► God's Affirmation Towards Women || Lorisa Miller

So over the last two days, 750 women have been gathering in this room. And you, how many of you went, Regent Hanna? Okay, so the rest of you cannot fathom what was going on in this room about 15 hours ago. It was Holy. Holy chaos. It was the most beautifully unhinged thing happening in here. And here is what I know is that God loves women. And I actually want to speak to you about that today. And so here's what I'm asking. This is not my message. I really believe this is the Lord's message. We're going to go through straight Scripture. I'm not a feminist. I'm not going to give you raw, raw women. But I just hope to show you how the Lord sees women and how he treated them when he was here in the flesh. And so I'm asking that you would invite the Holy Spirit to renew your mind. If you're a man in here, I'm hoping that the Lord will either affirm how you've already seen us as women. Or that he might invite you to renew your mind to think like he thinks. So much of how we see each other has been inherited, has been passed down. And I just believe the Lord wants to renew minds today. And so I'm going to ask you that you would pray with me. What Jesus did in Luke chapter 24, it says he was resurrected. And he's in the upper room with his disciples. He's just revealed himself to them with his, he shows them the scars in his hand and his feet and his side. And he begins to open the scriptures to explain to them how all of this has been revealed the whole time. But there's this phrase in there that is so precious to me. It says specifically, it says, and he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. What does that mean? That means you can have a close mind. And hear the scriptures and not be transformed. I experienced this much of my life. And so what is required is not just the reading of scripture, not just the teaching of scripture, but actually the X factor is the Lord himself opening up minds to understand the scriptures. And specifically that all of the scriptures is Moses, the Lord, the prophets, they all reveal Jesus, who is the Godman, who is God with flesh on. And so I'm asking that that is what would happen today. And so I'm just, would you put one hand on your head, one hand on your heart. Lord, we confess that we need you. And we want to see you rightly. Oh, we want to be transformed by your word and by your presence. And God, I stand here, Lord, honored to hold a microphone or to tell people about you. And I stand here in the fear of the Lord, asking for your help and your grace to communicate what you would have me communicate. Thank you for this privilege, Lord Jesus. Find me trustworthy today, I pray. Amen. So when I read the Old Testament as a woman, I struggle. Anyone? I'm like, "Man, if Michael had another wife, are you even kidding me? And if she happened to be my sister, oh no, I mean the concubines, I mean the whole thing, let's be honest." That's tough. In fact, he pointed out to me yesterday, he was pointing out to me that the price of a female slave was quite a bit cheaper than a male slave. And I was like, "It's not funny at all." And I remember even as a kid growing up in church that I would, you know, you're reading that and you're like, "Oh, this is. And here's what I've come to know, is the more that I come to know Jesus, the more I am in love with him, and the more I'm in awe of how he is revealing exactly who God is. And I just want to share a few scriptures to prove that to you. John 1-18, I love John 1-18, no one has ever seen God. The one and only son, who is himself God and is at the Father's side, he has revealed him. In other words, whatever I might interpret God to be like, if it's in conflict with how Jesus revealed him, then I have to scrap my understanding and accept what Jesus says. Hebrews 1-3, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and will get this, the exact." Do we have this? "The exact expression of His nature." "Exact." Say, "Exact." In other words, the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth, all mighty God, the ancient of days, the Alpha and Omega, he entrusted this person to accurately and fully reveal him himself. When Jesus was on the mount of transfiguration, he goes up, he takes some of his disciples with him and Moses and Elijah appear and Jesus is glowing, his clothes are transfigured, and Peter's light, let's make tens, let's stare. No one really knows what to do, but all the sudden a voice comes booming from heaven and it's the Father. He says, "This is my beloved son and then he says something, listen to him." And so my hope today is that as we look at these narratives that we could listen to the beloved son and how he sees us. Amen? I want to tell you that having a man honor you the way that Jesus honors you or see you that way is transformative. And I want to honor my husband. I did this when he wasn't here and I cried and now he's here because I have his love, not just his love, but the honor that he has had for me has transformed me, not because it's Michael's, but he has been a vessel for the love of Jesus to me. And it has transformed who I am over time. And so