In this sermon, the speaker reflects on a situation where two young men were discussing why women are the ones who often take on the responsibility of spreading the message of God. The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking action and not just sitting back with concepts. They highlight the dedication and sacrifice of women who go out to share the message, even in difficult circumstances. The speaker then transitions to discussing the biblical concept of the headship, stating that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. They encourage faithfulness in whatever role or responsibility one has been given, emphasizing that God will enable and empower those who are faithful.

Our subject tonight has already been announced. Indeed, it was because I was asked to deal with this subject that my heart was led along a line that I have chosen. When I arrived the other day, I was asked if I would speak on the place of women in the Church. It was announced that, after much sort of thought, that it would be Monday night, and so you happened to come along on the night that's been chosen. As I say, because I was asked especially to speak on the place of women in the Church, that I felt led to talk about the Church as a whole. I don't see why the women should have it all, do you? And so we launched out on our series, and I must confess that my own heart has been blessed as we've been moving along this great line of the Church. And tonight, then, to investigate something about the place of women, I don't know why it should be saved up for me, and a question like that put to me, and a request like that made. I suppose that we've all discovered that we all have a place in the Church of Jesus Christ. And I don't think when the question was asked, it was meant to imply that I wonder if they have any place, that is, any membership in the Church at all. I don't think that was behind the question. But because all our hearts, I trust, want to come as much as possible into lying with the whole truth. Well, now, I suppose this would be regarded as a thorny question. Well, we don't mind handing thorns sometimes. We have to be careful how we handle them. And so, to the word, beloved. And the whole matter, I suppose, is raised, along with so many questions that are raised in every generation of children of God. They want to know this, and they want to know that. And I do hope all the ladies present don't think all these great overbearing men, they think they're everything, or something like that. It isn't that at all. Sometimes I envy women, in that the cheapest place in Heaven, as we know, and as we were considering together last night, is really for the bride that is not the cheapest place, not including God, but exclusively including God. And so, I've often said to so many ladies where I'm counselling them, I envy you, because you see, I'm a man, and I've got to put myself into a feminine part. I've got to understand what it is to become a bride. And all I can ever understand in the nectar is how to be a bridegroom. Well, that's all right. And so, in many phases, ladies have a great advantage over men. And it's a tremendous thing for our hearts to realise that the Lord came to the earth as a lover, seeking a bride for all eternity, to share with him the place that he shall hold forever in the new creation. Nevertheless, while we're on earth, there is a relationship as between male and female, and the Lord has said great things about it. Now, you know that when God created man, he made man male and female. And male and female, you will read, if you go back to the book of Genesis, make man. Paul says, and we may be looking at it a little later, in the Corinthian letter, the man wasn't created for the woman, but the woman was created for the man. Nevertheless, neither is the man but by the woman. And so the Lord brought out of his own heart this great male and female relationship. Together they made man the species. It's a tremendous thing for us to understand and enter into it. I was very thrilled once at a wedding to hear that it said that when God made woman, he put Adam to sleep and he did not take her out of his head to dominate him, and he didn't take her out of his feet that he may dominate her, but he took her out of his side that she should be as equal. And that's very, very wonderful for our hearts to understand this. And God has conferred many, many privileges upon women. The only trouble is that for every privilege that's granted, there must be no presumption made. And we have to walk in what God has shown us. This also counts for men. Men mustn't presume either. There is a clear line that we must walk together. I hope that when you read your New Testament, you notice how that it was the women that the Lord met. It was women that first saw the empty tomb. It was also glorious when you come to realize it. There's purpose behind it. And in resurrection, you will remember he met Mary Magdalene, and before he met her, the angels did, and she was weeping at the tomb. And the angels said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? The angels were absolutely baffled. If men had been weeping, they could have understood it. They couldn't understand women weeping. And the whole point of it is that Jesus said the same thing. He said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? If Peter weeps, and John weeps, and all the other men weep, well, we could understand that. But when the resurrection took place, it was a time for women especially to rejoice, because then the promise made in Genesis 3.15 had been brought to pass that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. And she of all creatures ought to have been rejoicing, because the woman that was in the transgression, as Paul says, writing to Timothy, you know that Eve was the mother of all living, the woman had been in the transgression, the Lord had rectified it. Amen. Then, she, by her great mistake in the beginning, it's sin came in, though notice, God said it came in by Adam. In other words, he classified the woman and the man as one. But it was nevertheless through the woman, through her transgression, and her temptation of her husband, she offered Adam the fruit, the poor weak thing, he fell for it. The Lord put that right. Amen. And he had redeemed it. Redeemed her. Glory be to God. Yes, by man came death, so by man also came resurrection. So we're told. But you see, really it was through woman that the resurrection came. You see how God puts the male and the female together, classifying it as species. And it was very, very wonderful how the Lord worked all this out. So the woman had very much to rejoice in. And to her was granted the privilege of bearing the Savior. Man might be envious of that. And she has so many glorious positions granted to him in Scripture. But what she must not do is grasp that which God has given to men. They have to be allowed in now and again. They have to have some privileges granted to them. And it may be very irksome for some, especially if there are very strong characters in females. And I find that there are. Well, well, well. The Lord has to sort it all out and put it right for us. The church is God's own peculiar people. The Lord has this for his own territory, his own right. He rules in it exclusively or he should be allowed to. And what he says is perfectly true. Now, I was brought up in my sort of teaching background with much to a group of people that, you know, they sort of felt that women weren't allowed to do anything. That was the kind of idea under which I was brought up. And, my word, you could see it working out. Not, of course, that it always worked out truly because, well, many a man in the assembly has to say what his wife tells him to say before he leaves home because if not, there'd be a row about it when he got home because she's very much the boss. And that, of course, is all wrong. I don't know whether I, well, I ought to say this in this elite company, but I have discovered this, that, I mention this at CLIF, I don't want to sort of be too repetitive, those of you who are there. As the scripture reveals, before we can enter the realm of spirit, there has to be a medium, there has to be a mediator. In the beginning, God made male and female and then the devil deliberately went behind God's back. He ignored the headship of the human