 The joy to be here. I'm looking forward to our weekend together and we are going to I'm real thankful for the title Woman who pleases the Lord and we are going to be looking at very five important things tonight We're going to start off with a woman who pleases the Lord by her Devotion to Christ and we're going to look at that her personal devotion to Christ Tomorrow morning. Hopefully after you've had a good night's rest We're going to be looking at a woman who pleases the Lord by being pure Then thirdly, we're going to look at a woman who pleases the Lord by parenting God's way and then after lunch Which is always the hard session because you're all sleepy. That's why I ordered the turkey I think it was or chicken with the cranberry and lettuce no carbohydrates and I usually don't even eat before I teach, but if I do it's something without sugar or flour I'll be you know falling asleep up here. So Anyway, we're going to be looking at a Woman who pleases the Lord by putting to use her spiritual gifts And I would like to say to the music team if we could close in that song That we just saying take my life and let it be after that session that would be really great And then lastly we're going to be looking at a woman who pleases the Lord By proclaiming the gospel which I know is a favorite topic of all cornerstone women And I have certainly been spurred on in my own personal life by watching your zeal for evangelism And so that's kind of where we're going and we don't need to go into all the details because you have the details and outline There before you but the seeding for our first session We are going to look at a very important passage when we think about a woman who pleases the Lord by her personal devotion to Christ and we're going to look at Ephesians 515 through 20 and so if you would turn with me there Ephesians 5 15 to 20 and before we turn to this precious portion of God's word I do want to pray to him because he is the one that will enable me to teach And he is the one that will enable you to listen. And so let's pray and ask for his help Oh father, we come to you this evening and we are so grateful and so Overjoyed with the thought that you are our God that you are our savior That you have reached down and plucked us out of darkness and transferred us into the son of Light into the kingdom that you love the kingdom that we just sang about Father none of us in this room are worthy of that none of us in the room of in this in this room deserve salvation So great a salvation And yet father you saved us not so that we would continue in our Sinful ways our foolish ways, but you saved us for many reasons so that we would bring forth fruit So that we would be devoted to you completely a hundred percent Having no idols having nothing to hold back everything that we have is yours Lord And so I pray as we start this conference and the title Lord is so appropriate a woman who pleases the Lord Because father we live in an age where we want to please only ourself We don't want to please you we don't even want to please our husbands and our children our friends where It's all about us and Lord. I would pray oh God that you would help us To go away tomorrow afternoon with the desire to please you like no other time in our life and Lord Not that it would just be an emotional charge But it would be a permanent desire to please you no matter what the cost even if it costs us our life Lord That we would please you and so father help us tonight. We need your grace Keep me from air keep me from saying anything that would lead anyone astray Keep these women attentive. I pray that after long days, maybe at work Schooling or whatever they've been doing Lord. I pray that you would give them the energy To listen and to apply what they hear And I ask this in Christ's name Well as Sherry just said I am a pastor's daughter And so I grew up in a minister's home and growing up in a minister's home gave me lots of opportunities to learn children's songs and One of the songs that I learned as a Baptist minister's daughter is probably one that many of you also know and don't worry I'm not gonna sing the whole thing for you. I'm not a singer, but it's very appropriate for our first lesson this evening One of the songs that I remember seeing as a little child as I studied this text for tonight This song kept going through my mind and the lyrics go something like this The wise man built his house upon the rock the wise man built his house upon the rock The wise man built his house upon the rock and the rains came tumbling down The rains came down and the floods came up the rains came down and the floods came up The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rocks to firm and then we have you know the foolish man The foolish man built his house on the Sand foolish man built his house on the sand Foolish man built his house on the sand and the rains came tumbling down rains came up down and the floods came came up, friends came down, floods came up, friends came down, and floods came up, and what happened to the rock? The house on the rock went, what, splash! So the whole idea is, so build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ. Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it goes, the prayers go up as the blessings come down, prayers go up as the blessings come down, prayers go up as the blessings come down. So build your house on the Lord. And as I thought about that song, I know you're real excited that I'm just saying it for you, but it really has a lot to do with what we're going to look at tonight in our first session, in a woman who pleases the Lord, because it's really what Paul is trying to say in Ephesians 5, 15 to 20, because a woman who desires to please the Lord in her personal devotion to Christ will be a woman who is a wise woman, who builds her house on the rock. She is not a foolish woman that builds her house upon the sand. So what is the difference between a wise woman and a foolish woman? Ladies in the text tonight, Paul's going to give us five contrasts between a wise woman and a foolish woman. And so I want you to look at the text with me this evening. Paul says this, see that you walk circumspectly and not as fools redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now ladies, as I mentioned, we're going to see five contrasts between the wise woman and the foolish woman. Paul begins by saying, see that you walk circumspectly. He's saying, listen up guys, pay careful attention to how you walk. Now ladies, I have a question for you tonight. How many of you went through your day to day and paid careful attention to how you were walking? And I don't mean going outside and walking, Debbie and I walked to Target today from our hotel room and it was a walk, let me tell you. We both put our GPS on, like that's a long walk. And by the time we got back, I was sweating. And I'm not talking about, did you pay careful attention to walking outside in the heat in Florida? I'm talking about, did you pay attention to your spiritual walk today? Did your life today reflect someone who was walking wisely? Did you make foolish decisions with your time today? Did you make wise decisions with your time? What about your thoughts? What did you think about today? Did you show yourself to be a wise woman by the things that you were thinking today or a foolish woman? Oh, I wish we would pay careful attention to how we walk. Paul says, see that you walk circumspectly, pay careful attention to this. Now what does that mean to walk circumspectly? If we're to go through our days walking circumspectly, what does that mean? Well, it means we go through our days walking accurately, walking carefully, being focused spiritually. Ladies, this would include asking questions like, what am I doing right now with my time? What am I watching on television? What sites am I searching on the internet? What am I listening to? What words am I using with my husband? My girlfriend, my children, my coworkers, what am I thinking? Paul goes on to say, see that you walk circumspectly not as a fool, but as wise. Now, since we're going to be contrasting a foolish woman and a wise woman, and we're going to see that a woman who is wise is one who pleases the Lord by her personal devotion to Christ, then let's define what foolish she is and what wise is, okay? What is a fool? A fool is one who acts unwisely. They're deficient in judgment or understanding. What is a wise person? A wise person is characterized by wisdom, keen discernment, showing, sound, judgment. That's a wise woman. Ladies, we are not to conduct ourselves like people of the world who are fools. We have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world, therefore we should conduct ourselves as a daughter of the King, and we should conduct ourselves in wisdom, and we should walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Do you know foolish is what you were before Christ? Paul says in Titus 3.5, we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and envy, hateful and hating one another, but after the kindness of love of God our Savior and toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Ladies, that's what we were before Christ. We were foolish. We hated each other. We were full of lusts and all that gross stuff, but not any longer. So how does a fool walk? How does a wise woman walk? Now let's look at the five contrasts. Look at verse 16. We're going to see the first one. She redeems the time because the days are evil. A wise woman will redeem the time. Now what does it mean to redeem the time? It means to buy up the time, to rescue the time, recover the time, use your time for what's important. Don't waste time. That's what fools do. Fools waste time. Wise women who want to please the Lord don't waste time. Now when we think about that you might think, okay, I shouldn't waste my minutes or my hours or my days, and that's not really the Greek word here. When Paul says that we're to redeem the time, he's not talking about minutes or hours or days even though that's very important, but he's talking about periods of time or seasons of time. He's really saying this, don't waste your life. Don't waste your life. A foolish woman wastes her life. In fact, I don't understand women who say they're bored. I'm like, are you serious? I mean, you know, I've got all these books in my head. I still want to write and I've, I mean, all these things I still want to, how can a woman be bored? I mean, do you know how many people there are in the world today that need a helping hand that would love to have a friend? Do you know how many people are still in the world that are lost without Christ that need the gospel share to them? How can a woman be bored? I don't understand it. And besides that, you know, we need to be spending more time in the Word. We need to spend more time meditating on the Word. We need to spend more time memorizing the Word. How can a woman be bored? I don't know. In fact, I think it's interesting. Sometimes I'll ask people, you know, in discipleship or something like that, say, what'd you do today? Or what are you going to do after we get done discipling? And sometimes they tell me what they did already or what they're going to do. And I'm like, are you serious? Are you serious? I mean, that's all you did today. Ladies, it's only what's done for Christ that will last. That's it. The rest of it's going to burn up. It's only what's done for Christ. In fact, in thinking about this verse, redeeming the time because the days are even, you know, it makes me think