with one another.

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Lifting each other up. And we are members one of another. And that speaks of love.

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Love for one another. We're adopted into Christ. We're adopted by God.

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We're adopted into the kingdom of God. We are brothers and sisters. Literally one family.

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So that's what I just want us to dwell on today. That's why we gather.

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To praise Him. To worship Him. To live in Him. Well a few announcements today, and usually we don't have very many, but we have a couple today.

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Starting Wednesday, May 22nd. That's our Wednesday night. It'll be going on while we usually have our

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Wednesday night service. At 6 .30 we're going to be starting another round of our new member classes.

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And there's four classes. It'll go over four weeks. So if you're interested in what it means to be a member.

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It doesn't mean that you're thinking about joining. But what does it really mean to be a member of this church?

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We invite you to come. And sit through that and learn all about who we are.

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And what we believe and what we do. The second announcement is we've been going through Everyone's a

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Theologian by R .C. Sproul on Wednesday nights. And we're getting towards the end of that.

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I think we have like four or five more chapters to go. And we're going to be starting a new curriculum.

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On Wednesday, July 3rd. And that curriculum will be. We're going to be covering the doctrines of grace.

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What a wonderful subject for us to learn and really sink into. And see what the

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Bible says about these doctrines of grace. There will be a curriculum and that will be provided to everybody.

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So please come if you want to learn more about the doctrines of grace. So that brings us now to a time of prayer.

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We want to pray for a local church as we do every week. And the church we're praying for this week is

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Mercy Hill Church. In Olive Branch, Mississippi. So if you'd bow your heads with me please.

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Father we're so thankful for your church. We're thankful for what you gave.

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That we could have a church body. That we could meet. And to praise you.

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To learn more about your word. To proclaim your word. To live your word. To speak your word to one another.

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And we lift up Mercy Hill to you Father. First I want to pray for the leadership of Mercy Hill.

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That you would give them wisdom. Understanding. Directing them in your purpose. In your direction for their church.

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Guard them. Guard them from the wolves that want to come and tear them apart. And speak evil into their lives.

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Father pray for the members that they would love one another. That they'd grow in one and grow in you.

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I pray this in Christ's name. Okay now we come to a part of the service.

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We always love this. We're going to have new member recognition. Nathan's going to come and do that.

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Alrighty well. You know as Pastor Keith was just mentioning. You know we are a body.

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We are a family. And we are a family with every saint that has ever lived and ever will live.

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We're a part of the universal church. Praise God. But we see in the

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New Testament. That God has prescribed for us to live the life out in that body. In a local covenant body of believers.

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Such as this here today. And they're in Olive Branch Mississippi. With that church.

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This is a particular body of brothers and sisters that have covenanted together for ministry.

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And so quite often here we see that Christ Jesus is growing this particular body.

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And so Chris and Christy if y 'all wouldn't mind coming on up here. This is always an exciting time for us as a family.

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Y 'all I'm pretty much everyone in here. If you've been here at all you've gotten to know Chris and Christy. And they have extended family with Meredith and Marcus and the kids.

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And they y 'all been coming for a few months now haven't you? Y 'all were coming at the other building. And then coming here and we got in here.

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And they have shared a desire to say hey we see God working. We feel the draw to come and be a part of this covenant body of believers at Twelve Five.

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They've gone through the membership classes. We had to do some make up classes with work and what not. But we were able to walk through all of that.

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They have signed the membership covenants. We have heard what we believe to be a credible profession of faith.

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That they believe and they affirm the truths. That we believe to be true in God's word here at Twelve Five Church.

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Is that a correct assumption? Alright. So the elders would like to present

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Chris and Christy as becoming official covenant members of this body.

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All covenant members that affirm them to be brought in please stand. Unity.

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The unity of the faith. This is an exciting time. I'm so excited to see how God works in y 'all.

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Every individual that's brought in here has a gift from Christ. And we get to see

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Christ use that gift and for that gift to flourish. For the encouragement. For the benefit.

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For the betterment of this body. For kingdom purposes. And we pray that all the gifts that are standing in here will benefit you.

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Encourage you. And challenge you. And so that we can continue to be obedient to King Jesus.

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Amen. Would you bow with me in prayer for them. Lord we thank you for Chris and Christy.

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We thank you for drawing them here. First of all we thank you for saving them. Redeeming them and bringing them into unity with the

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Triune God by the blood of Christ. And Lord we thank you for their heart for you. We thank you for their desire to serve you.

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And Lord we pray that they would flourish here. We pray that they would grow in the fear and knowledge of you.

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That they would be used mightily for your kingdom purpose. Lord help us as a church to come alongside them.

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Lord that the gifts that are here would be used to mold and to sanctify them through the power of the

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Holy Spirit. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Every time we bring a new individual or new family in we do not gift you something.

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We commission you with something. This is a brand new ESV study Bible. We've signed the inside with your names.

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This is from 12 -5 with the date of your membership here. And this is a reminder of what it is that we're about here.

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Like we don't come up with some ideas. The pastors don't just come up with ideas as to what the church is supposed to look like.

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And how the Christian life is supposed to be lived. We have to abide by this. And this, this helps you keep us accountable.

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This helps you keep each other accountable. This is what we're about here. And I want to commission y 'all's family with this.

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And y 'all have to fight over who gets it. And the husband lays down his life for his wife, right?

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Oh, he already has one. Okay. Well, praise God. This is an exciting time. Thank y 'all. Hey. What a wonderful time for the church.

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We see God working. We see us growing in Him. Now I'd like to play stand and sit.

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But if you would all stand now for the call to worship which will be from Psalm 4.

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And this is a responsive reading. Answer us when we call, O God, of our righteousness.

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Be gracious to us and hear our prayer. But know that the

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Lord has set apart the godly for Himself. Be angry and do not sin.

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Offer right sacrifices. There are many who say,

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Who will show us some good? You have put more joy in our hearts.

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In peace, we will both lie down and sleep. Amen. If you would bow your heads in prayer, please.

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This is a prayer of adoration. Lord God, Heavenly Father, Your greatness is unsearchable.

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As we sing and pray, we commend Your works to one another and declare

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Your mighty acts. We speak of the splendor of Your majesty and of Your perfect attributes and promises,

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Your promises, we meditate on. We declare Your greatness. We speak to each other of the glory of Your kingdom and marvel at the power of Your word.

