Male and Female 1 (the Beginning)

[background music - chanting] [Narrator] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home from... these are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tents Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] A time of enrichment, of enlightenment, a time of learning from the Lord by the working of His Spirit in our hearts, in our midst, in the name of Jesus Christ. This last quarter of the year, October, November, and December, and for the last quarter, we are trying to focus again on another area that is very, very relevant to contemporary debates and discussion: the matter of male and female. For the whole of last quarter—July, August, and September—we were looking at the issue of trust issues in marriage. And we were able to discuss that severally. And concluding last month, I said, please, if you have suggestions, comments, or whatever, you can let us have it. This last quarter, we are trying to face this very contemporary issue: the matter of male and female. And our focus today is "The Beginning." It is a theme that we will be looking at for this quarter, but for today, we will be looking at the matter of "In the beginning." From what I sent out yesterday, or what I sent out this morning to talk about the program, I would just like to read what I sent out. I said our topic, our focus for this quarter, is Male and Female 1. And our concern this morning in Male and Female 1 is "The Beginning." What happened at the beginning? What happened at the beginning? And what I wrote there is that humanity struggle and rebellion against God's wisdom in creating male and female are age-long. The struggle and the rebellion, honestly, they are age-long. The manifestation of this struggle and rebellion include patriarchy, the effeminate minded, feminism, homosexuality, lesbianism, transgender, gender-based violence, to mention a few. We have witnessed and are still witnessing the attendant consequences of all these on marriage and family. This last quarter of the year of our marriage forum, we want to focus on God's wisdom in making them male and female. Of course, from a biblical perspective. This is Family Tents Ministry, and our focus is Christian values and Christian ethics, Christian philosophy in looking at matters—not only philosophy, but Christian philosophy in looking at matters. And that is why I noted that we want to consider this particular matter from a biblical perspective. And I am hoping that as we evaluate, we reflect on this matter this morning, our brethren who are joining us online, brethren joining us on Telegram, brethren joining us on Mixlr, brethren connecting with us, I trust the Lord that it will be a blessed time in the name of Jesus Christ. So as we intend to start this morning, "Male and Female 1: The Beginning." The Beginning. Our focus this morning is "The Beginning." I trust the Lord God will meet with us. Let us pray. Almighty God, we thank You for another time of marriage forum. we thank You as we gather to look at this all-important topic: male and female. Particularly, we look at "The Beginning" today, as we try to focus at the beginning. Lord, my prayer, my earnest desire in this forum this morning is that You will meet with us all—individuals that are connecting, husbands that are connecting, wives that are connecting, mature singles that are connecting, everybody connecting to the program this morning from wherever they are connecting. Lord, bless us in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, eternal Father. Lord, please speak to our hearts. In Jesus' most holy name we pray. Amen. Now we want to focus on what we have for today, which is "In the beginning" or "The Beginning." The matter of male and female: The Beginning. And of course, if we are talking about the beginning, we will go to the Book of the Beginning, the Book of Genesis. We see male and female at the beginning. I trust that in considering that this morning, there is going to be light. There is going to be light. The light of God will shine. The light of God will shine. And like it was at the beginning, when God said, "Let there be light," God spoke into the darkness, "Let there be light," and there was light. I pray this morning that by the reason of the Word of God, light shall appear and darkness will give room and way in the name of Jesus. "In The Beginning," Part 1. And in going into Genesis, I would want us to approach this matter from... I am looking at... okay, let us begin like this. I want to begin like this because I did mention biblical perspective. I want to first and foremost give us what I will call a background, a very crucial background, as we try to look at the Book of Genesis. Now, the Book of Genesis was written by Moses. It was written by Moses. Now, Moses was not a contemporary of Adam, the first man. Moses was not even a contemporary of Adam. He was not. They were not contemporaries at all. They did not exist at the same time. From Adam, you move through generations to Noah. From Noah, through the generations to Abraham. From Abraham, through the generations to Jacob. And at Jacob, everybody went down to Egypt. In Egypt, after they had spent hundreds of years, according to the Word of God that He gave Abraham, that he should know that his descendants, they are going to be in captivity for 400 years. It was in the midst of that struggle that Moses was born. So I am trying to make you see the distance between Moses and the beginning. So that I am saying that so that you can understand that what Moses wrote in Genesis was not something that somebody would be able to tell him. It was something that was divine. You see that even the first man, Adam, did not know. What he wrote there was not something you can go and learn in school. It was not an intellectual activity. What he wrote there was on the basis of revelation. So the first point I want to make very clearly about this matter of the beginning is that it is critical and crucial for you to know that the knowledge of the Bible without divine inspiration is not the same thing with the knowledge of God. We need inspiration to get into the matter