Is There A Proverbs 31 Woman In The House?

now father would you speak to us from your word would you encourage Lord God all of us but specifically the mothers and the women in the house today would you draw us in Lord God to this incredible portrait of what authentic biblical womanhood looks like help us Lord God we want to be like you it is to that in that I'm available to you use me Father I pray in Jesus name Amen you may be seated in the presence of the Lord if you have your Bibles please meet me in proverbs 31 on this Mother's Day please meet me in proverbs 31 a couple things as you're navigating your way there in one eye we we are serious about making disciples here about producing reproducing followers of Jesus Christ there is a kind of selfishness narcissism that many Christians stumble into and they think really church is all about me and I need a word for me and what's happening with me and it is it going to help me and it's the kids ministry for me and yes we want to build into you but ultimately God doesn't save you for you God God saves you and he expects for you to take what has been deposited in you and give it away to other people alright y'all y'all gonna be quite preach pastor preach thanks thanks music stands all three of you thank you very much so I just want to encourage you that we're here to equip you we want to give you the tools that you need to be out there the kind of Christian God has called you to be we want to reach the bay and what that's going to demand is not addition but multiplication so we want you to multiply so every time you hear the message think not just what's what's God saying to me but how can I take what I'm learning and give it away to someone else all right so that's what we're doing and to help us with that I want you to do everything you can and to get here next Saturday May 20th just give me a half day and you're going to learn exactly what discipleship is and how to make a disciple because the Great Commission is not the great suggestion this is not something that God is just suggesting but I want you to do everything you can to sit at the feet of an incredible leader who I don't know of anyone better to bring in to share with you what disciple making is all about one more announcement the our youth ministry asked me to share this with you this Friday May 19th at 6:30 p.m. there will be a time of fellowship peer-to-peer learning self-reflection and it's it's not going to be just for the kids but it's going to be for the parents of someone who's in youth ministry junior high and high school some of you like I'd love to be at that but what I'm gonna do about childcare childcare will be provided for all of your little ones if you're a teacher of junior high or high school you're welcome parent you're welcome if you bring a youngster to church you're welcome if you're involved in any way in their life this is a time in place for you space is limited please see Elizabeth or Deanna at one of our connection stations right after service so hopefully hopefully you'll be able to make it pick-me-up verse 10 proverbs 31 last week I gave a word to men and I asked the question is there a Boaz in the house this week I'm going to give a word to women and I'm going to ask the question is there a proverbs 31 woman in the house verse 10 the writer says an excellent wife who can find she is far more precious than jewels the heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain she does him good and not harm I love that all the days of her life she seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands she is like the ships of the merchant she brings her food from afar she rises while it is yet and provides food for her household in portions for her maidens she considers afield and binds it with the fruit of her hand she plants a vineyard she dresses herself with strength and makes her arm strong make note of this verse verse 18 she perceives that her merchandise is profitable her lamp does not go out at night she puts her hands to the distaff in her hands upon the spindle she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy she is not afraid of snow for her household for all her household are clothed in scarlet she makes bed coverings for herself her clothing its fine linen and purple her husband verse 23 is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land she makes linen garments and sells them she delivers sashes to the merchants strength and dignity are her clothing make note of this phrase and she laughs at the time to come she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue she looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness her children rise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her many women have done excellently but girl you surpass them all your version and say that charm is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised give her of the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates naturally if I were to Commission someone to draw a portrait of me quite naturally that person who I commissioned would look to me and to no one else as their sole point of reference they would either ask for a picture of me or or I would come into their studio or summon I earn mint and I would sit down and they would take a white canvas and for the next several hours days weeks their head would be on a swivel as they would look to me their point of reference and back to their canvas to me back to their canvas to me back to their canvas and they would as best they could copy me onto the canvas that they are drawing on for the next several moments ladies I want your head to be on a swivel God has commissioned you to live a