Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 16, 2021 | Expresso - Debby Sowers

Transcript

March 16, 2021 | Expresso - Debby Sowers · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: First, um I'm gonna start with a scripture.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's 1 Peter 1:3.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Debbie Sowers, and I am a chosen daughter of God through the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: I lived 44 years in the world and for myself.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was consumed with a lifestyle of drugs, sex, and rock and roll.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: For me, God did not even exist or enter my mind.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was in total, total rebellion against God.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I was an atheist.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't believe anything.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I moved to another state, and listening to a sermon tape one day was a turning point in my life.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: God got my full attention.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was now living with my daughter and son-in-law who are Christians, helping them redo their new home and helping watch my grandchildren.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: After living there for three weeks, I needed to get away from this clean lifestyle and go be myself again.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I planned a trip a couple hours away to visit a friend who had all my party stuff ready.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, on my way out the door for the trip, my son-in-law handed me a tape and said, Mom, please listen to this on your trip.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was leaving Topeka here to go to Wichita to visit.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: So about two-hour drive, I guess.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So lit, so I took the tape and I threw it on the seat next to me, and that's about where it was gonna stay.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: But little did I know this would end up being like a Paul, the Apostle Conversion experience.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: I did listen to the tape because I knew my son-in-law would ask me about it on my return home.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew I'd better listen to it.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So the sermon was called What is Hell Like?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Two points struck me strongly.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: First, the description of hell.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Walking around in utter darkness with my conscience gnawing at me for having rejected the gospel, people tried to reach me with.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Second, the pastor likened burning your flesh with a match.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: That would be how your whole body would fill in hell for eternity.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I pulled the car over and was trembling all over and cried out to God for mercy.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: This message impacted me so strongly because for years up to this point, I'd been trying to live what a normal life was, I thought.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: But wasn't able to.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I would always do a 360.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I would be good for a couple days and then I would turn around and go right back into my old ways.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: I had now come to know I was a helpless sinner in need of a savior.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I finally made it to my friend's house crying and shaking.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I really don't even know how I got to her house that day, but well, we know it was of the Lord.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: She asked me what was wrong.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: I told her I didn't know what was going on with me.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like I was a crazy woman.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of partying, we both ended up spending time reading God's word and singing hymns that night.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I ended up turning around and going back home a whole day early than I expected.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: When I returned home, I was still shook up and confused.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I went straight to my room and started reading the book of Romans in the Bible.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter came in and asked, What was the matter?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: She was surprised I'd had returned so early from my trip.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I explained to her what had happened while listening to the tape, and tears started streaming down her face.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: She thought God had saved me, but I still didn't understand.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: The next morning at church, while the pastor was preaching or teaching, I actually understood what he was saying.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Up until this point, every Sunday message had sounded like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Can he hurry up so I could go outside and smoke my cigarettes?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: But that morning I understood what he was saying.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: I made sure to go up to tell him.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I told him and I walked away.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of weeks later, my kids' pastor came to our house for an oversight meeting.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was still trying to work out what I was thinking and feeling.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: I liked it, but I wasn't sure what was going on.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: The pastor took time to talk with me and asked me questions, and he finally asked me, What is it, Debbie?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I believe.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Tears started streaming down his face now, too.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: For years these people had prayed for me and my salvation, and they were seeing it unfold before their eyes.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I asked him what I should do.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: He told me to join a Bible-believing church, profess my faith in baptism, and start reading my Bible so that I could know the Lord.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: At that point, I knew I was a believer.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He had died for my sins, and that He was buried and rose, and now I was covered in His righteousness, and now I am right before God.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: That was the day I believed.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: This brings me to the first promise I memorized.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, which is Romans 6.23.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, my life went from darkness to light.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: God used the next six and a half years to remove my old way of living by the world's standards and replaced it with his word.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to know scripture as well as I knew all the rock and roll roll songs that filled my head.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: My next scripture is put in your hearts, Reverend Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but to do this with gentleness and respect.