race, Adam, and he aimed at the woman. And he went, as I have said, behind God's back. And he got into the woman and virtually it was through the woman that the spirit, the evil spirit, was mediated into the human race. Now, quite in keeping with this, you will find, and here I offer no hints or insults to anybody, that the majority of people who function in the spiritualist world, what's called spiritualist, as mediums, they are women. You will find, for every one man, male medium, you will probably find five, six, perhaps even ten females. They so readily lend themselves to the mediumistic condition, position. It's like this, of course, all spirit needs mediation. All spirit. That's why the Lord Jesus, when he rose from the dead, had to go back to heaven and he mediated the Holy Spirit into the people. Spirit must come through mediation. And women, the more readily, loan themselves or give themselves up to a mediumistic psychic position. You must suffer me, at this moment, to talk from knowledge and a fairly wide experience. I'm constantly dealing with people who are affected by mediumistic spirits. I find that for every male I deal with, I'm probably dealing with twenty females that are affected by mediumistic spirits. You just have to take my word for that. I know you won't doubt me. I'm constantly in the counseling room with people. And so this whole thing may, if you like, as I set this background, may come clearer to your mind and to your heart. Now, the Lord blesses and he moves on people and he does bring us into his church. We've got to avoid extremes in all this. We've got to walk the way of scripture. It seems to me in these days that there is a great rebellion against scripture. I abhor much that I hear of people, for instance, standing up in big public meetings and saying, I don't read the Bible anymore. I used to, I don't. They say they're baptized in the Holy Spirit. They say they now get direct revelation from God. It's great to have revelation from God. We must have revelation from God. But as soon as you stop reading the Bible in connection with that, what could have come first as revelation will quickly degenerate into nothing else but soulish mumblings and spreading of man's ideas. And alongside with this, it seems, there goes a great breaking down of scriptural standards, an overthrowing of things and the idea that we're in complete liberty and we can do as we like. We're free from the law, or we're free from this, or we're free from that. Now, beloved, I want us all to get into our hearts that the only law virtually that you are free from is the law of sin and death. That's the only law you're free from. Amen. I hope you are. Are you free from the law of sin and death? That's the one you're made free from. All the other perfect law of God is fulfilled in us. All the lot. We're not free from it. We're only liberated as it is fulfilled in us. That's how we're liberated. What a tremendous thing for us to see. And another thing we've got to understand in these days of rebellion or setting up of some sort of new charismatic standard, whatever that may be, we've got to realize that you and I are free to love. We are free, beloved, to really fulfill Scripture. My eye must not be on myself, what I am now free to do. My eye must be on you, that I don't cause you to stumble, that I don't in any way offend or upset you in your spiritual life. That's what I'm free to do. In other words, I'm free to love you tremendously and put you above myself in every way, just like the Lord Jesus did. And once you see this, you will be greatly helped. You turn, say, to Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 and you find the Lord Jesus taking up the points of the law. And instead of saying, now you've got to do this, that and that, He says, what I want to really show you is the spirit and the heart from which this statement was made. He doesn't say it this way. And then when you discover this, He takes it out of the realm of action, doing the sin, into the spiritual condition that prevents you from doing the sin, once you're in it. And the thought and the spirit and the intention in God's heart when He made the law. Amen. Now the law was made for sinners. That's what Paul says. It was never made for the children of God. The children of God live by the higher principles of the life of God from which the law was given and written in the beginning. And we have to function in this great life of the Spirit. In the early church, Paul gave great instructions concerning the place of women. If we'll turn, shall we, into the general background of the truth from which this instruction comes, we can find it in the Corinthian letter, which you will know is a basic letter concerning vital, elemental church doctrine. He's leading up to his great revelation concerning the function of the gifts of the Spirit in the 12th and the 14th chapters. Before he gets there, he comes through the 11th chapter, obviously. And in chapter 11, verse 1, he says, Be ye imitators 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. 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. And so, although he's giving spiritual instruction now, he isn't saying that he's ordaining anything. He says in verse 2, You keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. But now he says that I want you to come onto a place of personal relationship now and personal knowledge and personal understanding in this. So much of the spiritual follows that which is natural. Hope you understand that, that often in Scripture, the natural is an analogy or a type or a picture or parable of the spiritual. You understand that? That's how the Lord's taught so much. Take the vine, for instance. From the vine, the Lord gave parabolic teachings. What a natural thing, a vine. It grows and it puts out branches. It produces fruit and so on and so on and so on. By a natural process. But the Lord took up this great figure of the vine and from it taught the most sublime spiritual truths because the natural is an analogy of the spiritual. Alright, is that clear to you? And here he turns us onto the natural. I want you to know, he says, that the head of every man is Christ. I suppose we'd all agree with that. And that the head of the woman is the man. Would we all agree with that? Would we all agree with that? And the head of Christ is God. We all agree with that. It's the middle one, perhaps the ladies aren't so sure about. Or the men. I don't know. The head of the woman is the man. That's a tremendous thing. It's this head-body relationship that is the basis of the church that the Lord wants us to understand. Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered dishonorous Christ. That's his head. Amen. Every woman that prayeth or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonorous her head. That's the man. There it is. For that is even all one as if she were shaven. Oh, and it was the most terrible thing in the East for a woman to have her head shorn. Everybody knew what that meant. Everybody knew what that meant. Praise God. It meant that she'd been caught in harlotry. And it meant that she'd had her hair shaved off as a public example that she was a wicked, adulterous woman. That's what it meant. And that's what Paul said. If a woman prays or prophesies with her head uncovered she dishonors her head. Every woman that prayeth or prophesies I'm sorry. For if the woman be not covered let her also be shorn. How many of you ladies would volunteer to have your hair cut off? Let her be shorn. What a tremendous thing. Or even shaven. Let her be covered. If it's a shame for a woman to have her hair shorn or shaven let her be covered. Amen. If a man indeed for a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God I'm sorry you ladies you aren't the image and glory of God. Not in your physical form. But listen. The woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman. But the woman is of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man. For this cause because it has to do with God's great purposes in creation. It has to do with a relationship that is still here whilst we're in the flesh. For this cause ought the woman to have authority or a sign of authority on her head because of the angels. Now that's what God said. And what a tremendous thing it is beloved that God should so speak. One of the things