Pastor Wall, let me say a word of thanks to everyone who helped in the funeral today. I know there were a number of folks that were actively involved in that, and we appreciate you so much. I know that the Hasner family does as well. Now, as you were able to see, we have our summertime. is coming fast upon us with Vacation Bible School, Wonder Junction. And by the way, you say, well Pastor Monty, I'm too old for Bible school. You are never too old for Bible school. We're going to have opening exercises nightly right here in the auditorium. And if you want to come and just enjoy that and see the kids and see the nightly function of the opening exercises, you know Wonder Junction was an out west town. was an out west town. It was kind of a rough and tumble place. There were a lot of good guys, but there were a handful of bad guys. And every out west town needs a sheriff. Guess who the sheriff of Wonder Junction is? You're looking at him right now. I am a law and order kind of sheriff, and we're going to whip that tiny western town into shape. And I do want to encourage you, if you want to just come and enjoy that. So listen, everything at church all summer long. You say, well, Pastor Monty, it's not my age group. That does not matter, okay? Be young at heart. So if you want to come to the softball games, Pastor, I don't play. It doesn't matter if you play. I don't play. But I like to go to the games. I like to watch. I like to fellowship. And by the way, the food is second to none anywhere. So You may just want to come for the food, stay for the game. I think that's a good idea. But this summer is going to be filled with all kinds of activity that kind of knock us just a little bit out of our regimen. Now for some of you, I might say out of your rut. We're going to be having a summer series this year like we do in the summers. Here's what I want to encourage you to do. There are some people who like everything to remain exactly the same. The same, the same, the same, the same. That is called a rut, okay? And there's very little difference between a rut and a grave. So, what you have to do is what I've had to learn to do. I've had to learn to simply embrace the chaos, learn to embrace it, learn to love it. We've got this going on, that going on, and pray God's blessing on everything that is going on because the Lord's blessed this church. It could look quite different. We wouldn't want that. We want to see his blessing. Now, another thing I want to mention that Very soon, you're going to start seeing evidence. Work has already begun on the heat and air conditioning unit and system for the balcony. You will begin to see evidences in the auditorium. These things will not impede. Pastor Wall, I'm right to say this, right? Make sure I'm saying the right thing. It will not impede the use of the auditorium. Correct, yeah. There will be evidence of it on Wednesday night, but everything will be cleared out. evidence of it on Wednesday nights, but by Sundays it'll all be cleared out, and so that's exciting. So don't, here's the thing, here's the thing, don't just get stuck in a rut where everything has to be the same and exactly what I'm expecting to have happen, because that's not fun in life. What's fun in life is when you see something new, and because we are all, and I say we because I'm preaching to the one-man choir up here right now, we are all adopting a positive attitude toward everything, okay? We've had two sermons on negaholism. You don't want to be a negaholic. And so we're going to adopt a positive attitude toward all of these things and say, praise the Lord. Well, speaking of a positive attitude, take your Bible, turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. I'm going to be continuing in what I spoke of the last two Wednesday nights that we dealt with this topic, and it addresses, and you need to listen carefully to me, because I don't want to be misunderstood. I'm going to speak as clearly as I can. I'm going to ask you to listen as clearly as you can. When we address 1 Timothy chapter two, we are talking about guidelines inspired divine guidelines, I could use the word regulation as well, for mixed-gender worship services. Okay, what is appropriate in a service where you have both men and women attending the service? And Paul dealt at the beginning of that chapter with a matter of prayer and said in a mixed-gender worship service that the men are to lead in prayer. Then he talked about appropriateness of attire. We dealt with that last time. How that when we come to worship, we're not coming to a fashion show. We're coming to present ourselves before the Lord. And he talked in detail, especially for the ladies, about modest and appropriate worship attire. And I think that's something very important. I want you to hear me. I know, I know that what I'm saying sounds incredibly anachronistic, something of a former age. I understand that. But it is Bible, okay? It is Bible. With crystal clarity, there is an attitude of heart and an attitude of bearing when we come to worship the Lord in a worship service that we ought to maintain, okay? There's something called propriety. People today struggle with what is appropriate in a given setting. And that's part of our culture, I think. I think we live in a very sloppy culture. That's part of our culture. But there's a certain level of appropriateness. And Paul talks about that. It does not mean that you wear fancy, gaudy, or expensive attire. That's not what it means. But it means that we present ourselves in worship in a well-dressed and modest manner. Well-dressed meaning it's well-arranged, neat, and decent, and nice. without being unnecessarily showy. And we talked about that at length last time. So if you missed last time, you'll want to tune into that. But then Paul continues with the attitude and the bearing of women in church. Now listen carefully in regard