"The Beginning: HisStory in Genesis 1-11" | Bellevue Women | Fall Bible Study Kick Off

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] good evening everybody please stand and join us in worship [Music] is [Music] is [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] every is of worship is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you worship team for getting us off to such an awesome start tonight and would y'all join me in welcoming my very good friend from gardendale alabama charlotte guffin who is back with us leading us tonight [Applause] well good evening and welcome to the kickoff for the fall bellevue women bible study we are so excited to be back in the building on wednesday night are we not yes and i want to give a special welcome to those of you who are joining us tonight online can y'all help me do that welcome them as well [Applause] who came tonight ready to worship the lord can anybody here come ready to worship the lord you know worship is the highest privilege that we have as daughters of the king it is the ultimate expression of our relationship with god you know the last psalm psalm 150 is the most celebratory of all of the psalms and it begins praise god in his sanctuary praise him in his mighty heavens praise him for his acts of power praise him for his surpassing greatness and then the psalmist goes on and he begins listing all kinds of instruments that are used in praise to the lord he talks about the trumpet the harp the life the symbols and then we get to the last verse and it says this let everything that has breath say it with me praise the lord the psalm ends with the greatest instrument of all the human voice lifting up praise and honor to the lord and ladies that's what we're here tonight to do is to lift up our lord in worship you know true worship begins in our hearts and then it flows through our lips and so before we go any further tonight let's just take a moment and still our hearts before the lord let's bow our heads just sense his presence in this room and prepare your heart for worsen [Music] father you are the alpha and omega the beginning and the end the one who is and is to come you're the wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father you are the prince of peace [Music] you are the one who gives beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning you're the one who gives us a garment of praise in exchange for a spirit of heaviness you're our healer our savior and our deliverer we praise you for that father to be honest when we come into your glorious holy presence with what we know of ourselves we're wrecked we are completely undone but god what we do know in those moments is that we want more of you so god we're asking that tonight would you give us more of you would you meet with us in this room holy spirit would you descend upon us your daughters would you rest upon this pres this place tonight and abba father in our midst tonight would you do what only you can do as we offer up a sacrifice of praise to you it's in your holy name we pray amen [Music] [Music] [Music] consider [Music] i see the stars [Music] [Music] how great [Music] [Music] how how brave [Music] [Music] please stand and join us [Music] taken [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to take away [Music] me [Music] [Music] me right [Applause] [Music] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to thee [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] i love you lord oh your mercy never fails me [Music] until i lay my head i will sing for the goodness [Music] every is that i have made [Music] of the goodness you have led me through the file and in darker sides you are close like no other [Music] know [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] everything [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] all my life [Music] of the goodness [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] ladies would you pray with me please our gracious heavenly father i mean we are running into your presence tonight oh father we are coming into the throne room we are coming in at full speed we are so grateful to be in the house of the lord to come into your presence and to open your word to sing into fellowship and to worship and to praise you jesus our lord of lords and king of kings there is none like you and tonight we're gathering that we might celebrate who you are matchless perfect holy righteous good shepherd bread of life living water the way the truth and the life savior of all my savior my lord thank you for so great a salvation and thank you that we're gathered here tonight lord it's been a long time since your daughters could gather on a wednesday night lord would you protect us would you guard us would you come in and settle down on this place and father will you do something that nobody can explain apart from a holy god meeting with his people we eagerly anticipate what you want to say to us tonight in jesus name amen and amen would you be seated please oh goodness let me just take a moment and just drink this all in it's been a long time coming girls the summer's always long but this oh my goodness god bless you lord bless you may he bless you and keep you like the apple of his eye well i'm going to be sharing tonight with you just ever so briefly about the uh i'm sorry i had to look at my watch because uh briefly in my terms i've just got to say with my word bank that has not been used up this summer uh i just want to make sure i'm i'm tracking okay and so i apologize for that it gave me just a start there of thinking this this i could start out badly but let me let me collect myself now and tell you that we are so excited about the study of the book of genesis we're doing the first 11 chapters and so tonight i just wanted to give you just a little brief overview of what it is sort of to whet your appetite so you'll get all excited about what it is that we're going to be studying together if you want to understand more of god's truth beloved you have to begin with the opening book of the bible the book of genesis i was so excited when dana was sharing with me what we would be studying in this semester because i believe that if you and i are going to deepen our walk of faith if you and i are going to know the lord jesus more now than we at the end of this