Good morning everybody. How are you guys doing today?
Awesome. I want to say welcome to all of you that may be here in our room this morning for the first time
or if you're joining us online for the first time, we're so glad you're here to worship with us today.
And specifically today, Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms.
We are going to be taking a break today from our study and revelation to celebrate Mother's Day
because today is an important day. Today is the day where we get to fulfill Proverbs 31, 28
which says, Her children rise up and call her blessed. And that's what this day is all about for us.
You know, the origin of Mother's Day is celebrated here in the United States. It goes all the way back to about 1908.
It was a holiday that was started by, or at least got the ball rolling, by a lady named Anna Jarvis
as a way to honor the sacrifices that mothers make for their children.
And she actually got prompted by this because her mom had organized what was called Mother's Friendship Day
in 1868 after the Civil War as a way to gather mothers together with both Union and Confederate soldiers
to promote unity and reconciliation and healing and all of that.
And so in 1908, this lady, Anna, organized the first official Mother's Day celebration
which took place in all places, a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia.
And so I think it's just neat to see the church always leading these celebrations of the family and whatnot.
And due to the success of that event, she started then working to get it added to the national calendar
to get it recognized across the nation. And in 1914, Mother's Day was officially established
on the second Sunday in May by President Woodrow Wilson.
And so here we are to celebrate the moms here among us.
Now, I do recognize and I want to state up front that this day can be difficult for some people.
It can be a difficult day for some because some have lost their mothers.
Some mothers have lost their children. And so it could be a tough day to reflect on that.
Some have wanted to become mothers but haven't been able to for various reasons.
And so the day can unfortunately be a day that might highlight pain for some
rather than being a celebration of something joyful.
But I do want to encourage you if you're in either of those circumstances.
You know, those circumstances, although painful, although difficult,
don't negate the importance of motherhood as a gift from God.
And we all have a mom, had a mom, or have a mother figure in our life,
and possibly many in our lives, whether they're alive or past, that we can remember and celebrate on this day.
And so today we celebrate mothers, motherhood, what it means, the gift that it is that is given to us by God.
And specifically what I want to look at today is how God uses mothers to shape the godliness in the lives of their children.
And so this morning we are going to be doing something a little bit different than we normally do.
First up, I'll be sharing after our time of worship, I'll be sharing about two women from 2 Timothy chapter 1,
both moms, a lady named Lois and another lady named Eunice, who are collectively a grandma
and a mother to the great evangelist Timothy.
And so I'll be sharing about them and what they taught, what they instilled into Timothy in the life of raising him.
And then after that, I'm going to invite up our youth pastor, Pastor Rick,
to talk directly to the youth that are gathered here today among us in respect to an encouragement to them about their moms on this day.
And so that will be one of our gifts to you moms. We're going to tell your kids to honor you.
But first, we're going to spend some time in worship because obviously as we're here to honor moms and celebrate moms,
above that is honoring and celebrating God Almighty, who gifted us with moms and motherhood
and the heart that they have to raise us and to teach us and to lead us and to love us.
And so pray with me, Father, we thank you so much for this day, God, and we're so blessed.
Lord, God, you created moms, Lord, and you created moms and blessed them with the hearts that they have to do what they do, Lord.
And God, we want to honor moms today and celebrate motherhood.
Lord, we do know and acknowledge that some can see this day as a difficult time.
And Lord, I just pray, God, your spirit would move in their hearts, Lord, to recognize what motherhood is, God.
And Lord, that maybe if they are a woman in the church here that hasn't been able to have children
or may have lost their children, that they still have an opportunity to mother amongst the church,
amongst the youth, to even children that aren't their own, Lord, to raise them in godliness
and be that example of your heart for them. So God, we thank you, God.
We love you today and we want to worship you, God, to celebrate you and what you've done in creating moms.
Lord, we're so grateful for everything. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You know, when we study scripture, we talk a lot about people like Paul, the apostle, and what he's done and the outreach he had.
And then in studying Timothy, and that's where we're going to be this morning, 2 Timothy chapter 1,
we talk a lot about Timothy, obviously, because it's a letter written to him.
And we talk about their work and the ministry they did and the effect, the spread of the gospel,
the effect they had on the world around them. And there's a lot there that are in these letters.
And as Paul was writing in 2 Timothy, he's writing to encourage this young man, Timothy, from jail.
Paul is in jail at this time. It's actually his last incarceration before the end of his life.
And he wants to encourage Timothy to stir up his gift of evangelism,
to stir up, to encourage the calling that Timothy has on his life.
But the way Paul does this in 2 Timothy is quite interesting because he engages in this encouragement
by reaching all the way back to Timothy's childhood, his upbringing.
