Almost felt like saying Merry Christmas, you know, with the weather out there, but good morning is probably far more appropriate. Welcome to Crossland Community Church. We are a community of refuge and hope for all people. We're so thankful that you're here today.

I love these moments, and we shall never grow tired of these moments, because it is a blessing in two very profound ways. First and foremost, certainly, that God would trust us with this expression and this experience is mind-boggling. It’s a compliment. I know it sounds funny, but it really is—that one of the most precious, powerful, life-changing moments in a person's life, and God has allowed Crossland to participate in hundreds of those, and we're never going to take it for granted.

But it's also such a phenomenal life-changing moment for the person, and that when they get in these waters because they want to do it before you, that should warm your heart, because there's a lot of places they could, but they've chosen to do it here, in front of you, so that you could be a part of what is the most powerful life-changing moment.

Baptism is the unleashing of a power that God will use to change your life. It's faith that unleashes the power of God to save your soul, but this is what changes your life. And so if you're saved and you just feel like there's something missing, it's not part of your salvation. It's maybe that you've never been baptized, because it really is what God uses to change us.

Why don't you tell everybody who you are?

Hi, my name is Teresa Gil.

Teresa, let me ask you a very important question. Are you absolutely convinced that you've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Yes.

And are you convinced that He's accepted you as well?

Yes.

What a beautiful privilege and an honor it is to baptize you there for us, my sister. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are very pleased to welcome you.

Thank you, Lord.

It's very important. Why don't you tell everybody who you are?

Liz.

Let me ask you those two same questions. Are you absolutely convinced that you've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Yes.

And are you convinced that He's accepted you as well?

Yes.

What an honor it is to participate with you in this moment. We're buried together with Christ through baptism and raised to walk in the newness of life. Congratulations.

Thank you.

God bless you.

God bless you.

All right. Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this day, for giving us something that is of far greater worth than everything. It is that one someone. That doesn't mean there isn't value in this world. Of course there is—you made it, it has worth. Its worth is directly connected to the one who made it. But nothing that has been made deserves the honor and glory and worship that belongs to the one who made it. And that's Christ.

The Word tells us in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It tells us that all things that have been made were made by Him, and nothing that has been made was not made by Him. To Him be all the glory and honor. It's in His name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated, and welcome to Crossland Community Church. We are a community of refuge and hope for all people. So glad that you're here today. Guests and visitors, especially thankful. We would love to celebrate this week that God led you into this place at this time to worship, and we would do that simply by sending you a letter saying thank you for being here.

We're not going to ever do anything—excuse me—obnoxious. We're not going to email you, call you, text you, or show up at your house unannounced. We would love to just send you a letter and pray over your name this week, and the only way we can do that is if we receive information back from you. So we would love to do that.

So if you would do us a favor and a great blessing, if you would take one of our guest cards out that's in the card holder that's beneath your seat. On one side it says, "I am here." On the reverse side is all that information you would typically put on a visitor's card. And when you leave, you can drop that off at any of the mailboxes in this room, first floor, out in this second floor lobby.

The best thing to do with it is to go out these main doors, make a right, and there's our guest services table. We'd love to meet you. We've got a guest back there to thank you for being here. We're not trying to bribe you. We're trying to thank you. And there's a great coffee cup in there and the world's best shortbread cookie. So if you would do that for us, we would greatly appreciate it.

Now, the truth is you can do all of that digitally, okay? At your feet in every row on the floor is a QR code. You know how they work. Up in the balcony, you can shoot the one that's going to be on the screen here. There it is momentarily. You can hit that. And just when you go to the link tree, you'll see a give tab. And then there's a guest tab and you can go to our entire website from there. It's a great, great tool. So just hit the guest tab. It's the same card, fill it out, hit send. And you also can go as soon as the service is over. We receive that when you hit send, we'll have a bag waiting with your name on it. So just hit it, go out that door, make a right. We'd love to present you with that gift bag. And again, thank you for being here.

Giving, you do the same way. You can do the envelope, which is beneath your legs there in the cardholder. So just take that envelope out, fill it out, cash or check, drop it in the mailbox, or you can do it digitally. Eighty percent or so of our weekly giving comes in digitally. So don't feel like that's an odd way to do it. That's the best way to do it. So you can do it with a QR code and immediately send your gift to the house of God.

Well, you know, Thanksgiving is upon us. I think the weather's looking good. I think the weather's letting us know that. And it's important. I think when you think about the very first Thanksgiving here in America, it was a really kind of a special moment in human history in many ways—that the explorers had finally landed, if you will, in a safer space in American soil and began to figure out a way to integrate with the indigenous folks that were already here.

And some of the first expressions wasn't competition. Wasn't "this is mine, it's not yours." It was, "let's be thankful. Let's be thankful that we have a place, a piece of real estate that is so abundant, that provides so beautifully." And all they could do is give thanks.

