ENTRUSTED SESSION5

I love these questions but also they are incredibly difficult and the first one is from Myka Myka is a Dutch missionary in Portugal and this is her question how do you manage to live in a glass house of Christian ministry the judgment from other Christians is so harsh at times how do you handle it one of the things that we have tried so hard to do is reserve the right to still have our home to even be a flawed people to give each other a lot of grace inside our home because maybe there are times when not a lot of it is coming from the outside I do want to say because I believe that this is true I still am an optimist about people I think most people would expect us to be normal then I think that there is of course that element that fraction that demands that we do everything where they can see it that every little thing is exaggerated that they need this from us I've said a number of times if you need a teacher that had a spotless background you're truly going to need to move on yeah if you need a home where we did everything right you're going to need to move on in our home we do a lot of laughing yeah we we make fun of each other a little bit yes we do and you know if something if we have a conflict like we talk it out until it's done and then we move on but yeah I think that we just we don't we're not we're not like hyper spiritual we don't oh we don't over spiritual eyes everything huh no we really don't we do we do realize that there is that glass house but we also realize that we have the right to pull the shade down right and go this is where we laugh I think it helps and the pressure of living in a glass house like it helps to have someone to process that with whether it I process with y'all a lot I also have my best friend hears so much and also my husband and I went to a counselor together for a season that we are going through some grief and just needed someone to walk with us and then we realized because our counselor was a pastor that we could talk to him about some of the difficulties of ministry and in all of these things and it was amazing because he understood and so it's so helpful to have just someone whatever wherever you're serving it's nice to have like someone who may be at a different church if you're serving in a church where you can not to have a query or complaining all the time but that you can just kind of process a little bit with that person and they understand that that's really help yeah because it can feel really isolating yeah can be very hard and [Music] turn with me in your Bibles please back to the letter you know well by this time 2nd Timothy and I want you to just stop yourself right there between 2nd Timothy chapter 3 the very end and the very beginning of chapter 4 because that's where you are in your homework and what I say this to you as we get started in our next to last session together what we're going to be talking about is something very very special to the Apostle Paul and very very important to us ramping up our effectiveness as mighty servants of God is absolutely imperative and it is God's Way and I think for every single one of us we would say that sanctification could be a whole lot easier without so many people in our lives would anybody agree with that that if we were doing this by ourselves it would be so much easier think how much less time you would spend in confession of sin if you were not in any relationship just think how much of it really is circumstantial compared to how much is relational think all the time you're spending confessing what you thought about so-and-so what you accidentally said then you just almost yesterday my daughter and I almost ran over somebody's foot and I said you know it would have been so depressing because I've had to been around her for years and I would have had to see that injured leg all those years ago I did that and you know that I would just be like brokenhearted cause I broke her foot because it's just how it goes we break one another's feet sometimes hinder one another's walks because we could do life a whole lot better beneath the steeple with help some of those people and yet anybody that is exactly what God has called us to do as I've got you perched right between chapter 3 and chapter 4 of 2nd Timothy I want you to give it a little bit of a glance because you began chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy with Paul telling us that not only will it be perilous times because of circumstances around us but the last days would be perilous times because of people it would literally be sociological and not just ecological which is what we would see at the end of the Gospel of Matthew so it's a very interesting component here because he talks about what people will be like lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful arrogant blasphemers a disobedient to their parents ungodly unholy unloving irreconcilable a slanders without self-control I'm savage opposed to what is good treacherous reckless conceited lovers and loving God and they'll maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power so he says avoid people like this and so we start thinking in the culture we live in we're not going to be able to go out into our driveway to go to work because that is the world we live in and it's right here in between them when he's telling us all that's gone awry he's going to tell us a few more things in 2nd Timothy 4 that have gone awry with people and with relationships but that he ends it up with such tenderness of love and you realize how much people have meant to diss epona are going to see something spectacular about him today something that must be reflected in our own lives if we are going to have some joy while we are here on this journey I want you to go with me to the very last chapter of the book of Romans this is also a letter by the Apostle Paul obviously written much sooner but the very end of the book of Romans and I want to show you something that I think is fascinating Romans chapter 16 we are going to see in just about 16 verses that I'm about to read to you some 27 names of the Associates of the Apostle Paul that he is sending great things too right here at the end now you are really going to be glad you are not me because I'm about to read all of these names and not only are they ancient names they're also of a different language so that makes it twice as difficult I have gone to my handy little resources called easy for you to say every single Bible teacher and preacher needs something like that resource easy for you to say because you can look up all these names in all these places and learn how to say them and I'm going to try to do it according to the book but where I butcher it God forgive me and you guys act like I'm saying it exactly right I know it won't seem tedious going through all of these names but it has a place in what we're studying together here's what we're going to be doing we are going to look at two different segments of Scripture and they're going to have two different purposes because both of the segments of Scripture are going to represent relationships that are extremely important to every single one of us in the body of Christ so I want you to just bear with me here because I won't draw the distinction between the two until I get to the second