about retirement. My husband always says, Susan, Christians should never retire. I mean, think about it. My dad is 95 years of age. You just celebrated his 95th birthday. And, you know, he still wants to serve the Lord. He's always telling me every time I go to see him, Susan, you know, I got to do this and I just want to be helpful. And I just want to do this. And I told this person about the Lord at 95. He's not retired. My friend, our life is but a vapor. And it is the wise woman that sees her life as fleeting. And she makes every opportunity for the Lord. She redeems her time. I was reading John Piper's books several years ago called Waste Your Life. And I remember one of the things he talks about. He said, no, it's not waste your life. Don't waste your life. He didn't write that book. OK, don't waste your life. Anyway, he was talking about a couple who retired. You probably saw it on the cover, a couple who retired. And they decided to go maybe Florida. I don't know, somewhere where there was a beach. And so they talks about the time they get to heaven and they say, look, look, Jesus, look at the seashells we collected for you. Yeah, I'm sure he was really impressed about that. What a waste of a life. Isn't it interesting the psalmist says, teach me to number my days so that I can gain a heart of wisdom? Ladies a wise woman doesn't waste her time. She redeems her time. On the other hand, fools are the ones that waste their time. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 4 or 5, the fool folds his hand and consumes his own flesh. So lady, the first contrast we see then is a wise woman redeems the time. She makes wise choices with her time, while the foolish woman wastes time by making foolish choices with her time. If you want to be a woman who is personally devoted to the Lord, if you want to show your devotion to Christ, then you will be a woman who redeems her time. Doesn't waste her time. Well, let's continue on with the second contrast of the foolish woman and the wise woman. Look at verse 17. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ladies, therefore, because of the fact that we are to redeem our time because the days are evil and ladies, they are evil and getting more and more evil, aren't they? I'm to the point now, I don't like to look at the news anymore or read the newspaper or anything. It's just, it's kind of depressing. It's overwhelming. In fact, the other day I told my husband, I said, I hope North Korea bombs us. And he looked at me and he goes, Susan, you have lost your mind. And I said, no, I'm serious, honey. I'm ready to go to heaven. I'm done. I'm done. The days are evil. The days are evil. Therefore, because of the fact Paul says, we are to redeem the time, the days are evil, then we should be wise in understanding what the will of the Lord is. Ladies, the wise woman understands what the will of the Lord is because the wise woman is walking in the spirit, which we'll see in just a minute. She is studying the scriptures. She knows what the will of the Lord is. And you know how she knows what the will of the Lord is because she knows this book. Ladies, there is no way you're gonna know what the will of the Lord is if you don't know what he says in these 66 letters he's written to you. How can you know what his will is? Paul says, don't be unwise. Understand what the will of the Lord is. Paul says in another place, how we can know the will of the Lord. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies, we're gonna talk about that in the morning. Present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, why? So that you can prove what is the acceptable and perfect will of God. Ladies, that's how you're gonna know the will of God. You, by presenting your bodies, a living sacrifice, and we'll talk about that in the morning, when we talk about purity. A wise woman does that. She doesn't conform to the world. She's transformed by renewing her mind through scripture. Ladies, then and only then can you prove what is the acceptable will of God. The foolish woman, on the other hand, she ignores her responsibility to offer her body to God. She's conformed to the world. She's conformed to all the patterns of the world. She doesn't have a clue what scripture says. And so she doesn't know what the will of the Lord is. Ladies, the Psalm is said in Psalm 14.1, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. There's no God. I don't have to be accountable to him. I don't have to understand what his will is. I don't have to do that. Ladies, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4, 2, we should no longer live for the rest of the time in our flesh for the less of men, but for the will of God. You know what fools do? They live for the less of their flesh, not for the will of God. Proverbs 28, 26 says, he who trusts in his own heart is a fool. He's a fool, but whoever walks wiser will be delivered. So the second contrast of the foolish woman and the wise woman is this. The wise woman understands what the will of the Lord is. The foolish woman, she doesn't have a clue what the will of the Lord is. She doesn't have a clue. Ladies, a woman who is devoted to Christ understands what the will of the Lord is. And may I repeat what I just said a minute ago? The only way she's going to understand what the will of the Lord is, is by knowing his word. That's the only way she's gonna know what the will of the Lord is. Well, Paul continues on with another very controversial and vivid contrast between the foolish woman and the wise woman in verse 18. He says, do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit. And maybe you're wondering, you know, why the Bible even talks about this. I mean, why did Paul interject right here in Ephesians that they were not to be drunk with