Purpose and Assignment

Teachable Woman Podcast

Reverends Michele Owes and Diana P. Cherry

Purpose and Assignment

[00:00:00]

Rev. Michele Owes: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Teachable Woman podcast. We are excited and just elated to be back with you again. I am Reverend Michele Owes. I am with the one and only Mrs. Diana P. Cherry. Together, we are Teachers of Good Things. Mrs. Cherry, please say hello to our podcast family.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Hello to our faithful podcast family. I pray God's richest blessings upon you. And I pray that the things we're sharing will really make a difference in your life as you strive to be the best that you can be and do the best that you can do.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Thank you so much for that. In our last podcast, we had an opportunity to share with you that the same God who has been with us from the very beginning of our lives to now is the same God who will be [00:01:00] with us through the challenges and the ups and downs that we face. No matter the political culture or national outlook, God has not changed. We are still his children. His word is still the same. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. And as they say, we could rely upon him in the olden days, back when and then, even now. We know that we serve a faithful God, so we are not to allow ourselves to be turned to the right or to the left or tossed to and fro by what is going on. We should let the peace of God rule our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and recognize that God is not blind. And he is not mocked. He sees everything and he knows everything. We have the opportunity to pray and[00:02:00] ask him to intervene because he can. Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen.

Rev. Michele Owes: One of the things Mrs. Cherry shared with us in our last podcast was that we all have the same purpose. We wanted to elaborate on that because we don't want to give the misconception that we will all be doing the same things as we walk through our Christian life because we will not. However, we do have the same purpose. And Mrs. Cherry will share a little bit about that with us. Mrs. Cherry, take us away.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen. Well, I know we have had a lot of, we have heard a lot of teachings on purpose, how to find your purpose. And we said a little, a few words last time about purpose. I just felt led to share from the scripture—the purpose for all mankind. When we're looking for answers, the book of Genesis is a good place to start in the [00:03:00] Bible to look for answers to just about any situation.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: To that end, I want to share with you from Genesis. Chapter 1, verse number 28, the word of God says, And God blessed them, and God said unto them, now the them he's referring to is the male man and the female man. That he is going to make, this is God speaking his mind in Genesis chapter one, man nor woman have been formed at this time.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: But he said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the foul of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And the [00:04:00] Lord, in those scriptures. My husband taught us that the scripture in verse 28 of Genesis gives us the purpose of all mankind.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: God gave us purpose before he made us. He said that our purpose on earth was to be fruitful. To be fruitful means that we are to be productive. And then not only are we to be fruitful, but we are to multiply. And we've been taught in our ministry that to multiply means to add to the productivity of the lives of others.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Then we are to replenish and replenish means that we should leave a deposit in the earth for the next generation. God, in speaking his mind, his plan, and his purpose for all of mankind, also told us [00:05:00] that we were to subdue the earth. That means we were supposed to take control of the earth, to have dominion over the earth, to have authority.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And that word subdue means to tread down, to disregard, to conquer, to subjugate, to bring into our power, our control. And so the purpose of all mankind is that we would be fruitful. Each one of us must purpose in our hearts to the very best of our ability to live a life that is productive. Take your life out of a negative column, no matter what might have happened to you.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Take your life from a negative column, put your life in a positive column. Being fruitful means your life makes a difference. And then we are to multiply. We should add to the [00:06:00] productivity of the lives of others. We should not come into the earth, live, poop, and die, and leave no impact, have no impact upon others.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: As we've been taught previously, we're to be witnesses. We're to make our lives add to the productivity of the lives of others. Whose life is better because you live. Whose life is richer, not in stuff and things, but in a relationship with the Lord? Whose life is richer because you live? To whom have you added purpose and substance?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: So multiply, add to the productivity of the lives of others, and then replenish. Don't come here, live, use up God's resources, and not look out for future generations. Replenish the earth, leave a deposit for the next [00:07:00] generation. The world should be better because you are living or have lived.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You should not just leave the earth; you've done nothing with your life. Nobody even knows that you've gone, or nobody knows what impact you made. And then your life's purpose is to take control, subdue the earth, and have dominion over things within your sphere of influence. Don't let negative things and people control you because God has given us the power to subdue and to prevent the situations that we're in.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And so, In a world where we hear so much about purpose, I want you to know that God didn't leave our purpose in the hand of some author to write about our purpose, to some man or some woman to give us counsel. He instructed us in his word what he wanted all of us to [00:08:00] do and how he wanted all of us to live.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And how he wanted all of us to be. So my life should be fruitful. Just because we age doesn't mean our lives can't make a difference. We do age, but we should be getting better and continuing to live meaningful lives, multiplying, being fruitful, and replenishing the earth. So purpose in your heart, that no matter who you are, no matter where you've been, that you don't need to read a book.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You don't need to hear man's idea of what you should do or what you should be. God has laid it out for us in the book of Genesis, in the book of beginnings of what he wants all mankind to do and to be. And so we have a responsibility to look to his word. Whenever, whenever we have a question, Reverend Owens and I tend to. We're talking to you previously about the value of a church [00:09:00], and a good church should teach you these things.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: When we were sharing with you that we don't mean a church should get all up in your business, but the church should teach you how to make decisions, how to solve problems, and how to communicate. A good church ought to teach you those things and a good church should always point you. In the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ, in a direction of the Word of God, and a good church should teach you how to find things in the Word of God for yourself so that you can read it for yourself.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I mean, it's really cute and convenient, I guess, to be in church with these cell phones and things like that, but to me, it's nothing like handling the Word of God. And reading it for myself, I just think it makes I think it makes a difference to actually handle the word of God, which is the bread of life.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You know, it's what feeds [00:10:00] us. And so that's why we talk so much about the fact that we should be a good part of a very good church that teaches us these things. We don't need to learn man's doctrine or man's philosophy or man's feelings. We should be taught how to go to word of God and find answers for the situations and the circumstances of our life apart from.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Any bodies constant telling us what to do. We can know for ourselves. We can know God for ourselves. We can know his word for ourselves. We can nourish our souls by the word of God. And so I just wanted to encourage us to. Understand that God has given all of us the same purpose and to encourage us to live our lives, striving to be fruitful, striving to multiply, helping other people and striving to replenish and subdue the earth.[00:11:00]

