"Women of Purpose" By Jesse Rairdon May 15th,
2016
Please remain standing as Linda A.
comes to lead us in prayer for the message. Linda: Holy God, I want to
thank You so much for your presence, today, and, Father, we ask, Jesus, anoint us,
today, dear Jesus, and let Your anointing go all the way through to our hearts,
God, that we not only hear the words, but we actually listen and apply them to
our lives. Heavenly God, I just want to
thank You so much for the Holy Spirit I feel, here, today, Lord Jesus. Thank you for Jesse, and thank You for all my
brothers and sisters. In your name, I
pray. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. Morning, church. So, this month is: Women of Purpose, and our
Scripture theme for the month comes from Acts: Acts 1:13-14 And when they
were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and
James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of
James. These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of
Jesus, and with his brethren. So, we’re talking about women of
purpose this month. Week one, really quick, Chris
Ulrich talked about respect, the title of the message was “Respect,” and his
main speaking point were: 1. We have to be
able to learn from women; learning from women. Setting the example so that we can learn from
them. 2. Appreciating the
Differences. Yes, there are differences
between men and women we ought to appreciate the differences. 3. And he talked
about Unsung Heroes, those that do great things, great works for God, and are
not mentioned often. Amen? Week two, last week, Parrish preached
a “Mother’s Day message.” He talked
about: 1. Lessons
from Sarai & Hagar 2. God
is not finished. 3. Last
words for Mothers. If you want to review those notes,
they’re already up on our website, so you can go review those. I purposely go and, actually, not only review
the notes and listen to the messages again as I’m preparing mine, so that I
can, kind of, not reproach the message, but be in the same Spirit, the same
mind, the same heart. Amen? We also meet every month, too, the preaching
team, to kind of discuss these things and go over what we’re going to talk
about. Title of today’s message is “Women
of Purpose Part 3.” We’re going to cover
four women of purpose today: 1. Esther-
“Why am I here, what is my purpose?” 2. Priscilla-
“Not competing, but completing ministry.” 3. Tabitha-
“A legacy of good works.” 4. Abigail-
“Good advice leads to good results.” Esther- Why Am I Here, What
Is My Purpose? Esther 4:7-17 And Mordecai told
him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman
had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy
them. Also he gave him the copy of the
writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it
unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go
in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him
for her people. And Hatach came and told
Esther the words of Mordecai. Again
Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; All the
king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that
whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court,
who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to
whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have
not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. And they told to Mordecai Esther's
words. Then Mordecai commanded to answer
Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more
than all the Jews. For if thou
altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and
deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's
house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom
for such a time as this? Then Esther
bade them return Mordecai this answer, Go, gather together all the Jews that
are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three
days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in
unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I
perish. So Mordecai went his way, and
did according to all that Esther had commanded him. See, there was a problem: The Jews were facing, basically, destruction,
total destruction. They were going to be
destroyed. And the history with Mordecai
and Esther was that he raised her as his own daughter because her parents were
killed. They were in captivity, there
was a lot going on. Her parents were
dead, so he raised her Esther as his own daughter, so he could, basically,
speak to her as if she was his daughter.
Even though she was the queen, she was chosen to be the queen. So, at this time in history, the king had
made a decree, before all this, and said, told his queen come before him, and,
basically, make a show of her, in front of all the princes, and elders of the
land, and she refused, and he said, “Okay, you’re no longer queen.” “Pick another queen.” So, they went out, and picked another queen,
and that queen happened to be Esther.
She was beautiful, and God gave her grace, and that’s the queen that was
chosen. So, Esther had a purpose, and it
wasn’t just to look pretty, even though it got her foot in the door, Esther had
a purpose. It was more than just to show
up, she had a purpose and she needed to be reminded of it Mordecai had to tell
her, “You know, how do you know you didn’t come into this kingdom for this
time? God will bring deliverance another
way if He chooses to everybody in your house is still going to be destroyed. But you have a place, you have a purpose,
right now, to stand up.” But she said,
“But, if I go before the king, there’s one law, and I could be killed. I could be dead, if he doesn’t raise his
scepter to me, and allow me to come talk to him.” Basically, that’s how it was. Even if you’re the queen, you don’t go before
the king unless you’re summoned. So,
there was a lot of fear that she had to deal with and overcome, here, but she
had a purpose. So, she said, “Call
everybody to a fast. Let’s seek God for this purpose, that God will open this
door, and I’ll be able to do this.” And
God brought deliverance. Ladies you have a purpose, and it’s
more to show up and just look beautiful.
