Today I am going to do something a bit different. I am going to include for you a message that my husband preached impromptu at our church last year on a Saturday when our church family got together for the day to clean and repair our church. A new sound system was installed that day, and the men asked my husband to speak a few minutes to test it out. So, my husband proceeded to preach an entire message to the women as there were quite a few present at that time. He did not know it, but it was recorded. I transcribed what he said below because the points are good and really ministered to the ladies... I hope you enjoy it, for you are about to read what my favorite preacher preached on the subject of the Titus 2 woman. :-) Are you ready? Open your Bible to Titus chapter 2 and in preparation read verses 3-5, and then quietly listen in as the tape has already begun to roll....
"....the Morning Star has prevailed to give us eternal life. And God commanded not one word, not one sound in Heaven for thirty minutes. You know what that was in Heaven? That was a sober moment. If they weren't sober enough, during those thirty minutes I guarantee you, there was extreme sobriety then! All reverence, all attention was given to the Lamb. And that is what we need in our lives. Ladies, you need at LEAST thirty minutes a day where you can reflect on the Lamb, where you can think about what the Lamb is in your life. And it takes that - it can't be done over the dishes, and it can't be done over the e-mails, and it can't be done over the homeschooling and the laundry, and I know there are a MILLION things for you to do... But all of us need at least thirty minutes a day where we can just sit down and reflect on the Lamb and the sacrifice that was paid for you. You see, for you to be sober and to teach OF good things, you are going to need to meditate ON good things. As a man thinketh so is he. And that's the truth! And in order for your life to be godly and HOLY, - wasn't that the first requirement - "they be women that becometh holiness.." For your life to be HOLY, you must think on HOLY things. Isn't that true? Your heart will determine your thought life. And that time - take that time in the morning. My wife, I tell ya, I can't beat her out of bed! She's up - I can't even tell you what time she gets up! Every time I wake up, she's already up! She's never in that bed when I wake up. NEVER! And you know why? That gives her the time to spend a few moments alone with God. Ladies, you need that time ALONE! And I'm telling you, that time really needs to be alone and apart from your computer too. I know that you like to read your e-mails and you like to read your Rise and Shine, but listen to me now - does not that computer bring other thoughts into your mind?? E-mailing with Betty Sue, "I need to instant message Bobby Sue"...whatever her name is. And it has OTHER things associated with it - maybe you have recipes on there, maybe you have the church directory on there, maybe you have things you shouldn't have on there! But it attaches other thoughts to it. You need a time in your life - thirty minutes a day, thirty minutes a day - where you can just totally get ALONE with God. No children, no husband, no music, no wash, no NOTHING, no T.V. Find yourself a place...because you need to be a teacher of 'good' things! And if you don't THINK on good things, you won't be able to LIVE good things, and if you don't LIVE good things, you won't be able to TEACH good things. You need that time alone with God, it is imperative!
Let's look at the next point.
"...teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands..." Do you notice how it says to love their husbands AFTER it says to be sober? I do not believe that you can love your husband unless you ARE sober. I do not believe that constantly being a fool in the presence of your husband shows him any love at all. You NEED to be sober. I believe my wife is a SOBER woman. Every morning that I get up, she's already in her Bible. She's already had time with the Lord, she's already had my coffee ground... my coffee is made... I get up, I pour my cup, I go into the homeschool room and there she is - spending time with God, and preparing Rise and Shine for the ladies. I don't know how many ladies are touched at this time by Rise and Shine - I know that it goes all over the country, it goes all over the world - and there are alot of women that she gets responses back from that are touched by Rise and Shine. But do you know why Pam is ABLE to do Rise and Shine? Because she spends time with God! She- spends- time- with- God... Do you think that God created her and put all these things into her head so that she is able to dig so deep down into scripture and to be able to reveal such truths out of the scriptures? No - she spends time with God! If you ever want to have a ministry with your children, if you ever want to have a ministry ministering TO your husband, if you ever want to have a ministry teaching the OTHER women - you're going to have to spend time with God. And that is why it says that we need to be sober BEFORE we can love our husbands....
And look at the next point: it says "to love their children.." I'm gonna tell you this: you can't love your children until you first love your husband! Because any woman that says 'I love my children but I hate my husband' - she's a liar! Because if you truly loved your children, you'd love their daddy... And that's why it says you need to LOVE your husband BEFORE you love your children. Because God even placed it in His Book in priority, did He not? That the HUSBAND takes the preeminence over the children, and you ladies better understand that! It's EASY for you to gravitate towards the children - it may not be so easy for you to gravitate to your husband. Men are different, men are strange, and men are weird! Men don't think like you, do they?? And so does it not take effort for you to love your husband?? Does it not take effort for you to understand these creatures that don't ever need to talk and find it satisfying to lay around on the couch and watch a western? I mean, it takes EFFORT to figure these creatures out.... But if you don't love the children's daddy, you can't adequately love the children. I hope that you spend time with your children. But more so, I hope you spend time with their father! Any woman that spends time with their children and neglects the daddy, is a woman that is out of balance! You're out of balance! You see there, it says not to be given to much wine... Spending ALL your time with your kids and spending NO time with their daddy is a false balance. So, DO YOU monitor how much time you spend with your children, compared to how much time you spend with their daddy?