that amazes me is why ladies shouldn't want to conform to this. I don't know why they shouldn't. I would think if I was a woman I'd think it a great privilege because what the privilege a woman has is to carry on her head the sign of the subjection of the church to Jesus Christ. She is given the privilege of having it. Now a man isn't. And if the Lord said to me now you ought to wear a hat I'd say alright. I'd wear one. Or I mean we call it a hat, a cover, I don't care what you call it. I'd wear it instantly. I'd count it all joy to do it. If it didn't suit my hairdo I'd have my hairdo altered. If it didn't fit in with my ideas I'd ask the Lord to forgive me. I'd jump at the opportunity of being the privileged one to bear on me the sign to everybody that we are a holy subject. I think that's wonderful. When my wife saw it she never quibbled. She praised the name of the Lord. Now in marriages if women don't abide like this it's a sign that she's the boss and the man is a weakling. And if you really want to see the state of a church you ought only to look at the women. The women reveal the state of the church because men like it so or are too weak to object to what their women are doing. But the man is the head of the woman. You understand that? The woman is only the man's body in this respect and too often there's more body in display than head and the Lord wants us to get this thing right. He wants every dear one of us to come to the place where we see this is working in our midst. Let's move on. Verse 13. Judge in yourselves. Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered or the word is missing here or doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man indeed have long hair it's a shame unto him so we have shame in the church rebellion in the church but if a woman have long hair it's a glory to her for her long hair actually is the Greek word is given her for a covering but if a man seem to be contentious we have no such custom neither the churches of God none of the apostles would have allowed it and neither the real churches of God. Now this is what God wants us to understand about this beloved. It's very loving. It's very simple. It's very straight forward and obedience is a jewel. It's more highly to be prized than a gift or great fluency of speech. Obedience. In fact the prophet Samuel said I will have obedience and not sacrifice. That's what God wants. He wants obedience from us all. He wants us to do as he says in this matter and walk in his ways. I'm under authority. I don't cover my head because that's dishonoring Christ. I wouldn't do it. Not for anybody. When I meet in the church I don't want to dishonor Christ. And if a woman won't cover her head she dishonors the man and Christ as well. She's doing damage in both worlds. She's dishonoring both. What a terrible thing. It's usually that way you know. There's a few women but I was asked to talk about it. I didn't say I'm going to talk about that. I nearly fell over when they asked me to talk about it. Figuratively speaking. It's so glorious to move in the truth. To do what God wants us to do it should be the simple object of our existence. Hallelujah. We just want to honor the Lord. That's all. This is true. I've discovered this. As a matter of fact I used to hear this when I was quite a boy quite a young man before I had any sort of kind of position or I wasn't even born again way back. I've discovered this and all you women can get me aside afterwards and have a real go at me if you want. I've found that if a man's bad he's bad but boy if you get a bad woman she's twice as worse as a man. There she is. That's absolutely right. I've found it like smoking. You find a man that smokes it's bad but you find a woman that gets really hooked on tobacco and she can't stop. There's that in her nature which makes her go further all the time. Always. She can't help it. On the other hand now you ladies look up and smile. This is why so many women get into the baptism of the spirit before men do because women go this way. They can go further than the men. Men, they're instinctive. They sort of know it's right. They feel it's right and they're in. And a man says Oh, I've got to think this after. I've got to have it dropped and it's right. A woman doesn't bother about that. She knows it's right and whoop she's in. That's right. And then her husband says Oh, oh dear what's happened here? Now I was baptised in the spirit. If she's wise she'll win him by not nagging at him. Most women lose their husbands by preaching at them. Men won't be preached at by their wives. They feel it's wrong. They don't like women's ministry. Instinctively they don't. You see it's in the nature of the beast. A woman won't have a man won't have his wife preaching at him. And most women have chucked their marriage nearly on the rocks and lost their husbands or their husbands have stuck out ten years longer than they would have done if only she'd loved him and kept her tongue quiet. If only. There are very few women who can do that. Of course if a man does it well he's ten times worse than a woman because he's taken the opposite to what should be. And when you go to the opposite of what you nature itself teaches you you're always worse. Always. The Lord opened our eyes and hearts to understand and move in. We're on precious ground here beloved. And the Lord loves us tremendously. Now this has introduced a subject. This Bible says that if a woman has her head covered she may prophesy and pray in the church. Now you see in a group that I will mention where women are never allowed to do anything in the church you see it's very subtle. All they do is say the gifts of the Spirit aren't for today and then a woman has lost her ministry. She hasn't got any. Now just say the gifts of the Spirit aren't for the day like prophecy and that and what can a woman do now? Because she may pray and prophesy in the church says Paul. And what a tremendous ministry that is beloved. Eh? Glory be to God. Tremendous ministry is the ministry of prayer and prophecy. So therefore it cannot mean that a woman must never open her mouth in the church. She may pray and she may prophesy. Indeed the people that used to sort of insist that a woman must never do anything in the church always gave all the women a hymn book as soon as they came in so they expected them to sing in English. It seems a little bit off that. Don't you think? Yes, that's right. It does. It seems a little bit off. If you keep silent here's a hymn book. Doesn't fit in. Does it? No, no. No. By such means we come to see what God has for us. But the woman must be covered for this reason that she's the glory of the man and man's glory must not be seen in the church. Only God's glory. There it is. Because she's the glory of the man. Cover it. Amen. Sorry for you ladies you're lovely but you've got to be covered because you're my glory or some man's glory. And if all the men bring their glory to church let's have it covered. That's right. Let's have it covered. Let it be there but let it be covered. Amen. That's right. Let my body be covered. I'm the head. Let's have the body covered. Amen. Is that right? The body must be covered. It's the head we've come to worship. And you ladies are saying shouting it out loud you're speaking more by the sign than you could do by any prophecy you make without the sign. Keep first things first. Keep basic things right. And we'll never, never miss the mark. It's Jesus that's got to be glorified in the church. Now, beloved I mean, I couldn't help being born a male. Sometimes I'm sorry for myself because I meet so many fine women. I couldn't help that. But having been born a man and then being born again I've just got to read this book and follow out what it says. That's what I've got to do. I want to do it. I think we all need to help one another on in this great line. My wife comes to church to worship. She's covered. She tells everybody that I'm her head. She tells everybody that the glory of man must not be seen. She tells everybody that Christ is the head of the church. Look, my husband's uncovered. His head isn't covered. It's just a matter of body to head to supreme head. Do you see that? Well, if you see it from now on you have the responsibility and you must do it. That's what it means. You're not allowed to shift say, well, this group believes in covering their