In this sermon, Brother Denny emphasizes the importance of focusing on the word of God and allowing it to guide and transform our lives. He highlights the humility and servant-heartedness of Jesus as an example for leaders to follow. The sermon also discusses the topic of covering the head, referencing 1 Corinthians 11:14-15, and explains that nature teaches that it is shameful for a man to have long hair but a glory for a woman to have long hair as a covering. Brother Denny encourages the listeners to reconsider and reevaluate this teaching, despite its rejection by the world and some churches, and to seek a proper understanding of God's perspective on the matter.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. That's a good song. Never heard it before. You may be seated. I trust that it's not hard this morning to shut everything else out and concentrate, bring our hearts and our minds together, allow the Lord to give us direction today. That's His heart. He wants to bless us. He wants to fill us. I just wish to greet each of you this morning in the precious name of Jesus. I'm really glad to be here this morning with you all. I haven't seen you for so long, and it's just good to see all of you. I appreciated the tenor of the meetings this morning, just the consecration, the willing to do His will, His good will, His good will, His desires. Just like that, for an emphasis, it goes well with what the Lord's been putting on my heart the last weeks and what I would like to share on this morning. I again would like to say this morning that what I want to share is not directed at anyone in particular. I'm not preaching to any one of you singly, but all of you together. It's a message that I believe would be fit to preach on the street to anybody out there and anywhere in the world, because it's God's word, and God's word is always, it's for everybody. It's not just for a few elect people, but the God's word, I believe, is to go out to all the world, and that's God's heart, that His will be known in all the world. I would like to speak this morning again on the issue of the head covering. The title of the message is, What is the Head Covering? And even though I speak on this out of 1 Corinthians 11, I do not, I found out it goes a whole lot deeper than the sisters. I have another message that I would like to preach to the brothers out of 1 Corinthians 11. It is, this chapter I found is just as big a challenge to me as it is to the sisters, and I want you to know that, sisters, that this is not something that we as brothers are trying to put upon you to weigh on you down, not at all, or it's not something that we want to put on you. It's not something of bondage. As a matter of fact, Paul brings that out in this chapter. It's not something that is a domineering, it's not a domineering requirement, let's put it that way. It's just part of God's order, and that's why we want to share on it. The other message that I had was, preached several weeks ago, was on headship, modesty, honor, and respect, which are three principles that I found in this chapter. And so, I would like to speak this morning on several things, actually. What is the head covering? When should it be worn? Who should wear it? And also, what about the angels? Where does that come in? And what does nature teach us about it? And those are some of the subjects, and I don't know if we'll, I'm going to try to get through this, this morning, but again, you may, this morning, not agree with everything that I share, I don't know, and it doesn't matter to me. I just want to share God's heart, what I feel is God's heart, and if there's something that is my thoughts, I want you to know that I'll try to say it that way, that this is my thought, when there are some things that may be just my thoughts, and if they are, take it for a grain of salt, or don't necessarily be offended by it, if it's just my thought. I want you, though, to take heed to the word of God, to especially take heed to what God says about it, and try to get God's heart in the matter. That is what we want to share this morning. In the past, perhaps you thought of the head covering as a prayer veil. I did. I've heard that term a lot. The, sometimes you may have thought as a veil, as something like, you know, a wedding, you know, sometimes we see a bride with a veil, her head veiled with a real thin see-through thing that hangs over her head, and some people have that in mind as a veil, that that is a veil, which that is called a veil, but I believe what the Bible actually depicts as a head covering is not actually alone a prayer veil, although I'm not going to throw that all the way out. I believe it's more than that. I believe it's more than a prayer veil, and I believe that it is something that is for the, it is something that a woman should have for the purpose of covering, not for revealing. It's for the purpose of covering, covering the hair. That is what God's word would teach. The, the purpose of a prayer veil is to cover the head. Sometimes we see or hear this, that the head covering is a symbol of submission. That is not true, or that is not really what God's word would say. We need to remember it's more than that. It's the covered head is the symbol. It's not the head covering. It's the covered head that is a symbol, if you would call it a symbol. Before I go into the message, I would like to, as an introduction, speak a little bit about the process of progressive revelation in the Old Testament, and by that I mean, if we would go back to Genesis, in Genesis we see some very, in the first chapter, in the first, in the time of creation, we see some very basic truths in Genesis. And it's interesting to know that here in 1 Corinthians 11, he refers a lot back to Genesis. And in, but in Genesis we see basic concepts that blossom into beautiful revelations of the truth of God, and that is revealed