The Economics of Gender

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

You can turn your Bibles to 1st Timothy chapter 2. And also, if you were blessed, just as you're turning there, if you were blessed by Ashley and Beto, just give them a big ole Amen. Yeah. It's been man, it's been great. It's been great having you guys here, and just a blessing. Thank you. We have been studying the economy of Jesus, and we get this word economy from 1st Timothy Chapter 1, verse 4 is talking about the stewardship of God that is by faith. We learned Oeconomia, and that's what stewardship is translated into or from. And it's the idea that Jesus has an economy. In 1 Timothy, what you find is you find a letter that is addressed to Timothy. Timothy is a young pastor in the Church of Ephesus. And the letter of 1 Timothy is Paul, a mentor, a pastor, writing a letter to Timothy, his protege. So he's leaving a church. He's leaving Timothy at that church, at the church

in Ephesus, and he's saying, listen, here's what you need to know. And what he does is he doesn't just give him lists of rules. He points to this larger thing that's going on, and it's an economy. It's the way Jesus set up something to run. It's the way the kingdom works. When Jesus would tell a parable, he would say, what is the kingdom of heaven like? And what he was giving in those parables was his economy. It was the way things were set up. So in the letter of 1 Timothy, we see this is the way this church, this is the way a church needs to run itself. It needs to run this way. It needs to organize itself this way according to the economy of Jesus. And last week we talked about the economy of love, the economics of love, how the love in our church, it needs to line up with what it says in verse five, love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.

So we talked about that, a love that Jesus initiates, that Jesus makes us pure, a love that sows seeds in the life of other people, a love that is for real, for real, a love that is sincere. And this, when we love this way, this is how we grow and thrive as a church. And really nobody, I don't think anybody's argument against that, right? When I say love should be our banner, it's Alberilison, everybody's like, yeah, yes, let's, yes, let's let that be our banner. We pick up this economy again in 1st Timothy chapter 2. And in verses 6 through 7, it talks about that it says Jesus himself gave, Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time She's gonna have the testimony now for this for this testimony. I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth I'm not lying a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth

So this this testimony given at the proper time for this this all this it has to do with the stewardship of God It has to do with the economy of Jesus And last week, again, we had a topic that we could all agree on, the economics of love. Today we have a topic that not a lot of us are going to agree on. It is the economics of gender. In fact, when you're kind of looking through 1 Timothy 2, there are many pastors that will pass right over that, not preach it. Too controversial, too messy, too much of a hot button issue. But we shouldn't do that. We're lesser for it, and our church is weaker for it.

Jesus gave us these economics of gender, and we need to walk into it bravely and courageously, depending on the word of God, right? We need to do that. Before we jump in, allow me to set the table just a bit. Number one, there are mounds, mounds of misinformation this topic and this topic would be said a couple of different ways but women's role in ministry, gender roles, gender roles in the family, it goes you know it's a couple of different topics there's mounds of misinformation on it and and if we don't if we don't cut through that if we don't work into that all we're doing is we're just widening the path for the dominant narrative of women in in our culture, right? Our culture says things about women, right? Our culture talks about feminism and just says, like, women need to fight for their rights, and all of the, like, all of this narrative that's going on,

it's not all incorrect, but it is, a lot of it is backed by some really backward understanding of genders and roles. The second thing that we need to really understand is that Jesus set these gender economics. We're in 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy is still in the New Testament the last time I checked. And the New Testament is for us. It's for the church. We don't discount it. We don't discount 1 and 2 Timothy because they're a different kind of letter. It's not that. We don't put the Bible on a hierarchy. We read it all. We look at it all. Jesus set these gender economics for our church specifically to grow, to thrive, to be healthy. Specifically for the women in our church to see, feel, realize their calling as believers. I believe that when we stop short of this, We really hinder not just our women today, but our women in the future. The roles of women are important now.

