A WOW Moment with Vicki, Mercedes and Courtney

Whitten Baptist Church iconWhitten Baptist Church

3 views

A WOW Moment with Vicki, Mercedes and Courtney

0 comments

00:38
I've been really busy at work the last couple of days and I don't think it's my
00:46
Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Timothy Tim Mercedes is dying.
03:54
It's just bad. It's okay. She's gonna start feeling my pain pretty soon. Anyways Good evening, everyone and welcome to our
04:05
Bible study. I'm Vicki and everyone remembers Mercedes. Tonight we have the wonderful and beautiful Miss Courtney Lynchford with us.
04:15
And we are at The church
04:21
This evening. It's a beautiful place to be. It's a safe haven for most and for many.
04:37
No, ma 'am, I don't want you running upstairs because when you get back, it'll be, because that's a long way over to the office.
04:49
And the steps. I'll be fine. So anyways, Courtney, I'm so happy to have you back with us tonight.
05:00
This Seriously, in all honesty, usually
05:07
I will read over the scripture before we go up here. I did not last week with Karina because I told
05:12
Karina, I said, I don't want to know what you're gonna do. And then I told Karina, I said, because that's why it's a
05:18
Bible study. We study it at the time you're there. That, she said, that woman sat right here and said,
05:26
Yeah, I couldn't wait. I had to study it all before I got here. And you called me an overachiever.
05:34
Courtney did the same thing, you guys. Karina and I are a lot alike, believe it or not. But if y 'all haven't seen last week with Karina, you need to watch it.
05:43
She is an awesome storyteller, as you both should know. And she will have you rolling in the floor.
05:53
But anyways, Tonight we have Courtney with us and It kind of took
06:01
Courtney by surprise Was it last week? Sunday I said, oh,
06:09
I'm gonna see you Thursday night, and she said, It's okay, it's okay, because, you know, as much as We are together
06:49
So anyways, Courtney, tonight, have you picked a go -to verse or have you picked a verse that you just wanted to study?
06:56
Or have you, is this just a verse you came up with, or did you just open your Bible and say, oh, that looks good?
07:03
This is one of my all -time favorite passages since I was in high school. My youth pastor taught on this a lot and his kind of verse that he
07:14
Really challenged us to study Was 9 through 12, so it stuck with me for a long time, and it had been a while since I studied it
07:24
So I just decided to to do that one. Well, I'll be honest with you,
07:29
I can't say I have a verse that's my favorite from high school because I was a heathen. I have one.
07:35
I said it on the spot.
07:55
Okay, so now I've been put to shame. No! Well, kind of.
08:01
No, thanks. We still love you. Thanks, I needed that affirmation. You're beautiful.
08:07
I know. All right, so what is it that you picked again for 2
08:14
Timothy? 2 Timothy, I really tried to narrow it down to a couple verses, but I'm a big context person, so I'm gonna see if Mercedes will just read 1 through 12, and then we can talk more about like 9 through 12, 8 through 12.
08:30
Or 6 through 12. Or 6 through 12. Okay, Mercedes, we need to finish. All right.
08:37
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, for the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly loved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
08:47
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when
08:54
I constantly remember you in my prayers day and night. Remembering your tears,
09:00
I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. Clearly recalling your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother
09:08
Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is also in you. Therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.
09:20
For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
09:26
So don't be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me, his prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.
09:36
He has saved us and called us a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
09:46
This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
09:56
For this gospel, I was appointed a herald, apostle, and teacher, and that is why I suffer these things.
10:03
But I am not ashamed, because I know the one I have believed in and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.
10:18
Okay. The floor is yours, my dear. You said your favorite is 6. Before we get started, though,
10:25
I just wanted to say that 7 jumped out at me. 7 is actually the one that I was challenged to memorize when
10:33
I was in high school. It got me through a lot of hard times when I was younger. So this passage is just really interesting to me.
10:42
When I was looking over it before we came in here, one thing that really stuck out to me was at the beginning, and that's what
10:52
I love about studying, is you always find different things each time you read it. The first verse,
10:59
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. So it wasn't
11:05
Paul's choice that he was an apostle. It was God's will that he was an apostle. So that was really interesting to me.
11:13
But you know, Paul was in prison during this time, and he was actually expected to be executed in prison.
11:20
So this was just really encouraging to me, that he's writing this, telling people not to be ashamed about the testimony, don't live in fear, live in love.
