Aug. 25, 2026

The Very Good

Show Notes
Transcript

In Episode 7, The Very Good, we head into the New Testament and meet women who didn’t just sit on the sidelines—they carried the gospel, taught truth, led, served, and worked alongside the apostles.

From Mary Magdalene, the first witness of the resurrection sent to preach the Gospel, to Phoebe, Junia, and Priscilla, Scripture gives us a compelling picture of women actively participating in the work and leadership of the early church. These stories remind us that when God calls, gifts, and sends, gender is not the qualification—He is.

Main Scriptures: John 20:11–18; Luke 8:1–3; Romans 16:1–7; Acts 18:24–26; Genesis 1:26–28, 31; Galatians 3:28; 1 Timothy 2:12.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

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They whispered.

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Leave the deep thoughts. Dear, just smile and be sweet.

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Don't worry about the doctrine. Just find yourself a seat.

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But the Gospel shatter strongholds.

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It's a wrecking ball of grace.

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We're tearing down the tired lies all over.

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This holy place.

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Martha, Mary, and may Welcome back, Mayhem Makers. This is

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Cassandra Barbado, your host, and Abra Jin it's your co host,

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and we are getting into some New Testament women today.

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Yes, we're gonna start with Mary, just.

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To kind of remind the listeners of what we've been

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doing this whole season. We've really been focusing on women

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in ministry, lines of authority between gender, and what scripture

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actually says about this. And so last week we did

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the Old Testament. We just pulled out a couple of

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women from the Old Testament. Go back, listen to that

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good stuff there. And then this week we're gonna get

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into the New Testament and pull out a couple of

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women that are great examples of what the Lord is

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doing with the church. And so this whole idea of

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being able to respond to any gift or calling in

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the Lord is available to both the men and the women.

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God calls both men and women to all positions within

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the Church, and even when it comes to men and women,

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there's not a line of authority. There is not one

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type of people that is put in position over another

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type of people, where one is always a decision maker,

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the other one's always a subordinate. No, in the Christian faith,

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we have submit one unto another. Yes, we're gonna start

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with Mary of Magdalah.

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Mary being the first witness of the resurrection.

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What is so fascinating about this is that the Lord

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could have appeared to anyone right anyone, but instead we

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have Mary, and I think that there's purpose behind this.

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I think the Lord does things on purpose.

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Absolutely, should we tell a story, Yes, I think we

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should look at the different places where she's mentioned throughout scripture.

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So this is John chapter twenty, and Jesus has resurrected

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from the dead. Mary is looking for him. She's trying

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to figure out what happened because she went to the

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tomb and he was not in the tomb. So, starting

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in verse eleven, it says, but Mary was standing outside

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the tomb weeping, so as she wept, she stooped to

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look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in

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white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet,

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where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they

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said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said

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to them, because they have taken my lord, and I

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do not know where they have put him. When she

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had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,

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and yet she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus

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said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are

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you seeking? Thinking that he was the gardener, she said

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to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell

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me where you have put him, and I will take

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him away. Jesus said to her.

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Mary.

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She turned and said to him in Hebrew rabboni, which

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means teacher. Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me,

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for I have not yet ascended to the father. But

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go to my brothers and say to them I am

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ascending to my father and to your father, and to

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my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and announced

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to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that

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he had said these things to her.

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The risen Christ specifically instructed this woman, yes, to go

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tell the other disciples what had happened and what she

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had witnessed.

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And she becomes the first witness to the resurrection of Christ.

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Could you imagine the feeling this woman is going through. Yeah,

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it had to be all of them.

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Yeah, Currie's such a magnitude of weight surrounding this topic.

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She is the first one to preach the gospel.

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Yes, that first witness. And then she is told specifically

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told to go and take it to the brethren, take

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it to the other disciples.

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And there are several other places in scripture where her

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story continues. In Mark sixteen one through nine, it tells

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the same story. It's another account of her witnessing the resurrection.

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Luke eight one through three identifies her, along with Joanna

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and Susannah, as women who provided for Jesus and his

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disciples out of their own resources.

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This was like before she even gets to be the

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first witness of the resurrection. She's somebody that was there

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with Christ providing for his ministry.

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Yes, Luke eight two and Mark sixteen nine, that's where

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it states that Jesus cast the seven demons out of her.

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Mark fifteen forty three forty one and John nineteen twenty

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five plays her to directly at the foot of the

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cross during the crucifixion. Matthew twenty seven sixty one and

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Mark fifteen forty seven record her watching his burial. She

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sat there and watched him die. She saw them place

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him in the tomb, and then she went back to

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the tomb and it was empty. She saw it.

