Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Finding Your Root | Woman's Conference 2025
Have you ever noticed that nobody is born angry, bitter, or broken? Something happens along the way—a disconnection from the source of life. In this powerful message, we explore the transformative truth from Romans 11:16: "If the roots of a tree are holy and set apart for God, so too will be the branches."
Let me just open with prayer, father, just so thankful for every heart that's in this room. Father, I just thank you that you're present, holy Spirit. You are present to be the true teacher tonight, to open the eyes of our understanding, to help us to see and receive. I just thank you, lord, that you will rest on every heart, minister to every heart. We will not leave the same way we came in. We always grow in your presence and you impart things to us, and I'm specifically and especially been praying that there would be impartations this weekend that would be lifetime, lifelong Father, just phenomenal things that maybe they'll know tonight, but they'll definitely know in the days, weeks and months ahead. The Lord did something, and so I just thank you, father, for ministering to every heart in Jesus' name, amen, amen. So I was thinking about a couple of things that I wanted to share with you, because how many of you know, like every parent you know wants the best for their child. I would say I don't think there's a parent that doesn't want the best for their child. I would hope not anyway, but I was thinking about this, and there's a lot of broken people in the world. So if parents really want the best for their child. How come we have so much brokenness, right? And so I was thinking about this If you encounter a broken, a hard, a grumpy, an angry or a mean person, then we should pause and ask ourselves what happened. Because they were not put in their mother's arms that way. That's not how they came into the world, right? So what happened from then until now? It's a good question to ask. Something happened, and it'll birth some compassion in us actually, instead of getting angry or frustrated or offended. Well, actually, there's a place in us that'll be pulled toward them for their deliverance, for their healing. And so, as I was reading Romans, chapter 11, we're not going to spend a lot of time there, I'm just going to read one verse to you from there. We're going to look at some other things but as I was reading through Romans chapter 11, it's really Paul talking about Israel and how they were cut off and how, you know, gentiles were grafted in, and so, just you know, he was encouraging them about that and about the grace that was upon us to be grafted in, and his prayer was that they would return. And so, but I came across this verse in Romans 11, 16.
Speaker 1:I like the Passion Translation verse in Romans 11, 16. I like the passion translation, and it says if the roots of a tree are holy and set apart for God, so too will be the branches. Okay, if the roots of a tree are holy and set apart for God, so too will be the branches. And so that's not a hard visual for us to imagine. But can we just say this, that the old saying might be true that you're the product of your raisin? Right, we're the product. That's what this verse is saying, if we want to put it in layman's terms or Texan terms or whatever you want to say. But whatever we're attached to, we're the product of that, we're the product of that. And so that's why I think when we see broken people, there was something else broken. It was broken down the line. Because if we're attached to what is holy, if we're attached to the vine, then that's going to flow through us.
Speaker 1:I remember EW Kenyon in his book Two Kinds of Righteousness. He said no branch is any closer to the vine than another branch. So isn't that wonderful, Like we all get to partake, another branch so. So isn't that wonderful, like we all get to partake. I don't get more of the vine than you get, or you get more than me. If I want to partake of the vine, I can, but the but the same is true that if I detach myself, or I pull away from the vine, or I don't spend time with the vine, then guess what? Then? Then I'm not receiving what God has for me, but that also means I'm not passing it down either.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so do y'all remember. It's an old song. It's called when I Think About the Lord. Do y'all know that song? I'm not a singer so I'm not going to sing it to you, but it went like this when I think about the Lord, how he saved me, how he raised me, how he filled me with the Holy Ghost you remember this song. How he healed me to the uttermost, how he picked me up and turned me around, how he set my feet on solid ground. I love that song because when I hear those words, I literally see pictures of my life, I see moments of my life, and so that's what I've come to share with you, not my story, necessarily, but I want to tell you some things that I've learned, that have attached me to the vine and really played a big part in where my life is today Because my parents, I love my parents.
Speaker 1:My parents were married three times each and I'm grateful to tell you today that they're all serving Jesus. My dad's now been in his third marriage for 34 years and my mom's been just single for as long. But I wasn't saved until I was 21 because we weren't practicing Christians. My mom was raised in a Christian home. I might have told some of this last year, but she went to a church that felt like you were just supposed to discover Jesus on your own. They they weren't active in telling you about it, so we didn't talk about Jesus in our home, even though she was a believer and, uh, so very different than the home that we've raised our children in. We've actively talked about it and, of course, we're pastors, so I would hope we would do that Right. But, um, we just celebrated our 27th anniversary, so we're on y'all's heels right here. Y'all celebrated your 30th this year, so good, but all of that to just say the roots of my family tree were not very strong when I was growing up. They weren't very strong.
Speaker 1:But here's the good news is that God's word says all that can change. Doesn't matter how you start, it's how you finish right. And so let's go look at this verse again. If the roots of a tree are holy and set apart for God, so too will be the branches. I love the message translation. It says behind and underneath all this, there is a holy, god-planted, god-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit. Some of the tree's branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root gives you no cause to gloat over the pruned branches. Remember you aren't feeding the root, the root is feeding you. I love that. We're not feeding the root, the root is feeding us. Amen. And so I can testify that, two generations later, god's been faithful, god's been faithful and the connection was made. And so my children are all serving the Lord, they're all married, they have children. We have five grandchildren and one on the way, so number six will be born in August, and they're all serving God, and I'm so grateful for that.
