Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Michelle: His sufferings.
It never promised that life would be all roses and butterflies.
We experience in our disappointment the incredible grace of God like never before. And we lean in to his grace so much more.
[00:00:29] 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 receive the second part of Pastor Michelle Loperfido's word from day three of the 2025 Oasis conference. In our last episode, Pastor Michelle warned us against rebuilding the high places in our lives that the Lord has torn down.
If you haven't heard this episode, I highly encourage you to pause and go back and listen to it before we continue.
Today, Pastor Michelle finishes this message, teaching us on what it looks like to lead from a place of humility before the Lord. You don't want to miss this.
So join us as we seek to open prophetic wells in our lives, in our churches, and in the world today. Enjoy.
[00:01:18] Michelle: Jesus first is part of the culture at our church.
It's one of our culture codes. It's one of our heartbeats.
And we're always just reminded that if we keep him first, nothing else matters.
Life always is better when we do it his way.
Secondly, we need humble hearts to lead well.
We need humble hearts to lead well.
Second Chronicles 33, verse 10. It says, the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but what does it say? But they paid no attention.
Verse 12.
But Manasseh had this heart change, and it says, in his distress, he sought the favor of the Lord and humbled himself greatly.
God was trying to get Manasseh's attention, right?
I didn't ask his permission, but I've learned after 25 years of marriage that I have to look at my husband and say, are you listening to me, Derek? Are you listening to me?
Yes, I'm listening to you. Sometimes he can even regurgitate everything that I just said, even though it didn't look at all like he was paying attention to me.
Now, even my children know. They were like, they'll say something. And like, dad, are you listening? I'm like, no, you have to get his attention first. So they all say it now, like, dad, are you listening to me? I need you to talk. I need you to listen to what I'm saying.
God was trying to get Manasseh's attention, right?
And what does it say? They didn't pay any attention. Not one person.
Not one person paid any attention. I mean, that's a sermon in and of itself.
But if there's any parents in this room who have tried to raise. Tried is the key word. Tried to raise a toddler or can I add a teenager into the mix? You know that feeling all too well when you're trying to get their attention and they are not listening to you. Anyone, don't raise your hand if your children are not. They're all getting fed and you are getting just free by the blood of Jesus just sitting in here.
I know that's why you came. There was childcare. You were like, this is going to be a vacation for two days.
Yeah. All the parents. I love it.
So what does a little.
A little toddler. And sometimes the teenagers. Not sometimes, a lot of the times. What is their famous words?
No, I can do this myself.
I can do this myself.
Okay. And you're watching and you're like, okay, let me know how that goes for you, because I know clearly that you are trying to tie your shoes and it's not gonna work.
Now. Some of you have so much more patience than me.
Like, I watch some of our families at our church, and they just have so much grace, and they're like, are you doing okay, honey? Are you doing okay? It's like five minutes. And I was like, give me the shoes. I'm gonna tie the shoes right now.
Some of us have patience, some of us don't. But you see them struggling, and you're not sure when to step in. You're like, do I step in? Do I not?
Do I do something? Do I not?
And some of them, all right, I'm just gonna look this way.
Some of them are so stubborn, and they never give up.
Right? Let me just tell you, if you have a child that never gives up, all of my children were like that.
Those are the leaders that you're raising up.
Don't squash them.
Teach them what to do with that stubbornness. Okay? Just leave that there.
But it's the same for us leaders, right? Don't tell me what to do.
Don't tell me what to do. God, I got this.
I got this.
Don't tell me what to do. Pastor Phil, who's been in ministry for many, many years, I've got this. I don't need your help.
We do it. We do it as leaders.
Verse 9 literally says that Manasseh led the people astray.
That is an incredible way to think about that. Our stubbornness and our control could affect the people that are following us around us.
Are we so stuck in our own ways that we don't want anyone to help us? We don't need God to help us. And we're just like, I am doing this.
I'm doing this, and I'm killing it.
You're literally killing it. Yes, But I love the Bible.
It leaves us with this picture that he's in exile. Manasseh is in exile, and all of a sudden it says, in his distress, he called upon God.
The Bible leaves it to our imagination.
Like, was it this encounter of the Holy Spirit? Was it like this Paul and Silas thing in jail where the angel appeared? And, you know, we don't know what happened, but there clearly was a heart change.
There was something.
