Sunday's Live Service

[Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] when the fears the shadows feel like giants are you chasing me down [Music] and within your precious thoughts there's no hiding from your love highs and lows should i rise or should i fall [Music] you're too good to let me go should i dance [Music] [Music] since me [Music] oh [Music] should i fall even so lord your mercy isn't even you are faithful do it all you're too good to let me go [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] you surround [Music] foreign [Music] we are so happy that you have joined us this evening let us sing together and rejoice before the god has given us the grace to overcome [Music] who breaks the power of sin and darkness whose love is mighty and so much stronger the king of glory the kingdom [Music] [Applause] [Music] and leaves us [Music] this is amazing grace [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] our chaos back into order who makes the pain the son and daughter the kingdom glory the king of glory [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this [Music] [Applause] take is [Applause] [Music] i would place set free [Music] worthy is the king who conquered the grave worthy is the king who conquered the [Music] the grave who conquer the grave this is amazing this is you would lay down [Music] you've done for me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is and this is [Music] [Applause] i won't bring praise [Music] and that is [Applause] and this is [Applause] i will bring praise [Music] that is all of my life in every season you are still god i have a reason to sing i have a reason to worship all of my life in every season you are still god and i have a reason to say i have a reason to worship [Music] all of my life in every season you were still gone [Applause] [Music] in i have a reason to [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] victory and this is [Music] [Music] hallelujah we thank you that in any circumstance we can always come before you and praise you lord and we know that the one who keeps over israel he shall not slumber nor sleep father you see us in every situation you see us lord god and you see our hearts father we just want to thank you we want to thank you that you are always here with us you're always amongst us lord god we lean upon you this evening we lean upon your faithfulness hallelujah [Music] m [Music] m [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] sign hallelujah but we're here to bless your holy name for great are you lord and great is your name and you're worthy to be praised [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] but at this cross [Music] beautiful so [Applause] beautiful [Music] big [Music] yours [Music] there is [Music] a wonderful [Music] [Music] yes [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] brought me back to life i am yours and foreign [Music] [Music] brought me back to [Music] too high [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] all things oh for all my life i am yours [Music] forever hallelujah hallelujah we thank you for the privilege to be able to come before you and glorify your holy name lord god we are humbly just bowing down before your throne in worship and adoration lord knowing that you're a great king who has given it all who's offered it all for us lord and we come running to you lord we're coming running to you this evening we want to take more we want to get more of who you are lord more of what you've given us more of that grace lord god to walk each and every day lord god so that you your hand would be upon us lord god even though we go through hard circumstances lord god where every single day brings up new surprises lord we know that your hand is so strong and steadfast lord and we just hold on to that security on you this evening we hold on to that lord hallelujah we praise your name in this place may your name be glorified hallelujah let us remain standing for the shema as we sing together to the one who deserves all glory and honor [Music] [Music] amen we're gonna be taking the lord's supper now as pastor chad is gonna lead us and so please let's all look at the screens as we're gonna be led by pastor chad so much brigitte and tom our production team our our video team our sound guys thank you so much for helping us just have a a few moments in the presence of the lord in worship leading us to this moment and and we want to do this together we're going to take some time to connect with the seyu dom that's the lord's supper so go ahead and grab your elements grab your your unleavened bread or whatever you have available grab your fruit of the vine so you can join in with us this is a pinnacle of the new covenant age where there's really the inauguration of what the lord wanted to reveal to us in the blood covenant that means he would shed his blood for the salvation of our sins and our eternal life would be purchased because of that i i asked rebecca to be with me today to read a verse from the book of john chapter six she's going to read verse 57 and 58 to put you into the mindset of the messiah as we're connecting with the elements go ahead speak as the living father sent me and i live because of the father so whoever feeds on me he will also live because of me this is the bread that came down from heaven not like the bread the fathers ate and died whoever feeds on this bread will live forever so what you can see here is this yeshua is making a connection between himself and the father but he's drawing us into that same connection and saying just like i am with the father so you are with me for those who eat this bread okay and and this is the bread he's talking about the it's it's the bread that represents his body uh that suffered for us it's it's the taking of the fruit of the vine to connect with the blood that was shed for our sins so hopefully you've gotten your elements with us today and we want to participate in this and of course the background of the dom the lord's supper is really the passover seder that the lord had with his disciples uh leading up to that final day before his uh arrest and before his uh his sacrifice for our sins he's there having it with their with all the disciples and they're they're going through the uh not only the original passover elements but the added passover elements that came out of judaism and he's making prophetic connections to all of them linking them to himself declaring that i am this passover lamp