She Wakes Breakout Session | Jodi Miller

Join Jodi Miller as she walks through key passages in Galatians about salvation by grace through faith, the law as a temporary guardian, and the stunning identity change Jesus brings: no longer slave, but child and heir. Jodi talks about what it means to cry “Abba Father,” why belonging can feel hard when your story with “father” language is painful, and how spiritual formation happens whether we plan it or not. Along the way, we connect theology to daily life: the same action can come from love and partnership or from resentment and fear.

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Transcript

Room Setup And Welcome

SPEAKER_06 3:46

Yeah. Yeah, make it personal, yeah.

SPEAKER_15 4:13

Okay. Hey, there are one, two seats here, there are three seats here, three seats here, three seats here, two seats here. Front rows open, girls, front rows open. Come in. Hey, could someone shut the doors? The two doors. Perfect. Three seats up here. No one, there's three seats up here. Everyone's afraid to come close. So good God's been. Alright. Well, listen, I feel worried about having enough time, so I feel like we should like start.

SPEAKER_09 5:00

If you believe it's a good thing.

Why Spiritual Formation Takes Effort

Galatians And The Slave Mindset

Faith Not Works Starts It All

The Law As A Guardian

Clothed With Christ By Grace

Abba Father And True Inheritance

Drive Out The Yoke Of Slavery

Silent Practice Memorize Three Words

SPEAKER_15 5:02

You ready? If you're ready, stay ready. Oh, okay, we're ready. Girls, I am so glad you're here today. I am um, I have been praying for you. I've been praying for whoever would be in this room today. Um, in all the rooms as well, but I just wanted to say to you, I realize like you have given up a lot to be here in this place right now. So I know some of you, you know, you've got kids you had to figure out, you had household things you had to figure out, you had husbands you had to figure out. We all had to figure things out to get here. And so I realized that the culture is flowing away from Jesus. And so it is very hard to go against the current to get to Jesus. And so I just want to say I realize the sacrifice that you've made to be here this morning and to fight the current against you. And so thank you. And the other thing is that I was really torn about how to spend this time with you. Like, really torn because I know like time is so precious and so um it gets taken away so quickly. And so I'm like, what would be of most value to you this morning? How could I serve you well? And in my mind, the best way to serve you well is to get you connected to Jesus. And so, as much as I love to talk about Jesus, like it's Jesus' words that will do more for you than my words. And so when I was thinking about my own spiritual formation, you know, I am on a timeline just like you guys are, you know. So April 5th, 1973, that's where I started. And now here we are, March 21st, 2026. Well, there have been several places in my life where I've either turned towards God or I've turned away from God. And so I am praying that the timeline of your life, that on if you look on that blip, that little line that marks today, that you are either turning slightly towards him or you are turning hard towards him. Either one, but I pray that it's an irrevocable course change, either slightly or severely towards him. So when I was thinking about how to spend my time here with you, the things that have affected me and formed me spiritually, and I want you to think about that because we are all being formed. So, like my fit body friends, we're being formed. We work hard to form these bodies physically. We go to school, we get education, we work hard to be intellectually formed. But do we work hard to be spiritually formed? Or are we spiritually deformed or misinformed? And so the things in my life that have formed me so um importantly towards Christ has been scripture meditation or memorization, silence and solitude. Everybody say, Yay! So I was like, you know what, this hour we're gonna spend it in silence. And then I was like, well, some people might leave mad. And so then I'm like, okay, we're gonna, I'm gonna call this, you know, memorizing scripture. And then I was like, oh, this room will be empty. So this is my compromise to you. We're gonna spend some time in scripture so that we can spend time with him through script. Hold on, I said it better. I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to do this from memory. Where am I? Um, we're gonna spend time learning in the scripture, but then we're gonna have time with scripture, what I like to call eating it, getting it in, embodying it, internalizing it. And that is scripture memorization. Those things are what have changed me and shaped me the most. And I think it's one that gets neglected so much because it takes time, but it doesn't take as much time as you think. And so that's why I really wanted to set aside set aside time for you today to meet with God in the scriptures, to memorize scripture yourself, so that when you leave this morning today, you'll be like, I did that. I did that. I learned by practicing and doing, like, I'm not one who can just like hear it and then I'm gonna go do it later. I gotta try it now so I can be like, okay, I think I can do that. I did it then, so we're gonna do that today. Okay. Are you guys anybody want to leave now? Okay. You had your chance. All right, so we are gonna be in Galatians, and when I was in this passage, in um actually I looked in my journal, it was December 1st. And December 1st, I was in Galatians, and um I it's about being uh a slave or uh a son. And in the old in the New Testament, slave is different than like how we're thinking of slave, like transatlantic slave trade. This is not what this is. It is um, it is still equally bad that slaves did not have value, but they were part of the household, they were um considered, you know, part of the family. Kids would grow up together, one would be a slave, and one would be the owner's son. They would grow up the same, and but one is gonna have an inheritance and the other is not. They're still doing the same things anyway. So, this whole thing, and we're gonna walk through it. Um I found myself being in a relationship with God where I had reverted to being a slave, a servant. And I've been walking with God for 26 years now, hard and fast, and um knowing God, loving him. And here's how I want you to picture God. So, like we're with God, He wants to partner with us. So it's like, I'm on this side, God's on this side, and we are doing work together. But then there's another way where it's like God is the master and he's on this side, and I'm on this side, and I'm working for him like a slave. And that's not what he intends for us. He wants to partner with us and servants and men and gentiles. We're gonna get, I'm jumping ahead. Anyway, I had found myself Jody in this text, and I was like, I have lost sight of God my father, and I am working for you slavishly. I love you and I love the work that I do, but it changes the whole thing, right? In my house, I don't have any kids in the home anymore, but there are I'm cooking the meals all the time. And I'm cooking it either from a posture of I love you guys and here is your food. Or I'm cooking from you guys are sucking the life out of me. Here is your food. It's the same job, but the perspective changes how I make the food, how I give the food, how I do the food, whether I'm gonna go on strike with the food. Yep, that happens. And so, anyway, let's get to our text. So I have it on, um, I printed some out too, just because we're kind of hopping around. You don't have to use those, but um, if you want to be in your Bible instead, too, we're not gonna do it straight through. But here's how Galatians starts. And um, it's written, it's a letter, and so Paul wrote this letter to this province, Galatia, and he wrote it the same time as he was writing first Corinthians. So I'm recognizing because in our small group on Wednesday nights, Pastor Kelly and I were working through First Corinthians, and some of the same things he's saying telling the same things to the people in Corinth as he's telling the people in Galatia. Same time period. Anyway, but he is angry with the Galatians. He's like, Well, this is what he says. He says, You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? I feel like the Lord grabbed my attention on that day. He was like, Jody, you foolish girl, who has bewitched you? Who are you working for? