Now, she was heavily criticized and she clarified, “Look, I don’t hate transgender people.” She said this, “I’m here to extend love, but I also think that love is being honest.” And I think that’s the heart of this whole issue is, you know, we need to be grounded in love. Jesus loves each and every one of us. He loves you right where you’re at, no matter how you came in this morning.

And he wants to show you that he has a beautiful and right and good design for your life. The Sophie Cunningham controversy is just one example of how our culture is at this boiling point. This clash between gender, ideology, and the biblical claim that male and female is God’s good idea. And it’s rooted in creation. Christians should be grateful when there’s courageous voices speaking out and saying frankly what is just common sense.

And that common sense is what aligns with scripture. What is said from the beginning that God has made us male and female and that matters. And when you blend or you you overstep or you blur those gender distinctions, chaos always ensues. We can see this throughout history and we’re seeing it in many ways today. And 1 Corinthians 11 speaks directly to this issue.

Now, I will tell you that this passage when you first read it, it might seem a little bit confusing. So, heads up on that. It it might seem even a little offensive, but I will I I’ll look at this and we’re going to see that this is an important passage for understanding what God had in mind from the beginning. It might read at first like a statement on obscure first century practices, but in fact, it’s a profound statement on God’s perfect design for male and female and how that shows up in the home, the church, and the world. So, here’s my encouragement.

Don’t read this scripture or any scripture for that matter as a club to hit anybody over the head with. That’s not why we have these scriptures, okay? They’re here to give us a beautiful picture of God’s right design and really see it as an invitation. This is an invitation to step into the joy of living as the men and women God created us to be. All under the headship of the Lord Jesus who laid down his life for his bride, the church.

We want people in our secular progressive culture to see the beauty of Jesus Christ. We want them to to understand God is so good in what he does. His love literally changes our lives and his lordship reorders everything in our lives. Rather than going heavy on rules, we want to lean into telling a better story because we don’t want people to believe that their biological sex is just an accident of evolutionary history. We don’t want them to believe it’s just something you kind of define for yourself.

We want them to see that God has a purposeful design and the way you were formed in the womb matters. It’s important. And we want the lost to see that whenever and wherever King Jesus is honored as the rightful ruler of the universe, people are blessed. Here’s the big idea this morning. God wants us to embrace our creational design as men and women and to express those gender distinctions through how we present ourselves.

Okay. So, 1 Corinthians chap 11, if you would please stand if you’re able out of reverence for God’s word. Here’s what the Apostle Paul has to say for us. 1 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse two. Now, I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a wife is her husband. And the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.

Since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.

Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. For as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman, and all things are from God. Judge for yourselves, is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered?

Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him? But if a woman has long hair, it is her glory. For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. Thank you.

You may be seated. So, as I read that, you might have been wondering a few things, like why is Paul talking about head coverings? What’s the big deal with that? Why does that matter? And and why is he talking about hair length?

I like is he trying to make a fashion statement? What is that? We’re going to see what’s going on here and how this applies today. So, here’s what Paul’s getting at. Now, remember, he’s speaking to a first century context.

Things were seen a little bit different back then. There was a culture and a people and and a and a way of doing things. And so we have to understand that. But what he’s getting at is that we have to see that our God-given gender is a gift. And how we present ourselves, particularly how we present our gender matters.

But you can’t really talk about this without talking about marriage. So let’s let’s look back at Genesis chapter 2. When Jesus was asked about marriage, he he said, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” So according to Jesus, God has this design for marriage and it involves this male female pairing from the beginning. So we’re going to take our cue from Jesus, go back to the beginning, head to Genesis 2.

Now in the chapter before this in Genesis chapter 1, we see that God creates everything. He creates male and female in his image. That’s really important. Both are created in his image. So we know from the start that God created humanity in two kinds.

One that can grow beards and one that can grow humans. So both men and women have this this capacity and and women, it says that they’re made in the image of God. So we’re both made with this inherent dignity. That’s super important. But then when you get to Genesis 2, here’s what it says.