to mankind as time went on. For an example, in Genesis 3.15, God speaks to the serpent and says this, I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed and it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now that is a, that is actually a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. But it's very vague. If you would have heard that from God back in them days, you would have probably not understand. Like Adam and Eve, I doubted whether they understood what God really meant maybe. At least I'm thinking that way. And it's very vague. It's a vague concept. But as we go on and we look in Exodus, we see the Passover lamb. There again was something of a symbolic of the lamb that was to come, the lamb of God. In Numbers, we see the brazen serpent. We see the illustration of the brazen serpent there, how Moses raised up a serpent. There was another illustration of it. And then we go on to Isaiah 53. It seems like Isaiah almost saw it, at least what he spoke there became very more explicit there. And then we go on into the New Testament. And here was John the Baptist preaching out there by the river Jordan. And he told the people, behold the lamb of God. There he was. There was this, which was prophesied back in Genesis. And that was manifested right there before them all. And as we can see the process of progressive revelation there, how it, how through time God revealed more and more. And so it is in many other concepts. We could see in Genesis the concepts of shame, nakedness and clothing. We see the concept of headship. We see the concept of honor and respect there. The same concepts that we see in the book of Corinthians there, in 1 Corinthians 11. On the concept of shame, the concept of shame the seed thought and that was, you know, the seed that was sown there was before sin, you know, they were both naked. And after sin, they hid. Before sin, they were both naked and they weren't ashamed. But after they sinned, they both hid. Adam and Eve hid and sowed fig leaves to cover their bodies. It's the first, the first time we read about shame, how they became ashamed of their sin and God clothed them. Now it doesn't say a lot about it. It doesn't say how he made the garment that he closed them with, but he clothed them with skins of animals, it says. But we know from that, that it was a shameful deed to, after they had sinned, it became a shameful deed to be naked. And as we go on, we can see more of it in Numbers. There we read about the woman, that the unfaithful woman and how it was shameful for her to be uncovered. She was considered unfaithful. And then as we go on, we might turn to this one in Isaiah 47. I'd like for you just to turn to that. Take a look at this one. It's a picture of Babylon. In Isaiah 47, the first three verses. It's a picture of Babylon here. It says, come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground. There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal, uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers, thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take menageance and I will not meet thee as a man. Verse five says, sit thou silent and get thee into darkness. Thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms. You know, there we see Babylon, a picture of rebellion. She had rebelled against God. And there we see the shame of her rebellion. He says, come off of their throne, sit down on the ground, get down. And he says, grind in the mill. You're going to be brought down to slavery. It was a shame. She thought herself to be a virgin. Her virginity was gone. He says, uncover thy locks. The tenderness is gone. The modesty is gone. You no longer are tender. The glory is gone. No more will there be glory. See, uncover thy locks. It was a shameful thing. Uncover the thigh. It was shameful. Uncover the leg. Thy nakedness, thy shame shall be seen. Babylon. It's just a picture there of shame. Again we see how this, more of a revelation of shame. Song of Solomon. We read about the harlots there. How the virtuous woman went out. And the virtuous woman was mistaken for a harlot. And the watchman took away her veil. And that again is a picture of shame. The virtuous woman was not to be out at night. The virtuous woman is not to be out running the streets at night. That was where the harlots were. And we see that the continuity of thought all through the Old Testament of shame. And some of the points that we need to see, that I'd like for us to understand, which I believe is the reason that sisters should cover their heads even today, is that God's moral law assumed that a virtuous woman clothed themselves and covered their heads. And unfaithful women would need to be uncovered. That was God's moral law. And in the New Testament, I believe that we can expect three things. Continuity of thought. Further development of the thoughts. And no contradiction. I don't believe that you'll find contradictions from God's laws in the Old Testament that it would contradict itself as it comes into the New Testament. But only in the New Testament, I believe it's more exploded. It's more, you can see it farther. You can see more of it. And as we look at these questions that we have here, I'd like for us to think about that. What was God teaching all through the Bible on these subjects? What was God's heart? There's a continuity of thought that runs through it. Let's turn back to 1 Corinthians. And we want to read the chapter here as we go on. 1 Corinthians 11. