Join Nicole and Sharon and a host of others as we share our own journey toward a podcast totally run and fueled by God because of our own weaknesses. This one is personal. And short. Because after our sharing, come interviews with followers and friends plus the people behind the scenes at WORD Radio. This is our last episode of Season Seven and it’s full of celebration, giving glory to the One who gives strength when we are weak. Enjoy! See you in September 2023 for Season Eight …

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 110, His Strength In Our Weakness. This is our last episode for season seven, and it’s a bit different from a normal episode. We are actually taping it early during our 100th episode podcast party April 1st. As we talked about how to celebrate 100 episodes, we both wanted to make sure God got the glory, particularly because we know our own weaknesses so well. Let’s start right there with our weaknesses and then move on to God’s strength. Sharon, tell us what makes you feel weak when it comes to creating and producing a podcast.

Sharon (01:06):

Well, to start with, I couldn’t produce a podcast to save my life, which is why we are so grateful to Word Radio for helping us with it.

Nicole (01:14):

Yes.

Sharon (01:15):

I’m not a technology person.

Nicole (01:16):

No

Sharon (01:17):

I only like computers when they work. I want to pound on them with my little fist when they do not. And I remember during Covid we had one episode where we were trying to tape from home.

Nicole (01:29):

Yes.

Sharon (01:29):

Do you remember? I could never get the volume.

Nicole (01:31):

No. It took us over an hour and a half to just figure out—

Sharon (01:33):

We got nowhere.

Nicole (01:34):

Yeah.

Sharon (01:34):

Yeah.

Nicole (01:35):

It was not fun.

Sharon (01:35):

It was really sad. So, weakness number one, cannot do technology. Weakness number two, when we first started, I’d never listened to a podcast. I actually didn’t know what they were. (Nicole: Really?) I had no idea. And yet, (That’s so funny) my board said, I think you should do a podcast. I’m like, okay. What’s that? (Whatever that is) And then, general weakness is just that we do so many other things, you and I, it’s not like we just do a podcast. (Sure) You’re very involved. I’m very involved in other things. So the attention we give, it never seems to...

Once upon a time, there was a follower of Jesus named Joseph. He was so encouraging, though, that he got a nickname that literally replaced his birth name. Barnabas: Son of Encouragement. Nicole and Sharon talk about the value of being an encourager and how the Holy Spirit can pour fruit into us that enables us to be encouragers. Be encouraged! Listen in.

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:01):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 109, The Blessing of Encouragement. Sharon, I love being encouraged and I often need it as a Mama.

Sharon (00:39):

Oh my. Yes.

Nicole (00:40):

So I remember recently taking the girls to Aldi where you have to bag your own groceries. And as I was standing there at the bagging table with my four kids all asking me lots of questions (Sharon: Of course they were) and maybe fighting and trying to help me bag, and I’m trying to sort the groceries into different bags so it’s easier to put ’em away at home, you know? (Yep, yep) And so this sweet lady comes up to me and she says, you are so organized. I’ve been watching you, and you just seem like you have everything so well sorted. And what nice helpers you have. Well, I’ll tell you, Sharon, I was not exactly thinking they were the best helpers at the moment, nor was I feeling organized. I was tired and frazzled and I just wanted to get to the car and put the audiobook on to calm some of that chatter down a little bit. (Yes) But that lady made me feel like I wasn’t completely failing that day. And you know, it put a smile on my face.

Sharon (01:29):

I love that, she saw you.

Nicole (01:30):

She did.

Sharon (01:31):

Oh my goodness.

Nicole (01:31):

And all that crazy. And I thought, oh, thank you Lord.

Sharon (01:34):

That was a blessing.

Nicole (01:35):

It was such a blessing.

Sharon (01:37):

I really was. And encouragement can change your whole mood.

Nicole (01:39):

It really can. And it’s something, so mundane, like I have to grocery shop. I bring the kids cause I have to bring the kids. You just get through it. (Sharon: Absolutely) And she’s like, you’re so organized. I’m like, am I? Well.

Sharon (01:48):

Mothers, mothers need to be seen cause they don’t even see how much they do themselves. (Nicole: Yeah) they don’t. (No) So, oh, I love her.

Nicole (01:57):

Yeah. She made me happy.

