Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / October 13, 2020 | Expresso - Diana Ellis

Transcript

October 13, 2020 | Expresso - Diana Ellis · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: I never met a microphone I did not love.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: That is a true story.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, ladies.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: We are, how do I advance that?
0:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm so used to touch screen.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: I just go like that.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: We are living in some really weird times.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Can anyone agree with me on that?
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Fire tornadoes, fire tornadoes in California.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Land hurricanes in Ohio.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: Political weirdness.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Awareness of rampant sex trafficking and pedophilia.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Just to name a few.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Second Timothy 2.4 says, For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Sound familiar?
1:12
SPEAKER_00: We know from God's word his return will be like a thief in the night.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: It will be unexpected.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: And we know that as lightning comes from the east and it's visible even in the west, so the Sun of the coming of the Son of Man will be undeniable.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: And another 2,000 years ago, Jesus said himself that it would be soon.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: 2,000 years ago, soon.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: And that's how all of the mess of this world gets fixed perfectly and permanently.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: But if we're honest, the subject of Jesus, like really actually returning soon, leaves many of us just as unsettled or anxious as the list of problems I mentioned.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: It's getting harder to not notice and emotionally not react to the bigger and more obvious signs that, to quote my daughter, God is pulling out tricks he has never done before.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: Even the most emotionally settled people have more than enough reasons to feel unsettled.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: I love this picture.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: That is me and one of my little baby, my cousin's daughter.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, she's really loving me.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: You can tell she's not so much a people person.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: And that little photo encapsulates kind of the way I think all of us feel right now.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: We know what the Bible says, we know what, uh, but but like soon, like real soon, like how soon?
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, and those of us who are biologically prone to anxiety andor depression, take a pill, two pills every day uh for my serotonin, uh, we have some extra work.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: I have spent decades dealing and wrestling with fear and depression and anxiety.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: My childhood was without trauma.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: I had a small but loving family, parents who were happy and happily married.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: All of my needs, food, shelter, clothing, were met, along with most of my wants.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: Despite all of this genuine love and security, waves of dread, sadness, and worry were lapping at the edges of my heart and mind.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: By 12, I was keenly aware and heartbroken by seeing the physical weaknesses of the adults around me.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: My dad's bad back, my grandmother's health, my mom's crippled arm.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: I would cry regularly in the night, thinking of the ways the people I love might die.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: My bedroom walls, and those are them.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Boy, was that some wallpaper or what?
4:24
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm kind of glad I captured it.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: All four walls in that.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: You remember the 80s.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that is where I would cry in the night, thinking of all the ways that the people I love might die.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: My bedroom walls, those walls, saw the flood of tears as I thought of all the horrible things that had happened or would happen or could happen to hurt the people I love.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: As I grew, so did my fear and the frequent habit of allowing my mind to imagine scenarios of heartbreaking loss.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: I received my nursing license, and there I am clearly right there, receiving my nursing license.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm joking.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: But there I am.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: I was so pediatric.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: That's so cute.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I got the nursing license and the fear grew.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: And the what ifs, what if, what if?
5:23
SPEAKER_00: I married and it grew, bought our first house, received a promotion at work, had my first child, and it grew and it grew and it grew bigger than ever.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Just as water seeks to flow to the lowest places, fear kept slipping in, finding and flooding the deepest craters in my spirit, and filled my heart and my mind to overflowing.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: It's making my ears red just even talking about it.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, it really is.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like so triggerable.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: So, whoo, just bear with me.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting to a better place than I am now.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Until one Sunday, I stayed home from church to make pickles.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: I had the radio on, and they were not good pickles, by the way.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: I had the radio on, and an interesting message came on, a sermon from the book of Job.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Raised a Presbyterian, I didn't get it until I spent some time with those tambourine shakers.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: Shh, I wanted to have a tambourine just for this part.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Yes, those Pentecostals.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: There was so much good in the little community center church, but ultimately the teaching that God will prosper you financially and will make and keep you healthy simply could not stand up to the book of Job.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: That Sunday morning, the radio sermon on Job was enough to make it obvious the church that I attended was flat out wrong in some big ways.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: And next Sunday, I'd be going to church at someplace called Topeka Bible Church to hear this Congden guy in person.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Fast forward, a blink of an eye.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: The 20-ish-year-old girl that walked into that sanctuary above now stands before you almost 50.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: And I tell you without a doubt, I am free.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Free of anxiety and worry and fear.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: Sisters, now more than ever, the signs of the times tell us Christ is near and his return is soon.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, more urgently than ever, it is time for every single person to discover real freedom in Christ.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: The kind of freedom that makes you powerful and strong and confident, the kind of freedom that makes it possible to look at the storm that is on the horizon because it is, and smile, knowing that where God leads, He will provide.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that sounds nice and all.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: But like, what do I do?
