Why choose Righteousness - PT 2

The Teachable Woman Podcast

Reverends Michele Owes and Diana P. Cherry

The Rewards of Righteousness pt 2

Rev Michele Owes: [00:00:00] Welcome. Welcome back to the Teachable Woman Podcast. We are too excited. We are stoked to be with you up on tonight because we are talking about righteousness. I am with Reverend Deanna p Cherry. Together we are teachers of good things. Mrs. Cherry, say hello to our podcast family.

Rev Diana Cherry: Hello, Podcast family. We are indeed teachers of good things, but you know what? If we don't have some doers of the good things that we teach, what we're teaching is in vain, and we work too hard for you not to take it to heart, what we teach.

Rev Michele Owes: Amen. Amen. You know, when we say that we are teachers of good things, we want you to understand that what we share with you should have a beneficial effect on your life. [00:01:00] It should work together for your good. We are planting good things in your heart and good seeds in your mind that we pray will grow.

Rev Michele Owes: To the honor and glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Mrs. Cherry and I are not in this for fame or for fashion. We are here obeying the will of God to minister to the hearts of women who so desire to hear. And I just want to share that, you know, there are times when people don't want to hear, and that's okay.

Rev Michele Owes: But then there are times that they do and they'll tune back in. So don't be afraid to share the podcast with anybody. Don't judge where anybody is and think, well, I know they don't wanna listen. You don't know. Let God do what God does and he knows the right time. He even knows the right podcast message to call somebody to listen and to be changed.

Rev Michele Owes: So we are excited about the opportunity to work together with him. Amen. What we [00:02:00] have been teaching on righteousness. We spent weeks on sin and we thought we needed to get you out of the sin nature. We didn't want to leave you there. We wanted to bring you up to righteousness. We learned that sin pays a wage and righteousness does as well.

Rev Michele Owes: It exalts a nation. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. So we are bringing you to a different kind of wage, a wage that will be beneficial and that will be good for your life. Mrs. Cherry, help us out.

Rev Diana Cherry: I shared with Reverend Owes that I want to do something a little bit different tonight. I want to give you an assignment.

Rev Michele Owes: Woo.

Rev Diana Cherry: Now this is the second time I've given an assignment, and I don't think that one person sent that assignment to us, and I think that assignment was to monitor [00:03:00] your thinking and to think about what you think about, I also gave an assignment.

Rev Diana Cherry: I'm just remembering it now to watch every dime that you spend.

Rev Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: Make a record of everything that you spend. You'd be surprised how much money we waste, but tonight I want you to be righteous. I want to ask you a question that I want you to ask yourself, and that question is, why should I make it personal?

Rev Diana Cherry: Why should I be righteous? And I would like you to use your Bible study time for the next couple of weeks. So just look up some scriptures on righteousness because we've been teaching you a lot, and I know you're going to find many of the scriptures that we have already shared with you and expounded with you on.

Rev Diana Cherry: But I would like to give you that assignment, 'cause sometimes I think when you invest, you do better. So I'm, [00:04:00] I'm just suggesting this assignment because I want you to do better. I want you to know the blessings and rewards of righteousness. I think that one of the things that my husband and I, when we were first called in the ministry, one of the scriptures that gave God gave us was Matthew 6:33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things will be added unto us. And I think God gave us that scripture because during that time there were many televangelists on TV. They were televangelists, so obviously they were on TV, but everybody was teaching about gimme, gimme, gimme, get, get, get what we can get from God. And God soundly almost rebuked us and said, I want you to seek first the kingdom of God

Rev Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: my righteousness. And if you do that, these things will be added unto us. Unto [00:05:00] you. my husband and I lived our lives seeking God and his righteousness. And that's why when I wrote the book that I wrote, I called it Seekers of Righteousness, A Man who obeyed God, and a woman who served. And so I want to give you a little challenge. It's not big, but I think that you'll get blessed if you look up some scripture for yourself find out exactly where Reverend o and I have been getting the things that we've been sharing with you on righteousness. I think that, as my husband used to say, you will just get your socks blessed off if you do this little assignment. As we work hard for you, I want you to work hard for yourself.

