By Dr. Jacquelyn Simmons
Scripture: When Jesus came into the Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16: 13-19).
Our late pastor of Triumph Baptist Church, Monroe Louisiana, Rev, F.D. Nash, made sure that this child of our living God was recognized by other pastors of churches wherever he was programmed to speak. In fact, he openly made these terms of his participation known as their invitee before the acceptance of their invitations. Sometimes, communications went awry and somewhat embarrassing situations occurred.
On one embarrassing occasion, we, his church members which followed him to a church which was literally located over hills and dusty roads, through valleys, pass graveyards, etc. Evidently, the pastor either was not aware of, or chose to ignore his very often stated policy, “If you refuse to accept the presence of our female minister, Triumph Baptist Church’s participation is not accepted, also. Do not invite us!!!” Evidently, there was a problem with my sitting on one of God’s pulpit chairs in the aforementioned church in which we had been invited to deliver service. Rev. Nash indicated by giving me a “thumbs down signal”, sooooo, instead of entering God’s pulpit, after singing God’s hymn of the church, “Amazing Grace” along with the entire church attendees, we exited the premises and returned to Monroe, Louisiana. However, those types of embarrassing situations do not change the fact that God’s offer of salvation through His Son’s sacrificial death on that “Old Rugged Cross” for everyone-male, female, no special racial identity, etc. still remains and wherever I sit down doesn’t matter to Him. Thanks to our living God.
Oh Yes, God’s first message of salvation through acceptance of His Son’s sacrifice on that cross was delivered to His male disciples by a lady, selected by Jesus Christ, whose name was Mary Magdalene. Who also was allowed to know of His resurrection, FIRST. Gender does not matter to God. Only our clean hearts.
Love you much!
Jacquelyn Simmons