We see God creates the man, Adam, first. He charges them charges him, I should say, with caring for the garden. And then in this remarkable statement he says it is not good for the man to be alone. In chapter 1 God had repeatedly said it was good. He creates light.

It’s good. He creates the sky. It’s good. He creates trees and stars and animals. Good.

Good. And good. And then we come to this and G and God says something is not good. Why? Well, because man is lacking something.

He’s lacking a partner. He’s standing there naked and alone. And that’s not good. And God provides a solution. He creates a woman.

Now, it’s interesting. Man was created from the dust. Woman is created from the man’s body, literally from his body. And in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says that order matters for how you understand relationships. Now, let’s just stop and consider something.

God could have created humanity any way he wanted. He didn’t have to create us as this binary pair of male and female. He could have created only males. He could have created only females. We He could have made us so that we’re like amiebas where we just split and and we reproduce that way.

He didn’t choose to do it that way, though. He had a plan and a design to make humanity as this complimentary pair in large part because it reflects the gospel itself. And that’s why we’re going to see this matters so much. And then Genesis says that God brings the woman to the man and Adam right away breaks out in romantic poetry, right? Verse 23.

This at last is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. So notice man’s first recorded words are him waxing poetic about this amazing and way better-looking creature that God has just brought to him. And then it says in verse 24, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Now that word for one and one flesh is the Hebrew word ekad.

It talks about this this mystery and this uniqueness of unity that comes when a man and woman come together in marriage. Two bodies, two souls, and they become one. And that’s why when you get married, you’re saying, I am committing myself from here on out to one person for the rest of my life. One person before all other human relationships. This person is who I’m committing myself to.

By the way, sex is not a bad word. The world distorts it. Religious people think it’s gross. But we of all people should not be afraid to say that sex is God’s good and God-honoring gift for the covenant of marriage. >> Amen.

Hollywood did not invent sex. God did. Okay? It was his idea. He brought it up.

The man and the woman are there. They’re naked and unashamed as this one flesh paradigm for every marriage to come. It’s good. It’s beautiful. It’s right.

That is how God made things at the beginning. So the first question we have is what is complimentarianism? That’s a tongue twister. And is it biblical? Okay, so I’m going to throw a couple terms at here.

Some of some of you might have heard these before. But there’s basically two general ways that Christians have looked at gender roles and understanding what the Bible says. The there’s egalitarianism. If you’re egalitarian, you say that God created man and woman equal in value and also equal in functional roles in the church and the home. Complimentarians would say would also say God creates man and woman equal in value but also that God has given distinctive and complimentary roles and responsibilities to each gender.

Now some people say complimentarianism is old-fashioned and we need to get rid of it. I call it biblical. Okay. So here’s why. When the New Testament addresses marriage, a married couple is not just given these general blanket commands that apply to both of them.

That would that would make sense in an egalitarian framework. Instead, what God does is he addresses first the wives and he gives them specific commands and then he addresses the husbands and gives them specific commands. And then when Paul talks to wives, he uses that word, our culture just loves submit, right? Okay. So, the Bible is not always politically correct.

But here’s what Ephesians 5:22 says. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. And then when husbands are addressed, they are called to love their wives sacrificially as Christ loved the church. So here’s what’s happening.

This is what we see. If we’re going to get marriage right, we’ve got to understand this. The Bible is teaching that marriage is a parable and a picture of the gospel. Husbands are called to take the loving headship role of Christ and wives are called to take the respectful helper role of the church. We’ll talk about how these roles of head and helper play out practically, but for now, here’s what we need to see.

When you blur the lines between male and female and deny any unique role for the husband or for the wife, what you are actually doing, though you may not realize it, what you’re actually doing is you’re saying a false message about how Jesus relates to the church. Because right here we see husband and wife in Ephesians 5 are meant to parallel Christ and the church. So number one in your notes, men and women are equal in dignity, worth and gifting, but have differing and complimentary roles in both the home and the church. Now let me just say this whole idea that men and women are equal but have differing roles isn’t all that crazy. Even when you think about how God designed our bodies.