Rev Michele Owes: You know, if you can pull up your cell phone and you can type into Google the word righteousness, just, and you could say righteousness scriptures and the version that you want, whether it's King James or the new international [00:06:00] version, or whatever it is you want. It will bring it up for you.

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: so if you don't have your Bible with you at the time that you want to do it, I, I was at the nail salon today reading scripture, sitting in the chair. They needed both of my hands, so I parked my phone in front of me so that I could continue to read. Wasn't interested in anything going on in the atmosphere over there.

Rev Michele Owes: Just, it was a good time. I had some moments. It was downtime, so. What we want you to know is when we share with you about righteousness, the word self is not in front of it, and, and righteousness gets a bad name because self-righteousness is demonstrated oftentimes more or discussed more. Or people perceive that Christians are self-righteous more than they perceive that we've just set our our lives up to be in alignment with God.

Rev Michele Owes: And that's really what it is that. The word of God that you learn, you will receive it, [00:07:00] you will internalize it, and you will organize your life by it. And frankly, it keeps us out of a lot of trouble. It helps us to solve problems and make decisions according to the will of God. So the word of God is not just something to hear on Sunday.

Rev Michele Owes: It's not

Rev Diana Cherry: Yes,

Rev Michele Owes: that you read in a book that was. Good, but it's something to apply. It's life and it's godliness. It is what we need. It is nourishment for our souls.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yes.

Rev Michele Owes: When we share with you, we want you to be nourished. We want you to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. We want you to have the courage to face the challenges that come before you day by day, because we.

Rev Michele Owes: Mrs. Cherry and I face many, many, many challenges.

Rev Diana Cherry: For

Rev Michele Owes: Were it not for the word of God, were it not for the deposit [00:08:00] that was left in our hearts by our husbands as pastors, but also, you know, as we were members of a local church and where we went, those pastors fed us, and then our husbands fed us. And what would we do with all of that deposit?

Rev Michele Owes: But just share it with you. The, so listen, as Jesus said to Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep. So we love you, we love God. And our heart's desire is to pour out some of what has been poured into us because it would just make us unhappy to keep it all to ourselves, right. So we talked about from Romans, the 10th chapter, and this is Paul writing, and these are some of the things that Paul said about righteousness, which will help us to understand why we're teaching this.

Rev Michele Owes: It says brethren and verse number one, chapter number 10 of Romans, brethren, my heart's [00:09:00] desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. The whole reason that Mrs. Terry and I share this podcast is that we want people to be saved, and even those that are saved, we want you to have a deeper, more abiding relationship with Christ Jesus.

Rev Michele Owes: In verse number two, he said, for I bear them, record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. This is one of the reasons that Mrs. Cherry and I make sure that what we teach you comes from the Bible,

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: and not what we think because we don't want you to have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Rev Michele Owes: Verse number three says, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness

Rev Diana Cherry: Yes.

Rev Michele Owes: and going about to establish their own [00:10:00] righteousness. That is self-righteousness when you establish your own, that self-righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. It's our heart's desire that we would submit.

Rev Michele Owes: To those things that God desires of us. And when we do, it's imputed to us as righteousness. When we obey and have faith in his word, it is imputed. In other words, it is laid on our account that we are righteous because we have obeyed God, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes so.

Rev Michele Owes: You and I have a responsibility to do more than just get saved. We have a responsibility to live like saved people, to live like Christ like one. And in [00:11:00] that responsibility, we allow the word of God to shape our lives. We allow the spirit of God to lead our lives.

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: To the way that God so desires for us. That does that mean we're perfect?

Rev Michele Owes: Absolutely not. Does that mean we won't make any mistakes? Absolutely not. Does that mean we think we're better than anybody else? Absolutely not. What it means is we have come to a point where we prefer. The love that God offers us. We prefer the peace that he gives us. We desire the joy that is our strength, and it comes from Christ Jesus.

Rev Michele Owes: We desire those things that only God can offer us. The kindness, the gentleness. You just have to have a broken moment in your life and get on your knees and find out just how gentle Jesus can be with us when we're broken. You will need kindness one day in your life, and then God shows up and shows his 00:12:00 kindness to you through someone in the body of Christ or someone that he sent to minister to you or to care for you.