life of authentic biblical womanhood God has called every woman in the house to incarnate as long as you have breath what he what he intended when he made you a woman God has not left you ladies hanging he has not left you to to kind of make it up no he's given you an exact portrait of the kind of woman he wants you to be that portrait is found in a lot of ways in proverbs 31 it's not so much found in our culture ladies God doesn't want you looking to Oprah Winfrey or Hillary Clinton he doesn't want you looking to Kim Kardashian or Nicki Minaj I'm not being pejorative there there's a specific woman in the Bible that he wants you to look to as your point of reference many women over the course of human history have looked to her and that woman is found in proverbs 31 women over the next several moments that we have together I want you to allow two to sit and soak in this text and to ask yourself the question how much like this woman do I look we live in a culture that lady sends us sends you messages every single day of what a real authentic empowered woman looks like some of those messages actually are good some of those messages line up with the Bible it's deplorable for me to think that even in 2017 a woman doing the same job as a man gets considerably less income than the man does our culture is saying something is wrong with that but men and women should have equal dignity and value that's actually a thoroughly biblical concept men and women are fundamentally equal in essence but there are some messages that our culture sins about what an authentic empowered woman looks like that's just not true so ladies you're going to have to make up in your mind who are you trying to look like what is your point of reference today God has given you that portrait in our text as we come to the Book of Proverbs ladies you should understand that the book of Proverbs is actually written to a young man that match for the book of Proverbs the Bible says all scriptures profitable it's all valuable it's all useful so it's meant to be read by by every one male and female alike but but actually it's written to a young man and actually the book of Proverbs wisdom is personified as a woman who cries aloud in the street don't miss this The Book of Proverbs can actually be summed up in one word listen it's the foolish person who doesn't listen the fool by the way is not the ignorant person it's not the person who doesn't know better the fool is the person who actually knows better but refuse to act act on what he knows the wise person is the person who actually listens almost at your neighborhood in the book of Proverbs you should also understand that that this this book on wisdom wisdom is never postured in Proverbs as theoretical information it's never just postured as some kind of book smarts we just kind of take notes and stuff it and cram it in your mind no wisdom fundamentally a shoe-leather and in fact in the book of Proverbs there are three major streams in which wisdom comes to us all of it all of which are postured not theoretically but relationally if you're here today and you're seeking wisdom God has said there are three main relational structures that I am providing buying which year to get wisdom one it's in your relationship with God the book of James says if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask of God the primary relationship for you to get guidance ain't ciri it ain't your girlfriend the primary stream is the one who created you and loved you so much that he sent His only Son to die for you it's God second stream young people you need to know this second stream of wisdom relationally it's not just in your relationship with God but it's also in the book of Proverbs it's in your relationship with your parents it's a great Mark Twain who said you know when I was 13 years old my father was the dumbest human being on the face of the earth but when I was 21 I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in eight years what is he saying here he's being facetious of course Mark Twain would go on to later on say youth is a gift wasted on the young youth is a gift wasted on the young some of our young people they just know everything you need to understand young people that God has given you a receptacle of wisdom and it's found in your parents third relational Avenue is what our text deals with that wisdom is also available to us in marriage in fact men because proverbs is directed to a man in context you need to understand that men we need to understand that God oftentimes speaks to us profoundly through our wives only three times in 18 years of marriage have I pulled out what I call the proverbial husband card so when I said something to the effect of I hear what you're saying sweetheart but we're not going to do that we're going to do that over here but we've done that three times two of those times I was sorry I did that ladies let's just face it God has given you this discernment thing you have this sixth sense I don't get arrogant you don't bet a thousand all the time you've been wrong but I tell you I had this one friend of mine my wife never liked them she just never never liked them and we used to get into arguments about me hanging out with him and literally about 12 years later all the stuff came out and she was like moving I told you but men there's something to that that God speaks to us oftentimes through our lives and we have to make up our mind will we be a fool who doesn't listen will we at least stop long enough to process that if again to this woman one of the things that we understand in verse 10 I want you to look at it with me she is called the excellent wife the Hebrew word for excellent