Speaker 1: Welcome to Elevation Church. Due to Hurricane Florence that came
Speaker 1: through the Carolinas this week, we weren't able to have
Speaker 1: church at many of our locations. We shared a special
Speaker 1: online experience this weekend, but today we wanted to share
Speaker 1: with you a message preached by Holly Ferdict. Holly preached
Speaker 1: this message at Reflect twenty eighteen, which is an event
Speaker 1: for the ladies of Elevation Church. This message is centered
Speaker 1: around the subject of friendships. It's the kickoff message to
Speaker 1: a study that Holly has recently written called Building Friendships
Speaker 1: That Fit. You can get more information on how to
Speaker 1: purchase the study or how to join an eGroup at
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org. But right now we're going to jump
Speaker 1: into the message from Holly during Reflect. Hope you guys enjoy?
Speaker 1: Are that any grateful lady? Then I have to day,
Speaker 1: is there anyone expecting God to speak to them tonight?
Speaker 1: Cot your head? As I was studying, I came across
Speaker 1: this psalm its Psalm one, verse six. It says I
Speaker 1: stretch out my hands to you. My soul yearns for
Speaker 1: you like a parched land. And I was just wondering
Speaker 1: if anybody came in here tonight. Thirsty. You want to
Speaker 1: hear from God tonight. So let's do what the psalm says.
Speaker 1: Let's stretch out our hands to the Lord. And so, Lord,
Speaker 1: we come to you, and we are thirsty for you.
Speaker 1: We invite you into this place. We're excited. We're expecting
Speaker 1: to hear from you. We give our hearts to you, God,
Speaker 1: and we claim what James says, that if we will
Speaker 1: draw near to you, you will draw near to us.
Speaker 1: Speak to us now in Jesus' name, we pray, Amen, Amen,
Speaker 1: work great night so far, Oh my goodness, thank you.
Speaker 1: Worship Team was amazing. I am so excited and I
Speaker 1: don't know what it's like at the other campuses, but
Speaker 1: it sounds so good in here, Babe. I was thinking
Speaker 1: that the next time that you're the Worship Team does
Speaker 1: a live recording, you should just let women come. You
Speaker 1: guys sound awesome and you look great. Don't sit down yet.
Speaker 1: Help me welcome all of our campuses. Ladies here with Valentine.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to help me out. Welcome you see Matthews,
Speaker 1: Lake Norman, Riverwalk, Blakeney lady, Why are you with me?
Speaker 1: A Lakey? Hello mea Melbourne, Toronto, Asheville and all of
Speaker 1: the ladies that are joining us online with our EPHAM
Speaker 1: welcome to reflect. Thank you for braving the weather. It's
Speaker 1: just so terrible here in Charlotte. Sun was shining most
Speaker 1: of the day. I think this has been our best
Speaker 1: reflect so far. Yeah, okay, while you're still clapping, will
Speaker 1: you help me thank our pastor, Pastor Stephens. I was thinking,
Speaker 1: I was thinking of different things that we could thank
Speaker 1: you for. You know. I was thinking we could thank
Speaker 1: you for the basic standard, like having the amazing faith
Speaker 1: to start at a church that's reached so many people.
Speaker 1: And then I was thinking, like, you know, also thank
Speaker 1: you for bringing incredible messages that speak to our hearts
Speaker 1: every single week. You guys need to know that preparing
Speaker 1: a sermon is no joke, and this man does it
Speaker 1: every week and it's so good every week. Okay, but
Speaker 1: this is really what I want you to help me
Speaker 1: thank Pastor Stephen for. So I want us to all
Speaker 1: stay together, So everybody say thank you Pastor Stephen for
Speaker 1: helping Holly with her sermon. If you live with the
Speaker 1: best coach in the world, to take advantage of her,
Speaker 1: all right, just stay standing while we read our scripture,
Speaker 1: and then we will get to the preaching part. We're
Speaker 1: going to be in Luke twenty three, starting in verse
Speaker 1: fifty five. If you have a Bible or you can
Speaker 1: follow along on the screens. It says the women who
Speaker 1: had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw
Speaker 1: the tomb and how the body was laid in it.
Speaker 1: Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But
Speaker 1: they rested on the sabbath and obedience to the commandment.
Speaker 1: On the first day of the week, very early in
Speaker 1: the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared
Speaker 1: and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled
Speaker 1: away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did
Speaker 1: not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they
Speaker 1: were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that
Speaker 1: gleamed like lightning stood before them. In their fright. Women
Speaker 1: bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the
Speaker 1: men said to them, why do you look for the
Speaker 1: living among the dead. He's not here. He has risen
Speaker 1: so great reserve risen saviyah. Okay, you guys made me
Speaker 1: lose my place. He is risen. Remember how he told
Speaker 1: you while he was still with you in Galilee. He said,
Speaker 1: the son of Man must be delivered over to the
Speaker 1: hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day
Speaker 1: raised again. Then they remembered his words. When they came
Speaker 1: back from the tomb. They told all these things as
Speaker 1: women do to the eleven, no detail left behind, and
Speaker 1: to all the others. It was Mary Magdalen, Joanna, Mary,
Speaker 1: the mother of James, and the others who were with them,
Speaker 1: who told this to the apostles. I want to talk
Speaker 1: to you tonight about your support system. As you take
Speaker 1: your sea, ask your neighbor how strong is your support system?