And look, I’m not being crass here, but just how you think about our bodies, God made us different. But clearly if you look at the male body and the female body, they correspond to each other. There’s a clear match, a fittedness. Women and women only can grow a human inside their bodies, can give birth, and can nurse babies. It’s like they have this amazing superpower that only they have.

Men can’t do any of that. And it’s only in that one flesh union of one man and one woman and in no other combination that life is created. And the Bible argues there’s a reason for that. It’s why marriage is as God designed it. It has to be one man and one woman.

In fact, in Malachi 2, God says, “This is one of my goals for marriage. It’s that you would raise up godly offspring.” So in other words, one of the reasons for marriage is that it’s the context and relationship in which two people can come together to create life and together raise children. That same distinction between men and women shows up in the church. Men and women are both equally essential for the life of the church.

Let me just say this. Without the ministry of women, Grace Point could not be Grace Point. Ladies, we need you to fully participate in the church. And and this is something that honestly some churches have struggled to get right and maybe undersold or under estimated or undermined how women are to be involved. But both sexes are uniquely gifted in ways that complement each other.

And even in this passage, we see that it’s the wives that are prophesying and praying in the gathered church. And Paul’s saying, “Yes, do that, but do it while respecting the headship of your husband.” In God’s design, qualified men are called to bear the burden and responsibility of leading in the home. And also in the church, he’s given qualified men to have that burden of responsibility of leadership and of giving the authoritative teaching in the mixed gathering of the church. And I I encourage you on your own to check out 1 Timothy 2 and3 where it goes over this.

Paul’s saying that women are to fully exercise their gifts and influence but without rejecting the order that God has established. Now, here’s what we have to know. The vast majority of ministry roles in the church are open to women. Let me just list these out. Some of these leading ministry teams teaching women and children, disciplehip, mentoring, prayer, public contribution, evangelism, sharing expertise, expertise, specialized teaching, deacon type service, mercy ministries, hospitality, administration, worship, leadership, missions, counseling, and much more.

The singular one example where the office is restricted only to males is the office of elder, pastor, overseer and the primary authoritative teaching of the word to the mixed congregation. Now this is all background for our passage. So when Paul talks about heads, head coverings, and hair lengths, this is what he’s getting at. It sounds confusing because we’re looking into this culture in the first century where at that time in that culture for a woman to acknowledge her husband’s headship, she would put a shawl or a head covering around her hair. That’s a cultural distinctive.

And he’s saying that men and women should honor their distinctions. And this is going to show up in different ways in different cultures. For example, when a man in Scotland wears a kilt, he’s not being feminine. In that culture, that is a masculine look. All right?

Men should embrace their masculinity and look like men. That’s what Paul’s concerned about. Women should embrace their femininity and look like women. It’s going to vary by culture, but the same principle is there because as we embrace our design, we’re honoring the God who designed us. Can I just say that one reason this passage can seem so offensive is that in our cultural context, we have maybe not knowing it adopted a lot of the worldly definitions of words such as equality and authority.

In in the worldly definitions, equality often means sameness. And authority people usually or often think, well, that’s corrupt authority. But there is a good and godly and Christlike authority that God has established. So if you’re standing on worldly assumptions, it’s going to be hard to see that. And we have to understand that equality does not mean equivalent.

In God’s design, men and women can be equal but also have differing and complimentary roles. So next question, does saying the head of the woman is man mean man has authority over woman? This questioner was concerned that it looks like Paul is saying that women are beneath men. Okay. And I can see how you know when how I can see how you could get there.

But I think first of the ESV is right when it translate these words as husband and wife, not just man and woman. I’ll explain that in a moment here. But also I want to say something. It could be that a ladies here could have experienced mistreatment from men. And I just want to say if that has happened, that was totally wrong and evil and that is not God’s design.

That is not something that he created. Jesus hates it when people take his good design for men and women and distort it. And he brings healing in the context of community. And so it might be hard to even hear this idea that husbands are called the heads because maybe it’s hard for you to even trust men. And I don’t blame you for that.