Sharon (01:57):

Whoever she was.

Nicole (01:58):

So, how about you? Have you been encouraged?

S...

Oh to have a passionate heart like Stephen, who was martyred for his faith in the early days of the church. Sharon and Nicole explore his story, together, seeing how the fruit of the Spirit enabled Stephen to have a heart of passion for those around him, even when that passion cost him his very life. It’s an amazing story and one full of surprises. Join us!

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 108, The Power of a Passionate Heart. Today we’re going to look at the life of Stephen, a man who lost his life because of his faith in Christ, but showed a passion and a trust in Jesus to the very end. He’s an amazing example of being all in for the Lord, Sharon. He held nothing back, not even his own life.

Sharon (00:52):

I know, he’s an amazing example for us, Nicole. I am really excited to study him today. He’s mentioned in Acts chapters six through eight, and then a little mention in Acts 22. So let’s discover who this guy is. We meet him first in Acts chapter six in the midst of a controversy in the church. So let’s start by reading Acts 6:1-7. I’ll read verse one and we’ll go back and forth. So, “but”, it starts with but. “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.”

Nicole (01:35):

“So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, we Apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.”

Sharon (01:43):

“And so brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.”

Nicole (01:53):

“Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

Sharon (01:56):

“Everyone liked this idea and they chose the following. Stephen, (our guy for today, Nicole) a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas of Antioch, an earlier convert to the Jewish faith.”

Nicole (02:14):

“These seven were presented to the apostles who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.”

Sharon (02:18):

“So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and many of the Jewish priests were converted too.” Oh, I kinda like that aside. (Nicole: Yeah) And you know why? All right, this is totally off topic, but I have always loved that the Jewish priests were converted too. You know my theory on th...

Join Sharon and Nicole as they admire an obscure, quiet woman who served the early church in its first days after Jesus died and rose again. Dorcas didn’t seek attention. She just saw needs and met them. Let’s be more like Dorcas. Join us for a good discussion on serving others and how that can be done with the Spirit’s help and all the fruit on display.

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:29):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 107, The Beauty of Acts of Service, Learning from Dorcas. We’ve spent Season 7 exploring the nine listed fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Let’s read that passage one more time as we turn to people in the New Testament who lived out this fruit in their real lives. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.” Sharon, do you have any last thoughts to share on our study of the fruit before we move on to look at New Testament people?

Sharon (01:12):

Well, I really loved diving deep into each fruit, Nicole. I found it harder than I thought to define each fruit, and then to look at how to live out that calling to exhibit each fruit in our daily lives. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So it was challenging. (Yeah). But rewarding. It really was. I think, I think just reciting the list of the nine helps me remember how I’m supposed to treat people in my daily dealings with them. If I can just filter my words through love, joy, peace (Makes, a huge difference) I think it makes a difference. (Yeah) And each one, I think over and over we realized was impossible, ironically.

Nicole (01:46):

Yes.

Sharon (01:47):

So they’re all impossible without God’s help.

Nicole (01:51):

Exactly.

Sharon (01:51):

So that was good for me to remember too that I’ve gotta constantly be going to him. Give me love, joy, peace, patience in my interaction with this person, you know?

Nicole (02:02):

Right.

Sharon (02:03):

So, practically that’s what I’ve learned from it. How about you? Any last thoughts?

Nicole (02:07):

Yeah, pretty much kind of the same thing. I’ve also really enjoyed, you know, talking through how to apply them, you know, and they can seem pretty easy on the surface, but as we go to live them out, I’m quickly reminded of how much I need to walk in the Spirit, asking him to guide my actions and words to really have those fruits grow nice and plump, you know?

Sharon (02:26):

Yes. Yes. We want plump fruit.

Nicole (02:27):

Self-control does not come naturally to us. If one piece of chocolate tastes good … three might taste better! We know early bedtime is wise, and yet we stay up late. Over and over, we humans tend to fail at self-control. We like indulging ourselves, even if the end results hurt us. Sharon and Nicole discuss how the Holy Spirit can help us learn self-control in daily living, which yields great peace and blessing. Join them!

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.