Speaker 1:But I remember being a young mom with my oldest son, and maybe, maybe the other two were around, I don't. There's a big gap there. The oldest is nine years older than the youngest and but somewhere when they were all pretty little, I remember sitting in my my quiet chair and just reading my Bible and praying, and I could not understand or fathom how a person could come to love Jesus if they didn't have to go through something terrible, if they didn't have to fall far away. Because that was my story, that's. All I knew is that I was so far at the bottom and Jesus rescued me. He lifted me up and so I was praying, because nobody wants your children to have to go through tough things. Nobody wants that.
Speaker 1:I do understand, being in ministry, that sometimes that's where people have to find their start. You have to just love them and pray for them. But when they hit the bottom, the good news is there's only one place to look, and that's up right. And so we pray for people. But I was sitting in my chair and I was praying for my children and I just said, lord, I don't know how you do it. I cannot even fathom that they could be raised in a home where we talk about Jesus and that they could really appreciate what you did for us, that they could really value their salvation if it's come so easy to them and all of my children I've learned. You know we learn and we grow right, and so now I can stand before you or tell any family God has to.
Speaker 1:Every person has to encounter Jesus on their own, no matter what their background is, whether it was like mine or like my children who were raised in a Christian home. My daughter, who is now 25, would tell you, stand up here and tell you. In fact, we started a podcast. Y'all should listen. She's really wise for her age, but she will tell you that she feels like she got saved at 19,. Even though she was in my home, she was at Rhema with Allison and really what happened is she knew Jesus. She knew she had a call of God on her life. She wanted to pursue that, but she had an encounter with him where now Jesus wasn't just the the uh, her parents' savior, but her savior. She had to have that. So every one of us have to have that. Well, what happened? She got really connected to the root, right, she got connected to the root. So I want to. I want to talk about these things.
Speaker 1:So the first one when I think about how he saved me, one of the first things I realized is that I need Jesus every day, every day, not just at church right, every single day. And you know this word saved. It means to be found, it means to be, you know this. It means to be born again. Well, what is to be born is when a baby has their start, right? So salvation is to be born again. So it's a fresh start. And the good news is is that salvation is not a one-time event, right? I don't know if you've discovered that, but listen to these definitions. This is the Greek word sozo.
Speaker 1:Salvation means deliverance, healing, preservation and soundness of mind. Anybody needed that yesterday. You needed some healing or preservation or soundness of mind, like he just shows up. And so every day is this fresh day with Jesus. And so I learned very quickly, even before we went into the ministry, that I couldn't wait. I was too hungry to wait for the pastor to spoon feed me on a Sunday. I needed to get in there and get some food for myself. I needed what Jesus was offering. And so in Luke 19, verse 10, it says for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost, which is where we all started, right? That's how we all started. We were originally disconnected from the root. So what did he do at salvation? He came and he made that connection with us and so salvation attached us to Christ. But I dare say most of us I dare say most of us took two steps forward and one step back. Anybody start your Christian walk that way. Two steps forward. I did it yesterday Like you could be thinking you're doing good and then all of a sudden you do something stupid and you're mad at yourself, like where did that come from?
Speaker 1:I actually was teasing with my husband because he was a part of my stupidity or he witnessed it, and I said here's what's crazy, babe. I said yesterday morning you could go read in my journal how I was like Lord, I just want to be wise, I just want to be wiser, I just want to be able to like, help people. Like in the moment I listen to some people. I go my gosh, the things that come off there. It's so good and I'm like, I hope I'm like that. And I said, the minute I asked for wisdom, god had to reveal something dumb in my heart to go well, if you asked for it, then let me help you, because this is, this is hiding and so. But he's so good, but I wouldn't know that if I wasn't attached. Right, I have to be attached, and so so salvation, god doesn't. I want to say this God doesn't want us wallowing in our past, but he doesn't want you to forget either how you started. I've been saved now for 33 years, no 35, 21 to 56, whatever the math is. I've been saved for 35 years, but I still treasure it like it was yesterday. I want to remember, I never want to forget or take for granted how special and how privileged I felt that he came into my heart and saw past my junk and loved me anyway. And so you never want to forget that, no matter how old we get. Amen.
Speaker 1:Romans 2, verse 4 says do you despise the riches of his kindness, his restraint and patience, not recognizing, or, I'll add, not remembering, that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? And let me just say this it's meant to lead you back to him. If you ever find yourself getting a little disconnected, just put yourself in remembrance of salvation. It's supposed to lead you back to him every single time. And James 1, 21 says therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent.
Speaker 1:Humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. Now, I love that, because what is your soul is your mind, will and emotions. That's the part of us that really needs salvation. So when I say salvation is a one-time event, I'm not talking about Jesus going back to the cross again, I'm not talking about not understanding what I received. I'm just talking about receiving again and again and again everything that he purchased for us amen. And so the implanted word is able to save our mind, our will, our emotions. But guess what? That means I need Jesus every day, and the Bible says he is the word made flesh. So what do I need? Means I need Jesus every day, and the Bible says he is the word made flesh. So what do I need? I need this every day. Every day, I partake of his word, amen. And so I can say that now that the word saved me daily, daily, the word saved me, amen. So when I think about how he raised me, all right, how he raised me.
