Women in Ministry

[irishcowboy]

who is forcing who?????

men forcing women to be quiet wehn the Lord has given the woman a word to pass on to all?

men saying that they will not preach or teach but will not allow some one else to either?

I have heard people say that God has not called them to preach, or to minister, or do anything else in the church..........

i believe the actual truth is that they are not listening for God to call them they do not want to hear God call them...... I believe they are afraid of being chastised if God calls on them.....

why do we have so many men that have been through Bible College, and Seminary that are just warming the pews? they are not preaching? why?

for one, i would have to say, that there is not much money in it, not as much as people might think...... unless you have a large congregation you will not make much at first. that is where part of the problem is, everyone wants to start out at the top......

I just love the arm chair quarterbacks, did you know they can coach the team better from their lazy boy chair with their soda belly hanging over their belts with one hand in a bag of chips and the other wrapped around a can or bottle ( of soda ).....

the same is true with the church, we have hundreds of arm chair preachers, those that can tell others how to do things, but when it comes right down to it, they dont know their ear from their eye.

stop and think and really look at what you are doing with your life, are you ignoring God? or are you listening for God... if you are listening and earnestly seeking Him, He will ackowledge you and answer you, and give you the direction He wants for your life.... becareful if you are saying God has not called you to service.... becareful about saying that God can not use a certain person for a certain job....... God is the God of the Impossible........ and can use anyone for anything.....

think about the sameritain woman at the well, she lead an entire village to Jesus...

mike

[Ovedya]

Well, this is just my 2 farthings on the matter of seminaries and the ministry.

It bothers me that there is a general notion among Christians that everyone who comes out of a seminary should begin a ministry, or should somehow be placed in a position where they should be respected or revered as a "reverend" or a "pastor" etc.

From the moment you are regenerated by the Lord's life you are qualified to be a minister of the Lord. Certainly there are some among us who have been in the Word longer, and who know the church histories, etc., but does that academic knowledge somehoaw make them more qualified to preach the gospel to the lost world? I do not believe so at all. Who's ministry is more important, a common fisherman or the chiefest among religiou scholars? The answer is that they are both equally important. Peter was a common fisherman, and Paul the chiefest among religious scholars. Yet both ministries worked together under the Lord to produce fruit for Him.

The same should be true today. Do not be overly critical of the ones who have received approval from man because of a degree in religious studies. In fact, don't be critical of anyone until you look to yourself! Then encourage others to go out and sow for the Lord. The Lord's ministry, His move on the earth is propagated by us - by YOU and by ME. So don't wait until someone comes out of a great religious institute to do it for you, or wait until the Lord brings someone to fill the lack. The problem in the church relates to us all, not just to some perceieved failure among men, women, pastors, clergy, whatever. Do you realize that if every Christian on the earth produced one newborn babe a year that the gospel will have reached the ears of every person on the planet within a matter of only a decade or so? Now ask yourself: Had we all had the Lord's view of the gospel 20 or 30 years ago, would this not have already happened?

[Can Do (Phil 4:13)]

Why not just accept that both men and women are called to ministry, just in differing roles.

Women are called to be mothers.

Men are called to be fathers.

Any other ministry is an extension of those pre ordained roles.

Love

YSIC

Faithie

[Guest Jacee]

Oveyda

If you read the story Esau, yes, you will see that it was he who despised his birthright. But, it also says his name was changed to Edom. Edom translates to Adam. I asked the Lord what the sin of Adam was and He directed me to this passage. Names in the bible indicate character.

You said:

The larger issue in the church today is Satan

Edited March 5, 2005 by Jacee

[Ovedya]

If you read the story Esau, yes, you will see that it was he who despised his birthright. But, it also says his name was changed to Edom. Edom translates to Adam. I asked the Lord what the sin of Adam was and He directed me to this passage. Names in the bible indicate character.

Okay, I'll go along with that. It makes perfect sense, since Adam's birthright was "the land" so to speak. When talking about one's birthright in the Biblical sense, we are referring to one's inheritance of land and property. Adam's "inheritance" from God would have been the authority that He vested in him over all the earth and the animals, etc. Therefore, it could be said that Adam despised his inheritance - in other words, didn't consider it a matter of importance - through his rebellion. But ultimately when you examine Genesis in light of their actions, actually both Adam and Eve were guilty of the same sin. Eve rebelled against God's divine order and authority by disobedience to her husband, and Adam rebelled against God by listening to his wife rather than God's commandment.

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Actually, this verse does not negate my statement that the family is the core unit of the church. But instead of "church" I should have written "church life" which is our living in the church not as the church. As the church, the Body of Christ, the members are all corporately the container of the essential element, which is Christ. All the member corporately form the structure of the Body, and Christ is the content, or the life flow in the Body.

The verses you gave however really do not apply to my point, since clearly the Lord's goal was not to abolish the family or to nullify the family unit. The Lord's focus in these verses was the love of father and mother being stronger than the love of Himself. The Lord gave an ever stronger word concerning this, in fact, which is recorded in Luke 14:26: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul-life, he cannot be My disciple." The focus of the Lord's word in Matthew 10:34-39 was the way to take up one's cross to follow Him (v. 38). The way to take up one's cross to follow the Lord is to crucify your soul-life (v.39), and that includes placing upon the cross your love of self, family, money, lifestyle, flesh etc., etc. If you are not willing to do these things, then you are not worthy of following the Lord.

Paul's letters were to the churches in general. But notice that in many of these Paul addresses issues related to the families. In Colossians 3 and Ephesians 6 Paul deals with the family, and he even relates these relationships to the service of the Lord (vv. 23-25). Also, in Ephesians 5:22-33 Paul compares the relationships of husbands and wives to Christ and the church. If you examine the Scriptures as a whole you will see that the Bible begins with a marriage and ends with a marriage - and all places in between are many references to families. The first family saved from God's judgment was Noah's, Abraham being referred to the "father of faith," Jacob being called Israel, and God's people being called "the children of Israel," God's people being called, numbered, and commissioned by God according to their families, and all the points I brought up in my previous post concerning being God's household, his family.

God's goal is to God's bring His people in a wonderful divine relationship to the point of making them his corporate "shulamite" (Song of Songs - the shulamite is the female counterpart of Solomon. The word study on this is actually pretty fascinating), that He could eventually marry us. Therefore, in the church we all corporately compose the Body of Christ, which is the Bride of Christ, and wife of Christ in eternity. So the family unit does, and should, compose an integral part of the practical living of the church.

[Guest Jacee]

Oveyda

I see the birthright as being something much different. Adam was the first son of God. It was that right that he viewed as something less than his desire to be as God. The same with Esau for it was "flesh" that he lusted for.

Adam was in union with the serpent with that bite, whatever it was. Eve was deceived; Adam made a conscious choice. He was right there with Eve when she took her bite.

And the family unit as we understand it is only seen as you described in the church arena, in free countries. Is more as it is described in the word in places like Iraq.

But, those things are off topic. My point has always been in this topic, that in the spirit, there is neither male or female. One who is prophesying is moving "in the spirit". Same with tongues and interpretation.

I do agree with the above poster though about mothers and fathers. It is usually the mother who has the care of the children, so the fathers are more concerned with custodial matters. A man is more free to be the pastor, evangelist, apostle, etc.

It comes right down to the matter of the call. Are we called to the position, or are we just filling space????