"Women in Ministry down Through the Ages" By Brother Parrish Lee May 29th,
2016
Thank you, you may be seated. Thank you, singers. Thank you, musicians. Thank you, everyone that comes to put their
heart and life in worshipping the one most high, true and one wise God. The omnipotent, the omniscient, the
omni-potent, the omni-everything. Don’t
you weep for me when I’m gone, ‘cause I won’t have to leave here alone. I understand, I understand that Heaven is
near, and I can’t stay here. Amen. What a God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. What a great—you know, if we could spend time
on that, service would be over. If we
just talked about what He is and what He does, we could just leave. We could just go. We would take the rest of our lives talking
about how good He’s been. What kind of God
He is. To that same God, to that same God, the
wonderful, beneficent, benevolent, the wonderful, the counsellor, the
everlasting Father, the mighty God, the lover of our souls, the one who makes a
way out of no way, the one who understands us when we don’t understand
ourselves, the one whose mercy we will never know the depths and heights
of. It just surpasses all
understanding. To that same true and
wise God. I’d like to give honor to
Him. I’d like to give honor to those who
have gone before us in this ministry, in this ministry we’ve been called
to. Out founding pastor, he and his
family. Our pastor, who was here last
week—and what a beautiful, wonderful time that was—he and his family, the
sacrifice they’ve made. You know the
Bible says give honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7), and double honor to
whom double honor is due (1 Timothy 5:17), and I know, personally the
sacrifice. I know about his sweat, I
know about his tears; I know personally.
I know how they’ve applied to me from time to time, and I’m extremely
appreciative. And, giving honor to all
those who have come and stood in the gap to make up the hedge. And, giving honor to all of you that are
here, who reverence that same one true and wise God. We’ve had a beautiful month, so far, a month
that we’ve set aside to honor our women, women of ministry, women in ministry, and it’s just been, it’s
just been incredible. It’s just been
amazing. And, our scripture for today is
going to be from the Book of Acts; it is our theme of the month, it is, also,
our theme for today. 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. If we could
bow our heads for just a moment. Lord,
we continue to get amazed every time we are allowed in Your presence, God. Who is liken unto You? God, who scatters the wind, the waves, and
the universe with a breath? And who
makes evil retreat with just a look? Who
stands in Your presence, and who is justified in Your sight? God, we are truly amazed. We thank You for all that You’ve done for us,
God. We thank You for waking us up this
morning, Almighty God. We thank You for
giving us the breath of life this morning, wonderful, true, compassionate
Savior. We thank You for Your blood that
You shed on Calvary, and we thank You for giving us Your Word to live by. God, we thank You to be able to come and
praise and worship You this morning. We
thank You for a time of choral singing.
And we thank You for how You deal with our hearts and our lives. Thank You, God. We thank You for every testimony, every
song. We thank You for our great nation
this morning. God, truly, You have been
good to us. And, we ask, God, we ask at
this time, that we turn over to going over the message part, going over to Your
Word. We ask that Your Word would do, as
it said in Your Word, not to return unto You void, but to accomplish in our
lives that which You have sent it to do.
God, we thank You, I thank You, Lord, for the prayers of the Saints who
just gathered around to pray for me.
They look for a message that You would give to Your people, God; they
don’t look to a person, but they look to You.
God, You are faithful. And we
turn to You and we ask, have Your will and Your way with us this morning. And this we do ask and claim in Jesus’ name,
and everyone said amen. Amen, amen,
amen. So, we are ending the last Sunday
of the month of May, and, man, what a month it’s been. There’s been a lot packed into this month. Our first service this month was, Brother Chris
Ulrich brought the message, and he talked about a respect that had to be there,
respecting women in ministry. And he
went on, and he talked about learning from women, and he also talked about appreciating
the differences between men and women. Appreciating
the differences. What an awesome aspect.
And he talked about unsung heroes, just
to give a quick overview of the message.