He reaches all the way back to the foundation that was laid in his life at home by his grandmother,
Lois, and his mother, Eunice. And so I want to read from 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses 3 through 7.
If you'll read with me here, Paul says, I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
when I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day.
Remembering your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.
I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice,
and now I am convinced is in you also.
Therefore, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying out of my hands.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
You know, I read a story of four scholars discussing which translation of the Bible was the best one to read.
The first scholar was an older gentleman, and he was like, well, of course, the King James is the only version anybody should read, right?
And then the second scholar, who was a younger scholar, was like, nah, because that's what young people say, nah.
He said, it's the CSB. The CSB is contemporary. It's understandable. It's written for the modern reader.
That's the translation we should read.
The third scholar was a middle-aged scholar, and he was like, well, you're both wrong.
The New American Standard is the most accurate of all the translations. That's the one we should read.
And then there was a fourth scholar, and he just piped up, and he goes, I like my mama's translation.
And the other scholars kind of chuckled among themselves. They're like, yeah, right, your mother translated the Bible, sure.
And the scholar goes, she sure did. She translated the page, every page, into how she lived.
And it was the most convincing translation of the Bible I've ever seen.
You know, the influence of a godly mother can reach millions and millions on this earth
by being faithful to the one or few children that God has given in her life, or those that God has put into her life to be a mother figure, too.
And we honor you today, moms. We honor you today because your role is important, incredibly important,
perhaps the most important role in all of the whole world.
And I want to thank you publicly for your hard work, your diligent work, your faithful work, you know, to my mom.
I just want to say thank you for loving me when I was unlovable, because whether you know it or not,
that example taught me about God's unconditional love. And that is what moms do.
They show you something of God's heart. And so I want to notice three characteristics that were in Timothy
that I believe he picked up from his mother and his grandmother. And the first one is tenderness, tenderness.
Or we might use the word a kindness and a gentleness. It's a sympathetic concern for the well-being of others.
That's what tenderness is. And you'll notice there in 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 4, Paul says,
Remembering your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.
You know, as Paul is writing the second letter to Timothy, the first thing he remembers there is Timothy's tears, his tears,
no doubt referring to a very outward showing of emotion from the last time they saw each other.
This emotion very likely came from the fact that the last time they were together,
Timothy knew what was really to come for Paul as he was going to be arrested and imprisoned in Rome.
And there was very likely that understanding that this might be the last time I see you.
And so we read that Timothy cried. He had tears. Now, I point this out because it shows us a tenderness that's in Timothy's heart.
Traditionally, and I say traditionally, at least in my lifetime, growing up, I grew up with the idea that guys don't cry.
You ever heard that? Guys don't cry. You know, in my upbringing, not from my home, but just in the world,
there was always this picture that guys aren't allowed to show emotion, that if you do, you're weak, you're pathetic,
you're all these negative things, you know, if you show emotion.
And honestly, I don't think Timothy cared one way or the other about any of that type of thinking.
And it's the first thing Paul focuses in on as he opens this letter.
And I think Timothy had his mom and his grandmother to thank for the tenderness that was in his heart.
And the reason I think that was for a few reasons, but one, we can be sure that biologically, Timothy had a dad.
Okay, that's how it works. But also historically and scripturally, we know that Timothy had a father as well as a mother.
In the Book of Acts, it tells us that Timothy's dad was an unbelieving Greek or otherwise referred to in Scripture as a Gentile,
somebody who wasn't a Jew. And his mom, however, was Jewish, but she was a believer.
And tradition tells us, church tradition tells us that Timothy's dad died when he was young,
leaving him to be raised primarily by his mother and his grandmother.
And it's there, I believe, that he learned to be open emotionally, sensitive, tender.
You know, these are things that we often learn from our moms rather than our fathers, not exclusively, but in most cases.
And he learned to be able to not only feel this emotion, but to be unafraid to show this emotion.
You know, like I said, in most cases, not all, but most cases, we learned tender heartedness from our moms or the mother figures in our lives.
Conversely, we'll learn firmness from our fathers in our lives or the father figures.
You know, dads are often the ones who say, great job, but you can do better.
And that's not a bad thing, right? That's not an inherently bad thing. We need that push. We need that encouragement.
But moms are also the ones that will celebrate any win as if it's first place.
Moms are the ones that will set up a shrine to all the ninth place trophies for their kid in the house and celebrate those things, right?
Because they're just so tender and encouraging. Moms are often the ones who carry the bulk of the nurturing and the supporting,
where dads are often the ones who carry the bulk of the pushing and the challenging and the encouraging in a different way.
