Full Service | Sunday May 9, 2021

well good morning nathan creekers hey it's good to see everybody come on in let's get started let's stand together praise the lord together singing hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah okay got to belt it out better than that come on it's mother's day time to get excited time to sing out nice and loud doesn't say make a joyful quiet sound it says make a joyful noise so even if you can barely croak out a tune you can croak this one out this is easy okay so let's divide it down the middle here we go this side first praise the lord together sing praise the lord together singing hallelujah all right even louder still four groups this one is one two three and four here in group four here we go praise the lord together singing praise the lord to gathers praise the lord to gathers praise the lord you get praise the lord together praise the lord together praise the lord praise the lord yes amen amen yes oh good stuff we are here to do just that to give praise to the lord and it is fun it's a mother's day weekend so we've got some fun stuff in store uh for moms but uh but more importantly you know we are here to give glory and honor to our lord and savior jesus christ and he is worthy to be praised you know we live in a chill culture and we americans sometimes like yeah we'll come and just kind of mumble out a tune let's not do that let's come to church today with that attitude of you know what god has done great things for me and he deserves to be uh honored and and this is what he asks of us he says lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the lord that's what it says it says make a joyful noise unto the lord sing ye all ye people like this is what the bible tells us to do so we're just going to be obedient in doing that we've got a wonderful worship team who's here ready to lead us in worship you can either take advantage of that and give glory to god or you can sit back and nod but i think the person that worships god is a person who's blessed the person who sings out prays to the lord there's something that happens in your soul that is encouraging and blessing it's not as much you know that god is insecure and that he needs our worship you and i we need to worship him it's all about him and it's good for us so may the lord give his church a worshipful heart amen amen let's worship together [Music] set me free [Music] i am afraid you reach for me [Music] the [Music] there's no turning back [Music] [Music] breathe behind [Music] i [Music] though [Music] is oh [Music] man [Music] i [Music] without you i found [Music] lord i need you [Music] my [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] so teach my song to rise to you when temptation comes my way when i cannot stand up all on you [Music] jesus you're my hope [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] me [Music] [Music] how i need you oh you come to bring peace [Music] you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] um [Music] [Music] with us you are here you are holy we are standing in your glory you are here [Music] [Music] we are [Music] we [Music] [Music] [Music] uh with us [Music] so [Music] there's no one like [Music] out of the ashes we one rise [Music] god you are higher than any other our god is [Music] oh [Music] ashes there is [Music] is [Music] and if our god is with us is our god is [Music] is [Music] traders [Music] [Music] is we want to stand again [Music] amen amen oh lord it's so good to be able to sing out your name and your glory lord you've been so good to us and i pray father that our hearts would swell as we open up our bibles and read of truth the good news of the mercy and the gospel the grace that you show to us lord we're thankful for all the good things you've done for us and i pray that you'd bless each person here each person watching online with us right now lord may you just warm hearts and encourage souls may your word do its work we pray and we pray your blessing now in jesus name amen amen why don't you have a seat make yourself comfortable get all situated yes thank you all right well good stuff happening uh happy mother's day once again we're glad to have you uh moms and grandmas uh here with us uh so thankful um in fact uh you know we made a little video i'm so blessed by our video team and our comms team we've got a great crew of people and uh just just doing such a good job and they put together a little video just commemorating and thinking about uh the blessing of mother's day so hey let's roll that why don't you guys roll that [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] whether your children are grown or all around you a woman anxiously awaiting the day you will be called a mom or a grateful grandmother with years of experience whether your children are holding your hand or safely in the arms of jesus many women have done excellently but you surpass them all charm is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman who fears the lord is to be praised that's good stuff huh yeah [Music] [Applause] we've got so many great mothers here at atheist and just that there's a handful of them that in there is just really cool uh the families they represent and uh what what a blessing we wanted to do a little blessing back to the moms so um um if you're interested ladies uh uh get get a coffee on us uh go to uh atheist or it's eighty women uh either on instagram or facebook and you can go on on there and grab a free coffee you can just go and go through the drive through and get a coffee on us it'll be great uh so check that out if you haven't already um but uh we just wanted to be a blessing to you because you guys have blessed us um so mother's day i'm gonna do a mother's day sermon today here in a minute uh and we'll get into that but before that a couple quick announcements um don't forget tonight normally we'd be doing sunday night worship but we're going to encourage you to uh stay home and visit mom give mom a call do a barbecue something that's what i'm going to be doing is eating and celebrating that's the best part of mother's day in my opinion but i have great moms in my life i'll be giving my mom a call because uh uh i always loved talking with my mom uh but uh make sure and have fun also um don't forget uh wednesday night bible study verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book uh we started