WHOA That's Good Podcast - God Made You with Purpose in Mind

Episode Date: June 3, 2020

Listen to Sadie’s conversation with pastor and author, Alex Seeley, as they dialogue on what it means to be created in the image of Christ and how to silence the noise and labels the world has placed on us. Alex is the author of “Tailor Made” and the “The Opposite Life” and serves with her husband, Henry, as the pastors of The Belonging Co. in Nashville, TN.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up fam welcome back to the world that's good high cast I am thrilled today because this has been a long time coming I finally had past your Alex Ceeley on the pie cast and I couldn't be more excited because people don't always know this I do tell like half the people I talk to but Alex is actually part of the reason why I started speaking. I saw her speak in preach one day, and I was like, wow, it impacted my life so much. It was the first time I responded to an alter call. And from there, God just began to speak to me

about speaking like she did and preaching. And so Alex, I'm thrilled to have you on the podcast. You are so special to me. I am so honored. And I was actually thinking about the other day when I first met you in the green room with Lisa Nelson after that night. Yes. And I remember thinking just how special you are

and to see what God has done in your life is an absolute beauty sign and a wonder and I'm just honored to have played a small part in that initial launch. Yeah, that's so crazy. I'm thinking about to that. I guess I was like 17 and I had no idea where God was about to take me or any of us, but before I get to the question that I ask everybody, I also just wanted to say, and then I got to actually go to the belonging to your church.

You and Henry, for those who don't know, they lead a church called the belonging in Nashville, and I got to go there when I lived in Nashville, and I love that church. Just the heart of worship, I'm telling you, is amazing. So, so cool what God had in store from that little moment. Yeah, I love it. All right, so let's get to the question. We ask everybody, we always ask them whether that's good. What is the best piece of advice that you have ever been given?

Well, that's a big question. It is. It's loaded. I know. The thing that will always come back around was the very first piece of advice that I got given. I was 21 years of age when I started in ministry full-time vocation and I remember I just come out of Bible college, I thought I could take on the world, I thought that you know this is it, my time has come and I remember starting on my first day in my mentor who I was actually taking her position. She sat me down and she said, Alex, I've got one piece of advice for you in life and in ministry.

And it's just this always keep a sweet spirit. And I remember at the time going, yeah, sweet spirit, what's there to be better about? My life is awesome. I'm just about to, but I didn't realize how pertinent that piece of advice was. Now I'm 47. And how many times that piece of advice has resonated in my life.

When adversity has come, when injustice has come, when betrayal has come, when disappointment has come, that piece of advice is Alex, keep a sweet spirit about you. That's so good. Well, that's beautiful too. One of my favorite parts about asking that question is because it's so cool. Most people that are on the podcast have some sort of a platform and so a lot of people get

to see their life from afar. You recognize things in people, but you don't really know where that comes from. And so, I know you, I've seen you from afar and up close and you have such a sweet spirit. And so, to backtrack all the way to 21 when somebody told you that and you actually took it and applied it is so cool. And that's what I hope people do on this podcast. It's like they hear something like that and then they take it in their own life and they're like, oh yeah, one time Alex Silly said that she was given this piece of advice and then they become

that sweet spirited person too and so I love that. That is amazing. One of, I think it's just the coolest things about you and your family is that y'all are from Australia and you move over to the States, which is like a huge thing. You start a church and a lot of people know the belonging as the belonging, like y'all have this amazing album that went out. It's a big church. But not everybody knows how y'all started. And so I thought it would be cool just to give you a minute

to just share your story of y'all moving and starting the church and what that looked like. Yeah, absolutely. It's kind of a crazy story. My husband and I had been in ministry, like I said, since I was 21, and we moved, we felt the call of God to just leave everything behind in Australia, which is a crazy notion, but God confirmed it by giving us a green card. So we packed everything up and we moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and we didn't know

what on earth God was doing, because we'd been serving a ministry for like just under 20 years, and we thought we were going to be there forever. And so we'd always been second in charge, you know, always helping our senior pastors. And when we moved to America, it was quite daunting because we knew nobody. We had no job lined up and we were just living off our life savings. Henry was, he's a record producer and mixed engineer and so he got about doing his work. But for me, I've always been in ministry and I came to the South and realized that there was no place for me in any of the churches. But what we discovered in that year in 2012 was the lack of pastoral care for the music community and the artists that were

traveling from Wednesday through to Monday and they weren't in church. And something awakened in me where I saw a need where there was these sheep without a shepherd and it looked quite harassed and needed, just needed a place, a soft place to fall and a safe place to worship. And so we accidentally started a church and a lot of to fall and a safe place to worship. And so we accidentally started a church and a lot of people don't believe us when we say that, but we really did. We just opened up our home on a Tuesday night and it was kind of like a Bible study. And I would share the word and Henry would lead worship. And honestly, say, I invited five

people and that was it. And from five, it just kept growing every week. People would just start piling in. People that we didn't even know would knock on our door saying, somebody told us about this place. We never gave out our address. We never did anything. It was like the axe church. Awesome.

