September 1, 2025 • 31 mins
You roll the 20-sided die, and whoever gets the highest number goes first. This simple gaming mechanic reveals a profound truth: order matters. In "Roll for Initiative," we explore how God's perfect order flows through creation and relationships, bringing harmony instead of chaos.
Have you ever considered that water flowing downhill isn't random but demonstrates God's intentional design? Similarly, love flows in a specific direction – from God to us, then through us to others. When we align with this divine pattern, we experience the fullness of joy that Jesus promised.
The sermon examines 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul addresses order within the early church. Coming from either rigid Jewish traditions or wild pagan worship, these new believers needed guidance on how to function as God's family. Paul points to the relationship between God the Father and God the Son as the model – equal in value and essence, yet with clear roles that maximize love's flow.
Contrary to modern misinterpretations, this teaching isn't about superiority or inferiority. It's about creating the perfect conditions for love to flourish, like a "love faucet" that opens when pride is removed. Jesus, described as "the happiest man who ever lived," found complete fulfillment in submission to the Father's will. His example challenges our culture's obsession with autonomy and self-determination.
The cultural expressions of order may change across time (like head coverings in ancient Corinth versus today), but the principle remains: God designed relationships with beautiful complementarity. Like Adam receiving Eve as his counterpart, Christ receives the Church as His beloved bride – a mystery that even angels marvel at.
Whether you're wrestling with questions about gender roles, church leadership, or simply your place in God's family, this message invites you to respond with humility and faith. God's order isn't meant to restrict but to release the greatest possible joy in our lives. What might change if we trusted His design more than our own understanding?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
The sermon today is called Roll for Initiative.
Roll for Initiative.
Now, I know that means nothingto any of you, so I'm going to
teach you.
Unless you're super nerdy, likesuper nerdy, you're not going
to understand what that means.
So I happen to be super nerdy,so let me introduce you to my
nerdy ways.
(00:49):
When you play games likeDungeons and Dragons you ever
seen those big See?
I told you to my nerdy ways.
When you play games likeDungeons, dragons you ever seen
those big see?
I told you, super nerdy, you'veseen those big dice that have
20 sides.
Okay, so those are the dice.
You don't use normal wimpy dicewith six sides, you use the big
dice.
So in those games what you haveto do is you have to.
(01:11):
Nobody knows who's going to gofirst.
So you set up your board andyour game and you're playing
your game, but each turn nobodyknows who they're going to go
first, and so you have to rollfor initiative.
So each turn they roll this bigdice and whoever rolls highest
gets to go first, and then theyplay their turn.
Again, super nerdy, it's okay.
(01:31):
Well, why do you have to do that?
Because there's an order.
We like order, we need orderwhen you're going into a
restaurant and a beautiful elderlady is walking right by you.
You open the door and who goesfirst?
(01:51):
The lady, right, you right.
We love this type of orderbecause it shows honor to people
, and so order is good.
You know who goes first.
You know this order.
That's what we're talking abouttoday.
You're like, why is this theintroduction?
(02:13):
Well, because today we're in 1Corinthians, chapter 11, which
we've been going through, thebook of 1 Corinthians, and we
get to the part of 1 Corinthianswhere Paul begins to deal with
some of the meeting, the issuesthat they were having in their
weekly meeting at church, issuesthat they were having in their
weekly meeting at church.
(02:33):
So they had come.
Remember, all these people camefrom either super religious
Jewish synagogues or completelypagan, non-religious, or pagan
worshiping demons.
So they were a bunch of peopleand Paul was establishing a
brand new church.
Church wasn't something thatanybody knew about or anybody
(02:56):
knew how to do, and so they hada lot of things going on, and so
Paul was helping themunderstand the order, how to
have an orderly church.
Okay, so we're going to betalking about the first thing
that he talks to them about iswomen and men and their
relationship in ministry and theleadership of the church.
(03:20):
So let's start reading and thenwe'll start talking about it
and see what kind of order Godhas for us to be able to be
organized in our churches.
So in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11,it says it starts this way.
It says imitate me, just as Ialso imitate Christ.
So this verse probably shouldbe at the end of chapter 10
(03:43):
because it kind of wraps up thatwhole conversation of chapters
8 through 10 where Paul wastalking about how to love people
.
Paul says they can just look athim for an example of how love
works.
Okay, so he loves them all thetime.
He loves them when they don'tdeserve it, when they don't earn
it.
(04:05):
He just loves his church.
He loves them so much, butmostly he loves them because the
point of 1 Corinthiansbasically is this it's the whole
lesson.
It goes from God to you and thenfrom you to others.
You're a part of God'sdistribution channel, of his
(04:29):
love and his life, and it's very, very orderly.
Okay, jesus lived with thisorder in his life.
He received love from hisFather every morning and then he
would give that same love tohis disciples every day.
It's very organized and Godloves that.
(04:50):
God loves God.
He's a God of order.
He loves order and order isgood.
Water flows downhill, right?
Could you just imagine thechaos?
If water didn't do that?
It would be wild.
We just have waterfallseverywhere going every which.
But no, it's very organized.
(05:11):
Even creation itself is veryorganized.
So what does it look like whenPaul says to imitate Jesus?
What does that mean?
It doesn't mean imitate him inour own strength or with this
mentality.
I got this.
Watch me imitate.