Learning this kind of patient tenderness, this celebration for who you are in the moment,
that celebration and encouragement of that expression of care and concern for your well-being now in this moment,
it's seen through a mother's tenderness. It's seen through a mother's loving kindness, her long-suffering, her patience.
And learning this kind of patient tender-heartedness is important for any child to learn, especially young sons.
You know, we're in a culture where the term toxic masculinity is rampant.
And I grew up in a culture that celebrated a lot of what we would be abhorred by today as that's masculinity.
That's how men are supposed to act. You're supposed to be tough and mean. You're supposed to be unyielding and hard.
You're supposed to be unsympathetic because that is what expresses manhood. And that's not true.
You know, we are called as men to be strong, but moms bring in this tender-heartedness that we need to balance us out,
a care and concern for the well-being of others.
And so moms, one of the most important contributions you can make in your family and to your kids
is the tender-heartedness that you display to your kids, that you display to your spouse,
that you display to the people around you. It's this tender-heartedness because in that,
you are representative of the care and compassion and tender-heartedness of God.
In fact, even though God is predominantly spoken of in masculine terms throughout Scripture, he is our Father in heaven,
there are certain characteristics of his that are spoken of from the feminine perspective of a mother-like care and concern.
One of those examples is in Isaiah chapter 66. God there is painting a picture for his care and his concern for his people,
and it says this, as a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you.
Now, when God specifically points out something, that's when we should take notice.
He specifically pointed out as a mother comforts her son, there's something special about that that's different,
not better or worse, but different than how a dad might do it.
And God specifically points this characteristic out as a mother comforts her son.
He wants us to know that that's how he comforts us.
And so I believe mothers are uniquely built with a tender temperament that reflects the heart of God so beautifully.
And Timothy learned this beautiful, sensitive tender-heartedness from his mom,
but he also learned godliness from his grandmother and his mom because we see in verse 5 there of 2 Timothy 1,
Paul says, I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice,
and now I am convinced is in you also.
So Paul was very familiar with Timothy's spiritual roots.
He knew the spiritual truths that had been passed down from Timothy's grandmother to Timothy's mom
and then had been passed down to Timothy as well.
He knew how all of that was working through these two important women in Timothy's life,
and it tells us there that Timothy's mom was named Eunice.
Now Eunice was a very popular name in the culture at that time,
and what the name Eunice means is good victory or conquer well.
That's what Eunice means.
And if you think about her situation, she had been married to an unbelieving Gentile.
I mean, kind of like two strikes culturally for her because it was one to be married to someone that wasn't a Jew,
and the Jewish culture was like, well, that was kind of frowned upon.
But then she was in a home where she believed in God, and yet her spouse did not.
And some of you find yourselves in situations like that today, and it can be very, very difficult to do that.
But then as we know from tradition or understand from tradition that her husband passed away when her son was young,
we just do know that she had to conquer well the forces of a divided home,
being married to a nonbelieving Gentile but being a believing Jew,
and then she had to conquer the situation of being a single mom and raising her child by herself,
and yet her son still grew to become a well-versed preacher, well spoken of by the brethren.
And we pick up some of these things because in Acts, the book of Acts, chapters 14 and 16,
is where we kind of get the story of where Paul met Timothy and got to know him and his mother and his grandmother.
It's in Acts chapter 16 where Paul meets Timothy.
It tells us in the city of Lystra, meets him and meets his mother,
and then recruits Timothy to travel with him on his missionary journey.
But it's thought that that whole relationship started back in Acts chapter 14,
because in Acts 14, it tells us that Paul had previously come through the area,
including Lydia, and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And it tells us in Acts 14 that as he was preaching and sharing that Jesus is the Messiah,
hey, he's the Messiah we've been looking for, he would go to the synagogues first when he arrived into an area
and say, hey, this Messiah you guys are waiting for, he came.
His name is Jesus.
And so as he preached, it tells us that many became believers, and that churches were planted,
and that elders were appointed and raised up.
And it's very likely that amongst those many believers there in Lydia, or Lystra, sorry, Lystra,
was Lois and Eunice, who were from Lystra, who had grown up Jewish,
who had likely attended the synagogues there, and now they had heard about the Messiah,
the Messiah to come, and they had put their faith that Jesus Christ was the Messiah,
and in turn, through the teaching and the leading as a mom, led her son Timothy to the faith as well.
And so in Acts chapter 16, it tells us when Paul then returns to the area
to revisit those churches that he had planted, he hears about this young man named Timothy,
who is now a grown man with a good reputation as a godly man.
And that comes from how he was raised. That comes from the home he was raised in.
You'll notice there in verse 5, Paul says, I recall your sincere faith, your sincere faith.
