Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 NLT
Women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. 1 Timothy 2:11-12 NLT
1. NEVER READ A VERSE ALONE
2. REMEMBER, THAT THE BIBLE IS WRITTEN FOR US BUT NOT TO US.
3. THE BIBLE DOES NOT CONTRADICT ITSELF
Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice ; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 1 Corinthians 12:1,4-5,7-11 NLT
DID PAUL HONOR WOMEN OR DISCOUNT THEM?
PHOEBE
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me. Romans 16:1-2 NLT
PRISCILLA AND HER HUSBAND, AQUILA
Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. Romans 16:3 NLT
Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately. Acts of the Apostles 18:24-26 NLT
MARY & JUNIA
Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews, who were in prison with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did. Romans 16:6-7 NLT
DID PETER HONOR WOMEN?
‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.’ Acts 2:17-18 NLT
HOW DID JESUS VIEW WOMEN?
WHAT ARE OTHER BIBLICAL EXAMPLES?
MIRIAM
I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. Micah 6:4 NIV
DEBORAH
Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. Judges 4:4 NIV
HULDAH
IPROVERBS 31
WHAT WAS GOD’S INTENTION AT CREATION?
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Genesis 1:27-28 NLT
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 NIV
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 NLT
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:18-19,21,27 NLT
“Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it.” Rabbi Harold Kushner
1. FIND THE GIFTS GOD HAS FOR YOU
'A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. ' 1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT
2. CULTIVATE THE GIFTS GOD HAS GIVEN YOU
'Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives. 1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT
'This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you. ' 2 Timothy 1:6 NLT
3. USE THE GIFTS GOD HAS GIVEN YOU
'God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ' 1 Peter 4:10 NLT
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”Matthew 28:18-20 NLT