to a mixed gender worship service. Now pause. Before I even read the scripture, I'm going to tell you this. I could very easily tonight be accused of sexism. I could very easily tonight be accused of being a male chauvinist, but I'm going to tell you something. The things I'm going to say are directly out of the pages of the Bible, regardless of what some church somewhere is doing. And we are not trying to follow feminism. I'm against the feminist movement, wholly and completely against the feminist movement. It has damaged and destroyed the infrastructure of our society and of our civilization. I oppose the feminist movement, okay? Now, by the way, saying that with that clarity is enough to get you run out of the rail of the average church, okay? But scripture is very, very clear as to appropriateness, listen, carefully within a mixed gender worship service. Now, having said that, that means that there are certain things that are appropriate for me as a male, and that are appropriate for a woman as a female, because we still recognize there's a difference. We still recognize that at Faith Baptist, okay? And there are things that are appropriate for me, and there are things that are appropriate for the lady. So I'm going to be just real crystal clear about this. I think it's inappropriate for men to work in the church nursery. That's my position. That's my position, okay? I think it's inappropriate, and we don't need that, okay? We don't need any of that kind of complication. There are things that are more appropriate for men to do, and there are things that are more appropriate for ladies to do because of the difference in the sexes. Now, when it comes to worship services mixed gender services, Paul gives us very specific guidelines on that. Having said that, before I get into that, let me mention this. This means, for example, Pastor Mani said, women can't serve the Lord in the church. I never said that. In fact, we have ladies, without the ladies in this church, the whole thing would collapse, okay? We have to have our ladies. Where are they serving? They're serving in our children's ministries. Our WANA program is directed by Beth Fabian, okay? She does a tremendous job with that. There are areas of, Pastor Mani, You're just saying that the woman needs to sit down in church and keep her mouth shut. That's not what the Bible says. What the Bible says is that she is not to attain to or aspire to a teaching position in mixed gender services. Can a lady give testimonies in church? Absolutely. Can a lady sing in church? Absolutely. But as you're going to see in a moment, when you have a mixed gender, male and female worship service or teaching service type of situation, then it is appropriate for the men to do the teaching. Can ladies be Sunday school teachers? Absolutely. We have a ladies class with a lady Sunday school teacher. Is everybody following along with me? But where I will not cross the line ever And if you don't like this, then this probably isn't the best church for you, okay? I mean, I'm just saying it right out. We will not have a female pastor. on staff, period. I'll prove that from the Bible. We're just not gonna do that, okay? We will not have female Bible teachers teaching a mixed audience. Is everybody following what I'm saying here? Because this is specifically geared, 1 Timothy chapter two, to a mixed gender worship service. Now has everybody tracked with me good enough? By the way, I'm just gonna be honest with you. The average pastor in this county wouldn't touch this passage with a 10-foot pole. And I'm dismayed at how many passages of the Bible, the New Testament, are overlooked in order to bow the knee to culture or the demands of our culture. And that is part of the weakening of the church. And so what we're going to do as a church family is we're going to say, okay, we will abide by what Paul said, the inspired guidelines and regulations for the functioning of the church. So that is the basis for what I'm saying tonight. All right, look in your Bible, if you will, at 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verse number 11. The Bible says this. that the women learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man. Now pause there for a moment. The connection between teaching and usurping authority over the man is the assumption of a mixed gender worship service. That is the assumption that is there, or a teaching service, but to be in silence. And then he gives a rationale for this, which we'll get into tonight, in more detail. I've mentioned it before, but we'll get into it in more detail. if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Now, verse number 15, that's a toughie, and we'll get to interpreting that after a little while. Look, if you will, at point D on the top of your lesson outline. This is actually a continuation of last time's lesson. The women are to maintain submission to male authority. Now, remember, this is within a mixed Gender, worship, service. Is everybody tracking with me? Are you tracking with me tonight? Okay, this does not mean that women cannot function in a leadership role in other areas. But as the teacher, so let me be so clear that I cannot be misunderstood. Do you see what I'm doing? I'm standing behind this pulpit with an open Bible teaching to you the Bible in a mixed gender session. Does everybody see that? You all see that? Okay, this is appropriate for me to do as a male, okay? It would be inappropriate for a lady to be doing the same thing. Now, I don't, I don't, I'm not Pastor Monty, but my aunt's niece's sister, whoever that would be, she's a pastor. No, she's not. She's a usurper. Oh. Oh. Sebastiani, you must be tired from your busy day because you're in kind of a mood. No, I'm not in a mood. Well, I am. Okay, a little bit. But the truth of the matter is, that's usurping male authority. Now that's wrong according to the