back to index2016-04-09 Women's Conference Q&A
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Okay, so I'm gonna start with some of the questions that people had 00:00:06.200 |
specifically for the sessions that you just shared with us today. So the first 00:00:10.800 |
question is, do you think Mary actually knew that Jesus would go to the cross 00:00:14.960 |
soon because Jesus was preaching about his coming obedience when Mary was at 00:00:19.160 |
his feet? That's a great question. I think most scholars believe that she had an 00:00:27.220 |
awareness of that that the other disciples didn't have. I mean there's no 00:00:32.200 |
way to prove that really. You know when Jesus said that she did this to prepare 00:00:39.200 |
me for my coming burial, it doesn't sound like she was oblivious to 00:00:46.600 |
what she was doing. It sounds like she had some idea of what she was doing and 00:00:51.480 |
that she wasn't just mechanistically you know grabbing this alabaster flask and 00:00:56.480 |
had no idea of what was going on. So again most scholars would say that 00:01:01.520 |
because he had said time and time again that he was going to be going to the 00:01:07.240 |
cross and his teaching about the cross had been intensifying and she obviously 00:01:13.560 |
as his friend had seen the stress that he was undergoing, it seemed most scholars 00:01:18.600 |
would agree that she had some idea of what was gonna happen. Didn't really know 00:01:22.560 |
about you know crucifixion, resurrection, the second coming, things like that but 00:01:27.680 |
that whatever it was that he was supposed to do she wanted to be there 00:01:31.760 |
and encourage him in his obedience. Thank you. Thank you for that. Okay so the 00:01:37.600 |
second question is what are some practical ways you fought to be a Mary 00:01:41.600 |
rather than a Martha when your kids were young? Yeah that's a good question. You 00:01:48.000 |
know I think from the time they were really young even my son now he just 00:01:55.880 |
turned 31 and my middle daughter's 24 and then my youngest is 21 so I had my 00:02:03.200 |
son a long time ago and I remember maybe from like the time he was about six 00:02:10.440 |
months on just communicating with him that I was gonna be spending time with 00:02:15.120 |
the Lord and I would you know put him in a safe place whether it was in his 00:02:19.520 |
playpen or in his crib. I would try to do it actually when he was awake during the 00:02:25.120 |
day at the same time every day so that they would start getting used to that 00:02:28.800 |
but I would put him in a safe place and then you know shut my my bedroom door 00:02:34.520 |
partially but not all the way and then I would go in there and spend time with 00:02:39.000 |
God and the kids just kind of got used to that. When my daughters came along I 00:02:44.560 |
remember you know the phone would ring or whatever before we had cell phones 00:02:49.720 |
when we used to have landlines and they would answer the phone and I'd hear no 00:02:53.920 |
no she won't be out for about an hour she's talking to Jesus right now. Yeah so 00:03:01.040 |
they were super familiar with what I would do and just making that a priority 00:03:06.280 |
making sure that they were in a safe place but communicating to them that I 00:03:09.600 |
was gonna spend time with God and you know there were a couple times that when 00:03:13.800 |
my daughters were young for example and they'd start you know fighting with each 00:03:17.880 |
other and I'd look at the door and see fingers coming underneath the door you 00:03:23.080 |
know it was after I finished or whatever they would be disciplined and it was 00:03:27.680 |
like you know you you can't there's a short amount of time that I spend with 00:03:31.120 |
God and I'm with you all the time and and I really need this and you guys need 00:03:35.520 |
me to need this as well you just don't know it yet so they they got used to it. 00:03:42.160 |
Okay all right so on to some more personal questions how did you come to 00:03:48.560 |
know the Lord? Oh that's a really long story and I don't want to spend too much 00:03:57.200 |
time on it but let me see if I can do the three-minute version. I okay okay I 00:04:05.040 |
I was not raised in a Christian home my parents are really nice great people 00:04:12.200 |
very moral people but I was born in 1963 and my parents were very forward 00:04:20.360 |
thinking and they picked up on being non-christians and wanting desperately 00:04:25.400 |
to raise their kids right they picked up on the liberal ideology that was out 00:04:31.720 |
there and so they picked up on the parenting philosophies where you let 00:04:37.080 |