is an interesting word it's actually a military term this word excellent was actually used of the leader of the army today's term it would maybe be a general or a colonel and this is the person leading the army out to battle and if you are on the other army side and you saw this this person leading the army out towards you you would look at that person you know something's different the way they're dressed the rank the insignia the air about them the way they carry themselves their dignity there's there's something different about them it is it is that idea encapsulated in the word excellent this idea of something different something that's a cut of cut above something that's not ordinary but extraordinary that's the word that the writer of Proverbs uses to describe this woman when she walks into the room there's just something different about her by the way this text says nothing about her physical attributes as her difference has nothing to do with the length of her hair the color of her hair how much of it is hers versus bawd it says nothing about that there's nothing about her body parts the color of her eyes is everything to do about her character traits that when this excellent woman walks in a room extraordinary just broke onto the scene something cut above about her that's this woman let me just just read through the text seers here's this woman during the day she's out cultivating a field and sweat pouring down off of her brow but at night she slips into a purple robe to go to a dinner party with her husband during the day she's like a venture capitalist investing in some business or she's in some entrepreneurial deal but when it comes to her home she's all in she's a woman of wealth but she's not greedy no she sees the poor in the needy and she gives it away this is the excellent woman but what makes her excellent last week when we were asking the questions there boaz in the house I gave you six traits so I guess this week I couldn't give you five or the ladies would be up in arms I gave them in six last week and I can't give you seven or the middle be up arms because we only gave them six last week so let me give you six traits of the excellent wife if you read through this text one of the things you should feel is oh my gosh I mean this woman does a lot well look at what she does on the screen she's an entrepreneur she's hard-working she's generous to the poor she's compassionate she's a provider she's dignified she's strong she's godly she's wise she's kind and I'm sure I'm missing a lot more unbelievable one of the things that you immediately see just making your way through proverbs 31:10 verse 31 at the end of this of the passage is what makes her excellent is this woman has what I call phenomenal capacity she can do a lot of things at once by the way this is true women in general I am I it never ceases to amaze me at a woman's ability to multitask why because we guys ain't good at multitasking but women have amazing capacity to multitask brothers I should have had about a couple hundred amens on that one but uh believe me out there by myself any husband who's been left with the kids over the course of a weekend you just need it right now thank the Lord and a woman's amazing capacity to multitask I remember the first time you know court went away in women's retreat or something and this first time I was at home with our three sons all at the same time and I just remember just going I can't I just I got an amazing wife right now and literally no no I'm not embellishing at all it's not until like the third day when it dawns on me these jokers hadn't brushed their teeth I mean we playing video games eating the Oreos there's no way I'm going to be able to dinner at the same time so I'm ordering pizza I mean the house is wrecked I mean just and then I just remember just kind of watching my wife I'm just in awe of her ability to multitask actually there's a book out brothers I want to encourage you to get it's a little small book called for men only it helps you get into the mind of a woman even if you don't read it just sit on the sofa and act like you reading it it'll be a good night for you get this book it is called for men only it'll help you to get into a mind of a woman and one of the things they say in this book is this look at it with me here's the main thing you need to know a key reason for all these female windows is the ratio of grey matter to white matter in the corpus collosum superhighway between the hemispheres of a woman's brain I know I know essentially grey matters like the computing power of the brain where the actual processing and functioning is done well white matter is like the network cables that connect the computers for speed allowing them to work together in send signals from one computer to the next well women have more white matter in their brain superhighway than men do in practical terms what does this mean women's brains are designed specifically to process a lot of different things quickly all at the same time while men's brains are designed specifically to process deeply one thing at a time without being distracted can I get an amen in the house for the scientific data brothers women are like computers they can have seven and eight applications going the internet is on and no popup blockers that's not us we just we just kind of got one thing on the mind um you know yeah I won't go there but anyways so here's what you understand though one time I wife asking what are you thinking about I told her nothing we got into a huge argument because in her mind that's impossible and to use a computer analogy women you need to understand for being that's very possible there are times and