Well, if you have your outline sheets there this evening, we have a number of questions that we're gonna try to explore. While we do that, it's good to have Holly Bird's folks here with us this evening, Jim and Hope, and they're sitting by Steve this evening. Glad to have you folks up from Florida. And the first question that's on the list here is this. Women members of Colonial Hills vote for deacons and pastors, or when having business meetings, Women raise their hand to open and or second motions yet never get recognized. Why? Is it biblical for women not to be allowed to open or second in a business meeting? And I read that and I can say in all good conscience, I have never seen a woman raise a hand in a business meeting. Had I seen it, I would have said yes. Mary or Sue or whoever it was made the motion and moved on. I've just never seen that. The truth is, often when hands are raised and business meetings are being conducted, there are numerous hands that are raised, and those who are seeking to conduct the business meetings are hoping, Lord, help me to remember at least one of the names of somebody who raised the hand this evening. But that's never been a purposeful thing, but it is interesting, so I'm going to expand on the question a little bit and take advantage of it if you don't mind. It's an interesting thing in Baptist circles. So women's suffrage, we use that term understanding that means the women's right to vote, was not original in the union of our states, and yet it came to be over time with an amendment to the Constitution. Interestingly, in Baptist circles, women's suffrage, except for some few rare exceptions, has always been honored. So in church history of the Baptists you only have about 400 years. I think there were Baptists before that, but our history was never written because our fathers chained in dungeons dark were in mind conscience free. The enemies of the Baptists wrote their history, but in the history, more recent as it is, the Baptists not only allowed suffrage of women to vote in their congregational meetings, But actually, even in the South, except for the antebellum South, even in the South, the slaves in Baptist churches were actually allowed to vote. Isn't that amazing? Well, where would they get that idea? Galatians 3 and verse 28, neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male nor female. to the question that's here, I do think it's a fairly natural thing in a church like Colonial that women are less prone to involve themselves in church business meetings, especially when it comes to making motions or comments. While voting, of course, is always encouraged, and while if somebody made a motion it would be recognized, I do think there's a reticence in a church like ours with regard to most ladies who come into the business meeting? And why then the reticence? And so I'm gonna spring off on that and take you on a little bit of a biblical journey. If you take your Bibles and go with me to 1 Timothy chapter two, we're living in an era where there's an awful lot of emphasis, emphasis on the word awful. There's an awful lot of emphasis on where women fit in congregational governance and church leadership. It's not a new conversation, and it's not even a new conversation in Baptist circles. My dad pastored the New Lyme Baptist Church at New Lyme, Ohio. back in the late 50s and the 1960s. I'm sure you've all heard of it. It's near Ashtabula, Ohio, right up in the Youngstown area, the Snow Belt. Little country church. When I was growing up and we were going to church there, there was an outhouse in the back. There was no running water in the church, no telephone in the pastor's office, and the coal furnace had to be stoked before the services started. That little Baptist church out in the country in Ohio during World War I found itself without any eligible men to pastor the church. And they did that which was somewhat unthinkable at the time. They asked a lady to be an interim pastor during World War I. And my dad used to joke and say she must have done a pretty good job because the church records indicated she was the longest standing pastor of the New Line Baptist Church. They must have gotten used to that order. Now he wasn't in favor of that order, but this is a conversation that's been around for a while, but it seems like it's one that people don't know how to defend on any longer. What does the Bible have to say? So we've turned to 1 Timothy chapter two, remembering that, yes, we're fine with motions being made and votes being made, and very thankful, very thankful for our Baptist heritage, that women's suffrage has been known in Baptist history from basically the time that the Baptist churches began to convene. And the other thing I'm really thankful for, not only that, but the Baptist led the way when it comes to integrated church membership in America. The very first church in America that integrated the membership that people are aware of is the Tremont Baptist Temple on Tremont Street, still exists in Boston, Massachusetts, where blacks and whites together convened to be fellow church