um back last wednesday in ezekiel and i taught uh ezekiel 8 through 11 and uh and then we'll pick up in chapter 12 on wednesday night we'll be doing that normally i would teach a small section of that on on a sunday morning like this but today as it is mother's day i thought it'd be good for us to consider mother's day you know mother's day started way back in the early 1900s a woman named anna jarvis who really much very much loved her mother was trying to establish a um mother friendship days thing but she never really got that off the ground and she ended up passing away uh in 1905 and her son who was also part of her her daughter who's also was named anna jarvis she was the one who actually was successful she started the first mother's day in west virginia back in 1910 honoring mothers and by 1914 all the states of the united states started celebrating mother's day woodrow wilson officially proclaimed you know the second sunday of each may as a mother's day and you say well that's a nice little happy story but it actually gets kind of dark after that jarvis who started mother's day her accomplishment soon turned bitter for her enraged by the over-commercialization of her holiday by 1923 she hated mother's day um it's true and she followed a lawsuit of a group who was commercializing mother's day these women were selling white carnations on mother's day and so she was protesting at a women's event on mother's day and where she was arrested and thrown in jail um and as they were hauling her off she said this is not what i intended and they dragged her off to jail the end that's a happy mother's day story for you right there uh you know what's funny uh about mother's day um and this might just be me and my perspective but i've noticed over the years and i'm going to say in the last 10 years particularly there's a little bit of a negativism that is being associated with mother's day but it's maybe not just mother's day i've noticed with everything have you noticed everybody's negative about everything these days um and if there's something negative you might as well just cancel it if there's something that's wrong or makes you unhappy forget about it nobody else should have fun if you can have fun nobody can have fun uh so it's a cancel thing it's like it's a little bit like what we're doing culturally you know george washington and thomas jefferson statues being torn down why well because they were slave owners now slavery of course was a horrible thing that was happening back in those days and you could argue historically about jefferson and washington and their involvement and all that but the thing is work you know our culture today says cancel them we don't want to see a elementary school named after them we don't want to see any more statues of them cancel them and we refuse to say did those dudes do anything good was there any well they did some bad things listen if you want to cancel george washington and abraham lincoln and these guys cancel yourself because you too are sinful and evil we all are sinful and we've all made mistakes and and the bible doesn't teach that attitude to say if somebody's done something wrong just cancel them and forget about them and erase them that's not what the bible says the bible teaches to forgive them i'm so thankful god is not like our cancer culture because guess what what does god do with our sins he remembers our sins no more he puts your sins as far as the east is from the west see and the reason i go into this on mother's day is because i've noticed the last decade or so there's a propensity to say well i hate mother's day well why because my mother wasn't great she was a sinner news flash so was mine so was everybody else's our moms make mistakes so we don't cancel them or i've seen a thing like this and this is this is hard and i know what i'm about to say is controversial but maybe you've tried to have you know children and because you've been unable as heartbreaking as that is nobody should still celebrate mother's day or you should be a grouch on mother's day because you can't have children i've seen that i'm just telling you the truth and it just kind of gets ugly um shouldn't we be willing to celebrate something for others who've had good situations and come alongside and approve the things that are excellent that's the way of the lord and and man don't get sucked in to this culture that hates and is angry and i'm not going to enjoy that because you know this or that you know there's even a secret one that i hate to even mention on mother's day but i will statistically one in three women have had an abortion and i think the more we have that 61 million babies have been aborted since roe v wade 61 million and so there's an underlying negativism i think on mother's day because there are many many women who you know while you know planned parenthood pushes abortion the psychology of it and the wound that is left from it is heartbreaking for a lot of women and mother's day whether they want to admit it or not is a is a kind of a subtle reminder of something that was really tough in a woman's past and so they don't want to celebrate so so what do we do with that well i want to jump on board with this notion of god and his mercy and his grace and his ability to forgive and forget his ability to start over and for us to learn how to approve that which is excellent you see i could give you a mother's day sermon and i have for 25 years i've been doing mother's day sermons and we can talk about those glorious mothers of the bible we could talk about jacobed there in exodus chapter two who rescued her son in the midst of a horrible situation they were slaughtering babies in egypt and she with as a great woman of faith put moses in a basket and we could talk about her we could talk about you know uh sarah a great woman of faith abraham's wife you know we could we could talk about lois and eunice of timothy's mother and grandmother who were women of unfeigned faith the bible says oh man many a mother's day sermon about them but i want to give you a little mother's day sermon about a woman who's largely ridiculed and many people want to cancel because she sort of comes into the biblical narrative and i've even heard sermons where they called this woman a weasel that she weaseled her kids in to try to make them in good standing and have better seats in the kingdom oh weasel