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I'd like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain? If it really was in vain, so again I ask, does Doc does God give you his spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by your believing what you heard? Now, this specifically, this instance that they're talking about, this is the beginning of the church. This is the origin. Do you guys need more light? I meant to ask you. Can you guys read enough? I was like, maybe your eyes are younger than mine. I don't know if I could do that, but can you? Okay. I'm reading NIV. Um the what he is talking about, so the church is formed. Jesus has died, risen, and ascended. And now the church is growing. Well, the church is comprised of Jews and Gentiles. And of course, the Jews is a very established religion. Jesus was Jewish. And so they come, they've done all these things. You know, think if you're Catholic, like you've done first communion, you've done confirmation, you've done the things. You're like, this is what it means to be Catholic. Well, the Jews are, listen, we are getting circumcised. We follow the law, we eat these foods, and Jesus was a Jew. So if you want to follow Jesus, you should do this too. And Paul's like, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It wasn't because we chopped off your foreskin that you are saved now. It was because you believed in Christ. And Paul was Jewish and he loved being Jewish, but he was realizing that's not what you have to do. And so my question to you today is when did you first believe? When did you first believe? A lot of times we'll say, like, I found God, and really it's he found us first. And so I want you to take a moment right now. How or when did you realize if you did, maybe you haven't, that God is who he said he is, that Jesus is who he says he is. There is a holy God, which means there is a king, which means there are rules, which means we've broken them, every single one of us, and there is one way back to the Father. And it's nothing that you have done that reinstates you. It is your belief in him. Take a second, when was that? For me, on my timeline here, I heard about God growing up Catholic, and then my parents became saved in the charismatic faith, and so they left the Catholic Church, went to an evangelical church, and so then it was like it was my first time reading the Bible. We didn't read the Bible, you know, like I knew all the doctrine, all the catechisms, but I didn't know him. And so then I departed from the faith, if you will, turned my direction away from the Lord, and then deal with the consequences of that life, which includes a husband, and then I'm like, oh shoot, no, I'm a Jesus girl, and I turned and repented and believed, and then the timeline continues, and so it wasn't anything I did. I was the circumstances around me were all of my own doing. I didn't do anything, and he's like, You girl, messy girl, yes. I hadn't done anything, and you didn't either, and the Galatians had an either, and they had forgotten and thought it was something that you do, circumcision, something that you do, obey the laws, and he said, You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? So, of course not. It says it right here. You saw Christ crucified clearly portrayed, and so that's his sarcasm. I want to learn one thing from you. What was it you did again that Jesus loved you? What was it? It was nothing. You didn't do anything. All right. Here's something to think about. Um hold on, verse three. Why are you now trying to become perfect by human effort? Who has bewitched you? So I ask you again does God give you his spirit because of your work or because you believed what you heard? Which came first? His love is what came first. And so I want you to think about this. And I don't know where you are. You know, some of you have been walking with Jesus for a long time, and it's why we have to remember because we forget, you know, so like you're cleaned up now, you've been following Jesus, and so maybe you don't drop F-bombs like you once did. You're like, well, I'm kind of good. You're not kind of good. Even if you spent all day in prayer, that would not be enough for you to earn a relationship with God. Even if you prepared messages, you were in the word and you were ministering and serving day in and day out, not enough. He is so holy and so other than us that the only way to bridge that gap is through believing in Christ. And so no matter how short it is we believe, how long it is we believe, that was still what bridges the gap for us. And so even if we are serving and doing everything perfectly, it's still like filthy rags, which is so hard to think about. All right, now we're gonna jump down to 323 through 25. And so all of this conversation is about Abraham and if you remember in your Old Testament, Abraham and Sarah, and they, you know, God promises them a child, and they're like, it's not happening, and so they jump the gun and create a baby that's not theirs together. And so Abraham and Hagar, Sarah's maid, have a child, but he's not the child of the promise. He was their fix to try to make this happen. Abraham and Sarah have a baby. That baby is the child of the promise. So that's what we're talking about the law and the promise. Okay, so then we're hepping down to 23, Galatians 3 23. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith. Faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we're no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heir according to the promise. So that language placed under guard by the law. When Paul's saying that, the um original listeners knew exactly what that meant. The word is um the word for a guardian for kids, really boys. Young boys who are going to school. The guardian would take them to school, get them there safely, they do their schoolwork, and the guardian brings them back. He's a slave of the family and he's the transporter of the kids. He's making sure they get their safe Paul is saying this is exactly what the law was. The law that was given to Moses, the law that the Jews have been following all this time. It was helping them to honor their parents. It was helping them to know I shouldn't want my neighbor's wife. I shouldn't want my neighbor's stuff. I should worship God and God alone. I should keep the Sabbath. All these things that were good, they were guardians until Jesus came. If they were enough, then we didn't need Jesus. It wasn't enough. It was just keeping us safe. Oh, safe way to live until Christ came. I love this line here. Um where is it? Verse 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourself with Christ. And it brought to my mind there's a scripture in Isaiah, and it says that I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God, for he has dressed me in the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. These are the clothes that he puts on. He compares it to a bridegroom and a bride on their wedding day, like the most beautiful outfit you can imagine. That is what he dresses us in. And you did not buy these clothes. He gives them to you. Um, I love this. So we're gonna jump to four. So we're talking about the law, we're talking about it being our guardian until he comes, and it says in four, and we talk about this at Christmas four four, but when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. That's a whole nother very captivating study is to find out like when do you think the perfect time for Jesus to come? In the 1200s, 1500s, 1800s, 2000s. No, the perfect time was when he came. And we can see that