that we are raising in the Book of Genesis. It is not mere intellectual activity that brought about... and what do I mean by that? I mean that as we try to look at the Book of Genesis, try to look at this matter, I want to beg that you need to beg God on account of two prayers. And those two prayers, I want to take them in the book of Luke, chapter 24. Luke 24, we will read from verse 13. Two disciples of Jesus were traveling to a village called Emmaus. "Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things." They were discussing the things that happened to Jesus, how He was crucified. "And as they talked of these things, so it was that while they conversed and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know Him." You see, the first prayer you need to pray, and the first prayer I must beg you to pray, converse and reason about this, may your eyes not be restrained. You see, they were discussion, they saw Jesus. There is no way they can see Jesus or know Jesus except God help their eyes. If the eyes of men are restrained, they will see Jesus but they will not know that it is Jesus. And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said to Him, "Are You only a stranger in Jerusalem and have not known the things which happened there in these days?" And He said, "What things?" So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a mighty Prophet in deed and in word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see." Am I trying to make you see something? They were discussing Jesus. They were talking about Jesus with Jesus, but they did not recognize Jesus. May that not be your portion. You see, when we want to look at this matter, when you want to look at things from a biblical perspective, we are not talking about intellectual activity. We are not talking about academic debate. We are talking about God helping that your eyes will not be restrained. May you see Jesus and recognize Jesus. May you see Jesus and know that this is Jesus. May you see Jesus and be able to flow and relate with Jesus. They saw Jesus, and they thought they were dealing with a stranger. They saw Jesus, they were querying His wisdom, they were querying His understanding, they were trying to explain Jesus to Jesus. How foolish! And many times today, when you see men in ideological debate, intellectual debate, you find that it is because eyes were restrained. All what they would have seen if they recognized Jesus, when they started recognizing Him, immediately they saw Him, all these useless arguments they were putting in place would just fall apart. I want to tell you, many arguments today about male and female, about what it is, what it should be—is it patriarchy? Is it feminism? Is it lesbianism? Is it homosexuality? Is it being effeminate minded? Is it transgender? Just mention all of them. gender-based violence, we must subdue, we must control—all of these things. Many of these things would have fallen off if the eyes of men were not restrained. So the first prayer I need that you pray, as we connect together this morning, wherever you are, you are listening from, let the discussion not be a philosophical discussion. Let it not just be an educational lecture. I have not come to lecture you. I have not come to bug your mind with philosophy. I have not come to bug your mind with all of that. I have come to have it... look, let the Lord Jesus open our eyes to see what was done at the beginning. May our eyes not be restrained from seeing Jesus. May your eyes be opened. That is what I am calling for. That is what I am calling divine help. May you receive divine help. May I receive divine help. May we all receive divine help to see exactly what is the wisdom of God, what is the mind of God, what God was doing when He made them male and female. Because except we see as God sees, it will be ideological arguments and philosophy and discussion today and then another revelation tomorrow. Look at what they said in salvation of Jesus. Jesus, then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" And beginning at Moses, we are going to Moses. That was what Jesus was saying. "Beginning at Moses," we are going to Moses. We are going to Genesis. We are going to look and relate. Jesus began at Moses. "Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them all these scriptures the things concerning Himself." Then they came near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone further. But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent." And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass as He sat at the table with them, He took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight. And look at what they said: "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the scriptures to us?" I want you listening to me this morning to stay beyond ideological and philosophical things. I am telling you something that you must pray for, something you must beg God for. If you are a believer listening to me, something you must beg God for. If you are not yet a believer and you are listening to me, something you must ask God for you, His eternal counsel and intellect. They said, "while He opened the scriptures to us, He walked with us." You see the prayer you need to pray? Is that God, open the scriptures to me. Open the scriptures. Jesus opened the scriptures to them. For us, opens the scriptures. You know what will happen? You will not just see Genesis. You will not just see Exodus. You will not just see Leviticus. You will not just see Numbers. You will not just see Isaiah. You will not just see Jeremiah. You know what you will see? You will see Jesus. The Bible says He expounded to them the things concerning Himself. Anytime you open Genesis and all you can see is "this was written by Moses, now Moses wrote this, how did Moses get this?" You see, when you open Genesis and all you can see is Moses, then you have not seen Jesus in Genesis. Until Jesus can show up... He said He expounded the things concerning them. You see, when you begin to see Jesus, when Jesus speaks to you, His words will burn within you. It will be a burning, a fire inside your soul. It will not