The theme of this year is Legacy of Love, and if this is your
first year to beautiful conference, you may be seeing
all the butterflies around. And I just want you to know that
is on purpose. It's not just because
butterflies are kind of in and they're pretty.
It's because 15 years ago when God was molding me and shaping
me and taking me through a freedom transformation journey,
this is a metaphor that he gave me that I was kind of like a
butterfly. I was the same DNA, but I was
going from a Caterpillar and becoming something beautiful
that was going to fly. And so we have butterflies
throughout this conference because it is a theme.
So I was in Chicago last September with Pastor Matt and
they have a butterfly guard in there.
And so I had walked by this one day and I thought I got to come
back. And so I did.
I came back and I brought my journal and I went to the
butterfly garden. I think we have a picture.
It was hard to, to take a picture to take it in, but I
just thought, man, I, I got to try and take in just this
moment. And so I, I sat down with my
journal and all of a sudden I just started to write what I was
taking in. It was so peaceful, it was so
beautiful. Each butterfly was unique.
Each were in the garden, but they were all experiencing
different things. Some of these butterflies were
flying, some of them were sitting, some of them were
flying together. There were some that were alone.
There were some of them that were flapping their wings really
strong and then others were just like feasting on the food that
they provided for them and it was amazing.
So I'm sitting there writing all this down and then this happens.
A butterfly landed on my journal.
How cool is that? So I was like, whoa, this just
got real. So all of the sudden I'm like,
this is so cool. So I stand up and I start taking
pictures of just how amazing these butterflies were.
They're they're exotic and somewhere blue and bright and
somewhere red and, and it was incredible.
So I started to walk around. It was like God's creation.
And then all of the sudden out of nowhere a butterfly lands on
me and I was like is this normal?
And so I just like sat real still and the lady walks up to
me and she goes this is so special.
I was like OK so I should not move.
She's like no don't move. And this butterfly stayed on me
for the longest time and then 1 landed on my leg and I was like
this is amazing. She goes this is so rare.
This is so rare ma'am, this does not happen.
And I literally thought of all of you and I was like this is
happening for them. I'm going to take a picture and
I started to think about those that that moment and I thought
about all of you and I just started thinking like we are one
large butterfly garden in here tonight.
The each and everyone of you are unique and beautiful.
We're in different stages of our life, but my prayer is that each
and everyone of us would have these rare moments over these
next two days with our Heavenly Father.
These kind of moments where we look on and go.
That was so special. Maybe it already has happened.
You're like, what was that? Can I tell you?
That was the Holy Spirit, that was God.
He's starting to move on your heart.
There's something that happens. And I'm just praying and
believing that we would have these rare moments.
Like I'll never forget how I felt in that butterfly garden.
I'm praying you never forget these two days.
I'm praying that there are moments that will mark you that
you will take into the rest of your life.
And I've got a gift for all of you that's going to commemorate
this. But you have to wait because I'm
going to give it to you at the end of the night.
So don't leave early and don't be sneaking out like saying to
the guys, can I get that gift now?
Like, no, you have to wait till we all get it together.
Everybody, we are 1 butterfly garden.
All right, Hey, who is ready for the word of God?
Who's ready to dive in? You came hungry to worship.
I'm believing. You're hungry for the Word.
I've got a word that God has given for us.
Sisterhood, as we start this first part of our conference.
All right, so where are my book readers in the room?
How many of you love? OK, a lot of you.
That is awesome. Like you love books, You devour
them. You'll stay up late at night.
That is awesome. That is not me.
I have comprehension issues. My mom can tell you from the
time I was a little girl, I used to be the kind of kid that
would. She would start to read it and I
would just flip to the end. I go the end.
Like, are we done yet? That was me.
I did not really like books. But we have a granddaughter now.
I'm a grandma, but I call myself Noni.
And Pastor Matt is Poppy. She loves books already.
She loves to devour books. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. I just have to have an excuse to
show her. You a picture of Esther, but she
really does love reading. So I was with her last week and
she just devours these books. Like some are her favorite pages
and others she just kind of skips over like when it gets to
the cow, not that interested. But the purple butterfly, I kid
you not, she was fixated. I was like, you are my
granddaughter. So it was amazing.