that plan actually worked because here we are 2,000 years later. But anyway. Okay. Continuing. Verse 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba Father. So you are no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. This language is, of course, for sons because Paul's writing in a time when sons are the only ones that matter. Boys are the only ones that matter. But we also saw in verse 3 through 28 that God's plan is way different than humanity's. He upsets all of the regular social order. He says, no, no, no, I am for slave and free. They're like, What? I am for Jew and Gentile. I am for male and female. He was he's so counter-cultural then, he is so counter-cultural now. And so the only person who could inherit was the son. So of course Paul's gonna say sons because to carry on the family name, to carry on the family business, but we can interpret that. We are his children. We can translate that. I love that. And so then when he awakens your heart to who he is, he calls you daughter, he calls you daughter, and you call him father, which means actually daddy. Did anybody ever call their dads daddy? I'm like, I have a client, I just actually saw her Thursday, she's from the South, and she calls her parents, she called her parents, they're deceased now, mother and daddy. And when she says it, it sounds so cute. Mother and daddy. I call my dad dad, whatever an affectionate, if you have an affectionate name for your dad, that is what you call out to him. Abba. You're no longer a slave, you're no longer a servant, you're no longer a Jew or a gentile. There's no labels. You are God's child. You are a daughter, you have an inheritance. Now, for some of you, daughter doesn't even sound good. You might have been taken advantage of as a daughter, you might have been manipulated, taken for granted, mistreated, felt invisible. For Paul and for his first listeners, a child of the family was significantly different than a child born into servitude. Like I mentioned, they both are growing up together, they're playing together, but one has an inheritance. One has a fut they both have a future. Their futures look very different. And so Christ changes all of that. We have an inheritance, and it's not to be a slave worker for him, it's to be a partner with him. So what are you like in this relationship with father, with father God, with dad? What are you like? Are you just working yourself to the bone for him? Or are you a daughter working with him? You guys, there is so you we all you know, there is so much brokenness out there. So much. It takes us going out there, partnering with him. People are not coming to church. People are not coming to church. I'm reading a terrible book right now. It's um I'm serious. I've been reading terrible books. It's for a class that I'm in, and it's about um religion in America in 2026. And it's so depressing. And religion is over for all the religions Catholicism, Judaism, um, Buddhism, everybody is on decline. Everyone is worshiping their own self and they're gonna come to an empty well. You and I know it. There's nothing at the bottom of that. But they're not trusting the church. This is a totally other message. Sorry. I just am rereading this book. Anyway, it takes us daughters going out, partnering with him. He could have done it on his own for some reason. He wants to partner with humanity. For some reason, he wants to partner with women. He did it in the New Testament over and over and over again. And so he still wants to. I always think of it when I'm thinking about him wanting to partner with me. I think about myself when my kids were in the house and they like wanted to cook with me or bake with me. I was like, no thanks. I'll just do this, okay? You're gonna make a mess. And that's how God is with us. Actually, that's not how he is with us. He wants to partner with us, and we do make messes, but it was it's still his desire. One of the Psalms says, Who is humanity that he would think of us? He does. Okay. Verse nine. I love this. Four nine. But now that you know God, or rather, are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? How are you turning back to weak and bankrupt, miserable forces, serving to the bone, trying to get ahead, spinning your wheels for success, trying to find validation, trying to find peace? Why are you trying to be enslaved all over again? How am I, as a daughter, turning back to bankrupt behavior, like being unassured, self-doubting, insecure, lacking confidence in my ability that's been given to me by him? If and this is what really shook me is that if I am turning back to those attitudes, which way am I turning from? I'm turning away from him. I was serving him in the first place, and then all of a sudden my attention, my perspective shifted, and now I'm just serving the meal without joy and thankfulness and gratitude. And now I'm just turning, I'm not partnering with him, I'm working for him, and my attention is completely away and off of him. Somehow, me, a daughter, saved by grace, forgiven, restored. When I was far away, he loved that girl. Look, I still cry for that girl. She was so stupid. And I did nothing except believe. That was all I did. Now I would love to tell you, then that's all you ever have to do is just believe. But that is not true. He does call us to get in the game with him, to partner with him, because there are plenty of bankrupt people out there. And so in that moment, when you have reverted to acting like a servant instead of a daughter, what do you do? I'll tell you what Paul said. He said at the end of four, verse 30, but what does scripture say? Get rid of the slave woman and her son. Get rid of the slave. For the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son. Therefore, brothers, sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. 5-1 says, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Drive out the slave. Now, the sweet thing about God is that he did take care of the slave woman, in this instance, Hagar. He did take care of the son, but it wasn't the inheritance. They had messed that up. He still provided for them, but it was for Isaac that the blessing of Jesus was coming. And so he does love and he took care of them, but he says, drive out the slave. That's not your identity. That's not who you are. You're my daughter. Get over on this side of things and partner with me. Okay. So this is the part where it's your turn. And so I want you. So I love having scriptures printed on paper so then I can scribble on things and circle things and highlight things. But this is your job for the next what did I say? Fifteen minutes? 15 minutes. My theory is that anybody can memorize things in 15 minutes. Okay. So we're gonna spend 15 minutes in silence. Don't talk to your neighbors. This is not about you and your neighbors. This is about you engaging with the scripture. This is where we're eating it. This is where we're chewing on it. I want you to look for out of the text that we were in this morning, three words. Start with three words. Maybe it's you foolish Galatians. For me, that was like I meditated on those words. Jody, you foolish girl, who has bewitched you? So what is it that resonated that sunk in with your heart? And I want you to memorize those words. It might be three, it might be five. I want you to read those words. I want you to write those words. I want you to try to say those words without looking. Pray those words. Now listen. This is the part that you might be mad at. Then when those 15 minutes are over, I want you to minister to us with those words. His words. And so I'm gonna ask for a representative, you know, somebody from each table to share the words that the Lord dropped into you that you are memorizing, that you are choosing chewing on, you are internalizing. For me, I do this every day. I have three to five words and I'll write them down. I'll work on memorizing for that 15 minutes. And then whatever it is, those are his words to me. And so then I'll have it in my pocket all day long. And so then I can be like, oh yeah, what did he say to me again?