I'm going to try to live mylife like Jesus.
(05:32):
Watch me do it.
Okay, that's not what it means,but it does mean to choose to
do what he did through faith inthe life of Jesus living inside
us and that's called his spirit.
So, in other words, I'm notdepending on myself to try to
look like Jesus or try toimitate him in my own strength,
(05:53):
but I'm depending on his lifeliving through me.
Jesus never asked you to livethe Christian life.
God never said you could be agood Christian.
He said I can live theChristian life through you
because I'm Christ.
I am the Christian life and Ioffer you my life to live
through you.
(06:13):
We are.
And so why does he do thisBecause we are called or we're
invited, you could say, torepresent the family business.
When you are adopted into God'sfamily, when you're born again,
you are, you're part of his newfamily.
Let's say it's like arestaurant, like a family
(06:35):
restaurant, except ourrestaurant doesn't change its
logo.
What are you talking about this?
What are you talking about this?
It's the same thing, sneaky.
(06:55):
Okay.
Our church, our family logo islove other people and serve them
and save them.
Be a part of a living family.
(07:16):
For your experience at churchthat you're a part of a family
that just loves people?
I hope so, because you matterto us, each and every one of you
guys that's here.
We love the little.
That's so great.
Thank you for bringing them.
You know we love every age, welove every, and a family is
(07:39):
never the same when it's missingjust one person.
Right, six boys, and we'rehoping that all six boys are
able to travel here Two fromColorado, two from Florida, one
from Phoenix and John you'rehere.
Two from Colorado, two fromFlorida, one from Phoenix and
John you're here.
Yay, we're hoping that all ofthem will be able to travel here
for Christmas this year andwe're not sure it's going to
(07:59):
happen.
But pray for us, because thatwould be awesome if we could
have that, because it's not thesame when you're missing even
just one of them.
So what does it look like tolove your church family, to be a
part of your church family?
Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,
(08:19):
long-suffering, bearing with oneanother and forgiving one
another If anyone has acomplaint against another, even
as Christ forgave you.
Love is our brand.
You could say Forgiveness, youknow, merciful, gentle, patient
and helpful.
These are all descriptions ofour brand, because love is our
(08:42):
brand and everybody has value.
Everyone is equal in love, themost you know, productive person
to the least productive person,from the oldest to the youngest
, from you know, we're all partof one family.
Why?
Because we're one body.
You're like, why is he speakingto one body?
(09:09):
And each of us has differentparts to play.
The body has a purpose or arole.
See Role for initiative.
See it.
That's it.
God makes it easy to know whatyour role is.
God makes it easy to know whatyour role is.
(09:30):
Again, your role doesn't meanhow valuable you are, but you
will have a role to play and inthe family of church there's a
perfect order that will help usand that they feel their value
if we can trust God with how hefeels.
(09:53):
Okay, all right.
So now we begin with Pauldealing with the church and
something that had gone out ofwhack in this church, because
back then they had pagan templesand in those temples the top,
most spiritual people were women.
They were called thepriestesses of the temples and
(10:16):
the way that you would worshipat those temples was through
prostitution, and so the womenwere in charge because they were
the most spiritually in tune,as women generally are.
They're the most sensitive,they're the most in tune to you
know the things.
That was the pagan world, asthey were very, very in charge.
(10:42):
But God wants his family, hischurch, to look like a family
with fathers and mothers, afamily with fathers and mothers,
that you remember me in allthings and keep the tradition
just as I delivered to you.
The word traditions there meansthe basic teaching Is Christ and
(11:09):
the head of woman is man andthe head of Christ is God and
the head of woman is man and thehead of Christ is God.
And it's about this idea ofsubmission to God's life that
God has a plan for you and whenyou submit to that plan, it's
how God's love for man is Christ.
(11:30):
Well, jesus was equal to God,god, his Father.
Jesus was God, but there was aFather God and there was a Son
God.
He said I don't do my own will,but your will.
He said I do nothing of my ownaccord.
These are all things that Jesussaid to his father.
(11:56):
He woke up every day and helooked for life and for what he
would do that day, all of hisown desires to do of God, the
Father.
Why he was teaching us how tobe human and he said it's not in
(12:19):
doing your own thing, that'snot the design.
The best way to be human is byallowing God to guide your life
and live.
He wants to give them when weaccept his authority and his
fatherly place in our lives.
(12:40):
If we don't know or believethat life flows from him like
water flowing downhill, our lifeflows from him.
Hill, our life flows from Him,his life under the total
(13:00):
authority of His own Father Tosubmit to Him in that exact same
way, to only do His will.
They should be focusedcompletely on doing the work of
god, to sacrifice and denythemselves to be the leaders of
(13:29):
their that.
Men should be the first tosacrifice in order to lead.
And he said and allow theirhusbands to lead and allow the
men who are up or losing out.
It's about helping everyone tobe blessed to the most way, to
(13:50):
cause each person to experiencethe beauty of a loving family.
Because how many of us comefrom broken families?
Our moms maybe failed incertain areas and God says this
is the most perfect way for thepartnership is more beautiful
and fruitful and lovely for bothparticipants structure.
(14:17):
Men should lead withself-sacrifice, lead with
complete selflessness, giving upour lives for the people that
we're called to love.
And women should reinforce thelove of God through their
support of those who lead SomeLove of God through their
(14:38):
support of those who lead.