Speaker 1:Now, this is funny, but I had to learn how to walk before I could run. How many of you had to learn? I just told you I have five grandchildren. Well, two of them are older, but I have three that live right there in Seminole with us and they're all toddlers. We got a three-year-old or about to be three next week. We got a two-year-old and we got a one-year-old. I got lots of toddlers right, and so you think about a toddler, because they're learning to walk, they're learning to run, they love to come to Pops and Mammy's house and play and we love watching them.
Speaker 1:My little grandson that's going to be three next week. We don't know how he figured it out because, unless just watching it on TV at my house, because his parents are not very athletic, but he will get a Do this on the ground and then he'll take a step and he'll do this. And he's two and a half and we're like his dad is artistic and creative and, you know, doesn't do any of those things. We're like where is he learning this? But I was videoing him yesterday. I said we're going to save this video because someday when he's playing like you know, really playing in high school or maybe beyond I'm going to say look what he was doing at two and a half, you know.
Speaker 1:But but they're, they're learning, they're, they're, they're learning these things and so, as they're learning that, that's a spiritual parallel to our lives, because the word raised means to cause, to set upright, it means to stand on your feet, and that's what you do with the toddlers, right, like okay, let's get back up, and you help them up again. And so second Corinthians four, verse 13 and 14 in the New Living it says but we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said I believed in God, so I spoke. We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. I could have easily just chosen to read to you verse 14, but I intentionally decided to read verse 13 because that scripture is tied to the speaking part of our faith, and so I told you earlier, we're a product of our raising, meaning, as God raised Jesus, he raises us up too. But guess how that happens? There's got to be a connection, not only to the vine through the word, but there's got to be a connection not only to the vine through the word, but there's got to be a connection through our words. The speaking part of our faith is such a vital, vital part of maturity, and so we're going to have to speak up. I learned to speak up, I learned to speak out, and you know it's awkward when you're doing some of these things for the first time, like as a new believer, and so I think sometimes then we can take it for granted and I don't know about you, but like I'll be in a meeting like this and I'll get inspired by something and be like man, what did I forget? How did I forget? How did I let that slip? How did I stop saying my dreams and speaking things out by faith? Like his promises, his word is truth. We are saved and sanctified by his word. And these are just elementary principles, according to the apostle Paul, that we should be speaking our faith, but what we tend to do is speak our circumstance.
Speaker 1:I remember when my brother was going to Raymond. I was a brand new Christian and I went to go to his graduation and I had a cold. But I really wanted to be there. I was really excited for him and, but I guess I was be there. I was really excited for him, but I guess I was really negative. I was talking about my cold and blowing my nose and constantly talking about it, and he would say Daphne, you're healed, daphne, you're healed. I'd be like I know and I'd sneeze or whatever, and anyway, and finally one day I guess I got on his last nerve Anybody ever get on your nerve and I got on his nerve. He was like Daphne, you are healed. And I was like I know I'm going to be healed, but I'm dealing with all this. He said no, no, no, you got this backwards.
Speaker 1:And so he took me over to Mark 11, where it talks about you need to say to your mountain be removed, be cast into the sea. And because I thought that I was healed when it manifested and he told me, he said, daphne, everybody knows you're sick, we can see your mountain, we can see what you're struggling with, but you need to speak to your mountain. And that was really the first time my eyes were open to that and I have never forgotten it and applied it to so many other areas of my life. Because we face mountains, right, we stumble because of mountains, we stumble because of little things too, but what are we doing? Are we? Are we complaining about that thing or are we speaking to that thing? Okay, so I want to speak to these things.
Speaker 1:And so in Ephesians, chapter two, verse four through six. It says God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love, with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you've been saved. And what did he do? He raised us up. He raised us up, he picked us up and he said come on, come on Now. What does that look like? Sometimes that looks like cause we literally stumbled. Sometimes that looks like cause we're. We've got an illness in our body, we're laying on the couch. Sometimes that that just looks like depression or whatever. Well, what will he do? He's going to raise us up. He's going to say what are you saying? What are you speaking? Let me help you on your feet right. And he says raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:So I want you to imagine this with me. I want you to picture a child that's been put on his father's shoulders. Okay, you can picture that, right, like, like my little grandson I was talking about Milo. His dad loves to pick him up, throw him in the air and he gets on his shoulders all the time. Well, that's you and us, that's you and me, that's you and me on our father's shoulder. We are the product of his raising right, that's where we're seated, and so things look different on the father's shoulders. Things look different from right there, right. And so then you and I have to decide to stay there. I'm not going to crawl down and go back here, I'm going to stay there.
Speaker 1:Well, how do I do that? I stay in the word. I make sure his word is coming out of my mouth, despite the circumstances. Guys, we have circumstances and we could talk about it all day long, and I dare say you live with people or you work with people. That's what they like to do. They like to talk about it all the time. Well, what are you saying? Because you can be a catalyst, even in someone else's life, to try to redirect those things.
Speaker 1:Well, I had a young man that was at the church this past weekend and he kind of had a negative attitude, and so immediately I was just like trying to redirect, you know, but Jesus is good, jesus is for you. You're a winner, you know. And trying to redirect because sometimes we get so consumed with our things. Well, what had he done? He had climbed off the father's shoulders, he had forgotten his place in Christ. Okay, so we don't want to forget our place, amen. So when I think about how he filled me, let's talk about that one for a minute, how he filled me with the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:Listen, how many of you realize you need the Holy Spirit every day to go to Walmart? Right, that's a. We laugh at that, but it's so true. Like I need it in Houston traffic. I bet y'all need it in Houston traffic. You know, I just have to say this. I was telling them a moment ago.