I’m not going to repeat what he said. It was a beautiful message, and I’m just going
to give a quick overview of that. Our next
message, it was about Sarah and Hagar, and the message was that these two women
of yesteryear, a long time ago, they did not realize the power they had within
them. Yes, Abraham was great, but they
did not realize the power that God had given, specifically, over them, and how
their decisions actually have affected generations and nations for thousands of
years. And, we also talked, in that
message, about God is not finished with us yet, and has special words for mothers,
as that was Mothers’ Day. The next
message was from Brother Jesse, and he talked about Esther, saying, "Why
am I here, and what is my purpose?"
He went on to talk about Priscilla-,"Not competing, but completing
ministry." Not competing, working
against each other, but completing, working together in ministry. He went on to talk about Tabitha, "A
legacy of good works." And he
talked about Abigail- "Good advice leads to good results." Good advice that leads to good results. And, last
week we had a—I almost fall short to describe last week’s service, as we had
here, at one point we had a snapshot, it was a bit of a talk show, or interview
time, where there was an interview with four women, and there was Esther, who
was interviewed, and, we had Mary, who was interviewed, and, we had Deborah, who
was interviewed, and, one who I’m learning from, I feel like, every time I go
to that story—I’m just beginning to learn—the woman by the well—what a
beautiful story—and then, last behind those four, those four who paved the way
from the testament in the Bible, they also called up our pastor’s wife, Debbie,
and she came over and she shared, not about herself, but she shared about her
mom, the church mother of this ministry.
And she said she may be the First lady of our ministry, but she said First
Ladies come and go, but there was one who paid the price. One who walked the streets one who came and
gave, and that’s why you have a church mother who sets an example, an example that
we should aspire to and follow. And,
then, after that, our General Pastor came and preached the message, and he said
God changed the whole message, the whole message. He said he had notes, and he wanted to preach
on them so bad, but God had other plans.
And, I don’t know exactly what the title of it was, but I do know what
the spirit of it was, and the spirit of that message was responsibilities and
relationships. Responsibilities and
relationships. And, as we
seek the title for today’s message, the title is, “Women in Ministry Down
Through the Ages.” And, we’re going to
start with our first Scripture: Part 1: The Helper Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Let’s talk a little bit about
that one who we refer to, from this Scripture, as, “the helper.” I will make help
meet for that man and what a wonderful spirit that is, a help meet for him. We notice that a helper is one who is able to
come into situations and find resolve. Find resolve, in that they are able to come
into situations and find resolve, or, find resolution. When there is comfort needed, there is the
spirit of helps. Whether there is wisdom
and patience that's needed, they are able to bring a spirit of helps, a spirit
of helps, and, specifically, specifically, the spirit of helps. Not the gift of helps, the spirit of helps. There is a difference between a spirit of
helps, and the gift of helps. You see,
the gift of helps, we see that in the New Testament, and we see that a gift is
something that is given, and it wasn't there before. But the spirit, the person
was created with that spirit, that person came in with that spirit, that spirit
is their makeup. It isn’t something that
was added, it is, literally, part of them, and, they’re able to go forth in
that spirit, the spirit of helps. That
spirit brings life. How great, how great
is the Spirit? You know that you always
have to be on guard when somebody says, ‘helps,’ because, you see, when we say
the word, ‘helps,’ we always think of, ‘in assistance to,’ not as great, as the
primary, as the inception, the beginning.
We say that, and we err on that side, because, without the help,
whatever the idea, whatever the creataritory process was, whatever the issue
is, it cannot be completed, because it needs help. And how great is that spirit? Before we say it’s a secondary thing, we need
to go to the Book of Psalms. We want to
really put something on the run this morning.
How great is that spirit? Let’s
find out. Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble. So, David said, the prophet,
David, the king, David, the mighty David, the one who had a heart after God’s
own heart, he said, “God is our refuge and our strength. He is a very present help. He is a help in trouble.” He’s a help in trouble. David said Wow! You mean to tell me that the spirit of
helping comes from Almighty God? That’s
exactly right. Help comes from God, because
He’s the only one that doesn’t need help. So, help comes from God. For everything we need, it comes from
God. It is not something to be looked
down on. It is not something to be given
a second tier. It is not something to
take a second shoe, or second feet, or second place. Help comes from God; it cannot be completed
without Him. Help comes from God, and,
God, let’s face it, God is our help.