Some people feel that they haveto bear this authority, that
it's an unbearable burden, and Ireally do understand that, but
they feel like it means I haveto say I'm inferior, I'm nothing
, I have to recognize this otherperson as superior.
But that's not true.
Okay, so give God a chance toexplain how organization and
(15:06):
order is.
I want you to remember therelationship between God the
Father and God the Son.
They are completely equal intheir being.
A man praying or prophesying,having his head covered
dishonors his head, but if heprays or prophesies with her
head uncovered, dishonors herhead, for this is one and the
(15:29):
same as if her head were shaved.
Okay, so he introduces the ideathat in church, women should
have a cover on their heads andmen shouldn't and this is a very
, very foreign concept to us,okay, when we come to church.
Well, let me explain.
(15:51):
Back then, it was a custom forboth Greeks and Romans that if a
woman was out and about outsideof her home she had to wear a
veil.
You could only see their eyes.
It was not nearly thatrestrictive, but it was common
(16:12):
that the only women who wereoutside and didn't have a veil
were prostitutes, and that wentinto the worldly custom of those
temples I was talking about,remember.
So that's the idea.
Okay, the only women in thatculture who didn't wear a veil,
saying I have a relationshipwith somebody in my life, those
(16:36):
were prostitutes.
So life was very dangerouswithout a covering, because men
would treat these prostitutesvery poorly.
And when we hear head, I want usto think of the head of a
stream, like the head of a riveris the source of it.
So we can think of it that way.
It's the source where God wantsto send his blessing through,
(16:59):
or you can think of it as thelove faucet.
I love that illustration.
I made that one up.
There's a way to mess with yourlove faucet where your love is
supposed to flow through, andthat way is always pride.
Our pride can cut off the flowof love.
(17:20):
Jesus always lived with humility.
He always surrendered andsubmitted to his Father, and it
says Jesus was the happiest manto ever live.
How do those two things gotogether?
He never did what he wanted.
He was anointed with the oil ofjoy more than his fellows.
That means he's the happiestperson that ever lived.
(17:41):
Come with never getting what Iwant.
That's what happens.
He was led by his father everyday and then he led his
disciples.
He received love from hisfather.
(18:03):
It's not covered.
Let her also be shorn.
But if it is shameful for awoman to be shorn in the
Corinthian culture when a wife'shair was longer than her
husband's, it showed submissionto his leadership.
It was not or that they shouldbe submissive to every man,
(18:25):
because that's not true either.
It's teaching that God's ordersin public displayed that she
trusted in the people that Godhad put in her life.
Okay.
So then it says for a manindeed ought not to cover his
head, since he is in the gloryof God, but women is the glory
of man, for man is not fromwomen, man is not from woman,
(18:45):
but woman, what?
Okay, I was tracking with ituntil, okay, what does that have
to do?
Basically, they had in theancient world.
(19:11):
Okay, then it had to do with theroles that were played in the
creation story.
So everyone was constantlythinking about creation story,
spoke into our purpose for lifeand the order, and he says,
basically, adam was created outof dirt.
And did I send you a meme thisweek?
(19:34):
No, I didn't, I forgot.
Okay, adam was created out ofdirt and Eve was formed out of
Adam's rib right.
So in some way he says thisshows us, the original design
was for men to lead and forwomen to be the object of his
love or his counterpart.
(19:55):
And what do I mean by that?
Adam was created.
He was all alone, right, andGod and him, and they're just,
they're friends.
He was all alone, right, andGod and him, and they're just,
they're friends.
And God's like I love you, adam.
Adam's like great, I'm alone.
And then God's like I want youto name all these animals.
And so Adam's like okay, mr andMrs Beaver, mr and Mrs Giraffe,
(20:19):
mr and Mrs Shark, mr and MrsDinosaur, mr and Mrs Platypus,
all my favorite animals, mr andMrs Hippopotamus.
So he starts to notice why isthere a Mr and Mrs of all of
these things?
And they seem like they allreally like each other.
(20:44):
Where's my counterpart?
And God took him and said Adam,that's a really good question.
Would you like a counterpart?
Adam's like yeah, because Ihave all this love inside me.
I want to love.
I want to love.
I'm created to love.
I'm created to pour my life outand love.
(21:05):
But it's just me, adam.
This is why I made you Acounterpart for my love.
(21:25):
Oh, but God, you have the Spiritand you guys all love each
other.
Yes, we do, but I want acounterpart.
I want someone that I can fillwith my love and they can
respond to my love.
Isn't that amazing, adam, wouldyou like that love?
Would you like that love?
And Adam's like yes, I do.
And God's like okay, adam,would you like that love?
(21:46):
Would you like that love?
And Adam's like yes, I do.
And God's like okay, adam,you're going to have to die, but
I'll raise you back up.
But for you to get this love,you have to die.
And Adam's like for me to havea counterpart to be able to pour
my love out and receive love.
I would gladly die, and God'slike you don't say I also want a
(22:15):
counterpart and I also wouldgive my life to be able to
create a bride out of my ownbody, a bride out of my own body
.
And so God put Adam to sleepbecause he didn't actually have
to experience the death, and sothe fact that there are men and
women and they becomecounterparts and relational and
(22:38):
poor love, that whole image is apicture of how much God loves
it.