But she loves books. Listen, beautiful conference.
Whether you love to read books or you don't, I'm here to tell
you tonight that God is writing a story in your life.
He is the author and finisher of your faith and no matter where
you are or what you've come in with tonight, He has a story
that he is writing in each and every one of our lives.
From the 6th grade girl in this room to the single woman, to the
widow who is still grieving, from the senior in high school
who's so excited and nervous at the same time, to the college
student who's still trying to figure out that degree.
I get it, girl. To the at home mom or the
business owner, to the one who's coming in here searching and
wondering is this whole God thing real?
Are these women and what they believe?
Is this really a thing? Can I just tell you, you have a
loving Heavenly Father who is writing your story with love.
He is writing your story. But listen, our story will not
just unfold because of Him, It will unfold because of our
desire to follow Jesus through every single chapter of our
life, every single thing that is going on in our life that we're
saying, OK, God, I don't know what's going on in this part of
the story of my life, but I trust that you're writing it.
And so I'm going to follow you. Song of Solomon is our theme,
and Song of Solomon is literally a beautiful poetic love story.
But spiritually, it's a picture. It's a picture that can help us
to understand God's pursuing covenant love with us.
Chapter 2, verse 10 says this. My beloved spoke and said to me,
Arise, my darling, my beautiful 1, come with me.
See, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth. The season of singing has come.
The cooing of doves is heard in our land.
Fig tree forms its early fruit. The blossoming vines spread
their fragrance. Arise, come my darling, my
beautiful 1, come with me. So the title of the message that
God has given me for tonight is the story he's writing with me.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you.
I pray that you would give us ears to hear what you Holy
Spirit are saying to us, your daughters.
We just lean in and we say we're listening in Jesus name.
And everyone who agreed said, Amen.
So through this passage, we can easily see that there are
seasons in this relationship. There are winter seasons and
rainy seasons. There's flowers and singing.
There's early fruit, and then there's widespread fragrance.
Like these are different seasons throughout this relationship.
But there's also this moment where it's really clear who God
is calling us. My darling, my beautiful 1.
And I just want to remind you tonight, you've already heard it
spoken that you are beautiful. You are you are beautiful.
And I'm not talking about the beauty that the world deems
beauty. I'm not talking about Tyra Banks
Top Model. Anyone remember that show back
in the 2000s? I'm not talking about Kylie
Jenner's most, you know, recent beauty tip, although I'm all
about it. Like just tell me all the tips
to make me look younger, right? But I'm not talking about the
TikTok T.O.K. Like I'm not talking about what
the world deems beauty. I'm talking about inner beauty
that comes from knowing who we are in Christ and knowing who
God has made us to be. Knowing that we bear the image
of Christ Jesus and because he is beautiful, we are beautiful.
I'm not talking about what the world talks about.
I'm talking about the kind of beauty that says I've been
through some things, but I refuse to be bitter.
That is beautiful. One of the the Amen, one of the
first things that we did when we launched our sisterhood, this
was back in 2018, is we made these mirrors.
Anyone still have one of these mirrors that says I am
beautiful? And I told all of the girls that
when we got this mirror that said I am beautiful.
You have to open it up. You have to look in the mirror
and say you are beautiful because it's one of the hardest
things to do to look yourself and to speak the words of life
over yourself. And so we had done that.
So I want us to kind of have a little moment where as a
sisterhood, we start to look at each other and speak that kind
of life over each other. So why don't you look at your
sister right now and listen? If you're on the receiving end,
you have to receive it. Tell them you are beautiful.
All right. Now look at the other sister and
say he calls You Beautiful. He calls You Beautiful.
The scripture says arise come my darling, my beautiful one
listen, listen beautiful conference.
There is a story he is writing with you and that story is to
arise to action. He is calling each and every one
of us to arise to action. Does anyone else like to sleep
in? Anyone else love your bed?
Like, I'm pretty sure when I was a teenager, one of the only ways
my mom could Get Me Out of bed was to throw the sheets off and
grab my hands and Get Me Out because I love to sleep in.
And then Matt had to take over that job.
