Godly Men and Women

The ladies' choir was certainly beautiful, not just because my daughter was featured. That was kind of a surprise to me. Ladies are a very wonderful, wonderful gift when you're a man. And every time we see something and witness something like that, it's very, very special. It's just very special. I can see why people tend to categorize angels as women, because they're just very special. Women are very, very special. Which leads me in the sermon today to the question. This is the question of life. At least it's been the question for my life. And it really has gone unanswered to a degree. Which is it better to be a man or a woman? Now, you probably have this all figured out long ago. But this question hit me right between the eyes when I was six. I grew up with three brothers and no girls, no girls in the neighborhood, never around girls. Didn't know anything about girls. Then I went to school at age six. And the room was full of these cute little girls. And as I walked home one day, I was following a girl named Angela, Angela Heath. And she was walking ahead of me. And that day was just profound. And I just wished I could be a girl. They were so special. They were so cute. And there was just nothing about me. Dirty, rattle-y little boy that's scruffed up here, gotten in the dirt all day.

I wish I could be a girl. And so it didn't take too long to figure out, though, that really I didn't want to be a girl. I just want to be with a girl. Girls are neat to hang out with. Later, I even realized that if I were a girl, I probably wouldn't think girls were very special. So I'm pretty glad to be a guy. But which is it better to be? A girl or a boy? A man or a woman? BBC News says this. Scientists decoding the human genome have discovered that 78 genes separate men and women. 78 genes. A study from UC Irvine in a different report says, in general, men have 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence than women. And women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence than men. Gray matter represents information processing centers in the brain, and white matter represents the networking or connections between these processing centers. However, when taking intelligence tests, they all do about the same. There's another report called the Brison Dean Neurological Report. And this report is interesting because it combines a thousand other reports and crunches down the information. And it says, girls arrive in this world at birth already wired as girls, and boys arrive already wired as boys. Their brains are different by the time they're born, and their brains are what drive their impulses, values, and their very reality. You know, it's common down through time for society to minimize the worth, the contribution of women. Some religions, I'm sure you know, don't even include women in their concepts of the afterlife. One religion in particular does not include any woman over the age of 35 that's not a virgin. I wonder how anybody gets to be born. In God's church, we know that women are not to teach men, and women are to be silent in church as far as the formal church service and the teaching roles. So in the Church of God, we could ask the question, which is it better to be? A man or a woman? And this is a good question. I'm still asking the question. I enjoy watching children grow up and mature and watching adults and perceiving the various talents that people have and the quest that they have and the opportunities and the thought processes. And the question remains, which is it better to be? A man or a woman? Today, I want to take a fresh look at some of the qualities that God created in women and also in men. We'll look at some of these contrasting qualities. When we hold these up to the Bible, we're going to see an important place that God created women to fulfill and also that God created men to fulfill. And then perhaps we'll be able to answer the question, which is better to be? A man or a woman?

There's no doubt that God intends men to be leaders, have certain authority roles within the family, within society, within religion. We find that Adam was created first and Eve was created as a helper. Some might then say, well, she was more incidental. She was sort of a domestic assistant. We find in Ephesians 5 that a woman is to submit to her husband as unto the Lord. So that pretty well spells it out, doesn't it? It's better to be a man. Or is it? I haven't met a woman yet that thought it'd be better to be a man.

Is humanity's view of women accurate? And when you say humanity, the way women have been treated down through time and their value diminished in the minds of men comes from egocentric men, self-centered egocentric men who tend to be focusing on themselves that man is greater, better, more capable, more spiritual. Look at all the priests and the rabbis, more godly. But is humanity's view of these things accurate?

In fact, I've done some time thinking about the normal attributes of a woman without God's spirit, a woman compared with the normal attributes of a man. God created women with very unique qualities, and I do believe the human race could not have survived for very long if God did not give women the talents and the abilities that they have. And I don't mean to be at all... I forget the term, but trying to sell this to you. I think it's a literal fact. We as a human race would have died off if certain things weren't in place. For instance, women desiring to have children. That's a big one. Women even scratch their own heads. Why am I doing this again?

But there's a compulsion there. Women loving children and serving them. Women being clean. Clean enough to where humanity can go forward. And women encouraging boys and men to be clean enough to where they can survive. Somebody to cook. Somebody to make clothing. Somebody to teach little boys not to kill everybody and throw things at everybody, but to respect human life and value. I think wars would probably have annihilated humanity long ago if the soldiers weren't married.