Rev. Michele Owes: You know what's so interesting is in my younger days, when I read that scripture and again, pointing back to the importance of a church, the improper interpretation of scripture can help us to misunderstand God. Because when I read that scripture and it said to reproduce after my kind and to multiply and to replenish, I thought it meant to have a whole bunch of children because, you know, biblically it, they were having a lot of children, and I just was not. in agreement with that. I said, you know, God, you got to find another way for me to multiply and replenish without having a lot of children, double-digit children. Anyway, that was man's interpretation, my finite mind thinking that that's what God meant, not understanding that what he meant was for us to reproduce after [00:12:00] kind.

Rev. Michele Owes: And if our kind was Bible believing, Bible teaching Christians who were working to live according to his will, then we should be reproducing that way and multiplying, adding other people onto the body of Christ. Ultimately, when you look at it, the only way we can do it is to take on the one task God gave us. So we have this purpose, then we have a task to be a witness. You and I are to be witnesses for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And when we say that, we are talking about someone who, can give evidence, someone who is credible,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Wow. Mm [00:13:00] hmm. Mm

Rev. Michele Owes: I’ll read a couple of scriptures about how important it is from God's perspective. In Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 10, God says, "Ye are my witnesses, sayeth the Lord."

Rev. Michele Owes: And my servant. Whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe me and understand me. That I am he. Before me, there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, that beside me there is no Savior. I have declared and have saved, I have shown, when there were no strange gods among you. [00:14:00] ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. And when you think about the fact that God some people to believe him, that God is letting the children of Israel understand that he needs people to understand him and that we are the chosen ones to do that. Now, I don't want you to think of a land and continent in terms of Israel, but those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, this is us. And God is saying to us that we're his witnesses that he's got. And can you just imagine if nobody knows he's God because we're not his witnesses? We're not taking on the task that he has given us. Imagine being in a courtroom and being accused of a crime and, you know, where this crime took place, there were a lot of witnesses that [00:15:00] could speak on your behalf. And yet you're sitting there with a jury that is about to accuse you of something you did not do, and you've got onlookers in the galley, and you've got attorneys giving arguments back and forth, but all you need is one witness. step forward could bring a change in your situation.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: Just think about all of the emotional angst as you wait for man to decide when you know a truth. But yet this truth is not going to be revealed unless there's a witness.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah, yeah. Mm hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: A witness has called and is willing to come forth is willing to offer the information necessary, the facts and the details and everything necessary to prove you've been saying all [00:16:00] along. And that's essentially where God is. We've got him trapped in the courtroom. He's still waiting on his witnesses, us, To show up to prove that he's God. I mean, he's going to be God, whether we believe him or not. His