And I know there's a lot, a lot right now to be concerned about in America. There is, but not so much that we can't be thankful for the fact that God planted us here. Anyway, you know, the book of Acts is very clear that God appoints our days and times and location. You're not here by accident. You're here by design. And, um, there's still—I go so far as to say every other country in the world is going to be less of a pleasing experience than living where you're at right now.

And as we move closer and closer to Veterans Day, it's just, man, you—to find a way to be thankful, find something to be thankful for, and there's so much to be thankful for. And thanks always expresses itself biblically through giving, hence the name of the holiday, Thanksgiving. You give with a grateful heart, you make the heart of God happy.

Let's pray.

Father, we love you and thank you, and I'm just not a person who's going to sit back and ponder is it as bad as it's ever been, worse than it's ever been. None of that matters. It is what it is, and we're in this moment, and you have us here designed to make a difference, to—as we've been studying—to be holy, to be different so that you can make the biggest difference of all.

And we have—we're free people. There are literally followers of your Son being martyred every week on certain continents, and we're free to speak our mind. As we saw last week, how we speak our mind matters. But Father, we're free. We're free to worship you.

So thank you. Our gift reflects the depth of our gratitude for all that you've done and all that you are. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Crossland Christmas Give is our annual opportunity to sponsor children in Warren, Barron, and Butler counties. Our campus here in Bowling Green has taken on 550 or 60 or so, and believe it or not, we're down to 80. Okay, so let—yeah, it's beautiful. Let's go ahead and knock those 80 out.

We are working, just so you know, with an organization that I can't mention publicly that has a group of soldiers that work for them because the Department of War—you got to be very careful how you say you're going to help military families and the military organization. But we'll have that list because they're not getting paid.

We've been in touch with, um, the local—I'll just say it, who cares—the local National Guard, and we're going to do everything we can for everybody that's connected to the National Guard station here in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to make sure all those families and children are blessed as well. So when I have those names, we'll come back with that as well and make sure that they're well taken care of.

Thank you for your incredible generosity because it does make a massive difference.

Okay, quarterly gathering this fall is this Wednesday, okay? And that is a moment where the family of God gets together in this room and we worship God passionately, and then I'll teach for about 10 minutes. We'll celebrate communion together, and then we open up and have an extended time of worship.

And we encourage those among you, whether it's you or friends or family, whoever it is, if they are sick, bring them here. All the elders will be here. We separate out because there's always a lot of people who come to be prayed over and anointed with oil because we believe the teachings of James where it says we anoint them with oil and the prayer of faith will make the sick person well.

That happens this Wednesday night. What a great way to go into the holiday season.

We're going to decorate the church November 30th, Sunday afternoon. The information's in your program. It is a fun time. It's a blast.

Now, it isn't just for people who can fluff trees, okay? We need some guys and gals as well, but the stuff is all over the building. So we need teams of people to say, okay, what goes to the auditorium? What goes to the kids' building? And it doesn't take long to take everything where it belongs and start getting that together. It's a lot of fun. Make sure you show up.

We have our wonderful Christmas celebration. We call it Christmas Village after the third service on December 7th. Say that quickly.

And it's a whole campus experience. We'll have food and fun and all kinds of stuff. We did it last year. It was packed. It was mobbed. It's going to be wonderful. Don't miss it.

And last but not least, our annual Christmas experience—not counting Christmas Eve. We'll announce that starting next week. It is a beautiful event. It's all music. I think I talked for—I may not even talk for—I don't remember if I say anything or not. But the last two years, it's been packed and it has been mind-blowingly good.

This year, it's December 14th at four and six o'clock. You must get your tickets early because they will be gone. It's only $5 a ticket, and all the proceeds go directly to Curbside Ministries.

Okay? So everything we get, we send to Curbside. Of course, they're a part of us, but they're a parachurch ministry that we help fund.

Okay? And if you cannot, for any reason, afford the tickets or as many as you need, there is a code for you to put in there. I think it's called the coupon code, and it's free. You don't even have to call and ask. Just pop it in there. You don't have to tell anybody you get your tickets. You don't have to call us, email us, ask us. Just pop the word in there. Get your tickets. We don't care.

Okay? Just pop it in there. It's called free. Get your free tickets if you need them free.

All right? Let's prepare our heart and mind as we get ready to dive into God's word. He's called us to a reading from the book of Joshua, chapter 6. It states:

"Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men and do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of ram's horns in front of the ark.

On the seventh day, march around the city seven times with the priests now blowing those trumpets. When you hear them sound a longer blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout. And then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up and everyone shall go straightaway.'"

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for your word, and not to offend you, I ask you to forgive me, but that is the most nonsensical, irresponsible military strategy ever shared—that you are going to have your people walk around a city once a day for six days, and on the seventh day, they go around seven times, and when the trumpet sounds a long blast, they scream and the walls come down.