right you're going to talk about her on mother's day yep um i forget the actress name remember the actress last year that was uh bribing the universities to get her kids into the university and i think she's due in time or did time i don't know if she's still in jail but you know the our culture said haha this woman trying to pay her way in every this is kind of the woman we're talking about here in our in our story this morning and many people have you know chided against this woman her name well there's only two women with this name in the bible her name salome there's one salome she danced in front of her uh you know herod and one of john the baptist's head her name was salome we're not going to talk about that one i've cancelled her no just just kidding but the other salome in the bible by the way that salome is not named but that was her name it doesn't tell us that that's her name in the bible but we know that was her name the other salome is there in matthew's gospel matthew chapter 20. so would you turn there the gospel of matthew chapter 20 for our text today and uh here we're going to learn some lessons from a mother that i think a lot of people have said dismissed as sort of a loser or someone who didn't do it right did your mom always do it right teaching you and instructing you it is amazing there's perhaps no single influence on a person's life for many of us that has a greater influence than your mother our mothers taught us about so much our some of your mothers taught you about logic like this if you fall out of that tree and break your net don't come crying to me that's some logic that your mother taught you my mother taught me to be a person of prayer she said you better pray that comes out of the carpet some of your mothers taught you about contradiction shut your mouth and eat your food others moms taught about contortionism would you look at the dirt on the back of your neck [Laughter] my mom taught me of perseverance she said you're gonna sit here until you eat every last piece of that broccoli do you remember sitting at the table with broccoli half chewed in your mouth hours knowing you had to sit there until you swallowed it some of your mom's taught you about genetics you're just like your father my mom taught me about the weather it looks like a tornado swept through your room but maybe the best one of all when your mother teaches about the circle of life i brought you into this world and i can take you out yeah mom taught us not always in the best way sometimes our moms made mistakes some moms were flawed just like this mother salome and it's in matthew chapter 20 verse 20 where we pick up this this woman's story it says here in matthew 20 20 then came to him the mother of zebedee's children with her sons worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him and he jesus said under what wilt thou and she said unto him grant that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy kingdom but jesus answered and said you know not what you ask are you able to drink of the cup that i shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that i am baptized with and they the two sons said to them we are able and jesus he said unto them you shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that i am baptized with but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to him for whom it is prepared of my father and when the ten other disciples when the 10 heard it they were moved with indignation against the two brothers what's going on there this cracks me up the disciples are always cracking me up what's going on here now you notice that the woman comes and worships bowed down and asked the lord a question the lord says what do you want well here's what i want and and she says here's what i want and then jesus says you don't know what you're asking and then if you could picture in your mind's eye jesus turns to the two sons james and john and says are you guys really willing to to drink the cup that i'm going to drink and and be baptized with the baptism i'm going to be baptized with and they said yes we are and and it's and then jesus still talking to the son says you will drink the cup and you will be baptized with that but it is not my you know decision who sits at my right in my life that's the father in heaven so the answer to the mother's question is actually no and because of that answer the no we tend to dismiss this woman salome as oh man she was pulling this fast one trying to get her sons in a place of of promotion a place where her sons were higher than the other disciples and the other 10 disciples over there tapping their sandals saying oh brother what a bunch of losers look jesus said no [Music] by the way i was in jerusalem one afternoon talking to this little british guy he was there at the garden tomb and he was giving tours that day and i forget why i came up with the metric system we were talking about some distance or space or something and he said the metric system you know and as a brit i thought this was funny he said you know if god wanted us to have a metric system he would have had 10 disciples rather than 12. i thought that's really pretty true i liked that one but the 10 disciples were mad at the two because they were trying to get a one-up on the other dudes so this is kind of a misguided request and so you'll he'll sir hear sermons about salome coming and trying to get her sons into a position of power and prestige and and she she gets a no and because of that you know she's sort of weaseling her sons into these seats of honor and you'll hear sermons about that but the interesting thing is mark's gospel tells us in mark chapter 10 verse 35 that it wasn't salome's idea to do this anybody want to take a guess at whose idea it was to have their mother go and talk to jesus it was james and john they said hey mom will you go put in a good word for for us that we might sit at the right and left hand of jesus and his kingdom and salome says okay and so she goes and asks jesus the question all too often i fear like james and john and their mother you know we go and we want to ask a question now this is another bad rap you'll hear about salome she goes and worships jesus so that she can ask him a question we worship um so that we can get something from it do you ever find yourself worshiping to get something um you know you come to church lord i'm i'm