Stronger Women - Saddleback Weekend Service

Come on, put those hands together. Let's worship the Lord together. Come on. ♪ ♪ Jesus, please say it to you. Come on, let's lift it up. ♪ I was buried beneath my shame ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Who could carry that kind away ♪ ♪ It was mine ♪ ♪ 'Til I met ♪ Come on church, let's sing. I was breathing. ♪ I was breathing but not ♪ ♪ Not alive ♪ ♪ Though my fear is I've tried ♪ ♪ Too high ♪ ♪ It was mine too ♪ ♪ It was mine too ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus, 'til I met ♪ Come on, let's sit down, good go! ♪ You called my name ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ And I ran out of that grave ♪ ♪ Out of the darkness ♪ ♪ I loved the darkness ♪ ♪ Into your glorious state ♪ ♪ You called my name ♪ ♪ And I ran out of that grave ♪

♪ Thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Out of the darkness ♪ ♪ Into your glorious state ♪ ♪ You called my name ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Come on, now your mercy ♪ ♪ Now your mercy has saved my soul ♪ ♪ Come on, we're thankful for that today ♪ ♪ Now your freedom ♪ ♪ Now your freedom is all ♪ ♪ And I know ♪ ♪ The only new ♪ ♪ The only new ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus, when I met you ♪ ♪ Come on, Church, shout it out ♪ ♪ When you called my name ♪ ♪ Come on, we'll sit down ♪ ♪ And I ran out of that grave ♪ ♪ Out of the darkness ♪ ♪ Out of the darkness ♪ ♪ Into your glorious state ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You called my name ♪ ♪ And I ran out of that grave ♪ ♪ Out of the darkness ♪ ♪ Into your glorious state ♪ ♪ You called my name ♪ ♪ Come on, every day in our time today ♪ ♪ We all have a testimony to sing ♪

♪ Let's give them glory today ♪ ♪ Let's sing this together, I need it ♪ ♪ I needed a rescue ♪ ♪ I was heavy ♪ ♪ But chains break ♪ ♪ I knew it would be a goal ♪ ♪ I knew your shelter ♪ ♪ I wasn't born ♪ ♪ Now you call me a citizen of heaven ♪ ♪ Come on, we have words ♪ ♪ When I was broken ♪ ♪ You were my healing ♪ ♪ Now your love is the enemy of me ♪ ♪ Now you call me a citizen of heaven ♪ ♪ You called me a citizen of heaven ♪ ♪ I ran out of that grave ♪ ♪ Out of the darkness ♪ ♪ Into your glorious state ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus, you called my name ♪ ♪ And I ran out of that grave ♪ ♪ Out of the darkness ♪ ♪ Into your glorious state ♪ ♪ Come on, we're thankful for it ♪ ♪ Come on, talk to him ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ We're in glorious state ♪ ♪ Come on, can we give a praise today, Jesus ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, we're so grateful ♪

♪ For everything you've done ♪ ♪ For everything that you're doing ♪ ♪ Tonight, we just want to give you thanks ♪ ♪ Come on, church, let's lift our voice ♪ ♪ Let's declare this together ♪ ♪ So there was no way ♪ ♪ Until you made one ♪ ♪ In grace upon grace ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it ♪ ♪ You did it, yes you did ♪ ♪ And even though I couldn't earn it ♪ ♪ You give it ♪ ♪ Let's say it ♪ ♪ Who am I that you keep me ♪ ♪ Oh, my God, I'm just grateful for it ♪ ♪ 'Cause God, I'm just grateful for it ♪ (dramatic music) It's got a chance to wait for you Yes, I am In the holy holy There's only one Come on, say I give you glory I give you glory For all of you Even though Even though I don't deserve it You did it as you did it all Even though I couldn't hurt it You did it

You were mine and you keep me on your mind God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you Come on, say I'm on my life For all my life, you've been right here by my sun God, I'm just grateful for you I'm really, really ahead of you So who am I? Who am I? That you keep me on your mind God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you All my life, all my life You've been right here by my sun God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful Lord, I'm grateful We're thankful for all you've done We're thankful for who you are So we sing to you, Jesus Come on, let's lift this up together In night I'm lifting both of my heads 'Cause you gave me tens after chance After chance in life I'm giving all that I am 'Cause you gave me chance after chance After chance, come on, say I'm lifting both of my heads 'Cause you gave me chance after chance

After chance in life I'm giving all that I am 'Cause you gave me chance after chance After chance, come on, say Who am I? That you keep me on your mind God, I'm just grateful God, I'm just grateful for you Oh, oh my life You've been right here by my sun God, I'm just grateful for you It's not just grateful for you Who am I? I am my man You gave me on your mind God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you Oh, oh my life Oh, oh my life You've been right here by my sun God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful Come on, catch the bus and not survive 'Cause if I survive And I'm here and tested But God, I'm just grateful And Jesus, God, I'm just grateful for you If I'm all right If they say I'm out of my mind God, I'm just grateful for you

