Women's Bible Study - October 12th, 2022

October 12, 2022 · Natalie

Scripture referenced 10 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Genesis 3 Read aloud to illustrate how sin starts subtle through the serpent planting seeds of doubt with Eve

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden,
3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die,
5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves.
8 They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.
9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bear children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
18 It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
20 The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.
21 Yahweh God made coats of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
22 Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—”
23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

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Romans 1:21

Quoted to show how futile thinking and darkened hearts lead to being given over to sinful desires and exchanging truth for a lie

21 Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

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1 Corinthians 5

Referenced to explain handing someone over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so the spirit might be saved, and the warning that a little yeast leavens the whole batch

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.

2 You are puffed up, and didn’t rather mourn, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you.

3 For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing.

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5 are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?

7 Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.

8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;

10 yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world.

11 But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with such a person.

12 For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?

13 But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.”

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John 18

Referenced for the Pilate interrogation of Jesus and Pilate's question 'What is truth?'

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered.

2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.

3 Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were happening to him, went out, and said to them, “Who are you looking for?”

5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

6 When therefore he said to them, “I am he,” they went backward, and fell to the ground.

7 Again therefore he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,”

9 that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke, “Of those whom you have given me, I have lost none.”

10 Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

11 Jesus therefore said to Peter, “Put the sword into its sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?”

12 So the detachment, the commanding officer, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him,

13 and led him to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

14 Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should perish for the people.

15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest;

16 but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter.

17 Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, “Are you also one of this man’s disciples?” He said, “I am not.”

18 Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold. They were warming themselves. Peter was with them, standing and warming himself.

19 The high priest therefore asked Jesus about his disciples, and about his teaching.

20 Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret.

21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Behold, these know the things which I said.”

22 When he had said this, one of the officers standing by slapped Jesus with his hand, saying, “Do you answer the high priest like that?”

23 Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil; but if well, why do you beat me?”

24 Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, “You aren’t also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.”

26 One of the servants of the high priest, being a relative of him whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”

27 Peter therefore denied it again, and immediately the rooster crowed.

28 They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

29 Pilate therefore went out to them, and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”

30 They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.”

31 Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”

32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

34 Jesus answered him, “Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?”

35 Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”

36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”

37 Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

39 But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

40 Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

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John 8

Quoted: 'If you abide in my word and you are my disciple, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free'

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,

4 they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”

6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”

8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.

9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.

10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”

11 She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”

12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

14 Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

15 You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.

18 I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

19 They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

20 Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

22 The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come’?”

23 He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

24 I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

25 They said therefore to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

27 They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

28 Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.

29 He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.

35 A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.

36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

37 I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

38 I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”

39 They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

40 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.

41 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”

42 Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.

43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.

44 You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

45 But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.

46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”

48 Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”

49 Jesus answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.

50 But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”

52 Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is…

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Mark 5:13

Quoted as the salt of the earth passage to illustrate the purpose believers have in preserving, healing, and seasoning the world with truth

13 At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea.

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Matthew 28:19-20

Quoted as the Great Commission to go and make disciples, attributed as 'Mark twenty eight nineteen and twenty' in the transcript

19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

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Galatians 5:13

Quoted: 'You are called to freedom, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another'

13 For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.

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Titus 2

Referenced for the duty of older and more mature believers to teach and encourage younger and less mature ones

1 But say the things which fit sound doctrine,

2 that older men should be temperate, sensible, sober minded, sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance:

3 and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good;

4 that they may train the young wives to love their husbands, to love their children,

5 to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God’s word may not be blasphemed.

6 Likewise, exhort the younger men to be sober minded;

7 in all things showing yourself an example of good works; in your teaching showing integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility,

8 and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned; that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.

9 Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting;

10 not stealing, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things.

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

12 instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age;

13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ;

14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

15 Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you.

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Jeremiah

Referenced for the potter's house illustration of God molding and shaping clay as a picture of His relationship with us

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Natalie shared her personal testimony of a decade spent enslaved to perfectionism, eating disorders, and people pleasing, tracing how small, unchecked lies about her own worth quietly took over her life. She walked through how those lies are planted, how they grow, and what it actually looks like to fight back. Her talk was the final teaching in a multi-week women's study at First Baptist Jackson.

What was said

Natalie opened in Genesis 3, asking the room to listen for the lies in the story of Adam and Eve. She pointed out that the serpent did not begin with an outright falsehood. He started by casting doubt on something true: "Did God really say?" The core lie he planted was that God was withholding something good, and that by taking what was forbidden, Eve could become more like God. Natalie called this the enemy's version of "two truths and a lie," and said the same pattern plays out every day.

She then turned to Romans 1, which she said summed up her own twenties with uncomfortable precision. She had honored God with memorized prayers and Sunday attendance while her heart was entirely elsewhere. Because she was not rooted in truth, she built her own moral framework instead, and that framework gave sin room to grow quietly until it had taken over. She referenced 1 Corinthians 5 to explain why God sometimes allows people to reach rock bottom, noting that the pain of consequences can be the very thing that turns a person back to Him.

On the question of what truth actually is, Natalie contrasted "the truth" with "your truth." She used Pilate's exchange with Jesus in John 18 as the hinge point. Pilate asks "What is truth?" and then walks away without waiting for an answer, eventually releasing a murderer because the crowd preferred it. Natalie said that is what happens when comfort replaces conviction: whatever the majority finds easiest in the moment becomes the standard. She put it plainly: the truth requires change, while your truth allows you to stay the same.