all the applications are shut down and there's a screensaver just kind of rolling across right you just need to understand that you just need to understand that right um you know there's been times when my wife and I've been enjoying one another's company and she says did you hear that no did not hear that did not hear that because they have just kind of all these things and they don't know how to shut it down we men can shut it down we can compartmentalize with the quickness I mean the roof can be on fire but if something else has our attention we can stuff that thing way over there and keep it moving so here's I want you to see this proverbs 31 woman what is written about this woman is never written about a man in Scripture because we can't do it all like that women have this phenomenal capacity what makes her the excellent wife she's a woman of incredible capacity secondly though she's a woman of character woman of character look at verse 26 she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue these two character attribute attribute she is she's wise and she is kind this speaks to her character the Bible says from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so if wisdom and kindness are tumbling out of her mouth they are embedded in her heart she's a woman of character again this text is interesting ladies it says nothing about how she looks it says nothing about how much she weighs it says nothing about her physical attributes the focus of the text is on character character character character this is the focus of scriptures first Peter chapter 3 look at it with me here's Peter exhorting women specifically wives and he says to them do not let your dawning the external the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear by the way this cultural stuff here get the bigger point don't be so focused on the body but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart your character with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which in God's sight is precious here's what Peter is saying it's the same thing that we see modeled in the proverbs 31 woman ladies lead with character lead with character I love to fish absolutely love to fish in fact I'd love to do a men's outing sometime just go out fishing I love freshwater fishing especially here's the basic principle to fishing ladies the kind of bait you use is often indicative of the kind of fish you catch ladies the kind of bait you use is indicative of the kind of fish he'll catch if you want to catch a bottom-feeder they got bottom feeder bait but now if you want some delicious salmon you can't use bottom feeder bait ladies what kind of bait are you using if you want to catfish then be a night crawler what kind of bait are you using now hear me Bible says you can't pamper it the Bible does not say does not say you can't pamper yourself what the Bible does say is make sure that you not only pamper your body but your pampering your soul ladies have the spa days but also make sure you do the fast days focus on character third thing about this lady is not only is your woman of high capacity and character but thirdly she's a woman of comprehensive value comprehensive value or a park here for just a few moments look at all the spheres that this woman runs in she's of course at home she's with her husband and kids but she's also out in the marketplace I can't say this in a Bay it wouldn't translate well here but down south when I pass her there's almost this sum this thing where passengers down south kind of send the message that hey fellas if your wife is working something's wrong and I always want to say to these pastors you haven't read proverbs 31 this woman works she's out in the marketplace she's she's killing it she's doing a great job now hear me this way this passage isn't giving us to say that a woman should work or that a woman shouldn't work what it is saying is it's possible to work and still be godly it's impossible to do all of these things and still be God so don't don't posture the godly woman in some 1950s Leave It to Beaver mom type person proverbs 31 woman watch it she's in the marketplace and when she's in the marketplace she's bringing value when she's at home she's bringing value to her kids who rise up and call her blessed and verse 23 the only verse about the husband it says how he is valued at the gates the idea here commentators are saying is that husband got to where he is because of the woman that God had given to him so that wherever she see that at home in the marketplace with her husband doing a business deal in the boardroom wherever it may be girlfriend brings value that there is a sense in which everything gets kicked up a notch when she walks into the room now why does she bring value verse 18 don't miss this she perceives that her merchandise is profitable hear me girlfriend brings value because she understands that what she possesses is valuable she's not insecure she doesn't have low self-esteem she has what I call redemptive swag here is this woman she walks into the room and she's able to lift up everybody spirits bring life to the situation help to close the deal whatever it may be her children are better her husband is better work is better the bottom line is better the profit and loss statement gets better because she's on the scene and she's able to bring value because she knows she perceives that her merchandise is profitable now watch this ladies if you read to the book of Proverbs there's two kinds of women those who bring value and those who bring destruction in fact if you don't read about the destructive woman read proverbs chapters 5 & 7 she's called the adulterous woman she destroys a