Now that word sincere means un-hypocritical, okay, or without hypocrisy.
Now today, we might see that word hypocrite as kind of a derogatory term.
Like if you call someone a hypocrite, you're tending to want to insult them, right,
or put them down, right, you hypocrite.
But in the day, the word hypocrite simply referred to an actor on the stage who wore a mask
to pretend to be someone else.
So if we wanted to, you know, apples to apple this, today, instead of saying, hey, you're an actor,
we could say, hey, you're a hypocrite, which might carry a double meaning in today's world,
but we're not going to go down that road.
But Timothy, he was a guy, what Paul is pointing out here, who didn't wear a mask spiritually.
His godliness, his godly reputation, it wasn't fake.
He wasn't pretending to be somebody else.
And Paul says, I know where you got that from.
You got that from your grandmother who passed it to your mother who passed it to you.
That godliness, that unhypocritical spirituality in your life, that true and pure relationship with God
that is now in your life as a young man and is now seen and reported on by the church,
like, yeah, he is truly a godly person.
I know where you got that from.
You got it from your mom.
And it wasn't just knowledge.
It was example because when he says, I know your sincere faith, he goes,
that lived in your grandmother Lois and was in your mom too.
That word lived there means it resided.
It means it was who she was.
So she didn't put on a mask.
She didn't just play church.
You know, Paul says, I am convinced that that sincere faith is now in you also.
And so we could gather that Timothy's mom was instrumental in shaping her young son's faith
as she lived it out without hypocrisy.
As she was a mom who didn't just play Christian at church and then go home and model something completely different.
But instead, she's like, no, this is who I am.
I don't just carry a Bible.
I live the Bible.
I don't just go to the church.
I am the church.
And so I live my faith out.
And her son picked up on that.
And what a different generation we might have today.
If more mothers in our world today would see their children as the great opportunities that they are,
that their eternal souls to be loved, to be nurtured, to be taught, to be led,
their eternal souls that will live forever in one place or another, to be molded and shaped.
If more moms today would see their kids, their children as these great opportunities
instead of an inconvenient lump of flesh to be discarded because it's too hard.
Every parent has a great opportunity and responsibility before them to mold and to shape, to example, to live,
to be the picture of godliness that you want to instill in your kids.
And a part of that godliness is this tender heartedness, moms,
that you have a very unique calling and ability to be able to express and to show them.
You know, it's not the church's job to be the primary spiritual influence in your kids' lives.
And some of you might have been like, it's not?
No.
It's your job to be the primary spiritual influence in your kids' lives.
The church is here to supplement you, to come alongside you,
to walk with you and lock arms with you in the training of your children, in the word, in an example.
But the primary spiritual influence, God has called you that, moms and mother figures and spiritual moms,
to be that influence in a child's life.
Christian schools can teach facts and they can encourage godly morality,
but there's an influence in the home that only a mom can have.
And it's an important influence.
You know, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, God was speaking to the nation of Israel and he said,
here's the law, Israel, here I'm giving you the law.
It's yours. Take it. Obey it. Keep it.
But there in Deuteronomy 6, he goes, not only am I giving it to you to take it and obey it and keep it,
but then he says, you shall repeat it to your children.
And that word repeat means to teach by both word and example.
You shall repeat it to your children.
That means to talk to them about God's word, God's law, God's will, God's heart, to talk to them about it,
to read the word with them, to share that with them, but then to live it,
to be an example of those things before them is the calling before us.
And so when you talk to them, you do this in conversation, you do this when you sit with them,
you do that when you lie down with them, you do that when you rise, you do that at the breakfast table,
you do that when you're getting ready for school, you do that getting them out the door,
you do that doing chores, you teach, speak, and live spiritual values
so that those things are passed down into their life, that they would then grow to be godly people themselves.
And I think this is especially true with the real young ones, the real young ones.
You know, I read a study and some experts say that 85% of a child's character is developed by the age of five.
That means that those first five years of life are critical and instrumental in teaching
and leading and exemplifying that godliness that you want to see in their life.
You know, I was being reminded the other day that, you know, kids, young kids especially,
they don't necessarily have the capacity to regulate their emotions, you know.
And I was out to lunch with my brother and my niece and my nephew and they're both young
and my nephew likes to play games and so he brought Uno right to the restaurant.
He's like, let's play Uno. We're like, okay.
And he's at that age where he's just a cheater. Man.
If he's not winning the game, I'm done. I don't want to play anymore.
I'm like, dude, we're going to play.
And then he's like pulling. No, no, that's not the card. I'm like, stop cheating.
Right. I'm getting all fired up. Right.
