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Living Waters of Grace 12.25.25 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
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  Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
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  County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
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  continues teaching through God's Word.
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  If you were going for a cheap, kind of slutty, inviting look,
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  you nailed it. That was the way he addressed
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  it. Didn't have to say another word,
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  didn't have to say another word. Never accused her of anything,
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  just basically gave a man's opinion of what she looked like.
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  That's all. And I think as fathers we should
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  do that. We should give our opinion.
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  We understand how the male mind works and we have to impart that
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  to our kids. We joined Pastor Lewis in the
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  middle of a recounting of a story of a father talking with
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  his daughter about some immodest clothing choices that she was
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  making. Well, this kind of talk might be
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  antiquated. We know as fathers that God has
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  called us to speak the truth in love to our children.
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  Now we must season these times of truthful speaking with the
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  love of God. When our children know that we
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  love them, we can say some of the most difficult things in the
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  world to them. Now here's Pastor Lewis in the
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  Book of First Timothy, chapter 2, with today's edition of
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  Living Waters of Grace. I heard one teacher say that,
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  you know, in the church now, there's more announcements and
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  things of that nature than there is prayer.
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  And we really need to focus on prayer.
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  I'm glad that we have so many avenues here in this church that
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  offer prayer. So many, so many.
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  And you can all plug yourselves into it.
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  We invite you to plug yourselves into those avenues.
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  A prayer because every one of those groups, whether it's a
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  Thursday night Zoom group or whether it's the Thursday night
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  group that meets here to pray about certain things.
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  The all of the Bible studies that should include prayer.
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  I'm sure it does. When those things happen, that
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  is all in worship to God. It's all in worship to God.
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  So we pray because he died for all and his death was sufficient
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  for all, but it's only efficient for those who believe, for those
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  who believe. And then he goes to verse 8.
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  And as we move to verse 8, we come to see now that we're now
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  moving into an issue which is seen as being controversial, but
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  it's not really controversial. If it is rightly divided, it's
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  not really controversial. The world makes things
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  controversial, but it's the word of God.
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  It's the word of God. And before we even go there, I
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  just want to go to second Timothy real quick.
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  Chapter 3, Second Timothy chapter 3, we're going to just
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  look at verse. Just going to read for verse 16.
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  All Scripture, not some, not parts of it.
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  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
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  profitable for doctrine and for reproof, for correction, for
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  instruction and righteousness. We just talked about that, that
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  the man of God or the woman of God may be complete, thoroughly
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  equipped for every good work. So what we're about to go in
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  here into here, this is not Paul's opinion.
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  This is not just Paul's opinion. All scripture is inspired by
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  God. It's in the Canon of Scripture.
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  This is coming from God. So he, she, he says here in
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  verse 8, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting
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  up holy hands without wrath and doubting.
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  Let's stop there, he said. I desire, therefore, that the
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  men pray everywhere. Now he's talking about not just
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  mankind, meaning everybody. He's talking about men as in
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  male gender, that they pray. And Paul is saying here that men
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  should lead prayer in public services.
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  Men should lead prayer. I know growing up I didn't see a
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  lot of men leading prayer in public services.
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  It was mostly in women. I just see a lot of men leading
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  it. But Paul says here that men
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  should lead prayer. We know women will pray, but
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  Paul's saying we want to see more men praying.
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  Men pray leading. And now this is not a
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  prohibition to say that women shouldn't pray in public.
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  That's not what this is saying. And we want to get to that over
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  in verse 9. But here he is making a point to
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  say that men should be praying and should be leading and
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  praying in public services, lifting up holy hands without
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  wrath and doubting. So Paul's mentioned in three,
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  three things that are essential. And we know with men praying in
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  public, three things. First of all, he says lifting up
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  holy hands and lifting up holy hands is actually cultural.
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  It's Jewish culture that the men at that particular time when
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  they prayed, they would pray extending their hands to heaven.
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  Now that gesture of extending the hands of heaven, when you
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  look at it, it really has a lot of different meaning or
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  connotations to it. First of all, it's the
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  connotation of surrender. It's surrender when a man lifts
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  his hands, when a police officer tells a suspect to come out with
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  your hands up, that means you are surrendering, that that
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  person is surrendering to the authority of that police
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  officer. He's surrendering.
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  He is putting himself into custody, willingly putting
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  himself into custody of that police officer.
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  And that's exactly what we're doing when we lift our hands to
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  the Lord. Back in the Old Testament, this
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  was a sign of surrender to God. God, I surrender, I place myself
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  under your authority. So the prayers that go up are
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  prayers to the Lord submitting to his authority.