Thank You, Jesus. God is our
help. And why, why, the spirit, why
didn’t God just give it to you in the first place? Why? Well,
help means to do something that you could not do of yourself, the very nature
of that. If we were able to do things of
ourselves, everything of ourselves, we would lose that whole relationship. We need to understand the whole significance
of God’s help. We need to understand
that without Him, we cannot go on.
Without Him, we will always come up short. We need to know that. Help itself comes from a Hebrew word,
aw-zar' - which means to surround.
This help means to
surround, it means to protect. It means to aid. So, it’s not something that is added to, it actually is something
that encompasses. It’s something that is
a shield round about you. It’s something
that is better than an umbrella; it is a shelter. It is an armor against all that is
without. It also means, to succor. This help means to succor. And succor means assistance and support in
time of hardship, in time of distress.
So, God made it so that we would have help in time of distress. And, I want to say this right quick: If you ever see things that you could help
out in, you need to thank God who gives that spirit, and the one He first gave
it to. That’s how that rolls. Thank God for the help that He gave in the
first place, and then the one He gave it to.
Thank you, Eve, and all of the descendants of Eve, which we all
are. He gave it to us through her, the
spirit to help. And, we talk about women of
purpose, that’s the theme for the month.
The title, of course, the Scripture theme is from the book of Acts, but
the theme is women of purpose. We talk
about women of purpose, and we need to cover two points about purpose: And, one thing is, there are purposes we are
created for, that we’re designed for, that we’re assigned to, that we’re
actually called for; there’s purposes that that falls under that category. It’s all in—and an example of that would
be—one example—in the New testament, when the Lord calls the Disciples to Him,
and there was five thousand there, and He called the Disciples to Him, and He
said, “I want you to tell those five thousand to sit down, and I’m going to
break this bread and the fishes, and I want you to serve the people. They were called for that purpose. They were assigned that purpose. They were created for that purpose, in
assisting the Lord, to take of the Lord’s meat and give to those who were round
about. So, there’s purposes that we are
called for. There are purposes that we
are designed for. Talking about women of
purpose, of course, and next month is men of purpose. There are purposes that we are
designed for, but there’s other purposes that we choose to purpose ourselves
for. We choose to make ourselves part of
that purpose. We see something going on,
and we say, "You know what? I want
to be a part of that. That’s kind of
significant. That’s kind of
wonderful. I’m drawn to that. You know, I want to help out there; I want to
do something there. I want to have some
of that, what’s going on, right there." An example of that would be when the
Disciples, once again, were in the company of the Lord Jesus, and James and
John took it upon themselves to go to the Lord—yeah, they left the other ten,
at that time—they left them, and they went up to the Lord, and they said,
“Grant unto us; we’ve got a petition before you. Grant to us that we’d be able to sit with You,
in Your kingdom, one on the right and the other on the left. We want to purpose ourselves after being with
You, God. We know we’re with You, Lord,
but we want to further our purpose in You.” (Mark 10:35-40) They weren’t worried about the other
ten. They took it upon themselves—“We
want to get a little closer to You, Lord.”
And, of course, the Lord corrected them on that, and, yet, He gave them
a name at the same time. He said, “You
don’t really know what you’re asking, but, if you think about it, because of
this, I gots to call you the sons of a certain something, and I’m calling you
guys the sons of thunder, because you guys are striving to bring it.” (Mark
3:17) So, the first part was the
helper, and how we purpose ourselves.
The second part: Part 2: The Barren Woman Psalms 113:9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and
to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD. “He maketh
the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise
ye the LORD.” He maketh the barren woman,
the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. I was doing some reading and studying a
little while ago, and, as I was going through Psalms, the Lord stuck me, right
here, on this verse right here, and I had several questions about it. “Lord, how is all these things able to come
about? You talk about a barren woman—how
is that possible? How do you make a
barren woman--? Now, my understanding of
barren, would simply be, you ain’t got no kids.