Maybe he remembered God's faithfulness in the days of his father. Maybe he had a revelation that he realized that life was not working out. Well, life was not working like he thought it was. Maybe his heart was longing for his Creator. His heart somehow was revived. The Holy Spirit came and was that defibrillator and was just like, okay, you feel like you're dead. You feel like you're gone. But you know what? No. Because my Holy Spirit is gonna come and revive you and bring about a fresh anointing and a fresh revelation of all that he had.
And he said, you know what? Just like the prodigal son, he's like, I have to go home.
I have to go home. And he cries out and he says, God, I need you.
I need you. And what does it say? It says that the Lord heard him.
The Lord heard him.
Lord, let us lead well with humility.
What does 2 Chronicles 7:14 say?
Humble yourself, pray. And then what happens?
It says, he will hear us and will heal our land.
What does the other passion say? It says, do it in our day, God. Is that our cry tonight? Do it in our day, God. Let this move of your spirit happen on this day. Let us see in the land while we're here in the land of the living. A move of your Holy Spirit. But it's going to require humility on our part to say, God, all I need is you.
All I need is you.
The fruit of humility is restoration.
Number three. The restoration. Restoration was always the plan.
Restoration was always the plan.
Verse 13.
And when Manasseh prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty.
It doesn't say that very often in the Bible that the Lord was moved.
I want to move God's heart.
But the Lord was moved by his supplication, not by the works that he did or the offerings he made. He was moved by his heart of supplication, God. It says that he was Moved. And it says, the Lord was moved and listened to his plea.
He listened because he was humble.
So God brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.
Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
God restored his kingdom.
What a gift of grace.
I don't know if I would have done that. Hey, bud, you just raised up all of the altars that your dad took. All this time, you ruined it all.
Like, you ruined it all.
Like, do you ever go into your. Like into the living room after you're trying to make dinner and with. With your kids, and you're like, oh, my gosh, what in the world happened here? You just ruined it all.
Clearly, I needed help in the grace aspect. As a parent.
I'm so grateful. We don't get what we deserve. Amen. I'm so grateful God restored. And can I just say to you that he. All Manasseh did was say, God, I'm so so.
And there was no penance involved. It wasn't like God was like, okay, come back and you got to do these 10 things and these things and these things, and then I'll restore the kingdom to you.
Why don't you prove to me that you are really repentant?
That didn't happen. All Manasseh did was he just said, God, I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry for what I've done.
Please welcome me back into your kingdom. And what did he. It was just like, here's your kingdom back.
Here's your kingdom back.
God is in the restoration business. Amen. We think we made that up because it's so cool to, like, restore a piece of furniture from the goodwill. Like, I don't know. I follow these people. I am not a DIYer, but I watch all these DIY people. Cause I'm just so amazed at what they can do. We think that all of these things, like, when people restore homes and restore furniture, we think that we make that up.
No, God started. It was God's idea first.
And all throughout the Bible, actually, the entire story is about restoration.
The entire story. God restored relationships and kingdoms. He restored sight to the blind.
He restored life where there was death. Restoration is all a part of the plan. It always was.
And I believe restoration represents the kindness of God.
He doesn't leave us in our mess. He cleans it up and makes it like it didn't even happen.
Restoration restored Manasseh's reputation.
Instead of going down as a terrible king who didn't serve God and who was rebellious, Manasseh was known for restoration and purity.
What does it say? He rebuilt the walls. He removed the idols he had brought into the temple. He restored the altar of the Lord with offerings of worship. Again, he restored all of that. And get this. I just want to point this out to you. Earlier in the story, it says he led the people astray. But what does verse 16 says? Verse 16 says, the people to serve the Lord. He turned it around. He turned this whole nation around. His humility and change of heart led a whole generation of people back to the Lord. That's powerful.
That's so powerful that his humility and his change of heart led an entire generation back to God.
So what do we want our reputation to be?
What do we want our reputation to be? So I said that my kids were here, so let me just show you.
This is Evan over here.
You don't know him.
Isn't he so handsome?
Can you see it? Okay, this is Evan's senior poster for golf. I don't know if any of you have these in your high school, but I paid $70 for this, so I'm using it as an illustration.
I'm getting its worth out of this poster.
Isn't it great, Evan? You look so handsome. Okay, my son Evan. Here, let me move it over here.
My son Evan is a senior in high school this year. I made it my last child through high school. Yes. I'm so thankful.
So thankful.
And there's no gray hairs up here at all.
