Happy Wednesday, you lovely things!
Today I thought we’d do something that could really build us up as women of faith as well as charge us on as members of a local body of believers. If you have been around here a while, you know how strongly we believe in the investment of our lives in a local church. Oh, I know, I know. I’ve heard the whole “they’re just a bunch of hypocrites” thing a million times but I can tell you that some of the loveliest, most genuine Christians I have ever known, I met at my local church amid all the flaws and occasional dysfunction. We can get over thinking we’ll ever find a perfect church and, anyway, I always think to myself that, if I could find one, I’d mess the thing up by walking in the door. I am convinced way down in the marrow of my bones that we cannot grow up into full-throttle effectiveness in our callings without being in the framework of a Word-oriented body of believers. This is true even if you and I often minister outside those walls. My home church profoundly affects what I do in ministry on the road and I rarely make a really big decision outside without running it by the leadership inside. This segment of Ephesians 4 is probably the biggest reason why I believe so strongly in the framework.
11 And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Eph 4:11–16). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
That’s a powerful segment, isn’t it? Listen, I know some of you have been badly hurt by a grossly unhealthy church. In case nobody ever said it to you, your sisters here are so sorry that such pain came to you within a local body. It shouldn’t have. But, Sister, there’s another one out there for you. Don’t shut yourself off. You need a community of believers and not just your small group Bible study or accountability group. For it to function as the assembled church Christ ordained, it needs to be one that operates with leaders and shepherds and teachers like Ephesians 4 describes. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying! I love communities of women in small group Bible study! You know I do! I’m just suggesting that they don’t replace a functioning assembly of believers where the broader gifts are practiced for the growth of those members.
Anyway, I’m just here to say that I really love my pastor. And, yep. He is my son-in-law but I told Amanda and Curtis recently that, this far in, I would have wanted to go right there to that church even if I didn’t know them from Adam. I am growing and meeting many new people. I’m being stretched. I’ve been kicked way out of my comfort zone. I love ministering to the children and helping hold doors and give hugs. And, Sister, I GET A WORD. Some of the most powerful things God has done in my life in the last year came from a seed sown in me through one of Curtis’s messages. (If you were part of the simulcast, that whole message about the Widow’s Oil and the jars developed from a question Curtis asked us the day he taught from 2 Kings 4.)
SO, this is what we’re doing today! We’re going to share ONE (just one please!) of the most important or memorable words God has ever spoken to you through your present pastor in a sermon. If you can do it succinctly, you can also tell us why, but it’s perfectly fine if you simply share the word. If at all possible, please give the text reference. You don’t have to write the verses out. Just the address is fine.
Here’s what I’m going to do for my entry. I want to share with you a recent sermon of Curtis’s that really ministered to me. Many of you probably won’t have time to listen but, for those of you who do, stay with it all the way to the end. His wrap up left me in tears. Perhaps it will be meaningful to you, too. To get to the sermon, click the following link. It will bring you to the Bayou City Fellowship podcast page. Look specifically for the title “What is to Come.” It will be the second one listed there, I’m almost positive. It’s free, of course. I’m not trying to get you to buy something here today. I’m also not selling churches. Laughing. Just hoping this might bless somebody.
Click here to download the podcast on iTunes. Remember, the title is “What is to Come.” If you have any problems connecting with the link provided, you can also search for “Bayou City Fellowship” in iTunes either online or on your computer if you have iTunes loaded there.
Your turn!!! Let’s share some words we’re getting, Sister! I love you dearly. I mean that. You are on my heart every day.
Thank you for sharing! I thought about that message all week. I passed it along to my daughters who also enjoyed it and were encouraged. We laughed when we saw an ad for the show “Million Dollar Homes” – shouldn’t that be million dollar tents?! 🙂
I love what our pastor said … regarding … suffering …. “The Lord has torn down your shack in order to build a palace.” His mighty hand will do this.
