A little back story...before I tell you about this launch team I'm on....when I had my first son, (who is now 4), my world was rocked. As I'm sure every other woman has experienced with their first child! I was working full time, trying to be a mom, and still trying to be a loving wife! Needless to say, it felt like efforts were getting nowhere, the baby blues had beyond set in...and I was just done with life.
It was then the love of God helped my mind refocus. I have been a Christian for many years, but the importance of daily time with God, in His Word, had not been a priority. I shifted my priorities, and realized making Him number one on my "to do" list will cause the other things in life to fall in to place. I started doing Beth Moore studies, on my own. I did jump in to a few studies with my church's women ministry as well. But I spent more time studying on my own.
Fast forward to today....and 2 kids. I now have such a passion for women's ministry - specifically young moms & working moms of preschoolers. Life is tough. Raising toddlers is no joke. But putting yourself on the backburner is not the remedy to "getting through" everything. If you're not healthy, how can you raise healthy kids? If you're not focused on your relationship with God, how can you teach your children to be? Questions I battle every day.
So when the opportunity came up to help launch Beth Moore's new Bible study, Entrusted, I jumped on board!
Here is a video with some teaching snippets, and Beth explaining the study & what it is about.
Here is a quick video on the study, and how it will be formatted....with different options to suit you.
I can not wait to jump in to this study. I'm currently walking through the Armor Of God study by Priscilla Shirer, and facilitating a discussion group with some fellow women whom I love, at my church. I plan on jumping in to the Entrusted study once we break. So tell me, are you going through a Bible study? Looking to start one?
So by this time, we were well into Saturday morning....and had 3 reverbs left.
Re-Verb #4: REPLANT
>sowing in to carnality versus Spirt
where are you most vulnerable? SOW SEEDS THERE.
Paid a visit to Luke 8 & the parable of the sower....where the Word of God is the seed
Paid a visit to Isaiah 55 and the parallel of water to the Word of God
Re-Verb #5: REPENT
>embrace the beauty of repentance
You can not out sin the grace of God!!!!
There was an alter call at this time, where anyone who felt a stirring of the Holy Spirit or felt led, could come down & pray with someone. Beth then led everyone through a sinner's prayer of receiving Christ, and asked ALL in the auditorium to participate as a memorium.
The last reverb....
Re-Verb #6: REMEMBER
>remember what you need to forget
Paid a visit to 2 Timothy 2:8 and Luke 17:32
The conference wrapped up with a commission. I have only been to 2 conferences of Beth Moore's and she did something similar at both. It's her way of getting us to remember what we gleaned, and APPLY it once we leave.
I got to experience this conference with my mom....and I loved every second!
Picking up where I left off....it was time for some words from Beth! Beth's teachings carried from Friday evening over to Saturday morning.
Like I mentioned, the theme of the conference was RE-VERB.
Before Beth started teaching, she prefaced with some fun facts:
"Re-Verb" theme was set prior to knowing that Tampa is the lightning capital of the world
34 different states were represented at this one event
The Tampa team was the FIRST team in 17 years to put Bibles on every seat for attendees!
Okay so now I'm going to share my notes from Beth's lesson.
The conference was based around the prefix "RE" which means to "do again" used especially with verbs.
The motto for the weekend was:
RE
the most beautiful prefix in history
and yes, we had to say it altogether :)
One last fun fact: in the ESV translation of the Bible, the word 'again' appears 1,770 times
So do-overs are a must ;)
There were six keypoints, each were a RE-verb. We were rooted in Galations 6:1-10 but hopped around to other scriptures.
Re-verb #1: REVERB
> an effect where a sound is bounced back (reverberate in Latin means to become driven back, to become reflected, to continue in or as if in a series of echoes "resound", an historic event that still resounds today.
Paid a visit to 1 Thessalonians 1:18 - - > "sounded forth", this is the first time this was used, which in Greek means reverberate.