portion but until then stay very aware of these names and just let this impress you that the guy is sending greetings to all of these people and this is just in one area church now here's what I'm going to do because I think this is so special you're going to see that he's going to greetings to both men and women and that is a gorgeous thing and because you can't always tell the difference in ancient names here's what I'm going to do when it is a woman I'm going to do my hand up just like this and when it's a man I'm going to do my hand just just exactly like this so you can just keep it in mind I am going to read it to you I put it down in my notes so that I can instead of reading it off the page so that I can do a little bit of narrating as I go you can either just look up and listen or you can be down there in the page circling names but whatever you do would you just receive this is a little glimpse of the Apostle Paul Romans chapter 16 I'm going to read verses 1 through sixteen with just the least little bit of commentary you are going to see right before your eyes in this world of social networking meet authentic holy networking yes there is such a thing as social networking in the very name of Jesus and you are about to see it on the page I commend to you our sister fede a servant of the church in Sint RIA now you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the Saints and help her in whatever she may need from you for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well now most scholars are going to tell you that there is very little doubt that Phoebe is the one who is actually delivering this letter to the Roman and so he's saying receive her well as you would receive me and then it says greet priska and Aquila my fellow workers in Christ Jesus who risk their necks for my life to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well now prisca is Greek and Priscilla you'll see in many of your translations priska and Priscilla are exactly the same person one is just a Greek name and one is the full name it says in in verse five greet also the church in their house now we know just from the the grouping here that there are at least three different house churches that are inferred here in this particular portion of Scripture so get that in your mind as you're hearing this because of course they're gathering by the time there were so many that they could no longer fit in one house they moved to another this was the original church plant from house to house to house this is the way they did church I want to pick up with you then in verse the middle of verse five greet my beloved empanada that's a man who was the first convert to Christ in Asia anybody I would just picture that with me do you know that that the Lord knows exactly which ones of you were the very first in your entire family line in your entire family line try to just grasp that this is the first one the first convert to Christ in Asia it says in verse six greet Mary who has worked hard for you and here begins an amazing trend I don't want you to miss because I'm looking at all of you females as I teach this because Paul is going to start talking as he does several times in the pages of his letter he is going to start talking about the propensity of women in the church to work hard and I need somebody to aim in that because you've done it you have done some of that kind of work and I want you to know here's the Apostle Paul saying it and affirming it that these are women that work hard and he does it right here with Mary greet Mary who has worked hard for you you know some people who have worked hard for your church greet and dronicus and junior my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners they are well known to the Apostles and they were in Christ before me an interesting thing we don't know if this is a couple or what but this is a man and a woman and in the King James Version it says who are of note among the Apostles in the NIV they are outstanding among the Apostles na s very similar to that so these were very very highly esteemed people in the church I want you to note that it says then in verse eight greet and quietest this is a man my beloved in the Lord that is a most wonderful word as it is the word of God paid us I've got pay toss and it's the word agape but it's calling it as a name my beloved my beloved here's a little bit of trivia I hope that you will enjoy there is an inscription on a memorial marker in one of the catacombs in the ruins of Rome and it's the very oldest of all Christian cemeteries and it has a form of this name if it's in a big bowl letters APL IAT and they believe this to be exactly this same man I find that kind of thing fascinating it says then greet our bond us our fellow worker in Christ and my beloved status these are both men the Greek term here it's such a beautiful word because it says our fellow worker in Christ soon aired us it means co-worker in the gospel it means that it essentially if I if I were just to make it as plain as possible that s why in and it would mean together or sometimes s UN meaning together and then the rest of the word mean to work together to strive together to strive side-by-side co-laborers in the gospel greet up Ellis who is approved in Christ read those who belong to the family of eros table ulis he's another man greet my kinsman Herodian another man greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of narcissus a man and I thought to myself maybe his faith in Christ helped him get over himself you know I don't I don't know it would seem to me that would not be a name they wanted to really carry on but there he is there he is okay this this is my very favorite pair brief those workers in the Lord try Faina and try fossa those are two women and it's my favorite because they are believed to be I mean just hands down across the board scholars go they have to be sisters they have to be sisters and they they're saying that because their names are so much alike that they they might even be twins which would just be absolutely fascinating so just picture this because these two who are believed to be sisters maybe even twins these two are fellow workers in the Lord and what I love about is that there are two names mean dainty and delicate in that wonderful dainty and delicate that's what those two tea names mean and what I love about that is because it could be Paul is the kind of person that would do this kind of thing it scholars are saying the ones that can comment on it at all it could be a play on words because he's saying that their fellow workers in the Lord and then he's calling them Danny and delicate in other words there these are people that may be called Danny and and delicate but I'm going to tell you right now Danny and delicate these are some women who can kick some serious devil tail your sham I'm saying to you so it's a beautiful beautiful saying if that is sort of what he's doing greets a beloved person that's a woman her name means Persian woman who has worked hard in the Lord are you seeing this trend so I want you to be to be built up in that to be affirmed in that because there are so many women in the church who have something against the Apostle Paul because they feel like he doesn't have any place for them then were somehow not looking at the