But, Lord, I need to open up to a greater understanding from You what
this whole thing is about.” And, as I
sought the Lord about this, He went on to tell me how, how could this be, how
could a barren woman be both a keeper of the house, and a joyful mother of children?
And this is because she would allow
herself. You see, she, women have been
given something specific: They are able
to exude motherhood past the fruit of their own bodies. And this is why you can set them in some
situations, and you’re like, “Do you have a hundred kids? Because you sure do show…” You could be a teacher, and you show
mothering in such a way, fifty kids benefit from the one. A hundred can benefit from the one. They’re able to exude it past the fruit of
their own bodies. See, a father, he will
provide guidance and he will provide substance. But, a mother, she will provide restoration,
and she will provide a joy. She will provide compassion, and, she will also
provide a bridge across what seems insurmountable. How is she able to do this? Yeah, men have a quality, too—we’re not going
to talk about that, this month, but men have a quality, too. But, how is a mother, a woman, specifically,
able to do this? Because she chooses to.
Because she doesn’t say, “no.” She is able to conquer over that land. In Biblical
times, barrenness was such an awful thing; you see, this was your system of
helps. This particular—having kids was
supposed to be your retirement, it was supposed to be your something, you could
send them to your fields, it was even your life. It was how your cows got milked, or your
goats got milked, if you were doing the goat-milk thing. It was how life was going to get
extended. It was how you had a name in
the populous, and the more kids, especially the more sons. Those were all things that would be talked
about. But, truth be told, nowadays, barrenness
has truly extended past children. It has
extended to lack of education, so, “I’m barren, because I just don’t know
enough. I can’t bring forth fruit in
that.” And, it has also extended into
finances. It’s extended into straight
up, “I’m barren, because I can’t do any more, because I got no life. I don’t have financial life. I’m not strong enough for some things. Situations crack me down, and make me
crumble. I’m not able to be strong or
helpful in so many situations.” And,
also, barren in love, because sometimes—I’ve seen it here in the church, but I’ve
also seen it in many, many situations—where so much is demanded. Maybe she has a certain amount to give, and
everybody’s seeing her give some, they all kind of gravitate and want to take
from, and sometimes it takes its toll on some of the ladies, to supply more and
more and more and more, and it almost takes them to the point where they say,
“I just don’t even more to give.” And
that barrenness, that barren spirit will even tack you, and say, “You are
barren in the church. All these people
been around for so long, they know so much, how can you compete with them? How can you do things around there? You weren't raised like that, you weren’t
educated around that church spirituality thing!
All you can do is come and do a little of this and a little of
that… And it even extends, the devil has
sent that spirit to even extend into your Christianity—where you think that, “I
can’t even pray right, and see the evidence.
I can’t even read right, and draw down that anointing, and
understanding. I can’t even fellowship
right. It just seems that, whatever I go
to do in God, it’s not getting a blessing for it!” That barren spirit. And it even—some of it has even started—I was
talking with my sisters when I was back, and they told me there’s a statistic—I
learn so much when I talk to the ladies in my family. The men in my family are crazy, but I learn a
lot when I talk to the women in my family.
And, sometimes, you know, when I talk to my brothers, and the other men,
the ladies just get up and leave, “I ain’t got time for that nonsense.” They’ll just get up and go. This actually happened last time. They went on to tell me, they said, “Parrish,
you don’t understand the plight of some of the women today.” They were telling me, “You see them at face
value, but you don’t see the things that have happened, that have caused them
all kinds of problems, bringing them up to where they are, right now.” Some of them, they’ve suffered so many
emotional things, and they said, “Parrish, don’t you realize some of the women
have been abused and can tell nobody?
Nobody! They can’t tell!” And I was like, “How would I know? I don’t know.
I’m not subject to that world.”