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For Your kingdom is everlasting and Your dominion endures through all generations.

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Amen. He is our

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God. You alone are holy.

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Matchless in Your glory. Holy God.

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You turn away His love. You conquer us with kindness.

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There is only one. He is our

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God. You alone are holy.

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Matchless in Your glory. No one is like You.

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We adore

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You. Holy God.

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To the King on the throne, who was and is to come. And to the

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Lamb who was slain, be glory. Now to the

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King on the throne, who was and is to come. And to the

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Lamb who was slain, be glory. Now to the

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King on the throne, who was and is to come. And to the

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Lamb who was slain, be glory. Holy.

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You alone are holy.

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Matchless in Your glory. No one is like You.

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Holy. We adore

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You. Holy. Holy God.

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Praise You, God. Thank You, Lord. Not in days that God has numbered

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I was made to walk with You. Yet I look for worthy treasures and for secret gift keys.

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But mine is hope in my Redeemer.

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Though I fall, His love is sure. For Christ has paid for every failing.

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I am His forevermore. So mine are tears.

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Mine are tears in times of sorrow.

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Darkness not yet understood. Through the valley

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I must travel. Where I see no earth deeper.

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But mine is peace that flows from heaven.

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Endless strength in times of need. I know my pain will not be wasted.

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Christ completes His work in me. My days here as a stranger, pilgrim on earth.

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With Christ I will encounter harm and hatred for His name.

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But mine is armor for this battle.

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Strong enough to last no more. Yes. And He has said

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He will deliver safely to the goal.

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He's to Zion's city where beside the

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King I walk. For there my heart has found its treasure.

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Christ is mine forevermore. Come rejoice now, oh my soul.

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For His love is my reward. Sing it out this morning. Fear is gone and hope is sure.

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Christ is mine forevermore. Sing that one more time. Come rejoice. Come rejoice now, oh my soul.

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For His love is my reward. Fear is gone and hope is sure.

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Christ is mine forevermore. Mine are keys to Zion's city where beside the

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King I walk. For there my heart has found its treasure.

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Christ is mine forevermore. Christ is mine forevermore.

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Christ is mine forevermore. Praise the

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Lord. Scripture reading today will be from Proverbs, chapter 31, verses 10 through 31.

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And this section is entitled, The Woman Who Fears the Lord. An excellent wife who can find.

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She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her.

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And he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm.

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All the days of her life she seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands.

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She is like the ships of a merchant. She brings her food from far. She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.

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She considers a field and buys it. With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

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She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

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She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

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She puts her hands to the distaff and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor.

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She reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

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She makes bed coverings for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

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Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

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She makes linen garments and sells them. She delivers sashes to the merchants.

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Strength and dignity are her clothing. And she laughs at the time to come.

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She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

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She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed.

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Her husband also and he praises her. Many women have done excellent but you surpass them all.

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Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman who fears the

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Lord is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates.

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We all seek wisdom and understanding knowing that wisdom and understanding comes from the

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Lord. And that is the pastoral prayer today. It's for wisdom if you'd bow your heads with me please.

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Father in heaven we lift up our heads to you seeking wisdom and understanding.

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For it is in you and your word alone that we trust. Lead us in your truth and give understanding as to what is false.

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Instruct us in your way and lead us down your path. Remember us in your mercy and in your steadfast love leading us in the ways of righteousness.

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Good and upright is our Lord. He instructs sinners in the way of steadfast love and faithfulness.

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From desert to the sea All nature testifies

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O spring, splendor Praise the Lord Praise the

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Lord Sing His greatness

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All creation Praise the Lord Raise your voice

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You heighten all your tests From furthest east to west

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Let everything that has breath Praise the

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Lord Reach to the dust

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Keep up your spirit Breathe You formed us in your very mouth

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Wondrous words To tell your mighty deeds To join the everlasting course

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Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Sing His greatness

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All creation Praise the Lord Raise your voice

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You heighten all your tests From furthest east to west

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Let everything that has breath Praise the

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Lord Let gifts resound

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Let chants and choirs ring out All heaven hears the sound

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Of the Lord's truth Let every nation bring

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Its homage to the King A lord upon the knees

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Eternal Praise the Lord Praise the

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Lord Sing His greatness All creation

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Praise the Lord Raise your voice

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You heighten all your tests From furthest east to west

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You distant burning stars All creatures near and far

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From sky to sea to shore Sing out forevermore

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Let everything that has breath Praise the

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Lord Father we are here to worship and honor your holy name

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God we thank you Lord Thank you for this time of worship Praise the Lord Everybody knows this song sing it with me

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Great is thy faithfulness Oh there is no shadow of turning with thee

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Thou changest not thy compassions

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As thou hast been thou forever

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Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies

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I see Needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness for unto me

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Summer and winter Springtime and harvest

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Sun, moon, and stars In their courses above Joined with all nature

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In manifold livings

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To thy great faithfulness Mercy and grace

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Great is thy faithfulness

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Morning by morning new mercies

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I see Needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness

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For sin and unpeace that endureth

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Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

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Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

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Blessings all mine of ten thousand years

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Great is thy faithfulness

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Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies

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I see Most gracious heavenly

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Father, Lord we thank you so much Father this morning for your faithfulness Lord you are so faithful and all the blessings that you pour out on us each day

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Lord we are just so grateful Lord we praise you for this opportunity we have to come and gather this morning

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Lord And praise and worship you, sing to you

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Lord we are so grateful Lord I pray that you would be with the remainder of this service

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Lord I pray that you would just Lord I pray that you would just be with Pastor Nathan Lord as he prepares to come before us

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And preach and proclaim your word Lord Lord I pray that you would just bless the offering this morning

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Lord we love you we praise you we ask all these things in your son Jesus' precious and holy name

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His great faithfulness It's his great faithfulness that has given us breath this morning to wake up It's his great faithfulness that has allowed us the opportunity to come and gather with the saints

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Other brothers and sisters It's his great faithfulness that has kept his word pure and true and clear

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And it is his great faithfulness that has allowed us to have access to his word

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It is his great faithfulness Every molecule of this universe moving

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By the sovereign providential hand of a faithful God that does all things well

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Amen Amen We'll go ahead and open up your copy of God's word

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That copy that God's faithfulness allowed you to have to Ephesians chapter 5

