Let me invite you to join with me in the book of First Timothy, chapter two, and there are some red Bibles under some of these chairs that you're welcome to gather up and use this morning as well and follow along with us in the teaching of the word. So good again to see you and thank you for coming. We will ask for your patience for weeks, months, years to come as adjustments get made and tweakings get made to sound system and actually installing of a permanent sound system eventually. We have such a long way to go and we're so grateful to the City of Twin Falls and the City Council and their decision to graciously allow us a three-year temporary occupancy while we put priority toward drainage and a parking lot. And it will be so good, won't it, to have a paved parking lot? I think it's going to be so much fun. I may just spend a whole day on it someday. On a cold day, not a hot day, because it will get hot and sticky, but it will be so good. So listen, we're so grateful to the Lord. So grateful to the Lord. Someone even brought over the large clock that used to stand at the back of the other auditorium, and they placed it on the front row for me. So if you could just simply readjust that time, give me extra, if you see we're getting close, just give me a few extra minutes and it'll go well. Thanks for bringing the clock over. All right. We're here for such more important things than that, aren't we? Second Timothy, chapter two. We are in a piece of text that is culturally complicated. And we began the examination of verses eight through 15 of the second chapter last week, and I'm so grateful for these words and I'm grateful that they are uncomfortable for us. I think the uncomfortableness of them will drive us to seek out the face of God with even more diligence and to search out. To be certain that this is the word of God, we compare it with the word of God and we do not compare it with the culture of our day. And in the doing so, we do so carefully that we don't go to try to emulate, emanate or reproduce a culture But that we we set our gaze toward the king of glory and we look to him to see why would these words help us better understand the gospel? Because I believe they do, I believe they help us immensely with understanding the gospel. And so that will be our aim and that will be our task, the duty before us in probably what is still a couple of weeks of investigation and digesting of these words. Let me read the words from verses eight through 15 in their entirety. Again, a quick reminder of the context. So you walk backwards through the text to find the context and as well, it would be proper and prudent for you at some point. It would be nothing but helpful for you at one setting sometime to read the entire book of First Timothy. You'll get the full context of the text, but you walk backwards through the text and you see that praying is a priority for the church. But that praying of the church and the petitioning of the Lord, the instructions that Paul gives to Timothy in the second chapter, the first verse, this first couple of verses of praying and seeking the face of God in all matters and praying for all men and praying for all authority, all government authorities and blessing the Lord for them and thanking the Lord for them. We walk back even further in the text and we see the Gospels at stake. And so we're in the first chapter and you see the importance of the gospel at play here, which we want to keep continually attached to everything else that we're going to see out of this introduction. And then prior to the gospel is right doctrine. Which I think is so proper and fitting that we we must to get the gospel right, we must be defenders of doctrine, not man's doctrine, not man's philosophy, but the teachings of the Bible. And so they must be preserved. They must be kept pure. They must be protected against those who would come in and want to teach a different doctrine. And from that, a proper understanding of the gospel. And once we get the gospel right, we'll be able to know how to pray right and we'll be able to to pray for all people, all men everywhere. And then we walk into this eighth verse and the specific instruction to men to pray with holy hands lifted up without wrath and dissension. And the ninth verse, likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair, or gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works. As is proper for men, for women making a claim to godliness, a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet or in silence. Verse 13, for it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. But one but women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. So, oh, God, we clearly need help. Help the preacher and help the hearer. God, protect me from interjecting opinion and help me to remain faithful to the text. Help me, dear God, because the gospel is at stake. And God, help the hearer. Help the hearer to resist irritation with you, irritation with the text. confusion about the text and bring about clarity to all of us. And oh, God, may we see the liberating position that you're calling all of humanity to, even from this text, the liberty that the gospel promises and that your word declares. Of essence, a hope that doesn't disappoint. And so, God, we pray for that level and that kind of help today. It's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen. So last week, we primarily dealt with the ninth verse of the proper what would be considered proper clothing, and may I just reiterate and re interject here that this is not at any point or any level a church's prerogative to declare what is considered appropriate or inappropriate. I think a church moves beyond her position to put out a list of standards that would declare this length or whether long or short or this style, whether with sleeves or without. I think that's beyond the church's prerogative. I think that's beyond the church's privilege. And so I walk here carefully and yet I walk here boldly. That you must understand that what Paul's saying here is that women specifically. So listen, I know that the teaching primarily will be heavy toward the women from the text here, but this is appropriate for all in the room to hear. And I'm not I am not the most elegant to speak speakers. I almost said