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Leadership #9: Women in Ministry?
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn28pxVHiEI
Video ID: Dn28pxVHiEI
YouTube upload date: 2024-10-05
Video duration: 01:08:47
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[00:00:01] All right, good morning everyone. We want to welcome our students to Fire and Gray School
[00:00:36] of Ministry. This morning we are in our second semester and this is our leadership block,
[00:00:43] block number six. And today we're going to address the controversial topic of women in ministry.
[00:00:51] Women in ministerial leadership is that permissible? Women teaching and preaching,
[00:00:58] prophesying in church, is that permissible? The reason we have to address this, of course,
[00:01:03] is there's a couple of passages that sound like it's forbidding that. But we have other passages
[00:01:12] that, of course, show the opposite of that. So whenever we have what appears to be a contradiction
[00:01:19] or just terms that are situations that seem to be completely opposite, that's always a sign that
[00:01:27] either we're going to have to dig deeper into the original languages. We have to dig deeper maybe
[00:01:32] into context or the culture or the historical issues there. But today we're going to resolve
[00:01:38] this issue because there's a lot of misinformation, misinterpretation, bad hermeneutics, and all
[00:01:45] kinds of stuff pertaining to women being in the ministry, particularly in leadership and preaching,
[00:01:53] teaching, operating, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in church. So let's address this today.
[00:01:58] Again, this is women in ministry. And so we're going to start today here with this.
[00:02:06] I want everybody to write this down or screenshot this. I want everybody to memorize this. This is
[00:02:11] so, so very important. Of course, we covered hermeneutics in this class a few weeks ago,
[00:02:19] the laws of biblical interpretation. I think I gave you six laws of biblical interpretation.
[00:02:23] Of course, this is one of them, comparing scripture with scripture. But I just thought that
[00:02:27] this statement was very, very good. And I have to give credit where credit is due. Brother
[00:02:35] Kenneth E. Hagan many, many years ago, back I think back in the 70s or so, he wrote a book called
[00:02:41] The Woman Question. Very, very well done. But this is a direct quote from him in this book,
[00:02:48] but it is so true. And of course, he was quoting another well-known theologian of his day,
[00:02:56] quoting this. But anyway, says here, every scripture or every scripture passage, you could say,
[00:03:03] but every scripture must be interpreted in the light of what other scripture says on the same
[00:03:11] subject. It must harmonize with all scripture. There are no contradictions in scripture. Okay,
[00:03:19] that's something we need to get a hold of. There are no contradictions. God does not contradict himself.
[00:03:24] Now, sometimes it does appear that he says, do something here. But then over here, he says,
[00:03:31] do the opposite. Well, again, what is that? Sometimes it's context, you know, sometimes it's,
[00:03:38] it's proper to use the bathroom in the bathroom, not in the sanctuary. You know, that's, I could tell
[00:03:45] you use the bathroom and you could say, well, see, that means I can use the bathroom anywhere. No,
[00:03:49] context. Don't use the bathroom in the sanctuary. Use the bathroom in the bathroom. Right. And
[00:03:57] that's what happens in scripture a lot. We need to, we always have to make sure we understand
[00:04:01] the context of where something is. But I want to put that back up again. I just want to drill
[00:04:06] this home this morning. Every scripture or every scriptural passage must be interpreted
[00:04:16] in the light of what other scriptures say on the same subject must harmonize with all other
[00:04:24] scripture. Whenever a person, pastor, preacher, teacher, Christian, doesn't matter. Anybody that
[00:04:32] tries to take a passage and say it applies across the board when there's other passages
[00:04:39] that are talking about it and may have different little nuances, then, you know, you're being
[00:04:45] dishonest or you're just that ignorant. I don't know which one it may be, but
[00:04:51] you just, every time somebody does that, they, they take one passage. They don't consider the
[00:04:56] rest of the passages that talk about the same subject. They always come out in error.
[00:05:01] And when you get in error, you hurt people because misunderstandings, misinterpretations,
[00:05:08] wrong doctrine hurt people. In particular, a lot of women get hurt over this subject because there's
[00:05:15] a lot of prejudice. There's a lot of doctrines of men, traditions of men, and just like I said,
[00:05:22] bad interpretation, bad understandings. And so in the process, a lot of women get hurt. Some,
[00:05:27] some that have been called to the ministry by God have been discouraged from even trying,
[00:05:33] have walked away. And, and thus the body of Christ has been hurt and people that they would have,
[00:05:41] you know, edified and strengthened and built up and equipped or, or brought to know Jesus as Savior,
[00:05:47] you know, that's been hurt. So we don't want to hurt people, but of course we don't want to
[00:05:52] violate scripture. So we need to understand how it works. All right. So let's, let's continue on.
[00:05:57] I want to just review a little bit real quickly, of course, from the hermeneutics class a few weeks
[00:06:03] ago. I'm not going to read all of this, but the laws of law two of biblical hermeneutics or
[00:06:09] biblical interpretation. The second crucial law of biblical hermeneutics is that passages,
[00:06:16] Bible passages must be interpreted historically. Interpreting a passage historically means that
[00:06:22] we must seek to understand the culture, background, and situation that promoted the text. So that's
[00:06:29] very important. We must understand the culture, the background, the history. So that's one of
[00:06:34] the laws that must be interpreted historically, culturally. And then also there were law number
[00:06:42] three of biblical hermeneutics. We're supposed to interpret a passage, Bible passage grammatically.
[00:06:49] This requires one to follow the rules of grammar and recognize the nuances of Hebrew and Greek.
[00:06:55] So very important. We're going to be doing these things today when we study this. Law four,
[00:07:02] the fourth law of biblical hermeneutics is that scriptures must be interpreted in context.
[00:07:10] Context is everything, everything, everything, okay? And again, understanding God will not
[00:07:20] contradict Himself. So if there seems to be a contradiction, an apparent contradiction or
[00:07:27] conflict, then it's something we don't understand, not something that God did wrong
[00:07:33] in His holy inspired scriptures. Law five of biblical hermeneutics that we covered
[00:07:42] was the fifth law of biblical hermeneutics. That scripture is always the best interpreter of
[00:07:48] scripture or comparing scripture with scripture. So let's get to that this morning in this
[00:07:55] context. All right, so the question, you know, can women be in the ministry? Can they be in
[00:08:03] leadership? Can they preach, teach, prophesy? We're going to get to the verses that seem to appear to
[00:08:10] say that they can't, but let's just look at this first here because this is Acts chapter two verse
[00:08:17] 16 through 21. This is on the day of Pentecost, and let me just say this too in context of this.