Speaker 1:But we went to Egypt a couple of years ago and we're working with a ministry over there and I was talking to the school director's wife and somehow she asked about where I lived and I said, oh, seminole has about 8,000 people. She looked at me. She said 8,000, that's a whole city block where she lives. There's 20 million in her city, you know, in Cairo. And I said I know, I know, but you know, so I can only imagine in my little town I can zip around and do whatever. But here I'm like I'm glad Pastor Jay is driving because I don't want to drive in this traffic.
Speaker 1:But how many of you know we need the Holy Spirit for a lot more, a whole lot more. What does it mean? To be filled? I love this. It means to be supplied abundantly. It describes filling a vessel or a hollow place with something. I really like that Sometimes we can feel hollow, right. So what does he do? He fills us. We know these scriptures.
Speaker 1:Acts, chapter one, verse eight you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, judea, samaria, to the end of the earth. That word upon is so perfect because every believer, when they're born again, receives the Holy Spirit. Right, he's our helper, he's our counselor. But what this verse is talking about is the overflow. So if I had a cup of water right now and I showed it to you, well, we could point and say the water is in the cup, but if I kept filling the vessel, right, with more water, it would eventually reach the top and overflow. That's a pond, it came out in a pond, and so the Holy Spirit helped me see it this way, one time that you and I can be a container of Him or he could be a container of us. And that's the difference.
Speaker 1:We want the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So He'll be a container of us. I want to be yielded to Him, and one of the things that I think is significant in this verse is that Jesus said when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be a witness. You shall be a witness. A lot of times in our Christian faith we talk about going and witnessing, and we should share our faith, but this verse says when you're so filled with the Spirit, you'll naturally be a witness. What does that mean? People will see the peace on you. When you shouldn't have peace, they'll see the joy on you. When you shouldn't have joy, they'll recognize there's something different about you, and I want what you have. Amen, you'll be a witness. And we know in Acts, chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost, verse 2, it says and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Do you know? Only one person in your house needs to be filled with the spirit, to fill the whole house. Come on, are you praying in the spirit at your house? Are you calling those things? Because people can walk into your home and there's just a different kind of peace there. Right, your children who are acting crazy can come home and be like there's something here, right, it just ministers to us. The Holy Spirit is present to minister.
Speaker 1:I honestly, I do not know where I would be without the Holy Spirit. I was thinking about it and, if I'm honest, I think I might be divorced and that's really strong. And I'm not saying in another life, I'm saying as a pastor's wife. We went through some rocky places, things are hard, and if you didn't have the Holy Spirit and you didn't have the connection to the root, to the word, then that's what happens is that we end up just leaving and quitting. And I had the example that was my, sadly, that was my default, because I saw my parents. So it's like I'm out, I'm out, right, and so if I hadn't had the Holy Ghost going, no, you're not, no, you're not, you're not going anywhere, right, and here's what the Holy Spirit helped me see too when two broken people get together, there's a lot of sharp edges, right, and we don't mean to, but we hurt one another.
Speaker 1:Well, the Holy Ghost is the healer. He brings healing, he brings restoration and he helps us. And it takes two people healing. He brings restoration and he helps us, and it takes two people. My husband would get up here and say his part is equal to my part. Right, but think about the seven names of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to share this with you because it's helped me so many times.
Speaker 1:But in the Amplified the Bible says that he is our helper, he is our comforter, he is our counselor, he is our strengthener, and I could go through each one. What does that mean? He does? He helps us, he comforts us, he counsels us, he strengthens us. He's called the intercessor and the advocate, and both of those are so great because we have the voice of God on one shoulder. It really is that picture of the angel and the devil. We got the voice of God on one shoulder, we got the voice of the enemy on the other shoulder.
Speaker 1:Well, the Holy Spirit's on both sides. What's he doing? He's trying to remind you what God says about you, who you are in Christ. He's always bringing the word back to our remembrance, guiding us into all truth. But what's he doing over here as your advocate, when the devil's telling you you're worth nothing, you can't do nothing. He's your defender. He's your defender and he's going to bring the word back and go. No, you can do all things through Christ, jesus Favor surrounds you like a shield. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And so he's just constantly working on our behalf. And but my favorite might be the last the seventh name of the Holy Spirit. The Amplified says he's the standby, and so I'm going to borrow a story Brother Hagen told this years ago.
Speaker 1:You know, he was a pastor for many years and then God called him to go teach his people faith, and he went out on the road to be an evangelist, and when he first went out, he would be out on the road, you know, six or eight weeks at a time, and so he said he would have to stay. You know, times were different back then, and so there weren't hotels or fancy places to stay, and so he would often stay, you know, either at the pastor's house or at a church member's house, and usually they didn't have an extra bedroom. It was like kick out the kids and you get this twin bed, you know. And so he was very grateful for that. But it made it challenging when he needed to pray, when he needed some quiet time for these long meetings, and so he went to the Lord in prayer and he said, lord, if I could just have a little camper that I could pull behind my car. You know, then I would be comfortable there, I could just rest there, I could pray there. And so the Lord blessed him and he got this little camper.