for you today the the covenant you've heard about from the prophets is found in me and it goes through some of what they did throughout the evening they were reclining that becomes a passover tradition of course they were dipping that was a passover tradition as well and then they took the cups which is a tradition that our fathers gave us it says after they ate the supper then they took the cup so we're going to start with the bread first i'm going to ask rebecca to to lead us in a traditional hebrew blessing over the bread i'll interpret and then we'll take it together remember this signifies the lord's body that was suffered uh he was suffering for us go ahead baruch elohim blessed are you lord our god king of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth in this case bread from heaven as well the body of messiah sacrificed for us sacrifice for our sins taking the suffering that was supposed to be upon us that which we deserved he took it for us we're going to take this together let's take the bread [Music] and it says after the they were eating they took the cup this would be cup number three of four cups this of course is the cup of redemption at which time the lord declared himself to be to be the blood atonement and um and to be the redemption of israel so rebecca is going to lead us in a traditional blessing over the fruit of the vine [Applause] elohim blessed are you lord our god king of the universe who creates the fruit of the vine and we take this tonight together in remembrance of the blood of yeshua that was shed for us the blood that purchased our purity our righteousness and our eternal life we say thank you yeshua for that blood let's take it together remember when we take the elements together we are remembering our relationship with the lord these intimate times as a community of faith and as the body of messiah it's not always meant for the unbeliever to join us so that's why the bible gives us a warning but in this case we wanted to connect with those of you that are part of our king of kings family we trust the lord sees your heart and he's doing something crucial in all of our lives together listen we've got several great things going on in the community right now we're going to look at those announcements and then pastor wayne has a wonderful word of the lord for us for today from the book of first peter as we continue in our series life behind the shield welcome king of kings family we're excited to have you here with us tonight here's what's happening in our community this week if you are looking for a creative way to be involved with our community during these days of closures and lockdowns you are invited to join our online community group tonight directly after the service at 7pm israel standard time you can get the link for tonight's gathering from us at cg kkcj.org the anchor of hope counseling center in collaboration with the center for healthy relationships we'll be offering a three session seminar by dr gary oliver designed to equip and strengthen individuals with tools to build healthy relationships the sessions will take place over the next three months via zoom on monday evenings israel standard time from 6 30 to 8 30 pm session 1 is scheduled for february 15th session 2 is scheduled for march 22nd and session 3 will take place april 26th registration for all three sessions is required and is only 100 shekels per person for more information and to register for this seminar visit the anchor of hope website at anchorhope.org.il we are excited to continue to build community together and we want you to be a part of it during the next couple of months we have asked all of our community groups to work through the same study curriculum we'll be taking a look at the life of daniel and how he managed to live a faithful life before god through all circumstances for more information our collective study through the book of daniel or one of our community groups write to us at cg kkcj.org here at king of kings giving is a regular part of our worship of god we come with joyful hearts thankful for all that god has done in our lives as we offer up his tithes and our gifts you can give online today during the service by going to our website at kkcj.org and clicking on the gift tab and following the instructions may the lord be blessed in all of our lives as we honor him with our giving thank you for joining us tonight we encourage you to participate with everything that is happening this week please enjoy the rest of the service as we prepare to receive god's word have a blessed week welcome friends from all over the world and here in jerusalem well we're out of part of our lockdown we've been in lockdown for several weeks so much so that the airport is completely closed and up until seven o'clock this morning sunday morning uh we weren't allowed to go any more than one kilometer from our homes to go anywhere and in terms of gathering we could only we could only gather up to five people last week now we can gather up to ten wow ten people so uh those of you are praying for us we ask you to continue to pray that we'll conquer this coronavirus we'll be able to move forward and get back to some kind of normal and i know that's going to be different no matter what happens but god's got a great plan ahead for all of us i believe well before we get into god's word let's pray lord we come to you the author and the finisher of our faith the one we need to listen to carefully tonight lord we submit to you our lord our master help me lord to be your vessel your oracle to proclaim your word loud and clear and may we have ears to hear what the spirit would say to us this evening amen well as pastor chad said we're continuing our series from first peter and the title of our series is life behind the shield and i'm sticking with that theme this evening as we look at first peter chapter two beginning at verse six all the way through to chapter three and verse seven now pastor mike last week touched on a lot of these things from chapter two but i'm focusing in on one particular topic that he touched on but i'm going to go a little deeper now we're going to see from my the word that i've declared tonight that god has called us to be aligned to his design and that is the title of my message aligned to god's design first of all i want to establish the fact that god has designed a very orderly and beautiful world in peter first peter chapter 2 he speaks about us being built together as a temple a spiritual house