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  And there's several scriptures that talk about the lifting of
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  the hands. Turn with me really quick to
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  Psalm 63 and look at verse four. He says thus I will bless you
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  while I live. I will lift up my hands in your
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  name and then go to Psalm 134 and Psalm 134 reads this way.
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  Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.
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  And we know we read the story back in First Kings chapter 8
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  and 22 that when Solomon prayed and he dedicated to temple, he
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  lifted up his hands to heaven that he prayed.
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  When David prayed several times it's mentioned that he lifted up
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  his hands to the Lord when he prayed.
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  So that is a, it's a cultural position.
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  But I just want to mention that we need to understand the
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  lifting of the hands. It's an outward expression of
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  where our hearts should be. It's not that important what we
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  do with our hands. Now, God is more interested in
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  the position of your heart when we pray.
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  And then he goes in and he goes into that.
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  So he says without wrath and without wrath means that it's,
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  you know, you first of all, you, you, the hands that you're
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  lifting up have to be holy hands.
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  So it's got to be pure hands, right?
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  Hands that we, we're not talking about, you know, practicing sin
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  and then coming up and lifting your hands to pray.
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  You know, that doesn't mean that if you have sin that you can't
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  pray, you repent. And the repentance cleanses us.
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  We confess, and that cleanses us before God and we can lift up
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  our hands and pray. It's about lifting up cleansed
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  hands. That means the heart is cleansed
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  from whatever sin is morally or spiritually cleansed.
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  But it's without wrath. And without wrath simply means
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  without anger. It's without resentment.
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  We should be praying without resentment.
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  I shouldn't be up here praying and knowing I got something
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  against that brother sitting back there or something against
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  a sister sitting over there. Can't pray like that.
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  I got to go make it right with them first.
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  I got to go make it right with them and then I can pray.
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  I don't want my prayers hindered by having all these ungodly
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  things in my heart towards someone else, have an ought in
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  my heart against a brother. I can't pray that way, Davis
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  said. If I regard iniquity in my
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  heart, he won't hear me. God won't hear me.
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  So we have to have pure hearts and clean hands when we pray.
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  And he said, and doubting, doubting actually means that we
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  must pray in faith. We shouldn't be praying
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  doubting. James said that when you pray,
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  you know you, you, you should be praying without doubting.
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  You ask without doubting. He said he who doubts is like a
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  wave of the sea tossed to and fro by the wind.
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  It it's an unstable person who doubts.
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  When we pray, we pray believing. We pray believing, so we pray
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  without doubt. So then we go on to verse 9.
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  And this is where things get kind of interesting because he
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  says here in like manner also, and don't miss that line, in
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  like manner also, in like manner also, women adorn themselves in
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  modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided
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  hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.
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  So what is he saying here? This is actually evidence to
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  some degree that women can pray in public.
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  It's fine for women to pray in public because he said in like
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  manner. Also, in other words, in the
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  same way, when women pray, their praying should be with, you
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  know, adorning themselves in modest apparel.
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  Men should pray with their hearts, not having wickedness or
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  anger or art in their hearts. He emphasized that for men, not
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  that anybody should, but that's what he emphasized for men.
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  And but for women, he said when you pray, if you want to, you
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  know, when you pray, have modest apparel, have modest clothes on.
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  Now, let's not know we, we don't have to exaggerate this and
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  think that this means that a woman can never wear braided
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  hair or never have gold or pearls on or wear nice clothes.
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  That's not what Paul is saying here.
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  What he is saying is that when we pray before the people that
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  the women should be dressed in a way that God is being glorified
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  and not someone looking at what they're wearing.
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  It should be tasteful clothing. And, and, and I thank God that
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  we don't have that issue here. We don't have the issue of a, we
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  don't have a clothing issue here.
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  We don't have people coming in here dressing worldly.
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  I, I, I just don't see that here.
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  But what Paul is saying is that women should be dressing in ways
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  that professes godliness, a way that shows that you are godly.
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  So he says here, first of all, it should be modest apparel and
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  that emphasizes appropriate dress.
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  You know, you have. We have to help men to be
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  focused on the right thing because men are visual.
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  We're very visual and our and, and, and we notice things very
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  quickly. So women, you dress in ways that
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  doesn't call attention to anything negative, Then we don't
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  worry about that. It it, it's, it's tasteful
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  dressing. And, and so Paul is saying just
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  dress in a way that's, that's tasteful.
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  And then it says that the word propriety that means in or
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  shamefacedness, that means that you're, you're, you're dressing
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  in a way that's giving reverence and respect to God.
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  And then the word moderation and that means that you're dressing,
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  you're using sound judgment and inner self-control.
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  When you dress sound judgment and inner self-control with
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  moderation, it should be a spiritual radar on the inside of
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  you that tells you what is good and proper dress, what is good
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  and proper dress before we leave home.