Speaker 1: So what do you think about when you hear the
Speaker 1: word support system or the phrase support system? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess if this was a men's conference.
Speaker 1: Men don't have events, they have conferences. But if this
Speaker 1: was a men's conference, a man might be thinking about
Speaker 1: maybe bridges or buildings, or maybe people. But I think
Speaker 1: of those things too. I'm sure you think of those
Speaker 1: things too. But I got to thinking about bras. Did
Speaker 1: you know. I'm sure you know because Oprah told us
Speaker 1: all of this, But eighty percent of women where the
Speaker 1: wrongs size Bra, ask the person next to you, do
Speaker 1: you still feel supported? It wasn't that long, all right.
Speaker 1: You know. One thing that I love about women's events
Speaker 1: is that we can talk about things that really matter
Speaker 1: from the stage, like Bras. Okay, I'm sorry. There are
Speaker 1: just a few men here tonight, and this part of
Speaker 1: the sermon may make you feel a little bit embarrassed.
Speaker 1: But I just couldn't stop thinking about Bras. And I
Speaker 1: promise you. I had decided on my title for the message.
Speaker 1: I really wanted to be called support System, and I
Speaker 1: was thinking about Bras and I promise you, honest to god,
Speaker 1: I got this email in my inbox. It says your
Speaker 1: support system just got better. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can see this, but you see. If you need
Speaker 1: to reply, you reply to support at fabletics dot com.
Speaker 1: I think they did that on purpose, but it's pretty funny.
Speaker 1: So I went to Fabletics. We have a store here
Speaker 1: in Charlotte. If you don't know what that is, it's
Speaker 1: like a I don't know. It's kind of like a club,
Speaker 1: like a CD club, but for workout clothes. But then
Speaker 1: they also have a store. If you want to join,
Speaker 1: just put my name in the referral because I get
Speaker 1: twenty dollars for every person that does it. So I
Speaker 1: went to Fabletics and I got some bras, just a few,
Speaker 1: and I know I had to get different sizes and everything,
Speaker 1: but I know that I had kind of like an
Speaker 1: activity like this last year and I held up a
Speaker 1: bunch of ladies things I just I was thinking about.
Speaker 1: I could not talk about bras without holding a couple up.
Speaker 1: So sorry if it feels a little bit repetitive. I
Speaker 1: only preach once here anyway, So I don't have that
Speaker 1: many tricks in my bag. Okay, I just I picked
Speaker 1: out a few to look at. I mean, they're all
Speaker 1: all different colors and patterns. I like this one. That's
Speaker 1: the color blocking thing going on. Okay, this is the
Speaker 1: first one. No, that's not it. It's Ver's the one
Speaker 1: I want. Okay, this is the one I want. Now,
Speaker 1: when when I look at a braw like this, I
Speaker 1: think that there should be like an age an age
Speaker 1: limit for this, and I just want to read you
Speaker 1: what it says on the tag. It says it says
Speaker 1: light support, and then it says a little mesh goes
Speaker 1: a long way. Then then I had one that was
Speaker 1: more that was. This one's called the Medium Support Okay,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they really say anything special about it,
Speaker 1: Medium Support Sports SPRA. It's called the Kobe. I don't know. Anyway,
Speaker 1: there's that one. Okay, Now that this one, this one's
Speaker 1: my favorite. Okay, this this one, This one is called
Speaker 1: the Zoe High Impact Sports Bra. And when I love
Speaker 1: what it says in the description it says and an
Speaker 1: easy on and off zip closure in the front. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're not a woman, you're not gonna understand what
Speaker 1: I'm about to say about this bra. But if you
Speaker 1: have ever been sweaty and tried to take off a
Speaker 1: sports bra, a woman invented this bra. Okay, So while
Speaker 1: I clean up my mess, check out this little meme
Speaker 1: that I found. It's so cute. You can do it.
Speaker 1: You're awesome support bras. Okay, tonight is all about friendship.
