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We didn't get all that on there? Fabulous. All right, there we go. Let's make sure we're on the right page this time. Let's just make sure. Would you have noticed had I not mentioned it? No. I'm glad I asked.
Me too. There's already four people on here. Sorry y 'all. Okay, we're running behind. We've been chit-chatting and Pastor Ben's come down and spoken and then Mercedes had us on the wrong Whitney page.
That's okay. We're here now. So I want to welcome everybody to our Bible study tonight. I'm Vicki and you all remember Mercedes. Tonight we have Miss Jenny Stade with us. She has been a member of Whitten for many years.
About as long as Pastor Jeff. I think, yeah, she said that she started coming right after Pastor Jeff came. So she was here when I got here. We all know she was here when Mercedes got here. So Miss Jenny, I want to thank you for...
I didn't know that. Miss Jenny, I want to thank you again for coming tonight and taking the time out to study with Mercedes and myself. I would have to say that we sometimes are not the easiest two people to study with because I forget words and she goes haywire sometimes and goes to 15 ,000 directions.
So you'll just have to deal with us as best as you can. So Miss Jenny, tonight what is the verse that you have chosen or is it your go-to verse? I'd say it's my go-to verse and it's Romans 14 11. Mercedes, will you read the scripture please?
For it is written, as I live says the Lord, every knee will bow to me and every tongue will give praise to God. Miss Jenny, why is this your go-to verse? It just makes me proud. To know that one day every knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess.
Don't matter who they are. So it's kind of your just you wait. Yeah. Yeah sort of. You're gonna get your slice of cake. That's right. That's about it. But I mean that's the first thing I think of. Right.
Your time's coming. Yeah exactly. Just wait one of these days and it doesn't look like it's gonna be long. No ma 'am it don't. Sure don't. Every day that goes by it seems like we're creeping up just a little bit closer.
Yep. And I'll be honest with you, I'm excited. I am too. I'm really excited because knowing that we're approaching that day, although the days sometimes do get harder. Yep. Still knowing what's on the other side of the finish line.
Exactly. I always thought and I you know I don't know to this day, but I figured I'd be dead. Oh I did too, but I think it might be in my lifetime. I thought I would be dead in the ground for some years beforehand, but as rapidly as things are changing and things that are going on, I might still be here.
Yep. My kids would like it that way because ain't none of them want to bury me. Well mine's not gonna bury me. I'm gonna be cremated. Really? Yeah. I told Gary I want to be split up into three ways. Him to have one urn, my two boys to have another one, and on the bottom of theirs I'm gonna put, I wished you was with me.
Girl, when Christ comes again and he rises up the dead in Christ, you gonna come from all different kinds. No, I'm talking about I want my boys to be saved before that happens. Oh yeah. Well you know mama, it's hard.
It's a lot of praying and a lot of crying. Oh yeah. Lots of praying and lots of crying. You just want to beat him in the head too. Yes ma 'am. Trust me. There's been many a day that I've wanted to beat mine in the head, but you just have to give it over to the Lord and just pray that he can soften that heart up.
Yep. Mercedes, I see you looking over there. Yeah, I'm just looking. That's what I do. I know. You looked at me though. I thought you had something you wanted to share. Mercedes was one that had to be beaten in the head a few times.
By a flip-flop. By a flip-flop. Last July. Last July. I didn't even know me that long. I smacked her in the head with a flip-flop. I still feel it sometimes. Did. She tossed that sucker clear across the room, hit me square in the back of the head.
Took me by surprise. We were on the mission trip and she sets up and smartened off and I took my flip-flop off. I was sitting on the bed and I flung that joker across the room and tagged her right square in the middle of her head.
She turned around. She said, you know that hit me in the middle of my head? I said, well, it's a good thing you weren't turned around or I'd have smacked you in your face. But guess what? I'll love her to death.
Yep. But anyways, we all need to be smacked around every once in a while. I get taken to the woodshed. Oh, I do all the time. It's not fun when the Lord takes you to the woodshed. Nope. I can't even walk flat sure, do I?
Well, you know, with the scripture that you picked, Miss Jenny, we were discussing it before we went live tonight. Sorry, I have to get the study bible part out. I looked at 1410 and it states in this, in my study bible, which is a New Living Translation is, so why do you condemn other Christians?
Why do you look down on other Christians? Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God. Personally. Mercedes, I won't be there to hold your hand. Or to throw a flip-flop at you.
Or to throw a flip-flop. I'm okay without the flip-flop. But personally, everyone will have to answer for their actions. They will have to answer for their sin. They will have to answer for their works.
