GROVE WOMEN LIVE // We are Family // Week 4

Good morning on this beautiful Tuesday morning.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Hopefully, you had a day or two off during that time.

I know in the area that we're in, the weather for the most part was just perfection.

And I even thought this morning I didn't know if I would be able to do this life outside just because of the daylight.

But as you can see, I am outside.

We're able to squeeze in one more time together out here on the deck.

This might be the last one because just at the time that the sun is coming up each morning, but just very thankful for um this time and this day that we've got together.

So we are in week four of our We Are Family series.

And this one to me is kind of the culminating of all of the other Gs that we've talked about.

And the G that we're going to look at today is to go.

And we've looked atgether.

We've looked at grow.

We gather is a corporate worship time together.

Um, in a building with other believers, we grow by being in a small group, being with um other people who have the same desires and interests to just to get to know Jesus more and to grow in the relationship with him.

Then last week, Missy um talked about giving.

That was our third G.

Um, that one, ladies, if if you didn't have a chance to listen to that yet, please go back and do that.

And it's not just giving financially, which is very important.

But to me, the struggle that I have the most is just giving time because to me, time is so valuable.

Um, just very convicting.

And um, I I know God's gonna continue to use that time that Missy spent with us um on my heart.

And then finally, week four today is go.

And this is something I'm very passionate about.

I um just pray that God just blesses our time together and um just that we have um just we have open minds and and soft hearts.

So let's open up in prayer and then we're gonna get right into a scripture and then talking about what it means to go and what might that might look like.

Dear God, as we look at this concept of going, of taking you out to our community, to our world, something that we've been commanded to do, dear God.

I just pray that um we would have open minds and soft hearts and that you would just work, work in us during this time and just show us areas of our life where we need to be taking you more, and we can um just do a better job of at that.

I I know that's something that we all um we all can grow in this area of our life.

And we just ask that you would just bless our time together in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, I want to start with um a verse in Acts, Acts 1, verse 8, Acts chapter 1, verse 8, and it says this but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witness, telling people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8 Acts 1:8

So right there, Jesus has kind of given us a scope of where we are to go.

So if you, you know, are thinking, well, where am I supposed to be?

What am I supposed to do?

And he's given us that scope.

We're to start in Jerusalem, then go to Judea, and then Samaria, and then the ends of the earth.

And so right now, some of us might be thinking, well, wait a minute, I can't go to Jerusalem, I can't go to Judea.

And and we're thinking about this, but this is just a scope for us.

So when you think about who he's talking to here, he's talking to Jews.

So Jerusalem, that was their hub, that was their uh most intimate place, that was their close circle, and then Judea was a little larger, and then Samaria, we'll get to that, and then to the ends of the earth.

So I want to talk about Jerusalem first.

Like where might our Jerusalem be?

Because obviously we're all not going to travel overseas to the Middle East to go to Jerusalem.

So where is our Jerusalem?

And when we look at all of these places, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, in regards to our life, we've got to remember, ladies, that there are hurting people everywhere.

There are people with needs everywhere.

And we can include ourselves in that.

We all have had times where we have needed.

And it might not be a physical need, but it might be a spiritual need, an emotional need.

There have been times that we all have been hurting.

Maybe you're going through a time now where you're hurting, and and you just need sometimes just a smile from someone, sometimes just making eye contact with another person just kind of gives you a little uplift, just gives you a little spark.

So we all are in this position where we need, um, whether it be, like I said, a physical need, an emotional need, a spiritual need, or that we're just going through a hard time.

So when we think about Jerusalem, I always think about that as being a small circle.

So our Jerusalem might be our home.

It might be our neighborhood, it might be our work, um, our friend group.

It might be if you're if you have children and they play on a sports team.

I I don't know about how things are now because I haven't had a child that age in some time.

But when my son played sports, like those people, I was around them all the time.

You know, whether it be practice or games and if you traveled for tournaments or whatever, you were you were around that group of people a lot.

They became a close circle in your life, a close circle of friends in your life.

So it might be something like that.

It might be um, if you regularly go to a gym, maybe people that you work out with there, maybe you're in a walking group, um, maybe a mom's club or a book club.