Speaker 1: If you haven't clued into that, you know, you probably
Speaker 1: weren't paying attention. Maybe you got here late. But it's
Speaker 1: about friendship, it's about support, and I just I want
Speaker 1: you to leave here knowing that you were never intended
Speaker 1: to go through this life alone. God wants every one
Speaker 1: of us to have thriving, healthy, life, giving relationships. You
Speaker 1: should have an arsenal of friends that you can pull
Speaker 1: out to provide the support that you need for whatever
Speaker 1: situation that you're in. And I want to ask you tonight,
Speaker 1: what is your support system? Like we've all heard it's
Speaker 1: on all everybody's newsfeed, whether you read BuzzFeed or flipboard
Speaker 1: or Apple or whatever. We've all heard that loneliness has
Speaker 1: reached epic proportions that it's actually causing a health epidemic.
Speaker 1: And I'm not just talking about depression and anxiety and suicide,
Speaker 1: which are at all time highs. I'm talking about cardiovascular
Speaker 1: problems and sleep deprivation and premature deaths are being linked
Speaker 1: directly to loneliness. And what's strange about this which blows
Speaker 1: my mind, is that we live in a world where
Speaker 1: communication has never been easier. But it's like the more
Speaker 1: communication we got, the less connection that we got, and
Speaker 1: our connection has just become so complicated. So tonight, I
Speaker 1: want you to take a look at your support system.
Speaker 1: The reason that this is so important is because and
Speaker 1: hear me on this, because this is this is this
Speaker 1: is so important. If you're taking notes, this is maybe
Speaker 1: one little thing you might want to write down. While
Speaker 1: we may not get to choose what we go through
Speaker 1: in life, we do get to choose who we go
Speaker 1: through it with. Life is not a game of tennis.
Speaker 1: I don't know if any of you watch tennis or
Speaker 1: play tennis. I attempted to play tennis. I'm not good
Speaker 1: at all. Like like, I'm on this little team and
Speaker 1: we played Queen City League. I don't know if anybody
Speaker 1: ever plays Queen City League. You've probably never played me.
Speaker 1: Because there's ten divisions, Division one all the way through ten,
Speaker 1: one being the worst, the best ones, the best, ten's
Speaker 1: the worst. I'm in Division ten, So I'm just out
Speaker 1: there for the fun of it in the sunshine and anyway.
Speaker 1: But I like to watch tennis. And even if you
Speaker 1: don't watch tennis, I'm sure that in your news feed
Speaker 1: this week you heard about Serena's match at the US Open. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to share my opinion about Serena except
Speaker 1: that I think that she is the greatest women's tennis
Speaker 1: player to have ever played the game. So that's my
Speaker 1: two cents about that. But in the championship match, Serena
Speaker 1: received three penalties, and there's a lot of controversy going
Speaker 1: on about these penalties, but I just want to talk
Speaker 1: to you about the first penalty that she received, because
Speaker 1: the first penalty that she received was for illegal coaching.
Speaker 1: And so you see, in tennis, it is actually against
Speaker 1: the rules to be coached during a tennis match. It
Speaker 1: is all up to you or to Serena. So if
Speaker 1: you're a tennis player, let's just imagine that you're a Serena. Okay,
Speaker 1: you have to encourage yourself, you have to correct yourself,
Speaker 1: you have to read your opponent all by yourself. And
Speaker 1: I think that this is the mental model that some
Speaker 1: of us just go through life with. Something happens to us,
Speaker 1: something you didn't expect. Maybe your child is getting in
Speaker 1: trouble at school, or maybe your marriage is beginning to struggle,
Speaker 1: or maybe you even lost your job, and often our
Speaker 1: immediate response is nobody needs to know. I need to
Speaker 1: keep this a secret, and we fight alone, thinking that
Speaker 1: if I admit that I need help, then everybody's going
Speaker 1: to think less of me. What are people going to
Speaker 1: think of me? You were not meant to be Serena.
Speaker 1: I mean, thank good, there's only one Serena. Okay, you're
Speaker 1: not meant to be like you are meant to be
Speaker 1: like a fighter. And you know what fighters have. They
Speaker 1: have a corner. They're out there and they're throwing their
Speaker 1: punches and their kicks, depending on what kind of fighter
Speaker 1: you are. I live in a house with a lot
Speaker 1: of boys, so we watch MMA and the bloody you
Speaker 1: know stuff and all that. But when the bell rings,
Speaker 1: the fighter goes to their corner, and in your corner,
Speaker 1: you have someone who's dressing your wounds, your cuts, and
Speaker 1: your blood and your bruises and everything, and you have
Speaker 1: someone who's giving you feedback and saying, oh, you know, oh,
Speaker 1: like in Was It Rocky where they were like he's
Speaker 1: drinking water? Was that the one they told him to
Speaker 1: punch him in the stomach? I don't know one of
Speaker 1: those fighter movies that that people we were watching. Am
Speaker 1: I losing them with the fighting illustration? Okay, you are
Speaker 1: not meant to do this alone. You were meant to
Speaker 1: have a corner that you can go back to and
Speaker 1: then go back out and fight your fight. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: get back to the to Mary Magdalen and her friends.