study that we do right now that we're going to have to understand more and more about the book of genesis it was written by moses under the inspiration of the holy spirit and so beloved as we're thinking about the beginnings i want you to listen to this intro that's in your study that dana wrote and i just love it among the vast number of beginnings in genesis lies your beginning too in the first pages of the book of beginnings you will discover the true history of who you are where you came from and where you are going your story began in the garden but listen here girls it doesn't end there god is still writing your story and my story he is still at work in our lives doing something fresh and something new genesis is the foundation it is the seedbed of the whole book of the bible it is all about beginnings about origins in fact the word genesis literally means origins and in this book beloved in the first 11 chapters there are five great bible stories that we're going to be looking at and i wanted to share with you very briefly about what they are and the first is what i called the formation in genesis chapter 1 and if you have your bibles you can turn to this but again very brief overview not intended to be bible study tonight we'll save that up for next week as we really crank it up but the first thing i want to talk to you about is what i call the formation the formation in genesis chapter 1 and genesis chapter 2 we see the formation we read about the formation of the heavens and the earth we read about the creation of adam and eve in genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2. look in genesis chapter 1 beginning in verse one in the beginning now beloved that right there is a loaded phrase we're gonna see it again in john chapter one in the beginning what's the word and the word was with god and the word was god in the beginning god and moses uses the word elohim which is the plural word here and so in the very first couple of words in the opening text of the scripture we see beloved the trinity god the father god the son god the holy spirit in the beginning god moved he created the heavens and the earth beloved he spoke into being out of nothingness god spoke and it was and he created the heavens and the earth and everything and he planted a magnificent garden and he created adam and eve and he planted them in that garden to take care of it to cultivate it and oh my goodness it was all good it was all good they had unbroken communion with the father in the cool of the day they would walk with god in the garden can you even imagine oh in the beginning and it's so incredible if you will think for just a moment with me that god who is eternal stepped out of eternity past and came into time and space and spoke this world and everything in it into existence just ponder his power his perfection his purpose his plan in the beginning god created so the first thing we're talking about is formation but the second is the fall in genesis chapter 3 we read about the fall of man adam and eve's sin in the garden and the repercussions that would follow that we are still dealing with and will until the end of the age you know the story that eve engaged in a conversation with the enemy of her soul and satan disguised himself as a bright and shining being spoke to her and and she listened to him and he cast doubt upon god's word and and she was so deceived and yet the longer she looked at the fruit the more delicious and delightful it seemed and she took of it and ate it and then the bible said she gave it to her husband also he was there with her and in that instant when adam and eve couldn't have possibly fully understood what the ramifications were but knew that god had commanded and had told adam that from all of the trees of the garden you may eat freely that is you can have it all but you're not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and somehow eve got it in her mind that god was holding out and of all that she could have she got focused on the one thing he had asked her commanded her not to do so we see the formation and we see the fall so devastating that in that instant adam gave away the estate of mankind and doomed every person born every person born after him to be born with indwelling sin only one only exception being the lord jesus christ and so adam and eve have been plunged into sin and if the story ended there it would be too grievous for us to even bear but it does not and god pronounces judgment on the serpent and upon eve and upon adam and when he speaks to the serpent he promises the messiah in genesis chapter 3 barely into the book and he promises the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent oh hope hope reigned messiah was coming and then he goes on not only to promise messiah but to actually picture what he's going to do when he takes an innocent animal and kills it and makes garments to cover them a picture of the sacrificial atoning death and burial resurrection of the lord jesus christ oh the formation and the fall and then so tragically in genesis chapter four what i call the felony or the fatality because the consequences of sin did not end with adam and eve but they had two boys cain and abel and you know the story that cain was displeased because god rejected his offering and received his brothers and it made him so mad that he killed his brother so we see the formation the fall the felony and then the flood the scripture goes on to tell us in chapters 6 through 9 about the flood how the bible says that the lord saw the wickedness of man was so great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually and the lord was sorry that he had even made man on the earth he was so grieved in his heart and he said i'm gonna blot out beasts and birds but there were eight souls that found grace eight souls that obediently got into the ark and god spared noah and his family so we see the formation the fall the fatality the flood and the fallout wouldn't you have thought after the flood when the world is being repopulated and the bible story the god stories are being passed down from generation to generation wouldn't you have thought that it would cause such righteousness and holiness from the people they would know the story well and they would know that god is an awesome god and he's not one to be