It's mind-boggling. In the annals of military history, it's probably the most irresponsible battle strategy ever. And yet, it accomplished exactly what needed to be accomplished.

And Father, that is your word. That is your way. That you're teaching us that strategically, there is a different way to win the war of war, of life, than pure force.

And Father, I just pray that we would humble ourselves today and hear a strategy that for the last 2,000 years, for sure, the world has looked at it like, "That's the craziest strategy I've ever heard." But when the family follows it, they win the war.

Father, we love you and thank you. In Jesus' name, we pray to you. Amen.

Did you hear that amen up there? God, it was beautiful. God bless you, honey. Thanks for being here.

It was called the Anaconda Strategy. It would be the strategy that would actually sway the Civil War and become the primary reason why the Union defeated the Confederates.

It was a strategy that when it was employed, many criticized it. It was not successful at first. In fact, it took a while for it to finally begin to take hold.

And the entire strategy, they named it the Anaconda because it's named after that massive snake that is in South America that slowly squeezes the air out of its prey. It doesn't immediately destroy, it doesn't immediately attack. What it does is once it gets a hold on it, it just continues to squeeze the life out of it.

And so the Union forces decided that's what we're gonna have to do to the South. We can't just bum rush them and think we can win. We're gonna have to win this war.

So they began this process of squeezing the South. And they did that through two strategies: one, to shut off the ports on the eastern seaboard, and then to control the Ohio River.

And they knew if they could shut the seaboard off, which they did, then the southern states could no longer receive things, but more importantly, they couldn't ship cotton to Europe. They could no longer have an economic support system to continue to fund their battles.

And so they took control of the eastern seaboard. But they also knew goods, soldiers, and ammunition can flow up the Ohio River. And so they decided we're going to cut it off.

It took a little bit more than a year, but the Confederate Army finally completely controlled the Ohio River. And the process began when they separated the South into three regions: Far West, they called one the West, and one the Far East. And they began to strangle it.

And as they strangled it, the South had only one choice: either surrender or move North. And they began to move North. And now you know why some of the bloodiest battles were in places like Gettysburg.

And believe it or not, it worked. Even though in the beginning, everybody thought it was a crazy battle strategy that we should just infiltrate and use force to overcome them.

You see what they learned? God had been saying now for 3,500 plus years. And it's simply this: in warfare, you can do far more through strategy than you can through strength.

It's one of the primary philosophies of military science that wars are won not through force, but through faith and through strategy.

And God showed that to Israel and Jericho. He proved to them that if they would just have faith in His strategy—a ridiculous strategy—that they would accomplish something that force would never enable them to accomplish.

And they did.

And that continues to be the reality, not only in war and in battles, but in life, that you will always do more through strategy than you can through strength.

And when the strategy sounds crazy, it doesn't mean it won't work.

And the codes that are written—they're called the household codes—that are written into the New Testament. To this day, people hear them and they think, "That's crazy. I'm not—no, that'll never work. I'm not doing that."

Because we misunderstand the entire concept that God is.

And that's what God has given us in it. It is a military strategy to win the war of life. And I'll prove it to you today.

Now, you might think you can do through your own strength in your home what you need to have done. And I'm going to tell you something: you're going to lose. You're gonna lose battles that you should naturally win. And eventually, sadly, we see it. Many marriages lose the war.

And what God wants the home to be is so distinctively different so that He can make a difference in the world through it.

The home is the original created institution of God, not the church. The home was on the face of the earth 4,000 years before the church got here.

And so this is the holy institution, the home where we can make the biggest difference.

And so Peter's gonna tell us and show us and reveal to us in his third chapter today that we can submit to God's relationship rules so we can reveal the rule maker.

There's something revelatory. This reveals something to the world.

They might think we're crazy. And I'm sure the citizens of Jericho must have been scratching their head, wondering what these nearly 2 million people were doing.

"Why are you walking around the city and going home? Why did you do it for six days? What do you think a trumpet blast is gonna do? Oh, great, the battle cry."

Well, battle cries don't do anything.

Are you so sure?

And it's the same thing with the home.

And last week we saw the beginning of this concept that there's power that God will unleash to make a difference in our world if we're willing to submit.

Last week it was submit to everyone.

Now Peter's gonna get a little bit more focused. And he says, "Wives, I know, I know, in the same way," okay, there's a key, number one, because he's already qualifying this by reminding us that this is a principle that's already applied to all of us.

So wives, you are not alone in this.

In fact, Peter introduced the responsibility to all of us before he begins to categorize it to each of us.

As Paul does in Ephesians chapter five, verse 20, he says, "Mutually submit to everyone out of reverence for Christ."

Then he says, "Wives, submit to your husband."

