Girls Only 2026 | Pastor Rebecca Peterson

And so here's what we're gonna jump into tonight. If you were to ask me, what is the purpose of this amazing sisterhood? What is the purpose of Rise Girl? Here is why we exist. We exist because we wanna see God's kingdom come. We wanna see his will be done on this earth as it is in heaven. And so what is heaven experiencing? It is experiencing the presence of God. And so it is our prayer that we would be able to bring the presence of God down into this earth. He is with us, he lives inside of us, but as we gather in these moments, we just want a greater presence of the Lord in our life. And so what we're gonna jump in tonight is that I want us in this place, our little theme is Rise Girl, and I love that, and it really is impactful, but what I want us to come around tonight is that I want us to look at our lives and say we are gonna be Jesus girls. That when people look at us as a sisterhood, that they know, hey, those are some Jesus girls, because there's a lot of labels that you could wear in your life, and some are great labels that you can place on yourself, but there are a lot of labels that also the enemy could place on you, and he might wanna label you

as something that feels a little bit negative. And so what we want to do tonight is that we wanna commit that we are gonna wear the label of a Jesus girl, and we're gonna wear it proud, and we're gonna do it justice. And so what that means is that we're not gonna look the same as everybody else, and we're not gonna act the same as everyone else, that our lives are going to be marked by Jesus. And so we're gonna look in God's Word tonight about a Jesus girl, and it is my prayer that as we open up God's Word that it just comes alive to you tonight. And so we're gonna jump into a story of a woman named Esther, and I'm not gonna lie, I have hesitated to preach on her before because I feel like it's kind of a stereotypical go to a women's night, and they're gonna preach on one of these women in the Bible, but her story is so powerful, and it's one of my favorites. And so I pray tonight that this story speaks to your heart. And so if you brought your Bibles, we are gonna be at the book of Esther, that's at the front of your Bible, and I wanna kind of set up the story a little bit for you before we jump into everything. And so we have this beautiful woman named Esther,

and she is living currently in the Persian Empire. She is a Jewish woman, and so what you need to know about this season right now that they're in is that the Jewish people are living in exile, and so they're not well taken care of, their life is really hard, and they are living underneath the rule of King Xerxes. And so what happens right now is that he is very wealthy, very affluent, and so he throws a party, and it is a months long party. Can you imagine if we threw a month long girls only, like let's go, sounds awesome, but really exhausting, right? And so they've got this party, and the men are on one side of the castle, and the women are on the other side, and everybody's partying, and there's a lot going on, and the king summons for the queen to come because he wants to basically show her off, like you're beautiful, come in and see everybody. And she says, no, I'm not gonna do that. And he gets really mad about that, and as a result, he basically says, you're no longer my queen, somebody go find me another queen. And so he fires her as queen, he sends out all of his people,

and says, go find all of the unmarried women, and find me the most beautiful, he literally has a beauty contest to find himself a new queen. And so this is when we enter into this woman named Esther. And so Esther, she is a young Jewish woman living in this exile at this point, her parents are no longer there, she's being raised by her older cousin Mordecai, and so Esther becomes queen, but she hides her identity as a Jewish woman. And so she's living kind of in a little bit of a hidden place in the castle, becomes queen, what a wild circumstance for her to be in, right? She went from being a Jewish woman, kind of hiding in exile, now to being in the palace, hiding her identity, and what happens, there's a lot that unfolds in the story, but her cousin basically finds out there's a plot to kill the king. And so he tells them there is a plot to kill the king, and as a result, we find out about a man named Haman, okay? Haman, not a great guy, he's the king's official. And when Haman finds out that Mordecai finds out about this plot to kill the king, he gets actually jealous because the king gets happy about the cousin that finds out about the plot, and he basically says, I wanna kill him, but I don't just wanna kill him,

I actually wanna wipe out all of the Jewish people. And so we're going to pick up in our story because here's the problem that happens, that her cousin comes to Esther, and he says, there is this plot, and Haman is actually gonna wipe out all of your people, which means your friends, your family, every Jewish person. And in the meantime, they're gonna find out about you, and your life probably isn't going to be saved as well, and he says, Esther, you've gotta do something about this. You have to save your people. The problem is that the queen could not approach the king. unless he invited her. And she says, he has not called me in 30 days. And so what do I do in this moment? And so let's pick up on her story in Esther four. And it says, when Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, that's her cousin, he sent back this answer. Do you think, do you not think that because you are in the king's house, you alone of all the Jews will escape? He says, for if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And then he goes on to say, and who knows, but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this. And then Esther sent reply to Mordecai and said, go gather together all the Jews who are in Susa