members and all had equal vote. Aren't you proud of that? I'm very thankful for that. Now, what does that mean then to us today? Well, in our day, just like in prior days, this conversation about the role of women in the church continues, and we need to be biblically grounded on the topic. And so we go to the textbook for being biblically grounded on that topic. The textbook for this question is 1 Timothy. Why? Because the purpose of 1 Timothy is given to us in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15. In 1 Timothy 3 verse 15, the apostle Paul is writing and he says, now, if I tarry long, that you may know how to behave yourself in the church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth. He's writing 1 Timothy to teach us how to behave in the church. So that's why I introduced this book by saying this is the textbook on church governance. It's the textbook on how we do church. And in this textbook, as we enter into 1 Timothy 2, he begins by saying, here's what I want you to do. First thing, I exhort that first of all, supplications and prayers and intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all them that are in authority, that we may leave a quiet and peaceable life. So every Sunday, we pray for those who are in authority over us. Why? Because 1 Timothy 2 says, first of all, intercession be made for kings. that we might live a quiet and peaceable life. And then we continue, the Apostle Paul writing in verse nine says, and like men are also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel and shamefacedness and sobriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly array, more of a focus on the inner person than the outer person, more desiring to have a beauty of the heart than a beauty of the crown. And so he continues, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Let the women learn in silence Now, the word silence in verse 11 is the same word that's used over in verse 2. So in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 2, you read, for kings and for all that have authority that we may live quiet and peaceable lives. That same word quiet in verse 2 is the word translated silent in verse 11. So that helps us. Often, the translators, rather than using the same word just for variety, even as you would if you're trying to use proper prose in writing, you look for a synonym or a different word in order to make it interesting when you read. But the foundational word is the same. He's not saying women can't do what happened tonight in this room. He's not saying you have to have your lips zipped and you can't say anything. He's rather speaking about the demeanor of the women in the ministry, that they would have a quiet, sensible demeanor, that they not be provocative in their conversation. He's not saying no words are allowed, which leads me to say we've had on occasions here at Colonial during business meetings, Ladies who have asked questions, even at the business meetings. They've never done it with an impudent spirit or in a way that I think would be offensive. So it says here, let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach or usurp authority over the man. I think there are plenty of places for women to teach. Thank the Lord in our adult Bible fellowship model. Ladies are teaching ladies. I think that ties right into Titus chapter two, that the older women teaching the younger women. I think that's a great thing. Thank the Lord for ladies' fellowship, where ladies are involved in passing along wisdom to another generation. And it says, usurp authority or teach the men, so I think that would include ladies doing what they're doing this evening. Thank the Lord for preschool teachers and for elementary Sunday school teachers Now wisely and discreetly, after all, isn't that what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy, that from a child he knew the Holy Scriptures? And who was it that taught him? His mother and his grandmother, right? But this passage is restrictive on the topic of the women teaching the men or usurping authority over the men. And look at what verse 13 says, why? Why is this true? What's he grounded in? He grounds it in the creation order. This is really important. I don't allow or I suffer not a woman to teach or usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence, again, having that quiet spirit, for Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, which makes it even worse. He wasn't deceived. He willfully took what the serpent was offering in the garden. but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she will be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." Now, what do you think? Based on what we just read, and knowing that pastors, according to 1 Timothy 3, you're gonna see it a little bit later on, the pastor, according to 1 Timothy 3, verse two, end of the verse, the pastor is to be apt to teach a bishop then, or an episkopos, one who's serving in pastoral ministry, must be blameless, the husband of one wife. Sounds like it's going to be hard for a woman to qualify for that. And this one who's the