speeches, which would have been stronger to prove my point. I'm not the most elegant and there are far other people who have said this. Much, much stronger and with much more grace than I perhaps can. But women, I want you to hear this, that these are kind words from Paul. And these are not to be taken as degrading or belittling. Or keeping you in a substandard position culturally, because it's not. I am convinced from Scripture that Christian women experience greater liberty than any. Listen, this argument can go for men too. Christians experience greater liberty than anybody on the planet because we're no longer slaves to sin. Prior to Christ's work on the cross, Paul's argument to the church at Rome, we are slaves to sin. We have no other choice but to obey our slave master's sin and to live in sin. So there's no more liberating of a position for you to be than in one in submission to a new master who loves you. You see, your old slave master doesn't love you. He wants to use you and he wants to use you to promote and to advance his teachings. You are no longer bound to that slave master. You have a new master who says to you, I want you to display my glory, not yours and not the master whom you once served. Now, side note to handle all the naysayers that would say that God is just an egotistic maniac. So what do you mean that this is all about the glory of God? And so I'll try to speak to this as briefly as possible, but as as biblically correct as possible as well, which you would prefer better. The glory of God, if I if I said to my wife, Renee, which, because that's her name, I would say to her, if I were to say to Renee, Renee, you need to look to me and I will satisfy every every fear you have. I will take away all fears that you have. I'll satisfy all your dreams. All your dreams will come true with me. If I said that to her, once she knows it's not true. But it would be me lying to you. Because that would be me in an arrogant position to suggest to Renee that there's no one higher than me for her to go to. And there is, and it's the creator of the universe. And so for the creator of the universe to make declarations and to make mandates that we display his glory, it is not egotistical of him to make this statement. And these arguments are made by far smarter men than I am that help me understand these things. And theologians from times past, the Puritans especially, helped me discover this, that it is not egotistical of God to declare that man's responsibility or that women's responsibility is to display the glory of God, because there is no one higher than God. So God's not lying to you to say, to suggest somehow to put your glory on something that's sub glory worthy. So it's not egotistical of God to say in this in these words here that women, I want you to adorn yourselves in this manner because it displays my glory displays the person in which the deity in which you're giving your glory to your allegiance to your honor to your homage to your giving it to not to the culture, not to your old sin nature, but you're giving it to God who's called you to live different in the culture. God can make that kind of of an expected mandate upon his people because there is no one higher than he. And so when we see these things, this kind of language in the ninth verse, I want the women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modesty and discreetly. And we dealt with that braided hair issue last week. It's it's primarily in the showingness and the it's just like the clothing that's you doing something in the manner in which to draw attention to yourself. And Paul saying that's not that's not what it's about. Church, it's not about drawing attention to yourself. You don't come to church. You don't come to the gathering of the Fellowship of the Saints to draw attention to yourself. And Paul's arguing in the culture of his day that was happening, that from the city of Ephesus and the pagan idol worship that's going on in the city of Ephesus, it was not uncommon for people to show up in their public gatherings dressed to attract people to themselves. Paul saying to the church of the living God, this should not be so. Because we are here to attract people to the glory of God and not to the glory of man or to the glory of self. So when Paul's giving this kind of teaching, it's not to suggest if it comes with some assumed positions, women know this, men know this, that women, your clothing and the way you dress and the way you present yourselves, History can prove you have much power over men. And so you need to be aware of this, you need to be careful of this and Paul to the church saying, women, be careful. Be certain, be aware that you have an enormous influence and keep in mind the context here, this is the church. Paul's not saying that women should remain silent on the street. We have the book of Proverbs that would show us that there is a woman, a very industrious woman who's very engaged in the business affairs of the culture. And so Paul's not going to contradict the Proverbs 31 woman by this kind of language here. But he is saying in the gathering of the saints, this is proper and this is right, that the women would adorn themselves carefully And that might be as good of a way to to summarize these verses carefully. Consider, look in the mirror whenever you when you prepare to come to gather with the saints and ask the Lord to help you. Lord, would this display your glory or will this display my glory? I think there would be a prudent way to address that individually. Remember, you're at liberty. Yes. And also remember, you have you have you have you're a bond servant, Paul's language. largely to the churches that he writes to, that he's a bondservant of Christ, meaning he's a voluntary slave to a new master. He voluntarily submits himself to the teachings and the authority of Christ. And so keep in mind, these things that are being described here are for those who make claim to belong to Christ, and we see that again from the text. And so we just read again from verse nine. Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves carefully. We could say with proper clothing, modestly, discreetly, not with showing hair, braided hair that would any any any style or form. That would draw attention to self rather than to God, the jewelry, the ornaments, costly garments, these matters that would that in other words, you're not going to show up to church expecting someone to ask you how much you paid for that. You're showing up to church to worship God, and that's why you gather with the saints to do so. Verse 10. But rather. So. So even though these things are spoken in the positive. Mostly, we do have the not doing this, but but the first three, the proper clothing, modestly and discreetly are framed grammatically in positive language, the in the ninth verse, the not there that makes it into the negative, not like this, like this, but rather so grammatically speaking here, this following structurally through here, we have positive negative. So now to to make the rather statement of of the 10th verse is to address the negative things that were just spoken of. So just flowing through with the grammatic structure. So not with braided hair of verse number nine, not with gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather. But by means of good works. As is proper for women making claim. To Godliness. Go with me to second Peter. Chapter one. And you already know this, I'm going to back up to verse two and we'll make it to verse five and six. Peter speaking grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ and of Jesus, our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. So this key for us back back just mentally here, back to first Timothy chapter two, women who are making a claim to godliness to be a good point of reference for us. So in this third verse, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. So you want to know what Godliness is, let's go to Christ, let's go to God who's given us the power, divine power to do this through the true knowledge. This is the middle part of verse three, the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. He's called us by his glory. He expects us to display his glory. And it's right and fitting for him to expect that of us because there is none higher than him. If there were. If God were a God worth being a God, he would say, look to that God. Jehovah God, the God of this Bible, knows there is no other God beyond him, there is no God equal to him, there is no living God that anyone could even point to. And so it is this proper place that we would look to him and we would seek to obey him and display his glory. The fourth verse. First Peter, or excuse me, second Peter, chapter one, verse four, for by these. He has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of this world by lust. Now, I want you to keep your finger here in second Peter, and hopefully you kept your finger in first Timothy, if not, run back there as quickly as you can. And listen to this, listen to these words again, and then we're going to go back to 2nd Peter and listen closely again to how Peter's addressing this. This clothing issue is not about clothing. This clothing issue is not about positional, subservient, subcultural positions. It's all about the glory of God. So 2nd Timothy. Chapter two, verse verse 10, but rather that the critical word there is that rather so back again, modest, modestly, the opposite of modestly of being modest, the opposite of of of all of these these first three things that are there are pretty obvious. Proper clothing would be improper clothing. Modestly would be immodestly. Discreetly would be. Indiscreetly. The opposite of these things were rather like this. So the opposite of that would be we're not going to do this because this is not about me. It's about God. And then the negative part of the language here, we're not going to do it like this, this and this. Rather, we're going to do it in this manner in the in the 10th verse by good works. As is proper for women making a claim to godliness, so you're back to second Peter, chapter one, and we've made it to that fifth verse. Let me reread the fourth verse for by these things, by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promise. So we need to answer that first question by what things by what what is these referring to? And it's his glory and his excellence by these by his glory, by his excellence. He has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises. So that by them, by His glory and His excellency, by His excellence, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature. So Peter's telling us that to become a partaker of the divine nature of God must come through the direction or the word of the instruction that the Lord gives us and not by the norm of the culture. The culture would say, I can achieve this this way. I can achieve influence like this if I if I speak like this or if I look like this or if I wear this. Oh, certainly if I wear something that everyone, every all the women will recognize, they'll know that I'm a person of I'm in with. I don't even know the cool words to use. I'm so with it that that they'll all look to me because I understand the culture. Has nothing to do with godliness. Whether you know where to buy a handbag or not. So so middle part of the fourth verse, second Peter, chapter one. So that by them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. So we need to escape that. We need to get out of it. We need to have a new master that we that we devote ourselves to now. Finally, the fifth verse, we're getting we're not finally that was a slip. We're far from finally. Verse number five. Now, for this very reason also. For what reason? The escaping of corruption in this world by lust. For this very reason also. Applying all diligence, meaning you're going to have to be intentional about this. You will have to resist the culture you live in. You will have to say, yes, I know this is what the world calls and this is what the world says. This is what makes success look like. You're going to have to resist it with all diligence, Peter says. In your faith, supply moral excellence. So process through. Dear God, will this do this? Will by my wearing this or by my looking like this or by my presenting myself in this manner, will it do this? Will it display your glory and your excellence or will it display my corruption into the lust of this world? Which is it going to do, Lord? That's what Paul's meaning when he said, apply all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence. And