Inked Part 2 | Lunchables & Storms with Noelle Rhodes

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected

or to give online, go to connect .hcv .church

or give .hcv .church. If at any point during

this message you feel called to make a change

in your life, text CHANGEME to 9700. Thank you

and enjoy the message. And we have an extra special

treat for you on Mother's Day. Jess, why don't

you introduce? We have my friend Noelle Rhodes.

She was at the women's event on Friday night.

Noelle, if you want to come out. Yes, Noelle

is from Bagel Land. So she is from New Jersey.

So she is my Jersey friend and happens to be

the sister -in -law of Sherry Rand. She is a

comedian. She is a podcaster. She is a pastor

and a preacher. And she is just so full of the

Spirit of God. And she just delivers in such

an authentic way that I knew that I wanted to

have you here with us this weekend. And so I

am so honored to share the stage with you because

you're such a gift. And she's a mom. And she's

going to tell you all about that. So welcome,

Noelle. Noelle Rhodes. Hey, welcome to the 1005

service, or what I like to call Hunger Games

Church Parking Lot Edition. Right? If you found

a space today, you are favored from God. Wow,

I'm looking at all you guys, and you are gorgeous.

I mean, this is a good -looking group. I was

just talking to someone out there who told me

that she graduated in 1987 from Williamsport

High School, and she looked like she was 16 years

old. And, you know, I do tell people this. I

mentioned this on Friday, that my husband is

pretty good -looking, and he's from this area.

And my sister -in -law, you've seen her. She's

stunning, right? Sherry is gorgeous. And I thought

it was jeans, but I'm pretty sure it's your water.

It's the Potomac River. I'm going to stick my

face in the Potomac River before I leave. I am

throwing away all my snail mucin and I'm bottling

up that water because you guys are good looking.

I am a missionary turned stand -up comedian,

which is a little weird, I know. And as I mentioned

before, I've been married for 22 years. That's

not a brag. That's Jesus, okay? And therapy and

investing in a California king bed, all right?

I like to just be real and be honest because

sometimes speakers come and they're like, oh,

I've been happily married. Our family is perfect.

That's not true here, okay? I know that I'm hard

work. And I know that those 22 years haven't

all been happy. And, you know, partly because

I'm always driving my husband nuts with how much

I overshare to strangers. Anybody the oversharer

in the relationship? I see some hands. I see

a hand. I see a hand. Okay. Recently, my husband

said to me, he's like, why are you telling the

Amazon delivery guy that you are low on progesterone?

And I was like, Troy, we see him every single

day, okay? It was time. And this is for his safety,

all right? All the women who are going through

perinatal menopause, right, you're saying amen,

right? Because it makes us crazy. We need this

progesterone in our body. All right. So he is

from this area. He graduated from Williamsport

High School. Anybody? Okay. Go Wildcats. He was

very supportive of me coming here. He said, Noel,

I'm so happy you're preaching on Sunday. He couldn't

be here with me today. But he's like, please,

please, please remember my family lives there,

okay? like just behave right and I mean I'll

be honest you I am not a wife of noble character

I'm a wife that's trying really hard that's what

I'm doing you know but we've been married and

we've got two gorgeous kids okay two teenagers

I'm obsessed with them they're mildly interested

in me Which is fine, you know, I've accepted.

I'm just the unpaid Uber driver is what I am

to them. But I love them, love them dearly. And

the last thing you know about me is that, as

Jess mentioned earlier, I am from New Jersey.

For which I say, I'm sorry. That's all I can

say, I'm sorry. I grew up in a very Italian -American...

very Christian home in New Jersey, okay? So my

childhood was basically a crossover episode of

The Chosen and The Sopranos. Okay? Like, we love

Jesus, but we also know a guy who knows a guy

that can get you a really good deal on a new

car. You know what I mean? My mom's name is Patty.

And nobody loves Jesus like Patty loves Jesus.

But let me tell you something about my mom. She's

five foot. I think she'd want me to say that

she's five foot one because she's doing Pilates

now. But she's five foot, and she's a little

scary, all right? Like, I think she'd give Jesus

a hard time if she thought she needed to. I always

think about this. Like, if I was one of the 12

disciples, she'd be calling me every single day,

okay? And she'd be like, Noel, where are you?