[00:08:26] This was in the first few verses in the Acts chapter two. In the day of Pentecost,
[00:08:29] there was 120 people in the upper room, men and women, and when the Holy Spirit came upon them and
[00:08:37] they were all baptized in the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave
[00:08:41] them utterance, that was women. Women were included there in the church service speaking in tongues
[00:08:47] out loud. So in the beginning of the church, women were speaking in church.
[00:08:53] Right? So just remember that one as we progress through this. Obviously, God didn't have a problem
[00:09:01] with women speaking in tongues in the church assembly. Remember the church is just where two
[00:09:07] or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus, right? That's considered a church. It
[00:09:11] doesn't matter what kind of building you're in. It doesn't matter if you're outdoors. If the body
[00:09:15] of Christ, a group of people gathered together in the name of Jesus, that's considered church.
[00:09:21] All right? Assembling together. But he goes on here and this is a prophecy from the book of Joel
[00:09:28] concerning the last days. Peter quoted this on the day of Pentecost, you know, a little while after
[00:09:35] they received the baptism and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And he said this here,
[00:09:40] but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the
[00:09:46] last day, saith God, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. So that means men and women.
[00:09:55] And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your daughters shall prophesy. That is so very
[00:10:03] important to get a hold of this. Your daughters shall prophesy speak by inspiration of the Holy
[00:10:10] Spirit. Now I'm going to show you in a second. The gift of prophecy, it says, is very clear,
[00:10:15] is for the edification, the building up, the strengthening of the church. God's not going to
[00:10:23] have women prophesy, you know, as hermits in the desert somewhere. The gift of prophecy is for the
[00:10:32] edification, the building up, the strengthening, the exhortation, the encouraging, the correction
[00:10:39] even of the church, which contains, guess what? The church contains men and women. So this right here,
[00:10:47] he says, I will pour out, God said, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your
[00:10:52] daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
[00:10:58] And then he says it again, and all my servants and all my handmaidens, that's women, females,
[00:11:04] or as we call them here, femaleis, right, dudettes, all right, all my servants and all my
[00:11:13] handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And he goes on to
[00:11:20] say, and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and
[00:11:23] vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the
[00:11:27] great and notable day of the Lord come. There's come to pass, and whosoever shall call in the
[00:11:30] name of the Lord shall be saved. So he is talking about not just in that time of the first century,
[00:11:37] but he goes on to talk about the days when the sun will be darkened, going all the way to
[00:11:41] the end to the second coming of Jesus. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your
[00:11:47] handmaidens, femaleis, dudettes, too. All right, so let's keep going in this.
[00:11:58] Let's see if it will. Okay, here's Acts 21, 7 through 11 here.
[00:12:07] Speaking of Philip the evangelist, having four daughters, let's read this.
[00:12:11] And when we had, this is Luke. Luke was with Paul, and I guess at this time was with Paul and Silas
[00:12:18] in their travels. But he says, and when we had finished our course from Tyree, we came to
[00:12:24] Ptolemais and saluted the brethren and abode with them one day. And the next day, we
[00:12:32] that were of Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea. And we entered into the house of
[00:12:37] Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven and abode with him. And the same man had four
[00:12:43] daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. Wow, four daughters, Philip the evangelist, one of the first
[00:12:53] deacons and then later becomes an evangelist and takes the gospel to the Sumerians, has four
[00:12:59] daughters which prophesy. So they prophesy by themselves out in the desert as hermit somewhere
[00:13:09] that no one will hear or benefit from it. No. Let's look at the scriptures, what the scriptures say
[00:13:18] about the gift of prophecy here. Okay, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 through 6. Let's read this.
[00:13:26] Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
[00:13:31] Now I wonder, you think the Holy Spirit through Paul is speaking just to men here?
[00:13:37] No. We just read. This is for sons and daughters, men and women. So he goes on to say, he says,
[00:13:46] For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no
[00:13:50] man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. And let's understand another
[00:13:54] principle here. In this passage when he says, For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue,
[00:13:58] just because he uses he does not mean women won't speak in tongues. It's just a general term.
[00:14:02] Okay. That's another way things get misinterpreted. Oh, see, he says he, so only women can do that.
[00:14:10] I mean, only men can do that, not women. Oh, come on now. Snap out of it. Are he that speaketh in
[00:14:16] an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him,
[00:14:19] howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesy speaketh unto men to
[00:14:26] edification, exhortation, and comfort. Now remember, again, he does not mean it's only
[00:14:32] for men because we just saw that daughters were prophesied. Philip the evangelist had four
[00:14:37] daughters that prophesied. But he tells you, he goes on to tell you what this is for.
[00:14:42] Just he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesy edified
[00:14:48] the church, the gift of prophecy, the inspiration to speak the word of God. The Holy Ghost
[00:14:56] inspiration, inspired speaking, is for men and women. And it is for the edification, the building
[00:15:04] up, the strengthening, the equipping, the encouraging, the exhortation, the comforting
[00:15:11] for the church. There's no such thing as the gift of prophecy for you alone in the desert.
[00:15:22] No, it's to edify the church. And in verse five here, he says, I would that you all speak with
[00:15:27] tongues, but rather that you prophesy. Now wait a minute, I want you all to speak in tongues,
[00:15:32] but rather I wish that you, if you really wanted to put this in grammatical context, he's saying,
[00:15:37] I would that you all speak with tongues, but rather that everyone what prophesied. He's
[00:15:42] talking about everyone. So he's talking about men and women. I would, I want all of you to
[00:15:47] speak in tongues, but I'd rather all of you prophesy. He goes on to say, for greater is he
[00:15:56] that prophesied than he that speaketh with tongues, except he may interpret that the church may receive
[00:16:02] edifying. So he's saying here, tongues and interpretation is equivalent to prophecy,
[00:16:07] but it's for the church to receive edifying the gifts. I wish you all would prophesy though,
[00:16:12] because that is going to be edifying to the church. Now, brethren, if I come into you speaking
[00:16:18] with tongues, what shall I profit you except I speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge
[00:16:23] or by prophesying or by doctrine. So he's saying here that the gift of prophecy, speaking,
[00:16:33] God's word is to edify the church. So God says he had, he would have in the last days,
[00:16:39] he will pour out his spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
[00:16:45] your handmaidens, my handmaidens will prophesy. And therefore it has to be if
[00:16:52] prophesy is for given to the given to people manifested by the Holy Spirit through people,
[00:16:58] it is for the edification of the church. Now let's keep going. I know some are going to argue,
[00:17:06] we're not in a church service. Well, let's see. I don't like whining. All right.