God, I'm just grateful for you But won't give them praise to you Jesus, we are so grateful For who you are We're grateful for your goodness For your blessings Lord But we're so grateful For your presence There is nothing like your presence, Lord Your word says that the fullness of joy Comes from your presence, Lord And so we invite you to this space Right now, Lord As we worship, God, we're saying We need you, Lord We want more of you, God There's nothing like your presence There's nothing like your presence Thank you, God And God, I live to worship you Open hands and open heart, you're the only one I want Your presence is my treasure, my delight Can we sing? So fall like rain Holy Spirit fall like rain Holy Spirit have your way Let your glory fall down Let your glory fall down I think I ask, I think I seek so much more than anything To dwell within your house for all my days

Knowing you is everything I let go of my service You alone are worthy of my grace So stir in me your passion for your day Fall like rain Holy Spirit fall like rain Holy Spirit have your way Let your glory fall down Let your glory fall down Fall like rain Holy Spirit fall like rain Holy Spirit have your way Let your glory fall down Let your glory fall down Let it fall 'Cause we need your presence Lord There's nothing like your presence Lord So may I never lose the wonder of your presence May I always stand in awe of who you are For the beauty and gift of your presence Is there like anything I've ever known? May I never lose the wonder of your presence May I always stand in awe of who you are For the beauty and the gift of your presence Is there like anything I've ever known? Fall like rain Holy Spirit fall like rain Holy Spirit have your way Let your glory fall down Let your glory fall down

Fall like rain Holy Spirit fall like rain Holy Spirit have your way Let your glory fall down Let your glory fall down May I never lose the wonder of your presence May I always stand in awe of who you are For the beauty and the gift of your presence Is there like anything I've ever known? May I never lose the wonder of your presence May I always stand in awe of who you are To fall, I bring comes in, holy spirit fall out. Holy spirit, have your way, let your glory fall, let your glory fall down. Welcome to Saddleback, thanks so much for joining us for church this weekend. Saddleback Church is one church in many locations, which means that when we have physical locations all across Southern California and the world, and then we also have our online community, which exists to help people engage deeper for those that aren't located near a physical campus. And so we would love to get to know you if it is your first time joining us online and checking out our church, whether it's getting plugged into one of those physical locations or engaging with our online community, but it starts with you letting us know it's your first time here. And so you can do that if you're watching on YouTube, there's a link that you can click to fill out a new here form or even better we have a Saddleback Church app that you can download, set your campus to online community, and then fill out that new here form. We would love to get to know you and to help you get plugged in. But at Saddleback, one of the things that we believe about church is that it's more than just watching the weekend service or attending on the weekends, but it's engaging deeper and growing deeper in our faith together as a community, which is why we have our Saddleback Church app, which is a great tool and resource to help you to do that. You can follow along with the message notes today through the app. You can stay up to date with the events that are going on. And one of the fun things that we have going on on the app right now is our five-week challenge.

Last weekend, Pastor Andy introduced it with our stronger series, but we are encouraging people to consistently attend church, because we believe that when people consistently attend, that their faith grows exponentially. And so through the Saddleback Church app, you can follow along with the five-week challenge. Mark that you were here this weekend, earn a little badge, and it's super fun to do that. So make sure you do that if you're joining us this week. But church family, we are super excited for what is going on in the life of our church. This upcoming October, we have two activates that we are offering because we know that some of you are located internationally and we want to give you the opportunity to get connected with our church by attending activate. Because at activate, it is your starting point. It is one of the best ways to learn about Saddleback, the history of it, and what it looks like for you to be a part of it, and also grow in your purpose that God has given you. So make sure you sign up on the app. Church family, we are so grateful that you're here this weekend. Let's join the rest of our church for this message. Hey Saddleback, it's week two of our stronger message series and our five-week challenge. Through this series and challenge, we are making every weekend count for our adults, students, and kids as we all grow stronger together in our faith. Now my family has been having a ton of fun with this challenge already. We've been collecting our stickers and talking about why church is important to us. And every weekend gives our kids an opportunity to know Jesus more and build friendships that encourage their faith. And as adults, we need that too. So remember to check in today through the homepage of the Saddleback app. Our kids and students are following their own challenges in their services too. Now we have something fun to celebrate from our marriage retreat last week. Couples from across our campuses took time to reconnect and grow stronger together. Through practical teaching from Saddleback pastors, couples learned tools that they could practice together. They had fun and renewed their vows, and new small groups even formed out of this retreat. One couple, Greg and Chrissy, shared that they had been fighting all week, even on the drive to the retreat. But they left with a new connection and shared goals for their marriage and family. And now they're committed to carrying that into their everyday life.