"...to love their children..." What does it mean to love your child? Love is encompassed in many different forms, is it not? Sometimes it's in giving things. That's how we like to love people - we like to give them things. We like to give gifts. That's the way we show love, we give gifts - we give love. But there are other forms of love, sometimes it's in the form of discipline. Sometimes love comes in the form of NOT giving. You see, my son, the other day, we went and played softball with the teenagers and all the rest, and he saw this knife on me. And I told him it was only $4.95. I said, "It's a nice little pocket knife isn't it Paul?" And after we had finished playing softball, and after we had finished having ice cream, on the way home he said, "Dad, can we stop by the gas station, I want to buy one of those little pocket knives." And I said, "No, son, you've received ENOUGH today." And sometimes when we give our children TOO much, that's not love! Because a false balance is an abomination to God. We need to teach our children to be thankful for what they have. And when we are CONSTANTLY, constantly SHOWERING them with gift upon gift upon gift upon gift, we can spoil the child. As much as we love them and we want to give them what they want, God sometimes instructs us to withhold those blessings until which time they are earned, amen? So, to love your child means also to discipline your child. What does the Bible say - Proverbs 13:24, "He that spareth the rod, hateth his son..." Remember that verse - never forget that verse! Because if you are not willing to invoke discipline, don't you DARE say you love your child! Understand that! But on the same hand, again going back to balance.... If we are constantly wearing them out, and never showing them any love, that is also a false balance. Remember this: Rules without a relationship breeds rebellion. Make sure you spend time with your children. And they will receive your chastening so much the more...
Alright... the Bible says next to be discreet. What does it mean to be discreet? What does it mean to have discretion? To have discretion means to be able to make a decision as to what is right and what is wrong. The Bible says to prove all things, hold fast that which is good. You need to have discretion, to be discreet, to be wise; harmless as doves but wise as serpents. So you need to be discreet... You need to understand that to enter into a particular situation COULD cause you a reproach - even though you are blameless. It's the appearance of evil... Entering into a situation that you know could bring down your name or the name of your husband or the name of your children. Being discreet - wisdom. You know, I believe that wisdom and discretion are things that must be EXERCISED. You want to get stronger, you want to get more fit - you work out. Well, discretion is one of those things, and you need to learn HOW to be discreet and to use that wisdom. The Bible says that you should try the spirits to see whether they are of God....
What does it mean now to be chaste? Pure, pure.... chastity. And ladies you need to be PURE! Now, most times when a pastor preaches about "You girls better be pure!", first thing you think about is in a sexual connotation. But, why do you not apply it also to your thought life?! You need to have a pure thought life! Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure...and all the way on down the line. Those are the things you should be thinking about. Because you know what? Again, as I already said, if you do not have a pure thought life, you'll never have a pure active life- living life. So the thoughts have to be pure first. Ladies you need to guard yourselves, guard your girls, guard your boys, and keep them chaste and pure!
The Bible says you are to also teach these women to be keepers at home. I wonder how many of you are truly thankful to be keepers at home?? I know Tammy would be the first one to tell me that after she came home she struggled, because the family was struggling financially. "And I KNOW", she says, "I'm capable of going out there and earning GOOD money. And I can help my husband, and I'll be able to come in and help make ends meet." Trish, Connie, Kinny - same thing. All said that, "IF I GET INVOLVED...and compromise our convictions just for a SHORT amount of time.... then we can make everything better.... and then I'll come back home." You see, that's no different from this scenario I gave you a couple weeks ago, that in order for THIS pastor to have a better thought life, God could just remove all sexual thoughts from my mind forever - "Just take them away God!"....and then I'll never have to deal with them again. And what does God lose out on? Glory... You see, for you to take matters into your own hands, to go back out into the work place, and say I'm just going to do this for awhile - for three months, for four months, for five months - I'm going to turn my children over to this person to watch them - for three months, for four months, for five months - JUST UNTIL we get these bills paid off.... It's compromising your convictions, and it ROBS God from the opportunity to get glory in your life! The question is, is it worth it?? You know, it's almost like we sit back and we say to God, God comes down to us and says, "Now look it, I'm going to perform some miracles in your life...do you want a big one or do you want a little one?" Know what we tell Him? We'll take a little one... Now you wouldn't say that if I asked you right now, right? You'd say, "I want a big one!" But the way we ACT by taking matters into our own hands, and taking them out of God's hands - what we're really telling Him is we just want a little miracle. "I'll tell you what God, I'll split the miracle with you - you do half and I'll do half. I just want to see a little..." But yet if we were to sit here today and say, "Do you want God to perform a big miracle in your life or a little miracle?" you'd say, "I want a BIG one!!" But we don't act like we want a big one! We act like we want little ones! Because we take matters into our own hands..... And that's where we have to trust God. You see, and again it's that fear of God.... If you live by convenience, rather than by conviction, do you truly fear God?? To be discreet....to be chaste.....to be keepers at home... That's a blessing!"
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I will send you the second part of the message tomorrow, as it continues on and takes time for me to listen to and type out. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have and the ladies that were present that day did.
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000
Pamela A. Iannello
Continue to "Titus 2 Woman", Part 2