your kid do whatever they want to do you don't discipline you know violence 00:04:41.400 |
breeds violence if you spank then they're gonna become violent people and 00:04:45.280 |
you know you just let them do whatever they want if they want to color on the 00:04:48.960 |
walls don't hinder their creativity it's all gonna work together in the end to be 00:04:53.840 |
this brilliant package just roll with it and so they did that and it didn't work 00:04:58.920 |
out too well by the time I was in my late teens I was what the 1970s would 00:05:06.520 |
call a hardcore punk rocker I shaved my head oh yeah I had a mohawk at times 00:05:21.040 |
every color of hair leather jacket combat boots lived a lot of my time 00:05:25.480 |
behind I don't know liquor stores and cheesy clubs up in Hollywood but yeah 00:05:33.280 |
so it didn't work out too well for my poor parents you know and they were 00:05:37.800 |
again super nice but they just weren't proactive when it came to discipline 00:05:42.840 |
they educated us and they set great examples but there was no consequences 00:05:49.640 |
of disobedience and I remember being a young kid and just thinking I rule you 00:05:54.760 |
know I mean really looking around at my family and thinking it's all about me 00:05:58.560 |
and I could do whatever I want I can get away with whatever I want and so kind of 00:06:02.920 |
like the rebel without a cause it was like you know life is bad and so I'm 00:06:07.120 |
gonna just be super dark and rebellious and got caught up in that entire scene 00:06:11.840 |
and everything that goes along with it including the sex and the drugs and all 00:06:15.800 |
that stuff so for some odd reason I think because my parents highly valued 00:06:22.800 |
education and I did as well I stayed in college through that time I mean I 00:06:28.080 |
stayed in school and got good grades and whatnot so I would be college student by 00:06:32.160 |
day and drug addict by night and you know just kind of even rolling into 00:06:36.680 |
tests with a hangover but getting through it community college is pretty 00:06:40.160 |
flexible right so I made it through all of that but I ended up living with my 00:06:46.920 |
boyfriend who's now my husband and he we were having a party one night and 00:06:54.280 |
there was a guy that attended the party who was an attractive guy and I hadn't 00:06:59.880 |
seen him before and we just got into a conversation and was offering him 00:07:04.400 |
alcohol and drugs and whatever and he kept saying thanks but no thanks and I 00:07:08.360 |
thought you know what's wrong with this guy and he said I'm a Christian and I 00:07:13.920 |
was like wow that's really sad and we actually my husband and I and the people 00:07:25.800 |
that we were involved with at the time we got really involved in these like 00:07:29.120 |
hardcore British bands and there were these bands and they would have these 00:07:33.520 |
banners and anthems and sayings and there was a little it was like a large 00:07:38.560 |
a large scarf that we had that was in our kitchen at the time on the wall and 00:07:43.600 |
it said Jesus died for his own sins and not mine yeah yeah so the guy was 00:07:54.280 |
and I was like Christian wow that's too bad you know and and so we started just 00:08:03.960 |
discussing things and I think the fact that he was attractive helped but but I 00:08:12.240 |
was going to school at the time studying chemistry and thought myself to be quite 00:08:16.640 |
brilliant and you know Christians of course were lacking intelligence and so 00:08:21.880 |
I just asked him some general questions about you know science and whatever and 00:08:26.040 |
he didn't have great answers but they weren't like he wasn't stumped and 00:08:31.360 |
confused or whatever and he somehow God allowed him to transition the 00:08:36.440 |
conversation to just judgment and death and said you know when you die and you 00:08:44.320 |
die in your sins and it was clear to all that I was a sinner you're going to face 00:08:50.600 |
judgment and you'll be separated from God forever in hell and that although I 00:08:56.280 |
didn't let let him know that scared me and so we talked for a little bit more 00:09:02.400 |
and it turned out that he had come with his friend his friend was one of our 00:09:06.000 |
friends and his friend said I'll go to church with you next week if you come to 00:09:10.360 |
a party with me this week so that's how he ended up there but he gave me his 00:09:15.800 |
number and said if you ever do you want to go to church or something give me a 00:09:19.440 |
call so I acted like there's no way you're hearing from me but thanks 00:09:24.320 |
anyways and I I mean ever since that night I was tormented I kept thinking 00:09:31.080 |