I'm praying that would be the case with dads all over this room and with husbands all over this room, future husbands all over this room. By the way, just being a husband is awesome. More of you should try that. And all the ladies said, amen. Okay, so we're going to look at, we're going to look at, I could talk long, long time, long time, okay, my spirit is soaring, but my body and brain are a little tired, so grace. I want to show you four things that Jesus specifically affirmed in women. I could share a lot more, but I'm going to show you four today. So the first is him affirming the father's desire for women as worshipers turned to John chapter four. I love John chapter four. This is such a revolutionary account. I don't like the word story. It makes it sound like it's not true. It was a thing that happened. So in John chapter four, I want you to see the beginning. We'll start in verse four. John chapter four. Verse four. for. He, meaning Jesus, needed to go through Samaria. I don't want you to fly by this phrase. He needed to go through Samaria because Jesus told his disciples, he said, "The sun can do nothing of himself." He only does, he's talking about himself, "I only do what I see my Father doing." All right? So that's another proof that whatever we see in the life of Jesus, we can attribute to the person of God, fully, without question. He owned everything he did, he did because he saw his Father doing it. So somehow, I don't know how this all worked out, like I don't know, you know, how Jesus God is downloads, but somehow Jesus sees the Father stopping at a well in Samaria. And so Jesus stops at this well in Samaria. And we know that it's, we notice the middle of the day, and a woman comes, the disciples go into town to get food, and a woman shows up. And first of all, he's stopping in Samaria, which for a Jew was taboos, like these people don't mix. These were considered mixed rates. There was a lot of discord between Jews and Samaritans. And so first flag, hmm, why did he need to go through Samaria? So he's stopping at this well, the disciples go into town. So Jesus is alone, a Jewish man alone, the middle of the day at a well, and a woman comes up to get water. That's another, another flag is like, "Oh, it's midday, and she's by herself." That wasn't common. Women went to wells to get water together. It was not safe for a woman to go to a well by herself. You can surmise why. So this woman is by herself going to a well, and so we know, hush, maybe she's an outcast. Maybe there's a reason why she's by herself going to a well, and it's the heat of the day. So we've got a couple of things that's like, hmm, setting up this narrative. And they begin, he begins to ask her for a drink of water, which ladies, we could talk about this, but you know you can refresh Jesus. That's another, so Jesus asks this woman for a drink of water, and they begin this whole conversation, and this conversation is very odd. It takes so many twists and turns. He's like, "Can I have a drink of water?" And she's like, "I can't believe you're asking me for a drink of water." And she's got a little sass tour, okay? You can hear it like in her tone. And then he says, he says, "Well, if you knew who was asking you, you would ask me for water, and I would have given you living water." And when whoever drinks that water, it bubbles up on a well-to-eternal life on their insides. Mind you, Jesus is having his first theological conversation on the earth about the infilling of the Holy Spirit with a rejected, isolated woman who is known as a sinner. Why? Because he came for the sick. He didn't come for the righteous and the religious. He came for the ones who needed him. And so it's actually like the longest recorded theological conversation of all the people he could have had with, he picked her. And so then there's this conversation about this living water that would bubble up, and then the conversation takes another strange turn, and he says, she says, "I want that water," and he says, "Go tell your husband." And he knows what he's doing, right? Because he knows. And so it comes out. I have no husband. He says, "You're right. You've had five, and now you're actually living with a guy that's not your husband." And so I want you to see, then I tell you this conversation is crazy, because then it takes another twist, and she turns it back to theology because I think she's a little uncomfortable. I think she's like, "Oh, I don't want to talk about my five husbands in the man with right now. Let's go back to theology." We do that. We do that. Okay, so I want you to see the verse 21. I could give 10 sermons on this time, but we'll just focus it on this verse 21. He's already uncovered like who she is, and the fact that her life has been just a mess. A sad rejected mess. I mean, this poor woman. I know we might look at a woman in our day, a woman married five times and living with a guy, but this woman in that day men divorced women. And so if this woman has been married five times, she's been trying to survive. And she's been rejected over and over, and over, and over, and over again. And she's just trying to survive. And so he's uncovered