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Yep.

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Now there's some history with Mary, and it is often

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taught that Mary was a prostitute, but this is not

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a fact we can conclude from what is in the scripture.

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So the New Testament itself never describes her as a

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prostitute or a sexual sinner. Instead, the myth was built

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through a specific historical timeline. So we're gonna give you

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a little bit of backstory and then we'll talk about

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how that came to be. In Luke seven thirty six

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through fifty, there's an anonymous woman who washed Jesus's feet

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with her tears and then dried it at his feet

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with her hair. She's noted as someone who lived a

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sinful life, but her specific sins were never named. So

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people often say that that was potentially a prostitute, but

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that that's finishing a story that's not listed, just a

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sinful life. Mary of Magdalen was actually named immediately after

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that in Luke eight. That is common in Luke's writing

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of how he introduces new people. The same writing style

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indicates that he's introducing someone new. So that was kind

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of where that got confused. He was talking about the

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anonymous woman. Then Mary came into the picture, and people

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were just like, Oh, it's the same person. But it's not.

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You can go back to the original scriptures in his

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style of writing and see that that's not the same person.

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There's also Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

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She also anointed Jesus's feet out of love and devotion.

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That's in John twelve one through eight. I mentioned all

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three of these women because in five ninety one eighty

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Pope Gregory the First preached all three of these women

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were the same person. He preached that the seven demons

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cast out of Mary represented all the vices, interpreting them

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specifically as sexual sins, and lust. So this pope decided

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that this was the interpretation of the scripture that these

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three women were the same. They're not the same. And actually,

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in nineteen sixty nine, the Catholic Church went back and

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said that that was not correct, that these are three

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separate women. And in fact, you know, in twenty sixteen

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they re elevated Mary and gave her her own feast,

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and they called.

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Her the apostle to the apostlevious.

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Rather than a sinner, which I think is because growing up,

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I remember people portraying Mary as a prostitute. Even a

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popular Biblical show I like puts that theory out there,

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that she was potentially a prostitute when she was possessed

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with the demons. But there's no facts that backed that up. Right,

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if you're drawing inferences that do not exist, and I mean,

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it could have been greed, it could have been anything, right,

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the gossip.

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The reason why we're bringing this up really is because oftentimes,

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when Scripture is being taught, the weaknesses of women are

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what's highlighted, the falts of failures, and they are remembered

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in that way. So Mary of Magdala the prostitute, rather

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than Mary of Magdala the one who preached the gospel. First, Right,

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if we remember King David, we think King David the

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man after God's own heart. Yet we don't say King

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David the adulterer and murderer, right, So we might teach

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on those things as faults and failures and how God

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is still full of grace, but we tend to highlight

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and remember men and women a little bit differently in scripture. Yes,

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the number seven in scripture is also an important number.

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It represents something that's complete and perfect. And so I

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actually like I like to look at things like that

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and scripture. I like the meanings of names. We recently

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discovered that JL is the goat, which is perfect right.

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So if you know the story of Jail we talked

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about last week, tent Peg through the head of Cicera

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defeating a military commander. She's her name means goat, mountain, goat.

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So if she's the goat, I love that. That's my

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new favorite thing. I want a T shirt that says

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that with JL and a tent peg. But names mean things,

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numbers can mean things. Not every single time, but there's

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a lot of times where God uses this as is

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like an extra little layer of something cool to uncover

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in scripture. And the fact that this woman Mary who

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the name Mary comes from the name Miriam, and one

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of the possible translations of that is rebellion or rebellious.

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So you've got this woman whose name means rebel, who

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is delivered of seven demons, seven being perfect, you get

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a picture of somebody who has been completely and perfectly

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delivered from Satanic influence. Love that because in that you

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have this woman who is maybe even representing the condition

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of humanity being in rebellion, being completely and utterly delivered

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from the power of Satan, and then being given the

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Gospel message and sent to give that message out. It's

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very cool stuff to me. It's a picture of deliverance. Absolutely,

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it's a picture of the church really, because every single

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one of us was that woman, the rebellious who's been

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in Christ completely delivered of the power Satan. And now

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we've been, as Peter puts it, we've been made a

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royal priesthood that is given the commission to go out

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and preach, tell testimonies of his excellencies. And the most excellent,

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the very first one is the fact that he rose

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from the dead. Yes, after conquering hell, death and the grave. Yes,

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very good example. If we're looking at who does God

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call to preach the Gospel, who does he send into

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the mission field?