[00:17:15] First Corinthians, we're going to go on in First Corinthians 14, because we're going to keep it in
[00:17:19] context, because one of the passages that seem to say that women should keep silent in church happens
[00:17:24] to be in this same chapter, talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, tongues and interpretation
[00:17:30] of tongues and the gift of prophecy operating in the church. And he was regulating and giving
[00:17:36] instruction of how that was to be in the church service. And he makes this statement.
[00:17:41] Remember, he said, I would that you all spoke with tongues. Then he makes this statement,
[00:17:45] verse 26, very key. He says, How is it then, brother, when you come together,
[00:17:51] every one of you have a song, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation,
[00:17:59] let all things be done in edifying. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. When you come together,
[00:18:04] when the church comes together, local church comes together, when they're not men and women
[00:18:09] in the local church, as he says, let every one of you have something, what a song,
[00:18:19] a doctrine. Oh, that's teaching a tongue, gift of tongues, revelation and interpretation.
[00:18:29] Let all things be done unto edifying. If any man speaking an unknown tongue,
[00:18:33] let it be by two or at the most by three. And that by course, let one interpret. But if there
[00:18:37] be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church and let him speak to himself and to God.
[00:18:43] Let the prophet speak two or three. Let the other judge, if anything, be revealed
[00:18:48] to another that sitteth by. Let the first hold his peace. Verse 31. For you may all prophesy.
[00:18:56] All? Does it say just men? No. Right? For you may all prophesy one by one that all may learn
[00:19:09] and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God
[00:19:14] is not the author of confusion, but of peace as in all churches of the saints. Now,
[00:19:19] do we think for one second, when God says you may all prophesy, and we found out that sons and
[00:19:27] daughters will prophesy, that Philip the evangelist had four daughters that prophesy,
[00:19:32] that we find out that prophecy, the gift of prophecies for the edification of the church,
[00:19:37] do we think Paul would contradict himself in the next verses by saying, no, no, no, no, no,
[00:19:43] your daughters, your handmaidens, your women cannot speak in church. Is that what he's talking about?
[00:19:49] Well, let's look at it. He goes on to verse 34 right after this, so it continues. So this chapter
[00:19:57] continues. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to
[00:20:03] speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also sayeth the law. And if they
[00:20:08] will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in
[00:20:15] the church. Now, I'm not going to read any more of this because I want to really focus on this.
[00:20:20] First of all, that sounds pretty clear. Women aren't supposed to speak, but then we just saw it,
[00:20:26] but we saw women are going to prophesy, daughters are going to prophesy, right?
[00:20:33] So what is he talking about here? It's very important that we understand we got to go to
[00:20:39] the grammar. Remember, we're going to do this with correct hermeneutics, correct Bible interpretation.
[00:20:47] So we're going to look at the grammar. We're going to look at the words used in the Greek,
[00:20:50] the original language. And we're going to look at also the culture and history of what was going on
[00:20:59] at the time. And once we do that, we will be able to put this in its proper context. There won't
[00:21:04] be a conflict. All right. First of all, this word right here, the word for it says women,
[00:21:12] right, is gunay. All right. And we just saw the word women, which is let women keep silence
[00:21:20] in the church, right? The word women is gunay. All right. Spelled in transliterated G, Y, N, E,
[00:21:33] but gunay. And the definition of it in the Strong's Greek dictionary is a woman,
[00:21:39] especially a wife, wife, woman. Now, why does it say that? Because if you notice up there,
[00:21:46] the King James translates Strong's, this word G, 1135 in the following manner.
[00:21:54] Women is translated women 129 times and wife 92 times. Now, why is that? You look up in the
[00:22:07] New Testament, everywhere you see the word wife or wives, guess what the word is? Gunay. Same word.
[00:22:16] Whenever you see the word women, guess what the word is or woman? Gunay. There is no different
[00:22:23] word in Greek to denote a wife or a woman. Just a woman, like an unmarried woman. There's no
[00:22:32] difference. So how do we know when it's talking about wives versus talking about women? Just women
[00:22:40] in general. Context. Okay. That's how we know. Context. So whenever you see the word woman or
[00:22:50] women, it could be translated wives or not wives, but you have to look at it in its context.
[00:23:00] Very important. So this, because see, I took this one right here from,
[00:23:04] from Ephesians 5, 22, and it says wives obey your husbands. Well, do all women have husbands? No.
[00:23:12] But it's going to be the same word. So that's why it says a woman of any age,
[00:23:17] whether a virgin, a married, or a widow, a wife, a betrothed woman. They're saying it can be any
[00:23:24] of these. You just have to determine it by context. For instance, in English, we have to determine
[00:23:29] things by context. We can say, you know, I love my wife and I can say I love my dog. Well,
[00:23:37] I, you know, by the context, I hope we understand we mean something differently
[00:23:42] or our wives are going to get really upset, right?
[00:23:47] So in context, we, we understand that that word love has different, a different connotation.
[00:23:54] Same word with this word. Now let's, let's go a little further here. So here's the verse
[00:23:59] in 1 Corinthians 14. Let your women keep silence. And if you notice down there, women, what is the
[00:24:07] word? Right? Gunet. Just so that you see it. So Ephesians 5 22 wives be in subjection or be in,
[00:24:19] you know, submit to your own husbands. Obey your husbands. Gunet. Women keep silence in the church.
[00:24:26] Gunet. Could it be possible that in 1 Corinthians 14, he's talking wives. He's talking about wives
[00:24:35] and husbands. Absolutely. Let's look at this. 1 Corinthians 14 34 and 35. Let your women keep
[00:24:41] silence in the churches for is not permitted them to speak, but they are commanded to be under
[00:24:45] obedience as also sayeth the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at
[00:24:52] home for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. So first of all,
[00:24:59] this passage cannot be referring to all women because not all women have husbands, right?
[00:25:06] How can an unmarried woman, a single woman, a widow woman who's in church, go home and learn
[00:25:14] from her husband and ask her husband questions? She cannot, right? So this is not speaking
[00:25:22] to all women. And yet we have entire denominations and preachers and people giving the misinterpretation
[00:25:32] that this is a command that all women cannot speak in church. And already just a simple
[00:25:41] looking at the passage, what it's actually saying in its context. Now, because of what
[00:25:46] it's actually saying here, it's speaking says, go let these women go ask their husbands.