husband of one wife, it's all masculine through here, is to be of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. So pastors are to be apt to teach, but women in church ministry are told not to be teaching the men. If you have nothing else, what do you think? Do you think we ought to have women pastors? No, obviously, that shouldn't happen. So how do people do that? How do people come about with the idea, okay, let's get women pastors in our churches? I'll show you an example of it. This is the Life Application Study Bible, widely circulated, widely published Bible. In the notes of this Life Application Study Bible, this is King James Bible, but here's the study notes. Catch this one, all right? He says, women being silent in church meetings, the word silence here is often translated to be in quietness, that's what we just talked about. I am agreeing, expressing an attitude of composure. A different Greek word is usually used to mean complete silence. In addition, Paul himself acknowledges that women publicly prayed and prophesied. We'll get to that. So he notes here, or they note, Paul himself acknowledges that women publicly prayed and prophesied, 1 Corinthians 11.5. Let's hold on to that seed. Apparently, however, the women in the Ephesian church, Timothy was pastoring the Ephesian church, apparently women in the Ephesian church were abusing their newly acquired Christian freedom because these women were new converts and uneducated. They did not yet have the necessary experience, knowledge, or maturity to teach those who already had extensive biblical education. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that? It's extra biblical, Scott, explain that. Okay, there's nothing in God's word that said what that comment said. In other words, that's a comment sucked out of a theological thumb, okay? That's how I read it, just telling you, okay? What else is wrong with it? It's extra biblical, yeah? Exactly. It doesn't apply to us because why? Yeah, it's for them in Ephesus. I mean, their women were uneducated, didn't have the maturity that was necessary. So that assumes that ours do. Exactly. It's applying that one day that we'll be qualified for that. Josh? Yeah, it's a special dispensation. Okay, something I just noticed, not one woman spoke up on that topic. Totally accidental, you're welcome to speak on it, all right, ladies? Okay, so, all right, now, what's the fundamental problem with this? Brandon. They're ignoring Paul's comment on the created order. It totally ignores verse 13. Paul doesn't say because the women in Ephesus are uneducated, the women in Ephesus are taking advantage of their new faith and they've exercised their liberties. He doesn't say any of that. He puts it right down on the ground of this is the creative order. And then he even explains in the creative order, the woman was the one who was deceived and not the man. So he's saying there's something here by way of sensibility. You know what that is? Big words tonight. So there's this ongoing challenge. Are you one who's an egalitarian, believing that men and women are equal, or a complementarian, believing that men and women are of equal soul worth, but have different roles to play in God's creation? I'm a complementarian, praise the Lord. I'm very thankful. I know that my wife has abilities and talents that I could never aspire to ever attain unto. We are strikingly different. If you haven't figured that out by now, I'll talk to you after the service, all right? So I'm a complementarian by order of creation, but that's what this passage is doing. Now, remember I said now, caution, this footnote just planted a seed. And do you remember what the seed was? 1 Corinthians 11, so we're gonna go there in just a moment. But before we go to 1 Corinthians 11, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. When you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 is dealing with a really crucial issue. Remember I said, if we're gonna say, where do we start our understanding of roles in ministry? Well, we start with the textbook. So the flow of 1 Timothy chapter two, this is order of service, if you will. We're gonna pray for those who are kings and authority over us. We're gonna respect the roles of women and men in the church. Chapter three, if any man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. Chapter three in verse eight, we're gonna talk about the deacons. He's giving specific orders for how the church is supposed to be operating. That's the purpose of 1 Timothy. And in that purposeful book, he brings it right back and says, when it comes to women in the church, they're not to usurp authority, they're not to teach, the men. To qualify that, just the men, okay? That's 1 Timothy. And the modern scholar says, oh, but that's the Ephesians and they were ignorant women. Are you kidding me? Do you know who the Ephesians were? So the Ephesians had the temple of Diana. We've been studying through Ephesians. Read the book of Ephesians. Do you think that the people who lack understanding are going to understand all the blessings of Ephesians chapters