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: The fruit of his spirit is still his; everything that he's created and done for us is still there, but we need to be witnesses.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right. Our job is to make God clear and visible to a lost and dying world. Now, can you imagine that a holy God has tasked us to be his witnesses here on earth? We're the only way the world can know that our God is God and that Jesus Christ, the righteous son of God, is indeed the son of [00:17:00] God.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: As we live our daily lives, we come across so many people who have so many strange interpretations of who God is. They falsely believe that anybody who dies is going to go to heaven just because they've heard that there is a heaven. And I had this conversation the other day. I was in a class and this lady was talking about the tragedy that just happened with an airplane crash.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And,

Rev. Michele Owes: Mhm,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: She was saying to me, well, they are all in a better place. And I said, well if they knew the Lord Jesus Christ before they left the earth, they are in a better place. And she says, Oh no, I just, I just have to believe that regardless. And I said, well, I happen to believe the Bible and the Bible has taught me [00:18:00] that if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: If you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, we're saved because with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And with the heart, man believes unto righteousness. She looked at me and more or less shook her head, like, you know, I don't know, where are you coming from?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And, and I just said to her, I know what I know, and I believe what I believe. And although it would be horrible if those young people, especially the young ones, who didn't have an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ. But you know, in the country that we live in, it's so easy to hear that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: It's easy to accept him. And you know, we can't judge who's going to be in heaven and who's not going to be [00:19:00] there. And I'm not going to say who might have been on that aircraft, who made it and who might've been on that aircraft who didn't. That's not my job. But I do want to say that our job. Is to tell people that Jesus Christ, the righteous son of God is the savior of the world.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And if we have had the opportunity to be in the presence of somebody, and we felt an urge to tell them. About Jesus. And we didn't. Well, woe unto us because that's one of the major jobs that we have, but we've allowed a generation of people to be raised up who are such timid Christians, and Christianity is not a place for timidity.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You cannot be timid and be a Christian. You're right. You gotta be bold. You know, yeah, you have to pull out your sword, pull out the word of God. [00:20:00] Don't be obnoxious. But on the other hand, don't allow opportunities to lift up the name of Jesus and to declare his lordship. Don't allow opportunities to pass us by.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And then we have the responsibility of knowing that we should have lifted up Jesus and we didn't. Woe unto us. We are to be credible witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev. Michele Owes: hmm.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And if we, the body of Christ, the children of God, if we don't tell the world about Jesus, who will? It's an awesome responsibility. So don't become so comfortable in your comfort zone with your associates and your friends and your co-workers.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Don't become so comfortable that you lose sight of the most important thing in your life. The most important purpose that you have, and that is to add to the productivity of [00:21:00] the lives of others. You might know a lot of rich people, but does that make them productive? Are there any people in the kingdom of God because they're living their rich life?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You know, it's a sad thing to think that people. live and die and don't know Jesus Christ. And you can say what you want. You can pray all you want. You can act like you know him all you want. But if you knew him, if you know him, you would not be so bastardly, so unkind, so evil, so full of hate, so manipulative.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: So vengeance-seeking, you know, you wouldn't be like that if you knew the Lord that I serve; you would live your life trying to be as kind as compassionate and as giving of the word of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ as possible. You don't know if you'll ever have another

Rev. Michele Owes: of His Spirit.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: right. You don't know if you'll have another [00:22:00] opportunity.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: To be with that person, to lift up the name of Jesus with that person. So be strong and be credible witnesses. We are the only people who can affirm to the world that our God is God, not Buddha or Muhammad. Jesus Christ is the way. He is the truth. He is the life and he is the light. So wherever we go,

Rev. Michele Owes: go.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: give that light, you know?

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. I think it's essential for us to remember as well that when we witness, we need to start in Jerusalem, which is home.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: We need to make sure that the people that God has entrusted to us don't let them live and die and never know our savior.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: You know, there's something so much more important than how well they dress and how far they get [00:23:00] educationally and what kind of careers they have and what they do in the earth.

Rev. Michele Owes: If they do it without Christ. It will still come to naught.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: So those of us who know Jesus, we ought to make it our responsibility and our absolute task to make sure that our family knows him

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: not in such a way as Mrs. Cherry said, as we are, that we are obnoxious. And when people see us coming, they run in the other direction.

Rev. Michele Owes: And we're not talking about that. But the fruit of God's spirit is love. It's the first one.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: Premier, here's a caveat for everything that we say and do. We're never just trying to tell somebody something because anything that we have to say is of no good.

Rev. Michele Owes: It's no good. It's of no value

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: we're able to lift up our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in it.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: We don't have to quote a lot of scripture. People know when [00:24:00] you're genuine of heart and when you're genuine of mind. Thee purpose of your heart and why you're sharing Christ Jesus with them is because you want to make sure that in that day, the choice of heaven and hell has already been made.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: The life that can go along with the heavenly choice that can be lived while you're still here.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: That ought to be simply because we love someone, because we want to see them change or do different or change their behavior.