Oh. You're with him healing lepers. Okay, put

him on the phone right now, please. Hi, Jesus,

it's Patty. Listen to me. If my daughter gets

leprosy, so help me God, your Father in heaven,

I will lose my mind. And you will have to come

and heal me. Capisce? Capisce. That is my mom.

I do make fun of my mom a lot in my stand -up.

She's very gracious. But today is Mother's Day,

and I do want to honor her. And I want to tell

you that my mom, she just really believes in

people and believes that God is for people no

matter what. And when I was nine years old, we

were in a church, and a teenage girl became pregnant.

Now, this was the 90s, okay? And the church decided

they were going to kick out this girl from the

church. And my mother was like over my dead body.

And she actually threw that girl a baby shower,

helped her get through nursing school, and was

by her side when she gave birth to her baby daughter.

So basically, my mom is a bad for Jesus, okay?

And I just want to say that because I give her

a hard time. I really do. She's awesome. My dad,

people always ask me, like, what's your dad like?

Is he kind of like Mafiosa with, like, you know,

the hair coming out of the shirt and the gold

chains? My dad is an accountant who writes poetry,

okay? and collects art, all right? Yeah, so like

when people are like, how did you get into stand

-up? I'm just telling them about my parents,

and they're like, okay, that checks out. You've

got a weird life, yeah. My parents were just

some crazy cats. They got saved in the Jesus

movement in the 70s. Anybody here get saved during

that time? Anybody at all? No, oh, see, there's

always a hippie that's ready to be like, I was

there. They got saved, they raised me, and they

told me all, about Jesus. And I just, I always

like to tell that to people so they understand

where I'm coming from. Like I know the Jersey

Jesus, you know, just tells it like it is. But

my parents told me about Jesus and I'm so very,

very thankful and that I even get to tell you

about Jesus today. And this is going to be the

second part of the Inked series. Did anybody,

was anybody here last week? It was good. I listened

to it. Chris did a great job. But before we get

into that, I want to let you know I want to confess

something to you. I don't have any tattoos, okay?

I think this might be the first time I walked

into a church and I feel judged for not having

any tattoos. Now, I saw a sign that said, come

as you are, okay? I don't have any tattoos. I

just have weird moles, all right? So I'm really

sorry about that. I do think about, you know,

maybe getting a tattoo one day. What I'd like

to get is my Wi -Fi password tattooed on my arm

because I have more screenshots of that on my

phone than pictures of my children. Anybody else?

Okay. Yeah. But, yeah, I'm really excited to

talk to you about tattoos because I find them

fascinating. Someone has decided to permanently

put something on their body. And that's a big

deal. There's a story behind that, right? And

the reason why I find that so important is I

really want to tell you today, I'm just going

to give you the punchline right from the get

-go. I want to tell you that knowing that you

are permanently Jesus's, that you belong to him,

will change your perspective when you are going

through a storm. And I'm going to be talking

to people today who are going through some storms

right now. Now, before we get into the story

I'm about to tell you, I got to tell you the

pre -story. Is that okay? This is the prequel

part of this story. But basically what happens

is Jesus is with his disciples, and he's teaching,

and there's a huge crowd. Thousands of people

are there, okay? And they've been listening to

Jesus for such a long time. that they get a little

bit hungry. Anybody hear the story of the five

loaves and two fish? Okay. If you haven't, that's

okay. I'm going to tell it real quick. But basically

Jesus is teaching and all these people are hungry

and there's nowhere to feed them. There's no

food. There's nothing. And Jesus turns to his

disciples and said, where can we buy some bread?

And they're like, we do not have enough money

to buy these people bread. But then one of the

disciples said, hey, there's a kid here with

five loaves and two fish. And Jesus takes that

little Lunchable and feeds thousands and thousands

of people with it. It's amazing, right? That's

amazing. I'm actually more impressed that thousands

of hangry people were together and did not kill

each other. I think that's the miracle, okay?

