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Good evening everyone and welcome to our Bible study.
I'm Mickey, and you know we're saying, but tonight we are at of the lovely Michelle.
And as you see we have many.
We're also wearing our Retreat shirts because we all wanted to match.
But this way they have hard.
Everyone's going to take time to speak, everyone's going to get on the plane.
But tonight We've decided that we were going to get together as a
group.
Normally in accountability you don't have to share or you.
It's it's not a rule not to share, but different accountability groups feel differently about this.
And some people don't want people to know that they're in accountability and some people do.
Some people don't want people to know who's in their accountability group because they don't want to be caught up
in any kind of.
Should I say I Don't want to use the word gossip, but I mean it happens
Amongst women, but these ladies are in my accountability group and
We've all discussed it and we've all decided that hey we don't care if anybody knows the word accountability because we look at it as a
good thing.
It's a positive thing.
Michelle is our leader, Tara Hall is our co -leader, this is Jane Hart.
You all know Mercedes Wexler.
And that is Hannah Wiesner at the end of it.
I just want to say a few things about accountability if I can.
If anybody has ever been in an accountability group you've got to realize and understand that it's not
all Peaches and cream it's not always
Great to share things that you're going through and things that you're dealing with.
But the good part about it is that These ladies, I can come to these ladies
With anything that I'm going through whether it be in my marriage, with my children, with my job,
within myself.
A lot of it within myself.
And they will point me in the right direction per scripture so
and they will hold me accountable to that and Like I said, sometimes it's not fun.
I Have been good in my place several times in the past
four years maybe.
So like I said Michelle is our leader and Tara is our co -leader and
It just really helps you to love each other
More because you get to know each other.
And it just it works it's wonderful.
Anybody got anything they want to share about their feelings of accountability.
Tara?
Well, I can tell you from personal experience.
You pointed that out.
When I first started an accountability group, I had walls up.
These women that I was part of an accountability group with, they chipped their tails down.
They were there during the time when I really needed Spiritual guidance, a kick in the rear when I
needed it, but in a loving way.
So, I am different than what I was before.
I have lost these women in my life, but I have trust 100 % with everything.
There's been so many things that have happened in my past.
A lot of hurts, a lot of struggles, but they know.
They know when I need a good kick in the rear and That's what
accountability has been done for me.
Anybody else?
It's nice to have that outlet that, you know, you can
Bust about your spouse for a minute if that's the case or just get some stuff off your chest,
but also.
You know, you might have something that you're going through in that moment and The other people or a couple
other people on the group goes, hey, I've been there done that.
And This is what helped me or, you know, it just kind of helped me guide
me in the direction of getting through it.
Just as, you know, somebody else helped them.
I think to kind of go with what everybody has said so far regarding accountability groups is that
When you bring a thing that's going on in your life to your accountability groups.
They can offer a different perspective because you may be viewing it this way.
Yeah, and you're like it's the worst thing ever and then somebody else in the accountability group can
say, hey Jenny I think you may can look at it this way and it's a totally different story.
So it's a really good way to just get another opinion about something that's going on.
Or they can look at you and go, I think you know.
Right.
Well, I know that in this group I was in one group
with Michelle and Tara and we were in that group for two years.
It's where those walls came down with you and a lot of my walls came down too.
And I hope that we've shipped a few away from Michelle's.
But I think that This group that we are in
together now, I would not know Hannah as well as I do.
Hannah is a remarkable young mother.
And I.
Think I think the world and I wouldn't I wouldn't know Hannah the way that I do for this
group and I Think that it's something that everybody should
participate in at some point Tom in their life.
Because you don't get this unity and you don't have the love and support of others
unless you crack that wall.
Those walls will crack.
I
Think it's because you feel the love and you feel the comfort and you feel the trust
the biggest word that is trust and Be in there for one another day or night.
It's it's incredible so this whole.
We're not going to spend 30 minutes to talk about.
