28 October 2007
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Ord Military Chapel
Seaside CA
BIG IDEA: The Gift of the Holy Spirit was poured upon believers without differentiation of age, gender, or being rich or poor.
REFERENCES: Isaiah 55:8 (KJV) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD; James 3:8 (NIV) – Christ discourse with Nicodemus who came by night (KJV) The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit; Numbers 11:16-30 KJV (… But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp…); Galatians 3:28 NIV (There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus); Joel 2:28-29 (KJV) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit; Acts 2:17-21 (Peter on the Day of Pentecost); 1 Timothy 2:10-15 (NIV) - but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women[a] will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety; 1 Corinthians 11: 3-16 NIV - (…the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head …); Romans 16:7 (YLT) salute Andronicus and Junias, my kindred, and my fellow-captives, who are of note among the apostles, who also have been in Christ before me; 1 Samuel 16:7 (KJV) But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart; 1 Corinthians 14:33-37 (KJV) For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 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. Note: Both passages (1 Cor. 11 & 1 Cor. 14) has to do with the problem of disorder and some degree of defiance in the actions of women involved. 1 Cor. 11 appears to suggest that both men and women were free to pray or prophesy in the open meeting regardless of the fact that men would be present in the congregation. Surely Paul didn’t teach one thing and practice another. Therefore, we must read the prohibition of Chapter 14 to be applying to something other than the ministry of women allowed in Chapter 11.
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Joel 2:28-29 & Acts 2:17-21
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Joel 2:28-29; & Acts 2:17-21
III. READ THE TEXT: Joel 2:28-29 NIV (And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days)
IV. PURPOSE: To provoke the hearers to deeper thoughts regarding their Biblical understanding of Women Preachers.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “ So, Your Preacher is a Woman?”
VI. INTRODUCTION:
It has been said that “the service of God can not be achieved without divine assistance; and God’s work cannot be accomplished without human instruments.” “So, Your Preacher is a Woman?”
Recently, I came across an internet story about (one of my childhood idols and American icon) Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Perhaps most of you are aware that Fred Rogers, was a Presbyterian Minister, and died – February 27 - in 2003 at the age of 74.
But what you might not be aware of is a story that he - shared once - about visiting different churches each Sunday (during his days as a seminarian at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) in order to hear a variety of preachers.
According to Mr. Rogers, one Sunday, he was treated to “the most poorly crafted sermon he had ever heard, but when he turned to the friend who had accompanied him, he found her in tears. It was exactly what I needed to hear, she told Mister Rodgers. That’s when Mister Rodgers realized “the space between someone doing the best he or she can and someone in need is HOLY GROUND”.
MOVE 1: Likewise, lots of Holy Ground is remembered during the Month of October. October is our nation’s “Clergy Appreciation Month”.
a. All over the United States of America and abroad - folk are expressing some form of appreciation to their pastors, ministers, and preachers, and their families respectfully.
b. As you heard earlier, Chaplain (LTC-P) Daniel Minjares remembered his “CALL” …
c. … as this is the Sunday that many military chaplains, around the globe, are also recalling their HOLY GROUND experiences.
d. We are a Nation at War!
e. Many of our chaplains are serving far, far away while preaching and sharing the Good News to our fighting men and women.
f. Therefore, on behalf of our military chaplains, and their families around the globe, please join me in providing them a huge round of applause. Thank you!
**********TAKE 5 BEATS*********
MOVE 2: “So, Your Preacher is a Woman?”.
a. Who can ever forget the story about Moses, Eldership, and Prophecy in Numbers 11:16-30.
b. For don’t you remember, the story told is that the people complained …
c. … about leaving Egypt and their misfortunes in the wilderness:
d. God (Yahweh) heard, grew angry, and sent fire among them, destroying some of them.
e. The people appealed to Moses, who interceded for them, and the destruction ceased.