Re-verb #2: RESTORE
>in Greek means to put in order, former condition....in the New Testament this word was used in relation to mending fishing nets...and in Greek poetry, it was used in reference to resetting bones.
Beth drove home verse 1 of Galations 6 here, where it talks about being "caught / caught in".....the feeling of entrapment or being over taken by something.
Paid a visit to Jude 1:23
A little life application here....Beth brought up that YouTube video that a lot of us have seen, where the whale is caught in terrible netting beneath the water. Here's the video (it's over 8 minutes long....)
So if you skip to about 60 seconds left, you will see the whale is freed, has swam off....and starts jumping out of the water! It was reported that the whale kept doing this for an HOUR!!! The whale kept performing.....perhaps to give them a show of appreciation, or perhaps out of sheer JOY for being FREED!?! Beth's point here was that Christians need to show MORE JOY!
Back to the verse in Galations, we need to show gentlessness without contempt. The verse says "lest you too" - - we are all vulnerable, but we are NOT victims.
Beth honed in on vulnerability here, and challenged us to discover our vulnerabilities, by looking for our "un's". Areas of unmet needs. Just remember, Satan is never trying to meet your need.
Back to verse 1 of Galations 6:
Brothers,[a]if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
There is a progression of singular to plural back to singular in this verse.
Anyone = singular
You = plural
Yourself = singular
"You who are" is indicating that a TEAM of people is to restore the fellow believer that has become entrapped in sin. It's not ONE persons responsibility.
Keeping it a team, means that ONE person will not be overwhelmed, or become codependent....and it means that concerning confidentiality, you have a few others to communicate with. That burden of secrecy is heavy to bear...but when you have a sounding board in others, with the common goal of restoration, you can combat that!
Verse 2 of Galations 6:
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
and also verse 5:
For each will have to bear his own load.
Here, she honed in on the word "another" & "burdens" in verse 2, along with "load" in verse 5.
Starting with the word "another" - - > break it apart & it is "an" "other". Our one anothers are not all others. By this she was driving home the point that we have our loved ones that we pray for & tend to carry burdens for. And then we have others that God puts in our life for a season.
"Burdens" versus "load"....
In Greek, burdens is bare' which means to bear oppressive weight, or heavy load
In Greek, load is phortion which means like a knapsack or purse
Re-Verb #3: RE-FRAME
Paid a visit to 2 Corinthians 5:16 & 17
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[a] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Need I say more?
As a believer, you are reframing your mind. Renewing youth.
In part 1 I gave a little back story on Beth Moore & her ministry, Living Proof.
Mom & I attended the conference which ran Friday evening to Saturday afternoon. The conference started at 7pm on Friday evening, so in true family fashion, we arrived an HOUR & A HALF too early.
Meh.
After standing outside of the arena, in hot-humid Florida weather, with a massive rain cloud threatening to open up at any moment, we were FINALLY let in to the event.
Upon entering, each person received this booklet:
I did not thumb threw it until we were at our seats.
Speaking of seats, our super cool green wristbands gave us full access to floor seats, & the first level of seating.
We scurried down to the floor seats....since there were only TWO of us we figured it shouldn't be too difficult to find seats.
WRONG.
I totally forgot how some ladies take their Beth Moore....way too seriously. There was one lady saving 4 ROWS of seats, by herself....with nothing on the seats to show they were reserved. When mom & I went to grab 2 seats, you would have thought we were the antichrist. Apparently her church ladies were coming.
Shake it off.
So we attempted to grab 2 more, and again were blocked by yet another woman needing 3 rows.
Shake if off, but holy moly!
We eventually found 2 seats....but seriously....
PSA: If you are an avid Beth Moore fan, great! But you do not know who is in attendance to this event. You may be the first "Christian" an unbeliever comes in contact with. Watch your words & attitude. PSA #2: If you are saving an entire row, needless to say more than 1 row of seats, all by yourself.....just don't. That is way rude. If you want to sit with all of your friends, & their friends, & their friends' friends...find them & sit where they are.