And so relational bonding that comes from birth, the family relations, the focus of relationships that women have, the serving of others, the assisting of others, the counseling roles that a woman gives to a man, a boy, a husband, the teaching, the training, bringing them in line, getting their sloppy and bad habits and bad morals, putting some pressure on them. These things are built in as part of a role of just a human woman and has kept this race alive. She desires security for family, for a covenant relationship that has fairly well down through time created a family structure that has allowed civilization to function.

If it were just left to the flandering men, the world would have broken down long ago and probably just died off.

But some of these roles are actually in harmony with Biblical themes, loving, caring, serving. In contrast, God made men to be uniquely task-oriented, challenge-oriented, project-oriented.

He has great task awareness. He's strong. He's rough. He's tough. He's driven to accomplish. He's selfish. He's fairly unloving and pretty much unfeeling.

And humanity wouldn't have survived without that as well, because you just can't walk out naked into this environment and survive very long.

Somebody's going to have to invent air conditioning sooner or later. Somebody's going to have to be able to create lodging and be able to go and get food and be able to kill it and process it and things like that.

So, there's kind of a little background there, the differences, the carnal differences between men and women and what brings humanity to this age, this society, this era that we are in today.

But within the Church of God, which is it better to be? A man or a woman?

Now, I'm going to give you a list in category one here of some qualities.

Which do you tend to associate these qualities with? A man or a woman?

Category number one. Not religious skips church. Liars. Sexual deviance.

Hateful, filthy language. Dirty, violent, warmongers. Murderers, gangs, thieves, lazy, abandonment.

Covenant breakers. Lustful, flanders, and enjoys evil deeds.

Now, to which sex would you attribute these two?

Category number two. Which sex would you attribute these two? Male or female?

Religious, attends church. Curtious, clean, caring, honest, truthful, helpful.

Nursing, diligent, hardworking, loyal, compassionate, and complaining about evil deeds.

Now, taken just from that perspective, which would you say is the more godly sex?

The males or the females? Then why don't people feel women are superior to men?

Why isn't that the timeless concept that goes down through time?

And I think an answer to that is that evil societies promote evil deeds.

And this world is evil, and the mindset is evil, and godliness is not going to be respected, or even things that seem like godliness.

An extreme example would be some of the areas that we travel to in Africa.

We find African women doing most of the work, most of the caring, most of the serving, most of the providing.

It's very honorable, yet at the same time, it's expected that a husband will beat his wife, and he can kill her with no problem.

And why is this world so upside down like that, you see?

Why is that the case? Why was it similar to that in the Roman Empire?

And so, you see, in Satan societies, women are sometimes considered somewhere between less than nothing in comparison with self-centered males.

And this concept goes on. It's very well argued, it's very well known.

It doesn't make a lot of sense. But we're not of this society, we're not of this world.

We've been called out of it, haven't we? And we're to have a different concept, a different perspective.

And so the question for the household of the saints is, how does God view the roles of men and women?

And to God, which is it better to be? Male or female?

Hmm. It's an interesting question.

The title of the sermon today is Godly Men and Women, Leaders of Humanity.

Godly men and women, leaders of humanity. Why leaders? Why women leaders?

Am I getting women's libish here or something?

Actually, we tend to, in the church, to have a mindset that women aren't leaders, women aren't teachers.

That's the men. The men are all the leaders and the teachers. And the women are kind of the followers.

The definition of a leader is one who changes or affects the behavior of someone else.

Now, with that definition in mind, who are the leaders in the church of God?

Who affects the change or the character of others more?

Do the men change the women's character or do the women change the men's character?

Does one have a greater role than another in being a leader, one who affects the change in another?

We'll leave that for just a minute, but let's just remember Moses, who was the most meek man, the great leader of the Israelites out of Egypt.

Who was he raised by? Do you remember his dad being mentioned in the Bible?

Don't remember that. Moses was raised to be a great leader, and all of his primary education, so far as we know, came from ladies who molded and shaped him as a baby, an infant right on up.

Timothy, raised by a woman, by his mother, so far as we know, certainly taught by his mother.

We read of individuals like Deborah, a judge of Israel.

Why was Deborah affecting the change in the Israelites by leading and directing during that time after the patriarchs and before the kings?