just be an intellectual activity. It will not just be an academic debate. It will not just be an academic discussion. It will not just be an educational lecture. It will be a fire burning inside your heart and a flame. May this be your portion in Jesus' name. These are the two prayers you must take along to the matter we want to start discussing: male and female. Male and female. So let's go back to where we were to start from: the Book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 1 from verse 1... but we may not be reading all, since we have only limited time. But we will see Genesis 1:1 to verse 25, we saw the creation of several other things. In the first day, it was light that was processed. In the second day, the firmament or the sky—you call it either the sky or call it the heaven—the sky that separated the water above from the water below. That was the second day. And on that second day, the dry land was called earth, the water was called sea. And of course, water above was separated by the firmament. And then the third day, we saw God making earth to bring forth grass, different types. Grass came, trees that yield their fruit, and all kinds of things that has to do with vegetable cover. They were made that day. Then after that, we saw the fourth day that witnessed the making of light to separate day and night, determining time and season. God made the greater light, the sun, the lesser light to rule by night. The Bible said He made two great lights, the sun and the moon of course. Those two great lights, the greater light to rule by day, the lesser light to rule by night. And then He also made the stars. And with those lights, time now came into existence on terrestrial earth. Time now came into existence on the fourth day. But it is important to know that that time that came into existence on terrestrial earth came when God came on the fourth day to make time, to start counting on terrestrial earth. What I am trying to make you see is that God's time is not man's time. They are two different times. Eternal time is different from time in this part of life. It is very good to note that. Time in this part of life is determined by sun and moon. But that is not the same time with God. It is important to note that because of some debates that people raise today about creation. It is just because of lack of understanding of scriptures. Eternal time is not the same thing as time in terms of time and space. It is so good to know that because another part of the scriptures, the Bible says a thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years before the Lord. It can be a billion years, it can be... it is good to understand that God does not count time as our own time. So when He said, "I am coming soon," soon can be 30 million years. It is very good to note all of these things because these things used to confuse a lot. Now, that was the fourth day. And then what interests me again is that the fifth day, God now went ahead to make animals. All kinds of animals—terrestrial animals—no, animals in the air and animals in the sea. Birds to fly in the air and then those that are sea creatures. And when God made them, He said, "Let the water be filled with sea creatures, let birds also fly in the air." And then the Bible said God blessed all these things. He made them to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth. And that was the fifth day. And then we came to the sixth day when God was to create... the Bible shows that then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures, terrestrial animals now, according to its kind: cattle, creeping things, beasts of the earth, all kinds of creatures, terrestrial creatures, not sea creatures now but terrestrial ones." And on that same sixth day, God was to make man. But before I come to the making of man, which is our focus—because our focus is male and female in the beginning—the first thing starting looking at the beginning, some things that should really occupy our mind is that it is important for us to see that the blessedness of multiplying was not given only to man. It was given to other creation. When He said, "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth," the only thing that was not said there was subdue it and have dominion. Animals were to fill the earth just like man is to fill the earth. Then another important thing I also want us to... I want to bring out of that, is that it is crucial for us to also see that when God said let the animals fill earth, let them reproduce, let the sea creatures, the cattle, the one on the land, let them fill the earth, we must have a clear understanding that in the making of those animals, even though God said "let us make them," God made them in their kind. He made them by pronouncement. He made them in their kind. It is good for us to note that He made them in a way that they would multiply. That is, those kinds that were made had both the male and the female. But it is crucial for you to see that at the beginning, there was no reference to male or female animals. Particular mention, particular indication. It just said God made them in kind. The things I want you to see about that is that the making of the animals was in their kind. The making of the animals was not particular in terms of male or female. The making of the animals looks something like there was neither male nor female among them. They were just made in their kind. But God bless them to multiply and fill the earth. He was designed to multiply in the animals. What I am trying to make you see is that productivity, ability to reproduce and fill the earth, is not something peculiar to man. That somebody can reproduce, that he can fill the earth, does not make him different from animals. That is the point I am trying to make you see. They are just there anyhow. They pick it anyhow. They live, it would just anyone can sleep with anyone. Nothing like marriage was said. Nothing like leaving father and mother. Nothing like that was said about them. They were just told to fill the earth. reproduction just goes on. There is no discrimination. It is just anyhow among the animals. If that is how