And I know a big thing now is mahjong.

So maybe the ladies you play mahjong with, or you know, some just any type of circle that you're with on a consistent basis, that might be your Jerusalem.

And I think sometimes in these places, sometimes the the hurts, the needs are maybe harder to see just because they're masked.

And I know we can do that.

We can mass the pain that we're experiencing, we can mass our needs, and a lot of it is a pride thing, but particularly people that we're close to, like we don't want to seem like we're needy.

So sometimes it's harder to get to the root of things here and to see where those needs are.

But there are needs, there are definitely needs.

And a question that I asked myself when I was just thinking about what I was going to share with you in these circles, that these Jerusalem circles, this scope of where I'm supposed to take Jesus to?

Am I taking Jesus?

Am I just being the good, kind person or am I really taking Jesus?

Does Jesus come up in conversation?

Because I guarantee you, lots of things come up in your conversation with these groups of people just because you spend time together and you have a lot of time to talk.

But is Jesus coming up in those conversations?

Are we bringing Jesus to Jerusalem or are we just bringing a good, kind person?

Because there is a difference.

We need to be bringing Jesus to our Jerusalem.

And I know I mentioned home here, and this is one that I'm convicted about a lot.

Um I think about am I bringing Jesus home with me?

Now, yes, I know he's coming home with me because he's in me.

But am I, I should say, am I bringing Jesus' character home with me?

So when my son was younger and I was still teaching, I would have patience beyond patience with the 140, 145 kids that that I taught each day.

And then I would come home.

And my patience was so limited with my own child.

And, you know, I have confessed that to God.

I've confessed that to my son.

I, you know, that was just an area that I had to work in.

So, you know, I was doing Jesus in one part of my Jerusalem, but then when I came home, Jesus's character wasn't always displayed in me when I came home.

And even today, you know, I'll think about like at work.

What is my tone at work?

What is my tone when I'm speaking to someone on the phone?

And then when I come home, is my tone the same with my husband?

And that's just that's very convicting to me.

Um, that may not be a struggle with you all, but it's definitely something I have to think about personally.

So, you know, Jesus in our Jerusalem, taking Jesus to our Jerusalem, it needs to be in every part of our Jerusalem, not just a little bit here, but maybe not a little bit there.

So we just need to, you know, just kind of keep that in the back of our mind and think about that.

And then in Acts 1.8, we also see that we are to take, we are to be witnesses of Jesus, we are to be ambassadors of Jesus, we are to take Jesus to Judea.

And I think of this as being maybe our region or our city.

So it's our scope has grown a little bit.

Now we're taking Jesus to Judea.

And sometimes in these situations, we um maybe see more of a need.

We might see more of a physical need.

Maybe there's a need where people are needing food or they need shelter or they need clothing.

Maybe there's emotional and mental needs, and of course, spiritual needs, and and we maybe can see these more, and we have opportunity to go out and to help those in our community.

And you know, God told us to go and he told us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

So this is not debatable.

And when we read this in Acts, he didn't say choose one or the other, he didn't say choose Jerusalem or choose Judea or choose Samaria, which we'll get to.

I don't think the Jews ever would have chosen that one.

He didn't say choose, he's saying this is where the gospel needs to go.

This is where you need to be taking, um, be a representative of me, be an ambassador for me.

So when we think about Judea, I want you to think about just living your life, but consciously being aware that you are taking Jesus.

And let me just give you an example.

And and this, when I see this person, I still think about this because he was such just such a good ambassador for Jesus and never even said a word.

Um, back in 2020, I had retired already.

And if you recall, back in 2020, just everything kind of shut down.

People weren't going into work, people were working from home or they weren't working.

And people's schedules were all different.

Now, I had been retired for about a year at that time.

So my schedule was pretty set.

And in the morning, I always would take my walk.

And there is a um highway close to where I live, and it's a five-lane road.

It's it's a major road, and it can be pretty busy at times.

And I would be, and there's nice sidewalks on the other side of the road.

So when I say this, I don't want you to think that I'm actually walking on the road.

I'm not.

