Sermon Transcript:Please join me in welcoming our very own Pastor Brent to continue the first Corinthians series.Thank you so much. Appreciate that Hannah and Sally and the band. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to First Corinthians chapter 11. If not, we'll have all the Scripture up on a stage, give him on where we've been. And while we're going through this series, we see similarities between the ancient city of Corinth and our own modern day, El Paso and culture and in the West. And we have already looked at Chapters one through four, where he addresses leadership and divisions and calls for unity, we've addressed issues of sexual immorality and singleness and marriages, we've addressed the law, your issues with litigation, we've talked about idle food, and just our calling in Christ. And today, we're going to turn into a new section on corporate worship, really how we are to function as worshipers within the body of Christ within a church community. Now, the passage that we're going to read today, I just want to be honest with you, it's one of the most difficult passages that I've talked through since being your pastor five years this fall. And so it's difficult and so even as you read it, you're gonna like, I don't like that I don't like the sound of that. And I would just say in my name, and like my interpretations of it, I would just say hold off on throwing your fruits and vegetables to the end. Well, as we're in El Paso throw off from holding, you're throwing your coffee and burritos at me to the end, because you might like the interpretation when it gets to the very end. So Revelation, I mean, that revelation, First Corinthians chapter 11, beginning in verse one says this, and you should imitate me just as I imitate Christ. This is the apostle Paul,who wrote the majority in the New Testament wrote First Corinthians, he's just saying, Imitate me as I imitate Christ. I'm so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and you're following the teachings I pass on to you. But there's one thing I want you to know. The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. A man dishonors his head if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. But a woman dishonors her head as she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head. For this is the same as shaving her head. Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair. But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut, or her head shaved, she should wear covering man should not wear anything on his head when worshipping for a man is made in God's image and reflects God's glory. And a woman reflects man's glory, for the first man didn't come from woman, but the first woman came from man, and a man was not made for one, but a woman was made from man for this reason. And because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority. But among the Lord's people, women are not independent men and men are not independent of women. For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman and everything comes from God. I guess, as you understand this, and as you sort of are getting an inkling of what we're going to talk about this morning, you can understand the difficulty, and maybe even the hardship that we may have in thinking about this this morning. But I want to throw up the first sort of point that I see in this passage, which is men and women are different. And you might say, Well, I think there's a lot more going on here than that. And I would say yes. But we are grappling with distinctives and similarities. How are men and women? How are they equal, yet different. And then we're also going to look at this principle of leadership or authority that word is used in here. And we'll talk about what that means. And what are the implications for our home life or church life, which is obviously what he's addressing here, with talking about how we pray or prophesy, and then living in the culture at large. We're going to punt that to the next section, but I'll, I'll work through that. Alright, so let's um, if you don't mind, in the back of you'll go back to the beginning of the passage here, I'd really want to go slow enough so that we can really sort of again grapple with some of these distinctive, some of these differences that are being pointed out by Paul, between men and women. The first thing he says, He wants you to know thatthe head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man and the head of Christ is God. This is a very difficult even section from the get go. But it seems to be that as you saw Christ here on earth, that He was led by God, you saw him driven out by God the Spirit into the wilderness, you saw many times him submit his will to the Father, that you see that even though God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are equal, it seems to me that while he was here on earth, there were implications of some differences and even some ways in which he deferred being Jesus deferred to the Father. And so you're gonna, I think, see that in what I would say marital relationships. So when you see this whole idea of of man and womanAsk yourself, are they talking about all men? For all women? Are they talking about something that is in marital relationships, and often I think it's going to be in marital relationships. So let's see how he goes on to talk about this. So if he covers his head, while praying, or prophesying, that's probably not good. But a woman does honors, if she doesn't have one on there. Now, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you that it's obvious that these are cultural ways of distinguishing men and women, right. And we even have some of this leftover from our culture in the Middle East, right. So if you go, and you take a plane to the Middle East, and I don't know, if some of y'all have served in those areas, as military, you're gonna see women's and full garb and all that kind of stuff. And so you're gonna see that they're keeping some semblance of these cultural things that have been going on for centuries. I