 This is going to be a fantastic sister to sister. We ask questions that you send us and one of you asked what does it mean to be born again? And also how can I listen to God's voice and know God's will for my life? Find out what all the sisters think coming up next. Welcome to Sister to Sister. So God, you joined us today. We are opinionated women and you ask us questions and we answer from our hearts and from a biblical perspective. And Cory's not with us today. So we are four sisters strong. So we got this. We missed our point. We're playing a little bling. Oh yeah, well, we got them bling sisters. Bling sisters for your core. You know what? This show is going to be very interesting. So pay attention. Here's why you wrote and you wonder, you said what does it really mean to be born again? And then the second question you asked is what changed in your life when you became born again? I love that. Yes, and Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and he was of the Sanhedrin, the top of the religious rulers. And he came to Jesus by night. I'm glad he did. And asked him, you know, how can I be saved and what do I need to do? And Jesus said, you have to be born again. He said, do I go back in my mother's womb? And you know, no, it's not of the flesh. It's not of blood, but the spirit. Your spirit, the Bible says bears witness with God's spirit that you are a child of God. So Jesus' own words, he used that word. You're born from above. You're not born again in the flesh. So what changed for me? I was conscious of the sin that I was doing that dishonored God. Not completely everything at once. I'm still dealing with the sin that dishonors God. But he made me aware that it was displeasing to him. Did it mean I wasn't saved? No, I was saved. I was born from above. But what happens is he's cleansing the heart. He's cleansing the soul. He's becoming, we're becoming more like him. I repented. I wanted to know the word. I wanted to know what he was saying to me. I wanted to be around other people who loved him and gleaned from them what was going on in their life. It's a transformation from repentance, not only sorrow for the sin, but a turning around from sin to want to please God. Well, that's so good. What do you have born again? What does it mean to be born again? You have to start that you're a sinner that needs saved by great. I mean, not everybody thinks I'm a sinner. Like, I just, I'm great. I'm fine, I'm cool. I'm living my life. I'm partying. I'm do whatever I want whenever. It's like our first realization is that I need to be born again. I think about Romans 3-10, there is none righteous. No, not one. I think about Romans 3-23 all have sinned and fallen short of, that's our starting point. I'm a sinner and I need a savior and Jesus is my savior. And I just thought, you can tell by the values that they hold and the lives that they lead, whether they've been born again or not. So, I mean, faith without works is dead. So there's a life that a disciple, that a follower of Christ has that is recognizable to the world. And hopefully, you're salt and light and people are looking at your life and they want to partake of whatever you have done. You're, you know, whatever, that was weird saying. What changed in your life? I mean, you've been a little Christian girl your whole life, good little girl. That's what I was gonna say. You know, I was raised in church at 18 months on and I don't remember the day that I said, Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart. I'm sure in every Sunday school class, every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, I probably said it a million times and throughout my whole church life. But I just grew up knowing Jesus loves me and I love him. And it's really that simple. He loves me, he loves me and he's Lord of my life. I like it. And that's it. Flo, give me some wisdom. You know, I listen to everybody and I agree, but I think it's even simpler than that, but yet maybe to some people, a little more mystical. And what I mean by that is the scripture says before you were fashioned, you know, before you were placed in your mother's womb, he fashioned you, he formed you. He spent time with you. So to me, being born again is simply me reconnecting back to where I came from. So God spent time with us that my original, my whole very being, the very fabric of my soul, all of who I am was within him. I'm created in his image, but then there's a legal entry into the earth realm so that I can do what God has called me to do. So I have to come through the womb. So I am born into sin coming through that natural womb, correct? So I come into the world, I'm born into sin. You must be born again. That's my first birth as we would call it. And when I come to the realization, most of us, at least for me, we grew up in church, but I have to honestly say, I did not know the Lord. I did not have a personal relationship with the Lord. So I'm like, Amy, I remember saying the sinner's prayer. And I remember saying the sinner's prayer when I was young, some group evangelist came to a camp I was at and led us. I gave my heart to the Lord. And then as I got older, I did it again because I certainly found myself not living the life bearing the fruit of a Christian. So when I did that, then it was that reconnection back to daddy, you know, back to God. And now how did that change? I am more attuned with my creator. I don't have to struggle