Natalie then described her own lost decade in Dallas in concrete detail, from the renovated house and the designer handbags to the nights lying in bed with her heart palpitating, convinced she might not wake up. She was losing the fight in secret, attending church, even praying on her knees, but never genuinely surrendering anything. It was a friend named Narelle who first walked alongside her without judgment, and whose patient presence eventually created enough trust for truth to land. Later, a woman in her small group named Anna Kristen confessed her own struggle with bulimia, and that was the first moment Natalie told anyone.

From her twelve-step recovery experience, Natalie laid out six practical movements for fighting back against lies: name the lie, confess it and bring it into the light, commit to change one day at a time, replace what is removed with truth rather than leaving a void, pursue community, and serve others. She used the image of a pie chart of a typical day to illustrate how a person can see clearly what they are actually feeding themselves. She also quoted C. S. Lewis from "The Screwtape Letters" on the gradual slope toward destruction, and recalled her mentor's image of the frog in the slowly warming pot.

Her final point was that silencing lies is not only a personal matter. Using Mark's image of salt losing its saltiness, she argued that lies keep people focused inward, which is precisely what prevents them from doing anything useful for anyone else. She told the story of a recent Thursday night at high school ministry, where a leader named Andrea showed up exhausted and nearly burned out, then prayed with specific, unprompted detail over a struggling girl, leaving the whole room in tears. Natalie held that moment up as a picture of what becomes possible when someone stops believing the lie that their work is done and simply shows up obedient.

She closed with the passage from Jeremiah about the potter and the clay, pressing the room with the question of whether they were allowing God to shape them into something useful, or whether the little comfortable lies were doing their job of keeping them exactly where they were.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Natalie described sin as starting subtle, like the serpent planting a small seed of doubt in Eve's mind rather than making a bold frontal attack. What is a lie you once believed that started small and seemed reasonable at first?
Natalie drew a contrast between 'your truth' and 'the truth,' saying that the truth requires change while your truth allows you to stay the same. Where have you seen that play out, either in your own life or in what you observe around you?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Right.

She's going to introduce now.

There

you go. Thank you, Alyssa.

Charlene's ready. Good morning. Let's stand for worship today. If you're comfortable, if you need to sit, sit. However you wanna connect with the Lord today.

Would you just pray with me before we even sing a note? Lord, we just come before you. We tell you that you're worthy today. Yesterday, today, and forever, you are worthy of our time, of our praise, of our worship. We couldn't earn your love.

We can't deserve it. But, Lord, you've made us whole. You've made us righteous because of who you are. So in that, we stand before you today. We come boldly.

We tell you we love you. Abba, father, we love you. Do in us today what you would like to do. We give you permission today. Just with your eyes closed, just before we even start to sing, just fix your eyes on him.

Just tell him, I give you permission, Lord, today to change me. Just give him permission. Don't be in a hurry just with your eyes closed, just fix your eyes, your heart on him. So I'm here to meet with you.

I need you today. You. Your mercy's anew today, God. Running after me. All my life, yeah.

All my life, you have been faithful.

Let's just sing this to him. Lift your voice.

God. Yes,

Lord, we will. We could sing from this moment till we see you face to face and it would never be enough to thank you, to sing of what you've done.

Yes, lord. We just praise you and

we thank you. We don't wanna just come and go through the motions and sing some words, God. We wanna meet and encounter you because that's where we're changed. Forgive us, lord, where we've gone through the motions. We've all done it.

Let us fix our eyes and our heart on you today, again, again, again, every day. Remind ourselves that we can't even breathe without you. Yes. Sing this together all my life.

Just

think about that.

My name is

Just tell them, Lord, I put my hope in you and you alone. There's nothing else that can satisfy me. There's nothing else. We thank you for your great plan from the very beginning, And we were lost without you and you came for us, each and every one of us. And I love this song because it's a whole gospel from start to finish of what you've done for us.

My favorite line in this whole song is, and the cross has spoken. I am forgiven. Thank you. Maybe there's someone in this room that just needs to remind themselves that the cross has spoken, that what he did on the cross for you is complete, it's done, it is finished. Just receive it today.

Every day there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ my Jesus Christ my living hope.

Yes, you are. Just pray with me. Lord Jesus, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for what you long to do in us even today, this moment, right now. Tell you thank you and we love you.

We give you all the praise for today, yesterday, today, and forever. We put our future in your hands today. Make a new wine out of us today. That's our prayer. Get rid of those old wineskins of ways of thinking, patterns of even just good things yesterday.

If it's not what you have for us today, Lord, empty it out and make a new wine in us today. That's our prayer. In Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Whoo.

Wow. Don't you wish we could start our morning every day with them? Thank you, Lissa, Renee, and Christine. Whoo. Thank you.

Yeah. Whoo. Alright. Yes. Thank you.

Okay. So we have a few announcements. Please take note, we do not have two more weeks. We have one more week. We're finishing next week just because so many people are leaving.

So next week, your small group leader, and this is new to them, we'll pass around a sign up sheet just to bring like a little fruit or pastry, no big deal. We just we're gonna have a teaching and then we're gonna have a big small group for our closing. Okay? So next week is our last week. Also to put on your calendar, we are hoping do you remember how we always did the Christmas luncheon which is an outreach?