Speaker 1:And so his testimony is, you know, as he was traveling, pulling this little camper, he said you know, when we were on the flat roads of Kentucky, he said I'd almost forget that camper, that trailer was behind me. He said, but we'd hit the Rocky Mountains, he said. And as soon as we started pulling, you know, that trailer on those mountainous places, he said it was putt, putt, putt, because I just had a little four-cylinder car. He said it would slow me down. He said, so I went back to the Lord very grateful. Thank you for the trailer. Can I have a six cylinder car? I think that's all they made back then. Can I have a six cylinder car?
Speaker 1:And so a little bit of time passed and he got to upgrade his car and he said but I noticed something. He said, here I had this six cylinder car. And he said but on the flat plains of Kentucky, he said it was just the same, I almost forgot about the trailer that was behind us. He said. But when I noticed the two extra cylinders this is when we hit the hard places, when we hit the rocky mountains he said that those two extra cylinders just kicked in and we just kept on going as if we were on flat ground.
Speaker 1:And he said that's the Holy Ghost. He lives on the inside of you. He's always available. He's always standing by ready to kick in when you face something hard. And we sometimes are on the flat, smooth ground. Everything's good. We forget that the Holy Spirit's there until what we hit a hard place and we need him. And so to me, the standby covers everything else. He's always standing by and we need him every day. Amen, more than just Walmart, we need him every day.
Speaker 1:Now, when I think about how he healed me to the uttermost I love that phrase because I needed wholeness. We all need wholeness. Right why we have holes. We came to Jesus with some holes, but to be healed means to be made whole. It means to be made well, successful, good. Or I like this one restored. I really like this word restored, because anytime you see that word restored, I hope that it triggers you to think of Genesis, chapter one, because how God created man and in the garden is what his original intent was.
Speaker 1:And so what Jesus did is he came to restore all things. That's what he did, and that was the conversation that God had in Genesis, chapter three, uh, with the enemy. Right, you remember the conversation. He told him. He said he's, he's gonna uh, how's it go? He's going to bite your heel, you're going to bruise his head, something anyway. But he prophesied of it and he told him. And so, from that day forward, satan was nervous because he lived with God in heaven. Lucifer was kicked out right, you remember the story. So he was kicked out, so he was nervous about this, and so we don't have actual scripture on it, but we can piece enough together to know what happened. Because I'm just going to run over here this isn't in my notes, but it's so good I want to share with you Mark, chapter one.
Speaker 1:We have this story where Jesus in Mark one. It's verse 21. It says they went into Capernaum and right away he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. And they were astonished at his teaching, because he was teaching them as one who had authority and not like the scribes. Now, this is important because the scribes were those who made copies of the scriptures, of the scrolls, and so, just by repetition, they knew the words of the scrolls right. But if they got up to read it, it was just like Charlie Brown's teacher Y'all remember her and so there was no authority. So, but when Jesus got up there and he started speaking from the scriptures, all of a sudden there was some authority and they recognized how different it was.
Speaker 1:And so what happened was there was a man in the synagogue that was filled with a demon spirit and he got very agitated at the words of Jesus, same words that the scribes would read, and it didn't bother him why. When Jesus read it, jesus believed it. Jesus knew the word, he believed the word and it was. It empowered him. But watch, this is how we can piece things together. Because this man was so irritated by this, he looked at Jesus.
Speaker 1:Now it's funny what he says what do you, what do you have to do with us? Jesus of Nazareth. So what he's doing first is he's looking at this man, and that's how they identified people. They didn't call him by a last name, they call them by a location or a skill or something you know. Jesus of Nazareth. He's looking at this man standing in front of him, but watch what he says next. He says have you come to destroy us? Wait, wait, wait. I know who you are You're the Holy One of God.
Speaker 1:Now, who told that demon? Who told the demon that a holy one of God would be coming? Except God, except Jesus, I mean let me get my character straight except Satan, right, because God told Satan I'm going to send somebody. I'm going to send somebody. And so you know, from Genesis three until this moment, they'd been talking about it. He's coming. We don't know what he's going to look like, we don't know when he's coming.
Speaker 1:And we see, though, through the scriptures, though, that what did Satan do? He had an agenda to kill babies because he knew that's how he's coming. That's what God did. And we see in Revelation that Satan was mad at the woman who gave birth to the male child. He went to war with her because he knew she could recreate, she can recreate.
Speaker 1:And so what did Jesus do? He came into the earth as the son of God. He was the Emmanuel God with us, right in the flesh. Well, what did Jesus do? He came into the earth as the son of God. He was Emmanuel God with us, right in the flesh. Well, what did he do? He came legally. That's what Satan couldn't stand is that he came legally, got a body.
Speaker 1:In Hebrews, chapter 10, it says sacrifice you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. That's what Jesus said. Why was that important? Because what keeps you here on this earth, this body, to be absent from the body, is to be what Present with the Lord. So what keeps you here, this body right? And so we have so many people that have this physical body, that have kept them here on the earth, but they're disconnected from the things of God, and that's not God's plan. Jesus came to restore all that. So when we talk about healing, yes, there is physical healing, but I personally need heart. I needed heart healing, I needed soul healing. I had wounds, right, and so healing comes in all shapes and sizes. And so mine came in front of my mirror. I believe maybe I shared that last year, but just in case there's somebody here that doesn't know that story but I was born again, maybe just two years.
