Being A Mother In Difficult Times

good morning family and friends so good to see you happy mother's day the lord has given us a beautiful day to come and to worship him and we thank you for joining us this morning guests thank you for being with us this morning we have a gift bag for you located just at the doors feel free to pick one of those up on your way out this morning thank you for joining us this mother's day and we're going to recognize our mothers in just a moment and before we do that i just want to remind the kids we still have children's church but we won't dismiss for children's church until after you help us recognize our mothers today okay you get to take part in that as well all right church let's open up our bulletins and look at our announcements let's look at our ministry week this week just want to remind you men your bible study will continue tomorrow night at 6 30 and ladies bible study tuesday morning at 9 30 here at the church wednesday night we will have our awana awards ceremony looking forward to that and uh then a college bible study youth bible study and then we'll be helping out with the games following the awards ceremony i want to remind you that next sunday we will be having our first in-person business meeting here next sunday so just want to let you know that church so come be a part of our monthly business meeting next week we will also be recognizing our graduates on may 23rd is graduate sunday so be sure to contact the church office about that if you have a graduate so we can recognize them this month we also have a couple of inserts memorial day is just around the corner so if you have a family member that you would like to honor or memorialize uh who was a veteran uh you can simply fill out that insert and we will get that brick uh for you and place it in our memorial garden also parents uh it is time to register for vacation bible school for destination dig on um and so you've got that insert you can register your children for vacation bible school you can do that with the insert or you can find it online at our website so we're looking forward to a full in-person vacation bible school this summer we got about 80 or 90 volunteers and we're going to have our first all hands on deck volunteer meeting on sunday night may 23rd at 6 30. so be sure to uh join us for that if you are a vbs volunteer all right church as we uh i think that concludes our announcements you know as i was thinking of mother's day this morning i couldn't help but think of a mother's love and how it's a sacrificial love and it reminds me of first corinthians 13. love is patient love is kind love does not envy it is not boastful is not arrogant is not rude is not self-seeking is not irritable and does not keep a record of wrongs love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth love bears all things love believes all things love hopes all things love endures all things will you join me as i pray lord we thank you for this day lord i thank you that when i think of a mother's love that i think of you and i think of what uh you tell us here in scripture and describe your kind of love a sacrificial an agape love lord we pray that we would be a loving people in jesus name we pray amen well good morning good to have you with us this morning just to add to uh the announcements that were made that business meeting is next sunday evening so uh we will have an evening service as well next sunday evening so come be a part of that business meeting next sunday night well i want us to stand together this morning and let's rejoice in the fact that we have a savior who is with us always regardless of what we may think or feel or say or do we have one who is with us who chose to come from heaven and spend time on this earth so that he could uh feel and do the things that uh we are tempted with but he was far greater than that because he was also fully god when he came and he overcame those things so this morning let's sing about our blessed savior christ who came down this morning oh what a wonderful wonderful day i will never [Music] [Music] when at the cross the savior made me whole [Music] my sins were washed away and my night was turned to me heaven came down and glory to my soul [Music] born of the spirit with life from above into god's family divine justified fully through calvary's love oh understanding is fine and the transaction so quickly will stay when as a sinner i came took the offer [Music] heaven came down and glory filled my soul when actress was [Music] my sins were washed away and my night was turned today battling came down and gloried [Music] after the passing of time i have a future in heaven for sure bearing those mountains sublime and it's because of that wonderful day when at the cross i believe rich is eternal and blessing supernova [Music] i went at the cross the ceiling [Music] heaven came down and glory to my soul amen i hope this morning that is your song that you can sing heaven came down in glory filled my soul this morning as we think about um and as matt talked about this morning about a mother's love i want to tell you about one whose love was much greater the one who laid down his life for us and that is jesus christ i want to share with you from john chapter 14 and i want to focus a little bit there at verse 19 and 20. it says a little while longer and the world will seem and the world will see me no more but you will see me because i live you will live also and that day you will know that i am in my father and you in me and i in you what a great promise to know that christ is in us but more importantly that christ died for us and as it says right there at the end of verse 19 because i live you will live [Music] also i believe in the sun i believe [Music] is [Music] is [Music] because he lives [Music] i was dead in the grave i was covered in sin and shame and i heard mercy call my name he wrote [Music] [Music] i'm alive because [Music] [Music] [Music] my is my life my future is [Music] because he [Laughter] [Music] let is song join the one that never [Music] let my song join the one that never ends because he lives because he lives [Music] he bled [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] with [Applause] [Music] i'll see the lines of [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is amen you may be seated and i also want to welcome you to the house of lord this morning on this beautiful mother's day if you have your bulletins if you look at the back page we'll look at our prayer list our prayer verse comes from a mother in scripture hannah conceived and gave birth to a son and she named him samuel saying because i asked the lord for him i borrowed the lord borrowed him from the lord for a short time so that he could be what god wanted to be and we thank god for our mothers i thank god for my mother who also prayed before i was born and many times after i was born that the lord would keep me in his will and we thank you for with we thank you for being the mothers that you are also if you look on down the page there we want to pray for those in our circle of influence who may not yet know the lord and ask the lord to save them and use us to be a part of that i also want to pray for those we see in our church family our mothers who are expecting also in extended family and friends second line we're sad to announce that eli fondren who was an eight-year-old boy a friend of the hurley family passed away from a heart condition and so want to remember that mother that family today also a couple we need to add linda alston who is a friend of amy rodriguez lives in florida and having some tests to find out what's going on with her and also joey sleester who is the son of the band director at chester team middle will be having brain surgery so be in prayer for him as well under long-term care you see mark page is underlined there he continues to improve and they're even talking about maybe him being able to come home sometime this week so remember that in your prayers our missionaries want to pray for those all around the world but today we want to highlight horace fortner that you see on the list there one of our own he's on a mission trip to guatemala so pray for his mission and for his safe return also today is a special day we do this a couple of times a year and that is we have baby dedication on mother's day and also on thanksgiving day every six months and so we now ask that parents who have requested to have their children publicly dedicated to the lord if they would come up on the stage this morning y'all come right on up here also we invite family friends and paparazzi to bring your cameras and stand and stand down front here so that we can capture all this you can come up on the stage it'll be great y'all can come around here here we go child dedication is a time when parents bring their children before the church to pledge themselves to rear their child in the nurture and the admonition of the lord and also to ask the church to pray for them as they fulfill their role and responsibility as christian parents several examples of this in scripture in first samuel chapter 1 samuel as we referred to in the prayer list was presented to the lord at a very young age also in luke 2 we find that jesus presented to the lord as an infant according to the laws found in exodus chapter 13. also when jesus grew up and revealed himself as the son of god he loved the little children mark chapter 10 it says they brought little children to him that he might touch them but his disciples rebuked those who brought them but when jesus saw it he was greatly displeased and said unto them let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for if such is the kingdom of god assuredly i say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of god is a little child will by no means enter it and so jesus took them in his arms and laid his hands on them and blessed them and so now we'll ask the parents to introduce their child this is all right though this service is called child education it truly is a parent dedication children already belong to the lord in psalm 127 3 it says children are the heritage of the lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward and in parenting first corinthians 3 9 says we are laborers together with god so this baby dedication is not a baptism it's a commitment on the part of parents to influence their child toward a personal faith in our lord jesus christ as they grow up so parents as you come today presenting your child before the lord and his church do you pledge yourselves to pray for divine wisdom and parenting this child to teach the scriptures to your child both in word and deed to bring your child in participation in public worship of the lord and to lead your child in the love and service of our lord jesus christ if so say we will now to the church we've already pledged in our church covenant to watch over one another and brotherly love to remember each other in prayer and to aid one another so i challenge you as a church of jesus christ to remember these families to pray for them to encourage them and help them in any way that you can so let's go to the lord in prayer our father we thank you for this special day we're reminded to thank you for the gift of mothers we also lord ask for a special blessing today for these children and their families as they have come forward as these children grow physically we pray your blessing upon them that they may also grow spiritually in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ and grow up to be the godly men and women that you have