They said, “Yeah, it’s a really high number; it would surprise you.” They said, “It’s somewhere around a third of
women have had some sort of experience in their younger years that has tried to
rob them of the life that was going to be going forth.” And that really settled with me. It’s like that really punched me in the
face. I really don’t understand. And this Scripture came, and it highlighted,
and it says that the Lord makes them, He makes them to have a joy. He makes them to be fruitful. He makes them to be positive. He will make them to be strong. He will make them to accomplish so many
things. He will make life in their
lives. The Lord will. Amen.
And, you know, when the Bible says that, it’s talking about the bridging
of life, but, it’s not just talking about the barren woman, it’s not just
talking to women; He’s really talking about His bride, which is all of us,
which is all of us. He’s saying that,
“No matter who you are and where you are, I will do this for you. No matter what you’ve gone through, what
you’ve had to suffer, I will do this for you.
No matter what people think about you, or no matter what you’ve had to
go through to get to this place, I will do this for you.” Part 3: The Birthing Point 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, our
setting here, our setting here is a time of restlessness among the Disciples,
the early church. They were being, at
the time, of course, the followers of the Lord were being persecuted by the
religious hierarchy. In fact, you find,
in some places, that they were hiding out, and they were being faithful to the
promise that He had given them. He told
them to tarry at Jerusalem... They saw
Him, they saw the Lord be crucified, and then they saw Him rise. And, after they saw Him rise, they saw Him be
carried up into the clouds, and away from them. What that must have felt like, to know that,
“Man, I thought everything was everything was coming to an end, after He got
crucified, we were kind of wondering, and then he rose. Yeah, we got this joy thing coming back. Something’s going to specially going to happen
now, and, then, He just left us again.”
What that must have been like.
So, they also had seen their numbers dwindle. So, they had seen the Lord feed five-thousand,
and four-thousand, and seven-thousand at a time; they had seen thousands of
followers come, and sit down and partake of the fishes and the loaves, and,
yet, as they are here in this upper room, they notice they’ve dwindled down
from thousands, to just a little over a hundred and twenty. So, that must have had some sort of
impact. But, they were being faithful at
this point. They knew that the Lord told
them to go and tarry in Jerusalem, until they would be endued, and here they
are. But, we call this a birthing point
because things are about to reach an epic, or an epoch. Things are going to reach an all kind of big
crescendo, here. And women
can tell you something; women are more familiar with this than men are, they’re
familiar with something that’s called a birthing pain. And, I’ll tell you, the pain gets enormous,
closer to the birth. And they say, “You
know something’s about to happen when it gets like that.” And, here it is, the church is under
attack. And they’re tarrying and they’re
waiting. And they chose to be
there. They chose to be in that
room. They chose to follow. “I know we got things going on. I know we’re being persecuted. I know we’re under attack, but I choose to
follow the Lord anyway. I choose to
believe that He said that I’m going to get something if I go and give myself.” And, so, here they go. They are there in the upper room, they are there
to gather and presented themselves in waiting.
And, they’re there in the company of people. The Disciples were there, of course; the
eleven—Judas, of course, was gone; Judas Iscariot, he’s gone. But, the eleven are there, and so are the
rest of the hundred-and-ten or so, and the Bible says they were there, having
their hearts and minds and souls together, in one mind and one accord, and
then, you kind have to wonder what must that have been like? What it must have been like for everybody to
be on the same page, you know? I mean, yeah,
sure, they had things they had to worry about.
There was guys, that had—and women—they must have had businesses, and
they said, “I can’t worry about my business, I can’t worry about my finances,
right now. It’s time to seek and wait on
the Lord.” And, they had people that had
families, and they said, “I can’t worry about my family right now, because it’s
time to seek God.” And, I’m sure there
was people that said, “I got to clean my house.