unknown 37:32

Oh yeah.

Sharing What We Memorized

SPEAKER_15 37:34

And then you just work on memorizing it. And those words will minister, his words will minister to you and shape you and form you more than anything else. All right, go. Shell, I think I have some synth music for this. I'm gonna stop us now. All right.

SPEAKER_24 44:25

What three words you got. So in Christ Jesus, in him, in him, not through him, not because of, but in Christ Jesus. You are all, every single one of you. He doesn't leave anybody out. Children of God the Father. Daddy. He's my daddy. I can run to him. I can sit in his lap. I can use his face. He's my daddy. We're all children of God. I trust you with a hard heart. I trust you with my unbelief. I trust you. With my fears. Because you are not a God of fears. You the creator of all the universe. Bigger than anything I could think or imagine or understand. You want me.

SPEAKER_15 46:28

Beautiful. Alright, what about this table? Three words. Right? That sounded like words straight from the father. I'm gonna go, Miss Barb, three words. Okay, four!

SPEAKER_24 46:44

You belong to Christ.

SPEAKER_15 46:49

You belong to Christ. What about this table? Miss Hana?

SPEAKER_23 46:55

Um, so mine was we are children of the free woman. Um nothing that we do, we can't earn his love. We already have it. It is given to us, it's not conditional, it's not shaken, it's never ending. Um we're free. We don't earn freedom, it's given all the time, no matter what.

SPEAKER_15 47:17

I love that. I meant to say that earlier. Thank you. We he loves us. We can do things, he's not gonna love us more. We don't do things, he's not gonna love us less. We can't do more or less. We love conditionally, he doesn't. What about this table? Three or more words.

SPEAKER_18 47:39

The three words I picked out um were the same blessing. And I was just envisioning the day his like he took his last breath on the cross. The same blessing that he gave to us that day is the day is the blessing we get today, tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives. So it's just amazing how that blessing has spanned for generations and it will continue.

SPEAKER_14 48:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_18 48:08

Through us. Thank you for that. What about this table back here?

SPEAKER_11 48:14

Um, so I wrote down Galatians 5 1. Um, and I just kept reading it over and over, and I wrote it down. Was it? Oh my god. We did not, we didn't talk, I promise. So it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. So I kept re-reading it, wrote it down, and the two words that stood out to me, and I underlined them was just stand firm.

SPEAKER_15 48:44

Stand firm. Thank you. What about this table? Three or more words. You got it? Just straight up Abba wants me. Abba wants me straight up. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. How about over here? Miss Jenny?

SPEAKER_19 49:08

I'm okay. I was at that table over there. You were 5'1. Okay. Um It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. And I had underlined, do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

SPEAKER_15 49:31

Thank you. Do not let yourselves be burdened again. What about this table here? No one's making eye contact with me. Oh, you are.

SPEAKER_12 49:42

The three words that I chose were God through faith. Uh so also 26. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith.

SPEAKER_15 49:53

Beautiful. How about over? Oh, I did you guys. What about over here? Yes.

SPEAKER_21 50:02

So mine was also Galatians 26. You're children of God through faith. It was actually in this physical spot and moment because I came to church here as a child. So when I was 16, that I gave my life to God and was baptized here. And so, like when we were reading through it, I just thought of that faith moment because I gave it over to him. And the world, the guardians, the law has torn me down. And it's my faith in him that helps you get through it all. And so he gives it to us. It's ours to choose to believe in. And that just spoke to me.

SPEAKER_15 50:39

And we forget. We forget, which is why he commands us to come together. Because if you forget, I could say, girl, remember, remember, don't pick up that yoke of slavery again. I needed to be reminded. You need to be reminded. We all do. It's why we're not to forsake the gathering, even as the time draws near. All right, you guys. I mean, we could just keep going. This was so lovely. Thank you for ministering to each of us. And listen, you are daughters of the king, and he needs you in this world sharing these words. You have a voice. God bless you as you go. And hurry, don't be late.

SPEAKER_07 51:39

I got nothing new. How could I express all my gratitude? I could sing these songs as I often do, but every song must stay, and you never do. So I throw my hands and praise you again. So that I have it no witch that much. Love nothing else before. I've got a swine with my arms.

SPEAKER_08 54:10

Oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your soul, Cause you've got a line inside of those rooms.

SPEAKER_07 54:19

Get a bad praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_08 54:26

Oh, come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a line inside. Get a big praise. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me? Lift up your strong. You've got a line. Get a big praise.