called them to be we also ask you lord as we've already listed a line of folks in our prayer list in the bulletin also so many folks are being lifted up right now during this prayer time that you answer our prayers according to your good will grace and mercy and we pray this in jesus name amen [Applause] now at this time we'll ask our children to come forward to help us honor our mothers so instead of going to children's church if you'll just come forward to the front right now yeah come on with the same excitement with which you leave the service every now okay go over there to mr go over there to mr matt go over there pastor matt there we go eager to join the choir yeah today our calendars remind us that it's mother's day and though we should show our appreciation to mother throughout the year in our fast-paced world it is great to have a special holiday to remind us of the fifth commandment honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the lord your god gives you mother's day has been a national observance in our country on the second sunday in may since president woodrow wilson signed the declaration in may of 1914. mother's day should be a day of happiness and thanksgiving as we reflect on the contributions and impact that mother makes on the life of each and every child however there may be other emotions today as well maybe sadness over the recent loss of a mother or maybe some tension between a child and a mother over some issue whatever the emotion you may feel today we pray that mother's day will be a day when you will find comfort and healing and forgiveness and peace both with your family and also in the family of god so we also encourage you not let the sun go down today without praising god and thanking mother for making you possible so this morning we want to recognize all mothers that includes biological moms who have brought children into the world and also the spiritual moms in our church who may have not had families of their own but who have loved and taught and helped raise others children so that's why we ask all women in the building to please stand as our children present you a small gift that represents our appreciation for all you are and for all you do for all your children all right [Applause] so if our ladies will stand and remain standing until you receive your gift that way our children can kind of keep up with where we are in this process thank you you all right we still got folks standing in the back so listen all right i think that's everyone let's show our children our appreciation as they go to children's church ah so [Music] go for songs [Music] raise the mountain upon [Music] here i raise my abdomen [Music] he to rescue me from danger interposed precious [Music] let thy goodness [Music] lord i god fear love here's my heart lord take and seal it for thy [Applause] well thank you ladies for singing to us about the lord who is our fount of every blessing and what a blessing it was to hear from you and what a blessing it is to have mothers who care for us in the name of our lord if you have your bibles please open to exodus i know you're probably already in matthew but we'll go to exodus today should be pretty easy to find genesis and then exodus and we'll get there in a few moments today is a special day to honor mother for who she is and for all she does today is a reminder that every day we should show our appreciation and gratitude to our mothers and encourage them every way possible especially in times like these 2020 was a particularly difficult year for mothers as they try to navigate the ups and downs of code 19 mothers were daily confronted with confusion and contradictory information on the news and social media even among family and friends some saw kobed as the worst threat since the black plague other people looked at it as a hoax he's trying to figure out how to fit in fit your family in with all that's going on should my children wear a mask or not should they social distance or not should i sterilize the house or not are the schools going to be opened or closed and how do i navigate through all that and of course next should i vaccinate my children last month cbs news quotes dr fauci saying there's enough info to be able to safely vaccinate children of virtually any age by the end of the year the article went on to say as young as six months so you've still got that to think about but you know long before covid the moral climate of america was already changing and confusing since the 1980s sociologists have referred to our times in america as a post-christian era a time when we no longer really care about the commandments from the bible or the commandments of our lord jesus christ after the 2000 census results were published america could add a new title and that is the post family era the nuclear family in that census uh told us for the first time in u.s history the nuclear family meaning a family consisting of a married father and mother and their children fell below 25 percent of u.s households for the first time again and it means that 75 percent of american homes children were being raised by single parents foster parents gay parents live-in lovers or some other arrangement besides father mother and kids one-third of all live births in america are to unmarried mothers 50 percent of all first-time marriages will end in divorce many millennials and gender disease are giving up on that old-fashioned ideal called marriage to start with then you add to that the brave new world of biotechnology where we now have artificial breeding genetic engineering frozen embryos test tube conception and surrogate mothers we're on the brink of being able to have designer kids where you can select to make them physically perfect highly intelligent super athletic any other category you want