Accountability, but I wanted y 'all to understand.
Why we have so many here.
May.
May is going to probably make scripture for us tonight.
Sounds like it.
So Michelle since we're in your home, and I want to thank you
and your lovely family for allowing us to intrude.
This evening.
What scripture have you chosen for us to study this evening?
I have chosen.
Romans 12 1 & 2.
Mercedes.
Romans 12 1 through 2.
Therefore brothers by the mercies of God I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
Holy and pleasing to God.
This is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
So that you may discern what is the good pleasing and perfect will of God.
Michelle I have to tell you that when you told me this is what you wanted to study I
read over it.
That's when I told you with our accountability group we're going to be at your house for hours.
I know right?
Because there's so much in these two verses that I know that each one of us can speak
about.
Why are these some of your things?
Why did I choose them?
So the biggest thing when I was still kind of
When I was still a New Christian the thing that struck me in these verses because we
hear about the transforming your mind a lot.
Well, I didn't realize what that meant and why you want to do that.
It was the Testing the will of God and I thought wait a minute.
What?
Because to me God's will was this mystery in the sky or this thing that we could never really
grasp or put our hands on.
And here it is laid out.
This is how to find out what the will of God is.
That blew my mind.
It blew my mind.
So, um.
That's why I picked these verses because it's all the way at the end.
The will of God.
All of these things leading up to.
Here's what he wants for us.
Here's what we're supposed to do.
What am I supposed to do?
What's next?
We're going to do these, right?
And here it is.
So I just want to set it apart and figure out what's a living sacrifice?
What is spiritual bloodshed?
What do all these things mean?
So that we can find out what the will of God is.
And one of the things in verse 2 is Do not be informed.
Right, exactly.
To this age.
Well, you know I don't remember exactly where Romans were written.
But, you know, this age now.
It's pretty state of the art.
I think that's the cool part about the Bible.
So you can read this verse.
Where it talks about a specific age.
So yes, that age applied When this was written, but it applies now too.
So everything in here I can take today.
And it can still be applied.
Man, that's awesome.
Yeah.
And that's quick.
Right?
Thank you.
That was good.
I told you I have problems with my voice.
Anybody have any other comments?
It says, you know.
Do not be informed.
Do not be, sorry.
Do not be informed to this age.
It's really hard to ignore.
Because it also says the same thing In Hebrews 13
1350.
Therefore Through Him let us continually Offer up to God A
sacrifice of praise That is the fruit of our lips That profess His name.
Ephesians 4 1.
Therefore I the first record urge you To walk worthy of the calling You
have received.
You can't.
You can't say, oh I didn't know.
Because it's throughout the entire I mean, there's so many places That it says
This is the way you're supposed to walk.
You're supposed to turn away from everything Worthly.
That everybody says is okay.
Because it's not.
You're supposed to go in the direction of God.
That was Ephesians.
What was that? 4 1.
And I think sacrifice is such a weird Concept to us.
Because We don't, I mean, we get Monetary offerings and things like that.
And we sacrifice our time.
But what does that really mean to sacrifice?
None of us in North America Really sacrifice anything.
We don't have to give up Our freedom to Worship God the way.
So, thinking about Pulling that word sacrifice apart.
What is a living sacrifice, right?
There's.
So I looked up sacrifice.
That was one of the things.
And one of them was the Hebrews that you read.
But there's also.
Did you read 13 -15?
Yeah, you read 13 -15.
So 16, right after what you said Says do not neglect To do good and share what you have.
For such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
So doing good and sharing what you have.
Right, that's a sacrifice.
And then Talking about spiritual worship.
And that being part of your sacrifice.
In Psalm 116 -17 It says I will offer you The
sacrifice of thanksgiving And call upon your name.
We talked about that sacrifice of praise.
That's in Um It's in that
song.
I know it's in that song.
I can't remember.
Still haven't looked it up.