would even say, in our culture, we have kept some of these similarities in our church or spiritual environments, because how often have you been someplace, and when you go to pray, you'll see a man take off his bald cap or take off his, you know, cowboy hat or whatever, maybe hold it over his heart or hold it down to the side and say, okay, and we're entering a time of prayer, just out of really some principles that you've learned here, I'm going to do that. And oftentimes, still, we see the idea that women tend to have their hair long, and men tend to have it short. I don't think that's the full point here. I'll talk about that in a minute. But that is something that's brought up here. Okay. So again, what's going on here? I think it's cultural things that then have spiritual implications. What's obvious, though, is that men and women are praying or prophesying. Amen. That's important. Because you think about what we just did here up as a church, we had women praying, we had membrane, we had men leading in worship, we had women leading worship, you had them saying a word from the Lord, both men and women. And really, we're going to ask ourselves, how is he helping us as a church, make sure we're doing this in a correct, orderly, decent manner. And I'll get into that in a minute. So if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair. Why? Because in that culture, right, the only people who would have had their hair completely shaved like that, maybe like a temple prostitute or something like that. So you're saying you don't want to be a part of that kind of thing. Make sure your women look like women and your men look like men. And not only that, but that they have done what they're supposed to do to not be what shameful. So one of the things you're gonna see in this passage, and stick with me, I know, this is hard, but we'll get there. One thing you're gonna see in this passage is this whole idea of honor and shame. And so we don't live in an honor, shame culture, again, you can go to different parts of the world. And they have a more honor and shame culture, it was definitely one in which Paul was speaking to go and go the next slide.I mentioned it wear anything on his head when worshipping for he's made in God's image and reflects God's glory. That's good, we understand that. So where he's gonna go next is all the way back to the beginning. He's gonna go all the way back to Genesis, and he's gonna talk to us about the idea that you remember the story, you remember how it came about that God made Adam first. And then he made woman or he made Eve from man, that's all he's talking about here. We know that he's not talking about this in some sort of inequality. Because we're gonna go on in the passage and see how both men and women are interdependent on each other. They're different, but they're interdependent on each other. So that's what he's saying here. He said, the first one didn't come from one but the woman came from what his rib his side. And he goes, the next one is idea of why was she even brought the next slide. Why was even brought to Adam, and you know this from the story, if you know the story, well, what that there was no suitable helper, there was no suitable companion for him, among what the wild animals are beasts. And so what did God do, he brought the two together. And you can see very clearly from Genesis on forward, that they're created in the image of God, because he says that in Genesis 126, and he even goes on in this passage, we'll see here in a minute, that he's not setting up some sort of hierarchy of like, what we'd often call patriarchy or something, that idea that, that men are in charge of the of the country, in the culture in the world, and the woman just has to do whatever the men say, in a country, culture or world, I get that we've had that at different points in history. And you can find that at different points of the world. I don't think that's what's going on here. I think he's talking about some distinctive differences. And he's really helping us to see that whoever's worshipping up on stage, whether they're praying or prophesying. And let me just say a word about prophesying here. Prophets, which you understand that prophets in the Old and even New Testament, if they're a female, they're called a prophetess. Just like we call a waiter, if it's a male waitress, if it's a female Deacon, if it's a male servant, Deacon, so if it's a female servant, you get all this. So what was a prophet in the Old and New Testament? What was a prophetess? In the Old and New Testament? It's what it's one who speaks for God. And so when you see this in the New Testament, asking, Okay, do we still have prophecy around today? We'll get into thatIn First Corinthians 14, but I would just say the short version is that yes, we still have men and women who speak a word for God and maybe even from God. But the way that's gonna occur is that's gonna curve it straight from the scriptures, because we now have the Scriptures. And so now, if someone claims to be a prophet or a prophetess of God,they make sure that what they're saying comes from Scripture. And if not, then they're not a legitimate Prophet, or prophetess. So what he's concerned about and what we should be concerned about, and we make sure things occur decent and orderly up here, is that the men and women who are up here praying, or their lives, right, if they're married, do we know anything in their life that would disqualify them from being up on stage? I think that's what it's all about. And how do we know this? Because this is how Jesus talked about when he gave us practical advice. He's all concerned about our hearts. But he's also concerned about it being done in decent orderly way. Because how we present ourselves says something about ourselves in third culture, women would have had head coverings and men would have not women, all women would have had long hair. So you're saying, okay, can women not have short hair now? No, but I think the point we have to ask ourselves is, well, but women have