The Ideal Christian Woman

Now what I'm going to share with you today is going to sound old-fashioned to modern ears. I could be honest with you. I am uh First of all, says I'm getting old.

Somebody said, No, you're hitting peak adulthood.

Okay, I'm hitting peak adulthood. I'm getting old. I'm watching. Christian television, I'm watching. The weather channel, you know you're getting old and you just sit there and watch the weather channel on Christian TV for hours.

My eyes are going bad, and my wife said the other day, she said, Chad, I gotta be honest with you, you're losing your hearing. She said, I'm watching you in the lobby between services, and when people are talking to you, you either don't respond to them, so I know you haven't heard what they've said, or when you respond, your response has nothing to do with what they've just said to you. And she's right. About half the time y'all talk to me, I don't know what you've said.

So I'm going to say something and just hope it's in the same zip code as to whatever it was you just said to me. But this is not the ramblings of an old man. This is the Word of God. Um I'm going to start with an analogy. I'm always nervous about using the royal family as an analogy.

I didn't realize we had so many royal watchers at Cross Assembly, and if I get something wrong, they jump down my throat.

So I'm going to try to do the royal family analogy, but Queen Elizabeth. She understood it was an honor to be in the royal family. I was reading about Queen Elizabeth right after she died. And this author said, Queen Elizabeth. Never understood why the rest of the family didn't seem to understand what an honor it is to be in the royal family.

She would constantly say things like, why are you acting like that? You're royalty. Why are you dress like that? You're part of the royal family. Charles, Diana, why are you doing all this stuff?

We are honored to be part of the royal family. You're bringing shame to the royal family. Harry, Megan, what's wrong with you? Why are you acting like that? You are royalty.

Today I don't want you to hear Me just preach the word of God. I want the word of God to be God's word to you, ladies, and God is saying the same thing to you. If you're a born-again believer, you're a princess of the Most High God, you are royalty. Live like royalty, act like royalty, dress like royalty, you are royalty. That's what God's trying to say to us today.

Now, as we turn to 1 Peter 3, we've been going through the book of 1 Peter. We just happened to hit 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 through 7 on Mother's Day. In this passage, six verses are dedicated to talking to Christian women. Only one verse is dedicated to talk to men. That doesn't seem fair, but you have to understand, in Peter's day, this was a complicated situation because in the Roman Empire, The woman always assumed The husband's religion.

So if he's a pagan, she's a pagan. If he worships Zeus, she worships Zeus. And then something amazing happened. The gospel began to infiltrate the Roman Empire and women Got saved left and right.

Now there's a challenge. You have a Christian woman. married to a pagan man.

Now I want you to put yourself in this pagan man's shoes. My wife has changed. She's now in love with another man that I can't see, some man named Jesus. Every Sunday morning, she wakes up early and she gathers with her weird friends, and then she has her weird friends over to our house. And I can't wrap my brain around what's happening.

And some of these ladies, when they sense that tension in the marriage, So maybe I should just. Leave my husband. Peter says, no, you don't leave your husband. You stay in that relationship, and maybe through that relationship, you'll win that husband of Jesus Christ.

Okay, well, to win my husband, I'll do all kinds of subversive things. I'll go to his chariot and turn the radio on Christian radio.

So when he cranks up his chariot tomorrow morning, it's the Bible broadcasting that we're playing. I'll do little things like that. And Peter says, no. No, there's a better way. to lead your husband to Jesus Christ.

1 Peter chapter 3. Verse 1. Wives Likewise. Be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, even if some are not saved, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives. When they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear, that means respect, respect for God, this awesome reverence.

Do not let your ornament be merely outward. Arranging the hair. Wearing gold. Putting on fine apparel, rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and a quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

Husbands likewise dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. Peter gives us a snapshot. of the ideal Christian wife. Number one, Who she is. Number two, What she does And then number three, what she's like.

Ideal Christian woman, who she is. What she does. and what she's like.

So number one, who is the ideal Christian woman? Here's who she is. She is equal to her husband.

Now We understand that today. Modern ears understand, and you need to understand this: husbands and wife in the body of Christ, you are equal. One is not better ontologically than another. We are equal. That was radical in Peter's day.

In fact, according to historians like Dr. Rodney Stark of Baylor University and Dr. Jeffrey Myers of the University of Denver, Christianity elevated women 2,000 years ago in an unprecedented way. Did you hear what I just said? Because you've been lied to.