all without the need of a traditional mother and while we're being bombarded with all this ungodly news in our culture we have various surveys and polls telling us that we're also losing the spiritual battle in the church depending on which survey you read anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of southern baptist youth will drop out of church and stray from the faith within two years of graduating from high school i recently received an email from a mother who was anxious about sending her children off to college and out into this anti-christian godless environment where the statistical odds are against them remaining in the christian faith over two years after they leave home she asked for me to do a wednesday night study about this topic but since today is mother's day i decided to promote the topic from wednesday night to sunday morning as you can see these are difficult times to be a mother but they are not hopeless times we find in the bible that god still honors mothers who honor him and so let's take a look at that example a mother from the bible who was trying to raise a child during very difficult times hopefully you found exodus chapter one by now exodus chapter one beginning in verse eight now there arose a new king over egypt who did not know joseph also means he did not know joseph's god he said to his people look the people the children of israel are more and mightier than we come let us deal shrewdly with them lest they multiply and it happens in the event of war that they join our enemies and fight against us and go up out of the land therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens they built for pharaoh supply cities python and ramses but the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and grew and they were the dreaded they were in dread of the children of israel so the egyptians made children of israel served with rigor and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar and brick all manner of service in the field all their service in which they made them serve was rigor or difficult or very hard then the king of egypt spoke in the hebrew midwives of whom the name of one was shipra and the other name of the other was pua and said who do when you do the duties of midwife for the hebrew women and see them on the birth stools if it is a son then you shall kill him but if it's a daughter then you shall let him live but the midwives feared god and did not do as the king of egypt commanded them but they saved the male children alive skip on down to verse 22 so pharaoh commanded all his people saying every son who is born of you born of the hebrews shall be cast into the river and every daughter you shall save alive moving on to chapter two and a man of the house of levi went and took a wife as daughter of levi so the woman conceived aboard a son and when she saw that he was a beautiful child she hid him for three months but when she could no longer hide him she took an arc of bull rushes for him dobbed it with asphalt and pitch put the child in it and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank and his sister stood afar off to know what would be done to him then the daughter of pharaoh came down to bathe at the river and her maidens walked along the riverside and when she saw the ark among the reeds she sent her maids to get it and when she opened it she saw the child and behold the baby wept so she had compassion on him and said this is one of the hebrews children then his sister said to pharaoh's daughter shall i go and call a nurse for you when the hebrew among them hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you and pharaoh's daughter said to her go so the maiden went and called the child's mother then pharaoh's daughter said to her take this child away and nurse him for me and i will give you your wages so the woman took the child and nursed him and the child grew and she brought him to pharaoh's daughter and he became her son so she called his name moses saying because i drew him out of the water who was this wonderful mother what was her name well according to exodus chapter 6 and verse 20 we get her name and it is joker bed actually i think in hebrew it's called yoke heaven but since i speak southern hebrew we're going to call it joker bed today and joke about actually means jehovah is glory moses parents were slaves they were treated like animals they were overworked they were underpaid they were under arrested and underfed and then to add insult to injury they were told to throw their baby boys in the nile river and the question is is why did joker bed why didn't she toss moses in the river what made joker bed different well the answer is she was a godly woman she was a godly mother so let's see what separates godly mothers from the others as we look through this story today the first thing we'll see here the first thing i saw was that godly godly mothers have natural affection did you see that in exodus chapter 2 and verse 2 joke of bed here saw that he was a beautiful child have you ever heard a mother say i have an ugly baby have you ever had a mother say my baby looks like winston churchill no you won't hear that it's perfectly natural for a woman to love the children from her own body even animals have an instinct to care for their own little ones king solomon if you'll remember he used this principle in the case of the two women arguing over which one was the mother of the baby and so what he told him said well let's just bring a sword and we'll cut the baby in half and each one of you can have half a baby and the real mother if you'll remember she cried out no let her have it and why does she do that because a mother has natural affection she couldn't stand by and see her beautiful baby killed she'd rather see the baby go to the other woman