Or it could have been from the 116 -17.
And then This is my favorite one.
Psalm 51 -17.
This one is The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.
A broken and contrite heart.
O God you will not despise.
So our humility And our brokenness Is a sacrifice.
Well you're sacrificing your pride.
Exactly.
You're putting your pride on the altar.
And that was something When I was kind of looking over this When we were deciding to do this or
whatever.
Um It says living sacrifice.
It's not saying you're going to lay down and die for someone Like Jesus did for us.
But we are a living sacrifice.
So we over and over again Put ourselves or put something on that altar.
So that our pride.
Um When I say our children But I don't mean the sacrifice of our children.
But we say here they are.
I'm giving them to you.
Because I can't without them.
Well you know There's a lot of things that That looks fun.
Some stuff looks fun to do Worldly things.
We have to sacrifice what we want.
Or that what we should do In that Dedication of another person Their whole
being.
I feel like Part of being a living sacrifice Is also defined in these same two verses.
Being a living sacrifice Is not being conformed to the world.
So we're being a living sacrifice By not conforming To the world.
Because if you think about it Anything worldly can be broken down Into like three different sets.
Because in another verse I gotta look it up.
I think It's 1 John 2 15 and 16.
Let me go there real quick.
It defines what That is.
1 John 2 15 and 16 says Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loves the world, the love of the Father Is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh The lust of the eyes and the pride of life Is not of the Father but
is of the world.
So there's your definition Of what that means right there.
So the lust of the flesh would be Anything physical.
So you have food, drink Things like that Lust of the eyes is pretty obvious
But coveting whatever people have Wanting things you don't have.
The pride of life, we all have pride.
So I think by sacrificing ourselves And not conforming To those things.
It's defined right here 1 Peter 2 11.
Dear friends, I urge you as strangers And temporary residents To abstain from fleshly desires That war against you.
Even going through into 12 Conduct yourself honorably Among the Gentiles.
So that in a case where they may speak Against you As
Those who do what is evil They will by observing Our good works glorified by God On the day of his
creation.
So what I take from that is When he's talking about they observe your good works.
Those good works aren't given to heaven.
They're a by -product.
Because when you've committed Your entire life To following Christ.
Your good works come naturally.
When you want to serve your Fellow Christians.
And the community.
That you want to be around.
So people who don't have that Don't understand it.
They're like oh Okay well they're doing all this great stuff.
And they want to talk that about you.
But if you're being such a great person Because of your love For Christ And how they want to love
others through Christ It's really hard to say negative things about them.
And when they observe you doing that They see you leading by example.
What is the verse.
They will know us.
By our love for one another.
And know him by our love for one another.
Remember First John what They'll know that we love God.
Right exactly.
Well we got that right here.
Well the second part of that first verse is Holy and
pleasing to God.
This place Your spiritual worship.
So In other words All the sacrifices
that you're given.
Whether it be your
Pride.
Your pride.
Or whatever it may be.
That you just cleanse yourself of all of that.
And that is your sacrifice To where It will be holy and
pleasing to the Lord.
Because you know you can worship God all day long.
But if you worship him plain Well I mean literally you
can't Love God and love the world.
It's one or the other.
Do you love the world or do you love God.
You have to make that choice.
What does it mean though to give up your pride.
What does it mean to be prideful.
We can be like proud of ourselves or whatever.
But I think that can be Confused sometimes too with Not
Sharing your troubles Not sharing your Being transparent Not being transparent.
Yeah So worried about if I say this What are they going to think.
How is it going to make me Right.
For those of us who Go to an office every day and work And work with other people you don't know very well.
Or you do know very well but they're not Christians.
Or they claim Christianity.
We don't really show that.
Oh It's you know How is this going to.
If I start talking about God and I start talking about All the great things he's done in my life.
They're just going to start treating me weird.
And you know all that stuff.
And that's pride talking.