wine? Well, ladies, there's nothing new under the sun. Drunkenness was a problem in Ephesus, just like it is a problem in our day. In fact, if you know anything about the city of Ephesus, it was filled with idols, you know, Artemis, the great temple was there, Diana. I mean, it was all kinds of idolatry, but again, nothing new under the sun, right? Because we live in a culture that is filled with idolatry. But specifically here in the city of Ephesus, when one would get drunk, which they did often, they saw it as the means by which they could experience ecstasy and union with a God. And Paul was finding out that some Christians were not only getting drunk in their private life, but they were getting drunk in public as well. And again, there's nothing new under the sun. In fact, I don't know about you, but I was horrified about two months ago if you take the Wall Street Journal, which my husband does, and he likes me to read it so I know what's going on in the world. Because he says, Susan, you go out and speak to women so you should at least know who's the president, and what's happening. So I try to work my way, at least through the titles in the Wall Street Journal. But anyway, on the front page of one of the articles in the Wall Street Journal was this article, what would Jesus brew? Did anybody see that? And the new thing now in churches is instead of the coffee bars, they had the coffee in the popcorn, it's now breweries. And so you go and they have their own brewery in the church and you get your drink and you come into church and you get drunk. What would Jesus brew? Are you serious? In fact, just in my city alone, Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year I know of two pastors that got arrested for drunkenness, drunk driving. I've also been surprised. I've heard of more and more, actually evangelical churches that are having alcohol at their Bible studies. I've heard of Christian conferences, counseling conferences now that are having open bars at their conferences. Now, ladies, since we're not to get drunk with wine, what does that mean? Paul says we're not to get drunk with wine. What does that mean? It means we're not to become intoxicated with wine. When you become intoxicated, it weakens your ability to have physical and mental control of your body. Now, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna go a little bit further and say it's not just alcohol that weakens your ability to control your mind and your body. It's also in our culture, drugs, people that are addicted to drugs, both legal and illegal. In fact, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and I know I can because I think you will still like me, maybe not, but that's okay, I've been here five times so you can get all the CDs from the last five times I've been here. Both drugs and alcohol, which are consumed in excess, violate the scriptures command for women to be sober-minded. Did you know that? In Titus II, Paul commands older men to be sober-minded, young men to be sober-minded. Then he commands older women to be sober-minded and he says the first thing I want you to teach to women, when you disciple young women, the first thing on the list is sober-minded, self-control in all her passions, everything. That would include having her mind free of entity. It's used to be of sound mind, self-control. It's also very interesting since we just sang, or the young lady that led us in worship was talking about revelation in the end times. It's interesting. I don't know if you've ever noticed this passage when John is on the Isle of Patmos and he has this vision and he's all the bowls and the plagues and the end times. In Revelation 18-23, he says this, for by your sorceries, all nations are deceived. He's talking about the end times. The Greek word for sorcery is pharmacea. We get our English word pharmacy, which means to prepare drugs. Do you know what John is saying? In the last days, all nations are gonna be deceived by drugs. They're gonna be druggies. Ladies, we're there. Do you know what the statistics are? One out of every 10 people in the United States is on a mind-altering drug. One out of every 10. In fact, where I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I have a friend whose son is a police officer and she told me one time, she said, "'Susan, 10% of all Tulsans drive impaired, "'either they're on drugs or they're on alcohol.'" So that means one out of every 10 person I meet on the road is drunk or they're on drugs. Some kind of mind-altering thing that impairs their driving and the other nine are texting. And so, you know, I'm kind of like this in the morning, you know, it's crazy. In fact, I've probably told you the story one time a police officer pulled me over and he said, ma'am, are you diabetic? Are you having a seizure? And I said, no, he said, were you texting? And I said, no. And he said, well, what were you doing? And I said, I was reading my notes. And he said, well, ma'am, you need to not do that. He said, it's a little tipsy there. But ladies, it's sad. All the nations have been deceived with Sorcery's pharmacy. We're there, we are there. Also, since we're dealing specifically here in the text with alcohol, I wanna give you some statistics that you might find sobering. No pun intended, but they are sobering. Do you know 17.6 million Americans have a problem with alcohol? One person is killed every half hour due to drunk driving. And every year, approximately 16,000 people are killed in alcohol-related crashes. In fact, alcohol is a factor in almost half of all traffic fatalities. Every other minute, a person is seriously injured in an alcohol-related crash. Ladies, a mind doled by drugs and drink is not the will of God for a believer. Do not be drunk with wine. In fact, Jesus