I left it back there. That's the first time I ever did
that. Thank you.
I have nothing to say without this.
Right? Aren't you glad?
How many pastors come up front without a Bible nowadays?
Probably quite a few of them talk about everything but the
Bible. Anyway.
What a special day. Mom's Mother's Day, I was
planning on being in Second Corinthians this morning,
chapter 2 and I was struggling yesterday as I was putting
everything together. We just wasn't coming together
and I said, Lord, what's what's up?
I was at the point I didn't even feel like preaching that
chapter. I'm thinking, well, why was
because the Lord had something else he wanted me to focus upon
and that was mothers and I like all the mothers.
This is stand for a minute if you could so we can honor you
before the Lord and thank God for your lives and the impact
that you've made on all of us as families.
Thank you so much. You may be seated so mothers,
you got a tough job. I don't have to tell you that I
I'll tell you some stories near the end about my, my journey as
a son to a mother who I broke her heart numerous times, not
intentionally, but out of stupidity.
But what's so awesome about life?
If you live long enough, you get a chance to make things right.
They don't have to stay dysfunctional or toxic the whole
time. You can actually begin to become
a child of God first of all, and then you can become a real child
to your your parents, someone who honors the Lord and honors
them. But moms, you know the struggle
you have of raising your children up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. Many of you are Christians and
you endeavor to do that. You do it well, but you don't do
it perfectly. And as much as you try to raise
your kids up in the way that they should go, kids have a mind
of their own too, don't they? And they make their own
decisions so often that aren't really wise.
But you can't do anything about it.
All you can do is pray Now when they're young, you can
discipline them. You can ground them.
You can do all kinds of things to say things got to change.
But then they become adults and and then it's different, right?
They're going to, they're going to live their lives the way they
feel they they want to live them.
And God gives us that capacity to live our lives the way we
want to live, even though the times are not the white the
right path and the right way to live.
But we have to figure that out ourselves too.
Because until God gets a hold of us and breaks us and humbles us
and shows us the impact that sin can make in our lives alone, our
parents lives or everyone that loves us, we just don't get it.
So the first thing that all of us need to understand, if you're
a mom and you're not born again, you need to get saved.
You need to be born again in order to know how to parent
properly. Without Jesus, you're just going
to fail. And your parenting skills, it's,
it's, it's impossible. And, and then as children,
whether you're here or next door right now, in order to be a
godly child and to be able to grow up making the right
decisions and living for the the presence and the glory of God,
you have to get saved. You have to get born again too,
because you can't be a good kid, let alone a good young adult
without Jesus. It's impossible.
Try it, it won't work. And then sometimes even as
Christians, parents, moms, dads, young people, kids, we can be
believers, but we can still do stupid things.
We can still make stupid decisions and mistakes, which we
all do because we're still in process.
We're slowly, all of us being conformed to the image of
Christ. It doesn't happen overnight.
It happens through day in and day out learning.
And for parents that pray for their kids and kids that pray
for their parents. And so that's sort of the
foundation of what I wanted to speak about this morning.
And I wanted to read Proverbs chapter 31 of this chapter of
Virtuous Wife exemplifies the model of a a woman who's really
amazing but not perfect, but she's endeavoring to do what
pleases God and blesses her family.
So it says who can find a virtuous wife in verse 10 for
her worth is far above rubies the heart of her husband safely
trust her so he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil. All the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands.
She's like the merchant ship. She brings her food from afar.
She rises while it's yet night and provides food for her
household, a portion for her maidservant.
She considers a field and buys it from her profits.
She plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength
and strengthens her arm. She perceives that her
merchandise is good, and her lamp does not go out by night.
She stretches out her hands to the staff.
Her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hand to the
poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands
to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for
her household, for all her household is clothed with
scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself.
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the
elders of the land. She makes linen garments, sells
them, supplies sashes for the merchants.
Strength and honor are her clothing.
She shall rejoice in a time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of
kindness. She watches over the ways of her
household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed.
Her husband also, and he praises her.
Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears
the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her
hands and let her own works praise her in the gates.
Father, we read this and it humbles us, especially Lord,
those of us who have moms that live this way, all they did was
for us. All they cared about was us.
