 What a good show this is gonna be. Here's a question. I've been told I need to find my identity in Christ. What about spiritual people that don't attend church? Oh, I've got some thoughts. And what about dreams? Do they have meetings? What about them? Let's find out. Stay tuned. Welcome to Sister to Sister. This is gonna be such a good show. I am so grateful that you tuned in and you have come across five intelligent, beautiful, women of God. And we bring the questions that you send us from our heart and from the Bible to you. So I'm gonna get started with this really good question. You wrote, how do I respond to someone who says they don't go to church but they're very spiritual? I'm gonna ask the pastor. Okay, so my heart's beating fast. My adrenaline is rushing because this is such an important thing and it's my life as a pastor of a local church. I see the impact, the influence, the lives changed. So you might think you're spiritual but that doesn't mean you're scriptural. So even as Jesus, it says as was his custom went to the temple, were part of the body of Christ. The very epistles are written to the churches of Ephesus, of Corinth, of Philippi. So if the apostle Paul were writing about the church in Pittsburgh where we live, would your name be in it? Would you be a part of that body? A body isn't just like, I don't show up somewhere and my arm is in a different room. They're connected, there's a connectedness when you're part of the body of Christ which we are referred to as believers. The apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors are there and God designed them in a governing body to equip the believers to do the work of the ministry. So I do not believe that you are really spiritual and scriptural and do not attend church to become part of the body in influencing and bringing thy kingdom come to earth in a community to freak out the devil, to get people saved, to reach the lost and to do the great commission. You said about the letters, I saw a post that said, boy, Paul should write a letter to the church of America right now. What do you think about the spiritual question? Well, the Bible does say do not forsake the assembly of yourselves and what's the assembly? I guess it's not just what a building but it could be a Bible study, it could be a small group, it could be some way where you fellowship. It says when we fellowship with one another, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. Why? Because we're holding one another accountable according to the word, not according to what we think. So I think it's important, so I'll ask the person, what's the expression of your spirituality? You know, what is the evidence of your spirituality? What is the fruit of your life that brings you close to the Lord, close to others that you are making a difference in the kingdom of God? What do you have? I actually think, I don't know, I came at this from a different perspective. I think that this is used as a worldly term. When someone says they're spiritual but they don't go to church, they're actually saying they don't identify as a Christian or scriptural at all. And they're not, they're not Christians, they're saying I'm a spiritual person, I don't identify with your religion at all. And so I came at it from a completely different perspective where they're saying, how do you respond to somebody that is basically like pagan spiritual? Because I have come across this many, many times with people that I work with or people that they're like, I'm a spiritual person, but they don't identify with Christianity. And so my answer to that is just to be very non-threatening, sort of to do the strategy that Jesus used where he asked a lot of questions, Jesus used that strategy, kind of say, how have you ever read the Bible? You know, kind of thing. And then to kind of talk about your spirituality, what it means to you? What does my spirituality mean? What does the Holy Spirit mean to me? How does that mean to me? That was kind of my answer to the question. You don't want to berate them for not going physically to the building you want to just present Jesus. Well, I mean, because the building means nothing to me to them because Christianity means nothing to them. Do you have something else for us? Not really. Just did what she said. I love that we were coming from the perspective we're coming from, but we have to realize everybody is not a Christian. So what I identify with as spirituality does not necessarily line up with what you identify with as spirituality. And one of the things that I find via experience, not regurgitating what I read in a book, is that if I show people love, God is love. If I salute the divinity in you, it is so much easier to present the gospel as a living epistle than it is to spew out the written epistle that you have no respect for anyway. And I have by experienced, you know, this is why I don't go by title. Yes, I'm a licensed ordained pastor. I can bury, I can marry, I can do all of that. But my highest title is that of a servant. Therefore, I can step into what Jesus himself did. Let me get to the Samaritan woman. Let me get to the tax collector that everybody's condemned and nobody wants to deal with. And then my biggest fight is with the religious people who refuse to get a better understanding because we are pilgrims passing through. I'm an ambassador. I should be able to encounter that one who sees himself as spiritual, not make them feel condemned, but introduce them to the love of