toyed with they would know that he is powerful and he is righteous and he is holy and he is sovereign over his creation and yet that is not what happened it was just a few generations and we see what i call the fallout and that is the consequences of man's rebellion man gets together and say you know what let's build the tower of babel after god had told them to be fruitful and multiply the earth they decided to settle in one region to develop one language one government and to worship the work of their hands oh beloved this story is relevant for the times we're living in as well as instructional for us who know the lord jesus christ beloved as we look forward to what we're going to be doing in our study in genesis we're going to look at each one of these god stories and we're going to peel back the layers and dig in deep and what we're hoping that as you and i look deep into these god stories that we will consider this our own story and begin to see how god is placing our story into his story for god has a purpose and a plan for every one of us and daughter of the king you have been called for such a time as this to live in holiness and righteousness and truth amen we cannot wait to get started in this study i believe that god wants to move in the hearts and lives of women to call us into a deeper walk and to call us to live in righteousness oh how we need god's people to rise up i want to share this story with you real quick and then i'll close the this past summer early on actually i guess it was in the lockdown mr stockdale was doing something at our house using a i believe it's called a sheetrock knife it has a curved blade now i've been with him the night before and he had on very heavy leather gloves but this particular night he was out there you know unsupervised and you know what i'm saying and not that i'm good with tools at all they don't let me use any tools i really they do not and honestly i may be off electronics i'm saying that is the next step but any anyways i'm cooking dinner and mr stockdale comes in and he's always got the biggest smile on his face in fact when he's not smiling things have gone really badly and so he throws the door open and he is i'm not going to tell you all about it but he's bleeding heavily and uh i've just got to tell you i don't do well with blood any of my people out there any of us oh yes yes yes this is not going to be good not going to end well and so i said what in the world is happening he's holding his hand and blood is dripping and he's trying to get water on it and i said what did you do and he said well you know that knife it's like you sliced your hand with the rusty knife that belonged to your father that i saw you used last night is that what we're talking about and he said yes and so we put direct pressure on it and craig said i need you to look at it to see if you think it's deep enough to go to the hospital i don't think that's a good plan and so i called my daughter-in-law who's a nurse and i described it to her and of course she's saying could you open it up and send me a picture and let me look at it no i don't believe i can and so i felt like what he needed to do was go on to the emergency room and so we got him all packed up and then masked up and all that drove him to baptist collierville and uh dropped him pulled in there at the emergency room now we had gotten it to stop bleeding but he was using a lot of pressure and i said let me go in and see if they'll let me fill out the paperwork for you so that i can at least do that much then all you'll have to do is come in when they're ready to see you so i go in there all masked up and keeping my social distancing and i'm talking to the admitting nurse there and i'm explaining what's happening and i'm asking her could i possibly do this on my husband's behalf because he's not doing very well and she said oh she's so sorry that would not work he has to come in and fill out the paperwork but she assures me she's going to take care of him and she will write for him very good so i go out send my husband in all this gauze on his hand he goes in and he's in there a while and we're very grateful they were able to just glue it back together but when he came out i'm telling you he was just dying laughing and i said what he's so funny he's well you're not gonna believe this he said when that sweet nurse was trying to get all that paperwork done for me she asked all these questions all the medical questions all the insurance com questions all those kind of things and then she said to my husband answer do you bathe and craig said i just stepped back a moment and i said do i bathe and she said yeah that's right do you bathe and he said well i i don't see how that has to do with my hand i'm willing to ask the question and she answered the question she said good do you bathe and my husband said how does it matter whether i bathe or not and she pulled her mask away from her faith and she said not bathe vape v-a-p-e i said craig r if you had told her yes every day sometimes twice that would be in your medical records it's important what we under that we understand what is being said and i want to tell you we need to know this book that's what bellevue women's all about let me pray for us lord jesus thank you thank you for these precious ones who are here tonight lord i know there are women in here who were hurting and discouraged and in terrible hard places god would you draw them up close would you speak to their hearts would you minister to them would you bless them and as these precious testimonies are shared father i am just asking that the spirit of god would so connect us as women heart to heart and spirit to spirit and as we share god's stories of our own father help us to learn more about your story we love you lord we love you and we bless you and praise you so receive this time of worship and praise and testimony for your honor and for your glory in jesus name amen i'll see you in a week god bless there is nothing better than him so please stand as we continue in worship i've searched the world but it couldn't fill me man's empty praise treasures that fade are never enough then you came along and put me back together now every desire is now satisfied [Music] nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is better [Music] i'm not afraid to show