for god's dwelling i'm going to stick with that analogy through much of this message tonight the first thing we learn is that god is our architect he's our builder of this temple hebrews chapter 11 verse 10 says concerning our forefather in the faith abraham he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations of which the architect and builder is god now some greek scholars translate this word architect as designer and certainly god has a grand design and he is the creator of the world and the designer of the entire universe and although the world got messed up in many ways god is also the re-creator he is the redeemer of fallen humanity and now god has a grand design to take broken and dying people and make them into restored stones for his dwelling place in chapter 2 verse 5 of first peter he says you also are living stones being built up into a spiritual house now those of us who entrust our lives to yeshua the savior are being recreated by god we're being beautified we're being placed more properly in the building that god is building you may think that you're not special in god's building project but you are in fact first peter chapter 2 verse 9 says that we are god's own special people who proclaim his praises god has gone to his quarry he's looked for that perfect stone the perfect color the perfect thing that will make his building strong and beautiful and he's chosen you and me for that purpose where do i get that from isaiah chapter 51 verse 1 says you who seek the lord look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the whole of the pit from which you were dug the lord has hewn us out of his quarry for a special purpose in his spiritual building some of you might relate more to the pit from which you have been taken rather than the quarry you've come from a pretty rough place but don't forget what paul says in first corinthians chapter 1 verse 28 and following he says that god has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised god has chosen yes god has chosen you and me for the greatest grand design and as undeserving as we may feel as ugly are the sins that we have committed he is he has chosen us to be his living stones to beautify his temple we are uniquely positioned for god's praise that's what it says in verse 9 we proclaim his praises when we're part of that building now my main emphasis in this message is to focus on what peter says concerning these stones that are to be rightly aligned to god's design you could have the most beautiful stones in the world but if they are not aligned properly that building is going to be crooked it's going to be grotesque in fact we are to be aligned one to another but more than that we are to be aligned to the cornerstone of that building we're going to get to that in a minute i just want to mention to you a few days ago i was walking down hillel street right downtown jerusalem and i was looking and suddenly i see all these policemen we see fire trucks at ambulances and i got closer and i saw a hole in the ground the corner of a building it was actually the jerusalem tower hotel suddenly fell and went down to the first floor of the underground parking and there was this huge dangerous pit i wonder who that architect is i wonder if he's still alive and i wonder what's going to happen to the rest of that building i hope it's strong stronger than that one corner now let me get back to my introduction just to remind you that our creator is the grand architect and builder he's also the recreator who is designing a spiritual temple for his presence and we're an important part of that and we're part of it to ultimately declare his praises to give him glory now if we are not properly aligned as stones in his temple then there is no shield this is the series we're doing life behind the shield unless that building is made strong by the proper positioning of the stones in the building it will not be strong enough to withstand earthquakes and won't be able to stand against any attacking armies in some ways his temple is like a fortress against the enemy of our souls and paul says sorry peter says in chapter 2 verse 45 25 that we have a tendency to be like sheep who go astray we get out of our proper position we wander off and then he also says in verse 18 of chapter one that we were not redeemed with corruptable things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct so easy for us when we're not in proper position in god's proper order that we're aimless we don't have a sense of why we're on this planet we have identity issues we don't know why or for what purpose god has put us here well my message is this evening i hope will help all of us especially those among us who are without a sense of significance or purpose or direction one of the great tragedies of getting out of alignment with god's purpose is how it makes us vulnerable to the prince of this world we know that the devil is trying to get us to align with his design instead of purpose and order there is futility and disorder in his world and like he who rebelled against god's design in heaven we are seeing now he's trying to bring that same rebellious spirit into the world today and chaos is the result there's disorder instead of god's perfect order john chapter 10 verse 10 says concerning the enemy of our souls the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy and much of our destruction is because the devil is self-centered and those who follow him tend to go with those selfish self centered intentions james chapter 3 verse 16 says for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there will be disorder in every vile practice and then in our own text in first peter chapter 1 verse 14 it tells us to be obedient children not conforming ourselves to the former lusts and then in chapter 2 verse 11 he says abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul so we need to be properly aligned with god and his design not with the enemy in his design which will lead to destruction which will lead to us rebelling against god which will lead to us following our lusts our passions after position and fame the first thing we learn is that we need to be aligned to the cornerstone peter recalls the words of psalm 118 verse 22 and isaiah chapter 28 verse 16 where he says in first peter chapter 2 verse 6 therefore it is also contained in the scripture behold i lay in zion a chief cornerstone elect and pref precious he who believes on him but will by no means be put to shame how