All they sacrifice was for us and all they live for was for
us. And yet, Lord, at times we
didn't see that. We didn't understand it, we
didn't appreciate it, we didn't value it.
But Lord, as you work in our hearts, we begin to see the
treasure you've given us and the moms that you've provided for
us, especially the moms that knew you, that told us about you
throughout our whole life, always reminded us that you were
the way, the truth, the life that you would never leave us or
forsake us. That You were always there to
help us. No matter what we went through
in our lives, You would be there for us.
And that legacy of a faithful mom who trusted you and lived by
faith and was an example in the good and bad times of looking to
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
So Lord, today we want to honor our moms.
Some of us have moms that are no longer here.
We remember them fondly and just if they're with you today, Lord,
this send up our love to them and our respect and appreciation
for them for moms, Lord, are on the planet still that still
don't know you who have maybe messed up their lives because of
their own stupid mistakes or fractures.
Lord, if we know you, help us to help our moms get back with you,
Lord, or get to be with you for the first time as we pray for
them, as we hold them up, Lord And Lord, help us to think on
the things that are pure and lovely and just in a good
report, not the not the bad times, Lord, but to be thankful
for all the good times we've had because of the moms you've given
us. And we pray, Lord, this message
today would bless them and honor you.
And we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
I don't know all you moms here, but I, I know some of you much
more deeply. So when I look at the legacy of
a mom, they're usually people that I played with their kids or
knew their kids and I would be at their house and I would see
their mom and how they treated their own kids or how they got
them to church on Sundays, even if the dad was sleeping in or
whatever. The moms many times are the
spiritual backbone of the family and they were the ones that
really would speak out about what the family needed to be
doing spiritually. So obviously I I watched my mom,
Sheila Laufer, I watched Cindy's mom, Alice Alexander.
I saw them up close and personal.
I, I saw and I watched my daughter Jessica de Checca raise
her family and Melanie Harhai raise their family.
And I look at the legacy of my mom and Cindy's mom as a
matriarchs and how the kids and the grandkids and the great
grandkids watch them at this age of life, still trusting God,
still depending on the Lord, still praying for us, still
pushing us toward living for Jesus.
And now they're much older our moms and I think of the the the
verse there charm is deceitful and beauty is passing.
I I look at the pictures of Alice when she was younger,
beautiful woman and my wife picked up on her beauty is she's
a beautiful woman and my mom, she was a beautiful and still
is, but she's older and and that that beauty is is passing.
She was a professional fashion model and it was funny.
When I was in high school, I wondered why all my friends
always wanted to come over to my house.
I wanted to see my mother. They didn't want to see me.
It was funny, but I also knew Jenny Eichelberger, Steve's mom
because his mom and my mom are best friends.
They served the Lord and the church in the Presbyterian
Church in Irwin and they, they taught the Bible and they were
telling people they needed to be saved and be born again when the
pastor wasn't even doing that right.
And they would do puppet shows and the pastor say, well, you
got 5 minutes. But boy, those two women would
make sure they got the gospel in and those 5 minutes of the
people in the church would hear the Bible for a change.
So, and I, so I watched these moms and how they, how they are
and how they were. And, and I, I watch Cindy and
Melanie and Jessica because they've been impacted by Sheila
and Alice and how they are and how they flow as moms.
And, and I, I know Rene well and I, I watch her because I know
that Jenny had an impact and still does impact her.
But the whole clan follows Jesus.
It's just amazing and and I've watched all these women go
through like really challenging times of heartache and
heartbreak and didn't matter what they were going through,
they never turned their back on the Lord.
They were always examples of God is able, God is faithful and God
will help us get through this no matter what.
So how, how awesome is that? So I also remember growing up
and not wanting to hear what my mother had to tell me.
Any of you guys ever experienced that pride, right.
Your mom would tell you something, you know, it's true,
but you don't want to deal with it because you're not ready to
live the way they're telling you you need to live.
So my mom would, with a light touch, sort of say a couple
things and she knew like I didn't want to hear it, but she
would tell me anyway and I'd have to listen, right?