and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. And I and my attendants will fast as you do. And when this is done, I will go to the king. And even though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. And so this is the response of Esther. And what I believe in this situation is that she shows us what it looks like to be a Jesus girl. And so what we're gonna jump into tonight is what I believe are some of the marks of being a Jesus girl. And we're gonna be in her story and then we're gonna jump to another story and then we're gonna jump back to Esther's story. And so I hope you're ready to take notes. You've got a note sheet in your seat, get out your pens, and we're gonna jump in. Thought number one tonight is that being a Jesus girl means I know who I am. Being a Jesus girl means I know my identity and your identity is one of the biggest things that if you wanna follow the Lord, you have to know who you are. And it's also one of the biggest things that the devil is going to try to steal from you. Because he wants you to doubt who God says that you are. And so this is a battle that we're constantly going to face in our life

because the enemy is gonna try to label you as everything less than God's daughter. And so he's gonna try to label you as anxious. He's gonna try to label you as just depressed. He's gonna try to label you as a mess. He's gonna try to label you as not enough. And so we have to ask ourselves the question, who am I? Not who do I say I am? Not who does the world say I am? And definitely not who the enemy says I am, but what does God say about me? And so maybe you don't know who you are tonight. I want us to look to God's word, to who he says we are. And so we're gonna look at a scripture in 1 Peter 2, 9. And so what you need to know before this verse is that this scripture is speaking to, it says, hey, anybody that doesn't obey God's word, anyone who does not build their life on the foundation of Jesus, they are going to stumble around consistently in their life. And it says, but you, you rise girls, you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. And so this is who we are as daughters of God. This is what he has done for you on the cross. And this is your identity.

So let's break these down tonight together. You are chosen, which means the God of the universe has chosen you. When he looked down from heaven, he said, her, I pick her. She's my daughter. I wanna have a relationship with her. He knows your name. He knows every hair on your head. He knows every tear that you have cried. You have been chosen. He picked you. You're also royalty because the God of heaven, the king of kings has chosen you. And so you are royal. You are his daughter. You are also holy. Jesus came and died on the cross for you. He won your sin, he conquered it, and he has purchased your holiness. And so some days you might feel a little bit less than holy. Some days you might feel like you've messed up a lot, but this is who you are. You are holy. You are holy in him. The word holy means that you have been set apart. This is what Jesus has done for you. And then the last one is that you are God's daughter. You are his special possession. And this word possession here in this verse, it's not a negative tense like, oh, God just owns you.

No, it means that he delights in you. He actually wants to have a relationship with you. He has plucked you and said, you are gonna be my daughter. You are now brought into the family. And so this is our identity. This is our identity as a Jesus girl. And you don't have to let anybody else dictate who you are. You don't have to let anyone else put a label on you. You don't have to let the enemy tell you you are less than any of these things. This is your identity. So being a Jesus girl means we've gotta know who we are. Being a Jesus girl also means that it's gonna require some preparation. It is gonna require some work on our part and some preparation. If we're gonna be a Jesus girl, we've gotta prepare our hearts now for what God might have in store for us, the good and the bad, the hard and the great days. Most things in life, you're gonna have to prepare for, right? I can't magically open up my refrigerator tomorrow and dinner and a meal just be prepared for me, right? I've got to make a grocery list and call my husband and send them to the grocery store and say, baby, you gonna make me some dinner tonight? Like that's the preparation that I have to do in my house to be able to get dinner. Like we've gotta prepare.

There's work we've gotta put in. My daughter played tonight on the bass guitars their first time playing. Oh yeah, so proud of her. But there was some preparation she had to do, right? She couldn't just come up here and tell Pastor Jonathan, I think I'm just gonna wing it tonight. Like I'm just gonna try to see if I can figure this. No, there was practice, there were calluses she had to build up on her hands. There was preparation that we have to do. There was preparation for this weekend. We could not just wing it and say, all right, maybe it'll rain and maybe it won't. Do we need a plan? No, there was a rain plan. There was a, it might rain on this day, but not on this day. It might rain at this time. Like there was a plan. There was preparation, why? Because we wanted you to encounter the Lord. And so we knew there was preparation that we had to do so that we could make this night as smooth as possible so that you could meet with God. And so being a Jesus girl means we're not just gonna prepare one day. Like we're gonna prepare every single day of our life for whatever God has in store for us on that day, whatever he might have in store for us a week from now,

whatever he might have in store down the road. We're gonna prepare every single day for whatever it is that might come into our life because sometimes God might be preparing you in advance for what he wants to do. And there might be preparation you're doing right now in 2026 because there's something coming next year that you need to be prepared for. It might be a battle or it might be a miracle that God's setting up for you. But we're gonna do the work now for whatever God has in store for us there. And so back to our story, when Esther is presented with this plot that Haman wants to kill all of the Jewish people, her response was what? To pray and to fast. Her response was, she didn't panic. She didn't just react. She didn't just say, I don't know what we're gonna do. Let me just go run and hide. She said, I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna fast and I'm gonna ask all of you to do the same thing. And at the end of that prayer and fasting, then we're gonna actually take some action. And so she prayed and she fasted before she just had a reaction. She knew, hey, this decision is way bigger than me. Like I need help in this moment. And so here's what we need to know,