didn't see her baby killed so it's natural for a mother to love her baby but you know what when sin comes in it brings about unnatural affection in second timothy chapter 3 verse 1 it says in the last days perilous times shall come for people will be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy and without natural affection and it's true the last days before the flood the last days before sodom and gomorrah the last days before the fall of ancient israel there was unnatural affection there was sexual immorality there was homosexuality there was child abuse there was child sacrifice and so it is with us in our country today for the last 40 years we watched an increase in abortion abuse abandonment homosexuality now transgenderism all these items are daily in our news but moses mother had natural affection she loved her beautiful baby boy so that's point number one godly mothers have natural affection second of all i want you to see that godly mothers are courageous in hebrews chapter 11 verse 23 that's looking back on this story in exodus hebrews 11 23 says by faith moses when he was born was hidden three months by his parents because they saw that he was a beautiful child and his parents were not afraid of the king's commandment the king had given a commandment for them to destroy any male children they had but they took courage and did not follow what the king said here dr james dobson from focus on the family is famous for saying parenting is not for sissies and that's true because being a godly mother being a godly parent is tough sometimes you have to take a stand when everybody else is bowing to the surrounding secular culture sometimes you have to go against the flow sometimes a christian has to obey god rather than man and that's what we see in the story of amran and joker bed they were surrounded by voices saying throw your baby boy in the river government pressure we saw that exodus 1 22 every son who is born shall be cast into the river and you got to remember pharaoh didn't play he didn't give you a fine or a ticket or something like that he would kill you if you didn't obey but nevertheless there was this mandate here it was illegal if you do not throw your newborn son in the river i'm sure there was also media pressure no there were not newspapers and radio and tv and social media back then the way you got your news then is they had a town crier town herald he'd come around and shout the headlines from the corner so everybody could hear what was going on in the town and can't you just hear it hear ye hear you our land is overpopulated soon there will not be enough food to eat and everyone will die so in order to save the planet you must throw your baby boys in the river now this is only for a limited time until our population problem is solved this is a danny jones amplified version of the bible in case you weren't aware don't be a selfish parent don't be the last mother in town to throw your baby boy in the river now is the time for all good mothers to come to the aid of their country be patriotic drown your son today couldn't you just hear that that was the headlines and then there was a peer pressure poor old joke of bed she had to go down work at that brickyard all the ladies sitting around the break room smoking i don't know if they smoke back then but anyway they were talking about it i drowned my baby yesterday i cried you know but it was for a good cause it was a loving thing to do you know everybody's doing it joke of bed saying to herself she was taking these things and ponder them in her heart and she says i don't care what the king says i don't care what the news says i don't care what the girls at work say i don't care what everybody else is doing i'm not drowning my baby and so she hid moses for three months until he grew so big y'all realized the cry grows with the size of the child that's what she was up against once they get bigger they start crying louder and it's kind of hard to keep him muzzled so she said i'm going to cast him in the river but it's not going to be like everybody else is doing so she made a waterproof basket out of bulrushes and put them in the edge of the river and then she sent moses sister who we later find out named miriam to watch him while she worked and that's when pharaoh's daughter found him and needed a nurse and of course miriam told her she was pretty sure that she knew where to find a nurse for that baby and somebody tell him was that a coincidence was that good luck or was that god honoring people who honor him in case you don't know that memory verse it comes from first samuel chapter 2 and verse 30 the lord says for those who honor me i will honor how many of you believe that if you just stick with what god's word says then the lord will he has a way of making these things work out so godly mothers have natural affection they also are courageous and i also want you to look at number three and that is godly mothers are diligent teachers exodus chapter 2 and verse 9 it says joke of bed took the child and nursed him now it's obvious from what happens to moses later that jocobed did a lot more than just nurse that baby i believe she sung to him she talked to him she taught him listen to again hebrews chapter 11 looking backwards toward exodus here says by faith moses when he became of age he refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin he esteemed the reproach of christ greater riches than all the treasures in egypt think about that where did he get a hold of that if all she did was just nurse him where did he get that no i think she did more than nurse that baby i believe she talked to him and that joke jehovah obviously did not have a whole lot of time to work with him even in middle eastern times sometimes they didn't as i understand studying the