here at church two weeks in a row you owe me god i'm lifting my hands uh lord but it's funny because the lord doesn't owe us anything and to think that way is kind of ridiculous but i've heard sermons about this salome worshiping so she can demand what she wants and feel entitled to get what she's asking but i'm gonna stand on salome's side here for a second i'm not sure that's what's going on you see that's why i want to look a little closer at what salome does here and we'll talk about it but i think she's actually perhaps a better model than we might want to admit sure she might be a little flawed in her thinking she might be even a little misguided in what she wants and she kind of doesn't know what she's talking about but if we cancel her because of that we lose the opportunity to learn something from a person who's just like you and just like me see i see some stuff here that's commendable and and instead of canceling what are we as christians supposed to do i said this earlier we're to approve the things that are excellent so let's approve the first thing i want to approve is number one in this story is salome's approach to jesus let's take a look at the approach to jesus that she makes we read about that right here in our text verse 20. as she comes with her sons worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him one of the things i've heard is a twisting of this that she came worshiping and then sort of they almost imply like she was demanding that her sons get a position of prominence but that's not what it says it says she came worshiping and desiring something that she wanted of him now here's the question for you is it okay to ask of a favor from the lord is it okay to ask the lord and let your requests be made known to the lord there's a cheat for you is it okay yes the bible teaches us that we're supposed to ask and we're supposed to come to him with our request let your requests be made known unto god the bible says in fact there's even a name for it in prayer there's several kinds of prayer there's intercession that's when you're praying for other people there's supplication there's thanksgiving there's praise there's all kinds of different prayer but when it comes to petition excuse me that is to ask the lord and say lord i have something i want to ask of you and and see i say this because some of you struggle with this one some of you are in a place in your mind where you think you know what i can't ask of god and i'm not worthy to ask i don't want to bother the lord with my requests but can i just tell you the bible teaches you're supposed to ask ask and it'll be given unto you seek and you shall find knock and the door will be open unto you um james 4 says you you have not because you what you asked not isn't it interesting the lord wants you and me to ask and there's no harm in asking yeah but brett she got a negative she got a no so we know she was asking for the wrong thing but is that still a bad thing let me ask you this is it a bad thing to ask and if you get a no does that mean you're a sinner if you get a no from god does that mean you've done something wrong well let me ask it this way did jesus ever ask anything in prayer of the father and get a no the answer is yes in the garden of gethsemane as jesus prayed he said oh lord if it'd be possible let this cup and he was talking about the cup of suffering the same cup he was talking about in matthew 20 and saying disciples james and john are you sure you're willing to drink the cup i'm going to drink he's talking about that cup and in the garden he prays oh lord let this cup pass from me but jesus prayed so perfectly nevertheless not my will but thy will be done and the will of god was that he would drink the cup of suffering even though he was asking lord please let this cup pass from me he gotta know and jesus knowing that he was perfect in every way never sinning that lets me know that it's okay to ask questions of god and it's okay when it's a no and it doesn't mean i'm a sinner it doesn't mean god is penalizing me or mad at me when i get a no it just means that he's got a different plan and he knows better than i do his ways are higher than our ways his thoughts are wiser than our thoughts and so jesus in his perfection knew that he submitted to the father in the same way salome is simply desiring something she's not demanding something it says here that she came desiring something she was worshiping him and she's desiring something of him nothing wrong with that yeah but brett her her you know request was misguided it doesn't matter and the lord gave her a no doesn't matter she came and she let her request being made known to god and as she approached jesus she actually came with worshipful attitude and with a heart to be humble when it says here in uh the king james she came with her sons worshiping him that's an interesting word if you do a word study on worshiping some of your newer translations say she came kneeling some of you say that others say she came bowing down before him but the word worship in the greek new testament it's this interesting word proscinuo which can also mean to turn and kiss okay now we're getting weird brett turning and kissing um this is something that our culture we have no idea we don't understand because we just don't do it thank the lord as one who enjoys social distancing and that's the best part of coronavirus is the socialist thing um as it turns out uh when you go to the middle east man there's a there's a there's a thing that's kind of weird it's hard for me as an american to get behind when i go to israel with some of our groups i'll take them to a store in jerusalem it's in the palestinian section of jerusalem and there's this arab guy there who's become an old friend of mine mr nissan and he's an old feller but he's got this little uh olive wood shop in jerusalem and they carve nativity scenes and vase and fancy little crosses and things whatever you want to get you can get at mr nissan's and and he's got good prices so i bring our buses we pull in there it's and you know offload everybody but every single time without mistake i walk into the store and mr nissan in his fancy suit and his gold watch and his you know this he comes in as kind of this oh bastard and he comes in big juicy kisses on my cheeks every time and uh i'm like hey mr nissan and then i run back over and kind of