as much now because I'm still in this flesh, you know, but knowing who I am, what I need to do, what my purpose is, what my assignment is, what my call is. So I just see being born again, in my opinion, that's how Jesus was describing it to Nicodemus. And Nicodemus' mindset was like most of ours, you know, with how, how's that supposed to happen? Crawl back in my mother's womb, you know? No, you connect back to the Godhead who created you. Well, you know, I wanted to say this is interesting because when I was born again, when I was saved many, many, many years ago, we would say born again. Today, I have verbiage change, Christian is verbiage change. Today you would say, oh yeah, well he's a believer or she's a believer. So we kind of, the born again label has kind of been, and I think it's okay. Kind of saying I'm a believer or she or he or he is a believer. I like that. It could be translated born from above. True. I think that's right. But born again was, you know, or was he born again? Yeah. Okay, this is so good. I'm glad you asked that question. But I asked, you also asked this and I'm gonna ask Flo, will you take this one? It says, how do you demonstrate God's love without compromising biblical truth? Well, to me, biblical truth is God's love. So what do you think? I was gonna say the same thing. I think that is how you demonstrate it by not compromising. Right. But I think the real question is, again, how do I show God's love? So, because the word is the word, you can't get away from that, you know? And God is not a man that he should lie. The scripture was a written a fourth time before, you know, for our learning. And it goes on and on and on. What I have learned over the years is that there is a wisdom attached to soul winning. And most of us think, in fact, the scripture says he that went of souls is wise. And I think most of us have associated that with the evangelistical thrust when I'm out in the street, when I'm talking to the person under the bridge, but you need wisdom in the developing of the soul. You need wisdom when I am dealing with, there are people in church, we just went through this, I can't think of the name of it, but it's geared towards dealing with people that aren't saved. And you have what they call spiritual conversation. They watch this little video and then, you know, they questions are asked like, well, if God is real, why does fill in the blank? Why are people born with handicaps? Why did my mom and dad get divorced? And they said, well, it's done around, supposedly people aren't saved, aren't born again. But the thing of it is, is believers have those questions too. And you have to have a format where these things get discussed. And so what I am learning is, notice I did not say learn, I'm learning. How do I show the love of God when I am dealing with someone that is in a genuine struggle with the battle of their soul? And they don't even know it. So they don't get my Christianese. No. And some of them don't want to hear me deliver the word because most of them have been beat with the word. And so they, you know, it's not palatable to them. But then what I'm learning is I have to be the word. Yes. And so what I'm learning is, God, help me, how can I be unconditional love to someone? How can I be forgiveness to someone? You know, how can I allow that person to feel celebrated and not tolerated, to feel accepted? And what I'm learning is most of the work is having to be done in me. Because Jesus came for those in need of a physician. And I always find it so fascinating that Jesus did not spend his time with the religious people. That's right. And in fact, that's who he battled with. That's who crucified him. And I don't want to crucify him all over again. So part of my challenge, even when people say to me, oh Flo, you're very religious. You're a religious woman. Please don't say that because I'm really not. You know, and for me to emulate our Lord and savior, I have to walk in that level of love and transparency that he does and did. And I find that the work starts in me. Right. Well, I know you have a scripture for me. How do we demonstrate God's love? You know, Jesus said it in John 12 and she was talking about it. He says, if anyone hears my words, but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. What was that scripture? John what? John 12, 47. We are not God's judge. He is the judge. We just sent forth his word. How do we send forth his word? We're not cleaning up the outside. We don't have to act like another person does and compromise what we believe, but we certainly don't have to judge what they believe and have arguments about what they believe. There's something in their heart that is longing. The Lord says, I put eternity, ecclesiastics in people's heart. I put eternity there. You gotta go looking for eternity. Don't look for all this stuff on the outside. That's right. You don't have to be like them to convince them God loves them. It's a song they will know we are Christians by our love. But Amy, I have to ask you this. Someone asked, how do we listen for the voice of God in my life? John 10, I love the scripture. You're doing scriptures today. You're doing good. She's only so scared. I'm used to Roxanne with the word. You got the word, you're bringing it. And the sheep recognize or hear the voice of the true shepherd for he calls his own by name and he leads them out for they belong to him. My sheep hear my