What is your purpose? And,
believe me, you look beautiful, especially my wife. Let me just say that. What is your purpose? Why are you here? Why are you in this ministry at this
time? Esther had to overcome her fears
and meet the challenge of her purpose. You
can’t say because I am a woman, I don’t have a purpose. You can’t say that, because I’m shy, I don’t
have a purpose. Many women, especially
young women, struggle with their purpose and why they are, and who they are. They struggle with that. They need Godly young women to stand up and
show them that there is a purpose for them, too. They struggle with depression, they struggle
with identity, they struggle with anxiety, they struggle with who they are, and
what their place is in life. And all the
world tries to tell them who they are and what they should be. Facebook and all the social media is trying
to influence them, but you could be the one that brings deliverance to them,
like Esther. You could be the one that
makes the right stand, even in your school, or your college, or wherever God
chooses to open those doors, just to overcome their fears. Let your light shine. You have a purpose; you have a place. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are,
you have a purpose in God’s ministry.
Amen? Priscilla- “Not Competing,
but Completing Ministry” Acts 18:24-28 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born
at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to
Ephesus. This man was instructed in the
way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught
diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the
synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them,
and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia,
the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was
come, helped them much which had believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that
publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Priscilla was very much a part of her husband
ministry. Priscilla was very much a part of
her husband’s ministry. She wasn’t
competing with her husband; she was completing his ministry. She was very much—they were one. You might say this is kind of a mystery, but
to God it’s no mystery. In fact: Ephesians 5:28-32 So ought men
to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh,
and of his bones. For this cause shall a
man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they
two shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. We’re all the body of Christ,
especially a husband and wife, when they’re a team and they’re ministering
together. Everywhere they’re mentioned in
Scripture, not one of them is mentioned alone.
You always hear about Priscilla and Aquila, the church that is in their
home. Priscilla and Aquila, working with
Paul, they started in his ministry, making tents. Throughout the Bible. It began when they were making tents, and
they asked—Whenever Paul asked them to go somewhere or stay somewhere, they were
always faithful to obey that call. “Stay
here. Go here. Start your ministry here.” They were faithful to carry, like Sister Mary
was sharing, you’ve taken God with you wherever you’ve gone, and you’re doing
ministry and you’re sharing with people wherever you go. It doesn’t matter the number of people you’re
sharing with, it’s the heart of working together with your family. Amen? Not everyone has this type of
ministry with their spouse, but everyone can.
If this is what you really, truly desire, you’ve really got to seek God
together. First you’ve got to make your
marriage strong, then you can make your ministry strong together. If you’re always fighting one another, and
there’s mistrust, and you haven’t really built up your family, your marriage together,
you can’t go out and do ministry like this together. You first have to have built that up in your
life. Amen? So, if that’s your desire,
seek God together. It’s very possible,
it’s very doable. God has that for a
family ministry, even today. She wasn’t
trying to compete with her husband, she wasn’t trying to shout him down, but
they shared with Apollos together. How
many people out there just need to hear one more thing, that are so close to
the Truth? Maybe even a pastor, or they
preach somewhere, but they only know baptism a certain way. So, God may use you, as a family, to go share
with that person. Don’t be afraid to be
a woman of purpose and seek God for those blessings in your life. Amen? Tabitha- A Legacy of Good
Works Acts 9:36-43 Now there was at
Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called
Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she
was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper
chamber. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh
to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him
two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he
was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by
him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she
was with them. But Peter put them all
forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha,
arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up,
and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive. And it was known throughout all Joppa; and
many believed in the Lord. And it came
to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner. That’s where Peter was, by the
way, when he had that vision, when Cornelius sent for him. It says, “…continuing in ministry…” but, Tabitha
had a purpose in ministry. Tabitha had a
legacy of good works. Tabitha took care
of those that most people forgot about.
