Purpose and Plans - Ambassadors for Christ

Teachable Woman Podcast

Purpose and Plans – Ambassadors for Christ

Reverends Michele Owes and Diana P. Cherry

[00:00:00]

Rev. Michele Owes: Welcome, welcome, back to the Teachable Woman Podcast. We are so excited to be back with you. I am Reverend Michele Owes. I am with Reverend Mrs. Diana P. Cherry, and together we are Teachers of Good Things. Mrs. Cherry will greet you in just a moment, but we want you to know how excited we are about today. We have been working diligently to provide you with the best podcast possible, and we have met some challenges, but we thank God that we were able to persevere. These were technological challenges. However, we are back again, and we've recorded one for the Father, one for the Son, and this one is for the Holy Ghost.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry:: Yeah!

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Please say hello to our podcast family.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry:: Hello Podcast family. You don't know it, but this is the third [00:01:00] time that I've said this. This is the day that the Lord has made and we want you as well as us to rejoice and be glad in it. We know that things are going a little crazy in the world right now, but we're out of the world, thank God, so we can rejoice, and we can be glad in it.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: God bless you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Amen. We’ve had a delightful time talking with one another and are excited about the opportunity to speak with you. We talked about the fact that God created us. In his image, after his likeness, he has given us a purpose and plans for our lives. We are not here willy-nilly. We don't just get to do whatever we want and ask God to bless our mess if you will. But God created us with a purpose and plans. Mrs. Cherry shared with us that we are here to be fruitful. Out of [00:02:00] Genesis chapter one, to multiply, we are to replenish and subdue. We talked about the fact that subduing ourselves would probably be the most challenging task we will ever face in our lifetime, but it is one that God intends for us to master with his Holy Spirit. Mrs. Cherry is going to give more detail to remind us about what it means to be fruitful, multiply, replenish and to subdue. Alright, Ms. Cherry, Take

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen. Now, you know we've taught that mankind was the apex of God's creativity. When he made us, he couldn't do any better than what he had done. And I think it's. I think it's not right for us to think that God would've created us in his image and in his likeness and not given us all a general [00:03:00] purpose.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: So the purpose we are dealing with in Genesis is the general purpose of all mankind. It doesn't matter what your callings are, what your jobs are, what your gifts, talents, and abilities are. I want to emphasize the fact that we all have the purpose given to us in Genesis by God. And that purpose is for all of us to be fruitful.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: That is to be productive. In other words, I like to say, to make your life make a difference in the lives of others.

Rev. Michele Owes: From.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: to be fruitful means that you and I should be productive. And then the other part of the purpose was that we would multiply and we've been taught that multiply means that we are to add.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: To the productivity of the lives of others. So wherever you go, whatever you do, don't miss opportunities to sow something into the lives of others. And then we taught that [00:04:00] replenish means that we should leave a deposit in the earth for the next generation. You have a share. Your share is important.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: It's sufficient, and it's necessary. So make sure that you take your share and with your share. Be fruitful, be productive, multiply, add to the productivity of the lives of others, and replenish. Always be mindful. We are to leave a deposit in the earth for the next generation and then subdue. And as Reverend O said, subduing, I was getting ready to say subduction.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: But subduing begins with a subduing of ourselves. And when you subdue yourself, you can do the other part of that verse. When you subdue yourself and make yourself obey God, then you can have dominion. You can have dominion over your surroundings. Your surroundings don't have to control you. [00:05:00] 'cause we have the power of God through the Holy Ghost who the session is dedicated to working on our behalf.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And because of that, once we subdue self, we can then have dominion over our environments. Amen.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. Amen. Mrs. Cherry shared with us that to be fruitful means to be productive. To address what is happening, at least in our nation at this moment. For those of you who still have this opportunity to be productive, I want to encourage you through the story of David who had a seat at the king's table.

Rev. Michele Owes: At that time, Saul was the king, but David did not take his seat at the king’s table because Saul was pursuing him and not in a kind way; Saul had developed a level of jealousy that caused him to [00:06:00] want to kill David. David did not take his seat at the king's table, but the Lord prepared that seat for him. For those of you who may be getting emails telling you that you don't have a job or don't have to come back, remember, God gave you a seat at that table. He allowed you to be employed wherever you were. Unless you have some official paperwork that gives you an official reason for your dismissal, do not leave your seat at the king's table. What man is saying has yet to be determined by Congress because they are the ones who can make the changes that man is espousing. Don't walk away because you don't understand what is happening. But do understand that God has given you a seat at the king's table and don't leave the table. Don't allow your life to be placed in a [00:07:00] detrimental situation or change your finances just because we don't understand some things God understands. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that he hears, He sees, he knows, and we trust. our prayers and obedience, he will do something about what we here see and know as

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen.

