Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Michelle: The Lord is calling us, and he's drawing us to this new level of dependence on him. He's calling us. In order to be effective leaders in the Kingdom of God, our mantra needs to be more of him and less of me.
More of him and less of me.
[00:00:25] Thomas: Hello, and welcome to the well, an Elim Fellowship leadership podcast.
My name is Thomas, and I am excited that you are joining us today as we hear a powerful word from the one and only Pastor Michelle Loperfido. Today we are excited to bring you part one of two from Pastor Michelle's message from day three of the 2025 Oasis Conference as she warns us against rebuilding the idols in our lives that the Lord has torn down.
This is a message that we believe that every Christian should hear.
So join us as we seek to open prophetic wells in our lives, in our churches, and in the world today.
Enjoy.
[00:01:03] Taryn: I know we've had pastors and elders come up and introduce our speakers, but as the events coordinator, I cordoned myself in this position to introduce our next speaker because I just love her so much, and I just. I wanted to be the one to introduce her.
So as I've been. I've been at Elim Fellowship for six years. I've had the privilege and the honor of meeting amazing speakers, amazing worship leaders, authors like these people that I'm just like, I'm so lucky I get to meet them. But of all the people that I've gotten to meet, all the people that I've become close to through my time here at Yale and Fellowship, I have to say, I do have kind of like my favorite, and that is our next speaker, Michelle Loperfito. So before she comes up, I'm just gonna introduce her, just let you all know about this amazing woman who's gonna come take the stage with us in just a second. So Michelle Loberfido and her husband Derek are the senior pastors of their church, Freedom Life Church in South Butler, New York.
Michelle and Derek have been pastoring at Freedom Life for over 25 years and has a desire to see the Kingdom of God continue to grow in their community and region.
Michelle loves every part of the local church, as do I, and she especially has a heart for worship and women's ministry and is passionate about seeing lives changed as they find their purpose and identity in Jesus Christ. So would you please join me and stand your feet and welcome our amazing speaker, my dear friend, Michelle Loberfido.
[00:02:36] Michelle: I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Just want to say it's Just an honor to be here today and I'm just so thankful to have this opportunity. So I just want you to just congratulate yourselves for making it to the end of the conference. So can you give yourselves just a really big cheer that you made it to the end? You made it to the end. It's so great. And I just had a small word that I just felt as I was preparing. God spoke it to me a couple weeks ago and I've been sharing it with our staff and people that are in my life.
But we sang that song show me your face. I can make to the end if I can just see your face.
And I really believe that God has called us and is calling us to sign up for the long game.
You know, in this world of immediacy, in this world of fast paced results, I want it immediately. Like I want, I want this right now. I don't wanna put the work into it. I want it to come easily. I wanna make money easily, I wanna do this easily. I don't wanna work at my job because it's too hard. Like all of these things. And we bring that into the church and we're like, God, I want healing God, I want freedom. I wanna be free of this thing. But I don't wanna put any work into it and I don't wanna put any time into it. And I just want you to come and I want you to heal me and I want you to grow this church and I want you to do all of these things. And I that we are in a time where we have to sign up for the long game.
We are in this for the long game and so many of us, I feel in this room are just a little tired and your endurance is just, just a little bit not there.
And you're just like God, I'm just really tired and I don't know if I have the longevity to stay in the game. And so if you are so bold and courageous to stand up, if you would say, you know what, I'm just having a hard time with the long game. I'm having a hard time. I'm tired, I'm losing hope, I'm drained. I don't know, I don't feel like I have purpose. I don't feel like I have hope anymore. If you could just stand to your feet, I want us to pray for you right now. Anybody, Anybody here, come. Thank you so much for your boldness all over this room. And so this is a participatory part of the service. If there's Somebody around you. I just want you to pray over them right now. And we are going to speak. Endurance and strength. Come on. And no one should be standing by themselves. Everyone should have someone that is praying over them, speaking over them, speaking life into them. God, we thank you, Lord, for the spirit of longevity. We thank you, Lord, that you will give these people, God, your people, your children, passion and vision and strength right now. In the name of Jesus, I thank you that you would infuse them with the power of your holy Spirit. I pray that you would infuse them with fresh anointing, that they would go back into their workplaces, they would go back into their churches, and they would be able to declare that I am a new person. I am a new creation. I can do this. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So, God, right now in this place, I pray for a spirit of endurance and longevity over every single person that is standing here. God, I pray that you would help them to finish this. The finish line. Get to the finish line. Strong and full of purpose.