We encourage everyone to invite a friend who doesn't go to church or a friend who's maybe fallen away. And in the past years, we've done it in the Snow King Ballroom. We're looking into that and hopefully it will be Wednesday, December 7. You will be getting more information about that. If we don't do it there, we'll find another place and we'll let you know.

Okay? Also, we have a sign up sheet. Natalie, is that she being passed it it's here? It's here. Okay.

Sign up sheet for we've had a lot of requests to continue on. So we're going to offer a once a week something, Bible study, prayer, inspirational. But Natalie or or I will be probably here once a week and we'll be sending you the details for that starting in November. Okay. And we'll pass this around for those who are interested.

And also, we're passing around a sign up sheet for those who would like to volunteer for events like the Christmas luncheon and for those of you who attended the IFTTH conference last year? Amazing, wasn't it? Really, the best speakers in America will be speaking at the IFTTT Conference, and we show it on big screens here. The IFTTT Conference just announced they're going to be having their conference again March 3 and March 4. So if you would like to help with that event, please sign up for that.

And we do need a point person, because Natalie and I are spread a little thin. So if you're interested, us know. Okay? But most importantly, the most important announcement is it is with so much pleasure. We have a great surprise for you today.

Beautiful Natalie is going to be teaching. And Natalie has, been in the valley with her husband Brad since 2019. They have two beautiful babies, Jack and Abby. And Natalie has just a hunger for God's word, a hunger for this valley, and just loves the Lord. And I think you're gonna be very blessed this morning.

So will you welcome Natalie? Thank

you, Deborah. Oh, is this working? We have to do a little adjustment. Okay. Can you guys hear me okay?

Okay. Perfect. Hi. I'm Natalie. I'm recovering from perfectionism and people pleasing, which trapped me in a decade of anorexia, bulimia, and sexual promiscuity.

Okay. So, you guys probably haven't been in a recovery group before because the appropriate response is, hi, Natalie. Hey. It's funny, but it's true. I went to recovery in 2014 for anorexia and bulimia, people pleasing, perfectionism, all the things I just listed.

And I lived in recovery. I still consider myself to be living in recovery. More about that throughout my story here. Oh, thanks, Nick. I was, you know, a little bit tinfoil happening.

Okay. Perfect. So sorry. I think it's maybe I just need to readjust this a little bit. There we go.

Bear with me. I think that's good. It was just like tin can happening. Okay. Anyways, derailed me.

But I'm I'm living in constant recovery, and you'll hear more about that through my story today. You probably thought we were here to talk about lies this morning, and I'm here to tell you that it was all these little lies left unchecked that led to my destruction. I'm living proof. See, I just started believing lies about myself as a child that I wasn't beautiful, that I wasn't worthy unless I did something to earn praise. You all even have loving parents, and I was raised in a modern or sorry, modest midwestern home, a completely sufficient upbringing, two loving parents, but what went wrong?

Sin starts so subtle. Today, we're gonna unpack the disinformation of all these little lies. My first point that sin starts subtle. It all started in Genesis three. Rewind.

I don't have a handout for you guys that's, you know, point one, two, three, four, but that's your first point. So I'll try to call those out so you can write them down. Point one, s s s, sin starts subtle. It all started in Genesis three and you probably are all familiar with Adam and Eve, regardless of whether you've grown up in the church. But I wanna reread this story to you and I want you to listen for the lies.

It all started with planting seeds of doubt. The fall. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say you must not eat the tree from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it for you will die.

You will certainly not die, the serpent says to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. We'll stop right there. That's the lie. It wasn't in your face. It was started with questioning something that was true.

There is a tree. It makes beautiful fruit. Fruit is nourishing. Fruit is sweet. Why can't I have this apple?

God says I'll die. He says, you're not gonna die. It's just that God knows that you'll become God like, and that's only for himself. See, God's withholding something from you. He doesn't want you to have what he has or what he sees.

God is withholding something good from me. Don't you see that? Eve, you just take a little bite. It goes on to say that Eve did indeed take a bite, and you know what happened? She didn't die.

So you know you know who she offers the fruit to? You know, Adam, and Adam eats the fruit. See what else happened right there? It was hard for Adam to stand up and say no because he saw the one claim, you eat this and you will die. He saw that that wasn't exactly true in the way that he comprehended it.

So he's like, okay. That makes sense. But now it's two against one. So now it's the serpent and his beautiful wife, Eve, saying, come on, Adam. Just take a little bite.

It's not so bad. Right? So now he's going against the grain if he says no. And they'll say, Adam, or why are you so full? Oh, Adam, you're just believing God.

Right? What does that sound like today? We're gonna unpack that some more too. It's the craftiness of the serpent appealing to our emotion, planting seeds of doubt, and the lie they believed is God is withholding something from you, Eve, from you ladies. Have you heard of the game two truths and a lie?

This is how the enemy plays us every single day. We'll start with something that might be true. You overslept today. You're not where you wanna be in life. You're worthless.

Or how about something for the millennials, something that's rampant in our schools and our communities today. You love your best friend. Your best friend is beautiful, you must be attracted to her. That's what it is. Are you sure God said not to eat that apple?

The apple looks delicious, food is good for your body. God must be withholding something from you. When we aren't rooted in a foundation of truth, we start questioning to make sense of our own truth. Throughout human history, this pattern is repeated. Fast forward to Paul's letter to the Romans.