are we living as living stones in god's building hopefully we are relating and aligning ourselves to the cornerstone peter says in verse 4 of the same chapter coming to him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men but chosen by god and precious what does it mean to come to him the cornerstone a greek lexicon says it means to move toward a reference point and we know that a cornerstone in the foundation of a building is a reference point for all the other stones the stones to the side the stones above all need to be aligned to that perfect cornerstone how aligned are you to the cornerstone who is christ who is the messiah the perfect one of sent by god to set his design in order for the entire universe one of the main words for righteousness in the new testament speaks of a kind of proper alignment and the seriousness of this matter of alignment is reflected in acts chapter 17 verse 31 where we read god has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained now that word for righteousness here in that text can mean in fact one of the main meetings is to cause someone to be in a proper or right relation with someone else righteousness is getting into real alignment right alignment with someone else in the case of us living stones we must be rightly aligned with the cornerstone who is the man god has ordained to judge the world according to the way we are aligned to him there is only one way to be rightly aligned with god and that is being aligned to his cornerstone the chief cornerstone which is the messiah how close are you to the lord these days uh to what to greek are you closely attached to him aligned with him looking to him for your right position and for your right purpose in this world are you positioned according to the building plans and the building permits some of us need to spend more time in the scriptures to see what that plan that purpose and that permits that permit is for our building that we're being built into secondly i want to talk about our need to be aligned to human authorities we've talked about being aligned to the cornerstone but what about one another in verse five of chapter five of first peter and we'll get have a sermon on that later in this series but i want you to just recognize what peter sums up with these words he says all of you be submissive to one another all of you be submissive to one another the first way to be aligned or submissive is to be submissive to the authorities that god has placed in this world peter says in chapter 2 verses 13 and following that we are to submit ourselves to every instituted authority we could read more of those verses but some of those verses i'll read later in this message we're to submit ourselves to every instituted authority in other words every god-ordained authority in this world now aligning ourselves and submitting ourselves to our cornerstone is one thing but aligning ourselves with governments and instituted authorities in this world is another thing that can be much more difficult joseph's brothers were more than a little upset when he had a dream about ultimately ruling over his brothers now i think of moses as well in exodus chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 we read about two men that were fighting each other and the one who was in the wrong said to moses why are you he said who made you prince and a judge over us yeshua was becoming a threat to uh leaders in his day among the jewish community and in matthew chapter 21 verse 23 we read now when yeshua came into the temple the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted him as he was teaching and said by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority most people of the world in the human natural sense have a hard time with authority it's interesting timing that yesterday jews all over the world read the same passage from exodus chapter 18. it's very relevant to the message i'm preaching this evening a management consultant came to moses he happened to be his father-in-law jethro and jethro was observing how moses was operating as a leader moses was dealing with all of the cases where people needed judgments they needed rulings and he was getting very tired and jethro said this is not good and he said listen to my voice i'll give you counsel and this is what he said he said you shall select from all the people able men such as fear god men of truth hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tens and let them judge the people at all times that every great matter they shall bring to you but every small matter they shall judge now moses uh father-in-law was pretty wise i don't know if you have a father-in-law that gives you advice but probably you should at least listen to that advice and moses did he instituted what jethro told him to do i wonder about some of the people who didn't even get to lead tens moses what are we chop liver going back to the main text in first peter here we see what the apostle says about this matter of aligning ourselves to god ordained human authorities and i'm reading from first peter chapter 2 verses 13 to 17 now therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake whether to the king is supreme or to governors as to those who are sent by him for punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good for this is the will of god that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice but as bond servants of god honor all people love the brotherhood fear god honor the king i don't know if you have problems with authority but we are to recognize that god placed governments in place and we are called to honor to respect even fear at times if we're out of order we're to honor this system that god put in place in colossians chapter 3 verse 5 paul declares therefore put to death your members which are on the earth fornication uncleanness passion evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry here's our big problem and it happens to be called idolatry by paul and that is we covet position we cover covet authority we want to be the leaders in many cases but this is wrong god has placed certain people in position and if we're not placed in one of those higher positions we should be content and we should honor those people sir john dahlberg acton once said power tends to corrupt an absolute power corrupts absolutely and there are many corrupt governments today and it's hard to show respect and honor and obedience toward them but if we want things to go well with us