says, when he's talking about the last days, and we are in the last days, he says, take heed to yourself. Least your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and the cares of this life so that day comes on you unexpectedly. Your mind is so drugged with drugs or alcohol. You don't even realize the end is coming. Now, I do wanna say this. Wine in Bible times did not have the same alcohol content as the wine of our day, okay? In the biblical world, water was not safe to drink. Just like next week, when Debbie and I go to India, the water there is not safe to drink. Neither is the food safe to eat. And so that's why we are going to have, probably half a suitcase full of food. But it's not safe to drink. And so we will be drinking bottled water. In biblical times, the water was not safe to drink. They didn't have the purification methods that we do. And so the alcohol content was very minimal. It did have some, but it was very minimal. Not like the alcohol that we have of our day. That's why one of the qualifications for elders and deacons is they're not to be drunk with wine or they're not to tarry long at the wine because they did drink wine, but they didn't tarry long at it. Otherwise, they would get drunk. And so I do wanna be fair to the text and to the biblical world that there were opportunities for that and we'll talk about that in just a minute. Now, Paul goes on to say we should not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation. This means drunkenness leads to a life that is void of virtue, a life that is wasted, a life that is debauched, a life that many times comes with sexual excess. In fact, it describes a condition where your mind and body are sold old from drinking that you are incapable of making wise choices. No wonder it follows right after a wise woman knows and understands what the will of the Lord is. A wise woman cannot understand what the will of the Lord is if she's drunk all the time, right? In fact, one man said this, when one is dominated by wine, every year of his life is affected by it. He gets drunk and his wife chews him out for this. So he runs off to his buddies down at the bar for consolation and to drown his problems. But because he does, he has a hangover at work the next morning and the boss gets on him about his sloppy work. Feeling bad about this, he stops at the bar on his way home to get more consolation. He comes home drunk and you fill in the rest. It's a never-ending circle where each thing he does wrong leads to another so his entire life is soon dominated by drink. That's kinda how it is, isn't it? Now, I do wanna be clear, as I said a while ago, you cannot prove abstinence from the word of God. It is not God's will for his child to get drunk. You can prove that biblically, but you can't prove total abstinence. Proverbs 31.6 says, give strong drink to those who are perishing and wine to those who are heavy of heart. So it does indicate there is a time in life. I prefer to go through that time without it, but maybe when I'm dying, I might have to be given drugs. My husband last year nearly died. We were in and out of the hospital seven times and my husband almost died last year and he had to be on a lot of strong drugs just to get through the horrendous pain he was in. Missed six months of preaching in the pulpit. He was very, very sick. And so there does seem to be give some time where that is possible. Give strong drink to those who are perishing, to those who are a bitter of heart. So when one is dying or going through some severe pain or a critical time in their life, there seems to be an allowance. Also remember Paul told Timothy, Timothy no longer drink water, but take a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. And so evidently, Timothy had some belly problem. Maybe he had celiac disease, you know, since everyone now seems to have celiac. You never want to eat gluten-free this and that. I don't know. Maybe he had celiac disease and he didn't know it. But, uh-oh, what did I just do? But anyway, can I take this to India? I need this for a fan. It's gonna be really hot, 110 over there. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe he had some belly problem. Maybe he drank the water, it wasn't purified. And so Paul says, drink a little wine for your stomach's sake. Now I want to say this. John MacArthur in his commentary recommends that we consider asking ourselves some questions before we think about drinking. And I thought these were really good, so I want to give them to you. Questions like this. Is today's wine the same as that in Bible times? Is it necessary? Is it the best choice? Is it habit-forming? Is it potentially destructive? Will it offend other Christians? Will it harm my Christian testimony? And is it right? And so I think those are good things when considering that. But certainly, ladies, we are living in a culture where the world looks just like the church. I mean, when you ask the question, what would Jesus brew, I would say the world is looking like the church. Now, instead of being drunk with wine, notice what Paul says, we're gonna be filled with the spirit. This is a strong contrast. In fact, the word but is a strong contrast. Instead of being drunk with wine, we are to be filled with the spirit. Paul's already told them in Ephesians, they're gonna be sealed with the spirit. They're not to quench the spirit. They're not to grieve the spirit. And now he says, instead of getting drunk, instead of being controlled by drunk, by drugs or by drink, be controlled by the spirit. Be filled with the spirit. In fact, that's what it means to be filled with the spirit. It means to be controlled by the spirit. Ladies, to be filled with the spirit is not a second blessing as I often hear back in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Are