this, and now look what he says to her verse 21. "Women, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father." Oh, he's inviting her in now. You worship, but you do not know. We know that what we worship for salvation is of the Jews, but the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. You know, the Bible says that the Son of man came to seek and save the lost. Why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? Why did Jesus stop at a well, knowing a certain woman was coming? Because the Father was seeking such. The Father was seeking the Father saw his girl, and he wants a worshipper, and he's like, son, go. Go to the leaders of the city, go to the churchy people, go to that one. I want her. I want her. So he's been sent on a mission, because the Father sees a woman who needs to know that her Father wants her to draw near and wants her to be unhindered by religious boxes and barriers. He wants her to have no barriers between her and the Father. You see, God, the God man, God made flesh, affirms women as those that he desires worship from. I don't know if you can see how wild God's plan is here. It's actually so backwards. It makes no sense. But then this woman, once she finally sees, actually, she's the first one that he reveals himself as the Messiah to, of all people. And she's runs into town, and she says, come meet a man that told me everything I ever did. And the thing is that all the people in town know her. And they're like, oh, really? But something about what had touched her is something touched her. And she was without shame, because we know that those who looked to him were radiant. Their faces know no shame. And there was something about this woman that they could see, like, what is this? She has no shame. Well, she met the love of the Father through the Son. She met the yearning of the Father through the Son. And actually, a whole village, it says, they come to know him, they begged him to stay. And it says, it says, look at verse 41, and many more believed because of his own word. And this is what they say now to the woman. You see, he knew who he could trust to be his evangelist. Oh, he offends me, Lord, you offend me. Verse 42, then they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. She was a gate for a whole town. And God chose her. Well, that was, I didn't mean to go into any of that. Okay. All right. So he's affirming the Father's desire for women. What kind of woman? I think he picked, I think, You have to ask yourself, when you're reading your Bible, you have to know, especially when you read the Gospels. All right? Jesus did ministry for three years. And we've got a handful of narratives about His encounters. So you've got to ask yourself when you're reading, why is this in here, Lord? Of all the things you could have put down for us to know, for thousands of years about what you're like, why was this one so important for me to know? Why? Because she was the lowest of the low. If he, if he earnestly desired her, what is he saying to you today? In the state that she was in, she wasn't a repentant woman. She was hard-hearted and sassy and trying to cover herself up. And he went for her. All right. Let's go to Luke chapter 7. And I have asked some volunteers, so Cam and Malachi, Mitchell, will you guys make your way? I don't know if you're-- are you in the-- I think you were up there. Yeah, make your way down the mezzanine. Kevin, can I borrow you again? We're going to-- we have some actors. They've not been paid. This is Cameron and Malachi. They're newlyweds. When did you guys get married? Oh, not for a reable. Where did I get newlyweds? You're newly moved here. They're new to here. So everyone say, welcome to Dallas. OK. So they're going to act this out for us. So, yeah. So Cameron is Jesus. How does he-- Lord? No, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do this. Kevin, you sit here. I'm going to start reading and you start doing what I'm reading. All right? They've not been prepped. So this is going to be fun. All right. We're in Luke 7 and we're in verse 36. Then one of the Pharisees-- that's Kevin. Say, I'm a Pharisee. You're really not. That's why I picked you. Then one of the Pharisees asked him-- if he's-- Pharisees asked him to eat with him. And he went to the Pharisees' house and sat down to eat. So they're eating. They're having dinner. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner-- Malachi has been washed as white as snow. So she's not a sinner, but for this case, she is-- so here comes a woman who everybody knows. So what could we imagine about her? I'll leave it to you. But everybody knows she's a sinner. She was known as a sinner. And when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisees' house, she brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and she stood at his feet behind him weeping. And then she began to wash his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You don't have to take your hair. And she kissed his feet. You can just pretend and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now this flask, as you've heard, it contains such expensive ointment that it was like a year's