one and two? The Ephesian people, I think they would be offended. if they heard modern-day scholars saying, well, you know, the women in Ephesus were ignorant. Are you kidding me? Not really. I mean, Ephesus was one of the epicenter cities of the ancient day. The women there had opportunities beyond what they would know in the rural areas. Okay, so having established, this is the passage that we go to to set our foundations for how we order things in the church. Now we're back in 1 Corinthians 14, and in 1 Corinthians 14, they got problems in this church, right? Church of Corinth, issues, lots of issues. So as we come to 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and we're dealing with these issues, tongues is the first issue being dealt with, but he deals, look at verse three, he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification. So prophecy, what does it mean? Prophecy can both mean a foretelling and a forth telling. Here, when he says in verse three, prophecy has to do with speaking to edification, he's talking about forth-telling. He's talking about edifying, preaching. So it's a word that can commonly have the understanding of preaching. So now when we come over to the end of the chapter, he's gonna be talking about prophecy. He says in Chapter 14, verse 27, if any man speak in an unknown tongue, and by the way, that word unknown is italicized. There is an argument that could be made that they're actually speaking in a known tongue. Why? Because there's an interpretation of it, verse 27. If there's not any interpretation, let him keep silence. Now there's a rule that's broken in the modern charismatic church all the time. If you can't have somebody interpret what was just said in the gobbledygook that was just spewed, then sit down. It says, keep silence if there's not somebody there to interpret. Let him speak to himself. Let the prophets, all right, there's the word prophecy, speak two or three and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to the other that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For you may all prophesy one by one that all may learn and may be comforted. Now, this is a congregational setting. We're talking about learning. Based on 1 Timothy 2, who would you assume would be speaking prophetically if others are learning? I forbid the women to teach or usurp authority. I'm gonna assume these are men. Okay, so we go down through. God's not the author of confusion. Now here it comes again, verse 34. Let your women keep silence in the churches. It's not permitted for them to speak. But remember, this is in the context of prophecy. They're commanded to be under obedience, as also says the law. If they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands. That's the idea of you're in a public conversation with regard to interpreting God's word because prophecy is being done. Let them ask their husbands at home. It's a shame for the women to speak in church. What? Came the word of God out from you or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge the things that I'm writing to you are commandments of the Lord. Okay, we've just walked through two passages, and if we have only those two passages, we have no contradiction at all. We're saying it's really clear in 1 Timothy 2, women are not to prophesy, and women are not to usurp authority. Now we've come to 1 Corinthians 14, and we're on the topic of prophecy. We've got the same conclusion, right? Any question about that? But remember, we were seated with a thought in that footnote. So let's go back to where the thought was seated. Back in 1 Corinthians 11, the thought was seated in the footnote that, hey, back in 1 Corinthians 11, there's a statement. So let me read it again with regard to women and prophecy. So it says, Paul himself acknowledges that women publicly prayed and prophesied. See 1 Corinthians 11 and verse five. 1 Corinthians 11, verse five. Every woman that prayeth or prophesies with her head uncovered dishoneth her head, for that it's even all as one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. Okay, verse five says, If a woman's gonna be involved in praying or prophesying, then her head's gotta be covered. You wanna solve the dilemma? Do we have a biblical contradiction? Sure looks like it at face value, doesn't it? Remember, the guy that said in the footnote, women in Ephesus weren't educated enough to teach yet, referenced this passage. He didn't reference chapter 14. And this passage is speaking about public assembly. The women are to be having their hair or their head covered, rather, and the men are not to have their head covered. And it says, if the women pray or prophesy, it dishonors her head. But I didn't think the ladies were allowed to prophesy. Isn't that what we just learned in chapter 14? And isn't that what we learned in 1 Timothy 2? Anybody want to solve it for me? Anybody got a Ryrie Study Bible tonight? That's one of the reasons I recommend the Ryrie Study Bible. What's your Ryrie Study Bible? There's a footnote there. In the Ryrie Study Bible, I don't remember if it's here or