So Peter and Paul take the same approach, that there is the overarching principle that is mandated for all of us.

Now we're going to see the individual applications for each of us.

This isn't some patriarchal Quaker policy that got instituted, well, you know, when we came here.

This is Eastern thinking.

This is not Western American thinking that has completely distorted the concept of what it means to submit.

We're going to see that in just a moment.

So number one, I would tell you, if you're not married and you're a single woman, this doesn't directly apply to you.

Indirectly it does, because based on your age, you know, depending on where you're at, you may still be under "honor your father and mother," that it might go well with you, that you live long and prosper in the land to which God is leading you.

So it isn't as though you have, "I'm completely carefree," because Peter already eliminated that.

Everyone has to submit to every authority.

Remember, we saw that last week.

And one thing I will tell you, if you're single or dating and trying to discover and discern, is this Mr. Right?

I don't know, ask yourself: Do you see yourself submitting to him?

Because if not, don't marry him.

Because you're getting married knowing already the strategy of God's not going to work.

Why would you do that, right?

Wait until he's someone worthy of your submission before you willingly submit.

And like last week, this is willing submission. It's not coercive, it's not forced.

Wives, I will tell you this openly and freely: If you don't want to do this, don't.

No one's going to coerce you. No one's going to force you. Your husband doesn't have that authority over you.

Now you have to deal with God's consequences when you don't. You have to deal with the natural consequences of trying to live according to your strategy rather than His.

You have to deal with God's consequences when you don't. You have to deal with the natural consequences of trying to live according to your strategy rather than His.

But this is not coercive teaching.

Okay?

This word means to willingly do it.

And if you're not willing to do it, then don't do it.

But be prepared.

Because the consequences are far worse than submitting to this incredible principle.

So in the same way as we saw last week, submit yourselves to your own husbands.

Ladies, not every man on the planet.

Okay?

That's not true.

Now, we had last week's principle where I'm in there with you. We got to submit to every authority that's over us. I get that.

But you're not like some unequal woman or person in the world where women just got to, you know, you got to go in a different door in the church. You got to be silent. You got to be not—that's all nonsense. It's just not true.

You get to walk with all the dignity and honor that goes with being a child of the living God.

It is only to your own husband.

Okay?

So it's not a teaching of inferiority. It's not a teaching of inferiority.

This is a battle strategy so that you and your husband can win the war of life.

Okay?

Now, submit yourselves to your own husbands.

If—now it's just if, because some of them won't, but some of them have.

If any of them don't believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and the reverence of your life.

There's a purpose to this. It is a principle that's in your life. It's at work here.

And when we understand the principle, then you have to decide individually in your relationships how does that practice come about.

Okay?

And the driving purpose for that day was, obviously there were a lot of unbelieving husbands because the gospel just got to Turkey.

It should be no shock because it's true today.

The women were more spiritually engaged in Christianity than the men were.

And women were—men were being saved rapidly and men were coming secondarily.

And God said, here's the strategy we're gonna use to win their hearts.

Ladies, this is what we're gonna do to win the war: just make sure that you submit to your own husband.

All right, that's it.

Not every man—you think it's worse now on where you said, 2,000 years ago, you didn't even have a legal right to testify.

Okay?

You had no civic rights whatsoever.

And Peter through Christ is saying, no, that's not true at all.

We're gonna narrow it all the way down to this one institution called the home.

And the goal here would be to win over an unsaved husband.

Now this does not mean that ladies go ahead and marry an unsaved man.

I won't perform that ceremony because you're not supposed to be unequally yoked.

And husband, men don't marry an unsaved woman.

That is unwise. It's unbiblical. You should not do it.

I won't marry you.

I won't marry you, okay?

Now you can go get married, but it ain't gonna be me doing it, okay?

Because you're setting yourself up for unbelievable frustration because it's hard to live out the strategy that God's unveiling here in this passage.

Okay?

But if you're in the relationship and you get saved, don't run out of it.

Understand there's a strategic way to approach this.

And the first purpose of this would be to win over your husband.

But once we've won that and you've got two saved people, then you begin to implement this strategy and you win at life.

Okay?

And what happens when couples begin to win at life?

When you watch couples face the very same battles but they don't seem to face the very same defeats.

That they're not walking in this world unaffected.

It's just that they are untouched personally by the very same problems and pains everybody else goes through.

When we have homes that are operating strategically, we win the battles of life because that's what God wants us to do.

God can make a huge difference with that.

Okay?

So it's very specific. It has certain limitations that are there.

Now, it's imperative to understand that, I've told you last week I would explain it.

What does this word actually mean?

And so I put two different dictionary explanations for you there in your outline.

Here is the first one, okay?

And this is from one of the most highly respected Greek-English dictionaries ever written.

Okay?

The word is hupotasso.

Primarily a military term.