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. And as I was thinking on those verses there, I again realized that Paul was just simply bringing God's moral law back to them. And in some of the commentaries, the thought was brought out that some of them even wondered why that Paul would speak on this subject, because it was the common practice in the world. It was the common practice in the church. And why would Paul need to speak so much on this subject? But I believe God had it in his plan because God knew that down through time, we needed to know. You know, this was something that the churches practiced. It was a moral practice that they had all through time up to approximately 100 years ago is when it started vanishing. And today we see very little of it. That's why I believe that God's law didn't change. It's that we people changed. And that's why that it has become an issue among many people. And sometimes people say it's not, it's a minor thing. And maybe it is. But if we stop to think of the moral value of it, I think we'll find out it is not a minor, but it is a more major thing than we realize. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this chapter. And if we say that this part was just for the Corinthian church, which is what most of the churches teach nowadays, they say that this part is only for the Corinthian church. What about the rest of the chapter? Is that also just for the Corinthian church? We'd have to, we may as well face it, we can't take half of the chapter and throw it away. The whole thing, God was inspired, inspired Paul to write the whole thing. Well, let's go on and read here. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head. For that is even all one, as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. And for this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman, but all things of God. Judge in yourselves, is it commonly that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. All right, what is the head covering? Is it the hair or is it a cloth covering? What was Paul referring to? And why do we come to the conclusion that it is a piece of clothing rather than the hair? I would like to give you three reasons why I believe that it is a piece of clothing rather than the hair that he is talking about in the first part of this chapter. The first reason is because throughout the history of time from Genesis on up to this time, it was a moral law of God for women to cover their heads in respect and honor to their head and to their God. And this was obviously a cloth veil. The Greek word for that is katakalypto. Katakalypto, I will write it on the board here and you can see what the two words are that are used here. That was the Greek word for the cloth veil. The second reason is because it doesn't make sense to explain verses like verse 6 with the interpretation being long hair. And if you would look at verse 6 with me, we will explain that. For if the woman be not covered, let's say this was the hair, if the woman were not covered, if the woman was not covered, say this is the woman and she wasn't covered, she has short hair or has her hair cut off. The word shorn and shaven both, shorn is like it means the same as sheep shearing. It means short hair, it means real short. Talking about the woman, if she has short hair or if she be not covered, then it says let her also be shorn. Now that doesn't make sense, does it? If it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. So you would say if it be shorn, you would have to take more off, I guess. I don't know where you would get more. If you shave it off or shear it off, you couldn't take any more off. I mean, I don't know how else to illustrate it but that. It doesn't make sense to interpret that as hair for the covering, as long hair for the covering. And the third reason that I believe that it's not appropriate to say that it's not the hair is because in verse 15 there is a different Greek word, and that word in verse 15 where it says, but if a woman have long hair it is a glory for her for her hair is given her for a covering. Notice that, it says for a covering. And that word covering is parabolion. Parabolion, that's the second word that's given there. That word means, the first word, this word means, means something hanging down. Actually the word kata, the first part of the word means intensive, kalukta means to cover. Intensive covering, intensive hanging down covering is what it means. Parabolion means something thrown around the body, a vesture, a mantle. Something, in other words, this is talking about a natural, in this verse he's talking about a natural covering given by God that is like a vesture thrown around the body. And the other word is talking about something that you put on the head that hangs down. That's what I get from the different word study books that I've read on it. And if you look into most of your commentaries, even the more liberal commentaries that you find, the biggest percentage of them all agree that it was a cloth covering that they wore and that is what he's speaking about. So those are the three reasons that I believe he's talking about a cloth covering. Because to begin with it was a moral law of God for women to cover their heads. The second reason was because it doesn't make sense to interpret verse six as being long hair. And the third reason is the difference in the words. The words themselves are different. So we, I trust this will help us to understand that it is speaking about a cloth covering and it's not speaking about hair. I know when I was, I used to think myself, it was a question to me. Is it really a cloth covering? And I used to read these verses and it was confusing to me. And I know that it's a confusing thing to a lot of people to understand what Paul is saying here. But I believe if we study it, we'll come out the same. We'll understand that that is what he was talking about. That it was two different coverings. The one is the natural covering that God gave, that nature gives us. The other one is the one that we put on as a sign of subjection. Okay. When should it be worn? Well, some people believe that you should only wear it in a worship service or maybe in a prayer meeting or in your quiet time. The Bible says, when praying or