whole counsel of his letter because he worked continually with women side by side I mean worked hard with him and look at the esteem he's given these these are hard hard Labor's in the Lord Jesus I love their 13 to reach Rufus this of course is one's obvious to us this is a man but listen to this this one is believed to be the son of Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of Christ I want you to hold on jot down mark 15 21 and I'll tell you why mark 15 21 it says in Mark's Gospel I've toured that laughs that next to last chapter it says in verse 21 and they compelled a passerby Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country the father of Alexander and Rufus to carry the cross to carry his cross and so there is some belief that this is exactly the same Rufus now isn't that interesting because you and I love to see connections when we put things together rod oh he belongs to him or she belongs to him she belongs to her we love to see that come together what what if that's so just a little bit of a people interest on the page it even gets more interesting right here when it says chosen in the Lord greet Ruth has chosen in the Lord also his mother do you see that next little phrase oh please if you're into this coveting underline it it says who has been a mother to me as well so it's got such a place for us and I want you to rejoice in that because you're seeing throughout our study we've been we've been talking about ramping up our effectiveness and understanding that if we're going to do that part of our effectiveness is in our connectedness if we've not gotten that across and somehow we have we've missed the boat because that's a very important part of our course together to understand this generational coming together that were so much stronger together we were meant to be together to encourage one another across these generations will you see him doing it not only in his own spiritual sense - he called my true son my true son but now we're seeing that he has a mother this woman is not his blood mother but he's saying that's his mom but you know what she has been a mother to me as well something beautiful about the Apostle Paul needing an extra mother I don't know does that bless anybody just something really beautiful about that that he wasn't just that to someone else he wasn't just a spiritual parent to someone else someone else who did not birth him with a mother to him somehow that does something for me so you've got Rufus a man you've got his mother that would be a woman and now you've got greet a sinner itis flag on her mace patrol bus her muff and the brothers who are with them so that's five M's one two three four five reached philologists aren't you glad that's not your name - Lola Gus it sounds like something you go to the doctor to have treated if you ask me I've got full ologist but I've been diagnosed with allall igus doesn't sound like that to you then there's Julia there's nary Asst and his sister Olympus and all the saints who are with him now here is the gorgeous part of the whole thing that we go right over our heads if we did not have commentators and scholars to tell us this kind of thing this is the beauty of a commentary because their names would tell us certain things that for most of us as we're looking at this page we don't get but scholars looking at it no they look at the origins of these names and where they come from and and they can see that among this group of named believers some are clearly Jewish others are forthrightly Gentile some are of great societal importance some of them are very little some of them are wealthy some of them are poor the majority of Gentile names are those of either slaves or freedmen so you have got right there in the holy social-networking of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ both men and women both rich and poor of high society and of low society of this background and of that background knowing absolutely nothing about the things of the scriptures and having an entire background in the Old Testament and they all come together as fellow laborers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ there is something gorgeous about that listen you cannot not have a place in the body of Christ it is impossible for you to not be his type absolutely impossible you cannot find where you could get a basis for thinking I just won't be one he would ever receive and if he ever did receive me in the face and he'd never put me to work because I'm not the kind that he was you can't find for the lives of you a kind of person that he was not willing to save and put to work for the great gospel of his name it is a beautiful beautiful paradigm we see right there in Romans 16 I want you to look then at than just a very next verse just long enough enough for us to make a little point that's going to bridge us over now where we are going 16 verse 17 says this this is still the Apostle Paul talking of course I appeal to you brother to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught avoid them and it goes on to say I'll just read the very first part of the next birth for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ anybody isn't it interesting he gives all of these names grief this person in this person this person this person that does this this woman that does this and this guy that does this all of these that you have here and then he goes right in under and says beware of those who cause divisions we know about that don't we we've come to such a strange time one that they could not possibly have foreseen and I'm not sure that anybody my age could possibly have foreseen when we are out wildly on social networking on all sorts of public platforms and believers in Christ all of us called Christians carrying one another apart in public in public it's not that we don't have offenses that are real sometimes against one another disagreements that are real against one another at times it's not that rebukes are not sometimes in order but there is a way that we are told to do that in Scripture and it is not on Facebook it is not on Twitter and when we just throw our slander out this has been one of the most shocking things here we have our question book here that we are using all through our series where I took questions what do you want to talk about what do you wish we could have coffee over I don't have so many answers but whatever I've got I would give you and people have asked in that book what what do you think about all of the controversies going on between different segments of the body of Christ of course there's a place for disagreement there can even be hated disagreements there there's a place for debate but on social networking for the entire world to see a family going at one another brothers and sisters when our love was supposed to show that we were disciples I keep thinking about that proverbs 6 16 and 19 it says this I'm going to quote part of it 7 things that are detestable to the Lord the writer proverbs listed in the most emphatic position a man who stirs up dissension on brothers that distinction is a very opposite of what the psalmist is talking about in Psalm 133 verses 1 & 3 where he says behold how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity for their the LORD commanded the blessing life forever there