And, and it's interesting in, in my wayward years, even even as a
Christian at times, she was always, she was a chief
intercessor for my life. I mean, the, the fact that I'm a
pastor today and my brother's a pastor is not because there was
anything great about us. It was because she prayed us
through hell and back and never gave up on us, even when we were
living stupid. And that's the legacy of what a
mom does, you know, and the, and the perfect mother, if we had
any mother that we could say it was close to perfection, was a
mother of Jesus, right? And what she went through, he
never broke her heart because of sin, but he broke her heart
because of his calling to die on a cross for our sins.
And the one picture I remember of the story in the Bible was
when all his closest followers ran from him and his disciples
decided, you know, to, to not stand there with him except for
John and Mary. She stood there and she watched
him suffer and take that horrific abuse and death for all
of us. And it said that her heart would
be cut open in the Scriptures because of what she had
experienced watching her son have to die that agonizing
death. The wonder that she had, that
was three days later, she got to see him raised up from the dead,
right? How awesome is that?
But I remember also when he was a young boy, he was out sharing
the the word in the temple with the elders.
And her and her husband were like Joseph, Where's where's,
where's Jesus? We don't know.
They're trying to find him. And I think he lost him or they
left him behind or whatever. And they were exhorting him,
saying, you know, you shouldn't have done this, you shouldn't.
He said, don't you know, I have to be about my father's
business? I mean, it was just amazing.
But as a mom and as a human being, she experienced
everything. And she had to take that journey
to Egypt to get away from the danger of them taking Christ's
life before it was time. Everything she went through, she
lived a very humble life. She wasn't concerned about
prosperity or having the the finest or whatever.
She, she just wanted to be a, a maid servant to the Lord and do
everything she could in her life to please the Lord as a servant
of the Lord, That's what Mary's heart was like.
And so I, I'm around my own daughters at times when they
raise their kids at different seasons of life and when they're
babies, boy, it's crazy. It's, it's, it's 24/7 bottles
and nursing and sickness and taking care of them and making
sure they don't get hurt. And then you work through all
that and then you get a little season of they get a little bit
older and so they're playing and it's a little bit more fun.
You don't have to be totally hands on all the time.
And that's when you're playing sports or running around with
them and just having good times. And then they, they move into
these years called teenage years, right?
Those are like the worst years ever.
You, you think like they're exciting, but they're, they're
insane because that's when your own kid becomes a devil in your
house, becomes the enemy in your family.
Like how, how come I, how come this person, this kid I love so
much, like where's all this hate coming from?
Are there's this rebellion coming from and there.
And this is part of the, the growing process, the aging
process, the developing process. And thank God it doesn't last
forever. Sometimes it lasts a little bit
longer than it should, but nonetheless, I believe if you
really do what you need to do as a mom, eventually you'll see the
fruit of your prayers and your labor and they'll begin to, you
know, wake up and and begin to live not for themselves anymore,
but they begin to live to care for others.
Narcissism big issue in every one of our lives and that's
lover of self and the Bible says in the last days men and boys
and girls are to be lovers of themselves and boy, it's
everywhere. Everything's about you, right?
Everything's about me. And even as Christians, it can
become so much about us. But as Christ takes over more of
our life, more of my life should be about you and more of your
life should be about me and and others.
And as kids you begin to like how can I bless my mom?
How can I appreciate my parents? How can I love my brothers and
sisters? How can I realize that they're
going to be the ones that are going to be with me forever?
As I'm growing older, my friends will eventually fade away that I
think are so important right now.
Like I have one friend from high school that I'm still in touch
with. All the people I ran with
whenever I was giving my parents a hard time.
They're either dead or they're losers, man.
Like, you know, I don't, I don't even want to be around them
anymore. But it's funny how as life
develops and that you begin to realize that the people that
really always had your back are your mom and your dad, right?
And I remember many times going in when I was depressed or going
through stuff and my mom knew I was struggling and, and she just
opened up a conversation and she was very easy to talk with.
She listened, as did my dad, more than talk.
And they'd let me dump and unload.
And then maybe they'd just pray and have a word of wisdom or not
say anything and know that I'm in process and that God's at
work and changing my my life. So I'm very, very convicted and
convinced more than ever that people need Jesus.
Families and life will not work out right without Christ.
It's impossible. If you want the best life now,
it's going to be if you have your relationship with Christ
straight and right. And that affects your marriage,
that affects your health, that affects your mind, your
psychological makeup, your spiritual insights, and your
relationships and business and family and life.