7:55
SPEAKER_00: That's the part that's hard.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's start here.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: Theology matters.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Now, for those of you who've not seen it, Joel Osteen has put out a beautiful inspirational cube, and I am not joking.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: This is something that sits on your countertop that has over 400 inspiring and uplifting messages from Joel in this easy-to-use audio device.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: Now, I've listened to some of these and I've not heard the name of Jesus quite yet, but I'm holding on to hope.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Theology matters.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Theology matters.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Why do you believe what you believe?
8:29
SPEAKER_00: Why do bad things happen?
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Because they do.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Bad things happen to people that love Jesus, and it does not mean that God does not love you.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: And you have to settle this.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: You have to know enough of how God is and how he works to be able to face what we're going to be facing ahead.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: It's just you theology matters.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Identity, like you mentioned, Mona, identity matters.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: It matters so much.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: Not only knowing who you are in Christ and who Christ says you are and who Christ says you, your purpose, your point, everything.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: If you are not finding your identity in Christ, you need to be.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: You need to find that out.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: And if you are not standing in awe of who God is and realize just how really sinful and yucky you are, you don't know how holy and how set apart and how awesome God is.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: That's number two.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Um prayer matters.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: I did not think that prayer mattered that much.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: And I bet I'm not the only one.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you know, God just like he does what he does, I certainly can't control it.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: So I just, it's easier just to accept whatever he gives me.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: And okay, wow, that is totally wrong.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is, but it's not.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: Prayer really, really, really, really matters.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, and praying scripture is the most powerful way to pray.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: When you take the word of God, which is alive and sharper than making my heart happy.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes, when you take that and you pray that there are po you're engaging in the war in the heavenlies.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: You are engaging in war in the heavenlies.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: And for those of you that do not like science fiction, the times right now are gonna get real funky for you because we're entering into some serious science fiction territory.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: This is not like reality-based that we understand because things are getting weirder than weird.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: And uh, yeah, this is why I mentioned the science fiction.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't like creepy science fiction, I like interesting, like, mmm, you know, and we're definitely there.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Um so praying scripture matters.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh Bethmore has a good book on it.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: There are so many resources out there, but praying scripture, that's how Jesus fought.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: You know that.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: When he was tempted by the enemy, he responded with scripture.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: And that's how you fight the enemy.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: That's how, because that's the whole head game there.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Um praise, praise, praise, praise.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: To me, I love I love to sing.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: If y'all have not seen me on Sunday morning, I do a show for an audience of one up front on the right side at the cab.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, I don't even care.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: I love to praise Jesus, and I'm gonna tell you, some of y'all are just a little too quiet for my taste.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: I need you girls to get when I mean, like Connie Hall, well, Connie Hall can bring it too.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: I know where you sit on Sunday.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: You're kind of in the back upstairs.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: I know.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: It really is time that we get good at praising God because if we there are strongholds that are broken when we praise the creator of the universe and put him in his right place.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: And I am telling you, Sunday mornings need to get a little rowdier, or I'm gonna have to join the praise band.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: And I you ought to be afraid about that.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Because I have considered it, because I like to sing and sing loud.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, yeah.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I'm just daring you all to just get a little freaky with it.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the story of David in the Bible?
12:07
SPEAKER_00: You remember when David danced with all of his might?
12:11
SPEAKER_00: And basically he was dancing in his underwear, and his he was, and his wife was like, Ugh, I and she was disgusted.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: That was Saul's wife, uh Saul's daughter.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: And so she was probably like, Hmm, I don't think I like you anywhere that I married you just to keep like the royalty in the family.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: And she was disgusted with him because she had seen him from the window and she looked at him dancing with all his might before the Lord and really just kind of doing a Diana show, like I do, down front, not caring.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: And his response to her was so beautiful.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: She was so embarrassed and humiliated by him dancing, kind of in his undergarments, praising God, because the Ark had the Ark of the Covenant had been brought back.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: And he responded to her, you think that I have lessened myself in the eyes of this community when in fact the servant girls that saw me, the the lowest people that were there, women servants, I will be held in high esteem because of how I praised.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: And I am telling you, you need some bust through some spiritual strongholds and walls.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: It is through praise.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: You can start and get freaky at home with that.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: Lots of ways.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: Turn it up and praise.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, in fact, I'm getting so good on lead vocals at home.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, somebody needs to let Jeremia Divine know I am killing it on lead vocals at home.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: Just saying.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, okay.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Are you afraid of the right things?
13:53
SPEAKER_00: Good fear.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: There is good fear.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Are you do you have a holy fear of God?