Our daughters, our sisters, our mothers need to see how Jesus has, you need to see how Jesus has created you. You need to see that. You need to see how Jesus has made you and called you forward as a woman. So, let's start with some of the basics. Let's just set the table real fast. First, men and women are created to be different. Scripture is binary. Right? Men and women. Two genders. Created to be different. Women and men are different physiologically. They're different emotionally. They're different spiritually. They're different culturally. And I'll give you just an anecdote for, you know, Just this is how we're different. A wife and a husband, let's just say that the wife and a husband are going hiking with their little girl. And little girls maybe five or six. The little girl on that hiking trail falls into this big ravine, right? And it's dangerous to go to her,

to get her to pull her out. And the wife says to the husband, well don't just stay in there, go get her, right? And nobody's flinching at that, right? In fact, if we're all watching that scene play out, we're amening that wife. We're going, yeah, yeah, get yourself in gear. Go get your daughter. She's in the ravine. Go get her. However, if that same thing happens and the husband looks at the wife and says, well, don't just stand there, go get her. That guy's a coward, right? Because men and women are different. They're different. They're not just created different, They're also given different roles to fulfill. Men and women differ in the roles that they are created to fulfill. So we see this play out in the family, so women are designed by their creator to be kind of motherly. They're created to be great wives. They nurture, they mend, they build up, they encourage.

These are hallmarks of women. Men are designed to be fathers and husbands. They lead, they initiate, they show strength, and they show humility. Right? These are kind of how men and women are created. And if you really want, you know, some long form on this, this really is a whole other sermon. But reading Ephesians 5, reading in Colossians where it talks about husbands and wives. Like I said, it's a little too long to get into. But the idea is women and men are created to work side by side in equal partnership.

The roles that they fill complement one another in that equal partnership. Do you see what I'm saying? I'm saying for me to say that men and women are equal, I don't have to dumb that down and say, well, they do the exact same thing and pretend like there's no differences between men and women. I can actually acknowledge the differences between men and women and I can say they're created different, they should fill different roles, complimentary roles, but that's going to lead to an equal partnership. Again, I wish I could like dive deep into I just can't. We've got a few other things to handle for today. So it's enough to say, and if you want to talk about it more, I am more than willing, I got coffee time to talk about all this. This is great. But as a rule of thumb, the roles are different. They complement one another. Those different roles work together in equal partnership. Okay. And let me just say this.

This is just a good thing to say. At no point do we look at scripture and we say that women are less than men. There's no point where that happens. Anybody that says that is not in tune with the New Testament. They don't understand what they're talking about. They are in error. Not even assuming any villainy, but they are wrong. At no point are women less valued than men. The roles work together in compliment. They're supposed to be woven together. This is a picture of marriage even. So in the family, there are different roles, but you also see these different roles play out in church life and you kind of should, because God instituted two institutions, the family and the church. And in both of these, you have complimentary roles. So what I want to do before we get into first Timothy two, I want to jump ahead to first Timothy five.

In first Timothy five, it's pretty interesting because it talks about men's and women's roles, but in a different way. So men and women fulfill different roles in church life. In 1 Timothy 5, 3 through 16, you're gonna see some kind of header that talks about instructions for the church. But verses 3 through 16 in 1 Timothy 5 talk about widows, female widows. And there are 13 of those 14 verses that are dedicated to the subject of female widows and it's answering the question, does the church need to care for every single widow who is a widow? If not, which ones are we supposed to care for? There are 13 verses devoted just for that. Because of her gender, because of her gender, the widow is going to, should, receive different kinds of care from the church. So you see you see women's roles playing out that way. You also see it for men in verse 8. So kind of stuck in the middle of that you see something for

heads of households. First Timothy 5 8 says, but if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. This is written to men specifically. This is written to heads of households specifically and it's a severe warning and it's saying as a man because of your gender you are on the hook for providing for your relatives literally it says providing for his own and the idea is that it's extended family including his widows which is why it's kind of stuck in the middle of the of the widow versus there so because of his gender he's receiving different instructions we're not giving these instructions to women, and we're not given the widow's instructions to men, you see gender roles play out in 1 Timothy 5. The reason I say that is because nobody hoops and hollers over the gender

roles in 1 Timothy 5. Everybody, lots of people hoop and holler over the gender roles that are in 1 First Timothy two. So let's get into it. The gender roles. In First Timothy two, there's a couple of things that we need to see. These are gender roles within the context of public worship. Okay, that's really important. When we read First Timothy two, we are squarely in the court of public worship services, okay? This is giving order to the church on that front. So women and men, different roles in church life generally, so heads of household widows. But now we're talking about public worship specifically in 1 Timothy chapter two. Okay, and we begin with the subject of prayer in chapter two verse eight. Says, I desire that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. Okay, so the first thing you see is men being charged

on how to pray. They said, men should pray in purity of intention and purity of action. So men, you set the tone in public worship by your purity. And these verses are singling out men in particular. It's saying, look, men do not harbor resentment. Men do not hide your sin. Own your mistakes, men. Stay away from intimidating others, men. Don't do that. You lift holy hands in peace, no quarreling, no anger. You set the tone in public worship when you come with a clean conscience, when you come not resenting anyone, not ready to fight.