You don't say I'd love.
Then he brings in the angels andI'm like what is he talking
about?
They watched the whole thing,they watched it all, and to them
(23:05):
they know the whole reason.
They created the bride ofChrist.
All people who would turn andbe forgiven would be filled with
the Spirit, and so they are newcreations.
They are now the bride, thecounterpart of God, the bride of
Christ, the most beautifulthing in the world that Jesus
(23:30):
would share his divine life inus.
Angels are just likeflabbergasted.
This is incredible.
This is amazing.
So Paul says in your church, weglorify this, they're sensitive
to it.
They saw the whole reason forit.
And so he says because yourchurch, we glorify this, they're
sensitive to it.
They saw the whole reason forit.
And so he says because of theangels, they saw the whole
(23:51):
reason for it.
They saw the whole reason forit.
And it seems like they'regrieved by our prideful
rejection of God's perfect planand will for our lives.
But even if he says man wascreated first, it doesn't mean
they're more important at all.
Because look here the nextverse he says Nevertheless,
(24:12):
neither is man independent ofwomen nor women independent of
man in the Lord.
For as woman came from man,even so now all men, men, come
through women, but all thingsare from God.
So this shows for us theinterdependent relationship that
(24:35):
we all have together.
We all have our role, our partto play.
The body only works when allthe pieces work together, part
part of one body, each with adifferent role and a different
gift.
So what is your gift?
So some men have the gift ofteaching, some women have the
gift of teaching.
Does that mean a woman cannever teach?
(24:55):
Absolutely not.
That's not what we're talkingabout here A woman can teach.
I thought some woman was like,yeah, you're preaching now,
there's just going to be order.
Right, there's just going to beorder.
(25:16):
It's not going to.
This is never a.
You can't stand up.
It's all about order.
It's all about order.
1 Corinthians says Judge amongyourselves.
Is it proper for a woman to prayto God with her head uncovered?
Does not even nature itselfteach you that?
(25:39):
If a man has long hair, it's a,but if a woman has long hair,
it's a glory to her, to her forcovering.
But if anyone seems to becontentious, we have no such
custom.
So here to wrap it up intoday's culture, for us today,
we no longer view women wearinghead coverings as a sign of
submission.
That just doesn't exist here.
(26:00):
In most modern societies,scarves and hats are simply a
thing.
If you want to, you can do that.
However, it's a personal choiceand it is not something that
should be used to determinespirituality or someone's life
or someone's heart, because itdoesn't show any of that.
(26:22):
The real issue here is the heartattitude of trusting God's
authority, god's order.
Like Jesus trusted his fatherand Jesus got his counterpart,
he was able to find somebodythat was able to respond back to
(26:42):
him with the same love that heis able to pour out love.
And men having long hairdoesn't mean that they aren't
godly or leaders anymore.
That just doesn't exist in ourculture today anymore.
But a man who refuses, but aman who refuses who continues to
(27:07):
make selfish choices, that doesdishonor himself, that's not a
self or that's not a godly.
So God wants his family to havefathers and mothers and
brothers and sisters, for allthe people that are here,
important for each person inGod's family.
(27:27):
In our culture there's manyvoices that want to reject God's
order and organization, andthey may believe it's
old-fashioned or repressive.
But God still wants to blessHis church with love and grace,
(27:51):
and he revealed that the way todo it efficiently and
effectively is through the wayhe designed.
So what is our response to be?
And this story was told in thatbook.
So Watchman Nee was thegreatest pastor that's ever
lived, had just an incredibleheart for God.
Okay, so this guy?
(28:12):
So this was in the 1800s andthe church in China.
There's parts of it that thewoman wore.
I guess that was his nameWatchman, should we wear head
coverings?
This woman asked him.
Watchman, should we wear headcoverings.
This woman asked him andWatchman said okay, I know, but
(28:36):
here's my answer for you.
I wish I could wear headcoverings to honor Jesus.
I wish I had a thousand headcoverings I could wear to honor
Jesus.
I wish I had a thousand headcoverings I could wear to honor
Jesus A thousand times.
If Jesus could receive one moremoment of glory and honor.
(28:58):
That's life.
That's what Jesus wasexperiencing every morning with
his father.
He was receiving so much lovethat he didn't care at all what
happened to him that day.
Every sermon, we have a response.
We have to decide how we'regoing to respond, and so I'll
always encourage you to respondwith humility and faith.
(29:20):
That is our response to thegospel.
So, with humility, we can.
His ways are not our ways allthe time, right, and he might
just know how families.
So, with humility, we can sayyeah, god probably knows how
this is best instead of me orthe podcast I just listened to.
(29:41):
And then, with faith, we cantrust and we can believe that
his intention is to give us themost amount of joy.
Okay, wasn't too scary now wasit All right?
All the ladies are like righton, let's go.
(30:03):
All right, you can write allyour emails, your angry emails
to Dana at.
I have a special prayer request.
Brad and Amy's daughter, julia,had to go to the emergency room
, so if we could all just pauseand lift her up to the Lord.
Father, we want to lift upJulia to you and ask that you
(30:28):
would be just taking care of herand giving the doctor's wisdom.
I pray that she'd be able toget in to see doctors quickly
and that the emergency roomswouldn't be too busy this
morning.
Father, please help that familyto be able to trust in you and
see your healing hand in theirlife.