get a kleenex and like you know because it's it's a big juicy kiss and but see in that culture that's what they do that's how they greet one another they greet each other with a kiss and and when we talk about this word worship it means to turn and kiss in that way it's a it's a sign of admiration and affection and even friendship it's not a romantic thing it's a it's a it's a thing of total admiration and that's what the word worship actually means to turn and kiss the lord oh lord you're so good and and we're affectionate towards you that's what worship is supposed to be and that's the word used here this woman comes and worships at the feet of jesus kneeling down before him man you can't knock a girl for that i mean if she's doing something wrong she's also doing something right jesus is worthy to be worshipped and this woman does that and she approaches jesus with a worshipful attitude she she's bringing herself and her two sons to jesus what's wrong with that you know you might be a flawed mother you may have made mistakes and done some things that you're not happy or proud about but if you're a mother who worships jesus and brings your kids along with you and points them to jesus that's a win-win even if you're misguided even if you're ill-intentioned even if you don't know what you're talking about if you're at least doing that man that's commendable i love salome that she at least loves jesus and she's worshipping him and bringing her sons to him and she's casting her desires her cares the things that she's caring about maybe her son's caring wrongly about it too but that she cast those cares on jesus and there's nothing wrong with that the bible teaches us to do this over and over again psalm 55 22 says cast thy burden upon the lord and he shall sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved or as some of the newer translations he will never allow the righteous to fall man i love that hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 tells us this is what we're supposed to do looking unto jesus you see this woman knew jesus was the source of authority and power looking unto jesus the author and finisher or perfecter maturity of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of god you know the thrones that she was asking about misguidedly the only thrones that really matter are the throne of god and the throne of jesus those are the big ones but instead of that jesus would say hey it's only really for my my father to give out the thrones but i love that she knows at least where to look looking unto jesus the author and the finisher of our faith and jesus wants you to come to him as she came to him one of the things you'll constantly constantly see jesus doing is inviting people to himself i love the invitations of jesus one of my favorites is the one that jesus said in matthew chapter 11 verse 28 through 30. you guys know it well come unto me all ye that labor and our heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light what a glorious invitation for you bible students by the way if you ever want to do an interesting study study all the invitations of jesus man it's so encouraging jesus said you know come unto me all you that are weary come and dine come and drink come and see like all the invitations of jesus are beautiful and worthy of study but this might just be the cream of the crop oh if you're weary and heavy laden burdened by something come to jesus that's what this woman does and that's commendable i love that this woman knows how to approach jesus worshipfully humbly even with her desires she comes and says i've got something i'm desiring of you not demanding of you desiring of you i love the approach that she has to jesus and then that gives us the second point of admiration i have for salome number two the attitude that she has to jesus what was her attitude it's very interesting to watch children and discover that they often carry the attitude of their parents and that's an interesting thing notice this mom's attitude toward jesus she's kneeling she's humble but she's also respectful and submitted we're not going to see her retaliate and push back i love that she had an attitude of submission reverence and worship man you know that that's good she's showing her sons james and john what they're supposed to be doing the attitude that they should have toward jesus i think that it's it's troubling in some ways that when you're a parent have you noticed that your kids pick up all your attitudes both good and bad man it's funny you see like man stop that you're like wait that was just me my little son was acting like me oh no um but but you know what our attitudes and our actions this woman at least in this story her attitude was exemplary and it was good for her sons to see that she had this attitude of submission and of humility and of submission to the will of god that brings us to the third thing that i observe in salome that i like so much is the appeal that she made to jesus what was her appeal well verse 21 gives us several visuals of what what her appeal was um jesus said what do you want now by the way this is interesting that jesus asks her does jesus already know what she was about to ask her i think the answer is yes now i understand was jesus when he was a baby born in the manger did he know he was going to be crucified on the cross as a baby um wouldn't that be weird he turns to mary i'm the messiah and i'm going to be crucified on the cross at one you know hour old because he knew all things well i believe there's there's debate on this how when jesus came to kind of that full understanding um he had to not know everything and i'll tell you why because he was tempted in all points like you are and and even doubt was a temptation that jesus had to deal with so i think as he was younger there's some point though where it does seem in the narrative that jesus kind of said okay i know everything and i and i'm ready to go and he knew the story and we know that because he even tells her you don't even know what you're asking because here's what's going to happen he knew exactly what was going to happen at that point why does god ask people questions that he already knows the answer the reason is i believe the lord wants us to make the question he wants us to ask some of you in this room have not prayed and you've stopped praying and the reason you came across