The Church - A Safe Place

Transcript

Teachable Woman Podcast

The Church- A Safe Place

Reverends Michele Owes and Diana P. Cherry

Rev. Michele Owes: [00:00:00] Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Teachable Woman Podcast. We are so excited to be back with you again today. We want you to know that we are sharing with you from our hearts to your hearts. If there are subjects or titles that you want us to cover based on the word of God, please contact us through our website at teachablewoman.com. Again, I am excited to be with you and Reverend Mrs. Deanna P. Cherry. Would you please say hello to our podcast family?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Hello, podcast family. I might not sound like me, but I know this is me. I have a really big head, a very stuffy nose, but I feel great. And we're going to get through this.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Welcome back again.

Rev. Michele Owes: Well, I'm looking at her and it really is her. There's no doppelganger there. Although you all can't see us, we record video and audio, [00:01:00] but just released the audio. All right. So we have been talking about the church. There are so many misconceptions about the church. And what we really wanted to make clear is that the church is made up of believers in Jesus Christ.

Rev. Michele Owes: There's not a black church, a white church, an Asian church, a Hispanic church, a Filipino church, or a Russian church. There are no Methodists, Catholics, no Christians, no, I'm sorry, not Christians, but no Baptists. We are Christians. We are all a part of God's body, and therefore we are the church.

Rev. Michele Owes: We have found that Sunday morning can be one of the most segregated times in our nations because everyone goes to a different location and, sometimes, never mixes. That was not the intention of God. Our languages were confounded so that we would not disobey. However, it was not meant to separate us [00:02:00] as it relates to being God's children.

Rev. Michele Owes: We also learned that the church is a place where we learn to solve our problems through the word of God. It is a place where we receive the word of God to get direction for our lives. It is also a place where we are made ready to be the bride of Christ, which means that the Word of God is going to do some work in our lives. There's going to be some chiseling.

Rev. Michele Owes: There will be some breaking away of old habits and hobbies and things that God desires to do in our lives to make us better, which is to make us ready to be the bride of Christ. Also, it's a place where we get to work our ministries. And we'll talk about what working in ministry means in just a few moments today.

Rev. Michele Owes: And lastly, we're going to talk about it and how to be in a safe place. There should be no safer place for any person to be than in [00:03:00] the body of Christ. And when we fall up in the church doors, because that's what we do, by the time God has put together everything he had to put together to get us to come in, by the time we fall up in those church doors, the last thing we want to do Is to be offended, is to be, not welcomed, is to be overlooked as though you never came in, , is to be disregarded because God's arms are outstretched still to receive us no matter what state we're in.

Rev. Michele Owes: And as an extension of his body in the earth, our arms should be outstretched to receive those who walk into God's house. And so today we're going to talk first a little bit about working our ministry, and then we're going to get back to it being that safe place. Amen. All right, Ms. Cherry, talk to us about working our ministry.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Wow. [00:04:00]

Rev. Michele Owes: Okay, she wants me to talk about working our ministry. Okay.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: I don't know where that came from.

Rev. Michele Owes: Okay. While working in our ministry, God has blessed us with gifts, talents, and abilities. There are functional gifts in the body of Christ that God has given us to function in the church. To make the church function according to his purpose and his will. When we go to our ministry classes, and in some churches, we call it our perfecting classes, we will have an opportunity to learn about the different gifts God has given us to function in the church. In addition to that, we have talents and abilities. Those can also be of great use in the body of Christ. I want to share a natural example. [00:05:00], when you, let's say you are skilled as a doctor or as a nurse, you know, these are your professions.

Rev. Michele Owes: You make known what your natural professions are should something occur. Someone knows who to call. If someone, let's say, faints or has a health challenge in the church, we should know who our doctors are. We should know who our nurses are so that we can aid someone. And, you know, sometimes people think, well, you know, that's my profession.

Rev. Michele Owes: That's what I get paid for. I'm not going to give it to the church for free. I would share with you that the God who created you and sustains you has given you the ability to have that title and that profession. Would we want to charge God for what he's blessed us to be able to do?