Speaker 1: I have spent the last several months one wondering about
Speaker 1: these women that were at the resurrection. And then I
Speaker 1: began to ask my husband some questions about them, and
Speaker 1: I began to study them, and he gave me this
Speaker 1: He has this seminary professor that he emails and asks
Speaker 1: questions too, and so he gave me the poor man.
Speaker 1: He gave me his email address. So I kept asking
Speaker 1: him all these questions about these women, because it can
Speaker 1: get very confusing. If you combine all of the accounts together,
Speaker 1: you find this girl gang made up of Mary, Magdalene, Joanna,
Speaker 1: Mary the mother of James, and silomeg And there's also
Speaker 1: maybe a few others that could have been in this
Speaker 1: group whose names weren't mentioned. But I just was wondering
Speaker 1: who were these women and why were they the ones
Speaker 1: at the tomb and why were they the ones that
Speaker 1: the angel came to first. Were they there together by
Speaker 1: chance or were they there together by choice? And I
Speaker 1: know that this is a scripture about the resurrection of Christ,
Speaker 1: but all four of the Gospels give us details about
Speaker 1: these women, and I think that there's something really some
Speaker 1: really important lessons that we can learn from them tonight.
Speaker 1: Who are you going through life with? Are you going
Speaker 1: through it with the wrong people? Are you going through
Speaker 1: it alone. Do you have the support system to get
Speaker 1: you through a tough time, because we're all either This
Speaker 1: is not anything I've ever made up. Of course, I've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of preachers, and I've heard a lot
Speaker 1: of preachers say this. You know, you're you're either going
Speaker 1: into a storm, or you're in a storm, or you're
Speaker 1: coming out of one. Right, So, trouble is a part
Speaker 1: of life. And it doesn't matter if you are sixty
Speaker 1: years old and you've basically just given up on having friendship.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if you've been hurt by someone before
Speaker 1: and you're scared to put yourself out there again. God
Speaker 1: has given us many beautiful gifts in this life, and
Speaker 1: one of them is the gift of friendship. Yes, friendship
Speaker 1: is messy. I mean this women that we're talking about. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's messy, it's complicated. But if you're going at it
Speaker 1: alone and you feel like something is missing, that's because
Speaker 1: it is. God is our provider, and yes, he meets
Speaker 1: our every need. But have you ever stopped to think
Speaker 1: about all the ways that He has provided for you
Speaker 1: through someone else, whether it was encouragement, resources, a meal,
Speaker 1: a listening ear, a wise word, somebody who says to you,
Speaker 1: you know, I had a friend that told me that
Speaker 1: I needed to stop breastfeeding one of my children and
Speaker 1: just go straight to the bottle. I needed to hear that. Okay,
Speaker 1: I wasn't making enough milk. Look at me, Okay, I
Speaker 1: just stat up here and talked about bras. Anyway, tonight,
Speaker 1: I want to challenge you to examine your support system,
Speaker 1: and so I'm going to give you a framework three
Speaker 1: characteristics of a solid support system, and the first one
Speaker 1: is that your support system must be based on the
Speaker 1: right thing. Look with me at Luke twenty three fifty five.
Speaker 1: Let's see. I want to read it too from my
Speaker 1: iPad because I highlighted exactly what I wanted to read.
Speaker 1: So Luke twenty three fifty five says, the women who
Speaker 1: had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw
Speaker 1: the tomb and how his body was laid in it.
Speaker 1: The resurrection takes place in Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified,
Speaker 1: but these women were from if you read the verse,
Speaker 1: they had come from Galilee. When you read the Bible,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's really easy to skip over some of the
Speaker 1: geography and stuff. But it brings so much light when
Speaker 1: you actually find out okay, wait, where are they Jerusalem?