I'm actually on sidewalks.

And I would be walking along the road, and then I noticed as 2020 went on, that this man who I had not seen before walking, he was not walking, but he was running in the opposite direction.

And I will tell you that I looked for him every time I walked on that road because of the joy that just oozed from every part of his body.

Now remember, I'm five lanes of traffic away from him, but yet I can still see the joy that came from him.

This is someone who took Jesus with him everywhere, even on his run.

He took Jesus with him.

And he just, just like I said, he just oozed the joy.

And we would throw our hands up and um, you know, wave to one another, but I really didn't know anything about him.

But I knew that he had this joy, he had this love, he had this happiness in him.

Now, I will tell you, I since do know his name and found out that he does go to the church I attend.

It's just at the time he was going to a different service and with it being COVID.

Um, it was just, you know, it was just hard to even know who people were because we were attending church and mask.

Um, but but anyway, he was just someone, just on his daily run, that he took Jesus with him.

And he took it to Judea.

He didn't know who I was, but he still was showing Jesus' love and joy, just doing something as simple as running.

And then we see that Jesus mentioned Samaria.

You're gonna have to excuse me.

I'm gonna take this with me as I'm putting my dog in.

I thought that we were gonna be able to do this, um, but obviously we're not with him out here.

This is real life.

So in Samaria, Jesus said this to the people, the Jewish people.

He said, I want you to go to Samaria.

Now you've got to remember the Samaritans at this time, they were people that um the Jews did not get along with whatsoever.

They were not friends of the Samaritans.

So when Jesus is saying, I want you to go, and I want you to witness to the Samaritans, I want you to take Jesus to them, this was asking a lot.

And ladies, there might be some of us that Jesus is saying, I want you to go to Samaria, I want you to take me to people who maybe don't like you, who aren't willing to listen to what you have to say, who maybe um just are are mean to you and and just want to argue about, you know, just whatever.

And and think about, you know, the maybe the person that you work with that just openly defies Jesus, or think about the family member or the neighbor um that mocks your faith.

Think about the homeless person that maybe you're taking food to and they're ungrateful and you know, just are just mean and just just mocking you.

Just think about people like that.

You know, once again, God doesn't give us an option.

He's saying, you still need to go to these people.

You still need to take me with you when you're in these sort of situations.

And ladies, these situations it takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot of boldness, but it's still what we need to do.

And then he mentions the ends of the earth.

Now, most of us physically are not going to go to the ends of the earth, but we can still have an impact there.

First of all, through prayer, praying for our missionaries, praying for the mission work that's being done.

Financially, we can give.

And when we're serving and when we're going, there's not always a financial commitment, but there could be in this case, and I know we're coming up on a time, um, and this is something that our church does is Operation Christmas Child, where we take a shoebox and we put um different kinds of things in it that are sent to children, you know, in the US, but also outside um of the US, across seas and to other parts of the world, and just as a symbol of how much that child is cared for and how much that they are loved.

So many different ways that we can take Jesus.

But the main thing that we need to remember is it's so easy to do it just in our everyday life.

I want us to look at Colossians chapter three, and and these verses our pastor read on Sunday.

And to me, I think these verses just sum up what it's going to look like when we go.

So I want to start in verse 12, and it says this since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, gentleness, and patience.

And ladies, regardless of the situation, this is the character we should have.

We have the Holy Spirit in us.

We have the Holy Spirit who possesses all of these things.

He he is perfection in all of these areas.

And he doesn't say to us, Lori, I'm only going to give you so much patience today.

Don't use it all in one place.

That doesn't happen.

We have, and and we have all the power that we need to have patience throughout the day, to have the tender-hearted merciness, to have the kindness, to have the humility.

We have that power.

And so when we go, this is what our going is going to look like.

And then in verse 13, it says, make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you.

Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

And just as I was preparing for today, thinking about where it says to make allowance for each other's faults.

When we go, when we take Jesus to other people, particularly in situations like the Judea or Judea scope, or maybe the Samaria scope, and and we see people who are suffering, and and it's not up to us to think, well, it's your own fault you're in this situation.

And and maybe they that played into it.