according to the scriptures we need to submit to their authority we need to pay our taxes and our customs paul writes in uh romans chapter 13 and verse one and following let every soul be subject to the governing authorities and then he says at the end of that section do what is good and you will have praise from the same for he that is the leader of the government is god's minister to you for good it's good to honor governmental authorities if they've been ordained by god now those governing authorities are not always perfect and in yeshua's day the romans were the authorities across the middle east in the mediterranean and yeshua was subject to those authorities yet he submitted even to authorities that many ways were out of line with god's purposes i think of jeremiah who gave advice to the exiles who were living in a very corrupt society in a cruel nation of babylon this is what he says in chapter 29 verse 7 and seek the peace of the city where i have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the lord for it for in its peace you will have peace now there are times when the governments violate what the word of god teaches what do we do in a case like this well peter's an expert on this as you remember peter was pretty weak before yeshua was resurrected from the dead in fact when jesus was arrested peter was so fearful that he even denied jesus to a young handmaiden a round of fire if you remember that story he was afraid of his own shadow but after the resurrection and after the holy spirit came upon him at pentecost he was a changed man he went from being timid to being a man with great authority and great courage we read this in acts chapter 4 verse 8 and following then peter filled with the holy spirit said to them rulers of the people and elders of israel if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well let it be known to you all and to all the people of israel that by this name of yeshua the messiah of nazareth whom you crucified whom god raised from the dead by him this man stands here before you whole this is the stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone peter had a lot to say about the cornerstone not just in his letter but here in his sermon before the leaders of the land now verse 12 nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved then later we read that these religious leaders met together as a council and they decided to command peter and john not to speak at all nor teach in the name of yeshua and then here is peter and john's response to that decree that goes against yeshua's decree his great commission to preach the gospel and to make disciples verse 19 it says but peter and john answered and said to them whether it is right in the sight of god to listen to you more than to god you judge for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard so when they further had further threatened them they let them go finding no way of punishing them because of the people since they all glorified god for what had been done so there are limitations to governments with a government or other another authoritarian institution even established by god will rule against what god has ruled then we like peter and john have to keep on doing what god tells us to do even if that means we end up in prison or persecuted as a result so we're still talking about being aligned to god's design i've looked at being aligned to yeshua our cornerstone i've talked about being aligned to god's ordained human authorities and then in the same category of human authorities peter addresses the matter of how we align ourselves to those we work for so from our text in first peter chapter 2 verse 18 and following we read servants be submissive to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh for this is commendable it is if because of conscience toward god one endures grief suffering wrongfully for what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently but when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before god now the majority of people in peter's day in this roman society we're not employees as we think of employees today but we're actually slaves or servants it's hard to imagine this but these servants included professionals whether they be managers of great estates teachers tutors even doctors it's interesting to look at this coming week's torah portion where there's included a large section on how slaves should be treated now the children of israel knew more about slavery than anybody else and so when it came to how to deal with servants or slaves in their society they were very sensitive to these things and rules were established in order not to abuse such people now there are other places in the bible that talk about how masters should treat their servants but here peter's focus is on how servants should behave and what their attitude should be toward their masters or their employers the bottom line is this we are all servants of god and when we are working for our bosses we are not really working for them we are working for the master above them the master of the universe god himself peter says in verse 20 of chapter two but when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before god our real boss then is not our earthly boss it's our heavenly boss paul puts it this way concerning servants and their masters in ephesians chapter six verses five to seven bond servants be obedient to those who are your masters as to the messiah not with eye service as men pleasers but as bondservants of the messiah doing the will of god from the heart with goodwill doing service as to the lord and not to men you ever thought of your boss as not really your boss but god is your boss when you think only that man or that woman is your boss in the office you might at times get lacks maybe not do your job or waste a lot of time on your computer browsing around that has nothing to do with your work but if you understand that your real boss is the lord you're going to behave very differently and that is commendable to god and it will be commendable to your earthly bosses as well now we come to maybe the most controversial part of the passage and i'm going to deal with it and that is how we should be aligned to our marriage partner first we're to be aligned to our cornerstone then we're to be aligned to the governing authorities that god puts in place aligned to our employers our bosses knowing that he's ultimately our boss and now we come to this final dimension of alignment and