Next weekend, we're going to keep this conversation going as we talk about stronger marriages with pastors, Andy and Stacy. As a church family, we all have a part in building stronger homes. Because when marriages grow stronger, we see stronger families, a stronger church, and stronger communities. And that's the heart behind our current series and our stronger homes initiative. In church, because of your giving, we can continue investing in marriages and helping families build their lives on Jesus. If you regularly give, thank you. Thank you for making this ministry possible. And if you'd like to give your tie they're offering today, you can do that through the app or giving envelope near you. Before we dive into this week's message, let's watch this together. the beginning of time, and the world with the enemy creates a value system that wars against God's design. Part of the beauty, the goodness of creation was this work, but in the curse, that core piece of a man's identity and what they do with their life is curse. So your strength is going to be derived out of the presence of God, the word of God strengthening you. You're so confused by the different cultural narratives, and it wasn't mean to be a good man, or to be a good woman, or to have a good marriage, or like, there are so many different competing voices. Well, hello, everybody. It's so good to be together today. If you're joining us online or at one of our campuses and extensions, we want to say welcome to you. We are so glad that you are with us. This weekend. So we are in the second week of this amazing message series called Stronger, and this week was a huge week. Andy preached an amazing message about stronger men last weekend, and then we launched this podcast, and we're so excited about what God is doing in our church right now, because really the whole idea behind this stronger series is that God has a divine design for us. And if we will live into that as men and as women, and if we will arrange our marriages

and our families around that, it actually leads to greater strength in our life. There's greater fulfillment. There's flourishing. There's joy. There's peace. All in God's design. And so last week, Andy just talked about how God was calling up a generation of men to this compelling vision of masculinity that comes from the Bible. Humanity was God's idea, and somehow the world has hijacked it and given us a toxic form of it, but God's saying, "No, I'm going to redeem that because it was my idea in the first place." And so this week, we are going to get to talk about God's beautiful design for womanhood. And I've got to tell you, I'm really glad that we're talking about it, because I don't know if you've noticed, but this topic can be a bit confusing and a bit controversial these days. So what in the world does it even mean to be a stronger woman? Like who gets to decide that? What definition are we going to go by? Because there's a lot of different voices that have opinions around this issue, and it can all be so confusing around the ways of womanhood. I want to give you three different cultural examples, things that are happening here in current events in the United States, and I know that at our international campuses, you probably have parallel things that you're dealing with in culture there, too. Okay, so three quick examples. Last month, the governor of Massachusetts, her name is Mara Healy, was deemed a hero by some people, and she was deemed evil by other people as she signed into law the same called the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act. And what that meant is that now physicians are given the freedom to determine when a late stage abortion is appropriate. And so as she signed this into law, there were women who cheered, and they called it

a step of progress, and then there were other women who wept, and they said that's criminal. So women on very different sides of the same issue. For example, the recent trial of Lindsay Clancy. So Lindsay Clancy was on trial because she strangled and killed her three children. And this trial created a really intense polarizing effect. There were these throngs of women that surfaced to show their support for Lindsay Clancy, and they wore their pink, and they held signs that said it could have been any of us, and the system failed you, but then there were these other women that just completely disagreed with that, and they said no, there were three children who were killed by their mother, their caregiver, and she has to be held accountable for that. So again, they're women with very different perspectives about the same issue. One more example, the only fans platform. I don't know if you know what all these fans is, I hope you don't, but in case you don't, it is a subscription-based platform, and the content creators earn money by having people subscribe to their channel. Now, 98% of the content on only fans is pornographic in nature. In fact, out of all the websites in the whole world, OnlyFans is in the top 100 of those websites. There are over 400 million users per month of OnlyFans. And the thing that's interesting is that 84% of the content creators are women. So this gives a very confusing mixed message to women because some women are building careers and they're making a lot of money out of their ability to use this explicit content of their own bodies while at the same time, there are other women that are being exploited. It's creating a breeding ground for human trafficking. And so some women would defend and even celebrate their right to create this content and to earn money,

however they want to earn their money. But then there are other women who would give their whole lives to fighting human trafficking and any organization that would perpetuate it. So we see again, women with very different perspectives on the same issue. Now what should trouble us about these different examples and culture is that so many people who would consider themselves Bible believing Christians, they have been deceived by the enemy's lies that he's infiltrating, not just into culture, but into the church. And so there is this deception that we're living under. Can you see this deception that there are things that are an abomination to the Lord? But they have been cloaked in the disguise of compassion. Or they've been cloaked in the disguise of tolerance and inclusion. And these things are so confusing to our culture and to our church. And what used to be called evil is now being called good. And what used to be so clear that that's good, it's now being called evil. And some of you are probably listening to this and you're just like, how in the world has our culture drifted this far? And then there are others of you and you're thinking, I mean, yeah, this is the real world that I live in. And so the church is archaic teaching about womanhood. It's not super relevant to me.