This exactly summed up my story in my twenties. Romans one twenty one starts, for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. Therefore, God them gave God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts.

Then the kicker, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. You see, I honored God with my lips. I recited all the prayers I had memorized in catechism, memorized as a child. I went to mass on Sundays, but my heart was not his. He gave me over to my sinful desires because I wasn't armed with the truth, rather I live by my own moral construct, and that gave birth to sin sneakily, which eventually robbed me of everything.

But in his mercy, he allowed me to suffer to the point that I hit rock bottom so that I could be saved. In first Corinthians five, Paul is addressing a case of sexual immorality in the church. He instructs them to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit might be saved on the day of the Lord. In other words, we've done everything we can. We've told him the truth.

We've confronted him. He's just deaf to it, God. We don't know what else to do. And he says, that's alright. Hand him over.

Let him taste the consequences of sin, and when he's hurting, he'll come to me. In his kindness, sometimes that's what God has to do. Then that verse goes on to say, don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Even believing one little lie can corrupt you and prevent you from living a holy or set apart life. It's sneaky, it's subtle, and just a sprinkle of it can grow to overtake everything.

Which brings me to my next point. Number two, what is the truth? A few weeks ago, Deborah referenced George Orwell's nineteen eighty four, which I loved. I hadn't heard this in this context before. The boy Winston is interrogated and made to believe that two plus two did not equal four.

The purpose of this exercise was to make him comfortable living a lie. Do you know what Urban Dictionary is? It's online, you Google, you can put in all the hip phrases that kids those the kids use today, and you can understand what they're trying to say, but it's crowdsourced. That means the most liked definition becomes the definition. Per urban dictionary, your truth is defined by subjective experiences, opinions, feelings that are universally and binding reality while undermining the idea of shared common facts, effectively turning truth relative.

This is a theme we've been talking about all throughout this study. Your truth becomes relative truth. Relative truth isn't a new concept. It's been present throughout time. Deborah mentioned in the story of Pilate in John 18 through the last two sessions, how Pilate is standing up kind of trying to interrogate Jesus and find out what he's really up to and says like, I find no fault.

Like, this man seems innocent to me. Right? He's claiming he's the king of the Jews. Who am I to say that he's not? But this is where we left off.

Jesus responds that his kingdom was not of this world. I think that's where we left off last week. But then Jesus says, the reason I was born and came into this world is to testify, what? The truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

And do you know what Pilate says? What is truth? With this, he went out again to the Jews, and he gathered there and said, I find no basis for this charge against him, but it's your custom for me to release one prisoner at the time of Passover. Do you want me to release the king of the Jews? And they shouted back, no.

Not him. Give us Barbarus. Who is Barbarus? He was a murderer. Jesus made them so uncomfortable that they were willing to compromise and set the murderer free in the streets.

Right? That's what happens when you don't have a foundation of truth. Whatever the majority says is true becomes truth. We live in a generation that lets the majority rule. Your truth is always gonna seek what's most comfortable in the moment.

You see, the truth, Jesus requires change. Your truth allows you to stay the same. I'll say that again. The truth requires change. Your truth allows you to stay the same.

The truth requires submission to lay down, to repent, to follow him. John eight says, if you abide in my word and you are my disciple, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Let me give you an example. If your husband tells you, you're the most beautiful woman in the whole world, do you believe him? It sounds really sweet, and you all are all very beautiful.

Don't get me wrong. But it's probably not true. Right? Like, I'm thinking like Giselle, like, really? The problem is it's relative.

What is so powerful though, I bet, is when your husband says, I love you. And you know why that's powerful? Because it's true. Because he probably does love you more than anyone else in the world. Truth is powerful because it's true.

You see, our generation would rather be puffed up than set free. We would rather seek to be the most beautiful, powerful, successful, whatever makes us feel most godlike, just like Eve. I want that knowledge. I want that power. I want that beauty.

We'd rather feel most godlike than to be fully known and loved by God. Why did they choose Barbarus? Tell me what this sounds like. He was a robber. He came to steal.

He was a murderer. He came to kill. He was a rebel. He came to destroy. Steal, kill, and destroy.

Don't choose barbarous because it's more comfortable in the moment. Choose Jesus. It's gonna require a lot of you. You'll have to change. You'll have to stand up for it.

You'll have to be Adam and say no to his beautiful wife and the serpent and not fall for it. The truth sounds like hate to people who hate the truth. The truth sounds like hate to people who hate the truth. So what do we do? Point number three, we have to fight back.

Fight the lies. You see the truth is our truth is fed by lies. Our weapon to fight back this war starts with naming the lie. Think about that. What lies do you believe about yourself?

When did you start believing them? My lie started with lots of tiny comments from well intentioned parents and continued through peer pressures as a teen that painted a picture of performance based acceptance. It was a kindling for a fire fueled by perfectionism that started in college. I lived for approval from my parents, my teachers, my coaches, and eventually my bosses, and from men romantically. I pursued acceptance and everything in the world, that the world told me would make me happy.

Beauty, success, money, material things. At the age of 25, on the outside, my goal was to be the woman that every woman wanted to be, and the woman that every man desired. I say that like not in humility. Like that was my mentality as a 25 old. I was on a power trip and I was there to like conquer Dallas.

I pursued everything. I had an impressive career and on the outside you wouldn't have known any different. You would have thought, that's a lovely, beautiful, skinny, successful girl. Wow. She has so much going for her.