Nobody wants somebody to lift you up.
I don't really want to talk to her.
She's a weirdo.
I know well I get that I get that from other people.
But But That's a form of pride too.
I don't want to be the weird one out Because of this Awesome God that I believe in.
But you throw that pride away.
Because there's nothing better to be known for.
And it's also Look at what I did I got through this.
I figured this out.
You know You didn't do anything.
It was the Holy Spirit And God that allowed me to do those things.
And there's a fine line too Between false humility.
And That actually is pride in my case.
Because you know like.
I couldn't have done it without Jesus.
You know.
If you don't really feel that That is something.
That's so true.
I think people can see through that too.
Oh gosh It's a lot.
So we've already balanced out the Brush teeth.
Do not be conformed To this age.
I think Hannah hit the nail on the head with that Because it stood True then
And it stands true to this day.
Because this is a living word It's a living breathing word.
So it's gone a long distance And it's still alive.
That's what I said a while ago And all of it.
So in the second verse I do think this is something that needs to be touched on.
It says I'm just going to read it again because it needs to be read again.
Do not be conformed to this age.
But be transformed By renewing of your mind.
What the heck does that mean.
So I mean to me The transformation When you are saved.
As a lot of Christians like to put it You're transformed and if you're not then you didn't do it right.
You know No time to try again.
Because Also realizing that the sanctification Is a process
And that it takes Other people In your life Since that iron sharpening iron
And letting loose.
I'm sorry she got a marker.
Taken away from her.
Oh.
Oh I hope
she can't.
But it says To be transformed by the renewing of your mind And
pleasing And perfect will of God.
So without that transformation And going through that process To renew your mind and change the way That you
think And change the way that you think In the world.
Because you know before you become a Christian There's so many things in this world That everybody's like oh fine don't worry about it.
You're such a good person.
You're just such a good person.
Well it doesn't do any good Unless you have transformed your mind To realize
that.
The word of God is what Gives you the information that you need Not the world and not the people that you're listening to.
And you know Brother Jeff says it all the time Don't just listen to me.
Research it Read it for yourself.
Look into it And let it speak to you.
Listen to the Holy Spirit Talk to you during that time.
And Well I think too The transformation of your mind And
the renewing of it.
You know it said for a non -believer This is foolish Utter foolishness.
They don't get it.
But when you accept Christ as your savior And you Decide and
you choose To be obedient That alone Is that
transformation and the renewing Of your mind.
Because at that point This is no longer foolishness.
Well it's no longer Stereo instructions.
You know like you're reading the directions On how to put something together.
And this is the instructions on how to do life.
And so When you have that transformation And that renewal of your mind And that changing in your brain It
all of a sudden becomes the language.
And you know that was Something that made sense to me When I finally made that commitment.
And I finally gave my life over.
Because I remember You know I'd sit in church on Sunday mornings.
And I'd go.
There's no way I can understand this.
This must be something that pastors Aren't supposed to be able to understand So that they can interpret.
And then I finally made that commitment That full commitment.
I was no longer wishy -washy.
And all of a sudden I go Oh So that's what
that meant.
You know It really is true.
It's crazy.
Well and that's the whole reason why She and I started studying Because she had a lot of questions.
And she was doing a lot of searching.
And that's why we just Brought it to share with everybody.
Because you know Sometimes it takes more than one brain
To get the different.
To get the words that need to be said.
We all know that my brain don't click right.
Sometimes I'll say the wrong word in a heartbeat.
And I know the Holy Spirit speaks to all of us Differently too.
Because we're all different people.
So we can bring those different Perspectives you know.
Well and the reason he does that is because we all need to hear something different.
We can look at the same scripture And Get a different meaning out of it.
Sometimes every time we read it personally.
And sometimes you know She'll read it and it'll be one thing.
And you'll read it and it'll be another thing.
And then you'll be like oh I read that six years ago.
This is what I got from six years ago.