Speaker 1:I'd brought a lot of condemnation into my walk with God because I was pregnant when we got married, but I was already born again. So I just thought man, I can't even be a good Christian, I don't know how to do this. And I was. I felt like I disappointed our parents and just God. I felt like I disappointed God and I could not understand how he could still love us, love me and my mess. And one day, in my bathroom, he just stood me in front of my mirror and he said you tell her, you love her and you forgive her. Because that was the first time that I realized it wasn't God who was mad at me, it was Daphne who was mad at me. Jesus had already forgiven me. God had already forgiven me.
Speaker 1:Jesus had saved me, but I needed that healing and in Psalm 107, 20, it said he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Delivered them from their destructions, isn't it interesting? Your testimony may be similar, but I'd been born again for a little bit, and it took the word. He sent his word. I was in his word. I already told you I needed this word daily. I realized what I needed daily and it was the receiving of his word that I finally reached a point where the word was going to work in my life save me from my own destructions, not what he had done. I won't even blame the devil, I just had stinking thinking that wasn't lined up to the word. And then one day he was able to open the eyes of my understanding and help me to see.
Speaker 1:I also, when I got born again at the age of 21, I had lived with hypoglycemia my entire life. I don't know if anybody knows what that is it's the opposite of diabetes and so my body overproduced insulin, and so I was constantly nauseated. Or if I wasn't careful with what I ate, I could faint, I could, my blood sugar could drop, but this nausea was my number one symptom. I just didn't matter if he ate or didn't eat. I was constantly nauseated, and I got born again in the summer of 1990. And my mom? Her faith was renewed, and so she was excited with me, and so we started going to church together.
Speaker 1:And then there was a conference that we went to and they prayed for healing, and I sat in a chair, just like you, and it was like faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I was like you can be healed. What do you mean? You can be healed Like. I've wanted to be healed my whole life, you know.
Speaker 1:And so when they offered a prayer line and my little feet just took me right up there, I didn't even know what I was going for, but I was like so ready for it and to this day I still don't know if anybody touched me. But I fell out under the power of God, didn't even know what that was, but I felt something warm from my toes all the way up to my head, and then I was on the floor and when I got up I wasn't nauseated. And the next day I wasn't nauseated, and the next day I wasn't nauseated, I was just instantly healed. It was just the grace of God. And I've been healed ever since.
Speaker 1:And so I've experienced miraculous healing, I've experienced soul healing, and I'm so grateful and what I would tell you is that, no matter what kind of healing you may need, it comes from God's word first and foremost. Like that was a miracle, simply because it was the grace of God. But I think I was getting the word, I was believing the word that they were speaking, and he said if we'll believe, all things are possible to him who believes, amen. And so knowing and believing his word, believing the truth of his word, brings healing. In John 17, verse 17,. Jesus, this is his prayer. In the Garden of Gethsemane he said thy word is truth. Sanctify them by your word, sanctify them by the word, make them holy by the truth.
Speaker 1:And 1 Peter 2, 24 says he himself bore our sins in his own body, on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. And I love that, because that's not a quote of Isaiah 53. It's so similar, right? But Isaiah 53 says that by his stripes you are healed. What was Isaiah doing? He was looking forward to the cross and then Peter was past the cross and he was looking back where it happened on that tree. We were healed. On that tree is where everything happened. And that's why and that's what I learned with my brother when he was trying to help me with my confession is that you don't have to say I'm healed today while you're still dealing with symptoms. You're not lying when you say that what are you doing? You're pointing back to the cross, where it happened. That's where it happened. By his stripes I am healed. And if I was healed there, I am healed today and I'm claiming that healing. I'm walking in that healing, amen.
Speaker 1:But I love that he mentions that we might live for righteousness, because I want to make the statement Jesus took care of sin and everything that sin produced. Jesus took care of our sin and everything that sin produced. Now, I'm not saying your sin produced, whatever challenge you're going through, I'm just saying in the garden, when man fell, sin produced a lot of things, right? Well, jesus came to take care of not only the sin but everything that sin produced. Amen, amen. So when I think about how he picked me up and turned me around anybody, everybody been picked up, turned around I just picture a little girl just dancing in her dress. You know, don't you love that?
Speaker 1:When we had two boys and my brother, my brother I'm sorry, my husband has a brother and then his dad only had brothers. So we were, at this point, three generations of boys, and so I prayed and I would have been thankful for a third little boy. I already had a name picked out and everything, but I said, lord, I'd really like a little girl, and this was before we got pregnant, and so I was close to my mom and my grandmother, and so we did not know that we were having a little girl until two weeks before she was born. Every time they did a sonogram the cord was in the way her legs were crossed something we didn't know and I was having some early contractions and I was in the hospital or being checked and I remember the ultrasound guy was like do you know what you're having? And so I told him the story and he goes oh, I could show you, I know. And I guess she was ready to show us. So anyway, we were delighted that we were having this little girl.
Speaker 1:But I tell you that story because when she got to be about two years old, she's just spinning around in her little dress and doing these things and Todd literally looked at me. He said did you teach her to do that? I said, no, you don't have to teach them to do that, they just do that on their own. But he just thought how does she do that? And so I think sometimes you know that's just what we do in the spirit. Thank you, lord, we're just, we're so grateful, right. But but I learned he picked me up, he turned me around and and what I learned was and this sounds kind of maybe opposite of what I'm trying to communicate, but I'll tie it together I learned one bath isn't enough. One bath isn't enough.