SPEAKER_09 56:13

I need a friend to come on. I need a house to come on when I'm broken down inside in this overstay. I need a place where I feel known. Can someone help me? Then I hear you reply, bringing to your trust to my eyes. Saying I'm not alone. Oh Lord, I need you now more than ever. Would you put my heart back to get the other? I searched the world to my head yet. Just to find out your way's better. Uh-oh. Your way's better. Uh oh, your ways better. Uh oh, your ways better. Always better. Lord, I am so table for the ways that you bless me. Everything you say make noise like it's besty. You love every part of me, even when I was messy. Now I see the all the new beauty, so I can finally take up the old job, bro. Your day always gets me high up. Even on my doggies, days of my lineup. Mama sign up I need you now than a dead book. Just to find out nobody's bed. Nobody's better. Nobody's better. Nobody's better.

SPEAKER_02 59:45

Once I was seven years old. It was a big, big world, but we thought we were bigger. Pushing each other to the limits. We were learning quicker. By 11, smoking herb and drinking, burning liquor. Never rich, so we were out to make that steady bigger. Once I was eleven years old. My daddy told me, go get yourself a wife for you'll be lonely. Once I was a living years old I always had that dream like my daddy before me. So I started writing songs, I started biting stories. Something about that lovely. Just always dream to bobby. Cause only those I really love willing home. I only see my bowls, I don't believe in the Cause I know the smallest boys make it make it big up. I got mumbles with me. Soon we'll be thirty years old. Songs have been sold. We've traveled around the world and we're still roaming. Soon we'll be thirty years old. I'm still learning about life. My woman brought children for me, so I can sing them all my songs, and I can tell them stories. Most of my boys are with me, some are still out seeking glory, and some I had to leave.