that is aligning with our marriage partner this is what peter says beginning at verse one of chapter three now of first peter wives like likewise be submissive to your husbands that even if some do not obey the word they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear do not let your adornment be merely outward arranging the hair wearing gold or putting on fine apparel rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of god for in this manner in former times the holy women who trusted in god also or don't adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands as sarah obeyed abraham calling him lord whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror now peter is speaking in the midst of a society that did not treat women typically very well and there were many abusive husbands in those days now it's surprising to me but i was reading an article yesterday that said that in switzerland a very progressive country it was only 70 50 years ago 1971 that women were given the right to vote surprising that this kind of inequality and ill treatment of women can even happen in modern cultures now in so many ways we should be grateful for those who have raised their voices loud and called for more equitable treatment of women on the other hand it is possible to swing the pendulum to the other extreme and in fact if you watch tv programs these days men are typically the ones who are portrayed as lazy bum stupid irresponsible unfaithful and on and on and that's painting with a very broad brush but i have to say that possibly the biggest problem today related to gender is not the problem of strong women but rather weak men in god's order of relations to the family men are to provide leaders the primary leadership but if a man refuses to lead and is unable to be an example of how to live as a family then you have a vacuum and when there's a vacuum someone will fill that vacuum and until there's a change in that improper structure it may be better that a woman fill the vacuum than a man who's out of alignment with god's purpose for his life in relation to his wife and children but that's not god's ideal i want to make one thing crystal clear there are only two dimensions in god's kingdom in which men ideally are to have the primary leadership and that's in the kehillah in the congregation the church and secondly in the home we should never twist the scriptures to say that women cannot be presidents or prime ministers or that they are forbidden to be ceos of corporations the fact is there are outstanding women in society today who are worthy of those very significant positions of authority if you don't think women can make great leaders check out deborah the judge in the old testament check out the fact that in a traditionally patriarchal society in israel you have a prime minister called golda meir and she was a great leader in this nation and she was no wolf wallflower that's for sure and then proverbs 31 solomon talks about what's known as the woman of valor uh the word in hebrew of this phrase in hebrews eshet khail khail or ghayal is the word for soldier in modern hebrew and certainly that woman that solomon praised was a strong woman we read in chapter 31 i'll read just a few verses she opens her mouth and with wisdom with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness she watches over the ways of her household she does and does not eat the bread of idleness her children rise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her many daughters have done well but you excel them all charm is deceitful and beauty is passing but a woman who fears the lord she shall be praised give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates and we read in other parts of that same chapter that this woman that is praised is one who's a real estate investor she's one who makes a profit she works hard and she's smart and god's wisdom when it comes to the nuclear family even an eschatel is to let her husband take the primary lead there cannot be two captains of a ship and anything with two heads is a monster so god has conceived the way ideally a structure of the foundation of the family has two choices to make god either will choose that a woman or a man would be the primary leaders in the home well god chose men to have that rule why well maybe the easiest answer is just because i know that's an answer i gave my kids many times when they were younger when they wanted to go out at night and i would say no and sometimes i would just simply say just because but let me suggest maybe a few other ideas apart from just god's sovereign choosing and that is that a woman is the one who bears children and especially for women who bear many children there are times when they have to focus on one child at a time sometimes causing other children to be jealous and want her attention but can't have it the man on the other hand doesn't have the need to focus on one child but can help nurture and direct all of the children especially during those times when the new mother is not able to pay attention to all the children and let me add that i believe being a wife and mother is the most difficult potentially the most stressful job on the planet it's a full-time job and it's not a nine-to-five job a mother is on call 24 hours a day i wonder if god maybe thought men have it too easy and thus they should take on another very challenging task the responsibility of leadership and the accountability that goes with it before god let me suggest another reason god is father he's not our mother now god has a side of him which has feminine characteristics it says in isaiah chapter 16 verse 13 as one whom his mother comforts so i will comfort you and you shall be comforted in jerusalem but one cannot ignore that god is our heavenly father and so the husband is to reflect father the fatherhood of god the ideal father should be like our father in heaven one could not ignore that god already said back in genesis to the first wife and mother that your desire will be for your husband and he shall rule over you again we might want to say he chose that just because or maybe some other reasons as well so i speak i'm speaking a few more minutes about husbands and wives i think it's important here and i hope nobody gets offended but i will try to be biblical and thus if you have an issue with the bible then you have an issue with god not so much with me the reality is under the new covenant there is far greater focus on the value and contribution