I bought my own house in Dallas. I renovated it to perfection because I didn't have a husband to say, are you sure we should be spending money on this? I spent all the money I wanted on anything I wanted and made everything look as beautiful as I possibly could. I wore all the finest brands of clothes. I carried the fanciest handbags, which are now all collecting dust in my closet.

I was thin and blonde and beautiful, but on the inside, I was secretly wasting away. I was enslaved to an eating disorder. I was completely numb, and I was recklessly pursuing men to fill the empty void. I figured that the emptiness was probably because of my perpetual singleness, but quite frankly, I'd lost faith in marriage because my parents had just gotten divorced after thirty years, and I wasn't really sure I was ready to have kids because of the career. And I kind of thought that's the reason why you get married.

Right? I guess it's when you wanna have kids, just settle down and find the one. I was so jaded. I was enslaved to bulimia, to money, and to men, but nobody knew. I bought the lies and eventually they took control.

I was warming the pew of a Catholic church every Sunday, all the while begging God to fix me, but never offering him anything more than rehearsed prayer and my presence for an hour on Sunday morning. Sometimes, I would even get down on my knees beside my bed at night and pray for him to take it away. When you're a bulimic, there's a high risk of heart attacks. And there was there were nights I laid in bed with my heart just racing and palpitating. And I was like, I'm sure this is it.

Probably not gonna wake up tomorrow. Is anyone even gonna find me? Like who's gonna know to call? I only talk to my parents like every week or two and maybe they'll maybe they'll notice I'm not there at work. I was scared and I begged him to take it away.

Yet I still never pursued him or gave him any part of my life. I refer to this stage in my life as the lost decade. It was completely useless except for the fact that it drove me to rock bottom. Do you know why community is so powerful and important? Because letting other godly women into your life will expose the blind spots and give you courage to do what you cannot do on your own.

In 2012, a woman named Narelle saw me struggling. She was a good friend and she and her husband invited me to her church, which was not the Catholic church. It was an evangelical church in Downtown Dallas with everyone from the owner of the biggest real estate agency in town to the homeless guy that just got out of jail. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. I heard truth there in a different way.

She watched me spiral still and chase men and sometimes drink to oblivion on the weekends, but she walked with me and loved me and earned my trust. And in June 2013, she had the courage to speak truth. She encouraged me one night to stop chasing whatever I was trying to catch and to start praying for it. So that night, I made a promise to God. I would stop drinking, I would cut off men, and I tried as much as I could to white knuckle my way out from under bulimia, a secret that she still didn't know about, and I started praying sincerely for healing in a husband.

Two months later, God began to answer that prayer. A man named Brad, who is now my husband, had also started seeking the truth instead of his own truth. We started dating for the second time of three, which is another story. And he encouraged me to do the same thing, to start reading the Bible, to attend church with him, and to get into a community group with other women. So I did.

The night he told me he loved me, I knew I had to let him know that he fell in love with a sham. It was all a facade. Nothing was as it seemed on the outside. I was broken, I was unlovable, and I had done things I was too ashamed to tell him. But because he chose to forgive it all and continue to love and pursue me, I was able to first comprehend the love of Jesus, and it forever changed me.

A couple months later, in January 2014, a woman in my small group named Anna Kristen had the courage to confess her own bulimia, and that was the first time I confessed mine. She was the first person I ever told, and it was because of her courage, to let me in on her struggle. And that's when I began the process of repentance. I brought it all to light. I dove into recovery, and I started to fight back twenty four hours at a time, literally on my knees, asking for the daily bread.

I still have to wage war in my mind against those same lies that robbed me. When things get tough, that's where my mind goes. Through a new marriage and the birth of my two children, I completed a year long recovery program and then dove back into leading recovery groups. I submerged myself in truth, community, and serving because if I knew I didn't, I could easily become enslaved again. When we moved to Jackson, there was not a recovery program to dive back in and lead.

But still today, I fight back by sharing my story with other women and teenage girls. So how do we silence the lies? First, we have to search ourself and determine what we are following, what narrative is guiding our decisions. I, printed off a handout for you guys, and it's actually the summary of my 12 step recovery that was on the inside of one of my recovery books. And we memorized all of this scripture, and we went through these steps step by step.

Some of the steps were short, like a couple weeks. Some of them were long, like multiple months. But it was a twelve month process to get through all 12 of those steps. I'm gonna share sort of a snippet of what that looks like, and keep in mind, I just wanted that to be a resource or a guide because of my recovery story. I think it's so fascinating, and I think it's so practical for anything you're struggling with.

The recovery program I went to is based on Celebrate Recovery, but it was a twist on it. And it said, all sin is equal, basically, so you're not separated by, here's the alcoholics, here's the ladies with eating disorder. And they also didn't say it's just for addicts. They called it hurts, habits, and hang ups. And I bet each one of you has either a hurt, habit, or a hang up.

K? You might not be full fledged addicted to something, but there is something inside of you that probably needs to be worked on. So I just wanted to share that resource. But here's my summary. Number one, we gotta name it.

Name the lie. Number two, we have to confess it. We have to bring that lie to light. And God tells us, sin grows in the darkness. But if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

And the prayer of many, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful. So confessing it and letting your friends pray for you is key. Number three, commit to change or repent. This was my twenty four hours on my knees daily bread, kneading the manna like day to day. I know we've talked about that a couple times, but I that was one of the things that stuck out to me most in recovery.

