1 Timothy for the life of..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good. Welcome, everyone, to our Wednesday Bible study.

And if you have your Bibles, would you please open them up to the first letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy? We are continuing with our series through this first letter of the Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy. We took a break and we're going to continue through this whole book the whole book. This evening, beloved Brennan, we're going to be addressing verses 11 through 14. We're going to focus on, we're going to read the whole section going from chapter 2, verse 8, and I want us to go all the way through chapter 3, the whole chapter.

We're going to be focusing our attention in that section that starts at verse 11, okay? So if you have your Bibles with you, let's read carefully The instructions that the Apostle Paul is going to give to Timothy starting in verse 8 It says I desire then this chapter two. I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. Likewise, also that women should adorn themselves in respectful apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works. Now, pay attention to this.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yes, she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

The saying is trustworthy. Chapter three. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into the snare of the devil. Deacons, likewise, must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and let them also be tested first. Then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded. faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own household well.

For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Verse 14, I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you, so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God. A pillar and batteries of the truth. Great indeed, we confess is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaim among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Amen. That's the words of God and the verses that we're gonna be focusing on. Actually, we can we can read those 12345 verses that go from verse 11 to verse 15. Let's just pay attention to the argument and the order of the argument of the Apostle when he says, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I, Paul, do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

Rather, she is to remain quiet. Why? For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she, the woman, will be saved through childbearing if they, women, continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

Amen. The words of God. Now, brothers and sisters, the passage that we have here in front of us, it can be easily divided, let's say, into two different sections, if you will. Actually, you know, preachers, sometimes they divide passages into many sections as they want. But for the sake of these two Bible studies that we're going to have, we're going to divide this passage in two sections.

the first section that speaks about the role of women within the context of the church. We have just read the entire section. And in the end of chapter three, he says, Paul says to Timothy in the end of chapter three, I am writing these things to you, Timothy, so that if I delay to come to you, you may know someone may know how people want to behave. within the context of the church, which is the church of the living God or or which is the bachelors and the foundation of the truth, the household of God. So the instructions that the apostle is given is for the life of the church.

So this first section, we could take it as the role of women when it pertains to teaching within the context of the church and the apostle summarized that very simply and then he says let women or let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness and then he says i do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man rather that they may be quiet, they may remain quiet. And then he gives the reason for Adam was formed first and then Eve was deceived first and not Adam. So that is the first section that speaks about the role of women when it pertains to teaching within the context or the life of the church. And the second section is that section that is related to the transgression of Eve. Because Paul says to Timothy that the reason why women ought not to teach within the context of the church is because Eve was deceived, and Adam was not deceived, but Eve was deceived.

And when she was deceived, she became a transgressor. that's what your bible says in the end of chapter verse 14 she became a transgressor and a transgressor is a person who has broken the law of god that is seen a transgression of the law and when a person has transgressed or has committed a transgression against the law then salvation is required and therefore the apostle says Yet the woman shall be saved through childbearing, if they continue in love and faith and holiness and self-control. That's a compulsion, it's controversial. And that's what we are going to be addressing, Lord willing, next week. But we're going to be focusing our efforts in the first section of this portion of the Scripture which speaks, as I said already, about the role of women in that which pertains to teaching within the context of the Church.

Now, beloved brothers and sisters, we said from the very beginning of this series of studies here in the first letter of Timothy that our idea and our goal was to derive practical applications of what is contained here in the text so that we may learn how our church, Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church, is to operate in light of that which God has spoken to us through the holy apostles and through the holy prophets given to us in that which is scripture. Practical applications. And because of that, I want us to see not only the immediate application that the apostle has given us here, which is the role that women should have within the context of the church when it pertains to teaching, the role of women in those regards, but actually I want us to see the foundational principle that the Apostle is using, that I think he's using it actually across the whole, the whole, the whole book. And if I could summarize that and then just to present to you from Scripture, from the book, if I can summarize that principle, that theological principle, that doctrinal principle, that the apostle is using to derive this application which is the role of women that could be something like this that the authority of the word of god is practically manifested in life by ordering or by bringing into alignment things. So the authority of the divine Word of God, the power of the divine Word of God, of the utterances of the words of God, His authority when He speaks, is manifested in life by bringing into order or into alignment things, by bringing things into alignment and into a order that corresponds to perfection.

Okay? The order that God has established for the things that He governs is a perfect order. Now, perfection is defined by God Himself. Perfection is not defined by the perceptions or by the preferences of men. God is the one that through his word defines perfection and those orders or alignments that correspond to perfection.

