Teachers of Good Things - Part 7

Audio file

TEACHERS OF GOOD THINGS P7

Transcript

00:00:01 Rev. Michele Owes

Alright, we are back, welcome, welcome. Welcome to Teachers of Good Things. This is Reverend Michele Owes. I am with Mrs. Diana P. Cherry from the Heart Church Ministries. Both of us are with From the Heart Church Ministries in case we have not said that before. Today we wanted to share with you just a few things about our purpose, or what we're doing with this podcast, and why we're led to call it Teachers of Good Things.

00:00:35 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes. How on earth did we come up with that, or think of that?

00:00:57 Rev. Michele Owes

Well, we had a wonderful friend who went home to be with the Lord. Not only did we lose our husbands, but we also lost our very good friend.

00:01:00 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

That was the last service that my husband did. That was in December when she passed and then he was gone. So, she broke his heart.

00:01:20 Rev. Michele Owes

How cute, how cute. I think he did say he wasn't going to be doing everybody's homegoing service, right? He said, don't even think about it. I am retired. I'm going to be doing everybody's homegoing service. It was fitting for him to do hers. because he called her out of her secular job into working at the church.

00:01:22 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes, he did. He did. She had no plan to work at the church.

00:01:25 Rev. Michele Owes

Excellent. Excellent. Her name is Reverend Janice Williamson. If you knew her name, she would have been a great friend to you too. Janis just didn't have a good friend. She was everybody's good friend. She had a wonderful personality. She would grab you by both hands, look you in the eye, and say hey, baby, and get on with the conversation. You always felt, when you were speaking with Janice, that you were the only person in the room.

00:01:36 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes. Yes. That's right. That's so true. She was such an encourager. Oh, my goodness! Yes. Yes. And funny. And very funny. Very funny. Yes. Holy, excellent. Yes. A big purpose.

00:02:15 Rev. Michele Owes

I must tell this story. When I first met Janice, my husband shared an office with her and Reverend Williamson. I worked in the school, but their office was below the school on the first floor. I came down to the office one day to see my husband. I peeked my head in her door and said hello. They were working on solving something. I just gave what I thought was a solution. Janice looked up at me and she balled up her fist. She made a motion like she was going to dot both of my eyes with her fist.

Then she put up the number three, and she pointed outside, which meant to meet her at three o'clock. I gave her the okay sign. See you there. At three o'clock, I am in the parking lot and there's no Janis. Did you really go to a parking lot?

00:03:08 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Did you really go to the parking lot?

00:03:12 Rev. Michele Owes

Well, we had to take the children out to meet their parents after school. That's right. So, I would be out there anyway. Three o'clock, there's no Janice. After all the children are gone, I go to her office. I say, how do you threaten somebody and then not show up? I was waiting for you. We laughed so hard. She said the funny thing is most people don't understand what I mean. I said, from one bully to another, I knew exactly what that meant. I could understand your sign language.

00:03:40 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

See, I've never been in a fight. I am much, much, much too much of a coward to do that.

00:03:42 Rev. Michele Owes

So, our hearts were knit together from that moment. We laughed every time we saw each other. It was never a sad reunion or a sad get-together. When our husbands went to the retreat every December, we had what we called a girls’ night out. We had our tea or our snacks. We sat and talked all night long about whatever we wanted to talk about. We laughed about whatever we wanted to laugh about. One of the things that we often talked about was the opportunity to teach women from the depths of our hearts. We wanted to share what we've learned about the word of the Lord and how important He is in our lives. So, Janice's desire was for a Titus 2 ministry. I'm going to read you the scripture.

00:04:10 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Oh, my goodness. Yes. And that was her. Desire to have a Titus, two women's ministry, yes.

00:04:29 Rev. Michele Owes

Titus chapter #2 (KJV), I'm going to read verses one through 8. Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

Tit 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Tit 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

Tit 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

Tit 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Tit 2:6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

Tit 2:7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

Tit 2:8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Isn't that wonderful?

00:05:53 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

That is. If we're going to be teachers of good things, yes, we must have listeners who are teachable. Make sure that you are a woman who's willing to be teachable. Acknowledge that you don't know it all as we don't know all, and so we're going to learn one from the other and we want you to learn.

00:06:21 Rev. Michele Owes

We know that God is a Trinity. There's God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And as his creations, we are also a trinity. We do have a mind. We live in a body and we have a spirit. When you come to our retreat, expect that. This Titus Scripture will be leading us, and we will make sure that every part of the Trinity is ministered to the mind, the body, and the spirit.

We know that there is a sweet spot where we're whole when all three are working in unity and oneness with the word of God. It is our prayer even now that as a result of attending this retreat, you will be in that sweet spot for the rest of your days and in oneness with your Heavenly Father.

In a place of peace, a place of love and a place of joy, a place of long-suffering, meaning you're willing to wait until the Lord does His will in our lives for a long time.