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Ephesians chapter 5 we're going to start reading in verse 22 Today is week 3 of course of our series

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God's design for the family And as we've come to this portion in Ephesians where Paul gives us

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As we said last week just a glimpse of this design And as we've done the last two weeks we are going to read this entire section

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As a whole up through the beginning of chapter 6 To have it fresh in our minds

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So that as we're going through this series we understand and we see it

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However if you've been with us of course thus far You know that we are not yet ready to jump in and exegete this particular text

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Because we are laying groundwork over the past two weeks And then today is groundwork as to a bigger biblical picture regarding the why

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And the goodness of what Paul is laying out here in these few verses

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And so if you would look with me there at Ephesians chapter 5

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Where Paul says wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church

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His body and is himself its Savior Now as the church submits to Christ so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands

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Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

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That he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word

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So that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle

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Or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies

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He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh

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But nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church Because we are members of his body

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Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife And the two shall become one flesh

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Now this mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church However let each one of you love his wife as himself

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And let the wife see that she respects her husband Children obey your parents in the

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Lord for this is right Honor your father and mother This is the first commandment with a promise

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That it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land Fathers do not provoke your children to anger

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But bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the

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Lord This is the reading of God's perfect inspired word

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Let's stop once more, let's bow our heads Let's ask that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds to this truth

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Particularly today but over the next few weeks Lord we come before you once again

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And we just want to acknowledge our frailty We want to acknowledge our propensity to distort your good, clear, precise words

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Lord help us, help us to see them for what they are

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Lord we have the distorted version of the family design

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That is residue from this broken world, our sinful flesh And the enemy that is trying to completely distort what you have designed and made good

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And Lord we pray that we would be able to see it with clarity Lord we ask that today you would tear down barriers in our hearts and in our minds

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That your word would renew us That we would see things as you see them

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That we would be willing to burn all of the bridges and foundations that we think we've built upon That are just on sand here in this worldly perspective

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And build upon your truth In Christ's name we pray, Amen Last week we were able to look at God's good design of masculinity

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And we saw how the evil one has used our sin nature

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Combined with our created nature To blur the lines of what is good and natural in our created nature

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And what is evil and unnatural in our sin natures Specifically in the good and natural design of masculinity

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That is built into men, God's creation Strength is both physical and emotional

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And man is built in such a way He's built with strength to lead

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He's built with strength to provide He's built with strength to protect

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But as the enemy does, he distorted this Then used our sin natures

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And it leads men to either thoroughly abandon that strength

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And become like women As we saw in some of those Old Testament references Or to use that strength for selfish motives and ambition

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Leading them to oppress and objectify women And those around them

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And as I've said over the past couple of weeks The evil one realized that hey I'm not able to completely destroy

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God's good created design I can't destroy it So he has now set out to simply distort it

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And use our sin natures to do so And today we are going to see this very thing

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In God's good design of femininity Say that five times fast

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I think of the cartoon The Finding Nemo The anemonemity Femininity If God's good design of masculinity is that of strength

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Then God's good design of femininity is that of beauty But not just a physical external beauty

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Which of course is a reality As every man in this room can attest

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Can I get an amen men? Yes There is obvious a physical beauty It's built into the very fabric of who you are women

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But it's the very essence of who you are as a woman That exudes and creates beauty in every sphere of life

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If this world was to be just all of us guys Which we wouldn't be here of course

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But let's say somehow someway we were here It would be a bland, ugly and brutal landscape

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Wouldn't it? Thank God for the beautiful gift of women

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Amen Men may be designed and called to lead But they are wantingly inadequate at creating homes and cultures worth leading

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I'm going to say that again Men may be designed and called to lead But we are totally and completely inadequate at creating homes and cultures that are worth leading

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Two weeks ago we looked briefly at Genesis chapter 2 Verses 20 through 24 And I told you that we'd be coming back to that Now is that time

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Turn with me in your Bibles All the way back to the very beginning Genesis chapter 2

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Starting in verse 20 And I want us to start reading in verse 20 But we're going to primarily focus on 23 today

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There in Genesis chapter 20 Or chapter 2 verse 20 We see that God has brought all of the creation to him to name

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We see there that the man gave names to all livestock And to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field

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God had brought every created thing to the man Because the man was, remember

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The man was the one that was placed in the garden And given the responsibility to oversee the whole of creation

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Right He bears the image of God And he is called to lead And he is naming everything

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And it says, but for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him

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Out of all the creatures made that were brought to him Not one was fit to help him

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Verse 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man And while he slept he took one of his ribs

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And closed up its place with flesh Let me just stop there for a second If you deny the literal understanding of this

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You're throwing a lot of Christianity out the window This is not figurative

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This is literal God opened Adam, put him to sleep Opened him and literally took one of his ribs

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Okay And closed up that place with flesh Verse 22 And the rib that the

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Lord God had taken from the man He used that rib and he does what with it?

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He made it into a woman And then what does he do with that woman?

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We talked about this two weeks ago If you were here you'll remember What's he do with her? It says it right there He brings her to the man

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Remember God has brought every created thing to the man For the man to name Because the man is to lead and the head of all of creation

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And he brings her to the man In order that he might name her

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Look at verse 23 Then the man said And this is where Adam breaks out into a poem

48:01

I can only imagine The first time he sees a woman Right before him The first response to him is

48:07

Is poem Is like this poetic response He says

48:13

This at last Is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh

48:19

She shall be called woman Because she was taken out of a man And he goes on and it says

48:27

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother And hold fast to his wife And they shall become

48:34

One flesh Just as Paul quoted there in Ephesians 5

48:40

That we read a moment ago I recently heard a pastor by the name of Toby Sumter Break down this poem by Adam here

48:49

In a way Quite honestly I had never really heard It sounded great

48:55

And I had heard bits and pieces Of kind of the language study that goes along with this But since I had never put it in this way

49:02

I personally spent the last Probably month going and checking on his sources

49:07

And double checking and revisiting the language study here And I was astounded

49:13

That I had never read or heard it expressed In this particular way

49:19

You see I knew that this This poem That is written That is said by Adam It's not written by Adam But is said by Adam Is a

49:28

Hebrew superlative But I guess I had never truly Thought about its significance at this level

49:36

And I wanted to share that with you Most of you if you went through grade school

49:41

You're familiar with what a superlative is It's a grammatical way of denoting

49:46

Levels and comparisons For example I might say to you That five guys

49:53

Burgers and fries Hamburgers Are good They're good, right?