Because she was a person who was able, by her character traits, to lead and change for the better.

Mary Magdalene. Many people want to diminish and minimize the life of Mary Magdalene.

But let's just consider the last hours that are mentioned in the Bible concerning her.

She was the first person that Jesus Christ appeared to. Why was that? Why was that?

She was the one that Jesus Christ sent the news to the disciples, the important twelve disciples, got the news of Jesus's resurrection through Mary Magdalene.

Why was that? Can you imagine coming to the tomb that morning? There was no men there. No men showed up. No men showed up to help, to serve, to care. We also find that no man was trusted with that important news.

What if one of the disciples had been told, whoa, and he rushes off to tell the other words, guess what? The Lord has risen!

And they said, oh yeah, right. You know how guys are.

God sent that to the twelve disciples, actually eleven at the time, through Mary Magdalene, whom he loved, whom he trusted, who was believable.

And when she said it, because her word was believable, they immediately believed it, and they rejoiced.

Priscilla and Aquila. Wait a minute. Why Priscilla and Aquila? Why not Aquila and Priscilla?

It actually is called Aquila and Priscilla in one place, but Priscilla and Aquila.

In Romans 16, verse 3, we see two individuals who are very knowledgeable, very good teachers, spiritually affecting the lives of others. Paul says here, in Romans 16, verse 3, Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.

That says something very profound and very strong, doesn't it? My fellow workers, and he names her first.

In the 1920s, God revealed the truth that you and I follow of the Sabbath on which we were worshiping to Loma Dylan Armstrong.

Loma Dylan Armstrong kept the Sabbath and believed the Sabbath for a half a year by herself. And her husband, Herbert Armstrong, absolutely rejected it.

And he did all he could and studied all he could to try to disprove and dissuade her from believing it. As time would go on, he accepted the truth, and together they were used to teach men and women around the globe of God's way of life, of which you and I are part of that legacy. In the Bible, we're told that when Jesus Christ returns, the church is the bride of Christ. Why not the buddy of Christ? We'll be buds. Be the buddy of Christ. And some of you ladies, you can be buds, too.

Why is it the bride of Christ? In fact, why is the church not one time ever referred to in the male sense? It's always the woman in Revelation was taken to her place where she is nourished for three and a half years. Why is that? Jerusalem above the mother of us all.

Jesus Christ in type and the church in type, their relationship being shown by Ruth, who makes the statement, I will never leave you or forsake you. So we see right here that women are very, very much in the picture as leaders and very much in the picture as far as the contribution that they make to the kingdom of God, ultimately. You know, when I was thinking about this, when someone credits a man with being great, you know, you say, wow, now that man, here's a leader, here is a great leader.

What are the terms? What are the character traits that we use if a man is a great leader? Let me just read it. Religious attends church, caring, honest, truthful, helpful, hardworking, loyal, compassionate, courteous and dresses nicely. Now that's a great leader. Oh, we're just all day long. Now what a great person. What a great leader. We just described, you know, almost every woman on the planet. But for a man to be like that is something special, something really special. Yet these are the qualities normally found in women.

How often do you hear, that's a great woman. You know, she is just so caring, so honest, so truthful, so helpful, so hardworking. No, that's a woman. That's a normal woman. But it's exceptional if you find it in a man. Let's examine some special attributes that the ladies are leaders in, really behavior modifiers in.

Going back to Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 through 14. Colossians chapter 3. And I'm not at all trying to patronize anybody by mentioning some of these things. But I think you'll have to recognize that the ladies on this planet do serve the human race very, very well.

And also within the Church of God and the Kingdom of God, the ladies are right there at the top. Here in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies. That's something we men have to put on, tender mercies. Kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. A lot of these are traits that we tend to see already in women.

What's the purpose of bringing this up? Well, if these are so obvious in women already, why aren't they considered automatically righteous? Women shouldn't have to get baptized. Women should just, you know, in fact, why aren't they doing the preaching? While men seem less in harmony with godliness, they need to repent and be bolder in teaching godliness. And the ladies can help us in doing that. I know my mother's helped me, my wife has helped me do that, my children have helped me do that.

Some of your children will point out things. And we can all learn from anybody who we will submit to learning from. And that's a wonderful, wonderful opportunity. The problem is, though, while women have attributes that are more in harmony with godliness on the surface, often these are used for selfishness. And so they can masquerade as being godly attributes, but they can be used with ulterior motives.