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Not only does it call women, but they don't have

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to be perfect. She had a past, she had a history,

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she was possessed with demons, but was still because a

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lot of people focus on the other Mary, right, the

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merry mother of Jesus, who was the story is told

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that she was basically perfect and that's how she became

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the one that got to carry Jesus. That's not the

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only type of person Jesus uses.

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No, As a matter of fact, Paul's like, I was

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picked because I was a big mess up.

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Yes. I think he likes the redemption stories.

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Yes, he's going to highlight his favor. Yes, his hon.

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Earned favor that way. You know that Jesus is for Yeah.

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The guy who wrote most of the New Testament epistles

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was a religious terrorist, yes, who violently assaulted the church. Yes,

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and God's like, yep, that's my dude. Okay. Can you

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imagine all of the Christians being like, what is happening?

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Yeah? And that is what a story of eating crow be.

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Like everything I told you guys before, just joking.

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Well, and he's so extreme. This is my love about

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Paul that he immediately like, as soon as he knew

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what was right, he was like right out there in

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everybody's face. Jesus is Lord. Yes, no hesitation, yep. I

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mean it's obvious why the Lord picked him, because he

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was so he was so passionate that he just needed

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to get pointed in the right direction and he was

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willing to go through hell to preach the gospel. But

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his past did not disqualify him. I mean it just

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really it ties into the whole. Your flesh, man, is

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not your qualification. Absolutely, so what you have done in

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the flesh is not your qualification or disqualification. Your gender,

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your race, your economic status, your formal education, these things

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are not your qualifiers or disqualifiers.

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No, it is.

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You're qualified. If the Lord tells you to go and do.

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Yes, that's it. That is the one the one line

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on the job posting.

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And if he has a task that you need to

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be developed for, he's going to put you to that development.

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Yes he will.

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Yes, if you're going to be a teacher, you may

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have natural teaching skills that he put in you, but

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then he also will give you circumstances to develop that teaching.

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But you're not qualified based on something in the flesh.

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You're qualified if the Lord, the God of creation, has

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said go do this.

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Yes, absolutely, yep.

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So he told Mary that, he said, go do this,

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so she was qualified to be the apostle to the apostles. Yes,

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let's go to We're going to Phoebe, I think so.

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All right, that's the timeline.

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So we did talk about Phoebe a little bit ago

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when we were talking about deacons, and we brought up

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how she specifically called a deacon. We read it in

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the NASB, which says calls her a servant. So in

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Romans chapter sixteen, verse one, he says, I recommend to

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you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the

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church at how you said that?

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You think I did? I looked it up. I cheated

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sin Crirea all right.

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So that word servant there is the word deacon. So

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she is a deacon of this church, of the Church

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of the Church at sin Crea. So it's he's not

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just like she's a helpful lady. Now this word also

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can be translated as minister. She is a woman that's

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in leadership. And we know this because as you even

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continue on, Paul talks about her being a patroness, which

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is not something you can see in the NASB because

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they use that word helper, that she's been a helper

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of many, But that word helper is patroness, which literally

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means a woman set over others. Yes, so it has.

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And it could be also that she there may have

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been financial resources involved in that, but this was a

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woman of position and authority. Yes, that Paul also is

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utilizing to bring the Book of Romans. So this introduction

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is for a purpose. My understanding is that this woman

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delivered the Letter of Romans to these people. Yes, which

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is huge because you have the apostle Paul and trusting

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his baby. This was the big deal. This is a

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masterpiece of Christian theological work, of him writing out the

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foundational doctrines of our faith and sends it through this

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woman and commends her, recommends her to the people, and

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calls her a minister or a deaconess of this church,

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and that she is a patroness even of himself. So

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this is not a small detail. It may even be

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that she actually was the one to explain what the

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letter meant. So oftentimes, and this is just his history

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what they know about when letters would be delivered. We

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don't have anything that specifically says that Phoebe explained the letter,

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but due to what we know from this time period,

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she may have very well been somebody that could answer

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questions regarding what the apostle Paul had written. So it's

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an important thing to note. This is not somebody who

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is just a helpful lady. This is a woman of position,

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a woman of means that is entrusted by one of

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the most famous and influential Christians of all time and

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carries this fantastic piece of Christian doctrinal information to the Romans.

