A Helper, a Home, a Holy Design

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so Genesis 218 through 25 says, then the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can men say amen?

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will make a helper as his compliment.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal, every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Next slide.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man gave names to all the livestock to the birds of the sky to every wild animal, but for the man, no helper was found as his compliment, so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man and he slept.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank God for sleep, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the Lord God made the rib, he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Next slide, I think this is the last one.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the man said, this one at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, this one will be called woman for she was taken from man.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife and they become one flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: Both the man and his wife were naked.

[SPEAKER_00]: Naked, excuse me, yet felt no shame.

[SPEAKER_00]: Naked, you know, naked.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, y'all.

[SPEAKER_00]: a home and a holy design.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: A helper, a home and a holy design.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to pray this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I just thank you for today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thank you, Lord, that we do have a day Lord, just to honor our mothers, to honor every mom in this room.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I thank you, God, for creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thank you, Lord, just as we sang, God, that you formed us, God inside of our mothers womb.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, I thank you, Lord, for the word today asked for that she just used me this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, as a vessel, as a mouthpiece father, for what it is, or that you want spoken today, Lord, I just pray that she just have your way in this place, have your way with every mother in this room, Lord, and touch their hearts this morning, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, so before there was a nation and before there was a church and before there was any system or structure we know today there was a garden.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in that garden God established value he established identity and he established purpose for every woman that's in this room and creation itself was not complete until woman was created.

[SPEAKER_00]: amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I have four things.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really didn't know like I was like, honey, would you look over my notes and kind of help me and he was like, no, and I was like, okay, so he didn't say like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, no, honey, but there are four things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are four things that I got from the scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: just to break down the scripture of what was given today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So number one, coming out of verse 18, a need was recognized.

[SPEAKER_00]: The scripture says in verse 18, it is not good that man should be alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And men can I get another amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know whenever my husband's grandfather passed away, my dad passed away, gosh, 14, 15 years ago now.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when my husband's grandfather passed away,

[SPEAKER_00]: I remember he used to always tell us because he lived in this massive house by himself and he's like, you know, the walls don't talk back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're like, yes, we know, but he did not want to be alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had been married for 47 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was, of course, having his, our, our Mimi around and, and he did not want to be alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess within a year or two, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he,

[SPEAKER_00]: May it remarried, which was okay, maybe, but it's not good for man to be alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a beautiful place because up until that moment, and if we've read scripture, everything God made was called good, but he realized it was not good for man to be alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Light was good, the earth was good, the animals were good, but suddenly God looked at man and says, this is not good.

[SPEAKER_00]: So praise God that God realized that man did not need to be alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And up into that point too, Adam had all authority.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had all the authority.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had provision, but he did not have relationship.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't even recognize that he even needed relationship, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So everything God created was dependent on something just as we read in scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: The birds were dependent on the air.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fish were dependent on the water.

[SPEAKER_00]: The animals were dependent on land, but something was still missing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God recognized that need before Adam ever spoke it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the kind of God that we serve.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sees what we need before we even have the language for it, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Adam needed relationship.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't created for Eve.

[SPEAKER_00]: Eve was created for Adam.

[SPEAKER_00]: So women we were created for man, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So women was created as a solution.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were the solution to the problem that man did not need to be left alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So God understands our needs before we even speak them.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when I think about this, I think about the heart of a mother.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, so we see needs that others out for look, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We take care of things that no one else even notices.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, again, because I have the mic today, I'm gonna pick on my husband.

[SPEAKER_00]: I always jokingly tell him in my house.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, it must be nice to only have to worry about yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like when you get up in the morning as a mom like you're thinking I got to get the kids up.

[SPEAKER_00]: They got to get ready for school.

[SPEAKER_00]: They got to brush their teeth.

[SPEAKER_00]: They got to eat breakfast.

[SPEAKER_00]: They got to make sure their mouth homework is done because 99% of the time is not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like we think of the little things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a test today?

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you studied for the test that you're going to have?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you know and have the dogs been let out and thank God my husband's been doing that lately.

[SPEAKER_00]: Letting the dogs out is one list thing that I have to worry about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But on top of that mom you have to get yourself ready, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: you have to make sure that you look presentable and you look good.

[SPEAKER_00]: But those are the little things again that when I think of the Lord like he thinks of the things before we even think of them right and as a mom we have that seem nurturing heart to be able to think of those things before dad could do that or dad could think about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now if you're a dad that has that man kudos to you because I mean I love my husband

[SPEAKER_00]: But he's not on top of things, you know, like us as women are we are on top of the daily tasks of life.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when you think about it, when God created woman like back in those times, women didn't work.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, women stayed home.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were the nurturers of the home.

[SPEAKER_00]: They took care of the home.

[SPEAKER_00]: They fed the family.

