Kingdom Women
Sermon notes from Bryan Jones at Brookwood Church on being created first and foremost for God and called with a mission from God.
Connection and community
Brookwood welcomes people as they are while believing God is calling them to something more.
Connect Track helps people connect with God, their purpose, and others in the church. It meets Sundays at 10:15 upstairs in the chapel, and sessions can be completed in any order.
The five-week Big Group of Small Groups offers a way to try community without a long-term commitment. It meets Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Pod C. Groups can also use the sermon series videos and discussion questions with people from work or their community.
Preparing for worship
The opening prayer invites people to leave their burdens at the foot of the cross, surrender control and idols, and give God all they have and all they are.
The worship leader points to God's provision in sorrow, mourning, and joy.
Worship and surrender
The songs celebrate belonging to God, freedom through Jesus, praise for the King, surrendering one's whole life, and confidence in God's good plans.
The congregational prayer acknowledges that every gift comes from God. It asks for generosity rooted in devotion rather than duty, gratitude and joy, compassion, readiness to serve, and gifts that feed the hungry, heal the broken, and proclaim God's love.
5 Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why.
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate,
7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews.
8 Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.
9 So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai’s response to Esther.
10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai,
11 “All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”
12 When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai,
13 he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews.
14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish! ”
Kingdom Women
In week two of Kingdom Men and Women, Bryan Jones turns to the calling of women.
Thinking about his two daughters, whose personalities are very different, he describes the same deepest desire for both: that they become kingdom women who step into God's plans and purposes.
He expresses gratitude for Brookwood's women's ministry and challenges the tendency in some churches to give men a substantial calling while offering women only reassurance. Women are not accessories to God's work.
1. A kingdom woman is created first and foremost for God
Before a man, a child, a job, appearance, resources, comfort, or pleasure, you are created for God.
Jones frames this as the first truth he wants his daughters, and every woman in the church, to understand.
The setting of Esther
Jones traces Israel's history from Saul, David, and Solomon through the division into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Conquest and exile scattered the Jewish people.
By Esther's time, Persia ruled a vast empire under King Xerxes. Esther, whose family came from Judah, became queen in Susa, in modern-day Iran.
A Jewish woman from an exiled people now held a royal position in the most powerful empire of her time. But a plot threatened her people.
6 And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.
Character when denied
Haman held power and prestige, but Mordecai's refusal to bow exposed his insecurity. He sought not only Mordecai's death but the destruction of the Jewish people throughout the empire.
Jones offers a practical observation: watch how someone responds when they do not get what they want. That response reveals character.
For such a time as this
Mordecai challenges Esther to recognize that her royal position carries a purpose beyond her own comfort.
Jones explains the challenge this way: Esther was not made first for a king, a kingdom, or its resources. She was made first for God.
Her position was not the whole purpose of her life. It was a place from which she could respond to God.
Where does your identity come from?
Jones contrasts receiving identity vertically from God with seeking it horizontally through circumstances.
Marriage, career, children, infertility, and unmet expectations can become measures of worth. When life does not go as planned, an identity built on those things can produce insecurity and a sense of not measuring up.
But favorable circumstances can also distract from God. A blessed season may become spiritually dangerous when comfort and success replace his purposes.
Made for more
Esther had resources, influence, and comfort. Mordecai's challenge was not to settle for those things as the purpose of her one life.
Jones warns that even good things can become lesser things when they take God's place. The sense that there is more can be an invitation into the purposes God has already placed before you.
God created Eve
Adam did not create Eve. God did.
Jones emphasizes God's intentional care in making her, describing her as fashioned with intricate detail. She belonged to God before she was brought to Adam.
His point is that a woman's purpose is not exhausted by her relationship to a man. God has plans and purposes for her life.
A strong helper
Jones discusses the Hebrew expression ezer k'enegdo, emphasizing strength, rescue, and deliverance rather than treating a helper as merely a cleaner, childbearer, or unquestioning supporter.
He describes women coming alongside men with strength, wisdom, prayer, and direction.
For husbands, his challenge is direct: listening to your wife is part of receiving the partnership God has given you.
Description is not endorsement
Ancient societies were male-dominated, and women often had little voice or standing. Jones points to the removal of the original queen in Esther as part of that setting.
His interpretive principle is that the Bible's description of an action does not mean the Bible endorses it.
He contrasts the culture's low regard for women's testimony with Jesus appearing to women after his resurrection, presenting this as an affirmation of their value.
Do not use half-truths
Jones recounts a husband asking him to preach about his wife's obligation to submit. His response also confronted the husband's responsibility to lay down his own desires.
Scripture must not be selectively used to justify a personal cause. He calls people to receive the whole counsel of God rather than use isolated teachings against a spouse.
He rejects male domination as a pattern for churches and marriages.