God, that we. We just come against weariness. We. We even prayed about it before worship started. We thank you that the joy of the Lord is our strength. God, fresh vision, fresh passion for you. In Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Amen. We're playing the long game. We're playing the long game. Well, my name is Michelle Oberfito. So, so thankful to be here. My husband Derek and I actually met here at the. Not at the church, at the school, like, 28 years ago. I was 7 at the time.
No, I'm just kidding.
We served together at Freedom Life and we have three children. My daughter Abby was singing right here, and my daughter Maren and Evan are in the back with my sister and some great friends from Freedom Life. So it's just an honor to be here. And we're. We are just on a wild ride.
We're on a. Anybody else feel like you're just on this roller coaster ride? You're like, I really. I should have buckled up a little bit sooner. Cause I didn't realize that it was gonna be like this. But new seasons of life and ministry and walking with God, you know, it's never boring, but it's always where we need to be. Amen. So I love it. Well, we have entered springtime season in this area. It doesn't feel like. It feels like fall. I don't understand why my heat is still running in the month of May. But this is the time of year where so many people and if you are not this person, I don't want you to feel any shame in this. Because sometimes when we talk about this, you're like, I'm not this kind of person. But this is the time of year where a lot of people are like, I'm gonna clean up my house. I'm gonna do some spring cleaning, right? And sometimes it doesn't happen in the spring for me. It just happens at a random Wednesday. And my children all of a sudden have appointments on that day. Then they just know mom is on a rampage. And we're just gonna.
But it's cleaning out the stuff we don't need anymore.
It's the dead shrubs in the yard, you know, all the wind storms that we have, all the limbs that are just laying there in our way. It's the things that we don't really use anymore. It's the clothes that don't fit anymore.
It's just those things. And you're just like, I gotta do this. I gotta clean this out. I gotta give this to the Goodwill. I have to see if someone needs this. I'm gonna clean up.
Does your home or your church. I'm not gonna expose any church people right now, but does your home or your church have that area that everyone throws their stuff in?
Everyone throws all of their unwanted things in this area.
It's just overflowing. It's the closet that you open, and you're just like, we're just not gonna look at this right now. And you just shove something in there and close the door.
For us personally, we have an old house. It was built in 1875, and we did some remodeling. And so at the end of this hallway, we call it the hobbit closet because, like, the door is like really short and you have to, like, you know, scrunch down to get into it. But it's this kind of walk in closet. It's not in anyone's room. It used to be in my son's room, but now it's just. It's supposed to be his closet, but everyone took it over, the poor thing. He has about, like, this much space for his clothes. And so when my children clean their rooms. I'm so sorry, I should have asked if this was okay for me to share. But when my children clean their rooms, which I am extra grateful for. So, like, you don't want to say anything because you're just grateful that they're cleaning their rooms, right? So when my children clean their rooms, the things they no longer want or take responsibility for end up in this closet.
And the reason why I know that is because I'll go in to get some wrapping paper from said closet and I can't even open the door.
And I'm of course, you know, yelling from the hobbit closet, like, whose stuff is in here? Not mine. Not mine. It's not mine.
No one is taking any responsibility for these items that just magically happened to appear in the closet, but they're cleaning out their stuff, so I just don't complain. But I feel like we're in this similar season in the big sea church.
It's springtime, and we're all desiring a fresh move of the Holy Spirit.
We just asked God for it over and over in our worship set.
Show me your face.
Show me your glory.
Show me your power.
We asked him to come, but it's also a time that as we stand and just the beauty of Jeff and Hannah and Abby where they were just in awe of the presence of God.
When we stand before the most holy God, the things in our lives that don't measure up to his glory are revealed.
And God is doing some spring cleaning in our hearts. Why? Why is he doing it? Is it because it's May and this is what we're supposed to do in May of 2025 is do some cleaning? No. I believe in my heart of hearts that it is because there is a lost and dying world out there.
And they are searching for authenticity.
They are searching for the truth.
They are searching for someone to rescue them from the darkness and the confusion they're experiencing.
Jesus is coming back for a pure, spotless bride whose heart beats only for Him.
He is a jealous God.
I mean, it's at the beginning of the Bible. You shall have no other gods before me. It was one of the very first times God spoke to us.
Nothing else satisfies like Jesus.
Nothing else matters.
Nothing.
And the Lord is calling us, and he's drawing us to this new level of dependence on him. He's calling us. In order to be effective leaders in the kingdom of God, our mantra needs to be more of him and less of me.
More of him and less of me.