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  We all have mirrors before we leave home.
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  You know, am I dressed appropriately now?
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  I have that. You know, when we're, you know,
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  when kids are younger mothers and fathers, we have to help our
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  teenage daughters with that help, assist.
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  We have to have feedback for our teenage daughters.
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  And part of the reason why is because society is putting out
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  clothes. I mean, almost forcing young
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  people to dress in ways that's not godly, almost forces them to
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  they're like, what's the options out there?
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  What can you buy and where can you buy it that's appropriate.
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  But I think that, you know, but we have to, but we have to give
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  assistance to our young teenage girls when it comes to dressing.
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  Told me before I worked in pharmaceuticals and, and I was
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  in an office waiting to see a doctor and there was another
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  pharmaceutical Rep in there from another company.
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  And she came in and she, we're sitting down talking.
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  I knew that she was saved and we were talking about the things of
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  the Lord and some kind of way the discussion got on clothing,
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  appropriate clothing. She has a, you know, she was
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  dealing with a teenage issue with her 14 year old daughter
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  and her daughter came downstairs one day.
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  Well, her daughter came downstairs.
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  They asked her mother and father if she can go to the mall with
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  some friends. And of course, you know, they
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  trusted her and they trusted her friends.
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  So they said sure, yeah, absolutely.
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  So she went upstairs to get dressed.
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  And when she came downstairs, they both had a strange look on
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  their face, very surprised look on their face.
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  And the teenage daughter looked at him and like, what?
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  What's wrong? What, what, what, what's wrong?
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  You know, he's how do I look? And the father, not the mother,
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  the father, he said, well, what were you shooting for when you
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  got dressed? Let me ask you that.
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  What were you going for? If you were going for a academic
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  look, if you were going for a studious look, you missed it.
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  If you were going for a cheap, kind of slutty, inviting look,
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  you nailed it. That was the way he addressed
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  it. Didn't have to say another word,
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  didn't have to say another word. Never accused her of anything.
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  Just basically gave a man's opinion of what she looked like.
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  That's all. And I think as fathers, we
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  should do that. We should give our opinion.
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  We understand how the male mind works and we have to impart that
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  to our kids because a lot of 14 year olds really don't realize
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  that they're dressing in that way because that's just the
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  styles that's out there. They see it all over the place.
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  But godliness is something different.
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  Now, the reason why he mentioned this, the braiding of the hair
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  and the gold and the perils. Again, remember, as we said at
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  the top of this, this is Ephesus, the city of Ephesus.
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  There was a lot of worldliness in the city of Ephesus and in
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  the temples they had temple prostitutes.
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  These women dressed in ways to try to attract attention to
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  themselves. So they would put on these kind
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  of things, the braiding of their hair and put glitter in their
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  hair and, and, and, and, and they would, and they would have
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  the jewelry on and all the things that would attract
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  attention to themselves so that they can, you know, do their
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  business. But Paul is saying when you
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  dress there should be a difference.
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  People should be able to see a difference that you are not one
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  of these women. You know that that that's
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  working in the temple, but that you are a woman professing
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  godliness. And that's what he's saying here
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  in verse 10. But that which is proper for
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  women professing godliness with good works.
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  In other words, if you're going to dress, cover yourself in
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  something, cover yourself with the good works.
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  Let people see that. Let that be what you adorn
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  yourself with, not the showing of flesh.
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  And then in verse 11, he says let a woman learn in silence
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  with all submission. And verse 12 says, and I do not
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  permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man, but to be
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  in silence. OK, let's stop there now He says
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  let a woman learn in silence. Again, keep in mind that at that
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  particular time, you know, he was given instruction in church
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  about church order. And he was trying to help them
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  to understand what is proper order and what is out of order.
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  And apparently whatever was happening here.
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  And he also mentioned this and to a letter, in a letter to the
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  Corinthians as well, when he said that, look, these women
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  need to learn how to be quiet during the service.
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  These are women. And you got to remember, they
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  sit apart. You know, the men sit on one
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  side, women sit on the other side.
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  You know, so if they're women, they have a question.
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  They just thought it was OK to just, you know, hey, excuse me,
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  you know, what does that mean? Or or holler to her husband
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  that's sitting on the other side of the room.
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  Hey, John, what is he talking about?
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  This is joint service. Obviously that would be
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  disruptive and Paul's addressing that they can learn, but learn
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  in silence. Learn in silence.
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  In fact, in First Corinthians, in First Corinthians 1434, I
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  think he says let's let's turn it real quick, First Corinthians
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  chapter 14 and 34. And he said, let your women keep
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  silence in the churches for they are not permitted to speak, but
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  they are to be submissive as the law also says.