[00:25:53] This should have been translated. This word, Gunet, instead of being translated women,
[00:25:58] it should have been translated wives. And actually, in some translations,
[00:26:01] it is translated wives because of the context. Again, the King James is not technically wrong
[00:26:08] here. It's correct translation, just not the best translation for the context. This is why we have
[00:26:17] to look up the Hebrew and Greek words. So we'll understand this. So really, what he's saying
[00:26:23] here is, is let your wives keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted to them to
[00:26:30] speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also say of the law, and if they will learn
[00:26:34] anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for wives to speak in the church.
[00:26:42] So what he's saying here is, and what we discover when we look at the culture, remember going back,
[00:26:47] we look at history and culture as well. We discover that the men were usually the most
[00:26:52] educated ones. Women did not get the same education opportunities as men. They were to
[00:26:58] keep the homes. They were to raise the children. Of course, our culture is very different.
[00:27:03] Most women don't do that. Most women are in the workplace. But in that culture, women didn't get
[00:27:09] as much education as men. And what was happening in the church service, while Paul was teaching and
[00:27:15] preaching, women would not be understanding some of what he was talking about or what he was
[00:27:21] saying, and these women, these wives, who had husbands, would be speaking out loud and asking
[00:27:29] their husbands, what's he talking about? What did he mean by that? We have this problem today. I mean,
[00:27:34] people speak in church sometimes when they shouldn't, right? And it can be distracting,
[00:27:37] and you know, to the one doing the teaching and preaching, or bringing forth the doctrine, or
[00:27:43] word of prophecy, or whatever. So Paul's just saying here, he's not saying a blanket statement,
[00:27:50] women cannot open their mouths in church. He's dealing with a problem that was caused by the
[00:27:57] culture and the history of that time. And so what he was saying is, let them, look, stop,
[00:28:04] stop talking in church and asking your husband questions when you get home asking, right? So
[00:28:10] he was dealing with a very specific thing between husbands and wives. Now, once we understand,
[00:28:18] right, the Greek word, once we understand the history and the culture, we understand that now
[00:28:26] there's no contradiction in the scripture. He wasn't forbidding all women to speak. He wasn't
[00:28:30] forbidding women to, that women couldn't prophesy in church, or teach in church, or
[00:28:35] speak. And so now, doesn't that make sense? Why? We can say your sons and daughters will prophesy,
[00:28:43] right? That's how you correctly interpret scripture. You don't just take something like
[00:28:51] this out of its context without grammatical, historical, you know, understanding, and just
[00:29:00] throw it out there as this. And when you've got other scriptures that you've got to compare it
[00:29:04] to that say women can speak, teach, prophesy, you may all prophesy, you may all bring forth a
[00:29:09] doctrine of teaching. So again, this has been used incorrectly against women who were called
[00:29:20] to the ministry and being given gifts by God. And the church has been cheated out of a lot of good
[00:29:29] ministry because there's a lot, you know, that women have to offer. Let's keep going here.
[00:29:36] Here's the other passage that's used to try to tell women they can't speak in church. But again,
[00:29:42] this is Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writing here. Is he going to contradict
[00:29:49] what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 14, now that we understand it in its proper context and
[00:29:55] historical and grammatical context as well? No, but here, let's read it because this is used
[00:30:03] against women. But remember, he says here, let the women or the woman learn in silence with all
[00:30:10] subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in
[00:30:17] silence. For Adam was first formed and then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being
[00:30:25] deceived was in the transgression, notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing if they
[00:30:29] continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. So here he says, again, is this
[00:30:37] context, does this show us, is he talking to women in general or to wives and their relationship
[00:30:43] between them and their husbands in the service? Well, guess what? The moment he starts talking
[00:30:52] about Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve were husband and wife, the first husband and wife. So he's
[00:30:58] talking about wives being submitted and submissive and in subjection to their husbands.
[00:31:06] That's the context. So again, woman here is gunay. I suffer not a woman to teach, gunay
[00:31:15] or to usurp authority. Now here's another thing. Guess what? The word, the Greek word, well,
[00:31:20] I'll show you in a minute, the Greek word for man and husband in the New Testament is the same
[00:31:26] word. And how do you know which way it's supposed to be used? Context. So here, if you read this,
[00:31:36] let the wife learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a wife to teach nor to usurp
[00:31:45] authority over the husband, her husband, but to be in silence. This is an issue of respect
[00:31:54] between a husband and a wife. This has nothing to do with a woman called in the ministry anointed
[00:32:02] by God to prophesy, to teach, to minister in the church. This is simply another instruction
[00:32:13] about wives being very respectful and not disgracing or, you know, their husbands in
[00:32:22] public, especially. And it's interesting, this word usurp authority, this phrase here,
[00:32:32] let's look at this. The phrase usurp authority is only used one time here,
[00:32:38] othentuo, and it means here the outline of biblical usage, one who with his own hands
[00:32:45] kills another or himself, one who acts on his own authority autocratic, an absolute master
[00:32:52] to govern or exercise dominion over. The Strongs goes on to say to act of oneself, dominate,
[00:33:02] usurp. So what this passage is saying when it says, and I'm going to back up here,
[00:33:07] let the wife learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach or a wife to
[00:33:15] teach nor to usurp, dominate over her husband, but to be in silence. Now see, this would go along
[00:33:29] with what it says in Ephesians 5, when Ephesians 5 says, wives submit to your husband. When it
[00:33:36] talks about this in 1 Peter 3, wives, your husband, if you, it says in 1 Peter 3, and I didn't have
[00:33:44] a passage for this, but he says this in 1 Peter 3, that you know, talking about if the wife has a
[00:33:54] husband that doesn't obey the word, he'll be won not by her constant badgering, but she'll be won by
[00:34:01] her quiet and meek spirit. So again, we take scripture with scripture context, and we see
[00:34:11] that this is all about wives and husbands, not ministry in the church. Okay, so let me, let me
[00:34:23] back up to this. I'm sorry, not that one, but this one right here. Let me go back to this passage
[00:34:29] right here, to this definition. God does not want to see a woman, a wife, being domineering,
[00:34:38] acting on her, you know, basically being a Jezebel toward her husband. All right,
[00:34:48] and this is what this is all about. All right, don't try to, don't try to take
[00:34:54] authority over it. I've seen, listen, I've seen this. I've seen women even in public,
[00:34:59] you know, basically look at their husband and go, you idiot, or, you know, why don't you shut up,
[00:35:05] or, you know, oh, no, no, no. Christian women, that should never be the case, especially in public.