But Jesus does this amazing miracle of provision,

and everybody's really excited about it. It says

that the people were like, this could be the

prophet. And in fact, Jesus knew that he was

getting kind of popular. The scriptures actually

say that he withdrew because he knew they wanted

to force him to become king. It says that in

John 6. So he withdrew and his disciples, you

know, they gathered the 12 loaves of bread that

was left, the 12 baskets of bread that was left

over. And they're waiting for Jesus. Because

there's a plan to go to Capernaum, and to go

to Capernaum, which is kind of like their home

base, they have to cross a lake, a pretty big

lake, okay? So I want to just quickly read to

you, we can read it together actually, the scripture

of what we're going to talk about today. John

6, starting with verse 16. When evening came,

this is after the big awesome miracle, His disciples

went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started

across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already

set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them. A

high wind arose and the sea began to churn. After

they had rowed about three or four miles, they

saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near

the boat and they were afraid. But he said to

them, it is I. Don't be afraid. Then they were

willing to take him on board, and at once the

boat was at the shore where they were heading.

Sometimes, sometimes we know that God has called

us to something. Has anyone ever been given a

vision what God wants them to do or God wants

them to go or something they know that God is

going to have? And it's on the other side. Anybody

hear what I'm talking about? And you're waiting

and you're waiting and you're waiting and like

Jesus hasn't come yet. So you start to row without

him. And in this case, that's what happened with

the disciples. And I always wonder, I'm like,

why did they leave Jesus behind, you know? But

I'm sure they were like, you know, probably somebody's

going to give him a ride, you know? And everybody

was really excited about Jesus. They were leaving

like a really high mountaintop moment. And that

is something that a lot of us who have been walking

with the Lord know we're talking about. Like

you've seen God do some cool things. God has

set people free from addiction. God has restored

marriages. God has miraculously, provided. And

so you are like, all right, awesome. I see where

I'm supposed to go. I'm just going to get on

that boat and go. But Jesus was not in the boat.

And that's kind of fine, you know, to row and

row and row, especially because some of these

disciples were fishermen. I mean, it wasn't like

outside their skill set. They knew what to do.

But rowing and rowing and rowing is fine until

you hit a storm. And sometimes when we hit a

storm in life, like losing a job, marital crisis,

taking care of a parent who is dying, and the

storm comes completely out of nowhere, you start

to feel exhausted. And you're kind of going,

wait a second, Lord. What gives? Why is this

storm happening right now? I just saw you do

amazing things in my life. I saw miracles, and

now I'm stuck in the middle of a storm that I

cannot control. Is anybody with me today? Do

you know what I'm talking about? Because let

me tell you something. Storms don't RSVP. They

just show up, okay? They're like your neighbor's

three -year -old who shows up on your lawn with

a popsicle and no pants on, okay? They don't,

they're not waiting for the invitation, and that's

like the storm. You're like, where did this come

from? I want to tell you about a time in my life

with my husband when we were... deciding to become

missionaries to Northern Ireland. And it was

2009. It was the middle of a recession. And people

were like, you are never going to raise enough

money to be missionaries in the UK. And my husband

is a man of faith. And he was like, you know

what, babe, we're just going to buy the tickets

to go and we're going to. We're going to believe

that God is going to provide. And I was like,

wow, you're crazy. Okay. But I guess this is

what we're going to do. And so we bought the

tickets. And the very next day, a check was mailed

to us that covered everything we needed to be

able to go to North Ireland. Isn't that amazing?

That is a miracle of provision, right? We moved

to Northern Ireland. We leave our family and

friends back in Jersey. We take our two babies

to Northern Ireland. We work for a church and

an organization that had been around for 20 years

serving the children in Northern Ireland only

to have to shut it down one year that we were

in there. There was some sin that was happening

in the church leadership and it was exposed.

And actually, we did not realize it, but we were

in the middle of a storm. And we had to close

the church and the ministry down one year into

being on mission. I was like, what? I was in

the middle of a storm. I didn't know what was

going on. I mean, for years, Sherry knows this.

For years, we had been wanting to move to Northern

Ireland. We finally get the moxie to go. We finally

get the provision. And then one year later, it's

over. And at that time, my son was three years

old. He wasn't speaking. We did not know what

was going on. I talked a little bit about that

on Friday. I mean, it was like wave after wave

after wave. And I was like, hey, babe, you know

what we should do? Let's just go back to New

Jersey and be like Starbucks baristas. I'm done.

Like I don't want to, I just don't want to like

do the ministry thing anymore. I don't know what

God was calling us to, but I guess it wasn't

this. Because I was like so tired of the storm.