Rev. Michele Owes: I will leave that there. But as, [00:06:00] as it relates to how I regard that, whatever gifts, talents, and abilities and skills that God has allowed me to attain in my lifetime, I dare charge Him for it. I am just graced by the grace of God to be able to do these things. Another example is when you come into the church, you don't want to see the pastor running from the front of the pulpit to the back to usher you to your seat and then running up into the choir stand to sing you a song and then running back down to serve you communion and then running back down to usher you out.

Rev. Michele Owes: That's a lot. And so we need people to work in the church so that God's church can be organized in its approach to worship. Because you have gifts and talents, some people are loving, kind, and supportive, and [00:07:00] that's who you want to greet your people. That's who you want to be serving in the ministry during service.

Rev. Michele Owes: And so whatever your talents are, there's room for them in the body of Christ. Whatever your gifts are, there's room for them in the body of Christ. We were never intended to sit on the pew. And in the words of our founding pastor, suck up sermon, we were to come and learn and then work our ministry and serve because us working together makes increase of the body of Christ.

Rev. Michele Owes: Now, Mrs. Chair, are you ready?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: In love. I'm not quite sure I'm gonna be ready. I keep coughing. I,

Rev. Michele Owes: Okay. Okay. Alright. Alright. Well we will, um, not press you at this moment, but whenever your voice clears up, hop back in. The Lord has the need of the

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: yeah. [00:08:00] um, you know, I was gonna share. It's true if you're in the medical field, especially you should let it be known so that your gifts and talents can be used to minister to people. But I've been so blessed in the ministry when I've seen people who were high level government officials, PhDs, 3HDs, and they

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: and their gift, It's a gift of service. And, um, my husband used to often talk about one of our members who was a Harvard and yet her gift was a gift of service. And she ended up serving food in the cafeteria for any event that would come up, she would be there. And so that's why we own a perfecting class. Because in perfecting class, learn what our gifts are, [00:09:00] and we find out that everybody has different gifts, and we learn the meaning of the gifts, and we learn where those gifts function best. And that's why Rev. Ozen and I often tell you, it's crucial where you go to church. crucial where you get your interpretation of what God said. If you're going to church, and there are absolutely no changes in your life, If you go into church and you have no conviction in your heart about anything, If I were you, I would really check out, am I learning in this church? Because the church should be a place where we are perfected to carry out the work of the ministry we don't do it for vain glory. We don't do it for compliments, but we do it because [00:10:00] they're gifts from God. And once we learn that we have these gifts, we are actually compelled to

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And, um, know, like I said, you might be a college professor; that's your job, but in the house of God, you might be the head singer in the choir

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: in the, in the orchestra. But the key is that you should be in a place where you can learn what your gifts are.

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And if you don't have a place where you're learning about those gifts, you might want to consider changing, go where you can be taught that you can be perfected

Rev. Michele Owes: Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: that you can carry out the plan of God for your life so that you can make a difference in the lives of others. And to go to church, to receive the word of God, to leave home, and [00:11:00] do nothing that's not fulfilling. So when we learn our gifts and put them into operation in the church, we're blessing others, but it should be very fulfilling for us.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: It should be very fulfilling. If, after COVID, you're finding that you can't get your energy back up to drag yourself back to church. As I shared before, it's easy to miss if you, if you're in the habit of missing, but once you make yourself go back,

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: It'll be very difficult to miss because you feel so wanted, so loved, and so needed. And that's what causes church growth for every person: to supply the need of another part. Like I said before, we're all just supplying joints.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right. Mm-hmm

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: My joint is to meet the need in your life, [00:12:00] and your share is to meet a need in my life. Something essential for us to understand is that we all have gifts, talents, and abilities. Our gifts, our talents, and our abilities are necessary. They are sufficient. And we must share those gifts and those talents. God didn't give you everything that he's given you so that you can come to church, grab the word of God, and run back out and do nothing with it. We are being equipped to build up the church of God.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Jesus Christ died for us. The least we can do is to live for him. And, you know, I feel really strong today to talk to you about the fact that if you're not being, if you're not being fed where you are, you know, you [00:13:00] probably really need to find a good Bible-believing Bible- teaching church. You might feel good, but if you're not taught how to take your feel good and make somebody else feel good, it's for not. I want to encourage us to, you know, think about what you're being taught. How much have you grown since you gave your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? How different are you now from when you first got saved? Christianity is a process. We grow, but we should grow every time we go to church.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We ought to be, we should be able to see a change in our lives. And remember, when we change ourselves. The change in us can affects the change in another person.