And everything you do centers around Jesus.
Because Jesus said he that hath the Son hath life.
If you don't have Jesus, you don't have life.
You think you're living life, but you don't have real life.
Jesus said I have come that you might have life and that you
might have it more abundantly. He wants you to have a good,
healthy, joyful life. And what messes that up is our
own sin. Now, I wondered, like, when did
Mother's Day start? And I'll give you a little
history here. Anna Jarvis, She's a woman that
started Mother's Day. And she was one of thirteen
children. Only four of them lived
adulthood. Her older brother was the only
one to have children of his own, but many died young from
tuberculosis. And the last direct descendant
died in the 1980s. She had a campaign for a special
day to celebrate mothers. And this is she inherited this
vision from her mother. And so she she began this vision
here and she spent her life mobilizing mothers to care for
their children. That's a good vision.
And she wanted mother's work to be recognized.
And she hoped and prayed that someone sometime would find the
memorial Mother's Day commemorating her for her
matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life.
She was very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
where from 1858 she ran Mother's Day work clubs to combat high
infant and child mortality rates, mostly due to diseases
that ravaged the community. In Grafton, WV and the work
clubs, mothers learned about hygiene and sanitation, such as
the vital importance of boiling drinking water.
The organizers provided medicine and supplies to sick families
and when necessary, quarantine entire household to prevent
epidemics. We think being a mum's tough
now. Can you imagine being a mum back
then? She herself lost nine children,
including five during the American Civil War.
When she died in 19 O 5, she was surrounded by her four surviving
children and Anna. The daughter promised to fulfill
her mother's dream. She wanted to celebrate the work
done by mothers to improve the lives of others.
Her Anna's perspective was that of a devoted daughter.
Her motto for Mother's Day was for the best mother.
Whoever lived your mother and that's what we can say.
Who's the best mother that ever lived your mother.
She envisioned the holidays, a homecoming day to honor your
mother, the one woman who dedicated her life to you.
Now, before we take the communion in a little bit, I
want you guys to take a minute and think about your mom and
sacrifices they've made for you and continually make for you.
They put themselves behind so that you could be pushed ahead.
Whether it was financial goals, it was always like, what could I
do for my kids before? What could I do for myself?
What it was educational goals they they sacrificed to help you
get the best education, whether it was you needed money for a
down payment for a car or a house.
Parents user involved in some degree of helping kids with
that. And I'm shocked today how many
people I know that the kids don't even talk to the parents
anymore. That's messed up, isn't it,
where there's no phone call on Mother's Day to a mom who gave
their whole life for the sake of their daughter.
It doesn't make sense or a son that he wouldn't call his mother
or honor her. I don't I don't understand that.
But without Christ, that's how you behave.
It's all about you and never about them and and what can you
do to make it up to your mom? It's never too late to, if she's
still on the earth to make amends or be reconciled.
And tell them how much you value them, how much you love them,
and that you want to honor them. In the UK, the 4th Sunday in
Lent has long been celebrated as Mothering Sunday, originally a
day when people who had left home returned to their mother
church and were reunited with their parents.
My kids are watching online today.
Thank the Lord for that and the honor of their own mother that
we'll catch up with later today. A movement to revive Mothering
Sunday traditions was launched in 1920 by a Nottinghamshire
woman and out of concern that the secular US Mother's Day
would displace the Christian Mothering Sunday.
So when you think about Mother's Day in light of the Bible in
Proverbs 31, I just read. And worshipping God together as
a family where moms bring their kids to church today or
hopefully every Sunday, as many Sundays as they can, is much
more important than the typical Russell Stover candy box or the
flowers from from whatever flowers and candy are are nice,
but the most important way to honor your mom is to honor her
and the Lord. So this is a message that people
could really get behind. And so this this developed down
through the years. And it was meant to be an
important day, which to this day, it is still a very
important day. And, and the author of the
article said that every day should be Mother's Day, right?
I remember you, Karen, and how you and, and Debbie took care of
your mom in the last days. I had a privilege of getting to
know her and praying with her and, and you do, you do whatever
you had to before you put her in a facility.