you, is your church spirit filled? And I said, well, last time I looked it was. I mean, yeah, we're spirit filled, but not in the sense that they mean back where I live in the heresy capital of the world. But to be filled with the spirit just means to be controlled. In fact, the Greek tense here means that we are to be constantly controlled by the spirit. Constantly. And ladies, this is a command. This is not an option for a woman who wants to be devoted to Christ. She is to be constantly filled with the spirit. Instead of being controlled by wine, she's controlled by the spirit. In fact, isn't it interesting on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit did come? And remember they started speaking in tongues, which by the way is a biblical language. I don't know where people get that other stuff, that it's some heavenly gibberish. I mean, look, don't we hear every man speaking her own tongue wherein we were born? Acts 2 says, very clear what it is. I don't know where we got off in this other stuff. But anyway, I do know, but it's a long story. But, and remember Peter says, you know, the guys go, these guys are nuts. What is wrong with them? They must be drunk. They've gotta be drunk to be doing what they're doing. And Peter says, they're not drunk. It's the third hour of the day. It's nine o'clock in the morning. These men aren't drunk, even though people do get drunk at nine o'clock in the morning back then they didn't. He said, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet. And then he goes on to quote the scripture about how the spirit is gonna be poured out. Ladies to be filled with the spirit involves confession of your sin, surrender of your will, your intellect, your body, your time, your talent, your possessions, everything completely, like we just saying, take my life and let it be everything. My mouth, my feet, my hands, my heart, my will, my mind, it's all yours. I'm yours Lord. That's what it means. Take control. Ladies, this means we die to self. And then we let the Lord fill us with his spirit, controlled by the spirit. Ladies to be filled with the spirit means that we live with a conscious awareness that the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is with us at all times, all times. We are to let him dominate our life. So the third contrast, the wise woman is filled with the spirit. The foolish woman is drunk with wine. Ladies, a woman who has devoted to Christ is filled with the spirit. She's filled with the spirit. And as we are filled and controlled by the spirit of God, you know some exciting things begin to happen and we don't start rolling down the aisle and barking like a dog or anything like that. That's not what happens. Some exciting things happen. Notice verse 19, we start speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and we make melody in our heart to the Lord. Now this might seem really odd to you. Are you like seriously? But you know New Testament times are very different from us. You know we had these five ladies up here tonight and you know and then they're black and white and they look so nice and they were singing that was beautiful and all that. But that's not what they did in biblical times. In biblical times what they would do, they would take portions of God's word and they would put it to music and they would have the men stand on one side and the women on the other side and they would sing back and forth. And this would be a time that they would make that melody in their heart to the Lord and they would sing to one another and they would sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. In fact one man says they would form choirs. Men and one of women they would sing hymns to God composed of many measures and set to many melodies sometimes chanting together, taking up harmony, hands, feet, keeping time in accompaniment. Now what's the difference between psalms and spiritual songs? Well a psalm we know is what? We have 150 of them right? Songs, in fact did you know that all the psalms were put to music in biblical times? And a psalm was usually something that was about God. That's a psalm. They were put to music. A hymn is a little bit different. It's a song of praise. In fact Augustine said a hymn must be sung, it must be praised and it must be to God. Now some of the things that they would put to music are not just the psalms, it's interesting. They said that in biblical times they would put things like 1 Corinthians 13, you know the love chapter? That was put to music and that is something they would sing back and forth to one another. Also another one that was real popular was actually the verse right before the first verse we looked at here tonight. Verse 14, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead for Christ shall give you life. That was a song they would sing. Another song that was really popular was Second Timothy 316, and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified by the spirit, received up in the glory, seen by angels. That, what a great song. I mean some of the songs that they sung were rich in theology because they were taken from this book. And so they would sing that, you know a lot better than some of the songs we sing today even though I appreciate the songs that were sung tonight. But that's not the way it always is. I mean I've been to some conferences and I'm like, what are they singing? What are we singing? I remember one time my husband and I went to a conference and there was three words in the whole song. And I finally looked at Doug and I go, what are we singing? The whole thing was, let's celebrate Jesus, let's celebrate Jesus, let's, okay well let's, what are we gonna do here, you know? Is that it? And that was it. We sang that for like five minutes and