The goal for all humans is actually a godly life, godly-centered life, not selfish or self-centered character traits, but gods' traits. Let's look at a few traits that men and women are known for. Some are religious and attend church. Well, yes, but why? Some of that can be emotionally based. It can be for what you can get.

I go to church because I'm going to get to go to heaven. I'm going to get saved. I'm going to get this and get that. Women can be deceived, the Bible says. It's a wonderful trait that women can be deceived, by the way. Guys just play on this their whole lives. They love to take women on snipe hunts. They like to trick them and play practical jokes and everything. Because women are trusting. Well, at least they were when we were young. They learn over time.

We teach them not to be so trusting. But they're believing and they're trusting and they're accepting of logic. They therefore can be easier to succumb to hoaxes and scams. But at the same time, it's a wonderful trait to be married to somebody who trusts you and believes you. It's a great place to start out. We find in 1 Timothy 2, verse 14, that Paul said, remember it was Eve that was deceived and not Adam. And women are not to be the spiritual leaders in the church. Well, God made it that way. There's a study that says men are more independent in their thoughts and actions, while women are more willing to follow the ideas suggested by others.

And when it comes to the truth, the absolute truth and the teaching of that truth, God has left that teaching in the formal church service to the men. And the Apostle Paul talks about deception as being a part of that. One thing that I think us men would recognize is men deceive women and men understand the tactics of deceit.

Men live and work in a deceitful world among men. And we can smell somebody trying to deceive us pretty much a mile away. Whether it comes in the form of an email or some kind of a timeshare sale or a sales job or whatever it is, the guys are cooking.

Sometimes a woman will fall for somebody who's trying to womanize them, or a man will see right through it. I don't know exactly what's going on.

Mostly truth and a little error. And a man will smell ego and competition and self-opportunity in there. But wait a minute. Men get deceived too. Remember, the whole world is deceived. Men get deceived too through a different tactic, a different way. We also succumb to deception through lust, the Bible says. We have sexual lust, we have ego, the egocentric lust for power and position. And we can deceive ourselves and convince ourselves that we're something that we're not. We can get in our mind that we've got some special, I don't know, calling or ability or trait or talent. We can deceive ourselves.

In Jude chapter, well, Jude 1, the only chapter of Jude, actually today it'll be Jude 7. And verse 16, it says, it talks about individuals with this mentality. They are grumblers and complainers walking according to their own lusts. This is predominantly talking about male false teachers.

They are deceived by their own lusts. They're walking through something that they want for themselves. And they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember in verse 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. Mockers. In other words, they're teaching something false. It's false doctrine, and it's primarily coming from lusts. These are sensual, worldly persons who cause divisions.

So you can see there's falsehood, there's deception, and men will succumb to it through their own lusts for their own importance, to their own ideas, a lack of wanting to be humble in the sight of God. And he says, not having the Holy Spirit. Let's look at another trait. Dresses nicely. There's nothing wrong with dressing nicely. In fact, one of the nicest things is when ladies dress up and look pretty. It just makes life worth living. It's great. It's pretty, it's wonderful, it's smiles, it's wonderful.

It's just great. And it's a nice gift, too. When a man or a woman dresses up, people say, well, you look nice today. Which is to say, thanks. That helps the eyes. I appreciate this. It's better. Life is good. And yet, why do we do it? I read that regarding dressing up, a woman will dress up to go shopping. She'll dress up to water her plants. She'll dress up to empty the garbage, to answer the phone, to read a book, to get the mail. A man will dress up for his wedding and his funeral. And yet, oftentimes, rather than just dressing to serve and look nice to others, a woman will dress for attention, seeking something.

Nevertheless, it is good for humans to dress, and to dress up, and to look nice. And for women to encourage men to clean up and dress up and look nice. It is a very good and positive thing. And yet, what is the motive? What is the motive? Regarding mirrors, here's what's said about men. Men are vain. They will check themselves out in the mirror. Women are ridiculous. They will check out their reflections in any shiny surface. Mirrors, pocket mirrors, store windows, toasters, spoons, friend sunglasses.