It's not a social structure. It's not a sociological principle. It's not an inferiority. It's about fighting a war. It's about going into battle.

And ladies, this is what God's saying.

Let your husband take the first bullet.

If you're going into battle, let him go first.

Come right up underneath that, get behind him, let him take the first bullet, not you.

And that, like, I can't ever comprehend why any woman would be like, no, I'm not doing that.

And the reason you would say that is because it's been so absolutely butchered in its proclamation from pulpits in America.

The bottom line is, you ask any general, when it's go time, "We gotta get in line, we gotta get in line."

Get in line.

Oh, what are you gonna do when you got guns pointing?

You'll be like, "I'm not getting behind him."

Like, have you lost your mind?

If I'm going into battle and the general looks at Greg and says, "You're first in line," fine, I'll take it.

But if he looks at me and says, "Farrell, you could be 30th," thank you. I gotcha. Bring it up the rear.

Why is that so offensive?

It's not because we never understood what God was talking about.

It's Jericho.

It's a mind-blowing strategy that is so ridiculous that nobody would think it could possibly work.

And why does it work?

Because you can always do more through faith than you can through force.

That strategy is always better than strength.

And when you're willing to understand this is a battle strategy, not a battle for equality or significance or importance.

In fact, when you look at this text, Peter has like 66% of these passages speak to women.

One third goes to men.

Why?

Because ladies have the harder job.

Women have naturally more influence.

I'll prove it in one second.

God has to bring you to a point because He knows how influential and effective you are in leading.

If He thought you were the problem and you needed to be led, He would say, "Husbands, grab your wife and get her behind you."

That's not the problem.

You're not wayward.

You're not out of control.

You are so impactful.

You just have to understand, because you know what's gonna happen with most mamas?

It's mama bear.

When the problem comes, you're like, first one out the door.

God's like, no, hold on. Hold on. I got a strategy here.

Has anybody ever told you it's a military term to arrange up under?

Like I read a great story in a book years ago and applying this, and it was, he was reflecting back from the Vietnam War.

It was the Vietnam era when it really began to change where armies no longer approached the battlefield lined out this way, all marching shoulder to shoulder because there were so many mines.

They had laced these jungles with mines, and you know, the Vietnamese knew that, and so they put mines everywhere.

So they began to approach it with a new strategy called the point man.

And the point man was the one who stepped out in front, and the one directly behind him was the enemy—the ammunitionist.

And everywhere the point man put his foot, everybody put their foot behind him.

And that's how they got through the jungle.

Just put your foot right behind mine.

And so often, the point man would step on a mine.

Click.

And they would stop and everybody would turn and march back out the same way they could put your foot exactly where those footprints are.

Don't deviate right or left.

The ammunitionist would have a bag with different sized metal plates, thin plates in there, trying to get one plate at a time so they could get enough weight on that detonator.

And if they could, he'd take his foot off and then they'd put more weight on it and they'd be fine.

But more often than not, they couldn't.

So the marine with his foot on it would take his dog tags off and his shirt off because they never wanted the enemy to know their name.

And they wanted to get that dog tag to the family.

The detonist would leave and there he was.

And we all know that.

We all know how often it blew their legs off.

We all know how often it took their lives.

That's why November 11th is so important.

Now are you telling me, ladies, that you're not willing to follow a man who's willing to do that for you?

That if somebody's gonna step on the mine, let it be him?

Right, and when we start doing that in our homes, the world's gonna take watch because it'll be as quiet in this world as it is in this room.

Because there's something about the nature of someone.

No greater love than this than the willingness of one person to lay down their life for another.

Hupotasso.

See, it's a principle.

It's a principle.

Now how you practice it in your home, well, that's up to y'all, figure it out.

Wife's gonna pay the bills, that's fine.

It doesn't mean she's in control.

You're just figuring out how we're going to—what's, how you're gonna implement this principle.

Sometimes it's mom that reads the Bible at night.

Sometimes it's dad.

Sometimes it's that dad that prays, sometimes it's mom, sometimes it's mom that's a disciplinarian.

Sometimes it's dad.

I will go on record saying it is far better when it's dad than mom.

Mom, whoo.

When mom's disciplined, watch out.

You know you've crossed the line, right?

And so, Peter's like, listen, your beauty should not come from outward adornment and it should be in there.

Outward adornment alone, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.

He isn't saying it's bad.

He's saying, listen, don't allow that which is outside of you to be more attractive than that which is inside you.

Because the most beautiful part of a woman is that which is within you, not anything that you put on on the outside of you.

And don't allow that to be a distraction to the beauty of who you really are, your inner self.

That there's never going to be anything more beautiful ever than your inner self, because that's what lives on forever.

Rather, the inner self with that unfading beauty, the thing that time can't touch, the thing that having children, sure, our bodies change, but not that unfading beauty.