Bible, okay? So when you see, and I'm not saying that women can't be good preachers, okay? Because remember Ken and Gloria Copeland? How many remember Ken and Gloria Copeland? Gloria could preach circles around Ken. She was just a better speaker. But that's inappropriate, okay? It's inappropriate. So let's look into this. By the way, one of the most capable Bible doctrine people, most capable and knowledgeable in Bible doctrine that I've ever met in my life is a lady named Becca Horton, Dr. Arlen Horton's wife. She is the founder of the Becca Curriculum and the Becca Sunday School Curriculum. She was incredibly capable in doctrine. When you sat down to dinner with them back in the years, she always brought up books. She had read a myriad of books. She was absolutely brilliant. Okay, how many remember, you don't remember this name, or do you remember this name? Do you remember the name Henrietta C. Mears? M-E-A-R-S. Does anyone remember that name? Jay, you don't? You didn't know her, she's been long gone, okay? I know you're old, but you're not that old, okay? She was, you remember her, Pastor Bill. Okay, she was Sunday school superintendent at First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota under W.B. Riley before going out to California and serving in a large church there. She wrote a book called What the Bible Teaches. Is this familiar to anyone? Okay, this is a tremendous book, the book What the Bible Teaches, and she wrote that book. It's still available today. You can look it up online probably. It'd probably be very inexpensive to look it up online, but it is a tremendous book. She, for many, many years, was a Bible teacher, but not to mixed audiences, okay, not to mixed audiences. Did the Lord use her in a spectacular way? Yes, and let me tell you how. There was a young man who was, many, many years ago, who was actually an Arthur Murray dance instructor. How many remember the Arthur Murray studios, okay? He was an Arthur Murray dance instructor, and he was awakened one morning by his alarm clock, and his alarm clock was a radio alarm clock. Somehow he had bumped the knob on it the night before. It was set to a different station, and out of the radio, waking him up in the morning, was the voice of an evangelist. And the evangelist said this, if God were to ask you why you should be allowed into heaven, what would your answer be? That is the voice that the young man woke up to. And he woke like that, and then he's hearing this booming evangelist voice over the radio. And then he thought to himself, I don't know, what would my answer be? What would my answer be? It troubled him. He got dressed, he got ready to go to the dance studio for the day to teach lessons, but he was troubled by that. He said he went downstairs out of his apartment, he was crossing the street, and he noticed a bookseller on the side of the road, had a little book stand on the side of the corner there, selling magazines, papers, as well as books. He was so troubled by that evangelist's question that he said to the bookseller, he said, could you, he said, could you just give me a religious book? Those were his words. He said, give me a religious book. And that could be anything, folks, right? That's kind of a broad and risky ask. And he said, give me a religious book. And the bookseller said, I have just the book for you. It was the book by Henrietta C. Mears, What the Bible Teaches. And that young man took the book home later and read it, and within one week came to trust Christ as his personal Savior. Does anyone know the name of that man? Some of you will when I say it. Dr. D. James Kennedy, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, he came to Christ as a result of the booming voice of Donald Barnhouse on the radio and reading the book by Dr. Henrietta C. Mears. What I'm saying is this, God uses ladies in a powerful way, but not in the mixed services, mixed gender services of the church, so women Point two, learn in silence in public. Mixed gender meetings of the church. The word silence means just quietness, okay? Not deadpan. The primary idea is that it is inappropriate for women to challenge male leadership in public. Homer Kent, and Kent is a conservative Bible commentator. It was my privilege this week to work with one of his former students. If you can date this back, the man that I worked with last week is 76 years old, Dr. Carl Stelzer. He is a professor at Pensacola Theological Seminary, and he was a student, a direct student of Dr. Homer Kent, so he knew him personally. He's written an excellent book on the pastoral epistles, and he remarks this, she is to conduct herself in a manner which does not writhe under authority. It's really simple. And by the way, we don't have this issue at all in our church. She's not to regard herself as unnecessarily imposed upon by her sex. She is exhorted to assume the attitude of a disciple and be continually learning, okay? And that is really, that applies to everyone in the room, but the whole idea is just not to usurp authority over male leadership in public worship, mixed gender worship services. If concerned about the content of a message given in mixed gender public church meetings, The wife is to ask her husband about it in the privacy of their home. That's 1 Corinthians 14.35. He presumably would answer the question or address the issue with the male leadership of the church. That's just a matter of appropriateness. Now look this way. I know we've lost it in our culture. I know we've lost this in our culture, but it is right because it is Bible, okay? And remember what this is limited to, the mixed gender worship setting. Point number three. Women are to maintain an attitude of subjection. By the way, that does not mean slavery. That is not negative. Okay, here's something concerning to me. I don't want to get off too far on this, but it's very concerning to me. The feminist