history uh they didn't wean a child he was three or four years old so she only had three or four years to work with him i don't know maybe they let him get a little bigger and make sure his house broke before you move him up to pharaoh's place so i don't know maybe he made it up to four or five years old or something like that but uh but what would you do differently if you knew you only had four or five years with your baby instead of the 18 to 20 that you think you have now what would you teach what would you emphasize what would you say to the child if you only had that brief period of time i know what you would say and it is that ain't enough time i've heard that a lot of times since i've been in the ministry and counseling uh with marital and family problems i've heard it a lot of times brother danny i'm divorced i didn't want to be now the court only gives me a few hours a week maybe some of the holidays that i have on my child how am i supposed to teach my child my values in so little time and the answer is you do your part and god will do his part i've also heard mamas tell me that i have to work in order to make ends meet how am i supposed to teach my child my values in so little time the answer is god knows your heart if you're working to put bread on the table god knows that and he'll provide it i've seen it happen time and time again but if you're working just to load up with luxuries god also knows that so god knows your situation and he's going to reward faithfulness i've heard mothers say well i can't afford private schools and i don't have the time money or skills or patience to be a homeschooler and public education is required by law they have my children eight hours a day from the time they're five till they're 17. now how am i supposed to teach my children my values how can i compete with these secular values they're being taught in school and the answer is mothers should never underestimate their impact william r wallace 19th century poet was the one who wrote the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world how many of you know that's probably true never underestimate your imprint on your child in those early years i remember studying church history as a guy named peter canisius uh 16th century founder of the roman catholic boys school in germany and he said give me a child before he's six years old and he'll be a catholic forever what was he saying he's saying he understood those early years or the formative years those early years is where mama imprints what's going to go on with that child the rest of the way so mothers teach with their talk you realize you don't have to be a bible scholar to read bible stories to pray at meal time in bedtime to teach your children to sing jesus loves me this i know for the bible tells me so to talk and take your children to church to teach them the golden rule and how they get along with the neighbors not only do mothers teach with their talk they also teach with their walk they teach by their example dr james dobson frequently says character is more caught than taught what does he mean by that is you can talk all you want to you can read all the scriptures you want to but they're watching mom and daddy and that's what their normal is going to be i often share this whenever i'm doing pre-marital counseling folks fixing to get married and i tell them that mom and dad are the only god that little children know till they grow up think about that that's who children think god is based on how is that heavy or what but nevertheless that's the way it works that's the way it goes they don't know any better till they grow up and start going out and doing spending night parties with their friends that's when they learn a lot but up to that point you're the normal you define what normal is how you act is how they think god acts how you trust how they trust and obey you is how they're going to trust and obey god so you define normal for your child what's normal around your house so you don't underestimate the power of your talk and your walk back in 2015 dr steve parr and dr tom kreitz from the georgia baptist mission board published a book called why they stay it's based on the research of that demographic group called millennials who were born between 1980 and the year 2000 there are lots of studies on this group because so sociologists tell us that they're leaving church in big numbers to the tune of 80 percent but dr pars and christ decided to take a different angle instead of doing like most people do and that is ask the millennials who left the church while they strayed they actually went to the millennials who remained in church and ask them why they stayed number one reason is i had a father and mother who loved each other and loved me and loved and served the lord and i could see it in their daily life i could see it in their church life i could see the way that we were treated around the house so moms and dads don't underestimate the power of your example don't complain about how little time you got instead seize the moments ephesians chapter 5 verse 16 says redeem the time make the most of the time that you have with your children while they're there and communicate the ways of god to them obviously joker bed did this though she was a slave in a brickyard in egypt when she got home from work she also had to cook she had to clean she had to draw water and wash clothes at least modern women don't have to draw water anymore do you but anyway what i'm saying she had the whole household thing to do but still she managed to teach moses and she also had a disadvantage that none of us have today she had no written copy of scripture think about that you realize they're wanting a written copy of scripture to moses why did we cost the first five books of the bible what the