And that unfading beauty is of a gentle, which means the willingness to come under God's control, and a quiet soul.

See, that has been so butchered.

It was turned into a quiet mouth.

And the Bible never says that.

There's something extraordinarily attractive about a quiet soul.

A soul that is just still and peaceful.

That when you're peaceful within your soul, there's going to be peace within your house.

That the most powerful thing within the home is a quiet soul amongst the mom and wife.

And that that is the most attractive thing you will ever bring to this world.

In fact, it's so wonderful that it's of great worth in the sight of God.

That when we quiet our soul, we're not so noisy anymore.

Our soul is calm.

The strategy is fine.

I'm going to do what God's asked me to do, because it's a strategy.

It's not about equality.

It's about peace.

It's about equality.

It's about a biblical military strategy for us to get through the battles of life so that we don't lose the war.

Bingo.

And when we as the church start employing these strategies, the world is going to watch.

Because I can tell you what they're doing.

They don't understand the point man.

They're all walking through minefields, and their marriages and their lives are blowing up nonstop.

And all we've got to do is understand.

It is always better to go into battle with a point man.

And that point man is the husband.

That's it.

It's a strategic approach to the battles of life and the power you bring.

Look how influential the woman really is.

She doesn't have to say a word to influence her husband.

Not a word.

Because we saw in the passages back there, he's already disobeying and unbelieving the word, the very word of God he's not listening to.

But boy, howdy.

He can be brought under the constraints of God without a word spoken from you.

Because there's something beautiful about a quiet soul.

Wives can reveal their true beauty and be certain they're pleasing to at least one person.

The easiest one at all to please: God.

So are there any examples?

Well, Peter's going to give you a great one.

It's a phenomenal one, to be quite honest with you.

For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God—that's what a holy woman is.

A woman who puts her trust in God.

A woman who puts her trust in God.

A woman who puts her trust in God used to adorn themselves.

They made themselves beautiful through a quiet soul.

And then he gives us an example.

They submitted themselves to their own husbands like Sarah.

Now it says, who obeyed?

It doesn't mean you're being called to obey.

It's just that was the word that was used in the Old Testament and Peter translated it.

Nowhere in the New Testament to say wives obey your husbands.

It's not in there.

Okay?

That's a different—children obey your parents.

That is a... I don't care what you think.

Get in line.

Get in line.

That's not the marriage relationship.

Okay?

Who obeyed Abraham and called him her...

The word Lord means leader.

You are her daughters if you do what is right and don't give way to the fear that is naturally to come upon you when you're like, "Now wait a minute. Why does he get to go first?"

Because God would rather him step on the mine than you.

God would rather he take the bullet than you.

Okay?

So why is Sarah the greatest example?

Because I don't know if there's any other woman in the Bible who was given multiple reasons and multiple opportunities never to follow her husband ever again.

Because when we meet Abraham, he's in the Persian Gulf.

He's just outside the Garden of Eden living a very plush life.

And he goes to his wife, try this on your wife.

Honey, we're going to move.

Okay, where are we going?

I have no idea.

And why are we going?

Because God said go.

So we don't know where we're going.

We're going to go to the garden of Eden.

We're going to go to the garden.

Nope.

So how will we know when we get there?

I don't know.

And what will you do for a living?

I have no idea because he told me to leave everything I have behind.

All my family, all the cattle, nothing.

It's just me and you and the kids and my nephew, Lot.

You got to be kidding me.

Nope, this is what we're going to do.

So she, in faith, follows him on this crazy journey.

They finally get to the promised land, the beautiful land that God had promised him.

And you know what's going on then?

A famine.

They get there and there's nothing.

There's nothing.

There's nothing.

There's nothing.

There's no food.

So you take me on this journey and the restaurants are out of business.

We got no food, nowhere to live.

You ain't got a job.

What are we going to do?

He says, I got a great idea.

Let's go to Egypt.

Let me tell you, biblically, it's rarely a good idea to go to Egypt.

And when he goes to Egypt, he sees Pharaoh.

He's so afraid for himself, he looks at his beautiful wife and says, I'm going to give you to Pharaoh.

You tell him you're my sister.

You're my sister.

You're my sister.

If I ever said that to Tammy, she, listen, you'd be coming to my funeral next week.

And why'd he do it?

He was afraid.

He was afraid to take that leadership role.

So he gives his wife away to another man.

That man has a nightmare and wakes up the next morning.

He's like, Abraham, what did you do to me?

The sworn enemy of God had more wisdom than the man God chose to birth this entire nation known as Israel.

Doing it once, terrible mistake.

Doing it twice, you're an idiot.

He did it twice.

He gave his wife away to Pharaoh.

It's just absolutely insane.

And I guess because she was watching his leadership, she finally decided to get out of line and start leading herself.

And we know what happened.

She just got out over her skis.