Beth, Right now my church is going through a split. So, I have gone with my pastor and many from my church as we join an existing church in our town. Very scary and exciting at the same time. I believe that the Lord is going to do some awesome things. I can’t wait to be a part of the adventure. My sweet pastor preached first service out of 1st Peter concerning living stones. He reminded us that the church is not a building, but a temple made of living stones (believers) working together in community. Church exists/happens in community as we allow the Spirit access to our hearts and lives. In second service, my new pastor, preaching from the same passage, reminded us that Jesus is the cornerstone and is the precious Son of God. He asked us how precious Jesus was to us and challenged us to live like the living stones Peter was talking about in this passage. We can glorify the Lord in everything we do, especially how we love one another inside the church and when we offer our precious Jesus to other people in our lives who do not know Him. Given everything that is going on in my life right now, I definitely needed both sermons. They were very timely, but then again isn’t Jesus’ timing always perfect. Thanks for sharing, Beth! I love you, Lynda
Britt, Burlington, NC. Mark 4:26-34 Sermon title: The mystery of the kingdom. Loved it, because it talks about the mustard seed and how all we have to do is follow God’s direction by planting it and watering it and give the rest up to God and amazing things will happen. This matched perfectly with the last blog homework assignment I did. The message I got: don’t get so busy doing too much “stuff”, make sure you are doing the “important” things in life and God will take care of the rest and in the mean time you might get more rest. It was great because I can make my days too busy sometimes doing things that really aren’t that important. I need to be sure I am focusing on God so that my daily tasks are corretly focused on His desires for my life.
Matthew 20:32, “So Jesus stood still and called them and said, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ”
I remember my pastor reading this, and it was the Word that convicted me, not what the pastor said. I thought to myself, what would I say if Jesus Himself walked in the room and asked ME that question? My first thought was, ‘I want to be like You.’
Our wants, desires, and needs go completely away when we are in His presence. Oh, to be just like Him. That is what I want.
During the elections when everyone was in a tizzy (I live in a very Republican dominated state), Pastor Clark reminded us that we are to be an embassy. Though we are in a foreign land (the world and not home with Christ), our homes are embassies. Showing the world what it looks like when God’s law reigns. There should be a noticeable difference in our home and customs at home to allow people a glimpse of what’s to come.
In summer and fall Pastor Joel’s sermon series was from the book of Acts. I absolutely can not pick just one thing from that study. All I can tell you is WOW!! I’m hoping to listen to the entire series again via our webpage. So much to learn and so powerful!
Jennifer, Tahlequah, OK- “Give thanks to The Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. ” Psalm 105:1 NLT
These things I have spoken to you that in ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33. NKJ
Anna from Sulphur, LA
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and The Lord laid in him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement, and who shall declare his generation. He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isaiah 53, KJV
Roxy Gilbert from Riverton,Utah
James 3:17-18 NIV
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
Hebrews 12:2 NIV
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who before the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Gayla McKinney
Lees’s Summit, MO
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Philippians 4:6, 7 MSG)
My word actually came from our youth pastor who was teaching on a Sunday night. I am going through a tough season with our 19 year old son who isn’t walking with Jesus right now. He has left worship ministry to be in a secular screaming band; his heart is hardened and his spirit is prideful right now, and we have had a lot of struggle setting household limits with him as he still lives at home. God gave me clear as a BELL Psalm 30:5 “Weeping remains for a night, but joy comes in the morning” as a word of encouragement in this season, assuring me that though things look dark now in my mama’s heart, that joy will come and he WILL be the mighty man of God–promised to me by a word when he was just 8 years old. I went to church that Sunday night after having not been to that service in a while, and the youth pastor’s message was “God’s already written your happy ending” from Psalm 107…that we walk through yucky seasons in which we can’t see hope, but that God sees the end of the thing and someday we can look back and see that He always meant good from it. Several things he mentioned in the message I had JUST discussed regarding my son with a good friend in the lobby before service! so she came running to my seat as soon as church ended and we had a sweet encouraging laugh in Jesus. It was a blessing to the youth pastor (whom I serve with as leader of the youth ministry intercessory prayer team) to tell him God had completely used him to confirm that word to me…he himself had asked God that very day to show him that he was rightly hearing from Him 🙂 Double blessing/double word that day! God is good, all the time! and I am watching the horizon for the dawn of my “joy”.
Jenni, thank you so much for sharing this word. It is very timely for me as well. I know that in His time, all promises are fulfilled. That it is in trusting that, in our daily walk when we as Mothers wish to fix everything and have to let go and LET God, that our faith comes in. Thank you for sharing. God bless and I will join with you in praying for your son.