I finally quit singing it. I was like, what am I singing, you know? But in biblical times they actually sang songs that had meaning, they were rich in theology because they sang songs and hymns that were from the scriptures. And then they would sing spiritual songs. What were those? Spiritual songs were sacred poems. They were not songs, they were not hymns but sacred poems that usually had to do with a personal testimony of what God had done in their life. And ladies, this is what they would do and notice what Paul says. As they would do this, they would make melody in their heart to the Lord. Ladies, as they would sing to one another, they just did not mouth words, they sang from their heart. And I hope tonight when you stood there and you sang the songs that were on this wall here right there, I hope you were singing from your heart, making melody in your heart to the Lord. Not just mouthing a bunch of words, that's hypocrisy. So in thinking about our fourth contrast between the wise woman and the foolish woman, the wise woman makes a melody in her heart to the Lord and the fool has no song in her heart. In fact, the fool is probably, still has a hangover from her drunkenness. I mean, she doesn't have a song in her heart. A foolish woman has no song in her heart she has nothing to sing about. Ladies, what a beautiful picture Paul gives us here as we end with verse 20. In fact, the succession is only natural because as we sing to each other, we make melody in our hearts, then we give thanks to God for everything. Look at verse 20. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek tense here for giving thanks means we give thanks constantly at all times for all things, for all people. Ladies, this means everything. Good days, bad days. Blessings, trials, snowy days, rainy days. I know you don't have snowy days, we have snowy days. Tornadoes, people that rub us the wrong way, people that we like, bad food, good food. We were in a ladies house about maybe three weeks ago. Debbie and I were in Michigan and we were staying in a women's house. And before I came, the head of women's ministry called me. She said, I just thought you'd wanna know about the lady you're staying with. She said her husband died five weeks ago. And they guess they had come home from church and they were cuddling and he got up, said he didn't feel good and he died right there. And Debbie and I were in her home for about three days and her name was Carol and I never saw her cry the entire weekend. They'd been married 40 years next month. They would have been married 40 years. She said he was her soulmate. They worked out of the home together and I just kept saying, I'm amazed at your strength. I'm amazed at your strength. And of course I know that comes from God. But she said, oh, I've had my moments and I cry. But she said, you know, God is in control and he has something for me and I can give him thanks. And on and on, I was so encouraged and blessed by watching this lady's life. And that's what Paul says. A woman who's a wise woman will give thanks to the Lord at all times even if God takes her husband. Did even Job, remember when all 10 of his kids were taken? Shall we not receive evil as well as good? And all this Job did not sin. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Shall we not receive this from the Lord? So ladies, we give thanks for all things. And notice the thanks is to God, the Father in the name of his son, which means our thanksgiving is consistent with his character. You know, sometimes I think, I like really people, you know, thank God that they won their baseball game or their football game or like, please don't put God's name in there. Giving thanks to God in his names mean what is consistent with his character. You know, we pray in his name, right? That's consistent with his character and his will. So we give thanks to the same idea in his name, what is consistent with his character. You know, so I can't thank God that, you know, if someone wants to go out and murder their husband, oh, thank you, Lord. That's not consistent with his character. It's not consistent with his name. The fool does not give thanks. Did you know that? Romans one, two says, because fools did not know God, they did not glorify him, they were not thankful. Paul tells us in the last days, perilous time shall come. Men will be lovers of their own self. Covetches, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. Unthankful, unthankful, unholy. Ladies, that's what fools are. They are unthankful. I remember doing a ladies conference several years ago and one of the ladies got up and she said, you only have a new policy in this church. I was like, I wonder what the new policy is. She goes, no longer do women, when we have baby showers and wedding showers, no longer do you women have to write thank you notes? And I was like, what? And so not that a thank you note is some sacred thing, but I was like, so we're gonna now teach our young women that they no longer have to be thankful. And I remember afterwards on the way back to the airport, the lady that invited me to the church, I said, do you really think that that's a good policy? Do you really think that that's what you wanna start teaching young women is that they don't have to be thankful for someone that spent their money and their time to go out and buy them a shower gift? We no longer have to give thanks for people buying us presents, really? Ladies, that's what a foolish woman is. She's not thankful. A wise woman is thankful. So the fifth and final contrast, the wise woman gives thanks to God always and for all things while the foolish woman is ungrateful. A woman who has devoted to Christ is a thankful woman. What about you, dear sister? Is your life characterized by being wise or