And I know there's people in this room right

now who are feeling major discouragement because

you believe that God has called you to something,

but you are stuck in the middle, and you do not

know how to get out. And that's how I really

felt. It was really a really rough time. And

I was trying to kind of make it work, and I was

getting more exhausted, like the disciples who

were rowing for three to four miles. I wasn't

getting anywhere. And then what I started to

experience, which I think a lot of us do when

we're in the middle of a storm, is fear. I started

to become afraid. Like, what bad thing is going

to happen next? Do you hear what I'm saying?

I did not know what was coming. And I really

feel like one of the things that happens to a

lot of us is we experience fear, and it clouds

our vision of who Jesus is. You see, Jesus started

to walk on the water to those disciples, and

they did not recognize him. It says that as he

walked towards them, they were afraid. I remember

being in that season, and I felt like I had heard

God wrong. I felt like I was not qualified to

be in ministry. I felt like it was a big joke.

I didn't want to tell anybody back home because

there were people supporting us, and I want to

be like, hey, remember when we were working at

that church? That's over. We had nowhere else

to go. I was so deeply discouraged. My friend

Lori called me, and she lived in a different

city in Northern Ireland, in Derry, London Derry.

She was also a missionary, and she said to me,

Noelle, I have a word for you. And she goes,

I feel like you are in the middle of a tornado.

And all the furniture has been up. Your house

is uprooted. Everything is kind of flying around,

flying around, flying around. But I want you

to know when the storm stops, all the pieces

are going to be in place. And when she told me

that, honestly, I was like, I don't want to be

in the tornado. Right? But I knew that something

about what she was saying was right. Jesus walks

towards these disciples. They were afraid. And

he says something really important. He says,

it is I. Don't be afraid. Now, this is really

important because that phrase, it is I, is translated

in the ancient Greek as ego eimi, which means

I. I am. Now God said that to Moses at the burning

bush when Moses was like, who should I tell the

people is sending me? And God said, tell them

I am sent you. That is the name of which God

calls himself because he is all things that we

will ever need. He is the beginning. He is the

end. He is above. He is before. He is. Over every

single thing, he is the great I am. And the God

who was talking to Moses at the burning bush

is now walking on the water to these disciples

who quickly forgot of the great miracle they

just experienced and we're now in the middle

of a storm and we're afraid. And you know what

I want to say to some of us here who are in that

storm, who's feeling afraid? You're feeling a

little bit of shame because you're like, I should

know better. I should know better. But you know

what? read the gospels, those disciples, they

should have known better a lot of times, right?

But Jesus is not on the shoreline going, oh,

these guys, come on. No, he is walking towards

them and he's saying, I am here. And then they

led him into the boat. This part of the story

reminded me of something, okay? It's a story.

About when I was nine months pregnant, and it

was Christmas time. This was a long time ago.

And I don't know about you, but when you're nine

months pregnant, you don't want to do anything.

You just want to sit and do nothing. And my dad,

my sweet dad, who likes to collect art and write

poetry, he said, I'm going to make the Christmas

gift easy this year for you. I have got this

original artwork commissioned, this painting

right here, and it was about this big. Not big.

He's like, all you got to do is just have it

framed for me for Christmas. And I was like,

easy peasy. You know, that's awesome. And I remember

it was a Sunday and my husband said, do you want

to come with me to, you know, get a Christmas

tree? I said, nope, nope. I'm going to go get

this picture framed and it's going to be done

with because my dad's hard to shop for. And he

said, cool. And he left and I went to go look

for the picture, the painting, and it was gone.

This is an original artwork commissioned. For

my father. And I panicked, okay? I'm nine months

pregnant, running from room to room, looking

for this painting, cannot find it anywhere. Now

what you need to know is at the time we were

youth pastors and we were living on the church

property, and there was a dumpster outside. And

I thought, surely the painting is in there. So

me and my nine -month body, which basically looks

like a cheese ball on two toothpicks, okay? We

push. We, I'm talking in third person. I pushed

the chair up against the dumpster. I jumped in

the dumpster, starting to look for this painting.

And not very long goes by, and the lid to the

dumpster falls down. And I am trapped in that

dumpster. with some squirrels and possums, okay?