[00:35:12] You should never show dominance or disgrace or discredit or undermine your husband's
[00:35:21] place as the spiritual authority over you, and that's what this is all about. Again,
[00:35:28] it's not about ministry. So let's keep going this morning here. Here's the word, just so you
[00:35:34] know the word for husband. This is the word, N-R, or N-A-R. I don't know exactly how to say it.
[00:35:44] Anyway, it means man, husband, fellow, sir, with reference to sex, of a male, of a husband,
[00:35:53] of a betrothed, or future husband. So, and then it says here, used generically of both, a group
[00:36:01] of both men and women. So he's saying it can be used as a general term as well,
[00:36:05] but notice that the word here is translated man 156 times, husband 50 times, sir, six times,
[00:36:13] fellow one time. So again, we have the issue, man can be husband, or it can be just man,
[00:36:21] or it can be a reference to a group that's pertaining to both sexes. How do you know how
[00:36:27] it's being used? Context. All right, so let's keep going here. Let's look at the Romans 16,
[00:36:38] because Paul begins to mention some women that are in ministry. All right, doing ministry work.
[00:36:47] Some actually, it appears to be deacons or pastor, and even one apostle woman.
[00:36:56] Oh, yep, there's some Baptists that just stop breathing. All right, but I'm gonna tell you,
[00:37:04] the Baptist denomination has been hypocritical about this for decades and decades and decades,
[00:37:09] because they would stand and say women can't be pastors, they can't be teachers, but then
[00:37:13] they let them go teach Sunday school classes, or send them to the mission field, but that's okay,
[00:37:18] but not in the, not in their glorious churches in America, can they? Oh, what a bunch of
[00:37:23] hypocrites. The assemblies of God do the same thing. All right, so I'm not picking on the Baptists,
[00:37:30] but anyway, this is Romans 16, one through eight, and we'll read that. I command unto you, Phoebe,
[00:37:38] our sisters, Phoebe's a female name, but he's gonna let you know, our sister, right,
[00:37:45] in the Lord, which is a servant of the church, which is in Centuria, that you receive her in the
[00:37:51] Lord as become a saint, and that you assist her in whatsoever business, church business he's talking
[00:37:59] about, church business that she hath need of you, for she hath been a sucker or a helper of many and
[00:38:07] of myself also. Now, I want to pause right here for just a second. When he says that you receive
[00:38:16] her in the Lord, what he's saying is she's on a mission, she's on a ministry mission,
[00:38:23] and don't any of you men give her a hard time because she's a woman? Why do you think he had
[00:38:29] to say receive her? And why do you think he had to say she is a servant? All right,
[00:38:36] we'll get to Priscilla and Aquila in a minute, and Junie in a minute, but I want you to realize
[00:38:42] that this word where it says, I command to you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the
[00:38:48] church, and here he was telling men to help her assist her. The word servant here in the
[00:38:56] Strong's Greek dictionary is diaconos, or diaconos. It means to, in a general sense, it means to
[00:39:10] run errands, an attendant, a waiter at a table, or in other menial duties, specifically,
[00:39:19] and especially a Christian teacher and pastor, technically, a deacon or deaconess.
[00:39:30] Wait a minute, what? A deacon or deaconess, a pastor or a teacher. Yes, it is the same word used for
[00:39:42] pastor, teacher, deacon, same word. It talks about a waiter. Everybody thinks that being a
[00:39:54] pastor or a teacher or a deacon or an elder is some glamorous position. No, it's a lot of work,
[00:40:00] but that picture there of being a waiter at a table, too, is also meaning that you're working
[00:40:06] to serve people the spiritual food that they need, right? So Phoebe was working in the ministry,
[00:40:15] a servant, and do you know that some translations of the Bible say Phoebe, a deacon of the church
[00:40:23] in Centurion. She was obviously on church business, and Paul told people to assist her,
[00:40:30] receive her and help her, right? And that meant you men, too. So, wait a minute. I thought women
[00:40:40] weren't supposed to do anything, but sit in church and be quiet. See, Phoebe was working hard. All
[00:40:48] right, now let's go back. Let's go back to this. Let's look at this verse here before we get into
[00:40:53] Phoebe again and get into Romans, the rest of Romans 16, because there's some more people
[00:41:01] mention, but this verse in Galatians 3.28, I mean, it either means what it says or it doesn't.
[00:41:09] And what does he say here? There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
[00:41:14] there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, does it sound like
[00:41:26] we would all be one in Christ Jesus, neither male nor female, if we said, you know what,
[00:41:31] women have to sit in church and say nothing. Women can't prophesy, women can't teach,
[00:41:35] women can't be pastors or deacons, or they can't serve or operate with church business in any way.
[00:41:43] Does that sound like we're all one in Christ Jesus there? No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Again,
[00:41:56] it's just sad. It's sad. Really, it's sad that for so many years has been so much bad interpretation
[00:42:02] of this. But now let's move forward. Let's look at some of the others here mentioned.
[00:42:11] Now, remember he mentioned Junia. Well, first of all, let's, I want to mention something in
[00:42:16] verse three here. Verse three, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for
[00:42:23] my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of
[00:42:29] the Gentiles. So it says, likewise, greet the church that is in their house, salute my well
[00:42:36] beloved Epineidus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ, and greet Mary, who bestowed
[00:42:44] much labor on us. Now, we go back up to Priscilla and Aquila. This is very interesting here. You
[00:42:52] will notice something that you're going to never see. Remember, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul
[00:42:56] what to write. And he wrote very specifically and he said, greet Priscilla and Aquila. Priscilla
[00:43:03] is the white, the woman. Aquila is the husband. They're mentioned in other places in the book of Acts
[00:43:11] as servants and ministers, faithful ministers of the gospel. The fact that Priscilla was mentioned
[00:43:19] first is unheard of in the culture of that time, to mention the wife before the husband.