It's not super helpful. There are a lot of women who actually feel that way. According to some Barna research, that women are just exiting the church at massive rates right now. It's actually the first time in history that men have outpaced women in church attendance. That has never happened before. And there was a New York Times article that was released this past week. And it ran this headline. It said, "When faith is used to control "and subordinate women, they leave the church." Is that what faith does? Does faith control and subordinate women? Is that what the Bible teaches? Because that's certainly a common narrative right now. So what does it look like for women? To be strong, godly, biblical women. Well, here's what I believe with all my heart. And as I was preparing for this message, it felt heavy. Because it felt like this cultural moment that we're in that's a little bit unique to where we've been in the past. There's a whole generation of women who are clearly taking a different path. And they're living according to a different set of values. And they're leaving the church in massive numbers. And I felt there's this heaviness about this time that we're in. And what I just kept coming back to is that

I believe that this book has good news in it. And it's good news for men. And it's good news for women. And there's a master designer that created us with intentionality and thoughtfulness. And we have a heavenly Father that we can trust. And when he gives us boundaries, it's for our blessing. You see, there's a way that it seems right to me. There's a way that seems right to the world. But in the end, it leads to death. It doesn't take you to the freedom that you're so confident you're gonna find out there. But there is a way that leads to life and it's through a narrow gate. But here's the thing. You cannot experience the peace of God without following the ways of God. And you will be extremely frustrated. And you will have an unsatisfying spiritual journey if you try to follow God with one foot in the world. but not everything." And what I have experienced in my own life is that when I wholeheartedly tried to align my life with the teaching of God's Word, that is when I feel inside of myself an alignment and a peace in every different facet of my life, from my personal life, to my marriage, to my children, to my career. There's a blessing that comes in following the ways of God that we can only experience when we hold up

this word of truth. And so that's what we're gonna do today. We are going to hold this up as if this has the answers that we need. And if we could just figure out what God's divine design is and if we could live in accordance with that, it actually would provide strength to our life. It actually would provide that peace that we're looking for, that freedom that we're searching for. We would find it in God's Word. And so that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna start at the very beginning in Genesis. And Andy spent a lot of time in the creation story last week. But today I want to approach it, not so much from a perspective of manhood and not even from a perspective of marriage. We're gonna talk about marriage next week. But the perspective that I want us to look at it is God's creation of the first woman and what he had to say about her. 'Cause this message today is not just for married women. It's for single women and married women. It's for young women, it's for old women. God has a design that we start to live in as little girls, that we nurture and we develop and we call out and then we see it flourish throughout a lifetime. And so we're gonna start in Genesis chapter one and see what God has to say about this first woman. In Genesis chapter one, 27, it says, "So God created mankind in his own image."

And the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. And then down in verse 31, it says, "God saw all that he had made and it was very good." So the very first chapter in the whole Bible establishes that men and women were very good in God's eyes, that when he created them, he was pleased and it establishes their worth and their dignity. Why? Because they were made in the image of God. It was nothing that they did to earn that dignity. It was given to them as a gift being made in the image of God. Now chapter two of Genesis is a bit of a double click on this verse where God created mankind. And we get to dive in and see a more in-depth look of the creation of man and woman. And so after God had made man, but before he had made woman, he says for the first time that there's something in his perfect, seamless creation that is not good. Look at Genesis chapter two, verse 18. The Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. Can you underline that word helper? That is the Hebrew word, Azer. And we're gonna get more into the details of this next week. But what I want to explain about this word that is translated as helper, is that sometimes in our English language, we find that that word helper carries the connotation

that the helper is inferior to the one being helped. But that's not the connotation that Azer carries. The word Azer has this connotation of a warrior, like a necessary ally, this person that brings help into the battle, the supplies that are needed to win the battle and without which the battle would have been lost. And so from the very beginning of creation, God is saying that man and woman are necessary allies for one another. So God looks at man and he says, he's gonna need some help. And God knew in his wisdom that just companionship with all the animals that he created, that was not gonna be enough for Adam. And he knew in his wisdom that friendship with another dude was not gonna be enough for Adam. God, when he decided that it's not good for man to be alone, he wanted to make a helper suitable for him and that helper was a woman. You see, there's a strength in God's design with masculinity and femininity. And so your masculinity, it doesn't diminish or compete with my being a woman. And the same is true of my femininity. It doesn't diminish or threaten your ability to be a man. We're not in competition. That God made us man and woman and he gave us some distinguishing characteristics that when we live underneath God's design there's such a strength and a partnership in the way that men and women work together. So that are all wise, all powerful God. He looked at man and he said it's not good