Speaker 2 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 106, Learning Self-Control. This Fruit of the Spirit is the last of the nine, and it’s a tough one, Sharon. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) It’s remarkably difficult to control oneself. New Year’s resolutions are a good case in point. Studies show that most people fail in the new New Year’s resolutions by February.

Sharon (00:50):

By February.

Nicole (00:51):

Yes. That’s so sad. According to a Forbes report, and I’m quoting here, “research shows that by February, about 80% of people have already forsaken their New Year’s resolutions”.

Sharon (01:02):

That’s a high percentage.

Nicole (01:04):

Yes.

Sharon (01:04):

It really is. No wonder this has to be a fruit of the Spirit.

Nicole (01:07):

I know.

Sharon (01:08):

It’s hard to motivate oneself. Nicole, there are so many ways we fail in this. We fail to limit our food intake, for example, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) even though we know the more food we eat, the more calories to feed our fat cells.

Nicole (01:22):

Yes. And we know that exercise every day is good for our bodies. Yet life gets busy and exercise doesn’t happen.

Sharon (01:29):

Oh, yeah. And then going to bed on time is another one. We know we need sleep. You know, sometimes I find that even getting up from the couch in order to brush my teeth feels too hard. So I sit there and make it worse by the delay.

Nicole (01:43):

And then there’s a daily time with God and the Word, so important yet so easy to skip on a busy morning, especially if we stayed up too late the night before, not brushing our teeth, pushing off the inevitable and therefore slept in bit.

Sharon (01:59):

Yikes. We need help.

Nicole (02:01):

We really do.

Sharon (02:02):

We do so much damage to ourselves with our lack of self-control. So today I’d like to look at some words Paul wrote in Romans to help us understand how we can position ourselves so the Holy Spirit can help us in this important area. Let’s turn to Romans 12. This entire chapter gives the best advice...

Gentleness is not weakness. In fact, it’s a lot easier to be loud and angry than it is to be quiet and gentle when provoked. It requires an immense amount of strength and self-control. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about their favorite gentle people, and discuss how to yield to the Spirit in this area, growing the fruit of gentleness each and every day.

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:01):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 105, The Surprising Strength of Gentleness. We’ve been walking through the fruits of the Spirit, one fruit at a time, wanting so much to grow in this area of living a fruitful life. We’ve talked about joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. Only two fruit left, Sharon. Today, today we talk about gentleness. When I think about gentleness, it reminds me of a dear family friend of mine, Robin Vine. She was a close friend of my mom and I had started to babysit her kiddos when she only had two kiddos, and now she has eight.

Sharon (01:08):

Oh my, family grew a bit.

Nicole (01:10):

It grew quite a bit. I started babysitting when I was 10 for her two little ones.

Sharon (01:14):

Wow.

Nicole (01:14):

And yeah, her oldest ones now are married with children. So that’s a little weird. It makes me feel a little old. But she was such a gentle woman. With all of those children she was this gentle, soothing mama. When she would correct them, it was always so gently with this gentle spirit. I just thought she was amazing. And she’d say, oh, after two, it’s all the same. And I’m like, I’ve had four. I don’t feel that yet.

Sharon (01:39):

Maybe you need eight.

Nicole (01:39):

Maybe I need eight. That’s the secret. And you know, it’s so sweet. As I’ve seen her children grow up, they’re all young adults now. And some of them are still my oldest daughter’s age. They’re all so gentle. They have that same gentle spirit of their mom and their dad. (Sharon: Oh Nicole, what a tribute) This family, they just have this beautiful love for Jesus. And it shows in her gentleness. I’m like, oh, when I grow up I wanna be like her in her gentleness.

Sharon (02:04):

Yes. So good. You know, I’ve said this before, one of the things I wish I could change the most is the anger I had with my children.

Nicole (02:11):

Yes.

Sharon (02:12):

A gentle answer turneth away wrath. (Nicole: Mm-hmm I know) Gentleness is so important. And it’s so hard.

Nicole (02:18):

It’s so hard.

Sharon (02:19):

Yes.

Nicole (

Faithfulness. We all want our friends and family to possess that character trait, don’t we? It’s not always easy to be faithful. Join Sharon and Nicole as they look at Biblical examples of faithfulness, and talk about the importance of that Christian fruit in life. Let’s be faithful in all our relationships. Starting now.