I'm not sure if it's my age. I don't know if it's because I don't even care anymore. You know, do you get to that place where you're like, I don't even care. I don't care that I'm wearing sweatpants to the. To the grocery store. I have no one to impress. I don't care My kids are like, you're gonna wear that? Yes, I am. I'm gonna rock it. I'm gonna rock my baseball cap and sweatpants to the grocery store. Yes.
So maybe it's my age, but maybe I've experienced and I've tried and I've searched and I'm like, maybe this will satisfy. Maybe this will fill the void, and maybe this will be the thing that fills that longing in my heart. But I have come to this place where I realize that only Jesus matters.
My worship is different, my mindsets are different, my ministry is different because I don't keep working so hard for anything. I realize that he doesn't want my stuff, he doesn't want my service. He doesn't want anything but. But my heart.
But my heart.
So I'm taking you on a journey today. I'm taking you on a journey that has been my journey the last just few months of just saying God, I just want you.
I just wanna see your face.
More of him, less of me. So I wanna share with you a powerful story in the Bible that hit me a few weeks back. And my Bible plan is wonderful. I love it.
It's like, kind of chronological. So, for example, if you read a story in Kings, it'll take you to the next chapter you read is the story, the same story in Chronicles. So that kind of thing, like, it just connects. It's really great. Come see me if you want the name of it. But my Bible plan that day began in 2nd Kings 21, where we meet Manasseh.
Now King Manasseh. Just to give you. For all of you history buffs. I'm a history buff. I love to study.
Grew up as Hezekiah's son.
Hezekiah was such a godly king. He was amazing. And he worked so hard to serve God and love God and do what God commanded.
But King Manasseh, on the other hand, was a very wicked king.
He was the most wicked king in Judah's history.
And ideally enough, he was the longest reigning king in history during his reign. This is in Second Kings. During his reign. This is mind blowing to me.
The people were worse than the Amorites that Joshua defeated in Canaan, who had a reputation of brutality and wickedness. How many of you know that is not a good thing on your rap sheet? Right? Like, this is my resume I'm presenting. And I led the people through a time of horrid brutality. That just sounds wonderful, doesn't it? And so I finished that passage and I was like, okay, Lord, what do you want me to hear from this. And he was like.
And I was like, please, Lord, I don't want to be that kind of a leader. Like, help me, Lord, not to have this kind of resume. And so in 2 Kings, the story ends right there.
So the next chapter in my Bible plan takes me to 2 Chronicles 33.
And that's where I want to be today.
Because it tells a beautiful part of the story that Second Kings leaves out. Can we just pray?
Let's put our hands on our hearts this morning or tonight.
God, would you open our hearts to hear exactly what you want us to hear?
We've heard so much this week, God, you've done so much in our hearts.
But God, we want to see your face. We want to hear your voice.
So, God, quiet our minds and quiet our hearts. And let us hear you in Jesus name. Amen.
Let's turn to 2nd Chronicles 33, and I'm going to read the first 20 verses. So in 2nd Chronicles 33, starting at verse 1, it says, Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. And he reigned in Jerusalem 1555 years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished. He also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, my name will remain in Jerusalem forever. Let's jump down right before verse seven. It says he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger. You think? I mean, that was a lot that he did. He worked really hard at doing a lot of really bad things.
He took the image he had made and put it in God's temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon. In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I chose, which I have chosen out of all of the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. I will not again make the feet of the Israelites leave the land I assigned to your ancestors, if only they would be careful to do everything I commanded them concerning all the laws, decrees, and regulations given through Moses. But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.
So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
In his distress he sought. Manasseh sought the favor of the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty, his supplication, and listened to his plea.
So he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
Afterward, he rebuilt the outer wall of the city of David, and it goes on and it says what he did. He stationed the military commanders in all the cities. Verse 15. He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord. Verse 16. Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of isra.
The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.
Incredible story.
Incredible story of rebellion.
Then he turns to repentance and says, God, I want to come to you. And then there's restoration. It should be like a Christian movie or something, right? It's like rebellion, repentance and restoration. It's just powerful. And I really want us to see today that life works best when we do it his way.
Life works best when we do it his way. Manasseh wanted things his own way.
He wanted to take back control and thought he knew what was best.
Anyone relate to that?
He lived. I mean, could you imagine he lived in the house of Hezekiah, like, growing up with this man of God who was like, you know what? I'm gonna work really hard to bring back the glory of God in this temple and the glory of God in this nation. And his son becomes king and decides, you know what? That didn't really work for me. I'm just gonna try it my way.