he commands the blessing you know here here is the thing the walls are coming down and a lot of people don't like it because you see we are coming to a place on the kingdom calendar where things are so heated up we looked in our last session at a portion of Revelation chapter 12 that says that the devil is furious because he knows his time is short we compared passages like the ferial discourse and like the the end of Matthew's Gospel in chapter 24 and 2nd Timothy chapter 3 when we look at the signs of the times and then we see the work that God is doing that there is this outpouring of the wrath of the enemy at the same time there's this outpouring of the Holy Spirit of the Living God and we very much and will continue to and we will ramp it up until the coming of Christ we live in the worst of times in best of times because all of it's going on at once and we're living in all the chaos of it and we've got to stand together as one body of believers we got to find a way to stand unified and there are people that in this day as the walls are coming down because see what we've got to do is that we got to be armed all together linked up side to side because we got to go in and take some enemy territory and we're strong when we do it together but imagine that the children of Israel had gone around that wall all those times and that they shouted and the wall started coming down and if there were some among them that just went and started building it right back up again because that's what we have that's what we have if we could bring it down to the heart of the gospel to what it takes to Oh God through the Lord Jesus Christ to come before him confessing that we cannot save ourselves we need a Savior and we are saved only by the blood of the Lamb that it is by grace we are saved and there are no works we can do to earn it if we could go that far we may got lined up on our systematic theology but can we line up behind the cross of Christ I wonder because we are not saved by our belief in an errand see I just want to say that where somebody hears it no believing in inerrancy is not the basis for salvation if there's someone you know in Christ and they don't believe in inerrancy you can still be their sister you could still be that could still be your brother even though you disagree very much on those two things you can still know you could still be in the body of Christ and see that two completely different ways we may not line up on our interpretations of spiritual gifts but could we all agree that we have been saved by the great gift of Christ Jesus through the power of his cross we may not agree on what roles women can fill in the church but whether we're complementarian or egalitarian we are all here terian until Jesus comes is that right we're all here terian so I'll tell you what i'm darian i'm carrying here and trying to work my hell for the gospel of the lord jesus christ till he comes to get me can anybody say that that's what we're carrying doing give me that carrion because I don't even know what to do with the rest of this carrion while he's carrying we're carrying that's what we're doing and we're one body it's the most beautiful thing here philippians 4 1 therefore my brothers i'm reading out the SD whom i loved and longed for my joy and Crown stand firm thus in the Lord my beloved my joy in my crown now I just love that because what he's basically saying is you know you you know what you are the all the reward I made I just loving you and I don't I can't speak for him none of us are the Apostle Paul but I can tell you that fella believers have been that to me I have just I have had such a blast with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ now and no one little bit of the feeling of thing in you you are my joy and Crown I need nothing when I get home but Jesus because you know what you're you you are at you you are joy to me I love it that in that very next birth in in Philippians he tells two women I want you to hear it he tells two women this he tells he says I entreat you to agree in the Lord yes I asked you also true companion help these women who have labored side-by-side with me in the gospel together with my other fellow workers he said agree in the Lord and that's one of the one to throw before you of course we're not going to agree on 100 points a doctrine if you're looking for someone who's going to do that with you listen you're going to have a tiny tiny group and have fun so you're not going to get out much that's hard to find it's hard to find so it but he's saying can you agree in the Lord can you agree in the Lord can we agree that Jesus Christ is Lord and by him and him alone we are saved I love the fact that among Jesus own disciples among his own followers there was a zealot and there was also a tax collector and they were in the same group and they would have been exact opposites that coming together even among those twelve he made sure he put together a group that should not have even gotten along but in him they were one group now we're going to the second category and I think to start putting this together go with me now to first Corinthians chapter three first Corinthians chapter three anybody glad to be in Bible study today I love it I just love it listen we are the better for the fact that Jesus himself did not care one whit about guilt by association he would hang out with anybody we're all worried about who we might be seen with in the body of Christ let's see Jesus would not have cared one owed about guilt by association he'd have been seen praise his name with any of us first Corinthians 3:21 and I am going to read through for to hang with me here it says this so let no one boast in men for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollo's or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God moreover it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy this is where we're going right here with these two verses but I do want you to see because I think it's fascinating and it never hit me until I I read an author making reference to this it never hit me that this is what it represents to us in our own day and in our own Christian culture look back at it where it says in verse 22 whether Paul or Apollo's or Cephas or the world Cephas is another name for Peter or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and you are in Christ and Christ as God's ok let me show you how that relates to us if you are out there and you are looking to download a book or you there is a speaker that is a Christian a real powerful Christian communicator in the body of Christ and he's coming to town or or this church which is a totally different denomination has a guest pastor that we can somebody asked you and you think I may want to go see them do you know that that's what he's saying it's all yours it's all yours why do you have to say I lineup behind this teacher and I lineup behind this teacher and I go by this name I think John Calvin would roll over in his grave and I'm not listen he would he'd not be the only one how many others that have had long long lines of followers that are calling themselves by those names and and what Paul is saying in him is why are you doing that they're all your whatever anybody brings to the body of Christ that's yours you get to go have what they