00:07:16 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes. With goodness and gentleness and temperance and faith, all of it. The fruit of the spirit will be right there to meet you when you come and like Janice, we're gonna grab you by your hands and look you in your eyes, and say so glad you came. We'll learn your name later, but first of all, you gotta be OK with it.

We're going to have a wonderful time in the Lord. Yes. And remember, it's OK to be called. Hey, baby, we don't. We don't think that you are children. However, it's OK to be regarded as our babies in the faith. Right.

00:08:11 Rev. Michele Owes

I love it when you don't have to give birth to them and when you don't have to pay for college, braces, or new cars, but we can send you home in a better state.

00:08:25 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Oh my goodness. That is the best way. That is a wonderful way. We just pray that you will come with a heart that's open to receive what God's going to minister to your heart. Come with the mind to be open to the things of God. Come with the ears to hear. Come with eyes to see and know that we're not special people. We're not unique. All of us are unique in our way, but there's nothing in our lives that God regards more highly than He regards in your life and the life of all of His creation. So.

We want to help you to be the best that you can be and encourage you to do the best that you can do, and that way you'll be excellent. That is our definition of excellent. In the ministry, we've always learned about maximizing what we have. Yes and.

00:09:24 Rev. Michele Owes

Right now I'm going to call us the dynamic duo. God is desiring to maximize the deposit that He's placed in our lives. It's not that we should just have it for ourselves and make sure that our lives are well. When we're truly saved we seek to save others. We not only want people to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, but we want you to know the abundant life in Christ. It's not an abundance of things. It is an abundance of love, joy, and peace. Even when things are going wrong on the outside, there's an inner knowing that God is with you.

00:10:42 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Have a heart of Thanksgiving and gratitude. Learn to be kind. We do need kindness in the world today. People are too harsh, too judgmental. And just downright mean. That's not the way we used to be. No. So we're gonna love on one another. We're gonna learn from one another. We're going to make deposits in one another's lives. We are going to have a fun time. So get ready to laugh. And cry whenever it's necessary, because sometimes when God ministers to us and we know it's the answer, it humbles us. Yes, to the point that tears just dream down our faces, that a holy God has answered the questions of my life. Tears of joy.

00:10:58 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

You know, no every tear is a tear of pain or sorrow.

00:11:01 Rev. Michele Owes

That's true. That is so true. So our plan is to send home better women, wives, mothers, and better singles. We will be stronger perfected women and the things of God. The praise and worship is going to be amazing.

00:11:29 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Oh my.

00:Rev. Michele Owes

You do not want to miss it. God has already appointed you. So you don't want to miss it. We'll have a chance to sing and listen. There's a scripture in the Bible just for me. And for those of you who, when we sing, we make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Listen, we can join in. Right, Janice and I would stand together. And we would sing together. You know, she had an issue with her ears, so she had a reason, but I'm just off-key because it is what it is. But I sang my heart out to the Lord and He received it from me because it was a joyful noise to Him. So hey, you still got it. Just know that the praise and worship is going to be beautiful. The word of God is going to be so ministering, strong, and life-changing, and it's going to be our joy and our honor to be with you.

00:12:39 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

Yes, we're so looking forward to it, I feel invigorated about the opportunity to share with women.

00:12:45 Rev. Michele Owes

Yes, yes, I think that we said earlier that our husbands went home to be with the Lord, but the calls that were placed in our lives did not die with our husbands.

00:13:13 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

And that's been a very interesting challenge for me. I will share openly now because there were teaching opportunities with the Women's Fellowship every month that we're teaching opportunities. When my husband was out of town or had something to do.

And then he goes home to be with the Lord. And it's like, OK, but I'm still a teacher, right? You know. Where, who, what, when, why? Ohh. God. Are you silencing me? Now is this the end? I don’t was to teach all the time. I don't wanna be nobody’s, pastor. I don't want to be. Just a little bit of something.

00:13:38 Rev. Michele Owes

That's exactly how I feel. I do not have a pastor's call in my life and I'm very clear about that. And no, I don't want one either. I've watched my husband be an excellent, pastor. I know that what was in him is not in me, but I do have a desire to love God's people and to share with God's people. We don't want you to think that we're trying to pastor you. We are sharing with you what we've learned from God's word and allow God's word to work in us.

00:14:10 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

If you will allow God's word to change you, God himself will pastor you through His word as he leads you to to where you need to be. Just allow God to do a new thing in you as we are allowing God to do a new thing in us. Amen. Amen.

00:14:32 Rev. Michele Owes

Well, this is the end of this podcast for today. We're so excited that you took the time to spend with us, to listen to us share, laugh, and cry together. And we will see you again on our next podcast and we will give you more updates on what's going to happen with our retreat. So stay tuned. Thank you! We love you.

00:14:50 Rev. Diana P. Cherry

God bless you. Love you.