prophesying, every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered dishonor his head, but every woman that prayeth or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head for that is even all one as if she were shaven. And I believe that it would be good even to explain a little bit why the thought is there that would be the same even as if she were shaven. That was even the same as if her hair, she didn't have any hair on her head. Now, if you would find a woman that didn't have any hair on her head or did you ever see any of that, that had her hair all taken off. It's a shameful thing. I don't think this morning that if I would have a razor here and I would offer that any sister that would want to have her hair cut off would come up and we'd just cut it all off. I don't think I'd have any volunteers because it just isn't, it is a shameful thing. And Paul is just simply saying to not cover your head is the same thing. It is a shameful thing. And that's why she should cover her head. Another reason I believe that he writes it this way is because the woman's hair is given her for a glory, which we'll talk about that later some also. Maybe I should just leave that for later. But anyhow, when should she wear it? When she's praying or prophesying? When should man uncover his head when praying or prophesying? The word praying in the Greek is prasihumaya, something like that. I don't know if I can pronounce it right. Which literally means to pray to God, to supplicate, to worship, to will and to wish. Looking at it from the principle of headship. When should it be worn? When should men be unveiled and women veiled? The word unveiled is this word. It just simply has an A in front of it in Greek. That is unveiled. And that is veiled. When should a man be unveiled? Well, when praying. We could look at it, he should be unveiled when he's praying. When should you pray? When should a man pray? When should a woman pray? When shall we be praying? We should be praying all the time, shall we not? Shouldn't it be in our breath? It should be our breath. It should be our thoughts. It should be that which we do. And sometimes, maybe when we're working, God will bring somebody to your mind or something to your mind, maybe a need in your own life. You should be able to pray. I remember visiting in a home in Massachusetts where the sister had just come to the knowledge that she should cover her head when she prays. And so she kept a towel or something by the couch. She kept a towel in the kitchen. She kept a towel here and there. Different places where she would, whenever she would, the Lord would impress on her to pray, she would go and get this and put it on her head and then she would pray. And it finally got to the place where she thought, well, I may as well wear this all the time. And really so, it should be that way that we pray all the time. During the course of your day, you thought of someone. God impresses you to pray. Do you wait to pray until Sunday comes or do you wait to pray until the prayer meeting or until you have quiet time? No, you want to pray now. And that's God's will, that we pray when God brings someone to our mind. Just like this morning, Tim kept coming to my mind and I believe it's God's will that we pray for Tim. I believe that we shouldn't push it off, but when God brings someone to our heart, let's pray for them. That, I believe, is something that God wants His people to do, to intercede for others, intercessory prayer, and to be ready to pray instantly, in season and out of season, be willing to pray, ready to pray. So, God wants us to be that way. Looking at the principle of another aspect of prayer is worship. How often does your heart well up with praise and adoration? How often does it well up with goodwill and appreciation for what God has done for you? And maybe you burst out in a song, in a praise to God. I believe it's God's will that we be prepared for that. Praying and prophesying. Prophesying is another word. To speak, prophesying simply means to speak under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So, it may be that God gives you a word to speak. Maybe when you're visiting someone, maybe when you're testifying to someone, maybe when you're in a worship service, God gives you a word to speak. We need to be prepared at all times for that. Remember that it's not just something you wear to church, but it should be worn all the time because you, in the church assembly, this isn't the only place that we have church. You know that. It's not the only place. You are the church. Do you know that? You are the church. When you're at home, when you're at the store, wherever you are, you are the church. And God wants you to be ready to prophesy, wants you to be ready to praise God, wants you to be ready to pray at all times. I believe that's God's will, and that's why he says that we should, when we pray or prophesy, we should be ready for that. So, looking at it from the principle of godly headship, of honor and respect, we should be prepared in this way. Sisters should have their heads covered, men should be uncovered, ready to pray at all times. The question may come to you, well, and I know it has to me already, and I'm not sure how I feel about this all the time, but as brothers, sometimes we, in the wintertime especially, we wear something on our heads. Well, is this wrong? Is it wrong for us to wear something on our heads for the reason of cold? I don't have much protection anymore, and so I wear something on my head for the purpose of a weather garb. And I know there was a time that I was very conscious about that, and I still am. I still believe that as men we are created in the image and in the glory of God. And taking his Bible, opening his Bible, or sharing verses together, I still think it's best for men to not even have a weather garb on his head, even though I don't believe he does it