to look like women and men have to look like men. And those are some cultural things that we figure out because we know it when we see it. Right? So we don't want to say, Okay, we're going to become a church, like some churches have, where all the women wear skirts, and all the girls don't cut their hair at all. They went past their rear or whatever like that. No, I mean, there's churches that do that, because they're trying to obey some of these passages. I don't think that's what that's talking about. That's cultural. But I do think it's talking about, make sure that when you're presenting yourself in praying or prophesying, whether a man or a woman, that is your man, make sure you look culturally like a man in your culture. If you're a woman, make sure you look culturally like a woman in your culture, and make sure that there's nothing going on in your life that would disqualify you from leading us in prayer or prophetic work. Make sense? All right, because here's what he's saying. But among glorious people, women are not independent of men. And men are not independent of women. That's why I say it has to be that there's some sort of equality here for although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman and everything comes from God. The second thing I would say is that we don't like that word authority. I talked a little bit about shame and honored culture, and how we want to make sure we honor each other in worship, and that we want honorable men and women to lead us whether it's preaching or, or whatever, right, prophesying or praying. But I think the other thing we need to understand is that leadership and authorities, okay, we live in a time right now, where authorities fallen on hard times, those of us that are in classrooms, or those of us that are in the workforce, we know this, that when we start to tell someone that is wrong, you failed that test, we often feel like oh, man, I can't talk to someone like that. We because we don't like the idea that the teacher has the authority of the classroom, and has the ability and the authority to give you an A or an F based off performance. Now, that was true for most of world history. But authority has fallen on hard times, right? Same thing happens, whether you are a manager of a pizza store, you feel almost guilty or bad as the person in charge who owns or manages the pizza store to say, hey, you cannot turn the pizzas up to 600 degrees, you'll burn them every time I'm in charge, turn the temperature down, you're burning too many pizzas. And if you can't figure this out, you're gonna get fired. Like, whoa, oh, my gosh, that sounds so harsh. How can you say that to him or her your employee? Why? Because you have authority. So I'm gonna use also another word that we're more comfortable with, as long as it doesn't rub us the wrong way, right, which is leadership, which I think is a lot of what's going on here. That men and women and even men and women in the church, we all understand that someone's gonna have to be in charge, someone's gonna have to lead. And again, I think he's given us some guidance, not only in this passage, but in other passages of the Bible to figure out what does it mean that you have a home setup? Because I think it starts first in the home, where a man is a leader. And the woman can be a leader too. But there is some sense in which he is leaving the home. What does that look like? And I want to say that the church and culture have really botched this at times, because we've we've focused too much on the roles, okay, well, a woman cooks and a man does this or whatever. It's like, no, what if your husband's a chef? What if he's a five star chef? Well, okay, well, then I don't know. You know, you want him cooking. Same thing with money. It's like, well, the man handles the finances. What if he married an accountant? You see where those things break down? Because those are cultural things that we think well if you lead or you're in charge, you handle you know, the money or the going out and working or whatever. But I will say that you and I have to figure that out both biblically and culturally and in our homes, and ultimately in our church. What does it look like to keep some semblance ofmale leadership in the home and in the church, and we can disagree about some of those things, and we can find ourselves having to figure those things out. But ultimately, that's what this passage is talking about. The other thing it's talking about, is also going back to that shame and honor culture aspect is what are you and I doing when we represent Christ out there? Because it's so important that when you pray, or prophesy, or do anything in worship, that you're in a right place, and you're gonna see that later on, we talked about the Lord's Supper. And I think it's most easily said maybe in an old country song, I say old because it's like 15 years old. I don't know if any of y'all know Dirk Bentley, but he's a country artists and one of his songs is called my last name. I think it's some of these lyrics are interesting. And it really talks about what I think the other aspect is going on here in this passage of the idea of shame, and honor it with Christ. This is Dirks Bentley's song, my last name, he said, I learned to ride it, talking about his last name. When I first started school, some bully didn't like it. He said, It didn't sound too cool. So I had to hit him. And all I said, when that blood came down, is my last name. And then he goes on, he says, my grandpa took it off to Europe to fight the Germans in the war. Nobody wears dog tags anymore. It's written on a headstone in a field where my grandpa is laid, and he says, It's my last name. And he talks about it's traced down, it's given to him. And he talks about how his father tells him, he first comes to this conclusion, he says that my father tells me, may I never bring it shame. It's my last name. Daddy always told me far back, as I can recall, saying, you're part of something you represent us all. So keep it how you got it, as solid as it came. So this