You had her in your home. And I'm sure that wasn't easy
for Mark, right, Mark? But Mark was gracious and he
supported that. And eventually she had to be
somewhere because they couldn't help her anymore.
But I have these examples even in the church here of so many of
you that or, or that kind of mother.
I was thinking of Terry and Janelle and and the women at
work with the kids next door. They have mother, their mothers
and their families of their own, but they're spiritual mothers to
all those kids, right? They're pouring into your sons
and daughters, moms and dads, Jesus so that they would know
him and begin to walk with him. And then all of a sudden you're
at home and you say, like my kids different, they're acting
nicer, they're more obedient. Well, that doesn't that doesn't
magic. It's the word of God working in
our hearts and the Holy Spirit beginning to give them a
relationship with Jesus where they begin to think about other
people instead of themselves. So this one woman, she was
paralyzed by fear of having to be a mom.
She was overwhelmed. So she chose to crowd the God in
prayer and one of her prayers in this season was God help me to
become a really good mom. And she heard the Holy Spirit
speak to her heart say I am the best Co parent you could ever
have. You can't be a good mom without
Jesus. Jesus is always with you and
always for you and always praying for you, and God meets
you where you are. The idea of motherhood can feel
intimidating. Being responsible for a little
life is a big deal. From the inconsistent sleep,
late nights and early mornings of the newborn phase of the
terrible twos, the intro into the tweens to the teens and
beyond, being a mom is in a walk in the park.
I've been with my daughters and they got great kids.
But when the kids break their hearts, they're breaking our
hearts, right? Because your kid is always your
kid, no matter how old they are. And there's nothing better than
hugging your kid no matter how old they are, letting him cry on
your shoulders because they understand you in ways that no
one else can. A mom and a dad.
Being a mom isn't a job that you apply for an interview for and
accept. Being a mom is a God-given idea
and identity that starting the Garden of Eden.
And I was thinking of this simple truth.
There's no way you and I would be here today, any of us,
without a mom and a dad. You know why?
Because you're the only ones that can procreate together.
A guy and a guy and a woman and a woman can't do that.
That's not normal. God set it up and it would be a
man and a woman. And if it wasn't that way, none
of us would be here today. The Bible speaks plenty of about
mothers, their goodness, kindness, and intention for
life. The Bible honors mums by
highlighting their nurturing and caregiving nature.
God honors women so much that he decided to make it a concrete
command in the 10 commandments. Our first Bible verses for Mum
comes from the book of Exodus. Honor your father and mother so
that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving
you. Exodus 2012.
That's a promise. You want to have a long and good
life. Start with honoring your father
and your mother. Proverbs 31, as I read it, says
she's clothed with strength and dignity.
She can laugh at the days to come.
Her children arise and call her blessed.
Her husband also, and he praises her.
The Bible verses for moms highlight the strength and
dignity that women carry from God and into that their children
and family will praise moms because of their strength,
dignity, and joy that they carry.
The word praise in the Bible verse means this.
It's used to commend, to boast about, or to shine God's favor
and light onto something. Every Mother's Day, take time to
intentionally boast about your mom, which I'm going to boast
about mine in a couple minutes here.
I'm reminded Paul said in Second Timothy, 1/5 of your sincere
faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and
your mother Eunice, and now I'm sure dwells in you as well.
He's speaking this to Timothy and the impact that his mom and
grandmother had upon his ministry.
It's a profound reminder of how much God honors women.
Biblical motherhood not only has a generational impact, it has an
eternal impact. Proverbs, 4011.
He tends his flock like a shepherd.
He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his
heart. He gently leads those that have
the young. The picture of our Heavenly
Father and nurturing us as his kids is what a mum does
naturally. This Bible verse from others
highlights that God gently leads those who have young.
The Lord is accessible to parent you while you are parenting your
own children. I love that God will parent you
as you parent your own children. God is intentional in bringing
the right children into your life at the right time and
equipping you to love them, care for them, and show them the
goodness of the Lord. As a mother comforts her child,
Isaiah 6613, so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted
over Jerusalem. This scripture for moms comes
from the book of Isaiah. God gives the Israelites a
picture of His love for them by reminding them of the comfort a
mother brings to her kids. God could have chosen any other
metaphor picture to showcase His love, but He chose to use the
picture of a mom. Think about the times when you
were little, you were sick and throwing up.
