Priscilla Shirer, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and Lisa Harper empower you to see God’s faithfulness as He equips you for what He’s called you to do.
it was in that moment that I really felt
like that the goodness of God the grace
of God was reserved for people who did
everything the right way when the
disciples come to him tired he does not
say
go away from me and get yourself
together
come back and then I can use you
Come Away
[Music]
God I can’t
I can’t do this he said stand
we sustained
and lean
I’ve got you I’ve got this
let me hear you not only had I had a
teen pregnancy but I dropped out of
college and and I was in a toxic
relationship and emotionally and
physically abusive relationship and I
wanted to share that story because when
we find ourselves suffering and
struggling we often make decisions out
of that Brokenness that make us even
more broken
[Music]
the day is coming and you don’t know the
day or the hour
neither do I when we’re going to have to
stand before him and give an account for
how we handled what he had entrusted to
us I’m asking you tonight how are you
handling your assignment
because young women if you think that
you’re young because of your age listen
to me if you’re 20 but you only have
till 30 you’re pretty old
if you’re 50 and you’re going to live
until 100 then you’re pretty young age
is just a number my friend and you and I
cannot qualify young or old base bursts
based on our birthdays
it’s based on our death date and since
we don’t know when that day is
that I implore you Sisters by the
mercies of God to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling by which you have
been called
because listen I don’t know about y’all
but when I see him face to face I’m
looking for a well done
I’m looking for well done
when I see him he will not ask me how
many Instagram followers I had
he will not wonder whether or not folks
liked my post he will not be interested
in whether or not my selfies were
perfectly lit he will ask me did I know
his son
and then I will give an account
so the disciples they come and they give
an account to Jesus I wondered if there
was a recipe for Effective Ministry
because if these guys were willing to
come and look Jesus in his face and give
an account I figured there might be a
recipe for us for Effective Ministry I’m
interested anybody interested
there are three ingredients to the
recipe
Luke chapter 9 verse 1 it says he called
them
he called them and his calling
superseded any personal ambition that
they had they laid down whatever they
were going to do because they heard the
call of God beckoning them to do
something else the beautiful thing about
that entire picture is that all of the
glory of God the Father all of the glory
of Heaven Was packaged in human flesh
Jesus wanted so much God the Father
wanted so much to make sure that he
could speak and so that Humanity could
hear that he left his throne in glory
put on flesh so that the disciples could
hear his call and in the same way he has
given us the holy spirit so that each
and every one of us have the privilege
to hear the calling of God on our lives
the conviction the unction the pressing
the fire that is shut up in your bones
sending you in a particular direction
heed the call of God on your lives then
they were not just called I loved so
much that before he skips to the third
ingredient in the recipe sending them I
love that before we get to the third one
there’s that second one he did not just
call but then he gave them power and
authority it means that what he was
calling them to do he was simultaneously
equipping them with Supernatural power
to be able to pull it off so it’s good
news for anybody in the room that you
feel like you’ve got a dream that is way
over your head you’ve been called to do
something you don’t have the money for
you don’t have the time for you don’t
have the patience for you don’t have the
gifting for you don’t have the talent
for you don’t have the connections for
the good thing and the great thing about
our God is that he does not call people
who are already equipped he calls you
and then for the people that say yes he
equips them with what they need for the
calling
he entrusted them with power and
authority and can I tell you why this is
important this is important because in
order to accomplish and accomplish
Supernatural tasks you have to have
Supernatural capacity in other words you
can be the most talented person in the
world but if you go in your own strength
and power
you still won’t be able to accomplish
the God calling on your life it requires
what it is that only God himself can
give to you to accomplish the task oh
the enemy hopes you will go in your own
power
he hopes you will think you are flashy
enough and Savvy enough and talented
enough and impressive enough so that you