we are, then we are not yet a human being. That is not our design as human beings. Our design is human beings... as that of man. We will be seeing more things on this matter. Now, when we came to verse 26, we saw something very peculiar. Then God said... all the while, all other things were being made, there was not a discussion. All we saw was that God was making things. The first day "let there be this," the second day "let there be this," the third day "let there be this," the fourth day "let there be this," the fifth day "let there be this," the sixth day in the making of the terrestrial animals "let there be." But that same sixth day, when it came to the making of man, we saw something very different. God said, "Let us make man in our image." So a distinguishing thing between man and animals is that animals were not made in the image of God. They were not made in the likeness of God. Man was made in the image of God and in the likeness of God. So when a human being says, "I want to be an animal, I want to be an animal," when a human being says, "I am contented being a cat and a goat," you know something is wrong somewhere. You know something is wrong somewhere. I will show you why something is wrong. I will make this thing very, very simple. God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea"—please note it, that is what I was talking about the fishes, terrestrial animals just now—"let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing." Now, when God was to make man, He made man in His own image, in His own likeness. And in making them in His own image and His own likeness, one thing that separates man from animals is that He was designed to have... man was designed, human beings are to have rulership, dominion over the others. The point I want to make you see is that man was a principal creation. He was principal. Others were made, He was made to rule, have dominion over them, to direct, to control, to be in charge of them. So ordinarily, in everyday life, I could illustrate this in everyday life. You would look at the hierarchy in society. You talk about the rich, the poor. You talk about the rulers and the people. You talk about when you enter into an institution, you talk about the low-level workers, the high-level workers, the principal officers. If I could give university arrangement for instance, you have the student, you have the academic staff, you have the HODs, the directors, you have the deans, then you move on to the principal officers. You know, you move on to the principal officers. You talk about your librarian, you talk about your registrar, you move on again, on and on like that, you come to the VC among the principals. Again you go up again to the council. You talk about the council chairman. You move on again, on and on. I am trying to make you see hierarchies. Now, what I want to make you see is that if suddenly you see the chairman of council or you see the VC suddenly say, "it doesn't, I just don't feel like being VC, being VC is not what brings me my making. I want to be a student. Being a student is what makes me have to feel," you begin to ask what happened. You know something is wrong somewhere. When a principal person begins to say that, "from the way I'm feeling, from the way I'm thinking, from the way I'm understanding things, being a student will give me maximum pleasure," you begin to ask, what happened? What I am trying to say, I am trying to make you use physical things to illustrate certain things for you. When you see human beings, who ought to have dominion over animals, begin to say that they are feeling a satisfaction in being animals, you know something is wrong somewhere. Something is wrong somewhere. The point I am trying to make you see is that man was made to have dominion. And when we were made to have dominion, I want something to interest you about Genesis 1:26. Said, "And God said, 'Let us make man...'" and of course when He said "let us make man" here, and then when He said "let them have dominion," you know man here is talking about human beings. He said, "let us make human beings in our image." Human beings should be in the image of God. Any being that is not in the image of God is not man. Are you following me? Any being that is not in the image of God is not human. There have been other beings, things have been, things have been existing. But all those beings, they are not in God's image. So any being that is not in God's image is not human being. So it is one thing to be human being and to want to be human. There are several human beings that are not being human. So we talk about human beings, we talk about being humans. So there are several beings today that are not human, that are not being man. What I am trying to say is that when God was coming to the making of the human beings, they were made in His image. So when you find any being that is not reflecting the image of God, that is not reflecting the likeness of God, that being is not being human. It is being something else. Now we got to verse 27. We now saw the reference here to what is the focus of this quarter and what we are considering partly today. Verse 27 says, "So God created man in His own image. God created man in His own image." So He created man. So we see this "so" is coming from verse 26. We can put it again like this: "So God created human beings in His own image." Now moving further, He now said, "In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them." So we have something very, very, very important this morning. And the Bible shows God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. Now, in verse 26, what we saw was that God created human beings in His own image and He created them to have dominion over every other thing. In verse 27 shows something in addition. It says, "So God created human beings in His own image." However, we now notice something. The Bible says, "In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them." What we notice in verse 27 is what we can better explain with chapter 2 of Genesis. That God created him and then having created him, talking about the male, God realized in the making of