Men, when you come into public worship and you seek God on behalf of your family and your church when you resist the need to be respected by other people, which is what men specifically are going to deal with. When you resist that, you help set the tone that our church should follow suit. Our church should follow suit. Men in public worship then can set the tone for gentle humility. And I would just say this before I, because I need to move on to verses nine and 10, I could go on and on about men. And honestly, it's much more comfortable because I am one. But with men in particular, look, and I'm proud of our men. I love the men of this church and I'm glad to call you brothers, each and every one of you, glad to call you brothers. When we get our lives in gear, a lot of things start falling into place. When men understand that they are called by God to lead out, and they do,

in a way that they are gifted and called, some good things happen. That isn't to disparage anything with women. We're not talking about women yet, but just saying to the men, brothers, when you lead, when you pick up the mantle, good things happen. I was listening to a guy talk about men, and he said, men are like trucks. Trucks are built to carry a big load. And when a truck doesn't have a big load in the back, like in the bed, it doesn't exactly drive straight. It kind of waves on the road a little bit. But when you set a big weight in the back of that truck, it drives straight as an arrow. That's a good metaphor for men. I'll just leave it at that. Let's talk about women in particular. Let's get to where we're gonna go. First Timothy 2 verses nine and 10. And it starts with likewise also. Likewise also should help us understand that we're still talking about this idea of prayer,

public prayer. Likewise also. Likewise also that women should adjoin themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works. Okay, so again, this is how women should pray. And we really need to keep our verbs straight, okay? This is how women should pray, likewise also. So men, men are tempted to kind of give into anger, resentment, tempted to try to kind of, through intimidation, get respect. Women are not tempted that way generally. women are tempted to flaunt their appearance, which is what you see kind of prohibited here. Women are tempted to find their identity in how beautiful they are or how beautiful they seem to other people. Now this is a specific temptation that we're talking about. And so what we see in 9 and 10, it says women should pray in modesty and in a godly confidence.

He's saying women don't find your identity and how pretty you are, or how many likes you get on Instagram. Don't set your identity on the amount of compliments that this outfit got today. That's not where your identity lies. Let your identity lie in a godly confidence. Let your good works adorn your life and that be enough. Women should pray in modesty and godly confidence, singling out women right here and saying women specifically, You set the tone in public worship, use your appearance, use the way that you carry yourself to give God glory, not by finding your identity in being perceived as beautiful, but adorn your life with good works. And I need to point out here, and this is pretty important for a couple of points later, but this is pretty important. In these verses, in nine and 10, the idea is that women are praying publicly in worship services, right?

In fact, it's the only reason that Paul is giving attention to it, he's not saying like, hey, you know, don't make sure you're clothed in good works when you're praying at home in your closet, right? He's not saying that, he's saying, essentially, he's saying when you stand up and pray aloud in a worship service and people are looking at you, I want you to think women, I want you to think, what are they going to see? That is the spirit of verses nine and 10 here. When you are standing up and praying in front of people, what are people going to see? Are they gonna see all of your costly attire, or are they gonna see your good works? And you say, make sure they see the good works. And the next verse, verse 11, and it's really important to note the transition here because we are moving from praying to learning. Praying to learning. First Timothy 2:11 says, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