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter 3 15.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: At this point, God chose to lift me up from Kansas and take me back to Elgin.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I should explain.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Elgin is in Illinois.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I am from Chicago.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So never say never.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I now had the opportunity to live this new Debbie out before all the people that knew the old me.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: This gave me many opportunities to speak the gospel to my friends and family first.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: There is a couple stories I wanted to share with you.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a best friend of 44 years.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Her name is Sharon, who lives back in the Chicago area.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And me and her had her granddaughter that day and needed to drop her off at her father's for a little bit.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And her father happens to own a liquor store.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So when I walked in, we dropped the little one off for a minute.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a person I recognized from my past standing to the side.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we both looked at each other.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And me and Sharon left and we came back and he was still there when we came back.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he came up to me and he said, You remind me of this lady I used to know many years ago.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Oh, really?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Yes.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Her name was Debbie.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: She had five children.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's going on and on and on.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, well, I'm her.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And his mouth literally fell to the ground.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, what is so different about you?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, because now I live for the Lord.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I was able to talk to him about the gospel that night.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that happened later on, I'm probably stepping over getting to something before I get to it, but I was working at a homeless shelter, and there was this one young man, and he nobody liked him.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was loud, he was obnoxious, sarcastic, and just always putting people down.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: But for some reason, he was drawn to me.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So one day I said, Jay, what is going on with you?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't know.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: So he goes, he told me, he goes, Why are you so different from these other people?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, What do you mean?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Well, you're you're nice to me, and everybody else is sort of mean.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, I'm gonna treat you like Jesus is treating me.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and he goes, Well, you've probably been that way all your life, and I said, No, actually I haven't.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Do you happen to know um Ricky and Roger Eason, who are my oldest two sons?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Yeah, I know them.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Do you happen to know Dale Sowers?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And they're he's like, Yeah, I know him.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, Ricky and Roger are my sons, and Dale Sowers is my ex-husband, and his mouth went to the floor.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: So then I was able to share the story with him once again, and he is still in my life, text me all the time.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm very thankful for that.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, so on to my next scripture.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: I each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful servants of God's grace in its various forms.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter 4 10.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can tell I like 1 Peter, can't you?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to give back to my community.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I applied to serve at the Crisis Center for Abused Women and also wayside shelter, that was a homeless shelter.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: I chose not to volunteer at the Crisis Center because they would not allow me to use the name of Jesus.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: They told me, because they are government, government and state ran, that the only way I could use the name of Jesus if one of the ladies asked me about it.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I truly looked at them and said, what woman in that position, because they wanted me to be an advocate to go to the hospital after somebody was either beaten up or raped or or whatever, what woman in that position is going to ask me to talk about Jesus and and pray with them?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I said, that's the only way I know how to comfort them.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I turned it down, but two days later, I get a phone call from the Wayside Homeless Shelter.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, all right, God, you want me to be there, not here.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I understand.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: So shortly after I ended up at the Wayside, it is a faith-based homeless shelter where I served food and made connections and friendships.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to get our church involved with this ministry.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually I was asked to lead a woman's Bible study, and over a seven-year period, I was able to pray with and teach ladies from all walks of life from the Word of God.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: One of my best studies was going through Nancy Lee Damas Walkamuth's book, True Woman 101 Divine Design.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: We ladies learn together what it meant to be a woman by God's design and not by the world's ideals.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: God really used this study so much for me.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: This study normally would take like six weeks.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it took me a year and a half to get through it with these ladies, and most of them were there the whole time.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we're talking ladies from every area of life, from homeless, human trafficking, just what abuse relationships, different reasons why they were homeless and having to use the shelter.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: My next verse, you're gonna be surprised, it's not first Peter.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Be still and know that I am God.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: So on to my next adventure.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: God brings me back to Kansas.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Never say never.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I came for a job transfer, but little did I know what God's plans were for me.