worth of wages in this flask that this woman broke open. All right, this is radical. And it's such a cringy moment. You imagine being at dinner. There's multiple people at dinner. They're eating. And she's just doing this at dinner. And so the Pharisee begins to judge her in his heart. And he says to himself, this man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is, who is touching him, for she is this sinner. And then Jesus is so brilliant. He says, Simon, I've something to say to you. Teach your say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed 500, the other 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more. And in verse 43, Simon answers and says, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And then Jesus says to him, you have rightly judged. So they're talking. She's still doing her thing here. But then Jesus, he's continuing to talk to Simon. But this is such an interesting note that Luke has here. He says, he'd turn to the woman and says to Simon. So aren't you like, turn your whole posture toward her? And the whole time, he's saying something to Simon. But he won't even look at him. He's just looking at her, affirming her. So you get to read what Jesus said to Simon. Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss. But this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not annoy my head with oil. But this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she has loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. And then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Can I get around a applause for my actors? [APPLAUSE] I didn't know, Cameron, you were going to read so beautifully. Well done. That worked out well. What do I want you to see? I want you to see that the person that religion and culture said Jesus should honor. He didn't even look at him. And he was looking at her. And he's just affirming, affirming, and she did not deserve that. But what is he affirming? He's affirming. You want to know how I feel loved. Simon, do you want to know what makes me the son of God who needs nothing? Do you know what makes him feel loved when those that have received his mercy pour themselves at his feet? He is affirming of all things a woman who is a sinner for her unhinged worship and affection. I hope that we can be of people who never judges someone's tears or their worship. But that we would always let it provoke us to love him more. An interesting thing happens right after this. He says to the woman, your faith has saved you, go in peace. Now, if you have your actual physical Bible, these are moments when your real paper Bible is really useful. Because in your phone, you'd have to hit next to the next chapter. But if you look at your Bible and you take out the number 8, which wasn't originally there, and you take out the subtitle, you'll see that there's a progression of events that happen because of what happened here. And it says, now it came to pass afterward, after what? After this woman had this wild display of love. After that, he went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the 12 were with him. And look at this verse too. And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene out of whom had come. Seven demons, Joanna the wife of Chusa, Herod, Steward, Susanna, and many others who provided for him from their substance. I just have to think that word got out. That how Jesus treated that woman made its way to the well, if you know what I mean. And other women were like, oh, that's how he treats women. Oh, that's how he treated that woman. I'm going. Like, sign me up. I'm following that man. And here's what's wild. These women-- these women, as far as I can tell, they're like, they're well to do. And it says that they follow him around from city to city, and they provided for him. What a beautiful picture. Some of them with their actual funds. How awesome. You know, Jesus didn't need their money. Hello. He's the son of God. Like, he made a coin come out of a fish's mouth. He multiplied bread. He did not need these women to bring their money to his ministry. He wasn't needing like ministry partners. But you know what? He wanted. And he humbled himself to receive ministry from them. That's crazy. That's crazy. I have become in the last few weeks fascinated with Mary Magdalene. This is the first mention of her. And Western Christianity has created a whole world around Mary Magdalene. Like, she was a woman of the night. She was a harlot. But actually, scripture isn't-- we don't know anything about her. All we know from scripture is that this woman was from Magdalene, that she had one point had seven demons. And then she followed him around everywhere. And she was honored. I don't know. We could guess what she was like before. We don't have an account of the moment that he cast seven demons out of her. But we can read other people who were demonized that Jesus encountered. And we can think, wow, maybe she was throwing herself into a fire. Maybe she was chained in tombs and beating people up. I don't know. Maybe she was really sick. Maybe she was-- I don't know what she was like. All I know is that she's like forever known as the