Teaching Recap And Renewed Focus

Second Memorization Exercise And Sharing

SPEAKER_15 1:02:02

If you're ready, say ready. You guys are good listeners. Okay, so did everybody have a first group? Great first group? Yes. Good. Okay, well, listen, I want to tell you that I have been praying for you specifically in this room. I've been I was praying that whoever was in this room is exactly where they need to be today. I know that you guys have everyone has sacrificed to be here to deal with family stuff, um, so that you could be in this place on a Saturday morning. I also know that the current is flowing swiftly away from Jesus Christ. And so to dedicate a Friday night and a Saturday morning is very against the flow of current of culture towards Jesus. And so I want to say thank you for making that sacrifice to be here today. And I pray that this moment is so fruitful. And this is what I was thinking about when I think about all of us, you know, we each have our individual timeline of our lives. We are finite creatures, we have a start, we have an ending. And so, you know, today, March 21st, 2026, on the timeline of your life, I am praying that you are either slightly or severely turned toward Christ this very morning. I can see I'm on my own timeline of my life, you know, of when I first knew about Jesus and I turned towards him, and then later I turned away towards him until then I was revealed and totally humbled and was like, oh my gosh, I realized that he is exactly who he said he was, and I repented and believed, and I've been following him ever since for 26 years now. And so, but that's what we're gonna be talking about today is how did you get there? And so on the timeline, again, I'm praying that it is a hard turn or even a slight turning towards him that's irrevocably set in motion. Now, when I was thinking about this time that I have with you, I was so torn because time is so valuable. And so I was thinking about spiritual formation and what would be most helpful to serve you this morning. You guys know that we're all being formed. If you are a gym girl, my fit body buddies, we are forming ourselves painfully to be in shape. You're going to school, you're going to college, you are intellectually being formed. And so, as much time and as attention as you're spending on your education, on your fitness, what about your spiritual formation? Are you spending time to intentionally form your spirit? Or are you being deformed by the culture, by the air we breathe? Are you being misinformed? How are you actively forming? And so when I thought about my own spiritual formation, the things that have formed me the most is scripture, is memorizing scripture, is silence and solitude with scripture. And so I was like, you know what? I'm gonna get him in that room, I'm gonna lock the door, and it's silence for an hour. I was like, probably no one will come to that group. And so that was like, okay, scratch that. We're gonna memorize scripture. I was like, if I put that in the title, definitely no one is coming. And you guys are just confessing that you weren't coming, and so here was my compromise. We're gonna be in the scripture. Help me with that slideshow. We're gonna be spending Time learning in Scripture, then we're gonna spend time with Scripture to encounter God through Scripture. Because as much as I love talking about God and talking to you about God, God talking to you will be way better, way more powerful. So we're gonna be in the scriptures, then we're gonna spend time with scripture memorizing. Lock that door, Shelly. All right, so here we go. We're in Galatians, and so December, I looked at my journal, December 1st, I was in Galatians, and I was reading this scripture, and I was really confronted with my posture towards God. And I felt later, you know, like after I spent, you know, a few weeks or so in this passage that we're gonna be in today, I really felt compelled to um mark it for she wakes. And really the essence of our text is um experiencing God, knowing God, how do we know him? Do I know him as a daughter, or do I know him as a slave? And slave, you know, for us in the US has a harsh connotation. It's tough. It was tough in in uh Paul's time too. But think more like servant, you know, like you're working yourself to the bone for God, like you're doing stuff, you're like ministering, you're serving, you're working, you're studying, you're feeding your family, you're taking care of, you're like doing all these things. You can do that as a posture of a servant, or you can do it as a posture of a daughter. And when I was thinking about what I was confronted with is that I had um, I didn't even realize it, but I had turned from being a daughter, you know. So we're like, here's Jody, here's God, and we are partnering together to minister, you know, we're all called to minister, to know him and to make him known. We can either do that with God or we can feel like he's here and I'm here and I'm doing it for him. And it changes the whole perspective, doesn't it? I was thinking about, you know, for me and my family when I had kids in the house, I'm making food for them because I love to cook, which is true, and I make this delicious meal for all of you. Or there's a time where I'm making this food again, and I'm making this delicious food for you. Make your own food. You know, it's a totally different posture. So that's where we are today. Um, let's see. Okay. So in Paul's letter, now this letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote the letter in our Wednesday group. Um, Kelly and I have been going through 1 Corinthians. And he wrote the letter to the Galatians, the letter to the Corinthians, about the same time. And so I've been noticing there's a lot of similar language that's in there. So I don't know if anybody's in that class, too, but anyway. Um in this letter to the Galatians, though, Paul is quite angry because they have forgotten what they should know. And so in Galatians 3, um, and again, this is a letter, so this is partway through the letter. In verse 1, here's his tone. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before your very eyes? Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain, if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by your believing what you heard? He is angry with them. They have reverted to faith plus works, forgetting that their salvation comes from Christ alone. Their relationship with God is not based on what they do or done. This specifically, this is the origins of the early church. Jesus has died, he has risen, he has ascended, and Jesus was Jewish. And so the Jewish people was a very established religion. Christianity, God bless you, is new. And so, Paul, who's also Jewish, you know, think of any of my friends who grew up Catholic. You know what you need to do to be a Catholic. You are baptized as an infant, you go to first communion, you get confirmation. That's what it means to be Catholic. Well, for the Jews, it means that you are following the law, you are being circumcised, you are eating these foods, you're keeping the Sabbath, you are worshiping only God. Jesus was Jewish. So, you Gentiles, you slaves, you women and men who want to follow Jesus, this is how you do it. And Paul is saying, you foolish Galatians, that circumcision is not what earned you, it was your faith in Christ. Nothing that you can do. And so that's really like if you've been walking with God for a long time, maybe you've forgotten what was it? When was it that you realize that God is who he said he was? And if you get to that moment, you're gonna realize it was nothing you did. It was nothing you did. And because it was nothing you did, there's nothing that you can continue to do. And so imagine that you are you're gonna live the most pious life, you're gonna read the scriptures, you're not gonna be rude to anyone all day long. That's not gonna be enough. Or maybe you're gonna be like, I'm gonna be in ministry, I'm gonna study the scriptures, I'm gonna share the scriptures. That is not gonna be enough. This God is so holy, so other that there is no bridging that gap. There is no circumcision, no law-keeping. If it was, the law would have been all we needed. Jesus wouldn't have to come, but we're gonna read that at the perfect time he came. Let me see where I am. He's too holy. Everything we produce will never bridge the gap. It was your faith in Christ. So why are you now? I think he says it in three, why are you now trying to be perfect by means of the flesh? Let's skip down to 323. So, all of this chapter, he's gonna be talking about um Abraham and Sarah. They had a child of the promised, child of the free woman, which was Isaac. But Abraham and Sarah messed it up, and they came up with a surrogate, you know, a surrogate, they came up with a new plan and had Ishmael. And this is what I was thinking about when I'm thinking about God wanting to partner with us. And he says in three um later, he'll say, There's no slave or free, there's no Jew or Gentile, there's no male or female. He was upturning, overturning the social order of the day. And he does it because he wants to partner with all of those different groups to make himself known. But he wants to do that with us. And I lost my train of thought there. We'll see if it comes back. All right, let's hop down to 323. Oh, so that's all that that what we're skipping over is about Abraham and Sarah. Oh, that's what I was gonna say. And so God wants to partner with us, but we make messes of things. And so he was partnering with Abraham. He's like, Abraham, we're gonna, I'm gonna send the Messiah through you. All the nations of the world are gonna be blessed through you. And it wasn't happening like they thought. And so he's partnering with Abraham. Abraham's waiting, nothing's happening. So Abraham takes matters into his own hands, him and his wife, and he has a child with Hagar, his slave. Well, that was not the child of the promise. That was something Abraham did. And when I think about, you know, if you have kids in the house and you're gonna like cook with them, or they want to cook with you or bake with you, who wants to do that? I don't. You guys are messy. I will just do it. Well, this is God with Abraham, this is God with us. You guys are messy, but I still want to partner with you. This is still my plan to bring the good news to all the nations of the earth is through us, even though we make messes, even though, like Abraham, he has a child who's now a child not of the promise. That's what all that's about. All right, 323. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now that 323, that guard that he's talking about, Paul's hearers, hearers would have known what he was talking about. The name is specifically for a slave, one of the household slaves. Their job was to take this group of boys to school and take them home. This was the guardian. And then bring them home. That is what Paul is saying the law was. Those laws were to keep us safe until the set time comes when Jesus comes to fulfill the law. It was to keep us safe until God comes. It was to show us how to live. It was to show us not to covet our neighbor's wife. It was to show us not to want our neighbors' things. It was to show us to honor our parents. It was to show us not to steal, not to kill. You guys know the law. If that was gonna be enough, if that was gonna do us, if that was gonna bring us reconciliation to God, Jesus didn't have to come. But that was just a placeholder. That was just a guardian to take us until he did. And it turns out it is still a good way to live, to have a flourishing life. Um he goes on in 26 and he says, so in Christ, oh sorry, 27, for all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. I love that part, and it brings to my mind another place in scripture in Isaiah, when he says that I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God, for he has dressed me in the clothing of salvation. He has draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding, like a bride with her jewels. He clothes us in the most beautiful outfit, the most beautiful outfit of the day that he could imagine. They're all picturing the wedding they went to. They're all picturing that beautiful, pure bride and groom, gorgeous dress. He dresses you with that. His daughters, you did not buy that outfit. You did not buy those clothes. He gave them to you, he puts them on you. And when he restores the relationship between you, he thinks you are clean enough, good enough, perfect enough, right where you are. When I think of myself on my timeline, when I am turned away from God, living with the consequences of the choices of my life, he came to that girl and he draped her, he draped you with the clothing of righteousness and salvation. I love so moving on to four um four, four. We say this at Christmas, but when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. That guardian that was taking those boys to school, um, the kids in the family and the household, the um the sons of the owner would grow up with the sons of the slave. Both kids, both playing together, living in the same house, but one has the rights of the owner, and the other has no rights. Both growing up in the same household, but both have different futures. And with God as your father, he has an inheritance for you as his daughters. Now, the thing that's so lovely about God is that son that was born into slavery, specifically Ishmael, Hagar, and that story of Abraham, God does take care of Hagar. He does take care of Ishmael. But it was the mess that Abraham and Sarah made. The child of the promise, the one with the inheritance, the one with the Jesus as their heir was Isaac. That is what he wants for us. Because you are his children, his spirit in our hearts is prompting us to call out to him, Abba, Father. Now, Abba is very special. Who calls their dad daddy? Does anybody? You do? I love that. One of my clients I just saw this week, she's from the South, and she calls, she called her parents when they were living mother and daddy, which I think is so sweet. I love my I tried to get my kids to call me mother and they wouldn't do it. Mother and daddy. It's so intimate. I call my dad dad. So when his spirit, when you first believed, when you saw him for who he was, that he loved you for who you are, your heart cries out, Dad. And then verse seven, and then you are no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are his child, he has made you also an heir. He's made you an heir. Now, this language says sons, because in this time, sons are all that matter. Everything's gonna happen because of the boy. God bless our boys. I love my boys. But women did not inherit anything. But we know that Jesus upturns everything. So now not only are the owners important, but the slaves are important. Not only are the Jews important, but the Gentiles are important. Not only are the males important, but the females are important. He's saying all of you have a part in this. All of you can receive ownership. Be an heir of mine. Now, some of you, daughter doesn't even sound good, or saying dad. And I hate that for you. I hate that for you because it just makes it so much harder to for you to love a good father. But as a daughter, maybe you have felt um felt taken advantage of or manipulated or taken for granted, mistreated, invisible. Um, Paul and his first listeners, they would have understood that too. The women would have felt that way, the slaves would have felt that way. But Christ turns that upside down. So this is my question for us this morning is what is your posture in this relationship with God? Are you like a son on the same side, partnering with God? Or are you on the other side as a slave, as a servant, working for him? Where are you? Four nine. But now you that you know God, or rather are known by God. How is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? How is it you know God? You are known by God, He knows you. Why are you turning back to weak and bankrupt miserable forces? Do you want to be enslaved all over again? How this shocked me when I realized my posture changed. How am I, as a daughter, turning back to behavior like being unassured, being self-doubting, insecure, lacking confidence in my own ability that the Lord has given me? And if I am turning my back, if I'm turning toward those bankrupt ways, I am turning away from him. And it surprised me that day on December 1st. How am I? Me, a daughter, saved by grace, forgiven, restored when I was far away. He loved that girl, that sinful, rebellious, each one of us. And I did nothing except believe. And somehow I had reverted to being a servant, to being a slave, not remembering that I have inherited eternal life, that I am a partner with him. So when you find that out, if you find that out, what do you do? Well, this is what Paul says. In 430, he says, But what does scripture say? Get rid of the slave woman and her son. For the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. And like I said, he takes care of the slave woman too. Actually, the slave woman sees God and names God. She's actually the first one to do that. Women have a big part in God's story. 5-1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm. Resist. Don't let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. That sounds like work on our part to do. Christ liberated me, Christ liberated you. And so are we willingly going back to a bankrupt way of life? Now, here is where you guys are gonna participate. The doors are locked. I'm just kidding. We're gonna spend 10 minutes, and here's what I want you to do. I firmly believe 15 minutes is all it takes to memorize scripture, and scripture ingested eating. This is where communion with God happens. You talk to yourself more than anyone else, and the words that you say to you are terrible most of the time. So stop talking to yourself and let the Lord talk to you instead. And so that is where. I love to have his words rolling around in my mind so I don't say some of the dumb things that I like to say. So we're going to spend 10 minutes, not 15, because that ran us late the last time. And I want you to go through the text that we've been spending this morning. And I want you to find three to five words to commit to memory. And so I want you to read them. I want you to write them. I want you to say them without looking. Get them in. Read them. And then we are all going to minister to one another. I'm a firm believer, like well, maybe I'm a firm believer because it's true for me. I learn by doing. And so I don't trust you to leave here and try it on your own. So we're going to do it right now. So I'm going to give you 10 minutes and then I'm going to go table to table. And one person from each table is going to tell us what they memorize. Okay. You're going to share the words of the Lord to you, to us. Everybody know what they're doing? And so something that I like to do. This is why the colored pencils are out. So I love to, you know, different words if you like to be creative. But then whatever the words are for me for the day, I write them down on a card and I just stick them in my pocket because this is my time. This is my communion with the Lord. It doesn't have to be covering a whole chapter. It's a few words that he wants to say to you today. And I'll tell you by 12 o'clock you'll forget what it was he said. So you'll write the words down you have them in your pocket and you're like, oh yeah, what did he say? Oh yeah. I love that he said that. All right, so here we go.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:56