And then we might all go.
Oh I don't know if it's always different.
Because then you're saying that it says different things.
I think it's more like depth.
We understand depth.
There's a deeper meaning.
Each time you expose yourself to someone else's sort of perspective.
Yeah because it doesn't.
It doesn't say anything different.
It's deeper.
It clicks a different light bulb each time.
And every time you read something Like I was going over this again.
This is one of the first verses that I learned.
And I was like this is so good.
Oh there's so much here.
And you can get so excited about A verse you've read a hundred million times.
Because there's so much depth And so much life In everything that you read.
That's like Josiah always says He'll say you can read.
I would rather you read One verse twenty times.
Than twenty verses one time.
It is going to be a different meaning And a deeper meaning.
And that depth of that meaning Will always Can be based upon whatever circumstance.
You are currently in while you are reading Yep.
Absolutely.
And like the verse that Josiah says More of him less of me He
must increase I must decrease.
So that.
Thank you Thank you so much.
Yes.
Because once you become more One with Christ You're going to want to not
Be worldly.
Well and also it exposes Our fallibility It exposes our faults and our
Humanness.
And then we go oh I'm not good at this I'm not going to get it done.
That vulnerability It's just so It can be freeing Though
to And be able to let
Your faults Kind of just go away.
It's hard It's hard.
Oh we've done it.
Back on the pride part.
We go into verse.
For by the grace.
Given to me I tell everyone.
Among you not to think of Yourself more highly than you should think.
Instead think sensibly.
As God has distributed a measure Of faith to each one.
Kids what he was talking about before.
I guess I meant to say that before.
In Romans 11 he's talking about The Gentiles versus The Israelites.
The Hebrews sorry.
And how the Gentiles are being drafted in.
And all this stuff.
And he's saying Don't get all up on your high horse.
Just because you were a part of the original family.
You know These Gentiles are also a part of.
Or you Gentiles are also a part of the thing.
And don't despise the Hebrews.
Because they you know.
Just because they're you know.
Are part of the old system.
You know there's This is a unifying kind of Interpretation that he's talking about.
So when he's talking about And yeah you're right in three He's talking about that pride don't get yourself all You know up on your
horse because You think one is better than the other.
This is the reality That we are one family One tree we're grafted together
That we're all heirs We're all part of the same Same life.
And it you know Goes further into saying We all have Many parts
in one body.
Even all the parts do not have the same function.
We go into Ephesians Four.
I just felt like Ephesians 4 16.
From him the whole body fitted And knit together by every supporting ligament For most of the growth of the body.
And you know You can't look at one part And say oh I'm better than you.
Because well I do this.
Each part is important Each part has its role.
And you know It's using An anatomical analogy.
And The human body cannot.
Function at full capacity.
If one thing Is out of what It just can't everything functions.
It's a system.
And so you have to have that Humility and remember I am no better than that next person.
My sin is no worse Than that next person.
You mean sin in a virgin.
It's not.
You mean prostitute Is no different Than gossiping John.
And a prostitute Can still receive the same grace And same mercy
and same forgiveness.
Is that liar or that thief Or that whoever You know The
gossiper or whoever.
So our pastor Jeff says The same spirit of God that's in you.
The same spirit of God that's in me.
Probably It's so true.
Somebody said to me once On that line There's going to be a whole lot of really
good people.
Yeah Absolutely.
They don't rest.
They don't rest Their sin.
And there might be people in heaven that you go.
Whoa.
Well man This has been fantastic.
This is fun.
Do you want to do it again.
Definitely.
Again I want to thank you.
I forgot to tell y 'all Michelle and her loving husband Are the
Directors of our Children's department also.
And I said loving husband I think he loves me.
He let us in here He had us kicked us out.
Well Connie was.
Anyways I want to thank y 'all both for Coming to your
home And to interrupt your evening.
So in case anybody Was wondering This is pre -recorded because We all have to
travel out here.