you my weakness lord you've seen them all and you still call [Music] the me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] better than you there's nothing nothing is better than you oh there's nothing [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] nothing is [Music] you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory you're the only [Music] [Applause] you give beauty for us you turn shame into glory you're the only one who cares you turn graves into god [Music] you're the only one who can [Music] [Applause] nothing is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] you're the only one who cares [Music] you can [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you one [Music] [Music] us [Music] a glory divine [Music] purchase of god [Music] [Music] this is story and this is [Music] this is [Music] praising my savior [Music] [Music] perfect day [Music] [Applause] [Music] mercy [Music] is [Music] [Music] this is my story this is my song crazy [Music] [Music] uh [Music] is [Music] watching and waiting looking [Music] is [Music] this is my story this is my song [Music] oh [Music] this is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] and this is our [Music] [Music] your voices are beautiful [Music] [Music] we praise you jesus we worship you jesus [Applause] that is one of my absolute favorite hymns if you would go ahead and be seated this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long you know the woman who wrote that song fanny j crosby lost her sight when she was six years old due to a mistake that was made by a doctor she could have grown up bitter and lived on excuses but instead she made a choice to believe that god had a purpose for her life she wrote her first hymn at the age of six and 95 years later when she died she had written more than 8 000 hymns what a testimony what a testimony to what god can do with a life that is fully surrendered to him i am so excited about this study oh my goodness we have been looking forward to this study for months now as gene said the chapters we're studying in genesis 1 through 11 are the seed bed for the entire narrative of scripture and as we walk through this study we are going to discover that god has written you and god has written me into his story you see your story is not just an autobiography your story is a biography your story is a biography god is not just your creator he is the author of your life and as he writes he is weaving our stories into his grand redemptive story and here's the thing our stories are not our own they aren't just for us my story is for you and you your story is for me and all of our stories are for the glory of god tonight we're going to hear the stories of four women women who just like you god is writing a beautiful story in their lives some of the women you know some of the women you don't know this first one you do know [Applause] i came to know christ by way of a broken heart i have become a single mom with a three-year-old daughter after seven years of marriage i had grown up in a christian home with parents who instilled in me to get an education so i planned out my life early on wanted to finish high school i did that go to college and get a nursing degree i did that and get married and have a family and live happily ever after that was my plan three years into the marriage something wonderful happened i came across a billy graham crusade on tv that forever changed my life god so convicted my heart you see i was raised in the church but never felt real sure about my salvation i had a hunger for the things of god but did not know how to have a relationship with him that night i came to a saving knowledge of jesus christ with a blessed assurance three years after i surrendered my life to christ my then husband walked in out of the clear blue and stated he did not want to be married anymore he wanted out and he didn't want any parts of my god and there was no reasoning with him at all i was devastated this was not a part of my life plans i thought that all marriages were like my parents you just stick together no matter what i cried out to god where are you how could this be i don't want to get a divorce god you don't like divorce how are you going to fix this and how will you heal my broken heart and what about my child not having a father in the home i had feelings of shame rejection and a sense of failure it took me a while even to take my wedding rings off so i had another plan i moved near the military base where he was stationed in hopes of reconciliation that did not happen i joined a local church and began counseling with the pastor and this young pastor advised me to um and it's the best advice i've ever gotten in my entire life he advised me to get to know the god of my salvation and focus on who he is and i was hurting so bad i would do anything and so i began to study the word of god spend time with god memorize scripture and do everything that i needed to do and i found myself in love with my lord and savior jesus christ i learned i got to know all about his tender mercies his provisions his promises his healing power and his grace and showing me how to forgive i learned how to walk in obedience and spend time with god so much long story short god never failed me during that time he knew the day that i accepted him as lord over my life that the storm was coming he never left me doing those three years and he's not left me to this day i stood on his promises and he was faithful oh now i got to tell you about the next three years after much healing and growth in christ he brought jk lawrence into my life and it's been 34 years and counting of marriage to a godly man i praise god for my salvation i can't imagine life without jesus worship the lord with me um [Music] the hour is dark and it's hard to see what you are doing here in the ruins and where it will lead oh but i know [Music] that down through the years [Music] i'll look on this moment and see your hand on it [Music] you want how you were my portion when there wasn't enough and i'll testify of the seas that we crossed the waters you've parted and the waves [Music] did not fail [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] believing is hard when options are for you i can't see what you're doing i know that you're proving you're a god who comes through