Rev. Michele Owes: All of that will come when they receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and they are taught what God would have them to learn. When you know better, you do better.

Rev. Michele Owes: Let us always begin our witnessing at home.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: Make sure that Jerusalem [00:25:00] is sound. We get to go to Judea, then we get to go to Samaria, and then we get to go to the other parts of the earth, but let's make sure home is taken care of. I've done a lot of homegoing services in my lifetime. One of the things that blesses me most is when I can confirm with the family that is in attendance that I witnessed that person accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: I was there when they walked down the aisle and gave their life to Christ. And you can just see a level of peace come over the

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes:

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: Oftentimes our witness, we're either sharing it elsewhere, and we missed home, or home has said they don't want to hear about it so much that we're not, we're no longer sharing [00:26:00] God's word and, and love with them. But don't ever forget Jerusalem.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right. You know, I have

Rev. Michele Owes: painful. Good.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I have a loved one in my family that, you know, and love also. And I was saying to this person, you've got to come to church. And, you know, when are you going to come to church with me? And yacky, yacky, you know, we'd say, and this child says to me. I know Jesus. I went to the Christian school. I've accepted Jesus as my Lord.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I said, if you have, I'm grateful. And that's all that the Bible requires. See, we require more. We want some fruit that we can see, smell, and touch. You know, we want to see a manifestation.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We can't judge a person's heart. I say to people all the time; We have no idea who's going to be in [00:27:00] heaven and who's not because, unlike us, the word of God says, if you can believe, confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, you're in.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Now we like to say if you don't go to church if you don't say 10 Hail Marys and 20…

Rev. Michele Owes: Right.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: If you don't do this and you don't do that. But our rewards will be different, but salvation is salvation. And like my husband used to say, as long as I get my behind in the door, I can feel the heat of heaven behind me, maybe.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: As long as I get my behind in the door, that's what I want. We must realize that everybody will not be what we would call fruitful. And multiply and replenish the earth as we might do. But we have to continue to believe that if those [00:28:00] persons have made that confession with their mouths, and if they believe in their heart that Jesus is the righteous son of God, that he is the savior of the world, they're in.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You know, and that's hard for us to accept because we want them beside us in church; we want their physical presence.

Rev. Michele Owes: We want to see the growth.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right, right, right. We, we want to see them.

Rev. Michele Owes: It's like when a child is small, you don't see the growth. You can sit there all night by their bedsides with a flashlight, but you can't see when the bones elongate.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right,

Rev. Michele Owes: But you see the evidence,

Rev. Michele Owes: In the next few days, the pants and sleeves will be too short.

Rev. Michele Owes: There's evidence of growth, but we can't see it. Sometimes, we have to back away and look, and then we can see the evidence.

Rev. Michele Owes: If we sit there trying to watch it grow, [00:29:00] nothing will happen. So, we just have to let Jesus be Lord, right?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: We must trust that he's working and on the job.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right. That's where our faith comes in. We just trust his word. I share the fact that the word of God says, If we confess with our mouths, the Lord Jesus Christ, and if we believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We're safe. And, and people want more. They want you to tarry. They want you to beg. They want you to cry and snot and all that stuff.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: But, you know, I just,

Rev. Michele Owes: necessary.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: The older I get, the more I realize and the more grateful I am, if we confess with our [00:30:00] mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord. Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We're in, you know, and I'm, I'm thankful for that.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: Well, that is going to do it for this podcast. We are so thankful that you are with us. We really appreciate that you will allow us to share the word of God with you from the bottom of our hearts. And we pray that you understand or can receive the love that we have for you.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: We don't want to share of our thoughts and our own opinions.

Rev. Michele Owes: We want to share the Word of God with you because, like you, we are very human, and our thoughts are not his thoughts.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Not at all. Not at all.

Rev. Michele Owes: God's ways are not our ways.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Not at all.

Rev. Michele Owes: We yield unto the power of the Holy Spirit to ensure that our podcast family gets nothing but God's best.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen.

Rev. Michele Owes: Thank you for being with [00:31:00] us again. Oh, Mrs. Cherry, we've got exciting news that was announced before the teaching. We've announced the retreat that's coming up.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: All right.

Rev. Michele Owes: July 17-20, 2025. We are back in Houston, back at the same hotel, looking for you and all the wonderful people that you are going to bring with you so that we can have our special time together.

Rev. Michele Owes: You'll learn more as time goes on, but make sure you go to the website and register and reserve your slot. We look forward to seeing you soon. We love you. Talk to you soon.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Love you much. God bless you.