[00:43:29] You look it up too. You look it up in any, you know, history of the time, the culture. I mean,
[00:43:38] not only did the Jews not do it, but neither did the Greeks or the Romans. It was just,
[00:43:43] you just didn't do that. That denotes more than likely that she was more prominent in the
[00:43:48] ministry that they had together than maybe the husband. For instance, I knew a couple,
[00:43:58] a godly Christian couple, and they were a teen. And she was submissive to her husband and all,
[00:44:11] and in right relationship with her husband. But her call and her gift was to preach and teach
[00:44:17] and prophesy. I mean, she was a preacher, a teacher. I mean, that was her gift.
[00:44:22] Her husband, he'd say, I'm not called to preach and teach, but he loved to play the guitar and
[00:44:27] lead praise and worship. And they had a ministry together for years and years and years. I went
[00:44:32] with them. They had a prison ministry, and I went with them often. And he would get up and lead the
[00:44:38] praise and worship. And, you know, it was great. We'd have a great time in praise and worship.
[00:44:44] He had a 12-string guitar. He loved that 12-string guitar. And then his wife would get up
[00:44:50] and preach and teach. And there was nothing out of order about that. Right. Joyce Meyer, again,
[00:45:01] yeah, I don't agree with a lot of her theology, but she's not out of order being a preacher,
[00:45:07] a teacher. And her husband's saying, no, I'm not called to do that, but she's got a husband that
[00:45:10] she's, you know, submitted to. The same thing was Marilyn Hickey for years. You know, Marilyn
[00:45:16] Hickey had a powerful ministry teaching and preaching, and she went around the world.
[00:45:22] Her husband was the pastor of a church there somewhere. I think it was in Denver, Colorado,
[00:45:26] if I remember correctly. But she was, you know, in right relationship with her husband,
[00:45:32] she was submitted to her husband as a spiritual authority in her life. But,
[00:45:37] you know, she was a teacher and a preacher and a minister of the gospel and a servant in her
[00:45:42] church. And there was nothing wrong with that. And seeing just like I catch a lot of flack,
[00:45:47] because, you know, I made Nancy an elder and Nancy is really, my wife is gifted and
[00:45:56] anointed to preach and teach. But also, I mean, she is a servant of this church like you wouldn't
[00:46:03] believe. And I get really ill when folks start, you know, acting like she shouldn't have the title
[00:46:13] of elder or pastor or teacher or deacon or whatever. And because I know what the scriptures say.
[00:46:19] And my wife is not trying to usurp authority. In fact, most of the time I have to ask her
[00:46:26] to do things. She's not trying to dominate me or anybody else, but she is called and gifted by God.
[00:46:36] And that shouldn't be stifled and, you know, forbidden and hindered just because we have
[00:46:44] misinterpreted a couple of passages in scripture. Oh, boy, it's time for a real awakening. Now,
[00:46:54] granted, let me say, and I'll say this and everybody needs to understand. I have seen
[00:46:59] women in the ministry who clearly have usurped that position and pushed themselves into that
[00:47:05] position and are what I call man haters. And, you know, just in their heart, there's in their
[00:47:13] heart, there's a spirit there that wants to dominate men and that has an attitude, a negative
[00:47:20] attitude toward men and men in leadership. And when that's there, that's a bad thing. It's not
[00:47:26] a good thing. OK, because the Lord, I believe the Lord, I believe the Lord from all of us
[00:47:32] wants to see a humble and submissive spirit to authority, but especially with women because of
[00:47:41] their nature to be more emotional. They really need a male covering and to be submissive to
[00:47:49] some male leadership. But it doesn't mean that they can't be in positions of leadership within
[00:47:57] a church, within a ministry to teach, preach, prophesy, operate in their gift, be a pastor,
[00:48:06] elder, deacon, prophetess. I mean, we see all of these titles upon women. I mean, there were women.
[00:48:11] Isaiah's wife, Isaiah referred to his wife as the prophetess. So she was a prophetess.
[00:48:18] Deborah was a prophetess who led a school of ministry, a college for prophets, and led the
[00:48:25] armies of Israel against the enemies of Israel because a man wouldn't do it.
[00:48:30] And God used Deborah in a mighty way. Miriam, Moses's sister, was a prophetess and a leader
[00:48:40] within Israel. Nancy just sent an email that I just received. She said, on this subject,
[00:48:48] my wife just just takes this to Kevin. She said, I looked into your church and your ministry.
[00:48:55] One thing that I saw was that your wife is called pastor. Where in scripture does the Bible say
[00:49:02] women have the title of pastor? In 1 Timothy 3, God gives the qualifications for overseers, pastors.
[00:49:08] He must manage his own household well. God calls the man to be the head of the family and the
[00:49:12] head of the church. When you list your wife as pastor on your website, that sends a message
[00:49:17] to the world. See, he confirms women can be pastors. His wife is called pastor. There are
[00:49:23] more women pastors now than ever before. I have heard it at all why pastors do that,
[00:49:29] but is it really what God says? Or she doesn't preach and she's not this or that. And I say,
[00:49:36] good, so why call her pastor for recognition, for high position? I just don't understand why
[00:49:41] so many churches are putting the word pastor before their wives name. It really breaks my
[00:49:46] heart because I really believe it sends the wrong message to outsiders. And there is no place
[00:49:51] in the Bible that qualifies a woman to be called pastor. Paul is clear on the qualifications to be
[00:49:56] called pastor is a man. Well, here we have a person who is sincere, but sincerely wrong.
[00:50:06] And that brings me to this next point. Let's look at Junia, who is called an apostle. That's
[00:50:13] going to be painful for this fellow. Really painful. Let's put that slide up there. This
[00:50:19] is Romans 16, one through eight. We get down here. A woman sent that, you know,
[00:50:29] flip back to the camera, please. A woman, you know, I have had in the last that was that's
[00:50:34] this is the second email in the world. No, this is the that was an email. This was a comment.
[00:50:41] Two women came on my YouTube channel and in the comments of the Skyfall, our conference trailer,
[00:50:49] Skyfall 2019 trailer where Nancy's going to be a speaker. And I said, Pastor Nancy Odle. And I did
[00:50:56] that on purpose just to irritate people. Right. Because I know that they have their bad, their
[00:51:00] wrong interpretation. So make it a teaching moment. So I have these two women telling me how women
[00:51:06] should keep silent, not teach. And I'm like, yet they're trying to teach me a man. Shut up.
[00:51:15] If you think women are not supposed to teach men, you serve authority over men that it's
[00:51:19] not a husband and wife thing. Why are you trying to teach me a man? What a bunch of hypocrites.
[00:51:28] Your ignorance will always be exposed. It just blows my mind. A woman said that.
