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Emily Pahl
Welcome to the weekly podcast of Sisterhood at River Valley Church. River Valley is an exciting and thriving church where you will find friendly people, a casual atmosphere and relevant teaching. We believe in a life-giving, positive church culture where people worship God, connect with one another and find purpose in life.
Welcome to Sisterhood. What a joy to be able to gather with women that we love to study the word of God, which we love as well. I love this ministry. I love you women. I love coffee.
Speaker 1:I love ice cream. I love to travel. I'm teasing, not really. Actually, I do. But I do love this this ministry and I do love the women.
Speaker 1:And I need to tell you the lesson that we're gonna do today, you guys, is close to my heart. I've been doing sisterhood as long as it's been around. In the deep prayer, from the bottom of my heart, is that women would know Jesus, that they know how much that he loves them, and that they would love him more than any thing else in this world, that they would understand that nothing else matters when we understand and grasp the love that he has for us, and then turn around and then love him more than anything else in this world. That's what my that's what my prayer has been. And some of you know this and some of you don't, but for many years as I was leading Sisterhood in Shakopee, I just felt like the Lord wanted it to grow.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, Lord, I don't know who else to ask in church. I've asked every stay at home mom. I've asked anybody I know that has Wednesdays off. I don't know how you want this to grow. And he said, you come to me and you ask me.
Speaker 1:This isn't anybody's ministry. This is his ministry. And that's how our leadership looks at it, and that's how we look at it. And so I just began to drive around neighborhoods, and I just started praying for women that weren't at sisterhood yet. And I'd just drive circles around neighborhoods, and I'd say, Lord, I know that there's a woman that lives in there.
Speaker 1:I don't know what she needs, but you do. Lord, if she needs sisterhood, bring her out. And we saw sisterhood begin to grow and fruit began to produce, and I still don't know to this day the women that I prayed for, but he does. But he does. And so, women, as you're praying, know that fruit is gonna be produced.
Speaker 1:You may never see it, you may never know it, but one day, you will, and it will be worth it. So today, as we focus on the identity of that, we are set apart. Whether you know it, whether you feel it, it's the truth. That's what his word says. He said, he has created us to be set apart.
Speaker 1:So when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, ladies, you took on a new identity, and part of that new identity was that you are chosen, you are set apart, you are called holy. And if you're here listening today or anywhere else online and you haven't made that decision, you haven't confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that Jesus and Lord, I don't know if there's a better day than to do it right now. Tell your table leader, tell somebody, I guarantee you, it will be the best decision you ever made. I recently heard a pastor say, I've said a lot of things that have offended people, but I've never offended somebody by leading them to Christ. No one has ever come back to me and said, pastor, why did you do that?
Speaker 1:Why did you do that? So I've been praying this week that this lesson would be personal to us, that it would be something unique to every single person that hears it that wouldn't be about me, but that it would be about you and him. And when you leave and you go through those two doors, whether you're exiting a church or you're exiting a home or wherever you're exiting, that you would be different, that you would be changed, that there would be something that the Lord spoke to you in this moment that you get to go out and do now because of this lesson. Amen. Jesus, we love you.
Speaker 1:We give you this morning, Lord. We pray that you would speak to us each individually, that your word would come alive to us, Lord. We thank you that this is an honor to study your word. It's an honor to be called set apart. It's an honor to be chosen, Lord.
Speaker 1:So we thank you, and we praise you for what you're gonna do this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Speaker 1:Okay. What does it mean to be set apart? In the secular dictionary, it says to reserve for a specific use or purpose, to make noticeable, devoid devoted, appointed, reserved. In our Bibles, in Psalms four three, it says, know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself. Underlined set apart in the Hebrew, it means, to distinguish, put a difference, show marvelous, separate, make wonderful.
Speaker 1:Notice the two reoccurring themes in the definition, in the secular and in the biblical one, distinguish or different. The purpose for being set apart is that of being reserved for a specific, marvelous, wonderful use. Who does it say we're set apart for? Did you notice? It says we're set apart for him, set apart from the world for him for a purpose.
Speaker 1:What an honor. What an honor. You are on God's list of distinguished people. His a will a list, if you will. It's like he's rolling out the red carpet just for you.