11:33
And he's in prison. So that had to be really hard to... I mean, it would be hard for me to do that in prison.
11:41
But he did. And I also thought it was interesting that in verse 5, it says, you know, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother and your mother.
11:52
So he was brought up in faith. He saw it in two generations growing up.
12:00
So I thought that was really interesting. I didn't notice that when I studied before either. Timothy.
12:05
And Timothy was the daughter. Yet he was brought up. Definitely the highlight for me.
12:33
It starts with 4. So you have to look at the verse before that because it's a continuation. And so that's why
12:40
I did that through all of these. And I was like, well, you just gotta keep going. You just gotta keep going because it all goes together. But for God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self -control.
12:53
So when you fear, that's not of God. Because he didn't give us a spirit of fear.
13:03
So I just thought it was really... I love this passage. It gives me kind of a encouraging, you know, don't be afraid of the testimony of God.
13:19
And then verse 9, who saved us and called us to a holy calling. Not just any calling, a holy calling.
13:26
So a calling that was set apart. And not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace.
13:36
And then, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. So there we're back to, you know, pointing to Genesis in the
13:46
Old Testament. Which is cool to me. I love the words in verse 10, an abolished death.
14:00
Completely abolished death. What stuck out to you?
14:10
Well, one of the things was in verse 7, just like you were saying, with God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness.
14:22
But in 6, it says, I remind you to keep a blaze.
14:29
So as long as you do that, then you shouldn't have fearfulness.
14:36
Which is why that's a continuation of that sentence. Because it goes with it. Mine actually says, remind you to fan into the flame the gift of God.
15:08
I've heard people say things like, you know, it's words are not a thing today.
15:25
Oh, you were having the same thing. Yeah, words have been rough for me today. I haven't been wording very well.
15:38
You know, like, they're trying to, never mind, it's not clicking.
15:48
It's not clicking at all. Well, here's why. You started, it just said, instead, share in suffering, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.
16:04
You know, the only thing I can think of is everything, well, not everything, but all of the suffering that people did back then because of the faith they had in the
16:16
Lord and because of the beliefs that they had. And I look back on these days, and then
16:28
I look to what I feel will be days in the near future.
16:38
I believe that they will be about the same. Not that they're going to be hanging people about their feet or anything, but you know, the persecution part of it
16:52
I think will be a little different, but I think we're heading in the same direction.
17:02
We need to always remember that for us, there's something better on the other side.
17:14
For some countries, that persecution has already started. Right, and that's well, within the
17:21
United States though, I can feel it. I have this feeling that it's about to become harder and harder for us to do this or for us to even gather together.
17:35
I may not see it, but my children will and my children's children will.
17:47
It's just so important to remind the younger generation that they have to stick together and bond together because that's all they're going to have on this earth is each other.
18:04
And they, again, have to, like in verse 8, rely on the power of God.
18:14
And that's you know, because He is the one. He has saved us and called us with the holy calling like you were talking about,
18:22
Courtney. And we don't we don't have any reason to go back on what we have promised that we would do as Christians and what we should do as Christians.
18:48
And it's not always easy. Like I just got through saying, and y 'all saw the beginning of this video, if not, go back and watch it because I've had a rough week.
18:58
It's very easily to tell if you watch the beginning of this video. I was not together.
19:03
I didn't have anything ready. When it's time to when it's time to do, to do, it's time to do.
19:42
it might be hard sometimes and there's days that you don't want to but Christ didn't want to I'm sure he didn't want to hang on that cross so you know what, do what you gotta do.
19:59
Verse 8 stuck out to me. So don't be ashamed of the testimony of our
20:04
Lord or of me as prisoner instead of sharing suffering for the gospel relying on the power of God.
20:10
Romans 1 16 says for I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is
20:16
God's power for salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew and also to the Greek. That was our mission truth.
20:23
We should not be ashamed to tell people where we were. Not only that but it also that Did you know what else
20:50
I'm about to say? Not only that but it just shows somebody else that's struggling with what you're struggling with.
20:57
Echo It's fine. Well I know we didn't read verse 14 but I have read all of it so I love verse 14 even though we didn't get to it.
21:13
Wait a minute, you're going over the boundary. Not to say it because it piggybacks off what you just said.