But listen, I just, I just sensed that some of us, man,
we're coming in and we kind of feel like that in our life, like
we are asleep under the covers. And I am declaring tonight that
it is time for the blankets to come off.
We are going to arise. We're going to get out of that
sleeping state. We are going to arise to action
for Jesus. We get a glimpse of so many
women throughout scriptures to see parts of their story unfold
and each of them arise to action.
We see Ruth who lost her husband and chose to stay with her
mother-in-law and make God her God.
And then God provided and her story led to redemption and she
became a part of the lineage of Jesus.
We see Hannah who carried the ache of infertility and
misunderstanding, but her faithful prayers became the
doorway to a miracle son and his life had so much purpose as
well. We see Mary Magdalene and this
woman was filled with seven demons, the scripture records,
and she had radical freedom, radical transformation through
Jesus and she became one of the first witnesses to his
resurrection because the call to arise is a call to action.
Those women arose, but I want want us to look even deeper into
Mary, the mother of Jesus, because she was more than just a
figurine in a nativity set, everybody.
Yes, she gives birth to Jesus, but throughout scriptures we see
so many parts of her story that God was writing with her.
She was around 13 years old when an Angel came to visit her.
Do we have any 13 year old girls in the room?
Just raise your hand unashamedly.
That's awesome, I love it. Think about this, those girls,
if you can even see them right now.
She was their age. An Angel visits her and he says
don't be afraid, I come, you know I'm bringing you some good
news. Like that's a little freaking
out though. He says you found favor with the
Lord. This 13 year old girl had favor
already on her and he says you're going to give birth to a
son, you're going to call him Jesus.
And like any of us who were 13 or any age heard that news, she
says what how? He says the Holy Spirit is going
to come on you. And she's amazing.
Her response is incredible. We see it in Luke 138.
She says, OK, I am the Lord's servant.
Mary answered, May your word to me be fulfilled.
This teenager had such great faith and with humility and
confidence, she was focused on eternity.
She trusted the voice of God in this moment and she wanted to be
a part of the fulfillment of God's story in her life.
She's like, OK, you said it, I agree with it.
Let's do this. I mean, that is amazing.
And she saw some action, everybody.
She not only had that virgin birth, but she got to see so
many miracles, blind eyes open, people come back to life.
Like she got to witness all of this.
She was with Jesus when he was crucified, but she also
witnessed his resurrection. Like there were so many points
of action that she got to see. And she was there on the day of
Pentecost. She was probably around 49 years
old at this point in her story with God.
And this is after Jesus's Jesus has ascended to heaven.
And you, you might remember, if you're familiar, he tells the
believers to go and to wait for the gift of the Spirit.
And a bunch of people don't. And then 120 of them do.
Acts 113 records this. When they arrived, they went
upstairs to the room where they were staying.
Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew.
And then it lists a lot of other men.
I'm going to skip to verse 14. They all join together
constantly in prayer along with what does this say, along with
the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.
Mary was there at Pentecost. She was one of the 120 in the
upper room. This was a part of her story
that God was writing with her. And what's the next thing that
happened was the next thing that that takes place in her story,
some action, The Holy Spirit falls.
It's like tongues of fire. These 120 people spill out onto
the streets. They're speaking in tongues.
They're prophesying about the good news.
Mary was a part of that story. She was there on the day that
the Church of Jesus Christ was birthed.
She was there when Peter stood up and had to explain to
everyone because they thought everybody was drunk.
And he's like, it's only 9 in the morning.
These people are not drunk. Let me actually tell you what's
going on. We see this in Acts 216.
Peter says, no, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel in
the last days. God says I will pour out my
spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will
prophecy. Your young men will see visions.
Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men
and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they
will prophecy. So as Peter stands up, I'm just
imagining she's going. I'm one of those women.
I'm one of those who's actually telling about Jesus.
But she had been saying yes since she was 13.
You see Mary's teenage yes at 13 echoed into her year at 49
because she knew that God was writing a story in her, but her
yes was allowing it to be written together because a call
to arise is a call to action. And I believe listen, beautiful
conference. I believe he's calling you to
arise this weekend. He's calling you to arise to
maybe start that business, adopt that child, get that degree,
share your testimony to start serving, to begin leading, to
use your voice, because the call to arise is a call to action.