Speaker 1:He's taken notice of you. Please don't look around the room right now. You're I'm talking to you. You know, sometimes they're like, oh, is she talking to someone else? No.
Speaker 1:No. No. He has chosen you. He has set you apart. Make it personal, ladies.
Speaker 1:He has called you out for a marvelous purpose. Let me be clear. Set apart is not a hardship we must bear. It's a wonderful honor. First Peter two nine through 10, but you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instrument to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night and day difference he made from you for you.
Speaker 1:From nothing to something, from rejected to accepted, we are set apart for him, not to be confused with set aside. There's a big difference. Set aside could mean discard or rejected. You are not rejected. It says you went from rejected to accepted.
Speaker 1:You went from nothing to something. You are special. You are created for a purpose. Look at that same verse in the amplified version. Peter said, we are chosen, a royal priesthood, special.
Speaker 1:Why so that we may proclaim the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are set apart so that we can proclaim those wonderful deeds of Christ before the world. That's our identity. God's already said that. He sees that in you.
Speaker 1:He sees that you're chosen, you're special, you're set apart. Now, we just need to act on it. See, I think sometimes when we're talking about the identity, we're like, we just have it, we just have it, we just have it, and we do just have it. But there's an action that's required that we get to walk in, in the things that we do, in the things that we say, in the way that we think, in the way that we live. Look back at Psalm four three really quick.
Speaker 1:It says, but he has set apart you for himself. For himself. So the first thing in understanding this identity, ladies, let's understand. Let's recognize that God has set us apart for a relationship with him. That's the first thing we need to understand.
Speaker 1:Many times I get teary eyed just thinking of that, like, really, Lord? Really? It's hard to grasp and understand the depth of his love that he has for us, that he would take you and hold you by the face and say, listen, I created you to be set apart to be chosen. I mean, really me? Yes.
Speaker 1:Really you. That's what he does. And as I was praying about this this week, the Lord just gave me this impression and this vision. It's almost like he came down and grabbed me and he said, and picture this being you guys. Okay?
Speaker 1:Grabbing you and holding you and picking you up and it's like he picked us up out of the yuck. K? The world has yuck. We know that. That's not a secret.
Speaker 1:And he's like, come here. And he picks you up, and he holds you, and he's like, he's calling me up. He said, Emily, I'm calling you above the yak. And it's hard to do it on your own, but if I hold you, you can do it. If you say yes to your relationship with me, guess what?
Speaker 1:That yak, you don't have to live in it. Think of your children when they ran through the puddle and you didn't want them to get all dirty and muddy and stomp everywhere. What'd you do, you guys? You picked them up, and you carried them through it, and you carried him above it, and you carried him over it. And that's what our father is saying to us.
Speaker 1:I have a special purpose for you, and guess what? I'm gonna pick you up, and I'm gonna carry you. I've set you apart. I've called you up out of this world. You don't have to sit in the yak.
Speaker 1:You can live. We're living for a different world. Do you understand that? We're not living for this world. We're living for something else, and he invites us to do that with him.
Speaker 1:In Song of Songs two ten, my beloved spoke and said to me, arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. It's an invitation. Do you hear it? He desires to have a relationship with you because he loves you. He's asking us, will you go away with me?
Speaker 1:Will you live for him and not for this world? I always love an invitation. I don't care if I can go to the party or not. I want to know that I was invited at least. K?
Speaker 1:And now we do evites, and what are the responses? Bummer. Can't make it, I have something else going on. Well, maybe I can, but I want to see what else is happening first. Maybe I'll be there if it's convenient.
Speaker 1:No, I'm dropping everything and I'm coming to the party. K? That's what he invites us to. We get to choose how we respond. Bummer, sorry, can't make it.
Speaker 1:Maybe. Or no, yes, yes, I'm going. I will cancel everything. Jesus, I am in. I wouldn't miss it.
Speaker 1:We are set apart for relationship with him. Another part of our identity is we are set apart for holy living. We are set apart to be holy. Look at first Peter there. Let me give you a quick context of this.
Speaker 1:Peter is writing to the first century church. He's writing to a group of believers that were feeling persecuted at the time because of accusations that were not true. Is that still true today? Are there accusations that Christians are persecuted against for things that aren't true? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Okay. So this next thing we're gonna read, I'd say, look at it as a charge. It's not just an instruction for the first century church ladies. This is still for us today. This is encouragement.