*********TAKE 5 BEATS*********
MOVE 3: Consequently, this incident gave rise ….
a. … to Moses protest to God (Yahweh) that his burden of leadership was intolerable.
b. He felt that he could not bear the heavy burdens alone.
c. So, he asks for death.
d. My brothers and my sisters, … the Man of God simply wanted to avoid …. Continuously having to hear and respond to the painful whining and complaining of God’s people.
e. Moses preferred death instead of hearing the people constantly whined.
f. But, it was not to be.
g. Instead of God granting Moses heart desire, …
*******TAKE 5 BEATS*******
Move 4: God reply involved securing the help of elders to assist Moses in leadership.
a. Moses was instructed to take 70 elders who had displayed signs of being an overseer or organizer …
b. … And bring them to the “Tent of Meeting” or Trysting tent (tryst tent) – In the James Moffat Translation (a New Testament Theologian of the Bible it’s “an agreement where lovers meet”.
c. Consequently, God would take of the spirit already given to Moses, …
d. …and impart it upon the 70 elders.
e. As a result, the 70 elders would really share in the Mosaic authority ..
f. … by having the same spirit, …
g. … and Moses would retain his unique status …
h. For there is no direct pouring of the spirit onto the 70, but only through Moses.
***********TAKE 5 BEATS *********
MOVE 5: Numbers 11:25 says “And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that when the spirit rested upon them they prophesied, and did not cease.
a.. The “Hebrew” for “did not cease” means “they did so no more”.
b. Which implies that this particular incident was a one time experience of prophesying.
c. For don’t you remember, … two of the elders were not in attendance at the tent of meeting (or the tryst tent):
d. Eldad and Medad had not gone to the Tent of Meeting.
e. But, someone overheard them prophesying, in the camp, …
f. For the Bible says, .. and a certain young man ran and told Moses.
*******TAKE 5 BEATS******
MOVE 6: Afterwards, Joshua, the servant of Moses, asks Moses to forbid such an abnormality.
a. In other words, Joshua was saying that something as different as this incident was … had to stop!
b. But, Moses, responded – Are you jealous for my sake?
c. I wish ..”that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them.
d. In other words, Moses (here) is more concern for “the ways of God and the good of the whole people.
e. In this story, we have what later becomes the New Testament conviction (in John 3:8) that “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
********TAKE 5 BEATS******
MOVE 7: Now, in our text, this morning, we find evidence of God’s mercy in action.
a. For you see, … because of the Israelites disobedience,
b. … They had been discipline by God with the locusts;
c. Consequently, they had been ridiculed, talked-about, and picked on by unbelievers and those that were more fortunate than they …
d. Now, the time had come, that God had chosen …
e. … to eventually reverse their plight.
f. In other words, God decided that “Better Days Were Coming”.
*********TAKE 5 BEATS********
MOVE 8: And “after” those days had come;
a. God promises the fulfillment of Moses wish …
b. …that all of God’s people might be prophets by the influence of the Spirit (Numbers 11:29).
c. For you see, my brothers and sisters, previously, the spirit of prophecy had been limited to a chosen few, …
d. … But under this new dispensation …
e. … God’s revelation would come to both male and female; …
f. … Old and young, rich or poor.
g. Therefore, God’s Word (in Joel) points out four things to us.
********TAKE 5 BEATS*******
MOVE 9: First, the Gift of the Holy Spirit would enable believers to discern and to declare the will of God through the gift of prophecy.
a. Second, the Gift of the Holy Spirit would be bestowed upon believers without differentiation of age, sex, or class.
b. Third, the Holy Spirit belongs to those of us that are living in this age at this time.
c. Fourth, salvation comes through calling upon the name of the Lord as is indicated in the story of Nicodemus.
d. For don’t you remember, Nicodemus.. Called upon the Lord at night.
*******TAKE 5 BEATS******
CELEBRATION: Likewise, when we come call upon the Lord …
It doesn’t matter to Him if we’re an Only Child or one of many children.
It doesn’t matter to Him … if we’re old or young;
It doesn’t matter to Him … if we’re male or female; rich, poor or somewhere in the middle class.
God loves us and He gladly receives us … just as we are.
Likewise, my brothers and sisters, It doesn’t matter to God…
… if your preacher is male or female.
For just as Joshua learned, many of us have to also learn that God doesn’t always work the way we think He does.
For God’s Word says (in Isaiah 55:8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Galatians 3:28 NIV (There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus);