I'm grown man having this about to have this argument with his little kid because he's not expressing adult means
and understanding to regulate himself. Right.
I'm like, I'm fired up right now as I'm talking about it. Right.
And I'm being reminded, you know, that that's like when they're young,
they're experiencing emotions that they don't know how to how to deal with yet.
And it's like the process of raising and training is how to walk through those things.
And I'm like, yeah, you're right. You know, but then in that process,
I was just reminded in my own heart of how important it is that in those times to instill that godliness that you want in the kid.
It's not just how to behave in culture, but but how to honor the Lord in your life.
And it's not that they're going to do it perfect.
It's not that they're going to respond perfectly, but you're laying that foundation of godliness by teaching and by example.
And so how important then is it to saturate them in the things of the Lord?
And so Timothy got tenderness. He got godliness.
And then there's a third thing I want to point out here that I see that I believe he got from his mom and her effect in his life.
And it was effectiveness. You see, because when you mix a tender heart,
a tenderness that we're talking about here with godliness and a desire to honor God,
when you mix that heart that has great caring concern for the well-being of others,
which is tender heartedness with a desire to do and live and obey God,
guess what's going to come out of that? A great effectiveness for the kingdom of God.
Someone who cares and is going to heed God's word and do their best to find their calling
and find their gifts and find their equipping and go out and do those things.
So verse six, Paul says, Therefore, I remind you, right?
I remember the sincere faith that was in your mom and I believe it's in you now.
So therefore, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.
That word therefore, it's for this cause, for this reason.
For the reason of the sincere faith that I know is in you, that was in your mom and your grandmother.
They taught it to you for the reason that it is there.
Paul is like, Look, you're a sensitive, tender hearted man of God. I remember that about you.
He goes, You openly cried out of concern for me when we were separated last time we saw each other.
And so I know you care greatly for people.
I also remember the unhypocritical faith that is in you, that faith you got from your mom, that she got from her mom.
He says, Therefore, for that cause, stir up the gift, rekindle the gift.
And he says here, the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.
That laying on of hands is this idea that Paul recognized that there was a gift in his life and ratified it and ordained it.
That's like when we ordain pastors here, we'll bring them forward and the elders will lay hands on them to say,
We recognize a calling and a gifting and we're celebrating that and ordaining that work to move forward.
And so he says, Look, that work, that gift, that calling you have that I saw, that I recognize.
Paul says, According to my ministry that I ordained as a representative of God.
He goes, Look, mix that tender hearted care and concern for others with the godliness that you learned from your mom.
And then go out and do successfully what God has called and equipped you to do.
And I think any godly parent would would agree with the statement that the one thing they want for their child is to that their child would fall in love with Jesus and do the work of the Lord.
I haven't met a godly parent yet that's like, Nope, that's not what I hope for my kids.
So, you know, they want him to see him fall in love with Jesus, get saved.
Right. And then and then live a life in obedience and in glorifying God's name.
And most of you would say that, Yeah, I want my child to know Jesus, to live for Jesus and to be a light for Jesus.
Well, Psalms chapter 127 verse three and four, it says, Sons, which is really referring to children, but it says sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord.
Offspring, a reward like Lero arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one's youth.
That word heritage there, it means an assignment.
It says our children are indeed a heritage.
They're an assignment. They're a responsibility granted to you.
The idea of heritage comes from the idea that, Hey, I left you a plot of land as an inheritance.
And now you have a responsibility to work that land and to have that land bear fruit.
That's this idea of the assignment that that our kids are.
It's a responsibility that is given to you to cultivate fruit in their lives.
And then he says there are reward.
Children are a reward, not an accident, not an inconvenience, not a curse.
And just imagine how kids in our world would grow as they're treated as a reward in their parents life instead of anything else.
A reward given to you.
And you might think, well, but what about those who haven't been able to bear children?
Are they not rewarded?
Has God overlooked them?
Truth be told, I can't speak as to why God has chosen to not grant someone biological children at this point in their life.
I could only speculate, but I can't speak to that authoritatively.
But I can confidently say that being motherly, being a mother figure in the life of a child who may not be being taken care of by their parents, their biological parents properly.
Maybe it's because their parents don't see that kid as a reward, but you get to step in and treat them as a reward.
To show them the tender heartedness of God's heart to example for them godliness.
I can say confidently that that will be a reward for you.
That will be a reward for you.
And you can be blessed the same by showing the heart of God to even a child that isn't biologically your own.
And so there in Psalm 127, children are a heritage from the Lord, an offspring, a reward.
But then he says, like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one's youth.
Like arrows.
To me that indicates that children are to be launched out into life.
They're to be fired out into life like being fired from a bow.