13:58
SPEAKER_00: Because I do.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: When the neighbor man who I did not like, who quite frankly, it was a whole very hard, difficult, ugly chapter in my life and in my marriage fell down his basement stairs.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: I was terrified at the fact that some tiny part of me did not feel sad because this man had caused me so much grief.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: I was terrified because of God being a holy God.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: And there is a right kind of fear.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: God loves us tremendously, but the grace gospel is true, but at the same time, he is good and he is just, and you need to have a godly, holy fear of him because that is the beginning of wisdom.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, real God options.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Guys, there are a lot of gods out there.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of gods in the Old Testament, there were lots of gods mentioned.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: You go over to Israel and they've got shrines and temples to all kinds of gods.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: So uh some people like, oh, there aren't any other gods.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, there are.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, they do tricks.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: And when this the Antichrist comes and he's gonna get here eventually, he'll do tricks too.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: And this is why it's really important for those of us that have kind of put off learning some things and said, I it's just too big.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: I can't deal with that thing, I can't deal with this thing, I can't go to that area in my heart, I just can't do it.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: You better do it now because the Antichrist is coming and he's gonna do tricks, and they are going to be amazing.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: And he, the word tells us that people will be confused at best and misled at worst.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: And um, that's why you really need to know God.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: I need to know God more than I know God now, and I have such a hunger and thirst for him, and I want you to have and do the same.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, lack of forgiveness that's huge.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: That's really how I forgave the neighbor man.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: Um I just every time I was outside, that man was there and antagonizing me mentally, not actually, but mentally.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: And I work outside a lot in the yard, and I would meditate on my own sinfulness every single time.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, nope, I'm not going there.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: Nope, I'm not going there.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Do you let your brain just rattle on to these scenarios?
16:15
SPEAKER_00: Because my brain is really good at it.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Did you know some people do not uh like they can't think words inside their head?
16:23
SPEAKER_00: Does anybody here not talk to themselves in their head?
16:25
SPEAKER_00: Because there are people that don't.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: It's so weird.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: I did not know that was really a thing.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: It really is a thing.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: Some people can't plan what they want to say.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: I could, but I don't.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: But some people really cannot.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: I know.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: I saw it on good, it's interesting to Google.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: This anyway, that's a whole other rabbit hole.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, okay.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've got to forgive.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: And that's really how that's really what for I forgave my husband meditating on my own sinfulness, and I forgave the neighbor man meditating on my own sinfulness.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: And the more I meditated on my own sinfulness, I just realized how holy God is and how much I was blessed with forgiveness by God.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, vanity and pride.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: Girls, we really got to quit caring about that.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: That's our I think for a lot of women that's kind of the thing.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: We really get hung up on, oh, I don't want I I don't want to look weird.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't want to sound weird.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
17:25
SPEAKER_00: We believe in a God that got impregnated in a woman with no sex.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: That's weird.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it just is.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: We are the this Christian faith that we believe in, there's a lot of really weird details.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Truth be told, most people that really know what Christianity is about, they already think we're weird.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: So I just don't know what the big deal is.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: I think let's encourage one another to be undignified like David.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Be undignified in a godly way, in a way that is God exalting.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Let's not care if whatever.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's a point for the future.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Plenty of gods.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, they are.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: What's gonna make you quit?
18:06
SPEAKER_00: I just recently realized there's something that's gonna make you quit.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Something, maybe.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: I thought I had them all dealt with.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Like, what's gonna make me quit this Christian thing?
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, like looking out in the audience, I I know how many of you have had terrible losses and yet went on.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: And what's gonna make you quit?
18:26
SPEAKER_00: I realized, I thought I'd really given God everything.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: And I realized the thing that I had not yet given him was really like, because I've been married now for 27 years, and let me tell you, you guys that have been married a long time, it is work.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: And I realized I had not, I'd been like, okay, I don't mind that it's work, I don't mind that it's hard, I don't mind that it just is what it is.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: But that D word, if I was out of control of it, I realized I had not given that to him.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: It was like, okay, it's fine except for that, you can't let that happen, God.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest with you, I don't know that that still will not happen.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Not because of me, but just because of the enemy's got a plan and it takes two to tango, and that just is what it is.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: But I realized I had to really give that to God and say, okay, whatever, whatever.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Even if you allow that, because people make choices, I'm not quitting.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: So decide what will make you quit, decide what it is, and then deal with it.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: Put it at the because it's an idol, put it at the feet of Jesus and say, I'm giving it to you to take care of because we certainly cannot.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: We're not in control.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And that's the whole problem of right now is we're not in control.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: And the world is freaking out because they thought they were, and they're just not.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and lastly, listen to what you're hearing.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: The enemy is talking all the time.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: When we are, when we believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into us and we are Beth Moore, sealed like a bottle until the day of redemption.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Nothing else is getting in.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: But I have found for myself personally, boy, the enemy is busy just talking at our just talking at us, giving us all these really good, bad ideas.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: And I come up with a lot of them.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, I say all the time, it's good I love Jesus, because if I did not, I'd be giving Satan some grade A work.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, so you really need to listen to what you're hearing.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: What is the enemy just snippet in your ear about?