But I hope you see that Jesus is writing a better story and your bad experience is not a reflection of God’s good design. Paul is not a misogynist. Although the allegations have been there, the irony is that his voice would have sounded almost, and this is not an exaggeration, Paul would have sounded in his time almost radically feminist. Because as you read through his letters, he constantly elevates women in a culture and time when they were often denigrated and seen as less than and unworthy. But he’s constantly building them up.

He’s constantly saying things like, “In Christ, you all have equal access to Jesus. You all have equal access to God. Male or female, slave or free, doesn’t matter. You all belong to Jesus.” And so, he’s often saying things that still benefit women today, even when that goes unagnowledged.

So, the second thing is Paul is describing headship in your notes in the home, not making a blanket statement about women. And he’s certainly not saying that women are in any way inferior or less valuable than men. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, Paul says, “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” Now, just take that last example first.

The head of Christ is God. Is Christ in any way inferior to God the Father? No. And he’s saying there’s this relationship even within the trinity where Christ submits to the father. Submission is a good thing in that context.

Headship is a good thing in that context. So what does it mean for the husband to be the head of the home? Well, first let me say what headship is not. Headship is not domination. It doesn’t mean he’s the boss that gets his way every time.

Headship is never a pass for a husband to demean or disregard his wife in any way. Headship is not about control and privilege. It’s about the husband’s responsibility to lead, protect, provide for, serve, and cherish his wife. Just as Christ came and literally bore the burden of our sin and took responsibility for the church when he laid down his life for us. So husbands are to shoulder the primary responsibility for the family.

Now here’s what you need to know. In the first century culture as women put got married they put that sign of authority that shawl over their hair. And it says basically to other people I’m not available. In our cultural context, we do things like we exchange rings, right? That this says I’m married.

It doesn’t make me married. It is a cultural symbol that says, “Look, I’m already taken. I’m married.” That’s what the shawl was there for. It’s a cultural symbol of a eternal or a I I should say a lifelong principle in any culture.

Verse four says, “Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head since it’s the same as if her head were shaven.” So when Paul hears that Christian women are taking their shawl off when they’re praying or prophesying in the church, he raises a red flag and he says, “Don’t you see that? That looks like you’re now disregarding the headship of your husband. It looks like you’re saying, “I I’m I’m willing to disrespect my husband in front of other people.” Almost anywhere you go today, there’s these cultural markers of implying or or telling people that you’re married.

I talked about the rings. You know, oftentimes the the wife will take the last name of the husband. Originally, that was the idea was that you’re becoming one and so you’re one family unit under one name. And it’s a way of showing that the wife comes under the umbrella of the leadership and protection of the husband. Paul’s saying it’s important for the wife to show her commitment to be his helper and to respect her husband.

In the same way though, he says he doesn’t want the husband to not be covered because that would dishonor his head who’s Christ. So let me see if I can illustrate this. Picture successive umbrellas. Okay. God the Father is like the big umbrella over all of this.

Okay? Now, under his covering is Christ and under Christ’s covering is the man and under the the man’s covering is the wife. And each covering, each umbrella is is acting as this protective umbrella of blessing, not of you know terrorizing or tyrannizing. It’s a protection of blessing. To acknowledge the one who is the head.

[snorts] So for example, the husband is called to be the spiritual leader in the home. That’s why when it talks about leading the kids, it often emphasizes the father’s role. Not that the wife or the mom has no role. Of course, she has the equally vital role, but the husband is called to step in and lead the way and set the spiritual trajectory for the home. And he’s to be the protector.

So, if there’s an intruder in the home or there’s a you know, sketchy person on the street or a natural disaster, being the head means he puts himself between the danger and his wife and family. That’s what it means to be the head. As much as people say that gender roles are outmoded relics, I can’t help but see areas where there’s this complimentary assumption underneath all the noise. So, for example, when there’s a mass shooting or a home invasion, almost no one says, you know, the woman should put herself in front of the man. Nobody says that.

Why? It’s this we just know. It’s built into us. We know if there is a threat to the family, who’s going to go to the door? It’s supposed to be the man.

The husband is supposed to. And even that’s even praised when this happens in in the culture. Even in secular context, people say that was right that he was willing to be the protector in that moment. That is biblical masculinity. And there’s nothing toxic about that.