will no longer lean on God instead of
leaning to your own understanding
but it is not by power and it is not by
might it is by the spirit of God and
some trust in horses other folks trust
in chariots but not us we trust in the
name of the Lord our God
so he called them and then he entrusted
them he gave them some treasure and then
he sent them
he’s the one who did the sending
resist the urge to send yourself
to do something that it is not yet time
for
because just as important as our calling
is that is equally as important as the
timing is
in which that calling is outworked in
our lives and if you go too soon you
might if you if you give birth too soon
to that which God is trying to produce
through you you might abort
what it is that he’s trying to
accomplish in you the spiritual backbone
the fortification that he was trying to
establish in you so that you could
handle the spotlight wouldn’t hit you
because listen that Spotlight that you
may be craving if it hits you and you
have no character it will burn you to a
crisp
so he called them he entrusted them he
sent them out and they returned to him
and gave an account
they were tired
the disciples had been given it
everything they had
and I know there are some of you in the
room and you would admit that you
haven’t done it perfectly but man you’ve
sure been purposeful
you’ve been intentional about this
marriage you’ve been given it everything
you’ve got you’ve been intentional about
that teenager you’ve been giving that
kid everything you got this toddler that
has this specific bent or this specific
issue that you’ve been doing everything
you can going to see every expert that
you can reading everything that you can
to be the best that you can as a mother
single mother you’ve been given it
everything that you’ve got working the
jobs that you’ve got to work to keep
food on the table you’ve been given that
business that Ministry that endeavor
everything that you have and you the
disciples are tired
the good news about Jesus is that when
the disciples come to him tired he does
not say
go away from me and get yourself
together
come back and then I can use you
he says
Come Away
with me
in other words listen
the cure for your exhaustion is intimacy
with Jesus
that’s the Cure y’all
I’m saying I agree take the holiday take
the vacation tell them you need a little
sabbatical you got to step back for just
a little bit you need a little margin in
your life take the holiday but don’t
take a holiday from Jesus
don’t take the sabbatical from your
relationship with the Lord Prayer
shouldn’t exit your schedule because
these are your rest days you still need
to be the deer that pants after the
water your soul has still got to be
replenished and can only be replenished
when you have intimacy with him
and you’re trying to figure out Lord
you told me that I was going to be
replenished you told me that I was going
to refresh you told me that you had
something that you wanted to give to me
why would you take me here to this place
where I’m being pressed down by a
multitude of issues and concerns and
frustrations there’s something
overwhelming me that is bigger than what
I feel like I have the capacity to
handle why would you bring me here this
tells us that the story of the feeding
of the 5000 is not just about the five
thousand
it’s also about the disciples it’s not
just about the multitude getting fed
it’s about the disciples being fed
physically spiritually emotionally and
it tells us that the Five Loaves and the
two fish are the gift to the multitude
but it’s the multitude that’s the gift
to the disciples
because the multitude
is what’s going to make them have to
finally open up their drawer
pull out the treasure that they would
have otherwise ignored place it in the
hands of a multiplying Master who’s
gonna show them what it looks like when
he takes their little bit and makes it a
lot there is no replenishing like
watching God multiply your Loaves and
fish two weeks before I started the
process with Missy I was in the process
of adopting a little girl named Anna
price
and I had been in the process with her
the entire pregnancy of her mama her
mama’s name is Marie and I just loved
Marie as much as I loved her unborn baby
girl Marie is a hardcore crack addict
and a prostitute and by the grace of God
she chose not to abort her baby even
though she had no idea who who the daddy
was it was one of her Johns and then by
the grace of God she met me and decided
I was supposed to be Anna Price’s mother
and I was at every single doctor’s
appointment and I spent Christmas a
couple of years ago in a crack house
with Marie because when I was with her
she used less and because I’m older I
became a mother figure for her and I
mean I loved that kid and I told all my
friends do not give me baby gifts do not
throw parties for me some of you who may