Rev. Michele Owes: That's true.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: We cannot change anybody; if we allow the word of God to change us, the change in us will cause people to say, [00:14:00] What on earth happened to you?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You used to drink and smoke like me. What, what's wrong with you? What'd you

Rev. Michele Owes: Right,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: And then you'll get to be like Sister Owes, going to church or that person to find out. Are they in a cult? What's happened to them? But that's what ought to happen in church. You should be changed from who you were before you went to church.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah,

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: If you're not learning, if you don't know what your perfected gifts are if you don't know what your spiritual gifts are if you don't know about those functional gifts, a lot of the charismatic churches refer to them as motivational gifts. My husband used to say, “I don’t want you motivated; I want you functional.” Those teachings are available. I know at our church, they're available. If you contact the church through the bookstore, you can get them. Church isn't just something that we do; [00:15:00] exercise and religiosity to perfect us, make us better, and clean us up. Get us ready for the grand wedding. We're all Christ's brides, and we must be purified, sanctified, and cleaned up to be worthy of his bride. So, I just want to encourage us to examine where we're going and what we're learning. And I can't judge you because you're the one that's there. You can't judge me. We ought to be growing and growing up in Christ.

Rev. Michele Owes: That is definitely true. I completely agree that when you come to church, you should be learning something. I like to say that we grow one sermon at a time.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes,

Rev. Michele Owes: When we miss Church, we've missed our growth. [00:16:00] Oftentimes, we don't try to catch up with the broadcast or the stream or, you know, catch up with what we missed. We just missed it.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: When I think that I'm missing my growth, I try to catch up with whatever was being served that I missed. Whatever nutrients I need to grow as a Christian, I'm trying to catch up with what those things are. So just remember that if you're comfortable not being there and not tuning in, it would be good for you to find yourself in the household of the Lord. You get many things from church that you don't get from television.

Rev. Michele Owes: You know, sometimes a person looking down the aisle at you and smiling, somebody hugging you, and saying, it's nice to see you. We haven't been anywhere all week where anybody's trying to hug or appreciate us. I don't mean anything disrespectful.

Rev. Michele Owes: [00:17:00] There is the church hug where you go side to side, and nothing's touching, but still, someone is trying to embrace you. Right? Someone is saying we are glad that you are here. And that's important. I remember when I first went to church during COVID. Our church was still functioning; it was open, and we wore masks. It was such a blessing to be in the house of the Lord.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: My title and what I do for my job didn't mean anything because while I was sitting there, the Lord said disinfect the pews.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: My, my.

Rev. Michele Owes: Every Sunday after church, I had a container of Lysol wipes and gloves. I didn't ask my church to buy them or provide them.

Rev. Michele Owes: These were instructions given to me by a holy God. And [00:18:00] after every service, I disinfected the touch points of the pew. I asked my pastor if it was okay to do. Of course, he didn't have a problem with it. But the point is, Mrs. Cherry shared, it doesn't matter what your title in the world is. It doesn't matter how many degrees, letters, or alphabet behind your name.

Rev. Michele Owes: In God's house is just alphabet soup. We must come together and ensure that God's house is what it should be. I clean up after service. I have a little roller, all the little pieces of paper or whatever that fell. It does. It's God's house to me. And I clean up my own house. So certainly I want his house to be clean.

Rev. Michele Owes: So who you are or whatever you think your title is, again, in God's house, we're just servants. And the way that our founding pastor used to say it is there's Jesus and the rest of us.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: And we should always think of ourselves as the [00:19:00] rest of us. We are the people who he came to save. We don't want to be like the nobles who would not help build the wall when Nehemiah went back to build the wall.