Speaker 1:This is writing for us. It's a call to holy living. Verse 13. So prepare your minds for action and exercise self control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.
Speaker 1:So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then, but now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you as holy. For the scripture's sake, take note of this right here, ladies. You must be holy because I am holy.
Speaker 1:We're gonna come back to that in just a minute. But before we do, I wanna reread it to you in the message version. Same scripture. So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back in those old groups of evil doing just what you feel like doing.
Speaker 1:You didn't know any better then, you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic, emblazing with holiness. God said, I am holy, you be holy. You call out to God for help and he helps. He's a good father that way.
Speaker 1:But don't forget, he's also a responsible father and won't let you get by with sloppy living. I had you underline be holy because I am holy. Because I want you to notice something, it doesn't say be happy because I am happy. Doesn't say be happy. You are called to be happy.
Speaker 1:It doesn't say that. I think so many times in the western culture, what we try to believe is that God's highest calling is for us to be happy. Here's the problem with happiness. Happiness is based on happenings, and happenings don't always make us happy. Sometimes happenings make us unhappening unhappy, but there's a greater joy that comes from that.
Speaker 1:It's abiding in Christ even when we feel unhappy. Our desire to live for Jesus has to be more important than what makes us feel happy. Do you see what I'm saying? God's happiness is not the highest calling. God's holiness is a higher priority than your happiness.
Speaker 1:See, he's called us to be holy, to be set apart. I heard a pastor once say that the problem with the theology of happiness is this, it empowers us to justify. See, if I'm not happy because I don't have this thing or that thing, then I can I can get it and it will make me happy? Oh, if I have a different job, if I lived here, if I had this, if I had a different car, if I had different friends, if I left this situation, if this, this, this, then I'll be happy. No.
Speaker 1:Do you see what that's doing? Then we start worshiping false gods. We start worshiping the comforts. We start worshiping worldly things if we're trying to make ourselves happy instead of holy like God has called us to be. And here's the thing, we exist for one thing, to worship him, to serve him, only him.
Speaker 1:That's holy living, whether we feel happy or not. The Greek word holy by definition means this, set apart, different, pure. So then when it says in that last scripture that you are holy because he is holy, you are set apart. You are different. You are pure.
Speaker 1:That's your identity that comes when you accept Jesus as your savior. Our responsibility, as I said before, is to act on it. I get this question all the time. Emily, I want my kids to live a certain way. I want them to do this.
Speaker 1:I want them to look different. How do you how do we get our kids to not look like the world? How do we get our kids to stand out? How do we get our kids to not look the same as the other kids in school? And my first question usually is right back at the mom, and they say, are you living differently?
Speaker 1:Because sometimes, what we're doing, we expect a different result with our kids. Why? Ladies, I'm not sure if we understand the impact that is sitting in this room, watching wherever you are. You are with a group of women that are agents of change. In Sisterhood last semester, we had over 1,200 women that sat and listened to the teachings every single week.
Speaker 1:Do you understand what that can do if we decided to be women that will live holy for Christ? That's a movement. That's what changes homes, that's what changes communities, that's what changes school, and then that's how we bring up the next generation because we have made a decision to honor Jesus in what we say, and what we do, and how we act, and what we think, and then we get to say, hey, you know what? Follow me as I follow Christ. To be distinguished from other things, to be kept for a specific purpose, a relationship with him, to be holy, to be set apart for a different world.
Speaker 1:We're only passing through. This is only temporary. This is not our permanent home. And isn't that good news? Hallelujah.
Speaker 1:Amen. I think sometimes the biggest obstacle for us to fully follow Christ is the longing to belong to this world, to look like this world, to fit in to this world. And let me remind you, God did not call us to fit in, but actually, he called us to stand out. His word said, do not conform any longer to the patterns of the world, but instead, what? Be renewed by the transforming of your mind.
Speaker 1:Peter said earlier when we read, don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. In other versions, says, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in arrogance. Guess what? We don't live in that anymore. We live in the light.
Speaker 1:We we have the word. We hear the word. We need to obey the word. We're called by God to stand out, to be set apart, to be different in the way that we live, in the things that we do, in the things that we say, in how we act. We don't have to be normal to the world's standards.