You've been told. Christianity subjugated women. That's not true. Christianity elevated women in Peter's day. Historians Carrie and Shoulard.

Talked about the law of Patria. Potestas, which said, in theory, in Peter's day, Roman husbands, in theory, could put their wives to death without recrimination because wives are kind of like husbands' property. In the first century, husbands could force abortions on their wives. They could kill the baby if the baby was female. In the first century, It was acceptable for men to cheat on their wives with prostitutes and slaves and mistresses, and things weren't much better in Judaism.

In fact, there was in Peter's day. A Jewish prayer that men would pray in the morning, and in this prayer they would say, Oh God. I thank thee. That you did not make me. A slave?

A Gentile You all want to guess what the third one is? or a woman. And in that context, Peter comes along, the gospel comes along, and women are elevated. That was radical in Peter's day. Where do you see the Apostle Peter elevating women in this passage?

I see it in three ways. Number one, notice that Peter addresses the women directly. He doesn't say, husbands, you go tell your wives X, Y, and Z. He says, No, these are women of God. They are children of God.

The Spirit of God lives in them. They can receive instruction. Peter says, I'm not going to talk to your husband and tell him to instruct you. I'm talking to you directly, women. Why?

Because you're equal to men. Second way we see equality in this passage is Peter calls the wives heirs together with the husbands, verse 7. Y'all are both born again. You have both been given the gift of eternal life. You are heirs together.

Third way, I see Peter elevating women in this passage is: Peter tells husbands to honor their wives. Do you see that in verse 7? That was a radical statement in the first century. The Apostle Paul puts it this way: In Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, there's neither male nor female, you are all one. In Christ Jesus.

You're going to hear me say this multiple times today. You've been brainwashed by this culture. As culture says that book called the Bible subjugates women. We are now in a liberated culture. That's not true.

Our culture subjugates women. If the Harvey Weinstein thing taught us anything, Hollywood knew what that man was doing to those women. And they all kept their mouths shut. It was an open secret. The casting couch is an open secret.

So, Hollywood, save us the lectures on how we treat women. We treat women much better at Hollywood than you do. And we see in this passage this beautiful elevation of women.

So, who is the ideal Christian woman? Number one, she's equal to her husband.

Well then number two, what does she do? Who she is, number one, what does she do? Number two, she submits to the leadership of her husband.

Now, see, we've been brainwashed by society, and this is the biggest area I think we've been brainwashed in. We've been told that submission is a bad word. Submission is a patriarchal word that. that that verse should be taken out of the Bible. Women should not be asked in the body of Christ to submit to their husband.

You have ladies like Margaret Atwood. that wrote The Handmaid's Tale. Which is a story about how conservative religious men subjugate women and make them their sex slaves. And this is how they dress in the book, and I think they had a movie about it.

Well, Pastor, you're criticizing the movie. Have you actually seen it? I don't need to take the lid off a sewer to know that it stinks.

Okay? I haven't seen the movie. But you need to understand this. That mentality has infiltrated our society. In fact, you'll have these women liberation marches.

Have you seen this? These pro-abortion marches where women will come dressed up like that and scream and shout and hold signs. I shouldn't say this, but I have this secret fantasy. Of going to one of those marches like that and going up to one of these ladies and saying, Sweetheart, Calm down. Don't be so emotional.

And let's think rationally about this. Could you imagine what they would do to a guy like me if I went up and did something like that? Peter is very clear on this. That, what does a godly woman do in the marriage relationship?

Now, understand this. We got a lot of single mothers in this place today. You don't have a husband in the relationship. You're having to be the leaders of the family. I get that, okay?

But I can't hit every exception today.

So, in the body of Christ, women submit to the husband. That means the husband leads the marriage relationship. And you see this in verse 1: Wives, likewise, be submissive to your.

Now, look what he says. Your own husbands. He is not giving a universal principle here. All women should submit to all men everywhere in government, in medicine, in education. All women should submit to all men.

That's not what he's saying. He's saying, wives, in the marriage relationship, in the family relationship, you submit to your own husband. Let your husband be the spiritual leader of the family. And then he gives us an example. Verse 6, as Sarah in the Old Testament.

Obeyed Abraham. Calling him a Lord. I've been married 33 years. I'm still waiting for that to happen. That has never happened.

She's never called me Lord.