So again, women should pray publicly in modesty and godly confidence. But women should learn in quiet submission. Why is it different when women are learning? What's the deal? I believe that, and I'll prove it, that it's these verses in particular, this verse in particular, is pointing to a particular problem that a couple of churches were having. And I want to show you this problem, but to do that we need to see it in a parallel church in Corinth. So I'm going to have these verses up on the screen, but we're going to look at 1 Corinthians 14, 33 through 35. where I believe the exact same thing is going on in these churches. You see a lot of the same encouragement, but 1 Corinthians 14, 33-35 helps give more clues as to what's going on. So here are the verses. 1 Corinthians 14, 33-35 begins by saying, for God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace. That's important, so remember that.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. in the churches. So this is real similar to 1 Timothy 2:11. Let's keep going. Excuse me. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also says. Again, this is going to sound similar to verse 11, 1 Timothy 2:11. If there is anything they desire to learn, there's that word again, learn, let them ask their their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Again, this is the same sentiment that we're seeing before. What I want to help you understand is that in the first century, in Rome, much of public learning was dialogue. It was people that were gathered, and somebody would be speaking, and there would be a lot of give and take. There'd be a lot of dialogue. There'd be a lot of interruption, question asking, things

like that. And it was ever in danger of becoming a shouting match. And so in the wider culture it was very common for somebody who was teaching to be interrupted by questions to answer that question and then to continue. And then maybe another question would happen, they would answer that question and then the learning would continue. Okay, excuse me. What was happening likely, what was happening in worship services during the learning was that sermons were getting derailed. And it was often by women genuinely asking questions because they were confused. You see in 1st Timothy 2 and 1st Corinthians 14, you see this idea that women are asking questions. And it's why verse 33 in 1st Corinthians 14 says that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. So So what was the confusion? Well, the confusion was all these interruptions happening. The confusion was everybody kind of saying,

well, what about this? Well, what about this? And it's why verse 35 says, you should ask your husbands at home. In other words, you should not ask it in the middle of the sermon. You should ask your husbands at home. When we read this and we read it void of this whole particular situation happening, what we kind of miss a few things. So I wanna point those things out.

What you had in First Timothy, the Ephesian church and in the Corinthian church, you had preaching that was turning into Q and A, sermons getting derailed. In addition to that, and this is kind of a bigger deal, In addition to that, you had false teachers in both churches. In the church in Ephesus, and likely in the church in Corinth, those false teachers were using that dynamic to derail sermons and to turn the sermons into a fight for authority. They used the idea that they could stand up and interrupt a sermon right in the middle of it as a way to try to wrestle control of the discussion away from whomever was preaching. right? So we go from asking honest questions and answers into using questions to subvert what was going on, to subvert the authority of whomever was speaking. And this is why you get submission in verse 34. This is why you get submission in 1st Timothy 2:11. And it's also why 1st Timothy 2:11 changes

the verb to learn. When learning is happening, submission needs to be displayed because in the church in Ephesus, submission was not being displayed. This is why you get these verses. And let me just point out, I mean, I've said it, I want to say it again, the specific context of 1 Timothy 2 and of 1 Corinthians 14 is the public worship service. First Corinthians chapter 11 all the way through 14 talks about public worship, right? How the church should conduct itself in in public worship. So this is specifically to preaching, the public proclamation of the Word. The last sentence in First Corinthians 14 33 three through thirty-five is it is shameful for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church and again I think what we need to see is that this is in the context of public preaching only not be not just because of what we find in first Corinthians 14 not just because of what we find in first Timothy 2 but

also when just just Crawford reference it with with first Corinthians 11 5 first 1 Corinthians 11 5 says, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. So let me just say this right off the bat. Wearing hats was a sign of authority. In our culture today, we have no such signs of authority other than wedding rings. So the idea is, in 1 Corinthians 11, if we had contextual, if we have now these signs of authority, then we should work to do that. We don't really have those signs of authority, so we don't really need to worry about who's wearing what hat. It doesn't mean we throw out the Bible. It just means we understand it as it's presenting itself. These head coverings were symbols of authority. We don't have those symbols today. So here's what I want to focus on, because it's easy to focus on, yeah, women should

wear hats when they pray. But let's not miss the fact that women were praying and prophesying out loud in a worship service. All right? Let's not miss the forest for the trees here. Let's not get all worked up about wearing hats. We don't even wear hats. Women were publicly praying and prophesying in a church service. need to see that that was happening in 1 Corinthians 11. And again 1 Corinthians 11 all the way through 14 is talking about how the church should conduct itself in a public worship service. So how is it a shame in 1 Corinthians 14 for a woman to speak in church but it is assumed in 1 Corinthians 11 and in 1 1 Timothy 2 as normal. It's because learning in full submission, not permitting a woman to speak in church is specifically prohibiting publicly arguing against the person that is preaching currently. It's stopping questions that are breaking out into a fight for authority. So if somebody's using all

these questions. For example, if a woman would stand up right now, this is not an invitation, if a woman would stand up right now and say, show me your sources, who do you think you are, where do you get that information? That's what it's prohibiting. I am more than willing to discuss these things at length. I'll show you my work. I'll show you the pages I got I'll show you everything I've read more.