voice. Not like my sheep can hear my voice or my sheep will hear my voice or my sheep should hear my voice or maybe someday it's like my sheep hear my voice. So I mean, there's a confidence that you have to have once you've been born again. You're a follower of Christ. You've been not just born of the flesh but you've been born of the spirit. That means his spirit is in you. The Holy Spirit and that means that he is speaking to you. You hear his voice the same way I call my children. They know my voice. When you read his word, you hear his voice. When you listen to messages and pastors and worships you hear God's voice speaking to you. A friend calls, she says something. You're like, that sounded like what it says in the word. Like I feel like the voice of God is speaking to me. So I just think that people get caught up. Like I can't hear. I don't know what it is. And they get trapped and it's like, you hear. People want to ask me, what do you think Pastor Amy about this? And I said, you know what? You actually hear the spirit of God's voice for your life. Well, we had another question about that. How do you hear the Holy Spirit? So God's voice is the Holy Spirit. Yes. But I love the sheep analogy because if we're called sheep, I'll take it. Cause I am, I am. You know, it was funny that I called someone on the phone for an appointment for something and they recognized my voice from sister to sister. Oh my. And they're like, oh, I go to Pastor Amy's church. Are you on sister to sister? I recognize your voice. Oh, that's awesome. How do they know my voice? They're watching sister to sister. How do we hear God's voice? He says, if you abide in me, you will hear my voice. So as we abide in God, as we hear, listen to His word, we're going to start hearing His word. Oh yeah. Okay. Don't judge. Okay. Love them. Don't be irritable. You know, His, He uses His word to convict us and to speak to us. And it was funny when she said that I'm thinking about the lady on the phone and it happened to me three other times. Are you on sister to sister? I recognize, and I've got this nasally flow. My Cosmine calls a Joan Crawford voice. Okay, my crazy voice is good for something, Lord. People recognize it. But it was funny that she recognized, she never saw me. I was on the phone. Yeah. And their voice. We recognize God's voice. We're spending time with Him. That's right. That's right. Well, we hope you hear the voice of God and we hope that what we say and what we bring to you helps your heart receive. We'll be right back, right after this. Hello, welcome back. Thank you so much for being with us. We're talking all things God today. Well, we are. We always do. But today. Oh, that's new. This is such a good show. I mean, I know that you're out there, but I love what everyone says. And Flo, I'm gonna ask you this question. This is like a little bit, it's good for you, the wisdom of Flo. You tell us. Okay, so you wrote, do I have to speak in tongues to be a Christian? And again, that verbiage is now like speaking in the Holy Spirit. It changes, verbiage changes. What do you think? You know, I'm thankful for this question on so many levels. However, I have to say that in the timeframe that we have, it is really something that needs to be studied out and it needs to be a discussion. So I'm just gonna come from the perspective of it being a gift. It is a gift. And it, as in the book of Corinthians, it says that no matter what kind of gift I have, if I speak with a tongue of angels and I don't have the spirit of love. That's good. It really doesn't matter. And why do I bring that up? Because a lot of the work that I do, you hear me say it time and time again, it's very ecumenical and I love that. Of course, when I am, because of that, that puts me in touch with brothers and sisters that believe a little differently or had some different experiences. Does that mean that they don't love God? No, does that mean that they are not saved? Like I'm saved, like really saved, you know? No, you know? And what I have found, though, is something we need to be watchful with in how we present it and how we discuss it. You know, I am real big on unity, Psalms 133. That is where God commands the blessing. A lot of us are saying I'm hungry for revival. We want revival. And some of us, even when we say we want unity, I want it as long as I'm in the face of it, as long as I'm the one responsible for bringing everybody together. I want revival as long as it starts at my church. So where is the love? So we're talking about a gift. And God is the giver of gifts He delegated, that the Holy Spirit, He gives out the gifts several as He sees fit. I believe that the gift of speaking or praying in tongues is something that you can or cannot receive whether it is sometimes the reason we don't receive it is because of maybe some teachings that we have, maybe a belief system that we have, but I do believe that it is a gift that is available to you if you want it. Do you want me to stop? No, I wanted to say something about the gift part. Go ahead. Well, no, then continue, but when you're saying the gift, I was in a prayer line. This is very in the very beginning of my Jesus-ness, right? And I was up in a prayer line and all the people were getting prayed on. Okay, prayed, prayed, prayed. So I get to the person and I say, hello. And they said, why are you afraid of the gift of tongues? And first of all, I said, well, first of