movement has had such an impact on American culture. that that impact has seeped into the consciousness or the subconsciousness of the thinking of the church by and large. And so people are very easily offended or hurt or jump to conclusions, negative conclusions in regard to this. The idea of submission is not a negative concept, okay? It is a concept of the husband being the protector and the provider, and that she is called alongside him to help, listen carefully, so that they two together form a team. Both members of that team in marriage, husband and wife, both members of that team are indispensable members of that team. Each one has a vital role to play. And when each one does so within the confines of marriage, we'll use that as an example, because this is where the idea of submission is often balked at. When each one fulfills his or her role in regard to marriage, that marriage can be strong and good and beautiful, and together as a team, they advance. When roles are reversed, overlapped, or usurped, there is always trouble in marriage. And today, many times, it's unfortunate, marriages end in divorce. So the idea... of subjection is an attitude of submission or obedience. Displays of feminine forwardness are inappropriate in church. Okay? Motions must not take precedence over Bible principles. Now, again, against our, you know, she's just a strong and bold and independent woman. Okay? But not in a public mixed-gender worship service. Okay, I think that's so clear. Now, pause there with me for a moment, because I know nobody is getting rankled. I know that. No one in here is getting rankled. I know that. However, I like to pretend somebody is, because it makes the preaching better, okay? So no one's getting rankled, okay? But suppose, oh, Pastor Monning, I'm rankled by this. Okay, then I need you to explain to me, after the service, what this means. Okay? I would need you to explain to me what this means. Are you following along with me? If it doesn't mean what I am saying, and I'm being careful not to offend, if it doesn't mean what I am saying, then you have to be able to come up to me after the service and say, Pastor Monty, here is what it really means. I am simply reading to the English that is a perfect reflection of the Greek constructions. I'm giving you the meaning of the Greek language behind it as we go through the passage, and it's crystal clear what it means. But if you, well, Pastor Marty, no. All of that is just the product of the Apostle Paul, who was a product of his culture. Now listen carefully. You would be wrong. Because, remember, Paul gave these words under divine inspiration of the Spirit of God, okay? This is inspired Scripture. Also remember this, that in the Old Testament, we know that you did not have female leaders of mixed worship. Now you had ladies who led groups of other ladies in prayer. Okay, remember Lydia in the New Testament by the riverside was responsible for the opening of the gospel to all of Europe and the fulfillment of Paul's Macedonian vision and the fulfillment of Genesis 9 verse 27. Okay, all of those great things, but in the Jewish culture, I'll give you an example. You do not have in the Old Testament a female priest. You don't have that. Now you have some female judges who were political leaders of the time, but you do not have a female priest. So we want to be careful about this and line up with our New Testament, regardless of what our society teaches us, okay? So point four. "'Women must not take the role of teacher "'in public, mixed-gender meetings of the church.'" Paul is not addressing the issue of women teaching children or other women. That is clearly permitted, 2 Timothy 3.14, Titus 2.3. Rather, Paul is saying that women should not teach men doctrine in an official capacity as a teacher or pastor of the church. The verb tense to teach literally means to be a teacher in authority over the men. Women may lead other mixed-gender ministries, a choir leader, a one... Now, by the way, pause there. What? Pastor Monty, is it okay for a woman to be a choir leader in a church? While unusual, it's perfectly okay. Did you know that that was very common in fundamentalist Baptist churches of a bygone era? So how many remember the name Dr. Tom Malone in Pontiac, Michigan? Do you remember that name? Yes, his wife was their choir director for many, many years, and a spectacular choir director. Jim Cimbala, who has been pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle now for well over 50 years, his wife is an incredibly gifted musician. And, by the way, naturally gifted. And she has led the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir for years. There's nothing wrong with that. Well, pastor, wait a minute. You've got both men and women in the choir. What do you do with the bass section? Okay, here's the difference. Are you following? Tracking with me? She's not teaching Bible doctrine. She's teaching music. Now, if she gets up in front of the group and she says, folks, open your Bible to this and starts preaching the Bible, that would be problematic. But she's teaching music. So when I was a student at Bob Jones University, I had several female professors in a mixed gender classroom setting. Is that problematic? No. No, none of them were teaching Bible doctrine. They were teaching things such as finance, home finance, I remember one, and several other professors that we had. I had, as a student at Bob Jones, I had several speech teachers who were, in fact, all of my, not my homiletics, professors. Homiletics means the art of learning to preach. All of my homiletics professors were male, but I had speech teachers who taught speech classes. How many of y'all had speech classes? Did you have speech classes? I did. I had speech I've always had trouble in speech classes. That will surprise you. I always had trouble. I was always misunderstood. That does not