Speaker 1: Where were they from Galilee? Well, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: I looked it up for you on Google. Okay, Galilee
Speaker 1: is seventy miles from Jerusalem. And one little article that
Speaker 1: I read blog or something somebody wrote. I don't even
Speaker 1: know if this is true, but I read it on
Speaker 1: the internet. It said that a determined person could get
Speaker 1: from Galilee to Jerusalem in six days. Okay, So these women,
Speaker 1: they were serious followers of Jesus. But the thing about
Speaker 1: them was that they were brought together by Jesus. They
Speaker 1: were so into Jesus that they hopped on a week
Speaker 1: long hiking trip to follow him to Jerusalem and hear
Speaker 1: him teach. And these are women. And maybe that's why
Speaker 1: the disciples included them in this account, because they were
Speaker 1: impressed that these women, you know, went on this trip.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm just speculating there. When you look
Speaker 1: at your support system, you can look at every person
Speaker 1: in your life and you can identify one thing that
Speaker 1: brought you together. They could be your sorority sister. They
Speaker 1: could be somebody that you have kids at the same
Speaker 1: school with, or some when you take a yoga class
Speaker 1: together with all of these factors are great things. We
Speaker 1: all have some kind of connection. But if you want
Speaker 1: to have a support system that's going to help you
Speaker 1: on your faith journey, you're going to have to base
Speaker 1: it on the right thing. And I'm not necessarily talking
Speaker 1: about church, although church is a great place to start,
Speaker 1: because we all kind of have a common goal and
Speaker 1: we all kind of have a common idea of where
Speaker 1: we're going in life. But what I'm really trying to
Speaker 1: get you to think about is that you need to
Speaker 1: surround yourself with people who are like minded, who are
Speaker 1: growing in their relationship with God. Not perfect no perfect
Speaker 1: people allowed, but people who will help you find the
Speaker 1: answers that you need from the right sources. Right. Not
Speaker 1: only does your support system, though, need to be based
Speaker 1: on the right thing, it needs to be formed before
Speaker 1: your crisis. These ladies did not just meet up on
Speaker 1: this journey to Jerusalem. They have been together for a while. Okay,
Speaker 1: look back with me at Luke chapter eight. So we
Speaker 1: were in Luke twenty three, and now we're going to
Speaker 1: go back to Luke chapter eight and verse one. It
Speaker 1: says after this Jesus traveled about from one town and
Speaker 1: village to another, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some
Speaker 1: women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases,
Speaker 1: Mary called Magdalen, from whom seven demons had come out, Joanna,
Speaker 1: the wife of Choosah, the manager of Herod's household Susannah,
Speaker 1: and many others. These women were helping to support them,
Speaker 1: them meaning Jesus and the disciples. They were helping to
Speaker 1: support them out of their own means. When Luke first
Speaker 1: introduces us to these ladies, they're in Galilee, and he
Speaker 1: tells us that what brought them to together was that
Speaker 1: Jesus had healed them. That's what they had in common,
Speaker 1: and that's what we have in common in this room.
Speaker 1: They were women of means. They were joined together, and
Speaker 1: they were supporting Jesus's ministry, but they were doing life together.
Speaker 1: And at this point, when they're following Jesus and supporting
Speaker 1: his ministry, they didn't know how dark it was going
Speaker 1: to get. I mean, Jesus told them that he was
Speaker 1: going to be crucified, but nobody really understood what that meant.
Speaker 1: When he said that they were just following and supporting
Speaker 1: the one who had touched them. So when we catch
Speaker 1: up with them later in Luke twenty three, they're on
Speaker 1: a trip that has taken a terrible turn, a horrific turn,
Speaker 1: because Jesus is dead, their savior has just been crucified
Speaker 1: on the cross, which was a penalty that was reserved
Speaker 1: for the worst criminals. So here they are. Think about
Speaker 1: these women. They're in a foreign city, their heart broken,
Speaker 1: but where what are they? They're still together Luke twenty three,
Speaker 1: fifty five. We've already read it, but this ready one
Speaker 1: more time. The women who had come with Jesus from
Speaker 1: Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his
Speaker 1: body was laid in it. Then they went home and
Speaker 1: prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the sabbath
Speaker 1: in obedience to the commandment. On the first day of
Speaker 1: the week, very early in the morning, because women are
Speaker 1: not afraid, they get up early in the morning. Somebody's
Speaker 1: got to do it right. Very early in the morning,
Speaker 1: the women took the spices they had prepared, and they
Speaker 1: went to the tomb. They stayed together because they had
Speaker 1: been together. It was a natural thing of course they're
Speaker 1: going to stay together. But you know what, I think
Speaker 1: women instinctively band together in times of crisis. Where were
Speaker 1: the Disciples in all of this? Peter was here and
Speaker 1: John was there. The Disciples had been disbanded, but the
Speaker 1: women were together. That's right. Have you ever noticed that
Speaker 1: when you were together with people that you trust, that
Speaker 1: you can experience this collective courage and this collective faith.
Speaker 1: You can essentially like borrow faith from someone else. These
Speaker 1: women could have been should have been probably in fact,
Speaker 1: were fearing for their lives. They could have been on
Speaker 1: their way back to Galilee by now thinking while they
Speaker 1: killed Jesus, they're probably going to come after his followers next.