And, father, I pray for everysingle person here, lord, that
(30:51):
as we have looked into your wordtoday and we've discovered your
truth, father, that you wouldgive us a blessing in our heart
to be able to know, god, thatyou love us, you care about us
and you desire to pour outblessings in our lives.
Jesus.
We are sorry, lord, that somany times we're consumed with
(31:16):
how we think we could get more,how we think we could be
respected or what our roleshould be, instead of, lord,
jesus, just receiving your loveand allowing you to take care of
how you use us.
Lord, we are your vessels.
We are empty vessels for youruse.
Jesus, transform our hearts sothat we're not constantly
(31:40):
looking for more, but, jesus,help us be satisfied in your
love.
There's nothing else that weneed.
In Jesus' name, we all pray.
Amen.
The sermon today is called Roll for Initiative.
Roll for Initiative.
Now, I know that means nothingto any of you, so I'm going to
teach you.
Unless you're super nerdy, likesuper nerdy, you're not going
to understand what that means.
So I happen to be super nerdy,so let me introduce you to my
nerdy ways.
(00:49):
When you play games likeDungeons and Dragons you ever
seen those big See?
I told you to my nerdy ways.
When you play games likeDungeons, dragons you ever seen
those big see?
I told you, super nerdy, you'veseen those big dice that have
20 sides.
Okay, so those are the dice.
You don't use normal wimpy dicewith six sides, you use the big
dice.
So in those games what you haveto do is you have to.
(01:11):
Nobody knows who's going to gofirst.
So you set up your board andyour game and you're playing
your game, but each turn nobodyknows who they're going to go
first, and so you have to rollfor initiative.
So each turn they roll this bigdice and whoever rolls highest
gets to go first, and then theyplay their turn.
Again, super nerdy, it's okay.
(01:31):
Well, why do you have to do that?
Because there's an order.
We like order, we need orderwhen you're going into a
restaurant and a beautiful elderlady is walking right by you.
You open the door and who goesfirst?
(01:51):
The lady, right, you right.
We love this type of orderbecause it shows honor to people
, and so order is good.
You know who goes first.
You know this order.
That's what we're talking abouttoday.
You're like, why is this theintroduction?
(02:13):
Well, because today we're in 1Corinthians, chapter 11, which
we've been going through, thebook of 1 Corinthians, and we
get to the part of 1 Corinthianswhere Paul begins to deal with
some of the meeting, the issuesthat they were having in their
weekly meeting at church, issuesthat they were having in their
weekly meeting at church.
(02:33):
So they had come.
Remember, all these people camefrom either super religious
Jewish synagogues or completelypagan, non-religious, or pagan
worshiping demons.
So they were a bunch of peopleand Paul was establishing a
brand new church.
Church wasn't something thatanybody knew about or anybody
(02:56):
knew how to do, and so they hada lot of things going on, and so
Paul was helping themunderstand the order, how to
have an orderly church.
Okay, so we're going to betalking about the first thing
that he talks to them about iswomen and men and their
relationship in ministry and theleadership of the church.
(03:20):
So let's start reading and thenwe'll start talking about it
and see what kind of order Godhas for us to be able to be
organized in our churches.
So in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11,it says it starts this way.
It says imitate me, just as Ialso imitate Christ.
So this verse probably shouldbe at the end of chapter 10
(03:43):
because it kind of wraps up thatwhole conversation of chapters
8 through 10 where Paul wastalking about how to love people
.
Paul says they can just look athim for an example of how love
works.
Okay, so he loves them all thetime.
He loves them when they don'tdeserve it, when they don't earn
it.
(04:05):
He just loves his church.
He loves them so much, butmostly he loves them because the
point of 1 Corinthiansbasically is this it's the whole
lesson.
It goes from God to you and thenfrom you to others.
You're a part of God'sdistribution channel, of his
(04:29):
love and his life, and it's very, very orderly.
Okay, jesus lived with thisorder in his life.
He received love from hisFather every morning and then he
would give that same love tohis disciples every day.
It's very organized and Godloves that.
(04:50):
God loves God.
He's a God of order.
He loves order and order isgood.
Water flows downhill, right?
Could you just imagine thechaos?
If water didn't do that?
It would be wild.
We just have waterfallseverywhere going every which.
But no, it's very organized.
(05:11):
Even creation itself is veryorganized.
So what does it look like whenPaul says to imitate Jesus?
What does that mean?
It doesn't mean imitate him inour own strength or with this
mentality.
I got this.
Watch me imitate.
I'm going to try to live mylife like Jesus.
(05:32):
Watch me do it.
Okay, that's not what it means,but it does mean to choose to
do what he did through faith inthe life of Jesus living inside
us and that's called his spirit.
So, in other words, I'm notdepending on myself to try to
look like Jesus or try toimitate him in my own strength,
(05:53):
but I'm depending on his lifeliving through me.
Jesus never asked you to livethe Christian life.
God never said you could be agood Christian.
He said I can live theChristian life through you
because I'm Christ.
I am the Christian life and Ioffer you my life to live
through you.
(06:13):
We are.
And so why does he do thisBecause we are called or we're
invited, you could say, torepresent the family business.
When you are adopted into God'sfamily, when you're born again,
you are, you're part of his newfamily.