humans, God did not make the two of them at the same time. What God did at the beginning was that God first created the male. When it comes to the life of the animals, the male and the female came into existence at the same time. When it came to the making of man, the male was created. So God made human beings in His image. But it is very good to have a clear understanding in creation that when God was making human beings, human beings were made male and female. But however, what God did was that God created male. When God created male, the female was not yet in existence. It was the male that was in existence. Now, it is important to note this as we compare scripture with scripture very soon. The only reason why I am emphasizing this matter is because you will not have problems when we go into unnecessary academic and philosophical debate on the matter of male and female. It is good to appreciate, it is good to understand that in the making of male and female, what God did at creation, in His wisdom... in the wisdom of God, male and female should not come simultaneously. They should not come at the same time. Rather, how should they come? How? Because how something was made helps to understand how best that thing can function. The way your handset was made will be different from the handset that will be made for the purpose of going underwater. The way this handset was made, if you want to understand this, when you want to go into water, what will you do? You will leave the handset because of the way it was made. You are not denying the handset access to water. You are only saying that because of the way you are made, you are not made to be inside water. Now, but when you look at these wristwatches that divers use, divers that go underwater, the one they use, that they wear to check time, the way that one was made... when they want to go underwater, what will they do? They will put it on because water cannot affect it. So the way a thing, how something, how something came into existence, determined so much about that thing. For example, just try to take plant off the ground and water. After some time, what will happen? It will die. Why will it die? It is because of the way it was made. But take this cup and put it on your microphone. After some time, what will happen? It will be okay. Why? Because of the way it was made. So the first matter in understanding this issue of male and female is to see the way they were made. Something was in the mind of God in this making. And it is good to appreciate it. Now, how do we know that something was in the mind of God in this making? It is as we begin to compare scripture with scripture. I want you to note that at this time, there is no sin. There was no sin. Because many times people make the mistake of explaining some scriptural issues in the matter of sin. They do not look at it from the point of creation. Now, let's compare scripture with scripture in this matter of their making. I will first want to call your attention to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11, the Holy Spirit was using Paul to respond to the issue Christians do in the Christian community: should they cover their head? Should they not cover their head? Should there be a veil on the head? Should there not be on the head? What should be the approach for men and for women? So the scripture opens up and he said, from verse 3, "I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if she were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, then let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for her to be shorn or shaved, then let her cover her head." Now he now went further. "For a man," a man, masculine man, "for a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and the glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man." "For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for woman, but the woman for man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels." I want you to note that he was bringing this matter to the matter of how each of them were made. How they were made. He went further. "Nevertheless, neither is the man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man." I want you to note again, it is about how they were made. "Neither is the man independent of the woman, or the woman independent of the man in the Lord." Note that word "in the Lord." Outside the Lord there can be confusion. But in the Lord... you see that is where there is the problem. You see, in the Lord, the man is not independent of the woman. And that is why the confusion we are having today is that the diversity of men that fills our society, they are men who they themselves don't know authority. They don't know the Lord, so they cannot establish authority in the order of the Lord. Are you understanding me? Are you understanding me? Once the man is outside God, he is operating on his own authority. What he is establishing, he is establishing man's authority, not the Lord's authority. In the Lord! In the Lord! What I am trying to first make you see is that our problem is a matter of being outside the Lord. In the Lord, the authority that God established in the man is not independent of the woman. It is not. And we're going to see these things as we go through these things. It's not independent. Why is it not independent? You're going to understand it. You will also see the head of man. Why is that of man not independent? Why is it not in isolation? You will see. You will see that God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, authority. Man is the head of the woman. You will see the authority that God establishes flowing, flowing from God to Christ, from the Father to Christ, to man, to the woman. And all of this authority, they are not independent of themselves. In making the male first before God, He was aiming at achieving and establishing authority. God was aiming, God was moving towards, God was trying to establish authority. That is what I want you to see. God was establishing authority. What I'm saying to see is this: when you see any human being that does not have authority over their life, be afraid of them. When