got go what can you receive over here that's all you worth you don't need to be divided over them but then he says this and this is where we can in first one of chapter 4 this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God servants of Christ locked in on that word you're going to see in your listing guide the lexical Greek word do you see it there hoop a ray top you see that hoop oh right there or who bought under is that word means under or beneath and the rest of the compound word means a rower and I do mean @ro wer a subordinate servant attendant or assistant in general the subordinate official who waits to accomplish the commands of his superior in classical Greek a common sailor that would be as distinguished between another word that would mean a seaman so I want you to just lock in on this for a moment so you've got two words and those two words mean can you tell me what the first one was what is that first one under and then so we've got to say it again so what picture is being drawn here is like on a big galley ship that this group of people would serve on that lowest level normally there it was a three banked ship so they were down below and they were even hidden from view they could not even see where they were going and so Paul is using this word and I think it's such a beautiful metaphor we're going to go off on this metaphor for the rest of our time together he's talking about people with whom we serve and in this word picture people with whom we wrote the boat anybody got that with me people with whom we row the boat here's where I want to make a distinction between the two categories you and I've been looking in Romans 16 together and we've seen these people that that Paul has has rubbed elbows with serving the Lord that he knows and he appreciates so much people that he doesn't get to be with week in and week out but he's gotten to be with them at times and come to love them and come to appreciate them that's one group of people you have those and what I want to suggest you is it not only do you have those you need those people out there do you see what I'm saying out there you just appreciate in the faith if you were to start riding on a lift whose names would you put down this is a gorgeous gorgeous thing that we're seeing here because they're just people out there you don't like to hear they work hard in the Lord Jesus I so appreciate this one and say hello is this one for me while you're there and and this one over here these are people I appreciate in the Lord so here's what I want to say to you remember that we are after becoming mighty servants of God that's what we're doing here that's what this series has been all about ramping up our effectiveness we haven't just been having a study we've been having a transformation we're supposed to be women and men loosed out on the globe in the great name of Jesus to carry his gospel that's what's been entrusted to us the gospel and the gift he's given us to be able to share it and so if we are going to do that effectively one of the most important things we've got to do is lock in to a local group of some kind and serve with them do you have your fellow rowers do you have your fellow rover to listen not one word of condemnation here because what I know already and what I hope listen if we had already arrived we wouldn't even be needing to have libel study so never never feel like I'm somebody's putting you down over something new you may have gotten to know Jesus a couple of years ago and and most of your discipleship has been online or you've just tried to download books or listen to podcasts and you've been doing it that way I just watching what you could but I want to tell you that there is another level there's another level there's nothing perfect about it which is part of what makes it gorgeous is because it is so imperfect that there would be a local group of pea so with whom we serve our church I believe so strongly in the local church and listen I'm not saying let's go back to church let's go forward to church let's go forward to church I was raised in the church I loved it I loved it all my life but I don't want to go back there I'm not one of those going let's go back to the day when we used to do this and when we used to do that I don't have any interest in that I got some wonderful things out of it I am so thankful for it but I don't want to go back I want to go forward I see wonderful things happening in the church I want to be part of where this is going that's what I want to be part of a group of believers that can pray the house down that's what I'm talking about I'm gonna tell you I don't know I don't know what you're like I don't know what you're looking for but I occasionally want to be in a body of believers where if the spirit moves me I could just raise my hands in worship you may or you may not that's all up to you but it's a beautiful thing these days I could never have done that before somebody would said do you have a question here's your I'm saying we used to laugh and say that the reason why we held him NAL's was to keep us from raising up our hands some of you may know what I'm talking about I love what's happening I absolutely love it but here's the thing we we need it we need it we won't survive out there victoriously without one another we're supposed to have fellow rowers that we're doing this with and maybe that your church is larger so here's what I'm time at because you may go listen I can't I'd go to church every week then then look for that that group within it a community group a group that helps with kids Church um it might help with preschoolers elicit a Arlene you're thinking like they don't need me oh I promise you they do oh yes they do they need greeters and these greeters there's a group of people at my church they just help us park and they have become such good friends with one another I just I mean they know each other well and they're of all different ages they would have nothing in common otherwise but they're out there all directing traffic together and so they've gotten close uh through the last couple of years it's it's beautiful it's beautiful they're feeling roars is anybody getting what I'm talking about you've got your group out there that you appreciate so much but you got your group in here that you're rolling with and you're rolling with and you're rolling with in the same boat and here's what I want to show you we're going to make a couple of statements parallels that we have just that I began to think about with this whole metaphor of rolling these under rowers I loved one of our questions in our question book didi writes me and says now that kids are grown and gone how do I handle the struggle of church attending and activities by myself when my husband doesn't go it was easy to do it with the kids but it's hard by myself you know I was so glad that she asked that question because I want to say to somebody because a lot of you are in that situation where not only is it that your family members don't go you're single living alone and you're going I don't really know how to get plugged in here's what I'm going to say to you now if you're married and they've got a problem with it and work through that and that's when I tell you again to pray what we talked about several weeks ago pray that God would