surprise you. I was always misunderstood and sometimes misinterpreted as a student. But I took speech classes from ladies. There is zero problem with that. Is everybody tracking with me? I really want you to be tracking with me tonight because here's why. I don't want you to leave the auditorium and then misrepresent what I'm saying, okay? I had a slew in my educational career of fantastic female teachers. The best teacher in my life. far and above any other when you can go from kindergarten through post-graduate work. The single best teacher I had was an English teacher in high school named Opal Underbacke. Mrs. Underbacke was by far and away the finest teacher I've ever had. I'm going to tell you something, she was tough as nails. She instilled fear into the heart of the student. She made grown teenage boys break down in tears over a split infinitive. It was absolutely amazing. Some people today would refer to this as abuse. It was not abuse, okay? She didn't hit us. It was not abuse. It was she got up in front of the class. I remember this. I think it was 10th grade. She gets up in front of the class and she says, She was an older lady, elderly lady. She says, none of you, none of you speak English. You think you do, but none of you speak English. You are a bunch of savages. You are a bunch of barbarians. And she was yelling at us as if she was just upset about this. And she said, but the good news is. I'm going to fix all of that." And over the course of years, she beat the barbarian out of us in regard to English use and grammar and composition. And she majored heavily on every one of them. May I say this? She was, by far and away, the most significant grace of God in my educational life that I ever experienced. I bless the ground upon which she walks. When I graduated high school, I went on to Bob Jones. I had to take bonehead English, freshman English. You couldn't test out of it. Everybody had to take it. And I took the grammar course and just aced that, no problem, first semester. Second semester, composition. The entire second semester, you were required to write a term paper. It involved the entire second semester, step-by-step-by-step process. Early on in that semester, of course, you had to submit what was called a rough draft. How many remember the rough draft? Do you remember the rough draft? Had to submit the rough draft, and then you'd work on that throughout the whole semester, correcting everything that was wrong. So I submitted my rough draft to Dr. St. John. And later in the next class period came, and Dr. St. John said this, he said, he said, Mr. Monti, stand to your feet. And I stood to my feet, knowing that I was in trouble, because any time I was singled out at Bob Jones University, I was in deep trouble, because I was a troubled student. And so, I stood to my feet, trembling, and he said, Mr. Monti, he said, of all of the papers I received, your rough draft was was the best. But he said, not only that, he said, I don't see any real room for improvement. I'm accepting your rough draft as your final paper and giving you an A+. He said, you are now done for the semester. This was like four weeks in, something like four weeks in. He said, you are now done for the semester. He said, however, because of the rules of Bob Jones University, you still have to come to class. You weren't allowed to skip out on the class. But I thought to myself, all of that is credit to the single greatest teacher who had more impact on my life personally than any other teacher I've ever had in my educational career, and that was Mrs. Opal Underbaki, and three cheers in my heart to her every time I think of her name. Now, do you follow what I'm saying? I'm saying that one of the greatest impacts, she's taught a mixed gender class in English grammar and composition that was not only 100% appropriate for her, but it was 100% her calling, and she viewed that as a calling. What we're dealing with here is the matter of public worship services, okay? Look at point E at the bottom of the page. Paul's rationale for the woman's role in church, okay? Pastor Monty, Paul was just, he was just sexist, and he was just, chauvinist. No, no, his rationale is based on the Old Testament, and it is based on an eternal principle that comes from the book of Genesis. Look, if you will, he said this in verse 13, The word for there is a word that indicates the reason for the teaching regarding mixed-gender worship services. Here's the reason why. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. Adam was not deceived. He walked into it eyes wide open. By the way, he failed to exercise his headship. Okay, you say, well, Pastor Monty, it was Eve that ate the fruit. Adam ate it too. And Adam failed to be a leader. He failed to do what God had said. He just went along with it. But Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Okay, let's look at this. Number one, created order implies male headship. Adam was first formed. Created order demonstrates Eve was not intended to direct or to lead Adam. 1 Corinthians 11, 9 says, neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. Now, why is that? Because a man without woman is incomplete, and I would add the word hopelessly incomplete. Eve was created to be Adam's helpmeet, but not his boss. That's really, really important, okay? So in a relationship, a male-female relationship, in a marriage relationship, the man is to lead, okay? He is to have the final authority and the final say within that relationship. Now you say, Pastor Monty, does that mean she's just not to have an opinion? No. No. Okay, no. So I want you to understand something. You know how sweet and quiet Miss Kelly is. How many know that? She's sweet and quiet. Let me tell you something. Miss Kelly has opinions. She has opinions. You say, Pastor Monty, does she share? Yes, she shares those opinions with me. I've been gratified. Two