Call people up
Jones also warns against reacting to male domination by treating men as untrustworthy or as punching bags. He characterizes this opposite extreme as feminism and rejects domination by either sex.
His appeal to both men and women is to call people up rather than simply call them out.
He connects discouragement with destructive choices and urges encouragement that helps spouses and children grow into kingdom men and women.
Men and women complement one another
Jones describes Brookwood's approach as complementarian: men and women have distinct callings and strengths, and both are needed. He teaches that God creates people intentionally, including their gender.
He affirms male spiritual leadership in the household while insisting that a husband must himself be submitted to God. A wife must obey God before her husband and must not be prevented from taking spiritual responsibility when he neglects it.
He urges people to date and marry someone pursuing the same spiritual direction.
Your voice is needed
Women need to recognize their own value and worth, not wait for someone else to recognize it first.
Jones emphasizes that women's voices are needed in the church, the community, and the workplace. Without them, something is missing.
God is the main thing. Relationships, children, homes, appearance, and other good things must not become the source of identity.
2. A kingdom woman is called with a mission from God
You are not called only to support someone else's mission. You have mission and purpose.
When Mordecai calls Esther to act, she initially resists. Approaching the king without an invitation could mean death unless he extended his gold scepter, and he had not summoned her for thirty days.
Her position offered opportunity, but responding would involve risk.
What have you said no to?
Jones asks what God has placed in your heart that fear has kept you from pursuing.
His examples include writing a book, discipling young girls, starting a Bible study, serving, taking spiritual responsibility in a family, or pursuing a different career.
He identifies fear of failure as a common obstacle and prays for a changed perspective on failure.
Getting out of the boat
Jones recalls Peter walking on water and then sinking. Rather than seeing only failure, he points to Peter's willingness to leave the boat while the other disciples stayed inside.
Taking risks can involve failure, but remaining in comfort can mean never experiencing what God might do through your voice.
From conversations with people near death, Jones recalls regrets about missed opportunities for boldness and speaking about Jesus, rather than regret over a ministry attempt that did not succeed.
Failure is not fatal
Jones tells of offering to pray for a delivery driver who firmly declined. The conversation was awkward, but it did not destroy him.
The experience reinforced his point: taking a step does not guarantee the response you hoped for, and an unsuccessful attempt does not have to stop you.
His encouragement is to take the step and trust God's faithfulness.
Your past is not your whole story
Jones interprets Esther's early story as one of compromise, pointing to her preparation for the king, their sexual encounter, and her concealed Jewish identity.
But that beginning did not determine her whole story. She became a woman of courage who risked her life for her people.
He challenges listeners not to let their past, insecurity, or busyness disqualify them from responding to God. He also acknowledges that women's pasts can be judged differently from men's.
Who defines your value?
In an illustration, a ten-dollar bill is crumpled, stepped on, spat on, and torn. Jones uses it to picture a life battered by people and circumstances.
His point is that an ex-partner, a job, a past mistake, or another person's treatment does not have the authority to define your worth. God does.
He reminds listeners of forgiveness, belonging as God's sons and daughters, and a Savior who acts on their behalf.
Stop living for lesser things
A career or relationship cannot provide the identity that only God can give.
Jones calls listeners to see their lives as more than hobbies, comfort, and waiting to be with Jesus. God's invitation is to bring his kingdom to earth and let one small life become part of the greater story of Jesus.
Rachel's story: belonging
Rachel describes believing that she was not worthy or good enough. Adopted from an orphanage in Romania, she now sees God's care in the circumstances that brought her into her family.
Later, meeting her birth mother brought painful rejection. Her Aunt Lilly responded not by trying to fix everything but by embracing her. Rachel connects that care with the way God meets her in brokenness.
Rachel's story: community and surrender
Through community groups, counseling, Bible studies, and relationships with other women at Brookwood, Rachel found a safe place to share her story.
She describes surrender as acknowledging the hard parts of life while learning to see God in them rather than remaining stuck.
Her baptism marked a deepened sense of community and of God washing her slate clean. Looking back, she would embrace her younger self and tell her that Jesus cares and wants a relationship with her.
A closing call to women
Jones asks the women to stand and reminds them that one voice and one life can matter.
They are not accessories. God has placed them in families, communities, and the church with mission and purpose.
He calls mothers to raise children who are a force for God's kingdom, women in the workplace to use their voices boldly, and Bible study leaders to lead with intention. Brookwood is cheering them on.
Closing prayer
God, help these women understand their value, dignity, love, and identity in you. Remind them that they were created for you, not for anything lesser.
Give kingdom vision to those who believe their voices, ideas, and dreams do not matter. Give them courage to take risks and take the next step.
Empower them to become the kingdom women you have called them to be. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, your presence, and your guidance. In Jesus' name, amen.