I need to prepare dinner. You
know, there’s people that’s sick that I got to visit. I can’t worry about that right now. Right now, I gots to seek God! He told me that now is the time.” And, as they sought God, the Bible says, in
one mind and one accord, what must that have been like? The Bible says, there came a sound from Heaven…
Now, you have to, you have to
understand, it wasn’t a sound over the radio, it wasn’t a sound from the TV, it
wasn’t somebody in the room shouting out, it wasn’t a sound from outside the
room, it wasn’t a sound of the hustle and bustle, or the wind along the
rooftop. It wasn’t that. The Bible says it didn’t come from Earth; it
came from Heaven. And it filled them
all. Now what is that like? One mind, one accord. And God says, “Yes, all of you, in one mind
and one accord, I give it to all of you!”
What must that have been like, to hear it come from Heaven, to hear it
come from Heaven? And know that everyone
of us that’s in one mind one accord is going to receive what God has for us? The issue
is, it is still on to us. It is still
unto us, this sound that comes from Heaven. It is still ours to have, men and women, if we
allow our souls to get into one mind and one accord that is still ours. So, there is still a question that remains to
that: who wants to go to the upper room?
Who wants to be endued with power from
on high? Who wants to leave everything
else behind, and seek God for that time-frame that He says, “Come to Me?” Who wants to be there in the upper room? Not as a spectator, but as a receiver. Now, you have
to ask, what kind of things are in that upper room? And I’m about to close here. What kind of things are in that upper room? Well for one thing, there is a waiting on the
Lord; that’s in the upper room. For
another thing, there is a blending of our hearts together; that’s in the upper
room. And, finally, when we get to the upper room, we find out that it's not
about us. In the upper room, if you’ve
got to be the special one, you are not in that one mind and one accord. It’s not about us. It is about our brothers and our sisters. It is about the Lord, and His ministry. It is about going forth in God. And, for us, the decision to go to the upper
room happens every day. We say yes or
no, every day. If I do good to my
brothers and sisters: every day we ask ourselves and my going to go to the
upper room where I seek God in my life and do good to my brothers and my
sisters, I’m making a decision to come closer to the upper room. And, you notice it didn’t give ages in the
upper room? It doesn’t say who’s too old
or too young? The only people who say
too young or too old is us. It didn’t say
who’s too tired, too hyper. It didn’t
say that. The only people who make a
decision to go to the upper room is us; or not go. It didn’t say, whatever your nationality is,
or whatever you profession is, you’re too important; you’re too unimportant. It didn’t say any of that. Again, the only people who make a decision to
go to the upper room is us. Part 4: Unity Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. Unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. Now, there
is a power that we have when we pray or sing.
There is a power that we have when we read. But there is a power that is magnified when we
come together in one mind. There is a power
that is magnified when we sing together.
The solos sound great; the solos—especially when somebody has a
beautiful voice—if they don’t have a beautiful voice, they’ll never sell a
record, except for that one kid that everybody felt sorry for on American Idol.
I forget his name. He sold some records, everybody felt sorry
for him; now they got a record that won’t be worth anything. So, anyway, solos sound nice, especially if
you’ve got a great voice, but, how much greater is a choir? How much greater is that when you hear
everybody singing to the same purpose. I’ll
let you in on my little secret: Because
Christian music has a lot of choral singing and a lot of back-up singing, and a
lot of praise and worship groups, the worldly, secular groups have tried to
break that down, but they can’t find how to make these many people join in the same
purpose, to bring forth such a melody, because that is not what it’s designed
to do. But, you’ll see it in several
places, they’ve been trying to figure out how to do it. My sister told me that; she works for a radio
station, and she said, “Every time they try, people can’t agree on what they want
to do. Everybody wants to be more
special than the other.” But, when you
come and give glory to God, you understand that He alone is worthy. So, the unity of the Spirit is paramount. Why else would God say, “Forsake not the
assembling of yourselves together?” (Hebrews 10: 25) Or, else, why would God say, “How good and
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity?” (Psalms 133:1) For in fact, that scripture, it says, God
commanded us to be blessed, commanded us to be blessed (Psalms 133:3). And, our
last scripture: Ephesians 4:13 Till we all
come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Amen. Could we give the Lord a praise? Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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