people in the auditorium tonight have expressed to me their excitement about our Revelation series that we're doing on Sunday morning, our Revelation series. But it came up in conversation. Because I could do that for four years. How many know I could every Sunday? But I can't wipe you out. Do you know what would happen if it went too long? Kelly would inform me. that this has gone on too long. It would first be hinting like, so, something like this. So, are we in Revelation again? Okay, that's the subtle hint. It's the question hint. How many men know what I'm talking about? The question hint. So are we, yeah, okay, you're following. So are we in Revelation again? And then three weeks later, it will be like something more aggressive to me personally. She'll say, I'm getting tired of that. She'll say that. And then if I don't cease and desist, listen, because she's just your average, by the way, she's on your side. How many know she's on your side? 100%, she's on your side. And so she'll say something like that, and then if I continue to persist upon it, she will say, listen, she'll say, we're just all tired of that, could you move on? And she is your spokesperson, okay? That is perfectly acceptable in marriage. Do you know why? Because men sometimes don't get it. And the woman as the helpmeet helps men to see something from a perspective that we may not see. And this has been true a thousand times in my marriage. So I want you to be clear. Paul's teaching in no way denigrates women. But he does say in church there's a certain appropriateness to be applied. And again, if it doesn't mean what I'm saying Okay, then you need to show me after church what it really does mean, because I'm just taking this at face value, having, by the way, thoroughly studied it. So, he gives the idea that, he says, Adam was first formed. The Greek word for first is the word protos, and it carries the idea of rank or hierarchy. God gave Adam first rank, and intended him to fulfill his authority. Adam's leadership role in the garden is seen with his naming of Eve, as he did with the animals before her. In Hebrew thinking, the idea of naming always implies authority. Adam and Eve were not equal before the fall. I've heard well-meaning, well-intentioned preachers say that, but God said specifically, I've made Adam, but what did he say about Adam? He said, uh, I made this dude. but it's not good that that guy should be alone. I'm going to make a helpmeet or a helper who is suitably matched to him to bring him together and to bring him to completion. So it is accurate biblically to say that the woman completes the man in a thousand different ways. This is why I said at the outset of what I'm saying, the team, and now we've kind of switched into marriage for a second, but there's overlap here, you understand. The team is vitally important, and each member of the team is important, okay? You can't have all quarterbacks on a football team that wouldn't work, okay? Everyone, when they fulfill their proper role, they advance the cause of the team together, and that is what is vital. That is vital. So, Adam was a leader. Now, what happened? Adam failed in his leadership, okay? He failed. Because the Bible in Genesis makes it clear that Adam, when the snake, the serpent, the fiery winged serpent, when the serpent approaches Eve, Adam wasn't away at the office. He wasn't gone. The Bible makes it crystal clear that Adam was standing right there, and he allowed his wife to engage in a dangerous conversation. He failed as her protector. Then when the decision point came, he failed in his headship as her leader. Okay? And so she was deceived. She was taken in by the wiles of the snake, by the wiles of Satan. That is, there's no question about that. She was taken in by that. But what's shameful about Adam was, he knew it was wrong from the get-go. He heard from the very mouth of God that they weren't supposed to even associate with that tree over there. And Eve, for some reason, sashayed over toward that tree. She saw that it was beautiful, and it was good for food, and it had nice fruit, and all of that. And then the serpent, Satan, appears to her, and he begins to speak to her, and Adam allowed that to happen. But the point is that she was deceived, Adam was not. Now, here's what happened to Imani. Was this all Eve's fault? No. No. In fact, I pin a lot of the fall on Adam, because he wouldn't stand up and do the right thing. By the way, in marriages that fail many, many times, the problem is the man refuses to stand up and do the right thing. He will not lead. And you can, well, Pastor Mike, what happens if my husband just absolutely won't lead? Someone's gotta lead. Someone's gotta lead. then the lady becomes the leader by default. Is everyone following me on this? Okay, we're just going through Scripture. All right. Point two, the story of the fall of man implies male headship, the woman being deceived. Homer Kent, and I put this in parentheses, let's throw him under the bus again. Homer Kent comments, it was Eve who was deceived by the serpent, but Adam was not deceived at all. Paul does not aver that the woman was mentally, morally, or spiritually inferior to the man. Are you following me? That's not even hinted at by Paul. But it was she who was deceived in the matter of doctrine. By taking leadership over the man she ate first, and then gave to her husband to eat. And I would say, he uses the word by taking leadership, I would say by Adam surrendering his headship. Okay, I think there's a little bit of a subtle difference there, and I want to pin more of this on Adam. Thus the fall was caused not only by disobeying God's command not to eat, but also by violating the divinely appointed relation between the sexes. Woman assumed headship, and the man with full knowledge of the act subordinated himself to her leadership and ate of the fruit." Romans 5.19. Both