It was a big, big world, but we thought we were big.

SPEAKER_15 1:37:17

And this hour, I something else jumped out at me. And it's Paul 5:1. He says, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then. And just taking that bit made me realize like it's going to be hard. And it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. And a lot of people look at Christianity as no freedom. You know, like you can't do this and you shouldn't do that. And it's not it at all. It is for freedom that he set us free. That I'm not, at least it reminded me this morning of when I was a slave to saying yeah. It's not necessarily like in this room, AA meets until you know AA, they come to me because they were a slave to alcohol. It's not AA's not bad. It is giving them freedom from until Christ said us free so that we don't have to be a slave, even if it's the good things. We are not a slave, and so stand firm. It's gonna be hard. All right, from this table. Who's got three to five words they're gonna share with us?

SPEAKER_22 1:38:36

Well, I did a verse. Is that okay? It wasn't I wasn't like trying. No, I wasn't going over to the first one. Okay. Okay. So there's words within the verse I also memorized that helped me memorize the verse. Okay, so I did Galatian four, four. She said it's around Christmas time a lot. So I thought, hey, why not get one that I can use around Christmas time? So Galatian 4-4. My words were set time, woman, law, redeem, and then a group of words receive adoption through sunshine. So in memorizing the verse, when the set time had fully come, and I have to do with my eyes closed. That's why I also don't feel bad if you have to look at my eyes. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his son born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that they might receive adoption to somehow.

SPEAKER_15 1:39:47

Thank you for that. How about this table? Three to five words.

SPEAKER_10 1:39:56

Um I went a little bit of a different route. I did not memorize a verse. Um do I should I look at my card or turn it over? I don't know what to do. Okay, well, I um memorize the spirit, freedom, fullness, stand firm. And now I'm blanking faith. Um and I just kept thinking of a song by Josh Baldwin um where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. And I just kept memorizing that over and over, and that's the direction I went.

unknown 1:40:27

I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_15 1:40:28

How about this table over here? Three to five words. No one's looking at me.

SPEAKER_17 1:40:37

Okay, I I chose a flash heir formerly enslaved and freedom. And I use the same scripture that Josh used. But when the the set time had fully come, God sent his son born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship. So we are his heirs.

SPEAKER_15 1:41:04

What about this table here? That's a beautiful study, by the way. Um, when the set time had fully come, like finding out like just how the time when Jesus came at that era of human history was perfectly situated, as we can all see now, 22,000 years later, that we know about him. Three to five words.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:29

Only faith working through love. From Galatians five to six. None of it means anything without love.

SPEAKER_15 1:41:36

Very nice. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:39

Over here.

SPEAKER_14 1:41:44

Spirit, trust, wait, and hope. And I did Galatians five for through the spirit we trust and we wait and hope and to be made right. So we go through to God's spirit and and we wait and we hope to get our answers and our prayers. And waiting is so easy, right?

SPEAKER_15 1:42:05

How about over here?

SPEAKER_20 1:42:08

No one's looking, no one's looking. I did not understand the assignment. No, I got it. I got it. But I did pull out Galatians 3:3. And it was how foolish. Because I think we fall victim to that often. Um, we've started a new life. Why are we trying to do it in our own flesh? So maybe I did understand the assignment.

SPEAKER_13 1:42:38

Over here. So I picked a verse that was kind of within the things that we did to memorize. And we said to pick something to keep in our back pocket, maybe literally and figuratively, to speak kindly to ourselves. So this is what I picked. I picked Galatians 3 9. Those who rely on faith are blessed. So when I want to think an ugly thought, I'm relying on my faith and I am blessed. So it felt like the perfect back pocket verse to always keep top of mind.

SPEAKER_15 1:43:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_16 1:43:17

Okay, so I picked a couple of words from like each verse just because I get in my head a lot. So I picked, are you foolish? So we start with that so I can have a conversation with me sometimes. And then believe in what you heard. You are clothed in Christ. You are no longer a slave and you are free.

SPEAKER_15 1:43:44

What did I already do? You guys lost my way. Okay. Who's here?

SPEAKER_00 1:43:50

Okay, so I my the words I picked out were because good news in Jesus. And um my scripture is actually from 1 Peter 3, 15, and it's the um sharing um why you believe what you believe with other people, have a word for why and to do it with gentleness and love. That was not the assignment.

How Scripture Reshapes Daily Self Talk

Identity Poem And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_15 1:44:16

You're fine. Extra credit. All right. So I'm gonna give us just a few more minutes. And I'd love to encourage you. I really do encourage you to um, as part of your time with Jesus, to memorize scripture and to try to do it word for word. Like it really is important to say it exactly how it's because you can change the meaning by changing a word or two. And so I encourage you to do that to strive for exact wording. Um, and then like I said, to build on that, you know, challenge yourself to do a paragraph, to do a chapter. I have never done a book, but people have. Um his words in your head. It so I did I say that in this hour? Yes, spiritually shaping. His word is what shapes us. And so for a long time in the same direction, following him day in, day out as a daughter, you're gonna grow to look more and more like Jesus by his words. So I'm just gonna give you um two minutes and I want you to just sit in silence with those words that he spoke to you and let him just speak to you through them. So, like those words that you had in your back pocket, those words that jumped out at you. See if there's anything further he wants to say to you through those. I want to read this. Um, I found this poem this week, and it's exactly about who um we are as his daughter, and it's titled identity, and I love that because this is the identity that you want to hold on to. It really is. Um if your identity is as a mother, that's where you get your sense of self and purpose, and you lose your children. I mean, I know two women right now who have only children and their child have has died. And so that will shipwreck your life if your identity is taken away as a mother, if that's where your identity rests, or as a spouse, if you lose your husband and you lose your um your wife, and your identity is as that wife, and now it's taken away from you. Who am I? Or if you your identity is in that job or in that degree, and then it's lost. Who am I? Identity, no need to search for myself, no need to grasp for meaning for my life or purpose for what I do, no need to hope for inner peace, that sense of well-being for which every heart longs. No need to hope that someone or something will make me happy or give me joy forever. I no longer need any of these things because grace has connected me to you and you have named me your child. Heavenly Father, I pray for these women here that they would know you as Abba. Know that you are, they are known by you. That intimate word know that you know everything about them and you see them. And even though you see everything about them, you love them and want to clothe them and call you, you call them a daughter, and want them as an heir and to partner with you to bring the good news of Jesus Christ. So, Lord, I pray that your girls would be blessed in all they do and they would remember they are your daughters. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, girls.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:01

And I'm overwhelmed with in From the way to fall my sin. I need a friend to call me.