in your moral excellence, apply knowledge. In the sixth verse, and in your knowledge, what are you going to do? You're going to apply self-control. Again, this isn't about style and aren't you so glad it's not? This is about you seeking the face of God and saying, dear God, am I a chaser of a design? Am I a chaser of a brand name? Am I a chaser of the culture recognizing me as being one who understands the day by the way that I present myself? I'm going to have to exercise self-control. I'm going to have to say, yes, I know that's what the culture, because they put it all over their magazines. They put it all over the television. They put it all over their movies. They presented in all kinds of ways in these manners. And yes, that's what the culture wants to present as a woman of excellence in this cultural day that we live in. You're going to have to exercise self-control. You're going to have to say, Dear God, I don't know if that presents what you're asking me to do here. I don't know if that When I gather with the saints at the meeting house, am I saying I'm more in love with the culture than I am with you by the way I go and by the way I dress? Going to exercise self-control. And then we're going to have to apply, as if all of these things are not tiring enough, we're going to have to then as well apply perseverance to stay the course. You're going to have even though no one else or even if no one else. Takes it as seriously as you do. Is not reason to let down your guard and say, oh, oh, well. I'm just going to go with the flow. You're going to have to apply perseverance to this. And why? Why go to such trouble and care? Because the gospel is at stake. And I hope you'll see this in this next verse or in the last part of verse six of Second Peter, chapter one and the first part of verse seven. So in your perseverance, godliness. So now we've gotten to the point of what Paul is telling Timothy about, about how the women would present themselves and especially how they would rather Rather than do these things, do this unto godliness, those who make the claim unto godliness and in your godliness, the seventh verse, brotherly kindness and in your brotherly kindness, love. The eighth verse and following helps us see the attachment to the gospel. From Peter, and if these qualities, these things that these these things that you're applying to your life diligence, Moral excellence, faith, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. So if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So back to first Timothy chapter two. In that 10th verse. The important word here, rather By means of good works. As is proper for women making a claim to godliness. So we move into to these verses, and yes, I read them last week and we've addressed them slightly, but let's give some some greater work and tasks to them. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. Now, you haven't forgotten, have you? That these instructions are concerning the gathering of saints. Women, nowhere is Paul suggesting that you should not have a vote, a voice in the culture. I would say from the whole counsel of the word of God, you have much influence on the culture. And I think you should influence the culture rather than the culture influencing you. And that's what this is about. Women of those who make the claim of godliness, these instructions are for you, if you don't make the claim of godliness, you're not bound by these. You can hear these and you can say, man, I don't know, that seems really weird that they would think this because you're not of godliness. But if those making the claim of godliness, you will better understand this from the perspective of the gospel rather than the perspective of what Paul is saying, because this is not what Paul is just putting out a list of things that women are not allowed to do because of the attachment to the gospel is at stake here. The reason Paul is giving to the women of the church that you would adorn yourselves differently than the culture. is very similar to the instructions that Moses gave to the nation of Israel as they move into the new promised land. And he gives them many instructions about how they ought to physically and spiritually look different than the people of their culture. Not at all, meaning they don't wear similar clothing, not that not that the culture would identify them marked by the fact when you see them at the grocery store, oh, that's a Baptist. They're probably never going to do that. Unless their idea of Baptist is skewed, which is possible. There are a lot of skewed ideas about baptism. Well, never mind, that would be distracting. I had a conversation with someone yesterday about Southern Baptist, who we are, and they were shocked that I was a Southern Baptist because I'm rather pale. And their understanding of Southern Baptists was different than that. And so I said, well, if I know why, because when you look at the parameters of Southern Baptists, a lot of Southern Baptists are people of color and I don't have much. But bless the Lord, that's not what Baptists are about. Baptists are about right doctrine. And that's what we're aiming to look at here from Paul's teachings to Timothy, the pastor of the church at Ephesus. So a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness in the gatherings of the church, and I think it would be it would be absolutely proper that we understand this in this context. We have Bible studies in homes. They have Bible studies here in the building. And I don't think this is governing those moments. I think this is governing this moment. And we have this from the teachings of Paul to the Church of Corinth in the public gatherings, the same teachings that he's giving to Timothy here. And so the gathering of the saints for the for the proclamation of the word, the teaching of the word to the to the large congregation, this is what's proper. And hopefully, hopefully your understanding and maybe you already came here with a large already understanding of this as well. But women must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. Now, let's read on verse 12. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet or, as some translations say, in silence. So the reason for this is because, again, cultural. It is it is not uncommon at the temples in the city of Ephesus to all of the mythological gods and goddesses that have been erected. They're largely being led by women. And there ought to be a marked difference about those who belong. Now, this is not this is I'm presenting this and I hope I'm not being inappropriate. This is not the only reason why Paul puts this here. But for a marked difference, it is certainly a noted difference in the culture of the day. That the saints of those who make the claim to godliness through Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, as we gather, we do not look like the culture. And how strange it is that this would be that thing that would mark us as different, because most most throughout throughout most history. Cultures are identified as being masculine male. And heavy on the masculine male leadership. But when it comes to worship, it seems as though it's become more, in our day, we can certainly look at elements of history and see that it's become more feministic. And there's been more women leaders in churches, pastors taking on the office of pastor in an office that God clearly, and Paul will address this in the next chapter, that is clearly a position for male masculine men. And not for the feminine female of the gender. Why go to this length? Why be this different? Why? Why, when it's so culturally misunderstood, why go here? Why not just be soft on the issue, Paul? And why not just why not just acknowledge that women have this ability to lead people? And they do. We even have examples in scripture of women, people like Esther. Ruth, amazing stories of women of great influence that did amazing things for the Lord. We even have judges that were women in the book of Judges. So we see that God's used women, that God longs to use women, and he expects to continue to use women. But in this context of the church, he's saying I wanted to mirror my spoken position of authority. What is that spoken position of authority? It's in the 13th verse. For it was Adam who was first created and then Eve. Now, I'm going to leave verses 14 and 15 alone today. Genesis, chapter two, and I think it's only fitting we need the scripture can say it so much better than I can summarize it. Genesis, chapter two. So so we're keeping and remembering the context and the position and the layout of the text, we as as East Side Baptist Church have made an intentional decision that we let the word of God and only the word of God be sufficient to teach us. We do not look to the councils of men. We do not look to the culture of our day. We look to the scripture to give us instruction in how we as a church function. And that means we look to the Old Testament. As well as the New Testament. We look to all of the inspired word of God. So in Genesis chapter two, verse one and following, listen to this reminder for most of you of the creation of man and then ultimately and eventually the creation of woman. The first verse, thus, the heavens and the earth were complete and all their host by the seventh day. God completed his work, which he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all of his work, which he had done, and God blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it because in it he rested. From all his work, which God created and made. Verse four, this is a retelling of the creation of man, this is the account of the heavens, the earth, when they were created in the day, the Lord God made earth and heaven and no shrub in the field. was yet on the earth and no plant in the field was yet sprouted. For the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. For a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. And then God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living being. Context from Paul to Timothy. Here's why. Because God created Adam first. The Lord formed a man out of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. The eighth verse, the Lord God planted a garden toward the east in Eden, and there he placed the man whom he had formed. So it's all about order at this point. And it still is about order. And remember, we're to display the glory of God, not the glory of man. And so we follow the order in which God instructs and falls out on us. The ninth verse, out of the ground, the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is that is pleasing in the sight and good for food and the tree of life. Also, in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now, the 10th versus through through the 15th verse of the 14th verse or just descriptors about rivers and locations. So pick it back up in the 15th verse. And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden, the Garden of Eden, to cultivate it and to keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden, you may eat freely from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You shall not eat. For in it, excuse me, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Now, that becomes critical when we look at the next two verses next, the next couple of weeks. So be mindful of this and become as familiar with Genesis chapter two as you possibly can read it and meditate upon it and ask good questions around. The 18th verse, then the Lord God said, it is not good that man be alone and I will make him a helper. Notice suitable for him, so we're in order. God's God's purposefully ordering and directing. So he's going to create a helper for him, suitable for him out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky and brought them to the man to the man. So that specific masculine male Adam brings into Adam to be To see what he would call them, to give them names, whatever the man called the living creature. That was its name. So the man gave names to all the cattle and the birds of the sky and every beast of the field for but for Adam, there was not found helper suitable for him. So the Lord caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept. And I think it's Ray Comfort who makes a good argument that we have no other record that God ever woke him up from his sleep. I actually think that following versus I should write Ray Comfort and say, I think the next word, because he's just kidding. But anyway. So the Lord God, verse 21, caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept. And then he took one of his ribs and he closed the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man. But the man said. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed. We'll deal with some components of this and chapter three here of Genesis in the next couple of weeks. But I think it was good to be reminded of the order. And because our God is God of order and structure, he's patterning the existence of the church off the pattern of creation. And he's not making man more special than woman. He's just establishing this is my authorized order. And so whenever you gather together as the saints, those who are both male and female who make claim to godliness, You submit yourselves to God. And so we jointly acknowledge and submit ourselves to the glory of God for the purpose of displaying his glory so that when we gather together, that's what we do. We display the glory of God and not the glory of man. We display the glory of God and not the glory of our culture. We display it to the nations of the world because there is no other place for the world to look to but to God for a hope that doesn't disappoint. And if we have that responsibility with the gospel, we must listen carefully to the way we are instructed to gather together because the gospel is at stake. The world is looking for a people who will not just speak words of hope, But I am convinced of this. The world wants to see, is there a people who will actually obey this God that they come that they declare to be the God and the creator of the universe? And I'm saying, dear God, I want this location. I want this congregation to be of such a people who would always look to you because the gospel is at stake to the ends of the earth. The gospel is at stake. And I know the arguments run long here. Paul, how in the world can Eastside Baptist Church, this insignificant little bitty church who can barely build a building, influence the world with the gospel? I don't know how. But I would say this, God has given us platform, hasn't he? He's given us platform over the last decade. I don't know of another church intimately that is so willing to send people. Not just to foreign lands, but to other places in our own country. I don't know of a church so generously starts other churches and sends money to help churches in our region. I don't know of another church that behaves like that, so For us to think we're so small and insignificant and how can we possibly surely there's another church that has more money and has more people that can do all of those things. And I say it's not their response. It's not their sole responsibility. It is theirs to do and to be followers of Christ as instructed by the word of God. But this is our mandate. From the creator of the world, the universe. Who was. And is and is to come to be it. He is instructing this local fellowship. To be culturally involved. But not affected by the culture engaged in the culture. But not being influenced by the culture. And so we will have to be diligent and purposeful. Search out the words of God to give us instruction upon that. And so we have more to do. I wish there was some kind of a nice way to tie this up and say, there it is. And we could do this if we continued on through most of most of chapter three. And we will get there, Lord willing. But my prayer is ultimately here. You are Bereans yourself, so you're studiers of the word of God. You are capable to take this word and chew on it and to consider it and to weigh it against scripture. And to look into it from your own perspective and from your own vantage point as a family unit or as an individual, and to see where the Lord lays this upon us as a corporate body of believers. This is ultimately in reference to order and structure. So ultimately here for several months now, you've noticed that we at the conclusion of our services, we allow for rebuttal questions, comments, further scripture readings and that we and that we limit it to the men heads of households, single units or multiple people in your family units. And the reason we do that is patterned in part from Paul's instructions to Timothy here and Paul's instructions to the Church of Corinth that speaks about other men speaking as the church is gathered together. So in a few moments after we've sung a couple of songs of declaration to the Lord, we'll have again another opportunity. We'll open up for the men heads of households to speak to the text. Me, this is not a moment for you to to stump the chump. That moment can happen when we're done and you can stump me. And listen, if you can prove from text, from scripture, that your position is right and mine is wrong, then I'm comfortable to be insubmissive to the text. But this is because we're still in an edified position of the gathered church. If the Lord has impressed upon you another piece of scripture that you could read or to speak to, or if there is something that you can speak to that may perhaps I've not communicated very clearly and you'd like to have it better clarified, ask a question toward or give direction toward. Some of you know me well enough, you know what I'm trying to say, and I've perhaps not done a very good job of that. And we want to make sure that there's clear understanding from the text. It would be really easy. And it's so much easier to just let me preach and dismiss you. But I think there's something that's beautifully because it's scriptural, for one, there's something valuable about the congregation edifying each other at the same time. And we do it in this manner because it's patterned from scripture. And we'll let the scripture be our sufficient guide to do that. Let's pray together and we'll sing and then we'll have a few moments to speak further to that. Lord God, we are so thankful for your word. And God, if there is a position of the text that I feel so inadequate to have communicated, it's certainly from here. But Lord, I'm so convinced from the structure and the order of your text that is so right. And so we go here not not to offend because because we know it could possibly do so. But we go here, dear God, ultimately to display your glory. That even this morning in our gathering. We are displaying your glory by obeying your structure. Your ordained structure. So God be glorified, even by our structure. In Christ's name I pray, Amen.