And we saw within a year over a hundred people and then God spoke and confirmed and said, guys, I don't know if you're aware about this, but this is a church. And you need a plant and you need a leader. And the rest is history and so amazing. Now we've got a big chat. Amazing. I love it. I love that. Nothing about it really is that traditional. I mean, it's just awesome. You're right. It's so the axe church. I remember Laney and I Laney, it's one of my best friends and we were roommate so whenever we started going to the belonging and I'm not kidding We would dance into church like we were like so giddy every Tuesday

We were so sick because we moved to Nashville because we were touring Yeah, and so we were like where we get to go to church? Well the belonging is Tuesday night, and I mean we would dance people in the parking lot Like these people are going to Disney World like we would So excited and just because God is just he's always in every place He's everywhere, but just and y'all just invite a space to just recognize that he's here Yeah, and it's amazing and so I love it. I love the church. I love what y'all do I want to talk to you a little bit about Taylor made because yeah because she wrote this amazing book called Taylor made also the opposite life

So you're an author of two books right now. Well, just two for now. I feel like you got a lot more coming. I'm on a bit of a break Yes, yes, yes, yes, but the two are amazing and Taylor made specifically I want to talk to you out because I think it goes along with kind of the message of my ministry Which is just live original. And it's about just being the original person guy created you to be. But I started to think about like Taylor made is that it's like another level of that, like how you are going to be able to live original is by getting the message that you wrote

and Taylor made by knocking these labels off your life. And so I think it's really timely even to talk about what you wrote. Yes. I just wrote a book called Live and I worked on it for like two years and it came out right before quarantine. Wow. And it was really crazy because people were saying like, say, do you think it's kind of weird that you wrote this book? That's like the subtitles to have an exciting and fulfilling life. And now we're quarantined. And I like keep saying to everybody that has said that, I'm like, I actually think it is perfect timing. It is so good. I mean, because the book is about choosing life whenever you don't want to, when it doesn't seem like it has value

or meaning, it doesn't feel we're celebrating. And so for you writing a book like Taylor made and looking at the times we're in, how do you think kind of that message could help people right now with where we're at? Yeah, it was funny. I was actually thinking about how I how I should relaunch the book because I think more than ever right now when people don't understand their identity in Christ. Yeah, they let every other voice, every other bit of noise dictate who they're becoming and who they are. And God has called each and every one of us uniquely,

with a perfectly structured mission, that if we know who we are and we remove the labels that everybody has put on us and let me tell you right from the get go It's an enemy assignment to keep you silent and small So that you do not live out your God given destiny We are all meant to reflect a facet of the nature and the image of God when we don't know who we are and we live under a certain label that that kills us effectively. We don't rise up to be who we are called to be. And that is a disservice to humanity. It's a disservice to one another because what we're doing is we're letting the enemy win. We are being silent shut down. And then God's like, hold on a minute,

I created you to be a world changer. I created you to do something. And everyone has something unique. Stop looking to the left, stop comparing to the right. We all have something unique. So would you just know who I say you are, rather than whatever society says you are, whatever culture says you are,

whatever your parents say you are, if you've had a negative experience, your teachers, your church leaders, whatever it is, we've all had a negative word placed on us. And sometimes the negative word speaks louder than what God says. We've got to listen to what God says. That's so good. Amen. For people who maybe haven't read the Bible, aren't Christian, haven't been church. And they hear these things like,

believe who God says that you are, what are some of those things that God says we are, just from reading the word, knowing the word, and speaking it over your kids and people's life? Like, what are those things that you kind of hold onto as labels that God has put on us? Yeah, I think, first and foremost, we're a son and a daughter of the living God,

whether you are a believer yet or not, you were made in the image of God. And he is our father. And when we understand that we're made in an image of a great, majestic, glorious, king, we have an inheritance and we are ears of that. Therefore, there's something special about us. And so I tell my kids all the time, I birthed you, but you were made in the image of the father. He is the one that not, he knows you're destiny better than I do. I can guide you and help you discover, but he put gifts inside of you. He put talents inside of you.