Tabitha was one of those unsung heroes like Brother Chris preached
about. She went about just making coats
for people, doing the things, meeting the needs, making sure the neighbors were
taken care of, like Mary was talking about.
The little things that most people tend to forget about. That is so needed in our church, so needed in
our ministry. Not everybody can teach a
Bible study, but everybody can do something.
What is your purpose? Everybody
can show the love of God through the good deeds and the works that you do. Let your light shine, that your good works
would glorify God. Amen? People sent for Peter and he came
right away; she was important. He realized
the importance of this person in ministry.
Maybe, spiritually, you’re like Tabitha: once you had a work for God, and now it’s
dead. And, maybe, today, God is telling
you, “Arise; come alive. Do those works
again.” You’ve got a place in ministry;
you have a purpose. You have something
to do for God. God has given you a
purpose. No matter how young or old, no
matter how long you’ve been around, or if you were just baptized last week, God
has something for you. I can’t tell you exactly what it is today,
unless God reveals it and prophesies to you.
That’s something you’ve got to seek out from God, yourself. God will reveal those things to you. Remember when Parrish was talking about how
Hagar and Sarah said, “Well, we’re going to bring about God’s purpose another
way,” and failed? God still will bring
about His purpose, you’ve just got to seek Him to get that understanding; allow
Him to bring about that purpose the way He’s designed to bring it about. Amen? Maybe you’ll be the one to bring a
great deliverance to your neighbor, or maybe you’ll bring a great deliverance to
a lot of us. Who knows? For such a time as this. I was going to title the message, “For Such a
Time as This,” because I was really, really—but that was really only one big
piece of the message. I like to take
titles and really spread it throughout the message, but… Maybe you’re here, right now, listening to
this, seeking God, saying, “What is my purpose?
Why am I in this place? Why am I
in Christian Fellowship, Great Lakes right now, at this time?” God will reveal it to you; God is faithful. Our last part is going to be: Abigail- Good Advice Leads
To Good Results It’s going to be a lot of
reading. I’m not going to read the whole
chapter please take time after the message today, read this whole chapter. Discuss it at home with your families. See what more God would bring to you. We’ll start at verse one: 1 Samuel 25:1-3 And
Samuel died; [the prophet died] and
all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in
his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon, whose
possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three
thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the
name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a
beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish [and I looked up the word,
‘churlish,’ just because I wanted to see what the definition was, and it was,
‘mean-spirited.’ Just a mean, ugly
person. What a testimony.] and
evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. Caleb was a great man. He was one of the spies that gave a good report. Somehow, down the line, this guy became evil
and mean, but he had a wonderful wife. Abigail
had wisdom, and good understanding of things.
David needed help and asked Nabal for help. I’m paraphrasing a little bit, because I
can’t read all of these Scriptures today.
Nabal not only refused to help David, but he offended him. That’s not someone you want to offend he had
some mighty warriors with him. You can
read the scriptures about those people he had with him; they were some rough
characters. Basically, warriors that
were kicked out of the kingdom because of their ability to fight
wrongdoings. A bunch of ruffians, they
were called, in some places, right? So, one of the young men told
Abigail what happened, and how David was good to them while he was their
neighbor. David entreated them good
while they were in the wilderness, and this was how they repaid David was they
offended him. Now David was not happy
and was going to wipe them all out, basically, ‘kill them all, let God sort
them out,’ type of thing. And this young man knew he couldn’t reason
with Nabal, so he went to Abigail, a person of wisdom and good understanding. Pick it up at verse eighteen: 1 Samuel 25:18 Then Abigail made
haste, and took two hundred loaves, [She didn’t waste a minute. This is trouble coming.] and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five
measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred
cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. Whatever she could grab,
basically, in the house that was ready, she grabbed it, and made haste. 1 Samuel 25:19 And she said unto her
servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her
husband Nabal. Remember, because he’s mean, and
he would probably mess this thing up. 1 Samuel 25:20-21 And it was
so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and,
behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. Now David had said, Surely in vain have I
kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of
all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. So he’s still stirred up. In his mind, he’s ready to go take care of
business. He’s ready to just wipe them
out. 1 Samuel 25:22 So and more also do
God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the
morning light any that pisseth against the wall. So any man that’s alive, so God do
to me, if I leave any one of them alive.