So everyone needs to dress nicely, but we need to do it for godly reasons. Let's look over in 1 Timothy 2, verse 8. See here, rather than trying to separate one's sex as being better than the other, we find that both of us are challenged by all of the same issues. In 1 Timothy 2, verses 8 through 10, it says, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands. That doesn't mean actually lifting up your hands, but praying in a way that you are lifting up your sacrificed animal to the priest when you took it to the temple. And you are repenting of your sins, and you are saying, Here, Lord, take my sacrifice for the sins that I have committed.

So in that sense, in a mental sense, you are coming humbly before God in a repentant attitude. So men should have this humility, it says, and he wants men to pray everywhere, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, the women, that the women adorn themselves. In like manner also, this humility, this repentant mindset, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel.

Adorn themselves. They are to adorn themselves. But they are to do it in a way with propriety and moderation, not with extremely braided hair, as back in the day where the women in the Roman days, who were very wealthy, would actually weave strands of gold in their hair, and then go out in the sun, so that the gold would shimmer up in this braided mass, and actually put jewels up there as well. So it was like a stunning, wow, look at me!

Or gold, or pearls, or costly clothing. It is a garish kind of a, oh, wow, look at that! It's kind of an over-the-top, freakish thing, so that she would be noticed. But which is proper for women, professing godliness and good works? Another place it talks about a woman dressing in a way, and appointing herself, not as the outward, but the inward person. And so with a man, just as it says in verse 9, in like manner also.

This applies to both of us. When men pray, they shouldn't be out, oh, look at me, I'm the righteous one, I'm praying, you know. No, it should be praying humbly. And women, as they look nice and they dress nice, shouldn't be saying, oh, look at me, look at me.

No, it's both of us being godly from the heart. What about caring? Why do people care? Why do women care? Is that more godly? Because women care about their husbands and about their children more than men do? A study says men and women have different sources of satisfaction for men its career and prosperity, while women value family and kids. I'd have to say, in that balance, family and kids wins. But why do women value and care for family and kids? Is it because they're born with godly instinct? Here's the difference between men and women regarding offspring.

A woman knows all about her children, dentist appointments, soccer games, romances, best friends, favorite books, secret fears, hopes and dreams. A man is aware that some short people are living in the house. Now, we begin to see it's very important that a woman cares for the family, but why does she care? Is this a spiritual attribute? There's a lot of caring that comes through communication. A lot of communication spawns caring. Let's just look at something regarding the Brison Dean neurological report. Connecting for a woman, connecting through talking, activates the pleasure centers in a girl's brain.

Some of you young ladies might identify with this. We're not talking about a small amount of pleasure, the report says. This is huge. It is a major dopamine and oxytocin rush, which is the biggest neurological reward you can get outside of something else. And that is why the report says that women use 20,000 words per day for this dopamine rush, and men only use 7,000 words a day.

We don't get any dopamine out of talking. But going on back to this caring. Women's caring may have nothing to do with godliness. Consider this aspect of the report. There's a tend and befriend response that is typical to a woman, especially when there's any stress or situations.

Under stress, men and women both release the hormones cortisol and epinephrine, which raise blood pressure, blood sugar, and lowers the effectiveness of the immune system. This happens in both at the same time. However, in a woman and in a man, the body also releases oxytocin. This oxytocin in a woman neutralizes the cortisol and the epinephrine. Blood pressure goes down, blood sugar goes down, all the stuff goes away.

And the oxytocin causes her to want to tend to and befriend and care about others. In males, however, this release of oxytocin gets neutralized by their testosterone. And the result is aggressiveness. In Romans chapter 13, verses 8 through 10, Romans 13, in verse 8, it says, Oh, no one anything except to love one another. It's not about oxytocin. It's not about hormones that cause us to shift into a certain bonding or caring mentality. But we are to love one another, for he who loves one another has fulfilled the law.

This is actually something that has to come from above. Because love is a byproduct of having God's Holy Spirit. It's none of the selfish games or the intoxicating hormones that God has placed into our body to help the human race survive that gives us credit. But rather, a different type of love. It talks about the Ten Commandments in verse 9. It says, these are all summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

That is a whole different concept than anything that men or women are born with or can acquire naturally. That's a whole different process and one that we both must face equally. Neither man or woman has any corner on that. Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Another aspect is loyalty. Women are nobly bonded to their children and their husbands.