for me and to be alone. And so I'm going to make a helper and that helper is not going to be an animal and it's not going to be another dude. This helper is going to be a woman and it's going to be amazing. So today we're going to look at a woman's worth in the eyes of God because what I want to do is there's this competing narrative that's very popular that the Bible diminishes women, the value of women, that the church has subordinated and controlled women. Do you remember that article in the New York Times that faith controls and subordinates women? And so there's this competing narrative out there that's very popular and many women believe it. And I'm not saying that those things have never happened in the church. They have. I'm just saying that's not what the Bible teaches because we see all throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, that God is constantly elevating women. He's valuing them. He's protecting them. A couple examples way back as early as the mid-15th century BC, the God had already given the Jewish nation some laws to protect women. So men were not allowed to just divorce and abandon their wives and leave them helpless. That was one of the laws that God gave them. Also there was something to protect widows called the harvest law where widows were allowed to go behind the reapers of the grain fill and to gather food for themselves so that widows would be provided for. God had women on his mind. He was protecting and providing for them. And then when Jesus came, man, he really turned up the heat on elevating women and pushing against some cultural norms of the day. I want to give you four different examples from Jesus. So historically, number one, women would not have been allowed to receive the same education as men in those days. But we see in the gospels that Jesus allowed women to sit at his feet as a rabbi and to learn from him. And not only that, but to travel with him and his disciples. This would have been unheard of. Another example, women in those days historically would have been put to death if they were caught in the act of adultery. But we see in the gospels when a woman was brought to Jesus in the act of adultery, he did not kill her. And he did not even demean her. He restored her dignity. And he gave her a better way to live. That's our Jesus. Number three, historically, women, a woman's testimony would not have been trusted. It would not have been admissible in court. But this is so amazing because Jesus decided that the first witness of his resurrected body was going to be a woman, Mary Magdalene. And it was her testimony. It was her voice that got to be the first to say Jesus is alive. It's so mind-blowing and beautiful. One last example from the Bible. So historically daughters would not have been allowed to receive the inheritance from the family. A family inheritance was passed down through the sons. But not so

with our God. Look with me in Galatians chapter 4. And I need you to engage your mind here because these verses you have to be thinking while you read them. It says in verse 4, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship." Can you underline that phrase adoption to sonship? Because you are his sons, circle the word sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts. The spirit who calls out of a father. So you are no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Underline that word and heir. So in the Bible, sometimes there's a word translated as man, but it actually means mankind, like men and women. Or sometimes the word is translated as sons, but it could also be translated sons and daughters. Not in this passage. It is very intentionally translated as sons. And the reason being is because in the kingdom of God, God adopts his daughters also with the full rights of sons so that we have a full inheritance in the kingdom of God. Isn't that so beautiful? This is just in the face of everything, challenging all the social norms of that day. God is elevating the value of women. Now, the reason that I felt it was important to start there is because of that cultural narrative that says women have been diminished in the Bible, that women are not valued, that women are oppressed in faith but that couldn't be further from the truth. That person is saying that they don't know the heart of the Father for his daughters. You see, your dignity was established in creation and your value and worth, it was set at the cross. He shows you how much he loves you, how much he values you. And so we as women, we can live from a place of that identity, from that place of value and worth,

we don't have to prove ourselves to anyone, we don't have to fight for someone's attention or approval. God has already given us that in him. And when you know that as a woman, it makes you a stronger woman, living from a place of worth. Now, we are gonna jump into some superpowers that women have because as I was studying and researching and preparing for this message, I was like, just looking through scripture. God, what are the things? What are the characteristics that you say, distinguish a woman? Like what is it that you've crafted in women that is a little bit different than the way you've created man? Because I know that you said we're man, we're woman and there's something beautiful about that design. And so there were a lot of virtues that bubbled up to the surface, but I chose three to share with you today. And as I share them, I'm not saying that men don't also have these virtues. I'm just saying that it seems according to scripture, the things that God praises, the things he highlights, the patterns that are there, it seems that God has given women a certain grace and propensity towards these things. So the first superpower that I wanna elevate for women is that God has designed women to nurture with compassion, to nurture with compassion.