give that man favor over you wanting to really pursue some of your growth in Christ and that you're just like mostly modeling that through the joy that you have and through the change that it's made to your heart but let me tell you something I mean if you got full freedom to do it what I'm going to say these girl go and on it go go there was a season at the church that I attended for so many years nearly 30 years there was a season of time when Amanda and her husband Curtis had moved from the Houston area to the Dallas area and my Melissa my other daughter was living in the Chicago area getting her master's and so for that period of time I didn't have either one of them in the city and I I just I had a family that just adopted me and it was so cool that I was going to share a out this whole dynamic because when I walked in today to Bible study several of them were here and it would family and the Tate's that had four and have but they had four little girls and they are getting to be four very tall girls at this point but but let me tell you they just took me in and they saved me a place every single Sunday we sat in the same section where I had been sitting for years with my family if you're going where was your husband I'm going to tell you girls something my husband comes when my husband wants to come and I am at peace with that he knows Jesus that when the man prays over me such an anointing of God comes on him that I often open my eyes and stare at him and think who are you because the Spirit of God will just hit him and I know that the Lord intended this was my man this is the way the Lord lined it up for me this was the way it was supposed to be many of the women that I serve are in a similar situation where perhaps their husbands are saved but they're not really interested in that whole kind of thing where you really plug in and get going in some kind of area of serving at your church or are really like being in the scriptures a lot so I get it in every way but I just had his blessing and I just like went for it but I do have to tell you that when he got home and when I got home in the evening that's not what we did we watch TV together we walk dogs together that's not what we did because that's not what we had in common is he buddy steppin in that with me but what I would tell her go go get to know people this is also your family don't think well I'm going to go without my family that is your family this is Jesus the paradigm of family changed dramatically in the gospel disease these fellow ones that do the will of my father these are also my family members this is my family with them I knew the the girls were little then I mean little enough for one of them to be able to I could like cuddle her in my arms but I always said right in the middle of them because I just love girls I just love them and and I knew I was really accepted when we got to the point that the offering plate would start to be passed and the girls would start looking around like this and I could pull out my purse and just hand out money you know how you do with the kids I don't know why we do that exactly but we just all do they just Kindle can you remember miss that's doing it I mean just like pulling out money pulling out money and I knew it when when maybe their aunt or their mom was was getting out their own I just loved it when I got to be the one and nobody even thought it was strange I just start handing out money we'd all put it in it was so satisfying to me then we go to the cafeteria together I look back on that air right now and it brings me nearly to tears I think how precious that was was after that my kids moved back into the area and Keith and I moved out in the country my son-in-law began a church and so I left the Church of so many years and said farewell to them I was tears but with many many Joy's embracing my brand-new church but I realized how precious said it did well in a couple of weeks it was the oddest thing I told him and a couple of weeks into our new church I said honey I'm this age of all these years old and I know about 25 new name are you willing to meet some new soul on that thing let's write down these points together number one is this row words don't build up and maintain muscle by rowing downstream anybody get that with me all right you you know the song you know the song this little this little nursery rhyme row row row your boat gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream well this is row row row your boat intently up the streams lively mightily mightily modely because alive is our dream and it is not a dream do you remember in the very first session of our series I read we we locked in on Acts chapter 14 because it took us to Lystra and Lister was so important to us because that is where the paths crossed between Paul and Timothy for the very first time and Timothy would have been a kid maybe a really young adolescent we don't know exactly how old but it's just such a perfect perfect introduction looking at what he must have seen when he first came into contact with this man recall the Apostle Paul well toward the end of that chapter there's there's something that it says in verses 21 and 22 but I want to remind you of and this is talking about Barnabas and Paul Wednesday Barnabas and Paul had preached the gospel to that city and it made many disciples they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to antioch strengthening this is verse 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations must we enter the kingdom of God I want to give you the Greek word the basic lexical form of the Greek word that is translated strengthening there I'm going to spell it to you and as I spell it to you I want you to write it down are you ready epi s te RI z o now would you just put your darling little index finger right over that epi and I want you to stare at that word just for a moment and I want you to tell me do you see anything anything that looks familiar to you that we get our own English word from anybody anybody you might see a steroid there anybody isn't it a gorgeous thing because that's where we get the word our English word comes from that same root our word for steroid and I love the thought that you and I are able through the power of the Holy Spirit to be spiritual steroids to one another now I can help you and you can help me that you literally by way of the Holy Spirit of God you have the capacity to strengthen me to give me a steroid you understand anybody getting that waiting I think that's a beautiful beautiful thing because how often have you had somebody that in an instant weakened you in an instant if you were in a good mood everything was going fine and I mean you just walk in to somebody you're just there they're at church you've you've worked hard to get there you finally gotten your your baby in the nursery your kids at kids church if if you're a mom and you're doing all that it takes and and you've got the dog the dogs torn up everything in the house by the time you get home you do doing everything you know you're in a good mood you got a little joy in your heart and somebody just sets them to just mm-hmm we have the ability to just weaken one another like that just like that or we can be a steroid and the Holy Spirit of the Living God we can help one another build up