word that's repeated throughout this passage of head? I think it has with it two aspects, I think it does have authority or leadership. So whether we like it or not, I know authorities fall on hard times the words in the Bible, it is still exercised in our culture by our police and government and our teachers, and definitely in our workplaces. And I think it has to be exercised somewhere in our home life and in our church life. Because someone's got to be in charge. Someone's got to lead in biblically, the way I've seen that God set it up is we've got to figure out what does it mean, to have male leadership in a home, that doesn't mean that all women listen to all men or anything like that we're talking about a home thing. And then I think it has implications for the church. But the other thing that's going on here is that as you and I go, as you and I minister, as we, as we go about our work in the church and outside the church, know that who do we represent, and who do we not want to bring dishonor or shame towards the name of Christ, or to our family, since the other thing I think that's going on here that because we have a head, it's just like, in my family, we have more family, we have more kids, and that when I send my sons and my daughters Shiloh out, I say, act right? When you get out there, right? If you go to someone's house, don't be rude. And I mean, if you go into school, don't be this kind of person, be the person who leads out in doing righteous things and good things because of why, because you don't want to bring dishonor and shame on the head of the household. And we even think about this, even in terms of right now, when you're signing up for school, or you're signing up for even the way different documents work. They asked us even on your taxes, whose head of the household, so we don't, we don't need to be afraid of those kind of words, and that kind of lingo. And again, it doesn't have implications, I think, all throughout the workforce. So we can have women CEOs, we can even have a woman president. But the idea is, what are their policies? What are they about? Are they more towards godliness, and righteousness or less towards godliness and righteousness? Whether they're a man or a woman? All right. So I want to do about that. Maybe that's as clear as mud and helpful to us. Men and women are different. I'm gonna say something more about some distinctiveness here in a minute. next passage is 13 through 16. And it says this, Judge for yourselves, is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? Again, that's a cultural distinctive, that we have some aspect of still in our day and age. Isn't it obvious that it's disgraceful for a man to have long hair? And again, is that what I'm saying today? Now I'm saying what is the equivalent cultural thing? And I think it's that men look like men and women look like women, and isn't long here, a woman's pride and joy, for it has been given to her as a covering. But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God's other churches. So what is he trying to do? He's trying to bring order the worship order for what we're trying to do up here. So this is my second point this morning. masculinity and femininity matter.Now, again, this has fallen on hard times in our culture to in the last 20 years, whether it's been authority and leadership issues, I don't like to be told what to do masculinity and femininity has fallen on hard times as well. So these are not political issues, first and foremost, although they seem like that at time, right because they're almostcharged up, I can almost feel the angst that you feel sitting here to hearing this, like, oh, man, I don't know where he's gonna go with this. But it should have just been basically understood for 1000s of years. It is a philosophical and ultimately theological statement to talk about how men and women are similar in some ways, but different in other ways in every culture, in every time period has had to grapple with, what do we think those differences are? What are those differences for our own culture and 2024. And so it's time and where we live, everybody has to grapple with it, you can't just deny that reality. The debacle at the opening ceremony of the Olympics is a good example of this of what happens when we're confused as a Western culture, about what is going on with men and women gender confusion, when we're not certain are clear about masculinity and femininity. I don't know if you saw that. But it was just that whole idea of not only did you have kind of what happened there with the Lord's Supper, and kind of what all was going on to the left and right of that, but you had, again, someone who looked like they were in a swimsuit, or a bathing suit with a beard on skating through the place is like what is going on here? There's just confusion on masculinity and femininity. And you might even push back and say, Well, Brian, I thought we're supposed to love and accept everyone. Because then when they asked the Olympic people about why did they do that, all those things, and the blue man was nobody knows what he was doing. But but the idea is why why aren't we supposed to love people are different than us? Isn't that a Christian trait or attribute or characteristic? Yes, loving people who are different than us. That is a good thing. But loving people is also warning individuals inside the church and outside the church of danger and stupidity, right? I mean, if you and I are walking in downtown El Paso, El Paso like I often do, I would want somebody if I'm staring down at my smartphone and going across the crosswalk before it's time to pull me and snatch me back. He said, Well, that's not very cool. You shouldn't really, you know, be touching people. You don't know what I know, you and I will be thankful for that. Right? Because why they're snatching us from danger. They're also snatching us from the stupidity of trying to look at our smartphones while we're going across the crosswalk. The other thing I would say is that mocking the things of God is insulting