over in 14, but in the Ryrie Study Bible, let's see if I can find it. Did you find it? 11.3. Yeah, 11.5 and three. So in 11.3, he says, this teaching is based on Genesis 3.16, the head of the woman is the man. Then in five, it says, pray as they're prophesied. Here's Ryrie's comment. It's really helpful. In the light of what he says in chapter 14, verses 34 and 35, ready? It's doubtful that Paul approved of those activities by the women at Corinth. He simply acknowledges that these were unauthorized practices with their head uncovered. Women should be veiled or covered in the meeting of the church and men should not. In other words, in 1 Corinthians 11, the purpose of the chapter, these early verses of the chapter, later he's gonna talk about communion, but in the first 16 verses of the chapter, he's dealing with the topic of headship and how headship is represented in Corinth. And so he deals with men, if you wear your hair like women, you've dishonored yourself. And women, if you're wearing it like men or your head isn't covered, you're not showing that submissive spirit that ought to be shown. This is not a passage where he's giving instruction about women prophesying in church. He's simply acknowledging, this is what you're doing. Don't you figure it out yet? That you're showing a lack of submission even by your appearance in the church. They may have been praying or prophesying. He's not accepting that as a norm. He's rather saying, by way of illustration, if you're doing that, don't you see that that's problematic? And we could say in this passage as well, and she may have been doing it even as we were this evening, where there's an opportunity for the women to be gathering with the women. There's nothing that says they're doing that over the men. You still with me? Why did the guy jump to 1 Corinthians 11 in the life application Bible? Why didn't he go to 14? What? He had agreed with his position. That's right. His position was to try to become the contemporary that's saying, hey, you know, we ought to be more open to this. And so he's feeding in the footnote what's happening today in our culture. And I promise, I'm almost done with this, OK? But we need to be really careful. What the Bible makes really clear when somebody convolutes, we need to be asking, why is that so convoluted? What the Bible makes really clear in 1 Timothy 3, if a man desires the office of bishop, he desires a good work. The man then must be the husband of one wife, apt to teach. So that's a very clear principle. By the way, because I probably opened up another question mark in some people's minds right now, come to verse 16 of 1 Corinthians 11. Look at verse 16. Having discussed the woman and the need for her head to be covered, he brings that to creation order as well. He says in verse three, I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of every woman is the man, Every man praying or prophesying have his head covered dishonors his head. Every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. Now look at verse 16. Now having dealt with this matter, if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. You see the word custom in verse 16? It's the Greek word ethos. Verse 16 is really interesting in light of this conversation. That verse is not in 1 Timothy, it's in 1 Corinthians. After having talked about women covering their head and men not covering their head, he concludes with this parenthetical thought, if you will, oh, by the way, Having told you all this, having given you all this instruction about how women and men are to appear in church, we don't have any such ethos in the churches of God. We have no such ethos, no custom, neither in the churches of God." What's he saying? He's saying, I'm giving you this instruction for Corinth. This is one of the very few times in the New Testament you can say, so this is instruction, 1 Corinthians 11, verses 1 to 15, that's relevant for Corinth. How do I know? Because verse 16 says, I'm telling you, we don't have this custom in all the churches. But when you get to 1 Timothy, you don't have any such verse. He grounds how churches are to be governed and taught in the creation order and doesn't say, I'm just speaking to the Ephesians. So let me give you life experience. When I speak in Ukraine, I've been to Ukraine five times. When I go to Ukraine, Belarus, all the women in the church pull up the veil in every service. When I go to India, Brother Matt can tell you, all the women pull up the veil in every service. Now, if I went in there and said, ladies, let me just tell you something. In America, we enjoy the liberty of ladies don't have to do the veil. I mean, you can walk away from that. You don't need that. We have no such custom in all the churches. That would be very wrong of me. That is the custom in their churches. And that's a very important part of their discipline as they gather together. I think in the similar way, if I came here this evening and said, you know what, next Sunday, we're gonna go ahead and be pulling out the bonnets, okay? We have no such custom in the churches, okay? So