violated their positions. This subordination of woman to man is not Paul's invention. It is rooted in the very nature of the sexes and was put there by God himself. Disaster comes when that relationship is violated." And I think that the words of that quotation, lengthy quotation, I think that is very true. And in the context, remember what we're talking about. Mixed gender services. Okay, does everyone follow that? Male leadership in the church, as far as who are the pastors. One of the requirements that Paul gives in 1 Timothy 3 is that the pastor be the husband of one wife. He is always to be a male figure, regardless of what the United Methodist Church does. Okay, just boom, there it is, okay, it's obvious. He is always to be a male figure. Point F, Paul encourages women to maintain their God-given role by focusing on domestic matters. Look at verse number 15, one of the harder verses in the entire New Testament, one of the harder verses in the entire New Testament to interpret. Okay, verse number 15. Speaking of the woman, notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing, and now notice this change, if they, okay, we have a singular she, this is why this is such a hard verse to interpret. You have a singular she, and then you have a they, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety or with seriousness, okay? I believe this. Paul encourages women to maintain their God-given role by focusing on domestic matters, okay? Some conservative commentators interpret the word, she shall be saved in childbearing, as a reference to Eve's eventual salvation through the incarnation of Christ, okay? So we have reference to Eve in the verses 13 and 14, right? We have reference to Eve. So maybe that's a reference to Eve. And so ultimately, because Eve is the mother of all living, and the genealogy of Christ obviously can be traced all the way back to Eve, it may be a veiled reference to eventual salvation that comes in Christ. Well, this is plausible. I think another interpretation fits the passage a little better. Now, you say, Pastor Monty, where did you get the other interpretation, okay? I've studied this verse because I've taught the pastoral epistles, I think, four or five times, verse by verse, at Pensacola Theological Seminary, and so I've had to really dig into the possible interpretations, especially of a verse when you run into one that's really, really difficult. and a Faith Baptist Theological Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa. How many are familiar with that? How many are familiar with that? It had a former president named Hartog was his last name, Dr. Hartog. His wife's name was Martha. Martha wrote an excellent article in the Faith Theological Seminary paper on this passage. By the way, Mrs. Martha Hartog was an absolutely brilliant woman. Okay, absolutely brilliant. She was a credit to her husband. She was a help me par excellence to her husband. She wrote an excellent article And I'm summarizing it here at point number two. Within the context of female submission to male leadership, Paul is teaching the woman to be saved from the temptation to usurp male authority by focusing on her role as a wife and mother. So it says she shall be saved in childbearing. It is not that there is any salvific grace that comes from the physical bearing of a child, but there's something else. And we're quoting here, childbearing will preserve her special role in God's redemptive plan by keeping her from exercising authority over men, which is her forbidden fruit in the context of church worship, Martha Hartog, Faith Pulpit, published by Faith Baptist Theological Seminary, April 2010. In other words, she's saying there are roles that men and women have. They are separate roles, okay? Primarily a woman's role, and I think we all know this, and husbands are supposed to be active in the rearing of children. Do not misunderstand what I'm saying, but it really, how many know that the weight of child rearing in the day-to-day business of it all typically falls on the woman. How many know that? Okay, let's just, it's obvious. Okay, it's obvious. And a woman who is involved in child rearing and mothering, motherhood, and who does this in a very conscientious manner, she is so engaged in that work. How many know, moms, that it keeps you really busy? How many know that? Yeah, yeah. It's far more busy than the 40-hour-a-week job that the husband goes to, okay? Far more busy than that. And what she's saying is this, that when a woman focuses on her God-given gift in domesticity, she is less tempted to be involved in activities, the managing, the running, the preaching, the teaching of the church. That is not to say she's disinterested, but she's less involved in that. And so she can be saved from that temptation to usurp authority by being busy with what she's doing. Let me illustrate it this way. The busier I am with what I do, Pastor Monty, what do you do? I pastor a church. I preach and teach the Bible. The busier I am, the less likely I am to meddle in somebody else's business. In fact, when I was younger, I used to meddle in everything. The older I get, the less I want to meddle in anything, okay? Because I'm so incredibly busy with this, with opening the Bible, explaining the Bible, preaching and teaching the Bible, loving the church. I mean, this church has grown, and it takes all my time, and I don't want to have the ministry time Deferred to something else by some of their own pastor money, you know You need to get on to so-and-so's church because they're not doing it the right way. That's their church. It's not my church They can do whatever they want because this here is what we're doing. I don't want to lose my focus So I think and I agree with Martha I think she wrote an excellent article. You can look it up maybe online. I agree with Martha, that when we do what we're primarily called to