that verse that says the lord already knows before you even pray what you have need of so why pray if god is lord you know all things do whatever you want and i'm not going to pray anymore this is my last prayer over and out some of you have that attitude about prayer meanwhile the bible tells us no seek ask knock let your request be made known to god why does god want us to ask when he already knows the answer when he already knows the question before we even ask it i think one of the classic examples that i love to sort of laugh about really is adam and eve there they were in the garden and everything was great until they took a bite of the fruit then they saw oh we're naked and so they went and got some fig leaves and sewed them together scratchy as they were and they're hiding quivering in their fig leaves behind a bush hiding from god and god there in genesis chapter 3 verse 9 it says adam where art thou and i always think that's so funny god adam where are you did god lose his people there's only two people on the earth and god i misplaced those two people that i created where do they go i'm so low no that's not what god did but adam and eve jumped out of the bushes okay lord here we are and we uh you know they had to confess although the confession was a bit dubious when out of the woman that you made lord made me eat the fruit like uh that wasn't a good uh performance there uh on adam's confession but be that as it may it's almost like the lord gives us an opportunity to speak what we want what we need and and to speak it out with our our words and and think of how wonderful this is the son of god the messiah the deliverer the sacrifice of our sin is concerned about what we want woman what would you like what can i do for you he didn't have to ask her because he and his divinity already knew what she wanted but a great reminder he wants us to tell him our heart whether good or bad or ugly he's interested in what you're what you're wanting to say now now remember adam and eve you know uh remember uh when god asks those questions because you and i need to give an answer and i also believe uh transparency and honesty because god knows all things so when you're asking don't try to well lord i was kind of thinking about you're trying to figure out how to ask it you know politely the lord already sees your heart he knows what's in your mind so i think we have to be honest and open before the lord and there's something about that that god seems to want from his people is your prayer life in such a way where you can be honest with the lord and ask now there's something that happens by the way when we ask and especially when we ask something amiss remember that scripture we mentioned earlier you have not because yes not it's actually put in between sandwiched in some other truth there in james chapter four let's take a look in james chapter four verses two and three it says you lust and have not you kill and desire to have and you cannot obtain you fight and war yet you have not because you ask not now listen to this you ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lusts james man he doesn't pull any punches but in some ways salome is kind of pinned in by this verse she's wanting her kids to to be blessed and to get ahead and she's asking something that actually is not part of god's plan and will so she is asking amiss but but i love that god doesn't condemn her or yell at her or get angry with her i love how gracious jesus always is and by the way that's what happens to you when you come to the lord and ask even if you're asking a miss the answer might just be a no but i think it's better to just you know be open and transparent i love that this woman makes her appeal to jesus and that's what we see in point number three even though i was misguided she at least asks him number four then we see her awareness about jesus maybe for the first time as she asks him this question she caught on to the cost of what she was asking and as she was looking into the eyes of the lord do you ever wonder did this woman salome as she was asking the question do you ever wonder what jesus's face was doing there's so many um you know uh videos i want to heaven tube when i get to heaven and see what happened because i wonder when she asks us lord i want my sons to sit on your right hand in your kingdom and on your left and as she was asking what was jesus's face doing because i wonder if jesus is counting woman what would you like me to do and as she was asking do you wonder if it was rolling off her tongue she started realizing oh what i'm asking is wacko the reason i ask that is because i've done that have you ever done that where you're praying and you realize your prayers are just misguided let's be extreme lord i hate my boss would you please make my boss's head explode please i would like to see a pink mist at work and please may it be painful as well brett do you pray things like that no i'm being extreme here but as you're praying that have you ever prayed a prayer like oh my prayer is even full of sin my prayer is misguided there's something i sometimes wonder if that's why god wants you to ask is so that as you're asking you're starting to realize oh boy what am i asking what am i saying even your prayers reek of sin do you know that i wonder if this woman i can't say for sure but i wonder if she was asking lord that my sons sit at your right hand and at your left i wonder if she was just even right then starting to feel as maybe jesus's countenance started to drop a little because we know what jesus said after she asked the question jesus oh you know not what you ask at least by that time she's like oh what have i asked what did i say uh oh am i in trouble and then jesus said you don't know what you're asking and then he took he turns to her sons and says are you really willing to drink the cup i'm going to drink and have the baptism the cup was the suffering the baptism was of death the suffering and the death that i'm going to go through are you guys willing to go through that and by the way james and john they said yes we are and to their credit yes they did did you know that james by the way was the first martyr among the disciples they took james and said deny that jesus rose from the grave and james says i will not and they said if you will not then we will saw you in half with a saw lengthwise and they did