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But that's not it. As we go through this chapter,

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you actually get a bunch of different women that are

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brought out. One just to really quick. I know we're

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going to talk about Priscilla and Aquila, but there is

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also a woman apostle that is talked about in this chapter,

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and her name is Junia, And in verse seven he says,

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Greek Andronicus and Junia my kinsfolk, my fellow prisoners, who

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are outstanding in the view of the apostles, who also

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were in Christ before me. So the naasb kind of

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throws it in there and says outstanding in the view

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of the apostles, but it actually in the Greek says

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outstanding among the apostles like saying that Mary was favored

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among women. It didn't mean that women favored her. It

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means that she was a woman. And in the same

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way we have here Junia being called somebody who is

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among outstanding among the apostles. She was among them because

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she was one, and so much so that there have

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been those who have actually questioned her name and have

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in some transcriptions in the past they changed her name

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to a man's name, to Junius.

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That's rude.

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Yeah, it's not accurate, and so for the most part,

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when you read through different translations, you'll find that Junia

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is written in as Junia rather than Junius because it's

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actually a woman's name. But interesting there that we have

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a woman apostle called out as being outstanding among the

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apostles by the apostle Paul. But that brings us to

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kind of the last women that we were going to

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point out. There are other women that are prophet, says,

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you've got women who operate in evangelism. But we have

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Priscilla and Aquila.

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They were tent makers turned mentors and Paul was a

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tent maker, so he so they were the same pupils. Yeah,

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they were co workers. Yep, co workers. They hung out together.

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They sure did, probably traded secrets and tent making secrets.

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That sounds like a really hard job.

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It kind of doesn't Church hosts and coworkers of Paul.

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Priscilla with her husband they hosted house churches in Corinth

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and that's an Acts eighteen and later in Romans chapter sixteen,

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three through five, Verses three through five say greet Prisca

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and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus ello workers.

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It is both of them nogether. Her name is first,

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which happens four of the six times they are mentioned, Yes,

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which I think is significant. Who risk their own necks

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for my life to whom not only do I give thanks,

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but also all the churches of the Gentiles also greet

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the church that is in their house.

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So he calls out the church that meets in their house.

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Most likely this was the church that they were overseeing,

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and we have evidence of that because they are shown

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to be teachers in the Book of Acts as well.

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Acts eighteen twenty four through twenty six. They educated Apollos.

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This brings a giant blow to those who want to

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say that One Timothy two twelve, where it says I'm

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not permitting a woman to teach or have authority over man.

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But yet we have in scripture where Priscilla and Aquila

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where they are teaching the great teacher Apollos, so they

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actually explain the way of God to him more adequately.

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It says, this is a huge blow to those who

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want to say that women should not be teaching.

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Men, yes, because there's this very specific example of where

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a woman who is a coworker of the apostle Paul

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is teaching men yes and acceptedly doing so. She wasn't

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reprimanded for it. They didn't try and quiet her. They

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celebrated and appreciated her.

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And it goes on to have a great impact because

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after they've they've pulled them aside. So you can read

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this story in Acts, chapter eighteen, starting in verse twenty four,

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but it says when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they

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invited him to their home and explained to him the

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way of God more adequately. Her name is there again first.

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There's different theories of why this is, whether she had

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a higher status economically or whatever, but the fact is

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is that it was very uncommon during this time to

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have the women's names first it usually was a man

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and then the woman, the husband, and then the wife.

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But four out of six times her name being first

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may have also been because she was more prominent in

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the ministry. We don't know that for sure. That's just

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a theory, but it is an interesting fact that you

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find her name first repeatedly, as it's brought.

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Up, especially by Paul, who was a very intentional writer.

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Yes, very intentional. So they explain the way of God

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more accurately. Well what's the result of that, Well, you

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go on, says When Apolos wanted to go to Acacia,

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the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the

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disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was

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a great help to those who, by grace had believed,

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for he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate,

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proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. This

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teaching that they gave him caused him to go on

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and be a great public debater preacher of the gospel. Yes,

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so benefit there. I like ending with Priscilla and Equila

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on our women in the ministry because of what we

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highlighted in the first episode. Yes, and the co dominion. Yeah,

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and God said it was very good. And that's what

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we see here. We see very good everywhere that you

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see this husband and wife team, it's always as a team,

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whether they are tent making, or whether they are leading

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their church, whether they are coworkers with Paul. You see

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them together, yes, right, no defined roles. She's not at

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home while he's out preaching the gospel. You know, they

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function together as a unit, and it's celebrated in scripture.

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I mean this, how many people are brought up six times?

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Not many?

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Not many? Six times in scripture if maybe got two sentences. Yeah,

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this was a power couple. And when you go back

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