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: I immediately looked for a church and God led me to Topeka Bible Church.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: While getting involved in my new cute uh church community, I met Patty, the head of the woman's ministry, and what a sweet time that was.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um I came to church and put my little thing in the that's when we were actually passing the plate.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Patty called me.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: She was at a store getting prescriptions, and we talked for an hour, and um she invited me to one of her Bible studies that she had going at the time.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I believe it was Surrender.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I came to that, and I have to I have to tell you this is sort of funny, but so I came in that day, and I I didn't know that the Bible study was down here, and I went to a different room and I walked in, and there was ladies, but they were like busy talking, and I don't I don't know if they were praying, I don't know what they were doing, but nobody said anything, and I said, Oh, okay.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm walking out, and I I was actually getting ready to walk out the door, and all of a sudden, um two ladies walked up, and one was Ardeth Griffin, and the other was Patty Krueger.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm probably gonna mess her last name up.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Friendliest ladies, they are so friendly, and said, Oh, how can we help you?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Oh, I'm looking for Patty's um Bible study, and they're like, Oh, come on, we'll take you, we're going that way.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it was history.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: I sat with them and sat with them the rest of the time during the study, and we became all very close.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, so then Patty had another study, and I went to that one too, and now I had two friends of mine from Chicago visiting me, and we came for the Bible study, and we sat in a table right over in this area, and some lady had never even seen in my life sat down with us, and I'm like, hmm, interesting.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And not in a bad way or anything, but you know, so anyway, well, she gets up to speak, and she's asking for gift cards and diapers and all kinds of stuff for your human trafficking people.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Both my friends turned around and looked at me and said, That's why you're here.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, hmm.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, that person was Angie Boyles.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when she sat back down, I told her, I am more than willing to give gift certificates and whatever that you need, but I want to do so much more.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, Okay.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And shortly after that, we went out and had coffee, and we are history now.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: So um, anyway, I'm gonna get back into this because I'm that's why I have this, because I like to go into rabbit trails.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So let me get back to where I was here.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I just told you all about Angie and all that.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so after meeting Angie, we started doing um getting together and talking about different things that we wanted to do, and we both had a passion to open a home for women.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have had this passion all the way back when I was working at the homeless shelter.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to open uh a home for homeless women, women with children, senior citizens, etc.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And nothing ever happened.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: That we would start something, the door closed, start something, door closed, start something door closed.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: So then when I came here, me and Angie started, like I said, we were talking, and then we started um trying to do Bible studies with uh survivors and actually going and meeting them and talking to them at different places.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, and then I felt like that was like something would open, close, open, close, and I'm like, okay, I really don't know what we're doing here.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then Angie goes to talk to Pastor Jim about the Christmas project, and we had no clue what was about to unfold.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um Patty was all involved in that as well, and we find out that they wanted to do the Christmas project for Project 2 Restore, and we were flabbergasted, and I think it's been since that moment, it has been crazy.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, just seeing how God has walked ahead of us because I know these ladies were praying three and a half years before he even got here, and then we've been doing it for two years, and then for this to happen, so um, so any anyway, um, so we find out about the Christmas project.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then we found an um organization called the Samaritan Women's to help us through this whole thing because here we are, some ladies, we don't have a clue what we're doing.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: We know what we want to do, but we don't know how to do it.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have found an organization called the Samaritan Women's that are gonna help us once we get a home to get it started, showing us every all the business aspect, part of it, the what we need as far as for the girls, what we need as far as the house, what we need for everything.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, um our Patty and Angie just got back from their first training in Maryland.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Samaritan Womans is out in uh Maryland, and they flew out there, and then uh Angie and somebody else are gonna be going back in April.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I, Debbie Sowers, am going to be the house manager for our new home.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I when I say be still and know when that be still and know that I'm God, and I was still, and I just wherever he put me, I was content and did what he wanted me to do.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And now I get the pleasure of doing my passion, and I am overwhelmed.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, you could all be praying for me on that.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, um so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is my story, but it's God's story, and I it's just so amazing to me how we all have a story and it's all unique.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's our story, God's story of us, and and and everybody's story is so different.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, that is my story, but I did want to share my favorite psalm with you, which is Psalm 23.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I I know it by heart, but I put it up here just in case I stumble through tonight.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: So if you know it, you could recite with me, and if not, you could just listen, okay?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Even though I walk through the valley of darkness, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thy rod and thy staff shall comfort me.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overfloweth.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: And all God's daughters said, Amen.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.