[00:51:35] Oh, Lord. Oh, man, it's like the globe indoctrination.
[00:51:44] I mean, come on. That's why I had to do this today, because it just keeps coming up. Right.
[00:51:51] But let's get back to the scriptures on this. All right. Because that's what matters.
[00:51:57] All right. Romans 16. We just I'm going to start from verse one again, and we're going to read on
[00:52:03] down. I commanded to you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant, a deacon or a pastor.
[00:52:11] The same word used for pastor. So it could be translated deacon, pastor of the church,
[00:52:20] which is in Centuria, that you receive her and the Lord has become a saint and that she
[00:52:23] assists her in whatsoever business. She hath need of you or she hath been a soaker or helper
[00:52:30] of many and of myself also. Greek Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. Priscilla
[00:52:35] mentioned first again, maybe she had the gift to be the pastor, the teacher, and he was the
[00:52:42] praise and worship leader. Who knows? Maybe he was the counselor. Maybe he was a prophet.
[00:52:49] Actually, I think both of them were apostles because they were church planners as well.
[00:52:52] But we'll move on from that. Let's go on down to verse seven. He says here salute, Andronicus
[00:53:01] and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. Listen to this. Who are of note among the
[00:53:10] apostles? Who? Grammatically, who is he referring to? Who's the subject of this who? It's not
[00:53:21] Whoville. It's not anything else. It's Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, my fellow prisoners who,
[00:53:31] he's including Andronicus and Junia in this sentence together, who are of note among the apostles.
[00:53:41] Vinnie, they are apostles. Andronicus and Junia are among the apostles, meaning
[00:53:49] New Testament apostles. Remember, the Bible mentions over 20 apostles in the Bible. It wasn't just
[00:53:56] the 12, but of course, Paul was an apostle. Barnabas was called an apostle. So Andronicus and Junia
[00:54:04] were Christians and ministers, and it appears their ministry gift was apostle. And guess what?
[00:54:11] Apostles are an apostle. For those of you who don't understand the five-fold ministry,
[00:54:16] apostle has to be everything. An apostle is a teacher, a pastor, an evangelist, a prophet.
[00:54:23] They fulfill all of that. And then the apostle part of it makes them have, they become church
[00:54:29] planters and have authority over churches given by God, that authority. So Andronicus and Junia,
[00:54:37] my kinsmen, my fellow prisoners who are of note among the apostles, saying that was their ministry
[00:54:42] gift. So Andronicus and Junia, apostles. So you could put in here pastors, evangelists,
[00:54:52] teachers, prophets. Being an apostle, you fulfill all five-fold ministry offices.
[00:55:00] Let's go and make sure. Junia. Junia, outline of biblical usage. Her name is
[00:55:08] youthful. And it says here she is a Christian woman at Rome, mentioned by Paul as one of his
[00:55:17] kinsfolk and fellow prisoners. And it didn't add here an apostle. But it says plainly here that
[00:55:25] she was female. So Junia, a woman who was ministry gift was that of an apostle.
[00:55:37] Did we see any of this in modern times? Yes. There was a woman back in the 1920s.
[00:55:48] Oh, why is her name escaping me? Oh, yes. Amy Simple McPherson. Amy Simple McPherson.
[00:55:56] This woman was called by God. Now you think about this in the 1920s, right? And then
[00:56:01] during the Depression, she was a minister. She had a church. Well, she had a ministry and then
[00:56:08] she had some husbands, you know, leave her. I mean, she went through some difficulties,
[00:56:12] but this woman had a call of God, really an apostle call upon her life.
[00:56:17] Amy Simple McPherson. In fact, if you look her up, you'll find out she was the founder
[00:56:22] of the Foursquare denomination, okay, which is a Pentecostal denomination. One of the largest
[00:56:34] Pentecostal denomination. In fact, what's his name? Oh, man, why are these people's names
[00:56:40] just leaving me? Jack Hayford. Jack Hayford, a pastor out in California,
[00:56:48] song, you know, he's written a number of praise and worship songs, has a ministry school.
[00:56:52] He's a Foursquare denomination pastor. But Amy Simple McPherson started a church in Los Angeles,
[00:57:00] California. I believe it was in the 1920s or right after the Depression began in 1929.
[00:57:06] All I know is she had such a powerful ministry, preaching, teaching, and healing in miracles
[00:57:15] that she built a church. Think about this. During the Depression,
[00:57:19] she built a church in Los Angeles. It's still there called the Angeles Temple.
[00:57:24] She built a church that seated 5,000 people during the Depression. And it was full. They
[00:57:32] had five services on Sunday. And we're talking about people that were crippled, got up and walked.
[00:57:40] The deaf, her, the blind would see. They would put the crutches and the wheelchairs and the
[00:57:47] stuff, hang them on the walls. This woman was a powerhouse. Now, later on in her life
[00:57:52] with some issues arise, and I think out of her loneliness and being hurt,
[00:58:00] there was a little scandal where she ran off. But she was human. But what I'm saying is for many,
[00:58:05] many, many years, she served the Lord faithfully, diligently, probably out of a lot of pain and
[00:58:10] loneliness. But God used her. And I'll say this right now. Amy Simple McPherson was an apostle.
[00:58:18] She was of note among the apostles like Junior. And God used her to plant and start many churches.
[00:58:24] And it ended up being an entire denomination that God has used. And her four-square gospel is this.
[00:58:30] I mean, the reason they call it the four-square is because she said,
[00:58:34] this is your four principal truths. Jesus is our Savior. He's our healer. He's our
[00:58:41] Baptizer and the Holy Ghost and our soon coming King. And that was her four-square gospel.
[00:58:47] Jesus, our Savior, who died on the cross and rose from the dead. Jesus, who still heals the sick
[00:58:52] bodies and works miracles. Jesus, who still baptizes people in the Holy Spirit, the evidence of
[00:58:57] speaking another tongue. And Jesus, who will return again. So Amy Simple McPherson.
[00:59:06] Let's continue. There was a couple more women mentioned here who were, it says,
[00:59:13] labor in the Lord. Now we don't know these. We can't speculate on whether they were in
[00:59:18] the fivefold ministry and leadership or not, but it's just interesting that Paul recognizes them and
[00:59:25] points them out in the book of Romans here. He says, salute, trifina and trifosa,
[00:59:34] who labor in the Lord, suit the beloved Persis, which labored much in the Lord.