muscle hey do y'all remember when we studied Luke 22:31 and 32 together listen to this this is where Jesus had told Peter that Satan asked to sift him like wheat and then he said I'm going to read this verse but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and when you have turned again this is going to be a form of the same word this is without that little epi on the front of it it's to reach so strengthen your brothers that word again that word again strengthen your brother Rover's don't build up and maintain muscle by rolling downstream number two staying in rhythm and sync with a team takes concentrated effort oh I know somebody won't stay in that one I want you to hear this question in our question book from Carol she says I work in a Christian ministry it happens to be a pregnancy center that she's talking about we're all believers so we should all be in sync with each other right I love that she used that same word what a ways we can work on our relationship so that when discord comes we know how to handle it three of us are doing a Bible study together and now we are thinking of starting an exercise time unfortunately not all of the staff can participate so that's the question that she's bringing forth and I'm assuming now maybe this is my background in in aerobics but I guess she means by exercise like realized exercise and I thought I want to be in that class I was born for that class Bible study and exercise I love that component together now I want you to see what question she's asking how can we stay in sync because here's the thing we don't always get to choose our fellow rowers if you're going to choose them you may never row row row any boat because it's going to be you or it may be you and to others but you're all so much alike that nobody can even really row because you can't even really work in conjunction with one another because you completely cross one another out anybody you stepping in that with me we don't get to choose yeah that's that's part of what God uses for our sanctification if we're always picking I don't want to work with them and I don't want to work with them a lot I don't want to work with them know it see part of it is that it helps knock those rough edges off of us there's just nothing like that iron sharpening iron sometimes there's sparks but we have to learn to appreciate the beauty of finding ourselves in rhythm and sync with people that we feared for a while would make us want to jump out of the boat like how many times have you wanted to quit over somebody on your team but have you ever gotten past it on the other time don't now I love that person at my church in so many years there was a man that came on the ministry staff that for whatever reason he had his reasons we laughed about it sense but he just sort of had a chip on his shoulder about me coming in I mean coming in just you know that just ages already knew in advance that whatever the dynamic was there with me he already was not going to like it and I had a lot of kind of favor from my pastor and he had my favor I loved I've never ever served with a pastor I did not love and did not get to serve alongside with tremendous joy but this man comes on hearing for the first couple of years it's awkward because I can feel it I can feel the dynamic and I think whew I don't know what to do with this well we got in a situation at the church then where we had to work together on team and it was an important little job that we all had to do together and we got to be really good friends and do you know this day today when I tell you when I pick out the brothers that I would call first to ask could you come could I call upon you to I need some help in this area I need somebody to come alongside us in this area he is one of the very first ones I'd call there's something that is even stronger about getting through a conflict and making it to the other side I ask you today can you work through conflict just a very simple question can you work through conflicts listen you and I have got to get to where we can appreciate have a little fun with one another's idiosyncrasies and individuality I mean like laughs instead of crime I'm sure my making fun unless they're the kind that let you and I love that I just absolutely love that earlier I got to see a video of one of the cameramen here it was doing an impersonation of me going all the way across and I laughed my head off it was a because it's my love language I love to be made fun of if it's in good fun and I love to make fun of people I have friends that are from other streams in the body of Christ and we agree on so many things and what we don't agree on we make fun of one another about and it's fabulous it's absolutely fabulous I have another friend who told me the other day we were talking about what we do when we get nervous she's a fellow Bible study teacher and she said I don't know why Beth I'm just telling you I the worst have it she says when I'm really nervous I scratched my behind she says go suck it I'm not going to tell you which way it is but it's one of my fellow Bible study teacher so just wife you see any of those teachers on video description you can know not only that that's her but that you have made her nervous I mean that's fun in the question but I got this a number of times but they asacs and you seem to have a close relationship with your daughters and and with your family how is it that you do that I'm just going to tell you and I'm so glad they're both here they're not here where you can see them on camera cuz they're kind of over there in the in the dark I've already teased them about sitting back there on the back row but I will tell you this I can say this with my head completely up knowing they're listening to every word I'm saying right here and now I'll tell you how we do it because we are extremely flawed people but we own it we own it here's what we do here's what the four Moore's do and that's what we call ourselves we form or we work through conflict we do have conflicts we don't even sell them have conflict we have conflict but we work through it and we're the kind of kind of work through it like this where we really do safe stuff we really do stay safe stuff and this is one thing we say I'm just going to practice it with you I am so sorry that was so stupid anybody anybody get that with me just when you can look somebody in the eye and just go I really messed up I don't know why I even said that would you forgive me and oddest thing people do people do I don't think our kids expect us to be perfect I think they get tired of us being hypocritical I think when we just own up to the fact that we are flawed that we get it wrong sometimes we say the wrong things and we just suck I think that makes it a whole different component bring that into the mix of the body of Christ as well sometimes we fight but we fight much much harder for our relationship than against one another number three is this rowing also necessitates a certain amount of repetition rowing also necessitates a certain amount of what tell me that word tell me one more time yeah even the word repetition sounds like repetitious repetition repetition regimen if we're going to be mighty servants of God blatantly ramping up our effectiveness we're going to be challenged to learn how to be faithful in