Rev. Michele Owes: So don't quit your job if you don't have to. If you don't have a pink slip, if you don't have an official, you are not employed anymore, don't leave stay. You never know. God may cause you to be the head of that agency.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen. Amen. God, because God puts up and God takes down. We have to trust that. Please remember that we have the grace to make whatever happens in our lives. We have the grace to overcome every situation and every circumstance, and God made sure. [00:08:00] We had that grace. That's why he told us that we could subdue and have dominion because he knew that he would be giving us grace through our Blessed Holy Spirit and his help we would be able to do what he asked us to do.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: So whatever you do, please be encouraged. Please listen to this podcast again. And heed the council. We don't give you stuff out of our own minds. We honestly and truly believe that we're saying to you what God would have us to say to strengthen you during these times. The times are troubling. They are trying, but they're just here to see how tough we are and how we are made.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I said in the one you, the podcast you didn't hear. I said, we are made outta some tough stuff. So don't let any little challenge get the best of us. We are more potent than that. We're tougher than that. And we really [00:09:00] want to encourage you. We understand. We really do. But we want you to know that you, this too shall pass away.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And we will survive. Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. The Bible tells us over and over and it came to pass and it came to pass and it came to pass. that come are not here to stay. It may seem like it because there's a lot of noise that is going on, but if we look from history to now, God has been faithful. He was even faithful to our forefathers. And he'll be faithful to us as well. We just need to do our part and be faithful to him and continue to pray and trust that God is able and will do what he needs to do to accomplish his will in So we understand that that things may cause us to feel unrest as we continue to engage in what is happening in the world.

Rev. Michele Owes: But [00:10:00] we are to have peace.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: All right.

Rev. Michele Owes: fear not. fear brings torment, God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Power and love.

Rev. Michele Owes: and of a sound mind, so that that same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that's the same power that lives in us, that is the

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: And so we can rest and rely upon God to lead us and guide us through what is absolutely.

Rev. Michele Owes: Trying times. We are not going to pretend that we don't get bothered when we hear the news. We're not gonna try to pretend as though, you know, we don't have some choice words to say because we do. But we know that what God wants to say is more important. And we want you to keep your peace the midst of

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes. And remember you have a purpose. And in the New Testament, God tells us that our purpose is to be a [00:11:00] witness unto him. In Second Corinthians, verse number 17 teaches us that, therefore. If any, man, woman, boy, girl, child, if any human being that knows the Lord Jesus Christ, if we be in Christ, he is a new creature.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. All things are of God. Who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus, by Jesus Christ, and given us the Ministry of Reconciliation. The Ministry of Reconciliation is our New Testament purpose. It doesn't make any difference what we are going through.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You have grace, and you can, in the midst of somebody telling you to walk off the job, look at that person and say, I love you. And I thank God [00:12:00] for the opportunity to be here. I'm going to pray for you. It will make a difference. We had a missionary in Ethiopia, Dr. Yusef, and Dr. Yusef often told a story of being in prison when his nation was besieged, and they would come in every day and give him dried bread.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And he said once a rat came into his cell and he saw that rat eat that dry bread. And God spoke to his heart and said, if I feed that rat in these horrible situations, my son, I'm going to take care of you. And that strengthened that missionary. And so when his captor came in to abuse him, yet again, he said to that captor.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I love you. God bless you and I'm praying for you. He said that, man, it just broke that man's heart. [00:13:00] He wept. He could not believe that he was strong enough to pray for him when the man was wicked and cruel to Dr. Yusef. So some people are doing things they don't want to do, but they're being told what to do.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You might be the person you might be, the vessel that God has placed in that situation for, for to be laid, to be laid off so that you can be a witness. We are not like the world. We're distinctively different from the world. We hurt, like human beings hurt. We feel like human beings feel, but we don't have to give into it because the greater one.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Is in us, and we can do greater works than even Jesus Christ did because he told us, great the things that I do, greater works than these you shall do because I go to my father. [00:14:00] And so whatever you do, don't become discouraged, disgusted, and disillusioned. Keep hope in your heart. As long as you have breath in your body, you have a ministry.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And I love the fact that the word of God says. That old things are, are, is a constant state of being passed. So I used to, what I used to preach, I used to say I are a new creature. I are better than I used to be. I are strong in the Lord. It's not good English. But it certainly helped me. But you are a new creature and you are.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: He. The word of God says he is. And Reverend Old's gonna define is for you, but right now you is a new creature. That old stuff is passed away. You don't have to do what you used to do. Act like you used to act, cuss like you used to cuss. Shake your [00:15:00] head, your hand on your hips to give somebody a piece of your mind.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: 'We don't have enough mind to give anybody a piece of it. I know I don't, not at 81. I'm trying to hold onto every cell I have and nourish every cell I have. So be strong, be encouraged. Know that we do understand. We really do. But God's word and God's grace are greater than any tribulation, any trial, any job firing, or anything that can happen in our lives because we are new, and we are a new creature in Jesus Christ.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Take it away, Reverend Owes.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mrs. Cherry read to you from Second Corinthians chapter number five. She read verses 17 through 19, but I will pick up at verse 20. It says Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: as though God can Bess seat you by us. We pray [00:16:00] you in Christ stead be ye reconciled to Christ. other words, you and I have been chosen to be representative. For our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for our creator God. And so even in difficult times, God. Trust us in his stead to represent him in those situations. And that means we can't represent our feelings, can't represent our thoughts. Now we have those feelings and we have those thoughts, we don't get to say what we want to say if we are representing him, we don't get to do what we want to do.