of women in society and in families in particular sadly much of ancient society before yeshua came women were generally viewed as the inferior sex the jewish historian josephus viewed women as in the inferior gender even when it comes to morality now let me remind you of what peter says the way that a wife should be aligned to her husband it's important to note that peter's focus seems to be on a husband who is not a follower of yeshua and yet the wife needs to be aligned in some way to that husband peter's focus is not about how the wife should be a doormat and let a husband run roughshod over here but peter elevates the wife to having the role of an evangelist in that marriage she has the elevated role of being a representative of god most high in relation to her unbelieving husband her submission and obedience is primarily a means by which she will bring her husband to the lord she will not influence her husband to come to the lord by her outward beauty and the accessories she wears rather it's the inner beauty of god's presence in her life that will attract her husband to the lord peter says it this way the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of god so any woman listening to my message tonight and you're married to an unbeliever or maybe to a believer who doesn't act like a believer don't spend too much time lecturing your husband and trying to change him don't threaten him if he doesn't get his act together nor should you hold back your affection from him but rather get as close as you can to the cornerstone yeshua be closely aligned with him ask the holy spirit to give you more of the fruit of the spirit so the fruit that grows in your life will cause the husband to say i want to taste and see and they will know that the lord is good as you've borne that fruit now i don't want to leave this matter of how wives should be aligned with their husbands without also saying there are times when a husband is so far from god in rebellion against him that he becomes an abuser and a danger to your very existence earlier i spoke about the need to align with god's ordained human institutions of government and one of the things that peter says in our text in chapter 2 verse 14 is that the governing rulers are sent by god for punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good so there are times when the abuse is at a level and a type that you must go go to god's ordained governmental authorities to the legal part of society the police force the courts to stop that abuse now i know it's a fine line to know when that abuse reaches that stage i would suggest that you not try to make that decision alone go to your pastors and leaders your elders in a congregation and pray with them and get the mind of the lord on whether to go to the authorities or not i believe god will direct us now if it's a believing husband who's abusive and hopefully that abusive husband would go with you to the pastors and leaders and listen to their counsel you know matthew chapter 8 18 gives us a very clear picture about when you are sinned against the stage you go to before you go to the legal authorities you first go to the elders and then there's witnesses and then if they the man doesn't change then you take it to the whole congregation and then ultimately you have to go beyond that if there's no repentance now i come to peter's instructions for husbands reading for first peter chapter 3 verse 7 husbands likewise dwell with them with understanding giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers may not be hindered first thing i want to point out he says that you are heirs together the implication is that both husband and wife are joint heirs to whatever god has for them there is an equality in privilege and within that one verse there are a number of ways in which a godly husband should be aligned to his wife number one peter says that husbands should dwell with them well that's pretty obvious isn't it well maybe not i know couples who may live in the same apartment but are far apart they may be together at meals but the rest of the time they're in different rooms or if they're in the same room they're not really present with each other if you know what i mean secondly peter says to the husband dwell with them with understanding now some scholars say that this word understanding in its context means to consider the wife's insight and knowledge of a matter a godly husband is not a know-it-all he should humbly acknowledge that his wife might know something he doesn't know and in fact my observation has been that many times women have far more discernment about things than men and you know there are prophets in the old testament and new testament that are women and prophets are insightful people they can see things the average person can't see and so our wives can really help us in this matter but we must be considerate to listen to their perspective number three a husband should dwell with their wives not only with understanding but also give honor to the wife i'm going to give honor to my wife this evening she's in this room i'm thrilled with the fact that pastor chad and the executive team have delegated and the leadership of what we now call the summit it's on the 17th story of the same building where i'm standing right now overlooking the city of jerusalem we once called it the prayer tower now it's the summit she's doing it right she's been gathering key leaders in worship and intercession and getting their input before she talk starts to organize the tower and uh as you know we can only gather up to 10 people now so it's been a challenge to relaunch but we're doing it you know i'm proud of my wife with the work she's been doing over these past 37 years while we've been in israel helping the local body create a hymnology for the messianic body in this land helping composers write and arranging music recording them doing live concerts with singers and musicians from all over israel in this place and she's made a great impact perhaps i'm most proud about how passionate she is for the lord and for prayer and what she's doing right now in launching the summit so husbands we need to dwell with our wives with understanding tapping into their insights and we should give honor to our wives and the husbands should be a shield to their wife that is the title of our series life behind the shield it can be very offensive to many women but it says in our text that the woman is the weaker vessel many greek scholars here think