Sorry for the side track...back to the event....
So, when we finally were able to sit down at 2 seats that were not "invisibly reserved" we noticed there was a Bible at the seat! Apparently, the local Living Proof team here in Tampa, Florida made it an important task to see to it that everyone in attendance had a Bible. There were 7,000 attendees!!!
How awesome is that!?!
A photo posted by nicole brinson (@fashionablyniki) on
Lifeway had a store set up, so of course we went to check out what deals they had going on.
I picked up this for BittyBeau....
Eventually it was time for the main event to start....
Y'all Travis Cottrell & his praise team kicked everything off with praise & worship...and it was AMAZING!!!
Praise & worship was definitely amazing. Sitting in the floor seats, and hearing everyone above you sing....it was just awesome.
At the end of worship, the video for the conference theme played. I wish I had thought to capture it, but well, I don't always think that fast. I was just totally enthralled with it. So the theme of the conference was RE-VERB the video was images of storms & lightning....with verses from the Bible talking about thunder & reverberation, and the music playing was drums & this amazing beat. Almost tribal sounding.
I had the opportunity to attend Beth Moore's Living Proof Live tour, this past weekend in Tampa, FL.
If you're unfamiliar with Beth or her ministry, check out her website here: http://www.lproof.org/
The following was taken from the Living Proof website....I just love how they explain their ministry:
Living Proof Ministries is dedicated to Biblical literacy and a commitment to guide believers to love and live on God's Word. Every tape, book or product offered through this ministry is developed to encourage people to know Christ through His Word."For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two edged sword." Hebrew 4:12
Living Proof was founded upon this verse. It is our desire to see people discover and fully experience this truth for themselves.
Living Proof Ministries exists because of the grace and mercy of Christ. It will always exist to glorify Him alone.
Definitely check out Beth's bio here: http://www.lproof.org/AboutUs/BethMoore/default.htm
But to give you a background on her founding her ministry:
Beth founded Living Proof Ministries in 1994 with the purpose of teaching women how to love and live on God’s Word. She has written numerous books and Bible studies, including Breaking Free, Believing God, The Patriarchs and most recently, James: Mercy Triumphs that have been read by women of all ages, races, and denominations. Through the years, American missionaries and expatriates have taken the Bible studies overseas, resulting in Beth Moore Bible study groups popping up all over the world. Upon completion of a tour of New England in 2008, Beth’s Living Proof Live conferences will have taken her to all fifty states since 1994. God has graciously given Beth the opportunity to serve the body of Christ in many different countries, including Ireland, England, Singapore, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, India, Angola, Kenya, and South Africa. With great joy, she began a radio ministry in 2004 called Living Proof with Beth Moore hosted on OnePlace.com. Also, each Wednesday, Beth can be seen teaching Bible study on the television program “Life Today with James and Betty Robison.”
Ever the storyteller, Beth is known to pepper her teaching with stories and poems written from the perspective of pertinent characters. She communicates with great energy, passion, humor, warmth, and grace.
So back to Living Proof Live - each year, Beth's ministry does these tours across the US called "Living Proof Live". It is a time for women (and a few good men) to come together, have some amazing praise & worship time, and then hear a word from Beth.
More on the tour: http://www.lproof.org/Events/Schedule.asp
It is a non-denominational event, so it's super cool to see women from different churches all coming together under one roof. The diversity of the demographic that attends is also really cool to see....women from all walks of life.
Beth prepares a study to present beginning Friday night, and then through Saturday. It's normally centered on one topic, with multiple points that carry through the entire event. I've sat through a handful of conferences, and of course numerous sermons not only at my church, but also various other churches around the US, and I have to say that Beth is definitely gifted in the realm of public speaking. She grabs your attention & does not let it go....mixing doctrine with personal stories.
Now, that you have a little back story on Beth Moore & Living Proof Live, I wanted to share my experience & give a recap, so stay tuned!
**These are my opinions. I paid my way for this event**