but all that i know that over the years [Music] and i'll testify [Music] when it wasn't [Music] [Music] my god [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] all that is left is highest [Music] so sing hallelujah to the rock of ages [Music] sing with me all that is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] hmm [Applause] [Music] i'll testify of the battles you've won how you were my portion when there wasn't enough and i'll testify of the seas that we cross the waters you've parted that i was [Music] [Applause] [Music] with my soul it is well sing it with me with my soul [Music] it is [Music] with my [Music] soul is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] it is [Applause] [Music] it is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] hallelujah thank you lord thank you [Music] the darkness that you are experiencing right now is much like the journey i am on as i deal with three different eye diseases that have gradually diminished my ability to see over the past 40 years my name is charlotte sterling and tonight i'd like to share with you the story god is writing in my life the doctors say that i'm an anomaly but i say i'm blessed god has been so faithful to walk beside me and to carry me through difficult seasons in my life at the age of 16 my father died and as a result my mother was left with three young teenagers in dire financial straits a few months after that i started my senior year of high school that's when i first noticed my vision beginning to change as i looked straight ahead things seemed to be out of focus and blurry i didn't tell anyone not even my mother she was going through enough at home but as i graduated from high school i said mom i think i might need to go to the eye doctor as i went to that eye doctor he said young lady you know there's a lot more wrong than you need to pair glasses tearfully i said yes sir i know i was diagnosed with stargardt's disease that is a genetic degenerative disease that would eventually take all of my central vision as i entered memphis state that fall i had to learn to adapt to being a visually impaired student my textbooks were on tape and i took my test in large print i met a visually impaired friend there and we became fast friends she had the opposite eye condition that i had she could see straight ahead and i could see to the sides we became fast friends we were two peas in a pod as we walked the campus together she'd say cute boy alert straight ahead and i'd said and i would say you should see the one coming around to the left my time in memphis state was like most normal college girls i was a cheerleader for two different professional soccer teams the memphis rogues and the memphis americans back in the 1980s i also served on the memphis state fashion board upon graduation i earned a degree in early childhood education i got my first job teaching kindergarten in an inner city school that i taught at for seven years and i loved during that time i was attending bellevue downtown and do you remember when dr rogers used to say meet a new friend and greet an old friend well that sunday night i met a new friend my prince charming david sterling we dated a couple years and then got married god blessed us with two beautiful daughters you know raising those daughters as a visually impaired mom who couldn't drive was a really big challenge transportation was a major issue dave and i prayed fervently for that and god heard our prayers and blessed us david was able to start a business from home virtually back when that really wasn't as popular thing as it is now he was a great carpool dad and so many of my friends who are here tonight i'm so grateful to them for all the help they gave me with transportation for my girls because they were involved in a lot of activities like i'm sure your kids were too well now on to the diagnosis of the other eye diseases after about 10 years i was diagnosed with glaucoma many of you might have heard of that disease and know it's not curable but it's treatable and i didn't suffer any vision loss as a result of glaucoma fast forward a little more time though and things began to change my mobility wasn't the same i wasn't getting around as good as i used to i knew that something was wrong so back to the eye doctor we went he ran some genetic testing on me and that genetic testing revealed that i had retinitis pigmentosa that is another degenerative eye disease that has nothing to do with stark arts or glaucoma but would take all of my peripheral away and ladies that's all i had left i'd lost all of my central vision but you know god is still so good to us even through the hard times in our life one gift that he gave me is the gift to be able to laugh at myself and you know i think i've entertained my friends a lot through that and i hear somebody say amen on that yes and i kind of think of myself as a blind lucy ricardo because if there's a mess to get into or trouble i'm right in the middle of it okay so i thought i'd share one of the many stories with y'all tonight david had i had gone to the movies at the cordova malco movie theater and if you've ever been there on the weekend it's pretty crowded he said he'd go get the car and he'd leave me standing there on the curb well there's lots of cars lined up to pick up people there you kind of know where it's going huh so as i'm standing there anxiously awaiting for him to come and pick me up here comes the green van so i go and i open the car door and i pull my seat belt and i say hurry because there's lots of cars behind us right well as i look over at the driver it was not my prince charming david sterling it was a very scary ball-headed looking man with scraggly hair who said to me hurry where baby [Applause] i was so scared i jumped out of the car and i just stood there trembling until david did pull up well in closing i'd like to share with you my life first which is second corinthians 5 7. i walk by faith not by sight you know that is especially true for me both literally and figuratively you know god gives us just enough light in our life to walk day by day and sometimes ladies just step by step i know that there are many of you in here who are dealing with challenges and difficulties and if you will just exercise your faith and trust in him i know that he will carry you through it