Rev Michele Owes: You have to have a moment. And then let God show you who he is in that moment, and that's what we've come to prefer. Those things warm our hearts, those things cause us to grow and trust in him. And so we want to be right with him so that we can continue to get those things that make us feel great. Is that selfish?

Rev Michele Owes: We can be selfish that way because we do want. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous to avail much. When we get on our needs to pray, we want God to not only hear, we want him to see, we want him to know, but we also want him to come down and deliver. We want him to work in that situation

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: he has told us that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avail much, if we are right standing with him, and we're effectual and we're fervent in our prayer, there should be some availing much right.

Rev Michele Owes: This is where [00:13:00] we are today with righteousness not to, not to make somebody feel better than, or less than, or bigger or smaller. None of that applies. It's just to love God enough to want what he has for us more than what anybody else has to offer or what we could want for ourselves.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yes. And righteousness is a simple explanation is just really uprightness before God.

Rev Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: is a desire to do right, to be right, to say things right, but you know, if we're gonna do right, be right, say things right. It, it's it starts off by having the right thoughts.

Rev Michele Owes: Yes, yes,

Rev Diana Cherry: Doing Right. Being right saying right is preceded by thinking.

Rev Diana Cherry: Right. And you know, we

Rev Michele Owes: yes, yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: Reverend O and I taught several weeks on thinking correctly. And if our thoughts are not right, we're not gonna be right. [00:14:00] we have to, know, I shared this in that teaching, we have to like capture our thoughts.

Rev Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: think about what you're thinking about. That's a real exercise also. And if you know that there are thoughts lingering and wandering around your mind that ought not to be there. You have to capture that baby.

Rev Michele Owes: Yes. Yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: prison and do not let that thought manifest to such a point that you're gonna say something or do something or be something that is not right. So being righteous is really just uprightness

Rev Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: And the only way we will receive the blessings of righteousness is to be right with God, to be upright with God. we have so much now that's, acceptable by the world. But we

Rev Michele Owes: Hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: remember,

Rev Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: this before, God has not changed.

Rev Michele Owes: He has not.

Rev Diana Cherry: I've taught this before, that one of the [00:15:00] biggest problems that we have is the fact that we. a never changing God, but we

Rev Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: in an ever changing world and so we struggle. And the best way not to struggle really is to monitor those that we think, monitor what we're gonna say. Monitor what we do. Monitor what, what we're, who we are being, and just focus on being upright with, you know, before God we. Cannot overemphasize how important it is that we would be right with God, that we would focus on God, that we would take these assignments seriously God hasn't changed. He's never gonna change.

Rev Michele Owes: That's true.

Rev Diana Cherry: sin Jesus Christ walked the earth? still sin today. And the word of God. It's in one John two 29 [00:16:00] to everybody that do do with righteousness is born of him. And the scriptures plainly tell us if we sin, we are not of him, but if we are born of him, we do right. So I, it is my heart's desire and this is gonna be one of my little slings that I used to use with my son a lot. I want you to be a do right Christian.

Rev Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: Simple, easy to remember time. You get ready to get upset with that husband.

Rev Diana Cherry: Just say to yourself.

Rev Michele Owes: I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do right. You know what else is also so important Mr. Terry, is that righteousness is not a one and done. It is a daily momentary second by second choice that we make. It is not, well, I did something right today and so I'm righteous forever. That is not how that works. It is a momentary, even [00:17:00] down to the millisecond of every day in, in the choices that we make in our lives, how we're gonna respond to situations.

Rev Michele Owes: I don't mind sharing that. I had a situation the other day and I was thinking the way I was thinking about the situation. I mean, I, I was so sure I was right in my thinking, but I was. So pleased that I didn't go with what I was thinking. I didn't say anything about what I was thinking, which was good.

Rev Michele Owes: I just. It's like, okay, 'cause I haven't checked with God. I'm too sure that what I'm thinking is right. I haven't checked with God on the thing yet. So when I know that I am right. Okay. That's what you call self righteousness. Because I had a perspective my, I had some experiences, I had some knowledge. All my stuff was stacked up to be right.

Rev Michele Owes: Okay. But I just chose, I just chose. To [00:18:00] not go with what I was thinking. I, I thought that peace was a better route because, and what ended up happening was something was sent to me by a young man that helped me to understand there was just a little writeup was sent to me by a young man, and it helped me to understand this other situation.