Kimberly from Bloomburg,Texas: All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight O’Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalms 19:14 NAS
Becky, Dayton OH, When I am afraid, I will trust in you. Psalm 56:3 (HCSB)
My pastor was finishing up a sermon on Colossians. He asked us how our day would be different if we woke up saying…” I have been chosen by God.” He did not give a reference but you can find it written is scripture in Romans and Ephesains. God has chosen all of us. He loves us. My pastor makes it clear each Sunday God loves us individually and sees great potential in all of us.
Ephesians 3:17-19 (Amplified Bible)
May Christ through your faith actually dwell, settle down, abide, make His permanent home in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
That you may have the power and be strong to grasp and apprehend with all of the saints (God’s devoted ones, the experience of that love) what is the breadth and length and height and depth of it.
That you may really come to know (practically through experience for yourselves) the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience); that you may be filled (through all of your being) unto all the fullness of God (may have the richest measure of the Divine Presence and become a body filled and flooded with God Himself!!)
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in HIm and I am helped.
Psalm 28:7 NIV
“Sin is chocolate covered dog food” Pastor Gregg Matte Oct 2009
Thanks for this post. I heard Curtis speak. Great message. When he got to the part where he said at the end of the street was the throne of God I was a bit emotional and ready for heaven. Thanks again for your insight. I hear you saying we need to stick with our church family and press thru hard times or stretching times and use that as opportunities for inward growth. When we easily blame others or things for,our unhappiness we can end up lonely and bitter. There is something wonderful about pressing thru and really believing God is your helper and your friend during relational upheaval or church messiness.
Thanks for your challenges to all of us and for loving Jesus.
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth farm more than rubies.
My daddy (aka: the best pastor in the world! 😉 ) is going through the book of Job right now, and one of the biggest things he has hit on in regards to Job’s “friends” is how dangerous it is for us to assume we know best in another’s situation. What a sobering reminder to KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT! Leave the criticism at home, show some true compassion, and let God be the judge.
From Harrah, OK
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6 NIV)
Linda, Anderson. 1 Sam. 12:21 NKJV And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver for they are nothing.
Mel Ann Sullivan – Millry, AL – Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the sin that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. For the man who listens to the word and does not do what it says is like the man who looks at his face in the mirror, goes away and immediately forget what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this will be blessed in what he does. James 1:21-25
Psalm 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.(KJV)
Luke 10:25-37- The Parable of the Good Samaritan- Well, I have had the distinct privlege of having had my pastor as my Sunday school teacher for 2 years. And while yesterday he used this passage to talk about reaching our community through conversation, it’s the word I have previously heard from him regarding this passage that so touches me. Who is our neighbor? As the young lawyer was asking, he is the person we would otherwise revile most of all. He is that democrat/republican, gay, hispanic/black/white, rich/poor person with whom we feel we have nothing in common, who makes us uncomfortable or worse with our very presence. THAT IS OUR NEIGHBOR, and we are COMMANDED TO LOVE THEM in the manner that Christ has loved us. Wow- sometimes this Jesus stuff is tough! But if we are going to bring a light into this world, we must bring it to ALL, we must LOVE our enemies. Boy, would THAT get some attention!
It came out of Col. 3:3-4. “…when Christ WHO IS YOUR LIFE appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Wow! God has confronted me with certain strongholds. And I’m so disgusted by them that I’ve been WORKING my hardst to be rid of them!! Well, it wasn’t working. Surprise surprise!! Then I heard a sermon on how Christ is my life in the sense that it is me emptying myself (submitting/humbling), and HIM who fills me up with HIMSELF and thus FRUIT of righteousness grows. I have since learned that that righteousness comes through FAITH that He can and WILL do it for me (Phil 3:7-14), and my divine and powerful weapons are the Word of God (sword of the Spirit) and prayer (Praying God’s Word!!!). I grew up in the church and love the church, but if I wasn’t subsisting off my parents’ faith, I was making all the helpful tools laws. I can get over this “if I read my Bible”, if I “write in my prayer journal”, if I “pray each morning and tell God I’m submitting to Him.” Those are MUSTS for the believer, but without faith in the ONE who IS my LIFE (because I’m dead) and righteousness (because only He is good), and stepping aside to rest in Him, I’ll go on striving in faithless to-do’s rather than RESTING in letting Him do!
Love, love my pastor. He started the book of Colossians and pointed out that so many of the words in the verses in the first chapter were in the past tense. Pastor Dave said that was because Jesus had already DONE IT! He has already completed it! We have everything that we need already. Isn’t that just a GOOD word? We have everything that we need already! Amen.