21:19
By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
21:28
The good deposit. Oh my gosh, what a word. Right. Huh. But you just said with the
21:37
Holy Spirit living in us and I was like wait a second. I never thought of that.
21:44
I never thought of like a deposit. We only have the Holy Spirit it dwells so it's there to stay.
21:52
It tabernacles and it's not to be withdrawn like a bank. It needs a couch.
22:03
Can't touch it though. Dunna. Dunna. It was a hammer breaking out here.
22:13
It hurt too much. I need some pants. I can see the ones I just got. Like I said, this passage really sticks out to me because he's in prison.
22:27
He's not having a great day. He's not out feeding his favorite sheep and like having a big time.
22:35
He is in prison waiting to be executed and he is still encouraging
22:42
Timothy. You know, Timothy don't be ashamed. He saved us.
22:49
Timothy, don't be scared. And he's sitting there waiting to die. So to me if I have a bad day or I'm having a terrible day well, look what
23:01
Paul wrote when he was having probably his worst days but he was still being encouraging.
23:08
So to me, I took from it no matter what you're faced with it can be cancer or the death of a loved one or your best friend hurting feelings or a broken marriage whatever you can still see that you can be encouraged because we have the
23:29
Holy Spirit and we don't only have it but it dwells in us and that's something that we should be telling other people about and not being ashamed about no matter our situation on the outside.
23:43
So that's kind of how I use it as an application It's very encouraging to read it.
23:50
I read it a lot, like just at break at work and stuff just to get some encouragement
24:04
Before I got here, I got word that my girl at work, Denise heard he had passed away this afternoon and her mother is not taking it very well at all and you know when it comes to death especially if you know that that person is a believer in Christ I'm sure you're going to miss the person but just imagine that place that they're at you know what
24:47
I mean? Let me get through I'm glad you said that Courtney because I do need to make that call
24:59
Thank you ma 'am Let me just share something with y 'all
25:10
This really bites I can see with these glasses the words on here but when
25:15
I go to write, it's all blurry So I'm probably not even going to be able to read what I'm writing I should just open them like this
25:23
Put them out of your nose some more Go farther There you go, perfect Grandma Gussie in the house
25:35
You know there is nothing there is absolutely nothing that anybody could ever say that they've had and I just got through saying
25:54
I had a bad day and I had a bad week but for Paul to sit and write what he's written to so many people for encouragement and for lessons of life while he sat in prison is just completely and totally amazing to me and how the
26:24
Holy Spirit worked through him and because that's all it could have been was the Holy Spirit working through him to where we would have this today you know what
26:34
I mean it just really gets me a lot of times and there are days that I just sit there and I go wow really
26:50
I mean that just So I was going to say my goodness that just kind of reiterates
27:18
God's plan is sovereign and perfect and even when things happen that we don't understand and we don't like like Paul he's in prison
27:25
I'm sure he wasn't excited yes prison let's go give me some good food especially then
27:34
I'm sure he wasn't excited to go to prison but he was there and he was used in that moment and he's still what happened to him is still being used today so just because things aren't going well and you've had a bad day or your loved one's battling cancer or you have daddy issues or whatever the case may be who knows what
28:00
God is going to do through your story through your life years to come decades to come you never know you don't know what
28:08
God's going to do that's exactly what verse 8 says don't be ashamed because my biggest thing
28:16
I'll never forget and I think Ms. Glenn told me this a while back is no matter what you're in you know
28:24
God can use it and don't discount it basically don't think oh well let me just get through this let me get through this issue please
28:36
God just help me get through this day help me get through this time instead learn what you're supposed to learn in it grow from it and be there for somebody else to learn
28:47
Courtney, honey you're a woman after my own heart because that is something that I have been trying to tell some people in my life that there's a reason and a purpose for everything one of them know and now
29:26
I can sit back and say I now understand why I went through that and I now understand why
29:34
I went through this and I see how I made it and I sit and I tell people that I counsel with I'll tell them trust me you're going to get through this and you're going to get through this fine you have to rely and depend on God and God alone lean on the faith that you have in Him and trust every single word in this book and when you do that when you get to be my age you will then look back and say
30:09
I get it I understand now and I know and I've told people this
30:15
I know it's so hard to do that when you're in the middle of it I know
30:20
I remember being in my 20s and 30s I remember it but it was not easy but to be able to sit here now and tell both of you that if it were not for the grace and mercy of almighty