He put passions inside of you. He formed all of that in my womb that had nothing to do with me. I was just a carrier and a birther of you, but who you are was actually formed before the foundations of the world. God had you in mind before humanity even existed and he said, you're going to be born at this time and this is what I've set you out to do. So Psalm 139 actually talks about that we were fashioned and formed in our mother's room and that he wrote every one of our days in a book before they even came to be. So whether you know

God or not, there is a book with your name on it and it has details of what you're supposed to do, but the only way we get to know how to do that is if we get to know our maker. Amazing. And so that's the powerful thought that someone greater than the world made you with purpose in mind. That's so cool. I believe that that is going to speak to a lot of people right now, that God made you with purpose in mind. That we all have a purpose and we're created for purpose, by purpose, and so it's amazing. For you and your own life, even to me, you know, you're such an inspiration, I respect you so much and just love the way that you live your own life, even to me, you know, you're such an inspiration. I respect you so much and just love the way that you live your life just so open and everything. And I know you talk about

this in the book, some and and you preach about this, but for you, even though you were 21, whenever, so you were young, whenever you went to ministry, when was it for you that you really started to take God at His word? Like you started to realize like, wait a second, this is who God says on Am. And then, you know, that boldness a second, this is who God says on amp. And then you know that boldness and you that confidence and you kind of activated because when you see preach, you see the boldness, you see the confidence, the authority that you truly believe what you're saying. But when is it for you that you had that like aha revelation that this is real?

Yeah, well, it was two moments in my life. I've had two pivotal awakenings. And the first one was when I was 11 years of age and I got saved and I'd been brought up in a Christian home, but I'd never actually heard the gospel that you needed to repent and ask Jesus to, you know, forgive you and enter into a relationship. And so for me, I physically, I remember it like it was yesterday, I physically felt the weight of sin and shame lift off me at the age of 11. Now I hadn't really done anything wrong. That's why it's not about the deeds of our flesh, it's actually just about the whole

notion that we were all born sinners and that we're separated from God. And that when salvation takes place, true salvation, and this is actually an issue I have in the church, I think we've put in a preference for Jesus rather than a picking up your cross and becoming a disciple, leaving everything behind. So when you've had a true radical encounter with Jesus, your life is never the same. So I was 11 years of age, I got filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit a week later and I became a many evangelist in my school I went to a Catholic private school and I just began to tell everybody about Jesus and Something changed did me but because there were fractures and broken pieces in my life I grew up where my mum was beautiful and amazing and she is still

to this stage is one of my best friends, but there was some fractures in her life. And so just through a pattern of abuse and physical abuse and verbal abuse, I was quite a fractured little girl. So I had this encounter with God, but then I believed these awful labels that I was reject, that I was stupid, and that I didn't really have a place in this world. So there was this tension. I feel like this is going to speak to someone today because it's almost like, well, that's great for you, Pastor Alex, but I'm broken and I feel unworthy.

And in part, I did too. And so it wasn't until I was actually, I think I just turned 20 and I just had kind of toyed with, well, my heart is still broken. I love Jesus with all my heart But I still feel stuck and it was when I was 20 that I drew this line in the sand in my bedroom And I said God if you're really who you say you are and I really do have this call of God on my life And I give you everything because I'm tired of living this kind of seesaw Up one day down the next and I remember the Holy Spirit just saying in my heart, just saying, Alex, I need you to give me 100% because you've only given me 90. And I said, what does that mean? He goes, that means

lay down your life and give it all. That means I'm going to need some of those friends that you have to go. I'm going to need that relationship that you're in to go because that's an idol in your life. I'm going to need you to go after me like you've never gone after something in your life. And I remember putting a line in my carpet and I stepped over and I said Jesus, I give you looked back. I'm 47 and I've never seen God forsake me. That's why I'm passionate. It's still fresh to me. It's still alive to me because he took this little broken girl

and said, watch what I'll do with a surrendered life. Watch what I'll do with a young person who says it's all about Jesus and I'm leaving everything behind and honestly It's why today I get up every morning and people go you never a stale with your faith I can't because every day is a new mercy for me every day is a new mercy And so I just love Jesus with a passion. And I've got to tell everyone about him. Wow. I love it. I love it so much. You can see it. It's so evident in your life. And that passion has touched so many people, including mine, which ended up touching so many more people too. And so thank you for that. Now,

never forget that. Actually, that was what I noticed that day when I saw you preach. I was like, every word, and this is what I tell people, I was like, the difference in my life is whenever I responded that day, because when I saw you preach, I was like, every word she says matters. Like, every word she says, she truly believes it's going to change someone's life. And it did. And I was like thinking about my own words with the platform that I had. I was like, am I saying words that matter?