I was freaking out and they were like crawling

up. It was like so horrible, okay? And I believe

that Jesus is real because my nine -month pregnant

cheeseball body was able to jump out of that

dumpster and get out of there as fast as I could.

And I'm like crying. I got like scratches on

my face. It was so weird. But I walked into the

house. I look on the dining room table and there's

the painting. And so, I get it framed and I give

it to my dad on Christmas. And I was like, I

got a funny story about this one. And I tell

my dad about what I did. And you know, he doesn't

laugh. He goes, I don't think that's funny at

all. He goes, you're my daughter. You belong

to me. You could have just called me and I'd

come and help you find it. And I always thought

about that. Because I think a lot of us find

ourselves in really... Panic situations. We're

in the storm. We don't know what to do. We don't

know how to help that child with addiction. We

don't know how to get out of the financial pressure

that we're under. And we're just scrambling like

we're in a dumpster. And we forget that we have

a father. We have a God, the great I am, that

is willing to get into the boat with us. Do you

hear what I'm saying? You don't have to clean

that boat before he gets in. You don't have to

have that reason, like an excuse for like, okay,

Jesus, this is why the storm is happening. Just

so you know, it's not my fault. I didn't know.

No, he already knows. And he's walking towards

you today. He does not care that you've been

doubting. He's going to make that productive

doubt in your life. And he's going to reveal

himself to you and say, I am here. And you're

going to let them in that chaos. You're going

to let them into that boat. You're going to navigate

that storm. And guess what? You are going to

get to the other side immediately. I had the

privilege of being able to pick the tattoo that

we're going to talk about today. And I really

loved it. Because I picked this passage before

I picked this tattoo. It's from Lauren Shu. I

don't know if she's here today, but if you are,

I'd love to meet you afterwards. She writes this.

You ready for this? Buckle your ears. In early

2016, my family faced the devastating tragedy

of divorce. Talk about a storm. As a mom of two

very young boys, I had no idea how to face this

new reality as I battled deep depression, dark

thoughts, and utter hopelessness. Some of us

can relate to that right now. To make matters

worse, we were forced to sell our home and faced

a period of homelessness in the process. As time

went on, I found God showing up in all my dark

places and reminding me that I was held. Not

a week went by that I wasn't approached by someone

I did not know to pray for myself and my children.

God also spoke to me through my Avengers -obsessed

sons. God uses everything, okay? And they reminded

me that everyday superheroes don't necessarily

look like they have super strength or they fly

or carry shields and hammers. They whisper words

of encouragement. positivity, and show tremendous

bravery despite their situation or circumstance.

The strength, adaptability, and perseverance

my children showed during this time gave me a

new hope and inspiration to keep going and keep

showing up. Here's the good part. In the summer

of 2016, I was baptized in the Potomac River,

which we know keeps you young, of fresh starts

and a change. In 2019, I got this tattoo to honor

the superheroes who helped me through one of

the darkest times in my life and never let me

forget that their mom is their Wonder Woman.

Shortly after, I began to use my testimony to

inspire others through Divorce Care Group here

at HCV. And my story is proof that what the enemy

wanted to use to harm us, God used for good.

Okay. You know what? God did not wait for Lauren

to get it all together before he started showing

up. You hear what I'm saying? God is not waiting

for you to get it all together, to have the right

mindset. He is already on the water, and he is

telling you he is the great I am, and he wants

you to receive that today because that's where

the peace is. And what I want us to do is I really

want us to do some serious prayer. Because I

hear that this church believes in the power of

prayer. Correct? And look, there are people in

this room that have been feeling really discouraged.

And they need us to pray for them. And there

are people that I know that God wants to set

free from the fear of the storm that they're

in. And to give them that confidence and that

strength to be in that boat with him because

he's going to get them to the other side. There's

no other ending, right, Patricia? You're getting

to the other side. And you're going to be like

Lauren telling your story about how God showed

up for you in the most darkest place. Guess what?

It was scary, but he got you through. And he's

going to show you how to turn your anxiety into

anthems of prayer and praise. You're not going

to be in that boat freaking out. You're going

to be on that boat holding Jesus' hand with your

eyes focused, and you are going to see him fulfill

the purposes that he has placed in your life.

You're not crazy, by the way. He really did speak

to you, but you got to go through these storms.