that this means physical weakness and it's true that men generally speaking are stronger physically i just read an article about an olympic athlete who's very upset about transgenders who have become women and are now competing with women in various sports and that's unfair as a man is born a man is generally much stronger so husbands we need to make sure that we understand that we're stronger generally speaking than women physically and we ought to shield them we ought to protect them and keep them it could also mean that they're more sensitive more vulnerable to wounding because of their sensitivity and we ought to protect their emotions as well david was a sensitive shepherd he was so sensitive to god's voice that he was an artist and aren't you thankful for his psalms well david also wrote in psalm 144 verse 1 blessed be the lord my rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle so those same hands and fingers that plucked the strings of his of his harp were also the hands and fingers that hurled five smooth stones and and took us as a spear to ultimately kill goliath and it's interesting that we say today magen david shield of david he also bore a shield and you and i as husbands need to be a shield to our wives now some of you listening to me this evening have not come to know yeshua personally yet as your lord and savior there's only way to come to god and it's by way of yeshua he says peter says in first peter chapter 2 verse 6 that god has placed in zion a chief cornerstone elect and precious and god already knew that his son yeshua would be rejected by many it says in verse 4 that god's cornerstone is rejected indeed by men but chosen by god and precious he writes in the next verse that yeshua is the stone which the builders rejected and then in the next verse he says that this cornerstone is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense now that's the way many people see yeshua maybe that's the way you've seen yeshua but i'm now introducing you to a new yeshua you may have seen his distorted face but his real face is the face of one who loves you so much so that he died for you that you wouldn't have to pay for your sins he took your sins upon himself on the cross and peter says in verse 6 that the one who believes on him will find him precious the precious cornerstone he is the most valuable person in the world and he is worthy of dying for if you have not yet entrusted your life to your savior this is the time to do it the stone that the builders rejected is god's precious cornerstone and you need to be aligned to his stone to be pleasing to the father and to know god personally and finally to believers who are listening to my voice this evening peter says in chapter 2 verse 25 saying that we are like sheep going astray that's our sinful nature to do that well let me say this that if you've wandered far from your shepherd now is the time to return this is the time to repent to change your mind go in the direction of him again it's time to go back to the lover of our souls he's waiting for you with arms wide open and he especially loves to welcome back prodigals he wants to embrace you and realign you with himself the answer is to be with yeshua once you're aligned with him once you're close to him then you're going to be a brand new person being with yeshua was what made peter the great apostle he became earlier we looked at peter's response to those religious authorities in jerusalem after he had helped heal that lame man and the authorities were all upset but i didn't read these verses in his in that passage verses 13 and 14 of chapter four now when they saw the boldness of peter and john and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained they marveled and they realized that they had been with yeshua and seeing the man who had been healed standing with him they could say nothing against it what was the key to peter's boldness he had been with yeshua if you will align yourself with yeshua draw close to the cornerstone get in his in the position in the building that god is ordained and god will bless you and god will use you in powerful ways just as he used peter the apostle let's be with yeshua every day let's draw close to him hallelujah we are entering possibly the greatest spiritual battle prior to the return of the lord we need to be realigned with god's design and only in this way will we be aligned with his design and we will be under or behind his shield of protection lord we ask you now to let these words pierce our soul to change the way we look at the world to make us more in line with your perfect will that we ultimately might be living stones that give you praise in yeshua's name amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this is is [Music] [Applause] [Music] that is my victory [Music] i will bring [Music] victory in every season you are still gone i have a reason to say i have a reason to worship all of my life i have a reason to worship [Applause] i have a reason to say [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and i will rejoice [Music] this is my prayer in the harvest [Music] the seed i've received i will show hallelujahs lord we pray that we may be in enlightenment in alignment with you this week father this month lord father this upcoming year set our hearts to become more like your heart father let these words that we heard today sink so deep lord god so that we would do the necessary changes in our lives lord god whether in our work life whether in our family life father father we thank you that you grab a hold of our hearts let that seed that has been planted there grow hallelujah in yeshua's name we pray we're so thankful that you have joined us this evening we ask you to please stay connected with us through the community groups and we will be here next sunday at 5 pm is ready time have a wonderful weekend bless you [Music] let us [Music] it's you

Channel: King of Kings Community Jerusalem

Views: 1,671

Rating: 4.9473686 out of 5

Keywords: Yeshua, Jesus, Messiah, Christ, Lion of Judah, Lord, God, Jerusalem, Israel, Gospel, Word, Truth, Faith, Salvation, Holy Spirit, Holy, Prophecy, Preaching, Ministry, Ministries, Grace, Mercy, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control, Believer, Christian, Church, Messianic, Congregation, King of Kings, KKCJ, KOKA, Pavilion, Pastor, Wayne Hilsden, Sermon, Message, Preacher

Id: FTMi6j6wQn0

Length: 91min 47sec (5507 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 07 2021