have been in adoption process yourself
or know people who are in a an adoption
like that it’s very high risk adoption
it was a very high risk pregnancy the
doctor said it was unlikely that
Enterprise would actually live because
of the hardcore drug use but you know
month after month she kept getting
stronger and stronger and stronger but I
still said y’all don’t don’t give me any
baby gifts I really won’t know until
about a week before she’s born if I
actually get to bring her home to
Tennessee and five days before I was
supposed to go pick her up the adoption
agency called me and they said Lisa it’s
unbelievable but every single Paper has
been signed even the state where Marie
lived they have agreed with the state of
Tennessee the only person who’s legally
allowed to bring Enterprise home from
the hospital is you I said you can go
ahead and get everything ready you can
go ahead and buy the crib she’s coming
home with you her name is legally Anna
price Harper and I got off the phone and
I don’t know if you’ve ever carried a
dream for a long long time and it
finally comes true and it’s just like oh
like this weight comes off you and I
just kind of collapse on the couch and
begin to just ball crying happy tears
you know I was just like I can’t believe
it after all these months of kind of
holding my breath and all those years of
not thinking I was good enough to be a
mom thinking I was too damaged to be a
mama I was like oh my goodness
in less than a week I’m gonna have a
baby
in the upstairs bedroom I was just
undone and so I called my mama I called
two or three of my best friends and I
just I could hardly speak I was so
excited and about 30 minutes after I got
that phone call there was a knock at the
door and it was the UPS man and he
handed me this big box and I saw in the
return address it was from a friend of
mine in Atlanta and I sat down on the
couch and cut it open and then just went
oh my goodness because there was a
miniature from zero to six months mink
coat in in the Box my friend’s husband
has done extremely well and she wrote me
a note and she said I know you told us
not to bring you gifts or send you
anything for the baby because it’s been
so precarious but she said I saw this
this week and I just thought that’s for
Anna price and she said Lisa I just
couldn’t resist and I thought the white
will represent the fact that she’s
innocent that that generational sin and
bond individual end with you being her
mama and I held that little coat and I
just started crying again because I
thought nobody’s ever sent me a mean cut
and
and then about 30 minutes after that the
phone rang again I saw him caller ID it
was the adoption agency and I thought oh
they’ve forgotten something I need to
scan something and email it to them and
and I said hey and as soon as I heard my
agent’s voice I knew that was not the
case because her voice was just
um just so heavy and she said Lisa I
don’t even know how to tell you this but
she said the bottom has fallen out and I
don’t have the legal freedom to tell
y’all what happened
but I lost that baby and um and
basically lost that little mama that I
had just grown to love almost like a
daughter and it didn’t end pretty the
the bottom fell out of that story there
is no pretty bow like on that video
and I sat back down on the couch and I
thought God I I can’t do this
I have waited too long my heart is too
broken you picked the wrong girl for a
story like this
and I don’t know how long I sat there
crying and they weren’t happy tears
anymore before my phone rang again I saw
it was my mama and I thought oh good
night
I don’t even know how to tell my mom
that I’m not going to bring in a price
home
but as soon as I picked up the fun my
mama started talking before I started
talking and she said baby I I so hate to
ruin your celebration today but she said
remember a couple of days ago when I
told you about that ongoing bladder
infection I had and I said yeah I
remember I was afraid she’d be able to
tell I’ve been crying
and she said well we just got the test
results back the doctor just called me
and it’s actually not a bladder
infection at all I have cancer and at
stage four it’s metastasized into four
major organs and she said honey um it’s
just not good and she said I need you to
pray for me and so I didn’t even tell
her about Antichrist at that point I
just started praying for my mom we’re
both crying we got off the phone I
thought I’ll call her later when I’m
stronger and she’s stronger and I’ll
tell her that um she’s not going to have
a granddaughter we have three Grandsons
in our family but no granddaughters and
then about 30 minutes after that my
phone rang again and that was my daddy
my parents divorced when I was five and
I love my daddy he was a very very Gruff
man he was very abusive when I was
younger but he tendered in his old age