Speaker 1:You know when we, when my kids were growing up my husband loved big dogs, and so you know how it is. You give your kids a bath and then you let them go out in the backyard to play with the dog and they come in and you need another bath. All of a sudden you smell like dog right and so, in a spiritual sense, I'm talking about being cleansed from the stain and the guilt of sin. When you realize what you've been cleansed from, it makes you want to dance. There's a freedom when you get that revelation. Amen. And so at salvation, we were washed, we were cleansed, we were made new right. And then what did we do? We went outside. We went outside First, john 1, 9.
Speaker 1:If you don't know that verse, you need to. You need to highlight it, you need to look at it often. It says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Listen, it's simple. Talk to Jesus, just talk to him.
Speaker 1:I have a friend her name is Michelle and her husband's name is Johnny, and she was our youth pastor for many, many years and she would say this. She'd tell the students she says I go to bed every night with two Johns, and they all knew Mr Johnny. And they just look at her. And she says I go to bed with my husband, johnny, but I go to bed with 1 John 1-9 every night. I'm not waiting until it builds up to try to remember everything. I want to confess to the Lord. I just talked to him about that day. Lord, I wish I'd been kinder today. Lord, forgive me of this. Talk to Jesus. It's really that simple.
Speaker 1:It shouldn't be condemning to us because he has such an open heart and receives us. And this word unrighteousness is so great because in the Hebrew, when we look at these words in Greek and Hebrew, they can have slightly different meanings, although they have the same outcome. But I love this. In the Hebrew, unrighteousness means what ought not be, what ought not be. So we want to talk to the Lord about what ought not be, what showed up, that shouldn't be, what is out of harmony with God. But guess what the good news is? If he cleanses us of all the unrighteousness.
Speaker 1:What's left, righteousness right. What ought be, what ought be? That's terrible grammar. What ought be right, what ought to be. Amen, righteousness is what ought to be, and so we want to learn to repent. We want to turn and go the other way, that's. All that means is we want to turn, and transformation is a result of God's faithfulness. He will not disown you and I. He wants us to talk to him. And I just found such freedom. He just picked me up and he turned me around. I just found such freedom when I learned this principle, when I learned that I don't have to stay in that condemnation, I don't have to carry that guilt Like I can give it to him over and over and over again, and we just grow in that.
Speaker 1:And so I want to make this statement to you, because Christianity is not a change of life, it is an exchange of life. Can I say it again Christianity is not a change of life, it is an exchange of life. Now, that's significant to me, because I tried to perform, I tried to work for my salvation. I felt like perfection is what would please him. Well, he wasn't asking me to change my life, he was asking me to exchange my life. We know 2 Corinthians 5.21, that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. There's that exchange so that we could become what he was, which is the righteousness of God. Amen. And so when we learn that, then we're not trying so hard, I can just talk to him and receive what he's offering. Right, if I have frustrations, then I can give that to him and receive of his peace. All these things are tied together because what am I doing? I'm drawing on the vine, I'm drawing on what he has given to me, and so these two kind of go together, because when I think about how he set my feet on solid ground, that's where he wants you to get.
Speaker 1:Everybody say no more roller coaster living. How many of you are tired of the roller coaster? Yeah, when life is like a roller coaster, who wants to do that? I don't even ride the roller coaster like the real one, like I'll hold your stuff, you go, get on it. All right, I'll be the one that stands down here, okay, but uh, but what? What am I talking about? I'm talking about balance. I'm talking about balance, possessing firmness and stability, composure and ease. No more roller coaster living. We have to stop it. We don't have to live that way. Did you know that we don't have to live that way and there's this sweet lady that goes to our church and years ago she told me. She said you know, you need to tell Pastor Todd that if he ever sees anybody sleeping in church, not to be offended or hurt, Because some of us live in such chaos. It's the only peace we know. She said I just come to church and be like whew why she lived on a roller coaster, according to her confession or her testimony. But I don't know if you know this.
Speaker 1:But JD Vance, who is our vice president, do y'all know about his book that became a movie, hillbilly Elegy? I actually saw the movie and heard about the book long before he became our next vice president, and the reason it's really a tough read, to be honest with you. But what made it so popular is that it was relatable because it was about generational rollercoaster living. That's what it was about, about how his family had so much dysfunction and he painted a picture, like you know, just that programs and things like that we're not going to rescue. You're going to have to get to the root. You're going to have to get to the root of the issue and families are going to have to get healing to change those generations right and so it was relatable. But you and I don't have to live on a roller coaster.
Speaker 1:Isaiah 40, verse 4, says that in Christ, every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill brought low, the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. So I love that because that's our life. If you found yourself in a valley or a you know, a mountain or a crooked place or a rough place, like in Christ we can find the smooth place. We can always find that in him. Chaos can be going on around us on every side, but we can find that place in Christ, and I found it every day in the word, every day praying in the spirit, every day talking to Jesus, reminding myself of the promises of God.