that there is gonna be spiritual battles in our life. And so spiritual battle means it's gonna require some spiritual preparation. Because if you're gonna face some spiritual battles from the enemy, you've got to prepare yourself because sometimes it's gonna knock you off of your feet. And so we've gotta do the spiritual work and we've gotta pray up and say, God, I'm gonna be prayed up in this moment before any battle has even happened, I'm gonna start preparing my life now. We don't wait until the battle happens and then say, oh, now let me run and start praying. Like, no, I wanna be prayed up and I wanna be ready and I wanna have prepared my heart as best as I possibly can. And so you might not be facing the fate of an entire nation, but it might be the spiritual battle of homework with your children. It might be the spiritual battle of your marriage. It might be the spiritual battle of driving in the car with your spouse. It might be the spiritual battle of your workplace environment. It might be the spiritual battle of anything in your life. Some of us know the daily battles we're gonna experience, right? We know the things that we've gotta walk through, we know the situations we're gonna be in, but other times we have no idea what could be coming when we wake up in a day.

And so we have to choose to pray now before we walk through things in our lives. And so here's how I wanna encourage us, that prayer, it is gonna prepare us in ways that nothing else could. Prayer will prepare your heart in ways that nothing else could. Because when Esther prayed in this moment and she sought after the Lord, it began to prepare her heart and it actually gave her strategy. It began to prepare her heart and give her courage to be able to risk her life to approach the King. It calmed her heart and calmed her nerves. And so we have to choose to have prayer always at the forefront of our minds. And so we're gonna switch stories for a minute and we're gonna jump over to the book of Joshua. And so Joshua is at this moment and he's trying to lead the Israelites into the promised land. Moses has led them up until this point, Moses dies and now Joshua is taking over and they've been wandering in the desert for 40 years and now the time is here and the Lord gives Joshua this battle plan of what they're gonna do next and they're about to cross this river and this river is actually flowing it says that it is like flood time for the river and so it is flowing there's no way they can pass it and the Lord's about to do a miracle he's actually about to stop the river from flowing so that they can be able to cross onto dry land and so in Joshua 3 5 he looks at the people and he says consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you and so what he's telling them is say hey it's time to set yourself apart now it's time to choose to walk in holiness

now because tomorrow God's got something incredible in store for you and so I need you to do some work now I need you to prepare your heart now for what's in store and so this word consecrate here other translations say to make yourself holy and to set yourself apart and so we already established that God has made us holy we are we are he has died he sent Jesus to die on the cross so that we could walk in that holiness it's been one for you but there is a reality to our walk with Jesus that there is a constant a constant flow in our life where we should be seeking after the Lord and allowing him to continue to make us even more holy to continue to remove the things in our life that are not of him and so he was requiring some holiness for what they were about to experience and so this isn't God being mean saying hey you better consecrate yourself or you're gonna miss out but there is a level of God requiring some things from us so that we get to experience the miracle that he has on the other side and so there is a reality that come on Jesus came and died for your holiness and now we gotta walk it out and we've got to be bold and what he has done for us it is not about perfection but it is about choosing to honor God with my life it is about choosing to walk in holiness when it's not the popular thing to do it is about letting God set me apart and change me from the inside out and not looking and talking like everyone else but we're but living a life that is different and so we're either pursuing holiness or we're not and only you can answer that for your life Leviticus 20 26 says you are holy to me because I the Lord am holy and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own he has already set you apart he has a great plan for your life and so the requirement is for us to live in the holiness we're not trying to be weird but we are trying to be holy we're not trying to be better than other people but we are trying to be holy which means the standards are higher for our life we're gonna look different talk different dress different act different respond differently to hard seasons in our life God says I want you to be in the world but I don't want you to act like the world which means guess what we've got to look different we have to be set apart holiness is a requirement

from the Lord which means I'm walking in a room and I know I am a daughter of God and I represent him so my life better look differently than everyone else's students let me speak to the students in this room there are a lot of really great things that you can pursue in your life and so you might have some dreams and some goals like go for it pursue your dreams pursue your goals but if it actually causes you to compromise the holiness that Jesus won for you it is not worth it if you are pursuing the dreams that are in your heart and it is pulling you away from Jesus then it is not the calling of God on your life and so again we're either pursuing holiness or we're not and there are either things in our life that are grabbing us closer to the Lord or they are pulling us apart and so my challenge for you is where are you compromising in your life where are you just blending in with the world what are you allowing in your life that is not pushing you towards Jesus holiness is not restrictive it's actually a readiness to say God I'm choosing to set my life apart I'm choosing to walk in the holiness of Jesus because I know that you've got something great in store for me Esther lived in this season of her life before she was made Queen where everybody else was bowing to another man and the Jewish people were like not us this is not what we're gonna do in our life why because we're holy and because we're set apart and it is what positioned her in that palace in that moment in time so that God could call her to a greater purpose you're not gonna stumble into your purpose you're not gonna accidentally just fall into these plans that God has for your life if you're not doing the hard work now to set your life apart. So pray up. Let God consecrate your life. Let him continue to call out the things in your life that you're compromising. And he could be positioning you now for something amazing that he has in store for you later. And I don't want you to miss out on what God has for you.