Fired to have great effectiveness to accomplish their calling successfully, right?
You fire an arrow from a bow. Why?
Because you want it to stab into something.
You want it to do what it was created to do.
And for any parent, especially mothers, there's that desire that I want my kid to grow, to do what they were created to do.
And a part of that process is helping your kid discover that.
To find out what that calling is in their life.
And so moms, grandmas, mother figures, have a target in mind spiritually for your children.
Have a target in mind and work towards that target, treating that child as a reward to you
and a responsibility to help them find and bear the fruit in their lives.
Share that tender heartedness with them that God has granted you as a mom.
Something I believe that is especially uniquely in you that isn't always found in dads.
To then example and teach them godliness.
To encourage them in how God can use their skills and their talents and their personality,
shaping them and aiming them towards the target of effectiveness for God's glory.
And then Paul closes here this section where he says,
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and a sound judgment.
I'm convinced that a mom's ability to love is exceeded only by God's ability to love.
Why is it that we've heard stories where there's some terrible criminal, mass murders,
and then sometimes they'll interview the mom and the mom will say,
But he's still my baby boy.
I know he's done horrific things or they've done terrible crimes, but they're still my child.
A mom's love is protective and tender and consistent and understanding and forgiving
and unchanging and unselfish and giving and contagious and comfortable and everlasting.
It's probably the nearest thing we could see in this world to a full expression of God's love.
As God has wired that everything that we saw in our Lord and Savior as he came to this earth
and died for the cross and paid the price for our sins and bore it all and all that,
we see that expressed through the love in a mom's heart.
And the spirit to then go and to be all God has created to be,
not in fear, but in power and love and sound judgment,
I think that comes so often to the tender, sensitive, godly heart of our moms.
And so moms and mother figures, spiritual moms, be blessed today.
You're so very special.
You are so very special and you reflect so beautifully.
A critically important part of God's heart.
Be encouraged and be blessed, be comforted, be celebrated because we love you.
And so as a gift to you today as I open up, I'm going to invite up our youth pastor, Pastor Rick here
to share a short Mother's Day encouragement to the youth that are gathered here with us today.
And so moms listening, you know, you could say, you know, Pastor Rick said, right,
you know, we're just trying to gift you with many tools in your bucket here.
But after Pastor Rick shares, I'll come up and close us out.
And so Pastor Rick.
All right, guys, how's it going?
Thank you, Pastor Nathan, for that great study.
And again, happy Mother's Day.
I just want to thank you guys for everything you've done.
But again, I am Pastor Rick Ice.
I am the youth pastor here.
And I really just pray that all you mothers are just blessed with rest today
and just the adoration and praise that you are deserved.
Like you do so much.
So I just want to say thank you.
Now, kids, all kids in here, please listen, pay attention.
I'm talking to you.
So God has placed an important call on your life as kids to obey and honor your parents,
especially your mothers.
It's not only just one of the Ten Commandments, but it's also repeated in the New Testament.
Jesus even uses this commandment to show the importance of honoring your father
and mother as an example of God's commandment in Matthew 15 when he talks with the Pharisees.
That shows how important it is.
Think about it.
Jesus said, hey, this is God's word and you tell them to do otherwise.
So you tell them to disobey God.
So that means God's word for you, his commandment is to honor your parents.
That is heavy and very important.
Now, we're going to be looking at Ephesians chapter 6, 1 through 3,
so that we can see what it means to honor your parents and really what your calling is.
And this is Paul speaking in Ephesians chapter 6, 1 through 3, where it says,
Children, obey your parents in the Lord because this is right.
Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise
so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.
So, children, obey your parents in the Lord.
Why?
Because it is right.
We could stop there.
It is right.
That is your job.
That is what you are called to do.
But we will dive deeper into what it means to be right, because you might be thinking, why is it right?
Why do I have to listen to my parents?
It's not like they do anything for me.
It's not like they're the whole reason I'm here.
Right?
That's a joke.
You can laugh.
But this is God's command.
He's the one who has set up the family structure.
Right?
The idea of a father, mother, and children isn't just some random idea or something that society or culture has made.
No, it is something that God has created.
It is also a perfect example of our relationship with Him, because He is our Heavenly Father, and us as Christians are His sons and daughters.
The family is His design.
And your job in the family is to obey your parents, to honor them.
Now, kids, you might be thinking, what does it mean for me to like, what do I got to do?
Right?
It's more than you realize honoring your parents.
They do so much more for you than you'll ever realize.
So far, especially if you're a junior higher up, you don't even realize how disgusting you were as a baby.
Like, don't get me wrong.
I mean, Irene has a beautiful boy.