this is one that you can honestly say went in wrong. It's seldom you can say that when you're dealing with the New Testament, right? But this is one where it's saying, in the Corinthian culture, and we do know this, in the Corinthian culture, those who had Shaven heads were temple prostitutes. And so they're being taught, listen, in that culture, you want to be giving the right perspective. And he even ties it in that the angels are watching. Watching your hair? No, they're watching your subordination to authority, that your understanding of hierarchy, okay? Angels got in trouble about hierarchical things, and so they're watching it. Okay, questions, good. Okay, Josh, go ahead. Yeah, so no, I don't believe that they were segregating into men and women teaching. That's true in the temple by location. So there were the court of the women, the court of the men. But don't forget, it was the priest who still had the responsibility to teach the assembly. It wasn't women teaching in the court of the women. It was the priest. So I believe, yeah, in the early church, that there was a commonality of gathering. Now, this is interesting too. So in some countries, for instance, I illustrated with India, if I'm preaching in India, I typically expect all the women are on my right, all the men are on my left. Is that how you find them, Matt? Same thing in Myanmar. They typically separate for the congregational meeting. And that's their custom. And I don't say, hey, you know what, I got a great idea tonight, let's all just mix it up. Not gonna go over real well, okay? So customs, we have to be tender to them. And that's what this pass is about. Anybody else? Yes, Ann? Yes. I remember that with my mom with hat boxes and hats. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And also, along with the hats on the women in church, I could never imagine my dad back in the 60s going out of the house without a hat on. That was just basically where we were. But again, it's a matter of, I think, custom that has changed. And I don't think we have to be chained to it. Yeah. It's good. Others? Yes. Melissa? There are pastors today at churches. Right, so that's a really good question. Melissa says, where do women today who are pastoring in churches get from the Bible that that's okay? So they'll go back to things like Miriam, the sister of Moses, was a prophetess. Phoebe in Romans chapter 16 was a servant of the church. Oh, that's the word diakonos. But it's not being used in the idea of officer there. They'll go to Deborah, who was a judge of Israel. and say that, see there, you have women that are heavily involved. They'll try to pull from illustrations from the Old Testament, and then they'll try to build an argument that women today are not the same as women in yesteryear. And that's why it's important to be able to go to 1 Timothy 2 and say, hey, time out. The Spirit of God tied this to the creation order, so we can't alter it. We can't alter it. Those are some of the better, Tom? Did you hear that? A lady pastor in Washington Courthouse where Pastor Tom pastored over in Ohio, when he was citing the passages we looked at, she said, well, that's what Paul said, it's not what Jesus would say. Right, so remember I mentioned last week genre interpretation or genre criticism. So that person is saying the words of Jesus are of far greater value than the words of Paul. No, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. So you don't take it that way. No, it's all on the same level if it's inscripturated. Okay, at the time of the rapture is there any indication, I should ask, are there any other questions on that? Oh, I skipped number one? What was number one? Oh, thank you. It was a question asked in quietness this evening. How's it possible to remain anonymous when submitting questions? If you send a note of info at, and Sherry opens it up, she might know that you sent it, but she can forward it to me without any sender. And all of those, some of them have been sent anonymously by email, and that's how it's done. If you note, please keep this anonymous. It will remain anonymous. I don't need to know. who's asking the questions. And I don't lose sleep about it anyway. Darlene, I have to press on to number two here, or three if you don't mind. Yeah, that's a tradition among the Mennonites, and it's one that I would say, you know, be careful not to be critical of people's traditions. If that's their ethos in their church, I don't think it's for us to tease or be critical of it. I think it's for us to respect it. And there are some dear brothers and sisters that I know in Christ who are in Baptist churches like ours. who take a different position on this. And you know what I found? They haven't criticized me, and I haven't criticized them. So I think it's one of those, because of verse 16, that we ought to come at with a tenderness to say, there are different opinions about this, not just around the world, but across the block. And so, you all know that was excellent. Thank you, I'm sorry. So the next one I have here, at the time of the rapture, Is there any indication