No one is drawn to the judgements of God, they scare you. People are drawn to the loving kindness of God. That word 'loving kindness' is these kinds of things. It's very hard to get that word, in the original language, into English language, because there's no word describes it. You've got to use several words to try and get what they meant, so let me give you the several words, that when God says: with loving kindness I've drawn you. One of the meanings of it, means generosity. Generosity is very attractive. I've found people like generous people, and they hate misers. Have you noticed that? Generosity attracts us, so He says: with great generosity, have I attracted you. It means also personal involvement, and commitment in relationship, beyond any legal requirements. In other words, He said: it's a heart involvement in relationship. It draws you out, because I get personally involved in your life, with an interest in what's happening. It also means steadfast love or devotion, that never fails or stops. Now that's what attracts people to the Lord - His steadfast love and devotion, His personal involvement in how our life is getting on, and His willingness to build relationship with us, His generosity.
It also means His mercy, His willingness to overlook, or to put aside the faults and failures, and lift us up into a place of great value. Now who wouldn't be attracted by that? That's how God attracts people. Now if that's how God attracts people; men, guess how we want you to attract your wife? This is what He wants to use. I'm going to show you that very clearly in scripture. I'll give you a scripture just related to that, in 1 John 4:19. You know what the Bible tells us? It says: we love Him because - can anyone finish it? [He first loved us.] We love Him because He first? [Loved us.] So what response does God's love bring in our heart? [Love.] We love Him. So He never uses His power, He uses His power to get our attention, but the thing that attracts us to walk with Him, and have a relationship, is His love for us. The more you get exposed to the love of God, the more you love Him. He says we love Him, why? Because He first loved us. We don't love Him because we've got the letter of the law. We don't love Him because we saw judgements on this and that. We don't love Him for those things. We love Him because we experienced Him reaching out, taking the initiative, to love us. Oh husbands, if you could just get a hold of that one. Your wife will love you, if you will take the initiative to love her - and I mean love her. Love her. We're going to explain it, because some people don't understand what that means, so we need to make it really as clear as we can. [Laughs] Okay then, so God's love influences our life, and brings us, or attracts us, into relationship with Him.
I want you to have a look with me in Proverbs 19. The women are saying: already this is getting better. [Laughter] Our message on headship was worrying me, but now I'm feeling safer now. There'd be a few women shaken by some stroppy men over the last week or so, but it's alright. Don't worry. They're just getting stirred up to take the leadership, but just need to learn how to do it, that's alright. You don't always do things right when you start out, but they're moving in the right direction, that's the big thing aye? Praise God for that. Okay, praise God for that. They may make some mistakes on the way, but we're moving in the right direction.
Okay, now we want to look now at the principles that empower a man's leadership. The first principle I'm going to look at, just shortly I'll give you five of them, but I want you to have a look at this. It says: the desire of a man is his kindness; or literally putting it in what it means: that quality in a man, which makes him desirable, is loving kindness. Now you'd never get that in the pictures, and the movies, or the television, or the videos, or in society anywhere. [Rock hard abs.] That's right, rock hard abs is what you get. [Laughter] The rock hard abs, yeah, that'll do it! But you know I haven't met a woman yet who didn't get touched when a man showed loving kindness to her. All the other stuff is image, but loving kindness flows out of a heart attitude, that genuinely cares and is concerned; and God has wired women, so when a man is kind, it becomes irresistible. All the other stuff passes away, but the loving kindness always touches a woman's heart. That's why God commands man to love, because He knows: one, man will forget to love; and two, woman is wired to receive love, and respond to it. That's why it says: love. It's quite simple isn't it?