Speaker 1:I love Psalm 40, verse one through three. It says I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit. Are you picturing all these together Like there's the stability, there's the raising, there's the foundation. He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, set my feet upon a rock, established my steps, and that's not all. He put a new song in my mouth Praise to our God. Many will see it in fear and will trust in the Lord. What is that? You're a witness. You're a witness. He lifted me up out of that miry pit, set my feet on a rock, established my steps and then said that's not enough. I'm gonna put a song in your heart, I love. I'm so glad, miss Carol, that you can sing so good, and I'm so glad that I was by the drums and they're so loud, because I love to sing loud, but I don't want anybody to hear me. Just Jesus, just Jesus. So if somebody else is singing good, my husband's our praise and worship leader. If he's singing good, I can sing along with him and but but I love to sing. Why? I have a song in my heart. I have a song in my heart because he established my steps and he put my feet on a solid rock, and that's what any of us can have. And I've been in moments of chaos and yet I can find that place again. I'm on the rock. I'm on the rock of my salvation, amen. But what am I doing? I'm speaking these things, I'm believing these things. I was thinking about this earlier, so I guess I'm supposed to share it, but years ago I was speaking.
Speaker 1:I've had the sweet privilege of ministering at some really unusual places. One time I was a speaker at the Baptist Ladies no, what was it? The Baptist Secretaries Convention. I was like, y'all know I'm not Baptist. Yes, that's fine. Okay so. And then a Mennonite conference, a ladies conference for Mennonite, I know, isn't that phenomenal. And but anyway, this one time I was asked to go speak at a ladies conference and it was a retirement community and I didn't realize that. So when I showed up, I'm the youngest one there, and so it was so sweet and all these little it just felt like grandma, everybody was a grandma, and and so end I was teaching on righteousness and I remember this lady I don't know how old she was, but she was elderly and she came up to me and she said you know what makes you so good?
Speaker 1:And I didn't know how to answer that. And she said because you believe this stuff, that's what she said to me because you believe this stuff. And I laughed like you did and I was like well, of course, I think that's what we're supposed to do. She said I've been a believer a long time and I've had many preachers and I don't think they believe it. She said I'm not convinced they believed it. Well, guess what, when you have experienced what I've experienced, you better believe it. You better believe I believe it. Amen. He set my feet on a rock, he established my steps, he put a song in my mouth. Amen, but that's a witness. When you believe this stuff, it'll show up in your conversations, it'll show up in your prayers, amen.
Speaker 1:And my dad, my sweet stepdad that raised me, he never had any natural children and he's still in my life and and when his, he also was remarried after my mom for 35 years and she passed away five years ago, his, his second wife, and she was Baptist and took him on like little choir trips and stuff. So he was hearing the word and, and you know, his daughter now is a pastor in the ministry and so I would talk to him. But there was always this like OK, you know, and never a full conversation. And the day that she passed we talked about it again and I said, dad, you know that you can see her again, I know where she is and you can see her again. He said I want to believe. And I said well, this, I just laid it out to him about how simple it was. But the Holy Spirit knows exactly what you need to say. And I said you know, dad.
Speaker 1:I said I said there was someone that approached Jesus one time and said help me with my unbelief. And I said, you know, he didn't turn him away. He said absolutely I can do that. And that just opened my dad's heart because he thought he needed to be like as strong as a believer as I was in that moment. But see, he was seeing me 30 years into this right. So sometimes our faith is so strong that others don't know how to take that step. But you can show them how to take that step and I'm happy to say he gave his heart to Jesus that day. And now it's so sweet when I call and check on him. We don't live in the same city, but I call him every week and check on him and his tone has changed, his words have changed and he'll be like hey, you need to pray for you, know something. And so I've started doing that to him and I'm like, dad, hey, I'm going out of town and I'm going to be ministering, you need to pray for me. He said, ok, ok, I'll do that. I'll do that, you know, and I just love it and so, and then I'm more open with him than I've ever been because we just got back from Turkey. I'm telling him all about it, everything we ministered on, and I can hear he's just quiet on the other end like really, really, you know. So he's a believer, but sometimes you've just got to share your faith in simple ways, in simple ways, and help people, amen.
Speaker 1:How many of you know Francine Rivers? Do y'all know her? She's an author. I love her books. You know. My favorite is redeeming love. Y'all read that one, that's. I mean, that's the one that started her whole thing. It's such a good book. It's a little immature, but it's such a good book.
Speaker 1:And I just related to it because it was about Hosea and how in the scriptures, how God used a prostitute, like marrying, the prophet married the prostitute just to show that the love of God would bring someone back in. Anyway, I'm not going to give the whole story, but I was thinking about this because there's this one line where he's talking to this woman who is a former prostitute and she had had a rough childhood, she had been thrown into this lifestyle. And this is what they said you didn't choose the life you had, but you can choose the life you want, and I think that's what we can take for ourselves and I think that's what we can tell others If they're broken, if they're angry, if they weren't given the right root system. Guess what? Jesus can give you a different life, amen. You can build your life on a firm foundation I thought we were going to sing that song tonight. But you can build your life on a firm foundation, amen.
Speaker 1:What did Jesus tell us in Matthew, chapter seven, verse 24 through 27? Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell, but great was its fall. What do we learn from this? Rains will come, but they don't have to knock us down or knock us out, right, they don't have to.
Speaker 1:Psalm 18, 29 says for by you I can run against a troop. By my God I can leap over a wall, or I like to say this or over an obstacle, right, whatever is thrown your way, listen, by him we can run through a troop we can leap over. This is Superman faith. This is Superman faith. Now, this is not the same as writing the Superman at Six Flags. That's a big no for me. But Superman faith is when you can jump over those things. Amen.