you see any human being that does not respect authority, be afraid of them. When you see human beings that disrespect authority, and say authority is themselves, they say, "well, I don't want to be under anybody, I'm authority of my own." I want to tell you young man and woman, when you see a life like that... maybe for example you want to marry a brother, and you say, "can I know you better and better?" And he says, "Me? I know myself and my God knows me. You know from birth I've been walking with God. I have these unique experiences between me and God alone." And you say, "brother, so who can speak about you?" And he says, "You see, nobody. This peculiar way in which God raised me." Sister, please pick your race. And when you see a sister too like that, brother, I ask you to pick race. One thing I'm trying to make you see is that when you see any life that does not regard authority, they are godless people. In the making of human, what I want to make you see quickly, what I want to make you understand is this: after God has created everything, God Himself said, He wanted to have dominion over them. He now made human beings to be able to rule over them. He established authority so that human beings can rule over those ones. Number two again, in dealing with human beings, so that there will be no confusion, what did God do again? He established authority. Now, the purpose of the authority is so that what again? There can be order. What I am trying to make you understand is that in making them male and female, the first thing God needed to establish is that as God established authority over animals, within the human beings again, God needed to establish authority. Do you know if not for that we fell into sin and there was problem and there was now sin, there would now need to be starting creating government, starting creating religion, all of those things would have just been in that garden with God being the head of Christ, Christ being the head of Adam, Adam being the head of Eve? It would just be like that. Authority order would have been established. That is why, let me tell you something, when you begin to see man trying to establish, "okay, let this unit report to this, let this control this," it is just the nature of God in man that is still remaining. It is unfortunate that because man has become sinful, the purpose of the authority today is to oppress. But remember Jesus said something: "I am the leader, but I came to serve." So it is not as if God is against authority. But man established authority, why He established it, why He established authority was established so that God can work through authority. That nature of God in man is meant to be everywhere. Bring a sinful man, let him start a company. He will tell you "this is the board of directors, this is this, you report by 5:00, you take note." You will see that nature of God in man, even the sinful man. That thing has been used very badly. We can talk about politicians, what they are doing to us. Talk about our leaders, what they are doing to us. but that is its bastion. It is the wickedness and the sinfulness of men that make authority a bad thing. It is just like the way sex has been perverted. But you cannot say sex is not from God. It is how it is supposed to be used as per God that is important for us to learn. But what we are seeing today is human beings have come to a point of total rebellion against authority. "Authority is a dangerous thing, this one is patriarchy, this and that." Look, if there is no authority, then there is no God. It is in godlessness that there is no authority. In God, He made the animals, He established man, "let man rule over them." And you will notice something... let me tell you one thing with human beings and animals. Do you know that when God established that authority, the human beings were not designed to be eating the animals? The animals would just be multiplying and increasing on their own. Do you know that it was fall that led to a rebirth? And so in the creation, why is it that God first made him before He made them is that God needed to establish authority. Let's look at another passage of the scripture, and then we come back again to that Genesis. So male and female, the first purpose of male and female was that God needed to establish authority. Still looking into that place, into that 1 Corinthians 11. After he said the purpose was to establish authority, the Bible now went further. "Nevertheless, neither is man independent of the woman," Hallelujah! "Nor the woman independent of the man in the Lord." Note that word "in the Lord." In the Lord, the man is not independent of the woman. And that is why the confusion we are having today is that the diversity of men that fills our society, they are men who they themselves don't know authority. They don't know the Lord, so they cannot establish authority in the order of the Lord. Are you understanding me? Once the man is outside God, he is operating on his own authority. What he is establishing is man's authority, not the Lord's authority. In the Lord! In the Lord! What I am trying to first make you see is that our problem is a matter of being outside the Lord. In the Lord, the authority that God established in the man is not independent of the woman. It is not. And we're going to see these things as we go through these things. It's not independent. Why is it not independent? You're going to understand it. You will also see the head of man. Why is that of man not independent? Why is it not in isolation? You will see. You will see that God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man. And that authority that God established, you will see that that of God is also not independent of the man, the masculine man. You will see it. Just like that of the man is not independent of the woman. Because you will notice that he had noted something already at the beginning. When he said the man is the glory of God, what did he say? He said the woman is the glory of the man. Now the Bible says, "just as woman came out of the man, even so man also came through woman, but all things are from God." Now, what are we seeing