Let's say it's like arestaurant, like a family
(06:35):
restaurant, except ourrestaurant doesn't change its
logo.
What are you talking about this?
What are you talking about this?
It's the same thing, sneaky.
(06:55):
Okay.
Our church, our family logo islove other people and serve them
and save them.
Be a part of a living family.
(07:16):
For your experience at churchthat you're a part of a family
that just loves people?
I hope so, because you matterto us, each and every one of you
guys that's here.
We love the little.
That's so great.
Thank you for bringing them.
You know we love every age, welove every, and a family is
(07:39):
never the same when it's missingjust one person.
Right, six boys, and we'rehoping that all six boys are
able to travel here Two fromColorado, two from Florida, one
from Phoenix and John you'rehere.
Two from Colorado, two fromFlorida, one from Phoenix and
John you're here.
Yay, we're hoping that all ofthem will be able to travel here
for Christmas this year andwe're not sure it's going to
(07:59):
happen.
But pray for us, because thatwould be awesome if we could
have that, because it's not thesame when you're missing even
just one of them.
So what does it look like tolove your church family, to be a
part of your church family?
Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,
(08:19):
long-suffering, bearing with oneanother and forgiving one
another If anyone has acomplaint against another, even
as Christ forgave you.
Love is our brand.
You could say Forgiveness, youknow, merciful, gentle, patient
and helpful.
These are all descriptions ofour brand, because love is our
(08:42):
brand and everybody has value.
Everyone is equal in love, themost you know, productive person
to the least productive person,from the oldest to the youngest
, from you know, we're all partof one family.
Why?
Because we're one body.
You're like, why is he speakingto one body?
(09:09):
And each of us has differentparts to play.
The body has a purpose or arole.
See Role for initiative.
See it.
That's it.
God makes it easy to know whatyour role is.
God makes it easy to know whatyour role is.
(09:30):
Again, your role doesn't meanhow valuable you are, but you
will have a role to play and inthe family of church there's a
perfect order that will help usand that they feel their value
if we can trust God with how hefeels.
(09:53):
Okay, all right.
So now we begin with Pauldealing with the church and
something that had gone out ofwhack in this church, because
back then they had pagan templesand in those temples the top,
most spiritual people were women.
They were called thepriestesses of the temples and
(10:16):
the way that you would worshipat those temples was through
prostitution, and so the womenwere in charge because they were
the most spiritually in tune,as women generally are.
They're the most sensitive,they're the most in tune to you
know the things.
That was the pagan world, asthey were very, very in charge.
(10:42):
But God wants his family, hischurch, to look like a family
with fathers and mothers, afamily with fathers and mothers,
that you remember me in allthings and keep the tradition
just as I delivered to you.
The word traditions there meansthe basic teaching Is Christ and
(11:09):
the head of woman is man andthe head of Christ is God and
the head of woman is man and thehead of Christ is God.
And it's about this idea ofsubmission to God's life that
God has a plan for you and whenyou submit to that plan, it's
how God's love for man is Christ.
(11:30):
Well, jesus was equal to God,god, his Father.
Jesus was God, but there was aFather God and there was a Son
God.
He said I don't do my own will,but your will.
He said I do nothing of my ownaccord.
These are all things that Jesussaid to his father.
(11:56):
He woke up every day and helooked for life and for what he
would do that day, all of hisown desires to do of God, the
Father.
Why he was teaching us how tobe human and he said it's not in
(12:19):
doing your own thing, that'snot the design.
The best way to be human is byallowing God to guide your life
and live.
He wants to give them when weaccept his authority and his
fatherly place in our lives.
(12:40):
If we don't know or believethat life flows from him like
water flowing downhill, our lifeflows from him.
Hill, our life flows from Him,his life under the total
(13:00):
authority of His own Father Tosubmit to Him in that exact same
way, to only do His will.
They should be focusedcompletely on doing the work of
god, to sacrifice and denythemselves to be the leaders of
(13:29):
their that.
Men should be the first tosacrifice in order to lead.
And he said and allow theirhusbands to lead and allow the
men who are up or losing out.
It's about helping everyone tobe blessed to the most way, to
(13:50):
cause each person to experiencethe beauty of a loving family.
Because how many of us comefrom broken families?
Our moms maybe failed incertain areas and God says this
is the most perfect way for thepartnership is more beautiful
and fruitful and lovely for bothparticipants structure.
(14:17):
Men should lead withself-sacrifice, lead with
complete selflessness, giving upour lives for the people that
we're called to love.
And women should reinforce thelove of God through their
support of those who lead SomeLove of God through their
(14:38):
support of those who lead.
Some people feel that they haveto bear this authority, that
it's an unbearable burden, and Ireally do understand that, but
they feel like it means I haveto say I'm inferior, I'm nothing
, I have to recognize this otherperson as superior.
But that's not true.
Okay, so give God a chance toexplain how organization and
(15:06):
order is.
I want you to remember therelationship between God the
Father and God the Son.
They are completely equal intheir being.
A man praying or prophesying,having his head covered
dishonors his head, but if heprays or prophesies with her
head uncovered, dishonors herhead, for this is one and the
(15:29):
same as if her head were shaved.
Okay, so he introduces the ideathat in church, women should
have a cover on their heads andmen shouldn't and this is a very
, very foreign concept to us,okay, when we come to church.
Well, let me explain.