Evan is one of those kids that. Who catches on very easily to things. Those ones that you hate. You're just like, seriously, you didn't even try, and you're really good at that.
He catches on very easily, and he quickly rose in the ranks of our area's top tennis and golf students his sophomore year. So two years ago, he.
He went to sectionals, which is like, a lot of schools in the area. For those of you who are older and you're like, I don't understand what you're doing right now. He went to sectionals, and he did really well.
And. And you could hear. And as. As a mom, you know, I was just so proud because they don't know that I'm his mom. And so they're like, who is that boy over there from North Rose Woolcott? Now, can I just tell you, our district is like, what good comes from North Rose Woolcott? Like, not like, when we show up, they're like, oh, we can beat these guys. In fact, his sexual match, we were all standing in the back and with. And it's so weird. Because you're like, with the other parents and whatever. So the. The kids from the opponent that Evan was playing, his. Their friends, the guy's friends, was like, oh, we're gonna beat this kid. And I was like, okay, whatever. And I'm just like, my husband has to just, like, hold me down. Be like, just. Just don't listen to them. It's fine. And so they're like, you know, Evan, he just. He gets a little nervous for a couple points. And so he's not, you know, he wasn't winning. And the kids were like, yeah, see, you know, we're gonna crush this kid. Well, all of a sudden, Evan turned it on, and he just. He whooped him like he beat him. And I was like, yes, right. No pride. I just. I had to get rid of that pride at the altar over here.
But it was so amazing to see your son who's worked so hard, be successful. And it was amazing.
But let me just tell you this other thing about Evan is that he's also had words about ministry, that he would walk in the footsteps of his dad, and he would have this ministry. But all of us were like, that's for down the road. That's not for right now. We're just gonna keep moving forward, and we're just gonna keep, you know, playing tennis and playing golf, and it's gonna be great. You're only, like, 60.
There's a lot of time for those things to happen.
And so, you know, like, you're supposed to do with prophetic words you just put on the shelf, you know? So it was like, we weren't pursuing anything, like, really godly, pastoral parents that we are. We weren't like, oh, maybe you should go to ministry school. I was like, no, it didn't really even say that. So. Lord, forgive me.
So fast forward. It's the third match of his junior year in tennis.
I'm literally on an airplane coming home from a trip.
And you know how, like, you turn your phone back on and all your messages pop up? Well, there was several from my daughter who were texting me, like, the play by play that I had missed the whole four hours that I was on the plane.
I think Evan dislocated his shoulder. We're going to urgent care now. We're going to emergency room. Oh, they popped it back in. We have a video. I spared you from that. You don't have to watch that.
And I immediately, I'm like, his whole year of tennis is gone.
It's gone devastating.
But we were like, it's okay, bud. It's all right. You've got your senior year.
Your senior year. You're going to be amazing. You're going to. You're going to work back. You're going to get stronger. We'll pay for lessons. Like, you're just trying to make up for this. This disappointment. We've all had that, right?
So fast forward, that was in April, so August. He goes to Camp Shiloh in the summer, dislocates its left shoulder and a bounce house.
Like, the people at the hospital, like, what did he do? I'm like, I don't know. I didn't see it. I couldn't see. He was in this bounce house. They're like, he didn't hit the ground. I'm like, no. I don't know what to tell you. He just hurt. Dislocated his shoulder. Mind you, he finished the whole race with this shoulder. Like this. Finished the whole thing. I was like, what are you doing? It was all adrenaline. It was all adrenaline.
Jess. Freda came, our youth pastor, to camp that next day. And she looks at me and she's like, I think God's trying to get his attention.
So we begin to prepare for the next season, and four days before this tennis season, I'm at work.
I get a call from the school nurse.
Four days before tennis season, I think Evan dislocated his shoulder again.
I literally went in my office and started crying.
He needed surgery.
His season of his senior year of tennis was gone and no sports for the entire summer.
And for an 18 year old who just loves to be active and play sports, it was like the death of him.
It was like telling me I couldn't have ice cream for the next two years.
I'm telling you this because I know that you can relate to incredible disappointments in your life.
You've had disappointments where you've lost a loved one, you lost a job, you lost a child, you had incredible disappointments of dreams that you thought were going to happen, and you had a vision for what it was going to be and you're disappointed.
But in the middle of my story, I want to tell you that sometimes our biggest disappointments, and in Manasseh's distressing times, we grow the most.