Nothing worse than that, right? Who's there beside you with the
bucket in the towel? Not dad, usually.
It's usually mom. And when you got the dry heaves,
it's really bad, right? You think it's all done and
there's poor mom coming in with new, new, new towels, clean
towels, whatever, ginger ale, whatever you need to help you
get back on your feet again. Psalm 2127 versus 3 to five
children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from
him like eras in the hands of a warrior or children born of 1's
youth. Blessed is a man who has a
quiver full of them. That's seven.
Anybody have seven kids in this place?
OK, you guys stand up once. Stand up.
All right, we're jealous. And I got 2, but I'll tell you,
like, I got Gray hair for 2, so I don't know what you're going
to look like in a few years with Sabbath.
You already got some Ruby. Yeah.
It looks good on you. They don't worry about it.
The Bible verses from mums. A beautiful encouragement to the
mums who feel like they're in the trenches.
You feel like you're in the trenches sometimes you feel like
you're pulling your hair out trying to raise your kids.
Hey, that's part of the job description, right?
The scripture from mom even goes to say that children are a
reward from him. Whether you're a new mom and
adopt A mom and expect a mom or waiting to become a mom, God
loves your family and loves you as a mother. 2nd Proverbs 22 six
train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he
will not depart from it. Some people say, well why is
that not happening for me? I did that and my kids are still
out there right? He didn't tell you the time
period. He just said, this is the way
it's going to be. Cindy said to me this morning.
No matter where you are and what you're doing, God's giving you a
conscience. You lay your head down the
pillow as a kid, a rebellious kid.
God's telling you you're living in the wrong way.
You're acting like an idiot, and you need to have your life
changed and get right with God. Now.
You will hear that, but you might not respond to that for a
while. But eventually it sinks in and
you say, you know, I really need to change or I need to get some
kind of counseling to find out why I'm behaving the way I am as
such a self-centered individual. These Bible verses are from moms
are sprinkled all throughout the book of Proverbs and encourages
moms to train up their kids in the way they should go.
So I'm at the Presbyterian Church as a kid.
My mom's teaching these high school kids from primarily
Norwin at the time with Janney Eichelberger and they're being
used by the Lord. Kids are getting saved in this
Bible class they have. Meanwhile, she drops me and my
brother off. My brother goes to his class.
I have my quarter for the offering.
I look around, no one sees me. I walk up the guys, which is a
little store convenience store. I could get a hamburger, a
milkshake and play pinball for about an hour with a quarter.
That's what I did. Yeah, that's the password.
Not too cool, is it? That's the way I was.
And anyway, you know she didn't even know about that until I
told her about it because she was too busy working with the
kids, right? So the Bible says that you're
created your inmost being knit together in your mother's womb.
Psalmist says I praise you because I'm fearfully and
wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful.
I know that full well. Have you ever stopped to wonder
why God decided to come into the world through the womb of a
woman? Jesus chose to come into the
world through her mom. God could have chosen any other
Ave. to come to the earth. He could have snapped his
fingers or spontaneously appeared.
Jesus decided to be nurtured through her mother's love even
though He was perfect and divine.
The Bible verse from mom shows the humility of Jesus and just
how much He honors Mother's. It tells us in Proverbs 18 and
9. Listen, my son, to your Father's
instruction. Do not forsake your mother's
teaching. They are Garland to grace your
head and a chain adorn your neck.
If any of you are here today and you're not listening to godly
wisdom from your parents, you're a fool and you'll suffer the
consequences for that. Believe me.
I know because I went through some very heartbreaking times on
my own life because I thought I was smarter than my mom and my
dad. These Bible scriptures are for
moms full of reminders about the goodness of a mom's teaching.
The Bible verse for mom even relates to teaching of a mom to
a beautiful necklace. Whether it's a big pieces of
wisdom or simple instructions like don't touch the hot stove,
show your gratitude to your mom this Mother's Day.
Words of encouragement for your mom's.
You're not alone. It can be easy to feel alone,
however, the Holy Spirit is always with you.
You are not alone. Finding community like your
local church where moms can get together and pray for each other
and encourage each other is also a wonderful blessing.