Speaker 1:I don't even know what normal is, and I don't really like that word, but I don't know another word to use for it, so I'm going use normal. Have you looked around at normal ladies? It takes me about thirty seconds reading the newspaper, watching the news, standing in the checkout line, looking at a newspaper, or really just having everyday conversations to figure out what normal is. And quite frankly, I don't want to be normal. Normal is anxiousness, anxiety, fear fearfulness, sleepless nights, divorce, addictions, brokenness, bondage.
Speaker 1:Okay? That's what the world is saying normal is. That's not what Jesus says. Right. Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. We are called to a higher living. Remember, he picks us up. He puts us above that stuff. We don't have to live normal.
Speaker 1:In fact, normal stinks. I have a workout video by Jillian Michaels. She's like, perfect. Perfect stinks. Keep doing And that made me think of that.
Speaker 1:Normal stinks. I don't want to be normal. I want to be better than normal. I don't want to be normal to the world's standards. Normal wasn't made for us as Christ followers.
Speaker 1:We get to rise above that. When I was a sophomore in college, I sat on the steps of my chapel one evening, bawling bawling my eyes out before the Lord, confessing lots to him, things that probably not proud to say and, but I did. And some of it went like this, Jesus, Jesus, please forgive me for trying to fit in. Please forgive me for trying to live the popular life. Please forgive me for trying to live the normal way.
Speaker 1:And there was something that clicked in me in that moment. See, I'd given my life to Christ when I was in junior high, but it took until my sophomore year for my behavior modification to change to heart transformation. So I think sometimes we think, have to do, I have to do, I have to be, I have to be, I have to give up. We don't have to do anything. We get to do it, and I'm I'm afraid to say it took me that long.
Speaker 1:I don't want it to take you guys that long. But as I sat on those steps and I began to have a heart transformation, what I found was I said, Lord, I don't want that has brought me shame, that has brought me brokenness, that has brought me confusion. Jesus, I am declaring, I'm putting a stake in the ground right now. The old has gone, the new has come. I will live for you.
Speaker 1:And that day, I started progression towards living for Jesus, living set apart, living to the higher calling that he has called me to. Am I perfect? No. Do I slip up? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:But am I trying to keep my eyes fixed on him and live for him? Absolutely. But do you see I had to walk away. There had to be a defining moment in my life where I had to say no to the old and yes to the new. I had to say, Lord, I'm living for the world that I'm headed to.
Speaker 1:And I would have to imagine in a room this size, some of you have been walking around with some weight and some pressures of the world, and some things that you've maybe been carrying for a long time. Let me tell you what Jesus said to me in that moment when I dropped everything at his feet. He said, I love you. I love you. He didn't condemn me.
Speaker 1:He didn't punish me. He didn't ask me to do this, that, and that so that I could be forgiven. He said, I love you. You are set apart. You are chosen.
Speaker 1:You are royal. You are special. Now, start living that way. Now, I would say that's maybe what he's saying to some of you who aren't here. It was a choice, it was a decision, and then it took action.
Speaker 1:I had to start living for the world that I belong to and not the one that I'm dead to. I was sitting at home the other night, I was actually, working on this message, and I had sent the girls out to do the chores in the barn. I was sitting in the house by myself, and so I turned the news on. I rarely ever turn the news on for multiple different reasons. But I turned the news on because it's been the weather's been bad.
Speaker 1:Right? And so we need to know what's happening, and I need to know how the roads were gonna be. So I just flipped it on. I had it playing in the background. And I hear Eric Perkins say, to know Jesus and to make him known.
Speaker 1:I sprung from my computer to I've never heard Eric Perkins say that. Run to my TV, and I thought, what in the world is he talking about? Well, was a story on Maya Moore. Yeah. Maya Moore, she is a basketball player from the links, if you follow WNBA at all.
Speaker 1:She plays for the Minnesota links. She resigned last week. Let me tell you why she resigned. Because she wants to know Jesus and make him known. I quote, those were her words, ladies.