So what I'm saying to you, beloved brethren, is that the substance or the foundational principle that is not only in this verse here, but throughout the letter, is that the authority of God's word when he speaks, when he commands, when he He speaks to people, to creatures, that the authority of his word is practically manifested or applied by bringing things into order. That is the desire of God. When he speaks, he brings things into order. Just think about Genesis. Genesis creation, the Bible says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and everything was void and without form, formless.

Everything was void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water. But then God will speak. and the authority of his word, when he says, let there be light, when he speaks, the power, the authority of his word is not only going to bring into existence light, but it's going to bring that light in an order that he decides, because when light came into existence, there was an evening and there was a day, the first day. And then he started to speak and things will come into existence. But not only into existence, these things will come under the law of God, under the righteousness of God, fulfilling the order of God or the order that God intended for that which he has said.

brothers and sisters. This is the principle that the apostle is using here, that the authority of God's Word is going to be manifested in the life of the church, that which he has brought into existence before the foundation of the world and in time by the application or by the accomplishment of redemption in Christ and by the application of that salvation to the church. that the order, the perfect order of God will be manifested in the life of the church only when God's authority is followed. God's authority from his words, beloved brethren, is always manifested through his word and then in this dispensation of the church through doctrine and teaching that has been given to the church. Now remember the context of the book.

Remember the context of the book. Think about the Bible studies that we did in chapter 1. And from the things that may come into your mind, false doctrine may be one of the topics that come into your mind. Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, I exert you, I urge you that you remain at Ephesus, that you might tell these people, these other people, not to teach this different doctrine, a different doctrine. Speaking of false teachers, they were teaching a doctrine that was different to the doctrine, to the sound doctrine of the word of God.

And therefore, because it was a word that it was different to the word of God, It was a teaching that would have end up in a different practical application for the life of the church and for the order of the life of the church. This is what Paul is exhorting Timothy through chapter one in the beginning, through chapter one, saying, These people have moved away from the truth, the truth that is contained in the scripture. These people have departed from my pure heart, from the teachings of the word. They have moved away, and some of them have been handed over Satan because they have departed from the truth, which is the authority of God's word. And then the apostle is going to give us those practical applications, but he comes to a point in which the practical aspect of the life of the church that he's going to address is crucial for that authority, which is the word of God.

Brothers and sisters, just pay attention to this. After addressing the passage that we have in front of us, The apostle is going to address true teachers. He has addressed in chapter one false teachers. He has addressed those who do not teach according to God's word, which is the authority that should be manifested in the life of the church, bringing things into order. those people who have departed from that.

And just before he's going to speak about those who have been called to bring the truth of God through his word, he's given us an exhortation, not so much about genders and the role of genders in the life of the church, but rather about the authority of teaching. but rather about the importance of teaching in the life of the church. And not only about the importance of teaching and the authority of teaching in the life of the church, but about the order that God has determined in his perfect counsel and in his perfect wisdom for the church. That's why in chapter three, he's going to start giving the characteristics or the profile of those who are called, as he says here, that are apt to teach. Those who have been called to teach and to deliver the commands and the words of God that will become authority for the operations of the church.

Something very important that I want you to notice from the passage that we have here in front of us, brothers and sisters, is that the apostle is going to connect teaching with the act of exercising authority. He says in verse 12, you can see with your own eyes, he says, I do not permit woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. He connects the idea of teaching with that of exercising authority. exercising authority connected with the fact of teaching and this concept is not new to the vocabulary of the apostle because just if you go to chapter 4 he's going to say he's going to use these two concepts to bring them together and to speak of teaching and the exercising of authority that the act of teaching comes with it says in verse 11 in chapter 4 command and teach these things. And a commandment is the exercising of authority.

Actually, that word there is an army-type kind of word. So it's the exercising of authority. Brothers and sisters, this is very important. In the context of the Church, always come connected with this idea of teaching that in chapter six, he's going to say something similar in chapter six in the end of verse two. This is the same apostle in chapter six in verse two.

In the end of verse two, he's going to say. Let's just read the whole verse probably. And then he finishes the verse saying... teach and urge these things and the word that we have there for urge is actually a very strong word other translators would say exhort it's a very strong word why brothers and sisters because teaching when it comes from the word of god it becomes the means by which the authority of god is displayed to the church so the church Knows how it ought to operate or how things are supposed to be done You see the importance of teaching you see the importance of a teaching not because of the vessel that God uses for teaching but rather because that person is just going to the holy mind and to the holy heart of God as he's as it is revealed in scripture and Taking the truth that God has given us in the book to all of us and then bringing those truths through the church so that when the church receives Those words of God, those words become the authority that it should be manifested in the life of the church by bringing things into order as God wants them and desires from his counsel and his wisdom to be. Because, brothers and sisters, the practical application of the principle that I have just mentioned here The practical application of the principle that I have just explained to you that that the authority of God in his word is practically manifested in bringing into alignment on ordered things is about the role of women within the context of the church when he pertains to teaching.

