00:00Welcome back to part three of the woman of the word. And today we're going to continue in Titus chapter two, verse three to five. In part one, we spoke about woman being irreverent in behavior. In part two, we spoke about what it meant to not be slanderous. If you haven't watched part one and part two, I highly recommend that you do and start with part one because part one, which is so, so good about talking about being reverent in behavior and part two about teaching about what it means to not be slanderous. And now we are going to talk about the next part that Paul wants us to truly understand in part three, and it's to not to be enslaved to excess and to walk in freedom. Okay, I want you guys to really understand what this means. And we're going to go deep into what it means to not be excess, right? And the verse says Titus chapter two, verse three to five, the older woman, likewise, that they'd be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not giving too much wine. This is the part we're going to be talking about, not giving too much wine. And it's not literally talking about wine. Paul mentions wine specifically, but the deeper word underneath this is doulo, which means to be enslaved, to be brought under the control of something. Paul is not just talking about alcohol. He's talking about anything that quietly becomes your master, comfort food, scrolling, control, business, shopping, approval, whatever you reach for first, when anxiety hits before you reach for God, that is what Paul is addressing here. So when you are anxious, whatever you reach for first, if it's alcohol, if it's social media, if it's talking to your best friend on the phone, if it's not to reach for God, you are being controlled by that very thing. Even control, you feeling that you have to control a situation that is given too much excess. Self-control in the kingdom is not willpower. It is not gritting your teeth and white knuckling your way through temptation. It is grace steering your appetite. It is the Holy Spirit filling the space that the craving was trying to fill. A woman of the word turns her anxiety into prayer before she reaches for anything for her source of comfort. Think about the story of Samson, for example. In Judges chapter 16, Samson was anointed, set apart by God from birth, but he had a weakness he kept giving access to. We all know the story. Delilah pressed him daily until he gave away the secret of his strength. In Judges chapter 16 verse 1, he says, and he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Samson did not lose his anointing in one moment. He lost it through repeated compromise. Every time we want back to what masters us instead of bringing it to God, we give away a piece of what he entrusted to us.
02:53Every single time we have to remember when we feel anxious, God. When we feel we can't keep going, God. When we feel sad, God. When we feel discomfort, God. Whatever it is, we turn to God. We turn to his word because a woman of the word knows that she will not be giving too much access because being given too much access, given too much wine. Remember, we're not only talking about alcohol here. You can literally tie that into alcohol, but Paul was talking about doulo, the Greek word He's talking about giving too much access of something when you're scrolling more than you're reading your word. That means that you need to fix that. When you are speaking on the phone, more than speaking to God, more than praying to God, you need to fix that. You could be talking to your husband more than you're talking to God. And that is a problem because you should not have any other thing above God. He should be number one in your life. A woman who does this turns anxiety into prayer before reaching for any substitute. When she feels the pull of a craving, she recognizes it as an invitation to seek God. You know, even chocolate. I know there's some women who love chocolate and when they feel anxious, they want to eat some chocolate to feel good. That can literally be the very thing that you are accessing of. Literally food, comfort food can be the excess of and you don't want to turn that anxiety into that. You want to turn it into prayer. You seek God. A woman who doesn't do this numbs her pain instead of naming it before God. She reaches for comfort before she reaches for the presence of the Holy