man's character she destroys a man's reputation by the way I'm not being unnecessarily hard on women just like last week I wouldn't being unnecessarily hard I'm in I'm focusing on women though so we're not letting her off the hook this is the adulterous woman she destroys homes she's a home wrecker she destroys she destroys she destroys she destroys and let me say this because someone's in the house thing you're in this predicament there's a woman here you're in this predicament this is a Grace place we're not condemning you we're not judging you at all but there's a woman here and you are condemned that you are your content to be another man's part-time job there's a woman here you are content to be another man side dish you're going to destroy a home you destroy family divorce is the number one cause of bankruptcy so you're going to destroy finances again I came down hard the mid last week so let's just here's my question why are you settling to be someone else's mistress answer the kind of woman that settles to be another man's mistress does not perceive that her merchandise is good when you don't understand your worth as a woman when you don't understand that you are fearfully and wonderfully made when you don't understand that you have a father who loves you and who has created you in His image when you have never heard your God say of you when he said of Jesus this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased when that truth does not settle into your spirit now you are positioned to bring destruction because you don't realize baby girl that your merchandise is profitable you mean something to God I don't care what another man has called you and say to you the same thing I said to the men last week I don't care what another man is calling to you I don't care what the cultures calling you I don't care things said about you you have to stop listening to other people even to yourself and you have to start talking to yourself you have to get up in the morning and preach the gospel to you every single day you've got to be your favorite preacher of the gospel I'm fearfully and wonderfully made who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it I am a woman of value why is this woman bringing so much value because she perceives that her merchandise is profitable forth she's Christ centered she's Christ centered look at verse 31 rather verse 30 charm is deceitful beauty is vain but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised who fears the Lord who fears the Lord who fears the Lord very interesting it says that wisdom rolls out of her mouth later on it says that she fears the Lord the Book of Proverbs says it is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom why is she so wise because the stuff starting blocks for wisdom is the fear of the Lord this woman walks with the Lord ladies the number one thing you bring to any relationship is your walk with God my wife and I are coming up on 18 years of being married and I don't I don't say this to flatter her at all I've said it to her in private 18 days into our relationship I must confess I was most enamored with the way she looked 18 years into the marriage I'm most enamored with her walk with God to see her at five something in the morning pouring a cup of coffee sitting down with her scriptures journal wide open writing out prayers for me prayers for the kids I can't tell how many times I've been on the road and and my wife and I we shared this app called TripIt so she knows exactly where I'm speaking when I'm speaking and she'll look at this app and she'll just sent me a text we trying to see you're speaking tonight at 7:00 I just want you know I got you covered I'm praying for you if I should outlive my wife and go to her funeral I will feel as if I am walking in the rain with no umbrella she covers me it's good to know I've got a proverbs 31 woman covering me and I've got to ask are there any proverbs 31 women in the house [Applause] if Mohan is here but several months ago I was I just had the joy of just being in at his mom's memorial service and sitting in the back of the room and and hearing Moe Hans wife his mom's daughter-in-law just singing praise about her mother-in-law and the number one thing she's talking about is her mother-in-law's walk with the Lord how she would spend hours on her knees praying do you realize that most most of us who had godly moms if not all of us are here today because probably of their prayers there's stuff you haven't even experienced because you had a mama who prayed for you and who covered you god forbid if you didn't have that covering the Bible emergency the Bible might my grandmama you say God has kept us from danger seen and unseen there's stuff you don't even know that you've been kept from and a lot of that stuff you've been kept from is someone prayed for you someone covered you thank God for proverbs 31 kind of kind of women well mom there's two things my mother does every year she's 67 she'll be here the second Sunday in August which means I'll have on a suit because momma don't play that two things my mom does every year every I think I told you a couple weeks ago every Easter every year she she sends me a check to buy my kids her grandkids Easter clothes I'm like 44 I'm 44 years old I don't really I'm good I got it but hey she does that's what she wants to do but January every year my mom sins we look three by five card with a couple verses on it and a handwritten note saying these are verses on praying over you for this year a woman who fears the Lord now five what happens to that kind of woman who fears the Lord she's secure she's secure look at verses verse 17 