That’s angry past the point of, “Maybe we can reason with this
guy.” There’s no reasoning at this
point. 1 Samuel 25:23-28 And when
Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David
on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, And fell at his feet, and said,
Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray
thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man
of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and
folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom
thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord,
as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden
thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand,
now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now this blessing which thine handmaid
hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow
my lord. I pray thee, forgive the
trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure
house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been
found in thee all thy days. Reminding him that he’s always
done good. “Slow down, David. You’ve always done good in the sight of the
Lord. You might want to think about
this.” 1 Samuel 25:29-31 Yet a man is
risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be
bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine
enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the LORD
shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken
concerning thee [the kingdom and everything], and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; That this shall be
no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast
shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD
shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid. A lot of wisdom. 1 Samuel 25:32-33 And David
said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to
meet me: 33 And blessed be thy advice [good
advice], and blessed be thou, which hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine
own hand. Now, everybody could say that
David was rightfully so. He was going to
be the king; he could exact vengeance, but, in God’s eyes, He might have held
this against him. And David realized that,
“I might have done something that really might have damaged my kingdom. 1 Samuel 25:34-35 For in very
deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting
thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been
left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 35 So David received of her hand that which
she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I
have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person. Good advice leads to good
results. Good advice leads to good
results. Sometimes I’m wrong, and I’m
about to go make a bad decision, one that would really affect my family, and maybe
even affect the ministry, and my wife will say, “You might want to think about
that. Let’s pray about that. Let’s stop, right where we’re at—I know
you’re angry about this. Let’s think
about this for a minute, and the anger will pass.” And it does.
Good advice. And, men, like Jason
said, sometimes we’ve got to admit when we’re hurting; we’ve got to admit when
we’re wrong. It’s not wrong to do
that. It’s not less manly to cry. It’s not less manly to admit your
faults. In fact, it’s more manly. If you
have humility, God will raise you up.
So, when you have a good wife she’s going to complete that in your
ministry; she’s going to give you good advice.
And also, sisters in ministry.
Men, we’ve got to be able to take advice, good advice from women in
ministry. David wasn’t too big to take
that advice, and neither should we. Not
saying that they’re going to rule over you, but we need to take good
advice. Sister Davis, I know you
mentioned, Chris, has been saved for seventy years, right? Seventy years in ministry. She doesn’t speak a lot. She doesn’t talk a lot, but when I get a
chance to get around her, she gives good advice. I take heed to that advice; I’ve learned a
lot. And I’ve learned a lot from the
sisters in the faith, here, from the way that they live, the example they set,
the things that they share. We’ll pick it up at verse
thirty-six: 1 Samuel 25:36-38 And Abigail
came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a
king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken:
wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning, when the
wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his
heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And it came to pass about ten days after,
that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died. His heart died first, then he died
later. 1 Samuel 25:39 And when David heard
that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause
of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for
the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David
sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. David realized, “This is a good
one. I’m not going to let this one go.” 1 Samuel 25:40-42 And when the
servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying,
David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. And she arose, and bowed herself on her face
to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the
feet of the servants of my lord. And
Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that
went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his
wife. Abigail had wisdom and
understanding. David in his anger was
going to shed innocent blood. Yes, he
was going to shed Nabal’s, but he was going to shed a lot of innocent blood,
too, because of his jealousy, because of his anger, because of his wrath. Abigail used wisdom to bring about a good
result, even turn a bad situation into a good situation. Maybe that’ your purpose, right now, just
take a bad situation, and turn it into a good situation. You don’t have to speak a lot sometimes you just
be the example. Amen? You have heard it called women’s
intuition, I really believe it’s wisdom from above. Good advice brings about positive results. Now, wisdom from above comes from this
Scripture, here, this is going to be our closing Scripture: James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that
is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And
the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. So, a quick recap of today’s
message: 1. Esther-
“Why am I here, what is my purpose?” 2. Priscilla-
“Not competing, but completing ministry” 3. Tabitha-
“A legacy of good works” 4. Abigail-
“Good advice leads to good results.” Give the Lord a praise as Andy
comes to close us.
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