(15:51):
Back then, it was a custom forboth Greeks and Romans that if a
woman was out and about outsideof her home she had to wear a
veil.
You could only see their eyes.
It was not nearly thatrestrictive, but it was common
(16:12):
that the only women who wereoutside and didn't have a veil
were prostitutes, and that wentinto the worldly custom of those
temples I was talking about,remember.
So that's the idea.
Okay, the only women in thatculture who didn't wear a veil,
saying I have a relationshipwith somebody in my life, those
(16:36):
were prostitutes.
So life was very dangerouswithout a covering, because men
would treat these prostitutesvery poorly.
And when we hear head, I want usto think of the head of a
stream, like the head of a riveris the source of it.
So we can think of it that way.
It's the source where God wantsto send his blessing through,
(16:59):
or you can think of it as thelove faucet.
I love that illustration.
I made that one up.
There's a way to mess with yourlove faucet where your love is
supposed to flow through, andthat way is always pride.
Our pride can cut off the flowof love.
(17:20):
Jesus always lived with humility.
He always surrendered andsubmitted to his Father, and it
says Jesus was the happiest manto ever live.
How do those two things gotogether?
He never did what he wanted.
He was anointed with the oil ofjoy more than his fellows.
That means he's the happiestperson that ever lived.
(17:41):
Come with never getting what Iwant.
That's what happens.
He was led by his father everyday and then he led his
disciples.
He received love from hisfather.
(18:03):
It's not covered.
Let her also be shorn.
But if it is shameful for awoman to be shorn in the
Corinthian culture when a wife'shair was longer than her
husband's, it showed submissionto his leadership.
It was not or that they shouldbe submissive to every man,
(18:25):
because that's not true either.
It's teaching that God's ordersin public displayed that she
trusted in the people that Godhad put in her life.
Okay.
So then it says for a manindeed ought not to cover his
head, since he is in the gloryof God, but women is the glory
of man, for man is not fromwomen, man is not from woman,
(18:45):
but woman, what?
Okay, I was tracking with ituntil, okay, what does that have
to do?
Basically, they had in theancient world.
(19:11):
Okay, then it had to do with theroles that were played in the
creation story.
So everyone was constantlythinking about creation story,
spoke into our purpose for lifeand the order, and he says,
basically, adam was created outof dirt.
And did I send you a meme thisweek?
(19:34):
No, I didn't, I forgot.
Okay, adam was created out ofdirt and Eve was formed out of
Adam's rib right.
So in some way he says thisshows us, the original design
was for men to lead and forwomen to be the object of his
love or his counterpart.
(19:55):
And what do I mean by that?
Adam was created.
He was all alone, right, andGod and him, and they're just,
they're friends.
He was all alone, right, andGod and him, and they're just,
they're friends.
And God's like I love you, adam.
Adam's like great, I'm alone.
And then God's like I want youto name all these animals.
And so Adam's like okay, mr andMrs Beaver, mr and Mrs Giraffe,
(20:19):
mr and Mrs Shark, mr and MrsDinosaur, mr and Mrs Platypus,
all my favorite animals, mr andMrs Hippopotamus.
So he starts to notice why isthere a Mr and Mrs of all of
these things?
And they seem like they allreally like each other.
(20:44):
Where's my counterpart?
And God took him and said Adam,that's a really good question.
Would you like a counterpart?
Adam's like yeah, because Ihave all this love inside me.
I want to love.
I want to love.
I'm created to love.
I'm created to pour my life outand love.
(21:05):
But it's just me, adam.
This is why I made you Acounterpart for my love.
(21:25):
Oh, but God, you have the Spiritand you guys all love each
other.
Yes, we do, but I want acounterpart.
I want someone that I can fillwith my love and they can
respond to my love.
Isn't that amazing, adam, wouldyou like that love?
Would you like that love?
And Adam's like yes, I do.
And God's like okay, adam,would you like that love?
(21:46):
Would you like that love?
And Adam's like yes, I do.
And God's like okay, adam,you're going to have to die, but
I'll raise you back up.
But for you to get this love,you have to die.
And Adam's like for me to havea counterpart to be able to pour
my love out and receive love.
I would gladly die, and God'slike you don't say I also want a
(22:15):
counterpart and I also wouldgive my life to be able to
create a bride out of my ownbody, a bride out of my own body
.
And so God put Adam to sleepbecause he didn't actually have
to experience the death, and sothe fact that there are men and
women and they becomecounterparts and relational and
(22:38):
poor love, that whole image is apicture of how much God loves
it.
You don't say I'd love.
Then he brings in the angels andI'm like what is he talking
about?
They watched the whole thing,they watched it all, and to them
(23:05):
they know the whole reason.
They created the bride ofChrist.
All people who would turn andbe forgiven would be filled with
the Spirit, and so they are newcreations.
They are now the bride, thecounterpart of God, the bride of
Christ, the most beautifulthing in the world that Jesus
(23:30):
would share his divine life inus.
Angels are just likeflabbergasted.
This is incredible.
This is amazing.
So Paul says in your church, weglorify this, they're sensitive
to it.
They saw the whole reason forit.
And so he says because yourchurch, we glorify this, they're
sensitive to it.
They saw the whole reason forit.
And so he says because of theangels, they saw the whole
(23:51):
reason for it.