50:01

Can I get an amen? That's a good burger Right? I'm a hamburger guy Five guys is a good burger

50:06

But then I say to you Oh, it's a good one But J Towns Grill up here

50:12

Their burger is better Right? Yep Oh but guess what

50:20

If you've ever been to my house And I've grilled you a burger You know good and well

50:26

My burgers are best Right? You see it?

50:32

Yeah I know this example is biased And pride comes before the fall But this is an example of a superlative

50:40

In the English language You have good Better Best Great Greater Greatest This is a superlative

50:50

But in the Hebrew language It's written different The Hebrew language denotes this comparison

50:56

In a very different way To say that something is great It would simply say great

51:02

Well We're on the same page now, right? But next Would be expressed as Great of great

51:11

Which signifies that the thing That it is referring to Is greater You tracking with me?

51:19

And then we have In the Hebrew language Great of the Or great of my

51:27

Great See the difference? Great of great But great of my great

51:34

This indicates that this thing is Greatest It's the greatest of the great

51:43

Okay? And this is precisely what Adam is doing in verse 23 This creature

51:52

That you have brought to me I've seen all the others

51:58

I've seen all the other creatures And they are magnificent They are beautiful They are amazing

52:06

Created by the hand of God Oh But But this at last

52:14

It hears our Hebrew superlative Is bone of my bones

52:22

Flesh of my flesh You see,

52:29

Adam is not just identifying That she came from his rib He's declaring in poetic form

52:37

She's me But better She is the best of me

52:44

This is what Adam's saying here And this is why Paul wrote Later on in 1

52:50

Corinthians chapter 11 In verse 7 Which is typically a very misunderstood passage

52:56

And kind of insulting to a lot of people If you don't understand this principle When he's talking about head coverings

53:02

He says for a man ought not cover his head Right? Since he is the image of the glory of God Great He is the image

53:10

He's an image bearer of God He is the image of the glory of God But Paul says woman

53:16

Is the glory of man Some will read that and go

53:22

Man, isn't that a lesser position? Why does man get to be the glory of God And then woman's kind of the glory of man?

53:31

Paul's not saying that women are not made in the image of God We know that can't be true

53:36

Because of Genesis 1 27 When it says God created them in his own image After his own likeness

53:41

Male and female He created them Both image bearers Paul is simply pointing to the truth

53:47

That Adam proclaimed That she is the glory of the glory She is glory glorified

53:56

That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? As Pastor Toby Sumter says

54:03

She makes the human race shine That's good, isn't it?

54:10

And we see it all around us We see this in Adam's next phrase He says

54:16

She shall be called woman Because she was taken out of man

54:25

You know, there's meaning in a name We name our kids because we like a particular name We typically don't name for meaning

54:33

But there is meaning in names Particularly in scripture And just as Adam had named all living things

54:39

Based upon what he felt that name would be appropriate for He was tasked with naming her And the name that he gives her is woman

54:46

It's translated into English But in the Hebrew, it's Eshah Eshah This word is related to the

54:53

Hebrew word for fire Esh I'm not sure how it's related

54:59

We just know that these two words are connected It's almost as if Adam is saying

55:04

Whoa, she's smoking hot Right? It's Eshah But Eshah means glory

55:15

This is what it means It means glory He's naming her He's calling her glory

55:20

But not only does he name her It doesn't just stop there He actually gives himself a new name here

55:27

Up to this point Anytime we see Adam referenced We see the name We see Adam It's Adam really in the

55:35

Hebrew But we see Adam And Adam is derived from Adamah Which is the word for ground

55:42

Okay? The word for ground Because remember, Adam was made from the dirt

55:48

So his name, of course, is Adam Ground But here, he refers to himself as something different For the first time

56:00

In these two chapters We see something new He refers to himself as Esh We have a translated man

56:10

He had called her Eshah Glory And now he refers to himself as Esh Glory man

56:24

This suitable helpmate Has now changed him forever

56:34

He is not essentially anymore dirt man He is glory man

56:40

Because she is glory She has made him beautiful The brightness of her beauty

56:47

Reflects off of him in a way that makes him shine Just like everything else in creation

56:53

He may have strength Oh, but she brings glory and beauty to that strength That's why the writer of Proverbs says

57:02

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband She is the glory of the glory

57:09

That's why Paul had said That woman is the glory of man It's not a downgrade

57:14

It's actually a compliment Masculinity was insufficient

57:22

It required its counterpart of femininity It absolutely demanded it

57:28

In order for the creation mandate to go forward In verse 24 there of Genesis 2

57:36

As we read a moment ago Where it says Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother And hold fast to his wife

57:43

I think this is a principle ongoing for us Because of course Adam and Eve Didn't have a father and mother

57:48

They have no one to leave But we see the foundation of marriage That is established in this very moment

57:55

With the relationship between Adam and Eve They are the picture of what that's to be And it says

58:02

And they shall become that one flesh They are created as a pair Masculinity and femininity

58:10

One flesh This is God's good design It's a good thing

58:17

Think of the obvious physical design Because God has purpose and reason

58:22

In every single molecule of his creation Both spiritual and physical

58:29

But think of the physical design Man is created first Tasked with the oversight of creation As we've said

58:34

He's created lead, provide and protect And given the strength to do so The woman created as the ideal helpmate

58:43

The perfect helpmate for that Physically designed to benefit from And multiply that strength

58:51

Physically designed to benefit from And multiply that strength

58:59

Even at a physiological level Look at procreation

59:06

I don't have to go into any great detail But think of it for just a moment Man is designed to give

59:14

Woman to receive And then multiplies It's in the

59:20

DNA It's in our created order And that often results in what?