When I lived with Pastor Nathan and a bunch of guys, I would come home, and one of our guys had two babies.
And I'd come home at about 8 a.m. in the morning because I worked night shifts at Target.
And I'd take care of the kids until he woke up.
And man, you diaper smell, you puke all the time, you're loud.
There's so much that you haven't realized that your especially mothers have done for you up to this point in your life.
And it's not like you should be like, yeah, they just do that because I'm awesome.
It's like, no, they do that because they love you.
And they're following God's command to love you and to raise you.
So it is right for you to obey them.
It is right for you to honor them.
Now, the Bible even says in Proverbs chapter 22 verse 6 that start a youth out on his way.
And even when he grows old, he will not depart from it.
This, mothers, is for you and especially parents as well, but mothers as well.
Right?
Your mother's kids, their job is as as Pastor Nathan was going about, is to train you up to dedicate because the word start literally means that the word start in this to start a youth on his way is to train up or dedicate.
The idea of this is to develop a person's behavior by instruction or practice.
Your mom isn't just feeding you and letting you do what you want.
They're teaching you.
They're showing you how you should be and how she'd grow up to be as a strong Christian, as a strong man or woman of God.
That is what your mothers are doing, especially your mothers.
Now, your parents are to guide your development towards being God fearing adults, which I believe also ties into the promise given to children to who obey their fathers and mothers found in verse three.
And that says so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.
This is the promise for you children.
If you obey your honors and mothers, you will live a longer life.
And you mean by going like, well, how how how do I get a longer life because I listen to my parents?
Well, how what does that do?
Well, for one thing, if you listen to your parents when they tell you not to cheat, steal, lie and do all these wrong things, guess what?
You won't deal with a lot of the repercussions of those things.
Imagine a child who's never been told to not steal right the whole life. They've stolen everything and then become an adult and they start stealing and stealing.
And then they get caught by the cops and they end up in jail.
There's a lot of reasons that not listening to your parents practical advice can shorten your life in this land.
It really can. That's just the practical side.
But they also tell you not to hurt yourself.
I mean, there's people who unfortunately hurt themselves, and that is wrong.
I mean, me, I was just dumb and I would do stupid things like jump off buildings for fun.
My mom would always yell at me, don't do that.
Now I got bad knees. Listen to your mom's like, seriously.
But I also believe that there is a spiritual application here.
Just as Timothy's mom shared her faith with him, so should mothers and fathers share their faith with you as you grow up.
And as you grow up and obey and respect your parents, especially your mothers, you should come to know God or at least know of God.
And hopefully from there, you give your life to God.
You trust in him and you truly become his son or daughter.
And from there, you now gain eternal life.
Your life is prolonged for eternity.
You will live in heaven in the presence of God forever.
And that's the goal of your mothers. They're praying so much.
I found out how much like mothers, even women who are not my mothers, but what I would call spiritual mothers in my life, prayed for me.
And I'm like, wow, that's why I turned out better than I thought I would.
It's all about prayer over my life.
Like they do so much and they show you the way to God.
So listen to them, trust them, honor them and respect them.
Now, I will admit, kids, parents will never be perfect.
I still have a chipped tooth from my mother.
We were just play fighting.
So sorry, mom, if you're listening, I love you.
It was fun. But yeah, we were play fighting.
She accidentally got me with the ring, but super fun.
Now, your mother won't always show you God's love, right?
Because you're not always going to be perfect and lovable.
Sometimes they might fail in raising you in certain aspects.
And mothers, I'm sorry that we put you through so much.
I'm sorry that you deal with so much.
And I pray that God blesses you in this.
But kids, if your mom fails you at times, if that doesn't mean you get to stop obeying them.
That doesn't mean you get to write them off and say, I don't love you anymore.
I hate you and storm off and try and run away.
And you don't even know what it means.
You don't know what a 401k is, right?
Don't try and run away.
The idea, right, I want to give you a small example.
If you guys know like the power lines, the telephone poles that have all those wires run around up in the air.
Think of two jobs, right?
One person is the power lineman that climbs up the pole and works on the lines.
The other person is the guy who holds the safety rope to keep that guy safe and from falling.
Now imagine, child, you are the one holding the safety rope while the other person goes up and works on all the wires and is working on the power.
And that person up there is just taken forever.
They're not doing their job.
They're not really paying attention.
Does that mean the person carrying the safety rope should just quit doing their job and walk off?
No, that's dangerous, right?
You can end up hurting or even having that person die on accident.
Your job is to be there.
Now, in all reality, you're the person up on the pole trying to figure out what life is and your mom is the one down there holding the line,
trying to show you and guide you and tell you where you need to be and how to do your job.
So in either case, it doesn't matter if the other person isn't doing their job.