They saw the whole reason forit.
And it seems like they'regrieved by our prideful
rejection of God's perfect planand will for our lives.
But even if he says man wascreated first, it doesn't mean
they're more important at all.
Because look here the nextverse he says Nevertheless,
(24:12):
neither is man independent ofwomen nor women independent of
man in the Lord.
For as woman came from man,even so now all men, men, come
through women, but all thingsare from God.
So this shows for us theinterdependent relationship that
(24:35):
we all have together.
We all have our role, our partto play.
The body only works when allthe pieces work together, part
part of one body, each with adifferent role and a different
gift.
So what is your gift?
So some men have the gift ofteaching, some women have the
gift of teaching.
Does that mean a woman cannever teach?
(24:55):
Absolutely not.
That's not what we're talkingabout here A woman can teach.
I thought some woman was like,yeah, you're preaching now,
there's just going to be order.
Right, there's just going to beorder.
(25:16):
It's not going to.
This is never a.
You can't stand up.
It's all about order.
It's all about order.
1 Corinthians says Judge amongyourselves.
Is it proper for a woman to prayto God with her head uncovered?
Does not even nature itselfteach you that?
(25:39):
If a man has long hair, it's a,but if a woman has long hair,
it's a glory to her, to her forcovering.
But if anyone seems to becontentious, we have no such
custom.
So here to wrap it up intoday's culture, for us today,
we no longer view women wearinghead coverings as a sign of
submission.
That just doesn't exist here.
(26:00):
In most modern societies,scarves and hats are simply a
thing.
If you want to, you can do that.
However, it's a personal choiceand it is not something that
should be used to determinespirituality or someone's life
or someone's heart, because itdoesn't show any of that.
(26:22):
The real issue here is the heartattitude of trusting God's
authority, god's order.
Like Jesus trusted his fatherand Jesus got his counterpart,
he was able to find somebodythat was able to respond back to
(26:42):
him with the same love that heis able to pour out love.
And men having long hairdoesn't mean that they aren't
godly or leaders anymore.
That just doesn't exist in ourculture today anymore.
But a man who refuses, but aman who refuses who continues to
(27:07):
make selfish choices, that doesdishonor himself, that's not a
self or that's not a godly.
So God wants his family to havefathers and mothers and
brothers and sisters, for allthe people that are here,
important for each person inGod's family.
(27:27):
In our culture there's manyvoices that want to reject God's
order and organization, andthey may believe it's
old-fashioned or repressive.
But God still wants to blessHis church with love and grace,
(27:51):
and he revealed that the way todo it efficiently and
effectively is through the wayhe designed.
So what is our response to be?
And this story was told in thatbook.
So Watchman Nee was thegreatest pastor that's ever
lived, had just an incredibleheart for God.
Okay, so this guy?
(28:12):
So this was in the 1800s andthe church in China.
There's parts of it that thewoman wore.
I guess that was his nameWatchman, should we wear head
coverings?
This woman asked him.
Watchman, should we wear headcoverings.
This woman asked him andWatchman said okay, I know, but
(28:36):
here's my answer for you.
I wish I could wear headcoverings to honor Jesus.
I wish I had a thousand headcoverings I could wear to honor
Jesus.
I wish I had a thousand headcoverings I could wear to honor
Jesus A thousand times.
If Jesus could receive one moremoment of glory and honor.
(28:58):
That's life.
That's what Jesus wasexperiencing every morning with
his father.
He was receiving so much lovethat he didn't care at all what
happened to him that day.
Every sermon, we have a response.
We have to decide how we'regoing to respond, and so I'll
always encourage you to respondwith humility and faith.
(29:20):
That is our response to thegospel.
So, with humility, we can.
His ways are not our ways allthe time, right, and he might
just know how families.
So, with humility, we can sayyeah, god probably knows how
this is best instead of me orthe podcast I just listened to.
(29:41):
And then, with faith, we cantrust and we can believe that
his intention is to give us themost amount of joy.
Okay, wasn't too scary now wasit All right?
All the ladies are like righton, let's go.
(30:03):
All right, you can write allyour emails, your angry emails
to Dana at.
I have a special prayer request.
Brad and Amy's daughter, julia,had to go to the emergency room
, so if we could all just pauseand lift her up to the Lord.
Father, we want to lift upJulia to you and ask that you
(30:28):
would be just taking care of herand giving the doctor's wisdom.
I pray that she'd be able toget in to see doctors quickly
and that the emergency roomswouldn't be too busy this
morning.
Father, please help that familyto be able to trust in you and
see your healing hand in theirlife.
And, father, I pray for everysingle person here, lord, that
(30:51):
as we have looked into your wordtoday and we've discovered your
truth, father, that you wouldgive us a blessing in our heart
to be able to know, god, thatyou love us, you care about us
and you desire to pour outblessings in our lives.
Jesus.
We are sorry, lord, that somany times we're consumed with
(31:16):
how we think we could get more,how we think we could be
respected or what our roleshould be, instead of, lord,
jesus, just receiving your loveand allowing you to take care of
how you use us.
Lord, we are your vessels.
We are empty vessels for youruse.
Jesus, transform our hearts sothat we're not constantly
(31:40):
looking for more, but, jesus,help us be satisfied in your
love.
There's nothing else that weneed.
In Jesus' name, we all pray.
Amen.
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