And what drove her to tell her husband to sleep with the maid?

Why did you tell?

You know why?

Because her heart was so broken that the purposes of Abraham were never going to be fulfilled.

She was such an old woman in her late 80s, still hadn't had Isaac, still hadn't had a child of promise.

And she looked at Abraham.

She's like, I just like, I can't do this to you.

Go sleep with her and have a child.

So at least you have a kid and you have a legacy.

Was it right?

No, we're paying the consequences to this day.

See what happens when we don't, we step out and get over our skis.

What drove her?

Was she evil?

No, she was deeply concerned.

Concerned, deeply concerned.

And she followed Abraham.

And then she turns 90 years of age and she's standing outside a tent in Genesis 18.

And she hears a conversation in the tent and she picks up on the angel telling Abraham this time next year, you're going to have that child.

And she busts out laughing outside the tent.

Not a good eavesdropper at that point.

And the angel of the Lord heard her.

And after he was done talking to Abraham, went around to the backside of the tent and said, "Hey, how you doing?"

And he said, you know what? You're going to have that child.

And she said, "Oh, now," and literally she said, "Oh, now that I'm this old barren and good for nothing."

And he said, and you know what? I heard you laugh.

She said, I didn't laugh.

He said, yes, you did.

And guess what you're going to do now?

You're going to name that child Isaac.

And you know what Isaac means in Hebrew?

Laughter.

And you know, she named him and said, when she had that boy, the Lord made me laugh.

And guess what happened to her willingness to do exactly strategically what God had asked her to do, even when it would have been more than enough?

And she said, I heard you laugh.

And he said, to stop doing it.

She gave birth to the person that changed the world.

Isaac.

I know it gets very confusing.

I know it's got to be hard to get your head around it.

Even at times when we're doing the best we can to lead the way we think.

And it's just like a dumpster fire.

Hangin' there because ultimately, and when it says that she obeyed Abraham, how, how did, well, at 90 years of age, she went home that afternoon with Abraham and made love to him.

And he was 99.

And that obedience produced intimacy.

And that intimacy produced a child.

And through that child, the world was changed.

Right.

Right.

It's such a profound and powerful strategy.

And husbands, why, why, why, why would you not in the same way, we're calling to submit as well, submit to the reality that God is commanding you to be considerate as you live with God.

Your wife.

Have you ever considered what God's actually calling them to?

Have you considered the depth and the majesty of the role that they actually play?

Are you considerate of who they are and what they need and how they think and how they live?

Are you considerate of God?

Because an inconsiderate husband is going to suffer grave consequences that I'll reveal to you in a second.

So we're supposed to live with her and treat her with respect.

And this, this word is honor.

The same word that's used and expressed for honoring God.

That's how heavy this word is.

Not just like, "Hey babe," I mean, honor her like you would display honor to God.

Value.

You so value them.

It's a word that comes from weight.

You subscribe tremendous weight to who they are as human beings.

And you treat them with that honor as the weaker partner.

What does that mean?

Well, Peter was letting every man know you're probably going to marry a woman that you're stronger than.

And it's the word that's used for physical force.

And what he was telling every husband is don't you dare use your size, but you ever use the fact that you are bigger and stronger to manipulate or coerce your wife.

Not financially.

So you're the breadwinner and you start using the fact that she can't probably provide for herself and the few kids because she's left the marketplace, she's left and come home to do the hardest job, and subconsciously you're like, "You're going to do what I tell you to do now because you can't leave."

May God richly bless you because the wrath of God is coming to you.

And if you're one of those weak, spineless cowards who thinks he's got to raise his hand to his wife, you're worse than dirt.

I'm here every day, Monday through Thursday, from about 8:45 to 6.

Ring the doorbell.

You want to raise a hand to somebody?

Bring it.

I don't care if you beat me up.

Go ahead, knock my teeth out.

It's better than you hitting your wife.

Taking a beating from a coward so your wife don't have to might be one of the greatest moments of my life.

You raise your hand to that woman, you are a spineless, worthless piece of dirt.

Now that's not in the Bible, but that's in my heart.

Because God has given you his treasure.

You've got to honor that because she is in fact a co-heir with the gracious gift of life so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

See, if you won't be considerate of your wife, God will no longer be considerate of you.

And if you won't run your home correctly according to God's strategy, your prayers won't go any higher than your own.

And if you don't run your home correctly according to God's strategy, your prayers—and if you won't listen to God, God ain't going to listen to you.

He's not even hearing you.

I don't know which would be worse, having to understand God's strategy and make sure that I comprehend that because of why he wants us to do it, or being such a knucklehead that you don't understand the strategy that God's like, "Dude, you are on your own. I'm not even listening."

Like that would be catastrophic in my book.

And man, here's the truth.

99.99% of you in this room are capable of fulfilling this.

That 0.01 or 0.1%, we can direct you to that.