Rev Michele Owes: I was like, mm, you were just wrong. So Right. You were wrong. And, and, but I was so pleased that I was able to just not speak.

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: So being right with God can also mean be silent.

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: I used to make a joke and say there's a scripture that that says Study to be quiet.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yes.

Rev Michele Owes: When I would say something, remember when we were at our pastor's meetings a lot, I would raise my hand and say, I know the scripture says to study to be quiet, but I haven't finished my study yet.[00:19:00]

Rev Diana Cherry: Ah,

Rev Michele Owes: I would ask my questions, right? But there, there, there is great value. To being able to allow the word of God to contain you

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: when you are so sure you are right and you know what you think, and you've got everything, everything in the natural lines up with what you are thinking. But in the spirit, it was the whole opposite and, and that is the difference between self-righteousness and God's righteousness.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yes. Yes.

Rev Michele Owes: a perspective that I needed that didn't need anything in the natural to back it up. I needed God's perspective,

Rev Diana Cherry: Right.

Rev Michele Owes: own perspective. We had all the facts, we had, all of the supporting data we had. Everything was lined up right, but it was all wrong. So God's righteousness. If we [00:20:00] first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he'll add the things that we need unto us.

Rev Michele Owes: And, and what I needed more than saying my opinion was some peace, right?

Rev Diana Cherry: Yes, yes.

Rev Michele Owes: And, and silence allowed me to get that because I did ask God, you know, before I speak. Make sure that I am right. I am not here to harm and I don't wanna be harmed,

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: I didn't get a thing from God. And I have learned that when he does not respond, it's time for me to be quiet.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yeah.

Rev Michele Owes: so I was asking and he was not responding and so I was smart enough to say, okay, well girl, just be quiet for right now. God hadn't said a word. Don't you dare try to make him say something. And don't try to infer him. Well, the word of God. Uhuh. Just be quiet, Michelle. And so even though I was silent on the outside, I was still having a conversation on the inside.

Rev Diana Cherry: Boiling over that. I like to say that at times like that, [00:21:00] we choose to chill.

Rev Michele Owes: Yeah. Yeah.

Rev Diana Cherry: just choose to chill

Rev Michele Owes: I chose, but I don't know if I was chilling.

Rev Diana Cherry: just choose to chill. If you be quiet long enough,

Rev Michele Owes: Yes, yes, yes. The other thing I am learning, Mrs. Terry, is I have to strengthen my casting arm. You know, when you go out to fish, you cast that line out and the scriptures tell us to cast our cares up on the Lord because he cares for us. I don't cast that often, and, and thus my arms may be a little weak, but I am learning to cast.

Rev Michele Owes: I am strengthening these babies. I'm lifting weights at night so my little casting arm can become really strong. Because I don't cast enough and I need to cast more. And I cast, I did cast the care,

Rev Diana Cherry: Mm-hmm.

Rev Michele Owes: then God answered. He didn't answer in the [00:22:00] moment. He answered when I was calm, wasn't even thinking about the situation.

Rev Michele Owes: It was at a time when I could receive the answer.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yeah. Yeah.

Rev Michele Owes: So sometimes we don't hear from God because he's waiting for us to get in a position where we can receive.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yeah. Yes. I have I have something that I wanna share from Ephesians chapter four.

Rev Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: The word of God tells us that we should in verse 22 of that, that we should, well, verse number 21 says, if so be you've heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus put. Off concerning the former conversation, the old man,

Rev Michele Owes: Mm-hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put the new man, which after God is [00:23:00] created in righteousness and true holiness, and sometimes we just have to change outfits.

Rev Michele Owes: Yes,

Rev Diana Cherry: Pursuing and persisting. We need to stop

Rev Michele Owes: yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: that that's the old man. That outfit is raggedy, stinky, rotten, and dirty, I need to put on my new garments in

Rev Michele Owes: Yes. Yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: I wanna share with you. I call this the conduct of a righteous person. Wherefore, away lying.

Rev Michele Owes: Mm.

Rev Diana Cherry: every man truth.

Rev Michele Owes: Yes. I.