Well, Jan, I thought you just said. The first point Men and women are equal.

Now you're contradicting yourself. You're saying in the marriage relationship, the wife should let her husband lead, should submit to the husband's leadership. You're contradicting yourself. No, I'm not. Do you know it is possible to submit and still be equal?

Did you know that? Let me give you a couple examples. We worship one God. We don't worship three gods. We worship one God in three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

The doctrine of subordinationism in the Trinity says this: All members of the Trinity are equal. Did you know that? The Father, the Son, the Spirit, they are all equal in the Trinity. And yet the Son willingly submits to the Father. And the Holy Spirit submits to the Father and the Son.

They are equal, but there's voluntary submission. And Peter's saying, Yes, you all are equal, but God is a God of order. And in this relationship, I want the godly men to lead the families. And ladies, I want you to submit to that leadership. Let me give you another example.

Don't raise your hand, but have you been pulled by a police officer in the last couple years?

Okay, some of y'all got pulled for speeding By a man or a woman. Who made less money than you? Didn't have the educational level that you have. They live in a worse home than you do. You're wealthier than them, you're better educated than them, and yet when that blue light goes on, there is order in our culture, and you pull over.

And again, some of you ladies are smarter than your husband, better educated than your husband. You are sharper than your husband. And God says, I know that, I get that, but I'm still a God of order. And the way I've designed this is: let's let the husbands lead in this relationship, and you follow their leadership.

Now, what do we mean by submit? I'll give you some different definitions. Larry Crabb, I love this. He says submission is resisting the urge to control that relationship. Wayne Grudem, I love his definition.

He's a great theologian of submission. Submission, he says, is the inner quality of gentleness. That affirms the leadership of the husband. Let me give you a great example of this. A young pastor, he's older now, but years ago, he wrote this.

I'll never forget this. He's trying to talk to his church about submission, and he shares this story. He said, When I was 26. I flew to Washington, D.C. to be a groomsman at a friend's wedding.

After the reception, the wedding party of 12 or so headed to an upscale restaurant in Georgetown. Being part of the wedding party, I tagged along. The turning point in the dinner. Came when one of the girls in the wedding party said to me, You're a pastor, aren't you? I said yes.

She said, Pastor, I heard a preacher say that the man had to be the head of the home because a two-headed home is like a two-headed monster. Is that what you believe? That the man is the head of the home. He said, now here's the gist of what I said to her. Which directed was not only directed at her, but all the girls who were at the table, who now were looking at us and listening in on our conversation.

He said, quote, before I answer your question. Imagine you're married to a man who genuinely believes you are the most fantastic person on the planet. He's crazy about you. You have no doubt that your happiness is his top priority. He listens to you when you talk.

He honors you in public. To use an old-fashioned term, he cherishes you. He's not afraid to make a decision. He values your input. He values your opinions.

He leads, but he also listens. He's responsible. He's not argumentative. You have no doubt that he would give his life for you if the need arose. You never worry about him being unfaithful.

In fact, to quote an old flamingo song, He Only Has Eyes for You. As I was saying all of this, the folks on the other end of the table turned and began to listen. And the longer I talked, the more I sensed their resistance ebbing. And when I finished, I paused and I asked, Would any of you ladies have trouble following the leadership of a man like that? The girl to my right blurted out.

Now, I'd have no problem following him. In fact, I'd like to meet him. He said, everybody at the table laughed. But without realizing it, she made my point. It's easy.

Perhaps natural to submit to someone who genuinely has your best interest in mind. There's no need to fear, there's no need to resist. Do you see what I'm saying? Men, let's be godly men who love our lives like Christ loved the church. Let's be gentle and kind and caring.

And I'm telling you, women tend to not have a problem following men like that. And so submission means let's let him be look Okay.

Somebody's got to control the organization. There's got to be a leader in the organization, okay? I was talking to a man from another church. He met him a couple weeks ago, and he said, Chad, I'm going to tell you about my church. I heard great things about cross assembly.

Here's what's going on in my church. He said, We had an executive pastor there for years. When the senior pastor left, we hired a young guy. The executive pastor was kind of upset because he'd been here for a long time. And so we said, All right, we will elevate both of you.

Executive pastor and new pastor, y'all are now co-pastors. And I went. And I wanted to say to the guy, call me a year from now. Let me know how that works out.

Somebody's always got to lead the organization.