Rev. Michele Owes: They said the nobles didn't put their hands to the work. They didn't do anything. Yet they benefited from the work of all the families who worked side by side to get the walls back up. According to the scripture, they didn't even take their clothes off except to wash them. They had their weapons in one hand and were working their ministry with the other.

Rev. Michele Owes: There are times when we have to come together and work hard, and then there are no nobles among us.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Alright.

Rev. Michele Owes: There should be no nobles among us at any time because we are all God's children, and there is Jesus and the rest of us. I also want to talk about the church being a safe place.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: We talked about the fact that [00:20:00] we can come to get solutions for life situations. Get the word of God to help us make decisions and solve problems. It is also where we can work our ministry, but it should also be a place. Where we feel safe and when I say safe, I don't necessarily mean, um, nobody's going to pull a gun or knife or anything of that nature.

Rev. Michele Owes: It does not. It does not preclude that. But I mean that our soul feels safe. That we are okay to be who God has created us to be, that we are free to receive the word and allow God to make changes in us without putting up a barrier to everything that is being heard without, um, I guess the best example I could use is if you've ever fed an infant before, [00:21:00] when, when they're hungry and you have them in your arms and you're feeding them, they will grab a hold of your hand. They will hold on tight because you’ve got nourishment, and they're hungry. But when they are full, and you come at them with that same bottle, they are slapping your hand, pushing the bottle away, trying to get out of your lap.

Rev. Michele Owes: They don't care about your nutrients because they don't want them. Sometimes we can be like that in the body of Christ. The word of God can be going forth, but because of where we are in our life situation or what we've become involved in, we can be slapping the hand of God away because it's different.

Rev. Michele Owes: That's the word. We just found a cute somebody, a wonderful manifestation of God's creative ability, and we like them. Then the word of God is telling us how we need to conduct ourselves with who we like, but it's not what we're planning. In the meantime, we might want to slap God's hand because it does not agree with what we want to do. [00:22:00]

Rev. Michele Owes: When my heart is right toward where I am, I'm in God's house, and Jesus is Lord. He's not just my Savior. I've accepted the opportunity to be saved, but now I need the chance to be cleansed and washed by the water of the Word.

Rev. Michele Owes: I won't reject his lordship as he leads and guides me into a new life. Most people don't have a problem with Jesus being the savior, but quite a few of us Have a problem with him being Lord. Lord means rulership. Lord means leader. Lord means he says what we do, and we do what he says.

Rev. Michele Owes: Lord does not mean I get to debate, argue, change my mind, or rearrange your instructions. Lord means just that. He lords over our lives. Yes. But he can only be Lord if we allow him.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: [00:23:00] As I think about the church being a safe place, pastors have a tremendous responsibility.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Pastors need to take that responsibility more seriously. I remember in the early days of the ministry, if we had somebody who was having a drug issue, my husband would tell those members to come to the church every day. We're going to take care of you. We'll find something for you to do. And many, many, many people have come to the church, volunteered to sweep the floor, clean the bathrooms, do anything. But while they were at the church, they were free from drugs. They were free from whatever struggle it was. I remember one of our members lost her husband. She was not a teacher, but my husband said you must be here. [00:24:00] He hired her because she had a profession she could teach about. She was educated and came into the church. She was one of the most prolific teachers we've had on staff. When she felt she was strong enough.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: 578 10 years. I don't know how long it was. She told my husband, I'm going to leave the ministry, now. I'm strong enough. I think I can go back out. Pastors, we have a responsibility to protect our members, not take advantage of them if they're in a weak state. So many people, we've had people that we've brought into our home who were in an abusive situation. And my husband said, come live with us for a while. You know, we have to go above and beyond. I know it's not popular doctrine now, perhaps. [00:25:00] Things like that cause the church to grow. People will get to the point where they know that they are safe. My husband taught a series called A Safe Place. In that series, he taught us that the safest place on earth is in the will of God. And prayerfully, wherever you are in your worship situation, you're in the will of God. If you're not feeling safe, feel content. If you're not feeling at peace, something is wrong spiritually, and you need to examine what that is and make a course correction.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. Yes. Amen