He's going to use them in your life to mature

you and strengthen you, but you will not be overwhelmed

or you will not drown in those storms, okay?

So here's what I want to do, okay? I want us

to pray. And if you are someone here this morning

who is feeling very discouraged, particularly

about your calling because you're in this storm

and you feel like the storm is holding you back

from what you feel like God wants you to do,

I want you to either stand or raise your hand,

whatever you feel comfortable doing, and the

people around you are going to pray for you that

God would give you a revelation that you are

permanently his. And this storm doesn't change

that. And the doubt that you've been experiencing

doesn't change that. Okay? So that's you. If

you've been feeling discouraged, that you haven't

seen God's purposes fulfilled in your life because

you're in this storm, I want you to stand or

raise your hand. Okay? Awesome. If you are someone

who is in a storm right now, and you feel a lot

of fear and your vision of who Jesus is in your

life feels clouded and muddy, I want you to stand

or raise your hand because God is going to make

it very clear that he is the great I am. So just

stand or raise your hand, okay? Now, if you are

somebody who is not in a storm right now, but

you know and you love Jesus, I want you to get

around those people. And I want as many people

as possible, by the way, okay? If you've got

to cross an aisle, go and pray and lay hands

on these folks. Because guess what? You've been

in a storm. You know what it's like. And we believe

in the power of prayer. Yeah, there's some people

over here that need prayer. Is everybody covered?

Does everybody have a? We're just waiting now.

As many people as possible. If you still need

a prayer partner, just raise your hand. If you

still need somebody to get around you, make sure

we get everybody back there in the back. Come

Holy Spirit. Jesus, I thank you that you are

in this room right now. There's no doubt about

that. I thank you that you are the great I am.

I thank you, Lord, that we are yours. We are

yours, even when we try to do things on our own.

We are yours, even when the storms hit. And Lord,

I thank you that the purposes that you have for

our lives will not be derailed by the storms

that we're going through right now. And God,

I pray for the people who have stood up, who

have raised their hands. I pray, Lord, that they

would hear you speak to them and say, it is I,

do not be afraid. I pray, Lord, that you would

break off shame. I pray that you would break

off fear. And I pray that you would give them

a clear vision of who you are. They do not need

to know what's going to happen next. Lord, I

pray they would just know who you are, Jesus.

And I pray that would be the picture in their

mind. That would be the hope, Lord, that they

find. And Lord, I thank you for what you are

going to do because you are going to get them

to the other side because they belong to you,

Jesus. They are permanently yours, God. So Lord,

as a church, we just say thank you for doing

this, Lord. We believe that you will do it in

your powerful, powerful name, Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Amen. And you can continue if you still are getting

ministered to. Continue to pray. It's just a

beautiful picture of the family of God, just

the way you're loving and supporting each other

through prayer. And thank you, Noelle, for that

powerful message. If you're here today and you

don't know who Jesus is, if you don't know the

great I am in your life, and you're like, I...

I hear what she said, but I just, I'm not sure.

And you're ready to jump in the boat or you're

ready to allow Jesus to get in your boat. We

just pray this simple prayer here at the vineyard.

And we can all pray it together if you're more

than welcome. If you'd like to pray with me.

Jesus, I'm broken, full of doubt, shame, regret,

fear. I believe. You're God's son. I believe

you're the great I am. Come into my life. Set

me free. Heal my heart. Forgive me. I want new

life. I want to follow you for the rest of my

life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. And

we have a few words of knowledge today. If you

are struggling with nerve damage or sciatica,

if that's you, we have the prayer team over here

on the side of the stage. People are still here

to pray for you. If you have a ringing in your

ears, we had a word that somebody might have

ringing in their ears, come over and get prayer.

If there's prayer that you need for something

else, don't leave this house of miracles today

without receiving from God. You came here today

for a purpose and a plan, and God does not want

you to leave without experiencing his presence.

All right? Thank you. All right. Everybody can

stand. Moms, thank you so much for sharing your

Mother's Day with us. Thank you for the people

who brought the moms today. We have mimosas out

in the cafe. We also have temporary tattoos.

And we are just... So excited to celebrate with

you today. I can't wait till next week. We're

going to continue the Inc. series. Have a great

day. God bless you and see you later. Love you.