Now, here's what you don't like, but I'm going to tell you again: I'm not beholden to denominations, I'm not beholden to people, I'm beholden to the Word of God, and the Word of God. Tim Keller said this. I like this. He said, the body of Christ. Has debated for the last 2,000 years things like communion, the nature of communion.

Even the nature of salvation. We've debated a lot of things. Can I tell you one thing that has not been debated until recently, and that's this: that men are to lead the family, and men are to lead the church. Suddenly, that's being debated.

Now, I believe in women in ministry. We have women in ministry. I've just commissioned two women here in ministry. If I'm going to tell you, the Word of God is not stuttering on this issue. Men are to lead the church and the family.

And when you start breaking down the order, Things become really messy. It's now, I'm seeing it with my own eyes, young, evangelical, charismatic, Pentecostal. young people coming along in the body of Christ, now doubting if the men should lead the family. They're now talking about we need to have mutual submission. There shouldn't be just one person leading the family.

In fact, in some families, it'd be better if the woman led the family and the men followed. I told y'all this was going to happen. When y'all start being ambivalent about what the Word of God says about order in the church, it's going to seek into the family. I was prophetic, it's happening right now.

Now, the burden of proof is on you to tell me why the church got this wrong for the last 2,000 years, and we've just gotten it right in the last hundred years or so.

So I'm telling you right now. When you do it God's way, things go so much more smoothly. And Peter says, Who are you? Ma'am, you're equal with your husband. What do you do?

You follow his leadership. You submit to his leadership. And then number three. Um Can I ask you this? Do you know why there's so much problems with this today?

Back in Genesis 3.16. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, Here's what God said. As a result of the fall of man, two things are going to happen. Women will want to control their husbands. That is, women will want to take the place of leadership.

They will always be clawing to say, you don't lead me, I'll lead myself. And then secondly, God says the second consequence of the fall is the husband will rule their wives. They'll subjugate their wives. They'll be harsh to women. We see both things in the body of Christ, and it breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart when I don't see men in this church loving their wives like Christ loved the church. Genesis 3.16, you're going to lord it over your wives. It also breaks my heart when men of God aren't allowed to be men of God in their homes. And I'm just telling you: you do it God's way, God's going to bless you. All right, so who are they?

They're equal to their husband. What do they do? They submit to the husband's leadership. And then, number three, All right. Here's what is the ideal Christian wife like?

Well, Peter gives some descriptions of the ideal Christian wife. Number one, he says this. All right, now here's how I'm going to use our modern words, okay? Jot this down. What's the Christian woman like?

She's pure. She's classy. Look what he says here in verse two. When they observe your chaste. Conduct.

Chaste means morally pure. In Romans chapter 1, Paul talks about the collapse of culture. It's really eerie when you read Romans 1, the collapse of culture, and you hold that up against what's going on in our society today. Do you know what he says the final step in the collapse of culture is? With men and women?

When women become perverts. Implication You expect a man to be a pervert. We're just messed up people. But when women trade their natural functions to something that is unnatural, when women become sexual deviants, the Apostle Paul says society is on its last gasp. And Peter says the ideal Christian woman is morally pure.

What does that mean? It means ma'am. Stop leaving your kids with your mama on Friday night so you can go clubbing with your friends and twerk with some stranger. Godly women don't do that. It means Ma'am.

You're 50 years old. It's not cute anymore. I know you post pictures of you at the club on Facebook, and all your friends are commenting. You go, girl. Can I tell you what they're really saying?

They're really rolling their eyes at you, and they'll say, She's lost her mind. She looks ridiculous. Christian women live by a higher standard. There are some places Christian women can't go. There are some.

Hey. There's some movies Christian women Can't watch. There are some novels Christian women Can't read. Why? Because Peter says you are to be chaste, morally pure in your conduct.

What's a Christian woman like? She's morally pure. Number two.

Now, y'all, let me just say this, because y'all are just kind of staring at me. You know, between services, I had to ask my wife, I said, Darling, did I say something wrong? She said, Actually, you were a lot nicer today than I thought you were going to be. I'm going to say it again, cultures brainwash you. Remember back in the 1980s, 1990s, there's a song, I Like My Women A Little on the Trashy Side?

Actually, there's a country music song that says, I like my women a little on the trashy side. Men of God don't like their women a little on the trashy side. We like women of God who act like royalty, act like women of God. That's who you are.

So, number one. She's chaste and pure. Number two.