So the apostle is going to give us the exhortation, if you want. Thank you, Anita. So the apostle is going to give us the exhortation. That's fine, thank you. The apostle is going to give us, beloved Brennan, the apostle is going to give us the clear exhortation And then he could have stopped.

He could have simply said, I desire or I do not permit a woman to teach in the context of the church. And that would have been sufficient for the church to know how we are to operate. That would have been sufficient, but then the Lord in his wisdom and in his perfection and teaching us many things, he's going to give us a reason that is going to be rooted in creation. So first, let's pay attention to what he says to this clear instruction. He says, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

So I want you to see how the authority of God or what is God's desire for the manifestation of his authority within the context of the church. So he is calling women or a woman to learn quietly with all submissiveness. And then he says, I, with apostolic authority, with the oracles of God as it had been given to the apostles, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Now, he's not speaking of human authority. He's speaking of biblical authority, that authority that has been given to the church.

So brothers and sisters, in a sense, or better, sisters, there is a sense in which God is not necessarily answering the question of what is the role of women within the context of the Church, but rather the question is, how can a sister in Christ honor the authority of God when it comes to what is related to the Church? How can a sister honor the commandment that God has given to the church in regards of her operations, the operations of the church? It's not so much about what do I get inside of the church? Do I get to participate in this or not? But rather it's how can we honor the word of God, what he has uttered?

And then he says, so that women are not to teach or exercise authority over men. Rather, women are to remain quiet. And now he's going to give us the reason. He says, for Adam was formed first. And the second point that he's going to give us is that Eve was deceived and not Adam.

If we can put it in a different perspective, the apostle is going to give us that which God did. First point, God made or formed Adam first. And the second thing is he's gonna tell us what men or humanity of humankind did, if was deceived first and not. Adam, those two things, what God did first, and then what we did, which was being deceived. I want us to go back to Genesis and let's meditate upon these two things that are that are serving as brothers and sisters as the principles at the foundations for us to understand why women honor the authority of God in the context of the church by submitting themselves to the teaching that is meant to be done by men and not by women.

Women honor the authority of God when they learn within the context of the church quietly and in submissiveness to the authority that is God's authority within the context of the church. The first thing that he is going to say is that Adam was formed first. And this is the clear testimony that we have in Genesis. If you read Genesis chapter 2, you're going to see that in Genesis chapter 2, Genesis chapter one is going to give us a general perception of what happened in creation. And he, the author of Genesis, is going to place the creation of humankind as something in just a particular verse.

He created male and female. But when we come to chapter two, we have a little bit of an explanation of that day of creation in which men and women were created. and in chapter two you will see in verse four it says these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the lord god made the earth and the heavens when no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plants of the field had yet sprung up For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. And a mist was going up from the land, and was watering the whole face of the ground. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostril the breath of life and the man became a living creature he formed man first then we know in verse 18 of the same chapter it says Then the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone because he had been created first.

I will make him a helper fit for him. And this is when Eve is created. This is the argument that the Apostle Paul is using for this manifestation of the authority of God within the context of the church. He's simply saying, Adam was formed first. Adam was the one that was created first.

Women, or the woman, was made or formed out of men after he was created, and brothers and sisters. This does not speak of men having a higher value in the eyes of God over women, but this speaks of the execution of the authority of God in bringing things into order. He pleased God to create men first and from men, women. Why? Because the purpose of the creation of men and women will not find its purpose in and of themselves that we will see later on.

But he pleased God that Adam would be formed or created first and then women. This gives a sense of priority or importance in the organization of the hierarchy of the authority of God towards men. He is going to make a second, more important point that will help us to understand the whole argument if we see them together. Then he says something very interesting. He says that Adam, that Eve, was deceived not Adam.

And then she became a transgressor. Now we know that he is speaking about the order of the deception because we know that Adam was deceived. You don't have, you not only need the Bible for that, you just need to spend a couple of seconds in your mind and then you will see that Romans 5, 12 is truth in you. That sin entered into the world because of the disobedience of one man and through that sin, death spread to all people because all people sinned. So we know that Adam was also deceived, that he was in that deception.

So what the apostle is referring to is that Eve was deceived first, and that was a breaking, or that would break the scheme or the structure of authority of God. So let's read what happened in chapter three, and let's pay attention to this, because this is going to be the deception, beloved brethren, of Eve. Now it says chapter three of Genesis. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden.