again about the authority that God established? The authority that God established in man is not an arbitrary authority. It is not... it is not authority that is independent, that stands on its own, that stands solely. It is an interdependent authority that God established. Established that authority, God made it clear that this authority is not independent of the woman. What does it mean when it is not independent of the woman? As we go further and further, you will get this thing clearer. Because any authority that is independent of the woman, you will discover will create a useless man. You will soon see. Let us just move on. I've shown you now you can see the order. God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, authority. Man is the head of the woman. You will see the authority that God establishes flowing, flowing from God to Christ, from the Father to Christ, to man, to the woman. And all of these authority, they are not independent of themselves. At 1st Timothy... 1st Timothy chapter 2. Trying to draw again on something about authority. Chapter 2, I read from verse 11. "Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence." Now look at what he says again: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve." Adam was formed first, then Eve. My concern today is the verse 13. The verse 14 we will be looking at that as we go on on this matter. Is that what I'm trying to make you see is that it is in creation that God established authority. Authority has nothing to do with sin. Authority has nothing to do with perversion. It has nothing to do with corruption. Authority has to do with God, starting in God, establishing in God. So in making the male first before He made the female was God establishing authority. Look at that again in Genesis. Genesis chapter 2, quickly move on to how they related, verse 21. "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.'" So we are noticing something about creation. What I want you to note again, God having made the man, in coming to make the woman, you will discover that at creation, one thing you must see very clearly in this place is that Eve, what you call Eve, is still essentially Adam. What you are calling Eve is essentially Adam. Look at what the Bible says. And Adam said, "This is the bone of my bone." Is that not true? The bone of his bone? Is it not the flesh of his flesh? "She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man." So actually, what is woman? Woman is that... the female is essentially the male. I don't know whether you are understanding me. The female that God made is essentially the male. It was the bone of his bone, the flesh of his flesh. It was essentially him. What I'm trying to make you see here in creation, in making them male and female, that they were made in a way that the female is essentially the male, the bone of his bone. The first thing I'm trying to make you see here is that in making the female, please note something. Please look. And that is what many times we have not noticed today. Many times we have failed to see. And many times we even begin to place some things over these things. It's very, very unfortunate. I want you to note that in the making of the female, what brought to making of the female, look at it very well, was the concept of marriage. If you fail to see this, male and female, you have failed to see a fundamental thing about God and creation. It was marriage that brought about the female. You will see, what is the implication of this? What does this imply? What I am trying to make you see is that there is a strong, inseparable tie between creation and marriage. Whosoever fights marriage, fights God. Whosoever compromises marriage, compromises God. Marriage and creation are tied. What that simply tells you is this: the only way to know if the life of a man is correct is to see how marriage looks like in their life. If a female gets into marriage not being a virgin, something is wrong with her life. If a male gets to marital junction not being a virgin, something is wrong with his life. I am trying to show you a very, very important thing. That marriage... if you want to test creation, test them at the marriage junction. Everything between male and female, if you want to test the correctness of a life, go to the junction of marriage. First ask the male and the female how did they get to that junction. Once there is a problem at that junction, there has been a problem with their life. I am showing you the connection between marriage and creation. So when we talk about male and female, if you want to know the correctness of a male, check it with the female. That is why I said the man is not independent of the woman, the woman is not independent of the man. If you want to know how correct the female is, check it with the male. It's making you see the true test of spirituality is in the home. It is not anywhere else. The true test of spirituality is in the home. When you want to know whether a man is spiritual, it is not because he is speaking in tongues, he is doing miracles. You want to know if he is spiritual, don't check all those things he does in his career, in his job, all those things he does in the church, he is casting out demons, he is doing... it is not all those things. That is not where to check spirituality. What I am trying to make you see is that the home precedes every other institution in measuring the quality of a life. If you want to know the quality of any life, the home is the place to know. We want to stop here today about the male and the female in the beginning. That is the matter we are checking today. Today we look at the beginning. We will move gradually in the matter of the beginning. In our next meeting, we will look at "The Fall." We have looked at "The Beginning: Male and Female 1." Part 2 will be "The Fall." Then we relate the fall to the beginning. If we can finish the fall successfully, then in the next one, we will look at the relationship between the first and second creation, understanding the male and the female. What we have been able to establish today, brethren... technicals please, is there any