There is just a wonderful aspect of loyalty between a woman and her husband. She will be loyal to him. She will just remain loyal to him. No matter what, men can give their wives so much grief and they might even separate from them. But I've long seen in my ministry of some 30 years that even the most egregious offense that's created against a woman, a woman cannot just walk out and be gone after a huge, huge, huge offense. She will walk out and she will hurt so badly because she's so loyal.

And then the man, the husband, will change and apologize and, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, and I'll change and all that. He'll tell her everything she wants to hear and wants him to be and he will indeed become that to her and she will come back.

Which is a wonderful thing because of her loyalty. And then if the man is a typical carnal guy who hasn't changed, in about six months he'll revert back to his old habits and be very offensive once again. And she will leave a second time and say, I'll never see you again. I'm done. I already gave you a chance. A woman can't do that because she still is hurting and bonded and loyal.

And he will go through whatever he goes through to get her back and indeed probably change right before her eyes into that which she really wants.

And it takes three times in the experiences that I've seen, three times for a man to offend a woman deeply before she finally severs that deep root of loyalty that's there.

And I always figure that's such a great gift to the men involved. It gives them three chances to change, to really repent and change.

I don't necessarily see that going the other way around. But this loyalty aspect also goes with children. Women are fiercely, fiercely loyal to their children. Inseparable bonds. Seems like godly character trait, doesn't it? Because God is so loyally bonded to us. It says in the Bible, God will never leave you or forsake you.

But this is a very noble character trait when it's a character trait. But in women it's caused hormonally. And it's a wonderful thing.

But it combines oxytocin, which are released during talking, hugging, lovemaking and nursing.

And the oxytocin binds with the female hormones and creates a very strong bond. That's why a nursing mother will bond to a baby. And bond over and over again. And that response or that relationship between a mother and child will be stronger than any other family member for life.

A wife bonds with a husband and vice versa because the oxytocin also is released in a husband during lovemaking and things like that.

However, testosterone in a husband neutralizes the oxytocin fairly rapidly.

And so the lovemaking process has to be a repetitive thing for a husband to have that same loyalty built in. It fades fairly rapidly. With a woman it does not. There's nothing there to take it away.

As I said, it's noble when it's a character trait, but if we're just looking at the hormones involved, then you can understand after menopause, when the female hormones no longer bond to oxytocin.

Statistics show there is women are 50 times more likely to divorce a man once menopause kicks in because the female hormones no longer bond with the oxytocin. Fifty times more prevalence of divorce from the woman after that, once that hormonal kind of bonding has passed.

What does that say for you and me as men and women? Well, it's not about hormones, is it? That gets the human race along and creates some loyalties and some bondings to help us limp along and stay alive. But what God really wants is a different type of loyalty. He wants a loyalty that comes as a character trait.

Psalm 15, verse 4, talks about who will dwell in the kingdom of God will be one who swears to his own hurt and does not change.

Swears to his own hurt means entering into a contract or a promise or a statement that this is what I will do, and then finding out that's not in your best interest, but does not change. You will do it anyway.

In other words, your loyalty, your word is strong no matter what.

And sometimes that to your own hurt can just be a matter of perception. Maybe an opportunity to sin or an opportunity for something else to come along. But no, this individual has sworn he's made a promise, he's made a statement, and he's going to do that no matter what. That's the kind of loyalty God wants us to have between our spouses, between family relationships, between Jesus Christ and God the Father in the New Covenant, in our baptism contract.

This only comes through God and through Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 6, verse 10, it says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

That's where our strength, that's where our loyalty comes from. It's not from oxytocin. It's not from some sort of a physical sensation that creates a brain chemistry.

It's through Jesus Christ. It's through his power. It's through his might that comes to us through the Holy Spirit that flows from the Father.

We all need to be loyal, irrespective of whether we're male or female or anything else.

There's another point, honesty. This world, as you know, runs on lies and deception.

And yet there is a check on it going too far, and that's the ladies that live in the world. Women demand honesty. I think it's partly, and I'm not a woman so I can't say, but I think it's partly because of their need for security. You can't have security if you don't have honesty and trust. You really, I don't know what kind of security you could have if everything is lies.

But women demand honesty, and they're often very forthright in their discussions. They'll teach this to men. They'll push it. They'll talk about it. They'll insist in their children. Is it a godly character? Yes, it is.

Is it always there? Well, let's do this little pretend scene.