they took james laid them on a table and when they saw sod him in half his body like that's a tough way to go that's the cup of suffering that jesus said and you will drink of this cup of suffering john you guys know the story of john where they took him in a boiling pot of oil and stuck him in there to boil him to death another video i want to check out in heaven because the bible says that he wouldn't burn or he wouldn't die so there he is like was he sitting there like a jacuzzi hey this feels pretty nice they're like die already but john wouldn't die so they pulled him out of the boiling oil and they exiled john to the island of patmos where he received the revelation of jesus christ but john did go through torture and and persecution just like jesus said i wonder if the mother as she realized what she was asking and jesus implying that man you don't know what you're asking this is a heavy thing that you ask and it's going to cost your sons dearly i wonder if she could almost say please let me take back my words i take my question back but i believe that's why sometimes the lord wants us to articulate but what i love about this is her awareness of what jesus was saying i sensed that she was aware of the gravity of what jesus was saying because we don't hear from salome again in this story we only hear from the disciples and she kind of backs away and says okay i'm out i've talked enough i've said enough and i think that's admirable she comes letting the lord know her desires but when she realizes her desires aren't in line with jesus she's aware of that and she accepts it see that brings us to the fifth and final observation of salome that i admire after becoming aware that her question was perhaps misguided then she accepts jesus well how do you know brett that she accepted jesus i'll tell you why because the next time we see salome and the biblical narrative what is she doing anybody remember she's at the tomb of jesus with the other women on resurrection sunday and salome would become a part of the early church as a follower a believer and acceptor of jesus christ so while people say salome was trying to get ahead and get her kids ahead and you know they knock her and call her a weasel mother trying to weasel her kids into seats of power and prestige the world kind of says that i kind of see a woman who maybe was misguided join the crowd we're all misguided we all make stupid mistakes but i admire this woman because she's bringing her kids to jesus she's letting her her request be made known to jesus she then when she hears what jesus says she submits to him and accepts what he's saying and then follows him and becomes a disciple of jesus man i love this woman and i'm looking forward to meeting her in heaven what a legacy she leaves she accepted his words as truth you know to have a face to face with the lord of glory and to walk away you'll walk away a changed person that's what this woman does this lady known as salome we see her at the tomb of jesus for me it's conclusive that she had an encounter with jesus that changed her life forever and you might be a mother who might feel like i've made mistakes or i'm flawed or my kids they don't love me or they think i'm too brutal or whatever you know what you might have failed and you might be like salome with some marks against you but if you're a mom who brings your kids to jesus and points them to jesus and worships jesus that's a win-win good for you that that's that's what you need to do because that's the main thing you you can do for your kids is point them to the right direction the person of power the person of authority jesus christ the author and the perfecter of our faith that's what this woman does and i think she should be applauded for it and all that to say i think she's a better example because she's flawed you know some of the bible characters that are stained glassed perfect people i don't know if i relate to them as much i don't relate to daniel very much i'll tell you why daniel was too perfect man he was just a good guy there's not one record in the story of i love daniel i love reading the book of daniel but i can't relate to him because he's too perfect he doesn't there's not one thing in the story that he did bad same with joseph of the old testament not one bad thing joseph did mr goody two shoes now by the way joseph i think is recorded as a perfect guy because he's a beautiful picture of jesus the messiah great story there but but i relate to some of the other bible characters where the lord didn't pull any punches people like david who was but david was a war hero and he was a musician and he wrote psalms and he was a man after god's own heart yeah but he's also an adulterer and a murderer and manic and bipolar read the psalms the poor guy wrestled with all kinds of you know psychological problems now instead of being leveled off with ritalin prozac or some other thing uh david was was one who sought the lord and saw victory but man i can relate to david who made stupid mistakes and all that that's a little more relatable or abraham who made a mistake he was the father of a nation but he also slept with his wife's handmaid and they gave birth to ishmael the father of the arabs and there's war and fighting going in jerusalem tonight right now as we speak in jerusalem there's warring because of abraham stupid mistake thousands of years ago i can relate to that and that's why i think as moms maybe you can relate to salome who she was a little misguided maybe she said some things that were a little wrong but i love that she was a jesus follower a person who showed her sons uh acceptance worship you know even submission to jesus and she's commendable for that so let this mother's day not be a bummer for you but just be glad that we have jesus looking to jesus you know if you're one who was dragged to church here on a sunday morning because it's mother's day and your mom said it's mother's day you have to go to church with me today and by the way your mom didn't call me to say this but if you're here because mom dragged you here on this sunday morning i wonder if maybe the real reason you're here is because you too need to accept jesus even as salome realized that jesus was the answer you see jesus is not just the answer for her question he's the answer to all questions the bible tells us that the gospel message is this you and i are