all, how do you know that, right? So it's a prophetic thing. So when you're talking gift, gift, gift, it is a gift and I had to choose to receive it. Why was I afraid? And I think some of our teachings, and here's the thing, when you take a gift and you use it as a weapon, then people will be afraid because it was a weapon of judgment, right? You don't speak in tongues. I'm more saved than you ain't me, you know what I mean? I have the Holy Spirit, you know what I mean? She doesn't have, you don't have any power, Roxy, because you know, so it's the way that we, and that's not the heart of God. That's not the love of God. He wants you to have the gift. It's a gift. This is great. If I bought you in a gift, you don't want me to take it and just throw it at you, right? That takes everything, you know? So I believe that the, I just believe that the love of God is what precedes every, that's right. It's what I like when she just said, it's wrapped in it. It's wrapped in the love of God. So when I present it, I got to present it with the spirit of God. And there's other things to it. There's different types of tongues and there's interpretation. So, you know, I don't know that we don't have time to get into all of that, but just the fact to answer the questions, do you have to speak in tongues to be a Christian? I'm gonna tell you absolutely, positively not. Right, okay, who has something on the tongue? But you're gonna want to. Go ahead. I was in a room with pastors, and in the room there was a Episcopal Baptist assembly of God, word of faith, Catholic, we're all in there. And on a whiteboard, they wrote down every single denomination, their strengths, what they're known for, what is their main focus, the weakness, you know? And what it, and I'm looking at this full picture and I'm like, not one has it all. Not one denomination. So like, the Holy Spirit, and you're right, it needs so much more time and you've got to really study it. To study it, actually go to Acts one, go to Acts eight, go to Acts 19, and just study those chapters. Because there is an encounter with the Holy Spirit. So, one mentor of ours said, listen, I just raised my hands at a gas station and said, I want all of God that I can get. That's the bottom line. I want all of God that I can get. So for me, I pray in the natural, pray in the natural, and it's just like, I run out of my words, my language. I don't know how to get that language out. And then the Holy Spirit speaks through me. And it's like a direct line to heaven. And it's like, I don't know exactly all that I'm saying, but I know I'm talking directly to the Father. Oh my gosh, that makes me cry. That's so good. It's just an overwhelming thing. But Roxy, I'm going to end with this one last question. Because you wrote, so I want to do it. And it's, how can I truly know what God's will is for my life? All right, I am going to use the scripture that I use in my life. Psalm 57, two, I cry out to God most high. Now listen, who fulfills it? Who fulfills his purpose in my life? We don't have to always figure out where I'm going and the way I'm going. We have to cry out to God. He says, seek my kingdom first. And all these things will be added. So our focus has to be, how do I please you? How do I talk to you? All the things we've talked about today. Seek him first. And the scripture says, he has a plan. He has ordained, then doors start to open. What does the scripture say? He opens doors that no man can close. He closes doors that no man can open. So we are in his hands, no matter what. Everything that we've talked about today kind of is summarized in this, how do I know what God's will is for my life? And all of the sisters brought the wisdom that's in their hearts to you. So I hope that you caught the vision from us. Stay there. We'll be right back. We're going to wrap this up. So how I wish you were in the room with us and we could just chop it up and talk about all of these rich, rich topics and subjects and questions from the Bible. We have this little bit of time to expound on, I mean, how could we possibly put into words the great wealth that is in the scripture. So we hope that you read it for yourself. Let's go right now to a scripture in Psalm 367. And it says this, how priceless is your unfailing love? Oh God, people take refuge in the shadow of your wings. And I have to read this to you in the message Bible because it will grab you. I hope it reaches out right there where you are and just grabs you. God's love is meteoric. His loyalty is astronomical. His purpose is Titanic and his verdicts are oceanic. Yet in his largeness, nothing gets lost. Not a man, not a mouse slips through the cracks. There is nothing like his love that he has for you. If you think for one second that he's gonna let your child slip through the cracks, you've got another thing coming. That's actually his kid. If you think for one second that you're going to miss it and slip through the cracks of his unfailing, rich, Titanic, oceanic, meteoric love, you don't know our God. So we pray today that you come to know the love that God has for you. I'm telling you it is a game changer. So make sure you call today and ask a prayer partner to lead you through the salvation prayer and become born again. Oh my gosh, that is the church of Amy. And you know, we also end with this as iron sharpens iron. So does the countenance of a man or a woman sharpen the other. We are the sisters.