by being foolish? Are you devoted to Christ? A woman who has devoted to Christ redeems her time. She knows the will of the Lord. She is filled with a spirit. She has a song in her heart and she is thankful at all times, all circumstances and for all people. What about you? Are you a woman who pleases the Lord by being devoted to him, by redeeming your time? What does a typical day for you consist of? Do you waste time by surfing endless websites on the web or do you redeem your time by studying or memorizing God's word? Do you waste time by gossiping on the phone to your girlfriend or do you redeem the time by cleaning your house and investing time in your children? By the way, speaking of children, I would encourage you young mothers to be very careful about allowing your young children to spend a lot of time on social media. I think it is doing more damage to our children than anything else. I mean, we take them from a pacifier to an iPad now. Really, you know, you go out to eat and what do you see? You know, this is supposed to be a family time and everyone's got their iPhone, their iPad. No one's talking anymore. And we're doing such damage to our children. Teach your children not to waste their time. Be very careful. Teach them how to work. We're gonna talk about this tomorrow. Teach them how to work. Teach them how to be productive, not to be enslaved to the technology of our day, which is damaging to them. What about the will of the Lord? Since a woman who's devoted to the Lord is supposed to know what the will of the Lord is, I would ask you, do you know what the will of the Lord is? Because you know the word of God so well that when a decision comes up that you need to make, you know exactly what you are to do because you know God's will so much, because you know his word. Or do you find yourself making foolish decisions because you don't have a clue what God says about what you need to do? Thirdly, a woman who pleases the Lord doesn't get drunk. Are you doling your mind with drugs or alcohol? Have you bought into the world's way of pleasure? Or are you so intoxicated with the spirit and so filled with the joy of the Lord that you do not need those things to bring you happiness? You know, I always find it when I go to the doctor now, they go, so you know, what drugs are you on? I go, none. And they go, you're on none? I go, no, nothing. Not even hormones, no. Can't you tell? No, I'm not on anything. You know, I'm not on anything. And that's not that I'm against and ask me, oh Debbie's got a little toothache right now and I'm trying to get her to get some garlic on the way back to the hotel, but you know, I've heard putting an aspirin on the tooth helps the toothache, but that's not that that's some puritanical thing, it's just that I don't. They always look at you like, you're not on any medication? No, I'm not on any medication. I mean, I'm so, you know, I just need the Lord. Fourthly, have you been singing lately in your heart into others? Or are you so doled in your mind because of drug abuse or alcohol abuse that the only song you feel like singing is, all by myself, or alone again naturally, or you don't bring me flowers anymore? Last but not least, are you showing forth wisdom by giving thanks at all times and for all things and for all people, or do you complain and express in gratitude throughout the day, thus showing your life is characterized by foolishness? A woman who pleases the Lord is devoted to Christ and it manifests itself by her redeeming her time, understanding what the will of the Lord is, being filled with the spirit, having a song in her heart, being thankful for all people for all times. Does this describe you tonight? The song that I mentioned in the introduction that I learned as a child was more than likely pinned by someone who knew what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock, the rains to sin, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house and it stood firm. But whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them not is like a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand, the rains come, the winds blew and beat upon that house and great was the fall of it. Father in heaven I pray oh God that you will help us to be women who are wise. That we would not be like the world that is given over to foolishness. Lord I pray that you would help us to be devoted to you by being filled with the spirit, by redeeming our time, by making wise choices, by not being intoxicated with drunk, drink or with drugs and by being thankful at all times and for all people. Now Lord as we do these things, we know that this is not all your words says because there's over 600 commands that a woman should be doing if she wants to be devoted to Christ. But Lord when we look at these verses just right here in this text we know that a woman who is devoted to you who is filled with your spirit and who's making decisions based on what the will of the Lord is that encompasses so much of what your word says that we are to be doing. And so Father I pray that you will help us we know without your spirit controlling us we can't do any of this. We cannot in our flesh we can't do any of it because we are like Paul the good that we wanna do that's what we don't do and the evil that we don't wanna do that's what we end up doing. And so Father I pray that we would listen to that still small voice and that we would obey him. Thus showing that we are a woman who is devoted to Christ. I thank you for this time. I thank you for everything that we have enjoyed thus far whether it has been music or friendship or renewing acquaintances or the music, whatever Lord I pray that we would do all to the glory of God that Father that Christ would be seen in each of us this weekend I pray. Amen.