Maybe they made their choices, but that's that's not why we're there.

We're not there to judge them and to find fault and what they're doing.

We're there because we're showing the love of Jesus and we're there to take Jesus to them.

Then in verse 14, it says, Above all, clothe yourself with love which binds us all together in perfect harmony.

So I just think about the unconditional love that Jesus showed us.

That's what we need to be showing to other people.

And then in verse 15, it says, And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts, for as members of one body, you are called to live in peace and always be thankful.

Ladies, do we emit a sense of peace?

Or when we're around, is it chaos and anxiety and stress and everything else?

Or do we bring that peace?

That peace can go a long way.

And then where it says about giving thanks, being thankful, there's so much complaining in the world.

For once, let us be the odd woman out and let us be the oddball that doesn't complain, that shows thankfulness and gratefulness in everything that we do.

And then continuing in verse 16.

Let the message about Christ and all of its riches, richness, fill your lives.

Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.

Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

And then verse 17.

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving things through him to God the Father.

So right there, we're ambassadors of Jesus.

We're representatives of Jesus.

And this is not a part-time gig.

This is all the time.

So it's wherever we go, whatever we do, we're there representing Jesus.

So at this point, some people might be saying, okay, Lori, that's wonderful.

You go do you, but this is just not for me.

And here's the reason why.

So I've listed some things that we might think are excuses or reasons why we are not the ones to go, that it's going to be someone else's job.

It's a pastor's job, it's a minister's job, it's our small group leader's job, it's everybody's job but ours.

And remember, God didn't say when he said to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the othermost parts of the world, to the ends of the world.

He didn't say this is only for certain people.

That's a command that he gave all of us.

So one thing that we might be thinking is, and ladies, I will tell you, I listed all of these because I have thought of these excuses or I have given these excuses at one time in my life and I'm Not gonna say that some of these still don't pop in my mind.

So one might be I don't have time.

And I know that we all have seasons of life that it's just like we cannot fit one more thing on our plate.

I get that.

But those are seasons, those are not lifestyles, those are not something that's going to be constant.

So maybe in those seasons of life, we maybe still volunteer, we still serve, we still go, we still take Jesus in our everyday lives.

But maybe we don't do that one extra thing.

Or maybe if we do, it's one time a month, and maybe not one once every week.

We can fit that in.

And I want you to think about this.

Think about the time that you spend sitting in front of the TV.

Think about the time that you spend scrolling social media.

Now, I do not watch TV, it's just not something that I do, but I do listen to podcasts and I do spend time doing that.

And I do um sometimes scroll longer than what I should, particularly if I see dog memes, and I don't know if you all have seen this on Facebook, but the two dogs that talk to one another, I can get lost in that.

Even if I just scroll 10 minutes a day, which I would say most of us probably do it a little bit longer.

If I scroll 10 minutes a day in a week, that's over an hour.

That's over an hour that I could have been doing something else than just scrolling.

So you think about that and you add that up, and in a month, you've got about four hours of time.

And I I'm not trying to be harsh when I say this, I'm saying it to myself.

But the bottom line is we make time for what's important.

I will make time for what's important to me.

And and I think we all can, if we're honest with ourselves, we can say, yes, we make time for what's important to us.

So as far as I don't have time, there is going to be sacrifice.

We know that.

But there is going to be time for what we find is important.

So some of us might say, well, I don't have the money, I don't have the financial means.

Ladies, serving does not take finances.

Now, there are areas of serving that will take that can take financial um help and and we can spend financially that way.

But serving as a whole, it takes you showing up, it takes you coming with a humble heart, and it takes you pouring into people.

That's all that serving, that that's all that it takes.

The nonprofit that I work for, if you show up for an hour and a half or two hours, depending on what the shift is, all you're doing is your packing bags or your packing boxes.

It takes nothing financially that you have to do.

And I think most places that you would go to serve, most of those Judea places that you're going to go to serve, that's going to be the case.

It's it doesn't cost anything financially.

And then some of us may think, well, when I get home after work or when I am finished, you know, with with the kids being home all day, I'm just done.

I have no energy.

And ladies, I get it.