God. And for the most part, my experience has been that they do convert, you know. But for us as Christians, yes, if you are confessing Christ as it has already been shared, then yes, we need to not forsake this sibling of ourselves together and all the great scriptures everybody shared. Oh good, oh good. So I hope you got that. Those of you who are writing and asking about this, this question is really good too. And it goes like this, I'm 40 and single. I don't want to be, I'm worried being married is not in God's plan for me. I find it's all I think about. All I pray about, all I talk about, it consumes me. Thank you for writing that. What should I do? I'm gonna say something that's really gonna be hard to hear. Go ahead. It might not be in the plan for you. I don't know that. God knows that, okay? But it shouldn't be all consuming to you. What should be all consuming to you is today. And what does God have for you for today? Because today has enough worries for today. What does the word say? It says Matthew 634, therefore do not worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries, okay? What I also want to say to you is you're a stronger person than me. The Bible says that because you have a higher calling if you were called not to be married, okay? So I know that's hard to hear. I know that's super hard to hear. It is. It is. It doesn't mean you are called to be single. It just means let's focus on what God has for you today. He might have something, he might have someone out there for you and he might not. But that shouldn't be the focus. You're answering her question. What should I do? What do you think, Rox? Yeah, you know, I just want to give you hope because first, Corinthian says, I hasn't seen. Ear hasn't heard. All that God has prepared for those that love him. And you know, I don't know if you're single because it's something you did, some position you're in, some place you're in in your life, but let me just take it from that approach. If you feel the desire in your heart that God has called you to marriage, what can I do today to prepare myself? Is there something in my character, my life, whatever that I need to work on? Also, am I in the wrong places to meet the right kind of people? Are you in a bar? Yeah. You know, are you in places where you're not meeting the right kind of people? Do you need to position yourself in a certain way? Is God trying to get your attention? Because he says, delight yourself in the Lord, he'll give you the desires. But he also says in that scripture to dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. So be faithful to God. He may have put a desire in your heart and do those steps as Corey said, do those steps in your life that he's calling to you now. I like that. I like that. Your sister. Yeah, my sister. Come on. I would say this, that God will give you the desires of your heart. And if that is a deep desire of your heart that the Lord wants to give it to you, and it's scriptural, be fruitful, multiply, take dominion, subdue the earth. So I would say read stories of hope and encouragement like my sister who got married at 40 to an amazing guy that they just happened to meet at the right time. So God's not done. There is hope if you really want to be married. I like that. I heard like this one single girl, like she was like her whole, like for years and years and years, she was only sleeping on one half of the bed. She was like everything like she did was like focused on like getting married. And I'm just like, like lay there in life, like spread out on the bed. Be desirable. Not like, just like, I'm just like, don't make that the single focus of your life. You know? I think we answered. Oh, I think we answered. I'm going to another question. I know, but if I could just have 30 seconds for this question. I'm counting you on 30 seconds. Okay, well please do start with number one. You know, I just want to reiterate her being consumed. And when you are consumed, there's something that becomes your God. And you are not ready for a mate or a gift from God until you're able to establish the difference between the gift and God himself. Perfect. That was 30 seconds. Woo! Hey man! Good one. And that was me. Only because... I said you're on the cake. That was good. You didn't just reiterate, you added. I am going to add a question that I think is really important. I do not want to miss. It says this, did you arrive at this point in your life, married or not married, because you willed it or because you were destined to be here? What a great question. Roxy. Oh my goodness, this is awesome. This is awesome. You know, Philippians two says, God is at work in us, both to will and to do his good pleasure. Do you have to work hard once God's will has dropped into your life? You may have to work hard. I worked hard through life, but it was nothing that I did that brought me there because God says I open a door that no man can close. I close a door that no man can open. When I got the last interview because my test scores weren't in yet on the LSAT, Dean Shuloh said, you called it lucky, I call it blessed. You got the last interview on the last day of interviews. God does things that we can't imagine. It's not ourselves, it's him, but we have to surrender our lives to him. He both wills us to do something and gives us the ability to do it. I love that. Okay, I do want to hear without giving you just 30 seconds. Thank you so much. I'm so very humbled and grateful. Are we willed or is it