We've all had moments like this.
We've all had moments where pride and control sneak in, where we think, man, I could lead better than that.
I could grow this church better.
I could lead worship better.
Jeff has nothing on me.
We've taken the driver's seat. We're like, just let me. I can do this.
Because we thought we knew best.
Verse three, hit me so hard because it says that he rebuilt the high places.
He rebuilt them.
He rebuilt what his father spent years to build up.
Because a reminder is that Ahaz was before Hezekiah and he was very evil.
What do those high places, those altars represent in our lives.
They're like, well, Lord, I don't have a big stone monument in my church, so I don't have any idols in my life.
What do they represent to us?
Anything that desires to take the place that only God can fill.
Anything that we've deemed more important than him.
This is a tough one.
Anything we give our time to that isn't glorifying to insecurity comparison, pride.
Can I even say religion, success, God, I just want to be successful for you.
And he's like, ugh.
Manasseh took what was pure.
The pure holy temple of God.
What does the New Testament say? We are the temple of God.
Manasseh took what was pure and he defiled it by rebuilding the idols that his father had torn down. He made it about his agenda, what felt good for him.
So I just want us to think about today. And you're like, wow, I'm so glad I stayed for this last session. It's just so encouraging, so uplifting.
What's tried to sneak its way back into our lives, our families, our communities, our churches?
What have we allowed in?
What have we allowed in that we're like, you know what? That can stay. Because that's not a big deal.
That's okay. God's okay with that peace over there.
And what do we do?
We just put it in. You know when it's like Sunday morning, we just shove that thing that isn't glorifying to God in the closet. We shut the door, pretend that it's not there.
What are the tendencies that we revert back to that don't bring good fruit in our hearts and our lives?
What are the things that. What is our default? Is it fear? Is it anxiety? Is it worry? And we're like, okay, I got rid of that. But then something happens, and it's just like, we revert back to those tendencies.
What are the bad habits? What are the natural mindsets that we've allowed back in that hold us back or hinder our growth? Just thinking about those things, like, God, God, what have I tried to rebuild in my temple that isn't glorifying you and being completely vulnerable? I grew up in the church, and I had this false sense of what success looked like, and I did.
It was what I just said, like, God. Well, you know, I'm here every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Like, remember Wednesday? Some of you might have Wednesday night services. I was here. I was. I'm on the worship team, Lord. I'm helping with the youth group. I'm Doing all these things for you, Lord, do you not see me?
Lord, I just want to be successful because I want people to know you and I have this false sense of success and my heart was always for him and I ultimately thought I was really doing the right thing. I really did. And I just wanna say that to you that I really believe that as I was preparing this message that God wants you to know that he sees you and he loves you and he is passionate for you and that he is pleased with what you are doing.
He is. Because our hearts are so pure before God, you wouldn't take time three days out of a week. It's crazy town. I don't know about you, but my life is craz.
Be here if you didn't say God, I just need a touch from you. I'm hungry for more of you. I want to lead your people so well and I just need. I just need some direction. I just need you God. Our hearts are so good.
But let me just tell you, ministry isn't about success as the world sees it.
In reality, the mark of success as a disciple of Christ is how much do I reflect my Creator.
Yes, it says we're going to stand before God and be held accountable for all the things that we do.
But my heart wants to believe that he's going to be like, did you take time to be with me? Did you take time to know me? Did you take time to be in my presence? Did you take time to share and talk with me? And to is your desire about you? Or is your desire saying, God, I just want more of you. I can't do this without you.
We sang it this morning. Maybe we've made this so complicated more than it has ever meant to be.
We do, we do that.
But God, he's so gracious and he loves us so much because it's always been about relationship with Him.
And when we come to him, our hearts are just so full of joy and we are filled with gratitude for all that he has done. Amen.
Psalm 51:10 says, Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of my salvation and renew a right spirit with within me, Lord, it's all about you.
Nothing else matters.
Thank you God.
[00:28:22] Thomas: Thank you for listening to today's episode of the well An Elim Fellowship Leadership Podcast. I pray that you are blessed and encouraged by this time. If you would like to hear the rest of today's message. Be sure to tune in in next time. You will be blessed.
If you would like to hear more exciting content just like this, be sure to give this podcast a like and a follow wherever you get your podcasts and share this podcast with your friends. We will have more exciting content from Oasis and beyond dropping very soon and you don't want to miss it. We are excited about what God is doing here at Elim and we would love for you and your friends to come along on this ride.
So until next time time, my name is Thomas and from all of us here at Elim, God bless.