Am I saying words that change people's heart, that change people's lives and like bring them to Jesus, bring them to love, bring them to joy? And am I even passionate or confident in what I'm saying? Because if I'm not saying that, I might not be very confident in passionate. And so when I started to talk about Jesus, I started to talk about just what he's done for me and me giving. And actually truly, like you said, like picking up my cross, changing my life,

everything shifting. Like I was no longer afraid to speak because I had so much passion. I was no longer afraid to speak because I was so confident when I was saying and so I can just attest to what you're saying. Like when you truly give your life to Christ and you don't go back, you know,

you truly pick up your cross, everything changes. And that passion is contagious. It's contagious. Absolutely. I think it was what the disciples were like, it's why they died for the cause of Christ because they'd encountered something that changed their lives. So they were like, everybody needs this. And this is what I, why I believe that even God sent Henry and I to Nashville, because when we arrived here, I felt the church as a whole was very complacent and very like it was like entertain me rather than making disciples. And so we've been very diligent to make disciples and not just entertain people and let Christianity be a smogous board option, but actually be the only option.

I love that. And you know, it's crazy is that I think a lot of people from the outside, they might look at the belonging because they see like, you know, celebrities there are people who, and they might think like, oh, well, that would be a church, that would bring the entertainment. But it's not. I mean, I told somebody every time you go to the belonging, you leave not just like fed, you leave like convict it in a good way. And you want action to spark in your life because you and Henry both, like when you all lead, you all lead in such a way where you really lead the church.

Like you really lead your church to become better and more like the church and the bride of Christ. And it's really, really empowering and really powerful because when you step in, you're like, man, I'm a part of the church, which is awesome. And so I actually was talking to Christian about, you know, what I was going to talk to you about. And I just want to ask you something just about the church because, you know, when stuff comes up in life that we're going through globally or in our world or in our state or in our community, you never shy away from really speaking into it. And I know a lot's going on right now in our world.

And so I just wonder, what are you in this time like talking to your kids about, talking to the church about, talking to the people that you pastor because some people listening, they might not go to a church, might have a home church right now. None of us are really going to a church.

And so just from a pastor's perspective, what are you kind of speaking into people's hearts right now? Yeah, well, there's obviously a twofold thing that's happening right now in our world. And that's obviously this pandemic, that's one thing. And so we've been, what I feel so proud about our church is so many people have even, we've been talking about this, that I feel like we've prepared our church that no matter what the circumstances come our way, what circumstances come our way, nothing will move us. And so I've watched

our church be resilient and move forward and not fall apart in this season. It's been incredible to be nimble and flexible and move with the Holy Spirit. We're so used to moving and ebbing and flowing with God that this has not taken us out. And our church, you know, those that have lost jobs, all those that have lost incomes, those that have actually had their lives turned upside down, are not taken out. And so we've prepared our church that God is still on the throne.

It is never let the right just be forsaken, and that He covers our needs. And when, you know, like even just in terms of giving, nothing has changed. People are still sowing into the kingdom. Why? Because they realize whether we're in plenty or in lack, I could do all things through Christ, to strengthen me. So that's been one good thing. The other

thing right now is we're dealing with this racial tension on epic proportions. And so yesterday, I was able to preach to the church and talk about the day of Pentecost and actually how the day of Pentecost was the birth of the way Jesus wanted church to look like. And that was every nation under heaven in one place. And he decides to pour out his spirit like he promised in Joel 228 that every tribe and every tongue heard the wonders of God in their own language. And I think God was very intentional about saying, this is how I want my

church to look like, that one spiritual language that fell in that upper room. Now translates into everybody hearing the gospel in their own language. He wasn't wanting anybody to change who they are culturally. He just wanted us to be one in spirit. And so now we're leading our church. We need to be a voice for the voiceless. We need to be a church that stands up and stands against the demonic realm of racism, division, hate, and if the church does not do it, then no one else will. And I believe that we are in unprecedented times that we get to change church history

in the area of racism. And so we're standing and I'm teaching my kids that we have a voice and that we stand in unity and things are gonna change for the better. And so I'm excited about the future. It's gonna take a lot of work, it's gonna take consistency, but we're going to see change. So great, Alex, I love that.

I love whenever you preach because you bring a lot of hope and also just actual practical advice on what to do. And it's really encouraging. I'll end with this. A lot of times I like to pull one of my favorite pieces of advice that I've received from you, learn from you, heard from you. And it's crazy because I'd written this down that day, just to quote, and you pretty much just said it and you said our words form our world.