[SPEAKER_00]: They did all those things and the men did work, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So as women, we create order.

[SPEAKER_00]: We meet needs.

[SPEAKER_00]: We hold everything together in ways going

[SPEAKER_00]: So that nurturing instinct reflects the nature of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for number one, the need recognize a mother's reflection is a reflection of the nurturing heart of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so number two, I know I'm probably going to go through this really fast.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a pastor, I don't have all these like great things, you know, but, but it's okay because I really feel like the Lord wants to do something in our moms this morning as we are praying this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just felt the Lord spoke some things which I'll share later, but we're going to go to number two.

[SPEAKER_00]: So number two is a helper designed with purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's coming out of verse 18 and also verses 21 through 22.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then God says, I will make a helper suitable for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the phrase helper suitable, and I think we have this on the screen, comes from the Hebrew phrase, Ezra Connecto.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as a remaining strength, power, help, or rescue, and connect, though, meaning the opposite or equal to or face-to-face.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what I love about this is that when I was preparing for this message, I've been back on social media now, gosh, for like a year, I've been off for a really long time and I really want to get back off because I can't stand it, but I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some social media things and so I'm on it, but I had a friend that posted this very thing, and I was like, wow, this is like perfect because this is what I was Ministering on this morning, and so whenever you plug in these words into verse 18, it's said when you plug these words into So we read I will make a helper suitable for him when you plug these words in it says I will make a strong power who corresponds to man

[SPEAKER_00]: acting as an equal, a match or a lifesaver for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I love, you know, like Pastor Austin, he breaks down scripture and I love how this is broken down, a strong power who corresponds to man, acting as an equal, a match or a lifesaver for him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So thank God for woman, so when God creates, when God created a woman, he's not making a woman that's inferior, he is crafting something intentional, something necessary, something powerful, and woman was not an afterthought.

[SPEAKER_00]: Woman, I'm telling you right now, we were not an afterthought.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were a design for a purpose and with a purpose, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we were formed differently, but we have equal value.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, yesterday when Miss Anita came, I know some women couldn't make it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will have her come back or have her minister or whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I love what we, you know, we had a blank canvas.

[SPEAKER_00]: She outlined our basis for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we got to design it how our personalities came out was really neat to everyone's personality.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I loved what, like what it says in scripture in Ephesians, how we are the Lord's craftsmanship,

[SPEAKER_00]: So everything that God did and created for us, we were not a mistake.

[SPEAKER_00]: None of us were.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know sometimes in life people think, man, I'm a mistake or the choices that I'm doing or a mistake or but thank God for grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank God we have a loving father that loves us, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, yes, woman, we were formed differently, but we have equal value.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not identical, but we're perfectly complementary to a man, Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, God didn't take a woman from Adam's head, as if she would rule over him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't take her from his feet, as if she was beneath him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He took her from his side, so that she could walk with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: She could stand with him, and she could live in unity with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, it's one, you know, I remember, excuse me,

[SPEAKER_00]: I never asked and I got married and you know you're young and you know we got pregnant two months after getting married we had to had a plan to travel the world David we were going to travel the world had all these plans we're going to wait two years and all these things right well you know my sister was like I gave you all two months well she was right and we got pregnant with Gabriel praise God and I remember we were youth ministers

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we didn't have that perfect, I call, we call it rhythm, that perfect rhythm, some people call it balance.

[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't have that perfect rhythm, you know, not to say anybody does, but I remember laying on the sofa crying because I was really upset at Austin because I felt in that time that he was giving more attention to the youth ministry and planning better events for the youth ministry and doing all these things for the youth ministry, but he wasn't applying that same thing to our marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't get married for this, but you know what, and I didn't do that to manipulate him or anything, but I wanted him to know, like, thank you so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted him to know, like, we're do this together, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Youth ministry is hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you double young people, y'all know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm more about to have a teenage son.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how we're going to do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: But youth ministry is hard, so learning to do things together, walking alongside it together, being side by side and doing things together.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was something that we had to learn right away because we had youth underneath us, besides our newborn son.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we had to learn to do things together.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel to this day, I was talking to some moms at our school.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were like, and I've told this before, you know, my husband are going on 14 years of marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if that's still considered a newlywed.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the numbers are.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because when I said this statement, they were like, how long have you all been married, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And we've been going on marriage for 14 years, and one thing that my husband has never done ever is race his voice to me or yell at me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like ever, I've never heard a curse word come out of this man's mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like nothing of that nature and the women were like in that room.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were like, well then how do y'all resolve conflict?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, well, I'm Latina and I just get hot headed and I go on the other room.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like, we really, like, we, and we talked about this all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I feel like we've matured so much in our marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, we have disagreements.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, who doesn't, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, like, we've learned to, obviously, you're married a long time to figure each other out.