about sin and God and hell and judgment and consequences and wrong and right and 00:09:38.040 |
just was very vividly aware of the fact that if he what he said was true I was 00:09:44.560 |
in real trouble and I I mean I would wake up at night in cold sweats and this 00:09:50.720 |
one went on for weeks and finally I dug his phone number out of the shoebox I 00:09:54.880 |
stuffed it into my closet and said hey about that offer to go to church and he 00:10:00.000 |
said sure and so I went to it was Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa yeah it was 00:10:06.200 |
in 1983 April 12th 1983 and went in there it was a Tuesday night it was like 00:10:12.480 |
a college and career night and I remember walking in there thinking this 00:10:16.240 |
is a nerd fest I mean these people I just could never be like this and they 00:10:24.840 |
were singing little praise and worship songs and I just thought oh oh no oh no 00:10:29.240 |
no but I'll sit through this and we'll see what kind of a deal I can make with 00:10:34.360 |
God so I sat through it I really don't remember what the pastor said but at the 00:10:41.120 |
end they did what they did a lot then they would do the altar calls and they 00:10:45.960 |
said you know if anybody's here and wants to get right with Christ and I 00:10:48.800 |
thought yeah and so I raised my hand and the guy who brought me looked over and 00:10:53.840 |
smiled and I you know then they said if you want to if you raise your hand come 00:10:58.880 |
over to the side of the room so I went to the side of the room and looked at 00:11:01.880 |
them and they all kind of took a step back and looked at me and there were you 00:11:06.120 |
know younger people that were there there weren't the pastors or anything 00:11:09.160 |
and they I don't know if they really knew what to do with me I said yeah I 00:11:13.040 |
want to get right with Jesus I'm living with my boyfriend right now I love 00:11:16.560 |
cocaine I'm doing cocaine on Friday I just and they were kind of like wow one 00:11:23.920 |
guy said you have a Bible and I said no I don't he's like you should get one 00:11:31.280 |
literally that's what it was and so we know we talked for a little bit but I 00:11:37.080 |
prayed with them asked God to forgive me of my sins and they said you know trust 00:11:41.480 |
God and so I you know asked God to forgive me of my sins and I really did 00:11:46.760 |
feel this God connection for the first time it was just the Holy Spirit was 00:11:52.440 |
extremely merciful to I think the disobedience that I was in and whatever 00:11:57.760 |
he was doing in my life and you know it wasn't a real biblical gospel that I got 00:12:02.800 |
or even what I would call a traditional response but God saved me that night and 00:12:07.560 |
I went back to where I lived and they were partying there or whatever and they 00:12:11.160 |
said where were you and I said I was at church and one guy's like oh really what's 00:12:16.640 |
wrong and he's like well you know what's gonna happen now and I said no and he 00:12:20.080 |
said you can't party anymore and I was like really but I got up the next 00:12:29.120 |
morning and I went to the the Calvary Chapel bookstore and bought a Bible 00:12:36.960 |
you know now looking back being in ministry it's like wow everything was 00:12:41.840 |
done wrong but that's what's so neat is that you know God's Spirit is bigger 00:12:46.800 |
than us and he I got a Bible I got a King James Version I didn't know there 00:12:51.920 |
were other versions and I just really started to read it plans fell through 00:12:57.360 |
for parties or whatever from that day on I have I walked away from that lifestyle 00:13:03.480 |
I mean God really changed me from the inside out and yeah it's been an 00:13:09.120 |
interesting road since but it was a definite genuine conversion and my 00:13:15.200 |
family and those who know me from then are quite surprised we got another 00:13:23.640 |
question about the session so I'll ask that after I ask this one question 00:13:27.760 |
because it's in connection with your story so how did you meet your husband 00:13:32.520 |
we met at a party yeah yeah I just thought he was really cool and he had a 00:13:43.200 |
leather jacket and had a the you know the front of the Mercedes-Benz the 00:13:48.200 |
Mercedes-Benz emblems he had ripped one off a car and had it hanging off his 00:13:51.960 |
jacket oh yeah I was like that's the guy for me despise authority right yeah I've 00:14:06.000 |
been raised this way so yeah we met we started dating we got along really good 00:14:14.000 |
we had the same interests and we were living together when I became a 00:14:21.680 |