And the woman said to the serpent, we might eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.

She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Now, brothers and sisters, come back with me, please. I said that the principle that the apostle is using in first Timothy to speak of the order of things that many supposed to teach and that the women are supposed to learn. quietly in submissiveness to the authority, not ultimately of men, but the authority of God, is because the authority of God is manifested in life by bringing things into order. So that means that the authority of God is violated and is broken when the order that God has defined for things is organized according to the preferences of sinful men or unrighteous wicked creatures, because that is what happened here.

The word of God and its authority had been already given to humanity. And you know what? The commandment, at least as the testimony that we have here in the scripture, was given to the men. The men was the one that received the commandment. Now go to chapter two, chapter two, verse 15.

The authority that God had given to a structure, the order of the garden had been given through Adam, was in the mouth of Adam. Verse 15, it says, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it, to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, who did God command? Men saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

Commandment was given to humanity by the man who was formed first. And then in verse 18 says, then the Lord God said, it is not good. The commandment, the authority of God, had already been given to the man as the federal head, not only of his family with Eve and the children of the offspring that they will have, but as the headship of all humanity. Commandment was given to him. And after that, the woman was made And we know that God would take the accountability of that commandment upon men because after they commit the disobedience and the sin, when the law is bringing this accusation or this charge better, this righteous charge before them, he's going to say in chapter three, verse 17 in Genesis and to Adam, he said, chapter 3 verse 17.

And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee. I commanded You, Adam, the fruit that I, or the command that I gave you, you shall not eat of it. Curse is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it. And all the days of your life, brothers and sisters.

More than likely, Adam was the person that communicated the commandment to Eve of what the Lord had said, of what the authority of God was for humanity, that we should not eat of the fruit of the garden of the knowledge of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But in the day that we eat of it, we should certainly die. So what we have, brothers and sisters, in chapter 3, what we have in chapter 3 is an unlawful exercising of authority of the women over men. And it was unlawful because the commandment had been given to men as the headship, not only of the family, but also of humanity. And also because he had been given the commandment that you should work and protect and keep the garden.

Now, Adam is going to be held accountable for what happened in the garden because he made lots of mistakes. First mistake, he allowed that conversation to happen. He allowed that conversation to happen. He allowed the serpent to come to the women. Now we know if you go to chapter three, if you go to chapter three, we know that Adam was there.

We know that Adam was there. It says in the end of chapter six, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. Now, Adam allowed that conversation to happen in the first place. Second, he allowed the women to exercise human authority over him because God's authority over him was, you shall not eat of the fruit of this tree. But then she said, it seems that is good to the eye and is desirable.

She ate, and she gave to Adam, and he ate. And the deceitfulness that was first in the woman, now passing to the men, and seeing enter into the world. Brothers and sisters, what we have happening in the garden, it is an unloveful exercising of an authority that it was not given to the woman over the men. The authority of what to do with that specific event there, it was on the man. He should have said no, but he allowed the woman to exercise that authority through a commandment that had been given originally to men.

Word of God was spoken to Adam and Adam was the one that was in charge to preserve and to keep the garden. Now, brothers and sisters, when we come to first Timothy, let's go to first Timothy, please. It has pleased God in His sovereignty, in His wisdom, and in His perfections to define an order on how His commands and His authorities are going to be communicated and applied to the life of the Church. and that is that men are the vessels that God uses to communicate his word and therefore the submission of women and of the church to the teaching of those who are teaching is not a submission to authority that resides in these people but it's an authority that resides in the word of God. The word of God is the one that gives this authority.

It is the commandments of God that give this authority of men to exercise this particular authority over women and over the church, brothers and sisters. As I said, the way that we should see these questions when the Lord speaks about the order of things within the context of the church is not so much what does a gender get to do and what does the other gender get to do, but rather is how do we honor God, God's authority as it has been manifested for the life of the church? How can I honor that? And the passage says something here, because we might err by focusing only on the fact that women are not supposed to teach within the context of the church. But here it says something very interesting.

It says, let a woman learn. Let a woman learn because, brothers and sisters, the quietness or the silence, as other translations would use, the silence of a woman when it pertains to teaching It is for the purpose of learning. And in the purpose of learning, that sister becomes more like Christ. And the more that that sister becomes more like Christ, it becomes an instrument to edify the church through the ministry that that person has received by the hands of God. Now, when it says that a woman should be quiet within the context of the church, I repeated this many times, is that which relates or pertains to teaching, because teaching is connected to this exercising of authority.