It might feel risky, it might feel uncomfortable, it might feel dangerous, so you gotta pray up now and say, God, give me the courage to step into whatever you have for me. The last thought I have for us tonight is that being a Jesus girl always produces great purpose. Always produces great purpose. And so let's wrap up our story with Esther. Let's look back at Esther 4.14. That her cousin comes to her and says, who knows, but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this. And so what he is speaking to right now in this moment is he's speaking to our purpose. He's saying maybe this is what God has orchestrated in your life in this moment. Maybe this is the moment that God has picked you out and plucked you from this season of life and placed you into this palace for this moment. Because she had done the preparation. She had done the hard work. She had prayed up. And so let's continue in the next chapter in Esther 5. It says, on the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and she stood in the inner court of the palace in front of the king's hall. And the king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and he held out to her

the gold scepter that was in his hand. And so Esther approached, touched the tip of the scepter. And then the king asked, what is it Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you. And so the story goes on that Esther actually asked the king to spare not just her life, but the life of all of her people. And so her purpose in this moment was fulfilled. She approached the king, she had favor and God had positioned her into this moment to fulfill this purpose on her life. Not just to save her life, but to save an entire generation to come. And so that purpose was not just for her. It was for others. Because your purpose in your life is not just going to affect you. Your purpose is gonna impact other people. Your purpose is gonna impact other generations. Because being a Jesus girl means it's not just about us. That God has strategically placed people in your life, that the God given purposes he has given you are not just gonna impact you, it is going to impact others. And so let me remind you, God has sent you to this earth for this moment in time so that you could pray and consecrate your life to the Lord and so that he could use you for a great purpose. Jeremiah 1.5, it says,

before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart and I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. And so before you were even formed in your mother's belly, God has set you apart for a great purpose. And so maybe you're thinking, well, what could my purpose actually be? I'm just a mom or I'm just a school teacher or I just work in a restaurant. I'm barely making ends meet. I'm not even doing anything great with my life. What could my purpose actually be? And let me speak to this because your purpose might not be this big monumental, life-saving, save a generation kind of purpose and that's okay. Don't let the enemy make you think that your purpose is insignificant because whatever purpose God has placed on your life, it matters and it's worth it. And so your platform might not look like Esther's. You might not need to approach the king to save a generation, but your platform might be the children in your home that you're mothering right now. And it's a good purpose because those children might be the ones that are actually gonna change the world. And so you've got to pray up now and say, God, give me wisdom.

God, give me strength to not lose my mind on some days. God, help me. Help me walk in holiness. Help me set my life apart because these children are looking to me as their mother and I get to lead them and nurture them and guide them to love the Lord like I do. And so it's a great purpose right now, but you've got to pray up and you've got to let the Lord do some work in your life because those kids are looking to you and it's a really good purpose. Maybe your purpose right now is to jump into a sisterhood group. Maybe you're leading a sister. circle, maybe you're leading a small group and your purpose right now is to share what God's been doing in your life in that circle of eight to ten women because there might be a girl in that group who's on the brink of giving up and because you've prayed up and because you've let God consecrate and set your life apart you're gonna step into that circle and you're gonna speak life and freedom over these women and it's not just gonna impact you but it's gonna impact every single girl in that circle and maybe your purpose is your workplace and God's called you to be a light and a very dark place and so you've got to pray and fast now because you don't know what's gonna come and you've got to walk in holiness because they're looking to you and you might be the only person in your workplace that has a relationship with the Lord and so let God keep setting you apart let him keep building you up so that you can step into that workplace full-on into your purpose to be a light and a very dark place there is a purpose in your life and it is unique to you students God has a purpose on your life he wants to use you in incredible way but it

means you are gonna have to let him set you apart means you're not gonna look the same as everybody else and that's okay because God's got a great purpose and he's gonna use you in your schools in your high schools on your college campuses which means you're gonna have to look different and talk different and walk a little bit differently but it's got a purpose on you and it's gonna lead people to the presence of Jesus and so let him do the work in you now and so pray for courage spend time with the Lord let him purify your life in your heart so that you can boldly and confidently accept the callings that God has placed in your life being a Jesus girl is not going to be easy but it will always be worth it