59:29

Are you trekking with me? Or am I losing you here? Offspring It results in multiplication

59:37

It results in being able to The husband gives, the woman receives And then multiplies

59:42

When you look at the face of your child If any parents in here You'll know exactly what

59:49

I mean The very first time you saw any of your children I have four kids And the very first time I remember seeing any of their faces

59:55

I thought, is there anything more beautiful? What unbelievable beauty

01:00:01

That is phenomenal And God designed her body to create that She brings beauty into this world

01:00:10

Even at a physiological level Not only did

01:00:16

God use her body to form that human being That image bearer within her

01:00:21

God's the one forming it But he's using the means, the physical means He also used her very body as a safe haven

01:00:28

A home You and I Every single human that's ever lived

01:00:36

Our very first home was where? Mama A woman

01:00:44

That was our first home A place where beauty and goodness Can be formed and cultivated

01:00:51

A comforting, warm, inviting home A woman's physical

01:00:57

DNA Her physical design of softness and nurturing Is a perfect pairing with her spiritual design

01:01:06

You cannot detach them, they go hand in hand We see the spiritual played out within the physical

01:01:15

And this, sisters, is where you can find great hope and comfort

01:01:21

For those women who are suffering under the results of the fall We live in a broken world that sin has distorted

01:01:31

Sin has brought about sickness Sin brings out death And this has infiltrated that physical reality in such a way

01:01:41

That there are women who physically cannot produce children So I want to make sure to address this

01:01:49

I have to say this There are women who cannot In this broken world There are those who have lost children

01:01:56

In the process of trying to bring forth children Sister, you are not a defect

01:02:06

By no means You are not a defect Your heavenly father has purpose in it

01:02:15

This broken, broken world did not catch him off guard He is sovereign in your life

01:02:23

And he is good Your natural design is still very much feminine

01:02:30

And you are still able to honor the Lord with your design Just some practical ways as I was thinking

01:02:38

Some in this very room have adopted Oh man, praise God for that Praise God for adoption

01:02:47

Where these women are able to be mothers And you, mother of an adopted child

01:02:53

You are truly their mother in every single way Every single way

01:02:59

But you see, this penetrates into even more areas of life Than physical motherhood

01:03:05

This design reaches deeper into other areas Your design of femininity is meant to carry those principles

01:03:14

Into every sphere of life Just because you don't have children

01:03:21

Or just because you may not be married Does not mean that your natural design isn't bringing about beauty

01:03:29

And it definitely doesn't mean that your natural design Is bringing about less beauty

01:03:37

You are still Esha Glory Because your design and your nature is that Of a homemaker

01:03:48

Did you know that? That's kind of a bad word today, isn't it?

01:03:56

I guarantee you there are people in this world That don't even know what that phrase means And there are those who would look at that position

01:04:04

And think, well, that's a sad life A homemaker? The home is a place where beauty and goodness can be formed and cultivated

01:04:16

Just as the womb of a mother creates beauty And cultivates beauty within her

01:04:22

The home also creates this If you left it up to me

01:04:29

I would move homes every two years I'm a bit of a nomad,

01:04:35

I know I'd move in, I'd fix it up And I'd sell that sucker and move on I'd upgrade every couple of years

01:04:43

And I don't because I don't want to crush the soul of my wife Her natural inclination is to nest

01:04:53

Is to create memories To have a comfortable place that's familiar

01:05:00

That allows my children and her to flourish Praise the Lord A place where she knows where everything is

01:05:08

And can invite others into So that they too may flourish And see beauty

01:05:15

And receive beauty Giving those brothers and sisters

01:05:20

And even neighbors Or anyone willing to come into our home And if you've ever been to our home at any given time

01:05:27

There's always somebody at our home But giving them a comfortable, inviting space

01:05:33

Where she feeds them That's probably why they keep coming It's like stray cats This is where communities are built

01:05:44

This is where society is built In the home Why do you think the evil one attacks the home so often?

01:05:53

And so aggressively? Because this is where beauty is cultivated and created

01:05:58

And cultures are built on the shoulders of women Homemakers that are cultivating it

01:06:09

And yes, as we said last week Men are called to stand the watchtower In order to guard that home

01:06:15

But the women are the ones in that home Bringing about life It's even their created natural design

01:06:23

It's their created spiritual design Making it a home worthy of watching This is vital

01:06:32

This is why Paul told Titus And Titus too, when he tells older women

01:06:38

To disciple younger women He tells the older women to encourage the younger women To be working at home

01:06:47

To be working at home You may ask, well what about pastor

01:06:52

What about single women Who may live alone What does that look like? Well remember, this principle doesn't

01:06:59

Just apply in one area of your life It permeates in every other sphere of life

01:07:05

That you are in Because it's coming from Your very created nature

01:07:14

So what does that look like? Well practically, in some cases

01:07:19

It might look like you caring for your aging parents As they get older and can't care for themselves

01:07:26

That you take care of them Not to be their provider But to be a caretaker To be a mother One that brings about beauty in that home

01:07:34

To care for her aging parents Praise God for women who are willing to do such a thing

01:07:43

But what does apply to every woman Whether single, married, with or without children

01:07:49

Old and young I have to put this caveat in there If you're in Christ Because remember

01:07:57

I've said this over the past couple weeks For an unbeliever, everything that I'm teaching here Is impossible

01:08:03

You are enslaved to sin And all of that natural design Will show in bits and pieces

01:08:09

In areas of your life But it is thoroughly impossible for you not to distort it So when

01:08:15

I say When I'm speaking to you I'm speaking to assumed Christians Who are in Christ right now

01:08:21

For those of you Women who are in Christ Your natural gifted design

01:08:27

Benefits the household of faith In the similar vein to the home That's why it's called the household of faith

01:08:36

There are overseers That lead the household of faith And there are those

01:08:42

That are parts of that body within Just like in a home Men were created to lead

01:08:48

But women, you were created to make it shine And I would like to point out

01:09:01

Three ways that your design does this This design in three ways In the home, in the church

01:09:07

In every other area of your life And each of these three ways Will come with a warning

01:09:13

Of how sin distorts it And makes everything ugly Instead of beautiful Being created as a suitable helpmate

01:09:23

For men Instinctively implies Relational design

01:09:30

It implies relational design To be a helpmate Man has a task Woman is designed to help accomplish that task

01:09:38

There's relationship She must be gifted and driven To that relationship

01:09:44

In order to accomplish this God -given design And relationship is built upon Ladies, you know

01:09:51

Relationships are built upon Communication Communication Everyone knows you're better at this than we are

01:10:00

Am I wrong? Come on Everyone knows you're better at communication than we are

01:10:08

And of course in all of this I'm speaking in generalities There are some men That are going to be better at communication