and dangerous. Right? So again, we're outside the category of just simply loving someone who's different than us. We're actually warning those in the culture in the church outside the church, that we are not simply existing to live and let live, right? Because that's what we're being told is that, man, let's just let all this stuff go. Don't worry about these kinds of things, if you find it insulting, because you know, someone else is different than you. And you've got to embrace all that. It's like, No, when you find someone or something, or people trying to take down all that is sacred and holy, and replace it with something that's dimmable and unholy, you and I have to be wise enough to stand up, say, watch out. There's danger there, if you go down that. And I will also say is that God will not be mocked, and that he will ultimately have his way in this world. And in the next. So you said, What does this have to do? Because you seem like you're going off politically, I'm not meaning to I'm trying to say that what's going on here that we're observing around us is really, really theological. What does this passage have to do? What does that have to do with this passage in church conduct? So we're to conduct ourselves as men and women who are honorable, right? Who makes sure that there's not anything up in our lives as we're up here praying or giving a word from God, that would really be a hindrance to the very word we're trying to share. And that we conduct ourselves that you when you look at me, or you look at a female, you'd say, okay, I can tell that's a woman, I can tell that a man does that again, say, Well, you're not welcome here. If you don't have that figured out yet. No, man, we have all kinds of people come from all kinds of places. If you're, you know, I know we all have we all have, at least I do, I'll speak from so we all have cousins who have different persuasions, on sexual issues that maybe you are, I do not speak for me. That doesn't mean that I can't go and be with them or hang out with them at times. It just means that we understand that when you put yourself in a position of helping conduct worship, you better figured some of those things out. And you better figure out a way to honor God in your home life in your church life. And I think it does have some cultural implications, as I'm sort of talking about here. All right, that's a big first two points. Now we're gonna get Lord's Supper. By the way, the hanging we go. All right, let's go the Lord's Supper here. And it really has similar aspects that we're getting to but in the following instructions, I cannot praise you, which is not good. I'm kidding. Imagine that Paul himself when he's writing a letter to us as he wrote a letter to you and me at Life Church. Hey, I don't know what you guys are doing down there. But I cannotpraise us and wow, that's what he's saying. For it sounds as if you're more harm than good is done when you meet together, man, that's another blow. First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent, I believe it. But of course, there must be divisions among you, so that you have God's approval will be recognized. When you meet together, you're not really interested in the Lord's Supper. For some of you heard eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry, while others get drunk. What? Don't you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God's Church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? You want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this. For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord Himself. On the night when he was portrayed the Lord Jesus took some bread, and gave thanks to God for it, then he broke it in pieces and said, This is My body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant between God and His people in agreement confirmed with my blood, Jesus talking here, Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it. For every time you drink this bread and drink this cup, eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until it comes again. So anyone who eats his bread, or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthy is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread and drink the cup, without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment upon yourself, as many of you are weak and sick, and some have died, have even died. But if you would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet, when we are judged by the Lord, we're being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord's Supper, wait for each other, if you're really hungry, eat at home. So you won't bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I give you instructions about the other matters after I arrived. So this is still about how to conduct things in worship. And that's why again, I wanted to go through first Corinthians because I think it really helps us as a church know how has to be set up and solidified.Third point this morning, want us to see is that equality around the Lord's table matters, equality around the Lord's table matters. You can see this here, because we're equal at the foot of the cross. You see this over and over again, in this passage, he wants them to be united around what around the Lord's Supper, he wants him to understand that listen, you don't want first class citizens and first class people in the church, and then coach and then the ones that are all the way back to the bathroom where they can't lean back. And after the flushing the whole time, you know, I'm talking about on the plane, you don't, you don't want to have all these different classes in the church, because we're all one. He talks about this also in James, where you see that he says, Listen, you don't want to always have these places of honor for those who are rich and that kind of thing. He's saying, if you've got to eat, do that at home. But when you're ready to come to the Lord's table, know, this is a symbolic and a holy act that you better be ready for, and said, Well, how do you get