There's a story he's writing with you and it's a story to
also stay faithful. Stay faithful through the
process. Stay faithful through the
process. You know, God is, He's
acquainted with our humanity. In other words, he's not
surprised when we have human moments.
He knows that we're not perfect. He knows that this world isn't.
He knows that this life can be so hard and the world can be
really cruel. And the good news is, as
followers of Jesus, he's not looking for perfection.
He's just looking for faithfulness, looking for a
group of daughters tonight who will say, all right, I'll stay
faithful. There's a process I'm going
through, but I'm going to be faithful.
I'm going to stick it out with him.
There's a process I'm going through, but I'm going to trust
him. There's a process I'm going
through, but I'm going to declare that he is good.
There's a process I'm going through, but I just know he has
a good plan because he is faithful.
Psalm 107 is is an entire Psalm of Thanksgiving that really
celebrates about how God rescues this people in so many different
ways. It says that he rescues them
when they cry out, when they cry out, if they cry out in
distress, in wandering, in captivity, in sickness and
storms, when they cry out. He is faithful.
Maureen, I'm just believing that God heard your cry and he
answered that prayer. He was so faithful.
By the way, I looked at Pastor Matt and I said I just believe
we're supposed to give to your ministry too.
And so as a church through Kingdom Builders, we want to
give you $5000 to your ministry tonight and just continue the
work that God is doing in you in your ministry.
So we love you. I just believe God heard her
cry. And now there are other women
who he's hearing that cry because he hears us when we cry.
Psalm 10743 then says those who are wise will take all of this
to heart. They will see in our history.
So the psalmist is writing to God.
He's talking about how there's going to be history with you and
me. They're going to see in our
history the faithful love of the Lord, because why we are writing
history together in our relationship with Jesus if we
will stick it out through every process, through through the
times where we've got to humble ourselves, through the times
where we have to forgive, through the times where we
realize this is harder than I thought it was going to be, but
I'm going to say faithful through the process.
I'm going to stick it out with Jesus.
He's going to show up every time.
His faithful love is going to speak to the history that he has
with you. He's faithful, but he's calling
us. To remain faithful as well,
because God has a plan, but the enemy has a scheme, and his
scheme is to steal, to kill and destroy your future, your
family, the legacy that he is calling you to build.
His scheme is that his scheme is to tempt you, is to lie to you,
is to hold you back, is to distract you.
It's a scheme. So the enemy has a scheme, but
God has a plan. So we have to realize that he's
faithful, but we got to stay faithful too.
And one of the ways we have to do this, just be aware that the
enemy's always got a scheme. So I was about 37 and I went to
lunch and it was one of those places where you eat and then
you can get up and refill your drink.
Come on, don't you love those places like free refills?
It's all good. So I, I got up, I, I was, I was
sitting there having lunch and this whole group of baseball
players came in and I was trying to figure out like, where are
they from? Because I saw they weren't like
FGCU players. Like who are these guys?
Like, who are these guys? What are they?
So I'm kind of looking over there and I didn't, you know,
recognize. And, and then all of a sudden my
mind started to drift because I was like, Oh, my goodness.
Will at the time was like 15. And I was like, that could be
him. That's my son Will.
I was like, that's my like, that could be him in three years.
Oh my gosh, this time's going so fast.
And he's going to grow up. And these are like men now, you
know, So I like all of the thoughts.
How many of you ever you just, you know, your mind kind of
wanders. So I'm in one of those modes and
I stand up to go get a drink. And I realized that one of those
baseball players came up and was kind of standing there to get
his drink. And so we kind of small talk.
I'm like, where are you guys from?
Oh, we're from out of town. We're doing a competition.
We're here only here for a couple of days.
OK. So small chatted a little bit.
Oh, when? Where are you playing?
Whatever. Fill up my drink.
And in my head I was like, oh, is he going to be here Sunday?
I should invite him to church. And, you know, we're just small
talking. And then all of the sudden he
goes. So this has been great.
Can I have your number? And I kid you not, I thought,
wait, I didn't invite him to church.