really loved Jesus who’s kind of like a
miniature John Wayne
and and I thought oh good night I don’t
I don’t know how to tell this to my dad
I hadn’t called him yet and told him
that Enterprise was coming home and so I
thought he’ll be able to tell because I
don’t know if I can talk
but again he started talking even though
my dad was kind of a monosyllabic man he
started talking before I did and he said
baby the cancer is back my dad
successfully we thought had battled
colon cancer for a couple of years and
he said I just came back from the
surgeon’s office and he said honey I
need you to pray for me because he told
me that is now in both lungs and the
surgeon just gave me two months to live
and he said it’s going to be okay I
don’t want you to worry about it but I
just wanted to tell you she could pray
and I honestly don’t remember the end of
that phone call I don’t remember if I
prayed for my dad or not I just remember
putting the phone down and going
God I can’t
I can’t
do this
this is too hard
and y’all I heard like two words from
the Lord
he said stand
we sustained
and lean
I’ve got you
I’ve got this
let me hear you
that was two weeks before I got the
phone call about Missy I named Anna
price after a woman in Luke’s gospel if
you have your Bible we’re going to look
at this story pretty quickly
I named that little girl I loved so much
and a price because I love Anna’s story
in Luke chapter two she’s one of my
favorite women in scripture uh the women
in scripture who are great leaders who
were called prophetess and Anna’s one of
eight or nine they’re considered the
great female leaders in scripture her
story is in Luke Chapter 2 and we’re
going to begin here at verse 36.
and I’m reading from the ESV it may read
just a hair different than your
translation and there was a prophetess
Anna the daughter of Faneuil by the way
the name Anna means favor
she was the daughter of Faneuil of the
tribe of Asher or the tribe of Happy
she was advanced in years having lived
with her husband seven years from when
she was a virgin that means she was
about 13 when she got married then as a
widow until she was 84. so if you’ve
done the math most New Testament
theologians think she was approximately
100 103 when this took place 103 years
old you talk about hanging down he’s she
did not
I’m so sorry Beth I’m like you are going
to pray for me just fast and pray for me
she did not depart from the temple
worshiping with fasting and prayer night
and day so she’s approximately 103 years
old
she’s been a widow for over eight
decades and y’all she goes to church
every single day and the word they’re
worshiping in the original language in
the Greek means serving
so she went to church and she just
poured everything she had into God’s
purposes and God’s people so I always
imagine her you know she’s across the
street from Temple she’s at the Hebrew
Home for retired persons and she gets up
every morning and she pulls on her Spanx
and she pulls up her nude pantyhose and
her stretchy pants which I believe are
from Jesus and she walks across the
street to Temple and then she goes to
the store room and she gets some linseed
oil and a rag and she starts rubbing the
peas
and she starts praying for the people
she knows are going to be worshiping if
they’re Baptist on Wednesday night and
Sunday morning
she just starts serving in the temple
and y’all she does that year after year
after year after year
80 plus years
she waits for her dream to come true her
dream was I will see the salvation of
God’s people I’ll see Jesus
80 years
she persisted she waited
you know waiting and perseverance are
not very popular terms and post-post
modern culture I feel like they’re kind
of like a hot dog vendor at a vegan
Festival you know nobody’s real excited
about perseverance and waiting and yet
God talks about that all the time and
the analogy of scripture from cover to
cover and I’m a total cover-to-cover
Bible girl from cover to cover God talks
about the benefit of waiting I brought
just a few of the verses beginning with
I waited patiently for the Lord and he
turned to me and he heard My Cry for
Help I waited for the Lord and he heard
me the next one is Isaiah 30 18
therefore the Lord waits to be gracious
to you and therefore he exalts himself
to show Mercy to you for the Lord is a
God of Justice blessed are all those who
wait for him do you know in the Hebrew
what the word hap I mean what the word
blessed means is happy it means you’re
actually your joy and your ability to
wait are our mutually connect connected
those are congruent your ability to
stand and wait and your capacity for joy
to be happy those are actually congruent
those are related Isaiah 40 you know
this one most of us cross stitched it if
we grew up baptistal but those who hope
in the Lord will renew their strength
they were sore on wings like eagles they