Speaker 1: But there was a job that needed to be done,
Speaker 1: and so these women kicked into operation give Jesus a
Speaker 1: proper burial mode. Now I'm not trying to make light
Speaker 1: of this situation, but I just started imagining these women,
Speaker 1: and I started thinking about what we do, what we
Speaker 1: still do today when there's a crisis, and so, you know,
Speaker 1: I was just imagining that maybe Mary Magdalen started a
Speaker 1: prayer chain, and then I was thinking maybe Joanna created
Speaker 1: a sign up genius and for meals and such and
Speaker 1: then Silome she sold to Terra, so she was in
Speaker 1: charge of the spices and Marry the mother of Jesus,
Speaker 1: Marry the mother of James. She was the one in
Speaker 1: charge of taking notes of where the body was buried,
Speaker 1: because remember the text told us that they went and
Speaker 1: they saw where the body was buried, because they were
Speaker 1: coming back there the next day. They were going to
Speaker 1: take care of Jesus. Have you ever been around a
Speaker 1: group of women who rallied during a crisis. It is
Speaker 1: a beautiful sight to behold. People can make fun of
Speaker 1: casseroles all they want, but when there's a crisis, we
Speaker 1: eat them. And on Thanksgiving too, when my father in
Speaker 1: law was passing away and he was in the final
Speaker 1: hours of his life, I will never forget coming out
Speaker 1: of his bedroom and into the kitchen that was so
Speaker 1: full of food that you couldn't put anything down on
Speaker 1: the counters. And I didn't even know where my children were,
Speaker 1: but I knew that they were being well taken care of,
Speaker 1: And I will never forget. I'd walked on into the
Speaker 1: front porch and my friend Nicole was just sitting there
Speaker 1: just in case I needed anything. She was just sitting
Speaker 1: there to this day. I don't even know where her
Speaker 1: kids were. She has three kids of her own, but
Speaker 1: she was sitting there just in case I needed anything.
Speaker 1: Have you ever received the support of a rallying group
Speaker 1: of women. If you have, you never forget it. You
Speaker 1: never forget it. These women were devastated, they were grieving.
Speaker 1: But if there is one thing that we know how
Speaker 1: to do well in a crisis, it is get crap done.
Speaker 1: We may be sad, but we're going to get this
Speaker 1: stuff done. And they were not about to go back
Speaker 1: to Dalily without knowing that their savior had been buried properly,
Speaker 1: and they were going to do it together, even if
Speaker 1: they had to risk their lives and guests who shows
Speaker 1: up when they were together? Look at Luke twenty four.
Speaker 1: We were in verse two. It says they found the
Speaker 1: stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered,
Speaker 1: they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1: While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men enclosed
Speaker 1: that gleamed like lightning, stood before them. In their fright.
Speaker 1: The women bowed down with their faces to the ground.
Speaker 1: But the men said to them, why do you look
Speaker 1: for the living among the dead. He's not here he
Speaker 1: has risen. Remember how he told you while he was
Speaker 1: still with you in Galilee, the son of Man must
Speaker 1: be delivered over to the hands of the sinners, be
Speaker 1: crucified on the third day, and raised again. Then they
Speaker 1: remembered his words. I had this thought while I was
Speaker 1: preparing for this message. All my life I grew up
Speaker 1: in church. My dad was a pastor. I never I
Speaker 1: was telling some of the other day I never really
Speaker 1: played any sports, and they said, well, what did you do?
Speaker 1: I said, I don't want to try. When we were
Speaker 1: there all the time, it was like Tuesday night visitation,
Speaker 1: Wednesday night supper, and Sunday night. I don't know. We
Speaker 1: were at church all the time. And growing up I
Speaker 1: thought that there were two ways that God could speak
Speaker 1: to you. One was if you were alone and you
Speaker 1: were either praying or reading your Bible, and two was
Speaker 1: if you were listening to a sermon. But you know,
Speaker 1: as I have grown in my faith, and as I
Speaker 1: have began to notice God all around me in the
Speaker 1: small parts of my day, I realize that if I
Speaker 1: surround myself with the right people, God can speak to
Speaker 1: me through them. Now, this is not like a like
Speaker 1: don't go all crazy on this. This is not like
Speaker 1: a Holly, I have a word from the Lord for you.
Speaker 1: Usually that doesn't come from a friend. Usually that just
Speaker 1: comes from like some random person. Okay, talking about when
Speaker 1: my friends got around me one day and we were
Speaker 1: in a meeting and they started saying, Holly, you need
Speaker 1: to write a Bible study for the women of our
Speaker 1: church about being a godly wife. That was God speaking
Speaker 1: to me through them. When I was talking to a
Speaker 1: friend one time and over a crying baby who told
Speaker 1: me that I was a good mom. That's God speaking
Speaker 1: to me through my friend. When a friend told me
Speaker 1: not to give up, or a friend who was just
Speaker 1: there physically present, listening to me process through a very
Speaker 1: difficult situation. If you don't think that that's God in
Speaker 1: all of those times in your life, you've got God
Speaker 1: all wrong. These women were not reading their Bible and
Speaker 1: praying when the angel appeared to them. They were together
Speaker 1: doing something. They were there and the angel asked them
Speaker 1: a question. I think this is such an interesting question.