Why does he need my number? I literally did not know if you
ever had a moment where you're like, what is happening right
now? So I stand there for another
second and I'm like, excuse me? He's like, because I I'd like to
go out and I'm like, oh, Oh my goodness, I'm married.
And then he goes, that's OK. Now I'm like, I don't even know
what to do. I'm so flattered and flustered
all at the same time. I'm not inviting this guy to
church. I just got to get out of here
and I got to go home and I got to tell my husband baby, I still
got it. I was like, I could not wait.
He was like, this is the best story ever.
Literally I think I said to him, I could be your mom.
Like as I was walking away, I was just like, I don't think
this kid understands like what is happening.
I had completely forgotten about that story.
I have never told it publicly. I was so flattered.
But as I was writing this message, I kid you not, the Holy
Spirit brought that story to my mind.
And then he asked me this question.
He told me the statement. Then he asked me a question.
He said, Sarah, you need to know that was a scheme.
That was a scheme of the enemy. And then he said, why didn't you
take the bait? Like he was baiting me.
The enemy was baiting me. He was tempting me.
He was putting something in front of me to distract me from
God's best in God's way. Like, why didn't you take the
bait? And I just thought about it.
And I thought because I knew the story that we were writing
together, it's a story of faithfulness.
It's a story of following his ways.
It's not a it's not following for the temptation of the world.
It's not looking for something to fulfill, something that only
God can fulfill. And I sensed in that moment that
God said there are some women who are going to be here on
Friday night and they're falling for the scheme.
There's a scheme in your life right now and you're falling for
it. Maybe it's a scheme of sexual
immorality. Maybe it's a scheme of
unforgiveness, a scheme of jealousy, a scheme of
bitterness. I don't know what it is, but can
I just tell you the enemy has a scheme.
You can shut that door in Jesus name and you can begin to walk
in the plan that God has for you this weekend.
You do not have to fall for the scheme of the enemy anymore.
He's writing a story. We've got to stay faithful, stay
faithful, stay faithful, wait, trust, pray, forgive.
He's still writing your story. And I get it.
For some of us tonight, you may feel like all of hell is coming
against you in the story right now.
You feel like this chapter of your life is so hard.
I just want to declare to you tonight, it is not over.
It's not over. You are still writing the story
with God. He's not finished.
It's not over in your marriage. He's not done in that
friendship. He's not done in that area in
your physical body. He's still writing and it's not
over. He has a good plan for you and I
just want to remind us that greater is He that's in us than
he that's against us. Like we have to be so aware that
there is a scheme. We don't have to be afraid of
it. We just have to be aware of it.
We have to know how to fight against it.
So greater is He that's in us than he that's coming against
us. Psalm 1/08/13.
That next chapter says, with God's help, we're going to do
mighty things, everybody. Why?
Because he's going to trample down our foes.
So if you're in one of those chapters where it feels like all
of hell is coming against you, can I tell you all of heaven is
too? He is still writing your story.
He's going to trample on the enemy and you're going to just
look on and look back at the season of your life and you're
going to be able to share all that God has done and
sisterhood. Can I just add this?
This is why we can't do life alone.
Can I get an Amen? Like the enemy has a scheme and
God has a plan. And This is why we have to have
other people of faith. We have to have the right voices
in our life who are encouraging us to stay faithful to God, not
discouraging us, not pulling us away.
Yeah, just do that. Let's go to that bar.
Let's hang out there. It's fine.
Like, no, we need friends who are like you come into the Bible
study. Did you did you read your word
this morning? Have you prayed about it?
I saw you were gossiping, Girl, we don't gossip.
Like, that's not what we have to be able to be in community like
that. We need the right voices.
Have you ever figured out how affirming ChatGPT is?
Oh my goodness. If you want to feel good about
yourself, just ask ChatGPT a question.
He I'll just call it a he. He will affirm you like he will
tell you all of these really good things.
If you type in I can't figure out how to turn this thing on.
He won't say you're so stupid. He will say that can be a
confusing one. Let me help you.
I'm like, oh, thank you. I was, I was returning.
We had rented a Hyundai Venue and I had to return the car on
my own because Pastor Matt had caught a flight 1 place and I
was headed to speak somewhere else.
And so I was going to fill up the gas tank in this Hyundai
Venue. None.
None.