will run and not grow weary they will
walk and not faint Chris quotes this all
the time
the next one was in Lamentations God
proves to be good to the man who
passionately Waits
to the woman who diligently seeks it’s a
good thing to quietly hope quietly hope
for help from God it’s a good thing when
you’re young to stick it out through the
hard times
and then I believe we have second Peter
second Peter 3 13-14 but according to
his promise to God’s promise we are
waiting for new heavens and a new Earth
in which righteousness dwells therefore
beloved since you are waiting for these
be diligent to be found by him without
spot or blemish and at peace God says
wait if you’ll wait you’ll be happy God
tells his people I want you to I want
you to stand I’m going to do the work I
want you to stand and then after you see
the Red Sea part he says all right gone
now y’all need to move right after that
he tells his people I want you to be
trained in war you have seen my
Providence you have experienced my
presence I hovered Over You Like A A
Cloud by day and a pillar of Fire by
night I have provided for you everything
you needed and almost everything you
wanted
and so now I want y’all to raise up
Shields and swords to speak the word of
God you hold God’s word these promises
y’all this is not a textbook this is not
a rule book this is not a collection of
benign morality Tales this is a love
story and This Is War
you wonder how you can fight against the
crud we see going on around us it’s this
right here you hold this up as a
battering ram against the lies of the
enemy every time when I got older I
realized the enemy was saying Lisa
you’re not good enough you’re not lean
enough you’re not you’re not godly
enough you say bad words around Beth
Moore you are not good enough
to be a leader or a mama y’all here’s
the deal when the enemy lies to us he
doesn’t lie in a way that we see it
coming you know if he said to me Lisa
you’re such an introvert with such a
high metabolism I’d be like liar liar
pants on fire cause I’d see it coming
that’s not how he lies to us he takes a
grain of Truth he weaves it into this
toxic poison and it sounds reasonable to
us because there’s just enough truth in
it usually from a really painful chapter
in our lives where we have not applied
these promises so we go oh that that
sounds right that sounds about right
that’s why when I was 40 years old I
went oh I probably should adopt a dog
and that’s what I did
because I did not believe these promises
y’all this book says wait
this book says the posture of
perseverance that’s not passivity
there’s absolutely not passivity that is
the door to a miracle if you will stand
and go no matter what’s going on in my
life you are good and you are sovereign
and you are merciful and no good thing
will you withhold from him whose walk is
righteous or her who often stumbles you
are good you’re going to do it Lord I
believe you’re going to do it I may be
old and wobbly but you’re gonna do it
because you’re a good god what are you
standing for what are you waiting for
what Miracle is on the other side of
your perseverance shelter’s huge
Miracles that happen I just remember it
as you were speaking that and I don’t
even think that I’ve shared this with
you when I found out I was pregnant it
was on Easter
on Easter so the day that we’re
celebrating the resurrecting of our
savior I felt like a tomb had been
rolled over my hope over my destiny like
this Stone had just been rolled over
every dream that I could ever have and
it was in that moment that I really felt
like that the goodness of God the grace
of God was reserved for people who did
everything the right way and it wasn’t
until I started connecting with other
people and really just realizing that we
all have a story we’ve all gone through
something that I felt like this Stone
began to roll away a bit but I felt
um useless I felt dirty I felt like
there was no promise for my life and I
felt like my role would be to see
everyone else in life win while I sat
there and licked my wounds and as I
began to see that I wasn’t in it by
myself I believe that that’s a trick
that the enemy plays on our minds is
that he makes us believe because of our
issues and because of our struggles that
we have to live live life in a prison
and so we go about our day and we look
like we’re free and we’re still in our
homes and our marriage is on our
workforces and it looks like we’re free
but on the inside we’re hurting we’re
broken we don’t believe anymore but what
helped me and what I hope my story does
for other people is just reminds you
you’re not in this by yourself you are
not the only one facing what you what
you’re currently facing the as a matter
of fact the thing that you’re currently
facing someone has already overcome and
because they’ve overcome there is hope
for your story people have had it worse