question? Technicals, please help us check if there are questions. Questions should have come in, and we should have been responding to them by 11:30. We don't have questions. Okay. So brethren, in case you don't understand anything, please you can send them by 11:30, so that we can respond to whatever question. If you don't have them, we are rounding up now. If there are issues you want to raise about what we've discussed, please at the end of the program we have our phone numbers. Please relate to the phone numbers, go to our website, our phone number is there. You can relate to us, you can meet with us. And whatever question you want to send, you can send them even now. You can even send them to the Telegram page, the WhatsApp page, any how you connect with us. You can also send it to our Facebook page. Any how you send the question, we will relate to those questions. As we try to close today... I'm reminding us that one, the creation of man is not like the creation of animals. Two, man was made in the image of God and the likeness of God. Three, human beings are made in the image of God and likeness of God. Four, man, masculine, was first made before the female was made. In that, we saw one, that God established authority. Anybody that fights authority, that resists authority, that is against authority, that undermines authority is a godless person. He is a godless person. Authority is meant to be submitted to. Authority is meant to be recognized and respected. Now, in establishing authority, we saw that the authority that God gave to the man in the Lord—note that word "in the Lord"—that's why we must pray for our men to be in the Lord. They must not be outside the Lord. The authority that God established for the man in the Lord is an authority that is not independent of the woman. It must not be independent of the woman, because the woman is essentially the man. The woman is essentially the man. And we will still see that as we go on later. And you will also see the man is essentially Christ. We will see it as we go on later, that Christ is the second Adam. The man is essentially Christ. You will understand why it was only man that was redeemed and other creatures were not redeemed. Because this authority is not also independent of the man. So the authority of the man is not independent of the woman. It is connected that way. We also saw that in creation, the coming of the female in creation was the coming of marriage. Marriage brought the female. And so the best test for anybody is to test them at marriage junction. That makes you see that the home supreme, is supreme over all other institutions. It makes us see anyone, anybody who contradicts, who contravenes the principles of God in marriage, contravenes God. Anybody who fights marriage, is against marriage, who abuses marriage, does not know God. It is godless men that abuse marriage. It is godliness that upholds marriage. That is the point we have tried to see this today. We take it from this point until we meet next month. God bless you for coming around, God bless you for listening. Let us go ahead to pray. I want to invite my wife to handle the prayer session. Please come and close us with prayer. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. I want us to speak to the Lord. The Lord has spoken to us again this morning. Let's pray to the Lord. Let's ask the Lord to help us to live by this truth. That even this morning we need light in our land. Every form, ideology, philosophy, every misconception about the authority set by God. The Lord has made them for us today. He had brought out light. The Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth will make free. We need that truth in our life. And the highest authority is Christ. God in Christ. You can't come to God without Christ. The Lord will help us. Our eyes are on You. Help us Lord. We submit to Your authority, to Your lordship, in the name of Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Heavenly Father, we are grateful unto You. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for speaking to us. Thank You for opening our eyes. Thank You Lord for the truth, because it is only the truth that sets free. Lord, bless everyone of us that have been blessed, we have been privileged, opportuned to hear the truth today. Father, we thank You because the truth shall set us free in the name of Jesus. We set us free from everything that is contrary to the truth that we have earlier believed or held on to. By the reason of this truth today, we are free in the name of Jesus. Father, we pray Oh Lord as we continue in this series, that Lord You will speak yet further. We pray Oh Lord You will open our eyes, You will open our heart to understand the scripture, to know the Lord, to see You in the name of Jesus. We pray Lord as we close this morning, Lord do not stop Your Word. Brood our hearts, continue with us Oh Lord, that Lord from the seed that You have sown, You will bring forth fruit in the name of Jesus. Our lives Oh Lord, we live according to this truth. We will get more understanding, revelation, things that will make our lives and everything about us to indeed bring glory to the Lord in the name of Jesus. Thank You for Your son Oh Lord You have used this morning. We pray for more grace, more unction, more of You, more of Your help in this work that You have committed into His hand in Jesus' name. Thank You, Father, for hearing us. In Jesus' ever-loving name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace in fellowship. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. Praise the Lord! [Narrator] This message is coming to you from Family Tents Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's Word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 p.m.; Adolescents and Singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; Family Life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along [unclear: Ijare Road], Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytents@yahoo.co.uk, familytentsministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentsministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all. [music fades]