30:39
God but I'm thankful that He is true and loyal and the promises
31:05
He makes He keeps and we don't have we're only here for a blink in all honesty and that's the whole reason why we do this now because people need to know that this book is truth and this book is about the only book you're going to be able to open up and totally totally know that it's truth and facts well
31:43
Courtney's isn't like mine mine's better I don't know why mine's just worn out
31:55
I make notes but anybody out there and I know that I have talked to several people that have been on the
32:09
Whitten Facebook page and discussed different issues with them and it was fun when we first started doing this in our staff polo it would be like tag it's
32:24
Vickie's tag stuff depending on if it was a man or a woman or whatever but this church and if you still sit there and you don't you don't actually have it you just think you have it well that's true and I'll be honest with you
33:13
I'm so happy that you've learned that at the age that you are because there are things that you can't control in your life you can control if you go to the bar and have a drink for sure there are certain things that you can control in your life but excuse me but he is he is and always will be because he is not him learn what's happening not only will it continue to happen but also
34:16
I was thinking about this if you don't learn your lesson and you have to keep wallowing in this issue you're robbing somebody else from a blessing and from teaching them and being able to minister to them it takes you 10 times to learn your lesson what could you be doing with it in the meantime exactly and Courtney there are so many people out there that are so stubborn because I am one of them and I used to I mean
34:47
I did I would try it all the time I knew what I was supposed to do but would
34:53
I do it no and you know what right up against the wall I'd go again you're going to teach the lesson no matter how long it takes and it got to be where the wall was not sheetrock anymore when
35:08
I started hitting them brick walls I'm going to tell you you get slammed up against a brick wall by the
35:19
Lord enough times you better listen because when he stops slamming you against the wall you're done you're done so I still get slammed up against the wall every once in a while it was perfect very very very far from it but I've been slammed enough so my nose is really messing with me unless I have a stuffed up nose blasted weather so beautiful though thank you
36:01
God so nice out how are you Courtney I want to thank you for bringing us to 2
36:09
Timothy tonight and the writings of the Apostle Paul of course I want to learn more about Timothy though you know this is what really bites because it talks about his grandmother and his mother but I'd like to know about them
36:30
I was thinking about that a little bit but I bet we can't oh look to her eyebrow looks like we might be having another study going on in the background well they're mentioned for a reason they were important enough to be specifically named instead of just saying your grandmother and your mother
36:54
Paul used their names so in order to get to them we're going to have to figure out more about Timothy you'll learn about him a little bit more think of Timothy like Paul is writing me
37:05
Paul is speaking to me that's a big deal yeah yeah did you imagine getting a letter from Pastor Josiah I would have had to proofread it a lot correct a lot of things well ladies thank you for this wonderful evening we've gone over again tonight but we were late sorry we were late
37:43
I had to get it together but um next week we have nothing for next week we have nothing for next week
37:56
I'm a loser are you takers are you going to be we'll see what happens for next week somebody wrote a whole lot of stuff
38:37
I'm interested it's a big paragraph no matter how old you are you can read it from that far but you can't read your notes in front of you
38:49
Sandra Sandra my understanding that always comes with age still hard to go through things and remain encouraged and faith focused when trials last a long time no matter how old you are
39:04
Sandra see I want her on here so bad
39:11
Sandra I want you on here so bad you would be such a wonderful guest for us truth facts big facts so think about it anyways
39:29
I love you Sandra I hope y 'all have a great night and I hope your
39:35
Friday is a good Friday tomorrow I have a very busy weekend
39:41
I'm going to Matthew West tomorrow night then the show is
39:46
Saturday then church is Sunday so I'll be busy this weekend where's
39:52
Matthew West? in Mississippi Patty's taking me aww that's so sweet thank you
39:58
Patty she said her daughter for her birthday gave her two tickets
40:05
I said mom take one of the ladies to church aww that's sweet so tomorrow night
40:11
I'll be at Matthew West don't do that there please don't do that there not at the concert
40:20
Miss Patty doesn't need to be embarrassed she gave you a ticket the least you could do is be good not embarrass her alright y 'all we're done because I just embarrassed them so y 'all have a great night and I love you bunches oh
40:39
Miss Sandra put capital letters no she won't be on there it's ok
40:50
I love you Sandra we love you anyway Miss Sandra just please continue to make comments on here because your wisdom is priceless y 'all have a great day