book of moses because he wrote them genesis excess leviticus numbers deuteronomy all that came from moses up to this point all they had was oral tradition they sat around the campfires and told the stories of the story of redemption that had been revealed to them and they carried along so can you just hear jochebed telling little moses about god and creation about adam and eve about original sin and the promise of a future savior about the death of abel the tower of babel a man named enoch who walked with god noah and the flood and ark and abraham and isaac and jacob and joseph what do you think moses got those things i guarantee you didn't get them at the university of egypt this year came from mama so jochebed was faithful to teach but now the next question that mothers always ask may not say it out loud but they always ask did he learn anything i tried my best to teach that boy i tried my best to teach my daughter but did they learn anything and that's point number four godly mothers must be patient and prayerful they must have tore out joker bed's heart to watch little moses leave their home to go live in pharaoh's palace with all the worldly temptations there the foreign language the idolatrous culture the pagan women the lure of riches to see them dress him like a little ramses to see his haircut earrings and all that good stuff to look like pharaoh to know that moses is attending the university of egypt taking courses in pyramid building idol worshiping slave management systemic racism and on it goes it must have made her proud though to know that when moses was grown he began to reject that stuff and tried to do something about the egyptians oppressing the hebrews but then it must have broke her heart when she heard the news that moses had killed an egyptian guard and now he's been charged with murder and he had to run away from egypt from all appearances moses had failed as a human being and joker bed had failed as a mother and that brings us to my fifth and final point and that is godly mothers must trust god to complete his work you do the best you can and then you turn it over to god and let god do his thing and wait and see what he will do now since moses was 80 years old when he led the children of israel out of egypt toward the promised land joker had probably died thinking that she had failed but listen to what hebrews 11 says again hebrews 11 looking back toward exodus these all died in the faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off were assured of them and they embraced these promises and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth for those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland and if truly they had called to mind that country from which they had come out of they might have had opportunity to return but now they desire a better that is a heavenly country therefore god is not ashamed to be called their god for he has prepared a city for them think about here's this joker bed she's not sure what would happen with moses but nevertheless it says she died in faith believing that god would fulfill his promises to her about her sons her daughters she looked forward to this time and realized that i'm not going to realize it while i'm here on this earth but one of these days i'm going to realize it in the kingdom of heaven and that's where faith comes from from these old testament characters to the new testament characters to you and i today that's where faith is based on hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 further describes these faithful ones in heavens as a great cloud of witnesses and so from this we believe that though joker bed never saw it in her lifetime i believe that somehow i know the lord revealed to her in heaven that her son moses became the greatest prophet of the old testament see godly mothers don't give up they continue to love with god's kind of love this morning matt's already read for us from first corinthians 13 god's kind of love is patient it's kind it continues to believe it continues to hope it continues to endure continues to persevere god's kind of love never fails which is what motivated paul the apostle to write in philippians chapter one very verse six i'm confident that he who began a good work in you will continue to perform it to the day of jesus christ and mamas you have to hold on to that even when your son's making left turns and he should be going right and right turns when he should be going left and you're pulling your hair out saying what is wrong with the boy you still don't give up on him you can hold out the hope that god who started to work in him will continue to do that work until the day of jesus christ so to all of our mothers here today trust god that he will complete his work but let's quickly in case you missed some of my points let's quickly review these lessons learned from joker bed that regardless of how much education or science or technology or government programming or social engineering that we may have in our world there's always going to be a need for godly mothers godly mothers who love and have natural affection for their children godly mothers who are courageous to stand for their faith in god even if they must stand alone they don't give up they don't give in even when life is difficult even when times are tough also godly mothers teach their children to love trust and obey god regardless of what the government knews their friends or their relatives have to say about it they stay focused on doing the will of god also the mothers uh godly mothers are patient and prayerful even when it seems like you've failed and if there's a mother in here that somewhere along the way of raising children you never thought for a moment that you had failed i'd love to talk to you after the service is over because every