[SPEAKER_00]: right you learn what one one likes and what doesn't what they don't like and he's learned that if I do get upset in a moment and I go in the room I need to calm down because I don't want to possibly say something that I'm going to regret right have we we've all been there we've all done that we've said things things have come out of our mouth to our spouses that maybe shouldn't have come out right words hurt you know states say sticks and stones may break my bones but words may never hurt me that's a lie

[SPEAKER_00]: it's part of life, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So, but it reminds us something of going back to what we're doing here.

[SPEAKER_00]: God was very intentional about what he did when he took woman the rib out of Adam's side to make sure that we walk alongside each other, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, woman is not above, is not beneath, but she is

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a relationship built on Unity.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is coming at a verse 23 and 24.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when Adam sees her, I can only imagine like, I think when I read this, I thought of like, I don't know, it was a Hercules standing on that mountain and the thing flowing in his background.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, when Adam sees her, he responds with joy, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: like, woman, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, like man, you should be so proud, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's recognition here.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's connection and there's commitment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Scripture tells us that a man leaves any cleaves and the two become one, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's God's design for unity.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you get married, people that are not married in this room, you were no longer dependent on mom and dad.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, you don't take mom and dad's money.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't take the things that mom and dad gave you now if they bless you it's different But again, man and woman they leave and they cleave and they become one flesh and a mother's a mother plays a powerful role in building that unity.

[SPEAKER_00]: They help shapes strong homes strong relationships and strong foundations that carry families for it amen

[SPEAKER_00]: and it goes back to the nurturing heart, the nurturing heart of the father, it's a nurturing heart of the mom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not to say that men don't have nurturing hearts, but just to say that women, we have that nurturing heart, we follow the example of the Lord Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know number three was quick.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, sorry, but number four is a relationship that is marked by trust.

[SPEAKER_00]: Coming out of verse 25, then we see something beautiful, beautiful in this last verse.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were both naked, naked, naked, and we're not ashamed.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm never going to get over that, you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were not ashamed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's not just physical, but that's also spiritual.

[SPEAKER_00]: It speaks of complete trust that nothing was hidden.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was no fear, there was no shame.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was openness, there was security, and there was peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: That kind of environment of a mother, often creates a safe place, you man.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a loving home, a safe space where people can be seen, and still be accepted.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, growing up, and a lot of, I feel like we kind of follow this suit, growing up,

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, obviously times are different, but my mom and dad did not allow us to go have sleep over as that friend's house, like, that was like, no, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, unless my mom and dad really knew the family really, really, really, really well, and they were like, okay, like, we, I had one friend, I remember I would stay at her house, um, but like, we're the type of parents that we would love to have kids come to our house.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I want to create that space for people.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love having people over.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love cooking for people.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love sitting down with people.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love getting to know people.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we create a safe and a loving space where people can be seen.

[SPEAKER_00]: People still can be accepted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So today, every mother, I want you to hear this very clearly, Amen, that you are not an accident.

[SPEAKER_00]: None of us are.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were designed on purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we are not inferior.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are essential.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, you are not forgotten and you are seen by God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every single one of us are seen by God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he was created last, not because she was least, but because she was a completion of creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: She completed all of creation, the last thing that was created before everything else God said, you know what, there's one missing piece, and that was woman.

[SPEAKER_00]: She revealed man's need for relationship.

[SPEAKER_00]: She fulfilled God's design for connection and for partnership.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she was uniquely and intentionally formed.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, again, did not create accidents.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know, like, I was reading something the other day.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says something along the lines of like, you know, God intentionally created us, but we think we're accidents.

[SPEAKER_00]: We think we're mistakes.

[SPEAKER_00]: We think because of our choices that we're this, or we think because of how we've been treated, we put ourselves in like certain categories, like, no, God created woman on purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: He created you uniquely.

[SPEAKER_00]: He created you intentionally.

[SPEAKER_00]: I remember growing up, I have

[SPEAKER_00]: I have three sisters, two that are older and one that's younger.

[SPEAKER_00]: My dad was like, if you all seen the movie, Selena, my dad was like Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: He went and bought instruments and those things that you plug microphones into, what are they called?

[SPEAKER_00]: The speakers, amps, like pianos for me and my sisters, like he wanted it not as to be Selena, but he wanted us to be like, he saw the gift in S before we even saw it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember being in our living room and my dad would make me practice singing people get ready.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is coming by crystal Lewis, and then they would take me to churches and sing that and it would only be us and the pastor and one other person, like when I'm little, I'm thinking I'm ahead, like why am I doing this, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But on my sister, she has this beautiful gift, my little sister.

[SPEAKER_00]: she started playing the piano at three years old and she could play and play and play and I was like growing up almost jealous of her because I wanted to play, I wanted that gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: I remember she went to youth camp one summer, she picked up the guitar, had never played it before, started strumming the theme as a student and playing for years.