FELLOWSHIP ! I have many medical problems. Have missed church too much in recent weeks!
My pastor reminded me of the need to fellowship with other believers! How it lifts up when we are suffering.
I enjoyed Beth’s post so much and wanted to weigh in on this particular topic while the ability to post was still open.
There isn’t a Sunday I don’t go expecting to get something: a word of instruction, of comfort, encouragement, or just a praise to Him.
Lately, I am receiving a fire hose of the Spirit each week. Each Sunday morning in our church, we start on our knees and stand from communion to the end in victory. This is a physical reminder that we are free in Christ because of His sacrifice on the Cross. We live in total victory. Of late, our pastor exhorts us to go into the world at the service’s end “to transform hearts through Jesus Christ”. We pray weekly year round for the transformation of our own hearts and families, our region, the area of the US north of us where churches are dying weekly, and for ministry in the world. For some time now, we have been exhorted to have soft hearts and hard feet as we carry the Gospel into our world. Each Sunday’s sermon is an encouragement or instruction in how to do that; and of course, it would not happen without Jesus living in and through us by the Holy Spirit doing this work for His glory.
In short, the love of God permeates each message, each member, and all ministry including the preaching pastor’s personal greeting at the door. I would love to be even more specific but time doesn’t allow me to do so.
Thank you, Father, for leading me to a church that loves each other and is focused on ministry to the hurting world around them.
Hopefully, better late than never is ok! My 17 year old daughter is “in the far country” spiritually. I have struggled, and wept and literally made myself sick worrying about her. My God-listening pastor delivered a message that had to have been specifically for me. “How to pray for your prodigal” Ephesians 1:18. Pray for open eyes, don’t focus on the circumstance, focus on the One who rose from the dead, not the present circumstances. She’s not home yet, but I have peace knowing how to pray for her.
Don’t remember where it was from but he was urging members to get along as long as it was biblically based. Don’t disagree just becasue a new idea comes along either. It might be from God. Test it. If not from God then say no.
“Then I saw the new heavens and the new earth, as the first heavens and earth had past away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from god, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the thrown saying “behold the dwelling place of god is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and god himself will be with them as their god. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be morning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have past away.” Revelation 21:1-4
Pastor said, we either believe gods promises or we don’t. The word coupled with those words really got me evaluating
When preaching from Matthew, pastor Mike Hardison told a story about a toddler whose mother had put him in timeout and placed him in the playpen. When the grandfather entered he room and tried to pick him up, he was scolded by the child’s mother. Looking at his grandchild helplessly, he jumped in the playpen with him. This is what God did for us. He looked down and saw the mess we had gotten ourselves into and “jumped in the playpen” with us by sending Christ to live among us and save us from ourselves. He could have sat and watched, but He decided to experience it with us. Praise be to God!
I cried through the whole sermon “What is to come”. Very powerful and true teaching. Made me really think and want to share with friends and family.
Years ago Pastor spoke on 2 Kings 4 where Elisha was speaking to a widow, asking what she had in her house. Her response was “…nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” The Pastor reminded us that we often respond that way. “I’ve got nothing, except, oh yeah…but it’s too small to even acknowledge!” And God says “I’ll start there.” He went on to say that God does not deal with a scarcity mindset. When Jesus fed the 5000, he had 12 baskets left over for those 12 disciples to stick their heads in…
This weary and tired mom of 7, who is fighting the good fight with stage 4 colon cancer, needed that Word today. Thank you so much for sharing. Can’t wait for what is yet to come!
Mary Hughes–Ardmore, AL
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.” Isaiah 54:17 NKJV
Lori Hillegas
Learning to Breathe!
(And I know my name will not be a duplicate…and I like parenthesis too…and triple dots, whatever they’re called…)
Book title? I am so glad you asked! I’ve said this for years but haven’t sat down to write it, though I’d love to…my story of life’s mishaps and how God always points out something really cool to me in those moments… “Running Backwards in Flip Flops!”
Laci Gravely 🙂
Name of my book would be: “I’m still here, Lord….It’s been a blast !.
Linda Erny, would love the copy of Sparkly Green Earrings!
I would love a copy of “Sparkly Green Earrings”!
NIV 1John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.
You’ve made the book sound yummy….I would enjoy having a copy to read!