now and then has anybody ever followed mother's path without getting off the path at all i don't think so don't give up on them hold on to the hope also godly mothers who trust god to complete his work in their children all the way to the day of christ now mom we're going to have an invitation of course nothing pleases godly mothers more than to see their children grow in godliness since today is mother's day it's a great day for you to make a commitment to christ if you've never trusted jesus christ as your savior won't you do that while it's still called today maybe today you've already prayed and asked jesus to come in your heart but you've never been baptized never made a public profession of faith won't you do that today maybe today you you've done all those things before and you moved to this community and you feel like the lord is leading you to join this church and find your place of service i want you to join our church today or maybe you are one of those children that got off the path and you just need to rededicate your life you want to see your mother do spiritual cartwheels you come back to the lord today and that will bless her soul and it'll bless your life as well as we go the lord in prayer father we thank you for your word we thank you lord for this word that we have today is an encouragement not only to mothers but also fathers who also deal with these same issues and so lord we thank you for speaking to us not just in commandments of what we shall do and what we shall not do but also given us stories narratives that tell us about how real life people like moses his mother and father had to deal with some life's very difficult situations lord help us to be faithful and to do what you would have us to do and then trust you for the outcome but we'll pray this in jesus name amen now's the time of invitation or altar altar's open if you need to come and pray if you've never trusted christ your savior i'll be standing down front i'd love to share the gospel with you maybe you've already been saved but you've never been baptized or joined the church i can help you with that today i'll meet you down front maybe you're saved and baptized and you feel like the lord is leading you to join this church and find your place of service once you do that today and again maybe you just want to rededicate your life to the lord and work on the relationship between you and your mother if there's some estrangement there i want you to do that heart work today listen to the voice of the holy spirit as we stand together and sing our hymn of invitation living for jesus a life that is true striving to please him in all that i do you being and allegiance this is the pathway of blessing for me o jesus lord and savior i give myself to thee for thou and thine atonement destiny [Music] my heart shall be thy throne [Music] oh christ for thee for jesus who died in my place bearing on country such love constrains me to answer is [Music] o jesus lord and savior i give myself to thee [Music] my heart shall be thy throne oh christ for the lord living for jesus wherever i am doing each duty affliction and lord deep each triangle upon my cross o jesus lord and savior i give myself to thee for thou and thine atonement just give thyself [Music] my heart shall be thy throne my life i give him to live o christ for [Music] all thee we're going to ask langston so they'll come up and stand with us today they've been coming to the church for several months now and feel like they're already part of the church family here but they come today making it official uh we have steve and rita who were coming they've already been saved they're coming by moving a letter and also their daughters amelia and abby are coming on profession of faith for baptism all you who rejoice in this decision say amen and doesn't it make a mother proud absolutely absolutely well we thank you for being here today and again don't let the sun go down without thanking god for your mother and if she's still living be steward and call and share that with her today take her out to lunch shock her you know do the dishes or something but figure out a way to serve a mother today and thank her for all that she does for you and all she means to you um i will ask y'all to stand up front here so the folks can come by and welcome you into our fellowship and let's see who is my okay come on up brother terry he's going to dismiss us in prayer today and god bless you let's pray together father we thank you for a wonderful day of worship that you've given us and blessed us with with your presence today and our singing and the words that was given to us today god by our pastor and by the holy spirit god thank you so much for our mothers we again we we celebrate our mothers god thank you for uh giving them to us to show us how to love and how to be compassionate what a picture of of the love of christ that they've been lord and so many in my life with my mom and the mothers that have helped uh be a part and invest in my life god i praise you for that today and thank you god that you uh have blessed them we thank you for this family that's come today lord and for adding to your kingdom and to our church lord we pray that your will be done in all of our lives as we serve together and see your presence lord help us to be uh persistent in our faith and and studying and trying to grow closer to you and teaching our family and friends the love of jesus christ to have patience god to see your will carried out lord in all that we do and may we be used by you lord to bring glory to your name it's our prayer today as we leave in christ's name [Music] amen

Channel: Northlake Baptist Church

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Id: yB2e8yLz8mw

Length: 68min 19sec (4099 seconds)

Published: Sun May 09 2021