Your Mama is someone that you need to cherish while you still
have them and take advantage of the fact that they're still
here. My mom's 92 now and Cindy's
mom's 95, and so I got to get a chair here.
Sorry, Jean, I'm throwing your stuff on the floor here.
I'll put it back. I got to sit down here so I
don't feel weak. Mostly overwhelmed here.
But this is like for you, Mom, Sheila, watching my memories of
my mom, Cindy's mom, I'm as I said, my mom is a beautiful mom,
a fashion model, and she always really took care of herself.
And to this day she does. I'll see her sometime Sunday
after church. I said, you look great, mom.
She said. I got dressed up for church.
Even though she's not in church, she's in the presence of the
Lord, right. She was a kind of woman that she
came to know the Lord in a deep way.
When my brother and I got saved and and she caught fire.
She started having these Bible studies in our home for over 50
years, community Bible study of women from different churches or
no churches would come and hear her teach the Bible and many of
these women became Christians. The resolve that Bible study and
I remember sort of a history thing here.
RC Sprole was a personal friend of our family of Janian and
Sheila. And they would go up the
Ligonier before he was a big deal and go to his Bible study
and he wrote this book, The Holiness of God, the Holiness of
God series that he chose to use. My mom's home is a place where
women would come and watch and, and watch season and make
comments, right? And they filmed it and they took
videos, they did interviews. There was close to 4050 women
crammed into the house at times, some of these studies.
And RC was an interesting guy. He he was a character.
He said a lot of things, a lot of different ways.
It had to get your attention. But biblically, but I never
forget, I went to the conference of Reformed theology in
Philadelphia. My mom liked to Reformed
theology and I do too. And so I, I went and we went to
Jim Boyce's church in Philadelphia.
Tenth Presbyterian or C Everett Coupe would go, He was the
surgeon general at the time. He'd be in the front row with
his little bow tie on and, and just an amazing church.
But anyway, we were there. They had like all these famous
guys teaching in the conference. And so we went back and RC was
having coffee with his wife, Festa, and he caught up with my
mom, gave her a hug and all that.
And they were talking. And so walking away, he says,
you know, Sheila, you still have great legs.
And his wife hit him at best. You know this the way our our C
was, you know, I'll never forget that.
She knew how to budget. She taught my daughter's how to
budget money and stretch a dollar.
Her home is always open in times of crisis.
Where? Our daughters needed to be when
they couldn't maybe be with us at a time of season.
The doors are always open to my brother's family, our kids,
anybody. She did life with us all the
time. We play games.
We were always doing fun stuff. She would be there to do the
science project in the middle of the night when I told her
earlier, hey mom, I got a project to do what I got to do a
science project. When's it do?
I said tomorrow morning. So she'd be up all night doing
these salt maps and making something look good where I at
least get AB. You know, she always at her
games, baseball games, basketball games, just like our
kids are always at their kids games, play tons of tennis
together. Remember that.
And she'd always tell me, play with someone who's better than
you because then you'll get better.
So eventually I started beating her and we didn't play anymore.
And I played with other people and I but she always knew when I
was in rebellion and she knew when I was broken that she
always would pray and trust God for us.
You always convinced me that that the Lord would always help
me no matter what, whether it was in my marriage or raising my
own kids. She always was just this
available to to us and to this day she still is.
Write my notes here. Here at the last one.
She modeled to our wives and daughters and sons and son in
laws what it means to be a great mom.
She was lots of fun, still is. I remember the beach walks in
Stone Harbor. You wonder why I love Stone
Harbor so much and so full of memories with my mom and my dad
and my brother when we were young.
And now our kids and grandkids. We all enjoy that place and to
this day, she says, I can close my eyes and still feel like I'm
walking on the beach. She's at this stage now.
It's hard for her to get around anywhere.
Holiday gatherings were always perfect decorations.
Christmas, this. She always did everything to
make everybody else happy. Her amazing chocolate cake with
seafoam icing. I miss that.
Whenever she would come to Calvary and we'd have the agape
lunch, she always made that and I made a mistake of mentioning
how good it was and I get over there and it was be gone.
All you guys would grab it before I got there.
To this day, whenever we visit her, her face lights up.