Christian then when I went home that night or whatever talked to the guy with 00:14:27.400 |
the party ended up talking to my boyfriend at the time who became my 00:14:31.920 |
husband and let him know that I became a Christian and he was a little 00:14:35.740 |
disappointed especially he was raised in a Jewish family and it was kind of 00:14:42.960 |
like okay what does this mean and I said I don't know yet I'll figure it out 00:14:46.960 |
I'll let you know so the story gets very interesting but I started to realize 00:14:56.080 |
right away without even you know reading anything that the relationship had to 00:15:00.920 |
change that you know I just knew it's weird how God puts this law on your 00:15:05.960 |
heart and even not being raised in a Christian home reading from a King James 00:15:09.680 |
Version you know just starting with you know the the Gospels or whatever I knew 00:15:15.640 |
that God did not want us to have sex before marriage and I let my husband at 00:15:20.360 |
my boyfriend at the time know that and it was like what was he gonna do force 00:15:24.280 |
me yeah so it was like okay and he had his own separate journey but three weeks 00:15:31.440 |
later he came through the door and we had other roommates at the time too but 00:15:35.080 |
he came through the door and he said I'm a Christian and the roommates were like 00:15:40.240 |
oh my we're moving out but we we ended up actually getting bad counsel we got 00:15:54.240 |
met I became a Christian in April and we got married in August what happened was 00:15:59.280 |
we were kind of attending Calvary Chapel and then you know it was kind of like 00:16:04.480 |
well we've been living together and stuff and we want to continue our 00:16:08.400 |
physical relationship so we need to get married like yesterday and so we went to 00:16:13.600 |
Calvary Chapel for premarital counseling they discovered in the first session 00:16:16.920 |
that we were living together and they said well this we got a backpedal a lot 00:16:21.360 |
here I mean we want you guys to move out separately first and let's you know work 00:16:26.000 |
on this and we were like oh man you know that's gonna cost a lot of money and 00:16:31.000 |
that's a lot of work so we were at the same time going to another church that 00:16:36.400 |
was somewhat local and they were extremely charismatic and they just you 00:16:42.840 |
know I mean they didn't refer to Scripture as much it was kind of more 00:16:46.800 |
like God showing us and the the guy who we were being discipled by and he was a 00:16:52.400 |
nice guy but just didn't have a lot of information or didn't understand things 00:16:56.680 |
the same way he said well that poor Calvary Chapel that's why you know they 00:17:00.720 |
don't have the spirit he said they don't understand that if you guys can't go 00:17:06.400 |
from right now the situation that you're into being married then no one can be 00:17:10.160 |
saved and I was like really why is that and he said because God's in the 00:17:14.680 |
business of making wrong right and you guys are living together and you're 00:17:18.320 |
gonna get married and I was like well duh that poor Calvary Chapel we'll pray for 00:17:25.640 |
them you know yeah and so we did end up getting married very shortly after we 00:17:33.400 |
lived together and got married would not recommend that to anybody and you know I 00:17:38.280 |
reaped the consequences of that for years and God is gracious and forgives 00:17:43.720 |
us of our sins and takes a wretch like me literally and makes us you know white 00:17:51.120 |
as snow and yet we do still suffer the consequences of our disobedience and so 00:17:57.920 |
I did and that's okay it's a good thing but that's how I met my husband and we've 00:18:04.520 |
been married yeah we've been married for almost 33 years now so yeah it's been 00:18:08.960 |
it's been a lot of fun yeah okay so I've got a question it's a little long okay 00:18:16.480 |
so bear with me it says I'll be honest Mary sounds a little kooky okay don't 00:18:22.720 |
get me wrong I really admire her greatly and wish I could be like her but she 00:18:26.520 |
sounds special as a more average achiever is it that I need to strive to 00:18:31.520 |
be like her or are there other principles I need to draw from this and 00:18:35.040 |
if so how can I assess that I'm pushing myself to be countercultural today for 00:18:39.400 |
Christ in the same way that Mary had done okay so I think you know we're not 00:18:50.960 |
going to be at a party where our sister's preparing food and we're gonna 00:18:56.280 |
be sitting there at the feet of Jesus right you know we're not gonna have a 00:19:02.560 |
dead brother in a tomb with a rock in front of it you know with the Jewish 00:19:07.840 |