01:10:13

Than some women But of course That is That is the exception not the rule

01:10:20

In general We know this to be true You are good communicators

01:10:27

You're built to communicate And so the first thing I want us to point out is

01:10:32

Her words either bring about beauty or ugliness God's design of femininity

01:10:44

And The sin nature that has distorted God's good design Can either bring about her words

01:10:53

With beauty or ugliness This is true about everyone

01:11:00

But we see it especially in women I'm sorry That's why Proverbs 21 19 says

01:11:06

It is better to live in a desert land Than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman Proverbs 27 15 and 16

01:11:13

A continual dripping on a rainy day And a quarrelsome wife or alike To restrain her is to restrain the wind

01:11:20

Or to grasp oil in one's right hand Paul telling

01:11:26

Timothy not to enroll younger women Into being cared for by the church But that they should marry instead

01:11:32

Younger women aren't to be a burden upon the church They should find a husband Find a godly man and marry him

01:11:38

Quit being so picky Right But he says in 1 Timothy 5 13

01:11:44

Because of this propensity It is to be going about from house to house

01:11:49

And not only idlers but also gossips And busybodies Saying what they should not

01:11:58

Now again Just as I said a couple weeks ago Don't shoot the messenger Right I'm literally reading it verbatim here guys

01:12:06

Women are designed for deep relationship They are relational creatures

01:12:11

Relationships that create homes and communities But then

01:12:18

Your sin nature Tears apart those homes and communities Through gossip and idle talk

01:12:27

That's why it'll be better to live in a desert wasteland Than a quarrelsome woman Because it brings either beauty

01:12:36

Or it brings ugliness God -honoring, uplifting, encouraging words

01:12:45

Bring about beauty And godly women Are so good at this

01:12:52

I've read the benefits of it Wives Your encouraging words to your husband

01:12:59

Even the slightest encouragement to your husband Makes him feel like Superman You realize that right?

01:13:07

Like the power of your words are Unbelievable because of how relational you are

01:13:14

He feels as though he can stand On the front lines or in that watchtower 10 foot tall and bulletproof

01:13:21

From your relational verbal encouragement That's powerful You see it played out before Every husband in this room can attest to this, right?

01:13:31

Your wife truly gives you verbal encouragement Man, you can run through a block wall, can't you?

01:13:38

But when your buddy gives you encouragement It's like, oh, thanks It was awesome Appreciate that There's something unique about it

01:13:46

Sisters Your kind words towards your brothers and sisters in the faith Lift up their spirits in a way that I cannot from this pulpit

01:13:55

You know that, right? You have power in your words You are relational I'm emotionally detached from you in ways

01:14:04

I can say all the things And I say hard things And I even try and say good things

01:14:09

To encourage your spirit And I hope they do But a sister in this room Coming to you personally In relationship

01:14:15

And speaking encouraging God honoring words Lifts your spirit in a way that I cannot

01:14:22

Am I wrong? God's design Mothers Your loving, encouraging words to your children

01:14:31

Will carry into the rest of their life It will embolden them

01:14:39

To storm the gates of hell With a pitchfork But in contrast

01:14:48

Just as sin often does Distorts good things Your tongue is capable of Decimating your husband's confidence

01:15:02

You could come up to me after church And call me every bad name in the book And tell me how bad a preacher

01:15:08

I am And tell me how my sermon's dead wrong You can run me up one side and the other

01:15:14

And you can tell me every bad thing You've ever thought about me And that won't scratch the surface

01:15:20

Of just how deep Even the slightest Discouraging phrase from my wife does

01:15:28

Not even close Why is that? Because God has designed you

01:15:37

In a way that is relational And meant to use your words For good and beauty

01:15:44

But sin brings ugliness Your tongue is capable of Discouraging your brother and sister

01:15:52

To the point of despair They can hear me say hard things And just shrug it off And go, that's

01:15:59

Pastor Nathan, he's extreme But you say it It carries weight

01:16:04

It's relational Your tongue is capable of dismantling The entire future of your child

01:16:14

That's a deep responsibility, isn't it? That's heavy, sisters

01:16:20

You were designed for this And women, you are good with these words

01:16:25

You guys are professionals with words I don't know how you do it You talk circles around this

01:16:32

You use far more words than we do And you use them more precisely, usually Here's the problem

01:16:39

You're even capable of saying nice words In a hurtful way That's how good you are And you're able to say hurtful words

01:16:46

In a nice way I don't get it I don't know how you do it But you're good with words You were designed for it

01:16:52

You were designed for relationship You were designed When you get hurt

01:16:57

Because you're so relational By someone else You feel it deeply, don't you, women? Someone hurts you

01:17:03

You feel it You really feel it deep within you Men don't feel so deeply

01:17:09

We get over things quickly Chase, you say something mean to me today And literally we will be over it by tonight

01:17:16

Will we not? Right? We will be over it We'll just move on We might have to duke it out a little bit

01:17:22

But it'll be alright It's over quick We were just designed like that But you don't, women

01:17:28

You don't get over things easily Because you feel them deeper Because you're so relational And your sinful nature can't let go of it

01:17:36

Instead of showing Christ -likeness And turning the other cheek Like your Savior told you to And forgiving your debtors

01:17:43

As you have been forgiven You can't help but address it And use your words to twist the knife a little

01:17:50

Because you need them to feel what you feel Because you feel so deeply

01:17:57

You see how damaging it can be? You were designed like this But sin has distorted it

01:18:04

It can either bring about beauty Or it can bring about ugliness And a lot of times it's a combination of all of it

01:18:11

Just thrown into a pile here And we call it the body This brings about disunity

01:18:22

The sin nature brings about disunity in the home Brings about disunity in the church

01:18:28

Brings about disunity in a community And in a culture But when you are looking to Christ When you are looking to your ultimate example

01:18:43

You see what he has forgiven you of And your words can once again bring about beauty

01:18:52

What's in the heart comes out the mouth, doesn't it? And so when your words are used to harm

01:19:01

And to bring about ugliness It means that your heart is not set on the beauties of Christ Every single time

01:19:16

It all goes back to looking to Christ, doesn't it? Every single time Her words either bring about beauty or ugliness

01:19:27

The second thing I want us to see is Her beauty is either used for selfishness or selflessness

01:19:36

Selflessness or selfishness I think is what I have in order Oh, I had it right Her beauty is either used for selfishness or selflessness