that unborn babies…confession this evening, I had prayerfully hoped to get through number seven tonight. And I'm not going to keep you here for that. At the time of the rapture, is there any indication that unborn babies… will be raptured as well. And there's one other thing from the last question that I just want to offer. And I want to do this with praise to the Lord. Look around this evening. This is a Wednesday evening at Colonial Hills Baptist Church. And look at the number of godly men in this assembly and think how rare this is. And folks, the way to no longer enjoy the blessing that we enjoy is for us to alter the biblical revelation that sometimes it's hard for people in our generation to swallow. But God wants men to lead. And men in this room, God wants you to lead. And so as we gather together as a congregation, we want to make much of that. And then when we see it living out, we wanna say, praise the Lord, because it's increasingly rare. And those ladies, Children in this church who have godly husbands who are willing to serve need to be very thankful, and we're all thankful as a church for it. Okay, at the time of the rapture, is there any indication that unborn babies will be raptured as well? What about babies and small children? Will they be raptured? And I think we can all speak with the heart of parents tonight who know our little ones. The rapture would not be a blessed hope if we thought our little ones would be left behind. And so I have to be honest and say I don't have any specific biblical warrant on this. I don't have a specific verse. But I do have something that to me has comforted my heart over many years. Two things. One, in the book of Exodus chapter 10, Moses continues to say, let my people go, let my people go. And Pharaoh and Moses are negotiating together in Exodus chapter 10. And between verses seven and 11, Pharaoh says to Moses, okay, you and the men can go, but the kids have to stay. And Moses says, no. And God says, you know, Pharaoh, you thought that was a pretty good idea? Tell you what, here's another plague. And no, it's not gonna work that way. All of them went together. Well, God who lovingly let all of the Israelites go together, I think is the same God that allows us to go together. So, well, pastor, can you do better than that? I can do a little bit. If you're still in 1 Corinthians, go over to 1 Corinthians 7. And in 1 Corinthians 7, there's a little phrase that those who baptize babies love to park on in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 14. They don't think it's applicable at all when it comes to infant baptism. So those who baptize babies love to run to Acts chapter 16 where the Apostle Paul says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he says, and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Oh, see there we need to baptize our babies. Really? Did you read that there? I didn't see that there. And they also go to 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified, set apart in a special position by the wife. The unbelieving wife is set apart in a special position, if you will, in the eyes of God by the husband. Else were your children unclean, now they're holy. God looks at the children of Christians in a set apart special way. Just as he looks at the spouse, the lost spouse of a Christian wife or husband, they're set apart, they're sanctified. The children of the couple who are saved in a special location in the heart and mind of God. And if that's not enough, the last thing I'd give to you is, I do believe in an age of accountability. And in Romans chapter one and verse 20, the Bible says, that there comes a time when even creation proclaims the guiltiness of our heart. We will see in all this that's happened so that we're without excuse. I would submit to you that infants and little ones haven't assimilated that yet. so that they're now guilty or without excuse before God, the message even of creation. So I would put them like the families of Israel, and I would satisfy my heart that God sees our children through a different lens than those who are in families that aren't saved. So when the question is asked of me, do you think that infants and preschoolers will go up in the rapture? My answer is yes, I do. I think the children of non-Christians still enjoy the benefit of an age of accountability, but on specifically on the rapture, I don't think the children of the lost people will be raptured, and I do believe the children of the Christian families will be. Remember, I started by saying I don't have a lot of Bible on it, but the Bible that I'm taking on it is the illustration. Right. No, no, no, don't forget. Tribulation, Revelation chapter 11 says two witnesses go out, 144,000 spread, and more people get saved during the tribulation than any other time. So those little ones, by the time they're seven, hopefully they've had enough knowledge and opportunity for many of those little ones that are left behind at the rapture to be saved. Well, we better go. So God bless you. Thank you for the questions, I think. And we'll see you next time.