community mourning around us and Jesus coming saying you know Lazarus arise and 00:19:13.480 |
we're not gonna be you know taking our life savings or whatever it is and 00:19:18.000 |
pouring it on his feet and anointing him but I think the principles still remain 00:19:22.760 |
and I think that we can see the principles throughout the New 00:19:26.480 |
Testament even you know reading from the Gospels at the end where Jesus said you 00:19:32.400 |
know whoever seeks to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for 00:19:37.480 |
my sake will find it and we see Mary doing that we see her growth process and 00:19:43.840 |
it's just a great example for us because the testimony that Jesus gave to her in 00:19:50.440 |
the end that she had done that beautiful thing and that what she had done would 00:19:56.400 |
be spoken of throughout generations and I think that all of us even if we would 00:20:01.320 |
consider ourselves to be average or mediocre or normative we want to leave a 00:20:06.320 |
legacy like that where you know those who follow after us whether it be our 00:20:11.280 |
kids our grandkids our friends you know our co-workers our church community 00:20:15.480 |
would say you know she was exceptional in living for Christ she made the better 00:20:20.560 |
decisions she made the best decisions and you know she wasn't afraid of what 00:20:25.480 |
the world thought or even her peers but her constant devotion love and service 00:20:31.040 |
were to Christ so practically speaking I think it's just you know really living 00:20:38.360 |
out the basics the things that we all know to be true making that time for 00:20:44.200 |
Jesus daily being in our Bibles being in prayer praying without ceasing you know 00:20:50.800 |
like the Bible teaches us in first Thessalonians 4 to pray without ceasing 00:20:55.640 |
or first Thessalonians 5 it's like praying as if we had a constant cough 00:20:59.880 |
that just didn't go away always communicating to God talking to God 00:21:04.080 |
about everything you know being obedient to the call of Philippians 2 1 through 00:21:10.680 |
8 where it says that all Christians are to have this mind this attitude the 00:21:16.000 |
attitude of Christ where we voluntarily give ourselves up for other people I 00:21:21.920 |
think that when we live like that and when we do that as the years go by you 00:21:27.480 |
know as the decades go by we're going to feel that we had a life well-lived and 00:21:33.000 |
that we had you know we made decisions that were proud of we're made decisions 00:21:38.840 |
we made decisions that were consistent with God's law and God's principle and 00:21:43.560 |
that means that in the short term we are gonna have days where we say no to us 00:21:49.000 |
and yes to God there's that verse I think it's in Romans 14 where it says 00:21:57.000 |
put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh and I remember 00:22:03.160 |
hearing Elizabeth Elliot speak once and she said you know sometimes it's just 00:22:08.680 |
that sometimes it's a put on you put on the Lord Jesus Christ and you make no 00:22:14.600 |
provision for the flesh and she said but when you put it on when you choose to do 00:22:18.800 |
the right thing God meets you there and he'll get your emotions or feelings or 00:22:24.480 |
desires lined up with what you're called to do so I think you know being like 00:22:29.640 |
Mary is just being the person who chooses to do things God's way who 00:22:35.040 |
saturates herself with God's Word who is humble enough to seek out godly counsel 00:22:41.560 |
and who chooses to do things the way that God instructs us to do things 00:22:47.240 |
rather than the way that her sinful nature or our sinful culture might be 00:22:53.360 |
directing us to do does that make sense okay okay I think we have time do you 00:23:00.560 |
think grace we have time for a couple more questions oh do you have another 00:23:20.960 |
so is that the one oh I think I asked oh yeah just kidding 00:23:27.200 |
okay I guess someone is also curious of how your relationship is with your 00:23:38.920 |
non-believing parents and how you witnessed to them that's a great 00:23:44.760 |
question well my parents it's interesting my parents have three kids 00:23:52.080 |
I'm the oldest and the only girl and then there are two boys after me my two 00:23:56.880 |
brothers there's about five years between the three of us but my middle 00:24:03.120 |
brother is named David and probably about two years after I became a 00:24:09.040 |
Christian I'd been witnessing to my parents and to my brothers and my 00:24:13.560 |
brother David became a Christian and he's a strong passionate Christian he's 00:24:19.600 |