See, embedded deep within the heart of every man is this desire to be some kind of hero to to care for and to protect and provide for others, especially his wife and kids. And when men are told that masculinity is toxic and they’re not taught about the importance of blessing your wife and kids and blessing others, what ends up happening is oftentimes these men instead because they’re said, “You’re not the protector,” they instead become predators. And so headship that mirrors Christ’s self-giving love does not diminish women. In fact, it covers them and it gives them the freedom to flourish under his umbrella. Next question.

How can a wife encourage her husband to lead? I love this question because something I’ve learned in being married to Whitney is how powerful and effective words of affirmation are for my desire to lead. Wives, you need to know that the support you give through your words, through the ways you encourage your husband, they go miles in and giving him that sense of yes, I am called to this. I can do this. If he feels like his wife is just opposing him at every turn and second-guessing every decision he makes, that’s going to be incredibly defeating.

But when a wife instead looks for ways to respectfully affirm, you know, you’re doing a good job and gives encouragement, it’s the motivation he needs. A lot of times it’s about inviting rather than telling. Like for example, it could be inviting him to lead you and your kids in prayer. Maybe it’s noticing where he is leading already, even in small ways, and just expressing appreciation. Hey, I appreciate the way you handle that situation.

Thank you for being the good head of the household that God’s called you to be. Third in your notes, when a wife respectfully encourages, affirms efforts, invites rather than demands, and creates space for him to lead, a husband is more likely to step up. Something that has blessed me for our 13 years of marriage is that, you know, Whitney has shown in a thousand different ways that she wants me to lead. She wants me to be decisive. She wants me to take initiative.

She doesn’t want me to just always wait for her to make the first move. And it’s not that she doesn’t have lots of ideas and opinions to share with me. Believe me, she has plenty. That’s good. But she’s supportive as a helper because she encourages me to lead the way and to be that umbrella as I try to follow Christ.

And if she thinks I’m making a mistake, you know what? She tells me in a respectful and loving way. Healthy headship listens to your wife. Real quick example of this is so in early 2025 I had been at a church in Corvalis for over five years and on January 1st first day of the year I had this strong sense God was telling me okay it’s time to move on and of course the first thing I did as soon as the kids were put to bed is I told Whitney what I was thinking and without hesitation her response was okay if this is where God is leading you, then I’m willing to follow. If this is what God is doing, then I’m with you 100%.

And I got to tell you, when I heard her full support in that moment, it was like it made me emotional. And it’s that conversation that eventually led us to Grace Point. So verse eight, for a man for man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. So this statement is pointing back to Genesis chapter 2 where we saw Adam was created first.

God said it’s not good for the man to be alone. In other words, he was incomplete without the woman. He could never fulfill his purpose. This caretaker in the in the garden, he could never fulfill his purpose until he had a counterpart or as one translator puts it, a necessary ally. So wives know that a big part of your role is you are called to be the necessary ally of your husbands.

Constant criticism will beat him down faster than anything. The best thing you can possibly do for him is to let him know that you are cheering him on, that you are glad where he steps in to lead, and that you are glad to see him love as Christ loves the church. The other thing I feel like I need to say is that he needs to learn from other men. This is why the Bible places like Proverbs talks about iron sharpening iron. Oftentimes the wife’s words will not be enough.

It takes other men to come alongside him. So last question, how can a husband learn to lead and want to do so? Many men feel inadequate as the head of the home. But let me just say to husbands here, the more that you see your marriage is a reflection of the gospel and and the more you recognize that your calling is to honor and care for your wife, the more you will want to lead. One of the biggest areas to take initiative is during conflict.

Okay? So, every marriage has conflict. Amen. It it’s it happens to everybody, but it’s how you handle that conflict that makes all the difference. And men as the head, they are called to be the first ones to repent, the first ones to apologize, the first ones to forgive because that’s what it means to be a leader.