yourself ready? He tells us make sure you're right before the Lord. Because if you're not, what does he say you're in the passage, you're actually drinking judgment or condemnation? on yourself? Boy, that's scary, right? Because he says that's why some of you have gotten sick and even die. That's why when I pray, and when I talk, I say, Listen, God's gonna have his way for good, or judgment, or discipline for us in this world, or in the next or both. So who is communion for when you and I take these elements, and we do this once a month? Here, some people do it regularly, like every week, and maybe you're used to if you come from more Catholic background. It is for repentant believers. And again, that's why you'll see this sometimes in the Catholic Church. They understand this. That's why oftentimes, you'll see various Catholic priests around the country who will withhold communion from either Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden, because they for they see in their mind that these are not people who are what in right with God's I can't in good conscience or faith as a Catholic priests, give them the elements or communion. He's saying, make sure that you're united with Christ and united with one another before you take these elements. Again, we're doing this from a lord suffer believer perspective, you can also tell that there was real fermented alcohol in the first century. And we talked about this all the time that I think symbolically we can have the fruit of the vine, whether it's grape juice or real alcohol, but you can see it's alcohol, at least in this passage. How do we know that? Because they got what they got drunk. They were taking too much of it. They were hoarding it, those who had more, were taking more or those who got to the table first. Were stuffing their faces. So again, who's coming in for and how are we to approach communion in our own lives? We are to be repentant believers. That's why we always examine ourselves here always say hey, listen, if you don't know Jesus, please hold off from doing this. That's why the Catholic church they said go through confirmation before you take command.Onion, we want to make sure you've been a believer that you understand what repentance and belief is. And then you can partake of the elements with us here at Life Church or really any evangelical or Bible believing church. Communion is for who, for repentant believers, that means repent for the first time, but also that lifestyle repentance. That's why you often Examine yourself, say, Lord, if I have anything in me, please help me sort of get right with you or with others. Before I do this, the warnings are real, because the worship is real. Right? You saw that. So that that would be another thing, I would say that you saw on both passages here, that we make sure that we want to conduct ourselves in such a way that we're honoring God, it actually says angels are peering into this, did you see that little passage in their talks, there's all kinds of little tidbits if you wanna go back and read it later, of things that are interesting in that passage. That's why I say it's somewhat complex. And there's even disagreement about some of the things that I was talking about. But one of things it's kind of cool is that angels themselves are peering into this. And I really think that's just the whole idea of, of, they're enjoying how we worship the lamb, how we rejoice and sing and lift up our hands and our voices to Praise the king. Because they're peering in to these things. I get that from other passages about how angels long to him. So the warnings are real. He warns us in this passage, to not do praying or prophesying in a way that's not honoring because of your loss of masculinity or femininity, or because you're living a lifestyle in your home or in your community that's not honoring, you really should take a seat. That doesn't mean you don't get to be in the congregation, it just means that you're not at a place where you need to be leading others in worship, praying, prophesying. Same thing with communion, doesn't mean you can't ever take communion every time you're a sinner, because otherwise, none of us would ever get to take it just means Have you come to the Lord, as a repentant believer. So that leads me to a final point. And we'll close here that where are you at? Are you ready to repent and believe, either for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, I'm gonna lead us in a prayer. And I just want us to think about that, because that's really the call today, there's a lot in here about men issues and women issues. And I know we're going to even disagree on some of how that plays out. But we understand that we're all equal and level at the foot of the cross, to where we come to that Jesus that we also desperately need. So let's pray.Father, I thank you for your word. I think you that even when there's hard passages, difficult passages, maybe even confusing passages that you give us enough clarity to get the big points to get the big picture. So I just pray that for us as Life Church that we see you for who you are, and that we see that you love us and that you care for us and that you are calling us to yourself. I pray for those right now that are struggling to justto just bend the knee and bow the heart. Just help us we pray, whether it's to come down front, this last song or to find someone afterwards, but also pray for those who are just considering the claims of Christ. And as they're peering into this thing that we call church and that we call life church here at 15 at Joe battle Boulevard in El Paso, Texas. This is different. This is unique. This is not what I am seeing and experiencing weekend and day in and day out on my television and on my screens that I flipped through. Father I just pray that You give many the gift of repentance today so that they may come and repent and believe for the first time and I pray you also just help him do that in their own way as these things in Christ

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