Now, I don't know what kind of mom you had. I hope you had a great mom. But we all know that there are some times you just want your mom, you know? Like if you're sick or if you just got like humiliated in front of a lot of people, like you wanna go talk to your mom about it, right? You need comfort. My dad was great at so many things. Like he was great at adventure, he taught me how to ride a bike and a horse and he was so great. But if I had the flu, I wanted my mom, you know? Like there's this one time I was, I think in high school and I had the, I was recovering from the flu and my mom was not home for some reason. And I felt like I was well enough to go to soccer practice. And so my dad was gonna give me a little medicine before I went out the door. And I was like, is that gonna make me sleepy? And he was like, no, this is the non-drowsy kind. Well, I get to practice and I am like dragging. And then I come home and look on the bottle, sure enough, it says may cause drowsyness. There are just some things that, that women have a natural propensity towards and some things that men do. And so when I was sick, I wanted my mom. But did you know that the Bible actually compares the love of God to the tenderness

and the attentiveness of a mother? Look in Isaiah chapter 66. It says, "As a mother comforts her child, "so I comfort you." Now, for me, when I read this verse, it just immediately calls to mind all these different images of women comforting their children. Like even in my own journey as a mom, all these different moments throughout motherhood of just comforting my kids. Like when they're babies, right? Can you just imagine with me like this young mama holding this fussy baby and just soothing this little baby? Or when that kid gets hurt on the playground and they just like frantically are looking for their mom to run to their mom because their mom has all the magic cures. Or I even think about like a big old high school boy that's like tough but he got his heart broken for the first time and he's not gonna let anybody else see him cry. But when he talks to his mom, there's like a safety and a comfort that he feels with her. That's how God loves us. breast and have no compassion on the child that she has born now incredibly in our day and age we've seen this that that has actually happened but but the obvious answer to this rhetorical question is no it would be unthinkable for a woman to forget the baby that she holds in her arms and that she nurses and and God goes on to say in this passage though she may forget I will not forget you you see God is making this point that as devoted and attentive and responsive is that mom is to her little baby how much more does he care for us this beautiful image you see the capacity to nurture for a woman to nurture it's evident even if you were just to consider her physical

body like her anatomy the way that her body is actually designed it speaks to God's intention for a woman to play a nurturing role in society there's this quote from Elizabeth Elliot that I find super interesting and it's found um she wrote it in a letter to her daughter before her daughter got married listen to this it says yours is the body of a woman what does it signify is there invisible meaning to its visible signs the softness the smoothness the lighter bone and muscle structure the breast the womb are they utterly unrelated to what you yourself are how can we bypass matter in our search for understanding the personality it's interesting to think about the human body and how God designed it and now that's not to say every woman will become a mother that's not true they're not every woman will will grow a baby in her womb and nurse that baby at her breast but does that mean that she doesn't have the capacity the same capacity to nurture no you think about a woman's touch and her tenderness her attentiveness her intuition to know what's needed how to serve in a moment this is the ability to nurture goes far beyond a woman's call to raise children when you think about a woman who shows up at a meeting and she shows some level of compassion to her colleague or she asked about her friend's child who has been sick like doesn't that just shift the whole atmosphere of a meeting and and it raises the culture it strengthens the culture of any circle that she's in you see God designed women to nurture with compassion and when she does the world is better for it the world is better for it all right number two the next superpower that women carry is that God designed women to influence influence with gentleness influence with gentleness now i don't think i have to prove to anyone that God has given women a strong gift of influence women know how to get it done right like we women tend to be very perceptive relationally they kind of have intuition about what's going on and and what would be the right course of action what needs to happen and how many of you know that women can influence for good or for bad like they can do it in godly ways and in ungodly ways we actually see that in the book of acts it's kind of interesting that God included this in scripture so in act chapter 13 Paul and Barnabas are going through this city and they're teaching about the ways of Jesus and the Jews decided they didn't want Paul and Barnabas in their city anymore so they were like how can we get Paul and Barnabas out of our city i know let's go to the women and the women if we get them riled up they'll get them out of the city and so look at this verse in act 13 it says the Jews incited God fearing women of high standing and the leading men of their city they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their

region so isn't it so interesting they knew if i can just get the women on board i can accomplish what needs to be accomplished because women have this power of influence not always in godly ways but if you were to flip over to act chapter 16 you would see another woman you would need a woman by the name of Lydia and Lydia was this wealthy business owner and she had a tender heart she was baptized. But not only that, she used her influence that her entire household was also baptized. And it didn't stop there. Lydia hosted the very first church, the first Christian church in that whole region of Macedonia started in her house. Lydia used her gift of influence for godly purposes. It's so beautiful. Now we all know that women have a whole arsenal of weapons that we can use to influence things the way that we want them to go, right? We can adjust circumstances using these things. And actually the Bible gives us some warnings about many of these weapons that we use. So this is not the time to elbow the woman sitting beside you or to try to make eye contact. But here's just a few of our weapons that we all know. We all know we have these. Like a woman can nag you to death. And eventually you will relent because you will just want relief. You will do whatever she is nagging you about because you just want her off your back. That's the power of influence right there. She can nag you. Secondly, women know how to gossip just enough. Like women don't want to be known as a gossip, but we know. We know how to drop just enough pertinent information to kind of sway opinions and like arrange things the way that we want them arranged. Another way is women have a very strong gift of emotion. And we can use this in so many different ways to manipulate circumstances. Like we can cry big puppy dog tears if we need to or we can ice you out for as long as we need to or we can yell so many words per minute that you will just cower and try to take cover from whatever it is that we're mad about right. We got some power with these emotions. Now probably the most powerful force that a woman uses is when she uses her physical beauty to achieve some kind of gain. Now the reality is that God has made women beautiful and that's a good thing right. I mean much better than the alternative and the problem is though and this is a problem as old as time is that sometimes women will use their physical beauty or their sexual appeal to accomplish things and to manipulate circumstances. Now listen girls. God has given us so much influence. Like he has equipped us with perception and intuition and relational intelligence. And so what he's saying is he's inviting us to not lean on physical beauty as a power to achieve our ends. What he's saying is there's something so much deeper that you can attach your influence to than just your