Rev. Michele Owes: If we're representing him, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us in what we say and what

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: And I promise you our thoughts are not God's thoughts. Our ways are not God's ways. The things that God would have us say and do [00:17:00] in those hours and moments aren't our thoughts. You know it when they come to you because we really don't want to say, God bless you. We really don't want to say it has been my honor to be here and to co-labor with you. We don't wanna say those nice things. We have some other things that we wanna say as we are packing our bags because we're hurt.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: However. God would have us to represent him, not only at that moment in difficult times, but even in good times. he said, first we have to be reconciled to

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: To God,

Rev. Michele Owes: ourselves. In other words, we have to make sure that we have really chosen, we elected, our election is sure this walk with Christ is really what we wanna do.

Rev. Michele Owes: We have been fully persuaded that no depth, no breadth, no height can separate us from the life of God, and so we are his representative. I like to think of it [00:18:00] as you own your own company, the people you hire, you hire them to represent you and the product or the services you sell. You don't want them to represent themselves. When the customer comes to your company, you don't want them to know how your coworker or employee feels or whether they slept well. Or if things are going well in their life. You want them to represent you and the product; that's what you've hired them to do. Well, God sacrificed to Jesus Christ so that we could be his representative. He was a full and sufficient sacrifice, one blood for all nations. That means all nations we're, none of us are exempt. There's not a single nation that's exempt from being this ambassador. We have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. And so our job [00:19:00] is to represent him in the earth; in doing that, we are to share his word. To share his love, purpose, and will so that we can reconcile others to Christ. Our job is to increase the size of God's family and the kingdom of God simply by the fact that we. To reconcile means to exchange or to restore.

Rev. Michele Owes: It's an atonement. God said that he had given us this ministry of reconciliation in verse 18, and ministry means that we're a servant and that we are an attendant. So our sole job is to attend to this assignment, which is to reconcile others to Christ, and we do that by being a good

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: We do that by being a good ambassador. We do that by being a great representative.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I think of [00:20:00] represent as representing, you know, he's given us life and we represent him. So we live our lives. We can't represent him if we are fussing and cussing. And if we're acting like the world, but just purpose in your heart, listen, we know it's difficult, but we're praying for you to be strong.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We're praying that many of the people who are the accusers of the brethren, that they will give their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then they will be a part of us. They'll be a part of the body of Christ. So let each one of us purpose to do our part, to represent Jesus Christ and to use every opportunity that we have.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Listen, it takes great grace. It takes great grace to be kind to someone who is being wickedly unkind to you, who is abusing you, accusing you. But we. We have the greater one in us, and we can do this thing. [00:21:00] And Reverend Owes and I are praying for you and praying for you and praying for you. We know that God's saints will come out on top because we serve a never, never, never, never changing God.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And he is our source. And not those jobs, not our incomes.

Rev. Michele Owes: That's right. And his love for us does not fail us. So. be afraid to take a new journey with the Lord. Should this door close for you? Understand that God has plans for

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: and this just may be an opportunity for midcourse

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen.

Rev. Michele Owes: a new direction. Cherry and I are a prime example of the fact that, you know, things changed in our lives, and we never even envisioned a podcast.

Rev. Michele Owes: And yet you're listening, and we are honored to have you as part of our listening community. We are [00:22:00] honored to have you as our brother and or sister in Christ, and we want you to know that God loves you. He's not forgotten you. And so as we are representing Christ. As we are ambassadors for him, let's not fail to be ambassadors at home as

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Amen.

Rev. Michele Owes: When times are difficult and intense and stressful, sometimes we take that stress home, and the ones that are closest to us pay the

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes,

Rev. Michele Owes: So let's ensure that when we, we show that extra love and care. At home because they're just as concerned as we

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yes,

Rev. Michele Owes: the way things are

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yes,

Rev. Michele Owes: in this nation.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: Know that we love you. Know that there will be another podcast coming soon. And we hope to see you in July in Houston, July 17th through the 20th, at the Weston Oak Hotel in Houston, Texas. We're going for round two of our Teachable Woman [00:23:00] retreat. Remember that your husband can come with you. We invite them to the last session that we'll be live streaming.

Rev. Michele Owes: So we hope to see you. We are going to talk about praying and Mrs. Cherry and I said that we are certain. these difficult times has caused us to pray

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: And so our goal is to ensure that we have a cadre of women and that God will have a powerhouse of praying women. And we know that God hears us when we pray. So we are going to do that and so much more, not only through the taught word and preached word, but also through our

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: So be ready, prepare. See you in July.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I love you. God bless you. In the meantime, enjoy five minutes for your day. We didn't have a podcast, but we did get five minutes for your day. Enjoy. God [00:24:00] bless you.