01:19:48

In 1 Peter 3 In verses 3 and 4 Peter says

01:19:53

Do not let your adorning be external The braiding of hair and putting on of gold jewelry

01:20:00

Or the clothing you wear But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart

01:20:06

With the imperishable beauty Of a gentle and quiet spirit

01:20:12

Which in God's sight is very precious Notice scripture never gives such a command to men

01:20:21

Scripture doesn't address that to men We weren't made for beauty Our glory is our strength

01:20:28

We weren't designed for beauty And unfortunately in our culture We often times see men that are trying to be beautiful I don't even mean in the feminine way

01:20:39

But even they put a little too much emphasis on their beauty And they completely ignore what they were designed for Strength But we were not made for this

01:20:49

The world has learned to use this beauty in women as a weapon Your sin nature has learned to use beauty as a weapon

01:20:59

The men are too strong to overpower They rule the world

01:21:05

The men are just too strong So they think they must use their beauty to protect themselves

01:21:13

Drawing attention to themselves with how they dress How they carry themselves

01:21:21

How they're loud and boisterous Inappropriate And it draws attention and it seems to give them power

01:21:30

Seems to give them attention Because after all they're just not strong enough to overpower the men

01:21:37

We must use the tools we've been given And in the world that's all they got They don't have any inner beauty

01:21:44

All they have is external beauty that will fade But they use what they have

01:21:50

But we in the church, sisters, often times Will use this with their sinful nature

01:21:56

And Peter warns against this He's not telling women to be homely

01:22:01

That's not the point We're not the type of church here that says Put your hair up in a bun and don't wear your makeup

01:22:08

Please wear your makeup I didn't mean that What Peter's saying is to adorn themselves

01:22:24

With a greater beauty To adorn themselves with a greater beauty

01:22:29

The outside should represent the inside It's just as Jesus warned the

01:22:34

Pharisees He's like, you're so busy washing the outside And the inside of the cup's filthy And that's what women are doing when they're using their external beauty

01:22:43

For power and control and selfish purposes Is they're washing the outside They're getting all their makeup done

01:22:49

They're working out in the gym And they're using it for selfish motives Because the inside is just filthy as a mess They haven't washed the inside It's never been washed

01:22:58

And that's what Peter's saying There's something more important And when the inside is clean When you're truly being what you were designed to be

01:23:07

Which is feminine and beautiful Then it will shine on the outside No matter what you look like It will be carried and your adorning will be

01:23:16

As he says, the hidden person of the heart With the imperishable beauty

01:23:23

Women, you know you're gonna get old Young girls, sorry, you're gonna get old

01:23:28

Wrinkles are coming Guys, you know this The gut happens Can't seem to get rid of that But it's just, it's inevitable

01:23:37

Right? But there's an imperishable beauty And what is that?

01:23:43

He says of a gentle and quiet spirit The inside The beauty of a woman

01:23:50

The contrast to the wayward woman in Proverbs Remember Proverbs 7

01:23:56

Says and behold the woman meets him dressed as a prostitute Willy of heart Doesn't have a care in the world

01:24:04

Doesn't want to, doesn't want to take anything serious She is loud and wayward

01:24:10

Her feet do not stay at home Well, teach young women to work at home, right? But the wayward woman doesn't stay at home

01:24:18

She is loud and boisterous Wayward And this proverb ends

01:24:27

There in chapter 7 For many a victim As she laid low

01:24:34

It was for selfish purposes She was to attack

01:24:39

And take for herself And women use their beauty to do this

01:24:46

She used her beauty to destroy Her God -given beauty has been used for selfishness

01:24:57

Oh, but the godly woman adorns herself with Christ -likeness With true beauty

01:25:03

With humility Submissiveness Gentleness And a quiet spirit

01:25:13

We blur the lines in our culture Because of sin Men are designed to be loud and aggressive

01:25:21

We know that from having sons Now again,

01:25:27

I'm speaking in generality Some of you had quiet sons, I get that It's like when you say men are taller than women

01:25:32

And everybody always has a six foot two cousin That's a girl, you know But in general

01:25:38

Those boys are far louder and rowdier than the girls Right?

01:25:45

It's the design Men are made to be loud We're made to stand firm

01:25:50

We're made to stand flat -footed That's what we were designed for We were made to make a scene

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And to stand up for what's good We were made to lead and protect Oh, but women's beauty

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Is that of a gentle and quiet spirit I remember even being a pagan

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Being a young man that was Hated God Totally outside of the faith Loved worldliness

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And anytime I met a young girl Who was loud and boisterous Like a boy It grossed me out

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Even in that state, I knew That's unnatural That's like dating a dude

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You know what I mean? That's unnatural That's not what she was designed for She was designed for a gentle and quiet spirit

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But sin distorts that And this gentle and quiet spirit Brings beauty into the home

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It brings beauty into the church It brings beauty into a community But that requires selflessness

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And selflessness Is only acquired in and through Looking to Christ, the perfect example

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For He was gentle and lowly Right? We see elements in Christ Because we're all image bearers

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We see elements of Christ in His example For all of us And we all, men and women Should carry about that Men, you should acquire

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The gentle and lowly nature of Christ But also I was just reading this morning In Luke Where Jesus is sitting at the table

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With the Pharisees and lawyers And He's insulting the mess out of them You know what

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I'm talking about He's like calling them all out He's being like really aggressive At this dinner that He's been invited to And then just leaves

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Because He did a manly masculine thing He stood firm So we see elements of it

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But for women You get to see and look at Christ also And see His example And carry it out in a feminine way

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Whereas men We can carry it out in a masculine way Because He is the perfect example

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Third and last Her attention to detail Will either create fear or contentment

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Her attention to detail Will either create fear or contentment This week

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I heard an illustration Of a good manager A good manager

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Someone that assists a business owner In the day to day of a business

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And it was referred to as a junk drawer manager You ever heard that phrase? I thought that was a good analogy

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A junk drawer manager We all have a junk drawer in our house, don't we? We have a few junk drawers in our house

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That I create And it's random tools It's different keys It's all kinds of stuff

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That we might need regularly It's the junk drawer Everything has a place in there

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It might seem chaotic at times Some of us have a better, more organized junk drawer But there's a junk drawer nonetheless

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With all types of things And a good manager is like that drawer He is a jack of all trades Someone who can multitask

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And deal with whatever is thrown at them And take it all in And store it And take care of business

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And here's the thing As I thought about that I realized You women are designed as helpmates

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You were designed as helpmates Women are far better multitaskers

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I think we said that in Q &A Either two weeks ago or last week Women are typically way better multitaskers

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Why is that? Because you were created to be a helpmate You were created for that particular role

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I've seen I keep mentioning my wife today This is about femininity So of course I'm going to use my wife as an illustration

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I've seen my wife Have an on -depth phone conversation While watching a movie

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Simultaneously responding to an email While helping Joanna read Listening to Lorelei practice her piano piece

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And answering J .D.'s math question All at the same time While pointing out to me Where I left my keys

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That I've been looking for For the past 30 minutes Most you men know exactly what that looks like, right?