some unavoidable repetition and tedium it's just in it's in every job it's in every ministry that we could bring in every area of service expect it it's not always thrilling and exciting one of the things that living proof ministries we have to really go through when we are interviewing someone is that we have to make sure they understand that we don't just sit around and sing Kumbaya though actually the reason we call it work is because what it's worth you know what I'm saying I mean we pray we have a very very harmonious kind of an atmosphere and filled with the spirit but we are there to actually work and sometimes it's laborious and and there's no way out of that but here's what we can do maybe maybe you can't get out of that old job but maybe you could have a new attitude it would make it almost like a new job somebody it's what we do we were bored it tells a whole lot about us you know the most well-known under oars in world history we're victims of one of the most horrendous atrocities of human beings against their fellow man and they were slaves that were forced to leave their families and cross oceans and not only were they forced to leave their family and cross oceans to do it they were forced to be the under rower they were forced to take themselves to literally do the grunt work to take themselves where they did not want to go just try that one on try that one you know what they did all that tedium want I mean just row and row and row in over and over again all day long muscles just see her body's tired back's hurting same action over and over again you know what they came up with something called boat song and they birthed many of what we would consider now to be african-american spiritual when I googled Michael row your boat ashore the question popped up who was Michael and why did he have to row the boat to shore it was actually written by former slaves during the Civil War at st. Helena right off of South Carolina st. Helena Island after their owners had abandoned it and they wanted to go home so badly and they wrote this song and Michael actually is the Archangel Michael and there's this beautiful law versus Michael roll your boat ashore hallelujah one of the line says Gabriel blow the trumpet horn hallelujah we have boat songs you and I do every time we go to a worship service those are our boat songs we're life is getting hard and it's tedious and our muscles are sore we're going to go ride back tomorrow and do the same thing we did yesterday but there we are we're rowing and rowing and we sing together and remind ourselves where we're going because you see under rowers have to be reminded where we're going because under oars cannot see you and I are working we're rowing by faith not by sight we're in under we're down under in that third level under there's God in the third heaven we're all the way down there we can't always see what's going on so sometimes the boat songs have to remind one another that we will land on a shore and it will be worth the work anybody it will be worth the work number four is this rowers have each other's backs rowers have each other's backs say something Satan knows it's a way to get the boat off course it's to come between those rowers I want to say this and if this shoe doesn't fit do not wear it do not take on a conviction that is not yours but if it fits do wear it and let's deal with it without a lot of condemnation that's not what we're here about but there comes a time when we just have to own something we have slandered our brothers and our sisters we have not been so behind their backs we have affirmed the slander of others by remaining silent and our silence has been an assent to what they're saying we need a new start on this one because we have all done it in one way or another we have been with rowers who were not safe with us behind their back did i'ma wait anybody anybody anybody know what I'm talking about anybody slender we need a new start in this day as we close we're just going to do a very simple thing for those of us who want to I want to I believe in the power of repentance I don't I don't feel like I have to repent I want to I get to repent and it's just like over I'm just like make clean I get a fresh start I love repentance I love the right of repentance but then we need a new start on this and we need a starting point that says you know what I don't want to be a slander I want whoever is back I want their back on what they're back I want them to know listen I'm behind you and you got to know that that fellow brother or sister that the devil wants them you have no idea how he might be attacking him or might be attacking her how he wants what is theirs I was trying to go for that gifting trying to blow up that testimony we have no idea we have no idea the devil is aiming for our backs life is hard enough for our brothers and sisters let's have their backs so here's what we're going to do I want you to stand to your feet this is how we're going to end this thing now I want you to get rearranged as much as you can on saying this to you who are in groups on the other side of that screen I want you to do exactly the same thing now if you're going solo I'm going to tell you what to do because I'm going solo too but as much as you were able I want you to reach out to the person in front of you toward their back just exactly like this you're probably not going to be able to touch them because you're so far away but you're going to we're going to pray together and you're going to stretch your hands out now what we're going to do you and me we're going to have each other's back so you're not going to have to do a little bit of we're going to have to get a little bit limber here because I've got to have your back and you got to have my but all of you is just stretching out your hands and we're just want to pray I just jotted some things down that I thought we would pray as we close as we commit ourselves to being faithful servants faithful under words in the body of Christ Lord we thank you for your stunning patience with us thank you for loving us all in all our flaws and our frailties and our sins Lord some of us in this class today we simply want to repent for the time that we have slandered our brothers and our sisters behind their backs for the time that they have not been safe with us behind their backs and for the pure omission of not having their backs life is hard here Lord and Satan wants my brothers and my sisters he wants to bring them to defeat in devastation but I speak and we speak the power of Jesus name over our brothers and sisters we want to remind them that they are loved highly valued chosen enormous ly gifted and when they stumble with our hands on their shoulders we want to steady them Lord and if we can't keep them from falling then Lord we want to help them stand back up would you grant us authentic compassion and mercy and warmth of love in this world of hearts grown cold' Jesus you have entrusted us with so much help us in your mighty name to be trustworthy with the brothers and sisters you have entrusted to us do it through us in Jesus mighty name everybody say amen [Music] you

Channel: Isabella Colvin

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Length: 66min 36sec (3996 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 13 2020