The guy that led our recovery program was a recovering alcoholic, and he carried around this penny. And when he was going through recovery, his AA sponsor gave him a penny every single day that he maintained sobriety. And he's like, that's literally what you have to do. Like, you don't think about when you're gonna have a $100. You just think about getting one more penny each day, and it's literally twenty four hours.

Today, tomorrow, the next day. Before you know it, you string together a week, a month, a couple months. And before you know it, God's changed your heart and you're not struggling with those things and having to get on your knees every single day just to make it through, just to not assemble, to not purge, to not give in to that. Number four, what are you feeding yourself? You have to replace the lies with truth.

If you remove one lie and you don't fill that space with truth, another lie it's gonna take its place. It's like whack a mole. It is so classic in recovery circles for, you know, the eating disorder. Okay. I I nailed that, but now I'm doing self harm, or now I'm addicted to pornography, or now I'm having an affair with, like, this Mary got something like that.

It's always the sin creeps into other areas of your life if you don't replace that void with something true. So I go to this pie chart. The girls that I lead, the young adults, I say make a pie chart of your day, and I want you to just divide up how you spend your time each day. Okay? Working, working out, cooking, time on your phone, when you're on your phone, what are you listening to, how much are you reading, what are you reading, And you make this pie chart of your day, and then you begin to see like what gets your time and what you're filling yourself with.

And if it's not truth, if there's not at least some time carved out to say, oh, on my hikes, I'm listening to a podcast that's filled with truth. When I'm driving, I'm listening to a radio that's praise and worship. I mean, I cleaned house. Everything had to change for me to change. Number five is community.

I've already kind of told you the community story, but we when we moved to Jackson, we prayed for two things, community and people disciple us. And I think I don't know where I saw Jenny back here a little while ago. But Jenny, is around, maybe she took the little babies downstairs. Jenny is one of the couples in my community group, and Catherine, who's way in the back over there, she and her husband are one of the couples in our community group. And we meet the guys meet weekly.

The girls meet probably every other week or little less than that, sometimes depending on schedule. But we confess. We pray for one another. We talk about what we're reading. We encourage one another.

Y'all were not meant to do life alone. God designed community for a purpose. He designed the body of Christ to all have different parts for a purpose, and you're missing out if you're just going at it alone. And number six is serve. It's hard to focus on yourself when you're busy loving and serving others.

So if you're struggling, get busy doing something for someone else, and all of a sudden, your problems will seem less important. And they're not gonna go away, but just taking your eyes off yourself is a great way to stop kind of the spiral, the downward spiral. Your sin might not be so big and obvious as mine had become, but there's hundreds of little lies that can lead us astray. It just takes an ounce of questioning like the serpent so craftily post. Did God really mean that?

C. S. Lewis wrote a brilliant book called The Screwtape Letters. It's from the point of view of a devil who's coaching his inexperienced nephew on how to best tempt humans into sin. Quote from the book, It doesn't matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from light and out into nothing.

Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one. The gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. The first time I told my story to one of my mentors in Dallas, she said, you were the frog in the boiling pot. Have you ever heard that analogy?

I haven't actually tried this. I've heard it's actually not true for some reason, but it sounds great. So if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out. It's like, that is not safe, not for me, I will die. But if you put a frog in a lukewarm pot of water and slowly turn up the temperature, he'll cook himself to death.

He won't have the awareness that the temperature continues to change. And that's what happens with sin. We're like, it's just a little bit. That didn't feel so bad. It's just a little bit more.

It's just a little warmer, a little warmer. And all of a sudden, you find yourself bulimic and sleeping around. I never intended for my life to go that way. It just slowly, subtly took root. The biggest issue with living our own truth and feeding ourselves with these little lies is that we fail to become who God intends for us to be, which brings me to my last point.

Four, silencing the lies activates us. You see, the problem with these little lies is that they keep us focused on ourselves, just like in screw tape letters. This is exactly what he's trying to do. It's such a good book. You have to read it if you haven't read it It's so eye opening like, that's what he's up to.

That's why this is not so obvious. Mark five thirteen says, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Do you know what the purpose of salt is? I'll tell you three things that salt has been used for throughout time.

One, rewind to Jesus era. There's probably not refrigeration. I'm pretty sure there's not refrigeration systems. So when the man goes out and kills, you know, the elk or the antelope, in order to preserve the meat, they like cut out, you know, the straps of it and then they douse it in salt to preserve the meat, to prevent it from decaying so that they can save it and eat it throughout the winter. So the first purpose of salt is preservation.

To preserve the word of God, the truth, and to prevent decay in a wasting world. The second use for salt, it's been used for centuries to heal, to clean wounds, and to prevent infection from spreading. And the third is to season, to enhance the flavor. I love to cook with salt, but too much can ruin a good dish. If you're not rooted in truth, how can you preserve it?

If you've not witnessed its healing power, how can you be an agent? If you've not tasted and seen how much the truth can seize in your life, or lived in community, or gotten plugged in to an awesome church, you're settling for a really bland meal. The great commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor, but the great commission is to go and make disciples. We must first be a disciple to learn what it means to live fully surrendered to God, then we must go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything God has commanded. That's Mark twenty eight nineteen and twenty.

Our greatest calling is to go make disciples, yet so few of us do. We're pretty good at making disciples of our own agendas, aren't we? Support my nonprofit. Rally behind my politics. Save the bears and the moose, mother earth.