for the purpose of covering his head, but more for the weather garb protection. But I think it's still honorable and right for a man to remove his hat, or his cap, or stocking cap, or whatever you wear when you speak about the things of God. When you pray, is it not? It doesn't seem right to me for men to pray with their heads covered, even with weather garb, even if you wear it for that purpose. It doesn't seem right to me. I don't know. I'm open for that. Those are my thoughts. I'm not sure if I'm thinking right or not in that. But I'll be open for correction in those things. Looking at it from the modesty standpoint, when should it be worn? I don't believe that there's any definite age given in the Bible. I can't find anything that it definitely says that when a girl gets to be ten years old that she should wear something like that. It doesn't give no specific age. But there's some things we could consider that might help us. Let us think about it this way. When does it become a shameful thing for a young lady to be uncovered? When does it become a shameful thing? When should mother teach the young ladies to be shamefaced, sobriety, and virtuous, and honoring the father, honoring the mother, or honoring the man? When should that be done? When should a young virgin keep her hair, which is her glory, covered in modesty? When should a young virgin do that? I think each one of us can discern that as we think about it a little bit. We'll be able to discern when that should be, even though there is no specific age given. I know there's times when some believe that they need to cover their heads when they're just little girls already, or maybe babies. I've even seen when babies that were just born that they cover their heads. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but that little child doesn't understand, doesn't have no inkling why. I do believe that it's important that they understand why they do it. So I believe that the Lord give us wisdom, the Lord give you mother's wisdom, as you discern that. When is the time? Some think that it should only be when they're converted, and when they give their hearts to the Lord. And I really don't find that totally, that that is what the Bible would teach. I see it more as a moral thing. I guess that's what I, in studying this, I found it more to be a moral issue than a sign of conversion. And so I think we should look at it, that would be my feeling about it, that we should look at it from a moral standpoint. So, okay, now as we go on, let's talk about the angels. What about the angels? In verse 10, it says, for this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. First thought I'd like to share with that is where there is honor, there is right relationship, glory and power, glory and authority or power. Authority and power are interchangeable, I believe. And the Bible uses the word power. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Where there is honor, where there is power on her head, where there is honor, where there is honor for the man, for her head, there is power in her life. Where there is honor, where the man honors Christ, there's power in his life. Where the woman honors man, there is power in her life. When a man honors Christ as his head with an uncovered head, there is glory and power in his life. Man reflects God's glory when he exercises the responsibility of authority God has given him. And that is a particular point that I would like to share sometime more in detail in a message. Because God was created in the image and glory of, or man was created in the image and glory of God, and when man takes his responsibility, what God has given him in the right way, he will glorify God. He will glorify Christ. And that is man, but there's some principles that we need to follow to do that in a right way. Because authority is something that can get out of hand when it's not tempered with the right view, when you don't have a right view of it. When woman covers her head in honor and respect to man, they both reflect the honor and glory of Christ and God, to both men and angels. So when you respect your husband, sisters, you are respecting Christ, you're respecting God. And when man respects, when they both, when the man is uncovered, the woman covers her head, unitedly they respect God as their creator, and there's glory in their life. And the angels know it. The angels know when there's respect, when there's proper order and respect in their lives, and that the angels are there as a protection to such. There are many angels, I believe we don't realize our lives are filled with experiences that involve angels, and we oftentimes don't realize it. Things don't just happen. God orders them that way. And I believe God's angels are around many times when we don't realize it. But they give, it gives the angels, how would you say, it gives the angels, God's angels, a special invitation, or they realize that they are welcome in your life when you respond this way to God, to God's order. Then God's angels are also welcome in your life. And there's power and authority in a woman's life to reject evil spirits or evil angels when she has her head covered. And then as we read in verse 8 through 12, I like to read those verses. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. And skip down to verse 11. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is man also by the woman, but all things of God. Now why does Paul bring this in? Again, don't we see a continuity of thought from Genesis as we look at these things? We see a continuity of thought all the way through there. Well, I believe the reason that Paul brought these things in to the picture is because authority can corrupt, like I mentioned earlier. Men, there are men, when they realize that they have authority, then it goes to their head. And that's wrong. That's the wrong kind of authority. God does not want us to, if God has given you authority, if God has given you power, don't let it go to your head. It's not, that is not power. Or it's not God's power. It's Ichabod. And there's another man who let power go to their heads, exalt themselves and dominate others. We see that all the time, especially we see it in young men. Young men are much more prone to do that than older men. Older men, somehow, after all the knocks of life, they've begun to realize that they really don't have much to say and they don't have much dominating power in their lives of their selves. But young men, oftentimes, have a dominating spirit when it goes to their head. And that's not right. It's not right. The New Testament authority that Jesus talked about is servanthood. Jesus said in Mark 10 verse 44, whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. If you want to be chief in your home, you be the servant. If you want to order things around in your home, you be the servant. You be the one. Remember a certain man and his wife? He was a domineering man and he wanted to have a simpler lifestyle and all that. And he went and got a hand cultivator for his wife to use to plow the garden and to use in the garden. He wanted to go to a simpler lifestyle where he wouldn't use motors and that. And his wife was not a strong person, but when he told me that, I told his wife, I said, that's fine, but you just hitch him to the plow. Let him pull the cultivator. You can't do it, but you put a rope on there and let him pull it and you guide it. If you want to do that to your wife, then you need to be the servant. You need to be the servant. It doesn't hurt men to wash dishes. I can say that now because I do it once in a while, but it doesn't hurt us to be servants and wash the dishes for our wives sometimes. You know, they appreciate those things. If you want to be the king in your home, if you want to dominate your home, then do it that way. Do it that way. And you will find that your wife will look up to you. She will want to be submissive to you. She will want to bless you. She will want to be under your authority when you become a servant in your home. It's the same way that Jesus did, is it not? Wasn't Jesus a good example in this? Wasn't Jesus a servant? He made himself a servant to all of us. He made himself a servant to the lowest sinner. That was because he loved us. Now he draws our adoration. He draws our respect because he was that way. That was his heart. Let's remember that, brothers. Let's remember what kind of leadership God really has called us to be. Okay, let's go on. Verse 14 and 15 speaks about what does nature teach? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. Here we see nature's teaching. Nature teaches us something about this thing of covering the head and uncovering. It teaches us that for a man to have long hair, it's shameful. It's a shameful thing. Even in the world today, when men have long hair, when you see them with ponytails and we're getting used to it, it's still a shame. It's still a shame for a man to have long hair. Biologically, women generally can grow longer hair than men. Although the longest record hair in the world that's ever been recorded, the longest hair is 26 feet long and it was grown by a monk. But long hair is still a shame. It's still a dishonor to God's creation. Nature itself would teach us that it's a sign of, actually it's a sign of rebellion against God's creation. And nature itself would teach us that men should have short hair. Nature teaches woman's hair is a glory to her. Do we not see that? A woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering, for a parable line. Woman's hair is a natural physical charm that attracts men. That's nature's purpose. For a woman, that is part of the glory that she carries. And you know it. You know that's why women go to the beauty parlors to put their hair, put up their hair. That's why they do things like that. They do it because their hair is a glory to them and they do it for that purpose, to draw, attract attention. They don't do it and then cover it all up and hide it. 1 Timothy 3 teaches women should conceal their physical charms, does it not? And allow their inner beauty to be revealed. It says there in 1 Timothy 3 that women should not display broided hair with gold and silver and costly array. But it says more, I believe it's in Peter where it says it should be their inner charms that should come out. Their inner beauty. Well you might ask the question, well what is her glory good for if it cannot be seen? Which is what I have heard sisters ask that question. Well her long hair, her glory, her physical charm should not be revealed to men in general. But it should be for her special man. It should only be for her husband. I believe that's God's will. That's why the virgins would veil themselves in the Old Testament times. That's why they covered their heads. They did not want their glory to be revealed to every man that comes around. But they wanted their glory for their own husbands. When they get married. That was for their husband. Well how long should a woman's hair be? Well the Bible calls it a parabolon. It calls it a parabolon and it calls it this which is a vesture. A wraparound thrown around the body. Something like that. See nature has given a woman a natural wraparound also. And the longer it is the more it reflects what God's word teaches. So those are some of the things that nature is teaching. Those are some of the things that nature would teach us. If we would stop and just evaluate what nature teaches I believe we would understand some of these things. How long should men's hair be? Well again these are my thoughts but I think they ought to be short enough. Men's hair should be short enough so they're not disgusting or shameful. Because the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair. So men's