physical beauty. So I want to talk about this one verse that has that I think kind of gives us a framework for how we're to look at physical beauty because God's not saying it's a bad thing. He's just saying it sometimes gets disordered. So look at first Peter chapter three with me. It says your beauty should not come from outward appearance. That means that that's not the source of the beauty. It doesn't mean you won't have beauty on outward appearance. It just means that it's not where it should come from such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead your beauty should come from that of your inner self. The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is a great worth in the sight of God. Girls you are beautiful. That has been established. Like you are lovely and form and in feature. God made you that way and he's not asking you to wear a paper bag over your head. This verse is what it's appealing to is that there is a strength that a woman can carry that is grounded in something so much deeper than that outward beauty that just eventually fades away. But how many of us as women we have a disordered priority around physical beauty and we we stress about it and we spend money on it and we feel insecure about it and because we think that that it's supreme that this is how we achieve things as a woman. This is how society views us and judges us. It's by our physical beauty and what What God is saying to you is that... if he has created you to be. You don't need to dress like that. You don't need to call attention to that. He's saying to us, why don't you try a gentle and quiet spirit and see how much influence that gives you? Why don't you try having character that is so strong that it gives weight to your words? Why don't you become a woman who is so rooted and grounded and prayer that you're not swayed by all the storms of this life? There's a peacefulness that comes from you. That is what the world needs more of. Not more women that are out there trying to sell everything on the market by the power of sexual appeal.

We need women who are clothed with strength and dignity and who can laugh at the days to come. Girls, God has made you a person of influence and according to God's good design. The path to influence is not one of force. It's gentleness. God has designed you to influence with gentleness. All right, now one last one. And I'm gonna go quickly on this one. God has designed women, this is a superpower. God has designed women to support with wisdom, to support with wisdom. Do you remember the word that God used to describe that very first woman that he ever created? She's a helper. It was Azer. She was the woman that would rush into battle at just the right moment and provide the supplies that were needed so that the battle could be won. Girls, this is in our core DNA. This is in our identity of how God created us. God created us just to know, to have intuition of the help that is needed in any given moment. What a blessing it is. And when we learn to perceive it, when we learn to listen to the voice of God, when we grow in our wisdom, we get better and better at this. I love this image from Psalm 144, where it says our daughters will be like pillars.

Pillars carved to adorn a palace. Now, what does a pillar do? A pillar upholds, a pillar supports. The whole weight of a building is resting on those pillars. So there is a strength that is required to live your life as a woman. The woman that God has designed you to be. In Proverbs 31, which is this whole chapter about a woman of noble character, a virtuous woman, this is how she's described. It says she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue. How many of you girls want that to be true of you? The people know when they come to you, they're gonna get wisdom, that they're gonna get faithful instruction that's actually helpful for the trajectory of their life. I want that to be true of me. And I know sometimes it's not. Sometimes we give bad advice. Sometimes we don't come across as that wise woman, but listen girls, wisdom is your inheritance. You were designed by God to be a wise woman and he desires for you to grow in wisdom. In Proverbs chapter 14, it says that a wise woman builds her house. A wise woman builds her house. But with her own hands, the foolish one tears hers down. And this verse breaks my heart because when I look at the world around us,