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  And if they want to learn something, let them ask their
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  own husbands at home for the shameful for a woman to speak in
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  church. That doesn't mean that women
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  have to totally keep their mouth shut.
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  But join the service. You know, he's saying don't be
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  disruptive. It's a shame for women to be
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  disruptive in service and to interfere or interrupt with the
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  flow of the Spirit as the word of God is going forth.
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  That is, that's disturbing it, it's disruptive.
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  So that's what Paul's talking about that not saying that women
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  can't talk in church. That's not what it's saying.
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  Join the service. Be respectful.
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  And these are things that obviously we understand because
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  we grew up in the church. But this is Ephesus.
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  They didn't have this kind of order initially.
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  They weren't used to this. So that's why Paul gave the
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  instruction. And even now sometimes it's
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  appropriate to give that instruction because from time to
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  time you might see someone that may not have a lot of experience
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  in church who could be disruptive.
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  And then in verse 12 it says, now I do not permit a woman to
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  teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.
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  And again, does that mean that women can never teach in the
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  church? No, what it means is that in a
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  mixed congregation like this, a woman should not be the teacher.
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  A man should teach the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
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  We are taught in Titus chapter 2, verses 3 and four that women
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  or the older women are to teach the younger women.
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  That's where women teach women teach women, women teach men,
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  not stand up in a congregation like this and teach men because
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  when because the Bible says that we are under the authority.
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  A woman is under the authority of a man.
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  Man is over woman, Christ is over man, and God is over
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  Christ. So women are under the authority
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  of the men here in the church, the pastors or the teachers,
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  because once someone is teaching, we're under that
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  authority. We're under that authority, and
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  women should not be placed in that position.
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  That's just positioning. We're not talking about ability,
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  OK? We're not talking about ability.
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  Can women teach? Absolutely.
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  They're capable of teaching. We're not talking about ability.
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  We're talking about church order is what he's calling church
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  order. This is what's appropriate in
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  the church, and I do not permit a woman to teach or have
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  authority over a man, but to be in silence.
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  Verse 13, Now he gives his reason, a reason for saying that
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  in verse 13 he says Adam was formed first, then Eve.
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  So it's the order of creation that he goes back to.
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  He refers to the order of creation.
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  Adam was first, the man was first, and then Eve.
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  Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into
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  transgression. So what is he saying here?
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  What he's saying? He's not saying that Adam wasn't
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  wrong. He's not saying that Adam wasn't
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  wrong. He's not saying that Adam's sin
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  was any less than Eve's sin. But what he is saying is that
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  Adam's sin wide with his eyes wide open because he had the
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  law. He had the instruction.
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  He just went and followed his wife who had overstepped him and
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  made a independent decision. And because of that, sin came
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  into the world. So he says Adam was first.
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  That's the order of creation. So then he goes on and he says
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  it was a woman that fell into transgression.
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  So women can teach, but they should teach.
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  Women should teach women. Older women should teach the
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  younger women, teach them how to love their husbands, how to love
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  their children. We need that.
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  We need that. Is that any less important or
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  significant than what Clark or I or anybody else that stands up
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  here does? Absolutely not.
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  It's important when women teach other women how to be godly
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  women. That is important.
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  It's significant, very important.
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  Here on Living Waters of Grace, we're in the books of First and
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  Second Timothy. Pastor Lewis Harrell is walking
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  us through these letters written from Paul to Timothy.
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  Toward the end of these letters, Paul is anticipating that his
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  time here on earth is coming to a close.
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  He's giving some final words of advice to his mentee.
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  Paul writes in Second Timothy 4, verse seven.
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  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have
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  kept the faith. Wherever you are in your journey
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  of faith with God, our hope is that you have the willingness to
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  fight for what's true, not compromising, but holding fast
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  to the Word of God. Paul was reminding Timothy of
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  this. And it's a good reminder for you
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  and for me today, too. For helpful input throughout
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  this series, why not listen to all of these teachings from
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  First and Second Timothy on our website?
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  Go to calvarychapelonline.com to access teachings, download our
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  app, and more. If you'd like to visit us this
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  weekend, we'd be delighted. Living Waters of Grace is a
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  ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA
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  Come to our service held at 10:30 AM on Sundays.
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  We're located at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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  Ste. 6B. For any other information on our
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  weekly service, visit calvarychapelonline.com.
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  You can also join our e-mail list, give online or submit a
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  prayer request right from the site.
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  If you can't make it in person, be sure to tune into Calvary
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  Chapel Westmoreland's YouTube channel.
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  Subscribe so you never miss new teachings.
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  We thank you for tuning in today and ask that you come back for
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  more solid and biblical teaching from Pastor Lewis right here on
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  Living Waters of Grace.