[00:59:40] So if you look up these people, of course, it's a Christian woman, just so you know,
[00:59:48] it's a Christian woman. Both of them are Christian women who were laboring in the Lord. So really,
[00:59:56] we got to get off this crazy train here. But let me, let me close with this passage.
[01:00:01] Let's go to Matthew 28.1 and we're going to close today with this. This one ought to be
[01:00:07] kind of the icing on the cake, like, you know, enough said here. So Matthew 28.1 through 8 says this,
[01:00:18] in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,
[01:00:22] came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre, the tomb where Jesus had been laid
[01:00:28] after his crucifixion. And behold, there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord
[01:00:33] descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.
[01:00:37] And his countenance was like lightning and his raiment, his clothing white as snow.
[01:00:42] And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became his dead men.
[01:00:46] And look at verse five, and the angel answered and said to the women, no men around. Well,
[01:00:53] they were scared for their lives hiding out. The angel answered and said, and let me just pause here.
[01:01:04] You know, this is something too. Let me tell you, a lot of men should, you know, should be
[01:01:11] stepping up to do things, but they don't. So don't, don't give me a hard time when we say,
[01:01:20] you know what, if women, if a man won't step up and get the job done and a woman steps up and
[01:01:24] gets the job done, then so be it. Right? So let's read this. And the angel answered and said to the
[01:01:33] women, fear, fear, nachi, for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here,
[01:01:40] for he has risen. As he said, come and see the place where the Lord lay. Then the angel tells the
[01:01:46] women, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before
[01:01:53] you into Galilee and there shall you see him. Lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from
[01:01:58] the sepulchre with great, with fear and great joy and did run and bring his disciples word.
[01:02:05] Now, the first people that Jesus appeared to, and right after this, he appears to Mary Magdalene,
[01:02:15] first, a woman. But the angel here gives the message to go proclaim he has risen to his
[01:02:23] disciples. The first preaching of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was women to the
[01:02:33] apostles, not the apostles to the women. Do you think that the Lord, remember, I believe every,
[01:02:43] every single bit of this, the Lord was orchestrating down to every minute detail. Do you think he was
[01:02:50] sending a message to us? Yes, women, women can preach the gospel. They can teach, they can
[01:03:01] prophesy. In fact, the Lord said, I'm going to make a point to this culture and I'm going to
[01:03:09] send women with the message from my angel to tell my disciples who were gathered in fear
[01:03:18] of the Romans that I am risen from the dead. And let me tell you, when those women entered that place
[01:03:27] where the apostles were gathered, that's a church. I'd say when you got 11 apostles
[01:03:32] gathered together in a room and you're talking about Jesus, that would constitute two or three
[01:03:38] being gathered together in his name, wouldn't it? Oh, please, people, please stop. Stop your
[01:03:47] prejudice against women. They can be pastors, teachers, prophets, evangelists, apostles,
[01:03:58] deacons. And like I said before, people want to bring out, oh, it's the husband of one wife.
[01:04:05] Wait a minute. Okay. If you're going to go down that road, Paul was never married. So does that
[01:04:11] disqualify Paul because he didn't have a wife? Do you know there's a crazy Baptist denomination
[01:04:16] that says that if you don't have a wife and kids, you can't be a pastor. Yeah. So I guess Paul was
[01:04:23] disqualified from all the churches. He pastored and started and planned it as an apostle just
[01:04:27] because he didn't get married, right? Illegitimate churches. Oh, Lord. No, when you see the term,
[01:04:36] when you see that instruction there, just because its instruction is male-oriented,
[01:04:43] doesn't mean it's always talking about, it's always excluding women. Okay. We've made that point.
[01:04:49] Mankind. Well, see, that's only talking about men. No, men and women. But anyway, I think we covered
[01:05:01] it thoroughly enough. Look, I want to encourage everybody out there, study your Bible. Just study
[01:05:07] your Bible. I remember a minister saying that he had a guy, another preacher come up to him
[01:05:16] saying, you know, these women can't be doing this. They can't be pastoring these churches,
[01:05:20] teaching this stuff because it was going on a lot, especially back in the early days of the
[01:05:25] Pentecostal movement. And this pastor just spoke up and said, well, didn't he say your sons and
[01:05:34] your daughters would prophesy? And the guy freaked out saying, I'm going to have to get back to you on
[01:05:38] that one because that guy was Baptist and he considered the word prophesying to be preaching.
[01:05:45] And so how does a woman preach in church and yet she's supposed to be silent? You've got a
[01:05:51] contradiction here. How can a woman prophesy, identify the church if she can't speak in church?
[01:05:57] So today I believe that we have biblically, correctly, contextually, historically, culturally,
[01:06:05] grammatically put this all in its proper context. And if you don't like it, too bad. I don't care.
[01:06:15] You know, you're probably if you've got this attitude, you're probably in a dead church anyway
[01:06:20] or probably not attending one at all and think you know everything. So yeah, that's what my wife
[01:06:28] pointed out. Polygamy was not probably an issue for women. Well said. What Paul was dealing with
[01:06:37] there, the Holy Spirit threw him and he said the husband of one wife, he was dealing with the issue
[01:06:41] of polygamy and what even divorce which has been thrown in there. But anyway, let's pray and we're
[01:06:50] going to close this leadership class eight out today. Women in ministry, I think the question has
[01:06:57] been answered thoroughly and completely. And like I said, if you don't like it, too bad. Let's pray.
[01:07:06] Father in heaven, we thank you Lord for your word, that you Holy Spirit, your Holy Spirit leads us
[01:07:11] and guides us into all truth. We thank you that we can study, rightly divide the word of truth,
[01:07:17] that we can truly interpret it and compare scripture with scripture, context, the original
[01:07:24] languages and bring it together as a cohesive, perfect puzzle when you bring all the pieces
[01:07:32] together. And Lord, I thank you for women that you've used mightily in the ministry over
[01:07:39] many centuries. Lord, you've used women as pastors, as teachers, as deaconesses and
[01:07:47] elders and prophetesses and apostles and training other prophets like
[01:07:57] Deborah and leading the armies of Israel. So Lord, I ask you to bless women out there to not be
[01:08:05] discouraged by ignorant people and people who take scripture out of context. But that you
[01:08:13] always remind them also to keep a very humble and submissive heart and to not disrespect
[01:08:22] male leadership, whether they're husband or in the church, and that you just use them mightily and
[01:08:29] give them wisdom. And Lord, we pray this today in Jesus name. Amen. All right, class dismissed.