It means you take initiative gently to seek reconciliation. And this is important. As a husband, you are never never ever allowed to rage out on your wife. You’re never to belittle her or force her into anything because as a fellow image bearer, she deserves your honor and care. And the Bible even says this that if you as a husband, if you fail to dishonor your wife, God is going to stop listening to your prayers.

So, it’s a big deal to God. Biblical headship is the husband accepting and owning his God-given Christlike responsibility to lead his wife and family for their flourishing. To be the head means it’s on you as a husband to make sure your family is going in the direction of Jesus. As a husband, God has assigned you the task of cherishing your wife so that she is treated as a princess in God’s kingdom. That’s what Christlike authority looks like.

Many women who once thought this idea of submission in the Bible was oppressive later decided that you know what actually this is a gift because when he is that umbrella and and I can flourish under his leadership I actually see more freedom and there’s more fruitfulness in my walk with the Lord because I’m walking into the lanes God has for us. Fourth in your notes, Christ’s loving initiative and sacrificial leadership of the church is the greatest example for men learning what headship looks like. Again, Christ and the church is a parallel to the husband and the wife. So, the simple fact is that oftentimes many men have not had good models for this. And then pressures from the culture have actually encouraged them to abandon their post.

More than anything else, he needs to look to Jesus as his example of what headship looks like. And who is Jesus? Well, he’s the savior of his bride, the church. When you think about headship, you should see it through the lens of the cross. See it as someone who’s willing to go the full length to even lay down on a wooden cross and get nailed to it, bleed, and die out of love for the one that he’s the head over.

Here’s the point. People may say this whole idea of marriage and and sex is binary of male and female is an outdated social construct. People may say gender roles are ancient history. They should be in the trash can. But let me just point out that when men step up into their God-given calling to lead and sacrificially love like Jesus, everybody benefits.

Women and children are blessed, protected, and provided for, not dishonored, abandoned, or neglected. And men are not focused on themselves and gratifying their own desires. No, they see, I have a higher calling. I’m called to be the head here. I have to step into this God-given mission where I lead my family toward Jesus.

When Paul says in verse 11, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. He’s saying, guys, listen. There should not be a battle over the sexes. That shouldn’t happen because look, you’re not independent of each other. You both need one another, and you flourish and thrive when you recognize that interdependence.

Men and women are different, but their differences reflect a divinely ordered beauty with mutual dependence. So, what does all this mean for application? We’ve seen that marriage is carefully designed to both reflect the gospel and to give us a picture of this ultimate union between Christ and the church. So the stakes for having a biblical understanding of marriage could not be higher. And if marriage has this crucial purpose, then we should not be surprised that Satan will use his entire arsenal to try to distort and destroy God’s vision of marriage, sex, and gender.

Of course he would. That’s what he’s aiming at. He wants to destroy our vision of God’s love for us. Arguments alone aren’t going to persuade people. So, what we’ve got to do as Christians is demonstrate to the world the beauty of the gospel through joyfully living out these God-given roles in our marriage, our church, and our world.

Simply by pouring yourself into your spouse and investing in your marriage, you are giving people a reason to consider Jesus and his gospel. So, I’ll close with a couple questions. First, for the women, as a woman, do you see your femininity as a gift from God to be stewarded with joy? Do you see it as that’s exactly what God wanted for you? As a man, have you embraced the calling of masculinity, its roles and responsibilities as something God has personally assigned to you?

Have you owned that responsibility? Have you said, “Yes, that is who God called me to be.” As we do that, we are showing the world the beauty of the gospel. >> Let’s pray together. Father God, I thank you that you do all things well.

And even in our age where there’s so much confusion, distortion, and frankly slander about your design, I pray that we would be the people who see the wisdom, the the goodness and the beauty of your design, that you have made us male and female on purpose. And that in marriage we see this amazing design where the husband is called to be in this headship role where he is picturing who Christ is to us in that sacrificial loving cherishing role. And God that the the bride would be this picture of the church gladly joyfully trusting that leadership saying yes I’m here to support you. I’m thankful for you. Lead on and we’ll do this together.

Lord Jesus, help us to lay aside our preconceptions, our distortions personally, areas where we have put up

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 6,234 words.