Speaker 1: The angel said, why do you look for the living
Speaker 1: among the dead. This got me thinking about dead places
Speaker 1: in our friendships, places where we can go that harm
Speaker 1: our relationships. Rather than help them. One of those dead
Speaker 1: places is when we compare. Comparison is a funny thing
Speaker 1: because it comes in two ways, because you can think
Speaker 1: I don't compare, but you might be comparing. Let me,
Speaker 1: let me explain this. Okay, So maybe you're on social media.
Speaker 1: Maybe you don't have social media, but I'm assuming most
Speaker 1: of you do. And you're scrolling through and you see
Speaker 1: one of your friends and she makes these beautiful lunches
Speaker 1: and those little lunch boxes that like have all the
Speaker 1: little compartments, and you think, oh my gosh, I'm a
Speaker 1: terrible mom because I don't do the little grapes and crackers.
Speaker 1: Sing In all honesty, I'm just gonna tell you, guys,
Speaker 1: I tried that the little box thing, and we kept
Speaker 1: forgetting about the boxes and they would stay. In my case,
Speaker 1: it's backpacks, and then they gets so disgusting and moldy.
Speaker 1: That was not for me. We're more like a brown
Speaker 1: bag kind of family. We have bunchboxes too. But the
Speaker 1: other side, so the one side of comparison is I'm
Speaker 1: not as good as her, right, But the other side
Speaker 1: of comparison is, you know, have you ever thought, well,
Speaker 1: at least I don't feed my kid's fast food. I mean,
Speaker 1: we go to Chick fil A in a pinch, but
Speaker 1: we would never go to McDonald's. Since I'm talking about comparison,
Speaker 1: I have to tell you a funny story. It doesn't
Speaker 1: really have that much to do with anything, but anyway,
Speaker 1: I was working out on my peloton bike that my
Speaker 1: husband got me for Christmas. And if you don't know
Speaker 1: what a peloton bike is, it's basically a death machine
Speaker 1: for your home, and also known as a stationary bike
Speaker 1: with this like cool like monitor where you can actually
Speaker 1: take spin classes. And so on this particular day, I
Speaker 1: was really going for it. Now, I'm gonna be honest
Speaker 1: with you. There are a lot of days that I
Speaker 1: get on there and I don't exactly do what the
Speaker 1: instructor tells me to do. You know, she says turn
Speaker 1: it up, and I'm like, eh, I'm not ready. And
Speaker 1: but this day I was trying to beat my best,
Speaker 1: you know, And so the instructor had told me to
Speaker 1: add one or two to my resistance so many times
Speaker 1: that my legs are just like churning through mud. Okay,
Speaker 1: And I did not I did not look pretty. I
Speaker 1: did not look like this when I was on my bike. Okay,
Speaker 1: I paid someone to do my makeup tonight, just so
Speaker 1: you know I was. I was pouring sweat and I
Speaker 1: don't really even sweat that much. I was pouring sweat,
Speaker 1: and my glasses were like kept sliding down my nose
Speaker 1: because I'm like hunched over, you know, I keep pushing
Speaker 1: my glasses up. And my heart rate, I am this
Speaker 1: is the truth. My heart rate was one seventy seven,
Speaker 1: which I think is like just shy of a heart attack.
Speaker 1: And so of course the instructor has barely broken the
Speaker 1: sweat and she's smiling like her fourth class that she's
Speaker 1: taught of the day. And so Graham comes up. Graham's
Speaker 1: my ten year old son. Yeah, I'm just you know, dying.
Speaker 1: And Graham looks at the monitor and he looks at me,
Speaker 1: and he says, why don't you look like her? Because
Speaker 1: comparison is a dead place, and I am not a
Speaker 1: spin instructor, so we compare, and then that can sometimes
Speaker 1: lead us to compete. Have you ever been around someone
Speaker 1: whose story is always better or worse than yours. I
Speaker 1: had lunch with a friend the other day who has
Speaker 1: been through a really tough separation with her husband, and
Speaker 1: she said that the worst thing throughout her separation was
Speaker 1: when people would try to comfort her by telling them
Speaker 1: how much worse there's situation was than hers. We compare,
Speaker 1: and we compete, and then sometimes we get so tired
Speaker 1: of playing this game that we just check out. Now,
Speaker 1: this is a really dead place to be. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know dead is dead, but checking out is when
Speaker 1: you have just you've just given up. Maybe you were
Speaker 1: betrayed by a friend you told her something in confidence
Speaker 1: and it got back to you, or maybe you were
Speaker 1: let down just one too many times from some of
Speaker 1: the women in your life, and you just decided I've
Speaker 1: been hurt enough, and well, you know what, I have
Speaker 1: my husband and he will just have to be good enough.
Speaker 1: Or or maybe I'll just throw myself into my work
Speaker 1: or to my kids. And then we wonder why we're lonely.