I mean, there are days that we're just beat.

But I do know this.

When I am tired, the way that I get energy is to go for a walk or to spend some time exercising just to get up and do something.

And the same thing with serving.

Lots of times I am would be exhausted from work, not because of a physical thing, but because I was just emotionally drained.

And I think the best way to fill our souls and to fill that emotional empty cup is to go out and serve.

And it works the same way as it does with, you know, with physical, getting physical energy.

We have to go and do.

We have to just go and have our soul poured into emotionally by going out and serving.

And then some of us may say, well, I'm already in a profession or I'm already in a position where I help other people.

And this is one that I hid behind at times because I'm like, you know, I'm working with 140 to 150 kids a day.

And, you know, I'm pouring into them, I'm giving them everything I have.

But I will ask you this when you're doing that, are you talking about Jesus?

Are you witnessing for him?

Or is he does he come up in the conversation?

I can tell you, teaching school, it he did not come up in the conversation.

So ask yourself that question.

And also, um, that's our Jerusalem.

And remember, it's not just Jerusalem, but it's Judea and it's Samaria and beyond.

So that's our Jerusalem.

And maybe we are ministering, we're taking him, we're we're having his character when we're in these places, but that's still our Jerusalem.

So think about branching out, scoping out, doing these, those others, those other scopes.

And then finally, we might say, well, you know what?

I don't even know where to start.

And and I get that.

But if you're in the northern Kentucky area, I know on our church's webpage, there is um many opportunities for you to be involved in different nonprofits that we have.

And you all can go to Hickory Grove's webpage and find that there.

And if you're not in this area, or even if you want to look at something different than any of the nursing homes, they would love to have people come in and just to spend time, any of the soup kitchens, any of the shelters, they would just love for you to come and to volunteer there.

And I know um there is, I don't want to give the agency's name because I don't know that I have it correct, but I was looking this up.

This has been a couple years ago, and they just wanted people to make 100 peanut butter jelly sandwiches.

I mean, how awesome would that be to do with your family, or just you and your spouse, spend time in the evening just making 100 peanut butter jelly sandwiches and then taking them and dropping them off so that they could hand those out on the streets.

That would be a wonderful ministry.

Very, very easy.

Yes, there is a little cost to that, but something so easy to do, something that you can involve children with.

So the bottom line is God just wants you to have a heart that's willing to go, that's willing to serve.

God wants us to take Jesus everywhere with him.

He is concerned about our heart.

He doesn't need our help.

He, I mean, he could fix every problem in this world and eventually he will.

He doesn't need our help.

He just wants our hearts.

He wants us to have a heart that's just willing to serve.

So, my challenge is for you is find a need and go with it.

And I want you to think about where are you gonna take Jesus?

Where is the next place you're gonna take Jesus?

Are you gonna be just cognizant of everywhere you go in life, just your everyday, daily life that you do, the errands you run, the chores that you do, are you taking Jesus there with you?

Do people know that you're taking Jesus?

Or are you just the nice person that shows up?

Are you taking his name there with you?

Now, ladies, I do not know when we'll be on next.

I don't know what's coming up, but I know that um we will definitely have an announcement on the page.

And once again, I apologize about the barking dog.

I just thought today I would just let him be out here with me.

Obviously, he wants my full attention, and he's not getting it because my attention's here.

So I do apologize for that.

Um, ladies, let's close in prayer and let's make this a great day, and let's make it day one of just thinking about taking Jesus everywhere we go and where it's gonna be our next step to take him.

Dear God, we're just um we're just thankful that we have the opportunity to take you.

And we're just so um just encouraged and convicted about what our lives need to look like.

And we want to take you and we want to share with people about you.

And dear God, I just pray that if Jerusalem has been where we've stayed, that we reach out to Judea and Samaria and even the ends of the earth.

Dear God, I just pray a special blessing over each of the ladies.

Um, just be with us until we're back together again and just um lay burdens on our heart about where you want us to go and help us to focus on you, not necessarily the mission, but that you are the main thing.

We love you and we just um are thankful again that we can be together.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Ladies, make it a great day, and we will be back with you soon.