head so we'll do it. When I go to the other group they don't believe in it so I won't do it. That's weakness and vacillation beyond words. That's the way to self-destruction. You've got to move on heart conviction and heart convictions must be framed on the book. They can't be formed on opinions. They've got to be formed on the book. The book is the inspired word of God and we must move on that. Hallelujah. Well, well, well. Now let's move on, shall we? We come over in the great scripture of truth and we come to the 14th chapter and it's in the 14th chapter that we run up against this very difficult word. Verse 34 Let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. If they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it's a shame for women to speak in the church. You say, well now, why in the world are we now? Do you possibly know people who carry that out absolutely literally and they insist upon it stopping short of putting a gag in women's mouths. Here then in the 11th chapter you are told you dear sisters that you may pray and prophesy in the church. In the 14th chapter it seems as though you've got to keep silence. It can only mean I'm persuaded in my own heart that as you know in the days of the early church women were an uneducated lot. I'm sorry to have to say so because some of you are so very brilliant and clever now. And they weren't bothered about they only had one function in life it was to grow up and become somebody's wife. That was about their position. They never had bachelor girls in those days. They never had bed sitters for females or anything like that. It's absolutely right. There were no jobs for women in say marriage and motherhood. This then was their position. If they were single they stopped at home under the headship of their father. They were always under some headship or another. Fathers or husbands. And so in this position and it's still the same in the East today you know the women sat on one side of the building and the men sat on the other. I meet it out in the East today when I go switch on your power it won't open unless you put your power on. That's right. Now it'll work. That's right. Okay. I'm not an electrician but I move in this realm. And I can give you a little advice at times. You notice it was the women's crepe that was squeaky. And so they often didn't understand what was being said. And they used to chat amongst themselves. What's he mean? What's he saying? They do it today. Or they call across the church to their husband and say Hey Bill, what are you doing? Listen. And Paul says Now let them keep quiet. It's a shame for this to go on. It's all wrong. They want to know anything. Let them ask their husbands when they get home. If they want to function in the gifts of the Spirit now that's different. They may pray and they may prophesy and they may minister in the body of Jesus Christ as God wants them to. It's fairly important then you ladies that you press right through to get a ministry gift. It's important that you do this. Hallelujah. Now I meet people sometimes in fact I occasionally run up against this same problem. It's everybody's headache at one turn or another. And they say, for instance, let me instance a case. I was asked if I would talk with a man, leader of a fellowship and his wife. And one or two other brethren were there. And they were all very concerned because this dear wife often felt in a meeting that she should get up and pray for someone. You know, go across the room, put her hands on them and pray for them to be healed, you see. And she said, now what am I to do? Here I am. I'm under eldership. Oh, eldership. Some people have got this eldership bee in their bonnet. They really have. Oh, it's a real bee in their bonnet. You can't get away from this great talk on eldership with another big word that starts with a capital S called submission and subjection. It's very subtle. You start off by talking about commitment. Then you bring in submission. And then you bring in subjection, you see. And then they're leading you on to tell you that you've got to do as you're told. It's fairly sort of subtle. It's an abuse of true scriptural life and ordination and procedure. But anyway, let's come back to this instance. And she said, oh, what am I to do? Her husband was the leader of the fellowship. He was there. And she said, I feel that God shows me that so and so over there is in need of healing. And I know it. Now, my husband, poor man, he doesn't see this. He doesn't know this. He hasn't got this particular discernment, gift or whatever you want to call it, you see. And I want to speak before I'm through between function of gift and psychic ability. I will talk about that before I'm through. If I forget, you remind me, Jerry. Here's the problem. I said, how would you have got over that one? There's no getting over it really, but how would you have answered that? Well, the answer is very simple. I said to her, if God has given you this gift, my dear, you must use it. You mustn't let any man stop you. Oh, but in our church, only the brethren pray. It's the eldest position, you see. It's the man's position. Here it is. We've got this all blown up now. They've really been blowing this up big. Like a balloon. And you can prick it as easy as anything. Here it is. Like all balloons, they can be pricked. I said, what you ought to do, my dear, is if you have this, you are to signify to an elder that you know this. And if I was the elder that you told, you knew that there was somebody over there that had suffered such a condition, and God had revealed to you that he wanted to heal you, I would say to you, come with me, sister. We will pray for this man together. Now that's wise eldership. That's using the gift that God has given. Not squatting on it because it happens to be in a female. Now, here then is wisdom. And here the church is built up. And here the gifts are utilised. What no woman must do, is what Paul said she must not do, intimately. Let's turn to it, shall we? What a sweet church this wording church will be, if it can function in the background of Scripture, and be a true New Testament church. I decided years ago, that if God would enable me, I would not rest until I was in a New Testament church. That is why when God moved on us in the beginning, we called our church the New Covenant or New Testament Fellowship. Because that was the aim of my heart, and the ambition of what was in me. All right, now in 1 Timothy chapter 2, he says this, that verse 7, I am ordained a preacher or a herald and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and lie not. Listen to the apostle, the teacher and the apostle. A teacher of the Gentiles. That word is really nations, in faith and verity. That means the English nation, especially you peculiar Sussex people. A teacher of the nations in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without rotten doubting. Come on you men. How many of you pray everywhere lifting up your hands? See, you don't want these women put in their place if you are not prepared to get in yours. How many of you men pray everywhere lifting up your holy hands? How many of you lift up your hands when you pray? What do you say? Oh, what if they are looking? Now the scripture says you are to lift up your hands in prayer. Not this. Here is the commandment of your apostle. Lift up your hands in prayer. Glory. Amen. That's what you are to do. And it says without rotten, without doubting, or reasoning actually is the great word. Come out of your intellect you men. You can't pray with that. You pray with your spirit. You can't reason your way into heaven. And you can't reason your way into somebody's problem if you are praying for them. Come out of it. It's nonsense. If your spirit isn't flowing, keep your hands down. It's not prayer. If your spirit is flowing, hallelujah. Glory. Amen. And that's what he says. In like manner also. Now in the same way, women have got to do the same, you see. In like manner also. That women adorn themselves in modest or becoming apparel with shame-facedness. Actually the word is bashfulness. In other words, you are not to be brazen-faced. You are to be modest and sobriety. Not with embroidered hair or gold or pearls or costly array. How many of you obey the truth? But which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Ever adorned yourself with good works? So this is spiritual adornment, isn't it? Amen. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach or to usurp authority over man. The word thee isn't there. No woman is to try and teach a man. And she's not to usurp authority over man. That's what Paul says. So then, this ties up with that which I was saying. That if a woman has a gift, may God grant that all you women, if the men won't stir themselves up, get a lot more gifts than they appear to have. That's right. Men are very lazy, really. And they're so intelligent, you know. They won't go. They won't. I've had so many women, they're nearly dead trying to push their husbands on. Nearly killed them. That's right. Of course they're foolish. They should lead. They shouldn't push. That's the trouble. They keep trying to shove. You see. You women, if you have a gift, know this, you don't have to ask anybody if you can prophesy. And you don't have to ask anybody if you can pray. Any church is quite, I was going to say crazy. I've said that word. Even if it's stuffed with men, if they think a woman's got to ask permission to prophesy, there's got to be complete liberty for these great gifts to function. You see. And then, if there's any other thing, such as you discern anything, or if you have these other things operating in you, if you believe you have a gift of healing, don't usurp authority over a man. Work cooperatively with him. And you'll never be made to feel that you're working out of him. But with him. Out of his sight, if I may say so. If you will keep your position. And the Lord has ordained it this way. I want to come on to the difference between that which is spiritual, and that which is psychic, or soulish. One of the great tragedies in our day, is that we are becoming matriarchal. I think you will find that, not only in churches, but you will find that in politics and in government. We are becoming matriarchal. Now, in the church, the spirit of the church is not matriarchal, it's the spirit of Christ. I go round, as you know I do, and I visit many, many places, in this land and in others. One of the abominations of the present mood that's going on, is it's a feminist issue. You see, men, stupidly enough, they can't be men, really liberated. I'm talking about myself now, and I had to fight with all of these men after the meeting about it, but there it is. After I got through fighting the men, what did Paul say? Having fought with wild beasts. I didn't have to take on the ladies, I could depart much the worse for wear. But you see, men are so soft. The trouble is that they still want to be mothered. I can say this here, because I don't find the worthy fellowship to be matriarchal, I'm very pleased to say that, but I do find lots of them. They're really dominated by a feminine spirit, a matriarchal spirit. And the matriarchal spirit is always psychic. Always. Without exception. Always. Because it's out of the order of God, which is spiritual. Descend from it and you'll become psychic. You cannot alter it. When Adam fell in the beginning, Adam fell from the spirit to the soul. His spirit died. He then became just a manifestation of soul. He had... He was still... He still had a spirit, but it was dead. Moving only in the soul. Now, wherever you get a church, I'm now speaking, of course, of the churches that propose, or would like us all to think they're in the things of the spirit, in these latter days. Wherever you get a church where there's a matriarchal spirit, it's psychic. Always. You can feel it. It's sort of... It broods over everything. Oh! When a spiritual man comes up against it, he goes, ever felt like that? I'm giving you the clues how you can detect it. So many things can be diagnosed. You don't especially need gifts. It broods over. It's heavy. Oh! It moves in nice slushy, slushy things. Oh! It serves her. Yeah. Masculinity is the order of the day in the church. And every decent woman wants it. But you see, men, they're at a disadvantage. You women really have got a great grip on things. You know how to handle it. You can handle any man you like. Providing it's not sort of a pig or a beast or something like that. Because you see, every man in the world came through you. Came through money. You see. That's the disadvantage that men have. And so, little boys are mothered, uh, smothered. And they like it. They like it. And you women, you be careful. You do like to mother everybody, don't you? You see, that's the thing that's wrong. That's where you've got to let go. And you men have got to grow up and stop being tied to your mummy's apron strings. You've got to be men. Otherwise you'll never get anywhere. The young men that I have handled, you women, that I've been absolutely ruined by their mothers. Certain sins are manifest in them that I won't mention now because of this mother. They can't find their own masculinity. They're dominated. Dominated. Can't shake it off. So when they get married, they let their wives take on the same role. If she's a bossy sort, she likes it. If she's a proper woman, she detests it. So I want my husband to be a man. How many women have said this to me? I want him to be a man. I don't want to take the lead, but he won't. He can't. Listen to it, you men. That's the trouble. And you see, a woman took the lead in the beginnings. Foolishly, she cooperated with the devil behind Adam's back, or behind God's back, if you like it that way. Now that has lingered on. It's become a set trait in women's characters. Now you see why God's taken it out of the hands of women. He's put it under men. And men, poor things, they just can't rise and take their position. They don't know how to. They either go blustering off, who's boss here sort of thing, and that sort of thing, or else they sink down into some sort of jelly state. And the trouble with men, I'll let you women into a secret. You listen to me, especially all you unmarried women, I'll give you a little clue. A man doesn't care as long as his wife's happy. As long as his wife's happy, he doesn't mind. And that's why if he gets a nagging wife, he says, oh, you go down the pub, something like that, you see. She says, you leave me here every night? Well, sirs are right. You go off down the pub and all this, because I'm all right, because none of you go down the pub. All right. That's right. That's how it all goes on. Because men won't be men. Loving, gentle, firm, the head. They won't do that. But that's what they've got to do. Move out as God wants them to move. Live as God wants them to live. You've been born from on high. You've been put in the church to take the proper place in the church that you should hold. And so have you ladies. You've been born again. And put in the church to take the right position and let God put the corrective to the world in the church. Let him have things as he originally ordained him in the garden. Will you? Let him have it his way. And if you don't, you're rebelling against God. And what can you do? Here then, beloved, is the secret. And into the church has come the medialistic psychic position. It masquerades as a gift of the spirit. It's clever. It can discern. It knows what's going on. But it's destructive. Completely destructive. So many people that I have discovered that move in this what's called the world of, the world of knowledge and discernment are operating under a psychic spirit. That's what I've discovered from a fairly wide experience. It passes for discernment. It's psychic power. Mostly. I don't say in every case. Hallelujah. People get this all wrong. I have had to learn my own self about this. I became a cropper once, as long as I know. I won't discuss that. Not that I've ever had this psychic power, but in connection with others. I find that it functions so parallel with what the Lord had given me that I was quite taken in by it. These persons with the psychic power knew all that I knew. And indeed knew more. Psychic power has the ability to penetrate back and tell you what you did when you were three and where you went when you were four. It will dig into all your past, but the gift of the Spirit never does that. You'll always tell it. Somebody, they come and they say, Oh I thought I'd ring up, I thought God would tell you something about me. And a friend of mine said once to a person like that, It's not me you want, it's a clairvoyant you want to consult. People