She's modest. Look at verse 3. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

Now, listen to me. The beauty industry is a $17 billion a year industry. Peter is not saved. Women Let yourselves go and don't try to fix yourselves up. That's not what he's saying.

Look, God created beauty. God loves beauty. In fact, There's a book in your Bible, Song of Solomon. The woman in the Song of Solomon, that's kind of the heroine of that book. She wears jewelry.

She's a beautiful lady. God's not against that. You got a book in your Bible called Esther. Esther was a beautiful woman. She's the hero of that story.

She won a beauty contest.

So, God loves beauty. But here's what I think Peter's saying: don't let your external trappings Make up for something that's missing internally.

Okay. And he gives some examples. Um When he talks about hair, you know, it's interesting. You do some research in the first century Roman Empire, women would have their hair in these tall, tall buffant hairstyles with tortoise hair combs and they were studded with jewelry. I've seen artists' renditions of it, it looked just gaudy.

Women back then, interestingly enough, in Peter's day, loved expensive wigs. There's nothing wrong with wearing a wig. In fact, they have done archaeological digs in Rome in the catacombs. And did you know they have found skeletons of Roman women in the catacombs wearing wigs? Do you know the most popular wig was back then, by the way?

Is blonde.

So even back then, blondes had more fun.

So they would have wigs, they would, and then there are examples. Of women wearing outfits that scholars say would cost one year wages for the average worker.

So imagine Remember the church that Peter's talking to, it's comprised of freed people and slaves. Imagine a slave barely eking an existence coming in and a lady coming into that church and she's wearing a $30,000, $40,000 dress. And so, what Peter is saying is, again, not, don't take care of yourself and let yourself go. But Peter's saying, use some sense when it comes to your dress. There is a biblical standard for modesty.

Who says this is a gray area? It's actually not a gray area. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 9 says for Christian women to dress modestly. And appropriately. Modestly and appropriately.

So it's May, what's today, May what?

So it's me. And summer's coming. Say we're up against two things. Number one, summer's coming. And number two, we're in a society where everybody's...

Becoming a skank seems to be more and more common in our society. And I want to say to women out there in the culture, okay, we get it. You got breasts.

Now, please, can you put those things away? Because I'm just telling you, in our culture, it's getting crazier and crazier. And you ladies need to stand against the craziness of this culture and say, no, we don't want people to turn and look at us and make mouths drool. We want to point people to our Father who has changed our lives. It's not about us, it's about Jesus.

And Tertullian, who lived about the time, a little time after Peter, he wrote a treatise called On the Apparel of Women, and he said, as Christianity grew in the Roman Empire. The trend went back toward modesty. Isn't it something? It was a reprobate empire, and yet, as Christianity grew and God's women got saved, The Roman Empire became more and more modest. In fact, Christian women were known as modesties.

Priestesses. It's interesting. I'm gonna tell you again. This commandment of God, ladies. is rooted Yeah.

In love. God's like, you're my children. I'm gonna say it again. That culture out there wants to degrade you, the father says. I want to elevate you.

Don't get this thing mixed up and confused. They're the ones degrading you. God is the one elevating you if you're a child of the most high God. I remember several years ago. There's a lady, I won't tell you her name, but she was an entertainer.

who claimed to be a Christian. I believe she was a Christian. And as she got older, she was still beautiful. I mean she's older and you had the wrinkles, but I I thought she was beautiful. And I'll never forget her final performance.

When she came out and performed, and I looked at her. I was like, dear. Dear God, what what's happened? It was gaudy. It was garish.

And my heart broke. And a few days later, she committed suicide. And I know she had mental illness. But part of me wonders if she saw a picture of herself. Trying to look like a 25 or 30-year-old again when she's in her 70s.

And I wonder if she looked at herself and said, What have I done to myself? It's over.

Society destroyed that woman. Where, if she could have just grown old gracefully as a godly woman, who knows what would have happened. I'm going to say it again.

Society degrades women. God elevates women. And so, church, let me give you one more. Description of these women.

So Peter says, Who are they? They're equal. to their husbands. What do they do? They submit.

What's she like? She's pure and classy. She's modest. And then, number three, she's quiet and gentle. Do you see that in verse 4?

Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart, which with the incorruptible beauty. I mean just beauty, your looks are going to fade away. This doesn't fade away. The incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. Look, gentle, when Peter says she's gentle, that means she doesn't create disturbances.