people have had it better stop comparing
your story to what’s happening in other
people’s life and start to decide right
now in this moment that I am not going
to allow this Stone to be rolled over my
destiny Jesus died so I don’t have to
get on the cross
in my life hating by my own failures and
my own mistakes because he lives in me I
have been resurrected too and so God
what do you want to do with my life what
do you want to do with my Brokenness
what do you want to do with this pain
that I felt because I serve a God who
makes all things work together for our
good but that working feels like
crushing sometimes it feels like pain
and disappointment but it also on the
other side I mean look at our lives now
it’s restoration that you can imagine
and there’s a time when you will look
back and you will thank God you will
thank him for the tears that are
currently streaming down Hallelujah
if your parents were here I would ask
this question and uh I’m going to ask
you to represent your parents because
you know I’ve been doing this I’ve been
around TBN for nearly 30 years I know I
have a lot of uh grandparents I have a
lot of parents I have parents that have
faced this with their children uh maybe
will
or even grandparents who have our will
face you know your daughter is pregnant
what did they go through and
how
can a parent reconcile when their parent
when their children make decisions and
things happened what would they be
saying to those that are facing this as
parents we we’re a blended family we
have six children and I can tell you
right now that it’s no parents dream
that your child gets pregnant as a
teenager so this isn’t something that my
parents were wishing or praying for but
I tell you that what they did was they
did not allow their disappointment to
strip me of their love of their support
and more importantly of God’s grace so I
would encourage you if you’re at home
maybe you know someone maybe you’ve
experienced this yourself and you’re
wondering you know I put all of these
things in this child where is it and and
what did I do wrong I want to comfort
you in saying that everything that you
put in that child is still there and
sometimes the seeds are Life Seeds of
Life have to be covered in dirt and
sometimes that dirt looks like teen
pregnancy sometimes it looks like an
addiction sometimes it looks like
dropping out of school and it’s normal
to feel like what am I going to do do
but trust that what you begin in that
child Christ is going to finish what you
begin in that child Christ is going to
finish you cannot control their Destiny
and everything that they do but what you
can do is be a River of Love in the
driest seasons of their life you can
remind them that they’re never facing
anything alone and what made me feel so
much comfort during my season of of
pregnancy and and all of the other
things that I went through is that I got
so curious about how my parents could
still love me that I wanted to know
about their God I wanted to know about
this source of love that just seemed to
run unconditionally and I had an
encounter with their God and it changed
my life this book that we’re featuring
is actually your second book and it was
birthed out of your first book being
lost and found where actually you just
started going on social media and
bearing your soul and wow a lot of
people responded yeah so Lawson found
was a memoir about my life and I share
shared it because I started a Blog
online when I just had this Revelation
that other people had gone through what
I was suffering with other people knew
what it was like to have shame to have
guilt to not believe that God’s best was
possible for your own life because of
what you’ve gone through and the more I
began sharing that message on social
media that it is available to us
regardless of what you’ve gone through
my blog had over a million hits within
the first three months and I just
decided that I wanted to tell my story I
didn’t just want to be this talking head
over computer screen a screen I wanted
them to know you know not only had I had
a teen pregnancy but I dropped out of
college and and I was in a toxic
relationship emotionally and physically
abusive relationship and I wanted to
share that story because when we find
ourselves suffering and struggling we
often make decisions out of that
Brokenness that make us even more broken
and so I wanted to break that curse off
of women like me even men who have
experienced their own issues and so for
me me that’s what lost and found was all
about it was telling my story but for
don’t settle for safe I wanted to give
them practical tools okay you know my
story you know what I’ve gone through
but let’s talk about your story and how
we can break the patterns that exist
within your life so that you can live in
the fullness and freedom of who God has
called you to be