Police investigation. The guy knocks on the door. Morning, sir. I'd like to ask for your assistance. The lady across the street has gone missing, and we'd like to search for her, but we don't know what she looks like. Could you give us a description of your neighbor across the street? Well, yes, I could. 6.30 this morning, she went out from the paper. I'm going to describe her. She's 5'2", short red hair, red eyebrows, green eyes, a little dumpy, flat-chested, thick in the middle. You know. You know. Easy up. I think we've got her. Thank you very much. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.

Sorry again. At about 7.45, she was headed off to work. Oh, okay. She was about 5'4", shoulder-length brunette, brown eyes, dark eyebrows. All the freckles gone. She's now smooth complexion. And 36.24, 36. As far as I can tell. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Wait a minute. I saw her again about 7.00 last night. She was headed out for dinner. She was about 5'6". She was looking really lean. A lot of cleavage. Blonde hair, blue eyes, dark eyebrows, and a mole. Mole right here. You can't miss it, officer.

Oh, well, thanks anyway. Honesty isn't always exactly what humans give. We all play games. Everybody does. The men and the women. But God cannot lie. God is truthful. God is forthright. And He does not want His children to be untruthful either, in any way, shape, or form.

Now, you can look in your own life and see, are men less truthful or are women less truthful? Really, what does it matter? Because all of us are untruthful. Let every man be a liar, but let God be true, the Bible tells us. What we're looking for is actually not what humans might come up with in the games that we play, but what God tells us in Colossians chapter 3, beginning in verse 9. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, from baptism, from repentance. And we put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge, notice, according to the image of him who created him. It's not the male, it's not the female that's better or wins any rewards, it's Jesus Christ, our Creator. That's the image that we seek. That's who we want to aspire to be like. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15, talking about the church, That is our goal. Every one of us has that goal. And there are individuals who can assist other individuals in learning to be more truthful, helping point that out. Often times, accuracy is not understood or not realized, or inaccuracies are not realized. And someone else, who may be a male or a female, can point that out to the other person and say, That was not accurate. You need to be more accurate there. And that can be very helpful. But ultimately, we want to be like Jesus Christ. Another area would be cleanliness. All need to be clean. And women greatly help men and children learn this principle. Cleanliness is next to godliness, a woman once said. Cleanliness is next to godliness, a woman once said.

So is it a godly trait to be clean? The Old Covenant commanded cleanliness, certain washings, purifications. The Pharisees exceeded at it. But Jesus Christ said there's more to it than just being clean. In fact, Hebrews 9 and 10 talk about the purifications involved in the Old Covenant, and how they really couldn't remove anything of real value. They were symbols of the time. The fact is, cleanliness is not next to godliness. Cleanliness is next to healthiness. It's a very physical thing. To be clean can assist with healthiness. But there is a cleanliness that is next to godliness, I guess you might say. And that's found in Ephesians 5, verse 25-27, where it says, Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. That's the washing. That's the cleanliness that we all need. And that's the cleanliness that's associated with godliness. That he might present her to himself a glorious church, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Cleanliness is a good thing as far as health goes, but cleanliness is not next to godliness. Repentance and overcoming and being washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now that is next to godliness, and godliness can result once the sins are forgiven and righteous acts can then take place. And lastly, we'll talk about diligence. The woman's work is never done. And women are amazing workers. They're multitaskers. Women work so hard. My wife just goes and goes and goes. I wouldn't dare to say I've had a hard or busy day around my wife, because she just goes. And it seems like all the ladies do. My dad talked to him yesterday and said, So, dad, how are you doing there? My mother's here in the audience. She came out for the women's weekend. He's there by himself. He's in his 85th year. How are you doing? Oh, I'm fine! Oh, your mother, she's got me all fixed up. She's got meals, three meals a day, all in the fridge, just sitting there waiting to go. Enchiladas and this and that. She's cleaned the house and done all the beds and got the clothes all ready, folded and put in the drawers, and ironed. Done my sewing and everything. I'm just good to go. I started thinking about that this morning. I thought, What if dad had come out? And before he left, he wanted to make sure mom was taken care of. And he cooked all the meals, and everyone he labeled and put in the fridge, and he did all the laundry and folded it. And, you know, ironed all of her blouses and everything, did a little sewing repair, washed all the bedding and put it in place. And, you know, it didn't really seem like that would fit. But I know you guys, we do more important things. Not sure what they are sometimes, but nevertheless, the ladies are very, very diligent. But we also, men, can be very, very diligent and hardworking and task-oriented and career-oriented and work, work, work, work, work, work, work. Both of us can be missing something that God showed Martha in the Bible. You don't need to turn and read that. But she was overly focused on the physical to the point of ignoring the spiritual that was right there in her own house. And then on top of that, we see in the Bible that men can be involved in the cares of this world that choke out the Word, choke out righteousness. So all of us can get busy if we're not careful. And it's a wonderful thing for a woman to be worked very, very hard and very diligent up to a point.