can't tell the difference between clairvoyance and that which is of God. And women more easily succumb to it than men. More easily. So beloved, we've got to be very clear. The psychic realm is the realm of death. This is why God has put it into the hands of man. A woman is more easily deceived than a man. He's given the church, in its ruling, to elders, men. Now, if I asked you a question and I said to you, What's the order? Here's the order I'm going to put out. Three things, and I'm going to change the order of them. I want you to tell me what the order is, the correct order. Here it is. The church. Sorry. Christ. Or God. Whichever you like. The church. The family. Those are the three things. Or is this the order? God. The family. The church. Which is the correct order? Which is the correct order? God. Family. Church. Is this the correct order? Yes. That's the correct order. God. Family. Church. Even though you're a member of the church. Amen. You remember that last night I started with the four pictures in Ephesus. With the family. Amen. You see, beloved, or if you go back to the body, you remember I mentioned this last night. And here's the thing for you to remember. That the Ephesian setting is really the greatest setting in Scripture where church is concerned. Because in all, five letters went to Ephesus. Five. There's the one we have that Paul wrote, in which he refers to a former one which he'd written. That's lost. That's two. There is the one that John wrote in the book of the Revelation, right to the church at Ephesus. And then there are the two that Paul sent to the first bishop of Ephesus, named Timothy. So they had five inspired writings. That in this context, we may see. So, we've read from Timothy, now we'll read the book of the Ephesians, as we did last night. And in the Ephesian letter, that same chapter, Be filled with the Spirit, verse 18. I won't be able to read it all, but I want to skip on quickly. I got up on my feet fairly early, because I knew it was going to take quite a time. And in this fifth chapter, Be filled with the Spirit, verse 18. Then it says, 21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, wives, submit yourselves to the elders. Doesn't say that, does it? Does it say that? Yeah. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Don't say now, submit yourself to the elders as unto the Lord. We'll come to that later. All right, don't worry. Elders have their place. But not to interfere in a family. The husband is automatically the elder of the family. Amen. And he doesn't want another four or five so-called elders, some of them single men perhaps, telling him how to run his home. Unless, of course, he can't run his own property, then he can't be an elder. A man has got to prove his eldership by being the elder in the family, the head of the family. And if a man can't be a head in his own home, he's disqualified from functioning in the church. It's God, the family, and the church. That's what the book reveals. Your husbands, you're to love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the labor of water by the spoken word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle. And so he goes right on. Higher up, the husband, verse 23, is the head of the wife. He's the head of the wife. Even as Christ is the head of the church and he's the savior of the body, therefore as the church is subject under Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything. Hallelujah. That's what the book says. A man has to prove his qualification for eldership by being the head and elder in his own home. That's why a man can't be an elder in the church if he hasn't got his own children and wife in submission under him. He can't be that. He must not attempt to be. Of course, when children grow up and leave home and all this sort of thing, a man is not then responsible. But the tremendous thing about it, beloved, is that God makes this so clear. There must be no feminine domination. You can't pretend to love Jesus Christ if you want to reverse the order. Can't do it. What you women want to be careful is that you don't go and marry a weakling. That's what you want to be careful about. If you're a strong spirit, don't go and marry a weakling. But you've got to boss an order about. Understand that you're fitting yourself or unfitting yourself by your marriage for proper functioning in the church. What a tremendous thing that is to bear in mind. Let's have it clear. Let's get our understandings right. The psychic dominating matriarchal spirit is wrong. It's heavy, it's nasty. Invariably, hope this doesn't shock you, it's tied up with a wrong sex position. I don't want to say any more about it than that. And that's what you feel when you're going to... What's this? If you felt that you may know, I'm telling you what it is. It's on tape. It may go all over the world. That's the great thing. And what people need to do is to get themselves sorted out here and know the great power of God that can put everything right in them. This broody hen position wants to get everybody weeping and sobbing and sighing. Tied up with its own emotionalism. Interpreting it as the moving of the spirit of God in their own breasts. Poor things. God grant us deliverance. Amen. And don't you ever get matriarchal in your position. I don't believe you will. Amen. And God is seeing us through on this. And if you men have got yourself wrong on this, you've got to get yourself right. And before you attempt to get a wife and marry, you single people, get yourself right. On this, you'll disqualify yourself even if you'd be the most gifted person on the earth. Disqualify yourself. And you'll finish up wondering after 40 years why you've got nowhere in the things of the spirit. But if you get right with God and go with God glory, glory be to his name. He'll bring you right to where he wants you to be. Well now, we've covered a lot of ground. Um... This then is a sort of a general picture of the whole thing. Women in the church, we can turn once more I think anyway to the Roman letter. And in the Roman letter in the 16th chapter, here is Paul. I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, which is a deacon of the church which is at Cancria, that you receive her in the Lord as becometh saints and that you assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you for she hath been a succorer of me and of myself also. And old Paul goes on to say, greet Priscilla and Aquila. He would have thought he would have put Aquila first, wouldn't you? Mr. and Mrs. But he put it Mrs. and Mr. You know Priscilla and Aquila, I trust you're acquainted with them in the Acts of the Apostles. Get to know them, just read it. Yes. But here then is a deacon in the church. It's a woman. And she has a great ministry. See what a wonderful ministry women can have. What you must not do is think comparatively. You must not think comparatively in these great things of God. You know, if I may illustrate for myself, please don't think I mean anything by this, but just give an illustration. Sometimes people come to me and say, oh I wish I had this and I wish I had that, they say. And I think to myself, oh if only they knew. Because they think, oh this is, you know, we can be like that. Now my beloved brothers and sisters, don't you see that God elects, he chooses, and he equips, I was talking a little bit about this to the brethren this afternoon. He equips, but if, please listen now, if he's chosen you to scrub the doorstep every Saturday, who among you does that? That's the answer. Thursday, you haven't scrubbed on Thursdays. If I whispered in your ears and asked you who of your great people kindly did that, I wonder who you'd tell me. Do you get a lot of volunteers for that? Oh that's wonderful, I'm very glad. But don't you see, oh my, prophecy, oh my, I give a prophecy. My beloved, if you've got the gift of health, that is important. If you do that, it's as good as being a prophet. Don't you see, there isn't, you mustn't get this comparative thinking. There is no place better than another. Don't you see that? And instead of you women getting to church and saying, oh why can't we get up there and we preach. Don't do that. I tell you what, listen, I sat down not so long ago, I think it was when I'd come back from Africa, first time, and I sat down and I thought to myself, as I sat in my chair, oh, if