destiny? It's a combination of both. And Romans 8 verses 28 through 32, you can read it. It talks about being preordained. If you look at it from just destiny, you're saying I don't really have a choice, but I do because in Deuteronomy, choose between life and death. I have the right to choose salvation. You see, your decisions are what help usher you into your destiny. For example, David tended to his father's sheep. He learned how to play the harp. The harp made him be able to go to minister to the king and the king got delivered, which setting him up to be able to kill Goliath, which setting him up. Are you following what I'm saying? So your will, I have a will to make it. David could have said I don't want to wash the sheep. I'm not going to learn to play the harp. I'm not going to minister to the king. And so there's that combination. So the biggest thing, there was a part of the question I think it said how, I just got tapped. So give me one second. No, no, no, I tapped you by accident. Because you were destined to be here, you have a choice in the matter is what I'm trying to say. And that's where your will comes in. God will not override your will. You have a free will. And that's just how it's set up. I didn't tap you, but I'm going to tap you. Yeah, I mean, Destin and Will do work together hand in hand. I just thought of, you know, many of the plans in a man's heart, but the Lord will direct his path. The steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. So like I didn't wake up, you know, eight, 10, 15, thinking I'm going to be a pastor and I'm going to move to Pittsburgh and I will be on sister to sister. Like I didn't, I was not planning to do that. I was planning, first I wanted to be a football player, then, you know, other things. Dad wants me to be good at math and science. I'm like, I hate math and science. So I'm in drama, you know, all this. I'm in musical theater and college thinking I'm going to go to Broadway, get everybody saved. And, but I'm in the house of God and in the house of God where I was planted, where I was serving, where I was connected in the body. God divinely orchestrated and ordered and dropped something in my heart, which led to that destiny. But I also had to, with my strong will, submit to that. I love to talk about the choices because we do have choices in this world. But the scripture that Amy said, and I'm going to leave you with it because it's perfect, it's Jeremiah 2911. I have it all over my house. I know the plans I have for you to give you hope in a future. And also to stay right there because we have more sister to sister, right after this. Oh my gosh, they're still talking. I'm going to put a tape recorder when we go to break because they're still, and I love my sister so much. And I do dream about sister to sister. However, I have to ask you this. Do dreams, not sister to sister dreams, but do dreams have meaning flow? I personally believe that all dreams have a meaning to it, but it's the interpretation process that people, depending on your spiritual training, are not necessarily aware of. So I believe that dreams can come to give you direction, to come and give you a warning, to bring clarity to something that you are dealing with or need an answer to. I also think you can have that late pizza, you know, dream, you know, or watch something. So, but I think that I just want to encourage people to journal your dreams. And while I am a big proponent of dream interpretation, I also want to encourage people that you are the greatest interpreter of your dream. For example, I can throw out the word Apple right now. And just real quick, what does Apple mean to you? My phone. That's really hungry, crunchy phone. Okay, so if I was to, if you told me you had a dream about apples and I was to interpret, I could say, well, you know, I really feel the Lord is saying that there is fruit coming from your ministry at this and next level, blah, blah, blah, blah. But for you, it may be that God wants you to advance in technology. Are you following what I'm saying? Taste and see that the Lord is good. He's sweet. God wants you in a deeper intimate relationship with him. So I think the greatest thing we can do is to teach, if you are of the five fold, equip those saints to be able to interpret those dreams. Well, how do I know if the dream is from God? I think there are some technical things that we teach in dream interpretation. If the dream is black and white, if the dream is in color, some people go by that. You know, I think like anything, I don't always know right away if something is from God. Sometimes I only know after I have weighed it and then I hear from the Lord and it gets confirmed. What do you have for me on this, Aimee? One thing you could judge, is this a dream from God? Is that it's not confusion. There is, you might not fully understand it or it's fully, you're fully aware, but there's not a sense of confusion and fear. Fear, no fear. You're not running from a bad guy. Like even if he was warning you, it wouldn't be like I'm just gripped with fear and I mean, some people have dreams, you know, my mom died and you know, it's not like that cause you can open your life including your inner subconscious to fear and fearful thoughts, which can be manifested through dreams, but like I was in Israel and I had a dream about Gabe. And I mean, I can't tell you all the details, but when I woke up, I was like, oh my gosh, I knew exactly what the Lord was preparing me and my heart for