And sometimes it's the ladies who don't get around to studying, don't get around to reading, don't really have time for Bible study and prayer, come to services and have to care for the little babies, and don't really get to hear a sermon for years at a time, it seems. And if they're not careful, men and women alike can be wrapped up in the cares of the physical world and not be growing spiritually and actually get choked. The need for both of us is found in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15.

2 Timothy 2 and verse 15.

All of us need to be diligent to present yourself approved to God. That's where our diligence needs to be. To be approved, to be considered worthy to escape the things to come, to be approved by God. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We should all be workers, diligent, not ashamed because we divide the word of truth rightly, properly. We apply it in our lives and we live as godly people.

So which is it better to be a man or a woman? The answer is neither or either. Best as I can see, God actually intends both men and women to be principal leaders for the human race.

What is better is not male or female, but what is better is sons and daughters of God. And that's what we all aspire to be. God is seeking godly offspring. And we need to be righteous in God's sight and to be like God and to be His children.

We have a shared inheritance. We are all equal as potential children of God. We are all joint heirs with Christ. It says in Romans 8 and verse 17, We are heirs together of the grace of life. 1 Peter 3 verse 7. Joint heirs and heirs together of the grace of life.

Galatians 3, 28 shows that God shows no partiality between men and women. There's neither Jew nor Gentile. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. All one in Christ Jesus. In fact, we're teachers together now and in the future. Remember in Acts 2 verse 16, Joel prophesied that, It shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Now the word prophesied means to rightly divine, rightly counsel, rightly teach. To teach, to instruct, to infect, to affect the lives of others. Whether formally or in person. But your sons and daughters shall lead. They shall teach. Others. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they shall teach. They shall affect the behavior of others. We all share a mutual goal. And in conclusion, let's go to Romans 12. I have two scriptures I want to conclude with. If this is Romans 12 verses 5-10, we share a mutual goal with God's help, with His love that He gives to both of us equally, both sexes equally.

So we, being many, are one body. Many, many different types, many different people, many different ages. But we are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. Gifts. Things that we can do and serve and help and contribute. Spiritual gifts. Godly things that come from God's Spirit. Let us use them. If to teach, let's teach in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, serving is the word. Let us use it in our serving. He who teaches in teaching, He who exhorts in exhortation, He who gives with liberality, He who leads with diligence, He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. But let love be without hypocrisy. Don't let it be some hormonal love or some self-love, you know, where it looks like love and sounds like love, but it really is hypocritical. It's really got a self-component to it, both men and women. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, and be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, with God's love. That's where our love needs to come from. In honor, giving preference to one another. Hopefully, the men can really respect and admire the women, and the women can really respect and admire the men, and also mutually each other. The men and the men and the women and the women, the whole body. It contributes and grows and stitches itself together in the love that God provides. The theme of the Women's Weekend, it'll follow this service, is the gift of godly friendship. I was there as Mary developed that theme, and she did so by combining a couple of verses. 1 Peter 4, 8, verse 8, and verse 10. 1 Peter 4, verses 8 and 10. I never said anything to her, I just listened. But as this came along, it was something that was important to her. It was something that the theme, the concept, the godly friendship, not just friendship, but the godly friendship, and the growing of it, and the gift of it. I'd like to just close by reading these two scriptures. It says, And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover the multitude of sins. And in verse 10, As each one has received a gift, serve or minister it to one another, as the good stewards of the manifold grace of God. That is a gift that we can give. Godliness of friendships, of relationships.

In closing, let's endeavor to be godly men and women. Godly because it comes from God. Godly because it's all about God. It's about His Spirit. It's about repenting of what we are as men and women, and becoming like our Father in Heaven, and our elder brother Jesus Christ. And in doing so, all of us, men and women, will be leaders of humanity, both now and forever with God.