got four kids they've gone to Christian colleges they're on fire for the Lord 00:24:24.200 |
his wife's a good friend of mine really sold out for Jesus and then my younger 00:24:29.360 |
brother was the nicer of the three of us but he spent a long time just living his 00:24:36.880 |
own life and he dated a Muslim girl for a while and when my kids were young and 00:24:43.520 |
we were doing homeschooling we would always pray for uncle Mark and we you 00:24:48.560 |
know I would pray that God would break up his relationship with his Muslim 00:24:52.840 |
girlfriend which God in time did but uncle Mark got saved and uncle Mark is 00:24:58.320 |
totally married to a Christian now totally plugged in with his church 00:25:02.600 |
teaching Bible studies at church and so we'll get together for family gatherings 00:25:07.080 |
and my parents just say where did we go wrong what in the world have we done 00:25:13.640 |
yeah and my dad actually just got out of surgery yesterday my my mom is I've 00:25:23.240 |
always been witnessing to them my brothers told me after they became 00:25:26.720 |
Christians that when I returned home and said that I was a Christian my dad said 00:25:31.040 |
to everyone don't worry it's just a phase you know so they thought it would 00:25:35.800 |
be a phase and it continued on I've bought my dad a hundred different books 00:25:41.240 |
apologetics books he's very smart he's a thinker and they all get returned to me 00:25:46.240 |
by my mom a year later you know crisp condition the pages have never been 00:25:50.280 |
ruffled but you know my dad is just he just doesn't want to believe he'll he 00:25:58.720 |
attends every year he'll tend to Easter service with me they go to like Christmas 00:26:03.960 |
Eve sometimes I'll try to talk to him as much as I can I try to be super gracious 00:26:09.880 |
a couple years ago I said dad just tell me really what you're thinking I mean 00:26:15.360 |
what is it that you believe what are you thinking is gonna happen to you after 00:26:18.240 |
you die and he said I don't want to talk to you about that and I said why and he 00:26:22.920 |
said because you're gonna disagree I'm like it doesn't matter I'm not gonna say 00:26:26.320 |
anything I just want to hear you and he said you won't do that you always have 00:26:29.240 |
to be right and I was convicted by that I said I'm so sorry if I've come off 00:26:34.960 |
that way over the years but I do try to engage in thoughtful conversation with 00:26:41.120 |
him a couple weeks ago I don't remember what the event was oh it was Easter my 00:26:47.720 |
parents were over at my house for we had like a barbecue and my brother and I 00:26:53.480 |
were there and we were dialoguing with my mom trying to reason back and forth 00:26:57.080 |
with her and she she my mom she'll say she gets it but she doesn't actually 00:27:02.960 |
believe that the Bible is the Word of God so she believes in a God and she 00:27:09.480 |
kind of believes in a universalism like all religions are gonna be good and 00:27:14.520 |
everything's gonna lead to God and my dad it just doesn't he just believes 00:27:20.280 |
that when you die you turn to dust suck it up and get over with it you know if 00:27:25.000 |
you can't believe that then that's too bad for you but yeah that's just the way 00:27:29.840 |
things go so I'm always talking to them inviting them to things trying to get in 00:27:35.320 |
conversations with them constantly praying for them I've got myself you 00:27:40.120 |
know my brothers praying for them all the grandkids praying for them it just 00:27:44.760 |
must be hard being them the Holy Spirit must be just wrestling them down to the 00:27:52.360 |
ground so I wouldn't be surprised if God has a plan for their lives okay so our 00:28:01.760 |
last question my child recently made a profession of faith how do I not 00:28:06.920 |
discard her knowing only time will tell and encourage her without assuming her 00:28:10.920 |
salvation is true that's a great question I I wish I knew how old the 00:28:16.660 |
child was but I will say that Elizabeth Elliot said she became a Christian when 00:28:21.200 |
she was five Cory ten boom said she became a Christian when she was five one 00:28:27.480 |
of our pastors who was on staff who's now pastoring his own church he said he 00:28:32.560 |
became a Christian when he was five my middle daughter who's 24 now and she's 00:28:37.200 |
very passionate about the Lord it's fun to be around her because as a 24 year 00:28:43.600 |
old it's like she is my sister in Christ I mean she's totally on fire for God and 00:28:48.560 |
seeks him continually loves him serves others gives me good counsel she became 00:28:54.960 |