20:32
SPEAKER_00: And you need to shut him down the way Jesus shut Satan down.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: In the, what do they call that?
20:42
SPEAKER_00: I want to say in the garden, but that's not it.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Where was he?
20:45
SPEAKER_00: He was up on the rocks.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: I see it in the movie.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: In his temptation.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: That was in the wilderness.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: In the wilderness.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you need to shut him down because the enemy's talking.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: And he even to me, I'll be going through the store.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: If you see me talking to myself, going, I know, I know, I know.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: Nobody likes me, everybody hates me.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go eat worms.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: All right, I've heard it before.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: I know.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that funny?
21:07
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I how often do we do this?
21:09
SPEAKER_00: And we don't even realize that there's like this thing that's playing in our head.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, fear is a liar.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: That is my favorite song.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard that song on Christian radio?
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Fear is a liar.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Take it back to the root.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: Most things that are causing you anxiety, the root is fear.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: Most you just keep pulling on that.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Well, what if that happened?
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, then this would happen.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Well, what if that happened?
21:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, this would happen.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Well, what if that happened?
21:36
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'd be afraid.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm afraid.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: That's the way that I feel.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: And if you take most things back, it's fear.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: And most fear does not come from God.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, some does.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's stupid.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Please don't do that.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: That kind of fear, yes.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, the difference between conviction and condemnation there is.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, now condemnation.
22:03
unknown: I know.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that funny?
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And the voice of truth speaks in a gentle, soft way.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And the voice of the enemy is like, that is the best piece of advice I ever got.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: I went to a counselor five, six years ago.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: And I thought that is, and of course, I did not think that I could learn anything.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Surprise.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: I did.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: I thought that was the wisest thing that she said was that the voice of the enemy is very urgent and leaves you feeling kind of nervous, like, oh, I've got it, I've got it, I've got it.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Whereas the voice of God is just gentle and quiet and calm.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: And I loved that bit of advice.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: So fear is a liar.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh and Satan, yeah, it's all a head game.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is he he knows he cannot have you, but he wants to make you ineffective.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: And we are approaching days where we, as the body of women sisters, we need to be effective.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: And we need to be equipped.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: And this is the time to be as equipped and get as equipped as you can get.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, your emotions are not trustworthy.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what my most hated statement is?
23:13
SPEAKER_00: If you have this up in your house anywhere, you are to go home and burn it immediately.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Trust your heart.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: That is the worst advice of all time.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: There are literal, like at least two scriptures that that like rebut that.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Trust your heart.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: All the t-shirts now at Old Navy are like, oh, puke emoji.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: You're selfie.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, it's terrible advice.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: I didn't make that up.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, okay.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: Look how cute I was.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: The problems of her world are otherworldly.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: We do not fight against flesh and blood, but against literal spirits and principalities, which sounds kind of freaky.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Except, this is my daughter.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: She works at Stormont.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: This is back in the early days before we knew some of the things we know now.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: And she was very excited to get the pink goggles.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: And when they stopped wearing the pink goggles and went to a face shield, she goes, I don't care.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm not giving them back.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: She liked them that much.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: So fear not, because greater is he who is in you, and who is in you?
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Christ.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: Greater is he who is in you than he, little ye, who is in the world.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: So we do not need to be afraid.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: That is the greatest thing that we need to build each other up in that we do not need to be afraid because we're really not in control, thank goodness.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: And we do know the God of the universe who is, and he is in us, and he is in control.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: Dear children, this is the last hour.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: And they wrote this 2,000 years ago.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: This is the last hour.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: And you have heard the that the Antichrist is coming.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: Even now, many Antichrists have come.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: This is how we know it's the last hour.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: What is coming is going to be way better than the best, best, best, best thing you've ever experienced here.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: And I don't get that either.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: It's unfathomable.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Except faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: My dad's up there.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: I look across this room and I know people you love are up there.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm counting on it.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm I I have faith in that, that whatever it is is way better.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: So my whole point in this was really to encourage you, although I feel that I might have stressed you out a bit, and that was not my intention.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Although my kids would say I'd be really good at that.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: And this is really it Proverbs 31, 21.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: More than anything, my prayer and my wish for every woman I know is to know Jesus and to fully free fall into the what-ifs because Jesus thinks it's in control of all of them, and to laugh without fear of the future during these very weird times.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: So I thank you all for your time, and I just pray that God uses my words to be an encouragement and hopeful and bring us excitement at what is to come.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.