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They were designed for this You were designed to multitask Women are so relational

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That they care about the details You ever felt that wife with your husband?

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Or even maybe single women When you're dealing with men at work It's like The men let the little thing slide

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Like little details We're like, yeah, we're not so worried about that We'll deal with that If and when we get a chance But it drives you all crazy, doesn't it?

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It's just like You're missing so much There's so many details That you're not addressing And we're like, hey, we'll just move on Move rock

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You know what I'm talking about? We're just designed different in this way Completely different But you care about the details

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And you care about them Because you're relational You care about all of the moving parts

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But again, this is where sin distorts this gifting It can lead you to see all of the details

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And fret Worry And fear takes over, doesn't it?

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Anxiety You can't let the little things go And so it overwhelms you

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And they begin to use sinful means to take control I think this is partly why

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God told Eve in chapter 3 Your desire will be for your husband But he will rule over you You'll see him and go

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You're not doing it right I gotta take over Instead of trusting in the providential hand of God Dying to self and realizing that I I can diligently accomplish what

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God allows me to accomplish today I will be a good steward of what God lays before me

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And I will deal with what God sets before me as best I can

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And I can rest my head on my pillow tonight Content with the circumstances that God has allowed for this moment

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You can either fret or you can be content Some of you women are looking at me like Yeah pastor, that's easier said than done

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You're a guy You can just shut your brain off and go to bed I agree I get it

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It is much easier said than done It is, however, I think it can be done

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But only when you are looking to Christ Only when you are looking to Christ You know, it's interesting,

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I've been asked this question lately a few times Particularly by women What in the world do you mean when you say just look to Christ?

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Have any of you wondered when I say every week Hey saints, look to Christ Have any of you women in here gone

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What does that mean? What do you mean? Okay There's a few of you, that's all of you

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Alright Okay, what do you mean? It's almost as if like we get this idea

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Do I just close my eyes and imagine Jim Caviel from The Passion of Christ? Is that what I do? Just close my eyes

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Jesus Absolutely not, that's idolatry, don't do that Looking to Christ Is looking to who he is

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And what he has done for you Continually reminding yourself

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That the second person of the Godhead Became a man In order to represent you

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That he lived a life that you could not Fulfilling all of God's law that you broke

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And dying the death that you deserved To rise and defeat death

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So that you may never feel its bite And when you are dealing with sin and flesh

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When you are desiring to speak an ugly word that cuts down In hopes that it might make you feel better Or if you were tempted to use your beauty for selfish purposes

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Or even when you're overwhelmed by your current reality Of all that's going wrong

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Or could potentially go wrong Seeing and being overwhelmed by all the details

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You can look and see all those things Through the lens of Christ and what he has done

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I've said it before, you put on your gospel goggles So that everything you see

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Every circumstance, every person, every scenario Everything that comes in your path that your eyes lay on And your mind ponders

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Is all seen through the lens of who Christ is And what he did for you

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That's looking to Christ Because Christ never spoke an ugly word

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To or about me Even though I deserve that He laid down his life for me instead

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Christ never used his beauty and magnificence His glory for selfish purposes

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He used them to redeem me Christ isn't worried about all those details

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He sovereignly reigns over them If he defeated death

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He can most certainly defeat what we're eating for dinner tomorrow night He can most certainly

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Defeat your worry Worry if you're going to be able to pay your mortgage this month There is no reason to worry

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About what a sovereign God Who does all things well And ordains all things to be and to happen

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What are you worrying about? If he loved you so much that he would die for you

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Why would he not care for you also? It doesn't make any sense, does it?

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And when you see it through looking to Christ You begin to see that That's the only time you begin to see that And he is not giving you a spirit of fear

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But of power and love and self -control Is what the word of God says

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This is what it means to look to Christ So sisters

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Don't let sin reign in your mortal bodies Do not let sin distort what

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God's design created in you That feminine nature is meant to glorify him with Beauty Goodness Don't settle for the counterfeit, sisters

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It will always lead to heartache and ugliness Let your

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God -given beauty shine with goodness and life In your homes In your church

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And in every other area of your life You were designed for it You bring about glory You are

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Eshah Glory Look to Christ On that Let's prepare our hearts and minds to go to the table today

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As we see a tangible expression of what

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Christ did on our behalf By shedding his blood Giving over his body for us

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Represented in the wine and the bread Pastor Keith will be over on this side Pastor Jeremiah, I believe, if he's in here

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Or myself will be on this side The way this works is you will come around the outsides

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Gather the wine and the bread and come through the middle And go back to your seats But today is the first week of the month

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And so we like to take and partake together I'm actually going to read from Luke's account of this

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Lord's Supper As we partake together So when you get back to your seats Don't partake yet Hang on to the elements

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And once everyone has them We will come back together And we will worship the Lord through this ordinance

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But let's pray at this moment Before we open the table Oh dear

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Heavenly Father We bow before you now And we thank you We thank you for your good design of Of male, female

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Both made in the image of God With beauty, with strength With everything we need

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To follow your word Because of Christ And Lord, right now we want to We want to express to each other

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And to the watching world That we That we are in you

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That we are in Christ That he has paid for us

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Shed his blood for us That he has given his body for us And now we stand as new creations

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Because he has imputed his righteousness onto us Through his sacrifice and his life

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And his death and his resurrection If there is unrepentant sin in our hearts,

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Lord Allow us to lay it before you That we would confess our sins one to another And then come to the table

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Lord, I pray that this would be a moment of worship to you That we remember the great sacrifice of our