But what about making disciples of Jesus? Do you know what a disciple is? It's an apprentice. Discipleship says, follow me as I follow Christ. Do you know why I'm up here teaching today?

I didn't volunteer. I didn't ask Deborah to do this also. It's because Deborah disciples me. I follow her, and I learned just how she follows Jesus. Last summer, she called me one day and said, honey girl, I've just felt God leading me to do this.

I really want to teach you how to teach. And when you're praying, yielded to the spirit saying, God, how do you wanna use me? And your mentor calls you and says, I'm gonna teach you how to teach. You say, yes. Okay.

I will try that. If God tells us our purpose is to go and make disciples, that means we should all be being discipled, and we should all be discipling others. Tim or Titus two outlines the duty of older women and more mature believers and their duty to teach and encourage the younger and less mature ones. It's one up, one down at least. Deborah, of course, is one of the women in my life who disciples me, and Catherine, right there in the back, she's one that I've been discipling for a couple years.

It's really sweet. If you aren't involved in a discipling relationship, you should start praying about it, and I bet God would love to answer that prayer. Can you imagine if we arrived in heaven and God was like, you were so close. You're here. Right?

Like you're saved. You prayed that prayer years ago. I got you. But if you'd just if you'd untightened your grip on your finances and stopped trusting in financial security, you'd have witnessed such an incredible display of my work through your generosity. If you just carved out one hour a week to pour into someone, you would have witnessed incredible transformation and fulfillment.

If you just prayed for some opportunities and made your time and resources available, I had so many plans to work through you. But he bought the lies, and you stayed focused on yourself. Perfecting your body, your career, your home, your kids. He wants us to enjoy all of these things, but only second to him. He wants us to use our love of fitness to the friend ladies in the gym or on a trail and share with what with him what he has done in our lives.

All you guys need is the word of God in your story, and you are ready to go share the truth. You don't have to go to seminary. You don't have to know how to stand up here and teach. Your testimony is the most powerful thing that you have. All you need to do is share it and see what he does.

He wants to use our professions so he can enter the workplace and change hearts. He wants our homes to be safe havens that we use to gather with other believers and encourage one another or invite in the non believers and encourage them too. God doesn't need us to advance his gospel, but he wants to give us the joy and satisfaction of taking part of it. For you are called to freedom, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. That's Galatians five thirteen.

If you've ever witnessed God moving through you to reach others, you know how much this can build your faith and bring you deep satisfaction and joy because you know you are doing his well. Last week, something really incredible happened at high school ministry. We had 29 students packed in at Tribe. Mike Demetrius told his testimony, which is incredible, But then something really special happened. We broke out into small groups, and the group of my senior girls that I've been running with for a couple years now, they have a friend that's really struggling.

They brought her in last spring. They saw her hurting, and they said, come with us. And part of her struggle was part of my struggle. So they said, come talk to our friend. She's been in your shoes.

And at the end of our small group time, one of the other leaders, several of you probably know her, Andrea Largie, had popped in. She wasn't supposed to be at high school ministry. She actually told me she's a first year teacher at JES, and she's like, Natalie, I'm just gonna be so swamped this fall. And she already does middle school ministry. I'm like, I know you, like, don't have to commit, but maybe make a guest appearance.

And she's like, okay. I'll do one guest appearance. And there's one girl that I knew would show up if she was there because they're really close. One of Casey's daughters. I'm like, okay.

If Drea comes, oh, okay. So they're gonna come. So they show up, and we're sitting in this small circle, and Andrea at the end, she has no idea, like, what's going on with this girl who's just kinda come into this group in the last couple of months. And she said looks over to this girl and says, can I pray over you? And she's this girl looks at me like, what have you told her?

And I'm like, no. Nothing. Like, yes. She should pray over you. And Andrea begins to pray for all of the specific things that this girl is struggling with.

And then she says, like, this thing in your life, God sees it, and he wants to heal it, and he loves you, and you're beautiful. This other thing in your life, God sees that too. And just just be patient. He's working on it. And she went down this list of things she was struggling with.

And I look up and there's tears. Every single girl in that room is crying. The one that had been hurting the most, the one who had all this stuff going on, she said, I haven't cried tears in almost a year. I've been too numb. I can't believe, like, I'm actually shedding a tear right now, but can you explain to me what just happened?

Who told you all of this? And Andrea is like, nobody told me. No. I didn't know. Natalie and I don't talk regularly about this stuff.

There's no possible way. Then the girls on the couch are like, what did we just, what is going on here? And I was like, girls, this is the Holy Spirit. Andrea didn't have to show up last week. She was probably so busy and so tired.

She's like, okay. I'm gonna be there. And you know what? Andrea started crying because she's been coaching soccer for several years because she think she used that as a ministry as well to start to get to know some of these girls and love on them. And she said, starts crying, I've been believing the lie that my job here is done.

I was ready to throw in the towel. I've said, why do I keep coaching soccer? This is such a drain, and I don't see anything happening. Like, I've known these girls forever now. They don't need me anymore.

There's no change I'm gonna affect in the next couple years before they graduate. But God used Andrea's obedience to say, okay, God, you can have my Thursday night. I'm so exhausted. It's the end of the week, but I'll go and I'll sit. And then she listened to him in that prompting, and she's like, alright.