something concerning Gabe. So I was not caught off guard in the future. So it, I think, you know, anyway, there's a lot to talk about with dreams. This is so interesting, yeah. Let me just add this though. I think I understand what you're saying when you're talking about confusion and all of that. God's not the author of confusion, but you can wake up out of a dream. One of the first things you want to do is what did I feel when I woke up? Did I feel fear? Did I feel confused? And then from there, here's the biggest thing that I just don't want us to miss. You take your dreams and you pray. You don't just, you know, I had this dream and keep moving about it. So if I wake up and I do feel fear, I begin to address that fear cause thou shall not fear, right? Every day in the year, that's there. Confusion, God is not the author of confusion. So sometimes God can use that to stir you so that you can begin to pray and thwart the plan of the enemy. We could do a whole show on this because I think it's really interesting. I thank you for writing this question, but I do want to go to the next question, but that's so good. Dream dreams. Old men dream dreams, young men see visions. Okay, this question though, I'm going to go to Rory to Roxy and Cory. Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory. I want to go to this side. Okay, good. This is about the finding my identity in Christ. I hear it all the time. How do I do that? Go ahead Cory. No, you go ahead. All right, I'll jump in. You know, as soon as I read this, I thought of this scripture. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me in the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Is your identity, and this is easy to do and I do it, is your identity in the purpose that God called you to evangelize, to work, to be a lawyer, whatever it might be, or is your identity in Christ? Jesus said to the apostles when they came back from ministering, oh, the demon's flee in the sicker hill. And Jesus said, don't rejoice over that. Don't rejoice over your purpose and your calling. Rejoice that you are written in the Lamb's book of light. Rejoice that you have a relationship with the Father. So our identity is in who Christ is, who gave himself, we give ourselves, we live for the life of Christ, not just His purpose, not just His calling, but we live in Him. Oh, I like that. Okay, Roxy, Cory, Cory. Yeah, I mean, your identity in Christ, I looked at it as like just an overriding, like we are created in the image of God. When you become a Christian, when you are saved, whatever terminology you use, you are a child of the King. You are adopted into the family of God. And one of the kind of the imageries that just came to me that I used is, He is the vine and we are the branches. You are now a branch on that vine and you can grow, you can grow the fruit of the spirit. And you are a branch that will never wither. You're on a vine that is never gonna die, that is never gonna wither. And that just, that identity is one that you can have so much confidence and strength. And it's like, no matter what is happening in my life, I don't have to depend on this person, I can depend on Him. And that is an identity that is just so confident. It just gives me so much strength, confidence, and joy and peace. It's just, that's how I look at that identity in Christ. You know what you said about the vine, and when I read the scripture about the vine, which whenever it is, it says I can do nothing if I'm cut off from that vine. So I really believe that that vine being Christ gives us the blood or the flow that makes us go, right? And also when you think about your identity in Christ, I just want to seek His face. I want not what He can do for me, not what He can do for my church or my son or my marriage or my family, but I just want to seek His face. I want to be more like Him, humble, gentle, Jesus. We're gonna wrap this up. That was so good to make. Don't you just wanna talk more about dreams and who you are in Christ and the great plan that God has for your life. If you're 40 something and you're believing, I wish we could just talk about it and we can. Thank you for being a part of our family. We just value and treasure you so much, but we always like to end sister to sister with a scripture. And today it is in Romans 8, 16. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Listen, this is the basics. You have to know your identity in Christ that when you've been born again, you've been born of God, you are now not some random person, you are a son, you are a joint heir with Christ. I wrote a few things down. You're forgiven, you're treasured, you're valued, you're precious, you're alive, you're born of God, you're a citizen of heaven, you're a daughter of the Most High God. You're secure, you're free, you're a son, you're a child, not a grandchild, you're loved, you belong to God and you have a covenant relationship with God. Now what that means is I give him my old rags, he gives me the new, right? I shake off the old, I become brand new. Jesus gives me the righteousness of God in Christ. It's not what I did, it's not what you did. It's what Jesus did for us. So today, know who you are in Christ. Oh, I love my identity in Christ like that and I also love the scripture that sister to sister ends with. We have lots of scriptures through our show. Look them up, but this one as iron sharpens iron. So does the countenance of a man sharpen the other. See you next time. We are sister to sister.