[SPEAKER_00]: like, but she had a unique gift to be able to play instruments and to write music.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, she's just so gifted.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember being at a youth conference one year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was probably like 17, 18 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember Pastor Marco Luna was there and he was preaching to the youth and it was a really great word and he made an altar call on him like, this is it.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is my day that I'm going to get a word from the Lord and I'm going to know what I'm going to do with my life, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember he went and he was praying over everybody and he came up to me and all he said was, you are unique.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, that's it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, really, that's what I said to myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I don't want to hear that I'm unique.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to tell me where my life is going and when I'm going to be doing and all these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: But really, like, later on in life looking back now, almost 20 centimeters later, like, God created us all unique.

[SPEAKER_00]: Created us all different.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even though, yes, I wanted to do the things that my sister does.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am not my sister.

[SPEAKER_00]: right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Comparison is such man, especially today in today's world with social media like we learned in college when you break it down as compare I sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you are comparing yourself to somebody else, God created each and every single one of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: in this room not just the women but men also unique and different and we all have purpose and we all have, you know, have worth in our lives and I know sometimes again like whenever we face situations in our life or we feel and worthy or we feel that because we've done certain things in our past, again being put in certain categories and no.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like God calls us as children he is called to love us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are unique and we are his craftsmanship, just like Anita was saying yesterday, like she ministers so well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So again, even, excuse me, Eve was creed last, even, excuse me, Eve wasn't creed last because she was least, she was creed last because she was needed most.

[SPEAKER_00]: So women, you are needed every single woman in this room.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Josh, I'm gonna go ahead and have you come up.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I worked in Spinawell.

[SPEAKER_00]: I started working in banking right after Gabriel was born.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was in 2013.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had always wanted to be in banking.

[SPEAKER_00]: I loved handling money.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was just like what I loved.

[SPEAKER_00]: I loved numbers.

[SPEAKER_00]: I loved math.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that was my...

[SPEAKER_00]: My thing I remember growing up, we had this staircase in our house, and then the banister was right against the staircase, and it had like these little pockets, and I would make my sisters play bank with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would walk up the stairs, and they were the teller, and I was the customer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that was the love I had for banking.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know it was really weird, but like I always wanted to get into banking, and so right after Gabriel's born, I had the opportunity to get into banking,

[SPEAKER_00]: And the one thing I learned the most about being in that, not just counting money, but no matter what the money looked like, it still had the same value, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We would have people bring in money that was

[SPEAKER_00]: disgusting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, like we had to put on gloves to handle some of this money.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can only imagine probably where it came from.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you know money can be spent at the strip club.

[SPEAKER_00]: It could be spent at the grocery store.

[SPEAKER_00]: It could be spent at a ball game.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it also has the same value, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember years ago, I saw this demonstration with this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I got this nice $10 Christmas bill, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So this will probably get us two gallons of gas right now, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's used for a purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: It has value, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna go to grocery store later and use money to buy groceries and all the money we have still has the same value.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if I was to ask a woman in this room to say who wants this $10 who would take it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Miss Tammy, all right, so Miss Tammy, I'm going to give you this $10, but I want to know that if I were to crumple it up like this, would you still want it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same value, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: If I was to, let's say, put it on the ground and stomp on it, give it some squishing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Would you still want it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, because it has the same value, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is something I learned in banking and I didn't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I was to rip this up.

[SPEAKER_00]: two pieces.

[SPEAKER_00]: Would you still want this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because one thing I learned in banking and I did not know this is that this serial number on a bill matches this other serial number.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as long as they match and you spend it or take it to the store, they have to take it because it still has value, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So the same blood that runs through your body and the blood of Jesus still has value, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: This Tammy, you can have this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you met those day?

[SPEAKER_00]: Still has value.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to say this to every mom this morning and moms, if y'all can stand up.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to say this this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you moms, you've been through life, just like that $10 bill, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You've been crumpled by disappointment.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've been stepped on by people.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've been dragged through things that you did not deserve.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your heart was ripped apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you don't look like you used to, and maybe you don't feel as put together as you once did, but your value has never changed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your value has never changed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your worth was not determined by what you've been through.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was determined by the one who created you, and just like the bill that still carries the full weight of its value, you still carry yours.

[SPEAKER_00]: Life may have tried to distort you, but it did not devalue you, none of you have been devalued.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that connects you right back to what we see in Genesis.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God created woman, he didn't assign her worth based on circumstances.

[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't assign her worth based on appearance or what others might think of her.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gave her value because she was his design.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are his design, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So whether you feel polished, whether you feel broken, whether you feel celebrated or overlooked, this true stover remains the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm here to tell each and every single one of you this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: that you are still valued, you are still wanted, you are still worth everything God says you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because what God gives value to, no life circumstance can take away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City Podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.