Of course, women are allowed to speak. And our sisters, when the service is finished, we have fellowship one with the other and we speak. Women are allowed to speak within the context of the church. The apostle is referring primarily to the act of teaching which carries with itself this authority that it is given only to those who have been called or set apart for the teaching of the word. Because if you go to Titus chapter two, If you go to Titus chapter 2, then you will see, beloved brothers and especially sisters, that women are supposed to teach The women are supposed to train, but not in the same sense as men who are called to preach and to teach the word of God are, but rather they are supposed to teach and to train with their lives because the words of God that has been preached by those whom God has set apart for that particular office and for that particular role, they have become more like Jesus Christ.

And as they grow in maturity, not only in physical maturity, but in spiritual maturity, then sisters, older sisters, are supposed to teach and to guide younger sisters. So that's why Titus says in chapter two, in verse three, Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, no slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to what? To love their husbands and children, to be self-control, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. It has pleased God, brothers and sisters, that his commands, that his words may carry certain authority and power, and that when the church submits to that power, when the church submits to that authority, things are supposed to fall into place, and each one of the members of the church then will do that which it pertains to their role as a member, because brothers and sisters, submission to the Word of God is something that we are all called to.

That's what the author of Hebrews says. Go to Hebrews, please. To Hebrews 13. Yeah, Hebrews 13. One might think that the submission to the authority of God as it is revealed to dispense in the life of the church through the teaching of through the preaching of his word is only for women.

But the Bible is very clear in chapter 13 in the book of Hebrews in verse 17, it says. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and those who will have to give an account as those who will have to give an account. Let them do these with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls. the reason why a sinful person, a son of Adam, who by the grace of God has been made a son of God in Christ Jesus, has the ability and the heart and the intention and the authority to guide and to protect the soul of one of the sons of the children of God is not because this person has power in and of himself, but rather because God is the one that is bringing the church into maturity, appointing different offices for the body of Jesus Christ, apostles and prophets, evangelists, and preachers and teachers of pastors and teachers.

Why? With the purpose that the building of God will grow, will be built up in maturity, growing in the unity of the faith. He has determined that each one of those members will have a perfect role or will have a perfect definition of what they belong and what they're supposed to do within the context of the church. So brothers and sisters, I know that this is not something that we do not understand or that we struggle with or that we do not practice. But when a church violates the principle that men are the one who are supposed to bring the words of God to the people, they are, in a similar way, women are exercising unlawful authority, not over men within the context of the Church, yes, but ultimately over the design of God for the Church.

So the ones who are not respected is not only men in those churches, but it is God who has determined that the church should operate in a particular way. And when we come to Holy Scripture in the New Testament, in the mind of the apostle, this unlawful breaking of the authority of God for the life of the church is rooted and is similar to the unlawful breaking of the command of God that brought death into the world. now we know that God is sovereign and he has everything in control brothers and sisters but we've spoken about this in our series through Peter we are being built up as a spiritual house and the building up of the spiritual house is not according to man's ways and it's not according to the principles of man it is not according to the wisdom of men it's not according to the preferences of the flesh it's not according to Our intelligence is according to what is written. And if someone may question why God created first men and not women, then who are you? Where were you when the mountains were established?

Where were you when the oceans were filled with power and waters? Where were you when light was made with the holy utterance of God? Where were you? Because he pleased the sovereign God to design not only the church, but the world in a particular way. And the way that people worship God, it is not only by coming to Christ, but once we come to Christ is, if we love Him, we keep His commandments.

And keeping His commandments is not doing only our individual lives according to what is written, but it's also doing our corporate life according to that which is written. And I'm going to learn to say that is only by following the structure that God has given to the life of the church, that the church is indeed that the church is going to be built up and is going to grow spiritually. Men can build up empires for themselves. Women who preach and they're doing these things, following and breaking the law of God, they can build empires. But these are empires of the flesh.

The kingdom that we are extending is not a kingdom of the flesh. It's a kingdom of Christ is the kingdom of of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that kingdom is extended by the power of the spirit as he has revealed it in a scripture like last exhortation, brothers and sisters. You see the importance of those of us who say that we are speaking on behalf of God? Not only for us, because James says that it's a stricter judgment for those who want to be masters or teachers.

But the importance for the life of the church, because the teaching of the word of God is what it becomes, the authority to bring things into order in the individual life and also in the corporate life. So your personal edification does not only depend on your time with the Lord in prayer and does not only depend with your time with the Lord in spiritual disciplines written in the scriptures and doing all of these spiritual graces, but also depends on the words of God that is preached from our church. So it is very important for us to have all of this clear so that we may grow up as a spiritual house. Amen.