Yep. You have to answer for why didn't you. That's why I've gotten to where every time I have the opportunity to talk about Christ to anybody, I do. Yeah? No, it's not. And you know, being a mama and you with four boys, it's worse.
Because they know you. Yeah. They know what you used to be like. Yeah. Well, you know, but Ms. Jeannie, I gotta tell you. Somebody must be talking about it. I gotta be honest with you. I did a huge transition myself.
And my oldest daughter, Wesley, when we were dealing with all the stuff with my husband. She'd look at me and she'd say, mama, if you just let 10 of the old 50 count. I told her, I said, but baby, if 10 comes out, 110 is gonna come out.
And ain't nobody ready for that. And nobody wants to see that ever again. So, you know, there are pros and cons to them knowing your history and knowing where you came from. But the thing that you've got to remember is as long as you continue to live your life for Christ and you continue to show them that there is change and that there is change that in everybody, in yourself, in your husband, in me, in Mercedes, we all still have changing to do.
That it's not unseeable for everybody. You know what I mean? Yep. I don't know. My old self was really bad though. I was too. Hunty. Let me tell you. I was a manager of a bar for many years. I wasn't a manager of a bar, but I lived with an abusive husband for 16 years.
I did too. I lived with one for two. I said, I'm getting out of here. Now, I didn't get out fast enough, but I ran swiftly with Wesley. But, you know, and then you go through, I went through all this depression and all this stuff when I left him.
I mean, I turned to drugs. I was heavy into drugs for many years. And, you know, and here I sit today. And it's like, ain't nothing but God can change me for what I was. Exactly. Ain't nothing but. So, I'll be honest with you, Miss Jenny.
This verse you've chosen is correct. And I, like you, am very proud of that. And I will be ready to stand. I'll tell you what though. It takes repenting every day. Sometimes every 10 minutes. Yep. Depends on where you work.
It may be every five minutes. I understand that. I used to work at a tattalog company. There you go. Trust me, I understand that. There you go. This verse is also mentioned in Philippians 2. Same one?
Yep. It's mentioned. The name of Jesus, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God and the Father.
That was what? Philippians 2, 10, and 11. But it also says it in Isaiah, which is Old Testament. Which I think is super cool when you can find stuff that is said in the Old Testament and then said again in the New Testament with so many years.
Especially Isaiah. Yeah. Isaiah 45. Wait a minute. You said 20. She skipped. Well, I was going. Isaiah 45. Thank you, ma 'am. 2 and 23. Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn truth. I have sworn truth has gone from my mouth that word that will not be revoked. Every knee will bow to me. Every tongue will swear allegiance. And then number 45, 21. He says again that there is no God but me.
No other God but me. How? You can't really deny it at that point. Well, you've done it again, ma 'am. What? You take an Old Testament and New Testament and put them together yet again. You never fail me.
Your soul is just, you know, there's so many people that I've heard say that the Bible contradicts itself. And for me being able to find scripture from Old and New Testament that are saying the same thing makes it even more abundantly clear to me that it in fact does not contradict itself.
It's very consistent. Okay, because you read well out loud. Read this. Okay. Let's see. This is seven notes from my Touchpoint Bible on Romans 14. Paul devotes a lengthy section of his letters to guidelines for criticism.
Why? Because nothing has the power to destroy a person's self-worth like criticism. Criticism is dangerous when our opinions about someone's fault are presented as facts. In our insistence upon making our point, we often fashion our words into weapons that hurt others.
Paul says that before we criticize, there ought to be a great struggle within us to determine whether our motives are pure and if there really is a valid reason to criticize. Does it give you a good feeling to criticize this person?
If so, then your criticism is probably out of line. Are you forcing yourself to speak up only because you know this person needs to hear about what you've observed? Then you are probably giving criticism out of love and you will carefully choose your words.
Above all, we are warned not to put ourselves in God's place. Much knowledge about others is simply out of our reach. It is the Holy Spirit's job to sift through human thoughts and motives and convict people of their sin.
You are not God and should not try to do God's work for you. That's what we kind of talked about with the sons. That's what I was trying to get at. Yeah, because they look at it coming from you probably as here goes mom again.
Probably. Probably. Because that's what they, I mean, because that's the easiest route for them to take. Yep. Well, I know one of your sons that's an awesome wife. Yes. And just in case she's watching, I love you, Amanda.
And I'm pretty sure that he can see it in the steps that she takes with everything that she does. He does. He's been amazed about the way she has dealt with all this that she's had to deal with. And I truly believe if she hadn't had God in her life, she couldn't have dealt with it.