I'm just gonna let it flow. And there's actually, the one of the verses that we used the last week in group was about the Samaritan woman, and Mike opened with this Samaritan woman going to the well and Jesus saying like, if like, I will provide the drink, like, thirst no more when you drink from me. But the end of that same passage, do you know what it says? So the Samaritan woman, Jesus sits with her and he's like, yeah. I know you don't have a husband.

Yeah, I know you're a prostitute. Yeah, I know all these things that you've done. I love you girl. And she runs back to her town and she's like, come and meet the man who told me everything I've ever done. She couldn't believe it.

How would you know all of that about me? He must be the son of God. That was the closing. I'm like, this is what we opened with was this passage about the woman coming to the well, and then we closed with Andrea telling you everything you had ever done, and it built all of their faith. I was getting text messages all night like, oh my gosh.

That was literally God like speaking through Andrea. And I'm like, yes, it was. But you know what else is really cool? Those high school girls had a part to do with it too. Because they've been real comfortable sitting on my couch for three years.

Like, oh, just us. Don't let anyone else in. That could be what if this one girl comes? She's kinda weird. That would be awkward.

And so I was like, let's let's make it bigger. Are you okay? Can you give me the next eight weeks to make it bigger and see what happens? And they were like, yes. We can do that.

And you know what? These girls have favor in the high school because they're seniors, so they're older. And they're what they refer to themselves as Switzerland. They're like the neutral party. We get along with these people.

We get invited to the parties. We have anyone can sit at our table, whatever. So God uses the neutral party, the leaders to say, okay. Come on in. Come join us.

And they were so nervous. They were like, this can be weird. Or people are gonna think we're weird if we talk about this at school. But when 29 showed up, they were like, did you see? That guy was here.

Wait. And that guy was here too. We're not the only ones. And it built their confidence because all of a sudden, they're not the only one saying this is truth. Now, they have an ally.

They might not be best friends, but they can look across the room and be like, hey, I know that I know what he does on the weekends. It's not perfect, but I know that he at least is curious. He can be my ally, and she can be my ally too. So I wanna leave you with this while Lyssa comes back up. In the book of Jeremiah, God instructs Jeremiah to go to a potter's house where he illustrates his relationship with Israel and with us.

I went down to the potter's house and I saw him working at the wheel, but the pot he was shaping from clay was marred in his hands. So the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him. Then the Lord declared, like clay in the hands of the potter, so you are in my hand. Are you allowing God to mold and shape your life? Are you willing to make yourself usable for his purposes?

Or are all the little lies doing their job at keeping you comfortable and quiet right where you are? God, thank you for this time. Thank you for the words, your word, the truth. And thank you, God, for giving us stories and experiences like Andrea last Thursday night to witness your power, God. Lord, I pray if there's a woman in this room who has not seen you in action, I just pray that you show yourself to her.

Because nothing builds our face faith more. We're a tangible tangible humans. We we we relate to one another on such a physical level, and God, when we can see and feel you physically, nothing builds our faith more. So I pray that these ladies would witness your presence this week and in the weeks to come. And God, I pray that if there's anyone holding something back, that they would feel the courage to confess it in their small groups.

And God, if there's not something big to confess, I pray that you just open up their hearts and their eyes to the little lies. Help them name those lies God, so they can stop living in them, and they can start living for you. We love you so much, God. Amen. Thank you so much, Natalie.

I just wanna add this prayer. Lord, let what we heard today and Natalie's courage and what she's been through in her testimony change us. Your word says that the enemy is defeated by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. Those two things are so powerful. Lord, just let Natalie's words today change us.

Let us go here and ask. Just really ask you, lord, what are you speaking to me through that testimony? Because it's powerful. Who you are is powerful. I just ask that you would do something new in us.

In Jesus name. We're just going to stay in this attitude of worship for just a couple more minutes and Natalie asked me if I would play this song and I just love it so much And just think about her testimony and just think about what you've been through and what the Lord could want to do through you. If there's still some hurts, habits, or hang ups that he needs to do a mighty work in you, all you have to do is give it to him.

God, I came here with nothing, but all you have given me. And Jesus, bring new wine out of me.

That's our prayer. Just use us

in the crushing and in the pressing. You are making new wine. And in the soil, now I surrender. You are breaking new ground. Yes, you are.

You are breaking new ground. And so I yield to you and to your careful hands. And I'll trust you. I don't need to understand. Lord, you make me your vessel and make me an offering.

Make me whatever you want me to be. God, I came here with nothing, but all that you have given me. Make me your vessel. Make me an offering. Make me whatever you want me to be.

God, I came here with nothing. But all that you have given me, Jesus, bring new wine out of me. Jesus, bring new wine of me.

Oh Lord, that's our prayer as we go into our small group time. Let us be real. Let us be vulnerable. Maybe there's something we need to share today that will bring someone else freedom. Let us just lay down our pride and take off our masks and all the pride and just things that we think no one could love us if they really saw.

Lord, we just, there's such freedom when we just surrender to you and we just say this is who I am. I came here with nothing. But all that you have given me. We just thank you for today. We thank you for Natalie's testimony.

And we thank you that it's gonna yield much fruit because of who you are. Make new wine out of us today no matter how young or how old. Lord, you have more for us. We have breath in our lungs. We give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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Discipleship Eating Disorder Recovery Lies We Believe People Pleasing Testimony Truth Vs Relative Truth

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