I just see so many women tearing down their lives. I look at these young college students that are going off and they're being brainwashed with these ideologies and they're tearing down their future life. And no one wants to do this. We all want to build our life with strength. No one wants to get to 55 years old and realize you blew up your whole life with your own foolishness. But sometimes we build on a faulty foundation. The ways of this world is a faulty foundation. And our lives cannot handle the pressure and live on this faulty foundation. Even the strongest of pillars will collapse on a faulty foundation. And that's why it is so important, so profoundly important, the foundation that you choose to build your life upon, that we're reflective about that, that we're intentional about that. And if we're honest today, some of you have been kind of piecemealing the foundation of your life. And your faith is part of that foundation, but also you've got mixed in there, and your political ideology and we throw it all in one big mixer and we we we we mix it up and then we pour it out and we call it the foundation of our life but there will come a day where that will be shaken because that kind of foundation cannot hold up under the weight of this life. Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away all things will be shaken and there is one thing

that will remain and it is the word of God the eternal word of God and if so there is really only one foundation that is sturdy enough for a wise woman to build her life upon and girls what I want you to know is that this book has good news for you it's not an oppressive story it's not a narrative that will keep you quieted down and pushed to the side and you can never use your gifts and you can never be intelligent and you have to like just not be beautiful no that's not the story of the word of God this has good news for you you have a father in heaven who designed you and his design is beautiful and it's for your flourishing he can be trusted and when he gives us boundaries it's for our blessing his ways lead to life so I want to invite you to stand with me right now we're going to just go into a time of reflection response just asking the Holy Spirit God is there anywhere in my life that I am not living in alignment with your word because what we need to do in this moment is we need to hold up the word of God and to say I will submit myself to the word of God I'm not going to look at at the word of God through the lens of culture and what culture is teaching I am going to look at culture through the lens of the word of God and I will submit myself to that because we believe so deeply that if we will do that if we will align with what the Bible teaches it actually will strengthen and bless our lives so let's close our eyes and let's just calm down our hearts for a minute take a deep breath and let's just invite the Holy Spirit to come and just speak to us now and the Holy Spirit we just invite you is there anything in our lives that are out of alignment with you last week learning about manhood this week learning about womanhood what are there are there ways that we have been and still traded with lies from the enemy that are just like commonly accepted today God how how do you want us to live would you convict our hearts right now would you drop something into our heart that doesn't align with you so that we could just confess it that we could repent of it because God we want to live according to your ways we want to experience your blessing so we invite you Holy Spirit to come or Jesus we just say you you are the center of all things all of life revolves around you and we want you to be the center of our lives the center of our hearts you were on the throne today and we lift you high so we pray this in the name of Jesus and church let's just go into a moment of worship right now where we just acknowledge Jesus is the center of it all and he's the one that we want our whole lives to honor and then as we worship you're going to see some buckets pass by and if there's something on your heart that you're needing prayer for we would love to pray for you you can actually drop that

in the bucket as it passes by but come on let's sing and respond together you are the center of it my heart belongs to you my Savior oh you're the one I want to for the beauty of your name my soul will live to say Jesus I love you sing that together oh for you are the center of it all my heart belongs to you my Savior oh you're the one I want to for the beauty of your name my soul will live to say Jesus I love you Jesus I love you Jesus I love you Jesus ♪ And know how I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Love you more ♪ ♪ And oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ In my whole life ♪ ♪ For you all ♪ ♪ In my whole world ♪ ♪ For you all ♪ ♪ Me everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days ♪ ♪ Tell a story ♪ ♪ Let it be ♪ ♪ Of your only everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ In my whole life ♪ ♪ For your glory ♪ ♪ In my whole world ♪ ♪ For you all ♪ ♪ Me everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days ♪

♪ Tell a story ♪ ♪ Let it be ♪ ♪ Of your only everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ In my whole life ♪ ♪ For you all ♪ ♪ In my whole world ♪ ♪ For you all ♪ ♪ Me everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days ♪ ♪ Tell a story ♪ ♪ Let it be ♪ ♪ Of your only everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if I want to love you ♪ ♪ Come and love your love ♪ ♪ I want to love you ♪ ♪ In Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ And if I want to love you ♪ ♪ We need your love ♪ ♪ And if I want to love you ♪ ♪ In Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Oh for you ♪ ♪ Are the center of your own ♪ ♪ It won't come if you're with me ♪ ♪ I save your own ♪ ♪ For the honor of your own ♪ ♪ For the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to save you ♪

♪ Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ My soul will live to save you ♪ ♪ Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ My soul will live to save you ♪ ♪ Jesus I love you ♪ - Thank you for joining us for church this weekend. I love getting to hear from Pastor Stacey and the wisdom that she has to share. And I think whether that you're a man or a woman, we all have something to take away from this message today. For girls we can live out our identity in Christ and for other people we can encourage one another in what that looks like. Church family we're so grateful that you're here this weekend and we want to invite you. Don't forget to let us know what next steps up. You might want to be taking in your faith. Whether there's something that you need prayer for or you want to start a relationship with Jesus, we as a church would love to come alongside you to be praying for you in that and be walking with you through these next steps. We're so grateful that you're here this weekend and we hope to see you again next weekend as we continue our stronger series and get to hear from both Pastor Andy and Stacey. We'll see you then. (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪

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