We can counsel you into that.

We can literally lead you into being the kind of man that God has saved you to be.

We play such a phenomenal role in the home.

We are the primary protectors of the precious gift of life that God has given us.

To not be considerate of that, it's not strategically wise.

Remember, God's calling you to take the first bullet.

And the only way you will ever do this for any length of time is to be considerate.

Think about this.

With Tammy's medical condition right now, what kind of man would I be if I took Tammy and said, "Okay, you get out here. You do it. You get it done. Do what I tell you."

I'd be that piece of dirt.

We're not going to do that.

Because it's not about being good little boys and good little girls.

It's not about being a good wife.

It's about being a godly woman.

It's not about being a good husband.

It's about being a godly man.

And when you get a godly woman and a godly man together in a godly marriage, we will change this world.

We will change the world because that's the strategy that God's going to use to win the war of lostness in this world.

And just to close with just the thought that you ever tried to comprehend how irresponsible the gospel strategy really is?

Like God's like, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to send my sinless Son live a sinless life. And then I'm going to kill Him for all you people who hate me. For every one of you who hate me, I'm going to beat Him to death. I'm going to crush Him for your iniquities."

What are you going to—punish? Punishment that we deserve.

It says in Isaiah 53, God laid upon Him.

We saw it last week in Peter's word.

How many of y'all got sons in this room?

You killing them for your neighbor?

You go to your neighbor's house and say, "Dude, I know you got arrested for a DUI. And this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to kill my son so that you can be forgiven."

Because if you think that's rational, you're irrational.

It's ridiculous.

It's ridiculous.

Christ submitted to the strategy of the Father and did what Sarah did.

Changed the world and gave birth to everlasting life.

The only thing you can't tell me today is this strategy doesn't work.

Yes, it does.

It's just a matter of whether you're willing to believe it works or not.

Let's close our eyes.

Yeah, together today.

And Father, it's all of us who have to surrender to this principle.

Wives and husbands.

There's less said to the husbands because it's pretty clear what we're called to do.

Take the point.

And there really isn't a woman in this world who will not willingly spend her life with a man she knows would willingly die for her in the blink of an eye.

And that's the environment that trust is built.

Your word tells us in First Corinthians that love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

And when love doesn't persevere in marriage, it's because they lost hope.

And the reason they lose hope is because they can no longer trust.

The reason they can no longer trust is because they don't feel safe.

That's why marriage fails.

And Father, I pray over every marriage in this room, every single person who's going to be married, longs to be married, or is close to being married.

I pray for those whose spouses have moved on into your presence and they're now here alone.

And I pray that the memory of their spouse motivates them to continue moving on.

But Father, more than anything today, we pray over the lives of those who have yet accepted your Son, Jesus Christ.

That if they would just know that they're not alone, that they're not alone.

That if they would just know that He was the ultimate point man.

He stepped on the mine.

He got blown up so that they could have life and be free and have clear passage to heaven.

And all they have to do is believe in their heart that He lived perfectly, died painfully, and you rose Him triumphantly and declare, just like Sarah, "He's now my Lord."

They will be saved.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm going to be quiet.

And I'm going to just respond in any way you want to.

You can raise your hand.

You can open your eyes and look up towards the stage.

Nobody will see you moving.

Declare to God that you want to get in line right behind Jesus.

Right behind Jesus.

Beautiful.

God, raise your hand.

It's okay.

Father, thanks for giving your one and only Son that whosoever believes will not perish but have everlasting life.

It's in that precious name we pray, and all of God's people said, Amen.

Let's give God a hand clap of praise in His house today.

All right, you wonderful people, enjoy the flurries tomorrow.

God bless you.

You are dismissed.

Subject: Winning the War of Life Through God’s Strategy

Dear Crossland Community Church,

I hope you’ve been pondering the power of God’s unconventional strategy to win the battles of life.

Last Sunday, we explored how God’s way isn’t about brute force but about faith and strategic submission, especially within the home. Using the example of Jericho’s walls falling through obedience to God’s seemingly crazy plan, we saw that victory comes when we follow His design rather than our own strength. We also unpacked Peter’s teaching on wives submitting to their own husbands—not as a sign of inferiority, but as a powerful, military-style strategy to win the war of life together. Husbands, too, are called to honor and protect their wives with the same weight and respect they give to God, because the health of our homes directly impacts our prayers and our witness.

This week, I challenge you to ask yourself if you’re willing to get in line behind Jesus as the ultimate point man who took the first bullet for us all. Wives, consider the quiet strength and beauty of a soul surrendered to God’s plan, and husbands, reflect on whether you are truly living with consideration and honor toward your wife. This is not about control or coercion—it’s about embracing a strategy that God has proven works, so that together, we can win the war of life and be a light to the world.

Blessings,
Crossland Community Church Team