And oftentimes I really do believe that we think that when things go wrong and things are hard and things aren't going the way we want them to, that we somehow think that we're doing something wrong or that we're not in God's will, or it's like, well, what did I do? We all say it. What did I do to deserve this, God? I mean, how many times have you said that? What did I do to deserve this God? Life should be easier. Don't you know I've served you? Don't you know I loved you? Don't you know that I've sacrificed my entire life for you? And I get this.
And we run, we constantly run from God because we're just. We run from those disappointments instead of saying, you know what? I'm just going to embrace what you have for me now. What does the Bible say we have to endure in his sufferings?
It never promised that life would be all roses and butterflies.
We experience in our disappointment the incredible grace of God like never before. And we lean in to his grace so much more.
So after his surgery eight weeks ago, the poor thing, I had to drive him everywhere.
I know. He was just like. His whole life was just like, oh, my gosh, came to a screeching halt. And every day we would pass the tennis courts and just a couple weeks ago, the senior banners for tennis were up and his picture wasn't up there.
And I had this moment and I'm like trying not to cry in my car because I'm like, okay, I got to get this kid to school and I don't want to embarrass him.
And the Lord downloaded this to me and I turned to him and I said, evan, what do you want to be known for?
What do you want to be known for? Do you want to be known in 20 years as you were this incredible tennis player and golf player in North Rose Wilcott?
Is that what you want to be known for?
What God is doing in your heart and your life through this season is building character and integrity that will take you way further than a poster on a fence at a tennis court.
Way further.
He's building character and integrity in you. And I said, I know that's not easy to hear right now, but I would so much rather be known for a heart like God's than a poster on a fence.
So he pulled up to the school and he's like, okay, thanks mom, I gotta go to school.
Mostly because he probably didn't want to cry at school because to tell an 18 year old kid that he doesn't get to play his sports and he has to watch all of his friends.
And that happens to us too, right? Like all of the things we're like, well, I wanted that. I wanted to do that, Lord, and you're not letting me. I'm so disappointed. I wanted that. You promised me that dream and I didn't get it. And I'm just dealing with disappointment and my life isn't going the way I thought or my kids lives or my friends or my church. My church isn't growing. Why is that guy's church growing and mine isn't doing all the right things? I went to all of the workshops and got all of the notes and I go to all, I listened to all the podcasts.
I listened to Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel. Like I'm doing all the things. Why isn't my church growing? And we deal with disappointment and we deal with distress. But I want us today to know and believe that God has something powerful in store for our church, for our regions and for our country. Amen. And for this world. And I believe that God is bringing the chess pieces together and he's aligning everything together. He's aligning our hearts. But one of those pieces that he's aligning is he wants pure hearts and pure minds.
What do we want to be known for?
That's what I want to ask you today. What do you want to be known for? Do you want your picture on a poster?
Oh Lord, I want to be known for just some great messages. I want to be known for. I have all these people that I'm influencing.
I helped a lot of people. I served a lot of people. No, I want to be known for a humble heart for Jesus, who glorified him in every way and who did what Jesus told us to do. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
That's all he told us to do, is to love him and love others and honor them. Well, that's what I want to be known for. So can we just bow our heads and as the worship team leads us in a moment with God. We've already had so many beautiful moments with God, but as we just have a final moment in this room together, don't leave. I have something super powerful for us to do after this, but I want you to ask God, I want to take some time and I want you to ask yourself a question. Are there any high places in my life that I need to get rid of?
Are there any things that I've brought back in? Are there any things, any tendencies, any mindsets, any thoughts that I've brought back in that you want to get rid of God?
Maybe you need to come to a place of humility where you need to cry out to God and say, God, I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry for making it about me. I want my life to be known by you and you alone. I want my life to be glorifying to you.
Or maybe you've been disappointed and you're waiting for restoration of hopes and dreams. I want you to take a sweet moment with God in this time before we go back to the crazy, before we go back to the mundane.
You know you spent a lot of time and money to get here.
Make it your heart's cry to say, God, I don't want to go back to the same way I came.
God, I don't want to go back the same way I came. I want to be. I want people to recognize that I was wrecked by the Holy Spirit.
So take a moment.
Take a moment with the Lord.
[00:28:07] 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 encouraged by this time. If you'd like to hear more content just like this, be sure to give this podcast a like and a follow wherever you get your podcast and share this podcast with your friends. We 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, my name is Thomas and from all of us here at Elim, God bless.