woman who had had seven demons. Can you imagine? It's like Larry Similar, pastor at Everome, of whom had come out seven demons. I don't think she cared. Well, she was free. She was free. And she did not-- I feel like that woman would not let Jesus out of her sight from the moment she got free. You just see her. She's just like, oh, and when he goes to the cross, most of the men left, all but one, as far as I can tell. But the Bible tells us that the women were there. And the Bible tells us that Mary and another woman made sure that they knew where he got late in a tomb. Because they were going to go at least care for his body. It's crazy to me that she even tells-- when Jesus starts talking to her-- or no, no, no, no, it's angel-- she says, tell me where you've laid him and all go take him. And I'm thinking, well, you got a drag? What are you having your mind? She just doesn't care. She's been freed. And she who has been freed of much, loved much. She just was like, I'm going to go out take him home with me. I don't know what she was planning on doing with him. But she didn't care. And then of all things. Just let this blow your mind for a minute. The God-man accomplishes the one thing that he came to do. He goes to the cross, descends into hell, takes the keys of death and hateys, bursts out of the grave, and decides-- remember, he only does what he sees the Father doing-- decides out of everyone that not to his mom, not to John the Beloved, not to the religious leaders of all the people, he's like, I'm going to show myself first to Mary back to it. And then he gives her a message. Jesus says to her-- oh, I'm in-- sorry. I'm in John 20, verse 17. He's ascended. She doesn't realize it's him until she hears him say her name. He says, don't cling to me, which makes me think she just lunged. You know? Rabbi. He's like, hang on. Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say to them, now the woman out of whom had come seven demons is going to go tell the 12 who were locked up in a room afraid and ashamed. Oh, Fenceman, I love you so much. But this is just phenomenal to me, the honor that he gave her. Go tell my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father. And to my God and your God. That's actually a profound thing. It's the first time that Jesus calls the disciples his brothers. And he entrusts that message with this woman. And guess what? They didn't believe her. The Bible says-- I don't-- I think it's in Luke. It says that they thought they were idle tales. And later it says, Jesus, when he came into the room and showed himself to them, he rebuked them for their unbelief and that they didn't believe her or the two on the road to a man's. I'm wondering if the people in our lives who we knew before they got delivered from seven demons, or maybe we saw them get delivered from seven demons. And maybe we don't always fully see them rightly, or believe their testimony about Jesus because we haven't yet learned to know each other according to the new creation and not according to the flesh. I don't think Mary really cared. She was enamored. So she was at the cross. She was at the tomb. She was at the empty tomb. She got to see him resurrected first. And she was in the upper room on the day that God poured his spirit out on all flesh. I want to look at one more. It's in Luke 10. He's affirming the Father's desire for worshipers and women. He's affirming that you actually make him feel loved women. He's affirming you as a witness. Whether anyone believes you or not, that's not your problem. And then lastly, he's affirming you as a disciple, as a student. I'm in Luke 10, verse 38. Now it happened as they went that he entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. Beautiful. We should do that. Verse 39, and she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. That's terminology for discipleship. She sat at his feet. She heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached him. Oh, so cringy again. She approached him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sisters left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me." Oh, no, Martha. And Jesus answers and says to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed. And Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken from her." I-- I was in the world I was raised in. Women, I saw women cook and clean and maybe teach kids in nursery or in Sunday school. And that was it. And all those are beautiful things. For me, I don't want to stop doing those things. We as women, those are, we are nurturers. We make beautiful spaces for people to, I love to make food. One of my most favorite things is to have people sitting at my table eating. I love to eat also. But I love to have people in my home and to eat. I love babies, give me all your babies. I want to hold your babies. We should do that. That's part of who we are and we should not forsake that. But we need to understand that our primary value to the Lord is to sit at his feet. That he cares more about your attention to him than anything you could ever get done for him. And that's what I want to say. That's what I want to say. That's what I want to say.