She doesn't gossip. She doesn't burn up the phone line trying to cause trouble. No, gentle means she doesn't create disturbances. Quiet means she doesn't react to the disturbances caused by others. Probably the word dignified.

Dignified would probably be a good term to use. She doesn't create disturbances. She doesn't cause disturbances. She doesn't get sucked into drama. She's a dignified woman.

Peter seems to be speaking against this brash, loud, Joy Behard, Whoopi Goldberg, Cardi B. Mentality that says blank trump, blank this, blank that. No, let's have jokes about our genitals and our sex lives. And God's that's not for my ladies, let them do that. Ladies, y'all are different.

There's a dignity that ought to mark. My women. God says. We have gotten rid now listen to me God just gave this to me a second ago. In this culture, we have gotten rid of beauty.

And we've replaced it with brutality. Women, we have gotten rid of beauty. And we've replaced it with brutality. I was riding down the road the other day, I saw a car. This lady's driving a car, and the little sticker said, Car powered by, and had the B word, female dog, car powered by B dust.

Though I have caused that, glorying in your shame. I am a female dog. That's brutality. Chad, who's your favorite female MMA fighter? Ron and Rousey, how about none of them?

Because I don't think it's right to see women and get off on women beating the crud out of each other. I think that's brutal and I think that's barbaric and that has no place with God's people. In my humble but correct opinion, okay? Last year, a couple years ago, everybody was aghast at the Olympics. When a biological male beat the fire out of a woman on national TV, that's the end game.

Satan wants all. With all his fiber of his being, he wants to denigrate and degrade women. And y'all got to see that in the last Olympics, where a man beats a woman on national TV. And God says, and you're lecturing us Christians about how we treat women? Jesus elevates women.

Our culture subjugates women. And to you women, who are married to non-Christian men. Peter has some words of encouragement. Verse 1: Wives, be submissive to your husbands. That even if some do not obey the word, they're not born again, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives.

I love how commentator William Barclay puts it. He calls it the silent preaching of a lovely life. Women Don't leave that relationship. It If you can hang in that relationship. Who knows?

God may win that husband to Jesus Christ by you doing what God's called you to do. It might happen. One of my favorite characters in church history is a man named Augustine, great thinker. Augustine's mom was a godly woman. Her name was Monica, and she was married to a pagan named Patricius.

And there's a lot of tension in that family. Augustine wrote about that tension between his godly mother Monica and Patricius, her husband. And he wrote about what happened like it was a prayer to God. And here's what Augustine wrote. He said, she served her husband and did all she could to win him.

to you, O Lord. She told her husband about you through her words and through her conduct by which you had made her so beautiful. Finally, when her husband was in his last days, she won him. to you. It could happen.

So I'm going to close this. Yeah. Can I tell you what God values, ladies? And honestly, I'm going to say this to all of us. Stop trying to please your Facebook friends.

You'll never please them. Stop going to the whims of this culture. You will never please this culture. Play to an audience of one. Live your life to please God, and what pleases God, verse 4, rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

God loves gentle, godly, dignified, modest women. That's what God loves. Let me close with this story. I've shared this with you before. It's a story attributed to the existential philosopher Shorn Kierkegaard.

Kierkegaard talked about a General store. Department store. And in the middle of the night, some thieves broke in. But they didn't steal anything. They thought it'd be cute to switch all the price tags.

in that department store. And so the next day, lawnmowers had a price tag of 99 cents on them. And a pack of chewing gum had a price tag of $2,000 on it. A big screen TV had a price tag that said $4. Paper towels had a price tag that said $400.

And then Kierkegaard said this: The point of my parable is obvious, is it not? The people of my day have no ability to tell the truly valuable. From the virtual worthless. And church, never is that more clear when it comes. to gender.

Our culture. Has stopped valuing gentle, quiet, godly, holy, pure women of God. And it's time for the body of Christ to switch the price tags back and raise children who love the Lord Jesus Christ and who live like children of the Most High God and act like children of the Most High God, who live like princes and princesses of the Most High God. This society has switched the price tag in the body of Christ. Can we switch the price tags back and value the things God values?

Father, I thank you the women in this church. Modesty's priestesses. Princes and princesses of the Most High God, I thank you for royalty in this place. May these women leave this place with their head held high, walking, living, talking, serving, blessing like. Children of the Most High God.