hair should be short enough they'd be not a shame. The word long hair, the Greek word is komio, komo, which means long tresses of hair like a woman. And I believe they should be short enough so they're not mistaken for a woman. And this is something that we see in today's world. And it comes simply through the spirit of this world which is promoting unisex and this type of things where they have men and women looking alike. Women wearing men's apparel. Women dressing like men. And men dressing like women. Woman's hair, this is what Matthew Henry says, woman's hair is a natural covering. To wear it long is a glory to her. But for a man to have long hair or cherish it is a token of softness and effeminacy. Conclusions? We see the Christian woman's veiling as a principle of God that blossoms from the basic concepts of moral honor and respect taught by God from the beginning of creation. That would be what I see as I looked at this. It's a principle of God. I'll read it again. We see the Christian woman's veiling as a principle of God that blossoms from the basic concepts of moral honor and respect taught by God from the beginning of creation. Another conclusion? We see the Apostle Paul reaffirming its continuity in the New Testament age. And this is an important one. Because this is where most of the people get hung up. They say it was only for them back there. But Paul reaffirmed this in the New Testament that this moral issue did not stop in the Old Testament, but it has come on through. God's will is that the women still be appareled in this way, in modest apparel, and that they cover their heads and that men do not cover their heads. You see, in the Jewish world, they wore these little, what is it, talop? Pardon? Skull cap. There's another name that's called a talop or something like that. They wore it on their heads. But Paul, this was contradictory to their beliefs, but Paul said, take that off. Man is to reflect God. Man was created in God's image. You are not to cover your heads. We must conclude that it was a katalupta. This is another conclusion that I come to. A cloth veil. And that the Apostle Paul taught should cover the woman's head so as not to dishonor her head, so as to respect God's order, and so as to have respect as a godly, virtuous woman, and also to have power on her head because of the angels. Another conclusion, we see that nature agrees with these God-ordained principles by teaching men to have short hair and women to have long hair. We see that these moral principles were discarded by many of the nations and churches throughout the world, and possibly at least part of the reason for the moral decay in the world today. Have you ever thought of that? I'm not saying that it's all, but I wonder if this doesn't have more to do with the moral decay in the world today than we realize. I was somewhere, and I don't know where it was that I read this, but in the beginning of this century, in the year 1900, or right around 1900, 1902, or something like that, it seemed to me there was only like five divorce cases. Am I right? Does somebody have those facts? I think I read this. There was only like five divorce cases recorded in the US. It was either two or five. It was hardly any, but today it's over half of marriages ended up in divorce. You see what happens? And I'm not saying that if all the women would have kept coverings on their heads back then that we wouldn't have any problems today. I don't think that's necessarily so, but yet these principles were lost, and when the principles are lost, then you can expect it to go the other way fast. It's still New Testament doctrine, inspired by God, and it's a joy, and it's a crown to all who love His commandments, to all who do His will. It's a joy and a crown to them. I would like to encourage us to obey this, what Paul taught. It will be a blessing, and I don't think it's wrong to share this message with the whole world, because I believe it would do the whole world benefit if sisters would be in their proper order, men would be in their proper order, and by the way, that's why the sisters often aren't. Most of the time that's why the sisters aren't where they ought to be. It's because men do not, are not under their head, which is Christ, like they ought to be, and I would like to speak to the men, especially, on this thing of the image, being in the image and glory of God, because I believe that that is God's calling for us, and it's a high calling. It's a high calling. Shall we pray? Father, I pray that you would just give us understanding in the things that we shared today. Lord, just help us that we can get a proper concept of your view of it all, of how you look at it. Lord, I believe that you taught us these things for our own good, and just help us, God, that we would reconsider, re-evaluate, even though the world in general, even though the churches in general, do reject this teaching. We pray, God, that you will help us to evaluate these things, and again, re-establish this moral truth, this moral foundation that you laid from the beginning of time, from Genesis. And Father, I pray that you will help us all, especially as men, to be in our proper place, to be leaders, as you would have us be, servants, that would draw the respect and honor from our wives. Help us as men to have respect for the sisters, for the young sisters, for the virgins. Lord, help us to have proper respect, and I pray, give the sisters grace, the older ones, to teach the younger ones how to conduct themselves, how they too should cover themselves, clothe themselves, and order their lives, that we all may be a blessed people, that we might truly be like the psalmist writes, happy are those whose case is such, whose trust is in the Lord. I pray, God, just continue to show us, guide us, and that's our heart's desire, and thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.