just as he's carried me you know my future the journey that i'm on like we said at the beginning is a journey into darkness where i will probably be losing all of my vision but you know i have no fear i'm not afraid because not only do i know the one who made the light i have the light in my heart and that's jesus christ and this is my story thank you [Applause] lord our god he is our jehovah gyra he is our provider he gives us everything we need so please stand and join us as we continue worship [Music] there's nothing i can do to let you [Music] [Applause] never be down loved than i am right now going through a storm but i won't go down i hear your voice [Music] you've never been closer than you are right now [Music] forever [Music] i could see so clear what it's all about stay up when the sun goes [Music] you're every circumstance [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] i'm already chosen i know who i am [Music] i'm already [Music] i'm already chosen [Applause] [Music] i'm already [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm already [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] says [Music] bobby and i got married in 1971 and from the very beginning we started praying bobby's favorite scripture proverbs 3 5 and 6 and mine jeremiah 33 3. we were calling on the lord when we decided we decided it was time to have children but you know after about nine years of not conceiving we decided that hey god has a plan that's different to our plan and we were able to adopt a one week old baby who is now 41 years of age then all of a sudden bobby uh gets an offer to come to memphis tennessee to work with baptist hospital and so we uh immediately joined bellevue and became active and we're still happy as a you know just with one child but just all of a sudden god's timing was perfect and we can see a baby and they would tell me that my baby could have down syndrome on spina bifida so we chose to do the testing knowing that down's children have heart problems major heart bones well that was such an answer to prayer because they found lacie was down syndrome she was a little girl and she had a hole in her heart you know it was it was a time where you really get on your knees and say okay i can do it with your help and um so she was born i was just with the hole in her heart had viral pneumonia at three months of age and they said we've got to close that vsd we had told them and the surgeon beforehand that she bellevue had prayed for this baby and when she came in on thursday lacey was not hooked up to anything and she said well that that lifting up really helped well two weeks later we find out she's a non-believer and we said god you've already started lord he started getting the glory through her life preschool days were just wonderful how he took care of her i tell people she didn't come away knowing her alphabet or anything like that but she knew how to talk she really did and she could communicate with us real well fast forward on to high school she came downstairs one night and she was dr had drawn a picture of scooby-doo and bobby said did you trace that and she said no i didn't i drew it and he said go do another one and she did and it was the same and we went oh dear lord what are you doing through her art one night we came home and we had had such a worshipful time at choir she immediately went to the art room and she came out and she had painted a beautiful it was the choir loft three angels and the word jesus and when she turned it around and showed bobby and i the pain she said he was there she says he told me she calls the holy spirit he all the time she'll even when we're riding down the road sometimes she'll be looking out the window and i'll say lazy you okay and she'll say he's talking to me when we first started sharing the paintings across the united states a lady from florida saw it on facebook and said i need dream of heaven lacie had a dream of heaven and so we shipped it to her and she immediately came back and said it is in my room and my child who had down syndrome had passed away last year but now i have been able to talk to my five-year-old about heaven and about where his brother is that gives people hope you know right there you just gotta let god work through her and go i'm amazed i really am [Music] would you join me in welcoming one of the most incredible young women i've ever met lacie hancock would you come up here lacy [Applause] over the past several months lacey and i have had an opportunity to get together several times as she was preparing to paint the original art that's used on the cover of the workbook and as we would meet i know isn't it absolutely beautiful she is one of the most creative individuals i've ever met god's blessing is all over her she walks in the favor of the lord and as we met there were several times when i just had the opportunity to pray with her and i was so touched by her relationship with the lord so in closing tonight i've asked her if she would pray a special blessing over all of us as we get ready to walk through this bible study dear heavenly father i want to ask you what's your bless all the women who ready to study and know god's word the real meaning of your purpose is about loving sharing and serving you prayerfully and truth and god we bless each and one of them here to walk in grace and also just live by you words need to be heard faith over fear because he is near to you because he is blessed by you and your purpose is past serving faithfully you came from god and most importantly you know where you're going throughout the nations in the name of jesus christ the battle belongs to you god because battle has been won in the name of jesus christ jesus never fails amen amen amen you want to sing the final phone [Applause] [Music] as we sing this last song how great thou art then sings my soul my savior [Music] [Music] then sings my soul [Music] my savior [Music] my save your god yes [Applause] you

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 1,514

Rating: 4.7894735 out of 5

Keywords: the beginning, hisstory, genesis, women's bible study, Bellevue Women, bellevue church, bellevue memphis, bellview, belleview, bellvue, Jean Stockdale, bellevue baptist

Id: fDJbm1ZmnhU

Length: 89min 16sec (5356 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021