But I will tell you, I did not come to this lightly or quickly. This is something that I've been working out for years in my own life. And this is something that I've been working out as a pastor, and specifically with these texts for a couple years and more intensely the last few weeks. These instances, so yeah, we'll get to that. get to that. These instances of public shouting, of publicly kind of wrestling, kind of control away, also set the stage for the next verse in 1 Timothy 2. Okay, so 1 Timothy 2, 11 said, let a woman learn quietly and all submission. All right. But in verse 12, we begin to address authority specifically.

1 Timothy 2, 12, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, rather, she is to remain quiet. It's important here to remember the progression. Verse 9 and 10, we go from public prayer and public prophecy being okay, great, normative. Paul's giving instruction to Timothy on when that happens. And he's not saying it's a bad thing. He's saying it's a good thing. Then verse 11, disruptive questioning is prohibited, especially questions that are seeking to undermine authority. So then verse 12, let's be clear on authority. Right? Let's do this. Let's be clear on authority. And he says, women cannot teach authoritatively in public worship. And let me be clear, this is not something that Paul is telling Timothy about the Ephesian church in particular. This isn't Paul being a misogynist, first century Jew. This isn't Paul being patriarchal.

This isn't the New Testament being written by men only. That's not here. Right? The New Testament was written for us for today. This stuff is rooted in creation and the fall in the next three verses. When you look at verse 13, 14 and 15, you have Adam and Eve. You have Adam's created first, then Eve. And then you have the fall. In other words, Paul is prohibiting something here. And he's prohibiting it, not just, he's not just whistling Dixie. He's not just, well, you know, women are dumb and don't know how to teach. so don't let him teach authoritatively over men." That's not what he says. That's not what he says. It says, I don't permit it because of Adam and Eve. I don't permit it because of the fall. This is for all men and women, for all time. We are all marked by creation. We are all marked by the fall. And to be, just to be very plain about it, it is a cop-out for any church

to sidestep a difficult teaching like this. Because it is culturally taboo to say what a woman's place should be. It's culturally taboo to say what a man's place should be just based on gender. It's taboo. If you don't believe me, try giving any of your friends this sermon. Just go ahead, just see what kind of reactions you get. promise it's not going to be like just some picnic promise.

In fact, yeah, I'll get to that in a second. To kind of roll out what some theologians would call imperial ignorance, meaning imperial ignorance is different than ignorance. Ignorance is just looking at 1 Timothy 2:12 and going, I don't know, I guess we can't do anything about it. Imperial ignorance says, I don't know and you can't know. No one can know, it's unknowable.

No, it's not unknowable, it's just uncomfortable. It just is. So let's be clear on this though, let's be clear. Let's not just leave it with 1 Timothy 2:12 and wrap it up and go home. Let's be clear, what does it mean? What does it mean exactly when it says a woman cannot teach authoritatively in public worship? First I wanna look at the two verbs. The two verbs are teach and exercise authority. I do not permit a woman to teach and exercise authority over a man, okay.

These words are in the original language, which it helps to know the original language on this, these words are in apposition to one another. Meaning they relate to one another. They are kind of combined. It's almost like they are hyphenated, okay. teaching and exercising authority, okay? They play off one another. So by doing this, Jesus is helping us see that in a thriving and healthy church, the economics of gender include prohibiting women from one thing, teaching authoritatively, not two things.

Let me show you why that's important. In other words, we can state with great clarity, Women can exercise authority within a church. Okay, I called Ashley Lagunas this week or two weeks ago, and I said, listen, you're gonna be my object lesson. Are you okay with that? I don't know if you guys were aware, but Ashley Lagunas is up here and she's singing and she's leading. She is exercising authority in our church. It's authority that's been bestowed to her by church leadership, but she's still exercising it. She's exercising authority. and not just her worship leaders all over, children's ministry and student ministers, church treasurers, all these people are exercising authority within our church, and sometimes people have a cop-out, right? They say, well, you know, children's pastors are only exercising authority over children. No, they're not. They have male volunteers exercising authority over them.