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: When you have pain in the natural realm, you will take action. If you have a headache, you're going to take something. If you're hurting someplace, you're going to deal with it. It's the same thing in the spiritual realm. If you lack [00:26:00] peace, something is wrong.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: You need medicine or a spiritual inoculation. I would like to see us take our spiritual lives as seriously as we take our natural lives because they are cancer-type situations in the spirit as well as in our natural bodies. So, like I said, this whole podcast, I just want to encourage us to think about where we are worshiping.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Think about what you're learning. Think about your relationship with God. Are you closer to the Lord now than you were before you joined that particular fellowship at church? If you lack peace, something is wrong with you. Don't ignore it because a lack of peace in the spiritual realm could really drive you crazy.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: So take [00:27:00] care of the natural, but you must also take care of the spiritual. And Jesus paid a big so that we can have peace, love, joy, and all the fruit of the spirit. Don't take lightly what I was saying.

Rev. Michele Owes: to that. That is an excellent note for us to end this podcast on. Our Christian lives are vital. It's the path for our future, and we don't want to suffer in silence if we are sitting somewhere where there is no growth or where we lack trust. If you are somewhere just because mom and daddy went there and that's the that's the family church, that's if you're somewhere because somebody you like goes there but you don't like it there now if you're if you are a wife and your husband has Selected the church.

Rev. Michele Owes: You all need to have a talk about it. You just don't [00:28:00] rise and go. It's a, it's a discussion, right?

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Right.

Rev. Michele Owes: if you are unencumbered and unentangled, rise and go cause you were free. But you, um, we talked about the fact that when we're in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church, The goal of that is so that you're able to find the word of God for yourself because a pastor is not always going to be available.

Rev. Michele Owes: A minister in the church is not always going to be available. But the whole goal is that you develop a relationship with Christ yourself, such that you can find his word, such that you can get on your knees and call out to him and allow him to give you the peace that passes all understanding in Christ Jesus.

Rev. Michele Owes: . And so the. Oh, is so that you develop such a relationship with Christ that you are complete in him that

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: realize that no matter what happens to you in this life, you can survive it because you have him. [00:29:00] You are not attached to a person, place, thing, title, money, situation, land, cars. You are attached to Christ.

Rev. Michele Owes: And so that is ultimately the goal so that we can be strengthened by might in our inner man by his Holy Spirit to do the work of the ministry. And, um, the scriptures tell us that, that as soldiers of the Lord, we should not be entangled in the affairs of this life, but we are so entangled with the affairs of this life.

Rev. Michele Owes: We forget that we're soldiers. And, you know, we are soldiers in the Lord's army, and when you go into the military, they take away everything from you that you used to have. You get a new haircut, you get new clothes, you get new shoes. They even give you underwear; they issue your underwear, t-shirts, and socks.

Rev. Michele Owes: You are now in the army. You move as a [00:30:00] unit, you walk as a unit, you march as a unit, you work together as a unit, and God does still allow you to wear your clothes, and he's not trying to cut your hair.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: right.

Rev. Michele Owes: But the goal is still the same, that we can be identified as Christ. When we see the military in their uniform, we know that's the military, and our uniform should be that we're clothed in Christ.

Rev. Michele Owes: People ought to know him when they know us. Amen. All right. Well, thank you so much for being with us on this podcast. We will be back with more exciting news and I hope you are enjoying five minutes for your day. It's just for you. All right. Say goodbye to our podcast family, Ms. Cherry.

Rev. Diana P. Cherry: God bless your family. Thank you for putting up with my voice today. Prayerfully, it will get better. Love you much. Be content, be [00:31:00] strong, be holy, be righteous, and you will be a very happy person.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen to that. Thank you, Miss Cherry, for working through and working along with us so that we could hear your incredible voice and your tremendous wisdom. All right. We love you. Bye.