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:29):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 104, Walking in Faithfulness. I love faithfulness, Sharon. To have people in your life that you can count on is such a gift. And of course, to have God who is always faithful as my heavenly Father is so reassuring. Two of the most faithful people in my life growing up were my parents, actually. (Sharon: Oh) My dad came from kind of an abusive and very dysfunctional family where church was a punishment. They dragged (Oh, my) him to a local Catholic church, and it was not something he enjoyed. And my mom was a pastor’s kid in a pretty strict church where she couldn’t do anything quite well enough. So neither one had a great early experience in churches, but they came to know Christ and rededicated themselves to him. And I can count on one hand the Sundays we missed growing up. (Aw) They were very faithful.

Sharon (01:16):

You were an always there family.

Nicole (01:18):

We were, you know, and we really enjoyed going to church for the most part. You know, we had been part of a few churches in the process of moving and settling into areas that were not so great. But they, my parents, helped instill a love and a habit of church attendance. And that was really precious.

Sharon (01:33):

It is precious. And it takes, it takes effort to get children dressed and out the door on a Sunday morning. Oh my goodness. I can remember when our kids were little, it seemed like all our fights took place on a Sunday morning,(Nicole: Yes) between Ray and me.

Nicole (01:47):

Why is that?

Sharon (01:48):

What is that? And I finally, I finally got over expecting things from Ray that he was not able to give. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And just got up earlier and got them ready early and everything was peaceful again. And it was so worth it. It really was.

Nicole (02:05):

And then you had time to find the lost shoe or untangle the knot from the hair.

Sharon (02:08):

I had time. Exactly. I was always trying to sleep in that little bit and then it’s, (Nicole: Oh yes) Where’s the shoe? And Ray’d be like, how do I know where the shoe is? (Right) Right?

Nicole (02:16):

This one will work. That’s a mud boot.

Sharon (02:17):

So we’d get...

If only God is good … how are we to practice the fruit of the Spirit, goodness? Nicole and Sharon ponder what it means to be filled with the fruit of goodness and then apply it practically to daily life. Join them as they study what God has to say about this unique fruit of the Spirit.

Want to become a Podcast Partner? We’d love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks!

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 103, the Uniqueness of Goodness. We’re examining the Fruit of the Spirit, one fruit at a time. Sharon, what makes goodness so unique?

Sharon (00:41):

Okay, well, I actually think goodness is the hardest of the fruit to define Nicole. It’s, it’s tricky because the Bible makes it clear that only God is truly good for starters. And what is good anyway? How is it uniquely different from love and joy and kindness and patience? They’re all good too. So this is what I think. I think goodness is an inner state of rightness with God that exhibits itself in countless ways and actions. But it’s unique in that, like with the other fruits, like patience. I can act patiently even if I don’t feel patient. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, I do that with children sometimes. When they were little, I was aggravated cause they were slow, but I acted patiently on the outside. (Yes) So that I was nice to them. Huh. Which inwardly, I wasn’t so much. I’d be like hurry up. I don’t think you can do that with goodness. (Mm-hmm) I don’t think you can act goodness without being good. I feel like that is it. It’s innately part of who you are and we either are inwardly right with God or we’re not. (Mmm) So that’s what I think is unique about it and it’s why it was tricky trying to work on a podcast about it. (Yeah) You know, but here we are. So, well let’s start with the dictionary. Now that you’ve heard my sort of fumbling attempts at describing it, tell me what the definition of goodness is from that perspective.

Nicole (02:02):

Yeah. So dictionary.com says ‘it is the quality of being morally good or virtuous, or the quality or state of being good’. And it said ‘kindly feeling’ so, okay. Goodness blossoms into feeling kindly. Um, the Greek word means ‘uprightness of heart and life’. So I looked up the word good also and here’s what I found, um, ‘that which is morally right; righteousness; goodness equals kindness’. So, as far as our inward goodness, I think sometimes we can pretend to be good a little bit, but I don’t think it’s as sustainable to fake, you know? (Sharon: Right) Like you can fake patience for a little bit. Cause at some point our hearts will be revealed and with it our motives. So if we’re not good with God, we really can’t fake goodness for long.

Sharon (02:47):

No, we can...