We exalt you and we honor you, Father. In Jesus' name.

Now I want you to stand up with me. Cause we're In a weird season across assembly, weird in a good way, not in a bad way, in a good way. Every week, I'm not even asking this. People are just calling me and emailing me about just spontaneous miracles that are taking place. I was gone last week and Yeah, sure enough.

Guy's riding down the interstate, sees crosses, walks in. He's broken under conviction. Joster leads him to Jesus and baptizes him right out there in the lobby. I'm getting calls about people getting healed and all this. We in a good season right now.

Yesterday at our membership class, membership class. Young lady comes in with a knee brace, and she said, Pastor, I've been having knee problems for a while, and I got the brace, I've gone to the, I need healing. And we actually had some team members there at the prayer team members at membership class yesterday. Mm-hmm. Lay hands on her.

Pray over, she feels healing go into her knee. And as I'm closing up membership class, they bring me her brace and they throw it away because her knee has been healed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a membership class.

So we're in a good season right now. Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 says this. With prayer Ampetition With Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

Some of us have left out that last element right there. We've been praying for miracles. Claiming miracles. Calling on God for miracles. But we've left out the Thanksgiving part.

So here's what I want us to do. I want us to take about five minutes. And just thank God for His goodness and His faithfulness. And after we have thanked God for a few minutes, we will fulfill the requirements of Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. We will have thanked God.

And I want you to do this: if you need a supernatural touch of God in your body, In your mind? And your finances Marriage, Jock. You just need a supernatural touch from God. When we get through singing, I'm going to call you for it. I don't think his miracles stopped yesterday at our membership class.

I think they're still flowing in this place today. And so we're going to call you forward and we're going to just see God do some miracles. Christina, can y'all just lead us in some thanksgiving to God right now? Y'all come and lead us. Lift your hands, lift your voices.

Don't ask God for anything right now. Just thank God for his faithfulness, his goodness right now. Yes, Jesus. You're so worthy, Father. We love you, Jesus.

Yeah, that was real. Who am I that you keep me? Read on your mind. I'm just grateful for you. Come on, God.

I'm just grateful for you all my life. You've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Who am I?

Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. I'm just grateful for you all my life. You've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you.

Yes, we lift our hands. God, I'm just grateful for you. I'm lifting both of my hands. You gave me chance after chance, after chance. I'm giving more than I am.

You gave me chance after chance after chance. Come on, justify. I'm lifted for the fight. You gave me chance after chance after chance. I'm giving more than I am.

You gave me chance after chance. Come on, whoever I am. Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you all my life.

All my life. You've been right here by my side. God, I'm just. Right now, think of that time, God, you brought you through that storm. Think about that time God healed you.

Think about that time God saved you. He's giving you heaven As I hope. He's adopted you as a child of the most high God. For the next few moments, just lift your hands right now and just start thanking God. Can we do this?

Let's just saturate. We ain't going to sacrifice bulls and lambs and goats right now. We're going to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving in this place right now. Just thank him. You're so good, Father.

You're so. You're so good to us, God. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.

Now, again, I believe in the power of the word, Philippians 4, by prayer and petition. with thanksgiving.

Now let your request be made known to God. There is supernatural healing in this room right now. The supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit is here right now. He wants to do some miracles. Y'all believe that right now?

Prayer team, y'all come right now. If you need a touch from God, I want you to come. And let these folks pray for you right now. Prayer team, y'all come. If you need a supernatural touch from God, you need healing in your body, healing in your marriage, healing in your mind, you need God to move in your job, in your finances, come right now.

God has something for you in this place. The rest of you? I want you to raise your hands and receive this blessing from the Lord. When I say amen, just leave quietly because God's going to do some stuff down front here.

Okay, when I say amen, you dismiss quietly. And let's let God do some supernatural stuff down here. For the rest of you. I'm gonna say it again. I don't know what kind of mama you had, what kind of daddy you had.

But if you're a born-again believer, you got a good good father. And he sent this man here today to remind you that God is for you. And if God is for you, he can be against you. Nobody can be against you if God is for you. And so receive this blessing right now.

Eleka Viku Neka. Esau adonai pena velecha. By simple. Yah! Shalom!

Uh Which means the Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you shalom, peace, wholeness, mind, body, soul, spirit. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we pray.

Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Go change your world for Jesus Christ. You folks, stay down here and let's let God do some miracles. Mm-hmm.