a Christian when she was nine yeah when she was nine she took a shower and she 00:29:02.000 |
came out of the shower and she looked awful she just it was as white as a 00:29:10.000 |
sheep and I her name's Hannah I said Hannah what's wrong and she's like I'm a 00:29:14.320 |
sinner and I'm gonna go to hell when I die and I was like oh boy she must have 00:29:22.960 |
heard something in church or Sunday school kids been on the weekend I said 00:29:27.120 |
did someone say something recently in church or kids men or whatever said no I 00:29:31.240 |
was just standing that shower and I know I'm a sinner and I'm gonna go to hell 00:29:36.960 |
when I die she's like mom you know the Bible she's like find all the hard 00:29:40.080 |
passages yeah so I actually went to Luke 14 25 through 33 that basically says no 00:29:48.440 |
one can be saved it's as hard as you can get and went through that with her and 00:29:55.920 |
said are you really ready to give up your life and she said yeah and I said 00:30:02.000 |
what's that gonna look like for you and she said I know what that looks like 00:30:04.640 |
it means I don't have any friends anymore yeah and she's good friends that 00:30:09.040 |
she was hanging out even though they were homeschool friends they were kind 00:30:12.360 |
of like bad girls you know they just weren't nice girls gossipy and rude or 00:30:16.760 |
whatever and she so loved her friends that was just her thing to this day she 00:30:21.200 |
loves people but she loved those friends and it was like I have got to let go of 00:30:26.120 |
that and be willing to have no friends even if it means you're my friend mom 00:30:29.760 |
you know I'm not gonna have any friends yeah and I can remember that was a huge 00:30:35.280 |
battle for her and the friends knew that she had this profession of faith and 00:30:38.960 |
they made it very difficult for her they would walk in front of the house in a 00:30:43.160 |
little hoard and just stand out there and kind of whatever and it was hard for 00:30:47.200 |
her but I what I did was I said okay that's a legitimate conversion and I'm 00:30:52.920 |
gonna hold you to a Christian standard and if you get to the point where I look 00:30:57.200 |
at your life and say I don't think you're saved I'll let you know and you 00:31:02.160 |
know it's not like she hasn't sinned since she has but there's always a 00:31:05.600 |
brokenness repentance and ever since that nine-year-old conversion she's 00:31:10.600 |
lived consistently as a Christian so I do think that that was legitimate for 00:31:15.440 |
her and I guess that the long answer to a short question would be if they're 00:31:21.120 |
kids and they say that they've converted then just hold them to a Christian 00:31:25.040 |
standard you know and just say that's not what Christians do or this is how 00:31:28.800 |
Christians behave and if they begin to live in a way that's contradictory to 00:31:33.200 |
normative Christianity just say that you know just say I question whether you 00:31:38.880 |
really were converted when you said you were yeah all right sounds good okay so 00:31:45.920 |
to close our time together Stephanie we just wanted to ask you what your prayer 00:31:49.760 |
requests were currently and if you guys want to take out a pen and paper just to 00:31:54.560 |
write that down if you don't mind sharing no not at all that's that's a 00:31:58.280 |
great that's a great request actually if you could specifically be praying for me 00:32:08.200 |
right now at our church I'm writing the lessons for next year's Bible study and 00:32:15.960 |
I just need help from the Lord it's hard writing Bible study questions it's 00:32:24.720 |
time-consuming and the Bible study from last year that they're just finishing up 00:32:29.960 |
now we have two different levels of it like a in-depth level and then a an 00:32:35.800 |
abbreviated version and the in-depth level it's just ridiculous it's just too 00:32:41.160 |
many questions so if you could pray that God would help me to engage with this 00:32:47.440 |
text right we're going through 2nd Corinthians next year really extract the 00:32:53.800 |
authors intent and then write thoughtful questions that are just gonna be useful 00:33:01.360 |
for the the women that I get to interface with that would be awesome 00:33:06.440 |
I've been working as the director of women's ministry now for 11 years and I 00:33:13.680 |
feel like my prayer request is that God would help me to to do a better job I 00:33:20.080 |
don't want to just settle down and be content with where I'm at but I want to 00:33:24.480 |
be better at what I'm doing so that would be amazing if you guys could be 00:33:29.960 |
praying that with me I'd like to invite grace up here we have a little gift for