Biblical Manhood

Eric brought home a sermon yesterday that he told me to listen to. It is called Biblical Manhood preached by Voddie Bauchum (not sure I spelled his name right). Eric and some men from our church have been getting together weekly listening to various sermons and discussing them. This one is the one they are discussing today. It was excellent! Some points from it were:

• God made the husband the head of the household. It is not a co-leadership. The man is the head, period. The woman was created to be his helper, period. The man was created first. The woman was made for him and from him. The Lord brought the woman to the man.
• The man being the head of the home DOES NOT mean by any means that he is a tyrant or that he lords this authority over his wife. NOT AT ALL. Quite the contrary. He does it by loving her so much that he'd die for her, if necessary. Ephesians 5:25-29: 'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.'
• Okay these last two points are my favorite: 'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word' ... Husbands are to be the spiritual leaders of the home by discipling and mentoring her through God's Word and bathing her in prayer! It is not the other way around! It is the husbands leading the wives in this area!
• Lastly, Voddie discussed that the husband is to come up with a spiritual vision for their marriage. He needs to have a vision: 'okay, this is what our purpose is, this is where were going, this is what we are going to be passionate about. Now, woman, you go do the day to day stuff.' Okay, he didn't say it quite like that. It was much more eloquent but you get the picture. That women need to know what their purpose is so that they can do the day in day out functions and that that purpose can spur her on through the mundaneness of life.
• By the way, I think someone needs to preach on Biblical Womanhood and our role in marriage and put us women in our place :) . God is and has been convicting me in the area of submission, especially lately. The book 'Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free' by Nancy Lee DeMoss has an excellent chapter on marriage and the lies we believe about marriage. It has helped me in reframing my mind with God's truth concerning my role, as I am constantly bombarded from all fronts by the world's view. This book is incredible in all ways--I highly recommend it! I think every woman should own a copy and read it every year or so!

If you are interested in hearing this sermon, I can find out from where you can download it. By the way, Voddie wrote an excellent book entitled 'The Family Driven Faith'. I highly recommend it, too! It is about having a family integrated church. It is excellent.