Speaker 1: Do we have to risk having relationships with other when
Speaker 1: we have relationships with other women, Absolutely we do. Could
Speaker 1: we get hurt, Absolutely get hurt, But if you build
Speaker 1: your support system right, the reward is so much greater
Speaker 1: than the risk. The other dead place that is so
Speaker 1: dangerous is when we begin to compose. We live in
Speaker 1: a world where it has never been more easy to
Speaker 1: pretend that everything is okay, and we can even have
Speaker 1: we can even create an entire persona that no one
Speaker 1: ever has to know the truth. No one ever has
Speaker 1: to know that I have an anger issue, no one
Speaker 1: ever has to know that I have an eating disorder,
Speaker 1: or no one ever has to know that my marriage
Speaker 1: is falling apart. No, this is not how it has
Speaker 1: to be. We do not have to compose, because your
Speaker 1: support system must be founded on honesty. If you're going
Speaker 1: to build this thing right, you've got to build it
Speaker 1: on honesty. Look at these verses in First John. First John,
Speaker 1: chapter one. It says, this is the message that we
Speaker 1: have heard from him, and declare to you. God is light,
Speaker 1: and in him there is no darkness at all. If
Speaker 1: we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk
Speaker 1: in the darkness, we lie and we do not live
Speaker 1: out the truth. But if we walk in the light
Speaker 1: as He is in the light, we have fellowship with
Speaker 1: one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies
Speaker 1: us from all sin. Did you catch that if we
Speaker 1: walk in the light as He is in the light,
Speaker 1: we have what fellowship? We have fellowship with one another?
Speaker 1: How can I support you through your struggle with infertility
Speaker 1: If I don't even know that you're wanting to have
Speaker 1: a baby, that you're trying to have a baby, how
Speaker 1: can I? It's say for you in your marriage if
Speaker 1: you're always acting like it's perfect and you know what
Speaker 1: honesty isn't just about the things that are going wrong
Speaker 1: in your life, but sometimes if you don't share, like
Speaker 1: if something good happens, so how could I even celebrate
Speaker 1: with you? If your child has a good behavior report
Speaker 1: if I didn't know that he was even not doing
Speaker 1: good in school. My friend Julie says, I love this line.
Speaker 1: She says, shame like mold, grows in the dark. When
Speaker 1: you bring your thank you, when you bring your life
Speaker 1: into the light with the right people, I guarantee you
Speaker 1: that you will not only find love, but you will
Speaker 1: find hope, and you will find help, and you will
Speaker 1: find fellowship. If you surround yourself with the right people,
Speaker 1: your relationships will not only deepen with honesty, they'll grow stronger.
Speaker 1: But you see, the enemy wants you to think that
Speaker 1: it will make you look weak, and he wants you
Speaker 1: to think that if you're honest, it's going to weaken
Speaker 1: your relationships, but it's not true. A couple weeks ago,
Speaker 1: I was talking with one of my friends who has
Speaker 1: been walking through a difficult season in her marriage for
Speaker 1: over a year, and we were reflecting on how timely
Speaker 1: her relationship was with this other girl. Let's call the
Speaker 1: other girl Lisa. So Lisa had been through a similar experience,
Speaker 1: and Lisa had opened up to her E group and
Speaker 1: shared about a struggle that she and her husband were
Speaker 1: going through. This was eighteen months before my friend went
Speaker 1: through her struggle. And she told me that when she
Speaker 1: received that news on that day, you know that day, like,
Speaker 1: if you live long enough, everyone will have that day,
Speaker 1: that day they got the call from the doctor, or
Speaker 1: that day when their husband confessed to them, or that
Speaker 1: day when you lost your job. Okay, So she was
Speaker 1: in that on that day and she said, I don't
Speaker 1: know what I would have done or who I would
Speaker 1: have called if Lisa hadn't shared her story in our group.
Speaker 1: Do you see. And it was eighteen months later that
Speaker 1: she remembered, this is the person that I need to
Speaker 1: talk to. If we walk in the light as he
Speaker 1: is in the light, bring it out into the light together.
Speaker 1: These women had courage together they were able to remember
Speaker 1: the Angel said to them. Remember what he said to them,
Speaker 1: Remember what he said to you. Together, they were able
Speaker 1: to remember the words that God had spoken to them.
Speaker 1: We are stronger together. The work that God wants to
Speaker 1: do in your life and this season is directly connected
Speaker 1: to the people who are in your life. So how
Speaker 1: strong is your support system? That's my question to you tonight. Well,
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed the podcast today, and if you did,
Speaker 1: there are just a couple things I'd love for you
Speaker 1: to do. Number One, subscribe to our show. That way,
Speaker 1: the most recent episode will always be in your feed,
Speaker 1: waiting for you ready when you are. And secondly, if
Speaker 1: this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to help
Speaker 1: us continue to reach others, you can click the link
Speaker 1: in the description and you can give now and I'll
Speaker 1: see you next time on the Elevation Podcast