I'd been wrong, I'd put thousands, perhaps millions of people wrong. Think of the responsibility resting on my shoulders. I felt it at that time. I felt the burden of it. And I'm not a person that gets depressed. Don't have those things, they're unknown to me, depression. But do you think of it, if you're in somebody's position, I think I'd rather sweep roads. You can't with anybody. Don't you see, I've advised so many people, I've just poured it all onto myself. Now Paul did that once, he said I'll put it onto myself in the process. I want you to see it, it's illustrated in me. So I'm following a good scriptural method. The thousands of people I've advised to make certain statements, I don't care about others. I have followed to the letter your instructions. It's a terrible case. Demon possession, family breakdowns. If I was wrong, brothers and sisters, what? Don't you envy anybody else. Don't you envy that. If God's called you to be a sister and a worker that cooks the meal on Sunday for the rest of the church, you can't put anybody wrong by that. You might upset my infidelity. Don't crave to be the person at the front. Don't. Don't aim at that. Don't shirk anything God gives you to do. And don't you young men think that you're sort of a raised up star of the East to put everybody right. Got to travel around putting the world right. Telling this person where they get on and where they get off. You're deceived. If you think that. When young men come to me and they say I think God's called me to be an evangelist and travel around the world. I remember one fella coming to me like this. He got great big long jack boots on. I don't know where he is. I looked for his six guns. I thought God's called me to be an evangelist. I thought, oh Lord, my heart sank. I mean it. I mean it. Listen. You think humbly about yourself. And I'll tell you what. If you can possibly avoid getting into the ministry, stay out. Stay out of it. Yeah. Let God put you into it. Or else leave it alone. You'll burn your fingers and destroy thousands. Hallelujah. What is of God will spring up spontaneously and naturally in you. You will have no ambition whatsoever. Nothing. It's of God. And remember this. That if you've been chosen to be a minister of the church that's a thing a woman can do. Get on with it. A deaconess as they might call it. Oh well of course in our church we sort of ordain deaconesses. Or we do this, that and the other. Well if God's ordained you that's alright. Just get on and do it. Don't sigh for something else. Did you ever hear a story? They call it a fable. But it's about a dog. He looked into a pond one night and he saw a reflection. And grabbing after the reflection he lost the reality. Serves him right. It's a fable. I won't labour it. But it carries a moral. Do what you've got. And listen. Here's a scriptural principle. Make a note of this. Here it is. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. It's all the same for God. He only wants faithfulness. He that is faithful in that which is least is counted as though you've handled half the universe. You're faithful also in much. It's just faithfulness. And if you have this little bit given to you you'll be faithful. And if you have this little bit given to you be faithful then. Be faithful. And God counts it just as much as though you're an apostle. For God, says Paul, enabled me for that which he counted me faithful. He will enable you for what he counts you faithful. And nothing else. You'll be a burden otherwise. He just does that. And if you're faithful with a hate, you see, it's just counted as though you're a Chancellor of the Exchequer. Just be faithful. The way men compare things doesn't count in the kingdom. Hallelujah. Therefore there's no reaching out to place, position, to be noticed, or anything like that. Everybody's happy. Everybody's content. And I think I'm going to close on this note. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 14. Sorry. 12. I want you to notice something. Verse 14 of chapter 12. The body is not one member but many. If the foot shall say because I've got the hand I'm not of the body. Now, some people act like that. If they can't be this, then they're not going to play, see? They're like little children sitting in the marketplace that say, We've piped, haven't you? You haven't danced. We've moaned, haven't you? We haven't wept. Boo hoo, we're going home. Now stop this childishness. Don't let's have another mention of it. It says, Because I've got the hand I'm not of the body. Well, is it therefore not of the body? If the ear shall say because I've got the eye I'm not of the body. See? What I like, I've got this gift of discernment. That's what the eye does, it discerns. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? I mean, the eye's pretty good, but it needs a couple of feet to carry it round the sea, doesn't it? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? Now listen. But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it would please him. Now all you've got to do, bloody, is say, well, please, if you will, here I am. But I'm set here. I'm set. Isn't that lovely? To know that you're set. Now, on top of this setting, there's another setting. In verse 28. God hath set some in the church, first, apostles, secondarily, prophets, thirdly, teachers, after that, miracles, then, gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of talents. And so he goes on. I don't want to try and talk about that now, but you are to see it, and you are to function in this great realm, and be all that God wants you to be. You women, unless you want to have your hair shorn, or shaved, cover your hair. That's what the Bible says. Hallelujah. You're glorious, and you're lovely. That's why you've got to be covered. Dress becomingly, not crazily, becomingly. Remember that the man is the head of the woman, and Christ is the head of the man. Remember that you can pray and prophesy, if you will cover man's glory, that's you. Just cover it. Praise the name of the Lord. Remember that if you have a gift, work in cooperation with the elders. Never go over their head. See, beloved, to that. You, whatever you do, you do it sweetly, you can have ministerial gifts in your body, you can have deaconess functions, but you can't have eldership functions. That's given to the men. You can't have apostolic functions, they're also. But, it's a terrible tragedy, and with this I want to give you, you dear ladies, a real pat on the back. That, it's a real tragedy, that the men, shame on them, are so selfish, and so babyish, and so want their own comforts, that you dear women have had to get on with the job of evangelizing the world. I travel the world and I know, it's the women that are doing the men's jobs, you wonder they want to be recognized? If we do the work, why can't we have the cures? That's right, isn't it? How many of you men are determined to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Or are you determined to get a good job with about two or three thousand a year? Some men are so cheap you can buy them for about three thousand a year, or you can buy them off the commandments of God. They can still play an instrument, they can still prophesy, they can still do all sorts of things, but the women say, do you want to go into all the world Lord? I'll go. I meet them out on the perimeters of what used to be the empire. I meet them in the land. I don't see men I don't see men. I see the women, no wonder they're wanting to be recognized. Equal pay for equal jobs. Of course, you don't blame them. How many of you men, come on, you be honest, accept your heart, I'm going Lord. I say, oh no, I'm waiting for the Lord to tell me to go. Nonsense, He said you're to go. All you're needing is direction. Where? That's what you're going to say. Where Lord, I'm going. If you don't want me to go, stop me. That's right. You're not going to say, oh Lord, you want me to go, tell me. He's told you. Go. Go. That's what he says. And I've reminded you, you're not to settle down in England, in a comfortable job, for about two, three or four thousand pounds a year. Get a nice home, and finish up by paying at least 50% in income tax. Or something. Not saying you shouldn't, if that's what the government says. Get on with this job, and stop being babies. Stop wanting to be mothers. Get on with it. The Holy Ghost