They live out in the shawl shade.
Seriously.
And we have horrible internet.
There's no way I can think of a lot.
But hey That just means me and my son Need to have more time to prepare for the next Thursday.
Which we have an idea about that Might just actually Be some fun on that.
I want to thank each one of y 'all For coming out tonight.
Tonight actually our accountability Group has not been able to meet in person Since the
COVID started.
Tonight was actually our first night To be face to face.
We've been on the phone with the messenger And all that stuff.
We text one another daily.
But this was our first time To actually be together.
So we took care of that before we started.
But Again if you ever
Want to consider Being in an accountability group Or even have thought about it.
Please if you're a member of WITN Please Give us a call.
Some of y 'all women Want to know somebody that should be in accountability.
You might want to ask them.
Yeah and accountability groups Current accountability groups at WITN.
If you see other members Who you feel like need to be Or you'd like to invite to your group Please do so.
So that way it's sort of an organic Bringing someone in.
And make sure you all agree on who you're bringing in.
So that it's not me just putting strangers Or people that you don't know as well With other people.
It's kind of arbitrary that way.
But it's better if in your group You can find someone that you want to bring in.
And it doesn't have to be people you know that well You know we brought in people that Other people didn't know as well.
And we got to know each other And be able to build trust that way.
So it's not about cliques or friendships Things like that.
But if you see someone That needs WITN women Strong women that can
be trustworthy in our lives.
Please please seek out those women And find them in your groups.
Yeah because that's like I was telling Tara I was telling Tara the other
night.
You know I said I don't really know.
I did not know Hannah very well I said.
But when Michelle Said you know I really want to bring Hannah in how do y 'all feel about it.
Blah blah blah.
You know My first thought was Michelle because there's a trust.
And you have to follow these certain rules.
And you have to go by these certain outlines.
Because if the trust isn't there And it gets broken then Michelle and Hannah didn't know me that well
either.
But because Michelle was saying She'll be good in here I think it'll be great.
Hannah came in.
And then I brought forth Mercedes.
Because I knew that she needed some.
She needed a lot of.
She needs a lot of kicks in the butt.
And.
Because I said you would be able to Trust her.
The ladies trusted my measurement.
So That's where the trust comes in.
And that's why we're saying It's not a clique issue It's not a friendship issue.
It's all basically a trust issue.
So again if y 'all know Somebody or If you know somebody let me
know.
If you're not a member of And you go to a church That doesn't have accountability groups.
I highly recommend starting Absolutely building that trust.
Not just amongst the ladies In the church.
As women we have a problem with trusting each other.
Anyway.
But you need that.
You need that support.
You need that trust.
You need that truth telling.
Like I said kick in the rear when you need it.
But it also Brings you closer together With Christ To
learn.
You know like Michelle has taught me things We have a connection like because military
Her husband was military My husband is military And so we've learned to feed off of each other in different ways On
that But it's just brought a bond That I never had with Christ
Until I started an accountability group And started in one.
And The changes that I have seen In myself I'm going through
some things.
My daughter was in the hospital last week I couldn't be there because
But I had these ladies To help me when I needed them.
So I highly recommend Starting these at your church You will learn so much You can
grow.
So much with each other.
And with Christ.
Well and it's not just limited To women having accountability.
It's men too.
Men need it because men They should Or can openly
speak about their thoughts Feelings and opinions.
And that's just not true.
Guys have just as many feelings too.
And they need that safe space with other men.
To be held accountable Safe space.
To be held accountable and to share What's on their mind as well.
Men need to be kicked in the rear too.
Let's just say Men need to be kicked in the rear too.
Yes I'm looking at you.
But anyways I hope y 'all enjoyed this this evening.
I know that we have.
It's been eventful.
We've been watching the kids run around.
Is she blind?
She's fine.
But she's good.
So anyways we want to thank y 'all for Joining us tonight.