she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong verse 25 strength and dignity or her clothing I hear me she dresses herself with strength which means this I don't mean the bachelors fellas she waiting on another man to make her strong she is strong and what makes her strong is God is her source listen ladies hear me on this your man your husband the man you're with int your source he's your resource God is your source hear me I'm hoping I'm pastor of abundant life until I'm 94 years old and some hope all right probably won't happen but that's what I'm open but here what you understand right now God's primary means a provision in my life financially is through abundant life but don't get it twisted this church is my resource it ain't my source so if I were to ever lose my job here to bunny like there's no need to fret because my source owns the cattle on a thousand Hill so I just lost my resource but I'm going back to my source ladies a man is not your source God is that's what makes her secure now watch this watch this watch this what happens to a woman who who goes to God as her source how do we know that this woman has gone to God as her source verse 25 and she laughs at the time to come you know this means she wearing C word about future she and anxious she's not given anxiety she's not fearful she laughs at the time to come she's not giving away you don't worry is worried is paying interest on trouble that's not yet do worry it's paying interest on trouble that's not yet due in fact we don't even know if it will come do the proverbs 31 woman is not a fearful anxious worrying type wife because she keeps going back to her source and back to her source and back to her source casting all of her cares upon the Lord knowing that that the Lord cares for her and and she leaves that not just calm but girlfriend is laughing at the time to come I was talking not too long ago with an individual in our body who's not doing well health-wise and you know she just person just said to me you know what I want to be here a lot longer if possible but don't worry about me because if I check out of this life I'm going to be in a much better place that's proverbs 31 woman type stuff finally she's a caring woman she's a caring woman look at verses 20 27 and 28 she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy verse 27 she looks well to the ways of our household and does not eat the bread of idleness her children rise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her here is a caring woman she sees poor and needy people she's giving and giving and giving even to her own household she's giving and giving and giving and giving and how is she able to care because she is a caring woman because she is a sacrificing woman her lamb does not go out at night and she gets up and rises while it is still dark now relax ladies he's not saying that a proverbs 31 woman can't sleep the larger point here is is that most mamas I know who've done a good job they've sacrificed being a mom is one of the most thankless jobs at the moment ladies if you've ever watched the football game as we close you have no doubt probably seen that moment where a 200 plus pounds running back or tight end or wide receiver crosses the endzone spikes the ball and then later on the camera will pan on them and this is where we men get a little bitter because they don't say hi dad and I'll say thanks dad they say hi mom thanks mom what are they doing in that moment a minions this is not every instant but in that but what they are acknowledging his mama's sacrifice what they are saying in so many words is mama I could not have crossed the end zone and scored the touchdown if it was not for your investment in my life thanks mom for working multiple jobs to put food on the table thanks mom for helping me out with every homework assignment that you could thanks mom for working two and three jobs and coming home dog tired but still putting food on the table thanks mom for coming up with the money I don't know how you did it to pay my aesthetic fees thanks mom for taking me to practice when you didn't feel like it thanks mom that even though you and Dad may not have worked out for never talking bad about my father around me thanks mom for everything you've done I've scored a touchdown because of your sacrifice what if there's any men in the house today you may not have played professional ball but you've scored touchdowns in your own way and you understand that whatever successes you've gathered in life it is because of what God did there's any man who would have the audacity to say thanks mom thanks for your sacrifice thanks for your generosity thanks for and feel as if you had it thanks mom I am here today because of your care and sacrifice that's what a proverbs 31 woman does as we close this is in a large way what Christ has done for us the Christ that we serve is a caring Christ who nurtures us who adopts us into his family and how do we know he cares for us because like this proverbs 31 woman he sacrificed but he paid the highest sacrifice when he got on a cross died in our place and for our sins you know what the proverbs 31 woman teaches us she teaches us that you've got to have something beyond you that you tap into to make it through this life the only way she's able to survive is because she plugs in to a holy God she fears God ladies gentlemen your first step into being this kind of person begins with you entering into relationship with a God who cared so much for you this gave His only Son to die on the cross for you

Channel: Abundant Life Christian Fellowship

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Length: 43min 34sec (2614 seconds)

Published: Sun May 14 2017