is your mother. The Father is your Father. Jesus is your head, and your life. Get on with it. The Lord is the feet of God. Get on with it. They wanted me to talk for women, now I'm talking to you men. Get on with it. If you haven't got that spirit in you, you've got the wrong spirit in you. You've got a self-spirit in you. The spirit of fear, and of powerlessness, and wanting to be mummied. Go on. The other day in Exeter, I shared some things when I came back from abroad. And I said, one of the things that I discovered, I wish I'd discovered it earlier in life, I didn't know it, is that my mother ruined me. Oh, she was a good mother, don't you misunderstand me. Why, she gave me a feather bed, she brought me up on all sorts of things, and made this, that, and the other, and turned me out so soft, that when I go to sleep on wooden beds, out in the world, Kathmandu, somewhere I can't sleep, she pampered me, softened me up. You've got a child and children, you teach them to sleep on a hard bed, if you really mean it. Oh no, I bought my child Dunlop pillows. Dunlop pillows. You ask the Malawans, whether they sleep on Dunlop pillows. You ask the Nepalis, whether they sleep on Dunlop pillows. You ask the Indians. You ask them, whether they sleep on Dunlop pillows. You're intending to stop in England in comfort. That's what you're intending to do. That's why you don't like the cross. See? And so I said this, you see, out in the meeting, you and my mother ruined me, bless her. I said, you show God you're mean, toughen yourself up. Sleep on the floor. And you know, the one person who slept on the floor that night, eh? It was a little girl that I know. No man did it. A little girl that I know, went home, pulled her mattress off her bed. I saw it. See? Is it a surprise you won't tell her she's going out to cartoon? But you're not, are you? See, you're going where it's soft. You're going to have a nice modern house, and it's going to be the best. Isn't it? And you know what? You wouldn't have her back out of the place, perhaps. You wouldn't have this trouble for a start, if you slept on the floor. That's true, beloved. It's absolutely true. I travelled with a famous heart specialist in India. He slept on the floor. I had to have the best bed there was. He didn't care. He said, oh, you've got to preach, brother. I wouldn't have slept if I slept on the floor. He slept on the floor. You see, we don't really mean it like we do. All we want is gifts. You see, all we want is a nice, cushy fellowship. You see. Out there it lies. And the women, they're out there. They're out there. Oh. They have to do it. They're forced to do these things. You know, I once heard a man say this. I'd never heard it before, but since he said it, you see, some people say things and they stick. Since he said that, I've never forgotten it. He said he went along to a nice drawing room meeting. He was a missionary. They were all sitting around the drawing room and they had cups of coffee and nice buns. Oh, it was a real do. Afterwards, he'd spoken about the missionary situation, you see, out there, and he'd mentioned how they'd chat over coffee. I don't know whether you've ever been to one of these do's. They'd chat over coffee and they'd pass around the scones on nice plates. And all this. It's lovely. It's very appetising. And one of the young men, he said, but what I don't understand, because you can tell his background. I won't tell you what background it came from. You can select between something. Several things begin with B, but you can't select it. I won't tell you what it was. He said, but all I can hear you say is about women. Women are doing this. Women. Why is it, he said, that it's women? He said, because there are two young men sitting in soft-arm chairs in drawing rooms in England. That's why. And they sit back with their concepts. Shame on us. Shame on us. Get up and do something. Die in the attempt. What's the use of living to 50 if you can die at 30, for God? I sometimes think I've lived too long. The best man in the world died at 33. Amen. Amen. Yeah. Bless the ladies. Bless them. One's arranging my next missionary tour. She's perched out in a house in the Himalayas, 7,000 feet up. That's what she's holding the fort. A fine woman crying out, saying, can you send us more of this message? Anyone you recommend. Could I say, here, here, come on. I'll send you. Or you. Or you. Yeah. Listen. You can't find a man like her. Do you know a girl? Women. They go out to her. They do. They give up their summer holidays. Out they go. It's true. Go out to be with these precious ones. I'm telling you the truth. Yeah. It's terrible when men force the women to do what they shouldn't do. By sheer slackness, God revolutionized us. Minister to us all. Now we're going to pray. Some of you women here, in this room, you haven't got a husband. I don't know whether you consider yourself fortunate or unfortunate. And you haven't got a father in the Lord. Is that right? You've got an unsaved father and he doesn't understand. Well, it's for you especially that illness exists. You have a right to look for fatherhood in the illness. And that's why God says, not a novice. Amen. One of the tragedies in churches is they elect novices. Now I know that there are groups that start, God visits them because, shall I say, local churches are dead. I'm not showing any books now. And young men hear truth, got to baptize them in the spirit and come alive. They can't help it that they're only 16 or 18. God meets them or say 20. And they really are the seniors in a group that's growing up. And there are responsibilities. They can't help that. None of them are big headed that I've met. They all sort of look to me as sort of an over dad sort of thing. They want to know. And so on and so on and so on. The tragedy is that the elder men have been sleeping along in their normal churches for years. Or not going to church at all. The youngsters come in, get baptized in the Holy Ghost. God starts to build up the church. It spreads usually like wildfire amongst the young. Praise God. I said like wildfire. It isn't wildfire. It's the genuine fire. Youngsters see through all the depths of the normal situations. They want something that's real. They find something that's real. Praise God. And they go with it. But you've got 18 year olds ministering to 16, 14 year olds. Praise God they care. But sometimes a bit difficult if you get say a nice young lady of 35 or 40. She can't quite take an 18 year old as her elder. Not quite. You've got to understand this. I haven't talked with them. I know. I mean I haven't gone around asking anybody. Now this is a big difference. The word elder signifies not youth obviously. That's why I tell them. And God doesn't say let the youngsters. He says let the elders be. And it signifies maturity and growth. So it's not always easy. Love one another. You have a right to look for fathership. Fatherhood amongst elders. The married wife. She has her own husband. As I've already taken pains to explain. He should be the elder in that house. She should ask him and go to him. If he cannot meet the needs and the situations. He should seriously look to his qualification for eldership. There's nothing to stop him consulting with elder elders. There's nothing to stop him moving in that realm. Or even asking someone who may be of apostolic stature. Let them find life. But you single girls. You can't go to your own dad and tell him. Well, here then is where you have to come. Share. Be very careful. You're to treat, so Paul says to Timothy, your elders. You're to treat the younger sisters as sisters. You're to talk to them as your sisters. If you do. With all propriety. You're to talk to them. Honorably. Wisely. Minister to them. Avoid, if you're much of an age, ministering to one another in private. Have someone with you. I know that I shouldn't say that. I'm always doing private ministry. But I'm sort of a dad, you know. It moves rather differently. Let the Lord lead us on. In your wisdom. And love. And holiness. And sweetness. In this realm. Is that ok? Always honor your head. Always. You've got the honor of a musician. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Move in that realm. You mustn't dishonor anyone. But look to them. And build up what God wants us to build up. That's what God wants us to build up. That's the challenge.