do, it prevents us from the temptation of crossing into areas that we ought not. Now let me summarize this very carefully, because I've tried to be crystal clear. What we're talking about is services like this, a mixed gender service. It would be inappropriate for a woman to open the Bible and teach Bible doctrine in this setting, okay? It would not be inappropriate for her to do so in a ladies' group or to teach children. We've already demonstrated that from Scripture. So it would be inappropriate for her to usurp or take upon herself the title of pastor. And by the way, if you think that's okay, then you not only have to explain to me what this means, and I'm open to your explaining it to me, okay, I'm always open to learning. You'd have to explain to me what this means, but you would also have to explain to me the fact that the phenomenon, the common, let me put it that way, the common phenomenon of female pastors in evangelical circles is a relatively modern invention and cannot be found in the early church. You would have to explain that to me. Okay, well, pastramani, just because all those people were male chauvinists. No, no, no. I think it's because this scripture set boundaries. Now listen carefully. Boundaries as to what, how we function in a mixed gender capacity. Is everybody following me on that? And so this should not be offensive, Because boundaries help me stay focused on what is mine to do. And boundaries help me to be successful at what is mine to do. There used to be a time in my early ministry when I felt like I could never say no to anything. the craziest opportunity or idea would come my way, and I couldn't say no, or I felt like there was some kind of obligation or pull. I've learned as I've gotten older that my obligations are primarily now the teaching and preaching of the Word of God and the oversight of the local church. Those are my primary, well, Pastor Monty, you need to get involved in a political movement I honestly don't have time, okay? I'll vote and I'll be outspoken about my political viewpoint. How many know that's true? You know that's true, okay, okay. But I won't get overly involved in that because I know my gifting, I know my calling, and if I set a boundary around that, do you know what I can do personally? I can personally thrive. I can thrive. I thrive on teaching and preaching the Bible. I absolutely love it. I thrive in study for preparation for messages every week, several messages every week. I thrive in that. And then, if I'm given the opportunity or take, I should say if I take, if I take the opportunity to focus on that, I feel like I can give the congregation something that is meaty and meaningful and biblically sound. You notice I don't just stand up here and shout. How many notice that? Oh, I've done it a few times. But I don't just stand up and shout. I try to tell you exactly what God's Word says. And that's difficult, that's very hard work. And then I try to convey it, because I'm always working on my speaking style and my communication ability, I try to convey it in ways that most, 99% of people will say, okay, I get what he just said. And then I try to convey it, and this is the harder challenge, I try to convey it in such a way that almost nobody could possibly misunderstand what is said. That's hard, that's really, really hard. And then, I just want to present it. But all of that takes work, and do you know what that means? That means I cannot engage in things that are diverse from the teaching and preaching ministry that God has given, okay? And that allows me to thrive, and guess what else? It allows all of us to thrive. I'm super excited about the book of Revelation. Man, I'm doing Genesis, that's one end of the Bible. Then I'm doing Revelation, Genesis Sunday School of Revelation over here. I'm super excited about that. Pastor Monty, you know that so well you can do it off the top of your head. Nope. It is going to take an incredible amount of time and study and in-depth and just breaking it down and sectioning off portions. I mean, it's just going to take a lot of work. But you know what? I'm excited about it. And when I'm excited about it, I can present it in a way that is fresh and that is exciting to you. And you know what we're going to do? We are all going to learn together. And my wife puts it best. She puts it best. She says to me, whenever I'm about to take a detour into something that is not my concern or none of my business. My wife says these words to me and they are classic and they have helped me a thousand times because she said this to me literally a thousand times. She will look at me and she will say the following words, stay in your lane. Isn't that good? Stay in your lane. I was messing around with the cupboards and rearranging something in the cupboards. And I was. And Kelly just says, she says, stay in your lane, okay? My lane is not messing with the cupboards. She said, stay in your lane. And I've learned, I've learned that things go better in my life when I stay in my lane. That is all Paul is saying in 1 Timothy 2. That's it, just stay in your lane. And when we do that, guess what? God will bless, we'll walk in obedience to scripture, and we will be in conformity to the organizational structure of the New Testament church. Father, we love you and thank you for your word. It is so clear. Help us, Lord, not to misunderstand anything that's said tonight. Father, everything that is said is said in sincerity, trying to convey the teaching of the Bible. And Lord, that may, in a very different culture, that may make us look a little different sometimes. But Father, we're okay with that because we just want to conform to the things that you've said in your Word. Bless your Word and help us, Lord, to, all of us, Bow the knee to the Word of God and its authority in our lives and in our church, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.