You have women exercising authority over men in church all the time. And it is voted on by the body. It's church blessed right like nobody has a problem with it Women can and should exercise authority within a church Also say it a different way women can teach anyone within a church They can teach anyone In other words, we don't need to worry about women teaching a man something by accident Okay, like oh, no, you're about to give me a lesson. You know don't give me the application. I can't hear it An adult Bible study, for example, we do not check women's words to make sure they're not teaching anything That's how we do. We don't do that. Okay

And I'll even tell you I even throw your curve ball when I'm at a conference when I'm at a Christian pastors conference and There is a woman up there and she's got the Bible open and she is preaching to me I have zero problem with that. You know why because we're not in a church We're not there I have no reason to be in covenant community with these other people that I'm at the conference with, that I happen to be sitting next to. I can listen to that woman preach the word and not be in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. 1 Timothy 2 is in specific context to a public worship service. And it means specifically that women cannot teach in public worship. And it's because when a woman preaches publicly in a worship service, that act is teaching on behalf of church leadership. It is authoritative teaching, which is what 1 Timothy 2:12 prohibits, authoritative teaching.

When we are gathered, there is a sense in which when I stand up here and preach or when anybody else stands up here and preaches, they are preaching on behalf of church leadership. They're preaching authoritatively from scripture, and the idea is, at least, that the church understands what I'm doing and acknowledges that authority. At South Burleson, we limit teaching authoritatively in public worship to men because scripture is crystal clear. This is important.

It's important to note this, but it's also just as important to celebrate what women can do. Let me just end here. Women, Jesus has given you place. He has given you gifting, calling. Women Jesus has saved you just like He saved me. You have just as much spiritual authority as men. Galatians 3:28 is there for a reason. Galatians 3:28 says there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. There is no male and female. You are all one in Christ Jesus. We must celebrate, educate, and apply that within our context. We must understand together what women can do. So I've made a list. Women in churches, what can they do? I.e. everything but teach authoritatively in a public worship service. There's a lot that women can do. This is in the context of public worship and beyond. and seeing, lead ministry teams, reach groups for publicly, lead life groups, give council,

encourage, show hospitality, pray publicly, teach people, share testimonies, lead connect groups, rebuke, bear burdens, minister to needs, and much, much, much more. All the one another verses, right, when it says, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. It's not limiting it to men or women. It's saying we all should do it. And let me just say one more thing. This is not just placating women. This is not just trying to sound good for culture. I don't care. I don't care if I'm accepted by whoever. This is calling out everyone, women and men, to answer Jesus' call. Jesus calls us out of death and into abundant life, gender economics informs how we engage that, not if we engage that. So let me just put the call out for you guys this morning. I'm going to ask Ashley to come up and sing one more song for us. Maybe we just redo the last one. morning Jesus is calling you to step out in faith, to do something. And for some of

you, Jesus is calling you to say yes to abundant life for the very first time. For some of you Jesus is calling you to say yes to answering his call to act. Whatever Jesus is calling you to do as we sing I'm gonna be up at the front and I want to encourage you to come forward and receive prayer. If you're here with somebody and you want to ask for prayer from them that's great too but just just be blessed and encouraged in that. Would you stand as we sing?

He's roaring with power and fighting our battles And every knee will bow before Him He's a lewis saint for the sin of the world His blood breaks the chains of the Lord His blood breaks the chains and every knee will bow before the lion and the lamb. Every knee will bow before him. It's coming on the gate, open up the gates. So open up the gates, make way before the King of Kings. The God who comes to save is here to set the captives free From who can stop the Lord Almighty He's the Lion, the Lion of Judah He's roaring with power and fighting wars And every knee will bow before his lap was slain For the sin of the world, your blood breaks the chains And every knee will bow before the light And every knee will bow before him For who can stop the Lord Almighty? For who can stop the Lord Almighty? For who can stop the Lord Almighty? For who can stop the lion? The lion of Judah, he's roaring

And every knee will bow before sin For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains And every knee will bow before the lion and the lamb Every knee will bow before him Ashley, your website is AshleyLagunas.com AshleyLagunas.com If you're interested in more of her music, you can come and talk to her afterward Everybody, we have name tags for a reason Stick around, shake a hand. You guys are business.