You still need to do yours.
God has given you a commandment that isn't based on other people doing their job.
Your job is to obey and honor your mother.
Well, your parents, but today is Mother's Day, so we're really focusing on that.
Now, take in mind when you're like, well, they're so hard.
She just, it's horrible.
I have to deal with my mom all the time, right?
And that's my 13-year-old right there, my act of a 13-year-old.
Now, just remember how many mistakes your parents have dealt that you've done and dealt with you and lovingly took care of you.
And as you get older and older and older, the more you realize how many mistakes
and how much of a hard time you gave your parents.
And it really gives you a perspective of like, I love you guys.
I'm so sorry for what I did.
And so just remember that when your parents are on your nerves, God has called you to honor and obey them.
And I guarantee you that you're on their nerves more than they're on yours.
Just being honest.
Now, in this, I want you guys to remember that the goal here, right, for mothers is to be a godly mother raising their kids
and kids to obey and honor them.
But I have one disclaimer.
If, on the odd chance, if your parent ever asks you to sin, to purposefully sin, that I say, which I doubt will ever happen,
but if it does, don't sin.
But just because you choose not to do the sin that your parent has asked you doesn't mean you can't still honor and respect them.
Because there's two ways to handle it.
If my mom came to me and told me to steal something from Target, I could say, right, the disrespectfully way and go,
No, mom, you're so evil. How dare you? Is that respectful? No.
But I could say, Mom, I love you, and God calls us not to steal.
So I can't.
Because I'm obeying God in this instance.
Now, remember, this is probably a 0.00001% chance this will ever happen in your life.
I highly doubt it will ever happen. But if it does, honor God above all.
Now, another thing that I want to talk about is for those kids who don't have mothers because of unfortunate things that happened,
because they're with the Lord already, don't think, Oh, this message isn't for me. I hate this. This is horrible.
Because there are so many mothers here in this church that are willing to be your spiritual mother,
a mother figure in your life that will love you and show you what it means to be a godly Christian, a godly man or woman in life,
to be there for you. So I challenge you to find one, to connect with one, because they will help raise you.
And yes, they will not be your mother. And I am so sorry.
But they can help supplement and show you the love of a mother and to give you the love of God through a motherly's guys and motherly way.
Now, in closing, I want you guys to remember all of you kids, even adult kids that still live with their parents.
Right. Right. Yeah. You need to honor and obey your parents because it is right.
And always say I love you to your moms, no matter how old you are, who's around you. That's the closing point.
With that, guys, I pray that you have a blessed Mother's Day.
All right. Well, we're going to close here in prayer. And I pray that whatever you're doing today, moms with your families, be blessed.
I pray for those that are still struggling with hurt today. I want to pray for you to be blessed.
That God will remind you of a role you have, have had and can have.
But we want to honor the concept of motherhood today because in many ways our culture is trying to destroy the very concepts of motherhood, the very concepts of fatherhood, the very concepts of family.
And we as the church know that they are godly creations. They are defined by God. And we do want to celebrate them.
And so, moms, we love you so much. Thank you. Father God, we pray that you would bless us today, Lord.
That God, for those of us that have moms and mother figures and even grandmothers in our lives, Lord, that have expressed love to us and have been the people in our lives instrumental in helping us grow and learn, Lord,
that we would take time today to recognize them, to express to them how thankful we are for what they've done.
That we would take the time today to just show them that we love them for the many just efforts they've put in to help aim us in the right direction and to fire us into life successfully.
God, we do know that there are many moms here, Lord, that are just in the trenches, God, and we pray, Lord, that you would strengthen them, that you would give them just supernatural patience and supernatural really everything, God, because raising kids is tough.
Lord, I pray for those that are finding today a difficult day because they've lost their mom.
We pray, God, that you would just give them comfort, Lord, and that they would remember the blessing their mom was to them and still celebrate, God, the gift that she was to them.
Lord, we pray for those that have wanted to have kids and haven't been able to, God, Lord.
I just pray, God, you would encourage them to keep trusting you, to keep walking in faith, Lord, and to take the opportunity now, Lord, to be motherly, to show that tender heartedness, to example that godliness,
and to help even kids around them, Lord, in church and youth ministry and wherever they may be, God, to help launch them into an effective life knowing Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and knowing their calling and giftings and walking in that, God.
Lord, we thank you so much for who you are.
We thank you, God, that as a mother comforts her children, you comfort us.
And we're so grateful, Lord, for all of that.
We love you, God.
We want to worship you in this day, and we want to ask, Lord, that all the mothers would just have that sense of how dearly they are loved today.
We thank you, God. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Well, let's worship, guys.