I love that. And I think it's really powerful and impactful whenever we start to think about that. I mean, we know that our tongue holds the power of life and death. The word talks about that. And you just talked about how you're teaching your kids, or teaching your church that we have a voice. And like the church right now has a huge, we need to be using our words. We need to be using our voice.

And so I'm so encouraged by you. I am so inspired. And I just know that this is gonna help so many people. Everybody out there listening, I just pray that you would take these words to heart, pray about them, meditate on them, ask God how you can be a part of that change, how you can be a part of becoming, even learning more about his word about what he says about you to be more confident in the words that you're choosing and saying.

And so Alex, thank you so much for being a part of this podcast. I know that this is going to bless so many people. You are so welcome. It's been an absolute honor. I've just been selfishly just loving the conversation for myself. And so I love you dearly. I love your family and I'm just so so proud of you and I know that this is just your discrepancy in the surface and thank God for you, thank God that you're a voice to this generation and the generations to come and so I champion everything about you, I love you dearly. Oh thank you so much, that truly means the world, I love you. What a good word from Alex Ceeley. I would say, whoa, that was really good. That was really good.

I was so excited to have her in the podcast, literally been looking forward to that four years, and she delivered. But now, speaking of people delivering, thank you to the whoa that's good Instagram for people sending in good and bad advice. You all delivered. Y'all delivered. So let's go through it.

You ready? Yep. Let's do it. All right. You are the five people that you hang out with the most. I think that's true. I think if you surround yourself with those people, I think that that's going to bleed into your life.

And hopefully that they're good people and that they are encouraging friends and ones that you can look at your life and realize that they make you better. And hopefully relationships that you can bear fruit from and that people see Jesus through the way that you and your friends have that relationship. So true. And it can also go the opposite way. If you are not hanging around with five people, definitely go the opposite way. Like if you look back at like different seasons of your life and you see like ones that you were doing good and once you were doing bad and a lot of times it's who you were surrounded with at the time. So I think that's so true and so good.

All right, this is a good one. You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. That's good. That's like a riddle. That's really good. Yeah, that's really good. I love that. I love that.

All right, Christian, what do you think about money? Can't buy you happiness? I think that is very true. You know, you look around the world and we see people who have numerous amounts of wealth and that ultimately are just not happy because it's something that it's fleeting. Jesus says, you do not store treasures up on earth

but you know, store treasures and heaven where mosques and vermin's can't eat. And if money is your main tool for happiness that is ultimately gonna leave you empty and leave you just wanting more and So true I mean if you go around the world We've been to several parts of the world and it's like in the places that are so poor sometimes they are so joyful and just the most happy

Then you'll come here and you'll be around the richest people in the world and you don't see that same happiness And so not that being rich you can't be happy You certainly can't either way, but the point is, don't put an expectation on money itself to make you happy because it never will. You're not going to reach a level of dollar signs that's going to be like, oh, well, I'm finally made, this is enough. It'll never be enough. You have to find that true happiness, enjoy, and Jesus.

All right. Let's do one more. Do you view challenge as a success? Like your challenge as a success is. I think so. I think that challenges push you and they reveal character, you know? When you struggle, I think a lot of times

that like reveals things that you need to, why are you laughing at me? I'm not laughing. You just have one sweat job. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel the sweat job. I know, but what you're saying is so good.

No, but it's so true. I think that a lot of times people look at challenges and they maybe are discouraged by the outcome, but I think that if you challenge, you gotta give yourself the credit and you gotta, it's just, that's white. Okay, I'm gonna wipe this one sweat, drop it all. I'm sorry, it's such a wrong moment.

But I agree, 100% what you're saying babe. Thank you babe, thank you. I have a great challenge as R6 says is because you grow. No, it's such a... And by the way, you... I know, I swear to you for it. It's hot and Louisiana y'all, it's hot. Well anyways, I hope that you received a lot of good advice from this podcast

and take it in the planets of your own life. We love y'all. We love y'all. Have a good one. Thank you so much for listening to the WoW That's Good Podcast. I have so much been doing this. I hope you'll have fun listening. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram at legitsadyrob and follow the podcast at WoW That's Good Podcast. I don't know where it's a live original dotcom to see when I'm in a city near you or visit live original

blog on our online store which carries my exclusive words by city rob line. Also be sure to subscribe to my podcast and leave comments so we can hear what you're loving. Also when you give a special shout out to my audio engineer Marcus DePalla, the whole team at United Talent Agency and my live original team. You guys are awesome and hey, so we're all of you two. Thanks so much for listening. Oh, yeah.