Speaker 1:She had a defining moment in her life where she knew that God had set her apart, and even though basketball was so wonderful and she had won all these awards and she was making a living and it was probably her childhood dream, she knew that if she died to that self and started living for the new self, that the Lord had something even better for her. It made news on every single major major station in Minnesota, and I was like, that is so good. Amen. She has no idea the impact that she made by this one decision. Same.
Speaker 1:We have no idea the impact that we make by daily decisions. Here's what she said. She said, I measure success by asking, am I living out my purpose? I learned a long time ago that my purpose is to know Jesus and to make him known. And do you think the world is looking at that as normal?
Speaker 1:Absolutely not. They're looking at that like she's crazy. What? What? She'd do that?
Speaker 1:Do you think it was an easy decision for her? No. Do you think she contemplated it? Yes. Do you think the enemy tried to sneak in?
Speaker 1:And Yes. That's right. Amen. He did because that's what he does. If he wasn't sneaky, sure would be a lot easier to discover his lies.
Speaker 1:This is what he does. He gets in there and he said, are you sure you're making the right decision? Are you sure you wanna give up that money? Are you sure you wanna give up that fame? Just like in the Garden of Eden, what do do to Adam and Eve?
Speaker 1:Did God really say did God really say you should wait till marriage? Did God really say you shouldn't post those bad pics on social media? Did God really say don't watch that show? Did God really say you shouldn't listen to that music? Did God really say don't talk about that?
Speaker 1:Did God really say you should keep that to yourself? Did God really say reach out to that person? See, he wants us to slip up. And then when we slip up, we fall back into the schemes of the enemy. He gets us to question ourselves.
Speaker 1:Then when we question ourselves, here's what we do, we start to justify things again. Well, at least I'm better than so and so, or at least I don't do what most people do. God didn't call us to be like most people. K. God calls us as Jesus followers to be different, to be set apart.
Speaker 1:It's a daily decision to pick up our cross and follow him. God said, if you remember, you must be holy because I am holy. You must be set apart because I am set apart. His direction in that verse was we must imitate him. He calls us to live differently.
Speaker 1:That includes dying to self, dying to the things that we want, dying to the things that we desire, sometimes dying to the things that make us, quote unquote, happy. We have some dear friends that served in a country, Afghanistan, Pakistan area, they saw and endured things that, you know what, quite frankly, I hope I never see or endure. They lived in a hut. They had a dirt floor. It's a little humble home, but they loved it, and they thought it was great.
Speaker 1:They lived in a village amongst the Taliban because they thought, if not us, then who's gonna tell these people about Jesus? If not us, then who is gonna show these people how to live for Jesus? And they went along amongst their daily lives. The US embassy had actually called them in a couple times and told them and let them know of the danger in their area. And finally, the US embassy called them in for the the final time and said, I'm sure you're aware of this, but you live in a very, very dangerous area.
Speaker 1:I don't know that we can protect you anymore if something happens. We are asking all the Americans to leave. We're clearing out the country. If you don't leave, this is your choice. And the missionary there knew what was being asked and knew what was being said.
Speaker 1:And he looks up and he said, I understand. But the US embassy did not call me here, God called me here. See, we're all surrounded by things, by pressures, by hardships. And we have a choice to look up and say, you know what, but the world didn't call me here. God called me here.
Speaker 1:It might not be the Taliban, but ladies, I know that there's things that are going on in your mind. There's battles in our mind. There's battles in our lives. There's pressures that the world wants us to conform to, that the world wants us to think and justify as right. Who called you there?
Speaker 1:Did the world called you there? Or did God call us there? God calls us. Go with what go with where he calls you. You weren't made for this world.
Speaker 1:You're only passing through. You were made to be set apart. You were made to to be a higher calling. You were made to be holy. Let me pray for you.
Speaker 1:Lord, we thank you that you have called us to a higher standard. Lord, we thank you that it is an honor. It is a get to. It is not a have to. That we get to represent you, that we get to live for you, Jesus.
Speaker 1:I pray that the conversations today would be pure and holy, Lord, that they would honor you in the things that we say. Lord, I pray that when we leave, Lord, we would have a change of heart. We would have a heart transformation and not just behavior modification, that things would sink deep into us and that we would actually desire to live the way that you have called us to live. Lord, we thank you and we praise you that you pick us up and you carry us through anything and everything. In Jesus' name we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen. Amen. Amen.