Ruby's made a big impact as as as as the whole clan of the Echo
Burgers. He'd care for my mom.
Great. Thank you for your love for her
and help in the garden. Amy, everybody Anyway, you when
her face lights up, so good to see you.
Her flower gardens, all the work that she did in the dirt, she
can't do any more. She directs other people to do
it, but she loves looking at the flowers and still being able to
be at home and look out the window, taking something
beautiful out of a seed and see created into this incredible
garden. Melinda who attends here, she's
one of the caregivers and as is Susan, they send 4 hours a day
with her and she text me. She says mom wants a red
umbrella for Mother's Day for her back porch and our gardenia.
So Cindy ordered the umbrella on Amazon or arrived today and I
went everywhere. I was out the other morning at
Lowe's and home. You guys say you have gardenias.
I'm freezing my butt off it's cold.
It's like no, where do you get these?
Finally someone said you got to go up to Lake Trobe and that
garden place up in the left head and toward Ligonier.
So I went there and got her this beautiful gardenia and it has a
couple blooms on it and boy, they smell like nothing like you
could ever smell. They're so awesome.
So I took that down to her the other day and she was so excited
to get that this white shirts like the gardenia color for her
today. So that's it mom.
I could probably have three more sundaes to tell everybody how
awesome you are, Alice, to have moms and how much we love you
and appreciate you. But for you guys as a worship
team comes forward. Remember your mom's today and if
they're still here, reach out to them and love no matter how
fractured the relationship might be, you think it can still be
healed and and the Lord can take care of it.
OK. And if they're gone, as we take
a couple minutes to prepare for the Lord's Supper, just thank
the Lord privately for them and what he's taught you through
them and how you can be more like them as, as the moms that
God has given you. And if there's any fracture in
your homes right now and any kind of relationship with your
kids and moms or whatever, make it right.
Life's too short, right? You don't want something to
happen and then all of a sudden you can't make amends because of
some accident or crisis or tragedy.
As as Paul said, the day is a day of salvation.
If you hear his voice, don't harden your heart as they did in
the wilderness, but say Lord Jesus, I can't do this life
without you. I need you to come into my life
and save me for my sin and forgive me.
I want to be like you. I want to be a parent like you
are to me Jesus, and I want to be used by you to be a blessing
to other people. Lord, help us to get our lives
on track with you. Help us to live for the sake of
others and not ourselves. Forgive us of our self
centeredness. We're all self-centered.
Help us Lord to love as you tell us in First Corinthians 13.
Love suffers long. Love doesn't keep a record of
wrongs. Love isn't easily offended.
Love thinks no evil. Love never fails.
And we thank you, Lord, may your love encompass every family,
every individual, everybody you've brought here today,
whether it's online or in the building.
And Lord, thank you for my mom, Sheila today, my brother and my
mom's our mom, Sheila. Thank you for her life.
Thank you for Cindy's mom, Alice, today as well, and
everybody else's mom. We we praise you and we give you
glory for all that you've done and are doing in all of our
families. Strengthen moms, strengthen
kids, strengthen husbands, strengthen families, and we pray
all these things in Jesus name, Amen.
Let's take the supper together and just take a minute to talk
to the Lord about where you are with your mom today.
Lord, thank you for your forgiveness, thank you for your
patience, your kindness, teaching us through the Word how
to be parents, how to be children, how to be healthy
human beings because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
For him taking our sin and forgiving us and cleansing us
and giving us a new life, giving us a new start.
Whoever needs a new start today, I pray, O Lord, you'd work in
their hearts and make all things new again.
For those who have never put their faith into today, might
they say, Jesus saved me from my sin.
And for moms who are struggling today, may you encourage them,
comfort their hearts, deepen their faith, to trust you for
their children, no matter what they see with their eyes, may
they believe what your word says, Father.
And the night that Jesus is betrayed, he took the bread in
his hands and he broke it, and he gave thanks and he said,
take, eat. This is my body which is given
for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.
The same manner he took the cup. He said this cup is a new
covenant in my blood which was shed for the forgiveness, the
sins of many. Drink this in remembrance of me.
For as often as we eat this bread and we drink this cup, we
show forth the Lord's death, we comes again, Amen.
Happy Mother's Day, God bless you guys.