Oh, no, ma 'am. It would have been dealt with completely. Oh, yeah. But maybe, and I don't know because we don't know what the Lord has in store, but maybe something with that will trigger something with them.
Maybe that's the Lord's plan. Well, I keep praying that the Lord sends somebody or something in their lives that'll change them. Or something. Yep. Anything. I have said many a time, whatever it takes.
And boy, that's a hard prayer to pray when you've got grandkids running around. Yes, ma 'am. Oh, boy. Oh, oh, oh, Miss Jenny. Yep. Oh, that was, oh. Oh, don't get me started on that. That is a hard one to pray.
Well, I know that we can't lead them. It's like I heard somebody say one day, just last week, I think, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. To water, but you can't make them drink.
And then that same person said to somebody else, I can stick your head down in the trough, but you still don't have to drink it. You know what I mean? And that's the truth. I mean, that sounds like something Miss Louise would have said.
No, it wasn't Miss Louise. But it was someone that was very wise like Miss Louise. But I tell you what, as Christians, we have to keep offering the trough. Yep. We have to keep offering the water because we never know when they're going to drink.
That's right. And the moment we don't offer it, they'll be wounded. Yep. So just keep offering the trough. Don't worry, I am. And sometimes you might want to put a little sprite in the trough instead of water.
But you know, because I know I've met one of your sons. He's come here before. My oldest one's been here twice. Does he live here? No, he lives in Texas. That's right, because they came to visit for your birthday.
Was it your birthday? Yeah, because they had a cookout. Yep. Yeah, that's it. They were cooking out because Amanda was telling me that they were coming to town. And they were cooking crawfish. You eat crawfish?
I'm from Louisiana. I eat crawfish. They're like miniature lobsters, aren't they? Sort of. It's a lot more work getting a big crawfish than this lobster. It takes a lot more to make a meal. Mercedes, we could have gone all day without being called a mud bug.
A mud bug and crawfish are not the same thing. Well, she said a mud bug. A mud bug's a little, it looks like mud. It's a little dark-eyed brownish looking creature that lives in sewages. Oh, I always heard them called sewages.
Oh, they call them mud bugs, but mud bugs... Oh, there actually is a mud bug, though. Oh, so there you go. When I was a kid, we used to catch them and take them to my mama to try to get her to cook them, and she wouldn't do it because they're in the sewage ditches.
You try to get your mama the gifts? Yes, I love crawfish. Sewage bugs? Well, they look like a crawfish, I mean. Oh, so they look a lot. Yeah, they look like them, but they're brown. Oh, Mercedes, did you know that?
Look at that. We learned something new. Don't eat the brown ones or the dead ones. If it's got a straight tail, you can't eat them. When you cooked them, you can't eat them. So when they cook them, they curl up?
Yep. So if they're not, if they're still straight out, you don't eat them? No, you don't want to eat them. It's going to have a bad taste to it. Well, you got to worry about it. I ain't eating them. Y 'all, we're right at the time.
Again, I want to apologize for being late. Oh, so much Mercedes. Miss Jenny, thank you so much for coming to study with us tonight. No problem, I enjoyed this. We sometimes, our study session goes longer, sometimes it goes shorter.
The one with Pastor Jeff was very lengthy, of course, because he talks a lot. How do you like the sound of his voice? Until he gets the hiccups. I'm like, really, dude? But, you know, what can you say?
I love Pastor Jeff. We love him, we love him. So anyways, I want to thank you guys for coming tonight. I hope that you have been able to receive something from the Word that was shared tonight. I know I did.
Remember Romans 14 .11, also check out Romans 14 .10. Yes. They blend very well together. 14 .12. Uh-huh. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. 14 .12. So, 14 .10 .3 .12. Yes. 14 .10 .3 .12.
The entire book of Romans. I love the book of Romans. I like Paul. A lot of stuff. Because we'll start talking again and then we'll be another 30 to 45 minutes and my family's probably hungry. I'm taking dinner home with mine.
I'm okay. Nobody's cooking tonight. I'm kind of happy about that. That means I don't have to do dishes. That's right. So, I hope y 'all enjoyed this evening. I hope you join us again next Thursday at 6 .30.
6 .35, give or take. But Ms. Jenny Aitken, we really do appreciate you coming tonight. I really enjoy spending time with you. You're one of the ladies in the church, which I don't have a problem with any of the ladies in the church, but you're one of the ladies in the church that I can tell by looking at you across the room.
I don't know if it's you or not. Yeah. I wear my heart on my sleeve. No. No? Okay. No. On your face. That'll work too. That's how I can see it right here. But anyways, I hope y 'all have a great evening.
Sorry, and thanks for coming. And this has been a wow moment.