sinners we deserve death and eternal hell and that's where we're all headed but the good news of the gospel is that while we were yet sinners jesus christ died for those sins and rose up from the grave and when he rose from the grave proving that his claims were true that he was in fact the messiah the one who would die for the sins of the world anyone whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life and if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the lord jesus christ that god raised him up from the dead it says you will be in fact saved but don't we have to do something you got to repent of your sins and say i'm a sinner acknowledge your sin before god and then accept the work that he did it's not the work that you do it's the work that he did you're saved by grace through faith not of your works and so why not accept the lord on a mother's day that's why you're really here it's not just because mom dragged you or maybe you're here and this sermon really wasn't about the gospel as much but i just get a sense that maybe some of you are like man i i sense that what's in the bible is true and maybe you've never accepted christ and you're still in your sin but the lord says i want to forgive you and i love love love that the lord doesn't cancel you he forgives you and he remembers your sins no more and old things are passed away all things become brand new that's the god that we serve and i hope you guys accept the lord if you've yet to do that today is a good day would you bow your heads please as we wrap up this service as you're bowing your heads christians would you have that attitude of prayer even right now maybe perhaps praying for those that are online watching or here in the room that have yet to accept christ if that's you and you want to accept jesus i'd like to make it easy for you i'm not going to embarrass you or anything but right where you're sitting with everybody else's heads bowed i'd like to ask would you like to accept jesus as your savior today um i'm going to pray a prayer of confession of faith for if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the lord jesus that god raised him from the dead you will be saved that's what the bible teaches and if that's you would you acknowledge that right now just between you me and the lord with everybody else's head bowed in prayer if that's you would you lift up your hand right now and i'll just acknowledge you before we wrap this thing up today anybody at all let me look around for a minute i don't want to miss you cool awesome good i see you over here there in the back too see you nice good stuff over here yes good way in the back i see you awesome anybody else man as you just acknowledged i need to be forgiven for my sins if that's you just just if you've just done this listen i'm going to pray a prayer of confession of faith and you can pray this along with me what's amazing is the bible teaches us that god he can give you his undivided attention because he's infinite and he he hears your prayer of confession of faith and it's with the mouth confession is made unto salvation the bible says so we're going to pray this out loud i'm going to ask the whole church to pray this out loud with you the five or six of you that just acknowledge your need for salvation if you're online and you're watching you can pray this write with us out loud i'd say wherever you are just pray it out loud and the lord will hear and honor that prayer of confession of faith let's pray together dear father in heaven i believe in your son jesus christ i believe that he died on the cross for my sins and that he rose up from the grave and that i'm forgiven help me to walk with you thank you for saving me in the name of jesus christ lord i pray your blessing upon these people who've just confessed this great confession of faith lord we know that it's not by our works but by your grace that we're saved and so i pray that these people would accept that beautiful gift of salvation and not frustrate your grace lord when we fail and when we make mistakes even like salome and so many others we pray that we'd be just quick to confess those sins to you as you forgive us as you died once for all sin past present future sin lord we're so thankful for the newness of life that we get to have as christians so bless these your people lord that have just accepted you now would you warm their hearts love on them show them your goodness may they know that they're saved by your grace and lord we pray again just blessing upon all the mothers where moms are discouraged encourage them where they're frustrated lord give them patience and endurance where they're threatened by things of this world for their children lord i pray that they'd have a confidence in you bless the moms we pray we commit them to you in jesus name amen amen let's all stand together and let's close out just with one final song of worship as joey leads us to sing out to the lord in jesus name and happy mother's day to you you give life you are love you bring light to the dark you give hope you restore every heart that is your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise pour out our place with your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise you give life you are love oh you bring light to the darkness you restore every heart that is it's your breath in our lungs so before our pace [Music] in our lunch [Music] [Applause] so we pour out our praise to [Music] our hearts will cry these bones will sing great are you all the earth will shout your praise and our hearts will cry these bones will seem our hearts will cry these [Music] [Music] [Music] so people [Music] [Music] lord you lift your name up high we do thank you for just your grace that we're trying to follow you and want to chase after you we do veer off the path and we thank you that you just bring us back into the fold so i pray for those mothers that are out there today that are in that vein where salome was at work we just want to see our kids do well i pray a blessing on them and i pray guidance for them we love you father in jesus name amen amen hey god bless you all and happy mother's day to you you're dismissed

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 4,246

Rating: 4.9266057 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

Id: hdDPr3dXD4E

Length: 76min 17sec (4577 seconds)

Published: Sun May 09 2021