Rev Diana Cherry: Well, we are members of one another.

Rev Diana Cherry: Be angry. Sin not. not the sun go down on our wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole Still no more, but rather let him labor. You have to work. You gotta work hard to be right. Working with his [00:24:00] hands. The thing that's good that he may have to give to them that need it. Verse number 29, every woman on earth. Needs to memorize this. Put it on your bathroom mirror, put it on your nightstand. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hero. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Rev Michele Owes: Hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice be ye kind.

Rev Diana Cherry: Kindness is submissive. ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.

Rev Michele Owes: Hmm.

Rev Diana Cherry: so important for us who are, are [00:25:00] married, you know, be kind to our

Rev Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: We chose those dudes God didn't choose from us. Yeah, there was something about that guy that you just couldn't keep your hands off. yeah, think back to those times and love your husbands, love your children. Be kind to those who are in the household of faith. So if you wanna know the conduct of a righteous person, read Ephesians four. All of

Rev Michele Owes: Amen. That is beautiful. I also want to just briefly add before we close this podcast, that our righteousness is tied to our salvation Romans. The 10th chapter verse number nine says that if thou shalt confess with thou thy mouth. The Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved.

Rev Michele Owes: For [00:26:00] with the heart, man, believe it unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture sayeth, whosoever believeth on him shall not. Be ashamed, and so our righteousness is tied to our salvation. We have to believe what we are praying. To be saved.

Rev Diana Cherry: Yeah.

Rev Michele Owes: not just that we say the words, we have to believe in our heart that those words are true and we are saved.

Rev Michele Owes: So our confession. So with the heart, men believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. God really just wants us to be right with him so that we can experience all the beautiful things in life that he has prepared for us. That doesn't mean there won't be any challenges.

Rev Michele Owes: There will [00:27:00] absolutely be challenges. That doesn't mean that there won't be days where you just can't figure it out. There are a lot of those days because God wants us to know that we're not to try to live this life without him. He wants to lead, guide and direct us, but you know, we have a tendency to wanna push God out on the side.

Rev Michele Owes: Street and drive on our own, but then we just crash. So it was better to just back up, make sure he's in the driver's seat, settle in in the back or on the side, wherever God will allow you to pee and just go along for the ride. Now that's being right with him, right? You are not trying to be the boss.

Rev Michele Owes: You're not trying to drive the car. You just got in and say, God, what you want? Let's do it.

Rev Diana Cherry: My husband said when God called him into the, when he got saved and God called him into the ministry and he said, he didn't, he wanted to occupy the throne with God. He said, God, I'll move over and you can sit right here beside me. There's no time for beside relationships. We have to put off the old, put on the

Rev Michele Owes: [00:28:00] Yes,

Rev Diana Cherry: we, we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts, there should be an outward manifestation of

Rev Michele Owes: yes, yes.

Rev Diana Cherry: change to be unchangeable. We are new if we still. Practicing sin. Word of God says that if you're born of God, you do not sin. So

Rev Michele Owes: Yes,

Rev Diana Cherry: sin and righteousness go hand in hand.

Rev Diana Cherry: That's why we taught

Rev Michele Owes: yes,

Rev Diana Cherry: first. Now, righteousness, choose righteousness.

Rev Michele Owes: yes, yes. Choose, choose, choose. Remember, it's a momentary. Millisecond decision. Just choose what you know God would have you to do, because choices are long lasting and they are life changing. We have the right to make a decision, but we cannot choose the consequence of that decision. So if we choose, if we stay on the side of right being right with God, then the consequences.

Rev Michele Owes: Will surely be of [00:29:00] his will. And that is also something that we've often said from the Heart Church Ministries. Alright, so that will bring us to a close on this podcast. We are so excited about seeing those of you who will be with us July 17th through 19th. You can stay over to the 20th in Houston, Texas at the Teachable Woman Retreat.

Rev Michele Owes: Western Oak Hotel. Go to teachable woman.com to find out more details. Thank you to those of you who have registered and are sharing the podcast and are sharing information about the retreat. Registrations are going well. We are excited about you trusting us and trusting God together with us to have an exciting time.

Rev Michele Owes: See you in July.

Rev Diana Cherry: See you in July. God bless you.